Chapter 51: After Three Months

Three months passed in the absolute blink of an eye.

My formal three-month contract with the Voulstridge family was finally coming to an official end.

Looking back at the weeks I spent walking through those grand marble halls, the arrangement had been extraordinarily profitable for my personal growth.

My total mana reserves had grown significantly larger thanks to non-stop daily practice, rigorous exercises, and constantly feeding off raw energy directly from high-grade mana crystals provided by Duke Voulstridge himself.

Refining my mana pathways while holding those translucent, glowing gems had accelerated my magical development far beyond what an ordinary eight-year-old child could ever hope to achieve.

Sadly, all those lavish benefits from the contract came to an end today.

There would be no more free high-grade mana crystals delivered to my desk, no more gourmet sugar-filled pastries baked fresh by the estate head chef, and no more unrestricted access to the Duke’s private library.

But that was perfectly fine with me. Through my special clauses and extra hazard pay, I had already accumulated more than enough gold coins to secure a comfortable life for both myself and Ignatius for a very long time.

I was not foolish enough to complain about losing a golden goose when my leather pouch was already heavy with shiny gold coins.

Today was my long-awaited day off from the estate, marking my complete return to a simple commoner routine.

Earlier this morning, I had formally bid my farewell to Arielle. The little snow princess was finally entering the famous Novaria Academy after successfully passing her competitive entrance exam.

Good for her, honestly. At the academy, she could learn more of the absolute basics of spellcasting, study magical theory, and socialize with kids her own age instead of getting constantly tortured by my relentless daily training sessions in the garden.

She was practically beaming with pride when she showed me her official acceptance token, though her cheerful expression instantly turned into a scowl when I reminded her to keep practicing her mana control every single day.

Leaving the grand gates of the noble quarter behind, I walked through the bustling, noisy streets of the Normal District.

This was the primary commoner district of the kingdom, a lively and somewhat chaotic area cram-packed with open-air vegetable markets, cheap taverns overflowing with loud patrons, and local blacksmith shops ringing with the heavy thud of hammers against red-hot iron.

The air here smelled strongly of roasted meats, stale ale, chimney soot, and damp cobblestones. It was loud, crowded, and utterly unpredictable, but it felt remarkably grounded compared to the stuffy and tense political atmosphere of the noble estates.

It was also the place where Ignatius lived completely on our own brick house.

Ignatius was originally my family retired butler back when I was still living under the oppressive roof of the Lerwick House.

After a few months of finally being freed from long years of exhausting labor serving the Lerwick nobility, his entire personality had undergone a drastic, almost shocking transformation.

If anyone asked him about his sudden shift in demeanor, his reason was simple. That was just his true self coming out at last.

Once the strict, bowing, and overly polite butler persona was stripped away, he revealed himself to be an extremely loud, hot-headed old man who insisted on treating me like his own son.

Even though he did not know a single thing about my past life or my secret Locksmith abilities, he was genuinely protective of me in his own rowdy way.

"Hey! Kid!"

A booming voice cut cleanly through the noisy chatter of the street vendors. I turned around to see Ignatius waving his large, calloused hand at me from across the cobblestone street.

He was wearing his usual set of slightly rusty leather armor over a faded wool tunic, looking far more like a battered retired mercenary than a former high-society butler.

"Ignatius," I greeted him with a small nod as he trotted over to my side.

The moment he reached me, he swung his heavy arm and slapped my back hard enough to make me cough up air.

"Damn, you look like you’ve grown an inch!" he laughed heartily, his broad shoulders shaking with genuine amusement. "What are you doing wandering around here today? Still hanging around the Locksmith’s Guild?"

"Just checking the quest boards," I said cleanly, adjusting the strap of my small leather bag. "Need to make a living, you know."

"You’re eight years old, Silvester!" Ignatius barked, shaking his graying head in utter disbelief before slinging a heavy arm around my neck.

"What kind of living do you even need to make at your age?! Come on, stop acting like an old man. I’ll buy you some meat skewers."

We walked together toward the small Locksmith Guild hall located right at the bustling center of the Normal District.

The atmosphere inside the hall was noisy and chaotic as usual. The air was thick with the scent of cheap beer, fried pork grease, and metallic polishing oil.

It was packed with young, novice locksmiths who were sitting around wooden tables, drinking cheap ale, and loudly complaining about their low pay and difficult local repair requests.

This place was actually the brand new regional branch of Victoria’s Guild, a project she had worked tirelessly to establish over the past few months.

She had originally pushed hard for me to manage this new branch, offering me a private office, a generous salary, and a fancy title despite my young age.

However, I had flatly disagreed with her proposal. I had zero intention of locking myself inside a boring, cramped office all day, getting suffocated under a massive mountain of paperwork, client complaints, and administrative request forms.

I valued my freedom far too much to trade it for a manager desk full of papers.

I wiggled out from under Ignatius heavy arm and navigated through the crowded hall, finding a quiet table tucked into the far corner of the room.

I sat down on the rough wooden bench, leaning my back against the cool stone wall while Ignatius headed straight for the food counter to order our skewers.

I looked around the room, taking in the lively atmosphere as young locksmiths argued over key designs and tool prices. Everything felt peaceful in its own rowdy way.

Suddenly, a loud, piercing siren echoed throughout the entire city.

The sudden noise cut through the chaotic chatter of the guild hall like a sharp blade.

The laughter died down instantly, and the glasses of ale froze halfway to the locksmiths mouths as everyone stared up toward the ceiling in sheer shock.