"I'll ask the servants to prepare the bath. Take a bath first before you sleep. I'll relay a message about your stay over to the Count's mansion."
"Thanks."
I was about to leave the dining hall while holding Captain Jullius' hand when Ortzen suddenly added,
"You guys are still not allowed to bath together yet."
"I know."
I also know that much. Exactly, what does he take me for?
After I've filled up my stomach and soaked in a warm water bath, the drowsiness that I had been suppressed up until now finally reached its peak. I almost fell a sleep in the bathtub and when I was done bathing, a silky nightgown has been prepared for me there. There're only a few servants lived inside the Special Task Squad's headquarters because of various reasons but despite that I was still being served well by them. Maybe because I was used being served only by one maid, this sudden change made me felt satisfied by their excellent service and being served by more than one maid. In the Count's mansion, I felt bad for Sofia when she had to heat the water for my bath and filled the bathtub all by herself, and so I told her it's okay to bath in cold water because the weather is still hot anyways. I've raised the issue about the lack of servants in my pavilion but there wasn't any servant who's willing to work in my pavilion. If we're still in the old times when there's still slavery going on, I would have took some servants by forced to work in my pavilion, but unfortunately I couldn't do so to the servants in current times because they are liberal people who have their own rights, and thus I could only give up in the end. My poor Sofia… I should reconsider to bring her along with me out from the Count's mansion.
When I was done wearing my nightgown and put my slippers on, I step out to the hallway and saw some dim lights in the dark. The dim lights came from the mineral ores that were placed inside the castle wall at well-distance space. Those mineral ores were imbued with holy powers so they emitted faint lights, but the downside is once they're imbued with holy powers, there aren't any switch to turn on and turn off the lights, so usually they were only used in hallways as lighting. Not to mention that the mineral ores are extremely expensive to bot. Special Task Squad is indeed rich. Or perhaps it's Clauen who is rich to be precise?
'By the way, where is Captain Jullius' room?'
I was lead by the servants to the bathroom, but after I've finished my bath and came out of the room, there's no one here. Based on Ortzen's personality, he wouldn't forgot to order someone to guide me back. If I wait here, there should be someone who will come to fetch me, but…
'He said that I can do anything and it's okay even if I make mischief, right?'
Alright! Now that I've gotten his permission, tonight I'll do anything I want. Although I feel sleepy right now, but if I do some little exercises, I will have a better sleep later. It would be a nuisance to take another bath, so I should take it easy so I wouldn't sweat. So, first…
Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!
I ran through the hallway. It seems like I can run quite fast with this body. At the corner, I lightly step one foot on the ground while I used another foot to step and pressed onto the wall to spin my body in the air for once before landed again on the ground. My thin nightgown skirt got blown up a bit while I did the spin but it's okay, nobody saw it anyways.
"This body's weight is much lighter than I expected so I don't need to put much force to move it. I think this body's agility is decent."
However, due to the difference in muscle mass in comparison to my original body, this body's strenght is too weak, resulting in low efficiency. I suffered a huge loss. At the very least luckily I was once a Holy Knight so I still retained some useful abilities. If I were only a normal knight, my hands would be trembling all over and not be able to even wield a long sword properly.
The Holy Knights' main ability is to be able to strengthen the body's physical strength with the holy power they possessed, so even an ordinary woman's body could be made to be useful.
I stretched my arms out in front of me and the smooth skinny arms came into my sight under the dim lights. They looked too skinny in comparison to those of any average ladies' and even half in size compared to my original body's arms. Moreover, I wasn't that muscular either in the past. I could be considered to be rather slim compared to my fellow comrades.
'I would rather be in a child's body whose age is less than ten years old. That way I will have more chances to grow stronger and won't be this hopeless.'
At the age of nineteen, this body's growth was almost complete, so I would need more than twice the effort to nurture my strength compared to if I were in a child's body. In other words, if I started to madly train my body like there's no tomorrow, then by the time I reached my original body's state, I would have been in my forties- and it's already too late to do anything else. If I tried really hard, I could become an official junior knight within five years, then in ten years it might be possible to become a senior knight, but even so, I would have been in my thirties. Most people would think that it's already an impressive achievement, but to be honest, I'm not satisfied in the slightest.
"…, hah,that's really depressing."
Yup, it's alright, all is fine as long as I'm still alive, no need to dwell too much on this matter. I'll just consider it as early retirement and get my hands on the Count's property so I can live the rest of my life leisurely. I scratched the back of my head and went down the stairs. There are several floors here, I wonder where I am right now.
'… I'm craving for some sweets.'
If I go to the kitchen, I can look for some leftover chocolate there. The dining hall was obviously on the first floor. I even jumped down the remaining stairs at once and searched along the hallway. Not here… not here either… Where is this… Ah! Found it!
"Excuse me, is there anyone here?"
It was really dark inside the dining hall because all the lightings have been turned off. There wasn't any people inside and even Sana, the head chef, seemed to be not in the place either. I saw it before that that door at the corner looked like it lead to the kitchen. I sneakily walked to the door which I assumed to be connected to the kitchen and grabbed the doorknob.
Creak…
Yes! I know I'm right! When I pushed open the door, I still could see some faint lights from the burned charcoals inside the fireplace. I quickly closed the door and went inside then I turned on the fire lighter onto the charcoals so that the burned charcoals kept their lights to lighten up the dark spacious kitchen even for a bit. Oh, the kitchen here is much better than the one inside the Church.
"Then, please pardon my intrusion, Miss Sana…"
I'll just take a little bit food here and there and I'll make sure nobody would ever notice that I've stolen some of it. Some well-seasoning frankfurters as big as goat's calf, grilled eels, and other similars food came into my sights but the food I'm looking for right now is dessert. It didn't matter even if it's just some chocolate powder used for cake decoration. After I scanned the things placed on the counter, I reached out my hand onto the nearby cupboard. As soon as I opened the closed cupboard's door, a round object as large as an adult's fist rolled out from the inside and fell onto the floor. Then…
Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!
"W-what is it?!"
A grey fur ball which fell on the floor started to spin around while letting out a loud squeking sounds. I subconsciously kicked the round strange object and finally the kitchen turned silence again after the strange object bumped into the wall. What's that? Is that a living creature? At the same time, I heard many quick footsteps came closer followed by a loud bang coming from the opened kitchen's door.
"HEY!! Bavar, you bastard! It's you again– huh? Miss Epheria?"
"Ah, hello…"
I awkwardly smiled to Sana who was wearing her pajamas. She was perplexed to see me here and she widely opened her mouth after she noticed the grey fur ball fell on the floor.
"My rat number 3!"
"… I don't know what it is, but I'm sorry."
Sana held the grey fur ball on her palm while looking sad and suddenly Ortzen appeared. He narrowed his eyes when he saw me inside the kitchen.
"What did you do here?"
"… you said that I can do anything I want even if it's troublesome."
"It's not… forget it. Please get out first."
Ortzen just sighed and beckoned to me to follow him. If it wasn't what I thought it was, then what could it be?
"Miss, you are really…."
"Why do you stop talking?"
"Then, shall I continue?"
"… No need. It's fine."
At least I know for sure that he wouldn't say anything good to hear. Alright, I was wrong, I was indeed wrong. I was stupid for trusted him when he said that I could do anything I wanted. Tsk.
"Now stop causing more troubles and just quietly go to sleep."
"Alright. Where is Captain Jullius' bedroom?"
"It's in the middle section on third floor. Wasn't he waiting for you in front of the bathroom? I've told him to wash up quickly and pick you up…"
"There wasn't anyone though?"
Let alone Captain Jullius, there was nobody, not even a single rat could be seen in front of the bathroom. Ortzen looked flustered after hearing my words.
"Then where could he– no, he couldn't have gone anywhere."
Ortzen quickly left the dining hall and soon after, he pulled out Captain Jullius who was dead asleep inside his bathtub. Of course I didn't see it myself. He wouldn't let me in. It's barely just a couple of minutes passed by, but Ortzen had a worn out look on his face and looked like he's aged three years older. He shoved us to the bedroom and told me to never ever left the room before the sky turned bright. It hasn't been an hour since he said that we could do anything as we pleased but now he's going back on his words. He's just like a reed!
(T/N: 해놓고선 갈대 같은 인간일세 is a Korean metaphor which literal translation is 'he's like a reed'. It actually means to call out on someone who's inconsistent in everything he do.)
I climbed up onto the big bed then looked around Captain Jullius' bedroom. All the furnitures inside this spacious bedroom were luxurious but there're almost no traces of them ever being used so this room was clearly used just for sleep.
The books on the bookshelf and even the decorative items were meticulously placed as if they have just been placed here not long ago.
"Do you feel very sleepy?"
Captain Jullius who was laying on his stomach with his back facing up, lifted his head for a bit after he heard my question.
"After I had a quick sleep, I can barely hold on."
But still, just by looking at his face and hearing his voice, I could tell that he's very sleepy. I pulled the blanket to cover him up and he buried his black-haired head in the pillow. I also feel sleepy. Now it's time for me to sleep too. I quickly fell into deep slumber after I've turned off the lights and crawled into the blanket.
***
After a long deep slumber, the day has turned bright and faint lights came inside the bedroom through the window. Back in the day when I was still in the church, because of the damn dawn prayer, I had to wake up on time unless there's any specific reason that hindered me from doing so. It feels good to be lazy once in a while. Even though I've already waken up, I stayed inside the blanket for a bit more before getting up. Captain Jullius was still sleeping.
"Captain Jullius, are you asleep?"
He still retained his sleeping posture by laying on his stomach just like that since last night without even moving an inch. I reached out my hand to stroke his head and his smooth silky black hair ran through my fingers. He lifted his head to face me and opened his pale grey eyes to look at me. At this time his eyes looked much more pretty than usual. His eyes are really beautiful.
"Did you sleep well?"
As I smiled and talked to him, he blinked his eyes slowly. He turned his body around to lay down sideways with one side of his cheeks on the pillow, then he finally answered.
"Mhm."
"Are you still sleepy?"
"…mhm."
"May I touch your face?"
"Mhm."
I think right now he will just agree on anything I asked him for. Should I ask for Callitus? Nah, nevermind. Even if I got my hands on it, it would be taken away by Ortzen later. Anyways, since I've received his permission, I moved my hand which was stroking his head to touch his cheek. His warm cheek is softer than its look. It's nothing to be surprised about since there's rarely any knight who has a bad skin. The knights' bodies are always in good condition, so naturally their skins also won't be that bad.
When my fingertips touched the area near his eyes, his half-opened eyes twitched slightly. I want to pinch his cheek, but I can't possibly do that, right? No, Captain Jullius might let me do it. Should I try asking him?
"Captain Jullius."
"Miss Epheria is…"
His hand held my hand which was stroking his cheek. Huh?
"Miss is…"
"Yes?"
"Are you not scared of me?"
Scared? Ah, were you worried about that? If I was any normal noble lady, then perhaps I might be scared of you. Even when our youngest member who had little experience on battlefield, went to the Special Task Squad and met with Captain Jullius, he whined and said that the Captain of Special Task Force was scary. I smiled and used my other hand to hold Captain Jullius' hand.
"I'm not scared. Not at all."
"… really?"
"Yes. Even if Captain Jullius pointed your sword towards me, I'm not scared."
Although I might felt a sense of crisis and an urge to escape but I won't run away. If I was still in my original body, then I would have happily accepted the duel while saying, "That's right! Let's have a duel!"
"Actually, Ortzen's nagging is more scary."
To be honest, my deputy was much more scary than Ortzen. That being said, I think Ortzen was being easy on me because I'm not part of Special Task Squad and just a normal noble lady. After Captain Jullius heard my words, he just nodded in agreement and had a blank look on his face.
"I also think so."
"Right?"
"… mhm."
Captain Jullius nodded again and muttered, "That's a relief," in a small voice.