Reed had worked as a stableman for a major trading company ever since he’d left the country village where he grew up. The company supplied equestrian gear to the castle.
The owner of the business retired due to personal circumstances, and although someone else took over, half the employees were laid off, and Reed found himself without a job.
He desperately searched for work, but it was no surprise that every trading company already had its own stable hands. It was common for the sons of stablemen to take over their jobs, and when the companies did hire, they typically did so through personal connections.
He didn’t know many people in the capital, so he was at a loss.
That was when Mike approached him with an offer. “Would you like to work for a noble family?” he asked. At the time, Mike was the assistant director of Document Management.
“Really? That would be more than I could ever ask for! I’d be grateful for the opportunity.”
“Every time I visited your old company, I always noticed what a hard worker you were.”
“Thank you so much!”
Reed was known for his earnest personality and healthy constitution. He immediately accepted Mike’s offer.
Mike introduced Reed to a nobleman named Edward Asher. When Reed heard that he was an earl, he was shocked.
“An earl? But I don’t know anything about nobles. Are you sure I can manage?”
“Oh, you won’t be working for me. It’s for my younger brother. He’s about to become a baron, and he’ll be returning from living abroad soon. He doesn’t have any servants yet, and he’s in need of a stableman.”
“Oh, I see.”
“And don’t worry. Both my brother and his wife are easygoing people.”
“All right. I’ll do my best. Thank you again for this opportunity.”
And so he became Jeffrey Asher’s stableman. The working conditions at the Asher household were ideal. Reed’s duties involved caring for four horses, managing the stables, and serving as a driver when any member of the household needed to go out via carriage.
Most nobles treated commoners harshly, but his master, mistress, and their daughter were all very kind and even skilled with horses. They made no unreasonable demands of him. Reed learned that his master had once been the captain of the Second Order of the knights. That explains why he’s so muscular, Reed thought.
“I’m so glad I found a job as good as this,” Reed thought—until the trip.
The family was taking a vacation to relax from their five years of work abroad and wished for Reed to accompany them as their driver. His first shock came when he observed the martial arts skills of his mistress and her daughter. His jaw literally dropped when he first saw the two of them in action.
They moved with such agility and precision, they rivaled that of trained soldiers.
Huh? What in the world is going on? Reed wondered as he stared in disbelief.
His master noticed and said, “My wife and daughter learned martial arts while we were in Shen.”
Although Reed had heard the family had spent five years in Shen, he couldn’t believe that a woman and child could become so skilled in such a short time.
But Reed didn’t want to risk losing his position, so he told himself not to overthink it and stay quiet.
Unfortunately, an incident occurred during the trip when they were attacked by a group of large men wielding machetes.
They were eating dinner around the campfire when his employer suddenly announced, “There’s a group of suspicious men lurking nearby. Four or five of them. They’re heavy, and I think they’re quite muscular. I’m fairly certain they’re armed.”
The fact that he could sense the assailants’ numbers, size, and weapons without even laying eyes on them impressed Reed. No wonder he used to be a knight captain, he thought.
But the real surprise came when the fight broke out.
His employer’s slender wife effortlessly took down men who were easily twice her weight. Reed and the daughter took shelter inside a nearby house, where the daughter watched the fight from the window as she munched on a meat skewer.
She didn’t look even the slightest bit afraid, leaving Reed utterly baffled. How can anyone eat while they watch a fight like this? he thought with amazement. Traveling with this family was an endless series of surprises for him.
Who are these people?
Reed began to feel a bit scared around this strange family, but they all continued to treat him with kindness.
But humans are highly adaptable creatures. At first, he thought, What kind of dangerous family have I become involved with? Over time, however, he grew used to their odd ways and was no longer surprised by them.
After the eventful vacation came to a close and they returned home, Mike started inviting Reed out for meals on his days off.
Mike would always treat him to good food and drinks, and since Reed didn’t have a girlfriend, he started to look forward to those outings.
Mike was a good listener and always showed a lot of interest in Reed’s work. “That’s part of caring for the horses, too? You really know what you’re doing,” Mike would say with respect. “You’re such a hard worker. I’m proud I was the one who introduced you to the earl.”
Once they were back home, Mike continued to take Reed out and said, “It must’ve been a tough journey, traveling so far. Was there any trouble on the trip?”
“Oh, I’m just a servant, so it wouldn’t be right to talk about my master,” Reed said.
“Aww, come on. There’s nothing about the Ashers you have to keep a secret, right? I heard that the baron works hard and that he’s very close with his wife.”
“Yes, they have a wonderful relationship. Truthfully, sometimes I blush watching them. But I’m proud to work for them. Oh, and you’ll never believe what happened on the trip!”
His lips loosened by the expensive alcohol he could never afford under normal circumstances, Reed soon found himself recounting the entire journey, including the parts about the wife and daughter’s martial arts skills, the attack at the campsite, and how the couple had defeated the men with ease. He even mentioned how the guards had come to burn down a field of illegal red poppies the assailants had been growing.
“That sounds like something out of an adventure novel!” Mike exclaimed.
“Doesn’t it? The family I serve is incredibly strong. Oh, and there’s one more thing.”
Reed told Mike about how after he took the mistress home one day, they found that burglars had broken into the estate.
“By the time I had the horses put back up, the burglars were already taken care of! I only realized something happened when Bertha ran up to me and said, ‘Call the guards!’ It all happened so fast and so quietly. The lady of the house claims it was the cook who stopped the burglars, but I’m convinced she’s the one who did it. She’s really something else, you know.”
“That sounds like something out of a book, too! Does she go out often? What kind of shops does she like? Maybe she has a favorite place.”
“The lady doesn’t socialize much. Oh, but she does go to a pub once a week. She stays for a very short time, though. Never more than an hour. She drinks very elegantly. It’s an ordinary pub, too. Nothing fancy.”
“A baroness at a pub, huh? I’d like to see that. What kind of pub is it?”
“I can take you there, Mike.”
And so Reed and Mike ended up visiting The Black Thrush. This was Reed’s first time inside the place.
The Black Thrush seemed like an ordinary pub, and Mike seemed to take a liking to it. He kept saying, “This place is great.” Reed was happy he’d brought him there.
The owner was a black-haired man with an intimidating air, the type of man whose bad side you didn’t want to be on. He wasn’t talkative, but he wasn’t unfriendly, either. He served them the house special, which was perfectly grilled homemade bacon. It was delicious.
“Thanks for tonight, Reed. I had a great time.”
“No, no. Thank you for treating me.”
Mike watched Reed leave the pub in high spirits, and he smiled. Edward always fretted over his younger brother, so he’d asked Mike to keep an eye on the family to make sure no one dangerous was getting close to him. But Mike was also curious about Victoria, the former master spy from Hagl, and how she was living these days.
“She took down a bunch of burly forestry guys in no time, huh? That sounds like her. After hearing she discovered a gold mine, nothing surprises me about her anymore.”
He glanced back toward the bar as he left.
“So this is the kind of place Victoria likes to go, huh? And she always comes alone. I can’t believe her doting husband Lord Asher allows that. And that owner… There’s no way he’s just an ordinary barkeep. I might have to look into him when I get the chance…”
And with that, Mike turned and went home.