Volume 2 - CH 13

hcheadcanon19-24 minutes 24.09.2022

When she awoke, she found herself in an unknown place and in an unknown body.

Kurita Maika had ended up in such a situation after falling asleep in a hospital bed. A few days had passed since she first arrived at the orphanage, but by now she had become certain of it: this world she was in was the world of The Silver Saint.

It all started when she had been in the middle of wondering why the nun had looked so familiar to her; a single passing comment was the starting trigger to remembering it all.

“So I heard there was an attack at the Spring Ball that was held at the Royal Castle a few days ago. How scary, to think something so dangerous happened so close by…”

Sister Anabelle had mentioned the topic one afternoon, when she and Maika were washing the used lunch dishware.

“An attack… at the Spring Ball?”

(That means someone attacked the castle? Where the king lives? This world is more dangerous than I thought…)

She did not know where she was now, but she was certain this place was not the Japan she knew. After all, the people here did not speak Japanese or even English; in fact, she could not be sure this was even Earth anymore because…

“O Water, heed my call, Water CreationFarediacqua.”

… magic existed in this world. Even now, Sister Annabelle was somehow creating water at her fingertips to wash the dishes; it was the work of magic, which did not exist on Earth.

(Is this one of those reincarnation stories? Like where they get spirited away to another world? I remember that genre being popular when I was younger… Wait, does that mean I died?! I don’t remember dying! How does this work? Did I die after falling asleep back then?)

It was hard to accept that she had somehow died without realizing it, but that seemed to be the most likely explanation.

“Is something the matter, Micah?”

“No, nothing’s wrong. And then? What happened after that?”

“Well, we were not affected by what happened, but there was talk about how the Royal Academy was to be closed for a time afterward.”

“Oh, that’s awful.”

“Yes, and it seems the castle was in quite an uproar because the attacker was targeting Crown Prince Christopher. I heard the daughter of Marquis Victirium was with the Crown Prince at the time, and they said she wasn’t hurt at all… I’m still a little worried for her, and I hope she is doing well.”

Sister Annabelle paused and stared off into the distance, a worried expression on her face. Micah, hearing a certain name for the first time tilted her head in curiosity.

“Do you know her? The daughter of the Marquis, I mean.”

“Fufufu, you could say we are acquainted. We have met once before, after all.”

“Really? Why would a snobby noble girl like her even… huh?”

“Snobby? No, Lady Annemarie is not like that at all. She is a kind girl, and very smart, too… Micah?”

Micah suddenly paused in thought, not because of Sister Annabelle’s correction but because something had clicked into place in Micah’s head.

(Marquis Victirium… Huh? Where have I heard that name? And ‘Crown Prince Christopher’? I know that name from somewhere, too… Where have I…)

“Micah, what’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?”

“Oh, um, no, I’m fine, Sister… Anna… belle?”

“Hm? Yes, that is my name. Are you not feeling well? Perhaps we should see if you might be running a fever or…”

“Y-y-you’re Sister Annabelle! The caretaker of the orphanage!”

“Yes, that’s me. I do believe I introduced myself as such when we first met. Are you sure you are all right?”

Micah’s random outbursts left Sister Annabelle in confusion, and the erratic behavior would only escalate as Micah’s memories began resurfacing and matching up with what she was learning about this world.

“There’s Sister Annabelle and the orphanage. And then Crown Prince Christopher, and Annemarie Victirium the villainess, too! Then… would that mean this city is Partesia, the capital of the Kingdom of Theolas?!”

“Yes, this is the capital of Theolas, but… Micah? Wait! Where are you going?!”

Micah turned and dashed off. She stopped outside, and a short look around was enough to convince her.

“There’s no mistaking it. The shapes, the designs… It looks exactly like a background from the game…”

(Then does that mean I really am in the world of The Silver Saint and the Five Oaths?)

The haziness she felt in her memories began to recede; while she still could not remember most of her adult life, her memories from throughout middle school became clearer than ever.

(It’s almost unbelievable, but I know I’m not wrong! This world is definitely… Wait, but that means..!)

The austere sight of the towering Royal Castle in the distance reinforced Micah’s suspicion that she was now in the world of that game, but then she realized something else; Sister Annabelle had talked about an attack at the Spring Ball, which meant…

(…The story has already begun! We’re in the fourth month now, so… oh no! The orphanage sub-event will be happening soon! If it just follows the game, then the orphanage will..!)

Back in the game, the orphanage was the focus of a certain side story ocurring in the fifth month; the Crown Prince and the heroine planned a secret outing together, but in truth, the heroine was simply accompanying the Crown Prince to disguise his true purpose: an incognito inspection of the city.

Their final stop of the inspection had been this very orphanage. As it turned out, the corruption among government officials had led to the siphoning of funds and support away from this orphanage, and it seemed many children suffered and even died as a result. The heroine, seeing the terrible aftermath, had vowed to save the orphanage.

(I can’t let it end like that! The orphanage saved me, gave me a place to be when I had nothing else… I need to do something, anything!)

But as Micah became increasingly agitated as her memory returned, it seemed she missed a number of discrepancies that were vastly different from the game.

For example, she did not realize Sister Annabelle had described a completely different Annemarie compared to the one from the game. She also did not seem to notice the glaring distortion to the plot progression: the fact that the Royal Academy was to be closed for a time following the events of the Spring Ball, when, compared to in the game, classes had resumed as usual the next day.

And, most importantly of all, the orphanage she was so determined to save… was not actually in any danger.

After all, if the orphanage were only a month away from complete collapse, it should already be showing signs of imminent ruin, and yet since coming here, Micah (albeit unknowingly) has not suffered hardship nor wanted for food.

The sudden realization she had reincarnated into the world from a game, combined with the severity of an apparently impending crisis, had overwhelmed the rest of Micah’s thoughts, and so all she could do was obsess panic over this one problem… a problem that did not actually exist.

“Micah, what’s wrong? Why did you suddenly run outside?”

Sister Annabelle, having caught up to Micah, looked at the young girl with concern, but Micah, muttering “What should I do? What should I do?” under her breath, could hardly notice.

(My face… isn’t a character I recognize… Am I just a nameless orphan? What can I do then, if I’m just a nobody like that? Am I just supposed to wait for Heroine-chan to come save this orphanage?)

“Micah?”

“No… No, I can’t just sit around and wait for help!”

Sister Annabelle stepped back in surprise when Micah suddenly began yelling. Just what has come over this child, all of a sudden?

(Even if I’m just a faceless, nameless background character, that doesn’t mean I have to be completely helpless! There has to be something I can do!)

Or so she believed, but there was nothing she could use, not skill, not knowledge, and certainly not connections. If she wanted to get help from one of the game’s characters, that opportunity would happen next month, when the side story began; the game mostly took place at the Royal Academy, so there was no other way for Micah to meet them.

(Ahh! What else can I do?! What if I used my knowledge from the game to do something? Just like in those stories about being transported to another world!)

Of course that was much easier said than done; the Kingdom of Theolas was a country that favored the aristocracy, after all, and the amount of influence a commoner, let alone an orphan, has was extremely limited at best. And yet, Micah did not want to simply give up.

“Sister Annabelle!”

“Huh?! Wh-what now?”

“I will get a job!”

“And what, exactly, brought this up?!”

Micah had no convenient, ingenious plan to immediately save the orphanage from ruin, but she had come up with a plan: she would find a job and help with the orphanage’s daily expenses. It was an ordinary yet practical solution.

“I heard there was a Commerce Guild, so if I go there, I can find a job!”

“W-wait a moment, Micah! There is no place that would hire someone as young as–“

“Don’t worry, Sister Annabelle! I’ll help protect the orphanage! I’m off to find a job now!”

“Please just listen to me first! Ahh, oh no! Micah, wait! You’re… too fast…”

Micah was long past the point of listening; if it were any other situation, she could have calmed down enough to listen, but everything coming to her all at once had overwhelmed any sensibilities she may have had.

Not long after, Micah returned to the orphanage, her footsteps heavy with disappointment. She had failed to find a job.

But she would not give up, and, while she eventually calmed down, her misunderstanding about the upcoming events remained and drove her to continue visiting the Commerce Guild, even as the fifth month passed on by without any sign of the side story ever happening.

And then, after two months of persistence, she had her break; Maika had found a post looking for a maid that also did not require a letter of reference. She seized that opportunity and earned an interview.

(I finally did it! Now I’ll be able to help the orphanage, even if its just a little bit! Just you wait, Sister Annabelle! I’ll do it!)

And now, Micah was joyfully leading Selena to the orphanage.

It was almost disappointing to Micah how readily the orphanage gave her permission to work.

“You’ve always been talking about how much you wanted to work, and there is no reason for us to stop you. But please don’t push yourself too hard, and if it becomes too hard for you, you can always just come back. You will always have a place with us.”

“Don’t you worry, Sister Annabelle! I’ll be sending over my wages as soon as I get paid!”

“That isn’t something you need to worry about…”

Sister Anabelle had a defeated smile on her face, as though she were used to this exchange, but the excited Micah noticed nothing at all.

And with that, Selena returned to the Luthorburg estate with Micah in tow.

“Oh my, what a lovely girl you are! It would be our pleasure to have you working for us.”

“Are you sure about this, madam?”

It was the lady of the house that oversaw the servants, the female workers especially, so it was necessary for Selena to have Micah meet with Marianna before the actual interview with Hughes. However, Marianna readily approved of the new hiree.

Selena expressed careful concern, but Marianna put a hand to her cheek as she gave back a troubled smile.

“Well, even if I did not approve of hiring her, there is no guarantee we will find another applicant.”

Selena had no answer as she herself had already considered that exact outcome.

Then later, Hughes unsurprisingly gave his own approval, citing the same reasoning as his wife and Selena.

And thus Micah became an apprentice maid of House Luthorburg.

“Thank you so much for hiring! I will do my best!”

Hughes and Marianna watched the overjoyed Micah with smiles on their faces… And later that night, in hopes of giving Luciana a younger sister like Micah, they [REDACTED].

The next day, on the morning of the fourth day of the second week since classes began at the Academy…

It was about five in the morning, and the sun had yet to rise. Micah, an early riser even at the orphanage, had waken up without trouble. After getting dressed, she exited the room and greeted Selena, who was already waiting for her in the hallway.

“Good morning, Sele– I mean, Miss Selena.”

“Good morning, Miss Micah. Please be sure to continue practicing proper speech and behavior today as well.”

Although Micah was formerly a sixty-year-old grandmother, her mental age had regressed to her middle school years, and the casual way she spoke and acted reflected that regression. Although Selena had already warned her for it, the older maid also demonstrated to Maika the proper behavior for a servant to take.

“So how was he?”

“Oh, it was as you said, he would say some very strange things while sleeping… What a weird dog.”

The strange dog in question was, of course, Grail the puppy. Ever since the incident yesterday, Grail stayed away from Selena, going so far as refusing to sleep in the same room together. In the end, the troubled Selena could only ask Micah to take care of Grail and allow him to sleep in her room.

Just what had happened to cause Grail to act like this? It was truly a mystery…

“It was really quite surprising. It sounded like he was saying something like “Hahaha, thou shalt all perish” in his sleep. If Sele– Miss Selena had not warned me, I would have screamed in fright… He is so cute though, so it was very surprising to hear words like that.”

“Fufufu, does that not make him seem even more adorable?”

Micah recalled that, in her past life, there had been animals that could closely imitate human voices, but this had been the first time she ever encountered such an oddity. But knowing this was a world where magic existed, Micah concluded it was a common occurrence… Maybe what was truly scary was how easily Micah came to incorrect conclusions…

With their small talk over, Selena began teaching Micah about the various morning chores they were in charge of; unlike a traditional lecture, however, this lesson involved much more hands-on training.

They would be starting with the most basic part of being a maid: cleaning. It went without saying that any maid should be able to clean, but to clean well required an eye for detail; in other words, a good maid is attentive and meticulous. Lacking that quality meant it would be impossible to do well as a maid, whether it was a housemaid or even a parlor maid.

As it was Micah’s first time working, Selena directed her to focus more on cleaning carefully than quickly, and Micah’s task was to clean the fireplace, which took most of her early morning time.

Selena, on the other hand, took care of the remaining chores, quickly cleaning the essentials so as not to hinder the day’s work. Micah could only gape in amazement as she saw the difference between them, even as she cleaned the fireplace.

(She’s amazing… Are the maids in this world all like this? Or maybe maids in the past, back on Earth, could clean an entire mansion on their own this fast? Maids sure are incredible.)

Of course, those maids from back then would have vehemently denied having this level of capability. Selena herself rivaled a magic-less Melody in terms of pure maid skill, but to put it simply, she was not a good metric for Micah to measure capability by.

On the other hand, Selena had judged Micah’s cleaning to be… unsatisfactory. Though there were parts where Micah had cleaned well, there far more details the apprentice maid had overlooked. The most disheartening fact of all, however, was that Micah had felt rather confident about her cleaning.

“Fufufu, it seems maid work was a bit more difficult than you were epxecting. But there is no need to be discouraged. It is only your first day, after all, and you will only improve as you get used to the work.”

“Y-yes, of course! Thank you, Selena!”

“…Your speech should also improve as you get used to speaking properly, it seems.”

Selena’s way of reassuring Micah was like how popular upperclassman would encourage their juniors in club activities, so Micah answered casually by reflex. Selena gave another troubled smile in response.

The next three days passed just like that, like a blink of the eyes, and, having arrived at the end of the week…

“The young lady of the house will be returning home tonight?”

It was now the evening of the sixth day of the week. As the seventh day was the usual school break, Melody and Luciana would be returning to the mansion soon.

“That is correct. I had become so busy with your training that I completely forgot to let you know. I must apologize for such an oversight.”

“That isn’t something you need to apologize for, Miss Selena. So I’ll be meeting Lady Luciana… Wait, but…”

That name sounded familiar to her, but she could not yet link it back to any of her memories.

“Also, my dear sister Melody, who is currently accompanying the young lady, shall be returning as well.”

“Your dear sister? Miss Selena, you have a sister?”

“We are not related by blood, but I still consider her my older sister nonetheless. Also, while she is accompanying the young lady at the Royal Academy, my sister is also the head maid of the Luthorburg estate.”

“The head maid wasn’t you, Miss Selena?! Then, does that mean Miss Melody is even more amazing as a maid?!”

“Fufufu, I must say, I cannot even compare to my sister. I have already told her all about you, so all you need to do is greet the young lady and my sister the way I taught you to.”

(No way, if even Miss Selena can’t compare, just how amazing is this Melody?! The maids of this world are on another level!)

And yet Micah had no time for wonderment as Luciana and Melody eventually arrived; as they came into the entrance hall, there were now four people to welcome them home: Hughes and Marianna, Selena, and now Micah as well.

Luciana greeted her parents but immediately turned her attention over to Micah.

“Is this the new girl, Selena? The apprentice maid you mentioned?”

“That is correct, my lady. As I mentioned in the letter, her name is Micah. Miss Micah, please introduce yourself to our lady.”

“I-it would be my pleasure to introduce myself, my lady. My name is Micah. I am the apprentice maid that was recently hired. It is an honor to finally meet you, my lady, Luciana.”

Micah gave Luciana a rather stiff curtsy, but the noble girl returned a gentle smile and answered, “Thank you, and it is nice to finally meet you, too.”

(Wow, she’s so pretty. Was she in the game too? I think I remember someone named Luciana Luthorburg, but I don’t remember a character as beautiful as this…)

Despite finally meeting Luciana, Micah still remembered nothing; she only felt a vague sense of recognition from the name…

(Ah, oh, that was close, I can’t be spacing out like that. I need to also greet Miss Melody the way Miss Selena told me to… She should be right there, behind Lady Luciana… Huh?)

“Dear sister, this is the apprentice maid I wrote to you about. Miss Micah, if you could introduce yourself… Miss Micah?”

Micah had frozen in place, her mouth agape.

In that moment, Micah recalled with perfect clarity one of the last memories she had from when she was still an old grandmother, right before she came to this world…

(Black hair, black eyes, and a maid outfit… There’s no way I’m wrong. That girl is…!)

“It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Miss Micah. I am just like you, a maid of House Luthorburg. I hope we can get along!”

Her hair and eye colors were different, but her smile unmistakably belonged to Cecilia Reginbars, the heroine of The Silver Saint, the game Micah had been obsessed with as a middle-schooler. The heroine had this exact same smile in one of the game’s happy endings, but…

(…the heroine! Wh-wh-what is the heroine doing, working here as a maid?!)

This revelation shook the apprentice maid to her very core, and all she could do was stare blankly ahead as feelings of bewilderment and confusion swirled about within her.