Lou Xia looked at me with a weird expression. "What? Any cultivator would be able to buy one in the mortal world."
I looked at her blankly. "We are in a town of cultivators... in a cultivation sect... with this being the main gathering hub of the sect based on what I could gather." With each word, I saw her cringe a little more until she finally broke.
"My parents bought it for me, okay? I don't even like to use it and would prefer the sect-allocated residence on the mountain instead of living here, but since we are in town, we might as well use what we were given." She said in defeat and moved to open the gate. Stepping inside, the gate automatically closed behind us, and a set of golden scripts appeared floating on the surface of the metal. "That's not good."
"What do you mean? What's going on?" I ask, not fully understanding the situation.
"The gates only close like that when given the command, and the only ones that can give the command are either me or my parents." She said with a hint of panic in her voice.
"Why would the sect allow that on their ground?" I was compelled to ask as it seemed illogical to leave a security risk like that in their town inside the Sect.
"My family was one of the ones that helped to found the Sect, so when my parents asked for this favor, the Sect couldn't refuse." Lou Xia explained while hesitatingly moving forward.
Nodding my head in understanding, I followed behind her as she slowly made her way to the mansion in the distance.
An hour later, we were standing before an old British mansion with a large covered entrance. Looking over at Lou Xia, I saw her standing there, so I grabbed her hand and pulled her up to the door.
Standing back, I motioned for her to open the doors. Taking a breath, she pushed the doors open, revealing the room beyond. Just inside the door was a large foyer with a grand staircase on the opposite wall leading to a mezzanine on the second floor. Pushing on Luo Xia's back, I entered the mansion behind her, stopping just past the door.
This revealed the parts that I could not see before, such as the pedestals on the side walls with artifacts sitting on top, the tapestries hanging on the wall, and the large mural on the ceiling. I then saw movement out of the corner of my eye as Lou Xia replaced her shoes with slippers that were sitting next to the door. She then handed me a pair and waited for me to exchange my boots for the slippers.
When I finished, we walked forward into the middle of the hall, where we got ambushed by over twenty maids who appeared out of what seemed to be thin air lined up on either side of the staircase. One maid was at the base of the stairs, curtsying to Lou Xia before getting up, with her head still bowed. She said, "Welcome back, Lady Xia. I see that you have brought a new recruit with you. The others will make sure that she is well trained."
At this, I could see Lou Xia go stiff, but before I could say anything, the world went black for a few seconds before coming to again in a small room with a hardwood door and walls made of cobblestone.
For some reason, I was bound to a chair, and no one was in here besides me. Trying to think of a way out, I thought of storing the ropes in my inventory.
I was fairly sure that it would not work, but as the saying goes, 'What do you have to lose?'
So I tried it, and to my surprise, it worked. Now free from the chair, I got up and walked around the room. With nothing else in here, I moved to the back of the room in a corner and leaned against the wall, waiting.
It took about half an hour before a maid walked in and saw me out of the chair in the corner.
"Ah, it seems that you have already found your way out. That will simplify some training. Now, if you could please remove the ears and tail, we could start with the first part of you becoming the Lady's retainer." she said, walking slowly towards me.
"I think there has been a mistake here." I tried to explain, but it looked like she was having none of it.
"There has been no mistake, deary. Now take off those fake toys the brothel gave you and come over here," she said, her anger starting to become visible on her face as she reached close enough to lunge for my tail. The moment I saw her move towards my tail, without thinking, I pulled out my lever-action rifle, which already had a round chambered, and fired at the woman.
*BANG*
(Lou Xia POV: 30 minutes earlier)
I Spun around to look at Vale, only to see one of the maids holding her, then disappearing as if they were never there. Looking back at the head maid, Cynthea, I was about to tell her that they had made a mistake, but before I could say anything, she was already speaking.
"Do not worry about her, my Lady; she will be in good hands, and nothing will happen to her. She will have a far better life here than that disgusting place that you rescued her from." Cynthea started saying, and she clearly was not done, but I had to interrupt her and tell her she was making a mistake before they went too far.
"Cynthea, you can't do that. You are-" Before I could say any more, she sent a glare my way before interrupting me.
"My Lady, your parents are here, and I do not think-" I knew that it would get me in trouble, but I did not care as I needed to stop this.
"I don't care! Cynthea, you-" I was not able to finish my words as I felt a force control my body and close my mouth, preventing me from talking.
"My Lady, that is no way to treat your parents, and since you have been avoiding them, I have been given full permission to make sure you stay here long enough to at least see them as well as to punish you if you break the rules. Now come with me." With that said, I was forced against my will to stay silent and follow her for around ten minutes, making our way through the mansion.
When we reached our destination, which was my father's office, I was forced to stand there and wait for another ten minutes or so before we were finally let in. The entire time, I was struggling against Cynthea's hold which I was sure that she felt.
Both my parents were in the room, and when they saw me, they dropped everything and rushed over to greet me. I was finally released from Cynthea's hold at this time, but I could not say anything as my mother and father hugged me tight enough to force the air out of my lungs, not allowing me to speak.
This lasted for a few minutes, with my Qi slowly generating air that was keeping me alive, but all the excess was forced out of my lungs because there was no space. When I was released, I was going to say something when my mother spoke, "Look at you; you are so dirty even if the robes are self-cleaning. It must have been a living hell for you."
Giving no room in between, my father said, "Indeed, I will have to have a word with the Sect founder about this. How can my precious little girl suffer like this."
My mother then mimicked my father by speaking right after him: "At least from the looks of it, she seems to have increased in rank again! Look at such a nice robe!"
Father: "I know, and from what I sensed in the foyer, she has finally brought someone to be her retainer."
At that, I could not hold it back, interrupting my mother, who was about to speak. "She isn't here to be my retainer!"
My father, mother, and even Cynthea looked weirdly at me for that before my father exploded in rage, "What! You better not be insinuating that you are following those disgusting young masters in keeping and dressing slaves as pets!"
This statement made me nearly as angry as a father as they should be at a high enough realm to tell the difference between a fake beast-kin and a kitsune. "She is not a pet! She is the adopted kitsune daughter of the Sect Founder!"
At my words, they became stunned for a few seconds. The first to come back was my mother, who said, "What do you mean that she is a kitsune?"
Breathing a sigh of relief at finally being heard, I started saying, "I mean what I said. Now we need to stop the maids before—" But I would never finish the sentence.
*BANG*