Magic Tower (4)
Did I take so much stress earlier that I’m seeing things?
Rin blinked blankly, then circulated her mana to check her body. There was always the chance she had fallen under an illusion spell. Of course, as the greatest genius in the history of the Magic Tower, she was certain no mage in the world could cast an illusion on her without her noticing. Yet the sight before her was so grotesque that even she had to consider the possibility.
A maid.
Eve… in a maid’s uniform.
The Hero, dressed as a maid…!
As the mage of the Hero’s party who had spent so many years at Eve’s side, Rin simply could not accept it. She cycled the mana through her entire body five more times, inspecting every inch of herself. The result: nothing wrong. No illusion, no spell of any kind clung to her. The Eve standing before her in a maid outfit was real.
So the person in front of me really is Eve… No. Don’t jump to conclusions. It could be an assassin disguised as her. Someone who learned the Hero’s party had grown weak and came to assassinate us to protect their political standing…
“I-I’ve missed you, Rin…!”
Soft impact.
Just as Rin was sharpening every sense in deadly seriousness, Eve threw herself into her arms. Soft warmth, a faint wildflower scent, a small frame that nestled perfectly against her—and mana as hot and radiant as the sun itself. The person in her embrace was, beyond any doubt, Eve.
“I’m sorry, Rin. I-I was the only one who came back from there unharmed. I… I suffered all alone… Everyone else was so badly hurt, yet they stood right back up, and I was the only idiot who…”
Eve rubbed her face against Rin’s chest as she apologized. After returning alive from the Abyss of Despair, she alone had broken, locked herself away in despair. Offen’s encouragement and comfort had helped her heal, but not completely. The guilt toward the comrades who had come to worry about her while she hid in her room still sat heavy in her heart.
Stroke. Stroke.
Rin wordlessly stroked Eve’s golden hair. Warm gold like a wheat field under the sunset. Just running her fingers through it seemed to fill the hollow place in her chest.
Eve’s three years older than me, yet she never feels like an older sister at all.
Rin let out a quiet snort of laughter and drew her mana quill, writing in the air.
No, Eve. I’m just happy we can see each other again like this.
Rin’s sincere words, free of any lingering resentment, took shape in glowing letters. She was truly glad to meet Eve again.
“Riiin…”
Guilt for failing to protect her party as the Hero, and gratitude that Rin still welcomed her so warmly, made Eve’s eyes well with tears. The once lively, energetic Hero Eve had become this soft, tearful little maid.
So, Eve… why exactly are you wearing a maid outfit? Are you on some special infiltration mission?
Curious what on earth had happened in the meantime, Rin wrote the question in small letters. Eve’s eyes flew wide as if she had suddenly remembered something she had completely forgotten. She pointed behind herself with both hands.
“I-I’ve become a maid. That person over there is my m-master… n-no. My employer.”
“……Khuh?!”
Rin forgot she was a patient whose vocal cords had been torn out and let out a strangled cry of pure shock.
“R-Rin?! You mustn’t use your voice!”
Eve flinched at the grating metallic sound and hurriedly stopped her. Rin regained her reason at Eve’s worry and turned her gaze to the man Eve called her employer—the blond fellow who had been happily shoveling ice cream into his mouth like a country bumpkin alongside that unsettling brown-haired maid earlier. Handsome face, and that was about it. Unlike the maid, who radiated an extraordinary presence, nothing at all could be felt from the blond man.
That man is your employer?
“Y-yeah. That’s right. I’ve become Baron Offen’s maid.”
Baron? You became a baron’s maid?
Just hearing that Hero Eve had become someone’s maid was enough to make her head ache—and the employer was a mere baron? Eve’s answer left Rin reeling.
Of all people, Eve became the maid of some nobody baron who looks completely unremarkable? What in the world happened to make her choose that?
Eve had been the perfect Hero. She had never once used the power of the Holy Sword for herself. Only for good, for the world, for people who needed help. Even though a Hero was the strongest human alive and could have enjoyed endless wealth and power, she had claimed none of it. Like an ascetic setting out on a pilgrimage, she had simply and humbly fulfilled a Hero’s duty. When the imperial crown prince proposed, she had coldly refused, saying a Hero was the sword of all people and must not belong to anyone. That was the Eve whom even arrogant Rin had sincerely respected.
Maid—the maid I know? The kind who cleans, cooks, and does laundry…? Not a combat maid who wears a mask, hides her identity, and “cleans up” her master’s enemies? The real kind?
“Y-yeah. That’s right. That kind of maid.”
And that Hero Eve had suddenly become a maid of a baronial house.
“B-but I’m still just an apprentice. I’m learning. Ehehe.”
Not even a full maid—an apprentice maid.
Rin felt as though the brilliant convictions of the Hero she had always admired were being defiled.
How in the world did you end up becoming something as lowly as a maid? And of a mere baronial house at that!
She asked with far more emotion than she normally would have allowed herself. She had already been furious that her Method of Countering Magical Spiritual Bodies had been rejected, and now the Eve she respected had fallen into maid corruption. Eve living as an apprentice maid under some worthless baron—the reunion had turned into a nightmare. Rin could not accept it.
After barely escaping the Abyss of Despair with her life, Eve was extremely unstable. All the responsibility and duty that had piled onto her shoulders as a Hero collapsed at once and broke her spirit. That left her full of openings, and that man must have slipped right through them. Yes. That has to be it.
Rin tore her gaze from Eve and looked at Offen standing beyond her shoulder. The man who had corrupted her beloved, respected older-sister figure—the Hero Eve—into a maid was cheerfully eating ice cream with the brown-haired maid.
A kind face. Soft, gentle, handsome features. He must have approached her with that face and poured out pretty words until he had her completely wrapped around his finger. I don’t know how he got close to her, but I can ask Eve later. Right now the priority is to stay on guard and uncover that man’s true intentions.
Watching Offen scoop a spoonful of his ice cream and feed it to the maid beside him, Rin ground her teeth. But her sharp glare did not last long.
“Rin, don’t say ‘something as lowly.’ Being a maid is a wonderful profession. And the Termin baronial house is an incredibly great family.”
Eve cupped Rin’s face in both hands and forcibly turned her gaze back to herself. Rin felt a momentary pang of hurt at being scolded by Eve, but the words that followed left her mouth hanging open in shock.
“Baron Offen is the hero of humanity who destroyed the Abyss of the Army. And together with the head maid, he healed Gid’s legs. He’s my lifelong benefactor. He’s far more of a Hero than someone like me. So you mustn’t look down on him.”
Eve scolded her with absolute firmness and seriousness, without a single stutter. Yet Rin could not feel deep remorse. The content of the scolding was simply too shocking.
What are you talking about? He destroyed a Great Rift? And what? He healed Gid’s legs? Does that even make sense?
“Y-yeah. H-has the news not reached the Magic Tower yet…?”
Ever since the Abyss of Magic opened, access control has gotten much stricter. Even coming out into the city is only possible because it’s someone of my level… No, never mind that. Healing Gid’s legs—how?
Destroying a Great Rift was shocking enough to make her faint, but something else mattered more to Rin right now.
When you say he healed Gid’s legs, do you mean he fitted him with magitech prosthetic legs?
Gid’s legs had been torn off in the Abyss of Despair. When they fled, they had left every severed body part behind, so reattaching them had been impossible. Healing completely vanished legs… According to Rin’s knowledge, it was impossible. That was why she asked about prosthetics. Eve shook her head firmly.
“No. H-he restored them to how they originally were. Gid says his legs are even sturdier than before. Brand-new legs without a single injury, so he’s really happy.”
Eve was not someone who lied. Even if she had fallen into maid corruption, that fact had not changed. Rin swallowed dryly and, with trembling hands, scribbled in the air with her mana quill.
Then… can he fix me too?
It was a desperately earnest question. The one who answered was not Eve standing in front of her.
“Yes. I will heal you. That’s exactly why I came here.”
Having finished his ice cream at some point, Offen smiled brightly from behind Eve.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Rin. I am Offen Termin, head of the Termin family.”
And that was the first meeting between Rin and Offen.