Elmer's Secret

Ren immediately stood up when he noticed Conor coming by. But Ren remained there, waiting for Conor to come closer. Conor furrowed his eyebrows. Did this boy wait for him until this late? He couldn't help but to be reminded again by his dog in his previous life.

"What is it?" Conor asked with a slightly hoarse voice. He was out the whole day, definitely tired from all the stuff that was happening. Even right now, his eyes were ready to shut down.

Ren noticed the lethargic Conor, and let out a worried face. Looking at this boy in front of him, Conor wanted to laugh. Just three days ago, Conor was afraid of this boy. And now, Ren looked no more dangerous than a cat. Even though the unsettling aura Ren let out was a different story.

"Just say it, what do you want?" Conor asked again.

Hearing that, Ren proceeded to speak. He looked like he was thinking for a while before opening his mouth.

"Where was?"

Conor didn't catch what Ren meant before finally concluded that Ren asked where he was. Ren's pronunciation was awkward and the sentence structure had something missing. But considering Ren had memorized hundreds of words by three days, and was able to understand simple conversation was amazing nonetheless.

"Just taking care of something" Conor replied. But Ren was silent. His face was clearly puzzled.

Conor sighed, maybe his words were too complicated.

"Work" Conor said again. Conor didn't particularly go to work, but he was quite confused about what word to describe what he did. Therefore, Conor just let out anything on his mind.

Hearing the word he was familiar with, Ren's face turned serious. He had a convinced look from his eyes.

"I too, work" Ren said, still with his awkward sentence.

But this time, Conor truly didn't get what Ren was saying. Conor thought that Ren might said that he wanted to work too, but what kind of person would want work when they could spend their days peacefully without any worries?

It was then, Conor felt a cold mysterious aura appearing out of nowhere, along with an amicable voice.

"He's been saying that he wanted to work"

Lou was standing behind Conor, smiling with his usual friendly look. But the way this assassin showed up almost gave him heart attack.

"Can you warn me before showing up?" Conor stepped back, trying to calm down his beating heart.

"Oh, did I scare you, Young Master? My apologies" Lou gave him a worried face which seemed genuine, but it made Conor irritated instead.

"Anyways, he really said that?" Conor asked, while pointed to Ren with his chin.

"Well I think so" Lou said, and then also shifted his gaze to Ren. "Right, Ren?"

Ren nodded, his face was still as serious as before.

"Yes, I want work" Ren said. He still looked up to Conor with a determined gaze.

Conor sighed. He just wanted to rest, and he held on because he thought it was an important matter. But the matter Ren wanted to talk about was just this?

"You don't need to" Conor said coldly. He was a little cranky now that he know it was something insignificant.

But Ren shook his head in disagreement. "No free meal. For thanks" He added.

Conor once again was thinking hard to figure out what Ren was saying. But he didn't need to, thanks to Lou.

"He said that he feels bad to receive housing and meals for free. So he wants to return the favor" Lou translated what Ren wanted to say. Hearing the word that he let out in a complete sentence, Ren quickly nodded in agreement.

"Well, what a useful translator" Conor said being sarcastic.

"Thank you" Lou smiled, as if unaffected with the sarcasm.

Conor was slowly getting annoyed again at this butler. If only he could change him for someone else, he would do that right now. But he held himself back since he wanted to be in a good term with Viscountess Nadia for now.

"I've been wondering, but why don't Young Master use Translation Device?" Lou suddenly asked.

Conor eyed Lou with a lazy look, as if the answer was something obvious. Well, Conor actually didn't have any obligation to explain it to begin with. That was why he just replied with the most simple answer.

"I don't have it" Conor said.

But the butler didn't give up.

"I know that it costs a fortune, but it's probably nothing to Young Master" Lou continued. Conor didn't know if this butler was trying to dig information from Conor, or just to satisfy his own curiosity.

Everyone in this novel universe knew that magic devices, including translation device were expensive. But they were still varied greatly in their prices. Translation device could only specifically be made by a mage proficient in both of the languages of translation. Therefore, the difficulty to find someone proficient in a certain language dictated the price of a translation device. That was why translation devices that could translate elven language or beastkin language only appeared at auctions. Meanwhile, a translation device for a mere human language might be expensive, but still affordable to nobles like Conor.

However, Lou failed to consider one thing.

"His language is not registered" Conor said.

Lou tilted his head, baffled. Seemed like he didn't expect that there was a human language which was out of reach in this world.

"Then, where is he from?" Lou finally asked.

But Conor had no intention to answer that question. Moreover, Lou should already know it from Viscountess Nadia. The fact that Ren came through The Mountain Range of Death.

"You should ask the person himself" Conor said, eyeing Ren who lost in the conversation. Ren just learned Araun Kingdom language for three days. He couldn't possibly catch up with all the difficult words.

"Oh, Young Master know it already?" Lou asked.

"No, I don't know" Conor replied hastily, and quickly turning away from Lou.

Before Lou could ask him more, Conor immediately called out to Ren.

"And you, Ren"

Ren quickly put his attention to whatever Conor would say.

"First, learn the language. Then, work. Okay?" Conor said in the most simplest way, for Ren to understand.

Ren looked a little dejected hearing that. But he replied to Conor anyways.

"Yes" Ren said weakly.

In truth, Conor just didn't want Ren to had a reason to stay longer in the mansion. As Ren would bring nothing but trouble to Conor.

But, when Conor thought about it again, there was nothing wrong with letting Ren work. He would leave the mansion in the future anyways. Also, he just had a clever idea that would save him trouble.

"Wait" Conor called out to Ren, who was still standing in front of him looking dispirited.

"If you want to work, then why don't you work under Lou?" He said to Ren.

But the one who replied to him was Lou, who heard his name being mentioned.

"Huh? But..." Lou lost his words. Conor smiled internally, as he was ecstatic seeing Lou so unwilling like this.

"It's not like you have other work other than serving me right? You understand Ren better than me. That's why I think you could be a good partner for Ren to practice his speech. Isn't that perfect?" Conor said, while Lou was looking at him with a slight displease. It was barely noticeable even for Conor.

Ren was somehow understand that he finally got approved to work, therefore he nodded with a happy face.

"Seems like Ren also agrees. You have any problem with it, Lou?" Conor asked, he had a triumphant look on his face.

Lou, who had no reason to refused finally gave in.

"No" Lou said with a strong voice, but Conor knew Lou was internally despondent.

Conor smiled. His mood uplifted in just a second. With this, at least Lou wouldn't have so much free time to bother him anymore.

"Well, then I will arrange it tomorrow, so why don't you guys go to sleep now?" Conor motioned for the two of them to leave. And then quietly muttered to himself.

"Why are you guys still awake at this time anyways?"

But Ren who heard of the mutter replied to Conor.

"This time, I always awake. Can't sleep" Ren said without any burden.

But Conor, who knew how Ren lived until now could understand what he meant. Ren had been wandering around The Lawless Land of Demons in hiding. He was almost killed a thousand times by the demons, leaving him with no choice but to live in The Mountain Range of Death. However, the Mountain Range of Death was way worse than the demons. There, the strong ruled the weak. Countless strong monsters were wandering around, leaving Ren wide awake. He couldn't have a nice long sleep without being afraid of dying anytime.

Therefore, Conor could see why Ren wasn't able sleep easily even though there wasn't any danger anymore.

"He said that he is always awake around this time because he can't-" Lou once again acted as a translator, but Conor cut him.

"I know, you don't need to translate it" Conor said, motioning Lou to stop.

Conor was a little empathetic as he knew how hard it was being insomniac. If Ren couldn't sleep, then would having a friend beside him helped Ren to relax? Conor didn't know. But Ren was always alone, and maybe a friend figure would help him.

"Lou, you don't have a roommate right?" Conor asked.

Everyone who worked in the mansion had roommate or two. However, a servant serving a member of the household actually got a better treatment by having their own rooms.

As if sensing a bad premonition, Lou was hesitant to reply "Yes..."

"Then you can move to Ren's room. I think his room is bigger than yours" Conor said, satisfied with his decision. It was clearly a win situation for him as he could create a perfect distance from Ren, and also kept Lou away from him. It would also be nice if both of them were getting closer just like Elmer and Lou in the novel.

Ren who could understand the gist of what Conor said was baffled by the sudden arrangement. But Ren neither complained or being happy with it as Ren didn't actually mind having a roommate.

With that, Ren and Lou were sent back to their rooms. Lou would start to move his stuff in the morning, as it was already past midnight.

When finally left alone, Conor yawned. It was past his bedtime already. As he was about to open the door to his room, he saw a mysterious man in the garden through the window.

The figure stood in front of the largest tree in the garden, touching the bark with his right hand. Conor could not see him clearly since he stood in the shade, where the moonlight couldn't reach him. However he knew that it was definitely Elmer.

Seeing Elmer, Conor suddenly got reminded of his promise with Viscount Marcel. He promised to persuade Elmer to be the heir. He originally planned to approach Elmer slowly, but he got no time to start doing it ever since Lou came. He was really distracted by Lou that he couldn't put his mind to Elmer.

Conor sighed.

Conor was actually really tired, and in a dire need of sleep. However, he couldn't miss this perfect coincidence. He didn't know any opportunities to meet Elmer except for dinner time. And Elmer would definitely be wary if Conor just suddenly visit him out of nowhere.

With that in mind, Conor sluggishly walked his way to the garden.

---

Elmer stood in front of an oak tree, the largest tree in this garden. He had a nightmare, and couldn't go back to sleep. He decided to take a walk to the garden, hoping that he could calm down after seeing his friend. Elmer looked up to see the whole tree, and smiled softly. Maybe in this house, the only one who could see his angelic smile was the one and only friend he had.

Elmer touched the bark gently.

"It's been a while" He said with his genuine smile.

"The storm had been bad these days. I'm glad that today is clear" Elmer continued, while looking at the clear starry sky. The crescent moon looked pretty that night. He thought that the garden was really beautiful with the moonlight shining upon it.

Elmer looked down at the tree again. However, he could see a shadow of a man stood behind him.

Surprised, Elmer quickly turned to the owner of the shadow. Under the moonlight, Elmer could see the familiar brunette hair, and a honey colored eyes. A feature resembled him.

Seeing Conor there, Elmer froze. Out of anyone, Conor was the least person he expected to be here. He was just hoping out of the slim chance, that Conor didn't hear anything he said.

"Hello, Brother" Conor greeted him.

There was a short silence before Conor took a glance at the oak tree behind Elmer.

Conor smiled. However, Elmer became even more alert.

"I see that you still talk to that friend of yours" Conor said.