Chapter 44 Bonds of Sisters
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
In the end, Marina’s idea about servants being like sisters turned out to be right.
Suzuri and Marina were led back to their master’s base, called the Familial Workshop—a magical home. There was no time to admire its fine details. The moment the two returned with no clothes at all, someone was already waiting. Ashley stood beside the golden gear that had been sent back ahead of them, her face calm as if nothing was strange.
”Welcome home, my lady,” Ashley said.
”Ah, yes. I need to take Suzuri to the changing room first…” Marina answered.
Until then, Marina had stayed calm even while naked, but the moment she saw the maid standing so neatly, she rushed to pick up her armor and tried to leave at once.
Of course, no servant would ignore a princess who came home with no clothes on.
Ashley smiled, yet her eyebrows pulled tight. It was clear she was trying to hide her anger, and with that look, not even the free-spirited Marina could escape.
”You return home, and yet I receive no greeting? I will speak with you later, so please give me some of your time,” she said.
Her polite words flowed without error, but the anger inside them was not hidden at all. Marina bowed again and again, offering greetings and sorry words. Her bold pride from before had fully left her.
Suzuri had thought Marina alone led the servants, but now Marina looked just like a younger sister being scolded for playing a trick.
Servants are like sisters.
Ashley spoke so freely because Marina herself lived that bond. If so, helping the “younger sister” now would repay the kindness they had shown in welcoming Suzuri as the youngest.
”I am sorry to cut in, Ashley-dono,” Suzuri said. “Please do not blame her more… Marina-dono only wished to help me. I was scared, and she tried to comfort me!”
As a servant, Suzuri agreed that Marina needed a warning. But it was also true that seeing Marina remove her clothes had shocked Suzuri so much that all her fear and worry had blown away at once.
”And please, call me Suzuri, without any title,” she added. “I am new and hold the lowest place. It feels too much for someone as trusted as you to add ‘-sama’ to my name.”
If Marina was a princess, then her maid must be a lady with a high noble rank. Even if Suzuri had made a name as an adventurer, being called “-sama” by such a person when she was only a commoner made her skin crawl.
Because Suzuri spoke up to protect Marina, Ashley let out a soft sigh, and her tense look faded.
”…Very well, Suzuri-san. Please stand. You are right. It did sound a little too distant for someone our lady has accepted,” she said gently. “But your skills are something our master Yuuri holds hope in. So please allow at least this much respect, and forgive me for not using your name alone.”
With those kind words, Ashley helped Suzuri into a bathrobe after Marina. There had been no need for two robes, since only one of them had been naked before, so Suzuri suddenly turned back as the reason struck her.
Past the clear glass door lay the safe zone where they had stood just moments ago. Suzuri now understood why Ashley had waited with anger. Her face burned hot.
Ashley had seen them.
It was not only a secret moment with a wild princess. Someone had watched. Suzuri’s heart jumped in panic, and at that exact moment, Ashley wrapped her soft arms around her.
”I am looking forward to working with you too, Suzuri-san,” she whispered near Suzuri’s ear. “Only Yuuri knew much about the maze. We could not send Yuuri to the front. When you joined us as a servant, it gave us great strength.”
Ashley’s warm chest pressed against Suzuri, soft even under her thick apron dress. Her voice brushed Suzuri’s ear, and the shame in her body slowly eased. Ashley was happy that Suzuri had returned from the human world, and she cared about Suzuri’s tired heart.
It felt like resting in a mother’s arms. Suzuri had forgotten how safe it felt to lean on someone, and her knees lost strength before she knew it.
Ashley pulled her close in time. Her arm held Suzuri’s waist. With the strength of her blessing, she did not drop her, and their magic marks met through the fabric.
”A-ah, hiin…♡”
A sweet shock ran through Suzuri’s whole body at once.
It was the same magic that Marina had used earlier to tease her—the power of the magic mark, the source of those invading tendrils inside her. Ashley took control of it in a single moment.
Suzuri could never win.
If she ever tried to challenge Ashley to a magic-mark union, Ashley would crush her with one glance.
The thought brought to mind the jellyfish lord and that strange flesh-room.
Ashley’s face was so lovely you could stare forever. Even women would lose focus when they saw her soft, full chest, her slim waist, and her wide hips made for birth. It was as if her body had been shaped to be a perfect offering. Inside that body, magic tendrils twisted with power, ready to burst free.
If a normal person used magic to look inside her, the horror might even break their mind.
Yet even so, there was a strange order to it.
Marina had called this base the Familial Workshop. Suzuri had not heard the full skill yet, but if it was called a workshop, then it must have some power to change a servant’s body.
This was proof that Ashley was the most loved by their master.
How Suzuri wanted that too…!
The three of them had reached this floor—the fifty-eighth—with only three people.
At least, if the three of them did not have the skill to defeat that stone-turning monster, Suzuri would not be here now. If this was the effect of the Familial Workshop, then the reason for taking in a new servant was clear.
It was to remake them.
They would use the workshop’s power to give each servant strength. And with such strength, there was only one goal for them here.
A full, true conquest of the maze.
Since this nation began, everyone had dreamed of it, tried it, and failed. And now they wanted to do it with only three—no, four—people…!
Long ago, those who reached the deepest floor boasted of their record, but they never returned to help the friends they had left as bait. Yet with a skill like the Familial Workshop binding them as one, such fears no longer mattered.
They would be as one, strong as iron and never separated.
To finish the dream that had once failed, Suzuri would give her life, her skill, and all of herself without a second thought.
”Suzuri-san, are you alright?” Ashley asked.
Her gentle voice reached the weak servant who had gone limp in her arms.
Suzuri’s heart beat fast. She felt like she was walking toward the happiest moment of her life.
Marina leaned in, smiling as she looked at her little sister shaking with hot breaths.
”Ashley let your magic mark touch hers, so you got hit by it,” Marina said.
”Oh my, how improper of me… I am sorry,” Ashley said.
She had not even noticed the effect she caused, like a naked blade resting calmly in its stand.
Like a fine sword no longer in her hand, she did not even notice when a leaf brushed its edge. She was a perfect work, forged by their master’s workshop. She was Suzuri’s ideal.
Without thinking, Suzuri hugged Ashley’s small body and buried her face in her soft chest.
”Onee-sama…” she breathed.
”Hey! That’s not fair, Ashley!” Marina cried. “She never calls me big sis!”
Ashley looked a little unsure at suddenly being called “sister,” and even that unsure face was lovely.
Marina slipped in to join the hug, and Suzuri held both of them in her arms. She looked up at their close, beautiful faces and made a promise.
”I will become useful too. I will let Yuuri-sama love me a lot, and I will work myself to the bone so I can stand beside you both!”
Ashley drew in a sharp breath. Marina’s eyes widened for a moment, then she smiled as if it were fun.
”Did you explain Yuuri’s skill to her, my lady?” Ashley asked.
”No, she reached it herself. She is a smart girl, and she made up her mind fast. That courage is perfect for a new servant,” Marina said.
Her words made everything clear.
This was an extension of the warning they first had. Even if Suzuri claimed to give all of herself, there was no promise her body or mind would survive being placed in the workshop’s forge. These kind sisters likely planned to keep her outside at first, letting her only watch and learn.
But they should not underestimate her. She was born in a ninja family.
She was a blade, to be swung for her master. She had done it before, and she would do it again without doubt. That was who she was.
Where she came from, words alone meant nothing. So even as they praised her, she only bowed with her lips shut.
For some reason, Marina saw something in Suzuri’s choice. She slipped out of the hug and picked up the armor scattered on the floor.
”It will be faster if we just explain it now,” she said.
”Yes, indeed. First, let us change into room clothes. This way, Suzuri-san,” Ashley said.
Suzuri helped carry what Marina could not hold, then followed Ashley.
As they walked deeper inside, Suzuri caught a faint scent of their master near a heavy door. But the two guiding her did not stop.
(He must be resting.)
Right after her stone curse was lifted, their master had already passed out. Even if a servant’s body was rebuilt, if the master had filled in the missing parts with his own magic, the cost must have been great.
Suzuri stopped for a moment to bow in thanks for saving someone like her who had almost reached her end. Marina turned her head as she walked.
”You noticed? You have a good nose,” she said.
”Yes. I had no awareness when I became a servant, so I realized we pushed him too far.”
There was only one way to repay that kindness.
Suzuri did not say it. Marina understood anyway, and she faced forward again without a word.
They passed a long dining hall with many tables, a kitchen beside it, and a district full of strange tools Suzuri had never seen. At the end, they stopped in front of a door.
”This is the room. The other side is Yuuri’s changing room, so do not enter it,” Ashley said.
”If you sneak in, Ashley will make your magic mark all gooey-gooey, so be careful♡” Marina said.
Ashley sent a cold stare at Marina’s joke, but Marina seemed not to mind at all.
Suzuri nodded grandly, hiding the tiny urge she had to peek inside, and stepped through the door.
”You may use that locker. If you do not like it, choose another, but please keep a little space from mine or our shoulder guards will bump,” Ashley said.
”A locker, you say. So this metal box is for keeping our things from outside,” Suzuri said.
”Yes. I will explain later, but we rest inside the workshop and aim to get results outside in short time. So we spend most of our time in normal clothes. …Ah, we do have a small problem. Suzuri-san, you have no gear.”
Ashley folded her arms, touching her cheek with one finger as she thought.
Even as Suzuri admired her thoughtful pose, she recalled what they had seen of the workshop so far. It was clean and well cared for, almost shockingly so, yet despite how easy it was to live in, it did not look built for battle. Using it for maze dives seemed unusual, and perhaps they had never planned to add more people on the way.
”I think you can use the weapons inside that locker,” Marina said, “but clothes are a problem.”
”In that case,” Suzuri said, raising a hand, “if you allow me to show my skill, I believe I can solve it.”
Marina clapped her hands as if she had forgotten.
”That’s right! I heard you were a girl we could trust, and that your skill was useful too.”
”What kind of skill is it? If it may cause trouble here, we should step out to the safe zone,” Ashley said.
”No need. If I keep it small, it will be fine. It is one of the easiest skills to control,” Suzuri replied.
Even so, she stepped well away from them to be safe.
With their small nod of approval, Suzuri slipped off the bathrobe and shoes and showed her trained body again.
”Here I go—Yami-matoi (dark cloak),” she said.
”Oh!” Marina gasped.
Pushed by her excitement, Suzuri let the darkness cling to her skin.
Like when she had shown it to their master in the dark, she shaped it into her ninja outfit for maze work. It formed a body suit on her skin, a short chainmail to guard vital spots, and a black coat tied with a black belt. For her feet, she copied the material of the shoes she had borrowed, making them softer so her step would not hurt.
In a few seconds, she changed from naked to her well-known look.
”My, my…!” Ashley breathed.
”N-n-n-ninjaaa!?” Marina cried.
Suzuri could use the skill while just standing, but she posed a little to look cool.
It seemed to work. Both sisters stared in bright surprise. Suzuri did not understand the “ninja” word the younger sister used, but since they were happy, that was enough.
Still, even after such a nice show, or maybe because it went so well, her heart sank when she felt no familiar weight in her hand. She had no blade.
Thinking of it made her sigh, and her strong pose fell apart as her shoulders dropped.
”What’s wrong, Suzuri? Did you hurt yourself?” Marina asked.
”No. I was hit by the truth that my beloved blade is gone. It was a fine sword passed down from the first of my line…”
Of course, she had woken with nothing.
She wished she had given it to her party before she ran out as bait for the stone monster. But if they never came to save her, the chance of it ever coming back to her had been low anyway.
Being rescued when she had nearly given up, and treated with such care, made that one failure weigh heavy on her heart.
As Suzuri slumped against the locker, her sisters shared a look and nodded.
”Suzuri, I told you to use that locker, right? Open it,” Marina said.
She spoke gently, like calming a pouting child.
Had she said there was a replacement weapon…?
It would never match her true blade, but if her dear sister had prepared it, it would be rude not to take it. Suzuri steadied herself, gripped the handle, and slowly opened the door.
”…Eh?”
She looked at them, then back, then at them again.
Inside the plain metal locker stood a black scabbard and hilt trimmed with gold—the very same blade that had shared her long trials.
”Wh-why… how…?”
Marina pressed her hands together, looking sorry.
”Sorry for hiding it. But we couldn’t hand a strong weapon to someone we didn’t know yet. We planned to return it later, but since you thought things through and chose to stand with Yuuri, we decided you should have it now.”
She seemed to shine with kindness.
Suzuri did not ask how she knew her homeland’s ways, but her care made sense.
”No, no…! It was the right choice. I thought you left it in the maze and were gone…! And yet you return it so soon… I—”
Tears pricked at her eyes.
To hold again the family blade that meant more than life… how could she repay such a gift? But she already knew what was asked of her. She had accepted that duty the moment she became a servant.
After thinking for a moment, the answer came.
If it was given from the heart, then she would return her heart.
Suzuri did not take the blade. Instead, she closed the locker softly.
Both sisters looked puzzled as she rose.
”Suzuri? Are you not happy? Did we do something wrong?” Marina asked.
Suzuri turned toward the younger sister who looked worried.
Without pause, she walked up and hugged her, holding back the strong feeling inside her.
Marina let her, though unsure, and Suzuri breathed her feeling softly into her ear.
”Onee-chan, I like you♡”
Marina’s body shook at once.
”I like you♡ I love you♡”
Suzuri whispered again and again with no lie in her voice. Soon Marina’s body shook harder, then lost strength. She leaned fully into Suzuri and stopped moving.
But of course, that alone was not enough to calm Suzuri’s heart. She pushed Marina down onto the long bench in the room. At last, the older sister, who had been staring in shock, rushed to stop her.
”S-stop! No naughty things outside the bedroom, Suzuri-san! Ah—no, move away—no kisses! Save your first one for Yuuri!”
Notes:
• Marina – First Princess of Restea—needs labyrinth escort.
• Ashley – Count’s daughter, royal attendant, has a crush on Yuuri.
• Suzuri – A scout who braved the labyrinth and lured a petrifying monster to protect her friends, she endured long isolation while frozen in stone and relied on inner magic to preserve her sense of self.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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