By Zephyria 
Somehow I ended up joining what was essentially a Seymour family gathering, but no one seemed to mind my presence.
Laying on the picnic mat with my head on my nanny’s lap, enjoying Nicole’s fanning, it was so peaceful that I was about to doze off. Just ten minutes, I thought, I’ll sleep just ten minutes and then bring up the sponsorship matter with Mr. Seymour.
“Our young master really looks like an angel when sleeping.”
“Oh my. Is he different when awake?”
“Of course, Mother! Lately, he seems to be constantly plotting how to sneak away from me and cause mischief!”
“Um, Dear…, Nicole… I’m leaving tomorrow…”
“Yes. Have a safe trip, Dear.”
“Father. Bring back more interesting things next time. Our young master doesn’t have many hobbies, but I noticed he quite enjoys looking at rare items.”
“I… All right, all right…”
In my drowsy vision, fragments of conversation in familiar voices drifted past me. The warm emotions in those voices and the gentle hand caressing my face felt like a sweet dream I didn’t want to wake from.
It was during this untimely nap that it happened.
“Sir, I need you to come with me for a moment.”
Over my still-sleepy eyes, the voice of the man I had been searching for so desperately barged in without knocking like an uninvited guest.
Gasp! I woke up startled as if having a seizure. Immediately, four pairs of eyes, the Seymour family and Lennox with his sharply slanted eyes, all turned toward me at once.
Le-Lennox? Since this was my first time seeing Lennox from this period in person, I just blinked blankly. Why does he appear right after I decide to give up? Oh, this isn’t the time. I hurriedly wiped my mouth, worried that I might have drooled while sleeping so soundly. No matter how beautiful and pretty I was, I couldn’t leave a first impression of a drooling face to someone I needed to seduce.
“Oh my. Young master. What’s wrong?”
“N-nothing. Something startled me in my dream, but I can’t even remember what it was.”
The nanny kept wiping my forehead with a concerned expression, though there wasn’t a single drop of cold sweat. Nicole immediately poured lukewarm water and handed it to me.
“We were rechecking the quantities before your departure, but the weight of the spices doesn’t match. It would be best to contact the supplier.”
“Hmm. I understand. I’ll go right away.”
Oh… I let out a small exclamation inside as I watched Lennox delivering the news to Mr. Seymour with a quite serious expression. Actually, the Crown Prince and Kyle didn’t look much different before and after the start of the main story, but since the young lord and Lennox had drastically different appearances before and after, meeting them now gave me a fresh perspective.
While the young lord still looked like a child who hadn’t yet shed his childish traits instead of the handsome, fresh younger man he would become, in Lennox’s case…
“…?”
Yikes. Was I staring too obviously? His fierce gaze, as if asking what I was looking at, was quite striking. I subtly averted my eyes.
After only seeing him with his gentle eye-smile all the time, seeing him without a smile really made his impression completely different. Although his natural features were somewhat sharp, he was still within the normal range for now, how did this guy end up becoming such an unredeemable perverted trash? Apart from the humiliation and insults he always inflicted on me, he really was a pitiful guy.
“Young master. I need to go downstairs for a moment. Something came up that I must check personally.”
Mr. Seymour said this and was about to leave the rooftop garden immediately.
“I want to come and look too.”
“Look…? It will be boring and uninteresting…”
“I’m curious.”
“Well… As you wish.”
If it hadn’t been for my sudden declaration that I wanted to go look, surely things would have gone differently.
“As you can see here, the ledger clearly states that seventeen 25kg bags of Seljuk cloves were received. This should total 425kg, and even accounting for losses during transport or storage up to one and a half percent…”
Lennox, who had come down to the underground storage with Mr. Seymour, me, and Nicole who stuck to me like a set, rattled off his explanation without taking a breath. In this world without a formal education system for commoners, being able to teach oneself to read and understand ledgers was already an incredibly impressive feat, no matter how clever one might be. Moreover, he seemed to be quick with calculations too, promptly providing answers whenever Mr. Seymour asked a question.
I wondered what kind of talent allowed him to enter the Information Guild, which was nearly impossible to join without connections, and now I saw it was this kind of ability. I knew he was intelligent given his Great Mage character setting, but I didn’t realize it was to this extent. To think that such extraordinary talent was simply summed up as “quick perception and fast thinking”—it seemed unfair even to me!
“Hmph, they’ve been a long-standing supplier we’ve trusted, but it seems it’s time for a change. Good work. You checked very thoroughly.”
“Yes.”
“For now, compile a list of all the different types and exact weights that don’t match. I’ll give you two hours.”
For a moment, Mr. Seymour, who had been exceptionally kind, suddenly looked like the devil incarnate. The identity of a low-level office worker still alive and squirming inside me made me see him that way automatically. The person giving orders might just speak casually, but the underground storage was the size of two school playgrounds combined and filled to the brim with spice bags, and he says what? “I’ll give you two hours”?
I was truly fortunate he wasn’t my boss.
“Understood. I will prepare a report without any errors.”
But it seems I was the only one who felt aggrieved. Lennox accepted the task without hesitation, as if it were nothing. In my past life, if my supervisor had given me such an unreasonable instruction, I would have at least begged for one more hour.
“Well, that’s settled. Shall we go back up?”
Having finished giving instructions, Mr. Seymour turned around immediately and smiled brightly with a face that couldn’t be more gentle. As I went back to the garden with Mr. Seymour, I kept glancing back at Lennox.
With an expression that deliberately showed concern, so that the perceptive Mr. Seymour or Nicole would notice.
“Did you have a good visit, young master? Well? Does that person do his job properly?”
My nanny, who had been waiting for us in the rooftop garden, asked with a voice tinged with amusement. I nodded, saying “Yes,” but let my words trail off. Still maintaining a somewhat unsettled expression.
“Are you concerned about that worker from earlier?”
Nicole’s perception, as expected, did not disappoint me.
“Yes! That’s right. He seemed about my age, but his appearance was so unfortunate… Plus, he seems really smart. From listening to him talk earlier, his calculations were even faster than my eldest brother’s aide!”
“You must be referring to Lennox. You’re right. He has an exceptional natural intelligence. Tsk tsk, such a boy, and yet born without anyone to support him…”
“Um, Mr. Seymour. If even you think so, perhaps I could sponsor him?”
My goal was to place Lennox under my protection before the Black Mage could find him first. The pretext didn’t matter. I just needed to leave him with the tag of having a noble’s sponsorship.
Nicole clicked her tongue, saying, “As always, our young master’s soft heart is going to cause trouble,” but surprisingly, Mr. Seymour brightened at my words and showed a positive response.
“Not a bad idea, sir. He could serve as an asset manager alongside Nicole, but rather than that…”
“Rather than that?”
Mr. Seymour gazed intently at Nicole and my nanny for a moment, then expressed himself very indirectly.
“If you’re thinking about the future, it would be better to train him as a trusted healer. When you go to a precious place, you will naturally need a trustworthy healer you can stake your life on.”
As expected of the vice-master of the Information Guild. It seemed Mr. Seymour had already easily guessed that I had entered the Crown Prince’s heart.
“Good. Let’s do that. Since I don’t know much about this, Mr. Seymour, please arrange for a renowned healer to be his teacher. I don’t care how much it costs.”
I had merely opened a very small channel, but surprisingly, things progressed smoothly. Famous healers typically mastered at least simple healing magic, so around the time Lennox learned healing magic, I could use that as a pretext to provide him with another magic teacher.
Considering the main event in the latter part of the game, the Great Mage Lennox would be essential.
“Yes. Then, on the surface, we’ll arrange it as if a distant relative of mine, a humble noble lord, is sponsoring him. It wouldn’t be good to reveal that you’re preparing a healer from this early on.”
“Yes. I’ll leave it to you then.”
It was truly a very natural flow. As if it had been destined to happen this way from the beginning.