The four of them carried on their chat as the tea flowed.
“I have to say, though,” Elvira commented, thinking back to the rest of the living room, “the three of you are more familiar with cleaning glass than I thought. I suppose there are a lot of similar items in the room.”
“Now that you mention it, there are,” Dolores agreed. “There’s the TV, the computer, and the mirror. The glass panes are obviously made out of the same thing as well.”
She was right, a large number of the things Zenjirou had brought from his own world used glass in one form or another, so the inner palace maids were already used to cleaning it to an extent. However, it would be dangerous to completely conflate the things Zenjirou had brought from Earth with the rondel windows they had imported from the Northern Continent.
“The smooth feeling is definitely the same, but the windows are all bumpy and feel even more fragile,” Faye mused.
She was more or less completely correct. The glass items Zenjirou had brought were different from the glass items of this world in both manufacture and strength.
Unlike modern glass, which had all impurities removed to an absurd degree and was all but completely transparent, the windows here would both color and obstruct the light passing through them if it was too thick, so they had chosen to make them as thin as possible to improve the transparency. While the material used for both might have been fragile, thinning it out as they had made it even weaker still.
Elvira nodded at Faye’s comments. “Today was the first time I’ve touched them, so comparing them to the windows is difficult, but it certainly feels like I need to pay more attention to the glass. I gave the warnings while I was teaching you, didn’t I?”
The three problem maids nodded as one.
“That means we should probably assume they’ll break at some point,” Faye commented.
“We’ll need to report that right to Sir Zenjirou,” Dolores agreed.
“Broken glass seems like it would be dangerous. Is there anything we’d need to be aware of cleaning it up, or anything special we’d need to do, Elvira?” Letti finished.
Elvira found herself briefly dumbfounded by the way the three set about discussing what to do if it broke without a hint of timidity or fear.
“You three really have a lot of faith in Sir Zenjirou, don’t you?”
Elvira’s comment was put the best way she could make it. Frankly, the way the three were talking could be considered mocking their lord. Fragile or not, making plans for how to deal with breaking something in their workplace could certainly be taken as an outright declaration that they’d do so eventually.
Faye, Dolores, and Letti didn’t seem to understand why Elvira had a strained look on her face, though, and just looked blankly back at her.
“Of course we do. Why do you mention it, though?” Faye asked, wondering what from their conversation had prompted the comment.
Elvira managed to somehow maintain a smile as she answered. “While someone may eventually make a mistake and break the windows, the way you can so calmly discuss what to do if it happens rather than how to stop it happening is because of your faith in him, right?”
Faye and Letti finally realized what she meant and exchanged looks.
“Now that you mention it...”
“You’d normally get at least yelled at if you broke part of the estate, even if it was an accident.”
If the staff damaged the furniture and fixings in the estate they worked, it would usually be cause for at least a scolding. Depending on their lord, it could also require compensation and even affect their future prospects.
Zenjirou’s way of thinking that scolding someone for a genuine accident was pointless and would just ruin morale—though a purposeful breakage would be another matter—was rather bizarre for this world. In fact, the only maids who had accepted his explanation at face value were these three problem maids and Nilda. The others would all have to fight down their fear if they broke something in the course of their duties, readying themselves pointlessly.
“It might not be normal elsewhere, but Sir Zenjirou’s values are a priority here,” Dolores said with a smooth expression. “We’re just doing our best to follow them.”
Unlike Faye and Letti, Dolores was purposefully interpreting Zenjirou’s words for her own ends. Her saying that they’d need to inform Zenjirou directly was part of that stubborn intention.
Normally such reports would go to either Ines—who was in charge of the cleaning—or Amanda. Going directly to Zenjirou was part of Dolores’s cunning. She knew that Zenjirou was the one with both the greatest say and softest disposition.
“What happens if someone does break one of the windows soon? It’ll take a while to order a replacement from the Northern Continent, won’t it?” Faye asked casually.
Letti cocked her head as she answered. “Huh? But we have a glass worker from the Northern Continent here, don’t we? Can’t we just get him to make it?”
The inner palace in Capua was somewhat unusual for inner palaces in that it was not only Zenjirou who could come and go as he pleased, but also Aura and Freya. The maids could come and go relatively frequently as well, so they were not cut off from information solely because they were in the inner palace, and it wasn’t uncommon for those who paid attention to hear rumors about events in the palace—or the country as a whole.
Letti’s comment prompted a somewhat concerned response from Dolores. “Wait? Is that going to cause problems? I’d have thought poaching craftsmen would.”
In the Southern Continent, glassworking was considered cutting edge and top secret. Dolores’s concerns were hardly unfounded.
Elvira was the most familiar with the situation on the Northern Continent, though, so she didn’t really panic and just asked for clarification.
“Say, Letti? Do you know what country they came from?”
“Uhh, I’m pretty sure it was...the Kingdom of Bohevia?”
“How old is he?”
“I’m not sure exactly, but he’s pretty old.”
Now that Elvira had finished finding out the circumstances, there was a distinct note of confidence in her voice. “Legally, then, there probably won’t be an issue. Bohevia’s glassworkers are either under direct employment by the state or part of the glass guild. The former wouldn’t be in a position to accept a foreign nation’s invitation, so we can assume he is from the latter group. Considering his age, there is a decent chance that he has already left the guild. I cannot say for certain, but that would mean that there was no legal issue.”
“Does their guild have an age limit, then?” Faye asked.
Elvira shook her head. “No, the guild regulations don’t have anything to do with age. However, when craftsmen in Bohevia reach a certain age, if they are considered to have a certain level of skill and knowledge, the country gives them the title of Domini. They are treated in the same way as state-employed craftsmen, so they wouldn’t be allowed to go to a foreign country. An older craftsman who was allowed must not have been given the title. Those who haven’t managed to gain the title after a certain length of time are—to put it rather harshly—given up on by the guild.”
For such craftsmen, leaving the guild was not overly difficult. Those with the title were not allowed to leave in the same way as state-employed glassworkers to prevent their knowledge and skill from passing between nations.
In other words, someone old enough that didn’t have the title therefore didn’t have enough skill to worry about another nation gaining.
“That’s from the Northern Continent’s norms, though. The Southern Continent isn’t as advanced in glasswork, so I’m sure he’ll be valuable here,” Elvira said, doing her best to couch her words.
Dolores didn’t hide her amusement at Elvira’s consideration. “You can put it more bluntly. We’re more behind in everything. Apart from magic, at least.”
“We are, aren’t we?”
“Looking at Rebecca’s and Elvira’s things, I got that impression.”
Faye and Letti joined the conversation with interest. Those from the Northern Continent, not just Freya, had been able to bring some of their personal effects. In the case of Freya, Skaji, or Ragnhild—who were royalty, from a relatively highly ranked family and a well-regarded warrior, and Freya’s aunt, respectively—it could be taken as just a difference in status, but Rebecca and Elvira were from lower-ranked families and still had much nicer things than would be the norm on the Southern Continent.
The best example would be something almost every maid had—their sewing equipment. Needles, scissors, and thread. Even at a glance, there were clear differences between the two continents. The most obvious difference was in the scissors. The metal they were made of was a higher quality, and they were very precisely made. Buying a pair of a similar quality in Capua would take a sum that even nobility would think twice about.