Reincarnated as the Villain's Butler

Chapter 2

As his mother left the kitchen to attend to her post, Altair sat himself in the corner of the kitchen, the smell of smoke and variety of food filling his sensitive nose.

Now as a beastkin, it was obvious that his senses had grown sharper than that of a normal human's, and although it was sometimes inconvenient, especially if there's especially strong (bad) smells or loud noises, it was still incredibly useful and eye opening. Altair in his previous life didn't have the best eyesight, so it was like going from 360p to finally watching the world in HD, so it was greatly satisfying.

As for now, the smell of food being prepped, the trays of bread baking the oven, and the combination of crisp smoke and vintage metal was almost torture considering how pleasing it was. Although he never had to fear about starving in the streets like some commoners who had to fend for themselves, his meals were often plain in comparison to the luxuries of modern earth, so such smells were really making his appetite reintroduce itself even when he had just eaten. Still, Altair was always full of self control, so he bore no risk of impulsively stealing food because of his growing appetite.

As the many cooks of the mansion ran around in the bustling kitchen, Altair and several other children were doing the more undignified work (child labor was widely used in this era). Altair himself was peeling potatoes in bulk, baskets of them towering over him as he sat on the floor with a knife that was too large for his hand.

He had frequently cooked for his family in his previous life, but even without it, the current Altair was already experienced in chores like this in this life before his consciousness awakened. In fact, he would even say that he was more skilled now, with the entire process being done almost methodically at a speed far superior than he knew how to do before when he had cooked just for the fun of it. It was almost entirely instinctual, which made devising a plan easier on the brain, he supposed.

First things first— currently, he was a commoner, and a beastkin at that.

Although it made him strong by default and his senses were tenfold in comparison to the average human, prejudice was prevalent in this kingdom, not to mention the risk of being enslaved once leaving the protection of the Linhearth name. He was too much of a target, making plans like running away to his ancestors' motherland quite difficult and nearly improbable— so that was a no.

Leaving legally however, would be practically impossible, since his family was contractually bound to the dukedom. And, as the firstborn and currently only child, and therefore, the future family head, he was required to stay. It was a shame, since leaving the estate and becoming an adventurer, a merchant, or maybe even a humble shop owner would be very entertaining, but unfortunately it wasn't that easy.

He supposed there was an option to become a kingdom guard while still being under house Linhearth. After all, knights were only from noble families, or they had to be knighted by being officially bestowed an honor recognized by the kingdom which sounded too much of a gamble, and too much of a hassle to actually pull off. He was fine just being a backwater, insignificant palace guard— as long as one had the skills for it and were a kingdom citizen, you could become one with the correct procedures. Plus, the future king was the current male lead, supposedly a benevolent ruler in the ending.

The only problem was that currently, any one of the Black Dogs were forbidden to wield swords or any type of weapon. With all these careful restrictions on them, it was clear that the Linhearths were just in fact very afraid that their supposive loyal dogs would bite the hand that fed them— an unneeded worry, seeing how his family acted, but an understandable one.

Altair couldn't help but sigh. Really, it seemed like the world was not letting him find anything easy.

At the moment, the best course of action seemed to be letting the Linhearths make the decision themselves, through either dismissing him, or referring him to another family.