Maid Arc ③ -Arrival at the residence-It has been roughly 2 days since I awoken and we are now making our grand arrival at the residence. The residence was shaped like a ‘コ’, and there were 3 separate buildings inside in total.
I expected the residence to be located right at the heart of the shopping district since they are of n.o.bility. However, it was located at a far more deserted place that I had imagined.
The residence was surrounded by lush greenery, overgrown trees and the fields.
This entire place is sticking out like a sore thumb if you take a glance at the countryside.
The residence looked like a stone-made castle. Normally, from what I know, some kind of adhesive between the stone blocks is needed in order to construct this kind of structure. Yet, this building doesn’t seem to have that kind of adhesive and relied solely on gigantic stone blocks instead.
It is highly probable that an enigmatic magical skill had been employed in the construction process.
While travelling, we had pa.s.sed by a town and even then, the buildings there seemed to be constructed with the same mysterious skill.
「This was unexpected. This place is so peaceful.」
「Is that so? I do think quiet places like these are the best places to live in. Most other aristocrats think the same way too. Well, the other aristocrats that live in the capital have differing views though. 」
Claude-san who made such a reply was probably in a peace of mind as he smiled radiantly across his haggard face. It must because he was finally returning home.
The coach that we had been up till now was being moved off to somewhere else by Smith-san the coachman.
Claude-san rotated his arms and neck. Once he was done stretching, he started patting his crumpled western-style clothes and made a *panpan* sound while doing so. The wrinkles and crumples on his white shirt, black vest and pants disappeared after much patting, giving him a neat look.
I too, just in case this was some rule, tidied my outfit. Although, I get the feeling that there is no end to cleaning the dress. The dress I was wearing since I wore at Garigari village was a one-piece that looked like a T-shirt and was very dirty.
I tried to use my hands to comb my hair but, my hair which was allowed to grow as long as it wanted to extended all the way down to my navel, making me look quite like a Medusa. It’s not like I had any other option other than using my hands.
After giving some time for both of us to prepare our appearance, Claude-san rang on the bell and a maid-like woman appeared from the door.
As though Claude-san was an acquaintance, she said,「Claude-sama, welcome home」. After giving her greetings, she bowed down respectfully and entered the residence and guided us to the guest room.
In the entire process, my existence was ignored.
Our eyes didn’t even meet. Shucks, what a scary maid of the upper cla.s.s.
Given that our eyes didn’t meet at all, the maid must have not seen me. I started considering the wild idea that I was invisible but the maid did prepare refreshmetns for me after all, so she must have seen me.
At any rate, she prepared black tea! Mm, this sweet-smelling fragrance, there is no doubt this is black tea. So this parallel world has tea too. What a good discovery.
While I was at the farm village, I drank a herb tea made with the herbs found that could be considered an imitation of tea, but still, black tea is the best.
「Ryou, this drink might be a little too bitter for the preference for most kids but we have sugar and if you dissolve it into the tea, it would taste sweeter.」
Splosh. Claude-san dropped a cube sugar into my cup.
Oioi, if I actually prefer unsweetened tea, what am I supposed to do.
Well, I actually have a sweet-tooth so it’s actually alright. Rather, I like to receive 2 to 3 more please.
「Now that it is sweeter, it is tastier, Claude-sama. Arigatougozai-masu」
Giving my thanks after having a sip of the tea, Claude-san then stroked my hair while nodding happily. This person is really gentle.
Still, I can’t discriminate between a person that likes children in general and a lolicon.
Nevertheless, the vibes from the residence, is really on a whole new level when compared with Garigari village.
The cup was made out of porcelain and the spoon, out of silver. Boldly coloured flowers were blooming in full glory in a gla.s.s vase and there were windowpanes too! Back when I was at the Garigari village, I didn’t think that porcelain and gla.s.s-made goods were available in this world.
What’s with this stratified society. This is too outrageous. Perhaps I could see a machine-made product as well……
Soon after, I thought I heard a boisterous commotion from outside the room and with a bang, the door opened.
A beautiful and seemingly strong-willed woman that had similar features with Claude-san, such as her black hair and her pea green eyes, stood from opened door.
「Oni-sama! Where have you been! You vanished all of a sudden!」 She yelled.
A raging beautiful woman is crazily scary.
「Airiin, I have worried you. Please don’t be too mad at me.」
Claude-san said as he stood up and as though she was his long-lost sister, he attempted to give her a deep embrace, but Miss Airiin had not forgiven him and stopped him by slapping him with her left palm.
The staggering Claude-san made a groaning ｢Ofuu｣ sound and retreated back with a few steps.
｢Hey! Please don’t dodge the problem! Claude-onisama! Where and what did you do? I’m sure you knew that we were so busy that I would even borrow the help of a cat!｣
Ahahaha, she was raging like the queen of a house.
Claude-san stood up from his seat and approached me while looking at me.
Please no, don’t involve me in this mess.
｢In order to buy this child, I went all the way to Ani-ue’s territory! Ahh— I’m so exhausted~｣ said Claude-san. He proceeded to give me a push from the back, and as though I was a shield, he brought me straight in the face of Airiin-san.
Now you’ve gotten me involved.
My eyes met with Airiin-san’s. Who is this kid? I could feel her saying that based on how she looked at me. She examined me from bottom to top and slightly tilted her head to the side in puzzlement. Cute.
According to information I received from Claude-san earlier, Airiin-san is already a mother of a son, but she hardly seemed like one. More like a teen under the age of 20.
「I am Ryou from the Garigari vilage. Please treat me kindly.」 I greeted her faultlessly.
「Hey, who is this shabby child. ……Could she be a mage?」
Airiin-san face glimmered with a candid expression of antic.i.p.ation.
「No, I am not a mage.」
Airiin-san’s face became tainted with the colour of disappointment. She is such an easy to understand person.
In fact, out of all the things to ask, she decided to ask me if I was a mage. What was I suppose to say! To be full of expectation and disappointed as she pleases, that is so rude!
｢She isn’t even a mage, and you went all the way to buy this sloppy piece of child?｣
Airiin-san began speaking to Claude-san while disregarding my existence.
Given that I was ignored by the maid too, it looks like the percentage of me getting ignored while in the residence is fairly high.
｢This child is extremely intelligent, or more like, a prodigy! During the return trip in the coach, I read her a book once and she became able to write the alphabets! Furthermore, above all, she is the inventor of the thousand-teeth thresher which is currently the talk of the city!｣
｢How do you expect me to believe that. Isn’t she just about the same age as my son?!｣
｢Yes, exactly. Since she is around that age, she would be a good companion to Alan and the others, or she could be a maid too. I had been selling goods while on the trip back, and I would like to discuss the future business operation with the people at the merchant guild later on, so I don’t have much time to take care of her for now. ｣
｢No way. Not this sloppy child.｣
That! So rude! If I put my heart at work, I would really do my best you know!
｢Please don’t say that Airiin. Wasn’t it because of my hard-to-please nephew, that bullied the hired companion c.u.m maid and caused her quit? And you became worried about it too. If it’s this child, I’m sure it’ll turn out fine. I’ve been thinking about your circ.u.mstances all this while ya see.｣
So Airiin’s son has a nasty personality? I really wish you didn’t go saying that it’ll be fine without asking for my opinion though.
Next, Claude-san made a smile full of gentleness and placed his hand on Airiin’s shoulder.
Somehow, I have this bad premonition that my soul would be corrupted ……
｢……Maa! Oni-sama! You have been thinking about me huh! If that’s the case, that, I can understand. I shall try using her then. ｣
After saying that, the two brother and sister gave one another a heartwarming embrace.
Soon after, Claude-san disappeared. He had taken full advantage of the situation. I understood from their conversation that I was to join the children who were having private lessons with their tutor, be a maid, serve Airiin and so on. It seems that he had planned for his purchased goods (aka me) to gain an accelerated and gifted education for free…… Claude-san is really skillful.