Chapter 17: A month gone by
The next day most of his men were hungover, but David was not going to let them off so easily. So, he made them run through the rough terrain of the forest for an hour using the Namba walk before he began more regular training. Despite most of the platoon's failure in the forest, they still won in the end, so David felt comfortable moving on to the last part of the training. He would have the squads individually try to infiltrate and steal "information" from his own house. They all had a deadline of two weeks, they could not hurt any of the servants inside, nor were they allowed to be seen, if even a single member of a squad was caught the entire squad would fail. For this all the squads were told to act independently from each other and only ensure that their plans do not coincide. Of course, David knew that they would be coming sometime in the two weeks, but to make it fair he did not take any extra precautions.
David did inform his entire house staff of what would happen so that they would not be alarmed, and put 5 different "documents" hidden in 5 different rooms in his house. After that David went about his days like normal, the only difference is that since he was aware of an impending invasion, he allowed himself to act like a "paranoid noble." During these two weeks training went on like normal, but he allowed each squad to have 3 members each to not show up so they could conduct investigations, surveillance, and if necessary, conduct the raid. During this time the two weeks came and went, and the raid "game" had occurred without issues, however, much to his dismay, only first squad, led by Jason, was able to infiltrate his house without anyone noticing and managed to grab the intelligence. He did it by creating a distraction in the back garden to draw most of the people in the house into the back, including David himself, during that time, members of his squad successfully got in and got out without being noticed.
For the other squads, squads 2 and 4 conducted raids during broad daylight whilst the entire house was active, despite varying degrees of completion both squads failed. Squads 3 and 5 on the other hand conducted raids in the middle of the night, while David was asleep. However, they had seemed to not prepare for how light of a sleeper he was and a member of the squad was caught by David personally. After all the raids occurred, he explained to every squad where they went wrong and how they could improve themselves. Then he punished the failing squads to extra hours of training on the same day that the succeeding squad, squad 1, was given the day off.
During all these weeks of training David had other things he was attending to. He had begun to write what he called his "black book." Inside it were numerous diagrams of tools and gear he thought could be helpful to him and his team in the future, as well as games, food, and other things that he felt could benefit this world. However, David was no mechanical engineer, while he understood the basics of many of the things he was writing down, he could not know how certain parts of the internal workings actually worked. As such if he was to ever succeed, he needed to gain a connection with someone who would be able to interpret his works and take it to the next step. David did have an advantage though. As an aspiring architect, he had already spent many hours pouring over housing blueprints and specifications, he also was not too bad of an artist, so his blueprints always came out looking close to what he envisioned them to look like. Finding a talented engineer was going to be the hard part.
He also spent much of his time when not training his men with Alice. He had sorely missed seeing her everyday like he used to, so he would often try to take at least an hour after every session to visit with her. Alice was also overjoyed to see her friend again. Of course it's not like he disappeared, but after being promoted he was around her a lot less. She knew that what David was doing was going to be super important, so she swallowed her sadness and just enjoyed the time with him that she could. Of course, she could come visit him when he was training his men, but not only was she busy herself, she knew that she would only get in the way if she went. David thoroughly enjoyed his time visiting with Alice but found that for some reason she had begun to constantly bring up Maria around him. She would talk about the times they shared as children, how they once promised to travel the world together when they were young, and about her favorite foods, clothes, and a lot more. Of course, David had asked her once or twice to not bring Maria up, but every time Alice spoke of Maria, she had such an enthusiastic look on her face that it was hard to ruin her fun. So, David just sucked it up and moved on. No matter how many unpleasant memories Maria's name may bring up, he would ignore it if it meant he could see Alice smile.
However, this time spent was not all enjoyable. The two knights that had bullied him before had begun to increase their efforts to make him suffer. He had found out who they were, Reynold, son of Count Metri, and Sovern, son of Viscount Dendrict. At first, they had merely called him names and berated him in public, but soon as they saw that their words had no effect they began increasingly more violent acts on him. But David stayed resolute, he knew that he was in no position to fight back, even if he did, he doubted he could stop them with his power, especially since the two always traveled together. So, he just took the hits and waited for them to stop. He could easily get them to stop by asking Alice to intervene, but he knew it would only solve the problem on the surface, he had to solve this on his own. Besides, the last thing he wanted was Alice to worry about him again. Just thinking about the day he finished the raid on the human traffickers, seeing her standing at the end of the alleyway, tears streaming down her face, hurt his heart.
"Wait," He paused while he thought to himself. "When did I begin to feel that way?" Of course, no friend would want to see another friend in tears, but he could feel that this runs much deeper than that. He couldn't explain it, but in the end, it didn't matter, it just meant that he didn't want to involve Alice in this.
He had other things he still had to take care of himself as well. One of the most important parts of long-term infiltration and intelligence gathering was being able to blend into any environment seamlessly. For that he would need clothes. Lots and lots of clothes. So, he spent several days wandering through the city's marketplace looking at the clothes on display, trying to pick up on fashion trends and clothing styles. However, he realized very quickly he had a problem, much like his world, he had no ability to grasp fashion. Of course, he could tell what people were wearing and could guess at what might be good, but if his men were to go to a faraway land or infiltrate a specific place, they would need a better disguise. He had already guessed that this would be a problem from the get go. When he was choosing his "specialists" he had searched for someone who was known to be rather good with clothing or fabrics or something. However, he heard no such rumors. Of course, he could definitely find someone if he just asked, but going around asking for a fashionista seemed not only uncharacteristic but also not an easy task for the stoic anti-social person who David was. He was about to give up for the day when he noticed someone, he recognized walking ahead of him.
"Lily?" He said aloud causing the girl in front of him to spin around.
"David?" She said, at first surprised and happy to see him but then stops herself and keeps herself reserved. "It is good to see you again." She looks happy to see him, but her eyes contain sadness hidden behind them.
"What are you doing in the capital?" David asked as he walked over to her. "Isn't it too far to send a maid just for supplies for the manor?" Lily looks surprised for a moment before looking solemn.
"I... am no longer working for House Velma." She looks crestfallen while she speaks.
"Why?" David asked, unsure what she did to warrant her expulsion from the manor.
"When you escaped," She began after she took a deep breath. "The head of the manor, Duke Frederick Velma, was quite angry. He began taking it out on anyone near him. I, who was once your personal maid, received much of his ire. Eventually as the days went by it seems my presence caused him discomfort, so he summarily fired me from my position. However, it seems he also had all the other nobles blacklist me as well, I have been unable to find a job since then."
This was wrong, no matter how angry Frederick was at him for running away that doesn't mean he should fire the maid assigned to him. Not only that but he went so far as to prevent her from getting work anywhere else, being a Duke, he had influence everywhere so it is not hard to imagine she was banned from anywhere she went.
"So, then what are you doing now?" David asked, concerned for her situation.
"Ah," She said as she looked up at him with a sad smile. "I returned to work with my father, he is a small-time tailor so I was using the money I got from the manor to support him, but as things are now I just help him run the shop." David just stares at her with disbelief, somehow, through his stoic exterior she caught on that he was pitying her.
"Oh, but please don't blame yourself. At the time I had no idea how they treated you, I had only begun to work at the manor after all. I don't blame you for leaving after what you had to go through. So please don't worry about me." She said as she smiles brightly, the sadness still not leaving her eyes.
This was terrible, David had not considered that she would be in such a terrible state after he had left, back then he was only concerned with himself and his escape so while she was always there willing to help him, he largely ignored her. However, there were only two people during his entire time in the manor that made his time there more bearable. The first was obviously Maria, and the second was Lily. She never once treated him poorly, she never once looked down on him for being human, she was always there to help him with whatever he wanted. Despite the fact he had been secretly planning to escape, she always seemed to greet him with a smile. The whole situation seemed unfair. Then, he had an idea.
"Lily, you said you are having financial difficulties right now, right?" David asked, completely serious.
"Well, the store's always had limited customers, with the way things are right now things are not looking good." Lily said solemnly.
"What if I told you I knew someone who would be willing to hire you. If that person was a military officer, would you be willing to work for them?" At this Lily perked up a little, she had no idea where David got such a contact, but honestly with the way things were going at the tailor shop they would be forced to close down in the next few months, at this point she was desperate.
"As long as they treated me fairly, I would not mind. I'll be honest, right now even if they are only able to pay me a little it would help immensely." By now David was beginning to understand just how dire her situation really was, but what he was asking her might be too far, so he had to be explicitly clear on this matter.
"Let me refine the question then. What if I told you the military officer who could hire you... was me?" David said as he looked Lily in the eye.
Lily was stunned, David was a military officer? Only Vampires were able to become knights and paladins. She had never heard of a human becoming a knight. Not only that but he had a stable enough income to hire her? But why? They barely spoke when they were in the manor, he always had a blank expression on his face and always seemed to be thinking about something. Despite how much time they spent together she barely knew him. Still though her situation was desperate, if the shop closed her whole family would be out of their home in less than a week, she didn't have many options besides selling herself on the street. Still though, this situation seemed almost too good, she needed to know how and why.
"How were you granted knighthood?" Lily asked, now trying to understand the entire situation.
"Ah, well I can tell you the full story another time, but basically I helped in a big operation and the king rewarded me by making me the crown princess' personal knight." Lily's head was spinning, big operation? The king awarded him? Personal knight to the princess? This was a whole lot bigger than she first imagined. What had David been up to in these last months that he had made such a name for himself? This was overwhelming.
"Oh, and to answer your question from earlier I promise you will not be mistreated," David said with a small smile. "I will also make sure you are paid well for your services." This was all too good to be true, employment at the one place the Velma House's influence can't reach her, not only that but she would be paid well. Her family would be able to continue working if that were the case. But she was a vampire, she may not be noble, but she had her pride, no matter how desperate she was she would not accept handouts because of pity.
"Why do you want to hire me? Is it just because of pity?" Lily asked, her eyes getting slightly wet as she fought back tears.
"Ah," David said as he scratched his head. "Well there are several reasons. But the biggest one is because back at the manor, unlike everyone else, you were good to me. You didn't treat me like an object or a slave, or even an inferior being, you treated me like a person." He said as he looked her in the eye seriously.
"I'm the kind of man who always tries to pay back his debts. So, let me hire you, Lily." At this Lily burst into tears, it had been so long since she had any amount of luck come her way, everything had been slowly falling apart around her. She lost her job, her father was getting less and less customers, her mother had gotten ill, and her little brother was being bullied by the other vampire kids and had few friends. Up until this moment her life had been one mess after another. At finally getting the first bit of luck in a long time she could no longer contain herself and cried.
David was shocked and unsure of what to do. He wanted to try to calm her down but didn't know how. But he had no idea that while she was crying due to all the time she suffered and went through pain, for all the fear she had for nearly losing everything, these in fact were not tears of sadness, but tears of joy and relief. She had finally found some salvation.
After Lily calmed down, he took her back with him to his house to introduce her to the other servants. He explained to her that all the other servants were human so it might be rough at the start. However, Lily didn't seem to mind, she seemed confident that she could bridge the gap in the race relations. While this did fill David with some confidence it wasn't exactly what he had in mind when he told her, he was just worried that either the humans would fear her, or ostracize her, but in the end the same result was met so it didn't matter. After arriving at the house and introducing Lily to all the servants after being gathered by Sebastian, he vouched for Lily personally saying that she was not like other vampires and there would be no discrimination or unfair treatment allowed for either race at the house. Some of the servants still seemed wary of her, but after she made a personal introduction to each of them they all seemed to calm down, it still would take some time for her to integrate fully but it didn't seem like there would be any problems in the meantime. After introductions were complete, he took her with him to his study to explain what her job would actually be.
The first thing she would be doing was spending most of her time as the house's maid, she didn't have to move in if she didn't want to, but she would have to arrive early in the morning every day. Lily immediately said that despite David's offer to live at home, she will be moving in by the end of the week. David then explains why he wanted her specifically, as the daughter of a tailor she would have a much keener sense of fashion then he could ever have. Using her knowledge, she would be able to decide which outfits were needed for certain missions, of course she would not always be needing her for this, but having her around to help was a great boon.
"Lastly," David said as he reached into his drawer and pulled out a small pouch of coins. "I plan to patronize your family's tailor shop to supply our needs, will your family be able to keep up with our demands?" David said as he handed Lily the bag of money.
"I'm sure my father will gladly make you whatever you need from him!" Lily said excitedly, this was almost too much, not only had she been given a new job that was going to pay well, a warm house and master to work under, but he also was going to buy in bulk from her family's tailor shop, it was like all her problems had just been solved all at once. As she stared at David, to her, in this moment, he looked like a god who had swooped in from the heavens to relieve her pain.
Immediately she got on her knees and began bowing before him sobbing lightly. David was shocked at this development; he had no idea why she was suddenly bowing to him.
"What... what are you doing, please stop that." David said equally confused and unsettled as he grabs her arm and helps her up, preventing her from bowing.
"I don't know how the Duke made you act before him, but here I don't like that, everyone here is a person and I don't feel superior to anyone else, so don't treat me special, just treat me like normal please." David said practically begging her to not do that again. Lily was moved by his words, not only was he her guardian angel but he wasn't even a demanding one. She felt the urge to bow before him again but held herself back this time.
After the meeting had concluded Lily returned home for the night to tell her family the news and begin preparations to move into the house. As she ran home, bag of gold in hand, she felt happier than she had felt in a very long time. As for David he felt exhausted, not only had he been "studying" fashion for a large part of the day but Lily's enthusiastic aura, while enjoyable to look at, was taxing on him. She had so much energy it was draining just to see.
The next day Lily arrived to begin work and David left to go do his. At the end of the day he brought Alice over, after a long time of convincing, he had finally managed to get Alice to come over to his house for dinner. The timing had also worked out because he could officially introduce his new maid Lily to Alice. However, the meeting did not go as he expected. As David stood off to the side with a nervous look on his face, Alice stared intently at Lily as she looked her up and down multiple times.
What she saw before her was a girl only slightly taller than she was, her long black hair tied into twin braids, her smile was dazzling, and she seemed to radiate an aura of enthusiasm. She couldn't place her finger on it, but something rubbed her the wrong way. Was it her face? Her looks? Her clothes? Her smile? No matter how she thought about it, the thought of this girl working for David did not sit well with her. Of course, she trusted her friend's decisions and if he vouched for her it was fine, but it still bothered her somehow.
"So," Alice said as she turned to David with a slightly annoyed expression. "What were you thinking by bringing such a cute girl to work here?"
"Eh?" Is all David can say, stunned that the first words out of Alice's mouth after several minutes is something so absurd. She didn't even seem to be teasing him like normal, which was odd for her.
Still though seeing them next to each other it really sank in how similar they are. Of course, Lily was taller and slightly more mature looking than Alice and her eyes were a different shade of red, but they both had the same aura about them and even their body shape and looks were similar. If not for Lily's black hair, he could easily mistake them for sisters. It was actually funny how similar they looked.
"Well, she is a good maid and attendant so she will be helpful around the house, but she is also the daughter of a tailor so she will be helpful with the platoon and..." David trails off as he is being stared at intently by Alice for some reason.
To Lily the whole situation seemed unreal, not only was she standing before the crown princess, but it seemed like Alice and David had something much different than a master servant relationship. The way they spoke to each other was far too casual, she had even heard him refer to her as "Alice" and not "princess." How David seemed to have such a good relationship with the princess, she had no idea. Not only that, but he seemed far more expressive than he did yesterday or this morning. She could hardly imagine seeing David with his cold look giving off these facial expressions or these reactions. Not only that but this small girl, despite being the princess, seemed to have completely cowed David into submission. The famed "Ghost of the Woods" feared this little vampire. She felt the urge to laugh at the absurdity of the situation but held herself back because she didn't want to make a bad impression in front of the princess.
Alice sighed to herself. There was no use getting mad at him anyway. Even though she did not know what it was about Lily that rubbed her the wrong way, she didn't seem like a bad person and if David trusted her then she would too.
"I hope to get along, Lily." Alice said gracefully as she put her hand out to Lily. Lily tentatively stuck her hand out and shook it with a smile.
Dinner came, and like usual, Alice seemed a glutton for food. It didn't matter to her that the food was not made by royal chefs in the imperial palace, she scarfed the food down like it was going out of style. David laughed to himself quietly.
"Glad to see you haven't changed, you glutton." Alice took offense to that but was too busy enjoying the food to stop eating and complain, so instead she compromised. She complained with her mouth full.
"It's my cheat day! Get off it!" She said through various pieces of food crammed into her mouth. Despite all the times she had claimed to be on a diet to maintain her weight, David had never once seen her eat in moderation, even when they would have snacks together, she seemed to eat much more cake and sweets than he ever did. He was beginning to think that it was an outright lie that she was on a diet.
"Maybe she said she's on a diet to appear more ladylike?" He thought as he watched her stuff her mouth full of food. The thought of a "ladylike" Alice made him laugh out loud. Which confused Alice, but not enough to stop eating. Eventually the night came to an end and Alice went home by carriage like usual, despite the Palace being close by.
However, over all this time, he had been preparing his squad, bringing in Lily, dealing with the bullying knights and so much more, a month had passed. It was time again for him to meet with Maria once more. As he entered the empty room, she just smiled at him brightly.
"It's wonderful to see you again!"