Immortal Kingdoms

While Leonardo and Maiden 001 took to their cultivation in the uncharted wilderness, a group of ten tender young girls in black maid dresses made it in front of the Magistrate Manor in the Central District.

"This is our first mission assigned directly by Master Shi, don't mess things up, understand?"

A girl with the number 013 imprinted on her nape spoke up, her tone flat yet absolutely serious.

The other girls immediately nodded.

"Understood!"

Except for Maidens 001 and 002, no one else knew of Leonardo's real name, as these two were the respective unit leaders of the long-ranged and close-ranged units. Thus, even if by mistake, the remaining ten wouldn't divulge Leonardo's identity in public.

The mission board in front of the Magistrate Manor covered an entire street in its width and was as tall as a building in height. Standing in front of the board, even from a few hundred steps away, anyone would feel a psychic domain enveloping them.

By simply using their consciousness, they could enter the ethereal space within the board and choose missions according to their clearance levels.

The ten Maidens had their spiritual fluctuations registered as slaves to Shi Yunhei, and their consciousness was immediately transferred to the space of the one-star missions hall.

Hundreds of thousands of small motes of light were within the space, each representing a clump of information highlighting the mission, the client, and the estimated time of completion.

These missions were confidential, and the moment one of them was accepted, a new mission in the queue would immediately replace it. Furthermore, not even the client would know which party accepted their mission until the task was completed, preventing civil strife that would ultimately harm the interest of neither the client nor the employee, but the Luan Dynasty indirectly.

One by one, they each accepted a suitable mission and left with ardent determination in their eyes.

For them, although their Master didn't set a time limit for completing their 100 missions quota, they wanted to complete it ASAP, efficiently, and smoothly.

…

Merlin stepped out from a lavish white carriage with a row of male and female servants behind her, an old and stern butler with a fit build despite his age taking the lead.

This butler gave Merlin a salute and said, "Thank you for employing service from my Faithful Servant Association, I assure you that you won't regret this decision, Lady Merlin,"

Merlin stared blankly for a bit before responding, "You're not working for me, your client is Shopkeeper Shi, I'm simply another employee."

The stern butler furrowed his brows.

"According to the forum you filled in our headquarters, you should be the Assistant Shopkeeper. Then, in the absence of the Master, the highest authority will be delegated to your hands, making my greetings just and proper."

Merlin rolled her eyes, feeling a bit helpless.

She wasn't that great with people, and she was quite impatient to discuss interests with Elizabeth. Thus, she turned around and walked in through the front gates of the house.

The moment she stepped in, she felt a divine power lock onto her position. The next moment, space shuddered as a tender-looking young woman with long black hair, a white ribbon, and a pair of cold pitch-black eyes appeared.

The maid outfit on her body was quite evident, but that was the least of Merlin's worries at the moment.

"Master isn't available at the moment, what do you want?" The tender girl spoke out while blocking Merlin and the fleet of servants from entering the house, having them wait on the stone pavement in the front yard.

Merlin frowned, "I am Merlin, didn't Sir Shi tell you anything about me?"

The young woman furrowed her brows in contemplation, thinking that if the Master was expecting people, why wasn't she notified beforehand?

Merlin was about to pull out her communication bracelet with Leonardo's spiritual signature imprinted within to prove her identity, but Elizabeth was already looking through the second floor's window when the carriage arrived, and she had already exited through the front door of the house by now.

She rushed over while breathing heavily, "Assistant Shopkeeper Merlin isn't lying, I can testify!"

The young woman in a black maid outfit looked back at Elizabeth and nodded lightly. Then, she looked back at the group of level 10 mortals, raising an eyebrow.

"These are?"

Merlin's raised left hand returned to her side as she explained, "Shopkeeper Shi asked me to hire servants for the menial tasks in the house; cooking, cleaning, maintenance, gardening, and similar tasks. These people are employees from the Faithful Servant Association from Vast Sky Avenue,"

Although the butler was a mere level 10, he could recognize a powerhouse the moment he saw one. Thus, he humbly bowed his head, "This humble butler will be in the head maid's care,"

The remaining servants also bowed respectfully.

The young woman's lips twitched, but she didn't correct the misunderstanding. Since 001 isn't here, I guess this makes me the one in charge, right?

This young woman remembered the logic this butler spoke of earlier, and she suddenly found him more pleasing to the eye. Thus, she nodded her head, kinda enjoying the feeling of having such humble and obedient subordinates beneath her.

"Alright then, you can follow me and see to your tasks in the house," she decided that she might as well accept the responsibility of being the head maid, and although she could directly phase through space as the provincial formations simulated the ambiance of a middle-realm planet, she didn't want to leave these servants like lost children behind her.

The butler was glad to follow. He wanted to bow again to Merlin, but the woman was no longer around. Then again, Merlin was a level 16 so if she wanted to leave unnoticed by a level 10, especially since the individual in question was focused on something else, it wasn't a difficult task.

Merlin took Elizabeth to the shop in the rear courtyard, entering through the shop's back door as the front door was on the other end of the courtyard facing a public street.

The two then went downstairs to an underground spacious floor that should have functioned as a storage room. However, since they decided to run the shop as an inscription store, they didn't need this much space, allowing Merlin to dump all of her research materials from a spatial ring into the room.

A set of tables, a magical board, a few gadgets for calculating elemental resonance and spiritual fluctuations, a portable wardrobe, magical scrolls, and quills from special magical beast feathers.

She actually spent about 90,000 credits from her 100,000 credits allowance on these materials from the Runic Inscriptions Association and Forging Association when she realized that she shouldn't be too stingy with money.

Obviously, Shopkeeper Shi seemed very rich.