And so it was.
As Haimer leaned quietly against the headboard, he watched Inaba Tsukuyo, who had gradually drifted off into a deep sleep. He closed his eyes to rest.
Although, for him, sleep was hardly a necessity.
Still, savoring a quiet moment like this every now and then wasn't so bad.
Time flowed onward. When the first ray of morning sunlight pierced through the clouds.
The bell tower of Orario rang out with a long, lingering toll.
In the upscale residential district, the black wrought-iron gate of the Haimer estate was pushed open from outside. "Thanks."
With the early-rising Lili holding the gate open, Ryu, Anya, Lunor, and Chloe made it inside. One could see Ryu pick up a bucket of water and, carrying a rag and a mop, stride briskly toward the second floor.
After setting the bucket down, Ryu dipped the rag into the water, wrung it out, and began earnestly wiping down the handrail of the second-floor corridor.
Yet, nimble as her hands were, Ryu's thoughts at this moment kept drifting, uncontrollably, again and again, toward that door at the far end of the corridor.
Is Kami-sama still resting right now?
Come to think of it.
Just what kind of relationship did that goddess Hestia, who was always at Kami-sama's side, have with Kami-sama, anyway?
No—wrong. "W-w-what am I even letting my mind wander to..."
Lately, the moment she thought of anything related to Kami-sama, her thoughts would dissolve into a complete mess.
This was far too dangerous.
Thinking this, Ryu couldn't help but press her lips together with a complicated expression, bending down to change the water in the bucket.
However. Just at that moment. A "click." The sound of a door opening rang out. Ryu's body froze mid-motion. Still bent over, she turned her head and looked in the direction the sound had come from.
And there—an ordinary guest-room door was being pulled open from the inside.
A tall, upright figure stepped out from the shadows. It was none other than Haimer.
Likely having just woken not long ago, his black hair was a little disheveled.
As he closed the door, his movements were very gentle, as though terrified of waking the person still sleeping soundly inside the room.
Then. Once Haimer had stepped out, his gaze happened to meet that of Ryu, who was holding the bucket and half-crouched on the floor.
And so the two of them simply stared each other down, wide-eyed, in the second-floor corridor.
"Morning, Miss Elf."
Haimer was the first to break the silence, a gentle, faint smile crossing the corner of his mouth.
"Thank you for coming to clean today as well."
"I'm sorry... did I wake you?"
Ryu, for her part, grew a little flustered right away.
"Of course not. The soundproofing in this estate is excellent—I've been awake for a little while now."
Haimer waved a hand casually. "Do you need any help?" "N-no, no need!" Ryu answered hurriedly.
Right now she just wanted to end this conversation as soon as possible, otherwise she felt her face was about to start burning again.
"In that case, I'll head down first. If you need anything, just remember to let me know."
Seeing that Ryu's reaction was still this strong, Haimer could only feel helpless, so he said nothing more. After exchanging greetings with Ryu, he headed off in the direction of the staircase.
"Phew..." Once Haimer had left.
Ryu lowered her head slightly and held her breath, until she heard the footsteps on the staircase gradually fade into the distance—only then did she let out a long sigh.
Honestly.
It was just a simple greeting, so why on earth did she get this nervous? Ryu patted her own cheeks, a little vexed.
Then she made to turn around, preparing to keep wiping the section of handrail she hadn't finished.
However. As her gaze swept across the corridor and fell, intentionally or not, on the very door Haimer had just walked out of—
Ryu's wiping motion came to an abrupt halt. Wait.
Something seemed off.
Ryu's eyes slowly widened, her sky-blue pupils fixing intently on that tightly shut, dark wooden door. Come to think of it.
Wasn't the master bedroom that Kami-sama had been staying in... supposed to be at the very end of the corridor?
From these past few days of cleaning as a maid, Ryu had long since committed the layout of this estate to memory, clear as day. This door. If she remembered correctly.
The one living in this room was that silver-haired, blind girl called Inaba Tsukuyo, wasn't it?
"Plop." At this thought, the rag in Ryu's hand instantly dropped onto the rim of the bucket, and it was as if a clap of thunder exploded in her mind.
Kami-sama... walked out of another girl's room, first thing in the morning?
Could it be... He... he spent the entire night in that girl's room?!
With a "BOOM."
Ryu felt her brain crash on the spot.
No way that's possible...
Lord Haimer is so gentle, so dignified—how could he do something like this... this...
Such an indecent thing!
And it was right then. "Ryu? What are you standing there spacing out for?"
Chloe's puzzled voice came from the top of the stairs. There was Chloe, still holding a feather duster in her hand, leaning half her body out.
"Did you not sleep well last night? Why do you look so awful?"
"I... I'm fine."
Ryu abruptly snapped back to her senses, flusteredly picking up the rag that had dropped by the bucket's rim and scrubbing forcefully at the handrail, as if to wipe away that nonexistent layer of grime together with all the wild thoughts in her head.
Yet in her heart, she felt so very stifled and uneasy.
Meanwhile. On the other side. In another guest room on the second-floor corridor, near the staircase.
The morning sunlight filtered through the pale-yellow gauze curtains, casting dappled patches of light and shadow on the wooden floor.
On the big bed. Lefiya rolled over in a daze and smacked her lips. "Miss Ais... heh heh... Miss Mary... heh heh..."
She mumbled meaningless sleep-talk.
In her dream, she was linking her left arm with Ais, the one she admired most, and her right arm with the gently smiling Kikakujou Mary. The two of them flanked her on either side, running with her across a meadow blooming with flowers.
It was simply heaven!
But the very next second. "Cough! Cough!"
A distinct cough rang out in the room. "Wuwah!"
Lefiya jolted awake, all drowsiness banished, and shot up into a sitting position with her eyes wide.
"Wh... where is this?!"
Unfamiliar bed curtains, unfamiliar furniture—nothing at all like that little room of hers at the Twilight Manor. "You're finally awake."
At that moment, a familiar voice came from beside the bed.
Lefiya stiffly turned her head. And she saw Riveria sitting perfectly upright on a single-seater sofa by the bedside, holding a white porcelain teacup in her hand, looking at her with eyes that held a touch of exasperated 'why won't you shape up.'
"L-Lady Riveria?!"
Lefiya was startled, hurriedly throwing back the covers to check her clothes.
As it turned out, her clothes were perfectly intact, merely a little wrinkled from sleeping.
"Don't worry."
"This is Lord Haimer's estate."
Riveria set the teacup in her hand on the small round table beside her, explaining in a helpless tone.
"Last night, in the grand bathhouse, you got so overwhelmed with emotion that your brain went oxygen-starved and you fainted."
"Lord Haimer considered that taking you straight back might let you catch a chill from the wind."
"So out of kindness, he had you stay here for the night."
"The grand bathhouse... overwhelmed with emotion... fainted..."
Several key words strung themselves together in Lefiya's mind.
The memories of last night flashed before her eyes in an instant, like a revolving lantern.
First she'd mustered up the courage to go and scrub Ais's back of her own accord...
Then Kikakujou Mary had suddenly appeared behind her, helping scrub her back...
After drowning in the immense happiness of being flanked on both sides...
It seemed her head had gone hot, and she'd ended up drooling behind them and mumbling a few things like "so blissful"...
And finally, she'd completely lost consciousness, rolled her eyes back, and sank into the water.
"Waaaaaaaaah!"
All her memories clicked back into place.
At this thought, Lefiya's face instantly flushed a deep crimson, red from the base of her neck all the way up to the pointed tips of her elven ears. She hurriedly let out a wretched shriek, clamped both hands over her face, and with a "thud" flopped backward onto the bed, burying herself desperately into the covers like a startled ostrich.
So utterly humiliating!
In front of the Miss Ais she admired, in front of Miss Mary whom she'd always wanted to grow close to, and in front of so many other people—she had actually fainted for a reason like that!
How was she ever supposed to get by in Orario after this?! How was she ever supposed to face Miss Ais and Miss Mary?!
Right now! Just kill her!
"All right, stop playing dead."
Looking at that lump on the bed—curled up tight and still trembling beneath the bulging covers—Riveria felt a bit of a headache too, and let out a helpless sigh.
When it came to this junior she had personally trained, she really didn't know what she ought to say.
She had a talent for magic that even Riveria found astonishing—with just the slightest incantation she could unleash magic of staggering power. But this personality, this habit of crashing, getting embarrassed, and overthinking everything at the drop of a hat, was truly a headache.
If she acted like this on the battlefield, several lives wouldn't be enough.
"Relax. You don't need to feel too mortified."
Riveria stood up, walked to the bedside, and patted Lefiya's shoulder through the thick covers.
"Last night, when Loki tried to demand that raw incense stone Ais had given to Lord Haimer, she got beaten up on the spot by Lord Haimer."
Riveria calmly deployed the method of comparison.
"Compared to Loki's sorry state, this little matter of yours already counts for nothing in everyone's eyes."
"At most it's just a little episode of youthful exuberance."
"And besides, we've already intruded upon Lord Haimer's estate for a whole night. Since you're awake, tidy yourself up, then come down with me to thank Lord Haimer face to face and take our leave back to the Twilight Manor."
After Riveria finished speaking, there was a brief silence from within the covers.
Then came a muffled "Mm."
Evidently, while the reasoning was a stretch, it had offered at least a little bit of consolation.
After a while.
Riveria looked at the sight of Lefiya curled up in the covers, sighed helplessly, then turned and walked out of the room to wait outside the door.
Only then did Lefiya, sporting a head of messy, bird's-nest hair, crawl out from the covers with a flushed face.
She obediently scurried into the washroom attached to the room, turned on the faucet, cupped the icy cold water in both hands, and slapped it forcefully against her still-burning face.
Looking at the version of herself in the mirror—eyes still a bit red-rimmed, face written all over with embarrassment—Lefiya couldn't help but heave a long sigh, and called out in a low voice to her reflection.
"Pull yourself together, Lefiya!"
"You're an adventurer of Loki Familia—how can you let yourself be knocked down by something like this?!"
"Today is a brand-new day for you!"
With that, Lefiya slapped her own cheeks hard—two crisp "smack, smack" sounds—forcibly psyching herself up.
Then. After a quick wash-up.
Having smoothed out the wrinkles in her clothes, combed her messy golden hair back into order with a comb, and tied it into a ponytail.
Lefiya took a deep breath, forced out what looked like a normal expression, pushed open the door, and caught up with Riveria, who was waiting in the corridor.
But after just a couple of steps, Lefiya couldn't help but pause.
"That's... the serving girl from The Hostess of Fertility?"
At the other end of the corridor, a figure seen from behind was carrying a bucket downstairs.
Though she'd only caught a glimpse of the back, her excellent memory let her immediately recognize Ryu, who was likewise an elf.
As a serving girl at one of Orario's famous taverns, how had she ended up doing cleaning work at Lord Haimer's estate?
Still. Lefiya thought it over, let her gaze linger on Ryu for only a brief moment, then decided not to meddle in others' affairs any further.
After all, this wasn't the Twilight Manor; being too curious was never a good thing.
"Let's go, Lefiya."
The two of them walked down the staircase to the first-floor hall.
In the hall.
Haimer held a cup of black coffee that Lunor had just brought up, his gaze calmly fixed on the courtyard at the center of the estate.
In the central courtyard, Kyoubou and the little bear were sprawled out on the lawn, basking in the sun and sleeping.
A few birds hopped back and forth on their backs, and they couldn't be bothered to pay them any mind.
Hearing the footsteps coming from the staircase.
Haimer turned his head and saw Riveria and Lefiya coming down. "Did you rest well, Miss Riveria?"
Haimer set down the coffee cup in his hand and greeted them in a peaceful tone.
"Thank you very much for taking us in, Lord Haimer. We troubled you last night."
Riveria bowed her head slightly, hands folded over her abdomen, and performed a standard elven noble's courtesy.
Lefiya, standing behind her, was so nervous she didn't even know where to put her hands.
After all, last night she had fainted in the bathing pool of Lord Haimer's estate because of Miss Mary.
In the end she'd had to rely on him taking her in—not only troubling Lady Riveria to keep watch the whole night, but also making a fool of herself in front of Lord Haimer.
The instant she thought of this, Lefiya felt her face couldn't help but start heating up again.
"Th-thank you so very much for your care, Lord Haimer!"
Then Lefiya closed her eyes and bowed an exaggerated ninety-degree bow toward Haimer.
"It was a trifling effort—no need to be so formal."
Haimer looked at the overly nervous Lefiya and gave a helpless smile.
"It's a good thing for young people to be full of energy and to yearn for beautiful things."
Haimer's gaze, carrying a hint of teasing mischief, fell upon Lefiya's bright-red ears.
"It's just that from now on, it'd be better to rein in your emotions a bit—after all, it wouldn't do to crack your head open."
The moment these words came out.
Lefiya's face instantly swelled to the color of a fully ripened tomato, wishing she could find a crack in the ground to dive into right then and there.
Watching Lefiya's blushing state, Riveria could only sigh helplessly.
"Well then, Lord Haimer, we'll be taking our leave now."
____
👻🔥Read More on P@treon: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: DanMachi: But I am a Monster — now up on The_Mikudayo
📚 Walnut-chan = 40 chapters ahead + you keep the translations moving
Help us hit our community goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone