This chapter is mostly a fanservice one, but I hope you'll enjoy it nonetheless.
Chapter 41 – Maid to Order (Wyvern Moon)
Byleth and Dorothea were met by an unusual sight on their way to the dining hall after some training. Seteth was in the entrance hall speaking with Anna, with an opened crate in front of them and several others nearby. Inside the crates were multiple sets of clothing.
"Let me make this as clear as possible," said Seteth. "I did not place an order for this many outfits!"
"Well, obviously you did, because that's what I saw on the order," Anna replied.
"That is absurd! I know what I wrote down, and it was for ONE in each size, not TEN!"
Before Anna could reply, Byleth and Dorothea walked up, prompting Anna to say, "Hey, By, can you reason with this guy? I filled the order for these outfits like the church wanted and now he wants me to take them all back."
"That is because you made far more than necessary!" said Seteth. "I do not intend for the academy to have to pay ten times the expected amount!"
"Oh, come on. Do you know how much it cost me to have these made? I've already paid the seamstresses. You can't expect me to just eat the costs like that!"
Seteth was about to say something when Byleth said, "Okay, please, let's calm down."
"What are all these, anyway?" asked Dorothea as she looked at the crates.
At that moment, a small crowd consisting of Hilda, Annette, Mercedes, Marianne, and Flayn all came out of the dining hall, all chatting amongst each other. Flayn was the first to notice the debacle before them.
"Brother, what in the world is going on here?" asked Flayn.
"It's nothing for you to be concerned about, Flayn," said Seteth. "Just a mix-up with an order placed by the academy."
"Really?" asked Annette. "What for?"
Hilda knelt next to the opened crate and took hold of one of the outfits, raising it up for the girls to see.
"Maid outfits?" said Hilda.
"And there's so many of them…" added Marianne.
"Why would you order so many outfits?" asked Mercedes.
"That is just the thing: I didn't!" Seteth snapped. "I only placed an order for one in each size, but Anna decided to make ten of each instead!"
"Hey! You think I'm trying to swindle you?" Anna said crossly. "Who do you take me for?"
"Anna wouldn't do that," said Byleth. "Seteth, you must have made a mistake somewhere."
"Preposterous. I made the order very clearly; it is your friend here who seems to have made the mistake."
"Hey, why were you buying these things anyway?" asked Dorothea.
"They are replacements for ones that Miss Dominic burned last week."
Sheepishly, Annette said, "I-It was an accident! I told you I didn't mean to throw that fireball at the clotheslines!"
"In any event, Anna needs to take these back. There is no room in the servants' quarters for so many."
"Look, Seteth, we can work this out," said Byleth. "Anna, do you have the order he wrote?"
"Yeah, back at my shop," said Anna.
"Well, why don't you go and get it? Then we can figure out what went wrong."
"Sure thing, By. Be back in a bit."
As Anna spun around to leave, Seteth said, "Do you think I plan to leave you unsupervised?"
"Wha– Do you really think I'd skip town over something like THIS?"
Again, Byleth interrupted and said, "Anna, please, just take Seteth with you for this."
For a moment, Seteth and Anna simply glared at one another.
The tense standoff was then broken as Hilda held up one of the maid outfits and said, "Hey, these things are kinda cute, if you ask me."
She then took one of the maid headdresses and walked up behind Flayn.
"Umm, Hilda?" Flayn asked in confusion.
"Hold still for a second," said Hilda as she fitted the headdress onto Flayn's head.
Hilda then stepped away from Flayn, letting everyone see her with the headdress on. There was only one word that could be used to describe the look.
"Oh my goodness!" said Annette. "That's so adorable!"
"You look just like a little doll, Flayn," Mercedes said with a smile.
"Really?" asked Flayn. "Brother, what do you think?"
"I… Um…" Seteth was apparently at a loss for words, and for a faint moment Dorothea thought she saw him blush.
"Almost makes me want to try it myself," Dorothea said with a giggle.
"Hey, that gives me an idea," said Hilda. "How's about we get some of the other girls and have a little dress-up party with these outfits?"
"W-What?" Marianne asked.
"Oh, that's a great idea!" said Annette. "I'd love to see you wearing one, Mercie!"
Mercedes giggled at this.
"A splendid idea!" said Flayn. "Come, let us find a place to dress ourselves!"
As the girls moved to pick up the crates, Seteth said, "Now, wait just a moment! You can't just use those for your own amusement!"
"Oh, don't be such a killjoy, Seteth," Hilda said with a frown. "We'll bring them back when we're done."
Seteth was about to protest, but upon seeing Flayn with a big smile on her face, he let out a loud sigh and said, "Very well, but I expect all of them returned when you are finished, and I expect them to be undamaged. After all, Anna will be taking them back once I have settled this mishap with her. If I learn that any of them were damaged, they will be coming out of your pockets. Is that clear?"
The girls all nodded affirmatively, but each one showed their dislike of Seteth's terms.
Seteth then turned to Byleth and said, "Professor Eisner, could you please ensure they don't do anything too foolish?"
Byleth nodded at this, so Seteth and Anna went on their way.
"Come on, Professor," said Dorothea. "Let's go find the others."
…
A half-hour later, the first-year girls were gathered in one of the monastery lounges. Curtains were shut to keep any of the boys from peeking and various impromptu changing stalls were set up so the girls could have a little privacy while changing their clothes.
Dorothea was impressed that they had managed to get all the first-year girls for this. It had been difficult to get Bernadetta, Leonie and Ingrid to participate, but they had somehow managed it. Bernadetta was hiding under a table, terrified at being around so many people at once, yet they had still managed to get her into one of the small outfits. Leonie was standing off to the side with an exasperated expression, still dressed in her normal academy uniform.
Ingrid, however, was crying out in embarrassment as Annette and Mercedes undressed her in one of the stalls.
"H-Hey! Watch where you're – AAH!" Ingrid yelped as she was stripped down to her undergarments, unable to break free from the two Blue Lion mages.
"Come on, Ingrid, hold still!" said Annette.
The orange-haired girl was already dressed up in a small maid's outfit and, in Dorothea's mind, looked cute as a button. Mercedes was also dressed up in a large-size outfit, and Dorothea was surprised to see just how busty the blonde was. The maid outfit was hugging Mercedes' breasts tightly, which sat high and firm on her chest.
Off to the side, Flayn was enjoying herself as she looked around at the others. Petra was busy trying to understand why maids would wear such a thing, finding it far too stuffy for her liking, while Marianne was blushing madly as Hilda fitted a headdress onto her. She too was far bustier than Dorothea had initially thought, though not to the same extent as Mercedes.
One who was certainly not busty, however, was Lysithea, who stood with an exasperated look on her face. She was glaring at Dorothea, who too had gotten herself dressed in one of the large outfits. It fit her perfectly, though Dorothea had opted not to wear the leggings in favor of her usual thigh-high boots, which caused a small amount of her smooth legs to show underneath the skirt.
Dorothea looked back at Lysithea as the white-haired girl glared at her. Specifically, Lysithea was glaring at her chest.
"Umm, Lysithea?" Dorothea asked. "Is something wrong?"
"It's nothing…" Lysithea said in disappointment.
"All done!" said Annette as she and Mercedes pushed a blushing Ingrid out of their stall.
"Oh, Ingrid, you look fantastic!" said Dorothea as Ingrid stumbled around.
"I think you look ridiculous," said Leonie.
"Don't be such a spoilsport, Leonie," said Hilda. "Your turn!"
"What?! Hey, I didn't say I was gonna do this! Lemme go!"
Hilda and Mercedes took it upon themselves to grab Leonie by the arms and drag her into one of the changing stalls. Within seconds they heard Leonie yelp as her shirt was tossed up to rest on the edge of the stall.
"Cut it out, you guys!" Leonie hissed.
"Come on, Leonie," said Hilda. "We're all having fun here!"
It took several minutes before Hilda and Mercedes could finally finish with Leonie. The Sauin hunter had a blush of embarrassment and anger on her face as she stumbled out.
Growling, she said, "I look like an idiot in this!"
She then grabbed at the outfit as Hilda said, "Hey, don't go ripping it! Seteth said if you rip it, you buy it."
This made Leonie stop dead in her tracks. The last thing she wanted was to be in more debt. She slumped her arms down and bent over with a defeated sigh that made the others laugh.
"I'm never gonna live this down…" Leonie muttered.
"What is going on here?" said a familiar royal voice.
Everyone looked to see Edelgard entering the room with a look of utter confusion on her face.
"Oh, Edie!" said Dorothea. "You're just in time! We were just trying on these maid outfits."
"I… can see that…" said Edelgard. "But why are you all doing this?"
"Call it a fun little activity," said Annette. "Come on, you should try one on!"
"Me?" Then, as Dorothea slinked behind her and took Edelgard by the shoulders, the princess said, "I suppose I could for a little while if all of you are doing it."
"That's the spirit, Edie!" said Dorothea. "Come on, we've got one just your size!"
Dorothea herded the Imperial princess into one of the changing stalls as the girls watched in amusement. Sitting nearby as she supervised the whole thing, Byleth couldn't help smiling at seeing the girls having such a good time together.
Minutes later, Dorothea stepped out of the stall and said, "Ladies, I present to you the Princess of Maids!"
A second later, Edelgard stepped out of the stall, her cheeks flustered as everyone looked at her.
"This is… rather, um…" Edelgard couldn't find the right words for the situation, prompting the others to laugh. Edelgard turned to Byleth and looked expectantly at her, to which Byleth replied with a smile and a nod.
"You look absolutely adorable, Edie!" said Dorothea.
"I dunno," said Annette. "I still think Flayn's got her beat in cuteness."
"How very kind of you to say such a thing, Annette," said Flayn.
"Well, that's just about everyone," said Dorothea. "Just one more of us needs to try one on."
"Really? Who?" asked Ingrid.
"Why, the Professor, of course!"
"M-Me?" Byleth said, not expecting such a thing.
"Yes you, Professor! We've got one set aside just for you. Come on, try it on."
"I… suppose I could."
Byleth did her best not to blush as she stepped into the stall on her own. The girls waited outside as they saw the Professor's clothing being placed on the sides of her stall.
Then, after several minutes, the stall opened, and Byleth stepped out. However, her outfit didn't look entirely fitted on her, with the back still untied.
"Umm, could I get a hand with this?" asked Byleth.
"Leave it to me, Professor," said Mercedes as she stepped behind Byleth.
For a moment, Mercedes worked to try and tighten the straps of the outfit's bodice, meant to keep the wearer's chest from bouncing around too much. But it was proving rather difficult for Mercedes to tighten them.
"Oh dear, this is really stubborn," said Mercedes. "Let me just give it one big – Hmph!"
With that, Mercedes pulled hard on the straps, and the room was filled with a loud ripping sound.
To everyone's shock, Byleth's maid outfit had torn right between her huge breasts, and now showed her black undershirt beneath the outfit.
Byleth's face immediately flushed as she wrapped her arms around her chest defensively.
"Oh my…" Flayn gasped as the others burst into laughter.
"M-Mercedes!" Byleth hissed.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Professor!" said Mercedes. "I didn't know that was going to happen."
"I guess you're just a bit too big even for the large size," Dorothea said with a giggle. This made Byleth glower at her.
Byleth then scrambled back into the changing stall as the others continued chatting or laughing. Minutes later, Byleth emerged dressed in her regular attire with the torn maid outfit in her hands and a look of exasperation on her face. She knew she was going to have to pay for it.
But as she looked back at the girls and the smiles on their faces, she knew it was worth the price.
…
"So, did you find the order?" Byleth asked Anna and Seteth as the two returned.
"Yeah, I have it right here," said Anna. "And look, it says TEN for each one. One, zero."
"I did NOT add those zeroes!" Seteth said in frustration.
"Well, clearly you did."
Byleth took hold of the sheet of paper in question and looked at it for a moment.
"See?" said Anna. "Just like I said."
After looking it over, Byleth said, "I believe Seteth."
"Huh?!" Anna said in alarm. "But–"
"Someone tampered with this. The zeroes aren't in his signature."
"What?! You've gotta be kidding me!"
"Seteth, did you hand this to anyone else before it was sent to Anna?"
Seteth took a moment to stroke his short green beard as he pondered the question.
After thinking it over, Seteth said, "I do believe I handed it to the Gautier boy, along with some other letters. He would've taken them directly to the courier."
Anna and Byleth looked at each other for a moment, and then back at Seteth.
"Welp, mystery solved…" said Anna.
This might seem like pointless filler, but it at least serves as a bonding experience for the cast.
I kinda wish the game could've done some mass-support-building events like this. Heck, Support conversations between 3 or more people would be great for FE to have.