On the morning after the rest day, Melody and Luciana boarded a carriage back to the Academy to begin the second week of classes. Melody had prepared the luggage while Luciana was already wearing her uniform, intending to go directly to class after they arrived on campus.
“I’ll be seeing you later, Melody.”
“I hope you have a pleasant day, my lady.”
The two disembarked in front of the dormitory and went their separate ways: Luciana to the school buildings and Melody to their room.
“Let’s see, I’ll have to work a little faster since I’m starting the chores later than usual.”
Just like back at the Luthorburg estate, Melody started working early in the mornings and would usually have finished the most important areas while Luciana was still asleep. However, because the two had only just returned to the Academy, Melody would be starting the cleaning late today.
After carefully stowing away the luggage, Melody gave the room a cursory look before enthusiastically nodding her head.
“All right then, let’s get to work!”
The previous day’s break seemed to have revitalized Melody’s spirit. She pantomimed rolling up her sleeves in an exaggerated manner and eagerly got to work.
After cleaning at a pace that was akin to watching a fastforwarded video, Melody set about preparing for the laundry work.
Melody had not done much cleaning prior to their return to the Luthorburg estate, but there were still clothes that needed washing. While they could have brought it all back to wash at the estate, Luciana insisted bringing it all back would be too much luggage.
“I do not see any noticeable stains, but I should still get these washed… Hm?”
Melody had arrived at the communal laundry room with basket in hand and found she was not alone; there was another maid in the room, slightly older and with a soothing atmosphere about her, wearing a large white cap over two voluminous flaxen pigtails that bounced freely around her shoulers.
She was currently washing a number of handkerchiefs, occasional notes of her beautiful voice coming through as she hummed a tune. After a moment, she looked towards Melody, as though noticing the new arrival.
“G-good morning!”
“Oh dear, good morning. Ah, how embarassing, I had not expected anyone else to come here, so I began humming… I apologize for how unpleasant I must have sounded.”
The maid blushed as she gave an embarassed apology, but Melody shook her head.
“Not at all, it is quite natural to be humming while doing laundry work. Not to mention your voice was not unpleasant at all. It was quite beautiful, in fact!”
“Oh my, thank you for saying so, Miss..?”
“My name is Melody, a maid of House Luthorburg. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
“Oh my, how courteous of you. My name is Meliane, a maid of House Victirium. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance as well.”
Melody answered with an enthusiastic “Yes! Of course!” as she returned a bright smile; after all this time, after many failures at the dining hall, she was finally able to become acquainted with another maid, in the communal laundry room.
“Oh dear. That must be a lot of work, having to take care of your lady all by yourself.”
“It is no trouble at all. My lady is very kind and wonderful, and she is truly worth serving.”
Melody and Meliane were making small talk as they went about their laundry work. As they talked, it seemed Meliane had begun to relax, and she began speaking more casually.
According to her, prior to comiing to the Academy, she was a housemaid for House Victirium – that is, Annemarie’s family. Their original plan had been to send all of the laundry back home for washing, but they had realized it would be more efficient to wash the small linens, such as handkerchiefs and towels, using the dormitory’s communal laundry room.
“Oh dear, so after all this time using the laundry room, you have never seen anyone else here?”
“That is correct. And because of that, I have been unable to meet the other maids that live here in this dormitory…”
“Goodness, that sounds quite lonely indeed. But there might still be hope, Melody. I started coming here, and I work for a marquis-ranked family, so it is possible for other maids to begin using this laundry room as well.”
“I would be delighted if that were to happen!”
The two maids exchanged happy smiles when suddenly the sound of footsteps approached the door.
(Could it be the arrival of another new maid friend?! Today must be my lucky day!)
A woman about the same age as Meliane entered the laundry room. Since she was wearing a dress and not a uniform, it was likely she was no maid at all.
The woman looked as glamorous as a model; she was tall and slender, with a well-proportioned face and subdued chin, and her beautiful golden hair was in a bun, giving it a mature and cool feel.
With everything together, the woman gave the impression of the ideal businesswoman: talented, beautiful, and serious.
“Meliane, how is the laundry coming along? Oh? And who might you be?”
“There has been no problem at all, Miss Clarisse. This girl is Melody, a maid of House Luthorburg. Melody, I would like to introduce you to Miss Clarisse, Lady Annemarie’s lady-in-waiting. Miss Clarisse is the daughter of Viscount Heralua, so I must ask that you treat her well.”
“It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Melody Wave, and I serve as a maid of House Luthorburg.”
Melody greeted her with an elegant curtsy, to which Clarisse gave an approving nod.
“Indeed, it is nice to meet you, Melody. It seems House Luthorburg has trained you well. I hope you can continue being on good terms with our Meliane.”
“It delights me to hear your words. I shall strive get along with her as well as yourself.”
Clarisse gave another approving nod; it seemed Melody had passed some sort of test in Clarisse’s mind.
“And Meliane, I hope you get to know Melody better as well. As you know, our lady enjoys the company of the young lady of House Luthorburg, so we should follow that example as their servants.”
“Of course, Miss Clarisse, it is as you say. We already get along quite well, so please rest assured.”
“I see. Then all is well, but I must ask that you take care not to spend so much time chatting that you neglect your work, so please keep that in mind.”
And after some parting words, Clarisse gracefully exited the laundry room.
“Um, I apologize if my question is too forward, but why did Miss Clarisse come here to the laundry room?”
“Fufufu. I’m sure she was just worried and wanted to see how I was doing since this was my first time coming to the laundry room. She was also in charge of the other maids at the Victirium estate, and she is quite attentive and thoughtful to us.”
(So she’s a caring superior that looks out for her coworkers… That must be nice. Selena isn’t quite the same, but I wish I had a coworker like that…)
Melody looked on longingly as Meliane continued to sing the praises of Clarisse.
The role of lady-in-waiting was one of the highest positions a servant could take and the one closest to the master. Unlike other maids that worked on different tasks, the lady-in-waiting directly assisted and worked closely with the master, and so did not work under another servant.
(At the same time, there aren’t other ladies-in-waiting in the household to be fellow coworkers with; it might also be the loneliest role of all. But then again…)
It seemed there were exceptions; Clarisse, for example, worked closely with the other servants of House Victirium in directing their tasks; her position and authority was a testament to the trust and ability she held.
(I can see that the servants of House Victirium work closely with and trust each other with different tasks. This must have been something I needed to learn, a necessary step in becoming the greatest… Ah, there is still so much I have to learn…)
A pang of embarassment rippled through Melody as she recalled how happy she had been to monopolize the chores.
(And now that I think about it, part of being a maid means being able to share the workload and working together to complete it, so being flexible and cooperative is a crucial skill… If only we could find new maids to join us…)
Such desires occupied Melody’s mind as she admired the trust between the two servants of House Victirium.
With the laundry work finished, Melody would have time to take lunch before going to Lect’s office.
After all, today would be her first day as assistant to the temporary instructor of the Chivalry class.
“I shall be looking forward to working closely with you, my lord.”
“Sorry Melody, but… when it’s just the two of us, can you just act the way you usually do. Otherwise I’m… not sure I can take it.”
“Then, if that is what you prefer, Sir Lect, but… what do you mean by ‘take it’?”
“All right, so let me go ahead and explain what it is you’ll be doing!”
Lect would be teaching the class on the second afternoon period of the first and fourth days of the week – that is, on Mondays and Thursdays, if this were Japan. For the remaining days, other instructors would be taking over teaching the class.
“So Sir Lect will be the instructor for today. What shall I be doing?”
“For now, I need you to organize these handouts. Each student will need one, and it explains the basic ideas and ideals behind chivalry. Since I’ll only be teaching this one semester, it is important for me to familiarize the students with the basics so they’re prepared for the advanced course come the second semester.”
Expanding the Chivalry class meant there would be more students who could take it, but that also meant there would be even more students inexperienced in both chivalry and combat.
To remedy that discrepancy, Lect became a temporary instructor to lay the foundations of the course, teaching students the core tenants and concepts of chivalry.
“Do you mean to say that a large number of students will be complete beginners?”
“That’s right. Well, if it helps, you can think of this class as a sort of beginner course for students who are interested in combat.”
“I understand. With that in mind, what shall I be doing during class?”
“I need you to watch over the students. Many of them will be unused to more strenuous physical activities, so you will be in charge of distributing water and towels to the students, as well as giving first aid treatment to any student with injuries. Since you are a maid, this should be a fairly normal task, right?”
Qualifications aside, Melody had but a single thought as she watched Lect scratch his head as he explained her duties.
(…Rather than a maid, this is more like being the manager of a school team.)
“Understood, Sir Lect. I shall prepare the honeyed lemon slices immediately!”
“Huh? I’m not sure how you arrived at that conclusion, but, well, I suppose there’s no issue with that…”
(A team manager, huh… It isn’t a maid, but it certainly is another wonderful job revolving around sreving others! This might be another important part of becoming the greatest maid in the world!)
It was quite nice for Melody to have such an optimistic view of things, but at the same time, this was definitely straying from her intended path.
“Next, I’ll go over the equipment we will be using, so come with me.”
“Of course. Oh, Sir Lect? Since I’ll be the team manager, should I tie my hair in braids and wear a sailor uniform? And what about glasses? And shall I bring over a kettle as well?”
“…I’m not sure what you’re even talking about, but I don’t think that is something we need.”
As it turned out, Melody, who obssessed over the aesthetics of her roles, had a rather… retro understanding of a team manager.
“Welcome to the Chivalry course, students. Let us begin today’s lesson!”
“Yes sir!”
The students’ enthusiastic reply signaled the start of the class.
There were a total of nineteen students attending this beginner-level course: eleven first-year students, six second-year students, and two third-year students; while there were upperclassmen that were interested in the course, it was no surprise that the majority was still of first-year students, and of those students, while most were from the nobility, there were still quite of few hailing from commoner backgrounds.
For someone like Lect, who was teaching for the first time, this was an appropriate amount of students.
“Now, as you may already know, this class is an elementary-level course for beginners, so I will start by going over what we know as the basics of chivalry… Melody, please pass out the materials.”
“Certainly, Instructor.”
As an aside, Lect had asked Melody to not address him as her master even during class; it was simply too much for him.
Melody moved from behind Lect to distribute the handouts to the students, doing so at a pace quick enough to not impede the class yet not so hasty as to appear impolite. Of course this went by unnoticed, but Melody always was one to include these small details.
Of course Melody also suppressed her presence as usual, and so none of the students paid any attention to the beautiful maid that was the instructor’s assistant… Whether this skill was truly useful remained to be seen…
As Lect continued with his lecture on chivalry, Melody began preparing for the next task; since Lect had already briefed her on the lesson plan, Melody was able to work efficiently without further direction from him.
“And that about covers basic chivalry. With that aside, we will now move on to the practical portion — is what I would like to say, but it may be too much for beginners. Instead, I’ll be measuring your physical fitness and ability, so let’s start with a run around the arena.”
There were no complaints to be heard, a far cry from how students in Japan would usually react to strenuous exercise. What an admirable bunch these students were…
“I shall be collecting the handouts, so please leave them to me.”
Without needing Lect’s direction, Melody collected the papers, as holding onto them would get in the way of physical activity; Melody once again worked quietly with her usual grace and elegance.
And once she finished, the students and Lect began their run.
“Keep running until I tell you to stop! And pace yourselves so you don’t tire out too quickly!”
” ” “Yes sir!” ” “
“Do your best, everyone!”
Melody briefly watched as the entire class ran their lap around the arena. She moved to the edge of the arena after a moment and made the preparations for what came next.
Some time passed, and the students were now collapsed on the ground, strewn about a corner of the arena.
Perhaps due to a difference in routine exercise, Lect appeared unwinded and breathed as normal, but the other students seemed too exhausted to remain standing.
Meanwhile Melody had arrived with a tray full of cups of water.
“Great work out there. Please have some water.”
“Huh..? Oh, water… Thanks…”
Melody held a cup out to a student who was too exhaused to even speak properly. The boy struggled for a moment before sitting up to drink his water, and he gave a relieved sigh after gulping down his drink.
“Ahh, that was refreshing.”
“There are also honeyed lemon slices. They will help with the fatigue, so please feel free to have some.”
“Oh, will it? Then I’ll have some–“
The boy suddenly froze in place as he reached over to take a lemon slice.
After all, he had just realized right in front of him, offering refreshments, was a beautiful girl with a lovely smile.
No matter the time and place, and even in another world, if a beautiful girl were to gift a pure-hearted boy with something handmade, the boy would inevitably find himself lost in the nervous throbbing of his heart.
And he was not the only victim; the difference in presence between earlier and now hit the boys like a powerful sucker punch, and the gap had been even more effective from Melody, who was beautiful enough to be called the angel of the Spring Ball.
But of course, the maid with a density unknown to man diligently continued working, completely unaware of her effect on the boys of the class.
(So this is how it feels to be a manager. I don’t know how this might help me become the greatest maid in the world, but I’ll just keep doing my best!)
Incidentally, the class was even tougher as the day went on, and yet all nineteen students were present for the second session three days later; not one of them had missed attendance.
“Your students all seem to be very motivated, Sir Lect. Isn’t that great?”
“Uh, well.. I guess boys will always be boys.”
Lect felt a pang of discomfort as he realized he was quite similar to them in that regard.
(For now, I’ll just work on keeping her safe…)
And although the circumstances were different now, the current Lect unknowingly held the same feelings for Melody as he had in the game.
Headcanon TL 
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