Side Note

Hello there, it's me, stuck in a pit with a random mercenary, Madeleine here. I tried getting him out, but I didn't have a rope. The only thing I could find besides an endless emptiness were papers at the pit's edge that I didn't feel like reading. I also thought it'd be fun to jump down here. Now I'm stuck here… although I could just go to the next floor. Huh, that's a good idea.

"Hey, can you hand over the key to the next floor?" He looked at me dumbfounded.

"I wasn't given a key." He started taking out random things from his pockets. A backup dagger, two healing potions, three gold coins, and four pieces of lint. "Yeah, no key."

"It's not an actual key. It's just something you have an attachment to." At least, that's what the pattern has been so far… or maybe someone explained it to me. I kind of forgot.

"I have this sword attached to me." He pointed at the giant sword strapped to his back. Oh, now I remember this guy. I fought him and that tiny maid. That sword is as big as ever… maybe that's the key. I jumped onto his shoulders, grabbing the sword and holding it over my head heroically… nope, it wasn't. I drop the sword, hearing it land with a big thud.

"Do you have anything else?" He rummaged through his pockets again, finding nothing but a scrunched-up piece of paper. I jumped down and snatched it out of his hand, discovering it was a picture of him and the tiny maid. "Aww… how cute."

My legs started going transparent, meaning I was off to the next world. The mercenary started panicking. "I was meant to say something!" He started looking all over the pit before looking at the top. "I left my script up there."

Huh. Off to the next floor I went, not knowing what he needed to say.

I'm in a forest. This… isn't good. The first terrain a Maid School student must learn to master is the forest due to how plentiful forests are in Mendass. That and stealth is easily achieved if you know how to traverse trees… worse yet, this is the perfect forest for such an operation. There are no random openings in the leaves, uneven lands that could slow approaches or weak branches that can't support a human's weight that you'd typically see in a natural forest. Add all that onto the fact that the tiny maid is relatively small and has Stealth for a Sacred Power… I'm at a disadvantage. So much so that I'm forced to turn my combat prodigy brain on for once… not that I haven't done that before. So, first thing first, I need to remove the stealth element, which is her most significant advantage. This can be done through a multitude of methods. 

"Elimination of cover." I stomp my foot, causing a ring of fireballs surrounding me to fly out, making the nearby trees catch fire. Mass arson in a forest is… not something they teach at the Maid School. They teach you about napalm, though. Otherworlders are scary, especially the ones whose minds are wartorn.

"Elimination of blindspots." I tap the ground, creating three earth walls behind and beside me and a roof above my head. This should prevent flanking attacks and attacks from above with any attempts to destroy the walls requiring force that would very quickly alert me, and I doubt she can phase through walls… oh god, can she phase through walls? I better hope not.

"Elimination of weaknesses." I… don't have armour, aside from that broken armour that was apparently unbreakable… I can't use it, though, it's too big for me. I also can't use a Shadow Clone meatshield since I don't have Shadow Clones. The best I can do is just dodge, but there are so many places she can aim for. The neck, the torso, my shins, the head… I'll just have to rely on reflexes.

"Lastly… elimination of the attacker." For this… I just have to wait. Which is bad. The longer I wait, the more bored I get, making me feel like doing things that would not help for victory. Troubling… okay, I'm bored already. Time for the other way to prevent stealth.

"Secret Madeleine technique number I have no idea! Exploding daggers!" I materialised a bunch of daggers in both my hands and started throwing them all over the place, causing a shit ton of explosions with each dagger landing, which also happens to make the forest fire I cause significantly worse. Eh, it's alright, the Maid School uniform is fireproof… let's hope the little maid is also still wearing her… found her.

I immediately turned around, grabbed her midair leg, and swung her over my head straight onto the ground. Before she can get up, I immediately jump atop her, pinning down her arms with one of my hands and holding a non-explosive dagger to her neck.

"Elimination successful," I said as monotone as possible. That's the tone you have to use, after all. This only caused the little maid to try to spit in my face, but it's cute how she's struggling to gather her saliva up. 

"Elimination? Bullshit, I'm still alive." She said with just the angriest voice I have ever heard, and I've witnessed Myka, you know. Man, she looks like she absolutely abhors me.

"Eh, killing is boring." Before she could reply, I knocked her out with the handle of my dagger. I then search her body, finding a Maid School graduation class picture… although I don't see her in it. Huh, weird. Oh well, onto the next floor I go.

Oh, I am not in a golden bathroom, that much I can say. I am now inside a golden kitchen. I think I'm meeting Mammy again. Merida did say something about seeing some people more than once. Am I fighting her this time?

Chapter namesake: The album 'Small Maid In The Big World' by Chikoi The Maid