A Maid at the estate part 2
Chapter 87
After sharing the basic greetings with Tuare, I did the most basic and logical thing anyone would do in this situation. I dived into the bed in all of it's fluffiness.
Me: Ayyymagawddd!!! It's so fluffy so soft! What is it made out of?
Tuare: I know right? Honestly I don't know but I'm not planning on retiring if it means I can sleep on a bed like this.
Me: When we retire once we get old, can I ask this bed for compensation?
Tuare: …good point! But let's not ask that for now. There's so much to learn here!
Rolling around in the fancy fluffy beds. Exploring the bathrooms which was larger than the living room back home (Tuare said the entire indoor facility was expanded with magic; crazy). Tuare and I spent the rest of the day chattering and laughing about everything there was here. It was as if we had become the nobles we had served…that we wished to become one day.
Of course, nobility was abolished in the Arcanian Empire but I meant the lifestyle…and if this was what the lifestyle they gave to a maid was, man I felt great!
Working in the estate, there were always content surprises. We came to call the estate 'Grand Haven' as it was the name that was officially given. It was fitting as such a place couldn't be called anything less. Even the word Palace seemed too less a word to capture this majestic place.
First was, as mentioned before, the place where they allowed us to stay. Usually, the accommodations for maids were shoddy or a little dirty at best. Even in higher ranking noble houses, they forced about a dozen maids to sleep in bunk beds together in a small room. Here, we had a room of luxury with just the two of us with everything we needed!
The bathroom was attached to our room which in my opinion was a sign of money and power. Who else would have pipes connect to a maid's room? In addition, there was flowing hot water. Tuare and I had hot baths everyday just because we can! With the weird but fragrant soaps we were allowed to use, I felt like I understood why the higher ranking noble girls always smelled so good.
In other houses I've worked in, the only water we were allowed to use were after the guests or master of the houses have used the water. By then, the water was usually room temperature at best, most often cold. Not only that but if the masters used a smaller bath, the water would often be dirty by the time I used it as many others shared it too. If I didn't want to bath in the lukewarm water, then I needed to go out to the well and draw out cold water myself.
Of course, that did not apply to the Grand Haven. The mistress (who I have not yet met) was obviously showing off the over the top wealth that the Arcanian Empire possessed.
What was most surprising came during mealtime. Meals were always composed of left overs or extras (or scraps) from the kitchen, but not in this mansion. Cooks were specifically ordered to cook real meals for all the servants in the house. We could eat as much as we want and there would always be snacks available throughout the day like fresh fruits or small meals in the kitchen for hungry maids.
We were allowed to use cutlery which I have only seen nobles use. Finally a chance to show off and use our etiquette for once instead of having it rot in our heads. Mealtime was when all of the maids were sharing the new wonders they have found in the house or perhaps some usual gossip of who was dating who. With the (human) Knights in another building, the usual affairs between maids and knights were there as well.
I remember on the first day I ate so much meat after being deprived of it for so long that I got a stomachache that very night. I intended to laugh it over as my own fault for eating so much meat when my stomach wasn't ready but some of the senior maids took me to the household Healer who casted heal on me.
To have the healer do this for servants like us…everything was just screaming rich. Later on, I was told that the mistress believed that the happier and wealthier we were, the better we would work. I wasn't so sure about that but I always felt more active during the day so maybe it wasn't completely a lie.
The most stressful part of the job was cleaning. Normally cleaning would be easier than anything but anytime I was to clean something of value, I felt as if my hand would shake. For example, a vase which was displayed in the middle of the hallway on the second floor gathered a bit of dust. When I was cleaning it, I noticed the magic it held on top of its mastercraftsmonship. I realized that if I accidentally break this by dropping it, I would never earn enough to pay it back even if I had three lives. Turns out, something like that happened before but the mage simply repaired it by magic and returned as if nothing had happened. Despite knowing that, cleaning such parts of the house was always stressful.
However, the best part of this job would be the concept of weekends. It was a word I had never heard of before but the Grand Haven put it to great use. We would work for a designated 5 days of the week and rest for the remaining two.
Their excellent pay was a lifesaver as well. I was making more money than I thought I ever would in just my first month working in the Grand Haven. Deep down, I felt a little guilty for earning money so easily in such great conditions, but then it was fair game; after all, I took the application test and passed, did I not?
Knowledge that they served in the Grand Haven and all the benefits they received kept the servants in high spirits at all times. After all, if they didn't enjoy this, who would?
Then one day, the butler came. Well, it wasn't like anything changed once he came but he did give all of us an awfully weird warning.
Sengoku: If you ever see a baby white fox running around, ignore her. If it wants your attention, stop whatever you are doing and play with her. If she is ever sleeping outside, it is your responsibility to carry it indoors and lay it in the mistress' bed; however, if any of you ever harms the fox in any way…
He left the consequence unsaid but the threat was heard. After that day, there were multiple rumors of who and what the fox was but we came to the conclusion that it must be a prized pet of the mistress.
Over the next few weeks, the maids that were hired from the outside came to learn a few unspoken but absolute rules in the estate. First was to never badmouth any of the three maids the came from the Holy Land. If any word of it came into their ears, you were done for. Sure, you were not killed but one maid who had done so was found crazy and mad outside the estate the very next day. The explanation was that the 'mistress was greatly offended that someone had dared to shit-talk her servant'. Of course, she was cured of her insanity later but she was never the same. Despite all of the benefits and great things offered to work here, she chose to leave and never come back.
Second was the baby white fox that was found in the estate sometimes. I only saw it a handful of times during my stay but I could understand why the mistress kept it as a prized pet (or that was our assumption at least). It was the most adorable little thing any of us had ever seen. Sometimes it was rolling around in the flowerbed, chasing butterflies outside. Or other times it was inside the house and randomly following the maids on their work. Most of the time though, it was asleep in some random places like on top of the clean laundry, a random chair, above the chandelier, and once even in my closet. Whenever we found the little thing, me and the others around would coo and ahh at it's cuteness before remembering the Head Butler's instructions and carefully carrying the little thing to mistress's room.
Speaking of, none of us had ever seen the mistress. The Head butler and the Holy Maids (which became a word for the three that came from Vanir) acted as if she was here with us but none of us had ever seen her. Time and time again her room was messed up as if someone had slept there but no one was ever seen. Well, not that we had much of a chance to. The only time we ever got to even she her jaw dropping room was when we were dropping off the small sleeping fox.
Of course, we picked up hints here and there. There was a Knight in the Arcanian Knights division of the estate who was called Morius who apparently had connections with the mistress of the house. He never spilled anything except the name 'Liliana' so that was what we guessed to be the name of the mistress.
Interesting job really; there was something strange though. Tuare came in about the same time as I did but for some reason, it seemed as if she was more doted on by the Holy Maids than anyone else was. We asked her in private about what she did or why that was but it seemed as if she was just as clueless as all of us were. Well, not that it mattered; truth be told, she was more comfortable around us than around beings of legend.
Whatever the case, getting this job was a life changing opportunity. Our house, originally poor was devastated by the news that nobility was getting abolished. It was natural since our family practically knew nothing to earn hard money. Mother, me, and my sister were trained and could become servants to others but father and my brothers knew next to nothing that could help them. Finding a job at this point would be too low of them and their nonsensical pride always got in the way.
With the recommendation of Mary-sama, I had separated the income I got with half of it for myself in a separate account and the remaining back home to my mother who had helped me prepare for this job and no one else. With this, our family would surely be well off until everyone could get a sustainable job for themselves.