Chapter 4
Suddenly, my eyes snapped open.
Good thing I left the curtains open in case I couldn’t wake up.
The sunlight leaking in from the window—no, wait.
What is that?
A crow?
But it’s way too big to be a crow.
The bird was so large it completely covered the entire window.
It stared straight at me.
Then—
Kiiiaaaak!
With an ear-splitting screech, it flew far away.
“What was that…?”
I frowned automatically.
Yesterday’s events slowly replayed in my mind.
Sigh… just as I thought.
So everything I saw yesterday was real.
I checked the watch given to the servants.
The time was 4:59 a.m.
Tick—
The second hand hit the number 12.
Grrraaaarrrghhh—
A horrifying sound rang out to signal wake-up time.
“…Is that really an alarm sound?”
Doesn’t that sound like someone dying?
Why would they give us something like this?
Pretending to stay calm, I pressed the button and turned the alarm off.
Anyway.
Today is my first day of work.
The contract said I had to work at least six months, so there’s no backing out now.
For a moment I felt gloomy.
But when I looked beside me, Eki was sleeping comfortably in the other bed.
Just like always, hugging her doll tightly.
Seeing that she didn’t wake up even after that alarm, she must have been here for quite a long time.
Right.
I have Eki, after all.
That’s a relief.
A real relief.
I woke Eki up, hurriedly got ready, and then we headed outside.
Work starts at 6:30 a.m.
Since we were supposed to assign duties today, everyone should be gathered on the first floor by 6:00.
But there was no one there.
“…”
I comforted the still half-asleep Eki and waited with my arms crossed.
6:10.
6:20.
6:30.
…7:00.
Only then did the monsters begin appearing, shuffling in slowly.
Even when they saw my displeased expression, they simply murmured curiously.
“Alright, everyone. Good morning.”
Clap!
I clapped my hands to get their attention.
The eyes turning toward me still felt unfamiliar, but I would be working here for at least half a year.
I needed to act confidently.
One monster stretched out its arm toward me.
The arm instantly reached my face.
Embedded in that arm was an eyeball blinking grotesquely while staring at me.
“…”
It was creepy—but only for a moment.
According to my plan, work should have already been well underway by now.
To fix the schedule even a little, we needed to start immediately.
While touring the mansion yesterday, I had already thought about what tasks to assign.
“Let’s begin assigning duties.”
Dividing cleaning work was something I had done as naturally as breathing in my previous life.
*
Remembering Rule 2, I divided the monsters into groups of three.
Our team was in charge of cleaning the first-floor hallway.
Me, Eki, and another servant.
To be honest…
I brought Eki with me because if I left her with the other monsters, she would probably cry and do nothing.
Well, whatever.
That’s one of the privileges of being the head maid.
The work was actually going quite peacefully.
“Head maid. I have an objection to this task.”
Of course, that only applied to me and Eki.
From the beginning, the servant assigned to our group had been sticking his lips out so far they looked like they might reach the end of the hallway.
He came up to me complaining.
Without even touching the rag I had carefully washed early this morning.
“Well… didn’t I say that after the other maid sweeps, you only need to mop the floor?”
“That’s the problem. I don’t have hands to hold a mop.”
“…”
The servant looked like a brown octopus.
A smooth brown octopus head that had puffed up unpleasantly.
Below the head was something that looked vaguely like a human body.
But instead of arms, dozens of tentacles split out in every direction.
Hmm…
Seeing his proud posture and sarcastic tone and the fact that he clearly had no intention of cleaning, I surprisingly nodded in agreement.
He does have a point.
How would you hold a mop with those wriggling tentacles?
Thinking about it now, he probably wasn’t being sarcastic.
He just looked upset because he had been assigned something impossible.
I realized my mistake a moment too late.
I hadn’t even noticed…
Making a mistake like this on my very first day.
Heh heh—
Cold laughter echoed from several directions.
When I quickly turned my head, the monsters that had been watching us pretended to move around busily.
But I had already seen it.
The monsters’ gazes were fixed on the octopus servant’s smooth head.
They were definitely laughing at him.
Is this workplace bullying?
Because of my mistake, it looked like I was encouraging the bullying.
If this continues, he might start hating his own body more and more, hiding his tentacles, and eventually resent me…
Absolutely not.
As long as I’m the head maid, something like that cannot happen.
I looked more closely at the servant whose face was swelling with anger.
But the more I looked at those tentacles…
The more they reminded me of something, the more I felt uneasy.
…Wait.
Maybe?
“!!!”
I grabbed his tendrils and plunged them straight into the bucket of water.
Splash splash!
The monster’s tentacles made lively sounds as they soaked in the water.
Then I wrung them out like a rag.
They wriggled a little, but since they can move on their own, wouldn’t they actually be better for mopping?
Right!
Now I remember where I’ve seen something like this before!
This is basically a mop rag!
Even better—new mop rags are stiff when you buy them, but these tentacles are soft.
They’re perfectly optimized for cleaning the hallway.
Unable to contain my excitement, I hugged the tentacles and shouted,
“This is… a top-quality mop!”
I used to run a cleaning company in my previous life, so I know what I’m talking about!
Seriously, this is the best!
“…”
The servant’s face, which had been puffed up earlier, suddenly shriveled and wrinkled.
Oh?
Maybe because I squeezed all the water out of his tentacles?
Hic!
A random hiccup sound came from somewhere.
“Anyway, you can clean with this, right?”
“…Yes… yes.”
The octopus-headed servant muttered blankly as he placed his tentacles on the hallway floor.
Swish swish.
Wow.
Look how hard he’s working already.
I almost ended up bullying someone so hardworking—no, some monster!
I quietly approached him and whispered,
“If anyone bullies you, tell me.”
“!!!”
Startled, he quickly moved far away from me.
…Well.
Too late.
He probably thinks I was trying to establish dominance on my first day.
I should treat him better from now on.
I wiped the water from my hands while swallowing my tears internally.
“Alright, next…”
When I looked around, all the monsters who had been watching earlier had disappeared.
They were all diligently doing the work I had assigned.
Hmm.
Satisfied.
At least no one is bullying anyone anymore, right?
Well, I’ll still need to check later if they actually cleaned properly.
Holding a wet cloth and a dry cloth tied around my waist, I began wiping the windows.
At the far end of the first-floor hallway.
In the shadows, a pale hand slowly brushed the marble by the window.
The duke lowered his gaze and ran his finger along the surface.
His long eyelashes covered half of his hollow-looking red eyes.
His finger moved slowly.
Not a single speck of dust remained.
His lips curved upward.
No—
It almost looked like his mouth had torn all the way to his ears.
Soon, he completely disappeared into the shadows.
*
As soon as I returned to the dormitory, I scribbled my thoughts about my first day in my diary.
First Day Review
There’s a lot to clean, which is great, but the monster guys are terrible at working, so there’s soooo much to teach them.
Still, seeing them try hard and improve is beautiful!
Not their appearance, though.
Oh, and the food is seriously delicious.
It ended up being longer than I intended.
I placed the diary in the first drawer and rested my chin in satisfaction.
The food really was amazing.
Wasn’t the head chef human?
I hadn’t seen them myself, but the meals given to the servants were unbelievably delicious.
At lunch I was so excited I practically buried my face in the food.
But at dinner it seemed strange, so I cautiously asked Eki.
“Wait… this isn’t just because today is my first day, right?”
“No. We always eat like this. Otherwise, something terrible would happen.”
“I see.”
Right.
There’s no way they’d prepare such a luxurious meal just because they hired one head maid.
They say if you want to know someone’s true character, look at how they treat their servants.
A scam?
No way.
The Duke of Vermanion must really be a good person!
Well… he does have the unusual hobby of hiring monsters as servants.
Still.
Maybe the monsters can’t find work anywhere else, so the duke took them in.
He’s truly an incredible person.
Then I suddenly remembered something I had been putting off.
“Ah, Eki.”
“Y-yes?”
When I called her name, Eki jumped up in surprise.
She must have been getting ready for bed, because the doll she was holding rolled onto the bed.
“Can I borrow that doll for a moment?”
“…Why?”
For the first time, I saw a guarded expression in her eyes.
Eki hugged the doll even tighter than before, glaring at me like she would never give it up.
It must be a very precious doll to her.
I opened my luggage and took out a small box.
“I think I can fix that doll.”
“…What?”
Inside the small box were a needle, thread, and cotton stuffing.
I smiled at Eki.
