My Servant System

Kat PoV

"How much longer on that flower, Kat? We still have..."

Jahi counted the remaining flowers and handed one of them to Anput, who began to work on getting it reattached to the now glossy and emerald green steel stem that she had forged, the coloration coming from some of the herbs she had used for the bath and making this intricate ornament even more beautiful than it would be originally.

"Three more to go after that one. Though Anput is still waiting for the last sheet of metal to be forged, so there is that. Is it coming along well though? 'Cause this one looks really pretty. Almost the same color as Lakshmi's skin..."

"Yes... The runes needed aren't that complex, it's just awkward to enchant the inside of these flowers... and the runes need to be small too, so there is that. But again... not hard, just odd. It is refreshing to know I don't need to worry about the 'mana capacity' of the metal though, since these enchantments aren't that difficult or that draining."

The Magic Pen in my hands slowly and methodically traced out the runes required to make this bell flower all the more gorgeous and impressive to gaze upon, what with the ethereal, magical glow as well as the utility enchantments to keep it clean, sparkly and sturdy.

I had already finished the one for Lakshmi, which was - as Jahi had said - a pretty, soft purple color that really did match her skin tone, while the second one was still undecided, but it was a deep, vibrant red that glistened in a way that made it almost seem like it was going to be dripping blood...

"I think this one should be Kat's, for... reasons. And the pink one in your hand, I think that should be Alessandra's or Leone's. Both of you are far more 'girly' than the rest of us, and it suits you well."

The Vampire looked up briefly from the bowl she was concentrating on, the deep sapphire blue flower slowly turning brighter as she tried to match it to Jahi's skin, and briefly she frowned as she tried to determine if that was a slight against her or not... before just shrugging and returning to the bowl, rotating the flower carefully.

"So we have flowers that are red, pink, purple, blue, yellow and..?"

I ignored Jahi and instead looked towards Anput, who was multitasking as she gently folded the metal back into place after heating it, all while she kept an eye on the metal inside the forge that was getting up to a high temperature for her to work with and 'weld' with.

"Orange. I was thinking that we could do red for you, blue for Jahi, pink for Leone, purple for Lakshmi, yellow for Alessandra and orange for me. Does that work for everyone? I think it matches us enough to make sense... though if I am recalling correctly, most of those aren't colors for lily of the valley, but I could be wrong."

"Most of the time they are white, but they can be pink, sometimes red, but otherwise... yeah, they're white. So yes this is 'wrong', but honestly who cares."

That made me roll my eyes as I continued to enchant the pink flower, though I had no issues with the colors chosen as I said "I think that will work well; each is a defining feature of that person and something to identify them with. Orange for the desert, red since it compliments my hair and fur, pink for the 'girly' Vampire, blue for your skin and purple for Lakshmi's, while the yellow is for Alessandra's hair. All on that green stem, and each engraved and enchanted to make them more unique."

"I was thinking red because you're a sadistic, bloodthirsty murderpuppy, but that certainly works as well~!"

Jahi just grinned at me as I glared at her, the Demoness giving a bit of payback for what I had said and done earlier, even if she had made me apologize to her in other ways two times already...

"They don't exactly know that about her, Jahi, so they'll likely think its just a compliment to her fur."

Leone was the voice of reason, even though she too was staring at the Demoness with narrowed eyes, as well as me for our reasoning behind her being pink...

"Well, who cares really, right? Each one is a unique color that is individualized for each person, and it lets them look at this ornament and easily identify who is who. I hope they like it. It wasn't difficult to make, but still..."

Anput pulled the orange metal sheet out and began to work on the final flower, using the smaller hammer and a flared cylindrical metal piece to shape the metal into the rounded petals that would then be attached to one another layered in a way that resembled real petals.

We fell into a comfortable silence again as we worked to get this done before someone came to get us or the pocket watch in Jahi's hands displayed the time we had agreed upon with Mother Ria.

It wasn't a test of our skill or a deep learning experience for anyone besides Leone, and even then she had a really easy job of just mixing a maximum of two herbs into mana water to create a mixture that would alter the metal to make it either brighter or darker as well as glossy; this wasn't a difficult process for any of us, and that was why we were hopeful that they truly liked it.

Perhaps we were being selfish, but the idea of spending this hour or so on a project that they didn't appreciate felt like a waste of valuable time that could have been used to produce some new gear, enchant our existing gear, and get some potions brewed for our journey out to the Sultanate.

That would annoy me a little if this time felt wasted, but I wasn't going to try and guilt them into loving this either; I didn't really know them, and while I wanted to get to know them and wanted to start caring for them, at the moment...

I had no relation to these people outside of them being the parents of someone I considered a parent, and while that sounded heartless and selfish, it was the truth; I had no reason to care for them.

That didn't mean I didn't want to of course; Anput, Leone and I all wanted them to like us, since their flesh and blood Granddaughter was the woman we had decided we wanted to spend the rest of our lives with, so they were supposed to be in our lives as well...

The same way that Mother Ria, Mom, the Sultana, Lady Kio, the Empress, and all of the Empress' wives were supposed to be in our lives as well as extended family; that was what was supposed to happen when you married someone.

A merging of your family and theirs... except for Jahi and I, that seemed to have been taken too literally by Mother and Jahi's parents... not that I was complaining of course, despite it being a tad weird.

Before I could continue my musings though, someone knocked on the door and dragged us all out of our trances, surprising us before we watched the door open up, revealing the ever domineering figure of the Empress as she curiously looked around.

"One of the servants did say you were all together in a small room... and considering I didn't hear much, I took a risk. Sorry. But, I felt like it was needed. This came in."

She raised her hand and slowly waved around an envelope, which made us all blink before Leone softly cursed, the Vampire yanking the flower out of the mixture and heating it up to dry it off as quickly as she could.

"Did I interrupt something? Apologies."

"Nothing important, no. Grandma and Grandpa are asleep, so we wanted to get out of the room to let them rest. Decided to make something for them whilst we waited. Who's the letter from?"

Jahi glanced at the pocket watch before returning her gaze to the Empress, who nodded as she studied the singular dangling flower on the stem before looking at the others, which were waiting for final touches before they too would be hung on the stem.

"It's from Lilith. Sadly, it seems she is either very far away, or is currently in the midst of something. She informed me that she won't be arriving for at least a month now, and to ensure that when she does get here, you, your sister, and your Mom are all present at the Palace. She didn't give me an exact date, only a loose timeframe. Is that a lily of the valley? Suitable. I think you'll find that Alamar will quite like this gift. Minuvae as well, but Alamar in particular. He has a garden that he is quite proud of..."