A Tale of One Deviant (Book One)

Chapter 155: Just A Peek

"Again, are you sure, Magaris-"

     "I'm sure, Firea."

     "But what about your contract with the earl-"

     "Your father." My lips tightened and I looked away from the maid that stared pointedly at me while pressing on a panel and going into a hidden room to store the cleaning supplies. She really knew where everything was, having been there for weeks on her own...well, with Keir, but what company was he? "My contract as a maid...hah..." She sighed, emerging from the dimension pocket of supplies and letting the door close behind her. The panel for it was tapped on once, for it to disappear. "I'm curious about that myself."

     "I could just find it and destroy-"

     "We're not vagabonds, Firea. You're the [Apostle of Order]. Does that mean nothing to you?"

     "I just learned that thirty minutes ago, and I don't have the title applied in my Status, so I really don't feel any compulsion to be official with the earl-"

     "Your father."

     "..."

     "..."

     And again, I looked away, beginning to clop into the distance with my wooden geta shoes. The water hadn't reached me because of the raised platforms, so it took me a while to notice that the sink left on for dishes had spilled over while we had a long conversation about our future. The wonderfully high-tech sink that Magaris had wonderfully turned on the full power of had overflowed quite fast...

     And Magaris had insisted upon cleaning it up without magic. It gave her "a sense of ability" apparently, when asked. "I can't do everything with magic, Firea, or I'll end up like you."

     "What's that supposed to mean?"

     "Nothing."

     And then it went into more difficult territories in which the maid insisted on curt responses while not letting me labor with her. At least the cleaning supplies were high-tech as well, so it didn't take too much bent-back work to clean.

     "Later, Firea," the maid warned when I began asking too many questions about the mechanisms and if I could just take one to take it apart later-

     I was truly curious about the technology behind it, since so far, I'd never found technology on Tasega to begin with. Only in the forbidden land, but I'd never figured out how to make it work, and I was more busy running for my life and surviving in the wilderness as I'd accidentally fallen into my can't-use-magic-for-three-days-after-being-a-Dragon flaw, the last time I was there.

     "I'll probably be able to talk to Sarah about it. She's in charge of all of the contracts anyway, and not an unreasonable person."

     "So when you find her and ask her to end your contract, and she asks why, she'll completely understand if you say it's to go be the familiar of a god and the companion of an apostle in a dungeon-"

     "Not precisely." Magaris shrugged one shoulder of her black dress, which she'd finally gotten used to wearing after some time. No longer did she pry the fabric away from herself sometimes as if to wonder again why she was wearing such a color. "I was hoping you'd come along with me to help explain."

     "What? Me, go there?" I shook my head, blanching and appalled. "Why?"

     Her gaze, not at all amused, lifted to mine. I was still in adult form leaning against the counter, arms crossed. Well it was nice to have two arms, so-