White winds brushed over the trees, forming snowflakes, which a green breeze then melted, allowing beautiful flowers to bloom.
Outside the window, the large and small snowmen crafted by children on the streets were melting away, and an equivalent number of people filled the city.
Spring had arrived, adorning the streets with blossoms that had pushed through delicate leaves, having endured fierce blizzards.
Yet, despite all this, the elevated fortress remained as cold as winter.
“Indeed, you have worked hard this time as well. You may leave now.”
“Understood, Won.”
After a brief, silent bow, Maria stepped out of the audience chamber, and the thick iron door slammed shut with a deafening clang.
‘Lately, it seems that iron door is scraping against the floor more and more. Should I mention it to U?’
It had already been a year since Maria arrived in this world.
Truly, a great many things had happened.
Maria had hesitated to kill during his very first mission.
He had even teamed up with a wrongfully exiled summoner from an adventurer party, only to receive a recruitment offer.
He had also been offered an apprenticeship by an academy professor who had been unjustly expelled.
[Oh. To think someone would find me after 500 years. Come, I shall grant you the opportunity to become my master.]
Furthermore, during his latest mission, Maria discovered a cursed sword named Makya, slumbering deep within an old mansion.
However, he felt that a maid who was also a secret organization assassin possessing a cursed sword would be an excessive character concept, so he simply left it behind.
[Please, please take me with you! I’m lonely…! No, please just take me away…!]
The cursed sword’s desperate cries to be taken, heard before Maria left the room, were likely not his imagination.
It was so noisy that for a moment, Maria even considered impaling the cursed sword into Dante’s own cursed sword.
Upon returning to the fortress, seeing Dante babbling about being Pun-Cool-Sek (TL Note: A Korean slang term, ‘peonkulsek,’ often used ironically to describe someone trying too hard to be cool, funny, and sexy, often leading to cringe-worthy behavior.), Maria regretted not having gone through with it.
There was the exorcist determined to defeat the 108 Yokai, the knight vowing revenge, and the academy student who, though abandoned for lacking talent, awakened a hidden power.
While there had been many other encounters, none of them were particularly significant in the grand scheme of things.
Ultimately, all the mission targets were merely trash that deserved to die.
The offers from the summoner and the professor only served to hinder Maria’s true calling: becoming a maid.
The cursed sword, Makya, possessed an appearance that didn’t quite match Unnamed’s aesthetic.
As for the exorcists, knights, and students, they were all people Maria had no need to concern himself with.
It had been a year filled with many events, yet ultimately devoid of true substance.
The only real gains were his friendship with U and the practical experience gained from missions.
****
“Oh, Senior!”
As Maria strolled through the garden, clearing his thoughts, the vibrant voice of a woman reached his ears.
It was a clear, pure voice.
It belonged to U, who was no longer a muscle-bound brute whose voice seemed wasted, but a proper maid.
“How are you, U.”
“I’m doing great, Senior!”
Having undergone muscle compression surgery and begun her maid duties, U was initially clumsy in many aspects.
Perhaps because she had never performed delicate tasks, her cleaning and cooking were riddled with mistakes.
Unable to control her strength, brooms would often snap in her hands.
Yet, under Maria’s tutelage, U ultimately transformed into an excellent maid after a year of diligent effort.
It was truly a monumental improvement compared to her beginnings.
While U’s growth was certainly a positive development, it also brought a sense of regret.
It meant Maria could no longer observe the process of an apprentice maid evolving into a full-fledged one.
‘The Aesthetics of Apprentice Maids’ was a discipline that satisfied Maria’s heart simply by observing apprentice maids.
Of course, the now-grown U was also beautiful and noble, providing ample satisfaction.
In contrast to her height of over 170 cm and mature physique, she sported a lively ponytail and exhibited a spirited demeanor.
Though her manner of speech still left much to be desired, it was more than sufficient to earn a passing grade.
‘Heh heh… truly splendid…❤’
“Ugh…”
“U, why the sudden reaction?”
“Senior looked at me slyly again…”
‘Sly? Where could one find a person as incorruptible and pure as I am to utter such outrageous remarks?’
“U, as I told you last time, I have never looked at you slyly. No, U, not just you, but I would never look at any maid in this world with such eyes.”
“Eek! That puts me in a bind!”
“Pardon? In a bind?”
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
With that, U snatched her broom and hastily departed.
‘For a maid to act so carelessly, it seems ‘education’ is in order.’
“Heh heh❤”
Maria, leaving the anticipation of future delights, returned to his room for a rest.
****
A week had passed since Maria’s return to the fortress.
Barely had Maria returned from his mission when Won summoned him back to the audience chamber.
While Won usually called members individually, this time, two other members had also been summoned.
“Nine is dead?”
“Indeed, Nine was defeated by the Holy Swordsman during a recent mission and died on the spot.
B, M, V. The three of you have displayed exceptional talent among the regular members. Therefore, I intend for one of you to inherit Nine’s emblem.”
‘Oh.’
‘So, Unnamed became Nine at this point in the story?’
Having already known from the original work that Unnamed was Number Nine of Yeoro (TL Note: The name of the organization Maria is a part of.), Maria had anticipated such a day would eventually arrive.
However, as Unnamed was still the young age of 13, Maria hadn’t imagined it would happen so soon.
Then again, considering she joined Yeoro at just 12, it wasn’t all that surprising now.
‘Hmm, Nine.’
The only Numbers Maria knew were Dante and Eight, and judging by them, it didn’t seem like a bad position.
While Yeoro granted regular members freedom of action, the scope of freedom enjoyed by the Numbers appeared to be significantly broader.
However, just because it wasn’t bad didn’t mean Maria wanted to become Nine.
Maria needed to start looking for an opportune moment to escape and become a maid; becoming Nine would only bind him further to Yeoro.
He had to sever ties with this life now.
His escape plan was already somewhat in place.
Executing the plan desperately required the assistance of another Number, but Maria intended to resolve that through a deal with Eight.
Maria had already identified a bargaining chip that Eight, whose actions were driven by interest and curiosity, would find impossible to refuse.
‘Hmm, no matter how I think about it, there’s no reason for me to become Nine, as in the original story.’
‘To abandon being a maid and become an executive of the organization? That’s utter nonsense.’
“You can exclude me. The position of a Number is not something I require.”
Maria believed he was the most likely candidate among the three to become Nine.
He had an unusually high number of interactions with Won compared to other regular members, and in the original work, Unnamed *was* Nine.
Won might be greatly disappointed, but his circumstances were none of Maria’s concern.
‘It wasn’t as if I *wanted* to join Yeoro in the first place.’
Contrary to Maria’s expectation, however, Won nodded with satisfaction.
“As expected of M. Truly, a model member of Yeoro.”
“Pardon?”
‘What?’
“I understand your resolve to act for the organization, even without being granted the position of a Number.”
‘What is this idiot talking about?’
“However, you do not need to refuse so readily. The position of a Number must go to one who is qualified. And M, you are more suited for the position of a Number than anyone else.”
‘Ugh, this guy’s starting again.’
The three Numbers Maria had encountered during his time in this fortress each possessed distinct and utterly annoying personalities.
First, there was Seven, Dante, an attention-seeker who thought himself incredibly cool.
Then, Eight, a perverted woman who indulged in eccentricities, always citing “interest.”
And Won was a Kkon-dae (TL Note: A Korean slang term for an older person who is condescending, preachy, and stuck in their ways, often dismissing the opinions of younger people.) who never listened to others, constantly put on airs, and only ever spoke his own mind.
Considering U’s past behavior, was Maria truly the only normal person in this organization?
There’s a saying: In a village of one-eyed people, a two-eyed person is considered abnormal.
Maria never imagined he would become the two-eyed person in such a village of the one-eyed.
Yet again, a familiar headache began to throb.
“Well, even if M here is the most likely candidate for Nine, it doesn’t mean you two, B and V, have no chance.”
Watching Won, who had convinced himself of his own reasoning, unilaterally dive into the main topic, Maria felt like slapping his forehead and letting out a sigh.
Of course, such an action was unfitting for one destined to be a maid, so he painstakingly suppressed it.
‘Anyway, it’s probably useless to say anything more.’
‘For now, I’ll just listen to what he has to say.’
“From now on, I will assign a mission to the three of you. The position of Nine will go to whoever accomplishes that mission first.”
‘Huh? What?’
‘There’s a separate promotion mission?’
‘In that case, couldn’t I just go to the mission area and naturally fail?’
“Approximately one month from now, a grand festival will be held in the Imperial metropolis of Preas. And at that festival, the Leonhart family’s heirloom, ‘Dandelion,’ will be unveiled.”
‘Dandelion.’
‘The name sounds familiar.’
‘It must be the sword passed down through generations of the Ducal Leonhart family.’
‘The legendary sword said to be forged from the teeth of the Golden Lion.’
“Your task is to pilfer that Dandelion and bring it here.”
As Won finished speaking, an uneasy silence settled in the audience chamber.
The expressions of the two other members, their mouths shut, were incredibly grim.
The Leonhart family was renowned as one of the empire’s most prominent noble houses.
Stealing an heirloom from such a family was tantamount to a death sentence, even for a member of Yeoro.
Even for Maria, whom Won had just declared most likely to become Nine, it seemed an impossible mission; for the other two members, it would surely be an utterly hopeless task.
However, this was also none of Maria’s concern.
On the contrary, it was a good opportunity for him.
Such a high-difficulty mission would be easier to fail naturally.
“Hoo, as expected of M. To hear this mission and not have your resolve waver.”
‘My resolve withered away long ago, but I decided to remain silent once more.’
‘After all, if I opened my mouth, that Kkon-dae would undoubtedly twist my words to suit his own interpretation.’
Regardless, it was certainly a good mission for Maria after a long time.
‘I’ll just naturally fail the mission and use the remaining time in Preas to buy some high-quality fabric.’
‘It’s about time I got a new maid uniform for myself, and made a new one for U too.’
‘Heh heh, truly perfect. A truly perfect mission.’
“However, this mission is impossible even for you. Therefore, Seven will accompany you on your mission. He will be able to tie down Duke Leonhart and his main forces.”
‘Wait, no? Is this not a perfect mission, but a damned one?’
