My Servant System

The knock on the door saved Jahi from needing to answer that question right now, but even as I walked over to open the door and let whomever was outside into the room, I glanced back over my shoulder and narrowed my eyes at the Demoness, making her smile wryly at me as those amethyst eyes filled with a few different emotions.

Everyone caught that glance, causing everyone to smirk whilst Grandpa and Grandma tilted their heads, unaccustomed to how we acted with one another and unsure of whether to view that as okay or not, though as soon as they caught the reactions of everyone else, they remained quiet and just focused on the door.

Opening it up, I raised a brow at the very stiff, very scared looking Cowkin woman that was standing in front of the Empress, Lady Igna, and Lady Yusa, the three royal women smiling softly at the door as they waited to be invited in, all whilst Lady Igna seemed to enjoy the discomfort that Bessie was showing.

I bowed before stepping to the side, gesturing for the three to enter and marveling somewhat at the different presences that each had; the Empress was a gentle warmth that lapped at your skin, Lady Igna was a suffocating, cloying heat that tried to sap any moisture from your body, while Lady Yusa was such a deep and bone chilling weight that didn't match her coy expression.

Each was a unique and powerful woman in their own right, but together in a small room with another few women with powerful presences, it was almost hard to breathe in this room now, and it was made even worse for Bessie who had little mana to begin with, so I just smiled at her and pulled her inside.

She needed to get used to it anyways...

"Ah, Alamar, Minuvae! It is nice to actually be seeing you in person again! I trust everything has gone well?"

Both of the Elves stood up and bowed deeply to the Empress, with Grandma being the one to answer as she respectfully said "As well as it always goes, my Empress. And it is our honor to be in front of you once again!"

"As serious as always, I see. So, how have the introductions been? Are you surprised by your granddaughter's growth? She is quite the talented girl, after all. Quite bright, quiet strong, surprisingly well mannered too, all things considered."

The Empress briefly glanced at Mom when she said that, making both of the Elves frown as they turned to glance at her as well, not appreciating the fact that she had made no move to get up and bow to the ruler of our Empire, and not happy with the fact that neither Mother nor Mother Ria had done more than bow their heads.

Before they could say anything though, the Empress smiled at me as I pulled over the various chairs from the table and gestured for Jahi and the others to vacate the couch, which I then offered to the towering woman and her two wives before making my way into the kitchen, putting on a few pots of tea.

"Well, I came over for a few reasons. Let's start with the obvious; Alamar, Minuvae, I truly am curious as to what you think about young Jahi, as well as the two little ones. It's likely the most excitement you've had in a few months now, right? Which, let me make abundantly clear, was entirely optional and not needed. You could have come home and let someone else take over your posts..."

Still frowning, Grandma glared at the older Demoness before turning back to the Empress and nodding, her expression growing neutral as she answered "We know, Empress, but one of the first lessons I ever learned was a simple yet important one; if you want something done right the first time, do it yourself. The mission was far too volatile to be left to someone else, so I stuck to it. As for what I think..."

Falling silent, she stared at Jahi for a few moments before her gaze alternated between all of us, eventually landing on Leone as she added "I think we're quite lucky. She seems to have grown properly and into a sought after, important, reasonable girl who has taken clear advantage of the hand she was dealt. I just hope she never slips up and causes any sort of harm to the Princess..."

"Ha! We all hope that, 'cause it'd be difficult to explain to Chordeva why her daughter was burnt beyond recognition!"

"Or dealing with severe frostbite that simply would never go away..."

The two wives of the Empress 'smiled' at Jahi as their mana leaked out of their skin, the contrasting waves of heat and cold enough to make your head reel as it was switched between two extremes, only to fade away a second later and make you question whether or not it happened at all.

Poor Bessie was sweating in the corner beside me, trying her best to look small and insignificant as she trembled like a leaf, only to almost jump out of her skin as I muttered "Get the tea for me, Bessie."

"Trust me, she knows better than to do something stupid like that. Besides, Jahi was the one to ask Leone to be her fiancee and not the other way around, and so far she hasn't shown any signs of idiocy. If anything, I'd argue that Leone does more damage with her fangs than Jahi ever will do to her~!"

The Empress' smile stiffened for a moment as her head turned to face Mom, who just grinned as she just kept her streak going of insinuating so many different things.

"Well, besides the fact that your granddaughter will eventually wed my daughter, is there anything else, or have you only been here for a few minutes?"

She returned to the two Elves without a word to Mom, who just chuckled quietly as she leaned back into her seat and withstood the glares from the others.

"We've only been here for a handful of minutes so far, Empress. But I do have the letters still that Ria sent us, so I am curious to have some alone time with her. Get to ask her some questions and maybe even spar with her. As for the little ones, they're both adorable."

"Well, that's good to hear. Now, I don't want to keep you all for too long, so let's move on to the other reason that I came by. Another letter came in from the Sultanate, and Anubi told me to tell you four that in a week and a half, a few of her soldiers will come by to escort you into the Desert and over towards Al-

Mayt. Apparently, Anubi has a couple of surprises in store for you, which doesn't include the various Fiends popping up around the Desert begging to be dealt with. Many of which are Ka Fiends too, so that should be fun~!"

Rubbing her hands together, the Empress smiled at each of us before focusing on Anput as she said "This will be your first time back home in a long time, won't it Begum? Excited?", drawing everyone's focus onto the Jackalkin who was just lounging on her chair and smiling slightly.

"Very much so. Obviously I lucked out with Jahi, but I was prepared to be 'stuck' here for a long time. It was a part of what I was told before I left; that I might not come back for years. After all, I was marrying into a rather important family."

The Jackalkin seemed unbothered by that admission, which made her frown as she saw both Jahi and Leone frowning at her, the two clearly displeased with that assumption that she had so breezily made.

Before she could ask them what was wrong, Lady Yusa cut in and redirected the flow of the conversation quickly, pulling everyone back to more lighthearted topics as she asked "Your Mother - Kio - had a few children recently too right? So you have an entire brood to return to that you haven't seen in a while either? Similar to these two?"

Both Alessandra and Lakshmi were seated securely on her lap somehow, with Lakshmi taking this opportunity to sprawl out and nap as she enjoyed the cool skin of the Snow Woman, whilst Alessandra seemed more partial to the heat of Lady Igna nearby, but Lady Yusa kept her seated on her soft thigh.

"Correct~! They were only crawling around when I left, so I have to admit I am curious to see what they're up to now, and curious to see if the parenting style is still the same. After coming over the first time, Mother got really strict and fired up, so..."

Anput and I glanced at Mother when she said that, catching the small and proud smile on her face as she looked between the two of us, only to return to her neutral expression when everyone else looked at her as well.