Chapter 620: I've Got Your Family, Crystal
I told my Shadow Summons to sneak their way back to the manor so that we wouldn't draw a lot of attention by walking down the street while carrying all these unconscious ninja wannabes.
When I reached the manor, the twins Vehyia and Dehyia were waiting for us at the entrance.
"Welcome back, Young Mistress. If we could trouble you to direct your new acquisitions to the back of the manor, we will start the interrogations once they have settled in," Dehyia requested with a bow.
Vehyia thumped her chest with her fist, "Don't worry, Young Mistress! We'll make sure to wring out everything that they know!"
…
Just saying, my Shadow Guards aren't even here yet so the fact that they even know that I was bringing people back…
Well… I guess I'm actually not surprised in the first place anyway so let's just give that order to my Shadow Guards who are still on the way back.
I then turned back to the two maids, "Is Mother back yet?"
Dehyia shook her head, "I'm afraid the Madam has yet to return, Young Mistress. She will be--"
Someone rushed out of the door from behind the twins and cried out, "Where… Where are they?!"
The twins stepped aside to reveal Crystal standing in the doorway, panting as she fought to catch her breath.
She must have also heard about her family from someone I suppose.
Unexpectedly, Vehyia was quick to smack her on the back of her head with enough force to send her stumbling forward.
"Have you already forgotten your training, Crystal?!" She yelled at her furiously, completely different from how she had been acting earlier.
Crystal looked back at her, "I… I'm sorry… I just heard that my family was brought back so I--"
Vehyia smacked her on the side of her head this time, "That's excuses, Crystal. What did I say about giving excuses?"
"I… I'm sorry, Senior Trainer Vehyia… It will not happen again…"
Oh geez… Just how was she getting trained for her to become like this?
Dehyia then continued as though nothing had happened, "The Madam should be returning before bedtime, Young Mistress. Would you like to have dinner or a bath first, Young Mistress?"
I patted my stomach slowly, "I am feeling a little hungry... So I guess I'll go with the dinner choice first."
"Of course, Young Mistress. Crystal?"
Upon hearing that, Crystal suddenly straightened up before giving me a bow and speeding into the manor quickly.
Vehyia made a face, "At least she remembered to bow…"
Oh yeah… She's being trained as a maid right now… I guess the twins are also in charge of her training? Which would explain why Vehyia reacted like that to her mistakes I guess.
I'm also going to guess that Crystal was in charge of cooking or something which was why she rushed back into the manor like that.
I then entered the manor with the girls and told them that they should take a break after all the things that had happened today. We would then have dinner together once it was served.
In the meantime, I decided to pay the kitchens a visit just to let Crystal know about what happened and our suspicions about a spy or traitor in their midst.
Dehyia showed me to the kitchens where I heard Crystal's voice coming from inside.
"Ahhhh! I can't believe I messed this up! I need to get this ready right now!"
"Sis… Sister… Calm down…"
"No, no! I screwed up here! Umm… This needs a bit more salt! And then this… Ahhhh!"
A loud crash came from inside the kitchen.
Dehyia sighed, "That girl… At least she's taking it seriously I suppose…"
"Is something wrong with her?" I asked.
Dehyia quickly shook her head, "Not at all, Young Mistress. She does take her training seriously and tries her best. If I had to say, she is just inexperienced, nothing a little bit more training wouldn't help solve."
I suppose that's good. I was a little concerned that she might not like the fact that she's kind of being forced to be a maid here or something.
I then entered the kitchen to see Crystal trying to clean up a shattered plate and spilled food on the kitchen floor. Incidentally, even though I heard her sister's voice earlier, the girl was nowhere to be seen right now.
Crystal was so busy with wiping the floor that she didn't even realise that there were new people inside the kitchen.
"Ahem," Dehyia cleared her throat deliberately.
Crystal jumped at the sudden voice and ended up cutting her hand on one of the broken pieces of plate that she was holding.
Why was she even picking them up by hand?
"Ouch!! Ahh! Senior Trainer Vehyia!!"
"It's Dehyia…"
"Senior Trainer Dehyia!! And… And Mistress! I'm so sorry for the mess!! Ouch!!" She was fumbling around so much that she ended up cutting her hand again.
I want to point out that this was the girl who was sent to steal something from Emilia…
"Sister!! I brought the broom!!" A voice came from another door at the side.
Another girl that I did not recognise entered, looking like a younger version of Crystal but with her hair tied up in a ponytail.
That must be Crystal's sister, Talli.
The girl froze when she saw us, reminding me of a deer caught in the headlights.
Then she noticed Crystal was bleeding and she recovered herself to rush to Crystal's side.
"Ahhhh!! What happened to you, sister?! Did you cut yourself?! I told you to wait for me!"
"Ngghh… But I'm already running late on the Mistress's dinner…"
"Wait here! I'll get a bandage!"
I couldn't watch that anymore and simply used [Heal] on her.
A warm light enveloped the girl and soon the cuts faded away like they were an illusion.
Crystal turned to look at me in shock, "No… Chant?"
Dehyia frowned at her, "That is not what you should say when the Young Mistress uses her magic to heal you."
"Ah, ah, ahhh!! Tha… Thank you for your generosity, Mistress!!"
I couldn't help but giggle at how flustered she was acting, "Ehehe~ It's fine. Just take it easy ok? I know how it feels like to be put in a new position and then feel that you need to prove yourself quickly. We're not going to kick you out just because of a few mistakes."
Crystal blushed, "Ah… Sorry… I mean!! My apologies, Mistress!"
I turned to Dehyia, "I want to talk to them alone."
The Amrap maid gave me a bow before leaving the kitchen without another word, the two ninja girls looking a little awkward right now.
Crystal seemed to realise something as she quickly gestured to her sister, "Ah! That's right! Umm… This is my little sister, Talli! Thank you for sparing her even though she tried to attack you!"
The girl in question bowed her head, "Thank you for your benevolence! I will work hard to serve you!"
I waved my hand, "It's fine. We already said that we will take care of your family so this is part of our agreement. Speaking of which…"
Crystal leaned forward, only to hear a crunch from underneath her foot as she stepped on another broken piece of the plate that she shattered earlier.
I chuckled, "Maybe we should clean up the mess first."
The two girls agreed and set to sweeping up the broken plate while also wiping off the spilled food to clean up the mess.
Once they were done, I let them continue their dinner preparations while I spoke to them from the side.
"Anyway… I already got your family here, though you'll have to forgive the method I used to transport them since they weren't exactly that cooperative."
"That… That's fine, Mistress… I am already grateful that you are sheltering us… And truth be told, I suppose it's a little difficult for them to believe such a thing might happen to me and besides… The training we can get here is way better than what I could come up with…"
"So you really were the one who came up with all this ninja stuff?"
"Yes… I brought the idea here from our world."
My gaze shifted to the little sister who showed no reaction to her words and simply continued her dinner preparations.
Crystal realised what I was thinking and quickly added, "Ah… My family knows about it… I told them about Off-Worlders and how we got here so there's no need to hide that fact from them."
I nodded, "I see… Although I feel the need to tell you that there might be someone who actually wants you to remain dead…"
She paused, "Wha… What makes you say that?"
"You have been sending messages to your family to explain the situation, correct?"
"Yes I have, so they should know that I am alive and well."
I shook my head, "Unfortunately, it seems like someone had been interfering with your messages because not only do they still think you're dead, they believe that we are responsible for Talli's death as well. So… Well… They tried to attack me."
The look on her face when she heard that told me that she definitely did not expect that.
And then… She fainted.
Oh boy… Seems like we have a long night ahead of us.