Part 1v the undead chapter ix the butler
Nine o’clock in the morning, Hilston District, inside an upscale hotel.
Klein picked up a bottle of beautifully packaged white wine and handed it to the old man across from him with a smile, saying:
”Mr. Asnya, I appreciate you coming over to interview me, this is a very small gift, please also accept it.
”I will make a decision tomorrow at the latest, and at that time, I may come to visit you at home.”
He was using a euphemism to indicate that the other party had fallen out of favor.
Frankly speaking, he was actually quite satisfied with this old gentleman from Asnya, the other party perfectly fit his imagination of a butler, strict, decent, professional, understanding, and good at dealing with all kinds of troublesome issues.
As the farthest and oldest of the three butler candidates, he had actually waited patiently outside the door a full half hour ahead of schedule, whereas both Ribak and Walter were only a quarter of an hour ahead of schedule.
If it wasn’t for the “Magic Mirror” Aroldus hinting that the latter two were hiding some extra clues, Klein felt that he would have chosen this old gentleman, anyway, his main purpose was just to use the butler’s connections to more easily and naturally blend into the upper class, and get in touch with the appropriate targets.
And the bottle of white wine, worth two pounds per bottle, he had bought at Cerenzo’s Restaurant in Intis on purpose, considering the fact that some people were sure to return today disappointed and waste their round-trip carriage fare.
This would effectively flesh out the image of Dawn Dantes as a mysterious rich man who was out of his depth and very well mannered.
In addition, he also believes that a butler from an aristocratic family should not be underestimated, this type of person in the past professional experience, is bound to know a large number of high-society people, many professional butlers and countless servants, covering the upper, middle and lower levels, and can effectively influence a gentleman’s popularity, which is a necessary reference to enter a higher level of social circles.
In the current era, the 55-year-old Asnya’s hair had already grayed quite a bit, and his blue eyes were steeped in the wisdom brought by age, he did not refuse Dawn Dantes’s gift, he took it and looked at it twice, and bowed meticulously and said:
”I am very fond of this white wine from Calod, thank you for your generosity and praise your manners.”
Calod? Yes, that waiter introduced it yesterday, it’s a winery in the Champagne province of Intis, known for producing medium to high-grade wines, with a few vintages considered top-notch… hey, a butler knows more about wines than I do… also, just now, Mr. Asnya said that the wine cellars of the nobles and the rich are under the direct responsibility of the butler or one of the butler’s assistants… …Does this mean I’m going to have a wine cellar afterward, with the £2 class being the bottom of the barrel type, and £126 for a 1330 Ormil red not considered the best …… How much would such a cellar cost …… Thinking about it, the Klein felt a little tightness in his chest, suspecting that the 2,888 pounds of gold excluded from his body will not last long.
If not for the experience of this stage of the “Joker”, he would have lost his temper at this point, instead of smiling and speaking:
”Your liking is my greatest compliment, Mr. Asnya, please invite Mr. Ribak up from the cafe below.”
Asnya agreed without hesitation, and in less than five minutes, Ribak knocked on the door and entered the room to stay.
This gentleman had a head of neatly combed light blonde hair, a few wrinkles hidden in the corners of his eyes and mouth, not too obvious, he had a healthy complexion and a masculine temperament, at first glance he was the kind of butler that could accompany his master on a hunt or even fight against his enemies.
After greeting each other, Klein invited the other to sit down with a smile and spoke bluntly:
”Forgive my frankness, I don’t quite understand why you became Baron Sindras’ steward, your father was the deputy steward of the Negan family, your grandfather was the deacon of this family’s manor, and many of your forefathers served the duke and his relatives until they returned to the embrace of the gods, whereas you should have had this kind of trajectory in your life as well.”
Because of Rossel the Great’s influence, the Northern Continent’s countries’ original custom of preferring to denote a noble with a fief plus a title had become a surname plus a title, with the former only used unless on particularly formal occasions, and of course, there were a small number of noblemen whose surnames were derived directly from the names of their fiefs.
Ribak replied with a standard smile:
”Baron Sindras is a newly-promoted noble and a friend of the old duke, so I was sent to his home to help him and his family adapt to the life of a noble and master the appropriate etiquette.”
The old duke he was referring to was the father of the current Duke Negan, Pallas Negan, who was assassinated last year.
”So, why did you leave the Baron’s house afterward?” Klein asked with deliberation.
Ribak said frankly:
”Although Baron Sindras relied on the Conservative Party to obtain his knighthood, he himself was one of the most famous bankers, investors, and business owners in the kingdom, one of the first multimillionaires, and had strong sympathies for the new party and was willing to help in some way, which put him at odds with many of the Conservative nobles, including the young duke.
”So, to avoid embarrassment for the Baron, I offered to leave, and he actually retained me, he is a very good employer.”
Klein nodded and turned to ask:
”You believe in the ‘Storm Lord’?”
Ribak responded seriously:
”Yes. The Lord has given us courage, zeal, and a sense of duty.”
Klein asked a few more questions about the realm of stewardship and received exhaustive answers to all of them, so he smiled and said to Ribak:
”Please go downstairs to the café and ask Mr. Walter to come up.
”I’ll make a decision when I’m done talking to him, so you can wait inside the café for ten minutes.”
”All right.” Without a bit of shilly-shallying, Ribak immediately rose, saluted, and excused himself, in a very military style.
After seeing him out and closing the door to the room, Klein resumed his seat, picked up the black tea, took a sip, and muttered silently to himself:
”If he is chosen, he should establish contact with the current Duke Negan, with the Conservative Party, additional unfolding perhaps including some of the circumstances of the previous assassination case ……”
It wasn’t long before Walter arrived, knocked on the door and entered.
Klein began by exchanging pleasantries with the other man, then asked:
”What’s your beef with Viscount Conard’s butler? You know, I have to figure this out, there’s no way I’m going to take the risk of offending a nobleman.”
With a broad forehead, dark hair, and serious brown eyes, but not so serious as to make conversation impossible, Walter thought for a few seconds and said:
”As the butler’s assistant, I was in charge of the Viscount’s children in the beginning, and in the process, because of something, I was appreciated by a certain great man, and thus was valued by the Viscount and watched over by Mr. Butler.
”Then that great man passed away by accident, and a consequent change in the Viscount’s attitude towards me, and an even less friendly one on the part of Mr. Steward, led me to think that there was no point in waiting for a turn of events.”
The children of the Viscount in charge, knew a great man …… Well, Talim also met Prince Edzak in the course of teaching the youngest son of Viscount Conard, and the Prince had died a few months earlier as a result of the Great Haze of Berkland …… This fits with Walter’s statement …… It seems that this Mr. Butler was a marginal victim of what happened in the first place …… He’s still being quite discreet and professional, not revealing his employer’s shortcomings, not divulging the Prince’s affairs, and not saying much about the Viscount’s butler… …If he’s chosen, the extra unfolding is well worth waiting for …… Klein listened quietly, associating a few things.
He turned to professional topics, expressed his desire to enter high society, and after receiving a satisfactory answer, straightened his clothes and rose with a smile:
”Re-acquaint yourself with Dawn Dantes, your employer.”
Walter saluted instantly:
”What can I do for you, sir?”
He remained gravely curmudgeonly and smoothly unperturbed, as if he thought it was the professional skill of a butler to do so.
”Two things.” Klein chuckled, “First, help me bring this bottle of white wine to Mr. Ribak inside the cafe below and convey my apologies and thanks, and second, hire a solicitor of affairs to draw up a professional contract that includes you and the rest of the servants.”
”Yes, sir.” Walter saluted again.
Klein asked casually as he handed the other man the white wine:
”Valter, how many servants do you think I should hire so as not to be rude?”
Valter took the bottle of white Carraudian wine and answered without hesitation:
”You should first decide where you will live, only then will you know exactly how many servants you will need.”
”Well, what do you suggest? My requirements are simple, to live in the northern district, and I am a devout follower of the goddess.” Klein casually drew a Crimson Moon on his chest.
Judging from what I’ve read in newspapers and magazines, the rent for a garden house in an upmarket neighborhood of the city would have to be at least three pounds a week, I think, or 156 pounds a year……. Although this is not a direct figure, it can be deduced that the very nice garden houses in the outlying suburbs are in the vicinity of two pounds a week, and a few-roomed room in an upmarket apartment would be About the same, which is critiqued as being quite luxurious and somewhere only the upper middle class can afford to rent, well, one can use this to make a tentative inference about the rent of rich houses ……
It’s really expensive when you think about it, in Tingen, the gardenless townhouse that Benson, Melissa and I rented was only 13 soules a week plus 5p for the use of the furniture, and the previous one on Minsk Street wasn’t even £1 ……
Hey, 3 pounds is 3 pounds, I still have 2888 pounds, it’s okay to rent a little better, it doesn’t matter …… While waiting for Walter to answer, Klein silently recalled the house rental information in his mind, calculating the amount of money he would have to pay per week and per year.
Walter thought for two seconds and answered seriously:
”Sir, you may choose 32 Birklund Street, which is near St. Samuel’s Church, and is a three-storey house of more than a dozen rooms, with stables, servants’ rooms, and a considerable garden, and near which reside persons ranging from barons, members of the House of Commons, and senior barristers ……
”It is very tastefully furnished with a number of famous paintings and antiques, and all the furniture and utensils are sufficient to set off your status You can rent it for a year, and then consider whether to buy it as a whole when you feel satisfied.”
Sounds very good ah …… Klein asked with a smile:
”How much does it rent for a year?”
Walter quoted the figure seriously and skillfully:
”Including the use of furniture, 1260 pounds per year.” (Note 1)
”……” Klein was glad he wasn’t drinking tea, or he would have sprayed the butler in the face.
It took nearly all of The Joker’s control to keep his expression from appearing out of place.
Note 1: Rents are from “What Money Was Worth” and “A Study of Middle Class Marriage and Family Life in Victorian England”.
The £1,260 one was rented by the Qing dynasty for an embassy; whether it was at a premium or not, I don’t know.