466 They've Been Training With The Maids

We mopped up the rest of the Orcs pretty easily after that, despite there being four newly summoned Orc Berserkers.

I'm guessing because Katsuki knocked the Off-Worlder out before he could give those Orc Berserkers any orders, they just stood there and did not react at all even when we were trying to kill them.

Before you get the wrong idea, knocking him out did not cause the summons to stop working since the other Orcs he summoned earlier continued to try and kill us.

Lisa told me that the Orc Berserkers being unresponsive was not normal and a summon like this should have the awareness to at least defend themselves. Thus, she suspects that the guy might have messed up the summoning somehow when Katsuki hit him.

We tied the Off-Worlder up and decided to bring him back with us to let the Knights deal with him. He would most probably be treated as a bandit or something.

I asked how we were going to prevent him from summoning more Orcs and their solution was to gag him, which might have worked normally but I pointed out that he did not chant when summoning those Orcs earlier.

That made them panic a little but the explanation they came up with was that it must be a Unique Skill of sorts that he possessed.

Honestly, that was an unexpected gain for me since now I can just 'obtain' that unique skill in the future to explain away my chantless spellcasting.

In the end, the solution they came up with was for one of us to rotate watching over him and knock him out every time he woke up.

I was a little concerned that this plan might result in him getting a concussion or worse, but all of them assured me that they would be able to control their strength so that it should be fine.

Then Katsuki pointed out that there wouldn't be any problems even if we killed him anyway which I suppose was true as well…

So I just put him out of my mind and left him for the others to take care of. We'll be back in the city tomorrow anyway so we only need to do this for a night and half a day.

We then stumbled back into camp with the guy all tied up and thrown over Odeta's shoulder, all of us being completely exhausted after extracting the Mana Crystals from all the Orcs we killed.

Chamie and Harge quickly got up from where they were sitting by the campfire and rushed towards us, worry clear on their faces.

It seems like Katsuki had escorted them back to the camp during our confrontation with the Off-Worlder since this might arguably be the safest place in this area.

If we had somehow been defeated, they would have been able to escape back to the city and warn everyone of this threat and bring a larger subjugation force to deal with him.

Thankfully there wasn't a need for that since we successfully subjugated the idiot.

I have to admit that this guy was pretty unlucky to meet us.

If it was any other Mercenary group, they might have been defeated by the Orcs and he might have used the time to build up an actual kingdom with enough monsters to defend his independence.

Although I wonder why he only limited his summons to Orcs? Does he have a fetish for them or something?

Well, I don't really care anyway.

"Miss Aster! Everyone! Are you alright?! Do you need healing?!" Chamie cried, running to us with her sister in tow.

"Umm… I think we're all fine but… Maybe you two can give everyone some healing to the others just in case I missed something?" I suggested.

"Leave it to us, Miss Aster! We've prepared… Erm… Tried to prepare some water for all of you so please rest!"

How considerate.

I took them up on their offer and sat down at the fire where Katsuki was already in the midst of using the water they prepared to brew tea for me. She's really working hard on becoming a super maid like Mary as usual.

Despite all that she's done today, I don't see any signs of fatigue on the Inugami.

While I waited for the tea to be prepared, I watched the two sisters go to each of our party members and cast their healing magic on them dutifully.

I couldn't help but smile at the fact that they managed to get over their trauma that our teacher had inflicted on them.

"Aster?"

I turned my attention to the voice to see Delmare looking down while twiddling her fingers, her Siren tail curled under her as a cushion she was using to sit on the ground.

I placed my teacup back on its saucer, "Hmm? What's wrong, Delmare?"

"Was I… Was I useful?"

"Of course you were, were you worried that I would think otherwise just because of that Orc General broke your rapier? That wasn't even your fault in the first place."

She poked her fingers together, "Umm… I admit I was a little worried… I tried to take up some combat classes and I thought I would be good with the rapier… But it seems like I wasn't as good as I thought I was…"

"Huh? Are you kidding me? You were really good with it! I don't think anyone could have fought the Orcs like you have on their first time! Did you already have experience with it?"

"I… May have asked your Mother to be allowed to train with the maids…"

Woah, woah, woah… Hold up…

I widened my eyes at her, "Since when?"

"Umm… I think it was a few weeks ago that I started?"

You're telling me that within a few weeks of training with the maids, Delmare managed to go from completely clueless with the rapier to being proficient enough to fight an Orc solo?

Ok, granted, not really solo but at least with limited support. That's still impressive though!

Unaware of my inner thoughts, Delmare clenched her fists in front of her while looking at me with anticipation, "So was I really helpful to you, Aster?!"

I giggled and couldn't help but pat her head, "Of course you were, Delmare. If you weren't there, we couldn't have defeated the Orcs as smoothly as we did."

That wasn't just lip service either.

Truth be told, I was prepared to be required to constantly cover for Tiara, Delmare and the two sisters since this would be the first monster subjugation for the four of them.

In Tiara's case, I'm not counting her memories since her body had not caught up to her actual skill level yet.

But yet with Delmare's surprising skill with the rapier and her ability to keep up and support Tiara, I did not need to spend as much effort on healing and supporting them as I thought which helped quite a lot.

Delmare clasped her hands together, "Ahh… I'm glad… That meant all that hard work was worth it~"

I leaned towards her, "Umm… Do you think I can train together with you as well?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Katsuki pause in her movements slightly before she continued pouring the tea into my cup.

Delmare did not notice that and widened her eyes at me, "Aster is interested in joining the Maid Academy too?"

I shrugged, "If it helps me get stronger, I don't see why not, right?"

Delmare then turned to Katsuki, "I… I mean I don't mind but… Would your mother have a problem with that?"

Katsuki straightened herself before presenting the tea to me, "I cannot speak for the Madam but I believe that she would have no problems with Mistress joining our combat training."

That was when Odeta appeared behind me and bellowed out a laugh, "Wahaha! What's this?! Is Sister Aster also interested in joining our training too?!"

I gaped at her, "Wait! You're also training with the maids?"

"Wahaha! Of course! Though I train more with the butlers than the maids though! Wahahaha!"

Oh, I already knew she was taking lessons with Sebastian but I didn't know she also joined the maids too.

Katsuki then presented a plate of cookies to me with a slight bow, "Is Mistress truly intending on joining our training?"

I tilted my head while picking up one of the cookies, "I guess so. Would it be a problem?"

Odeta clapped me on the shoulder, "Of course not! Katsuki is just thinking that if Sister Aster joins us, she'll have to work even harder so that you can see her cool side!"

My Inugami maid narrowed her eyes at the Amrap, "Miss Odeta… I would advise that you kindly keep unnecessary opinions to yourself."

"Wahahaha! You saying that is just basically agreeing with me though!"

"... I shall inform Head Butler Sebastian that you were rude then."

"E… Eh?!! Wait! Not that!! I don't want him to give me that lecture again!! I can't even sleep during that lesson!!"

Katsuki ignored her protests and turned to walk away, pretending that she did not hear her.

I giggled at the sight of Odeta running after Katsuki, practically pleading with her not to tell Sebastian what she was threatening her to do.

Delmare leaned against my arm, "Ehehe… I hope that you join us in the training Aster~ I think it will make me more motivated to train harder as well~"

"Oh! Count me in too! I want to join as well!" Lisa cried out, suddenly appearing at the space where Odeta had vacated and hugged me from behind.

I turned to her, "Do you even know what we are talking about?"

The Infrid gave me a confused look, "Hmm? Are we not talking about starting an orgy or something?"

I sighed, "No, Lisa… We're talking about doing combat training at my house."

"Ohhh~ I don't mind joining that either! I'll even bring my battle underwear!!"

…

Is she…

You know what? I'm not even going to ask…