Volume 2 - CH 18

“But my lady, are you certain you do not want to tell the master and madam about what has been happening at the Royal Academy?”

“I… don’t want to. Besides, it isn’t something they can do anything about, and I also don’t want to worry them.”

“Then, if my lady says so, I shall follow exactly. But please do not push yourself too hard.”

“Yes, I know, I understand. Thank you for worrying so much about me, Melody.”

Luciana and Melody were aboard the carriage bound for the Luthorburg estate, and it seemed Luciana had decided she would not be telling her family about the incidents currently happening. Melody had felt it would be better for the noble girl to consult her parents on the matter, but instead she chose to follow her young lady’s decision.

After arriving, the two came in from the entrance hall, where the rest of the family was waiting to greet them.

” “Welcome home, Lady Luciana.” “

“Welcome back, Luciana”

“We missed you, Luciana”

“I have safely returned home, father, mother. And it is good to see you two again, Selena and Micah”

Luciana acted as she usually did, greeting her parents with beautiful curtsy and giving the two maids a beautiful smile.

“Welcome home, dear sister.”

“Welcome back, Miss Melody.”

“I have returned, Selena, Micah. Oh, your curtsy was quite well done.”

Melody followed Luciana’s example, maintaining her gentle smile as she greeted the maids. Over a month has passed since House Luthorburg took in Micah, but it seemed the manner and etiquette training was finally showing results. Micah blused, smiling shly as she took in Melody’s praise.

“Well then, how about we start dinner? I’m sure you must be hungry after the ride.”

“Of course, father.”

“Dear sister, could you assist with serving dinner?”

“Yes, of course.”

Luciana and Melody loosened with relief as their return home went on as usual. It seemed they would be able to spend this break without worrying about anything…

“And you can tell us all about what is bothering you. Over dinner of course.”

“And once we have finished serving, please tell me what seems to be troubling you, dear sister.”

” “What..?” “

Hughes and Selena wore similarly cold smiles as they continued, causing Luciana and Melody both to visibly flinch in response.

“H-hey Melody? What’s going on? How do they know?”

“Th-there’s no way! We were acting perfectly normal, like usual..!”

The two stepped back, huddling together for a whispered conversation as Marianna watched them with a look of dismay.

“Oh, Luciana. Did you really think we would not notice how distressed our own daughter is feeling? We knew as soon as you walked in.”

“That’s right, Luciana. Don’t be looking down on how observant your parents can be, now.”

“Even father knows? When he’s usually impossibly insensitive?!”

“Wh-who are you calling impossibly insensitive?! Marianna, say something! I’m not insensitive, am I?! Wh-why are you looking away?!”

Meanwhile, as the Luthorburg family had their talk, right beside them, Selena was confronting Melody.

“Selena, how did you…”

“Fufufu, it may have only been two months since my birth, but still I am the one who would understand you best. I am my dear sister’s creation after all. It would be impossible for me to overlook even the slightest of changes.”

“That is… a little frightening, actually.”

“Fufufu…”

Selena’s declaration caused Melody to stagger back a step, but those same words had greatly confused Micah, who had been watching from the side.

“Um, Miss Selena? Miss Melody? What exactly are you talking about?”

Micah… could not keep up with either of the conversations. In the first place, it was too much to expect for someone not very familiar with the family to be able to follow along.

But with that in mind, there was one thing they said that stood out to Micah.

“And what did Miss Selena mean when she said it has ‘only been two months since her birth’? And calling herself Miss Melody’s creation? Is that some sort of metaphor?”

“Hm? Selena, did you not explain things to Miss Micah?”

“Come to think of it, we have been so busy lately I have not yet had the chance to explain everything to her.”

“Huh? What do you mean? Explain what?”

None of what they were saying made any sense; Micah simply had more and more questions to asked, until finally, Melody provided the simplest explanation.

“Miss Micah, Selena is actually a Magical Marionette Maid, a maid that I created.”

“Allow me to once again introduce myself, Miss Micah. I am Selena, the Magical Marionette Maid. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Ah, of course, likewi–… Wait, what?”

“I am Selena, the Magical Marionette Maid. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

Selena gave a quick but elegant curtsy, looking like the perfect maid. For a moment, the sheer beauty of Selena’s figure completely held Micah’s attention. This was the ideal form of a maid! The very pinnacle–… Wait, now is not the time for admiration!

“Magical Marionette… Maid?”

“That is correct. I am simply a doll given life by the magic of my dear sister Melody to be a maid.”

“A doll? And a maid? A doll maid? What?”

The Selena that stood before her, with that gentle smile… was a doll?

“…Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!”

Micah’s scream echoed across the estate and even caused the Luthorburg family to stop and look over in surprise. Selena covered her mouth as she let out a low giggle as Melody began to panic. As an aside, it seemed House Luthorburg was more than happy they could now count Micah as a fellow victim of Melody’s crazy antics…

“I sincerely apologize for earlier, for my unsightly behavior and scream.”

As the family settled down to have their after meal tea time, Micah apologized for her screaming.

“Fufufu, no need to worry, Micah. I do not think there is anyone who would not react the same way you did, if they were to learn the truth about Selena.”

“Umm, thank you…”

Marianna’s words left Micah grateful but also embarassed, and Hughes took the opportunity to change the subject.

“Well, let’s focus on Luciana’s problem first. I, for one, cannot and will not forgive those who would slander our Luciana! We must find the real culprit! Do we have any clues?”

In the end, Luciana had also been unable to avoid talking about the incidents happening at the Royal Academy.

“There is no guarantee that the one behind these incidents is also the one spreading the rumors about our Luciana. What’s most important right now is handling the rumors that are being spread around.”

“But Marianna, if we were to discover the true culprit, that would immediately put a stop to the rumors all at once, would it not?”

“That is true, but…”

It went without saying that Hughes and Marianna were worried for Luciana, not to mention Melody and Selena. Micah, however, had something else in mind.

(In the game, the one spreading the rumors was also the culprit behind the incident…)

Micah looked toward Luciana but shook her head clear.

Going by how everyone has described it, it’s like Luciana-chan has taken the place of the heroine for this part. Well, it kind of makes sense considering her maid was supposed to be the heroine, but still…)

Micah did all she could to keep from letting her feelings show on her face; it took restraint to stop herself from shouting “The heck is with this?” over Luciana and Melody’s role swap.

(Aren’t things just going to get worse if no one does anything to fix it? If this leads to a Bad End, even if Melody has the awakened power of the Saint, what if that isn’t enough to defeat the Demon King?)

A certain silver puppy would tremble in fear if Micah were to voice these thoughts, but while the apprentice maid did take this moment to speak up, what she said was…

“Uh, umm, everyone? If I may, I have a small request I would like to make.”

“A request?”

Hughes urged Micah on. The entire household turned to look at her, and Micah paused to take a deep breath before speaking up.

“Please allow me to go to the Royal Academy, too!”

(It’s up to me! I’ll use what I know from the game to get us through this event!)

To her surprise, Hughes readily assented to Micah’s request; in his own words, since Micah demonstrated etiquette at an acceptable level, it would be a valuable learning experience for her to work in an unfamiliar environment… But this was, of course a front for his real reason: to have more people around Luciana to protect her..

Although having Selena instead join Luciana and Melody at the Royal Academy seemed like a better idea, that direction would leave Micah with the impossible task of managing the entire Luthorburg estate on her own; overall, it was a better for Selena to stay behind while Micah went to the Academy.

And so, once the break came to an end, Micah would be accompanying Luciana and Melody on their return to the Royal Academy.

“Then, I’m off, father, mother!”

“Be careful, Luciana. If it gets too hard to stay at the Academy, you can always come home to us! We’ll hug you and comfort you as much as you want!”

“Oh, and don’t forget you can always lean on your friends. I worry about how you always try to put up a brave front, but I know you’re a sensitive girl, Luciana!”

“Ahh! Stop, that’s enough! You’re embarassing me!”

Hughes and Marianna loosened up in relief as they saw Luciana responding with her usual embarassment, and it seemed as though Luciana had finally returned to her usual self; spending the break at home was a good recovery period for her.

“I apologize Selene, but it seems you will have to work alone again. Even so, I shall be entrusting care of the estate to you.”

“Please leave everything to me, dear sister. Grail and I shall do our best.”

“Woof?!”

At the opposite side of the entrance hall, the puppy in question gave a surprised bark upon hearing its name.

“Goodness, Grail seems to hate being with me or Selena. I wonder why?”

“He acts normally around me. Did something happen? Miss Melody? Miss Selena?”

” “What could it be…” “

The maids tilted their heads in unison as they looked at Grail, who shied away in fear… With Micah gone, where would he be comfortable sleeping?

Alas that would be a problem to solve another day. For now, Luciana and Melody were off to the Academy, with Micah accompanying them. As usual, when they split up, Luciana was headed straight to class.

“Then, here I go. Melody, please take care of Micah.”

“Of course, but please stay safe, my lady. Are you sure you will be all right?”

“I have Luna and my other friends with me, so I’ll be fine. I won’t let some rumor discourage me anymore! Bring it on!”

“If that is how you feel, then I have nothing left to worry about, my lady. But please, remember that we will always be here and waiting.”

“Yeah… I won’t make that mistake again. I’m off to class then!”

” “Have a safe trip.” “

And thus Luciana ran forward, full of confidence as Melody and Micah saw her off… As an aside, Melody held herself back as she watched, having to refrain from spoiling the mood by reminding Luciana to not be running.

“Then let us get started with the chores. Are you ready to work, Miss Micah?”

“Yes! I’ll do my best!”

(This is my chance to gather information. I can talk to the other maids in the dormitory as I work.)

Micah enthusiastically followed Melody, but… before long, it was already time for lunch.

“That whole time… we never met any other maid…”

“It is unfortunate that we were unable to meet with Miss Meliane today.”

(I thought gathering information would be easy since there are supposed to be a lot of servants here, but then why didn’t we see anyone around?!)

What Micah did not know was that a majority of servants in the Upper Dorms stayed within their masters’ rooms, making it rare for servants to actually be out and about the dormitory. Even a place like the communal laundry room, one of the few places for servants to socialize during working hours, remained empty most of the time; Meliane, the only other maid to use it, happened to not be there today.

“Let us go to the dining hall, Miss Micah.”

“The dining hall..? Oh! Of course!”

(Surely there will be a lot of servants in a dining hall. Maids love rumors and gossip, and what better time to talk than over food? This will be perfect for gathering information!)

Her enthusiasm reignited, Micah happily followed Melody once again, this time to the dining hall. Indeed, Micah did have a correct assumption: there inevitably would be well-informed maids with very loose lips…

But Micah overlooked a certain, very important detail.

— Everything went quiet.

A strange stillness fell over the entire dining hall when Micah and Melody entered; it was as though the entirety of the facility had come to a stop to watch them enter… But the quiet lasted only a single moment before the usual sounds returned.

“Wh-what just happened?”

“Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that they know I am a maid of House Luthorburg..?”

“So… does that mean they’re trying to avoid us?”

“I believe you may be correct. Well, in the first place, it was already a little tough trying to get to know the other maids…”

Melody let out a quiet sigh as she remembered her own first week tribulations. Micah, on the other hand, was having an internal panic.

(Whaaat?! Then how else am I supposed to gather information?!)

Reality had once again found a way to subvert Micah’s expectations. While it was unfortunate she could not have predicted the rumors to have isolated them, the bigger issue at hand was how other households’ servants were already ostracizing House Luthorburg from the very beginning. In truth, even without the influence of the rumors, Micah would have had just as much trouble trying to gather information at the dining hall.

Incidentally, Melody still had not yet met Beatrice’s or Miliaria’s servants, and at this point, it seemed more likely there would never be a good opportunity to do so…

“I do not see Miss Sasha or any of the others here today, either…”

“Grrr…”

In the end, their only lunch companions were each other, and Micah’s information gathering quest progress was at whole zero percent completion.

But soon enough, their lunch break was over, and so it would be time for afternoon work. For this, Micah confirmed her tasks for the day with Melody.

“Miss Melody, you work as an assistant for one of the afternoon elective courses, right? Is it really okay for me to come along?”

“It would be no problem at all, Miss Micah. I have already confirmed with Sir Lect for permission, as well.”

“Oh I see, I’m looking forwa– did you say ‘Sir Lect’?”

(That’s weird… For some reason, that name sounds really familiar…)

Micah suddenly imagined a young man with red hair and gold eyes; it could only be a coincidence, and she shook her head as though to wave the feeling off.

(I mean, he was the knight who stayed by the heroine’s side in the game, so how would he be at the Royal Academy? And as an instructor… Wait, a knight, staying by the heroine..?)

Unlike earlier, this newest development left Micah with a bad feeling — one that would come to fruition.

The two had arrived, and Melody knocked on the door before a man’s voice urged them in.

There, at the desk, sat a young man with red hair and gold eyes. No matter which way Micah looked at him, this was very clearly the third love interest from The Silver Saint: Lectias Frodo…

“Oh, there you are. Thanks for coming, Melody.”

“Of course, I look forward to working with you again for the day, Sir Lect.”

Hearing his name, Lectias Frodo, the stoic knight that was supposed to be the heroine’s escort, quickly turned his head, a faint blush forming on his cheeks.

Uh… yeah, so things were a bit out of hand…

(‘Da heck is this?! His affection meter maxed or somethin’?! Hello? Miss Heroine? Aren’t ya supposed to be a maid? How didja even, what’re you doin’ romancing him?!)

Micah’s premonition had come to pass in such an outrageous way that her thoughts sounded more like a comedy routine done in a regional dialect.

“Thank you for having me today. My name is Micah, the apprentice maid from House Luthorburg.”

However, thanks to Selena’s strict training, Micah was able to convey her greetings without her inner thoughts leaking out.

“It is a pleasure to have you here. Then, Melody, could you take a look at this first?”

“Yes, sir, of course.”

Melody seemed to get along well with Lect, such that it appeared to Micah the two could have been in a relationship with one another, but on closer observation, their relationship was not quite there.

(Isn’t this… just a one-sided crush? Miss Melody seemed far more interested in being a maid than in finding romance…)

Micah’s guess was right on the mark, but as she mulled over her thoughts, Lect suddenly reached for a book on his desk and hesitatingly picked it up.

“Sir Lect? Is something wrong?”

“…Melody, um, here. Take this.”

Lect shyly presented it to her; Melody had a conflicted expression when she realized what the book was. Curious, Micah leaned forward to take a look.

“‘My First Spell: A Children’s Guide to Basic Magicks’?”

“Sir Lect, this is…”

“Err, you mentioned seeing it at the library, and I was surprised you didn’t borrow it even though I said you were free to do so under my name, so, uh… I, uh, went ahead and borrowed it for you.”

This was one of the books Melody had skimmed through when she was looking for materials to help with Luciana’s magic training. After Lect mentioned it, Melody recalled saying something about it after she returned to his office. It seeemed he had remembered her words from that time.

From an outsider’s point-of-view, it was a thoughtful and sweet thing for Lect to do, but…

“…Um, Miss Melody? The young lady is able to use magic now, right?”

“Y-yes, that is correct…”

To keep Lect from overhearing, the two maids turned away and spoke in hushed whispers.

In short, the book was no longer necessary, and in the first place, Melody never needed to actually borrow it; she had used her photographic memory to simply memorize the contents of the book when she flipped through it in the library.

(I guess this is what happens when a surprise present completely misses the mark…)

Micah’s mental commentary continued as she stared at the book in Melody’s hands; in the first place, how was this a present if Melody would have to eventually return it to the library? If Micah were in her place, she would have immediately lodged a complaint, but since the recipient was Melody…

“Thank you very much, Sir Lect. It was very thoughtful of you to have borrowed this book for me. I will be sure to read it thoroughly.”

“Oh, and I was told the book has been long out of print and that is the library’s only copy, so you will need to be a little more careful with it, and its return date is next week.”

“Of course, I shall be very careful with it.”

Melody returned a genuine smile as Lect happily explained the book’s circumstances; the smile had a profound effect on the knight, causing him to once again turn away to hide his faint blush.

(What da heck is dis?! The Lect I remember from the game wasn’t this lovestruck simpleton! He’s supposed to be the stuborn and straight-laced archetype! Is this some sort of headcanon? Someone’s fanfiction?!)

And once again, Micah’s mental commentary became more of a comedic callout of the absurdity that was Lect’s character.

But this impromptu romantic event soon came to an end, and they quietly began preparing for class… until another knock came. Melody went over to answer and open the door, but the guest who stepped through was another shock to Micah.

“Oh, hello Melody. Long time no see.”

“Huh? Max?”

In walked a boy with a beautiful androgynous face, his honey-blonde hair tied at the back in a ponytail; it was none other than Maxwell Lycrents, the eldest son of the Prime Minister, a second-year student of the Academy, and another love interest in The Silver Saint.

And that very same boy was now talking to Melody with a soft, carefree smile on his face.

Once again, Micah found herself almost bursting at the seams to respond to this new absurd development.

(Da heck are ya doin’ now, callin’ him ‘Max’?! That some kinda nickname or somethin’?! Why’d you even know all these people if you aren’t even doing the whole heroine thing?! Hey, wait a minute, no… No way, don’t you dare tell me you’ve got the Crown Prince eating right outta your hands, do ya?!)

“Um, excuse me, Miss Melody? Are the two of you acquainted?”

Micah tamped down her inner complaints to ask Melody, who began to explain the circumstances behind her meeting with Maxwell before also explaining how she met Lect. But this recounting was nothing but horrifying to Micah; it was a detailed explanation of how Melody systematically derailed the game’s plot progression — while completely unaware of it! And yet, it seemed there was still more to come…

“Miss Melody, excuse me if I’m wrong, but… did you also happen to bump into a handsome, dark-haired boy in the hallway, on the day of the Entrance Ceremony?”

“Huh? How did you know… Oh no, Miss Micah?!”

(That event happened tooo?!)

Micah felt her knees going weak, unable to cope with the situation. It was simply ridiculous; Melody had clearly abandoned the heroine role to become a maid, and yet she still met and became acquainted with every love interest! The odds, the sheer coincidence of everything happening the way it did made it hard for Micah to believe that Melody truly knew nothing about the game.

(No, but, what if its not a coincidence? What if there’s some sort of adjustment going on, like the world is trying to correct itself?)

“Miss Micah! Are you all right?!”

Melody gave Micah a worried glance, but the apprentice maid caught herself in time; for now, all she could do was put away her complaints on the matter and change the topic.

“I’m sorry, I was just feeling a little dizzy, but I’m all better now. So, um, about our guest…”

“Oh, I almost forgot as well. So did you need something from us, Max?”

“I have some documents for Instructor Frodo, actually, from the other Chivalry class, the one I am enrolled in. My instructor asked me to deliver some materials.”

Maxwell was, in fact, holding a bundle of papers, and he walked closer to hand it over to Lect.

“Oh, these. Sorry for the trouble, and thank you for bringing these to me.”

“No need, I was simply doing as my instructor asked.”

“…Did the instructor really just send the son of a marquis off on a simple errand?”

Micah found herself questioning the instructor’s audacity. While the Academy touted a culture of status equality, it seemed quite flippant for an instructor to use the the Prime Minister’s son as a gofer. It seemed Maxwell had overheard her question, and he gave another smile before answering.

“It is exactly as you said. I usually do not get the chance to do these ‘simple errands’ outside of the Academy, and so I volunteer to do them every chance I get. It gets quite interesting sometimes, doing these kinds of things.”

“…Is that so?”

“That being said, I have been meaning to ask you, Melody, but how is Lady Luciana faring?”

“How my lady is faring, you ask? Oh, have you also heard the rumors, Max?”

“A bit, yes. It is not as prevalent among the second-years as it seems to be for the first-years, but the I imagine they will continue to spread.”

And without missing a beat, Maxwell had steered the conversation to talking about Luciana.

“I will say that, as a student council member taking part in the investigation, we have yet to find the culprit, but I personally do not believe it was Lady Luciana. Even so, it is strange that the rumors are spreading the way they are.”

Maxwell shook his head with a troubled look, but his reassurance was a source of encouragement for Melody, knowing there was another person who believe in Luciana.

“Thank you for believing in my lady, Max.”

Melody’s sudden bright smile caught Maxwell unawares, and he could feel something within him stir, though he knew they were just friends. From the side, however, Micah’s eyes came alight as she caught his momentary lapse.

(Did she… Did she just conquer Maxwell, too?!)

The affection Maxwell held for Melody was not quite as deep as Lect’s, but it was not an insignificant amount, either. Depending on Melody’s actions going forward, it was still possible for her to romance him… Wait, hold on, that is not important here!

(Ugh, I need to stop thinking this still just the game… Come on, focus, focus… This is reality, this is reality…)

“Uh… h-hey…”

But as Micah became engrossed with trying to set her thoughts straight, Lect rejoined the conversation, casting worried glances at Melody and Maxwell.

“Is something wrong, Sir Lect?”

“Er, uh, a-are the two of you… c-close with one another..?”

“Do you mean between Max and myself?”

“Uh, yeah. The two of you seem quite close, and you even use a nickname.”

Hearing those words, Micah’s gamer instincts reignited, and her eyes gleamed with shining light.

(Lect, no! You’ve one hundred percent fallen in love! It’s so painfully obvious right now!)

Seeing Lect’s poorly veiled reconnaissance, Micah’s brain was now threatening to implode from her commentary overload.

Maxwell, having caught on to the reason for Lect’s distress, let out a low chuckle; the knight was simply no match for this up-and-coming Prime Minister.

And of course, at the center of this storm was a certain black-hair maid whose brain was possibly the densest material known to this world. All she did was tilt her head in confusion.

“Well of course. Max is an important friend of mine.”

“Hehe, that is correct. We just are very good friends, indeed.”

“Just friends… I see, just friends!”

Lect turned back to his desk, hiding his face from view, but there was an obvious aura of relief radiating from his broad back. A dumbfounded Micah could only stare at him, wondering how this grown man acted like a child half his age when it came to his crush.

(…Why did I even bother coming here.)

Micah had gone to the Royal Academy intending to help the story move along, but now it seemed all she had done was witnessing the romance parts…

And like so, Micah’s first day at the Academy ended without any significant progress to her investigation. Still, it seemed Micah was still able to fill her notebook with various informations.

At the end of the day, Micah was a dating sim fanatic at heart, after all.

Some days after, something was happening in Annemarie’s room in the Upper Dorms.

“And that should do it. My preparations are perfect.”

A girl sat looking over herself in front of the mirror; she… did not look like Annemarie.

Her height was similar, but her hair was in a bronze ponytail, a stark contrast from Annemarie’s vivid, flowing crimson hair. Her figure was thinner than Annemarie’s voluptous body, not to mention her boyish face in contrast to Annemarie’s bewitching charm.

But the biggest difference came from the girl’s glasses, softening her otherwise sharp gaze.

So who was this mysterious girl that gave off a feel completely unlike Annemarie? She was Anna, Annemarie’s undercover identity. Her browned hair was the result of a self-made dye while a sash hid her bountiful chest.

And yet, by hiding away her most well-known characteristics, Annemarie could fool even her closest acquaintances.

To complete her ensemble, Annemarie donned a basic maid uniform and gave a quick twirl before the mirror before nodding in approval.

“Good work me, this disguise is perfect! Now then, let’s start gathering information from the servants!”

(The servants should know things the students aren’t aware of, and that will be key to revealing the midboss!)

It seemed the marquis’s daughter had come up with the same plan as a certain apprentice maid.