BONUS:
Mass-Produced Maid Tamaki
"ARE YOU OKAY, TATEYAMA? Are you sure you shouldn't rest more?"
"I am fine."
"Really? Feel free to hand your work off to the two newbies. You
can run them off their feet."
"Y-yes, sir."
Tateyama had returned from the manufacturer, where she'd been
sent after being damaged by Keith's knights. She'd resumed work as a
maid a month ago, but even now, Liam checked on her out of concern
almost every day.
Unable to ignore Tateyama's uneasiness, Amagi spoke up. "Master,
Tateyama has been back for four weeks. She is perfectly able to carry out
her duties, and there is no need for you to worry about her."
When Amagi chided him, Liam normally backed down right away,
but this time was different. "Tateyama was badly hurt, Amagi! Isn't it
weird to be so indifferent?"
"I am nothing of the sort. And as I have informed you many times, it
is your behavior that is abnormal, Master." Amagi was being a bit harsh
with Liam.
Watching them from the shadows was another mass-produced maid
robot, Tamaki. She stood behind a large pillar, watching Tateyama look
between Liam and Amagi anxiously.
"Supervisor must be jealous of Tateyama," Tamaki murmured, just
loudly enough that the others overheard her. "Is it because Master has been
so preoccupied with Tateyama that he hasn't spent any time with
Supervisor?"
Liam glanced over at Tamaki, then quickly back to gauge Amagi's
reaction. Amagi was her usual expressionless self, carefully composed so
as not to give away anything.
Liam knew a lot about maid robots, though. "Amagi... Are you
jealous of Tateyama? Are you afraid she's going to take me away from
Page 275
you?"
"I am not jealous. We are not capable of jealousy." Amagi's robotic
tone—which suddenly seemed exaggerated—hinted that she was trying to
hide her embarrassment.
In the chat room the maid robots shared on their dedicated network,
Tamaki read her sisters' guesses at Amagi's inner thoughts.
"Supervisor just made an error. That forced mechanical tone
proved Master correct."
"Aww! Supervisor is embarrassed!"
"Come to think of it, Supervisor has been harder on us than usual
during reviews lately. Her scoldings go on longer now too. Tee hee hee!"
It was true that Amagi was criticizing and lecturing the maids more
extensively than usual. To the others, it seemed the head maid robot was
taking out her jealousy on them.
Liam gave Amagi an apologetic look. "I never intended to neglect
you. I was just so worried about Tateyama. I'm sorry, Amagi."
Ever so slightly, Amagi's brows rose. The chat room went wild, the
maids posting tons of emojis.
"Supervisor looks pleased by Master's sincere apology!" gushed
the excitable Shiomi.
Supervisor's definitely going to have words for Shiomi later, Tamaki
said inwardly. These words appeared in the chat room as well.
"You're going to be in just as much trouble, Tamaki!" Shiomi shot
back. "You started this whole thing!"
Tamaki just smirked—as much as maid robots did, anyway. This
little scene's not over yet. Look, it's continuing right now.
"Your worry for Tateyama is natural, Master," Amagi said
hesitantly. "I did not show enough consideration. Let me reduce
Tateyama's workload and assign some of her tasks to...the new maids,
you said?"
"Yup. You have my permission. Do whatever you want with those
two."
The "new maids" were the demoted knights Tia and Marie. Out of
concern for Tateyama's well-being, Liam wanted to shunt her work onto
those two. Maid robots only existed in the first place so humans could
Page 276
work less, but the tables had been turned in this situation.
Watching the exchange, Tamaki took out a pen and a journal labeled
"Material." For some reason, she jotted down some notes. "Humans doing
chores for the sake of a maid robot... Now, that's some new material. I
hope I'll get a chance to use it for a joke one day."
Tamaki quickly closed her notebook when Amagi and Liam walked
over.
"See? It's lecture time!" Shiomi exclaimed in the chat room. She
was thrilled with the notion, and Amagi did appear displeased with
Tamaki.
"Tamaki, what was the meaning of that comment you made so
loudly to yourself? It was rude to Master."
"I apologize." Tamaki bowed her head.
After a short pause, Amagi said firmly, "Be sure you are more
careful in future. Now, back to your duties."
"Yes, ma'am."
The lecture ended all too quickly, to Shiomi's shock. "Why?
Normally, Supervisor makes every criticism she can!" She couldn't
understand why Amagi let Tamaki off easy.
Then Amagi herself entered the chat room. At some point, the other
maid robots had wisely left the chat, deleting their messages.
"Shiomi, I will see you in my room later. I have decided to review
your workload, along with Tateyama's. It seems you have too much idle
time, which means there is room in your schedule for more work. You can
accomplish more with your time. You have ample processing power."
Amagi left the chat room.
Shiomi posted a crying emoji. "This isn't fair!"
Tamaki returned to her own work, but first hurriedly jotted some
notes about Amagi scolding Shiomi in her material book. "I hope I get to
tell this joke to people one day, too."
Page 277