In the end, Padrid couldn’t drive them out.

He hoped Gemvil would come and drag them away, but he had external schedules today.

‘The most normal person isn’t here.’

Padrid felt his world going dark at this hopeless reality.

But what could he do?

Just like he had endured countless trials until now, he had to endure today as well.

Meanwhile, Ekision, Hailo, and Horas heard from Jin and settled down, all eager to teach letters.

“So how much did you get when you opened the safe?”

“This much.”

Rodi drew a circle showing the amount of gold coins she had collected yesterday.

Seeing this, Ekision frowned.

“Huh? You should get more. Later, tell Lord Eclise to give you 100 times more. He’s totally ripping you off.”

“Please mind your language.”

Padrid reprimanded Ekision.

“Oh, okay. Then he’s scamming you?”

“It would be better to use more appropriate words.”

After being scolded by Padrid, Ekision finally passed the baton to Horas.

But Horas only taught one single first letter of the imperial language before falling into conversation again.

Being the youngest recruit with such an extraordinary reason for appearing, curiosity had to be satisfied first.

Padrid was already half resigned looking at the now noisy administrative office.

Questions poured in about how she felt after her first day and whether this place was better than before.

Rodi was trying her best to answer with the determination to adapt, but her head was spinning from Ekision’s rapid-fire speech.

Though she was confident about adapting, she wondered if surviving here was the way to become a splendid Cheiles.

“Oh, so you call Lord Eclise ‘Boss’?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t I think of that? I should call him that too. But really, that’s too much. Scamming such a tiny child.”

“…Hey, hey.”

The surroundings became strangely quiet.

Ekision brushed off Horas’s arm lightly and smiled brightly at Rodi.

“Ah, why do you keep touching me? Well, anyway, isn’t that right? When calling him Lord Eclise, it feels like addressing a respectful master, but calling him ‘Boss’ makes him sound like a street thug boss, which somehow feels good?”

“Does it?”

Suddenly, a different low voice cut in.

“Of course! When else would I get to mess ar-“

Only after making the joke did Ekision realize who was behind him, and he turned around with his business smile.

Eclise had entered at some point.

For some reason, he was holding out torn papers to Padrid.

Padrid shook his head at Ekision’s pleading glance for help.

Ekision broke into a cold sweat.

When did he come in?

He hadn’t even noticed that Hailo had already escaped while he was talking with Rodi.

“Nyahahahahaha! Everything after that was nonsense. I’ve been eating dog food as a hobby lately, you see. Please understand, Lord Eclise.”

“Let me know if you have life to spare.”

“Ahaha, how could I? Though my abilities and looks are woefully insufficient to preserve, I’m quick at calculations. I knew you’d decide it’s better to overlook my behavior than spend time finding someone like me or better after killing me, so I dared to mess around.”

“Oh, really? I guess you didn’t calculate that this little one could replace you now? Should we start preparing for your death?”

“My, your jokes are so brutal.”

Ekision laughed good-naturedly.

Having worked the longest alongside Padrid, he knew that Eclise was quite accepting unless truly angered.

Of course, one always had to read the atmosphere well.

Seeming to consider the matter settled, Eclise ignored Ekision and handed the papers to Padrid.

As Eclise was leaving after telling Padrid to rewrite the torn documents, Rodi, who had been buried among the executives, jumped out and grabbed him.

“Boss, what about Lexiard?”

“He left.”

“Already?”

Rodi’s eyes drooped sadly.

If she had rabbit ears, they would have drooped down too.

“You’ve become friends already?”

“Lexiard is nice.”

Eclise snorted at those words.

“Yeah, right.”

“It’s true. Ah! Boss, since you told me to adapt here, I’m going to learn letters.”

“Good, study hard.”

As he tried to pass by again, Rodi grabbed him once more.

“Um, Boss.”

“What.”

After calling him, Rodi hesitated.

“I’m busy, speak quickly.”

“When I learn all the letters, can you pat my head again like before?”

“What?”

“Like this.”

Rodi put his hand on her head and rubbed it.

When Eclise didn’t understand right away, she demonstrated it herself.

The executives who saw this all froze in bewilderment.

Eclise stared at Rodi and tilted his head.

Finally, he understood.

“You want praise?”

Rodi quietly nodded.

While others were clutching themselves and losing it with “Kuu…!”, “She’s crazy!” beside them, Rodi was too focused on Eclise to notice.

Seeing those bright eyes directed at him, Eclise smirked.

Then he placed his hand on Rodi’s head and rubbed it.

“Fine then. Let’s see you try. Study hard enough to replace all those guys.”

“Okay!”

Rodi smiled brightly.

Everyone smiled warmly, but no one realized Eclise’s words were sincere.

***

After giving work to Padrid and leaving, Eclise paused while walking down the corridor.

He remembered the tiny head he had roughly patted earlier.

A smile unconsciously formed on his face.

“Quite bold.”

Then, as if nothing had happened, he erased his expression and moved on.

***

The next day, Rodi’s temporary imperial language education began.

The problem was that the temporary teachers were Cheiles’s executives.

“That’s right, well done.”

“Hey, the rookie is smart. As expected of a special recruit.”

Though she kept getting sidetracked with more teachers than students, she still managed to learn to write three words by herself.

“But does the new recruit only need to learn writing?”

“Yeah? Shouldn’t she learn other things too?”

Ekision and Horas looked at Padrid simultaneously.

Padrid continued signing documents, maintaining his work without even glancing their way.

“We’ll take it slowly. It’s basically a probationary period right now.”

“There’s a probation period for special recruits too?”

“Don’t know. If Padrid says so, probably.”

Actually, Padrid wasn’t putting much meaning into the education.

Although age didn’t matter, it was the first time such a young child had entered, and he expected they wouldn’t see her here for long.

Ekision, Horas, and Jin Jane who were looking after Rodi now, and Gemvil and Hailo who were outside, all thought the same.

Though they might part soon, they wanted to treat her well and teach her something while she was here, feeling sorry for the poor child.

This sympathy came from all the executives gathered here, none of whom had lived an easy life before coming to Cheiles.

Though one becomes tough after rolling through life’s hardships, there was no reason this little one had to walk those dirty paths.

While there were no adults in their own pasts, Rodi now had at least five or six adults around her.

Even if they got blood on their hands usually, they wanted to act like proper adults in front of this child.

Even if they were somewhat lacking as adults, six of them combined should equal one proper adult.

Of course, this would only be for the short, uncertain time she would stay here.

“Do I write it like this?”

Rodi looked up while diligently drawing letters.

The paper, crooked and soaked with ink from staying too long in one spot, looked like worms crawling across it.

“Oh, that’s right. You’re really smart, kiddo.”

“I’m not a kiddo.”

“Oh, sorry. Was that rude? Our rookie is so smart. Want to learn any other letters? I’ll teach you all of them.”

“Umm…. name.”

“Name?”

“My name.”