Chapter 14.1 : The Head Maid, Redsan
In the vast Maou"s castle.
Underneath of it spread an even vaster underground labyrinth.
Maou-san"s home is way too big.
This was a story from a few generation ago. Maybe around the time when the hero tried to attack the Maou"s castle, he was teleported into this underground labyrinth. [TL : Mark this line, this is a huge hint for the future plots]
Talking about stamina, the hero of that time had to traverse this uselessly vast labyrinth to fight the Maou"s army.
Mostly cutting through it with their cheating physical strength.
The majority of this underground labyrinth was damp and gloomy, which was in sharp contrast with the Maou"s castle. The combination of an unspeakable fishy smell along with dust and moss was enshrouding this place.
It"s somewhat similar to the cave near my village.
There"s no problem with light inside of the labyrinth thanks to the shining magic stones that spread throughout the dungeon.
Though the light of the magic stone itself felt eerie to me.
I heard from the royal knights that there"s an altar to the G.o.ddess of darkness in the lowest floor of this labyrinth and something about the first Maou being awarded her divine protection
It"s been 1200 years since then. Even though the following successors of Maou traversed the labyrinth, It seems that no Maou who came after the first generation was awarded her divine protection.
I wonder wouldn"t the legend of the labyrinth became an urban legend then.
It"s gone too far even if it"s just a deception.
It seems that the first floor of the G.o.ddesses labyrinth also served as the first floor of the bas.e.m.e.nt of the Maou"s castle.
As expected of a G.o.ddess who is hailed as the G.o.ddess of chaos. It seems this was made to confuse the boundary of the labyrinth and the Maou"s castle.
…….. U~hn.
I thought that a cute young girl who was chased by ruffians would be brought to a safer place.
But the place where that poor cutie, which is me, is brought to was this underground labyrinth.
Well, Redsan is also a beauty too right.
Certainly no one will come to attack me in this place.
But something else might come out.
Though I kept complaining inside, I"ll follow her like a good girl for now.
However…………
How far is she going to take me I wonder?
A while later, we arrived in a small room.
She"s urging me to enter the room.
Naturally I enter the room.
After entering the room in hurry without lowering my vigilance, Redsan turned around before entering the room.
There"s nothing special inside this seemingly desolated room.
It might be something along the lines of, she didn"t prepare the room beforehand or she might bring selected people? This is.
Well……… It"s about the time huh.
「Is Reanschild also around this area? 」
Even when I"m trying to bait her to answer my question, Redsan just looked at me from over her shoulder without losing her composure.
Well, she found out about my plan huh. そりゃ。
「I expected that you"re going to start making a ruckus along the way, but you followed me all the way to this place in silence. Courageous, aren"t you」
「Oops. And here I was about to abuse you before. I"m surprised by your reaction」
Though I readied myself in case something happened, Redsan just showed a troubled smile that lacked killing intent.
That"s a surprise. And here I was wondering whether it"ll became even more simple.
「My deepest apologies for not acting to your expectations. But you were calm all the way until this place…it was strange no matter how one thought of it. And here I am, doing my best to suppress my trembling legs, Refiysama is completely calm about this matter. This should be attributed to our different characters」
「No. Isn"t my situation worse than yours? 」
「You"re jesting. By nature, you are that kind of person, aren"t you? 」
By nature you say. By nature huh.
I"m a fine girl no matter where you"re looking from.
「Then, why was it me? There should be many others. Lord Barlunt should be the prime suspect right? 」
「It"s just a simple matter. Pontkun of the royal knights. For some reason he"s the only one who avoided eye contact with me. When I looked for the reason he did that, I arrived at you, it seems the reason is because he received orders from you, his aunt.」
「Avoiding eye contact. ……….. Just that? 」
「Just that huh, it"s because he"s the only one who did that which made him even more conspicuous」
「Eh? 」
「I said it before right, he is the ONLY one who avoided eye contact with me」
Redsan is staring at me with a dumbfounded face.
What"s the matter? Did I just say something strange?
「Only Ponta you say, do you realize that there"s 50 people in 1 group of royal knights? 」
「6 groups totaling 300 people, 50 in each right. Won"t he become even more conspicuous when Pontkun is the only one who didn"t make eye contact with me amongst those 300? 」
「300 people………… You say. 300 people you say………… Don"t tell me you remembered every one of them? 」
「Because I heard various stories after spending time in training alongside them. It was tiring me out you know」
I puffed out my chest with a satisfied smile.
But why did Redsan seem to be more confused by it?
「300 of them you say, it should be that not even two weeks have pa.s.sed since you arrived right? Is it during that time frame? You talked to 300 of them? And by yourself? 」
「I did my best! 」
「Should I doubt you “I did my best”! ? 」
What"s that, I really did my best you know?
I think that every one of them is really friendly from the very beginning though.
「You……….. Just what kind of a person are you? 一体」
「A kidnapped village girl. Simple right? But then, are you really going to kill me then? 」
「It"s not like because I hate you though. Or rather, I"m starting to like you now」
「Shall we stop this then? I hate pain after all」
I"d prefer to settle this peacefully.
It would be better if no one is hurt.
「But my deepest apologies, I can"t stop anymore. 」
「What do you mean? Do you want to kill me that much? 」
「At first, yes. Because I can"t accept the fact that a human girl will become the wife of his majesty, the person I respected the most, I hate her even more so when I was appointed to work as her head maid」
Though I wondered why she said that to me………
She affirmed that she wants to kill me when I asked but………… Things have become complicated now.
「At first you say? does that mean you"re doing it for a different reason now? 」
「Though this may sound comical, I noticed the other reason when I was taken out from your daily ch.o.r.es. Originally I"m a head maid of his majesty, even when I was appointed to work for you, I was still the head maid, everything was mine」
Redsan is showing a self-mocking smile.
She"s not laughing at all.
So I"m the main reason for this situation.
I mean even I……………. Have no way to know whether I can reply to her while puffing my chest.