The Peaceful Life Of A Maid Who Hides Her Power And Enjoys It - Chapter 24

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 24

By the time I had fitted shoes and men’s clothing, the sun was slowly setting behind the mountains.

Spending an afternoon without labor was the first time since I got employed as a maid. But why does it feel more exhausting than the days I spent quietly cleaning? The life of a maid is truly incomprehensible.

“Want some?”

I was on my way back to the park behind the busy district, dragging my tired body.

When I turned my head in the direction Lu suddenly pointed, I saw a colorful ice cream cart.

“…You’ll buy it for me?”

Suddenly showing such kindness? How suspicious.

“Originally, the carrot and stick should be given together for maximum effect. Even when training dogs, feeding them sweet treats in between helps them learn faster.”

Are you saying I’m a dog right now?

But if it’s this kind of free kindness, maybe being a dog for just a brief, brief moment wouldn’t be so bad.

When I carefully nodded, Lu gestured toward a bench at the park entrance.

“Sit quietly and wait.”

Following those words, Lu headed directly to the ice cream cart.

It’s food I’ve only eaten a few times. What a windfall.

‘Come to think of it, wasn’t there an Employment Office around here?’

Hmm. The days I spent sleeping rough in this park already feel like ancient history.

As I scanned the inside of the park, my gaze stopped at the vast cemetery situated on higher ground.

‘Was there a cemetery too? I only came here at night, so I didn’t know.’

Since it’s a cemetery located in the middle of such a big city, it must be a national cemetery.

The landscaping and grass were neatly maintained, and colorful flowers bloomed everywhere, so I didn’t feel the eerie atmosphere typical of cemeteries at all.

I concentrated all my attention and examined the hat hanging on the nearest tombstone.

It was a Mado Allied Forces hat.

On the stone slab in front of the bridge connecting the park and national cemetery, the district name was engraved in neat handwriting.

『Midwintree National Peace Park』

I walked toward that place as if entranced.

When I reached the bridge, I saw hundreds, thousands of tombstones before my eyes.

On the tombstones arranged neatly like blocks were written the names of those who died in the Mage War, or unrecorded names.

So many people had lived in Midwintry. And died.

The arrogance of thinking that northern cities, being far from the front lines, wouldn’t know the horrors of war.

Faced with a scene that seemed to pointedly criticize such arrogance, I couldn’t say anything.

‘Are there graves somewhere here of people I couldn’t even exchange names with on the battlefield?’

The moment I crossed the bridge while lost in strange sentiments and took my first step into the National Peace Park.

[Hey!]

Whoosh—

A sharp sound of cutting through air passed by my side.

The fishy smell of blood piercing my nose. At that familiar yet terrible scent, I reflexively turned around.

Nothing was visible.

The vast park, the ice cream shop beyond it, and Lu’s back as he should have been paying for ice cream in front of it no longer existed.

What replaced them were burning ruins, corpses, shaking ground, and soldiers gritting their teeth as they charged forward.

What is this?

[Hey, where are you looking?]

Someone urgently pushed my shoulder.

Into my shaking vision came some man’s face. On his features, dirtied with blood scabs and dust, were fear and anger toward death.

[What are you doing? Snap out of it, you idiot! You’ll die if you space out!]

Ah, right. This is a battlefield.

We’re fighting a war.

I shook my head to regain my senses. Was it because I hadn’t gotten proper sleep these past few days? I seemed to have had a momentary dream while standing.

Just moments ago, I felt like I belonged to a different world, but now I couldn’t even remember what kind of dream it was.

What a strange experience.

[Mephistopheles’ Demon Legion launched a surprise attack from the east. We’re abandoning this village, there are too many of them. Hurry and evacuate the residents!]

“What about you?”

[I’m going toward the Cathedral! I heard there are elderly people with mobility issues receiving treatment there.]

“Lead the way. I’ll provide cover.”

The ground shook greatly. It was a signal that enemy forces were rapidly approaching.

We ran to the Cathedral situated on high ground in the village.

“Find a cart! If there are many elderly people, we can’t take them one by one.”

[The Cathedral here managed quite extensive farmland. There should definitely be carts in the back…]

At that moment, roughly rising dust covered our bodies.

Crash!

It was a long-range wave attack from siege-type demons. When the indiscriminately fired attack struck the ground, dust filled the air everywhere.

Sharp pain arose in my waist, but that was all. Fortunately, I wasn’t seriously injured.

[Cough, cough!]

However, the soldier who had been moving with me was not so lucky.

“Hey, you…”

[Ugh, aaaaah! My, my leg! My leg!]

One leg was severed, and the remaining leg was also damaged.

“Damn it.”

Unfortunately, there was no time to stop the bleeding now. I urgently supported the man’s arm and shouted.

“Snap out of it! There’s no time to space out. Grab my neck, I’ll support you. Hurry!”

[Huff, gasp.]

Fearful breathing fell near my ear. With trembling hands, he pushed me away and said.

[It’s, it’s okay… Leave me and go. In, instead, give my mother my final farewell…]

“Don’t talk nonsense. Say those words with your own mouth after the war ends!”

[Stop it. I can’t feel my left leg either. I can’t move, I’ll be a burden to you… Hurry, at least the Cathedral… And my name and hometown are…]

“Didn’t you hear me? I said tell her yourself after the war ends!”

In the confusion, an incongruously cold voice was heard.

“No, Daisy. The war is over.”

Daisy? Could that be this man’s name?

Thinking it was an unexpectedly pretty name, I struggled to lift his body.

“Right, it’ll end someday! But not now. Get up, friend. Let’s hurry and find a cart. For now, you wait there…”

“There’s no cart here. No Cathedral, no Demon Legion, and no elderly people you need to save.”

Something was strange.

I looked back at the man. The man had stopped. The dust swirling around us, the shaking ground, the screams, the crying—nothing could be heard.

In a world where time had stopped, someone spoke to me.

“The war is over. Come back now.”

“…It’s over?”

“Yes, no one dies anymore. See? The only thing dying right now is your ice cream that I’m holding.”

I looked around, but couldn’t see the owner of the voice. How could this be happening?

“That’s a relief, you seem a bit more stable now. It seems talking to you had an effect. …You look young, miss. Were you with the Allied Forces?”

This time I heard a relatively more mature voice.

I looked at the man I had been supporting. His body was crumbling very slowly, gradually. Like a sandcastle collapsing in waves.

“I’ve often seen veterans like this young lady. Sigh, it’s a sad thing. It’s also a terrible tragedy that can’t be undone. That the heroes who achieved peace must suffer even after achieving peace.”

An invisible force gently lowered my arm. As I stood there dazed, I felt warm warmth patting my head.

“Let’s go back now. Rest comfortably.”

Who could be the owner of this voice?

The question didn’t last long. As my body grew heavy, the world flickered.

When I opened my eyes again, what I saw was an unfamiliar scene.

It was already dark outside. However, the moon outside the window was so large and bright that I could clearly see the interior of the room.

My whole body felt tired.

‘…Since the last voice I heard was Lu’s. It shouldn’t be a strange place.’

The moment I checked beyond the window with that thought, a very familiar view came into sight.

Under the brightly shining full moon, the Weatherwax Estate was situated.

Which means.

“The water is over there.”

This is the Eshuler Estate.

And the man sitting in a chair by the wall shrouded in deep darkness, reading a book, was the new owner of this estate, Lu.

‘Isn’t it uncomfortable to read a book in such a dark place?’

Something even I, with my extremely developed senses, would avoid doing.

But since Lu doing peculiar things wasn’t a recent development, I drank the water first.

Only after the water entered my mouth did I realize that my body had been parched. As my head cleared, I recalled what happened just before I fainted.

The terrifyingly realistic hallucination I experienced at the National Peace Institute.

‘It wasn’t even dreaming while standing. To think I couldn’t distinguish between reality and fake.’

I slowly set down the glass. My hands were trembling finely, and I felt like I might drop the glass if I wasn’t careful.

Just recalling it makes my palms soak with cold sweat and sends chills through me.

This feeling of having become completely weak.

This sensation of being unable to control my own body is deeply unpleasant.

In the later stages of the war, I never trembled with such instinctive fear like this.

Why am I experiencing something like this now?

“…Thank you for helping me.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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