“So…what do you like?” Cain asked the silent maid he was following.
“Nothing!”…
“Is there anything you hate?” He tried again. Why is starting a conversation with her so hard? It felt like trying to light a piece of wood underwater!
“Nothing!”…Here she goes again, not even speaking more than a single word!
“This is the office!” She said as she stopped beside a door. With a slight bow, she started walking away.
‘What is her problem?’ Cain was baffled. The maid showed no signs of life other than moving!
Knock! Knock! “Can I get in?”
“Well, of course, you don’t have to ask!” The old man Sebastian replied from inside the room. Cain opened the door and entered.
The room was a bit small with a desk right beside the window. Sebastian stood up offering his chair to Cain.
“Ah! No need for that, I will just sit here!” Cain chose to sit on a small chair facing Sebastian. It wasn’t comfortable at all, and that is the reason why he didn’t want to make Sebastian sit on it as he was old!
Cain just then noticed the five girls standing behind the door, the five girls Sebastian asked him about this morning.
“Aren’t they supposed to help the maids?” He asked out of curiosity, not as if he cared! Even if they aren’t working now, they could have just finished.
“The maids said they could work better alone, so I asked them to sit on standby!” Sebastian replied, slowly relaxing back on his chair.
“Is that so? Then would you care to brief me on the situation?”
“Then please allow me to give my report!” Sebastian started speaking.
Starting with the staff, knowing them was critical if Cain wanted to get the best experience in the house! Starting by himself.
His name was Sebastian and prefer to be called just Sebas. A descendant of a family of butlers! They didn’t have a family name and would take that of the house they work in. His full name now should be Sebastian of Lisworth, the ‘of’ is added to not be mistaken for a family member! Despite looking old he had great stamina and could handle working for prolonged hours!
The ten maids are the second most important part of the house! They take care of cleaning, cooking, treating, and caring for the family! Each one of them is trained in household work, first medical aid, and assisting in childbirth! Add to that, all of the ten maids here have signed the extra contract, giving their consent for more personal assistance. That included breastfeeding children when the mother is out, helping in the bath, and giving massages!
The five workers are just there to do repairs and do manual labor that the maids can’t handle!
This had lastly left the five girls behind, they are here to fulfill any role Cain wants that doesn’t fall in the other groups!
Cain has intended to make alchemy and enchanting labs inside the house! An errand person also had its use, he could think of ways to make use of them!
“Stay in charge of them until we finish repairing the mansion, I have spots for them in mind!” Cain said as he was about to leave. He had heard all he needed.
“Ah, I almost forget! If you don’t have anything to do then prepare the bath, I want to take one!” Cain said to the five girls, as soon as they heard him they rushed out to do it.
“I thought you left me in charge?” Sebas said with a sad voice.
“Ah…Sorry!”
…
Cain quickly got out, walking the same way he came from! Today he had a busy night and wanted to take a bath!
On the way he met Gracie again, she was still cleaning in the same spot. The only change was that she was standing on a chair to reach higher places!
“If you need help just ask Sebas, he will send it your way!” Cain said to her, trying one last time to start a conversation.
“I know…” That was all she had to say before returning to her work, Cain gave up on trying to talk to her for the time being.
…
After a short wait, the bath was ready! Elsie was standing inside the changing room waiting for him.
He remembered that the maids could help them in the bath, there was no way she was that eager to get in the bath with him!
“Is the bath ready?” Cain asked, wondering what she was doing there.
“Yes, I will be the one to help you today!” She said with a straight face, Cain looked at her suspiciously, inspecting her from top to bottom.
Sofia is better… “I would like to bathe alone, so can you make sure dinner is ready a bit earlier?” He said, pushing her outside!
CLANK! He closed the door.
Elsie had a simple reason to be there, she wanted to make up for her attitude earlier by appealing to him! She almost got in a fight with Selena a bit earlier which is scaring her until now, Cain might be the only one who could smooth things between them!
Now after being thrown out of the bath, she was almost certain that Selena had beaten her to Cain and told him everything!
Thinking she had messed up bad, Elsie rushed to Sebas as he was her last hope at this point!
Selena had already forgotten about that but Elsie had no way of knowing.
Time flew by quickly! Cain had just finished his bath and was heading to check his room.
“Cain-nya!” Selena called from across the corridor, she was waving her hand at Cain signally him to hurry and have a look!
The girls have chosen rooms that are adjacent to Cain’s, Sofia by his right, Selena to his left, and Finally, Alice was facing his room directly!
He didn’t have to choose a room as he was automatically expected to take the master bedroom!
Just as he got close Selena jumped giving him a bear hug, “It’s wide, I can even run inside-nya!” She was squeezing him a bit too hard and he tapped her back.
“I can’t breathe, Let me go!” Hardly managing to speak, he was no match for her!
Firstly check Selena’s room. The room was significantly larger than the one in the inn and had more furniture! A large window facing the door, a double bed to the left, and a big desk with a mirror to the right! It even had a large cabinet and a big chest for storing things. There was no carpet as it was still mid-cleaning!
All the other rooms looked the same, except for his which was noticeably bigger! Cain picked both Alice and Sofia up at their rooms for dinner! They were quite surprised by how early it was, It was just dusk!
“Isn’t it a bit early?” Sofia asked, finding it a bit strange from what they were used to! Taking it was Cain, he must have something on his mind!
“Yes, it is! We have a long night after all!” Cain replied, teasing Sofia a bit, “Jokes aside, tomorrow we have to get back to taking quests from the guild so we’re waking at dawn!” Cain adds, making a serious face.
His plans were leveling up, gathering material for traps and wide-scale magic, clearing small dungeons, finding a way to use summoning magic because it was better it was useful, getting Sofia to fight like a witch should, beating some magic into Selena by either teaching or magic items, hiring spies to gather information about the city nobles… and the list goes on!
Now that he had a house of his own he wanted to start turning it into a base of operation with a hideout in the basement, maybe even linking it to the cave underneath the city!
He also wanted to reach a higher rank at the guild so he can get their support when needed!
It will all start tomorrow! The real preparation, and the true adventure!
But before all that, he had to make sure Sofia accepts Alice no matter what! hiding a stamina potion that he got from Daraku last night under his bed! It’s the last resort to use if he was to get exhausted before her!