Chapter Thirteen 

Today was the big day... more or less. 

Fenfang woke before the sun rose and discovered Alex slipping into her room before she had even sat up. She had no idea how the maid knew, and frankly, she wasn’t sure she wanted to. “It’s today, right?” she asked.

“It is,” Alex said as they laid down a long, flowy dress at the foot of her bed. “Did you want to bathe first? Rem drew a bath.”

“Is... that safe?” she asked.

“Most of the water made it into the tub,” Alex replied. 

Well, she did want to be clean, at least. Plus the soak might help her wake up. So she accepted, got up, did her morning ablutions, got squeaky clean, and then dressed like she was some sort of cultivator princess, in long flowing robes dyed in vibrant purples and turquoise with some beige highlights to catch the eye. The fact that most of the patterns on her dress were bone-themed instead of flowers was... well, it was something, but she supposed she had to represent her nation, and it was a nation which might soon have more dead citizens than living ones. 

The sun was just cresting the horizon when there was a knock at her quarter’s doors. Alex opened it, then swept aside, letting a tall, ghoulish serpent into the space. The cobra-headed man looked about, then tugged the lapels of his uniform on straighter. “Lady Empressss,” he hissed. “Offissser Fret Full ssaid that you were ready to depart.”

“Fret Full?” Fen Fang asked. It took her a moment to remember. “Oh, that banshee? How did she know? Wait, nevermind, yes, I’m ready. Did Captain Seventeen send you?”

“He did, ma’am,” the officer replied. “We are to essscort you to the tournament grounds.”

She nodded along, then glanced about, certain that she was going to forget something. With a sigh, she gave up, only picked up one book from her desk--a tome on Cure Wounds and Inflict Wounds and the differences between the two diametrically opposed yet similar spells--then she followed the officer out of the room.

Alex followed, and soon Rem joined them, cursing as she tried to adjust the ascot wrapped around her long, insectile neck.

A carriage and escort was waiting just outside of the sect compound-turned palace. Four skeletal horses at the front of a well built carriage, with a Death Butler acting as chauffeur and two dozen mounted undead as additional escort. 

The snake-like officer peeled off to discuss things with the escort while Fenfang climbed into the carriage with a bit of assistance from Alex. She was grateful for the latter, because as pretty as the robes were, they made climbing awkward.

She didn’t know how someone like Cinder did it, moving around and looking so graceful while wearing such loose robes... truly, it wasn’t fair.

She sat down on a plush cushion, then read a little. Ths book was a bit dry, but there were annotations in a clean hand and... well, there were lots of puns in those annotations, so she suspected that they were written by her Master, maybe when he was just a mere student of magic himself? In any case, it made the book far more interesting. 

The carriage bumped, then started to move forward through the busy streets of Yu Xiang. 

It was still very early, most people were still only-just getting up, but that was fine. She knew that there was going to be a lot of traffic today.

It was the opening day of the tournament. A tournament that would last all of three days, with tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of watchers in the audience.

They had set up viewing portals in every city in her empire, so just about everyone who wanted to would be able to see. From what she understood, the amount of excitement for this event was... a lot. 

There were already banners across the roads, roads which had been brushed and scrubbed clean. People had flocked to the cities to see, and while that might have been a little risky, so far things were working out. 

She wasn’t sure how well things would work out economically, but that was, currently, the concern of others.

Having portal trade routes opening up had helped alleviate some of the concern she had about food and the like. Already, delicacies from different city, usually impossible to trade in a timely manner, were being brought through the portal network and sold openly. 

It was interesting to see the cultural exchange. Even the closest city to Yu Xiang was several days away though an inhospitable desert with several monsters prowling around. The common person was born and died in their home city. Now that was changing.

So, the bread was covered, and the tournament was to be the circus. 

Maybe, once this was done, they could set up weekly... no, monthly events in the stadium? Theater shows, lectures, plays, musical performances and the like. It would keep the population happy.

“Urgh,” Fenfang said. She flipped the page back. She hadn’t registered a word of what she read in a while.

“Is everything okay?” Alex asked.

“I... yes? More or less? It’s a lot. When I joined Master, I was really hoping to be more powerful. Now I’m swamped with work, and while I know that I’m objectively more powerful, it’s not what I had in mind.”

“Oh?” 

“Yeah. I wanted spells that could blow up cities and destroy cultivators, I guess. I wanted to fling big balls of fire around and summon armies of the undead. I guess I have that last one. And objectively, I’m way stronger now than I expected to be. I have an empire. That’s a lot. Lots of people, lots of manpower, lots of tax money, lots of political power. I can destroy cities and ruin cultivators, but now it’s more... by ordering it done? It’s not personal power.”

“I see,” Alex said. “I think that that makes sense. I also think that a lot of maids have a similar issue.”

Fenfang blinked. “Huh? How?”

“Well, as a maid, you might think that you’ll live in service of a master. That you’ll keep them safe, do their laundry, assassinate their rivals, cook their meals, and watch them sleep.”

“Wait, assassinate? Do you watch me sleeping?”

“But in reality,” Alex continued. “A maid’s duty is more often to the house. You do a lot more weeding than you might expect, a lot more dusting and cleaning, and certainly a lot of these tasks are to the benefit of the master, but it’s less direct than you might imagine. I think that could be very upsetting for a fresh new maid.”

Fenfang leaned back a little into her seat. “And is that okay with you?”

“Yes, of course. You just learn that being a maid is more than you might think. I think you’re learning that being the Master’s Limpet is more than just learning some strong magic. You are still learning magic, it’s just that it comes with more.”

“Yeah, I suppose I am,” Fenfang said. She certainly wouldn’t be learning about this kind of spell under any other circumstance. “I guess I just wish I could focus on the things that I want to focus on?”

“I think most people wish that,” Alex said. “But don’t worry. I’m sure once you’re conquered the world in the name of your Boney Patron you’ll have time to dedicate yourself to learning more and faster.”

“Uh,” Fenfang said.

She decided to drop the subject, mostly for the sake of her sanity. They were rolling out of Yu Xiang, and she could see the tournament city ahead. It was busy. There were lots of citizens already moving towards the smaller city, and she noticed that a lot of the people on the road were moving with the speed and grace of cultivators.

A lot of them had come out of the woodworks to attend. More to participate. If it wasn’t for her confidence in the guards and army they had, she might have been worried, but as it was... no, they’d probably be fine. 

The gates into the second city were wide open, so the casually rolled in and started down the main thoroughfare towards the stadium. It wasn’t long before they pulled up to the front and came to a stop.

Alex jumped out first and helped her down. She stared up at the massive, towering building. It was kind of terrifying, how quickly they had built this, but that was just what happened when a nation focused on infrastructure and had infinite free labour. 

Shaking her head, she started towards the interior.

First, there were be the pre-show, the announcements, the ads, then the musical interludes and presentations. Then the real show would begin. 

She clutched her book close. Maybe she should have brought a few more, in case it got boring?

***