The night had fallen over Anastasia’s walled region. However, it was not yet the time to rest the tired minds and bodies of its denizens.
Because... they had some precious monster feathers to prepare.
After dinner, Sebas—with the reluctant help of Martha—hauled six barrels of holy water out from the region’s supply area.
Each barrel sloshed heavily, with the rather faint aroma of the blessed liquid wafting from within.
"...I almost forgot that we have holy water supplies in the inventory," the lord of the region, Anastasia, remarked with a mix of surprise and disbelief.
The mistress stood nearby, watching as her two servants set the heavy barrels down with a resounding thud.
"Never hurts to have one of these holy things ready for an occasion, my lady~," her butler quipped, his usual playful tone lingering in the air.
"...And do tell, what would you use this much holy water for, Sir Sebas?" she inquired with a raised brow.
"First things first—cleaning out any impurities," the butler announced, his playful tone hidden away by a calm tone carrying a matter-of-fact certainty.
He opened the lid of each barrel, releasing the ’antiseptic’ scent of the holy water into the night air.
The butler then turned to the nearby blonde maid, who stood next to two sacks filled with bloodwing feathers. "Miss Maid, would you kindly help me bring out the feathers?"
"A-ah, yes, Sir!" She straightened herself at the head butler’s request but tilted her head in confusion. "...P-pardon me for asking, Sir Sebas, but... w-what exactly are we doing with these feathers and holy water...?"
The head butler simply smiled at the maid’s innocent question—a question shared by both the mistress and the knight.
But... all three of them had an inkling of a bad feeling about what he was about to do.
Without missing a beat, he scooped up a bundle of bloodwing feathers from one of the sacks, carried them over to a barrel of holy water... and dumped them in.
"..."
All three of them fell silent; blank stares were directed at the butler’s rather unorthodox method of ’cleansing impurities.’
The crimson feathers floated for a moment on the surface of the holy water... before sinking into its depths.
"We’ll let them soak overnight~," he declared cheerfully.
He then grabbed another handful of bloodwing feathers and dropped them into the next barrel—acting as if he didn’t notice the disapproving looks the three ladies were giving him.
"That should clear out any lingering traces of impure mana."
Anastasia could only palm her face, suppressing the sudden headache threatening to split her head apart from Sebas’s absurd antics.
"I get why you’re being thorough, but..." she sighed, finding it quite hard to phrase her next words, "...do we really have to use holy water for this?"
"Yeah. This feels… kind of wrong," Martha muttered, folding her arms across her chest. "I can’t, in good faith, say I support this crude method of yours, Sir Butler."
"Hmm? Why so, Miss Knight?"
"W-why so—?! Because we are literally using sacred holy water like it’s some kind of detergent, you damned butler!" the knight snapped, her voice rising in frustration. "What if the Holy Church catches wind of this? Lady Anastasia’s going to get in trouble with believers all over the world, dammit!"
Her outburst, however, was only met by a faux tilt of confusion from the butler, which only served to further aggravate the knight.
"P-please, don’t fight, you two...!" Bella tried to intervene before turning to Sebas with a worried expression. "S-Sir Sebas, I-I’m sorry, but... I also want to know if... if it’s really okay to use holy water for such a cleaning method...?"
Sebas, however, only chuckled softly at Bella’s timid question.
"It’s fine~. As long as it’s for a good cause, there’s no harm in it," he said, waving off their concerns with a relaxed smile. "I don’t see any sort of evil in us using it to make a simple bed... wouldn’t you agree~?"
His reasoning didn’t exactly put their worries to rest, but… it wasn’t like they had a better solution.
For now, the three ladies let the matter drop.
< | X | >
The next morning—after breakfast—all four of them returned to the line of holy water barrels... which were still filled with the bloodwings’ feathers.
Without much care, Sebas pried open the lid of the first barrel—a faint, refreshing scent wafted out as the soaked feathers came into view...!
What they saw left the ladies stunned.
The once-deep crimson feathers had turned a soft, pinkish red...!
It was as if the holy water had stripped away whatever darkness clung to them, leaving only their purest form behind.
Anastasia leaned closer, eyes wide. "T-they changed color…?"
"Yeah. It seems the dark red tint was the residual impurity," Sebas mused, lifting a handful of the softened feathers. Droplets of holy water clung to them, gleaming under the morning light—which, of course, left the ladies astonished at the sight of the ’purified’ feathers.
They had doubted his crude method before... but seeing an actual, visible result convinced them that the butler was on to something.
"Here, my lady~," he promptly handed the glimmering, wet feather to the redhead.
"A-ah, yes!" She quickly accepted the feather into her hands... before her eyes widened further in surprise. "...It’s so light now...!"
Anastasia had expected them to be as heavy as the crimson feathers from before—almost like holding a brick.
But now, they were literally as light as a feather—lighter even! It was as if the feather was gently floating in her hands...
"...A-amazing..." she couldn’t help but voice her genuine awe.
"It is, right~? That’s probably the wind magic still infused within," he explained smoothly. "These feathers are imbued with wind mana—enough to grant bloodwings their aerial agility. But once plucked, the mana inside becomes unstable, weighing them down instead."
He tossed another wet feather from the barrel to Bella, surprising her for a moment before she caught it effortlessly. The maid, like her mistress, was equally impressed by the feather’s transformation.
"By cleansing and stabilizing the mana, we’ve restored their natural properties. Now they’re as light as they should be."