RD 3 Ch 7

Chapter 7

The next morning, I woke up to an empty, yet warm, Simone-shaped impression in the bed next to me.

I pawed at the empty space, grumbling that I didn't get a chance to snuggle with her the previous night. Throwing the covers off, I padded out of bed, found a pair of pants, and entered the main area of our lovely new apartment.

"Oh, Bran!" Simone spun around. The three servants from the Hero's Clan were busy in the kitchen preparing breakfast. Simone put her hands behind her back in a sort of false coyness. She was a very bold woman and it made me curious.

"Simone, are you causing trouble this morning?" I asked as I walked forward.

"No, I was just letting them in so they could get started on your breakfast. You are, after all, a very hungry man." The smile told me that she was whipping them into shape. Making them wake up before me and cook was just one way she was turning them into actual servants, rather than honeypots.

I smiled at her and let her continue whatever it was she was doing with the three servants. She had asked to be allowed to manage them, and I wasn't going to stop her. I knew whatever she was doing would be for my benefit and likely help manage them better than I could do myself. 

"Good morning, you three," I nodded to them, still not having learned their names. 

"Good morning, Lord Bran," the redhead dipped her head and bowed to me. I never really liked it in my past life and that hadn’t changed, but I was past trying to correct people.

"Good morning. Thank you for coming and preparing breakfast," I said. 

As the blonde hurried over with a cup of steaming coffee in her hands. Her voice was soft as she spoke, "The saintess explained to us how you like it best," handing the cup to me with a quick bow. That was once again more than I wanted to be a regular occurance. 

"I missed you this morning," I said to Simone. 

"Aw," she replied, giving me a peck on the cheek. "I'm going to be busier than usual." 

She walked with me over to the couch. There wasn't enough space to have a private conversation, considering who was in our kitchen, but at least it gave the semblance of privacy. 

"How'd the fort go? Did you tour everything to your heart's desire?" she asked. 

Somewhere along the line, she had snagged her own cup of coffee, or for all I knew, it could have come out of her spatial ring. 

"The fortress is very interesting," I admitted. "Gloria has put in even more work than I anticipated." 

"I'm glad you like the fortress, Bran," Simone said giving me a look. "Gloria was clearly trying to impress you." 

I frowned at that statement, the idea somewhat in conflict with Gloria's attitude towards me lately. 

"Don't be like that," Simone chided me, batting me on the shoulder. "The woman is still head over heels for you. Especially as you walked in being all big and bad. You made it hard for her to stay out of your bed last night." 

"I wouldn't particularly say I'm being big and bad," I replied. 

Simone sipped from her coffee. "Well then, why don't you go be big and bad? It isn't like anyone is about to be stupid enough to attack you. But perhaps you could take a group of the  Mul Branova and Gloria into the B-rank dungeon that we have around the city. If you smash that in front of all of them, I think that would leave an impression. After all, looking at stats on a page is one thing. For those of us without your extensive experience fighting, a demonstration might make it more real. They may not be able to easily grasp what stats mean in terms of strength without it." 

"Mhm,” I squinted at Simone. “Are you just trying to get me to show off for all of your ladies? So they drop down on their knees and worship me?" I paused. "Wait, that came out wrong." I pressed two fingers to my brow ridge. 

Simone tittered. "No, that came out perfectly. If you could just accept that they all drop down on their knees and worship you with their mouths, then I think we would all be quite happy." She had to take it one step further.

I groaned and put my hand over my eyes, which only made Simone laugh more. The sound of Simone’s laugh however made me forget my discomfort.

"Breakfast's almost ready, Lord, Saintess," one of the servants stepped into the sitting room and I peeked out between my fingers. 

"You don't think they heard that, do you?" I asked. 

"Oh, they most definitely heard that," Simone tightened her lips, trying not to laugh again. "I figured you'd already be the kind of person who's able to ignore the help.”

“Servants weren't exactly common in my past life. Well," I hesitated, "for a good portion, they weren't common. Just after the rapture, they were actually decently common. A lot of people quickly accumulated levels in strength, using that to oppress others. Especially right after the demons were finally beaten back and people started trying to build kingdoms.But after the Second Demon War, there just really weren't enough people to have something like a household servant." 

"Not enough people," Simone echoed. "That's almost impossible for my mind to grasp. We live in a world with so many. The idea that there's not enough to go around to have something that has been so common throughout human history as servants is a bit hard to believe." 

I shrugged. "There were still servants, like serfs that went and worked in the fields. But using someone to clean your laundry and manage a house? No, those weren't that common." 

Simone looked thoughtfully out the window and tapped her lips. "Well, let's hope we never let it get that bad.”

“Two can agree on that." I clinked my coffee cup to hers and got to my feet. "Well, I guess if I'm going to have servants, whether I like it or not. I best make use of them." 

I came into the kitchen and glanced at the three. They were all dolled up like usual. "Names?" I asked, casually coming to sit at the countertop at the island. 

"Myra, Zyra, and Kyra." Myra said pointing at each in turn. She was the redhead. Zyra had short, raven hair. And Kyra was a bubbly blonde. I quickly committed that to memory, as well as considered which of them should get which of the golden bloodlines. I had a lion, a bull, and a roc. All three of them were powerful SS-ranked bloodlines. I thought giving them to these three servants would help make them more useful to me if they were going to stick around.

"Yes, let's make wonderful use of them. Right, Bran?" Simone sat beside me and patted my hand. "I think Myra here is the real brains of the operation." She nodded, as the redhead was quickly picking up plates of food.

Zyra finished with eggs and ham on the stove, while Kyra put buttered toast on the plate to finish it. The three of them were actually working together quite well, and they delivered the simple but well-cooked plate of food to the two of us.

"We'll work on our plates next," Myra said, as if anticipating my next question. "Do you know when Gloria or Nyx get up?"

I nibbled at the bread. "No clue. They'll get up when they get up. Though if Gloria doesn't have an alarm that's going to go off at some point here, I would be absolutely shocked." She wasn't the kind of woman to do anything without a schedule. In fact, I was a little surprised that she wasn't already awake before me. As for Nyx, she was absolutely the type to sleep in.

"Will that be enough, Lord Bran?" Zyra asked.

I picked at the plate. "More ham couldn't hurt. I can be a bit of a carnivore some days."

"Most days," Simone added.

I rolled my eyes and then leaned over and kissed Simone before working back at my food. Almost as if I had prophetic abilities, a loud alarm began blaring from down the hall. "And that would be Gloria. Probably work on hers now. And she'll want a coffee.”

“Do you know how she likes her coffee?" Kyra was working an espresso machine.

"I actually have no idea. Simone?" I asked.

She gave me a look as if asking me to at least make a guess.

"She likes coffee?" I hesitated.

Simone sighed, turning to the women. "Make Gloria a coffee, two shots of espresso, two sugar, no cream."

I pointed at Simone. “What she said.”

I also did my best not to judge that Gloria was consuming an inordinate amount of caffeine to start her day. Then again, it wasn't as if it was going to affect her now that she was initiated. And she might as well enjoy the treat now. Coffee wouldn't always exist in this part of the world once global supply lanes were crushed by the first demon war. If Gloria was so attached to her coffee, she might need to build her own supply. 

Well, that was a thought for later. 

Instead, I leaned down and started shoveling food into my mouth. I was ready to finish it and start the day. Though, Simone's idea of taking everyone to a dungeon to an instance was growing on me.

Gloria emerged from the room faster than I expected, considering how well-dressed she was even early in the morning. She wore a maroon silk top and a tight pencil skirt that clung desperately to her hips and thighs. Her hair was neatly arranged in a small bun, and a studded choker decorated her neck. The engagement ring I had given her glittered on her finger. The only thing missing was her signature jacket draped over her shoulders. My eyes drifted towards the apartment exit, where I noticed a closet slightly ajar, revealing several such jackets hanging inside.

"Good morning, Gloria," I greeted, smiling at my fiancée.

She returned a stiff smile before bypassing me and heading straight for the kitchen and the espresso machine.

Kyra was already on top of her order. "Your coffee?" she asked, squinting at the cup. "Two espresso, two sugars."

Gloria made a face of grudging approval before taking the cup and joining Simone and I at the counter. "What's your plan today, Bran?" she asked.

"Well, some of the ladies have been asking me to show them an instance. Not to mention, Bobby's made a similar request," I replied.

Gloria watched me over her coffee, which she drank despite its scalding temperature. "There's no purpose in you going into any of these instances. We don't have any higher than B rank, nor higher than the 80s. You'll simply crush it."

"And that's kind of the point," Simone interjected, leaning forward. "I think it would be good for some of these people to visualize just how strong Brian is."

Gloria glowered at that. "You can already tell he's the strongest.”

“But the numbers don't mean that much, especially to the newly initiated,” Simone insisted. “Besides, it would be good for someone like Bobby or the Mul Branova who are starting to feel a little overly confident to see just how strong he is. Isn't that the mafia way? A show of strength to keep everyone in line?"

Gloria drained her mug in several seconds, her eyes instantly looking more alert. "Yeah, it is, but normally there's a good reason. Either way," she brushed her lips, "if that's what Bran wants to do, that's what Bran can do."

"I'll make sure to be there for dinner tonight," I added, in case that was part of the problem. Though I was a little concerned for taking everyone away from their jobs. It was just an idea.

Now that Gloria had consumed her coffee, she shifted to sit sideways in her chair, leaning on the back of it. "Of course you will. I'll be coming with you to make sure that you all get it done in time. No, my main concern, Bran, is that I have a timeline to keep. If you offer this, all of the Mul Branova are going to take a day off."

I gave her an apologetic smile. I hadn't meant to ruin her deadlines. She waved my comment away. "They won't be ruined, just need more management.”

“If it's any consolation, I'll be happy to help you up until we go to the vault, if nothing else than to get us ahead. With you gone, Orvin certainly won't be able to manage it nearly as well." I offered.

She smirked at those words, and Zyra brought over another plate of food. I enjoyed seeing Gloria's smile.

"Now I have to work a little harder," she said. “Make sure Orvin knows who’s the best in the family.

AN - I published the right chapter!