A sound equivalent to that of a nuclear reactor’s alarm went off in my brain, waking me up from what had been a nice, peaceful sleep. “Shut it off…” I mumbled as my brain began to reactivate.

The violent noise stopped, and I sat up in bed, to be greeted by the three Judgment AIs I'd collected over the months. “Collect is such a harsh word to use, Master.” Un said, and shook his head. “It undermines the intelligence that we have.”

I vaguely recalled where I was, and why I had asked for that specific alarm. It had been almost two weeks since I moved into the mansion that belonged to a now deceased noble faction member, and in that time I had truly made that house my own.

Winter had moved in with me, as well as the rest of the Strafe family who had come to me looking for work. They were an extremely cost-effective asset, with most of them already being proficient in combat.

Better yet, I could skimp on their monetary pay since housing was included in their employee benefits. There seemed to be a few reluctant souls, but most of them were excited to go into combat in the war game.

I should have expected them to be battle junkies like Winter, but I figured that she’d be the odd one out. How dumb of me to expect otherwise.

“I’m not too sure about that.” X replied to the Strafe family founder with more than a hint of venom in her voice. “Who was it again that gambled on whether they’d still remain a program after being absorbed? That’s pretty unintelligent if you ask me.”

I struggled to keep a sigh from leaking out. It wasn’t enough that I had been dealing with three voices instead of one for a while now, but two of them were constantly at each other’s throats while the third remained mostly in cowed silence.

“Stop it you two. X, tell me the plan for today. Un and Three, tell me what your users have been up to after that.”

The three of them bowed. Un and Three vanished from the room, being transported directly to Winter and Lilian’s Judgment Panels respectively. Meanwhile, X let her curvaceous body recline in midair, and made a small notepad materialize in her hand.

“Today is when three skyquakes containing the army for the war game make their way from the Metronian Kingdom to the Primal Kingdom. You’ll be gathering at Redleaf Palace’s aircraft hangar, and departing in about five hours. I advise you to make any preparations that you need to before leaving.”

I nodded, and put on my clothes under the weathering stare of X. “One of these days, I’m going to follow through on my desire to attain a physical body for myself.” She said, her eyes appraising me like a vulture does to meat.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Well, until you do, I’m not too worried. Besides, how much of gaining a body would be a boon, and how much would be a bane? You need to keep both sides in perspective, and think about it objectively.”

X flashed me a smile, and her appearance shifted. Her long ponytail and eyebrows changed to a stark white color, and her skin became a sunkissed brown. Two parts of her bangs were lifted up by a pair of horns protruding from her forehead. Her body grew a bit in size, as did her chest and buttocks to maintain the same ratio she had before. A long, black, snakelike tail appeared from her lower back. She was still wearing her latex suit, which hugged her curves and left little to the imagination.

“Huh, so this is the kind of form on your mind? I guess your run in with Starlord Alexstasia Bloodcrown weighed heavier on you than you thought.”

I rolled my eyes and walked out of the room, into the manor. “Good morning, Master Cole.” A man and woman of Strafe lineage greeted me, wearing a butler and maid outfit respectfully.

“...Good morning.” I replied back. I still wasn’t used to the familiar greeting, but apparently Winter had a word with all of her clansmen, and established a set of ground rules to use within the household.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Do either of you know where Winter is?” The two looked at each other, and shook their heads.

“Great.” I sighed. Turning to the two, I pointed to the man. He was well built, and his dark skin made his crew-cut white hair stand out even more. Amber eyes looked out at me from behind ovular glasses.

“What’s your name?” The man looked taken aback, and exchanged looks with the maid. He turned his gaze to the ground, and remained in silence for a few moments.

“Ozwald.” He replied, his gaze still glued to the ground. I nodded, and then turned to the woman. She was still looking at Ozwald, and seemed a bit surprised when she realized that I was looking at her.

“P-Patricia.” She said, and also averted her gaze. She looked similar to Ozwald in regards to the white hair tied into pigtails and dark skin. Her eyes were a gentle green, a color I had yet to see in this world.

“Alright. Oswald and Patricia, please see to it that the other members of the Strafe family get ready to leave today. We’ll be going to the palace first, and then from there to the Primal Kingdom.”

The two of them stood there for a moment, before a bloodthirsty grin broke out on Ozwald’s face. “By your will, Master Cole.”

They excused themselves and left to return to the servant’s quarters. Meanwhile, I was left alone with X, whose current joy came in the act of flaunting her new form.

“You called, Master?” I turned to find Winter, who was accompanied by Un floating behind her right shoulder. She looked up, and winced when she saw X.

“That’s… new. An awakened fetish, I take it?” I groaned, took her hand, and began to walk to the stairs.

“W-wait a second! I need to mentally prepare myself, Master! Doing it in a public space is one thing, but in front of actual people is-!”

I opened the door to the manor, and walked out into the front yard. I let go of her, and turned to face the confused bounty hunter. “No, I am not trying to fuck you right now. We have actual business to attend to.”

The confused look was replaced with a smile, and she put a hand on her hip. “Is that so? I’m glad that you can look past your lust and at the actual problem. I’ve definitely worked for people before who didn’t have that skill.”

I narrowed my eyes in disbelief at her enthusiasm, and asked, “Why are you trying to butter me up, Winter?”

I saw her flinch, although it was so fast and contained that if I didn’t have nanites enhancing my eyesight, I would have missed it.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She said, nonchalantly. “Sometimes a girl just wants to flirt, you know? No offense, but you definitely get lost in your own head, sometimes.”

Great. A sweet line to try and fluster me on top of a blanket statement that could be said of any human. She’s so shit at reading people.

Winter continued to smile, unaware of my thoughts, but Un, who was, began to laugh. “Winter, how many times do I have to tell you? You shouldn’t try to deceive your employer, especially when he is better at deceiving than you.”

She flashed a pissed off glare at Un, but ultimately gave up the act. “Actually, Paladin Cole, I have a favor to ask.”

I nearly rolled my eyes, but controlled my urges and remained silent. She took the hint, and continued, “Could I have your permission to move into the main house, instead of living in the servant’s quarters?”

I just stared at her in shocked silence. She took that as either contemplation or disapproval, and started fidgeting with her fingers. “Is that all?”

My voice caused her to jump, more visibly this time, and she looked at me. “What did you say?”

“I asked if that was all. That’s a dumb question, of course you can. I don’t know why you went and lived there in the first place. The plan was always to have you live in the main house with Lilian and myself.”

Her mouth went agape, and she turned to Un, before returning her attention to me. “B-but… but the Founder said-”

This time, I indulged myself and rolled my eyes. “How much longer does Un have to deceive you before you learn to just ask me things directly?”

A blush came over Winter’s features, and she tried to storm back to the manor, but stopped in her tracks when she ran into the entire Strafe family, decked out in military apparel and armed to the teeth.

“What are you all doing?” Winter asked, and, seeing where this was going, I started to walk towards the waiting barrack pod for transport.

X, tell Akahime to get my new combat suit from the lab, and bring it to the meeting room.

“By your will, Master.” X nodded, and materialized the notepad from before into her hands before writing something down in it.

“Today is what!?” I heard Winter shout as I got into the frontmost seat. “Why in the Starlords’ infinite wisdom don’t you tell me anything, Founder!?”