Chương 28: Sleeping While Sleeping

Ch 28 - Sleeping While Sleeping Jester then continued studying the next profile from the list of maids laid out in front of him. This one had a race that looked strangely familiar to the previous entry. [Name: Michel] [Race: Mimic] Igrio then gave a more detailed explanation.

"She is a colony of living flesh that has permanently learned to imitate a beautiful human woman. Her skin, hair, clothes, and even her maid uniform are all parts of her body. She can reshape parts of herself into furniture, armor, tools, or weapons, but she prefers staying in her maid form because it's the most stable." Jester swallowed hard again as he looked at the young woman now standing before him. She looked completely normal. Strawberry-pink hair. Amber eyes. A soft smile. A curvy figure.

Every single detail looked perfectly real. Yet none of it was actually a human body. She was a Mimic. And she could even turn herself into furniture? That was... unexpectedly fascinating. Jester quickly moved on to the sixth maid. [Name: Chika] [Race: Biochimera] She was a tall young woman with short white hair that faded into black. One of her eyes was crimson while the other was emerald green.

Small fangs peeked out whenever she smiled, and her athletic figure gave off the quiet strength of someone built for battle rather than beauty alone. As before, Igrio gave a simple explanation.

"She is an artificial lifeform, created by combining the traits of dozens of monster species into a single stable body. She looks perfectly human. But inside, several of her organs are no longer human. She has two hearts, three lungs, dragon blood, troll regeneration, and basilisk eyes."

"... Alright." Jester slowly nodded.

"This one sounds a little... tragic." His eyes drifted back toward Chika, who stood there with a calm, unreadable expression.

"So... what exactly is her original form?" Igrio answered without hesitation.

"She has no alternate form. She was created in this body from the very beginning. This human appearance is her only and original form." Jester continued to the next maid. This time, the woman immediately caught his attention because of her striking appearance. She had long wine-red hair, ruby-red eyes, and a tall, graceful figure that carried itself with quiet elegance. [Name: Vanessa] [Race: Vampire] Jester didn't ask for a longer explanation this time.

Her race alone already said more than enough about who she was. There were still three names left. [Name: Denisa] [Race: Deathless] [Name: Mira] [Race: Bunny Beastkin] [Name: Sliora] [Race: Slime] Jester remained seated, quietly watching as Igrio gave his usual brief explanation for each of the remaining maids. Denisa was... a rather unusual case. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Technically, her race was listed as Deathless, but in simple terms, she was still an undead. She was the young woman with short dark navy hair and those strangely empty eyes that barely showed any emotion. Next came what was probably the safest-looking one out of the entire group. Mira was a Bunny Beastkin. The only beastkin among all these strange races.

She looked incredibly cute with her fluffy white rabbit ears, and unlike the others, she greeted Jester with a bright, cheerful laugh while happily introducing herself. Compared to everyone else in the room, she felt surprisingly... normal. Then there was the last one.

"... Slime?" Jester couldn't hide the confusion in his voice. The word immediately made him imagine a small blue blob bouncing around on the ground. But that wasn't the case at all. Sliora was an evolved slime that had reached the point where she could freely shape her body into whatever form she desired. Her greatest ability was Absorb, allowing her to consume and assimilate materials, objects, magical energy, and even certain biological traits, then reproduce or adapt them as part of herself.

From the outside, though, she looked perfectly human. She had long blonde hair tied neatly over one shoulder, a mature and remarkably curvy figure, and a gentle smile that never seemed to leave her face. She carried herself with graceful elegance, making it almost impossible to believe that beneath that beautiful appearance was a creature made entirely of living slime. Jester took a slow breath, forcing himself to calm down as he looked over the ten maids standing before him once more.

When he had first met Elora, he had honestly thought she was already the strangest one. Now he realized… She was probably the most normal out of all of them. Well… Maybe Mira was the exception. A bunny beastkin was still far easier to accept than everything else gathered inside this room. Jester silently went over the list in his head. Parasite. Shadow Girl. Doll Witch. Carrapax. Mimic. Chimera. Vampire. Deathless. Bunny Beastkin. Slime.

"... Okay." It really wasn't that difficult. He just needed some time to get used to it. To learn each of their faces, remember their races, and stop reacting every time he was reminded that the beautiful maids standing before him were, in reality, some of the strangest beings he had ever encountered. But after learning more about these ten maids, Jester started to rethink what he had assumed about Caelan. At first, he had been convinced that Caelan had slept with all ten of them as well.

But there was no way that idiot prince would even sleep with... a slime? An undead? He refused to let his imagination go any further. Most of them were around levels 130 to 150, with Elora still having the highest level among them all. Even so, those levels were already impressive, and Jester only needed to nurture them alongside the knights. That way, in the future, they could become a powerful force under his command, capable of protecting the territory and dealing with any threat that stood in their way.

Now there was only one last question left after learning the details about Elora and the other ten maids. What about Igrio? He opened the last page, where Igrio's face was printed along with his information. It stated that he was a human with a level of 165. Okay... okay. Igrio's level of 165 was certainly high, but he was human? That actually made him the strangest one out of all of them.

After all, the person who had gathered this collection of strange creatures turned out to be nothing more than an ordinary human. Jester rose to his feet once more and looked at the eleven people standing before him with a calm but commanding gaze.

"We have much more work ahead of us than any of you realize. Once we arrive in Necroton, each of you will be given responsibilities far greater than simply serving within this estate. From that point on, I will only require Elora to attend to my personal needs, unless I specifically call for the rest of you." His eyes swept across every maid before continuing.

"The rest of you will devote yourselves to training. Sharpen your skills. Strengthen your bodies. Perfect your combat techniques. The life waiting for you in Necroton will be nothing like the peaceful days you've known here. You will fight. You will grow stronger. And one day, you will stand behind me as members of the strongest force in all of Valtherion." Jester stared firmly at every one of them. One after another, they lowered their heads and placed a hand over their chest in a respectful salute.

"As you command, Your Highness."

"We will not disappoint you." Afterward, everyone, including Igrio, quietly left the room, leaving only Elora behind. As soon as the door closed, Jester removed the Harvest Mask, returning to his original appearance once again. [All maids under your command have fully acknowledged you as their master. Their loyalty has deepened, and they have begun to place their trust in your leadership. Each of them now looks forward to seeing how far you will lead them and what future awaits under your command.] [Chaos +25] Since when had the system changed the wording to "maids under your command" instead of "maids under the Eighth Prince's command"? Well... he certainly wasn't complaining. It was a good sign if they would eventually continue following him. Even so, the person they believed they were serving right now was still Caelan, not Jester. No matter. He intended to keep playing this role for as long as he could. It would give him far more freedom to move once they reached Necroton. He needed strength. Power.

Resources. Authority, if possible. If he had the chance to obtain them and build something of his own, then he would seize every single opportunity without hesitation. Just thinking about everything he could accomplish in Necroton was enough to make him look forward to what lay ahead. There was nothing else he needed to do for tonight. He simply planned to sleep inside the game. After all, his real body outside was asleep as well, and it should already be nighttime there too.

Tomorrow, they would continue making preparations until it was finally time to depart for Necroton. With that, Jester closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep inside the game while his real body slept inside the capsule. Sleeping while sleeping.... Did that count as sleepception?