Pail and Jasper were in time-out. They were made to sit quietly by the kitchen table and practice writing until it was time for dinner. Norman had made several writing tables out of the spare beeswax. They were really convenient for taking notes and holding class as you could etch your words in with a pointed piece of wood to write, and heat the tablet up to erase it. They were good for keeping the children entertained, too.

  “No doodling. Copy the words I wrote down until dinner time. I will be in the kitchen to make sure you’re quiet and doing your work.” Norman said not all that sternly. He sounded the same as always, but Pail could instinctively tell that he was being scolded from the rhythmic sound of his father’s foot tapping against the floor.

  Jasper tried to quietly head home to avoid the punishment, but he was quickly stopped when he felt a large hand on his shoulder. “I talked to your mother. She said that you either stay here to write and eat dinner with us, or you go home and get a spanking before going to bed hungry.” Norman didn’t particularly agree with Mrs Nakada’s parenting methods, but he knew that it was the norm in this world, so he wouldn’t pry.

  “But I didn’t even-” Jasper was about to object, as in his mind, he didn’t even do anything that warranted punishment. Then he remembered his mother saying something about not playing marbles in the road… whoops. At least silent writing was better than being spanked while his siblings laughed.

  Pail grinned at his best friend as he sat back down. Pail did something objectively worse by throwing a rock when he wasn’t supposed to, but they still got the same punishment. His Papa loved him, so of course he would get a lighter punishment, that’s just how it worked!

  “This is the consequence for playing in the road. Pail, you’re helping with the horses tomorrow as punishment for hitting me in the face.”

  This time, it was Jasper who grinned.

  Shimmer liked helping in the kitchen. There was just something calming about it. The young master and young miss, as well as the head of the house, were off doing other things. Cooking was a time for servants, and it was one of the few times when he was left alone with the only other servant at the estate. “Why is this estate so small? Are we really the only servants in this place?” He asked while cutting up a potato. “And why is the head of the house doing so much work on his own?”

  Rowboat chuckled, patting the boy on the head. “You’re no servant here. You’re part of the family!” Rowboat got paid, but she didn’t really need to be. She had come to love the people she was living with, and couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. The money was a nice bonus, though. “As for why the boss works so much? He isn’t from here, so I’m assuming it’s part of his foreign noble culture.”

  Shimmer hadn’t thought about that before. He didn’t understand Lord Persson and his actions, but it would make sense if he were from another country. “Where is he from? The demonic empire? Or one of the farming nations down south?” He had surface-level knowledge about most cultures, but none of them matched his Lord’s irrationally kind behavior and humble lifestyle.

  “Some island somewhere far away enough from the mana spring to have never experienced magic before he got here.” Rowboat shrugged; she wasn’t the kind to pry. Knowing people’s secrets usually led to trouble. She found that out the hard way when she was a little girl. She’d accidentally discovered her master’s affair and only managed to keep her tongue because the wife walked in.

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  “Family, huh?” Shimmer couldn’t really imagine such a thing. Servants had dirty blood; they were biologically beneath the higher class. Muddying their pure bloodline with servant blood was something completely unheard of. So was a place without magic, to be fair. Nothing about this family lined up with his experience with nobles. He didn’t know how to act around them.

  “Don’t worry so much. Just enjoy yourself, yeah?” Rowboat placed a calming hand on his head and ruffled his hair. She knew how torn he must be. She would have been the same if she were his age. “They’re good people. Strange, but good people.”

  Shimmer sat on his bed and brushed his long hair. It was something he did out of habit, even though he didn’t need to look flawless anymore. A soft knock alerted him to the man standing in the doorway, the strange but kind head of house Persson. “Good evening. Can I help you with anything, my lord?” Norman had asked not to be called that about a million times at this point, but Shimmer couldn’t bring himself to use a noble’s first name.

  “Rowboat told me that it would be a good idea to talk to you. She usually knows best when it comes to emotional matters.” Norman awkwardly sat down on the other side of the bed, a good arm's length away from the boy. He still struggled with close contact and personal space. “I’m not your owner or master, why do you insist on calling me lord?”

  “I know you want me to refer to you by your first name, but I simply can’t bring myself to talk to a noble as an equal.” Shimmer lowered his head, expecting to be beaten for his insolence. However, Lord Persson’s response was so far from expected that he had to take a moment to process it.

  “Noble? I’m no noble. I’m just a merchant. Sure, Rowboat is my employee, but that doesn’t make me a noble. Am I missing something?” Shimmer must have thought he was a noble because he could afford to free him. If that was the case, then the boy’s distant actions made a lot more sense than if it were just teenage angst.

  “Huh? You have a last name, do you not?” Huh? What? Huh? Just a merchant? What? No, this guy was clearly a noble of the upper class! The knowledge he possesses, the glasses on his face, and the intricate watch on his wrist could only point to princely status!

  “Yes. My last name is Persson. See?” Norman fished out his ID from his pocket and pointed to his last name without having idea why it was relevant in a conversation about nobility. He was probably missing something here, at least if the giddy feeling from Savant was anything to go by. “How is that relevant?”

  “Your name is recorded in mana, which means you are a noble,” Shimmer explained slowly. Even if he was from some island, surely he knew about the law of mana? Wait, did he? Rowboat did say that he came from a land without mana. “Anyone can make up a last name, but it needs to be accepted as real by the world’s mana to show up on cards like this.

  Anything that mana accepts as the truth becomes a fundamental reality of the world. Your name being registered means that your family line is as important as magic itself. Therefore, you’re a noble. There are fewer than twenty of them in the world, so I thought you knew.”

  “I did not know that.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Seriously.”

  [HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA]

  All of the tension in Shimmer’s shoulders seemed to melt away at the revelation that such an important man had no idea he was important. He laughed harder than he ever had in his life. Mostly at the absurd situation, but also at himself. Here he was, working so hard to keep up proper decorum to impress a man who thought of himself as nothing more than a merchant. It took months, but Shimmer felt happy here. Rowboat was right; these people would become his family.

  “You’re really funny, uncle!”

  If I made a second story what would ya wanna read about