Chapter 5

“Mr. Alex.”

“Y-yes! Head Maid!”

The monster whose name I called—no, not a monster.

Alex.

He snapped his legs together and straightened his posture.

“Hmm…”

As I flipped through the papers in my hand, Alex’s body twitched.

Because of that, the chandelier hanging from the ceiling bumped into his face and began swaying back and forth.

At this rate it might fall.

“The chandelier. Hold it properly.”

“Yes!”

Alex hurriedly grabbed the chandelier and steadied it before forcing a smile at me.

Hmm… this should be enough.

Seeing him standing awkwardly and watching my reaction because the ceiling was lower than his height, I figured that was good enough.

To explain how I learned Alex’s name, we need to go back a few days.

*

I never measured Alex’s height, but he’s easily over four meters tall.

So I assigned him to clean the outer walls of the building together with a slime monster.

On the second day, I went outside to check if they were actually working.

Just as expected.

He looked down at me and spoke sarcastically.

“Head Maid, I’m sorry, but this rag is too small for me. If I try to clean the exterior wall with this, my arm will fall off first.”

He said that while leaving the rag I had carefully washed, lying on the ground.

Then he casually leaned one arm against the mansion wall and even crossed his legs.

Why is he acting like that?

But honestly, from head to toe he looked like a tree, so he wasn’t scary or impressive at all.

If he didn’t open his mouth, it would be hard to distinguish him from the large trees nearby.

But soon I discovered his weakness.

For someone that big, the ground beneath his feet wasn’t dented at all.

Even the grass was perfectly fine.

That means…

He’s very light for his size.

I calmly gestured to him.

“Come here and sit down for a moment.”

“…?”

He looked confused but walked over and sat.

Right.

If I answer calmly like this, of course he’ll get curious.

Even when that huge body sat down in the garden, the grass beneath him was completely fine.

I took dozens of wet rags I had prepared earlier and wrapped them all around his arms.

“H-hey, what are you—!”

At incredible speed I tied them tightly, lifted his arms, and wiped the building’s outer wall.

Yes!

It cleans perfectly!

Isn’t this basically a wall-cleaning brush?

Actually, after using Mr. Jameson’s tendrils as cleaning tools on the first day, I discovered a whole new world.

These monsters…

Their bodies are actually perfect for cleaning.

And just like that, I gained another free cleaning tool.

Oh, and at that time, the slime monster that had been lying flat on the grass also started cleaning while holding a rag.

Then the next day, he came to me and said:

“Head Maid.”

“Yes?”

“My name is Alex.”

“Oh… yes—wait, what?”

With a very determined expression, he told me his name.

He even placed a hand over his chest.

But didn’t they say they wouldn’t reveal their names because they’re too prideful?

*

Anyway, back to the present.

While I was briefly lost in thought looking at the documents, Alex suddenly swayed.

He probably lost balance while holding the chandelier.

Seriously.

He’s tall but ridiculously light.

I closed the documents I had already checked dozens of times.

“I checked the building’s exterior earlier.”

“Yes.”

“It’s much cleaner than yesterday.”

“R-really?”

Alex looked deeply moved.

“Yes. However, there was some water stain on the far-right corner of the second floor. If you could pay extra attention to that area, it would be great.”

“Yes! Understood, Head Maid!”

“You worked hard, Mr. Alex.”

“Thank you!”

Alex bowed deeply with an emotional voice.

The chandelier began swinging again.

He had completely forgotten about his height.

When he slammed into the chandelier again, his face dented inward.

Sigh.

Good thing his face looks like wood instead of a human face.

I pretended not to notice and turned around.

Behind me, I heard a sigh.

*

6:00 PM.

After the servants finished their work for the day.

Once they confirmed that the new human head maid had gone to the dining hall for dinner, several figures quietly gathered in the hallway.

They whispered carefully so she wouldn’t hear.

“This cannot continue.”

“How can we live like this, being pushed around by such a trivial creature?”

“A mortal who won’t even live a hundred years…!”

“I’ve been cleaning horse manure in the stables for a whole week!”

What started as complaints gradually grew louder.

Some of them even shouted in anger that they had revealed their names to the human head maid and essentially surrendered.

Some monsters even had tears in their eyes from the humiliation.

“No matter what, even if the master hired her… a human is still a human.”

“That’s right. If he needs a human anyway, why not just replace her and bring in another one?”

The monster speaking the loudest was the one who had suffered terrible humiliation on the head maid’s first day.

Jameson Diephon Kraumaken.

His arms were made of countless tentacles, and his face resembled that of an octopus.

Once known as the monster of the cosmic sea, a being feared throughout the universe.

Remembering the horrifying moment when his tentacles were soaked in a bucket of water, his entire body trembled.

At the time, he had been too shocked to react.

In fact, when the tentacles were soaked…

For a brief moment he had even felt a strange sense of peace.

But anyway.

Once he regained his senses, he had immediately tried to kill the human head maid.

But the moment he felt murderous intent, his own mind nearly collapsed.

Why?

Even though he had sworn loyalty to the master and could no longer use his true power…

Killing a single human should have been easy.

Which means there was only one explanation.

“She must have signed a contract with the master so that we cannot kill her. That vile and insignificant creature…”

Jameson wrapped his tentacles around his shoulders and trembled.

The other monsters fell silent.

Where had the dignity of the one once called the Ruler of the Sea gone?

Even if he now looked like nothing more than a ridiculous octopus head.

In the past, he had sunk countless ships crossing the cosmos and devoured their crews.

He had been known as the Kraken of Terror.

And now—

Because of one human woman—

He was forced to clean floors.

The hallway fell silent.

As everyone’s morale dropped, one monster hurriedly spoke up.

“Still, if we tell the master how difficult things are, he won’t stay silent. He couldn’t have expected things to turn out like this.”

The mood began to shift again.

“That’s right!”

“Let’s tell the master!”

“That’s right! Let’s tell him!”

They raised their voices.

They marched up the stairs with determination.

But once they reached the duke’s door, they hesitated.

“…”

Dozens of monsters glanced at each other.

No one had decided who would knock.

Creak—

The door opened by itself.

The duke had opened it from inside.

The monsters who had been standing confidently immediately stepped back.

“What is it?”

A voice whispered quietly.

It was so emotionless that it was difficult even to describe it as indifferent.

It was very soft.

Yet no one there failed to hear it.

A chilling aura filled the hallway.

For a moment, every monster froze.

Then Jameson gathered his courage and spoke.

“Master. It’s about the human head maid who recently arrived.”

“Yes.”

“That head maid keeps humiliating us. She shoved my hands into a bucket of water and used them as mops. Even so, isn’t that going too far?”

Jameson couldn’t even look directly at the duke.

But as he spoke, his frustration grew, and he pounded his chest.

The duke leaned against the wall, quietly listening.

The monsters watching began to feel encouraged.

“Master! I’ve never even walked on land before, but now my feet are full of blisters!”

“I’ve been shoveling horse manure every day!”

“I’ve been cleaning the building’s exterior every day… Actually, it’s more rewarding than I expected.”

“You stay quiet. Why are you even here?”

Dozens of voices overlapped.

They even started arguing among themselves.

The duke frowned slightly at the noise.

“The contract I made with the head maid only states that you cannot cause harm to her.”

He sounded extremely annoyed.

“The rest is up to you.”

As if telling them to deal with it themselves, he waved his hand dismissively.

Then he closed the door.

“…Ah.”

The monsters blinked.

Only then did they realize the loophole in the contract.

Slowly…

Wicked smiles spread among them.