Master and Slaves

Helene opened the door, stepped outside, bowed to us, and closed it behind her.

"Hiroyuki-sama, please relax while I prepare dinner."

"Uh, no, I’ll tidy this up first."

I pointed at the disassembled armor.

"No, I’ll do it myself."

"It’s fine, it’s fine. More importantly, can you prepare dinner?"

I was thinking I should help with cleanup while Katy prepared dinner... but...

"Other people are handling it, so if it’s ready, I’ll bring it to this room."

"Ah, I see. So there’s a separate cook, huh."

"Cook?"

"Yeah, the cook. Then what does Katy’s job become...?"

"After bringing the food. Before that, I also have to tidy up the room."

"Ah... so you’ve been cleaning while I was away. Sorry for the mess."

"Ah, no, not that at all... um, throwing away trash is also my job..."

"You made trash? Sorry."

"Ah, no, not that either..."

Katy looked flustered and adorable.

"Ahaha, then let’s do it together. For now, this... what do we do?"

"Um, Hiroyuki-sama, do you need that?"

"Ah, I don’t need it anymore."

"Then I’ll sell it to a hardware store. Um, let’s wrap this cloth around it."

"Ah, that’s fast. Though, a hardware store? Ah, they come to sell pots and stuff."

I lifted the four corners of the cloth I’d laid under the armor and tied them together.

"There is that too, but they usually come to collect swords and armor that have become unusable and worn out."

I see.

If that’s the case, this castle is a treasure trove of metal garbage.

Wait, what?

"But don’t they just replace swords and armor that easily?"

Aren’t they things passed down from generation to generation?

And if they replace them so frequently, won’t the finances suffer?

"Actually, I don’t know much about it either. I only told you what Helene-san said."

Katy lifted the cloth-wrapped armor and headed into her own room.

Katy has quite a bit of strength.

Or is that armor light?

Somehow, ever since I came to this world, I can’t tell how heavy things are anymore.

Everything feels light to me.

You can only tell heavy or light by holding them.

"Hiroyuki-sama, dinner is ready. I’ll serve it."

When I was blankly staring at Katy, it seemed preparation was somehow finished.

Katy pulled out a chair and waited for me to sit.

"Ah, thanks. Let’s eat. Katy, eat with us too."

"That’s not possible. I’m a maidservant. Please enjoy."

It was the answer I expected.

I reluctantly let Katy follow behind me and ate.

Hmm, all three meals were finished, but this white bread is delicious.

Bang!

At that moment, there was a loud sound of a door opening.

"My master! I’m sorry! I overslept!"

Tiria hurriedly came to my side and did a full prostration.

I remember seeing the same thing this morning.

I exchanged a glance with Katy and laughed.

"Tiria, it’s still night."

"Eh? Eh?"

I pointed at the window to teach her.

Outside was dark, and there were two moons.

"Huhuhu. I lost consciousness."

"Ah... I see."

When Katy explained, Tiria remembered and touched her neck.

Then her face turned bright red.

"Ah, um, my master! Thank you! ...Ah! I-I’m sorry!"

Tiria bowed her head to me in thanks, but then immediately apologized, knelt, and brought her face close to my leg.

"Wait a sec. Let’s eat first. Katy, give Tiria dinner too."

"Yes. Understood."

Before eating, I didn’t want anything dirty in my mouth, right?

I stopped Tiria from kissing my foot and had Katy prepare dinner for Tiria.

Katy went into her room and immediately brought out a plate of food specially prepared for Tiria.

"You can eat."

Since Tiria was looking at the plate Katy had set down in front of her, I gave permission to eat.

"Thank you, my master."

Tiria smiled brightly, then began eating in her usual outfit.

While watching Tiria eat, I asked Katy.

"What’s in that?"

"Yes. Basically the same as what Hiroyuki-sama ate."

"Fuu~n. For example, this?"

I took a piece of meat, speared it with a silver fork, and showed it to Katy.

"Yes. It’s finely chopped."

"But then you won’t be able to taste the flavor, right?"

"Yes. But, it’s strange for T.Dure to eat the same things as the master."

Katy said something harsh.

But if I think about it, Katy looked at Tiria with an expression of pity.

And she didn’t say anything more.

"I see."

I cut off the topic too and looked at Tiria, who was eating on the floor like a dog or cat at my feet.

"Huu~."

I let out a sigh and went back to my own meal.

After finishing all my meals like breakfast or lunch, I received a kiss from Tiria on the back of my foot, then plopped down on the sofa.

Tiria sat on the floor near the sofa where I sat.

Katy was cleaning up the dinner.

I offered to help, but as always, I was refused.

Now I was lounging on the sofa like a holiday host somewhere.

No TV, no games.

No PC, no books.

I’m bored~.

"Tiria. You’re bored, right?"

I was leaning my head on the sofa’s backrest, talking to Tiria while looking at the ceiling, but there was no reply.

"Tiria?"

When I looked at my feet, I saw her alone, touching the collar around her neck and smiling with a cat-like grin.

"..."

You don’t have to be this happy with the collar, right?

"Tiria."

I called her again and again.

"Y-yes!"

This time, my call reached her ears, so she turned her hands behind her back, straightened her spine, and replied.

"You were that happy about the collar?"

"Yes!"

Tiria gave a clear, big answer to me with a full-face smile as if there was no greater happiness than this.

Well, if she was this happy, it was worth giving the gift, but a collar is a bit... meh.

Tiria was touching the plate where her name was carved on the collar.

Is she happy because I carved her name?

Yeah.

"Tiria. Come here."

"Yes."

I put my arm around Tiria’s neck that was close by and removed the collar.

"Ah...."

Tiria looked at me blankly.

And tears filled her eyes almost immediately.

......Ah, I see.

"I didn’t take it away for nothing. I was just going to show you what’s written here."

Saying that, I showed Tiria the plate of the collar.

Tiria’s face changed from a hellish expression to one like she had ascended to heaven.

Tiria’s charm is her ever-changing expressions.

"This is the writing from the world I was in before. So, look here. This is ’Te’ for Tiria."

Tiria traced the letter I pointed at with her right index finger.

"And this is ’I’. Together they make ’Ti’."

Again, Tiria traced it the same way.

As if she couldn’t see.

"What’s wrong, Tiria? Why touch it with your fingers?"

"Um, if it’s attached to my neck, I can’t see it, so I touch it so I can understand."

I see, she was touching the collar earlier too.

Now I get it.

"Okay. Then the next letter."

I taught Tiria her name and, by the way, the letters I carved for my name too.

Somehow, when it was my name, she had to repeat it many times, but is my name hard to remember?

Because she always calls me "my master" anyway.

She’s never called me by my name, right.

It’s good that she remembers it.

"This is my name, Hiroyuki’s ’Hi’."

"This is ’Hi’ for my master, Hiroyuki-sama."

"Ah, that’s right."

"...’Hi’ for Hiroyuki-sama... my master’s name... ehehe."

But why is she still smiling so much?

...

Now that Tiria is happy and Katy seems to have finished cleaning up the dinner.

Wait, that’s right... though.

"When does Katy eat dinner?"

"Um... after Hiroyuki-sama goes to sleep..."

Katy answered while looking confused.

Of course. It’s like telling her to go to sleep early.

......Hmm~.

"I see. Okay. Great, let’s sleep."

"No, um, that’s not it at all..."

"It’s a joke. But I’m sleepy too, so I’m going to sleep."

"Ah, yes. Understood. The bedroom is ready, so please use it."

As expected of a maidservant. She recovers quickly.

I tried to enter the room with Tiria.