MARQUESS Lichtenberger’s routine began first thing in the morning.
Due to spending so much time in his house, never visiting anyone at all, his clothes were of the utterly standard variety. He stripped off his pajamas, put on an ironed shirt and a pair of trousers, layered a vest and jacket, and put on the ring that functioned like a magic staff.
Then he took the time to neatly shave his facial hair, wash his face, and brush his teeth. He finished the day’s preparations by applying a bit of hair product.
On the way to his office, Marquess Lichtenberger stopped to gaze at the portrait of his wife. Even though she sent him letters once a week, she hadn’t returned home in nearly half a year this time. He let out a gloomy sigh.
He spent the morning looking over written appeals from the people of his territory, finalizing decisions about the land, and replying to letters.
Then he headed for the dining room when the sun had fully risen.
It seemed that Liselotte was away at work that day. She’d completely stopped eating breakfast with him after joining the Royal Order.
Album used to at least show up and eat with him from time to time…
The butler serving his breakfast cast a sad look toward where Album always sat. But the marquess had ended their contract. Album was never coming back.
Nothing good would come of dwelling on those who were gone.
With that resolve, he bit into a crunchy piece of toast…and accidentally cut his mouth on a sharp edge in the process.
Album had loved the bread at the Lichtenberger manor. He preferred hard bread because of all the tree bark he used to eat in the forest, but, for a middle-aged father, it was far too hard.
Album isn’t here anymore. I wish they’d go back to the old bread already.
But he didn’t dare voice such a request to his servants, who were still mourning the loss of Album.
Once the sun was high in the sky, Marquess Lichtenberger left for the Royal Mythical Beast Preservation Bureau. The employees, having already arrived for work, bowed to him as he walked by.
Upon reaching his office, Vice Director Rou Rocky stood up and promptly bowed to him.
“Good morning, Director.”
“Morning.”
Rou had been headhunted from the Magic Research Bureau. He was a young man of twenty-seven, the third son of an earl, and an earnest, friendly person. He’d once served as the aide to Vario Leffra, former director of the Magic Research Bureau. Marquess Lichtenberger saved his life after coincidentally crossing paths with him while Rou was on the verge of death after expending too much magical energy.
Vario Leffra treated people terribly. Rou was more like his servant than a subordinate.
It reminded Marquess Lichtenberger of himself during his younger days. As unusual as it was for the man, he sympathized with Rou and decided to lend him a hand.
After that, Rou went on to serve as the vice director of the Royal Mythical Beast Preservation Bureau for the past six years. When he was first poached, he was nothing but skin and bones with dark circles under his eyes, but he’d regained a healthy complexion all these years later.
However, despite how much time had passed, Rou’s attitude had yet to relax. He always acted like a new hire working under a hellish boss. Rou and Marquess Lichtenberger didn’t have the kind of boss-subordinate relationship where they went out for drinks together after work.
Marquess Lichtenberger actually thought that sounded kind of nice. But he knew Rou wouldn’t be interested. Instead, he gave up. He understood that the living creatures of this planet simply didn’t see him as a friend.
Rou had spent the morning sorting documents until they were perfect. Then he left them out on Marquess Lichtenberger’s desk. He was an incredibly capable man. It was why the marquess had no choice but to come to work so late.
When he came in early, Rou always ensured the marquess arrived to find his documents nice and organized.
In other words, Rou was coming in even earlier than Marquess Lichtenberger to get his tasks done. The marquess didn’t believe it was worth all the effort, but it appeared to be an unbreakable habit from Rou’s days working under Vario Leffra.
Marquess Lichtenberger intentionally started coming to work later in the day to grant Rou more time with the documents in the morning. But this also had a residual effect on others. It turned out that everyone had been leaving their homes early to beat Marquess Lichtenberger to the office. Certain employees who weren’t the morning type would even collapse later on in the day.
Everyone was able to do their jobs more calmly once they got to come to work later. The transformation was entirely thanks to Rou.
Pushing himself too hard would force his colleagues to do the same. Depending on the circumstances, the entire workplace would crumble.
You truly learn something new every day. Marquess Lichtenberger tried to remember that there were still plenty of things he didn’t know.
“I see. No changes to the mythical beasts in our care.”
“Correct.”
The bureau currently had roughly 100 mythical beasts in their possession. Once the kingdom passed the “Mythical Beast Conservation Bill,” the bureau spread out over many regions to ensure the safety of mythical beasts while also studying them.
Some mythical beasts in their custody were injured, some had become violent in the environments where they were found, and others were too reliant on humans. Generally, they were able to release the creatures back into the wild once they solved whatever problem they were dealing with.
The bureau’s role wasn’t to forge a path for mythical beasts and humans to live alongside each other. The most positive outcome they sought was to see mythical beasts live in the wild, as much as possible.
They never recommended humans forming contracts with these creatures.
There were currently fifteen mythical beasts in captivity at the bureau’s main office. The animals were kept in a wide variety of cages.
First, there was the cage that encompassed their entire courtyard. This was home to a third-class mythical beast known as a Tigraki.
The massive cat was over six and a half feet long. He’d gotten injured after jumping in front of a carriage.
The Tigraki was quite tricky to capture. In fact, many mythical beasts were quite ferocious. In the process of capturing the creature, Marquess Lichtenberger ended up with a nasty bite on his abdomen, leading the marquess to heal himself with restoration magic.
They took the Tigraki back to the bureau and quickly treated the injury. The creature appeared to be in a state of agitation for the next month, but once his caretakers fed him fruit and spoke to him every day, the mythical beast finally understood that Marquess Lichtenberger wasn’t the one who’d caused his injuries.
The Tigraki used to growl every time he saw Marquess Lichtenberger’s face. But now, he simply ignored the marquess. The Tigraki didn’t even stop playing with his ball to glance at Marquess Lichtenberger when he approached him today.
The cat had beautiful golden fur, eyes that sparkled like gemstones, and an elegant tail that bobbed with each step. He was extraordinarily cute. Marquess Lichtenberger resisted the urge to scream that out loud.
“Um, Director? Is something wrong?”
He gasped when Rou called out to him. The marquess had become so taken with the Tigraki that he had been completely lost in thought.
“It’s nothing.”
“I see. You had an angry look on your face, so I thought maybe it was something I needed to be made aware of.”
Though the marquess thought he was giving the Tigraki an affectionate gaze, it seemed to be interpreted as an angry glare to others. Even the Tigraki growled at him.
The marquess cleared his throat and changed topics. “Have there been any changes?”
“They say he recently meowed sweetly to his caretaker.”
“Meowed sweetly?”
“Y-Yes.”
“What does that sound like? Did anyone use a spell to record it?”
“N-No, as he only did it once while he was alone.”
The bureau would probably never be able to hear the Tigraki make such a delightful noise again. After all, he’d recovered from his agitation and was nearly ready to be released back into the wild.
Marquess Lichtenberger spent his morning checking on the other mythical beasts.
The Royal Mythical Beast Preservation Bureau’s cafeteria was open to the public, having earned a reputation for serving cheap yet delicious food. But this was no ordinary cafeteria. It was a place for the bureau to spread their love of mythical beasts to all.
Today’s special menu consisted of Tigraki omelet rice. The eggs were sculpted into the shape of a Tigraki and placed over a bed of guinea fowl rice. It was a meal drafted and supervised by Marquess Lichtenberger himself. He created a unique drawing of a mythical beast, had it deciphered by Liselotte, and handed the draft over to the cafeteria’s head chef. The dish was perfected after a month of work.
These special menu items came with adorable artwork of mythical beasts on postcards, as well as explanations of each dish. They were very popular orders with not only the townsfolk, but also the other members of the bureau.
Marquess Lichtenberger ate his lunches alone in his office. He’d visited the cafeteria once before, but the room fell silent as soon as he stepped inside. After that, he avoided the place as he was far too worried that his presence would spoil the mood.
The bell signaling the end of the morning chimed. Marquess Lichtenberger’s secretary knocked on the door.
“Enter.”
The secretary brought in a tray with the Tigraki omelet rice he’d been anticipating. Behind the secretary was a cafeteria server pushing in a cart with condiments.
An appetizing scent filled the office, reminding the marquess of his empty stomach.
He sighed and cleaned his desk of documents, trying not to let the others see how excited he was. Then the server covered the desk with a tablecloth and set out silverware.
The meal consisted of water, black tea, salad, soup, and the Tigraki omelet rice.