Novice Reincarnator

The knocking on my door woke me up at 5am. I hadn’t been able to sleep well last night knowing that this day was coming. Alas, the day for me to fulfill Cecilia’s silly request for me to work as a maid had finally arrived.

“Get dressed and meet me in the kitchen in ten minutes.”

“Got it.”

Helen left me to get her work done. I suppressed a yawn as I struggled to change into the standard maid uniform. The clothes were thicker and heavier than what I had been wearing recently. Thankfully, my improved control over my ki allowed me to reduce my high body temperature back to normal levels or else I would have been sweating.

“Ugh, I haven’t worn a skirt since Elizabeth and the others turned me into a girl and forced me to crossdress.”

As a former man, I was distinctly uncomfortable with the idea of wearing a skirt. It was a relief that the skirt portion of the maid uniform went down to my ankles. My goal was to change into a better person. That meant I needed to try new things and experience all that life had to offer.

I never thought I would one day be working as a maid in the Upper Realm, but here I was. Looking at my appearance in the mirror filled my heart with an ample amount of embarrassment and a tiny sense of excitement. I was changing. This was proof of it.

A few minutes later, I made my way to the kitchen. I blended right in with everyone else in my maid uniform. Nobody gave me any odd glances. Even so, I turned bright red every time somebody saw me in a skirt. A rough man wearing a chef hat spoke up upon seeing me.

“Good, you are here. Please help prepare the food for today.”

“Glad to be working with you, Ralph!”

“Hehe, you are the same gluttonous lass as ever. Don’t swipe some food while you are working. I promise it will be much better after it goes through a Master Chef’s hands like mine.”

My eyes glowed with admiration at the Master Chef’s work. Forget being an Adept, being a Master Chef would allow me to eat good food everyday.

I followed Ralph’s instructions, eager to steal whatever technology I could for cooking great food. Unfortunately, we were only preparing the ingredients. Making breakfast would have to wait until later.

Time quickly passed under the easy bantering of the kitchen staff. According to them, I was well known amongst the kitchen staff for how deliciously I ate their meals. That made me rather popular with them. I fit in right away.

“Fang, I need you to wake up Cecilia.”

Helen dropped by the kitchen and gave me a new assignment.

“Me? Shouldn’t that be the job of a more experienced maid?”

“Unfortunately, this is something only you can do. You will understand when you wake Cecilia.”

With a few ominous words, I was sent off to Cecilia’s bedroom. I didn’t see what the big deal was, but a sudden pang of nervousness hit me when I was standing in front of Cecilia’s door.

“Cecilia, it is time to wake up.”

Knocking and calling out her name produced no results. The strong life force I sensed through the door hadn’t moved at all from its location. Well, Helen wouldn’t need me to wake up Cecilia if it could be so easily accomplished.

“I’m coming in.”

I had been inside Cecilia’s bedroom a few times during my stay so far, but it never seemed to get any easier. Unlike what one might expect from a girls bedroom, Cecilia’s room had the bare minimum. As far as I could tell, she only used it as a place to sleep.

A huge bed several times larger than usual was placed in the center of the bedroom. My cheeks heated up when I thought about how this bed was probably ordered to facilitate the birth of a new generation of Legendary talents.

There was no proof that a Legendary would sire more Legendaries. In fact, the Demon King and others had all produced several children throughout the years without ever birthing a new Legendary. The fact that Leo was a Legendary talent like his father was rather unusual.

Even so, talented parents tended to produce talented children and one couldn’t hope but to get lucky by using the highest quality partner.

Sunlight filtered in through the window, producing a sparkle on the long threads of silvery hair. It was like I had walked into the world of a painting. Thin, delicate eyelashes framed the angel’s closed eyes. If it was any of the other maids, they would have fainted at the sight.

I didn’t see Cecilia Snowlight, the powerful and confident explorer who could even stand up to a Legendary Demon King. All I saw was a fragile and delicate looking girl sleeping quietly in her bed. I was afraid that she would break like glass if I shook her too hard.

Somehow, it was too lonely. Cecilia lived in a far too big mansion by herself, ate at the long dining table by herself, and slept in this huge bed all by herself.

My nosy heart ached. Cecilia Snowlight acted like she didn’t need any companions in her life, but I couldn’t help but want to support her when I saw her like this. It was all my own delusions and misunderstanding. Cecilia was a far stronger person than I was. Even so, that didn’t change my own feelings of wanting to help her.

“Wake up, Cecilia.”

I called out to the sleeping princess, but she did not stir from her deep sleep. The bed was too big for me to shake her from the side. I had no choice, is what I told myself. I clambered onto the bed and made my way to Cecilia’s sleeping form.

She was incredibly beautiful and like always, that charm of hers only got stronger the closer I approached her. By the time I was right next to her, my breath had been stolen away by her sleeping appearance.

“Cecilia.”

“Mmm.”

I shook Cecilia’s delicate and thin shoulders and this time, my efforts finally evoked a response. A sudden wave of darkness colored Cecilia’s hair and her sleepy, violet eyes opened. An intense feeling of dizziness attacked me from her unguarded appearance. Even so, I managed to say what needed to be said.

“Good morning, Cecilia. It is time to get up.”

“I don’t want to.”

The black haired Cecilia said something selfish that the usual Cecilia would never say. Seeing that, all thoughts of fulfilling my duty as a maid flew away.

“It can’t be helped then. You can sleep a little longer.”

Helen overestimated my ability if she thought I could say no when Cecilia looked like this. The hints of anxiety in her eyes disappeared at my words and her face relaxed into a peaceful smile.

“Thank goodness.”

Cecilia closed her eyes and drifted off back to sleep. Her hair remained black. It had lost its mysterious, otherworldly charm that Cecilia had when her hair was silver, but I liked her black hair too. It was like I was closer to Cecilia since we had matching hair colors.

I tried to leave, but Cecilia suddenly held my hand. It didn’t seem to be a conscious movement as she was still sleeping comfortably.

“What can I do? I’ll stay until you wake up.”

As if she had heard my words, the tight grip on my hand loosened. I got myself into a comfortable position next to Cecilia and prepared myself for the long haul. With how soundly she slept and how resistant she was to waking up, I guessed that Cecilia had been awake most of the night.

Helen had told me that Cecilia slept very little because of the terrible curse she was inflicted with at birth. She also told me that Cecilia was able to get a good night’s sleep that night she held my hand.

I held my one free hand up to my eyes to examine. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary about it. It was an ordinary girl’s hand that had yet to experience the harshness of life.

Cecilia hadn’t mentioned holding hands at all. It was hard to tell what she was truly thinking when she spoke so little each day.

The mansion was a flurry of activity, but nobody bothered us. I kept expecting Helen to send another servant to wake Cecilia, but it never happened. Roughly thirty minutes later, Cecilia’s hair returned to its usual silver color and she stirred.

A pair of bright violet eyes glanced towards our connected hands before finding my face.

“Good morning, Fang.”

“Morning Cecila.”

It was like we were back in the days when I was diving in the dungeon as Ash, but this time our greetings were in person and we now called each other by name. Cecilia let go of my hand and got up from bed. She immediately went to her dresser and started taking off her clothes. I turned bright red at the sight.

“I’ll be outside.”

I rushed out and collapsed against the other side of the bedroom door. I had already seen her naked a few times now when we took baths together, but I still hadn’t gotten used to how casual she was with showing her skin.

Helen appeared the moment Cecilia left her bedroom. She didn’t seem particularly upset by my failure.

“My Lady, breakfast is prepared.”

The three of us went to the usual dining room where Byleth was waiting. I was touched that there was a spot for me at it. The rest of the maids usually had their own separate meals. Byleth had an indescribable expression on her face.

“A former Demon Princess, reduced to working as a maid. If you return to being a Demon, I promise I will never let you experience such hardship again.”

“No thank you. I am happy with how I am now.”

And more importantly, my chastity would remain intact. I would never have worried about that if I was still living as Asta.

“A shame.”
Byleth let the subject drop and we ate breakfast. It surprised me how happy I was to see Byleth and Cecilia enjoy the food I helped prepare. My own food tasted even more delicious too. If it was like this, then it was worth it getting up early.

Helen went through Cecilia’s schedule for the day while we ate. I couldn’t help but speak up when I heard a familiar name.

“McDouglas?”

“Oh, that is right. I remember reading a report that you got your explorer’s license from the McDouglas family. Would you like to be present at My Lady’s meeting with Elizabeth McDouglas?”

A familiar feeling of dread soured the happy feeling in my stomach. It was okay. I had changed. I didn’t want to keep running away from my past.

“If that would be okay.”

More than my nervousness at meeting people who knew the past, I wanted to know how Elizabeth and Leah were doing. There was only so much I could glean from watching their dungeon exploration clips.

“Certainly. I will adjust your schedule for it.”

As if she was making up for the time I would lose joining the meeting with Elizabeth, Helen had me running from one job to the next. Whether it was cleaning, dusting, gardening, washing, or mowing, I did a little bit of everything.

It was fun to catch up with the other maids who went to the academy with me while we worked. They liked to share how their lives had improved since they began working for Cecilia. I didn’t hate doing simple, mundane chores, especially when I was learning a lot in the process.

Thanks to my Adept class, I quickly mastered the basics of what I was assigned to do. The Upper Realm was a strange world where the class one was born with influenced the skills and jobs they acquired throughout their lifetime.

Almost everything was decided from birth and few would manage to reincarnate in their lifetime. In that sense, those without talent were lucky. If Cecilia or Leah wanted to press the reset button on their life, they had to level all the way to 100. I didn’t think any of the present Legendary talents had managed to reach level 100.

Eventually, the time of Elizabeth’s appointment drew near. I cleaned up what I was working on and made my way to the drawing room. Cecilia was sitting in a comfy chair and Byleth was sitting on a sofa beside her for some reason.

I wanted to join the rest of the maids that were on standby against one of the walls, but Byleth motioned for me to sit down with her. Since I was still wearing a maid uniform, it made for an incredibly odd picture.

A couple of minutes later, Helen arrived with Cecilia’s guests.

“How do you do, Cecilia? I haven’t seen you since I traveled to the lower realms.”

I immediately realized my mistake when the second guest spoke up after Cecilia and Elizabeth finished exchanging greetings.

“It is nice to meet you, Cecilia Snowlight. I am Leah Maxwell.”

For some reason, my best friend had come to visit Cecilia as well.