HTPTMOTMM Chapter 9

After a moment, when the cloth blown by the wind had completely disappeared, Sara Rose could see the mysterious pink-colored eyes nearby.

Lynne, the caretaker of Room 7, had a round, gentle-looking face. Though her age was unknown due to lack of information, looking at this face, one might think she was the youngest among the caregivers.

In any case, her overall appearance looked young and frail, so when the people of Redford Manor first saw Lynne, they would secretly show glances mixed with doubt and concern about whether she could fulfill her role as a caregiver properly.

However, the arms that were now firmly wrapped around Sara Rose's waist to support her didn't budge even under her not-insignificant weight.

"I must have opened the window too wide. I didn't know the tablecloth would fly over there."

Lynne, who had been steadily holding onto Sara Rose, pulled her up to stand properly and then let go.

"Th-thank you."

Sara Rose thanked her somewhat dazedly.

"Don't mention it."

Then Lynne lifted one side of her nightgown like a lady and smiled brightly.

Rather than appearing elegant and dignified, she looked exactly like a playful girl - cute.

"Here... I brought water for you to wash your face."

"Thank you, Sara Rose."

Lynne washed her face with cat-like motions using the water from the basin Sara Rose had brought. Sara Rose stood at a distance, stealing glances at her. Perhaps because her heart was still unsettled from the incident earlier, her cheeks felt strangely warm.

So with her slightly flushed face, she also sneaked looks at Lynne wiping the water from her face with a towel after finishing her wash.

"Do you have something to say?"

"Ah, no!"

Only when Lynne looked up and gave her a look as if asking why she was still standing there did Sara Rose suddenly realize her mistake. She belatedly tried to hurry out of the room with the basin.

But just as Sara Rose was about to open the door and go outside, Lynne called out to her.

Today marks the third day since being trapped in the game <The Young Masters of Monster Manor - Raising an Angel Boy>.

Today too, due to the lazy management's scheming, I was unable to log out of this bug-ridden game and greeted the morning in a room at Redford Manor.

'Ah, it's inconvenient that the game system window is broken.'

I grumbled internally while washing my face with the water the maid Sara Rose had brought.

Normally, the system window would always be on standby, telling me who was coming, what today's schedule was, and such.

If the game system window hadn't broken, upon seeing Sara Rose bringing the wash water, a quest window like this might have appeared:

※Let's increase the favorability of the employees working at Redford Manor!※ If you become close enough to share secrets, the kind maid might give you a hidden quest.

• Favorability Target 1. Sara Rose: Maid in charge of Room 7's caregiver (21 years old/female)
• Current favorability (?/100)

Incidentally, even though there's a washroom in the room, the reason the maid personally brings wash water every morning like this is because it's not ordinary water but holy water. Since this is a manor where evil spirits and monsters appear, washing one's face with holy water daily was the rule.

Besides this, Redford Manor had other peculiar rules.

The manual with those rules was originally in my bag... but naturally, along with the lost bag, the paper with the living guidelines had also evaporated.

But as for me, wasn't I a 44th playthrough player of this game? That paper scrap? I don't need it. I've already memorized all the really, really important rules.

Besides, those rules were mostly occult-like content that seemed familiar, created as devices to enhance the game's atmosphere. For example, they were like this:

• If you find a bloody golden button dropped on the floor, don't pick it up but be sure to step on it with your right foot as you pass.
• Even if a woman in a black veil appears in the corridor with the purple room and asks questions, don't answer.
• Be sure to close the windows before bed. Even if someone knocks on the window in the middle of the night, you must not open it.

If you don't follow these rules several times, your stamina could drop and you might become possessed by evil spirits, so you needed to be careful.

"Oh, Sara Rose."

"Y-yes?"

When I called out to Sara Rose who was just about to leave the room after I finished washing with holy water, she looked back at me with a start. I thanked her.

"Thank you for lending me clothes! I'll wear them cleanly and return them by this week."

"Oh... it's nothing. If there's anything else I can help you with, please let me know."

Sara Rose, who seemed shy, blushed bashfully at my words.

Since I couldn't find my bag and had no clothes to change into, yesterday I had no choice but to ask Sara Rose if there were any spare maid uniforms I could borrow, explaining my situation.

I expected some refusal, but she readily lent me her clothes.

Originally, Sara Rose was a colleague and roommate I was closest to when I previously played the game as a maid. Since Sara Rose was also a newcomer who had just entered the manor, she formed a better rapport with me than other maids.

Anyway, I was gratefully wearing the clothes Sara Rose had lent me. The basic uniform provided by the manor drew too much attention from people just to wear casually.

Still, I figured I should at least know the basic setup, so when I asked other people about it, they told me that those uniforms were only worn on days when there were performance evaluations and ranking ceremonies for the caregivers and children, or when someone among them was being expelled from the manor for failing to meet qualifications. After hearing that explanation, I could finally understand, at least somewhat, why that Olivia sister had been so touchy and sensitive about my outfit at the welcome party.

‘But honestly, performance evaluations and ranking ceremonies—what kinds of things don't they do around here? What exactly are the criteria they use for determining the rankings? Could there possibly be some kind of consequence if you end up in last place?’

Since everyone wouldn't tell me about this part, it seemed I'd have to find out separately later.

I sent Sara Rose away and opened the simple dressing room wide to change clothes.

Anyway, today marks the third day since entering Redford Manor.

Originally, today was supposed to be the day the game's first episode began.

Let me see.

As I walked down the corridor, I recalled the episode that would start today if the development proceeded as before.

After the tutorial, this game's first episode involved investigating a suspicious purple room in the manor's annex.

The third day after the player entered Redford Manor. Starting that night, the boy who was the nurturing target would suffer from a severe fever and cold of unknown cause - this was the event that signaled the beginning of this episode.

However, the manor's quack physician would only say the frustratingly obvious - that the young master had caught seasonal flu - and carelessly prescribe shoddy medicine.

Naturally, the nurturing target's fever wouldn't drop at all, and then the player would hear one peculiar rumor.

The purple room in the annex where children's footsteps could be heard every night. But the night before, a guard patrolling the manor had witnessed the player's nurturing target boy standing in the corridor in front of that room.

However, the boy had definitely been receiving the player's care that night. The player would feel something was strange and decide to go find that purple room from the rumors.

'That was roughly how the content proceeded.'

I stepped on the golden button visible in front of me with my right foot as I passed, reviewing the content I knew.

According to the scenario, Dian should start getting terribly sick tonight.

The thought of our goldfish-like white cat languishing made my heart heavy already.

At least it was comforting to know the shortest route to complete this episode from years of experience.

But on the other hand, I was also concerned that with the new job setting of caregiver this time, the story development might change significantly. Of course, I could be lucky and the development might change in a direction that made it easier...

'Well, until night comes, I won't know which way it'll be, so there's no point worrying about it in advance.'

"Good morning, young master! It's a beautiful morning, isn't it?"

For now, I went to find Dian's room to have breakfast with him.

But as soon as I entered the room, Dian, who had been sitting on the bed, quickly hid whatever he was holding under the blanket. The boy who was cute enough to make me want to pinch his cheeks today too looked back at me with a flustered expression and shouted.

"How can you come in without knocking?!"

"Hey, that's unfair. I definitely knocked before coming in."

"You should have come in after hearing an answer!"

"Ah, that's true. I was rude."

I slipped into the room and glanced at the blanket where Dian had just hidden what looked like a thin notebook or book.

What was it? If it had been the sixteen-year-old Dian I'd raised in previous playthroughs, I might have suspected he was secretly reading books with red stickers behind his sister's back, but the Dian in front of me now was a pure and innocent twelve-year-old boy.

"Ahem, anyway, you came at the right time. A maid came by earlier and the table is already set, so go sit at the table."

Dian stood up, blocking the bed with his body as if to block my gaze. I also turned my gaze away from the white blanket and smiled brightly at Dian.

"I thought so - I could smell something delicious from outside the door."

Aw, cute kid. Look at those wary eyes when I have no intention of taking it. I don't know what it is, but I should just pretend not to know. Children need some privacy too.

Ah, but of course, since this was Dian who received love from the goldfish planet, I should probably check once to make sure it wasn't something dangerous he'd picked up somewhere.

If he happened to have it, it might be a book that could have a bad influence on its owner, so I should find an opportunity later to appraise it discreetly. Especially since today was the day the first episode would begin, it seemed better not to let my guard down.

'Oh, but how do I appraise it without the system window?'

Then I frowned at the sudden realistic realization.

"I-I'm not picking out beans."

But suddenly, Dian, who was sitting across from me, said something out of the blue in a trembling voice.

Huh? Beans?

I came out of my reverie and focused on Dian's face.

"I just put them aside to eat later. I-I'm going to eat them now, so watch."

Dian's eyes and hands were trembling just as much as his voice. In that state, he scooped up the beans on his plate with a spoon. Then Dian trembled again, squeezed his eyes shut, and put the spoon in his mouth.

"Bwah... ee ish?"

Could it be he's...?