Chapter 45

"Good evening."

"Eek!"

Nain was startled by a voice that came from behind him, very close at that.

"Excuse me, but who are you?"

The owner of the voice was a man with gray hair. However, it was mixed with white streaks here and there, making it appear almost silver-white.

He was a stranger. Nain's heart pounded as he had never dreamed he would encounter someone other than Ash here.

"My Guide."

Ash, who was inside the room, answered instead. The man's eyes widened.

"...Pardon?"

"He'll be staying here for a while, so treat him well as a guest. Nain, ask for anything you need... Well then, sleep well, Nain."

The temperature difference between his words was quite stark. Before Nain could give any response, his back was pushed forward, and then the door slammed shut right in his face. Without even having time to be bewildered by Ash's attitude, the middle-aged man introduced himself while trying hard to hide his curious demeanor.

"I'm August, the mansion's caretaker."

"Ah, hello."

"...You're a Guide? Did you come from the center?"

He had definitely asked back in a puzzled voice just moments ago, but seeing him now calmly asking while hiding his inner thoughts showed a thorough professional spirit. Though it was the first time seeing such a person in this world, he was a very familiar type to Nain. Nain answered while overlapping the faces of the palace attendants over his face.

"Please call me Nain. It's correct that I met him at the center."

"So you're a Guide."

August smiled quietly and nodded. Shall we go, he said, leading Nain toward the corridor.

"I'll prepare a new room for you in the annex."

...Annex? Nain paused for a moment before asking.

"Ash told me to use the room next door."

"...?"

August asked with wide eyes.

"He said that?"

"Yes. He definitely said the room next door..."

August froze for a moment with his mouth slightly open in bewilderment. That reaction made Nain anxious for a moment.

Was there some problem? Did I mishear? Nain worried during that brief time whether he had misspoken.

"Should I go ask?"

"Ah, no. If the master said so... But that room is..."

August trailed off and then froze with a face as if he had realized something.

"..."

He stared at Nain with a strange look for a while before coming to his senses. Then he turned around and gestured with his hand in the opposite direction to guide Nain. Nain walked matching August's slow pace while surveying the dark corridor with just his eyes. The ceiling was very high, and in the completely empty corridor with not a single object, even his footsteps echoed loudly. It made him unconsciously hold his breath.

Click. When August used a key to unlock and open the door to the room next to Ash's bedroom, along with the sound from the long-unmaintained door came the musty smell unique to enclosed spaces. August muttered in an admiring tone.

"This room finally has an owner."

"Cough!"

Leaving behind Nain, who was coughing from the stale air, August calmly entered the room, pulled back the curtains, and threw open the windows wide. Whoosh—as cold air rushed in, dust accumulated on the furniture floated up and swirled around. August looked around the dusty room and gave an awkward smile.

"The master's room and this area aren't touched much, so they're quite neglected. They're usually kept locked."

August pulled out the equally dust-covered bed sheets and held them in his hands while gesturing to Nain.

"Please put your luggage anywhere. I'll prepare some tea downstairs while we change the bedding and ventilate the room."

He was asking Nain to step out for a while as the room wasn't ready yet.

After holing up in his room, Ash showed no intention of coming out. Though he hadn't looked that tired, he seemed to have fallen fast asleep. Nain looked out at the now-darkened window while holding steaming milk tea.

"Aren't there other people?"

"Yes. I'm the only caretaker."

It was crazy talk. One person managing such a huge mansion all by himself?

The building, which looked quite old at first glance, showed considerable differences in architectural style from those at the center. The furniture inside the mansion was also all made of dark-toned solid wood with no metal visible anywhere, creating unity and an antique feel. He thought it was a historic mansion with many carefully attended details.

"This is the first time the master has brought a guest."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. Especially that room is the only space in this mansion that the master personally worked on and decorated himself."

No wonder it felt a bit different from the other rooms. While other places had an overall heavy and subdued atmosphere, the room Nain received had an overall warm and cozy atmosphere and was decorated quite charmingly. At first glance, it looked not like a room for him to use but like a room for a child.

"I haven't been able to enter it since then either. It's been neglected for so long that the cleaning condition is quite poor, isn't it?"

He made an apologetic expression. Nain didn't mind at all. His prison-like cramped room had not only become spacious but had turned into a mansion with a vast garden. To borrow Ched's frequent words, it was a jackpot situation.

Perhaps because their only common topic of conversation was Ash, he began telling Nain stories about Ash. Since the moderately smooth and fragrant milk tea suited his taste, Nain also listened to his words without showing any signs of boredom.

However, the more Nain listened to August's words, the more bewildered he became. It seemed like he was describing a different person from the Ash that Nain knew.

"The master is very... sensitive."

August refined his words again and again to define his master in one phrase.

Ash had Guide phobia. For nearly ten years, there had been strangely no Guides with matching rates that worked with him, and because of this, he often had experiences that brought him to death's door. Eventually, Ash came to avoid matching tests altogether and became wary of every single Guide.

"Usually, I stay in the annex. The master finds the presence of people bothersome."

According to August, Ash also suffered from severe insomnia. Suffering from chronic guiding deficiency, he was extremely sensitive, and during sleeping hours, he wouldn't allow other people inside the building. He couldn't even tolerate the sound of animals rustling outside.

Therefore, August had been living a life where he only came to the main building to manage it while Ash was inside gates, then moved back to the annex when Ash returned.

'What kind of...'

Nain was shocked. So he lives almost alone in this huge house? There are other things to avoid... Shouldn't he also consider August's feelings about managing such a place alone?

Naturally, the mansion didn't even allow mail carriers inside, had never brought guests, and the garden was simply desolate with not a single tree so that birds wouldn't even have a place to stay.

Rooms filled with furniture touched by the hands of excellent craftsmen of old had been left unused and neglected all this time. For someone who had bought the entire mansion just insisting on a quiet place without considering any other conditions, there seemed to be quite a few pieces of furniture that looked valuable even to Nain.

There were many reasons why Espers at the center found Ash disagreeable, but among them was also the complaint that he was too sensitive. There was testimony from an Esper who said he got hit for his breathing being bothersome when he was just sitting quietly.

Moreover, there was also talk that when smokers entered gates together with Ash, they would get beaten so much for smelling that by the time they came out, even the heaviest smokers would be forced to quit.

He has a bit of a strange personality, but not to that extent...

Of course, Nain knew that his attitude toward him was a bit different from his attitude toward others. He found it peculiar that while putting on ridiculous acts in front of him, he didn't try his best to hide it either.

Anyway, Nain couldn't find even a trace of sensitivity or violence in Ash. His personality seemed a bit bad, though. So whenever he heard such stories, he began to suspect whether Ash had switched souls with someone else.

The Ash that Nain knew was a man who took everything in stride. An eccentric who paid no attention to surrounding evaluations or situations, and sometimes you couldn't even fathom what he was thinking. But for some reason, he acted gently toward Nain alone, like a spring breeze.

Instinctively, Espers were weak to Guides. It was very natural. This was because Guides were beings who suppressed boiling ability cells and brought peace.

'Then is Ash like that too?'

Was the reason he treated him specially really due to his instinct as an Esper? Because he liked the guiding. Was his heart drawn simply for such reasons?

The evaluations he heard from others and Ash's attitude toward Nain were completely contradictory. If Nain said he felt even a bit of affection from him, there were plenty of people at the center who would treat him like a mental patient.

How long had it been since Nain got to know Ash, yet he had already witnessed several of his firsts? Nain was the first and only person he treated with a gentle attitude, and he was even Ash's first Guide. There was already enough room for misunderstanding.