Chapter 10 - Ioannis

I am Ioannis. I just turned 20 a couple of days ago. I was orphaned when the previous territory I lived in was ravished by a mudslide. It wiped out the whole territory and only 4 children from that town lived.

We were lucky that our parents had foresight and brought us to higher ground. I was young then but I still remember the faces of my parents quite vividly. The other three are much younger than me at that time: one was still a baby and the others were barely 2 years old so they don't remember much of what happened.

When we arrived here in the academe, we were given pendants to mark our identities of some sort. They said it is the symbol used by the territory we were previously a part of. Orphans that have known origins have these pendants. The rest that were picked from various places of unknown origins don't have a pendant and were simply given names if they don't have one. Having a pendant is said to be a sign of nobility as per the gossip circulated by the older attendants and the professors in this school.

I did not talk much when I was young that the school even thought I was mute or that my brain did not function that well. I guess I was kind of traumatized or because the reality that I don't have my home or my parents anymore have sinked in or maybe I was just trying to guard from strangers. I never talked about who my parents were or that I remember what happened at that time.

The professors are right and wrong. I am of noble background while the other three are common folk. I remember my parents being the leader of the place where I was born in. They called our place the Marquessate of Larkspur. My father was a margrave. It doesn't matter anymore now though. My parents and everyone else in that place are dead. That place was erased from the map. There is no reason to think about that anymore.

I have been in the Academe of Gnosis since I was 6. They clothed me, educated me and trained me to be what they called an attendant. The others are correct. It is just a fancy term for someone who has a 10-year slavery contract at this academe. I was with them since I was six and I thought they were just kind-hearted. Well, that was before I was given a slave mark when I was 15 and found out the real purpose of why they were taking care of me and the other kids for all those years.

As an attendant, I have to serve my lady in every way possible. We were living better than those people working in the entertainment district or brothels since we have a choice if we want to give our ourselves to the ones we serve or not. At least we get some kind of compensation if we lost our virginity or get pregnant but those women taking full responsibility or marrying the men they touched is just wishful thinking. Not all women are evil but I guess 90% of them are.

While I am in the academe, we were trained rigorously and the training includes being able to read and write, basic arithmetic, basic self-defense, learning butler tasks like managing a household, taking care of finances and setting schedules for the one we serve. We were also trained in bedroom duties since this world thinks that we are nothing but tools to increase the population. This is frustrating but being frustrated doesn't change the situation anyway.

Right now, I am carrying an unconscious woman towards the infirmary. The leers of the other attendants are something I already got used to. I am indeed not someone that would be a first pick as an attendant. The standards of this world for likable men doesn't apply to me. I have been always taller than my peers. It didn't take much of the physical endurance training to make me this muscular. I stopped looking like the soft and cute boy everybody wanted when I turned 14. They said it is such a waste that I have a likable face but an unlikable body. It must be how my body was built or a growth spurt of some sort. It wasn't like I was never picked. It is just that whenever I was picked, the woman will eventually return me to the attendant's hall and replace me with someone else. The women of the academe who picked me before had a wide variety of reasons for replacing me. They said that I was too muscular, too tall, too strong, too serious, too cold, too strict with rules, and plenty of other reasons why they can't keep me anymore or why I was needed to be replaced by another attendant.

Even though I was disliked and insulted by several women before, this woman I am carrying right now hasn't done any evil yet so she deserves help. It doesn't matter if she doesn't pick me when she wakes up. I am not keeping my hopes up and I do not expect it either. I placed her gently on the bed and looked for the nurse. She then said, I have to take care of her on my own since I brought her. What tough luck isn't it? I approached her bed and tried to fix her sleeping posture. I removed the hair covering her face and when I saw her face I couldn't help but feel awestruck. She was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in this lifetime. I couldn't help but stare longer than necessary. It was good that she was unconscious since staring at a lady's face is considered rude.

She was perfect, even ethereal I think. She is honestly the most beautiful woman I saw since I was 15 and started attending that summoning ritual of those women from other worlds. When I saw her face, my heart skipped a beat and my breath hitched. I found my self smiling and thought, "If those other attendants knew that she looked this amazing, I wonder how much regret they would have that they did not help her."