Adler

Adler, full name Alois V. Adler. Although no one has ever called this clearly respectable butler by his full name. At Eibon, being a butler is an incredibly difficult job. Daily duties include but are not limited to: preparing seven completely different breakfasts and getting picky kids to eat their vegetables, keeping track of and restocking the store's alcohol and hangover remedy supplies, damage control plans for unavoidable losses during commissions, maintaining a positive attitude when facing the shop's account balance…

All in all, any one is lucky to have a butler like him.

Gold medal swordsman, ten-ring archery certificate, advanced tea ceremony instructor, and Bridge Crossings Paper Plane Competition champion. Hethereau's true certification master, "perfect" is never just talk. Nanally once started a challenge called "What can't the amazing Adler do?" with the winner receiving a "Lifetime Honorary Member" title from the Coluccis. Nanally herself won the competition: "Mr. Adler has definitely never caused trouble!" Though as the Ichi-daime of the Coluccis, she probably didn't need that reward. As for whether Adler has ever caused any trouble… one would think not.

"Sorry, old man! I'll definitely watch where I put the flowerpots next time, I won't break the sixty-eighth one!"

"You said the same thing when the sixty-seventh one broke."

"Taygedo (Eibon's flowerpot destruction master)."

"It's fine, it's just a pot. The roots weren't damaged. We'll just get a new one."

"Then I'll buy the new pot with my allowance!"

During the days when he first fell into darkness, Adler once accidentally broke a flowerpot too, one worth one year, four months, and thirteen days of "allowance." Thanks to that, Adler has never accidentally broken anything since.

"Mr. Adler, are you cleaning the storage room again?"

"Yes."

As the young man holding cleaning supplies stepped aside, the neatly dressed maid quietly thanked him, kindly reminding him to watch his steps, then hurried off. This estate housed too many people like him, so even this small act of kindness felt precious. The blind young man stood quietly at the storage room entrance until the maid's footsteps faded, then entered the room, feeling his way around while wiping dust with a soft cloth. The other servants disliked cleaning here since it was such tedious work, but Adler didn't mind. Cleaning was actually quite easy work for him, no need to talk to anyone, and the quiet environment made him feel especially relaxed. Though his blindness meant he often needed more time, fortunately this storage room didn't contain anything too fragile, so he just needed to be careful. Adler treasured this hard-won job.

The artifacts silently watched the busy young man. He didn't favor any particular piece, cleaning each one thoroughly, but whenever he wiped down that suit of armor hanging high above, he would always clean it with extra care. Adler had heard stories about this armor. It was called "Enlightenment,"and people told tales of the armor, with its great power and invincible previous owners. Those stories burned in his thin chest. Perhaps he too might someday… Whenever he thought this, Adler would calmly polish each scale even cleaner.

The peaceful days continued until one snowy night, when the long-silent armor began glowing softly. Deer-like creatures called "Sunyas" emerged from Enlightenment, treading on falling snowflakes as they gathered around the sleeping young man.

"New… master?"

"I like him!"

"Familiar scent."

"…Mhm."

"In this old one's opinion…"

Their chatter didn't wake the sleeping person; they wanted to let his dream last a little longer, they would tell the young man about the good news when the snow cleared and the sun shone bright the next day.

As the most frequently appearing Sunya, Rupa has its own special nickname at Eibon: "Little Thing." It's the fifth provisional member of The Coluccis, following Taygedo, Edgar, and Sakiri. Although Little Thing doesn't understand what this means, it still loves the name. Whether it's preparing meals or cleaning up, Little Thing is Mr. Adler's best helper. As for payment for its help… just pat its head and reward it with a slice of carrot cake.

If you had to name the Sunya closest to Eibon, it would definitely be Vedana. Vedana is a sucker for tragic manga endings, a great teammate for co-op games, and the perfect partner for scarfing down midnight snacks. Compared to other Sunyas, Vedana seems to have particularly rich emotions, but actually, Sunyas don't have distinct feelings. Vedana is just good at sensing others' emotions and mimicking them. There was a time when Vedana was quite puzzled by this. Feeling joy because of others' happiness, feeling pain because of others' suffering… where did its own emotions come from? It asked this question to Enlightenment's master. Vedana can't remember how Adler answered anymore, but it remembers that the carrot cake that day was delicious, and that feeling of joy came from itself alone.

Most days at Eibon are pretty peaceful. Adler doesn't force the Sunyas to do anything. So on days without commissions, they have their own hobbies. Sanna loves to paint. Whenever Eibon receives antique paintings, Sanna is always the first to step forward, identifying authenticity and handling storage. One day, Adler gave Sanna a set of art supplies. From that day on, Sanna became Bagel's newest artist. They say that just one look at Sanna's paintings would make you hear sounds, smell scents, and taste flavors. Unfortunately, no Collection Hall has ever been able to own or even display one of Sanna's works.

Sanna gave its very first painting to Adler, even though it was just a piece of paper with a few hoof prints on it, imprinted like falling snow.

Sankhara is the second Sunya to appear in "Enlightenment," and was born from the karma created by war and conflict. Each generation of Enlightenment's masters always had desires, and the fires of karma burned the armor scales day and night. The Sunya gradually fell into slumber, while Sankhara became increasingly awake, since this was the very meaning of its birth. Until the chaotic times passed and this armor became a symbol, eventually forgotten in a dim storage room. Sometimes servants or guests would pause before Enlightenment, speaking their desires to it, but after drinking such burning hatred, most wishes born in peaceful times seemed boring. Enlightenment remained silent. Sankhara sometimes wondered if it too should sleep like its "siblings."

Fortunately, Sankhara really liked snowy days, and fortunately, just as Sankhara was preparing to enjoy one last snowfall before sleeping, it heard a wish, one far more greedy than owning an entire city: "I have so many, many things I want to protect."

In any case, Enlightenment responded to that blind child, and Sankhara had no choice but to follow this new master's way of thinking. Now Sankhara's daily work is taking care of children and using its amazing speed to snag the day's discount items.

Vinnana rarely appears before outsiders. Most of the time, it sleeps lazily inside Enlightenment. After all, it was the first Sunya to appear by Mr. Adler's side. "This old one doesn't have that much energy anymore," it always says. Whether it's truly tired from the passage of time or for some other unknown reason, only Vinnana itself knows. However, when it comes to talking about Adler, Vinnana is quite willing to say a few more words.

"Alois, ah… Just to see me, that child would sleep in the corridor every day without saying a word. It was this old one's kind heart, who couldn't bear to see a child suffer, that reluctantly responded to him. Who knew that child would later…"

What follows is Vinnana rambling on about hardships over the years, and those are about what it'd speak of Adler.