With nothing else to do for the second half of the 4th day, he put on his “fancy shirt” (made by Caroline) and wandered around the city, bored out of his mind. While wandering, he came across a 14 yr old selling cheap cigarettes and newspapers. It wasn’t uncommon seeing kids of that age working, and it made him feel nostalgic.

“Hey, do you like your job?” Thio asked the young man randomly.

“Sir, a job is a job. As long as I’m paid I’m happy.”

“How much do you make?”

The boy eyed him, slightly suspicious. “On a good week, fifteen coppers. Why?”

“What if I offered you a Silva a month, plus room and board? Would you take it?”

The boy’s mouth fell open in shock before he could stop himself.

Clearing his throat, the boy tried to feign disinterest. “That would depend on what exactly the job entailed.”

“Ah well, I just bought this big house. And I realized after buying it that the only time I’ll ever have to clean it is when I’m on vacation. I’m on vacation right now, so it’s fine but once I start working… well, the place’ll turn filthy really quick. I was thinking of hiring someone to keep it clean and run errands, a butler or a housekeeper.”

“You’ll pay a Silva a month just to have someone clean your house and get stuff for you?” The boy asked in astonishment.

“Yep.”

“And the room?”

“The third story has space for household servants. You’d get to pick which ever one you want.”

This sounded too good to be true to the boy, but he also knew there was no good thing that was risk free. He was struggling to decide when Thio shrugged.

“It was just a thought. You can say no if you want.”

“Wait! No, I… I’ll do it.” He stuck his hand out. “I’m Metts, what’s your name Mister?”

“Acanthio Hillsdale.” The older man responded, shaking hands.

“Let’s get along swell then!” Metts paused. “I gotta let the Boss know I quit. That fine with you?”

“Absolutely.”

“Alright, it’ll take me a few minutes.” Metts began picking up his newspapers and cigarettes, glancing at Thio anxiously as he did. “Don’t move, Mister, alright? I’ll be right back! So don’t move!”

“I’m staying right here.”

The boy hesitated, jumping from leg to leg nervously.

“Promise?”

“Promise.” Thio said with a nod.

Metts’ gave a huge grin and then sprinted down the sidewalk and around the corner. As promised, he came back a few minutes later, running full tilt.

He practically crashed to a stop, sweating profusely and wheezing out. “You…’re… still… here.”

Thio’s eyebrows raised slightly. Sticking out his hand, he cast Endurance Recovery on the boy.

Instantly Metts felt better. Standing up straight, he looked at Thio with astonishment.

“You can do magic?”

“I should hope so. I work for the Air Defense.”

“Wow! What rank are you?”

“Archmage.”

Metts’ eyes filled with admiration. And here he’d thought Acanthio was just a bored rich merchant. Who knew he was doing something respectable, like serving the country.

“Anyway, now that you’re hired and all… I need to get you a uniform. Ah, and if you don’t have a bed or bedroom furniture, I’ll need to buy that too. The house has the minimum amount of furniture right now and the third floor is totally empty.”

Metts had to refrain from chortling, counting himself extremely lucky. That day he got three new sets of clothes and a full furniture set. His new Boss led him to the rich part of the city, to a house big enough to be called a mansion, and let him take his pick of rooms. Naturally he picked the biggest one.

Thio then gave Metts a portion of his pay early, five nocks to be exact, and a spare key to the house. The money was to compensate for the lack of furniture (it would arrive in a few days). Metts wasn’t required to start working until the furniture came in, but he declared he’d start the next day even without it. Metts could sleep on the floor if need be, he wasn’t letting Thio have a chance to change his mind.

The young Metts went back home to tell his parents, wearing his new Butler uniform and carrying a string of nocks in his pocket. Since he came from a large household, no one was upset that he was moving out. In fact, having one less mouth to feed and shelter was a relief. And since he’d been employed by someone reputable from the military, and generous to boot, his parents were even more happy for him.

As was tradition, Metts gave his parents a small portion of his wage. In this case, a single nock. It was considered a “thank you” gesture to the parents from the children. This would continue until the parents died. However, Metts made sure he didn’t reveal how much he was making exactly. While he honored the tradition, he was a greedy boy and wasn’t going to be guilted into giving more than he had to.

The next few days, Thio taught Metts all about the house, cleaning, and basic repair. While doing that, Thio also bought more furniture and household items to fill the house. Since he considered everything in it an investment, he made sure to get high quality goods.

A month and a half passed.

He’d reached the end. He’d done everything he could think of to do. And there were two weeks left.

Sitting at his shiny new desk, filled with high end stationary supplies, he thought about writing Caroline. He’d written her one week ago already, so writing another letter so soon might come off as clingy. Maybe if he just wrote it really slowly and in super detail he could—

He then sat up straight, an idea striking him.

Why not just VISIT Caroline instead of writing her!

They hadn’t seen each other in over four years after all. It was a testament to Caroline that no one had ever sent him angry letters asking why he was neglecting his wife. (He didn’t know that she had, periodically, gone on vacations claiming to have visited him.)

Of course, he wasn’t exactly looking forward to going back to his hometown. That place was filled with mostly bad memories. An abusive father, an absentee mother, a town that constantly rejected him… even so many years later, he felt a weight press on him at the thought of his time there.

On the other hand… it had been four years. He’d fought a dragon and won. He had national recognition (even if it was under the stupid “Ice Prince” nickname). He was one of the youngest Archmages in the Air Defense. He owned his own house in the city. He even had a Butler, dammit!

Filled with determination, he found Metts, informing him he’d be absent for a while.