A Tale of One Deviant (Book One)

Chapter 170: They Think I'm Free Labor

It felt like I'd already been everywhere that day, but there were just two more places I definitely needed to go after reading the two letters that I'd read.

     What is this? This ridiculousness I'm holding in my hands?

     A letter from the king of Strathmis, Obrock.

     And a letter from the king of Peoni, Elfriede.

     It wasn't like we were on a first name basis or anything, but I had no clue who they were and they had no clue who I was, definitely, so I didn't owe it to them to give them proper addressing. I also kind of didn't know how to properly address kings from foreign countries, in case they had anything special, so I just went with it.

     Both seemed to have been written as if they knew the other was writing. In fact I was almost sure they'd even been taken by the same courier, and arrived together too.

     Their contents were long and flowery, but to simplify it, they essentially said-

     Please take our brats and teach them your version of magic because you're really strong and we believe in you and it'll be under the pretense of them attending the otome game academy that you were trying to avoid attending and we kind of already asked the head of the academy if it would be okay and she said yes so it's good to go so we're sending our brats and they'll be there at the start of school and we're counting on you alright thanks we believe in you kind of.

     Yeah. That was basically it. Sure, there were some parts in there where my irritation slipped in, but not for the most part.

     So I, with both letters in hand, smiled down at my kitchen table where I'd placed the knife used to open them. I didn't want to mess with the official-looking seals, which were irritating me more and more with each passing moment.

     Then I decided to pay them a visit.

     Now, let's see, Strathmis, Strathmis, Strathmis...oh, might as well go see the Bhemuses while I'm at it.

     Or, to calm down, just head there first. I didn't think that they would mind a visit from me, and the wonderful business I was soon to bring. And that time, I would pay. They wouldn't let me get something for free.

     The street hadn't at all changed since I'd last been there, and neither had the building with chimneys smoking and not a forge in sight to supply it. I hadn't been expecting a change, but it was still strange to suddenly appear there, look around, and find it exactly as I'd left it. Kind of free of people, since it was the winter season and snow did fall there too, but still having enough traffic for me to acknowledge that it was the capital, and a section of a clan completely busy with work since all workers were indoors. They weren't just a random section of the capital, but one I'd intentionally ended up in.

     I took a while to stare up at the building in front of me, the one with the misleading sign hanging out front that made Katerine timelessly show up every day and leave every day as she failed to follow her father's request and looked down on me too much to ask me where I was going every day. Or, really, ask about me at all after I disappeared.

     So simple. Containing so much life and noise inside, if you just pried open the doors a little bit. I felt somewhat privileged walking up to the door and pulling open the handle, and seeing the eyebrows of the old man sitting at the desk reading a book, raise in response to my presence before I'd even closed the door behind me. I smiled back knowingly, holding the lower handle that was clearly dirtier than the top one meant for taller mortals. Sure, I was shorter than many Dwarves around, but I could still reach their handle easily.