Chapter 19

Idle Talk

My name is Sei. I have no surname. Originally lived in the slums but after the young mistress picked me up, I started working for the House of the Duke of Armelia.

I was working under Sebastian-san as an apprentice butler for the House of the Duke, however, that is a story of the past.

The whole affair started when the young mistress became the proxy of the fief Lord. The young mistress launched a conglomerate, and at the same time, she put me in charge of that conglomerate. I wonder where my work as a butler has disappeared to ever since then... I became the young mistress’ hands and feet, met with other people in charge every single day, corresponding to the customers... There was a mountain load of things to be done. Even right now, I am going to send a message via carrier pigeon to convey the young mistress’ instructions.

“Oh, my, Sei-san. Thank you for your hard work.”

“Thank you for your hard work, Tanya-san.”

Coincidentally, Tanya-san and I passed by each other. She, as well, is working as the young mistress’ hands and feet.

“How has it been as of late?”

“It’s the same as always. What about Tanya-san?”

“On my side as well, it’s the same as always. Now that you mentioned it, how’s the schedule today?”

“After taking a short break, I was planning on heading to where the young mistress is.”

“If that’s the case, would you like to have some tea?”

After receiving a rare invitation from Tanya-san, we headed to the employee’s break room.

“Please go ahead.”

After sitting down on the chair, Tanya-san served me a cup of tea. The drink was pale greenish yellow in color, a commodity the conglomerate has recently spent efforts to make, the herbal tea.

“This is the Rosemary flavor herbal tea. It’s good to drink when you’re tired.”

“Thank you very much. ...I shall partake it.”

After drinking a mouthful, I breathed out slowly.

“It’s delicious. ...Do I appear to look that tired?”

“No. However, you are tired, aren’t you?”

“Hahaha... Well, you are right. However, I’m still good to go. When I compare myself to the young mistress...”

“I am also getting worried about her. For a while now, I haven’t seen the young mistress taking any breaks at all.”

“You’re right, that’s how it’s been. Whenever I see her like that, I think that I have to work harder.”

My work has certainly increased when the young mistress came back. However, I never thought of it as unpleasant. Or rather, to be able to see how much will the conglomerate grow... It is my pleasure to be a part of it.

Above all, when I see that the young mistress’ workload is more than twice as much compared to mine, I feel that it’s natural for me to work harder.

“You shouldn’t be basing your standards on the young mistress. Because that person is addicted to it.”

“Hahaha, you said something really fitting... Ah, I should get going soon.”

“Right now, the young mistress is having a talk with the Madam. Because of that, she’s probably not done straightening things out...”

“Is that so. Then, perhaps I should go a little later. ...At any rate, for the Madam to make a trip all the way here, she is probably worried about the young mistress...”

“That’s probably how it is. Since from time to time, Yair-san will send a report to the mansion.”

Yair-san is the second butler of the Ducal House. However, since Sebastian-san is now devoted to the fief’s management, he is doing the work of the first butler.

“I completely understand that what the young mistress wants to accomplish is very important. However, compared to the fief, the young mistress is more important to me. I think this is a good opportunity for the young mistress to take a break even if it’s just a little...”

To Tanya, the young mistress is her life savior. Out of all of us, Tanya has the strongest feelings for the young mistress. If the young mistress were to ask her to offer her life, she would gladly do it.

“That’s right. ...Ah, Tanya-san. Could you give me another cup of this tea?”

“With pleasure.”

Let’s relax a little more before going. Let’s not disturb the young mistress’ rare moment of rest.

“...Oh, it’s been a long time. For two people to actually gather in this place.”

“Dida-san. It’s been a long time.”

The person who unexpectedly showed his face was, Dida-san Although his duty is to be the young mistress’ escort, since the young mistress’ return he has been traveling around the fief giving instructions in place of the young mistress. Thus, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other.

“Dida-san as well, would you like a drink?”

“That is the tea that’s been a hot topic lately, right? I’ll drink, I’ll drink.”

Tanya promptly poured a cup of tea for Dida-san. Although Dida looked at it curiously, at first, he laughed joyfully after drinking it.

“Ahh~ this is delicious. I like this more than the common tea. The young mistress is amazing to be able to come up with these things one after another.”

“Hahaha, certainly. By the way, what has Dida-san been doing recently?”

“Hmm? I went here and there with Ryle along with the newly trained guards to patrol the main roads.”

The young mistress wanted to strengthen the public order, and Ryle-san and Dida-san were put in charge of the training of the new recruits. Because the Duke’s guards are famous for being high quality, there are no other people fitting for that job.

In addition, Ryle-san and Dida-san had been solicited by the royal family to join the Royal Guards, but they chose to stay here. In other words, they are famous people.

“How is the public order?”

“It’s doing fairly well. The economy is doing well, too. But because that guy’s training is intense, a lot of the new recruits wanted to escape.”

“Hahaha, isn’t that a good thing? And so, what is it that you have to do today?”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“It’s because I got a summon from that guy. But I have no idea what for. ...Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve come back. So it’s probably alright if I act a little wild. Ah, Tanya. Please accompany me for training.”

“Please allow me to decline.”

As a matter of facts, Tanya-san is also versed in martial arts. When she was young, she seemed to have received severe training from Madam’s parents’ House. Even so, she wholeheartedly trained in order to be able to protect the young mistress.

“The majority of my attacks are one-hit kills. It’s a technique I polished to kill the opponent. Because my fundamentals are different from yours, I cannot act as your spar partner.”

“Hahaha, you’re one scary lady’s maid. However, for me to lose?”

“No, I did not say anything like that. What I mean is that our character differs too greatly from each other.”

“Well, you’re right. I have no choice. I guess I have to settle on training with that guy.”

Dida-san drank the last mouthful of tea and stood up.

“Thanks for this. See you later.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“Thank you for your hard work... Now then, I’ll head to where the young mistress is. Because there’s still a lot of things that’s needed to be done, I must be going now.”

...I will also do my best. The young mistress, as well as everyone else, are doing their best with their respective work.

Although the work needed to be done were all jumbled inside my head, I returned to work feeling refreshed. As I thought, a break is important.

The young mistress as well has firmly taken a break. That’s what I thought.