Chapter Twenty-Five

Brooding was, of course, practical brooding for Harmony. It was how she handled the class negativity when she got hired, the tides of workplace politics, and Lord Tyler when it became necessary. Thinking about all the things that had gone wrong, are probably going wrong, and might go wrong always made her unhappy. But one had to think about such things to adapt, progress, and survive.

So many of the things she thought about were outside of her control. She dug through her chest to the bottom, fingers brushing past the gym badge and skill stone she'd deposited upon returning to grab her personal progression journal. "Harmony's diary." A few people had mocked her early on until they saw it got no response, but that was back before she proved herself a hard worker and willing to do the distasteful jobs. The matriarch slowly stealing her away to work on their beauty regimens was cutting into that. She feared resentment that would bring the darker times back.

Jessica's hostility was focused on her current relationship with Tyler. She had enough vinegar to stink up any arising problems. Hopefully, Bates would replace the sun priestess soon.

The book didn't have personal snippets about feelings or dreams. But instead, reflections on progressing and leveling. And as much as the maid disliked Thibodeux's narrow vision of skills, she appreciated his data recording, something Carter's Schema ignored because they went with the more flexible approach. She'd devised tests for every skill to measure and record the results. She'd updated them all before the trip to the lodge.

It hurt to know that the measurements would spike due to the quick progression of two new levels, unlocked stats, and skill stones. The record of writing down all the slight differences with every incremental change is now broken. Such sentimentality wouldn't change where she was now.

As for what the necromancer needed to conduct her tests, only one item was required, her book. It was processed enough to resist all of her skills. Trying to see how far she could launch a bit of bone would get it impaled somewhere and potentially hurt someone. Moving a book that her skills had difficulty affecting would hurt no one. The short distance was something she could easily measure. Going from level ten to level twelve in [Manipulate Dead] moved the book twice the length she had managed before the trip, scooting it nearly across the whole room. That was with no synergies and actively not using her new stats.

Now for her stats. After what happened with the dress, she hesitated to use connections. If all she focused on was the existence of the paper once being dead bits of tree and not forcing anything into it, it would probably be fine. The worst that would happen is the book would turn into a pile of black goop, and she'd have to redo the whole thing, but it was that or not get the information.

Focusing on the connection, keeping her focus coordinated with her skill, similar to threading a needle. Eye, hand, tiny hole, and movement. In this case, skill, concept, stat, and with a bit of magic, a push. The book flew forward and crashed into the wall. "Ashes." She cursed.

The clatter drew attention. Fel stepped in. "I know your trip with Tyler was probably awful, but you don't need to go and throw anything. Why don't you hug your frog or something."

Harmony rushed over to her book and picked it up. "Sorry."

"Your diary too. That bad?. Care to divulge?"

The redhead was one of the spigots of the river of gossip. Harmony wouldn't be surprised if she was looking for her just to get the first tidbit of news. Keeping any information private meant that someone like Jessica would spread rumors and innuendo.

"Tyler gave me lovely gifts so I wouldn't shame him in front of his friends. But they were Tyler gifts." They'd see her skills once she revealed them at the morning check-in tomorrow. "A [Small Armor] skill so he could dress me in the armored equivalent of our maid uniforms. Then [High Kick] so I would have to kick up while wearing it."

"And you don't like to flaunt anything. Not that Tyler is particularly circumspect in how he shows interest. If my suitors hadn't helped me fill out my skill spots, I'd certainly be tempted to join him for a gift like that. Good timing, too. I don't think Lady Coodly will let your skills out of her clutches again any time soon."

"I did manage to level twice, but the dungeon run went sideways. I don't think I'll go back for a long time."

"Ha! Finally got your stats. Our Harm, now an adult. Of course, when the lady takes you to the capital, you'll have to evolve before they recognize you there. That's why Jessica is so pissy. The other girls and I should throw you a party."

Harmony knew the party would be more for them than her. "I'd love that." Best to say on their good side.

"We can dress up your frog too. That tie deserves a suit." Fel added, already looking into the clouds in thought.

Harmony opened her mouth to protest that but shut it quickly, remembering Hyacinth's chuckles at her current situation. "Make sure it matches."

Through their bond, she could sense Hyacinth's unease at Harmony's current state of mind, not that she thought he knew exactly what she was thinking.

"Of course. I don't have the [Fashion] skill for no reason."

"So, what did I miss while I was away?"

Harmony let the gossip spigot turn open as she listened to Fel prattle on the staff and the lords, noting the little things that might be useful. The everyday mundaneness of it relaxed her as she let it push aside the other problems she had no control over.

The following day she stood before the head butler, Bates, and displayed her skills. Fel and the rumor mill had ensured that for most of the staff, none of it was much of a surprise.

"[Cold Touch]?" The head butler asked.

The sense of that skill and the final death of everything tickled her mind at the question. "It's good for chilling drinks," Harmony answered.

"Useful." The approval in his voice was strictly job-related. "You'll need your toad for today's task. I've been informed the attic storage will be accessed early this year. "He handed her the attic key.

Nasty things tended to take up residency during the late fall and winter. Spiders, rodents, minor monster spawns, even a young troll one year. Harmony winced involuntarily, not even keeping her poise in check. She'd only been level five that year, and Hyacinth had strained himself to pull her through the shadows to safety. The first time he'd done that particular trick and something he didn't try again until recently.

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"I'll get it done, sir."

"Make sure it's quick. The madam has several social engagements this evening and has requested your skills."

Quick!? The last time it had taken her two whole days to clear out and clean the entire space. Hyacinth poked her through her [Familiar Bond], chastising her lack of confidence. Advancement was tricky that way. Your brain had to catch up with your new abilities.

"I'll handle it."

Bates pounded his cane, and they were dismissed.

"Want me to pull out some work clothes?" Jimmy asked.

Harmony was about to say yes when her brain caught up to her. "I've got it handled this time."

"Meet you there." She told her familiar as he veered off into the shadows. And they were off.

The attic had its own set of stairs. There was a pulley system for the loading and unloading of oversized items from storage, but that required a team. The magical key unlocked the door made to keep the attic secure. Valuables were sometimes kept up there, but mostly to keep people from getting into trouble. The story was that when Bates was young, a house boy took a maid up there for some private time, and both were put out of commission from several scale spider bites.

The open door revealed her shadow toad happily crunching on four scale spiders. She pushed mana into the glow stone by the door. It greedily drank up the magic and started to emit light. She closed the door behind her.

The maid set aside her uniform, remembering the damage to her clothes the first time she swapped them and the discomfort of holding something unacceptable inside herself. She summoned her paired armor. It snapped into place along with the sparkling black dress. The two seemed even more fused, connecting all the separate pieces into a uniform that began with the armored gloves and ended with her armored boots. The inky black material stretched down along the outside of her leg, linking the boots to the shin guards like a specialty garter as a fully connected piece. The redistribution of the slick black material to do that left more skin uncovered along her back. Undampened by the time inside her skill's space, the new creation sparkled even brighter with its motes of light.

"Let's see how good this is as work clothes. Should be more than capable of handling any attic pests." She used her [Analyze] skill on it.

Night

Unique Armor

A rare fusion with luminous properties.

Paired.

The glowing bits weren't much illumination, but in the dim light, it was enough to illuminate a small area around her sufficiently that she didn't feel the need to hunt down and recharge every glow stone in the attic, even if the low ceiling meant she could reach them.

Harmony made a mental note to have someone with more advanced or specific analysis skills check the armor for more information. It was stuck in her soul even if it had no special skills or properties and deserved a closer look. But with all her other problems, that was low on her list of priorities.

“You ready, Hyacinth?”

Before she leveled and gained her stats, the east parlor and Tyler's room were the limits of what synergized [Manipulate Dead] and [Dust] could handle. Memories of the journal slamming into the wall yesterday encouraged a vision of pulling the whole collection down and costing her her job. And now she knew she would be careful not to pull too hard and break some dishes or even something from the young lord's collection.

That attic, she'd been there when they packed it up. She could let loose with minimal repercussions, no worse than any bumbling house boy unpacking and moving items for events or seasonal changes. Everything breakable or valuable sat stored in chests. Retired portraits and seasonal paintings were wrapped in enchanted paper to protect them from rodents, spiders, or other beasties.

Her class and profession senses strained to pick up the layers of Dust, the growing decay, and the hint of death long fragmented. The Connections there, the Synergies between necromancer and maid that might not have been obvious, and the churn of her [Mana Rotation]. She activated that mana skill and felt the rush as the power inside her spun up, contained and supported by her, her stats, and the movement a boost towards maximum effect. With that, her bread and butter of a cleaning skill surged forth with a level of power she'd never felt before.

Chronostasis kicked in. The perception of her beating heart slowed, and still, the bits of debris, Dust, flecks of skin, shed rat hairs, and decayed grains of wood rushed at her faster and from further than she expected. That sped-up mental train went. "Oh shit!” and slowed everything down for her even more.

The ground shook from the sudden movement, and a deep thrum started. The Dust displaced air and pulled at everything. She directed all the loose bits of material to a particular spot, and the first rat appeared. Not running away or towards to attack, but floating, pulled by the dead hair on its back, caught up in the empowered spell. The vicious rodent that low-level workers could hunt for advancement was frozen with an expression of rodent terror.

It wasn't the only larger object caught up in the maelstrom, Scale spiders pulled by their carapace. Larger chunks of wood, a bat. Of course, more rats. Her eyes tracked items as they entered the small area of light she produced. A sheet of paper, a wooden ring, or a napkin holder she directed off to the side. The rest she let hit her focus point with a crunch. And the critters didn't have much time to make a sound. Her heart beat a thing that rang in her head so infrequently that it was noticeable as she managed the mass of incoming materials.

The last bit from the furthest spot hit the condensed pile of dirt, critters, and now compacted chunks of debris, while a collection of items she separated sat off to the side, three books, nearly a hundred sheets of paper, and a small mound of little more than a dozen odds-n-ends that weren't obvious trash. Doing this in Tyler's room would have been a disaster.

The maid's ears popped, her heart beat normal, and the awkward ball of crap sat nearly half her size in front of her like a tightly packed boulder. The boulder started to bleed and ooze a little. As quickly as it began, it was over.

"Eww."

“Gryup.” Hyacinth commentated.

"I'll need to break it up to move it later. Let's check out the damage and see what I may have knocked loose before dealing with it or the extras. Keep an eye out for anything unusual."

Together they walked deeper into the attic, and it became clear that Harmony might have been a little forceful. Pallets and chests were shifted. Wrapped paintings toppled. Not a speck of Dust, though, and Hyacinth signaled through their bond that any critters who survived the casting had run off as quickly as possible. She trusted her adorable predator's sense of prey.

She straightened as she checked and recharged the glow stones to make it easier for those who would come next. It was like everything had been given a good shake, but not a scrap of Dust to be found. It was quick-paced work, but she'd only checked on about half the attic before a pounding drew her back to the attic entrance.

She opened the door to a red-faced Bates. "I asked you to clean. Not make it sound like you're blowing the roof off! Several lords and ladies were awakened by the sound and the ceiling rattling."

Had she made a sound? Everything did move, but while she managed the casting with everything slowed down, all sound was a muted quiet. Her professional danger sense perked up at questioning the head butler's observations. "Sorry, sir, I was testing my gains with my cleaning skills. I didn't notice and might have been a bit overzealous. I have almost completed the task. I only need to break that down and take out the garbage."

She watched his eyes move from her face to over her shoulder where the bleeding rock sat, a boulder nearly half Harmony's height.

"Ahem. We all understand the growing pains of quick advancement and unlocking stats. I merely ask that you focus on the care and comfort of our masters first. A servant is quiet, unobtrusive, and always at hand."

"Of course, Mr. Bates. I'll try not to let it happen again," She responded with a curtsey slightly more awkward than usual with the armor on.

She watched his eyes widen as he noticed her armor, his mouth dropping open as if to say something before shutting. "Finish up, then ensure you are properly dressed before coming down. After lunch, the lady will need your services for some meetings." With that, he turned and left.

“Grr-rr-rrupt.” Hyacinth chuckled behind her.