“Do you think that “Master” is dead?”
The Minotaur Girl looked up and put her hand to her chin. It took a moment, but she answered after thinking about it.
“Probably. He was mean anyway.”
Then she took a large bite out of her sandwich. It was filled with ham, cheese, lettuce, and surrounded by crispy bread with soft insides. The Irregular Dragon’s familiar, Meinstoros, had prepared ingredients in case the maids went hungry and he wasn’t around to feed them.
“Well that’s certainly true.”
The Mid Tier Vampire maid sipped some of her tea. The two maids were taking a break that was far too long to be their regular break or their meal break. They normally did not have much time to eat during their meals before the dragon called for them.
If something out there was strong enough to kill the Irregular Dragon they worked for, then that could mean that they were in trouble as well.
She set her tea cup down on the small plate.
“Do you think that it was that guy and girl from earlier?”
He Minotaur Girl set down her sandwich and thought about it. She was actually getting quite annoyed by the large amount of questions she was being asked.
“I don’t know. I haven’t even been here the longest; you have been here for several years, right?”
“...A couple hundred…”
“Whatever! Why don’t you just go check.”
The Mid Tier Vampire stood up and pushed her seat in. Then, after taking another sip of her tea, she opened the door.
“Ah.”
“So there are maids here!”
The maid who had opened the door slowly closed it. She had almost succeeded when the other person’s hand stopped it and the claws buried themselves in the hard door.
“Don’t try to leave. I need to ask you one thing…”
He tore the door off with a grinding and a ripping sound. When it was thrown to the other side of the hall, both the maids could see him with the green dragon girl tucked under his arm and a beautiful women who practically shined in the darkness behind him.
“Please spare our lives!!!”
The Mid Tier Vampire knew that, if someone other than the four of them came, the dragon was killed. It was obvious by the creepy smile and dark blood on his clothes that he had killed it.
She got down on her knees and put her forehead to the cold, stone floor. The Minotaur Girl just stared at him as she slowly took a bite out of her sandwich.
“Is there a place to let this one rest?”
He gestured to the dragon girl who was still limp in his arms. Both of the maids turned their heads to look at the girl who was snoozing and the Vampire maid shakily stood up.
“T-this way!”
The Vampire started to walk as if she was a robot with none of her limbs bending. She was too scared to do otherwise and believed that, if she didn’t do as he said, she would die.
For Rune, however, he was just planning on putting Rouna down on, preferably, a bed and then he was going to start going through the material in the books. He wasn’t going to absorb them because he was thinking about using some of them for his school.
As for Lilac, she just wanted to get some rest. She hadn’t moved that much in quite a while and wanted to regain some of her energy.
Back in the break room, the Minotaur Girl prayed for the Vampire maid.
“Gods bless you so that you can come back to finish your tea.”
Then she continued to chip away at her sandwich. Surprisingly enough, compared to the amount of food she ate, she didn’t look like she had gained any weight due to many monster people having high metabolisms.
Her short, chestnut colored hair swayed a little bit every time she took a bite. The sandwich tasted pretty good, good enough that she would not even try to help her friend who had managed to find herself in a tricky situation.
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The Vampire maid creaked open the door without saying a word. She was worried that she might misspeak or bite her tongue and that Rune would kill her for doing so, but she still didn’t know his name.
In her mind, she was calling him “Death Incarnate” for, as a Vampire, she could tell about how many deaths a person had caused, give or take a couple. She knew that his death count was through the roof.
At the moment, Rune was yawning because he hadn’t slept in a while. She could see that he had dark bags under and around his eyes. Even scarier, whenever he yawned, she could see her ex-master’s blood stained on his teeth. Even his saliva had partially turned a reddish hue.
Lilac wordlessly followed, making no sounds when she moved. She still held a frown as she wasn’t used to smiling just yet. The Vampire maid found her quite… mysterious.
She knew that she was a goddess, but that was the extent of her knowledge as the dragon had decided not to tell her a great deal many things.
The only one who hadn’t instilled fear into her yet was Rouna. The Green Dragon girl was mumbling some things in her sleep as she smiled stupidly.
She stepped into the room and held the door for them as it was quite heavy. Rune stepped in first followed by Lilac and then the Vampire maid shut the door.
Using her eyes to see in the darkness, she opened up a drawer and took out some flint and steel. Rune watched to make sure that she didn’t try to attack him.
She lit a lantern hanging on the wall and it revealed two beds, drawers, and chairs. Looking back as she started to light the other lantern, She saw Rune set down Rouna and Lilac fell onto the other one.
“I hope you don’t mind your beds being taken.”
She started to wave her hands in the air and practically almost shouted before she got a hold of herself.
“N-not at all!!”
Then there was a long silence. Rune walked over to one of the chairs and sat down to rest. He still kept one eye partially open to see if the maid was doing anything.
However, contrary to what he thought she would do, she whispered a shout of joy. she was happy that the dragon was killed, but was too afraid to do anything to Rune.
Then, just as she finished voicing her joy, Lilac sat up in a bed and looked around to make sure that nothing happened to them. She saw Rune slipping into sleep and she gave him a thumbs up as if to say, “I got this!”
Once Rune saw this, he closed his eyes and drifted into a slumber.
Lilac backed up to lean against the headrest of the bed. She looked over at the Vampire who was fidgeting with her fingers, not knowing what to do. When she realized that Lilac was looking at her, she almost jumped as she was so quiet and looked so stern.
In reality, Lilac was wondering who she was and then started to daydream while looking at her. She was thinking about the outside world and what may have changed while she had been sealed.
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“Um, I… Can I ask a…”
Lilac jolted her head when she realized she was being talked to. She turned her eyes to look at her as the Vampire’s voice trailed off.
“No, go ahead. You can ask your question.”
Still fidgeting while standing against the wall, she spoke in a timid voice.
“Um, if you can allow it… could I, uh, come back with you? I was kind of enslaved here… against my, uh, will. Do you think that, um, you could bring me somewhere other than here? I would also like it, if possible, if you could bring Bel, the Minotaur Girl, somewhere safe as well.”
“I’m sorry.”
Her head tilted downwards as she was filled with sorrow.
“I can’t help you, but I’m sure Rune can.”
Lilac gestured towards Rune as she spoke and as soon as she spoke his name, his eyes popped open.
“Something happen?”
He yawned as he only got less than an hour of sleep. He had actually been sleeping, but since he was so used to sleeping lightly on the journey, he was able to react to a great deal many things.
“Yes, actually, this one… what’s your name?”
“My name is Mir, a Mid Tier Vampire.”
“Mir here wants to leave this place with that other maid, Bel.”
“I-if possible. I understand if you can’t.”
Mir interjected to be more polite and to give him another option.
“... Maids you say?”
“Yes. Both of us are maids. I worked for that bastard for about a century while the other girl has been here for just less than a year.”
Rune pondered on this. He did need some more cleaning people as he was using some of the maids and butlers as cleaning personnel at the school.
And thus, it turned into an interview.
“Do you have any other skills that we should know of?”
She wondered what he meant by “we”, but decided not to question it as this was a once in a lifetime chance to escape this miserable isle.
“I have many talents as both a Mid Tier Vampire and an Assassin. Bel is a Minotaur Girl who, if memory serves correctly, was a Dark Paladin and, before that, a Rogue. I can shapeshift into mist or a bat, use some blood magic, and use multiple assassination skills and techniques. I don’t know about Bel.”
“What things are you looking for outside of this isle.”
Ruen gestured at everything as he used his right arm and waved it a bit.
“Well, if I may, I would like a nice, steady job and, eventually, live in a comfy place. Preferably with a lot of money.”
“I see… And what would you do with said money?”
“Hoard it or use it for entertainment.”
An immediate answer from her without a second thought. It seemed that her actual personality was greedy, but she could put up an act to seem like she wasn’t. To him, though, it didn’t seem like a bad thing, it was just another incentive.
“You’re hired. You and the other girl, Bel was it?”
“Hired? I’m sorry, but what?”
“You don’t have to work as one of my maids, but then you won’t get to live in a comfortable, large mansion, eat three delicious meals a day, and not obtain some gold each month as paym-”
“I’ll do it!”
Money was indeed an incentive.
“Good. You should go get your friend and bring her here so that I can explain what the two of you will be doing so that you can work as soon as possible to earn money and live in my mansion.”
“Yessir!!”
She bowed deeply before rushing to find Bel. She now felt no fear as her hopes were high and her expectations rightfully so. The adjectives Rune used to describe his mansion were quite glamorous and it most certainly was.
After a couple minutes, Mir dragged in Bel who was now eating a pastry that Meinstoros made an hour before he died. She was feeling quite unsure about the things that Mir had told her.
When she was whisked away from the break room, she could hear Mir talking about a mansion, a place to sleep, and money. Mostly about money, but she swore that she could hear her mumble something about good food.
“So, what is this job?”
Rune sat up and placed the tips of his fingers together.
“You will be maids in my mansion. I will provide you both with enough succulent food to fill your stomachs, a nice, warm place to sleep, and enough money to buy just about whatever you wish.”
At the words “succulent food” and “enough money to buy just about whatever you wish”, they started to daydream about life in a luxurious mansion, surrounded by gold and food.
“However, since I will be giving you such things, you must work for me. I believe that, since you have been in a cave for a while, the head maid will teach you how to clean a house. That said, you will not only clean, but defend the house in case of any intruders. I will likely not be there when the attackers enter due to my being the currant Demon King.
We will go back to the Human continent soon, when Rouna wakes from her slumber. Since it seems that it will be a while before she wakes, I will also take a nap. I don’t want you two to fall to fatigue tomorrow.”
Then he closed his eyes and went into a slumber once more. His hands fell to his sides and his chin tilted downwards. It was like watching a puppet’s strings be cut while sitting in a chair.
Lilac looked at him for a moment before sighing. She looked back at the two maids who were still daydreaming about their new lives.
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Rouna slowly opened her eyes. There was only a single source of light coming from a torch lit next to a door. She was roused by both her internal clock and the strange humming.
Her eyes rotated in her sockets to find that Rune was the one humming a strange melody. Rune was busy calculating the pay for the two maids on a piece of parchment with ink. He was actually quite happy to find two more helping hands and was humming an anime song.
Mir and Bel where busy ransacking the kitchen for useful items, but Rouna did not know that they even existed. Lilac was with the two of them, checking to see if they would take something and hide it from the rest of the group as well as making sure that they didn’t kill them.
“Wha?”
Rune straightened his back and turned to look at her. He was using the drawer as one would use a table to write on.
“Oh, you’re up. Let’s go then.”
He rolled up the parchment and placed it into his storage along with the ink and quill. He stood up and Rouna, still rubbing her sleepy eyes, removed herself from the bed.
“Where is Lilac?”
She yawned the second she finished her sentence. She only had to grab her LMG and place it over her shoulder. The strap felt heavy against her shoulder as she hadn’t worn it for about a day and her injuries were only mostly healed. Her body was still weak from the previous conflict.
“She’s making sure that Mir and Bel don’t try to kill us.”
“..Who? Wait, actually, where are we? Did Lilac make another bunker?”
“...She made a bunker?! When?!”
“Um, it was when you were fighting that… dragon. Did you win?”
“Yes. We won.”
He put an emphasis on “we” to say that everyone helped out in one way or another.
“Aside from that, Mir and Bel were the captives of the dragon and they will now work for me as maids. Mir is a Vampire and Bel in a Minotaur Girl.”
“What kind of Vampire?”
“There are different kinds of Vampires?”
Rouna sighed as she realized that he wouldn’t know since he usually focused on the present or future and did not really care for what someone was unless they were trying to kill him.
A beat later, the other three entered the room to find Rouna awake. Lilac squeezed her tightly to see if she was actually alright since it had been a bit of a shock to her when she fell down.
In the beginning, when she first flopped over, she thought she was just doing it because she was tired. It was later found out that, through the help of herself, she collapsed due to immense mental and physical fatigue.
“I am Mir.”
“I am Bel.”
Both of the maids introduced themselves at the same time.
“I am Rouna. Er, nice to meet you.”
Mir extended her hand to which Rouna grasped to complete the handshake.
“It is our pleasure.”
“Now that introductions are out of the way, let us take our leave. I’m really tired and I want to sleep on an actual bed instead of a chair or the dirt.”
“Agreed.”
Lilac nodded in agreement. She had been so used to sleeping in one of the beds she herself made and her back felt a bit discomfortable due to the firmness of the bed she slept on.
Rouna’s scales helped her be more comfortable while sleeping as well as keeping her safe. It was just one of the many upsides of being a Dragon. Actually, the skin-like surface of a Dragon who turned Human was made of tiny scales that were also as squishy as skin, but far more protective.
“Follow me.”
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It took a total of one hour, not a lot of time. All Rune had to do was turn into his White Dragon form, which evolved much more due to him absorbing several pieces of the Blue Irregular Dragon, and fly to the edge of the isle. Then he just had to teleport.
The reason why the isle stayed afloat was due to the surplus of magical energy the Irregular Dragon placed into the ground. It would stay in the clouds for at least several more decades before collapsing into the ground.
When Rune teleport to the school, he was immediately shot by a burst of electricity.
“Grah!!!”
He transformed back into his Demon King form and proceeded to have a spasm on the floor. Rouna, Lilac, Bel, and Mir was had fallen when he transformed and became covered with dirt.
“Ugh, how filthy.”
“Tch!”
“Oh god! I get to finally see the sky!!”
“This is different from the sand and rock…”
The last two were comments made by Bel and Mir due to them being trapped in a cave for so long. Back on the isle, one could not see the skies due to the storms above and the dirt rarely existed in the deserts of Hell’s Gate.
Rune slowly got up after recovering and shot a glare at one of the guards who immediately froze when he realized that he had shot his boss. In his hands, a high tech railgun could be seen. The guard wore some kind of exosuit that was positioned on the arms and legs.
“Your pay is decreased by 5%!!”
Rune shouted at the guard and he hung his head in shame.