A few moments since the last chapter…

Tristan, Royal Capitol, Grayfield estate

 

“Dudley Armstrong…” Ashton commented as he saw the man.

 

He could feel his heart beginning to pound in his chest just like when he had faced the duke and didn’t understand his position. This time was different as these two would be considered of equal status since Duddley was the sole inheritor of the Armstrong family. His father was known as a cold individual who was just like the firearms that filled the streets of the city, ready to go off at any moment if dropped or thrown. They were also known for their focus on style which had the habit of making them less effective weapons overall, but they were cheap and easy to obtain.

 

Some of the assassins were using their shop's weapons, but that doesn’t mean anything with how common they are… The weapons from the rainbow tower required putting in a commission and waiting several years for it to be completed. 

 

“Ashe made sure to always hit back!~You’ve got this!~” Beretta called in his ear.

 

Looking towards the source of the voice, he saw a man and a woman standing together and realized that he must have brought the princess with him. Dudley was a man who could be described as large and imposing, with long wavy blonde hair and a handlebar mustache above his goatee. He was in incredible shape and his black eyes were cold and harsh as he stared down Ashton from several inches above him due to their height difference. The woman next to him though seemed to be an entirely different kind of monster.

 

Her eyes were half-lidded and sensual, and the smile she wore made her seem like a painting since it seemed both inviting and distant at the same time. Her breasts were large under her light purple dress and she had a small ornament in her hair that looked like a dainty metal tiara made from silver. Blonde hair was braided tightly to her head and used to bind her flowing locks towards the back of her head. Wide hips and a narrow waist gave her a figure that was just like the models he had only seen in magazines, she was the first woman who had a figure that could match Kumiho’s proportions.

 

“That horse… gets uglier every time I see it… just like you!” Ashton called with a smile as he looked at the long-haired man. “It’s large teeth… and crooked smile… is just like yours!”

 

“Oh, Ashe! I see that they also failed to take your sense of humor from you!” Dudley commented.

 

“With comments like that… I would almost think that you sent those… riff-raff.” Ashton remarked.

 

“Hahaha! If I had sent assassins, then you would never have walked away from there!” Dudley scowled before he looked at the woman next to him.

 

“My father wanted me to give you this missive.” She told him politely as she used her ring to pull out a large sealed scroll that bore the symbol of the royal family.

 

Ashton was confused as he reached forward and took the scroll from the woman’s dainty hands, he could feel that it was quite thick. Confusion filled his mind as he had no idea what the king could have wanted with him. The only thing he could think of was the investigation he had heard about. 

 

“I have… received it,” Ashton confirmed as he dropped the scroll onto the floor where it sank into the shadows like a pool of water. 

 

His clothes didn’t possess pockets, it was something that a modern person would have found shocking but was quite common among the nobility. The only pockets he had were pouches that tied onto his thick belt, even his money was held onto by Baretta after she offered to help him with it the other day. Unlike Kumiho who liked to take the money she carried, Beretta had been trustworthy with everything so far. If he could change anything it would be her strange habits and her insistence on him sleeping with every woman he encountered.

 

“I had heard that you closed down one of your brothels, were you trying to wash away your shame in the prostitute’s sheets?” He asked Ashton with mock concern.

 

“I was coming up with a new… business model… I think you will be quite surprised… I did see your name in the… guest book a few times…” Ashton commented before aiming a smile at the princess, but she scoffed at him and looked towards the corner.

 

What surprised Ashton was the princess’s lack of a reaction, as she looked at him and smiled mysteriously when he announced that information. Instead, it was Dudley who seemed alarmed and began trying to make excuses as he stared hatefully at Ashton. 

 

“It is only pocket change from the money his father grants him, I already account for it in the budget.” She responded. “It is the wine and sapa that are his most expensive hobbies. Those are much harder to account for, but we do well enough in the arms trade.”

 

“Kris, he doesn’t need to know about that,” Dudley said to the smiling princess before he turned his attention back to Ashton. “Seeing your face always takes my words away from me, why couldn’t you have come back to your estate in a wooden box?” 

 

“I am going to freshen up before we make the journey back to our estate.” The princess said and nodded at the two men. 

 

“Kristiana! We only came here to deliver your missive! Why do we need to spend even more time here?!” Dudley uttered angrily.

 

“Would you rather your future wife urinate on the side of the road like an animal? Is that the image I should be trying to cultivate as a noble Armstrong?” She asked him gently. 

 

“Dammit! Just go!” Dudley muttered angrily.

 

Several female guards who were wearing thick armor and carrying a variety of different weapons stepped forward and flanked the princess as she turned to make her way into the mansion. Stopping after a few steps she turned to Ashton with the same graceful smile she had maintained the entire time she had been there.

 

“I assume you won’t make a princess do her business in your garden, would you Lord Grayfield?” She asked him pointedly.

 

“Make sure you… have your husband pay… for the cleaning.” He said and eyed the blonde man who turned a cold look on Ashton. 

 

In response to this, the princess performed a curtsy to the two before she was escorted away by her female guards who seemed to know the layout of his mansion better than he did. The guards' armor was exquisite and they were dyed in the colors of the royal family, with the only sign of their female nature being a bulge on the armor’s chest plate that was more prevalent with a more slender design. Their helmets were all closed-faced with steel bars running from the top to the bottom in place of eye slits. A purple plume of horsehair was used as a flourish on top of the shiny metal helmets, and they each had long purple capes.

 

“Since you were stupid enough to almost get yourself assassinated my father ordered my guard increased and the king doubled his children’s guard,” Dudley said venomously. “Dueling has also been banned between the nobility, Edgar was quite enraged.”

 

“Edgar can… be as angry as he wants to be… hopefully his heart can… handle it,” Ashton replied to Dudley with a smile.

 

“You are quite confident, if you are not careful it may come back to bite you!” Dudley called back. “He has entered the mid-tier, he is a full layer ahead of you. You just might die if he isn’t careful, and I heard that he is trying to advance once again.” 

 

“I will explain it all to you later.~ Just focus on getting through the conversation!~” Beretta told him.

 

“Why would something like that… worry me? Do you… need to see a priest to have them… fix your head?” Ashton added with a smile as he used the pause to point at his head,

 

“Speaking of a broken head, I heard you were hiring skilled workers to teach your prostitutes! Now that I am here I feel like I need to confirm this rumor, is that true?” Dudley asked with mockery.

 

“Did you know that one of those… assassins was a former prostitute? It made me wonder if… maybe they can learn some… new tricks… Something that some animals… struggle with.” Ashton laughed as he replied to the other noble.

 

I wonder if the news that I was almost assassinated just got out? Ashton was used to the modern world where information could be passed almost instantly as it was happening. No one on the streets had even known about it and the only comments he heard were about the heightened guard. The streets had been filled with more guards but an official announcement hadn’t been made yet and the nobles and commoners didn’t have much contact.

 

“Soon we are not going to be just heirs but fellow great nobles. How do you expect to survive without any friends?” Dudley said with a sneer. “A stray wolf will die without a pack, they are weak alone. I think a mangy animal like you deserves a slow death in the cold, then I could take the iron reserves from your territory. You're not using them anyway.”

 

That’s right, the Grayfield family used to be a gun manufacturer. I wonder if I could use this to make up for the money that the brothels are going to lose initially? He doubted Dudley had any involvement in his assassination since this was the first noble to visit him since it had happened. Everyone else was keeping a respectable distance and no one would be blatant enough to arrange his murder than be the first person to see him. I bet you genuinely wish me ill, don’t you?

 

Ashton was not someone who likes taking things lying down, he wanted to become a store manager and eventually a regional manager so that he could fire his original manager. He thought it would have been hilarious to do something to the person who always treated him poorly, but he liked to take things one step at a time. When he had enough accomplished blacksmiths, he thought it would have been incredible to use them to start making weapons. Adding in weapons would work nicely since the market was large and the rainbow towers could only accept so many commissions in a single year.

 

“If you are not careful… I just might go back into the… arms industry. I did just hire… a blacksmith recently.” He threatened. “It would be ironic… to be driven out of business by… the prostitutes that you seem to despise so much.”

 

“Driven out of business by prostitutes?! You must be mad!” Dudley laughed as Ashton smiled. 

 

“I do love… bets… Don’t regret your words later…” Ashton replied.

 

Perfect! Now I can claim that I opened the school due to a bet! A large smile split across Ashton’s face because currently, he needed an excuse for why he performed these actions, to begin with. Spreading a rumor through the very prostitutes in the brothels would be an effective way of giving himself cover from any pesky inquisitors. Already he was expecting one to show up any day to question him about his assassination and ensure no evil spirits had entered his body.

 

When he thought about having to deal with the churches, which were their own monster inside of the royal capital, he started to feel exhausted. They had many members of the nobility who were believers in different churches, while they did not have a central religion it was a constant destabilizing factor. Ashton felt like the kingdom was only able to exist due to the careful tightrope walk they have done for so many generations, it made him admire the current king. 

 

“You think you can contend against my family using prostitutes?” Dudley paused to give a hearty belly laugh and doubled over as he wiped the tears from his eyes. 

 

A smile crossed over Ashton’s face the moment he heard this question, he already knew how firearms had progressed on Earth from his knowledge of video games. From the flintlocks to automatic rifles, he had used them all in games so he at least understood the technological progression. But if you asked him if he could build one, the answer was certainly no. Investing didn’t care if you knew how to create a product as long as the product you put your money in became the news trend. 

 

“I think my grandfather… is going to be proud of me… when I take back his honor,” Ashton replied ominously.

 

“I will have to inform my father, I think he will be quite amused by this,” Dudley replied with a laugh. 

 

“Indeed, Lord Armstrong will find it quite amusing.” The princess replied as she returned from inside the mansion. “But who knows what Lord Grayfield will be able to come up with, you should never look down on any challenge.”

 

“Oh, save it,” Dudley replied casually as he sneered at Ashton. “Are you ready to go?”

 

“I am.” She replied as she turned to follow him towards their carriage. 

 

“Good, this place is filled with disgusting monsters. I don’t want to stay here any longer than I have to.” Dudley replied as he boarded the carriage behind the princess. 

 

With the crack of a whip, the carriage began to roll through his driveway towards the gate of his estate with the guards following along at a light jog. The two separated into a male and a female group as they quickly followed behind the carriage. The moment the large metal gates were closed by two large humanoids wearing ornate suits of armor, he breathed a sigh of relief. Walking over to a bench made of stone next to a bush he sat down in the front garden and enjoyed the smell of the flowers.

 

“Do you like the smell of my genitals?” A female voice called from behind him.

 

This question caught him off guard and he turned his head to the source of the voice and did a double-take. The woman was so otherworldly beautiful that he had to take a breath to get his jaw to close and blink several times to clear his head. She had long hair that was a light green and seemed wet like grass carrying the morning dew with a green bow that looked like a vine. It was held by clips that looked like small fly traps that created a series of braids that opened up at the end to let her hair flow. Her skin was a light almond color and she had large green eyes that shone with curiosity.

 

She had the waspish figure that was common with elves but short rounded ears like a human, but her figure featured modest breasts and a slim waist, and a tight butt. Her dress was formed from a material that looked like black flower petals with a green apron that seemed to reflect the light. The sleeves on her dress were short and had long flower petals that were colored in a variety of different colors. This same flower petal effect happened near the base of her dress and showed her bare feet. 

 

“What?” He asked her in shock when he saw her bizarre appearance.

 

“Hairys seem obsessed with smelling our private parts. They even cut them off and use them to scent their homes.” She continued with a serious expression. “I tried smelling your underwear, but I didn’t find it very pleasant. Why are the hairys so obsessed with smelling other lifeforms' genitals?” 

 

“Am I a hairy?” He asked her, pointing at himself.

 

“Yes. There are hairys, and scaleys, and featherys, and fishys. You are obviously a hairy.” She said as she pointed to his head and his jacket.

 

“What if I cut off all of my hair?” He asked her.

 

“Then you would be a shiny.” She replied seriously.

 

“Beretta, who is this?” He muttered quietly.

 

“I am a leafy.” She said proudly.

 

“That is Deltarose, the dryad.~ Don’t worry, I prepared for this!~” Beretta replied confidently.

 

Suddenly a little girl with long black hair appeared from the shadows and in the dim light, he got his best look at her. Her dress was black and looked the most maid-like out of the combat maids he had seen, but the material was so fine it seemed more like a solid piece of shadows. Her apron was gray like smoke and seemed almost translucent as it showed the black material through it better in certain areas. 

 

“I got some fertilizer for you!~,” Beretta said with a giggle as a pile of gore appeared at her feet from the dead manager. 

 

The thick bloody smell attacked Ashton’s nostrils and caused him to gag and have to fight to keep himself from vomiting. The maid, wearing a dress that looked like it was fashioned from flower petals, kneeled and breathed in a deep scent from the bloody pile of gore before expressing her opinion.

 

“This will make an excellent fertilizer, did Kumiho make it?” She asked with a smile.

 

“She mashed him like a potato!~” Beretta giggled along.

 

“She had recently started drinking, her compost has become much harder to use,” Delterose complained. 

 

Ashton stood up from the chair now that the dryad’s attention was on the pile of gore and he decided to turn and walk towards the doors to the mansion. Seeing it from the front, he was really surprised at the sheer scale of it. At two large floors with a vaulted ceiling, the dark gray stone and black polished wood made the large windows shine and show off the bright interior. It was massive and much larger than some of the churches he had seen in small towns. Walking through the front doors, he could see the main foyer decorated with suits of armor and lit up with bright magical lights and small braziers to provide warmth.

 

“Don’t worry!~ This will keep her preoccupied, she has already forgotten about you.~” Beretta said with a giggle.

 

“I don’t think I want to know how she uses it,” Ashton muttered.

 

“The flowers that scent the mansion are all trimmed from her bonded flower, it produces one of the loveliest fragrances.~” Beretta explained. 

 

Walking into the large banquet hall he was greeted by a table filled with various dishes that were releasing a hearty fragrance. He saw turkey drumsticks and felt darring as he selected one of them and placed it on a plate along with some mashed potatoes and brown gravy made from the turkey. The potatoes were infused with chives and wild onions, as well as garlic and creamy butter. Selecting some pieces of asparagus and broccoli, he poured some cheese that was melted into a light sauce over them and then walked to the dessert table.

 

There were cookies, small cakes, and sugary bread infused with nuts and fruit. The moment he got to this section he found that he didn’t find any of it appealing and grew confused as he picked up a sugar cookie. One of the joys of working in a retail store for him had been commandeering the expired candy that they sold at the front of the store. Almost no one bought it, so every few months he would take home several large buckets of various chews.

 

Taking a bite of the cookie, he found that it was sweet and smooth, with a grainy texture that seemed to melt in his mouth like snow with only a slight amount of chewing. It had the nutty taste of peanut butter and the sweetness of honey with the perfect amount of cooking. Had he been on Earth he would have rated them as one of the best cookies he had eaten, but he discovered a difference. The sweetness of the cookie was unappealing and made him want to spit it out as it seemed to burn his mouth.

 

“Lord Grayfield hates sweet things, silly!~” She laughed at him as he forced himself to finish the cookie.

 

“The food has always been incredible, the chef must be quite skilled,” Ashton commented.

 

“Mochee was created to cook! He was highly valued when he was put up for auction!~” Beretta explained. 

 

“Mochee?” Ashton asked.

 

“Would you like to see him?~?” Beretta asked.

 

“No, I think I just want to eat and relax,” Ashton responded as he sighed out in exhaustion, and Beretta just giggled in response. 

 

Ashton turned and walked up the stairs that led to his wing of the mansion, he started making his way to the study as he started eating the food directly off the plate. Using a cloth napkin to hold the turkey leg, he began to eat the meat right off the bone and enjoyed the herbs and the turkey gravy that was smeared on the outside. Using a spoon he scraped up some of the potatoes and discovered that they were also incredible. As he reached the top of the stairs he was starting to regret not giving his compliments to the chef.

 

“You might want to eat quicker.~” Beretta warned him.

 

“Why is that?” Ashton asked as he took a bit of the vegetable and found the cheese sauce was also incredible.

 

“You will find out soon!~” Beretta laughed ominously as Ashton began to feel his appetite diminish.

 

“What is going on?!” Ashton said quietly. “You are starting to scare me!”

 

“Who are you talking to?” A female voice called causing Ashton to turn around.

 

What he saw caused his jaw to drop and the plate in his hand fell to the floor where he lost sight of it. He could not turn his eyes from the woman in front of him and her bizarre getup. Black lines were pressed into her chest from the bra she was wearing that was missing its cups, but her nipples were covered by two small bronze cones that had bright red tassels attached. The lines of fabric from the bra were so tight that they caused her two large peaks to deform from the thin string that was pressing into them.

 

She wore black lace panties that had a slit that ran from the front of it to the back of it and was covered in frills showing a bare expanse of flesh above her slit that was covered by a small white bow. A small translucent skirt was attached to a garter belt that hung like a curtain and was open in the front and back. She had long black stockings that had floral patterns stitched into the fabric and no shoes. Sticking out of her rear the base of a wooden plug could be seen that was attached to a long flexible cat tail and she had cat ears on a hairband that was hidden in her blonde hair.

 

“You kept me waiting, you naughty boy.” She told him languidly.

 

“She likes it if you refer to her as a latrine!~” Beretta whispered in his ear and giggled.

 

“Beretta… this isn’t funny! Tell me you are playing a joke on me!” He whispered after covering his mouth. 

 

“Of course not! I am very serious about this, now enough talking! Do it! I’ll be watching over you closely!~” Beretta said with emphasis on the last word.

 

Many emotions were going through Ashton’s mind as he stared at the woman in front of him and he realized there was no word to describe the feeling he was experiencing. Maybe he wanted to scream, maybe he wanted to cry. A part of him still hoped that all of this was a dream and he would wake back up in that office ready to cover his co-worker's shift! After an internal battle that felt like dragging himself from the pits of hell, he put on a smile and greeted the woman in front of him.

 

“What a naughty… princess... you are.” He replied casually. 

 

Next Chapter: Serving the Princess (R-18)