About the time I was picked up and adopted by Tallulah

Zofia said with a wicked smile, while Orson gave an awkward smile and said, "Don't make fun of me."

Just as the two were chatting, Maria came out of the study.

"Orson, aunt?"

"Maria, are you going out? Aren't you going to train today?"

Zofia noticed that Maria seemed to be about to go out and asked in confusion.

"Well... um, sorry, Aunt Orson. That man is - well..."

Maria clasped her hands together and apologized, but when she noticed the news in Orson's hand, her expression became noticeably flustered, and she left the room directly.

"Um……?"

Zofia and Orson looked at each other.

It’s tricky!

51. Why did you fall in love with this silly guy?

"I always feel like there's something wrong with Maria... Is it my imagination?"

After all, he was Maria's "attendant knight" and had gotten to know her somewhat during their time together. Therefore, Orson found Maria's behavior a little strange.

"Hmm, maybe it's just an illusion? I don't think it's much different from usual."

Zofia didn't take it too seriously as she scrolled through her phone, checking various news about 'Noon Knight'.

Although Maria often went to the study room abnormally in the past two days, Zofia did not feel that there was anything strange about this "sister".

"You know, Auntie, usually things like 'Is this an illusion? It must be an illusion' are flags, right?"

"Don't call me aunt...what do you mean?"

Zofia shook her ears unhappily, then tilted her head and asked Orson.

"What I mean is... Anyway, I'm a little worried, so I'd better go and take a look."

Orson went to the entrance with some concern to look for Maria.

"Be careful on the road—well, you're walking so fast."

When Zofia turned around, she found that Orson had left, leaving only an empty room.

——Really, he's a truly competent 'Little Knight'.

Zofia sighed quietly in her heart, then turned her attention to the popular rising star displayed on her phone.

"Although Orson definitely wouldn't lose in terms of temperament, his height is a disadvantage... Wait, Orson was wearing a butler's uniform when he went out, right?"

Zofia muttered to herself, then seemed to realize something was wrong.

Because everyone has become accustomed to Orson's identity as a "deacon" in the past two days, Zofia didn't even notice the strangeness just now.

On the other side, Orson, who left Lin Guang's house, sneezed and then began to look for clues about Maria.

"Hmm... There's absolutely no trace of anything around here. Could there be any means of transportation?"

Although one of Orson's tuning abilities is to determine someone's location, unless in special circumstances, Orson will generally not use this skill on his friends around him, after all, it is somewhat of an invasion of privacy.

But because of this, Orson had no trace of Maria at this point. He couldn't call her to ask where she was. After all, the reason Orson initially felt something was because Maria seemed to be deliberately hiding something from him.

Since I can’t find it... I might as well go look for Uncle Martin first.

Orson decided on the next target point, then activated his exploration ability "Low Frequency". After confirming that there was no one outside the building's outline, he controlled the pause to move himself to the top of the building, moving rapidly at low altitude in the unobstructed Casimir.

Not long after, Orson arrived at his destination - the bar where he first met Maria, and where Zofia later came to pick a fight with him.

"Is Uncle Martin here?"

Orson asked as he walked into the bar, and the bald old man Johnny Silverhand at the bar put down his glass after noticing Orson.

"Hey, 'Silent Knight' brother, why are you here in the middle of the day?"

Bald Martin was a little surprised by Orson's arrival. After all, from their brief interaction, Martin could more or less feel that Orson was not the kind of guy who would come to the bar during the day on a weekday.

"Hey, Martin, are you comparing me with that guy in your mind right now?"

The old Yasuofuge, the former war knight, who was lying on the table and drunk, raised his wine bottle and complained loudly.

"It feels weird to hear that name now... After all, everyone just calls me 'Little Knight' now. Anyway, Uncle Ferg must have been drunk again."

Orson smiled wryly and greeted the elderly Yasuo. Originally, Orson had only met this group once, but since he'd come here a few times to drag his drunken aunt home, they'd become quite familiar with each other.

"Drunk? Are you kidding me? I'm not drunk...!!"

"Ahahaha... Um, Uncle Martin, is Maria here?"

Orson decided not to continue to tangle with the old Yasuo and turned to Martin to ask about the real business.

"That Maria kid? She didn't come today. Speaking of which, brother Orson, are you here to apply for the bartender position? Let me be clear, I don't have any salary that I can offer."

Bald Martin thought for a while and said that he didn't see Maria today. Then he looked at the butler's uniform on Orson and rubbed his chin.

"Applying for a job? I don't have one..."

"Maria? That little girl was kidnapped!"

Before Orson finished speaking, the old Yasuo beside him started shouting loudly.

"Wow, what does abduct and run mean?"

After hearing the incredible answer, Orson hurriedly questioned the old knight.

"That's exactly what I meant! The other day, when the little girl came to the bar to fix something with Koval, I saw with my own eyes a jousting knight come over and invite her! He seemed to be quite famous... Hey, Martin, who was that?"

Old Yasuo recalled for a few seconds, said he couldn't remember, and then looked at Bald Martin.

"Well, it's the 'Noonday Knight', right? The young long-rider of the Sangster family."

Bald Martin thought for a moment and said a name that he had just heard from Sofia.

"The Knight of Noon...did he invite Maria? Indeed, Maria is so lovely after all. So the Knight of Noon has good taste!"

Orson thought for a few seconds, then said he understood. While Maria might come across as a clumsy engineering student when they were together, she was actually the princess of the ancient and aristocratic Linguang family, and her appearance was more than worthy of the title.

But Orson's guess was directly refuted by the old knight.

"You're stupid, boy! How could Maria just appear out of nowhere... No, the Sangster family is indeed very large - but that's not the point! The point is, how could Maria be abducted by another man!"

The old Yasuo slammed his wine glass on the table and shouted loudly. He thought that after saying so much, the guy named Orson in front of him would at least understand a little bit.

But the old Yasuo still underestimated how stupid this guy was.

"...?"

Orson frowned, not understanding why old Yasuo was so sure that Maria would not be with a handsome and cultured noble like the Noon Knight, who was the embodiment of an "orthodox knight".

After all, from Orson's personal perspective, he had never done anything to increase Maria's favorability. He was just a "follower knight."

"Never mind. I'm still a little worried. Thank you, Uncle Martin and Uncle Ferg. I'll go check on that Sangster's house first."

Orson decided not to think about it for the time being. He went to the Sangster family mansion, then waved goodbye and left the bar.

"Hey... Wanna make a bet, Martin? I'll put up 500, and Maria will take the initiative."

The old Yasuo looked at Orson leaving, took a sip of beer and said.

"Then I'll bet that our little knight will come to his senses before then."

Bald Martin smiled and went back to work.

Maria would mutter something about the task at hand every time she came to the bar to work. It was as if the child was about to marry a machining lathe tool box.

But everyone gradually discovered that the last few times Maria came to the bar, although the maintenance work at hand was still neat and efficient, the words she muttered had unconsciously changed a lot.

From the skill of repairing machines, he gradually became a young man who temporarily lived in his house and was currently his attendant knight and aunt's butler.

Even though the old knights and retired knights in the bar were a group of old guys who didn't understand romance, they knew very well that Maria seemed to be in love, and the person she was expecting was a dwarf who had just left the bar.

"Come to think of it, was that Martin-Orson guy wearing a butler's uniform just now?"

After a while, the old Yasuo asked Bald Martin belatedly.

"Yeah, I thought he was applying for the bartender position."

"Well... I've been to the Sangster family once before. Their specialty is that they have quite a few butlers, and their clothing style is quite similar to what Orson was wearing just now."

“——” “——”

After a brief silence, they both smiled at the same time:

I feel like it will be fun to watch.

Rt, I was suddenly asked to visit relatives today. It was completely unexpected, but I couldn’t refuse to go.

I don't have any manuscripts saved, so I can only take a leave of absence... I'm very sorry

It seems that I need to put more manuscripts on my schedule as soon as possible...

By the way, I don’t feel that the New Year atmosphere is very strong this year. I always feel like I just muddled through it for no apparent reason.

Anyway, Happy New Year to everyone

52. Hey, are you here to mess things up?

Following the information he got from Bald Martin, Orson soon arrived at the mansion of the Sangster family. Without even entering the door, just by looking around from a distance, Orson could intuitively feel that this family must have a considerable status in Casimir.

After all, the area of this house alone is larger than Lin Guang's mansion, and even Orson, who knows nothing about architecture, can notice that the decoration style of this building is extremely luxurious, and all the places visible to the naked eye have been carefully decorated.

"Wow... That's incredible."

Orson was standing at the edge of the room, admiring the scenery before him. It could almost be said that this was the most luxurious building he had ever seen since he came to Che City from the North. Probably only the castle of the Grand Duke of Baikal could barely compare.

"So what is Maria's purpose in coming here..."

Orson frowned and thought, if it was really the Noon Knight who invited Maria, who was also a "noble knight", to improve their relationship, it would not be difficult to understand.

After all, this can be considered as "equal status" in the orthodox sense, right?

Although it is understandable, Orson has some inexplicable resistance to this speculation, and he himself does not know the source of this resistance.

"Forget it, there's no point in thinking so much here. Why not just take the initiative and ask what's going on?"

Orson shook his head, deciding not to think about the mess for the time being.

After all, he is now Maria's 'attendant knight', so he is still qualified to sneak into the territory of the 'Noon Knight' Sangster family, right?

Thinking this, Orson walked to the entrance and prepared to ring the doorbell.

But before his finger touched the doorbell, the door suddenly opened from the inside. A middle-aged woman dressed in a standard maid uniform, not the kind you'd find in a cafe with a 2D touch, emerged from the mansion and grabbed Orson.

“Wow!?”

Orson was shocked. He was just about to come over to look for someone, but these people were going to take him away!?

"Wow, what an idiot! You're late even at a time like today. I don't think you can even claim your year-end bonus!"

Before Orson could say anything, the middle-aged maid suddenly spoke with a reproachful tone.

The middle-aged woman who was suspected to be the head maid scolded Orson while dragging him into the mansion by the arm in a tough manner.

"Wait, wait...what's going on?"

The person involved, Orson, was completely confused, but he had no chance to ask what was going on. He was inexplicably dragged into a room that looked super gorgeous.

"Listen carefully, the young master has invited a guest today, reportedly a girl from the Linguang family. Although the Linguang family has declined, it is still an ancient knight family whose reputation once resounded throughout Casimir. Moreover, the young master seems to have a good impression of that girl, so today we must give our full attention and serve them both flawlessly in every aspect. Do you understand?"

"I don't understand at all... Ouch!"

Orson was still confused, but his question went unanswered. The head maid just hit Orson on the head in response and then kicked him into the kitchen of the mansion.

"What on earth is going on...eh?"

Orson, who still looked confused, saw several servants in the kitchen whose butler uniforms were not completely unrelated to his own, but were exactly the same.

In an instant, Orson finally understood what was going on.