The Flawless Maid and the Shadow Quests

At first glance, I hadn’t noticed anything amiss. But after studying her for a few seconds, the truth became obvious. No matter how closely an android resembled a human, that peculiar mechanical ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dissonance and the unmistakable traits unique to androids could never be erased. Even so, my brief moment of confusion stemmed largely from the fact that I had never encountered an android crafted to such an astonishing degree of perfection.

I knew from advertisements that household androids were available on the market, yet the slums where I once lived were worlds apart from such luxuries. For people struggling just to eat each day, those things were never a concern. To me, they had always felt like stories from an entirely different reality. This was the first time I had ever come face-to-face with one.

Once the initial shock subsided, I examined the tall woman—no, the android—standing before me with renewed scrutiny. Her neat maid uniform clearly marked her as a household model. Even her pupils contracted and expanded with soft mechanical whirs as she observed me in turn. Her appearance was striking as well; if she changed into ordinary clothes and stood at a distance, she would easily pass for an ordinary young woman.

After a short, mutual assessment, she spoke first.

“Registration… complete. It is a pleasure to meet you, young miss. I am Mei, the household android assigned to manage this residence. I look forward to serving you.”

Mei clasped her hands politely and bowed at a perfect angle. Every movement was precise, without a single wasted motion. It was the very picture of an ideal maid. Thinking about it, it would have been strange for such a large house to have no one managing it at all. Rather than hiring an outsider as a housekeeper, using an android—despite the higher cost—was far more secure. Given that the owner was apparently drowning in money, this level of extravagance hardly seemed out of place.

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠only thing that bothered me was being called “young miss,” but that was clearly just a programmed response. There was no point scolding a robot over it. Instead, I offered her a bright smile.

“Nice to meet you too, Mei. I’m the one who should be asking for your help from now on. Have you already heard about me?”

“Yes. I received your basic information in advance. Name: Kwon Seo-ah. Age: twelve. As of today, you have been registered as the master’s adopted daughter and the young miss of this household. Please correct me if any detail is inaccurate.”

When I replied in the lively tone of a young girl, Mei answered immediately and turned the question back to me. Her crisp, mechanical response reminded me once again that a robot was a robot, yet hearing my new identity spoken aloud felt strangely surreal. I nodded, feeling a complicated mix of emotions, and confirmed that everything she had said was correct.

With a mechanical smile, she met my eyes and began explaining the essential rules and precautions for living here. She covered everything from meal times and laundry procedures to the locations of bathrooms and other important facilities. She also mentioned the owner, who was still at headquarters: his private room and office were on the third floor, and the basement was strictly off-limits without his permission.

Learning that this enormous house even had a basement surprised me, but the warning not to approach it only piqued my curiosity. As usual, being told not to do something only made me want to do it more—especially when it involved the secret basement of an S-rank hunter. If I had shown no reaction at all, that would have been far stranger.

The moment she noticed the spark in my eyes, the android paused mid-explanation. Her expression suddenly turned grave, and her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tone shifted.

“…A terrifying monster lives in the basement. A small child like you might get eaten if you go down there. It is an extremely dangerous place.”

“…?……”

What on earth was she saying? The sudden, playful warning had nothing to do with the practical information she had been giving moments earlier. A monster in the basement? That made no sense at all. Yet when she saw my bewildered reaction, she leaned forward slightly, pressed both hands to the sides of her head, and made an exaggerated fierce face.

“There are many goblin-like monsters down there. They prey on small children like you and might pounce with a roar—rawr! It is a very, very dangerous place.”

She even added dramatic acting. At first I wondered if she was malfunctioning, but then a realization struck me. The way to test it was simple. Instead of asking what she was doing, I widened my eyes in exaggerated terror, hunched my shoulders, and clasped my hands over my chest as though I truly believed her ridiculous story.

Of course I didn’t believe a word of it—it was pure acting—but the result was exactly what I expected. The android, who had been watching me closely, suddenly looked satisfied and returned to her normal demeanor.

By now it was obvious: she had been trying to scare the “little girl” in front of her. The moment I showed interest in the basement, she had quickly taken measures in her own way. While such a tactic would never work on a normal adult, it might actually be effective on a child who still knew very little about the world. The android had clearly judged me accordingly.

Being treated like a child left a sour taste in my mouth, but this could also be an opportunity. She now believed I was genuinely afraid of the basement, so she might lower her guard regarding it. That was an unexpected bonus.

After that, the explanation continued smoothly. Once she finished, Mei asked if I had any further questions. I didn’t have many, but one thing still bothered me. When I asked about the lady of the house—my new adoptive mother—she froze like stone. The sudden, unnatural silence felt as though someone had placed a strict gag order on the topic.

She finally spoke only after I let my confusion show plainly on my face.

“You are asking about the mistress. She does not currently reside in this house.”

“…? What do you mean?”

“I am sorry, young miss. A restriction has been placed on this subject, so I cannot provide further details. If you wish to know more, I recommend asking the master directly.”

Her expression remained icy, her eyes calm and resolute. It was clear she would not answer no matter how much I pressed. From her reaction, it seemed the owner was indeed married and had a wife, but they were not living together at present. Naturally, I wondered what had happened between them. The fact that he had even installed a restriction on the household android suggested something serious was going on. Given his personality so far, a simple marital spat seemed unlikely. There was probably a complicated story behind it.

Already, countless questions swirled in my mind. On the surface, this place looked like paradise itself, yet beneath that polished exterior lay hidden secrets. Living here, I suspected, would not be as easy as it appeared.

Once Mei left the room after finishing her business, Ulthar reappeared and immediately launched into an explanation of the requests. The explanation was long, but the key points were simple.

First, the content of each request was determined according to the magical girl concept I had chosen. Personally, I found this part the most agreeable. It meant that the basic framework of any request would stay within the scope of my chosen concept. For example, a bright and pure magical girl would never be assigned to handle shady incidents in dark alleys. Since my concept was “a little devil smiling in the darkness,” the opposite of the example, most requests would involve operating as a dark hero in the shadows rather than appearing in front of large crowds. Hearing that, I quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Even with my face covered, standing before many people in this outfit would have been unbearable. I much preferred quietly helping people without drawing attention.

Ulthar grumbled that this was exactly why he disliked the outfit, but I ignored him as usual.

Second, there were two main types of requests: regular requests and sudden requests. Regular requests were the ones the program recommended from time to time. They had low completion values, but the content was simple and the success conditions were clear, making them very straightforward. Sudden requests appeared when I happened to encounter something connected to an incident. These were long-term and complex, but offered much higher completion values.

Third, the search range for requests was limited to Seoul, and one-time-use portals would be provided for travel to and from the site. Regular requests could only be accepted one at a time, with a limit of three per day. The completion value earned upon finishing a request would vary greatly depending on the evaluation, just as I had been told earlier. Since the program handled evaluations automatically, trying to half-heartedly fake my performance would be difficult. The whole point of having an evaluation system was to prevent exactly that kind of slacking.

Ulthar insisted he would not force me, but his black heart was impossible to hide. He already knew that once a clear way out of this dreadful contract had been presented, I would never refuse it. It annoyed me to feel like I was dancing to his tune, but I decided to change my approach. Even if I had to force myself to play along for now, I would never let this perverted cat have his way. I silently vowed to endure with sheer stubbornness and make him regret imposing these conditions.

Whether that would actually be possible remained to be seen, but it was the only thing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I could do at the moment. Once his explanation ended, I steeled myself and opened the request list with a pounding heart. Better to get it over with quickly. I felt like I was rushing toward a beating, yet the sight that greeted me left me genuinely surprised.

The slot where requests should have appeared was completely empty.

I quickly understood what it meant. A dark hero operating in broad daylight would indeed be strange. Requests of that nature would probably only appear once the sun had set. Feeling the wind go out of my sails, I closed the empty blue window. There was still plenty of time until nightfall.

In the end, I received my first request only after considerable time had passed and deep darkness had settled outside the window.