Chapter 9 - Astrid(1)

A few minutes before Hati entered the room, Leif had left it, leaving behind an eight-year-old girl in clothes that looked little better than a sack with holes. The girl, Astrid, looked around and thought to herself, 'This… this is actually my room? It's enormous, larger than the room I shared with five others back at the markets. Did that man make a mistake?'

It had only been a week since she was bought at the capital's market by a man named Leif, and she had little contact with him or anyone else during their journey back to the Fenrir clan. All she knew at the moment was that she was bought to serve as the maid to Leif's five-year-old nephew, which brought her great relief when she realised she wouldn't have to serve a middle-aged man like Leif. 

Only two kinds of people bought under-age maids: either they had an under-age family member who needed a maid, or they were disturbed, older individuals who got a kick out of having a young girl serving them. And if you got the second option, you could only pray that your new Master at least wasn't interested in your body. 

The unfortunate truth was that slaves had few to no rights, and the few they did have were barely upheld because most of those types of crimes happened indoors and simply never saw the light of day. Besides, there were very few individuals who cared about the circumstances of every single enslaved person. 

There were people out there who tried to do what they could for them, but in the end, this world was not a friendly one, and if you spent time caring for someone that has nothing to do with you, you might turn around and find out you lost a family member. As for abolishing slavery altogether? 

That was simply a thought that wouldn't even come to anyone. Slavery, or thralldom, was so ingrained in everyday life that suggesting to eliminate it altogether would be viewed with the same level of scepticism as saying that all of Asgard's races should simply sit around a fire, make peace and sing kumbaya.

Even the eight-year-old Astrid had heard more than enough horror stories during her stay in the slave market, where she was taught the basics of the life of a maid. Astrid looked at the maid's clothes on the bed and moved to put them on while thinking, 'That old man Leif told me to put these on and that he would come back later to take me to the young Master. 

My new young Master. I wonder what he's like? Supposedly, he's five years old. Combined with the fact that he grew up in an isolated but luxurious environment, I wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be incredibly obnoxious.'

She had finished taking off her sack-like clothes and had just put on the underwear that came with the maid clothes when she suddenly heard a noise behind her, and she turned around only to see a handsome young boy of about her own height looking at her curiously. 

Astrid was a girl of about 1.25 meters (4'1), which was short for her age, and she had neck-length straight black hair. Her eyes were monolid, showing an Asian heritage. This last part made Hati think about his various theories about why he ended up in what seemed to be the Asatro afterlife. Still, he quickly realised it didn't really help him much as her seemingly Asian heritage invalidated none of his theories.

After Hati finished analysing her appearance, Astrid's brain finally caught up to the fact that she was standing in front of a boy in her underwear. As she realised this, her face started heating up and quickly looked like a tomato with smoke coming off it. Hati, noticing this, promptly adorned an evil grin and realised this was a great opportunity.

He started thinking, 'Clearly, this girl is a little shy, but she's also behaved enough not to start screaming because of my presence. She would make a great maid in the future. Meanwhile, I should take advantage of this situation. Nothing better to break down the barriers between two people than a healthy dose of embarrassment. If you believed the other person had already seen you at your worst, there was little left to be embarrassed about. 

Of course, I need to prevent her embarrassment from turning into anger. Still, I should be able to do that by simply revealing my identity and making her realise that any anger directed at me would be an exercise in futility. 

It does feel a little icky to act like this towards a minor when I am mentally a middle-aged man, but ignoring her out of embarrassment will do neither of us any good. It's not like I am planning to harm her, and I'm definitely not attracted to an eight-year-old either.'

Meanwhile, Astrid, who used her arms to try and cover up most of her underwear-clad body, finally found the courage to speak, "Who… Who the hell are you? And what are you doing in my room? Apologise and turn around!" Had she been a little calmer, she would have realised that whoever this kid was, he probably had higher status than her own in this place, meaning that yelling at him was a bad idea.

Hati looked surprised for a second and asked, "Your room?" But then he quickly realised what had happened as he remembered his uncle's behaviour earlier. He rolled his eyes and said, "Ah, I see what happened. You became the unfortunate victim of one of my uncle's pranks. I'm sure he did this to try and embarrass me while he barely thought of you as more than a prop for his prank." He then chuckled and said, "You can try asking for an apology later, but I wouldn't recommend it."

He then started smiling and walking closer to Astrid, who reacted by backing away as he continued to talk, "I'm afraid you've found yourself in my room instead. My name is Hati Fenrir, and I believe you are to be my personal maid." He continued to walk closer to Astrid, who continued to back away while her brain started scrambling as she tried to think of the next best course of action. 

Hati started smirking as he continued, "So you see, it is you that used your Master's room to change without permission, making you the one that owes me an apology. And neither will I look away from you. After all, you are my new maid, and I need to inspect your body to see if you can fulfil your future duties."

Astrid's brain, already flooded with embarrassment and fear at the current situation, immediately short-circuited as she stumbled, "I- Inspect? D- Duties?" She started screaming in her head, 'Is this kid even really five years old?! What is going on here?! What do I do?! The blood seal prevents me from forcing him away from me!' 

In the meantime, Astrid had now reached the wall and couldn't back away any further. Hati quickly closed in and stood close to her as he seemingly inspected her face.

Hati put an evil smile on his face as he answered her questions, "Sure, your future duties are very physically intensive. I'm sure we'll both work up quite the sweat. I mean, currently, we're both still too young for such things, but we'll be able to start training in a few years!" 

Astrid's mind ran wild as she thought about the implications of what Hati was saying. He didn't say it outright, but she knew what he meant! She couldn't believe all those things were coming out of a five-year-old. Her mess of a brain immediately said the first thing that came to her mind, "T- There's no need for that! My maid training included knowledge of s- se- sex."

Hati put an astonished look on his face as he looked at Astrid and said, "Sex? Who do you take me for? I was talking about regular physical exercise! I am currently not allowed to leave the house, so I can't train outside until I'm older! But when I do, I'm going to need you there with me!" After saying so, he sighed and shook his head before continuing, "Just my luck, I have to end up with the perverted maid."

Astrid's head almost exploded as she realised what had just happened, and, if possible, her head became even redder as she stammered, "Y- You! I- I mean, that's not what I…" As she tried to explain herself, she suddenly noticed a shit-eating grin on Hati's face and quickly realised she'd been had. 

Her embarrassment promptly started turning into anger as she almost started yelling at him, but then saw his grin turn into a smirk as he said, "Oh? Are you going to curse at your Master? Yell at him, perhaps? Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Realising there was nothing she could do to him that wouldn't come back to bite her in the ass, all the anger disappeared and became a mixture of helplessness and embarrassment. She suddenly found that confident smirk on his handsome, boyish face to be terrifying, attractive and annoying, all at the same time.