yemalu

Chapter 503 Start Of Maid Training

Everything changed when I put on the maid uniform.

"Faster! Are you going to let some snow stop you from protecting your Mistress or Master?!"

All of us fought against the snow covered ground as we ran around the village while Sebastian shouted at us.

Normally, I would have no problem running through the snow thanks to my strength but it seems like the uniform I was wearing weighed down on me making it a struggle to even run normally.

I was told that these were the special training uniforms that all of us would wear and each one was tailored specifically for the wearer to push them to their limits. Thus, everyone around me was in the same situation right now.

For me, it felt like I had a small house pressing down on me. I can still lift it, but having that constantly pressing down on me slowly sapped my strength.

The other maids and butlers had already worn their uniforms back at the mansion so they were all under the effects of this even before we got here.

To think that they were still fighting under these conditions not too long ago… They really are serious.

And really… Delmare\'s doing this even while maintaining her Somatomancy spell, that Siren of mine is beyond incredible.

We\'ve been running for about an hour now and I let out a gasp as I crossed the finishing line, my legs turning to jelly and causing me to fall onto my knees.

Almost instantly, Mary was by my side but she wasn\'t there to help me of course.

"Get up Aster. As a maid of the Nilm Family, showing weakness or exhaustion like this is unacceptable."

I sucked in a breath and pushed myself back up to my feet, smoothing out my dress and making sure the rest of my outfit was pristine.

"My apologies, Head Maid."

I could tell that the corner of her lips twitched slightly, the Trasif fighting back the urge to smile at me so that she could maintain her \'strict instructor\' facade.

Instead, she simply nodded before moving off to admonish another pair of maids who had also collapsed not that far from me.

"Sister Aster!" Odeta called out, jogging up towards me. "You look great!!"

I was about to compliment her own maid uniform as well when Sebastian stood in front of her, "Odeta, training is still in process. This is not the time for idle talk."

"Eugh… Fine…" She groaned, turning away from me after giving me a wave.

Oof, training is really strict huh? But we all signed up for this so I\'m not going to complain.

Look, even the princess wasn\'t getting any preferential treatment either and she\'s doing it without any complaints.

Although… I can see Lisa looking over at me and when I looked in her direction, she immediately stuck out her tongue and started jerking her closed fist towards her mouth.

Yes, I know you\'re horny, Lisa. You look very sexy in that maid uniform too and I would very much like to do whatever you\'re gesturing with you if I was given the chance.

Mary clapped her hands together to get our attention, "Everyone gather up. Assemble into your assigned groups."

Everyone moved as instructed without complaint, most hiding their fatigue better than others.

Before this training started, we were split up into teams to form a group that we would be train together in events of group training.

I went to my group which consisted of four other maids.

Gwen, a Rejmar; Seraphine, a Trasif; Groelle, a Wrunch; and Selene, a Meslatar.

I\'ve met all of them in passing before but I\'ve never really interacted with them much. I do know that in terms of seniority amongst the maids, they were regarded as one of the junior maids.

And by that, I meant that their skills were deemed to still require improvement and were not full fledged maids yet.

I\'m not really sure what the standard of a full fledged maid was since I didn\'t ask, but I understood that they had to be at least Katsuki\'s level to be considered for that. And even then, I believe there were also different levels for a full fledged combat maid as well.

With everyone else gathered, Mary then proceeded to give us our next set of instructions.

"Alright, that will be all the training for today. The rest of the day will be for you to set up camp and gather your own supplies. You are not allowed to assist another group in any way, but once you have established your camp and supplies, report to me. Once I passed you, it will be free time for your group. Dismissed."

The others in my group immediately turned to me.

"Young… I mean… Aster, do you have any role you prefer for this task? Do you want to look for supplies or do you want to set up our camp?" Selene asked, trying her best to hide her nervousness.

Try as they might, there\'s no way some of them could just easily adapt to treating me like any other maid after all.

Especially for Selene since she was chosen as the leader of this group and she was obviously having conflicted feelings about leading me instead of giving me the leadership position.

By the way, the leaders were chosen by Mary and it was obvious this was to train the leadership skills of the chosen maids. She most likely believe that I wouldn\'t benefit as much from this position so she assigned someone else to lead this group instead.

I looked out towards the snowy landscape, "Erm… I don\'t mind either role though I need to ask… I can see trees so firewood isn\'t an issue but what kind of food can we expect from out here?"

Groelle grinned at me, "Heh. You need to know something, Aster. The Head Maid did not give us a restriction on where exactly we can get our supplies aside from intentionally helping the other groups. So we can steal, barter, trade, gather or hunt for it!"

"Eh? So we\'re even allowed to steal from the other groups? Wouldn\'t that… You know, make us resent each other?"

Gwen huffed, "Not at all! If ya can\'t even protect the supplies ya got, then how can ya be expected to protect Young… Ahem… I mean protect anyone else? And if ya out in da field and your charge needs supplies, ya need ta be prepared ta do anything ya need to make sure they survive!"

I see…

Seraphine giggled, "Worry not Aster. There are actual supplies to be found in these mountains. There are mountain goats, wolves, rabbits and bears for meat; Wild carrots, radishes and even snowberries depending on where you look. If you come across a cave, there might be mushrooms and perhaps even fish if there\'s a pond in there."

Oh, that\'s good to hear.

I then turned to Selene, "Umm… As I said, I don\'t mind either role so I\'ll let you decide where you think I\'m best suited to help."

Selene considered for a moment, "Umm… In that case… Could I ask that Young… I mean… Aster join Groelle and Seraphine to gather supplies? Gwen and I will set up camp."

I nodded to show that I had no problems with it and we split up to fulfil our tasks.

My companions for the hunt gathered in front of me and I took a moment to give them both a good look.

Seraphine was, as I had mentioned, a Trasif. She had green hair that she tied up to a ponytail and equally green eyes that reminded me of trees. From what I know, she\'s a proficient markswoman and had trained in Geomancy and Aeromancy.

Groelle, on the other hand, was a Wrunch about one and a half times my size and her muscles were quite defined even under her uniform. The greatsword on her back told me all I needed to know about her preferred style of combat.

Seraphine smiled at me, "I suggest that we hunt some animals for food since Groelle has proficiency in tracking and I can try to gather some firewood, berries and any wild veggies we come across. Could I ask that Aster provide us support?"

I nodded, "Of course! Leave it to me~"

Groelle grinned at me, "Heh, I think we can even hunt a wyvern with Aster here~"

I tilted my head, "Eh? I thought monster meat wasn\'t safe to eat?"

Seraphine giggled, "Fufu~ Selene is able to drain mana from monster meat so we can have her process the meat to make it safe for us to eat. If we want to, we might even offer the other groups this service in exchange for some of their monster meat if they hunt any."

Oh~ That\'s cool~ In that case I wouldn\'t mind looking for a wyvern to hunt so that I can eat it~

Wait a minute…

"Umm… We\'re allowed to use our full strength for this right? Including making use of any items we might have brought for this training camp?"

Both of them nodded affirmatively to my question.

I then scratched my cheek, "Is there any rule that we couldn\'t bring food ourselves for this ahead of time?"

The Wrunch and Trasif looked at each other for a moment before turning back t o me.

"There is actually none," Seraphine admitted, her brows slightly scrunched up. "But I guess nobody does that because a backpack is normally not part of our equipment as a combat maid…"

Well… I asked that because my Pack of Folding literally has enough food stuffed inside it to feed us all so… Yeah…

Do we even need to hunt now?