She hadn’t lied.
It was Alaric’s turn to get confused.
Huh? She is not from Earth?
So she is not a reader like me?
Alaric rubbed his chin. He couldn’t expose that he knew that she had knowledge of the future.
Wait, it isn’t confirmed yet that she knows of the future.
He asked her with narrowed eyes.
"Why did you want the Certificate of Service and how do you know about the mana crystal deposit?"
Alice looked him in the eyes, but ultimately stayed silent.
Alaric couldn’t do anything about that.
The Divine Contract Scroll she signed only mentioned not lying. She could choose to stay silent.
"Was there ever a thought of harming me in your mind?"
"What? Obviously not."
Why the fuck would I think about harming the antagonist of the volume 1? You’re going to die by your own actions anyway.
Alice thought, but stayed silent after answering Alaric’s question.
No wait. He doesn’t seem to hate the protagonist, and is even actively trying to keep him in House Orlen. Maybe his fate had already changed.
As she reached that line of thought, she glanced at him.
Alaric rubbed his temples in annoyance. This situation was somewhat of a deadlock. There was no such character in the novel.
Or maybe there was. The Tales of Golden Era didn’t mention names of all the maids and servants. There could’ve been a maid named Alice among the unknown ones for all he knew.
However, he was sure that the process of the protagonist obtaining his Certificate of Service didn’t include going through a maid or anything of the sort.
Which meant things were already diverting from the original plot of the story.
No matter what, Alice is an unknown factor.
Whether she truly knows the future or not, she has already demonstrated knowledge she should not possess.
Besides, I’ve already mentioned Earth during our conversation. I can’t afford to let her walk away.
Everyone has their secrets, and it is up to them whether they wish to share them.
Since she hasn’t shown any intention of harming me, killing her over secrets she refuses to reveal would go against my conscience.
That leaves only one option. She needs to stay by my side.
He glanced at the maid.
She had clear black eyes, shoulder length black hair, and a small nose dusted with sparse freckles.
Even the standard maid’s attire, consisting of a long sleeved wool dress, a fitted bodice, a cream apron, wool stockings, and ankle boots, complemented her figure surprisingly well.
He withdrew another Divine Contract Scroll and set it on the desk before he began writing.
Alice followed what he was writing but her face turned pale towards the end.
"You want me to stay under your control? Absolutely not."
Alaric shrugged, pointing at the Divine Contract Scroll.
"I’m afraid you don’t have a choice. That, or you die. You’ve already seen the terms. I won’t be treating you like a slave.
"In fact, you’ll get even better treatment than before. I just want you to follow my orders and not leave my side.
"I can’t have you going places with things you’ve heard me say.
"I know you’ve signed a Divine Contract Scroll not to disclose what we’ve discussed, but there are ways to circumvent a Divine Contract, and I don’t trust you enough to believe you wouldn’t."
Alice furrowed her brows.
"So what? Just because you don’t trust me I’ll have to stay under your thumbs all my life?"
Alaric spread his hands. "I’ll free you at some point, it’s there in the contract as well."
"There’s also a clause preventing me from harming you, directly or indirectly, including by withholding vital information. Aren’t you simply exploiting me here?"
Alaric smiled innocently. "You aren’t exactly loyal to me. Why shouldn’t I be concerned about you harming me? You’ll notice I’ve included the same clause for myself. It protects both of us.
"As for withholding vital information, perhaps you should read the contract more carefully. That clause only applies to information whose concealment could harm me. You’re free to keep every other secret you have."
There was a flicker of resistance in her eyes before it faded away and she nodded. She accepted her place among Alaric’s personal retainers as his maid.
Alaric immediately gave her the contract to verify its contents before both of them signed it.
As soon as he signed the contract, the System popped into his mind.
[Special situation detected.]
[The host has recruited a special entity.]
[Reward: Talent Points +20]
[Completely gain their loyalty to unlock the system function - Quest Creation.]
Alaric’s eyes nearly went wide as he struggled to contain himself.
What?
He controlled his breathing. Such a situation had never appeared in volume 1!
Forget about the special entity. The System had also never given 20 talent points at once or Quest Creation authority in volume 1.
There had been rewards worth twenty talent points, but they were all given for extremely special or difficult quests.
He had essentially gotten a reward far better than the ones given so early in the novel.
Not to mention Quest Creation is even greater! I have no doubts that even in volume 1 there was no reward at such a level.
Alaric could only mentally drool when he thought about creating quests himself and not passively waiting for the System to give one.
So special entities will give such special rewards and geniuses will ensure continuous quests.
Both are important for me to grow stronger. I’ll need to work hard to find more of them!
He reluctantly pushed the matter to the back of his mind, and placed the Certificate of Service inside his coat.
"C’mon, let’s go. I’ve got things to do."
He instructed Alice as they left the steward’s room and made their way towards the front entrance.
Near the staircase, they met the steward, who bowed slightly before speaking in a stiff tone.
"I was informed by the maid beside you that you wished to urgently meet me in the Drawing Room regarding talks of hiring a mage."
Alaric gave Alice a side eye, instantly understanding the situation, but chose to cover for her.
"Sorry Master Edwin, I was still suffering from my hangover and wasn’t exactly in the best state of mind. I may have given such an order and wandered off after forgetting about it.
"I have no intention of putting pressure on the House’s already tight budget, you can rest assured."
The steward’s prepared reprimand died in his throat at Alaric’s humble reply. He merely nodded, then switched the topic.
"Are you going out?"
Alaric nodded.
"Will you be having the guard captain accompany you?"
He shook his head. "He is the only remaining Knight. It is better if he stays back."
The steward reminded him. "Then Young Lord, you must be cautious."
"I will be." Alaric nodded, and left.
He sought out the guard captain of the estate to prepare a carriage for them.
"Oh and, make sure it doesn’t have our House’s crest on it. I don’t want my whereabouts known."
The guard captain nodded.
As the servants prepared the carriage, Alaric went over everything he knew about House Orlen.
Beside him, Alice carefully replayed her conversation with the young lord.
Now that I look back at the situation, the first time young lord got suspicious of me was when I lied about Evan’s wishes and goals.
Does he know the Squire well enough that he immediately caught on to my lie?
But I never wrote that part about the young lord.
Then she shook her head.
No, I can’t hold onto my understanding about the young lord drawn from what I’ve written. He seemed to have changed.
Maybe he gathered information on Evan since he obviously stands out due to being so talented?
Alice recollected the scenario in her mind.
But that doesn’t explain the second time he reacted with suspicion. It was when I pointed out a mana crystal deposit no one was supposed to know about.
Why did he react as if he knew about the mana crystal deposit as well?
Did he happen to gather information on this as well?
Alice wasn’t stupid. Once could be a coincidence, but twice? That was too much to dismiss as coincidence.
Does he know the future?
Unlike Alaric, her personality was straightforward.
Even as a mere maid, she had the audacity to lure the steward out of his office and steal the Certificate of Service.
So, she asked directly.
"Young Lord, do you know the future?"
Alaric, who was standing just beside her, didn’t seem surprised by the question. He was in fact expecting it after reacting so visibly to the only two pieces of future information.
He couldn’t afford to assume other people were stupid.
He turned to face her and smiled.
"What if I do?"
She looked back at him, her eyes gleaming.
"So you really know the future."
Just when Alaric was about to reply, a person came sprinting towards them.
"Young Lord!"
Alaric and Alice both turned to face the person.
It was Evan.
What happened?
The squire didn’t seem out of breath from the sprint as he immediately spoke after a slight bow.
"Young Lord. Forgive me for being rude, but I was suddenly flooded with disturbing memories about beating you in public."
He frowned.
"There was also... a phrase."
He paused, as though making sure he had remembered the strange words correctly, before speaking them aloud.
"Tales of Golden Era."
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