Chapter 315 — Frederica and Petra’s Maid Days Part II

Chapter 1

Frederica Baumann had worked as a maid for Count Roswaal L. Mathers since she was around eleven years old.

After ten years of continuous service, she prided herself in lacking nothing in ability to do her job, despite being only twenty-one.

In truth, considering everything including her loyalty to Count Roswaal, there were few now serving the Mathers family, or who had served them in the past, who could compare to her.

— A girl forgotten by the world might have been one of those, but there’s no need to talk about that here.

Regardless, Frederica, with that many years of working as a maid, was in a position to provide outstanding guidance to junior maids, and she had instructed many new maids in their jobs and manners.

The number of maids she had thus trained was now more than she could count on her fingers and toes, but even to Frederica, this was a new experience — her student was too excellent, and she was having trouble deciding what to have her learn.

“Frederica nee-sama, I’ve finished my work. What should I do next?” When the girl found Frederica, she immediately smiled brightly and ran towards her. The very first thing she said was to announce the completion of her job, and then she cutely inclined her head and waited for her next instructions.

Her brown hair was tinged red, and she had fairy-like features. Her slender white limbs were long, and while it was still developing, her appearance hinted she would develop into a great beauty someday – a sigh escaped.

“Aw, you’re so cute…”

“…? Frederica nee-sama?”

“Ah, oh, it’s nothing, Petra. When you announced that you’d finished so quickly, I was a little surprised.”

Laughing softly with a hand over her mouth, Frederica hid her admiration with a smile. This adorable, clever girl looked up to her greatly. Inadvertently revealing her honest opinion in the face of that admiration had to be carefully avoided.

As well, what she needed to be conveying now was not words in her own defense, but rather “Well, I can’t just stand here being surprised. Petra, you’ve done your work well. You’re quite skilled… as your teacher, I’m very proud of you.”

“Ahaha… I did my best.”

Frederica’s large palm gently rubbed Petra’s red-ribbon-decorated head. Smiling as though it felt ticklish, Petra did not reject that touch.

— Behold, this adorableness. One might want to have a younger Ram learn from this example.

“That girl never did speak with respect, and she would never call me nee-sama… This is so much nicer.”

“Um, nee-sama, what should I do next…”

“Hm, let’s see… Well then, all of the jobs in the mansion are taken care of for the moment, perhaps we should go shopping together in the village. Your friends in the village should enjoy seeing how cute you look in your uniform.”

“Ummm… if you say so, Frederica nee-sama.”

“That’s a good response. Well then, let’s be off.”

For a moment, Petra’s eyes were filled with hesitation, but the smart girl quickly covered that emotion and accepted Frederica’s intention to visit the village.

In this way, too, she was a very “mature” child.

Holding a small hand in her hand, Frederica once again felt joy over how well her new favorite student was turning out.

Chapter 2

To Petra Leyte, diving in as a maid in Lord Roswaal’s mansion was a big decision that required a great deal of courage.

It’s lord’s relationship with Alam village was cordial, but it was not a relationship that would tolerate rudeness or recklessness. Even though she was still young, Petra understood that much, and she felt that it was unfair to live in a way that would use youth as a reason to seek tolerance from adults.

In the past, there was a time when she had taken that sort of attitude often. As a result, she now disliked her old self, and renewed her stance that being sly was inappropriate.

She, herself, wished to be in a position where she could seek the same accomplishments as an adult.

Hence, it wouldn’t make sense to be using her youth as an excuse. That was her thinking.

Well, that’s how Petra was, but before entering the mansion, she had an understandable fear. Even though her way of thinking was grown-up, she was still only twelve years old. It was only normal that she would, like anyone else, feel nervousness and fear about leaving her parents and starting ‘work’.

Fears like ‘What if the senior servant teases me?’, ‘What if the master doesn’t like me?’, and ‘What if it seems like my heart will be crushed under a mountain of jobs more terrible than I could imagine?’.

However, Petra quickly came to think that each of those fears was a needless anxiety.

Petra’s fears were gently, almost too easily, washed away by her tall, beautiful, golden-haired, perfect senior maid.

At the moment she arrived at the village together with Frederica, Petra’s friends – Lucas, Mild, Meina, and the others who were always together – surrounded her before she knew it.

“Have a good time. You must always cherish your friends. I wouldn’t want those children to be upset with me for taking you away from them.”

Frederica said this as she couldn’t bear to see Petra, surrounded by her friends, looking troubled as she was about to use her job as a reason to turn down their invitation.

As she was seen off by Frederica with a small wave, Petra, feeling a little like her hair was being pulled, was taken around the village by Lucas and the others.

“Oh, Petra, you’re such a dear.”

“That’s the same uniform as Ram-sama. It’s lovely!”

“Grandma, isn’t the food ready yet?”

Seeing her in her work uniform from the mansion, everyone from the village gave their thoughts with a smile. A few of the responses were a little different that she’d hoped, but most of what was said was praise for her.

To be honest, it was a bit of a relief. The mansion had two different uniforms: the graceful one worn by Frederica, and another with rather more exposure; Petra had chosen the latter.

Naturally, who she was hoping to have think she was cute when she chose it wasn’t mentioned.

However, she couldn’t just continue floating along on that praise.

“It’s not surprising that everyone’s uneasy.”

Aside from the matter of Petra going to the mansion, Alam village was carrying a great sense of disquiet.

This was due to half the people of the village having not yet returned from their evacuation – the village was half as lively as usual, or even less. Even in the faces of the adults praising Petra, she could see that they were trying to not worry the children.

“I’m a little unhappy at being treated like a child, though…”

There’s no helping that, Petra acknowledged with a sigh. The time to complain about that unhappiness would be after she had accomplishments like those of an adult. That would take more time.

Alright, I’ll do my best at the work at the mansion. Thinking that, Petra renewed her strong determination to do so.

“Everyone has had a chance to see me, and I need to get back to work, so I have to go find Frederica nee-sama now.”

Petra puffed up her thin chest, and announced that to Lucas and the rest. She needed to take her leave; she couldn’t stay here and play, she thought. However –

“Aw, Petra, you’re going?” “Work is boring, let’s play.” “We’re gonna be lonely until Subaru brings everyone back.”

“……Everyone, you mustn’t be selfish. Subaru and Emilia-sama are working hard for everyone in the village, after all. I have to help out, too.

Petra scolded Lucas and the rest as they tried to keep her from leaving, since they didn’t seem to understand what was important.

She didn’t have time to waste on childish demands. Petra’s new position required her to look at things from an adult’s perspective. She wanted them to understand that, too.

She couldn’t stay the way she was before any more. Despite that –

“Aww, boring.” “Petra, I want to ask you something…” “By nee-sama, you mean that big lady? She’s really…”

Lucas’ face was pouty, Meina looked away with uneasy eyes, Mild pointed towards the plaza, and Petra’s face went bright red after hearing the last thing that was said.

Chapter 3

On the way back to the mansion, Frederica touched a hand to her cheek with a frustrated look.

One of the reasons for that was that the shopping hadn’t been satisfactory.

The situation in Alam village, with half the villagers evacuated to “Sanctuary”, couldn’t be expected to be a perfect environment, so there wasn’t anything that could be done.

Hence, she’d make up the difference on her own, and the real problem was something else.

“Mmmm…”

Walking beside her, Petra’s face was red, her cheeks puffed out discontentedly, and her cute face was fuming.

Her view may have been biased by feeling like an older sister, but even that upset face looked cute to her. Admiring it from the side wouldn’t help fix it, however.

“Umm, Petra? What on earth is making you so grumpy?”

“Me? Grumpy? Please don’t say things like that, nee-sama. I’m normal.”

Petra stood her ground with a face that was completely not normal.

Spoken to like that, Frederica didn’t want to push too hard. Everything seemed normal when they’d left the mansion, so whatever had worsened her mood must have happened in the village.

At the village, she’d left Petra with her friends, hoping to let her spread her wings for a bit –

“You didn’t quarrel with your friends, did you?”

“……”

When she asked about the possibility that came to mind, Petra looked away, frustrated. It was the first possibility, but also the biggest possibility. It seems she’d hit the bullseye.

“Petra.”

“……”

“Come now, Petra, listen to me.”

Petra ignored the first time she was spoken to, but she couldn’t ignore the second.

As Frederica took a step ahead and blocked the path, Petra hesitantly came to a stop. She turned her face away, and tangled her fingers in her short brown hair. Such a cute gesture. No, no, cute is for later.

“Petra, I know you’ve heard this many times before, but you must always cherish your friends.”

“That’s…. But…”

“When I was little, I lived in a unique place. There wasn’t anyone my age, and my younger years were a bit lonely.”

Trying to help the stammering Petra understand, Frederica spoke about her own childhood.

She remembered often playing by herself. So once she came to the the mansion, and became involved with all the people there, she was almost overwhelmed.

“But, life at the mansion is something I treasure. I am so very fortunate. So, I hope you can feel the same way, too.”

“Nee-sama…”

“I couldn’t bear it if you were to let go of something for the sake of the mansion. Friends are a treasure for your whole life. So, Petra, you must…”

She understood that it was a difficult environment. Despite that, Petra didn’t have to let go of either life. Frederica held that hope for Petra. After all,

“As far as I can tell, you are an exceptional girl, Petra.”

“……”

As they’d been talking, Petra had tightly gripped her uniform’s apron, and looked downward. However, at Frederica’s final words, she raised her head and looked straight back with her jade eyes.

Her big, round eyes were a little dampened by tears.

“But, Frederica nee-sama… Everyone, they were mean… and so, I…”

“You quarreled with them. Can I ask why it started?”

They made fun of her uniform? They complained that she couldn’t play? Or maybe it was when they were complaining about half the villagers still being gone.

Frederica felt uneasy as Petra hesitated. Then, slowly,

“Th… They said that Frederica nee-sama’s mouth was scary…”

“……”

At the teary-eyed Petra’s words, Frederica received quite a shock.

To think that the cause of the quarrel between Petra and her friends was the shape of Frederica’s own face – the fangs that she was self-conscious about.

“That’s, ah… um, I’m sorry. I was speaking so presumptuously…”

“No, that’s not it. It’s not your fault, nee-sama! It’s their fault! Frederica nee-sama is beautiful, and kind, and warm… and they…”

Interrupting Frederica’s apology, Petra denied her self-reproach with a raised voice. Red-faced, and using all the energy of her small body, Petra heaped praise on Frederica.

“……”

Listening to those words, Frederica unwittingly stared at Petra, wide-eyed.

What on earth was this little, cute, dear child? Was she an angel?

And, listening to that angel’s words, Frederica suddenly noticed.

“Petra, look.”

“Huh…?”

Patting Petra’s head, Frederica pointed behind her. On hearing those words, Petra turned around slowly and opened her eyes wide. There were the children from the village, looking upset.

Every face bore an expression that was sad, and wanted to apologize.

“Go patch things up with them, Petra. They’re very good friends, after all.”

“Frederica nee-sama…”

“And, if it’s acceptable, could you introduce me as well? If they’re Petra’s friends, I’d like to be friends with them, too.”

As Frederica smiled, and winked, Petra wiped her cute face with her sleeve. Then her face brightened, and…

“Yes! Everyone, let me tell you about how nice Frederica nee-sama is!”

With that, holding Frederica’s hand tightly, Petra walked briskly forward. Pulled along by that small body’s limitless energy, Frederica was a bit surprised as she followed.

Well now, these were her cute Petra’s good friends.

…Compared to the etiquette of noble society, this meeting made her quite a bit more nervous. Grinning a little from that nervousness, Frederica softly, gently returned Petra’s clasp on her hand.