The next day.
Ivan woke up as he felt a tug on his blanket. He reluctantly opened his eyes and saw somebody standing next to his bed. Wearing the same dress, and that same emotionless face, she was no doubt the same maid as yesterday.
“Hero, it is time to wake up,” she said in a monotone voice, and added, “It is currently 6.40 AM.”
“...Isn’t it still too early? Wake me up again at 8.”
Just as he was about to fall asleep again, the maid forcefully tore the blanket from his grasp.
“That won’t do. Breakfast is scheduled at 7.15 and you haven’t even taken a bath yet. So, please wake up or else you will be late, Hero.”
Having his blanket robbed of him, he could only begrudgingly force himself awake. Blinking his eyes several times, he then spoke in a sarcastic tone, “What a nice service skill you got there, ms. maid.”
“Thank you, It is only natural that a maid must be competent,” she replied flatly.
...Sister, I wasn’t complimenting you, alright!? And that face of yours, does it hurt to smile even only for a bit?
Not bothering to care about her anymore, he picked up a set of underwear and clothes from the closet before he went to the bathroom. When he entered, a really big space that contained a complete set of bathroom utilities was revealed.
It wasn’t his first time entering, so he wasn’t that surprised anymore. 'It seems that I will never understand how those filthy rich people think,' he thought. But that didn’t mean that he was poor, on the contrary, he came from a wealthy middle-upper class family of the society. But, it’s just that, the idea of creating a big luxurious bathroom is too wasteful.
‘Well, not that it matters anyway,’ he mused to himself.
He sighed internally. Putting his clothes on the hanger and proceeded to undress. Halfway through though, he suddenly stopped and scoured his surroundings. As expected, the maid was silently waiting on the corner from god-knows-when.
Face expressionless, he asked, “You. What are you doing here?”
‘Don’t you know what privacy is? You’re clearly worse than that idiot!’
Her reply curt, “I will help you bathe.”
“Get out.”
Bowing her head, she refused, “As a maid, it is my du--”
Her reply was cut short with Ivan’s unyielding tone, “Get. Out. Right. Now.”
She stared at him for a while and said, “Very well. However, if you still did not appear after 15 minutes, I will barge in.”
After saying so, without waiting for his reply, the maid nonchalantly went off. Looking at her figure that was nowhere to be seen, Ivan could only rub his temples once again.
“...Can I ask for a change of maid? This one is definitely broken in the head…”
-------
Wearing a brown vest over a plain white shirt, coupled with a pair of stylish jeans, it was precisely Ivan. With the robotic-like maid leading him to the dining room, he looked around the corridor that left him nauseous yesterday with great interest.
The wasn’t any major differences except for holes that appeared on the walls. From those holes, he could see the garden outside that was piled with snow and the people that worked hard to clear them. The chilly breeze that the wind brought felt exceptionally refreshing to him.
In no time at all, they reached the dining room. Just like yesterday, the maid opened the door and he went inside. As soon as entered, he was greeted by the captivating fragrances of food that wafted to his nose. He couldn’t help but to stop and inhale a few breaths as the smell was just too good!
“Ivan! Come, sit here!” Felix excitedly flailed his hand around as soon as he saw Ivan.
Only then did he notice that he was the last one to arrive. The stupid quartet had already begun eating. He treated the idiot’s voice as air and sat down in the opposite direction from the group.
“Hey! Don’t move too much when you’re eating!” Sophie berated Felix as she helped him wipe the corner of his mouth.
“Hehehe, sorry, sorry. My bad,” Felix smilingly said.
Not paying any attention to them, he simply ate in silence just like Lyra and the hoodlum guy. Looking at their complexions, they seemed to be having a not so good time. He wanted to have a peaceful time to himself, however, it was naught but a wishful thinking on his end. Because that idiot wouldn’t leave him alone.
“Hey, hey, Ivan. How are you feeling right now?” Felix stared at him curiously.
In a natural way, he treated his words like air again. Not bothered in the slightest, he kept asking,
“Hey, hey. Did you sleep well yesterday?”
“...” He continued to eat.
“That princess yesterday, what do you think of her?”
“...” He maintained his silence. He could also feel that venomous stare from you-know-who, but he just disregarded it once again.
“Don’t be shy. There’s no need to hold back your opinion!” He ‘whispered’ in a small voice, “I know that you think she’s beautiful, right? Right? I also think the same!”
“That blue-colored eyes and hair, also that sexy figure of hers. Woah, so stunning!” He said in an excited voice.
‘You got guts. Even though there are no maids right now, I’m pretty sure they’re all hiding in the vicinity. Are you not afraid of them reporting your vulgar speech to the princess? In the past, forget about talking, just a look at the princess and immediately off with your head!’
Ivan rolled his eyes at him. Even if you didn’t say anything, he would still continue talking himself. So, Ivan remained impassively as a bystander. Of course, this didn’t mean that everyone would feel the same. Take Sophie for an example. The moment he talked about the princess, her eyes lit up in a very scary manner. It was as if she couldn’t wait to tear the princess apart.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
At that exact moment, the Selena came in.
“Good morning,” she said as she took a seat. As expected, the atmosphere turned down a notch. She asked, “Did you all rest well?”
“...Umm, yes. We did.” Felix answered.
“I... see. That’s… good then.” Selena said with clouded eyes.
Ivan rolled his eyes again at that his acquaintance of his. He thought, ‘Well, for you and me, maybe yes. But, for the three of them, can’t you see those eye bags and pale faces? Who are you going to deceive with that stupid answer on yours?’
She took some food to her plate and ate silently. Felix stopped talking, and the others just did nothing. As she did not eat too much, she finished her breakfast in a short moment. Wiping her mouth, she stood up and suddenly bowed.
“I apologize for my rudeness yesterday!”
Doing that kind of action suddenly made the group somewhat flustered. Lyra, being the oldest, said, “P-princess! Please raise your head!”
“Yeah, yeah! In the first place, why did you apologize to us?” Felix hurriedly added.
“That’s because, without taking your feelings into consideration, I forced the roles of heroes unto every single one of you!” Selena said.
“Hmph,” Brian disdainfully snorted with a sarcastic tone, “Even if you did apologize, what will change? We’re already here, and you can’t just send us back to our world. So, what we do in the end won’t change, right? Oh. Mighty. Princess. Selena.”
“Brian! You’re being too impolite! The princess apologized out of goodwill, you know?” Sophie cried out.
“Hmph.” He snorted again but didn’t argue back.
However, Selena did not get angry. She said, “No, it is to be expected that you all hold some kind of resentments to me, or to this country. I have discussed the matter with my Royal Father last night, and after a lot of considerations, we came up with a compromise.”
She stopped talking for a while, looked at the group meaningfully, before finally continuing.
“Regardless of your final decision about being a hero, we will still take full responsibility for your wellbeing here. If you choose not to become heroes, then we will provide a suitable job for every single one of you.”
“Eh? Really?” Lyra said with shining eyes. In her heart, she thought, ‘Isn’t this quite good already?’
“Yes,” Selena nodded affirmatively, and said somewhat hesitant, “This might be selfishness on my part, but, won’t you all give me time? To introduce our country to you all in hope of becoming heroes! Please!”
She bowed again. This time, Felix kneeled on one knee in front of her and with a serious face filled with certainty, he said, “Princess! You don’t need to be sad! Even if the others won’t become heroes, as I said yesterday, I will definitely save this country!”
With tears in her eyes, Selena said, “Thank you…”
Once again, Ivan rolled his eyes. ‘What’s with this bullsh*t drama I’m seeing,’ is what he was thinking at the time. On the other hand, Sophie was staring at the princess with eyes filled with malice that seemed to want to devour the other party alive. Brian was yawning, and Lyra was mulling deeply.
After the emotional scene ended, with a bright smile on her face, Selena said, “Therefore, I will now bring you to learn magic!”
“Huh!?” The party was dumbfounded. Aren’t the scenes progressing a little too fast…?
----------
‘Thus, here I am,’ Ivan thought as he stood inside a really big room that looked like a witch’s house. Cylindrical tubes filled unknown reagents of multiple colors were present everywhere in this room. Herbal aromas and weird stenches were mixed too deeply that it was impossible to distinguish which was which. It was also filled with books and shelves to the brim, resembling a small library if not for those dubious apparatuses.
“Please wait a moment. I’m going to find the owner of this room first,” Selena said mysteriously.
The five of them were left there as the princess went to the back of the room. Meanwhile, the five of them began to explore the room.
A short moment later, someone’s gleeful voice sounded.
“Hey! Look at this!” Felix picked up a small test tube rather excitedly. Then, he walked over and thrust it in front of Brian’s nose.
“What?” He asked as he retracted his neck out of fear. From his experience, he could tell that anything that Felix picks will always be something weird.
“Come on, come on. It’s nothing dangerous~” Felix urged him to try.
After a series of persuasion, he finally sighed and brought his face in front of the test tube.
He only sniffed it slightly, but his face was already turning green.
“Felix! What the hell is that!?”
However, that wasn’t the end. Soon after, Brian fell to his knees and consecutive farting sound came from his butt as he clutched his stomach while whimpering pitifully.
“Phhht” “Phhhttt” “Phhhttt”
“Hahahaha!” Felix laughed uproariously. Sophie and Lyra also tried to hold their laughter in.
“Y-you... You!” Brian could only glare at him with annoyance.
Then, not being satisfied yet, he picked up 3 random test tubes and searched for the figure of Ivan. However, since Ivan was very experienced with this fellow’s bad habit, he had gone into hiding the moment Selena left them alone. It was quite easy to hide with all the huge random equipment and shelves.
Having lost his target, he switched his attention to his next victims. The girls, who saw Felix’s passionate gaze, felt their lives threatened. Retreating several steps back, their faces paled.
“Hey, hey~,” He said with a creepily cheerful tone as he inched closer. However, the girls’ eyes weren’t looking at him. Rather, they were focusing on the figure behind him. Even Brian was in a trance-like state.
“T-that,” Sophie pointed at his back, “T-there’s s-something…”
“Hmm?” He turned his body, but before he could see what was happening. He felt his feet in the air. Yes, his feet were literally dangling in the air. He was hugged and lifted into the air.
“Oh, my~ What a handsome fella~” A deep baritone voice reverberated in the air. Felix could feel something rubbing against his face, and it left him annoyed. He tried to wriggle out of the hug, however, the person behind him seemed to be determined to squeeze the daylights out of him as his hold become tighter, causing him to be suffocated. After a while, Felix finally gives up to his futile struggles and shouted.
“R-release me!”
“As you wish, handsome~!”
He fell to the floor and heaved his chest in relief. But, when he saw the figure behind him, he felt his soul being sucked out of his body.
“M-mons--”
Before he had the chance though, he was smacked unconscious by a single palm of the figure. Literally.
“Oops~ I overdid it~”
“Ha… I wish that you can control your strength better, Charle. Even I was scared the first time I saw you,” The princess said that as she appeared a bit late.
“Ohohohoho~” He laughed ‘cutely’.
Even Ivan, who finally decided to appear, decided to hide once again. Why? Who wouldn’t!?
Imagining a male figure who was like 2 meters tall, people’s thought would probably lead to a muscular and gallant figure. However here, what would happen if the said figure was wearing a heavy makeup and a dress while having a muscular body? No need to answer; one’s moral value will most definitely fall to rock bottom.
He had a skinhead hairstyle. His face was decorated with glamorous eyeshadows, fluttering eyelashes, and other numerous skin toners. On top of that, he had the body of a professional bodybuilder. Yep, just the mere sight of him would be guaranteed to send chills down to the very spine of adults! Ivan thought that no matter how hardcore his tastes were, he definitely won’t fall for this kind of thing!
“Ohohoho~ I thought that there are 5 people, yes?” Charle walked like a model and counted, “One, two, three, four, oh! There’s one at the back!”
“I almost missed y--” He suddenly paused. His eyes bulged out and his breathing became rough. It seemed as if steam was flaring out of his nostrils. Without any warning, he dashed to Ivan at breakneck speed.
Of course, Ivan who saw this, felt his scalp tingling. But what can he do? He wasn't an athletic person, so even if he tried to dodge, it probably won’t work. He wryly smiled as he resigned himself to his fate.
Just like Felix, Charle lifted and hugged Ivan tightly.
“SOOO CUTEEE~!! WHAT A DELICATE FLOWER~~!! THIS CUTENESS IS TOO POWERFUL FOR MEEE~~!!” Charle roared passionately as he spurted blood from his nose.
Ivan, who was in his embrace right now, felt his head spinning from that powerful roar. He thought, ‘Is this a weirdo factory? If not, then why the hell do they keep popping out one after another!? First, a robotic maid that doesn't understand privacy, and now a perverted gorilla! What next!?’
He felt extremely vexed.