Festivities

I opened the door to see who was knocking.

"Hey, Luka!"

It was Rosaline. Rachel isn't with her.

"What are doing out here?" I had to ask her. It was already night time and she hasn't slept yet.

"I'm bored."

"Rosaline...you do know we have to be on time for the tea party right?"

"So?" She leaned her head sideways with a perplexing expression.

"'SO?!' You have to sleep now so that we can depart early tomorrow morning!"

Rosaline stomped her feet.

"But I'm boooored!!"

"And I don't care!"

Rosaline tugged on my sleeves, trying to pull me out of the room.

"Let's go sightseeing. Please!!!" She switched to tugging on my arm. I had to use Aura in order to fight back against her abnormal strength. This kid is giving me a goddamn headache.

In the end, after minutes of screaming in my ear, begging me to come with her to go sightseeing around the city, I gave up. She's never going to go to sleep if I don't indulge her.

"Alright, fine. We're going sightseeing for one hour! Go to Rachel and get a cloak to hide your dress and your eyes."

"Yay!! Woohoo!" Rosaline jumped up and down in joy.

Just then, I heard Mason's voice behind me.

"Wow, you two are pretty close, Luka. You're a stud aren't yah! You got your sights set on the Duke's daughter? *Gasp*!! Are you two secretly dating?"

Rosaline and I both glared at Mason.

"EW NO!!"

"EW NO!!"

Our denial of Mason's assumptions was even in sync.

I don't know what Rosaline thinks of me, but I do NOT have any romantic thoughts about her. First of all, I'm mentally 38-years-old! I died because of pedophiles, so why in the absolute fuck would I become a pedophile myself? That would be fucking crazy!

Secondly, I'm a slave. Even if I do have feelings for her—which, I cannot stress this enough, I DON'T—my status as a slave wouldn't allow me to be with her.

Oh god, just imagining myself marrying Rosaline makes me nauseous.

"Okay sorry! Sheesh, I'm just joking around!" Mason held up his hands after we shouted at him.

I took out a cloak from my satchel. Before leaving the room, I looked at Mason and smiled gently.

"W-what?" Mason was confused.

"Mason...go fuck yourself."

Then I slammed the door closed. Just before I left to go to Rosaline's room, I heard Mason's voice on the other side of the door.

"Agronus' beard.... what a rude kid."

Well, you reap what sow, asshole. You put the disgusting image of and thought of romantically loving Rosaline in my head. Cursing you once tonight is just the tip of the iceberg.

I was just about to reach the room where Rosaline and Rachel are when the door to that room swung open.

Out came a small figure around the same height as mine, wearing a green cloak as opposed to my black one. Rosaline was already wearing her cloak, hiding a blue dress underneath.

"Let's go let's go let's go let's go let's go let's go let's go!!!!" Rosaline was too giddy and pulled on my arm, dragging me to the inn's exit.

We wandered around the streets of the city. There were many lights installed all over and people parading while dancing and drinking liquor.

Is there a festival or something?

I asked someone nearby while holding Rosaline's wrist with a tight grip. There were a lot of people tonight, it would be easy for someone like her to get lost. And I for one, am not in the mood for a game of hide n' seek.

The person I asked gladly answered my question.

Turns out my guesses were right. There was a festival ongoing.

The festival was about celebrating the blessings of the spirits over this land. Spirits are entities not normally seen by the naked eye. They are basically the bringer of the elemental components of the world. They bring the change of seasons and the cycle of the weather. While the gods rule over their domain, the spirits are basically their proxies that micromanage things.

For example, the God of the Wind and Sky, Aeolus, rules over the domain of... well, the wind and sky. But he has wind spirits that help him manage most of everything instead of controlling everything himself. According to theology studies, while he is all-knowing concerning all the winds in the world, he doesn't go out of his way to manage everything himself.

In fact, most of the other gods are like this. Especially those who rule over a certain element. Gods that don't rule over an element, like let's say, Frigga or Agronus, have their own type of proxies that are similar but different from the elemental spirits.

Their proxies are something called Enheras. They're pretty much this world's version of Earth's angels.

The territory of Count Hepburn's main export are crops. Wheat, grain, fruits, vegetables, and other kinds of leafy greens. The territory specializes in agriculture and is always blessed with bountiful harvests. From what the person I asked told me, they hold annual festivities that last a month to express their gratitude to the spirits.

Adding the fact that the territory has little to no monsters running around and that wild beasts seldom leave the forest. Because of that, there's no need to protect the precious fields of farmers.

There hasn't been any drought in centuries and the soil is fertile, letting crops grow big and healthy. Maybe the spirits really are watching over this land.

Sending an invitation to Rosaline during the month of the festival shouldn't be a coincidence.

People flooded the streets while singing merry songs. They held pints and bottles of ale while dancing and frolicking around.

Rosaline herself wanted to join in on the festive mood.

"Wow!!" She admired the lively scene.

Rosaline tried to pull away from my grip and run around, but luckily I channeled Aura just in time to counteract her strength. I don't know what I would do if she ever learned Aura.

And that was the moment that I realized... I fucked up.

In the blink of an eye, a blanket of white energy covered Rosaline from head to toe. With Aura boosting her already herculean strength, she escaped from my grip and dove into the crowd.

"Shit!! I fucking jinxed myself! Did Rachel fucking teach her Aura too?!"

"Hey! Watch your language." A bystander scolded me.

"Fuck off!!" I cussed at him.

I quickly chased after her, diving into the sea of festive people.

"Ow!"

"Hey!"

"Watch it!"

"My leg!"

I was pushing everyone that got in my way. I didn't have the luxury to be nice.

"Rosaline! Where are you!" I called out to her, hoping she'd answer back so that I could follow her voice.

She didn't answer back, or at least, I didn't hear a reply. The crowd was making a lot of noise that was blocking out anything comprehensible. Perhaps she didn't even hear me in the first place. The girl's got a loud booming voice, it would be impossible for me not to hear her.

After swimming through the tight crowd, I saw a figure wearing a green cloak around the same height as mine.

"Rosaline! There you are."

I quickly chased after her. The tight crowd made it difficult for me to pursue her.

Minutes later, the chase ended after I cornered her in an alleyway.

"C'mon Rosaline. Let's go back to the inn."

"You're no fun!" Rosaline stomped her foot in annoyance.

"You already had your fun!"

"Hmph!"

As we were about to leave the alley, the exit was blocked by a man. Behind him was another man, but he was holding a wooden stick.

Oh great, we're being kidnapped, aren't we?

"Hi, kids... why don't we go somewhere fun?"

"How about no?"

I channeled Aura and the two thugs channeled Aura as well. Looking behind me, I saw that Rosaline also channeled Aura and put her fists up in an amateurish fighting stance. There won't be any chance of her fighting as long as I'm around.

Stretching my hands behind me, I created a strong gust of wind right before kicking off the ground. The wind pushed me forward, accelerating my speed.

Using the momentum of my speed, I kicked the mouth of the first thug, knocking him out cold along with several teeth.

"What the-?! You're dead meat!"

The second thug swung his stick at my head. Dodgin his strike with ease, I disarmed him by hitting his wrist real hard.

Gripping the stick I stole from the thug, I swiftly trusted it towards the abdomen of the thug while he was still distracted by the pain on his wrist.

"Oof!"

The thug bent over from the pain as he reflexively grabbed his stomach.

I jumped and then swung the stick downwards with a gust of wind boosting the force behind it.

*TOK*

The strike to the head rendered the thug unconscious.

I dropped the stick and turned back to Rosaline, expecting the girl to be there.

When I turned around, a foot was right in front of my face.

*POW*

An unexpected kick to the face came out of nowhere and dazed me.

Then I heard a booming sound, like a cannon hitting a stone wall.

*BOOM*

When I recovered, I saw three black-clad figures. Two of them were still standing while the other was embedded into a wall. From what I could see, that is Rosaline's doing. Her herculean strength couple with Aura really fucked over that guy.

But Rosaline herself was unconscious. A small needle can be seen pricked on her neck. I presumed that was laced with a sleeping agent. There was a probability of it being a lethal poison, but that was unlikely.

During my time serving as Rosaline's butler, there have been multiple intrusions of people wearing similarly black clothing. They have never once tried to kill Rosaline, only kidnap her.

My guess was right on the money, as one of the black-clad figures picked up the unconscious Rosaline and tried to escape by climbing up the walls.