Nylon leaned his chin against his fist, his listless gaze staring out at the endless rows of fields outside. "It's nothing, Mr. Frederico," he said.
"...Is that so?" Guide Frederico couldn't help but become more interested in the matter affecting Nylon so. Eventually, he couldn't take it anymore and innocently asked, "Girl trouble?"
Nylon shifted his golden eyes over to the square window separating him and his driver. He wasn't planning to respond, but some mysterious force compelled him to say, "What would you do if your wife turned out to not be real?"
Frederico was puzzled by the sudden question, but he nonetheless replied, "If I learned that my wife was not actually part of my reality… nothing would change. I'd love her all the same until I couldn't anymore."
Nylon went silent.
"You must really love your wife," he ended up saying before returning his sight to the bountiful world outside.
Frederico smiled, but something was still bugging him.
"I feel like you want to say something else, Sir Nylon," Frederico said with a knowing tone. "You need not hold yourself back for my sake. I can take it—"
"Your answer to my previous question," Nylon interrupted, a bit agitated. "That's what any loving partner would answer, right? It's the 'correct' answer. However, it's also the most ignorant answer. You have no idea what it's like to realize that the one you'd sacrifice your life for was, in actuality, a bunch of numbers in a computer code."
Silence…
"You're a good man, Sir Nylon," Frederico said smilingly.
"...What gave you that impression?" Nylon asked.
"Well, you still love that woman, don't you?"
Nylon stiffened in place, his pupils dilating.
"You're wrong," he said in a low, irritated growl. "Else, I wouldn't have…"
Frederico arched a brow. He could figure out the situation even without Nylon directly telling him anything. "Sir Nylon, if I may be so blunt, a man who has lost something very dear to him often accepts affection from the first person offering it to him. It's human nature. No one, not even your wife, will blame you for what you did."
Nylon froze. Never would he have imagined the soothing words of a coachman to shake him so.
"Not my fault…?" Nylon repeated in a low voice, his heart constricting. "No, I knew what I was doing. I…"
"Sir Nylon, it's not your fault." Frederico's smile never left his face.
Nylon's eyelashes flickered. His pupils darted erratically, his mind in turmoil.
"You don't—..." Nylon was about to get angry, but that was when Frederico interrupted, saying:
"We've arrived, Sir Nylon." He motioned to the huge manor nicely perched atop a flower-covered hill. Cows could be seen grazing, with small animals bouncing around in a playful way.
"You may have noticed it already, but the North Sea Family tends to steer away from technological colonization," said Frederico. "The 4th Young Miss is no exception and uses very little technology in her day-to-day life. This means your job will be harder than commanding a robot to do everything, but I'm sure you'll manage."
Calming down after the previous topic, Nylon asked, "There aren't any other servants attending to the 4th Young Miss?"
Frederico chuckled. "Oh no, there are. But you'll be the only Steward—and the only male at that. I'd be more careful than usual if I were you."
Nylon gave his silent understanding.
Frederico's lips raised as he got up off the front of the horse-drawn carriage. He walked around to the side, opened Nylon's door, and beckoned him out.
"If you would, Sir Nylon, please depart the carriage."
Nylon did exactly that. After which, he received a bright smile and farewell from the one who brought him here. "I wish you the best, Sir Nylon," said Frederico. "And I hope you figure out the thing that's putting a knot in your heart."
After that, Frederico got back onto the carriage and disappeared into the horizon.
Nylon remained motionless for quite some time. Only after an incense stick did he sigh for the tenth time today, sauntering in the direction of the large manor.
Upon reaching the manor's expensively decorated gates, he was met with the appearance of two beautiful women. They were both wearing revealing maid outfits and glared at him with a dangerous intent.
"Who are you!?" one of the beautiful maids inquired with a threatening tone. She was in the 5th Plane of Awakening, Juggernaut, just like Nylon.
"I am the new Steward of the North Sea Family's 4th Young Miss. Nylon is my name."
"Nylon?" The maids exchanged a look between each other. "So you're the slave that recently received a promotion by the Investigators. We thought you'd be bigger."
"I thought the 4th Young Miss's maids would be 'bigger' as well," Nylon remarked, staring at the ample chests of the two gorgeous brown-haired maids.
It took the maids a second to realize, but when they did, their expressions contorted in fury as they covered their partially exposed breasts.
"Y-You damn pervert…!"
The sound of two swords leaving their sheaths echoed. However, before they could go anywhere, two veiny hands clamped down on their handles, pushing them back into their sheaths.
"I look forward to working with you," Nylon said apathetically, having already walked past the two dumbfounded maids. He slipped through the manor's gates; only then did the maids snap out of their stupors.
"Get back here, you perverted bastard!" they shouted as they chased him with unveiled swords.
Nylon made dodging their angered attacks look almost effortless. No matter what they did, or even if they activated their Martial Spirits, he repeatedly got away unscathed.
This went on for quite a while…