SSS-Rank Hunter Reborn: Private Tutor to the Count's Bastard Son

Deep in the underground waterway.

Ferda leaned against the wall and watched Silvan. Right now Silvan was reading a book about necromancy, and unusually, a wolf was sitting beside him.

A creature wagging its tail despite its large size.

It was Hound, who had become Silvan's vassal two weeks ago.

'Hell Hound.'

A demon beast with dark red hide and bright red fur.

Taking the form of a wolf and gaining the ability to breathe fire.

This was the Hell Hound that Ferda knew.

'But...'

That guy was quite different.

First, its hide was black and its fur was grayish white. And he'd seen it breathe fire as a test before, and it spewed pitch-black flames.

'Is it because it has hero-grade dignity?'

It was different from typical Hell Hounds in many ways.

That's when Hound turned its head. Probably feeling Ferda's gaze.

At the same time, the creature scrunched up its face.

An expression that anyone could see was openly displeased. Well, that made sense. That guy had memories of being killed by humans.

'Still, it's much better than when I first saw it.'

Two weeks ago was a real mess.

It was baring its teeth and radiating killing intent. It looked ready to breathe fire at any moment. But it didn't last long. As soon as Silvan suddenly got serious and whispered something, it immediately lowered its tail.

Finishing his reminiscence, Ferda stretched his arms and yawned.

That's when it happened.

"Ferda."

Silvan, who had approached at some point, looked up at him.

He looked like he'd finished studying. Ferda patted his shoulder to say good work.

"Good work. Should we head back now?"

"Yeah, I'm getting hungry too."

Silvan grinned. Meanwhile, Hound lay flat on the ground.

[I look forward to meeting again, my master.]

"Yeah, I'll come again tomorrow."

After petting Hound, Silvan and Ferda left the underground waterway.

Climbing the stairs and going outside, they were greeted by a reddish sunset. No wonder he was feeling peckish—it was time for dinner.

"See you later then."

Silvan waved and headed toward the mansion.

Ferda also immediately headed to his quarters. He couldn't eat dinner while reeking, so he was thinking of taking a shower. After finishing his shower, he lay on the bed and reached his hand toward the empty air.

"Let's see."

He immediately opened the achievement shop.

He currently had about 500 points left. Was there anything worth buying with this? Ferda leisurely browsed the shop. That's when something suddenly caught his eye.

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-Skill Book [Understanding Necromancy]: [400]

=====

"Oh, there's something like this?"

A smile bloomed on Ferda's lips.

"I was just worrying about how to teach necromancy..."

He didn't need to worry about summoning the dead and curses. Once he showed Silvan even once, he grew by leaps and bounds on his own, as expected of a genius.

But necromancy was different. There were no related books, and Ferda was also a layman when it came to necromancy. But now his worries had just been solved. Ferda bought the skill book without hesitation.

"Now I just need to hand it over naturally."

As he was putting the skill book into his inventory.

Knock knock—

Someone knocked on the door. Probably Aaron. So he opened the door casually. But the person in front of him was unexpected.

"Silvan?"

Except for class time, he was always holed up in his room, so why had he come to Ferda's quarters? As Ferda's eyes widened, Silvan opened his mouth.

"Aaron said dinner might be a bit late today."

Silvan muttered with a slightly sullen face.

He probably came to tell him that. Aaron would be busy preparing dinner.

"I see. That works out well."

"What does?"

"I was thinking of stopping by the library."

Recently, Ferda had developed a hobby.

Reading, to be exact. Thanks to sharing language comprehension with Silvan, he could read books without much trouble. So whenever he had free time, he would borrow and read books.

"Why the library?"

"I have books to return. And some I want to borrow."

Half truth, half lie. It was true he had books to return, but actually, the real reason for visiting the library was to give Silvan the necromancy skill book.

'If I say I borrowed it from the library, there won't be any suspicion about the source.'

He couldn't honestly talk about the achievement shop or inventory. Meanwhile, at Ferda's answer, Silvan kept his mouth shut as if thinking for a moment. Then he immediately raised his head.

"Then I want to go too."

"Oh, what's gotten into you? Didn't you hate going to the library?"

It was quite far from the mansion, and most importantly, there were many people at the library. That meant there were quite a few people who spoke ill of Silvan.

They probably thought he couldn't hear them, but a half-elf's hearing was much better than they thought.

"I hate it, but I get bored when I'm alone."

"Well, alright. Let's go together."

If he said he was fine with it, it should be okay.

Taking the books to return, they immediately left the quarters. Walking the path he usually walked alone with two people was nice and not boring. After chatting about trivial things, they arrived at the library.

That's when two men walked toward them from ahead.

Someone who looked about the same age as Ferda. When he spotted Silvan, he naturally bowed his head.

"Good day, young master."

A man with brown curly hair and black eyes. Beside him stood a boy who looked a year or two older than Silvan, holding a bunch of books.

'Who is he?'

Since he greeted first, that meant he knew Silvan. But it was an unfamiliar face. Even recalling the novel's content, there was no information about that man.

Poke poke—

That's when Silvan poked Ferda's side.

When he bent his waist slightly, Silvan stood on his tiptoes and whispered.

"...His name is Hans. He's the person who teaches Shane."

Ah, now he remembered.

The fact that Shane, the eldest son, also had a tutor. Shane was enrolled at the Royal Academy so it wasn't really necessary, but he heard they hired one because the first wife insisted.

'He had so little significance that I didn't know.'

That was all the information about Hans.

So naturally he wouldn't recognize him. As Ferda was scratching his cheek, Hans opened his mouth again.

"But what brings you here?"

"Ferda said he had business."

"Ferda is...?"

"My tutor."

When Silvan finished speaking, Ferda stepped forward.

Then he bowed his head slightly and introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Ferda Inosid."

He greeted casually without much thought. Then Hans nodded.

"I see. I heard a new tutor had come."

An answer came back, but it wasn't directed at Ferda. Hans's eyes were fixed only on Silvan.

"I hope you have a pleasant time reading. I'll excuse myself now."

Hans immediately turned around.

Without giving Ferda a single glance until the end.

What? Did he just get ignored?

He felt absurd but soon shook it off. His mood was a bit sour, but it wasn't worth making an issue of. Most importantly, Silvan was here too. It was best to just let it go.

So Ferda walked toward the library. Silvan also moved his feet beside him. Just as they were about to open the door and enter the library.

Twitch—

Silvan's ears suddenly trembled.

It was because he could faintly hear Hans and his assistant's conversation from afar.

"Teacher. But is it okay not to exchange greetings?"

"Greetings? With whom?"

"The person who's the third young master's tutor. You said it's important to build relationships with tutors from noble families."

"I did say that. But that's not a tutor, is it?"

"Huh?"

Along with the sound of the assistant asking back, Silvan frowned.

Ferda isn't a tutor? What did he mean by that? While harboring such doubt, Hans continued.

"Young Master Shane also uses respectful language with me. Though there's a difference in status, I'm the teacher who instructs the young master."

"That's true, but aren't there some who speak casually sometimes?"

"Of course, if you're close, you can call each other by name. You can use casual speech too. But doing that even when others are watching means you have no intention of treating them as a teacher. You're just thinking of them as a nanny or servant."

Hans chuckled as he continued.

Then he spoke in a voice full of mockery.

"Well, I heard he was a street beggar, not even an academy graduate, so being a servant would be a promotion in status, right? Hahaha!"

Crack—!

Listening to the laughter growing distant, Silvan clenched his teeth tightly.

He didn't care about slander against himself. He was used to hearing it.

But hearing slander about Ferda made his blood boil.

'But...'

Still, he couldn't just get angry recklessly, because Hans's words weren't completely wrong.

Looking back, Ferda always used respectful language with Silvan when they were with others. Remembering this made his chest sting.

But that was that, and this was this. Speaking ill of Ferda was a separate matter.

Silvan clenched his fists tightly.

[How insolent.]

[To dare insult someone the king has acknowledged.]

[Just give the order and I'll tear his limbs apart right now.]

As the spirits were getting angry.

"Silvan?"

Ferda, who had been walking ahead, suddenly turned around.

Approaching him, he asked in a worried tone.

"What's wrong? You don't look well."

"...Mm, it's nothing."

Silvan shook his head and forced a smile.

Then he immediately continued.

"Go in first. I'll just look around for a bit and then come in."

He had something to do for a moment.

Silvan's eyes sank coldly.

***

After visiting the library.

He succeeded in giving Silvan the skill book. Silvan accepted it without much suspicion, so the necromancy problem was more or less solved.

'What skill will I get this time?'

With pleasant anticipation, he left his quarters.

It was because there was a message from Silvan that dinner was ready and to come to his room. Just as he was about to cross the garden and enter the mansion, Ferda encountered an unexpected person.

"Sir Logwood?"

It was none other than Burke.

Spotting Ferda, he extended his hand with a faint smile.

"It's been a while. Have you been well?"

"Yes, it's been a while."

After a brief handshake, Burke revealed his business for visiting Silvan's mansion. It was to tell him he'd have to step away from sword lessons for a while.

"Young Master Shane has shown high achievement. So I've been assigned to give him one-on-one instruction. I think it'll be hard to make time for at least three months."

Silvan would be happy to hear this.

While thinking that to himself, Burke's voice was heard again.

"Speaking of Young Master Shane."

A smile formed on his lips. It was a cold sneer.

"I saw something interesting on the way here."

"What was...?"

"Young Master Shane's tutor. That scrawny fellow. Out of nowhere he started babbling about the Count's territory being haunted by ghosts, then made a fuss about going back to his hometown. His assistant, who always goes around with him, was breaking out in a cold sweat trying to calm him down."

At those words, Ferda's eyes widened.

Mentioning ghosts reminded him of someone. Without realizing it, Ferda looked toward Silvan's room. But he immediately shook his head. No way, that couldn't be it.

"What a strange person."

"That's what I'm saying. You're not thinking of doing the same thing, are you?"

"Haha, of course not."

With trivial jokes, the two soon arrived at their destination.

Knock knock—

Opening the door with a knock, they could see Silvan sitting demurely on the sofa.

His face quickly hardened as soon as he spotted Burke. But Burke, as if used to it, bowed his head slightly.

"Sorry for visiting so late at night."

"..."

No answer came back.

Burke didn't wait and continued speaking.

"I came to let you know that I'll be stepping away from sword lessons for a while."

The reason for taking a break from lessons was as he'd mentioned earlier.

But Silvan's reaction was a bit strange.

Normally, right after hearing this news, he would have widened his eyes and shown a happy expression. He hated sword lessons. But his reaction was somehow rather flat. As if he was lost in other thoughts.

"However, since we can't not have lessons at all, I plan to assign your lessons to another knight. That should be fine, shouldn't it?"

It looked like he was asking for an opinion, but it was actually a notification. Even if Silvan said he didn't like it, Burke planned to carry it out anyway. So he didn't bother waiting for Silvan's answer. Just as he was about to move his lips again.

"Is there really a need for that?"

"Then we'll do it that way... Huh?"

While speaking quietly, Burke asked back in surprise.

His wide eyes showed he was quite startled. And Ferda was making a similar expression.

Did he mishear? What did Silvan just answer?

Receiving the blank stares of both men, Silvan continued again.

"I already have a teacher. His sword skills have been verified, and there are many other things to learn from him. So it seems better to continue receiving instruction from my teacher."

As if to say he hadn't misheard.

Silvan added politely. After taking a breath, he immediately raised his head. His golden eyes were directed toward where Ferda was. Then Silvan spoke in a voice tinged with laughter.

"Right? Teacher."

Hearing those words, he understood how the situation was unfolding.

Right now Silvan was saving Ferda's face. By using respectful language and the title "teacher" in front of a third party.

'I was a bit flustered because his way of speaking changed...'

But he quickly regained his composure.

His one and only student had saved his face. And in front of Burke Logwood, whom he feared so much. As a teacher, it was his duty to play along.

With a faint smile, Ferda bowed his head slightly.

"I'm sorry, Sir Logwood. I was planning to mention it anyway, but from now on it seems I'll be handling the young master's sword lessons as well."

"No, what's this all of a sudden..."

"The Count invited me to dine recently, and he said something similar then."

Though he spouted nonsense about training beasts, the point was one thing. He'd completely handed over the authority to teach Silvan to Ferda. So saying this wasn't wrong. If he was really upset, he could go complain to the Count.

Looking at Burke, who had become speechless, Ferda grinned. It was a smile with genuine feeling.

"Thank you for your hard work until now. Please leave it to me from now on."

"Thank you for your hard work, Sir Logwood."

Silvan also bowed his head.

Shortly after, Burke left the room with a bewildered face. There was nothing more to say if he stayed here anyway. When the sound of footsteps echoing in the corridor disappeared, Ferda and Silvan looked at each other.

A moment later, the room was filled with loud laughter.