Antagonist Protection Service-Chapter 62: Noble Lady’s Attendant

After warning Mikhael to stay away from a certain girl with pink hair and eyes, I returned to Lucretia’s side.

Whether she knew I wouldn’t be clear with it or due to some other reason I’m not sure, but either way, she ended up not bothering to ask me what the two of us talked about, saving me some trouble.

On a side note, I belatedly recalled that the Holy Sword sheathed on my hip possessed a ’Holy’ property; whether it was because I hadn’t drawn it, nothing happened, but I subsequently wondered if there might be a problem due to bringing the power of another world’s deity into a temple of this world’s gods.

Still, considering that nothing happened even when I talked with Mikhael, a proclaimed Saint, I thought there must be nothing to be overly concerned about.

’Maybe that’s why he said he could sense divinity...’

So, without a second thought, we exited the Sunlit Temple and went on our way towards the Commercial District.

The moment we left passed back through the archway to the outside statues, I heard the return of the missing voice.

[E-Enki...? Oh! Finally!]

’Librarian?’

[Thank goodness! Our connection had been interrupted and I couldn’t figure out what was going on! I was so very worried...!]

Flinching briefly at her abrupt return, I vividly felt the rapid beating of my heart gradually calm.

’I was wondering why you were silent for so long... It must have been the Goddess; I think she gave me a Blessing, can you check?’

Needless to say, I could have done it myself by opening the Status, but I wanted to conserve the energy stored inside the Mark as much as possible since I wasn’t sure how much I could afford to use it.

Since the Librarian wasn’t held back by such restraints, I thought there would be no issue with having her do it for me.

[Oh my goodness, really?! Certainly! Allow me to check... Oh, wow!]

’Is it there?’

[It certainly is! Erm, I’m not quite sure what it does, however...! The description is rather mystifying, you see!]

’It’s alright, I just wanted to confirm it for now. I can check it out properly when I return.’

Assuming it was a permanent Blessing, that is.

Well, nothing about what the Goddess said suggested that it wasn’t permanent, so I didn’t even consider the possibility that it might only be temporary. Either way, if it was ambiguous, then I would have no choice but to wait until then unless I wanted to waste some Mark energy.

Dismissing the matter for now, I turned my attention back to Lucretia, who coincidentally called me at the moment we arrived back at the bottom of the Sunlit Temple’s marble staircase.

"Enki, today is the date of Lady Pyella’s noon tea party, correct?"

"That’s right. We’ll be going to get her a gift before then."

"I see. Then, Ladies Verona and Peyton will be attending as well; their families are yet neutral in relation to ours, so I surmise it may be beneficial to purchase gifts for those two also. However, as it would be unfitting to leave out the rest of the attending ladies, we shall additionally purchase gifts for the lot. Of course, as we are now bringing gifts for everyone, we cannot have it that the holder of the tea party is left underappreciated and feeling a sense of discourtesy, and therefore we must now bring two gifts for Lady Pyella, to compensate. Do you agree with my presumption, Enki?"

Holding her left elbow with the other arm as she turned to face me, her chin lifted just slightly off her hand, she seemed to be looking for a second opinion.

"..."

Processing everything she vomited out in such a hasted, calculated voice was difficult, so I just smiled.

"That sounds perfect."

Naturally, I didn’t have a single clue what she was talking about or who those "other ladies" even were. In fact, I thought she was just talking aloud to herself at first, but as revealed by the very last line, apparently not.

Nevertheless, receiving my answer, she nodded.

"Yes, I thought as much. And the corrected funding is prepared?"

Prompted by her question, I took out the coin pouch from within my suit and peered inside.

"Plenty."

Actually, I didn’t know if that was a lie or not.

We were only supposed to be buying a gift for one person this morning, so I wasn’t sure there would be enough now that the number had multiplied by about eight times.

Still, when I looked, there were a fair amount of reflective gold coins in there jingling about, in addition to a few coins of other fancy hues.

I know I was the one who was tasked with preparing it, but since I didn’t have any idea what the currency of this world was like, I actually just had one of the maids, Mary, do it for me.

’Sorry. If we end up not having enough, I’ll be blaming you.’

Thankfully, that same Mary seemed to have some idea of what Lucretia would end up doing as there were still coins left even after all of the gifts were purchased. Most of the items bought were jewellery or other accessories, so although I, of course, had to carry everything, it didn’t turn out to be nearly as heavy as I feared.

Thereafter, I accompanied her to the tea party and handed out each gift as I was instructed before finally being let go to roam and do my own thing while she socialised.

Honestly, it felt like I was being dragged along as a pet in that manner, but feeling alone grateful for the fact that I didn’t have to sit with all of the other noble ladies while they gossiped, I was more or less fine with the outcome.

It was only after turning round a corner and dropping to the floor that I could take a break.

"Haa, man..."

’This is so tiring...’

It had been a matter of days since I entered the role, but it was still hard being the attendant of a noble young lady. Or maybe it was just Lucretia who was too strict.

Even though I wasn’t her actual subordinate, it definitely felt like she forgot about that fact sometimes, and despite me being almost four years older than her and not a commoner, she was able to treat me just the same as all the other servants of the mansion.

What talent.

’...Well, to be fair, it’s not that bad most of the time. I didn’t expect weekends to be so busy, though.’

For someone who rarely left the house even on Earth, it was unexpectedly tough to be worked so hard for someone else’s sake on a daily basis. I didn’t like it by any means, but at the same time, it’s also not like it was completely terrible.

Maybe the only reason I hadn’t yet collapsed was thanks to Professionalism, but that also wasn’t something I could know was true or not.

’Having to be so careful of how I speak and act all the time is the most exhausting thing...’

Even though that was also something I could feel was being taken care of by Professionalism, it’s not like I could do it without any active mental effort on my part, so doing it all day still took it out of me.

Frankly, I couldn’t wait for this Contract to be over.

At the moment, all I wanted to do was lie down and not think about anything for a while, but even that was impossible.

’Too much... just for a three-star...’

Some part of me shuddered every time I imagined what it would be like to take on an even higher Difficulty... but, it’s not like that’s something I would have to do for a while, so it wasn’t hard to quickly forget about it.

"...Librarian, do we still not know how many love interests there are? So far, we’ve encountered what... four? Including Mikhael. I’ve already dissuaded him and the mage, or well, hopefully. If that guy listens, it leaves just the red-head and the prince. Do you think there are any more?"

[Certainly! Erm, so, it’s difficult to say... If we had access to the source material, I would be able to inform you, Enki, but alas...]

Hearing a response which could only be considered unsurprising, I sighed.

"Yeah, don’t worry. I get it. It’s three-star Difficulty. It never was going to be that easy, was it..."

’Still, isn’t a harem of four enough for you? Greedy bitch. Some people struggle to win over even a single heart, you know? And, some people... can’t even handle that much.’

I grinded my teeth for a bit before reminding myself that it was just the setting of the story, and that getting wound up over it was of no use.

The thought also occurred that maybe I should start reading more once I get back home.

Though not all of the Contracts were strictly books, I got the feeling that not many T.V. shows or movies had a main character who was hard to kill, and as for video games, I had already played a lot of those anyway.

Those online novels like the first Contract would probably be best since they’re what I’m most unfamiliar with.

Visit freёnovelkiss.com for the 𝑏est n𝘰vel reading experience.

’Librarian already seems to have those ’light novels’ taken care of... ah, and Ina, too, I guess. Now that I think about it, she might actually be useful in that.’

[E-Enki, please... It is research, you know! For my assistant duties!]

"Yeah, no, keep it up. Anyway, for the red-head, he didn’t seem like the type who would listen to words or reason, but I’m sure I can find another way to take care of him without too much trouble, don’t you think? At least, he screams the simple type to me."

’At the end of the day, the only concern continues to be the little prince... that bastard.’

My train of thought naturally flowed to the final item on today’s agenda.

In preparation for Lucretia’s birthday, her coming-of-age ceremony as well as her official engagement to the crown prince, she was scheduled to have dance practice. Well, I didn’t doubt that she was already practising, knowing how diligent she was.

The problem wasn’t the practice itself, but rather the partner.

"Why are they practising together...?"

No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t possibly see it going well.