Prelude to Tragedy - part 1

Turns out being a maid is not that hard.

At least not when you’re me. On my second day in the mansion I met the head maid, a dignified middle-aged woman named Tsuki which seemed born to wear a maid uniform. Her long blond hair tied into an elegant bun mesmerized me at first look. I’m not jealous or anything, that’s not my style at all, but can’t deny she’s beautiful,

Unfortunately, she’s also the perfect “serious” maid, of those that see the job as a divine blessing and the mansion as a work of art in constant need of maintenance. She gave me my first task and personally looked after me as I failed miserably in cleaning what I thought of as a hideous rug.

Turns out it was work like twenty times my annual salary, which, by the way, I still don’t know at all. If there was a competition for the most passive lifepath after a reincarnation, my hastily chosen name would be in the discourse for the podium.

After the first major failure, another followed with me making a fool of myself while trying to clean a chimney only to end up blacked than the bows on my dress. Then another when given the task of trimming an azure plant which I’m sure does not exist in my world and which name I don’t remember. I had to cut only the branches which strayed too far from the trunk, to reach them a ladder was necessary and even if this was a magic mansion inside a floating bubble contained into a chain bound to the body of a GODDESS…a ladder was the only instrument at my disposal to reach up. Obviously, I fell on my butt as soon as I started, prompting Tsuki to change my task once again. Her ideas dwindled though.

“I wish Master would stop hiring useless failures.” muttered the head maid while looking at me with eyes of honest pity, so pure that I couldn’t really reply. I guess “girlfailures” were a thing in my old world. But she talked plural, so that at least gave me an opening to change the topic.

“Were there other maid hired recently?”

“In thirty years of service, the Baron never hired an outside maid. All the servitude comes from the Yomi family, which I too am part of. We served the Baron for generations, even managing to help building this mansion after the Humanity Freedom Revolution. Never had we disappointed a member of Master’s family. So why now does he hire strangers at his service? You can’t do anything! And you’re not even the worst! The other hired maid just runs around the garden and sleep wherever she wants! I really can’t understand why the Baron wants her…”

Aside from the fact that some gibberish didn’t really make sense to me, changing the topic was actually a great idea as Tsuki’s rage was redirected to the other hired maid. Which was obviously Tama. That much, even I understood.

Another thing that was easily understandable was the reason why the Baron hired Tama…and then the one I was given a job as well was simply a consequence. But Tsuki seemed to be really blind to the fox girl’s complete control over his Master and I didn’t want to break her heart. Or make her madder for that madder. After all it can’t be easy to notice that the head of the family you served your whole life is so infatuated with a commoner to give her everything she wants.

No idea why Tama was just happy with the maid role honestly. The Baron was completely under her control after all; she could have been a concubine if not even his wife. But then, she was so strange that even trying to understand what’s in her head would be an ordeal. I too, am a victim of that cheerful tornado after all, even if objectively I gained a lot thanks to her.

Once the head maid finished her quite frankly out of character rant, she finally came up with another task to me, one that would become my actual job from that day onwards. Buying groceries in the city.

And so, here I am now.

A couple weeks passed since I became a maid and now my daily routine kind of settled. I wake up, have breakfast with Tama which is the only other person in the mansion which wants to talk to me, then receive a list of things to buy from Tsuki and I’m off to the city. While living inside the giant magic bubble has it’s upside, for example rain is absorbed by the barrier and then made to fall at set intervals to water the plants, it also has one major downside which is that not a lot can be transferred there at once. You can only enter by a waterfall elevator and that means a couple people at a time. Not all elevators are as small as the one ama humiliated me in, but the bigger ones are reserved for guests of the Baron and the biggest one it’s for the Baron himself.

Which was stupid because I could bring groceries a lot easier if only, I could take at least the medium elevator. I can’t complain much though, Ive got an easy job and a good place to sleep in. Not a bad start.

Normally, this job would also be perfect for information gathering. Unfortunately, I’m asocial and literally unable to talk to someone if not talked to. While things like asking for something to but are not that big of a problem, I still prefer if whoever is selling asks me first what I’m interested in.

This world has magic, but lacks one of the best invention the human mind has ever conceived. The Self Service Check Out. Supermarkets are so much better since you can just enter, take whatever you need and then pay by yourself, without the hassle of speaking to cashiers. That’s one thing I’m missing about my old world, and a hole in my heart that will probably never be filled completely.

Life is all about struggles, so I made my daily fight with my stupid asocial ass and manage to ask the clerk at the local grocery shop about everything I need. Mainly meat and fishes (luckily, this one shop has everything and I don’t need to go to a fishmonger and a butcher respectively).

“P…please c..an…b..buy.”

I raise my hand with the list Tsuki prepared, the clerk takes it and with a smile disappears for a bit only to come back with all the goods.

“Here you are, pretty lady.”

Hehe, pretty lady.

“T…thanks.”

I say, not looking at the chest of food that I just paid for. It was as big as half of me. It probably weighted as much as I did.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, that bastard head maid. For some days she gave me little to nothing to buy! Why does she need all of this?! I collapse and can feel my soul coming out from my body.

Sorry Arthesya, it seems my mission has failed.

I tried though, doesn’t that matter for something?

“Do you need any help, young miss?”

Luckily, I’m a cutie now! So someone is bound to help me, hehe, I’m sure my face shows how much I’m gloating this very moment.

“Yes, thank….” turning around, I see who volunteered to help. He was the perfect knight from the other day. “….you”

“Please, don’t watch me like you’ve seen a rat.”

“Rats can be cute.”

“It doesn’t seem like you’re watching something cute you know.”

My face tenses up, even without a mirror it’s obvious the expression I boasted just got even more disgusted. He probably has no idea why that is.

“Please, let me help.”

“Please do! Whatever look I show you, be assured that your help is appreciated.”

“So, you could respond with a smile!” he flashing me with shining teeths and eyes that even while closed could melt anyone’s heart. This bastard, he can’t have it all.

Obviously, I can’t respond in kind.

We start walking towards the mansion and there was actually quite the distance. No way I was gonna carry all those things alone to the elevator, what was Tsuki thinking?

“I see the Baron’s is getting ready for the festivities!”

“Huh? Which festivities?”

“The day after tomorrow is the anniversary of the Humanty Freedom Revolution. You really lost your memory huh?”

“So it seems.” That was obviously a lie but at least it made it easier to talk with him.

“I’m sorry for the other day Miss. You see, with the anniversary celebrations attention is always high for the Fateless, and feigning memory loss it’s one of the oldest tricks in their book.”

“Huh…I see..”

Fateless, that’s familiar. the weirdo also said something about he being a Fateless and them being the Goddess helpers.

“My name’s Lionheart if you don’t remember, what’s yours? I didn’t quite get it last time.”

Well, at the time I actually had no name.

“Kaede.”

“Oh? So you’re from the eastern lands? I wouldn’t guess.”

“Something wrong with it?”

“No, it’s a beautiful name for an enchanting lady.”

My heart didn’t skip a bit, I swear. Fucking bastard. Focus Kaede, focus. He completely believes your lie and the fake identity seems to hold up, another thing to thank ama for, so that’s your chance to actually get some information about this world. You’re never going to get anything from the foxgirl at breakfast after all! She’s way too into gossip and you’re way too stupid to force the discussion on a single topic.

“I…w…what’s a Fateless.”

Just now I see that my stuttering didn’t exist while talking to him. Not until now, that I’m nervous my facade can crumble. He makes me feel at ease some way, even if technically I’m probably his enemy. One of the Fateless.

“Well, it would be better if you simply don’t remember them, you know? A cute lady such as yourself does not have to concern herself with the wretched beings of this world.”

“You…r colleague a…ccused me of being one..I want to know…”

“Are you sure?”

“Y…yes. I can’t remember things if I don’t learn.”

“Makes sense”

At least he’s gullible.

“To explain what a Fateless is I have to take a step back. How little do you remember of this world exactly?”

I felt like a multiple choice dialogue was right ahead of me, one choice would get me minimal information and confuse me, the other way too much information and confuse me in a completely different way. When someone starts with “to explain this, let’s take a step back” then you know the discussion is not going to be brief.

“Talk to me as if I know nothing.”

Probably the wrong choice there, but no one can say when another chance to learn like this will happen. I could try to socialize with people and learn that way, or maybe search for a library, but the latter would be tedious and the former…well, let’s say Lionheart here it’s the best I can ask for in this situation.

“Do you know nothing or are you simply asking me to start from the beginning?”

“Please, talk to me as if I know nothing.”

“Quite a memory loss there.”

“I regret asking you.”

“Don’t look at me like that, I’ll explain, no worries.”

Being annoyed is effective on him. No idea if I should be happy or even more annoyed at this information.

“Let’s start from the festival I was talking about. The anniversary of the Humanity Freedom Revolution. On the third day of the ninth month, we celebrate the day in which the Great War ended and the Goddess was sealed.”

“The…Goddess was sealed? Do you mean the big lady in the water you can see outside the city?”

“Were you victim of a memory wiping spell?”

“You know, a big part of being amnesiac is not remembering how you got there!”

“Mmmh, not even the Goddess Chosen are so ignorant…maybe I wasn’t wrong believing in you!”

So he’s still sizing me up, the bastard. Now he’s smiling with that frustratingly genuine expression of his. It should be illegal to seem that happy. At least I’m probably less suspicious in his eyes now. Thank God, he wanted me to be innocent in the first place. He strikes me as someone who wants to be right, so any stupid excuse I throw at him will be effective.

“Are you gonna stop asking me about the fact I clearly have no memories every time I ask something?”

“No, Kaede, sorry. I’m actually currently on duty, so I thought that prying a little more into our latest citizen would be useful.”

“You’re going to continue or?”

“Yeah, sorry. Basically the Great War was a battle between all the island of the world. It’s not actually one single war, but a series of smaller wars that took place in the span of several millennia. Every time one of the island’s cities got too powerful, someone would attack it and a war started. Every time, there was a strange inciting incident, often times religion was involved. Fact is that the reason is called “Great War” it’s because at one point, our current emperor Siegfried noticed that all wars had one thing in common. The Goddess always played a hand in the inciting incident and that always happened to cities that grew over a certain number of people. Siegfried’s city, Midgar, was experiencing a growing spurt during his reign, so it was just a matter of time before something happened. But he knew, and moved before the Goddess could notice. He formed an alliance with other big islands, hoping to avoid whatever ruin awaited. But it didn’t work, he was betrayed and Midgar fell, everything was burned to the ground. Now a king no more, Siegfried become a warrior and traveled the whole world searching for a way to contact Arthesya. By the road he recruited fellow warriors that felt like their fate was being toyed by the Goddess. Eventually, all pieces aligned for Siegfried to corner Arthesya. He and his group knew where her hidden temple was, below the waters where you now see her body, but a full-frontal attack would have never worked. Luckily, multiple cities, this one included grew at the same time and Arthesya had to cause multiple incidents too start a gigantic war. Siegfried group predicted this and went to all the cities to convince all the leaders to participate to a common plan. All cities that agreed started a mock war, distracting Arthesya, meanwhile each of them prepared a world-scale seal. The plan was, obviously, so seal the Goddess and reclaim humanity’s independence. Arthesya though, was too powerful and the spell only managed to weaken her.”

“So, the big body…is not actually the Goddess?”

“That’s her main power let’s say, but a little bit was left outside. She was still incredibly powerful, even then she could easily wipe out every seal and every city that contained it…but Siegfried and the group of heroes went to her temple and took down what remained of her body. From that day, humanity was free from the Goddess machination and every year every island united in what would then become the empire holds a festival to celebrate our emperor and his victory.”

I knew that was the incorrect answer. This is going to be long, and it’s just the first part of the story…but still. Arthesya left a lot out huh…

Should I trust this tale? After all, history is written by the winners and seems like this Siegfried dude decisively won. Maybe I should also ask Tama if she knows anything more. If I can manage to start a discussion with her, at least.

“So that’s the festival we’re holding.”

“Ok, so far…so good. But you haven’t actually touched on anything I asked about.”

“Try to think about it now, who’s going to be really angry the day we celebrate the Goddess defeat?”

“Those who worship her.”

“Bingo.”

“So the Goddess Chosen and the Fateless are just, like, cults?”

“No, the Goddess Believers are, you know, those who believe in her. But they are for the most part harmless. But, among them hide the Goddess Chosen…and there’s where things get complicated.”