“Prepare the dining hall! We have guests tonight!” I called out to the maids.

“How many must we cater for?” asked one of the maids. The maid next to her looked at her in horror, expecting me to punish them for talking back.

Heh, let’s do the opposite.

“Thanks for asking,” I began – and had to pause so I could admire the maid’s confused face, “Unfortunately, I don’t know how many guests will be coming, only that they belong to the viper clan. As such, I’d like your ideas on how to deal with it!”

The responses came as a variety of nods, ponders, and sighs.

A hand near the back went up.

“In the back, do you have an idea?” I asked.

“Yes! We could cater for an excess amount of people and fill the gaps with our own men!” she replied.

“That’s a good start. Regardless of how many come we’ll still save face.” I surmised.

“Indeed, we should cater for a full hall…” affirmed the head maid in the front, “… a question, if I may, Mistress.”

“Go ahead.”

“Thank you, milady. Do you know when they will arrive?” asked the head maid apprehensively.

“They said ‘evening’ but didn’t specify further.” I said in a half-grumble.

The head maid paled, “Oh dear… If we start preparing immediately we might make it…”

I glanced at the maid and made up my mind, “Can I leave it to you, umm…”

“Mrs Green,” she filled me in, “I’ll handle the preparations for this evening.”

“Thank you, I leave you to it then…” I said with a nod. “I’ll need an outfit for tonight, one of you are with me, the rest are dismissed!”

I was hoping Annie would accompany me, but it would seem she has a jealous boyfriend; unless I explicitly ask for her she would avoid me.

I wonder why Kyler is so antsy about my ‘relationship’ with her, it’s not like she’s seeing another man…

<[ Even if you aren’t a man, you still… *sigh* I know you understand… You just don’t care, right?]>

… Seems about right.

<[ You sound like Dawn… ]>

<( I HAVE ARRIVED! )>

<<[ SHUT UP! ]>>

<( Uuuu… *sniffle* )>

I turned around and began to leave with a brisk walk. Glancing behind me, there was a cool beauty whose intelligent appearance was betrayed by her ditzy run. She tripped as she ran around the corner and crashed face first into the floor, landing with hands above her head in a long slide. All I could do was slow down to make it a little easier for her keep up without tripping again.

She shot back up and pretended nothing happened, only to trip over her own feet and land in the same position yet again. There was no slide this time and she was back on her feet before I could even turn around, I probably wouldn’t have even noticed it if I weren’t already looking at back.

She beautiful, but pitiful at the same time. “Can’t judge a book by its cover” would be an apt saying for her, ignoring the fact that only hobbyists and eccentrics own printed books in this day and age.

While mulling over exactly what humanity lost to gain what it now has, we arrived at my dressing room.

“What would you like to wear this evening?” asked the maid.

“Hmmm… something showy, but also easy to move in; we don’t know what our sudden guests are planning and they might attack.” I responded.

“So, a dress? One that still allows freedom of movement?”

“Something like that…” I responded with a dry smile, some small part of my male-based mind was trying to reject the notion but I saw no problems with it.

“How about some armour plating to show your authority?”

I raised an eyebrow for a moment, initially I was wondering why such a ditz was chosen to follow me. Seems like she’s got quite sharp fashion instincts.

“Yes. In your opinion, would bold or subtle colours be better?” I asked, probing her aesthetics a little.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Armour plating itself is pretty bold so there’s no point in mixing it with bold colours unless… Hmmm…” said the maid ponderously. “Ah! I have an idea!” exclaimed the maid with a look of inspiration.

She ran over to the intercom and called for another maid, accompanied by several very specifically shaped and sized bits of metal alloys.

She then rushed into the closet and started searching for whatever bits of cloth she had in mind. She also pulled out a few sewing kits before she came back out.

Is she planning on making me a whole new outfit here and now? I pondered, somewhat surprised by the incredible dexterity she showed with her hands.

The clumsiness in her footwork had also faded, but was still present. Good with her hands but poor on her feet?

She started separating materials and sowing them back together in different shapes, a few minutes later another maid arrived with an armful of various curve metals and polymers. These additional materials joined the chaotic mess and a measly fifteen minutes later she was done.

Her work speed was impressive and the quality equally so.

The final product was an intimidating dark red dress that was slightly lighter near the top and darker near the bottom. There was a black Chinese dragon decorating the back. My shoulders were exposed but I was also wearing long gloves made out of a silver double-layered netting that looked like chainmail at a glance, there was a brown strip of leather holding the gloves up at the top and we added lightweight gauntlets to cover everything below the elbow. The bottom of the dress reached a third of the way down the front of my thighs and three quarters down the back, there were high slits on the sides for freedom of movement. I wore leggings like the gloves, they looked like chainmail and were held up by a leather strap reminiscent of a garter belt. I wore brown leather boots with a raised heel that came up to just below the knee, but there was a plate of metal added to the upper shin which extended upwards and hid the knee. Additionally, there were extra strips of armour added to the sides of my hips and ribcage that extended around to the back.

After putting the outfit on I was told to sit and she proceeded to do my hair. She formed a small double braid that started at the front right and disappeared underneath the hair at the back. She then tied my hair back into a ponytail and added a small red flower clip on the left and stepped back to admire her work.

“What, no makeup?” I quipped.

She sighed, “You don’t need make up… Your skin makes me so jealous!”

“Heh, thanks.” I said with a victorious smirk, “If you want, come up to my quarters afterwards and you can get to know it a little better.”

She returned a sultry smile, “I’ll be there. And unlike the other girls, I won’t need any corrupting.”

Oh? I didn’t see that character trait coming.

<[ Considering the number of maids you’ve been ‘playing’ with, you were bound to run into one eventually. ]>

True.

She left as I stood up and looked at myself in the mirror.

I liked what I saw; it isn’t as sultry or as feminine as what I wore when announcing my position, but it has a certain warrior-esque appeal. I really like this style; I might actually make it much more common in my wardrobe.

Its missing something…

Just as I was thinking that, the maid returned. She was holding a plasma sword – the standard issue version.

“That outfit really needs a weapon to complete it, so I went and grabbed something from the armoury,” she said with a smile.

“Thanks. You’re right, it feels incomplete as it-” I began, but stopped mid-sentence as a noticed a disconcerting fact, “… how did you get into the armoury?”

“Eh? I just walked in though…” she said, slightly confused.

I frowned, the armoury should be guarded and at the very least locked, its only sensible to keep your weapons secure.

“And nobody tried to stop you?”

“There was nobody there at all.”

“No guards? No staff? Not even an intruder?”

“No, nobody was there.”

I gave her a sideways glare, either she was lying – and she had very little reason to do so – or something was very wrong.

Chesnokov had gone to Omega, something about new training equipment.

The clan’s elites all left when Voss took over.

Nordon is a scholar above all else and thus has little to no combat strength.

The only other person who can fight properly is Mr Wizard.

I sighed in resignation. The clan is vulnerable right now. Sure, the grunts might be able to do something, but they’ll mean little in the face of a few elites.

Unfortunately, all I can do right now is investigate the situation at the armoury and see if it leads to any other abnormalities.

Wearing my new outfit, I stood up and started heading towards the armoury.

“Thanks for the hard work. You can go relax now.” I said with a small wave to the maid behind me.

“T-thank you!” she replied shyly.

I had something to look forwards to tonight, but there is also a mountain of problems I’ll have to deal with beforehand. With that in mind, I made my way towards the armoury.

When I arrived, there was nothing out of place; the inner door was locked and there were two men standing guard.

How odd… so the maid was lying to me? I doubt she had a reason to lie to me… unless…

“Open up. I’m going into the armoury!”

The guards had two very different reactions, one glared at me defiantly and the other was sweating bullets.

“Did you not hear me? Open the armoury.” I said fiercely.

“And who are you to order me around?” said the defiant man. The nervous man gave him a look of horror to those words.

“Evidently, not your boss.” I said with a fierce glare as I reached for my blade.

“Correct!” said the man, making his partner perform a splendid facepalm.

Irritated, I dashed forwards and brought my knee up to his crotch with as much power as I could; Nova even removed the natural limiter for me. The man lifted off the floor with the force and since it was in such a convenient position I also confiscated his gun while I was at it.

I calmly disabled the safety as he crumpled onto the floor and gifted him three bullets to the head.

I looked to the side at the other man, he already had his hands in the air.

“… the difference between the brains and the brawn, right?” I said sarcastically to the other man.

He simply stood still and quivered under my gaze.

“Alright. Open up.”

The man pulled the a key out of his pocket and inserted it into the door. The door pulled the key inside and slid open.

“Smart man.”

I stepped inside and checked out the damage.

Everything seemed ok at a glance, but upon inspecting each item individually I noticed that none of it was still usable; things were stuffed down barrels, power cores were broken, electronics were wet, just about everything was damaged.

I glanced down at my plasma sword. I pulled it out and opened its power containment unit. It was empty.

I sighed and started trying to salvage some weapons.

I managed to find a compatible power core in a relatively old plasma rifle and fixed up my plasma sword.

Additionally, I found spare ammo and a thigh holster for the gun I confiscated from the fake guard earlier.

“Milady!” came a frantic voice from behind me, “They have arrived!”