9th Days (1) | Don't 'Waste' Your Time (1)

The rhythmic sound of hammering echoed through Anastasia's territory, the morning sun already high in the sky, casting a gentle warmth over the land.

Thonk. Thonk. Thonk.

"Whistle~♫."

A light whistle accompanied the rhythmic strikes, almost melodic in nature. The culprit behind the hammering worked with an easygoing tune, relaxed as he handled the wooden materials in his hands.

Naturally, such noise would attract curious passersby... in the form of a red-haired noblewoman and her two aides.

Anastasia, with Martha and Bella following closely behind, made her way toward the source.

Her brows furrowed slightly as she took in the sight before her...

Her butler, Sebas, was busy assembling what appeared to be... a tiny wooden structure?

"Sir Sebas... what are you working on?" she asked, curiosity lacing her tone.

Her question naturally caught the butler's attention. He halted his hammering, turning back toward them.

Surprise was etched all over his face upon finding the trio of women watching him with interest, but his surprise quickly turned into a cheerful smile.

"Oh, hey! Good morning, ladies~!" He greeted them cheerfully, as usual, ever nonchalant.

"What is this, Sir Butler?" Martha asked, crossing her arms with the same curiosity as her mistress. "I didn't realize we had any plans to build something."

"S-such a tiny building, too..." Bella added, tilting her head in confusion. "I-if I may be so blunt, w-what exactly is the purpose of this building, Sir Sebas...?"

Of course, they were all confused by the sudden construction of such a structure.

It wasn't a house, nor a shed—it was too small for that. And yet, the door took up nearly the entire front...

Then, as Sebas turned around to face the trio, a bright grin spread across his face. With both arms open wide, he proudly introduced them to his creation—

"A toilet~."

"..."

The ladies fell into silence, their thoughts momentarily halting.

Then, after a brief pause, the gears in their minds finally clicked.

"A toilet...!?"

Their reaction earned a hearty laugh from the butler.

"That's right," Sebas said, turning back to his work, reinforcing the structure of the 'toilet.' "Since we have a steady source of water, the next best thing we'd need, of course... is somewhere to dump our dump~."

His blunt remark earned a collective stare from the three women.

"W-well, I guess that makes sense, Sir Sebas," Anastasia muttered after a moment, brushing aside her initial surprise. "Good job, Sir Sebas."

"Why, thank you, my lady," he replied, glancing back at them... but the smirk on his face was far too knowing. "After all, we've all been doing it in the open wild. A bit of privacy would be nice, wouldn't it?"

"..."

Yet another blunt remark.

A heavy silence fell upon the three ladies as an unpleasant memory from the past week resurfaced in their minds—one they would have preferred to forget.

"P-please do not remind me of such things, Sir Sebas..." Anastasia stammered, flustered, a faint shade of red creeping up her face.

A sentiment shared by her blonde maid, who was blushing like a ripe tomato.

"Sigh... Don't make your mistress lose her dignity, Sir Butler," Martha huffed, exasperated by his antics.

As someone who had her fair share of outdoor life during her time in the Kingdom's Army, the knight wasn't particularly fazed by the topic. However, that didn't mean she didn't appreciate the thought. Privacy was a luxury—even for a knight.

But even so, something else came to the knight's attention.

"Wait... how do you plan to handle the waste, Sir Butler?" she asked, crossing her arms.

Sebas, still hammering away at the wooden frame, simply replied, "I dug a huge hole underneath."

Martha blinked. "A-all by yourself?"

He gave a casual nod. "Yup."

They were indeed surprised by this fact alone, as they all remembered yesterday's well-digging that took them days to even finish...

Yet, apparently, it took the butler just one night for this 'toilet.'

"S-since when did you start making this, S-sir Sebas...?" Bella chimed in with her question.

"Hm? Oh, from last night," he answered nonchalantly, adjusting one of the wooden planks. "I couldn't sleep, so the next best thing was to spend my time doing something useful."

"F-from last night?" Anastasia muttered, staring at the almost-finished structure in disbelief.

She vaguely remembered dismissing herself to sleep, leaving Sebas still hanging around the campfire... but never had she thought he would choose to do something else instead of resting.

"S-Sir Sebas, you shouldn't have forced yourself to work so much," the mistress said, concern evident in her voice. "I don't want you to overexert yourself..."

"Don't worry, Lady Ana, I'm fine," he reassured her with his usual ease. But still, he smiled—pleased that his mistress was worried about him. "Well... it's really just a simple waste dump, so it wasn't too much trouble on my own. Compared to the large well we dug yesterday, this is nothing~."

Martha, on the other hand, had another concern in mind. "Still... wouldn't it start piling up and... well, stink?"

The waste would have to be dealt with at some point—normally a task for the lower servants in a household. But here, with only the three of them... that responsibility would inevitably fall on one of them...

And that was something both Martha and Bella would rather avoid at all costs.

However, instead of answering immediately, a grin stretched from ear to ear on Sebas' face—as if he had been expecting that question from the very start.

"Good question, Miss Knight~!"

"H-huh? W-what do you mean...?" she asked, staring suspiciously at the butler's mischievous expression.

But again, he wasn't fazed, the grin on his face still wide as ever...

But that grin? The three ladies soon realized—dreadfully—that it was the kind of grin that meant their eccentric butler had prepared yet something unsettling for them...!

He put down his hammer for a moment... then walked over to an unassuming 'box' near the pile of tools and lumber nearby.

"Uhh... what are you doing?" The knight continued to press, but his silence only further confused her and even other two.

The butler picked up the single 'content' inside the box... and then showed it to the three ladies!

"This is the solution to our waste problem~!"

And in his hand... was a blob of slime.