A Mother’s Indulgence

《—Oh, is that so? Then we’ll have to make sure we draw up a proper employment contract~》

“…Um, are you sure? You’re deciding this awfully quickly.”

《Well, Rinne-chan decided on it, didn’t she? I stopped hiring household help because there was also the risk of your identity being exposed, but that maid has martial arts experience too, right? No matter how good the security is, I’ve always worried about leaving a girl all by herself~》

Forget martial arts experience—no number of ordinary humans could ever beat her.

Not just a group, either. An army… Yeah, if Reinerrude took her true form, even that probably wouldn’t be enough.

Though the same went for me, of course.

“Yeah, I mean, that’s true, but… she’s a maid, you know? She’d suddenly be living here full-time.”

《Hehe, if Rinne-chan trusts her, then I can trust her too.》

“Thank you very much. I shall serve and protect Lady Rinne, as well as Lady Kureha, the honored mother of Lady Rinne, even at the cost of my own life.”

《My, my. That’s completely different from having ordinary household help. How wonderful~》

…I’d never heard someone call her my “honored mother” before.

Now then, as for what I was doing at the moment—well, naturally, I was reporting all this to Mom.

It wasn’t like I lived alone, and Reine—Reinerrude—absolutely refused to budge on the matter of living with me so she could take care of me, leaving me no choice but to contact Mom.

And the result was… yeah.

Mom accepted it immediately.

《—Are you surprised that I accepted it so easily?》

“Huh…? Ah, yeah.”

《Of course, just because Rinne-chan asks for something doesn’t mean I can simply agree to absolutely everything, you know? But, Rinne-chan, you look like having Reine-chan there is the most natural thing in the world. I can tell that means you trust her very deeply~》

“Huh…? I looked like that?”

Without thinking, I lightly patted my own cheeks.

We were on a video call using the camera in my room right now, so both my face and Reine standing behind me were clearly visible on screen… but really?

The face I saw on the camera looked exactly the same as usual to me.

《Hehe, the fact that you’re making your “usual face” is what matters most. You always seemed to avoid the household staff, but Reine-chan is different. You’ve accepted her presence beside you as if it were perfectly natural. Isn’t that right?》

“…Ahh, I see…”

《You never wanted to let anyone except me and Yuzu inside that boundary, yet now you’ve accepted Reine-chan like this. In that case, all I can do as your mother is trust you and watch over you.》

“…I see.”

Precisely because I had regained the memories of my previous life, I had grown much more willing to interact with other people than I had been before.

The fact that I had started socializing at school with Tomo and Yuika, even going so far as to make friends, was certainly partly because I had recovered the memories of my previous self.

But what if, for example, this hadn’t been Reine, but a complete stranger I happened to find collapsed by the roadside?

…Yeah. I definitely wouldn’t have gone out of my way to let them into my room. In fact, I probably wouldn’t even have let them into the house, much less contacted Mom about them.

Even if I stretched my sympathy as far as it would go, I probably would have chosen to “leave the matter of whether or not to hire them undecided until Mom came home.”

And yet here I was, deliberately letting Reine into my room and even messaging Mom to make time for a call, despite the fact that I almost never contacted her myself while she was away on extended shoots.

And through the call, I was showing Mom the same ordinary expression I usually wore around her and Yuzu-neesan.

Apparently she had understood that aspect of my personality—my feelings—and picked up on what it meant.

Including my own intention to accept Reine.

…Mom was amazing despite being so fluffy and easygoing.

“Thanks, Mom.”

《Hehe, you’re welcome. I’m happy I got to do something motherly for Rinne-chan~》

“You’re always doing motherly things for me. I really do respect you.”

《…Inhale… I suddenly want to hug you, so I’m going to ask them to pause filming and come home for a bit.》

“Could you not make me retract what I just said immediately after I said it??”

What was this world-famous actress suddenly talking about?

She wasn’t some minor supporting actress—she was practically the star. It would be a huge problem if she just came home for something like that.

After somehow calming Mom down, the conversation shifted to Reine’s background.

Apparently Reine had retained her memories from the moment she was born, and on top of that, she had been born as the daughter of a family that could be described as rural landowners—or perhaps more accurately, a powerful local clan.

Because of that, she was supposed to have been raised fairly strictly as a child—but apparently she defeated her grandfather, the head of the family, during naginata practice at an early age and fully displayed her extraordinary abilities, to the point that by the time she was ten, everyone around her had started practically worshipping her.

What did she mean, worshipping her?

When I asked, apparently people had started claiming Reine was the reincarnation of some divine shrine maiden said to have founded the clan, and she truly began to be treated like a shrine maiden—or perhaps even a god. Either way, she had been treated with extreme reverence.

And then Reine snapped.

Yeah, I could understand why.

After all, Reine hated gods.

Apparently the result was that she made the entire clan shut up about it.

When I asked what she had done, Reine replied with her usual expressionless face, “I merely reduced the main residence to approximately half its original condition.”

Yeah, I was going to pretend I hadn’t heard that.

In any case, after winning her freedom, Reine apparently began searching for me, increasing the seed money she had wrested from her family through investments while traveling from place to place and building up her funds.

Then, a short while ago, she sensed my magical power near this town and apparently flew back through the sky.

Of course, we didn’t tell Mom absolutely everything about that, but that was apparently how the life of Reine—known in this world as Kotono Shinomiya, age twenty-three—had unfolded up to the present day.

“—Please rest assured regarding my various qualifications. Naturally, I have obtained a Level One Maid Certification.”

“Wait, that actually exists?”

“Yes.”

…I didn’t know about it, so I immediately started tapping away to look it up, and it really did exist…

Wait, were maids really that common in modern society?

Oh, was it something needed for maid cafés and places like that?

“I have also studied all aspects of cooking, so I can prepare whatever you request.”

《My, that’s impressive. I’m looking forward to it~》

“I have licenses ranging from large motorcycles to heavy vehicles as well.”

《Oh my…》

“I have also learned the proper handling procedures for various firearms.”

《…Um…》

“Reine, that’s enough. Mom’s starting to look confused, so you can stop there.”

“Understood.”

I could accept cooking if I really stretched it, but once she got to vehicles, things had started sounding a little suspicious, and then she suddenly brought up various firearms.

Besides, in the case of either me or Reine, we were basically stronger without firearms in the first place.

I was impressed she’d bothered learning.

《It sounds like she has all sorts of qualifications, so what should we do about her salary~?》

“My channel just got approved for monetization, so I was planning to pay her from that. The revenue will be low at first, so I’ll have to dip into my savings too, but…”

《Absolutely not.》

“Huh?”

《Rinne-chan, you don’t have to rush so hard to become an adult. Your mother is a famous actress, you know. Hiring Reine-chan isn’t difficult for me at all~》

“Yeah, I mean, I can tell that from how much work you get, how big the house is, and all the staff we’ve had. But Reine is someone I—”

《—Hehe, nooo. Don’t take away your mother’s luxury of granting Rinne-chan’s selfish wishes, okay?》

“Luxury…?”

《Because Rinne-chan never asked me for selfish things before. I want to get to be your “mother” too. Besides, Reine-chan will be cooking for me and helping take care of the house too. I’m the breadwinner of this family, so of course I’m the one who should properly pay her, right?》

“…But…”

《Nope, not allowed. Permission denied~ Rinne-chan, don’t grow up so quickly, okay? As my daughter, rely on me much, much more. That’s my condition for hiring Reine-chan~》

…Ahh, seriously. She was amazing.

I had never been in the position of being a mother myself, so I didn’t really understand it, but the affection she had for her daughter—for her family—was incredibly deep and generous.

It made me realize all over again just how loved I really was.

“…Thanks, Mom.”

《You’re welcome~ So, with that settled, Reine-chan, I’ll be counting on you from now on, okay?》

“Thank you very much, Lady Kureha. I look forward to serving you.”

《For now, would about two million yen be enough to get everything ready?》

“Yeah… yeah?”

《You’ll need several more outfits like the one Reine-chan is wearing, and you’ll have to prepare her room too, right? We have enough rooms, but you’ll need a bed, a table, and all sorts of things… Ah, and if she wants renovations to change the room layout to her liking, then maybe five million yen would be better—》

“—Yeah, I’ll talk to Yuzu-neesan about it, so don’t worry.”

《Oh, really? Then try to keep it to around five million yen, okay?》

“…Yeah, got it.”

…I had just been thinking about how deep and generous Mom’s heart was, but her financial pockets didn’t need to be that absurdly deep too.

And renovations? We didn’t need anything like that. Our house had plenty of rooms already, including several we never even used.

So why was she casually throwing around numbers where stacks of cash would be flying left and right…?

For now, I needed to tell Yuzu-neesan that Reine would be living here as a maid anyway, so I’d leave the problem of Mom’s finances—or rather, her sense of money—to Yuzu-neesan.

《Hehe, this is exciting~ Let me know once you figure out how much money you need, okay?》

“Yeah. Good night, then.”

《Okay~ Good night, Rinne-chan. You get plenty of rest too, Reine-chan.》

“Thank you very much, Lady Kureha. Please take care of your health as well.”

《Hehehe, thanks, Reine-chan. All riiight, time to go brag to everyone~》

“Wait, brag about what… She hung up…”

Brag… Maybe Mom would happily go around all dreamy-eyed boasting that “we have a maid at home now”?

Or maybe, “My daughter finally asked me for something and relied on me~”?

…Well, I didn’t particularly care what people I didn’t know thought about me.

But I really hoped she wouldn’t accidentally twist it into, “My daughter asked me for five million yen~,” while saying it with that same dreamy smile.

I was going to end up sounding like some hopelessly spoiled noble daughter behind my back.

I needed to consult Yuzu-neesan as soon as possible and have her explain the truth to Mom’s manager too…