"Amelia, can I have a moment?

　In the house, I called out to Amelia, the maid, who was cleaning the house.
　When I called her, she stopped cleaning and turned to me, wiping her hands clean with her apron.

Yes, sir. Yes, Master Alec?
I need your help, or rather, your help with something.
"......

　Amelia opened her mouth wide open.

"What is it, Amelia, you don't look so surprised.
"--Ha!　No, it's nothing!

　Amelia was buzzing and waving her hands.

"I'll do anything I can to help you, Alec-sama!　Please tell me anything!
Thank you Amelia.

　I told Amelia about the shadow.
　When you are in my shadow, you will be able to use his abilities on me.
　Explain to her that and that I've only tried it with Dorothy so far.

So I'd like to have Amelia come in and see if she can use her skills with me.
"Yes!　I'll do my best!　But ...... skills that Mr. Alec can't do and I can?　What is that?
"Don't be modest.

　I smiled at Amelia.

"Amelia is an amazing maid. There are a lot of things that Amelia can do that I can't.
"......

　Amelia is puzzled again.

I know this is preaching to the Buddha, but maids' work is often not enough, even if you only have knowledge. I know that. Even the way you polish the stairway railing has different degrees of force. You polish them so that they look the shiniest when you enter at the right angle.
"......
"Amelia?
...... haha, sorry Gene!　You've been watching me that much.
"Yeah. Thanks again, Amelia. So, do you want to help me out?
"Of course!　I'll do anything for you, Mr. Alec. Use me as you wish!

　Spirited Amelia.
　For enlisting her help, I gave her the dagger of the Shadow Slayer.

Now, if you'll excuse me: ......

　Amelia took the dagger and crouched down next to my shadow as if she was afraid.

　A nobleman's mansion is lavishly lit with glass, so shadows are normally created even indoors.

　You'll be able to find out what's going on with the shadows and you'll be able to get inside.

...... You're here.

　Now that Amelia was in my shadow, I could use her skills.
　I kind of knew how to do it in both my head and body.

　I'm going to take over Amelia's job and clean the room.

　Actually, I tried that a long time ago.
　Right after I got the Philosopher's Stone, I tried to draw on the maid's knowledge, but I couldn't do a lot better with just her knowledge.

　It was completely different then.
　I did the same thing with the same knowledge, but this time it worked.
　Amelia's experience, and her skills.
　They made the maid's job work better.

　I finished cleaning the room all over with a quick shuffle.

Here we are. Yeah, that's all right, Amelia. Come on out.
"......

　At my call, Amelia came out of the shadows.

"Amelia?

　She is somehow stunned.

　Her eyes are glazed over and her skin is exuberant.

"Amelia?
"--Ha!

　Calling her a little hard, she came to her senses and hurriedly made up for it.

"S-Sorry, Mr. Alec!
What's going on?
"I'm feeling a little flippant inside of that ...... Mr. Alec.
Yeah, Dorothy said something like that too.

　You feel the same way there.

It made me feel hot and kind of comfortable and I didn't know what to do. ......

　Remembering that she was in the shadows, Amelia held her cheeks in an exhaled "whew" as she was hyperventilating, and let out a breath.

　You may feel the same way, but you feel differently than Dorothy.
　Well, that's something that varies from person to person.

　People's tastes are all different, and even with the same food, some like it hot and some like it warm.



"Thank you, Amelia.
"No. ...... It's my pleasure.

　That's an interesting reaction nonetheless.
　It's like ...... or is that too much to ask. That was rude to Amelia.

　　　　　.

　That night, the maid salon.

　In the Carlisle mansion, the block where the maids live and the block where the masters of the house live are separated.
　Although in the same mansion, it is structurally isolated and independent.

　The Carlisle mansion is what is commonly referred to as a two-generational house, and the Carlisle mansion is an exaggerated version of it.

　In the Carlisle mansion, within the separate blocks, there is a space for the maids to use in common.

　In the morning it's for roll call and business communication.
　The evening is for the maids' private communication.
　It's a space whose role is very different in the morning and evening.

　In the salon, some young maids who are close to Amelia were chatting with her.

"Is it true?
"Yes, really . It was hot and warm and pleasant and very filling. ....... I've never seen anything like that.
"Wow. ......
It's the same as ......, which I've only heard about in stories.

　One of the young maids asks Amelia, "What do you mean by that?
　The most important words were too shy to be heard in a loud whisper, but the young maids in the room all understood the meaning.

"I've never been there either.

　Amelia prefaced that by saying, "I think it's the same.

"But I think it's the same. I think it's just like when I was thinking of Alec and I was thinking of myself.
"I see. ......
I like ......

　The maids thought longingly of the experience Amelia described.

"Hey, maybe we can't do that either.
"Huh?
"Because it's not that kind of thing (、、、、、), and you don't have to hold back with Miss Angel.
""Absolutely!"

　The maids shouted in unison.

　Their eyes were all shining at the same time.

　Alec doesn't know.
　Coupled with Angier's constant presence and the fact that he has one foot in the dying range of mental age.

　Alec doesn't realize that there are many women of advanced age who adore him at his side.

　　　　　.

　The next day .
　After getting up in the morning and dropping Angel off at Calamity's for practice, I was wondering what I was going to do today.

　Just as I was wondering what we were going to do today, there was a knock on the door.

　There's a knock on the door and a bunch of maids come in.

"What's up, guys? Amelia, what's this?

　Ask Amelia, who is leading the way.
　I wondered why all the maids looked like they were expecting me.

"Mr. Alec, I need you to do something for me!
"Hmm?　What?
"Everyone let me in, Master Alec!
"In me?　It's a shadow.
""Please!

　The young maids, whose faces I see every day, bowed to me in unison.

　I thought for a moment and looked at Amelia.
　Her soul is being purified a little.

　It would have the same effect on the other maids.
　I don't know why I'm asking, but it wouldn't be wrong to let her into the shadows.

You won't have any reason to refuse.

　When I said that, the maids all beamed and were extremely happy.