Alex had originally wanted his maid in the royal castle, Irene, to leave with him, but she had informed him he would need permission from the king first.

She was the most beautiful woman he had ever met and just her kindness alone had made him fall in love with her.

She currently stood out

He had also just today gotten his hopes up with Blaire, a witch he had known for only 2 weeks yet she had taken a deep interest in him. She even kissed him, however brief it was, so the sudden appearance of Irene made him feel conflicted.

'Am I the protagonist?' Alex silently pondered in his mind. 'But how did Irene find me here, in some out of the way city?'

"Irene?"

"That is my name, young hero."

Irene answered with her ever-present smile that Alex was familiar with.

"Why are you here?"

"After the hero ran away, as your personal maid, I was likely to receive a heavy sentence as well, so I could only escape."

"B-but why come find me? And how did you find me?"

"Didn't young hero want me with him after leaving? I merely followed the trail from where you left the heroes along with listening to rumors and asking some questions."

"Was it that easy?"

"Maids are very resourceful, young hero."

"…Does the castle know where I am?"

"That's almost a guarantee. But I can help us vanish if you like, young hero."

"If… if they know I am here, why didn't they do anything?"

"Because young hero is dead weight."

Irene's words cut into Alex's heart just as harshly as Blaire's did. It was as if only sharp-tongued women were drawn to him.

Conflicted by his emotions towards the two women, Alex hesitantly asked, "Would you like to-"

"I have already reserved the room next to yours, so I can be of assistance in any way."

"O-of course."

"We can discuss my fees tomorrow. I require money for food, lodging, and luxuries, especially the last one."

"…Right."

"Surely young hero didn't expect me to pay for all that myself while working for him?""O-o-of course not! That would be ridiculous."

Alex bobbed his head up and down like a chicken but felt warmth in the maid talking to him in the exact same way he was used to. The truth was he never even considered the money side of having her around, but it made sense that he had to pay for her if she were to be his maid.

Deep inside of him, there was also the fantasy of both Blaire and Irene, one woman in each arm as he laid on a large bed.

"Is something the matter, young hero?"

"N-no, not at all. Let's go inside, I have some quick business to attend to, then let's sit down to talk some more."

~~~~~

⠀

"Do we really need to go into hiding?" Alex asked the following morning as he headed towards the adventurer's guild.

"No, because young hero is worthless. They won't hold any desire in reclaiming you."

"Urgh…"

Alex groaned and nervously touched his blind eye. He truly was weak, as much as he refused to admit it.

What he needed was funds so he could use his class skills properly, but he struggled to make ends meet and just when he discovered he could make more money with selling mana crystals, Irene showed up and he was now paying for her too.

"If I am so worthless, why would you come to me?"

"Young hero promised to treat me well if I left with him, didn't he?"

"You said I needed to get permission from his highness first, though."

Irene just smiled and said, "That was before you ran away and left me in danger of punishment."

"Would they really punish you, just because of that?"

"The crown prince came looking for me after news of your escape reached the palace. Now, I am just a runaway maid out of employment."

Alex sighed and pushed open the well oiled door of the adventurer's guild, the warm air inside taking forcing away the bite of the morning air chill.

Blaire was in the common area talking with a party of adventurer's and waved Alex over with a broad smile the moment she saw him. When she saw Irene, in her maid attire, standing behind him, she immediately felt danger and her gaze hardened.

Alex may not be able to tell as he was mostly clueless on intuition, but the maid behind him was hiding an incredible amount of power within her body.

The were no obvious clues on Irene's body, but Blaire was close to the Third Step and had been in countless battles. She could sense the danger radiating from the maid no matter how well the latter hid it.

"It's only been a day, and you already replaced me with another woman," The witch spoke in a pained voice but her expression was all too fake.

"N-no, that's not it at all!" Alex immediately tried to salvage what he thought was a deteriorating situation, but Blaire only laughed and pressed a foot against his crutch from under the table, a sly grin across her face.

She had slipped that foot out of her shoe, allowing her to curl her toes around his manhood and grip it through his pants.Alex went bright red and tried to secretly push her foot away, but the witch was too strong for him to budge. Her heels pressed right against his privates just hard enough to only slightly hurt and moved around.

The hero hid his face in embarrassment, during which time Blair shot an icy glare at Irene. The maid didn't even flinch and simply kept smiling.

At this moment, the door to the guild swung open and Jovran the Red strolled in with his party with an annoyed expression on his face.

"Hey! You guys should have told me if the emergency request was already completed!" Jovran stormed to the front of the line and slammed his citizenship card on the table in front of a staff member.

It was the blonde woman who helped Alex sign up to the adventurer's guild whose desk Jovran aggressively confronted. The employee looked at him with a forced smile and responded in a terse voice.

"Sir, there is a queue you need to join."

"Huh? Who the hell do you think I am? I do most of your high risk jobs, now answer my question!"

The blonde woman looked at the waiting adventurers who were watching the confrontation like a sport and dug her heels in.

"Sir, go to the back of the line."

Jovran glared at her, but he wasn't known as being sexist for nothing. He immediately changed his attitude, relaxing his expression and combing his fringe back with a sigh.

He leaned on the desk with his forearm and asked in a much gentler tone.

"Can you please inspect this emergency request and find out why me and my party travelled all night to the farmlands to save a rural town from an earth dragon that made a nest nearby, only to find it had been taken care of several days ago?"

The attendant was a bit flushed and she was unsure how to respond when his beautiful face was so close.

"Hey, no fair!" Several adventurers called out from the line, no longer enjoying the conflict between Jovran and the worker.

"Sir, p-please join the queue then I will assist you."

Jovran felt like he had made a small victory and happily joined the back of the line without qualm. He waited for his turn patiently before having the request inspected and him being compensated for the error by the guild. He then whispered into the attendants ear, causing her to blush before turning away with a grin.

He spotted Alex, alongside Blaire and Irene at this time and his eyebrows shot up.

His party members sighed as he swaggered over to the group, Alex raising his head in suspicion after noticing the footsteps heading his way.

Jovran looked at Irene with a lascivious gaze, focusing especially on her giant breasts which her maid attire clung to tightly.

"I haven't seen you around before? A maid too? Are you looking for a party to join?"

Irene glanced at him and stated with a smile, "I am not."

Even though there was obviously no threat, Jovran felt his highly trained senses screaming at him to retreat.

His expression hardened and he grasped his spear from his back, instantly moving into a defensive stance. The entire guild fell silent and even his party members looked at him with confused expressions.

"My apologies, I am a little lacking sleep."

It was an excuse, but it was the best one he could come up with at the time. He shifted everyone's attention immediately afterwards by addressing the witch on the other side of the table.

"Blaire, my offer still stands. There was never a need-"

"It is unnecessary. Do not waste my time."

The witch cut him off with a glare and sharp words. Alex sat in the middle of this confrontation and went by completely unnoticed by Jovran, who didn't glance at him even once before departing. He didn't appear to rush to leave, but his hand never left the shaft of his giant spear.

"What is going on?" Alex asked in confusion.