Chương 5: Butler's Care

The Rosenkreuz family had existed for more than a thousand years, and just thinking about that alone was enough to make me realize just how absurdly great an achievement it actually was, because surviving for that long, generation after generation, through wars, disasters, changing kingdoms, the rise and fall of nobles, and everything else that should have been enough to wipe out an ordinary family, was something no other family in Ossraith had managed to accomplish, not even the current royal family, which had barely been around long enough to be considered ancient by comparison.

In fact, the current royal family wouldn't even exist in the position it held today if it weren't for the Rosenkreuz family, because according to the history recorded in the game, it was the Rosenkreuz family that had helped establish the royal bloodline in the first place, which made their influence over Ossraith far greater than what their position alone suggested.

And there was a reason the family had been able to maintain that influence for so long, a reason that went far beyond wealth, political connections, or simply having enough descendants to keep the family name alive, because the real foundation of the Rosenkreuz family's power was their bloodline.

According to the ancient records I had read in the game, the ancestor of the Rosenkreuz family had made a pact with a Spirit of the Eternal Sun, and through that pact, acquired the bloodline of the Ancient dragon, and whatever that blood had done to their descendants had elevated the Rosenkreuz bloodline to a level of power that was almost impossible to properly comprehend, to the point where every generation of the family seemed destined to produce at least one individual who was powerful enough to stand above everyone else and take control of the family.

And the current lord was probably the most terrifying example of that tradition.

That man was a monster, and I wasn't exaggerating when I called him one, because even thinking about him was enough to make me shudder, especially when I remembered what happened during the third act of the game, when he made a brief appearance that should have been nothing more than another event in the story, only for that appearance to somehow end with him tearing an Marquis-rank demon apart with his bare hands as if the thing wasn't even worth considering an opponent.

That was the kind of power the current head of the Rosenkreuz family possessed. And the item I needed to acquire was connected to that very power. Heirflame. If I could get my hands on it, then I was certain she wouldn't be exiled, no matter what happened afterward, because there was no way the Rosenkreuz family would simply throw her away if she possessed something connected to the power that had allowed their bloodline to dominate Ossraith for centuries.

Of course, I was afraid of what changing things this early might cause, because she wasn't supposed to discover Heirflame for another few years, and I had no idea what kind of consequences would come from dragging something that important into the story this much earlier than it was supposed to happen, but at the same time, what was the point of being afraid of consequences when I was probably going to die anyway.

I wasn't stupid enough to think I could simply follow the original story and recreate everything exactly as it had happened, because the moment I started interfering, the story was already changing, and the more I tried to force things back into their original shape, the more likely I was to make everything worse. So I would take what I knew, use whatever advantages I could get, and deal with the consequences when they came. For now, though, I wanted the night to fall before I made my move.

— Around one o'clock in the middle of the night, I finally stepped out of my room, and as soon as I found myself standing in the quiet hallway outside, I activated my trait. [Supreme Butler activated.] I took a few steps just to make sure, and sure enough, there wasn't even the faintest sound coming from my footsteps, as if my feet weren't touching the ground at all. This is such a great trait.

With that little test out of the way, I started walking toward Cecilia's room, which wasn't particularly far from mine since my room was located on the second floor of the mansion, right beside the main area where Cecilia lived, and because of that, it didn't take me long to reach her part of the mansion.

There were a few servants scattered throughout the corridors even at this hour, but strangely enough, none of them dared to look at me, let alone stop me and ask where I was going, and now that I thought about it, I suddenly realized that I had always had this strange feeling whenever I was around the servants, like they were genuinely afraid of me for some reason. I have no idea why. But I'm not complaining. I reached Cecilia's door and slowly placed my hand around the doorknob. Let's just hope she's sleeping.

Otherwise, making up an excuse for why I'm standing outside her room in the middle of the night is going to be very difficult. With a light creak, the door opened, and I quietly slipped inside. The room was filled with warm moonlight pouring through the large window on the left side, casting a pale glow across everything inside, and in the middle of the room stood a massive bed, upon which Cecilia was lying peacefully, completely unaware of the intruder who had just entered her room.

I moved closer, slowly crossing the room until I was standing only a few feet away from her, with nothing separating us except the enormous size of the bed. And for a few seconds, I couldn't help but feel completely dumbfounded. I had only ever seen her through the screen of my computer, and even then I had thought she was beautiful, but seeing her like this, in person, was something completely different. Why does she look like a human-sized, incredibly realistic anime figurine?

Her long pink hair spread across the pillow, shining faintly beneath the moonlight, and it was a trait that was apparently extremely uncommon within the Rosenkreuz family, because as far as I knew, she was the only one among them with pink hair while almost everyone else possessed the characteristic red hair of the family. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Okay, enough staring. I'm starting to look like a creep.

I came here for a reason, so let's just get this over with and get out of the room. Now, let's see if this actually works. I opened my status window and selected Butler's Care. BUTLER'S CARE RANK LEVEL 5 TYPE MEDICAL MANA COST 600 MP DESCRIPTION A medical skill that allows the caster to heal and treat living bodies through mana, with its effectiveness and possible applications depending on the skill level and the caster's own capabilities. SKILL STAGES LEVEL 1 Treats minor injuries and restores basic vitality.

LEVEL 2 Heals moderate wounds and more serious physical injuries. LEVEL 3 Can treat severe injuries and repair damaged organs. LEVEL 4 Can heal devastating injuries and restore heavily damaged body parts. LEVEL 5 CURRENT LEVEL Can regenerate completely lost body parts, including severed limbs. It really is an interesting skill through and through, but there was one particular line that caught my attention when I first read its description.

Its effectiveness and possible applications depended on the caster's own capabilities. That was incredibly vague. There was no clearly defined limit, which meant the skill might be capable of doing far more than what was explicitly written in its description, depending on how I used it and, more importantly, how well I could understand what I wanted it to accomplish. And I already had an idea. Actually, two ideas. The only problem was the ridiculous mana cost. 600 mana for a single cast.

I needed to make sure Cecilia didn't wake up, and more importantly, I needed to make sure she didn't feel any pain when I drew blood from her body, so I raised my hand toward her face and began imagining exactly what I wanted the skill to do. Anesthesia. Something that would put her body into a deep, painless sleep without causing any harm. Fortunately, this was something I was already familiar with, so imagining the effect wasn't particularly difficult. [Butler's Care activated.] A soft glow immediately appeared around my outstretched hand, and from within that glow, a strange mist began to emerge, drifting toward Cecilia's face before gently settling over her body. A few seconds passed. Then her breathing became even deeper and more relaxed. It worked. Hopefully. Because I really couldn't afford to waste another cast on her without knowing exactly what kind of consequences that would bring. Now I needed the blood. I focused once again. [Butler's Care activated.] This time, something far stranger emerged from the glow. A thin, hair-like thread slowly extended from my hand, stretching through the air until it reached Cecilia's left hand, and the moment it touched her skin, the thread slipped beneath it, piercing deep enough to reach the blood vessels without causing any visible injury. Then another thread emerged from the glow, and as it reached the first one, its tip transformed, expanding into a tiny container that was attached to the thread.

Now all I had to do was wait. Except… I suddenly felt it. The skill was about to stop. Damn it. [Butler's Care activated.] I immediately cast it again. The moment the skill activated, blood began flowing through the thread and into the tiny container, slowly filling it drop by drop. I watched the level rise. Halfway. Then I felt the skill beginning to collapse again. [Butler's Care activated.] Another 600 mana disappeared and somehow, not even 30 seconds later, the 3-inch vial was completely full. That's enough.

The thread suddenly disappeared, and the vial detached from Cecilia's hand, landing softly on the bed without a sound. I quickly picked it up and slipped it into my pocket. Then, just to be safe, I cast Butler's Care on Cecilia one final time, allowing the skill to heal whatever minor damage had been caused and return her body to its original condition. But seriously, why the hell did it take three casts of Butler's Care just to draw some blood? That made absolutely no sense.

The same skill could regenerate multiple completely lost teeth with a single cast, yet drawing a little blood somehow required three uses. Maybe the skill's application really was dependent on my own capabilities or maybe there was something about manipulating a living body that I still didn't understand. Either way, I didn't have time to investigate it now. Once I was certain Cecilia was unharmed, I simply walked toward the door, quietly opened it, slipped outside, and closed it behind me.

— Inside the room, Cecilia's eyes slowly opened. She stared silently at the closed door. The very same door through which Edwin had just disappeared. And for several seconds, she simply lay there, her eyes fixed on it, as if trying to understand what exactly had just happened.