Huntsman

Despite working late into the night, Dudley and Allen were forced to suspend their work after only managing to skin the beast and remove its organs due to the sheer size of the white deer. Thankfully, it was currently winter, and the cold helped prevent the meat from spoiling so easily. They were to continue the following day.

Dudley had requested that Sebas excuse Allen from attending ti Cecil for the day so he could focus solely on the butchering, making the case that the boy had a deft hand and was a quick learner. Well, it had been more like a declaration, but that was just the head chef's way of asking for things.

"You really are good at this, Allen. You should stop bein' Young Miss's manservant and be a chef instead. Want me to speak to Sebas for ya?"

Dudley still referred to Sebas without his title despite being lower in rank.

"Th-Thank you, sir, but Young Lady Cecil has been good to me so far."

"We talkin' about the same Young Lady?"

Being Cecil's manservant was not easy, but it did come with opportunities to go out into town, plus free time during her lessons. These were way better terms than working as a chef.

"That aside, lad, you really pick things up quick. Vans takes ages to learn even the smallest things."

'Ah, that's probably due to Intelligence.'

Allen had noticed himself picking things up much faster as of late, and this applied to his work as a server as well. Every time he leveled up, the feeling became all the more obvious. The ease with which he could now remember things was beyond comparison to his previous life. He could memorize anything now, and his body would naturally move the way he wanted.

That said, this did not mean he was getting cleverer. Just as before, he had to think hard for ideas. It was not the same as becoming a brilliant genius.

'Man, the white deer sure was heavy yesterday. I guess Summoner is a support class in the first place.'

Due to being a Summoner, Allen's Intelligence stat was ranked at "S"—presumably the highest possible ranking—but his Attack was only a paltry "C." As someone who threw iron balls and used a sword during fights, instead of having such lopsided stats, he would have preferred having all his stats ranked at "A" instead.

Allen's hand moved deftly and surely, even when he was deep in thought. In the end, that day's butchering also lasted until quite late in the evening.

***

Once he returned indoors, he was told that Sebas wanted to see him in his room again.

'I sure am getting summoned a lot lately,' Allen thought as he knocked on the butler's door. "Excuse me, sir. It's Allen."

"Come in."

Allen walked in and was gestured toward the usual sofa.

"Sorry you had to work late yesterday even though it was your day off."

'Oh? I actually got an apology.' Allen was slightly surprised. "It was no problem at all, sir."

'After all, I hunted the white deer on my own volition, and I was helping out until late in the night because I wanted to get the magic stone.' Allen thought. "May I ask why I was called today?"

"Before anything else, here you go." Sebas placed a heavy-looking pouch on the table between him and Allen.

"What is this, sir?"

"A hundred silver."

'Huh? So I'm only getting a hundred silver for the white deer?'

On top of having more than five hundred kilograms of edible meat, the beast's fur had remained largely undamaged and therefore should have been able to fetch a rather sizable sum. In short, the beast was worth way more than a hundred silver.

"That's your salary for the month."

'WHAT?! My salary is fifty silver, which means I'm technically only getting fifty silver for the deer?! I sure as hell ain't doing that again! I pretty much just lost the entire day off! Talk about a crap deal!'

A sigh naturally escaped Allen's mouth as a look of disappointment painted his face.

"Allen, you have a habit of letting your emotions show on your face. Don't misunderstand: that is your salary going forward."

"I'm sorry, sir?"

"You're diligent and take things seriously. However, that is not the reason we're raising your salary."

The full salary of a manservant was a hundred silver, but Allen could only receive half of the amount until he turned twelve. If this increase in salary was not a reward for his good work, then it could only mean...

"You want me to do something else for the extra fifty silver?"

"You do catch on quick. That's correct. We want you to also be a huntsman."

"What's a huntsman, sir?"

The role of "gamekeeper" from medieval English aristocratic society came to Allen's mind. Back then, the gamekeeper was in charge of rearing the game that his master would hunt as well as protecting the game population from being poached by the common people.

"You like hunting, do you not, Allen?"

Without missing a beat, Allen replied, "I love it, sir."

"A huntsman is..."

According to Sebas's explanation, in this world, a huntsman's main duties were also twofold: hunting monsters to bring back their meat and protecting people who were being assaulted by monsters outside of the city. A higher-tiered noble, such as a count, might have several huntsmen in his service, but the Granvelle household had never had one before.

"That sounds amazing!" Allen could not help but raise his voice in delight. In other words, he was being asked to be a noble's employed hunter.

"The other servants also strongly support this idea."

"Huh?"

After a brief conflicted moment, Sebas revealed that over the past few days, more than half the servants had knocked on his door begging him to let Allen do more hunting. Even before he had brought home the white deer, the way he consistently brought back five horned rabbits every time he had a day off was more than enough of a testament to his skill as a hunter.

It was true that the staff's meals improved a little in quality every time Allen came back with horned rabbits, but it was honestly only by a little. The more he was allowed to hunt, the more meat there would be to go around.

Some people even went so far as to say that it would be much more beneficial for the household as a whole to redirect the time Allen spent looking after Cecil and doing odd jobs for her toward hunting instead. Sebas had found himself dogged by pretty much the same request again and again.

"And that is why we're offering you this position. To be frank with you, part of this is also due to the state of this house's budget. I confess I did not expect you to actually bring a white deer back, but it does help to illustrate my point."

Naturally, it would cost much less paying Allen fifty silvers extra each month instead of buying whatever monster he brought back at full price every time. Case in point, a single white deer normally went for several gold.

House Granvelle's budget was extremely tight at the moment—this had been obvious from the moment it was mentioned that the coming New Year's Greeting would have to be significantly scaled down.

"Thank you for the explanation, sir. I will be glad to take on the role of huntsman for fifty silver extra each month. Do I start tomorrow?"

'Honestly, if I get to go out every day, I don't even need the raise. As long as I bring five horned rabbits back, I can spend the rest of every day hunting goblins from morning to dusk! Oh no, I think I'm starting to drool.'

Seeing Allen gleefully agree to the role, the butler said, "Just to make it clear, I'm asking you to 'also' be a huntsman."

"By which you mean...?"

"Naturally, you will still continue serving Young Lady Cecil and serving at dinner. Your work as a huntsman is only for one day each week."

"WHAT?!"

In other words, Allen's one day of hunting each week had only become two days.

"Are you dissatisfied? We can always pretend this conversation never happened."

"Wha—?! Please, no! I...I'll be happy to do it."

"Don't be so down, Allen. You learn things and improve quickly. If you continue serving Young Lady Cecil, you just might become a gentleman-in-waiting one day. You would want to keep your options open, yes?"

The path of promotion for a manservant was gentleman-in-waiting. Sebas, who could tell that Allen would much rather abandon his duties as a manservant to go hunting every day, was reminding him to take a more levelheaded and balanced perspective.

"Ugh..."

"So then, what do you think? Will you be willing to take on huntsman duties one day each week?"

"Y-Yes, sir. Thank you very much for considering my future."

Two months after beginning to serve at the Granvelle mansion, Allen ended up taking on three roles: manservant, server, and huntsman.