Eldritch

 

One by one the rest of my travel group gets fetched by all kinds of people visiting our room.

The first one is Chiaki.
I remember that guy from yesterday, it's the head scholar.
He seems almost reverent towards her.

After him, another scholar comes for Haruna.
Actually, that one came with the head scholar, but he patiently waited till the former was done to tend to Makoto's mother.

Then it's Makoto's turn, who has to accompany a brown bear of a knight while looking extremely uncomfortable.
Nonetheless, he calms himself down and with decisive steps leaves the room with that man, always grasping something at his belt.

And this leaves me.

Some time later a maid enters the room.
She makes a kinda annoyed expression, but this isn't what draws my attention.
It's her skin.

She's completely purple, which makes her look very much like a succubus.
At least the color reminds me of the skin of certain places.
And then this maid outfit on top.
It's really hard not to gawk.

 

"Are you done staring? I'm Eryna and assigned to guide you, so follow behind me." (Eryna/succubus maid)

"Ehm, okay." (I)

"I expect nothing less from you than absolute perfection. No slacking off, no sloppiness. You're required to do your very best!" (E)

 

Somehow I've got the feeling if I don't satisfy her she'll draw a whip to achieve satisfaction in another way.
I was never good at dealing with that kind of aggressive people.

 

"D-Did I upset you in any way?" (I)

"Not yet, but I'm quite sure you will. You obtained permission to live in our beautiful sanctuary! All your comrades contribute in exceptional ways to our community, but not you. You're only allowed to stay here because of your affiliation with the others. Do you have any idea what honor it is to be chosen to join the palace? Only the most diligent, outstanding, and colorful are chosen. Naturally, it is expected that you at least prove yourself worthy." (Eryna)

 

It actually starts to become quite tempting to tell her that this is my castle and no one here is even paying the rent.
Also, this little comment about color kinda confirmed that I indeed have racism in my mind.
Yet it seems to be more related to how strong the color is and not concentrated on special kinds of color.
If what I was told is true this might be because it corresponds to how elaborate one's soul is.
And it's not too farfetched in this case that those people with a fully developed personality and willpower might have an advantage in comparison to grey ones.

This succubus maid at least gives me the impression that she's far more dedicated but maybe also desiring to work in her position.
At least I feel that this purple might be representative of strong desire.
On the other hand, one shouldn't judge people by their looks.
Even if they openly display their character, which makes it a little difficult to maintain this stance.

Anyway, this woman now kinda drags me to the second floor.
There she opens a door where I find cleaning tools to be stored.

 

"Take a mop, a rag, and a bucket. Today we're going to clean the floors on this level. If you slack off, don't expect to get anything to eat before we're done." (E)

 

I'm not too concerned about that, which might be mostly due to the fact I don't need to eat. Also, the job should be fairly easy as my body can't tire out in the first place.
However, as harsh as she is, something she just said does not fit into the picture.

 

"When we are done?" (I)

"Naturally I will do my part. I am responsible for your performance. So if you cannot achieve satisfying results it's my fault as well. Like this, if you mess up the blame will be on me too, so I as well won't eat." (E)

 

Huh, giving her attitude I almost suspected that she intended to work me to the bone and if I eventually pass out she would gladly take the bucket and empty it over my face.
And then have me refill it.

But now she seems just to be overly diligent.
I guess I'll really give it a try.
The question is just, where to begin?

 

"Ehm, where do we start?" (I)

"Right here is good enough. If not regularly cleaned, the floors will eventually fill with dust from the eternal planes. So we have to wipe them, thoroughly." (E)

 

Well, this might happen when all that exists here are stones and dry ground.
I don't want to know how it might've looked here when they arrived.

Eryna is urging me to get started.
So I take a rag and begin stroking the walls.
While doing so I feel a strange tingling in my chest, which makes me wonder how I'm connected to myself while being here.
But much more concerning is the displeased face Eryna makes.

 

"What do you think you're doing there?" (E)

"Something wrong?" (I)

"When do you think you should put the rag back into the water? Honestly, it's not so difficult to understand that everything here is dusty. For a while, you've only been smearing the dust on the surface, so once it dries, nothing will have changed. Not to speak of your technique, which makes me worry to let you anywhere near the paintings." (E)

 

Oh yes, I have paintings.
Fortunately, not one is of me or I would have caused a completely different reaction when I arrived.

So now I have to repeatedly wring my rag out to let the water take care of the dust.
I'm somewhat aware that this work would be hard for someone with a normal body.
Even the succubus starts sweating.

Repeatedly I have to throw out the water through a dump gap in the stone and refill it at the next magical water station.
You know, those I kinda made produce water out of nowhere.

I shudder when I think about what still lies ahead of us.
So after my third run to the station a plan forms.
I think I will just let the walls clean themselves.

I wait till Eryna is too far away from me to see what I'm up to.
Naturally, I also check that there are no bystanders.
The fact that I'm connected to the very stone of the castle, which isn't real stone, helps quite much to ascertain this.
And then I tell the walls, floor, and ceiling to get rid of all the dust and grime that accumulated on them.

I regret it a moment later.
What first looks like a rippling wave on the surface proves to be a multitude of countless tiny maws opening up to eat the dust accumulated on it.
They open to white teeth and rosy flesh, closing as soon the wave passes by.
And after that, the dust is gone.
I'm still acting as if I'm cleaning before Eryna comes looking from around the corner.

 

"Why are you here?" (E)

"Uh, I thought I could already start to clean here a little since you did such a great job over there." (I)

 

She wipes a finger on the wall.

 

"Hmm, at least it looks alright. I guess this part was just not very dusty. However, you need to do it right from the start. Leaving gaps is negligence." (E)

 

Uh, she'll be quite surprised if she realizes that the wave was already everywhere else where no one saw it, as it was intended.
These critters are quite proficient at following orders.

After a while, a slightly confused maid calls it a day.

 

"Well, seems like you're lucky. I intended to resume our work after mealtime, but it seems we'll be free for other things." (E)

"Didn't you say that we wouldn't eat if we're not done?" (I)

"That was just to motivate you. One can't work on an empty stomach. And since you don't know the schedule you wouldn't know that this task was impossible to finish on time... or should have been." (E)

"So, does that mean..." (I)

"Yes, it's time for a meal. You might meet up with some members of your group, if they eat at the same place, that is." (E)