81. A Gaggle of Maids

81. A Gaggle of Maids

By the time she had made it back to the area the camp was located, she found herself being charged by a pack of 15 gnolls of varying levels. With what she had available to her, she hit them hard, managing to wipe out a third of the group before backing away to try and maintain some distance. By the time she was in close enough range to use her sword, a second group was already on its way over.

She had managed to catch the second lot off guard by teleporting into the middle of their group and releasing whatever spells she could, however, they quickly recovered and tore her to bits again.

And her last attack struck as the sun began to rise... well, that had actually gone far better than she had expected. She had encountered a group of gnolls who she assumed had been out hunting for wherever she kept coming from and ended up directly in her path, away from the camp and their support.

The fight had been relatively short as she cleared out the lower-level gnolls at range with her magic before engaging with the 4 higher levels that would present her with a challenge.

With a little bit of teleporting around, and use of the nearby terrain and clusters of rocks, she had wiped the group up in time to see another small mass approaching her from a different direction.

Much in the same way she had dealt with the next group, however, there had been a level 57 gnoll who had managed to badly slice open her leg, severely hindering her movement. And that was when she had seen the top of the sun rising to reveal the rest of the gnoll horde already halfway from their camp to her, charging in a wild frenzy.

It was apparent they had selected a leader who proudly ran at the front, a gnoll whose fur was particularly white and wore a notable bone headdress and necklace. Since she was badly injured and her movement were severely resected, she could only wait till the gnolls were within range to bombard them with as much magic as she could.

Her magic had caused some damage, but she was out of options, so in another last second attempt to deal damage, she tried to teleport directly into the new chieftain's path with her sword thrust towards his heart.

Sadly, she had misjudged the distance and its speed, ending up appearing behind the chieftain and killing a different high level gnoll behind it. And that attempt ended with her pinned underneath the gnoll she had killed thanks to its momentum, and another gnoll ripping her throat out.

Yeah, she had been through a rather trying night, that was for certain.

Harold returned a few minutes later with painkillers and a glass of water to wash them down. After her butler had left, she forcefully dragged herself into the bathroom, stripping out of her mildly sweaty clothes and stepping into her steaming hot bath.

The whole bathing process had thankfully been a little easier this time. Due to the headache, she was able to focus on the task at hand without having to deal with other issues like getting aroused or distracted by staring at herself.

Hilda, after clearing her arms of beauty products came over and grabbed her by the hand and lead her from the bed to the stool In front of the long dressing table.

Aurora looked up and into her slightly dishevelled appearance, admiring the natural beauty before her. Her attention however was drawn to the reflection of Hilda in the mirror as she started to speak, starting to explain what they had planned.

“Alright Madam, since this is going to be your first time we will go relatively easy on the makeup - not that you will actually need much, it will be to add some colour to your skin while accentuating the definition of your face, eyes and lips. Is that alright?”

Aurora raised an eyebrow in surprise since from the impression Harold had given, she was in for something far more intense. Aurora let out a breath as she replied, her response bringing large excited smiles to her maids.

“Alright, that was nowhere near as bad I was expecting. Although I will need a nice cup of tea to help me get my head straight, if you don’t mind?”

Hilda beamed as she responded, giving a light clap of her hands in anticipation.

“You need not worry, Harold explained your desire to not look like a ‘drag queen’, and I quite agree. Regina, would you please go and brew some tea please? Ingrid, could you start by drying our lady's hair?”

With a moment of contemplation, Hilda rested her thumb and index fingers on her chin while sucking on her right cheek, clearly deep in thought.

“I think leaving most of your hair to fall down in its natural gently waving curls would be best, but using a half up fishtail braid to keep it in place. How does that sound?”

Aurora contemplated for a few moments before giving a light nod, a slight smile playing on her lips.

“Most definitely, it sounds like a practical solution to preventing my hair from becoming something I need to worry about getting in the way.”

With Aurora’s decision made, the two remaining maids got to work on her hair, carefully drying it, followed by braiding. Just as they were finishing up Regina returned with her tea. From there the three maids efficiently worked on her makeup, first cleaning and moisturising her face.