Asmodeus (4) - A FIRE

Head Maid Penelope Von Asteros

The title of 'Head Maid' is only reserved for women of high social standing within the capital. They may have to serve the royal family and their guests but one must know that these ladies have formidable backgrounds.

All they do is follow orders and organize the maid under their wings. If their maids under them do good, they are the ones who are rewarded the most. This obviously comes with the risk of their maids doing something wrong and the Head Maids would be punished as well.

Out of over 10,000 place maids, only 250 are head maids.

"Would you like to rest now or would a tour of the manor be preferred." Penelope had a soft and formal tone as her aura was calm. It was just another day of serving royal guests.

Even though she hasn't done so in a very long time, her training was something ingrained deeply into he soul as she took her responsibilities very seriously.

'Many of the other head maids think I've fallen behind since I wasn't assigned guests for so long. I will prove those scheming hags wrong. I will rise once again.'

Penelope was ranked with the lower bracket of the maids as even the head maids had their own internal rankings based on influence.

As no one was in the mood to talk, they just nodded in agreement and followed Penelope. As they walked towards the manor, there was no noise around them except for the grass rustling due to the light breeze and birds chirping.

There was an assortment of pretty birds that were either pecking around in the grass for food or sitting on the roof of the manor and letting out some sweet tunes.

A surreal atmosphere of harmonic nature was present. This was ruined by Chloe.

Crunch! Crunch!

Chloe was unwrapping candy from plastic wrappers and tossing them into her mouth nonstop while chewing out loud. She had no care for the world around her.

Over the 3 days trip, Daren had learned that Chloe was a glutton just like her mother. In fact, she may be an even larger glutton than her parent.

When Daren had asked the system if it would make food fr him if he gave it souls, the system decided that it had found a way to pamper Chloe. Not only had it made the most intricate and comfortable clothes for the little girl, but also had decided to feed her up like a balloon.

It would only make free food for Chloe, Daren would need to pay out some souls if he wanted food of his own. Every time Chloe reached inside the pockets of her dress, candy came into her like magic.

Once everyone was inside, the maids from outside followed them in while a maid at the end of each line stayed behind to close the doors.

"This manor consists of 1 master bedroom on each of the three floors. Each of these bedrooms has its own private bathroom. How will these rooms be split." Penelope asked with a stoic expression.

She then faced the group and awaited their response. While everyone was deciding which room they should take, Chloe started to sniff the air with a confused expression. Her eyes closed so she could focus better.

It didn't take long for her to stop sniffing as she had her eyes wide open in shock. She jumped out her mother's arm in a flash of light. A strong gust of wind was left behind in her place.

Daren was alarmed at her sudden disappearance as he had the fastest reaction time there so her movement is something he can keep up with. As she whizzed past him, he could see an eager look on her face as she was anticipating something big.

He chased after her as his soul's fatherly instincts kicked in without a warning. He could not control the emotions of fear and protectiveness that he had harbored for his daughter.

Within seconds, they reached the third floor after basically flying up the spiral staircase. Chloe abruptly stopped in front of a red metal door with many chains and a huge padlock locking it up.

The silver chains, the symbols of skulls engraved on the metal, and the deathly aura that came from it were intense. It felt like some sort of ungodly beast was sealed behind this decrepit yet sturdy door.

She looked at the padlock with contempt as she pointed her tiny index and a wisp of green fire appeared. The green fire seemed mysterious and ghastly as it floated towards the padlock. As soon as the wisp and lock made contact, the entire door was set ablaze in a green flame.

"Hehehe." Cloe let out a playful giggle as she faced Daren and puffed out her chest and stared at him with her bright eyes and endearing smile. She was putting on a proud expression.

"Heh. Good job... I guess!" Daren said as he patted her head. He knew from her body language and pose that's he wanted it to be praised or acknowledged for what she had just done. He felt like it was the expression of a child that wanted to be complimented by her parents for showing up with good grades.

Even though Daren's compliment was severely lacking and his tone was awkward, Chloe would take whatever he gave her. For now.

'Aunty told me that daddy and mommy are having trouble remembering things. I hope this can help. I want old mommy and daddy back.' Chloe had been told by Chanela that both Celina and Daren had been through a terrible accident and had issues recalling their past and were now very weak.

She did not even mention anything related to death and she also did not explain why her memories were hazy. Chloe had been put in a weird spot where her soul was being caged up in a wyvern's body and her mind was manipulated by the system a bit as well.

To recover from that, she would have to avoid any stressful topics. Ofcorese, the existence of the system was mentioned but not elaborated on.

'I don't get what happened with mommy and daddy. I don't understand why my memories of the past few months are so blurry either. Aunty was too ambiguous.' Even though Chloe is an 8-year-old, her intelligence is not something one could scoff at.

She could feel that many things were being hidden on purpose but she did not have time to focus on that. She was going to bring her parent's memories back no matter the cost.

'I want to ask her why she burning this ominous door but I guess I can just wait and see. I can't be questioning her for everything like I've done the past couple of days.' Daren who had started to build up actual feelings of care for Chloe had just started to understand her.

He was not sure how intelligent she was or how she was feeling but he knew that her smile was not genuine at all times. Daren could feel she was suppressing her feelings. He wanted to ask her about it or try to comfort her but he didn't know how to.

.....

Downstairs, the ladies were left alone with nothing but two gusts of very strong wind that circulated them like a weak gale. Celina looked at her arms only to find her small child to be gone while her supposed 'husband' was also not beside her.

She wasn't shocked at all though as she had learned that Chloe was a gluttonous spirit like her but a reckless one like her father. They both made decisions and plans on the go but are always well calculated and rarely failed.

The muscles on Chanela's face did not twitch at all as she was as unbothered as her sister. The two siblings had also had much time to talk as Celina got to know Chanela and her past self better.

Although none of her memories had resurfaced, she did not have much priority for them at the moment.

Even though she had strong motherly emotions towards Chloe and a soft sibling kind of feeling for Chanela, she could not really force herself to bring out memories that the system itself deemed dangerous without a sufficient cultivation base.

'How am I even supposed to get mine back? Daren can cultivate but I can't so how?' The system didn't respond to any of her questions about this.

As Celina stood there with a world-shattering smile of a goddess, Chanela had the indifferent look of an ascended angel that did not care for world matters. Celina was warm with Chanela was the ice that kept it balanced.

Penelope and her maids though were another topic altogether. All of them had their jaws dropped to the floor.

They were used to seeing young cultivators like Daren go through the imperial city often as the Royal Academy was near. What they did not expect was an 8-year-old being as fast or even faster than those talented youths.

Penelope was someone who was not only educated very heavily since young but even her own older brother is a cultivator. That means she knows a pretty hefty amount about cultivator's levels of talent and strength.

"Surely that wasn't your daughter who just flew from your arms? I am not dreaming, right?"

As the Head Maid, Penelope tried holding this question in as it was rude but she could not help herself.

'My evaluation might drop a bit but it's better than being left stumped.' She thought.

"Yeah. That was her. She fast isn't she. I can't hope to ever catch her.' Celina's heavenly voice causes the maids to all snap out of their shock only to be put into another wave of jaw drops.

' A goddess has descended. I need to go to the church to thank the heavens.'

'Why are there only beauties in this castle.'

'I thought I was pretty. God should have smitten me when I thought that.'

'Are her words like a song to my ears or am I in my dying moments'

There were a variety of thoughts going on in the heads of all the young maids in the hall. Some were of jealousy and the others were filled with boundless compliments. They could not say any of this out loud as palace maids could not speak without permission.

Only head maid's and above could do such a thing.

"Sniff. Sniff." Penelope sniffed something like smoke and turned round to see fumes coming down from the stairs behind her. This broke her daze caused by Celina's charming voice as she yelled.

"FIRE! THERE IS A FIRE!!!! CALL THE GUARDS! TELL THEM TO BRING A COUPLE OF WATER MAGES!!"

Penelope might have lost her composure for a bit due to the world-shattering feat of an 8-year-old cultivator but this was not the time for this.

As a maid, she had to serve her guests well but not only had she acting a bit rudely but now there was a fire going on. It hadn't even been 5 minutes since she met this family.

She thought this was her chance to prove herself and rise but it was becoming a disaster.

'This is my last chance in the imperial palace. If I can't deliver this time, I'll be thrown out.' With newfound determination, Penelope ran upstairs while holding up her very long and frilly skirt.

A maid outfit is not the best one to be running around in. Penelope wanted to see the source of the smoke and see if she could handle it before backup arrives.

When she got there though, she almost fainted when she realized what had happened.

Daren was holding onto a red gem that was the size and shape of an ostrich egg. Chloe held a piece of that egg that was sized and shaped like a candy bar. It looked like Chloe's piece was cut out of the bigger one with a precise laser.

When she realized that the precious gem had been broken, Penelope's legs went weak as she kneeled on the ground and tears were about to well up. She didn't have time to cry though.

While examining the gem, Daren asked " So you're saying I can just lick it. Does it taste good."

"Yup. This was one of your favorite snacks daddy. You would never let me have some as you always hoarded it." replied Chloe as she popped the crystal into her mouth and started sucking on it like a lollipop.

Daren did not question her nay further nad started to lick his big piece like it was frozen, ice cream sundae.

"This isn't a dream! Its a nightmare!" These were Penelope von Asteros's last words that her brother would put on her tombstone.

Just kidding! She fainted.