"Asada-san! Where should we place this?"
"Ah! Place the new veggies at the cold storage cabinet. Especially the tomatoes, we can't have those going bad on us."
My name is Asada Kahono, the head maidservant of Lord Iwasawa's Naka castle.
"Asada-san. We've warmed the lord's morning bath!"
"Mm. Go set the table now. We can't have Iwasawa-sama waiting on an empty dining chamber after his bath."
"Y-yes!"
And just a reminder… Regardless of my youthful physical appearance, I am already an adult… So don't you dare call me a Lolibaba!!!
"The lord is leaving for Fuku today. We'd have to make sure that he and the other ministers would have a flawless morning. Kitchen team!"
""Y-yes!""
"Prepare the lunch boxes exactly 10 minutes before they leave. We have to make sure that once lunchtime arrives, their food is still as fresh as if it just left the stove!"
"Understood, head maid!"
"Clothing team!"
"What are your orders, mam?"
"Prepare the lord's clothes and hand it to him once he finishes eating. Make sure that the ratio of fancy clothes and casual clothes are 1 is to 2. Which means that every single fancy clothes also have two casual ones in there. The lord may stay there for three days, add to that the five days of to and fro journey… Do you get what I mean?"
"Yes, mam. A week and a half's worth of clothing."
"Next, Delivery team!"
"Yes, senpai!"
"The blue labeled papers to be sent to the Secretary's office and the Lord's office will be redirected to the five adjutants of the Castle secretary. The red labeled ones would go to the auditor's office while the green stamps would be left piled on the Lord's office until he gets back. Did you understand my instructions?"
"Understood, senpai!"
My work revolves around the affairs of my master and the other bureaucrats of the castle. As the head maid of Naka castle, I've served here since I was a young woman (an actual young woman). As such, I am aware of how Lord Iwasawa changed Kiko for the good.
All of this started 20 years ago when the young Akizuki Godan lost his father from a previous war with the Kusanagi clan and ascended as the lord of Kiko.
"Akizuki-sama… it's time for you to speak to your retainers."
Back then, Godan wasn't the rotten and paranoid man that he later became. Back then, he is loved by his people for thinking about them even at this time when the country is being swallowed by the flames of a great civil war.
"A-Akizuki-sama! This is outrageous! We can't back down now!"
"Rejected. We will make peace with the Kusanagi clan and end this conflict once and for all. If anyone here wants to continue the war for your own purposes and agendas, I advise that you leave now and retire from my court."
Godan wasn't just my master, he was my childhood friend as my family served the lord's family since the Feudal system was put into place in our backwater province. Because of this, I've known about his kind and understanding demeanor and how he never backed down in the face of resistance if it means that he can serve his people.
Thus, with him inheriting his father's warmongering court and vassals, he soon lost much of them and with it, the support of the nobles who wanted to put the common folk on the hellish frontlines as they relaxed in their peaceful estates.
"…Godan. You've lost some weight."
"Yeah… I'm going through some tough ordeals but… I can do this!"
Godan has a dream. Unlike the other daimyos who has the ambition of conquering the entire country and becoming the Shogun, Godan's dream isn't his alone but also shared by others. It is a desire to serve his people that even if he was abandoned by the nobles, he is loved by the commoners.
"First, we have to create a canal from Iso river to irrigate our farmlands. Since Iso's water turns salty at the marshlands on the river delta, we should start at the center, just a bit north of the lowlands where the river gets shallow."
"Understood, my lord. Aoyama-dono would allow this since the majority of Kiko's farmlands are located in his domain."
"Yeah. Send this letter to him, I have to congratulate him and apologize for not being there during his marriage. I have to hand it to him, even if you are a noble, you usually can't bend societal norms and marry a commoner."
"Yeah, the Asura sure knows how to make people do as he wishes."
As years went by, Kiko stabilized under his rule. The canals were made and the farmlands boomed in producing rice and other produce. For the first time in Kiko's history, the merchants have been able to export our grains rather than selling it locally, a testament to the overproduction that Kiko gained from having arable and fertile paddies.
"Congratulations! Akizuki-sama!"
"Long live the lord!"
And Godan too, experienced the springtime of his life that he deserved. He was married to a woman from an influential Kiko noble. Something that he readily accepted as he was touched by the kindness of his wife and the beauty she possesses.
"Godan, you look so happy today."
"Well… just between the two of us, alright?"
"Mm? Sure."
"My wife wasn't feeling good today, so I asked for a doctor. He checked her and he said that my wife is pregnant. So why won't be happy?"
"What?! Congratulations, then!"
"Yeah, thanks!"
After a year, his wife gave birth to Lady Hisako. A healthy baby that was loved by the castle's servants and officers alike.
It was a time for peace and prosperity, a time when Kiko, a province that is partially untouched by the chaos at the central and northern provinces, had the chance to live in tranquility.
But… it soon became apparent that my clan's work isn't limited to serving the lord's family… and what other way can I be told about this other than being the one who will be tasked to carry it out.
"Kahono… It's time for you to know why the Asada clan exists."
"M-mom?"
My mother went to my room one night and told me to sit down in front of her. I complied and that was the time when she said it.
"We received an order from the nobility. Lord Godan has to be forced to act according to their directions."
"W-wait! Mother, what is the meaning of this?! We- Abauf-!"
"Silence, child… No one should hear that I am telling this to you."
She covered my mouth and pushed me to the floor and as she said that, I noticed that her eyes was moist and barely holding back her tears.
"We don't have a choice. This is how the Asada clan is still alive. If the nobility deems us disobedient, we will certainly die from a scheme that they'll make!"
"But… why… why Lord Godan of all people?"
"I don't know… I don't know too-!"
As my mother said those words, tears fell from her eyes and she looked away to not let me see her painful expression.
"I can't believe that the boy that I washed back when he was just born would end up being the man that I have to poison now…"
"Mother…"
From the bottom of her heart, my mother regretted this situation. Being the handmaiden of the former Daimyo's first wife, she was like a second mother to Godan. The pain of having to put the one that you treasured all this time to harm is something that would break even the toughest of hearts.
"This is an imported poison from Fuku province. Continuously drinking this with your wine would dull your ability to make decisions and eventually turn you into a person that is paranoid about everything until it will eventually turn you rabid."
"This is- This is horrible!"
"I know… but… but we don't have any choice. Even if we expose this treachery, we don't have anything that will incriminate the nobles other than our own subjective words. They'll turn the treachery on us and would claim that the lord planned it, giving them the right to start a war and dispose of him later on."
"No… No…!"
"The only thing we can do now… is to pray that Lord Godan would be able to endure this for as long as he can… until a real leader can take after his legacy and desire to help the people."
Many years passed… As anyone may already guess, Godan slowly turned into the paranoid and rabid man that the nobility wanted him to be. The farmlands that once fed the entire province was quickly devastated as the farmers that was supposed to look after them was frequently sent to wage war with the Kusanagi clan. The canals were filled in at some parts by people hired by the nobility, a step they made to make the public to foster more hatred to him. Lastly, they propagated an exotic water worm at the waters of Iso. The place where much of the water in the wells of Kiko come from. This caused an epidemic that no one has ever seen before.
"As to this day, you are now the Head maidservant of Kaiho castle, Asada Kahono."
As for me, even with a faked smile and a youthful and positive air around me, I felt from the very depths of my heart a feeling that I should just go and die somewhere after accepting that we had no other choice but to break my friend and master's mind, turning him into a hapless child that one can push with non-sensical threats or lies.
Back then, I had no more hope in my heart and mind. I wanted to be freed from my sins. I wanted to correct the things that we made.
And just like that, he appeared.
"I am Iwasawa Hiroshi. Under the promotion and support of the Kiko Three and Misanagi clan, I will be the lord of Kiko from this day forward."
A young man whose benevolent aura was a spitting image of Godan's past self.
"We just have to dig the canals again. Another thing, we have to start crop rotation. Whoever had the idea of overloading their farming plots is a fool. Think about the humus and nitrates on the soil, would you?"
He took over the work of reviving the farmlands and even improving them.
"The taxes paid by the rich and poor is the same. That's equality. However, that is not truly equal. The rich must pay more than the poor since they have more capability to pay for it. Audit each and everyone in Naka harbor and adjust their taxes. Instead of basing it from a standard monetary value of 20 kan per worker, make it 10% of their total monthly income along with 10% if they are businessmen. That is 10% as a monthly income tax and an additional 10% as a business tax."
"Umm… I don't understand sir…"
"Alright, here's a simple explanation. If a guy earns 100 Kan per month, we will take 10 kan as his income tax and another 10 kan if his job is a business he owns. Do you understand now?"
"Y-yes!"
He even revised the antiquated taxation laws that was the root of the province's stagnation in wealth.
"Nobisuke… we'll make our move now. Or else, they will destroy the evidences of their future treason plots for me."
"As you wish, my lord."
And with a few tips from me, he and his army exposed the treacherous nobles to the eye of the public. Some of them reasoned that he was being unfair until he pulled out the evidences that he collected using his own men who infiltrated the nobility's ranks.
"Asada-san… She's improving, isn't she?"
"Yeah. I can see it clearly, my lord."
He even accepted Lady Hisako although she was the child of the man he deposed.
"What is this, my lord?"
"Oh? I didn't notice that you were here. Well… it's kind of hard to explain but… this is a metal cabinet that keeps food and ingredients from getting spoiled."
"Eh?! What magic did you use on it, my lord!"
"What are you talking about? Do I look like a Majin to you?"
He even created things that made the lives and work of the Kiko residents easier.
He was that… the person that we've been waiting for. The person that can inherit Godan's legacy and dream.
And so, I silently pledged even without his knowledge…
"I promise to serve him, he who has a dream for our people. That unlike before when I had to think about our own good, this time, I want to believe and be part of that dream!"
Back to the real world, I was packing Lord Iwasawa's lunchbox when an idea came to my mind. I opened the cold metal cabinet and took an apple from the fruits box before placing it on the pack.
"Hehe! I'm sure he'll like it!"
Later that morning, Lord Iwasawa and his officers left the castle to ride the train to the town of Tohou. Bidding him farewell and even striking some sparks on their backs for good luck on the travels, I watched as their carriage went down from the road and into the city where the train station is located.
"Asada-san! The octopus is making a mess in the kitchen!"
"Ma'am! We accidentally placed too many casual clothes in the lord's pack!"
"S-Senpai! There's too many papers with violet marks! Where are we supposed to bring this?!"
Argh… I don't know if this is karmic justice, but just like how things have become convenient for me, it also brought a lot more work to my way.
"Now, now, kids! Calm down. Let your senior help you!"
""Thank you, Lolibaba-senpai!""
Hearing that, I can say that this really is, karmic justice.
"Who tha' hell are ya' kids callin' a Lolibaba, Haah?!?!?!"
Well, at least I've found the true purpose of my life.