Risou no Himo Seikatsu Vol 3 Chapter 7

Extra Chapter: Culture Clash between the Waiting Maids and their Master

The waiting maids working in the inner palace held Zenjirou in high esteem.

He wasn’t nitpicking about their jobs. He wasn’t giving out orders on a whim. He didn’t scold them when a given task wasn’t completed on time due to some circumstances as long as they explained it with a legit reason. And he didn’t forget to thank them when they completed a task.

As such, it was only natural that Zenjirou was held in high esteem by the waiting maids.

He rarely let them into the living room or bedroom. He didn’t give straight orders due to his modesty. And his taste in food gravely differed from a person of the Carpa Kingdom as he came from a different world. All kind of “complaints” came up when each maid was cited.
But most of their opinions would surely unite when the entire team of waiting maids had to name “the one complaint that they considered as the worst”.

Namely: “His abnormal ‘fondness of baths’.”

On a certain midmorning, a couple of waiting maids were cleaning the ridiculous large bathroom of the inner palace with heart and soul. As the Carpa Kingdom had high temperatures, physical labour tended to be done during the relatively cool morning or evening.

It was a stiff job without the slightest appeal.

It was understandable that the young maids would utter words of complaint.

“This place echoes, so keep your ridiculous loud voice to yourself, Fay. To begin with, you’re short, so you should have it better than me. I’ve to work stooping the whole time.”

As to back up her words, the tall maid— Dolores took her right hand off the handle of the brush and tapped her numb hip with a clenched fist.

Although that was indeed the case for cleaning stooped with just a cloth, a size difference hardly affected the burden when cleaning with a long scrubber. Her nerves, too, had been stretched by the monotone and tough labour. In other words, she was just venting her anger.

“Say what? Your voice is way louder. The volume of your voice is proportional to your body size after all, you mountain!”

“I’m not that small!”

Because they were cleaning the wet floor, their skirts were rolled up at the waist part even more than usually, making it a mini-skirt way above their knees. Sandal-like shoes, made out of skin from a Water Dragon, were slipped over their bare feet without socks. Their outfit in itself was rather alluring and charming.

“I keep telling you, you’re too noise, Shorty.”

The verbal quarrel between the two girls was reverberating from the stone walls of the huge bath. As their dispute heated up, their hands inevitable stopped.
At some point, the small and the tall girl had dropped everything and were just glaring at each other during their work. Needless to say, their present superior wouldn’t overlook their disgraceful behaviour.

“…..”

The middle-aged waiting maid, who had worked her brush quietly in one corner of the bath, wordlessly picked up the water bucket at her feet and splashed about its entire content.

“Wah!?”
“Kyaa!?”

Fay and Dolores jumped up with a scream when the cold water suddenly hit their bare feet. The older maid must have held back, seeing as the water didn’t splash on them any higher than their skirt.

“I don’t see your hands moving. Do your job.”

“F- Forgive me, Olsha-sama.”

In charge of cleaning, Olsha was an average woman of middle age without any striking traits in particular.

“…..”

She was neither as faultfinding as her fellow supervisor Ines, the maid in charge of cleaning, nor did she rule as iron-fisted as her other fellow supervisor Vanessa, the maid in charge of cooking.

There was a good reason for that. Olsha judged the work of young waiting maids as “good or bad” by observing them inexpressively and wordless.

Olsha’s stance was as following: A job was something you learned by observing and then doing it yourself. Instructions were only necessary once at the beginning. And a superior had the responsibility to distinct between capable and useless subordinators.

Fay and Dolores, part of the infamous “Three Troublemakers” known for their easy-going and lax attitude, also reflexively straightened their backs when receiving such a “scolding” from Olsha.

“…..”

That was nothing unusual for Dolores, who was in pretty good control of herself, but even Fay, a bundle of pure energy, was shut up, which definitely spoke in favour of Olsha’s self-assertion.

She may not be so stupid to neglect her task when she had just been scolded, but she started to get distracted bit by bit. Suddenly, she remembered that she hadn’t heard anything of her other roommate Rethe yet, ever since they had started cleaning the bath.

Carefully continuing with her task, Fay sneaked a peek at the side. Rethe was diligently working her brush while her huge breasts, distinguishably even through her maid clothes, swayed. Because of her drooping eyes, she was usually looking somewhat silly, but now she kept an expression as serious as possible.

(Huh? Why’s Rethe so serious?)

Witnessing the unusual behaviour of her roommate, Fay inclined her head puzzled.

“I’m done with my side, so I’ll help you out. Fay-chan, where do you want me to start?”

This was definitely weird. Her roommate with the drooping eyes was by no means such the diligent type.

(Hey, Rethe, what’s going on?)

“Have you forgotten, Fay-chan? If we don’t hurry up with our job, we’ll end up last for the ’shopping’ at noon.”

“EH!?”

‘Shopping’

That one word made Fay, but also Dolores, who was scrubbing nearby, raise an exclamation of surprise.

Yes, they had forgotten.
A merchant came to the inner palace once every three months and today was that day.

A couple of minutes later.

“Hurry up!”

“It’s all your fault for forgetting your wallet, Rethe! Aw, we’re totally late!”

“Whatever, just hurry up. We have no time to waste!”

Having finished cleaning the bath in a rush, the “Three Troublemakers” were now running down the hallway in the inner palace. Having said that, their opinion of running was actually subjective. For an onlooker, they were “walking at a fast pace” at best.

Anyway, the three walked down the hallway as fast as their standing as maids of the inner palace allowed them to. At the rear entrance, they changed into their outdoor shoes, then crossed through the courtyard under the dazzling midday sun and headed for a separate building.

Castle walls surrounded several buildings and their yards, the main building, where Zenjirou lived, at its centre. The entirety of it was called the “Inner Palace”.

That house was partly merged with the outer wall of the palace and served as a gate, connecting the isolated inner palace with the outer world. Due to that, the young waiting maids were normally forbidden to go near it unless they had a special reason.

“Ah, Karina…”

“Christel-chan?”

Each of the smiling maids waved their hand and proudly showcased the textiles and small phials of perfumed oil they had bought just now.

They had been beaten to it.

Even if he had some “good stuff” in stock, it would have already found their way into the hands of the other waiting maids. And judging by their smug smiles, that event was more than likely.

“Grr…!”

It would be way too foolish if some other girl stole a march on her again while she snapped at her co-workers, who were already done with their shopping.

“…Let’s go, Dolores, Rethe!”

“Aw, Fay-chan, wait~”

Dolores and Rethe also quickened their pace, chasing after Fay, who stormed off unfazed.

When Fay and the others entered the large room, a middle-age merchant with an amble belly gave them an affable smile as he sat cross-legged on top of a red carpet, all kind of articles spread before him.

“Uwah, nice.”

The person glaring at her so strongly that you could feel the tension in the air was no less a figure than Supervisory Maid Amanda, the overall superior of the inner palace.

Normally she worked in the main building of the inner palace, only concerning herself with instructions for all the waiting maids and the preservation of Zenjirou‘s comfortable lifestyle. Why was she here now? Because her duties also encompasses the negotiation with the merchants and their oversight.

In face of the fierce glare of the maid, who put her life on the line to keep the order in the inner palace, and the drawn weapons of the armed soldiers under her control, the plump man of middle age left his obvious business smile unchanged, a sign that he wasn’t a purveyor to the court for nothing. At least his dauntlessness was remarkable.
The merchant, still sitting on the carpet, smiled at the new arrivals.

“Well, well. It is a pleasure to see you again, Fay-sama, Dolores-sama, Rethe-sama. I believe that I have some items you will fancy this time as well. Please come and take a closer look.”

Saying so, he beckoned them to sit down in front of the carpet with the displayed goods.

Guided by his smile, Fay and the others kneeled on the carpet.
Supervisory Maid Amanda was constantly pressuring them from the other side as if to say “You know what happens when you bring shame on the waiting maids of the inner palace…“, so it cramped their “Three Troublemaker” style, but they had been looking forward to the once-every-three-month shopping so much that they could conquer that pressure.

“Oh my, I’ve never seen a cloth like this. A bit unusual, but still nice.”

“I guess I will get a comb? A few teeth broke on my favourite one the other day.”

“Hmm, what should I get? A cute ring or necklace is all good, but I can’t wear it during work…”
“In that case, Fay-sama, how about this hairband? Unlike a ring or necklace, it will not get in the way with your work and you can still look all fashionable.”

As the three of them let their sparkling eyes wander over the displayed articles, the corpulent merchant immediately engaged in some sales talk.

Thanks to the merchant’s well pronounced words, the three girls gradually forgot about the pressure coming from Supervisory Maid Amanda. They put both their hands on the carpet, leaned forward and watched the goods carefully.

When all was said and done, Amanda, too, wasn’t as unreasonable as the young waiting maids feared.

“Hey, what do you think looks best?”

“Ehm, I think the one with the blue line on it looks great.”

The enjoyment from satisfying your own desire to buy something with a limited budget existed even in the different world. Then again, the shopping surely would lose all its appeal when you had an unlimited budget and could take everything you wanted.
After wracking their brains for a while, Fay and the other two had finally decided on what to buy. At that moment.

“Yes, thank you very much for your purchase. Please have a look at this next.”

Keeping his friendly smile, the merchant said that and started to line up small phials that shone silver, in front of them.

“Perfumed oil?”

Silver phials of perfumed oil. The young waiting maids widened their eyes upon seeing them.

However, even with their sense of value, the silver phial was undoubtedly classified as a “high-class item”.

“Please, feel free to touch them. They are filled with the finest perfume oil I could get my hands on. Each phial has a different oil in it.”

“Eh, but…?”

“Yeah, we spent most of it already…”
The girls mumbled sadly, whereupon the person, who had stayed silent the whole time so far, spoke to them from the side. It was Supervisory Maid Amanda.

“Don’t worry about the money. It’s a present from Zenjirou-sama. You can pick one you like.”

Their reaction to these words was yet again dramatic.

“From Zenjirou-sama!?”

Their earlier depression vanished and they leaned over once more, intensely examining the silver phials of perfumed oil lined up on the carpet.

One had a design that looked like a spider web. Another one had twined ivy vines engraved on it. Yet another one showed the bas-relief of a Water Dragon lifting its head. And so on.

“You kidding me!? Sweet Horned Dragon?”

“Ah, I love peppermint~ Still, the Sweet Mouse…”

Picking or even cultivating plants made it relatively easy to make botanical perfumed oil. In contrast to that, hunting animals was dangerous, so animalistic perfumed oil was considered a luxury.

In fact, it was pretty unusual that someone would be torn between a rare, expensive high-class item and a common article matching one’s own preference, just like Rethe was right now.
Supervisory Maid Amanda rolled her eyes to the narrow-minded reaction of the young waiting maids, but decided not to speak up “here”.

“Okay, Sweet Horned Dragon it is!”

“I have made up my mind. I will take the peppermint after all~”

In light of the beaming smiles of the excited maids, even Amanda had enough compassion to not lecture them about “manners” and “etiquette” right here. Besides, she shouldn’t really be scolding her subordinates in front of an outsider, unless they took it too far.
Swallowing her words of reproach, Amanda declared to the waiting maids, who just finished their shopping, with a tone as inexpressive as her face.

“I see you three have made your choice. Then do not forget to thank Zenjirou-sama and use it carefully. However, make sure that you use half of it together with the ‘soap’ during baths. Afterwards you report your opinion to Zenjirou-sama. Understood?”

Soap. Zenjirou was most enthusiastic about making it as of late. He somehow had succeeded in making a slimy version, but his self-made soap still somewhat reeked of oil and couldn’t be really used as it was yet.

Hearing the reason behind the present of high-class perfumed oil for everyone, the Three Troublemakers each showed a different reaction.

“So that’s how it is.”

However,

As they sensed danger from the cold stare of the Supervisory Maid while she asked again,

“Understood, Supervisory Maid.”

the Three Troublemakers straightened their backs and lowered their heads together.

When the young waiting maids left, the room became quiet at once.

So practically, there were only Supervisory Maid Amanda and the middle-age merchant in the room. As long as neither of them opened their mouth, the silence went on forever.

“Allow me to express my gratitude once more: Thank you very much.”

“Don’t mention it. Instead, it’s a great honour for a merchant to be able to do business with everyone working in the inner palace.”

“I see.”

However, she had been right to thank him.

Needless to say, he only dealt with high-class articles. Normally, he would never sell items, which the wallets of the young waiting maids could afford.

Nonetheless, the smile of the merchant was by no means fake.

“I mean really mean it. As a matter of fact, Her Highness Aura regularly purchases at my store, so I’m never in the reds and above all, the deal with Zenjirou-sama got me something worth its weight in gold.”

For example: A flat button with four holes.

And speaking of flat buttons, they could even start a new fashion style, where buttons were hidden on the inside, and most importantly, a flat button on working clothes “didn’t get in the way”. That alone was already a huge advantage.

Other than that, he was also shown things like screws, the screw-cap of a PET bottle and the pump of a shampoo dispenser. Each of them had the fault that it required advanced skills to reproduce, but once a mass-production was possible, it would undoubtedly become a ground-breaking invention.
If even only one, no matter which, brought about the expected result in the future, he would recover all of his preceding investments in no time.

“I am overcome with joy when this lets me stay in favour with Zenjirou-sama from now on, too, really.”

Not leaking the inner thoughts about his ambitions, the merchant respectfully lowered his head with an attitude as humble as his words.

Zenjirou was infamous amongst the waiting maids for his fondness of baths.

The main reason was that someone from a different world was suggesting — which was practically an order — his bathing customs to the people of this world, namely the waiting maids, albeit unconsciously.

Due to that, even most noble ladies would rather bathe in “cold” than in “hot” water.

Nevertheless, it had been a year by now since that bathing culture was “suggested”. The opinion of the waiting maids in regards to bathing in hot water, had slowly started to change.

“Fuh, we’re finally done for today!”

“No surprise. Look how late it has gotten.”

Well, it was self-evident. After all, they had were on “bath duty”.

“Okay, let’s get it over with already!”

“You heard her, Fay-chan. It is finally our turn to bathe, so let us take our time and enjoy it.”

After she got naked, Dolores then fumbled around for the “LED lantern” standing in the corner of the room and reached out for its switch.

As soon as she said that, the changing room was lit by a dazzling white light.

“Ah, right. Zenjirou-sama gave us permission to use this light the other day.”

Just like she had said, Zenjirou had recently allowed the waiting maids to use the LED lantern during their bath. Before, they had entered the bath amidst the illumination of oil pans.

The floor, where they were cleaning themselves, had become extremely slippery, ever since they started to wash their bodies with soap. Slipping inside the bath wasn’t to be underestimated. The safety of the waiting maids couldn’t even be compared to the lifespan of the batteries after all.

Saying so, Dolores covered the front of her naked body with a towel in one hand and lifted up the LED lantern with the other.

“Geez, carry it for me, will you. I got both my hands full.”

Fay, too, pressed a towel against her body with one hand and grabbed the two small silver phials with perfumed oil with the other.

Falling behind, Rethe trailed them.
Guided by the light of the LED lantern in Dolores’ hand, the three disappeared into the bathroom.

The bathroom was right behind the door of the changing room.

“Ueh.”

“Aww, Damnit. What an oppressive heat. Let’s get it over with already and get out of here.”

“Hey, why’re you heading straight for the cold bath? We’re going to wash ourselves with warm water first, Fay!”

Dolores placed the LED lantern on the counter at the wall, then picked up a wooden tub and walked over to the other bathtub.

Amongst all waiting maids in the inner palace Rethe was probably the one, who enjoyed the warm baths every day the most. As she had loved taking baths even before she was chosen as a waiting maid for the inner palace, Rethe was one of the few girls, who had adapted themselves to Zenjirou’s “suggestion” without any trouble from the very beginning.

On the other hand, Dolores didn’t like it either, but recognized the significance of a warm bath as practical.

Fay was being reluctant to the end. To begin with, she preferred to bath in cold water and briefly and quickly at that, so it was only natural that she would suffer agony in a hot bath.

Upon Fay’s remark, Dolores shrugged her slender and naked shoulders with these words. Each department head, beginning with Supervisory Maid Amanda, had a lot of duties, so they took their baths at a later time. As long as Fay and the others finished their bath orderly, they wouldn’t get into the awkward situation of running into their superiors at the bathroom.

“Ugh, this stuff really stinks.”

“Ehehe, I have ‘peppermint’. I am so excited~”

A person with a sensitive nose would definitely frown now as they opened the three phials of perfumed oil with different smells close at hand all at once.

“SNIFF, SNIFF. So this is the ‘Sweet Horned Dragon’ scent. It really gives of a high-class scent.”

“Mine is peppermint. Yes, it has a nice fragrance. I really like this smell the best~”

“Hey, hey, Dolores. How does your Water Dragon Jewel smell? Let me try it.”

“Sure, but lent me yours, too.”

For a short while, they exchanged their phials of perfumed oil and enjoyed the three different scents.

As the small towels were only resting over their groins to let them move their hands freely, Fay’s modest chest, Dolores’ practically flat chest and Rethe’s breasts, which were so voluminous that it made you wonder if they contained her friend’s share as well, were exposed in all their glory.
Who knows how long they sat there and savoured the perfumed oil.

“Oh? What are we amusing ourselves with the perfumed oil for? Today we’re supposed to mask the smell of the soap with it.”

Like always, the first one to return to her senses was Dolores, the most sensible amongst the three.

“B- But are we really going to mix it with the soap? Such a waste!”

“I agree with you, but we don’t have a say in this matter. C’mon.”

“Just a little bit will do for now, right?”

PLOP. One drop fell down and blended in.

Another drop fell down and blended in.

With utmost care and drop by drop, they stirred in the precious perfumed oil.

“Yeah, it is…”

By the time the perfumed oil had whitewashed the oily smell of the slimy soap, the content of the phials had decreased by around one-tenth in one sitting.

The large consumption of their precious perfumed oil left the waiting maids with a sad feeling in their hearts, but their sacrifice was by no means in vain.

“Well, of course. I would break down crying instead if it didn’t smell good after we used so much of the perfumed oil.”

“Yeah, but still, this so-called soap is really amazing. Look, my skin is so smooth when I run my finger over it. And thanks to the perfumed oil, it is not stinky anymore. I would love to use this every day!”

“Well, don’t let it get you down, Fay. In the end, we got it for free from Zenjirou-sama. Not like we paid for it out of our own pockets.”

Although there was still a tinge of regret present in their exchange, the three of them thoroughly rinsed the soap off their body, then headed to the bathtub together.

As Fay preferred cold baths over warm ones, she was already giving sidelong glances at the nearby cold bath, but apparently decided to stay with the other two for a while longer.

“Ah, reminds me, I wonder what Karina got. She had such a smug face and even showed a V-sign, so it must be something really good. Do you two know anything?”

“Yeah. I only know it from hearsay, but it seems to be ‘Musk’.”

Dolores, her long and straight hair tied up so it wouldn’t get into the water, passed on the gossip she had heard like it was nothing special.

“You mean, THE musk from the northern continent?”

Musk. That was an aroma gained from a specie of deer called the musk deer. It was commonly agreed that animalistic perfumed oil was generally more high-class than botanic perfumed oils, but the musk aroma was undoubtedly speaking for itself in that regard.

In other words, all musk perfumed oils were imported from another continent without exception.

Compared to Fay’s “Sweet Horned Dragon” or Dolores’ “Water Dragon Jewel”, the musk perfumed oil was a notch above. Just by wearing it at a high society party, it could become quite the talking point.

As she had gotten hot in her excitement, Fay pushed up her right fist in a jerk and stood up in the bathtub.

Dolores grimaced from the hot water splashed on her face and wiped it. In response, Fay

said that and moved over to the cold bath like she had declared.

She might have a bit of trouble to sleep at night if she were to leave like this. It would be a good idea to follow Fay’s example and cool off her body in the cold bath before leaving.

Standing up as well, Dolores asked their other roommate on this occasion, too.

“And what?”

Rethe repeatedly cocked her head left and right — whereby her breasts floating in the water rocked every time — with a somewhat uncertain expression while she said that, but in the end she was unable to resist the charm of a cold bath for her flushed body and she went over to the cold bath together with Dolores.

“Hmm, guess so. By the way, Fay, Rethe seems to have forgotten something. You know anything?”

“Hey, at least give it some thought before answering. Wait, there you go again with the paddling. If Supervisory Maid Amanda were to see you like that, you wouldn’t get away with just…”

“Supervisory Maid Amanda…?”

“Now you don’t say. I was just coming to a realization myself…”

Namely, at the door connecting the bathroom with the changing room.

Fay, the only one not comprehending the situation, was still splashing around with her doggy paddling.

At this rate, Fay’s waiting maid days were in danger. Dolores couldn’t be that heartless to her roommate, so she gave her a warning with a sigh.

“Eh? Escape?”

The door opened with a clatter and several silhouettes entered the bathroom.

“Oh! I knew someone was here from the clothes in the changing room, but it’s you guys, huh.”

“Oh come on, Ines. Doing some naked bonding with the young ones is important as well. It’s been a while, so why don’t we have them wash our backs?”

Led by Supervisory Maid Amanda, Ines, the cleaning department head, and Vanessa, the cooking department head, followed inside. And further in the back stood Emilia, the gardening department head, and Olsha, the bathing department head, wordlessly.

“O- Oh, right. With the soap and stuff, it got pretty late…”

“Pardon me for leaving first.”

“Ahaha… I, I will excuse myself now, Supervisory Maid.”

However, there was no way the Head Maid would let them leave in peace.

“Indeed. This specially extends to you, Fay. You have a tendency to find it bothersome to care for your body and hair.”

After being told that by the group of superiors, they had no option but to do so.

“…Yes.”

“Please take care of us…”

Heaving heavy sighs, the three troublemakers headed determined over to their beckoning seniors.
The enjoyable bath time with just the young waiting maids had turned into a tense bath guidance from the department heads.

Chapter end