Some necessary shopings until...

"Wow, this thing is far better than my old one!"

James exclaimed in delight as he walked out of the phone store.

He scrolled through his new smartphone, marveling at all of the improvements it provided compared to his previous outdated model.

Saber smiled from the back, a smartphone held in her hand as well.

Watching her master bouncing around in delight was not something she had anticipated to see at all, but she found no problems with it either.

"It's a shame we couldn't buy them in bulk. We'll have to get the maids their own cellphones as well."

"Yes, quite."

Saber nodded.

James carefully pocketed his new phone into his pocket and glanced over at Saber.

"So, how are the new clothes doing? Do you like them?"

"Well..."

Saber brushed her hand over the beige sweater and jeans.

Since Saber had been near-topless for the last hour or two, James had decided it was time to get her some new clothes before anything else.

So, after leaving the Enhance Center, they first headed to a nearby clothes store and bought these attires for her.

"I like them a lot. Although..."

Saber stepped in front of James and leaned forward. Her newly enlarged breasts bounced slightly as they sagged down onto Saber's open hand.

"It's a shame I don't get to show off these to you anymore..."

Saber whispered with a devious smile, fully intentionally teasing her master.

However, instead of blushing and looking away like before, James reached out and grabbed Saber's tits himself.

"Don't you worry, you'll have plenty of time to show them off soon."

"E-eh...?"

Saber froze in her spot, too flabbergasted to even react as James casually groped her tits.

In truth, James was as surprised as she was at how his viewpoint changed.

Ever since receiving the enhancement, he found it far easier to accept lecherous situations.

He wasn't sure if it was because he had an amazing experience with Ritsuko, or was it simply the chemicals in the pills doing their work, but James appreciated it.

At least it felt like he fit into this world better. Besides, since he had changed, he could enjoy far more of what he owned.

"Ahhh...hnng...M-master...w, wait..."

Saber squrimed on the spot as James dove his hands from underneath her sweater.

She gasped when the hands grasped onto her bare tits.

Saber's breath hitched up and her eyes narrowed, giving pleading eyes to James as he viciously groped her.

After what felt like hours, James finally retracted his hands from Saber. Saber staggered back a few steps and sank to the floor.

"And that's why you think twice before teasing me, understand?"

"Ah...haah...y, yes...master..."

James smirked, feeling pretty proud of himself for finally winning one over his first character.

Just then, a notification alarm came up on his phone.

"It's from Maison de Maid. Ram says my order is finished..."

James glanced down at Saber.

Saber was kneeling on the floor. Her body trembled uncontrollably while she took shakey breaths.

"...are you alright? Can you move at all?"

After serval deep breaths, Saber nodded and carefully stood up. Her face was still blushed red, but she smiled apologetically at her master.

"M-my tits must be still sensitive after the modification. I'm sorry, master."

"Hey, no need to apologize to me. I'm the one who...you know."

James scratched the back of his head.

'Man, I still have a long way to go as an owner, don't I?'

He carefully wrapped his arm around Saber and slowly moved over to the escalator heading down to the ground floor.

"Welcome back. Your order has been completed."

When James and Saber arrived at Maison de Maid, Ram greeted them with a small huff.

"I sent an alarm half an hour ago. What took so long?"

"Some...technical issues."

James replied, setting down Saber on an empty sofa. Saber winced as she was set down. Her sensitive tits were still quite a nuisance.

Ram glanced at Saber, raised her eyebrow when she saw the significantly larger tits, and nodded with a small smirk.

"Ah, yes. A frequent technical issue. Then I suppose it'll be best for you to receive your package elsewhere?"

Ram pointed her thumb over her shoulder, indicating the back room of the store. James nodded and followed her to behind the counter.

This time, instead of going straight into the endless row of cryogenic tubes, Ram took a sharp right and opened a door which led to a small office.

"Wait here. I'll send in your products one by one."

James frowned.

"Why? Can't you just send them all in at once?"

Ram stopped in the middle of opening the door. She sighed and turned to face James with a dull expression, which was—unknowingly to her—similar to the character Ram's original attitude.

"It really is your first time buying multiple characters, isn't it?

You'd better be able to distinguish one from another, unless you give a wrong command to someone you never intend to do so.

I'll send them in one by one, so get to know each one at least a little bit."

"Oh...alright, then."

James took a seat on the comfortable office chair set behind the desk and waited for Ram to return.

As he sat alone in the dimmly-lit office, James couldn't help but think again about his lack of knowledge about the whole 'Character' buisness.

To be fair, he had truck-load of excuses.

For one, buying characters was something far out of reach with his wealth until yesterday. Nor did he have anyone close by with knowledge on this area, since he was living in one of the poorest area of the country.

But still...it didn't feel nice to get constantly reminded of his ignorance.

'It's going to be fine, James.'

He thought, drumming his fingers on the table.

'You're just beginning to tip your toes into this whole new world that had just opened up for you.

There is no need to hurry. Let's get the ground work done with the maids, then let's start from there.'

Just as James was done boosting up his own morale, the office door opened again.

"H-hello, master. It's an honor to meet you. My name is Ryu Lion from DanMachi."

A green haired maid bowed her head timidly as soon as she entered the room.

"Good to see you to! Come in and take a seat."

James offered a seat, reminded of when he had to move from interviews from interviews to get a job.

Ryu carefully took a seat across the table. She was blushing deep red as she stole glances at James from time to time.

"Is there anything you want to say?"

James asked.

The maid flinched. She covered her mouth with her hands and looked to the side.

"I, It's just that I've heard from Madam Ram that...you chose me first."

"Oh, yeah. I did."

James decided not to mention that, in reality, she was only chosen first she was at the front row compared to the others. Nor that she was the only character with whom he had requested an enhancement.

It wasn't like she was less or undesirable to him; on the contrary, looking at this shy maid, James felt his pants tightening around his crotch already.

Still, now was not the time to plow anyone. There were still handful of characters waiting for him.

"Well, I hope we get along on good terms going forward."

James offered his hand.

"Eh...?"

Ryu stared at the offered hand in bewilderment, which in turn, confused James.

"Is there something wrong?"

"N-no, sir. Of course..."

Ryu carefully took the hand and slowly shook it as if the hand was made of glass.

"Oh, and when you leave, can you take care of Saber at the outside? She is having some trouble after getting enhancement on her tits."

Ryu bowed. Somehow, receiving an direct order seemed to calm her down more than anything else.

"I'll do as you wish, master."

Only a few seconds later Ryu left, did James realize that Ryu was most likely confused by the handshake because it was equivalent to asking a refrigerator to do a good job for him.

"Kon'nichiwa, masutā~!"

"...?"

James stared blankly at the blonde girl.

"...did you just speak...was that Japanese?"

The blonde girl giggled with one hand over her stomach.

James quickly made a mental note of the trickster and turned to the other girl, hoping she was a more grounded character.

Gladly, he was correct.

"This is Asuna, and my name is Karin. We're from Blue Archive, good to see you, master. Please excuse Asuna—she likes to play around with people."

Asuna giggled some more and waved her hand brightly. James couldn't help but smile and wave back in return.

She reminded him of a golden retriever, which was never a bad image to have.

"So, what are we expected to do? Madam Ram explained we were bought as maids, but the specifics might vary."

Karin asked.

"Well, I am in need of maids to take care of my mansion. So if there are any chores you two excel at, it would be nice to tell me."

Asuna raised her hand in excitement.

"Oooh! We're good at cleaning. Back in our world, we were in a club called Cleaning & Clearing."

"Aren't those synonyms?"

James asked with a frown.

Karin scratched the side of her cheek.

"The clearing part wasn't...exactly about cleasning things.

The club was also an intelligence agency tasked to remove any potential threats around."

"Like a special task ****?"

Karin nodded.

"But we don't have any weapons we used to have, and Madam Ram have told us that our strengths are limited for safety reasons, so I don't think we'll be able to accomplish much as we used to."

"We can still clean, can't we?"

"Yes, Asuna, we can still clean."

Karin sighed as Asuna gave her a tackling hug.

Judging from how she took the hit, James assumed that they were more sturdy than they looked.