No Hero Volume 2: The Hero Grim Reaper

Original novel in Chinese by: 御 我 (Yu Wo)

Legend of a Hero Chapter 6: At a Loss, the Hero who must Sacrifice Others or Himself – translated by Doza

Gēge, I’ve failed… The mother and her daughter were both blown into bits and pieces.

If I had succeeded in saving them, would that mother have been the same as all those mothers I’ve rescued in the past, thanking me with a smile and saying that I was like an angel?

In that moment, if I had paid more attention, maybe I could have discovered that the detonator was not with that crook.

Today, I am not an angel. I brought death unto that mother… I am a grim reaper.

Today, I switched to searching in the west, although I was quite doubtful that the werewolf would dare to appear in the west. The western side was not only not the slums, there were also many rooftops that one could not carelessly step upon. It was certainly not a territory suited for a rampaging werewolf to stay in.

Therefore, the chances of finding the werewolf in the west were slim. However, since I had accepted this request, I had to search everywhere, no matter the place.

I repeatedly traveled back and forth between the rooftop and the ground, paying close attention to the dark alleys. The moment I saw indications of a fight in the alley, a flicker of hope would ignite. However, upon taking a closer look at the situation, I would lose hope again. It would only be a group of youths trying show off their superiority through fighting.

After losing hope several times, I nearly wanted to step in and let these bored youths understand the preciousness of life.

I searched for a long time before I sat down on a bench along a street to rest. I pulled out my pocket watch and saw that it was already midnight. However, I had not even found a single strand of beast fur. It looked like it was yet another fruitless night.

Sigh! X, the task you have given me is really rather difficult. Even though I do not want to disappoint you, it looks like I do not have much choice. Furthermore, you do not even own a cell phone nor do you reply to the emails I send. Tell me, how am I supposed to contact you?

I myself was already considered a very conservative vampire. However, X was even more conservative than I was. Although this allowed us to connect over similar interests, it was such a big ha.s.sle when wanting to contact the other party.

“Hey! Handsome, would you have any interest in dancing with me at the pub?”

I raised my head, but while I was preparing to decline, I recognized the other person and blurted out, “Melody?”

Melody was still wearing those clothes she called her “female butler” uniform, except that her collar b.u.t.tons were opened all the way down to her chest, her gold-rimmed spectacles had disappeared, and her hair was restored to its usual loosely hanging style. She looked at me with an appreciative expression, especially at the sides of my pants, and then complimented me, “You’re really very s.e.xy today, Mr. Butler!”

“You are also very modest today.” I glanced at her clothes, and added on with a smile that was not quite a smile, “If you b.u.t.toned up two more b.u.t.tons, you would be very modest indeed.”

She sat down beside me deftly, and then lazily leaned back on the bench, saying, “What’s wrong, you still haven’t found him?”

I shook my head.

“You wouldn’t have been able to find him right from the start.” Melody scrutinized her violet fingernails as she said, “What kind of person is the young master? Even he couldn’t find him. Did you think that by randomly looking around like a headless housefly, you would b.u.mp into him?”

I could not refute that. However, I had no choice but to search for him.

Melody looked at me, and then said, “Suit yourself, if you want to search then go and search! In any case, the young master doesn’t mind. I don’t need to be a busybody.”

I smiled faintly and asked, “Is the test shoot going well?”

The moment I asked this question, Melody’s eyes started sparkling and she exclaimed, “Great…”

That great? Then perhaps being a model is truly suitable for the young master.

“He’s really a great man!”

“… A great man?” What is this supposed to mean?

“That’s right!” Melody said excitedly, “That photographer, Ji Luo Chu, is really good-looking. He also has the air of a gentleman from the olden days, yet is very fas.h.i.+onable. I haven’t met such a wonderful man for such a long time!”

If I remember correctly, Melody seems to like First Wind a lot? If she knew that the young master believes Ji Luo Chu is First Wind, it would definitely be very interesting.

“At first, I wanted to look for him and the young master to go to the pub to party together. Then I can embrace one on my left and hug one on my right. It would be awesome! It’s a pity he had something come in at the last minute and left first, and after that even the young master ran off. So boring!” Melody sighed heavily, her entire body limp against the bench.

However, she straightened her body right after and shouted spiritedly, “Let’s go!”

“Go?” I blinked, and asked confusedly, “Go where?”

“To look for the werewolf!” Melody said as though it was a matter of fact. “Tonight, I will accompany you to look for the werewolf. Some other day, you will have to accompany me to have fun at a pub!”

I was rather surprised as I asked, “Did you not want Ji Luo Chu and the young master to go?”

Melody stood up, and loomed above me. She slowly said, “Embrace one on my left, hug one on my right, and add on a butler to open up a path. Wouldn’t that be even more impressive?”

I smiled rather speechlessly. Then, Melody pulled me up, and after that we jumped onto a wall together.

“You want to search in the western district?” Standing on the wall, Melody glanced at me and asked, “Should we search together or split up to search?”

“Let us search together!”

Splitting up to search would be more efficient, but however more efficient we would be, we could not be more efficient than the young master and several tens of thousands of surveillance cameras. As opposed to being constantly disappointed alone, it was better to have a companion by my side.

After searching several alleys in succession, we discovered there seemed to be a big uproar close by. There were “genuine” screams, and seemingly plenty of them. From the skies both near and far came the sounds of a helicopter’s rotor blades and the ear-piercing sirens of police cars.

“It really has not been peaceful lately,” I sighed lightly.

However, Melody laughed and teasingly said, “Then I know how long you haven’t been paying attention to the screams in the streets! It has probably been around five years? For the past few years, the streets haven’t been peaceful at all. Otherwise, even if the city is large, it wouldn’t need four heroes and a whole crowd of policemen, right?”

I took several steps in the direction the noises came from, but from behind me, I heard Melody’s warning, “Butler, don’t go over there. Since you don’t like to fight, then you wouldn’t want to be drawn into the center of the incident, right?”

I hesitated briefly. Then, I took out my cell phone and dialed Mr. Bramble’s number. Following that, I queried, “Mr. Bramble, may I ask if you are able to see what the big uproar in the western district is about?”

“First Wind has engaged criminals there and seems to be facing some difficulty. But it’s too far away, so the young master does not intend to head over.” Mr. Bramble finished his simple explanation.

After thanking Mr. Bramble, I ended the call and told Melody, “I think we do not have to worry. First Wind is already there…”

Melody cried out, “First Wind?”

Hearing this exclamation, I had a somewhat uneasy feeling, and incidentally remembered something. That is, Melody likes First Wind a lot, and last time, she failed in getting his autograph.

When my thoughts reached this point, I did not need to think any further. That was because Melody was already pulling my hand and rus.h.i.+ng ahead.

I could only smile a forced smile and nothing else, but I did not really mind. Since the young master would not be heading over, then even if the situation worsened, I would not intervene. As for whether Melody would step in, that was her decision.

After jumping over a few walls, we stepped onto a rooftop.

The moment we set foot on it, I noticed a symbol belonging to a non-human drawn on the water tower. In addition, I had an inkling that that symbol seemed to belong to someone whom we should not provoke. Frowning, I said, “We should change locations. This place seems to be the territory of a very powerful non-human.”

Melody glanced at the symbol and replied, “It’s fine, I’m acquainted with this fellow.”

I nodded and did not pay any more attention to this issue. Instead, I turned my attention to the situation below. On my first look, I almost thought that I was watching a war film. In that genre of movies, captives were often hung up in a row, just like they were now.

On the middle floor of one of the buildings, around the fifth floor, the entire wall was a stretch of French windows. Behind the windows was a row of people who had been hung up. Men, women, young, and old, there were all kinds of people. Their clothes were considerably mundane. They appeared as if they had been captured after school or work, or even during an after-meal walk.

The only similarity they shared was the expression of terror on their faces. That was due to the three masked criminals carrying guns standing behind them.

Below, First Wind stood in front of the building motionlessly. Everyone else, including the policemen, were all standing far away. The policemen had even formed a cordon, preventing all citizens from getting any closer.

This scene was really familiar. It was practically identical to the previous scene in which the mother and daughter were hung from the rooftop. The only difference was that all four heroes had been present in that incident, but this time, only First Wind was here.

Not long ago, the young master said that the reason for their actions during that incident was to hunt heroes. Can it be that this time, they intend to kill First Wind?

Melody’s indolent voice sounded beside my ear. “Humans! They’re really getting more and more skilled at tormenting their own kind!”

At this moment, the sound of a broadcaster came from the street. “Mr. First Wind, you had better not move… But even if you move, it doesn’t matter. It will merely cost a human life.”

“What the heck are they thinking of doing?” Melody frowned and said with uncertainty, “Are they trying to divert attention once again to go conduct some jewel robbery? This trick shouldn’t work a second time, right?”

“They are not diverting attention, they want to…”

Before the four words “hunt and kill heroes” had even left my mouth, I heard four gunshots. Immediately after that, First Wind’s body slowly crumpled to the ground, and bright red blood slowly flowed out around him…

It worked? I was shocked. Has First Wind really been killed?

Once more, sound came from the broadcaster. “You’re really disobedient! Mr. First Wind, don’t think that I didn’t see you sneakily avoid getting a fatal wound. You moved four times in total. Well then…”

At this moment, First Wind clambered up and yelled, “Stop!”

However, the burly men holding the guns were already opening fire. Four gunshots rang out in total, each killing a student, an elderly, and two women. Blood sprayed onto the French windows, and four flowers of blood bloomed. They had not even had time to scream. Their bodies merely twitched lightly for a while, and then they did not give any further reaction.

First Wind swayed twice. He lifted his head to look at the French windows. I could not see his expression, but I could clearly imagine it… It will definitely be one of grief and anger, right?

At this moment, the voice rang out again. “Please don’t move! We still have twelve hostages in our hands…”

“Sniper rifle? They actually used a sniper rifle to shoot the good man that I want!”

This voice was really close to me. I turned my head and saw Melody’s whole face twitching. She turned her head too and roared at me, “Charles Endelis!”

I did a double take. I had never thought that she would actually address me by my full name. Melody rarely even used “Charles.” Does she not normally address me as the butler?

“I’ll leave the two snipers on the left to you,” Melody said fiercely. “Get rid of them. If not, I’ll get rid of you!”

After she finished speaking, she immediately took a flying leap onto another building. If I had seen correctly, that was in the direction of another two snipers.

Kill two humans, and I can eat my fill in pa.s.sing; or be killed by Melody. This seems to be an extremely-easy-to-decide multiple-choice question that I have rarely been given in recent days!

I immediately leaped toward the left. When the snipers had fired just now, I was able to pinpoint their locations. The first person was on the rooftop of the building beside us. I leaped across and as I pa.s.sed the first sniper, I made a clean slash across his neck with my claws. Then, I sped toward the second sniper.

I stepped onto another building and saw the second sniper. I was very lucky; this one was a female. Most women are cleaner than men. To a vampire, because they had to embrace their food while eating and put their mouth on the neck of their food for a period of time, being cleaner was always better.

However, the shrieks of women were always so ear-piercing that I would be unable to resist frowning.

Still, this woman seemed to have undergone training. When I stood behind her and was about to hug her, she noticed me and violently thrust the stock of her gun backwards. However, I deflected it with my hand, and then I embraced her. From beginning to end, she did not let out any screams. Although she did struggle much more than others, compared to the ear-piercing screams, struggling was not hard to deal with.

When I sank my fangs into her neck, I realized that she was really clean. She had not even sprayed on any perfume… It has been so long since I have had such a good meal.

After a long while, I released the food in my hands and supported her as she slowly slipped to the ground. Then, I lifted up my head and saw Melody. She looked down and licked her lips as she said, “That looks very delicious. Those on my side were all stinking men. I lost my appet.i.te just by smelling that terrible odor.”

I took out a handkerchief and gently dabbed the blood stains at the corners of my mouth. I asked offhandedly, “How is First Wind?”

The moment Melody heard me, her enthusiasm faltered as she said, “He lost too much blood and fell unconscious. Later on, Dragon Peace showed up and carried him away.”

I froze, and then inquired further, “Then the hostages?”

Melody mimicked the position taken when firing a gun. Seeing this, my heart sank and I muttered, “All dead?”

“That’s right!” Melody said bitterly, “Yet another idiotic man. The four shots he endured were all for nothing. Right from the start, he shouldn’t have cared about those hostages!”

Allow heroes to disregard the people? I could not help but silently think. If it could be done, then he would not be a hero anymore.

I looked at the scene before my eyes. The place below us seemed to have exploded. The police cordon had long since stopped functioning. The police and paramedics in white had already rushed into the building. Media reporters and citizens were crowded around outside. Everyone wanted to move up to take a look.

But when they actually carried out the corpses covered with white cloths, everyone quieted down. One, two… five, six… In the end, they carried out fifteen corpses in total.

“They were all innocent!” I said with a sigh.

Melody said coldly, “There are no innocent people in this world.”

I looked at Melody. She was looking below as she continued, “Those people, they enjoyed the benefits brought about by the heroes. Naturally, they would have to bear the losses too. Since when can one only have the good but not the bad?”

“Perhaps they would rather not have heroes.”

For the first time, I started questioning the existence of heroes. After all, this was the real world and not a movie. When fifteen people died just like this, they would not get up again after the director yelled cut. Furthermore, the reason for their deaths was merely that they were used to threaten the hero to stay still.

Melody abruptly asked, “Do you know how much the existence of heroes has lowered the major crime rates?”

I paused and shook my head.

Melody extended the five fingers on her right hand and said, “The reports from every media company are different, but all of them will have at least fifty percent correspondence. If we change to counting the number of adult lives, that would be ten less deaths every day at the bare minimum. In the past five years, how many fewer deaths have there been? Do you dare to say that these fifteen people are not among those who could have died? Even if they weren’t, then what about their relatives and friends?”

I watched Melody, feeling extremely surprised. I did not expect Melody, who was a vampire, to have studied so much about heroes.

“What are you looking at me like that for?” Melody appeared somewhat uneasy, saying, “I only read an article printed in the newspaper! That was what it said!”

Convinced, I said, “But your words made a lot of sense. I was too superficial.”

“Even though you’re convinced, other people probably wouldn’t be so easily convinced!” Melody glanced at me as she said, “Stay by the young master’s side more often these days! I’ll help you look for the werewolf, and Bramble and the others will also help. It’ll be a lot more efficient than you running about randomly trying to b.u.mp into him.”

Stay by the young master’s side more often? I was rather puzzled. As long as the young master was at home, I was practically always at his side. Even if I frequently left the house as of late, I only did so after the young master went out or was asleep.

Melody looked off into the distance and let out a long sigh, as if she had a myriad of sorrows…

“d.a.m.n it! I didn’t get his autograph again!”

When I returned home, it was already three in the morning. The young master was at home, but he was not sleeping. He was instead modifying firearms in his workshop.

I walked to the young master’s side and saw him scrutinizing the semi-finished magazine of a pistol. I walked to the front of a cabinet used for storing spare products and selected a box that contained bullets of various caliber. As I set it down in front of the young master, I greeted him. “Young Master, I have returned. May I pour a gla.s.s of milk for you?”

The young master first raised his head, then looked at the box of bullets. Following which he smiled, saying, “Charles, you’re really amazing. You seem to know every item that I need. It would be terrible if Charles wasn’t around in the future, I would definitely feel very lost.”

Upon hearing this, I was dumbstruck. I truly did not expect… I truly did not expect to hear such a sentence at this moment.

During my butler training, my honorable father had always told me that the proudest point of being a butler was having the master say, “I really cannot do without you.”

One who stands silently in the background like an invisible man, but upon his disappearance, would cause the master to feel completely disoriented… This is a butler.

After my honorable father had said this, I had always fantasized about such a scene.

In front of an ancient castle, a master with a perfect demeanor sits in a courtyard with elegant tables and chairs. When I offer him black tea that has been steeped to perfection, he would gently sip a mouthful, show a satisfied expression, and subsequently open his mouth to tell me this sentence…

Charles, I really can’t do without you!

However, my employers had changed five times in a row. Whenever I had accomplished a mission well, they would deliver money, presents, and even fresh blood and pretty ladies. However, not one of them had ever uttered that sentence. There was never even a single word of thanks.

Currently, the young master held a screwdriver in his left hand, a pistol in his right hand, his face was even stained with black oil (I hurriedly took out a handkerchief to wipe off the black oil stains on the young master), and the item I pa.s.sed him was not black tea but a box of bullets.

Still, I found that these were all unimportant details. The only important thing was that sentence…

Honorable father of mine! Your words are truly accurate. After receiving these words of praise, I feel extremely proud and satisfied. Luckily I followed your words and became a butler.

“Charles?”

The young master’s eyes widened and he said anxiously, “Charles, don’t cry! Did I say something wrong? You can just tell me, don’t be angry…”

At this moment, I discovered that my cheeks were wet. I hurriedly used my handkerchief to dab my cheeks as I explained to the young master, “Charles would not dare. Charles was just deeply moved, definitely not angry.”

“Charles…”

After trying to smother his laughter for a while, the young master burst out laughing as he said, “Your face is stained with black oil!”

I blinked. Only then did I remember that this handkerchief in my hands had just been used to wipe black oil off the young master’s face, and I had used it again to wipe my tears…

I hurriedly bowed and apologized, “I am really too impolite. Young Master, please allow me to change into my butler uniform and tidy up my appearance before returning to wait upon you.”

The young master chuckled as he said, “No problem, you can go!”

The young master continued modifying his firearm. He worked on modifications until five in the morning. Then, he went out for his morning run, and after that came back to shower and eat breakfast.

During breakfast, Mr. Bramble did not reach for the remote control to switch on the television. Instead, it was the young master who did so. The moment he switched on the television, the morning news was full of criticism. Although it was not targeted at Dark Sun, instead at Dragon Peace and First Wind, it always involved all the heroes at the end, saying that they handled matters without regard for the consequences, saying that they brought harm unto innocents, saying that they were selfish, only caring about their own escape, not caring about the lives of the innocent people…

The last part was a few family members weeping as they complained. Most of the content was topics related to why didn’t they save them, why did they run and so on.

Why did they bring death to our relatives?

The television roared incessantly, and everyone at the dining table was all eating frantically. Even though they were chewing the food in their mouths, they wore nervous expressions on their faces. If I had not clearly known the reason was not in the food, perhaps I would have wondered if I had cooked a meal of poison.

However, the young master’s expression remained calm.

“Everyone, don’t panic. I’m all right.” As he watched the television, the young master said in a sympathetic tone, “Those people lost their most beloved relatives. They need a target they can take it out on.”

I looked at the young master and softly comforted him, “Young Master is very magnanimous.”

“I’m not magnanimous…” The young master said quietly, “I’m still a bit sad. The ones they’re blaming are not the criminals, but the heroes.”

I was stunned, abruptly woken up. That is right, the people they should be condemning are the criminals, but everyone’s criticisms have landed on the heroes so far. However, even I had initially questioned the heroes, so how can I blame those people?

The young master said worriedly, “I hope First Wind and Dragon Peace are all right. If they give up being heroes, Solitary b.u.t.terfly and I cannot possibly manage the entire city.”

Heroes, we don’t need you.

I looked at the television and nearly wanted to reach out, pick up the remote control, and switch off the television. However, it was the young master who had turned on the television. Since he had not turned it off of his own accord, then I should not overstep my boundaries.

… We don’t need you!

“I think I shouldn’t go out to be a hero anytime soon.” The young master said expressionlessly, “Right now, maybe people don’t really need heroes.”

Young Master, is this a move in consideration of the future, or are you just acting out of feeling wronged? With the young master’s two completely different personalities, it was truly hard to say.

However, the following days confirmed the truth of the young master’s words. The citizens were protesting everywhere, and the content of their protests were mostly about rejecting heroes or demanding the heroes to take responsibility for the fifteen lives in the previous incident, and so on.

After that case, First Wind and Dragon Peace did not appear anymore, but Solitary b.u.t.terfly tried. However, after several counts of getting mobbed by citizens, she too vanished without a trace.

The young master really did as he said. For the past few nights, according to Mr. Bramble and the others, the young master had truly slept obediently, and had not jumped out of the window to be a hero even once.

Every day, while eating breakfast and dinner, the young master would always switch on the television and watch the news. Even though he said that he did not mind, he looked depressed and his eating speed had slowed down to be the same as a normal person’s.

At that moment, I understood why Melody had requested that I stay by the young master’s side more often, and I was very happy to comply with this arrangement. Therefore, unless the young master had fallen asleep, I would certainly not leave him. At the same time, before five in the morning, I would definitely return to send the young master out of the door for his morning run.

Nevertheless, the young master still appeared to become even more and more depressed.

And so, when they listened to the television broadcast the news of the citizens’ protest, everyone’s expression looked as if they had some deep hatred for the television. If the young master was not present, I fear Dell would have already rushed up to smash the television.

Usually, the young master would have to go to school. The moment they saw the young master exit, everyone would heave a huge sigh of relief. If he went to school, at least he would not watch the television any longer.

However, when the weekend arrived, the young master did not go out. After returning from his morning run, he sat in his workshop to modify guns.

As for everyone else, because the young master no longer went out to be a hero anymore, they were not needed to watch the surveillance monitors. As a result, everyone could only sit in the living room. It looked as if everyone had something to do, but in fact, Mr. Bramble had already flipped through his newspapers three times. Although Dell’s eyes were watching the television, the television was currently broadcasting a channel about the country’s geography, and this was a program that he would never watch. May was doing yoga until he was perspiring excessively, because he had already done three hours of yoga.

Although everyone looked as if they badly wanted to rush out of the door, and the atmosphere inside was indeed heavy, no one had any ideas about what to do. Even Dell, after laughing awkwardly alone when he tried joking several times, had given up on lightening the heavy atmosphere that filled the room.

At that moment, the door bell rang. It was as if everyone had just woken up from a big dream. They rapidly put aside the things at hand and looked toward the door. I walked to the door and pressed the screen beside it. However, I saw someone I did not expect and promptly opened the door for her.

“Good morning, Charles-gēge!”

A girl yelled with vigor as she hopped in.

I smiled as I greeted her, “Good morning, Briar.”

The moment Briar entered, she walked around shouting, “Ah Ye-gēge? Ah Ye-gēge!”

With a single glance, she saw the young master sitting in the workshop and dashed toward him. At this moment, the young master also stopped modifying his gun and in one motion, hugged the girl who tackled him, laughing as he said, “Briar, you haven’t come over in a long time.”

“That’s because I had exams in school before this! Aren’t I here now?” Briar’s eyes shone as she spoke. “And look, I also brought toast and cheese slices! Let’s go make sandwiches now, and then later on we can go out to have a picnic, throw some Frisbees, fly kites, and do many many things!”

“Make sandwiches and have a picnic?” The young master looked rather interested and agreed readily, “Okay!”

In that moment, everyone sighed in relief, and one after another, gave Briar a grateful look.

Then, the young master and Briar held hands, one large and one small, as they headed for the kitchen. I hurriedly followed after them, but Briar made a motion to stop me, and shouted, “Charles-gēge cannot come and help! We want to make the sandwiches ourselves!”

I hesitated for a bit, and the young master chuckled, saying, “Charles, you don’t have to follow us.”

“Understood.”

I had no other choice but to stop walking and watch the young master and Briar enter the kitchen. Instead, I switched to steeping a new pot of tea for Mr. Bramble and while doing so, whispered to him, “Mr. Bramble, was it you who called for Briar?”

Mr. Bramble lowered his voice as he said, “It’s that child herself who clamored to come. She had exams before this, so I didn’t let her come. Now that the exams are over, of course I would let her come.”

Is that so? Then why did the stall-keeper selling vegetables at the food market tell me that her daughter is having exams next week? I could not resist smiling.

As I made tea for Mr. Bramble, I turned my head several times to look toward the kitchen. I was truly feeling a bit uneasy. Even though they were only making sandwiches, ever since I started serving the young master, he had not even fried an egg.

While flipping through the newspapers for the fourth time, Mr. Bramble said offhandedly, “Butler, don’t worry. That child, Briar, lost her mother when she was only three years old and started entering and exiting the kitchen when she was eight. Now she can even cook a table of different dishes.”

So that explains it. I had always felt that Briar’s actions seemed to be more mature than other children at the same age of twelve. So it turned out to be because she had not had a mother since she was very young.

After roughly half an hour pa.s.sed, the young master called for me, and I entered the kitchen. Initially, I believed that I would be seeing a mess, but unexpectedly, the kitchen had been tidied up and cleaned. Other than a few small bottles that had not been completely wiped clean, the rest of the area was not much different from usual.

The young master was carrying an entire tray of sandwiches. His eyes sparkled as he said, “Charles, we made these! I’ll give you one.”

I accepted the sandwich that the young master pa.s.sed to me, and expressed my grat.i.tude, “Thank you, Young Master.”

“Charles-gēge, are there containers that we can put sandwiches and milk in?”

“There are.”

I got out a lunch box for outdoor use from a cupboard and let the young master and Briar happily arrange the sandwiches inside. To their side, I took out a few insulated bottles. First, I packed two bottles of milk, and then I made some black tea and added ice cubes. This way, other than the young master who liked to drink milk, the others would have iced milk tea to drink as well.

If they wanted to have a picnic, then they would need a large sheet to spread out on the gra.s.s, napkins, wet wipes, a Frisbee, a ball… Ten minutes later, I had readied everything. Everyone’s hands were carrying things of varying sizes that were essential for a picnic. We were prepared to set off.

“Charles, you can go sleep! No need to follow us out.”

However, the young master turned back to look at me and said worriedly, “It’s daytime right now, and you can’t wear your traditional suit out, right? The sun would make you feel very uncomfortable, right?”

“It is no problem…”

Dell patted my shoulder. “Relax! ‘Older second brother,’ we, the ‘younger third brother,’ the ‘younger fourth brother,’ and even ‘Father’ are present. There is even an additional Briar-mèimei to accompany the young master. What else do you have to worry about?”

I was at a loss for words.

The young master chuckled quietly, but in contrast, Briar’s face was full of curiosity. She looked at Dell, then looked at Bramble, and asked in rapid succession, “What happened, what happened? Just what is it? Dell-gē!”

Dell squatted down and feigned sincerity as he said, “I’ll tell you what happened. Someone didn’t know how ‘young’ he looked, and still thought he could pretend to be someone else’s older brother. He nearly embarra.s.sed himself!”

Briar still looked confused, but the young master laughed even harder.

“In that case,” I bowed toward everyone as I said goodbye to them, “Everyone, please take care.”

Dell yelled in a fake voice, “Oh my! Mr. Butler is hurrying us!”

“Charles would not dare…”

“You’re already hurrying us, yet you still say you aren’t?”

I was speechless and did not know how I should respond.

“Okay, okay!” The young master patted Dell and chuckled, “Stop bullying Charles. Let’s go have a picnic!”

“Young Master, it’s clearly him who is hurrying me. How can you say that I’m bullying him?”

The young master laughed and picked up Briar. Then, he walked into the elevator, and both of them turned back to wave goodbye to me.

I raised my hand and waved too. It seems that the young master is more energetic now. That is really great.