Little Pink Starfish

Three days later, Pei Sen demonstrated the Cleaning Spell in front of Lady Mary and Iger. As a result, he received a pay raise—clearly neither Lady Mary nor Iger wanted Bertha to be the one cleaning the carpets ever again.

Pei Sen glanced at his NPC panel, which had finally upgraded from the most basic level to the green panel. His faction was now officially listed as Golden Rose Manor, and his title had become the formal “Personal Butler.”

“At this rate, I won’t be stuck in pixel blur for much longer, huh?” he thought optimistically. “Once I hit the blue NPC panel, the mosaic might disappear.”

“Wait—why do I even care about the mosaic so much? Whether or not that brat Iger has one on him… what does it matter?!”

Anyway, he couldn’t see mosaics on others right now, since he was Iger’s personal butler.

Tomorrow, Bix Magic Cube would officially begin its closed beta—he’d seen the announcement!

What frustrated Pei Sen was that Iger absolutely hated going out, and as the personal butler, unlike the steward Vargo who often had business outside, he had almost no chance to leave the manor. And in this era of the Aery Continent, as someone from an oppressed race, even though he could earn a modest salary, there was no concept of a vacation within the manor.

“Tomorrow will be a historic day, and I’m stuck in this manor, stuck entertaining a brat and playing with his cat…” Pei Sen sighed. But he truly didn’t want to miss such a monumental moment—he eventually gave in and went to find Lady Mary.

“You want to request leave to go back to Casey City tomorrow?” Lady Mary’s expression was serious. “Why? As far as I know, you don’t have any relatives in the city.”

Golden Rose Manor hadn’t investigated Pei Sen’s background too deeply, but they had still done some basic checks. Pei Sen had claimed he was a Balstian who had been trafficked here—which conveniently aligned with Lady Mary’s own suspicions.

“I left some important things hidden in the city back when I was trafficked here,” Pei Sen lied smoothly. “Now that I’m settled in the manor and plan to stay, I just want to retrieve them and keep them with me.”

Lady Mary looked at him silently for a moment, then said, “I can’t make that decision. You’ll need the young master’s permission.”

Pei Sen: “…”

If the brat was easy to convince, would he even be here asking Mary for help?!

Given his short time getting to know Iger’s personality, he was pretty sure Iger would never approve his leave request—

No—more precisely, Iger never agreed to any of his requests.

Still, Pei Sen’s desire to witness history overpowered all hesitation, and he bravely went to speak to Iger directly about taking a day off.

Iger’s emerald eyes glanced at him lazily. “You want to go to Casey City?”

“Yes, young master. I promise—I’ll return right after I retrieve my things. It won’t delay anything.” Pei Sen tried to appear as sincere as possible, just short of kneeling and swearing an oath on Iger’s hand.

In some ways, Pei Sen was quite adaptable. Before he transmigrated, life had already given him a few beatings. He’d long since learned to be shameless when needed.

Iger set down the book in his hands and walked up to him.

Though only fourteen, he was already nearly as tall as Pei Sen. It wasn’t that Pei Sen was short—he’d actually adjusted his height a few centimeters above the average adult male in the system settings for the Aery Continent. It was just that Iger was ridiculously tall for his age.

“You’re lying,” Iger said suddenly.

Pei Sen’s heart skipped a beat, but he kept a calm, innocent smile. “Young master, I’m not.”

Iger studied Pei Sen’s elegantly handsome face. With a face like that, it was hard not to believe him, no matter what he said.

Pei Sen thought Iger might go easy on him because of his looks. Iger, for his part, felt he was already being unusually tolerant.

He’d never treated anyone this nicely before!

“App,” Iger called. From the shadows, a figure emerged. A tall, lean young man appeared silently, startling Pei Sen.

“Tell Vargo I’m going to Casey City tomorrow,” Iger said.

“Yes, young master.” The youth called App disappeared back into the shadows.

Pei Sen watched carefully—this guy was clearly a top-tier fighter, probably an assassin- or rogue-type class in the game.

Then Iger leaned in close to Pei Sen’s ear and whispered, “Tomorrow, you’ll come with me. I want to see you retrieve those things myself.” He paused, lips curling slightly. “Pei Sen, if you dare lie to me… heh.”

That soft chuckle at the end felt incredibly malicious.

He was just a fourteen-year-old kid, but Pei Sen couldn’t help feeling a chill. Why did he seem so terrifying?

After Iger pulled away, Pei Sen resisted the urge to rub his ear. Why did it feel like Iger’s breath had been cold?

Despite the intimidation, Pei Sen was quietly thinking: “Trying to scare me? Please. Sure, I made up the ‘retrieving things’ excuse, but if I wanted to retrieve something, I could easily make something up!”

Besides, tomorrow the city would likely be chaotic with players flooding in—who knew what might happen?

So really, he wasn’t scared at all.

That day, he continued to work diligently, feeling quite pleased with how well he was performing the role of “personal butler.”

Iger, observing Pei Sen’s light steps and smiling expression, narrowed his eyes slightly. Pei Sen himself probably hadn’t noticed—he was even more gentle, attentive, and considerate than usual today.

Iger, who had always been hypersensitive to the emotions of those around him, could easily pick up on the slightest mood shift.

But Pei Sen was strange—his emotions seemed to change constantly.

And yet, no matter what, he always wore that endlessly warm, tolerant smile in front of Iger.

It was… fascinating.

“Young master, a letter from Count Ashkel,” Pei Sen said, placing a thin envelope on the desk.

Unusually, Iger opened this one himself instead of handing it off.

Though Pei Sen hadn’t been at Golden Rose Manor long, he already knew that this Count Ashkel wasn’t very old and was one of the very few people Iger might grudgingly refer to as a “friend.”

That Iger had friends at all was something the manor’s staff liked to quietly joke about behind closed doors.

Pei Sen understood, though—with someone of Iger’s status, people might approach him not out of sincerity but for profit. Iger probably understood that too. So this Ashkel was likely someone he genuinely considered a peer.

Though from what Pei Sen had heard, that young count didn’t have the best reputation either.

Not long ago, Iger had sent Ashkel a letter talking about his new personal butler—mentioning Pei Sen’s strange emotional shifts and his endless gentleness, even joking about how often he fired staff for fun. Ashkel would respond with tales of his own outrageous behavior.

Their correspondence was always full of trivial nonsense.

This time, however, Iger was immediately annoyed upon opening the letter. Lazy Ashkel had only written two lines in reply.

“There are plenty of people in the world with fluctuating emotions. You’ve never found that interesting before.”
“Iger, is your new butler very good-looking?”

Iger: “…”

Pressing his lips together, the brat tore the letter into little pieces and threw them into Pecks’ fish soup.

Pecks meowed loudly, refusing to drink the ink-stained soup.

“Pei Sen.”

“Yes, young master.” Pei Sen hadn’t dared peek at the letter, but from Iger’s expression, it clearly didn’t please him.

“Go cook Pecks another bowl of fish soup.”

Pei Sen sighed. Not only did he have to serve this brat, but also that fat black cat.

“You personally cook it.”

“…Yes, young master.”

Today, he would be extra obedient—after all, he still needed Iger to take him into the city tomorrow. No matter what nonsense Iger threw at him today, Pei Sen could handle it like a turtle hiding in its shell.

And cooking for a cat? Pfft—easy.

Still, Pei Sen felt a nervous anticipation.

He was afraid that tomorrow he wouldn’t see any players—that he really had ended up in a world completely unrelated to the game, alone.

Only by seeing players would he be reassured.

He didn’t want to be alone, lost in a world that was both familiar and foreign.

Even if those players were total strangers, they’d still be people from his world—the most comforting kind of people right now.

“It’ll be fine. Everything will go smoothly. I can see the forums. This is the game world.” Pei Sen whispered to himself before falling asleep.

In novels, some protagonists love being unique—the one chosen hero in another world, armed with golden cheats.

But Pei Sen? He was praying for a crowd of players to flood in… so he wouldn’t be the only one.

Still, he didn’t sleep a wink that night.

---

The next morning, Pei Sen helped Iger dress in an ornate, pure-white shirt, black trousers with golden rose embroidery, and brown boots made from some rare beast’s leather. Over it all, he wore a pale gold coat glittering with tiny gemstones and golden patterns.

Lady Mary personally brushed out Iger’s long golden hair, tying it back with a pure silver ribbon. “Young master hasn’t gone out in a while. A trip might do you good.” She turned toward the shadows. “Aken, protect the young master.”

Iger replied coldly, “What’s there to see in Casey City? It’s backward and boring.”

Mary sighed. “Regardless, it’s still your domain…”

Domain? Pei Sen blinked. He’d just learned that Casey City was considered Iger’s territory. Most players probably hadn’t realized this.

Casey City had a City Lord, but that man had never mentioned who actually owned the city. Considering how close Golden Rose Manor was, his silence was… suspicious.

Still, Pei Sen set that thought aside—nothing today was more important than the closed beta launch.

He glanced at the luxurious clock nearby—9:15 a.m. Iger’s daily routine was strict: up at 7 a.m., asleep by 10 p.m. Even if 7 was early enough, how did it already become this late?

Of course—it took forever just to get Iger dressed and fed.

Pei Sen was starting to get anxious. After all, the beta was scheduled to launch at 10 a.m. sharp!

Since time in the game and reality were synced 1:1, that meant he had only 45 minutes left.

But no matter how anxious he was, he couldn’t exactly shove Iger into the carriage and tell him to hurry up.

He had to keep his worry buried deep inside and act calm.

Thankfully, by 9:30, they finally boarded the carriage.

Pei Sen looked out at the uninspiring scenery, wiping his sweaty palms on his trousers and quietly clenching his fists.

Iger leaned lazily against the cushions, watching his butler with a puzzled look.

The more he looked, the more he found Pei Sen’s shifting emotions fascinating.

In Iger’s mind, Ashkel was wrong. Pei Sen wasn’t interesting just because he was good-looking.

…Okay, fine. He was good-looking.

But not as good-looking as me.

Iger snorted and looked away.