Chapter 5: Caring for her
°• Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? —Romans 6:16— •°
Three hours went by and Bianka was still unconscious. The young Valkyrie got two dislocated shoulders, a fractured leg and several bruises and cuts over her body, which were too few injuries for the brutal collision that Rita had witnessed (not that she inwardly wished for her master's demise, but the latter was surprisingly solid enough to survive after this). Rita would have classified it as an admirable feat if she were responsible to treat her master's wounds. She had managed to give a valid excuse explaining her absence to Ragna. Convinced, Ragna strictly instructed her to not leave the injured girl's side as she suspected that it was a murder attempt against her future successor. Rita, who was well aware that it was all the Overseer's plan, was not even the slightest alarmed by Ragna's instructions. She did hope, however, that it would be the Overseer's first and last test on Bianka. Once Ragna was gone, Rita quietly left the Valkyrie recovery unit and some time later arrived in Bianka's room with extra blankets. The only difference was that now she was not alone with her mistress.
"You're Otto's little b*tch, aren't you?"
The woman who spoke was Himeko Murata. She usually threw vulgar words when she was drunk, or annoyed to the point that she could throw a cactus at someone's face, or when she was face to face with someone she disliked more than an incompetent driver on the main road. Her red hair was let loose and she had changed into a simple blouse and black jeans. At twenty-two years old, she was the oldest B-rank Valkyrie at St Freya but was also the brightest one. In fact, she was the only Valkyrie in Schicksal's history (excluding all researchers and engineers) who got a PhD and that too at the age of twenty-one. Himeko was seated on the sofa next to Bianka's bed, her eyes fixed on an unamused Rita.
"Miss Murata, would you please refrain yourself from employing such inappropriate words in front of a minor?"
"Huh?" Himeko leaned forward. "You think I didn't notice?" She stared intently into Rita's eyes as if she could do mind-reading. "I know when someone has lost their innocence. You've probably seen more blood than a heart surgeon… enough to make you an assassin in disguise. Tell me why you're now serving this innocent child."
"Miss Lodbrok sent me to her as her personal maid and protector–"
"And yet," Himeko interrupted her, "this poor girl got heavily wounded today." She rested her face on the back of her hand. "Is your real purpose to protect her... or to slowly brainwash her into becoming one of Otto Apocalypse's little puppets?"
Rita tightened her jaw.
"Ah... I hit the right spot," Himeko said with a smirk, "I'm not an idiot, sweetheart. I can decrypt your shenanigans, burn away your false confidence and pull down that sheep mask you're hiding behind. Your honeyed words are ineffective to my ears so listen to me..." She stood up and roamed around the room while Rita stood frozen on place. "Let me guess again... Otto is planning to replace Ragna with this child once she's of age. What will then happen to Ragna? I thought you two were close, but in the end you're just a backstabbing b*tch." She closed the distance between them. "Don't worry, sweetheart," she whispered in her ear. "I'm not telling Ragna anything until the time is right."
Rita now classified the word "sweetheart" as one of her least favorite words. She staggered back and did an awkward smile. She felt defeated. Himeko was indeed a genius on paper, but Rita did not know that she was also an empath with clairvoyance abilities. The maid thus concluded that the redhead was a dangerous woman who posed as a threat to the Overseer's rule.
Himeko theorized about the possible outcomes in her head and let out a laugh. "Or maybe you're the one who will pull that reverse card," she said, circling a finger at Rita. "For now, you have nothing to lose. But the moment you have something you cherish you will forget all loyalty to protect it."
Rita did not understand her, or maybe she did not want to understand her.
"Overexposure to the sun can make people delusional. I wouldn't blame you since we're all exhausted today." She showed the redhead the blankets she was carrying. "Apologies if I sound rude or curt, but could you please leave us alone? I need to care for my injured mistress."
"You resort to faking your innocence when you're cornered. Fine, I'm leaving. Talking to a puppet feels like talking to a wall. I might as well declare myself as a nerd who finally lost it."
Was the redhead planning to blackmail her with that information? How was she a step ahead of her? Was she working for Theresa Apocalypse as a spy? But Rita knew that Theresa was not exactly interested in the Overseer position. Himeko left Bianka's room and also left a silent Rita drowned in thoughts.
Bianka woke up the next day before the sun rose. She winced and complained a lot, but her maid was there for her. With a foot plastered and two arms that hurt at the slightest movement, Bianka had to fully rely on her maid.
"No, I'm not a baby," whined the young Valkyrie as her servant carefully undressed her.
"Says the one who still pees in her sleep," Rita remarked, with a forced stern face.
"W-w-what?" Bianka's face flushed a deep red.
"I should remind you that I do the laundry," Rita said, slowly beginning to smile, "I never put dirty underwear along with towels and bathrobes in the washing machine. I would rather wash them by hand first then throw them in the dirty laundry basket to be washed a second time." Satisfied with the embarrassed face that her master was making, she continued. "I am very sensitive to smells; this is why I adopted an extreme hygiene. The smell of dried sweat also bothers me."
"Then from now on I'll wash my own underwear."
"If my master desires to do so."
"And I promise to never soil them again."
"Oh, miss Ataegina, they are most prone to getting soiled as you go through puberty and adulthood. You haven't even started your monthly bleeding."
Bianka was on the verge of tears. She could not even lift a pillow to hide her face as her arms hurt.
"Since your arms are sore and you can barely move, I brought this instead of your usual clothes." Rita showed her a large gown that could be opened on the sides. She then proceeded to dress Bianka and adjust her bed.
"Why are you taking care of me?" her mistress suddenly asked.
"A good servant takes good care of his good master. Miss Lodbrok would've never sent me to you if I were not competent in my work."
"No, I mean..." She pursed up her lips, unsure of how to say it. "I'm the only D-rank Valkyrie who has a personal maid. I'm not anything special. I'm a brat compared to a legendary woman like Ragna Lodbrok. I don't know anything about my past, and yet I want to be part of the Immortal Blades to lead investigations. I offended all of my classmates and pretended to be better than them. But I'm not. They all hate me now. These two girls helped me yesterday and now I feel worse."
"You're the only one of your rank to have a maid because you were chosen by the Overseer. Not only that, but he also predicted that you would become the future leader of the Immortal Blades."
Bianka frowned. "The Overseer?"
"Yes. The blond man with long hair who runs Schicksal."
"He's the sad guy I met at the orphanage."
"Sad guy?"
"Yeah," Bianka said, "he told me a very sad story of a woman who did bad things in the name of love. I don't really remember the story now, but he appeared to be a good man troubled with something."
The Overseer was not exactly a good man and even Rita Rossweisse could attest it. He could be kind and evil, compassionate and cold-hearted, empathetic and apathetic, honest and deceitful... He was all the synonyms of benevolence mixed with all of its antonyms. He was a man who acted with a reason and his calculative approaches were what made him so powerful. To Rita, he was, in a sense, a breathing poetry of love and poison.
"Medea," Rita uttered.
"Oh, yes, Medea! Now I remember it. To be honest, his story was awful."
Rita nodded. "Poisonous love is indeed an awful thing. Let's hope that it never happens to ourselves."
"Yeah. I'll never become anyone's simp," Bianka said in a grave tone, which Rita found quite comical.
"You really had no idea that the Overseer chose you?"
"Apart from the fact that he took me out of the orphanage, nope."
"So how did you know that you would lead the Immortal Blades one day?"
"About that..." Bianka bit her lips. "It may sound ridiculous, but I saw a woman in my dreams who told me that. She was carrying a lance and I thought it made her appear like a goddess. Actually, that's the reason why I picked the name of a goddess."
"Can you describe her to me?"
"Sadly, I cannot. I do not remember anything else except for her soothing voice."
A blurry physiognomy of a woman carrying a lance. Rita mentally took note of it. The servant left her mistress and soon came back with their breakfast. She patiently fed Bianka first before she fed herself. The morning hours were always Rita's favorite moments. Dawn was the break of a new day and it felt even more special now that she was sharing it with someone. This moment was unfortunately cut short by many uninvited visitors.
"Good morning!" they all said in unison. Dozens of Valkyries gathered and crowded the place in front of Bianka's room. Rita squinted at the breathless nurse who was with them and the latter shook her head to say that she had tried her best to retain them. "We're Bianka's classmates," one of the young Valkyries said.
"What a wonderful surprise..." Rita slowly turned to look at Bianka and then turned back at the waiting visitors. "The room is too small for a crowd. How about you come in two by two?"
"Alright!" They said again in unison.
"Well then, you're welcome inside."
Two girls timidly advanced from the crowd and stepped in.
"Hi, we came to say thank you for saving us."
One of them placed a packet of biscuits on the sofa beside Bianka's bed and the other left a recovery card.
They left the room and another two girls went in.
"I'm sorry I said bad things about you."
"Me too. Thank you for saving my sister."
They too left and another group came in.
"You really are a future leader. I've never seen anything like that before."
"It's not much but maybe this Homu plushie can make you feel better."
It went on like this. Everyone left something for Bianka, and the more people who came in, the more tears that welled up in her eyes. In the end she wept like a baby and Rita was sure that everyone outside heard her.
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Himeko Murata was in a sour mood since her last encounter with Rita Rossweisse. With quick strides she climbed up the stairs that led to principal Theresa's office. Ragna Lodbrok and Ana Schariac were already inside discussing with the principal whose head was barely visible behind the table when she sat down.
"Ah, we were waiting for you," Ragna said, "We extracted some samples of those fibres. Here's what we know about it so far." Ragna opened a bottle and using a pipette she carefully let some drops fall onto a plastic figurine. She then broke the object into two and almost immediately the liquid webbed transparent fibres to recreate the broken part of the figurine. And now they had two identical sets.
"The liquid has a mind of its own," added Ana Schariac, "It can recreate broken parts as per the shape it remembers and it has regenerative properties."
Theresa Apocalypse reached for the figurine and broke it again. The same cycle occurred and now she had three identical figurines. "Do you think you can examine this further, Dr. Murata?"
Himeko smirked. "I'm all in if it means catching a criminal."