My Servant System

After watching as both the Mom Daughter Demoness pair were brought down to shuddering messes, Grandma tilted her head curiously as she asked "This is a first... how have you managed to make not only Jahi, but Chordeva of all people fall quiet? I must learn this trick..."

The older Demoness instantly shook her head and gave the Elf a shaky smile as she said "No trick here, Minuvae! Nothing to learn, since it's rather... innate to the little puppy! Can't really learn something that she was born with, now can you?"

That only made her more confused as she looked between Mom and I, clearly trying to decipher whatever the hell was going on and figure out if it was something that she herself could replicate, but...

"This 'little puppy' would have to reluctantly agree as well, Grandma~! I simply don't think it's something that you are able to pull off..? After all, you don't have... hmm... how to put it... ah, the 'keys to the kingdom' would be an apt way to express it! Does that make sense?"

"Keys... to the kingdom..?"

Frowning, she stared at me before looking towards her husband, who was now coughing and trying not to choke on the coffee he had just taken a sip of, drawing everyone's eyes as he incredulously asked "W-Wait wait wait! Wait a moment! Katherine, you aren't?! Surely not?!"

"Surely not what, Alamar?"

That only made Grandma all the more confused, but it made me amused as I chuckled and shook my head, pointing at Mother instead and saying "No, I'm not, but she is. And I would like to think that a Mother would support her daughter before her wife~?"

"In this particular instance, where there is no mutually beneficial, neutral ground to stand on... that is a correct assumption. After all, that 'little puppy' is my daughter, Chordeva~? Surely that didn't just... slip your mind or anything?"

My smile widened as I watched Mom shudder again, before her shoulders slumped in defeat as she muttered "I keep forgetting because of how young you look, Julie... and how mature Kat acts... the two of you are more like sisters than you are as a Mother Daughter pair... honestly!"

"Compliments aren't getting you anywhere right now, Chordeva, but thank you. That is what I would like to be hearing after giving birth, so do add it to your vocabulary, perhaps?"

Mom just nodded demurely, remaining silent and staring at the table as she tried to make herself look as small as possible, all while Grandma gradually put the pieces together to what had just happened.

It would seem that the assassin wasn't incredibly well versed in the nuances of sociality, whilst her business oriented husband most certainly was if his slightly flustered reaction and quick sigh of relief after I answered were anything to go by.

"Oh... I... I suppose..."

She looked towards Mother Ria, who only shook her head at the silent question and took a sip of her coffee, letting Grandma know there was no such luck on that end either to try and make this attack against Mom all the more 'deadly' to her, something that made Mom breathe a sigh of relief only to shiver when Mother Ria said "Don't act like that means I'm coming to your aid, dolt. This is the one singular part of your blood I do actively hope I can train out of Jahi, but I suppose it's Kat's job now... but this simplicity and stubbornness is what made me fall so hard for you, I suppose..."

After taking another sip, she set her cup down and reached over to pat her wife's arm, giving her a momentary comfort before she asked "So what did you think of the ornament, Mother? Father?"

"The..? Oh, yes, the ornament. The craftsmanship is beautiful! And the meaning and thought behind it makes it all the more priceless! It is truly a wonderful gift, you four. Truly; the only downside is that Alessandra and Lakshmi didn't have a hand in making it, but that can't be helped; they are both still far too young for something like this..."

"And they would create a rather... negative contrast with your work if they did make something for this."

Grandma's bluntness made us all raise a brow, whilst her husband's sigh made her ask "What? Am I wrong? It's so well crafted and perfect for display... If two crude, childish ornaments joined it, it simply wouldn't look this gorgeous."

"The sentiment behind them having a hand in it would make it more beautiful, Minuvae... It's not always about physical appearance; the emotion behind it, or the meaning can make something... 'crude' appear utterly sublime."

That made her frown, clearly trying to understand why that would be the case when crude appearance meant crude appearance to her, before she just said "If you say so..." to lay this all to rest, which made Grandpa sigh once more.

"Well, I have to say that surprisingly, I am rather famished after that nap! I don't know why... but I am! So... might we have a normal, no herb seasoning involved dinner? If that is possible, Katherine..?"

Chuckling again, I got up - with Mother and Bessie moving over to join me - and made my way to the kitchenette to begin cooking again, preparing something simpler but something that could always be appreciated.

Sandwiches.

Usually a thrown together meal at the last minute, we made sure it wasn't that as we baked the bread and cooked all sorts of meat cuts for the meal, alongside the chopping of some vegetables and a bunch of other smaller preparations to get this going; I took it a small step in an odd direction as I made a bowl of mashed potatoes for myself, something that made Mom furrow her brow in confusion before she watched as I also made myself a small thing of gravy, some corn, and began to stuff it into some rolls alongside shredded beef.

It was an odd combination, but it was one I gave thanks to for how utterly divine it was in being such a great mix match of flavors that just worked well together; it'd be better with turkey, but we didn't really have much turkey here, and I wasn't in the mood to prepare an entire turkey for a small craving of mine...

Beef, chicken, and pork are all so much quicker to cook, and so much more varied in preparation to achieve different, incredible flavors.

Simply put, I was partially lazy and partially active in my cooking, just like always; if I could circumvent something by replacing something, I would, and if I couldn't... well then that recipe sucked.

Plain and simple~!

"You know..."

Taking a bite of the amalgamation of meats that she had layered between two pieces of bread, Anput drizzled some more of another amalgamation she had made - mustard, mayonnaise, and some of the gravy - onto her sandwich and finished chewing when I glared at her, all so she could say "We haven't had any monster meat in a long time. I know we could also just... ask for it, but uh... let's go hunting tomorrow. Always tastes better when we actually obtained the food for ourselves, y'know?"

"Monster meat..? Hah..."

Sighing slightly, Grandpa nodded his head and glanced at Minuvae, who was in the midst of combining chicken, lettuce, vegetables and a light drizzle of vinegar for her next sandwich, completely enamored with it and missing her husband's look.

"We aren't the biggest fans since few people can actually manage the richness of those meats, but... we can try it. Perhaps we've just become far too accustomed to normal meat at this point? It's always been something that was just too little benefit for the price, and we have... other things we could be doing instead."

"Now that you mention it, I do recall there being an odd disconnect between my meals and yours. Whenever I was given some monster meat to help stimulate my growth, the two of you used to either forgo the meal entirely and not attend that meal, or snack on something else and claim you weren't hungry... I never thought our chefs prepared it poorly though?"

Mother Ria frowned at the two, and that managed to get Grandma's attention as she asked "Apologies, but what? Our chefs prepared what..?", while Grandpa just replied "It wasn't that they did it poorly, but... ah, it might just be our minds playing tricks on us. Beef from a cow type monster always tasted far too fatty and rich compared to normal beef, and it was just... far too strong of a flavor profile for us to stomach. Besides, the benefits of such a meal are negligible to us unless we were dining on something incredibly powerful."

"I recall Lady Igna mentioning something similar; I believe she's said that after she had been... 'tamed' by the Empress, she stopped eating monster meat as often because it wasn't comparable to mortal flesh?"

"Chordeva... that is an extreme example; Lady Igna ate PEOPLE. And not just any people; she ate the strongest people she could find simply because she could. There was no... 'nutrition' to be found for her."

The conversation began to deviate somewhat as we started discussing pros and cons of monster meat, ideas on how to prepare it better, things we could do with it, the price... everything you could think of, we discussed, all whilst we continued to eat dinner together and stuff ourselves as much as we could on meat and bread.

It wasn't a flashy evening, nor was it one that particularly stood out to me as unique or special, but... it was a memory I think I'll have for awhile going forwards...