Gidel was born as the first child to the count of Balla.

Theirs was not a particularly wealthy noble family. They had land, but their land had neither any dungeons nor industries of noteworthy value.

The Balla count wasn’t content with his lot. He made ventures into multiple lines of business only to end in failures after failures, and his debt to other noble houses grew and grew.

It was at that time that the Michel marquis of the previous generation decided to grant him a loan. In return, the marquis wanted Gidel to be the second wife for his heir, a young man who had just gotten engaged.

 

The Michel heir’s engagement was with a young woman who was close to the queen. While the lady had been adopted by a viscount, originally, she was born as nothing more than a simple daughter of a knight. Even if the couple themselves did not mind, it was still enough justification for the noble world to look down on them. So the Michel marquis had thought that by bringing Gidel, the daughter of a count, into their family, then they would be able to maintain their status. On the surface at least, if nothing else.

The fact of the matter was, having the eldest daughter of a count as a second wife wasn’t generally done. It meant that instead of being a union of equals, it was a declaration that the Balla house would be subservient to the Michel house.

Gidel’s pride as a noble was dealt a grievous blow.

Still, Gidel believed that if she could give birth to a child before the main wife could, she would gain more influence within the Michel house than her. But the Michel heir had consummated his long-awaited marriage with his sweetheart, and the two had had a child together before his second marriage with Gidel.

 

With the second blow to her pride — as a woman, this time — Gidel had the Balla house’s magus to make her some aphrodisiac. She used it to force the Michel heir into bed, despite the fact that they hadn’t yet entered wedlock.

As a result, their wedding was delayed, and she almost had her newly-born Yohanne taken away from her, but the Balla family had then brought the boy who carried the blood of Michel into their protection. They didn’t return him until the next year, after the Michel marquis passed away in a sudden accident.

Several years after, when the Michel heir was now the official head, tragedy struck once again as his main wife died due to a sudden illness. It was then that the current Michel marquis, a man now poor in spirit, officially took Gidel as his second wife.

 

Everything went smoothly. As convenient as they had been for the Ballas, the successive deaths had given rise to rumors among the nobles for a time, but in the end, for a noble caste of a country that had lasted for a thousand years, it wasn’t anything they hadn’t seen before.

But a single concern remained: Sharon, the child of the main wife. The girl must have been carrying a grudge against her stepmother and brother, considering how they had spurned her so.

In the noble world, the son generally inherited the house, but according to the law, the first child also had inheritance rights. In another noble family, an older sister who wouldn’t relinquish the house to her younger brother could be safely dealt with by marrying her into another house, but Gidel could no longer do that to Sharon when she was now a fiancee candidate to the second prince.

Then what should Gidel do? The solution was simple.

 

“Aah… finally. Finally…”

Gidel sighed as she looked down upon one of the boss rooms of the Agate Dungeon. Everything she had done was for this day.

To Gidel, the girl summoned from another world, Akiru, was nothing more than a convenient pawn.

She could gain some amount of fame if Yohanne could take Akiru as his wife, but she would also earn the ire of some other nobles. So she decided that the girl would become a victim of Sharon’s, and the two would die together in an accident. Yohanne would then gain sympathy from the other nobles as a boy who had lost his beloved.

Gidel truly thought that having Akiru as a daughter would be fine too, if that Dario hadn’t failed. Still, dealing with Sharon took precedence.

And if the maids attached to Akiru — innocent commoner girls — happened to die as well, public hatred would further concentrate into Sharon. The Michel house would gain even more sympathy, and their bad rumors would dissipate as well.

 

So it was very fortunate for Gidel that the monster that had appeared in the boss room was a minotaur — and not only that, its black horns marked it as a higher-ranked minotaur as well, one unique to this dungeon. Its bones had been transformed into magic iron through its consumption of minerals and ores.

Gidel did find it rather regrettable that she would lose the knowledge of the maid that Sharon had brought, the impudent girl who possessed bizarre skills. On the other hand, seeing her tears, her cries as she begged for life would be much, much more fun, Gidel thought.

She turned her eyes to the maid. The black-haired girl returned an unblinking stare.

 

Gidel looked at that silent stare, that unfeeling smile, those dark eyes, and an unsettling discomfort began to churn deep inside her chest, seeping through her as it grew and grew.

 

“GRAAAAGHH!!!”

 

Upon having its axe deflected, the minotaur released a roar of fury. It charged at the maid.

“Letty!!”

“AAAH!”

As the screams of Sharon and Akiru echoed in the chamber, the minotaur once more swung its battleaxe at the black-haired maid to cleave her in half. But before the weapon could hit its target, the girl spoke, her voice quiet and lilting.

 

“…I call the Darkness…”

 

And all was instantly suffused in black, the darkness surging to cover even where Gidel was standing.

“What happened?!”

It took a moment for her to realize that it was her who had shouted. No voices answered. Not from the maids or the soldiers under her command, nor even Sharon or anyone else below. Even her sight extended no more than her immediate surroundings.

“Is anyone there?! Answer me!”

She shouted once more, in confusion and in fear, but she couldn’t even feel the presence of her servants. They were supposed to be right behind her.

“…what—”

 

“Grlfp…”

 

“Eek?!”

Suddenly, in front of Gidel was the minotaur. Both its horns were broken, its whole body covered with blood, and it collapsed after a final cry of agony.

What had happened? What could have done something so horrible?

Gidel staggered several steps backwards, shaken by a sight so nightmarish she didn’t dare to even think of it. Her back hit something.

She turned in trepidation. She screamed.

Standing behind Gidel was her maid, a servant of the Balla house who had come with her. The maid’s face was deathly pale, her eyes were rolled up, her limbs hanging loose. Only her head jerked to turn toward Gidel, and inside her mouth…

…were crawling, squirming, arachnid legs.

Gidel’s face lost all colors. She tried to run, but a hand caught her legs.

“…ma…dam…”

“L-Let go!”

The maid had served Gidel for a long time, but now, feeling cadaverous skin and ice-cold fingers on her own body, there wasn’t a single moment of hesitation before Gidel reflexively kicked at her.

And Gidel screamed hoarsely in fear as she witnessed the maid visibly shriveling, crumbling into dust.

“…’T-Teleport!’”

The jewel on Gidel’s ring lost its colors and broke, the fragments evaporating into thin air. The woman vanished.

 

*

 

What Gidel used was a Ring of Teleportation, a magic item that could rarely be found in the lower levels of a dungeon. By speaking the keyword, the user would be transported to the location where they believed to be the safest place for them.

Each Ring cost 150 gold coins, and it worked only once. Still, it was a cheap price to pay if it could save one’s life.

 

“This place is…”

Gidel looked around and realized that she wasn’t at the Michel marquis’ house. She was at her parents’ home, in the territory of the Balla count.

“Gidel is here! Somebody, answer me!”

The sun had already set, yet it wasn’t so late that all the people of the mansion had gone to sleep.

Gidel saw light coming from several windows, but there was no sign anyone was here otherwise. She shivered, remembering her previous fear, and she ran through the mansion in a desperate attempt to forget her terror.

 

“Answer me, anyone! Father!”

She had already previously contacted her father, the Balla count. He should have been here today. It was supposed to be the day of Sharon’s disappearance, of the fall of the Michel house by the hands of the Ballas.

Had her father and retainers been impatient for the good news? Had they celebrated in advance and drunken themselves into sleep? In order for them to carry out the takeover at a moment’s notice, they had kept only the servants who knew of their plans at the mansion, so Gidel had expected that there would be fewer people than normal today.

But she didn’t expect this desolation.

 

“…what… what is this?”

Her realization came late due to the darkness. Only now did she noticed that here and there, in corners and on the ceiling of the hallway, there were masses of tangled spiderwebs.

The housekeeper would never have allowed this to happen.

Since when had the mansion deteriorated so? What had happened…?

 

“Wha…”

She reached the ballroom. It was no longer the glorious chamber used for dinner parties that she remembered, but instead a dilapidated hall wreathed in darkness and enormous spiderwebs. She looked at the cocoons hung on the web, and there was one face she immediately recognized.

“F-Father?!”

After noticing the Balla count, Gidel also realized familiar faces of her retainers in the other cocoons. They were hung upside-down, their faces pallid.

She wanted to scream, but her voice died in her throat, frozen by a coldness that seemed to seep into her bones.

Gidel stood paralyzed. Silently appearing from the darkness in front of her eyes was the black-haired maid. The girl was floating in the air.

 

“…Y…ou…”

She noticed that the girl wasn’t actually flying, but was keeping herself in the middle of the spiderweb. All the same, the realization brought the woman no comfort.

Why was she here? How was she here? Questions after questions flashed through Gidel’s mind, questions she couldn’t ask when her voice wasn’t cooperating. The black-haired maid’s lips tore to her ears in a dollish smile.

“I bid you farewell.”

The black-haired maid said, and the nightmare began.

 

The girl’s pinkish-white skin blackened and gained a tint of bronze. Her high-quality set of maid clothes turned frayed and ragged in a blink of an eye, as though the garment had been left to the mercy of the rain and wind for thousands of years.

Miasma surged from her to cover the whole ballroom, rotting the walls and the ceiling in seconds. Bursting out from her back were eight spindly black limbs that resembled the legs of spiders, each about ten meters in length.

Gidel screamed silently, blood trickling from her mouth.

 

In her research for ways to dispose of Sharon, Gidel had looked into curses and poisons. And at their roots, all curses had a connection to demons.

But demons were but myths. Fairy-tales for children. This world had no demons, and the Church also denied their existence. And yet according to the knowledge of some of the people who had been summoned through the ritual, many among them demihumans, demons did exist.

Demons. Rulers of fear. Enemies of gods. Existences with power equivalent to elemental spirits.

And among them, there existed a certain class of high-ranking demons with such might as to rival Arch Elementals, spirits so powerful they could shatter the earth and sunder the seas.

Legends had it that when they manifested themselves in the mortal world, they would take the form of a human clad in old and weathered noble clothing.

 

“…an Archdemon…”

 

Gidel whispered and collapsed. The spider legs of the black-haired maid soundlessly carried her closer, and her lips slowly parted.

The sight of the innumerable, skittering things inside the maid’s mouth drove Gidel to a mad scream. The dark maw moved close to Gidel’s ear, and the maid whispered.

 

“I wonder if you can die…”

 

***

 

Here and there, hung across branches of green, spiderwebs glimmer with droplets of dew. What a wonderful morning.

Greetings, Fleurety here. I wish everyone a Nice Shot on this fine day.

 

At the castle, Yohanne hangs his head, whimpering in despair.

He has returned before us, and in his hands is a letter that has been delivered first thing in the morning by an express messenger.

Wooow, I just wonder what it could have been about.

On the ground next to him are some small agates, so it looks like he hasn’t been able to find anything good in the dungeon.

I take a peek at the letter. It says everyone of the Balla house has gone missing, and only Gidel was found at the scene, the woman gibbering mad. She has been apprehended by the guards.

How unfortunate. I wish she would recover someday.

 

“Yohanne…”

“…sister.”

Milady Sharon calls at him. Yohanne wipes his face with his sleeves. He picks up one of the fallen agates and glare at milady.

“This is all I could find… Mother and Father are gone now. I’ve lost. Now that I no longer have any backing, the country would never accept me as the next marquis with just these tiny pieces of rocks…”

There are quite a few inconveniences involved in inheriting a noble house, aren’t there?

“Yohanne… take these.”

“…eh?”

Milady gives him two large horns.

“These are…”

“The horns of a magic-iron minotaur. Letty got it for me. If you need them to succeed the house, take them.”

Yohanne’s eyes open wide.

“…w-why?! Mother has always told me that you didn’t want to leave the house to me, that you considered me an eyesore…”

“No, Yohanne. The head of the family should be a man. You’ve shown me the courage to go into the dungeon yourself for miss Akiru. Your life has only just begun, Yohanne, stand tall and face it!”

“Y-Yes!”

With milady’s lecture, Yohanne instantly shoots to his feet, back ramrod straight.

“And besides… I never wanted us to fight.”

“…S-sister…”

The dam breaks, and Yohanne starts bawling his eyes out. Milady gently holds his head to her chest… why do I see his ears turning bright red? Does he want me to tear them off?

 

“…how wonderful.”

Akiru says, moved by the heartwarming scene, her eyes wet. I gently place a hand on her shoulder from behind and give her a beaming smile.

“Well then, I think it’s time the two of us have a talk in the office.”

“…eh?”

That is that, and this is this. I’ve already prepared the medicine. It won’t take long.

 

…I must say, why does everyone keep calling me a ‘demon’? Such slander.

 

***

 

The capital held the church to the Goddess of Time.

It was said that the Goddess held domain over the bonds between people and fateful encounters, and that She had brought prosperity to this country through the Oracles that She had granted to people, such as the queen of the first king and the saint.

In the church, a young man was praying in earnest. The solemn sight had invited many a passionate gaze and breathy sigh of infatuation, all coming from the younger sisters and women who had come to worship.

Anyone who was seeing him for the first time would never have thought that this handsome, blond-haired man was, in fact, none other than the Holy Knight, the one considered to be the most powerful person of the country.

 

His long eyelashes rippled. His eyes opened wide to reveal verdant-green orbs, and he stared at the statue of the Goddess.

 

“…there’s an Irregularity in this world…?”

---

A/N: Unbelievable. The maid does not actually know what she is.

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Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

Alone in the guest room, Akiru paced.

“What do I do…”

She hadn’t made any wrong choice. Compared to the other targets, Yohanne’s route was relatively simple.

By nature of being an online game, the interference of other players could cause certain alterations to the story. Nevertheless, a constant still remained: the player with the highest affection stats would be given evidence of Sharon’s crimes from her mother, Gidel. During the prosecution of Sharon, by admonishing her while still advocating for leniency, the player character would then receive Yohanne’s profession of love.

If the player answered his proposal, the flag for Yohanne would be established. Afterward, as long as the player kept his affection high enough, they could do whatever until the graduation event, be it spending the days all lovey-dovey with him or even ignoring him to go seduce another target.

Yet before Akiru could give her answer, she got in her way again.

 

As it was still rather early on in the game’s timeline, Sharon’s misdeeds were still light. In the game, the crimes that the villainess was guilty of could vary depending on when her tribunal happened. If she was prosecuted during the graduation event, she might even be executed for treason.

Akiru wasn’t the kind of person that could knowingly consign the villainess to execution without guilt. Even as early on in the timeline as they were, she had full confidence she could establish Yohanne’s flag before the other players interfered. She had cleared his route so, so many times, after all.

So she had acted. She made her moves with such assertiveness that it surprised even her, and she had succeeded in acquiring the affection of Yohanne as she stayed hidden from the eyes of the other girls who could be player characters, as well as the viscount young lady that was the main heroine of the game.

 

“…’Status’.”

Akiru whispered. A panel, translucent as though made of acrylic, appeared in front of her.

This was a kind of magic that no one else in this world, other than those who were aware they were player characters, could use. The first time Akiru tried out the chant, she had done it thinking that if she could see her Status in the game, she could do it now, too. And to her surprise, the spell had worked.

[Name: Akiru] [Female — 14 Years Old] [Status: Good]

Skill List (skills with ☆ are hidden):
[Water Magic Aptitude] [Noble Blood] [Alchemy Aptitude] [Foreign Tongue]
[Charm (Weak) ☆] [Goddess’ Blessing ☆ ]

She hadn’t much interest in the skills that were public. To her, they were only convenient skills to have in this world. Akiru’s attention was on the hidden skills instead.

She suspected that both were skills that only player characters could have. She didn’t know what ‘Goddess’ Blessing’ was, but ‘Charm’ was what had helped her to gain Yohanne’s affection. It was what had made him hear her lines, even sounding as wooden as they were due to her nervousness, as a heartfelt speech full of passion.

Yet right at the end, Akiru was thwarted once again.

Was she a player character too? Then perhaps she might be the kind of troll player that played not to capture any target, but only to mess with other people.

“…I won’t let you spoil my game.”

Akiru had already forgotten what she had done to the girl in the past. To Akiru, she was just an enemy now.

 

Two knocks came from the door.

“…yes, I am here.”

Upon Akiru’s reply, a maid opened the door to reveal the madam of the house.

“My, madam Gidel.”

“Akiru. Can I have some of your time?”

Gidel was smiling, and in the woman’s hands were some documents that were presumably the proof of Sharon’s crimes. Seeing them, Akiru smiled as well.

 

Akiru had still not yet realized that this world was reality.

 

***

 

With Yohanne’s official declaration, the competition becomes a duel between siblings to determine the next successor.

Gidel and the servants had tried to get Yohanne to stand down at first. So I gave him just a liiiitle bit of a push.

“Aww, so the little-widdle ****less boy can’t do anything without his mama?”

And he suddenly found his motivation. A lot of it too, in fact. Even madam Gidel seemed to have changed her mind.

 

“Hey Letty, what did you say to Yohanne?”

“Simply some encouragement, milady.”

She didn’t hear because I was blocking her ears. I simply could not let her innocence be spoiled by such bad words.

“But… I didn’t want to have to fight my own brother…”

Milady’s expression somewhat darkens. Such a kind girl, she is.

“Helping a younger brother gain strength through a trial is also an older sister’s duty, milady.”

“…really?”

Yes, it really is. It’s also an excuse, but she doesn’t need to know that.

 

The all-important details of the duel are as follows: until the next morning, milady and Yohanne must bring a valuable dungeon item back from the dungeon that lies in the western region of the Michel territory.

This dungeon is medium-sized, with about forty floors. It used to be famed for its high-quality agates until over a century ago, when its yield of the gemstones dwindled down to almost nothing. The dungeon had since turned into a lair for monsters.

Both parties are allowed up to ten servants to accompany them. This rule is mainly for Yohanne’s benefit, of course.

 

“Milady, I shall accompany you.”

“Franz… I truly appreciate the thought, but you shouldn’t. What if something happens to Father when you’re not here?”

“Milady… I…”

“Besides, I also need you to protect Mother’s grave. I fear her resting place may be disturbed if you get injured, Franz.”

“…understood.”

Franz kneels, his voice full of reluctance. Milady tenderly places her hand on his shoulder to console him.

“I will be fine. Letty is with me… look, Franz, over there. Something is shining in the evening sun. Is it not beautiful?”

“…it is. If only lady Kyria could witness this with us…”

“Indeed, if only Mother was here…”

 

The gleaming thing is, in fact, lady Kyria’s grave.

 

Franz accompanies us all the way to the dungeon in a horse carriage. He says his goodbye as he prepares to return to the marquis castle.

“Then I wish you good fortune, milady. Miss Fleurety, please keep her safe.”

He looks at me with eyes full of trust.

“Of course.”

Then I must prove myself worthy of his trust, too.

By the way, the horse carriage we used was the one I borrowed from the dorm mother. The horse that pulled it is now rampaging in the forest and devouring all the monsters it comes across, even with the carriage still attached to it. It must have been the monster blood I gave it.

This is great. Saves on fodder, too.

 

“Milady, it seems young master Yohanne had already entered the dungeon.”

“My…”

At the dungeon entrance are corpses of what look like goblins, as well as the footprints of multiple people.

Expecting that we may have to stay awake all night, I had let milady take a nap. It was why we had arrived later in the evening, after Yohanne.

“W-Well then, let’s go.”

“Yes, milady.”

We hadn’t taken her leather armor with us on our homecoming trip — who would expect we’d need it? — so milady is now wearing a robe made from my threads. I have my usual maid uniform on, of course.

Our way has already been cleared, just as I planned. It won’t take much time for us to reach the depths.

 

“Yah!”

Milady shouts, smacking a skeleton on the head with her staff. It collapses.

She has relatively more magic power than most others, but also worse control. It is why her spells either burn her targets to ashes or simply fizzle out — there is no in-between.

One of these days, I shall have to devise a way for her to use her magic effectively.

“Letty, I did it!”

“Beautiful work, milady.”

We have descended to the twentieth floor underground, yet we still haven’t encountered any particularly tough enemy. I was thinking that if we can’t find any good items then we could substitute with monster materials, but at this rate…

“Maybe going to the bottom floor would be faster.”

“Then let us hurry. Yohanne should already be deeper in.”

 

…how strange.

I had let Yohanne go first so that he would clear the way for us, yet I have also found monster corpses in some rather unexpected locations, in paths that the younger brother did not take. Did they split into two teams?

 

We are now at the thirtieth floor.

“Excuse me, milady.”

“Wha-Letty?!”

I pick milady up and start running. Bare moments later, rocks fall from the ceiling where we used to be.

I have noticed traps there. I have also not triggered them.

“T-Traps?”

“Yes, milady, traps.”

I catch the sound of far-off running footsteps. As I expected, that was a human trap, one leveraging the dungeon’s own. I did think it was about time and indeed, they haven’t betrayed my expectations.

“Please continue to hold on, milady.”

“…eh?”

“We’re running through.”

“…aaaaAAAAHHH?!!”

With milady holding onto me for dear life, I run deeper into the dungeon. She… jiggles… quite a bit.

I hop to the side to dodge a sudden arrow flying toward us from the front. Before the second could be let loose, I silence the men hiding in the shadows with Maid Kicks.

 

*plort*

 

“Umm, Letty, what was that? It sounded like fruits being crushed…?”

“Something like that, milady. I think even their seeds are ruined now.”

The two men foaming at the mouth aren’t anyone I’ve seen at the castle. I wonder who they are? They don’t seem to be bandits.

I would have liked to interrogate them with my ‘truth serums’, but I don’t have the time at the moment. I continue running.

 

After that, we encounter a few more sporadic traps.

“Letty, there’s a boulder coming toward us!”

“Yes, milady.”

Hmm… it feels like we’re being led somewhere. The boulder chases us to a wide-open room without a floor, and we fall.

“EEEEEPP?!”

“Do not worry, milady.”

It’s less a pitfall and more like an atrium that connects two floors together. It has two doors. Both are closed.

After landing on my feet, I place milady down. She looks up in unease.

“…maybe…”

“This is also a trap.” I reply.

 

“Indeed.”

 

I turn to look at where the new voice came from. One of the doors open, and several people appear.

“Miss Akiru?! Why are you here?!”

“To judge your crimes, miss Sharon.”

Accompanying the lady Akiru is a gaggle of young maids, all armed and pointing their weapons at milady and me. They look fearful.

“You are accused of planning Yohanne’s assassination. How terrible, Sharon. I cannot believe you would do that to your own brother.”

“Wait, no! I would never do anything like that!”

“I have evidence provided by madam Gidel herself.”

Akiru takes out several sheets of paper, thrusting them to milady’s face.

“You have no excuses now, Sha—”

 

“Why did you not bring these to the town guards?” I interrupt, my head tilting in puzzlement. Milady shares the gesture.

Akiru stands in slack-jawed silence. It takes a while for her to respond.

“…huh?”

“If you already have all the evidence, why not take it to the palace? Or even the local town guards?”

“…b-but…” Akiru stammers, her eyes darting to and fro. The young maids begin to chatter in anxiety. “T-this is supposed to be a judgement scene…”

Akiru lowers her gaze as her voice shrinks into a whisper, having lost all of its former fervor. Really, wasn’t she supposed to have come from Earth? Did she forget about the existence of police?

“May I have a look?” I say.

“Ah, yes.”

Akiru absentmindedly allows me to look at the so-called evidence. It’s a sales receipt of the purchase of a rather special kind of poison, and on it is milady’s signature.

“This is not milady’s handwriting.”

“Eh?”

I suppose that with the power a marquis house has, they can make it work even with such a shoddy piece of ‘evidence’, but I would be surprised if it actually fools anyone.

 

“Miss Akiru, do not listen to her!”

The voice is of a man’s, and it comes from behind the group of maids who are currently confused by the unexpected development.

“Mister Dario!”

“Miss Akiru, that maid might as well be a demon with how easily she can lie to your face without blinking an eye. We haven’t given the evidence to the guards only because the madam wishes to grant lady Sharon a chance to redeem herself.”

“I-Is that so…?”

“Indeed. As long as we have the evidence, lady Sharon won’t be able to talk her way out of it. For the house of Michel, we will have her atone for her crimes here and now!”

“Eh, wha?”

“This is for young master Yohanne, lady Akiru! Everyone, ready your weapons!”

 

With an upward swing, my Orc Killer EX finds its target.

“Nice shot.”

Dario gurgles.

“Letty?!” Milady exclaims, shocked.

“It seems sir Dario is not being sound of mind. Is there a doctor around?”

Akiru and the maids furiously shake their heads. They look rather pale, for some reason.

As for Dario, despite his frothing bubbles and convulsions, he still lives, perhaps due to his armor. As I could not let milady’s eyes be tainted, I had been very careful with my strike. Still, I doubt he can continue to live as a man from tomorrow onward.

 

“…really, so useless.”

 

“Madam Gidel?!”

“””Madam!!!”””

Upon hearing the woman’s voice echoing from above, Akiru and the maids look up, exclaiming in surprise mixed with relief.

Gidel is standing not at the door where the two of us fell from, but on another protruding platform. Accompanying the woman is an elderly maid and some armed men. She looks down, her gaze frosty.

“Good work, Akiru. We can finally make Sharon atone for her crimes now.”

“B-but…”

Akiru stumble over her words. She stares at the ‘evidence’, her disarrayed thoughts apparent on her face.

“I had hoped that that butler and you working together would be able to deal with Sharon. How disappointing. A pity, too, I thought you could have made for a good daughter…”

“M-madam Gidel…?”

 

Akiru’s face pales, while a fearful uncertainty spread through the young maids. The door opposite to the one Akiru’s group used slowly creaks open.

“Eeek…”

Somebody squeaks. The thing that entered slowly scans its gaze around, and it roars.

 

“GRRRARAAAAHHH!!!”

 

It is a humanoid monster nearly three meters tall, with the head of a bull and a pair of enormous horns.

“…a minotaur.”

Milady whispers, her voice quivering.

 

“This is one of the boss rooms on the lower floors. Apparently this room leads to a shortcut if you can defeat the minotaur, so why don’t you try? Oh, yes, which reminds me, Yohanne had taken the safe route. Do not fear for him.”

Gidel says, laughing in genuine mirth. Milady glares at her.

“Madam Gidel, what are your intentions?! You would even involve lady Akiru, one of his Highness Joel’s Partner candidates?!”

“Aah, truly regrettable. Akiru was simply unfortunate to have been entangled in your crimes, that was all.”

“It can’t be…” Milady whispers in abject disbelief, while Akiru slumps to the ground upon hearing Gidel’s words, her expression one of sheer despair.

 

“GRAAAAHH!!”

 

The minotaur picks that exact moment to roar and charge toward Akiru.

I don’t plan on saving her. She’s probably immortal too, anyway.

What I didn’t expect, however, is for milady to shout a warning and jump toward Akiru in an attempt to save her.

“Watch out!”

Milady covers Akiru with her own body. Before the minotaur’s axe could reach its target, I smack the weapon away with my spiked club. I bring the two to safety.

“Milady!”

“I-I’m fine, Letty.”

A trickle of blood drips from her forehead, likely from a piece of flying debris. Despite that, she still gives me a brave smile. Akiru shivers, her teeth chattering, and her gaze is fixed on milady.

“Miss Akiru… may I leave milady in your care?”

“B-but… I…”

Akiru looks ready to cry. Out of guilt, perhaps. I look at her icily.

“If you harm her even a hair further…”

“I-I won’t! I swear I won’t!”

 

What a gaffe I’ve made, underestimating milady’s kindness.

So they really want to see me go all-out, then?

---

A/N: Our lady Sharon is an angel.

---

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

And so the first skirmish ends with lady Sharon’s sweeping victory. Even with all that the stepmother has done to her, taking away a marquis’ daughter’s maid — that’s me — is not one of the things that are in her authority. All Gidel could do is to stew in her anger as she leaves the dining hall in stomping footsteps.

 

The two of us try to visit milady’s father after the dinner, but a young butler stands in front of the room. We are not allowed in.

 

“Why can’t I meet with Father?!”

“My apologies, lady Sharon. By orders of his attending physician, the weary master is not to be disturbed.”

“But—”

“..milady.”

I touch her arm, asking her to relent.

 

Greetings, everyone. It is me, Fleurety, the maid who never misses a chance to savor milady’s soft and squishy arms.

“Let us retire for the day, milady. Perhaps your father will feel better in the morning.”

“…got it.”

Milady bites her lips and sulks like a kid. How cute.

 

Seeing that we won’t be pursuing the matter, the butler smirks. He is a decently handsome man who looks about in the middle of his twenties, with a head of black hair tinged blue, but his leering gaze pinned at milady’s bountiful melons and my own hips just ruins everything about him.

But, well, I can understand him. Milady’s recovery from her nutritional deficiency has made her already-huge cantaloupes even bigger, after all.

 

“…Letty, I have a feeling you’re thinking something weird again.”

“I was thinking that I like melons more than grapefruits, milady.”

“My, you do? So do I.”

“I shall prepare some for you later.”

My efforts will continue until her own become the envy of all melon farmers.

 

“Hey, you…”

Just as we are about to walk away, the young butler calls at me, lowering his voice so that only I hear him.

“I may tell you how the master is faring, but it’ll depend on you… get what I mean?”

The butler smiles suggestively, so I respond with the same expression.

“Then… perhaps midnight, sir. In front of the large tree in the garden.”

“Yeah, I’ll wait. Name’s Dario. Remember it.”

Then he nods and returns to the door. I smile.

I never said I would actually be there, after all.

 

“Letty, what were you talking about with that butler?”

“He seems rather idle, so I asked him to keep watch on the garden until morning.”

“R-Really…?”

Really, really.

We head to milady’s room to take our rest. Quite deep inside the castle, I must say. There hadn’t been much attention paid to this area, it seems, as I find dust still remaining on the window frames of the hallways here.

“This is my room.”

We arrive to a room to the north side. I open the door… and then quietly close it again.

“…Letty?”

“Please wait a moment, milady. I will air the room out first.”

“Y-yeah…”

I smile a saccharine sweet smile at her. She nods, looking uncomfortable.

As a maid, it goes against every fiber of my being to see that her room has not been cleaned at all, even if she rarely returns. Furthermore, I am quite sure milady does not have a hobby of collecting filthy bookcases and boxes of empty bottles.

“I suppose there is no other choice.”

I enter the dark room alone and unleash my Maid Cleaning Technique. Anything not needed is returned to where they belong. Like Mia’s room, for example.

“Milady, please enter.”

“Eh? You’re already done?”

If I took more than three minutes just to do this little bit of cleaning, that horror—ahem, the most kind Maid Chief would reprimand me.

Brrr. I still get nightmares sometimes.

“…wow.” Milady exclaims in amazement.

Everything unnecessary has been removed. All the sheets and curtains have been replaced with brand-new, adorably-patterned fabric. Mainly from Mia’s room.

They have been dyed as well. Nobody will ever find out.

 

“Well then, good night, milady.”

“…but where will you sleep?”

“I can find a place.”

Like on the ceiling, for example.

“You can’t just sleep anywhere! We can share a bed for today. It should be big enough for two, and, umm… you’re my friend anyway…”

“Milady…”

Milady is looking bashful like a little girl going to her first sleepover with friends. How cute.

“Don’t worry, milady, I will be certain to take responsibility.”

“What responsibility?!”

 

*

 

The night is peaceful, and I enjoy myself with milady’s squishy arms until morning comes.

That said, it is still dark outside. Milady and I walk, our steps carrying us through a garden still glistening with dewdrops.

“Over here.”

“Yes, milady.”

In a corner of the garden is the resting place for lady Kyria, birth mother to milady Sharon. The grave is a simple thing, just a stone slab carved with words, but well-tended to.

“May I give my prayers as well, milady?”

“I don’t mind.”

I place the flowers we’ve brought on the gravestone. As we mourn, I hear faint sounds of footsteps on grass behind us.

“…lady Sharon.”

“Franz…”

An old man wearing a gardener’s attire walks toward us and stops, kneeling in front of milady.

“My utmost apologies. This is all I could do for lady Kyria…”

“No, Franz, you’ve done more than enough. Thank you for protecting her grave.”

 

As milady tells me later, this old man used to be a butler working at this mansion. After he retired, he continued to protect lady Kyria’s resting place as a gardener.

 

“Young miss, might you be lady Sharon’s attendant?”

“Yes, sir Franz. Lady Sharon has allowed me to be in her service. My name is Fleurety.”

“Oh, I’m just an old man, don’t bother with the ‘sir’.”

“Letty is my friend, too.” Milady cheerfully interjects. Franz watches her with the kindly eyes of a grandfather.

But the peaceful air is then suddenly broken.

 

“You! Why didn’t you come?!”

“My, my, such dark shades around your eyes. Did you not sleep well?”

The intruder is, of course, that young butler Dario. I wonder what he has been doing here so early in the morning.

“Stop playing the fool, girl, I’ve been waiting all this time under the tree—”

“Indeed. Thank you for watching over the garden.”

“YOU—”

 

I truly appreciate it. His lack of commitment to his work to instead laze about in the garden had afforded me the opportunity to infiltrate the marquis’ room, after I confirmed that milady had fallen asleep.

From the ceiling, I saw that the marquis was a timid-looking man who showed no signs of waking up any time soon. I decided to check on him by injecting several types of medicine, and I confirmed the faint presence of poison.

My own medicine was much stronger and had subsequently sent him into a coma, but it didn’t matter. He didn’t seem like the kind of man who could stand against that woman anyway, even if he was awake.

 

“Hold it, Dario.”

“…Mia.”

The second intruder is Mia, the rotten maid. Dario stopped just as he was about to lose his composure.

I step in front of milady and smile at her.

“Miss Mia, how may I help you?”

“I have business with lady Sharon! Move!” She growls, her face haggard.

“My, you look quite tired. Did you stay up all night?”

“S-Shut up!”

 

All the garbage in milady’s room had been carried to Mia’s, but I thought just piling it up wouldn’t be interesting, so I set them up as an interlinked mass. Pulling one thing out would make an entirely different thing fall apart.

It would actually be rather simple to clean if she intentionally triggered all the traps to break it apart, but considering her fatigue, it was likely that Mia hadn’t done that. She probably took until morning to clean it up bit by bit.

 

“You did that, didn’t you?!”

“My, do you have evidence? I am also searching for evidence to find out where most of milady’s allowance had gone to.” I say, staring into her eyes. Mia flinches.

“…lady Sharon and you, go to the dining hall immediately. The madam is waiting.”

“Understood.”

I wave at her, smiling. Mia grinds her teeth, giving me a glare that is shared by Dario. She drags him away.

Milady is silent as she looks at me with open-mouthed dumbfoundedness, while Franz just nods at me, seemingly impressed.

 

By the way, before we leave, I also secretly decorate lady Kyria’s grave with some magitech neon lights and disco balls.

 

*

 

I follow milady as we enter the dining hall. Gidel, Yohanne, and miss Akiru are already seated, taking bites of what look like sausages and potatoes as their breakfast.

And since milady doesn’t have her portion — obviously — I give her a plate full of fluffy pancakes with judicious syrup and scoops of ice cream. Miss Akiru looks at me with obvious irritation.

My, does she want some? I don’t mind as long as she asks. No guarantees it wouldn’t earn her the ire of the harpy nearby though.

 

After the stepmother finishes her pickled greens, she glares at milady and opens her mouth.

“Sharon… I have something to say.”

“…what is it?”

Milady turns stony-faced again. It cannot be helped. She has the heart of a rabbit, after all.

After the stepmother spare me a glance as a warning, she airily waves Dario over. He brings to her some sort of document.

“I see that you haven’t had the best reputation at the academy. Are you aware that as a fiancee candidate to his Highness, you have brought disgrace to the house of Michel?”

“…his Highness Joel has permitted me to have Letty as an attendant.”

“The problem is how the other nobles see it. With all that has transpired, I’ve come to believe that you are not fit of the name Michel.”

“Madam Gidel?! What about Father?!”

“My husband agrees. He has woken up, though still bedridden due to fatigue, and I have asked for his thoughts this morning.”

“It cannot be… Father…”

 

My, how strange that Gidel could talk to him when he was supposed to be comatose due to my ‘medicine’.

Milady is a kind girl. She has always endured, tolerating everything that had been done to her because she does not wish for conflict. She still wishes for peace with her stepmother, even as wicked as the woman is, and her younger brother, even when he shares only half of her blood.

From my research, I understood that in this country, the family is generally inherited by the son. In case the daughter is the older sibling, then she would be relinquishing her claim to her younger brother in order to keep up the tradition. It is how things work according to the letter of the law, at least.

Milady intends to let Yohanne inherit the house. Yet it does nothing to curb Gidel’s fear of her, of the daughter of the Michel marquis’ first wife… though I would say that the real reason is because Gidel hadn’t exactly been on the right side of the law with her dealings, really.

 

“‘Lady Sharon, please admit your crime. I and Sir Yohanne will forgive you.’”

Miss Akiru says, suddenly and without even a hint of emotion in her voice, as though she is reading from a script.

“Miss Akiru… you are far too kind. Would you allow me to stay by your side forevermore?”

“My, sir Yohanne…”

 

What is this farce? They say love is blind, but does love also makes you deaf? I am astonished that Yohanne could say that after hearing Akiru’s bland delivery.

…or is something railroading him?

Well then, never let it be said that Fleurety the maid cannot read the mood.

 

“Then it would be wonderful if we can witness the proof of their love, wouldn’t it?”

I say. Surprisingly, everyone looks at me as though I just spoke another language.

“W-What are you…”

Miss Akiru stutters like an actress who has no idea how to ad-lib. I explain.

“Nobles have a duty to bring back dungeon items for the country. While asking servants to do it in one’s stead is all fine and good, I am sure that nobody wishes to be the target of rumors among nobles, saying that one is nothing more than a child of a concubine. And what better way to silence them than to enter the dungeon oneself and take back something worthy?”

 

“SOMEBODY SHUT THAT MAID UP!!!” Gidel screeches.

Her maids rush at me. I take out a few cupcakes, waving them in front of the maids’ eyes, and I throw them far away.

“They are anti-aging cupcakes.” I say.

“”AAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!””

 

As the ravenous wolves chase after their prey, I turn back to Yohanne.

“As lacking in achievements as you are, sir Yohanne, I believe it may be difficult to gain lady Akiru’s hand in marriage. If milady Sharon goes, she would certainly be able to gather a dungeon item fit for a true successor. Or… perhaps you do not have the confidence, sir?”

I tell him, filling my tone with provocation. His hackles rise as Yohanne shoots to his feet.

 

“Don’t underestimate me. I won’t lose to sister! I swear I’ll bring back a dungeon item!” He turns to milady. “Sister, this is a duel!”

 

…I did not think it would be this easy.

---

A/N: Here we see a maid who would pick a fight with the whole world for the sake of her mistress.

---

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

A/N: Warning: reading this chapter may cause high blood pressure. But don’t worry. The maid is here.

---

I put the spiked club back into my skirt and make way for milady. The noise of the gate has caused the house to be astir with panicked shouts of servants. Soldiers come pouring out from the guardhouse.

“Lady Sharon?!”

A call of surprise and recognition came from an older knight among them, yet the soldiers still raise their spears despite his words.

“Who do you think you’re pointing those to?” Milady answers them with dignity.

The aforementioned knight follows up with a shout. “What are you doing?! Lower your weapons, now!”

The soldiers hurriedly obey.

“Lady Sharon, what has happened here…?” The knight asks as he looks upon what remained of the gate. Milady gives him a cool glance.

“…Bardo. These soldiers have not had enough training. You are the security chief of our Michel house, and yet what have you been doing?”

“I have no excuses, lady Sharon!”

Bardo says, kneeling and bowing on the spot. Milady walks by him with poise and composure.

The servants, the soldiers, the knights — all attention is on milady, the target of their apprehension and their fear, their disdain and their scorn, their anger and hatred.

She still walks forward, undaunted.

 

Truly commendable, milady, although her heartbeats are quite elevated and her eyes are teary now. I’m aware that whenever she gets stressed, she would automatically turn stony-faced and her tone would get a lot colder.

She must have been very scared. I’ll give her a lap pillow and lots of headpats later.

Greetings, everyone. It is I, Fleurety, the maid who would be the happiest in the world if she is to be allowed to comfort her mistress so.

 

Anyway, things are worse than I thought. Most of them have eyes of hostility, and even the best of them are either only neutral or apathetic. The number of people with a favorable attitude to milady can be counted on one hand.

While that old knight named Bardo seems relatively decent, I don’t think I can expect much from him, considering the quality of the soldiers here.

 

“What is going on here? …Sister?! What have you done?!”

 

My, so the brother has also returned.

Yohanne immediately makes a face upon seeing milady. Behind him, that annoying harpy of an attending maid named Mia also shows herself.

“Lady Sharon, this is most disturbing. I would never have thought that a member of the Michel house could be so barbaric that she would vandalize the gates so.”

“T-That’s because these gate guards weren’t—”

“And now you blame it on others! Disgraceful! The repair cost shall be deducted from lady Sharon’s allowance, and—”

 

“My, miss Mia, might there have been a misunderstanding? Milady has done nothing.”

I say from behind milady as I break my concealment. All the servants jolt in shock upon hearing my voice.

 

“W-What, you again? Ill-mannered girl, has no one taught you to not interrupt others?!”

“Ah, my apologies. As I have just seen a servant doing the same to lady Sharon, daughter to a marquis, I have assumed that it is simply a family tradition. Was I mistaken?”

I smile, tilting my head in a display of puzzlement. Mia’s face goes through a gamut of colors.

“Y-You—”

“The gate guards there seemed to have been hard of hearing, so I knocked. I never thought the gates would fall apart so… it must have deteriorated quite a bit. Right?”

I turn to look at the gate guards who was playing their card game when we arrived. Their faces pale, their eyes pinned to the floor.

“That’s impossible! It—”

“Enough.”

Mia is stopped from launching into another tirade by Yohanne, who looks somewhat exasperated.

“It wouldn’t reflect well on our house to have a squabble here. Come in quick, sister. Father and mother are waiting. Follow me, Mia.”

“…tsk, understood. Soldiers, repair the gates!”

 

As Yohanne and Mia return back to the castle, the soldiers and servants get to work. Milady grasps my fingers with her own faintly-trembling hand.

“…Letty. Be careful, alright?”

“Yes, milady, I shall take proper care. Please do not worry.”

I give her a reassuring smile. Her shivering stops, and she moves an inch closer to me.

She’s like a puppy. So cute.

 

*

 

“Lady Sharon, please go to the dining hall. The master and madam are waiting.”

“Understood.”

The maid immediately walks away after she finished relaying her message, sparing not even a bow for milady.

 

“…has any maid in this house been trained, milady?”

“It’s fine, Letty, just let it be… it’s always been like this.”

Milady replies to my complaint with a wry smile of resignation. She truly doesn’t have any allies in this house, does she?

“Then let us depart, milady. I will be with you.”

“Yes, we shall.”

 

We seemed to have returned to the marquis’ castle at just the right time for dinner. A call came before we could even leave milady’s luggage in her room. Fortunately, all of it is inside the Bag of Holding that she entrusted me, so there was no problem.

How deplorable the servants of this house are.

 

Upon entering the dining hall, glares of daggers immediately make us their targets.

“My, Sharon. I never thought you could be so shameless as to show your face here again, after all that.”

The voice is of a caked-faced old hag… ahem, I mean, a lady with a generous application of makeup. The blonde-haired woman is sitting at the head of the table.

How strange. Why is she in that seat?

“…madam Gidel, why are you sitting there? It should be Father’s seat.”

“My dear husband suddenly fell ill and is taking a rest. How terrible he must feel, to have such a dreadful girl as a daughter. Did you know? Just hearing that you’re back was already enough to make him faint.”

“I…”

Milady bites her lips and says no more.

“Father has been most kind! He has allowed Mother to take charge of the house’s affairs, as well as letting her have the seat!” Says Yohanne as he sits next to Gidel, sounding as though it was all his achievements.

“Take your seat, Sharon. We will leave the admonishment for later. The chef has had to make your own portion, seeing as you’ve returned much too late in the day. You’d best be grateful.” Gidel says.

“…I’m sorry. I give my thanks to the chef.” Milady quietly replies.

 

The maid in the room guides milady to the lowest seat, despite the fact that she should be sitting higher up than Yohanne.

A glare prickles my sense, and I turn to look. My, is that not miss Akiru sitting next to Yohanne? Milady notices her too, and she gives voice to her question.

“Excuse me, I would ask about lady Akiru…”

“Miss Akiru has accompanied Yohanne home as his friend, and I must say, she is such a wonderful young lady. Aah, if only I can have a daughter like her… Akiru, getting used to an entirely new world must have been hard on you. Feel free to think of our house as your new family, and I your mother.” Gidel says, smiling kindly at her.

“My, madam Gidel! I would be most happy to!”

Miss Akiru replies with a beaming smile. Yohanne and the servants look upon the scene in joy and contentment.

 

“Lady Sharon, dinner is here.”

The maid before slams a dish of food down in front of milady.

Honestly, calling it ‘food’ would be an offense to cooks everywhere. The plate is full of worm-eaten greens that, on a closer look, still have the live insects inside, as well as dirt and even pieces of gravel. I see Mia standing behind Yohanne and sneering.

As I expected, even milady is shocked into silence. Gidel sees her and speaks, sounding absolutely delighted.

“It is all that the chef could make on such short notice. Eat, Sharon. I will not hear of any selfishness.”

“…yes.”

Milady whispers as she takes utensils in hand.

 

“Milady, please refrain.”

I gently stop her before she could reach for the food, and I take the plate.

“L-Letty?”

“Who are you?! I have never seen a maid such as you! Know your place!” Gidel shrieks. Apparently she hasn’t heard of me through Yohanne.

With the plate on my hand, I guilelessly smile at her.

“My apologies. I am Fleurety, exclusive maid of lady Sharon. As I do not work for the Michel family, I am not required to follow your order.”

“Wha-?! Sharon, what did you do this time?!”

“My, my, I would have thought a noble lady would be more graceful. Now, I shall take the liberty to have a taste of this dish.”

“Impudent girl! Are you accusing us of poisoning the food?!”

“I have only said that I would ‘have a taste’, madam, not ‘testing it for poison’. It seems the people of this mansion shares the same hearing impairment.”

 

I borrow the utensils from milady’s lithe hands. With a single mouthful, I clean the plate.

Hmm, quite crunchy, these pebbles. Aside from the sounds of my eating, the room is absolutely silent. Everyone’s faces pale.

 

“Freshness, ingredients, cooking method, all are not to milady’s taste.” I turn to her. “May I prepare your dinner, milady?”

It takes a few moments for her to start speaking. “…yes.”

“Then, please enjoy.”

I place in front of her the food that I have prepared beforehand as insurance.

“It is milady’s favorite: omelette rice with the fluffiest eggs.”

I slice apart the omelette, releasing a flow of creamy gold to cover the rice and a mellow fragrance of butter. As the aroma of chicken rice, egg, and butter spread across the room, I hear somebody gulping.

“Instead of demi-glace sauce, today the topping will be the veeery sweet kind of ketchup that milady likes so much.”

With the ketchup, I draw a huge heart symbol on the dish. I make the same symbol with my fingers near my chest, and I look to lady Sharon.

“Together with me, milady: ‘Tasty, tasty, moe moe kyun!’”

“Umm, ‘tasty, tasty’?”

“‘I’m a lucky man. I’m thankful for everything that led me to this point… that led me to you!!’”

“‘I’m a lucky man’… wait, what?!”

 

My? How strange. This was what the Maid Chief had taught me to do whenever a maid makes omelette rice. Have I made a mistake somewhere?

 

“Open up, milady. Aaaa—”

“Eh? …aaaa—”

Milady reflexively follows my lead, her brain not having rebooted yet, and I feed her with a spoonful of omelette rice. She chews like a little baby bird being fed her first meal.

“So good…!”

“I am glad, milady.”

 

As I continue my happy feeding time with milady, miss Akiru is the first to regain her senses. She asks.

“…Kamishiro… what is that?”

“This wonderful dish has been made from the meat and eggs of birds-of-paradise, as well as tomatoes that I have harvested from the forest of spirits.”

“Letty?! You used monster ingredients again!” Milady says, sounding scandalized.

“They are ingredients that I am certain milady would not be opposed to. Besides, milady’s every meal until now have always been made from some form of monster ingredients.”

“What?!”

 

“Monster meats?! They’re almost poisonous, aren’t they?!”

Hearing the word ‘monster’, Yohanne immediately jumps up and shouts. I chuckle and take out an ancient-looking journal.

“It is, in fact, not so. An elf summoned several centuries ago had left behind this journal, which has since been stored in the academy’s library.”

 

Humans, or living beings in general, would become more powerful by absorbing mana.

Overconsumption of mana would cause flora and fauna, lifeforms lacking in willpower, to be ‘monsterized’. The human body, however, would only find monster meat rich in mana to have an overwhelming taste and would respond with a gastric response as a way to prevent itself from absorbing too much mana.

But an elf has done research into the phenomenon, and they have written as follows.

If the taste and density of mana inside monster ingredients can be reduced down to a level that the human palate can find enjoyable, and if a person continues to consume such ingredients, then over time, his or her body would slowly gain the physical characteristics of elves.

It seemed the elf’s endeavor had been to help their Partner live longer.

 

“The results of the research had led to some success in the removal of mana from certain monster ingredients, which was the origin of several delicacies we know of today. However, the food is still expensive, and the taste remains rather difficult to enjoy.”

“But what about this…?”

Milady says, staring at the omelette rice I made that she has tasted.

“Indeed. I have succeeded in improving the taste. Lady Sharon, I expect you will find yourself quite slow to age, as well as living relatively longer than most other people.”

“Eeeh?!”

Milady begins to pull at her cheeks in her surprise. Recently, her skin has begun to be as smooth and bouncy as that of a baby’s.

 

“Y-You, maid girl! Make me that dish!”

Gidel screeches with bloodshot eyes. And not just her, those among the female servants who are over a certain age are also looking over here with eyes full of desire.

As I pinch my long skirt and drop into a graceful bow, I give them a beaming smile.

 

“My apologies. I work for lady Sharon and her only.”

---

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

Akiru was born into a family that had been running a brewery for generations. Their sake was famous as a local specialty, so Akiru had wanted for nothing as she grew up. She knew it, too.

Then her life took a turn once she entered middle school.

Her earlier education had been a private primary school in a large city. She had spent her time as carefree as could be, playing with friends from affluent families and taking lessons in the arts. She had thought that her life would continue like this, that she would coast along through middle to high school to enter an affiliated university, but her grandfather, the chief brewer and president of the company at the time, had decided that she should move back to their hometown for her education.

 

While it was only a thirty-minutes car ride from the city, to Akiru, the town might as well be in the middle of nowhere. No nearby trendy cafes, nor shopping malls that she could visit on the way home from school with her friends. Furthermore, the public middle school she would be attending didn’t even have enough students to fill a single class for each of its years. Coming from an academy that expected actual decorum out of its students, it was quite a shock to Akiru.

 

Still, it didn’t mean everything was terrible.

The class had only seventeen students, yet so many of them were good-looking people that it almost felt like they had been hand-picked.

And of particular note were Sei and Hao, two male students who looked more than handsome enough to be models. The first time she saw them, even her own heart began to race despite herself.

It was no romantic love. It was the kind of love a fan had for her idol. Regardless, it didn’t change the fact to Akiru, she might as well have found an oasis in the middle of a desert.

With the social skills that she had gained in her earlier years of living among aristocrats, she smoothly put on her sheep’s clothing and mingled with the class as though she had always belonged.

Sei was the so-called ‘honor student’ type, the kind Akiru had often seen in her private primary school, but Hao, a sporty and roguish boy, was exotic to her. She began to act the part of an elegant princess to try to attract his attention. She had been certain, had been convinced that no country boy could resist a lady such as her.

Yet Akiru’s plan had fallen through just because of one particular girl.

 

It was a half-Japanese girl who was conscious of her height, of her unusually-colored eyes, of all the things that made her different from others, and so she always hung her head low, hid her eyes, and talked to nobody else in the class.

And then, the two male idols of the class began to pay attention to her.

Perhaps they hadn’t been interested in her in that way; perhaps they were just being kind. Still, it rubbed Akiru the wrong way. She hated that they had ignored her in favor of the other girl.

So she began her subtle arrangements in order to incite the three overt bullies that also shared her displeasure. She nudged their thoughts and guided their hands to do the dirty deeds, while her own stayed clean.

She hadn’t done it because of any grand reason.

If there was one to speak of, then perhaps she had simply wanted an outlet for her stress, for the frustrations that she had been enduring ever since she came to this town.

 

The new status quo continued for more than a year. Then one day, all of the class, including Akiru, was summoned into another world.

While some of the more delusional boys were exhilarated, thinking it was a Hero Summoning, Akiru immediately realized what the world around her was.

 

It was the world of the online otome game: Light, Darkness, and Love Online 2 – The Millefeuille of Love.

The country’s name, the people’s names, the situation, they were all extremely similar to the game’s.

 

Akiru’s father had thought his daughter unfortunate when she was made to go to a public middle school, so he spoiled her. He gave her everything she wanted. Among them, she found this game.

When asked, her father had said that he never remembered buying the game. They soon put it out of their minds, however.

In the game, other than the main heroine, the playable characters also included the middle-school students who had been summoned from Earth. Believing that this truly was the world of Light, Darkness, and Love Online 2 – The Millefeuille of Love, Akiru was delighted.

Especially when she thought there was a chance she could meet a certain ‘capture’ character from the game.

 

Yohanne de Michel, fourteen years old. Son of a marquis. A fourth-year student at the magic academy. Brother of a different mother to Sharon, one of the villainesses, as well as the character to fill the ‘cute little boy’ spot of the game’s casting.

Yohanne was born from a union of true love between the marquis and a lady of a count’s family. Fearing that the boy might be harmed by the marquis’ legal wife and Sharon, the marquis had hidden him away.

He grew up being told by his mother about his sister, Sharon, and her unbecoming conduct as a noble. And once he heard that that very same sister was now a fiancee candidate to prince Joel, he was troubled.

The player character would lend him an ear and listen to his worries, as well as his wishes to prevent his sister from committing any more misdeeds. They would be given the evidence by his mother, and upon bringing Sharon’s crimes to light, they would fulfill the condition to have Yohanne as their boyfriend.

Yohanne was Akiru’s absolute favorite character. Time after time, she won against her rivals in the online game to capture his heart.

Perhaps her interest in Hao had been nothing more than a way to live out her fantasy in real life. She saw innocent Yohanne in him, and she wanted to have for herself the mischievous smile that Yohanne made whenever he was alone with the player character.

 

She was sure that some of her classmates were also aware of the game. There was even a possibility that the main heroine, the viscount’s daughter, would become her enemy.

So Akiru was careful. She wasn’t such an idiot that she would reveal what she knew. In the end, her meticulous scheme to gain Yohanne’s affection was successful: she had been invited to meet his family.

And yet…

 

“…is she going to be in my way again?”

 

***

 

What a beautiful day today. Warm sun, cool wind, and even a bit of chilling malice off in the distance. So nice.

Greetings, everyone. It is me, Fleurety, the eternal guardian of milady’s blessed bosom.

 

“Milady, there are several letters addressed to you in the dorm’s mailbox.”

It is while milady is taking happy nibbles of her snack (kouign-amann and a cup of extra-sweet milk tea) that I brought her the news.

“…eh?” She blinks her doe-eyes in surprise.

While important correspondence between nobles are normally handed directly to the receiver, even noble students would have to follow the rules as long as they live in the dorm.

It is always impressive to see that milady continues to be the uncontested Queen of Loners whenever I check her mailbox. It still looks brand-new even now, since even her family don’t write to her.

 

“Letty… I know you just had another unflattering thought.”

“I was just thinking that your arms these days have gotten somewhat plump, milady.”

“T-That’s because you feed me sweet stuff all the time!”

Milady says that, yet she still continues to munch on the pastry like a little hamster. So cute.

“Do not worry, milady, it is necessary nutrition. You’re still perfectly slim.” I reply, smiling sweetly to her.

“Umm, yes, of course I am!”

She radiates relief. She then takes another sip of the cup of milk tea that has so much sugar in it, the liquid is almost molasses now.

I don’t drink that stuff. I’ll get fat.

“Alright, Letty, give me the summary.”

“Then I shall begin with your right arm’s plumpiness—”

“I’m talking about the letters!”

I shall have to check them out later in the bath.

 

That aside, the reason why such a loner as milady got letters is because of the reveal of her true beauty yesterday. As a result, there has been a deluge of invitations from delusional buffoons who thought they had a chance with milady.

 

“Let’s see… then I believe the most important among them is his Highness Joel’s invitation to a meal.”

“His Highness…?”

Milady’s eyes bulge in surprise. It seems that whatever the prince tried to say yesterday, it wasn’t simply a moment’s fancy.

Such a wretched man, he is. He used to pay not a hint of attention to milady Sharon, despite the fact that she was supposed to be one of his fiancee candidates. And now that she has gotten just a bit prettier, he shows his true colors.

“All the same, his is not an invitation milady can ignore. I shall arrange your schedule.”

“That’s fine. Anything else important?”

I sort through the letters. Rabbles and riffraffs… I’ll investigate their names later… my, what is this?

“There is an invitation to a tea party from the young lady of a viscount. Are you acquainted with her, milady?”

The invitation is from lady Clarice, one of the people in my class group. It seems I am also invited.

“…we haven’t really talked, but I also don’t remember her ever be rude to me. Why did she send an invitation?”

“Then shall I propose that milady accepts, with the condition that I am also allowed to attend?”

“Yeah, that’s fine… thanks.”

Milady seems to be relieved that I will be with her. I see her hands fidgeting in apparent bashfulness.

 

“Well then, next is…”

I come to one particular letter. The moment I see it, I twist my body in a perfect half-circle and hurl the letter with all my strength, sending it into the trash can in a corner of the room.

“There is nothing else notable, milady.”

“No no no hold on I saw that! That was a letter from my family, wasn’t it?!”

Tsk. So she noticed.

I reluctantly, begrudgingly pick up the letter that has the insignia of the Michel marquis family, pinching it with two of my fingers and holding it as far away from me as possible, and I give it to milady. She wryly smiles.

“I understand how you feel, I really do. But moderate yourself.”

“My sincere apologies.”

What a blunder. As a maid to milady, I have made a grave mistake.

I bow in sincere remorse. Milady lightly pats my head and opens the envelope.

Upon giving the contents a glance, her mood visibly sours. See, this is why I didn’t want her to see it…

 

The vermins that have been ignoring her for years now suddenly sent a letter.

A little over four years, to be precise, as milady entered this magic academy when she was ten years old. In all that time, she only returned home twice. Understandable — while this academy isn’t exactly the best environment, it is still far more desirable than the compost bin that is her home.

They never even gave her the support that they should have, much less a letter. What do they want now?

 

“What was the contents, milady?”

Normally it wouldn’t be a question a simple maid should ever ask, but this is an exception.

“…they told me they’ve heard of my ‘wrongdoings’ from Yohanne, and they want me to return right away to explain myself.”

“The younger brother again?”

And I suppose the ‘wrongdoing’ is that I’d become milady’s Partner? Such small ***** they have.

“Just as well that his Highness Joel’s invitation has arrived at the same time. Let us refuse, milady.”

“…no, Letty. I can’t run away forever. Besides, they might just let loose some unsavory rumors if I continue to ignore them.”

Milady sounds like she’s speaking from experience.

“I understand. May I just say that it doesn’t make it any less aggravating, however.”

Hearing my frank admission, milady snorts.

“But this may be a good chance, too. I… umm… I have you with me now…”

She says, smiling bashfully. Precious! Too precious!

“Milady…”

Overcome with emotion, I instantly kneel in front of her and speak my vows once more.

“I, Fleurety, hereby solemnly swear that with my Dynamite Punch, the rivers will run red with the blood of all who wishes to bring harm upon milady!”

“I never asked for that!”

 

*

 

The next morning, after we have sent in our notice of absent to the academy, we leave for milady’s home.

“I never thought that strict dorm mother would actually lend us her personal horse carriage…”

“She was very glad to help us, milady.”

 

The dorm mother is an unmarried lady in her forties who is very harsh with the dorm’s girls, but I’m sure she’s a kind woman deep down. She was grumbling about milady under her breath when she first heard we would be absent, but once she noticed my kind gaze, she paled and finished doing our formalities in no time at all.

See, isn’t she such a considerate person? She should rest assured, I won’t tell anyone about her sneaking into town and buying young boys to accompany her.

 

“Then I shall take the liberty to be the driver.”

“Can you handle horses, Letty?”

The horse looked strangely scared of me when we first got on the carriage, but it soon turned obedient after some persuasion.

To reach the territory of the Michel marquis, it generally takes a day and a half in a carriage. But as we left early in the morning and the horse has been very enthusiastic, we arrive during the evening of the same day.

The energy drink made from monster blood that I gave it along the way has worked well, it seemed.

 

“…here we are, Letty.”

“I see…”

The Michel marquis’ mansion looks less a mansion and more like a small castle. Painted by the light of the setting sun, the stone almost seems like it’s been drenched in blood.

It looks amazing.

I stop the carriage in front of the gate. Despite calling us here, there isn’t anyone there to welcome us. Not even the gate guards.

“I am Sharon, and I have returned. Open the gates!”

She calls out, her clear voice reverberating through the air. On the other side of the gate, I can see some people who look like the security staff playing cards. They look up in surprise upon hearing her voice… and then return to their game.

“You, open the gates now! I am—”

“Milady, allow me.”

We can just return home, but that would mean milady’s determination would go to waste. I decide to take things into my own hands.

“Milady, whenever we visit someone, we should first knock.”

“…eh?”

Milady’s eyes bulge as she sees me taking out Orc Killer EX.

 

Orc Killer EX is simply Orc Killer with its ball end coated in a kind of metal that is as heavy as depleted uranium.

The metal had been thought as a cursed item that brought its owner toward a gradual and inevitable death. It had been languishing in a corner, and it was why I got it at a fraction of the price.

I can still hear some ghastly moaning coming from the weapon in my hand even now. The coating took really well, if I do say so myself.

 

“Hello, and excuse us.”

I say, at the same time swinging the spiked club. The gates made out of magic iron crumple like wet paper.

Dust billows around us. Cards fall from the stupefied gate guards’ hands. I give them a smile then turn to milady, who looks at me in open-mouth shock.

“The gate must have deteriorated quite a bit. Come, milady.”

“…yeah… yeah.”

 

And so it is that we return to milady’s home without any problems.

---

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

It is now later in the day, after milady, having become even more beautiful thanks to all the love and devotion that I had showered her, has finished reinventing herself to the class. She is now having a reunion with her younger brother, a member of the family that has been giving her the cold shoulder.

Can lady Sharon display the dignity of an elder sister? Let us see.

 

“Sister, it has been some time. You look… different.”

“Truly? I, as well, am relieved to see that you are in good health.”

The younger brother named Yohanne seems to be honestly surprised. On the other hand, milady is looking very much stone-faced. No wonder she gets misunderstood all the time, but that doesn’t make her any less cute, any less lovely.

Yohanne is a boy with blond hair and a face that makes me think he’s going to be kidnapped by some older woman sooner or later. He doesn’t look very similar to milady; he shares her violet eyes at most, I suppose.

Of the two ladies standing behind him, the one who looks like his personal maid is glaring at me. Quite galling. Do you want to have a go? Do you?

“Yet that selfish part of yours hasn’t changed at all, sister, deciding a Partner on your own like that. Have you no consideration for his Highness Joel?”

“I-I’m not being selfish! As a student of the academy, it is a fully justified Partnership—”

“Aren’t you his Highness’s fiancee candidate, sister? Did you not think that perhaps you should wait until his Highness decided on his own Partner? Really, I have to wonder why someone like you was chosen. Stop bringing disgrace to our family.”

…hmm, where did I put my Orc Killer…

“…Letty.”

Noticing my indignation, milady whispers, her hand grasping my own.

…aah, so soft, so smooth…

Understood. If lady Sharon wishes to tolerate them, then as her maid, it shan’t be my place to make a move before she does.

Seeing milady’s lack of resistance, Yohanne begins to get cocky. He looks at me and spits out.

“And just who is that maid? Did you hire her? If you have the money, why not pay me what you owe?”

Unbidden, Milady and I look at each other. It seems that being of a different academic grade, Yohanne hasn’t heard that I’ve become milady’s maid.

 

“Umm, Yohanne, she’s…”

“Ah, my apologies, lady Akiru. Family matters or not, I have still done you a disservice. Were you bored?”

“No… umm…”

The other girl standing behind Yohanne is Akiru, one of the summoned middle-school students from Earth. She has long, black hair, and quite a graceful air about her. According to my memories, she was from a well-to-do family.

“…Kamishiro. It’s… been a while, I guess?”

“My, my, what strange happenstance that we would meet here.”

 

I remember her, of course. I remember what she did to me.

 

“Oh, do you two know each other?”

“Umm, yes…”

“I am acquainted with her.” I say, guilelessly. The young miss Akiru faintly frown.

We’re not friends, Akiru. You know that, don’t you?

“Lady Akiru is one of the Partner candidates of this year’s summoning. I saw that she wasn’t familiar with this academy, and so I have offered to be her guide.”

“Yes, and for that I am truly grateful. Yohanne has been most kind to me.”

“Hahahah, it is but a matter of course! How can I leave such a noble and lovely lady to fend for herself?!”

They are smiling at each other now, each looking not at all dissatisfied with the other. Are they going to start getting hearts in their eyes? Would they even… hold hands?

Maybe I should prepare some pink curtains.

 

“Yohanne! She is a Partner candidate, what do you think you’re doing?! Have you forgotten your place?!”

As well-versed in common sense as she is, it is no wonder that milady is upset. Despite saying all that to his sister and being of a different school year that has nothing to do with the Partnership ritual, that very same Yohanne is now being intimate with a Partner candidate. I smell a scandal incoming.

“…can you shut up, sister? I’m just taking care of them since you haven’t. Whoever you chose to be your Partner candidate, I’m sure you did it by shouting them down like you did to me just now, didn’t you? And when all Partner candidates inevitably reject you, there’s going to be one extra person.”

“No, you’re wrong! Letty and I—”

“Hey, that maid over there. My sister forced you to serve her, right? Want me to lend a hand? Ah, yes, as you and lady Akiru already knew each other, you can be her maid. I’ll pay you double the wage.”

“Y-Yohanne!” Akiru says, shocked by Yohanne’s incredibly idiocy.

Double, you say? Even your whole life isn’t worth that much.

 

“Please wait a moment, young master Yohanne.”

Right then, the attending maid behind Yohanne walks forward.

She is a woman around twenty years of age, with the same kind of blonde hair as Yohanne. I have heard that he has inherited the color from his mother, and also that when the woman entered milady’s family, many of her relatives had also been hired. This maid might be one of them.

“It would not be prudent to have her as lady Akiru’s maid right away when we don’t even know who she is, nor which ditch lady Sharon had picked her from.”

“Then what do you suggest, Mia?”

“If I may propose, she should first receive a full education as a servant of the Michel house. This lowly maid, Mia, shall take responsibility and beat her into shape.”

So-called Mia says, smirking at me. I see, this is how they’ve been removing milady’s allies.

“Yohanne, how dare you?! What gives you the right?!”

“Don’t you owe me, sister? Mia, how much is her debt?”

The filths just ignored milady entirely.

“Yes, young master. Lady Sharon has borrowed about three gold coins…”

Mia takes out what looks like a contract.

“…excuse me, two gold coins and eight silver coins. My apologies. Even as a servant of a marquis family, being so vague would have earned me ridicule. However, including interest, lady Sharon would be required to pay back thirty gold coins.”

I thrust a sack full of gold coins into her hand, at the same time snatching away the contract.

“W-What are you doing! Return it!”

“So the exact amount is written here, I see. You won’t be needing this anymore.”

Mia stretches out her hand with a painful-looking grimace, her wrist seemingly hurt. I rot the contract — magical too, it looks like — and turn it into dust in an instant, right in front of her eyes.

“Eep!”

Mia frantically jerks her arm away as though she was just about to touch acid. How rude. My decomposition poison is made from all-natural ingredients. It won’t take effect right away.

That aside, I am quite amazed that a magical contract is involved in an agreement between siblings. I wonder how degenerate one must be that they would do such a thing. And not only that, there is even a rather nasty curse in case of a breach of contract.

 

“…w-who are you?”

Yohanne glares at me in surprise and wariness.

“Ah, my greetings to sir Yohanne, younger brother of my esteemed lady. I am lady Sharon’s Partner, and my name is Fleurety.”

I pinch the long skirt of my maid uniform and perform a perfect curtsey, one more elegant than any noble and yet would still not overshadow lady Sharon.

“Wha…” Yohanne turns to miss Akiru in absolute disbelief. “Her?!”

“…yes, she is.”

Akiru reluctantly, quietly nods.

 

“Letty!”

“Lady Sharon, my apologies. I have not consulted you before using our funds.”

“No no, that’s fine. Are you hurt?”

Incredible. Milady hasn’t had a moment of hesitation as she ran to me, checking my hand after I decomposed the contract to see if I am wounded. Instead of the money, she worried for me.

I almost hugged her right there and then to give her headpats, but I control myself. A maid cannot do such a thing to her mistress.

“I am overflowing with happiness, milady. May I have some fun with you in the bath?”

“What in the world are you talking about?!”

 

“…s-sister’s Partner? How can it be? How can someone so arrogant as you… no, this is not right. You’ve brought nothing but trouble to our house, it’s impossible that a Partner could have chosen you! Even Karl has told me you’ve been trouble at the dungeon! He said he wouldn’t accept it!!!”

“Indeed, master Yohanne! Perhaps she might even be using some sort of forbidden magic to control her. Rest assured, maid, I shall bring you to your sense!”

 

I wonder if both the master and servant really believed it, or if they’re only doing this on purpose… well, I suppose that to Mia, an improvement in lady Sharon’s reputation would be quite inconvenient for her. It is no surprise she would act so.

I take a quiet step forward, standing in front of milady to cover for her.

“My, how disgraceful for a maid of a marquis house.” I say.

“Silent, girl. I will—”

“You will… what?”

Unable to hold myself back for much longer, I give Mia the widest grin I have, one only she can see. She freezes up.

…my, my, what an expression, Mia. It makes you look so… delicious…

 

“Hey, that’s enough.”

 

And just when it was getting good, I was interrupted.

“Karl!”

“Sir Karl…”

In contrast to Yohanne’s shiny-eyed excitement, milady whispers his name with a conflicted cast to her face.

Karl looks at the two and after a moment’s frown, he sighs deeply.

“And what is it now? A fight inside the school isn’t any better than a fight outside, you two.”

“There’s no way sister could have a Partner! She obviously forced her! Weren’t you opposed too, Karl?!”

“She is Sharon’s Partner, provisional ones as they may be, and it was Fleurety herself who made the choice. I no longer object.”

Indeed, indeed.

“But, but… I heard that sister has inconvenienced you in the dungeon, I was just trying to help you…”

Karl looks at lady Sharon for a single moment (trying his best to not let me into his field of vision) and turns back to Yohanne.

“…and since when have I asked for your help?” He says, his tone brooking no dissent.

“I-I’m sorry, Karl…”

Yohanne hangs his head like a scolded puppy.

It seems Yohanne very much likes Karl. From what I can see, he considers Karl as both a friend and a brother one year older to look up to.

Yet even as he was chastised so, Yohanne still sends glares at milady and me.

“…I still won’t accept it.”

“Master Yohanne!”

“Ah, Yohanne, wait up!”

With a parting bite, Yohanne quickly walks away. Mia and the young lady Akiru hastily follow… with the latter making a quiet tsk as she leaves, thinking that no one would notice.

Too bad for her. I did.

 

“…sir Karl, I apologize for my brother… as well as what happened the other day…”

“No, that’s already in the past. I don’t mind.” Karl says, yet at the same time his hip still instinctively flinches back, making him look a bit like a shrimp. Should I pretend not to have seen it?

“In that case, allow me to take my leave…”

“Wait, Sharon, just a moment!”

Karl says in a panic. Milady turns back in surprise.

“Y-yes!”

“Umm, back then, umm… I’m sorry.”

“…Karl…”

…what a strange atmosphere. What is this lout thinking, after all this time?

Still, being the exemplary maid that I am, I cannot interrupt their conversation. Ah, but is this not a good time for some music?

 

“It’s been a long time since we can talk like this, Sharon…”

“…yes… it is…”

 

Hmm, hmmhmm~

 

“…those days were nice. There was me, elder brother… and lady Kyria, too.”

“…yeah.”

 

Humm, humm, hohhumm~

 

“…I’d been a brat.”

“…eh?”

 

Hmmhohumm~

 

“…I’m sorry. Brother was an idiot, but me even more so.”

“No, Karl… so was I.”

 

Hmmhmmhmm~

 

“…S-Sharon, I…”

“Karl…?”

 

Lalalalaa~

 

“…”

“…”

The two suddenly go quiet. They slowly, stiffly turn their heads to look at the ceiling, their faces twitching.

 

“…Letty…”

“…what the hell are you doing…”

 

The wistful tune I hummed as I clung to the ceiling was not to their liking, it seems.

---

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

Most of the class is already here. Everyone, from the students of the academy to the middle-school students from Earth wearing the same uniforms, all stare at the lovely girl in sheer astonishment.

Milady already has beauty in her genes, after all. I simply helped her return to a healthier lifestyle and gave her a bit of a makeover.

“And lo and behold, the goddess Sharon has seen fit to descend in all her splendour, filling the world with her light—”

“No no no what are you saying?!”

Milady frantically blocks my mouth with her wee little hands, despite the fact that I was only whispering. As I expected of milady, her lack of experience in receiving praises has helped her develop a talent to sense any and all words of compliment. Truly commendable, lady Sharon.

Hello, readers. It is me, Fleurety, the maid who can never manage to keep her thoughts about her mistress to herself.

 

“…I must admit, Sharon, I too am truly surprised. I almost couldn’t believe my eyes. You’re… gorgeous… ” Prince Joel says, the gaze he gives to lady Sharon having completely changed.

“…ah… I, umm… thank you, your highness…”

So too does milady blush as she replies, her voice full of bewilderment. Then she glances at me, myself having stepped back so as to not interrupt her conversation with the prince, and she acidly whispers my name.

“…Letty…”

I knew this would happen, of course. It is exactly why I’ve been keeping her away from mirrors since morning. Mwahahaha.

 

The gazes people send milady vary quite a bit. Some are honestly impressed. Some are infatuated. Some are simply surprised. While some are spiteful…

Of course, I can’t just outright decide which ones are milady’s enemies and which ones are her allies based on only their gazes, but I can get a rough idea.

The prince Joel is half impressed and half infatuated, I would say. Which reminds me, milady is technically his fiancee candidate, isn’t she? He hadn’t ever paid milady a lick of attention before, and now that she looks better he’s suddenly in love? He really is a sleaze.

That aside, the looks that the girls send to milady have turned quite a bit harsher. The prince hadn’t paid any thoughts to where they are when he complimented milady.

 

“Sharon, if you would not mind, may I invite—”

“Alright everyone, return to your seats. We’re beginning the lesson.”

Just before prince Joel could finish his words, instructor Eric shows up to return the class to order. My? He’s looking my way. I wonder why he seems so hesitant to speak.

“Miss Fleurety… where is your uniform?”

 

*

 

The marquis’ young lady’s change had been well received, more or less. As a matter of fact, the main reason why Sharon had been ostracized was simply because no one knew much about her.

 

Was it because she had become a fiancee candidate to prince Joel, and thus became the target of jealousy from the other young noble ladies?

Yet she was but one of five candidates, and the other four hadn’t been spurned so.

 

Was it because of the high expectations that she held for others, being the proud noble that she was?

No. Pride was one commonality all nobles shared, no matter what form it may take. Furthermore, this academy also expected its upperclassmen and high nobles to become role models for — and provide guidance to — their juniors. There was no cause for Sharon alone to be condemned.

 

Was it due to Sharon’s lack of skill in her magic control, despite being of a high noble house?

Not quite. While the fact that her problem had stemmed from her family hadn’t been announced outright, many among high nobility were still aware of the rumors, and she had quite a few sympathizers among the older generation.

 

Was it due to the severe glare she seemed to have on at all time?

You couldn’t change genetics, and some might even say a strong gaze shows a strong will. Perhaps children might be scared of her, but it would be impossible for grown men and women to not understand that.

 

Then could it be the combination of all the above? Perhaps. Yet that would mean that Sharon’s detractors would have to be deeply envious, without dignity, ignorant of the happenings of the noble world, excessively condescending, and also be incorrigibly cowardly children.

And these sort of people were always the loud ones. They would have to be, if they wanted their wrongs to be right.

So it was that they became the first to shun Sharon, and as a result, they dictated the first impression people had of her. And inertia was a powerful force — it was what had made other people begin to avoid Sharon even when they had no particular cause to.

Breaking a person’s preconceptions held since they were young would not be a simple task. Success, however, would then be rewarded with opportunities.

 

The summoning had provided the occasion for many of Sharon’s contemporaries who hadn’t known of her before to see her for the first time. They were no longer children; they were young men and women with value and moral systems in accordance to their age.

Regardless, when they saw the girl standing alone and away from everyone else, they still found it hard to approach her.

As it turned out, she was the first to gain a Partner. An… unusual one, to say the least. The Partner and her Operation: All Boys Like a Cute Girl with Big Tits were what had wiped away all the preconceptions about Sharon that the young men in their puberty had been holding.

 

Yet some had not viewed the change in a positive light. Included among them were naturally the green-eyed, ignoble, ignorant, contemptuous, and craven children as mentioned above, but they weren’t the only ones hostile to Sharon.

There were also the Heroines who knew about the otome games.

 

As complicated as the games had been, players could encounter many, many different dialogue patterns with each playthrough, but one thing remained constant: as one of the Villainesses, Sharon would always appear multiple times to harass the main character. She was a necessary ‘device’ in raising the seduction target’s opinions of the main character.

It was why the Heroines needed Sharon to be the black sheep of the class.

 

*

 

As the Earthborn students would be attending class for the first time today, the period would simply be a review of the basics of magecraft. It was an occasion for the academy students to help them out and teach them.

It’s a group date, is what I’m saying.

So now we’re being split into groups of four to five people. And to my extreme, extreme regret, I and milady are in different groups.

I’m worried. She has zero skills in making friends, after all.

 

“Hello, umm… Fleurety, right? Welcome to the class.”

A student of the academy, a girl with a golden head of fluffy hair, greets me with a gentle smile.

“Greetings, miss. I hope to be your acquaintance.” I reply.

“Ah, feel free to call me Clarice, alright? We’re all friends here.”

The young lady Clarice is quite cute, I must say. She looks like the main character of a shoujo manga. She gives off the impression of a girl who can be friends with anyone, the direct opposite of milady.

Other than Clarice and me, our group has one more male academy student and one of the girls from Earth.

“Hey, I’m Cosimo. Man, it’s real stressful being surrounded by so many beauties. Come, come, Ginko, sit here.”

“…yeah.”

Oh yes, I remember her, her name is Ginko. She’s looking at me with somewhat intense eyes like she doesn’t trust me. Really, Ginko hadn’t needed to bother — she should know that I only enjoys that sort of gaze when it’s milady doing the glaring.

Cosimo, a boy who’s totally a skirt-chaser judging from his appearance, is currently desperately trying to make passes at Ginko. He’s harmless, then.

The smiling miss Clarice has taken it upon herself to be the group’s leader, so there is no worry on that front.

“As it happens, we generally study about the history of magecraft before learning the basics, as it would better deepen our understanding. Fleurety, how much of the history have you heard?”

“I have not, miss Clarice.”

“…Kamishiro, there was a lecture last week for us Earth people. You weren’t there.” Ginko says.

“My, is that so?”

I didn’t think it was important. And I don’t think anything could be more important than Milady.

“There is no need to slow down on my account. I can find a book later.” I say.

“Truly? Then we shall begin with Ignite.”

 

We’re starting off with Utility Magecraft. The term describes spells of convenience such as making a small flame, or pouring water into a bowl.

Magecraft and magic might seem to be the same thing at first glance, but in fact, ‘magecraft’ refers to well-analyzed spells used in talismans and magic circles, those which anyone can cast to create the same effect, while ‘magic’ are spells that can have varying effects depending on the caster.

Magic and magecraft spells are similar in that they both utilize words of power to give direction to magic power in order to cause a magical phenomenon. Interestingly, I must note that these words are very, very similar to the language us denizens of the dark world use.

First off, miss Clarice and Cosimo would demonstrate the spell for me and Ginko, as we are both complete newcomers, and then it would be Ginko’s turn and mine.

“‘Ignite’… wah, I did it.”

Ginko didn’t have any problem.

“Ignite.” I say, as I rub pencils together fast enough for them to burst into flame.

My? The group is strangely silent.

“…that’s not magecraft.”

Same difference. I still made fire, why would the method matter?

At any rate, it seems I can’t use this world’s magic very well.

 

But enough about me. How is milady doing? I give her a covert glance.

Despite being in a five-person group, amazingly, she still manages to be isolated. She was unfortunate enough to be sorted into a group with only girls, and the one academy student and three middle-schoolers from Earth aren’t even trying to hide the fact that they’re ignoring milady.

…those insects look like they might try something.

 

“Umm… Fleurety. I understand you may be concerned for miss Sharon, but could you spare me some of your attention…?”

Hearing her words, I turn back to Clarice. She looks at me with an unfathomable gaze.

“Might I still have a chance to be your Partner? If you would be interested, next time, we can—”

 

*BOOM!*

 

That was me flicking my wrist to throw Orc Killer. The weapon flew through the 50-centimeters gap between the female academy student and milady to embed itself into the wall at the end of its trajectory.

Instant silence. I make use of the moment to stand up, my hands pinching my long skirt, and I give a bow to the classroom full of people shocked still.

“My apologies. There was a bug.”

There really was. There was also a large cockroach about to throw the dead bug onto milady’s hair.

I return to my seat and smile sweetly at the people sharing a table with me. They’re still frozen.

“Once again, my apologies to miss Clarice. Please continue.”

“…no, never mind.”

Miss Clarice seems to be quite pale. Does she have anemia?

 

*

 

“Letty, no more stuff like that, understood?”

“Understood, milady.”

Milady scolding like an older sister is cute, too.

 

After that, instructor Eric reprimanded me and tried to confiscate Orc Killer. Emphasis on ‘tried’. When he saw it didn’t budge an inch despite his efforts, he made me do a written apology.

Really, men these days are so frail. It’s just a bit heavier than milady.

“…Letty, did you just think something rude again?”

“I was wondering why milady’s breasts seem terribly heavy, yet they still float in the bath.”

“What has that got to do with anything?!”

Truly a mysterious phenomenon.

 

At the moment, even as she is still blushing bright red after she so easily believed my distraction, milady is still kind enough to accompany me to the faculty room.

“An apology letter is quite tedious, isn’t it?”

“That’s getting off really lightly considering what you did, Letty. I mean, the count’s daughter was even frothing at the mouth.”

Yet from her tone of voice, milady doesn’t seem to mind at all. She must have been harassed by that young woman for quite a long time. I should have crushed her, it looks like.

The other girls were Hina and her merry band, so I had nothing to worry about. The girls named… Denko and Botan, if I remember correctly, were just about to snap at me before miss Hina frantically stopped them, her face ghastly pale.

Truly, how fortunate it is that there was no lasting aftereffect.

I should give her a reward later. Just a drop of medicine once she’s asleep, I’m thinking.

 

“Ah…”

As we walk down the hallway, milady suddenly stiffens.

“Lady Sharon?”

Wondering what might have happened, I look at the direction of her eyes. There, I see a girl, plus a boy with an attending maid. They look at milady with some surprise.

 

“…elder sister.”

“…Yohanne.”

 

I see. So that is lady Sharon’s younger brother, then. One of the pieces of garbage that call themselves her family.

---

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

Among the nobles in their final school year at the magic academy, there was a certain young lady of a viscount house.

Her father was an inveterate womanizer, and her mother was a songstress famed for her beauty across the town. She was born a commoner. But after the second prince Joel was born and she was acquainted with him at the academy, she was taken away from her mother and formally entered the viscount family in the hope that she would become the prince’s favored wife in the future.

The viscount’s wife did not accept her. Her birth mother sold her for money.

But despite her home life, the young lady still stood strong, head held high even when her family treated her with such antipathy. She grew to become a kind girl.

 

Inside a room in the girls’ dorm of the magic academy, the glow of a lantern lit up a chessboard, the light unusually warm and hazy.

Clack.

Slender fingers moved a piece.

Her icy gaze was fixed on the board, but her clinical thoughts were of a game much, much more vast.

 

“…m-milady, t-the food is r-ready…”

From a corner of the room came the fearful voice of a maid younger in age, a girl who still hadn’t outgrown her freckles.

“…”

“M-Milady…?”

The young lady’s cool gaze flicked away from the board for a moment, and she replied frostily.

“…I’ll eat later. You can retire for the day.”

“Y-yes, milady.”

The maid shivered. She hastily bowed and returned to her servant’s room, as though running away.

With her thoughts interrupted, the young lady faintly sighed, her slim back leaning back on the chair. She arranged several pieces on the board.

 

“How many shall remain, I wonder…”

 

***

 

“Lady Sharon, please wait.”

“…sir Andy.”

“How fortunate that you haven’t left… lady Sharon, I apologize for the trouble Karl has caused…”

“N-No, there’s nothing you have to apologize for… if anything, I should be the one to…”

“…excuse me?”

“It’s nothing. We are schoolmates, after all. I only did what was expected of me.”

“…wonderful. As a fellow noble, I truly wish my brother could be half as honorable.”

“Ah… it’s really nothing…”

“I will make sure to have the Mercia family send our formal gratitude to your house on a later date. And also… lady Sharon, if I may…”

“Y-Yes!”

“…no, please pay it no mind. I shall have to return to his Highness’ side now, so if you would excuse me…”

“…yes.”

 

They both should grow a spine already.

Greetings, everyone. I am Fleurety, lady Sharon’s maid and her protector from the shadows.

Today, I am inside a store near the Third Dungeon.

Milady is standing stock-still in the middle of the road, so deep in her melancholy that she doesn’t even notice she’s being surrounded by snot-nosed urchins. I do wonder what she might be thinking, but I have something I need to do first.

“Sir shopkeeper, how about this price?”

“You’re kidding, maid lass. This city isn’t that starved for salt. We have dungeons and all.”

This shopkeeper is already in his forties and the skin on his head has lost much protection from the sun, but he’s still quite the formidable opponent.

There is a branch of the Explorer’s Guild near the dungeon and they do buy salt too, but I can generally get a better deal by selling directly to merchants. It’s why I’m here.

“Even with this quality, sir? My salt has just been mined from the dungeon. Oxidation hasn’t set in yet.”

“Come now girl, didn’t I say there’s not that much demand? Considering the quantity my shop usually handles, buy only that much salt is just going to lower my brand quality.”

Emphasis on ‘generally’. If one doesn’t have the necessary skills to negotiate with the merchant, one might even get haggled down below the fixed price that the guild would buy for.

“My, my… like the merchandise over there, you mean?”

“…maid lass, just what are you implying?”

The shopkeeper narrows his eyes and glares daggers at me. I simply respond with a beaming smile as I take glances at the pots of salt he has on his shelves.

“Do you really need me to say it, sir…? I’ve heard that sometimes, the salt might be mixed with a certain something to create brand distinction and make them taste nicer…”

“…ten percent more. That’s the best I can do. If you don’t like that, go to another shop.”

“Twenty percent. I’ve seen how much they sell for around here, sir. You’ll still be profiting more than enough when you resell my salt.”

“Now, now, pretty little maid… don’t you think you’re getting in over your head juuuust a little bit?”

“My, would I have to sleep with a dagger under my pillow tonight?”

“Hah, you jest. I’m doing honest business here, cut it out with the false accusations. My store even has dealings with a trading firm that supplies for the royal family. Imagine if their customer blacklist has one more maid on it…”

“A trading firm, you say? The one providing food for the palace this month? …I’m sure the firm wouldn’t be supplied those salt, right, sir?”

“…”

The shopkeeper grimaces. My smile brightens.

“Don’t be so glum, sir. I can throw in a little something for you too.”

“…what now?”

I open my bag to let him see what’s inside.

“Looks dried… what is this?”

“Perhaps you haven’t had many opportunities to see this, considering how far away from the sea we are and that the country also doesn’t import salt. This is seaweed, sir.”

“Seaweed…?”

I look at his scalp.

“It’s something very good for you, sir shopkeeper.”

“…”

 

My shopping trip ends without problems.

I sold the salt for seven golds and four silvers. Combined with the sales of monster materials, we have quite a bit of funds now. And not only that, the shopkeeper even threw in some spices. What a kind man.

I walk toward milady, still brooding, and give the gawking urchins some rock candies to shoo them away.

“Lady Sharon, apologies for the wait.” I call at her.

“…eh? Ah.” Milady returns to reality. She turns toward me with an overcast smile. “Welcome back, Letty.”

“I managed to get quite a good deal, milady, so I’ve also bought some of your favorite baked sweets. We will have a feast tonight.”

“Thank you, Letty. No more monster meat, however.”

“Of course.”

Milady is a bit fussy, isn’t she? I give her a broad smile.

I understand how she feels.

 

“I shall not make the mistake of revealing the ingredients’ origins again.”

“No, that’s not what I meant!”

 

***

 

Well then, after I did a psychological check-up on miss Hina with a little pharmaceutical aid, my conclusion is that there is nothing wrong with her mind.

How strange. A sensible person would never have said something like that.

And I don’t think I misdiagnosed her either. Her whole body was twitching, her eyes were vacant and without focus, and she was drooling with her mouth set in a dopey smile by the end, so surely that was enough medication.

Oh yes, don’t worry, I only used a weak spider poison. It’s all-organic. Hina won’t be having any long-lasting after-effects. After all, poison can be medicine in the right dosage.

Not like I’ve ever studied pharmacy, however.

 

So, Hina said that this world is an otome game, but she just couldn’t recall the identity of the one to have whispered something so ridiculous.

Honestly, I half expect I can shake her head and hear the one single brain cell she has rattling in there.

All the same, I wouldn’t dismiss it out of hand just because it sounds absurd. An exemplary maid is one who can prepare for anything and everything.

It’s impossible for a world to be an otome game, but it is possible for a carefully-managed Sandbox world to look like a game. While I’m not sure how large this one is since Sandboxes can vary in scale, considering that there are certain people here who can’t die, the possibility of an Administrator is very high indeed.

…truly, so much trouble.

I think I shall continue to keep myself hidden until the investigation is finished.

 

***

 

“Letty, are you done with your preparation?”

“Yes, milady.”

 

Currently, I am helping milady with her morning bath.

It is a task that requires my utmost concentration. Today is the day my Lady Sharon’s Beautification Project, which has started several days ago, enters its final phase.

I carefully, meticulously wash and rub hair treatment into her locks of silver. I caress and exfoliate milady’s skin with a washcloth made from the best spider silk. And now that milady is dozing off, I begin to massage every single corner of her body with a specially-made aromatic oil that I got directly from the Maid Chief.

Yet even with all that I must do, I cannot take too long. A lowly maid’s duty must not take up her mistress’ precious morning time, and if she has to use all her magic to bend spacetime to accomplish her tasks, so be it.

 

“Milady, it is done.”

“…wah?”

Milady awakens to see that her hair has already been styled, her uniform already on her. She seems surprised.

“When?!”

“Milady has slept quite well.”

“…”

As she takes nibbles and sips of the breakfast I’ve made — cafe au lait, fresh orange juice, and a bagel sandwich — she looks at me with blushing cheeks, her glare still showing dissatisfaction with my answer.

Even until now, milady continues to be rather embarrassed whenever I help her change her underwear. I suppose that might be what had displeased her.

“It is simply a maid’s duty, milady.”

“I know you’ve chosen to serve me, but Letty, you’re, umm…”

Milady turns away and continues her words in a near-whisper.

“…you’re also… my friend… so… you know…”

“Milady…”

Too precious.

“Thank you for the feast.”

“What feast?! What are you talking about?!”

Feasts for the eyes, milady, feasts for the eyes. Including but not limited to the times you get dressed, for example.

 

Well then, to explain what milady meant when she spoke of ‘my preparation’, it is the arrangements for me to join her in class.

And the reason why is because the Kingdom has decided that, as a part of the Partner-selection process, all the middle-school students summoned from Earth would be transferring into milady’s class of noble students in order to help them acclimatize to this new world.

“Letty… what about your uniform? I thought they gave you one?”

Indeed, the country has provided me school uniforms. Milady is asking only because I am still in my maid attire.

“A maid needs only one uniform, milady.”

“…is that fine?”

It is, it is.

And honestly, the maid uniform I made with my own threads is of better quality, at any rate. Of course, I’ve also secretly replaced milady’s uniform with the material. She is now stab-proof… as long as it’s a knife doing the stabbing.

“Umm… do I look strange?”

As today is the first day I accompany her to class, milady is being quite nervous. She acts just like a mother doing a school visit with her child for the first time, though in all honesty, I would say she’s the kid, not me.

I wouldn’t tell her that, though. Silence is golden.

“No, milady. If anything, you look more radiant than ever today.”

“G-geez, stop that, you say that all the time. Come on, let’s go.”

“Yes, milady.”

She’s perfect, of course. I’ve taken days to make sure of that.

 

Clack. Clack.

The marquis’ daughter, lady Sharon, strides through the school hallway with echoing footsteps. Commoners and low nobles hurriedly make way for her.

Milady has perfected all that there is to know in being a noble, and she often give pointers to her juniors quite harshly. It is the reason why she has gained a bit of an intimidating reputation.

But today, something has changed.

The moment the students of low nobility who have fearfully given way to her take a look at her and truly see her, all their faces immediately flush pink, both the boys and the girls.

“…Letty, are you sure I don’t look strange?”

Upon noticing their unusual gazes, milady turns to me and asks, her worry apparent. I smile sweetly.

“I am, milady.”

 

We come to the classroom. I silently open the door and as she crosses the threshold, all those who catch sight of her immediately quieten. A moment later, the room erupts into chaos.

 

“…Sharon, is that you?”

The first to approach her and speak is the prince Joel, after he recovered from his daze.

“Yes, umm… yes, his Highness Joel. I am Sharon.”

Milady, despite her confusion, still replies with her usual grace.

Good, good. Everything is proceeding as planned.

As milady has been neglected from her childhood by the trash that calls themselves her family, her hair and her skin have not had the care they deserved.

That isn’t to say that milady wasn’t beautiful; she still was. I simply helped her beauty to regain its true glory by managing her meals, improving her nutrition, and caring for her hair and skin when she used to have to do it by herself without really knowing how. Milady is a new woman now.

And how. Just look at the reactions of this whole room.

 

Let’s begin, milady. The stage is set for our counterattack.

---

Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

A/N: This cannot be! The young lady isn’t in this chapter!

---

Andy de Mercia was an imperial knight squad leader of Argrey Kingdom, one assigned to the second prince Joel.

In a usual knightly order, while the Knight Commander would always be a high noble, squad leaders were, as a rule, meritocratic positions instead. Only less than half of them were nobles; the rest were people who have climbed up to the position themselves.

Things were different when it comes to Argrey Kingdom’s imperial knights, however. While other countries might not follow the same rule, here, those chosen as imperial knight squad leaders were almost always of high nobility.

This rule was created after a certain incident in Argrey’s history. There had been a monster outbreak — monsters escaping the confines of their dungeon — and yet one of the royal family at the time had made use of the army for their own purpose, and nobody had had the political power to stop them. It had resulted in the near-complete destruction of a town.

It was the reason why the imperial knights attached to a royal family member would always be chosen from families of high nobility that were relatives of the royal family. This granted the imperial knights the power to keep their charges in check, if the need arose.

 

The previous queen had come from the Mercia marquis family. As the princes and princesses’ second cousin, Andy had been allowed to enter the palace to be their playmate ever since he was a child.

At first, Andy was to be assigned to the crown prince as he was closest in age. But after a certain incident, Andy was suddenly set to be Joel’s imperial knight instead.

What had happened?

It was the death of Kyria, spouse to the Michel marquis and, as according to the wishes of the queen, also the woman who was to be Joel’s personal bodyguard until her successor was chosen.

 

Kyria had met the queen at school when she had still been only a daughter of a marquis family at the time, and the two had become fast friends. For the sake of her friend who had then entered the royal family, Kyria, despite being the daughter of a knight’s family, had gotten herself adopted by a viscount’s family who was close to the queen just so she could become the queen’s imperial knight.

Kyria’s beauty and her silver hair had earned her the title of “The White Rose”, to accompany the “Sunflower” that was the queen. Even after the Michel marquis fell in love with Kyria at first sight, even after the two had a child, the two women’s friendship never waned. So it was that the queen entrusted the protection of Joel to Kyria, until such time that the boy decided on an official aide.

These events had been ten years ago.

At the time, Andy was still a student and a knight apprentice. He studied under Kyria, his superior knight officer who had been very strict in his training, and as the two were both of marquis families, he, as well as his younger brother, often played with her daughter, Sharon.

 

The circumstances behind Kyria’s death was a mystery even until now.

Almost immediately after her death, the Michel marquis took a second wife, a woman from a count’s family. But the problem was that Yohanne, Sharon’s younger brother of a different mother, was only one year younger than her.

As young as she had been, knowing about Yohanne must have hurt Sharon terribly. For a time, this fact had also given rise to rumors that lady Kyria had been assassinated, but they were soon quelled by the marquis family.

 

Sharon’s grief had been heart-wrenching, both for her and for those around her.

Andy had tried as much as he could to visit her and to console her. But he was still just a student, still just an apprentice knight — not only that, he was also chosen as Kyria’s successor since there was nobody else fit for the role, and so he found himself with fewer and fewer opportunities to meet with Sharon.

 

However, Sharon had been a stronger girl than he thought.

For a time, there were even rumors that the Michel house was spurning her. Yet as though to prove everyone wrong, Sharon had worked herself to the bone to perfect every aspect of being a noble lady, and her efforts had borne fruit. She was chosen as a fiancee candidate to the second prince.

 

Upon hearing of the news about the girl he had always thought of as a little sister, Andy felt both sadness and happiness. On the other hand, Karl, Andy’s younger brother, immediately began to lash out against her.

Andy remembered that Karl and Sharon had been very close in their younger years. If anything, he thought Karl had liked her even more than Andy himself had.

And yet that very same younger brother had turned cold to Sharon. Upon entering the academy, he even began to be overtly disdainful of her.

Andy himself had scolded Karl many, many times, yet he showed no signs of changing. A rift had formed between the two brothers.

 

The news that his younger brother had collapsed in the dungeon and had been carried to the nearest clinic reached Andy’s ears.

Details had been vague. However, apparently Karl had taken the Mercia family’s treasure, the Hallowed Sanctuary, with him to the dungeon without permission, and that he had been fighting.

As he had been attending to his Highness Joel, Andy was near the dungeon. Joel had graciously allowed him to take his leave to visit his brother, and so Andy came to the clinic.

“Karl!”

“…brother.”

Karl sat up on his bed, his body still shivering.

Andy wondered what sort of monster Karl had been fighting. His face was pale and haggard, while his body was so bruised and battered he could barely move himself.

Andy had also heard that after he was carried to the clinic, Karl had woken up and then immediately fell back to unconsciousness multiple times in a row, and that he was also poisoned. Thanks to healing spells, however, his younger brother now seemed to have recovered enough to stay awake.

“…this is quite terrible. Did you meet with an ogre horde in the middle floors or something?”

Karl said nothing as he turned away, his expression inscrutable. He seemed unwilling to talk.

“Losing is nothing to be ashamed of. Considering your wounds, you didn’t wear the Hallowed Sanctuary, right? Father would certainly scold you for taking it out without permission, but I reckon he’d be lenient if he knows you’ve had a change of heart.”

Karl continued to look away despite Andy’s words of consolation. Cold sweat dripped from his skin.

Andy found his brother’s reactions to be somewhat strange, but he paid it no mind. He had something else he had to ask, even when he was aware of the rift between them.

“Karl. I’ve heard that lady Sharon was the one to have brought you here… did something happen between you and her?”

Karl’s eyes widened a fraction, as though it was the first he’d heard of it.

“I don’t know why you’ve been so stubborn, but remember that lady Sharon might just be our future princess. It’s about time you grow up…”

“…you’re such an idiot, brother.” Karl said with obvious exasperation.

Andy released a sigh mixed with a wry smile. It had been a long time since he’d heard such a tone of voice from his brother.

“…maybe I am.”

“…I’m not going to do that anymore.”

“I see.”

Andy didn’t know what had happened. Nevertheless, as curt as Karl’s reply was, Andy could still feel that his brother was no longer as bitter as he had been.

And right now, that was enough. Mending bridges wasn’t something that could be done in a day or two.

For a while, Andy simply looked at his younger brother, his gaze kind. Then he turned around and silently stepped out of the room.

 

Karl looked at his back until he was no longer in sight. He gave a small sigh for his dense older brother.

“…if you don’t make a move soon, brother, then I will.”

 

Did everyone think this chapter has been in third-person narration? Too bad. It was actually me, Fleurety.

 

Currently, I am infiltrating Karl’s room, clinging onto a corner of the ceiling while hiding my presence as best as I can. I’m actually surprised that nobody’s found me yet.

All the exposition above was what I’ve found out from using my Maid Interrogation Technique these last few days. I just added a little bit of dramatization while writing the personal character thoughts myself from educated guesses. I’ve gotten the gist of it right, I believe.

The older brother is just a blockhead, while the younger brother is far too stubborn. How deplorable. They’re siblings all right.

 

Well then, readers, you may be wondering why I wanted to come here so much that I would leave lady Sharon to take her rest alone in a cafe. The answer is that I had a bit of an experiment to do.

I wasn’t able to kill either Karl or Hina, and I did not know why. There was a need to investigate the secret they held and how far this effect could extend.

 

To start off, I waited until Karl fell asleep and dropped a string from the ceiling. I then released some light neurotoxin, which followed the string to drip into his mouth.

His lungs seized up and he choked on air, but otherwise nothing happened. The medic hurriedly ran toward him and immediately casted healing spells on him, and that was it.

I was relieved, seeing that at least my poison still worked. Then once Karl went from sleeping to being unconscious, I tried out some muscle solvent.

His skin instantly turned mud-grey. But just as I thought that finally did it, a dull glow emanated from him, and he was as healthy as ever again. Curses.

With that, Karl finally returned to consciousness. I immediately strangled him with loops of stronger-than-steel thread wrapped around his neck and he writhed, thrashing in agony as his lungs begged for oxygen. But in the end, he just dropped into unconsciousness again. He still didn’t die no matter how long I choke him.

 

Results of my experimentation: I can harm people just fine, I simply can’t kill them.

There’s nothing to indicate him being any sort of undead or immortal, nor was there any sign of skill activation. Regrettably, I will have to give up here. Any more and I risk discovery.

…how infuriating.

To be fair, it’s not like there aren’t workarounds I can try out, but I think I’ll keep up my observation for the time being first.

…I have more than one puppet to experiment on, anyway.

 

With adhesive threads wrapped around my fingertips and toetips, I briskly skitter across the ceiling. I reach the linen room of the clinic with everyone else none the wiser.

“Mmmm!”

“Apologies for the wait, Hina. How are you feeling?”

I’ve packed Hina up tight with straw rope — using my thread would have left some rather undesirable evidence — and buried her under a mountain of linen sheets, but she still looks as lively as ever. I hadn’t taken much care when I tied her up, so Hina turned out to look a bit like a honeycomb, but, well, she’ll probably be fine.

I remove her gag. Hina glares at me, her eyes teary.

“K-Kamishiro…”

“Oh yes, do you need to relieve yourself? Just as well that there’s some adult diapers here…”

“N-No, please! I’ll be quiet, just don’t…”

I see. I did recall her smelling a bit ammoniac in the dungeon, so I thought it would be about time. What a shame.

“Please… I’ll apologize, just don’t hurt me…”

“Understood.”

She does seem quite sincere in her remorse. I wonder what could have caused such a change of heart…

I untie her and let her sit down. She looks at me, looking perplexed.

“…you’re holding your head up high now, aren’t you?”

“That is because I am a maid.”

Might she be referring to my earlier days? Her face is reddening somewhat. She looks like she wants to say something.

“What is it?”

“…n-nothing. It’s not like I’m thinking you look better like this, not at all!”

Really, just what did she want to say?

“So anyway… I’m sorry. Oh, yes, I’ll tell you something interesting!”

“My, my.”

Hina stands up and whispers.

“So I overheard this one girl from our class muttering something. She said this world is an otome game, apparently.”

 

…I see.

“Excuse me! Does this clinic has a psychologist?”

“STOPPPP! I’m normal, I tell you! I’m not crazy!”

 

How ridiculous. Hina must be making it up.

…right?

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A/N: By the way, our protagonist has also… cordially… invited the young lady Hina to help out with her experiments. She agreed, of course.

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Let’s see, one little pigman, two little pigmen, three little… well, quite a lot. Less than ten, however.

These orcs hold wooden clubs in their hands and wear chest armor, as crudely made as they are, and some among them even have wooden shields that resemble large pot lids. Yet despite all that equipment, they all have nothing but flimsy rags to cover their lower halves. Why?

“Would milady happen to know the reason?” I ask, in case it might be a weakness I can exploit.

“…eh? That’s, umm, it’s because…”

As pale as her face had been upon seeing the orcs, she now blushes crimson, looking like she might just cry at any moment.

Come, come, milady, please answer quickly.

“…o-orcs, umm, attack women… and…”

With those teary eyes and scarlet cheeks, milady is looking like the cutest creature in the world right now.

 

To be honest, I already had an idea of the reason why, but I think I’ll still ask her again tonight for a more… detailed… explanation.

“A-anyway, be careful, Letty.”

“Yes, milady.”

As a maid who have received her mistress’ encouragement, I can’t afford to show her a less-than-stellar performance here.

I ready my Orc Killer. The orcs visibly hesitate despite their rage still as potent as ever, as though they see the wielder of Orc Killer to be both their worst archenemy and their worst nightmare at the same time.

Is it truly such a terrifying weapon?

 

So, I have described it as a ‘spiked club’, but that might not accurately convey how it looks. This type of weapon does have a name, in fact.

It’s a morningstar. A weapon in the shape of a spiky ball affixed to one end of a length of metal.

The difference is that while normal morningstars are one-handed weapons, this Orc Killer is much more likely to be classified as a two-handed one. It has a completely metallic shaft one-meter long with a diameter of four centimeters, while the iron ball at the end is the size of a small watermelon. The ball itself is covered in horrific-looking spikes as big as ice cream cones.

It’s even heavier than milady, as a matter of fact.

 

As brutal as it looks, a club is still a club. It’s quite puzzling how they can fear it so. I hide the Orc Killer inside my skirt to see what would happen, and the orcs immediately, visibly relax.

“Letty, what are you doing?!”

I can hear the panic and fear in milady’s voice.

Quite understandable. The moment I hide away the spiked club, the orcs no longer look so hostile. Instead, their faces turn… debauched, I suppose is the word, as they leer upon milady and me.

Bad piggies… you’ve signed your own death warrants the moment you looked at milady with such gazes.

“I’m the only one allowed to look at her like that, after all.”

“What in the world are you saying?!”

Oh my, it seemed I let my thoughts slip once again.

And also, I can’t exactly let this go on for too long. We seem to have an audience, after all…

Anyway, I suppose I should start off by eliminating the root cause for milady’s fear.

 

I walk forward, as graceful and elegant as a maid should always be. An orc roars, charging forward not with his club, but his bare hands.

“WWWAAGH!”

I turn my head to the side to avoid his strike. I attack.

 

*splat*

“…WAA…aargh…”

*thud…”

 

First came a bursting sound of impact that made everyone reflexively cover their ears, then the orc’s groan of agony, and finally the sound of a huge body collapsing onto the ground. The remaining orcs tremble, stumbling backward as their hands instantly move to cover between their legs.

“It is called a Maid Kick.”

…where did I kick, you ask? Oh my, shame on you, to ask a lady such a delicate question.

“…wah…WAAAGH!”

One of the braver orcs charge forward, looking as though a hero stepping foot toward the final battle of his life.

*splat*

“aagg…”

*thud…*

The orc collapses frothing at the mouth, eyes rolled back. The rest are shivering with legs crossed, looking as though they might flee at any moment now.

Milady is sending me a rather prickly gaze, but well, you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. I’m absolutely not doing this because I’m starting to find it rather fun. Not at all.

 

I walk toward the orcs with a beaming smile on my face. They trip over themselves, trying to get away.

*plop-splat!*

I disable two more orcs with Maid Kicks in rapid succession. I walk toward my next target nearby, and the orc frantically shakes his head, terror apparent on its face. I get ready to unleash my Maid Kick…

 

“N-NOOOOOOO!!!”

 

And am interrupted by someone in a full set of plate armor charging between me and the orc, so I jump back. His face is hidden behind a helmet, but I can still see him squirming with legs pressed together even as he points his one-handed sword toward me.

“What might be your intention, sir…?”

“H-how could you be so merciless?!”

My? Whosoever might he be?

 

“…s-sir Karl?” Milady whispers.

“…”

Aaah, I was thinking that his voice sounded familiar, though I couldn’t quite place it. So inside the suit of armor is that Karl, then.

“Well then, sir Karl, what might be your intention?”

“I can’t allow you to continue with such cruelties!”

What could he be referring to? How puzzling. I look toward the remaining orcs, and they are now looking at Karl as if he’s their messiah…

“…my, how beautiful!” I exclaim, genuinely moved by the sight before me. “So there can be understanding between humans and monsters, is it.”

“…not like this. Not like this…” Karl wearily mumbles.

 

Then a girl’s voice comes from the hallway that Karl came out of.

“Sir Karl, what are you doing?! Aren’t the orcs attacking her so you can get Kamishiro?!”

She is… umm… well, whatever her name is, she used to be my classmate, as well as one of the girls who pushed me down the cliff back then. And also, did she just say something rather unfortunate? For her, I mean.

“…”

“Eep!”

I send her a stare and her face rapidly pales. She takes a fearful step backward.

Oops, I accidentally let a bit of my magic leak and [Intimidate]d her. I should be more careful. It wouldn’t do for my true nature to be revealed now.

 

“Hina, you be quiet! That’s not what I meant! We were just going to scare her a bit before I swoop in to save her!”

“EEEHHH?!”

Oh yes, her name’s Hina. I never forgot, of course.

Apparently they haven’t communicated much despite being co-conspirators. I don’t know how they managed to get these orcs toward a floor so close to the entrance, but they certainly seem to be the culprits.

“…sir Karl.”

“Sharon… I couldn’t care less about you yourself, but I can not accept you having a Partner.”

“H-how dare you!”

 

Hmm, I can feel some rather twisted emotions coming from Karl.

 

“Fine then, just Kamishiro will do. Orcs, get her-”

One of the orcs immediately make a move upon hearing Hina’s voice, so I pacify it with a Maid Kick.

*splat!*

“Wa…aaagh…”

*thuddd…”

It appears Hina possesses a unique skill along the lines of [Monster Domination] or [Charm], but her skill also seems much too weak to do anything more than a nudge in their minds.

It might get rather troublesome if she is to be allowed to do anything more. I rapidly move toward her.

“Wha-”

There’s no point in leaving her alive, and besides, she had done me a wrong she has to answer for. I unhesitantly squeeze her neck. Yet even as fearful, as painful as she looks, she still lives.

“H-help…”

How strange… that should have been enough strength to crush boulders.

 

“Letty, stop.”

“Yes, milady.”

Milady’s orders are absolute, and I immediately loosen my hand. Hina sinks down on the floor. Sheer relief, as well as a faint smell of ammonia, emanates from her.

 

“I don’t particularly care for Hina, but you, Fleurety,“ Karl says, clink-clanking toward me in his suit of armor, “Have a duel with me.”

“…a duel, sir?”

“Yes, a duel. That said, I won’t tell you to become my Partner if I win. You just have to give up on being Sharon’s.”

“Sir Karl, you have no rights!” Milady shouts.

“Stay out of this, Sharon!”

To dare take that attitude to milady… it seems I shall have to crush him.

 

“Then I shall accept.”

“Letty?!”

“Have no fear, milady.”

I flash milady a smile… Karl is just going to have an accident, that’s all.

 

“…alright. Let’s go!”

“WAAGH! (Come on brutha, get ‘er!)”

“WAAAAGH! (Me like pretty ladies but me make exception for you, brutha!”

 

The orcs are cheering Karl on. I understand non-human languages too, but I think I shall spare Karl the knowledge of their words.

 

Karl swings his sword at me with no hesitation. He must have seen my fight with the orcs, then.

I take out my Orc Killer as I think about what sort of accident he should have today. The orcs’ gazes instantly turn into one of dark hatred, even as they stumble backward in fear.

“Can you even swing that thing?!” Karl shouts.

I sure can. I can twirl it like a pen, too.

But it’s not the time for him to know I can use it, not just yet. I dodge Karl’s sword, pretending to lose my balance, and only then do I slam the spiked club into his neck.

 

With a beautiful sound of impact, Karl flies. Hmm, strange…

“Tsk, it really is as heavy as it looks…”

My attack should have broken his neck. Yet he still stands up, looking pained but not especially injured.

“But it won’t be enough to get through this armor, this Hallowed Sanctuary that has been the Mercia family’s treasure for generations!”

Karl sounds full of confidence.

It is good armor, I must admit. From what I can see of the armor’s magical flow and materials, Karl’s trust in it isn’t unfounded. Still, I find it rather curious that my strike just now didn’t even manage to make him unconscious.

 

I spare a few moments to gather my thoughts.

It was the same when I attacked Hina. They can’t die? Yet even if a Skill to prevent one from dying exists, it’s unnatural for both of them to have it.

Then is it just the way this world’s System work? If that’s true, it would be quite the inconvenience.

 

“It’s my turn now!”

 

So, I can’t kill anyone. In which case, it would be wiser to keep what I can do a secret until I know the reason why.

At the same time, I cannot lose here. I am milady’s Partner, after all.

 

“WAAAGH!” “WHAAH!” “WAAAAAAGAH!”

 

I look at the orcs so admirably cheering Karl on, and I think. What has caused this Orc Killer to be so reviled, so terrifying? They also hold the same gazes of dread for me as they do for the spiked club.

Hmm, perhaps… considering its shape, it might just be…

 

I stop holding Orc Killer in one hand. Instead, I grab it at the end of its shaft with both my hands and point it to the ground away from me, meanwhile turning myself ninety degrees to one side and slightly bending down.

“”“WHAAAAAAAAAAAAH?!?!?!”””

The orcs wail the moment they see me changing my stance.

“…what is that stance?”

“Sir Karl, are you aware that there are many kinds of blunt weapons that can defeat a fully-armored enemy by impact alone?”

“…I am. And indeed, even this Hallowed Sanctuary can’t protect against such impacts… but that’s a weakness that can be covered with magic. A spell has allowed me to retain my consciousness no matter what happens, as long as I’m wearing this armor.”

As he speaks, he takes out a shield from his back and transfers it to his left hand to hold.

“I’ve already prepared myself for blunt weapons! You have no chances, Fleurety! Admit your defeat!”

“Well then, please forgive my discourtesy.”

 

I twist my body and give my Orc Killer a large practice swing upward.

Normally, large blunt weapons should be swung downward in order to leverage their weight. Normally.

Orc Killer isn’t a normal blunt weapon.

The reason why orcs hate and fear it so much lies within how it’s used.

This weapon isn’t supposed to be used with downward slams. Don’t think of it as a morningstar, think of it as an iron stick with a heavy mass at one end. Does it not remind one of a certain something from Earth, then?

Not a weapon for use in combat, but a piece of sports equipment.

 

I twist my torso, drawing half a circle in the air with Orc Killer to bring it aloft behind my back, and I swing. The heavy end of Orc Killer scrapes against the ground as it speeds toward my target: between Karl’s legs.

 

*BANG!*

“Ugh, aargh…”

Karl groans. He drops to his knees.

“Nice shot,” I announce.

“…d-damn you…” He whimpers.

 

He still stands up again, if only barely. I swing my 1-iron club one more time at the same place.

*BANG!*

“Fairway,” I say.

“…urk…”

 

He can still make sounds? One more time then.

*BANG!*

“On the green.”

Thank you for your applause, imaginary audience.

 

So, while he might have prepared for impacts from above, it seems his protection doesn’t apply to strikes from below.

Karl is twitching now, his hands pressed between his legs. I raise one of his legs to prepare him for a last putt…

 

“”NOOOO, STOP IT ALREADYYYYY!!!””

“””WAAAAAGGGHHHHHHHH!”””

 

…but then, a chorus of soulful cries reverberate throughout the dungeon, in a wonderful moment wherein the hearts of humans and monsters all become one.

What a beautiful thing it is, that sympathy can transcend all borders.

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