Chapter 111
“Nnngh-!”
I gave myself a long stretch, still wrapped in my blanket.
I stretched both arms overhead and lengthened my body by tensing my toes.
Each joint in my spine snapped and crackled back into place with pleasant little screams.
The soft, cozy feel of the mattress against my wiggling toes felt wonderful.
“Uuuhhh...”
A pathetic sound slipped out of my mouth on its own.
This was an utterly perfect morning, the first I'd enjoyed in ages.
No, with the sun already high in the sky, should I call it noon instead?
When I glanced at the clock, the hour and minute hands were both pointing at twelve.
Let's see. My Wednesday classes ended, I had dinner, fell asleep at eight p.m., and just woke up, so...
...What? Even after sleeping only sixteen hours, I feel this refreshed? That can't be right.
“Anyway, sleep is the best medicine.”
I'd had far too many exhausting things to deal with lately, which made this drowsy feeling all the more pleasant.
I'd even spent the entire weekend feeling lousy after going to the imperial palace and firing off an unwanted meteor.
On top of that, Princess Celestina had started coming to wake me herself on weekdays, so my biological clock was completely ruined from being forced to attend class.
Meanwhile, for some reason, more and more people had started looking for me at the academy, and my energy was being drained away.
But today, I was feeling a little better.
I liked my new bed, and the blanket, carrying the scent of autumn foliage, was pleasantly crisp and fluffy.
When I cracked the window open, a cool breeze brushed my cheek.
If the temperature dropped just a little more, it would be perfect to turn on a heater, wrap myself up in a quilt, and lie around going, “Huuuee-.”
This world had pathetic cooling appliances, but its heating appliances were surprisingly solid.
A fireplace—the campfire edition—was certainly an excellent heating device passed down from ancient times.
Still, it couldn't compare to a double-burning inverted boiler, so maybe I'd use some leftover materials from my magical engineering practical later and make something or other.
-Knock, knock.
Just then, a soft knock echoed from the door.
“Miss Lunaris, are you awake today?”
Ms. Odette, the head maid of Linea Hall, who had once been my nemesis but was now a mere commoner, had come to my room.
“If you are awake, perhaps you should have something to eat.”
“Mm-hm, I'll be right out.”
I was hungry anyway. Her timing couldn't have been better.
I kicked off my blanket and opened the door, and Ms. Odette looked at me with a slightly surprised expression.
“...I believe this is the first time I've seen Miss Lunaris open the door herself.”
“I happen to be feeling all right today. And I'm hungry.”
“That makes sense, considering you slept for forty hours straight.”
...Huh?
“Today isn't Thursday? It's Friday?”
“Yes. Since you had no other lectures scheduled yesterday, I deliberately didn't wake you, but I never expected you to sleep through an entire day.”
“What's the big deal? Sleeping twenty hours at a stretch during vacation was nothing unusual.”
“...Even so, I didn't expect you to sleep forty hours straight after going past thirty.”
As I chatted idly with Ms. Odette on our way to the underground dining hall, I found a meal already laid out on the table.
It began with stew to awaken my parched stomach after such a long fast.
Then came my favorite meat and meat, and mea...
“Hmm.”
I narrowed my eyes as I started to pick up my fork.
In one corner of the plate sat a brown lump that looked remarkably similar to meat.
It was covered in demi-glace sauce, so it might have passed for a hamburger steak at a glance, but my sensitive sense of smell couldn't be fooled.
“This isn't meat.”
“...You noticed quickly.”
Ms. Odette clicked her tongue—tch—while looking away.
It was a trap after all.
It was the head maid's desperate, tearful attempt to force vegetables—something no civilized human could eat—down my throat somehow.
But she had no chance. That wouldn't work on me.
“Meat needs to have that uniquely juicy, meaty aroma. This is blatantly radiating a plant-based aura.”
“I thought I'd prepared it with meticulous care... More importantly, how can you tell that it's well-done?”
“Why would anyone cook meat well-done in the first place?”
I shook my head as I sliced into my steak.
I loved the vivid red juices seeping from the cut surface.
“That's not cooking it. That's burning it.”
Meat ought to be medium-rare; the pleasure of sucking down those salty, bloody juices is what chewing meat is all about.
“I understand, but at least try this too.”
“If I eat all this, I feel like my stomach's going to burst.”
“Then please have at least one bite.”
“Hmm...”
I pretended to think it over, then shrugged.
“I'll eat it if I feel like it. If I feel like it.”
In the end, I quietly pushed the fake meat to the corner of the table and cleanly finished only the stew, bread, and genuine meat.
“Phaa-”
A languid sigh slipped out of me on its own.
I had a good bed, the blankets were always fluffy and dry, and delicious food appeared whenever I got hungry.
Dorm life really wasn't so bad when it was like this.
Ah, I'd just thought of somewhere to spend my money.
After graduating from Elterion Academy, I could pick out a few of the maids from Linea Hall and take them with me.
If I offered them roughly double their current salaries, wouldn't plenty of them follow me?
I'd make them my personal maids and have them cook, do my laundry, and take care of everything else.
Yes, it was a perfect plan.
“Miss Lunaris, you seem to be in a particularly good mood today.”
Ms. Odette spoke to me as she cleared the table.
“Well, I slept soundly. I certainly feel refreshed.”
So don't wake me up from now on—just leave me alone. I'll behave myself.
“Do you have anything scheduled for the afternoon?”
“Welll... I'm a little drowsy since I'm full, but I suppose...”
Resting my chin on the table, I let out a long, languid yawn.
“Oh, are you washing the blankets today? Since the weather's nice, how about going to the nearby park and toasting some bread...”
“What are you talking about? Today is club activity day.”
“...Huh?”
“If you don't have any other plans, you have to participate in the House Program.”
No sooner had Ms. Odette finished speaking than the dining hall door opened and the other maids entered.
In their hands were airy garments covered in an excessive amount of lace.
“I've had a maid uniform altered to fit Miss Lunaris perfectly.”
“No, wait. You didn't have to prepare something like that...”
“Hurry and change. Don't even think about running away.”
The maids began closing in on me from all sides.
How could I get out of this...
Oh, that's right!
“Come to think of it, there was club activity today. The Ghost Story Research Club.”
I discreetly pulled out my chair and stood up.
Before the maids could grab me, I sprang straight up with a boing-.
From behind me, I heard the wicked head maid say she would check my activity report.
Just when I was hoping to sleep outdoors for once... what is this.
*
I arrived at the old library building while stifling a yawn.
It was now being used as the Ghost Story Research Club's room.
A familiar face stood outside the door.
Imperial knights wearing golden epaulets.
They were all Princess Celestina's guards.
After exchanging a brief nod with the knights and entering, I saw Claire waving at me with a delighted expression.
“Ah, Lunaris! You made it this week?”
“Hi, Claire.”
“You weren't here last time, so I thought you might not come today either.”
“What took you so long?”
Following Claire, Chairwoman Sylvia, who was sitting cross-legged in the seat of honor, chided me.
“If Lunaris is late, you can assume she overslept almost every time, Chairwoman.”
“That's Claire for you. You know me too well.”
I answered shamelessly and sat in the empty seat—namely, the one beside Princess Celestina.
“Welcome, Luna.”
The princess welcomed me with a sunny smile.
“So you've decided not to join the Drama Club after all?”
“Well... I think I'll just go help out occasionally.”
At that, the princess set down her teacup and giggled.
“That's unexpected. Luna, you didn't seem like the sort of person who would actively help others of her own free will.”
“Come on. I quite like watching plays.”
“Really? Then would you like to go see a play together sometime?”
“Hmm, I'll think about it.”
To be precise, I liked short-form content that gave me a sudden dopamine rush.
The plays here had unnecessarily long runtimes. They were boring and pretentious.
This was one habit I was determined to break.
I lay face-down on the desk and glanced around the clubroom.
The same five people as always were here.
Chairwoman Sylvia, who was crazy about ghost stories.
Senior Thomas, the cowardly vice president.
Princess Celestina beside me, and...
Just Claire.
And finally, me.
“Didn't any new members join this semester?”
“Well, it can't be helped. We'll have to target next year's freshmen.”
Chairwoman Sylvia waved her hand dismissively.
“More importantly, our results are the real problem.”
“Why? Are they starting to pressure us to disband?”
“It's not that... We haven't seen a real ghost! How can all seven of the academy's wonders turn out to be duds?!”
That's how ghost stories usually were: most of them turned out to be nothing special once you investigated.
If a ghost seemed to leap out of an old lecture hall window, it would turn out to be a stray cat that had gotten tangled in the curtains while enjoying a midnight stroll and was now making an angry screeching sound.
And the banging that echoed through Linea Hall at the crack of dawn... Well, that was the battlefield where my maids and I waged war over getting me out of bed.
“Still, one of them was real.”
“You sent Senior Veronica's ghost on to the afterlife, Lunaris!”
Right. That happened, didn't it...
“So! This time, we've decided to expand the scale a little.”
Chairwoman Sylvia banged on the table and continued.
“We're leaving the academy and researching every ghost story in the Belhart Empire! You all did your research, right?!”