Magnolia’s Glittering Reflections (pt 1)

With a final broomstroke, Miho finished cleaning one of the villagers' wooden timber houses. A sense of pride filled her heart as she looked at the now sparkly clean earthen tile floor. Yet another job finished.

The wooden stairs creak as Hanna comes down. She smiles, holding a mob in her hand.

“All clean up here!”

The two of them moved to the garden, where the house’s owner sat in a rocking chair, knitting a sweater. Miho and Hanna bowed before her and asked her to control their work.

“You did a wonderful job, I have never seen these tiles this clean!” the woman enthusiastically exclaimed. She reached for her wallet and gave both the girls a couple of silver coins.

On their way home, Hanna joyfully hops from street to street periodically looking at her well-earned money.

“I could buy a cute dress… no sweets… ehhh… an earring…” she mutters.

“You’ve spent the money three times in your head already haven’t you?” Miho asked her with a slight glimpse. She looked down at the ground, pondering her mind.

This is barely enough to cover the cost of my home… not nearly enough to start a professional business.

Cleaning all those villagers’ houses and seeing their smiles after Miho performed her wonders felt deeply rewarding. A lot better than the usual annoyed and thankless hotel customers she was used to working with in her old life. But it didn’t bring in the amount of money Miho was hoping for… they needed to find a way to earn more money.

We need to find a way to connect to the nobles, just like that time at Arnold’s castle.

Miho didn’t mind doing any dirty jobs like that again… but she didn’t think Hanna’s heart would survive that…

When the girls crossed the town's central square they suddenly got halted by one of the villagers. She wore a hood, covering up parts of her face.

“Excuse me, do you have a minute for me?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Miho responded.

“If I understand clearly, you girls are running a cleaning service, aren’t you?” the woman asked, her body shaking slightly.

Both girls nodded.

“We are…” Hanna responded

“... wait, are you Miss Ravenshild?”

The woman's face turned a bit red.

“She is acting a bit weird,” Hanna whispered in Miho’s ear.

“Excuse my companion, what were you trying to ask us?” Miho continued.

The woman composed herself and continued.

“I have a job for you at Magnolia Palace, the princess can only trust you with it, she told me”

The Magnolia princess, wasn’t she the girl that panicked over a bit of glitter at the party? She seemed like a demanding customer…

Miho’s thoughts were interrupted by Hanna, gently pulling her sleeve.

“Can we have a minute to discuss?” Miho asked the woman before the two took some distance from the lady.

“I am getting bad vibes from her Miho, Miss Ravenshild is not acting like she usually would.”

Miho nodded.

“It is a bit weird that we get asked like this, I wonder why the princess would ask for our services specifically,” she said, emphasizing with Hanna’s doubts.

“But on the other hand, the princess is wealthy and has good connections. This will be a big opportunity to earn some good money and get our names known,” Miho reasoned.

Hanna looked at Miho with worryful eyes.

“So, you think we should go along with it?”

Miho thought about her goal of creating a well-known and, most importantly, highly profitable cleaning service. They weren’t going to reach that goal by cleaning villager houses, they had to take the risk and accept jobs from rich nobles like the princess.

“Yes, want to take this job. I get your concerns if you don’t want to go,” Miho added.

“Well… we get to visit a palace right? I have heard the Magnolia Palace is the most beautiful in the country. It’s a place I’ve always dreamed of visiting…” Hanna responded, her eyes sparkling.

Miho nodded.

“It must be quite lavish and beautiful,” she added.

“I want to visit so badly and sit on her throne! I… I mean… let’s accept this job!”

“Are you sure, Hanna?”

She seems blinded by her fantasies of the palace.

“I know this is all a bit weird… but I am sure we will manage,” Hanna responded while bowling her fists proudly in the air.

Miho turned to the mysterious villager and accepted the job.

“There is a horse carriage on the other side of the city that will leave in two hours.”

The mysterious villager said, after which she left without saying a word.

With doubt still lingering, the girls went home to pack their stuff and set off on their journey.

X

After an hour-long ride in a waggily horse-pulled carriage, the girls saw the majestic Magnolia Palace appear in the distance.

“Look, Miho, are those the princess’s gardens,” Hanna said while pointing in the distance.

“Not as beautiful as the little strip of greenery behind my house,” Miho joked.

“Don’t be kidding me, there is no comparison. You haven’t even taken the time to pull out the weeds since you moved in!”

“That’s because I was busy babysitting you.”

“I am not a baby,” Hanna said while pouting her face, perfectly proving Miho’s point.

“Anyway, the palace and its garden look immaculate. She must have quite a big staff maintaining all of it.”

There is nothing two more people could contribute right? What special skills do we have that her staff does not?

Clarice’s crystal glows up for a short moment.

A little magic yes, but that isn’t uncommon in these lands

The carriage took a turn and entered the stone-paved driveway that let up the palace. The sides were lined with tall trees, next to which laid the landscaped gardens. Green hedges separated the land into little shapes, which were filled with all kinds of flowers and strange trees with colorful leaves.

Soon enough, the driver reached a small building standing next to the palace. Miho looked around, and guessing by the hooved tracks going inside, this must be the stables.

“This is as far as I could bring you girls. Brace yourselves with the princess, I heard she can be quite the hothead.”

A commoner saying this so openly about their lord isn’t a good sign… isn’t it?

“Thank you for driving us here, we’ll find our way,” Miho stated, after which she climbed off the cart. After helping Hanna get off, the two of them walked up to the side door.

Hanna bawled her hand and knocked on the door.

No response.

She tried again, but there was still nobody opening.

Miho felt the gold-plated knob.

“The door is open, let’s enter.”

The two of them entered a narrow hallway lined by a variety of doors.

These must be the servant quarters, Miho guessed.

Their footsteps resounded through the hallway, aside from that there was nothing but silence. No sign of life… the palace seemed abandoned.

"I can't shake off these bad vibes," Hanna whispered while the two strolled through yet another empty hallway.

Miho looked around and noticed a staircase in the distance.

“Let’s go there and check out the upper levels, we might find the princess or any of her staff there.”

They climbed the staircase and turned to the left. At the end of another long hallway, they found a tiny door, which the girls entered.

The door, which was lined by wooden paneling on the other side, to make it less noticeable for the nobles, led through the proper part of the palace. High vaulted ceilings lined with crystal chandeliers. Purper carpets sawn with golden threads.

Giant windows let in tons of sunlight, giving this dwelling a totally different atmosphere than Cedric’s dark castle. There was one more thing that Miho noticed… glitter. Remembering the princess's reaction at the party, she wouldn’t be pleased about this at all. The glitter seemed to form a small trail, leading to a stairwell going to the upper lever.

Miho started walking, following the trail closely, but she soon discovered that Hanna wasn’t coming after her. She turned around to see the girl just standing there, with her mouth open.

“Come, Hanna, we need to find the princess.”

“This palace… it’s so beautiful…”

Is she crying?

“I…I have never seen such wealth in my life,” she said with tears dropping from her eyes.

For a humble villager girl, this exquisite display of wealth must be quite a shock.

“I don’t want my dirty shoes to trample this carpet.”

“Why don’t you take them off then…” Miho responded.

She watched Hanna take off her shoes and carry them in her hand.

“Let’s go upstairs, I have an idea how we might find the princess.”

The cleaners followed the trail of glitters throughout a variety of lavishly decorated rooms. Meters tall vases, massive murals, life-sized portraits, and tons of gold-framed mirrors. A true extravagance, a feast for the eyes.

We will be able to negotiate a good wage for this, Miho thought with a big glimpse on her face.

The path of glitter became wider and wider, eventually stopping at a set of tall wooden doors.

Miho reached out and knocked twice… no response…

With a big push, she swung open one of the doors and saw a startled dark-haired princess, sitting behind her desk. This time she was wearing a pair of glasses, which she used to read a book whose cover displayed a picture of a romantic bouquet.

Swiftly she stowed away the book, which looked like some steamy romance novel, judging from the picture on the cover and the princesses' embarrassed reaction.

With the red slowly disappearing from her face, she elegantly took off her glasses and put them next to them. After regaining her composure, she started talking to the girls.

“Excuse me for catching me in this unflattering state, your invitation had slipped my mind for just a second.”

The princess wiped away some glitter from her dress.

“As you can see, I have a bit of an emergency on my hands. My estate has been overflown by an ocean of glitter, ever since my delirious staff decided to throw me a surprise party of the dead,” she said while shivering.

“After they proved unable to eliminate this horror, I promptly dismissed all of them,” the princess leaned forward, staring into Miho’s eyes with a smile.

“And that is when I recalled how swiftly you managed those glittering surprises at that banquet the other day.”

“So Your Majesty, if I understand correctly you want the two of us to clean the palace of all the glitter?” Miho asked her.

“How could she pronounce that word so casually… eh I mean yes, that is correct,” the princess whispers.

Just the two of us have to clean this entire palace? Even with Clarice’s magic, this would be an enormous task.

“Of Course we can, we’d like to start right away…. one question… how would we be compensated for our work?”

The princess started laughing.

“Isn’t serving the majestic Magnolia princess enough compensation for you?”

Miho grabbed Hanna’s hand.

“We are leaving,” she whispered in the orange-haired girl’s ear.

“Wait! I was just kidding, you have no sense of humor do you?” the princess responded.

“Look around you, I am the wealthiest woman in the land. I can give you everything you might desire. If you do a good job… that is,” she said with a glimpse.

Miho noticed Hanna standing with her hand in the air.

“Is there something darling? You can speak however you desire, this is not some kind of educational institution.”

“Eh… miss.. eh majesty… there is a cat lying on my feet…”

A slightly overweight, white-haired cat was lying on top of Hanna’s woolen socks. The cat was covered in glitter.

“Oh, that is my dear cat Silverbell. I used to cuddle with her… but now I wish to keep those glittery paws of my refined attire.”

Hanna crouched down and started petting the cat.

“Oh poor kitty, you must be so lonely now…” she whispered in a baby voice.

The cat rolled on his bag, while Hanna rubbed his belly.

“Oh dear, now his back is covered as well!” the princess exclaimed in shock.

“We’d better start cleaning already,” Miho said to Hanna.

Let’s get this glittery mess sparkly clean.