Princess Of Hope
I immediately moved on to the next stage of the plan. First, I need to be able to stay in this castle permanently. In order to do that, I have to find work in this castle.
Which means, I need to quickly seek out the servant from earlier. I left the room and searched in this stupidly vast castle for the servant who took care of me. I then found her walking in the hallway and spoke to her.
"Um"
"Yes? Oh my, it's you"
The servant-san is a woman who is probably in her late 20s. She must be a considerably good person seeing how she took care of a stranger like me. Well, it may have been due to my skill that she was not wary of me.
"Thank you for earlier. I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble."
"It's alright. Are you okay? You look a little better now, but you looked like you were going to die a little while ago. "
"Yeah, to tell you the truth— "
I summarized my story for her. Why did I open up to her so easily? It’s because I thought that she would be the type of person who would be able to relate and sympathize with my sob story.
Sure enough, the servant (called Hamirsan, it seems), nodded with a bit of tears in her eyes as she listened to my story.
"S-so that's what happened… That’s so sad."
"I- I felt so lonely”
"You must have been lonely, weren’t you? There there."
Hamirsan gently patted my head.
I clung on to her with that opening.
"Ah, hey now, hey. Roush-kun?"
"Hamirsan, you smell so good…"
“What is a young man like you trying to do to this old lady?”
"Hamirsan is not an old lady. You're very beautiful."
When I said that, Hamirsan's face turned red and she looked away.
This is the reaction I wanted. I feel bad for deceiving Hamirsan, but it's for the sake of my revenge.
"P, please don’t tease me this much."
"I'm sorry."
I said as I separated myself from her.
"Um, so, I'm out of money now and I was thinking I'd like to find some work here. Is there something I can do here?"
“Work, hmm… there is. There are actually all kinds of work but there is a procedure to the application process though..”
Hamirsan glanced at me for a second.
“You poor thing. I’ll somehow do something about that. How does cleaning inside the castle sound?”
"Really? Thank you so much! I'm so happy."
Alright, first objective cleared.
Hamirsan seems to be a good person so far. I felt my heart split a little for using her but I must endure.
She told me to wait a bit after that. Apparently, she was able to talk to the officials in charge of the castle for me and safely landed me the job.
That day, Hamirsan talked to me regarding the job’s details. The day was over after she gave me a tour of the castle.
The next day, I began working.
My job was extremely simple. Cleaning up around the castle, that was it. Well, there were some minor rules about how to clean, but overall, my job was just to clean thoroughly and quickly.
Now then, I don't know how long it's going to take for the heroes to defeat the demon king…but I'll wait for my opportunity without being impatient.
Then, a month after I had started working, my chance finally came.
It happened when I was dusting the fancy vases in the hallway as usual. I was carefully wiping the vase when I saw the princess walking down from the end of the corridor towards me.
When I looked closely, the servant following her was Hamirsan.
The princess’s name was Ritona. She was fifteen years old like me. Her wavy, blonde hair was swaying in the air as she slowly walked.
I thought that now is the biggest chance with Hamirsan present, so I decided to carry out the plan that I had in mind for the past month.
"Woah"
"Kyaaa"
Princess Ritona came near. I acted as if I spilled the bucket of water that I was going to wipe the vase with in a panic from trying to quickly kneel in her presence. Furthermore, with the water that I spilled on purpose, I pretended to slip as I stumbled in front of the princess.
"I’m s-s-s-s-sorry."
I got back on my knees immediately and apologized.
Now then, my nose had even started bleeding unexpectedly from hitting it in a terribly goofy manner…but what about her reaction?
"Ar- Are you okay?"
Princess Ritona seems to be worrying about me wholeheartedly as she stopped walking with a look of concern on her face.
This isn’t something normal. Normally, the princess would be ignoring this. Even if she was worried, it would have just ended with the servant scolding me.
However, the servant with her right now is Hamirsan. She was also looking at my face with a bit of a worried look.
This was likely due to my skill as well.
"I-I'm okay. Really. I'm okay, so please don't worry."
I pinched my nose that wouldn’t stop bleeding even though I told them that I was okay.
"Princess Ritona, may I humbly request for permission to treat this person?"
"Y-yes. I’ll allow it”
As expected, Hamirsan came before me with a handkerchief in her hands after witnessing this.
"Jeez… What are you doing? What would happen if I wasn’t the servant who is with the princess right now…?”
"I-I'm sorry."
I said to her in a quiet voice. I'm sorry Hamirsan. It was all planned.
Hamirsan held the handkerchief in place against my nose. She used recovery magic with a short chant and stopped my nose from bleeding.
"This should be fine now."
"Thank you so much. I'm sorry for troubling you."
"Hey, Hamira. Are you acquainted with that person?"
The princess was interested and asked about me and Hamirsan's relationship.
I did it! Success! To start, I have to get the princess interested in me. It will work like this.
"Y-Yes. Actually, this person is a childhood friend of Mina, who is going to marry the hero, Yuto-sama."
Hamirsan gave me a perfect introduction that couldn’t have been better.
With this, there's no way the princess won't be interested in me.
"Ah, Yuto-sama! I see, but how did you end up working here? As far as I can tell you look young."
"I turned 15 this year. To tell you the truth, I came here to cheer on my childhood friend on her return to the capital, but then I ran out of money to return home with…so I was given the opportunity to work here."
"Is that so? You and I are the same age. You came all this way for the sake of your childhood friend. How kind of you."
Princess Ritona said this to me with a warm smile on her face.
She made my heart feel so warm that I forgot about revenge or schemes or anything of the sort for that moment.
Hamirsan and the princess are both good people. Is it okay to get these people involved in this?- In my own selfish revenge? Even when they are such simple and kind people?
"Eh, Roush-kun?"
Hamirsan and Princess Ritona had a look of surprise on their faces. That's because I had unexpectedly shed a tear.
"W, why are you crying?"
"I-I’m sorry. I don't even understand it myself, but it's been such a long time since anyone's been so nice to me… It made me so happy."
That's right. At the time I was being taken care of by Hamirsan, all of my emotions were only dark. However, it's different now. Their warmth has touched me, and made me feel human kindness once more after a really long time.
"Roush-san, is what I should refer to him as, right?”
Princess Ritona asked Hamirsan.
"Yes. That’s right…”
"Roush-san, will I find you here again tomorrow?"
The tears stopped, and I rubbed my slightly reddened eyes.
Princess Ritona asked me such a thing. What in the world is the meaning of this?
"N, no. Tomorrow I’ll be cleaning the second floor ”
"Then, let's talk again tomorrow."
"Y-ye-What? Is that okay?"
"P- Princess!?"
Hamirsan was also surprised.
W-what's going on?
"Yup. Now then, I’ll see you tomorrow. Hamira, let’s go."
"W-wai, princess? Princess-!"
Princess Ritona started to walk off as Hamirsan chased after her.
I was left behind to clean the water that had spilled with a cloth and fix up the place.
I don’t know what kind of change occurred inside the princess’s heart, but it seems like we’ll be talking once again…
This has far surpassed the expectations of my plans, but I was more confused as I had no idea where this was going.
I won’t know even if I think about it, so let’s ask the princess directly tomorrow.
Princess Ritona, what a mysterious person.