Chapter 1931 – 1931. Dark Moon
After breakfast, it was time for lessons.
The Maid Academy’s education was mostly practical. They would start by teaching something in theory, and then move on to practical training. Once you seemed somewhat familiar, the evaluation would begin immediately.
The evaluations were, of course, related to grades, so you couldn’t just do them carelessly. The moment you received a failing grade, you were immediately eliminated. Unless you were exceptionally bad, they wouldn’t give you a failing grade, but no one could deny that the schedule for a Maid Academy student was incredibly tiring.
Standing at the lectern for the morning class was Anna, with her stern face. She was also the cooking instructor, and after handing out the prepared materials to the students, she began to speak.
“Today, we will be learning about the banquets and balls that are a tradition in Neo London. More than half of you probably want to get jobs in noble families. There’s no more glorious and honorable job than working for a noble family.”
Noble families were the best places to treat maids well. Noble families were looked down upon if they didn’t have maids, and because they cared about their reputation, they had no choice but to treat their maids well.
“That might have been the case in the old days. Nowadays, even with a certificate, it’s not easy to get a job in a noble family. That’s because there are already people working in those families. To be honest, only about 10% of you will end up working in noble families. The rest will work for corporations or upper-class families.”
If you had a maid certificate, you could get a fairly good position even in the upper class. Even without experience, you wouldn’t do menial work. In the case of corporations, you would likely be assigned to secretarial work.
“If you get into a noble or upper-class family, you will be periodically preparing banquets and balls. The important things at banquets and balls are the food and etiquette. If the food isn’t good, your reputation will suffer. Etiquette goes without saying. You must learn etiquette, and you must acquire a sense of taste and knowledge to evaluate at least the minimum level of cooking. Serving just any food because it tastes good is an insult.”
You couldn’t just serve any delicious food at a banquet. The food had to have history and tradition. Serving cheap food was an insult.
Anna explained the essential dishes for banquets and the etiquette for balls.
One of the maids raised her hand. It meant she had a question. Anna pointed at her with the baton she was holding.
“It seems you have a question. What are you curious about?”
“Why do we have to learn social dances for balls? Aren’t we the ones who prepare them? Maids and butlers can’t be the main characters of a ball.”
“That might have been the case in the old days. But it’s different these days. You, who have obtained a maid certificate, are also the best marriage prospects. There are occasionally gentlemen who will ask you to dance. Also, if there are no guests invited to the ball, there will be times when you will have to wear dresses and fill the ball. That’s why you’re learning social dances. There’s nothing bad about learning social dances, so please follow the class with peace of mind.”
“Understood, Instructor.”
Some of the maids’ faces became dreamy. They imagined meeting a suitable gentleman, dating, and getting married. Marrying into an upper-class family. There were quite a few women who had applied to the Maid Academy for that purpose. And if they were lucky, they could even marry into a noble family.
In this day and age, romance and marriage between nobles and commoners were surprisingly common.
“Today and tomorrow, you will learn cooking, and after that, you will learn the music and dances used at balls.”
Everyone tilted their heads.
The teaching method was slightly different from what they had been doing so far. When they learned one thing, they were immediately tested on that one thing.
“Instructor, what about the test?”
Wouldn’t there be a test? The students looked at the instructor with a strange sense of anticipation. The instructor smiled slightly and shattered their expectations.
“You will be holding mock banquets and balls in groups on the last day of next week. Two groups will take turns playing the roles of nobles and servants. Five instructors, including myself, will evaluate you.”
The students’ faces hardened. It turned out to be a large-scale test. Moreover, it wasn’t an individual test, but a group test. They reflexively glanced at Yuria. If they were in the same group as Yuria, who had received the highest evaluations every time, they wouldn’t have to worry about failing.
“For your information, the groups will be randomly assigned. Now that it’s come up, let’s decide on the groups.”
The groups were easily determined through a lottery program.
Each group consisted of 10 people. Yuria and Juliet were in the same group, Group 1.
“Groups that are short on members should proceed as they are. I promise there will be no disadvantages. The groups you will be evaluated with will be announced on the day of the evaluation. That’s all for today’s class. Those in charge of lunch duty, please follow me.”
As soon as the instructor left, the classroom instantly became noisy.
Juliet, who was sitting next to Yuria, had a strangely excited look on her face.
“It’s a relief that we’re in the same group! With Yuria here, we won’t have to worry about failing, right?”
“It’s difficult for me to say that. It seems like the evaluation is individual, not by group.”
“Still, it’s strangely reassuring to be in the same group as Yuria.”
“Juliet, do you like banquets and balls? You seem like you’re looking forward to it.”
“Actually, I’ve never experienced a banquet or ball. I’ve only heard stories about them. I’ve always wanted to experience it at least once, but I never thought I’d get to experience it here. What about you, Yuria?”
“Me too.”
At least in this world, that was the case. And in the [White Ring] world, it was rare to hold banquets and balls. They often held parties, but those were parties that the maids attended. Most of them ended up as wild parties.
Eugene had held all sorts of parties, one of which was a drug party. The reason was simply out of curiosity. It was one of the few thrilling experiences for Yuria. Because so many maids became addicted to drugs, she had to suffer quite a bit after the party ended. If she hadn’t been so knowledgeable about magic and the human body, dozens of maids might have become crippled and died.
After a little while, the students from the same group gathered around Yuria. They treated Yuria as their leader as if it were natural. It was because Yuria’s grades were so good.
“Yuria, what should we do?”
“A mock party test… I have no idea.”
“We can do the servant role, of course, but… we also have to do the noble role. Can we do it?”
Yuria looked at the students chirping like chicks and recalled her old memories.
Back when she had just started bringing maids into Eugene’s mansion in [White Ring]. She had to step up and teach the maids herself.
“First, calm down. We have the materials the instructor gave us, so it won’t be difficult to predict what they will evaluate. What’s certain is that they will definitely evaluate cooking and etiquette.”
“We need to practice cooking too.”
“Huu… I’m not confident in cooking…”
“Since it’s come to this, why don’t we gather during free time today and practice?”
“That sounds good.”
Yuria readily nodded.
The evaluation is individual? Yuria didn’t believe that. If they were going to evaluate individually, they wouldn’t have given the test in this way from the start. They would be evaluating by group, whether they admitted it or not. They would mainly be looking at things like interpersonal relationships.
Yuria suddenly felt a gaze.
On the opposite side.
There was a woman surrounded by people as much as Yuria was.
She was a woman with fair skin and silver hair with a slightly dark gray hue. She was similar to Yuria, yet not similar, and she was staring at Yuria with red eyes.
Lydia Metcalfe.
She was the daughter of the Earl of Metcalfe.
Even though she was wearing a maid’s uniform, she had a noble’s unique dignity.
Noble. It was a somewhat incongruous word with the Maid Academy, but surprisingly, many daughters of noble families entered the Maid Academy. The maid certificate itself was proof of being an excellent marriage prospect.
Even if that wasn’t the case, there were many nobles who entered with the goal of becoming a royal maid. Lydia Metcalfe was the latter.
Her grades were second among her peers. The first was, of course, Yuria.
Perhaps it was because they had many similarities, but most of the students often saw Yuria and Lydia as rivals.
Yuria, for her part, had never thought of Lydia as a rival. She had no particular interest in her, just like the other students.
Yuria turned her gaze away. There was a woman nearby who was even more noticeable than Lydia. Tine, the blue-haired vagrant, was openly glaring at Yuria.
• • •
Students could gather outside of free time.
They would secretly leave their rooms after lights out and meet. Although it would reduce their sleeping time, in order to avoid failing while living at the Maid Academy, they had to cut even their sleeping time. Especially since this test was a large-scale test evaluated by five instructors, the students were even more nervous.
Of course, if you were caught leaving your room after lights out, you would receive a deduction of 5 points or more. In other words, you just had to not get caught.
It was a fresh experience for Yuria. If she had to be classified, she was more on the instructor’s side, so living as a student was like a first for her.
“Ugh…”
On the way back to her room. Yuria, who was walking quietly alone in the hallway, heard a groan. It was a suppressed sound that Yuria, with her developed senses, could barely hear.
“Ugh, ah, aah!”
There was a squishing sound mixed in.
If it was just the sound of someone comforting themselves, Yuria would have passed by without paying attention. It was natural for young women living in confinement to have pent-up sexual desires.
The problem was that the moans were strangely overlapping.
“Haa, hah!”
“Wait, the sound is too loud. Lower it.”
“But… it feels so good.”
Homosexuality.
Since there were only women, was it natural?
Yuria quickened her pace, entered her room, and lay down on her bed. She covered herself with the blanket. She couldn’t fall asleep easily. She also had sexual desires. Eugene came to mind. She barely stopped her right hand from reaching towards her groin.
If she masturbated now, everything she had been holding back would be for nothing. And in a few days, it would be visiting day. She would meet Eugene then. She didn’t want to be satisfied with just her fingers.
Yuria forced herself to sleep.
