Alex felt off.  In the cooking dungeon, Alex was able to activate the dance partner skill instantly.  She wondered why she didn’t feel like trying to snatch her phone as an attack didn’t trigger such a response.  It finally clicked with a look around the room.  

The pair that looked concerned now looked peaceful.  Alex’s jump in mental resistance also made sense.  And to top it off, all that happened right after eating the food.  Alex regarded the empty plate with suspicion.  The maids in the room made quick work of cleaning off the tables so Alex didn’t get a chance to look closer.

“Okay, I’ll put it away.”  Alex pocketed the phone. Noting that the maid didn’t seem suspicious about the unnatural pause before the response.

The maid smiled and said, “Thank you miss Alice.”  

Trying to match the expressions of the other unconcerned people at the table, Alex snuck a look at her stats under the table.

 

Name: Alex Parker

Class: Magical Girl

Level 2

Sex: Female

Race: Human

Strength: 11

Constitution: 9

Dexterity: 17

Intelligence: 7

Cuteness: 16

Skills:

Cleaning: 2

Cooking: 1

Dancing: 2

Tailoring: 4

Toymaking: 2

Feats: Empower Doll

Spells: Animate Doll

Lesser Grow Plants

Traits: Mental Resistance: 4 (+1 from overcoming ingested magical poison)

 

“Well, I guess I should practice cooking.  No more eating meals prepared by maids.” Alex whispered to herself.

“Did you say something Alex?” Zeke blinked out of the daze he was in and looked around in confusion. 

“I um, I was thinking maybe I could cook for you two next meal?” Alex looked at the two, trying to salvage the slip, hoping the concern didn’t show.  “I’m a decent cook, though I’m sure I’ve got a lot to learn.”

“I believe we’ll have to be trained to do everything that our hosts are doing if we want to get the maid job.  If you want to show off that you are the best candidate I’ll be rooting for you.” Trudy beamed, a complete 180 of her previous apprehension. 

An extravagantly dressed woman entered the room, cutting off everyone’s conversation with her presence alone. She had long black hair in a french braid and red eyes.  She walked gracefully, flanked by prim maids on each side.

“Greetings subject.  I am Baroness Yvne.” She paused.

All the maids and the village people lowered their heads.  Alex followed suit, not wanting to stand out.  Everyone lowering their head in deference to the lady of the house felt weird but not making waves remained important. Alex still planned to leave and meet with the nereids to hopefully come up with a plan to rescue all the humans in this town.

“Raise your heads.” Yvne’s commanded.

All of the maids raised their heads in sync but the rest of the people did so at slightly different moments, weird.

“As you can see, all of the maids trained here are perfect.  We have the highest standard for stewards in this household.  But fear not, our training methods are comprehensive and no one has failed to start training and fail to complete it.”  The red-dyed woman’s eyes swept the room.  “All of you are accepted and should feel honored to wear the maid dress.”

Alex eyed Zeke, who seemed concerned before but now excited by the mistress’s speech.  Lady Yvne was not even giving anyone a chance to say no or reject them due to poor performance.  This was not good.

“A maid’s first priority should be cleaning.  Those of you who have donned the appropriate outfit I suggest spending the day practicing cleaning.  Dressing in the appropriate outfit will accelerate your training.  This will help accelerate skill growth.”  She gestured to one of the maids at her side. “There is a reason maids traditionally wear white gloves.”

The maid stepped forward and ran a white gloved finger across one of the tables.  After inspecting it she showed the very slight darkening to those in the room.  

“The white glove test is a classical method of measuring cleanliness.  I would encourage everyone to use this as their default standard.”  She looked around the room again.  “You are all dismissed.  Everyone here is spoken for by a member of the kingdom’s gentry. No maid will be released from training until they can pass certification.  If your training stalls expect to be sent to my office for private training.”  She made a quick exit from the dining hall and everyone in a maid outfit got right to work cleaning up the place.

Alex tried to share her concerns with people but those in maid outfits didn’t respond hardly at all.  A compulsion to clean drove them.  It was disturbing.

Alex decided that leaving sooner rather than later would be a good idea.  The magical girl collected her dishes, took them to the kitchen then headed out of the dining hall. 

Alex headed down the hallway but footsteps behind her showed that she had attracted a follower.  Alex looked back and wearily said, “May I help you?”

The maid caught up. “Miss Alice, where are you going?”  Her voice sounded slightly cross.

“I’m going to check on my carriage.  I want to make sure everything is okay.” Alex pointed in a direction.

The maid didn’t look amused. “The stables are not that way.”  She pointed in the opposite direction.

Alex tried not to panic. “Sorry, I must be turned around. Miss maid, I didn’t catch your name.”

“Maid will do.” The maid continued. “Won’t you come back and help with cleaning the kitchen and dining hall?  The staff put in hours of work to prepare food and cook it.  The least you could do was help clean up.”

“I wasn’t trying to be rude.  Please don’t misunderstand.”  Alex turned around and prepared to head in the direction the maid said led to the stables.

“Won’t you come back and help?  Many hands make work light.” The maid took a step back towards the dining hall, then glanced back to see if Alex would follow.  “This manor has a storied past.  The dishes have a storied history.  They have been used by many generations of nobility.  It is important to treat them, like all of our mistress’s property, with the appropriate care and respect.”

“Look, I am not trying to be disrespectful of this home.  I just want to check on my wares.” Alex headed in the opposite direction the maid tried to lead her.

Sadly, the maid followed and kept talking. “This too could be seen as a slight against Lady Yvne.  Alice, you have a lot to learn about etiquette.”

After having to ask the maid for directions when taking a few wrong turns they made it outside and crossed the garden to the stables.  The short trip was awkward.  Alex expected the maid to bar her bath, or grab her and drag her back to help with the housework but she only made subtle jabs and hinted that Alex’s actions were disagreeable. 

Alex inspected the carriage.  It was parked right where she left it.  “I see everything is how we left it.”  Even Fufi was left on top of the bench seat.  Alex cursed under her breath, she'd have been stuck there all this time.  The key looked to be completely wound down.  Alex climbed up onto the bench and wound up the clockwork armor that Fufi was encased in.  She started ticking again.

“Is it not alright to leave that wood golem thing outside?”  The maid answered.  

Fufi and Alex came down for the carriage. “It is alright for short periods of time.  But as you can see, the weather hasn’t been great.  The toy is mostly wood so it is better if it stays out of the elements most of the time to keep it clean.”  None of the demon butlers were hanging around which was a relief.

Fufi made her way to the part of the carriage that had food and water stored in it.  She didn’t say anything.  It was weird not having Fufi talking.  She normally was so talkative but was taking this infiltration mission seriously.

“What kind of bird is that large toy supposed to be?” The maid asked.

“It is a goose.” Alex kept with the story that the Fufi armor wasn’t what it actually was.

“Have you ever seen a goose before?  The beak is all wrong.” She pointed at Fufi.  “The legs are way too long.  It looks more like an accursed fowl that is banned from the kingdom than a goose.”

“Maybe it is a herron?” Alex mentioned the first long-legged bird that came to her mind.  Apparently flamingo was a bad word in this land.

The maid crossed her arms and cast Alex a disapproving look. “Miss Alice, do you possess any familiarity with the appearance of geese or herons? I am beginning to suspect that your knowledge of avian species is deficient.”

“I’ve spent a lot of time traveling around.  What is with this accursed fowl anyway?” Alex sounded defensive.

“It is one of the laws dating back to when the kingdom became a vassal state.  The demon forces would not use deadly force for those that submitted to their rule.  The king back then agreed and only a token force of the army came to our lands.  One of the new rules that is enforced by the king’s laws is that flamingos cannot reside on land claimed by the king or his vassals.  Any that try to infiltrate our lands to prey on children are buffeted away by the king's barrier.  The demons hate the accursed fowl so you are lucky that they didn’t take your toy and throw it in the pyre where the fire cultivators like to gather around.” The maid’s tone sounded like she was explaining something that should be common knowledge. 

“If you find my creations offensive maybe I should leave tonight.” Alex huffed.

“The gates are closed at night, and magic seals the walls around the compound.  Heading out at night is impossible. Now if you are satisfied here let's return inside.” The maid held out a hand, but then retracted it.  Was she thinking of pulling Alex along like a child who had run off?

Alex could take a hint.  Most humans were stronger than her.  If the maid hinted at the possibility that she could drag her back inside like a mom would a child then it would very likely be the case.  Alex was only level 2 afterall.

The maid led Alex back into the mansion.  He followed her into the servants quarters. She opened the door that led to a small room with a pair of bunk beds.  Zeke was in one of the beds, still in the maid dress.

“Anyway, I’m sure they’ve cleaned the kitchen and dining room by now so with the sun going down it is time to get to bed.  Make sure to make your bed when you wake up in the morning.”  The maid gave a curtsey and exited, shutting the door behind her.

“Thank you, we’ll do our best.” Zeke answered automatically.

“Oh, hi Zeke, how was cleaning the dining hall and kitchen?” Alex asked, trying to spark conversation.

Zeke rolled over on the bed and faced her. “It went really quickly.  We had the place white glove clean in less than an hour and all the dishes scrubbed and put away shortly after that.”

Zeke looked a little different somehow.  His features seem softer. His hair looked a bit longer.  His voice sounded a bit less deep.

“How are you doing?  I’m surprised that you are still wearing that dress.  If you are going to bed maybe you should take it off and change into your old clothes?” Alex suggested.

“Hmm, I tried to but I couldn’t get out of this thing.  You know, women’s clothing is sometimes complicated.” Zeke chuckled, but sounded slightly worried.

“Maybe it unties from the back?  If you get up I can try to get the laces undone. I may have some experience in that department” Alex made a gesture encouraging Zeke to stand.

Zeke stood up from the small bed and turned his back to Alex.“You are welcome to try.  I was able to slide it on but the maids adjusted a few things to make it more presentable but I don’t think that could make much of a difference.  I don’t want to tear the mistress's clothing that she gave me by trying too hard.”

Alex gave the outfit a bit of a dumbfounded look.  “I don’t see any complicated laces in the back.  It looks like the apron keeps things snug.”  Alex tried to undo the bow for the apron but it wouldn’t budge.  “Wow this thing is a lot tighter than it looks.”  Alex pulled as hard as she dared.  The bow should just come right out but it was acting like it was glued or pinned into place.  “Weird.”

“What do you think?  Can you get me out of this?” Zeke sounded a little worried.

“No, not without damaging it.  I have some scissors back in my carriage.  They might have some in the compound too if we asked. Did you ask the maids?” Alex walked around to the front of the taller man.

He shook his head. “I brought it up to a couple different maids but I couldn’t get a straight answer out of them.  Most of them said some form of focus on your training and worry about that later.”

Alex didn’t like that at all.  Not wearing the maid outfit turned out to be a good idea even though they treated her like she was paranoid or rude.