The Suspicious Maid (Fake) (1)
I was back at my main job — or rather, my cover job.
“Welcome home, Master. Nyang.”
“There's no time for this! Hurry up and form a contract with me — become a magical girl!”
“Right this way to table three, Master. Nyang.”
This time it was magical-girl roleplay. I mean, magical girls were practically sprouting out of the sidewalks around here anyway.
“If you don't form the contract, people will die this very instant, riiiight nooow!”
“That's, well, unfortunate. Nyang.”
I peeled Charlotte off my arm, where she'd been clinging and fussing, and she flopped dramatically to the floor and struck a pose.
“H-h-how could you do this to me, big siiiister—”
“Pick one thing. Just one. Nyang.”
When I gave Charlotte's head a light tap with the menu, she grinned sheepishly and took her seat.
“Your order? Nyang.”
“Whatever you feel like feeding me, sis?”
“One glass of ice water, order confirmed. Nyang.”
“You're so mean!”
Without even opening the menu, Charlotte pushed it right back at me.
“Fine, a sandwich then.”
“Again? Nyang.”
“Well, it's the only thing you can make on your own anyway.”
That was true, admittedly. Everything else required the use of magical tools.
Then again, what she ate was none of my business.
I assembled the sandwich with practiced hands and set it down, and just as I turned to greet the next customer, Charlotte grabbed my arm.
“U-um, Master? Physical contact with the maid is—”
“Sit.”
“I'm on the clock, though—”
“Now.”
Something's clearly bothering her.
I stole a glance at the manager, who met my eyes and gave a small nod. Letting out a quiet sigh, I sat down beside Charlotte.
“What is it?”
“Sis, what did you do last weekend?”
The Masquerade. I recalled briefly borrowing Charlotte's name there and gave her a slight nod.
“Thanks for the name. It worked well.”
“…That's it? That's all you have to say?”
“?”
Charlotte puffed out her cheeks. I had gotten permission to use it in advance, and I'd paid the agreed price for it. As far as I was concerned, we'd settled the matter amicably by mutual consent.
“Look at this!”
Charlotte slapped a stack of newspapers down on the table. I reached out — then froze when I saw the photographs in them moving.
They even make newspapers out of magical tools, huh.
Truly the Magic City. You couldn't let your guard down around a single scrap of paper.
I skimmed the headlines with my eyes.
[Large Quantities of Narcotics Detected at Secret Noble Party…]
[Human Trafficking Again? …The Grim Reality of the Magic City Laid Bare]
[Students Implicated… Academy Vows Hard-Line Response]
So they'd already made the papers. Not that I was worried — the Security Bureau had briefed me in advance, and I knew a bit more than what the papers weren't printing.
Students implicated. Word was that during questioning, the three students in dog masks had confessed to possessing the narcotics themselves.
Are they idiots?
I couldn't fathom why they'd blown something up that could have been quietly smoothed over.
At any rate, merely being linked to the party was trouble enough, and once their drug use came to light, the entire Academy was thrown into an uproar.
There were complaints about negligent oversight from their faculty. Screaming that this was practically an act of terrorism against the Magic City.
The three students — and Eric, whom all three had named as their shared supplier — were being held by the Investigation Agency as suspects in the case.
That's really all of it?
I was staring blankly at the newspaper when Charlotte casually looped her arm through mine.
“My name showed up in the roster, you know.”
“So it did.”
Well, of course — I attended the party under her name.
There was nothing strange about her name appearing on the participant list. It had been sold to numerous attendees, so the investigation team would have had no trouble getting their hands on it.
“We had club activities late into the night that evening, so my alibi was accepted.”
“Good for you.”
It wouldn't have mattered even if she hadn't had one. I'd already informed the Security Bureau that I'd used Charlotte's name during the infiltration.
I did exactly what I was told — infiltrated quietly, did the investigation. What's the problem.
Kedrick had told me to brace myself over this matter, but either way, there was no chance of Charlotte being hauled off to the Security Bureau.
That should have been the end of it, no?
“It is NOT 'good for me'!”
“Is that so.”
“First the rumors from the entrance ceremony — causing a scene, calling for an outcall maid service—”
Those two, at least, were factually true.
“Now everyone thinks I'm some weirdo, and on top of that I've been tainted with suspicions of attending a shady party!”
“How terrible.”
Is that a problem, though?
But then, Charlotte's image was already in the negatives anyway.
“Take responsibility.”
“I'd rather not.”
I tried to discreetly pull my arm free, but it only got caught and gripped more firmly.
“Y-you could hire me as your personal maid, and—”
“Declined.”
Charlotte's lips pursed into a pout.
“Why not?”
“Because I'm not a maid.”
Wearing a maid outfit did not a maid make.
“Roleplay, nyaaaang!”
“…Nyang.”
Doesn't that manager have anything better to do? Why is she watching only me all day?
“Fine. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from that anyway.”
Charlotte flashed a cheeky grin.
“Then help me with my major's practicum.”
“I'm just an ordinary civilian, you know.”
“Am I supposed to laugh here?”
“I'm not joking.”
An Academy major practicum would obviously involve magic — why she'd ask me of all people for that was beyond me.
“Then at least be my sparring partner.”
“No.”
The moment I cut her down flat, her smile wilted instantly. She buried her head in my shoulder and started mumbling.
“Because of you, I've got this weirdo reputation and I can't even make friends….”
That image sticking to Charlotte was not my fault. Charlotte was, from the start, genuinely a weird kid.
“Because of you, I nearly got forcibly shipped home, Academy or no Academy….”
That, at least, hadn't actually happened in the end.
“Because of you, Eric bailed on our group project and my teammates are in a real bind now….”
Charlotte looked up at me with mournful eyes.
Well. Fair enough — I supposed I could spare some change on top of what I'd paid for using her name.
“…Fine, I'll do it.”
“Yay!”
Watching Charlotte brighten up as if she'd never been glum in her life, I let out a faint sigh.
Elize, perched on the edge of the desk, deliberately stiffened her expression into solemnity.
“If you have an explanation, I'll hear it.”
“I-I truly found nothing, my lady?”
Siwoo's pupils wavered violently as he stood there, staring at her in a daze.
In the dead of night, the Royal Guard, acting on Elize's orders, had infiltrated the cathedral.
Far from being obstructed, even the 'sister to watch out for' that Siwoo had repeatedly warned about was nowhere to be found. Despite having accounted for countless contingencies, the infiltration had been frustratingly, almost insultingly easy.
The hidden chamber beneath the cathedral did exist. But in that chamber—
“Indeed, nothing.”
—there was nothing but cages for beasts. In the Magic City, it was common enough for mages to set up workshops underground. That fact alone was not grounds for condemnation.
Just in case, the Royal Guard had thoroughly inspected even the beasts — and still, no trace of narcotics could be found.
“That's… impossible….”
Siwoo mumbled helplessly. Watching him, Elize drew a sly smile.
“Do you read the newspapers?”
“Pardon? No, I don't— I mean, I don't.”
Taking the paper Elize tossed him in both hands, Siwoo's eyes raced across the text.
In broad strokes: narcotics had been detected at some secret party, and the perpetrators had been apprehended by the Security Bureau's investigation squad.
“You'll want to see this.”
“My lady?”
A question crept into Siwoo's expression. Elize leaned forward toward the bewildered man and pointed to a corner of the newspaper.
A count, pale as death, waving his hands in denial. Stacked before him, mountains of boxes of narcotics.
Wait…?
He'd seen both of those things before.
“Those narcotics. Weren't they right here?”
The Masquerade. Knowing the original story, Siwoo recognized the count instantly as the host of the Masquerade.
And the massive boxes of narcotics — those were the very same boxes Siwoo had seen in the cathedral.
And the Masquerade's key personnel, along with the drug crates, had all been taken into the Security Bureau's—
The Security Bureau?
“Everything landed right back in the Bureau's hands, untouched.”
“…A staged play.”
“I don't yet believe the woman herself went that far. However.”
Somehow, by some means, she had learned of the Royal Guard's movements in advance. So she'd had the narcotics moved to the Masquerade venue—
“If, as you claim, the Security Bureau is rotten — then yes. She saw through them.”
—and through the Bureau, both the drugs and the Masquerade had been safely 'collected' all over again.
Siwoo's eyes and Elize's met, understanding resonating between them, and then—
“Our movements—” “Our actions, my lady—”
Their voices overlapped.
As Siwoo walked the streets, turning his conversation with Elize over and over in his mind, 'Afternoon Lasagna' suddenly caught his eye.
Come to think of it, Alpinia was wearing a maid outfit here that day, wasn't she.
In the game, she was always clad in nothing but that black long coat. Seeing her in a mismatched event costume had genuinely scrambled his brain for a moment there.
…It suited her, though. Maybe.
In the original story, her whole image was blowing everything to kingdom come alongside her pack of mad dogs. The Alpinia here somehow seemed a little more… at ease.
Her eyes were rotten in either version, granted.
But then, that was Alpinia's identity. Her whole brand.
Well, there's no way Alpinia would actually work as waitstaff.
The outfit must have been something she'd borrowed for a moment. He'd never see her in it again.
While I'm here, why not take a look inside?
Siwoo turned down the street toward Afternoon Lasagna. As a player of Grand Mage Saga, he was curious about the shop's interior.
Best to get on the maid boss's good side.
All things considered, it was the kind of shop where knowing faces could only work in his favor. Siwoo stepped inside without a second thought — and there—
“Welcome home, Master. Nyang.”
—stood Alpinia in that maid outfit he'd never expected to see again, while beside her—
“Sis, I like you! I love you!”
“Haah….”
—was Charlotte hugging a thoroughly exhausted-looking Alpinia with all her might.