Chapter 2 - III -

 

“Is everything alright Kuro?”

 

“Err…yes, I guess?  By the way Head Maid…”

 

“Hm?”

 

“Why are you here?”

 

“Oh!” the Head Maid quickly composed herself.  She suddenly came rushing to the library, crashing through the doors, “W-well, I just passed by.  And then I heard you suddenly shout earlier.  But then I saw you talking with Her Holiness, so I didn’t dare to disturb you…”

 

“Ah, I see…” Wait—don’t you have something else to do?

 

“I’m cleaning outside the library.”

 

“Oh…”

 

“Well, about why you shouted earlier, was there anything wrong?”

 

“Nothing.  Just a couple of flying books hitting my head.”

 

“HA?” the Head Maid grabbed my head and shuffled my hair, as if looking for something, “You didn’t injure yourself, right?  Let me see!”

 

“I’m fine, I’m fine!  I got a thick skull after all.”

 

“Right!” she sighed with relief, “It’s nice to hear that!”

 

“Haha…you’re kind, Head Maid.” I laughed softly, “If I may put it this way, you’re my angel in this strange world!”

 

“Oh…thank you!” I didn’t notice it at the moment, but the Head Maid’s face was red, “Err…uhm, K-Kuro…”

 

“Yep?”

 

“W-would you l-like to h-have something to e-eat?”

 

Now that she mentioned it, I think I’m getting hungry.  Well, I guess it’s time for me to stop reading for a while and head to the kitchen to grab a meal.

 

 

And so, the moment came when I had to sleep.  Even though there was still light outside after I ate, I’m extremely tired.  Since it looked like I got nothing else to do, I headed to my room and laid down to rest…

 

Haa…what a peaceful day…

 

Or so I thought.  

 

“…”  

 

Of course, I won’t be able to sleep if there were spikes on my bed.  And it must be the maids who put it there.  

 

I guess I had no other choice…

 

I carefully removed those spikes, and once I made sure that my bed was safe, I went to sleep.

 

 

The next thing I knew, I got disturbed from my slumber the moment I heard the door of my room creaked open.  With half-open eyes, I checked on who went inside…

 

“…”

 

And yes, my suspicions are on track; it’s no other than the stupid maids.

 

“Hey, is that guy sleeping?”

 

“I’m sure he is.  I put some sleeping powder on his food earlier.”

 

Ah, so, that’s why I felt lethargic earlier:  they spiked my food.  Since I wanted to know what they would do next, I kept on pretending to be asleep.  Maybe that sleeping powder wasn’t that effective; I woke up after all.

 

“So, what should we do?”

 

“Big sis wants to throw him away outside the Holy Palatial Gardens.  Help me tie him up so we can drag him later.”

 

“What if he wakes up?”

 

“Put this cloth on his mouth so he can’t make a noise.”

 

So the maid—the nervous one, headed over to the other side of my bed to put a gag on me.  Her companion tied a rope around my feet to prevent me from doing something.  Just as they were working…

 

“Hey.”

 

“Kyaaaaa!”

 

With their mission busted, the pair quickly dashed towards the door.  Though in the past I let those incidences go, this time I decided I won’t let them run.  I lunged forward and caught the foot of the nervous maid.  She fell face-flat on the floor, prompting her companion to attack me to free her.  

 

“Let her go, you pervert!”

 

I got scratched and kicked on my face, and they stepped upon my hands, so I had to let go of the foot.  And with that, the maids escaped.

 

 

“Her Holiness had commanded us never to hurt this man.”  The irritation on the Head Maid’s voice was clear, as she called an emergency meeting of all the maids at the Holy Chamber’s courtyard.  The patrolling guards heard the ruckus that happened in my room, and so they rushed to check it.  

 

Of course, I had to explain everything, and they reported it to the Head Maid.

 

“So, it is my prerogative to know who planned the attack in his room.” the Head Maid turned to me, and showed my injuries, “As you can see, his face had bruises and his hand suffered wounds.  Because of your insolence, it disturbed Her Holiness from her rest and had to come and heal him.  Do you understand what you have just done?”

 

No one from the maids dared to answer.  The atmosphere was thick and suffocating; all of them hid their friends’ deeds.  But everyone of us knew that interrupting the Saint’s sleep for something as stupid as this was not a trivial matter.

 

“Ah, everyone!  Her Holiness has arrived!”

 

Everyone bowed down before the Saint, who was wearing her sleeping dress and didn’t hide her annoyance at what happened.  Of course, not wishing to stand out, I joined the bowing crowd as well.

 

“Head Maid,” the Saint spoke, “if I may add as well, Kuro got repeatedly hit with books earlier in the library.  This is contrary to what I ordered.”

 

“What?” the Head Maid was red and her voice was heavy and stern, “You didn’t tell me about this, Kuro.”

 

“Ah…I forgot.”  Well, of course, I didn’t forget.  But I never wanted further trouble for something so childish, so I said nothing.

 

“Yep, Kuro wanted to keep it to himself because he didn’t want trouble.” the Saint read my mind and broadcasted my thoughts to everyone.  

 

This girl…

 

“I hate liars.” the Head Maid muttered, but I heard it anyway.  My chest was heavy, and I averted my gaze from her.

 

“Well, Head Maid.” Her Holiness sat on the garden chair in front of everyone as she talked, “Why don’t we ask Kuro for the identity of those unruly maids who dared to violate my order.”

 

“Kuh…”,

 

The eyes of the people in the courtyard immediately fell on me.  To be honest, from where I stood, I could properly tell who among them attacked me in my room.  Deep inside, there’s a triumphant feeling welling-up that’s saying…

 

Time for revenge, fuckers!

 

However, there’s something that’s bugging my mind…

 

“Uh…Her Holiness…”

 

“Yes, Kuro?”

 

“If I identified my attackers, what will you do to them?”

 

“Punish them of course.”

 

“Like?”

 

“Remove them from their work.  Their entire department.” she casually said, along with the light waving of her hand, “The leader should be responsible for the misconduct of her subordinates.”

 

Man, that’s harsh.  

 

But, now that I thought of it, on Earth it’s almost the same.  Companies would dismiss their employees on grounds of not following instructions, or in worst cases, they would get fired because they were not well-liked by their peers and the bosses.

 

I guess, no matter what world you are in, the principles are the same, huh?

 

Oh well, it’s how society works.

 

 

“Uh…are you sure of your report, Kuro?” the Head Maid, with a doubtful stare, asked me.

 

“Yep.”

 

“Then what about the story you told the guards earlier?”

 

“It’s a lie.”

 

I heard her sigh, “Though I know this is quite hard to believe—you doing some strange exercise before going to bed and ended up injuring yourself, I guess we’ll stop with our investigation for now.  However, I will still look into those flying books at the library.”

 

“S-Sure,” I replied.  My eyes went towards where Her Holiness sat.  I knew she could read my mind, but she remained silent all the while as I told those lies to the Head Maid.

 

“…”

 

Her face had the ‘I-know-what-you-just-did’ expression.  Yep, she read my mind.

 

The Head Maid dismissed the entire servant staff, having identified no one.  If you think I’m being a good person, well, I’m not.  It’s just a strategy of putting out a small fire before it gets too large.  Imagine if I identify my attackers and they got dismissed.  The other maids would be afraid, of course.  But will it be enough to stop them if they hate me that much?

 

I didn’t want to create a living hell out of my potential workplace.  These girls are fanatics!

 

“…”

 

Well, I guess the trouble’s dead for now, so I guess I’d return to my room for the time being, huh?  

 

“If you’ll excuse me…” I went on my way back.

 

“Kuro.” it was the Saint.  She had a nasty grin on her face, “I guess I’m wrong about you being boring; what you did is interesting.”

 

“Uhh…thanks, I guess,” I replied curtly, not wishing to talk to anyone right now.  

 

This is stupid.