---

Mathias Heuser was sitting in his office receiving a report from his butler. There were quite a few events that happened when he was away.

"The knight captain's negligence needs to be addressed. No matter the reason, the Lady was almost killed."

"No, he is our best knight. Although his mistake is unforgivable, I can't just take away his knight title. Whoever called the assassin on my daughter will not stop after one attempt. I will just demote him and make him my daughter's personal guard."

He was angry but not stupid. He knew what caused the mistake. The knight captain had to manage the whole military force of the county, his attention was stretched thin.

And the assassin that could sneak in his mansion was not a joke either. The group he belonged to could only be one. The nameless organization that had been existing in this kingdom since the beginning.

To play with that organization was like playing with snakes. But the nobility never ceased to contact those vicious criminals.

If only we knew how to identify them with a look.

He couldn't dwell in one matter for long, there were a lot more that had stacked up in his absence.

"Next is about a maid."

"What? That's your duty."

"Milord, she stole Lady Filianore's necklace."

"Insolence!"

"I have already dismissed and punished her."

"Then what is the problem?"

The kingdom's justice system didn't tolerate crimes. The punishment ranged from fine, mutation, banishment, and death. But since the king decreed that the death penalty was only for high treason, heresy, and mass murder, there was no more execution. Crimes had gone up steadily ever since.

The harsh punishment was to create fear and prevent people from committing crimes. Without the fear of death, people had become bold. Stealing from a noble would have both hands chopped off. Depending on the stolen item, the guilty would even be branded and banished.

"The young lady got angry. She favored that maid so she went out to take the maid back."

"…"

"I had the knights follow and protect her through the whole ordeal. But there were slavers hiding in the city, they managed to offend the young lady even further.”

“…”

“So she ordered the knights to organize a purge. The knights weren’t opposed to the idea, they were too eager to follow the lady. All the slavers are in the dungeon at the guard station. The finer details were written here on these documents.”

Count Heuser was speechless. It related to his daughter again. He thought the ruckus in the city was big but had never imagined that it was started by her. And all for a maid too.

There had to be something special to make his daughter wake up from her stupor state and react so willfully. He wouldn’t complain though. Seeing Elena looking into space all the time was heart-wrenching.

"There is another thing with the young lady. She… wanted to train combat with the captain. And Lord Andre De Belemont reported that the young lady's magic has grown powerful, her [Fireball] even knocked him back."

"Her magic growing is a wonderful thing. But what made her lean on combat?”

“The captain said that she insisted on learning self-defense to not be in a similar situation anymore. He also praised her bow skill, and the way she applied wind magic was phenomenal, a great talent."

"… perhaps my daughter was a genius all along? Why haven't we known this until now?"

The butler was just as confused as his Lord. But they soon came to the same conclusion. Count Heuser felt conflicted and didn't know what to do. The butler mustered his guess out loud to help his Lord think better, as a good retainer would.

"Since the day the young lady was borne, she hasn't been in any situation that required her to exert such prowess. Her activities only consisted of academic studying and court manners training.”

“I see. Let her do as she wishes then. There is no harm in strengthening herself.”

He could see it, the image of Elena burning down her enemies to ash. But as willful as his imagination went, he knew that his daughter wouldn’t be able to do that. She was such a shy little girl.

The butler reported some more problems about the county while he was away. But things like a murder case near the slum or some sabotage in his business were a normal occurrence in his large city. He just needed to direct the personnel in the respective area to deal with the problem and judge their report when it was done. Just business as usual. Dealing with the enemies of the county was a long-term campaign.

There was also the matter of Elena picking up some unknown commoner as her maid but he could tolerate that. It wasn’t a big deal. The butler also agreed with him. The night before, the butler had ordered the combat maids to search and check the body structure of the girl to see if she was an assassin. Her muscle had seen no training in combat or any enhancement implanted. The background was also confirmed by him in a night. An inadequate servant but a clean one.

“All those minor problems should be dealt with like that. Finally, the slavers.”

Count Heuser left the most annoying thing for last like always. Slaves were recently banned in the kingdom of Agava by the king. Another thing that the Count found foolish.

The society of the kingdom was built on hard labor by slaves and the people. Slaves being the majority of the workforce in mining, road building, terraforming forests, and deserts.

And the king banned it without so much as an alternative. He suspected the poor decision was due to the flower-headed queen. In her heyday in the academy, she was famous for spewing some nonsense ideals about equality and human rights without so much as an iota of working plan behind it. But the crown prince was entranced with her somehow despite his education on kingship. Their tale was all over the capital and every noble knew about it.

The result of their love was this kingdom with the increased crime rate and a huge hole in the economy. He wondered if the king knew how his kingdom had turned out.

Well, I just need to deal with things on my territory. Those slavers must be the hands and legs of some bigshots. I currently have one Duke with me so I doubt their backer would be brave enough to fight.

He decided to branded those slavers that were caught and banished them to the Northern sea. It was basically execution with extra steps but it wasn’t crossing any law.

Let’s see who twitches with this move.

He wasn’t planning to fight them but he wanted to know whose limbs he was going to cut off. To prepare for the future.

After arranging the schedule for tomorrow with the butler, there was a knock on the door. No servant would dare to do that except in emergencies. But there was no emergency.

“Father.”

His daughter’s voice came in through the door. At least, he was sure that there was no emergency then.

“Come in.”

The door opened slowly but steadily revealing Elena behind it. His breath was caught in his throat for a moment as she seemed to be so regal. The grace in her posture was that of a powerful general or a great wizard.

But of course, he would feel so. Her body was reformed with perfected muscle and structure. A trained body would display a natural grace in all its movements. Hers was beyond that so it was natural for everyone to pay attention even if they didn’t know what pulled their eyes toward it.

“Are you still busy, father?”

“N-No, I have just finished. Do you need something, Elena?”

“Indeed I have something I want to talk to you about.”

She made a light bow to him and then noticed the butler.

“Ah… the butler is here.”

“Hmm? Do you want to talk with me alone?”

“That is not so. I just remember ordering my maid to lead another new maid to the butler.”

Another new maid? But oh well, it’s not like I can’t dote on my daughter.

“Then Graham, go back to your quarter and do the required work.”

“… Of course, Milord.”

The butler also knew that his lord wanted to spend some alone time with his daughter so he didn’t fuss and went out quietly.

Watching the door closed, Elena walked near her father's desk.

"There is something I want but first, the matter of his Highness Finn De Dovantine…"

Now THAT is something I don't want to talk about.

"My engagement, can it be voided?"

"Elena, my dear daughter. I'm so sorry but that is beyond our House's power."

"I see."

He feared that his little girl would be depressed by his denial but it wasn't so. Her eyes were calm and unshakable. His rank wasn't high enough to resist the engagement started by a Duke. He was just hoping that the fiance would be a decent nobleman. A political marriage to him was meaningless as his rank may not be at the top but his power and wealth were in the top three.

Finn was a decent nobleman for sure, but that wasn't a good thing like he thought. He was preparing to arrange an accidental death before the marriage if Elena seemed to be a bit sad but his wife intervened and talked him out of it.

"Then let's leave that aside. This will be something in your power. I want to build a castle, anywhere is fine."

"A castle? Not a mansion? Why do you want that?"

"It is what I have always wanted. Would that be impossible?"

He wanted to dote on her but this may be too much. A mansion was barely in the range of what he could grant. In his defense, building a castle was not easy. The manpower without slaves was insufficient, and the material cost would be enormous.

"I know what you are thinking. I have discovered that my magical capability is very high. I could help build my own castle and train magic at the same time."

"No way. I can't allow you to participate in such labor."

Elena seemed to be displeased. But her facial change was minuscule.

"Then how about I help in providing resources? I didn't tell anyone but I have been working on a spell that detects gemstones. Since Lord Andre taught me about some fire spells yesterday, I have gained new insight and completed it."

To Count Heuser that small revelation was like a military strategic-class magic that had just exploded in his face.

"Oh, gods above! My child is a super-genius! Do you have any idea how this would mean? Our house will be ridiculously powerful!"

Untold plans were forming in his mind on how to use this benefit to the fullest. But his excitement was scattered quickly when he realized he was about to use Elena as a tool to develop the county.

“Nonono, I’m so sorry Elena! Your father was a terrible person!”

“It’s fine. I do not find that uncomfortable. But this spell should be the secret of our House, please do not share this with the kingdom.”

Elena’s voice was firm and leaving no argument for anyone.

“Instead of that, I want my castle.”

“... haa, alright. Choose a location and I will see to it."

It wasn’t like he decided to make Elena work for it. He would have a mage learn the spell and do the hard work. Furthermore, having a castle would elevate the prestige of the county. Build it would take a few years at the fastest. At that time, Elena would have already graduated from the academy and about to marry Finn.

“Well, if I had to choose, then this place would be perfect.”

She hovered the map on the wall over to his desk and pointed to a location. It was in a mountainous area in the North. The region was full of wild beasts and cavern systems. Hill of rock mixed with dense forests made the place not ideal for setting up settlements. But he could see the strategic value in it.

The castle would overlook the empire to the east and the sea routes in the north. To the west was the land of the Duke but a mountain range separated the two territories without any trade connection. Count Heuser was considering making a keep in that region to guard the county.

I should put extra effort in to make the castle have enough capability to take that task as well.

He didn’t think of how Elena was going to use it or if she wanted to stay with her family or lived in the castle.

“I detected some reaction in this direction when testing the spell. So when the castle is completed, we could build additional mines without any problem.”

It was all business with Elena but the Count felt like his daughter was slipping out of his grasp day by day.

“I will also use that place to train my servants and my magic. There are a lot of lesser monsters in that area.”

"Elena, you have changed a lot."

His sentiment toward her brought him sadness. He had failed to protect her against the vicious nobles.

"I am not the same anymore, father. I need to be strong."

He saw her determination. There was nothing left of the weak little girl he used to pamper. Her trauma seemed to fuel her will toward power.

I wish you didn't have to experience that.

“It is dangerous so take some knights along when you are going out.”

"Of course, father. Then that will be all, I will disturb you no further."

She quietly made an elegant bow and went out of his office.

Left alone again, he just stared at the door where his daughter had just closed a moment ago.

"Haa… Things just keep evolving. This conflict with those rascals is about to step on a new stage."

With his daughter moving up on the power struggle, he would need to change his stand from defensive to offensive.

The nobles that had been messing with his territory, needed to be given a hard time too.

---

When she woke up, the world was empty for her. Tears rolled down her cheeks for the final time as she recalled all her life.

She prayed to the gods but her heart was still crushed. The memories tangled her body like countless chains. It was rotting away like the putrid thing her life was. She saw a dark silhouette of a woman in the haze before her eyes.

Who was it? She should know but she didn’t want to remember. She hated that person, she loved that person, somewhere in her heart she yearned for that woman.

An image. An old memory. Of the little her and the woman cheerfully enjoying the sweet potato together.

The tears she thought to have already dried poured again from her eyes.

She was told that she would be loved, they would be together forever. But the dream was not meant to last. The image cracked and gone.

When the world came crashing down on her, it was the one she loved that did it. But she did not die. She persisted in her broken state.

Soon she closed her eyes and discarded all those chains. It was like shedding a burden she didn’t know she had. It was soothing as she burnt the chains with her scattered will.

She felt empty.

She woke up again. This time she saw the real world.

So colorful.

Power was coursing through her body. She could feel it. Her power and others' too. She took it all in slowly. Steadily replacing her mind with new things to forget what she didn’t want to remember.

A whole new world opened before her. It was overwhelming, exhilarating, terrifying.

She collided with the stone wall in the barrack while walking and it got scraped. When she stepped too hard, the ground sank. She dreaded grabbing on someone. What would happen if she was to sneeze or startle?

Then she met the Lady, the one who had forcefully taken her. It was brief and she blanked out most of the time. She acknowledged her role as a servant easily like it was just the natural thing.

She walked on the familiar corridor of the Count's mansion. Her hand was held on by her childhood friend that she hadn't seen in a long time.

Emily was forceful and clumsy at times. She remembered the many instances where those traits got her fired. There was rarely a job they could work together due to that.

But now, Mari wanted to hug her friend close and not let go. She didn't succumb to that desire though.

Through her eyes, she could see how fragile everyone around her was. The minuscule movement of their muscle and the estimated density of their body. She was like a bear in a flower field. One mistake would squish the flower in her hand.

Mari was not the same anymore. She was not Mari anymore.

The pain in her heart didn't feel so heavy like before. But her heart was not cold and unfeeling, it was beating excitedly for the new life ahead.

She may not be able to hug her friend at the moment but she would be later. The power was hers and she could control it, in time.

“Oh no, where is he? The lady will take a bath soon.”

She arrived at the room like a small office. She knew this room. It was where the butler did his management work. He wouldn’t be in here all day though.

Mari had a small fear of the butler. It was still there even with this strong body. She looked completely different despite her face being only refined in a few spots. He wouldn't even remember her face in the first place.

"Let's wait a bit. He won't be long. I guess."

No, he will be long. He would be with the Lord whenever the Lord returned from a trip.

She didn't say out loud. She wanted to have more time to calm herself, to prepare to meet with her fear.

Mari would be trembling if it was her old body. But somehow, she didn't and felt only slightly nervous at best.

"Hey, Mari. Are you alright? You look a little down."

Her friend was being considerate of her. Emily was trying not to touch that sour topic, she felt it.

"Thanks for asking, Emily. I will be better."

"… Uhm so… what does it feel like?"

"? About what?"

She tilted her head wondering. They had settled down on some chairs in the room.

"That, you know… um your body, I mean."

"Oh, it's strange. There was this strong feeling of wanting to run at full speed and swinging my arms at something hard."

"... Wow, tank and DPS."

"Hmm? What does that mean?"

"Eh, it's nothing. It means you're amazing."

Mari was curious about the strange word and wanted to ask more but Emily tried her best to change the subject.

"A-Anyway, how do you feel about Lady Elena?”

“Call her Lady Elena De Heuser.”

“Eh, It’s just us. Only the nobles care about these things.”

Mari sighed seeing her friend as crass as ever. But she couldn’t hate her, it was what made Emily lovely.

“The Lady is… terrifying. But also very grand… I don’t really know how to describe her.”

“I understand what you mean.”

She was never close to the young Lady before. All the servants were scared of her and warned Mari not to stay near her for long. She still didn’t know the reason but it was meaningless to her anyway.

While all the people around her were weak and soft, the young Lady was peerless. Her new eyes saw things that she didn’t know exist. The power emitted from that seemingly soft body was like a river in a flood season. Her knowledge was not enough to comprehend it all but she knew between herself and the Lady, she stood no chance.

I subconsciously think about fighting again. What is this body?

The subtle urge in her wanted her to rampage. It would be quite satisfying to just give in to it but her will, although scattered, still held its own discipline of being a maid.

Mari also wanted to see how fast she could run and how hard she could strike. She had no fighting experience and no training in martial art. But that didn’t matter to her as she felt like she could just rely on her instinct.

Did she like her body? It would be a lie if she said no. The feeling of being healthy was never felt in her life. She was afraid of losing this warm feeling and more.

“I owe her a life debt.”

It was her own will that clung to the affection of the Lady. No matter how faint that was. She wouldn’t betray like someone she once knew.

“How about you Emily? How come you serve under her?”

“Well, it’s complicated…”

She didn’t seem to want to talk. Mari intended to ask again but the door was opened.

The butler had returned. She was surprised by his earliness. It had usually taken a few hours for him to be done with the Lord.

Him looking at her shook her a bit but it was soon faded. His body was tempered to the degree that she had to take a longer look to make sure it wasn’t mistaken. Her eyes scanned him from top to bottom. His body was like a statue. The muscle was so dense and tough that she was sure he would be able to punch a hole in the wall without a scratch.

He always wore his uniform so she hadn’t noticed when she was still a maid here but he would be a terrifying fighter anywhere else in the world.

Her friend seemed so oblivious, looking at him unamazed. To her, Emily was just like her in the past, she wasn’t aware of this beast in front of her at all.

She closed her eyes and opened it again.

The butler was strong but she could still shrug him off with brute force. Of course, there would be some fantastic fighting skills and techniques under his belt so she wouldn’t disregard him like the knight.

If she compared him to the Lady, he would be just a candle in the wind. She didn’t know whether the Lady noticed the butler or not.

“So you are the new maid. Let’s proceed with the document and get you a uniform.”

He didn’t recognize her. Furthermore, he seemed to know about this already. Mari could take an easy guess that her Lady had taken care of this. She still found it was too easy though.

As the butler walked past them toward the cabinet, he suddenly turned around and thrust a powerful fist to her heart.

Without thinking, she caught the fist in her left palm and gave back a counter with her remaining hand. He twisted his body out of her piercing hand and attempted to sweep her legs while removing his hand from her palm.

She jumped up with her instinct in full throttle and spun around in circles with her legs up in the air. Mari tried to dislocate his arm and twist it further but the butler also spun with her, he grabbed her free arm with his and slammed her down to the ground.

With the uncontrollable momentum and the rush of power, she anchored her feet to the floor with enormous force to prevent herself from hitting the ground face-first. The room was shaken and broken. The butler staggered but quickly stumbled back on his feet. He was now in a combat-ready stance.

“Who are you? An assassin from the organization?”

Mari was standing firmly on the cracked floor with sharp glaring eyes. Her newfound instinct gave her an advantage in the first contact. But she knew she was too inexperienced to win against this old man. Her old fear of him also added in a bit of insecurity.

Emily was rolling on the ground after being tossed around by them. It was too fast, she didn’t know what was going on. Everything suddenly exploded and now she was on the broken floor.

She quickly jumped up and tried to defuse the situation.

“Whawawa, hold on! Don’t fight!”

Her running in between them helped lower the tension a bit. The butler gave her a glance to tell her to continue talking as he was unwilling to leave his opponent unchecked.

“She was with the slaves, Lady Elena saw-”

He gave Emily a glare making her flinch.

“S-Sorry… -Lady Elena De Heuser saw her and wanted her as a maid and a bodyguard. Her name was M-Mari.”

He leveled a look at Mari and she nodded, confirming the story.

“Also, if she was really an assassin, she would have killed the Lady when they first met, not now.”

Emily was a bit proud of herself for giving some solid argument.

“She could be on a mission to infiltrate the mansion and kill the Lord.”

The butler didn’t give in to her weak reasoning. Emily was babbling without getting out any words as her brain had suddenly run out of ideas to argue back.

“You should realize I can kill you right now and no one else in this mansion could stop me if I really aimed for the Count.”

Mari spoke slowly in an attempt to intimidate him. She was hoping that he could sense the raw power in her and aware that she was far above him in brute strength.

It seemed to work a bit on him.

“Why would someone like you follow the young Lady?”

“Because she saved me.”

She wasn’t speaking any lie. The truth was best in a situation like this and it helped that the truth was simple so it was easily used.

“That’s right! The Lady also like the fact that her name was also Mari so she got chosen.”

He thought and tried to decide quickly as he knew what she said wasn’t exaggerating. If she ran straight to his Lord, there would be nothing he could do to hold her back.

To Mari, this had become a tiresome matter. She didn’t know anything about assassins and the likes. She just wanted to quickly register as a maid and went back to Elena.

They were in this confrontation for some time now but he just couldn’t let this strong fighter go. It was too risky. All their reasons were valid but he was too wary of Mari.

Until the door that was almost fallen off was pushed and fell off for real. Elena was standing at the door and giving them all a fed-up face.

“What are you all doing? I have been waiting for my bath time for too long now. Graham, finish the paperwork and clean the room. You two, come with me.”

“But Milady-”

“No but. I approve of her ability. That is enough.”

“… As you wish.”

He answered with a bow fitting a professional like him.

When the two new maids had already followed the young Lady out of his office, he let out a long sigh. Observing that new maid was added to his mental list.

---

Mari felt relief as she was finally free from that situation. Emily and she were preparing the bathwater for the young Lady. The bath was as wide as the dining room in the mansion.

She had changed her mage robe to the light robe for bathing. The two of them needed to be in the bath to take care of the Lady.

“Hey, Mari.”

“Hmm?”

“You were very cool back then.”

“… Thanks.”

A smile crept up on her face without her friend noticing. Mari was happy. She turned a bit red from the embarrassment.

“Hey, Mari.”

“Yes?”

“About the massage…”

“Oh, right. The Lady seems to be very fond of the massage I did!”

“… That’s right, isn’t it?… Let’s do our best then.”

Mari was glad she still had a friend near her right now. Her spirit went up quickly as she prepared the bath with Emily diligently.

On this day, she started a new life.

---

End of chapter 6