With the training over now, we made our way back to the room and slumped down on the beds, Anput, Jahi and I passing out as we allowed our bodies to recuperate from the sheer exhaustion of the gauntlet that we ran through, wanting to be at a better state for when we began our next stage of training.
Of course, we had discussed the plans before hand, with the best idea we could come up with being going into the depths of Zhu'Rong and putting our new skills to the test, finding what needed to be tweaked and getting a better understanding of our current selves so that we could move forwards with a more specific plan in mind.
If we felt we needed more tempering on the physical side of things to a drastic degree, we agreed to subject ourselves to asking Lady Fenryas for an additional day of training; if it was to a smaller degree, we'd ask one of the other Knights to help us temper ourselves - either the Marquess, Belian, or Sker, since we were 'closer' to them then anyone else.
As for me asking Princi anything else, well, I didn't want to allow the seductress Knight a chance to put her feminine wiles to use against Anput or Jahi; I have no idea how a Canine would react to a Feline's attempt of seduction, nor do I want to even risk it with Jahi after learning that she was treading dangerous waters when I had been away.
Not.
A.
Chance.
With that in mind, and the potential return to Lady Fenryas' 'kind' hands, we all prayed that we could hammer out our own imperfections instead of needing someone else, but we were resolved to ask for help.
If we felt that we were in a really good spot with this boost to strength, then we wanted to begin exploring more of integrating our mana into our fighting styles, so that we could improve our strength even more than what it was at currently.
With the knowledge that her Light Magic would be our greatest weapon at this very moment, we needed Jahi to get better with it so that we could have a more comfortable fight against the Fiends in the future.
On top of wanting to focus on improving our magics some more, we were also hoping to better improve our current 'hobbies' into something much more helpful, especially considering how potent they could become if we had more skill in them.
Enchanted items have already shown their worth, but what good would that do on basic, mediocre gear?
We needed a full kit of items made from good materials to better display our strength, and if I enchanted that gear with some potent magic, well...
What kind of boost would that be to our power?
And if Leone could begin concocting powerful potions on top of that... potions that enhance our strength, our mana, or anything else, well... that'd be insane.
For now though, that was all in the future, but another thing that we had all come to agree on was that - while it would feel better to have our own space - living inside the Palace would provide too many benefits to us to not take advantage of.
Access to libraries with far more knowledgeable than anywhere else, access to Leone's family, state of the art facilities, good food, and a short commute down to the Academy.
And the safety that comes with being near the Empress at all times.
So we would remain here for as long as we were welcome, which would hopefully be a long time since I was immensely hopeful that I could learn under Lady Yusa and maybe even Lady Theresa, as well as Lady Lorelei.
As for Leone herself, she eventually joined us - I don't know when, since I was dead to the world and absolutely relishing the bliss of raw unconsciousness.
When morning came, we made our way to the kitchen after enjoying ourselves a bit, finding the Empress eating with her children, all of whom glanced at Leone before half glaring at Jahi, who awkwardly scratched her cheek under their collective stares.
Taking our seats, we took our plates and began eating in silence, before Vienna glanced at me, her eyes narrowed as she said "Surprisingly, you are the one with the most scent on you... odd."
Roman sighed as he nudged his sisters shoulder, making her glare at him before blinking as he hissed "You don't always need to speak your mind, Vienna! By the Gods..."
"What? It's obvious though. Surprisingly, she has the most amount of scent on her. Especially Leone's..."
The Vampire in question blushed deeply as she looked at me from the side, making each of her siblings focus more on me now that their Wolfkin sister pointed me out.
"It is interesting. A 'maid' that seems so accustomed to being an equal, has the most attention on herself, and carries herself not with subservience, but with... something else."
Dante was the one to speak, and everyone nodded, with the blonde haired Monica replying in a cool voice, her azure eyes looking me over.
"Well that's because she isn't a 'maid' anymore. Can't you feel it? Oh, and the fact that she was with them for Aunt Fen's training. What would make her of all people accept a normal maid? Obviously she's just a member of their polycule; hells, with what Vienna said, she's likely the center."
Resting her chin on her hands, Monica smiled at me as she asked "I'm curious, what's your secret? To have three high profile women pining after you enough to treat you as an equal?"
The Empress sighed slightly, giving Monica a dry look as she said "Monica, tone. I know, and you know that you didn't mean to be rude, but it came across that way."
She just shrugged, muttering to herself as she kept her gaze on me.
"I don't know, Lady Monica. My best guess is that we've known each other for so long that it just... happened. Besides, my Mother is treated like a normal woman by the Marquess and the Countess, so maybe that?"
Jahi gave Monica a slight glare before returning to her food, allowing that to be dropped there.
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