“Humm. The hell’s this? Can’t understand shit here.”

  Snatching the parchment from the girl’s hands, Luminaria stared at the figures and symbols drawn on it, her face frowning. In but a few moments, she gave up and pushed the sheet to Solomon.

  “This is… yes… I can understand they are related to refining. I should show this to them, right? Got it.”

  “Good, I am counting on you.”

  The things Mira wrote on the parchment were the configurations for a brand new refining table, one she had invented and researched since long ago. The small details needed were omitted and scribbled on the margin of the paper as special instructions.

  In the distant future, that parchment would help revolutionize the Sorcery Engineering, but no one would have imagined that yet.

  “Now then, going back to our previous discussion. I have already made the preparations for your carriage, so tomorrow morning you can already depart towards the Underground Graveyard and begin your search.”

  While saying that, Solomon took off his tank helmet and very carefully returned it to the drawer.

  “That is a bit too fast for me. I still want to take a break and rest a few days here...”

  As she stretched her whole body, Mira insisted she was completely spent.

  “Really? Are you staying here for some more time then? Okay, but know that I prepared for you to leave earlier than usual because I was thinking of you.”

  “You did it for me?”

  She casted a dubious glance in the King’s direction. Mira had absolutely no idea of what she could possibly gain from departing sooner.

  “Yeah. If you’re going to stay, then my maids will be elated, but, of course, I believe you will be the complete opposite of that, right?”

  “What? What are you trying to imply there?”

  “I heard something from my Head Maid. They had received a burst of inspiration after seeing the robe you wore, and now it looks like all the maids are working to make you new outfits.”

  Solomon was all smiles after relaying that information and seemed to be greatly enjoying the situation; Luminaria also chimed in, saying, “You’re so lucky,” as she laughed.

  “I am… leaving as soon as the day breaks tomorrow.”

  “Huhuhu, alright. I will inform the others of that.”

  There was no way that clothes inspired by a faux magical girl-esque dress would turn out as something normal. As a result, Mira decided to quickly run away from the castle.

  “What a bunch of weirdos...”

  Disgust welling up from the bottom of her heart, the girl complained and immediately stood up.

  “Where is the toilet?”

  “Behind that door over there.”

  When Mira asked, Solomon pointed towards a small door in a corner of the Office.

  “I am borrowing it for a little bit.”

  Together with those few words, the young girl opened the door in a hurry and disappeared inside that room. Left on the table were the empty teapot and several cookies.

  ◆◆◆

  “When it comes to a king’s toilet, I bet that just renting it might cost like a hundred thousand.”

  After a short pause, although Mira returned from the restroom feeling refreshed, she also said, at the same time, something that only a complete commoner would let escape from their mouth. A second later, the girl was immediately captured by the red-haired woman, who had been lying in wait for her prey with an invigorating smile on her face.

  “Then, why don’t we go to a one million bathhouse next?”

  And just like that, being carried under her friend’s arms, Mira was taken to the castle’s large bath.

  ◆◆◆

  Having finished their bath, Mira, Solomon and Luminaria had dinner together. Afterwards, they moved to the Office and spent a pretty long period of time talking about trivial matters—it was just a silly conversation between close friends. In the middle of it, when Solomon’s military discussion began to show its signs, the young girl softly yawned.

  “Oh wow, look at the time.”

  Upon seeing the sleepy Mira, Luminaria checked the present time and confirmed that soon it would be midnight.

  “It went by pretty fast.”

  Also confirming the time, Mira gulped down the rest of her Apple au Lait and greatly stretched her body.

  “Shall we call it a night? Let’s continue it next time.”

  “Ah, yes. Of course.”

  It would have been a complete borefest if the military discussion were to actually continue, but after a good night of sleep he would probably forget about it, so Mira agreed without much thought.

  “Your bedroom is the same as yesterday’s. Do you remember where it is?”

  “Yes, it is okay.”

  Secretly leaving the empty bottle of Apple au Lait on the sofa, Mira stood up and walked towards the door.

  “Then, I am going ahead.”

  “Okay, good night.”

  “If you have to wake up early, try to take your nightly activities in moderation and get enough sleep.”

  “Do not lump me with the likes of you. Good night.”

  Directing a glance towards the smiling Solomon and then changing it to Luminaria, whose habitual grin was plastered all over her face, Mira sent her good-nights and left the Office at the same time.

  Chapter 21

  As the sun rose on a brand new day, the area around the castle began to slowly flourish with people.

  While half-awake, Mira walked with unsteady steps towards the bathroom, her mind still slow to completely dispel her sleepiness. Then, when she returned after doing her task, she just dropped her body on the bed without a second thought, resulting in a certain something to spring up and land on the young girl’s hand.

  “What is this…?”

  The moment she tried to grab that “something” and fling it away, Mira recognized, through her faintly opened eyes, rabbit ears bobbing up and down—and immediately jumped to her feet. At the same time, a piece of paper that had fallen nearby caught her attention.

  『We have prepared a set of pajamas for you. Please, it would be our greatest bliss if you were to wear them—The Castle Maids』

  An extraordinary feeling of dread assaulted the girl. Currently, she was only in her underwear and the culprit was right before her eyes. Together with that written note, pajamas that looked more like a bunny costume had been laid out for her; as a matter of course, she had pretended not to see them.

  Solomon’s words from yesterday crossed her mind. She had been told by her friend that all the maids were engrossed in creating a new outfit for her. And that was merely their first step, as the costume revealed a glimpse of how serious and fast those maids could be when doing useless work.

  Opening the menu in a great hurry, Mira tried to confirm the current time: 8:45 in the morning, the clock indicated. It could be said that she had a completely late start in the race to escape from being treated like a dress-up doll. With only unpleasant thoughts passing through her mind, Mira tried to find what she could do next to escape from that predicament, alarms going off with every second that passed.

  However, the girl’s thought process was forcibly terminated by a light knock on the bedroom’s door.

  “Mira-sama, good morning. I have brought your clothing.”

  A woman called out to the girl, from the other side of the door, in a slightly excited voice. Mira then realized that there was no escaping her fate now.

  (There it is, she came here to bring the outfit!)

  In a rush, Mira looked around the bedroom, but the only clothes she found there were the bunny pajamas and a cute one piece dress she had used right after leaving the bath. Although the young girl desperately sought for a way out of that situation, the time-out signal finally reached her ears.

  “Hmm, there’s no answer... maybe she is still asleep. Oh no, at this rate, the breakfast is going to get cold. I must go in and directly wake Mira-sama up. Yes, I must offer my help.”

  As if reading from a script, the woman spoke in a monotone way and, afterward, opened the door. Immediately, the first thing the maid saw in that bedroom was Mira’s small buttocks.

  Having fallen into a slight state of panic, the girl had the idea to dive head first onto the bed. And that was the extent of her hastily made idea. She was the literal example of the ostrich policy17, her head hidden and bottom exposed.

  “Mi~ra~sa~ma. Good morning.”

  Using quick and light steps, the maid ran up to Mira and, after gently lifting the bedding made of fine feathers, confronted the bitterly smiling girl with a smile of her own while also renewing her greetings.

  “Ye… yeah. Morning.”

  “I have been appointed as your personal maid assistant, Mira-sama. My name is Lily. I am looking forward to working with you.”

  “I… I see...”

  While feeling ashamed from her excessively foolish behavior, Mira was also at her wits’ end in anguish, having seen the thing that was on the maid Lily’s hands: forget about the faux dress she had been wearing, that new one had a full-blown magical girl-esque style.

  Especially because of the white and black colors used as its basis, at a glance that outfit, made without any excess of fabric, gave off a feeling similar to a gothic lolita costume. The white, sleeveless dress and a—rather short—black flared skirt combined to form a single piece of clothing; then, to complete the outfit, a coat, resembling a robe with just its front split open, was worn over the dress. In the end, being denied most of her demands, she was dressed up in that outfit and thus the Extraordinarily Beautiful Magical Girl Mira was born, the frills and ribbons on her new clothing way more emphasized than the previous one. At least, amidst that despairing situation, Mira had one of her wishes granted: instead of lace underwear, she begged for something plain-looking, similar to the one she was wearing at the time of the request.

  ◆◆◆

  After she finished changing clothes, Mira was dragged against her will to the Maid’s Quarters, the only place within the castle where men weren’t allowed to enter. There, in one of the rooms, she was currently surrounded by an incredible number of maids.

  “Okay, Mira-sama. Please raise your hands in a hooray18.”

  When asked by Lily, who carried a measuring tape, the girl obliged and held both hands up in the air. Her eyes were already devoid of life as she had been reduced to a mere puppet that obediently did as told.

  They were now in the middle of measuring the girl’s chest area. Although the maid could be somewhat flexible with the choice of panties, the same couldn’t be said of the bra; if Mira were to choose and wear one that did not fit her properly, problems would occur in the distant future. Since Lily made sure to stress that point, Mira resigned herself to her fate and muttered, “Just do as you please then…,” and that is how they reached the present situation.

  In fact, the young girl had not done any serious physical exertion to warrant a problem for her, but she still felt, over and over, a rubbing sensation caused by the robe coming into contact with her bare skin. In what sounded like a semi attempt at intimidation, all the other maids said that staying in a bra-less state like that would later make Mira feel great pain even at the slight touch. Nonetheless, at that point she had already given up and simply stopped caring about what the women did.

  “You have such a great figure. I’m getting jealous...”

  “I see...”

  Lily turned towards Mira’s back after successfully taking the girl’s rough measurements and gently wrapped, with both hands, the two small mounds on that chest to accurately determine their size.

  (When will this torture end…?)

  Having grasped in every detail the chest measurements—against the absentminded girl’s will, it must be said—Lily directed various instructions to the other maids and they promptly brought an ideally sized bra.

  “How is it, Mira-sama? Does it hurt? Is it too tight for you to breathe?”

  “Hmm, it is okay. But one way or another, I cannot feel at ease with it...”

  “It should be fine then. You see, the first time is like that for everyone.”

  As soon as the bra was gracefully adjusted and put on her chest, she felt the underwear applying some slight pressure against it; at the same time, Mira breathed a magnificent sigh after looking at her own appearance.

  Every single maid there wanted to, with all their hearts, entertain that important guest, whose concern about clothing was inexistent. Although they seemed to be just having a lot of fun, those were professional maids, after all, and both their work and coordination were nothing less than perfect. In the blink of an eye, they finished measuring not only Mira’s chest, but her entire body. Afterwards, the maids talked enthusiastically with each other, as they would now be able to create the perfect costu—the perfect clothes for Mira, ones that would fit even better than her current clothing, since it had been prepared with unreliable measurements, only done by eye. The girl did not realize that yet, but right during her next visit to the castle, she would be facing the maids’ real deal.

  Moving away from the other women’s gazes, Mira was guided by Lily to the dining hall and had breakfast there; the light but balanced meal, with bread and soup, salad, fruit juice and others, actually managed to bring her back to her senses. In a corner of the dining room sat a magical girl, a cheerful expression on her face as she slowly took small sips of her fruit juice. Keeping an eye on her with an affable look was the old lady that commanded the mess hall and, nearby, Lily—who was all smiles. The girl’s attire had suited her to an unimaginable degree and, naturally, attracted the attention of everyone in the surroundings.

  It was only when the “magical girl” took the last sip of her juice that she finally raised her face and noticed all the gazes focused on herself.

  (What the… is that everyone looking at me?)

  Even though she revealed how weary she was of the surroundings, Mira’s state as she restlessly looked around only served to instigate the women’s desire to protect that panicky little girl. In fact, Lily herself was squirming in place while seeing Mira act like a helpless, small animal. The problem was that, to the girl who still wasn’t used to being the center of attention, it seemed like she was just being too conspicuous—and in a bad way. Feeling completely out of place, Mira vigorously stood up and rushed out of the dining room without so much as a glance back.

  ◆◆◆

  When Mira left the mess hall, she was appeased by her maid assistant and conducted to the Office.

  “I have brought Mira-sama to you, Solomon-sama.”

  Lily knocked on the door and spoke to the person on the other side.

  “Good, come in.”

  “Pardon my intrusion.”

  Upon hearing Solomon’s reply, the maid calmly opened the door and bowed. Then, after Mira entered the room, she closed that same door without making a single sound and waited outside.

  “Hey there, ‘morning.”

  “Yeah, ‘morning.”

  The girl returned the greeting and dropped down on the sofa, looking utterly tired. When Solomon glanced at her outfit, he quickly covered his mouth with a hand as his shoulders began to tremble, earning him a strong glare from Mira.

  “Did you have a good night’s sleep?”

  “Yes. I slept so well I could not escape in time from the maids.”

  Mira replied, seemingly sulking, and her friend’s face simply broke out in an incredible smile.

  “Hey, you look good in it. As expected of the maids from my castle.”

  “I would be completely fine with a normal robe.”

  Holding the hem of her skirt, the young girl revealed a wry smile as she shook and made the skirt flutter around. In truth, it was something so well crafted one would seriously doubt it had been finished in just a day or two.

  “By the way, looks like you have made the things I’ve requested during yesterday’s night, huh?”

  “Indeed. Aahh, now that you mention it, I think I forgot them in the bedroom.”

  The King’s words brought a memory to Mira’s mind. Yesterday night, when she returned to the bedroom, the refining materials and table had already been arranged there for her, so she quickly used them to finish the items her friend had requested.

  “One of my maids brought them to me after you left your room. With this we’ll be able to do some really productive experiments for a while. Thanks.”

  “That was nothing, do not worry about it.”

  Mira answered as if what she had done was completely natural and, while worrying about an absolutely unfamiliar sensation that arose from her chest, put her weight on the back of the sofa.

  “Oh right. Before I forget, let me give this to you.”

  As he informed the girl, Solomon threw a pouch to her, a faint and metallic jingling sound coming from it.

  “Hmm, what is this?”

  She asked, shaking the bag to make even more sounds.

  “It’s money, you know? The funds for the job you’re going to do from now on.”

  “Come on, I thought it was something else. Still, I already have so much money it would be pointless to take this.”

  “Ah, really? Did you have some deposited in the warehouse of your tower?”

  “What do you mean? I have it right here with...”

  Saying that, the girl tried to retrieve her money, but stopped on her tracks a moment later. She had attempted to pull around 100 Rifu applying the same kind of “feeling” that was used when playing the game; however, nothing came out. Incidentally, Rifu was the currency unit of that world.

  “Ah, did you notice it? Did you just realize your situation now?”

  Solomon’s face revealed a mischievous smile.

  Although Mira hurried to open the “Status” field in her menu to check her current money, the numbers that had always been there, displaying her finances, were now completely gone. Her entire head shook violently.