房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

"Recruit Zoemi, what is the meaning of this?"

Upon his arrival, the black-haired boy was called out by the head instructor who seemed more than just irked off about seeing him there.

The man was overaccentuating his every move and word – but there was a clear reason for it.

After all, he and Zoemi weren\'t in the room alone. Right there in the corner an elderly blue-haired man was sitting and observing them quietly.

"I didn\'t like the pointless training exercise so I turned back. What\'s the big deal? You didn\'t stop me. Neither you nor any of the other instructors even gave me a warning. You all were just – oh, you have your wolf, you will be fine, don\'t bother us."

The black-haired boy glared at the man coldly, checking him out from head to toe with the obsidian eyes of his.

"...!"

The man\'s eyes widened – without actually confirming what really happened back then, he tried to scare the boy into staying silent... And yet lo and behold!

The kid was fully confirming the story that the head instructor told old ord Perserios!

There were some not-very-flattering details here and there, but that wasn\'t important for the big picture!

"..."

Zoemi clearly saw the excitement in the man\'s eyes and had to grit his teeth to not show too much disdain on his face.

If he didn\'t want to make sure later on that the people after his head were sent by the Efemare family, he would have buried the career of the head instructor right then and there.

"Tsk. What\'s wrong is that you overstepped your boundaries as a recruit! It is not recruit\'s business to question the actions of their superiors and..."

"You are talking about being a soldier. I humbly request you to take a second look at the documents regarding me, sir. I am taking part in knight training. If blind obedience is one of the requirements then we didn\'t make it that far into the curriculum."

The man clicked his tongue and straightened his back about to start scolding the child, but the black-haired boy took a deep breath before leaning into his chair and presented the most respectful disrespect ever showcased within the walls of the Perserios castle.

"You might be thinking you are being smart by saying that, boy, but insubordination like that is a valid reason for removing you from the training course. In the first place, your results were subpar, and if not for young lord Victureo\'s pleas you would have been kicked out a long time ago."

The head instructor squinted his eyes and instead of blowing out at Zoemi, he merely leaned back and tapped a stack of papers on the side of his desk.

That, funnily enough, caused Zoemi to smile...

|Aww... Grazio is a tsundere after all. I knew he liked me~|

The black-haired boy thought to himself not feeling worried about what the outcome of the meeting might be.

The knight title would be a good thing, very welcomed even – but all in all, the only necessary thing for Zoemi was the completion of the attendant training.

Truth be told, being kicked out from the knight training could even act as a backstory and a smokescreen for the real – and very dubious – reason for the black-haired boy picking up the path of a servant.

Broken dreams and settling for the next best career, such an explanation would shut a lot of yapping mouths.

"It seems that the burden of expectations was too much for my fragile little shoulders."

Zoemi\'s shrug was very light for someone crushed under such a burden and his reaction certainly wasn\'t to his conversation partner\'s liking...

"We can always put you into that course."

"If you want me to quit, then yes, you can try."

The head instructor scoffed in annoyance but got ridiculed in response.

"I am not an abandoned child that the Perserios family graciously took under their roof and I\'m at your mercy bound by some obligation. When you\'re done with that farce do send a servant to inform m whether I am removed from the training course, if not, see you tomorrow morning during the practice."

Zoemi really felt annoyed. The black-haired boy\'s mind was more mature than the others imagined so the psychological tricks and threats did not work against him, but if there was an actual child in his place the poor kid would be trembling in fear completely devastated.

That made Zoemi angry enough to stand up from his seat and declare glaring at the silent old lord Perserios in the corner while completely ignoring the head instructor.

...and leaving the office without a grain of hesitation within his system...

"...?"

"...ah...! Umm... I wasn\'t..."

As the black-haired boy closed the door, he almost walked right into the neon-pink-haired Roiso who was eavesdropping and didn\'t back off in time.

"No, sorry, I was... Is everything okay? Should I pack my things?"

Roiso fidgetted for a moment before lowering her head with a guilty expression and asking timidly.

"Not yet. We are young lady Peerserios\'s guests, my participation in the knight training doesn\'t change a thing about it. Although we might be leaving within a week or two."

Zoemi raised his hand and patted the girl\'s shoulder with a nod as he passed her.

"I was already gathering information about attendant courses and both Ralia and Helterose are looking shockingly good. I knew that during the previous timeline, the head butler at the Espine estate was someone trained n the Helterose territory but I had no idea that they were an actual number one in the industry. With a referral from them joining there should be no problem with me getting employed in Espine family... at least not from the qualification standpoint."

"Yes, that\'s right!"

He added lightheartedly and the neon-pink-haired girl breathed out in relief seeing that he wasn\'t nearly as bothered by the situation as she expected him to be.

The rest of the day passed without Zoemi receiving any message or information regarding the knight training, so she did show up to the morning practice as if nothing happened.

The other participants were acting a lot colder than ever before, but that much was to be expected.

"I\'ve heard they will start making the training a lot harder now."

The red-haired Grazio did approach him as usual though, with the awkwardness of someone hiding his true feelings.