Mage And Wolf
Chapter 176

Chapter 176: Chapter 176

Elder Song comes to rouse us from our favorite breakfast chair cultivation spot late the next morning, declaring that we’ve got guests and work to do.

The guests turn out to be a wide variety of local nobility who are interested in having new servants undergo training with the Shadowed Blade, and a few who have daughters they wish trained by the High River Sect and accompanied by a Guardian for safety. All that’s left is to sell them on the benefits. They’ve all gathered in the back garden of the hotel to socialize before the proper meeting, so we decide to come up with a plan quickly before joining them.

"What about snacks? The waiting area could well be a garden party." Karl suggests.

"Just getting served snacks by cultivators should put them in the right frame of mind for everything we have planned, whether it’s guardians for their daughters or training for their staff." I agree.

"Do you two have a change of clothes that would give them the proper understanding?" Elder Song asks.

I think through my outfits, yeah, I’ve got something suitable. Karl nods his agreement and we both step into Elder Song’s room, only a few doors down from where we stopped to look at the gathered clients.

"What did you have in mind?" Karl asks, pulling out a bundle of black and white cloth from his storage device.

"I’ve got a black and peach hanfu fairy dress that is very suitable for a lady in Waiting in this world." I tell him, removing the dress along with a sheer black veil from my storage ring.

Karl has dressed as a butler, and I’ve got my dress on about to attach my veil over my lower face when Karl stops me to do my hair quickly. A single braid, common for unmarried young women here, is quickly fashioned with my veil hooked discretely into the hair for comfort. Karl makes a metal cart laden with high quality sweets, snacks and wine spritzers before stepping out into the hallway, with me following a step behind, silent and unobtrusive as you would expect a lady in waiting to be.

Two maids of the hotel are quickly found and an identical second cart is produced, with Karl leading the procession out into the courtyard, announcing the arrival of refreshments in true noble butler fashion.

Elder Song looks highly amused as I follow Karl around for a moment and the nobility complements us on our perfect form. The Sect insignia is embroidered into the sleeves of my dress, and a crest on to the jacket Karl is wearing, making it clear who we are.

We’ve both dampened our cultivation aura to that of low Condensation. Enough to be a threat to these nobles and their guards, but not enough to be intimidating and chase them away or give us an unsuitable sense of danger.

A great number of noble women and young Ladies come up to talk to me and I do my very best to be polite and not too formal, as if they were already my friends. The effect is astounding, I’ve learned things about these young women I’m not sure even their fathers know.

"Can we expect a hired guard for our daughters to be on that level?" I hear a man who was referred to as a Duke ask Elder Song, while I chat with the Dutchess who accompanied him here today and their daughter. She’s maybe fifteen, getting near marriage age, and they’re looking for a personal guard to serve as her Lady in Waiting when she’s married, as the marriage is political and they don’t fully trust the other family with their precious daughter.

"Perhaps not in combat skills, the Young Miss is highly accomplished, and into the Core Formation Realm. But in decorum, I’m certain we can find a suitable match." Elder Song assures him.

"That’s the Young Miss?" an Elder from one of the local Sects who accompanied another noble to today’s meeting exclaims, startled.

"The one and only, honored Elder." I respond with a curtsy and he laughs.

"I didn’t even recognize you, and thought you were an actual lady trained up to Sect standards. Few threats to a noble lady could get past skills like that." the Elder commends my performance.

Most of the nobles know of my name at this point, after winning the outer Sect tournament, plus alchemy and cooking last year. This seems to make the ladies and their daughters even more impressed, as they had expected that a woman who won a fighting tournament would be coarse and violent.

"Teaching a young lady to behave as a young lady should is far easier than teaching her to cook and fight." I smile gently at the nobles around me, making them laugh.

The Sect has been training a lot of our young female disciples for this task at their request and Elder Song is explaining the terms of hiring. The fees, and the requested exchange of two young potential talents for one fully trained, to account for aptitude and suitability.

At the end of the day, ten young ladies are requested as guards, the terms deemed acceptable, so Elder Song has sent a message to the Sect to bring a wide variety of candidates to the tournament. Our idea is not just to find one that can do the job, but one whose personality suits their charge for this extremely long term task.

They’ll not only be a client’s Lady in Waiting, but her Bodyguard, personal spy, and a disciple of the Shadowed Blade Sect after all. Enjoying the job is a must, though they are given the option to change after a year if things aren’t working out.

The ten requests for Ladies Guards are far outweighed by the requests for combat trained butlers assistants and household staff though. These will not be disciples of the Shadowed Blade, though we intend to instill a sense of loyalty into them. The training is 3 years long, and the first round of clients will have to wait on their trainees, but that’s not a big deal to the nobles, hiring a few peasant children from their territory to be trained was barely an afterthought.

Elder Song promises we will come by the next day to look over the potential trainees they’ve brought, as they must at least be suitable for training as cultivators. So while today was filled with noble young ladies and their parents, tomorrow will be filled with children hoping for an upgrade in careers.

Being even Fortification level cultivators will bring them a serious pay raise over anything they could expect before, and the Shadowed Blade has promised them a cultivation technique that will eventually bring the students we train to Condensation without additional resources. Which is plenty to defend the average household.