Food?

Setting everything on the table, I waited for the man to come and eat his food.

"Oh!"

Young master Alaric gasped after seeing the colorful food on the table and jumped up from the bed with an excited face.

"Enjoy your food, young master."

Said the old butler as he stepped away from the table after fixing everything.

"Ah! Thank you."

Flinch

All of the servants, and even the guard standing beside the door, flinched upon hearing that. They all turned to look at each other.

'He said thank you!'

'Oh my god!'

Even I was baffled a little bit.

Not having even realized the slight tension in the room, the young master grabbed his fork and picked up a small piece of meat. But before he put the food in his mouth, he halted and looked at us.

"...Are you not going to eat?"

He slightly tilted his head from side to side.

"Sorry?"

The old butler asked, his eyes as wide as the meat the young master was holding.

"Um... Are you just going to stand there while I eat?"

"...Yes, young master."

The young man strongly shook his head.

"No! You should eat as well!"

"Young master-"

"There are a lot of empty seats here! Why don't you sit and eat with me?"

"W-we wouldn't dare to-"

"Hey!"

The young master waved his hand with an annoyed face.

"I said sit and eat food with me! It's so awkward like this!"

He glared at the three servants and the guard who were all looking at him with blank and surprised expressions.

"I can't enjoy the food like this! Especially when an elderly person is standing up the whole time..."

He mumbled the last words in a low voice, but we could still hear him.

"...."

"...."

"...."

"...."

SLAM

The young master slammed the table, making the other people in the room flinch.

"I said sit down and eat!"

"Y-yes, young master!"

Finally giving up, we all sat on one chair around the long dining table.

Smile

Young master Alaric smiled at us and pointed at the food.

"Eat whatever you want."

"Y-yes..."

It was a really awkward situation. Everyone was staring at the food with hesitation.

'Oohhh! Steak!!!'

Except for me. Why would you hesitate when such delicious food was served to you? The young master has gone crazy. I won't be surprised by his strange behaviors anymore. Rather, let's enjoy it! I've never tasted the food of the master chief of this count's manor before.

I picked up a piece of steak and put it inside my mouth. It was super delicious. I want to eat this food for the rest of my life.

If the young master was going to treat us like this and let us eat his food, then maybe I should stay alive a little bit longer. It would be a waste to regress and never eat these foods again. Damn it.

"...."

"...."

"...."

Seeing how I was stuffing meat into my mouth like a hungry buff, the two other servants and the guard also started to eat some food, still with an awkward look on their faces. They tore tiny bits of steak and hesitantly put them into their mouths while nervously glancing around.

"It's really delicious!"

The other person who was stuffing food into his mouth like a crazed man, the young master, commented as he placed more food on his plate.

"I know right?"

That comment left my mouth unintentionally. The atmosphere, once again, turned cold as soon as I said that.

"...."

I gulped down my food and peeked at the young master.

"Yeah! Look! These steaks are really the best."

TAK

A steak was placed on my plate. It was the young master who did it, seemingly forgetting that he was eating food with his servants and had to act more... preserved. He was talking casually while chewing his food with a happy face.

'Oh! The crazed young master is quite kind!'

I noted that in my head and started to stuff the steak into my mouth.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Three pairs of eyes were digging holes in my back.

'Come on, eat your damn food!'

I ignored them all.

"By the way, what are your names?"

The young master asked after eating his fourth steak. The servants were taken back for a moment before being reminded of their master's memory loss. Their faces soon turned to saddened ones while some sent daggers toward me with their glares.

"I'm Ian!"

I said while filling my plate with roasted chicken.

"It's Ranger, young master."

"I'm Severin, sir."

"Liam."

The old butler, my superior servant who kept poking holes in my sides, and the guard, said one by one.

The young master nodded his head.

"Nice to meet you all! I am Ai- Uh... Alaric I guess..."

He nodded his head before turning back to eat his food. That was why he didn't notice the gloomy expressions of the people sitting around him. The two servants, Ranger and Severin, and the guard, Liam, were all looking at the young master with a mixed expression of sadness and pity. They sent angry glares at me from time to time as well, but why would I even care when I have such delicious food in front of me?

"So... Um, can you explain to me about things around here?"

Young master Alaric asked and then shot a bright and innocent smile to our faces.

Bright and innocent... seeing such a smile on the face of my cold master was really strange. I once again was reminded that there are still things to make you surprised even if you've regressed numerous times.

"What do you mean by that, young master?"

Ranger asked cautiously while poking his steak that he hadn't even eaten a bite of.

"I mean... Like, who I am, where this place is... what kind of life I had and such?"

The young master tilted his head from side to side while saying those as if he was thinking at the same time as he talked.

"I know my name is Alaric... and you call me young master... and it seems like I'm the son of a count?... I don't know anything else."

I couldn't help but frown while looking at young master Alaric's face. Something didn't feel right. His face from before, which was a purely innocent and clueless face, now looked a little bit different. His gaze headed down and his voice sank a little bit while saying the last sentence. His face was also shadowed by an unknown expression.

Probably sensing my gaze, the man raised his head to look at me and shifted his gaze as soon as we made eye contact.

'Huh?'

I tilted my head slightly.

'What's it?'

What is this sudden change?

'Come to think of it, he said some strange things back in the morning...'

He was screaming 'WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING HERE???' and 'WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?' and before that he said something about a... character?'

'Wasn't he... a character in that...', was what he said before he started screaming.

'What does that even mean?'

A character? Why would someone shout about characters as soon as they wake up to find they've lost their memories? Did he perhaps have a dream before I woke him up?

I don't know. Things are fishy. Very fishy!

As much as I like to die and regress again, I also want to know what the hell is going on in this round. Why did I regress sooner than always and... And more than anything, I'd like to know that,

'How in the world can someone lose their memories after getting punched in the stomach?'

"Sigh."

I filled my plate with steak once more.

"Young master..."

Ranger opened his mouth and said in a soft voice. His gaze directed towards the young master was filled with warmth as well as pity, the opposite of how he sent occasional hateful glares at me.

"You are Alaric Poqlen, the second child and only son of count Poqlen, as well as the next heir to the family."

Young master Alaric nodded his head. He seemed to be hesitating a little bit before asking something again.

"And... which country are we in? What does our county do? Ah, most importantly, what date is it?"

Clang

A fork fell down to the ground and made a fairly loud voice.

"Ack- Sorry!"

I apologized immediately and bent my body to pick up the fork I threw down.

"Poqlen county is located in the southwest part of Loyatou. Our county has fertile soil and good weather, so our people are mostly focused on farming and gardening. And it's Monday today, 13'th day of 5'th month of the year 3213 of the Empire's calendar."

The old butled completely ignored me and answered all of the young master's questions one by one.

"...."

The young master blinked a few times and opened and closed his mouth, before lowering his head to look down at his plate. A complicated expression was on his face while his eyes were a little bit shaking at the same time. Of course, I was the only one who noticed it as I was secretly staring at his face while pretending to pick up my fork. I could see him open and close his mouth again as if mumbling something to himself, but I couldn't clearly hear what he said.

"It's... I've come... these people... the story..."

That was all I could hear, and I honestly understood nothing. Notting the additional strange words on my mind, I sat straight again on my seat. The fork was now dirty, so I put it aside and picked another one, and resumed stuffing my mouth with food.

"Thank you very much for the answers."

The young master thanked the four people, except me, the one who had been only eating like a bull the whole time, with a bright smile. The others smiled awkwardly and then looked back at their plates after the young master gestured to them to eat.

Creack

I jumped up from my seat after I finished eating half of the fried chickens and more than half of the steak on the table. I'll have mercy and let the others have the rest of the food.

"I'll bring you your medicine right now, young master."

I announced loudly before bowing. The young master flinched once when I stood up so suddenly, once flinched again after I mentioned 'Medicine', and once when I bowed my head down.

"Y-yes? Medicine? Ah- W-why are you bowing-"

"Ah, I'll also brew your tea!"

"T-tea? Yes!?"

He asked, looking at me with a flustered face. He then looked at the other servants with a questioning gaze.

"Am I sick?"

Yes, you've basically lost your memories just a few hours ago.

"Ah, there is nothing to worry about, young master."

Ranger said in a reassuring tone.

"The medicine is just for your mana... and also for the thing that happened this morning."

I, once again, skillfully ignored the glares on me. Bro, stop looking at me every time something about that incident is mentioned!

"My mana?"

I moved away from the table and walked to the door while the old man was busy explaining things to the young master.

"Yes. You've had a turbulent mana flow since birth, so you have to use medicine to control it on a daily routine. It's not a serious problem though. If controlled, you will face no harm... Yet, the incident of this morning shows that your condition wasn't as good as we imagined..."

"Ah? Is that so?"

"Yeah, and there is also the memory loss so I guess you'll have to take whatever the doctor gives you until you regain your memories-"

Clack

I closed the door of the room and started to walk towards a specific door at the end of the corridor. The door had a nametag on it and also a different color design than the other rooms in the hall.

'Did they change them already?'

Wondering, I knocked and then opened the door of the room. This was a place where the personal doctor of the young master usually worked at. The medicines for his mana were also stored here most of the time. You needed to ask the doctor to get a pack from here. The whole pack would be placed in the kitchen until the man finished taking them and then I would come to get another pack from the doctor.

The pack hadn't finished yet, but I had to come to get the new medicine for the young master's amnesia. No one had told me to do this, but since I am such a hardworking and smart servant, I know what I should do even without being told~ Ahem!

"I've come to get the young master's medicines."

The doctor coldly glared at me as soon as I entered the room. He then shook his head and walked to a shelf, taking out a few packs of medicine from it and explaining which was what as he handed them to me one by one.

"These are for the amnesia. This is for his headaches, and this is for his mana."

"For his mana? Why? There are still some left from the previous pack."

I asked, making my face as oblivious as possible and tilting my head from side to side. The doctor sighed once before gesturing at the door.

"I had to remake them so that they wouldn't cause anything harmful after being used with other drugs. Now shoo! Get out."

"Yes..."

I hugged the packs and walked out of the room.

'Not cause any harm my butt! You are trying to kill him!'

They had done this so many times before that I even knew how long would it take for the young master to die if everything went according to their plan.

'He won't make it at this rate...'

This young lady has moved way too fast. It was almost as if she was waiting for this opportunity. Well, she really WAS waiting for this chance... To kill his brother...

'What should I do...'

I really shouldn't let the young master die if I wanted to live happily in this round... but I was not sure if him staying alive would even make any difference. After all, a young master who couldn't work was no different from a dead young master...

Still, keeping him alive would be beneficial. There was no knowing if his memories would come back or not, or if they did, what was gonna happen. I didn't really like to risk the peace of my future life by letting this man die now.

Also, the crazed young master gave me delicious food so he had to keep living.

But the real question was that...

'How am I supposed to prevent his death?'

I had to stop him from dying without making it obvious that I knew about the murder attempt and about their plan. I couldn't just go grab the young master and tell him "Hey you know you actually have an older sister whose hobby is to try to kill you and today is one of those days that she will attempt to murder you so be careful about what you eat!" I had to think of a proper way...

'Hmm... I'll just do it my way...'

Let's not think too deeply about things. Whatever the outcome, I can regress if things go wrong anyway.

'Tea~ Tea~'

The young master's tea was a special tea, brewed only by me, his special punching bag- servant! It was a medical tea in fact. The doctor had said that it was good for his mana problem and he also liked the taste, so he drank it every day after taking his medicines.

It wasn't hard to brew the tea. Only add some leaves to the teapot, add hot water, and wait. He would add the sugar himself when he wants to drink it, so there is nothing else for me to do but to wait.

Picking up the teapot and a cup, I hugged the packs of medicine again and walked back to the young master's room. The man was sitting at his desk, focused on reading something. Ranger was by his side. He was pointing at the notes that the young master was holding and seemed to be explaining something to him. The others were all in their positions.