Since morning today, we"ve been making preparations to go to a tea party.
Who would have a tea party with such a loner queen as lady Sharon? …is probably what some of you people out there might be foolishly thinking, but milady has indeed received an invitation. Everyone still remember, right? Hmmhm, of course I still do. Right up until I don"t.
"L-Letty, is this good enough?"
"Of course. You look wonderful in them, milady."
The invitation came from her schoolmate, a young lady of a viscount family. This would be milady"s first time going to a tea party.
Milady"s ensemble today is a simple dress, albeit one with plenty of room in the chest area in order to bring out all of milady"s charm. I had wanted to get her in all sorts of cute clothes, but milady is unfortunately overly gifted in a particular department. It"s difficult to find ready-made clothes that fit her.
To give you an idea of milady"s size, it is large enough that the employee of the clothing store we went to had clicked her tongue when she looked at milady.
"…Letty, you just had another unflattering thought, didn"t you?"
"I was just thinking about the innate inequality between people, milady."
"My, Letty, that sounds like a grand topic."
The grandest in the world, I would say.
"Welcome, lady Sharon. I am most grateful that you have accepted my invitation." The viscount"s young lady turns to me, "It is good to have you here as well, miss Fleurety."
"O-of course, you"re welcome, come back anytime!"
Milady outdoes herself once again with her stranger anxiety. She"s panicking so much her response doesn"t even make sense. But that"s what makes her beautiful.
"Come, come, let"s go."
"…umm, ah, yes."
I had to give the viscount"s young lady a nudge to jolt her out of her temporary blue-screen. After her reboot, she gets back to guiding us to our destination.
The young lady was born to the Liniello viscount, and her name is Clarice. She is in the same study group as me in cla.s.s. We"ve received her invitation since before milady"s homecoming trip, but I still haven"t been able to discern her intentions.
"Hey there, miss Sharon, miss Fleurety."
"h.e.l.lo, lady Sharon… Kamishiro."
The whole terrace has been reserved. There, we find two people already seated and enjoying their tea.
"Salutations, instructor Marsaw, lady Chieri…" Milady says.
The same two we met before. Instructor Marsaw looks to be in a good mood, but miss Chieri doesn"t seem to be in very good cheer. I can see her frowning a little.
Milady takes her seat. I move to my usual spot behind her.
"…miss Fleurety, please feel free to sit down." Lady Clarice says, a hint of dismay on her face as she glances at the empty seat.
"My apologies. I am lady Sharon"s maid, and as such, I should not be seated at the same table." I say, bowing my head.
Strangely enough, milady seems rather sad as she turns her eyes up at me.
"Letty… please. It"s a request from me, too."
"But…"
"Then I won"t ask you to. I"m ordering you. Take the same seat as me."
"Milady…"
Of course, I know that despite saying it"s an order, it"s really just her looking out for her humble servant.
"Then, allow me."
As she has asked me to take the same seat, I climb on lady Sharon to sit on her lap, facing her.
"You know that"s not what I meant!"
*thwack!*
It"s been quite a while since she took out the slipper again.
"Speaking of which, miss Sharon, I heard you"ve picked up theurgy?"
"…ah, yes, sir, but I"ve only just started."
Indeed, with age comes wisdom. While everyone else is still gaping at me as I sit down on the seat next to milady as though nothing had happened, only instructor Marsaw makes conversation, looking as calm as ever.
"As I"ve mentioned in cla.s.s before, theurgy is quite good for training your magic control. Keep at it, miss Sharon."
"Y-yes, sir."
"Teacher, I"ve also learned Purify," Chieri suddenly cut in, leaning forward and sounding like a cute honor student who"s asking her teacher for some personal tutoring, "And I think I"m getting the hang of Barrier now… but I"m nervous, doing this alone. If you wouldn"t mind, teacher, would you—"
"My, has something happened?"
This time, it is lady Clarice who interrupts Chieri with a smile on her face. Chieri"s lips twitch.
"The Church has requested miss Chieri"s expertise in theurgy." Instructor Marsaw answers, smiling kindly and seemingly oblivious to the current atmosphere.
"My, is that why she has learned Barrier…? Has something happened at the Church?" Lady Clarice says, her eyes faintly narrowing.
Chieri lightly brushes instructor Marsaw on the arm and chuckles. "That"s a secret, right, teacher?"
I can practically feel the sparks flying. Meanwhile, milady cowers in fear, unable to face the carnage with her lacking skills in womanly combat.
Well, it doesn"t really have anything to do with me anyway. In place of the viscount house"s maid who"s frozen in place, I begin to prepare for milady a cup of veeeery sweet caramel milk tea.
"Oh yes, which reminds me, I saw Elias talking to miss Fleurety here at the Church. I was honestly surprised, you know? He rarely shows interest in women." Instructor Marsaw changes the subject. I have no idea if this is him reading the mood, or not reading the mood.
Chieri"s shoulders move in an almost unnoticeable shake.
That day, the silver-armor-wearing knight had continued to be quite insistent in trying to talk to me. A gift of roses then arrived for me a few days later. I immediately made them into rose jam.
"He"s not interested in women? Does that mean he"s interested in men, then?" I ask instructor Marsaw.
"No, that"s not what I meant…."
"And you"re friends with him, teacher… or are you "friends" with him?"
"Please stop."
Strangely enough, instructor Marsaw"s face rapidly pales. On the other hand, lady Clarice blushes, looking as though she"s discovered something that she likes very much.
"It"s not that, he"s—"
"My, my, what an intriguing conversation."
I really have to wonder if the people of this world are culturally inclined to interrupt others. Despite the terrace being reserved for the tea party, the doors are now open, and a very good-looking lady who looks to be in her early twenties strides toward us. Her hair is a scarlet red.
"…lady Camilla." "Instructor Reese!"
Lady Clarice and miss Chieri"s voices overlap.
Oh, yes, of course I remember her. Like instructor Marsaw, she is also a teacher at the magic academy. Camilla de Reese, the young lady of a duke"s family.
"Clarice. Why have you called Marsaw but not me?"
"My apologies!"
Clarice hurriedly bows, intimidated by the lady instructor"s aggression.
"Instructor Reese, don"t be so harsh…"
As instructor Marsaw tries to mediate, lady Camilla coquettishly leans on him, fingertips caressing his leg.
"Come on, Marsaw, aren"t we coworkers? I told you, just call me Camilla." She purrs.
Indeed, she makes miss Chieri look like a kid in comparison. While lady Camilla is the third daughter of a duke as well as an instructor of the academy, it doesn"t change the fact that instructor Marsaw is still her senior. A rather saucy woman she is, to be acting so familiar with him.
"You over there. Are you acquainted with Elias?"
Lady Camilla throws out her chest and ask me, condescension in her voice. How disappointing. Milady is far more impressively endowed.
"Instructor Camilla, your ringlets are truly luxurious."
"My, is that your attempt at deflection?"
Despite saying that, she still seems quite pleased. Her lips faintly twitches in a smile, while her fingers brush through her scarlet curls.
Right, right. My hands meet each other in a gesture of realization, and I turn to milady.
"Letty?"
"Milady, today"s snack will be chocolate cornets."
"What were you looking at to get that idea?!"
***
The words had offended Camilla"s sensibilities and signaled the end of the tea party. Chieri waited until no one was looking at her and quietly sighed.
Today"s tea party had been extremely… stressful. Not only was the viscount young lady — the main heroine — there, but also two of the villainesses.
There were three villainesses in this game. Sharon was a character that showed up in all routes to annoy and hara.s.s you, but never really doing more. On the other hand, Camilla only appeared if you proceeded with the adults" routes, but she made for a truly terrifying villain.
Chieri had seen her in the game many, many times. Nevertheless, when it came time to face her in the flesh and not through a two-dimensional screen, Chieri found her to be an even more intense woman than she had expected.
Thinking that today was a "game event", Chieri had pestered Marsaw to take her along to the tea party, but then she found out the main heroine had also invited Sharon. She had no idea what the viscount young lady had been thinking.
At first, she thought she would have to make enemies out of all of them at the same time, a headache-inducing prospect if there ever was one. But then her mind changed tack. Maybe the real problem was Kamishiro, after all.
The presence Camilla displayed had been crushing, yet the girl still had the nerve to ignore the woman without even blinking an eye. If it had been Chieri, she was sure she wouldn"t have been able to do it.
I guess I really have to deal with her first…
"Instructor Reese… may I have a bit of your time? I would like to consult you on a matter…"
***
"Hey, Letty, where is this?"
Today, milady and I are on a shopping trip downtown. I take a look at the memo she shows me, and my eyebrows slightly furrow.
"This store is located in a back alley. I shall go and make the purchase, milady."
"You can"t. Instructor Camilla has asked me to do this, and so I will."
At school, there may be times when an instructor requests their students to run an errand for them.
Rather than being a personal ch.o.r.e that the teacher needs doing, it"s more meant to serve as a sort of practical lesson for the n.o.ble boys and girls who haven"t had much contact with the common people.
All the same, as milady is a marquis" daughter, there hasn"t been many teachers who have sent her for errands. Lady Camilla was the one to have asked her this time, however, so milady couldn"t refuse.
"My apologies. I have overstepped my bounds."
"Don"t mind it, Letty. Besides, umm… I still want you to stay with me."
Milady is already somewhat blushing by the end, her voice shrunken into an embarra.s.sed whisper. How cute.
"Hey there young ladies, brave of you to come here without bodyguar—"
A man appears before us right after we enter the back alley and starts running his mouth, so I let him have a taste of my spiked club.
"Nice shot."
"Letty?!" Milady sounds shocked.
"Quite a ruffian he was, to have scared milady so."
"That"s not what I"m talking about! What are you doing so suddenly?"
"What do you mean, milady?"
Anyone who would say something so cliché in this sort of place would inevitably meet the same fate.
"Oh yes, do you mean we should have tied him up and interrogate him? My apologies, I have been hasty."
"No, that"s not what I meant either…"
I have held back as much as I could on him, but the man is still twitching on the ground with hands between his legs. He does not seem to be available for questioning.
But there is no need to worry. He hasn"t been alone. The few men behind him are already taking out bladed weapons, see? Though I can see some fear mixing in with the anger they"re showing on the faces.
"d.a.m.n this b.i.t.c.h, she thinks she"s hot s.h.i.t?!"
"Don"t bother kidnapping them! Just f.u.c.k "em up!"
So, "kidnapping", is it. Simply to take a ransom? Or perhaps they"re working for someone?
I ready my Orc Killer EX in an actual stance. Seeing me, milady tugs on my sleeves.
"You can take them down, but, umm, don"t do that "Nice Shot" thing again, okay?"
"Hmm."
How kind of milady. I understand, her face is flipping between a pale pallor and a bright blush, after all. Besides, if I do the upswing with my full strength, I don"t think they"d be in any condition to talk.
"Understood."
I approach the group. One of the men runs at me with his weapon. I trip him with my spiked club and once he lies on the ground, I make a putt with Orc Killer EX.
*splat*
"Birdie."
"Urflp…"
My gentle strike hasn"t been enough to make him faint. It only turns his face ashen pale and sodden with cold sweat while his body shivers.
"Come on, be grateful for milady"s kindness. One more hit…"
"No, that"s not it!"
Don"t worry, milady. There are still plenty of b.a.l.l.s left to hit. Let"s see what they know about their backer.
A/N: It was very kind of the maid and her mistress to have allowed them to stay conscious.