After seeing Lily off, the rest of us decided to take a stroll through town.“Will Lily be okay on her own…?”“I’m a bit worried about a few things, but right now, she’s the one with the best chance of getting close to Rees. We just have to trust her. I’m sure she’ll manage to get some kind of information.”“I suppose so. But she’ll be fine. She’s always been reliable, and she’s strong even on her own. I’m sure she’ll pull this off too.”“…You’re right.”We can’t just keep worrying about her forever.Lily volunteered to infiltrate the palace herself. She must have had her own reasons. Let’s put our faith in that.Let’s trust her and pray for her safety.“Well, let’s do what we can. We can’t just leave everything up to Lily.”“What are we going to do now?”“First, gather intel. The odds aren’t great, but there might be another way to meet Reese. Ideally, we’d find someone who knows the details about her, but that’s probably a long shot.”“I guess only a select few can meet members of t

After leaving the tavern, I continued asking around.However, I didn’t manage to uncover any particularly useful information. That’s because I couldn’t learn anything beyond what the old man at the tavern had already told me.Everyone I spoke to gave me more or less the same story.As dusk was falling, I decided to call it a day.　When I returned to the inn, Lapis and Fine were already back.“Oh. You’re back.”“Welcome back. How did it go?”“I managed to ask around a bit, but I didn’t find any information about Rees beyond what Leon already told me.”“I see…”“How about you?”“I think… it’s probably all stuff Zest already knows…”“I see…”I’d been hoping for more, but I guess it was too difficult after all.“Why don’t we share the information we each gathered? There might be something I don’t know.”“That’s a good idea. I managed to find out quite a bit myself.”“Then I’ll go first. I was listening right next to my big sister the whole time.”“Please do.”And so, Fine told us what she

Let’s rewind a little.We’re in a room somewhere in the royal palace. Two maids are standing inside.One is a woman in her forties. She stands with her back straight, maintaining the kind of beautiful posture that could be called ideal for a maid.The other is a dragon-kin with a bust so ample it’s sure to catch anyone’s eye… Lily.“You must be the new recruit who just started today. What is your name?”“I’m Lily!”“Lily, I see. I am Meryl, the head maid of this palace and the one in charge of training new recruits. From now on, please address me as Head Maid.”“Got it! Nice to meet you, Head Maid!”The Head Maid furrows her brow at Lily’s choice of words.“Lily. Since we work as maids, I’d like you to be careful with your language…”“Language? I don’t really get it, but I always talk like this.”“………………”The Head Maid’s frown deepens.“…………Just to be clear, do you have any experience working in customer service?”“Hmm. I don’t think so. I used to help my dad out, though.”“………………Why

“In that case, Lily, I’d like you to clean this garden. The cleaning supplies are over there, so please use them as needed.”The head maid’s gaze fell upon a spacious garden. It was filled with well-tended plants, creating a scene so serene that simply looking at it brought a sense of peace.Several maids were already hard at work here and there, moving about busily.“Do I have to clean all of this?”“Not everything, but please make it as clean as possible. That is our job, after all.”“But it’s so big… I don’t think I’ll have enough time to do it all by myself…”“You don’t need to clean it perfectly in a single day. The goal is to maintain a view that doesn’t look unpleasant to anyone. With things like this, it’s the daily effort that matters.”“Hmm…”From Lily’s perspective, it was already well-maintained enough to look perfectly clean. At a glance, it didn’t look like there was any trash lying around.Deciding there was no need to make it any cleaner, Lily was wondering where to st

The man approaching them was none other than the king of this country—Gilbert. Gilbert wasn’t very tall and was a bit on the plump side, but his attire was as lavish as befits a king.Gilbert approached the two and stopped right next to them.Then, as soon as he saw Lily, he began to stare at her intently.“…………Hmm. I haven’t seen you before. Are you a new maid?”“Yes. She is a newcomer who was hired just yesterday. She is still in training, so I would appreciate it if you could overlook any minor discourtesies.”“Mmm, mmm. Having more maids really does make things more lively, doesn’t it? Heh heh heh…”　Gilbert fixed his gaze on Lily’s chest, grinning without even trying to hide it.“But… I rarely see a girl this well-endowed… Hey, you. You said she’s still a rookie, didn’t you? Why don’t you have her take care of my personal needs? It wouldn’t be so bad to have her attend to me full-time, would it?”“……She’s only been hired recently, so she can’t handle much work. I’m afraid she’s o