11 January 960 SE
The young master woke up from his sleep when dawn broke despite the cold air.
He spent a few minutes making himself fully conscious before getting out of bed and washing his face in a basin of cold water. Then wipe his face with a towel that has been neatly folded beside the basin.
Soon after that, the sound of knocking was heard three times before the door opened, revealing the figure of the butler robot. Without any orders, the butler robot immediately carried out his morning duties with efficiency, preparing his master for the day.
Even if it's an unremarkable day, it still has to be the best.
Preparing fresh clothes from the wardrobe, the butler robot handed them over to him to wear.
After taking off the nightwear and putting them in the hamper, he put on the his new outfit in silence, his hands absent-mindedly moving to button his white poet shirt up to the ruffled collar band. Next up are black trousers and a matching black boots.
"Young master, may I comb your hair?"
The butler robot offers his assistance. He stood slightly bent over beside him, his hand holding out a hairbrush.
He glanced briefly at the butler robot. He is perfectly capable to comb his own hair, but he know that the butler robot will insist on him that he will doing so as it is his protocol. He won't take no for an answer and will scold him later.
With no way out, he reluctantly obediently followed his guidance to the chaise longue on the other side of his bedroom to be combed. He then sat crookedly on the very edge of the chaise longue, simply so that the robot butler can comb his hair more easily.
Then the butler robot carefully began to comb his long sky-blue hair, which had rarely been tangled before.
His body and both his head remained still throughout the process, but his eyes often glanced towards the window, looking outside. To his annoyance, since his bedroom was on the third floor and the fact that it's winter now, there wasn't much to see from inside except the heavily blanketed, cloudy sky and the endless snow fields.
In the northern part of the Novoatlas supercontinent, where snow falls almost year-round, time seems to stand still here.
Around this land, on the private property that was one of the possessions of the Grand Duchy of Konstantinov, the young master of the mansion was born and lived. In the eyes of the ignorant people, he was a child of high noble birth that was worthy of envy.
Despite that, for those who know better, they will see his position as no more than a pet dog living in a yard.
Even if he seems to be living the high life, there is always a price to pay for it all.
The people in the main estate often wondered, what was the young master doing in the solitary mansion located on the edge of the land of the Grand Duchy?
After all for the young master, except for state duties that require him to undertake work or business travel, he is essentially confined here with little freedom.
Alas, it's better to worry about oneself first than about some strangers.
...
...
"Here we are." The butler robot cheerfully announces the results of his treatment, the young master's hair was now neat with his hair tied low using a thin black ribbon.
The young master didn't need to look in the mirror to see the results, he knew very well the flawless work of the butler robot and his pride in making his young master look elegant. He would have gladly appointed the butler robot as his right-hand man if only he didn't have one fatal flaw: his loyalty to the people of the main estate.
By good fortune, at least he still had one person who was currently by his side, for now.
"About Noosphere." He began, almost whispering.
"Yes, young master?" The robot butler stopped his activity on cleaning the fallen strands of the young master's hair from the floor and the hairbrush.
"What do you think about them? I mean, from a robot's perspective, you might actually understand them better than I do."
"They're like a newborn fawn, no, perhaps more accurately, a new employee?"
"That's a oddly accurate description." The young master sighed though he almost seemed amused. Almost.
"I know, right? It's quite common for us, for robots that have self-awareness due to advanced simulations. We are able to feel emotions like humans despite being just robots, it's really mind-boggling!" At this point the butler robot almost sounded excited, considering this is a topic of conversation that he likes. "In my experience-"
Sadly, the young master was not at all interested in listening to his soliloquy. "I understand what you mean, that's enough. Apart from that, is there anything else?"
"Anything else..." Muttering, the butler robot scratched his chin, the young master quickly realized he wasn't convincing enough to appear close to Noosphere.
"Perhaps ballet? We love taking them to the home theater after work to watch ballet performance videos."
"Did they express their opinion about it? Like liking it or something?"
"No, not at all! Besides, we just took them without asking."
"Isn't that just coercion?"
"No, no, that's how we bond with the new kid."
"..."
For a moment a deafening silence spread throughout the room, then without a word the young master got up and started walking towards the door to leave. Completely lost hope in his own butler.
The butler robot just stood there in bewilderment, before hastily following him.
Just one morning like any other.
Luckily for the butler robot, whatever negative emotions his young master was harboring subsided after touching his breakfast. Beef stroganoff with fettucine pasta as the main course and buttered rye bread topped with sturgeon caviar as a side dish.
Just like how the young master likes.
From this dull daily routine, the butler robot understand well that delicious food was one of the things he truly enjoyed.
After finishing breakfast, the butler robot put the dirty cutlery back on the tray cart while the young master gently dab around his mouth with a napkin.
"Excellent as usual." He gives praise, after all to him every meal is precious.
"Thank you, the servants on duty in the kitchen today will definitely be happy."
"Yes..."
He put the napkin on the empty plate back, then looked towards the dining room door as if waiting for someone, before he asked. "I didn't see Noosphere this morning, usually they would have stormed into the dining room with the servant who serving breakfast. Where are they?"
"They? They joined the other servants in clearing the snow in the rooftop terrace, there was a snowstorm last night."
'How unusual, such a sudden change.' The young master thought but at the same time the news of the snowstorm made him wonder. "Last night? I don't think there's a snowstorm last evening, so the snowstorm should have happened past midnight..."
That specific statement got the butler robot's full attention. "Hm? Were you awake until midnight?"
"Yes, dropping a few ideas in a notebook, you see, creativity always comes at the end of the night." A terrible lie, one that he kept telling both in the past, the present, and the future, something the butler robot knew.
"By the way, aren't you going to the main estate in three days?" He changed the subject, hoping the butler robot wouldn't discuss it, luckily, the butler robot decided to play along.
"Of course, I have to restock your food supplies and run some errands for Sir Oleg."
Oleg.
A familiar name, the head butler who serves the main family and oversees the main household including the branch ones. Without exception, there are butlers under his leading spread throughout the Grand Duchy and the butler robot himself is one of those under his direct supervision.
Regarding his 'errands' with Oleg, it was definitely not just a simple monthly report but also a report on the young master's daily activities. Every month without fail.
Still, even though the young master knew that, he still acted normal because their affairs were not something worth worrying about. On the contrary-
"For Noosphere's sake, how about they come with you to the main estate?"