"Of course, sir." She bows and slides the door shut again.

And he straightens out his clothes, repeats the prestidigitation cantrip a few times to clean up, and then soon enough heads over to open the door.

She's still standing there. She offers him a little smile and nods shyly down the hall. "This way, then, sir."

He smiles slightly back, before following.

She'll lead him down some stairs and down another hall and out an unimpressive door and then they're outside, again. They walk down a covered stone path towards a smaller house in the shadow of the large one, where a wood-and-canvas sliding door already waits open for them.

This takes some time, if he feels like making conversation, but she won't initiate any herself.

He's saving his ability to form coherent sentences, mostly.

Well, she won't mind.

Inside the smaller house is a long, low wooden table set with food, rice and egg and vegetables. There are lots of maids in the same black uniform seated around it, eating their breakfast and gossiping with each other. When the first few notice Sugira and perk up with curiosity, most of the others turn to look at him.

"You can come sit with us here, if you want," says the maid who brought him, taking a seat beside the cluster of the maids. Most of them are sitting together at this end of the table - actually, all except one. The outsider sits by herself further down, shoveling rice into her mouth as fast as she can. She glances at Sugira, frowns, and then turns her attention back to her rice.

Maid hands Sugira a bowl.

He takes it, giving the outsider a long glance with a curious expression.

She doesn't look up again. She is very focused on the rice; it's great rice.

When she finishes she sets down the bowl, looks Sugira over as she slips her shoes on by the door, and dashes out into the garden. She runs all the way to the main house, footsteps loud on the stone path, and then disappears inside.

The other maids watch her go with some distaste; a few of them scoff. The girl who'd fetched Sugira shakes her head.

"Now I suppose we're supposed to clean away that bowl for her, like we're her servants," someone mutters.

"Who is she?"

"And I can clean the bowl; I think I startled her, anyways."

"She's a bitch."

"Hush! That's Tamako, the Lady's new maid. But none of us like her; she clearly has a very poor upbringing, no manners."

The girl sitting across from them leans in, lowering her voice conspiratorially. "Everyone's upset because we were cold to her just a little when she arrived - which is normal, and it's not like she was trying to get along with us yknow? But then she went and whined about the missing shoe and Lady Hideko got really mad at everyone, she's meaner than Miss Sasaki -" her whispering breaks off and she glances around, checking that Sasaki isn't somehow lurking in the corners of the room. 

"So really Tamako isn't the bitch." The girl who says this is emphatically shushed.

His guide sighs. "You don't have to clean the bowl, sir, we'll take care of it. And yours, once you're finished."

"...Alright."

There's a bit more mumbling to each other throughout breakfast, mostly about how handsome the Count is, but no more exciting gossip about Tamako or Lady Hideko.

When he is done, they do indeed clean his bowl away. The maid who brought him to breakfast asks if he wants to go back to the main house? Or he could walk in the gardens close by...

"Gardens."

Here are some gardens. They're very pretty; it looks like they have been quite expensively maintained.

The maid requests that he stay in this general garden area so that no one else becomes alarmed about him vanishing and getting up to Otherworldly Hijinks. 

"Alright."