1 1 Belphegor Kingdom

In the underworld realm, there existed a King and his seven sons, who were widely known as Seven Princes of Hell. One day, the Underworld King had declared the lands to be divided and split into seven domains. The King commanded and gave authorities to his seven princes to each ruled and governed the seven domains respectively.

As time goes on, the divided lands soon became kingdoms. With their respective ruler, each and every kingdoms' cultures and civilizations formed and varied from one another's. However, a fact had remained the same since ancient times, regardless of the changing eras.

Demons were the first to inhabit and ruled the lands, and have always stood at the top of the food pyramid.

For instance, demons were renowned for their high magical abilities and combat capabilities. They were the largest race, and majority of them were of noble lineage, who held high-ranking post in the politics.

However, as generations evolved with over time, more and more cross-breeds came to life. One of the most notable rarest breed being Cambion.

Cambion referred to the offspring of an incubus, succubus, or demon with a human. Their existence only came to light in the 12th centuries, where the first cambion was found auctioning in an underground slavery auction. Not to mention, their first appearance had caused a major buzz and sensation, sweeping the whole underworld realm in an uproar during the times.

Due to its rarity, the cambion thus became a high value asset in the slavery trade business in spite of their low magical and combat abilities. Their appearance belong to that of humans, and if they were an offspring of an succubus or incubus, their looks were rumored to be glamorous and captivating.

Henceforth, there was a great hunting for cambion at the beginning. All slave hunters, and even some nobles, desperately wanted to get their hands on the half-breeds to suit their own purposes. Resulting their breed in a gradual decline after the great hunts.

Due to the fact that cambions were not capable fighters by any means, they were often than not forced to subjugation by the demons. Majority fell into the hands of slavery and became a slave working for the nobles, some who were lucky enough though, managed to escape into the mortal realm and settled into living amongst the humans.

Presently, there was almost few to none of the cambions left in the underworld realm. With the exception of one— August Floyd.

Before we talk about the man who was named August Floyd, also known as Gus, there was a need to explain the widely known romance that every demons and species have harbored deep in their hearts.

Which was to become the head of the butlers, serving one of the seven princes of the imperial family. Rumors have it that those who were qualified and managed to land the job, the infinite luxuries and wealth that came with the title were guaranteed to suffice their descendants for generations to come.

Furthermore, the privileges and honors that would bestow upon anyone with the title, goes far and wide than one could imagine. Ranging from a free-pass to all service taxes and unlimited entry of other kingdoms, getting pardon for minor crimes, allowed full access to restricted areas, to highly classified intel on the whole kingdom.

If one were to attain such a dream job, they would be pretty much settled for life. Since rules and restrictions of classes was not mentioned, anyone would be eligible to apply. Of course, applying doesn't equate to passing. The high-ranking servants of the imperial families have been overseeing the process and every year, they would only select one out of thousands of applicants to be admitted into the imperial household.

Not only one have to meet all the requirements given by the administrators, they'd have to pass the numerous and arduous tests impeccably, be it in intellect or physical fitness. All these were just the start of admitting into the imperial families' as a butler, and it doesn't come close to the head of butlers. That just showed how difficult and strenuous the road were, if one were to chase after a dream.

However, somewhere in the land ruled by Prince Belphegor, a mysterious man appeared and had swept all the tests with ease.

No one knew how he did it. Those who have taken the same test as him and failed in the end, described the man as '<i>insane four-eyes</i>' or '<i>unbelievable creature</i>'. It was unprecedented and the first in history— a low-born cambion who thought to have gone extinct, managed to pass all the tests with flying colors, and out of the thousands of superior demons, the mysterious man was selected to work as an esteemed butler in the Belphegor Kingdom.

It was only a matter of time, before the man would reach the apex of his careers, and successfully achieved the dream everyone would die to attain. The examiner who had overseen his results, had a strong vision of it.

At that beginning, no one knew exactly what impacts would the man bring to have his name pen down in history. Because in a not so far away future, the man would ultimately end up as the greatest butler of which the underworld realm have ever known.

It was the beginning of a great man, whose name was— August Floyd, A.K.A— Gus.

However, before Gus could have the chance of engraving his name into the '<i>List of Imperial's Outstanding Servants</i>' handbook, a critical crisis had appeared.

Gus wanted to quit his job and return to the commoners' dwellings for good.

That was what the bespectacled man thought, after going through all the hardships to get to where he stood now, as the head of the butlers.

Was it due to pay insufficiency? Was it worker's interrelationship problems? Or was it due to the lackluster performance, and having constantly told off by the superior?

No. None of the above.

In order to better explain and relate to how he had come to such conclusion, we need to trace back to one of Gus' daily life as starters.

————

The antique clock situated at the hallways where Gus walked past on, made an mechanical sound at every seconds interval, much to the butler's dismay. The groomed man fasten his pace and began to walk in large strides, in hopes of reaching his destination sooner than a second. What considered fascinating was, how his slicked-back brown hair hadn't sway in the slightest bit of movement.

As soon as he came face-to-face with a symmetrical majestic doors, his feet slowed and came to a halt. Gus coughed into his fist, before pushing the glasses he had further up onto the bridge of his nose.

"Your Highness, there's an urgent council happening and it requires your presence immediately," the butler said, after knocking the door in three times. Awaiting a response that he was well aware would not come, it was his duty to do so nonetheless.

Beyond the walls and entrance, Gus was instead greeted by the faint music that came from his master's dwelling. A small sigh managed to seep past the man's lips as he lamented, '<i>the anime has already started... was I too late?</i>'

Despite his best efforts to race against the clock, Gus still did not manage to get to the prince in time. Now that his lord's favorite anime had started, all hopes of getting him to attend the council was lost. The lord would not budge a single muscle away from his spot. Surely.

Lord Belphegor, he, who was an embodiment of one of the seven sins—'Sloth', was also one of the seven princes of hell. History had it that, since after returning from the short excursion in the mortal realm. His Highness had returned with a massive information from the human world. As a result, those information brought major changes to the underworld, wherein their existing technologies advanced by leaps and bounds in a short period of time.

With the introduction of computer science and electromagnetic wave, the huge scientific developments quickly shaped the kingdom into their present society. To be specific, the kingdom's vibe now resembled to that of Japan's Akihabara— a highly popular and modernized district in the human world.

To honor the great discoveries of their lord, the public masses had crafted a bronze statue which was twice the size of the prince, and had placed the sculpture in the center of their plaza to commemorate the day. Unbeknownst to them, the great lord whom they have admired and sang songs of praises daily—

—was actually a shut-in-die-hard-otaku.

Even the statue they have carved so meticulously and prided on, does not come close to his real appearance. Which was expected, due to the fact that his highness had not left his chamber for centuries now.

Gus had mentally noted the daily schedule of his lord and engraved it deep in his mind. Which consisted of— playing dating sims for two hours upon waking up at noon— watching his favorite anime that aired at 2p.m. sharp— reading his manga afterwards for another three hours— last but not least, spend the whole nights and dawn playing RPGs online, without fail.

In contrary to the tranquillity the butler had exuded, his cogs were turning rapidly in his mind. As Gus was storming up a solution to his predicament, a loud crash from the backyard brought him back to reality. The sound had come from the garden.

The butler peered down from the windows and directed his attention at the disheveled lady pacing in circles. Her pupils were shaking involuntarily, she hollered, "How many times do I need to repeat myself"—she gnawed at her perfectly manicured nails— "there's an assassin hidden behind the bush, and he's here to get me!"

As the paranoid lady rambled some incoherent words amidst her yelling, what caught Gus' attention was the familiar maid standing beside her. Her long lavender hair which was tied into a low ponytail, were carried by the breeze as it swayed gently in the air.

If he wasn't wrong, the maid who was tending to Her Highness, was the head maid— Hannah Brown.

The maid tried her best to calm Her Highness down in spite of all the screaming unjustly hurled at her. Without her smile faltering, she was indeed professional, as the head butler noted. While distracted by what appeared to be his lady's regular '<i>episodes</i>' outside, a small thud sounded from behind, and had greeted the bespectacled man in a young, girly voice.

"Hey Gus, look over 'ere."

As soon as the head butler turned around, he was met with a flamethrower head on. As the blaze were engulfing the half-human whole relentlessly, an addictive cackle came through the inferno, filling the once silent hallways with her mischievous laugh. The perpetrator spat with a satisfied grin on her face, "How ya like that, ya peasant!?"

Once the conflagration had ceased, Gus took out a handkerchief and swiftly wiped the dirt off his glasses. Undeterred by the farce, the butler spoke impassively, "If the temperature were ten Celsius higher, it'll be the perfect temperature for roasting a turkey, Milady."

The child clicked her tongue annoyingly. Seeing how her antics had failed once again, the child quickly loses interest on her target. She jumped down from the stool that no-one-knew when she had gotten, and stormed away from the scene in small, yet quick steps.

"Need to call the maids to tidy up the mess... hm?"

Before the butler could fish for his phone, he noticed a small shadow creeping behind a pillar. Needless to guess, Gus sauntered over to the pillar, he crouched down as he asked, "Might I dare ask, what is young master doing here?"

Surprised, the child let out a shriek before bobbing his tiny head out. He stared at the older male with teary eyes, "G-Gus..." the child sobbed as he wrapped his arms around the butler's arm. "I'm s-sorry... sister is t-too s-scary... I c-couldn't stop h-her..."

A large gloved hand rested atop of the crying child's, he patted gently at the splitting image of his lord. Seemingly ignoring the large quantities of snots staining his cuffs.

Gus spoke softly, "It's alright, young master. I'm simply relief that you weren't caught in the fire just now."

As he took on the babysitter's role and began taking care of the young master, Gus' mind however, found themselves wandering to a saying he'd once heard in the past. The light in his turquoise orbs slowly dimming as he recalled the phrase.

'A dream should always remain a dream.'

With an impeccable smile beamed at the child, the head butler wondered, how long does he need to do this for?