Chapter 31

Jessica luxuriated in the bath. It felt soooo good after spending so long in the saddle behind a sweaty teenage boy. Not that Tom’s body odor was particularly strong, especially not compared to Sevin’s, but the fact that she had ranked the body odor of her companions was sufficient proof to her that she was no longer operating by Earth’s standards.

She reflected over her life after death. It was certainly not what she’d imagined the afterlife to be like; she’d always thought Isekai stories were kind of dumb. She loved fantasy, however, and while she’d never been completely convinced by the portal fantasy trope, she’d been willing to eat an earthbound origin story or two in order to get into the worldbuilding and adventure.

Now, she wondered if maybe there wasn’t more to it. If people from Earth were being isekai’d to Welsius, was it possible that people from Welsius sometimes ended up on Earth? For that matter, were there other worlds out there connected to the two she knew about? Was multiverse theory real?

She didn’t think about it too hard. Mostly, she just soaked herself until the water went cold, then she heated it back up with a careful application of her magic. That would never get old, she thought to herself. And this time she didn’t have to hurry so that the boys wouldn’t come looking for her.

After quite some time, a maid knocked at the door.

“Mistress? Did you fall asleep?” she asked.

Jessica sat up, glancing at the window, wondering how long she had been in the tub. “No, I was just enjoying the bath.”

“In that case, would you like me to fetch some hot water?”

“That’s not necessary, I can heat it with magic,” Jessica answered. “In fact, if you’re going to be my handmaiden, you should probably be aware that you don’t have to fetch hot water for me pretty much ever.”

“That sounds like a very convenient spell, mistress. One I wouldn’t mind having myself. May I come in and wash your back?”

Jessica considered, then shrugged. She wasn’t that modest, after all, and so she agreed.

The maid was a few years older than Jessica, with blond hair and green eyes. She introduced herself as Jill.

“Would you truly take me on as your handmaiden?” Jill asked.

Jessica wondered if she had overstepped. “I didn’t mean to assume anything. I’m not certain if you were told, but I’m from another world, and things are very different over there.”

“Another world? I see,” Jill said. “I did not know that. May I ask what your Class is?”

“It’s Heroine.”

“In that case it would be a great honor to serve as your handmaiden,” Jill said, her voice showing some excitement. “If the position was offered in earnest, then I would be happy to accept.”

Jessica sighed as the woman began scrubbing her back. “Would you have accepted if my class was ‘accountant’ or something mundane like that?”

“Most likely,” Jill admitted. “I might have been slightly disappointed, but it would likely still have been a step up for me, and I wouldn’t have let my feelings show.”

“I’m curious as to how the social dynamics work here,” Jessica admitted. “How exactly did you become a maid?”

“I am a Commoner, like most honest folk,” Jill explained. “Not that Class holders are dishonest necessarily. Except for Criminals, most of them are just Commoners specialized enough to have their trade recognized by the system. My subclass is maid, as you might have inferred. As for how I obtained it; my parents were in the service industry, and as a Child I grew up in a Noble’s estate running errands. I was fortunate enough that my experience as a Child triggered the Subclass as soon as the System recognized me as an adult.”

“Would you be unemployable as a maid if it had not?” Jessica asked.

“Heavens no, but the pay is much better if you have the subclass for it,” Jill answered.

“I suppose I’ll be responsible for paying you if I’m to be your employer then,” Jessica said. “What is your wage?”

“Eight Marks a month,” Jill answered immediately. Jessica about sputtered at the news. “It’s the industry standard for a maid of my experience, I assure you. You can ask anyone.”

“I believe you, Jill,” Jessica said. “It’s just, well, I only have forty-three Marks to my name at the moment. I’m not certain that I can afford you.”

“Oh,” Jill said. “Well, I understand. Even if you can’t afford my services, I’ll remain employed by the new young master’s estate, and I’ll be happy to serve you while you stay with him.”

“That’s a relief,” Jessica admitted.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“You’ll be only one of my many duties, however, so I won’t be as diligent as if you were my employer,” Jill continued.

“I think I’ll manage,” Jessica admitted. “The truth is that it’s somewhat of a relief to be able to dress and bathe myself again now that I’m in this world.”

“You couldn’t before?”

“For most of my life I managed fine. But towards the end, I got extremely weak. Jill … I died on Earth, before Tom summoned me to this world. Of a horrible disease. I think you’d call it blood poisoning, or something like that.”

“That’s horrible!” Jill said. “I’m truly sorry you went through that, Mistress.”

“It’s okay. It was nobody’s fault, after all. Just bad luck with the genetic lottery. Anyway, dying young wasn’t a surprise, it was waking up in a Dungeon afterwards that caught me off guard,” Jessica admitted.

“I can imagine,” Jill said. “What class were you in your old world, if it’s okay for me to ask?”

“We didn’t have a system to assign me one,” Jessica explained. “Well, we were sort of developing something like the system, but it was something we made ourselves. We called it the internet. But it didn’t assign people classes, it just helped us communicate with each other. Actually, I take it back. This system is nothing like the internet.”

“Are you certain? It is by the system’s grace that we are speaking right now,” Jill said. “It gives us all the gift of language.”

“Is that so? When I arrived in this world, I suddenly knew how to speak its language, but I still remember English.”

“You are English? Like Peter Robinson?”

“I don’t know who that is. If they spoke like this, however, then they’re from a different country than I,” Jessica said, putting on her best British accent. “We speak the same language, but there’s an ocean between my country and the one where people sound like that.”

“Is that so? I guess I don’t know how Mr. Robinson spoke exactly, he’s been dead for two hundred years. He was a very famous Hero. The most famous one in history until the Vanquisher killed his first Dragon.”

“I see. Well, anyway, I didn’t have the system when I first arrived, but I still spoke the other language. Are you certain it’s the system that grants the common tongue?”

“Oh yes, quite certain,” Jill said. “Children are born unable to speak. They learn to babble when they’re toddlers, but it’s not until they’re presented to the Core Stones that they really learn how to talk. Perhaps that is why people have so many languages in the other worlds; they don’t have Core Stones to unify them.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Jessica agreed. “It does add a degree of convenience to have everyone speaking the same language.”

“I can’t imagine life any other way, to be honest. I am curious as to what another language would sound like however.”

So Jessica spent some time speaking to Jill in English. Eventually she got out of the bath and allowed the maid to help her dress. While she preferred pants, the outfit that had been selected for her was a beautiful scarlet evening dress, and she deigned to wear it for her audience with the king.

~~~~~~

Sevin bathed as the opportunity presented itself. Jessica’s comment about his body odor still bothered him and he wasn’t certain why. Nor was he certain what to do about it. He supposed he could make a habit of bathing every day, but who does that?

Although if he had warm water to bathe with every day, perhaps it wouldn’t be such an unpleasant part of a daily routine, he reflected, soaking until the water went cold. Once it did, he got out and dressed himself in the outfit presented to him. It was not a stylish suit like Tom’s, but rather a more marshal outfit as benefited his class; a blue doublet that was comfortable to move around in and a pair of trousers to match.

Sevin had no valet to help him dress, but when he began wandering around the estate the butler surprised him by sneaking up behind the Warrior and clearing his throat. Fortunately Sevin had not ingrained self-defense to such stimuli to the point that would have been detrimental to the butler’s health, instead he simply stumbled forward as he jerked in surprise.

“If you have finished with your ablutions, Sir Wells,” the butler said, “would you please come with me? I am instructed to keep you entertained until the others are ready to dine for the evening. Do you enjoy reading? Or would you prefer that I find one of the Winged Knights to spar with you?”

Sevin considered for a moment. “I do enjoy reading, but I think I could use the exercise, and the opportunity to spar against someone other than Antoine or Jessica. If you wouldn’t mind arranging it for me, that is. I don’t want to put you out or anything.”

“It would be my pleasure,” the butler said, already eagerly anticipating the sight of one of the veteran knights putting the young Warrior in his place.

~~~~~~~

Antoine finished shaving and examined his face in the mirror. He supposed he looked handsome enough clean shaven, although his appearance wasn’t the reason he’d previously kept up the habit. He simply preferred the way that it felt. It was hard to shave while traveling, however, and so he had let his beard grow over the last several weeks while in the company of the three teens.

Curious that, according to Jessica, the current trends on Earth leaned away from facial hair. Not that it had anything to do with his decision to shave; this had simply been the first chance to be alone with a basin of warm water and a mirror. He could have booked a room in an inn to shave along the way, but it wasn’t worth the time, coin, or effort.

Speaking of effort, he wondered if the last few weeks had been a waste. He had planted the seed, but it might be decades before it blossomed. Or it might whither and wilt before ever approaching maturity.

He sighed and put the shaving kit away before dressing for dinner. As much as he disdained the man that had displaced Marshal from his rightful inheritance, he would have to put on a cordial face for appearances sake. He didn’t want Tom thinking that he was petty over something so trivial as that.

He hated Ferdy for other reasons as well. None as significant as the roll in the snub that had been dealt Marshal, which had indirectly led to the man’s death. He couldn’t deny that was what had gotten the ball of animosity rolling, however, and the other matters were small individually. It was the sum of the parts which kept Antoine’s anger towards the king burning brightly.

It had been a long time since Antoine had tied a tie. He paused and, as he always did when such an ornament was required, he spent a moment to think of the man who had taught him to do so. Marshal, too, had dreamed of raising a new kingdom.

Perhaps Antoine could convince Tom to make the dream come true.