I passed out for a few hours…. Maybe. Whatever, the important thing was that the outside was dark, and I was being stared down by Erika. 

After we stared into each other’s eyes for a minute, I spotted movement on her lips.

“I’m sorry, Esther Raze, but I think we should remain master and servant.”

Eh? What was she talking about?

“Let’s set aside the fact that we’ve only met for a few hours. Our ages are three whole years apart. Our social statuses are too different. A-And although I know you’re p-pretty, I’m not into women.”

What the fuck? What bullshit was she sprouting?

“I know…. I must’ve overworked you. That’s why I’m giving you tomorrow off.”

Before I could get a word in, Erika jumped up from her stool and pointed a finger at me.

“But don’t think I’ve forgiven you for ratting me out to master Gustav! After tomorrow, you’ll be my sparring partner. No one can save you this time, mwahahahahaha!”

Erika bolted out of my room and slammed the door shut. A brief moment later, the door opened again. But it wasn’t Erika who came in.

“Greetings, you sure had a rough day.”

It was the Grand Chamberlain. He gracefully sat down on the stool next to my bed and placed his hands on his thigh. Weaving his fingers together, he spoke.

“I did not expect you to be so bold. Not even a noble’s son has dared to ask young miss Erika for her hand in marriage.”

“W-W-Wait, there’s a misunderstanding! I never did anything like that!”

“Please, you do not need to lie. The young miss does not mind it too much, so you are fine.”

“I’m serious! I didn’t say anything like that!”

But the chamberlain was keen on ignoring my words. He stood up again and gave me a slight bow.

“The young miss has permitted you to not serve her tomorrow, but that does not mean you have permission to slack off. In your job interview, you said that you are good at cooking. Is that true?”

I slowly nodded.

“Good. As it so happens, our only three chefs were just killed by a maid who wanted their positions. Unfortunately, that maid forgot about the kill limit, so she was subsequently fired. I want you to take the chefs’ place until I find replacements.”

The chamberlain continued as he saw my hesitation.

“Just to give you a peace of mind, due to sanitary reasons, servants not assigned cooking jobs cannot enter the kitchen. Worry not about the servants in the kitchen, either, since if meals are not properly prepared, they have to face severe punishment. Your being a chef will give you a form of soft immunity.”

Honestly, that sounded amazing; at least compared to the alternative of doing some random chores and having to stay alert all the time.

“Alright.”

–

-

–

 

“Take this—”

I smacked the maid in her face and threw her out the nearest window. I’d expected this, so I wasn’t surprised like yesterday.

‘By the way, was it the same maid as last time?’

I tried to recall her appearance, but I couldn’t. Soon, I shrugged my shoulders and forgot about it. 

My feet took me to the kitchen, which was hidden behind two doors with two circular glass panels on them.

I tip-toed near the door to gaze through one of the panels since I was just a bit too short. As expected, there was no one inside.

“It’s going to be rough….”

Already, I could see moving ingredients and cooking instruments around such a tight and cramped kitchen would be a challenge.

‘It’s so small…. How the hell did 3 chefs fit this place? No, why is the Viscount skimping on the kitchen in the first place?’

The layout of the kitchen was also annoying—much of the space was taken up by ovens lying in the middle of the room and bowls and ingredients placed on top of the ovens. 

Lining up against the walls were various other cooking instruments and ingredient storage. 

Yeah, the kitchen looked like a roundabout; if said roundtable was rectangular. 

I extended my arm and measured its length against the image of the stoves. It would reach over half of the top of the stoves if I leaned over.

“Whatever! Let’s give it a try.”

I pushed the door open and got to work. It was early morning, so I had about two hours to whip up a meal for the Viscount, his wife, and Erika.

“Let’s make carrot soup…. And dress it up a bit. I mean, even Mom got fooled into thinking that I bought it from a fancy restaurant somewhere.”

Thinking of Mom made my nose stung a bit, but I vehemently shook my head to get rid of the sad thoughts. I needed to start as soon as possible to distract myself.

So, I grabbed the nearest carrot and started c—

“Hey!!”

“Eh?”

A voice, barely audible, entered my ears. I looked around confusedly until I spotted something small coming out from behind a pot.

“You haven’t washed your hands! Do you want the Viscount to get sick and kill us all?”

She was a mousekin. Gray hair, dark red eyes, two circular mouse ears atop her head, and wearing a much smaller version of the maid outfit. Unlike her animal counterpart, her teeth were thankfully normal and not overgrown or bucked.

However, just like her species' animal counterpart, she was a bit smaller than my hand. 

About eight more mousekins appeared after that.

-”Yeah, wash your hands!”

-”Tie your hair up, too!”

-”Why did the chamberlain hire an idiot like this?  

“C-Cute….”

I muttered under my breath. I couldn’t contain my urge anymore. I grabbed the one who came out from behind the pot and rubbed her against my cheek.

“Kyaaaa! How cute!”

“Hey! Let me go!”

Her tiny hands smacked my cheek, but I refused to let her go that easily.

“No! You’re so cute! Almost as cute as Nowa!”

“Da-mmit! I can’t breathe! A-Are you sure you want to waste your k-kill limit on someone like me?”

Her words ripped me back to reality. I loosened my grip and reluctantly placed her back on the ovens.

“I-I-I’m sorry…. I didn’t know what came over me.”

The mousekin caught her breath. She glared at me before crossing her arms and turning away.

“Hrmm, I forgive you. However—! Do not do something like that again!”

“Of course!”

I wouldn’t want to let these cute creatures get mad at me! Remembering what I had to do, I quickly went to wash my hands and resumed cutting up the carrot.

The mousekin from before went close to the chopping board as if she was confident that it wouldn’t kill her.

She calmly watched the carrot being cut into thin slices from up close while her comrades kept a careful watch on me.

I broke a sweat under all of their collective gazes and tried to ease the situation.

“Haha~ I’m Esther. What’s your name?”

“...Eileen.”

‘What a fitting name!’

“I’m the leader of the Maus Maids. We are supposed to help the cooks.”

Hoh, then I understood why the kitchen was this small. If it was the Maus Maids, then they could navigate this place with ease. 

I didn’t need to move much, either, since the Mauses would bring stuff to me.

“...But why aren’t the others talking to me?”

“Do you expect them to do something after what you did?” She sighed and crossed her arms again. “Listen here, that’s just a small reason. The main reason is that they don’t trust you as a chef. You’re using a sword to chop carrots!”

Hmm? But I couldn’t use anything other than Aerin and Nira. But it wasn’t as if I could explain it to her.

“W-Well, I’m inseparable from my sword.”

“...All I hear are excuses so that you can be on guard against us. We aren’t foolish enough to think we can defeat someone like you. Even if we could, holding onto your position would be like suicide!” 

That being said, Eileen still wasn’t shying away from being close to my sword.

“The others don’t trust you, and frankly, I don’t, either. But I’m willing to give you a chance since that sword does seem sanitized.”

‘Do you hear that, Aerin? She thinks you’re clean. You, who sucks up blood with your blade.’

{...}

‘Tch, still mad, huh? At least tell me what you’re mad about!’

{...Figure it out yourself.}

I kept my frustration at Aerin hidden and gave Eileen a grin.

“Ah, thank you, then. I promise you won’t be disappointed!”

“Hrnn, let’s see if you can support your confidence. Also—” she smacked the piece of carrot that was flung out of the chopping board. “Please don’t make too much of a mess. Unlike you normal folks, we Maus Maids get tired easily!”