Mrs. Doderson offered to move in with the kids. She herself had been widowed several years before when her husband had tripped and fell down the stairs. In addition, all of her children had moved out of the house themselves. So she was currently at a dearth of things at home. In addition she could similarly rent the place out like Micky was doing, at a premium. Micky realised and appreciated what she was doing for him.

She had would take care of that after getting the little brats settled away. She could probably subcontract out to some adventurers. Even though the guild was under lockdown to only take priority requests for the state, most adventurers like most soldiers, were just sitting around on their thumbs twiddling them. Some obviously, took that more literal than others.

This meant there was an overabundance of cheap labor to be had if you knew where to look. Of course Micky and Prin took on official postings, but there were others who were not so fortunate.

None of this was too much of his concern right now though. Right know he had to get the two aloof elves, the wolf girl that was acting more like a pet dog, the orkish girls that was taking things in stride despite the outright brat that kept saying they were being taken to be raped, and last but not least the shy girl. Of course the ork and the shy girl Marry were not really a concern. Micky was just glad she realized not to shout things in the street or there would be trouble… for her, the ‘noble’ would just end up a little embarrassed and much more annoyed.

Arriving at his rented house but not nearly soon enough Micky brought them to the room they would be sharing. Originally he had assumed it would be more than enough considering he would only have a couple of brats and Mrs. Doderson already had a house. That didn’t seem to be the case anymore. There was a room for Mrs. Doderson off of the kitchen for staff, consequently near where the little brats would be staying. Micky had decided to clear that out for her.

Now the biggest problem was going to be that he had only bought two beds for the kids. This had been a tentative purchase and one he wasn’t sure would be necessary. It appears he had underestimated his situation…

“You… you can take me but you have to promise to leave Marry alone!” Said the little brat that was apparently not done yet. Micky just felt sad at this point, she had been so good up until now.

He turned to the flat chested eight year old little girl with [Dead] eyes. “I’m not ‘having’ any of you. So shut up about it already!... I don’t… I haven’t even… *Sigh*, Look I’m not interested in some kid that doesn’t even have a chest. That goes for all of you. You are not my property, or slaves, or even workers yet. You are my charges, or so says the paperwork I have.” Said Micky.

“I don’t believe you! I know the stories! I know what nobles do to kids they take back home with them!” Said the brat. Micky closed his eyes. And when he did, quick as even he wouldn’t believe, Mrs. Doderson appeared behind the girl and brought her over her knee. She slapped the child with an audible ring to it three times. Micky looked aghast, these kids had just been caned! If they hadn’t he would’ve done it himself a long time ago.

The brat obviously started crying. “Will you continue to disrespect the master?” Asked Mrs. Doderson. She had the steal of a mother in her voice. A threat of violence so severe that compliance was almost automatic.

The brat continued to struggle though, she had yet learned to fear ‘the voice’. “I will not...”

Three more slaps rang out in quick succession. “I won’t...”

And three more with a hand raised, threatening to continue the torture until the accused admitted to their crimes. “I’m sorry! *Whoohooohooo* I won’t do it again! I’m sorry!” Cried out the little girl. Micky felt his heart break. But Mrs. Doderson was not swayed, only stemmed for the time being.

Mrs. Doderson released the little girl to hide behind Marry who shielded her from the mean old bat.

“In this house, you will not disparage the noble master. You will comply with all and every single one of his demands to your absolute fullest, am I understood?” Said Mrs. Doderson.

“Yes” Came a surprising seven replies. One of which was full of cries, tears, and snot. One of which was a nearly whispered response from the ‘master’ himself that seemed an autonomic response to ‘the voice’. Of course that autonomic response got a raised eyebrow in return but no further comment from the maid.

Of course by the time all this kerfuffle had finished Prin had already come down the stairs and into the source of the commotion. She was extremely interested to see these new charges, that some of which, she would no doubt be in charge of.

She immediately raised an eyebrow at the ork girl amongst them. Clearly, she was just as surprised as Micky to see a full blooded member of her race here. She took in the elves as well. They seemed to be three quarters elf, though not a true full blood. Likely from a clan that had been living in a human city for a long time and picked up the odd human, or other ancestor along the lines. Finally, there was a dog, that walked like a hunched person, and the two normal looking human brats.

After looking them over, particularly the two crying brats, and the vitriol that the maid was spewing, she was very tempted to turn around. The look from Micky made her back wet with cold sweat. But she was already spotted by the little monsters, it was too late.

Closing her eyes in anticipation of the inevitable she walked forward stoically to her demise. “Hello little terrors, I’m Prin. You may call me Ms. Prin, or Knight Prin. Preferably Ms. Prin. I am a knight in the service of the lord over there, so show the due respect. I may even end up training some of you to be my fellows, or at least men at arms.” Said Prin.

The eyes, all as one turned to her. Mrs. Doderson cleared her throat attract all the attention back and said “Well don’t just stand there dreaming, introduce yourselves.” This of course would help Micky and Mrs. Doderson as well since they had yet to hear their names too.

“I’m.. I’m Marry. And this is Terra.” Oddly said the shy one. She gestured to the crying girl that was still hiding behind her. She peeked out from behind her just long enough to see what was going on, but went back to hiding soon after.

“I’m Firstblood. I’m going to be a knight as well! I challenge you!” Said the ork. But she didn’t seem to be too convincing about it.

“Jezabel.” Said the first elvin girl. She was the one with blue eyes and platinum blond hair.

“Abigale.” Said the second elvin girl. She had green eyes and bright blond hair.

The room turned to the last member of the troop of little girls. She seemed to shrink back a bit from the attention. “Your name girl, it’s time to give up your name.” Said Mrs. Doderson.

The wolf girl replied “No please! I don’t want to give it up! It’s the last thing I have!” And gripped the maids clothes with a white knuckled strength. She was shivering uncontrollably.

Even Mrs. Doderson softened at the girl. “I mean you should say your name. You are a person. Stop… You have no need to act like an animal. No, you will stop acting like an animal and stand straight.” It appeared the meekness of the girl had softened, yet lit a fire inside of the maid.

The girl complied but didn’t completely remove the hunch that she had. “I said Back straight! Now look everyone in the eye when they are talking to you. Good. Now say your name!” The wolf girl whined a little but slowly complied, with a hefty amount of physical cajoling poking prodding and support from Mrs. Doderson.

She still wasn’t standing completely without a hunch in her shoulders but it was about the best she seemed able to do. “I’m.” She said with a bit of a dogged whine, then corrected herself. “I’m brightfur. I was with my tribe, until they were taken by slavers. My family took us down to the city but didn’t quite make it all the way. I was then taken to the orphanage when my mother [Dead].” She said. The others seemed to share the pain, even the aloof elves.