Paper the equivalent of treasure

Tapper felt relaxed. He didn't know if that was the results of the hypnosis or not.

Regardless, everything that he said had been genuine. He truly didn't want to leave the Tourey family.

It was a nice stable job that completely opened Tapper's eyes to sights he never would have seen. Serving the Master and Young Master was just a minor inconvenience to him (not that he said it out loud), no big deal.

The only thing that he was worried about was how Ink was doing. That would only be the reason he wanted to leave.

Maple was shocked by what she heard from Tapper. She didn't know quite how to refute it which made her angry. Her furious expression returned.

"Ha. You dog of the nobles. Do you like licking their boots? It's all because of you people…

"You people!

"And people like you…!

"that the revolution is—!"

Bonk!

Tapper had gotten tired. Her rantings were pointless. And he didn't like how she had called him a rat when she was the one who had been screaming about change.

He knocked out Maple just for the sake of it and continued to wait in silence.

In the meantime, another couple of assassins had came. One of them even violently banged on the door a few times.

Tapper had hidden beneath the bed with the fainted Roman. At the same time, he turned off the faint light within the shelter.

It was best to not let these scary Southern AlleyWays assassins know of his existence.

Whether it is for the Master or himself.

After a while, some sounds of running footsteps came and frightened the newly awoken Roman.

Another assassin appeared. He was running from something.

The assassin suddenly froze. He then tipped forward.

Thud!

Tapper who was under the bed heard a large thud. Then came the noise of another set of footprints. It was a lot lighter and much less perceptible.

A voice sounded.

"Young Master.

"And that no name servant…."

Tapper naturally knew who was speaking. It was his favorite dagger combat teacher~!

'Damn. Why am I 'that no name servant'? It's all of you that won't ask for my name.'

Roman had been frightened by the whole Maple incident.

He was afraid it would be a repeat of what had happened.

However realizing that the door was still between the two of them...

"Who.. who is it?"

The voice on the other side didn't reply. Since another man had appeared.

"Son." It was Wayde.

Elastic, Roman cried out, "Father!"

Once again, he ran to open the door. However he was held back by Tapper.

"Wait a moment, Young Master."

Shocked, Roman turned to look at Tapper. On Tapper's face was a serious look as he gazed towards the door.

"What are you doing? That's my father! He couldn't possibly betray himself." Roman angrily shouted.

Still Tapper did not budge. He briefly glanced at Roman.

"Please excuse me, Young Master.

"Please excuse me as well if you are truly the Master, then I must ask something that only the real Master would know…"

Tapper was sweating.

He couldn't let his guard down again.

Not like the time Maple appeared.

If the young assassin that was currently lying unconscious inside had been cautious throughout the entire fight, then he would have died.

Tapper must be absolutely certain.

Even if he risked making Wayde annoyed.

However...

"Very good, child.

"You do not let appearances fool you."

Wayde didn't seem to be angry. In fact, he seemed to approve of Tapper's actions.

Then he slowly added in a teasing tone rarely heard from him.

"But I can tell you…

"... that you are awful at playing dead in front of me."

"...."

Tapper blushed.

'Master… do you have to bring that up?'

He admitted it. His play-dead act was just too awful that day.

Simultaneously, in the thoughts of Young Master Roman…

'My servant had once played dead in front of my father?'

Suddenly his gaze towards Tapper became strange. The same goes for Tapper's combat teacher.

Embarrassed, Tapper mumbled something like "yes Master" and shuffled over to turn on the light.

Then the surroundings became a bit more clear. Such as the bound Maple and the unconscious young assassin within.

Roman touched his unfamiliar pants in shock. After thinking for a bit and remembering….

He turned red and didn't say anything.

Meanwhile, both Lord Wayde and Tapper's combat teacher were looking at Tapper.

Roman also turned to look at Tapper and saw that his shirt had been removed.

Tapper wasn't very buff. But after a year of nutritious meals, good sleep, and training, his muscles that weren't covered by various bandages were sleek and beautifully defined.

Just that he has a lot of cuts that bandages couldn't completely cover.

The bandage on Tapper's arm where he had blocked the young assassin's knife was well covered in red. Many of the other bandages also had blood stains on it.

That battle with the young assassin had injured him greatly.

Tapper didn't notice the staring because he was too busy being embarrassed after his play dead act got called out by Lord Wayde.

Tapper shuffled to the door and clumsily opened the door. He did not meet any of their eyes and just looked down.

Together all of them walked out of the tunnel.

Some of the six special guards went back to get Maple and the young assassin.

***

After waking up from slumber within the medical area, Tapper saw both his teacher and another man were chatting. Or should he say that his teacher was being chatted at?

The other fellow bombarded one comment after another. However, the combat teacher made no expression or reaction at all.

When the other person saw that Tapper had woken, he smiled and departed.

'Who the heck was that?' Tapper thought.

Then, Tapper and his teacher stared at one another.

After staring for a bit at Tapper to the point that Tapper had gotten uncomfortable, he finally spoke.

"The Master wants you to go find him as soon as you are well."

Then, Tapper's combat teacher stood up and turned to leave. However at the door he paused and said,

"You fought well."

Tapper became stunned as the teacher walked out of the room.

'Was that… a compliment?

'... the world must be ending. Yeah. It must be…'

Then Tapper frowned. Other than the Young Master who had fainted midway, Maple, and the young assassin, no one else saw his fight. How did his teacher know that he fought well?

A while later…

Tapper knocked on the door of the tea room. A sound came from within.

"Enter."

Tapper stepped through the door. And as he has always done…

"Greetings Master."

Unlike the other times Tapper met Tourey, Tourey spun his chair around and faced Tapper.

He had seen what happened in the shelter. It wasn't very hard. There is an invisible form of substance in everything that is called energy. In order to recount what had happened, all that Tourey had to do was find an energy flow recountant to displict what had occurred in a specific area.

However, audio was not so easy to replicate.

The conversation between Maple and Tapper had only snippets. But in one of the snippets, Tourey had clearly heard Tapper clearly say,

'"...so even if the Master turned into a demon, I will still be willing to serve him!..."

. He had then later interrogated Maple to hear the entirety of what he said.

The majority of the interrogation of his former head maid was filled with her cursing him out. The other remaining part was filled with her cussing at Tapper.

"...that m@#%*^f&@€%! Does he f@$#ing think he's so great just because that @$$#%&€ lets him lick his f%$#ing ##%^@&$! Ha. And I almost thought he said that he wanted to %€^#&ing attend school! Ha ha… go to school ha ha.."

Maple's sudden change from her usual mild servant temper into busting out with vulgarities had made him raise an eyebrow. But what she said surprised him even more.

'He wanted… to go to school? That's it?'

Tourey smiled a shark-like smile.

This is a very interesting piece of information.

On top of that, he was deeply satisfied with what he heard from what Tapper said to Maple. The boy has earned a lot of merits today. He was the reason that Wayde had noticed the assassin on the ceiling. Also, in a time of chaos, he protected Wayde's son.

Loyalty should be encouraged and rewarded.

"Child… as a reward for your actions… would you like to attend the Institute?"

"Whatever you recommend, Mast—"

Tapper instantly froze.

'W-what did he just say?

'I didn't hear wrong right?'

Tapper took a moment to get his thoughts together.

"Master… asked me… if I wanted to attend the Institute?"

Tapper's voice was shaking uncontrollably. There was also an uprise in pitch at the end of his sentence.

"Yes. Well?"

'Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god'

"Y-yes. I-I would like that… it would be great…"

Tapper didn't dare speak loudly.

'Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god'

"Alright. Then it's settled." Wayde lightly clapped his hands. Then, he leaned forward in his chair. The relaxed air around him had changed.

Wayde lightly tapped the armrest of his chair and said in a casual manner.

"I heard what you said to my former head maid…."

Tapper was shocked and furiously recalled if he had ever said something wrong.

"Would you really serve me no matter what? Even if… I turned into… a demon?" Wayde slowly said, enunciating every word carefully and narrowing his eyes slightly.

Tapper remembered that he had said something like that and blushed.

'I can't believe Master heard that. Oh well. It's not a bad thing if he is moved and lets me attend school because of it. It seems my mouth had done me a great service. Thank you, my mouth!'

"Yes, I meant what I said, Master." Tapper smiled. It was not his fake pure child smile. Maybe if the Master had asked him before, he wouldn't actually feel that way.

Now he truly meant what he said.

Wayde lightly snorted through his nose.

"Well. If you go, then you must attend the same classes as Roman. Stay with him and attend to his needs. Keep a low profile and hide any combat skills you have. At the same time, keep note of your classmates as well as anything you deem to be important. Make information profiles of the others."

He said as he pulled out a sheet of paper. And scribbled something on it in front of Tapper.

Tapper tried not to show how utterly utterly joyous he was. He gently received the paper Wayde passed to him. He held it like a priceless treasure.

"In a few days would be a naming ceremony. You will officially become a named servant along with a few others."

Wayde waved his hands.

"Dismissed."

Tapper only briefly noted what Wayde had said and put it at the back of his mind.

Obviously the paper in his hands was so much more important!

"Yes. Master! Thank you. Thank you~~!" Tapper bowed a few times and left the room. As soon as the door closed Tapper could no longer hold it in.

He jumped up and down grinning from ear to ear. Tears flowed down his face as he held the application form to his chest.

Tapper wanted to scream out in joy.

'Ahahaha!!! Ink! Do you see this? I got into school! It's school! Lalalala~~ I'm so happy. I miss you, Ink! I gained the Master's trust. As soon as I can find you, I will go find you.'

In the trip back to his room, Tapper could barely hide his joy. He avoided the Young Master as so he wouldn't be called and carefully tucked the application form under his bed. Then he frowned.

It wasn't really safe there. He took it out again and placed it in his cabinet.

Happy, Tapper flopped down on his bed and stared at the ceiling.

'Ah. Really. I'm gonna do as well in school as I possibly can under the constraints the Master placed on me!'

'Yippee~~!!'

***

A few days later…

Tapper got out of bed quite early and put on the ceremonial cloak.

There were two ceremonial cloaks. One for the first ceremony. The other for the second.

The first cloak was cerulean blue in color. It was loose yet solemn at the same time with its simple white embroidery and hood.

Cleanliness energy had been interwoven into the cloak… or so Tapper had been told. He still doesn't understand the whole energy thing besides that people could do various things with it.

Oh well. He supposed he was to learn that in school.

As for the second ceremonial cloak, it was black in color. Compared to the first cloak, it appeared more imposing than the cerulean as well as making Tapper appear far taller. Another difference was the hood. It had stiffer edges and a much longer length. This cloak bore no embroidery but the insignia had been enlarged to where it covered the entire back of the cloak. Tapper could see that it had the letters 'CT' within.

'CT, CT… hmm… i wonder what it stands for..' Tapper thought

On top of it all, the cloak had sleeves. It could be called a coat instead but… nobody cared.

Today, Tapper took his time into making himself look his best. He didn't have to serve Roman as he was a participant in the ceremony.

Unbeknownst to him, Roman had gotten a big scare when he woke up and had thought he had gotten a new personal servant again.