When I accepted the salary from me, Illness-san surprisingly assented to it. I was often stunned by that unexpected reaction, but Lilia-san, who had revived earlier, lightly beckoned me to join her.

''.........Kite-san. Over here, Illness, please wait for a moment.

　As I moved to the corner of the room with a light nod of my head, wondering if there was something to talk about, Lilia-san spoke to me in a small voice.
　To summarize the content........Lilia-san had always wanted to give Irnes-san more salary than she has now. However, she hasn't been able to give it to Mr. Illness because he hasn't agreed to it.
　But now that he has come here, he has agreed to receive his salary from me...he doesn't want to miss this chance.

　In other words, Lilia-san also wants to indirectly raise Irnes-san's salary by adding to the salary I give to Irnes-san.
　I know the overwhelming work ethic of Ilnes-san, and I know that Lilia-san often proposes a pay raise to him. If it's possible, I'd like to cooperate.

　So after a brief discussion in that direction, Lilia-san and I returned to Illness-san's side. Then I took out two white gold coins from the magic box and placed them on the table.

''For now, the official salary will be calculated later and will start next month.......this month, I will give you two white gold coins. You might think it's a lot, but Irnes-san is doing the work of about a hundred maids.......
Very well, then, thank you very much. I'll take one, please.
...What?

　Hearing my words, Illness-san smiled softly and then took only one of the two pieces placed on the table.


I agree with you about getting a salary from Miss Kite, but... But "from your daughter," that's another matter.
Oh, yes.

　........it was no good. It was extremely assertive, and it was discovered that half of the payment was going to be made by Lilia-san to make it up to me later. Well, it's true that I was discussing the matter without looking, and considering Lilia-san's past behavior, it's not surprising that I couldn't hear the conversation.
　Well, even if they had talked it over later and given it to her, I have a feeling that Illness-san would have seen through it somehow or other....
　With a glancing sideways glance, I saw Lilia-san's shoulders slumped in a gulp, but.......well, that's the thing.......as expected, since the other party is bad, it might be safer to give up soon.
　Or rather, for me, I'm rather surprised that you received a salary of one white gold coin.......







　The night after Illness's salary-related matters were settled, I was leisurely reading in my room. By the way, Kuro is not here today....well, he was here, but there was an incident and I asked him to solve it.
　It seems that she heard her mother, whose pride as a housewife was broken by Miss Illness, muttering to herself, "Maids are amazing..."... Well, the story went out of control early on. .

　My mother has a rather honest and gullible personality, and before I knew it, she was brainwashed by the maid advocate and said, "Come to think of it, a housewife can't possibly be a match for a maid, can she? And maids are the best at every skill! I had to take the cause home to the guardian as soon as possible.
　No, she's really cool and reliable in general, but I don't understand her passion for the concept of being a maid, and I don't want to understand it.

　Well, despite all that agony, I guess we're finally catching our breath, right?　It's somehow comforting to be in a quiet room with only the sound of the pages of a book to be heard.
　But, hmmm. I'm a little hungry, or maybe I just want to eat something light. I wonder if there was something in the magic box?
　With that in mind, I closed the book I was reading once and let the magic box appear, just in time to hear a regular knock on the door.

'Yes, it's open,'
I'm sorry.
Mr. Illness?

　As I replied, Mr. Illness came into the room, pushing a cart.

''I've brought you some wine and ~ light snacks to pick up, would you like to have some?

　His timing is truly astonishing. It must be great of Mr. Illness to quietly prepare what the other person is looking for at the right time.
　And wine is also good. I was tired after a long day, and I wanted to have a drink.

Thank you. I was just feeling a little hungry, so I'm grateful.
I'm glad you liked it.

　Ilnes-san announced, removing the cork with a fluid motion and lightly checking the aroma before handing me a wine glass and pouring me a little.

'Here you go,'
Thank you.

　Is this little bit of pouring called a tasting?　Well, I remember Lilia-san taught me a little bit about this at a party once.
　As I recall, I lightly tilt the red wine to check for any foreign substances, and then lightly put my nose close to the glass to check for any unusual odor.
　After that, I turn the glass in a small circular motion to make the aroma stand up, and then smell it as if I'm inhaling deeply... yes, it's hard to describe with my vocabulary, but it's a deep, profound, yet unpleasant aroma.
　Let's see, after that, I take a little bit of wine in my mouth and roll it lightly on my tongue - umm!　

　It's not as good as the Charollaud Grande I drank with Alice before, but it's by far the best wine I've had otherwise. It has such depth of flavor that even a layman like me can understand that it's one of the best wines out there.
　I couldn't just soak up the afterglow. As I recall, if there was nothing wrong with the taste, I turned to the person who served me and nodded lightly.
　

''........It's a terrific wine. How should I put it, it's hard to describe it, but even though the acidity and taste are very strong, it goes down your throat smoothly without any discomfort at all.......isn't this a pretty good wine?
That's right, it's a rare and precious wine that is hard to find. It's made by a special method and magically preserved. This time, we've prepared a 3,000-year-old wine.
Three thousand years?

　It's amazing.........I remember hearing about a hundred years of it on earth, but three thousand years.......

Could this....could this be an absurdly expensive wine?
Well, it's just - 'about R100,000'.
R100,000?

　And, no way, that means a bottle of this wine is worth a white gold coin ... 10 million yen in Japanese yen. No, no, no, no, don't serve that kind of expensive wine to me for dinner.　A platinum coin ... a piece?

Well, Mr. Illness.
Yeah?

　It's strange if you think about it. Unlike before, this is not Lilia-san's mansion, but my house. There is no such thing as a wine cellar. If so, where did this wine come from?
　It's possible that she brought it from Lilia-san's mansion, but.......Lilia-san isn't a very strong drinker in the first place. She only enjoys it lightly with food, and I've never seen her drinking with dinner or anything like that.
　What's more, it's true that Lilia-san is a duke, and I'm sure he has a decent selection of fine wines in his wine cellar........................but do they really have 10 million bottles of wine in their cellar?　No, even if they had it on hand, it wouldn't be something that could be taken out for dinner at night.
　

''........Where did you get this wine from?''
I bought it personally. I just happened to have some extra money.

　.... right? That's what happens.
　Huh?　What should I do with this........it's kind of like the salary I gave you came back in a different form, but that doesn't mean I can't complain about it.
　
　I have no way to argue with him, even if he continues to use the salary I paid him in this way in the future. Moreover, it's also rude to say no to Mr. Illness, since he's only offering me food from his generosity.
　But, hmmm. I personally can't agree with this development.......is there anything?　A way to successfully bring Mr. Illness to a beneficial form........

''.........Mr. Illness!
Yeah?
Join us for a drink!
...?