Ch.275275 – I Really Don’t Like This

<275 – I Really Don’t Like This>

The rain poured down harder, making the hands gathering laundry into the basket move with increased urgency.

‘Don’t get too excited, stupid April. Just because people are treating you a bit better doesn’t mean you should get cocky and forget your place.’

Even as a spy for the Foundation, failing to fulfill maid duties would result in poor performance evaluations and termination.

The disposal of a spy who had outlived their usefulness was a foregone conclusion.

On rainy days, one gathers the laundry.

Even this simple task was a matter of life and death for April.

In a world where placing laundry baskets and clothes on mana boards engraved with cleaning magic was enough to clean them.

Hand washing without using mana stones was reserved for expensive laundry items with separate mana formulas that could be damaged due to interference between formulas.

Meticulous washing was expected, and any damage would be deducted from April’s salary.

If she caused damage beyond what she could afford and needed financial support from the Foundation, their gaze upon her would become even more severe.

‘The Wiheomhae Foundation is an organization where even a single mistake can come back as a fatal order.’

The world isn’t filled only with kind people like the Grand Duke Andersen Pretzel, who is nice even to beastkin women (which she isn’t), or the generous scholarship student Oknodie, who is kind even to low-ranking spies of the Foundation.

Compared to the size of the world she had seen and experienced, Andersen and Oknodie’s significance was still woefully small.

Compared to those small people, a more familiar presence made footsteps in the mud.

Splash.

With just one footstep, her brain quickly analyzed the information.

The weight was centered on the left foot, and the time taken to step was exactly one second.

The mechanical step of a killer who, once they take a step, doesn’t hesitate and moves forward to achieve their goal.

She remembered it.

There was only one person under her who could walk like this.

“First-year Zaku.”

“Is this a maid’s primary duty? Must be annoying.”

“As I must perform my maid duties now, if you have business, please come back later.”

Normally, Zaku would have quietly waited until she finished her duties or just collected the orders and left.

But today, Zaku didn’t maintain the silence according to their unchanging implicit agreement.

“Run away.”

“…I don’t understand what you mean.”

“The Foundation’s new tail has arrived at the Academy.”

April, who was holding laundry larger than her height in her arms, hesitated as her hand moved toward the laundry basket.

“Is this a trap?”

“I was asked to lure you out.”

The sound of pouring rain intensified.

Both of their shoes gradually sank into the mud as the rainwater rose.

“The Foundation’s decisions cannot be reversed. A man like you who threw himself into dark mana prepared to die should know that fact. Yet why do you miss the opportunity to curry favor with the Foundation’s new tail and instead show mercy to a discarded tail?”

“A bad child has developed a wrong habit. The habit of unnecessary meddling.”

“You’ll die.”

April spoke her honest thoughts.

“If you don’t fix it, you’ll be next.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Beyond the laundry, though his face wasn’t visible, April imagined Zaku wearing a cold smile, letting her words go in one ear and out the other.

He was a decent man.

Not as much as Andersen, but a student with promising prospects.

So she couldn’t burden him any further.

“May I ask you to deliver one last message?”

“By all means.”

“Tell the dog beastkin that even if Happy is clumsy at maid work, she’s good-hearted and intuitive, so she can find other jobs easily.”

“Are you prepared to die?”

“If I don’t go, more people will get hurt. Including you and all the first-year scholarship students.”

Oknodie was among them.

She couldn’t cause such trouble to someone she was indebted to.

“Please guide me to the place where you agreed to lure me.”

“…You really are a foolish woman.”

Zaku led April to the meeting place he had been told about by Primer.

As the sound of rain intensified, a chill rose from her body as it lost heat.

‘What a shabby maid uniform.’

It was black and thick so that dirt wouldn’t show, yet it had no waterproofing function—she had always thought it was an outfit she didn’t like.

Still, it wouldn’t be long now.

The time of being forced to wear clothes she didn’t like would soon end.

As she finished preparing herself mentally, she felt the sound of rain suddenly cut off with each step.

A small soundproof area that isolated external sounds.

An assassination preparation tool commonly used by the Foundation when eliminating targets.

“Pleased to meet you, Maid April.”

“The Foundation’s new maid has such bright manners.”

“I commend you for coming here willingly. I am not an ordinary maid.”

A green-haired woman with eyes colder than the pouring rain opened her emotionless eyes through her rain-soaked dark green hair.

In her hand, which had moved to her chest, were three sharp, thin needles.

“I am the Foundation’s assassination maid. From the moment I was dispatched, there was no possibility of survival for a cleaning maid like you who has only completed basic combat training.”

“I know. You don’t need to try so hard to break my resolve, Maid Leaf.”

“…Information has leaked. Where did you hear my name?”

A slight irritation appeared on her face, which had been unpleasantly calm.

April gave a small laugh at the face that showed fatigue at having more people to silence.

“Who do you think called you here in the first place? I was the one who sent the request to the upper echelons for combat maid support.”

The two maids stared at each other without avoiding each other’s eyes.

Like the scene of prey and hunter encountering each other.

“Did you want to commit suicide?”

“I was simply fulfilling your ‘Miss’s’ request.”

“…!”

“I want to meet Leaf and Jona. Not just once a month, but much more frequently. That was the wish Oknodie demanded of me.”

“What did the Miss bestow upon you to make you this determined?”

Combat maid support request.

April knew what that meant.

The Foundation never plants two tails in the same place.

If a replacement comes, she would be disposed of.

Oknodie’s request was essentially saying that she was no longer needed and asking for a capable maid to be called even if it meant her death.

Nevertheless, April had done it.

She had written the support request that was tantamount to her death sentence.

And sent it.

Because she knew.

A tail whose identity had been exposed would be disposed of sooner or later anyway.

Still, she didn’t feel bad toward Oknodie.

The average tenure of a maid was half a year.

She had realized from traces of her predecessor that successors never even see the faces of their predecessors, so there was no such thing as a handover.

To someone who had resigned herself to the possibility of death from the beginning, even Oknodie’s sentence felt like it was just a matter of time.

Yet Oknodie had allowed her.

To interact with a man who looked at her with special eyes.

To experience the kindness of Grand Duke Andersen.

“What was bound to happen, happened. I received excessive kindness beyond my station. That’s all.”

A hint of acknowledgment appeared in Leaf’s emotionless eyes.

“It’s a shame. Such a strong spirit is truly a waste. If you had come under my direct command, I could have personally trained you as a combat maid.”

“I’ll gratefully accept even just those words.”

End it now.

She had no regrets.

April closed her eyes and quietly placed her hands together in front of her chest in a prayer position.

Waiting for death, she thought.

The assassination maid she had only heard rumors about.

A professional who didn’t even make a sound when throwing weapons.

Being killed by the Foundation’s high-ranking combat unit was quite a luxurious end for a mere cleaning maid like herself.

Clang!!

Her surprise was even greater because she heard a sound that shouldn’t have been heard.

“I can’t let this happen after all. I can’t let you die like this.”

“…You’ve really done it now.”

Zaku, who had guided her here.

The one who should have simply lured her and left, had blocked Leaf’s strike, clearly showing hostility toward the Foundation.

“Do you intend to default on your debt to Oknodie?”

“I’ll pay my debts. I just didn’t specify when.”

“You’re the typical example of a garbage debtor.”

Despite her condemning words, a faint smile appeared on April’s lips.

“Zaku. For the sake of the guardian who recommended you as a scholarship student, I’ll warn you once. Don’t interfere with the Foundation’s disposal operation. Before you get disposed of too.”

“Don’t make me laugh.”

“…This is the death you’ve chosen. Don’t blame anyone.”

Leaf gripped a dagger in reverse grip instead of throwing needles and took a charging stance.

Zaku’s back, which was blocking April, trembled slightly.

A clear difference in skill.

The result of feeling an ominous strength through his skin.

“Should I thank you for dying with me?”

“Who’s dying together with whom? Don’t misunderstand. Things won’t go as you planned.”

Zaku’s gaze turned toward the entrance of the sound barrier.

Following his gaze, the eyes of both maids, Leaf and April, widened simultaneously.

There stood Oknodie with an extremely displeased expression, his cheeks puffed full of air.