Chapter 27

Crimson was running around the training field again. He’d also remembered that he needed to practice his breathing exercises for W.C. Kung Fu. Good thing Lena didn’t know I was supposed to be doing a breathing exercise and forgot. It’d give her another reason to yell at me, again. Last night was bad enough, I don’t need a repeat experience.

Since he remembered that he needed to practice his breathing techniques he’d started incorporating them into his Stamina recovery period, after running, but before stretching.

He’d been up since five as per usual and had been in that loop of exercise for two hours, it was grueling and it wore on him, but it was satisfying. He had another hour before breakfast started so he cracked open the rune book; Lena had showed him how to store stuff in his inventory. It was a simple process, taking him only a few tries to get right.

All he’d had to do was hold the book and think Store in slot: […] and it disappeared from his hand. He’d learned something interesting from Lena when she taught him how to do it: his Status is affected by his perception of how it should work. Crimson didn’t have to use his hands to interact with it, he could just think about what he wanted done and it would happen. Some people had to interact with their Status like a video game-tapping on it and dragging things around; others had to interact via voice command.

Lena even mentioned one guy who had to write instructions on a piece of paper and hold it up in front of his Status, another had to perform certain dance moves to move it along. It was all fascinating for him to think about, but he was glad that he was able to interface with his mentally: it was more convenient.

Crimson sighed, then chucked the book back into his inventory, with how his blood was pumping he couldn’t settle down to properly study it. He decided to spend the next hour before breakfast working with a blunt metal sword he’d grabbed off of the weapon rack. The weight took some getting used to, but the difference was apparent:

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Skill: Level Up [Running V]

Skill: Level Up [Sword Mastery V]

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[Running] was showing his hard work from that morning and Mars had even taught him an interesting series of forms the day before that worked his body in ways that simple stretching couldn’t.

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Skill: Level Up [Flexibility IV]

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The strain on his muscles caused them to shake after just a few minutes of forms, it was almost enough for him to drop the-heavier than he was used to-sword. It was very effective though: it leveled his [Flexibility] and [Sword Mastery] skills. Because of that dual grinding the hour was well spent.

Crimson put the sword back on the rack and ran over to the well hidden by the wall. He hadn’t noticed it the first few times he’d visited the field because it was behind a figurative wall of equipment and he hadn’t had much reason to go behind it all. The only reason was because he noticed the other DGs visiting it the day before durning the first break that Mars gave him.

While he washed all the sweat off Lena sat on the edge of the well, giving her thoughts on his most recent training. She’d been watching Mars train him and had memorized every single one of the forms Mars demonstrated to perfection. She told him exactly what he’d been doing wrong and how he could correct it, but she wasn’t a perfect substitute. There is a big difference between knowing the ‘what’ vs the ‘why.’

Lena knew what all the forms were SUPPOSED to look like, but she didn’t know why he was supposed to do them that way. It had lead to a few situations during the training when her advice was more of a hinderance than a help. Crimson had made sure not to get mad at her over it though: she was trying to help after all.

He dumped a bucket of cold water over his upper body-after he removed his shirt- as he carefully leaned forward to keep his pants from getting drenched.

“Ah, ah ah. That’s COLD!”

He hopped around for a few seconds as he dealt with the shock of the cold, then quickly shook himself like a dog to get some of the water off. He rubbed his arms and tilted his head back, trying to absorb some of the sun’s rays for warmth. After a few minutes of that he put his shirt back on-getting it a little wet in the process-and headed to the cafeteria.

The second he entered the castle he was ambushed by a certain Fox-Kin maid with orange hair.

“Where have you been?”

She wasn’t smiling like usual.

“I heard that you ended up in the infirmary with some burns after you stopped the fire in the library. Then, I didn’t see you at all yesterday; I even waited for you at dinner! So where were you?”

“Sorry! I’m so sorry!” He said while bowing, “I didn’t come to dinner yesterday because I was too tired after Captain Ursidae helped me train. I’m sorry I kept you waiting.”

The angry look faded off of Sariya’s face a little and was replaced by one that was a mixture of sadness and sympathy.

“I guess…I can forgive you a little, if Captain Ursidae helped you train yesterday then it’s no wonder that you were exhausted. He’s helped quite a few of the palace maids train before too, and a few of them couldn’t get their [Suspended] tags to disappear from their Stamina for a few days.”

“You look like you have a personal experience with his training regimen.”

A shadow crossed her face and the hollow look of trauma was apparent in her eyes, “I don’t have a fancy Status like you do Crimson; even with healing spells from one of my friends it still took me four days before I could move again.”

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Sariya watched as Crimson’s silvery eyes crinkled as he winced after hearing her words. She’d actually undersold how hard it was so he didn’t feel too bad.

While it was true that it took four days before she could move properly after the day of training with that…that…demon, she’d been sore for a week. She felt like she could hear her muscles creaking with every movement, and her friend was healing her every few hours too!

Because of what she went through it wasn’t difficult to forgive him, even when she’d been mad just a minute before.

She quickly waved it off and invited Crimson to have breakfast with her, and he quickly agreed with a warm smile on his face. It was nice to be smiled at like that, especially since a lot of the other maids had been treating her so coldly for the past several months.

“You’ll want to grab some of that plaiyo! It isn’t in season for very long.”

“This fruit?”

“Yup!”

It was fun talking with someone about simple things, being treated kindly, being showed honest curtesy. It had been so long.

“Thanks for having breakfast with me!”

“Of course Sariya! I’ll be happy to eat with you anytime.”

“When you haven’t spent the day training with Captain Ursidae, you mean.”

“Yeah, that.”

They parted ways after that exchanged, each to their own daily duties. She knew that he was going off to train: he was the most motivated DG she’d ever seen join. Most newbies trained for about 6 hours a day during their training week. Crimson trained for almost 12. She went off to scrub the floor in the throne room.

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Sariya.

That was her name. No last name, no family name, nobody knew anything about her past before she was taken in as a maid; that nobody included the person herself.

She’d been taken in as a ‘trainee maid’ at the age of 6, but she didn’t really have to clean anything. It had been her duty to be the playmate of Princess Rhinese al voth Alda. She loved playing with her, it had been loads of fun, but as she got older they’d gotten busier and busier; both had new duties. Princess Rhinese had her studies and Sariya had learned how to clean, cook, and sew; she’d learned to be a maid.

After a lot of hard work she’d been assigned to be the personal maid of Prince Kaine vir ank Alda at the age of 13. It had been the happiest day of her life. She finally got to show that she could work off the debt she owed the royal family for taking her in and giving her a home, for showing her the wonders of friendship for a few short years, for making her feel wanted. She’d been the perfect maid, she had to be perfect for Prince Kaine. It had been her purpose.

That had all changed less than a year ago.

Prince Kaine had finally finished his two year period as the Regent Prince, and had just earned his position as Crown Prince when everything went horribly wrong: the man she served so faithfully had burned down the house of a lesser noble, a man he’d once had a serious argument with. She had thought that he would be forgiven. He’d been drunk at the insistence of his so called friends and they had egged him on. Forced him to ‘finish’ his argument with that lesser noble in a way, he’d never do something so bad of his own free will, but he hadn’t been forgiven. He’d been forced to serve a prison sentence and had been strapped in public.

Once the dust settled and Prince Kaine was sitting in a cell fingers had been pointed everywhere. His ‘friends’ had gotten off scot-free because of falsified witness testimonies. The finger of blame needed a target, and who better than the Prince’s personal maid? She was around him all the time and he was known for being friendly with the palace staff and he wasn’t close with anyone else.

The false accusations had been leveled at her by people who weren’t thinking clearly, it had been one of the most difficult times of her life. She though that she’d be on the chopping block soon. That she’d be strapped like the prince. That she’d soon be dead.

Then, Princess Rhinese had stepped in and vouched for her.

That one action by the Princess had allowed her to keep her job and kept her from being hurt…legally.

A lot of the maids had turned on her, blaming her for what happened to former Prince Kaine. That group of maids had turned on her, insulting her under their breaths as they passed by, sabotaging her work, ensuring she got the worst portions at meal times.

Of the many friends she’d made during her time as a made she was only treated kindly by a few of them, then those few started to avoid her when they became targets as well. She had been well and truly alone for the past two months, barely talking to anybody.

Princess Rhinese had heard some of what happened and tried to recruit Sariya as an assistant for Sammy, but had been denied by both her parents and by outcry from the rest of the staff.

The maid that had corrupted their beloved Prince working with the Princess? Never! It would ruin her! That was what was said. It had hurt Sariya, it had been hard. What hurt even worse was seeing the light that had been in Prince Kaine’s eye fade away, replaced by a cold unreadable look. He did a good job of acting cheerful in front of everyone else, but she could see that the light was gone; like joy had never existed for her Prince.

That had been the truest low for her, she had been bullied, she had been mocked and blamed, but what hurt the most was seeing her Prince broken.

Sariya looked in the puddle of water on the throne room ground as tears tracked down her cheeks. A maid was walking away from her and the bucket she’d just knocked over to ruin Sariya’s hard work, polishing the floor.

The pain and abject despair that had plagued her had faded a little recently though. She met a young man who looked at her with kindness. He was polite and kind, he spent time with her and the kindness that radiated off him had helped her forget, even a little, the pain. He had even asked her out on a date!

Just a year ago she would have said ‘no,’ but…to be able to spend time with someone who didn’t think she was worthless, who thought she was pretty, who looked so innocent…she couldn’t say no.

It had been her habit to act cheerful, but with him she could actually be happy. Yes, that little spot of happiness in her otherwise miserable life: Crimson Hokori.