| Author: Shizuku | Original Source: Syosetu | Word Count: 3071 characters |
| Translator: Nomad | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 1557 words |
| Editor(s): Robinxen | ||
Before sleeping I had wanted to wake up at sunrise the next morning, and when I woke up it was right around that time. Maybe it’s easier to schedule myself as an automaton then?
There was little point in thinking about it.
I take off my negligee and change into my maid uniform. Then I neatly fold the negligee and store it in the closet. Yesterday Ophelia was showing and explaining everything to me, so I hadn’t been able to help much, but today I’ll work properly as a maid. I have to do my best.
I guess I’ll start with preparing breakfast. I used to just have coffee and bread for breakfast in my past life, but I couldn’t subject Ophelia to the same lifestyle. I look into the fridge, finding many ingredients I recognize. Using them, I start preparing an orthodox breakfast.
I had a decent idea of what her tastes were like since she made me test the seasoning yesterday, and I could use the stove and other magic tools (if they really could be called that) without problems.
When it was all done, I carried the food to the living room, and saw Ophelia had just woken up.
“Good morning, Mistress.”
“…Morning. Did you make all this? I’m surprised.”
“Yes, I hope it’s to your taste.”
I had made lightly toasted bread in the oven, with bacon, eggs, and a salad of lightly boiled vegetables. This much was a piece of cake for me to make, heheh. I wait for Ophelia to sit down, and then I follow her.
“Let’s eat then.”
As we cut the eggs and bacon with a silver fork and knife1, a delightful scent rises to our noses.
“It tastes good.”
I’m glad. I was terrified of what would happen if she had said it was bad. I calm myself down and reach forward to the food too. It tastes pretty good, if I do say so myself. After eating I do the dishes, and then Ophelia said I’ll take care of cleaning the house today.
Cleaning might not sound like much, but the house was really large, and while Ophelia is the only one living here, she gets so immersed with building her tools and machines that she largely neglects cleaning.
So it’s probably going to take me the entire day to finish. Though she told me that I shouldn’t touch her room, the study, any rooms on the second floor with locked doors, and the storage rooms.
First I knocked down the dust on the walls and windows, so that I could sweep it all when I was done. The house looks newly built, so the dust doesn’t stand out too much, but there is plenty of it everywhere. Dusting the entire house would be quite a workout.
When I was done cleaning, it was already time to start making lunch. Ophelia isn’t coming out from her room, so I work on cooking alone again. I use the leftover vegetables from the morning, and use them together with chicken meat to make sandwiches.
Ah, I just put mustard in them out of habit, but I wonder if Mistress likes it? I know some people don’t like it, so I should’ve asked first.
By the time I was done eating my portion, Ophelia still hadn’t come out, so I covered hers with a napkin and went to resume cleaning. I polish the windows and clean the bathroom, then go back to the dining room and see the sandwiches untouched.
“Are you feeling alright, Mistress? You haven’t eaten lunch yet.”
I was starting to get worried so I walked up the stairs wanting to suggest she eats.
“?”
Before I knock on her door, I notice one of the storage rooms is open nearby. Maybe she’s inside there. I slowly open the door. The storage room was dark, filled with piles of random stuff. There were reddish and blackened coins, plant specimens I couldn’t identify, probably used for magic and things I didn’t know.
Either way, curious about it all, I open and look into a wooden box I saw nearby.
“Oh, ohhh.”
Most of the OOParts I was finding in the mansion didn’t surprise me anymore, but this is a surprising find. So shiny, hard, large, and beautifully black. A magnificent handgun inside the box. I pick it up, feeling its sturdy weight as I examine it. It was loaded.
“Hmm…”
No, I shouldn’t.
I go out of the room and open the window in the corridor, breathing in some fresh air. Oh look at that, a tree outside seems to be offering its branch as a perfect target spot.
I pull the slide and firmly hold the gun with both hands.
No, I should stop. Ophelia will get mad at me, and might even erase my consciousness. That should be more than enough reason to stop now.
But no! True men need no reason to shoot a gun or not!
I center the sights on my target and pull the trigger! A loud gunshot followed and the branch got blown to pieces.
“Phoo.”
I blow away the smoke coming out of the muzzle. In my past life I used to frequent the shooter section of an arcade, grinding my name onto the scoreboards to the point my friends started calling me Nobita. My skills hadn’t gone rusty yet.
“Natalia.”
“!”
The voice I dreaded the most came from behind me. I had made so much noise, so obviously she was going to notice, yeah.
“Mind telling me what you’re doing?”
“Mistress, umm, I was just…”
“Hm? You were just what?”
“I’m truly sorry!”
I had no time to think of honor or shame.
I instantly knelt down and pressed my forehead on the ground.
“I believe I asked what you were doing.”
“I found a gun in the storage room, and I felt like trying it out.”
“I thought I told you not to enter there though?”
I didn’t need to raise my head to know how she looked, there was a really ominous aura coming from her. This is bad, I’m scared.
“Yes, you did tell me not to, Mistress.”
“Then why did you get in?”
“I came to check on you because you wouldn’t come downstairs for lunch, then I saw the room was open.”
“So just because the door was opened, you entered a room you were told not to?”
“I’m truly sorry.”
Woah, I think I really can’t talk my way out of this!
“Look up.”
“Yes…hie!”
“Don’t let this repeat itself.”
I nod silently.
“Good. It got a bit late for me, but I’ll go eat now. Put that gun back to where you found it.”
Ophelia went downstairs, but I still couldn’t stand up even when she was gone. This was the first time I had ever seen such a scary smile. I vowed, for my own safety, that I would never cross my Mistress’ orders again.
I kept feeling bad even after dinner. When I was done washing the dishes, Ophelia told me to sit down with her. Ahh, she’s still mad at me. I slowly sit down, feeling like a convict climbing the gallows. Ophelia stayed silent, her eyes narrowing. This situation is really really bad for my mental health. I wish she’d just kill me instantly if she’s so mad.
“Natalia.”
“Yes?!”
My voice came out louder than I wished. Ophelia places something on the table, which rattles a little. It was the gun.
“This is the magic gun Black Hawk. My late husband designed it, and I finished building it.”
I didn’t know Ophelia was widowed.
Wait no, there was something more important there.
If her husband designed it, then maybe he was-
“But neither him, the designer, nor me, who built it, were able to fire it. Yet you easily used it earlier.”
Nevermind, that wasn’t as important either. Mistress, please, don’t look at me like that. I feel my lifespan getting shorter as we speak.
“Sometimes high level magic tools choose their users by themselves, though I never imagined a magic automaton could be chosen…”
Hm? Why do I feel like the conversation is going differently than I expected?
“It’ll just keep getting dusty and old in that box, so I’m entrusting it to you.”
“Mistress, you aren’t angry?”
It was obvious from her eyes, but I couldn’t stop myself from asking.
“Yes, of course I’m angry. Why? Do you want to get scolded?”
Ophelia narrows her eyes more, her lips twisting upwards repeating the smile that terrified me earlier. I shake my head so violently it almost comes off me.
“I already told you. Don’t repeat the same mistake. I’m forgiving you this time.”
Ophelia doesn’t seem mad at me anymore, so I can finally breathe peacefully and let my shoulders relax.
“Instead, use Black Hawk as much as you can, and tell me any thoughts you have on it.”
“Thoughts?”
“Yes, like how it feels in your hands, whether for a short time or a long time. Tell me any little thing you find or feel about it2.”
So basically I had to test and monitor it in exchange for being forgiven.
“I understand.”
I got the Thing! The magic gun Black Hawk and its holster are mine now!
