《Bear Maid the Princess' Guardian》 Prologue This is the world of Advant, home to many races and monsters. There are the humanoid races, Human, Elf, Dwarf, Beast-man, Halfling, Fairy, and Demon. They all live together in peace, fighting off monsters that try to ruin their livelihood. In Advant, all humanoid races awaken to a special skill, these special skills usually determine what a person will work in for the rest If their life. These skills have rankings, going from 1-star ¡ï to 5-star ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï, there are also two special rankings, Special and Unique. Special rank skills are skills that are extremely rare that are stronger than 5-star skills. Unique rank skills are skills that only that person will ever have, these are just as rare as special skills, but their power varies, they can be as strong as a 1-star or just as strong as a Special skill. At the age of 5, a child is taken to a church and has their status unlocked, once a person''s status is unlocked they can view it just by thinking about it. The church finds out about every child''s awakened skill and leaks that information to nobles and other high-status individuals, the information is used to find out who to try and recruit and raise to be useful. Trita Kingdom Capital, Inviz, Orphanage My name is Tear, I am an orphan. About two months ago my parents were killed by crazy cultists who despise beast-men, they were captured and executed, good. I was taken into an orphanage after finding out, all I got to take from our house was a small picture of all three of us and my mom''s locket. I keep the picture in the locket and wear it at all times. I am a beast-man to be precise I am a mixed beast-man, my mom was a polar bear beast-man and my dad was a black panther beast-man. I acquired most of my appearance from my mom, I have white hair, bear ears, and a bear tail. I was named Tear because I have a black teardrop on my hair, it probably came from my dad, I also have green feline eyes. My mom just like most polar bear beast-men girls was very short and had big breasts.sighs I don''t know whether to look forward or not to my future growth, on the plus side polar bear beast-men have very high strength among most beast-men but low agility and are bad in the heat, I wonder if my dad''s black panther genes will help cover polar bear''s low agility and heat issue.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Today is my 5th birthday, I will be taken to the church to unlock my status, I wonder what will happen afterward, I know the church sells information to nobles, they need to make money somehow. (Care-taker Lady) "Come along now, we have to go to the church." (Tear) "Yes." We both walk to the church that is across the street, the church helps out with the orphanage, probably to keep an eye out for any potential talents. (Priest) "Welcome. Are you here to pray?" (Care-taker Lady) "No, this little one turned 5 today." (Priest) "Ah, a status unlock, come this way." We walk up to an altar, a weird pillar is in front of us. (Priest) "Just place your hand on the pillar." I put my hand on the pillar and it starts glowing. Chapter 1 Words appear on the glowing pedestal, despite not having learned to read or write yet, I could instinctively know what it said.
Name: Tear
Sub-Race: Polar Bear/Black Panther
Race: Beast-man
Species: Humanoid
Level: 1 HP: 100/100 MP: 100/100
Vitality: 50 Strength: 50 Intelligence: 50 Agility: 50 Luck: 50
Awakened Skill: All-Equip (Unique) Able to equip any armor or weapon. Ignores restrictions, curses, and weight.
Innate Skills: Thermal Energy Immunity ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Perfect Swimmer ¡ï¡ï¡ï Night-Vision¡ï¡ï¡ï Dexterous Movement¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
Skills: Cleaning ¡ï Cooking ¡ï
This is my status, I awakened to a unique skill, All-Equip, it lets me use any armor or weapon no matter what. So theoretically I could wield a huge greatsword as if it were a stick, and heavy plate mail as if I were wearing nothing. All my stats are balanced across the board. My innate skills are racial skills, it seems I acquired a 5-star skill to be immune to the temperature from the combination of my parent''s genes, I got Swimming from my mom and two from my dad, Night-Vision and Dexterous Movement. I have cleaning and cooking skills from the time I was helping out my mom. (Priest) "A unique skill holder! This unique skill is very interesting and can have various uses." (Care-taker Lady) "My, how shocking!" (Priest) "I''d recommend sending her to the Noble Maid Facility. It would help train her to be very useful. It might be temporary if a request for someone with her talents is acquired." (Care-taker Lady) "Yes." It seems I''m going to be sent to the place where they train maids for nobility. Well, I can''t expect much I am just an orphan of common origin.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. After that, the care-taker lady brought me to a mansion, she knocked on the door. A butler looking man came out and noticed us, he seems to know what the situation is, this is probably not the first time a girl from the orphanage was sent here. He led us in and we arrived at a room, the butler asked permission from the person inside to go in. We were let inside and behind a desk was a strict looking lady. (Lady) "If it isn''t a lady from the orphanage, brought a new girl to be trained?" (Care-taker Lady) "Yes, we just had her status unlocked and the priest recommended I bring her here." The caretaker hands over a letter the priest gave her over to the lady. The lady opens it and looks it over and then looks at me, I can see the intrigue in her eyes. (Lady) "Interesting. You will be trained as a battle maid, you''ll do everything a regular maid does but also trained in combat to be a top-class bodyguard to whomever your future master will be. I am Duchess Martha Edu, I run this facility, Reginald, have her placed in the next carriage headed to the camp." (Reginald) "Yes, milady. Come with me now little one." We leave the room and I follow Reginald, the caretaker headed back to the exit. We arrived at the backyard of the mansion where a group of 12 girls ages 5-8 was gathered. Reginald told me the carriage delivers new recruits once a month, today was the next delivery. Lucky me, I guess. Reginald has all of us get into the large carriage and he sits next to the coachman. It takes 2 hours to reach the facility, it''s located about ten kilometers away from the capital. It''s a huge mansion surrounded by big and strong walls. The gates open and the carriage goes in. During the ride, I find out half of the girls here are also orphans and the other half have parents and were sent to have a good job in the future. We get off the carriage, in front of the mansion was a strict looking maid in her 40s. Reginald has all of us lined up in a specific order and he hands the maid a stack of 13 papers. The maid looks at us one by one, checking a different paper each time. I was the last one and she looks at the paper and me and her eyes had a hint of surprise in them. She calls over another maid. (Head Maid) "You take these 12 girls to the beginner maid training dorm." (Maid) "Yes, Head Teacher." (Head Maid) "You, Tear, follow me I''ll be taking you to the beginner battle maid dorm. Reginald, you can head back to Edu Manor now." (Reginald) "I''ll see you next month, Trina." Reginald gets on the carriage and it leaves, the other girls follow the maid somewhere. I follow Trina to where I''ll be staying. (Trina) "I was surprised, it''s rare getting potential battle maids. It would already be surprising getting one every three years. I expect good things from you." (Tear) "Yes." (Trina) "You don''t speak much, so teaching about what and when to speak shall be easy. I''ll be in charge of your maid training, while a girl named Sasha will handle your combat training, there are currently no other battle maids in training at the facility, they are very rare, and some can''t handle the training and have to drop out or risk being crippled or killed." We reached a small dorm, it''s probably small due to how few battle maids are trained. (Trina) "It''s late, once inside a maid will bring a simple dinner, afterward take a bath and go to sleep. Once you have taken lessons for a month we won''t be giving you breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We''ll only provide ingredients and you have to cook yourself. Early in the morning, you will have physical training followed by maid training in the afternoon and finished by combat training in the evening. That will be your life for the next five years until you graduate. Any questions?" (Tear) "After those five years?" (Trina) "Every month Nobles come see what new maids we have available to offer them employment. Now I must go, you go and make yourself acquainted with the dorm. You have it all to yourself after all." Trina leaves and I go in the dorm, there''s a kitchen, multiple bedrooms, and a living room. A maid arrives ten minutes later with a plate of food, I thank her and she leaves. After eating, I go take a bath and go to bed after checking every toom for which one I found comfiest. Life will be hard starting today. I will do my best, I hope my future master is a nice young miss, I don''t want to serve some disrespectful noble. Well, goodnight. Chapter 2 1st Year of Training Throughout my first year at this facility, I went through hell, I got up at sunrise every morning starting with running 5 laps around the perimeter of the mansion, followed by 200 sit-ups, 150 squats, 250 push-ups, and 50 pull-ups. All before noon, then I spent the afternoon being tutored by Trina on all the ways to be a proper maid, manners, etiquette, reading expressions, guessing what your master wants, being prepared, posture, tea serving skills, attending to guests, being optimized, the art of cleaning, cooking, learning everything about your master to tend to their needs, never talking back, listen and remember everything you hear, etc. Then during the evening, Sasha teaches me the basics of combat, paying attention to every movement, reading your opponent, positioning, how to use every weapon at a basic level, how to use anything as a weapon, we had sparring matches. I found out she was very bored and was ecstatic to find out about me since she never has students. I get a day off a week, so my body doesn''t just break down. When I started having to make my own food, I optimized the whole process, heat, cooking time, size of the ingredients, amount of ingredients, as to not waste any food, I also created a set diet to preserve my energy and help strengthen my body. 2nd Year of Training When my second year started I was starting to get used to things, but my training was raised in difficulty. For my morning training, I had to now run 12 laps, do 350 sit-ups, 300 squats, 400 push-ups, and 200 pull-ups. Classes with Trina were the same, just more strict and harder lessons. I was being made to achieve perfection. If I didn''t have Dexterous Movement as an Innate Skill, this would''ve driven me nuts. The combat training with Sasha progressed, I was being taught more advanced techniques, they even had to bring more teachers from outside to teach me more about how to use most weapons, they wanted to teach me all they could due to my Awakened Skill allowing me to use any weapon as if it weighed a stick. I remember the guest teacher''s face when I picked up a war-hammer with one hand. From what everyone could gather the two weapons I was most talented in were Gauntlets/Claws and Maces/Hammers. Due to my talent with Gauntlets, it meant my skill at unarmed combat was very high, which was useful for a maid that also served as a bodyguard. My optimization in the kitchen kept improving that when I once walked in front of the main mansion''s kitchen I started criticizing the staff over how unorganized the place was and started giving advice, there was a little argument, but when my advice caused the kitchen''s performance to be 20% more efficient I was apologized to and praised. 3rd Year of Training My morning routine was modified again, I have to run 15 laps the increase wasn''t much but I had to have weighted clothes on while doing it, the other exercises had their amount increased by 50, and I still had to have the weighted clothes on. In the afternoon my lessons with Trina were the same as the usual with the predicted difficulty increase, but I was also being given general lessons, math, reading, writing, etc. It apparently is for two reasons, one is that it is useful to be well learned, and two is to be more useful to your master. It wasn''t hard to learn most of it, I think my brain has gotten very accustomed to memorizing and learning to do a multitude of things. I wonder if I got a skill out of it. I could check but I''ll check how my status changed after graduating. During the evening was even more combat training, at this point, Sasha can''t even teach me anymore and only serves as a sparring partner and I''m being solely taught by outside experts, generals, expert trainers, and even high-rank adventurers. Both the men of the military and adventurers felt it was a waste of talent for me to become a maid. I was thinking to the military men to just hire me if that was the case, but it''s not my position to say anything. They seemed reluctant I wonder why. I was later told in a letter from Martha that someone had their eyes on hiring me after graduating, but I was not told who. Well if they could get people from the military to not be able to get me they must be of very high status. As for the late evening, I was now called the second head chef due to my advancements in the structure of the kitchen and all my optimizations of how it should be run. My cooking isn''t as good as the head chef but he apparently used to work at the castle. Well, I won''t try to compete against a former royal chef. He still said my cooking can compete against first-class restaurant food. 4th Year of Training My morning training was modified and is now completely different, I had to go outside the facility and fight monsters in the nearby forest and dungeon, all they gave me to use as a weapon was a wooden club. Thanks. Monsters like goblins and kobolds all died in one hit which surprised me, it looks like the three years of spartan training paid off. I spend every morning diving into a nearby dungeon that apparently has 100 floors, but there''s a teleport circle serving as a checkpoint every 5 floors. By the end of the year, I had gotten to the 55th floor, I''ve fought things like Wyverns and Stone Apes, which apparently are C-Rank monsters, at that point, I was using an Iron War-Hammer I stole from a Minotaur boss on the 50th floor. The hammer was taller than I was. The adventurers that trained me in the evening were crying from regret that I wasn''t an adventurer.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. My classes with Trina were progressing well, I''m being given classes as advanced as she can give, she already says I put some professional head maids to shame. She brought over a tutor to teach me more advanced subjects, I apparently being given classes normally given to royal academy students. Now the tutor is crying that I''m not a scholar. As for why I haven''t been taught magic, we had an aptitude test and I wasn''t compatible with any which confused everyone due to me actually having good intelligence in my stats, everyone decided that it was just my natural defense against magic. During combat training, it wasn''t training at this point, I was having practice matches against the teachers, Sasha now only has a use as a warm-up. She gets very sulky about that, all the teachers say my skill in every weapon is very high. Not master tier but very high. As for the kitchen, I was told that my advice and optimizations we''re being reported to the kitchen in the castle, apparently the royal head chef was praising it, I apparently inadvertently increased the royal kitchen''s efficiency by 15%. After that the information spread to all the noble households and down to the commoners, increasing general kitchen efficiency by 25%. I don''t understand how it all happened but okay. Didn''t get a reward out of it. 5th year of Training I turned 10 and a priest was brought over to see if I awakened to a second skill. I apparently did, I didn''t look at my status wanting to surprise myself later, my new awakened skill was: Master of Ice Magic (Special) Can use all Ice Magic spells, all Ice Magic costs half MP and have double power. My second awakened skill was Special-Rank. That caused an uproar among all the people I surround myself with. More people were sad and regretful. As for my morning dungeon raids, one month before graduation I completed the dungeon. Apparently, only 20 people in history have done so. At the 80th floor, I had gotten a Magic Storage Ring with 60km2 of space. After that, I stored materials from high-rank monsters. The boss on the 100th floor was a dragon called the Void Dragon. The battle took 3 hours, it almost made me late for lessons. I found out later that the Void Dragon is an S-Rank monster, apparently, if I were an adventurer I would be ranked as an SS-rank adventurer for beating an S-Rank monster solo. Throughout the year I finished learning everything Trina could teach me, and the tutor even taught me everything that is taught at the Royal University. For the last couple of months, it was solely reviews and me having discussions with scholars. As for combat training, well, it was just me having practice matches with the teachers while I was blindfolded since I already learned everything they could teach, I even surpassed the Gauntlets and Mace teachers. In the kitchen, all that changed was the head chef saying that my cooking is now on a royal chef''s level. After completing the dungeon I was asked if I wanted to have any equipment made and I said I wanted to have my maid uniform and weapons made using monster materials. They contracted the best dwarven smiths, as for payment I told them to tell the smiths they can keep leftover materials. The best smiths rushed to take orders when they heard I beat the 100-floor dungeon, which I just learned is called the Void Trial. My maid uniform is a traditional maid uniform. I had the black dress made out of the Void Dragon''s scales, the apron, headdress, and socks made out of an Abyss Spider''s (A-Rank) silk, the shoes made out of a Thunder Leopard''s (A-Rank) leather, magic enhancing bracelets made out of mithril and Ice Pheonix (S-Rank) Magic Stones, a shield made out of a Fortress Tortoise'' (S-Rank) shell, a pair of clawed gauntlets made of orichalcum and the Void Dragon''s claws, and a war-hammer made out of the Void Dragon''s skull for the head of the hammer and titanium alloy for the stick part, I had them make me an assortment of other weapons that I was trained in for utility. Due to my achievements, I was registered as an adventurer against my will and given an adventurer card, it was black with a white border with two flashy gold S. During graduation, Martha came and told me who was looking to employ me, it was the king. I was being employed to be the personal maid of his 7-year-old daughter Princess Claire. All the stuff ordered arrived and I left the facility with Martha. The maid uniform was enchanted to grow along with me, but knowing my current growth speed and race I won''t be growing much taller, but I wouldn''t be surprised to see my chest swell.sighs Before getting on the carriage I decided to finally check my status.
Name: Tear
Sub-Race: Polar Bear/Black Panther
Race: Beast-man
Species: Humanoid
Level: 100 (Ascended) HP: 1000000/1000000 MP: 1000000/1000000 Experience: MAX
Vitality: 500000 Strength: 500000 Intelligence: 500000 Agility: 500000 Luck: 500000
Awakened Skills: All-Equip (Unique) Master of Ice Magic (Special)
Innate Skills: Thermal Energy Immunity¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Perfect Swimmer¡ï¡ï¡ï Night-Vision¡ï¡ï¡ï Dexterous Hands¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
Skills: Master Chef¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Perfect Maid¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Sword Expert¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Lance Expert¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Axe Expert¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Mace Mastery¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Gauntlets Mastery¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Whip Expert¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Bow Expert¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Dagger Expert¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Martial Arts Master¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Master Presence Detector¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Attack Resistance¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï All Status Immunity¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï
Titles: S-Rank Monster Killer S-Rank Dragon Killer Ascended SS-Rank Adventurer
Equipment: Abyss Maid Headdress (+50000 Defense) Abyss Maid Apron (+150000 Defense) Abyss Kneesocks (+80000 Defense) Void Scaled Maid Dress (+300000 Defense) Thunder Leather Shoes (+10000 Defense +200000 Agility) Ice Phoenix Bracelets (+10000 Defense +350000 Intelligence) Fortress Shell Shield (+300000 Defense) Void Dragon Gauntlets (+350000 Attack) Void Dragon War-Hammer (+600000 Attack) Etc. (A lot of weapons)
... I''m not super surprised but these numbers are 10000x higher than when I first arrived 5 years ago. I sure have come a long way, I hope the princess likes me and is nice. I open my mom''s locket and look at the picture. (Tear) "Mom, Dad, are you proud of me?a tear falls down both cheeks while smiling" Chapter 3 Once we arrived at the capital the carriage started heading to the castle. After half an hour we arrived in front of the castle gate, I hear someone approach and a knock sounded against the carriage door. Martha looked through the curtains. (Martha) "I''m here for an arranged appointment with the king." (Guard) "Right away Duchess Edu." After that, I hear the gates open and the carriage starts moving again, we stop again and someone opens the door, Martha gets out and I follow her. We walk through a hallway and arrive in front of two huge doors, a butler looking man is next to it. He walks in and comes out a few seconds later and gestures that we can go in while pushing the door open. We walk in, it appears to be the audience chamber or throne room, probably both. Across the room, I see a handsome man with black hair, black eyes, a well-groomed beard, wearing regal attire, and a crown. Next to him is a beautiful lady with silver hair, green eyes, pointed ears, wearing a beautiful green dress, and a tiara. Between them was a little girl sticking near the lady, she had black hair with silver tips, green eyes, pointed ears, and is wearing a cute silver dress. If I had to guess their identities they would be King Cristopher Trista, Queen Emilia, and Princess Claire. The royal family, all we''re missing are their two sons, First Prince Richard, and Second Prince Joseph, they should be as of this year 13 and 10 respectively. (Cristopher) "Welcome Martha, how''s Dane been?" (Martha) "He''s doing well Your Majesty." (Cristopher) "Good. Come closer, is that girl behind you the rumored new graduate." We walk closer and stop when we''re about a meter away from the steps that lead to the thrones. I can feel Claire looking at me. (Martha) "Yes, Your Majesty, this is Tear, she has conquered Void''s Trial, graduated from her training as a battle maid, and a certified SS-Rank Adventurer." (Emilia) "I just noticed that her outfit doesn''t seem right, the quality seems very high." (Cristopher) "Yes, you''re right dear, I think I can see scales on her dress." (Martha) "You have a discerning eye, she had her uniform made out of materials from high ranking monsters." (Emilia) "My! How luxurious, where did she get the gold for that?" (Martha) "She paid the craftsmen in materials. I bet they had a field day getting their hands on such high-quality goods." (Cristopher) "Enough about this. I have something to ask to Tear. Tell me, why did you stay to become a maid, I''m sure you realized you could''ve just decided to drop out and become an adventurer?" (Tear) "I chose to not become an adventurer because there wasn''t anything interesting left, even throughout my adventure in Void''s Trial, I saw it more like training than fun, I would find being an adventurer boring. So I stayed at the facility to become a maid to be of use to someone."Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. (Cristopher) "I see. You were brought here because I was looking for a personal maid for my daughter Claire here, I went looking at potential maids from Martha a couple of years ago and was informed about a talented girl in the battle maid area. When I went to Martha she checked your progress and said you had high potential, so I decided to wait to see how''d you grow whether to hire you. My vision didn''t fail me yet, you exceeded everyone''s expectations." (Emilia) "Come over here Tear." I walk up the steps and stop a few feet away from the Queen. She gets up and circles around me, examining me. (Emilia) "You are a polar bear beast-man but why is there a black spot in your hair and why do you have car eyes?" (Tear) "My father was a black panther." (Emilia) "I see. Claire, what do you think of her? Do you want her to be your personal maid?" Princess Claire gets close to me, starts circling around me, doing what her mother did, she touches my tail, that tickles, she stopped in front of me and were stared at each other, we both had green eyes, spit being three years older, I''m only about half a head taller, she''ll probably surpass me in height in the future. Claire looks back at her mother. (Claire) "Mother, she''s very cute." (Emilia) "My! So is that a yes or no?" (Claire) "Yes." (Cristopher) "Well, that settles it, Tear you are now Princess Claire''s personal maid, you''ll be attending to all of her needs from now on." I nod. (Cristopher) "As for my sons, you''ll probably meet them eventually." (Emilia) "Claire come with mother, you''ll see Tear again later." Emilia and Claire leave accompanied by a guard and two maids, as well as 4 shadow guards that are hiding in the shadows. (Cristopher) "Martha, feel free to go home. Tear, you are free to spend the next three hours learning the castle''s layout, I''ll be impressed if you can learn the whole layout in three hours." Challenge accepted. I spent the next three hours moving around the entire castle at speeds that the shadow guards can''t keep track of. I now have an entire mental map of the whole castle, even the secret passageways, and outer perimeter. I still have an extra hour before having to go back to the princess. I''ll just go early, I go to where the queen and princess are located, they are having a tea party in the garden. I arrive and the two noticed me. (Emilia) "Tear, what are you doing here, I''d thought you would be trying to learn the castle''s layout." (Tear) "I already finished. I have the entire castle memorized inside and out, I was here about 45 minutes ago, no one noticed due to how fast I was, even the shadow guards couldn''t notice." I hear a slight tree branch rustle. Probably a shadow guard being surprised and almost fall. (Emilia) "My that was fast." I walk up to their table and stand to the side of the princess. The princess smiles at me, the queen smiles at her daughter''s smile. I notice their teacups are empty and grab the nearby teapot and refill them. I went back in position and the queen took a sip of the tea. I smelled the tea and was criticizing whoever made it in my head, only giving it an average grade. They didn''t calculate the right way to do it at all. (Emilia) "Ah yes, Tear I believe you should know that Claire''s awakened skill." A maid hands me a paper showing me Claire''s status when she had her status unlocked.
Name: Claire
Race: Half-Elf
Species: Humanoid
Awakened Skill: Master of Holy Magic (Special) Able to use all Holy Magic spells. Holy Magic costs half MP and has double power.
It seems Princess Claire was blessed with a Special skill when she turned 5. I heard the First Prince also has a Special Skill and the Second Prince has a Unique Skill. The royal family sure is blessed to have this much luck. I hear footsteps approach where we were. When I look where they''re coming from a young boy appears at the entrance to the garden. Chapter 4 The boy appears to be around 10-years-old, his hair is silver, his eyes are black, and his ears are pointed. He must be the second prince, Joseph. (Emilia) "What brings you here, Joseph?" (Joseph) "I heard Claire was given a personal maid. I came to see the rumored maid, and see if she is qualified to watch over my little sister." He walks forward and bows to Emilia and pats Claire''s head. He then looks at me, behind him is a young man, about 12-years-old, blonde hair, blue eyes, probably Joseph''s personal valet. (Joseph) "So you''re the new maid." I give a polite bow and nod. (Joseph) "Hmm. You look very small and weak, and you''re supposed to also serve as a bodyguard? How can I trust a girl smaller than me to protect my younger sister?" (Valet) "Your Highness I assure you if she made it to the position she must be qualified. It would be rude to mistrust your aunt Duchess of Edu''s qualifications as a maid training facility owner." (Joseph) "You don''t have to tell me that Arthur, you came from their male branch. I respect my aunt''s facilities. Just to test though, spar with her." (Arthur) "Why must you torture me so Your Highness, I may have been trained in combat but I don''t compare to someone who has the qualification of an SS-rank adventurer." (Joseph) "Just do it." Arthur sighs and steps forward, I look at the queen and princess for permission. (Emilia) "Tear, make sure not to injure Arthur." I walk down and we both are standing a few meters from each other, while everyone else is watching from the garden''s gazebo. Arthur draws a sword, I just stand there without taking out a weapon. (Arthur) "Are you going to draw your weapon?" (Tear) "No, I was told not to injure you. If I use a weapon your head would end up splattered on the wall." (Arthur) "shakesI see. A palace guard acting as a referee signaled the start of the match. Arthur dashed toward me and swung his sword I cover two fingers in pure ice magic and block his attack. I proceed to block another fifteen very fast strikes. If I had to judge his strength it would be enough to beat a C+ rank monster 1v1, with proper gear possibly a B rank. Arthur takes a few steps back and looks defeated. Joseph over where the others are looks shocked. Emilia looks entertained. Let''s finish this spar session, I move faster than anyone can keep up with and appear behind Arthur with two fingers pressed on his neck. (Tear) "Are we done?" (Arthur) "I knew I stood no chance." He raises his arms up in defeat and then sheathes his sword. We walk back to the gazebo, Joseph''s face looks like a person in pure disbelief, Emilia is just clapping her hands having watched a good show, and Claire is looking at Emilia and copying her while looking at me with satisfied eyes. (Joseph) "U-um, w-well it looks like I can indeed entrust my sister''s protection to you." (Tear) "Thank you, Your Highness. Arthur, what level are you?" (Arthur) "Level 45." (Tear) "Ah, you indeed stood no chance. I''m an awakened level 100." (Joseph) "spit takesLevel 100!?" (Arthur) "Your Highness, I told you yesterday that your sister''s new maid had completed Void''s Trial." (Joseph) "I thought you were joking!" I show Joseph my sleeve, and he now notices the scales. (Joseph) "You used dragon scales on a dress!? What is this waste!?"If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. (Tear) "I wouldn''t call it a waste when it''s just as effective as actual armor." Ever since Joseph arrived I noticed two pairs of eyes watching from a different location behind a tree with bushes around it. It looks like the peepers decided to reveal themselves. (???) "My, that was an impressive show. It looks like Father found an excellent maid for Claire." It was a boy around 13-years-old, his hair is red with silver tips, his eyes are blue, and his ears are pointed. I believe the queen of the previous king had red hair and blue eyes, he inherited his grandmother''s traits, this is most likely Prince Richard. Behind him is a young man around the age of 15, his hair is brown, he has amber falcon eyes, brown feather wings on his back, and on his shoulder sat a Sand Falcon. This is probably Richard''s valet and his familiar, he appears to be a falcon beast-man. In Advant, there are three age milestones, 5 years old, 10 years old, and 15 years old. At 5 people acquire an awakened skill and have their status unlocked, at 10 only 1% of people awaken to a second skill, and at 15 everyone acquires a familiar. A familiar is the embodiment of one''s soul, their power is based on their master''s power. Usually, familiars are a bit stronger than their masters. Familiars are summoned at the age of 15, right on the dot. Familiars can''t die before their master if a familiar is killed, the master''s soul is damaged for 1-2 months after it heals the familiar is resummoned in perfect condition. I haven''t seen one since my parents were alive. In the orphanage, they weren''t allowed near the children, and they didn''t see the necessity to have them out in the training facility. My mother''s familiar was a polar bear and my father''s familiar was a black panther. I wonder what mine would be, usually, beast-men familiars are just the actual animal they are based on, I heard mixed beast-men acquire one of the two, usually, the one they resemble more, though I heard rarely the familiar becomes a sort of chimera being a combination of both. (Emilia) "Oh! Richard, Dune, you were both here too." (Richard) "Yes, I was just passing by getting fresh air and I heard an interesting commotion coming from over here. It was very entertaining. What do you think Dune?" (Dune) "Tear is very powerful, she knew we were hiding there the whole time. She would probably rank in the top 5 strongest people in the kingdom." (Richard) "Excellent deduction, she was indeed aware of us. She only ignored us as we weren''t emitting an aura of a hostile person." This prince is frighteningly intelligent to be aware of what my thoughts were at the time. (Richard) "Now Joseph, Claire, it''s almost time for lessons, be sure not to be late for your lessons." (Emilia) "Ah yes, thank you for the reminder, Richard. You two go and get ready in your study rooms." Both Claire and Joseph look like life got sucked out of them. They both must not be fans of studying. Arthur lead Joseph back the way they came, two different maids led Claire back to her room, Emilia had a different maid explain to me Claire''s schedule. I spend an hour memorizing all information the maids had about Claire, I proceed to walk to where Claire''s study room should be located and I see flustered maids and a scholarly looking man. (Tear) "What''s the matter?" (Maid) "The princess escaped and is hiding from lessons again, she uses holy magic to disappear or teleport and escape." The Princess really doesn''t like studies, too bad I''m her maid now, I won''t let her get out of lessons. I spend a whole minute to find the princess in an apple tree in the back garden. I heard from a maid she likes fruits, and always eats apples when she''s nervous. I figured there was probably a 50% chance of her being here. I drag her back to her study room while she protests along the way. (Claire) "Let me go! I don''t want to go! You have to listen to me!" (Tear) "I am listening, and that''s why you have to go and take lessons to not be a spoiled idiotic princess." (Claire) "Who are you calling an idiot!?" (Tear) "The person I found in one minute, now take your lessons, make your mother proud. What would she think if she finds out you''re ditching?" She stays silent after that. She''s a mommy''s girl, this is valuable information. We arrived back at the study room where all the maids sigh in relief, the tutor walks into the room, I follow him in with Claire. I close the door behind us and cast a special ice magic in the room. (Claire) "What did you do?" (Tear) "Magic Distorting Ice Field. Disrupts magic spells, if you try to use holy magic to escape this will stop you as my magic is far stronger due to our level difference." The princess looks shocked and then defeated. We spend the next three hours taking lessons, I even help the tutor teach. He appears very impressed and says I should just replace him, considering he heard how I already learned even University level material and had discussions with royal scholars, him included. He says he would rather do more research. Take that up with the Queen then, I don''t care about replacing you. Later that day I find out what are the two princes'' skills are, as both awakened two.
Joseph
Magic Affinity ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Highly compatible with magic. Can use all magic types to an advanced level. Increases the speed to learn new magic by at least 2x. Magic Genius (Special) A genius at magic, able to use all magic to almost Master level. Able to use true combination magic. Able to feel magic energy around them within 10 kilometers.
Richard
Prodigal Scholar ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Prodigy at understanding and memorizing anything. The brain is 3x more efficient at processing and computing. Perfect Battle Sage (Unique) Slightly less proficient at the Spear compared to a Spear Saint (Special), able to use all magic at an advanced level. Doubles reaction time.
They were definitely blessed by the skill gods, although I have little right to say that as a bearer of a Unique and a Special skill.