However, after spending some time together, they can more or less understand what was going on.
They have been traveling together for about half a month by now and have observed his conduct up close, so they could tell now that his arrogance was actually an armor meant to intimidate others. It was also just like an armor in that he would take it off when he had no need for it.
His true personality was closer to what he was showing them now.
Despite such outstanding fighting prowess and mastery of magic…
Despite knowing so much about everything that he could show immediate results…
Despite relying on cruel ingenuity to drive his opponent’s psyche into a corner…
For some reason, he was even worse than the princess or the hero when it came to anything related to household chores. In fact, it was already at a destructive level.
But what surprised the girls the most was that he would apologize honestly when he knew he was at fault.
However, that also meant that he wouldn’t apologize if he believed that it was the other party at fault… Even if that means almost killing someone.
Now that they were aware of all the circumstances, the girls could admit that they had indeed been at fault.
They didn’t particularly want an apology from him, but they couldn’t help but find it weird how he could apologize for dirtying the room but not for beating them into an inch of their life.
Indeed, his irrationality was not only not only reflected in his fighting prowess.
But as for whether that weighed on their mind or not, frankly, they couldn’t be bothered.
After all, his day-to-day life was unbelievably high-maintenance.
Whether it was cleaning, or cooking, or laundry, or organizing and replenishing supplies for the trip, or organizing and calculating travel expenses, he was someone that needed help.
In fact, he couldn’t even talk to people properly unless there was a need to.
It was only a few days ago that he’s started to be able to talk normally with the girls and Youko.
Apparently, he needed half a month to figure out what status to assume when talking with them.
That has allowed communication with him to proceed unimpeded, but his shyness has by no means been cured.
They would have no choice but to compensate for his problematic aspects, and for most of half of this month, the maids have been working in teams of three, taking turns everyday to take care of him.
If not for that, his everyday life would be just too clumsy.
Moreover, the past few days since they started living in the mansion has been extraordinarily troublesome.
The girls, who had lived in a well-equipped royal castle for a long time and were always accompanied by the second princess, had never seen or heard of anyone so troublesome.
They had more than a few experiences of taking care of troublesome guests, insolent people, and people who broke or dirtied things, but the boy was just on a different level.
“Good grief.”
“What a troublesome guest.”
“The work just keeps increasing.”
“Sorry… Hmm?”
Hence, such complaints finally spilled out of their lips, but…
For some reason, they sounded happy… To the point that not only the boy but the maids themselves found it odd.
Perhaps, the boy had simply misheard, but regardless, the cleaning continued, and before long, the maids finished cleaning.
“I think this every time, but you guys really are amazing.”
In less than two hours, they managed to turn that dump of a room into one fit to receive a guest.
All the trash, dust, and dirt were gone, and the messy room was now neat and tidy. The stench has been replaced with a floral fragrance, and the bed sheets were dazzlingly white.
It was so clean one would feel guilty just spending a normal day here. In fact, Shinichi and the others were already out in the hallway, looking into the room from outside.
Seeing him let out a breath of admiration while his eyes lit up made the maids proud. That was evident despite their expressionless face.
“We are honored by your compliments, Nakamura-sama.”
Though that response was perfunctory, there was a joy in it that could not be hidden.
Shinichi was happy about that, but he wished they would stop addressing him with a sama already.
Alas, he had already mostly given up about that due to what they’ve discussed during this time.
Shin was a lot easier to pronounce than Nakamura for the Falandians tongue, but these maids were just too stubborn.
Alas, with how the maids have been cleaning up after him this whole time, he has no choice but to simply compromise in that regard.
“It’s a bit of a downer thinking how this is going to get dirty again, though. I think I should go the garden and put up a tent, after all…”
But his proposal was immediately shut down.
After all…
“So that you can destroy your tent?”
“Ugh!”
“Master!? Stay calm!”
When that was calmly pointed out, Shinichi collapsed as though something had speared him in the chest.
Shinichi was certainly accustomed to life on the road, but he was by no means good at it.
He was terrible at using and managing the necessary tools for camping and would frequently break them, so he didn’t have any on him anymore.
He’s assured them at least twice by now that he would be fine, and both times, the maids found his tent in a tragic state.
Of course, the cupric was none other than Shinichi himself.
“Nakamura-sama, please rest assured.”
“We might have said a lot of things, but at the end of the day, this is our job.”
“Yes, so there’s no problem at all.”
They remarked as such out of pity, but it was a complicated matter.
After all, none of their complaints have been serious. Though their expression remained the same all the time, there was resignation in their voice, as well as hope that things would remain the same.
Shinichi was puzzled by that, but believing that things couldn’t go on like this, he stood up.
His eyes were burning in a strange display of his unyielding spirit.
“It doesn’t match my nature to be spoiled so much… If I can’t clean, then I’ll pay you back in my own way.”
As he wove those words of resolve, he────displayed his power in a strange direction.
“Robelia, you have lint on your right cuff and soot on your neck.”
“Ah!”
As soon as she noticed it, his hands moved to clean both.
“Louise, there’s dust on the hem of your skirt, and your headdress is off an angle.”
“What?”
While she was surprised, Shinichi patted off the dust and rearranged her headdress.
“Clara, the ribbon of your apron knot at the back is leaning a little to the right.”
“R-Really?”
She tried to look behind her, but before she could, he’d already fixed the knot.
Everything happened almost instantaneously as soon as he spoke.
A wasteful display of ability, but there was no one here to throw such a tsukkomi.
The maids just felt regretful about their mistakes, while Youko was jealous.
“I heard from Lilisha yesterday that there’s a party tonight at the count’s house. You need to pay more attention than usual on how you look. A servant’s clumsy appearance will make their master a laughingstock… By the way, all of you have your hair sticking up behind you.”
“W-What a blunder!”
“To think I would mess up like this!”
“I-Is there anything else!?”
Though their expressions did not collapse, they were all similarly surprised, and they started stroking their hair at once.
The way they checked each other if there was anything else still wrong was just like that of girls their age.
It was a pleasant thing to behold, but the boy responsible for that just wryly smiled.
“What’s really sad is that most of it is because they cleaned my room…”
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