Chapter 61: Acceptable Deviations

Bee went to bed exhausted. It had been a long argument, but in the end, she was pretty sure that she had won. At least she had gotten them to keep the purse of coins, as stubborn as they were about returning it. But despite the supposed victory, she was still on edge about it. Bee made a mental note to check her bag in the morning. She wouldn't put it past Mary to try to sneak it back in when she wasn't looking.

Amazingly she had a room all to herself. Granted, it was rather cramped, but there was a bed and enough space for her pack. There were a few toys that belonged to the room's rightful owner. Bee would have protested their eviction, but by the time she knew about it, the arrangements had already been made. One of the youngest boys was instead staying with his older brothers across the hall for the night.

When Bee had asked, Tony assured her that this wasn't uncommon. They didn't have guests very frequently, and when they did, it was customary that they would get ousted. It was the price the kids paid for having their own room in such a full house. Still, she kind of felt bad. Bee had never had to share a room before. It was one of the mercies of the castle. Even if she was pretty much treated as a maid, she at least had her own room. Before going to the castle, too, she had always had a space entirely to herself in the house, staying with her father.

Gratefully settling down in the bed, she was asleep before she knew it. As she slipped into dreams, a part of her mind registered how comfortable this bed was compared to the library floor.

***

Waking up the next morning was interesting, to say the least. Because of her higher level, Bee didn't need as much sleep as a normal person would. Still, getting a full six hours in a good bed was pleasant. So it was no surprise to her when she rose with the sun. What was a surprise was that she was far from the first person up. Stumbling out of her room, she was practically pulled along by the smell of fresh bacon.

"Good morning, sleepyhead!" Mary welcomed her. Looking around, the children were gathered around the table, already digging into breakfast. Not everyone seemed to be up just yet, but most were. Mary flipped the bacon. "Tony and Trent are out in the fields trying to get something done quick before breakfast. They should be back soon."

Well, never mind. Maybe the farmer class offered skills related to sleep? Bee stretched and stepped into the room. "Is there something I can help with?"

"No, dear," Mary said as she indicated for Bee to sit down. Taking a look at the wooden plate in front of her, Bee understood what Maranda meant by "eating fancy" last night. She guessed it would be harder to break wood plates compared to ceramic, but they couldn't be easy to clean.

Bee sat with the children and nodded a morning to Maranda, who seemed to have far too much energy for this early in the morning. Still, Bee accepted gratefully as Maranda passed her the salt. Loading up on bacon, eggs, and toast, she dug in. It wasn't too long before she was on her second plate.

The front door opened with a loud clatter. Bee looked around, nearly grabbing for her broom until she recognized Trent. He shrugged off the dirty look his wife threw him for the noise and, in a few steps, was pulling Bee out of her chair.

Shocked, she stood still as he wrapped her up in a bear hug. Laughing, he released her before any ribs cracked. "I haven't had this good of a morning in a decade! You work miracles, little lady!"

Still standing there, she glanced at Tony, standing in the doorway behind his father. He was grinning at her too. Mildly confused at the bigger man's sudden mood shift, Bee was still frozen in place. Chuckling, Trent clapped her on the back before pulling out a chair and loading up a plate for himself.

"Honestly, I was barely able to keep up with him today." Tony chimed in as he joined them. "Whatever you did really worked."

Tony moved a bit slower than his old man but soon began to eat with gusto as well. As he ate, Trent spoke up, "We've prepared most of what we agreed on last night, ready for your trip back to the castle. However, we have thought about one more thing. Considering our second discussion last night, we are pretty sure you will not take the coins back. As hard as that is for us to accept, we can manage. But we still need some way to repay you."

Bee made to protest, but Tony cut in, preventing her from voicing her concern. "You can't expect us to just stay in your debt like this. Besides, I think we can offer you something valuable that shouldn't cost us too much either."

Bee wasn't looking at her, but she was pretty sure that she heard Mary give a bit of a sniff. Trent took up the explanation. "With me in better health, this one has pretty much become useless around here."

As he spoke, he reached out to cuff his oldest son's head. Tony shot his father a look and spoke. "Still, you also mentioned to me that you were alone in the castle. So we figured that it wouldn't hurt for me to come along back with you. I can help you with the animals and the gardens. At least until someone comes back for you."

"Besides," Mary cut in, "someone your age shouldn't be all alone in a castle, dear. It's not healthy or safe. As much as I want Tony to stay, he would be more helpful in the castle."

Bee tried to argue. Not that she really minded Tony coming along or anything. But he didn't need to be wrapped up in the whole Void business. She was sure that Void wouldn't harm him, but if more people liked the adventures that came around, he might get mixed up in them. That wasn't even counting all the demons running around. It was pretty dangerous, and with Tony's low level, she doubted that things would turn out well.

Still, Bee wasn't willing to explain this all to them. If she tried, she was pretty sure they would insist that she just stay with them or, even worse, send Trent as well. And that was how she found herself standing with Tony at the edge of the field, saying their goodbyes to the chaotic family. They had overwhelmed her, and even the kids started piling on them both. They kept going on about how she'd be better off with him around or that they would not have to deal with him. She kept thinking that he would get offended based on how much they hammered that one home, but Tony took it all with a light smile.

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Mary seemed most concerned with Bee staying alone and several times just tried to get her to stay with them outright. Eventually, they compromised, with Tony promising to stick around with her until people started to return to the castle. It wasn't a very good compromise, in Bee's opinion. But it sure felt like a compromise when they were done with her. She was pretty sure that even her father would have a hard time negotiating anything better at that breakfast table. Or maybe he had grown up like this, and that's where he got all his skills.

Eventually, after many rounds of farewells and Mary checking that they had remembered to pack everything, Bee and her new companion set off for the castle. As the cottage shrank in the distance, Tony strode next to her, looking quite pleased with himself. He was smart enough to keep his mouth shut, though. Bee didn't think she was normally a sore loser, but she didn't like being backed into a corner like this. Even if the corner was only enforced by politeness and social convention. After they were a few minutes down the path away from the farm, he finally spoke.

"Thank you for allowing me to come. I bet it felt like you might not have had much choice, but I still appreciate it. It was about time for me to spend some time on my own. I don't get nearly as much experience tending my father's fields as I will recovering abandoned ones."

Bee shot him a look, but the earnest look on his face made her anger melt away slightly. She sighed inwardly. Well, I suppose it can't be helped. Still, I should warn him about what he's getting into. "What is your level?"

Tony looked a little taken aback, but she spoke quickly before he could protest her rude question. "Well, see, the castle is a bit more dangerous now than it usually is. I want to know how much protection you will need."

Tony gave her an incredulous look. "No offense, Bee, but you're a child. Maybe you're almost a teenager, but I don't think I am going to need as much protection as you."

"I'm thirteen." Bee crossed her arms and tried not to pout. Left unsaid was the implication that he would be protecting her. "I'm already a teenager. Besides, I have more experience than most adults." After a moment of silence, Bee sighed. "Fine, I'll go first. I'm level 18. What about you?"

Tony held back a chuckle. "Sorry, what? You don't look like you're thirty. Even if you say you're a teenager, teens don't get to level 18."

Bee clenched her fists and exhaled. She wanted to reveal that she knew his level and was just asking him to be polite. However, she didn't want to give away that she had Scan. That would make her an oddity, and as much as she liked Tony and his family, she didn't trust them that much yet. So instead of throwing his level in his face, she reached over and grabbed a three-inch thick branch from one of the nearby trees. With one hand, she ripped it free. Tossing the large limb off to the side with a crash, she looked expectantly at Tony's disbelieving face.

They kept walking for another 15 seconds before his expression faded into a more somber grimace. "Well, that was unexpected. I suppose I may have gotten in a bit over my head, huh?"

---

I sat at the top of the stairs waiting for Beatrice's return. The door was shut, but it didn't impede my advanced sensors very much. I couldn't see too far out the door, but it was enough for me. I imagined Beatrice would be arriving soon. The sun had barely passed noon, but I was watching it descend ever so slowly through the window. I was starting to get a little nervous.

I had been waiting for a couple of hours now. When I started my vigil, my cat companion sat with me for quite some time. It was basking in the sunny spot shining at the top of the stairs. As we waited, it continued to inch closer and closer. Eventually, it reached out to me with a paw but never quite worked up enough courage.

Laying next to me apparently was too boring for it, though. Eventually, it got up, huffed at me, and then padded away to go to something else. I tracked it for a little bit, but it didn't go near the kitchen, so I figured I'd let it be. I'd only had to spray it once more today after the whole mantle incident, and after that, it seemed to get the message. I hoped I wouldn't find any broken glass or anything the next time I made my rounds.

It was clear that my cleaning efficiency had undergone a transformation, unlike anything I had experienced before. Not only was I way more efficient and quick, but my skills were now so different that I had to completely change my strategy. My pathing plans were completely useless to me now. And honestly, planning out a path was not nearly as important as it used to be. I could pretty much just go inside a room, look at all the corners, trust my sensors, and on the fly, I could clean the whole area way faster than before.

Even my sanitation lamp was significantly more powerful. I used to have to hold the light at a particular spot for a while, slowly moving it around to eliminate all the small germs. Now I could scan it over the ground almost as fast as I could move. Though I had not even tried to clean as fast as I could. Part of it was because I didn't want to risk damaging anything while I was still getting used to my new strength. The other part was that I didn't need to. It had only been a handful of hours since I finished off the last earth demon and had already thoroughly cleaned every room that I had access to.

That was why I was here waiting for Beatrice to return. There was no point in cleaning everything again this soon. Maybe tomorrow I would do it. It'd be nice to get every room back on a daily schedule. But I supposed it would be better to discover all the other rooms first. It would be nice if Beatrice came back soon so she could bring me up the stairs.

Only a few hours later, as the sun was beginning to set, I sensed Beatrice's return. However, to my disbelief, she was not alone.

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