Chapter 146: Commander (Sophia POV)

"M-master, please forgive my rudeness. I will go prepare a drink if you would like one," I say, bowing deeply. 

If I realized master was coming, I would've brought nicer clothes. Come on, Sophia, you are a maid. You need to always be ready to serve your master. There is a store nearby that sells tea, so maybe I should get some of that… but wait, I don't have any money on me right now.

Maybe I should ask Master for some- no, that's unacceptable. I will have to demand the clerk to hand over some tea since it is for the queen after all-.

"You don't have to do that. Also, I'm officially relieving you of your duties as a maid," Master says.

What… 

My heart drops. Thousands of thoughts flood my mind, and they all had one thing in common… 

"Did I do something wrong?" I ask, looking up at my master. 

Her cold eyes seem to peer into my soul. Those eyes… were the most unique eyes I had ever seen in my entire life. But I never liked her eyes. 

They were always creepy and sent shivers down my spine whenever Master got serious… but of course, I would never say this to her. 

"You didn't do anything wrong. We're just moving onto the next part of my plan with you," 

S-so, am I getting abandoned… I don't want to be abandoned… I-if I'm abandoned, how can I earn your praise… How can I show you how hard I've worked… How can I face Lucy… 

As if reading my mind, Master spoke up once again. 

"I'm not abandoning you. Ever since I first saw your status, I already knew what to do with you… And that is for you to fight," Master says. 

"Fight?" 

"Yes. It seems becoming a commander was a natural path for you since you were already a great leader, you are extremely powerful, and your presence is immense when on the battlefield," 

I blush at Master's compliment, but my feelings still fought against each other like water and oil. My mindset is focused on serving master, not leading a bunch of weaklings into battle… But, I can't go against Master's wishes, especially if she gave me so many compliments. 

"You may not be my maid anymore, but I'm still your Master. Just serve me to the best of your abilities, and that is commanding one of my armies," Master says. 

"As you wish," I respond with a beaming smile. 

"You mean our armies," Miss Kumo says. 

"Of course," Master responds. 

"Please allow me to go get some tea to serve Master and Miss Kumo," I say. 

"No, you stay here. Continue with the meeting," Master says. 

"I know, just sit down over there or something," Miss Kumo says. 

"Sure," Master says, sitting down on a bench in the corner of the room. 

"Alright, we can proceed with the meeting once again. Everybody has introduced yourself, so now I'm going to ask you some questions that should be relatively easy," Miss Kumo says. 

Everybody in the room gets serious. The air felt as thick as water, even though Miss Kumo was about to ask some relatively easy questions.

"Starting off, what leadership skills do you find to useful?" Miss Kumo asks. 

"The skill to sway your group's judgment in the right direction," Akito says. 

"I agree, if you can't get everybody to agree on something, you'll never get anywhere," Richard says. 

"Decisiveness, you need the ability to make quick decisions but decisions that will benefit your group or who you're leading the most," I say. 

"Exactly," 

The rest of the meeting went smoothly, and everybody had the aptitude for being leaders. But, we weren't going to have a full-blown meeting until Miss Kumo picked the last two leaders.

… 

"Master, where do I go now?" 

"You were getting money from being my maid. Use that to buy a house for you and Lucy. If Lucy wants, she can still be my maid, but if she doesn't, she can leave. But, I'm not giving you any extra money. Use what you have," Master says. 

"Of course, thank you very much," I say, bowing deeply. 

I only walked off once Master had left. That was proper etiquette. 

… 

"Lucy, I-I have something to say," 

I was currently lying right next to Lucy on our bed. We started to share a room after Lucy had confessed. All types of greenery and furniture filled it, making the room pop in color. 

"What is it?" Lucy says, turning to face me. 

"Master has relieved me from being her maid," 

I was hesitant to say it, but before Lucy started to question me, I continued with my sentence. 

"I know you have many questions, but Master did it for a good reason. I didn't do anything bad, and it's just Master has always wanted me to fight on the frontlines, so she made me into a commander for one of her armies," I say. 

"Really! That's great! You had me worried for a second!" 

Lucy chuckles to try and cover up the still lingering shock and anxiety. 

"So, does that mean you're not living here anymore?" 

"Maybe… though I'm not sure, I'm don't think I'm allowed to live here anymore. It would be disrespectful to live in Masters castle without doing anything for her," 

"Well, you're leading one of her armies," 

"Still… so I was thinking of buying a house that we can live in together. Master said that you could stay as her maid and live in our house or leave and try to get another job… it's completely up to you," 

"Ummmm… I might need some time to think about it. To be honest, the fire harpies and I owe Master a lot since she pulled us out of our primitive lifestyle. We would've never gotten this strong without her help, so… yeah, just as I thought. I need some time to think about it," Lucy says. 

"It's fine. I'll agree with whatever you decide to do," I say, shifting my body on top of Lucy. 

"M-Mia?" 

"I want to do it," 

"S-sure… just please be gentle?" Lucy says, her face blushing profusely. 

… 

"Alright, I'm heading out," I say to Lucy as I leave the castle. 

"I promise to tell you my answer by the end of today!" Lucy shouts as I dash off. 

"See ya!" 

I run off towards the military base that I was in yesterday. Miss Kumo had found the last two candidates for leading the last two armies. I wondered what they would look like and how strong they would be, but I didn't have to wait for long since after about 5 minutes of extremely fast running, I arrived in front of the wooden doors. 

Hundreds of men and women were flooding into the base. It was much more than yesterday or any of the other days I had been here. 

Walking through the wooden doors, I walk up to the counter and ignore the snake-like line. I received multiple glares and complaints but emitting my bloodlust was enough to shut them all up. 

"I'm here for the meeting," I say, holding up a black badge with white spikes all around it. 

It was a badge that Miss Kumo had given us yesterday, that is proof that I'm a commander. 

After seeing the black badge, the receptionist immediately let me through the gate, and I walked into the back room. 

Waiting for me were the rest of the commanders and two new faces. 

One was a beastman wearing a baggy sweatshirt and baggy pants. His skin was white, and he had a few scars across his cheek and temples. His eyes were a bright water blue, and it looked as if fish could swim in them.

He was extremely handsome, pairing with his height that reached precisely 6 feet. He had short, wavy blue hair and his wolf ears were the same shade of blue. The final touch was his slightly fluffy tail that attached to his lower back. 

Next to him was a dryad, about 5'7 in height. She had green eyes and unnaturally long green hair that flowed to the back of her knees. Her skin was pale white and contrasted to Mother Nature; she didn't have the slightest hint of a smile. 

The aura she exuded was like that of a dense forest… or possibly a jungle. 

The only piece of clothing she wore was a black dress that went to her knees. 

"Nice to meet you. My name is Sophia," I say, stretching out my hand for a handshake. 

Both of them shook my hand limply without so much as a smile. 

"This guy right here is Owen, and the girl is Olivia. They are the last two commanders that I have selected," Miss Kumo says. 

"Yo," 

"Hello," 

"Now, we should share one thing that I believe is pretty interesting to know… what weapons do you guys use?" Miss Kumo asks, sitting down on a bench.

Owen went first. 

"I use a katana, and it's my soul equipment," 

A blue and white katana is summoned in the palm of his hand. It wasn't anywhere as long as Masters, but the aura it seeped out, was worthy of being a piece of soul equipment. 

"Uhhh… I have a question before we continue, what's with all the people suddenly signing up to be soldiers?" Akito asks.

I also had this question but decided it was rude to ask since the time wasn't right.

"I guess I can tell you guys now since it is pretty important… actually, it's extremely crucial," 

The air in the room became heavier.

"We are about to go to war,"