After finishing their baths in the lie-down bath, Kaito and Illness dried themselves off with a towel and moved to the adjacent rest room. Wearing the bathrobe provided and with his hair wrapped in a towel, Kaito looked at the room with interest.
[Heehhh…… So there’s a room like this huh.]
[Yeeeees. It’s for enjoying a moderate breeeeeeak while taking a baaaaaath.]
[It’s true that one could get dizzy when you stay in the bath for a long time, and on the other hand, it takes time to enjoy the various baths here, so I guess this place is nice when taking a break.]
[You are sweating from bathiiiiiing, so I’ll prepare you a driiiiiink.]While preparing iced tea using the equipment installed in the rest room, Illness pondered.
(With Kaito-sama’s current staaaaate, there’s a possibilityyyyy that he’ll take a few more baths after he finished his breaaaaak.)
With such thoughts in mind, Illness prepared Kaito’s drink and placed it in front of him, while placing her own drink on the seat opposite his and sat down. From the flow of things up to that point, it was clear that Kaito wouldn’t allow Illness to stand all by herself and would encourage her to sit down just like him.
[It just occurred to me, so I couldn’t help wondering……]
[Yeeees?]
[I felt like Illness-san had always been working, but do you take days off?]
[Yeeees. Milady was alsoooooo being mindful of this matteeeeeer, so I’m on my day off today toooooo.][I see…… Unnn? You’re on day off today too?]
Kaito was under the impression that Illness could always be seen at the mansion. There are often times when he couldn’t see Lunamaria, Sieglinde and some of the other personnel, and he could tell that those were their days off.
In Sieglinde’s case, since she lives in Lilia’s mansion, there are times when Kaito could see her even on her days off, but in her case, Sela, who she’d always leave beside Bellfreed and Lindwurm during work, would almost always be with her on her day off, so one could easily tell she’s on her day off when Selas is on her shoulder.
However, when it comes to Illness, Kaito did recently see her taking a break with Nebula, but there wasn’t a time when he didn’t see her around at all.
[Eh? Then, even though you should be resting now, you’re still working?]
[Nooo~~ Taking care of Kaito-samaaaa is something I love to doooo, so you can’t really say this is woooork.]
[……H- Hmmm.]
[Besiiiides, just like this tiiiiime, I’m mostly just taking a baaaaath.]
[……When you describe it like that, it’s kinda hard to refute.]
It’s true that the current situation is influenced by Kaito’s incessant invitations, but Illness seems to be enjoying the Relaxation Room together with him, so it’s hard for him to say whether Illness is working or not.
However, seeing the unsatisfied look on Kaito’s face, seemingly worried whether Illness had been working too much, Illness chuckled.
[It seemed like Kaito-sama was misunderstanding somethiiiiing. I do regularly take breaks, you knoooow? Precisely speakiiiiiing, I was having my clones do the jooooob while the main body reeeeests.]
[Eh? Ahh, that’s why I could always see Illness-san.]
[Yeeeees. When I go ouuuuut, I would always leave my clone in the mansiooooon. Even like thiiiis, I’m still a Count-raaaaank, so I can make clones with the same ability as meeeee.]
Illness is also a Peak Count-rank, and although she wasn’t as skillful at making use of clones as Alice, she can still create clones, which she uses on a regular basis.
Or rather, in her case, she also serves as the Phantasmal King’s Executive, and there are times when she can’t handle missions designated for her alone, so she makes use of her clones.
[I don’t really understand how that works, but don’t you get feedback from your clones’ fatigue and injuries?]
[Not reallyyyyy. Cloooooones are basically lumps of magic power. You can share information with theeeem, but damage to the clones’ bodyyyyy will not affect the main bodyyyyy. If it’s world-class powerhouses like Aliiiiice, they may be able to create clones with their own physical bodiiiiies, but that’s something I can’t dooooo.]
[I see, well…… I’m glad you’re resting, I’llness-san.]
[Thank you for your conceeeeern.]
When Illness said that with a smile, Kaito suddenly fell silent, looking as if he was thinking about something, and after a while, he spoke.
[……Illness-san, a question…… The fact that you keep clones in the mansion when your main body isn’t there means, doesn’t that mean that if you want, you can go out without needing to stay back in the mansion to do some work?]
[Yeeees. In faaaact, at that time of the Six Kings Festivaaaaal, I went all the way to the Demon Reaaaaaalm.]
[Ahh, come to think of it, that did happen…… In that case, even though I was concerned about the amount of work and position of responsibility she has, if someone wants to invite her, she can be invited to do something within a certain amount of time……]
Hearing Illness’ words, Kaito muttered in a voice soft enough that people wouldn’t hear it…… but Illness, with her overwhelming capabilities, could easily hear his small mutters.
(Oyaaaaa? Oya oya…… This is…… Perhaaaaaps, would it be alright to expect an invitation from hiiiiiim?)
For Illness, who had always wanted to go somewhere with Kaito, such an opportunity had unexpectedly come, and feeling unusually expectant, her heart was slightly beating fast.
<Afterword>
Serious-senpai : [Oi, oi, can you not raise too many flags leading to the next flag? Casualties would appear, you know?]
Makina : [Errr, where’s the script? Let’s see…… Who’s gonna die again?]
Serious-senpai : [It’s me!]
Makina : [Is that so? However, I can revive you easily, so it’s gonna be okay.]
Serious-senpai : [……No, that doesn’t make it okay……]