Chapter 5: The Shameless Shop and the Brute
The heavy oak doors swung shut behind Dame Valerie and took the suffocating tension of her presence completely out of the room.
The grand kitchen remained absolutely frozen for exactly three seconds before the entire staff collectively exhaled a breath they had been holding.
Elara was the first to snap back into reality as she turned her amber eyes away from the doorway and glared at the flour covered disaster zone scattered across her pristine floor.
Her face was still carrying a faint dusting of pink from the utterly scandalous interaction she had just endured with a mere floor sweeper.
She refused to look directly at Leon and instead pointed a fiercely trembling finger at the spilled Elven flour before screaming at the top of her lungs for the maids to get back to their stations.
The kitchen instantly erupted into a chaotic frenzy of clattering pots and rushing footsteps as everyone scrambled to prepare Lady Seraphina’s post training meal.
Leon wisely decided to drop down to his hands and knees to start scooping up the ruined flour with a wooden dustpan.
He could feel Elara glaring daggers into the back of his head from across the room but she actively kept her distance and busied herself with loudly barking orders at the junior cooks.
The newly awakened mana core spinning softly inside Leon’s chest provided a steady stream of warmth that completely erased the usual agonizing ache in his joints. He was no longer the frail and malnourished boy who could barely lift a crate because the system had forcefully rewritten his physical limits in a matter of minutes.
A heavy shadow suddenly fell over him and blocked out the light from the overhead mana lamps.
Leon looked up to see Garret standing over him with a cruel sneer twisting his ugly features.
Garret was a hulking brute of a commoner who worked as the senior kitchen porter and he took immense pride in being the physically strongest male servant in the lower rings of the Sterling estate.
He was built like a brick wall and had spent the last five days making Leon’s life an absolute living hell by piling all of his own heavy chores onto the scrawny newcomer. In a brutal world ruled by aristocratic Aura Knights and magic users the weak commoners often took their frustrations out on those even lower on the food chain.
Garret aggressively shoved a heavy iron mop bucket toward Leon and intentionally kicked a massive cloud of spilled flour directly into his face.
"Stop playing on the floor you useless little rat and scrub the southern larder before I break your scrawny neck," Garret grunted loudly while cracking his thick knuckles in a blatant display of intimidation.
The old Leon would have immediately lowered his head and scrambled to grab the bucket while apologizing profusely to avoid a severe beating.
The new Leon simply blinked the flour out of his eyes and slowly rose to his feet while dusting off his uniform.
The fifteen points of Charisma he had just earned completely altered his posture so he naturally stood tall and looked the hulking porter directly in the eyes with absolute calm.
"I am currently cleaning up this flour as per the Head Maid’s direct orders," Leon stated in a smooth and unwavering voice that echoed slightly with the passive effect of his Piercing Gaze skill. "You can scrub the larder yourself Garret."
The surrounding maids paused their chopping and stared at the scene in complete disbelief because Leon had never once spoken back to anyone in this house till moments ago.
Garret turned bright red with pure outrage at the blatant disrespect from the weakest boy in the estate.
The massive porter let out a low growl and lunged forward to violently shoulder check Leon right in the center of his chest.
Garret expected the frail boy to go flying across the room and crash into the wooden tables just like he always did.
Instead Garret’s shoulder slammed into Leon and felt like it had just collided with a solid wall of pure granite.
The ten points of Strength coursing through Leon’s muscles grounded his stance perfectly and completely neutralized the kinetic force of the impact. Garret bounced off the smaller boy and stumbled backward while clutching his violently throbbing shoulder in absolute shock.
Leon did not even flinch or take a single step back as he stared at the dumbfounded porter with a cold and calculating gaze.
"Watch your step Garret because the floors are quite slippery today," Leon casually advised before picking up his wooden dustpan and walking right past the stunned bully.
A few of the younger maids actually giggled and whispered among themselves as they watched the estate’s biggest bully get completely humiliated by the quiet new kid who was on a roll for doing crazy things.
Leon felt a massive surge of satisfaction warming his chest as he carried the ruined flour into the darkened storage pantry at the back of the kitchen and finally found a moment of quiet solitude to figure out exactly what was happening to him.
He dumped the flour into a waste bin and mentally commanded the neon pink screen to materialize in his vision.
He needed to understand how to survive this perverted golden finger before it forced him into a situation he could not bluff his way out of.
[Welcome to the Absolute Pervert System Host.]
[Current Status]
[Mana Core: Tier 1 (Novice)]
[Aura: None]
[Strength: 15 (Slightly less pathetic)]
[Agility: 10 (Average)]
[Charisma: 20 (Surprisingly charming)]
[Shameless Points (SP): 100]
Leon stared at the currency listed at the bottom and mentally clicked on the System Shop tab to see what he could afford.
A massive holographic catalog expanded in front of him and displayed an absolutely unhinged collection of magical items and skills.
There were powerful combat manuals like ’Basic Aura Circulation’ listed for five hundred points right next to completely degenerate items like ’X Ray Glasses’ and ’Invisibility Potions’ that cost thousands of points.
He scrolled through the cheaper sections and realized his one hundred Shameless Points could actually buy him some incredibly useful survival tools.
He saw a ’Minor Stamina Potion’ for ten points and a passive skill called ’Lie Detector’ for eighty points that seemed invaluable for navigating the treacherous politics of the noble household.
Before he could make a purchase the heavy wooden door to the pantry suddenly slammed shut and plunged the small room into total darkness.
Leon heard the distinct click of the iron lock sliding into place from the inside.
"Did you honestly think I was just going to let you walk away after what you did out there?" a sultry and dangerously furious voice whispered from the shadows.
A small orb of magical fire suddenly ignited and illuminated Elara standing right in front of the door with her arms crossed tightly beneath her massive chest.
She had cornered him and she looked completely determined to get some answers.
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