The Demon Lord's Right Hand's True Power (Housework)

“I’m hoooome!”

“Welcome home, Kureha-sama.”

“Eeeek! A maid! There’s a maid here!”

“…Mmphfh.”

It was spring break of my first year of high school.

The moment Mom came home, she pulled me into her ample chest, then noticed Reine standing slightly behind me and let out an excited squeal.

Even though this was technically just our front entrance, our property had a lot of space around it.

Mom had wanted to indulge in the utterly unnecessary fantasy of feeling like a Hollywood star, so there was a fountain directly in front of the doors and a circular driveway looping around counterclockwise, which meant there was no chance some random passerby would see us… but Kazami-san, her manager, was standing right behind Mom, so I really wished she’d stop.

Also, I couldn’t breathe.

I was seriously going to suffocate.

“Pwah! Mom, this is Reine.”

“Reine-chan, right? Nice to meet you, Reine-chan.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you. As you are Rinne-ojou-sama’s honored mother, please feel free to address me simply as Reine.”

“My, my, Rinne-chan certainly is treasured~. But won’t you grant the request of Rinne-chan’s mama and let me call you ‘Reine-chan’?”

“…No, it isn’t that I would object…”

“Great, then Reine-chan it is!”

“…Yes.”

Tough luck, Reine.

Mom might have looked all soft and fluffy, but once she decided on something, she was the type to see it through, so just give up.

Since Mom’s default expression was basically a soft, gentle smile, people tended to misunderstand her, but despite how she looked, her strength of will when it came to sticking to her decisions was incredible.

And yet Mom was also something of a free spirit who hated stuffy formalities, so people often made the mistake of assuming she was easy to control.

Control Mom?

Ahaha. Impossible, impossible.

“…Um, you’re Rinne-chan, right?”

“Yes. It’s been a while, Kazami-san. Thank you for always taking care of my mother.”

“…Whoaa…”

Whoaa…?

Mom’s manager, Kazami-san, stared at me wide-eyed while letting out that mysterious little sound.

She was younger than Mom and had such a baby face that, at first glance, she could easily pass for someone my age. She was the woman who had taken over as Mom’s manager when Yuzu-neesan stepped away from the role, and she had supported her ever since.

I’d met her a few times before too.

“K-Kureha-san! Please let Rinne-chan join our agency—!”

“—Nope. Unless Rinne-chan says she wants to herself, I’m against her entering show business~.”

“That was fast!?”

“Becaaause~. Hey, Rinne-chan. Do you want to enter show business~?”

“Huh? No, I’d hate that.”

“You’d hate it!?”

“See~? I knew it~.”

I had wondered what that was about, but apparently Kazami-san had decided she wanted to bring me into show business, only for Mom to shut her down before she could even get started.

“R-Rinne-chan, could you at least tell me why…?”

“Why? Hmm, if I had to give a reason…”

“If you had to…?”

“It sounds like a pain.”

“A pain!?”

Yeah, that pretty much summed it up.

Even if you said “celebrity,” there were all kinds of directions you could take your career in, but I was terrible with rigid hierarchies and that sort of thing in the first place.

Who was my senior, who was some big-name veteran—I didn’t want to constantly worry about stuff like that.

And from watching Mom, I was always reminded that if you wanted to appear in movies or dramas, you had to study acting and deal with all sorts of other difficult things too.

Mom would sometimes be tied up for months because of location shoots, have to work at night because they wanted to film a nighttime scene, or spend ages shooting because the weather wasn’t cooperating. Her entire sleep schedule would get thrown out of whack, and sometimes she looked miserable from lack of sleep, so I had no desire to live like that.

Even if someone told me I could make it or that I had talent, the truth was that I probably just fundamentally wasn’t suited for it.

And if I had to do it anyway, once I factored in all those things, my conclusion was simply that it sounded like a pain.

“Ufufu~. You’re right~. Rinne-chan certainly has a point~. Maybe I should retire too~.”

“Whaaat!? Kureha-san!?”

“Oh, come now, I’m joking~… for now.”

“For now…!?”

Mom was teasing her as usual… or maybe I should say doting on her? Was that what this counted as?

Either way, it looked like Mom was still very fond of Kazami-san, same as ever.

“Well, standing around talking out here isn’t ideal, so let’s go inside. Kazami-san, you’re welcome to join us too.”

“Ah, yes! Thank you for having me!”

“Mom, have you had lunch?”

“Not yet~. Maybe I should order something.”

It was already two in the afternoon, after all.

I’d been working on a few things and had asked to have my own lunch delayed a little, so if that was the case, it looked like I could eat with them too.

“Reine.”

“Yes. I have a meal prepared for Ojou-sama as well, so increasing the portions will be simple. Kazami-sama, please feel free to join us.”

“Oh, Rinne-chan, you hadn’t eaten yet?”

“No, I had some work to do.”

“I see. But Reine-chan, even if you say you can prepare something, wouldn’t it be difficult to suddenly make more?”

“There is no problem. I always prepare with extra portions in mind.”

“My, my… How impressive…”

“Whoaa… Huh!? Um, then I’d love some!”

“Certainly. In that case, allow me to take your luggage.”

Even Mom seemed surprised by just how flawless Reine’s service was.

Kazami-san too—both of them had gone completely wide-eyed.

Though I figured the part about already having extra ingredients prepped was probably a lie.

Mom hadn’t told us what time she was coming home, after all.

But Reine could use magic skillfully enough to prepare everything immediately, and she could effortlessly skip time-consuming cooking steps like thawing, boiling, and heating with magic, so she could instantly get everything into what a human would consider a fully prepped state.

And Reine was also incredible at handling multiple dishes at once.

She chopped ingredients with magic, washed dishes with magic, and even did the plating with magic in the blink of an eye, so her cooking speed went far beyond anything a human could accomplish through mere time-saving tricks.

Kukuku, behold the full might of the Demon Lord’s right hand.

“…Um, Rinne-chan? It looks so clean it’s almost like the house was newly built…”

“…Whoaa…”

“Reine gave the entire place a thorough cleaning. This much is nothing for her.”

As we headed into the living room first after leaving the luggage to Reine, Mom and Kazami-san reacted almost identically.

Come to think of it, Yuzu-neesan had reacted pretty much the same way too.

Sure, this world was overflowing with convenient household appliances, but there were still places you couldn’t see or reach, and fabrics naturally absorbed all kinds of smells.

But Reine cleaned even those unseen places with magic, and she did the same with every bit of fabric before properly airing it out in the sun afterward. She could carry out not just cushions but even the entire sofa with magic.

She went so far that our home, which hadn’t had much of that ingrained “house smell” to begin with, now had nothing but the gentle fragrance from the aroma humidifier drifting through it.

People sometimes said the smell of their own home was comforting, but that was really just because they were used to it.

See, other people’s houses sometimes had this weird, distinctive smell, and it was probably better not to have one. Probably. Not that I really knew.