The way Eiríkur saw it; it was not really a companionship. Maybe it wasn't even that. It sure wasn't friendship or acquaintanceship, it was more like you can rant to me about the idiots you deal with daily and then send me off with the chore of firing them for you, and then you ordering me to get you a cup of coffee.
So no, it wasn't exactly companionship either.
Eiríkur enjoyed working for the Lord, he really did. When not in his usual frosty mood, the Lord tended to be kinder and gave the butler some time off to go see his father, who worked as the pastry chef in the kitchen and who he rarely saw since both of them were extremely busy with their own tasks. The Lord was fair, he didn't overwork Eiríkur or the rest of the servants, and the pay was good with a place to sleep and free food to eat.
Yes, Eiríkur was happy to be working for the Lord, even though some of his requests might make some people raise an eyebrow.
Like the one time he ordered Eiríkur to train all the maids as soldiers and turned them into his own personal frying-pan swinging army (led by the temperamental Maid Mistress, Elizabeta, who made all who faced her wrath tremble in fear ((this was mostly Gilbert, the head gardener, who had the perfect way of pissing her off.)) and run crying for their parents).
And the other day when he was asked to, and he could quote it by heart, "Bring me that British Lord from down the road, the one who is fascinated by black magic. I need him to check my pentagram to make sure I am summoning this demon the correct way."
His lord was one of the more interesting ones to serve, but that helped keep him from being bored out of his wits all day and night, repeating the same tasks over and over of being the butler of well renown author and Lord, Lukas Bondevik.
I found this is my old archive, and I thought 'well, might as well finish it' so here we are! Tada! I love this pairing so much, but I thought maybe having Eiríkur take care of Lukas for a change would be interesting.
I don't own Hetalia.