The Clumsy Maid (3)
“……”
It had been two weeks since I arrived in this world.
By now, I was starting to get a sense of who I was here and how this character lived.
“Ugh, M-Master Arnold…!”
“…”
But there was…one nagging issue.
Of course, noble life wasn’t bad. Far from it—it was a shocking novelty.
Abundant finances, powers I could never have dreamed of in my previous life.
“Haa…”
But honestly, I couldn’t even walk the hallways in peace.
“A-Ah, Master Arnold…! G-Good morning?!”
“Yeah, good morning.”
“Yes!!”
Every time I stepped out of my room, I had to pass by servants who eyed me warily.
“…”
“M-Master Arnold?!”
What the hell did they see when they looked at me?
“……”
“Y-Young Master?! Is there something you need…?!”
Some demon straight out of hell?
Everyone I passed recoiled in terror, averting their gazes.
“…”
But what could I do? This was Arnold Stenman.
In the story, Arnold was infamous as a man so vicious that even a single wrong glance could earn you punishment.
Of course, it was all a chain of misunderstandings and preconceptions, but ten out of ten people cowered under his reputation, heads bowed.
How could anyone relax under treatment like that?
“Y-Young Master! Good morning!!”
Not everyone avoided me, though.
Eily Kesher.
Compared to the other maids, her gaze toward me was definitely different.
“Yeah, Eily. Keep up the good work.”
“Yes!! I’ll do my best today too…!”
Setting aside her shy, reserved personality, she was pretty much the only one friendly toward me.
“Hmm? Do you need something from me~?”
“Nah, nothing.”
The others grew awkward just sharing space with me, but she was relaxed and natural, like she was with a comfortable friend.
“Heave… ho?!”
“Careful!”
“Ah… huh?”
Her only flaw—if you could call it that—was her lack of experience and clumsiness.
But that would sort itself out with time, so no need to worry.
“Young Master…?”
“You okay?”
“Y-Yeah… um…”
This time, while she was dusting the bookshelf in my room, reaching up on tiptoes, she slipped and tumbled into an awkward sprawl. I caught her just in time.
“Y-Young Master?”
“Hm?”
As I steadied her precarious form, Eily’s face flushed red as a ripe apple, her expression flustered.
“What’s wrong?”
“I-It’s just… your face is so close to mine, Young Master…”
Our faces close?
Oh, was she scared of Arnold’s sharp glare?
“Ugh…”
We were close enough for our breaths to mingle, sure.
“Ah, sorry.”
But it was unavoidable—I was just saving her.
“N-No! If anything, someone like me getting to lean on you like a princess… I’m sorry! And thank you!”
Once I set her down, Eily fidgeted with her fingers, clutched her skirt hem, and bowed her head in restless embarrassment.
“It’s fine, as long as you’re not hurt.”
“Th-Thank you…!”
I kept reassuring her it was okay, but she wouldn’t calm down.
“…”
After that, an awkward silence stretched between us.
Hm.
To thaw the chilly atmosphere, I racked my brain for something to say.
“…Huh?”
Glancing around, I spotted an unfinished grimoire and had a sudden idea.
“Eily.”
“…Y-Yes?!”
“Wanna head out of the mansion with me?”
“Young Master? What brings you to this meadow?”
I’d gone out to a grassy field some distance from the Stenman Mansion with Eily in tow.
The reason? To practice magic.
“Magic… practice, I guess.”
As I’d mentioned before, Arnold’s body had a talent for mana.
Until now, I’d only practiced in the mansion library with limited power.
But I wanted to get serious about wielding magic.
“Magic? But at your current age, Young Master, isn’t it too early to awaken your talent?”
Of course, as Eily said, using magic at an age under fifteen was near impossible by common sense in this world…
But Arnold Stenman was an exception.
“It worked anyway. I’ve used it a few times already.”
“Whoa, really?!”
At the mention of casting magic, Eily’s mouth formed a perfect O of awe.
“That’s amazing, Young Master!”
“You think so? Thanks. Watch closely.”
Buoyed by her praise, I focused sensation at my fingertips.
“Hmm…”
Feeling the flow inside me, I drew my inner power toward one point, like gathering blood.
“First up… let’s try a water spell.”
Imagining the spell in my mind, an alien energy gathered at my arm’s end.
A strange thrill coursed through me, instinct signaling my brain.
“Water Cannon.”
And as I voiced the name—
Whoosh—!
High-pressure water blasted from my outstretched palm.
“Ugh?!”
The jet’s force far exceeded my imagination.
Crunch—!
The Water Cannon pierced a tree dozens of meters away, boring a basketball-sized hole clean through.
“Kuh…”
Fear of its uncontrollable power made me clench my fist, canceling the spell like shutting a valve.
“Haa.”
For a while, the afterglow of magic left me speechless—not from exhaustion, but sheer astonishment at surpassing expectations.
“Y-Young Master!!”
Right then, Eily cried out in a mix of shock and admiration.
“What was that spell?! Such scale and power!! I’m in awe, Eily is!”
She balled her fists, eyes sparkling with fervor.
“R-Really?”
Her overwhelming admiration embarrassed me a bit.
“Yes~! And you cast it without chanting? You’ll definitely become a top-tier mage, Young Master!”
But one word caught my ear.
“Chanting? Isn’t magic just a word or two?”
“Huh? You didn’t know? I only heard it myself, but normal spells require reciting a set phrase.”
She shook her head, raising a finger like a tutor.
“Magic is borrowing power from the elemental gods, and chanting is praying to them.”
“So normally, you recite a prayer-like chant to use magic!”
“But a rare few with talent can cast just by circulating mana… and you’re one of them, Young Master!”
What? So regular mages really chanted full sentences?
Those cringey phrases in the grimoires… were prep steps for casting?
“…”
The twisted common sense shocked me into silence.
I’d never chanted once, from the library to now.
In the game, characters fired off skills with just a grunt, no names even.
I’d taken chantless casting for granted, but it was actually elite talent…
The outlier was me. Shocking.
Was the original story’s chantless magic just game convenience?
“I see…?”
“Yes!!”
“Then next… Fire Ball.”
Whoosh—
“Lightning Bolt!”
Crackle—!
“Less mana this time… Water Cannon!”
Splash—
Practice continued after that.
I tested every spell from the grimoire, honing control, picking up tricks and incantations as ideas struck.
“Um, Young Master…! If it’s not too much trouble, may I step away for a bit?”
Then Eily made a request.
“What is it?”
“W-Well, my mother has to congratulate an acquaintance, so…”
“I thought I’d pick some pretty flowers from that forest on the way out.”
“B-But if you say no, I’ll drop it clean!”
She clasped her hands shyly, tapping her index fingers together, then revealed her simple goal: flowers for her mom.
“Go ahead.”
No reason not to, and I’d only brought her due to the servant-escort rule anyway.
“Take your time.”
“Really?! Thank you, Young Master!! I’ll be quick!”
She bounced with joy and dashed toward the forest in light steps.
“She went pretty far. Back to magic for me.”
I watched her petite figure a moment, then resumed practice.
“Let’s try this one.”
Flipping through the grimoire, a spell caught my eye: barrier magic.
A unique type—severing space to defend against threats or trap foes.
“Hmm, alright. Start with basics…”
Best defense is a good offense, right? Worth practicing.
The simplest: erect a barrier around a target to block external attacks.
“Barrier.”
I targeted the earlier tree and incanted.
——!
A transparent wall formed around it.
“Hm.”
Invisible at a glance, but focusing revealed a faint, semi-opaque film.
“Fire Ball.”
Flinging a fire spell at it yielded a wondrous sight.
Thud— whoosh, clang—
The fireball hit the barrier, dissipated without touching the tree.
“Oh ho?”
Barrier magic… more useful than expected.
“Next, trapping foes… and variations like that.”
I dove into barrier research, losing track of time experimenting.
“Ugh… think that’s enough for today? Tired, and I’ve burned a ton of mana.”
How long had I practiced? Time flew; the sky was turning orange, night approaching.
“Time to head back, Eily?”
Calling her name to go home.
“…Huh?”
But only silence answered.
Looking around, no sign of Eily.
“Eily…?!”
Realizing something was off, I shouted louder.
Still, only quiet stillness.
It had been hours since she entered the forest…
Something was wrong.
“…!”
The realization sent a chill racing through me.
“Eily!”
The Eily who’d smiled and promised to be right back… had vanished.