Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 18 - Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Research Progress

LATELY I’D GOTTEN USED TO seeing Cliff with his eyepatch. Elinalise had made it for him, stitching in his initials, and it truly did look dapper on him. All right, maybe dapper wasn’t the right word. There was something imposing about it. He might lack the height and musculature to be like Ghislaine, but their vibes were similar enough to me.

“Now that Ariel has left, we have the first prince’s son, huh? I can already sense trouble on the horizon,” Cliff muttered. 

Apparently he’d met the three newcomers during homeroom. As he pondered what the future held, he sighed. 

“Unlike Ariel, I think he’s more or less a hostage, so try to be nice to him, please. He’s so young. He doesn’t deserve to be caught up in his father’s battles,” I said.

“Yeah, I guess. Well, I’ll warn them against trying anything with your little sister, at least.”

“Thank you.”

We slipped into his research room as we chatted. Elinalise was nowhere to be seen. She was off looking after their child. She’d birthed countless kids over the course of the centuries she’d lived. Her child with Cliff was particularly special to her, however, so she was handling Clive with the utmost care. She was a veteran at raising children at this point, so I was sure he’d grow into an upstanding man.

Cliff retrieved three wooden boxes from his room and stepped back into the hallway with me. “All right, shall we get going?” Said boxes were thirty centimeters long on each side, a perfect cube. I took two from him. They were awfully heavy.

“Sorry to make you carry those,” he said.

“No, not at all.”

We left the research building, setting off from the campus completely.

“How is young Clive doing?” I asked.

“He’s doing great. He cries at night though, and he does demand a lot of my attention. Reminds me of my own childhood.”

I nodded to myself. “That’s right. You were raised in an orphanage, weren’t you?”

“Yeah. A lot of the kids there were abandoned by their parents. But there’s something special about looking after your own kid.”

“Agreed.”

Our destination was on the outskirts of the city, so we hopped into a carriage in front of the school and rode it to the city gates. We sat side by side and continued chatting during the ride.

“You sure are impressive, Master Cliff. You’ve become a proper father.”

“I’m not a proper anything. It only looks like I’m doing a good job because Lise is there handling everything.”

“Yeah, but compared to you, I don’t even pitch in with child-rearing once a month.”

“Raising a child comes in many forms. In your case, you have wives and maids to help out, and you are doing what’s required of you. There’s no reason for you to feel bad for not being more involved.” As Cliff sat there with a box on his lap, he spoke as if he could already guess what was bugging me. “From my perspective, you’re the one who’s got it the roughest since you don’t get to be there every day and watch them as they grow.”

“Hearing those words from Reverend Father Cliff himself comes as a great relief.”

“Indeed, should you ever feel the need to confess your sins, you need only come to me. Kidding, of course.”

At some point, Cliff had passed the exam to be recognized as a priest of Millis. Apparently it wasn’t an official thing, but it did afford him a certain status while working at the church. It wasn’t as if research preoccupied every minute of his time. I had to wonder if he was considering what would happen after he eventually returned to his homeland. Since I was a sixth-year, that meant he was a seventh-year. That was as long as anyone could stay at the school, so he would graduate next year.

“Master Cliff, what do you plan to do once you graduate?”

After a long pause, he answered, “I don’t know. My grandfather back home hasn’t sent any word, but I would like to return home at least once. I want to tell him that I got married and that I have a child now.”

“It’ll be lonely without you.”

According to my predictions, Cliff’s return to Millis would mark another showdown with the Man-God. Of course, that was only conjecture on my part.

“That’s a ways off,” Cliff assured me.

“Yeah, true.”

As we continued with our harmless small talk, the carriage pulled up to Sharia’s southern gate. I passed some coins to the driver, and we began to make the rest of the journey on foot.

We headed southeast once we passed through the gate, and after a little while, the company office came into view. It was a surprisingly large building that jutted out conspicuously on the outskirts of the city. There was a fence surrounding it, intended to ward people away.

“You know, I kind of realized it at the time too, but you really were lying back then,” said Cliff.

“Yes, well, it didn’t seem anything I said would convince you to believe me about his curse.”

“It’s not that I’m blaming you. That curse of his is strong. Even now…I mean, look at me. My legs are trembling.”

As we spoke, we came to the front of the building. The writing on the front door said: Employees Prohibited Beyond This Point. I slipped a key from my pocket and unlocked the door. Inside was an unused reception area that I’d had constructed just in case, which we passed through before heading deeper in.

“Urgh…”

The second I pushed open the door, Cliff shrank back. His eyes were fixed on Orsted, who was sitting at a desk made of high-quality lumber as he penned something. As per usual, the expression on his face was terrifying.

“Hm. So it’s you, Cliff Grimor.”

“Y-yes, that’s right. It’s me.”

“It must be difficult for you each time.”

“Wh-what are you implying…?!”

Orsted wasn’t implying anything more than the literal meaning of the words he spoke—that Cliff probably had it rough meeting face-to-face with Orsted like this, purely by my request.

“Sir Orsted, let’s take care of this quickly. We’ve brought you three today.”

“Very well.”

Cliff and I deposited the three boxes on the desk. Orsted reached for one and opened it, pulling out the full-face helmet contained inside. The others had similar helmets contained within, though the coloring on them was different. They were separated into black, brown, and gray.

“Please try it on.”

Orsted did as suggested silently, forcing his head inside the helmet. He looked suspicious, wearing only a helmet with no suit of armor on. I personally found him even more terrifying than usual this way.

“Well, Master Cliff? How is it?”

“…No good. Worse, in fact.”

“All right, let’s try the next one.”

Orsted tried on each of the three helmets in order. Each time, we clocked Cliff’s reaction, trying to ascertain whether they had any effect at all. Once we were finished with them all, Cliff shared his opinion.

“The third one is the best. I tried using the Flac Method on the first one to transform his mana, but that completely backfired. That means it’s highly possible that your mana itself carries the curse.”

“His very mana is cursed?” I asked in disbelief.

“Yes,” Cliff said. “The moment Orsted’s—that is, Sir Orsted’s—mana enters someone’s line of sight, the curse activates. That’s how it seems to me.”

“Then maybe we could find something to cover his body with that would prevent any of his mana from escaping?”

“Certainly, if you trap him in a box with no openings whatsoever, then his curse probably won’t activate, but that doesn’t really solve anything.”

“Fair point.”

The two of us were researching Orsted’s curse. This past year, we had conducted experiments using the research he’d already done on Elinalise’s curse as a base. That was how we managed to identify his head as the main source of his curse. Thus, Cliff developed helmet-shaped magical implements. Orsted would try them on and Cliff would offer up his responses, which was how we tested the efficacy of the implements.

Our experiments had borne some fruit. By having Orsted equip the latest version of Cliff’s helmet, we managed to soften the curse’s effects, albeit only marginally. If he wore that thing around town, he’d still make children cry and stray dogs cower in fear and run, and horses would likely scramble away from him, thereby overturning the carts they were pulling. However, it was enough to at least soften Sylphie and Eris’s attitude toward him. Before, they’d hated him as fiercely as if he’d personally killed their parents, but that was now reduced to the level of disgust one felt toward a loathsome boss, perhaps. Not ideal, but enough for them to realize that he really was plagued by a curse, and that the reason I was working for him was because it didn’t affect me at all.

It was during the course of his research that Cliff finally realized the nature of Orsted’s curse and why I had lied to him and Zanoba previously. That marked an important step forward. His feelings toward Orsted were still complicated, but at least he was making do at this point.

We still had a long way to go. At present, the helmet was roughly twice the size of Orsted’s actual head. There was no ventilation, so putting it on meant you had to hold your breath, and you couldn’t see anything, hear anything, or speak at all. Obviously, Orsted could not wear it for an extended period. Yes, the road ahead was long indeed.

On the other hand, Cliff was pretty much a genius for managing to develop this within the mere span of a year. At the rate his research was progressing, Orsted would someday soon be able to walk around the city waving at passersby.

Cliff was pleased about the arrangement, too. Researching another person’s curse provided him with additional data that he could use to construct a magical implement to free Elinalise from hers. It was only unfortunate that he would eventually return to that research once things calmed down and Elinalise wasn’t so busy looking after their child all the time. I didn’t see the problem with her leaving her curse be for the moment, though; they could go straight to making their second child that way.

“All right. We’ll come back in a month,” said Cliff.

“Very well. You really are going out of your way for me, Cliff Grimor. I never imagined you held such talent.”

“Huh?! Oh… R-right. Yeah. I am a genius, after all, aren’t I?”

Orsted was shocked by what Cliff’s research had accomplished. In the many long time loops he’d lived through, he’d sometimes tried doing something about his curse, but after several years of testing to no avail, he’d more or less given up. Perhaps, in these two hundred years he’d lived on continuous repeat, there had been others besides Cliff researching curses who’d made some progress, but they wouldn’t align themselves with Orsted.

The important thing was that we’d produced results. The next time Orsted went through another loop, he could now find a way to convince Cliff to research his curse for him. While we’re on the subject, I wonder if I’d even be in said loop? He mentioned I wasn’t in the previous ones he’d lived through.

“Rudeus.”

As I was lost in thought, Orsted called to me. Cliff had left the office by that point. He was all too eager to distance himself from Orsted as quickly as possible, likely thanks to the curse’s effects. No matter how much he reasoned that it was a curse producing such emotions in him, his body was convinced Orsted was an enemy. It’s like how humans know cockroaches don’t hold the power to actually kill them, but they still act terrified when they spot one.

“…I appreciate this.”

Being thanked like that made me grin from ear to ear. Aww, Mister CEO, you really know how to flatter a person. Woohoo! We should definitely go window-shopping together once his anti-curse helmet was complete. A city date with Orsted… Instead of a wolf in sheep’s clothing, I’d get to see what it was like to be a weak and feeble sheep borrowing the wolf’s skin to intimidate everyone else.

“No need to thank me. It’s emotionally draining to keep this up with my entire family opposing it. Also, if you’re able to go around as you please, it’ll get under the Man-God’s skin more. I’m only doing this for my own benefit.”

“As you say.”

When our CEO’s illness was cured at last, Orsted Corporation would rise to become a world-class business. With that thought in mind, I took my leave from the office.

After parting ways with Orsted, I looped around the back of the house and slipped into the armory. I pulled out my miniature magic armor, a completely black suit in three parts: arms, legs, and torso. The pieces looked lightweight, but since I’d shaped them with earth magic, they were incredibly heavy. I slipped it on and injected my own mana into it, making it much easier to move around in.

“Sorry for the wait, Master Cliff,” I said.

“It’s fine. Shall we be off?”

The two of us headed back to the university. Zanoba was next on my list of people to visit. It was a bit of a pain to commute back and forth to the office, but we had little other choice since it would cause a huge fuss if Orsted were to actually enter the university.

“What will you be doing for lunch?” I asked Cliff.

“Good question. Think I’ll head back to my research room, drop this stuff off, then head to the cafeteria. I’ll let you go fetch Zanoba, then we can all eat together.”

“Sounds good.”

Cliff left to return the helmets while I made my way to Zanoba’s research room as instructed. I paused as I was reaching for his doorknob. In the past, I had paid for recklessly opening the door by being forced to bear witness to Zanoba’s perversions. That had been an awkward situation for both of us. As a man who learned from his past mistakes, I made it a point to knock this time before entering.

“Knock, knock…anyone there?” I called out.

“Oh! Master! What miraculous timing! Please, come in!” Zanoba responded instantly.

With his permission, I swung the door open. What I found was a geeky-looking thirty-year-old man and…a naked ten-year-old girl. Said girl’s face contorted in pain as she cradled her stomach, blood trickling between her legs.

Oh my. This is a crime scene.

“Zanoba… How could you… You put your hands on Julie?”

“This is no time for jokes, Master! Please, use your healing magic on Julie. The bleeding won’t stop!” Zanoba begged desperately.

Was there some kind of accident or something?

Julie glanced at me, eyes bleary and tear-filled. “Grand Master…my stomach hurts so badly. Please help me…”

I was no doctor, but I inspected her, driven by their pleas. There were no outward signs of injury, which could only mean it was internal. The blood was coming from her crotch, and the smell was almost nauseating. I’d be willing to bet…no, there’s no mistake about it.

“It’s likely her period, right? Your best bet would be to call Miss Ginger,” I said.

“Pardon? Oh, now I understand! Yes, come to think of it, Julie is a lady. My mind must be failing, that I did not even imagine that possibility!” Zanoba chuckled to himself.

Julie glanced at him worriedly. “Master?”

Julie was already nine years old. Or was she ten now? Either way, it seemed awfully soon for her to be having her period, but perhaps this was the norm for dwarves? Then again, perhaps the traders had been mistaken about her actual age when we bought her? Not that it mattered.

“Ah, but before we worry about that, we should eat lunch,” Zanoba said. “Julie, you may rest for today. Will you be all right by yourself, lying here until Ginger returns?”

After a long pause, she muttered, “I’m scared. Master, I want you to stay with me.”

“Hm…”

Ooh, what’s this I hear, Zanzan? Sure are popular, ain’t ya? Cheeky little rascal.

I shrugged. “Well, that works too. I can go buy some stuff for us. We can eat here.”

So Julie’s already a woman, huh? I planned to wait until she reached adulthood to put our plans into action, but I’d noticed recently that her total mana pool had stopped growing. It was probably about time for us to get started.

After leaving, I briefly rendezvoused with Cliff, bought some food, and then returned. I was back in Zanoba’s research room within an hour or so. The three of us were currently munching away on our food, huddling together. Ginger was close by, seeing to Julie. At this point she was more of a maid than a knight.

We considered moving rooms to give Julie some space, but she insisted we remain close by because she was anxious. We finally settled upon staying to keep her calm.

“Master, how is the magic armor doing?” Zanoba asked.

“Not bad. I was able to stop a monster’s attack with it. Although I still feel like its performance is a little unreliable. It may be fine against beasts, but it’d be rough going up against a swordsman in that thing.”

“Indeed. You are sacrificing defense, mobility, and your own self-regeneration power in the process.”

I nodded. “But to achieve the same level of capability as the prototype, we’d need to make it bigger.”

We’d made several different versions of my magic armor in the past six months. At first, we thought to merely replicate all the functions of the original in compact form. That didn’t turn out too well, but it wasn’t entirely surprising: the first one employed the most cutting-edge technology at our disposal, which included a number of mysterious techniques that the Man-God had shared with us. Trying to duplicate the original meant we weren’t able to reduce the suit’s size by much. Sure, we managed to make something very slightly smaller than the first, but at the cost of functionality, which kinda defeated the point.

From there, we continued with the trial and error, which resulted in annulling the magic circle we’d drawn on the torso. We kept the magic circles concentrated to the arm and leg pieces instead, fashioning them so that they extended to the shoulder for the arm pieces and to the groin for the leg pieces. With that, we successfully managed to cut down the size and the cost of mana for equipping it (although it should be noted that it was still such a mana guzzler that I was the only one who could actually wear it).

With that, we succeeded in creating Version Two, which consisted only of the arm and leg pieces but forced us to put a power limit on them. Since the chest piece would not have mana channeled through it, the leg and arm pieces would be torn off if I went full throttle with my magical power—it wasn’t like they weren’t being held down by anything. 

It was a shame the suit had such high functionality but could only wield power equivalent to that of an advanced swordsman. That was why decided to add a new torso piece with supplementary magic circles that would prevent the arms and legs from being torn off. This led to the current incarnation of the armor: Improved Version Two. Its power rivaled that of a saint-tier swordsman. Ideally, I’d want something more powerful than that, but we were still far from that. Ideals were always beyond one’s fingertips; the world never worked the way one wanted it to.

“Well, guess there’s no real choice but to keep using this and improve it as we go,” I said.

“Agreed,” Cliff said with a nod.

Eventually, I wanted to craft a suit that he could wear as well.

“That said, Master, what about the gatling gun? How was it?”

“That thing is a smidge too lethal, so I think usability will be a bit limited.”

I put a lot of thought into my weaponry, too. I had one of Roxy’s acquaintances craft a gatling gun for me. In accordance with Orsted’s advice, I had the design simplified, altering the device so it could discharge roughly ten Stone Cannons nearly simultaneously. Almost like the Five Finger Flares spell from Dragon Quest…except not quite as badass and more like a shotgun.

The gatling gun was one of my countermeasures against the Water God Style. According to Orsted, the Water God Style was based around brushing off the opponent’s magic. Since my shotgun fired each round almost instantaneously, with minimal lag between each one, it was highly effective. This strategy wouldn’t work against opponent in the king tier or above, but it was quite a useful little weapon otherwise—save its length and lack of maneuverability.

I’d tried all kinds of things, but nothing had given me the solid leap in power I wanted. I continued dedicating myself to physical training and practicing magic, but since I had a job, I wasn’t often at home. That made it difficult to find extra time to for more training. I could only rack my brain for better ideas. I had only faced small fries lately, but there was no telling when the next powerful opponent might appear. I didn’t care if whatever attack I came up with was a one-hit wonder that would be useless afterward, but I needed something that could take a person down in one shot.

“Come to think of it, Zanoba, how’s it going with the automata?” I asked.

“Ah, that research has been on pause. Part of it is because I have hit a plateau, but I have also been prioritizing the research that will ensure your survival, Master.”

“Oh… Well, sorry about that.”

“Hahaha! I am enjoying the process of creating this Magic Armor as well. There is nothing for you to apologize for. If anything, I should be the one thanking you,” he said, rapping lightly on my armor with his fist.

What a stand-up guy.

“Oh yeah, Zanoba—since Julie is a woman now, I think it’s about time we kick off our plan to sell those picture books and figurines. Think you’re up for it?”

“Hmm…”

The picture books and figures were a key part of my plan to improve the Superd Tribe’s reputation. The first was already pretty much complete. Unbeknownst to me, Zanoba had already bought the dyes and produced a completely painted figure. I had a few nitpicks, such as the hair being not quite saturated enough, the cream color on the spear being a bit too strong, and the skin color being too bright, but those were inconsequential. 

I’d left the prototype on some shelf at the head of my bed, which resulted in Roxy screaming bloody murder when she woke up and discovered it one morning. As soon as Norn heard the news, she stole it and took it to her own room. This made it pretty obvious that people would recognize the figure as a Superd.

The picture book came out nicely as well. Norn penned the text, while Zanoba was in charge of the art. Neither were particularly talented, but their work was unique, with the sort of soft touch that children were often fond of. We also included a chart for learning how to read letters at the back of the book so it could double as a textbook. I figured people were less likely to throw it away if it served such a practical purpose.

Now all we had to do was make block prints so we could mass-produce it, then add color by hand. Our work lacked the professionalism and standardization of a printing press, but it wasn’t so bad since most books in this world were made by hand anyway. I had already made it a habit to bring along a book and figurine with me when I set out on one of my jobs to save people, never missing an opportunity to proselytize. Which was all fine and good, but we needed to take a more concerted approach.

“That will be a bit difficult,” Zanoba said, frowning.

“The cost?” I guessed.

“No. We have plenty of funding as it is, and Princess Ariel is providing additional financial backing. I have received word that she’s already set up our workshop in the Asura Kingdom as well, so there’s no problem on the production front, either. The issue lies in the sales themselves. We have no connections with any merchants.”

“Ah, that part…”

Come to think of it, I’d never considered who we’d get to actually sell them. I had contemplated opening my own shop so I could do it myself, but given my current circumstances, that wasn’t going to happen. We needed a salesperson—someone to peddle our merch for us. I couldn’t think of anyone in my circle of acquaintances with the necessary business acumen.

“I wonder if we’d be better off seeing if Ariel could introduce us to someone,” I muttered.

“Her Highness does appear to be quite busy lately. Her coronation isn’t far off. I don’t think it would be wise to trouble her when she has so much on her plate,” said Zanoba.

“True, and putting ourselves further in her debt won’t do us any favors either.”

Better to put the plan on hold for now, then. Oh well, it wasn’t like we were in a hurry. We could wait until Julie was legally an adult. So basically, another five years… 

Oh, that’s right.

“Zanoba, do you think it would be possible to teach Julie the fundamentals of business for the next five years?”

“Possibly, yes. But I feel she would best serve us as a craftsman. If we want someone to serve as a merchant for us, we should consider buying a different slave for that.”

A different slave, huh? It would be best if we could find someone who already had an interest in business, who could read, write, and do math, and who was also pretty well-known. It would be great if they were popular with the people and skilled at marketing.

Wait, there’s a slave just like that… 

Nope. No, actually, I don’t know anyone who would fit the bill! 

There was no way I could leave my business to a derpy cat who got herself scammed and turned into a slave. I’d be better off buying someone new for the job entirely.

“Hmm… I think we should iron out all the details of our plan before we set anything into motion,” I said at last.

“Agreed.”

Indeed. I needed to plan this out carefully. Being too hasty would only lead to failure. I had taken my own sweet time up till this point, so there was no problem with taking another decade to get everything together.

“All right, we’ll leave that topic for another time then. Shall we work on improving the Magic Armor instead?”

“Yes, Master. In fact, I already have a vision in mind for the next version of your armor.”

After we finished our food, we continued our research meeting for a bit before parting ways. My Magic Armor’s performance was slowly but surely improving.

The sun was beginning to set when I dropped by the staff room to pay my respects to Vice Principal Jenius. I found Roxy working there and hovered around behind her, only for her to lose her temper with me and drive me out into the hallway. I was dejectedly hunched out there when Norn strolled by, having come to return the key to the student council room. We decided to walk home together, the three of us, for the first time in a long while.

“Norn, was there anything in today’s lesson you didn’t understand?” Roxy asked.

“No, I didn’t have a problem, Miss Roxy. Your lessons are as easy to comprehend as ever.”

Roxy and Norn chatted pleasantly beside me. The two had become awfully close without me even realizing it. Gone was the awkwardness that used to hang between them.

“I’m trying to be careful so it’s all easy to digest, but please tell me if there’s anything that doesn’t make sense,” said Roxy.

“If that happens, I hope you’ll take the time to teach me personally.”

“Hehe, I charge a lot for private tutoring, you know.”

Their lively conversation warmed my heart the whole way home.

“We’re back!” I called out when I spotted Lilia and Zenith in the garden, watching the sunset together.

“Welcome back, everyone,” Lilia said.

Zenith was silent. At this point she hadn’t changed much. For better or worse, her condition seemed to be stable. I wondered if her memories were really gone forever. I hadn’t discovered anything that could help her, and I was so busy with other things that I couldn’t really look into the matter in earnest. Recently Lilia and Sylphie had been trying some methods of their own but to no avail.

“We’re back,” I announced again, once we were inside the house.

Sylphie came shuffling out from deeper within and said, “Welcome home, Rudy, Roxy…oh, and Norn.” My beautiful wife was wearing an apron, and Lucie was tottering along behind her. When she spotted Norn, she scrambled over to tackle her.

“Nornie! Welcome home!”

“Lucie! I’m glad to be home!” Accustomed to this greeting, Norn swept the little girl into her arms and stroked her head. It was obvious how much Lucie liked my sister by the way she beamed up at her. But the moment her eyes met mine, she hid herself in Norn’s shadow.

Aww, you seriously don’t have to act that displeased by me.

“Norn, did we plan for you to stay with us today?” Sylphie asked.

“No, but I heard about Mistress Linia coming to stay here, so I decided to come take a look.”

“Ah, that…” Sylphie nodded thoughtfully. “The circumstances were a bit complicated. Rudy basically saved her.” She sighed to herself.

What? What’s with that sigh?

“Is he adding another one to his harem?” asked Norn.

“Hmm, I’m not sure about that,” said Sylphie. “As wild as she seems, Linia does seem pretty fond of Rudy. And she is pretty erotic…”

They were talking as though I was going to put my hands on Linia. Admittedly, she was quite voluptuous and appealing. If you asked me if I wanted to take a midnight tumble and wrestle her in bed, I’d be lying if I said no. That, however, was an entirely different matter. I was a man of reason, after all, not entirely ruled by carnal desire.

“What did Miss Eris say about all of this? She wasn’t against it?” Norn tilted her head.

“She’s claimed ownership over Linia and refuses to hand her over to Rudy.”

“Ah, so that’s it…”

Come to think of it, where is Eris? 

I asked the question as soon as it occurred to me. “Sylphie, where’s Eris?”

“Taking Leo for a walk. I keep telling her that she’s pregnant so she should give it a rest, but she won’t listen to me. Seems like every afternoon I look out and she’s practicing with her sword again. I understand she’s past the precarious stage of her pregnancy, but what is she going to do if she causes herself to miscarry?”

Eris was the same as ever. I only wished she’d keep the jumping and leaping to a minimum. She was certainly strong, but the baby inside her wasn’t. It made me worry if she could actually safely carry it to term.

“Oh, welcome home everyone!” called a voice from above. I shifted my gaze and glimpsed Aisha at the top of the stairs. “You guys have to see this!” She excitedly turned around and beckoned at someone.

A woman stepped up to the railing, wearing the same maid outfit as Aisha. She came down the stairs and stopped at the landing to spin in a circle. As her skirt danced through the air, it gave me a brief glimpse of her thick calves. The girl then posed like a gravure model and said, “Mewhaha!”

Literally a catgirl maid.

“I made some adjustments to some of Mother’s old clothes and created an outfit for Miss Linia. What do you think? Cute, isn’t it?”

It was definitely cute. Even the girls present breathed sighs of admiration.

So Aisha made that by hand? She claimed it was a used outfit, but it looked brand-new to me. I guess maybe the fabric itself is old.

“Why put off tomorrow what we can do today? I’m going to have her working her tail off!” Aisha declared.

“Yes’m, ready for duty, mew!”

“Let’s start with the cooking!” Petite little Aisha led the way with the much taller Linia marching behind her. The two were in high spirits as they filed past us and began preparations in the kitchen. It was kind of entertaining to see Aisha so pumped up.

“Mistress Linia certainly does seem to be in high spirits,” Norn commented. “I figured she would be much more depressed about being reduced to a slave.”

That’s because Linia’s an idiot. It’s like swallowing something piping hot; it burns at first, but once it’s down the hatch, you forget how it felt like magma on your tongue.

After that, our whole family sat down together for a meal for the first time in a while. I even got to hop into the bath with Eris once we were finished and see just how big her belly had gotten. Before it grew too late, Sylphie and I tucked Lucie into bed. I gave magic lessons to Aisha and Norn as soon as they got out of the bath, then stopped by with Lilia briefly to talk about Zenith’s future. I stared the whole time Roxy breastfed Lara before bed. And finally, I had a little bit of sexy time with Sylphie before nodding off myself.

It was a satisfying day. Starting tomorrow, I would spend every day training for a while. Gotta work hard.