Chapter Thirty-Two

With a grunt, Harmony sawed off the hardened vine looped around her leg

“Greh, greh, greh.”

“Laugh it up, it isn’t like you haven’t gotten tangled a time or two.”

The vinestrictors were tricky. They either lay traps along the path to drag you deeper into the woods, like their first encounter. Or they waited along the side waiting to ambush you with multiple vines at once as you got close.

Hyacinth, being deceptively fast, had gotten good at sniping any of the trap vines before he got dragged too far with his spurs. For all his initial protests, he seemed to like the custom weapons, but Harmony could not get that out of him.

The last battle had been two vinestrictors and a twiggy waiting in ambush along the path. Unlike wooze, they did not work together. This made battles unpredictable but allowed for them to get tangled up in convenient ways, or in this case, inconvenient, as she’d found herself tugged in opposite directions only saved by Night's sturdiness.

The whole experience made the saying of feeling like you've been beaten by a stick completely accurate. Per the guides, they'd made it about two-thirds of the way deep into the second floor.

Popping a healing potion, she downed about half of it and moved towards Hyacinth who scooted away.

“Come on. You have as many bruises as I do. You just can't see under your shadowy exterior.”

“Bleck!”

“I'm sorry it doesn't come in dirty alley cat flavor. Now take your medicine.”

Harmony liked the fruity sweet taste. Mr all-raw-carnivore would rather suffer with his bruises. Which was a pain because she could feel them too through [Familiar Bond].

“Don't make me wrestle you.”

Reluctantly he opened up. But it didn't stop him from making a show of hacking and coughing after she dumped the rest into him.

The itch to finish the dirty job of clearing the floor was there, but one didn’t do all the spring cleaning in a day. As for this last battle, if Hyancith had been there a few moments later, [Stride] had been calling to be used. The feeling was there, but also was that it would cost her because she was restrained. [Final Silence] with all its help was now level five. That hurt like it had been stretched in a growth spurt, pain from when she leveled a skill too quickly.

“Groak?”

“Yeah, time to head back.” She placed his hand on him.

The dungeon only allowed short jumps, but it was safer than running. What’s missing to push further? [Recall] replayed the struggles.

Five bodyguards now greeted her upon return. The little boy group from the guild with one extra from the city guard, a girl, with blond hair chopped short in a way that showed no respect for styling it, wearing leathers marked by a badge representing the city guard, her short sword at her side. “Suze, at your service, Lady White. Botty is reviewing the guestlist with your knight making sure there will be no threats there.”

“Honored. I’m sure Ma Bell appreciates the extra eyes on her guests.” Harmony replied dryly.

“Anything to keep you safe,” Suze responded, oblivious to the hint that it might annoy their host.

At what point would she become too much trouble for the master innkeeper, and need to move locations? Shouldn’t doubt Ambrosia that much. Helping entertain guests nearly every night might be a tad onerous, but it was doubtful her maid hadn’t made sure there was some guarantee of lodging for this stay.

“I’m going to freshen myself in my room before heading down to dinner.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Hyacinth had already blipped away to nap in his pillows at the stables. Gone were the days she could cuddle up with him to calm down. Her little lap toad, or even big lap toad, this large pony toad was hard to hold. At least tonight there was enough time she could wear a dress rather than Night to dinner.

Head full of dress options, [Poise and Bearing] wasn’t ready when she opened her door to seven people standing in her room. “What in the broken bones is this?!” She blurted out.

Five strangers straightened their spines, eyes ahead in an orderly line while Bates and Ambrosia waited. The strangers had servant uniforms as well, some not quite fitting right. [Beautician] was already critiquing how some of them fit. And the maid in her saw that even the ones that fit were not an exact fit for the person in them like it was their first time in uniform. As for the strangers, [Recall] made them less strange.

The mechanical spider sitting on the skinny girl's shoulder as she uncomfortably wore a maid's uniform was as memorable as the red bowtie Hyacinth had long ago grown too big for attached to it. Clearly Ambrosia’s idea of a joke. The tall duelist she’d tenderized was at the end of the row, impossibly trying to look smaller while worry flashed on his face. All the most desirable applicants from last night stood at attention in front of Bates, in a way she had not too long ago.

[Poise and Bearing] now worked overtime as Harmony kept her face calm.

Bates, having ignored her outburst, turned to her with a polite smile. “Lady White, I’d like to introduce you to our newest household staff members.”

None of this was approved of! What was he thinking? They couldn’t afford this! And why them? “An honor to meet you all again,” Harmony responded instead with a slight tilt of her head rather than exploding.

“The gift of their paid work contracts came as a bit of a surprise. However, the temples have unique methods of recompensing people for slights and harm. The fruit from this season’s Harvest of Talents. All of them are excited to serve and advance under your household.” Bates answered those unasked questions.

“You have your assignments. Dismissed.” Ambrosia followed up towards this new group.

The new staff efficiently left. The duelist was perhaps a bit quicker than the others.

As the door shut. “I always wanted to say that.” Ambrosia cackled.

Harmony waited a few more seconds before she unleashed herself. “What in the forbidden fates is that?”

“We needed more staff, Lady White. Their contracts are paid in full for three years.” Bates responded stiffly.

“You can drop the Lady White, Bates. What’s going on.”

Bates let his formality slide some. Harmony only noticed because she knew him. “We do need more staff. Ambrosia and I work harder than we should. And you won’t stop. I know it was “skill” training, but you were on your hands and knees fixing the floor of the Hazeldown manor. They might not all be servant professions, but if anyone is going to respect differing skills to roles, it will be you.”

“Where will we keep them?”

“Servant housing above the stables has already been arranged. I’d discussed the possibility of having us recruit new staff when I made this arrangement.” Ambrosia answered for him.

“Didn’t they all want to be priests or some such. They can’t be happy to be demoted.” Harmony ranted.

“I see how you often pretend you are still just Harmony White, maid. But you’re not. As much as the other aristocracy has been doing best to ignore you. You’re a rising star and they want to be here. Much like Sir Maxwell could have been, most of them weren’t at the Harvest of Talents for any religious reason, but instead for the opportunities that they could have earned. We could also use any sign that the temples support you.”

Bates knew his job better than she knew the role of being a lady. None of this had been expected. Worse was that part of her, the part she’d acquired that day on the Colosseum, was happy and satisfied by this in a way that felt stabilizing yet alien. It felt more right than when she’d curtsy deeply and acquiesced to a request at Coodly Manor as a plain maid. [Recall] made it hard to lie to yourself. “Fine. This is all approved. Handle staff as you see best, Bates. You have my utmost confidence.”

“Ha! I told you she wouldn’t put up that much of a fight.” Ambrosia crowd.

Harmony sighed heavily towards her friend. “Any news about Adric?”

“Nothing yet. I’m assuming you have some plans if you don’t hear from him or the royals as a whole.”

“Of course.” Harmony lied but caught Ambrosia's slight twitch revealing she hadn’t fooled her friend. “Adric is a big boy. Now he knows I didn’t get his messages and want access to him. He'll get it sorted out. More pressing is that I’m still struggling on the second floor of Nae’s Garden. We’ll need to look for skill stones I might be able to use to improve there.”

They both nodded seriously. Advance or the consequences would be unpleasant, possibly lethal. Conventional wisdom was to take your time, even Harmony had to fight that long-taught belief, despite evolved tourists making a mockery of that fact with their visits.

“I’ll lean on our connections, and get a list of options available with our funds.“ Bates answered.

“Avoid Lord Tyler?” Ambrosia asked.

Harmony nodded, “Lady Coodly too. I fear she feels I can be the one to put him back on the proper path. I’d rather not send them the wrong message, or get indebted to them at this point. Life is complicated enough as it is.”