A Spectacular Cleanup

"Die!!!"

"Could you keep your voices down? Shouldn't assassins be a little quieter?"

"You can spout nonsense and try to dodge all you want, but it's too late! No one has ever escaped this coordinated attack!"

Good grief, these guys are loud.

If they're assassins, shouldn't they take care of things quietly? How can they be this noisy?

I casually deflected the incoming attacks, then looked down through the broken window. The street below was packed with people who'd gathered to see what all the commotion was about.

If this kept up, the guards or the knights would come rushing over to deal with the situation.

I had to resolve this somehow and get out of here before they arrived. More importantly, I had no idea when Rael might come out of that shop.

"I'm sorry, but this is where we part ways."

"What did you just say?"

"I don't have much time. I'm afraid you'll have to die here."

"What kind of bullshit is that!'

"You're going to die here, along with this entire building!"

Where had they put their goal of killing everyone in the shop below? Why were they talking about destroying an innocent building?

Could their heads really be stuffed with bouncy udon noodles instead of brains?

The quartet of assassins, whose intelligence I had serious doubts about, reached their arms toward me. I ducked, slipped between them, and swung my axe sideways.

But maybe I'd put too much force into it. Instead of splitting their bodies in half, I smashed one of the building's support pillars, unintentionally bringing their plan to fruition.

As the pillar supporting the building broke, the sound of it collapsing grew louder and louder. Before long, even the ceiling was coming down.

'Haha. I'm screwed.'

There was no way out of this. I was completely, absolutely screwed.

"Kahahaha!! Now you'll be buried here too... Huh?"

"Ah, I have no intention of dying here. Well, goodbye."

"W-Wait!"

I completely ignored the shouts behind me and jumped out the window.

An ordinary person wouldn't jump from a height of at least eight stories unless they wanted to die.

But right now, I was filled with a strange confidence.

The confidence that I'd be completely fine even if I fell from here.

The moment my feet hit the ground, my legs went numb as if I'd been electrocuted. It took standing still for quite a while before I could move them properly again.

While everyone's attention was fixed on the collapsed building, I slowly and casually made my way to the front of the shop.

I peered through the shop window. Fortunately, Rael was inside, watching the collapsed building.

It looked like there was someone else beside him, but a pillar was blocking my view.

There shouldn't be anyone else who'd hang around with him.

It had to be the person I was thinking of.

Well, if not, then never mind.

****

"Did something happen outside?"

"Don't worry about it. It can't be anything serious."

Inside the clean, elegant shop, two people sat at a table, talking.

Everyone around them kept glancing at the table where the two were seated, and even passersby turned their heads to get a look.

Considering their striking looks and the positions they held, it was a perfectly natural reaction.

"Is that man the young duke?"

"Looks like it. And the person beside him is the daughter of the head of the Prion Guild, isn't she?"

Praise for the two poured in without them doing a thing, but they continued their conversation as if it were nothing out of the ordinary.

"How are things with the guild?"

"Still a little chaotic. They haven't decided on a successor yet."

"Want me to help?"

"No need. It'll be settled soon anyway. My older sister defeated a Hellhound, one of the highest-grade monsters."

"She took down that monster? She's proven her strength, so the executives' votes will probably swing her way."

"That's right."

"Then shall we go outside and talk some more?"

"All right."

Just as the two stood up from the table, an enormous rumble sounded, and the building beside them began to collapse.

"Aaaah!!!"

"The building's collapsing! Everybody run!"

"What the hell is happening all of a sudden?!"

The people inside the shop scattered in a panic, but the two who'd risen from the table simply watched the scene through the window.

"What's going on?"

"Looks like someone destroyed the building."

"It's impressive that you can tell that from inside that cloud of dust."

"Oh, please. What does the kingdom's most celebrated prodigy have to say?"

He simply watched the chaos unfolding around him, then called out to someone outside the shop.

"Come in!

"You called for me?"

"Go find out what happened."

"Understood."

At his command, a woman in a maid uniform entered through the shop's door. She went outside to find out what had happened, just as he'd instructed.

"Who was that just now?"

"Just a slave. No need to worry about her."

"Sometimes when you say that, it doesn't sound like a joke."

"Well, maybe it isn't."

****

After finally cleaning everything up, I made it back before Rael noticed I was gone.

As soon as I reached the shop, Rael called for me in a very loud voice. I immediately opened the door and went inside.

For crying out loud, what a way to embarrass me in front of the whole neighborhood.

His order had been to find out what was going on and report back. I took a little break outside, then went in to report.

After all, there was no need to investigate when I was the one who'd destroyed it.

After I finished reporting to Rael, he climbed into a carriage with a familiar-looking woman beside him and headed somewhere.

He left me with orders to find my own way back to the estate.

'Hah, that son of a bitch.'

How was I supposed to find my way back to the estate after being dumped in the middle of the city?!

"Haa, whatever. Let's go get a drink."

I'd noticed a few bars on the way here.

And one of them even had a name I recognized.

I had money with me, and Rael had abandoned me, so there was no one to stop me.

There wasn't even a law against underage drinking in this world, so the timing couldn't be better.

If I drank too much, I might get caught or be unable to make it back to the estate, but I could just have a little, couldn't I?

I turned around and went into a place I'd already marked out: a shop called Yuren's House.

It was obvious people would give me strange looks if I went into a bar wearing a maid uniform, but right now, all I could think about was alcohol.

There was nothing like a drink to wash away all the stress I'd been under lately and this cancerous lump still lodged in my chest.

"Welcome!"

"Three drinks and one washu."

"You sure know how to order. Have you been here before?"

"Maybe I have."

After I sat down and waited a little, they brought out tender meat and a drink that looked like beer.

I savored the moment, alternating between the meat and my drink.

The kick of alcohol, for the first time in seven years, washed away the knot that had been building up inside me.

But I absolutely didn't drink too much.

A true drinker's golden rule is never to force yourself to get drunk.

I was happily drinking away for quite a while when...

"Miss, are you here alone?"

"Why'd you come to a bar dressed in such a weird outfit?"

"Why don't you have some fun with us? We've got something that'll make you feel real good."

At a glance, the two men sitting in the chairs in front of me looked like the usual street punks. They kept talking.

Of course, I wasn't listening to a word they said.

I'd nearly finished my food, so I ignored them and got up to leave the shop.

But the two punks kept following me and pestering me, so I led them into an alley and beat them to a pulp.

Their faces kept overlapping with Rael's in my mind, so I beat them with plenty of personal resentment.

"S-Sorry!"

"We won't mess with you again!"

"Get out of my sight."

After dealing with the punks, I wandered around the streets in a great mood, looking for a way back to the ducal estate.

I'd heard there was something like a carriage stop not far from the shop, but I couldn't find it anywhere.

After walking around for quite a while, I finally found a place where carriages were gathered. When I asked someone passing by, they told me that was the stop.

I paid the fare, got into a carriage, and headed for the ducal estate. My first outing had been full of ups and downs, but it still ended pretty well.

I'm not sure it really ended well, but as long as the result is good, that's what matters.

After my first outing, the number of times Rael called for me suddenly dropped off.

Whenever I went to his room at his command, his expression seemed to grow more and more sour.

But I also had to do the work he assigned me, my duties as a maid, and visit Rael's room every night. It was a wonder my body and mind could take it.

On top of that, Veronica insisted that personal maids had to learn all sorts of things, so my training was on a level I couldn't even compare to what I'd gone through in the annex.

I had to learn dark magic, how to use all kinds of weapons, and a host of other things. I ended up juggling a downright murderous schedule of work and training.

I even fainted one day.

Days passed like that, and before I knew it, the yard was covered in fallen leaves and needed cleaning. That was when the Duke summoned me.

"Serena. The Duke is calling for you."

"May I ask what he wants?"

"I don't know, either. But he looked quite serious."

"I'll go see him, then."

My days had been passing quietly without anything unusual happening, when the Duke suddenly summoned me. When I went up to his room, the Duchess was seated there with him.

'I feel like throwing up, even though I haven't eaten anything.'

Please let nothing happen. Let me get through this without any trouble.

Please.