HTPTMOTMM Chapter 17

The lost bag had returned.

I learned this fact in the morning when I opened my eyes and maid Sara Rose brought washwater as usual.

"Miss Lynne! There's a bag in front of your room. Isn't this the one you said you lost recently?"

Hearing Sara Rose's words, I opened my eyes wide and went outside the room. Then I really saw a familiar bag leaning against the wall next to the door.

▶A suspicious bag is lying in front of the door.
▶Let's use the detection function to investigate.

If the system window hadn't been broken, text like this would probably have appeared before my eyes.

"That's right, it's my bag."

"Someone must have found it and brought it! You were troubled for a while because your bag was missing, so this is great."

Sara Rose smiled brightly with dimples forming on her freckled cheeks, rejoicing over the bag's return as if it were her own affair.

"That's right. Thanks for caring, Sara Rose. Now I can return the clothes I borrowed from you."

"Oh, it was nothing! It was an honor for me to help Miss Lynne!"

As expected, the position of caregiver at Redford Manor seems quite high. Sara Rose looked at me with admiration and longing that I had never felt when I played as her before. She seemed genuinely happy to have lent me clothes.

Actually, as someone who had been her fellow maid for over 30 rounds out of 43 total playthroughs, this was quite an unfamiliar situation for me.

'Anyway, I should prepare a small gift for Sara Rose when I go out on the weekend.'

And as soon as Sara Rose left the room, I erased the smile from my face and looked down at the bag on the floor.

"Ah, boring. I was going to play catch the thief, but the bag came back on its own?"

I grumbled to myself in disappointment.

I had been thinking of having an interesting game of tag with the culprit who stole my bag. If this happens, the only person left to play with me is whoever prepared the fake corpse flower at the welcome party.

'Boring. Maybe after stealing the bag and looking inside, they returned it because there was nothing special?'

Well, that made sense. The bags provided as default to all players had nothing valuable or special in them. So until now, no NPC had ever attempted to steal such a bag. So the culprit must definitely be a new character from this round.

"Ah, there's the manual book!"

Still, it was good that the bag came back faster than expected so I could satisfy my curiosity. I took out a black-covered booklet from under the clothes stuffed in the bag. It also had the emblem of two wheels and a spread-winged eagle stamped on it.

'But why is the cover so worn like this? It looks like something picked up from a used bookstore.'

First, I opened to the front page and roughly skimmed the table of contents.

Let's see... Introduction to Redford Manor, Rules for Redford Manor Employees (Common), etc... These seem to be the same as what was there originally.

'Of course, what I most wanted to see was... the caregiver job introduction!'

First, I opened the part with explanations about the mysterious caregiver profession I was most curious about.

<Caregiver>
Raise your boy.

I. Role of the Caregiver
II. Rules for Caregivers
III. Abilities of Caregivers
IV. Goals of Caregivers
V. Precautions for Caregivers

The job description was subdivided like this. I decided to check them in order and turned the page.

I. Role of the Caregiver

Redford Manor, the world's premier ■■ training facility, is home to seven chosen children.

They all came to the manor with brilliant goals sparkling like gems in their hearts. You, as their caregiver, must safely protect your child through hardships and trials until they reach adulthood.

After various tests, if you are judged unqualified as a caregiver, you may be expelled at any time. Also, if the boy you are raising is judged to no longer qualify to remain at Redford Manor, he may be expelled at any time.

Therefore, all caregivers should aim to raise children into excellent ■■ befitting the founding purpose of the training institution.

Remember that Redford Manor is watching your every move.

'What? Are the detailed settings slightly different in the 44th round?'

Everything else was similar, but it was unfamiliar that this Redford Manor was described as a place that brought children with some purpose to raise them. Moreover, there were places where the ink had smeared or was black, making the text illegible.

Still, the explanation of general methods for raising training subjects written below seemed to remain the same.

The daily life of Redford children was peaceful, unlike what you'd expect from living in a manor where monsters and evil spirits could appear at any time.

In terms of gameplay, the most important consideration for raising these angelic boys was balanced growth in both physical and mental aspects.

Breaking this down further, stats were classified into strength, power, endurance, agility, intelligence, perseverance, self-esteem, determination, morality, dignity, empathy, sensitivity, creativity, charm, etc. If you paid attention to detailed aspects like perception and luck, it was possible to see your own unique ending.

For this, children could develop themselves in various fields including academic studies like literature, philosophy, history, and mathematics; various sports including horseback riding and swordsmanship; liberal arts classes like music and art; and hobbies like gardening, pet care, and hunting, all while living freely.

'Of course, the real challenge with our sunfish cat is just keeping him alive until the ending.'

Sniff, tears suddenly welled up so I raised my head. Then I tried to calm my aching heart and turned the page again.

II. Rules for Caregivers

1. You must not divulge what you learned at the prospective caregiver management institution to your training subject.
2. Causing physical harm to your training subject outside of disciplinary purposes is a deduction factor. (See details below)
3. Irregular ranking competitions will be held to comprehensively evaluate caregivers and training subjects. If judged inadequate in the final verdict, you cannot remain at Redford Manor.
4. Observe your training subject daily and write reports. This content may be reflected in ranking evaluations. (See report writing guidelines below)

"What? Write reports daily?"

I stopped at item 4 while reading through the job rules.

No, what kind of annoying and outdated thing is this in the year 20XX! And what does "may be reflected" even mean? With the system broken, I'd have to write this by hand.

And most importantly, if I wrote a Dian observation diary, there was almost a 100% chance this would become a fan diary.

Ding ding ding.

"Oh, it's already time!"

Just then, the sound of bells came from outside the window. It was already breakfast time.

Oh no, our sunfish cat is waiting!

I left the manual book I was reading and hurriedly changed clothes, then headed to Dian's room. Of course, I didn't forget to firmly lock the door, knowing there was a thief in the manor.

"Lynne, you're eating in a hurry today. Were you hungry?"

During breakfast, Dian looked at me carefully and said this casually.

Dian was wearing a white shirt with sky blue ribbons and buttons as accents, and dark gray suspender pants, looking very cute. Moreover, his hair was tied up high in a single ponytail so it wouldn't get in the way during the morning music liberal arts class, which was refreshing.

Most importantly...! With his hair pulled back, I could clearly see his cheeks puffing up like a hamster's when he chewed food, and that was terrifyingly cute!

Sob, but I was always unable to express this older sister's feelings as they were, afraid that Dian might think I was a strange person if I was too excessive.

Anyway, was I eating fast enough for Dian to say something like this?

I definitely had something to do briefly after breakfast, so I guess I was unconsciously speeding up. Surely our cat didn't think I was being gluttonous seeing me like this?

I hurriedly chewed and swallowed what was in my mouth, then answered Dian's question.

"I have somewhere to stop by briefly after the meal, so I guess I unconsciously hurried."

"Stop by, where?"

"Minuel was very sick yesterday, so I want to go see if he's okay now."

I was planning to check if Minuel had properly kept the flower we brought from the annex by his bedside last night, and whether that method was really effective in this round too.

While saying this, I thought Dian might show jealousy and wariness about Minuel again with a prickly reaction. But fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, that didn't happen.

"What? Minuel was sick? Where and how? Did he get hurt while playing outside?"

Dian's eyes widened. He seemed very surprised that Minuel was sick.

"It wasn't that kind of injury, he had a high fever."

"Strange. I thought being healthy was Minuel's best... no, one of his better qualities."

Didn't our Dian just give a slightly harsh evaluation of Minuel? It somehow overlapped with what I heard from Cheswick yesterday.

If two people think this way, Minuel must really be incredibly sturdy normally. Well, looking at player reviews, Minuel was one who could see endings quite stably.

Dian still looked strange and suspicious about Minuel's news, making a peculiar expression while eating toast. Then he spoke with a determined voice.

"Then I'll come with you after we eat."

"Oh! You'll do that?"

Our sunfish cat's social skills aren't particularly good, but to think of going to see Minuel first after hearing he was sick!

"You know how to visit sick friends, aww, our young master is kind and cute! You've grown up now!"

"Lynne...! You really say such things without batting an eye."

"It's all true! I can't really say things I don't mean."

Dian turned his ears red again and felt embarrassed.

After finishing our harmonious meal, Dian and I went to Minuel's room together.