Maid Arc ⑩ -The Madam’s Maid part 1-Translated by yAmi at who had secretly made my determination to give my all for the brothers of the Rainforest family, am now wrestling with the problem that I had feared up till now.
It was a battle to increase family time.
I hypothesise that Alan’s bad temper is completely the fault of his mom for not doing her role as a mom sufficiently. Furthermore, Airin-san has always been so busy that she cannot afford to spend time eating meals together with her children; what is going on!
Something in her schedule has got to be redundant, something out there. Is it really compulsory?! Something should fit this description.
In alignment with my bookkeeping job, I wanted to know Airin-san’s schedule, finding out what her one day worth of work is like. Hence, I went to look for Stella-san, who was her personal attendant. Work hasn’t started for the day, so she should be at the servant’s waiting room currently.
It seems that I had arrived before dawn, and n.o.body had arrived at the waiting room as of yet. Too early I suppose. Still, Stella-san is always early and it’s high time that she appears now. While I was holding this thought, the door opened violently and there, Stella-san, stood with an intense expression on her face.
I can detect killing intent from her. What had happened? Stella-san looked at me and, ｢Oh it’s Ryou. Are you the only one that got out of bed? This can’t be helped. Since we don’t have much time left, I shall have to bring you along.｣ She said as she grabbed my arm, dragging me along despite my lack of consent.
｢W-what has occurred?｣
｢One of Oku-sama’s maid has fainted. I am bringing you to her as a replacement. You might be young, but there has been talk about you being able to perform well. So I am expecting good results from you.｣
*ta ta ta* We walked at a beastly pace. Could Stella-san be a racewalking athlete? Trying my best not to fall over, I had to switch to a jog to keep up.
｢In other words, I have to be Oku-sama’s maid today?｣
｢Indeed.｣
What luck. I didn’t even have to ask Stella-san and I would get to directly observe Airin-san’s work-life. I made a “guts pose” in my mind. After tossing several objects out to make s.p.a.ce for me in the coach, I took a seat together with Stella-san. At the front seat was Airin-san, who was drooling in her slumber.
｢Be quiet, Ryou. Else we would awaken Oku-sama. Oku-sama can only sleep during the travelling time you see.｣
The Airin-san I am seeing now was somehow, much more worn out than when I last saw her and that she even had dark circles under her eyes.
Sleeping in between travelling time? Sounds like the average salaryman on the crowded train. Is this what it is like for most aristocrats? My image of their elegance crumbled.
Anyways, as I was saying, I am going to thoroughly research on the work-life of Airin, from the famous Rainforest Earl Family!
The morning for a mage aristocrat is early. Even before daybreak, the coach is already swaying, proceeding towards the slightly far-off farmlands.
Next, using magic, she started to ama.s.s water in the wells that existed spottily across this area.
She added water to wells that surrounded the coach within a wide radius. Of course, during her time in the coach, it was her all-important sleep time. Not a single second was wasted.
The next job was regarding the construction and maintenance of buildings. Holding the stones that were prepared beforehand, she started to chant magic. In the twinkle of an eye, the rock fused, broke apart, underwent a change in shape and became the building blocks in the construction of a new building.
Too awesome. When she was using magic, she opened up her glittering eyes that were closed earlier. Her bloodshot eyes were frightening.
Next was to harvest and transport raw cotton to the storehouse.
Madam held on to a clump of cotton and began her chants. As soon as she did so, the cotton spun itself into threads.
Stella-san and I held on to the spool of thread and using it as the core, we wound up the cotton thread that was made by magic. Seems likely that I was called over to help out in this. This is a boring and tedious work. And it took quite some time to finish. Despite our efforts though, the storehouse contained barely any cotton wool and we already had to make our way to the next workplace.
Maintenance of buildings.
Production of swords, armours and other equipment.
Production of gla.s.s products.
Etcetera, etcetera.
What a secondary industry. From this we can see that mages are a complex version of a factory.
Next, Airin-san returned to the residence late at night. “Mage” is simply a term for an employee working in a black business.
In order to have a late night meal, Airin-san went to the dining room. The job of cooking the meal was delegated over to the servant that was on duty, while Stella-san and I made preparations for her bath.
｢Stella-sama, I am amazed. That Airin-sama had to do all that.｣
I never once thought that the aristocratic mages would be treated as a factory. From my innermost depths, I was surprised for I had willfully imagined that aristocrats would be visiting salons, and if they were mages, they would be in charge of eradicating magic beasts.
｢Yes, originally the role of a.s.sisting the villagers was divided between the mages of the Rainforest Family but ever since a number of people followed Danna-sama to the capital, there was a shortage of mages on our domain. Still, Oku-sama has ironed her resolve to work hard in these two years, since these jobs all require the indispensable help of mages.｣ Stella-san said as she wept *Uuoo*.
Even the expressionless beauty is shedding tears.
However, Stella-san, hold it right there. I don’t think that there are any jobs that only mages can do. Couldn’t these jobs be done given some time and effort?
As I was scrubbing the stone bathtub, I had a thought spontaneously.
｢By the way, Stella-sama. Right now, the bathtub is empty, so how are going to go about preparing the bath?｣
Stella-san turned towards the medicinal herbs specially used for baths and replied while giving a “isn’t this obvious?” face.
｢Of course, the Oku-sama always adds them to her baths.｣
I instinctively looked up at the sky.
Translated by yAmi at