"Ugh this hangover is pretty bad. Servant, bring me to the wine cellar at once!"

"You're hungover and yet you want to drink MORE alcohol? Wouldn't that just make it worse?"

"Are you one of those children who has never had a sip of liquor before? Don't you know you can't be drunk and hungover at the same time? Very well! It seems like I'll have to teach you how to drink."

Kendrick's moment of peace had lasted long enough. He needed to act and act quick. Luckily Dan was a notorious alcoholic in-game so Kendrick can use that to his advantage. The butler sighed, but got up nonetheless.

"Very well, if that truly is master's wish, I shall comply."

The two made their way to the large manor made entirely of rare and expensive types of lumber painted with the most expensive of hues. Bits and pieces are adorned by fleeting glimpses of gold, acting like an ugly little bow for the gift box of bad taste that is the whole building. This building is Anwir Alastair's true pride and joy. A symbol of his wealth that far exceeds his status as a Viscount. A message to all guests and inhabitants, noble or commoner alike, that HE is above them. HE is on top. In game this manor was all the rage in noble society. Every few months new rumors spread like a Californian wildfire claiming that Viscount Anwir made yet another outrageous renovation to his estate. Those rumors gave the Viscount a cloak of mysticism that only added to his power. 

Kendrick didn't spend too much time observing the horrid exterior, instead choosing to press inside. While it would be fun to spend some time mocking and belittling Viscount Anwir's awful design decisions, he needed to locate and eliminate the rot on the inside. The butler opened up the door to the wine cellar. The musk of mold meandered out. As Kendrick began his descent he turned to the butler,

"You aren't coming down too?"

"Servants need special permission from the Viscount to go down into the wine cellar after a certain maid attempted to steal a few bottles, but that was before I was hired."

Kendrick doubted the authenticity of the story, but kept that thought to himself.

"Oh well... Wait here, I'll be back out in a moment."

"Understood, milord."

And so Kendrick let himself be swallowed whole by the darkness. The warmly colored wood gradually gave way to cold stone. Black dots lightly speckled the hardened earth and threatened to one day fully claim the space, expelling all intruders. Kendrick whole heartedly believed that the mold's slow conquest would be successful, but that would be a later date. For now, Kendrick scoured the dimly lit area. He very quickly found the two things that he was looking for. One was a section of racks with the stronger spirits. Kendrick selected a bottle of the strongest vodka he could find.

The second thing he found was a thick, metal trapdoor. Any onlocker could tell that it didn't belong. The rest of the cellar is made of natural material, like someone simply dug out a hole in the earth before building the manor on top. This trapdoor however is distictly human. While the rest of the cellar has a mess of moss and mold growing upon it, this trapdoor is spotless. A beefy warded lock is there to keep interlopers out, or perhaps it's meant to keep whatever is locked away inside. Whatever was the Viscount's will, Kendrick can easily get in later by making a skeleton key. Kendrick takes in a very deep breath and hold it. He'll need complete silence if he's to really make sure this is what he thinks it is. He slowly puts his ear up against the metal and faintly hears...

"₩HY ₩AS į B0RN"

"BįRTH BįRTH ACCUR§ED B¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡RRTH AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

"₩HHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYY"

"M0THER? M0THER? M00000000THER!"

"GHUEK GHWAH"

Kendrick releases his breath and smiles, bingo. What was down there would crush his family if word of it got out. 

Thump Thump Thump

The sound of footsteps above made Kendrick jump. He probably wouldn't be killed immediately by being found out right now, but it certainly wouldn't help. He found what he needed, so he should leave. 

-------

Kendrick's newly hired personal butler waited for his master at the top of the stairs. However while he was waiting someone noticed him and walked over. Someone who's will only bended to the Viscount himself, Annalissa Alastair.

"Oh my! So you were the new hire I've heard so much about. I've been looking allllll over for you."

She approached the butler and soon enough she was invading his personal space. Warning bells started ringing. The butler attempted to make space, but his back hit the wall. Despite his uneasiness the butler had to respond as this woman was a noble he was supposed to be serving.

"W-what could my lady possibly need from this humble servant?"

"Hmm, yes your looks are exactly to my taste! Hehe."

"My looks? C-can you please back up a little"

"I'll have you service me from now on."

"B-but I'm already serving Master Dan! I can't take on the extra workload!"

"Ugh, forget that drunkard! I'll let you have a glimpse of heaven."

"Look, I'm not really interested in doing this kind of thing with you, I have a girlfriend-"

Her gaze grows frigid. She speaks low and slow.

"I'm not asking. You'll be my plaything wether you like it or not."

A blunt response showing Annalissa's true intentions. But not as blunt as the vodka bottle that slams into her head! The glass breaks and she drops like a bag of potatoes. The liquid inside sprays all over drenching the noble girl and butler. A hand pats the butler's shoulder.

"You alright man?"

Yes it was the butler's master Dan Alastair. The butler can only gape like a fish out of water. 

"Uh you should probably get changed. Sorry about that, the splash zone was bigger than I initially expected..."

"...ha... you say that like my clothes being wet is the biggest problem here and not the fact you probably just killed your sister."

"Oh please, don't be so dramatic, it'll take more than that to kill a tamer. Besides the world would be better off without this psycho going around. Please go get changed. I'll deal with the unconscious rapist."

"...understood"

"Oh and prepare some money afterwards we're going to the auction house after this."

"Sure?"

---------------

"Report."

"Yes Viscount, two things of note occurred today. First is that the young lady was found passed out in the wine cellar. Judging by the missing bottles and the stench of alchol on her, it seems she drunk more than she could handle. When she woke up she couldn't recall what occurred before blacking out."

"Her too?! Why must my all children be useless drunkards! What's the other event?"

"Dan Alastair went to the auction house."

"The auction house? What for? It wasn't just for that stupid jewel that was the main item was it?"

"No, after speaking too the staff at the auction house it seems that Milord's son purchased a bottle of 'great worms breath' brand alchol and a prism like sculpture. However upon inspecting the boy only evidence of the alcohol has been found. The sculpture is nowhere to be seen."

"Of course that dumbass squandered his allowance on some useless art piece! Anything else?"

The steward hesitates for a moment, but then says...

"Well there is one other thing... It seems Master Dan was spotted burying somethings around the estate. Upon digging up one of the things he buried, it seemed to be some kind of alcohol stash. In each box was a bottle of alchol, a handkerchief, and an oil lantern with accompanied fuel. We decided to rebury the stash as to not raise suspicion."

"Haaaaaa... what is that boy doing on the night of his fiancé's birthday ball. Is he going to show up hungover to the princess's ball? Where did I go wrong..."

Afewconcepts65

so upon rereading the original story from start to finish, I realized just how much I dislike Kendrick's butler, Jredd.  Dude's a massive pussy. I get his arc is probably gonna be something like growing the balls to finally stand up with the protagonist against the Viscount and his family, but he's SUPER unlikable right now. Like 'Milord, please be safe' my ass, bro is litterally the one knocking Kendrick out and dragging him to the torture chamber. What happened to alleviating your master's burden? I hope Kendrick chews the fuck out of him next time Jredd pops up. Like the biggest dressing down he's ever received. Maybe a punch to the face without holding back. So yeah we're speedrunning his arc in this fanfic. 

Changing topic, I'd like to say that I have so far wrote my stories in first person, meaning that writing in third person is a bit outside of my comfort zone. I chose to write this story in third person because the original story is also in third person. While writing this chapter I felt better about writing in this style than usual, especially during the descriptions of the manor and the basement scene. I really feel like I nailed the foreshadowing this chapter and I can't wait to cash out on it later. Of course that was immediately followed up by me cringing while writing the attempted rape scene, but baby steps.