This man has changed

Ian decided to stop the murder attempt. He didn't want such a special turn of events to come to an abrupt end so soon due to the main character of the events' death. Now, the question was, how he was supposed to stop it?

'But man, I'm too lazy to spy on this doctor or investigate his office... How else am I supposed to know if he intends on poisoning Alaric sooner than planned?'

While watching the doctor leave, the words he spoke were repeated in Ian's mind.

-Please don't forget to take it like with your specially brewed tea every time.

'His specially brewed tea... Hmm...'

Alaric picked up one of the pills and looked at it from every angle.

"I'll bring you your tea, young master."

"Ah? Wait!" The young man waved his hands at Ranger. "I'll take it at a later time."

Alaric threw the tea back at the pocket and picked up his cup. 

"Young master you must-"

"At lunch! I'll take it after that!"

"..."

Ranger stepped into the room as soon as the doctor left and shook his head at his master's word. With a glance, he ordered the servants to pack up the table and didn't forget to shoot a meaningful gaze at Ian, which wasn't hard for Ian to interpret.

-I'll have a nice talk with you later.

'Jeez!'

Ian also got up and brought his master's clothes, feeling goosebumps all over. Alaric glanced at the shirt that Ian was holding, blinking repeatedly. 

"...Yes?"

"You must wear it." Ian pushed the clothes forward. His master's eyebrows rose.

"Ah! Why not say it sooner? Alright, give it here!"

Alaric reached out his hand to catch the clothes, but Ian was faster in snatching them away.

"You should first change out of your pajamas, master." 

Was he going to wear this luxurious outfit on top of his pajamas?

"...Uhm... Sure..." Alaric got up, eyes fixed on the clothes. "I can't actually take off my clothes here in the room in front of the others. Give me the clothes, I'll go change in that room over there."

Alaric pointed at a door inside his room, a smile etched on his lips. Ian's gaze followed the direction he was pointing in before looking back at Alaric.

"That's the bathroom, young master."

Sweat dropped off the man's forehead, "Y-yeah? Well, w-why would it matter? I'll go change my clothes and be back."

Ian let out a surpassed sigh. His master had an inclination to use the bathroom as a changing room, how was he supposed to react?

"I must help you."

"No, why? I'm a grown-up man! I can wear my own clothes."

Despite not having any intentions of forcing this man to strip naked in front of him anymore, Ian continued to press on him, only because he felt entertained by the conversation.

"That's my duty as a servant. It's something we do every day."

"Bro chill! Why does it matter how and where I change my clothes?"

Alaric waved his hand at him, face contorted to a complicated expression. 

"I was just curious as to why my master suddenly felt uneasy about the normal routine of his life, that's it!"

Alaric behaved as if he had forgotten the rules he set up himself, his declaration that Ian was to help him change faster out of his clothes to save time, and was acting similarly to a shy little girl instead of the person he was. 

How interesting.

'W-why is he smiling?' The young master avoided eye contact with his servant, whose lips were curling up to a smile. 

"Aren't I your m-master? Then I o-order you to give me my clothes and leave me alone until I'm done changing! A-Ahem!"

The awkward face and voice of the man betrayed his attempt to look serious, but Ian didn't point that out. He held back from grinning and handed a bunch of different pieces of clothes to young master Alaric. The man sneaked into the bathroom as soon as he was handed the clothes like a mouth running into its hole.

"...."

"...."

The only people in the room were Ian and Liam, the guard, who looked at each other for a second but said nothing.

"Umm..."

The bathroom door cracked open and Alaric's head popped out through the crack.

"H-how do you wear this thing?", he said while waving one of his clothes in his hand.

"Haah! Young master!"

. . . . . . .

After finally managing to properly wear his clothes, Alaric was forced to work and dragged to his office, located beside his bedroom. However, instead of working diligently like always, he was going around his vast library, taking out books completely unrelated to his work.

'Are these... novels?'

The books he was given to carry all had strange titles, not resembling state-related documents at all. 

[The Rise of the Banished Swordmaster

Volume 2 of the "Unrestrained" series by Lili]

"....."

Alaric was reading novels instead of working. Ian sighed before putting a cup of black tea in front of his master.

"Ah, thank you." 

"...."

Mr. Regressor blinked upon being thanked as he moved back to stand beside his master, as a servant should. 

"Ummm..." the young man looked up after reading about half of the novel. "Can you please give me a blank notebook?"

'...Can you please...'

The bizarre words echoed inside Ian's head.

"Sure."

After a few seconds, a notebook was placed in Alaric's hands. He picked up the quill but put it down after a short observation, picked it up again and drew a messy line on a piece of paper, frowned, and moved it up. A drop of ink splashed on the paper and stained it. Alaric flinched and frowned even more.

"Uhhh..." He looked up at Ian for a second time, amber eyes reflecting Ian's blue hair. "Don't you... Um... Have other kinds of pens? Like some that aren't a quill..."

"...Do you mean a fountain pen?"

"Y-yes!"

A few seconds later, a fountain pen was also placed in Alaric's hands. He played with it for a while before finally managing to write with it. After familiarizing himself with the pen, he began scribing in the notebook.

'Is this... in another language?'

Ian narrowed his eyes and scanned the pages, but couldn't understand a single word written on it. The words didn't belong to any language that he knew. 

'This doesn't belong to any language I know, which means it's not from any in this continent...'

At that moment, Alaric suddenly raised his head and looked at Ian.

"...."

"...."

"Um..." The young master put down the pen he was holding and shot Ian an apologetic smile.

"Can't you sit somewhere?"

"...Pardon?"

Ian tilted his head from side to side with an eyebrow raised. His master cleared his throat with a fake cough.

"Ahem! It's kind of uncomfortable... You standing there, I mean-"

Oh!?

"If you are worried that I might peek at your notes, I can reassure you that as a servant, I haven't gone through education and am illiterate, unable to understand the contents of the notebook. However, if it's my presence that is bothering you, then I can stand beside the door until you are done with work, master. "

"...No, not that!" Alaric's eyes drooped, lips pressing on each other.

Then what?

"I'm your personal aid, sir. I won't try to spy on your work but if you feel like you don't trust me enough to-"

"Wait! Wait!"

The young man's embarrassed expression gave its place to an awkward one. He took a deep breath as if to prepare himself to talk.

"I don't want you to stand. Nor that man over there who has a... a sword on his waist. Well... He looks strong enough to keep standing like that for a few days... and he's a guard, but why do you do that? It's not that I don't trust you, it's that it's not right for someone to stand up like that for hours. Just go sit somewhere, this place is filled with chairs and sofas!"

Alaric waved his hands as he stared at Ian with a serious gaze while talking utter bullshit. Of course, Ian couldn't tell his master that his words seemed like bullshit to his ears. Seeing his master acting so out of character was amusing, so Ian didn't stop teasing him. 

"Master, is something bothering you today? You aren't as usual."

He went straight to the question that had been in his mind since the morning, although he knew that the young man probably wouldn't answer him honestly.

"Y-yes?"

Alaric flinched and shifted his gaze away from his blue-haired servant, staring intently at the carpet.

"N-no! What do you mean? Of course not. I'm just the same as before! Exactly the same! Nothing has changed in me!"

'...Even a five-year-old lies better than you,' Ian held back from laughing. He felt slightly guilty for bullying this man after seeing the kind of expression he was making.

"I see. I must've come to the wrong conclusion. Excuse me then," the servant bowed as he said. He walked to a sofa and plopped down, leaning on its soft back in a comfortable position. The way he was sprawled on the sofa was extremely rude, but Alaric didn't seem to care as he went back to scribing in the notebook.

"Psst!"

Ian shifted his gaze from Alaric to the voice that came from the door. The young master's guard, Liam, was calling him in a low voice, or, he was trying to.

"Ahem!"

Alaric coughed before burying his head in the papers as if to say, 'I don't see nor hear you, you can do whatever you want!'

Liam silently mouthed at Ian, talking in a whisper.

-Mr. Ranger will punish you if he knows you are being so disrespectful!

Ian whispered back as he shrugged.

-How would he know? Unless you tell him! Actually, you come to sit here as well.

"No I wouldn't-" Liam, who had suddenly blurted, covered his mouth with a hand. Before Liam could correct his mistake, a knock was heard on the door. The door opened without any delay as if the person didn't care if Alaric allowed them in or not. An old man with dark blue eyes rushed into the room in haste.

"I apologize for acting so rude, young master, but there is an emergency so," Ranger's wandering gaze suddenly caught on Ian, who wasn't fast enough to stand up nor sit properly, and his pupils widened to a threatening degree. "...So I had to inform you as soon as possible."

Ian shot up to his feet as if splashed with hot water, 'W-why am I still scared of this old man even after going through so many things?' he had goosebumps all over his body.

The young master flinched and sat straight, "Y-yes? What's wrong?"

"A messenger arrived from the empire. You have to greet them in person as they are here for you."

"Me? Why? What's the matter?"

Alaric got up hesitantly. Ranger failed to keep his face stoic and frowned slightly.

"Have you forgotten about the invitation?"

"Forget? What do you mean by that? I've definitely not forgotten something so important! Don't you know me? Ahem! I-I just wanted to hear a more detailed explanation!"

The corner of Alaric's lips bent up and formed something that seemed like a failed attempt to smile.

'He's definitely forgotten,' Ian did his best not to grin.

"I see."

Ranger shot a suspicious gaze at Alaric but didn't harp on the topic any longer.

"The messenger has brought the invitation letter for you to participate in the Great Emperor's birthday party."