Free Web NovelChapter 1098: Chapter 477: A Thousand Leagues of Sea Breeze (Part 1)
PS: The royalties are out, blood loss, I’m begging all the readers for more support, otherwise I’m going to run out of food! Sob sob ~
The next day, in the morning, in the corridors of the wine estate, morning light streamed through the stained glass windows, spilling onto the wooden floors and the expensive paintings on the walls.
The newly appointed Head Maid Sylvia wore a standard maid outfit, her smooth golden hair tucked up high, white stockings on her legs and black leather boots, carrying a stack of clothes, passed by the doorway of the master bedroom.
Since Amelia left, Sylvia naturally took over the position of Head Maid, managing the entire Servant Corps’ daily lives and the castle’s logistics. One could say her abilities were quite good. Unlike Amelia, who focused more on Laine, Sylvia better fulfilled her duties as Head Maid.
Because of this, she was quite displeased with many of Laine’s habits, such as dining etiquette. In Brittania’s noble etiquette, every piece of cutlery has extremely strict usage rules. Which hand to use for which utensil has special guidelines, from the placement of napkins to the soup spoon not touching the chopsticks. In the court, these are important to determine whether a noble can reflect their status.
This is not nonsense. In Brittania’s noble etiquette, there are four kinds of table knives: the bread knife, butter knife, main dish knife, and fish knife. There are distinctions for what knife to use and when.
And Laine obviously didn’t care much about this. The Count himself even often had Surya eat with him at a round table, whereas in Brittania, dining at the same round table with a Holy Grail Knight is a great honor, yet Laine did it every meal.
For such issues, Laine was frequently criticized by Sylvia, and he always said he understood, yet changed very little.
Laine’s status was high, and his strength was formidable, leaving Sylvia often only able to criticize without daring to actually do anything. This left Sylvia feeling quite distressed, always feeling she hadn’t fulfilled her duties as Head Maid.
The new Head Maid thought to herself that she ought to find another opportunity to talk to him again.
Just then, the door to the master bedroom opened, and Laine stepped out wearing a simple robe.
The man’s robe was not properly worn, revealing his muscular build. Laine had an exceptionally streamlined physique, his black hair clearly just groomed. The robe’s waist tie was casually fastened, and his handsome, masculine face wore a faint smile: "Good morning, Sylvia."
"..." Sylvia just wanted to greet him, but for some reason, she just felt her face flushing with embarrassment, quickly turning her head away: "I’ll leave the clothes here."
"My Head Maid, I don’t think I’ve offended you?" Laine took the clothes, casually joking.
"No... Please step aside, my Count, I need to go prepare your breakfast." Sylvia said seriously, putting on an official air: "Has the Countess woken up?"
"I’m up, Sylvia, let’s have breakfast in thirty minutes." Surya was wearing a silk nightgown, her golden, long curly hair a bit tousled, her complexion rosy and glowing. The Countess looked lazy and satisfied, speaking to her maid: "You will join us for breakfast later."
"Understood." Sylvia, looking at Surya’s demeanor, almost immediately guessed something, her face reddening as she quickly departed, leaving only the ribbons of her maid’s headscarf fluttering in the air.
"Sylvia has been doing well lately; she’s been managing everything in the household." Laine watched the back of the Head Maid, speaking with a hint of implied meaning.
"Laine, Sylvia is just not quite used to it yet." Surya immediately grasped Laine’s implication, her heart stirred, she quickly said: "I believe she’ll find a suitable way for us to get along."
Thirty minutes later, in the wine estate’s dining hall, only three people were seated at the long dining table, Surya carefully applied honey and jam on the bread with the dining knife, then handed it to Laine with both hands: "Have you informed Veronica about it?"
"I have, she’s already packing up." Laine filled a cup with hot milk for Surya: "And Ollica, she’s packed as well."
"Is Mr. Alfred going too?" Surya nodded, the female knight casually mentioned: "Then why not also ask that Half-Elf Ranger to go with you? Aren’t you in need of such a long-range shooter?"
"Half-Elf? Estelle?" Laine put down the knife and fork, recalling the Half-Elf he had met and fought alongside back in Nord. The Count first nodded, then shook his head.
Estelle recently just barely broke through to the Legendary Tier, formally becoming a full Ranger. But considering the age of ninety for a Half-Elf, barring any major fortunate encounters, that’s about as far as he’ll go. A Half-Elf’s lifespan generally spans from one hundred fifty to two hundred years; to humans, Estelle is already a mature man nearing forty, and even with the Legendary Tier breakthrough, his lifespan won’t exceed two hundred fifty years.
It could be said that this Half-Elf had already been left far behind by Laine’s pace.
Laine first thought that having such a Ranger would indeed facilitate his journey to Estalia, given the proven combat strength of Rangers, especially with himself present, Estelle wouldn’t face many close combat challenges.
