Chapter 7
“Commander, an urgent request has come in from the mansion.”
“I heard they hired a new servant. What’s the request?”
“The best menu items from the top restaurants in the capital… and the steak should be medium rare. Dessert was also added.”
The man reviewing the documents frowned as he listened to his adjutant.
“What did you say?”
“In addition, they requested the best menu from the capital’s top brunch café, the best menu from the top seafood restaurant, and finally… a list of famous restaurants in the capital.”
“……”
“Commander?”
“Let me see that.”
He checked the contents written on the magic paper, then asked in disbelief,
“Are you certain this request came from that place? Not some kind of prank?”
“Yes, it’s confirmed.”
Seeing the commander fall silent, the adjutant spoke cautiously.
“Um… about the new servant they hired. Do you think she’s already lost her mind?”
“I was told she only arrived this morning.”
He checked the time—it wasn’t even noon yet.
“Don’t tell me… it hasn’t even been half a day?”
“If she broke three or more rules right after entering, isn’t it possible?”
“…Is that even possible?”
“Maybe…?”
The commander pressed his aching temples.
“Even so, we’ve never had a case of someone going insane like this.”
He pointed at the urgent request, which boldly listed popular restaurant menus and even a food guide.
The handwriting on the paper was elegant—anyone would recognize it as excellent penmanship.
Considering that the newly hired servant was from a serf background, the contrast was bizarre.
“I’m wondering the same thing. How should we handle this?”
“We don’t have the authority to refuse requests from that place. We have no choice but to fulfill it.”
“Even like this? The steak is supposed to be medium rare.”
“Then what? Are you planning to go there and question why such a request was made?”
“My life is precious, Commander.”
“If you know that, then follow orders. No matter what requests come from there, you may question them—but never refuse them.”
He quoted the internal rule that was always emphasized.
As a middle manager, he had no authority to reject it.
“…Yes, understood.”
The adjutant hurried out.
The commander watched him leave and muttered,
“…Let’s just hope that steak only ends up in the servant’s mouth.”
Otherwise, they’d be dealing with a corpse tomorrow morning.
* * *
“Wow, young master, this is amazing!”
Thirty minutes after placing the urgent request, I was moved to tears as I tasted the luxurious food.
“I can’t believe the steak was delivered still on the hot plate. This is even better than the delivery apps I used before.”
“What’s a delivery app?”
“It’s something like the magic paper. Even late at night, you can order from restaurants and have food delivered to your home.”
“I thought magic paper was only used by fools in the capital. Looks like it’s spread even to rural territories now.”
I considered correcting his misunderstanding—but decided not to.
He wouldn’t believe me if I said it was an app on a smartphone from another world anyway.
Right after that, I realized I had forgotten to order clothes, so I quickly sent a second urgent request with his help.
While I was at it, I added items the young master might need.
I also suggested ordering supplies for the kitchen, but he said we should “wait until tomorrow,” which I didn’t quite understand.
The delicious steak disappeared bite by bite into his mouth.
A smile naturally formed on my face.
What family does he come from? He eats so well.
And yet people had refused to give him meat?
How twisted must someone be to do that?
“Young master, does it suit your taste? Is the doneness okay?”
“It’s overcooked. There should be more blood for it to be called medium rare.”
“Maybe it overcooked during delivery. Should we order rare next time?”
“Do you want to eat it again?”
“Yes! It’s so good. I’ve never had anything this delicious before.”
Not just the steak—everything we ordered tasted like it came from a Michelin-star restaurant.
For the past month in this world, I had barely been getting by with simple meals.
This kind of feast was truly my first.
“You’ve never eaten something like this?”
“Yes. How does meat just melt in your mouth like this?”
Wrapped tightly in the blanket, I eagerly moved my arms through the opening and devoured the food.
“What have you been eating all this time?”
“Potatoes.”
“And?”
“Potatoes.”
“……”
“If I was lucky, I got rye bread. It was so hard it almost broke my teeth, but other servants told me you’re supposed to soak it in water or goat milk.”
“So you only ate potatoes and rye bread?”
“Sometimes, when guests came for banquets, leftovers would go to the servants… but I was the youngest and the head maid didn’t like me.”
Feeling a bit embarrassed, I smiled awkwardly.
“One time, I really wanted to eat meat. The guards had caught a rabbit and were roasting it. I managed to get a bite… but the head maid caught me and beat me badly for slacking off.”
“Do they still use rods for punishment these days?”
“Rods? They used rods before? I guess it’s changed now.”
“How?”
“It wasn’t a rod—it was a whip. A leather riding whip.”
“That’s not punishment, that’s abuse—”
“Huh?”
“…Never mind. Eat more. If it’s not enough, order more.”
“This is more than enough. Thank you for letting me eat with you, young master.”
Even just having a proper meal would have been enough to be grateful—but he had even let me sit at the same table.
In this world, a servant and a noble eating face-to-face at the same table was unthinkable.
Servants usually ate sitting on the kitchen floor or on potato crates.
The worst part was when a rat came in, drawn by the smell of food, and you made eye contact with it.
But he had offered me a seat without a single complaint.
He really was an angel.
“Young master, I’m really glad I came here.”
“You seem thrilled to make me do your work.”
“I’m just really grateful. Thank you for writing the delivery list for me.”
“So you do understand my effort.”
“Of course! Even if I’m ignorant, I still have basic decency.”
“Decency? From someone who showed up in a bathrobe on the first meeting?”
“Cough, cough!”
I choked and quickly drank some juice.
“You’re going to tease me about that forever, aren’t you…”
“Forever, you say.”
“What would you have done, young master?”
The knife in his hand paused mid-cut.
“If it were me, I wouldn’t have woken myself up.”
“You mean you would’ve ignored yourself?”
“Yes.”
He stared at the steak, red juices flowing, then looked up.
“You.”
“Yes, young master.”
“Do you really want to live here for a long time?”
“If you allow it, I’d like that. I don’t really have anywhere else to go.”
“So you’d choose it because you have nowhere else?”
“That was the original reason. But now… I want to stay because of you, young master.”
“Enough with the flattery.”
“It’s not that. Before I met you, I was actually scared. It felt strange that a servant for a capital estate was being recruited from a rural territory…”
“And?”
“I heard rumors that the mansion might be haunted.”
“…Are you afraid of ghosts?”
“Yes.”
I trembled slightly.
Ghosts are terrifying.
You can’t hit them.
At least with humans or monsters, you can fight back.
But ghosts?
You can’t do anything.
That’s what makes them truly scary.
