Side Story: Eris 2

I felt completely out of place wearing a maid uniform. And despite being surrounded by others wearing the same thing, I couldn’t stop feeling off. I much preferred holding a bow over a broom, even if I didn’t know how to use either.

I assumed cleaning things up would be easy, but the professionals put me to shame. Every room in Anelace Milize’s estate was already immaculate, and yet somehow they managed to be consistently cleaning things I didn’t even realize could get dirty.

I’ll readily admit that when it came to performing the duties of a maid, I was fairly useless. That wasn’t a problem though. Actually, it suited everyone’s needs just fine. For my part, obviously I didn’t care about having a career as a maid. If it wasn’t clear already, I got a job working at Anelace Milize’s estate in order to investigate her. Sanson had met her previously, so I needed to handle all the undercover work myself. Sanson would instead try to find other leads toward the missing girls.

And as for my employer, well, they didn’t care about my skills either. In a primarily human city like Milize, hiring an elf for a job like this was a status symbol. The man who managed the estate practically jumped out of his chair when he saw me. Despite what my outfit may have you believe, my only real duties were to make myself visible whenever there were visitors. Having realized that, the other maids quickly gave up on trying to train me.

At night I would sneak around to look for any evidence, but during the day I didn’t have much to do. Despite it being only my third day of work, I was taking a break in one of the many lounging rooms.

“So, how are you enjoying your work here so far?”

I turned my head to look at the man addressing me. By a mercenary’s standard he wasn’t anything remarkable, but for an average person he was in excellent shape. His butler outfit made it clear that he was a servant here as well.

“So far, so good. I don’t have much to do, so there’s nothing to complain about.”

“I see. In that regard, I’m a little jealous. My duties tend to keep me rather busy.”

“That so?”

Was he trying to complain about me not working, or was he just making conversation? Usually I wouldn’t care either way, but I didn’t want to make a scene. After all, despite the fact that I was clearly ignoring any and all work, I wasn’t trying to get fired.

“Yes. As Lady Milize’s head attendant I often find I can’t get even a moment to myself.”

I looked him over again. Her head attendant? For a human he didn’t look nearly old enough to have a position like that. It must have been a hereditary position, or perhaps he was just incredibly talented.

He answered one question at least. I can only think of a single reason a busy person like him would waste their time talking to a slacker like me.

“This might look like I’m not working, but we both know I wasn’t hired to clean. I’ll make myself extra pretty the next time a visitor shows up. I’ll make sure my ears are perfectly visible.”

I considered trying to lie, but if he really was her head attendant he would understand what I was getting at. If not, well, there wasn’t anyone else in the room, and I couldn’t hear anyone in the hallway. I could probably kill him and hide the body without anyone noticing.

“Oh, no, don’t worry about it. I wasn’t trying to criticize you. You’re not here to clean.”

“I’m glad you understand that.”

“Of course. You’re here to find proof that Lady Milize, the Saint of Valieris, has been on a killing spree.”

I searched the room for the best killing implement. It seems cliche, but I decided to settle on a golden candelabra sitting on a small table.

I casually got up and started moving toward it. Gold was a relatively soft metal, but I imagine it was only gold plated. It would do the job.

“Wait, aren’t you going to try and lie, or even ask how I know that?”

Having realized what I was doing, the head attendant started backing away from me. In that moment his lack of combat sense was incredibly obvious. Rather than move toward an exit, he was backing himself into the corner of the room.

“I hadn’t. I’m not an actress, so lying about things now would just waste my time. If my cover is blown then I’ll just have to kill you.”

Based on the fact that he was alone, he hadn’t told anyone else what he just told me.

“Your cover hasn’t been blown, and are you really the kind of person who came to investigate a murderer? Honestly, you seem just as bad.”

“Well, I won’t deny that.”

Humans refused to respect the sanctity of almost every other living creature. Why should I care about them?

I picked up the candelabra and gave it a few practice swings.

“Stop getting ready to kill me. I’m not trying to run away, so just listen to me for a second.”

“Fine. Tell me how you know why I’m here.”

I’d still kill him, but learning how the info leaked could serve a purpose.

“It was obvious. The only piece of evidence linking all of the disappearances were objects owned by Lady Milize. I knew someone would come looking for her eventually. Then of all things, an elf shows up on our doorstep looking for work. She even had a letter of recommendation from a noble from the Holy City. How would an elf know anyone from the Holy City of all places?”

“So, what? You tell Milize about any of this?”

“Of course not. After all, I’m the one who left the evidence at the crime scenes.”

“Excuse me?”

“I knew no one would look into her unless I made it really obvious, so I purposefully left as much at as many of the crime scenes as possible. Then I made a show of going to retrieve it all from the guards.” That answered one of the questions I had been wondering about. Even if she was responsible, why would she have left so much behind at multiple crime scenes?

“So, wait. You’re trying to frame her?”

“No. I’m absolutely certain that Lady Milize is the culprit. I was just trying to give everyone a tip.”

I put the candelabra back down. Things were getting more complicated than I liked.

“If you’re the one planting the only evidence, how do you know it’s her?”

“Because as her head attendant I’ve accompanied her during multiple abductions. And everyone who works here has seen her escorting the victims through the halls. I’m not sure what she does with the girls she takes, but I’ve seen her take them with my own eyes. The problem is that her methods never involve a struggle, so if I didn’t leave evidence or alter the scene no one would even realize they were crime scenes.”

“Then why go to all the trouble? You could just turn her in yourself.”

“Do you honestly think any official would believe me?”

No, they wouldn’t. Well, maybe they’d believe him, but no one would act on the word of an attendant, even a high ranking one like him.

“So then where did you imagine things would go from here?”

I still wasn’t convinced of everything he was saying, but assuming that he actually set all this up, listening to what he had to say was the right call.

“You need to investigate the hidden chamber under Lady Milize’s private room. There you’ll be able to find evidence that can’t be ignored. I’ve never seen it myself, but many of the staff here, myself included, have recently been hearing the wailing of a young woman coming from underneath the floor in her room.”

“What kind of wailing?”

His cheeks reddened slightly with my question.

“Every kind that one could imagine, and some that they couldn’t. The most pressing were those that could only be caused by extreme duress.”

“Well, the good news is that I can imagine what’s happened to our missing girls.”

“Unfortunately so. No one here has seen what happens to them after they are abducted, but it’s nothing good.”

“I imagine you have some kind of plan to help me find her hidden room, correct?”

It may seem like I was just being lazy, but that’s not quite it. Considering he thought things through to this extent, he had probably planned even further ahead.

“I wouldn’t have revealed myself to you if I didn’t. The next time Lady Milize is out, I’ll assign you to clean her private quarters. A person like you should have no problem finding her hidden room if you have the whole night to search.”

“Obviously.”

I took another glance at the candelabra, but decided against it. I didn’t trust this guy at all, but I also couldn’t see what he had to gain by tricking me. The far more likely reason for all of this was that he just didn’t like the fact that his boss was out there killing people.

“Okay. I’ll need to talk to the other members of my party about this. As for me, there’s really only one thing that’s holding me up. Do you actually believe that the Saint of Valieris is a murderer?”

I know he said that he saw her abduct the girls himself, but seeing and believing are entirely different, especially when it comes to religious figures.

“Honestly, I don’t want to believe it. Despite my words, I’m hoping that your investigation will find nothing, and that this was all some kind of misunderstanding. That’s another reason why I wanted to leave this to a mercenary to investigate over reporting her to the authorities. Even now I truly believe that Lady Milize is a saint, but that is exactly the reason that as her head attendant I can’t overlook what is happening.”

His logic was complex and simple at the same time. Either way, I was certain that he wouldn’t betray me. An honest answer like that was far more reassuring than the empty words I was expecting.