Delia’s Job
“Because of you, the High Bishop kicked me out of his chambers! What are you going to do about this?!” yelled Delia in fury after racing up the stairs to my room. I wasn’t sure how far she had run, but her dark-red hair was a straggly mess, and she was out of breath as she stood in front of me. I had been so busy preparing the kitchen the past few days that I honestly hadn’t seen her in what felt like a long time.
“This is all your fault! You made the High Priest give you a room but didn’t say anything to me, so the High Bishop started calling me incompetent! Geez!”
I got the room through official channels, only wanted it for a place to change clothes, and couldn’t inform Delia since I didn’t know where she was. So if you asked me, her being called incompetent was no fault of mine.
“What do you even want from me, Delia?”
“Let me stay in your chambers. What else? I am your attendant, after all.”
“Know your place!” Before I could even understand what was happening, Benno slammed a fist onto her head. Delia blinked in stunned surprise and looked around the room with her hands on her head.
“Delia, you shouldn’t act like that in front of a visitor. What were you expecting?”
“Wh-Why should I have to listen to a commoner like you?!”
“Seems like you still don’t understand, huh?” Benno narrowed his eyes and raised a fist, leading Delia to clamp her mouth shut. Gil jerked in fear too, probably remembering the time Lutz had punched him.
Benno turned to me. “Myne, you don’t need someone who can’t even do their job right. Hiring someone with no motivation to work is a waste of money. Get rid of her,” he spat out. The fact that Lutz had said the same thing about Gil showed just how much Benno was influencing him.
“Fran, I don’t entirely understand what position Delia is in right now. Does being kicked out of the High Bishop’s chambers mean that he has cut ties with her?”
That must have been accurate, as visible tears brimmed in the corner of Delia’s eyes as she glared at me and protested with a cracked voice. “...He hasn’t cut me off yet.”
“I cannot say for certain that she was cut off.”
“Right? Who would cut off a cute girl like me?” Delia’s face lit up at Fran’s words. But Fran hit Delia with the harsh reality, his expression never changing.
“Delia did not know that you had been given chambers, could not serve you because she did not know where the chambers were, and ultimately could provide no information of value whatsoever to the High Bishop. It would be unsurprising for him to be highly displeased with her,” explained Fran flatly as Delia opened her eyes wide with disbelief. It seemed that he was reasonably angry at Delia for not only failing to do her job as an attendant, but attempting to cause me, her master, problems as well. His expression didn’t change, but that just made his anger feel more sincere.
“If Delia was assigned to you due to her age, it is likely that the High Bishop thought that she would become fast friends with you and thus a reliable source of information. That she instead acted with blatant hostility from the start and put you on your guard immediately was no doubt an incredible disappointment for the High Bishop.”
“N-No way...” Delia’s expression went blank. Then, the moment after she realized that she really had been completely cut off by the High Bishop, she smiled sweetly at Fran.
“But, but! It would be ridiculous for an apprentice shrine maiden to have no girl attendants. Isn’t that right?” In a move befitting her cunning personality, Delia’s attempt to secure a place for herself wasn’t targeted at me, her master, but instead Fran, an adult with the highest standing among my attendants.
Fran, who usually didn’t let his emotions show on his face, glared at Delia with his disgust completely visible. Then, he gave a cold smile. “Sister Myne commutes to the temple from home, so she does not need an attendant to dress her or the like. The past few days have proven that your absence will cause no problems whatsoever. And in any case, if necessary, she can simply select a new attendant from the orphanage.”
I had thought that I wouldn’t be able to get rid of Delia since the High Bishop had assigned her to me, but the situation had changed, and apparently I could get new attendants if I wanted.
“That’s a good suggestion,” I observed, which made Delia bite her lip with tears starting to drip down her cheeks.
“...You’re going to kick me out too?”
As I saw Delia’s far-too-pretty tears, I understood without a doubt that she really had been born just to be doted on by men. The moment she was put in an inconvenient situation, she started crying and acting sweet. She was even looking up at me at an angle with the perfect puppy dog eyes. She knew full well that girls could use their looks as a weapon even at a young age. It was honestly impressive that she was so comfortable with her own cuteness. If I had tried the same thing when I was Urano, I would have been kicked away and called gross.
To be honest, it was pretty annoying to see her act all sad and innocent after spending days being nothing but mean and insulting to me, but well, wouldn’t it still be pretty cruel to kick a crying little girl out onto the street? A heavy silence fell in the room, with nobody wanting to say anything. But that only lasted a few seconds.
“Dunno why you’re worrying about being kicked out when you don’t even live here. You’re not one of us.” With a smile on his face, Gil stomped on the sympathetic atmosphere that Delia had built up.
“Wh, Wh-What?!”
“There’s no room here for people who don’t do their job. No food, either. The saying goes, ‘he who does no work shall not eat’! Right, Sister Myne?” Gil puffed out his chest with pride, happy to have remembered what I told him.
I wasn’t sure if he fully understood the significance of what he just said, but I was glad he had spoken up when no one else wanted to. I would need to give him lots of praise later. And naturally, I ignored Benno when he murmured, “Is that something a girl too weak to do any work should be saying?”
“I gave Gil a room and plenty to eat because he’s working hard for me. I don’t have anything to give to someone who refuses to do their job.”
“Okay, I get it. I just have to do my job,” said Delia before sliding onto Benno’s lap and looking up at him with a smile, leaning her back against him. I blinked in confusion, not really understanding what was happening.
Benno grimaced hard and shook his hand. “Sorry, but I’m not interested in a kid like you. Get off.”
“See? Your visitor is all mad because there aren’t any gray shrine maidens here,” proclaimed Delia with a smug, victorious smile while climbing off Benno’s lap. In other words, she had just shown me the “job” that the High Bishop’s shrine maiden attendants were expected to do.
I wanted to cradle my head in horror, and it seemed Benno felt the same way. He glared at Delia while rubbing his temples and making no attempt to hide his disgust. “I’m not interested in flowers to begin with. Don’t mistake me for one of those nobles that come here just to admire the flowers.”
“What? Wait, does that mean...?” Delia’s job up until now had been to take care of the High Bishop’s attendant mistresses while refining her own beauty and skills to become his mistress in the future. That, and to show sweet smiles to his visitors.
“I don’t need or want any of my attendants to do that.”
“I can clean, too. One of my jobs was to take care of the High Bishop’s clothes, and I even kept his room clean too,” said Delia as she squeezed my sleeve tightly. I could tell that, upon realizing the skills she had honed over her whole life didn’t matter to me, her self-confidence and internal sense of values had started to crumble. Her expression stiffened and she looked around the room, wearing neither a sweet smile or fake tears. But nobody offered to help cute, cute Delia.
It was probably true that Delia had been kicked out of the High Bishop’s chambers, and that she was in trouble. I looked up at Fran, not sure about what I should do. He sighed reluctantly.
“I believe an evening in the repentance chamber will suffice. It is true that she must repent for attempting to sabotage you, after all.”
“I’ll repent. I’ll do my job properly from now on. So please... don’t kick me out. Don’t say you don’t need me,” pleaded Delia desperately, visibly holding back real tears.
The intensity of her voice made me open my eyes wide. Upon looking around the room, I saw both Fran and Gil making hurt expressions as well, as if they too had been told they weren’t needed in the past. Gil was a problem child who was sent to the repentance chamber regularly. Fran had suffered deeply when he thought the High Priest had abandoned him. Delia’s plight had probably unearthed those memories within them.
“Fran. If Delia does her job properly, then I have no issue with her serving me.”
“...If that is your wish, Sister Myne.” Fran let out a small sigh of relief, then looked at Delia with a stern expression. “Delia, if you wish to work here, you must first watch your language more carefully. Sister Myne does not need a disloyal attendant who does not consider her as their master.”
“Understood.”
Thanks to Delia saying she’ll do her job properly, I successfully avoided having to kick out a crying little girl. I put a hand on my chest and sighed in relief. “So, Delia, what exactly can you do?”
“I can keep this room clean and organized, like a blue shrine maiden’s room should be. Starting here!” Delia shot a finger in the direction of what I had thought to be a closet. In reality, it was a room for using the bathroom and washing oneself. I hadn’t noticed, since there was nothing in the room that would give that impression.
“Why has the bathroom not been prepared despite how many days it has been? Putting aside washing yourself, how have you been relieving yourself?”
“Hm? There’s a bathroom on the first floor, so I was going down there and cleaning it up myself.”
“Come again?! Unbelievable! Geez! The first floor bathroom is for servants, and not only that, but for men as well! Have some shame!”
Hmmm, is it just me, or has her attitude not really changed that much?
Delia started listing off everything that was missing in the room, including a mirror stand and a work desk. I had been both eating and writing on the round table in the middle of the room, but apparently that was shameful for a blue shrine maiden to be doing. Although I didn’t intend to take a bath here, she was quite insistent on preparing the bathroom anyway, just in case.
“Mr. Benno, can you take care of this?”
“Leave it to me. If you’re missing this much stuff, yeah, you definitely need an attendant that knows how shrine maidens operate. And with someone yelling at you like that, maybe you’ll learn to act a bit more like a noble girl.”
“Ngh...”
After all that was done, Delia brought a jug of water to the second floor. I would need water up here to wash my face and hands, and to clean up after relieving myself. I had thought that Delia would be more like a weak princess-type since she had been aiming to be a mistress, but she had both the arm strength and stamina necessary to carry a heavy jug of water up to the second floor of my room.
“I can’t believe you didn’t even have water up here, geez!”
After watching Delia start doing her job while complaining basically to herself, Fran returned to the kitchen, and Gil started cleaning the first floor. I took my first bite of the dessert and talked to Benno in between mouthfuls.
“By the way, the High Priest ordered me to prepare ceremonial blue robes. What exactly is he looking for? What makes them special?”
“They are quite different from your normal robes and are designed to attract the attention of those outside the temple, much like the special outfit you wore at your baptism. There is green embroidery, your family crest, and...” Benno paused mid-sentence, then shot me a surprised look. “Wait, when’re you going to a ceremony? I dunno exactly how long it takes to make a pair of ceremonial robes for nobles, but no chance is it gonna be ready by tomorrow.”
I could tell by him breaking his polite tone of speech that he was anxious. Naturally, since clothes weren’t made in seconds by machines here, it would take some time to prepare the robes.
“He said that I wouldn’t go to many since I’m just an apprentice, but that’s all I know. Maybe Fran knows when the next ceremony is. Hey, Fra— Brhggh?!” I started to call for Fran, but Benno blocked my mouth with a hand and pointed with his eyes at the bell on the table. Oh, right. I use the bell when calling for people. I rung the bell and heard Fran climbing the stairs.
“What can I do for you, Sister Myne?”
“The High Priest told me to prepare ceremonial robes, but I don’t know when the next ceremony will be. Do you know, Fran?”
“If the Knight’s Order summons the help of the temple in the fall, that will be the soonest ceremony that you must attend.”
“Fall, huh? Might be rough if I’ve gotta start from scratch.”
Naturally, when it came to making a special outfit for a noble, one had to start with picking the thread with which to weave the cloth. As Benno frowned, Fran pointed at the wooden box by the wall.
“What if you used the cloth you gifted to the temple? It is very high quality, and should be usable after being dyed to the proper color.”
“Good idea. That should give us enough time. Myne doesn’t have a family crest, though. Is that gonna be a problem?”
“Does her workshop have a crest?”
“I’ll make one myself!”
As Fran and Benno discussed the design of the ceremonial robes, I began thinking up a design for my workshop’s crest. I wanted it to just be a book with a pen and ink nearby, but Fran and Benno shot that down for being too simple. I added the wood used to make the paper, flowers for hairpins, and organized it all into the shape of a proper crest. Fran was very satisfied with how elegant and feminine it was, which was fine by me.
“Sister Myne, the chefs have finished preparing dinner.”
“I see. In that case, would you check to see if they have finished cleaning up?”
On my orders, Fran checked the kitchen, talked with the chefs about tomorrow’s plans, then saw them off. The chefs leaving meant it was also time for me to leave.
“I will be going home for today. Please get changed, you two.” Gil and Fran quickly went to their individual rooms to get changed. Lutz would soon be leaving the city with Benno on business, so my attendants were getting used to accompanying me on my commutes.
I took off my blue robes to prepare for the way home. But when I started undoing my sash, Delia stepped in front of me with her head held high and her expression steaming with anger.
“Just what do you think you’re doing, Sister Myne?”
“Changing my clothes?” I let go of my sash, remembering that nobles weren’t supposed to change clothes on their own. I lifted my arms and waited for Delia to change me, only to see her eyes eyes twist with anger.
“Changing in front of a man?! Absolutely shameless!” yelled Delia while glancing at Benno, who was still sitting at the table. I blinked in surprise, having not expected her to get so mad when I had a full set of clothes on underneath the robes.
“S-Sorry? But they’re just robes, I have clothes on under them.”
“You should only take your clothes off in front of men when attempting to seduce them! If you let every man see you change willy-nilly, your value as a woman will drop dramatically. This is really something you should know already. Geez!”
“U-Um. Okay...” Well. I don’t think we’re on the same page here. But she’s getting mad for my sake, so it’s kind of hard to point that out.
“Please wait in the hall, Master Benno,” said Delia. “Although she is very young, we are talking about a woman changing here. Thank you for your understanding.”
“Well, can’t argue with you there.” Benno stifled a laugh and went down the stairs. After making sure he was gone, Delia undid my sash and took off my robes. She worked quickly and efficiently, with her experience taking care of the gray shrine maidens making itself evident. She neatly folded up my blue robes and adjusted my hair stick back into place.
“Sister Myne is ready now.” Delia stuck her head out the door into the stairway and called out down the stairs. There, she froze with her eyes looking down the steps.
“What, are those clothes...?”
“A gift from Sister Myne.” Gil’s voice alone made it clear how much he wanted to brag. No doubt he was puffing out his chest with pride.
“No fair! What about me?!”
“I got this for doing my job right. You didn’t get any since you weren’t doing your job.”
“What job did you even do?!”
“I cleaned this place up. She gave me a gift since I worked hard all on my own. Heheh, pretty nice, aren’t they?”
“Whatever! I’m not jealous of them or anything!” Delia, frustrated and envious beyond belief, cut the conversation short with tears brimming in her eyes. She glared sharply at me and pointed at the stairs.
“They’re waiting for you. Maybe you should hurry and go?”
“Well, I bought some clothes for you too, but I guess you don’t want them.”
Delia looked at me, her eyes so wide it looked like her eyeballs were going to fall right out of her head. “I never said I didn’t want them. Not once.”
I took the last cloth bundle out of the closet and held it out to Delia. She reached out to touch it, then pulled her hands back with a glance in my direction.
“...You don’t mind?”
“You’ll work hard for me from now on, won’t you?”
“Well, you won’t know anything without me around. I don’t have any other choice.” With her cheeks blushing red, Delia snatched the bundle out of my hands and ran off to her room on the second floor, avoiding eye contact.
“Heeey, you coming down yet?”
“Please wait a moment, Delia is changing.” I looked at the door to Delia’s room while replying to Gil’s impatient call. She was taking a lot of time just to change clothes. No matter how long I waited, she just wasn’t coming out.
“Are you done yet, Delia?” I opened the door and saw Delia dancing around in her new clothes, singing some song with a broad smile on her face. The moment we made eye contact, she froze, then gripped her skirt tightly and began trembling. She glared at me with her face red all the way to her ears.
“D-Don’t open the door without knocking! GEEZ!”
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login