517 How Mother Kicked Them Out

I asked Thora to take me to see Mother and she obeyed, bringing me back to the main building that served as Mother's place of stay while we were here.

I thought that she would just leave me at the door and go back to her duties but after placing me down at the normal sized dwelling, she knelt on a knee beside it showing that she would wait for me.

Entering through the doorway, I found Mother seated near the fireplace with a book in her hands, rocking in a plush rocking chair.

Mary was, as usual, standing at her side and watching over Mother vigilantly.

Mother perked up upon seeing me, "Ara, ara? Two times in one day, my little one? Ufufufu~ Come to Mama~"

She even put her book aside to stretch her arms towards me, clearly showing that she wanted to cuddle me.

I shrugged internally and dove into Mother's embrace, letting her cuddle me to her chest.

"Ufufufu~ Is my little one here to challenge Mary again?" Mother asked, her hand stroking my head with soft caresses.

"Not now, Mommy… But could I ask… If I asked Mommy to tell Mary to give me her bell…"

"Ara? Then I would tell Mary to give you her bell right away, my little one~"

"And I would gladly give it to you as well, Young Mistress," Mary added from the side without a moment's hesitation.

I turned to the maid, "Really? Isn't that… I don't know… Kind of defeating the purpose of this training?"

Mary shook her head, "Not at all, Mistress. The goal of this training was to make all of you utilise any resources available to you to get the bell from us. Of course, the most straightforward method is to take it by force. But that does not mean it's the only method."

I tilted my head, "But… Asking Mother to tell you to give the bell is a method limited to me, isn't it?"

Mother giggled, "Ara, ara~ If a cute little maid were to come along and request Mama to do the same so that they could give the bell to my little one, Mama would have done the same for them too~"

I mean… That still means that I would be the one winning the prize right?

Mary seemed to have read my mind since she did a follow up, "Young Mistress, bargaining is also allowed here. Other servants might offer me something in return for the bell and I could accept the trade as well."

"But… How high of a price would one need to offer for something like that?"

"Young Mistress, the bell is worthless to me."

Ah… Ok… That explains a lot…

"What about Sebastian's bell?"

Mary smiled at my question, "For Sebastian's bell in particular, I'm afraid one would have to resort to the most straightforward method of getting it from him."

I made a face, "In the history of this training… Has anyone managed to obtain the bell from you, Mary?"

"Not at all, Young Mistress."

It seems like I've misunderstood the point of this training this entire time…

While I was right in assuming that we need to hunt down and catch Sebastian to obtain his bell as a way to train us to learn how to track and hunt a target, Mary's option was to force us to learn how to bargain, trick and maybe even beg for something that you might require from someone in a superior position than yours.

I'm guessing if one of the trainee servants were to come up to Mary and offer something like a cake or something, she would trade away the bell for it too.

Unfortunately, despite knowing this… I didn't really want to make use of it to get the bell from Mary.

Of course, there was no way I could do that after involving Selene and the others in discussing this, they were even so serious about it too.

"Ufufufu~ My little one is indeed the cutest~" Mother giggled, as though she knew exactly what I was worried about.

Mary also nodded beside her, "You do not need to worry, Young Mistress. It's normal for this challenge to take up to a week or more before being completed. We have other things planned for all of you after all so we won't allow this to continue for too long."

Ah, so there's actually a time limit for this activity I see. Sebastian would probably let himself get caught once the time is up and end this challenge.

But that would mean that I'll be fighting alongside my party against our Head Maid over here for the next week or so, wouldn't it?

Actually… I don't actually have a complaint against this anyway since this is still training~

Oh yeah, all this talk about this bell thing almost made me forget what I came here for.

I turned to Mother, "Mommy… What happened to the male Magridars of this village?"

"Ara, ara? Does my little one want to know? It's not very interesting though?"

"Eh? Now I'm more curious about it, Mommy."

She spun me around so that I was sitting sideways on her lap, "Ufufufu~ Very well~ My little one already knows that Mother came here to recruit Magridar servants under my wing, yes?"

I nodded.

"Ufufu~ Mama was trying to establish a link between us and the Frostiminir Kingdom and this was close to a gateway where Felicia can travel to~ But the males did not like the fact that I required them to serve our Family~"

"Eh? Why wouldn't they like it?"

"For several decades, the only Magridars who could use Geomancy to build and shape their homes belonged to a family of male Magridars and they enjoyed a lot of privileges because of that."

I rolled my eyes, "They were using it to control the village and made sure no one went against them, weren't they?"

"Ara, ara? My little one is so smart!" Mother squealed, hugging me to her chest again.

I let Mother cuddle me for a minute before I was released.

"Ufufufu~ Now where was I? Oh yes~ They were not happy to share the power and even tried to fight us off~ It was really silly of them~"

"What happened?"

"Ufufufu~ I challenged them for the leadership position of the village by empowering the girls to fight them for it of course~"

I blinked at her, "How did Mommy empower them?"

"We taught them magic and let them decide if they would like to stay under the rule of those males. I think my little one can guess what happened after that~"

"They overthrew the males and chased them out of the village?"

"Ufufufu~ Not quite. The males were challenged to a series of fights for the right to the leadership position in the village where the males had lost completely. The males were then stripped of their positions and Mama was offered the position instead. That made the males even more upset and they protested against it quite vehemently despite being the losers."

"And then they got chased out?"

"That's right~ Everyone decided that it would be better to just kick them out and that's what they did~"

Mary spoke up then, "Madam, you forgot your own role in this event."

"Ara, ara~ That is true. Mama may have instigated the girls of the village to chase the males out in the first place. Perhaps if Mama hadn't done so, they might have been allowed to stay, but that's not that important~"

"Eh? Why?"

"Ufufufu~ Because Mama knew that my little one would eventually come here eventually and Mama did not want any of these stupid males near my precious child~ It's better to just get rid of them before that~"

…

I don't even know what to comment on that… I mean… Is that even a problem in the first place? Why would them meeting me even matter?

You know what? I think it's better that I didn't ask… In fact, maybe I shouldn't even ask if those guys were allowed to leave the village in one piece.

Mother ran her fingers through my hair, "Ara, ara? Is my little one worried about those little Magridars that were banished?"

"Erm… Not really…"

"Ufufufu~ There's no need to worry, my little one~ They won't be able to bother you at all, Mama made sure of that~"

That told me all I needed about the real fate of those guys.

"How far does our Family's influence reach, Mommy?" I asked.

Mother started to braid my hair and for some reason, Mary also joined in as well on the other side.

"Ufufufu~ My little one does not need to worry about that~ Mama will be sure to take care of everything so just enjoy living the life that you want my child~ Mama will watch over you~"

Err… I just wanted to know how far our influence reached though? Like we have a training camp all the way in the north here in the Frostiminir Kingdom despite being based in the Lehcarouc Kingdom… So I was wondering if we have similar places like these in the other parts of the World?

I guess it wouldn't really matter if I knew anyway and it would be better if I didn't since I don't intend to make use of these connections in the future when I'm finally adventuring on my own.

That reminds me… I wonder if the girls are done discussing their strategy yet? I still want to ask Lisa and Delmare out tonight after all~