“Hey, you! What do you think you’re doing!” Astoria yelled, frightened. She was standing in a lonely street and was faced with a masked man.

“Me? Nothing much, just robbing you!” he retorted. “Give me all your money and I’ll consider letting you leave alive.”

“You really think I’m a pushover?” Astoria furiously replied. “Help! Help! Somebody save me!” She screamed before telling him, “Watch! I’m sure someone will come save me and teach you a lesson!”

The masked man laughed as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world.

“Really, you? Who is coming to save you? There is no one here and even if there were, no one would want to save you!”

“I would,” came a voice from behind the man. The masked man was startled as he turned around to see who it was.

“You… you are him!” That’s all he mumbled before frantically running away.

Astoria heaved a sigh of relief before looking at her saviour.

He was a short, slightly oversized man with a small belly and a chubby face. He was young but was well dressed with various accessories to show off his wealth. Behind him stood two tall guards carrying long spears and wearing a chainmail.

“Thank you so much for saving me mister,” Astoria said with a deep bow. “May I know who you are?”

“Haha! I am Henry Zumond,” he replied proudly.

“Zumond…” Astoria mumbled to herself. “Ah, you belong to the village head’s family! Could your esteemed self be lord Byron Zumond’s cherished son? The young master of the village?” she asked, her eyes wide open.

“Haha, that’s right!” Henry laughed at having been recognised and praised. “May I ask, who you are?”

“Oh, sorry for not introducing myself earlier. My name is Olivia Higson,” she lied. She looked at her feet while twirling her thumbs shyly. “I am from a poor household and was coming here looking for work. I have a lot of experience with working as a maidservant, but I haven’t found any jobs yet,” she sighed with disappointment.

Henry ran his eyes over her body a few times and thought she was very pretty. He started laughing out loud.

“Well, it is your lucky day girl! I am recently in need of a maidservant so you can come to work for me!”

“Really?!” she asked, her eyes lit up and her lips curled into a huge smile.

Henry thought she was cute and wanted her to work for him even more.

“But…,” she looked down again and appeared to hesitate. “You just saved me, how could I impose on you further? You don’t need to take pity and worry about me young master; I am already very grateful for your help.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Henry replied proudly. “I meant it when I said that I needed a new personal maidservant. I was just going for a walk, and you came at a perfect time! It is fate!”

Astoria pretended to hesitate a little before agreeing, “In that case, it would be my honour to work for you, young master.” She pulled her skirt slightly to the sides and gave a deep bow.

“Haha, yes it would indeed,” he replied, before turning around and leading the way. Astoria followed behind, keeping a few steps of distance and hanging her head low out of respect.

After a quarter of an hour, they arrived at the village lord’s mansion.

It was a massive contrast compared to the inn where she had been living these past few days. The mansion was ginormous with several floors and stretched to the width of half a street. The front garden was huge, albeit slightly smaller than what she had in Jain village, but it was still very large, with a beautiful fountain out front, and littered with various trees and shrubs arranged perfectly. The pearl gates were big, and standing in front were a few other guards who immediately bowed to Henry and let them through.

“Welcome back, young master,” came a voice. After entering the house, they were greeted by an elderly woman. She was wearing a black dress and had a proud demeanour. However, when she spoke to Henry, she was very polite and welcomed him with a slight bow.

“Thank you, headmistress. She’s Olivia Higson and is going to be my new personal maid,” Henry introduced casually. “Show her around and let her know her duties.” After that brief statement, Henry quickly hurried away to his room.

Only now did the headmistress notice Astoria. She eyed her up and down and frowned.

“Where are you from?”

“I’m from a poor region down south, headmistress. I came looking for work with money I had saved up over a long time. I was about to be robbed when the young master graciously saved and welcomed me.”

The headmistress’s frown did not disappear.

“Follow me,” she commanded before walking forward.

Astoria bowed politely before trotting along. The headmistress started showing her around the house, introducing her to the other staff, and telling her what she had to do. She was the personal maid of Henry, the young master of the village, which gave her a slightly higher status than most other maids, and she had different responsibilities as well.

For instance, she was charged with cleaning Henry’s room, doing his laundry, ironing his clothes, serving his meals, and generally staying close to Henry to help him with anything he needed.

Now was the first problem for Astoria because despite what she said, she didn’t know how to do any of it! She had always had maids to do these jobs for her, so she had never learnt to do them personally.

Of course, she had kept this in mind and asked Sam to teach her the basics, so she was just able to manage. She keenly observed the maids and servants doing their jobs so that she could quickly learn and better imitate them.

But of course, her goal in coming here was not to just learn to be a maid.

…

Three days later.

Holt’s expression was solemn as he listened to a report.

“Nothing?” he asked.

The guards reporting to him hung their heads in shame. These were the people who had been sent out to look for Astoria, but they returned empty-handed.

“We searched for many days chief. However, after some time, it started raining and all the trails were destroyed. We kept looking for a lot longer but there is nothing left to find.”

“WELL THEN TRY AGAIN!” Holt thundered.

“Yes!” they shook before running away.

Holt looked through the window and saw the blue sky tinged with a hint of orange as the sun started setting.

‘Astoria… my little girl. Please be safe, I will find you!’

…

Meanwhile…

“Haha! That’s so funny!” A group of maids were laughing together in the Leon village lord’s mansion.

Astoria was among them.

“Hey! Do you remember the time the headmistress was severely told off by master Henry?” one of them asked.

“Yeah, it was when Nala was kicked out right? Master Henry was angry since the headmistress was the one who recommended her,” another one replied.

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“After always seeing her be strict with us, and yelling at us for every little thing, it was fun to see her getting yelled at!” the first one replied. Everyone started laughing again

Even Astoria had to admit that the overbearing headmistress acting docile while being admonished by a haughty teenager was a funny picture.

“What does the headmistress do anyway? I feel like her whole job is to just go around yelling at everyone,” Astoria said.

“Yeah, I feel the same,” one of them replied. “However, I heard that the headmistress is the only one who is given the job of cleaning and maintaining the treasury.”

The treasury!

Astoria recollected the conversation she had with Sam in the inn before entering the village mansion.

“There is only one written recipe for the Zenith pills? And it is held in the village treasury?” she had asked in disbelief.

This was terrible! How could she ever sneak into the village treasury?

But Sam told her that that was the truth. Those who refined the pills had all first memorised the formulas by heart and were prevented from ever writing it down or teaching it to others. They were all extremely loyal members of the village, so bribery won’t work. They wouldn’t even reveal it under torture.

Her only hope of getting the pill recipe was by sneaking into the treasury but she didn’t know how.

The two discussed for a long time before finally deciding on a plan. They observed the young master and realised that he still hadn’t found a permanent replacement maid after firing Nala. Henry had a particular taste so even though he was given a servant temporarily, he didn’t like her very much.

The two decided that Astoria would infiltrate the village lord’s mansion as his maid. Sam taught her the basics of being a maid and Astoria was a fast learner. After that, they just found the time when Henry left the mansion and used that moment to bait him.

Obviously, the masked man who tried to ‘rob’ Astoria was just Sam in disguise.

Now that she knew that the headmistress had access to the treasury, she could finally try to find out where it was.

“Oh, I see, the treasury huh?” Astoria said, trying her best to act surprised. “That is a big responsibility. It must be difficult for the headmistress to clean the entire treasury by herself every day.”

“Ah, she doesn’t clean it every day,” another one corrected her. “I heard she only cleans it once a week at night, once she has finished all of her main duties. If I’m not mistaken, she just cleaned it last night so the next time should be -”

“What’s going on here!?” bellowed a deep voice.

Everyone froze and looked towards Astoria. The voice belonged to the headmistress and it was coming from behind her.

“Ah… nothing headmistress. We were just talking a little bit.”

“If you have time to talk, you have time to work. Get lost!” she yelled.

Everyone scattered but when Astoria tried to leave, she felt someone pulling her arm from behind.

She stopped and started sweating buckets.

“Is there something wrong, headmistress?” she asked, slowly turning around with a smile.

“Why are you asking about the treasury girl?” the headmistress asked with a serious look.

“Ah, no reason. The topic just came up in the conversation, so I was curious, that’s all.”

“Did the topic just ‘come up’, or did you bring it up?” she asked again.

“Aah, I don’t know what headmistress is talking about?” Astoria chuckled dryly.

“You said you were from a poor neighbourhood down south, right?” the headmistress asked, ignoring her question.

“Yes… I did say that,” Astoria replied, sweating more profusely.

“Well, that’s interesting because I have investigated all the poor regions in the southern part of the village, and none of the villagers anywhere seem to know an Olivia Higson,” she said slowly, staring her down.

‘She was bothered enough to do a background check?’ Astoria was surprised.

“Ah, well my parents didn’t let me go out much since I was a girl, so I didn’t have any friends. That’s probably why.” Astoria replied, trying to sound confident.

“Still, your parents would have interacted with the local shopkeepers and others, so there should be people who knew your family right? But there were only two Higson families in the areas I investigated, and neither of them had an Olivia.”

“Ah, I don’t know why. My parents were also pretty reserved…” she replied, but even she wasn’t convinced by her response.

The headmistress looked at her deeply.

“I have my eye on you girl. Master Henry might trust you, but I have lived a long time, seen a lot of people, and dealt with a lot of things. If you try to harm master Henry or anyone here in any way, I will make sure you regret it!”

“What is the headmistress saying!?” Astoria gasped, pulling her hand away and covering her mouth in shock. “I am honoured that master Henry saved me and gave me the opportunity to work – as his personal maid no less! Even if I worked my entire life, I would not be able to repay his kindness, how could I ever seek to harm him?”

Astoria sounded very sincere and almost started to cry. Though her tears were mostly from her fear of the headmistress and her interrogation, her words sounded confident and coupled with her tears, even the headmistress thought she was being honest.

She relaxed. “Get back to work.”

“Yes ma’am!” Astoria replied before scurrying away.

She ran to the kitchen, leaned against the counter, and was gasping for breath.

‘That was way too close!’ Astoria thought to herself.

The headmistress was just too scary! And she had always been suspicious of Astoria from the moment she stepped foot in the mansion.

Still, she learnt a valuable piece of information today.

The treasury was accessed by the headmistress once a week for cleaning, so if she followed her, she would be able to find out where the treasury was.

Astoria calmed down and smiled to herself. After working as a maid for all these days, she finally had a lead.

A week later.

“Here,” the headmistress said, showing a badge to two guards standing outside a huge gate.

The guards inspected the badge carefully before smiling.

“Please proceed, headmistress,” they said while opening the gate.

Astoria was standing far away in the back as she observed the headmistress go through.

They were in an underground tunnel located beneath the mansion that Astoria had followed the headmistress through. Though it was dark, she could see what was happening clearly due to the wall torch illuminating the entrance.

Several hours later, the headmistress came back and nodded to the guards who then closed the gate.

Astoria hid while the headmistress walked past her and back to the mansion. She hesitated for a moment but decided to stay longer and observe the guards.

By sunrise, a man approached the two guards. Astoria recognised the man as Bjorn Hale, a martial artist who had cultivated the undying body. He was famous across the villages as the ‘Hammer of Leon’ for his favourite weapon was a hammer which he used to crush his enemies.

He’s on the same level as father, she thought.

As for the two guards before, they were George and Georgina Langston, a brother-sister duo who were famous across the three villages as the ‘twin blades of Leon’. They had both cultivated the perfect-stage steel body.

The security was tight, and it would be impossible to break in by force. Astoria had no fighting skills, and although Sam was a martial artist, he was only in the tempered body stage and would be absolutely destroyed by any one of these guards.

So, she needed another way to get in.

Deciding it was time to return, Astoria silently crept back into the mansion.

For the next two weeks, Astoria and Sam kept meeting up in secret to discuss a plan to infiltrate the treasury.

One evening, Astoria was on her way to deliver Henry’s meal when she bumped into a slave boy who was carrying food and drinks. Everything fell on the floor and splashed onto her clothes.

“You fool!” she shouted furiously and kicked him out of disgust.

Those who were nearby paid this no head as if it was a very normal thing. She was the one who bumped into him but who cared about that? He was just a slave.

“I’m very sorry miss!” he cried pitifully. “I will get you replacement clothes immediately!” he said.

“Hmph! I will find new clothes myself. You are serving Master George and Miss Georgina, correct? They should not be kept waiting. Here, take this food to them,” said Astoria after calming down.

“There’s no need for you to trouble yourself miss, I will quickly prepare a new plate for them myself,” the boy replied.

“Humph! Are you refusing an instruction from me?” Astoria spat and kicked the boy again.

He coughed and fell to his knees.

“Get up!” she ordered.

The slave’s body was in pain, but he got up regardless. His hands and knees were shaking, and his eyes were blurry. It took him a few moments to become steady again.

“Thank you for your kindness miss,” he said with a smile before taking the plates and walking away with a limp.

Astoria scoffed and turned around, telling some other slave to clean up the mess on the floor who obeyed instantly, while she went to a changing room.

She was inwardly smiling.

That night, a hooded figure crept towards the back door of the mansion. Just as he was getting close, the door opened.

The figure snuck in, and the door closed.

“Sam!” Astoria quietly exclaimed.

She gave him a big hug and Sam was equally happy to see her. The two had gotten close over the past few weeks.

“Follow me!”

Astoria quietly led Sam through the mansion. Over these few weeks, she had worked day and night to learn everything about the mansion and memorise everyone’s movements inside out. She knew what guards would be where and when, and what maid would be doing what – she knew everything.

So, she carefully guided Sam through to the entrance of the underground tunnel and they both made their way towards the treasury. They stopped a few meters away and under the light of the torch, could see that both the guards were asleep.

Still, Sam decided to move closer to them slowly on his own and only when he saw that the guards didn’t react despite him being so close, did he call Astoria over.

Naturally, Astoria had drugged the food that she gave to the slave boy as a replacement, causing them to fall asleep.

The duo was standing in front of the entrance to the treasury. Finally, after so long, she was about to get what she came here for.

The two pushed the door open and were welcomed by the sight of numerous shelves.

“Woah!” gasped Sam and stepped inside.

But that was a mistake.

SCREECH!

A sound echoed from within as footsteps rapidly approached them.

Sam was taken aback and withdrew his sword just in time to block an attack that came from nowhere. The force of the attack was so great that Sam was pushed back.

The light from outside slightly illuminated the attacker’s face, enough for them to make out what it was – a humanoid mechanical, puppet!

Astoria was stupefied! This wasn’t supposed to happen!

Why didn’t the headmistress get attacked? Was this a new security system that they implemented recently? But why would they do that? Was the puppet always there?

“Run!” Sam yelled.

There was no time to think.

Astoria sprinted back instinctually, and just as she left, the two guards woke up to the commotion and were surprised to find Sam fighting the mechanical puppet.

Astoria heard the fierce clashing of swords, followed by Sam’s scream, followed by silence.

Fighting back her tears, Astoria ran back to the mansion as fast as she could.