Maseki Gurume - 015 (Patreon)

  Maseki chapter, Moto Sekai Ichi chapter comes out tomorrow.

After Arriving At The Castle [Last Part]

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Hey, it's me, Ain.

Right now, I'm at a beautiful salon that's connected to the bathhouse. Eh? How was the bathhouse you ask?

Yeah, there's no need to talk about that.

"The hot water felt nice, right Ain?"

"Yes, mother."

The mixed bathhouse I entered earlier was the largest one of the many baths.

Of course, none of them were close to that size, and only this one was a mixed one.

I honestly received a reverse culture shock seeing the spacious and beautiful bath with a fully equipped jacuzzi included.

I had a really good time washing my body with a great-smelling soap.

Men's bath? That's the first time I've heard that word......

"I've brought you cold drinks."

Chris-san, who was waiting for us in front of the bath, handed us a drink.

It was cold tea.

"Haaa……That felt so refreshing, how about we take a rest after eating, Ain?"

"I'm looking forward the type of food."

"Seems like you're really hungry, Ain-sama."

Like I said, why do you know I'm quite hungry, Chris-san?

I'd like you to stop saying it since it's embarrassing.

"This might be because I missed my early training. Or maybe it will change after he eats his fill......"

Chris-san whispered something, but I didn’t let it bother me.

Ahh, this cold tea tastes delicious in my warm body.

　＊

"First of all, it seems you could use some rest, but let me say this first, welcome home Princess.

"Martha! Yes, I'm home. I get to see you at last."

"......Princess, how many times have I told you? ......How many times did I say not to act rashly, and think carefully about your actions in advance, otherwise it would be too late if something unexpected happens."

After being called by Olivia, Martha finally arrived.

"(Ehh? This is Martha-san? This girl?)"

The person in question was a pretty girl with dark-brown hair, about 140 cms tall, and some freckles.

The gap between her appearance and the maid clothes she wore was quite something.

"Ain-sama, I'm sure you're surprised, but...... she is a proper adult, old enough to have taken care of Olivia-sama for a long time, and...... and, she is married.)"

"(M-Married...... this person is! ?)"

Chris, standing close to Ain, secretly whispered into his ears.

However, he felt frustrated to have her guess what he was thinking.

For the time being, he decided to simply give praise to the culture of this country, where a legal loli could get married.

Still, Ain's preference was someone older than him.

"Ohh……? I just took the trouble of coming back home and you're already mad at me. Somehow, this isn’t how I thought it would be."

"How funny, I'm thinking the same thing, Princess. Because of your sudden return, nothing has been readied, especially there is nothing prepared for Ain-sama."

What does she mean? Like a room? Ain was anxious, but he remembered Olivia's words.

Apparently, he would share room with Olivia, so it didn’t seem like there would be any inconvenience.

"Ain-sama, this is the first time we've met. My name is Martha, I was the exclusive maid of the Second Princess, Olivia-sama. Right now, I'm serving as the lead maid inside the castle."

"O-Okay......Nice to meet you Martha-san, I'm Ain. I feel like it's not alright to call myself by my previous last name, so let me introduce myself as just Ain."

"Thank you very much for this kind introduction. May I ask one question?"

When Ain started his introduction, her face suddenly frowned in the middle of it.

What would she want to know? Thought Ain.

"What is it? "

"I'm sorry if I come out as rude but, what does this "previous last name" means? "

I see, she doesn’t know about the separation, he confirmed.

That's right, this because Olivia hasn’t spoken about her separation with anyone yet.

"T-That is......"

I don’t think it's alright for me to say it.

After thinking this, Ain stopped speaking.

"Hey, Martha, why do you think I came back? Try guessing."

Olivia then asked Martha while seemingly enjoying it.

"Haaa......I don’t think I should know since I'm just a simple maid, but...... was there an urgent problem in Ishtalika? Or, did you come to introduce Ain-sama? "

Martha answered, but in her face, a tinge of tiredness was visible.

The reason being, because Olivia who had returned home for the first time suddenly started talking about quizzes.

"Nope, that's wrong, the correct answer is......I, won’t go back there anymore."

"(I wonder if Martha-san is a person mother really likes? This is the first time I've seen her with such a mischievous attitude.)"

"I see, so you won’t be going back to Heim, but I still don’t know what that means."

"Hey, Martha. I wonder what kind of food was prepared for me?"

"Since you expressed the desire to eat meat, I've prepared a steak as the main dish, and a few soups to help you get rid of the tiredness. So? Could you explain a bit more the meaning of those previous words? "

The small and lovely maid, Martha, was getting angry, a vein beginning to pop on her forehead.

"Mother, isn’t it time to explain to her......?"

"You're really impatient, fine, I'll tell you. I, Olivia, have separated from Logas. There, I said it, can we move on? "

"Is this really something you can just summarize in that phrase, Princess? Seriously, I don’t really understand it."

Ahh, this is bad, that vein is about to burst.

Seeing that blue vein the color of the sky, Ain decided to just give up.

"Even if you say that...... Hey, Chris? "

"Princess, even I haven’t heard the details of the separation."

"Ara...... Ain, won’t you come here? "

Trying to find an escape route, Olivia called Ain to sit on her lap, to which he was obviously happy to do it.

"Don’t think you can use Ain-sama to get away from this."

"Chris, you're being too cold, she's awful, right Ain?"

"Yes, it's awful."

'Whoaa'……Those were the kind of eyes Chris directed at Ain.

After looking at Ain with somewhat piteous eyes, Martha turned towards Olivia and spoke.

"I can see that your education has been going quite well, Princess. Will you talk about it to His Majesty? "

"That's right, for now I'll report it first to Father, then I'll tell you all the same thing. That's fine, right? "

Olivia's attitude changed a little, her expression was more serious and the tone of her voice was quite different than the previous one.

And respecting those intentions, the two people backed down.

"......Ain-sama, you're tired from the long trip, aren’t you? Now, please come, I'll show you to your room."

"Thank you very much."

Martha spoke not to Olivia, but to Ain, saying he have had it rough.

This was in response to Olivia's answer, and since she was a little hurt...... this was also a bit of her revenge.

"Hey, hey, Martha. Why didn’t you tell me that I too must be tired? ......hey, why aren’t you guiding me too? Seriously......"

"Because it's been a long time since the last time I got to tease you, come, I'll guide you too."

After reaching the castle and taking a bath, Martha, who had served as her caretaker for many years, showed up.

Thanks to that, he got to see a glimpse of Olivia's personality that she had never shown before.

　＊

"Thanks for the quick response, Martha-san."

"Not at all, this is nothing compared to your last-minute mission last night, Chris-sama."

After the emergency pick-up mission from last night, it was finally time for a break for Chris.

Having finished their meal, they were guided to their room where they were now taking a break, so it was also Chris' time for a short break.

Chris had a somewhat sleepy face.

For Olivia, who had suddenly come back around noon, Martha had to prepare many servants...... she had to get the meals and a change of clothes ready, along with the bath, and due to the unexpected appearance of Ain, she also had some extra preparations to make.

"For a child of that age......I'm sure Ain-sama have had a hard time, but it's great he can take a short break now."

The first thing Martha noticed was Ain's concern and effort.

He read the air and tried to not say anything improper in the conversation.

And although his love for his mother was a bit too strong, the current situation seemed to be within the range of 'normal'.

"Indeed, seriously...... rather, doesn’t that take off some work from Olivia-sama? He really is a good kid."

"You've been with him since last night, right Chris-sama?"

"Yes, that's right, but he truly seemed like a child who really chose his words...... and even when we went to pick them up, he stood in front protecting Olivia-sama."

The conversation between these two, who were currently in a room next to Olivia's, was entirely about Ain and Olivia.

Last night, when Chris received Olivia's contact from the steward's office, wondered what she was thinking about.

On the other hand, just as Martha had stated, rather than speaking, his attitude made it easy to understand his thoughts.

"……I wonder if when you look up 'freedom' in the dictionary, a picture of Olivia-sama shows up? Could she really raise up a child that well……? "

"To be honest I have my suspicious about that...... But seeing Olivia-sama so attached to him I don’t think that's a lie."

"A child so great that it makes one doubt she's his real parent...... This is the first time I've seen that."

"Actually, I've wondered that too."

Olivia-sama had always been like that, she never really got along with people her age, and the way she thought made it easy for the nobility to see her with dislike.

In one word, her fault was she was a free-spirit...... to an extreme.

"Chris-sama, what do you think that'll happen today? "

"Do you mean, in front of His Majesty? "

"Yes, I think they'll wake up in a bit less than two hours, at that time, what do you think it'll happen?"

"I think he will get angry after all. Because, even though she came back home, she went to take a bath and have a meal...... then she went to sleep with her son, so I think he'll really get angry."

"Ahh, His Majesty probably doesn’t know Olivia-sama is back just yet."

"Eh? He still doesn’t know Olivia-sama has come back......? "

That can’t be the case, after all, many people have seen her.

At least, there was that knight that was ordered to call for Martha.

"Yeah, for the time being, I've ordered all the people involved to simple say they 'didn’t know'."

"Ah, ohh...... I see, so Martha-san has......"

"I think it's better not to give His Majesty time for his imagination to fly, rather, I feel it might be better to be notified all the sudden."

It isn’t an exaggeration to say that the words of Martha carry the same weight as those of Chris, the Vice Captain of the Royal Guard, since Martha is a lead maid and has been the exclusive maid of Olivia.

"You sure are gentle, Martha-san, thanks to that, Olivia-sama is taken a proper rest."

"......I'd like to talk slowly about it, but first, there's another issue to be done with."

Wearing a sad expression, Martha was thinking about many things.

Thinking that it would be nice if she came back, she had worked diligently from the day Olivia went out to marry.

Despite thinking like that, she just couldn’t feel she was "working for Olivia" anymore.

But when she came back, she couldn’t meet them sooner, and finally got to converse with her after she left the bath and was taking a break at the salon.

"Yeah, that's true. For the time being, I want to know the reason why she suddenly separated and came back! "

"I'll feel bad being all angry without hearing the reason, so I think it's best to listen to her explanation and think about that first."

(Ahh, that's right, even with that body, Martha-san is like that......)

Martha was also part of the education staff even with her small, unchanging body. Yet, she was strict and dignified, and that attitude remained unchanged.

"Ouch, hot! Ahh......I got burned...... uhhh, it hurts......"

Tired and sleepy, Chris spilled her tea on her hand.

(Seems like as a parallel, after the Princess has come back, Chris' airheadness has also returned.)

The free princess and the ditz knight, both of which had unnecessarily high specs on those quirks, sometimes caused quite the trouble.

Martha looked more tired after thinking the problems these would bring, but at the same time, while remembering the fun past, she couldn’t help but to smile slightly.

"Ahh, it seriously hurts...... Ahh, but after Ain-sama's stomach became full, my sluggishness disappeared, so I'm sure it'll heal soon. Yeah, yeah...... I have to keep in mind Ain-sama's constitution......"

"Chris-sama? What was that about Ain-sama's constitution? "

When Martha called out to her, Chris, who couldn’t afford to take a nap since she was currently on escort duty, had already fallen asleep.

She had been working all night on high alert after all.

"Chris-sama really is quick to fall asleep."

Chris has said something that worried her, but she didn’t want to wake her up. So, she decided to ask again later at night.

After taking a break first, they will slowly talk about that later.