Chapter 110 My Body Is A Kid, But My Mind Is...?
After dinner, Sara was invited by Robert to the playroom in the office building, which she hadn't visited in a while. Rebecca was also invited, but she declined, saying she had to prepare for Scott and Blaze's visit to Grandchester Castle tomorrow for a study session.
In the playroom, James and Benjamin were drinking and chatting.
"Oh, we have a rare guest!"
When Robert called out, the two bureaucrats, slightly embarrassed, returned a slight bow.
"To be honest, I finally finished the past accounts, and I'm feeling relieved, so I'm celebrating with Ben."
"We'll probably finish everything before the hunting tournament. It's all thanks to Miss Sara's help."
The two of them cheerfully called out to Sara and invited her to join them.
"I only helped with the first half, didn't I? The rest was all your hard work, wasn't it?"
"No, no, that new ledger was a shock."
"Yeah. We thought we were doomed when the bureaucrats started falling one by one, but Miss Sara brought in that amazing butler and maid, and they were a huge help. Even now, we're still getting used to the maids in the office."
"That's true. We thought only bureaucrats could do the job. Now I realize how narrow-minded we were."
Suddenly, Sara remembered the first time she met the two of them and burst out laughing.
"Speaking of which, when I first met you, Mr. James, you said, 'Can't you even read documents, Sara-sama?'"
"Don't remind me of that. I'm so embarrassed, I want to punch myself."
"Sara's special, that's all. This James' reaction wasn't surprising. I was surprised too."
"Did Sir Robert know about Miss Sara's abilities?"
"I just met her a few days before you guys did. Since she can read and do math, I thought I'd ask for her help."
"Ah, that's still surprising, even for Sir Robert."
Benjamin, who had been watching their exchange, looked at Sara with a smile and said...
"I've been getting help from Miss Sara all the time. By the way, thank you so much for yesterday's hunting ground."
"Ah, no need to thank me."
"It was Miss Sara again, wasn't it?"
"Yeah!!"
'Damn it! I was Sophia at the hunting ground, wasn't I?!'
It seemed Sara had fallen for Benjamin's lead technique.
"I completely let my guard down."
"I've been good at this since my Academy days."
"I still need more training, though."
"I'm glad I saw the childish part of you, Miss Sara."
In his heart, Benjamin thought, "No, it's not like you're a kid who can't notice right away," but he didn't say anything because it wasn't worth arguing with Robert about.
James didn't understand the conversation, but he knew Benjamin often led people on and teased them, so he just listened without paying much attention.
"Speaking of kids, I met a boy Mr. Ben helped, and his name is Blaze."
"Ah, that guy? Is he doing well?"
"Yes, he's doing great! We became friends. Today, we practiced sword fighting together, and then we played together."
However, Robert and the bureaucrat didn't take Sara's words "played together" at face value.
"What did you do to play?"
"We threw stones into the pool and competed to see who could skip the most stones. Blaze was really good at it, and Scott was terrible."
"Uh, did you use magic to throw the stones or something, Miss Sara?"
"No, we just threw them with our hands. Is it more fun to play with magic?"
""Huh?""
"Sara, did you really play normally?"
"Didn't I say that, Uncle?"
Everyone's mouths dropped open. They all clearly forgot, but Sara was an 8-year-old kid.
"What else did you play?"
"We played boot toss!"
"Huh?"
"We untied the laces of our boots, kicked them, and saw whose could fly the farthest."
"U, um..."
"But Scott got really angry and stopped us because he said it was bad for girls to show their feet."
"I see. That's what Scott said, isn't it? It's no good, Sara is a girl, after all."
"Huh? But didn't Sir Jeffrey say that a long time ago, Uncle and Father and Miss Rebecca did it together?"
"Ugh..."
"Both Uncle and Father lost to Miss Rebecca, and Uncle even did a ridiculous thing like hitting his own face with his boots and got a nosebleed, if I recall."
"That guy Jeff, always saying unnecessary things to Sara..."
Robert's bad mood worsened as his dark past from childhood was exposed, and he felt like Sara was taken away from him by Jeffrey.
"Hahaha, Miss Sara, you also have a part that's suitable for your age, don't you?"
"Is that weird?"
"No, it's kind of nice. There are a lot of things you can only do when you're a kid, after all."
James smiled at Sara with a cheerful expression.
"Did you play a lot when you were a kid, Mr. James?"
"Unfortunately, I don't have many memories of playing. Looking back, I think I was too focused on studying. It was tough for a commoner to get into the Academy and aim to be a bureaucrat."
"Was it the same for Mr. Ben?"
"I'm the grandson of the previous Baron Walt, so I played with the kids of woodcutters and hunters near the hunting grounds. I was supposed to take over my father's job managing the hunting grounds, so I wasn't too enthusiastic about studying."
"So why did you become a bureaucrat?"
"I went to the Academy and found studying to be enjoyable. Especially the crime investigation classes were interesting, and I thought I wanted to join the knights in the capital, but I was completely useless at it."
"The Academy has classes like that? That's great."
The 3 adults looked at Sara's lonely expression and came back to their senses. Sara, who was more excellent than themselves at this age, couldn't attend the Academy just because she was a woman.
"Sara says the same thing as Revi."
Robert muttered and continued.
"Moreover, there must be many women who feel that way."
"Miss Sara is certainly exceptional, but Lady Orson and the maids in the office also possess higher abilities than a mediocre bureaucrat. If they had attended the Academy, they might have been even more impressive. I'm sure I wouldn't be able to keep up with them."
James, slightly drunk, revealed his inner thoughts.
"Anyway, I don't like pointless 'flattery.' For example, you said the office maids are excellent, but what exactly does Mr. Ben evaluate them on?"
"Well, it's probably their schedule management, document organization, and beautiful handwriting."
"That might be because many maids receive lady-in-waiting education. Lady-in-waiting attend to their mistress's schedule, support event planning like tea parties, and even handle correspondence and invitations. As a senior lady-in-waiting, they also manage the budget allocated to their mistress, coordinating with the steward."
"Do lady-in-waiting have that many tasks?"
"A noblewoman is considered lacking in refinement if she talks about money, so many practical tasks are left to the lady-in-waiting."
'In other words, they're like secretaries. Lady-in-waiting, I mean...'
"I don't know which is more exceptional, the Academy's curriculum or Grandchester's lady-in-waiting education, but I think the latter is probably more advanced. And it's nice to have organized schedules, timely breaks, and tea and snacks provided, don't you think?"
"That's certainly true."
In Sarasa's time, it was often criticized as discriminatory towards women to have them serve tea. Even in the company where Sarasa worked, there was a trend to avoid asking subordinates to serve tea. That's why vending machines were installed, allowing everyone to drink tea or coffee at their preferred timing.
However, even then, one of Sarasa's subordinates would occasionally bring her coffee or tea. Whenever Sarasa was busy creating documents or lacked sleep and was feeling sluggish, they would bring it to her at just the right timing.
Sarasa had always highly evaluated her work and thought she was a kind person who would even offer her tea. There were also people who would say heartless things like "Good grief, you're working so hard" to her, but she would gently stop Sarasa from protesting.
When she retired a few years later, Sarasa asked her, "Why did you always make tea for me?" She replied, "Because if Ms. Uno's work efficiency drops, my work will be delayed, so I did it."
In other words, making tea was just a necessary task for her to finish her work smoothly. Hearing this, Sarasa realized that she was an extremely capable subordinate. She would grasp the overall workflow and progress, consider the conditions of the people involved, and take measures to prevent delays.
Sarasa tried to imitate her by offering tea to her colleagues a few times. However, she found it difficult to read the right timing, and the recipients looked puzzled. It turned out that tea-making was a highly skilled task.
"That's all part of their abilities, isn't it? The maidens working in the tower may have admired the Academy, but they've accumulated their own experiences and are where they are now."
The bureaucrats looked like they had been struck by lightning. Until then, they had sympathized with the idea that "capable women who aren't given opportunities are pitiful" and, in a way, believed in their own superiority.
But in reality, how was it? They couldn't even do their jobs properly right after graduating from the Academy and had to learn through experience while being scolded by their seniors. Meanwhile, the maids in the office would calmly judge the situation, work efficiently without getting flustered, and even take care of the bureaucrats.
It was impossible not to think that they were far more capable than themselves once they could do the bureaucrats' jobs.
"Heh heh. When I look at Mr. James and Mr. Ben's faces, I can somehow tell what you two are thinking, but they won't interfere with your main jobs. Don't forget that a bureaucrat has to be a capable person who can efficiently utilize them to get the work done."
Robert, James, and Benjamin thought again.
'Still, I'm not a kid!'
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