âI donât really intend to make her cry, thoughâŠâ
âItâs her pride as a maid, no? She doesnât wanna take up her mistressâs time,â Sword explained to me while soothing me by stroking my head when I complained to him.
âItâs exactly because Iâm her mistress, wouldnât you say? When else would I take care of her if not during a time like this? âŠAnd I just remembered, but we arenât supposed to have an employment relationship. Rather, you should be her master since you called her here.â
âIâd really love to meet the servant who doesnât consider you their mistress under the current circumstances. Maybe Brave Amato. No wait, that guyâs started callinâ you Lady, too. I guess that means none.â
I havenât hired her! The mansion is Swordâs property and Iâm a freeloader here! Sure Iâve done things like expanding the grounds, cultivating fields, and building a ranch, but I got Swordâs permission for all of it!
After puffing out my cheeks in discontent, I asked Sword, ââŠDonât you dislike it if I act like the mistress of the house?â
âIâd rather use you as scapegoat than beinâ called master, to be frank.â
So he hates the term, huh?
âYour a former noble, so your probably used to beinâ called lady or mistress, but I hail from a small village as someone whoâs worked up his way from a low standin.â I donât even feel great âbout being pampered as S-Rank adventurer, but beinâ treated like a master is impossible for me.â
âŠConsidering that, you were totally fine being called ăThunderclap Whitefangă, werenât you?
Just as I thought that, he ground my cheeks with his fists.
âHmm? I sure hope your not thinkinâ that Iâm cool with being called by my alias, are you? âŠEven I hated it at first! I couldnât even turn âround when someone called me by that name! But, since everyone used it, I had no choice but to make my peace with it! Even the king calls me like that, you know? Tell me, what should I do âbout it!?â
âBmphbphbmmph.â
I couldnât talk since my cheeks were being squished together.
âYou know, I really hope you also get a name so embarrassinâ that you wonât be even able to react to it! Itâll let you understand my feelings through the same pain, okay? Got it?â
Sword has become super sadisticâŠ
ïŒ
The sick maid apparently continued to gradually get better. However, it was just that she ăcontinued to get betteră, not that she fully recovered. Thatâs why I didnât allow her to go back to work, despite her claiming that she was perfectly fine. And once I forbade it, she cried.
During the umpteenth time of me nursing her, she said, ââŠLady Indra, I want to take care of you once I recover.â
âHmm? What are you talking about?â
âI will tailor a beautiful dress, and then I would like to help you with your bathing, Your Ladyship. I want to scrub you thoroughly all over and then put the new dress on you. After fixing your hair a bit, I also want to arrange it. I want to apply a small amount of make-up, too. I would love to also add wonderful accessories and ornaments to you.â
âŠâŠâŠ
Whatâs with all those desires? Moreover, theyâre all directed at me and not herself.
âOkay, okay, I got it. Once youâre healthy, you can do as you like. Thatâs why, rest up properly now. I donât want you to ever collapse again and I want you to recover completely as quickly as possible, not to mention that I donât want you to die. Do you understand?â
âY-Yes!â
She finally stopped crying, huh?
ïŒ
The maid made a full comeback. And as she had apparently recovered completely for real, she worked at full throttle. But, girl, isnât that the reason for you to have collapsed in the first place!?
I tried to stop her, but she only answered with an entranced expression, âLady Indra, do you remember your promise?â
âOf course. âŠI understand, so donât work yourself to the ground. Call a tailor. The fabricâŠoh, right! I had some fabric in stock as well! Tell the tailor to use that.â
I took out silk, err no, bug fabric.
âItâs a souvenir for you guys. Feel free to use it as you please. It has a fairly decent touch on the skin. Thus I think itâd be a good idea to wear it to cover your skin or use it as decoration while capitalizing on its gloss and thinness.â
The maids all gathered and started to chat excitedly. Yep, women love their clothes, donât they?
ââStill, I must resolve the labor shortage urgently. Even though Iâm telling the maids that they donât need to do so much, they probably wonât listen to me anyway. Itâs probably got something to do with their pride as maids.
Hence, I have no choice but to increase the staff.
ïŒ
âŠAnd just as I came to that conclusion, we had some visitors.