Katsuki narrowed her eyes at the men and women standing before her.
These people would serve as her Mistress's Shadow Corps in the future and would thus be Katsuki's direct subordinates, an idea that was new even to her.
Before this, she found the idea of someone else serving her Mistress to be a threat to her own position.
Not because she was afraid that she would be abandoned by her Mistress since she knew for a fact that her Mistress would never do that, but because her Mistress might start getting used to the other person serving them instead of her and might even start preferring it..
For Katsuki, her greatest joy was the fact that she was her Mistress's personal maid and nothing else will be able to take that away from her.
Right now, the Inugami maid was feeling quite vexed that she was separated from her most important person, but she recognised the potential of the group of people gathered before her.
If she could train them well and make them act as extensions of herself in the future, she would be able to delegate tasks to them that would otherwise take her away from her Mistress, meaning she would have more chances to stay by her Mistress's side instead of having to leave instead.
The Inugami thus saw this as a worthwhile investment.
Still, that did not change the fact that she was quite vexed about not being by her Mistress's side right now where she was currently challenging a Dungeon solo with Mary watching over her.
She turned to look at Crystal, who had been appointed as the second in command of the Shadow Corps.
"Have they been briefed on their roles?"
Crystal saluted, "Yes, Sister Katsuki! All of them have been told who they serve and what is expected of them from this day forth!"
Katsuki nodded before turning to the gathered Mahuns in front of her, "I know there might be a few of you who aren't satisfied with this arrangement. Go ahead and state your dissatisfaction and I will address your grievances."
One of the male Mahuns raised his hand and Katsuki nodded at him to go ahead.
"Umm... I just want to ask... I understand that we are now under the Nilm Family... But I was under the impression that our leader will be Crystal instead?"
Katsuki narrowed her eyes at him, realising that the Mahun was in fact Patis, the former patriarch and Crystal's father.
She shook her head, "That is incorrect. You are serving under the Mistress, not the Nilm Family. That means that you are all under her which in turns means that you are under me."
A few of the gathered Mahuns whispered amongst each other.
Another one raised his hand, "Forgive me but... Aren't you a little too young to lead a group much less train us?"
Katsuki stared at the boy who had asked her this question.
He was at least a head taller than her and judging by his looks, Katsuki estimated him to be no more than five or six years older than her.
Tha boy was not the oldest nor was he the youngest of the group but Katsuki could also see why he would doubt her considering her age.
She sucked in a breath, "There is a simple reason why I am leading this group and training you. The reason is that I'm better than all of you and I have served the Mistress the longest amongst every servant within the Nilm Family. That is what qualifies me as your leader and your trainer."
The same boy was not backing down, "Could we... Put that to the test?"
Under normal circumstances, one might see this as the Mahuns trying to rebel against Katsuki or even doubting the legitimacy of her skill.
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But Katsuki had already predicted that this would happen after hearing about their training from Vehyia and Dehyia.
The family prided themselves on their skills and seeing someone superior to them made them want to pit their skills against hers.
And because Katsuki had predicted that something like this would happen, she had intentionally arranged for this meeting to be held in a forest clearing where she would be able to start her first lesson for them.
That lesson was establishing the hierarchy between them and making sure that they knew who was their boss.
If Katsuki had to beat this idea into them, then so be it.
She looked up into the air and raised her hand, prompting Thora, the Magridar maid, to appear in the clearing while carrying a crate in her hand.
The giant placed the box in front of Katsuki and gave her a nod before walking back to the village, her role in this completed.
Katsuki then went ahead to open the box, revealing it to be full of various wooden weapons stuffed inside it.
She then took out two wooden daggers to strap them to her waist before turning towards the others, "I accept all of your challenges. However, I shall be the one who sets the challenge."
All of the ninja wannabes stopped to listen to her, wondering what kind of challenge she had planned for them.
She then gestured to the box in front of her, "All of you are only allowed to either go unarmed or use weapons from this box. Your main goal is to hunt me down within this forest before I take out all of you. The time limit shall be three days and you are responsible for your own survival in the meantime.
If I eliminate someone, that person has to return back to the training camp and undergo extensive training for failing. If three days are up and there's at least one of you remaining, it will be your win."
The Mahuns looked at each other.
There were at least several dozen of them and only one of her, which meant that if they were to work together well enough, they should be able to beat her right?
After all, they specialised in battlefields like this.
Naturally, no one had any complaints about it and Katsuki took that as an acceptance of her challenge.
Katsuki then straightened herself, "Very well. The challenge starts now."
Her figure disappeared from the clearing before anyone could react.
Most of them thought that Katsuki would give them at least a few hours to prepare themselves but then ten of them suddenly fell to the ground, unconscious.
When the others went to check on them, they realised they had been struck in the back of the head and knocked out.
That was when they realised Katsuki literally meant it when she said that the challenge started now.
And so it begins.