Master 70

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“Heheh. Hehehe….”

While Whitney was flustered by the strange phenomenon occurring in Parsha during first aid treatment—

“Ehehehehe….”

Sasha, who was walking down the mansion corridor with an unusually cheerful expression, unknowingly let out a silly giggle and muttered to herself.

“It’s my first vacation ever….”

Fortunately, Whitney’s promise to give her a long vacation after the mission was not a lie.

Appreciating her contribution in delivering the final bundle, Whitney promised her around two weeks of vacation and a bonus from the day he returned to the mansion.

That’s why Sasha, humming to herself from early morning and eagerly packing her belongings with her small hands, was now walking toward the office with the lightest steps she’d ever taken, hoping to receive the official vacation documents.

‘Come to think of it, I used to go full days without sleep at my old jobs…’

She suddenly grew solemn as she recalled the jobs she held before becoming a maid.

Kitchen chores, serving, deliveries, cleaning, and more—Sasha had done nearly everything to repay her family’s debt even before becoming a maid.

‘The Lingard estate might be a surprisingly good job…’

Because of that, Sasha deeply appreciated the insurance, vacation system, and above all, the high salary that the Lingard estate provided for its staff.

In fact, the majority of the remaining employees at the mansion, including Sasha, endured all the hardships largely due to those very benefits.

‘…Although the occasional ghost story is a bit of a problem.’

Even so, just as she was thinking about the main reason why the turnover rate at the Lingard estate was over fifty percent, Sasha involuntarily shuddered.

“…Hm?”

Suddenly, something entered her line of sight.

“W-What was that just now?”

“Um, shouldn’t we go inside and check?”

A group of maids Sasha had never seen before—rare, since she was familiar with most of the staff—were huddled in front of the restroom near the office.

“Excuse me…”

“Eek!”

“W-Who are you?”

As Sasha tilted her head and approached, the maids murmuring in front of the restroom jumped in surprise and asked her a question.

“I’m Sasha, the young master’s personal maid!”

“Ahh…”

“But who are you all? I don’t think I’ve seen your faces around here before…”

Sasha, cheerfully replying, then asked the question back, and after a moment of exchanging glances, the maids began to speak in unison.

“W-We’re… newly hired maids.”

“W-We were dispatched from the Holy Kingdom to assist the Hero.”

“Ah, I see! So you’re the new hires!”

Their responses seemed oddly rehearsed, but Sasha simply smiled and nodded, thinking that her replacements had arrived.

“Hmm? By the way, why is this person wearing something strange on her leg?”

“Ah, that’s…”

Just then, Sasha’s gaze landed on a crude shackle fastened to the leg of the one quiet maid among the new arrivals.

“…A mere human.”

The quiet maid suddenly twisted her face into a menacing scowl and growled in a harsh tone.

“Lower your eyes, inferior being.”

“Huh?”

“How dare a brat like you stare straight at—mmph!”

Startled, the other new maids hastily covered her mouth, forcing a smile as they scrambled to make excuses.

“H-Haha. She just has a rough way of speaking. We’re sorry.”

“Yes, she’s our friend and she’s always had a bit of a… language issue.”

Sasha blinked for a moment at the odd scene, then muttered as if it were nothing serious.

“Well, she’ll fix that once she stands before the young master… Ah.”

Then, realizing something, Sasha flinched and looked around awkwardly.

“A-Anyway, why are you all gathered in front of the restroom? The office is on the opposite side.”

“Ah, well…”

Again, the maids glanced at each other before shifting their gaze toward the restroom and answering.

“We suddenly heard a scream from inside…”

“And there’s this eerie, chilling feeling coming from within…”

“……!”

Hearing those words, Sasha’s face instantly turned pale.

“Shh! Keep your voices down, everyone.”

“Huh?”

“D-Don’t make any noise and leave this place quietly. I-I’ll handle this somehow…”

She urgently whispered while crouching, trying to lead the bewildered maids out of the corridor.

Screeeech…

“Ah.”

Right at that moment.

With a spine-chilling creak, the restroom door opened.

And then—silence.

“H-Hic!”

Within that silence, Sasha spotted Whitney stepping out from the restroom and began to hiccup as she stumbled backward.

“This… isn’t the best timing, huh.”

Whitney, smiling at her, held an unconscious Parsha in his arms, her shoulder covered in wounds.

“…Sasha. Who are these people?”

“S-S-Several new maids dispatched from the Holy Kingdom… or so they said…”

Sasha quickly lowered her gaze and, trembling all over at Whitney’s cold voice, reported what she had heard.

“Ah, I see…”

“But I specifically requested only one person—Raphael.”

Leaving Sasha behind, Whitney quietly walked forward and looked around at the equally pale new maids, tilting his head.

“Why are you all here?”

“…W-We volunteered.”

“I-It’s been our lifelong wish to serve the Hero…”

Again, the maids began spouting their seemingly pre-arranged answers.

“Haha. Do maids these days know how to use holy power too?”

“T-That’s because we were specially dispatched to assist the Hero…”

“You weren’t sent by the Holy Knights to monitor me… were you?”

Whitney’s pointed question left the maids speechless, cold sweat dripping down their faces.

“…Why are you not answering?”

As Whitney’s expression turned even colder, the overwhelming pressure he emitted caused the maids to instinctively step backward.

“Hahaha… Everyone. I was just kidding.”

Suddenly bursting into laughter, Whitney waved his hand and withdrew the ominous aura.

“The Holy Kingdom must be short on manpower. There’s no way they’d waste precious resources to monitor a kind-hearted Hero like me by disguising them as maids.”

“……”

“…Well, our household is also short on staff at the moment. I’ll hire all of you.”

As he spoke with a gentle smile, the maids who had been watching cautiously finally relaxed and let out sighs of relief.

“Normally, there should be a contract written up, but as you can see, the head butler of the mansion is in no shape to handle it right now.”

“U-Um, Young Master…”

“Still, I’ll make sure your salaries are paid properly. Begin work starting today. I look forward to working with you.”

Sasha tried to say something in a voice as quiet as a whisper, but she was so withdrawn that her voice didn’t reach Whitney at all.

“Sasha. The bathroom’s gotten a bit messy, so I’d appreciate it if you could clean it together with them.”

“…Eek. Y-Yes!”

Still looking down with a teary expression, Sasha quickly nodded at Whitney’s words.

“And you… follow me.”

“Ugh…”

“…There’s no point in resisting, since you can’t disobey me anyway. Don’t waste your energy.”

Then Whitney quietly turned his gaze to the maid in the middle with the restraints and began walking down the corridor with her in tow.

“The Young Master’s… increased his personal maid staff again.”

“After Runiel, now it’s that girl…”

“Shh, he’ll hear you.”

Of course, the other staff who had been drawn to the commotion peeked their heads out at the end of the hallway and murmured, only to quickly hide again in a flurry of panic.

Regardless, to those who had slowly learned how to survive in the mansion, this too was just another small incident.

“H-Hii!?”

“W-What is this…?”

But for the suspiciously callused maid dispatched from the Holy Kingdom, it was a memory she would never forget.

“T-There’s blood… in the bathroom…”

“I-I can feel black magic too…?”

The bathroom Sasha led them into, still trembling, resembled nothing short of a crime scene to them.

“…That’s paint.”

“Huh?”

And then Sasha, who was leading them, said something even more absurd.

“What’s on the floor isn’t blood—it’s paint.”

“B-But no matter how you look at it…”

“…Everyone. I’ll only say this once, so remember it.”

Looking around at the murmuring new maids, Sasha’s expression suddenly turned serious.

“No matter what happens in this mansion, we know nothing.”

“Curiosity is a sin in this mansion. Got it?”

Her sudden change, just moments after trembling like a kitten, carried more weight than even the threats of a thuggish brute.

“T-Then shall we start cleaning up that paint?”

“…Y-Yes!”

“U-Understood!”

So it was only natural that the new maids—suspiciously accustomed to strict hierarchy and orders—immediately obeyed Sasha.

It was a move truly fitting of Sasha, who had recently earned the underground title of the Lingard mansion’s secret enforcer, informant, and one of Whitney’s closest aides.

“Sigh, I still haven’t gotten my vacation approved yet…”

“As expected, she’s the cold-blooded watchdog they say she is…”

“…Shh, be quiet.”

Fortunately, Sasha herself was now more frustrated about not getting her vacation paperwork stamped than about cleaning blood off the floor, so she wasn’t likely to feel wronged by those rumors.

***

“Sigh…”

I laid Parsha on the bed in the room after she suddenly passed out during treatment in the bathroom and sat on the chair beside it, letting out a long sigh.

“I can’t show this to anyone… This is troublesome.”

I honestly wanted to call a doctor to check her condition, but the signs of black magic appearing on her shoulder were problematic.

Unlike the mark I saw back at the academy that mixed with my mana, this one looked different—it must’ve been engraved long ago.

Yeah. According to Alfred’s letter, it must’ve been something that happened during Parsha’s time as a test subject.

“Parsha… a clone of the black mages leader, huh.”

To be honest, it’s shocking.

Now that knowledge outside what I knew is starting to appear, it seems the plot is beginning to truly deviate.

I’d like to talk to Parsha about it to prepare for what’s ahead, but right now, it’s probably impossible.

Aside from her passing out, she’s going to need time to mentally prepare for this.

“Hey. Filthy human.”

Instead, there’s something else I need to focus on immediately.

“Take off this ridiculous outfit at once and show proper respect to me.”

“Do that, and I’ll consider taking you as a servant to hasten the Demon King’s resurrection.”

That would be… this high demon who’s been sitting on my bed with her arms crossed and looking smug this whole time.

“Looks like you still don’t understand the situation.”

I have to keep this one under control before worrying about the Lumen Ordo or the Shadow Union’s invitation.

“If anyone’s misunderstanding the situation, it’s you.”

“Hmph.”

“If you think you can bind me forever with some half-baked contract and this pathetic restraint… you’re dead wrong.”

Of course, if I hadn’t been confident I could handle her, I wouldn’t have done something as crazy as summoning a high demon into a maid’s role.

“Rafaelrius Mortem Infernum.”

“Eek!?”

Though things are quite off the rails now, my memories from my previous life are still proving useful.

“…Y-You…”

“Ahahaha…”

“How do you know my True Name!?”

At this rate… I wonder if people will actually mistake me for the Demon King someday?

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