Extra Stories about the Waiting Maids and their Master: The Mutual Assistance
The working conditions of the waiting maids in the Inner Palace of the Carpa Kingdom actually counted as more than manageable.
On top of that, they hardly ever received any sudden tasks, since Queen Aura was practically never present during the day and Zenjirou preferred to be left alone, however weird that may be for nobility in this world.
Still, that didn’t mean it was roses all the way.
One very good example would be that the “business hours” went up.
Nevertheless, his habit of staying up late (albeit only up to ten or eleven o’clock at night at best) showed no signs of changing, because he had brought a source of light in form of various LED floor lamps and a domestic hydropower generator with him.
Although he rarely did call for their services, the maids were not allowed to ignore their awake master and go to bed by themselves.
The result was that the young waiting maids developed the same bad habit of “staying up late” as Zenjirou.
It goes without saying that the effect of a bad habit did leave its mark on the “three troublemakers” Fay, Dolores and Rethe as well.
Late at night in the Carpa Kingdom. Or to say it in the terms of modern Japan: The timeframe, where eleven-years-old complained when you told them to go to sleep.
Even in the Inner Palace, the private chambers of Zenjirou, meaning the living and bed room, were the only places with electricity.
The flickering flame of the burning oil was somewhat lacking, but their rooms weren’t all that big to begin with, so it shed light on the outlines of the entire room at least.
“Good, just three more holes. If I get a Birdie now, I might get to break Zenjirou-sama’s record…!”
Although she was merrily kicking the bed as she lay there, her gaze directed at the game console was the seriousness incarnate.
On a related note, Fay was currently playing on a non-collapsible game console with only one screen. It was a different device from the one she had played the drop down or cart race games on before. The girls hadn‘t chosen this game console on their own.
“Damn, these girls are getting really good. At this rate my snacks will vanish in an instant.”
In that case, he could just stop giving out “rewards”, but the fact that he didn’t do that was prove that he, too, enjoyed the game competition with the maids.
The reward Zenjirou had prepared right now were the canned chocolate or biscuits from his emergency pack and as soon as these were consumed, he no longer had any snacks from his world.
The light from the display of the game console enlightened her face from below and was reflected in her two prominent big black eyes.
“Argh, no. Why? The wind? Are you kidding me?”
“Hey, Fay! Be quiet! Do you want to get into trouble again?”
On both sides of this room were the private rooms of other waiting maids. Staying up late was frowned upon, so when one of the other maids, who had probably already went to sleep, complained, they would come out on the short end.
Although she apologized at once and lowered her voice, Fay still kicked her legs frustrated and grunted. So Dolores got up from her own bed and looked at the console in Fay’s hands.
“But he shoots the farthest… Uhh…”
“You’re too obsessed with the high score. When you’re playing on a course with hazards or fairways with out of bonds left and right, you have to play safe. Your score will be more solid when you only attack on safe fairways.”
“That’s because you’re only favouring range and use a character that has bad control.”
Meanwhile not even Dolores noticed that she was changing in various ways by getting in touch with the culture of a different world at the hands of the game.
Needless to say, the game console calculated the score automatically. But apparently the three troublemakers had learned to calculate the golf score by themselves, albeit vaguely, while they witnessed the up and downs in their scores during their gameplay.
Having said that, the girls had no idea how valuable the knowledge was that they were obtaining now.
Having finished the game, Fay plunged her head into her pillow while still holding onto the game console with both hands.
“Ya…”
“Well, then turn off the ‘power’ or it’ll go to waste, since Rethe isn’t back yet.”
The declaration from Dolores made Fay turn only her head towards her and speak to her.
Just from the sugar-coated voice of her little roommate, Dolores knew what she was going to say and quickly snatched the game console from Fay’s hands.
“Aw? Oh, come on. I’ll give it back as soon as Rethe comes back.”
“I said no. I know you all too well. If I were to allow that now, you would say ‘Give me a moment. Only one more hole. One more and I’ll be done, so wait a sec.’ and ultimately play until the end.
While the two of them were conversing like that, a cornered, yet unhasting voice resounded from beyond the door of the room as if she had waited for the right timing.
“See, she’s back.”
Dolores and Fay quickly got up from their beds and trotted over to the door in order to let their other roommate inside.
“Puh, that was heavy. Thanks, Fay-chan, Dolores-chan.”
“Don’t mention it. You worked hard on your extra shift already. Must have been tough.”
Putting the silver alcohol jug and wooden plate from Rethe down on the table in the corner of the room, Fay raised the lid on the wooden plate of her own accord and exclaimed joyful.
“Haha, I do not mind. Let us eat it all together. Ah, Dolores-chan, the silver jug is filled with the self-made alcohol from Zenjirou-sama. We are to give our impressions on it after we drink it.”
The waiting maids usually worked in a team of three, but the reason why Rethe had been doing work by herself until late at night was that the Cooking Department Head Vanessa had asked her to help out.
Due to that, Rethe had been called in as an emergency assistance, since she had the greatest skills amongst the young maids.
“Wait, alcohol? From Zenjirou-sama?”
“Yes, but it is made entirely new, so it is possible that it turned out bad. If it tastes weird when we drink it, he wants us to stop at once. And he wants to hear our impression on it afterwards~”
The base for it was the self-made distilled liquor. Since he had brought along an electronic distillery with an automated temperature control function, it was relatively easy to make distilled liquor, but merely distilled, the alcohol concentration was fairly high and not suited for drinking like that.
A lot of people in Japan pursued the making of liqueurs such as plum liqueur as a hobby.
Normally, the recipe for plum liqueur often included “shuuchou”, “plums” and “rock sugar”, but needless to say, these didn’t exist in this world, so he had substituted it with his “self-made distilled liquor”, “a lemon-like fruit” and “granulated sugar”.
However, he had no way to determine the exact alcohol concentration in his self-made distilled liquor (since he didn’t bring an alcoholimeter), so he was still stuck in the trial-and-error stage.
Drinking that trial-and-error alcohol actually signified that they were “testing it for food poisoning” rather than having a taste of it, but most of the waiting maids, starting with Dolores, were surprisingly eager to try it.
The private rooms of the waiting maids were by no means large, considering they shared it in sets of three.
“Roger that!”
Saying so, Rethe was about to stand up, but Dolores stopped her with a wave of her hand.
Just as she had said, she smoothly moved the small table to between their beds.
“Good, this should do. Fay, you can put the stuff back on it. I’m going to fetch some cups for the alcohol.”
“Yeah, sure… Wait, you were eating on the bed again!? I told you to stop doing that, because the crumbs get into the sheets!”
Scolded by Dolores, Fay showed no sign of guilt as she jumped onto her bed and gave it a wipe with her hands.
“Dolores-chan, you are begin too loud.”
A worried Rethe cautioned Dolores, who yelled inadvertently, with a slightly faster way of speaking than usual.
The angry outburst from Dolores had been rather loud, but fortunately no one from next door came over to complain.
“Hmm… It does not seem to smell weird at least.”
Of course she was being cautious, since she was going to intake an unknown alcohol drink in the dark.
“Hmm…”
“Does it have a weird taste?”
Shaking her head wordlessly, Dolores then
offered a clear opinion.
“Lemme see… Wow, this is good. I like it. Or rather, this is the best alcohol I’ve ever drunk!”
“Yeah, figures. You do love sweet stuff. But be careful. This alcohol is actually pretty strong.”
“Why do I even bother… You already emptied the cup.”
On the other hand, Dolores and Rethe were sipping it at best and snacking on the food in the meantime.
“Yes, and these are meat and vegetables on a stick. I got the leftovers, seasoned them with salt and spices, then roasted them. They turned out really good~”
“Is that so. Too bad. Okay, I will try to come up with a seasoned snack that suits the sweet alcohol.”
“Oh, gimme one, too. …Wow, this is good! Really good, Rethe. Dolores is just all bark no bite. She can’t even make anything good herself.”
“But unlike you, I won’t nitpick over stuff that other people made. I’ll eat it happily.”
As always, their conversation sounded like a quarrel, but the pitch of their voices was a positive one that could only be described as harmonious.
Although Rethe was reprimanding them, it didn’t sound real either, as she was aware of the circumstances.
Scrabbling about in the deep, wooden plate with the pickled vegetables, Fay suddenly remembered something, got onto Dolores’ bed and picked up the game console that lay next to the pillow with her left hand.
She inspected the inside of the plate after she had turned on the portable game console, whereas Dolores pulled a weary face.
“Duh. I always eat with my right hand and only used my left hand right now.”
Even when she had played the game while snacking the banana chips on top of the bed before Rethe had come back, she had put a damped cloth on the side, using it to wipe her oily and salty fingertips every time before touching the game console again.
“Well, we have been eating it with the three of us.”
“Oh, speaking of, we should really go to bed soon. What time is it, Fay?”
“Wait, ehm, three minutes past nine.”
At some point, the three troublemakers had adapted to the twenty-two hour clock. It might merely be a matter of time until they started to say “just five more minutes” in the morning.
With these words, Dolores slowly got up from the bed when Rethe suddenly exclaimed squealing.
Their shifts were divided into four major domains on a rotating basis: Quarters, kitchen, bath and garden. Needless to say, each waiting maid had her strengths and weaknesses.
“No worries. I’ll cover for you, Rethe.”
Despite her petite form, Fay was actually overflowing with stamina and energy, so she had no problem with garden work.
Except for a small shortcoming in cooking, Dolores managed all the other work pretty well, so gardening wasn’t a “weakness” as it was for Rethe, but she did “hate” it.
“Yes, thanks! In exchange, I am going to do my best when we have the cooking shift again~”
Instead of scrutinizing the motive of her roommate, Rethe honestly expressed her gratitude.
The gardening shift.
The reason that made it the “worst” was actually quite simple: Compared the other jobs, the gardening shift was an incredible tough job.
And although the bath was big enough to give you a headache when scrubbing it, it didn’t even compare to the size of the lawn that you had to tend to in the garden.
Why then did some of the waiting maids consider it the “best” job, albeit being a minority?
As a cooking staff, they had to stand in the kitchen in accordance with the three meals.
And although the cleaning itself was done relatively quickly, the cleaning crew had to be on stand-by for the rest of the day in case their master suddenly called for their services.
The sun of the Carpa Kingdom was not something you could overcome with just attitude or guts. Then again, they couldn’t really wait for the sun to set to start with the garden work.
So they started early, but got a long break before they called it a day early, too. Considering only the actual working hours, it definitely was an immensely favourable task.
In regards to the “three troublemakers“, Dolores and Rethe belonged to the majority faction, whereas Fay belonged to the minority one.
“The grass has really grown around here. Today we will be focussing on cutting it.”
“Okay!”
“Yes, very well.”
That could be attributed to Emilia’s policy as the department head.
Her hair was long and black, her skin brown and her stomach had put on a weight appropriate for her age.
To put it bluntly, she was a corpulent woman of middle age.
Equipped with a thick glove on her right hand and a small one-handed sickle in the other hand, Emilia squatted down on the spot and started to cut the grass first of all in order to set a pattern for the young waiting maids.
“…..”
The morning sun was already developing its destructive force, casting long shadows from the girls, who had started to cut the grass in silence, onto the lawn.
About one hour later.
The temperature in the courtyard suddenly skyrocketed when the morning sun revealed itself. Unsurprisingly enough it was Rethe, who threw in the towel first.
In reaction to bending her back rearward, the sweat from her forehead dripped onto her chin and then ran into her cleavage.
“So you’re not good with the sickle, Rethe. Even though the kitchen knife is like an extension of your arm.”
Hanging her head crestfallen, Rethe replied like that to her petite co-worker, who was helping her quite energetically with the sickle in her assigned area.
Rethe had a stiff body to begin with, so she had trouble working crouched for a long time. Moreover, she fell over extremely often whenever she cut the grass, because her huge breasts upset her balance, which was already impaired from her poor motor skills. On top of that, she was a little, just a tiny bit heavier than the other young maids, so her knees started to hurt when she squatted down.
“How pathetic. And you still call yourself the daughter of a knight?”
“Y- You are right. My apologies, Emilia-sama!”
“Hold it, Rethe. Tell me, were you slacking off? Or were you taking a break, because you were exhausted?”
“Answer me.”
“N- No! I was not slacking off. I am really worn out.”
Ditching work is beyond all question and failure is not an option, but neither is overstraining yourself. It will cause a lot more trouble when you pass out from overworking yourself.”
So she was merciless towards slackers and expected people with insufficient skills to improve themselves. In the same way, she expected them to make the best of their imperfect skills. And anyone, who tried to work beyond their capabilities, was admonished by her.
When they made a mistake, they were scolded harshly. And when they tried to make up for that mistake by overstraining themselves, they were scolded even worse. So anyone with a sensitive nature would curl up and be unable to move anymore.
“Yes, excuse me then.”
Being told to rest in a harsh tone of voice, Rethe showed a blooming smile and retreated into the shade of a tree, almost crawling off the grassland.
“The sun is up so high it is becoming perilous. Let us stop for now.”
Each utterance varied slightly, though.
“Puh, that was a heavy going.”
Rethe and Dolores slumped down as if their puppet strings had been cut. In spite of that, the overly energetic Fay jumped around happily all by herself.
Their colleague with short black hair turned around with a smile that seemed to say that she had a flash of wit just now, yet Dolores had sought refuge in the shade of the tree by lying down and answered with a husky voice without getting up from the grass.
As for Rethe, she apparently didn’t even have the power to reply anymore.
She shook her head weakish without saying anything, barely communicating her refusal.
Fay rushed inside the building to get the soccer ball.
“Haha… You may be right…”
The hotter the weather was the more active large reptiles, such as the poikilotherm dragons, got. Of course there was a limit to it, since they were organic creatures, but at the very least the temperatures of the hottest season on the South Continent were nowhere near that limit.
Underneath the brutal sun of that very South Continent, Fay was lifting the soccer ball in her miniskirt maid dress after she had fetched it on her own. That scene was so bizarre that one definitely questioned whether she was a genuine human or a cross-breeding with a dragon.
“Hey… Fay-chan, I can see your undies.”
Instead of juggling it, Fay rather made a jumping kick at the end while Rethe and Dolores leaned seated against the trunk of the tree and watched over her dumbstruck.
The owner of this gentle voice with a sour undertone was Emilia, who suddenly stood next to Rethe and Dolores.
No one else from the department heads separated business and private as distinct as Emilia.
“You will not recover when all you do is lie there. Here, some drinks.”
The water carafe contained water mixed with black sugar and extremely sour fruit juice.
“Yay! All hail to Emilia-sama! She knows her stuff!”
“When did you…”
“Sure, sure, there is enough for all of you, so no cutting in line. One after another.”
“Here. Be careful not to choke on it.”
“Puh…”
“That hit the spot…”
The cold water with a temperature of under ten degree Celsius could only be experienced inside the Inner Palace and during the hottest season of the Carpa Kingdom it really soothed a parched throat.
When Fay vigorously showcased her cup, Emilia refilled it with a soft smile.
“Emilia-sama, may I ask for a refill as well?”
Emilia happily acted as a waitress for the young waiting maids, who sat on the grass and held up their cups in quick succession.
Having said this, the three were sweating like crazy all over their bodies, because they had taken in a large amount of water all at once after their bodies were directly heated up by the sunlight, so they practically looked as if water had been poured over their heads.
“Once you have calmed down, go take a meal inside. But before that, wash off your sweat in the bath and change your clothes. Ines would give you hell if she saw you walking around inside the building like that.”
Taking a bath and changing clothes during work hours.
Zenjirou was forgiving towards a lot of things, but when it came to hygiene, he became a different person, so much that you might call him obstinate by the standards of the Carpa Kingdom.
Of course Zenjirou would never allow himself to show that disgust, much less mention it, but the waiting maids were professionals in that regard.
Consequently, the maids had assumed the habit to always take a bath and change into new clothes whenever they had worked up a sweat.
The pompous and ridiculous long midday break for a maid came to an end after they bathed, changed clothes, ate and took a nap. Once the rays of sunshine weakened a bit, the evening shift started.
“Yes!”
“Yes~”
Energetic for Fay, calm and indifferent for Dolores and somewhat drawn-out for Rethe. The individuality in their answers could also be applied to their working habits.
“E- Ehm…”
“What are you doing, Rethe? If you have time to look around, go fetch a rake, too, and sweep up the grass. And you still call yourself the daughter of a knight?”
Scolded at once, Rethe ran off with a late start.
Emilia would only retort with “You better work these hands if you have time to make excuses. And you still call yourself the daughter of a knight?”, even if Rethe were to clarify it now.
“Okay, I will.”
When they were sweeping up the green waste, they had to be careful not to dig over the ground unnecessarily, so they were sweating all over their bodies in no time after a few strokes.
“Here you go. I’ll start with this pile.”
Once she had filled three bags with grass, she put these bags back onto the handcart.
“Be quick and do not dawdle along.”
Giving a short reply, Dolores pushed the cart laden with three large bags and headed towards one corner of the courtyard.
It was convenient to move around large or heavy things, but Zenjirou was hardly ever doing any physical work in this world. Therefore he was generally loaning it to the waiting maids in order to make the best of it.
Supervisory Maid Amanda had been convinced by its utility insomuch that she had discussed it with the passing merchants whether something similar could be mass-produced.
And because the construction of the handcart was hardly anything complicated, it would surely be possible to reproduce it, even with the craftsmen of this world.
In the meantime, Dolores had made a couple of round trips with the handcart, carrying all the bags stuffed with grass to the waste disposal site. The sun was already sinking in the west, bathing the vicinity in a red sunset.
“Yes!”
“Yes~”
The finishing touch of the garden work was the “watering”. It was a painful job that took its toll on the exhausted body.
Therefore they had to scatter the water around with a ladle after they scooped it with a bucket.
“Heave-ho!”
“Ah, sorry.”
Despite the evening time, it was still pretty hot, so it would dry soon anyway, even if she got wet. If anything, it actually felt good to be showered with the cold water.
“Heave… ho.”
“Rethe, if you are tired, then take your time. And be extra thorough with each swing instead. So disgraceful. And you still call yourself the daughter of a knight?”
Her arm, as it held the full ladle, was shaking so much that you even noticed it from a distant.
“Doesn’t Zenjirou-sama have some tools that make the watering easier…?”
“Dolores, it truly is disgracing, when the daughter of a knight of all people depends on the belongings of her master to lighten her burden. Be ashamed of yourself.”
Dolores cowered before her and apologized profusely on reflex, but unknown to her due to the nightfall, Emilia was, contrary to her scolding tone, actually looking preoccupied.
If that burden could be lightened at least a bit with some kind of tools, then it was worth considering.
Holding such a thought in her mind, Emilia swung her own ladle and continued to water the newly cut grass.
“Good job. Now we are done for today.”
In reality, it would be more accurate to say that it had gotten too dark to continue working instead of calling it the end of the work day. The sun had already set so much that they could barely perceive each other’s silhouettes, recognizing any specific facial expressions was impossible.
“Finally… done…”
There were one tall and one busty silhouette, but the tiny one was gone.
Emilia looked around restlessly and then an agitated voice resounded from behind her.
When she turned around, there stood a really small silhouette. One could only see the outlines, but it was clear that the silhouette aka. Fay was holding heavy buckets in both her hands.
What bad timing.
“Forgive me, Fay. We are already done for today.”
Fay’s eyes were already quite big to begin with, but she widened them all the way to boot when she heard that, complaining loudly.
“Sorry, but could you empty the bucket? If you do not want to return to the fountain, you can just scatter it around here.”
Not even Fay, a bundle of energy, was able to tolerate that wasted effort. She exclaimed extremely displeased and put the buckets down with a bang.
With these words, Emilia disappeared into the darkness first.
Fay responded absent-minded, but she had no intention to bring the bucket all the way back to the fountain. So she was left with no choice, but to get over it by scattering it randomly around here.
“Sucks to be you. Well, good luck with the last buckets.”
That voice was vivid insomuch that you could envision the smirk on her face as she mocked her, even in this darkness.
“Yes, thanks!”
It was too dark to see anything, but judging by that scream, she seemed to have succeeded with her plan to shower Dolores with water.
“…..”
“You little!”
She made a dead set at her from beyond the darkness, but Fay dodged her splendidly with a side step while holding the ladle in one hand and the bucket in the other.
“Take this.”
“Kyaa!? Sheesh, Dolores-chan, that is cold.”
“Ah, sorry, Rethe.”
“Got ya!”
“Now you’ve done it! You little shit!”
Forgetting about their earlier fatigue, the two of them energetically engaged in a water fight.
This being the case, it was anything but unpleasant to splash each other with water, even if they were still wearing maid clothes.
That assessment was further backed by the fact that Rethe, too, wasn’t moving away while she reprimanded them worried, even though she was getting hit numerous times for a while now.
“Interesting. Bring it on.”
“There!”
The tall and tiny maid duo splashed the remaining water into each other’s faces at the same time.