Felix raised his eyebrows at that.
Kit and Eva passed Felicia in the hallway with a brief nod of heads. Kit glanced over her shoulder to confirm Felicia was gone.
“She likes being in charge of a project like this. Sees it as something monumental. A fortress by her design with an unlimited workforce and budget. She’s not a full-blooded Dwarf, but she certainly thinks like one.”
Felix looked up to the mind reader and gave her a small smile.
“You poking around in everyone’s head?”
“Not at all. In fact, everything is blessedly quiet unless I try. It’s… serene. Now, we have a problem.”
Kit turned and gestured to Eva continuing before Felix could say a thing.
“Eva is fourteen. By law, we’re required to provide basic essentials for all minors, even if she is property.”
Felix made an inarticulate noise. “I see. Any other minors we picked up last night?”
“Just Eva.”
The girl in question ducked her head, looking at her feet. “I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault. Whatever. Uh… so what do we need to do?”
“School. She needs to go to school, you idiot,” Kit said exasperatedly, swatting Felix on the head with her palm.
“Oh. Alright. So go enroll her and—”
Kit interrupted him before he could finish.
“You have to do it. You’re her legal guardian now. I’ve already arranged the meeting for you. It’s tomorrow at one in the afternoon. You’ll meet with the principal at the school and get all the paperwork filled out. Lily’s going with you.”
Felix sighed and shook his head. “Fine. Eva, what… grade are you in?”
“I’m a freshman,” the girl said, shuffling her feet around. “I would have started school last week.”
“High school? Ugh. Alright. Fine. Need to figure out how you’re getting to school, too.”
“I’m going to drive her!” the Andreas shouted as one.
Kit looked pleadingly at Andrea.
“We’re going to use one of the cars and drive her to school. Kit said I even get to wear a uniform if I want,” the cooking Andrea said, flinging her pan to the side. A pancake whipped out of it and splatted into a plate a different Andrea held up.
“Uniforms! I want a uniform for our personal assistant position, Felix. Wait, would I have had a uniform as a secretary? I might be willing to take that position now, especially if it had a sexy or powerful uniform,” Andrea Prime shrieked, shaking him roughly.
Kit pressed one hand to the side of her own face and gave Felix a weak smile.
Apparently they’d already taken care of everything. He just had to sign the paperwork and be done with it.
“Okay, fine, whatever. Stop shaking me, Andrea,” Felix grumbled, reaching back to grab at Andrea.
His hands passed over her ears, landing in her thick hair. Her entire body shuddered at the touch.
Instead of stopping, she lifted him bodily up from the chair and started giggling, swinging him around. “Uniform! I want a uniform!”
Felix managed to wiggle free and glared at Andrea, clenching his fists.
“Fine, we’ll get you a uniform. Just… don’t do that again,” Felix grumped, folding his arms in front of himself.
“Ah, also, the new recruits will be arriving in about an hour and ten minutes. I went ahead and reserved an audience hall in the hotel across the way. It should hold everyone comfortably. Ah, I had it catered as well,” Kit said, glancing to a notepad she held in one hand.
The Andreas were chirping happily at each other in high-pitched squeals and words he couldn’t quite make out.
It was hard to stay angry with her when she was so happy over a simple uniform.
“Alright. That’s a good move, Kit. Thanks for that. It should help get everyone on the same page quickly. How long did you reserve the conference hall for?” Felix slowly relaxed, his discomfort at being manhandled going away.
“All day. I also booked enough rooms to have two people to a room for tonight. That’s in case Felicia isn’t done by tonight.
“We can cancel at any time before seven tonight for a credit refund, but not a cash refund,” Kit said apologetically.
“Wow, that’s… actually pretty good. Well done, Kit.” Felix smiled at her, genuinely pleased with the work she’d put in. “Remind me to reward you somehow. You seriously took an entire worry and a half off my plate with that one.”
The Andreas stomped their collective feet and pouted. “I helped! I want a reward too,” they said in unison.
“Uhm, what would you want?” Felix asked slowly.
“A unif—”
“Other than a uniform,” Felix hurriedly interrupted her.
“Oh,” Andrea prime said.
“I didn’t think about it,” a different Andrea said.
“Think on it, then. Alright, I’m going to go shower real quick and get dressed, then head over to the hotel,” Felix excused himself from the room before it could get any weirder.
Heavy feet clomped up behind him.
Felix didn’t have to turn around to know who it was.
“Hey, Ioana.”
“Morning,” said the warrior woman. She stopped somewhere behind him. He imagined she had her sword belted on and was staring out over the empty hall filled with chairs. It’d be filled with people soon enough. They only had about ten minutes left before everyone was due to be delivered.
At that point, an Andrea would escort them over here.
“So,” Ioana elaborated intelligently.
“Mm?” Felix tilted his head back and looked up at the big woman behind him. “Spit it out. Whatever it is, it’s easier if you say it directly. I’m not any good at subtlety.”
Ioana’s nostrils flared and she shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
“You’re not a warrior,” she said finally.
“Nope. I’m not. Probably the furthest thing from it,” Felix agreed.
“You should let me train you.”
“I should. I agree.”
“With only a litt—wait, what?”
“I agree. You should train me. I’m about as useful as a kitten in a fight right now. You and Miu both should train me.”
Felix looked back to the hall.
That was easy.
“Oh, okay. Yes. That’d… yes. Good.”
Felix chuckled. He imagined she had had some grand speech prepared. He scratched at his cheek, trying to keep himself calm. “Gonna be a lot of people here.”
“Any of them you plan on taking to your bed? Slip ‘em the sausage?”
Felix guffawed at that, shaking his head with a grin. “No. I’m a slaveowner, a bad man, and I let an evil sorceress rip people’s souls out of them and then feed you their ground-up corpses. I’m not taking any women to my bed who I own.
“It’d be rape.”
Ioana let out a slow, deep breath. “I guess you’re right. What if they wanted to?”
Felix shrugged at that. “Hasn’t happened yet, so I dunno. Why?”
He glanced over his shoulder at the woman again.
“Oh, not me. Sorry, you’re not my type. I guess… I guess I was wondering if Felicia was…” Ioana turned a faint red color and frowned.
“Ah. She’s all yours if you want her. Not my type. Her personality is a bit much for me,” Felix admitted, turning back to the hall. “You have my blessing or whatever, if you need it. Go get her, tiger.”
“Thanks. I think I will,” Ioana said, sitting down heavily in the seat next to him. “So… Lily, hot or not?”
Felix smirked at the sudden change in the woman and the conversation.
“Very hot, and very soul-sucking evil.”
“She could suck me, I wouldn’t complain,” Ioana said casually, turning her head to face Felix.
Laughing, Felix shook his head. “Yeah, me too. Except the part where, you know, my soul goes away.”
“What about Kit? She’s got those legs that—”
“Yeah, I’ll refrain from responding to that one. Forgive me, but she’ll pop your head open like a piñata and look for the candy inside to get my opinions. She can’t read my mind.