The day of an employee of Rabbit's Capsule Restspot starts early. However, the day of an employee who often oversleep due to feeling too comfortable in sleeping with her master starts fairly late.
Shun didn't assign Ikumei and Zenko in night shifts since they are growing kids and they needed sleep. However, since Shun has not been in the inn for a month or so now, Ikumei's day started early.
Right after waking up, Ikumei immediately started brushing the furs of her tail to make it more puffy and fluffy. This is a very important task to her every morning.
The main reason as to why she wanted her tail to be as fluffy as possible, and her dog ears as clean and presentable always, is because Shun really likes petting and caressing her ears. As for her tail, Shun look at her tail as often as her face and ears so she puts a lot of emphasis on making it look as good as possible.
Ikumei didn't really know anything about fetishes and such but when she noticed that Shun petted her more often when she started to groom herself more was enough of a reason for her to make herself more presentable. Even though Shun hasn't been home for a month or so now, this has sort of become a habit to Ikumei so she performed these tasks smoothly because of muscle memory.
"…Mhmm." Satisfied with the bounciness of her fur, Ikumei proceeded to wear her socks before performing some light stretches and such to loosen her body.
In order to avoid wrinkling her maid uniform, she did the stretches wearing nothing but the underwear she slept in and her socks. Only after thoroughly stretching did she put on her maid outfit, the Maid Outfit Golem that her master had given her.
It assisted her movements, allowing her physical potential to shoot upwards. Even the socks she just put on were both golems.
"…Okay." With all things set, her morning preparations are now complete.
It was now time for her to go to work. Since the chief residence she lived in was connected directly to the inn, her commute took less than a minute.
Her morning duty or duties consists of working as the waitress in the cafeteria where adventurers ate, watering the flowers and plants outside, and cleaning the vacant rooms. She and the other employees of the inn such as Seiko, Ichika, Zenko, and Koharu took turns doing these jobs in shifts.
Ikumei couldn't always participate in the morning duties, along with Zenko, when their master is around, due to her oversleeping. In that case someone else took care of her shifts.
As an aside, none of the other employees were complaining about having to occasionally cover the two kid's shifts. As a matter of fact, they suggested that they should just stop working in the cafeteria entirely in order to lessen their overall workload. Chief of the ones who support this idea is Seiko who worries about the kids and their growth.
In any case, the inn gives them a full meal of white bread, some vegetable salad with some dressing, and a bowl of delicious soup to start their morning. This is exclusively for the employees though. As for the adventurers, they get a delicious sandwich, with the bread being a white bread instead of a cheap rye bread.
Ikumei started by eating the said breakfast for inn employees before starting her morning shift, handling customers along with Ichika and the pastry chef who's hiding on the kitchen Maichi.
"Fwaaah. Morning, Ikumei."
"Oh, good morning."
Generally, the first person to wake up and visit the cafeteria was the Ms. Receptionist of the Guild, Cilia. Reason being, as a Guild receptionist, she needed to wake up before the adventurers did.
Cilia glanced around and, after confirming that Ichika and the others weren't looking, put her hand on Ikumei's head and rubbed it.
"…Haaah… This gives me the energy I need to survive all day… It would've been better if I could get my Zenkonium as well, but this is more than enough to get me going…"
"I see…" If you ask her, Ikumei personally wasn't fond of someone other than her master patting her head, but she tolerated Cilia because she gives her a tip for it.
Ikumei's plan is simple, save all the money she'll get, including her pay, and give it to Shun to make him happy. She once heard him muttering about completing a task regarding collecting enough money, and she wanted to contribute to that.
She took the five copper tip and brought Cilia a sandwich. There's actually still no available sandwich for her to deliver but that's not a problem.
Ikumei only needed to do a very simple job that only involves going into the kitchen to withdraw a sandwich from her [Storage]. Since time was stopped within the {Storage} subspace, the sandwich was fresh as new.
Since it would create a huge ruckus if others discovered she knew [Storage], she used it only after entering the kitchen. Shun said something about her and Zenko being discovered by the Adventurer's Guild, resulting to them getting fame and recognition for being such a prodigy but Ikumei didn't really understand it as much.
Eventually, the adventurers who were staying in the inn came pouring in. The adventurers came in droves since the inn could accommodate a whole lot of them.
There's already rumours going around about a bunny who's so strong C-rank adventurers couldn't even touch it going around, but these people weren't afraid even if those rumours are true.
They figured they'd be fine and could at least manage to run away, but Ikumei knew all of them would die in an instant if Tsuka and Fenny actually fought them. Unfortunately for those adventurers, Ikumei didn't care enough about strangers to warn them of this.
Yes, you heard it right. Fenny is taking turns with Tsuka in 'playing Boss Monster' against the adventurers who miraculously managed to reach their place through some overlapping coincidences but that's about it. Adventurers haven't figured out how to reach the boss room so the number of challengers is quite sparse.
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After cleaning up the remnants of the adventurer's breakfasts, Ikumei began her daily training, along with Zenko who also just finished tending on the plants. When they're training with magic skills or practicing commanding golems, they would first go into the dungeon to avoid some prying eyes, but nowadays they began practicing at a field near the inn.
Ikumei and Zenko weren't short on sparring partners as Seiko, Ichika, Rokuko, and Koharu would join them once their shifts are over or if they are free. Anyway, regarding why they started to practice where they could he seen by the adventurers, the hidden intent there was to show these thugs their training.
Since their training is quite intense, it could intimidate them with the knowledge that Shun commanded strength as powerful as theirs. This was Ichika's idea and was implemented by Rokuko since she didn't want to bother Shun with taking care of a few thugs.
Currently, at an open lot nearby the inn, Ikumei and Zenko are having an intense match while Ichika watched at the side. The two has been exchanging blows for a few minutes now but they're so evenly matched that no one could really get the upper hand.
Ikumei knocked the knife that Zenko was holding on her right hand and pressed her own against her throat, but Zenko used her own tail to flick the knife that was falling to the ground back to her hand and managed to also press down a knife against Ikumei's throat.
These aren't actually dangerous or anything since both of their knives were wooden training knives that Shun made for them in ten seconds.
"…Whew my dudes. I dunno if I can keep up with you two for much longer. You guys are growing too fast." Ichika who was watching from the side was amazed by the fast growth of the two beastkin. A few weeks back, they couldn't even land a blow on her.
"Thank you, Ichika. If it weren't for your teachings, we couldn't have grown this fast." Zenko said while bowing her head. Ikumei, on the other hand, had a clueless expression on her face, even tilting her head since she really have can't see herself getting stronger than Ichika that fast.
"…You think so?"
Similar to Zenko and Ikumei, Ichika was wearing a Maid Outfit Golem as well. Since Ichika already had the strength of an experienced C-Rank adventurer on top of that, she had a huge advantage over Ikumei and Zenko at first. However, that's when they first started training together. After a few weeks, they were equal, and now, the two beastkins were stronger.
The main difference between the two kids and Ichika was how they could effectively utilize the golem equipments that they have. Ichika had developed her own style of fighting over the years, and thus she treated the golem's assistance as basically just a boost of power to her muscles.
However, Ikumei and Zenko are different. After learning some foundational knowledge from Shun, their training started in earnest after they gained their golem equipments.
After using them for so long, paired with a child's fast learning speed, they could now use the golem's senses to block attacks from their blindspots and even dodge arrows after seeing them get fired, both things no normal fighter could do. By utilizing the golem's vision, these two essentially have no blindspots to speak of.
Normally, performing such ridiculous maneuvers with an Armor Golem would damage the wearer's body, but beastkin were especially tough and had latent regenerative powers perfect for dealing with the bodily stress. This resulted in the birth of two small warriors, capable of acrobatics beyond human comprehension or ability.
"You're stronger than me without golem assistance, Ichika…"
"Uh-huh. Ikumei is right. You don't need to downplay yourself. We know you are strong."
"For now, man. For now."
Ichika knew that these two would soon be stronger than her even without golem assistance. Based on what she saw during her stay in this place called her 'new home' she knew that these two definitely have the talent.
Developing that talent was one form of entertainment for Ichika. It'd be a lie to say she wasn't envious at all, but still, she liked seeing Ikumei and Zenko get stronger and stronger everyday.
Why? Because the stronger these two were, the better they would be able to take care of enemies for Shun, and that meant Shun didn't have to do the work himself. This, in turn, would let her have the food that he cooks for a lot longer.
Ikumei, Zenko, and the other girls continued their training until lunchtime at noon, whereupon she changed from working as a waitress in the cafeteria to cleaning the vacant rooms.
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※~To be continued~※
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Author's Remarks:
※ Apologies for the late release, again. Had to cook for our Noche Buena so… Next chapter would either be about Zenko or about Shun's adventures. What do you guys think would be better?
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