A Campbell Estate Interlude

It was another day at the Campbell estate, which was waking up with one less Campbell.

The children, of course, woke up as they always did. Some had to be cajoled out of bed by roommates, some blearily rose up and basically sat there for the quarter of an hour it took to stop being in denial about being awake. Some were, horrifically, morning people, but the others had long resolved to love them anyway and not bury them in pillows so long as they kept their overhyped excitement to the hallways and away from the presence of sane, rational sleepy people. Shio, as always, woke to find that in her sleep her tail had been claimed as a pillow, and not had many girls laying their heads on it.

Chiharu was already up early, as was her duty. She didn't get much sleep at night, as she had to patrol to make sure no one took their own lives. After all, it would be poor repayment to their lady to just leave like that with her generosity wasted. Lately, the others who had sworn to their lady had suggested she delegate this to them, or at least agree to abide by a schedule, and she was afraid she might have to take them up on this. This was getting very tiring. She rose and began putting on her garments. The soft undergarments still felt decadent against her skin, and contrary to what she had expected did not alter the lines of the admittedly plain kimono-like garments (they were still working on getting actual kimono) that their lady to provided for them on the recommendation of Katarina-dono.

Garbing herself and taking care to proudly secure the band that proclaimed her fealty to their beloved lady onto her arm, Chiharu went about her morning rounds, intent on aiding her fellows see that they were free, with new lives with their lady ahead of them.

Lasciel Polk went to her master's room to find he wasn't there, which was strange because the lady was absent. Nevertheless, she began heating water for his bath and laying out his Ministry uniform. As always, she worried about if this was the day she would be dismissed. Not dismissed from the manor, of course, for she knew their new lady was not so cruel as that, but dismissed from her position as the master's maid. It wasn't much, but the position was paid a little bit more than just being a regular maid, and unlike back when her mother worked as a maid in this manor when it was owned by the Diekes, she didn't have to worry about the lord of the house 'asking' her to keep them company for the night.

Rafael woke up, and found himself on an empty bed, in an empty room. He supposed intense Ashina maids didn't loom like a giant with a greatbow when Maria wasn't around. Still, at least he was waking up alive and well. Rising blearily and having a strange desire for someone to say 'ravish' so he could turn them down, he made the bed, threw on his robe and headed for his room. His clothes and bath were there waiting for him, and he put on a neutral 'Sirius Dieke' smile as he acknowledged his maid, thanking her for getting things ready for him as usual. It was a bit awkward having a maid since she couldn't exactly assist him with some things like a valet could because of propriety, but Maria insisted he have a body servant to assist him, and as Ghirardeli was her steward and they didn't want any men getting close to her wards, a maid was it. Though he wished she'd stop being so nervous around him, people might get the wrong idea.

Waking up worried for her daughter who was not at home was not a feeling Alice Campbell had missed. It didn't matter how capable she was, how she had Light Magic to heal her ills, or how big the monsters she'd already killed were. Now that her daughter and she were talking again, she found herself fretting, no matter how many times Anne assured her of how easily Maria could tear through an ogre with her bare hands. She still wondered what had happened, that her daughter became capable of doing that. As distant as the two of them had been at the time, she'd liked to think she would notice if her daughter started training to rip an ogre's heart out through its chest.

Still, Alice got up, and not because she and Anne had agreed to stop humping like teenagers at all hours and making Maria worry for her health (which had been both embarrassing and endearing). They had breakfast to attend, and while Anne was slightly indignant at being referred as a 'grandma' since she was only 25, she did enjoy doting on the children with Alice. The staff also asked for her advice on what to do about certain things, although that wasn't often. Maria apparently ran a very efficient estate. When they did ask, she was quite willing to defer to Anne's suggestions, as her young lover understood what they were asking about and would know how Maria would likely want it done due to their friendship.

Katarina was already up and happily doing her morning sword drills, waiting for her cousin to come so they could do shield parry practice. She still thought parrying should be done with a sword, but since she'd been able to parry with her shield a whole three times already, she was forced to admit it was possible to do. That morning though, she had to finish drills early because she was scheduled to help make breakfast in the kitchen. While she wasn't the sort of cooking master that Maria was, as expected of the top-tier heroine character, she knew how to cook. Well, how to follow cooking directions, which in this case was about the same thing. Unless Sir Rock was cooking, the food the knights had was kind of bland.

Ah, but today was a lucky day, for as she put down her sword to wipe down her sweat and help in the kitchen, she could smell that Sir Rock was cooking…

…

After breakfast, the estate became busy. Lady Sophia would arrive, and while she would normally meet with the lady of the house briefly before going off to do Lady Sophia things, today she stayed and did the rounds as she had months ago when the estate's lady had been away on errantry, inspecting the manufactories, storage areas and gehrmany butts where the knights were practicing with the weapons. Then Lady Selena had arrived, and the two had spoken, dividing Maria's work between them before Lady Sophia left to do her rounds.

In the manufactories, so close to each other yet so far, and divided by walls lest sparks from one be carried to th other and destroy them all, weapons and powder were made. The workers who made the black powder that was the secret at the heart of nightflowers did so with great care, for they knew the terrible beauty and power of the thing they made. There was little conversation, for the powder demanded their attention like a boulder rolling to crush them in its path, but they all worked with the familiarity and smoothness of those who knew each other well. When lunch rolled around, there would be much hilarity and gossip and camaraderie, but not now. For the powder was as dark and deadly as the Abyss, and a much crueler mistress than the lady whom they proudly proclaimed their allegiance…

The blacksmiths worked, shaping metal into cunning shapes like puzzles, to be brought together. And like puzzles, the pieces all had to fit, and so they laid them upon rigs and jigs so that needful shapes would line up without need for filling. The ringing of hammers as they shaped long, tubular barrels was occasionally broken by the sound of a great weight falling from a height, punching out shapes from sheets of metal. The work was hard, repetitive, and would always be there tomorrow. Some of the things they were doing required little skill, for they were so simple, but needed to be done many, many times. This was a new craft they were making, they knew. They might be blacksmiths now, but the next generation who worked here would be gehrmansmiths, makers of a specific weapon, and they would create new skills and new tools and new traditions of their own.

Inside the manor, chores were done. Not by maids, who had duties, but by wards who were required to care for their own rooms and areas. Broken and fearful and hurt though they were, theirs was a spirit that rejected untidiness. And for those who had been caged in squalor, sitting in their own filth, they found gleeful victory in making themselves and the manor around them clean. Sheets were aired and carpets were pounded and laundry was washed, village girls and former nobles all washing their clothes by hand.

Once, this had been done in sullen, dark-hearted silence. Now, in a house that shone with sunlight through every window and rang with the happy voices of children at nearly all hours of the day, while gifted with comforts and luxuries and seemingly boundless kindness, even the most despairing fallen pride found themselves sharing small laughs as they did menial work with their own hands, and accepted praise for how clean their sheets were as badges of honor. Even those who still contemplated the fall into Nito's embrace in the depths of night found the thought of such release of less comfort, when they could be in the light. Those with the fortune to have not been separated from siblings and children, and those who had claimed someone to protect to protect their own heart, spoke proudly of accomplishments in the classroom, of high how they could count and the maths they could do. They spoke of drawings proudly displayed like masterpieces.

Cooks and maids worked frantically, for the fruits of their work would be the face that the estate would show the world. At any moment, a prince or the son of a duke could come to call, and when they did, it would not be said that their lady's house was disgraceful. Ever since their new lady had appeared, the fortunes of Raven's Nest had reversed, and what had once been a slowly dying town had begun to bustle. Their lady was great and noble and famous! Stories were told of her heroism, and great princes and their fiancées would visit her every week for her advice and her company, and treat with her as a learned equal. Her generosity was without bounds, and any in their town who came down with some sickness or injury need only come to her doors, and she would personally heal them herself. For those too ill to do so, she would come to them, coming down like one of the dead goddesses of myth bearing a miracle.

Compared to the dark, hateful, scheming Marchioness of before, who had taken people in the night for unknown but no doubt sick purposes, the difference was clear as disparity. And so they worked hard for the sake of their lady, caring for her stronghold where she took in those in greatest need whom she had saved.

In the classrooms on the first floor of the house, village children and wards, from Sorcier, from Ashina, from Gerudo, from Varangia, from Jugo, some considered much too old for such simple classes, all sat attentively as the teachers taught. The village children were no longer awed by being in the manor, the big house of their lady. Their friends lived here, after all, and while you should always be polite at a friend's house, it wasn't a place to be awed, no matter how good their mama's cookies were, and the cookies were very good. The wards, young and old, tailed and tailless, all sat dutifully, even if they'd rather be outside playing, or farming, or learning how to be a blacksmith, or learning farming from Katarina, or learning how to make rice, or becoming a knight. Their mama and lady had asked them to do their best to learn, and that's what they would do, because they wanted to make mama and their lady proud.

And so they dutifully learned numbers, and how to put together numbers to make bigger numbers and smaller numbers, and learning what a 'verb' was and why it had to agree with a 'subject', and the birthdays of kings and queens even though the kings and queens in question had died a long time ago and didn't even need to be given presents anymore. And they'd learn to draw and sing songs and do music and they did tests to see how much they'd learn and whether they'd need to learn it again.

And while she took notes on the subject matter, little Shana also took notes about lessons, and what kinds of lessons there were, and how lessons are presented, because she had a Katarina to teach, and she wanted to do it right so her mama and Lady Mary would be proud of her. She was really glad she had a whole bunch of brothers and sisters now who were willing to help her teach Katarina, helping her set up practice meals and practice parties and other practice things. She almost couldn't remember the days when she had no brothers and sisters, and no mama, and no food because she wasn't good at fighting so people would take her food away…

And if she did, all she had to do was find the nearest brother or sister, or a bunch of brothers and sister if she happened to remember a lot, walk up to them and say, 'I love you' and hug them. And they'd hug her back until she didn't need to be hugged any more, but keep hugging her anyway, because she had a lot of brothers and sister now, and she could give food away knowing she didn't have to save it, or offer her blankets to someone else knowing she'd get it back, or not be afraid that anyone was hiding in the dark to take her away because this was mama's house and the only thing in the dark was mama, aunties and big sisters watching over her, not like before, where there was–

Shana paused in her notes, and shuffled a little sideways on the bench she was on until her hip bumped one of her sisters. The sister, who had dark skin like chocolate and hair that was really curly and fun to nuzzle against, looked at her curiously while they held their pencil like a knife for stabbing someone in the neck.

"I love you," Shana whispered so she wouldn't interrupt the teachers.

Her sister put down her pencil and hugged Shana. Shana hugged her back until there was only mama and her nice new house and her nice warm blankets and delicious meals and brothers and sisters and a really cool sister with a nice tail for napping on…

The teachers ignored the byplay. The boy on the other side of Shana was dutifully writing notes for her in her notebook for her to read later, so she was fine.

…

Maria examined the cave, even as roars resonated within. The darkness was of a familiar sort, thick and cloying. Yes, this was definitely a Dark Familiar and not an outbreak of the Abyss.

"Are we ready?" she asked. Her guns were loaded, she had her new Rakuyo in hand, and bottles of oil and bombs were on her person.

Dame Dustiness nodded. She wore her helm, concealing her face, but she held her sword in a firm, sure grip. "Ready', she said.

Sir Elstrom spun his spear to loosen his shoulders as he wrapped himself in wind to speed his movement. He had demonstrated the move to Maria, and she found it allowed him to move not unlike her quickening. His smooth blue helm nodded. "Ready."

Sir Cett hefted the modified Avelyns he held in either hand. "Ready as I'll ever be," he said.

When this was over, Maria would need to see what she could do about selling him a gun.

Sir Olvar frowned at them. "I doesn't feel right, me staying behind," he said.

"You won't be able to do much down there," Maria said. "You're of more help staying up here and keeping your… partner… calm. With luck, we will be able to draw it up for you and your partner to incinerate."

They all glanced at the beast. The dragon, its scales glistening in black, green and gold, was devouring a barrel of fish. It had become agitated once they had neared the forest from which a great many animals had evacuated and that the Ministry and Abyss Watchers had identified as having a cave occupied by some sort of Dark and draconic. The description of the one sent back to report, of the dragon having a brilliant white outline, had been what had prompted the king to send for her, in case it was a Dark Familiar.

If it was… well, Maria wasn't really sure what she'd do. She knew how to wield one, not how to kill one.

Still, duty called.

The four knights descended into cave, Maria holding a torch to light their way…

Sylphreena
This spear was specially designed to be used with Wind Magic, and seems to move with a mischievous life of its own.

Life beyond death. Strength after weakness. Journey before destination.

Blue Sentinels take their oath to protect very seriously. Some more than others.

Burai
An unusual dagger named after an ancient hero. Even in death, he came to the call of his allies in a legendary war.

Its music is said to tame even the greatest of dragons though, of course, this is just a silly story.

Has a brother weapon in the sword Geki. It is said he who wields both swords will forever by dyed in crimson.

Saba
A curved sword said to be capable of felling the paledrake. Curiously, no record of it ever being used for such exists.

It is said that in the darkest hour of the kingdom of Eltar, a great warrior took up arms once more so his comrades need not fight alone.

Yet he was clearly mad, for he was said to converse with his sword, whom he named after a king's pet.

Vindication Avelyn
An extremely rare rapid-firing crossbow, modified to take greatarrow tips as bolts.

Fire three successive bolts. Inflict heavy damage by making all three shots count.

Lord Rust, known as 'the greatest gift to the enemy', once tried an entire army with this crossbow, proclaiming he would bring about a new age of warfare. He went bankrupt trying to do so, and he was soundly defeated. Such is the popularity of this weapon that not even association with this fiasco affected its popularity.

A/N: So, my Pat-reon is up now at P.A.T.R.E.O.N.C.O.M -/-SCM2814. If you want to support this fic, that would be great, but no pressure. But if you do, you'll also get advanced access to my new original fiction series about a wizard on the frontier, her dungeon, and the idiots around her...