A soft, almost whisper, of sound directed my attention to the back of the room where I saw two Automata maids appear from a hidden panel in the wall.

“Can I... help you?” I asked, confused.

“On the contrary, Sir Hero,” one of them spoke up.

“Sir... Hero?” I repeated, getting more confused.

The second maid looked over at the first then back at me.

“You have been granted an audience with his imperial majesty, Emperor Neugdae Du Fangwell, in nine hours time,” she explained.

“It is our job to make you presentable,” the first added.

“I’m just a little maintenance droid, I really don’t think that’s necessary...” I tried.

“I’m afraid it’s not your choice, Sir Hero,” the first replied.

“Or ours,” the second finished.

“Ah. Um... actually, I can give that choice back to you. I can unlock the control curse.”

The two maids looked at each other before heading to the couch and physically picking me up; one on each arm.

“Thank you, but that really won’t be necessary,” the second responded.

“Nope, not necessary at all,” the first continued.

With my feet dangling in the air, and a robo-maid hoisting me up under each arm, I was carried off to an inner chamber containing a large tub of boiling liquid, built into the floor. Oil, I assumed, though it was mana infused and giving off a light blue glow that illuminated the room without the need for additional lighting.

“Oh. Oh my, that does look inviting,” I admitted.

“You just relax, Sir Hero. Leave everything to us,” the first maid said, tilting her head in a cute way.

They lacked any sort of facial topography beyond the standard gemstone eyes, but they projected all smiles.

As soon as they lowered me into the bath, I could feel the enriched oil seeping into every nook and cranny, the mana gently radiating through my armor plating and into my core. I wanted to just slip to the bottom and stay there forever. Who knew that such an experience was available?

I allowed myself to slip under, enough to cover my head. The tub wasn’t overly huge, though it dwarfed any sort of bath tub that I’d ever been in; easily large enough for three or four people. As I sat, slowly slipping further into a spread eagle position on the bottom, allowing the mana to permeate me, I saw a mechanical foot breach the surface and delicately step in with me, followed by another.

I gently pushed myself back up above the boiling surface to see that one of the maids, I didn’t know which since they were identical, had completely removed all of her human clothing and gotten into the tub while the other had laid out towels, buffing cloths and assorted waxes, and was in the process of removing her own uniform.

“What? Um... what’s all this? Why are you getting naked?!” I asked, getting embarrassed and trying to look away.

The maid in the tub tilted her head to the side in a confused sort of expression.

“We are only Automata,” she said looking down at her own body and it’s lack of any mammalian charms.

The other maid had finished removing and folding her uniform and was climbing in as well when she paused.

“You don’t mean... Sir Hero is getting excited from seeing us like this? Sir Hero... You’re quite the little deviant, aren’t you?” she teased, covering her faceplate and chest with her hands.

“I’m an Automata too!” I reasoned.

“Isn’t Sir Hero also naked then?” the first asked.

“No! I’m wearing armor plating! It’s not the same!” I blurted out, and thrust myself under the surface.

The second one jumped out of the vat and ran off as the first one closed in on me. She gently grabbed me and pulled me up to sit onto a plinth in the center of the tub, while she positioned herself to my back. From there, she reached over and took a wire brush and began work, cleaning and detailing.

“You really needn’t be embarrassed,” she soothed. “We’re just machines. Nothing more. And this is just simple maintenance and cleaning.”

“I... I guess you’re right... sorry for making a fuss,” I apologized.

“No need,” she said. “Though I will admit that you reacting this way does make our jobs more fun.”

The other maid came dripping back into the room carrying a leather bundle, which she layed out onto the floor near the edge of the tub. As she unrolled it, I saw a fine selection of various tools.

“FSU-1229!” the maid behind me chastised. “You’ve tracked oil all through the suite!”

FSU-1229 looked behind her at the little glowing puddles trailing out of the room and back.

“I don’t think Sir Hero cares right now FSU-1387, we’ll clean that up later,” she dismissed, and hopped into the tub with a cannonball.

FSU-1387 fumed as the oil sloshed and splashed all over the both of us and across the floor.

“I’ll clean it! I’ll clean it!” FSU-1229 placated, smoothing back her synthetic hair.

“You’re entirely too carefree,” FSU-1387 grumbled, digging in a bit harder with the wire brush.

“It’s fine,” FSU-1229 said, half ignoring the other and running her fingers along the handles of the different tools.

She then paused and spun around to inspect me, lifting up an arm and moving it around. It was weird. I felt like I was half at the mechanic for an oil change and half at the doctor's office for a physical. I supposed that in this case, both feelings would be valid.

She then returned to the tool set and picked one. Before I knew it, my arm had been stripped of its armor plating and she was working on the other one.

I knew that it wasn’t logical or reasonable for me to feel embarrassed. Nobody felt embarrassed when the mechanic took a look at your air filter, right? Still... I think I’d completely shut down if someone were to walk in on this situation.

FSU-1229 hummed to herself and completely removed every armor plate I had on me. Once removed, she carefully lined them up on the floor near the tub and one by one began polishing and buffing them. FSU-1387, on the other hand, worked on getting every speck of dust and grime cleaned away out of my internal frame and support systems.

Bizarre did not begin to cover it. Did the Automata that I upgraded and worked on feel like this too? Maybe it was just a carry over from my previous life or only something that happened when an Automata felt like they were a proper person and their body was their own? A part of who they were? Lena certainly got embarrassed if I saw her without any biological clothing on, but the FSUs didn’t seem to care beyond teasing me about it. In fact, they weren’t even teasing any more and were just quietly going about their work. Was I the weird one?

The entire process took six hours and the FSUs wouldn’t let me do any of it. After thoroughly, and intimately, detailing every square millimeter of me, FSU-1387 had me just relax on the bottom of the tub while she joined FSU-1229 in polishing my armor. Should I start wearing clothes? What would I even wear, my proportions weren’t like any biological creature I’d seen thus far. Dwarf clothes? Child clothes? Maybe a fancy hat?

Above me I could hear the muffled sounds of talking but it was hard to make out what was being said. The FSUs abruptly got out of the tub and I could hear more talking. Cautiously, I poked my head up out of the oil to see a rather cross looking princess, leaning her shoulder against the door frame of the oil chamber. Where was Cyclone? Ah, he was in the outer chamber, I just hadn’t been paying a lick of attention to what he was doing. His experiences between now and when I last saw him came to me as the data synced back up.

“Enjoying yourself, Master Artificer? I have come to spend some time with you before our appointment and you’re bathing with the maids.” Lena scolded, sounding annoyed.

Master Artificer? Her using Milliardo’s favorite title for me felt like a pretty huge flag.

“Your highness, apparently I’m to be made ‘presentable’ to his majesty. You’ll notice that all of my armor is being buffed to a mirror finish...”

“Couldn’t you do that yourself?”

“I honestly wouldn’t have thought of it. I was told I didn’t have a choice in the matter.”

Lena rolled her eyes and mumbled a curse. “Milli...”

I waded through the boiling oil to get to the side of the tub closest to the door.

“Lena, this mana oil feels amazing,” I said in hushed tones.

She raised an eyebrow. “It does look rather inviting, doesn’t it?”

“You’re a princess,” I said shocked. “Don’t you get room sized baths?”

She squatted down, closer to my level, with her knees together, and poked me in the forehead.

“With water and soap like a normal person you doof.”

“Ah. Right. Shame, this mana oil is for robots, not normal people,” I teased, moving back out of poking range.

Her eyes flicked over to the maids, both of which were on their knees with their foreheads to the floor. She clicked her tongue and stood up, throwing her arms out in a T pose.

“You there, undress me,” she commanded.

The maids made soft grinding sounds that I interpreted to be analogous to a gasp. They looked at each other then hurried to help the princess out of her clothes.

“Um, your highness... We should really advise against this. The oil is boiling at a temperature of over 450,” I think FSU-1229 said.

450? It wasn’t that hot... I checked the temperature via my ambient temperature sensors. Huh... they measured in kelvin here.

“Not to worry,” the princess said confidently. “I am a true royal and a princess, as such I have an innate resistance to such petty things.”

I lifted a finger into an approximation of where an eyebrow might be and lifted it. Lena ignored me. Laying it on a bit thick, wasn't she?

“Prime. Turn around and stay that way,” she ordered.

I rolled my eyes, but did as asked, wading around to the far side of the plinth and taking a seat. I could hear the maids making worried sounds, yet doing as commanded. Eventually the shuffling of fabric stopped and I picked up those worried grinding sounds from the maids again with the subtle splish of a body gently entering the tub.

“You may resume polishing his armor,” Lena said, dismissing the maids back to their former duties.

They carefully made their way back around the tub to my side, slipped in and got back to work on polishing. They were entirely focused on their jobs now with all hints of teasing or joking evaporated. Occasionally, they stole glances over my shoulder until I felt Lena’s back push up against mine as she took a seat.

She let out a long sigh that teetered on the edge of sounding robotic and giving her away.

“This does feel amazing...” she admitted.

“Right? Who knew?”

The maids exchanged glances again but I tried not to worry about what they might be thinking. I dimmed my optics and tried to just focus on relaxing while I could. This felt like the first time since I’d arrived in this world that I was properly doing such a thing. I gently let my head fall back until I realized it was resting on Lena’s shoulder. She stiffened a bit for a moment before tilting her own head back to rest on my shoulder. Below the turbulent surface, I felt a hand gently rest on top of mine. This was nice. I absolutely needed to figure out how to build one at a larger size.

We just sat there for a while, in silence, the only sounds coming from the boiling oil and the polishing of armor.

“How are your mana levels?” Lena asked.

“Operable. I can maintain my team, but I won't be able to stockpile any power for big things if I do. The really big guy will be out of the question for a long long time, though. What about you?”

“Nearly topped off. It’s a shame I didn’t get to see the big one in action. That must have been amazing. You were so excited about it when you were building it.”

“It was pretty amazing. I felt just like one of the heroes I grew up with as a kid.”

The maids finished polishing the armor and quietly started reattaching it.

“I would stay here all day if I could,” Lena sighed, “but we have an imperial audience in just under an hour. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you but I will anyway. You can’t speak unless directly asked a question, and keep any answers succinct. The glib you show my brother won’t carry with my father. You also may not approach his majesty unless directly ordered to do so. Only go so far as the guard with the spear then kneel and stare at the floor.”

“So many rules. How annoying,” I grumbled.

“Prime. Please.”

“I’ll behave,” I relented.

“Good,” she said, leaning forward and getting up to leave.

I started to reflexively turn around and was met with a sharp “Don’t.”

I nodded and sat there letting FSU-1229 and FSU-1397 finish buttoning me up as it were. I could hear Lena chastising someone, saying that she would wipe herself. It must have been a real pain to have to constantly keep up the disguise of being organic, especially at times like this. A princess drying herself was probably unheard of.

“Come along, Prime. We haven’t got all day. You can play with the maids later.”

I slowly turned to look over my shoulder at her, to find her staring at the ceiling with her arms folded. She glanced at me then looked back at the ceiling, tapping her foot.

“I’ll be in the antechamber. Make it quick,” she said before turning for the main room of the suite.

“Her highness is quite fond of you, it would seem,” one of the maids said in a low voice.

“Yeah, maybe. At least on the surface,” I admitted.

They finished up the last plate installation and helped me out of the tub. As they wiped away all of the oil and gave me a final buff with a soft cloth, I couldn’t help but be impressed. I looked like I was coated in chrome. Everything had a perfect mirror finish without a hint of a smudge or fingerprint. My panel lighting glowed unobstructed, like pure energy merely resting along my body.

“You girls do great work,” I said, appreciatively. “I’ll have to get your cards.”

“Cards?” one asked, tilting her head. I think it was FSU-1387.

“Your contact info, should I wish to schedule another detailing session.”

“Ah...” the other said, as she finished wiping herself down and started putting her uniform on. “I’m sorry Sir Hero... I wouldn’t worry about that too much, if I were you.”

I guessed they didn’t get much say in where they went or how they were used. I put a hand on each of their arms and passed them [Freedom.exe].

“Thanks for polishing me up. I know you said you didn’t need this... but you never know.”

I patted their arms and projected smiling vibes before turning to exit the bath chamber.

“Um, Sir Hero?” one of them asked.

I stopped and turned back.

“Sorry, it’s nothing... um... we’re glad that we got to meet you,” I think FSU-1229 said.

“I’m glad to meet you too, 229. And you as well 387. I’m sure we can play again some time.”

The two looked at each other then back to me.

“You can tell us apart?” 387 asked.

“Your outsides are identical, but your spirits are different,” I said with a wink.

I gave them a little salute and headed out to join Lena and Cyclone. I had tried to act like meeting the Emperor was no big deal, but I was insanely nervous. I couldn’t help but feel like the fate of every Automata in the country was riding on my shiny metal back.