The Peaceful Life of a Maid Who Hides Her Power and Enjoys It

<Episode 51>

 

Rattle.

 

Rue, with a basket full of vegetables next to him, came and pulled out a seat to sit down. Then he began trimming asparagus.

 

I was asking the maid the question purposely where I couldn’t see him. This sly guy.

 

“In the past, the Rogue was divided into two parts: the Northern Rogue Church, located in the north and centered around the North Deus Mountains, and the Southern Rogue Church in the south. Today, when referring to the Rogue, we refer to the Northern Rogue Church.”

 

Northern Rogue Church.

“What did you say it was, Rogue?”

 

No wonder I felt like I’d heard the name somewhere, but couldn’t quite put a finger on it. It was still called the Northern Rogue Church – it seemed it had completely been renamed to just Rogue now.

 

“The Southern Rogue Church… At first, it was a religion with nothing special. They weren’t on bad terms with the Holy Church either. Above everything, the Southern Church didn’t have a leader.”

 

Majority of the Allied Forces, including the Penrotta Empire, followed the Holy Church, which was the state religion. However, the church’s power within the empire was very weak, and religious ceremonies were held in sanctuaries only built in large cities such as Midwinterre.

 

“Then they joined hands with the Great Wizard Mephisto, and were simultaneously destroyed by the Allied Forces in the Magic War. They’ve almost been completely erased from history.”

 

Most of the wizards who followed Mephisto were from the southern Rogue Church. When we marched down south, we burned down all visible temples of the Southern Church.

Traces of gruesome massacres were often discovered in the underground basements of the temples, and when ambushes were necessary, they would hide next to decaying corpses

 

“Perhaps due to its roots with Rogue, the Northern Rogue Church also faced significant criticism from people. The prevailing public opinion questioned whether the Southern Church alone had been doing dealings with Mephisto. After the war, however, it was revealed that the Allied forces greatly benefited from the Northern Rogue Church, when they received assistance in demon extermination and various magical practices.”

 

The maid’s words were true.

Natasha too had tried several ways to subjugate the devil army, and they were all so complicated that it would take me a 100 days to even explain one of them. Then we started working with a new magic theory, and I remember all of those were handed down by the wizards of the Northern Rogue Church.

 

“According to the Northern Rogue Church, the Southern Rogue church were a group of mutineers who ignored the doctrine and fled. It was an independent body of its own and must not be recognized as a branch with the same roots as them. The Magic Alliance acknowledged the claim and renamed the Northern Rogue Church to be just Rogue. The Southern Rogue Church is now recorded in history books as Mephisto’s army.”

 

There was such a long process in the aftermath of the war.

I nodded my head, asking the second most important question.

 

“Do you know what Calepa is?”

“Calepa? Of course I know. That’s…”

 

Right then, a strong wind came from the kitchen window. It knocked down some of the hanging bedding in the backyard to the ground.

 

“Oh goodness! What a sudden wind! Sorry, Daisy, I’ll tell you about that next time. Don’t follow me, go help Rue. God, I wonder if it’ll rain…”

 

How can it rain when the sky is so clear?

‘Rue played a trick.’

 

The maid left in a hurry.

I took her seat and asked Rue, who trimmed the asparagus very meticulously, without a change of expression.

 

“Mr. Rue, don’t you have anything to say? About Rogue.”

Rue ceased his delicate act of peeling off a vegetable’s skin, tilted his head and locked eyes with me before parting his lips to speak, breaking his silence for the first time.

 

“Miss Daisy.”

Huh? My heart was suddenly pounding, waiting to hear what he was going to say…

“Cut it in half so it tastes good.”

 

…what do you mean?

I took a kitchen knife from the drawer and diligently cut the asparagus Rue had been working on in half anyway.

He might be a punk, but he was a skilled cook, so I complied. I will definitely find out what Calepa is!

 

That day, I ate the delicious dinner prepared for me and planned to go to the pub at midnight and meet the Assassin-butler.

 

But I forgot and fell asleep again.

 

The next day.

Contrary to her promise, the maid did not tell me what Calepa was.

 

“Today’s class is canceled.”

What?

“Why?”

“I think there’s a problem with the water pipe in the backyard. I’m going to check it out and call someone. If you need water just in case, use the water in the garden.”

 

With that remark, the maid left for the backyard.

“There’s suddenly a problem with the water pipe in the backyard?”

 

I stood on the porch and glared at Rue, who was clearly the main culprit of this.

Rue, who was spraying water in the garden, smiled and touched his heart.

 

“Why is Miss Daisy staring at me so hard again? Are you going to confess again? I’ll reject you in advance.”

“Don’t disturb me, old man. Why do you keep interrupting us?”

“People become narrow-minded as they grow older. I’m twice as old as the average old person, so I’m twice as narrow-minded. Keep that in mind.”

 

The brazen human Rue watered the flowerpot ‘Ru’ with a face that looked like it had not an ounce of conscience. Seeing the leaves of the flower shaking healthily made my teeth grind.

 

When I came up to the bedroom to relax, a new note, which hadn’t been there until this morning, was stuck to the window.

 

[The Pub. Daytime.]

It was a ciphered message from the assassin-butler.

 

‘I’ve been putting it off for a while.’

I went to the market for an errand under the excuse of getting a new broom.

Before entering the market, I checked how the old potato seller was doing. The old potato seller was snoring loudly, asleep with his back against the wall.

 

‘Good. You’re sleeping very well.’

 

The role of the potato seller was to pick out any suspicious people near the pub.

There was no better way to induce your opponent’s carelessness than doze off in the middle of the busiest time of the day.

 

After entering the market and buying a floor cleaning brush at a general store, I wandered around at the fruit store next to it and asked if they’d ever seen anyone from Rogue around here.

 

“Rogue.”

 

The owner of the fruit shop, who’d been chatting with me, sweeped his chin.

“Hmm….I’ve heard of it somewhere.”

“Isn’t it that cult? They took quite a few kids from here back then. Aren’t they the ones who helped that killer, Mephisto?”

“No, no. That’s their brother religion. Rogue is probably the church that helped the Allies.”

 

Half wrong and half right information.

I don’t think I can get information on Rogue from them.

 

“Ah, is that so? I don’t know much about them. Anyways, Miss, did you hear this? The person who overturned the merchants association – I think he turned those thugs into actual people. No one’s asked them to do it, but they clean the streets every morning.”

 

I was hearing it for the first time. It seemed they were cleaning the market now.

“Oh, but that’s not all! You know that grandpa who sells potatoes in the alley? They say the thugs apologized to him and bought him a stand. They offered to get him a nicer one, but the grandpa refused. Goodness, now that he’s old, shouldn’t he accept it if it makes doing his business comfortably?”

 

“Isn’t it all that old man’s business philosophy? There’s nothing we can do. Let’s just help him sometimes.”

 

Merchants who nodded vigorously smiled at me.

“Anyways, thanks to that hero, our market has become a nice place to do business again. No matter who they are, I wish them well.”

“Of course! Ah, miss, come, have a bite. The strawberries today are really sweet. I’ll give you a basket, so take it.”

 

I refused, chewing on the big strawberry she shoved in my mouth.

“I have no money.”

 

Ho-ho, the smiling fruit vendor gave me a handful of strawberries and replied.

“Oh, money! No need. Just take it, it’s a favor that cannot be repaid with money anyway!”

“Favor?”

“No. It’s a slip of the tongue, a slip of the tongue. Go on. I need to sell fruit. If you don’t have enough strawberries, come again, miss.”

“Other than strawberries, if you need photographs, come to our studio! I’ll take a great picture. Up to ten photos are free, so don’t worry about money, okay?”

 

You’re not supposed to say no to a gift.

 

I held the strawberries in my arms and carefully stepped into the pub using the ‘I left something in the pub.‘ technique.

 

There was a ‘closed’ sign on the door.

 

Squeak.

As soon as the door opened, members of the former merchant association stood up from wherever they were in the club.

 

“Ah, you’re here!”

“Oh, yes. Be at ease.”

 

Looking at the bustling atmosphere, it looked like the interior was being renovated. The lights and the overall place seemed to have gotten brighter.

 

“You cleaned the streets and bought the old potato seller a stand, did you?”

Violence makes the world a better place, too. I might have to wield violence more in the future.

 

I gave the bartender the strawberries as a gift.

“Eat it.”

 

The bartender looked at me in astonishment.

“These precious strawberries… Thank you, ma’am! Hey, you all! Be sure to say thank you to the lady for buying us strawberries!”

“Thank you, sister. Thank you for the food!”

“Thank you!”

 

I got away from the noisy association members and made my way towards the storage room. As expected, within the dimly lit confines of the storage room, the assassin-butler, with the curtain drawn, was waiting for me.

 

He asked me in a dreary voice.

 

“My request?”

His request was for me to deprive Jean Berkely Gratten of her right to succeed.

Although I’d won the duel in exchange for it, due to the swordmaster’s ambiguous attitude, I wasn’t sure if it was going to actually be done.

 

I answered frankly.

“I don’t know.”

 

The voice of the butler assassin became even more dreary.

“You don’t know? Can I take that to mean you do not care about your partnership?”

“No. Instead, I brought you a present that you might like.”

“…a present?”

“Jean Berkeley Gratten.”

 

“…….”

“Hired as a maid of the Weatherwoods.”

 

—

 

That market definitely knows who the hero is hehe