From one mansion to another, it took barely a second to cross the distance of a couple hundred-miles back to Amoranth. And yet, the sight that greeted me when I stepped through the portal into the Bellenfort mansion’s drawing room made me wonder if someone installed a different time zone over the city since our last visit.

  There on the couch, her head of long green hair resting on a pillow was the form of a thin young maiden. Her modest chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, unbothered by her lack of a blanket. Curled up with her knees pressed to her chest, she looked so peacefully asleep that it took a glance at the window and at the sunlight streaming through it to make sure it hadn’t suddenly become night.

  The twin facts that there was a half-empty cup of tea on the table in front of her, and that she was wearing her usual maid’s dress were no doubt proof that she’d been awake at some point today. Meaning of course, that she woke up, spent an hour or two existing before heading right back to sleep.

  “June…”

  As someone that used to sleep till noon when I didn’t have to work, I get it, but seeing someone else doing it is a little…

  “Come on, Husband, move it!” Elane said, pushing me forward. “You aren’t getting out of this by blocking the portal.”

  I stumbled, nearly knocking my shins against the coffee table. Thankfully, I managed to catch myself before I could fall onto the sleeping maid.

  Like we had with the guild quests, we’d made it a point to share a meal with the maid quartet at least once a week and in that time, they’d lightened up to me a little. And I really didn’t want to lose that progress by jumping on her while she was asleep.

  My efforts were rewarded by June’s eyes remaining welded shut as she snoozed. Assuming that was a reward.

  “Geez,” I sighed. “I wasn’t blocking anything. Don’t be so impatient. If I wanted to stop you, I would have just closed the portal behind me.”

  “Yea, sure. Then why were you…” she stopped, found the sleeping maid, then a wry smirk crept across her lips. “I see,” she said. “Too busy enjoying the view. Fair enough.”

  With a hearty laugh, she slapped my back and strode over to the couch. As she did, Yua stepped through the portal to join us. Then she looked behind herself, sighed, and stepped right back through. She reappeared again, this time dragging Mana along with her and in turn, Mana dragged along the furball she held in her arms.

  “Mana,” Yua said. “You agreed to wear your armor if you got to bring Lucy.”

  “Mmnn… But these clothes are even more uncomfortable than the usual ones.”

  At this, with a strong pout on her face and with my black cat Lucy dangling helplessly in her arms, Mana turned her hips towards me and shook her skirt. The thin fabric swayed easily without exposing too much skin, but that was the problem. Her shoulders dropped.

  Since we were planning on tackling a quest that would surely involve fighting, the girls and I were equipped for battle. Yua was wearing her usual leather vest and shorts combo, while Mana was sporting a dress made of extra thick cotton. Her bottom was covered with a knee-length skirt with long slits running up either side of her hips for ease of movement. And to round it all off, was a small steel breastplate that only covered her breasts.

  It was meant to be both protective and lightweight, while not making her so uncomfortable it’d affect her aim. Unfortunately, she refused any leather outright due to how constricting it was, but the main problem was her underdeveloped Strength stat. The steel on her chest was about all she could handle at the moment without it slowing her down.

  Likewise, but for entirely different reasons, the only real difference between Elane’s usual outfit and what she wore now was the large steel breastplate that covered the entirety of her chest under her captain’s coat. Though she was strong enough to handle a full suit of armor, she refused to wear anything more than this, other than shin and armguards. Despite being somewhat of a tank, her reason for the lack of coverage had been, “Duh! Axes are already slow. Wearing too much would just slow me down more!”

  Much like I had to with Yua, I had to put my own worries aside and defer to the more experienced fighter and trust her instincts.

  Meanwhile for myself, I used Material Creation to graft several plates of steel onto my jacket sleeves and pants, on top of the breast plate and gauntlets I made for myself and hid it all beneath my cloak.

  All in all, I felt a little ashamed of myself as a man for walking around with so much armor, while the girls barely had any.

  “But what if Big Bro wants to touch my boobies? This metal will get in the way.”

  Drawn back to reality by what seemed like the end of a conversation I’d missed, Mana tugged at her breastplate like one would their collar on a hot day. Her lewd question brought out a sigh from Yua, but it made my cheeks heat at the thought of who else might be listening in this mansion.

  I spun on my heel to check on June, only to find her still laying down, this time with her head on Elane’s lap as she combed her fingers through the girl’s light green hair.

  “Elane, stop that or you’ll wake her. Just let her rest if she’s tired.”

  “Huh? Oh, she’s already awake. Has been the whole time.”

  With a grin, she poked June’s cheek and slowly, and very reluctantly, the maid opened her eyes. Where a shocked, eye-widening gasp may have been in order at the sight of me, a man in this mansion that has only ever housed women, June simply blinked, yawned and then quickly followed up with an annoyed sigh.

  “Morning,” she said, punctuating her sentence with a second yawn.

  “Hello, June. And it’s almost noon, actually. Why not get up if you’re awake?”

  Our eyes met and she closed hers, and for a second, I thought she was about to fall asleep again before she opened them again.

  “I didn’t get up before you got here because I didn’t want to. Now I’m not getting up because I can’t.”

  She gestured to her tormentor with her eyes, but Elane shrugged and continued combing her fingers through the girl’s hair. It didn’t look like June was restrained in any way, but upon closer inspection, all four of June’s limbs had gone as limp as wet noodles. She even tried, and failed, to wave to me.

  “I’m used to Elane forcing me into a lap pillow so she can dump her giant tits on my head,” June explained. “But now that they’re made of metal, I’m too scared to move. I could be crushed.”

  “Come now, June. I would never.~”

  “Liar. Alex, my life is most definitely in danger. Please save me… *yawn*”

  It didn’t take long to figure out how this girl, this perfect example of human lethargy pretending to be a maid, operated. General fatigue was already stitched into her being, but she instantly loses all strength in her body and wilts the moment any amount of force is put on her by another.

  While I did have to worry how she managed to survive this long, I couldn’t help but sigh at the thought of how Elane casually combing her hair was enough to make her give up resisting.

  This, combined with June’s usual sharp tongue and otherwise joking nature – and the fact that Elane’s breastplate was stiff enough to make “dumping her tits” on her an impossibility – made me think she was full of it. So, I turned to Yua.

  “Let’s head to the guild. All this talk about hurrying there and now we’re fooling around.”

  Yua smiled sympathetically, but then her ears twitched and she looked towards the door.

  “Gah. He’s abandoning me,” June complained.

  “Relax,” Elane cooed, twirling the girl’s hair around her finger. “Doesn’t having your hair brushed by your former mistress feel good? I’m returning the favor for all your past hard work.”

  “I don’t want to hear you talking about feeling good. I can’t deal with women with experience. It’s exhausting and depressing.”

  “Oh, quit it. You know I can’t go to the guild with them. Let’s brush each other’s hair while we wait.”

  “Ughh…”

  Whatever strength had returned to June faded the instant she tried to raise her head, only to be met by more of Elane’s brushing. She plopped back down on Elane’s thigh and closed her eyes, surrendering to her with supreme ease.

  Come on, June. At least put up a fight.

  “… Yua, Mana, let’s get going.”

  Guiding Mana with a hand on her back, I reached for Yua’s hand, but her ears twitched again and she stopped us.

  “Wait. Erika said she wants to speak with you.”

  “Really? About what?”

  Yua shrugged, flicked her ears for the answer, but none came. Every time we passed through the mansion, Erika was usually quick to greet us, but whenever we caught her when she was busy, she’d let Yua know she was on the way by speaking loudly enough for a beast-kin to hear no matter where she was in the mansion. Through this comradery of their shared sense of super-human hearing, the two quickly became friends.

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  Meanwhile, to us non-beast-kin, it felt like the two were sporting a pair of invisible two-way radios on a frequency no one but them could hear. Hell, even Mana seemed lost sometimes, though that was usually just because she wasn’t paying attention to begin with.

  We waited another minute or two before Yua smiled at the door moments before it swung open to reveal the heaving bosom and sweaty face of the mansion’s one and only dog-kin maid. Coming in behind her were Silla and Mary, the final two inhabitants of the mansion.

  Suddenly surrounded by a room full of cute girls, my heart should have been all a flutter, but seeing the petite Silla trembling as she clutched the thick tome of a spell book she carried to her chest, and with Mary sporting her usual defensive glare, it was difficult to let myself relax.

  Actually, no. For some reason, Mary’s already fiery glare seemed even more piercing than usual. Just meeting her gaze made me grateful she wasn’t holding her spear. I greeted them all with a smile that was just a tiny bit forced.

  “Master, I hurried to gather these two as soon as I heard you arrive,” Erika said, giving reason to her heavy breathing before she pulled June off Elane’s lap and forced her to stand beside the others in a line. “Sorry we’re late.”

  “It’s fine. I told you before, you don’t have to line up like this every time I stop by.”

  And you don’t have to keep calling me Master… but I’ve given up on that point. I’ve tried everything from asking her politely not to, to bribing her with the occasional gift, but all I got out of the extra attention was raising her Casanova Level by one. Short of actually ordering her, I was out of ideas.

  “We do, actually,” Erika corrected and raised a finger to explain, but then her cheeks turned bright red and said finger curled in on itself.

  She looked to the other maids as if to confirm something and an unsteady June blushed, Silla hid her face behind her book and Mary glared harder still. All but Mary grew fidgety, rubbing their knees together.

  Gulping, her tail swishing feverishly, Erika the Headmaid stepped forward and gestured with a shaky-sweeping motion to herself and the others.

  “S-S-So, what do you think, Master?”

  “What do I think?”

  I think if Mary glares at me any harder, I’m going to have a heart attack. How could such a cute girl look so dangerous when all she’s doing is clutching the front of her skirt like an embarrassed maiden waiting for a compliment?

  Wait, is that why…

  “Oh, I see… Yes, you’re all really cute today. Um, keep up the good work.”

  My honest comment went ignored by Mary, who only continued to glare. June’s cheeks reddened slightly as she leaned on the Headmaid for support, but Silla ducked even further behind her spell book, which I only now noticed was my copy of the Lightning Bolt spell.

  Back when I let her borrow the Water Ball book, Erika reported that she carried it everywhere she went until she finally managed to learn it after a few weeks of studying. Which was actually really quick by this world’s standards.

  So, if she’s still dragging that book everywhere after two months with it, she must be having a hard time mastering it.

  “N-No,” Erika said, rejecting my compliment. “O-Our dresses. What do you think of our dresses?”

  “Huh?”

  As if her words weren’t enough, Erika brushed her hands along the length of her skirt, which was now only long enough to reach roughly two to three inches above her shaking knees, all to show off more of her creamy white thighs than I’d ever seen before.

  “…”

  I was stunned speechless, my cheeks heating as much as theirs. Where I distinctly remember her maid’s uniform consisting of a full-length dress, her skirt was now bordering on being too short – even her apron was shortened to look more like a decoration than a useful tool. Likewise, the collar of her top was cut low enough to show off an immodest amount of cleavage, which in her case, was actually about as hard to look away from as Yua’s would have been in her position.

  It was the same for the other three.

  “W-We had June hem our uniforms like you asked,” Erika mumbled, trying hard not to hide her body.

  “Wait, like I asked? I never told you to do that.”

  “Huh? But Elane said you wanted us to shorten our skirts and…”

  She stopped, eyes widening as her attention snapped to the woman in question.

  “Elane told you, did she?”

  I followed the maid’s gaze and found Elane. Still seated comfortably, she made it a point not to look at me and instead took a sudden interest in the couch’s fine upholstery.

  In order to keep up her Cartography business, Elane had to take daily trips back to her mansion to collect any map orders Erika had accepted on her behalf. Usually, she went alone, but if she was feeding them false orders, I might need to start tagging along.

  “Elane…” I repeated, taking a step towards her, but Mary stomped past me before I could do or say anymore.

  “Elane, you bitch!” she growled, hiking a foot up onto the couch to grab Elane by the collar of her breastplate. “Did you lie to us?!”

  “Hoho, of course not.”

  “Yes, she did. I gave her no such order.”

  The maids were already overly apprehensive towards me, the man that had become the master to them, a bunch of cute girls who had no rights to say no to anything I wanted of them, including their bodies. Because of this, I was on thin ice with them from the get go, and this certainly wasn’t going to earn me any brownie points.

  “Idiot!” Mary growled, shaking the blonde. “Do you have any idea how embarrassing this is? No matter how I move or sit, I feel like someone somewhere can see my panties!”

  “M-Mary. Take your foot off the couch. Master can see your underwear!”

  “See what I mean!”

  Erika scrambled to wrench Mary off their former mistress before she could swing the fist she bared and I politely looked away. I did not notice the dog-eared girl’s short skirt wavering about and I most certainly did not notice that the fiery Mary apparently favored frilly pink undergarments. Nope. I saw nothing.

  My back to the ladies, I heard a wild flurry of kicks aimed at the air, but made sure not to turn back until Erika forced Mary back into the lineup. She glared at me again, but quickly shot an even more fiery look back at Elane, who shrugged.

  “Explain yourself.”

  “Heh. What can I say? After spending so much time with Kitty and Yua, I’ve come to appreciate short skirts on cute girls. And I know my husband does too, so...”

  “Stop acting like complimenting us makes it okay!”

  Just when Erika stepped between the two again, Silla peered at me from over her book before raising her hand high up into the air.

  “T-Teacher, I, um, don’t mind the skirt too much, but may I have permission to at least wear some stockings? And, um, can I alter my collar so it doesn’t show my chest?”

  “What do you care?” June said, a crooked smile spreading across her lips. “You don’t even have anything worth hiding.”

  “Sh-Shut up! I know you’re embarrassed too!”

  “Eh, not really. Alex is gonna stare at our boobs no matter what, so why does it matter if we show a little cleavage? Oh, right, you don’t have any to show.”

  “H-How dare…!”

  Cheeks burning bright, Silla raised her book overhead to use it as a bludgeon, but June collapsed on the spot the moment she saw it. And when she noticed me looking, confirming that the little window cut into her top truly didn’t show anything worth being embarrassed about, she hurriedly covered up with the book again.

  On one side, Erika was trying to keep Mary calm. On the other, a grumbling Silla was pushing the toes of her shoes into June’s cheek as she lay in a puddle of maid on the floor. Meanwhile, Elane smirked at the sight. Clearly, she was the victor here.

  I rubbed my eyes.

  Every time we come here, something like this happens. I’m glad they forgave Elane for her past rough treatment, but I was finding it hard to see this as a positive.

  “Girls!” I shouted, and thankfully everyone quit their squabbling long enough to look at me. I looked to each of them in turn before continuing. “Elane was messing with you. I never gave you any orders to change your clothing. Wear what you like and fix up your uniforms however you want. Consult with June for any changes you need made to them.”

  “Ugggh!” June whined, collapsing further into the floor. “All that work for nothing and now I’m being rewarded with more work.”

  “Sorry, but bear with it. Erika…”

  “Y-Yes, Master?”

  “Use whatever coin you need to help June fix the dresses. Silla, Mary, sorry for the trouble, but you can go back to what you were doing.”

  “Tch…”

  Mary offered up a quick bow before stomping off deeper into the mansion. Silla did the same, but cut her bow short to cover her bottom when her skirt hiked up. I sighed as I watched them go.

  I only asked Yua to wear skirts like that because of my own personal tastes and because I knew she didn’t mind. And Mana just didn’t want to wear anything that felt too constricting around her nether regions. My liking the sight of them in cute skirts and dresses was a mere bonus, but I never thought my tastes would be used against me like this.

  “Don’t act like you don’t love it,” Elane quipped, crossing her legs.

  “Elane… We’re leaving. Don’t cause any more trouble while we’re gone.”

  “Fine. Fine.”

  “And Erika, I didn’t give her any other weird orders. So, feel free to ignore whatever she tells you.”

  “U-Understood.”

  “Hey, hey, wait a second,” Elane said, turning to Erika. “Did you look for that thing I mentioned the other day?”

  Thinking this was more of her tricks, I was about to stop her, but Erika answered easily after taking a quick breath to compose herself.

  “I did. I’ll go fetch it for you.”

  Bowing before turning on her heel, Erika made it only a single step before her foot caught on the still puddle-like June’s ankle and she fell forwards with a yelp. She only just managed to catch herself with her hands before crashing onto the floor, but not before the back of her skirt flew up onto her tail to reveal the entirety of her plain white panties.

  Perhaps they were made to perfection by the very Tailor that tripped her, but the thin white fabric clung to Erika’s every curve so effortlessly that it was honestly difficult to prevent myself from forming a mental image of what might be beneath.

  “Ouch… June, hurry and get up before…!”

  Her tail stiffened, making the condition of her skirt worsen, then she quickly snapped her gaze my way. I could not stop my heart from reacting to what my eyes perceived, and she definitely noticed. On instinct, I tried to look away before she caught me, but I wasn’t fast enough.

  Our eyes met, hers filled with tears and her mouth fell open into a wordless scream that only remained silent because she quickly diverted her efforts into pressing the back of her skirt down. She jumped to her feet and rocketed out of the room without another word.

  [Casanova Skill Activated: Slave Erika has reached level 5]

  What the hell is that for? Don’t tell me… Is she so grateful that I didn’t pounce on her after that, that it actually improved her opinion of me? Come on!

  “Wow,” Elane smirked. “Erika’s become such a clutz recently.”

  “Yea,” June, the puddle-turned-trip hazard, agreed from the floor. “She’s been like that a lot recently.”

  “Seriously…?”

  It was honestly strange. I’ve put all the points she gained through the Casanova system into her Luck stat. So, in theory, such things should happen to her less, right? And yet, every time I visit, something like this happens. She trips and shows off her panties. She trips and rams her breasts into my arm in a failed attempt to catch herself. Or, the sudden appearance of my portal startles her, causing her to spill tea all over herself, leaving her a dripping mess before I even step through.

  Am I actually wasting her points by dumping them all into Luck? The Goddess said the Luck stat works for everyone, but I was starting to have my doubts.

  Feeling as though I might be making her life even more difficult with my meddling, I palmed my forehead.

  “Thanks for this, Elane.”

  “Hah!. Don’t worry. You’ll like what she’s getting.”

  “That’s not… Whatever. We’ll be back.”

  Taking Yua and Mana both by the hand, if anything to escape this place sooner, I led the girls out the mansion’s front door and we hurried off toward the guild.