HTPTMOTMM Chapter 5

"Hmm... His body is surprisingly well-built."

Without realizing it, I found myself looking the approaching man up and down. I hadn't noticed when he was far away, but now that he was close, his build looked quite impressive. Moreover, he was so tall that I had to crane my neck up more than expected to see his face.

‘He has a trained body. He's probably not just a simple employee.’

The man tilted his head slightly and asked me, "But why are you out here alone? Did you perhaps get lost?"

"Ah... Yes, something like that."

"Oh dear, the mansion is large so the layout can be confusing at first. If you don't mind, shall I show you around?"

"Wow, really? That would be great for me."

I replied with a smile as well.

If someone saw us now, would they think we were strangers meeting for the first time? We were looking at each other's faces and smiling warmly, as if we were close friends.

But in reality, I didn't need a tour of the mansion. How many years had I spent roaming this mansion? What would be the point of getting a tour now? Calculating in game terms, I had been grinding here for several years over 43 playthroughs...

Hmm, um...

"......"

When I actually thought about it, I felt like I might have an existential crisis, so I decided not to dwell on it further.

"But your clothes are quite wet, so shouldn't you go inside for now? I don't mind setting aside time for this later."

Still, I had no intention of refusing the mansion tour this man had offered first. He was a new character after all! I always welcomed new scenarios that came with that. Honestly, the early part of the game had already been squeezed dry, and aside from fangirling over Dian, there was nothing interesting left, but now I felt excited for the first time in ages.

At my words, the man seemed to finally notice his appearance and looked down at himself.

"Ah, I just helped some children retrieve a ball they dropped in the pond, and I accidentally fell in too. But the weather is warm, so this will dry quickly."

The man spoke as if it was no big deal, then belatedly introduced himself.

"Oh, I'm Cheswick. I've been at the mansion for about a year."

"I'm Lynne."

"Lynne... That's a nice name. Welcome to the mansion."

The man who introduced himself as Cheswick smiled at me. Though all I could see was the lower half of his face, the shape of his lips curving up in a thin line was quite pretty.

"Oh...? Now that I look, his sharp nose bridge and jawline, and even his face shape are quite handsome?"

I became curious about the rest of the man's face hidden by his hair.

"I heard something quite remarkable though - they're saying that on your very first day here, you managed to take down a Morose single-handedly? That's genuinely impressive."

As we began walking across the lawn together, he spoke to me with a curious voice.

I still didn't know what Cheswick did at the mansion, but apparently the news of me taking down the head maid as soon as I arrived had already spread widely.

In this game, there were monsters and evil spirits that targeted the boys of the mansion, called Morose and Demons respectively.

Though it wasn't important information, I remembered reading that "Morose" came from the Latin word "Mors" meaning corpse, death, and destruction, while "Demon" came from the Latin word meaning devil.

"Not really. It was just one Morose, after all."

Taking down the head maid was a tutorial anyway, so it was incredibly easy. As such, it was the weakest among the monsters. So a humble response came out naturally.

"So the rumors were true. I heard there was a rumor that Lynne came through the elite course."

But apparently my casual dismissal had the opposite effect - instead of seeming humble, it came across as the quiet confidence of someone truly skilled.

Through his thick glasses and hair, Cheswick's eyes seemed to be gazing at me intently. It was a look that seemed somewhat interested in me.

But the word that came from his mouth bothered me. Elite course?

My ears perked up, but I pretended not to care and casually probed Cheswick.

"Oh, is that rumor going around?"

"Yes, the mansion was buzzing because a caregiver for Room 7 was coming, but considering all that, there wasn't much information revealed. Besides, not all caregivers can handle a Morose so simply by themselves."

Something in Cheswick's tone suggested there was more to this than he was letting on. The way he spoke about caregivers made me realize this job might be nothing like the simple childcare position I'd assumed it to be.

There's a separate elite course... So it's not just anyone applying and being selected through employee interviews?

"So all the other caregivers are curious about Lynne too. If Lynne is really from the elite, then you'd know the person in Room 4. I heard that among the current caregivers, only one person in Room 4 is from Stella."

Another unfamiliar term appeared. Stella? Is that group of elites called "Stella"?

Having thought of the caregiver job simplistically until now, I became even more puzzled after hearing Cheswick's words.

Then Cheswick spoke as if he had just remembered something.

"Oh, you know there's a welcome party for Lynne this evening, right?"

No. I'm just finding out now.

"We'll be able to talk more then."

Cheswick smiled at me as if he was looking forward to this evening.

"Cheswick...!"

It was then that someone called Cheswick's name in a booming voice. A blonde boy who had hurriedly run out of the mansion saw Cheswick and me together, startled, then shouted sharply.

"What are you doing there! You have so much to do, why aren't you coming quickly?!"

"Ah, yes. I'm coming now."

Cheswick answered the boy in the same somewhat indifferent, slow voice I'd heard when I first met him, then turned to me.

"I guess I'll have to finish showing you around the mansion later."

"You're a caregiver too, Cheswick?"

When I voiced the fact I had just realized, Cheswick tilted his head slightly to the side.

"Didn't I mention that?"

Through his hair fluttering slightly in the dry wind, mysterious purple eyes with a faint smile were revealed.

"I'm the caregiver in charge of Minyuel in Room 2."

After parting with Cheswick, who turned out to be the yellow cat's caretaker, I also headed toward the main building.

Though I hadn't been playing the game for long, I felt like I'd had quite a fulfilling time.

"I even saw two new characters!"

At first I was dissatisfied because of the game error, but now I was feeling a subtle sense of anticipation.

Anyway, in the current situation, there was nothing I could do even if I got annoyed and worried about the system error. So wouldn't it be okay to just enjoy this fresh feeling until the automatic logout after 48 hours in real time?

"Well, now that I've gotten the weapon I needed, let me go back to Dian."

With that thought, when I entered the building where Dian's bedroom was located...

"Caregiver! Something terrible has happened! Young Master Dian...!"

The sunfish's history had already begun.

"Young Master Dian!"

With the déjà vu I'd felt hundreds of times before, I burst open the door.

My sunfish young master was lying against the bed in his familiar pose. Dian frowned deeply as he looked toward the open doorway.

"Where have you been until now? You said you'd change clothes and come right back? The maid went to your room looking for you several times!"

"I'm sorry! I went to look for my bag!"

"What, a bag?"

"No, but why are you already injured, Young Master!"

Dian showed his confusion, but a bag wasn't what was important to me right now. Feeling absurd, I approached the bed and examined Dian's condition.

"I just tripped slightly and got a hairline fracture. This isn't even an injury."

Dian spoke with dignified pretense. But his eyes and nostrils were already reddened, and his tightly pressed lips were trembling pitifully. Seeing Dian's ankle wrapped in bandages and swollen, I lamented with sighs.

Dian was already prone to injury from trivial things, as if blessed by the planet of sunfish. Especially this time, he had even broken his shortest injury record.

A hairline fracture in his ankle from the first day of the game! Originally, only the tutorial of defeating the head maid was set for the first day of the game, so I thought there would be no other dangers to Dian this time either. But Dian was still Dian.

"How is a hairline fracture in your leg not an injury! It must hurt a lot, right? What about the painkillers the doctor gave you? Did you take them?"

"Yeah."

"Did you fall in front of the second floor stairs by any chance? I saw earlier that the floor there is worn and has nails sticking out. I should tell them to fix it right away!"

"It wasn't there, I fell somewhere else."

"Well, there are quite a few places besides there that look dangerous for kids! Sigh. To get hurt like this just because I took my eyes off you for a moment, how frustrating."

"Are you... worrying about me right now?"

"Of course I am."

I grumbled while unwrapping the bandages around Dian's ankle.

During this, Dian was strangely quiet. Normally I would have found this sudden silence more puzzling, but right now my attention was focused on Dian's ankle too. So I lamented with more sighs while bringing a vase from the table and beginning to pluck flower petals.

"What are you doing now?"

Dian also asked, seeming puzzled by my actions.

"The doctor here is a quack, so I'm going to redo it the way I learned."

I plucked the petals from the holy water diffuser's flowers and stuck them to Dian's ankle, then rewrapped the bandages. Dian looked surprised, his eyes widening at my skillful hand movements.

"You're really skilled. Did you formally study medical arts?"

Receiving Dian's question, I put into practice the "imitating a butler's lines from a certain classic manga" that had recently become a trend among players for fun.

"Heh. As one who serves as Young Master Dian's maid, how could I call myself that if I couldn't do at least this much?"

"Lynne is a caregiver, not a maid."

"Ah, that's right."

Anyway, Dian seemed impressed by my confident demeanor.

Actually kiddo, I've probably bandaged you up over a million times by now...

I recalled the time that had passed with a distant feeling.

"By the way, this quack's bandaging is still sloppy as usual."

The Redford mansion's resident doctor was an absolute hack who barely deserved the title. There was actually a hidden quest line that could transform this incompetent fool into a brilliant physician, but it required an incredibly tedious process. After grinding through that questline about twenty times across different playthroughs, I'd finally gotten sick of it and decided it was easier to just ditch him entirely and master the healing skills myself.

For reference, that quack doctor was one of the player's romance options in the game.

As I explained at the beginning, this game was a mixture of romance simulation, horror action, and nurturing genres.

So naturally, even this incompetent doctor was ridiculously handsome - it's that kind of game, after all. But beneath all that pretty wrapping, his actual personality was... well, let's just say I'd rather not get into details.

"Interesting. I knew about using holy water when infected with Morose poison, but this is the first time I've tried this method for just regular injuries, and it really does seem a bit more comfortable."

Dian muttered in amazement at the efficacy of the holy water-infused flowers. But I was dissatisfied with the effect, which was nothing compared to my prime.

Though I couldn't confirm with my own eyes since the system window wasn't appearing, the game had reset so my healing skill was definitely level 1 now. It seemed like I'd have to go around places like the kitchen and laundry room again for a while, diligently treating maids with minor injuries to raise my experience points.

"But just a moment ago."

Then Dian spoke as if he had just remembered something.

I went to your room because I wanted us to go to the welcome party together tonight…