On my way back, my cute little Aina woke up in my arms, and groggily smiled at me before burying her face in my chest and purring softly, nuzzling my pecs.

Just like that, without caring about our embarrassing position, we entered the adventurers' guild. Mostly everyone ignored us because we had been doing stuff like that for a while already, and the adventurers knew not to mess with us after the droves of criminals we knocked out and brought to the guild, but there was one person who couldn't believe their eyes.

I casually waved my hand at her as we passed by.

"Oh hey, uhh... mage girl? I didn't catch your name last time. Mine is Raynold, by the way, but people call me Ray. And this girl here," I signaled with my head at the pretty girl in my arms, "is Aina."

She looked at me with barely masked wariness, but quickly calmed herself down and replied in a neutral tone, "I'm Nika. Also, Ray... why are you carrying your... party member like that?"

I didn't bother correcting her statement. Aina was my maid, and now my lover, before she was my party member, but telling her that would only derail the conversation and make it more awkward.

"Oh, that? ...she was just a bit winded from our visit to the forest, is all." I answered. Technically, the statement was half-true.

"Is that so?" She looked at Aina, her gaze lingering for a moment on her face, which had yet to leave my chest, and then looked away from us. "Don't try to do missions above your ability. Please be more mindful of your safety in the future," she said, before turning away and continuing with whatever she had been doing before, her facial expression a bit complicated.

Once again, I didn't bother correcting her statement.

"Yeah, yeah. I appreciate it, but you should really worry about yourself first and foremost," I replied, knowing how high the death rate for newbies on their first week was.

I shrugged as I walked past her, then quickly cashed in the rewards for the three quests and went back to the manor, got dinner for Aina and I, and quickly fell asleep after the usual training and bath (this time, it really was just a bath).

The next morning, I woke up, extremely well-rested, to Aina's beautiful sleeping face. Her messy, ruffled dark green hair covered parts of it sensually, contrasting against her fair skin.

Some strands covered parts of her closed eyes, while some others reached down to her thin, rosy lips, which were closed in a small, happy smile. She looked like she was having a good dream. I couldn't help wanting to kiss her, so much so that I leaned forth and did it without a second thought. And of course, once I had started, I couldn't stop.

I only noticed she had woken up when she started passionately ruffling my hair, by which point I reluctantly broke our kiss.

The beaming, loving smile on Aina's face after we separated was priceless. Her eyes struggled to stay open, small pockets of sleep crust on their edges. She had trouble combing out of her face the strands that were stuck to it, but it just made her all the lovelier. 

'This is your fault, how could you be so cute...'

I had no choice but to ravage her lips once again. It took a while for our lips to part, and, as Aina was struggling to recover from her breathlessness, I whispered to her,

“Good morning, Aina. I love you.”

As she processed the information with her still half-asleep brain, I gave her a last peck on the lips and left the bed.

After changing into something half-decent, I went down to grab breakfast like always, and encountered the same, fat maid that had asked for the measurements the other day. She had been waiting for me at the entrance to the kitchen, no doubt.

She unceremoniously handed me a crude box, with what I assumed to be Aina's maid outfit inside, and made a snarky remark about how no one had seen my supposed maid yet, and that she should go eat with the rest of the maids instead of staying cooped up in my room.

It was annoying, but she was right. I couldn't keep bringing meals up to our room forever, I needed to at least act like the son of a duke sometimes and eat at the dining room.

I decided to talk to Aina about it later, since she would definitely get bullied by the other maids if she went to the dining room alone.

She was shy and insecure, and despite having become quite nimble and even slightly tough after our daily missions and training, she still had a fragile mentality. Even if they weren't able to physically harm her, I was sure they would try to hurt her emotionally every chance they got. I had been doing my best to fill her with love and praise, to make her feel good about herself, and I wasn't going to let some fat maids ruin all my work.

As I wondered how to go about it, I soon entered my chambers and had breakfast with my still sleepy maid.

"Hey Aina, your maid outfit is finally finished. Want to have a look at it?"

Her eyes went wide for a moment.

"My-my very own maid outfit? A-are you sure I deserve something as amazing as that, master?" She said, uncertainty plaguing her voice.

"What do you mean? We've been over this, Aina," I replied, sighing.

I smiled at her gently, lovingly, and caressed her cheek.

"No matter what the others think, you are the most precious person to me in the whole world. Something like this is the least I can do for you, since I'm already selfishly asking you to work as my maid for free."

She lowered her head, but I could still see her ears getting red. I got an urge to tease them.

"Th-then... I will put it on."