Ch.266EP.60 – How a Knight Deals with Beasts (2)

Looking from the outside, the Modred mansion appeared completely normal, contrary to the ominous rumors.

Unlike the disturbing tales about ghosts appearing even during daylight and frequent human screams echoing through the halls…

Though the thick fog made the castle look somewhat dark, it was an ordinary lord’s mansion no different from any other, and contrary to ghost stories, servants were walking around normally, doing their work.

However, there was one peculiar thing…

“Sister, I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“Well, I’ve been working here for about three months now, but somehow I don’t think I’ve ever seen the lord or his family. Are they perhaps away on a journey?”

The lord’s family.

Even the servants had never seen those who could be called their employers.

A relatively new maid asked this question with curiosity, but the senior maid who received the question maintained silence.

With her eyes half-open.

“……”

“Sister?”

“…Don’t be curious about such things.”

“Pardon…?”

“I said don’t be curious. No, don’t show even the slightest interest. Don’t concern yourself with where they are or what they’re doing.”

“S-Sister…?”

The senior maid had always been a kind person.

Someone who answered any question well and never withheld her gentleness.

But when such a person gave her an icy stare for the first time, the maid flinched.

“I’m saying this for your own good. Don’t carelessly mention them. You might… attract their ‘attention’.”

“Pardon?”

“Curiosity isn’t always a good thing.”

“Sister…?”

The maid ultimately wore a puzzled expression, but the senior maid merely maintained a bitter smile and offered no further explanation.

…And the next morning.

“—That’s why I told you not to be curious.”

The senior maid sighed and wore a regretful expression.

Drip, drip.

“Hee, heehee…”

The woman was laughing.

Her eyes blinked incessantly, and her body twitched like someone with epilepsy.

Even when asked questions, she only responded with strange laughter instead of answers, appearing beyond help.

The youngest maid laughed maniacally, having lost her mind, and looking at her, the senior maid showed signs of fatigue.

“Haah, I’ve lost count of how many…”

Sixty-six.

That was the number of “victims” who had gone mad this year.

Well, fortunately.

“Fewer than last year.”

The fact that there were fewer victims than the previous year seemed somewhat ‘positive’.

*

*

*

…Appearances aren’t everything.

It’s a common saying among adults, and undoubtedly a profound statement conveying that a person’s charm lies not in their exterior but in their interior.

But still…

“Mr. Santa, you don’t have to do such difficult work.”

“Please eat this while you work.”

“If you’d like, would you have dinner with me tonight? At my house, if possible…”

…Seeing this, one might think that appearances are indeed everything.

‘Was living in this world always this easy?’

He found this situation, where everyone was kind to him, utterly unfamiliar.

Everyone was so eager to show him kindness, truly…

‘The world is so unfair.’

What kind of world had handsome men been living in all this time?

The man with the hastily chosen alias Santa Rihan laughed dejectedly while secretly clenching his fist.

He was barely restraining himself from using violence.

Why was he unable to control his anger and wanting to use violence?

‘Damn it, that’s not my preference!’

…Because the last person who asked him to dinner wasn’t a woman but a man.

* * *

Getting into Modred’s territory of Wales wasn’t difficult.

Unlike what that fake Tower Master guy had said about it being closed off and dangerous, giving him all sorts of things both real and imaginary, people were strangely friendly to outsiders.

– “Hmm, you came all the way here looking for work? …Well, with those looks as a commoner, life must have been quite hard.”

– “Poor thing…”

– “The work might be a bit tough, but go to the lord’s castle. You should find employment there.”

‘Is appearance itself a plausibility?’

The territory’s residents accepted him so easily that the carefully crafted excuses and documents he had prepared seemed pointless.

So easily that the days spent preparing felt wasted…

‘My prime days seem to be working well?’

He called it bone compression and reverse application techniques, but simply put, it was nothing more than applying the principle of compressing bone and flesh.

It was just forcibly compressing bones and flesh.

In other words, Ihan hadn’t transformed or disguised himself; he had merely made his body somewhat smaller, returning to a time before his muscles and frame had grown thick. Yet this appearance seemed to work well with others.

In fact.

– “P-Please teach me that! I don’t care what pain follows!”

– “Mister…? No, big brother?”

– “Tina!?”

Simon and the twins all seemed quite shocked.

“…I did it because he asked, but I wonder if that guy has woken up yet?”

Ihan shook his head, recalling Simon who had fainted immediately after experiencing bone compression.

Anyway, unable to endure even that level of pain, really.

‘I’m experiencing it in real-time.’

Crack! Crunch!

A sound from within his body that only Ihan could hear.

His body was screaming as it tried to return to its original state after being forcibly compressed, and it was no joke how painful it was.

It was like torturing himself, and if he hadn’t experienced the pain of the Fairy’s Blessing (metamorphosis), it would have been truly difficult to endure.

However, even if he could endure the pain, the question was how long he could maintain this state.

‘If my concentration wavers even slightly, it will unravel in an instant.’

It felt like carefully holding a fuse that could burn out at any moment.

But…

“How can you chop firewood so well? Your trimming is also amazing, boy.”

“…I just picked up skills doing various jobs. It’s nothing special.”

“Nothing special? It’s extremely impressive, how…!”

Seeing these people flirting with him, unaware of his anxiety, Ihan broke into a cold sweat.

Why are these people so interested in me?

‘I wish they would all go away.’

It wasn’t just because he was anxious about his identity being discovered.

Simply.

‘Don’t these people work?’

It was annoying because they kept interrupting while he was working.

As the youngest worker, or rather, maintaining the concept of a new servant, Ihan had to work hard.

In any workplace, a newcomer who finds work to do on their own is appreciated.

So Ihan voluntarily sought out work and worked diligently.

He woke up at dawn to clean, helped the maids with laundry, and fixed many broken items using carpentry skills he had learned as a part-time job and hobby.

By waking up early and working like this, in less than four days, he was recognized as a quite diligent and good servant.

…But the problem was that people kept following him whatever he did.

Even today.

“How can a man have such smooth skin?”

“Oh my, but he still has some muscles like a man should!”

“Eat this while you work.”

“……”

Like this, people kept following him as if monitoring him while he worked, making him want to sigh.

It was even more painful that he couldn’t actually sigh…

‘Should I have used special makeup instead?’

Ihan was overwhelmed with the urge to return to his original appearance.

‘Ah, this gigolo-like, no, this parasitic face is the problem…’

While there were certainly conveniences to his appearance, it was frustrating and stressful to constantly attract attention.

Moreover, among those showing interest in him were men, which made his murderous intent rise.

‘Damn barbaric medieval times…’

Due to the characteristics of the medieval era, there were many Type 2 guys, which was quite troublesome at times like this.

Ihan continued to work silently despite feeling frustrated and annoyed.

Promising himself to crush the jaws of those nauseating guys once his business was done.

…Then.

“Oh…”

“Ahem.”

“L-Let’s go do our work now.”

Sensing someone’s presence, the servants quickly began to disperse.

People who had been doing nothing suddenly pretended to be busy and rapidly left the place. It was a puzzling situation, but Ihan had already sensed the presence and understood why they were reacting that way.

In this mansion, there was only one case in the past four days when people reacted so awkwardly.

He glanced slightly.

Flinch!

“……”

…She might think she was hiding, but it was obvious to others.

There was a young girl hiding behind a tree as a shield, and with her uniquely pink-bronze hair, she was one of the few in this mansion.

Ihan thought about pretending not to notice, but he couldn’t be bad enough to treat the girl as if she didn’t exist like others did.

“Do you need something, young miss?”

“!!?”

“Is there something you wish to order? Or something you want to say?”

The kindest expression he could make.

Though not particularly fond of children, he showed at least minimal kindness.

“……”

“Young miss?”

“……”

“…?”

Despite his kindness, there was no response, which seemed to be the problem…

‘I really don’t get along with kids.’

It was a fact he realized anew.