Kit Falbo
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MwN Chapter Thirty-Five
🕑 Added 2024-08-28 14:25:48 +0000 UTCChapter Thirty-Five
Harmony dreamed she was big. Her disappointment at waking up in her extra-small body was quickly replaced by the fresh disappointment of today being a work day. As exciting as final exams, shopping, pet playdates, and music shows, it was back to the everyday grind. With spring approaching, the extra push to clean out the winter cobwebs was upon them. Climbing out of bed, she did her morning refreshment routine, controlling how much [Cold Touch] influenced the process leaving her feeling a slight icy chill, the blood in her body rushing out to re-warm some of it. Much better than feeling as though she dove into a frozen lake like the skill had done since acquiring it if she wasn’t careful. She’d get a reign on everything she promised herself when things died down.
“I didn’t think you could make a bigger spectacle of yourself than you did at the masquerade, but when I saw you larger than life outside Jack’s window, I felt as shocked as I’d feel if I emptied my mana. I hope you don’t feel too big to clean chamber pots now, Harm.” Fel snipped with more than a bit of amusement from her side of the dorm.
The flame-haired maid delighted in drama and chaos but with the amusement of a spectator. Jessica would have said those words with derision and scorn.
“Don’t worry, I have to level up my profession somehow. Since everyone shits, there’ll always be work there for me.” [Manipulate Dead] and [Dust] synergized for shit work. Freezing the mess with [Cold Touch] might make handling the bowel movements easier, though.
“I knew a little fame wouldn’t cause you to slack on the dirty work.”
Harmony searched for Ambrosia, but there was no sign of the beast tamer or her birds. She wasn’t there for breakfast either. Worry started to creep up her spine as he got dressed. Two birds flew in, pulling Ambrosia’s locker open and extracting the maid’s uniform. Looking like she’d skipped sleep, the girl rushed in.
It almost made Harmony feel bad for Ambrosia. She stuck around for the afterparty, knowing they all had work in the morning. Ambrosia could pull herself together well enough, using her organizational skill to ensure her uniform wasn’t out of place. There was no time to ask how it went.
Together they moved out for the morning changeover and waited, backs straight and eyes forward as Bate’s cane-led thudding approached.
“Have there been any status changes since the start of the last work week?” He asked as he usually did.
Everyone stepped forward. It wasn’t surprising as the whole crew had pushed themselves for the masquerade. The standard praises and bonuses started to get doled out. The words were there but not the attention.
As calm as she was outside, Harmony knew that many things had happened since her last review. Then Bates skipped over her when he would typically call her. Ambrosia’s tired state wasn’t even mentioned despite the tired eyes she wore, something the butler almost always commented on in the past when other staff overdid it.
“Ms. White,” Bates said last.
The maid readied to display her status.
“I’d like to see you in my office.”
The act of projecting her status slipped. “Of course, sir.”
“The rest of you have your assignments for the day.”
The head butler turned and walked away, the necromancer following after.
Bates’ office was small and crowded, a converted closet just big enough to hold a desk and cabinet for papers. One other person made it feel tight and cramped even when that other person was the size of Harmony. Traditionally you only visited Bate’s office when you were hired or fired. He settled in behind the desk while she waited, standing.
“Ms. White, are you unhappy here?”
Unhappy wasn’t the right word. Oh, the maid wanted more, which caused some of her recent troubles. If she’d been forced to speak the truth, she knew she’d blurt out some combination of “Yes, no, I don’t know.”
“I appreciate the opportunity the manor has given me despite my circumstances. I’m more than satisfied with the progression of my profession here. “
“The question of your work contract has come up. Our contracts pay more than the standard rates and include progress bonuses. The lady has valued your unique talents. Yet, a clause has been activated via Mr. Hemlock claiming you’re undervalued and is starting an auction for you. He says the guild could use a good maid, but I know there is more to it than that. A man of the guild master’s unique status does not enter into labor issues even with his profession.”
“The dungeon gave me some attention. And the guild master found that interesting.”
“Except since the employment notice went public. He’s not the only one interested. With this auction happening at the guild’s business offices at the Colosseum, I’m assuming some of this is from those wanting a seat for the semi-finals of the pet battles. You’ll be required to attend, but the whole thing is unusual. Then there is Lord Tyler.”
Silence hung in the air long enough that she felt her social skills prompt her. “What about Lord Tyler?”
“He’s been remarkably apathetic towards retaining you. I must ask if you’ve been cultivating a relationship there?”
“What? No.” She knew the exchange of favors might have been toeing the line. “I’ve strived to keep my interactions neutral and have not propositioned him in any way that would put my employment at risk.”
“Good. Good. This situation is complicated enough as it is. I’m assigning you to clean his room today. His mood has been more colored than usual. Professional and thorough would be best. The employment auction is in three days. I haven’t hidden how the lady is interested in you taking up a greater role in the staff, but you might want to expect some change to come from this one way or another.”
Harmony took the dismissal and walked out, her mind racing. The problems of prince Adric took the backseat to the idea that her employment was up for sale. The contract she signed had clauses making sure she couldn’t quit and expect to find a new job that would nurture her profession. The manor pays well for Hazeldown. Class and profession evolution or any significant status change could invalidate it. However, most simply renegotiated at that point. Sure, some employers traded contracts like gamblers swapped coppers. But those weren’t the ones you looked to work for. The idea of working for Hemlock and being pressured by whatever his plans with the dungeon were was not appealing.
Bates implied others were interested too. Ambrosia put on the biggest advertisement for her yet. Her friend always knew more of the gossip and trends than she did, so that may be why all the Harmony focus of the concert. Not that the beast tamer would outright admit to such a thing.
The maid continued pondering as she marched down the stairs to Lord Tyler’s modified rooms where he could sleep surrounded by his collection. The smell interrupted her thoughts, like getting hit in the face by a half-rotten ham. The surprise shattered her professional mask enough that she grappled with her skills and experience to reset herself.
At least if she had been assigned or swapped for handling chamber pots, she could preemptively smudge a sprig of mint under her nose.
Sometimes you can get the sense of a difficult task before you do it. Spoiled food, sour body odor, the mildew smell of things growing out of stagnant water. Here Harmony could smell it. She knew she’d have to be careful after the attic and how the power level of her skills had changed, which might have made this an all-day task under normal circumstances.
Casting [Dust] with only a hint of synergy, she started to pull the smallest particles from the edges as she walked down. It had a mollifying effect of cutting down on the smell as much of the faint traces in the air that caused the smells were also pulled away. She let the particulates swirl around her ankles with buffer space as an exercise of fine control as she walked. She pulled from flat surfaces, corners, and lightly from Lord Tyler’s collection of rare and unique items.
She knew where the stench source would be, which helped her fortify [Poise and Bearing] as she swung towards Lord Tyler’s living area. It was like some garbage-based skill had exploded around his bed and desk. Like if she ever selected [corpse explosion], then put the biggest, grossest body in Tyler’s bed and went Boom. As it was, there was a body in Tyler’s bed. It happened to be the sleeping lord. Food containers and bottles surrounded him. One wine bottle hung half off the bed, dripping wine into a puddle already spreading across the floor.
The lord let out a long snarling snore. If he slept through the cleaning, it would be best.
She requested Hyacinth to silently hunt any pests the food might have attracted down here. After his singing performance last night, the Shadow Toad was on his best behavior, quietly following behind her all morning.
Nothing about the mess on the floor was something she wanted to touch. It wasn’t the first time she’d handled this kind of situation. She sent the stream of dust she’d collected under the nearest pile of garbage, a half-eaten chicken wrapped in week-old news sheets for delivery, and a broken bottle. The carpet of dust slid under the trash. This time the task was easier than the last time she’d used this technique. Improved skills, her new stats of connection and synergy pushing past what had been tricky before, still she was careful not to try anything new. She pulled the pile slowly forward, letting it roll on the dust, and dragged it back to the bottom of the stairs off to the side. She knew she’d need to bring a bag later to gather it up, but it was easier to consolidate the mess first. Then she went back and repeated the process.
Several days of meals, piles of clothes in various states of soilage, crumpled and torn bits of paper marred with erratic writing. When a word looked like it might be her name, Harmony abandoned all attempts to read them both for Lordy Tyler’s privacy and her personal sanity. All that was quietly dragged off to the corner as the easy, obvious mess.
The stained and damaged things were another problem. Tyler usually wasn’t this careless. With the lord sleeping soundly, she went first to take care of the pile she gathered at the stairs and hauled them off to the appropriate locations.
When she returned with several rags, a bucket of water, a few pouches of cleaning agents, and a mixture of ground bone she could use with her skills to assist with cleaning, Hyacinth informed her he’d taken care of several unusually large rodents and a pair of hand spiders. After all the recent excitement, there was something satisfying about the mundane tasks feeding into her profession. It let her put aside all the thoughts about things she couldn’t control.
She attacked the mess on the floor with rags and water. [Manipulate Dead] had limited use on food, wine, and other stains after they’d settled in. A little effort there did loosen it up, but mostly it was muscle, repetition, and time.
The maid was halfway through getting the spots on the floor when the inevitable interruption happened. Lord Tyler awoke after a fit of choking on his own drool.
“Harmony!?”
The maid could hear the mortification in the lord’s voice, enough that she didn’t need to look up to meet his eyes as she kept working. “Yes, M’lord?” She responded as demurely as she wrung out a vomit-stained rag as best she could into the now foul bucket of water.
“What are you doing here?!”
“Working on my profession. I was assigned your rooms today. Is there any specific task you would like me to do today?”
“Yes, no, maybe. I wasn’t. I hadn’t. I need some time to wake up.”
Harmony froze, mind on the predicament. Keep cleaning or go and exchange the nasty water with a fresh bucket. The latter appealed because it removed her, however briefly, from Lord Tyler’s awkward flailing. She’d have to return as quickly as professionalism allowed.
She was sad to see as a lordling, he wasn’t meeting the standards of his profession. Would he even still be a lord after his evolution? Adric killed himself to keep his authority as a prince. Advancement can take away and curse as much as it can give strength and blessing. Tyler could even stall out like Jessica.
Grrupt. Hyacinth croaked at her through their bond, interrupting her thoughts. Sending the impression of someone coming.
Really?! She’d seen him singing words the other night and knew he could speak through their bond. Annoyance at the vague impression of someone coming flared up. She reached [Familiar Bond] for more than that. Rather than chastise the toad, she searched for information. A pink mossy rock? What?
Leaving the bucket and rag on the floor, Harmony stood up, straightening her spine to be at attention. Footsteps echoed from behind her.
“Little Lord, still wallowing in self-pity. You won’t believe what….”
Sir Maxwell, Tyler’s cousin, and his little monologue stopped as he stepped into sight of everyone. The knight’s pink-stained hair now had days of new growth at the roots making for an interesting image.
The maid could feel the oath he put towards her itch in her soul and now understood Hyacinth’s implication.
“... Harmony. Am I interrupting anything?” He choked out.
“I am merely performing my assigned duties as a maid of the manor, Sir Maxwell,” Harmony responded in a flat professional tone.
“So, no probing questions or putting yourself in unreasonable danger?” The knight asked.
Hyacinth shot her the image of the mossy rock again. Not that Harmony disagreed, but she wasn’t going to use the man’s current weakness of being honest towards her against him, at least while she was working. “Of course not, honored knight.”
Confidence filled the man.
“Max, what’s going on here?” Tyler demanded.
“Nothing, Cousin. Simply a little thing between me and miss White that has nothing to do with you. Gran asked me to pull you out of this pit today. Take you to train for the future. There will be no more hiding in this starter town.
“There is nothing between you and Harmony. You’ve known her for only days. She’s worked at the manor for years. I’ll leave when I’m ready to leave.” Harmony could feel a wave of authority ripple out from him, but it didn’t have much weight with him sitting up in his bedclothes.
“I’m not disobeying Gran because you’re throwing a lordly fit. She said you’ve been here missing all your responsibilities and events since the masquerade.”
Harmony saw the thought pop into Max’s head. As his eyes popped over to her and widened under his bushy pink eyebrows, a grin grew on his face. She looked down at the bucket. Time to change the water.
“You missed the event last night. You stayed in the one place where you’d miss it. Halfway across town, and bam, larger than life. Do you want to tell our little lord, or should I, Harmony?”
“I’d rather not.”
[Poise and Bearing] kept her face calm. She knew she was never going to live Ambrosia’s little favor down.
“Maybe you can show off some of your movies?”
“I’m working, Sir Maxwell. Let me know if you’d like for a more social discussion where I can ask you your honest opinions on things.” She used her connection stat to tweak the oath he’d stuck to her.
Whether he felt that or his brain worked. It clearly sobered him up some.
“What in the depths are you talking about, Max?”
“Our brave little Necromancer put on a show for the city. The whole city. I wasn’t close enough to hear the music. But those dance movies.”
Sir Maxwell started to dance. Wherever physical skills the man had, it translated well to mimicry; he’d paid attention to what she had done and repeated them faithfully.
Hyacinth started laughing in the back of Harmony’s mind through their bond.
Lord Tyler looked speechless, and Harmony knew she was too. Grasping the handle of her bucket, she took advantage of the shock running through her system, turned, and left as quickly as her professionalism would allow.
Getting back, she took her time, and thankfully, both the lord and knight had left before she arrived. Hyacinth scouted ahead, but with his current humor, she wouldn’t have put it past the toad to lie. Well, maybe not that far, but some kind of misunderstanding. It all meant she needed to pay extra attention to their bond.
The space was gloriously empty, so Harmony let her rigid posture go and relaxed. Not that there wasn’t a full day’s worth of cleaning still strewn about. Now that Lord Tyler had evacuated the bed, she’d need to get clean linens, remove the soiled and stained ones, and deal with whatever other messes he left behind. Gone was the risk of him waking up. Now she could be more forceful with her skills.
The stained floor provided a perfect opportunity to test her newly improved skills against it. [Dust] and [Manipulate Dead] entwined as a synergy of the two. She resolved not to flex her stats into it or overcharge it with her mana skill. The dried stain was a problem. [Dust] only managed to detach a thin layer, [Manipulate Dead] peeled up less, the synergized skills stripped off the top layer, but not enough. “Bucket of water it is.”
A slight push of the skills as she ran the damp cloth over the stain worked best.
She’d been offered other cleaning skills as she advanced her class, but they’d never been as appealing as [Style and Grace] and [Beautician] when she took those. Save some time cleaning or choose to build up your social and physical aspects. It hadn’t felt like much of a choice. Two more bucket changes of water and the floor finally recovered from what Lord Tyler had done in his wallowing.
The man’s work desk and bed were almost as awful, the bed requiring her to take all of the bedding. Usually, Tyler at least kept his desk clear, but this time half-eaten fruit, marred papers, and other bits of garbage covered it.
The book Lords and Ladies - Making Social Connections was covered in juice. It was part of the collection his Gran had insisted he read. Harmony considered the writing a self-indulgent work about projecting your most confident self, giving the right kind of gifts, and getting your name mentioned in different social circles. The damage was bad enough, and after the bucket of failure trying to repair Monster Girls had been, she was sure she’d have to take it to the library for them to fix it.
Setting the book aside, she started picking up more mess until her eyes caught the words, Prince Adric’s body, on a note. Harmony hadn’t meant to read it, but between an apple core and a broken puzzle was a letter that her eyes skimmed. Now she couldn’t make herself not read it.
Dear Tyler,
I’m so sorry I kept my status hidden from you. Lady Coodly said it was my decision, and there has never been that large a difference between a lady and a princess in the eyes of authority. I’m afraid that even if we can recover Prince Adric’s body and censure the culprit, the duke will linger in an attempt to gain notoriety for his chance to earn authority. I feel awful for getting Harmony dragged into this mess. That dreadful Hemlock has his ear, and I fear shenanigans at the upcoming auction.
Countess Maye has dropped everything and is coming. She has the will to catch the body thief, whereas our almost duke does not. I fear she’ll be here a day too late. But if we can keep everything calm, this whole thing will boil over in a few days, and we can share some wine before heading to the capital. Whatever mess we brought to Harmony’s life will pass like a spring storm.
Sincerely, Princess Rosaline.
Well, that’s a worst-case scenario. Harmony could only deal with the messes she knew about. Being kept in the dark to shield her from whatever drama is going on. It’s not like she meant to be the body thief. She wished all those aristocrats would drink their wine and hop off to the capitol early.
The big looming problems that you have no control over, what do you do? You get to work. Harmony redoubled her efforts to clean the area. This habit probably helped her gain the profession. With its social expectations, a maid was a step above most cleaner professions, and having the class had been required for her to get the job at the manor.
The monotony of cleaning gave her time to think. The good news was that no one seemed to suspect that she was the one who raised the prince. She scrubbed a bit harder when thinking about how legally she had every right to do so, even if it hadn’t been a mistake. Sure, she’d be shamed socially if she brought out a shambling zombie of the prince, but to go through the effort of hunting her down seemed excessive. It’s not like she had funds to contact a proper lawyer, and what, ask them to stop? Those with authority tend to abuse it or at least get away with things. She could confess to Tyler and really be in his debt, no thank you.
Then there was the mess of her contract. She’d get a portion of the sale, but then she’d be working for someone else unless the manor gathered the funds to retain it. What did that leave? Begging for funds to buy it herself. Better to accept the results. Work for whatever rich fool wanted to buy the novelty of the week. But then she’d be alone, no Ambrosia, no Bates, no Fel.
[Cold Touch] flared at the emotions, leaving a thin ice sheet on the water in her cleaning bucket. That loss of control made her want to punt the bucket across the room. Her other new skill was telling her how to do it to get maximum distance, almost encouraging the idea. There isn’t even time for her to get a handle on her progress. Too busy to find time to practice and focus and get them all under control.
Hours later, covered in sweat, Harmony looked upon the job she’d completed with some satisfaction. You’ve been in worse spots, she reminded herself. The only way forward is through. Head low, work hard, and this all will pass. The unknown will be revealed in only a few more days, and she could get to work.
