Published at 2nd of May 2026 6:43 am

Chapter 2566: Housemate

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

Vanessa-san and I had already been having our home-drinking room-drinking? Well, since this is my house, calling it home-drinking isnt exactly wrong. Anyhow, we had already been drinking for a while, and now there were about four empty beer bottles lined up beside her. She drinks fast at this rate, I wouldnt be surprised if she started chugging straight from the bottle before long.

That said, Ive had drinks with Vanessa-san a few times before, but I still havent seen her get drunk at all for her, this amount isnt even a warm-up. At this stage, shes still in the I wanna get drunk already~~ phase, and after a bit more, shell go I guess Im a little tipsy now~ and then shell stay like that all the way to the end.

[Now that I think about it, Vanessa-san, youre pretty strong when it comes to alcohol, arent you? Its not like youre nullifying it with a Blessing like me or sobering up with magic, right?]

[Unn. Well, I guess its just my constitution. Ive got about a quarter dwarven blood in me though its not like I cant use magic to get rid of the effects of alcohol. If I drink too much the day before work, Ill use magic to deal with it and get rid of the smell too. I cant exactly show up to work reeking of alcohol.]

As usual, her tone sounded a bit low-energy, but there was a slight liveliness to her voice, she was clearly in a good mood. Right now, Vanessa-san gave off such a strong middle-aged guy drinking in a tatami living room vibe that it felt out of place in this Western-style room. But when shes working, shes perfectly sharp and composed, giving off the aura of a capable woman with no openings well, this is what shes like in private.

[By the way, Vanessa-san, you werent originally from the knight order like the others, youve been a maid since your time in the royal castle, right?]

[Unn. When Lilia-chan received her title and started her household, she got permission from His Majesty and put out a call for volunteers you know, for maids and servants and the like. I volunteered and came over. Technically its a bit different, but in terms of how Im treated, its pretty much the same as Illness-sensei.]

Apparently, in Illness-sans case, Lilia-san personally asked her to come along, but outwardly, its presented as her having volunteered and been hired as a maid by a newly established Duchy.

[Do a lot of people usually volunteer for something like that?]

[Hmm, Lilia-chans case was pretty special. New noble houses do recruit servants and maids, but those are usually filled through introductions or organizations like the World Maid Association. Its pretty rare for recruitment to happen at the royal castle itself. Lilia-chan is royalty, after all, and His Majesty was probably worried about her starting a new household, so he opened it up to volunteers.]

[Ahh, that does sound like something Ryze-san would do.]

If I had to guess, the timing was probably around when there was all that paranoia due to the knight orders information tampering. From Ryze-sans perspective, he likely wanted to select trustworthy personnel from within the royal castle, people whose backgrounds could be easily verified, to serve at Lilia-sans residence.

Still, taking care of everything personally would come with its own complications due to his position, so considering all that, he probably settled on a volunteer-based system.

[Were there a lot of applicants?]

[Nope, hardly any. Even if its for a Duchy, its still newly established, and in terms of salary and stability, working at the royal castle is better. Well, since its new and short on staff, theres a chance to be highly valued if you prove yourself capable, but in reality, the only ones who applied were a small group who were already quite close to Lilia-chan. Thats also why quite a few people switched from being knights to becoming servants or maids.]

Ive heard that many of the servants in Lilia-sans household are former members of the knight order. Apparently, Illness-san personally trained a considerable number of them, including the maids, so you could say that nearly all the servants and maids in the mansion are her students. Thats precisely why there are so many voices supporting her as the Head Maid, and Lilia-san herself would like that too.

The only issue is that Illness-san has absolutely no intention of taking the position.

[I see. So, Vanessa-san, you were close with Lilia-san back when she was still a princess, and thats why you volunteered?]

[Nope, not at all. We had some level of interaction because of our positions, but we hardly ever talked~~]

[Ehhhh T- Then why did you volunteer?]

[I thought Id have it easier here, you know~~ Even if things were hectic since its a new household, Illness-sensei would be there, so I figured the work might be fairly relaxed plus, if Illness-sensei left, I had a feeling Id get reassigned under Bea-senpai]

[Bea-senpai?]

[Beatrice-senpai. Shes a good person, but shes the strict type, both with herself and with others.]

[Ahh, I see.]

Yeah, considering Vanessa-san often says that work is a pain, her work style probably doesnt mesh well with Beatrice-san, whos practically called the ultimate super maid at heart.

Still, she calls her Bea-senpai, and refers to Illness-san in a similar way, so it doesnt seem like theyre on bad terms.

[It was a miscalculation, though~~ Seriously. I never expected that most of the maids would be inexperienced.. well, more like they were just freshly trained under Illness-sensei, and that in terms of both experience and ability, Id end up second only to her and then get placed in the Head Maid position that she turned down]

[But youre doing a solid job as Head Maid, arent you?]

[Well, you see, I might consider myself a bit of a scumbag, but Im the kind who doesnt cause trouble for others. Well, maybe except when I get drunk and mess with Kaito-kun]

[Hey, doesnt that count as causing trouble?]

[Cmon, look at our relationship~~ Lets get all intimate~~]

After casually replying like that, Vanessa-san stood up, walked over to the sofa where I was sitting, and plopped down beside me, deliberately throwing an arm around my shoulders.

Wait, shes only wearing a T-shirt! Or does she realize that and just not care? Either way, with her doing something like this, I cant help but feel how soft she is, and even though I try to stay composed, my heart is pounding like crazy.

[Vanessa-san, are you drunk already?]

[I wanna get drunk already~~ but not quite yet, I guess.]

It seemed like, for Vanessa-san, it was just a light joke, more like casual physical affection. She quickly pulled her arm away, gave a wry smile, and went back to drinking.

Eh? Arehh? Is she just going to keep drinking right next to me like this?

Serious-senpai : [Arent they already flirting!? These two are totally all over each other!!!]

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