“The baroness is really cruel.  We should get you out of here as soon as possible.” Alex told Zeke.

 

Zeke sadly slumped. “I wish things were that easy. My parents were really sad when I got summoned to the manor.  Nobody wants to work here from the villagers. But when the lady calls we have no choice but to come.”

 

“Why not?” Alex said sharply.  “There has to be better opportunities elsewhere.  Stuff may not be great here but do you not have hope for a better life?”

 

“Those of us that work the land need to have a noble to boost our skills.  Maybe in our grandparents time setting off to farmstead outside a kingdom’s borders was a possibility but not anymore.  With the wastelands surrounding the town the only places we can farm or ranch are those that are boosted by a noble’s skills. You’ve traveled the roads, what are they like?”

 

Alex gave an honest answer. “Around here there is wasteland as far as the eye can see.  To the north it turns to miles of swampland.  To the east and south there is a river but from what people in town said it is not safe to use it anymore.  But does it even matter?  Having some hope of freedom, would that be worth taking the risk?”

 

“You have high ideals Alice.  Most of us would have to settle for goals like food and shelter,” Zeke looked sad. “Besides, all of us that were summoned by the baroness have family.  Even if we ran away, that would just shift to punishment on our loved ones.”

 

“Does no one ever ask the gods for classes that would let them fight back?”  Alex asked.

 

Zeke took a deep breath.“You sure have a lot of basic questions.  Anyway, taking combat classes requires two things.  First, you have to find a god that’ll grant you one.  Asking for something too big will just leave that person classless for another year. Many of the old gods are banned because they are enemies of the demons. And secondly, they have to be registered in the adventurer’s guild or similar organization. But the rules for humans with combat classes are very strict.  First, they can’t be unsupervised.  A demon party leader has to sponsor them. Nobility can as well but that doesn’t happen in this frontier town.  We don’t have town guards for example.  The fire clan fights whatever is a threat. Lady Yvne’ staff is maids and imp butlers.” Zeke paused. “I don’t think any but those that live in the manor are actually loyal to her.  Loyalty is a strong word. Demons betray one another if they don’t have a common enemy or powerful commander to keep them in line.  The imps come and go a lot.  They are always looking for a quick way to advance their cultivation but the kingdom has less to offer them because the lands are dying.  Some say it is the Hero’s curse. When the demon queen defeated him he unleashed a blight that will consume the whole planet.”

 

Alex knew that was a lie.  The hero gave up his quest to go play house with his girlfriend and ignore the world burning off in the distance. “It sounds like no one has a chance to better themselves.” Alex refrained from commenting about the falsehood of the hero.  It seemed like humanity still decided to blame all their hardship on him even close to a century after his time was gone.  At least Alex assumed the hero had passed on.  The events that lead to humanity’s downfall involved people that should be over a century old today.  The only people Alex had met thus far that old either unnaturally extended their lifespans or were not human.

 

“You okay Alice?  It looks like you zoned out there for a moment.” Zeke commented.

 

“Sorry, I was coming to the conclusion that accepting a night’s hospitality here was a mistake.” Alex sighed.

 

Zeke took this opportunity to sound like someone explaining the world to a child. “Don’t worry about it. You didn’t really have a choice. If you are of a lesser station than lady Yvne declining her wouldn’t be socially acceptable. After all, unless you have a noble class then she is your better.” 

 

Alex scrunched up her face. “Fine, no one has to come with me when I leave.  I’ll politely decline her offer of employment in the interview and be on my way.”

 

Zeke shook his head again. “I don’t think you get it.  We already had the interview and we were all accepted.”

 

The black-haired girl closed one eye, trying to recall if she forgot something while distracted. “I don’t recall any sort of interview at all.  She came in, said basically that anyone can be trained and we are all in.  Was that the interview?”

 

“Yes,” Zeke said. “I think you are getting it.”

 

“Okay, I’ll try this again.  How can I leave without getting in trouble?” The magical girl asked.

 

“I don’t see a way.  Are you a part of a company that has the patronage of another member of the gentry?” The cross-dressing man frowned. “I am assuming not.  Stealing servants from another house is considered bad form. I don’t think she’d claim any of us if she didn’t think she could do so.”

 

Alex thought about Ki.  Was she one of Ki’s attendants?  Even if she was, she planned to keep the Baroness of Beauty’s personal info private.  The letter sent to Ki was safely stashed away in the carriage. “I don’t have a backer like that.”

 

“You could try to run but you are in a worse place to do that than any of us.  Sneaking a carriage out of town will get you swarmed by imps.” Zeke said.  “Those little guys don’t really sleep.  They just sit around trying to increase their cultivation but they can snap to action in an instant.”

 

“Perhaps I could do a really bad job and they’d want me gone?” Alex grasped at straws.

 

“I don’t know if that would work either.  Remember how the mistress prided herself on having a 100% success rate?  Just look at this dress.  Once you have it on, it doesn’t come off until your training is complete.  I’d bet there is more than just words behind that claim,” Zeke said.

 

A bit of a plan was forming in Alex’s head.  She could try to be bad and get exiled.  And if that didn’t work, she could grab Fufi and dash to the river. Aqua said that the water nymphs were spying on the kingdom from there.

 

“I guess I can start by being bad.  The first step is sneaking around at night.” Alex decided.

 

“Are you sure?  Should you get some sleep?  The mistress wouldn’t be happy if you broke something while stumbling around in the dark.  You haven’t even had time to learn the layout of the place.” Zeke sounded concerned. “Are you not tired?”

 

“Yes, I am sleepy but I’m worried that if I fall asleep I’ll wake up in a maid outfit that I can’t get off.  So, I don’t think I’ll get any sleep even if I tried.” Alex stood and walked towards the door.

 

The door slowly opened and Alex peeked outside.  She didn’t see anyone.  The maid that had escorted her had left to do something else.

 

Tip-toe… Tip-toe…

 

Alex skulked down the corridor trying not to make much noise.  She didn’t think she was doing a great job.  The Ax tribe scouts were able to completely surround her and ambush her without her knowing.  She wished that she could have made an outfit or at least found a cobbler in town.  All the famished people made her shopping needs get shoved to the back burner.

 

After rounding a corner Alex came face to face with one of the maids. It might have been the same one, all the maids looked eerily similar.

 

“Miss Alice, what are you stumbling about noisily at night?” She reached for Alex’s arm.

 

Being more alert, Alex activated [dance partner] with the maid.  She surprised herself with the boost of speed that let her twist out of the way. “I’m just exploring.”

 

The maid grabbed at Alex again, more forcefully this time. “You need to go back to your room.  We can’t have you waking mistress.”

 

Alex backpedaled and started running.

 

The maid followed and the chase was on. With [dance partner] going, it became a game of tag.  The maid was ‘it’ and Alex couldn’t let her touch.

 

It took some parkour moves, but Alex ditched the maid.  She had to scramble out a window, run around to the other side of the building.  Make some noise to bait the maid then double back the way she came.  She climbed the staircase to the second floor and opened a door.  The door sparkled a bit and initially resisted being opened but the magical girl was able to get inside.

 

The room looked like a study.  There was a big desk, an executive chair and bookshelves all around the room. After quietly closing the door, Alex glanced at the books and picked out one that seemed suspect.  The book was titled “How to create the perfect maid.”  There were some explanations and some oddly familiar magic circles.

 

“Wait, where have I seen this before?” Alex glared at one of the ominous sigils.

 

A lightbulb clicked on in the brown-eyed girl’s head. “These are like the ones in the temple.  Does that mean they are using demonic magic?”

 

The door creaked.

 

Alex jumped in surprise.  Thumbing through one book looked like that was all the time she had.  The magical girl looked around for an escape route.  The window was latched and they were on the second floor.  With [dance partner], she could maybe do a couple jumps down the side of the building but she wasn’t sure.  Her hesitation cost her though.

 

A maid opened the door and held it respectfully.  Lady Ynve stepped in, wearing a fancy white nightgown.  Another maid came in behind her.  Both maids took position beside and slightly behind her.

 

One of the maids held up a candle that shined brighter than any candle had a right to.  The other maid held her hands in front of her, looking poised.

 

“Looks like we caught the child with her hand in the cookie jar. Whatever am I to do?” Lady Yvne looked both amused and annoyed.

 

“I don’t think I’m cut out for this maid business.  The training looks to be slightly demonic.” Alex did look like a kid who had been caught stealing cookies.  She quickly put the book down on the desk, title down.

 

“No, but that’ll have to be fixed.  Please help Alice get dressed for her new occupation.” The lady snapped her fingers and both maids jumped in unison.

 

Alex used [dance partner] to repeat the effect from earlier but it didn’t work so well.  The other maid grabbed her arm.

 

Switching the dance partner to the other maid, Alex snaked around and flipped upside down freeing the grip.  She knocked some books off the shelf by using it as a foothold to get free.  However, she wasn’t able to keep the first maid from grabbing her leg out of the air.  This went on for a little bit before the baroness had enough.

 

“I hate doing this because it costs more to do it this way but you leave me no choice.” The baroness's eyes glowed with demonic power.

 

Alex’s phone vibrated in her skirt.  ‘Not now’ she thought.

 

The night-gowned noble focused harder and Alex’s body stiffened.  The demonic light left the woman’s eyes.

 

“You don’t have to do this.  She isn’t even a citizen of this country.  Just let her go.”  Yvne sounded like a completely different person.

 

Alex tried to say, ‘what?’ but to her shock, she couldn’t talk.

 

“Please be quiet Yvne.  This one is very hard to possess.  Maid, get me a dress to change into.”

 

Alex tried to struggle but couldn’t.  Someone was puppeting her body.  It felt extremely violating.

 

One of the maids curtsied and left.

 

“Please, you have me and those that are my people.  Is that not enough? She may not have any connections to the noble class but won’t taking merchants and forcing them into service only isolate the barony more?  So few traders come these days.” Lady Yvne pleaded Alex’s case to Alex.  This role reversal felt incredibly jarring.

 

Alex’s voice answered though she didn’t want the words that came out.  “You know as well as your predecessors that humans have to suffer.  This one clearly hasn’t been suffering enough.  Besides, offering an outsider up saves your people.  You should be happy that this opportunity came to protect them.  Or would you rather we take another from the village and let this one go?”

 

Yvne looked pained and couldn’t answer immediately.

 

Delaying her answer further, the other maid entered with a dress.  

 

The demon possessing Alex forced her to raise her arms up and the two maids quickly disrobed her.  In a practiced motion, they had her dressed in a black maid outfit with a headdress and a white frilly apron.  The slipped white stockings up Alex’s legs and tied black laced shoes to her feet.  Alex felt power leave her and Yvne’s eyes started glowing that demonic aura again.

 

Yvne regained her composure and addressed Alex.  “Alice, time for you to go back to your room and get some sleep.”

 

“Yes mistress.”  Alex said in a deadpan voice.  The words came out on their own. Alex headed back to the room and laid down, falling asleep.  

 

Zeke said something to Alex but it didn’t register.

 

The first thing Alex did when she woke up was reach for her phone.  She expected it to be gone, left in the pocket of the other skirt but it stayed with her somehow.

 

There were some notifications waiting:

 

[Possession resisted]

[Possession resistance failed, mental resistance partial success]

[Maid training 1%]

Alex checked the equipment tab and frowned.  The entire outfit was cursed.  Wearing it didn’t instantly turn someone into a perfect maid, but acting like a maid accelerated the process.

 

“Zeke, are you awake?”  Alex looked over at the man from last night.  Had his hair gotten longer?