Happy Days of the All-around Maid and the Duke - Chapter 5

Ririka was wearing a long skirt maid’s uniform, holding an axe in her hand and repeatedly taking deep breaths. After a few moments, she suddenly raised the axe in her hand and swung it down.

?Hi-yaa!?

After a few more shouts, a tree about twenty meters long was chopped down with a creaking sound.

?Good, good, good?

Ririka said with satisfaction as she checked the results of her work.

According to Ririka’s prediction, the sun will shine on a part of the mansion if some of the trees growing on the south side are chopped down.

That way, the laundry will dry comfortably.

The fallen trees can be turned into firewood, so there is no waste. As she kept on cutting down trees, the window  of the mansion opened and Wilgia-sama took a look.

Wilgia-sama, who had returned yesterday, said that he would stay in the mansion for a while to work in his study.

This morning, he came to the dining room where the fireplace was burning, ate his meal and quickly returned to his room.

?I’m sorry, did I make too much noise??

?No, it’s not that, but …… I was wondering if you’re really cutting it down by yourself.?

?Yes, it’s a piece of cake?

?A piece of cake? ……?

It seems incredible, but it’s a piece of cake for Ririka.

When she was a disciple of a lumberjack, she spent all day chopping down trees.

?Trees also have their weak points. If you find a spot where the tree is easy to knock down and keep swinging your axe at it, you can cut the tree down with a minimum number of swings?

?I see …?

The expression on his face is still obscured by his bangs, but his tone of voice is clearly puzzled.

?If it’s too loud, so please don’t hesitate to let me know?

?All right. Well, don’t get hurt?

Wilgia closed the window again and went to his room.

Ririka was moved by how kind a master he was to worry about his servant’s injuries.

(Thank goodness he’s a good master!)

With a renewed sense of energy, Ririka once again raised her axe to the tree.

?She really is chopping down trees all by herself ……?

Wilgia muttered to himself at his desk in the study room after closing the window.

When I returned yesterday, I was amazed at the shiny new mansion which had become so shiny that I could not recognize it. I was so surprised to see that all of it was done by a single servant. Furthermore, I was even more surprised to learn that the servant was only a seventeen year old girl.

Not only cleaning the mansion, but she also prepares the baths and she also prepares a perfect course meal and serves the meal by herself. The quality of the food was so different from what the servants had been used to cooking. It was like a dinner served in a castle.

When Wilgia woke up this morning, the hallway was lit and the fireplace in the dining room was burning red-hot, creating a warm and cozy atmosphere. The breakfast served was perfect with freshly baked bread and scrambled eggs, moderately baked sausages, smooth corn pottage and fresh vegetable salad. I then went to the study room which was cold, dusty, with bundles of books and  papers here and there, and I couldn’t help but think that it was a terrible room.

Sitting absent-mindedly at the desk in the study, where I usually feel at home, I pull out a stack of papers to finish the work I brought home yesterday. As I was concentrating on writing my translation, I heard a creepy sound, and a tree fell outside the window in front of me.

I leaned over to look down and saw that Ririka was really cutting down the tree all by herself. She wore a long navy blue servant’s uniform, swinging her axe up and down without any hesitation at all.

As I stared in amazement, Ririka continued silently chopping down the trees with her lean movements. Her steady movements were like those of a skilled lumberjack.

Unable to resist, I pushed open the window and tried to look, and Ririka lowered her head and apologised.

It wasn’t that I thought it was too loud. I was just genuinely surprised.

When I told her this, she smiled and started talking about her tips for cutting down trees.

I couldn’t understand what she was saying at all, but I was glad to see her enjoying herself.

?… What a strange servant …?

Wilgia thought to himself as he closed the window.

The servants that have come in so far have done the bare minimum of work, and Wilgia was fine with that. Cooking, laundry, cleaning. In short, as long as they did the chores necessary for Wilgia to live, that was all that mattered.

However, Ririka was somehow doing far more work than Wilgia had expected. In an unprecedented turn of events, for the first time since moving to this mansion, Wilgia became interested in other people besides her business associates.