Vivian

"This..." Xu Yi could not help scratching his head. I really was careless.

To be fair, it was not entirely his fault. Even back on Earth, he had not spent much time around girls. He was usually surrounded by cold machinery and data, and he was slow to notice things like this.

Besides, the little slave was so thin and underdeveloped that she showed no obvious signs of being a girl.

If nothing had brought it to his attention, Xu Yi might have gone on misunderstanding her for a long time.

Seeing the embarrassment on Xu Yi's face, Stille suddenly laughed.

"Hey, Xu Yi, when I first saw such a young girl in your house, I thought you were like those noble perverts with strange tastes. Looks like I had you wrong."

Xu Yi could not help rolling his eyes.

Strange tastes? Even if I were interested in that sort of thing, I wouldn't set my sights on a scrawny little kid like her.

"Never mind me. Why did you come to my house?" Xu Yi shot back. "How did you find out where I live? And if you thought I was a pervert, why did you stay? Why cook for me?"

"You ask too many questions," Stille muttered. "Thanks to you, I've finished the Piano Model. I came to invite you out to dinner to thank you, but when I got here, you were asleep. You looked so exhausted that I couldn't bear to wake you. So I thought I'd make you dinner instead. Well? Judging by this mess, no one ever cooks for you, does she? Aren't you grateful?"

Stille's face was lovely, and her playful smile made Xu Yi's eyes brighten. He stared for a moment.

"Uh... You wanted to treat me to dinner, but you used ingredients I bought and my own kitchen? That's pretty thrifty."

"Hmph. I cooked this myself. Even Grandpa rarely gets that kind of treatment, so be grateful." Stille pointed toward the inner room. "Go call that little girl out to eat, too. As a slave, she normally shouldn't eat with us, but you don't seem to treat her like one."

"Of course not. Slavery shouldn't exist in the first place." Xu Yi sighed, shook his head, and headed toward the inner room.

Stille paused at his offhand remark. As she watched him walk away, her eyes gleamed.

"Hm? What is it? Have I taken so much leave lately that Great Mage Camilla's unhappy and wants to fire me?" Xu Yi asked without much concern.

"Oh, come on. Who said anything about firing you?" Stille glared at him and pointed a finger his way. "Grandpa thinks highly of you. You refused to become her apprentice, but she says you have plenty of magical talent and always come up with novel ideas. She thinks keeping you in the Magic Tower might even inspire her. Why would she fire you?"

"That's good. So if she isn't firing me, what did she send you to tell me?"

"Listen carefully, Xu Yi. I don't know why you care so little about improving your magic, but I need you to understand this: on Sains Continent, a mage's rank is practically everything." Stille's expression turned solemn. "The Mages' Guild holds its annual certification examination in less than three months. Grandpa is a Three-Star Great Mage recognized by the Mages' Guild, and she has three recommendation slots. She's decided to give you one and recommend you for the Qualification Certification Examination. Do you understand what that means?"

Xu Yi shook his head. "No."

Stille could no longer keep a straight face. "You idiot! You don't understand that? When a Great Mage recommends someone, the Mages' Guild relaxes its standards a little during the examination. With that recommendation, you'll have a much easier time passing than an ordinary mage!"

"And then what? I'd become a mage whose rank doesn't match his ability?" Xu Yi asked.

Stille froze, unable to answer.

She suddenly realized he had struck at the heart of the matter. She had no rebuttal.

Seeing her speechless, Xu Yi smiled and held out his hand. "Give it to me."

"Give you what?" Stille asked blankly.

"Whatever proves I have the recommendation. I can't just walk into the Mages' Guild, say Great Mage Camilla recommended me, and expect them to believe it."

Stille stared at him. "I thought you didn't want the recommendation."

"Who said that?"

"But you just said..."

"That's what I said, but I know what this examination means." Xu Yi smiled. "I'm twenty-seven, not an idealistic kid like you. Why wouldn't I use an advantage when it's offered? Besides, this is Great Mage Camilla's kindness—and yours, too. Refusing would mean letting your goodwill go to waste."

Stille stared at him for a while. Then she slammed a hand on the table, sprang to her feet, and snapped, "You're the kid!"

With that, she left without looking back.

Xu Yi watched her disappear and shook his head with a rueful smile.

That must be a sore spot. Better not say it in front of her again.

He turned and found the little slave staring at him, plainly at a loss. He smiled at her. "I'm sorry. I've been so busy these past few days that I haven't had time to talk with you properly. Are you settling in all right?"

The little slave shook her head, then seemed to remember something and nodded vigorously.

Xu Yi frowned slightly. "Can you... not speak?"

The little slave nodded.

"What does that mean? Can you speak or not?"

The little slave slowly opened her mouth. After a long pause, she managed a few syllables. "I... can... speak..."

Her voice was slightly hoarse, and she stumbled over the words as though she had not spoken in a long time.

Xu Yi thought for a moment, then ladled some meat soup into her bowl.

"You don't have to be so afraid here. I bought you, but I won't treat you like a slave or hit you. You can relax."

The little slave glanced at the soup in her bowl and nodded faintly.

"I... I know. You're... a good person."

"Ha. I've been handed the 'good person' card." Xu Yi chuckled. "By the way, what's your name? I never asked."

"Vi... Vivian..."

"Vivian? That's a nice name." Xu Yi saw pain flicker across the little slave's face and guessed that her name had brought back unhappy memories. He shook his head and asked no more.

He knew she must have had a hard life before coming here, leaving deep emotional scars. Helping her heal would take time and patience. He could not rush it.

After dinner, the little slave began clearing the dishes on her own. Xu Yi thought about it and let her continue.

Giving her something to do might actually help her settle into her new life.

After doing a few exercises as usual, Xu Yi returned to his workshop.

The Magic Heading Machine and Magic Thread-Rolling Machine had been developed successfully. That meant the second version of the variable-speed Magic Fan was almost ready for mass production, but Xu Yi still had a mountain of problems to solve first.

Though "variable-speed" was all that had been added to the first Magic Fan, the changes to the Magic Array and the fan's overall design were complicated. A great deal of data had to be recalculated.

Worse, he could not hand much of the work to anyone else. He was the only person who understood both Magic Arrays and mechanical engineering well enough to combine them.

Good help was hard to find. Xu Yi sighed at the thought of all the problems awaiting him.

If this world had as many people with higher education and a solid grounding in the relevant fields as Earth did, his work would not be nearly so exhausting.

Then again, if Sains Continent had that many qualified people, he could never have made so much money from something as simple as a Magic Fan.

I can't have it both ways.

Xu Yi shook his head with a wry smile and was about to return to his research when a tray appeared beside him.

Seeing the steaming cup of strong tea on it, Xu Yi smiled. "Vivian, you don't need to look after me. Go get some sleep."

Vivian set the cup beside his hand. Standing with her head lowered, she said softly, "Serving... my master is... my duty."

Xu Yi smiled and did not bother trying to persuade her again. He bent over his work.

At first, Vivian stood stiffly beside him with her head down. After a while, she looked up at Xu Yi, absorbed in his work, curiosity filling her face.

Her new master really did treat her far better than her previous one.

But why did he work so hard?