“Move your feet, maggot! If I see you dragging your feet I would rain down punishment so hard you wish you were *beep* in the *beep*!”

Gasp. Language!

Nemo moved her feet as she was told and dragged the mop across the hall. She would’ve laughed at the censoring magic of the mansion or how the body of Headless Housemaid desperately flailed and tried to quell her inner voice of anger, but Nemo did laugh earlier and was told to shut up with words so colourful she decided for the sake of her own sanity she would just do what she was told.

Besides, the body looked so kind and was trying her hardest to shut herself up. It was a shame she didn’t have a mouth, or face, or a head.

Nemo wondered what the exercise had to do with learning a new ability but if the Count said Headless Housemaid could help then she trusted his judgment. The body also gave her a thumbs up so Nemo must’ve been doing something right.

Still, Nemo was having fun. The sensation of dragging a mop around and having it swish and swoosh on the floor without caring whether or not she was cleaning was something Nemo could do. She was essentially just running around and making splashy noises. Besides, she made all this mess in the name of training and practice, sure she didn’t need to clean up afterwards.

That would’ve been a real pain in the butt.

Unless…

The training was simply running around with the mop. It shouldn’t matter where she ran as long as she was mopping, right? Which meant she could be somewhere far away from a certain angry voice that was going to tell her to clean up.

Nemo was a genius! She turned around from the end of the hallway and sprinted to the turn in the other side. She saw the body of Headless Housemaid clap for her supposed enthusiasm and heard the angry voice begrudgingly admit so, she felt a little bad for what she was about to do. However, in the name of training and self-improvement, definitely not because she found a reason to goof off and make an excuse if things turned for the worse, she turned the corner and left the Headless Housemaid waiting for someone that would never come back.

Brilliant!

Nemo ran and she had never felt faster! She ran until she realized she never told Headless Housemaid what she needed help for. Not that she could. She just never confirmed what the exercise was exactly for and she was already tired and cannot run anymore.

Nemo stalked back to the Headless Housemaid, who although was waving at her with a silent cheer, had an angry accompanying voice.

“Where the *beep* have you been?” the voice yelled and Nemo visibly recoiled.

Nemo stalked to the Headless Housemaid and started gesturing around, telling her that nothing worked and how frustrated she was and asked how would the exercise help.

“Stop fooling around. You can’t be my successor if you don’t build enough stamina. How else are you going to clean the mansion in a single rotation?”

Nemo lifted her hand and directed her palm at Headless Housemaid.

[Splash of Sanitation (rank E)]

“What the hell are you doing? I’ll kill you, you punk!”

The voice began to curse and the sentences had more words Nemo didn’t understand than ones she did. She felt bad for the body but she had to express her displeasure somehow. How dare the voice made her run around for nothing?

Nemo decided to explain things, or rather try, and proceeded to cast her skills. She splashed walls, wet shoes, and flung herself everywhere.

“What are you doing. Hey stop her!” the voice yelled at the body. However, the body patted her own shoulders and then mummers were heard. “So you wanted to learn about the Clean and Dust ability. Why didn’t you say so?”

Nemo could feel her legs losing strength. It was her own fault for not confirming what they were doing she chalked it up to being stunned by the discrepancy between body and voice. She pointed towards her mouth to answer Headless Housemaids question.

“Oh right,” the voice dismissed before handing Nemo a piece of white cloth. The body pointed to the wall and the voice continued to explain. “Hold onto it and start wiping here. You should know how to channel mana by now so just start doing that and thinking about cleaning the spot. Try to feel it with your mind and we’ll work from them.”

That didn’t sound so bad.

“Now get moving!”

Yelp. Nemo began wiping. She closed her eyes and let the mana flow to the tower. She continued for who knew how long and she felt it. The surface of the cloth was now an extension of her.

[Skill learned - Clean and Dust (rank E)]

That was easy. So Nemo ran all that for nothing. The body gave her a thumbs up but she heard the voice click her tongue and complained about time wasted.

How dare she. Nemo looked at Headless Housemaid’s body who felt Nemo’s intention and gave ger a thumbs up. Oh? That made things interesting. Water fight!

[Splash of Sanitation (rank E)]

[Splash of Sanitation (rank A)]

[Splash of Sanitation (rank E)]

“Hey stop it, you two!”

Amidst the laughing and fun, small inconsequential complaints could be heard. However, she paid it no attention. What was the voice going to do, yell at them to death? Nemo and the body of Headless Housemaid kicked up the fun and began flinging around and blasting one another with water. If the voice was still complaining all she had to do was drown it out with fun!

They played for who knew how long and Nemo eventually found herself back in Headless Housemaid’s room. She sat on the bed and the maid was gently wiping her hair. Nemo knew the body was kind and the voice was still silent. Nemo wondered what was her story. It might’ve been really interesting but she doubt the voice would tell her and the body couldn’t really speak.

“Not like I can do anything about it,” a voice grumbled and the hands drying Nemo’s hair shuddered lightly. The voice then sounded panicked and quickly apologized. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I fine, really.”

The voice trailed off and Nemo thought she might’ve interrupted something personal. She sprung up from the bed and waved Headless Housemaid goodbye. The body seemed tell Nemo she was not finished but Nemo knew better. With a grin Nemo exited the room and heard a small ‘thank you’ as the door closed.

Nemo wondered what it was like. She knew how difficult it could be when a person was unable to speak and tell others exactly what was on their mind, but what about the opposite? What about a mind with only a voice and no means of accomplishing any of their goals? For Nemo she would never trade her voice back for never able to have fun. She now kind of felt sad for the voice.

Nemo sighed a silent sigh and began walking to the Count’s office. She would help the Headless Housemaid later, for now, she had gotten all three of her abilities and did what the Count asked. Now she had to began her new assignment. How exciting!