Cain headed straight for the next room, He was wondering who was going to be next.
Knock! Knock!
“Who is it?” A quiet voice replied, “I’m sure master said we could go to sleep.”
Cain blinked a few times, did he wake her up? “Sorry if I woke you up, see you in the morning.”
CRASH! He heard the sound of something falling and then crawling to the ground. He could recognize the sound of books falling since used to read a lot.
CRACK! The maid hurriedly opened the door with a stressed face, luckily she was wearing a pajama this time. Her hair was as curly as he remember seeing her at day, but she looked a bit weird without her glasses.
“Everly, did I wake you up?” Cain asked.
“No, not at all! I was just reading a few books!” She replied panicking, “Sorry for sounding so cheeky earlier!” She cried.
Cain tried to laugh it off, “Please, I don’t mind. Which books you were reading?” He asked looking at the desk, she had a newly lit candle. Weren’t those supposed to be in a shortage?
“Legends of the slayer, it’s a collection of bard songs about a traveling paladin who cleared all the monsters in his path, caused the ruin of Alseria,” Everly said as Cain held the book in his hands..
Cain started at the book with dubious stares, He knew it.
“I was reading to see if the name will be mentioned at some point, but I’m about halfway and the songs still refer to the traveler as the great paladin, the first one, the brave, and even the divine fist. But never mentioning his name.” Everly said.
‘That’s father, all of those are the songs are about him. Considering his stats and the fact he only stayed for a couple of days in cities, he seemed like a hero that came and left immediately.’ Cain thought, there was no wonder his father has a bard or two singing his praise.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtCain would have told her it was his father if the book wasn’t mentioning the destruction of Alseria, it was an honest accident, his father didn’t know that telling the king about the luxury of alchemy will cause a revolution.
“Yeah, but I see you’re using a candle?” Cain asked changing the subject. He needed to avoid her asking if he knew the traveling paladin’s identity.
“Ah those, look here!” Everly smiled as she pulled a box from under her bed. It was filled to the brim with candles. There were at least a couple hundred there.
“All of those?” Cain stared at the box.
“I do keep some extra in case a shortage happens, I do use one or two a day while reading,” Everly said with a smile.
“Well, I did come to talk about lighting after all.” Cain smiled as looked at Everly.
“If we’re lacking candles I can give up most of those. The winter will only last about two more weeks so I need 50 at most.” Everly said with a smile.
“No, I was about to create magical light for the whole mansion. I thought that the maid’s rooms took priority.” Cain said but was surprised with Everly giving him a weird face.
“Did I waste all that money on candles then? I could have spent it on books instead!” she was about to pull her hair out.
Cain hurried to calm her down. That amount of candles must have cost her several months’ payments if she bought them right before winter.
She was ready to donate them if the mansion was lacking because she knew Cain will pay her for them. But now, she was stuck with a box of useless wax!
“Don’t worry, I will buy them from you.” Cain was confident that he could find a buyer easily, it wasn’t like all people had magical lights.
“For real?” She looked at Cain with her eyes sparkling.
“Take them tomorrow to Sebas, he will deal with the rest. For now, let me install the magic. Could you bring me a piece of jewelry that you own?” Said Cain. He was surprised she was more worried about her losses than if Cain could actually create light for them.
“Jewelry? I own none, I spent everything on books and candles.” She said with a straight face. “I did even sign the exclusive contract to get the extra money to spend on books.” She laughed it off.
“That’s dedication, obsession?” Cain looked at her, “Well, take this then.” Cain pulled a silver necklace from the maze. It was from Morena’s treasure.
“And this will be?” Everly asked with a curios gaze, “It seems to be worth at least two books.”
“Don’t ever think of selling it, I will create a library in the maze and give the budget to fill it up. So for now keep that on you!” Cain growled at her.
A library will be quite useful in both enriching the maids’ knowledge and as a source of information. If Everly was that obsessed with books, she could be the bookkeeper.
“Really?” Everly tried her best to stay Calm, a whole library was like a dream that came true.
“Yeah, for now, let’s install the light.” Cain then quickly installed the light and explained to Everly how to use it.
“This is amazing, it’s better than candles!” She cried.
Cain patted her head, “I know, I know, my magic is amazing.” He praised himself.
After making sure everything was alright, Cain left Everly to read her book in peace. The night won’t last forever if he spent too much time with each maid.
After taking just a few steps outside, he took a moment to install a light in the hallway. Since he only needed to create the light it only took him a few seconds to do it.
After that he knocked on the next room, “It’s me, open up if you can.”
After a few seconds, a voice replied “Come in.” Cain recognized it as Jemima so he braced himself. If there was a maid to poison his food, it was her.
“When Cain entered her room, the first thing to catch his eye was the Chauntea’s shrine in the corner and the countless flower pots spread around. Right beside the window, a large pot with a gravestone at it holding the name of [Suzan the Sunflower] Two newly lit candles illuminated the grave.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm“It’s an interesting room, has a unique vibe to it.”
“I won’t forgive if you killed any of the plants,” Jemima said with a serious face. Even though he was her master, she was ready to protect her plants.
Seeing her stare at him like that, Cain wanted to test her to see if it was possible for her hurt him. An intruder could destroy this small garden of her and blame Cain to get her to poison him for example.
Cain walked slowly and attempt to carry one of the pots.
“Don’t touch them!” Jemima cried without moving, Cain glared at her “Sit down!” She sat as he said.
‘So she was just pretending to be tough, she doesn’t have the will to attack me but was still trying to protect her plants.’
Cain immediately returned the pot to her place and turned toward Jemima.
“Sorry, I was just testing to see if you would really attack. Of course, I won’t hurt any of you plants.”
She blinked twice before sighing, “You scared the hell out of me, I thought what happened all of a sudden you became serious.” She said in relief. To that point, Cain never gave a maid a direct order. He only asked if they could do things.
“Now that is set and done, let me install a light in your room. Do you have any jewelry to use as a switch?” Cain smiled looking at her.
“What do you mean by light?” She looked at him.
“This thing.” Cain created the light and lit it himself. “If you have jewelry I can make you able to turn the light on and off at will.”
Jemima searched through her belonging and after a few seconds she pulled a gold ring from a small box. “I can use this, will it do the trick?” She looked at Cain.
“Yes, I will get it done immediately.” Cain quickly enchanted the ring and explained how it work.
Unlike how he expected, Jemima was just trying to protect her plants. Putting a strong front was the easiest route she could take against her overpowered master. But even with this, Cain needed to be extra careful around her plants.