The adventuring party Maid & Co. arrived back in the capital city of Thundergard. Unlike when they’d left, they didn’t look for jobs as merchant protection escorts, and instead slipped quietly into town on a coach. Emily, Astrid, and Tien were all in agreement—they wanted to keep a low profile. A moment of carelessness and they’d end up with more rich people chasing after Nina.
When they told Nina this, she said, “As far as I’m concerned, you’re all far more impressive than I am.” She couldn’t understand why none of them agreed with her.
As dusk fell, they arrived back at the inn they’d stayed at last time, and managed to get a four-person room on the second floor. Freed from the stress of travel, Emily, Astrid, and Tien all collapsed into bed. Nina stayed up to unpack and organize their belongings.
As a Fifth Degree mage, Emily would have been welcomed with open arms by any nation or adventuring party. Astrid’s genius for invention was so obvious that even a layperson like Nina could see it. And Tien, a lupalune, had held her own against the strongest mercenaries around.
“Hmm...” she grumbled, putting her hands on her hips. “I’m just a maid. Surely there’s no question that they’re more impressive than me...”
Incidentally, all of their luggage was now clean and neatly arranged. You’d never have guessed that they’d just arrived back from a long journey.
Just then, there was a voice from the corridor.
“Miss Maid? Someone’s here to see you.”
“Just a minute!”
When Nina went down to the lobby, a girl who worked at the inn was waiting for her.
Nina was puzzled. Who could possibly be calling on her?
“He thought a lot of himself, I’ll tell you that,” the girl said when Nina asked. “I said he could come in and wait if he liked, and you know what he said? ‘I wouldn’t set foot in that filthy hovel.’ Talk about rude!”
She stormed away in a huff. Nina took this to mean that her visitor was waiting outside.
When she opened the door, she found a gleaming, high-class carriage parked in the street. A young man in a black jacket that marked him as a manservant from some estate came up to her.
“Are you the maid, then?” he demanded.
“I am a maid, yes...”
He looked her up and down. “It’s really you?”
“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean...”
“There isn’t some other maid in there?”
“No, as far as I know I’m the only maid staying at this inn...”
“Well clearly there’s been some mistake. Drat that butler! He makes out like it’s so urgent, then he goes and gives me the wrong damn address!”
Nina had no idea what was going on, but she frowned slightly when he began cursing. No matter how unreasonable or infuriating things got, a servant never showed their emotions in public. What was more, the fine tailoring of the man’s suit and the grand carriage meant that he must work at a very eminent estate—perhaps even a noble family. He didn’t seem to realize that his behavior would reflect on his master’s reputation.
“If you are the maid that got a mercenary band to disband, I could get this over with.”
“G-Good heavens, no. I don’t have the power to do anything like that.”
“Of course you don’t! That’s obvious just from looking at you. What a waste of time.” The man spat on the ground, then climbed back into the carriage and left.
“Whatever was all that about?” Nina wondered. For a while, she stood there in the light of the sunset, puzzling it over. But in the end, she gave up.
Make a mercenary company disband? Her? The idea was preposterous. Yes, the old captain had talked about disbanding the Dark Frost Mercenaries, but that was his decision. It didn’t have anything to do with her. Of course, Nina would think that.
“Worrying won’t do any good,” she told herself, and went back inside.
The next morning, an even more resplendent carriage pulled up outside the inn.
This time, the inn girl came to the door of their room.
“Hey, Miss Maid! Another visitor for you!”
“Goodness... I wonder why. Do you think it’s about yesterday?”
“Haven’t a clue, but there’s a knight with ’em! I never saw anything so dashing!”
With that, she ran off downstairs again, probably to gawk at the knight.
Nina had just murmured, “I’m sure they’ve mistaken me for someone else,” when—
“NINAAAA!!!” Emily, who’d seen the carriage from the window, stormed over. “What have you done now?!”
“I haven’t done anything!”
Astrid came over too. “I heard that girl say ‘another,’ and you say ‘yesterday.’”
“Well, yes,” Nina admitted. “Yesterday, a manservant came by—I’m not sure who he worked for, but when it turned out I wasn’t who he was looking for, he left again.”
Emily, who’d just woken up and eaten the breakfast Nina had made for her, said, “You might have told us that!” She ran her fingers through her hair, which Nina had also just brushed for her.
“At any rate, I’d better go and see them.”
“Hold on! Not without me you’re not!”
Emily was rushing to get herself ready when they heard a loud voice from the street.
“Nina the maid! I know you’re in there! Come out at once!”
It sounded like one of the knights the girl had mentioned. While Nina was thinking this, Emily, Astrid, and Tien formed a huddle.
“Be careful, Tien. There’s eight fully armed knights out there.”
“Chi will be fine. You take care that you do not mess up your spell.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“You two both seem keen for a fight, but may I suggest escaping out the back door...?” Astrid said.
“No, I wanna hear what they’ve got to say. If we become fugitives, it’ll be a nightmare trying to get out of the country. I’ll make the call—you guys know the plan. When I give the signal, you move.”
“Understood.”
“Guess we don’t have a choice, huh?”
As they whispered about the impending danger, the three of them were all thinking the same thing: It’s finally happened. Someone’s got their eye on Nina.
This was why they had multiple escape plans ready to go.
The only one who was still a bit lost was Nina.
“Right, let’s go,” Emily told her.
“Oh! All right.”
The four of them stepped out the front door together and were immediately surrounded by knights on horseback.
“You must be the maid called Nina,” one said. “Get in the carriage. Marquess Donquis is waiting.”
He definitely wasn’t asking. Emily stepped in front of Nina.
“Who do you think you are?” she demanded. “The law doesn’t let your boss kidnap commoners just because he’s some fancy no—”
She broke off as the knights all drew their swords.
“Open your mouth again and be cut down as punishment for standing in a noble’s path.”
“What the hell?! You can’t just order me around like that!”
“You were warned.” The knights all raised their swords. Then—
“Hurry it up, would you? What are you nattering about?”
The door of the carriage swung open and a slightly plump, middle-aged man poked his head out. All the knights jumped, then lowered their swords sheepishly.
“Y-Your pardon, my lord... This commoner refused to listen to reason...”
“Look, I told you I wanted you to bring me Nina, didn’t I? Did I say anything about waving your swords around?”
“Um. No, my lord...”
“All of you, back off.”
“Yes, my lord!”
The knights, who were all looking pale, wheeled their horses around and went to wait on the other side of the carriage.
“Now, where were we...” the man said. “You’re a mage, aren’t you? Look, I respect your spirit, but against a knight who’s already drawn his sword, you’re helpless. Pick your battles, okay?”
Emily said nothing as she and Tien stood shoulder to shoulder to shield Nina. Emily was proficient in tacit casting, so she would have been totally fine, but she wasn’t about to just tell him that.
The plump man in front of her was the cause of this predicament. Nothing was turning out how they’d expected.
“Would you be the marquess, then...?” Nina asked.
“That’s right. I’m the Marquess Donquis.”
Emily groaned internally. A noble’s servant she could have handled—sending them away would have given them enough time to leave Thundergard. But now that the noble had come himself, they’d have to keep him happy, or they’d immediately find themselves under arrest as soon as they tried to get away. He could invent any number of charges against them. That was how much privilege the noble class had.
“Well, the maid called Nina that you wanted is me...” Nina said. “A very good day to you, my lord.”
“Eh?”
Donquis’s eyes shot to Nina as she stepped smoothly forward and bowed. He stared. Then he stared even harder. He was completely still, as though he’d frozen in time.
When he didn’t answer her, Nina went on. “I’m terribly sorry to say this after you did me the honor of coming here yourself, but I believe you’ve mistaken me for someone else. I’m nothing more than a maid without a position.”
“It’s you,” Donquis said.
He leaped down from the carriage with an agility that left everyone around him—and himself for that matter—baffled as to how a man of his stature could move so nimbly.
Clasping Nina’s hand in his, he said again, “It’s YOU!”
“What? As I said, I’m sure there’s been some—”
“No, no! Not that!” Donquis was practically shouting now. “The first moment I saw you, I knew! I want you to be my third wife!”
“Wha...?”
There was a moment of total silence.
“WHAAAAAAAAT?!”
It wasn’t clear who the cry of shock had come from, but Emily, Astrid and Tien all seemed likely candidates.