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"Thank you very much. After boiling these, the servants' meal will be complete."
Kaito's help ended when he finished cutting the vegetables. There was a clock in the kitchen too, and exactly thirty minutes had passed since they began. Time management was important for servants, and Kaito had intended to finish within thirty minutes.
Rei was mainly preparing food for the magicians like Mary. Magicians and servants never ate the same food, nor did they dine together.
If magicians and servants were to eat the same food, it would only be when serving as food tasters at another's mansion. Mary and Kaito were exceptions to this.
"The servants' meal is curry. Whether it's called the same thing or not, it exists in every world. A convenient and popular dish. I'd like to try it sometime myself."
After Kaito cut the vegetables, a large stock pot and numerous spices were laid out. This dish would be fine to eat for several days in a row.
"That aside. While we couldn't learn about her background, we did find out about her relationship with the mansion's master. And about the other servants. Though it didn't seem like particularly valuable information."
Kaito left the kitchen after finishing helping Rei. While time stopped when he responded to the Shinigami in his mind, he still needed to remain cautious.
Even if Shinigami stopped time, there was a possibility that someone might overhear if the timing was bad. Moreover, since Kaito himself couldn't move during these stops, he wouldn't be able to escape from the spot either.
"...She's the mansion magician... Gold Goal's last servant. I don't even know if that's her real name."
Passing the dining room table, Kaito muttered as if talking to himself.
Rei had become the mansion magician's servant just a few months ago.
She had only met them a countable number of times. She was selected as the facilitator for this succession rights dispute.
The other servants' life contracts were dissolved and, apparently, set free. They had never met Rei and were probably now servants to other magicians.
Without guidance from magicians or senior servants, Rei probably wouldn't have become a puppet-like servant.
Additionally, like Kaito, she apparently hadn't formed a life contract with her master.
Perhaps because the mansion's magician didn't have long left and wouldn't engage in activities dangerous enough to warrant a life contract.
Why had she become a servant, knowing it would be for such a short period? Though servants had no right to refuse, so that thought was meaningless.
"She didn't seem to be lying. The master here might be a unique magician, different from Mary. Not just making Rei a servant for this event alone, but what was the point of dissolving the life contracts with other servants and letting them go?"
"I wanted to be there for Mary-sama's final moments. I'd like to think she feels the same."
Normal servants wouldn't have such emotions. If they had feelings, there must be servants who were treated so badly that regret outweighed gratitude.
Dissolving life contracts before death should be dangerous. Even if magicians couldn't be killed by a single servant, they could be overwhelmed by numbers. With many servants, it wouldn't be strange for the magician to be killed if they all attacked at once.
That hadn't happened.
This mansion's master was still alive.