A woman was walking down the dark halls of the Four Ways Melody lodge.
Deep black hair that was tied into a ponytail went down to her hips and swayed along with them as she walked.
Pure elegance.
That was the aura that exuded from this woman.
Dressed in a black yukata that had lace at the hems of the sleeve and the bottom near her ankles. The Lace was a pure shining silver. Her garments only further amplified the aura she was exuding.
Her feet were covered by plain white socks that made no sound as she traversed into a corridor.
As she walked by the sliding doors that were on each side of the corridor, her slender, smooth and fair hands would knock on the wooden doors. A sonorous melody of a rhythmic tapping would echo through the corridor when she did.
Almost every time, a door would open and a different voice would greet her "Good morning mistress!"
Now and then the woman would not get a response when she knocked on the door. This would lead to her personally entering the room and then her stern voice would echo out of the room and into the corridor. The person in the room would be lightly chided and woken up.
This woman was Yuki. This was how she would begin every day at the lodge.
She would first wake up before anyone else and inspect the various halls and empty rooms of the lodge. Making sure that the girls had not missed cleaning any. She would then walk through the area where the rooms of her staff were located and make sure the girls had begun waking up.
She would then make her way to the dining room where she would prepare herself a cup of tea and wait for the girls in the lodge to assemble.
Within ten minutes of her wake up call, all the girls would show up in the dining room. Half the girls would go into the kitchen at the back and start preparing breakfast while the other half would be given a lecture by Yuki.
Yuki would usually point out any mistakes or complaints she had received from the girls during this time but the most important part was assigning tasks to each girl individually. Once she was done with this task for the first half of the girls, they would switch roles with the girls who had made them breakfast.
This was a system that Yuki had come up with to ensure that they would all get assigned tasks without wasting any time. The girls also got plenty of time to eat and calm down during the morning because of the lengthy process.
Of course, Fen was also mixed into the crowd along with the newly arrived twin sisters.
Unlike Fen and the others, the two girls had not been trained in anything yet so they were asked to stay beside Yuki.
Yuki spent most of this morning explaining to the twins how the rotations of jobs worked in the lodge as well as explaining how the travelling artists would occasionally give lectures to the staff. She also got the girls to go greet the others and made introductions for each personally.
She even set down a schedule for Elaine and Luna.
Where they would spend one hour every morning being trained either by her or the other girls who had already become specialists in certain tasks of the lodge. After breakfast, they would then join up with Adam and follow him into the dungeon. If he was training they could train with him or choose to attend lectures if they were being given.
Fen was put in charge of teaching them everything they needed to know about being personal maidservants for Adam.
At the end of breakfast as the light of the sun had started to show itself over the horizon, Yuki gave one last pep talk to the girls and sent them to begin their tasks for the day.
Fen led the twin's towards Adam's room to teach them their first and hardest daily task. Waking up the young master.
Yuki also left the dining room and made her way to the front cashier desk.
She waited there for a few minutes and then smiled when she saw two girls dressed in the lodges uniform cheongsam walk in.
The two bowed and greeted her respectfully, then took over the cashier desk.
These two girls were the oldest two that Yuki had hired when she started the lodge. They were both over eighteen now and had gotten married. They lived outside the lodge with their husbands but still continued to work at the lodge.
Yuki had never restricted the girls from having a private life. In fact, she had encouraged it. She was very glad that she could rehabilitate these girls who had lost their future to slavery.
It had never been her intention to do so. All she wanted was a safe place to raise her son. However, in the process of doing so, she had inadvertently created this environment. It was her proudest accomplishment that only lost in comparison to her pride in raising Adam.
Chatting with the two new arrivals for a while and getting to know about their daily lives, Yuki walked back to the dining room where she would wait to eat breakfast with Adam.
...
Adam woke up fairly quickly today.
It wasn't that he was excited for the day or that he hadn't slept well. He was actually sleeping quite peacefully till Elaine got frustrated with him and decided to jump on him.
Whop!
With the full force of her weight, she sat down on him.
"Guaagghhh!" A weird voice came out of Adam's mouth as he was shocked into waking up. His body had gotten a bit sturdier after his training sessions and also Elaine was pretty lightweight so he wasn't particularly hurt by the exchange but the shock of the whole event had still left him with a foul mood.
He argued with Elaine for 10 minutes straight after waking up. Luckily he was able to get her to promise that she would never do that again so his mind was put to rest. It would have been his worst nightmare if his sleep were to be disturbed so 'violently' every day.
There were very few things he would not tolerate. His uninterrupted sleep was definitely on the top of that list.
Fen was lost in a fit of laughter as she watched her young master seriously scolding the drooping eared Elaine while Luna was doing her best to calm both sides down. Elaine could not figure out as to how she had 'offended' him so severely and as a result, was left speechless.
'Young master is so silly' Fen thought to herself. She thought back to how he handled an experienced slave trader with complete composure and even played him like a fiddle but lost his cool when he was woken up by a little girl.
"Big Sis… this is not a laughing matter. This is a life and death kind of situation!" Adam said with utmost seriousness. His sleep was truly that important to him.
Hearing his serious voice paired up with those words on the matter of him sleeping a few more minutes… Fen completely lost herself and reached the point where she was rolling on the floor in laughter.
In the pauses of her laughter, she replied "Hehe, yes of course young master. Hahaha…..I haha will make sure they don't do it again hehe….Ahahaha."
Not knowing what else to say, Adam continued scolding Elaine for a bit longer and then went to freshen up. At this point, even Luna could no longer control herself and began laughing while Elaine just stood there dumbfounded not comprehending what had just happened.
...…..
"Fen you go with them as well. Most of the girls have already taken up a profession class. You are the only one who hasn't decided yet. Since they are going anyway, you can take the opportunity to go and make your decision." Yuki said after breakfast was done.
All the girls in the lodge would take up a profession class and be trained in it. This was one of the ways that Yuki gave the girls a chance to raise their social status.
As slaves, they were at the lowest level but after joining the lodge they were trained in the arts and domestic tasks. They were refined, mannered and smart girls. Just this alone had made these girls the dream spouse of all the men in the city.
The lodge had thus gained the name of 'Myriad Flowers Lodge' from the locals.
She additionally pushed them to pick a profession class so that they would never face any disadvantages if they were to ever leave the service of the lodge.
With the guilds certification, they could start their own or be employed at any store easily.
"Yes, mistress," Fen replied.
Adam had been tasked with taking the twins to the guild to get them initiated as adventurers. Now with Fen also added to the group, the four set off from the lodge and made their way to the Guild.
....
Reaching the three-storey black building with a golden insignia on it, the group entered through the glass doors and arrived at the reception desk.
The same white desk that contrasted the black marble floors greeted them.
"Mrs Bren, it's good to see you again" Adam called out to the genial old lady behind the desk.
"Ah, little Adam. Its always good to see you too. What brings you here today? Oh! Who are these two little cute ladies with you?" Mrs Bren was as active as ever.
"We are young masters, personal maids!" Luna said with a tinge of excitement. Elaine beside her also seemed proud when she heard her sister.
"Oh my, how cute." Mrs Bren bent over her desk and ruffled the hair of the two girls.
"Ahaha, well actually big sis Fen is here to choose a profession class while these two are here to take the initiation for adventurers."He let out an awkward laugh and then stated their purpose for the visit. Adam was a little embarrassed by the twin's declaration.
"I see. Well, then I shall guide Fen to the room where we keep all our information on the different profession classes. In the meantime…" Mrs Bren pulled out two thin stacks of papers from a drawer in her desk along with an inkpot with a quill in it. "fill these in while you wait. I'll take you to the room of the celestial enlightenment stone when I get back. Make sure to fill in the proper details of the two on them okay?"
"Don't worry Mrs Bren. Please feel free to guide big sis. We shall await your return." Adam said confidently and then walked over to a long table on the left of the reception. He sat down there with the two girls.
He began filling in the two forms while occasionally asking the girls a few questions.
Seeing the worried look on Fen's face, Mrs Bren smiled and said "They will be fine. Come, you have to worry about your choice for now. It is very important so don't take it lightly and choose wisely." Mrs Bren led the way as the two ascended the steps to the first floor.