“Everything is ready Raja, you can have your evening like you dreamt of.”
“Thank you Seria, I never thought it would be possible for me to ever have a chance to do this.”
“You seem nervous, don’t be, you will be fine~”
While Drak was still underway with Celia, Seria and Alice were working on encouraging Raja to her special evening. For her the other three had worked extra hard, as she had always wished for something, she would normally never be able to do otherwise. A chance for her dream was finally there and all of them worked hard to not only support her but to encourage her to really go through with it.
“Are you sure, I should wear such a beautiful thing? I feel out of place.”
“This will be sent to the location. Of course you can first travel with our Master through the City in your regular Maid clothes.”
“Even our Maid clothes are over the top. The seams are made by hand and embroidered with magical gold thread to make it repair itself. There is even an engraving of heat regulation for Summer and winter to make it comfortable enough in a Snowstorm or a Desert.”
“Yes, Master did a ridiculous thing and reinforced the circles before giving them to us~”
“I felt it too you two. It is like he embraces us always. Be happy and don’t reject it.”
“You can talk big, we never wore such beautiful fabrics unlike you, Seria~”
“I agree with Alice.”
“As Maids we have a duty to be presentable for the honor of our Master.”
“...I also agree with your opinion, Seria.”
—
In the Evening Drak and Raja were walking through the Merchant district and looked at engravings of special magical properties. Those engravings were meticulous and either be used as an object for studying or for enchanting different magical resources. The differences are rather easy to find, as learning engravings were simple while the enchantment ones were harder to decipher.
“Welcome, what do you need, esteemed sir?”
A rather scrawny guy with two protruding teeth asked in an enthusiastic manner.
“My Master and I are here for special engraving plates to secure a recently bought carriage. The engravings we need should be at least half efficient and subject to overcharge in an emergency.”
Close to no Magic is fully efficient and can only hold onto its power in special degrees. Engravings are even worse, as they use natural occurring patterns in Nature to force Magic into an effect. If used this way the efficiency is always lower but can be used by anyone or anything that has the capabilities of channeling Magic into the engravings. A half efficient engraving is in the higher tier engravings, for the highest percent ever being done was 82 percent by an engraver as his magnum opus to prove his superiority. The engraving itself was although just an engraving for a lumination spell, which in itself is one of the lowest Magic possible and made for only bragging rights. The used materials for making the engravings and even the materials it was engraved to were rather expensive and meticulously chosen.
“With half efficiency? This will be possible, but also needs good materials to be engraved onto.”
Engravings are first etched on a magical source paper. This Paper holds the engraving and will be transferred by loading this magical paper until it burns away. The ‘ink’ itself holds the Magic better and etches the outlines into the materials below the paper while vaporizing. In a sense a magical ‘circuit’ gets etched into the materials below the surface, which enables the Magic to freely flow into a pattern. The better the materials the more precise the etching. Afterwards it can be reinforced with other magical ingredients to make them more efficient, but if the precise etchings are not up to par no amount of precious materials will improve the results.
“Here are some warding examples we have. As you can see the thickness of the lines vary to improve the flow in crucial parts without neglecting the overall flow.”
Scrutinizing the wards, Drak and Raja were immersed in the lines for a while.
‘Just what are you two messing around? This ward is not only highly complex, it is also protected from being copied.’
By using not visible magical ink some lines can be hidden while with normal ink wrong lines can be made for tricking someone who wants to copy their own products. Magical copy Protection.
“This one makes no sense…”
“Normal ink, the original is below that ink Master. The use of different kinds of conduits makes it a bit more unstable, but only a few percent. It should still be around sixty percent quality if used with Materials Celia brought back as samples.”
‘They understand that complicated maze of lines?!’
"...Acceptable. Our Master needs wards against intrusion, surveillance, magical attacks and heavy kinetic forces. Also a few augmentations to improve…”
As Raja called down the list of engravings, the clerk quickly wrote down the requests while noticing how he had caught a big fish.
‘One platinum… No two and a half Platinum should be the full price, my Bonus this week will make me finally able to propose to Illiana!’
—
“Master, please have a nice time!”
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Have fun~”
“Please board the Carriage, Korn knows where to drive to, Raja is waiting. It would be bad to let her wait too long.”
“I still do not understand why… whatever, I will know what is going on when I am where you all are guiding me to.”
Entering the Carriage, Drak sat down. He was wearing his school uniform and wondered why they helped him to make sure he is well groomed. As he knew his maids, he was less worried, but had more questions.
After a long drive the Carriage stopped in the entertainment District in front of a small Venue for lower Nobles to rent. When Korn opened the door Drak was wondering what was going on, but just went with the flow and entered the door into the small ballroom.
Entering the venue the cheap magical orchestra started to play a melody and in the middle of the room Raja in an azure dress was standing nervously looking in Drak’s direction. Drak had never seen Raja in a dress other than a Maid outfit before and she was fidgeting like crazy.
Understanding what is going on, Drak was getting slightly red, but used all his courage for the walk to Raja holding out a hand.
“Beautiful Lady, may I be graced with a dance?”
While Raja was getting even more red as she already was, she slightly nodded and took the outstretched hand of Drak. Slowly starting to dance, both of them were quiet for a while. As the embarrassment of Raja was fading a genuine smile was stretching over her face. She always dreamed of dancing in a romantic ambience. The other Maids sometimes caught her dancing with herself and practicing different dances the Nobility were adept in. Hidden between different Books in her shelf was a rather well used book about Dances and Etiquette. For her, who was being outward rather stoic and curt, she has behind all those scars and hard shell a tender maiden heart, which wants to be spoiled and tended to.
Dancing like a Princess in one of her Novels she sometimes read made her heart flutter and feel surreal. Side step, back step, front step, spin; all of it was trained in secret, but thought to be of no use forever, but now she felt more alive than ever.
The next song and the next, she danced like her heart wanted for so long and had the time of her life.
Even the spies watching in the hidden outlooks were forgotten by Raja, as she was for one time neither a Maid nor a Servant but a Maiden dancing in her own small World. A World with one more Person in right now.
Looking at Drak she smiled before getting a bit sad. Seeing her mood changing Drak took her closer and silently cast a noise ward to be not overheard if she wants to talk. Raja appreciated his caring demeanor and held on him tight while still dancing in a slow pace.
“Master-”
“Right now I am just Drak. Call me that, just for a while, okay?”
“Mas… M… Drak… It is hard to call you that, but it is also nice, I feel somewhat strange.”
“What is it dear Raja?”
“Oh my, ‘dear’? Please stop, I'm getting weak knees…”
A small silence was falling between the two before Raja got her courage together.
“Thank you, for all you do for us. Without you I would be dead and even if there is a heaven or other Elysium after death, it could not be better than how I am feeling right now.”
Drak was silently listening to her. Albeit young, he knew how needed it can be to just say what is sitting on the heart of someone. He often talked with his Maids about everything he had sorrows about and this he does sometimes multiple times a week while lying in bed.
“Mast… I mean Drak, can I ask you honestly about something?”
“What do you want to know?”
“I just want to really know the truth. Am… Am I ugly?”
“No, you are not.”
“Master-”
“Just Drak.”
“Drak, are you really truthful? People often look at me and they… they recoil. I often ask you about it, but I really… Really want to know: Am I ugly?”
“Raja, the thing they are recoiling is because they first don’t know you and second about how much pain those scars must have caused you. You are beautiful, not only on the inside, but the outside too. I like your hair, your smooth white skin, your eye color, both of them, your voice, your steadfastness, your tea, the side of you that is strong and also the side of you which is in front of me right now. You are Raja not only I but also the Maids and the rest of our Family adores and loves. I am glad you are with us and happy to be near you daily. There is nothing on you that I would find ugly, as everything on you is lovable and pretty in their own specific way.”
Hearing this, Raja's eyes got moist. She always knew he would never say she was ugly, but always feared he just said it without meaning it. But right now she understood he not only meant it, but was sure of it with all his heart and body. Holding close to him she was shivering out of the tumultuous feelings inside her. Drak held onto her as long as he had to, he knew her more than most and also knew she had this complex of her looks but never wanted to change it nevertheless.
Time passed and her shivers got less and less while they slowly danced to the silent melody of the self playing instruments. Time flew and while in their own world more than an hour passed just silently dancing. At one of the last songs finally Raja said something again.
“Drak?”
“Yes Raja? … Mmm!”
The answer Drak got was a kiss from Raja, long and tender. While Drak was shocked at first, he stopped caring and held onto her after a while. Both were not practiced in the art of kissing so it was somewhat awkward, but sweet in their own way. A while later Raja let go of his lips and took a deep breath.
“Drak, I love you. We all love you. All four of us already lost our hearts to you. Just talking about it my own heart is beating like a drum, but if I confess not today, I would regret it my whole life. You are still young and are a Noble, so our love will never be returned, so we will always watch over you and help you in any way y… Mmmm!”
A return kiss was made by Drak. While he was still dazed by the confession, he could not bear to hear he could not respond to their hearts. In his mind he never took his Nobility any heed and just because he is only twelve does not mean he can’t grow up. Some Noble kids were in danger to be engaged at eight years and wed at fourteen. What is being in love at twelve and waiting until the end of School to marry one of the four most dear People he had by his side in comparison?
“Raja I love you too. The problem is, I love Celia, Seria and Alice equally like you and can not decide right now, as I fear to hurt the other three by doing so. My Nobility is only a tool for me and nothing else and you all are worth more to me than any girl with some kind of peerage. Can you wait for me to understand who I should marry? It might be hard, but I am suffering too. I had long thought of one of you being my wife.”
Raja’s face was now completely red and she understood how Drak was already thinking of marrying one of them while they were still thinking he would not understand their feelings. Somehow she felt silly, as he is already twelve and might have his own thoughts not of them as only friends but as Women. To hide her embarrassment a little bit she clung back to Drak and danced to the last dance with him in silence for a while.
“Silly Master.”
“I might be silly, but if you say your feelings I have to response, don’t I?”
Drak felt Raja nod while dancing. Under her breath she said silently:
“Polygamy is legal under Nobles, silly.”
“Eh, did you say something Raja?”
“Nothing…”