Chapter 21: A Bishop’s Visit

Chapter 21: A Bishop’s Visit

By the time the philosophy lesson ended, Klein felt as if he had gone three days and three nights without sleep. His mind was stuffed full of names and concepts: skepticism, metaphysics, a priori and a posteriori, nominalism and realism, social Rosellism, existentialism, positivism, and more.

Had the original Klein not gained some philosophy-related knowledge while studying history, he even suspected that he would not have been able to endure the whole lesson. It was nothing like the non-one-on-one education he had received at university back on Earth, where if he could not understand something, he could sleep, zone out, read a novel, or play on his phone.

“Still, Mr. Hamid is quite different from what I imagined. Humorous, hearty, outgoing, and not boring at all when he lectures. He is neither like a philosophy teacher nor like the believers of the Lord of Storms with their usual ways of thinking…”

Klein raised a hand and rubbed the corner of his forehead. Turning away from the doorway, he walked toward the staircase deep in the hall and returned to the third floor. His personal valet, Richardson, followed silently half a step behind him.

Along the way, he noticed that the male and female servants were all busy with their own work. Not one of them was slacking. Only when he, their employer, passed by would they pause to bow and greet him, appearing very well trained.

Taneja really is capable when it comes to arranging and managing household affairs… Klein stepped into the third-floor corridor and headed toward the semi-open room.

Before he entered, he saw Butler Walter hanging two double-barreled hunting rifles on the wall, adding a touch of rough, heroic air to the room.

This was a decoration every wealthy merchant’s home would possess. Hunting licenses were very easy to apply for, and double-barreled rifles were reasonably powerful—enough for the male and female servants in the household to deal with thieves, or even kidnappers, who might sneak in.

After hanging them up, Walter stepped back two paces and examined the rifles for a few seconds before taking a gold-cased pocket watch from the inner pocket of his clothing.

Click!

He pressed it open and looked toward the inside of the lid. His grave, old-fashioned face softened visibly.

Klein coughed softly to remind the butler of his presence, then pushed open the half-closed door and walked in.

Walter closed the pocket watch, put it back where it belonged, turned sideways, and bowed.

“Sir, six hunting licenses have been obtained in total. We have purchased six double-barreled hunting rifles and the corresponding shot.”

Klein had Death Knell tucked beneath his arm and did not care much about this matter. He merely nodded to show that he understood.

Then he revealed a mild smile and asked as if chatting casually, “When I read the information from the Helping Household Servants Association, I noticed, Walter, that you seem to have a wife and child?”

A butler—or rather, a head butler—was the employer’s deputy, an indispensable confidant in many matters. Therefore, building a relationship with the butler was something every employer would do, and Klein did not wish to be an exception.

Moreover, he still remembered that Magic Mirror Arrodes had said there would be additional developments involving Butler Walter.

Walter answered with his usual solemn propriety, “Yes. When I was working as an estate servant in Viscount Conrad’s household, I frequently came into contact with a lady due to the needs of certain affairs. Feelings grew between us, and afterward, under the Goddess’s gaze, we entered the hall of marriage. We now have a daughter. She is currently studying at a grammar school and hopes to pass the entrance examination for Backlund University, though that is not something we need to consider until two years from now…”

When speaking of his wife and daughter, the tone of this unsmiling butler softened unconsciously.

In the…