My Servant System



Mother had spent another few minutes informing the Cowkin exactly what she expected of her going forwards, from work ethic to how attentive she was meant to be, even going so far as to explain how hard she would be worked in the beginning to start building some muscle on the woman so that she could more efficiently help around the house no matter what task it might be.

The woman in question paled rather quickly as she realized she was facing a rather daunting future, one in which her new Mistress and boss would demand much of her going forwards, though she blinked in surprise as Mother added that whatever skills she learned underneath her would be skills that would make her a rather sought after woman as a servant, ensuring her a rather stable and well paying job should she choose to continue along that path; otherwise, she was learning a set of skills that would be useful anyways even if they were used only on herself.

After that was over, Mother and the Countess walked with Bessie towards one of the nearby rooms, where they would go over this in depth and draw out a contract for it, which would then be reviewed by Bessie before submitted to the Empress to be verified and legitimized, and Alessandra and Lakshmi went with them.

Anput congratulated me once more before going off to complete some more forging before dinner was going to be ready, which would be in a hour or so, leaving just the Marquess, Jahi, Leone and I to idle around and discuss what happened today...

In other words, an awkward, quiet beginning that was spent with the Marquess just staring us down as she waited for one of us to start first, her ruby eyes alternating leisurely between the three of us.

I decided to put my multiple decades worth of life experience to the test and be the first to speak, coughing into my fist before managing to say "We... didn't mean to not tell you..?"

The Marquess just tilted her head to the side and stared at me for a moment before rolling her eyes, saying "That's a wonderful~ excuse you have there, Kat. Perfect! It explains everything! Though, unlike Ria or Julie, I don't entirely care since you came back alive, and I know full well that I did worse when I was your ages. Besides, the encounter with the Draconis back when you first got into the Academy was one that was honestly far more terrifying... Still, yes, I would prefer if you decided to not pick the most dangerous moments all the time to try and show the world that you're all grown up..."

My lips curled into an awkward smile as I nodded, which made Jahi chuckle softly before she said "Mom, we were going to come back and drop of Bessie at least, but we made the executive decision to capture those three first, so that they wouldn't be alerted to the desolation of the bandits they hired. If we hadn't, we might have never gotten them and lost our only lead on who it was that decided to target me, or more specifically my blade. I'd say we had to have made that move then and there, but..."

The younger Demoness just shrugged, which made the older Demoness sigh as she leaned back into the couch, crossing her arms and staring at the ceiling for a moment before saying "That is true, but so is the fact that returning to the Palace would only take a few minutes tops; even if you just sent Anput or Kat running to and from, it'd be just around ten minutes maybe. You had options, but you got tunnel vision. Either way, it worked out this time, so be thankful for that.

Now, as for what to do going forwards... After we learn whatever else we can in regards to this Vitra Renacla, we'll need to pay them a visit soon enough to capitalize on whatever information we learn. It does sound like this Vitra had a sudden shift in personality, so perhaps we're dealing with a separate enemy using her as a smokescreen? Of course that brings up the obvious choice of the Sariel's, but that is a rather... iffy conclusion to jump to. There are many different other power Houses, individuals, or shadowy organizations that we could be dealing with.

For instance, that Si.. Sizzle? No, what was it... Sizzy... ah! Sizali! That odd young man that you told me about once, Kat. Looking into them proved fruitless... on the surface. They were TOO clean to not be some kind of trouble, so... Besides them, there's a few crime families or the Gregori Dukedom that might be interested in stirring up trouble; perhaps a Saint gone crazier then normal and desiring to crack open the secret of Celestial Gold?"

She chuckled at the end, before letting out another sigh as she looked back down towards us, shaking her head and saying "But, speculation gets us no where, so we should instead focus on what we know we can do. Continue training until we get a better understanding of the enemy, prepare for the fight, and then go fight. I'd suggest... indulging yourselves again since we might be in for another wild goose chase, and rests aren't going to be common."

We all nodded at her suggestion, with Leone blushing at the Marquess being rather on the nose about everything, before we continued to talk about what we should be doing going forwards, enjoying the warm atmosphere as we lounged around for a bit, waiting for time to pass by in comfortable company.

Mother came back around twenty minutes later with the others in tow, joining us on the couches and continuing to chat about nothing in particular, though one of the points was that they had managed to reach a rather fair - yet still slightly punishing - deal with Bessie, who seemed more relaxed now that her future seemed sort of guaranteed for the time being.

All in all, a fruitful discussion in the end.