Waking up alone in the mansion, Silas planned to do his chore. Even if he was a noble, his habit didn't leave him alone to stay in a place filled with trash.
The first task he listed inside his mental note was to clean his room. He fixed his bed and adjusted all the essential oils on the small desk. Then he covered up the burned wooden pit-hole with a carpet and placed a chair on top of it, so no one would step on it by accident.
"Now that I finished cleaning my room. I need to make something to eat." Silas muttered to himself.
He walked outside his room and headed to the kitchen. He made himself a hot coffee and fried two eggs.
He sat on the long table and ate quietly. After that he cleaned up all the plates he used and checked the storage room.
The storage room was in the back of the kitchen, thankfully, there was no warning when he opened the door.
' So the Patriarch cut off the servant quarter from the main building.' Silas wondered as he looked around inside the storage room.
The storage room was divided into two halls. The left door led to a freezing storage room. Silas only stayed for a few minutes to check on the meat and left without wasting any time.
'Magic. Magic. Can't believe they have magic in this world. Well, I think it is a good replacement for the internet at least.' Silas rubbed his shoulder and grabbed the other door.
The other storage room was filled with fruits, spices and cans. There were many things he couldn't identify even with his combined memories.
Strange looking jar of oil, a glowing powder, a living flower.
Silas took out a small notebook he grabbed from the study room. He wrote down a list of foods he saw. He estimated that he would be able to live about six months in this mansion with these foods.
"Hopefully, it is not that long."
Silas closed the door and left. The next target was the broken window.
He couldn't leave all the broken glasses there.
The cleaning took him about two hours. After that he made lunch with an unknown type of meat he found in the freezing room.
To be safe, he fried it until he was sure it was safe to consume. The fragrance smelled similar to the fried chicken and tasted like it but harder to chew. He clearly didn't have any talent for cooking.
But he made a really damn good coffee. As a book nerd, coffee was his guardian spirit. He was proud of himself for begging his father to teach him the right way to make coffee.
He could make it using the machine and by hand. He could proudly declare himself as a master of brewing.
Silas placed the coffee on the desk and grabbed the book Gabriel gave him to study for the weekend.
He was sure that he would read the entire book last week.
Political aspect of the Varkheldor Empire.
The book was hand written by Gabriel himself. Gabriel was the head butler of this mansion and teacher for Silas. The Patriarch asked Gabriel to teach him general knowledge of the noble world and political state.
The original goal was to adopt Silas into Todt House officially. After that, the House would awaken his mana and send him to the academy. That was the plan the Patriarch told him.
Silas didn't know whether he could trust the Patriarch. From his memories, the Patriarch was a man of war. An air of brutality hung onto his aura.
He looked up from the desk and sighed.
Silas didn't know the Patriarch planned to follow the original goal. Heck, he didn't even know why he was doing this to Silas.
He was originally a street kid, living in the slum, stealing fruits from the stand. Sometimes, when he felt brave, he would pickpocket a random man. He would fight kids for petty reasons like territory disputes.
He lost many fights. But there was never a life threatening danger. There was no need to end a life over something so small like filling a stomach.
After all, the worst of men knew how precious life was.
Silas had died. He lost that precious life over something he didn't know or remember. And he didn't want to lose again.
He would fight anyone who tried to take this from him. He didn't know about killing but that was something he had to do in the future.
Right now, he lacks the will to do it.
Silas continued his reading. If he had to wait for something to happen then, a little bit of absorbing knowledge was not going to hurt him.
—
He closed the book and added it to the book tower he made, standing tall beside the chair. It had been two weeks since he was reincarnated into this body.
There was no word from the Patriarch.
Silas was bored but he would take this kind of situation over something else. He glanced at the book shelves and sighed.
The only problem he had was the books. They were so boring. Most of them were about the trade the House did with the merchant town from a hundred years ago.
The only interesting thing he found in this pile of non-fiction books was a book filled with children's short stories.
Silas had to admit, reading other culture folk stories was very interesting. It showed their way of thinking, belief and passion.
Because of this book, he had now taken a glance at the Empire. One word. He would describe one word to the Empire.
Crazy.
If he had used two words, he would repeated that one word twice.
The first folk story was about the coming of the Empire. Before the Empire, there were various kingdoms scattered across the western side of the continent.
Long ago, aged before the great famine, a man with the surname Aldor made a pact with a grand wolf called Varkhal. No one knew the details of the pact but because of the pact the wolf protected Aldor.
Aldor fought every nation with Varkhal and crowned himself the Emperor after absorbing all the nations to his kingdom.
He renamed the kingdom and took on the name Varkheldor in honor of the Grand wolf.
It is said that the Grand wolf still roamed the other side of the world waiting for the descendant of the Aldor to renew the pact.
"I would think this type of story is for an uncivilized tribe on Earth. But here magic really exists. There is no way Magical Wolf can't exist in this world. Some parts of the story seem to be stretched but the wolf definitely exists."
Currently the Empire was in a war with two giant kingdoms. Technically, they were also the Empires but Varkheldor refused to acknowledge such arrogance.
Silas shook his head. He was reincarnated inside a crazy Empire that loved war. Adored the strong. Praise the brave.
Silas was in none of that. Well, he could be strong if he were to awaken his mana. But he was sure that he was not brave.
The door behind him suddenly swung open. Silas froze. He didn't hear any steps. How did the door open?
He turned around and saw a middle aged man looking at him. No. The man was studying him with intense eyes.
The man wore a black coat covering his entire body, only revealing his hardened face. His jaws were chiseled to perfection.
Silas would describe the man as handsome but the large scar across the man's face ruined his face.
His nose was pointed up. Silas thought the man's forehead was mangled by a blade.
They both continued to observe each other. Silas was thinking about escaping. He told himself.
'Relax. Running away is not always a good option.'
"Who are you?" Silas asked, trying to hold his voice from leaking away any of his emotion.
The man bowed swiftly at his answer and replied without breaking the bow.
"Excuse me for my rude manner. I was told by the Patriarch to summon you to the main mansion." The man's voice was smooth. Each word was packed with intention.
Silas didn't doubt the man's answer. But he didn't want to risk his life following a stranger.
He frowned. He stared at the man. From the man's tone, Silas knew that he was in the upper position. So he pressed for information about the man.
"I ask you a question. A simple question. Who are you?" Silas repeated.
The man looked up and nodded. "I am sorry about that. My name is Daken, a follower of House Todt."
Silas nodded and stood up from his chair.
" I am Silas Todt." He walked near Daken and continued, "Finish the instruction the Patriarch gave."
Daken nodded and snapped his finger. A wooden door emerged from the floor and stood in the middle of the study room.
'Ok. Now I seriously believe in magic. Damn summoning door. It looks like his power is related to teleportation.' Silas thought.
Silas walked toward the door and grabbed the door handle.
He paused for a brief moment.
What if the door leads him to a trap? What if Daken was an enemy of the House Todt? He didn't want to trust the man just because he sounded trustworthy.
Just because he sensed the admiration when Daken said a follower of House Todt.
He hated what he was feeling right now. Frustration. He was frustrated at himself that he didn't know what was going to happen.
Silas hated himself for that. That was why he took on a persona. A mask that told everyone that he was calm.
He opened the door and entered.