to her heart's content. "Sigh, Master Kaito was the coolest today, just like he always is... The way he ties up his hair into a little knot is so lovely, I could just lick him all over and smooch him until the cows come home... All right, it looks as though I've finished making the rounds. What should I do now? I wonder if Lady Elisabeth wants to play some cards or some chess, or perhaps even do some drinking..." It had been cloudy that afternoon, so although things could go either way, there was definitely a risk it could rain. Depending on the weather, they might have to pick somewhere different to hold their evening activities. Hina headed over to one of the windows lining the hallway to see how things looked. *** Suddenly, she sensed a presence. She whirled back around on the spot. At present, Elisabeth and her servantsâ€”Hina includedâ€”were locked in battle against the fourteen demons. No matter what else she was doing, Hina never let down her guard. Even if, by some turn of fate, she had been sloppily making out with Kaito, she would still have been vigilantly attuning herself to her surroundings. Thanks to that, her reaction was swift. She reached into her magic leather bag, pulled out her halberd, and brandished it menacingly. "Who goes there?!" However, Hina's shout was met with silence. Instead, some sort of figure dashed behind the sword-wielding suit of armor stationed at the bend in the hallway. It made its way down the stairs as fast as it could. Hina shifted her center of gravity down low, then took off at a dash, pursuing the target of her suspicion like a beast on the hunt. Down at the landing, the figure she saw earlier joined up with another, similar entity. The newcomer was holding a biscuit tight in its mouth. Kaito or Elisabeth must have dropped it while they were snacking on it. The figures were each about the size of a human baby. ...No. It can't be! When Hina realized what they were, she was shocked. And if she hadn't been sure enough before, the next noise she heard sealed the deal. Squeak! The two of them descended down into the basement. For a moment, Hina stopped in her tracks. She squeezed the handle of her halberd tight. A few tense words escaped her lips. "...I see there were survivors." Not only was that wholly unexpected, but also, to her, it was proof of a grave failing on her part. For to a servant like her, rats were her natural enemy. Unfortunatelyâ€” â€”the castle's custodian had no patience whatsoever for dust, bugs, cobwebs, weeds, or rats. Whenever she found them, dead or alive, she would fight to the bitter end to ensure they were completely purged from the castle's halls. For example, there was the valiant battle she'd fought the day prior. As part of her task for the day, Hina went down to the basement. There were no problems with the teleportation circle, and all the traps were responding properly. But in one of the basement's rarely used rooms, she discovered that there was something strange going on. The records listed the room as empty, yet inside, it was full of grain. As a result, a rat infestation had taken root there, and to make matters worse, the preservation magic cast on the grain had resulted in a problematic side effect. Thanks to its power, the rats had grown to be as large as human babies. When Hina fought them, it was a fierce affair indeed. In the end, though, she managed to trounce them with ease, albeit with her legs a little more gnawed on than before. She knew that dumping their bodies in the forest ran the risk of disturbing the ecosystem, so she instead buried them out by the rear garden. Was it coldhearted of her? Perhaps. But the world was a coldhearted place. At that point, though, she got complacent and made the incorrect assumption that the battle was over. And that was a grave error. Some of the rats had survived. And where there were two survivors, there were probably two hundred more out of sight. "Oh dear... It would appear I've made a blunder. This time, I must be sure to finish them off before my beloved Master Kaito or my dearest Lady Elisabeth runs into them!" Hina clenched her fists tight. The thing was, her beloved Kaito dwelled in a golem body. In theory, it was immortal, but not even he would survive being eaten alive. In that regard, a huge swarm of giant rats was like his natural predator. And as for Elisabeth, the rats themselves didn't pose a threat to her, but if they scared her badly enough, there was a chance she would end up bringing the whole castle down just to kill them. Hina needed to settle this alone, and as quickly as possible. Before she descended the stairs leading into the basement, she massaged her temples and thought her options over. I remember the room where I faced the rats yesterday, and I think it's safe to assume their nest is somewhere near it. Now, if I head to that room and that room, I should be able to find... Hina searched her memory for all the bits and pieces she needed. Each time she walked through the castle's labyrinthine basement, she added the route she took to the ever-expanding map of the area that she kept stored in her brain with astonishing accuracy. She even recorded the contents of every room she visited. She would need materials for this rematch, and she knew just where to find them. It was unclear how many survivors there were, but it was essential that she wipe them out completely this time. Now certain of her path, Hina snapped her eyes back open. "All right, this will work! I was the one who made the mistake, so it's time for me to make things right!" After rallying her spirit, she stowed her halberd in her leather bag and daintily lifted the hem of her maid outfit. Then she gracefully descended the stairs. Her silver hair swayed as she vanished into the gloom. Incidentally, this was around the same time that Kaito and Elisabeth started looking for her to check the wine-bottle count and coax her into making a midnight snack, respectively. However, there was no way Hina could have known that. Down in the basement, not even her beloved master's voice could reach her. Undeterred, Hina began running through the underground corridors. Her first mission was to figure out where their nest was. To do that, she headed for the grain storeroom where their previous battle took place. To get to the present, you had to start with the past. At the moment, their old battleground was devoid of rats, but Hina didn't let that discourage her. Not faltering or panicking in the slightest, she pulled a block of strong-smelling cheese out of her leather bag, tore off fragrant little chunks, and placed them throughout the hallway. Cheese might seem like an odd thing to carry around, but she liked to have some on hand so Kaito or Elisabeth would have something to eat if the situation called for it. Then she concealed her presence and waited. When she really put her mind to it, Hina could even silence the cogwheels inside herself and truly act the part of an object. Before long, a single rat appeared. Not noticing her, it took the cheese in its mouth and happily scurried off. Hina followed behind it with silent footsteps. After tracking it for a little while, she arrived a corner and made a sudden stop. She peeked around it. There was something writhing around the bend. Upon further inspection, she discovered that it was some sort of strange, rapidly growing ivy. It would seem that the rats weren't her only enemies. Hina carefully surveyed the surroundings. In doing so, she finally realized what had driven the rats' irregular growth. There were several large piles of clay scattered all over the hallway floor, which was odd, given that she was underground. They were where the ivy had taken root. Considering the golem, the rats, and the grain seeds, the answer was as clear as day. "I see... It all started when one of them dropped some seeds it was carrying. And I suspect that their nest is inside it." Ever since the ivy grew around their nest, the rats had been enjoying its blessing. It made for the perfect defensive wall. However, now Hina knew where they lived. Her task was set. Hina nodded. The method she had in mind should end up getting rid of the ivy, too. This wasn't a problem. "Now then... Let's get this started, shall we?" Her emerald eyes flashed as she shifted her battle plan into its second phase. Little did she know, though, that things were only going to get harder from there. "Hmmm. It really is kind of old, isn't it?" Hina crossed her arms. She was in another storeroom that had been listed as empty on her maps. Several jars sat before her, all of which she'd pulled down from the crumbling shelf embedded in the wall. At a glance, they looked like antique bottles of wine, but they were actually chemicals infused with mana. However, these weren't the kinds of fancy chemicals that professional mages used in their research. They were just minor household supplies, like pesticides and herbicides. It wasn't exactly a trivial task, but by going to Mage's Row in the Capital and getting a membership card, which demonstrated that one understood enough about magic to know how dangerous they could be, even members of the general public could get their hands on such chemicals. However, it was unlikely that anywhere but Elisabeth's castle had them stocked in such variety or quantities. It was a complete mystery as to why she'd bought so much. In all likelihood, though, she'd probably had a small bug problem at some point, freaked out, and completely overreacted. Later, Hina had taken it upon herself to draw strangely adorable skull marks on the lids of each one. That way, nobody would accidentally mistake them for wine. It was a more legitimate concern than one might think, as Elisabeth was secretly a giant klutz. It really is such a charming feature of hers... That aside, though, we have a problem. After mentally reaffirming how adorable her master was, Hina sank back into thought. She stared at the box of herbs and the two types of bottles she'd picked out. "It's as I feared. They've grown too deteriorated." At the moment, Hina's plan was to concoct a powerful rodenticide. She was using a recipe listed in her Self-Recording Device; these instruction had been passed down since time immemorial by traveling mages who used it when they visited small villages stricken by plagues. The process involved combining two kinds of simple cleaning chemicals, then tossing in an herb that would release poisonous fumes to kill the vermin. The problem, though, was that the chemicals had weakened with age. "Well, no sense in standing around worrying about it. Let's at least see how it looks." Hina ripped the oil-paper lid off one of the bottles. Even just doing that was enough for her to tell how half-hearted the bottles' supposedly airtight seals had been. She frowned, then poured a drop on her finger and placed it atop her tongue. It was a special automaton technique for testing such things. For a moment, she closed her eyes. Then when the analysis was complete, she nodded. "Yes, just as I thought. I can't really expect these to have much of an effect at all." The chemical had lost almost all its mana, and its composition had badly degraded. As a result, the toxin's effect on the rats