NOVEL SIMPLE Sharing the Good News
A prolonged silence mixes with a hint of cold dread lingering like a noxious odor in the air. I just insulted the Duke of Arrark's parenting to his face. Well, as close to his face as his paranoia will allow me to...
I await his response while breathing in the worrisome chill. At long last, Osbourne breaks the quiet with his low, ghost-like drawl. "And here I thought I did everything I could to make you feel welcome in my home... yet you've chosen now of all times to question the methods I use to protect my child?"
"With all due respect, she's twenty-six years old. Abigail hasn't been a child for a very long time."
"Guild Master, please..." Osbourne pleads in a weary voice, his breath ragged with stress. As always, he wishes to avoid confrontation if he can help it. "Be reasonable. I'm calm now, and I've already apologized for my earlier outburst... we don't have to have to do this."
While the Duke is right, I have trouble holding back my tongue. "I've never been very good at turning a blind eye, my Duke. These glasses aren't just for show."
He scoffs like he's amused, yet I detect a hint of trepidation hidden beneath it. "..Is that right? You've been here for barely two days, and just because Abigail's taken a liking to you, you think you know what's best for my daughter?"
"No, of course not. I'm only advocating that you start letting her decide what's best for herself."
Osbourne is silent, dragging out the thought and mulling it over before deciding silence is the best answer he can offer. He doesn't think my comment deserves a response, so I intentionally ramp up my taunting to hit closer to home. "You Gloomcrests fancy yourselves as Ravens, don't you? Beautiful birds like that aren't meant to be cooped up in tiny cages."
"Clever wordplay, but cruel. You know damn well Abigail can't leave her room." Osbourne grumbles as if this were an irrefutable fact. His rhetoric is getting old.
I clench my fist and take in a sharp breath of air through my nostrils. "Yes, you've made that abundantly clear."
"Then begone," The Duke bitterly demands, forcibly ending further criticism before I can bring any up.
"As my Duke commands," Even though he can't see it, I make a show of bowing to his authority with all the sarcasm I can muster. As I step over the still-unconscious Chamberlain, my thoughts dwell on the similarities between Osbourne and myself.
Nothing he can say to me will change my mind about Abigail, but there's still that unpleasant feeling in me telling me I'm a hypocrite for criticizing a mentally unstable man who can't bring himself to leave his room. Maybe I'm only reacting so strongly because I see my past in the depressive Duke? It's only been a few months since I've started to get my life back on track, so the memory of being in his shoes is still fresh in my mind.
I push the thought away, reminding myself this isn't about me. It’s about Abigail.
Once I'm safely behind closed doors, I find my bravado dying down, and I look at our confrontation from a distant perspective. Lost control of my ego again, it seems... I could have ruined everything by talking to the Duke in such a tone. Then it would've been goodbye renovations, goodbye political support, and more. Thank the Gods I'm leaving tomorrow. I don't know if I can continue being around Osbourne without starting more conflicts over Abigail.
Speaking of, I hope that she's alright. That sounded like a pretty nasty bump she got on her head. Opalina must have treated it by now, but that makes me wonder if Abigail heard any of our argument? I hope she didn't, since I probably came off as really pushy. Abigail is used to other people talking like they know what's best for her, but that doesn't give me an excuse to do the same. Especially not when my long-term goal is to get her to stand up for herself.
Seeing as how Opalina is taking her time tending to the young Lady, I bring up Task Master to do my nightly check-in with the Guild. A distraction would be handy right about now, and there are many things I need to tell my girls.
After deciding on which of my adventurers to call upon, I end up choosing Meri for no reason other than I miss her and I have to choose someone.
Once activated, the screen pops up, and I see my sweet Shield Maiden once again. This evening, she’s wearing a cute yellow apron over a brown skirt and a simple white blouse. Meri smiles as she works in the kitchen, grilling up some seasoned chicken breasts on a large iron pan. Seems like Peri and Cherry are getting a break from dinner duty tonight, as nearby Snow is stirring a soup with one paw and using the other, the maid is chopping vegetables with her claws. That's some impressive multi-tasking.
While they work, the adventurer and the Beastgirl are having a delightfully adorable conversation about cooking. Meri tells Snow that she used to love cooking up a storm with her mom whenever her dad came home from a long day at the forge, while Snow reminisces about all the maids she's trained in the culinary arts over the years. The two seem a lot closer than they did the day before, although I can't help but notice Meri is referring to Snow exclusively as 'Mistress', now...
When I finally contact her, Meri is startled and accidentally jerks her frying pan off the stove. The chicken would have been sent flying, too, if not for Snow catching it with her tail and swatting it back onto the pan. Luckily, dinner won't be ready for another half-hour, so there's plenty of time for the Guild to have a meeting. The two gather everyone up in the entrance hall to tell them the many pieces of good news.
Zutiria enters from the west wing, once again having been hard at work in her lab. Her fingers are stained in black ink, her glasses are crooked, there are bags under her eyes, and sticking out of her purple robes are random pieces of parchment with alchemical symbols and Mage jargon scribbled all over them. Looks like tonight Zutiria was doing actual Mage things and not studying the Eronomicon. She also doesn't look too happy, which I'm worried is because I've been away.
Sam and Nikita come in through the back door, the Princess dripping with sweat and the Grekkan looking pleased with herself. Looks like someone was making up for lost time with her training. Sam's skin has a healthy glow to it, her hair is frazzled, and her cheeks red with exertion. Nikita slaps Sam on the back a bit too hard as they sit down, congratulating her for a job well done.
Peri and Cherry are already present. They're both fast asleep on the table everyone gathers at, and no one bothers to wake them up. Just like yesterday, both of their uniforms are covered in accumulated grime. Guess that's why Meri is on kitchen duty.
Once assembled, Snow curtsies directly and has the girls run through a brief, orderly summary of everything I've missed. Once again, I notice all three girls saying, 'Yes, Mistress.' whenever they're addressed by the head maid. Whatever sort of obedience training Snow did to the girls last night, it looks like it paid off in spades...
Meri and Sam trained on and off all day. Both girls are raring to get back to work, and Nikita reports the two have grown considerably stronger since their recovery. Sam almost has a handle on the three Arts Nikita taught her. Sam struggled with Biding Blade before the Pimpfort raid, but actual combat experience helped her mostly get it down pat.
I'm proud of my Princess, and she's happy since this means Nikita will be moving and teaching her some new Arts soon. Meri still has to practice the Art she recently figured out, Stun Guard, but otherwise has to wait for me to deliver the Shield Maiden book to learn more specialized skills.
Snow was busy by the sound of it. She continued to lead the kittens in their mysterious cleaning project, but she also took it on herself to go to the marketplace. She sold the weapons and the jewels we stole from the Pimpfort, then bought groceries with some of the proceeds. Thankfully she made sure we still have plenty of gold to send to the Association when I get back home to fill out the proper paperwork.
Zutiria's day consisted of some light physical training in the morning, a long nap, an hour of staring idly at the ceiling, working on her presentation with Snow, and lastly, some work in her lab. She's been trying to come up with more ways to be helpful in combat. The Mage has specifically been racking her brain trying to develop a cheap way to put spells in scrolls so she can cast some basic magic without mana. Sounds like her Wishing Star item has her inspired. It'd be great if she could figure out a way to do it, but she says paper for holding spells is super expensive, and the ingredients aren't easy to find, either.
I think it's great that Zutiria is trying to think outside the box and expand her abilities, but she could be going about it the wrong way. We can’t do much about her magic, so why not focus on her alchemical talents?
At my command, Snow retrieves one of the adventurer class books from my office and hands it off to the lonely girl. While it's not a fancy option, plenty of adventurers go into battle as 'Alchemists', using crafted bombs, tonics, oils, and such against monsters. I think Zutiria takes slight offense at this suggestion since the adventurers who go with Alchemist as their class are typically Mages who aren't skilled enough at magic to use it offensively, but her main complaint is that she can't do much with her current lab.
Zutiria's tune changes immediately for the better when I tell her she doesn't have to worry about her shoddy lab for much longer, though.
The Guild erupts into cheers once I announce that we received a million Gold today. Even the sleepy maids jolt awake once they overhear such fantastic news. Sam goes into an uproar about all the cool armor and swords she wants, Peri starts rambling about buying lots of baby clothes for our nonexistent 'kittens', whereas Zutiria immediately pulls a pen and paper from her pocket before she starts scrawling a complicated floor plan for what she wants her lab to look like.
While I'm sure I'll get everyone a present or two, I remind the group that this money is going towards improving the Guild. I tell them about my plans for Gwin's family, but it comes with the condition that the maids need to clean the rest of the Guild. They won't come in and fix everything up if it's not presentable, meaning all the dust, cobwebs, rat droppings, and various hidden mushrooms have to go. It'd be one thing if we were tearing down the Guild and building a new one in its place, but that's out of the question.
I ask Snow for an honest estimate of how long she and the kittens can get all three of the Guild's wings thoroughly cleaned. She thinks it would take a week and a half- faster if they hustled. Peri and Cherry highly doubt they can hustle more than they already are, but I remind them I can start giving them my energizing cum again starting tomorrow. This motivates them to try their hardest. They pump their furry firsts into the air, only for their energy to crash as they yawn.
Since it's only fair, I pass on Pimpington's story to the Guild. I know how badly they wanted closure to his personal history, but the mood is split between the sympathetic adventurers and the maids, who are more conflicted considering what that man did to their kin.
And then there's also Nikita, who laughs Pimpington's tragic backstory off. "Well, that sucks. Women, am I right?" She casually remarks.
