When Ranga arrived back in reality, it was a very spacious room, yet all the things with him was barely able to contained inside the room.
-Welcome dear future husband. I hope there wasn't any difficulty on your part.
Chaya spoke with a light smile.
-Thank you, your majesty. There wasn't any fortunately.
Ranga replied. Chaya told,
-Okay, you must be tired with all preparing and waiting I presume. Gratiana. Escort Ranga to inner palace. I shall meet you there once checking your belongings is done.
-Your highness, this way please.
It is only natural that foreign objects brought in the palace will go through thorough checking. But this instance is special as the belonging belongs to the future prince consort. And also there is the matter of weapons. So, both soldiers and maids for the checking job had to absolute loyal and process itself had to overseen by Chaya herself. Ranga answered.
-Oh okay. Just be careful. [Showing fragile sign on a box]. Be careful of this sign, it means there is fragile objects inside the box. And also this 5 suitcases contains cloths for you your majesty. I recommend these are checked by maids only. And these boxes contains Jewelries.
Looking at the boxes which are made from packaging paper and the insides are coated with foam, everyone had a puzzled look in there faces. How are you suppose to open boxes when there is no opening. Chaya asked,
-Ranga, these boxes have no opening, how are we suppose to open them up?
-Oh that. Just cut them up from the corner with a sharp knife.
Chaya answered with a dumbfounded look,
-You are telling me to simply cut open such exquisite looking boxes!
-Well, yes. There purpose is to protect what is inside and take any outside hit or blow. So, they are made with very cheap and recyclable material. But I guess it would be shame to not reuse them as all of them are intact. Okay use this.
Saying that he took out a 18 mm blade cutter from inside the bag which was on his shoulder and gave it to a near by soldier. Chaya had a expectant look in her face as she thought it would be another miraculous knife, but she was disappointed seeing blunt object. Also the soldier gave him a weird look. Seeing the look on the soldiers face he asked,
-Is there any problem, soldier?
-I don't mean any offense your highness. It's just that how are we suppose to cut something with this blunt object.
Then he realized this world doesn't have any cutter and he didn't let blade out. So, the soldier had no idea how to use it. He took back the blade and showed him,
-See, if you slide this button here upwards the blade shall come out. Adjust the amount you want out with it. Handle it with caution, the blade is extremely sharp for soft objects but fragile for hard object. You can cut your hand easily but might break it if you try to cut something wooden.
Chaya couldn't hold her curiosity and took the cutter in her hand,
-Such miraculous mechanism!
After giving it back to the soldier, who was looking at the cutter with astounded look, she proceeded to ask Ranga how the button had just right amount of tightness for maintaining safety and convenience. But a maid interrupted her saying,
-Your majesty, pardon this lowly one. We are confused with something.
She asked with annoyance,
-What is it?
-These lowly ones don't know how to open luggage for clothing of both your majesty and your highness. They seen to require some kind of mystical code for opening too.
Hearing that Ranga had an exasperated look on his face. He silently went over and one by one, opened up all the luggage. All people present again had astonished look seeing how the 3 digit lock system and zipper of the luggage worked.
After that was done, he said to Gratiana,
-Lead the way.
-Yes your highness.
So they left the room and Chaya had a wry smile on her face.
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Ranga was sitting on couch in the living room of the inner palace. He was thinking about as he is already here, what he should do next. There is a lot of things need to be done, but most of them can't be accomplished before the marriage. Actually the marriage is of highest priority now. Thinking about marriage, the 19 year old teen had a goosebumps of excitement all over his body. Right at that moment there was a knock on the door,
-Pardon me Your Highness, may I come in?
After a few seconds, he answered in a dignified voice,
-You may enter.
Gratiana entered the room and lightly bow saying,
-I may be disturbed the peace of your highness. I hope Your Highness pardons me.
-No, I am not that tired. You may present your purpose.
-I would like to introduce the waiting maids of the inner palace. May I ask a bit of your
time, Your Highness?
-Yes, you may.
All he was doing was thinking, so he had no reason to refuse. Having his consent, 10 women in french maid uniform style clothing entered the room. The waiting maids single-minded formed three rows in front of Ranga as if they had decided on the order beforehand, and stood still. Seven young waiting maids lined up next to each other in the rear row, whereas three waiting maids in their 30s or 40s made up the middle row, Gratiana standing alone at the forefront row. She spoke courteously,
-Then allow me to introduce all of the waiting maids that will take care of you from now on, Your Highness. First of all, I am Gratiana Unruh, the supervisory maid in charge of all the attendants in the inner palace. I am responsible for everyone in your residence, the inner palace, so please come to me when there is anything troubling you.
Saying that she bowed politely. She had an aura of a competent woman. Needless to say, it wasn't just an aura. All the women serving in the inner palace had to be competent. Then she continued,
-Next up I will introduce the heads of each department. First off, the one in charge of
cleaning, Sedna.
-My name is Sedna.
A waiting maid on the right in the second row stepped forward and bowed deeply.
-The next in line is Aviva, in charge of cooking.
-My name is Aviva. Please leave the kitchen to me.
-Lastly, there is Yllka, in charge of bathing and gardening."
-My name is Yllka. Please feel free to call out to me whenever you are taking a bath or something displeases you in the garden, Your highness.
Seeing then one by one, then he said,
-I expect all of you to do your job properly.
-We would try our level best, Your Highness.
The three said in unison and bowed again. Gratiana continued,
-Now we have the seven waiting maids in the back. They will be responsible for any other immediate jobs. Please order them directly for any minor issues instead of involving the department heads or me. There are various others maids for miscellaneous tasks, but these seven will always be available for your summoning. Girls, introduce yourselves.
-My name is Angela. Please order me anything, Your Highness.
-I am Cecilia...
-Debra is my name...
-I am Elena...
-Georgia, at your service...
-Call me any time, I am Miranda...
-Patricia, is dedicated for you...
Looking over the seven clearly young maids, Ranga sighed. He could speculate there true purpose. They are the women Chaya arranged for him whom he can safely land his hands on. As inner palace maids, they are expected to serve the prince consort every way possible after all. But he is not that much interested having that much woman, his father, grand father, great grand father all had single wife without any concubine. But he is now in a position where he is expected to have as many children as possible. He found it really waste to use woman with such incredible base mana capacity as breeding machine. Though at this point it hit him. He asked Gratiana,
-Aren't they too young? Will they be able to carry out their duty as maids properly?
Hearing that, the faces of the young maids paled. They were afraid that Ranga might reject them and ask for new maids. It would be huge disgrace to their noble families to be rejected at the first day of service. Gratiana gave a light smile saying,
-Your Highness should not hold any worries. They went through proper teaching of etiquette from childhood and before coming to palace they went thorough rigorous maid training. So, you can remain assured, they would fulfill their expected duty without exception. Isn't that right girls?
-Our being is to serve his highness. We shall fulfill our duty with utmost care.
Said all seven of them in unison. Hearing that Ranga again asked,
-Okay, that's that. What I am concerned about is to what extent I can command them? I am straight forward person. So, give me a clear answer, Gratiana.
The head maid thought that Ranga was making sure that whether he can land his hands on them or not. So, she took the hint and answered,
-They are available from all kind of summoning your highness. From helping changing your cloths, fanning you in hot weather, serving you with refreshment, helping you to take a bath to if you wish they would be available for your nightly companionship.
Hearing that, all the young maids blushed, but Ranga on the other hand kept a straight face. He continued,
-That can come later. What I am really seeking for is, are they available for soldier training? You literally meant I can do whatever I like with them. So I am planning to train them as my personal guards. You see, in inner palace no males are allowed. It would increase the security significantly if I can have my personal guards in the inner palace. So, can you allow it? They are after all your sub-ordinate.
All seven of these young women had very high mana capacity, each of them would be able to reach at least Major general grade MES with proper training. All the maids including head maid had a dumbfounded look. Gratiana was the one to come out of the stupor first and answered,
-Even though they are my direct subordinate, I answer to Her majesty in the end. So, for such a grave matter, Your highness should consult with Her majesty first.
-If Her majesty allows, it can done?
-I don't see anyone who can oppose her majesty!
-Oh, right. Okay. I expect you all to complete your duties properly. You are all dismissed. Oh I need help to change into more comfortable cloth.
Hearing that, Elena stepped forward saying,
-Elena is present for your highness.
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After a while, when Elena returned with a blushed face and holding a futuristic body armor, all maids surrounded her throwing her a lot of questions.
-How was his highness?
-Does he nitpick small mistakes?
-Did he scold you?
-Is he a proud person and look down on maids?
-Does he....
-Is he....
Head maid shouted and asked,
- **Stop**. Give the poor girl a breather. Wow, you took your sweet time. Why is your face red? Did he scold you? Hmm? What is this thing? Is that a armor? Where did you get it and why did you bring it here?
-Ahh.... I... I... When I took off his cloths he was wearing this thing under his shirts and pants. I got scared at first but he assured me smiling that it is only his armor and taught me how to take it off. But his smile. It was the most enchanting smile I ever seen in my life. How can a smile be such beautiful. It is...
-Elena, be on topic...
-Ah... Sorry, When I took off the armor, he was wearing a skin tight full body undergarment. After taking it off, I was mesmerized by his perfectly sculpted body. Over the gown, shirt and armor it wasn't visible, but he may be have the best body in the world. Seeing that I was stunned for few seconds and came back to reality with his light cough. I hurried put on the cloths on him. May be from that time my face is red due to embarrassment. But no, he didn't scold me for such unprofessional behavior, but I think he was displeased, seeing his knitted brow. He didn't even look at me once.
Coming up to here, Elena almost cried. Gratiana consoled her,
-Don't be sad. I think he didn't want to embarrass you more, but be careful in the future. And this armor.
-He said it to send it and this undergarment with it to armory.
-Ohh I see. Okay everyone. Get to work. Wash this undergarment before send it armory.
(Uneditted version)
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Author note: Yeah I am back. I am not dead or anything. Sorry for taking so long break.
You can expect a chapter every two days. But don't worry I have this novel planned out until the end. Please keep me encouraged. Thank you. Do you want a art work of that armor. Let me know.