Escort Maid Training

 

“…What are you doing?”

 

As I pushed the Cruz boy down and pointed the knife at his throat, I heard Sera’s voice unexpectedly from the side. …As usual, there were no footsteps or signs of movement. Still, I guessed from the loudness and direction of the voice that she was still a few meters away, so I kept my eyes on the boy with my knife at the ready without letting my guard down, and as if the boy were asking for help, he called Sera [Mother!!!].

 

“…”

 

He was Sera’s child… I’m glad I didn’t kill him accidentally. With the way I was now, if I were to antagonize Sera, certain “death” would await me.

 

As I gently moved away from the boy, releasing my blade to show that I would not antagonize Sera, Sera asked me, not her son.

 

“What happened?”

 

“He rolled up my skirt.”

 

“…I see.”

 

Sera looked at her son, whose face was still bright red, and scowled a little in disbelief, then looked at me straight in the face and lowered her head as she sighed lightly.

 

“Since he had done something this offensive towards you, as his mother, allow me to apologize.”

 

“No problem.”

 

“Then let’s end this conversation… Theo, stand up straight, for goodness’s sake. I’m going to train you once again regarding this, so be prepared.”

 

“…Mom.”

 

Sera was very strict even with her son…

 

Sera’s son… Theo stood up, looking at his mother a little sulkily, but when he saw me, he blushed again and looked away.

 

“I see. It seems like you have already introduced yourself. This is my son, Theo, and this is Aria, who is here to become a Maid Apprentice. Theo will continue his normal training, while Aria will be assigned to monitor the guest who is to arrive in ten days, to make sure that you won’t behave unnecessarily, and at the very least, you will be trained to stand properly in front of the nobility.”

 

Monitoring duties… Looked like that’s what I was going to do.

 

“…Education? Etiquette?”

 

“There will be training in that as well, but that will be done in the evenings after regular duties are completed. During the morning hours, you and Theo will be doing Taijutsu-related training.”

 

“And magic…?”

 

With Sera’s magic power value, she must have mastered some form of magic. Even if Sera was not the one who healed my wounds, I wanted to know about Light Magic if possible, so I mentioned it. Sera stared at me, and I guessed she was also appraising me.

 

“I didn’t think about it because I was in a hurry… but you, do you know your attributes?”

 

“Light and… darkness.”

 

“You have two attributes. Did you learn Darkness from Viro? If it’s Light Magic, I can use it up to level 2. If you have time, I can teach you.”

 

“I was thinking… is Sera-san the one who applied the [Cure] on me?”

 

“That’s right, if you can use Light Magic, you should definitely learn [Cure]. We do receive wounds while we are working, but Escort Maids need to be in the presence of nobles, so having wounds on visible parts of the body will be noticeable, and the nobles will find it revolting. During your work, you may only change clothes occasionally in front of the ordinary maids. Try to remove as many scars as you can.”

 

“…Yeah.”

 

“I can teach you wind magic too!”

 

Suddenly, Theo interrupted the conversation as he approached me.

 

So, that’s what it was…when he rolled up my skirt, I didn’t have time to react, probably because he was also using [Wind], a kind of Life Magic. But…

 

“I don’t have wind magic.”

 

“…I see.”

 

“But I would like to train in countering wind magic.”

 

“Yeah, I got it, Aria!”

 

…I had kicked him down, also pointed my knife at him, and he still agreed? 

 

“Aria, I can tell from your footwork that you have been training to some degree in your own style, and I will correct that. To be more specific, it’s [Escort Maid’s] unique Taijutsu, a foot movement that allows you to fight while wearing a skirt. Let me show you a little.”

 

Saying that, Sera’s body slid directly to the side without a sound as it was.

 

“…I don’t understand.”

 

“Of course, it’s not that easy. I’m going to show you my legs, so you won’t miss them.”

 

Sera lifted her ankle-length skirt up to her calves and showed me the same movements.

 

Sliding feet, crossing, accelerating and decelerating… quite an advanced and complex footwork. If one could master this, it could be applied to both stealth and combat. This kind of movement was not in my knowledge, so I watched it intently and let it burn in my eyes.

 

“Normally, for children, we would have to teach them the basics of our movements like how I did with Theo, but Aria has some foundation and experience in actual combat, and I don’t need to teach you from zero, and we also don’t have the time. Learn by stealing with your own eyes. In a way, you will be treated the same as Viro and others. Is that okay?”

 

“…No problem.”

 

“Good.”

 

All the adults I knew were very strict with kids.

 

But it’s always the same with me, learning by actual combat, by gaining experience, not from knowledge alone. Sera smiled slightly for the first time at me, as I nodded quietly, without enthusiasm.

 

“And weapons will be supplied. Ordinary maids are strictly forbidden to possess weapons, but we are allowed to be armed to the minimum, just like soldiers. Even so, if you are an outsider and not a person from the mansion, we will take care of your armament when you enter the mansion, but in your case, Viro of [Rainbow Sword] and I have given you permission by becoming your guarantors.”

 

Saying that, Sera gives me an object wrapped in a cloth.

 

“Be careful with that weapon because if you do anything funny with it, Viro and I will take care of you.”

 

“…Yes.”

 

That “taking care” surely would be the death.

 

“And… where did you hide the black knife you just took?”

 

“On my shin with a leather strap…”

 

“I’ll allow you that much. The others should be in places where they could not be found.”

 

“”…””

 

At the “on your shin…” point, Theo, who already saw my throwing knife hidden on my thigh as well, was about to say something, but I glared at him and made him stop.

 

I didn’t care how many weapons I had available. I didn’t intend to do unnecessary things, but if my life were to be in danger, I wouldn’t hesitate to use them. Especially since I was wearing such a flimsy outfit, I would have to mainly throw projectiles in combat.

 

The weapons I was provided with were two thin knives and four throwing knives for throwing.

 

Would it be better to put the thin knives on the opposite side of the black knife? Even so, two knives would be too heavy, so I kept one as a spare. As for the throwing knives…my legs were not thick enough to tie all of them to my thighs.

 

They were thinner than the throwing knives Viro gave me, so maybe I could hide one of them in my sleeve. I’d have to make or buy a special holster one of these days.

 

I would be learning footwork, fighting techniques using thin knives, and Taijutsu, throwing techniques that allowed me to fight while wearing a maid’s uniform.