CH 136

Several days passed while I was busy doing some stuff — buying fish in the fishing village, gathering materials, and spending a lot of time evading Roza’s team.

Right now, I’m in a bar we don’t normally go to, and Butler’s with me. Everything tastes bad, so why did he choose this place?

「I thought it is best to be in a location that we will no longer go to in case the negotiations fall through.」

Butler replied with a smile when our eyes met.

Do we really have to be careful ‘in case the negotiations fall through’? We’re meeting up today with the people I requested Butler to find.

「I originally wanted the setting to be in a different town; unfortunately I cannot leave this place for too long. 」

Butler’s reading my mind!!

I push the things on the plate aside for a bit, then secretly take some cookies out and mix them with the other stuff. The wine here is bad too, but it’s diluted, so maybe we can just treat it as a substitute for water…

Butler is looking, but he didn’t comment, so it’s not because of my Japanese taste that the food sucks — seems like it’s also well known to be unpleasant, even with the standards of this world.

The ones I took out are cranberry cookies, but with strawberries mixed with the batter. Well, as long as I don’t get caught, everything’s fine. See, I’m already holding back from taking out other dishes like meat or fish, so just let it go, alright.

「Excuse me. 」

Somebody came while I munch on a cookie.

「Welcome. 」

「Good evening. Pleased to meet you, I’m in your care for today. 」

I wipe my hands on a handkerchief and stand up.

Two butlers who looked like they came from a butler cafe came? Pointlessly handsome, identical faces, one with pale golden hair, the other with silver. Slight smile on one hand, expressionless — poker face — on the other.

Are all butlers like this?

「…Something smells. 」

「Smell? 」

I subconsciously sniff my hand.

I handled fish for today’s lunch. It doesn’t smell fishy, but maybe my nose has already gone bad.

「 — Pardon me. 」

Silver took a cookie with his hand still gloved.

Wah, did I get caught!? Butler, are all butlers this sharp? The type you can’t hide anything from?

「…. There’s a certain taste. 」

He looked shocked after a single bite.

「You? 」

Gold seemed stunned too, and the smile was wiped off from his face. Something’s going on between the two, but I don’t have the slightest idea about a lot of things.

「We have something we have to take care of. 」

「Pardon us, this negotiation is void. 」

「…Did my cookies taste that bad? 」

I stared at the closed door.

「No, Jean-sama’s confections are delicious. I apologize, this is the first time I experienced such a reaction. 」

Butler doesn’t show it, but he seems just as stumped as me.

「Anyway, destroy evidence first then let’s go? 」

I stuff the cookies in my mouth.

After I’m done eating and was about to open the door, Butler beat me to it. He opened the door in my place.

「Whoa! 」

Smiling Gold stood there with Silver behind him. That’s scary.

「Please excuse our rudeness earlier. 」

「We accept the job. In return, tell us where you got that snack. 」

Silver is rude, but Smiley Gold seems more suspicious.

I’m the type of master who wants my employees to hold affection for me.. Nah, not so much affection, but respect? No, not that either. I’m fine with someone normal.

「We cannot tell you, unfortunately. Please disregard this discussion. 」

Butler probably sensed my slight hesitation, so he rejected them.

Tension’s getting higher between Gold and Butler. No, why are you so bloodthirsty like this?

「We cannot make a show in this place. We will give a written oath that we will not harm you and your master. 」

「You can include that man too. 」

Gold proposes with a sigh. Silver points at me with his jaw, as if he finds this a pain in the neck.

This written oath stuff is like a promise that you make with a spirit. Like that cursed book, the moment you break your oath, you’re gonna suffer from terrible consequences. Still, it’s considered intensely binding apparently, given that the person who made the oath will be the one to suffer.

Yeah, I know that, but what d’ ya mean by harm, huh?

「It is not available in a store. However, depending on the conditions, I will be requesting your help from time to time. 」

It seems better if I don’t say anything, so I just kept mum and left it all to Butler. But then, there’s a lot of things I wanna ask, so…

「Why are you making such a fuss over that snack? 」

「… 」

Silver averts his gaze.

「It’s because he cannot taste normal food. 」

Gold laughed, seemingly troubled.

「Hmpf. They may be few, but there are other things that I can taste. Won’t pose any major compromise.」

Silver dejectedly commented.

Having no taste must be terrible.

「So? Who are we gonna do in? 」

I just kept quiet for a bit, when Silver got annoyed and said that.

「…Noth? 」

I called out to the stupefied Butler.

「It seems there is a misunderstanding, but I’m acting as an intermediary for a job requesting for a steward. 」

A steward is responsible for relaying the errands of the master to the servants and managing the general affairs of the household. The job description is quite similar to that of a butler but they’re more proactive, or should I say they do miscellaneous routine tasks and duties. Moreover, they don’t stay in the house for long; more like on-call for when things are busy, quite the carefree job it is.

「…Then why the vigilance for just a mere steward? 」

Gold asks with a frozen smile plastered on his face.

「It’s just a habit of mine. 」

Butler answered with a superficial smile.

Uh, there’s a lot of things I wanna take a jab at, can I?

_________

T/N: Gold and Silver Ikemen Butlers:) *swoon*