Typer’s room: Hello guys. Sorry for the delay, but here is the chapter!

So, today we introduce a new character to this story. Who may it be? Well, leaving obvious things aside, this chapter could be considered the start of the first arc of the story, I guess? With an actual storyline and not simply daily-life telling. Nothing big, but it does help pushing the story forward, I guess.

As I said before, this is VASTLY a work in progress, and wasn’t made to be posted initially, so there might be some inconsistencies. If so, please do tell me, as I want to make it an enjoyable read ^^

May your reading be enjoyable.

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The next morning it didn’t take me even a fraction of the time from the previous day to wake up. Yawning loudly while stretching myself, I took a brief look at the window and saw that it was still the middle of the night.

No, to be more specific, it was the beginning of the day. I could barely see a small red line at the horizon. Turning to the side, I saw Tian, sleeping besides me with a slightly worried expression. I couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward by the fact that my master ended up worrying about me before I got worried about her.

While thinking so I gently caressed her head and a small smile appeared in her face. Nodding satisfied to myself, I quickly got up from my bed and took a quick look around. After finding the wardrobe, I waddled my way to it and took out a new set of robes from it.

I felt tempted to also take a short with me, but decided against it in the end, since all that it would get me would be a scolding from Ping.

After taking one last look at Lady Tian, who was sleeping peacefully in my bed, I nodded and left the room. The corridors were still dark, and even though I was quite proud of my vision, I still took it easy, taking slow steps and making sure that I wouldn’t trip on anything.

From time to time I could hear some sounds from the few guards making a patrol around the house. On my way to the destination, I crossed a few guards and they gave me a quick nod before going back to their work.

But besides the few soldier who were doing the nightly patrol, most of the other’s in the mansion were sleeping soundly on their beds or, at most, loitering around their own rooms, so this made my trip a fairly uneventful one.

Soon I reached the bath area, where I quickly took out the robe I had been using previously. I could faintly sense the smell of my own sweat still in my clothes, probably from the time I fainted, so I decided that taking a bath and changing clothes would be the best thing to do.

Even though it was a bit dark, I could still see enough, so I easily managed to wash myself on the large bath of the house. Feeling satisfied with myself, I didn’t drag around too much and quickly finished my bath.

However, I still made sure to not let down my guard, as there were more than a few people that could do… Things to me if they caught me mid bath. Luckily, as long as I wasn’t too distracted, it was pretty much impossible to get me by surprise thanks to my spirit sensing. While thinking so, I was rewarded with a response just as I finished my work.

“MASTER ROSHI! THE BATH IS OCCUPIED!” I said loudly while quickly washing myself one last time and rolling the towel around my body.

“Ara? Little Lia?” He asked surprised from the changing room. “Sorry, I’ll take my leave then!” I heard as he replied embarrassedly.

“No need. I’ve finished already. Only need to put on my clothes.” I said while peeking from the door. Seeing that he still had his robes on, I quickly nodded and walked in.

“Is that so?” He said before taking a peek inside. Afterwards he turned to me with a serious face. “You should be a bit more careful next time, okay? You left us worried there.” He told me.

I blushed slightly in embarrassment before nodding, and saw as he walked inside the bath still wearing his clothes. I heard as he took out the clothes on the other side of the door, so I quickly finished putting up my clothes before even drying my hair, then tied the towel around it so that it wouldn’t end up wetting my clothes again.

As I finished this last part, I nodded satisfied and started walking out of the room while taking the dirt robes with me. On the way out I started to walk towards the depot, where I could leave the dirty clothes.

“Lia!” I heard Ping approached me. “Are you feeling well enough to leave already? Shouldn’t you rest for a bit longer?” The aide asked me while looking at me worried.

“Hmm… I’m fine already.” I told her with a shake of my head. “I was just tired.” Ping eyed me with worried look for a moment before nodding.

“Okay.” She said with a sigh. “I’ll trust you in this for now.” She then took a good look at me and made a small frown. “It seems that you just took a bath, huh? Why didn’t you call me? I could have helped you.”

“Huuh...” Because you and Tian are the number one and two persons I don’t want to share a bath because I’m afraid of what was I going to see and what you are going to do to me. “It was still very early, and I didn’t want to bother you.” I somehow managed to say a half-truth.

She sighed and nodded weakly.

“We’ll do something a bit less intensive for your training today, okay?” She asked me, and I nodded. Giving me a gentle smile, she nodded before looking back to the corridor. “Go take those to the dirty clothes basket. I’ll go take a bath, then I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

I nodded before walking away towards the depot, somehow feeling lucky by the fact that I woke so early, it took me a good time before I finally noticed.

“Wasn’t Roshi still in the bath?”

My answer arrived with the sound of a slap that echoed even all the way to the door of the depot.

Sorry for that, Roshi. This one is completely my fault.

…

The rest of the morning was fairly eventless, except for a small commotion when the aides didn’t find Tian sleeping in her room like usual. But all that I needed was to direct them to my room where the young lady slept peacefully.

Besides that, I also had the small problem of being banned from training for one day by Master Roshi, who thought that it would be better to take it easy today, despite the fact that I insisted in being back into perfect shape.

Seeing as there wasn’t much I could do, I decided to turn to Ping and ask about my training, but she also planned on cutting it short for me just to be safe, so she decided to stick to the usual schedule of teaching me in the afternoon.

Which left me a bit too free in the morning. Too free for my own tastes.

Having kind of expected my days to be completely scheduled, I was a bit at loss on what to do now, as I didn’t prepare anything for such a sudden break.

Thinking so while walking around the house, I somehow loitered around for the next hour or so, looking for something to do, only to be refused by the aides who would deny my help while wearing worried expressions. This went on for a good time of the morning, until I felt a new spirit presence approaching me.

Turning my head, the person I found there was none other than the mother of my master. Hurriedly I turned to her and bowed in a greeting.

“Good morning, Milady.” I said as I bowed, still not very sure how to treat her.

I felt a bit intimidated when she didn’t answer me and simply eyed me from head to toes, her eyes scanning my body (and I would also guess my soul too) in a very thorough way. After some time of cold sweating, she finally sighed and spoke something.

“Come with me. We have to talk.” She said briefly before walking away. I looked in shock for a moment before quickly following her, needing to almost keep myself to a slow jog due to how long her strides were.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

While following her confused, before I noticed it, I found myself in front of the master’s bedroom. The moment I noticed that she planned on entering the room, I offered myself and opened the door for her, as I felt that it was something that I should probably do.

She raised her eyebrow with a slightly surprised look, but didn’t interrupt me as I opened the door and stepped aside, giving her passage. Once inside, she made me a motion to close the door while she sat down on the large and empty king-sized bed. I stood in front of her hesitatingly for some time before she finally sighed and made a motion for me to sit besides her.

A bit confused, I quickly followed her orders and sat down on the bed besides her, while she laid back on the bed and twisted her body, as if reaching for something on the side-table.

“So, you are the girl my daughter picked up, huh?” She said in an indifferent tone. I nodded, but seeing that she wasn’t looking at me I quickly said.

“Yes ma’am.”

“We didn’t really have the time to talk yesterday, since I had just arrived and then you... ” She stopped for a moment. “Fell ill.”

I kept myself quiet since I didn’t really have much to talk about, as I was pretty much the cause of falling ill, and I don’t think that she was unaware of that situation. Noticing that I wouldn’t say anything more, she kept on speaking.

“You see, ever since she was a kid, i’ve been making sure to give her the best of anything she could need. Education, lifestyle, food, entertainment and so on. While doing so, we also found out that my precious daughter also could become a spiritualist. Do you have any idea how happy I was?” She asked. “Then, recently, when I left to go and see my parents that I don’t see for such a long time, I had to leave her here so that she could start her own training.”

“Then, when I am on my way back, I received the message telling that my daughter suddenly went and decided to take a personal aide for herself! Do you have any idea how surprised I was when I heard that?” She said with a short laugh while sitting up on the bed. She held something in her hand that she looked interested at, but from my position I couldn’t quite see what it was. “And when I get here, I find out that it was a random plebeian who somehow managed to invade the house! And she’s not even four years old yet!”

“...Sorry?” I said a weak voice. Somehow I had the feeling that I had to say that. She simply looked at me for some time before shaking her head.

“As you can see, my daughter is nothing sort of a genius.” She said briefly. “Despite having only six years old, and still struggling a bit with math, she’s already well versed in politics and etiquette! Almost mastering languages and already knows how to write and read some basic words!” She let out a short but proud laugh. “Isn’t my daughter amazing?”

“Yes.” I said while thinking. When put it that way, she’s really a genius, isn’t she?

“But, when I finally find some time to exchange some words with you, all that I see is a girl loitering around while having her hair woefully unkempt. This is unacceptable for a personal aide, you know?” She told me in a scolding tone. “I heard that you were surprisingly mature for your age and that you had moments of geniality that surpassed adults…” She said with a strange tone that didn’t really seem all that angry or disappointed, which left me confused. “As genius and mature you are, I guess a kid is still a kid.”

She made a motion of gently tapping her lap. I looked at it confused for a moment, which made her frown slightly.

“What are you waiting for. Come here so that I can do something about your hair!” She said.

Blinking surprised, I quickly nodded and made my way to sit besides her. She looked a bit displeased, but didn’t really complain all that much, and simply told me to show my back to her. I timidly did that and felt as she started to comb my hair once again before working on it.

As I said before, I did learn how to take care of my hair, but the only hairstyles I actually know how to do is either free flowing or ponytail, and since Ping was a bit busy with her morning work, she didn’t really have the time to do my hair after her bath.

So I left my hair free and kind of forgot to brush it after taking out the towel…

Totally my fault this time.

“You know, I’m actually glad for this.” Tian’s mother said suddenly, getting me by surprise. “A six years old that knows politics! How wrong does that sounds? And although she is smart, she is a bit too smart for her own good, so she doesn’t really have any close friends.” She stopped for a moment, letting me digest her words. “Well, there are a few girls who come here and talk to her, saying that they are friends, but… That girl herself says that it’s only for political purposes.”

After saying that, she finally finished doing my hair, so she gently tapped my shoulder telling me to look back at her.

“That’s why, I’m counting on you to stay by that girl’s side as a true friend instead of a simple aide. Can I ask you that?” She looked me straight into the eyes as she said it. “If you are as mature and smart as the servants say you are, then you should guess what I’m talking about.”

I looked at her for some time while trying to understand. So, all that she did was to call me here and ask me to be Tian’s friend?

“In exchange, I will do your hair as many times as you want as well as teach you how to be more womanly. What do you say?” I looked at her in shock for a moment. “After all, it is my duty as a noble to make sure that cute aides like you grow up into wonderful women. Hoh Hoh Hoh.”

Waaah! Tian has evolved!

Hiding my surprise behind a smile, I nodded cheerfully to her as she put on a proud smile.

After laughing for some time, she finally calmed herself and put on a serious face once again. Sensing that something important was probably coming, I quickly put on a serious face and prepared to hear what she was saying.

“Now, I didn’t call you here just to ask that.” She said briefly. “Yesterday, while you were resting, Tian received an invitation to a party.” She said in a serious voice. “Usually, we wouldn’t be all that worried, but I heard rumors that our rival household will use this chance to introduce their daughter at the party and steal the spotlight from Tian.” She looked seriously at me. “This may not sound important, but as her aide, you will be responsible for improving her image, as the level of an aide serves to gauge the level of the master.”

“Then you want me to go with her to the party?” I asked a bit confused.

“Yes. Mostly all you’ll have to do will be to look important and serious. A girl with your cute looks and age will have a greater impact than another full grown aide.” She said briefly. “Also, I will need you to support Tian on the backgrounds as much as you can. Spreading rumors around the other nobles aides, learning about other rumors going around, maybe even earn a few favors from other aides to use them later. Think you can do this?”

I blinked surprised a couple of times before stopping to think. Maybe if I use my childish appearance will make the others lower their guards around me? While thinking so, I quickly nodded.

“Hmm. Leave it to me!” I said with a nod. She smiled gently before nodding.

“Okay then. For now, I guess they are letting you rest. But tell Ping to give you a crash course, because the party is just a few days away.” She said.

I nodded before walking away from the room, seeing that she had dismissed me. While thinking on the things she said, it was only when I had already left the nearby area that it finally dawned on me.

I still have no idea what Tian’s mother name is!