《Dead Eyes》


 1. A typical monday

    It was an early Monday morning, like any other. Birds were chirping excitedly on the outside, completely ignorant of the annoyance they could cause to a certain grumpy, underslept, girl. The girl in question was silently staring up at her ceiling, trying and failing to come with any good reason to move out of her bed.


    Her excuse came from the gentle sun rays that started peeking at her plain bedroom through the thin curtains that protected her from anyone trying to have a look inside of her bedroom. Though, she doubted anyone would be stupid enough to try to peek at a random room in the fourth floor of a building. Even if someone was courageous enough, there wasn''t really much to see there.


    Kary had a wardrobe on the opposite wall from her bed. It mostly stayed open due to its owner chronic laziness, revealing for all to see her collection of school uniforms and discount clothes. On the wall perpendicular to both the wardrobe and the bed there was a very simple wooden table, in which rested a pile of books thrown around half-haphazardly and an old laptop permanently connected to its charger.


    That was where Kary spent most of her time. Day in and day out would be spent religiously studying, meticulously revising the subjects long since taught by her school. That was her life, almost completely devoid of social interactions. And she liked it that way.


    She liked to study, to learn new things, to cram information inside of her head until she could barely think straight. She liked to spend hours upon hours solving math problems, searching for obscure historical anecdotes on the internet. It was a fun pastime, just good enough to distract her of life outside of her little room.


    With a tired sigh, she stretched her feet upwards in a futile attempt to make her body want to properly function. Of course, her overworked body refused to fall for such tricks, and instead continued to scream for Kary to keep sleeping.


    That wasn''t going to happen, since it was, once again, Monday, and Kary had to go to school today, much to her dismay. And so, with another sigh, she got out of her bed, every joint in her body protesting against the rough movements.


    Careful not to wake anybody up, the teenager silently tip-toed her way to the bathroom. Once there, she took the coldest shower she could reasonably take without having to worry about getting sick from it afterward. She loved those baths, as they washed away her sleepiness like some sort of magic.


    Anyway, once she was done with the tiring process of getting herself awake, she moved to the kitchen, where she proceeded to prepare and eat simple bread with butter. It was pretty basic, and oftentimes hard to eat when the bread was old, but it was tasty nonetheless.


    With most of her morning routine done, Kary checked the kitchen clock, which showed she still had some ten more minutes to laze around until she had to start her morning pilgrimage to hell. Though, if school was hell, then what would that make her home? Is there such a thing as a place worse than hell? Tartarus, maybe?


    Pushing these thoughts out of her head, Kary made her was back to her room, wherein she quickly changed into her uniform, just like she had done thousands of times before. Before leaving, she checked if all of her materials were properly inside her backpack, and, once she confirmed that everything was, in fact, where it should be, she donned her shoes and quietly left the apartment.


    She groaned as she began to descend the building through the stairs, just like she did every day. She was used to it by now, but that didn''t mean she would ever stop complaining about it. It was an integral part of her routine, just as much as going down the endless flights of stairs was.


    As she made her way to the bottom floor, she put her earbuds on, one of the few personal things her mother had allowed her to get only after much insistence and back-and-forth, but alas, it had worked. She made her way down the hill filled with buildings not too different from the one she just left; eventually arriving at the boring place enthusiasts might call ''school''.


    See, here''s the thing, while Kary liked to study on her own, she absolutely despised this thing called school. It was an institution permanently stuck in the past, where the subjects were taught with the lowest common denominator in mind.


    Sure, some schools might have advanced programs and the like for the kids who were actually good at certain subjects, but of course Kary''s school had nothing like that. It was, after all, a simple, badly scripted and poorly acted play, where teachers pretended to teach and students pretended to learn.


    Everything was designed so that nobody would ever get held back a grade, no matter how atrocious their grades were. From the tests to the myriad of projects the teachers periodically would hand out, there was not one thing that would stimulate learning, not one thing to actually provoke thought. They were there to get to the next grade and pay the school for a job well done.


    The morning passed in an incongruous blur as the classes melted together in a soup of mediocrity. During that time, Kary was either listening to music, searching random Wikipedia pages or simply sleeping. Of course, these activities weren''t exactly mutually exclusive, so the girl would be usually doing more than one of them at any given time.


    The teachers, of course, pretended they didn''t see that. If they kept turning the blind eye to everything that happened around them, they would soon end up truly unable to see. Oftentimes, Kary found it hard not to laugh at their incompetence, as, even with her sitting at the very front of the class, she had never once been admonished by her obvious bad behavior.


    After she heard the annoying bell over the violent blasting of her songs, she quickly packed the few things she had bothered to take out of her backpack and fled the prison known as school at almost running pace. With that, she managed to get far enough through the hallways before people started spilling over every classroom within reach.


    With an audible sigh of relief, she allowed herself to relax as she slowed down her pace to something more reasonable. That decision backfired immediately, as, as soon as she stopped paying attention to her surroundings, she felt a cold, slender finger running through her spine.


    That scare almost made Kary jump high enough to get stuck between the first and second floors. Of course, that didn''t happen, since the scared girl had nowhere near the leg strength to do such a feat. Instead, she only got a few centimeters off the ground and let out a sound that most would never associate with a human being.


    Bawling her still trembling hands into a fist, she turned around and savagely struck the historically laughing assailant right in the middle of their face. The girl who had sneaked up on Kary let out an astonished voice, before immediately falling on her back. Thankfully, she had a pretty full backpack, which, in retrospect, might be the trued culprit of the fall.


    ¡°Ouch! Why did you that?!¡± The girl asked, still lying comfortably on the ground as she massaged her red nose. ¡°You need to tell me your secret, Kary, my girl; ''cause I don''t think I''ve ever seen such strong spaghetti arms¡±


    ¡°You are well aware that all I do is staying cupped in my room all day. The most exercise I do every day is coming and going from school. If every time I give you a well-deserved punch you end up hurt, then maybe you''re the one who''s too soft¡± Kary replied in the same way she had done countless times before.


    At this point, the girl should be used to Liz''s everyday shenanigans, but she still managed to get her off guard in every single occasion. And in every single one of them, the mischievous girl would leave with a nose bearing a pretty closing resemblance to that of Rudolph.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, you always say this, and yet I always end up kissing the floor. That''s not normal, y''know? People who spend their entire lives sitting on a chair shouldn''t be able to knock someone down, y''know?¡±


    ¡°Please, if you want to throw insults at me, then you need to start trying harder¡±


    ¡°Oh no, I wasn''t trying to insult you. I was simply stating the fact that you''re weird, nothing more, nothing less¡±


    ¡°Of course you were¡±


    ¡°So, do you want to come with me to that new restaurant down the block? I heard they have some pretty nice pasta¡±


    ¡°You know, I don''t receive an allowance. Why even bother asking?¡±


    ¡°Because then I can pretend to treat you to something nice, only to call in on that favor later!¡±


    ¡°Well, at least you''re honest. But still, my answer remains no¡±


    ¡°Oh, c''mon!!! Why not? It''s not like you have anything better to do, right?¡±


    ¡°My mother ordered some food last night for me to eat as my lunch today. No, don''t make this face, you know how my mother gets when she as much as feels like she wasted her money¡±


    ¡°Aww¡­ I understand. Even if I''d love to be able to just do what I enjoyed the most full time like you, but I would like to keep my parents if this happened¡±


    ¡°Hah¡­ yeah. If you don''t feel like living with your parents, you''re free to switch with me at anytime¡±


    ¡°No, not in a million years, no! I would never abandon my parents! They need me too much!¡±


    ¡°Pfft, okay, sure. Just¡­ treasure what you got, okay?¡±


    ¡°Okaaaaaay, mom, don''t you worry, I''ll allow my parents to pamper me however much they want¡±


    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Good, now I have to go, sorry. I don''t want to march uphill with the sun any higher than this¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­ well, then, bye bye Kary, see ya tomorrow!¡±


    ¡°Bye Liz! Remember to tell me later all about the restaurant, okay? Bye!!!¡±


    At this point, they had reached an intersection, in which point they went in their separate ways. Liz continued to walk forward; her mind focused solely in fantasizing about the delicacies the restaurant nearby could offer her. Kary, on the other hand, turned left and started walking at a brisk pace.


    She once more equipped her earbuds, almost inseparable friends at this point. She slowly climbed the steep hill where her building resided, the loud music blasting her ears off drowning every other sound in the vicinity.


    Because of that, Kary failed to notice the rapidly approaching car that was coming down the road. To be completely fair to her, however, under normal circumstances, very few people would even care to notice a car going down a road. There''s nothing inherently unusual about it.


    What was definitely unusual were the erratic movements the car periodically did, almost as if it was trying (and terribly failing) to dance. It strode forward with the confidence of a professional dancer and the ability of newborn baby. It would be funny, endearing even, to watch such a scene from afar, but the up-and-close experience couldn''t be anything other than terrifying.


    Thankfully, Kary was blissfully unaware of the impending danger uncontrollably coming to her direction, as all her attention was directed to the web novel she had been accompanied ever since she had first discovered it.


    She was used to walking around without paying attention to her surroundings. After all, with the amount of parents and students going around at this time, a robber would need to be either extremely stupid or extremely desperate to try and pull something off around these parts. And yet, her confidence in the security of the neighborhood betrayed her when it mattered the most.


    With a tired sigh, she stopped for a bit to catch her breath. Panting a little at the effort it took to climb the hill, she looked around as she wiped her sweaty forehead with the back of her hand. What she didn''t expect to find was a speeding car heading precisely towards her position.


    Astonished by the reckless driving, Kary tried to get out of the way. She tried hard to control her body, to make it get as far away as it could from the future place of impact as it could. However, absolutely nothing happened. Nothing at all.


    Doing any sort of movement felt like moving in slow-motion, any action feeling as dragged-out as a walk in mud. Her eyes darted around, trying to find something, anything that she could place her hopes on.


    The problem was that there was simply nothing. The street was entirely deserted, with the exception of the accelerating car and the trembling mess that stood in its way. There was nobody to help Kary, no object nearby that could provide some sense of security, regardless of how fragile it would be.


    She watched in horror as the car slowly inched towards her, her mind racing with an uncountable number of thoughts zipping through her paralyzed brain every fraction of a second. And still, even with all that computing power, even with complete understanding of the situation taking place right in front of her, Kary was incapable of doing anything.


    She was but a mere spectator of her own death, simply watching the events unfold from a detached position, unable to relate to the character and thus, incapable of feeling their existential pain. Their resignation. Their sorrow. Her own sorrow.


    Amidst all of her internal turmoil, the first thought she managed to fully process was a simple ''huh''. She wasn''t confused about the abnormal situation, the state of the car or her own state. She simply accepted whatever would happen within the next few seconds.


    It was a nice life, all things considered. I don''t think it was a happy one, or even a fulfilling one, but it was pretty nice. I lived in a nice home, went to an easy school. I even made a friend! How did that even happened?!


    Now that everything is coming to a close, I can''t help but wonder, how different would my life would have been if I had been born from different parents. Would I still be me? Would I still be here, in a hot morning afternoon, wondering how things could have gone another direction while I wait for my certain death? Would I be happy, then? Would life be worth it? Would it be worth it to try and save myself? Well, no point in imagining alternative scenarios now.


    She closed her eyes, completely surrendering herself to fate. In the partial darkness provided by her closed eyelids, she could feel her distressed heartbeat, her profusely sweating body, her trembling jaw. She was scared, terrified, mortified, even, but the decision had been made. The die had been cast.


    Kary felt the sun hitting every square centimeter of exposed flesh, the uncomfortable friction of her clothes against her skin. She could heat the car, its desperate driver trying to take control of the untamed beast. She marveled in her mind at how such a sophisticated construct could fail so badly, to the point where it would cause at the very least one death.


    She smelt the smoke coming off from somewhere in the car, the invasive gas obstructing her nostrils and filing her lungs. She heard the screams, the desperate attempts to steer the hunk of metal and plastic out of the way, the wheels frantically refusing to properly turn.


    She could feel the wind whipping her head, its force enough to blow the entirety of her long hair backwards. She heard the screech of the wheels, signifying that they had been finally tamed. But alas, it was too late. Kary waited for the collision, almost eager to experience it, but for a few extensive seconds, nothing happened. And then she heard the crash.


    She, however, did not feel any impact whatsoever. Outside of the heavy gust of wind that assaulted her, there was no physical reaction. Slowly, very, very, slowly, she allowed herself to open her eyes. The sudden light hurt slightly, but it was nothing to write home about.


    Frantically, she looked around, trying to find the site of the crash. It was pretty easy to find, of course, especially considering it was only a few maters distant from her. There it was, the bulky, malfunctioning car in all of its glory, smashed into a light pole, smoke pouring out of the chassis in droves. Inside, an unconscious person still tightly holding the steering wheel.


    Her eyes widened as she stared at the sight. Her eyes began to water as her knees refused to keep working any longer. Right then and there, on the terribly dirty sidewalk, Kary began to bawl like a baby, for reason no baby could even comprehend.


    Eventually, someone called the emergency service. Kary didn''t see who it was, or how much time had passed. No matter how much she told herself to calm down, her heart stubbornly refused to settle down and her body could not stop shaking. Deep breath, deep breaths, in and out.


    Before the ambulance could arrive, the girl had recuperated somewhat. Not nearly enough to fool a seasoned doctor, but just enough to avoid getting sent to the hospital along with actual victim. When the emergency vehicle arrived to drag the man to the hospital, they asked Kary some questions, to which she shakily provided the best answers her troubled mind could think of.


    They hurriedly left with the bleeding patient, leaving Kary alone with her own thoughts on the sidewalk. She tried to take some more deep breaths to stop trembling like a twig in a hurricane, but the image of almost certain death was still fresh on her mind, and it would still probably haunt her for years to come.


    Once again she closed her eyes, trying to process everything that had just transpired. Her resignation, her acceptance, her melancholy, all shattered before her eyes. She was ready to die in that brief window, she even entertained thoughts of living another life. But, it seems that it was never meant to be. Though if that is good or bad in Kary''s eyes remains to be seen.


    She stared at the sky, as if asking God himself if that was all part of his grand plan, if this situation was all required for his grand scheme. Of course, she heard no answer other than the background ambience music provided by her still working earbuds.


    Sighing in defeat, she took off the two devices and secured them in their little box, before carelessly throwing said box inside of her backpack. With her brain still insisting to brood over the failed accident, Kary resumed her march to her house; all the while self-deprecating thoughts plagued her mind.


    Why did I think about those things? Why did my body didn''t listen to me? Am I so desperate that I would accept death at the first mild inconvenience that appears in my path? Hah... I''m so fucking pathetic. Look at me! Even now I can''t stop thinking about how much it wouldn''t have sucked to just... get hit by that car.


    But of course, that wasn''t going to happen. Even if by some stroke of luck it did, in fact, hit me, I''d just get rushed to hospital, and my life would remain the same afterwards. I''d still have to live with that house, with those two, leaving early every day and spending every ounce of free time I have studying. No matter what I do, things won''t ever change.


    Worse, getting hurt would make my mother think she might lose her golden duck, her golden ticket to future prosperity. And I can only imagine how she would react. Badly, very, very badly, I''d wager. She was never one to take things lightly, especially things that can make her money.


    With another sigh, she continued on her merry way, barely even taking a glance at all the stares at her disheveled brown hair, her dirty uniform and her still red, puffy eyes. She could feel the pity in those glances, the many questions that will remain forever unanswered. She could feel their weight on her shoulders, and still, she kept walking, unperturbed.


    She was tired, hungry, sweaty and in desperate need of a bath. Regardless of what the image the neighboring houses would have of her now, Kary just wanted to get home, to lock herself in her room and cry herself to sleep.


    Her muscles all screamed for her to slow down, but she couldn''t care less about her own physical state. If getting sore later meant she could arrive home just a tad bit faster, than it would be worth it. Of course, her future self would undoubtedly be throwing harsh insults at her present self because of her stupid carelessness, but Kary would be dead ten times over before she managed to please her future self.


    She let out a small chuckle devoid of any happiness at that thought. Nothing she did would ever be enough to please herself... or the others around her. But that was okay. She was used to this sensation, the feeling of being seen as a disappointment, a liability, at most.


    As she continued to power walk towards the building she lived in, she ended up passing by a construction site. Thanking the inefficiency of the government for one in her life, she began to take in the many detail in the unfinished building.


    The exposed bricks, still very orange and bright, the many construction workers scattered around with as much care as the books thrown inside the girl''s own backpack. The many unmoving heavy vehicles, showing all their might without showing an ounce of their usefulness. The big dog sitting on the wall leading to the street with a little pile of bricks lying beside him.


    It was a cute dog, simply coexisting with the gruff and buff construction workers. Despite the rain of depressive thoughts she was having, she allowed herself to smile, just this once, at the little doggo. He wasn''t even that little, but that didn''t matter too much.


    That is, it didn''t matter until it picked up a brick with its wide mouth, staring straight into Kary''s eyes as if judging her very soul. Her smile was quickly replaced by a wary expression, and she once again began to move. She was close now, just a few more minutes and she would arrive to her apartment.


    The dog, however, seemed to have other plans in mind. With the precision of a professional sniper, it threw the brick at where Kary would inevitably pass through. With a big, goofy grin, almost innocent if not for the bloodthirsty evident in its eyes, it watched as the brick soared to the air, with all the grace of... well... a brick, and landed squarely on the back of Kary''s head.


    The girl, who could not have possibly imagined such a scenario even in her wildest, most delusional dreams, was utterly flabbergasted by the sudden hit to the back of her head. She wanted to turn around, to see what asshole was responsible for the attack, but she realized she couldn''t control her body at all.


    She was falling forward, with no way to stop the inevitable painful collision with the ground. This time, she refused to close her eyes, since, if she did, she would be unable to catch a glimpse of her assailant. She watched as the ground neared her in slow motion. She could see the grains of concrete on the ground, the marks of erosion, the little cracks and crevices.


    She could also feel the pain, the sensation of having her skull cracked, with her blood trying to leave her body in droves. The last thing she saw was the big dog standing on top of the wall, looking at her body with satisfied smile. Realization downed in as everything faded to black.

 2. Mad god

    In the beginning, there was nothing, only a vast sea of pure darkness for as far as the eye could see. And then, there was light. Infinite, blinding light, bright enough that Kary almost screamed at the sudden change in the lighting. To her surprise, however, the impossibly strong lights didn''t make her body react in any way.


    She tried to scream, to reach out to someone outside this room, but no sound came out. Desperation began to settle in as she tried to make more and more noise, way past what her throat should be capable of making without growing hoarse. And yet, there was still nothing.


    Listening more closely, she noticed that the lack of sound extended beyond just her voice, for she was unable to hear either the beating of her heart or the sound of her breathing.


    It was a deafening silence, which entered her ears and circulated her mute system, drowning both her body and soul with its lack of everything. Her eyes darted around, trying to find anything that could relieve this tense emptiness. And then, she heard the laughing.


    Mad, incongruent laughter, an incomprehensible cacophony of contradictory noises. It was both the cackle of an old witch and the elegant, subdued laughter of a politician. It was the happy giggle of glee of a child and the cynical laughter of a man in his deathbed. To put it mildly, it was completely bizarre, incomprehensible, illogical, and utterly impossible.


    If Kary was looking for someone to call for help before, now she wanted to be as far away as possible from whatever maniac was producing this masterful yet completely mad orchestra of sound waves.


    Her mind raced as she tried to process everything that was happening around her, the (almost) absolute lack of sound, the impossibly white walls that reflected any and all light that entertained the thought of hitting it. The infinite place she appeared to be in, the unhinged laughter of a mad god, her lack of mobility and her inability to see herself.


    She wanted to deny it, to say that everything that was happening right now was but a bad dream, a mere figment of her overly creative imagination. But she knew that wasn''t the case. She couldn''t, for the love of God, explain how she knew it wasn''t a bizarre nightmare, but she knew it. And that made everything all the more terrifying.


    Enduring the still ongoing the illogical spectacle of sound that echoed everywhere and nowhere at all, Kary thought about all the possible scenarios she could form in her head, from the reasonable to the stupid. Still, she couldn''t find a reasonable explanation as to why she was here.


    The last thing she remembered was being hit in the back of her head, by¡­ a dog? No, that couldn''t be right. Surely she was misremembering something, introducing new characters that weren''t originally part of the story. There was no way a dog had thrown a brick at her, right?


    But, if we were to assume that this happened, that a dog did, in fact, maliciously hit her head with a brick, then the most logical conclusion for where she should be would be the hospital! After all, she did remember passing out on the sidewalk, so that must have been it, right?


    Except¡­ no. Not really. It still didn''t make sense. Sure, it would make sense for her to be in a hospital after going through multiple near-death experiences in a single day, but that didn''t explain anything that was going on right now. Not the bare, infinitely expansive shining-white walls, not the utter lack of sound, and definitely not the insane, incessant laughing that constantly assaulted her ears.


    So then what? What was the reason she was here right now? And where was ''here'', for that matter? Try as she might, she was simply unable to reach any conclusion, be it reasonable or not. There was simply no possible way such a place could have existed on Earth, and, even if it existed somewhere, there would be no reason for Kary to be inside of it.


    But¡­ what if this is not Earth?


    ¡°Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding! We have a winner! Hahaha, anything you want to say to the audience watching at home, my dear?¡±


    Whatever Kary had on her mind at that moment, it was completely blown away by the sudden appearance of a disembodied voice, presumably talking to her. Though saying ''sudden'' might be a bit of disingenuous, since it was the same voice that had been laughing like a patient of a mental asylum for a solid few minutes at this point.


    Confused and overwhelmed by the sudden interaction, she shyly replied to the agglomeration of voices. Where¡­ where is this place? What is going on? Who are you? What are you?


    ¡°Oi, oi, oi! Calm down, missy! I asked for one question, not for a barrage of them! But it''s fiiiiiiiiine. I''ll answer every one of them in time. So don''t get ahead of yourself, alright? Good¡±


    ¡°So, to start things off, let''s see¡­ hmm¡­ where is this place, was it? Well, dear, this place is the afterlife! Yeah, yeah, pretty boring, I know. But don''t worry, here''s not exactly the afterlife. You can think of this place as an antechamber, between the mortal realm and the great beyond¡±


    Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait¡­ So, you''re telling me that I''m¡­ dead. I''m dead. Gone. Departed from that dammed world? I¡­ honestly don''t know what to feel about that. It''s pretty jarring, of course, but it kind of came out of nowhere, y''know? I was completely ready to kick the bucket, and yet, I still lived, only to immediately die for the stupidest reason I''ve ever seen.


    ¡°Yes! Oh, and what a death that was. Did you see, the smug look on that dog''s face, after it successfully hit you? That was such a priceless face! It was absolutely hilarious, I tell you. Little Kary was just walking down the road, still shocked after surviving what she had thought would be sure death, and then BAM! A brick out of absolutely nowhere!¡±


    "How glorious that moment was. I even recorded it, so that I can watch it later, long after your soul is gone and any memory of you is gone from the face of the Earth. But don''t worry, for I, the guardian of the in-betweens, the master of the transitional and the biggest hater of all that is stationary, Limo, will treasure your pitiful death for as long as I exist"


    "And don''t think I''m immortal, girl. Even the strongest of deities have their expiration date. Even Tempo will only live to see the end of the universe. As long as we serve a function in the grand scheme of things, we will keep on living. But fret not! I am not going anywhere for the foreseeable future. I have way too much work on my plate for that"


    Slow down a little, would you! I''m still trying to understand what is happening! So I died, and now I''m talking to some sort of god? How in the world does that make any sense? You say you''re overworked, and yet here you are, leisurely having a chat with me. Since you have sooooo much to do, shouldn''t you be working on it, instead of speaking to a random dead person?


    "Ouch! Your words wound me profusely, my dear mortal, they really do. But still, don''t delude yourself thinking that you''re the first to make this question ever since my birth. Oh, how wrong you''d be to think that! How many times have I heard this exact question? In how many languages?"


    "Oh, my dear, sweet, summer child. If us gods were weak enough to only be able to tend to one lucky individual at a time, your entire society would have collapsed as soon as it had started. No, scrap that, it would have never even developed in the first place! You people would be no more impressive them the chimps you consider yourselves so superior to"


    "If this right here was my only manifestation, then only God, yes the one and only with the capital G, would know how long the queue of people waiting to enter their post-lives would be. I shudder just thinking about how much work I would have to do. Urgh! I would need to be so... professional! Can you imagine that?! Being serious all the time?! Oh, I''d rather die than to be subjected to such torture"


    "Thankfully, that cannot possibly happen, since I am both here and at a bunch of other places at the same time, all of them coexisting here in this white infinity that I call home. Does this make any sense to your little pea-sized brain? No? Good! So? Is there anything else you wish to ask me? Come on, don''t be shy, your wish is my command and all that"


    Hm... Then... can you tell me if anything happened after my death?


    "Oh, sure, lots of interesting things happened! The tri-headed mutant with mouths for nipples Bubbles just declared himself the emperor of the galaxy, a few stars collapsed into black holes, and a bridge had fallen over the Amazon River. Business as usual, I''d say if I had a business"


    Urgh! You know what I mean! Did anything happen to anyone close to me?


    "Of course, of course, I was just joking around. Let''s see, let''s see... hm... yeah, so it seems that Liz is mourning you still. Your parents though... yeah, there are no tears coming out of their eyes. They didn''t even pretend to be sad in your funeral! At least your extended family was a bit better at the acting"


    I see... so that''s how it is, then... terrible to the bitter end. Well, it does make me feel a little bit better that they were so thorough in their awfulness. Those two never pretended to be good people, and I doubt my death changed much of that. But still... Liz, I''m sorry I died without getting back at you. I should at least have waited until you told me how bad the new restaurant was... what a shame, truly...


    "Oh, come on, stop drowning in self-pity already! I have more to do than watch you feeling sorry for yourself. Come on, let''s get on to the main attraction of this place"


    The... main attraction? What?


    "Well, you see, darling, depending on who passes through here, I can allow them to make a choice"


    About what?


    "About where you will go after your death. You see, us gods don''t govern only your pitiful blue globe of land that you so creatively call Earth. No, we work to ensure the proper functioning of hundreds of worlds, scattered all across the universe"


    "And, sometimes, when the deceased has been decent enough in their lives, we can allow them to reincarnate in another world. Sometimes we even let them keep their memory to see what kind of chaos they can cook. And you, my little Kary, happen to be one of these people! Congrats!"


    Wait... so let me see if I understand... what you''re telling is that all the people that claim to remember their past lives are actually speaking the truth?! And we simply just... chose to not believe them?!


    "Oh, no, don''t worry. Most of those are lying through their teeth. You see, there are very few people to which I grant this option, and even fewer that I even consider allowing them to keep their memory. It would be very stupid of me to allow too much mingling between intelligent beings of different systems and cultures Oh, the chaos that would create!"


    "Sadly, I''m the only one of the major gods that even considers this to be a good idea. Personally, I think it would be hilarious to see the cultural shock these people would go through while, at the same time, they are forced to adapt to a world completely alien to them. It would be so much fun to watch this! To my great sadness, however, I have found myself to be the only one to think so"


    "And sadly, we kind of live within a strict hierarchy where all of those guys who refuse to vote in agreement with me are equals. And so, despite the inherent authoritarianism of the system, the remains of democracy still forbid me from scattering as many transmigrators as I''d like"


    And how many would that be?


    "As many as I could cram into a planet"


    ...Huh. No wonder no one wants to take your side, then,


    "What, you''re telling me that I''m being unreasonable? IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY, PUNY MORTAL?"


    .........Yes


    "Aww, you''re no fun at all. Such a boring little human, and yet, so entertaining to play with. There aren''t many like you out there, though where ''there'' is may be up to your imagination. Aaaaaanyways, is there anything else you''d like to get cleared up before we move on to the next stage?"


    Well...


    "Come on, kid, don''t make me wait! Waiting makes me anxious, and an anxious Limo makes everyone else anxious as well!"


    It''s just that I''ve been thinking here to myself... you''ve told me where we are, but at no point did you even mention where you were. It feels kind of weird talking ¡ª or I guess thinking ¡ª to the nothingness.


    "Well, damn! What a sensible question! I wouldn''t expect anything nearly as logical from someone in your shoes. You know, getting killed and immediately afterwards meeting with good ol'' me can be a little jarring to most people, so ¡ª"


    Just a little...


    "¡ª As I was saying, it feels surprisingly refreshing to talk to someone who can actually talk back to me! I mean, I can totally see how absolutely terrified of me you are right now, and yet you still shows the guts to throw in some fun banter!"


    "But I digress. As for where am I... well, dear, you could say that I''m everywhere and nowhere, exactly in front of you and millions of miles away. If you want to get technical, I don''t really have a body. I simply... exist. A mere concept, created by reality as the means to take care of some boring business. An insignificant being, you could say, nothing but a tool of the system, made to live for a task and die for a task"


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    That''s... depressing, to say the least. Should I feel sorry for you?


    "Nah, don''t worry, I''ve gotten over it since after I finished dealing with those big goofy... what do you earthlings called them... ah, yes, dinosaurs. I had so, SO much time to deliberate about the meaninglessness of my own existence and its insignificance in the macrocosm of the universe that I ended up stopping to care"


    "Though I will admit that having someone who was going through arguably worse stuff feel pity for meet does make my non-existent heart flutter a little bit, although I can''t say for sure if it''s out of indignation or sympathy"


    "So there''s your answer: no gods have manifestations that could be comprehended by mortal vessels. If any of us tried to show ourselves to you, or anyone you know, or anyone you don''t know, they would just collapse on the ground, frothing from their mouth, their brains collapsing on themselves as they try and utterly fail to comprehend what was just shown to them"


    "Because of that, I prefer simply to not show myself at all! It''s much more convenient than having to make holographic representations of myself to all those poor souls who just recently died. It''s just so less taxing to just... don''t appear to anyone, let them think that I''m just figments of their decaying imagination, a response of their brain to the inevitability of the encroaching death"


    "Well, now I''ve gotten bored of answering your questions, so let us move to the next stage that everyone here goes through. Well, not everyone, just those that have been deemed decent enough people during their lives by Justeco. Of course, there are some other considerations that that square head needs to make before giving me the green light, but that is the most important by a long mile"


    "You, of course, are part of the surprisingly sparse number of non-trash people inhabiting Earth. Sure, you may not agree with that, but whether you are a decent person pushed to the brink of breaking by a heartless society or if you simply had the predisposition to go around spreading chaos to those around you is not up for you to decide"


    "Blockhead as my brother may be, he''s fairer than anyone else among us gods. That¡¯s his only job, after all. So? Are you interested in knowing more about it?"


    Well, you didn''t really say anything about this proposal, after all. I mean, you did, but nothing that would impact me in any way, shape or form. It seemed more like you were rambling, but considering every time you start speaking you immediately go off topic, that might simply be your normal.


    "Daring, aren''t we? Well, no matter. I''d be cooked alive by my brothers and sisters if I allowed myself to stoop so low as to take offense from a recently dead mortal. I swear, some of those guys don''t think straight at all! I wander if it was the same when they still lived"


    "But that, as you so very put out, is completely irrelevant to the question at hand, and thus, it would be unwise of me to spend any more time complaining about the lack of gray matter shown to us by humanity. Let''s get on to business, shall we?"


    "So, about the proposed I talked about, it consists on sending you to another world with all the knowledge and memories you have in your current self. Why do we want to send you packing to a fantasy world at the remote borders of the universe? Well, you''d have to ask one of my more serious brothers. That meeting in particular was so terribly boring that I ended up leaving before its midway point, lest I fell asleep right on my seat and lost the little crumbs of respect that I''ve accumulated over the thousands of years"


    "But yeah, that''s the gist of it. You say that you want to move to a faraway land of magic and swords, we grant your wish and I help you decide you appearance and initial stats. A fair deal, wouldn''t you say?"


    No, I wouldn''t. Why is there so much in for me and so little to you deities? Why is going to another world something your... brothers, as you called them, such a prestigious thing? What is the significance this holds to your people?


    "Who knows? I probably do, or did, at some point. Usually there are fewer questions, so I might have ended up simply forgetting about it. Or maybe I never heard what it was! It''s not like most people want to know why the gods suddenly want to grant squishy humans like you another go at life. Their desire to live simply drives them to make the obvious choice, and then BAM! No though explanations on my part"


    "But you! Had! To! Make! This! Difficult! Hadn''t! You?! Well, I don''t mind really. It''s a welcome change of pace from my usual dance. But it IS true that I either never knew or have forgotten about the reason why we are so eager to throw you into another world. I only need to know this: do you want to go or not"


    Hm...If I had to choose, and I suppose I have... then yes, it would be lovely to maintain my sense of self for a few years more.


    "Oh, my dear Kary, it can be so, so much more than a few more years to your tally. Oh, ho, ho, let''s get right into character creation, okay? Everything will hopefully make some more sense once I start making your new design"


    New design? Why? Can''t I go with the appearance I had before I died? Wouldn''t that make me adapt easier to the environment and all that? Why go through the trouble of making an entirely new character before sending me packing?


    "Oh you and your silly questions, sometimes they manage to test my lackluster patience even more than dealing with kids. And trust me, you don''t want to deal with those pests. The black death is much less of an annoyance than kids"


    "About your question: it''s because it would be a waste to give you the opportunity to live a new life and yet make it so that you have to still cling to your old identity. The world transmigration is supposedly a tool to allow you and whoever else benefited from it in these past few thousands of years to live again, to choose their own paths in a world where their fate, their destiny, in only on their hands. So why bind them to their previous lives, constantly remind them of the suffering their enduring, or the life they once lost"


    "Or course, if you insist, I can move you with or original appearance, or I can make it a surprise for you. Don''t worry, I won''t make you too hideous, should you choose the latter option. I am quite the benevolent god, after all"


    Benevolent? Or bound by the rules?


    "Okay, you got me! I secretly wanted to make everyone into terrifying creatures that would survive in the popular imaginary of the folks of that world long after they were vanquished by the local heroes! Why must you foil my every plot?! *Sniff*, I feel like I''m gonna cry"


    Please don''t. The act of crying in front of someone, especially in front a girl is, for men, something terribly unbecoming. Haven''t you heard, the many stories where the man is dumped right after thinking their relationship had reached the stage where he could confidently express his own feelings? If you start crying now, all your prospective wives will run away, terrified of your lack of masculinity.


    "Such a way with words, and at such a young age! Oh, if only you weren''t a total jerk! Maybe then my life would be easier. Sadly, I didn''t exactly choose to be here today, and so, I will have to unfortunately endure your vicious words until you are long gone from my sight"


    "But, for now, I must suffer this ceaseless torture, for I have a job that I must accomplish. Which is, of course, helping you choose what you''ll be in your next life! Don''t worry, we have extensive catalog about every possible species, from the traditional ones depicted in pretty much every single fantasy story that was ever released on your little, miserable, planet, to the ones so weird that it would cause most to be appalled by our decision to include them"


    "Whether you are a normal, sensible person, which, by the way, I now you aren''t, or a total nutjob, there''s something for you in the Grand Encyclopedia of Species?. Pretty neat name, huh? Sadly, I had no hand in creating it. Here, come on, take a look"


    Out of thin air, a big, thick book appeared in front of Kary. She stared intently at it, the bland title written in big, golden, curly letters, contrasting with the plain red background. Not that it was an ugly red, it was simply... simple. Unimaginative.


    As her critiques of the design of the book began to take form, Kary couldn''t help but wonder: how was she supposed to handle this thing? Apparently, she had no limbs to go around with, or to grab the book and turn the pages. You know, things usually important when reading a book.


    "You can simply will it and it will obey. It is as simple as that. Or did you think we gods you give out a faulty product to the ones we are entrusting new worlds with? Of course not, right? That would never happen! Ha. Haha. Ha"


    Ooh, I see. I presume there''s a summary, yes? There''s no way they would deliver a faulty product to their most beloved clients, yes?


    "Yes! Finally, something you got right! It''s at the beginning of the book, so it should be pretty easy to find it"


    Kary tried to make the book approach her with just her brainpower and, surprisingly, it worked flawlessly. It moved right how she wanted, the distance she wanted, and then stopped right where she wanted it to be.


    Satisfied by the responsiveness shown by the thick encyclopedia, she ordered to move her to the index. Before she tried to read anything, she wanted to at least get a general feel of what she should expect. After all, she would be a fool to blindly trust Limo like that. The... man? Deity? Had pretty openly said that he was as far away from trustworthy as a sentient being could be.


    And then she saw the endless list of species, descending infinitely until the bottom of the page, only to resurface with renewed strength at the top of the next. For pages and pages there was nothing but an endless list of species names, a list so long that Kary had to ask herself if that was going to be the entirety of the book.


    But no. Thankfully, it stopped, after thirty-three long pages of nothing but names and numbers. She took a glance at the very last beings described be the dictionary, the ones nearing the end of the alphabet.


    Zhu Bajie ......................................... 10023


    Zlatorog ........................................... 10025


    Zilant ................................................ 10027


    Ziz ..................................................... 10029


    Zombie ............................................. 10031


    Zu ...................................................... 10033


    Afterword ......................................... 10035


    Credits .............................................. 10036


    The absurd numbers attached to each section made Kary want to have the ability to whistle, if only to simply show the world just how amazed she was. She couldn''t even begin to comprehend how much work must have been put into this, especially with most, if not all, gods had their own duties to do.


    She started fiddling with the index, quickly scanning through the multitude of names, noting the ones she knew already and keeping an eye for some that seemed interesting.


    Kary saw many names, new names, old names, names of creatures she had never even heard of, creatures that sounded ominous and creatures that sounded harmless.


    Timed passed seamlessly as the only sounds reverberating through that infinite space were the crumply, dry turning of the pages, their pristine white incapable of casting the smallest of shadows on the impossible ground. At this point, even Limo had quieted down, choosing to only observe intently the choice Kary was going to make.


    Her eyes darted from name to name, never quite satisfied. The few times she did find something that piqued her interest, it was quickly overshadowed by another name, another creature etched with ink into this immortal book, its wisdom made to last the inescapable effects of time.


    That kept going for a while, until she finally reached a name that resonated with her on a level that she couldn''t quite explain. It was different from the many, many meaningless names she had seen before, it was like that was something she was supposed to be.


    Of course, she wasn''t stupid enough to simply accept that fate had worked its way into making her stumble across some sort of predestined race she was supposed to be but never was.


    Hey, Limo, why the fuck do I feel attracted by some race from simply reading their name?


    "Nope! Not telling you that! I''m not one to spoil the fun after all. But fret not, for this isn''t anything bad. At least, it shouldn''t be..."


    Great...


    With a non-existent sigh, Kary ordered the book to turn to the page indicated on the index. Mavka. A creature she knew nothing about, but for it, she felt a connection akin to the one between a siren and a helpless sailor.


    She watched as the pages turned and turned, the infinite carousel of ink and knowledge going ''round and ''round with its frantic dance, enjoying a rhythm impossible to be comprehended.


    Kary drew in her breath in anticipation, despite not having any breath to suck inwards. If she could, she would be tapping her feet, shaking her legs, easting her fingernails out of expectation. She wanted that, whatever the Mavka was, whatever was that thing that so deeply resonated within her, it would feel nice, special.


    But reality was often disappointing, so very disappointing. After the pages finished turning, Kary wanted to have a closer look to the two pages dedicated to the being.


    She desired to see more clearly the miniscule letters, and so, naturally, she ordered the book to come closer. And what she saw would make her start laughing until her throat became utterly spent, if not for the fact that she was looking forwards to it. The first words of the text were as follow:


    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


    She stared at the book for a long while, hoping her silence would convey her utter disbelief to the deity probably still watching her. If she had a body, she would have stood there, flabbergasted, mouth agape, inviting any fly for her home, with probably a silly expression made from the combination of incredulity and pure, unadulterated wrath.


    Finally, she addressed the chaotic god whose presence Kary could still feel. She didn''t know where he was or why he was so curious about another''s life, but, since he had made his presence known, she would take full advantage of it.


    So... Limo... care to explain how this oh so great encyclopedia of species came to be? How was it crafted, exactly? I hope it wasn''t too much trouble for you gods. After all, how awful would it be for the supreme entities to steal somebody else''s work, right? So, would you care to explain? I don''t want there to be any... misunderstanding...


    "Uhmm... well... you see... this... this incredible book was crafted by the combination of human ingenuity and divine crafting... yes... that''s definitely it..."


    Strange as it may be, I don''t quite believe that what you are saying right now is the truth.


    "I swear it is! We simply took the information from humans'' databases and compiled it in the divine realm! Although this knowledge may have come from humans, this book was entirely crafted by the most expert beings in craftsmanship there exist! If you still doubt me, you can freely check the credits page... you have no idea how long it took to write those in their proper forms... it was a nightmare, I tell ya"


    Well, that makes it much more believable, don''t you think? It''s less unexplainable than a bunch of gods congregating one day, ditching all of their work to... I don''t know... lesser deities, and crafting a book listing all species there are and all of their unique characteristics.


    "Urgh... sorry to have tried to deceive you... I''m just still bitter that they didn''t allow me to play with the book before finalizing it"


    I see... hah... honestly, it could''ve been way worse. Considering Wikipedia''s reputation worldwide ¡ª and apparently beyond that, too ¡ª, I can understand using it as the base for the writing of this book. What I did not expect was the blatant steal.


    Having vented all her frustrations, Kary began to earnestly read the Wikipedia article on the Mavka. All in all, it was pretty interesting. It said nothing about its stats, bonus and skills, simply because it was a regular Wikipedia article. The gods seemed to be too lazy to even edit in some of the regular information.


    After finishing her short read, she was thinking. She could keep looking for other more interesting races to choose, or she could go with the already pretty promising Mavka.


    In the end, she decided on following a path that was somewhere in-between: she finished reading the index, continuing to work her way from the end to the beginning, carefully scouting for any interesting option.


    Of those, there were plenty, but not one of them spoke to her like the Soul of the Forest did. Steeling herself for whatever would come next, she once more addressed the mad god.


    I have chosen.


    "Ohhh... the Mavka, I suppose?" At that, the girl tried to nod her head in affirmation, only to remember that she had no body with which she could do the movement. She wanted to once more sigh at the small inconveniences proportioned by the post-life.


    Yes. I''ll let you choose my appearance, simply because I have no sense for it. Please, at least try to make something at least coherent with the original myths, please.


    "Aye, aye, captain. Your wish is my command. So, are you ready to embark on a new journey at a new land? If you say yes, I''ll send you there immediately, and if you say no, I''ll send you there immediately!"


    You sure love to bargain, huh... alright, yes, I''m ready. Hit me with your worst!


    ...


    Actually, never mind! Just get this over with, please.


    "You don''t need to be so scared, you know? It''s not as scary as you''re thinking. Sure the first moments may be a little disorienting, but you''ll be just fiiiiiine"


    I sure hope so.


    Immediately after that, the soul that occupied the white infinity suddenly vanished, leaving behind nothing but the space it once occupied. Silence reigned once more, the mad god uncharacteristically exercising some self-reflecting.


    And then, with a grave voice, Limo said to the nothing, expecting to be heard by no one but himself: "I hope you''ll grow strong, little one. Very strong. So that the fate that will befall upon your new home may be prevented. I simply hope that it''s not too late"

 3. Apparitions stalk the night

    Once upon a time, the land of T¨¢fos was a place of wonder. It was a unique congregation of people from all species and walks of life, from wealthy merchants to struggling students trying to make ends meet.


    It was a bustling city, composed by an odd mix of sky-high towers inhabited by grumpy mages and their disciples, bustling markets and renowned academies. Its houses were arranged with narrow passageways in between the clunky blocks of stone molded into homes by the craftsmanship of dwarves.


    Houses were constantly getting built, the sprawling city with its colorful rooftops always expanding. At some point, the near constant sound of the dwarves'' booming voices became just another sound filtered by the people, background music for the bustling city.


    Its inhabitants moved in a constant stream to and from the market, their heavy footsteps compacting the ground beneath them. They went by with their lives, the smell of strong spices, fresh meat and odd magical ingredients tickling their noses all the while.


    It was a diverse city, in theory one of the few who didn''t discriminate against a race or another. Of course, the actual situation of the city was far from being perfect. After all, there is no such thing as a society free from bias, and T¨¢fos was no different. The only difference was that it managed to hide its ugly face well.


    From the rich merchants playing with the gold coins after a bountiful day to the orphans struggling to survive in the poorly built slums built far from privy eyes, it was a city of such plurality that it was nothing short of amazing. A true work of art, not by any specific artist, but by the collective who jointly decided to make the city into the epicenter of the civilized world.


    Holding the biggest and most influential names in culture, research, development and economics, the place was comparable to the great empires that sought out in their infinite hunger for more. Different from those empires, T¨¢fos was quite satisfied with the land it had. Sure, it was expanding like all cities do, but it was a slow, gradual one, born out of necessity and not simply capriciousness.


    For centuries, it survived its policy of not interfering with warring nations enough to allow it to escape unscathed of almost any neighboring fight. It saw kingdoms rise in the wake of rebellions, empires tumbling down after biting way more than they could chew. It saw the terrain changing, the wondrous effects of magic and greed enough to permanently scar the earth below.


    Sadly, nothing can last forever, and, with T¨¢fos, despite their attempt at being a single, immortal, and undying monolith of all things appreciated by the world that surrounded them, suffered the same fate as every other nations it had seen crumbling down and falling apart.


    It became nothing more than memories of a time long gone, created by the hands of the people who were terrified of their inability to control the free city, who were infuriated by their refusal to submit, who were annoyed by their vies on war. It was a deliberate destruction, sponsored by paranoid men who were scared to the bone by the power T¨¢fos possessed


    And so, its once great minds became bound by chains, forced to work day and night to fulfill their lords'' wishes. They died like flies, by the droves, the harsh winters and the abusive work relations taking a toll on their physical and mental health. Most didn''t last to see the end of the decade.


    Kids were used to their full capacity in both the fields and the mines, their owners unbothered by their health or well-being. These innocent souls could only watch, mortified, as their mothers and the all the women they knew were treated as toys by the coward monsters responsible for T¨¢fos downfall.


    As time passed, the bustling town knows for being the apex of cultural exchanges, the pinnacle of research, the example of development, the summit of greatness, disappeared from the minds of both the dead and the living. As beautiful as the city had once been, it was now nothing more than a massive graveyard, a field of ashes and sorrow, forgotten by the cruel missus known as time.


    Amidst the crumbling stone houses that might have one day reached high into the sky, a lone figure walked around slowly, their erratic movement a clear show of their lack of urgency. The being wore a completely out of place white gown, reminiscent of something that would be used by a hospital patient.


    The figure''s eyes, dark red like rubies and as clear as the surface of an ancient, unperturbed lake, darted around incessantly, as if to take in all the lingering stories those long forgotten structures could hold.


    Of course, that roaming entity was none other than Kary herself. She had arrived in those strange ruins not long ago, and she had immediately gotten awestruck by the ruins before her eyes.


    It was a fantastical view, something so otherworldly, something so very detached from the reality she knew, that she could help but stare at every little nook and crane, mouth agape and eyes almost bulging out of their sockets.


    Of course, this sight might be something people like archeologists would see during their lifetime, in their incessant search to uncover the secrets of the past. This crumbling city, however, was so completely detached from the cold world of electronics and concrete Kary knew that the girl couldn''t help but be mesmerized by the spiraling ruins.


    It was a wholly new world, free to be explored to its fullest. With that mindset, Kary began walking around in quick, almost skipped steps, barely avoiding running through the irregular ground. She was aware that she couldn¡¯t really afford to get hurt in such a desolate place, and so, she had to remind herself to keep walking at a reasonable pace, lest she trip and fall.


    Not long after, she made her way to one of the houses, the lack of any door all but inviting the curious girl inside. Inside was a scene of chaos: thrown aside chairs, a table toppled over, some stone utensils littering the ground, almost becoming one with the nature itself.


    Kary¡¯s smile froze when she saw that scene. She couldn¡¯t help but wonder what had caused its creation. What happened to those who lived here? Did they ever come back from wherever they went?


    Unsatisfied by the lack of any clues in the main room, the girl began to explore the rest of the house, finding simply more of the same: stuff hurriedly thrown to the side with half-haphazard abandon.


    A scene of desolation overcame her as she stared at the hollow, cold house, its inhabitants long gone, its purpose non-existent for who knows how many years already. She could feel the sorrow, the overwhelming regret, the tears that were shed, the fear they must have felt. Kary didn¡¯t know what had instilled so much fear into the original house¡¯s inhabitants, but she sure didn¡¯t want to know.


    What she knew was that disaster had struck that family, or maybe the entire city. Maybe that was why it had become nothing but a faded ruin, a shadow of its once glory, a ghost still stubbornly refusing to let go of the material plane.


    Touching the walls, cold from the lack of sunlight they received, Kary closed her eyes and made a small prayer in her native language. She didn¡¯t consider herself to be particularly religious, but, with gods all but confirming their own existence, she could allow herself to grieve a little for those people long gone.


    She didn¡¯t know how long she stayed in that position, hands clasped together and head low, thinking about the why¡¯s and the how¡¯s. Absentmindedly, she left the house she had so eagerly barged in just a few minutes before. With every home she visited, her initial excitement wore off a little, until her mind was filled with theories of what ill might have befallen the people who once lived in these houses.


    Eventually, as she progressed with her walk, completely absorbed within her own thoughts, she eventually arrived in a large, spacious plaza. It was quite a nice change of pace from the depressing, stuffy corridors and passageways Kary had been using until now.


    It was a big place, filled by far with the biggest amount of destruction she had seen until now. With a sigh, she moved to the big well in the center, its form almost unrecognizable after all the centuries of abuse committed by Mother Nature.


    Sitting down, the girl looked at the clear sky, the frown on her face a clear indication of the amount of thought she was putting into answering her previous questions.


    Why had she been summoned here, other than because of the whims of bored gods? Why was she in such a desolate place? If they are truly gods, couldn''t they have sent her somewhere where people actually live in? What was her purpose in such a barren place? And, most importantly, how did she want to proceed?


    Sure, she could continue to explore the houses in the hopes of finding something useful, but her search all but proved that there was nothing of value here. Exploring the empty constructions would only serve to deplete her energy and make her more depressed and paranoid.


    With a sigh, she got up from the fluffy grass and resumed her walk, though this time she refused to enter any house and was much more careful about the direction she was moving on. Despite her precautions, the signs of destruction and degradation were all but apparent, the chaotic and yet picturesque scenery following wherever the brave girl went.


    She didn''t know if she was getting closer or farther from the center of the city, though, at this point, the only real way of checking would be to climb into a high building that still stood. Kary, however, wasn''t really planning to acquire potential injuries just for that, though that might change if she did, indeed, find a place of enough height.


    Time passed almost peacefully, were it not for the eerie atmosphere the whole place irradiated. It was a bizarre place, as if it was abandoned both by its people and by time. In this alien land, the beauty of nature was the only thing that managed to break through the tension Kary was feeling.


    The girl''s nervousness was so high that it was almost palpable, almost able to be cut by a sharp knife. Her walking was stiff, arms stuck to the side of her body as she robotically placed one foot in front of the other.


    Her head swayed from left to right, checking for any ambushes at every turn she made. Despite the apparent emptiness of the city up to that point, she valued her life far too highly to ignore this prefect atmosphere for a monster attack.


    Anyone who saw the girl walking around, terrified of the shadows cast by the debris would probably have a good laugh at her expense, which, in turn, would probably make the scaredy cat even more afraid of her surroundings.


    She walked far, and yet she still couldn''t see the edge of the ruins from where she stood. The suns, once high into the sky, were now at the verge of disappearing over the line of the horizon, taking with them most of the light.


    Disappointed, maybe at herself, maybe at whoever designed this city, Kary decided to stop for the night. She really didn''t want to, but circumstances made her enter an uninhabited house. After all, she could feel the temperature dropping, and she really didn''t want to catch this world''s equivalent of the flu just because she was careless.


    She picked a random house and started to slowly map her surrounding, using her outstretched limbs as makeshift probes. After getting a rough outline of the scenery around her, the girl allowed herself to relax for a moment, to allow her racing heart to rest for a few moments.


    This apparent peace was, however, completely shattered within the next few moments, when the girl heard a shriek coming from another room. Standing up from where she had decided to rest for the night, she made a run for the door, only to realize a figure was blocking it.


    Standing against the moonlight, its features were hard to recognize, but its hideousness was more than visible. It had big, misshapen hands and feet, the former constantly groping the air in front of it as if it was trying to catch something that was never there.


    It had long, bony limbs, so thing they looked like they could snap at the slightest of pressures. Its arms were unnaturally lengthy, even more so than its legs, to the point where it was able to reach all the way to the ground with them.


    While she couldn''t see the face it had, the girl had a feeling that it was looking straight at her. She gulped as she stood there, petrified by the bizarre, see through ghost she had encountered.


    Despite the seeming extreme fragility of its body, Kary couldn''t help but feel wearier of the monster that had managed to sneak up on her without a single sound. Even with her almost paranoid carefulness, she had still failed to sense it approaching in any way, shape, or form, and that was enough to attest for its abilities.


    She wanted to run, but that would be pretty hard given the lack of illumination and her lack of knowledge of the general placement of objects within the precinct. Sure, she had managed to find her way through the rubble using her limbs as probes, but that required time and patience, two of the things she definitely didn''t have at the moment.


    For now, though, she needed to actually think of a way to escape. With the bizarre being blocking the only exit she knew of, there were no routes through which she could escape. The monster had her completely trapped.


    As the realization dawned on her mind, she started to silently panic at her own stupidity. Deep down, she knew it wasn¡¯t exactly her fault that she was in the situation she now faced, since the extremely dry climate had all but forced her to take shelter.Stolen novel; please report.


    But still, it was slightly unsettling that such a thing occurred with enough frequency that there were predators adapted to hunt those who needed to hide within the abandoned structures. She didn''t know for how long it had been there, stalking her, observing her every move, slowly waiting for an opportunity to gain the upper hand on its prey. And the time had come for it to make its move.


    It lunged forward, letting out a blood-chilling screech that resonated far into the night, making Kary''s heart almost skip a beat. Letting out a small yelp of surprise at the sudden movement, the girl turned around and began to run, despite knowing how bad it could end.


    She went through room after room, bumping and stumbling into everything, hitting every part of her body on the faded edges of the rock furniture. As she made her way through the wreckage, she refused to look back, afraid to even know how close to her the beast was.


    That turned out to be a mistake when, not even thirty seconds after the chase started, the girl felt a ghastly, freezing-cold hand touching her ankle. Surprised by the sudden stop of her momentum, she was flung forward, hitting her face on the hard floor.


    For a few moments, she could swear she was seeing stars, despite the fact that they were very much indoors. Then, remembering the precarious situation she was in, she tried to turn around, only to catch a glimpse of the distorted silhouette that had patiently followed her until here. The monster, however, seemed to have grown tired of playing with its food, as it slowly approached the knocked down girl.


    "Eek! Don''t... don''t come any closer! Or I''ll have to kill you!" Kary said, feigning confidence to the best of her abilities, which, to be honest, weren''t very impressive. The beast, seemingly coming to this conclusion as well, slowly stepped forward, navigating through the ancient location with an almost unfair ease.


    Before Kary could even think about doing anything, the monster was already closing on her, bringing its body closer and closer to hers. At this point, the girl could smell its rotten scent, of age and decomposition, a degraded ghost of the past, still clinging to reality, afraid to let go.


    If circumstances were different, Kary felt like she could even sympathize with the walking phantom of a long gone past. However, as things stood right now, she had no bigger desire than to make this gnarly corpse disappear from her sight.


    Contrary to her wants, the creature reached the girl. Under the faint moonlight that seeped through the multitude of cracks sprawled everywhere like cobwebs, Kary, for the first time, managed to get a glimpse of its face. And by god was it hideous.


    It had a savage grin spread across its face, a much too broad smile that revealed the shark-like pointed teeth hidden beneath the semi-translucent skin. Its eyes were hollow sockets, lair to nothing other than the accumulated regret of an unfulfilled life. On top of its head, there were a few tufts of hair, disheveled and greasy from the long time of neglect.


    Kary, seeing the beast being almost within touching distance, decided to turn around to fully face the incoming threat. What she didn''t expect, though, was the powerful foot striking her chest and pinning her to the ground. It was much, much stronger than its flimsy legs had any right to be. It was enough to break and crack some of her bones, enough to make her cry out at the sudden pain.


    The monster, apparently either unaware of her struggle or simple uncaring of it, approached until it was face to face with the girl, her somber expression quite the contrast with the confidence with which she had started her journey.


    For a few moments, they stared into each other''s eyes; as if they were long lost lovers who only after decades apart managed to meet again. It would be almost romantic, were it not for Kary''s battered body, the creature''s abnormalities and the girl''s bawling fist on the side.


    After making sure that the monster''s attention was concentrated solely on her face, Kary managed to deliver a powerful punch to its face, launching it to the far wall! Or, at least, that was what she hoped would happen.


    If she were to be honest with herself, she had zero confidence in her strength, but, at this point, there was nothing else that she could try. Heck, she didn''t even know if she could hit the creature at all ¡ª after all, that was usually the gimmick with these types of monster ¡ª.


    With a swift movement, she delivered her punch into the monster''s face, which was still stubbornly locked with hers. It let out a surprised, almost offended gnarl as it rolled out of her. Seeing its reaction, Kary couldn''t help but stare incredulously at her hand. It was a less powerful impact then what her wild imagination had predicted, yes, but it was still much stronger than anything Earth-Kary could ever do.


    Surprise gave way to confidence, which, in turn, quickly became realization as she remembered that she was pretty much pinned to the ground, broken bones and all that. Biting her lips so as to not let out any loud sounds, the girl slowly got up to her feet, panting and with a trail of red going down from her lips, tainting the already dirty, bloodied and battered dress.


    She looked at the direction the beast had been launched to, paying close attention to any movement coming from there. She couldn''t see the beast, despite the whisks of nightlight coming from the ceiling, but she could be prepared for when it inevitably fought back.


    Now, Kary wouldn''t pretend she had any fight experience. She had never been in a proper fight before that, with the closest thing to it being the times her mother would hit her when she got anything besides perfect grades. Even so, she had seen enough of it being represented in mangas to have at the very least a rough idea of how she should move.


    Sure, she probably would never be able to replicate the insane moves that would make any physicist cry, but she could at least use the characters'' posture to have an outline of the way she should stand.


    All of these thoughts immediately dispersed when the girl saw some movement in the darkness beyond. Intently staring at where she thought the monster was, Kary raised her fists, prepared to resist as best as she could, ready to fight to the death for this chance that had been granted to her.


    And then, it attacked again. Much to the girl''s relief, it seemed to be incredibly stupid, as it chose to attack her the same it had when they first found each other: lunging forward and hoping that the prey either had bad reaction time or that it tried to run away. Kary, having experienced first-hand the consequences of letting the thing land a hit, swiftly sidestepped the battering ram as it uncontrollably sped past her.


    As she walked to the side, she pivoted and landed a crunchy kick to its legs, though if it were her bones that were breaking or if it was the creatures, she didn''t know. Adrenaline was pumping like crazy, and, in the frenzy of the fight, she had become numb to her own pain. She already knew that her attacks would hurt both of them, as her initial punch had demonstrated, so she really didn''t need another thing to worry about as she danced with Death.


    The creature let out an angry roar as it stood limply on its three remaining limbs. Eyeing Kary with newfound resentment, it used its usable limbs to throw itself into the air, linking its oversized hands together in an attempt to squish the annoying insect that refused to be eaten.


    With a surprised gasp, Kary tried rolling out of the way, only for the pain in her stomach to make her stop for a brief moment. Of course, her pain receptors were already extremely dulled by the effects of adrenaline, but that didn''t mean that extreme amounts of pain wouldn''t manage to get through.


    This little pause, of a mere fraction of a second, was enough for the shockwave caused by the smashing move to send the girl tumbling to the side, intensifying the pain she felt tenfold. Lying on the ground, Kary struggled to breathe. She was tired, hurting all over, and knocked to the ground. Meanwhile, her opponent still seemed to be mostly healthy.


    Gritting her teeth, she slowly tried to get up again, only to receive a slap to the side of her face that sent her flying, much like how she had imagined the monster soaring through the air a few moments ago. Crashing into a sturdy wall, Kary coughed some of the blood that was accumulating in her throat, the dark red blending with the dark ambience.


    At this point, she keenly aware of the sheer physical difference between her and the beast. She knew that in a direct confrontation she would lose to it every time. And so, she needed to devise a plan, fast. For it hungered, and it would not wait. At least, not now that it had been injured.


    Her eyes darted from left to right as tried to move her arms and legs around in an attempt to assess the damage and, with that knowledge, form an action place. Thankfully, it seemed that she could still move everything, even if there was some sluggishness that didn''t exist before. Knowing that, Kary couldn''t help but show a slight grin on her face, because she knew that this fight was coming to a close, and that she would be the winner.


    From the corner of her eyes, she saw the beast slowly moving forward, cradling its broken leg with one of her arms as it used its other two healthy limbs to walk. The girl, seeing that, tried to be as quiet as she possibly could. She didn''t move, or breathed, making it so that the only way one could possibly know that she was alive without checking for her pulse would be through the growing grin on her face.


    When the creature was close enough to Kary''s face that she could feel its ragged breath, its stinky smell, the putrid odor of its blood, she opened her eyes, looking at the injured beast like a predator looking at an already dead prey. It was a slightly crazed look, one that the girl herself probably didn''t even realize she had, but it was enough to momentarily stun it.


    And so, she moved her arms as fast as her body allowed to, grabbing both sides of the monster''s head and violently twisting it. She heard something snap and, after some more struggle, the thing let out its last breath, it limped forward, almost falling on top of Kary, before she shoved it to the side, her breath ragged as she looked at the corpse she had just created through her own hands.


    No, that isn''t right... I didn''t create this corpse, much in the same way that I didn''t make it into a monster. It was already dead, long before it found me. Not only that, but this thing was dangerous. It almost killed me before I could even react to it! Hah... what the heck were those gods thinking, sending little old me to a place like this? Wait... huh? What is that?


    After landing the finishing blow, Kary noticed a strange thing appearing before her eyes. A string of numbers and letters that, no matter how much she tried to shove it away from her field of vision, stubbornly followed her.


    <(Lv 5) Remnant defeated>


    <XP: 0/50 ¡ú 50/50>


    <Level up! (Lv 1 ¡ú 2)>


    <XP: 0/100 ¡ú 100/100>


    <Level up! (Lv 2 ¡ú 3)>


    <XP: 0/200 ¡ú 50/200>


    <New skill: Tenacity (Lv 1)>


    <Strength received a +1 bonus>


    <Endurance received a +2 bonus>


    For a few moments, Kary stared in confusion at the nonsensical words, before she drew the connection to the few rpgs she had managed to sneakily play behind her mother''s back. She did sacrifice many nights of sleep for it, so at the very least she should remember having played them.


    She didn''t remember if Limo had mentioned anything about this, but it held some semblance to those generic stories that were for some reason always popular. She even tried giving them a try after seeing how much some of the boys from her school enjoyed them, but she honestly couldn''t see what was so great about them.


    But, if there was one thing almost universal to those stories, it was the presence of rpg-like stats pages. Considering what she had seen, Kary couldn''t help but wonder if it was the same in this world.


    Status She thought, not really expecting anything to happen. To her surprise, though, a big window spread in front of her eyes.


    <table width="47%">


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td width="59%">


    Name: Kary Denove


    </td>


    <td width="41%">


    Age: -


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="59%">


    Species: Mavka


    </td>


    <td width="41%">


    Lv: 3 (50/200)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="59%">


    (13 ¡Á 1.0) HP: 5/13


    </td>


    <td width="41%">


    Free points: 25


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="59%">


    (13 ¡Á 2.0) Mana: 26/26


    </td>


    <td width="41%">


    Job: None


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="59%">


    (13 ¡Á 1.7) Intelligence: 22


    </td>


    <td rowspan="2" width="41%">


    Titles (2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="59%">


    (13 ¡Á 1.8) Charisma: 23


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="59%">


    (14 ¡Á 1.1) Strength; 15


    </td>


    <td rowspan="2" width="41%">


    Skills (7)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="59%">


    (15 ¡Á 0.9) Endurance: 13


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    She stared at the screen for a few moments, trying to decipher the words and numbers. Most of it was pretty straightforward, but she had no clue about what "Mana" and "Intelligence" were supposed to represent. Sure, maybe the latter was as direct as it said, but then it wouldn''t make sense to be able to upgrade it through points, hence why she felt like it was related to something else. Maybe it was something to so with Mana.


    Ignoring these terms that she didn''t understand, Kary moved on to her titles, of which there were two, and her skills. Focusing on the word on her head, much like she had done before to open the status window, brought her a list of her current titles.


    <table width="49%">


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td width="28%">


    Blessed by Limo


    </td>


    <td width="71%">


    You were blessed by the deity of boundaries himself. If this is good or bad, only the future will tell.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="28%">


    Otherworldler


    </td>


    <td width="71%">


    You were brought to this realm trough forces outside the realm of imagination, maintaining all your memories during the process. You now have a like dependent entirely on you. Good luck.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    After reading the descriptions for both of her titles, Kary couldn''t help but feel a shiver running down her spine at the ominous messages they portrayed. Shaking her head to get rid of the negative thoughts, she waited until her mind had calmed down a bit with negativity. Only then did she try to see her skills, of which there were many more than what she had expected;


    <table width="51%">


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td width="33%">


    Lv 1 (0/50) Bone molding


    </td>


    <td width="66%">


    You are able to manipulate and extract bones from within living beings according to the amount of mana used.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="33%">


    Lv 1 (0/50) Charm


    </td>


    <td width="66%">


    You may use your mana and charisma to make something or someone more susceptible to your will.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="33%">


    Lv 10 (0/0) Half-dead


    </td>


    <td width="66%">


    You are able to interact with both the dead and the living. Damage from magical means significantly increased.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="33%">


    Lv 1 (12/50) Photosynthesis


    </td>


    <td width="66%">


    You are able to absorb a small amount of nutrients through the Sun, allowing you to slowly heal wounds.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="33%">


    Lv 1 (0/50) Spores


    </td>


    <td width="66%">


    You may use your mana to spread spores able to instill a dream of your choice into the mind of a charmed being.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="33%">


    Lv 1 (0/50) Tenacity


    </td>


    <td width="66%">


    You are able to heal faster and are more resistant to damage.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="33%">


    Lv 10 (0/0) Universal language


    </td>


    <td width="66%">


    You are able to understand, read and speak in every language of this world. Courtesy of Limo ;)


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Taking a brief look at the names and descriptions, Kary''s only conclusion was that skills were a lot more self-explanatory than her status in general, though that might just be because her skills all came with descriptions. From what little she understood, though, she was pretty satisfied with what she got. She didn''t how much of it she should give credit to the mad god, but she thought that at least a word of thanks was in order.


    Before that, though, she needed to make sure that she wouldn¡¯t die. It would be a shame if she passed away from her wounds right after finding a way to heal them. Of course, she was thinking about using


    , but, for that, she would need to go to an open area.


    With a reluctant grunt, the girl slowly walked through the debris, trying her very best not to stumble into anything there. Every step sent a wave of pure pain through her body, amounts much greater than anything she had ever seen back on Earth. But still, she continued her slow battle to the streets, covering ground at a snail''s pace, yes, but progressing nonetheless.


    She didn''t know how much time had passed since the fight, but, as she inched towards the door, she could see the night progressing, the pale light from the moon slowly giving way to the much warmer and intense illumination provided by the twin suns. Eventually, she made it to the street, where she promptly collapsed on.


    As her vision faded from pain and exhaustion, the girl could swear she heard the sound of footsteps in the distance. She, however, was too weak to even think about checking what it was. All that she knew was that they were probably getting closer.


    She tried to fight the sleepiness, to at the very least see the people coming, but Morpheus refused to wait. Despite the coldness and the lack of comfort of the ground, Kary felt herself growing more and more drowsy, until, just when she saw a pair of boots appearing within her line of sight, everything became dark once more.

 4. Sleeping beauty

    Tom immensely regretted accepting this job. Every time one of the white-haired researchers opened their mouth, he had to hold himself back to not scream on their faces. He was made aware that this would probably be a boring job, but by the gods had he underestimated it.


    Sure, the pay was great, but he couldn''t help but second guess himself, wondering if the money was enough to overshadow the complete boredom he felt. Day in and day out, he was tasked with protecting the old explorers, forced to listen to their endless rants and almost infinite speculations.


    Every time they left camp, he would hope for an encounter with the remnants, though he knew that wouldn''t happen, since they always disappeared by daybreak. If anything, the city of stone was a pretty peaceful, which was exactly what Tom hated the most about it.


    Of the few things the big man enjoyed in life, throwing his massive axe around was definitely among the very top. But here? The only use he was getting out of his beloved weapon was chopping down trees at the edge of the ruins. It infuriated him, the sheer disrespect those so-called scholars showed him and him axe. He could see the sneers, the contemptuous looks directed at him. Every single time, he couldn''t help but scoff at their self-granted superiority, as he knew that he could end almost everyone in that encampment. But he didn''t dare to do it.


    Not because he was afraid of not getting his pay, but because he knew that there were some monsters lurking in the sea of defenseless researchers. They hid well, to the point where a normal man wouldn''t feel a thing, but he knew they were there, patiently waiting for the time their abilities would be needed.


    As such, he was forced to follow the geezers every command like a loyal dog. It was an awful position he was in, and one where no one wanted to free him from. Until they finished studying whatever they wanted in this place, he was bound to keep playing along to their whims.


    This morning was no different. Waken coldly by a young servant whose face he didn''t bother to remember, he slowly got up from his straw bed, the wood creaking with his every move. With a grunt, he began to move towards the hole where a door would normally be. Of course, since this town had remained abandoned for so long, all wooden structures had long returned to the ground. And so, all the newer stuff had been brought by the expedition.


    From beds, workstations, and furniture to dried food, tents tools, it seemed that this exploration group had been preparing for quite some time. Tom couldn''t even begin to guess how much it had cost them. Just the money he was receiving for his daily service far surpassed what a normal peasant would earn in a month, and he was just one of the many people there.


    Grabbing his axe from the place he had left it the night before ¡ª right beside the door-hole ¡ª, he narrowed his eyes before stepping into the outside world. After all this time, he should have known that every day he was woken up before the suns rose in the horizon, but, every time, he still felt the need to prepare himself for the blinding light of the suns, and, every time, he would be left disappointed.


    With a sigh, he made his way down the road, approaching the site they were using. He had refused to sleep on the immediate proximity, since he was already annoyed enough by the constant talking during the day, and he honestly didn''t think he would manage to hold it together if he also had to endure their incessant discussions during the night.


    Within a few minutes, he could already hear their cheerful laughter, echoing through the empty houses. Tom furrowed his brows, the idea of working with these bothersome people one more day making the idea of simply leave during the night all the more appealing. But he had a reputation to maintain, since, if people were to begin to whisper about his incompetence, there would be no more honorable jobs for the foreseeable future.


    Of course, if push came to shove, he could always leave the country, though that would be his last resort. It was certainly possible, but it wasn''t easy by any means, and Tom wasn''t exactly dying to test his luck. With that thought, the thick-bearded man reached the square that was serving as the center of operations.


    His face clouded over as the noise pollution went up through the roof. Thankfully, his unfriendly face made most people to shy away from approaching him, so, most of the time; he was like an island of peace amidst the chaotic plaza. But, sadly, despite being able to shoo away most people, there were still some who appeared to be unbothered by his rough temperament.


    The most annoying example of one such person was the old Linus Antikva, a once-duke who had since debuted as an amateur explorer. His face always showed a kind smile, his wizened eyes and pure white hair enough to garner respect from most of his peers. The ones he wasn''t able to sway to his side from his looks and experience were convinced by the almost fanatic effort he put into his studies, his works making rounds around both the aristocracy and the common rabble.


    The old man walked slowly, using his simple, unadorned cane, completely unbefitting for someone of his position, to balance his frail body. Different from the remnants, which only appeared to be weak, this man, way past his prime, was as frail as a dry twig. Once wrong touch from Tom could accidentally end this man''s life.


    Because of that, his insistence in talking to Tom made the burly man noticeably uncomfortable, though the father of the current Count of Antikva seemed to be blissfully unaware of this. If he was, then he was very good at pretending he didn''t. With a kind smile on his face, showing his almost too white teeth, the old explorer once more approached the grizzly adventurer, who was sitting on the ground, enjoying some dry food with some water.


    "Hello there, friend. It seems we''ll have another eventful day, doesn''t it?" Tom looked up from his hard bread and, after taking a glance to see who was disturbing his meal, he once more looked down at his food, leaving behind only a grunt of acknowledgement. Undeterred by his cold facade, the old man continued with a nonplussed smile.


    "Do you mind if I sit with you? You see, the camp is pretty full of young and bright minds, and it is pretty hard for someone like me to interact with them"


    Every day the old man would come, make the same question, and then sit once Tom had given his consent. Since that had been going for the past few days, the big man wondered what would happen if he just provoked the noble a little bit.


    "Do whatever you like. It doesn''t matter if I give you permission or not, does it? You are a high noble, so you must be quite used to having things go your way" Tom said, some venom seeping into his tongue. At that statement, which, for most, would result in a one-way trip to the chopping block, Linus simply smiled in understanding.


    Taking out some strips of dried meat from the pocket of his brown robe, the almost ancient man slowly lowered himself, until he was sitting in front of Tom with crossed legs, his back straight as an arrow. Without a change to his smile, he began to chew on the meat. At that moment, Tom''s image of the man had been completely shattered. Though he still looked like a frail person, he still had strong enough muscles to be able to thoroughly chew on the hard food.


    Looking around, the man with the hard bread couldn''t see anyone important paying attention to Linus. There were people talking around campfires, disagreements happening in front of barracks, serious discussions taking place on top of the horse carts. But not one among the ones he knew could hold themselves in a fight was looking after the old man. Perhaps it had been a request from him, or perhaps he was a monster entirely out of his league, strong enough to completely mask his strength.


    The big man swallowed the piece of hard bread he was fighting to get through his throat before once more looking at Linus. While Tom, who had been an adventurer for a little over a decade, still had to fight with his preserved food, the old man, who should reasonably have more difficulty eating, was devouring the dried meat as if they were fresh and well cooked.


    Tom began to sweat, as he began to think that he had severely misjudged the old man. With a sigh, he began to talk, all the while wondering how he had never realized the true powerhouse he had been badmouthing daily


    "Why do keep coming here? It''s not like there aren''t better people to talk to. You should have realized it by now right? I''m not particularly welcome here. Everyone tolerate me, but that''s all"


    "Quite the self-aware gentleman you are, yes? But you seem to be misunderstanding something. I couldn''t care less about what the people here think about you. You said it right the first time: I am a high noble, and, as one, I''ve been around my fair share of... undesirable people. Sadly, it seems that no matter where I go I still have to deal with people like that. I''ve long learned how to ignore them, and so should you, if you plan to undertake any jobs like this"


    At that, Tom let out a hearty laugh, scaring some of the researchers and annoying some others. "No way in hell I''m doing anything like that again. I''m all for walking around dangerous places, but this right here is simply not what I enjoy. There''s a big difference between walking through a dungeon filled to the brim with monsters and having a leisure journey through an empty city while listening to stuff that does not interest me. You''ve got to understand, man, how horrible it is to be almost forced to do something you wholeheartedly despise"


    "Oh, but I quite understand the feeling, for I was probably the single most spiteful noble there ever was. Politics, economics, treachery and fake smiles, the essentials of a good noble, were subjects that numerous times feel antsy about being of noble blood. For was I not supposed to protect my own people? How could I do that while accepting bribes with a smile on my face?"


    "But still, there was no one else to lead the duchy, as my brothers had passed away for various reasons, and my sisters had been long betrothed to other families. I ask you to trust me when I say that I stepped down from the slimy world of nobility as soon as I had the chance. It was nice to remind myself of what happiness looked like. To go out and actually see the results of all the work you fought for. At times, I would spend so long incarcerated on a prison of my own making that I caught myself asking if I was doing anything at all!"


    Tom couldn''t help but stare at the old man like he was seeing an alien. Up until now, his vision of nobles had always been that they were untouchable gods, capable of doing anything the felt like doing, trampling all over the common folks. To be fair, it wasn''t as if he had interacted with many nobles, though the rumors about them were numerous and seldom positive.


    Seeing someone who used to be an integral part of this whole system so casually speaking to Tom about its disgusting, hidden facade, the man was forced to acknowledge the old man. I would be one thing if he had simply pretended to agree with Tom''s speech, but the glint in his eyes and the deep frown on his wrinkly face told another story.


    With a faint trace of smile on his face, he opened his mouth to reply to Linus, when a man on the center of the square suddenly shouted, loud and clear for everyone to hear:


    "Group one; please walk towards the east gate! Today''s expedition is about to start! I repeat, group one; please walk towards the east gate! The main researchers await you! The other groups, your placement will be decided once your leaders reach some form of consent! For now, only the remains of group one; walk towards the east gate!"


    With an annoyed expression, Tom grabbed his axe, which was lying just beside him on the grass, strapped it to his back, and got up. After storing the rest of his hard bread on his pocket, he bid farewell to Linus, whose smile had not changed in the slightest, and moved to the place where he saw a congregation of people arriving.


    When he reached the place, he saw that, much like in the other days, people were getting shuffled around based on the judgment of a tall, sharp eyed woman. She had short, dark hair, a perfect match with her pitch-black eyes, which seemed to draw in anyone who dared to stare at her. Her skin had a bronze tinge to it, acquired through hours spent under the lashings of the twin suns.


    She was one of the few people in the entire place Tom actually respected, though he would never say it out loud. That was probably one of the main reasons why he had been allocated to this group, since the man was much too stubborn and prideful to lend an ear to his previous superiors.


    When she saw the burly man, almost a head taller than most people there, approaching with heavy steps, she flashed a friendly smile, a rarity among these parts. Waving at Tom, the woman addressed him.


    "Tom, today I ask to be at the front with Martin and Anna" Seeing his expression quickly souring, she immediately added "I know you aren''t the biggest fan of them, but please, try to at least not kill each other. And if you really want to do it, at least go somewhere we can''t see" That earned her some weird looks, but she couldn''t care less for the group''s approval. She was in charge, plain and simple, and, if there was anyone better versed in strategy than her, then they were free to command.


    Acknowledging the orders with a small nod, Tom made his way through the parting group, his mere presence making people back away. Not long after, he reached the front, where a short girl sat on a crate, polishing some silver knives. Her curly, chestnut-colored hair descended in cascades to her shoulder, hiding her expression from his eyes. From the few bits of exposed flesh Tom could see, there were a number of scars scattered throughout her body.


    Next to her was a man almost as tall as Tom, though their figures much differed when it came to their wideness. Despite both having brown hair, there were no scars on the man''s slightly tanned arms. He took a quick glance at Tom before once more directing his attention to his surroundings.


    The man himself almost felt offended by the offhanded way he was treated, and he would, had he not known this peculiar pair of brother and sister. He was still a little peeved, of course, but that was just par with the course when dealing with these two.


    Giving them a silent nod, Tom began to look around, much like the lanky man had been doing for a while. Seeing as there were no threats in the immediate vicinity, he relaxed a little bit. Just to be safe, though, he picked his axe from his back and stood ready to smash anything unknown that appeared.


    With that tense atmosphere, the three of them waited for the orders to march forward. For what seemed like an eternity, nothing happened, and, while they could hear people talking in the back, the place they were put in was as quiet as a cemetery. Tom looked at the sky, while Anna kept polishing her daggers and her brother kept checking the alleyways for any threat.


    When they heard the call to move, the trio wordlessly got up and began to walk on the front, each of them fully preoccupied with their own thoughts. Tom worried that this exploration would last longer than the other ones, since much of the area around the campsite had been amply dissected.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    If they ended up staying outside during the night, than he would have to trust the protection of the researchers to the duo walking alongside him, something that didn''t really sit well with him just as much as it probably didn''t sit well with them.


    He let out a sigh as he shook these thoughts out of his head. It was okay to be prideful, but such arrogance, even in an environment filled with weak monsters, was akin to asking for death. Looking at the uneven terrain littered with chunks of stone, Tom resigned himself, saying that he would ask the pair for help if it was needed, though he hoped it wouldn''t be.


    For a few hours, they did nothing but walk through the labyrinthine city, its walkways a little bit too narrow and a little bit too long. At some point, the people in charge of the exploration had joined the three silent adventurers on the front, guiding them towards their objective today. Since Tom had completely given up on knowing where they were days before, he simply went with the flow, following wherever the people who knew what they were doing went.


    They passed through houses, fountains and plazas, never stopping to rest until their superiors gave their permission. And, by now, Tom knew that they would only relay the order to rest once they were thoroughly spent. With that piece of knowledge, he couldn''t help but smirk a little, imagining the daily despair of those researchers who only walked to and from their fancy labs.


    His expression quickly soured, however, when they turned a corner. Amidst the rubble and the general chaos of the street in front of them, Tom saw a strange silhouette on the ground in the distance. He gripped tightly his axe as he stole a glance at the brother and sister walking alongside him. Seeing that they too were grabbing their weapons, respectively a cane and twin daggers, he felt a little less on edge, though he was still prepared to kill.


    He had never seen something like that before, so he needed to exert utmost caution. The group slowly approached the being sprawled on the middle of the road. The closer they got, the weirder the thing on the ground appeared to be.


    It resembled a human being, but not in the distorted way remnants did. Her proportions were all more or less correct, even for someone like Tom, who only knew how to fight. Still, he could feel that there was something unnatural about the being. It didn''t resemble any species Tom had ever seen


    The first thing he noticed was the color of the skin ¡ª white, way too white ¡ª. It was as if she had been wrapped in those expensive sheets of paper nobility often liked to use. It went far beyond the lack of pigmentation originated from the lack of sunbathing, to the point where the man thought she was even paler than the few vampires he had interacted with. He stared wearily at the being, his eyebrows creasing as he tried to imagine a being with even less color than a corpse.


    The next thing that caught his attention was the number of wounds sprawled across the feminine body, from which greenish blood seeped out. But, if it had been just that, than Tom wouldn''t even have betted an eye.


    No, the thing that truly made him take a double take was the visible rate at which those wounds were healing themselves. Seeing that, he couldn''t help but swallow the lump of saliva that was forming inside his throat, for he knew the dangers of a monster with such high regeneration abilities.


    His eyes continued moving upwards, taking in the torn and ragged white dress, probably once just as unblemished as the skin, which was tainted with splotches of green and black, as well as a bit brownish in general. He passed through the twin peaks hidden beneath the dress, the thin, but not unnaturally so neck, and eventually reaching its ¡ª no, her ¡ª face, where he had to put quite some effort into maintaining his stoic appearance.


    She had pristine white hair, in a slightly darker tone than her skin, almost as if it was made out of liquefied silver. Though it was disheveled and marred with both blood and dirt, Tom still felt as if he was staring at something that simply didn''t belong to this world.


    In that position, eyes lightly closed as she peacefully slept on the ground, despite the sorry sight in which they had found her, she almost looked like a runaway princess, exhausted of a long day being chased by relentless knights. With this thought, Tom became unsure about what to do.


    On one hand, he keenly understood the dangerous foe that calmly rested in front of them and, because of that, he was ready to kill. On the other, it simply didn''t feel right to kill someone purely based on first impressions. If that was the case, then the pair staring with wide eyes at the girl would have been dispatched from this world long ago.


    But still, they remained, proof of Tom''s surprisingly big well of patience. At a loss, the big man looked around, taking in the myriad of expressions shown by the rest of the group. Some were wary, some were mesmerized, and some looked like they had found a new toy to experiment with. Sensing the rift that was beginning to appear within the group, the woman on command quickly began barking orders.


    "Anna! Martin!"


    ""Yes ma''am!"" They both responded in perfect unison. With a light smile tugging her lips, she continued, pointing towards the place where the strange girl seemed to have come from.


    "Investigate that house, and then report to me. I don''t want no lackluster search either, do you hear me?! Flip this house upside down if you need to, but I want clear answers on what happened here, understood?!"


    ""Yes!"" At that, the woman couldn''t help but show the same grin that had once terrified so many cadets. She showed her white teeth, as sharp as the ones belonging to wild beast, and continued, her voice reaching far into the distance.


    "Then what are you standing there for?! GO!" At that, the two quickly made their way into the building and out of Tom''s sight. After that, the man had to wonder what they would do with the girl on the ground. He didn''t feel like killing her, nor did he want to see her become another failed experiment. He eyed the commander as he awaited he decision. She seemed to think for a bit, weighting different options, until she came to a conclusion.


    "I don''t know where she is from, or what her objectives are, but you are not to touch a strand of hair from her until I say so! Understood?!" With that, even the most stubborn of the researchers couldn''t meet her gaze, and were forced to simply mutter a shallow, unconvincing "Yes..."


    For a few more seconds, the woman continued to stare intently at the ones who appeared to be the most eager to dissect the strange girl''s body apart. She could see that most of them were young, and probably desperate to prove their worth to their seniors, but she couldn''t help but cast a disapproving glace to said seniors, who moments before were also eyeing the being in front of them like a specimen to be thoroughly tested.


    After seeing that some of the expedition members'' legs had begun to tremble as if they were desperate to alleviate themselves, her gaze softened a tiny little bit, and she retracted the bloodlust she had been using to giving them all a scare. Feeling like her work there was done; she turned to Tom, who was staring wide-eyed at her as sweat poured from every pore of his skin.


    Well, shit. I did want to give those guys a lesson, especially Brandon, that fool, but I didn''t really intend to affect the other members. One day! One day I''ll refine my control of my aura! Until then, well... umm... sorry?


    Ignoring the embarrassing thoughts that began to form on her head, the toned woman addressed the clearly unwell man who kept stealing glances at her, His arm still firmly gripped the handle of his axe, almost as if afraid of what would happen if he let go.


    She felt bad for the man, of course, but there was nothing she could do except apologize for the incident in her head, since she would never allow her image to be tarnished like that. Her reputation was that of an iron-fisted commander, and she would rather it stayed that way.


    *Cough* *Cough* "So, Tom, can you help me here with the girl? We need to bring her back to our camp before someone tries to do something with her, though I doubt we have anyone this foolish among us" Hearing the request, the man almost wanted to say no, but, after seeing for himself the sheer strength that the woman in front of her could unleash whenever she felt like it, he suddenly felt very compelled to play along with it.


    "...Sure?"


    "Why are you asking me that?"


    "I don''t know, you ask me"


    "I already did!"


    "Well... shit"


    "Pfft... heheheh. Aren''t you a funny one! Come on, help me pick her up. You grab the head and I lift the legs"


    "Sure"


    Listening to the awkward conversation, the nearby men couldn''t help but cringe under the official standardized brown-colored coats. A few of them thought the situation was completely ridiculous, with the demon who was just moments before belittling them now struggling to hold a conversation with a mere adventurer. Others however, had to hide their little grins as wild scenarios played on their heads.


    Blissfully unaware of the situation, the two of them lifted the sleeping girl with such care that it made some question if that blood-seeking devil belonged to the same body of that woman capable of showing such affection. Of course, no one even dared to think about uttering these intrusive questions out loud, lest they caused hell''s gates to once more open.


    After making sure the girl was stable, Tom was asked to wait for the return and subsequent report of the two adventurers who had gone investigate the house where the unknown girl seemed to have come from. Minutes passed painfully slowly as the two of them held onto the girl, the complete silence that surrounded them almost unnerving.


    Thankfully, this agonizing wait rapidly came to an end, as footsteps could be heard from within the house and, within a few more seconds, two figures left the shadows, their faces a mask of indifference. Tom had seen those expressions quite a few times before, as they were one of the reasons why he simply couldn''t get along with the duo even if his life depended on it.


    Those faces were the sign that they had found something bad, but said something didn''t have anything to do with them. It was the coldness one would expect from an adventurer, but it was the one thing Tom never quite managed to get the hang of. Too emotional, some of his colleagues would call him. Too susceptible to loss is what they wanted to say. That lesson, Tom learned in the most gruesome of ways, and it still haunted him in his nightmares to this day.


    And yet, different from the cold, cool, and indifferent duo, Tom resisted the urge to let go, to allow himself to sink into nothingness, to become a husk of what he had once been. It was a grueling task, one which he took years upon years to reach an acceptable level, but he didn''t know if he would truly be himself if he had simply given up his emotions.


    After all, could life even be enjoyed without them? What would be his reaction to a masterfully crafted poem recited by the most angelical of voices, if not apathy? What would he feel in face of tragedy, in front of unconquerable challenges, besides resignation? How would he live, knowing all it took to break him, to shatter him into unrecoverable pieces, was a difficult moment?


    That was why he fought every day, to keep his sanity, to allow himself to continue being... him. And that was why he could never stand the brother and sister pair, who had long given up on anything other than themselves, their unfulfilled lives watching their every move, stalking, haunting, but never manifesting beyond their own minds.


    Tom would almost feel bad for them, had he not heard about their story. Not from them, of course. Knowing what he knew, knowing what they had done, he would be hard pressed to find even a little bit of empathy to spare them. They had been fools, arrogant and ambitious, too hard-headed to be reasoned with, too pretentious to listen to others, too proud to turn back, too self-pitying to grieve, too weak to recover.


    Without realizing it, the conversation had already moved on without him, and they appeared to be talking about who would assume the command of the exploration group while he and the actual woman-in-charge moved the girl to the camp. Tom listened, uninterested, as the boring conversation refused to come to a close.


    "What makes you think you have the capabilities of leading this group? Don''t overestimate your abilities, kid; it is clear that I should take command. If you can''t see that, then you are just a fool, deluding yourself to think you are worth infinitely more than you true value"


    "Ha, ha, ha. Your jokes are quite funny, but, unfortunately, old people should remain in bed, lest they stumble on the floor and laughably pass away. Look! It''s almost noon, isn''t it? Shouldn''t you and these soon-to-be piles of bones you call friends be already asleep? You wouldn''t want to develop problems due to your stubbornness, would you? So you should simply take a seat, relax, and allow the younger generation to take the lead"


    "Heh, and allow myself to be made a fool by those close to my heart? Young man, it seems that being around so many brilliant minds made it so that you mistakenly thought you numbered among them. It is time you wake up from your delusions, boy, before you end up hurting yourself"


    "Hurt myself?! Do you even hear what you''re saying, granny?! Don''t you see just how much more probable it is for you to be the one to end up hurt instead?! Don''t you feel ashamed for trying to hog all the achievements for yourself and your so-called friends?! Can''t you comprehend the need to allow the young to learn from experience?! How much of a fool can you be?!!!"


    Seeing the heating discussion, Tom couldn''t help but show a little smile. While he didn''t appreciate the verbal violence hurled towards the seniors, or the passive aggressive tone used to the young, he had to admit that it was quite the amusing situation. However, not everyone thought like that.


    "Silence, you fools! Either you stop this useless competition of insults, or I''ll have you both come with me back to the main camp. The choice is yours, either speak like the dignified men, I thought you were, or leave like whiny brats"


    At that, the young man, despite being backed by some of his colleagues, had to back down and concede victory to the other team, for he was terrified of angering that woman. The old lady, on the contrary, smiled mischievously, as she knew that the victory was hers. Even if these young men with inflated egos dared to show such blatant disrespect to their elders, they would never openly oppose absolute strength, of which the commander had in droves.


    "Good. If that is decided, than I, along with Tom, will take my leave. Anna, Martin, I trust you to prevent any unnecessary squabbles from happening, and to protect these fools should anything happen. Do you understand?"


    ""Yes, ma''am!""


    "Good, Then you shall continue with exploration. Come, Tom, let us take this girl back"


    "...Okay"


    And so, the long and tedious journey back began, with the two of them carefully maneuvering through the scattered debris, in order to make sure that the girl in their arms was as stable as they could make her. Of course, even if one of them stumbled, they most probably wouldn''t fall, but any sudden movements should be avoided when dealing with a patient. At least, that was how the commander put it to Tom.


    Eventually, though, the almost mute group arrived in the campsite, which was, by that point, very scarcely populated. There were some people tending the horses and doing things on the makeshift workstation that had been hurriedly built. Most of the remaining people didn''t even bother to look at the arriving trio, too engrossed on their own activities, though the ones who did failed to hide their curiosity.


    Only then, in a place where she felt more comfortable in, did the commander once more open her mouth. "Do you have somewhere we can take her? I wouldn''t call what I''ve been sleeping on a bed, per se, so I refuse to allow her to be placed there"


    "Don''t we have beds for any patients that might arrive?"


    "Oh, you''re right! Huh, despite your appearance you''re quite observant"


    "Oi, what do you meant with that?!"


    "Nothing, nothing. Come on, let¡¯s get going"


    "...You do know where the medical tent is, right?"


    "Of course I know! I was required to learn before we set out in this expedition! You see, despite how I look, I''m an actual knight commander, so I had to take some responsibilities during my life"


    "So you aren''t as hopeless as you seem to be" Tom replied under his breath, which didn''t prevent the woman walking right in front of him from hearing it.


    "Huh?! Want to say that again?!"


    "No ma''am. I would never dare, ma''am"


    "Good, because we''re here"


    Tom couldn''t see it; since he had his back turned to it, but in front of them sat the biggest tent in the entire camp. Even the little workshops sprawled across the plaza couldn''t compare. After all, they didn''t want anyone to die because they had been too stingy, so the people in charge had commissioned a tent of the highest size and quality they could find.


    Inside, there were a few rows of lightly cushioned fabric rectangles, almost all of which remained empty. Out of the ten, two had people with pretty badly broken bones, their rusty swords thrown without much care to the side. Tom winced as he thought about the cuts in the budget originated from the superfluous needs of the explorers and researchers who had decided to mount an expedition to this old city. In the end, they had only managed to hire a few high-leveled adventurers, filling the obvious gaps with a bunch of lower-leveled ones.


    Of course, this backfired in spectacular fashion, as demonstrated by the two groaning men whimpering on their uncomfortable beds. Thankfully, in the other piece of cloth was not a defeated warrior, but a girl still wearing her school''s uniform, her eagerness to join the group resulting in a feverish state due to the stress she was put under.


    Tom looked around, but he was unable to locate the doctor anywhere within the tent. With no better option, he sighed, before looking at the toned woman standing in front of him. "We should put her on one of these cloths and wait for a doctor. Or I can go find him"


    "Of course, of course, the girl should be allowed some rest. The gods know the absurd trials she had to go through" Tom was, admittedly, quite curious about what exactly had happened to the girl, but he refrained from saying anything, as he thought it would sound bad if he admitted that he hadn''t been paying attention to what Anna and Martin were saying. With a vague nod, they began walking to the closest empty mattress.


    Slowly, they moved her down, carefully laying her such that she was facing the refined cloth used for the tent. Getting up from his awkward squatting position, Tom let out a sigh, his expression brightening just a little bit at the feeling of a job well done. Taking a glance to the woman to his side, he could see that she also appeared to be quite satisfied.


    With that, they turned around, ready to begin the quest to find the doctor, wherever he may be. However, they were interrupted by a slow, raspy, almost inaudible voice coming from behind them. It sounded confused, wary, on edge, and, most of all, very, very tired.


    "Where... am ...I?"

 5. Writhing nightmares

    Kary found herself floating, weightless, drifting through empty space as naturally as if she was breathing. It was like she had been born to float, to endlessly drift through the vastness of space, undeterred by the celestial bodies'' gravitational pull, unbound by their space-time distortions.


    She felt weightless, a being as light as a plume, gently making her way across the empty plane. However, at the same time, she felt heavy, so incredibly heavy that she thought she might collapse into a black hole at any moment. Even then, she continued to move, without attracting anything or being attracted by anything, simply passing through strange objects that didn''t particularly seems to belong in space.


    They were simple objects, small things belonging to her past life, things that she thought to have left behind quite some time ago. She saw her table in the distance, the books piling up and slowly moving outwards. She saw the desk in which she seated in school, the white board filled with nonsensical equations and words that refused to make sense.


    Furthermore, she saw the apartment where she coexisted with her mother, its walls slowly being swallowed by the darkness, their contents vigorously devoured, until nothing but the disapproving gaze of her mother remained, lingering in the air, judging silently the girl. Kary cowered under the cold gaze, its sharpness used since she had been born as a way to subdue her.


    Even after dying, even after being reborn into another plane of existence, a place where no one knew her and where no one could judge her, that hateful glare still followed her, refusing to disappear into nothingness as all the other things had. It felt restricting, suffocating, painful. Her breathing became ragged as her mind showed moment after moment of relentless abuse, the reality she so badly wanted to forget.


    She tried to scream into the void, to bed that it stopped, but no sound came out, for no sound could travel in the vacuum of space. Tears began to form around the corner of her red eyes, dripping into the ground that wasn''t there just now. She was at home, though calling it ''home'' might be giving it too much credit. Her ''house'' perhaps, the place where she went to spend the night.


    She was in the kitchen, kneeling on the ground as spiteful words filled with sarcasm and dripping with annoyance were flung at her. They came too fast; she couldn''t process it, the confusion overwhelming the pain she was supposed to be feeling. An open palm approached her, ready to hit her cheek with strength uncharacteristic of the old woman to whom the hand belonged.


    Closing her eyes, Kary awaited for the slap, but it never came. Slowly, she opened her eyes, only to be confronted with the sound of sirens and the smell of smoke. She looked around, startled, only to find a car half-melted into the ground, its owner''s cries for help echoing through the cold concrete wall that surrounded her.


    Kary recognized these walls, which created a small room in her school, a place where the sports utensils were stored. She knew by heart where it was located and how to get there from basically anywhere in the building, for she had probably spent more time there during her childhood than she had at home.


    Ah, childhood. Good times... no. Even if she forced herself to look back with rose-tinted glasses, the pungent smell of leather, mold and greasy food refused to leave her mind, a constant reminder of where things went spiraling down. She doubted she would ever forget the day her father left her, the state he left her mother in, the constant violence he had always taciturnly allowed, cranked up to eleven.


    The tears began to flow uncontrollably, filling the little storage area with unnatural speed; Kary couldn''t even feel her sobbing, but she knew that, if she could, she would be bawling her eyes out, emptying her every emotion into this empty space. But, regardless of how real it looked, that was all it was: empty. Fake. Crazy machinations of a broken mind, forgotten and abused, left on the brink of collapse.


    In the closed, dark, underwater room, Kary reached out to her knees, allowing herself to float, weightless, in fetal position. Water entered her lungs after she was forced by her own body to take in a deep, moist breath. For all intents and purposes, she should feel scared; she should be terrified of the idea of drowning. Hell, she should be feeling something, and yet, she felt nothing but the ice-cold water surrounding her, compressing her, tightening around her body like a rope around a neck.


    She saw the last bubbles of air leaving her mouth and disappearing into the air, before the entire room began to collapse in and on itself. Unblinking, the drowning girl saw the walls coming closer, becoming more distorted, more unnatural, impossible in their architecture and questionable in their design. She noticed the blue light from the water growing dimmer, melting into the dark walls, the dark, boundless space, until there was nothing left to see. No walls, no basketballs, no Kary, nothing.


    At last, Kary closed her heavy eyelids and, with a silent sigh, allowed herself to be taken by the darkness. For a few moments, her mind raced to engrave this worrying dream into her brain, but, before long, it, too, began to fade away, like memories from a time long past. She tried to scream once more, to force her body to remember everything that had happened here. But... where was here? What was she doing? What was it again that she wanted to remember?


    Kary awoke with a jolt, startled and confused. Her mind was fuzzy, unable to remember anything from the night before. She struggled to form thoughts, to convey her ideas, to act upon said thoughts. She felt heavy, as if she had been asleep for a long time. Curiously, despite how utterly spent her body felt, the girl herself felt... surprisingly alive. No matter how much she scrambled her mind, she could not remember the last time when she was this energetic.


    If that was a good or a bad sign, only time would tell, but she was feeling uncharacteristically optimistic. That optimism, however, would never be able to accomplish anything if she were to remain still like a corpse, much like she was right at that moment. Straining her ears, she could make the sound of people talking, though what they were saying remained a mystery to her, despite being pretty sure that she knew whatever language was being spoken.


    Gathering all of her meager courage, she attempted to ask them where she was, but no voice left her throat, only a dry, almost silent hiss. Once more, she tried to exert the power of speech, only to once again fail. Annoyed at the frailty of her own body, she tried one last time, now putting her all into making any sort of sound that could be understood,


    "Where... am... I?" She slowly articulated. Her heavy eyelids still refused to allow the entrance of any light into her eyes, so she could only rely on her other senses to get a grasp of the reaction of the people who had probably brought her here... wherever ''here'' was.


    She could hear the sound of fabric, followed right after by heavy footsteps on the grass below, probably enough to leave dents for quite some time. The noises became louder and louder, until the two people stood right beside her. From high above, a deep, somber voice spoke, presumably to the figure flanking Kary.


    "Is she awake?"


    "... Maybe? I mean, she did speak, but her eyes are still tightly closed. Perhaps it¡¯s just her body doing weird things"


    "Let''s hope she is, in fact, awake. You know what happen to those who get possessed by demons in their sleep, right?"


    "Wasn''t that just speculation? I don''t think there was ever any proof that those poor souls had ever met with the demons, or that they were possessed by them. Fear mongering, is what they called it in the military. A very efficient strategy, if you ask me, but completely unfounded in truth"


    "Shh! Careful, you crazy woman! Don''t you know that they have eyes everywhere?! Do you have any idea about how many of the people here pray for a deity or the other? You should know that they don''t take blasphemy lightly..."


    "Well, yes, I am very much aware of the scary number of both young and old who continue to adore the gods as if they were responsible for all the amazing stuff we have developed over the years. Honestly, every time I hear them praising something as ''the gods'' miracle, I can''t help but feel pity for the author. After all, you wouldn''t particularly enjoy having your work attributed to some nameless entity nobody has ever seen, would you?"


    "... No, I guess not. Just... make sure you never say this near the rest of the folks. Most... don''t take nearly as well as I did"


    "Yeah, yeah. I''m not that dumb. Most importantly, you should check if the girl is awake. After all, there are a couple of things I want to ask her, and I can''t exactly do that if she''s still passed out"


    "Why me, though? Aren''t you the woman here? Shouldn''t it be your role to comfort the kid after she survived such a rough night?"


    "Fine, fine. Tsk, you and your sound logic" Kary once more heard the sound of fabric shuffling, before the woman once more began to speak, her voice appearing to be much closer than it was just moments before. "So, girl, are you awake?" To that, Kary tried to nod her head, but her stiff body refused to comply. A few unsavory and unladylike noises escaped her lips as she exerted all her strength into moving her neck, eventually managing, through great effort, to weakly nod her pale head.


    Noticing the girl being almost unable to move her body, the woman held Kary''s shoulders with both hands, her grip much stronger than what the tired and still wounded girl expected. Ignoring the noticeable discomfort on the girl''s face, the commander began to fiercely shake the pale figure''s body, rocking muscle and bone, throwing her organs around like Ping-Pong balls.


    If Kary hadn''t been awake before, now she was fully conscious and ready to fight for her life. Her eyes opened in an instant, the sudden intake of light momentarily blinding her. After a few more seconds of incessant, violent shaking, she began to notice some of the features of the place she was in. Nothing too detailed, of course, since her situation at the moment didn''t particularly favored detailed analysis, but she could see that they were in some kind of crude building, the ceiling high and the floor a green carpet.


    In front of her was the face of a woman. She tried to discern more details about her, but the vertigo she felt and the growing need to empty her stomach were pretty damn good at maintaining her figure a blurry mystery. Sure, she could see that she was a stark contrast with her own deathly pale body, the unique, bronze color beautiful enough to make Kary''s sight firmly fixated in the shaking mess of colors in front of her.


    She could see what probably was the man who had been speaking to the tanned woman in front of her. He appeared to be wearing a dark set of clothes, though any details beyond that were impossible for her to discern. For now, she simply needed to endure the torture she was undergoing, unable to have a say in it, forced to have her brain bouncing around her head like a DVD logo.


    Her consciousness began to once more diminish as her body struggled to handle the constant rocking and the nauseating amount of sensory information she was receiving at every moment. Eventually, she began to catch only a few glimpses of the world around her in between the darkness that permeated the corners of her reality. Time seemed to stretch and bend, its logic no longer enough to describe whatever it was that Kary was feeling.


    After what seemed to be an eternity, the incessant shaking finally came to a halt. Kary felt angry, confused, dizzy, tired, and hurt. Angry at the sudden and uninvited journey through higher planes of existence, confused by the lack of continuity between the day before and now, dizzy from the rather rough wake up call. Tired and hurt from the fight she just had, though she wasn''t sure about how long ago in the past said fight had occurred. She felt so many things at once, so many stuff she wanted to say, to ask, and yet, nothing left her throat.


    She could feel her gastrointestinal acids coming up, undeterred by her fleshy insides. It hurt, the burning sensation enveloping her whole. After the strange but powerful woman stopped shaking her, Kary immediately dropped to all fours, trying her very best not to look up. After all, she wasn''t really looking forward to seeing this world''s natives reacting to her puking her guts out.


    There wasn''t really much in her stomach, since she hadn''t eaten anything since she arrived in this world, but whatever was there was soon enough very much not. On the ground, a small, transparent puddle of acid ate its way through the foliage, all the way to the floor. Staring intently at it, Kary couldn''t help but feel disgusted, though at what exactly she didn''t know. Maybe at herself, maybe at her frail body, maybe at the monstrously strong people inhabiting this place.


    Slowly, very slowly, she looked up from her shameful position, expecting distressed stares, perhaps an astonished look, perplexed, even. Contrary to her expectations, though, the woman seemed to be completely taken aback by the consequences of her actions. Her eyes were teary as she looked at the pitiful girl on the ground with deep regret. On the side, Tom simply stared daggers into his irresponsible commander, all the while wondering just how skilled she would have to be to be able to have this position even when her mind is filled with nothing but worms.


    The woman keenly felt the cold stare from the burly man, his gaze almost burning twin holes into her empty head. Still, she didn''t try to make any sudden moves. Even with her usual lack of awareness, she could still understand that she had messed up. If she had to be honest with herself, then she would justify her actions just now by stating that she had been spending way too much time around her fellow knights, and that she had become unaccustomed to treating regular civilians like that walking ceramic pots they were.


    Still, she couldn''t help but feel ashamed at herself. After all, was a knight who couldn''t control their own strength anything more than a sad failure of a human being? It should have been part of her duty, to protect the innocent and use appropriate force to deal with whatever evils were thrown her way, but she had utterly failed this deceivingly simple task. As a knight, she felt ashamed of herself, of her inability to properly act like one, despite her previous boasting to Tom.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Even as she drowned in self-pity, she could not draw her attention from the wide-eyed girl who still stood there, on all fours, like a petrified dog who had been turned into a human by some forbidden magic. She looked to the bronze-colored beauty kneeling on the ground, and, from her, she stared at the stoic man carrying an axe not too far away from them.


    Feeling much more awake now, thanks to the rather crude method employed by the tall lady in front of her, Kary decided to repeat her earlier question, this time in a much more natural way, as the hardships of keeping herself awake had all but vanished.


    "Where am I? What happened to me? And who are you?" In a sense, this held some resemblance to her meeting with the god of boundaries, though the situation had changed quite a bit. For once, she wasn''t speaking with an all-powerful being that could wipe her out of existence at the mere thought of it. It also helped that she could see the people she was talking to, and that they didn''t sound like eldritch horrors belonging to the deepest pits of hell. On the contrary, they seemed quite normal, the definitely abnormal strength aside.


    Of course, normal people usually also didn''t carry around giant axes, but that was just one of the things she would have to accept if she were to live in a fantasy world. After all, much like any self-respecting fantasy world, it had to take place in the medieval ages; otherwise it would be harder to make it into the most generic slop story ever. Kary almost wanted to roll her eyes at the lack of creativity shown by the deities, but, after the Wikipedia incident, few things regarding the gods'' creative ability would be able to surprise her.


    Patiently, the girl waited as the woman tried to regain her composure, much to Tom''s amusement. He might''ve even laughed at her perilous situation, were it not for his desire to maintain his image of a powerful, mostly silent warrior in front of the newcomer. He wanted her to look up to him at least until she found out just how disappointing he was. By then though, he would hopefully be already far away, whatever compliments he happened to receive carefully treasured and cared for.


    The pair of man and woman shared a few significant glances, trying their best not to alarm the girl too much. If they suddenly said that they had found her bloody body in the middle of an abandoned city at the crack of dawn, she would surely be horrified, and left with eve grater questions. So they had to organize everything properly. The woman began to think about what to tell and what to omit, using every ounce of her brainpower to carefully spin the tale about whom and where they were.


    Satisfied with the tale she had concocted, she began nodding to herself as if she were an enlightened mage. Of course, that couldn''t be further from the truth, but the girl didn''t need to know that. She made a shooing movement with her hands directed at Tom who, understanding the silent plea, quietly took his leave, finally able to resume his search for the doctor. Now, alone with Kary, the woman began to speak in a way much too different from how she had been bantering with Tom before, though the girl pretended she hadn''t noticed.


    "Hello there, girl. My name is Asteria, and I am a humble commander of a platoon of knights, though, right now, they are far away training for the rough times to come. What about you? What are you called?"


    "...Kary"


    "Kary, huh... what an unusual name. I don''t think I''ve heard a name like this before, and I''ve been to many remote places. Seriously, you should see the names some peasants from the more... isolated regions sometimes name their children. The poor kiddos, I feel so bad for them! But I digress. You asked me where you were, right? Well, you are currently located in the heart of the city of T¨¢fos, or, at least, what little remains of it"


    "You see, this city was destroyed a long time ago, despite its international importance and its ¡ª albeit annoying ¡ª somewhat honorable decision of never ever interfering with wars that did not involve them. In the end, though, it fell, just like every civilization the came before them, and every civilization that came and will come after"


    "Because of its importance, periodically the king of this territory Your Majesty Thomas the V, sends both explorers and researchers to see if they can uncover some of the more obscure questions we still have about this city. What is happening here is precisely one of these expeditions, and my group, one of the four designated to map this part of the place, happened to stumble upon your unconscious body"


    "Unconscious...? Wait, what happened?"


    "So you don''t remember? Hmm... I guess I would have to tell you this sooner or later anyway. Might as well do it now, so that you can at least let your emotions flow while I''m here. Between you and me, I doubt the doctor will care for you any more than he would for a pile of horse excrement, though don''t ever tell him that I said that. All things considered, I still have much left to enjoy of my life, and it would be shame to die so prematurely because of a silly joke"


    "Must be nice, huh..."


    "...What?"


    "I said that it must be nice to enjoy life this much, to be this full of life. I doubt I could ever be like that"


    "Come on, don''t say that! I know you might not be feeling the best right now, but there is no need to lower yourself this much, okay?! You are not alone here, and you can trust me, though I don''t expect you to trust a strange so readily. Instead, I would be pretty concerned if you did" With an awkward expression, Asteria slowly approached the girl, who didn''t know how she should react.


    With a gentleness which was completely missing but a few moments ago, the tall woman slowly put her arms around Kary''s arms, pushing the comparatively small girl into a tight embrace. Her human warmth, something almost completely missing from Kary''s life, spread across her cold body, bringing about something the girl couldn''t quite describe, but that she also didn''t particularly dislike.


    She felt Asteria''s hand caressing her soft, silvery white hair, their bodies very slightly rocking back and forth in a soothing motion. It was a completely different level of care than what the girl had ever experienced, and that completely shattered her. Quietly at first, she began to sob into the woman''s shoulder, her trembling arms firmly wrapped around Asteria''s toned torso. Soon enough, though, the girl completely gave up any pretense, allowing herself for once to let everything flow out.


    As she felt snot threatening to leave her nose, she tried to distance the woman, but her strong arms refused to let go. She kept patting the girl''s head, continuing to soothe the clearly distressed girl, until Kary managed to express in its fullness every dark secret that she had taken with her to her grave.


    Every moment of abuse, every thought about giving up, every wild imagination about fleeing from her house, every time she looked at the window and considered jumping, every day she lived, wondering what she was trying to accomplish. Every insult, every case of veiled violence, every subtle school bullying, forever retained in her bitter mind. Her every fear, every hope, every laugh, every cry, she let it all out in the form of tears. She cried and cried, dirtying the practical clothing used by Asteria, dampening her high quality clothes, squeezing her tight as if she were afraid of letting go.


    The woman herself didn''t seem to mind nearly as much as Kary. She simply stood there, as still as a rock, silently allowing this unknown girl to vent the frustrations of a lifetime on her shoulders. For she knew the importance of let everything out once in a while, to let herself be dominated by her emotions, to not bottle them up all the time. Asteria had made this mistake, and she still remembered those days as her darkest ones. She knew this pain. This need to overflow while not knowing how to, she had felt it in her skin; it had been engraved into her bones.


    And so, the least she could do for this girl was to show her one of the many outlets for her emotions, one of the many ways through which she could avoid being completely destroyed by them. She knew she wouldn''t be able to provide much help for the girl, but at least this much she wanted to do.


    Kary didn''t know just how long they had stayed like this, nor was she willing to measure it. Eventually, though, her eyes began to grow heavier, her mind more clouded, until she once again collapsed from exhaustion. Her body went limp in Asteria''s arms, but, even then, the woman continued to hold her, swaying back and forth as she remembered her own traumas, hidden deep beneath the drilling from the knight academy.


    She only realized that Kary was already fast asleep when Tom returned with the doctor following a few steps behind. He wore a crow mask, which, according to the man himself, represented the symbol of his order, though Asteria never got to know the name of it. Maybe they were just that secretive, or maybe the man had simply forgotten to tell her. Whichever was the case, the fact was that he was here right now, and that he would give them his diagnosis whether he wanted to or not.


    "Who''s the patient?" The man asked, his voice muffled and slightly distorted because of the headgear he wore. Without skipping a beat, Asteria answered: "Here", before pointing to the girl sill on her arms. She didn''t know if the man had missed such an obvious thing or if he simply didn''t care enough.


    "So, will you let me see her or will you continue to hide her with your body? If you didn''t want me to take a look at the girl, then you wouldn''t have called me. I have more important things to do, you know?"


    "Okay, okay, I''m letting the girl down" The woman said, trying her best not to allow the venom rising through her throat to reach the words she spouted. She wanted to at least pretend like she was indifferent to the annoying nature of the doctor, though that required a lot of effort on her part. It was impressive, really, the way he so naturally could be this annoying. Every time they requested his help on the past few days, he would ask them to be quick, since he always had ''more important stuff to do'', though what this stuff was, nobody knew.


    After lowering the girl to the mattress where she originally was, the doctor silently approached, his footsteps almost non-existent, as if he was gliding across the floor. He cot close to the girl, before he started touching various parts of her body. First, the forehead, then the place above the heart, and then he got up.


    "Already finished?"


    "Yes, the girl is fine, just tired. I suggest you watch her closely after she wakes up"


    "Wha ¡ª"


    "If my work here is done, I would like to get going. Have a good rest of the day, Tom, Asteria, and mysterious girl"


    "Hey! Wait a bit, would you?!"


    "What for? The patient is fine. My help is not needed. And so, I thought it appropriate to see myself out. It seems that I was the only one thinking that, judging from your stares. Well? Then tell me? What the heck you want me to do?" Despite wearing a mask the hid his every expression, Asteria could still picture the look of utter annoyance he most certainly had behind it, as if he was daring them do ask for more help;


    The woman really wanted to know some sense into his mind, but, remembering her position, she decided to act as the bigger man ¡ª or woman, in this case ¡ª in this situation. After all, it wouldn''t do her any good to be known as a commander prone to yelling at innocent workers. As annoying as it could become, she did have to walk on eggshells most of the time in order to maintain her reputation as a harsh yet fair leader. She would never allow a prick calling himself a doctor shatter her image. And so, she forced a thin smile on her face, before answering.


    "Alright, alright, I''ll leave you to your own devices. You can go now, if you so please. We''ll stay with the girl in the meantime" The man with the crow mask simply nodded his head, before walking towards the flap that was used as a door. Without even caring to say his goodbyes, he walked through it much in the same way he had entered: completely silent, like a specter of the night who, for some reason, had decided to become a doctor.


    No matter how much Asteria tried to comprehend the man, she could never for the life of her figure out why he had chosen a profession he seemingly hated so much. It wasn''t as if he had been forced to pick this, right? As a kid, he should have time to developed his mana and shape it to his desires. If he had the strength and the wealth to become such a renowned doctor, than what was it that kept him from pursuing his true interests?


    Asteria shook her head, trying to direct her focus to her the sleeping girl in front of her. Try as she might, she doubted she would ever get closer to figuring out the crow-masked man. That is, she would never figure him out unless he decided, out of his own volition, to share his story. But, considering his nature, the woman knew that such a thing happening was more than simply unlikely, but probably just impossible.


    That, however, mattered little at the moment. She could let her thoughts wander however much she wanted after this mission was done and before she was returned to her post, but, for now, she had someone to care for. She didn''t really know what compelled her to help this unknown girl so much, other than the obvious fact that she had obviously gone through a lot in her life, but she didn''t really mind.


    If she had wanted recognition or admiration, she could have refused the request to join this group and simply keep patrolling the capital until her legs gave up from old age. If she wanted praising, all she needed to do was to continue arresting wrongdoers. And so, that begged the question: what was it that she actually wanted?


    Despite the question being directed to her, Asteria simply could not answer. Despite her usual resolution when doing stuff, right now, she was unsure about what had motivated and what was still motivating her to keep caring for this lost kid. Maybe she was lonely, maybe she wanted to raise a kid, maybe she had simply developed a soft spot for children after years of seeing many of them struggling to survive until the next day.


    Whenever she looked at the peacefully sleeping girl in front of her, to her bloodied clothes to the gentle rise and fall of her chest, she couldn''t help but feel warm inside. Perhaps all those previous possibilities were true, and she simply didn''t know how to deal with them. She almost wanted to laugh at herself, at her inability to understand her own feelings, at her own foolishness.


    By this point, she had all but forgotten that Tom was still there, watching the woman''s expression repeatedly change, as if she was in deep thought. Of course, the man was curious about what she was thinking about this hard, but he refrained asking, lest she noticed that he was there still and ordered him to leave them alone.


    And so, they stayed there, silent, with Asteria eventually sitting by the side of Kary''s mattress and gently brushing her long, albeit disheveled hair. Tom also didn''t move from his spot, as the order to be dismissed hadn''t yet come. At times, he would glance at the completely discordant pair, which, for some reason, seemed to resonate with each other in most peculiar way. On the rest of the time, he would walk around the tent, sometimes go fetch something for them to eat, or simply guard the entrance so that they would not be disturbed by anything unnecessary.


    Night eventually came to greet them, the cold winds relentlessly assaulting their surrounding with its haunted noises. Even though he was wearing quite thick clothing, Tom couldn''t help but tremble slightly at the sudden decrease in temperatures. Once again, he looked at the duo, only to find Asteria on the brink of collapsing. As silently as he could, he approached them and, thanking the gods that the woman was too tired to react to his approach, quietly tuckered her in with the sleeping girl. She was heavier than he expected, but it made for some good workout, though he wondered if he would ever be able to train in such an unorthodox way again.


    Well, not that it mattered much. He had, after all, managed to skip an entire day of interacting with the silent, yet annoying siblings and of listening to the incessant technical conversation of both old and young. Even then, he was still tired, though he also felt somewhat refreshed, something he wasn''t really used to feeling.


    With a tiny smile spreading across his stoic face, he carefully got up from the side of Kary''s shallow mattress and left the tent. He was greeted by the noises he didn''t want to hear and smells he didn''t want to smell. Maybe the exploration today had been extra fruitful for the people were talking and eating much more than they usually did. By that time, on the other days, most people would be already fast asleep, preparing themselves for the early morning that would come. Today, however, they were in an almost festive mood, with some brave should even starting to sing cheesy songs about love and whatnot.


    Tom, wanting nothing to do with them, hurriedly made his way out of the center of the buzz, walking through the ruins with practiced ease, soon enough reaching the stone house he had claimed as his the moment they had gotten there. With a tired sight, he entered through the nonexistent door, making his way through the confusing layout, until he arrived in the room he was using as a bedroom.


    And so, as the world around him laughed and cheered, excited about some discovery or another, Tom allowed himself to be lulled by the distant sounds, the annoying songs, and the cold breeze that managed to slip through the numerous cracks present on the walls. Asteria slept peacefully, hugging tightly the girl besides her, her slumbering mind still trying to process everything that had happened during the day. And Kary... well, for once, didn''t dream, or had any nightmares. She simply stood there, almost unmoving, resting without a care in the world. For once, she wasn''t afraid of the day to come.

 6. Hellish fortnight

    Asteria awoke before the sun managed to make its appearance on the horizon. She was used to getting up at this time ever since she was forced to adopt it on the preparatory knights'' school. Over the years, she was forced to adapt to being able to sleep anywhere, from the coldest of surfaces to the most uncomfortable ones. Life had never been particularly kind to her.


    Today, though, Asteria woke up feeling surprisingly refreshed. It was rare for her to feel like that, even after a good night''s sleep. She tried to stretch her body, only to discover that her arm was hitting something... soft? Blinking exasperatedly, she recalled the events of the previous day, which had ended with her tuckered in with an unknown girl in an empty tent.


    The woman almost wanted to bash her skull into the ground, though she didn''t know if it was out of embarrassment or out of annoyance at her own carelessness. Still, thankfully, nothing had happened, and the two of them had spent the night peacefully sleeping on the medical tent.


    She slowly stood, to not awake the girl still slumbering beside her. From experience, Asteria knew that most people don''t react positively when woken up in unnecessarily early hours. Carefully, she unwrapped her arms from the girl, and, in the process, accidentally stealing another; closer peek at the sleeping beauty who kept her eyes closed as if there was nothing that could wake her up.


    Even with the considerable amounts of grime, sweat and dried blood covering her face, the girl still struck Asteria as one of, if not the most beautiful person she had ever seen. The many, many stuck-up noble girl who drown themselves in rivers of make-up and beauty products would undoubtedly seethe until their hair fell off if they saw the girl.


    Kary, as she had named herself. A peculiar name, that was for sure. She had said it to the girl herself before, but she had never seen someone with such a name. That only made the mystery that the pale girl was all the more interesting. Looking at her sleeping face, Asteria wanted nothing more to stay there, cuddling with her until she inevitably woke up. But duty called her, like it always did, and she would sadly need to part with Kary for the moment.


    After all, she had brought an unknown girl without prior approval, so she needed to present to the rich and powerful people who had organized this expedition all the reasons why she had done such a thing. If she were to be honest, it had simply been a spur of the moment, but, should she present that, Asteria couldn''t help but shudder at the future that would await her.


    And so, she tiptoed her way out of the tent, expecting to be met with the usual buzz from the crazed researchers doing their usual stuff: trying to decipher the ancient language, studying the long-gone culture, or simply enjoying each other''s company until morning. Regardless of the reason, it was a fact that there were always at least some people awake at this hour, including Asteria and the organizers, whom the woman still wasn''t sure if they even slept at all.


    Today, however, the encampment was utterly deserted. No, saying that would be simply wrong. There were plenty of people around the place, but none of them were in what could be called proper sleep positions. They were stirred on the ground, some of them even holding empty bottles in their hands. It would be a pitiful sight, were these people not known as the best of the best in their respective fields. Seeing everyone wasted like this, Asteria couldn''t help but wonder what she could have possibly missed the day before.


    Undeterred by the corpses, still probably living, lying on the ground, the woman made her way to the big tent in the middle of the camp, surrounding what once was a big well, though now it was nothing more than a pile of rubble. Inside, there were piles upon piles of books and scrolls, sprawled half-haphazardly on a few tables arranged such that they all surrounded the well while at the same time permitting whoever sat behind them full view of the entrance.


    Sitting on the chairs, there were three men and two women, all of them showing clear signs of their advanced age, and yet, not one of them looking to be tired at all. That in and on itself spoke volumes about their respective strengths, which were enough that even kings had to mind their tongue around them.


    Those were the very best their kingdom could offer, much more than mere masters on their respective fields, but practically living legends. Having the chance to meet even one of them was considered to be extremely fortunate, but seeing all of them gathered like this was almost unheard of outside of court business.


    However, contrary to what one might have expected, the entire place was dead silent, with the only sounds being made were the harsh, uncomfortable scribbling of their pens, a noise so common in their day-to-day lives that the people inside had long since learned to ignore. Despite having their desks turned towards the tent''s flap so that they could see any new arrivals, the elders seemed to be so fixated on their work that they seldom spared a glance at Asteria.


    That only made the woman all the more curious about what it was that they had discovered last night while she was busy transporting and comforting an almost-dead girl. Still, she had her duty to uphold, and she had learned to take such matters with utmost seriousness.


    She feigned a cough in order to gather the elders'' attention, which mostly worked, though two of them remained silent, their head down and their pens still furiously scribbling on the parchment. They worked as if there was nothing worth their notice outside the domains of their desks, as if the world encompassed their desks and only their desks.


    One of the ancient beings, a man so decrepit that he looked ready to plop right into a coffin, his bones showing through his stretched skin, wrinkles upon wrinkles adorning his tired face. With the dark bags under his eyes painfully apparent, signs of a sleepless night, he decided to break the awkward question with the question that surely plagued his colleagues just as it plagued his mind.


    "Asteria, dear, might you be so kind as to explain why you abandoned your duties yesterday? At such a pivotal point of our exploration, you seemed to have forgotten your rules, escorting yourself to an unknown girl, taking with you one of our best fighters. So? Let us hear how you might explain this sudden shift in priorities" Hearing the belittling tone coming from the husky, paused voice of the elder, even the seasoned warrior couldn''t help but shrink a little. Still, she refused to back down so easily.


    "That girl presented an unknown threat to our group, so I volunteered myself and Tom to escort her back, since, while it would indeed be more convenient to simply end her on the spot, it would reflect badly on the knights'' reputation should we preemptively uproot all possible problems through sheer, unadulterated violence. And so, I decided to keep watching her during this first moment, since, as expected, she was confused and tired, as well as hurt, as the records probably say"


    "If your Excellencies are still unconvinced of my reasoning for abandoning my group to the authority of a seasoned scholar, then let me say that I also plan to take the girl ¡ª who named herself Kary ¡ª onto my protection, imparting onto her the knowledge I''ve acquired through my long years serving as a knight. But, last night, I came to the realization that my way of teaching might not be the most appropriate"


    "What are you getting at?" Said a weak-looking woman with cascading gray hair, her impatience so clear it would be impossible to make it more obvious. Her restless eyes, darting between Asteria and the papers carefully lying on the table, her nervously tapping foot, incessantly hitting the ground like clockwork, the slight tremble of her hands, as she urged the woman to finish whatever it was that she meant to say at once, for she could not wait to return to her previous activity.


    While the other elders also showed clear signs of wanting to simply ignore all formality and dismiss Asteria on the fly, their decades of public speaking experience refused to allow them to act with such recklessness. Seeing the clear, almost desperate urging for her to continue, the woman couldn''t help but grow even more infatuated with the mystery that had been found without her knowledge. Even then, just like the elders, she was required to uphold a certain level of etiquette. Question could come later. For now, she only needed to make sure that nothing bad would befall her... or the girl.


    "So, I come not only to explain the reasons that made me do what I did, but also to ask for permission to formally request from the most prominent adventurers we have employed here for assistance on the training of the girl when we start making our way back. Of course, should I be able to ask them for it, everything that would happen later would be done with their explicit consent and with a generous reward for the time on my name"


    "Do as you please" Brazenly replied the granny who so clearly wanted to get back to work. The other elders, however, were not so quick to convince. Despite their unanimous want to be left alone, they couldn''t exactly ditch their duties in favor of their desires. Living legends as they might be, nothing would save them from the ridicule of the court once the vultures caught note of their exceedingly unbecoming behavior.


    "Why do you desire to train this youngster so much? You only met her yesterday, and yet, here you are, not even a full day later, begging to receive perdition to teach her, to run amok amidst our carefully laid out plans" With the oldest of the elders once more slicing Asteria thoroughly with his thin-veiled insults, the woman herself wanted nothing more than to disappear into the ground below, much like the half-decomposed remnant the brother and sister pair had encountered on that building. Undeterred by Asteria''s darkening expression, the elder continued:


    "However, as much as I would like to bar you from proceeding with your thoughtless plans, there is no particular reason for me to deny it. After all, what we found yesterday has proven to be such an important discovery that we will need to have our entire arsenal of tools to properly study it. With that in mind, we have been frankly wirting letters and records about it, sending out request after request to have our supplies at the ready once we return"


    "To complement what this stubborn fool wants to say, we are planning to cut our time here short. Despite how pleasant the air here is, I am afraid that the records we did find, etched into sturdy stone in a language long forgotten, are most invaluable for us to properly understand the intricacies of the society that once inhabits these lands; And so, we have sent a formal request to his majesty the king on behalf of all the very excited scholars stationed here. As you may have seen, everyone has been quite eager to tackle on this incognita"


    That... makes sense. If they managed to find such a precious thing among the rubble, then it wouldn¡¯t be unreasonable to desire to learn more about it on a controlled environment. And what we have here is far from a ''controlled environment''.


    Nodding her head, Asteria tried to hide the relieved smile that threated to ruin her entire persona. Thankfully, she was saved by the granny, who wordlessly shooed her away, so desiring to continue her work deciphering the ancient text that she had finally abandoned all pretense of decorum.


    Once she had her back turned towards the congregation of elders, she finally allowed herself to grin from ear to ear. She could already hear the restless scribbling resuming once more, but, right now, that couldn''t matter less for the woman. Not only had she escaped unscathed from the one-sided negotiation with the elders, she had managed to snatch much more than what she had originally desired. Even while thinking about the fortunate circumstances, she couldn''t help but feel bad about the girl, who had just gotten enrolled into merciless training without the ability to say a word of protest.


    Leaving the tent with slow and steady steps, the warrior felt the morning sunrays hitting her skin. She didn''t know how much time she had spent inside the tent, but she didn''t expect it to be long enough for the sun to show its hot face on the horizon. Though it was still only now shooing the night away, Asteria couldn''t help but feel mesmerized every time she saw it slowly emerging from within the horizon. It wasn''t a particularly rare sight, at least, not for her, but that didn''t make the moments where she experienced it any less special.


    If she could, she would''ve liked to have shown Kary this beautiful scenario, but she doubted the girl would react well to being woken up before dawn. Besides, the time it would take for her to return to the medic tent, get her to wake up, endure what would probably end up as a harsh reprimand and then, and only then be able to show her the beauty of life, was much, much longer than the time it would take the sun to fully rise up to the skies. And so, she enjoyed the leisurely walk, unperturbed by the near-dead corpses sprawled here and there.


    In almost no time, Asteria was once more within the confines of the medical tent, its supposedly permanent resident nowhere to be found. Still, his patients, including Kary, were still sound asleep, blissfully unaware of the commotions from the night before or the state in which the people who had partaken in festivities were right now.


    Careful not to make any unnecessary sounds, the woman walked towards Kary, her boots, which she had forgotten to take before plopping into the mattress with her new prot¨¦g¨¦, softly crunching the dry ground beneath their feet. Remembering the interaction she had with the girl just the other day, Asteria shook the girl as gently as she possibly could, all the while mumbling to herself about how hard it was to keep her strength in check all of the time.


    Thankfully, this time it seemed that she had exerted proper control over her abilities, as the girl slowly opened her eyes, only to be greeted with the darkness. Confusion dawned on her as she tried to remember where she was and what had happened to her. She could feel her entire body aching for reasons still unknown, though it might just be because of the incessant shaking to which she was subjected. Strange... she felt as if she had been in this exact scenario before, but her memories were still a bit vague.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    Memories were slowly returning as Kary''s still sleepy brain began to properly process everything that was happening around her. She remembered the people, the absurdly strong people she had encountered yesterday, and that had taken her to some sort of camp to get her treated, although she wasn''t quite sure about how that had turned out. She felt no pain, so whatever it was that they were trying to do must have been successful, right? Or maybe her


    skill was simply overpowered. Right now, though, she had no way of knowing.


    Regardless, what she did now know was that she had shamefully cried her eyes out on the shoulders of the same woman who was now probably shaking her awake. Honestly, she had no idea what that woman ¡ª Asteria, was it? ¡ª wanted to do with her, but, so far, it didn''t seem to be anything horrible. And so, she resigned herself to finally wake up, pushing those last tidbits of sleepiness into a far corner of her soul.


    "What... what time is it?"


    "Morning, sleepyhead. Y''know, if you were on my platoon, you would be punished for such a glaring oversleeping with a regimen of water and hard bread for an entire week" Hearing the unexpectedly harsh words coming from Asteria, whom she thought to be quite the nice lady, albeit a little to strong for her own liking. Perhaps not noticing the subtle shaking of the girl still on her arms, the woman continued.


    "Thankfully, though, you are not on my platoon, and it would do me no good to treat you like I would a fellow knight, so cutting you some slack is par with the course. What I cannot do, however, is letting you sleep for any longer, or allow you to laze all day long. Sicne I''m going to be your guardian from now on, you will have to go through rigorous physical training in order to develop some of the muscles on these skinny arms of yours"


    Hearing that, Kary almost wanted to go wash her ears before making the tanned woman in front of her repeat herself. While she had lightly shivered at the thought of being subjected to the same treatment slacking knights would receive, knowing now that she would still be forced to do hard physical work on a daily basis was more than enough to make her quiver like a leaf inside a typhoon.


    Of course, by that point, there was no was Asteria wouldn''t notice that something was amiss. Worry colored her face as she hurriedly sat the girl down, before asking what was wrong. To that, Kary couldn''t help but feel herself growing more and more exasperated the more she interacted with the knight. With a sigh, she began to explain herself as calmly as she could ¡ª that is to say, not calmly at all ¡ª.


    "Umm... well... you see... if... if I may ask... why... why make me... strength... strengthen myself?" Hearing the almost comical question coming from the girl, Asteria let out a weak chuckle, before staring into the girl''s eyes with a face completely devoid of any of is previous humor.


    "The world, Kary, is not kind. You have witnessed it yourself, have you not? The fight against the remnant, I mean"


    "How ¡ª"


    "Shush, for now, and allow me to finish my train of thought. You see, I heard the report from that brother and sister pair about the condition they found the remnant in and, comparing it to the state in which we found you, while at the same time taking into consideration your impressive regenerative capabilities, I feel like it''s safe to say that you almost died"


    "Look, I won''t pretend that I know you, or where you''re from, but in one thing, and in one thing only, we must agree completely: this world is dangerous, much more than the average person realizes. Be it a peasant, going to and from their daily jobs tending to the plantations, or the annoying nobles, living their entire lives unable to care less from anything besides fattening their own belly. Most people don''t know the true dangers of this world, and, thankfully, they most likely never will. But you, Kary, you saw it, haven''t you? You have seen the horrors of this world and lived to tell the tale"


    "We haven''t talked much, I know, but I had the feeling that, with the meager strength you showed, you would never be able to accomplish whatever your objectives are" Kary shuddered at these words, knowing them to be much more factual than she wanted it to be. She didn''t know whether to feel relieved that someone other than her somewhat understood her, or scared that said someone had been able to figure her out only by the very scarce interactions that had at this point.


    Still, Kary found herself feeling oddly warm, though, at the same time, she was absolutely terrified of what the future had in hold for her. Considering that the woman in front of her was a bone fide knight, she could only imagine what kinds of grueling training she would have to go through. Though by the way things were going she wouldn''t have to wonder no more.


    "You... you''re right... The way that I''m now, there''s no way I would ever be able to reach the objective I set up for myself"


    "Oh-ho? And what could this so hard objective possibly be? If you don''t mind saying it to me, of course" Kary gulped down a lump of saliva that had been accumulating in her mouth, digesting her thoughts as she tried piecing together her words in order to properly convey what she wanted to do within her ¡ª possibly infinite ¡ª lifespan. Through the thunderous beatings of her heart, she found the courage to answer Asteria, her resolve clear in her big, ruby-red eyes.


    "I want to explore the entire world, from the most well-known locations to the most dangerous. I want to see sights that have never been seen, be where no one else dared to go, explore places far removed from any notion of civilization, interact with races beyond my own comprehension. I want to explore, to see the world for what it truly is, set foot in the most beautiful of places, walk through enough land to be able to even determine what the most beautiful place even is. And you''re right. To even get close to accomplishing this, I need strength, an overwhelming amount of it, enough so that I can focus entirely on the journey. Strength which I don''t have in the moment"


    Staring into Asteria with the same seriousness the woman had shown just a moment prior, the girl bowed at a perfect ninety-degree angle, her expression hidden from the woman in front of her. With a trembling voice, impossible to distinguish whether it originated from excitement or embarrassment, she asked:


    "Can I count on you to guide me? At least until we reach a settlement... then ¡ª"


    "Shush! You can save your excuses to ditch me when the time is right. For now, let''s get some breakfast on this hungry belly of yours, shall we? I can''t bear to keep hearing it grumble" Seeing her weird stomach noises being pointed out, Kary could only let out a little embarrassed laugh, for she could not deny the words that left Asteria''s mind. She truly was hungry, more than she had ever felt in both of her lives.


    The woman extended her hand towards the still sitting Kary who, in turn, could only look confusedly at the extended limb. Darting her eyes between Asteria''s expectant face and the outstretched hand, Kary eventually understood what she wanted to do, albeit not before some awkward moments passed between the two. Thankfully, no one was around to witness such a bizarre scene, and the only one who would ever tease about her lack of knowledge on such things would be Asteria herself.


    She got up, holding onto Asteria''s hand, and they both made their way out of the tent and into the sun-soaked plaza. What Kary saw, however, defied her very notions of what a professional camp composed of what she had assumed would be prim and proper scholars should be. Outside, what greeted them was a sea of unconscious people, some mumbling incoherent words in languages which only made sense to the speaker, some cradling in their arms half-empty bottles of alcohol


    Kary felt something moving in to block her vision and, before she could comment on the sudden censoring, she heard Asteria''s voice, filled with undisguised disgust and contempt. It made the girl shiver, though this time it was out of pity for the poor souls that would be banished to the shadow realm as soon as their consciousness returned to their bodies.


    "Don''t look at these unsightly people, Kary. It seemed that, just because they made a big discovery yesterday, they saw fit to ditch all their duties and responsibilities and party with the abandon of inexperienced children. Absolutely pathetic"


    Kary wanted to protest, but, no matter what she said, Asteria continued to carefully guide her through the sea of (not) dead men, her left arm still firmly blocking her vision. Of course, the blockage wasn''t absolute, and she was still able to see some of the floor from time to time, but the things she saw only served to make her all the more convinced of the truth behind Asteria''s words.


    In a few seconds, they had made their way to the center of the plaza, where an empty cart stood, abandoned by its owner, whoever her might be. Asteria, undisturbed by the lack of someone to talk to, simply reached behind the counter and picked a few strands of salted, dry meat, before handing them over to Kary.


    Normally, she would shamelessly walk away after doing such a thing, but, considering that she was trying to be a good example to the girl, she decided to just this once leave some money on the counter, though she couldn''t care less if it were to get robbed by some opportunistic junior.


    With a slight chuckle, she handed the meat to Kary, who looked curiously at it, unsure if she was supposed to eat it or do something else. The context of the situation indicated that the correct option should be the former, but the strange appearance of the strips of meat made the girl all too hesitant to ingest it. Seeing Kary''s indecision, Asteria let out a sigh before instructing her.


    "I don''t know from where you hail from, but usually we eat meat by putting it into our mouths and chewing it. I''ve never seen someone able to digest food with their stare, but who knows? You might just be that different"


    Ignoring Asteria''s snarky responses, Kary eyed the strange meat once more before nonchalantly throwing them at her mouth. She tried to chew it, just like the woman had instructed her to, only to find herself having difficulties making through its toughness. Even while fighting with the strips of dried meat, the girl couldn''t help but notice its extreme levels of salt; enough to make her desperately want to drink gallons upon gallons of water, despite not even having finished the first bite.


    Asteria, seeing her prot¨¦g¨¦ struggling so much just to eat some pieces of dried meat, couldn''t help but chuckle, an action that earned her a scornful look from the girl. Minutes passed by, the only sound besides the occasional groaning of extremely drunken scholars being the periodic chewing of the meat, which was managing to survive Kary''s mandibular assault with impressive resilience.


    However, all things ought to come to an end and, as everything that came before; the long, strenuous process of eating breakfast would, too, eventully end. Though it wasn''t before some of the researchers woke up to the peculiar scene of one of the strongest, most ruthless monsters of the kingdom staring affectionately at a white girl draped in a very dirty white dress, slowly eating... something. Kary was so concentrated on her food that she completely failed to notice these stares, though they were reciprocated with an icy look from Asteria.


    After what felt like an eternity, the girl finally managed to swallow the dreadful things, almost swearing to herself that she would never ever touch a strip of dried meat again. After realizing that this distasteful almost-food-but-not-quite might be the only thing she would be able to eat until she reached a town, though, she quickly dismissed her own ban. Just as she was looking forward to how she would spend the rest of the day, Asteria''s voice reached her ears, its sweet, almost sickly tone not enough to distract the girl hearing it from the dreadful contents it contained.


    "Now, with that out of the way, we shall start with your training regimen. My plan is to make you work from morning to night, until you pass out from exhaustion, every day, until we depart from this old place"


    "Please... have mercy..." Kary said, once more slightly trembling.


    "I''m not one of the gods, girl. Distributing mercy is amongst the last things I would do. Now get running, before I make you do! I want you to circle the plaza ten times, then do three sets of ten push up, then three sets of one minute each of abdominal exercise! While you do that, I will prepare a suitable bar in which you can do three sets of ten pull-ups! I will also attempt to get the doctor to heal you once you reach muscle failure, so that you can keep going until dinnertime. No lunch, of course, unless you can finish the first set of sets before lunchtime. NOW GO!!!"


    Terrified, Kary began to run as if she was fleeing for her life. The girl wanted to cry all the way through, but, somehow, she finished running the laps before her legs gave up. She panted, her breathing difficult as she failed to find air to pump into her lungs. If she could, she would have begged for some time out, but, unfortunately, Asteria wasn''t so kind. Immediately after finishing the run, she was forced to do the other exercises as well, without getting so much as a second of respite in between them.


    In the end, she was on the ground, not even capable of lifting her head anymore. She could feel the sympathetic gazes of a few of the scholars who had been put into a similar regime before after angering the female knight. Despite her... less than ideal situation, though, not one soul moved in to help her, not one person presented with much desired lunch. Kary wanted to bark at them, to demand an explanation from their sudden lack of camaraderie, but she was so tired that not even that she could do.


    For a few blissful minutes, she remained there, struggling to maintain her councioussness, until she saw her from the corner of her vision. The devil incarnate, the blasted being who had forced Kary into a hell worse than hell itself. Calmly, as if she could not feel the boring hole being dug in between her eyebrows by Kary''s stare at all, she approached with bold steps. By her side was the plague-masked doctor, walking in a much strighter posture than when the girl had last seen him.


    As understanding began to dawn on her, Kary quickly tried to make her escape, but she was completely unable to move, pinned to the ground like an injured prey staring right at the jaws of its predator. At this point, the girl regreted not telling Limo to simply allow her to die and be forever forgotten. This way, she wouldn''t have to suffer whatever esoteric form of torture this was.


    Wordlessly, the pair approached, until all Kary could see were their feet. They exchanged no words, and yet, the doctor, whose name she still didn''t know, understood the task at hands perfectly. Away from Kary''s eyes, her picked up the suitcase he was always carrying around, picking from within a long, gnarly staff that couldn''t possibly fit in such a small case. Regardless of the spatial anomaly that his suitcase was, the man gently tapped the staff on the floor, concentrating on creating the spell.


    Kary observed, amazed, as the lights seemed to dance all around them, green motes of lights, almost pixies in their own right, appearing and disappearing as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Before she realized it, her body had been restored to its best state and, with the restoration, came the promise of even more torture. She looked at Asteria, pleasing with her eyes for her to be allowed to rest, but the demon simply shook her head, that devilish never leaving her face.


    And so, such was Kary''s routine for the next thirteen days. While some partied and some diligent ones kept diving further and further form the center of T¨¢fos, the girl kept training, earning the right to eat lunch on her fifth day. It was a grueling experience, but she couldn''t help but feel immensely pleased with her developments. Of course, it was still far from what Asteria could do, but it was a small step towards her end goal.


    Even with all the pain she had been forced to endure, all the bickering she had with her guardian, all the badmouthing about the doctor the both of them did behind his back, they were surprisingly fun five days. But, of course, time must run its course, forever forward, never in its march looking back. After the thirteen initial days had passed, a messenger arrived, relying the order to retreat on behalf of their ruler.


    With the green light to return to the capital, the group began to arrange their things, packing the little stuff they had brought, organizing all the paper the elders had produced, and cleaning all the trash sprawled across the landscape. These were quite the busy two days, in which Kary was exempt from her usual practice, as she, too, was enlisted to help everyone. On the seventh day, though, it was time to depart.


    With a strained smile, Kary bid farewell to the place where she had been originally brought to this world. She hadn''t had the time to properly explore it, but she was grateful for the encounters she made here. Perhaps one day she would be back, stronger and more confident in her own abilities, ready to explore to her hearts content. For now, though, she simply accompanied the departing caravan, their destiny unknown.

 7. Earths lullaby

    The journey back home began before the Sun had the opportunity to get rid of the night sky. It took the scholars some time to fully finish their arrangements, since most of them were used to having servants handle everything for them. With the help of the adventures, who were long used to the rough lifestyle of living on the road, though, they managed to have everything ready for departure within two days.


    After the preparations were done, most of the researchers, exhausted, went straight to sleep, nervously waiting for the day that would soon come. Despite having made their way to T¨¢fos in much the same they would leave it, they couldn''t help but feel a sense of anticipation, for they couldn''t possibly imagine what would await them on the road back.


    While most of the camp did, indeed, managed to fall into slumber, some of the younger scholars and adventurers, energetic and impatient, could only sit around the weak fire and patiently wait for the time of departure. Despite their uneasiness and the low voice with which they talked to each other, they all seemed to be excited for what would come next, be it because they would soon be able to advance their own researches by leaps and bounds or because they would finally have to do something other than babysit a bunch of rich people playing explorers.


    Among the restless folk circling a campfire at the center of the encampment, there was a white girl, a stark contrast with the dark night. While the rest of the young men and women cast long, swirly, and unpredictable shadows on the grassy ground, the strange girl cast nothing. It was as if she was a ghost, a dead person orbiting in between the world of the dead and the world of the living.


    Most people might be weirded out by the peculiarities of the girl. Her pure white skin, too ghastly to belong to a healthy person, her blood-red eyes, drawing in anyone who dared look at her in the eyes, its strength greater than an undertow, her way of moving, flowing like a river, and yet, as straight and polite as a member of royalty


    When she was first presented to the camp as the pupil of Asteria, most of the scholars, who, at the time, were still recovering from terrible hangovers, expressed their sympathies from a distance, afraid to come closer to the exotic being. However, as the week passed, they slowly warmed up to the ever-diligent girl, who woke earlier than most and went to bed later than most. Day in and day out practiced, her fast improvements only serving to make the knight caring for her ass more and more to her plate.


    She ate like a ravenous beast, resuming her heavy training as soon as she was finished. The girl might have stayed with them for a little less than a week, but, in such a short timeframe, she had already managed to warm up to the majority of the people there. Yes, she was a strange being, walking around in tight-fitting men''s clothing, which even the girl herself didn''t know how they had come into her possession, quiet as a specter of the night, but she was pleasant to be around with.


    It was pretty rare to meet her while she wasn''t losing copious amounts of bodily fluids, but, when someone did, and said someone decided to try and interact with the bizarre girl, they would quickly find out that she genuinely listened to what they had to say, or, at the very least, she was really great at feigning being a good listener. Soon enough, Kary was privy to all the running gossip among the many social circles interacting in the encampment.


    Still, the girl in question didn''t know how to respond to everything that she had seen and heard. On one hand, she was glad that everyone seemed to be somewhat nice, or at least accepting of her presence amidst the groups, but, on the other, she had been warned by Asteria about the sliminess of nobles. She still hadn''t experienced it, but she knew that those people with which she surrounded herself would be quick to stab her in the back should the opportunity arrive.


    It was a weird feeling, knowing that people trusted you enough to tell you some light secrets, but that they were also cautious enough that they would be able to cut her off easily enough should the necessity arrive. With the information she had (courtesy of Asteria), and the fact that she was almost always doing physical exercises, the people around her rapidly changed from the prim, proper and sly scholars to the more ruff and buff adventurers.


    Even then, the biggest problem still remained: Kary could not make herself comfortable with so many people around her, even if her life depended on that. They were loud, obnoxious, and their constant attempts of making Kary feel included only made the girl all the more prone to spacing out. On one moment, she would be attentively hearing whatever they had to say, while on the other, she would be questioning herself whether she even knew what was being discussed.


    On the times when she wasn''t busying herself with building her muscles, she couldn''t help but keep second guessing herself. Was it okay for her to be there, sharing distasteful meals and absurd stories? What right did she have to be there, enjoying these renowned people''s company? If she had time to laugh, shouldn''t she train? How else could she repay Asteria for saving her life, instead of talking to them like this, wouldn''t it be better to ask for sparring and tips, just like she usually did with Tom? Di these people even like her to begin with? Or were they just going along with the strict knight''s eccentric choices?


    With an exasperated sigh, Kary tuned out the exited conversations around her as she looked up to the night sky. Her face remained unreadable, but the faint smile she showed when listening to others was completely gone, replaced with a worried, stressed and, most of all, tired expression. She was tired, exhausted even, both physically and mentally.


    While she wholly embraced the physical strain, as it meant that she had been making steady progress, she could only wonder if these intrusive thoughts, repeatedly belittling her, scolding her, making her question her decisions, would ever go away. She hoped they would, but she had long learned that hope along could never do much. For a long time she held onto hope, desperately wishing that her life would, by some miracle, completely turn around.


    That moment, however, never came. The abuse never stopped, the fear was still just as prevalent as ever, the situation in her house never changed. Everything stayed the same, from the moment she was born to the moment where she died, alone, by the malice of a random dog on the street who knew nothing about her. Perhaps it was better this way, to have died due to something out of her control, to a being that did the act without any complex feelings behind it.


    It wasn''t something done due to personal grievances, it wasn''t something done by someone who knew Kary. It was a freak accident, done by a being who probably felt no remorse and who Kary had never seen and will never see again. She wasn''t killed by her mom finally snapping, or her father suddenly coming home, or even one of her personal tormentors at school suddenly wanting to go a step further. It was a kill made with no deep reasoning, no intricate motivation, nothing. It was simply a psychopath of a dog wanting to kill someone. And, honestly, Kary was pretty ok with that.


    Not with the part where she was killed, of course, but by the fact that it hadn''t really been her fault or the fault of anyone she knew. She felt relieved, as the accident didn''t sap away at what little hope for humanity she still had. Of course, there were still many things towards which she felt no hope that they would ever change. They were like constants in her life, working around like clockwork to make sure that she was miserable every single day of her life. It had worked surprisingly well.


    She didn''t feel safe at school, or at her house. Funnily enough, the only place where she didn''t feel terribly afraid was the streets that took her from her house to her school. That transitory ambient, where nothing was ever stationary by its own will, where there was statistically a much greater chance of bad things happening to her, were, ironically, where she also felt the safest.


    Anywhere else she would be plagued by either her tormentors, incessant on their mission of making her disappear from their planet, or by her own mind. She was never free, and pain was a friend she had to learn how to cherish in her brief life. That was the reason why she could put up with Asteria''s extreme training: she knew pain, better than most people in her old world, though probably sill worse than most of the common folk on this one.


    But, even as she learned to cherish her physical pain, to consider it the signal of her well-done training, she felt as if she would never be able to do the same with the mental pain, as it brought no benefits, it wasn''t signing at anything positive. They were just thoughts that incessantly gnawed on her mind, making the world much darker than it actually was. And Kary hated it, just as much as she hated being utterly helpless to fight it.


    It was like a tumor, sapping her energy, debilitating her, making everything harder. Life was already tough, and she thought that she definitely didn''t need more added to her plate. She let out a tired sigh as she stared into the starred night. Even with her sense of beauty being severely sewed after more than a decade of constant neglect, they were still able to recognize the beauty of the night sky.


    When she was still a human, before she died, Kary had never really stopped to appreciate the sky. Honestly speaking, it would be weirder if she had stopped for more than a few seconds to take in everything the sky back at her home planet had to offer. In the bosom of human civilization, surrounded by tall, cold concrete monoliths, glowing through their artificial lights that tried to rival the sun, no stars could shine, their vastness impossible to be conveyed to the people below. In all her life, Kary had never seen so many stars, glowing brightly, their light showing a view of a time long past.


    Breathtaking, was the word Kary would use to describe the sight. Despite being in this world for a week already, she had never rely taken the time to appreciate things like that. If she wasn''t training, then she was resting, thinking at the same time on what she would do next. Either that, or she was completely knocked out on her bed, which had received an upgrade from being a simple piece of cloth on the ground to a full-on straw bed, where she slept with Asteria every night.


    Thanking at the past week, she couldn''t help but feel... happy. A weird notion for her, to be sure. She was content with her life before, going through it with the detachment of an outside spectator, but now... now she felt like she was truly living her life. Her days, albeit governed by a strict routine, were far more diverse than what she had going for her back on Earth. She talked to people, shared ideas, exhausted herself, hurt her teeth, and retched at bad smells. It was like her first time had been merely a test, a boring, bureaucratic procedure to make sure that she would be able to properly live this life.


    Thinking like that, maybe this time things would remain as good as they were now, though she didn''t dare hope again, lest her expectations be crushed once more. When she finally lowered her head, once more staring at the fire, she could feel a few curious stared boring holes straight through her being. Kary glanced around, not knowing if she should question the people silently looking at her or if she should die of embarrassment first. Cautiously, she asked:


    "What? Why is everyone staring at me like that?"


    "Oh... sorry about that! I was just curious about why you suddenly started to look up at the sky. I tried to see if there was something different with it, but nope! That''s the same sky that I''ve been seeing ever since I was born. Same stars, same constellations, nothing new at all" Hearing the girl sitting beside Kary speak, the rest of them who were also looking at Kary nodded, since their questions were one and the same, namely, ''why did you stared at the sky for so long? Was there something that we missed?'' Laughing embarrassedly, Kary replied with a simple negative shake of her head.


    "No, you guys didn''t miss anything different. I was simply deep in thought, admiring the beautiful stars that hang from the sky. They are so tiny, it''s almost as if we could grasp them in between our fingers and pluck them out of the sky, right?"


    At these, even the most simple-minded of adventures would give a hearty laugh. It wasn''t out of ridicule, since they knew that ridiculing this childish speech would mean ridiculing their own childhoods. No, it was simply endearing to see their long-log childhood dreams settling themselves on a new vessel, imparting into her the ideas that most might once have thought to be unique to them, not realizing that everyone thought the same.


    They laughed because they had forgotten that feeling, to be young and impressionable again, surrounded by simple-minded kids, playing all day long until their legs wanted to give up from exhaustion. The long years surrounded by like-minded people, boring people, annoying people, and stupid people, had long since washed the unrealistic thoughts they once cultivated like weeds in their childhoods.


    So it shouldn''t come as a surprise that they were quite pleased to see their ridiculous ideas finding solace in another soul, ready to continue its process. The older ones smiled gently at Kary, while the younger ones, having still not yet reached the point where they could look with some amount of affection at their pasts, simply sneered at the absurdity of the thought.


    Some crueler ones even thought about shattering her dream completely, telling her straight that such things were nigh impossible. But one look at the girl told them all they needed to know. From her sad smile to her half-closed eyes, it was clear that she knew that she was simply spouting nonsense, hopeful delusions that she knew for a fact could never be realized. It was the gaze of someone who had their dreams shattered numerous times, the suffering amplified by the endless judgment of her peers.


    And so, they decided to simply shut up and enjoy the dry meat. Under the sound of the growling remnants in the distance, walking through the ruins like they did every night, one by one the overexcited group began to fall asleep then and there on the ground, mostly unbothered by the lack of quality. As the conversations died down completely, and some snoring began to be heard, Kary herself laid on the grassy ground, once more confronting the starry sky, her eyes shining under the pale light of the moon. Soon enough, she was welcomed into the dreamland, though she would never remember what it was that she dreamed about.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Morning came quickly, just as it ever did, bathing the sleeping folks who had slept outside with its gentle, warm light. Sadly, they weren''t woken up though the gentlest of methods, as they would gladly point out of asked. At least most of them wouldn''t consider getting kicked in their ribs as a gentle way to wake someone up. And that was exactly the method Asteria had chosen. Without any modicum of mercy, she approached the snoring group, and, as silently as a specter of the night and as gently of an anvil falling from the sky, she kicked each and every one of them in their bellies, not even bothering to look at them. That was, until she reached Kary.


    Of course, she wasn''t exactly spared the rough treatment, but Asteria had at least the decency to show a conflicted face after using such... unorthodox methods on the girl she had been living with for the past few weeks. Kary was still very reserved about her past and her life in general, but the experienced woman knew that someone as badly hurt as her would never be able to peek out of their own shell with such ease. She had, of course, tried her best to make the girl open up, but her rate of success was questionable at best, though it was progress nonetheless.


    Even while they mostly focused on making her stronger, they still sometimes shared meals together and, of course, they both had become used to sleeping in the same uncomfortable bed, as space was quite limited in a place that had been left unattended for such a long time. They had talked about their hobbies, their dreams, what they wanted to do when they finally made contact with civilization again. Yet Asteria knew that was just the very tip of the iceberg, nothing more than superficial stuff to break the ice in between them. Any of the more serious stuff that they could have discussed was left unspoken. Even so, Asteria thought that she could at the very least trust in the little workaholic, even if she didn''t know how much Kary trusted her.


    She knew that, deep down, she was a good kid, much different from those nobles who, because of their low standing in their respective families, were almost forced by their parents to join the military. Every time Asteria had to deal with them, she had to hold herself back from painting the walls red with their blood and guts. It was genuinely perplexing the ability they had to be the most annoying being in the room, somehow surpassing even the most persistent of flies.


    However, regardless of how fond she was with the girl, the fact remained that she had been sleeping like a homeless drunk, passed on the side of the street. Instead of being used as a body pillow by Asteria, the girl had the guts to stay awake until late and then promptly sleep then and there. If she were to be honest with herself, Asteria kind of felt lonely on the last night. It is funny, the way the body so quickly adapts to the presence of others. Of course, there would be no way she would ever tell any other soul about missing the warmth of a still fragile little girl, though the woman had seen first-handed the astounding progress she was making.


    Kary woke up feeling a sharp pain in her stomach. For a moment, she wondered if it was due to the fact that she hadn''t eaten anything the night before, but she quickly dismissed the thought. For a while now, she had realized that she didn''t exactly need to consume food like normal humans. If she needed, she could simply absorb the sunlight and obtain her nutrients out of it. While she didn''t know how true that was, she had been told that her long-time exposure to the sun, thanks to her intensive training, often made her pale skin acquire a sickly green glow which, when combined with her chalk-white skin, only served to contribute to the image of an undead trying to live with the living.


    All of these thoughts flashed through her mind as she tried to comprehend the sudden pain that assaulted her. She slightly opened her eyes in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the perpetrator of the crime, her brain already planning how to get back at them. However, as soon as she looked up, the face looking directly down, blocking the sun in the process was one of the few that she definitely did not want to see.


    Asteria stood in front of Kary, unmoving, as if she were an ancient mountain, undeterred by the winds or the snow, standing tall and proud as she looked at the girl on the ground with a mix of exasperation and indignation. It was so palpable that even the ones who had been already woken up by her didn''t dare stare at the fearless knight who looked ready to bury her prot¨¦g¨¦ herself. The girl in question silently stood at the receiving end of the glare, questioning all the life choices that led her to this exact moment. However, contrary to her expectations, Asteria simply let out a sigh and told Kary to get up already, showing the girl a surprisingly gentle face, albeit still containing some of the usual sternness of the knight.


    Towards the rest of the still sleepy people who were either trying to get back to sleep, not realizing that they were digging their own grave, or the ones who were completely awake, clutching their stomachs as they whimpered in pain, Asteria wasn''t so kind. With a voice devoid of any of her usual warmness, and with an expression that seemed able to suck the soul right out the poor sods that had the misfortune of looking at her, she addressed the bunch still on the ground.


    "I''ll count up to ten and, if, by then, you all are not up a ready for the journey back home, then you might as well stay here. I''m sure the remnants would like some more food" Hearing that, everyone still struggling to leave the comfort of the ground around the long gone campfire quickly rose up to their feet, afraid that the terrifying woman in front of them would actually move forward with her threat. Even Kary, still suffering from the routine she had grown used to, managed to get on her feet before Asteria was halfway through her counting. A scary woman, she was, and one that never backed away from her promises.


    With a satisfied nod, she looked around, seeing both young and old generations looking around, clearly wondering when their orders from their superiors would come in. From the sidelines, in the opposite direction from the brother and sister pair he hated so much, Tom watched with some degree of amusement though he, also, couldn''t help but question the lack of orders. Of course, he was well aware that today was the day when they would finally begin their march back, but it wasn''t normal for them to have to wait for so long before they were let in all the private matters that involved the integrity of the camp.


    Before anyone could speak out the thoughts undoubtedly plaguing everyone''s minds, Asteria spoke with a somber tone, much too different from the way she had been speaking up until now. Those who listened carefully could make out an edge that didn''t exist previously, a certain sharpness, cutting through their tension with a serious expression that seldom belonged in the very expressive woman. Even with her reputation preceding her, it was bizarre seeing the knight being this serious about anything other than scolding others into order. Still, no one dared question or interrupt her as she spoke, her voice solemn.


    "Listen, people! Today I speak as a direct emissary from the five elders, who were tirelessly studying the slates we discovered for the past few days. Their rest was short; some might consider it even insufficient. And both I and the elders agreed! That''s why they unanimously voted for a rest day exclusive to them! Now, before you voice your complaints, I''ll have you know that, despite me knowing nothing about the secrets of the past or having any interest in learning it, I have personally followed the elders¡¯ arduous journey through the ancient texts"


    "While some of you partied, some of you diligently kept studying, and some even training their own bodies, ¡ª" At that, the woman sent out a wink towards Kary, who simply stood there, like a statue, attentively listening to whatever Asteria had to say. Clicking her tongue at the lack of reaction from the girl, Asteria continued: "¡ª those masters of their craft, each and every one of them legends on their own rights, have been tirelessly working on figuring out the language with which the stone scribbles you all have found were written. From early in the morning all the way to late into the night, they worked, never faltering, never giving up on their objective. Why, was it not there in front of them this whole time, taunting them, asking them to uncover its secrets? How could they give up while they were still unable to comprehend what the ancients had to say?"


    "Of course, they are still far from done. But their age, believe it or not, is getting to them. So they asked me to relay their instructions while they rested in one of the carts already strapped onto one of our horses. We shall march back home, starting from today. Hopefully, by this time next month, you''ll be either hard at work on your own offices or culling down the local population of monster. For that, though, we must begin our journey as soon as possible. Time is of the essence, as many of you, especially the older folk, know very, very well. If you haven''t finished loading your stuff into the carriages yet, then I would very much like to bash your skull until your brain became nothing but pink mush, but I will exert some control over myself. Instead, I''ll kindly ask for them to finish packing their things in the next fifteen minutes, by when we will begin our march. Be ready, boys, for the road is long and treacherous! Be ready, for anything could happen! Be ready, for we mustn''t lose before we arrive at the capital!"


    With that, three or so people began to hurry back to their tents, picking up the few miscellaneous items that they didn''t want to get thrown in with the rest of the stuff just yet. In the end, it probably didn''t matter at all, but, for some, these objects might hold some sentimental value, or they might just be something that they were working on, spending all their available free time working on these objects, all the way until the very last second. Still, by noon, the entire caravan was ready to move. And so, it did.


    For a while, nothing particularly interesting happened. While the horses slowly trotted forward, forced to match the pace of the slow-as-snail humans, Kary looked at the blue sky from one of the carts, now completely empty save from some other... compact girls who had made this place their hiding spot. Different from the other two girls with whom she shared the cart, the Mavka girl was trying really hard to ignore the harsh shaking of the cart, which jolted high into the air every time it passed through the tiniest of pebbles. At least, that was how Kary imagined it to be, since she wasn''t really keen on leaving her current position and go down to check. And do, the three girl stood silently for a while, simply appreciating the view, until one of them, the shortest on, decided to strike a conversation with the other two.


    "Sorry to break the silence, but I''ve got to ask before I die out of awkwardness, what made you two come here?" When Kary turned her head to face her with a quizzical expression, the flustered girl smiled awkwardly before continuing on a machine gun-like pace. "Sorry, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Penny, and I hail from the humble city of Psom¨ª! It¡¯s a tiny town, far from anything important, so I doubt any of you have heard of it. Anyway, everyone in the city seems to have a job related to making bead, even if it isn''t a direct connection. For example, my papa worked ¡ª well, hopefully still works ¡ª with making and fixing ovens for the actual bakers, while my momma provided clothing ¡ª though mainly aprons¡ª to the few families that still lived there. It''s a small place, but it''s great nonetheless!"


    "You two might be wondering: how the hell did a girl coming from a baking village turned out to be a scholar?" Kary and the other girl, whose name was still unknown, desperately wanted to shake their heads, to deny the overexcited girl from continuing on her tirade. But they were to slow, for she quickly resumed her tale. "So, what happened was a little interesting, right, so please pay attention! The thing is, I don''t really like making bread. Or working with anything relating to it, to be blunt. I know, I know, what a shame of a daughter I am. I don''t need you guys to tell me. My parents made sure that I knew how awful I was for not wanting to do anything related to the bread business we had going on. They even tried to argue that I could study the story of the bread, to learn where the different types came from, as such, and, although I ended up not following this path, it did, surprisingly, help me at last find out what it was that I wanted to study"


    "You see, I kind of became a scholar without putting much thought into it. I was required to choose a major after finishing school in one of the bigger cities closer to home, and the only thing that remotely interested me was the study of history. But that was too vague and, in the end, I struggled to graduate because I was too indecisive. And so, when my parents told me that I should ¡ª"


    "Zzz..."


    "Oh... you guys are already asleep... I told you to pay attention to my story, damn it! Hah... Since you two already gave up, I might as well join you in your slumber. Don''t wander too far in your dreams, ''kay? Otherwise we might not find each other!" And so, the hyperactive girl, who had named herself Penny, promptly follow the others'' lead and went to sleep, lulled by the warm sun and the shaking of the cart.


    Nearby, Asteria stared at the cart, eyeing the three girls snuggling into each other''s embrace, her gaze showing such warmth that people who saw it would believe it to be nothing more than hallucinations created by the long exposure the sun. Still, the woman didn''t care if some rumors about her began to spread. After all, she just needed to stomp them down, employing even her own physical strength if it was necessary. So far, though, most people, especially the older ones, seemed to have reached a certain level of understanding of Asteria''s descent into being a full-on mother.


    Though Kary was not her daughter and she would never be the girl''s mother, their connection was steadily growing to be much more than the usual relationship between a master and a disciple, bound by tight rules and societal norms. While there was still the respect inherent to such relations, the way it manifested was wholly different, as Kary was able to act with a much higher degree of freedom around Asteria, something that most so-called masters would loathe. On the contrary, the woman embraced it, for she enjoyed the company the girl made her, the warmth she made her feel, a sensation that she had long forgotten in the battlefield, surrounded on all sides by sweaty men trying not to get themselves killed.


    She didn''t know if she would be able to maintain their relationship once she was back at the capital, but she would at least try to. Asteria recognized more than anyone else in their surroundings that the girl she had rescued that day needed help, not only to reach her rather bold objectives, but also because she was as fragile as a human being, with emotions as volatile as a moody teenager, and yet, with the discipline of a battle-hardened veteran. It was a weird combination of traits that made Asteria unable to simply let go of the girl. While she knew that she was by no means a savior, she couldn''t help but want to at the very least try to make life more bearable for Karen and, in the process, making life more bearable for her as well.


    Though she had forbidden Kary from looking at her status until they truly began training, Asteria had no doubt that the girl would become strong. Perhaps even strong enough to take her on. It was an exciting thought, though one that she would have to wait until she could finally see it come to fruition. Still in a deep sleep, Kary could feel the predatory gaze eyeing her, her body moving uncomfortable in response to it.


    Seeing that, Asteria wanted to congratulate the girl on her perception abilities, but she knew that these were simply part of her subconscious, with her usual brain playing no part in her ability to detect the bloodlust-filled stares that occasionally were directed toward her. Perhaps that was why she had developed such keen senses. Thinking about that, Asteria wondered about what kind of life Kary must have lived before appearing in the ruins they were exploring. Though they still hadn''t touched anywhere near this delicate topic, the woman could feel that, however the girl''s life had been beforehand, it hadn''t been pleasant.


    Walking at the same pace as everyone else, Asteria tried to shake these thoughts out of her mind, as she tried to focus on the next step of Kary''s training, which would hopefully start on this night. Just like the girl had done before, she looked at the sky, wondering if all that had been happening to her was anything more than a play made by and for the gods. For now, she had no way of knowing, though one day her maybe-daughter might be able to figure out an answer. For now, though, she should just focus on keeping pace with everyone and not running over anybody. Still, even as she focused on the march, she showed a vicious grin at the thought of everything that would take place under the veil of the night.

 7.5. A long life

    This book was made in order to register my own thoughts as lived through my hectic life. Those who know me at the present surely know how I was during my young days, when I would travel to the four corners of the world to document everything that I came across. Ahh... to be so young and full of energy again... I miss those days, though a part of me can only pray to the gods that age has finally forced me to stop my reckless adventuring. Was it even reckless, though, considering that for the better part of it I made the journey accompanied by the Maiden in White, who might still be one of, if not the strongest adventurer of the continent?


    Well, I can confidently say that, during our travels, it certainly didn''t look like we were doing anything dangerous, although, looking back at it through the lenses of age and experience; I can''t help but be amazed that I managed to live long enough to be writing this book right here and right now. But I digress. First things first, we should start from the beginning, right? It simply won''t do for me to start my own biography from the end like this. No, no, no. Regardless of how much I despise the stiff writing of academia, I simply can''t bring myself to completely ditch all the rules dictated by it. Well, so be it. Let''s work our way chronologically through time until I have hopefully made you, my dearest reader, privy to everything that happened during my long, long life.


    So... the start of my journey, huh... well, I can say right off the bat that it wasn''t a pleasant one. I know, I know, that''s spoiling the fun, but don''t worry, it should be more than obvious why I say that once the thread of my past has been unknotted fully by yours truly. Anyway, it is also appropriate to say that the previous statement was a clear understatement of the life I lived before setting myself free. Yes, I was forced to liberate myself, to free my own body, mind and soul from the clutches of the village where I grew up on.


    It might sound bad, and I assure it that it was, but it probably wasn''t near as terrible as my heavily biased mind remembers it. But oh well, there''s little I can do besides retelling the story as faithfully as possible, even with that doesn''t amount to particularly much. Regardless, I, as any other author should strive for, make now the vow to recount my misadventures as faithfully as I recall them. If you, for some gods-forsaken reason, acquired this book without knowing anything about me, then I welcome you, and I hope you''ll enjoy this little life story of mine. I am Penny, no surname, an archmage by profession, an explorer by love and a historian by hobby. Can you even call it a hobby if I have been nurturing it for the past half a century? Who knows? I would consider it to be so, hence why I insisted on calling ''hobby'' throughout my whole lifetime, though you might be inclined to disagree. I doubt I will be alive by the time you pick up this book, but, even if I am, I doubt the words of a reader or another would do anything other than inflame my ego by making me know that this silly biography has garnered so much attention.


    I was born on the distant village of Psom¨ª, though I neither expect nor hope that you know of it. After all, it would definitely be stranger if you asked a random passerby on the capital about the name of a village on the outskirts of civilization, mostly isolated and too far from anything even remotely important to be of any use. The only reason it even had the right to give itself a name was because the bread made there was quite the local treat for those who could afford it. It managed to get the attention and the investments of the filthy rich merchants and the insufferable nobles. It is funny, truly, that no matter where I go, no matter with how many of them I interact with, they all appear to me as the same filthy, greasy and disgusting specimen, no matter how much their makeup and fine scents try to make it otherwise.


    Of course, it would do me no good to overly generalize, as it would make me no better than the so-called pinnacle of our society, whom I every so often catch speaking ill of the peasants, the merchants, of other nobles, of the maids. No, I''m sure there must be at least a few good nobles out there somewhere, but the overwhelming majority of rabble who insistently reiterate the same old, outdated saying that nobles are favored by the gods and that they are more important than the common rabble makes it consistently hard to find them. Heck, I recall that the time when I had to find a needle in a haystack was both more fun and easier than the futile, almost hypothetical mental exercise that is finding decent nobles.


    That, however, matters little to the discussion at hand, which was about... umm... oh, yes, my village! Silly me, forgetting what I just wrote. I will admit, though, it''s surprisingly fun to bash with abandon at the slimy nobles with the help of my mighty weapons: the pen and the paper. As if I was wielding a study shield and a sharp spear, I embarked on my journey to stab, stab, stab those annoying, self-righteous pricks until they bleed to death. Sadly for me, though not for them, I was never able to get my opinions though with actions, always choosing instead to fight with words. Even now, that had seldom changed, as you can see.


    Anyway, as I said before, my little, cozy village was known in the region by its exquisite bread, a true delicacy for the high-class men. Even though the transport was hard and took quite some time to reach any settlement with anyone who could even afford to eat the breads, the entire village had been developed around the making of this particular type of food, perfecting through the generations until they had achieved near perfection in their craft. The whole village worked as a collective, each participating in some way of the process, even if not directly. My parents, for example, worked with fixing ovens and sewing clothes, in special aprons.


    My father was a strong man, both physically and mentally. I mean, I can''t even fathom the mental fortitude he must have had to keep in contact with me even after I left the village for good. He had muscles bulging from everywhere in his body, even from places I didn''t even know had muscles. Of course, his job, mainly physical, made it so that his physique was strikingly good, especially when considering that he had been trained from a young age by his own father. Ever since there had been bread produced here, there had also been oven-fixers and builders to make the places where the bread would be actually made. My dad wasn''t the only one bearing an exhausting, physically intensive job in the village, but he might have been one of the most enthusiastic about his own job, always wearing a wide grin on his face, doing everything he could to alleviate everyone else''s load, be it though bad jokes or genuinely, caring moments of counseling to the young.


    If only he wasn''t so oblivious to the changes happening right below his nose, things might have turned out differently. Even now, decades after I last saw him, I still regret the words I said, the actions I did. To be fair, though, it is reasonable to expect a teenager who had bottled up her true feelings and dreams her whole life to do some unreasonable actions. Life rarely goes the way you want it to go, and I just had to learn how to move forward with the awful card I''ve been dealt by fate. Delegating all the wrongs of my life to fate alone seem kind of cheap, though. On the majority of the time, the difficulties and tribulations of my life were caused by myriads of different ailments and problems, by reasons I may never figure it out.


    Hah... but that doesn''t matter much. As I said, I had to learn entirely by myself how to deal with the cards I was dealt, and, looking back at it, I think a pretty good job at it. What does matter it writing about my mother before it slips out of mind. Funnily enough, Marta was the complete opposite of my dad. While he was strong, bold, and prone to helping others, my mother was the very definition of a recluse. She did her job as good as anyone else, but she made no effort at all to interact with other people or helping anyone. She made from her job her entire life, to the point where she would barely even glance at me before returning to her job. Jorge, my dad, oftentimes tried to make Marta try new things, but the stubborn woman insisted on focusing solely on her job, which is why I think she was so devastated by the decisions I made. I don''t regret it, though, since even now I don''t really feel anything compelling me to inherit her job. I still wonder if she ever forgave me, but I don''t really tend to dwell on these thoughts too much. Too depressing for anything other than a moody autobiography. Well, I don''t think I can run from it any longer.


    So, to start things off, I first need to explain how I decided to become an explorer. That''s the easy part. I became an explorer because I have always loved exploring everywhere, ever since I was a child. Anticlimactic, no? Well, no matter. Ever since I was a little girl I loved running around, finding different things, rare things, everything that caught my attention I would bring to my parents to see. I didn''t have a lot of friends, since most parents didn''t think I was a good influence, as I was always making up excuses to not start learning how to sew like my mother. A kid that refused to take up her duty and insisted on playing all the time on the woods was bound to make other kids ditch their works in favor of playing too, which was why my contact with the neighboring kids was very limited. I''ve heard stories about how some people saw their neighbors who grew up with them in their little villages as brothers or sisters.


    I''ve never experienced anything of the sort. I''ve never had a sibling, be it by blood or by creation, but that didn''t bother me too much. I was usually too entertained by myself that I seldom noticed the stark contrast between the way that I was treated and the way the rest of the kids on the village were. Looking at it now, I can''t believe how utterly stupid I was to not notice it. It was so obvious that I''m reaching the point where I might actually try to build a time machine just to return to the past and slap my own head. Sometimes, one mom or another would make the kids'' a treat, something that, for some odd reason, only ever happened when I was in one of my outings deep into the woods. I would only learn about the event later on when I returned, which usually made me a little downcast for the rest of the night. Sometimes my moody humor wouldn''t even last that long, as my spirits were always immediately lifted every time I showed my dad something interesting I had brought back.


    Sadly, these small moments never lasted long. My mom, in all her wisdom and with all her experience, absolutely despised everything that I decided was novel enough to show to her. Little old me simply couldn''t understand that it was simply because my mother hated most things, and the fact that I decided to concentrate my time on such futile things instead of learning the craft of sewing only served to get even more at her nerves. It rarely hit that point, but there were times when she would start screaming at me, telling me on a loud and clear voice about how much of a disappointment I was, and that I would have begun working on our profession since a long time ago. These outbursts were normally pretty quickly mitigated by Jorge, but never before my younger self had time to swallow the bitter and hateful words being thrown at her.


    If the same thing happened to me today, I sincerely don''t know if my mother would live still. I know this sounds extreme, but trust me, I doubt you would want to live through fifteen years of constant abuse simply because your dreams didn''t align with what your parents wanted. It was painful to go against her, since everyone is always taught that their parents are always right no matter what, and questioning this quote becomes harder the more it is repeated by everyone around you. It is a self-feeding loop, where the more you hear and speak the magic words the more you start to convince yourself of them, making it so that every time a disagreement happens it always appear to be the kid''s fault. On this case, though, this supposition made by most adults and even by the majority of kids couldn''t be more wrong.


    After all, as far as I''m concerned, the only thing I had done wrong was not complying with what my parents wanted for my future. And yet, in that little mind of mine, too young to properly understand the intricacies of life, every confrontation made her feel worse than a heretic burning on a stake. It was as if my refusal to take upon herself to continue the family tradition was the biggest shame I could ever feel, as if I had been reduced to a mere pile of garbage every time I tried to convince my parents to let me do my own thing. Of course, this horrid feeling little prevented me from escaping into the woods anyway, though I can''t help but ponder about the long-term psychological effects of it.


    It would be funny if it wasn''t so tragic. Whenever my parents tried to convince me to learn to sew, my legs automatically began to run, almost subconsciously moving towards the closest opening on the house there was. If it happened to be a door, good, I would be running for my life in a flash. If it was a window, then it would be marginally more complicated, as I needed to jump up and then drop down before making my escape, which allowed my parents to get closer to me and, sometimes, even catch me before I could flee. This was the worst situation, since mother would continue to berate me and insist that I stop doing such useless things while my dad, usually so sweet, turned on the form of an ass-whooping demon.


    With everything combined, it only served to drive me to push further and further into the forest with which I was steadily growing more and more familiar as the years wasted away. It reached a point where I knew more hiding spots than the hunters who had spent their entire lives bringing food to the village. I learned how to hide, how to hear the predators from a distance, how to survive for extended periods of time with only my clothing. This period probably played quite a big part on why I finally decided that enough was enough.


    It also probably helped that my parents finally decided to put a stop on my antics. They wanted to make me learn the joys of my profession by force! Of course, that only pushed me further and further away from them. The yelling became commonplace in the household, and even the neighbors began to ask my parents to quiet down. Things continued to escalate quite rapidly for the next few years, reaching the point of physical abuse. At least they tried to take that route, but, if they thought they could easily catch and harm a girl who, at that point, was more beast than human, then they could only be delusional.


    Delusional, huh... that''s a nice word to describe my parents, in special my mother, who only knew how to replicate the same teachings that she had learned as a girl. It didn''t made the things she said to me any less hurtful, but, at least now, I can see that, from an outsiders perspective, she was simply trying to get me to do the things that she herself had learned while at my age at the time. However, little young me couldn''t possibly make such an analysis, resorting instead to answer these rather forceful attempts to make me submit to her will, to make me nothing more than a miniature version of her, was to isolate myself even more.


    I''ve started to spend more and more time on the woods, returning very rarely once my body began screaming to me, begging me to get some rest on a proper bed and eat some nicely-cooked food. Don''t get me wrong, it wasn''t as if I couldn''t sleep anywhere I wanted or that I was bad at cooking. It was just that there were some things that I simply couldn''t replicate with my crude lifestyle. No matter how much I tried over the years, my ability to cook with raw, unprocessed ingredients was subpar at best, though I have to admit that I haven''t spent that long developing that skill. I don''t even think I managed to max it out.


    It''s just that there was just so much to see, so much to explore, so many sights of wonder to witness, that these more basic stuff were more often then not put aside to a later, never to be determined, date. That didn''t mean I didn''t invest time in such things, but the skills'' levels are a clear reflection of the less-than-desirable amount of time I spent developing each of them. After I met Kary, then? That was when I completely gave up on mastering those skills. Of course, that backfired tremendously when it turned out that nobody in our group was a good cook, but that is a story that does not fit this introduction.


    Coming back to the chronological, abbreviated story of my life, what made me finally ditch that little village was a single comment thrown offhandedly by my mother in one of our rare family dinners. I still remember that day all too well, from the clothes we were wearing to the food that had been served. I can even quote the outrageous thing my mother said! Most of you who read this book, still fledging younglings, probably don''t realize how hard it gets to remember specific days or events as life continues to pass by, but trust me, it does. And yet, I still remember that moment as if it had happened just before I sat down with my pen to write this introduction.


    It was a clear night, devoid of any clouds in the sky, which allowed the full moon to shine as brightly as the sun, illuminating the entire world with its pale, gentle light. When I was walking from the dense forest to the stone houses of the village, I could see glimpses of the infinite points that were the stars, spreading endlessly through the night sky. Despite the clear moon, it was still hard to navigate through the forest, in no small part thanks to the denseness of its foliage, which managed to block quite a bit of the moonlight. Still, I continued walking forward, for I hungered for some decent food. Funnily enough, what caused me to flee was the direct result of my inability to survive out of berries and badly cooked meat.


    So, here''s a quick rundown of what happened that night. I won''t go into too much detail, since this meeting and its fallout deserve an entire chapter dedicated solely on it. I arrived home, as abruptly as I always did. Without saying a single word, I moved with the shadows towards my room, trying to make as little noise as possible, as if I wanted my parents to not even know I was there. Of course, it was futile, since, even if they hadn''t realized I was there, they definitely heard my old wooden door closing with a band behind me. Now, I could have gotten in through the window, but that idea left a sore taste in my mouth, as if doing that would make me less human than them.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Of course, looking at it now, it was nothing more than my own stubbornness, but, at the time, I didn¡¯t really know what would happen to my fragile mind should it think of itself as less developed than the two monsters in human form who lived in that residence, which, over the years, became to lack more and more of the warmth a home should have. It had devolved into a cold building, almost devoid of any affection. Even the relationship between my parents had worsened, with my mother getting more and more violent every time I visited, while my father continued to passively accept everything with hollow eyes.


    It was a sad scene, but one that I couldn''t help but stare at with detached eyes. These were not my parents, just a much as the place I was in at the moment was not my home. It was a house, for sure, and those two people, almost strangers by then, had definitely birthed a child with the same name as me, but, as my interactions with them grew more scarce, I found myself having trouble in accepting them as anything more than acquaintances, people whom I would sometimes meet whenever I decided to leave the comfort of the forest. Contrary to what I felt, though, my mother became progressively more aggressive, trying and failing again and again to make me either stay at home by her side or marry with some other kid from the village, kids from whom I was kept far, far away during my entire life.


    A barely disguised threat, that''s what that was. She wanted me to choose my bad end, allowing me to make the decision of how I would spend my entire life starting from now. It made me disgusted, to see the person who was supposed to care for me, to take care of my needs, to show me the workings of this world, speaking with such sparkling eyes about the wonders of marriage. I was barely fifteen, and she already considering marrying me off to someone I didn''t know. From a few seconds, I looked at her as if she had grown a second head, though she remained completely oblivious to my judgmental stare, too engrossed in her own fantasies to notice anything amiss.


    Startled by the bizarre things my mother was spouting, I turned to my father, hoping that he would be just as surprised as I was, hoping, from somewhere deep within my soul, that he wasn''t in cahoots with mother, that he had, for once, gone against her will. And yet, I was left disappointed. Staring at my father, I could see that he refused ¡ª or was unable to ¡ª look at me in the face, almost as if he was afraid to see the expression I was making in response to their wicked plan. By that point, I wanted to scream, to cause a fuss, to watch the whole village come together to see the clowns performing in their circus stage.


    I controlled myself, though. I continued to eat, still staring pointedly at both of the detestable people sitting across from me, one of them refusing to spew garbage from her mouth, and the other simply accepting everything that was happening, completely compliant with the plan to force her daughter in a marriage with a boy that she had never properly talked to. It was sickening, repulsive, disgusting, and, most of all, astonishing. I knew that they ¡ª and by ''they'' I meant mostly mother ¡ª wanted to keep me in the village, learning the profession I was supposed to exert, but I don''t think I ever expected things to go that bad.


    Silently, I finished my food, picked up the wooden bowl and slowly went to the kitchen, carefully avoiding opening my mouth, for I knew that I would not be able to stop the stream of insults and swears that would commence upon opening it. My mother, finally realizing I was giving her the silent treatment, start to get as red as a tomato, and I swear I could see some smoke coming out of her years. Her cheeks twitched as her eyes narrowed, the happy smile she was wearing but a second ago all but transformed into a demon''s frown. More than angry, that woman was furious that I still refused to go by her rules, that I still dared to resist, that I was still not the submissive puppet she could order around that she had always wanted, that I still had the gall to come to this house and refuse to respect the beings who refused to show a speck of respect towards me. Inside of her mind, everything became twisted, to the point where she somehow thought that she was on the right for trying to hit me with her wooden spoon.


    She screamed at me, said that I was a horrible daughter, that I should just die in a ditch at that point, that she was tired of patiently waiting for me to see the errors in my ways. Enraged and blinded by fury, she began throwing at me everything that was within reach, from the tableware to the chairs. Of course, none of these were able to so much as graze me, since there was no accuracy to her throws. She simply used everything on her arsenal to take me down, hoping that something would hit. It might sound shocking to you, but they didn''t. Instead, they flew right past me and into the walls, embedding themselves with sharp noises that made me genuinely worry about getting hit. I had to wonder if the years of lashing out at me had rewarded her with some sort of berserk skill.


    Still, that wasn''t the time to ponder about such things. For now, I needed to make my leave, for I had seen enough, suffered enough on the hands of that woman. That was the moment when I decided to take my leave, forever. Never again did I return to that small village on the outskirts of the kingdom, my only interaction with it being though the letters my father began to send me long after I began my life as an explorer and adventurer. I don''t even know if the place still exists, since I haven''t been to the region for a long, long time. Maybe it perished to its old-fashioned, almost brainwashing, ways, or perhaps it still stands strong, making bread for the rich, unbothered by the inconvenient and unpredictable variable that I was.


    After darting through the front door, my weird beliefs still influencing my actions, I silently made my way to the village chief''s house, a slightly bigger place than the rest of the village, though not substantially so. After all, this title simply meant that whoever held it was the most qualified person to lead the village, something often decided through popular vote. Different from some systems, though, the chosen person stays until they either resign or grow too old to exert their power, and, by then, another chief is chosen. Of course, if the village chief was caught mismanaging the resources, he could very easily be stripped away from their position, which would be passed down to someone more capable.


    Since there were never any big conflicts in the village before my appearance, there were very few moments when the chief was removed from their job, and these moments were usually treated with the utmost seriousness. The current chief, however, had always been quite earnest and diligent with his job, working tirelessly to ensure that everything worked flawlessly. He was a good man, even after his age began catching up to him, and he was quite the respected figure in the village. Sadly for him, though, I was precisely on my way to his house, more specifically, to the unguarded vault where the village''s money was stored.


    I know, I know, this is awful, and I should be ashamed of myself. Well, I was! And I still am, for that matter. Every single time that these memories resurface I want to bury my head six feet under the ground and let myself get killed by asphyxiation. I am very aware of the awful things I did, and my brain, as terrible as it had been becoming at remembering things, never allows me to forget the many, many mistakes I made throughout my life. Every night I lay awake at my fluffy bed, every day I spend drinking tea and reminiscing about the past, I think about these mistakes, both the big, ugly ones, and almost harmless ones, who did no bad to anybody other than my own conscience.


    At that moment, though, with my head high with adrenaline, few things mattered more than getting the necessary money for me to make my escape. I quietly entered the silent house, its inhabitants fast asleep for quite some time now. Using the stealth skill I acquired through my long time of exposure to the wilderness, I sneaked past a few rooms, until I reached the chief''s office, its door wide open, almost as if inviting me to take a peek inside. Slowly, I entered the simple room, mostly left unadorned in order to favor the practicality of furniture.


    On top of a shoddy-looking table sat a small pile of papers, all the recent record of our trade with the nearby city. That mattered little to me, as I began to scan the room meticulously, tried my very best to find the place where all the money from the transactions recorded on the papers was located. It took me a few minutes to find the hidden compartment, though it was more because of my own inexperience when dealing with such things than because of its hiding place. In fact, it was a very simple hiding spot: below the floorboards. I didn''t know from what exactly the village chief was protecting all those coins, since there had never been any incidents involving bandits around this region, but I had to admit that, should I not be looking specifically for it, I might not have spotted it.


    Still, it wasn''t particularly difficult to spot the weird square on the ground, the wood around its edges much more worn off than the rest of the boards. After finding it, I took some of the coins inside, about a third of the total, which was a bit more than six gold coins, and left as quietly as my skills allowed me to. Once outside, I began to run for my life, afraid of what would happen to me should someone catch me in the act. And so, I ran as fast as I could, leaving behind my rather miserable life and embarking on a journey that would change me to my very core,


    A few days running later, I arrived on the city closest to Psom¨ª, with a name that I have long forgotten. For the first few days, I felt overwhelmed by the liveliness of the sprawling city, its size and diversity impossible to compare to my little village. After a few days sleeping on the trees outside the walls of the city, though, I decided that it was enough of sightseeing for the moment, and that I should focus on finding a job. After all, if I only spend the money I had brought with me on an old piece of cloth badly knitted and hidden between my breasts, I would sooner or later be completely out of coins to use.


    With that, my journey through the ranking of the adventurer''s guild began. Making my love for exploration a rentable job was quite possibly one of the greatest thing humanity as a whole has ever done to me. Over the next five years, I tirelessly worked on building both my strength and my reputation, rapidly climbing through the ranks with my highly rated service. At age twenty, I had finally reached B-rank, which was quite formidable, although not unheard of, for someone as young as I was.


    On these five years, plenty of things changed. I didn''t grew any more, though I still towered over most humans with my impressive 1.5 meters of height, but I moved to the capital, bought a small house on the outskirts of the city with the money I had been slowly accumulating. At some point, it seems that my father found out where I lived, though I am still uncertain about how in the world he did that. Still, the fact remains that, after he caught wind of my many bountiful exploration through ancient ruins, her tried one last time to convince me to come back to the village, arguing that I could study the history of the bread there, with them.


    Of course, that idea was shot down immediately, and I made sure to state that, as well as the reasons for why, on my return letter to him. After going through my endless list of reasons for why I didn''t want to return, my dad finally accepted that I would not be back any time soon, and he finally gave up on convincing me, changing instead to polite, yet surprisingly warm letters asking about my wellbeing, my adventures, and some other miscelanious stuff. It was nice, knowing that he was trying to repair the bridge he had burned so many years before, but it was too late to amend the relation completely, for the damage he had dealt to me, perhaps even unknowingly, was still far too great.


    At age twenty one, I was chosen to embark on a mission to the city of T¨¢fos, where a bunch of scholars would study the ruins, and they needed the protection of a bunch of adventurers to make sure that everything flowed well. It was there that I met for the first time Kary, the being that now goes by a multitude of name. Killer in White, Pale Death, Specter of Death, Spirit of the Forest, Undying Adventurer, among other monikers with varying levels of fear and awe. When I first met her, I couldn''t help but wonder about her identity. After all, I don''t think there had ever been such a find on the ruins of such an ancient place, and I doubt there ever will.


    She was weak, oh so terribly weak, but by the gods did she grow quickly. I guess that was to be expected, since her instructor ¡ª and mother figure ¡ª was none other than the Blade of the Kingdom, Asteria. During our journey back to the capital, she trained endlessly with other adventurers, pushing herself as much as her body would allow her to, and then beyond. Despite her weakness when compared to me, our talks during the day quickly made me fond of the girl, who appeared to have grown in an environment even worse than the one I grew up in, if that''s even possible for you, my dear reader, to imagine. After all, I doubt you are among the ones who suffered the relentless abuse from the ones who gave birth to you, though, if you are on that tiny range of abused kids who have grown to have enough money to acquire this book, then I can only say that I am sorry for everything that you went through.


    Knowing my history and everything that I managed to achieve during my long years of exploration, these might sound like fake words, devised to trick and comfort the mind, while at the same time providing no actual healing, no deeper meaning at all, just a shallow message to calm the mind of the reader. And, while it might seem that way for those who were thankfully never abused by their loved ones, I want to make sure to let this message out there for the unfortunate ones who had:


    Know that you are strong, that you survived the worst, and that life can seldom reach anywhere near the ugliness it displayed when you were young. Know that the worse is over, and that there is no need to keep in touch with the people who touched you, who harmed you, who hurt you. Know that there are people out there who have gone through the same thing, experiences extremely different, incomparable to one another, and yet still resembling each other in some twisted way. Know that you can seek out help, reach out to those who you know you can trust, seek out the aid of magicians specialized on the mind, though this option in particular might be largely unavailable for the normal population, thanks to its almost abusive price.


    Well, with all that gloom out of the way, I will speed through my life from beyond this point, since my editor keeps pressuring me to finish this chapter quickly and that I shouldn''t be adding so much information to what amounts to just an introduction to my own biography. After my initial meeting with Kary, I didn''t think much of her other than the fact that she was quite interesting in her own right. When we reached the capital once more, I bid farewell to her and the adventurers who had been hired as well. For some time after that, I didn¡¯t hear anything about the girl, until, one day, I arrive at guild and guess who I find there, with a lean and tones body, wearing all-whites that were somehow still darker than her own skin? Yep, it was Kary, the Killer in White herself. She was looking for a beginner¡¯s quest to start her journey through adventuring, much like I had done years before, though she was there out of her own volition, encouraged by Asteria, while I had to deal with some... unpleasant circumstances that lead me there.


    I guess there is a lesson to be learned from all this, which is that, even if the starting point of two people are the same, even if they end up meeting during their short walk through life, the paths they might have taken to reach such a point might differ tremendously. I hadn''t thought much about it until now, but it''s quite nice that she managed to find people who were willing to accept her despite her... rather unique features, especially considering everything that she had been through, as she later told me during our adventures.


    As a good senior, I pointed a good quest to her, which she happily took from the board, handed to a random receptionist, thanked me, and immediately went on with her day, her eyes blazing with the determination to complete her quest, which was simply hunting a few wild rabbits, as quickly as possible. Within the next few months, the girl''s rank would skyrocket, reaching the rank where I was with unparalleled speed, her unorthodox way of fighting and her deadpan personality making her all the more endearing for the adventurer community, She became an idol to them, so to speak, a beacon of light that showed them what they could become if they put all their efforts into it.


    After that, I joined her party with a few other talented individuals, forming a small group names Light Knights due to our strength and the whiter clothing out party had adopter. It was an incredibly unfitting name, considering that, despite the ''light'' word assuming righteousness, bravery, courage, and whatnot, there were just so many flaws with the individuals of our group that my mind couldn''t help but question if there was some correlation between being deranged and strength.


    Slowly, our achievements grew, until we passed right through A-rank and went straight to S-rank. But, by then, our prime had already passed, and most of the group was already thinking about settling down. After all, what use was there to all the fortune they had amassed after two decades of adventuring other than to make them not need to work anymore? Why should they keep risking their lives for more riches when what they had could last them their entire lifetime?


    Simply put, they had no reason to keep on going, which made our entire party crumble from the inside out. Eventually, there was just me and Kary, both of us driven by our own objectives, mine, of seeing every archeological site on the continent at least once, and Kary''s, of exploring the entire world or die trying. We parted ways there, as the silence without our old member felt deafening. It''s a funny thing, that the girl who had grown up used to the silence of the forest now crave for the loud and boisterous voices of other humans. I had grown throughout our journey, and it was only then that I realized it.


    For the next decades, I kept exploring, meeting with old legends, working with them to uncover the secrets of times long past, while at the same time always trying to know what Kary was up to, in which part of the continent she was causing chaos. Time comes for us all though, and it was no different for me. I grew old, too old to go out on explorations anymore, too old to walk up a flight of stairs. Sometimes I feel pathetic, thinking about the husk of woman that seats on her comfortable chair, writing with a trembling, bony hand her own memories to the best of her mediocre abilities. At the same time, though, when I look at everything that I have done in this life of mine, I can''t help but feel immense pride in everything that I managed to accomplish, everything that I managed to build for myself and for others.


    Even while seating on this chair, writing out what I can remember from my own past, I few like my story isn''t over, that there are more that I can still do before Death inevitably arrives to take me away from this plane. Even with all the hardships I encountered through my life, I can''t say that I regret living it until this point, enjoying every moment, every sensation, to its fullest. Even while being one step away from death, I still feel so full of energy, as if I am still able to do the same feats I did when I was young. Even with all my suffering, I can puff out my chest and confidently say that I am happy, and that I was happy


    ~~~ First chapter, ''Introduction (not really)'', of Kelly the Archmage''s biography, titled ''The rough road to happiness - the biography of Kelly, the strongest archmage'' ~~~

 8. Sleepless night

    The first day of the journey back to the capital went without a hitch. There were no monsters to slay, no disagreements that escalated too much, nothing that could disturb the festive vibe of the caravan. The scholars were elated by the fact that they had been part of such a huge breakup in understanding their past, while the adventurers who had been contracted to accompany them were just glad that their job was finally coming to an end. Of course, they were still required to protect the fragile scholars, who had spent their lives doing nothing but studying their areas of interest, but there were seldom any monsters worthy of being defeated by the best of the empire on the way to the ruins, so it was likely that there wouldn¡¯t be much to worry about.


    Still, looking at the way everyone around her was acting; Asteria couldn¡¯t help but let out a sigh of frustration at these people who failed to take their jobs seriously. At this point, they were treating the journey back home as more of a victory lap than anything, throwing caution out of the wind and simply enjoying themselves to the fullest. It was annoying, yes, but the knight couldn¡¯t really fault them. After all, if she caught notice of the fact that the remains of the legendary heroes depicted in countless tales were found, she would be hard pressed into not going to the site of the discovery herself to take a peek at one her childhood heroes, the people who inspired her to walk the path of a knight.


    Even if such a thing happened though, she would be forced to show some decorum, as her profession was a public one, in which she was forced to interact constantly with both the common folk and the high-born. She had to maintain her face so as to continue to practice her job with the least amount of obstacles possible, contrary to the people all around her. They were free to laugh, to joke, to drink in broad daylight, to play rough with each other, to be as annoying as they pleased. Few people cared about the personality of adventurers, as long as they get their jobs done, and even fewer paid attention to the people behind the research that had been allowing this new-born kingdom to stay afloat. Just as long as there were results, they were simply faceless people, wearing their professions as their masks.


    Asteria, however, could not afford to act like a moody teenager, since she would be readily demoted should she accidentally upset some noble or if she made enough of a ruckus that even the common rabble became upset with her. If those scholars and adventurers were part of her platoon, they would have already been whipped at least ten times and would be doing some form of menial work in order to pay for their demeanor. Here, though, she had her hands tied, even with the modicum of influence she had been gifted in the absence of the elders, as doing anything would only result in her being branded as a nosy knight, a knight unable to restrain herself, a knight who unleashed her power at the innocent, a knight not fit to be one.


    She was already well aware of the strong preconception that came with her being a woman in this line of work, and the unsavory comments she heard ever since she entered the knight¡¯s academy were numerous, with some bolder nobles even trying to get her under their sheets, though they were never able to pin her down. During school years, Asteria had to train every single day from after her classes ended until the school staff forced her to go to bed so as to get the same amount of recognition as her male classmates. She was forced to present herself as an ideal lady, despite being at a place designed to mold people into knights, for the simple fact that doing anything less would get her berated by some instructor or another.


    Even now, after getting the job she had wanted since she was a little kid, she still had to consider every little action she did, every little thing that came out of her mouth, so as to not fan the flames that those who wanted her gone from her position had been lighting up ever since she had managed to pass the exam to enter the academy. It was an extremely annoying position to be in, and it often required her full attention, but it was through her caution that she had managed to rise to the position where she was at the present, and she vehemently refused to let some good-for-nothing nobles who were only enlisted as knights because they had no hope of ever inheriting anything of significance from their families ruin it for her.


    That was why she forced the girl currently sleeping peacefully in between two other girls into such an extreme training regime right out of the bat, since she knew that the girl would need some strength in order to protect herself in this savage world. Still, this only made people talk more and more about her. Asteria had overheard some folks gossiping about her relationship with Kary, about how she was overworking the poor girl to death, about how she was abusing the poor girl just to feel better about herself, about how she was forcing the girl onto a path unbecoming of a lady like Kary, about how she was doing everything out of jealousy. They were farfetched and, quite frankly, ridiculous rumors, but the believability mattered little on the face of those who sought to bring about chaos.


    They didn¡¯t care about Asteria¡¯s circumstances of the context, or about the truthfulness of the statements. Some nobles at the capital would gladly spout this nonsense left and right amidst their social circles, in an attempt to undermine the woman who had fought her entire life for the position she was in now. It would come as a great surprise, even, if any of them even knew who Kary was and why she was under the knight¡¯s tutelage. Just as long as they could badmouth the knight, they were completely satisfied, knowing that the woman who dared to achieve what they did without the help of their status and wealth would soon have her wings cut and would be brought back to the ground, unable to ever soar the skies, unable to ever experience the same amount of success she had already achieved ever again.


    It was a level of pettiness that Asteria had learned to deal with, as it was almost a requirement for nobles of this day and age. Every time the woman was made to accept a job from a noble house on the behalf of the king, the difference between young, rash, and arrogant nobles and their parents always stunted her. Why was it that the older generation was actually competent at their jobs, while their sons and daughters only knew how to badmouth and talk about people behind their backs? Why was it that they refused to accept the change in the status quo while their parents had no trouble adapting to it? From what she had seen, few were the nobles in charge of their houses who had anything to say about the fact that she was a woman leading a group of knights. It would be almost an interesting situation to study, was it not for the fact that Asteria was directly affected by it.


    But alas, what mattered now was that she could not, regardless of how much she wanted to, get in the way of the boisterous laughing and over-the-top festive atmosphere, for she could not afford to have anyone complaining about her. At the same time, though, doing nothing could also cause some people to question her as the temporary leader of the caravan, since there were definitely some, albeit not many, who were just as annoyed at the people who had been showing such a complete disregard of social norms as of late as she was.


    Asteria looked at the blue sky, devoid of any clouds, trying her best to ignore the out of tune singing that echoed through the deserted plains. No matter what she thought of, there would be always someone dissatisfied with her, so, true to her nature as a leader and someone who had learned through the hard way that it was impossible to please everybody, she tried thinking about what would leave the least amount of scholars and adventurers annoyed. She couldn¡¯t ask them to calm down, nor could she ask the few who shared the same views as her to simply ignore, especially when the knight herself had trouble tuning out of the drunkards¡¯ symphonies.


    With a sigh, she looked back at the cart the girl she had taken under her wing was peacefully sleeping, serving as a comfy, although a bit dirty, body pillow for the two girls that surrounded her. At that sight, Asteria couldn¡¯t help but smile just a tiny bit, forgetting for a moment the many worried that constantly plagued her mind. Despite all the trouble the girl had been causing her over the past week, the knight could tell that she had been smiling a lot more than she had just the week prior. Some of the adventurers who knew her even raised questions about her unusual behavior, but, right now, not even the knight herself could answer them, for she still did not know what was that feeling slowly but surely growing inside of her. Hopefully it wasn¡¯t a tumor, but only the gods knew what was on that water she had been drinking during their time in the ruins.


    A slight chuckle escaped her lips, startling the few people that didn¡¯t mind staying close to the scary woman. One of them, a young scholar who had been walking in silence ever since they departed, began to open his mouth to do what no one else had the courage to ask Asteria for the reason why her expression had been changing so constantly on this past hour, but, before he could voice his concerns, he saw her face cloud once more, making him hastily retract everything that he wanted to say. The pressure she exerted suddenly increased many times, making the weaker and more fragile of the bunch almost buckle over, and the more resilient ones look around in a panic, trying to catch to origin of such intense pressure, before laying their eyes on Asteria and quickly looking the other way.


    Nobody knew what the woman was thinking, and they could only pity the fools who had invoked her wrath. Inside of her mind, though, Asteria was perfectly composed, even satisfied with herself after coming up with a plan that, to a certain degree, would manage to appease both the drunk and the sober alike. It was quite simple, really. She would only have to impose specific times at which they were allowed to be as annoying as they pleased, preferably as far away from her as possible (though she would never speak that aloud). With that, she would still be providing an outlet for the explorers who had achieved much in regards to their researches and the adventurers who had joined them in their festivities, while at the same time giving some peaceful moments for those who, like her, preferred their quietude.


    With powerful strides, Asteria briskly walked towards the front of the caravan, scaring away anyone that could sense the pressure she exuded from simply being concentrated. That uncontrollable pressure was one of the reasons the knight had to constantly keep her own power in check, since it was on its nature to want to expand, to encompass and oppress as much people as possible, to make them feel small, and it tended to get out of control whenever she began thinking too deeply about something.


    When she was with her unit, the good-natured knights who had chosen to follow her would usually remind her of her rampant power, though it usually only after enough time had passed for them to be expelling sweat like they had been suddenly thrown into the Endless Wastes. Here, though, there were few who had the power to point out such a thing, and even fewer who were willing to do so. What happened, then, was that everyone simply decided that the easiest course of action was to simply steer clear of the woman; afraid that, should they try to confront her, the backlash waiting whoever had made her blast the pressure of a terrifying beast would inadvertently befall them.


    Asteria, mostly unaware of this, made her way all the way to the front of the caravan, from where she could easily see most of the people accompanying her on the journey back. She looked at each and every one of them, her gaze lingering for a few moments more on the ones who had been causing the most ruckus, making them unconsciously flinch, as if they were being sized by a predator on the top of the food chain. Some gulped down the saliva that accumulated within their mouths, some wondered what was happening, and some others couldn¡¯t even process anything anymore, their brains drowned in the cheap booze they had managed to bring with them. After making sure that everyone was paying attention to her, Asteria began speaking.


    ¡°Ahem! Ladies and gentlemen. I know you are all elated by the recent discoveries on the ruins of the ancient city of T¨¢fos, and that the significance of it has resulted in quite the festive atmosphere! For the past week, most of you have been doing nothing but partying and talking to each other slumbering nonsense until the crack of dawn. At the time, there was no problem with such an arrangement, considering that those who opposed it were able to simply go farther away in order to get a proper night¡¯s rest. HOWEVER! The situation now in much differs from what it was just a day ago. We now travel together, bundled and protected in case anything happens, and I, as the acting leader of this group, nominated by the elders, cannot allow these never-ending festivities¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t pretend like I understand what is going through your minds ever since out job here has been finished, but I ask you to be considerate to the ones who don¡¯t have the same eagerness to drink ¡®till the point of passing out! I cannot, and I will not, feign understanding of the complex mix of feeling swirling inside you all, but I can say with confidence that there are many here who struggle to deal with the way you output these feelings. I am not asking you to stop, nor am I asking you to go back to the seriousness present in the encampment prior to the discovery of the registers in stone slates, but I do ask you all to take into consideration those who fail to find meaning in the partying you partake in from dawn to dusk. Until someone with a higher degree of authority than I have declares it as much, excessive partying and drinking is prohibited from the moment the moon appears on the sky until the moment it vanishes¡±


    Hearing that, most people nodded their heads in agreement. Even the ones who had forced Asteria to make a statement seemed to mostly think that the restriction was reasonable. After all, they could all empathize with the ones who had to suffer due to the loud noises, especially when they wanted to take no part in either producing or listening to such noises. Of course, there were still those who thought that was an absurd, a direct attack against them and folks with whom they had been mingling with every night, a clear notice that they were being bullied by the simple fact that the person in charge disliked them.


    They had experienced such things many times over their careers as both scholars and adventurers, but they usually unfolded when they weren¡¯t under the influence of alcohol, their inhibitors and their sense of what should and shouldn¡¯t be said being completely gone. And so, they, which is to say five or so people so lost in their own world that they couldn¡¯t even properly comprehend the words leaving Asteria¡¯s mouth, tried to retaliate with complete nonsensical arguments, which would make them the laughingstock among their peers for the months to come.


    ¡°W-Why? Just because you don¡¯t like our voices doesn¡¯t mean you can dictate when we can and can¡¯t sing!¡±


    ¡°Yeah! The only people who can judge our voices are our mothers, and they aren¡¯t here, so you shouldn¡¯t be saying such things!¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re right! Just because y-y-you a-are s-s-strong and s-scary, d-doesn¡¯t m-m-mean that you c-can just b-b-b-b-bully us!¡±


    Hearing their pitiful attempts on turning her into the bad guy, Asteria had to give her all in order to suppress her desire to laugh, which grew with every drunken remark that was flung her way. Instead, she steeled herself, telling herself again and again that she could not, under any circumstance, laugh, and that she should maintain a serious face throughout the whole affair. With a sigh, too quiet for even those who were nearest to her to hear, Asteria looked directly into the eyes of the troublemakers, before letting just a little bit of her bloodlust reach them.


    It was a delicate skill that had taken her years of tireless training to perfect, but the results were always satisfying to watch. The few remaining troublemakers started quaking on their boots, copious amounts of cold sweat dampening their clothes as they tried to take a step back, only to trip on the uneven dirt they have been walking on for the past few hours, comically falling to their butts. A few chuckles could be heard here and there, which only served to make the stubborn drunkards all the more annoyed. With their faces red with shame, anger, and alcohol, they tried to get up, mumbling incoherent things that didn¡¯t manage to reach Asteria¡¯s ears, though those who heard it would later say that it was for the best.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Still, no matter how annoyed they were, the fact remained that they had attacked one of the strongest people on the country, who received orders from His Majesty himself, with baseless accusations, only to be thrown to the ground by their own incompetence (and a little bit of encouragement from Asteria). Of the few who still disagreed with the knight, all but one hung their heads in shame before walking to the back of the caravan, trying to make themselves appear as small as possible, as they did not have the ability to fully disappear, contrary to some master assassins. Even the last one, an old graying man, with a receding hairline and a pronounced belly, as well as a height that could make people mistake him for a dwarf, after seeing everyone else accept, albeit begrudgingly, Asteria¡¯s words, simply followed his mates to the back, soon enough disappearing from the woman¡¯s line of sight.


    With a sigh, Asteria looked around, even spotting Tom among the nervous bunch who waited to see what would happen next. She nodded at him, hoping that he hadn¡¯t forgotten about what she had asked him a few days ago, before going back to the proximities of where Kary, Penny, and a third girl spent the entire length of her announcement peacefully sleeping, unbothered by the obnoxious yelling of the drunkards, too engrossed in their own dream to care about physical matters.


    Once again the knight gazed upon the peaceful face of Kary, a face she had never seen when the girl was awake, as she always wore either a serious, almost detached expression, or the concentrated expression of someone who really didn¡¯t want to fail at their job. She laughed with some people after her workout routine was finished, she played with them, but she never really allowed herself to relax. Asteria, as someone who had gone through extensive physical training, could spot from afar that, even in a relaxed environment, the quiet, reserved girl always seemed tense in some way, as if her mind never was truly there. Honestly, though, the knight couldn¡¯t really blame the girl, for she had suddenly popped into an almost finished expedition with no context whatsoever and was just expected to play along with Asteria¡¯s whims. It was a completely alien place for the girl, full of people she didn¡¯t¡¯ know and that could do anything to her. After all, she had just met them, so it was fair to assume that trust hadn¡¯t budded yet, though Asteria sincerely hoped that, with time, they would grow to trust each other. Still, only time would tell which direction their relationship would move towards.


    There was nothing particularly noteworthy during the rest of the afternoon. People still talked loudly and badly sang songs, but that was par with the course, and those who disliked that found solace on Asteria¡¯s announcement that, as soon as night came, they would be allowed some peace and quiet. And so, they managed to endure until night fell and they were forced to stop the caravan to rest for the night.


    Tents were set, people were fed, and reprimands were delivered for those who had either somehow forgotten the new rule or had simply ignored it, thinking that it wouldn¡¯t be enforced. They did realize that Asteria took her own promises with utmost seriousness, though that could have happened without spreading the nasty smell of ammonia all over the temporary camp. By then, the knight figured that she maybe had been too heavy-handed with them, but softening up now wouldn¡¯t do her any good, as the previous victims would undoubtedly complain about the unfair treatment. Since she had begun distributing harsh punishments, she had to be just as harsh on everyone else who did break the rules, so that they would have nothing to complain besides the fact that she would not budge in her decisions.


    After the horses were stopped, the trio of girls, who had grown used to the rocking of the cart in which they were sleeping, almost immediately woke up upon the sudden interruption of it. Penny looked around, excited, her body proportions doing no service in portraying her bubbly, talkative, and a bit childish personality. The other girl, who had yet to introduce herself, simply hugged Kary tighter and went back to sleep, unperturbed by whatever was happening outside of the boundaries of the cart. That put Kary, who had just woken up and was just as confused as Penny, in quite the awkward situation, as she did want to get up to see where they were, but was unable to, lest the almost mute girl using her as a body pillow gets upset at her.


    Because of that, if one were to see the cart at the moment, they would find a girl in her late teens stretching and looking around at such a pace that it could only be called a miracle that her head was still attached to her shoulder, a stiff girl looking fixatedly at the stars above, immobile, and a sleeping girl in long robes, which did little to mask her small frame. From not too far away, Asteria watched with demure curiosity the interactions between her prot¨¦g¨¦ and the two other girls, quite pleased that they were getting along. Sadly, she would need to interrupt their bonding time, for every moment during these next nights would be necessary for Kary to improve her technique.


    With quiet steps, she approached the trio, allowing herself to be quite easily found out by Penny, who had the biggest vantage point of them all, since she was the only one who was standing. The girl poked Kary with her feet, prompting the body pillow-girl to turn her eyes to her assailant, almost as if questioning her. Penny crouched down in one smooth motion, before whispering to Kary in that ambiguous voice of hers, which was impossible to determine by sound alone if it belonged to a girl, a fledging teenager, or a full grown woman.


    ¡°Your momma is here¡­ heheheh~¡±


    For a moment, Kary looked confused, wondering about what in the world she was talking about. After all, there was no way that her mother was also here, right? She, herself, was only here because she had died and received special treatment from a weird god due to her unfortunate circumstances, so it was unlikely that someone from the same family as hers, especially someone as despicable as her mother, would be reincarnated and placed on the same place as Kary. She racked her brains for a solid minute, trying and failing to interpret Penny¡¯s words in any ways that would make sense. Eventually, though, the need to guess meanings was no more, as a familiar face entered Kary¡¯s line of sight, blocking Penny who, at that point, had already returned to her vantage point.


    ¡°Good morning, Kary. Or should I say good night? I hope you slept well during the day, because I¡¯m going to make you work hard until the sun rises again¡± Asteria said, with a creepy smile on her face that sent shivers down Kary¡¯s spine. She looked around, trying to find some solace in her newfound friends, but, to her dismay, they had already darted away, even the girl who looked like she was in constant need of sleep had disappeared with surprising agility. Looking at their backs growing smaller and smaller as they approached the congregation of tents not too far away, the girl who was left behind couldn¡¯t help but let out a sigh, honestly impressed by her friends¡¯ foresight and athletic abilities. The girl tried to smile at the stern knight, but it probably looked so stiff that it might have been better if she had just continued to use her default expression.


    ¡°Umm¡­ hello¡­? Umm¡­ what are we gonna do today?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t need to be so scared, sweetie, you¡¯re just going to start learning how to yield a number of weapons. Of course, we are limited by both the quantity and the diversity of adventurers that were employed by the king, but I managed to get some heavy-hitters to give you some pointers. Don¡¯t expect to become a master at the usage of any weapon within the month that we will probably spend on the road, but I want you to arrive at the capital with at least some knowledge about how to use any weapon¡±


    ¡°¡­Okay, that doesn¡¯t sound so bad. What¡¯s the catch?¡±


    ¡°The catch is that I¡¯m going to make you practice with them until you pass out of exhaustion, and then some more, every night, for the entire duration of our journey. I hope you are well-rested, because that will be the last time you feel like that. Oh, and you are finally allowed to take a look at your status, though always keep in mind that it¡¯s purpose is to showcase in an easy-to-digest away your current prowess and you progress¡±


    ¡°Oh, finally? I thought you would force me to live the rest of my life without ever getting in contact with the little status page ever again!¡±


    ¡°What image do you have of me?!¡±


    ¡°Do you want me to be nice or to say the truth?¡±


    ¡°Hah¡­ I already know what the truth you¡¯re going to speak is. Do you have any idea about how many people seem to think of me as some sort of terrifying monster?! I tell them that I¡¯m not like that, that I¡¯m simply a little more strict than usual instructor, but they don¡¯t even bother to gossip about it behind my back!¡±


    ¡°Wait¡­ you¡¯re not a terrifying monster that tortures people through exercise until they are up to your preferences before devouring them whole?!¡±


    ¡°No!!! I¡¯ve never done that¡­ yet. If you want to, you can be the first¡±


    ¡°Nope! No thank you very much. I still have things I want to do in this life of mine, and it would be pretty bad for me to allow myself to be eaten by a knight monster shapeshifter due to my own stupidity¡±


    ¡°Haha¡­ okay, okay, now stop joking around and quickly see your status. After that, you can look for me and Tom on the other side of the camp. Take as long as you need, though if you take too long I will come to fetch you, and you will not like that¡±


    ¡°Okay, ma¡¯am!¡±


    ¡°Good. Remember, I will be waiting you~¡±


    ¡°¡­O-okay¡­¡±


    Despite being slightly weary of what would be written in her status page after a week of non-stop training, Kary would be lying to herself if she said that she wasn¡¯t also a bit curious to see what it looked like. After all, considering Asteria had taught her how to disable system notifications and had specifically asked her not to re-enable them or look at her status until further notice so as to not make grow the bad habit of chasing the numbers, Kary wondered if it had even changed that much after just a week. The transformation couldn¡¯t have been anything more than a slight boost to her physical stats¡­ right? Unable to endure the suspense any longer, Kary finally called forth her status page.


    <table width="47%">


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td width="59%">


    Name: Kary Denove


    </td>


    <td width="41%">


    Age: -


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="59%">


    Species: Mavka


    </td>


    <td width="41%">


    Lv: 4 (200/400)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="59%">


    (20 ¡Á 1.0) HP: 20/20


    </td>


    <td width="41%">


    Free points: 35


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="59%">


    (13 ¡Á 2.0) Mana: 26/26


    </td>


    <td width="41%">


    Job: None


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="59%">


    (16 ¡Á 1.7) Intelligence: 27


    </td>


    <td rowspan="2" width="41%">


    Titles (3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="59%">


    (14 ¡Á 1.8) Charisma: 23


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="59%">


    (23 ¡Á 1.1) Strength; 25


    </td>


    <td rowspan="2" width="41%">


    Skills (7)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td width="59%">


    (30 ¡Á 0.9) Endurance: 27


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Although Kary failed to remember precisely the numbers that were written on her page, she was pretty sure that none of them were that high. Especially the physical stats, she was sure that they were among the lowest of them all, and now they all at the very top. It would be quite funny to see, the girl who never worked out a day in her life prior to a few weeks ago suddenly appearing as this muscly, macho person oozing pure testosterone, but that wasn¡¯t the case at all. Despite both her strength and her endurance being much higher than they were, Kary failed to notice any physical changes to her appearance. She was just as tall, just as slim, and just as muscly as before. For some reason, it seemed to be that her body, perhaps her species, was preventing any active changes to it, though she was sure that the changes were there.


    She felt more powerful, faster, and quicker to react to the things happening around her. It was a feeling that she had never experienced before, as if her senses were clogged by wax her entire life and were only now cleansed. If Kary had to attribute one word to the way she was feeling after the hellish physical training she had endured, she would confidently say ¡®invigorated¡¯, something that would considerably shock her past self. The numbers were just a bonus on top of the feeling of being alive, of refining her body until it reached its peak, a numerical way to tell just how she had grown. Still, it was pretty nice. With a silly smile on her face, Kary decided to also check the new title, though she really didn¡¯t expect anything special from it, considering that, again, she had only been in this world for a few weeks.


    <table width="49%">


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td width="33%">


    Survivor I


    </td>


    <td width="66%">


    You have managed to survive the physical exercises of Asteria, one of the strongest knights in your country. If you want to survive the next steps of her training, you will need the 33% decrease on the use of stamina provided by this title. Good luck, and don¡¯t die.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Well, wasn¡¯t this ominous. Kary hoped that she would be fine, but, honestly, after the two weeks of pure torture, she wasn¡¯t so sure anymore. Whoever wrote that title almost seemed to be speaking from experience when mentioning the certain need for the poor soul who got this title to sustain their stamina for longer periods of time. She honestly hoped that she wouldn¡¯t need it, but only the gods knew what passed through the head of Asteria, so there was quite the chance that she would eventually come to rely on the bonus provided by this title in order to survive the next nights.


    Satisfied by the haul, Kary began her walk to the other end of the camp, passing through precariously-mounted tents and people resting on crude benches made out of wood. She tried to delay her arrival for as much as possible, but, since the camp was neither particularly big or spaced out, the walk she had to do in order to find her instructors was much shorter than what she was intending, ending up in less than five minutes after it had started.


    There, standing tall under the moonlight, were Asteria and Tom, the former looking at Kary like a hawk staring at its prey, while the latter stood there much in the same way as Kary remembered him: tall, gruff, buff, and with the expression of someone who was done with everything and everyone. Despite that, though, he was surprisingly gentle, helping people out whenever they needed. Of course, there were exceptions to what he was willing to do, but he was a popular guy within the many social circles that were gathered within this expedition, despite not being quite the talker. As Kary approached the duo, Asteria waved at her and also began to approach the girl from her direction, pulling an unwilling Tom along with her.


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re here! You came pretty quickly, though¡­ are you sure that you looked at everything you wanted properly?¡±


    ¡°Y-yes, I think so. I got a bunch of points on endurance, strength, and HP, and also a new title¡­ which said that I would need its bonus to survive your training¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­ wow¡­ I wasn¡¯t expecting the system to address me personally, but that matters little right now. Don¡¯t be fooled, though, I still want to see the title description and its bonus, so don¡¯t think you¡¯re off the hook just yet. For now, I asked Tom here to give you a crash course on wielding an axe, like he does. As I said before, you don¡¯t need to end up fully proficient at this, nor does this have to be your main weapon, I just want to present to you all the options I can in order to make your eventual choice easier¡±


    ¡°Thanks¡­¡±


    ¡°No problem! Well, if you two need me, I¡¯ll be on my tent sleeping. Tom, you know where to find me. Sorry if I sound a little rude today, its just that managing a whole caravan is a lot more demanding than what I was expecting¡­ Sigh¡­ anyway, have a good night, you two, and make sure that you don¡¯t slack off. I WILL know if you guys begin slacking off, okay? So make sure not to do it¡±


    With that, Asteria briskly walked away in the direction of the tents, leaving Kary and Tom to fend for themselves. She wasn¡¯t particularly worried, though, since Tom was quite the skilled teacher, and his patience knew almost no bounds. That didn¡¯t mean that the woman trusted either of them to not mess something up in some horrible way, so, instead of returning to her barrack, the knight took a slight detour before hiding in the shadows in the distance, watching Kary trying to copy Tom¡¯s movements. Asteria knew that she would pay dearly for this in the next morning, but, for now, she was quite satisfied in seeing the girl she had found in nothing but bloody rags learn her way through life.


    Eventually, though, even the esteemed knight Asteria needed to stop her monitoring, since her eyes had begun to grow heavier and heavier, to the point where she was experiencing moments of total blackout. Suppressing the yawn that threatened to make its way through her throat, she swiftly made her way back to her tent, nodding satisfied at the quietude of the place. After her little demonstration, it seemed that the rest of the caravan had begun taking her words seriously and, for that, she couldn¡¯t be more grateful, as it allowed her to get at least some hours of sleep.


    Truthfully, she wanted to keep watching the girl, especially after she had begun to actually understand what she was doing. Sadly, she had many responsibilities that would require her to be fully rested by tomorrows morning, so she couldn¡¯t afford to lose sleep to keep monitoring. At least the girl was in trusted hands. With a smile on her face, Asteria accepted the invitation of the god of dreams, slowly drifting to sleep to the distant sounds of unintelligible speaking and steel hitting wood.

 9. Insurmountable wall

    The next few days passed in much the same way as the first one. Mornings and afternoons were well spent sleeping on an empty cart, away from the usual hubbub. As the days passed, though, the people¡¯s animation slowly but surely began to decrease, their initial high of having discovered something important enough to warrant an early travel back home inversely proportional to their tiredness. As the days slowly, almost boringly passed by, the out-of-tune choirs and the loud discussions, powered by alcohol, dwindled until the point where only quiet conversations within small groups remained.


    During the night, Kary would train until she was unable to get up from the ground, doing repetitive movements with a variety of weapons, sometimes even questioning the reason why she was doing that. Of course, deep down, she knew that she would need to build up strength if she ever wanted to realize her objective of going everywhere on this planet, which was all but proved by the monster that she had encountered on the first day, but the inherent pain, suffering, cramps, and sweat that came in with the process were annoying enough that she couldn¡¯t help but ask herself if there was even any point in doing this.


    Still, she continued to diligently train, regardless of who was her instructor for the day, be it the warm, albeit a little rough Tom, the silent and efficient Anna, who insisted on communicating only through gestures as long as the message was conveyed, though she rarely paid attention to see if that was the case, much preferring to simply move on with the usually one-sided conversation, or the annoying, nitpicky brother of hers, who insisted on criticizing every little thing she did, no matter how much effort she put into it. Although she could bear with the first two, as they did try to give pointers and correct her, the girl didn¡¯t think that she would ever get along with Martin, who had proven himself time and time again to be nothing but an annoying prick. He had the strength and the teaching capabilities to be an instructor, but by the gods did Kary pity whoever has him as their full-time teacher.


    Even enduring him once every three days was already taking a toll on her, so she couldn¡¯t imagine what it would be like to have him constantly making snarky remarks about your posturing, your movements, the way your feet are planted on the ground, the way your hands hold the handle of the staff. Every time she trained with her, she would find herself both proud of herself and absolutely seething, for she knew that she had some of the best teachers she could ever hope for to teach her the basis of fighting, but it was hard to maintain a straight face throughout the onslaught of sarcastic comments and brutally honest remarks. For all that it was worth, though, he was diligent and efficient in pointing out her flaws, as well as providing genuinely useful advice, though of course everything had to be behind a layer of poison.


    Different from him, his sister had a much more manageable personality, though she was just as bad in some areas, more specifically at communicating. For reasons Kary didn¡¯t know and hadn¡¯t asked, the woman forced herself to speak as little as possible, regardless of the context of the necessity of clear, oral instructions. During their first ¡®class¡¯ together, where the girl was taught how to properly hold a knife and roughly how to stab with it, she had even thought that Anna had some sort of personal grievance with her, though the reason as to why that would be the case never reached any plausible conclusion, with the girl simply attributing the insistence on the usage of signals was due to the fact that Kary had been taking up the majority of Asteria¡¯s free time.


    That, albeit a completely absurd reasoning, was the closest she got to a real answer, considering that she was never going to ask anybody to confirm her suspicions. Her initial plan was to simply observe the interactions between Anna and Asteria, and then draw a sounder conclusion, but, thankfully, she didn¡¯t need to humiliate herself like that quite yet, since, from her stalking of the quiet assassin, it became painfully clear that she simply had a massive problem communicating with other people. Though she could speak normally, as Kary had observed during the day, the woman¡¯s voice was hoarse, dry, devoid of emotion, a mask of neutrality that barred any and all inquiry. That made Kary quite curious about her instructor¡¯s origins; since she was eerily good handling knives with both hands, to the point where Kary felt completely confident that she would have long been dead should the expressionless woman want it to be so.


    Still, once again she couldn¡¯t deny that the training she received was top notch. It started slow, with Anna providing the most basic of techniques on how to wield a dagger, but, as the weeks passed, it eventually evolved into both long and short range training while dual-wielding knives. If she were to be honest with herself, she quite enjoyed fighting with knives, with how they were able to be thrown into the distance and to be used in melee, though that required a level of strength that Kary wouldn¡¯t be reaching any time soon. Regardless, she was happy that Asteria had forced her to do this training, although she would never admit it in front of her, since, even if she hated a good chunk of it, the end result was worth the suffering.


    That realization, sadly, would only grace Kary with its existence when they were already more than halfway done with the journey, which let the girl with a feeling that she had wasted quite a lot of time. Of course, that wasn¡¯t true in any sense, since she had been following the instructions whether she actually enjoyed it or not. Her family had long since beaten into her that she did not have to like doing something to do said thing, especially when failing to uphold expectations meant both verbal and physical beatings.


    As she gazed up into the blue sky, admiring the fluffy and seemingly edible clouds that drifted by them, enjoying the gentle bumps that threatened to put her back to sleep, she thought about those days that seemed to be so distant, and yet at the same time so very near. She remembered Liz, with her cheerful smile, almost too bright to be directly looked at, her perfect rebukes for every situation, her unwavering confidence on herself¡­ it kind of reminded her of the girl she had recently met, though, compared to Liz, Kary could see a sort of hollowness within the smile of the woman who insisted on using the girl as a pillow every day. When questioned about this weird preference, she had simply replied that Kary was comfortable, and that sleeping while hugging her was a great way to recharge her batteries, a remark that was immediately agreed upon by the much calmer and constantly drowsy girl, who Kary discovered was named Mirabel, though she insisted that they called her simply Mia.


    Kary quite enjoyed their company, even if their conversations mostly consisted on Kelly sending off barrage after barrage of endless words, hopping from tale to tale like an hyperactive grasshopper. The girl tried to make sense of Kelly¡¯s nonsensical mumblings, but, more often than not, she found herself following Mia into the land of the dreams, leaving Kelly to deliberate alone in the cart, though that didn¡¯t seem to do much in regards to stopping her. It seemed like she was physically unable to store any thought for a period longer than three seconds, transforming everything that sent though her mind words, while at the same time not taking into consideration the damage that could be caused by the weird things she spouted.


    Even then, Kary was forced to admit that simply standing there, trying to fight the drowsiness that always managed to overpower her thanks to the constant state of exhaustion she was in was quite enjoyable in and on itself. It reminded her of the days where she would go to school only to pass out and wake up halfway through the classes of the day, not knowing where she was or even what year they were in. She genuinely enjoyed listening to others talking, and meeting here with other people who could appreciate having someone capable of hearing was nothing less than a blessing. From experience, Kary could confidently say that most people with whom she was forced to interact throughout her high school didn¡¯t want anyone to hear them; they simply needed a group of yes-man who would simply play along with the leader¡¯s whims. It was almost a dictatorship, with the difference that the plebe could choose who they would swear themselves to.


    It was nice to find genuine and honest people like Liz, but those like her, who went out of their way to be nice to everyone around them, were clearly the exception, the out of the norm. It was refreshing to be surrounded by people who genuine people who didn¡¯t seem to mind her just listening to conversations, enjoying the atmosphere around her, enjoying the conversation while occasionally dropping in her comments. Ever since she was little, she had difficulty talking to people, a problem that only worsened as the time went on, as her mother couldn¡¯t help but make fun of her for her social awkwardness every time the girl accidently showed this side of her to the witch. She grew learning how to hide her true feelings, to hide her expressions, her anxieties and insecurities, creating a mask for herself that made her seem like a cold person, someone who would only shun others away should they try to carelessly approach her.


    Little did they know that, on the inside, Kary craved for attention, for the feeling of human touch, for the sensation of being loved, of having someone paying attention to her. It was a feeling that she had barely ever experienced, being too shy to speak about it to anyone, surviving by the sheer goodwill of the few who insisted on talking to her. It was a depressing lifestyle, and one that she had no interest in repeating this time around, for she knew that there would be no happy ending waiting for her. Last time around, she had died alone in a freak accident, membered as a mere statistic, surviving at best through the memory of Liz, and maybe through the relief her mother must have felt when the news reached her.


    It was why in this life she was at least trying to open up to more people, though she still held inside much of her personal opinions. It was a wound that would take a long time to heal, and, even then, the girl knew that a scar would always remain, a constant reminder of the life that she had lost, of the miserable little life that she had experienced. Kary frowned as she thought about it, the fact that she would never be free of her mother¡¯s influence, her vile words casting a shadow on her life even after leaving the entire world she resided in behind. Closing her eyes, she tried taking in deep breaths, in and out, telling herself that she would be fine, that everything would be okay, just like she had told herself time and time again. Though these words never had any impact other than prolonging her life a little longer, right now, she might actually believe in them. After all, life seemed to be surprisingly okay.


    She had a few people whom she could call friends, and even a woman whom she would consider to be closer to a mother than her biological one. She had trainers, decent ones and weird ones, their quality unquestionable, contrary to their personality. Still, the people around her treated her with surprising kindness, even if not a single one of them knew who she was or what her past was. They simply accepted her, talked to her, insisted to have her participate in theirs choirs, her quiet voice, timid and reserved, drowned by the thunderous voices of men and women reeking of alcohol, though still there all the same. As hard as it was, she genuinely tried to get along with them, although she was always the one to be approached by people, some wondering her weird origins, others simply wanting to share their histories to anyone that would bother listening to them.


    Closing her eyes, she smiled a little bit, basking under the warm sun as she thought about what her future could hold. For a few moments, she simply enjoyed herself, the sun, and the shaking of the cart she was lying in, almost drifting back to sleep before she was jolted awake by someone poking her left cheek. Even without opening her eyes, she knew pretty well who it was that dared to interrupt her precious nap time, despite knowing that she desperately needed it. The poking continued, and she tried her very best to ignore it, but it was relentless, eventually going down from her face, reaching her arms and targeting her tummy, making the pale girl explode in a fit of laughter.


    ¡°Stop, stop, please! I give up!¡±


    ¡°Aww¡­ okay¡­ Hah¡­ it was fun, though. Your flesh is so soft and nice to poke~ I wanted to keep poking¡­ poke, poke, poke, poke, poke¡± The small girl still holding her as if she was body pillow continued to poke Kary, pointedly ignoring her pleas to stop. In a monotone voice, she continued muttering the same words on her ear, making the convulsing girl blush like a tomato, completely unused to such close proximity. Every time she felt the hot breath of Mia down her neck her entire body would shiver as if she had been forced to step outside during the worst snowstorm of the century, her skin forming countless little bumps on its surface, making the attacking girl grow even bolder. The hugging grew tighter, and the poking continued to force a shrilling laugh out of the girl that echoed throughout the plains.


    The relentless attack continued until Kary thwacked Mia on the head, stopping the young girl¡¯s advances on its tracks, as the smug smile, coupled with a mischievous glint within her eyes, swiftly transitioned into an exaggerated, almost caricatured face of extreme pain. The serious, stone-faced girl, in a moment¡¯s notice transitioned into a teary-eyed, pitiful creature, carefully caressing the place where she had been hit, staring at Kary with big, confused eyes, as if asking ¡®why?¡¯ Of course, she knew very well the reason why she had been hit, but Mia found that such a sad, indignant face usually was more than enough to get her out of any trouble. It was her free ¡®get out of jail¡¯ card, though she had been using it with such frequency that Kary was now immune to it.


    That little show of hers only got her a flick on the forehead, a softer reprimanding method comparing to the violent hit to her head that she had just received, but it still stung more than what she would be willing to admit. Adamant about admitting defeat to Kary, Mia simply turned the other way, finally freeing the pale girl from her grasp, who simply seated for a moment before stretching, releasing a little bit of the tension she had been accumulating on these past few days. Despite the blissful feeling she had whenever she was praised by one of her nightly instructors or when she was able to notice her own improvement, she could feel that such a routine could not go on forever. Tension was rapidly accumulating on her limbs, from her arms to the tip of her toes, and, since her routine consisted of basically sleeping, waking up, eating, stretching, and training, there were no moments she could use to relieve some of that tension.


    Her interactions with the two girls who insisted on sleeping around her did help a lot when it came to unwinding every time she was left as a mass of pained and sore muscles on the ground, carrying her and even giving her a bath from time to time, courtesy of Penny¡¯s magical abilities, though that wasn¡¯t a certainty, since technically she was only supposed to spend her mana on matters regarding the entirety of the caravan. Asteria, as the caring person she was behind her cold and detached fa?ade, most often than not would turn the other way for such uses of magic, but she had admonished them that doing such actions out in the open every day could eventually lead to them getting discovered, and that would consequentially cause Penny to be ineligible to receiving the rewards for this mission, which would be quite a big trouble, since she was banking on that to continue her studies of magic.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    After all, from the stories she had been told, the mage lifestyle was often depicted as one exclusive to the rich and powerful who could afford to acquire all those rare items, materials and staffs made by master craftsmen, as the cheap stuff was more prone to¡­ accidents, and accidents regarding magic were much more dangerous that the usual, ran on the mill, physical accidents, as the results were always extreme and never predictable at all. They could range from simply exploding, to catching on fire, transforming the wielder of the problematic object to be turned into an animal, or simply making them into a fuming pile of gray ash. History had shown time and time again that magic shouldn¡¯t be treated carelessly if it was the desire of the fledging mage to remain alive.


    Because of that, Penny, who was from a small village that few even knew the name of, was forced to interact with nobles and heirs of the most influential merchants in the kingdom, slowly but surely growing her strength both physically and politically. It was almost comical that one of the few commoners who decided to take on the role of a magician became one of the brightest young talents, surpassing a number of Young Lords and Young Ladies, Masters and Mistresses, the speed with which she learned new things seldom decreasing at all. Some of the more traditional houses hated her guts, since she had this bubbly personality that made her approach everyone with bizarre abilities, her touchy-touchy approach not seating really well for most of them.


    Still, that didn¡¯t mean that she was universally disliked either, as her competence as a mage attracted quite the number of eager merchants trying to sell them their wares, as well as some few noble families trying to sell of their younglings in order to bring a decently strong mage with significant room to grow. It was a small price to pay, in their warped vision of the world, to marry off one of your offsprings in order to secure both a powerful fighting force and someone that could give birth to strong children right off the bat. Since Penny thought that such a way of thinking was absolutely disgusting, she refused every single one of their requests, acquiring through it quite the infamy among certain social circles.


    Due to the way she was raised up, the girl was well aware of the many possibilities presented by magic beyond being a toy for rich people to play with. Of course, those at the top most probably already knew and used magic for trivial things like taking baths, washing clothe, cleaning, cooking, among other things, but gods forbid such knowledge ever reaches the hands of a filthy peasant! For generations and generations, the folks at the top, especially the nobles from the old empire, kept their lips tightly shut about any uses of magic outside of what was already commonly known. It was considered by many as a weapon of war, a tool with which the nobility could take care of monsters with ease, with the very, very optimistic maybe considering it to be also a tool used for the reconstruction of the places ravaged by rampant monsters.


    It was a shrewd move, made in order to make the populace content with the way magic was being used, while at the same time using the church to persecute anyone who might question their ideals. They couldn¡¯t bear to have a random person from the streets, living their day to day lives on precarious building of woods and stone, scraping by with their copper coins, enjoying the same privileges that they had been using with abandon for the last many, many decades. That was the reason Penny had to provide water for Kary¡¯s bathing time in secret, as a commoner utilizing mana so recklessly would be treated kindly for not one of the ones who had the summary permission to utilize their magic in such ways. It was simply a privilege for the rich and powerful, and, although Penny was certainly the latter, she lacked the specific type of power ¡ª influence, political power ¡ª to use her magic to the best of her own abilities.


    Still, Kary was grateful for the gesture. It was hard to find genuine kindness in a world ruled through an iron fist, but there it was, smiling warmly at her as she cleaned herself far away from prying eyes. After her nightly routine was concluded, by that point having almost been able to be called a ¡®morning routine¡¯, she went to sleep smothered in between the two other girls, the cheerful and strong Penny and the small, blunt, and mischievous Mia. Despite her initial reluctance to adopting such a routine, she was forced to admit that she didn¡¯t hate it nearly as much as someone seeing it from the outside might¡¯ve thought. After all, despite experiencing extenuating torture every single night, it was undeniable that she was making rapid progression, her abilities when handling swords, axes, knives and staves growing significantly by the day.


    After accomplishing so much, Kary began to feel more and more confident of herself, like a balloon filled with hot air, ready to explode and deflate and the smallest amount of pressure from outside of the controlled environment. It was a hollow confidence, backed by nothing but her ability to make progress, which, in and on itself, wasn¡¯t exactly a good way to measure her abilities in absolute values. Though she had her status to rely on, since she had been unable to get anyone around her to disclose anything about theirs, the girl simply had no reference to go with. She knew that she was still far from being as strong as Tom, as dexterous as Martin, as swift as Asteria, or as fluid in her movements as Anna, but still, a small part of her was convinced that, with enough practice, she would be at their level in no time at all. Of course, that was far from being the truth, and she knew it, but there was still a small, unwavering hope that she would manage to surpass her masters in record time.


    These small flickers of hope, however, were promptly shattered by Anna on a single night, when, for the first time, monsters decided to attack the resting caravan. That was also the moment when Kary discovered the weapon that she wanted to master, the weapon with which she wanted to carve her own path, even if it meant cutting a path through piles upon piles of flesh and blood. As Asteria had told her, the training she was going through was not just for the girl to become familiarized with different types of weapons, but also to help her decide to which path she wanted to go. Perhaps she would follow the knight¡¯s footsteps, ingressing on the world of knighthood, but Kary had never really felt a knack for it. It wasn¡¯t a bad option, sure, but there was nothing there that resonated with her. She would be bound to a kingdom, unable to move as freely as she liked, forced to take orders and work like a slave. Though others might enjoy the idea that they were making the kingdom safer, Kary had no desire to be part of this system.


    On the contrary, she could go and become an adventurer, much like the other three people that were instructing her, going on journeys while slowly increasing her ranks through reliably completing missions and slowly growing stronger herself. Different from the idea of being a knight, adventuring seemed to provide a much bigger degree of freedom, though there was still some form of contractual obligation between her and the guilds, the places where adventurers congregated on the bigger cities, where they would be able to eat, drink, and accept missions if they so pleased. Kary assumed, however, that she would be forced to sign contracts independent of the area that she chose, whether she liked it or not. That was simply how things worked and, unless she was ready to change an entire kingdom (which she was not), she should start conforming with some of the rules in place.


    Regardless of that, the fact still remained that it took not even twenty minutes of fighting to make Kary decide that she wanted to master the knife. Maybe it would be different if the person wielding them was different, or if the level of ability showcased was anything less, or even if the weapon used was another one entirely. It was late into the night and, while most of the people on the encampment were fast asleep, Kary was still there, relentlessly practicing the same move over and over again, trying to make as close as possible to the original version shown by Anna. She was so immersed in her own training that she completely failed to notice the dark shadows, smaller than the average person, swiftly moving through the plains, protected by the veil of darkness provided by the new moon. She only stopped to pay attention when she felt something touching her left shoulder, which was usually the sign given to her by Anna that it was enough training for the night.


    Still, Kary thought that it was still way too early to stop, since she hadn¡¯t even began sweating yet, the cool wind of night keeping her body sufficiently cold. If she ever stopped to think about it, she would perhaps realize how weird it was that her body, completely lacking in many aspects to the usual human body, was still able to sweat just a profusely as an average human. She wanted to ask her instructor why it was that they were already stopping for the night, but, before she could ask, she simply saw the woman¡¯s finger moving a straight line, a movement so fluid that the girl couldn¡¯t help but want to immediately try to imitate, though she did manage to restrain her own impulses on the last second, afraid of the admonition that would surely come should she choose to ignore Anna¡¯s order.


    Instead, she stared expectantly at the woman¡¯s face, patiently awaiting new orders, which came in a very simple manner: Anna pointed to the dark shadow rapidly approaching, then to both of Kary¡¯s eyes, and then pointed her own thumb towards herself. Having spent almost a quarter of her time awake during this journey, the girl could somewhat guess what she was trying to convey. She would do something to those shapes approaching, shapes that that the girl hadn¡¯t realized were there before Anna pointing it out, and that she probably would have remained blissfully ignorant about, if the silent instructor in front of her didn¡¯t want her to witness whatever would happen next.


    Picking her two favorite knives from the collection of scabbards scattered all throughout her body, Anna began to move forward, calmly moving towards the many small shapes that seemed undeterred by the threat that approached them. For a single moment, the woman turned her head back, staring deep into Kary¡¯s eyes, before uttering a single, raspy word. ¡°Observe¡±, she said, a sentence much bigger than anything Kary had ever seen the woman speak. While she knew from other people that the woman was capable of human speech just like anybody else thanks to the gossipers among the caravan, she had yet to learn just how her voice sounded like until this very moment. Before she could properly digest everything that was happening around her, though, her instructor had already begun to move.


    She raised her left arm high into the sky, almost as if she wanted to pluck a star from its place in the night. The dagger, reflecting the vary faint light from the celestial bodies above, shined ominously, announcing to all the individuals who had chosen this night in particular to sneak attack the caravan that they would all be dead by the time the sun once more rose in the horizon. The writhing mass of shadows approaching them, however, seemed to be completely oblivious of the fact that their fate had just been sealed, though it is quite unfair to blame their ignorance solely on them, as Kary was anxiously watching, trying to guess what would happen next.


    To her surprise, the weapon that Anna was holding but a moment ago disappeared in the blink of an eye, melting into the darkness of the night, away from the eyes of both victim and witnesses. The only proof Kary even had that the knife had, in fact, been thrown, was the fact that Anna¡¯s wrist was slight, albeit noticeably, bent forward. If not for that, maybe the girl would have simply thought that the woman was a magician, performing tricks to impress that crowd. Though when the crowd wanted to kill them and the magic showed by the magician was nothing more than high-level handling of weapons, it was impossible to fault one for thinking that everything was nothing but an elaborate piece of theatric, although that notion would be quickly blown away by the first very real, very pained screech that echoed through the plains, a sound that would be impossible to perfectly emulate without the proper emotions being into place.


    Squinting her eyes, Kary saw some objects roughly the size of children¡¯s¡¯ heads falling to the ground one after another, a liquid that seemed to be blood flowing like a perpetual fountain out of the lopped off parts. The girl opened her mouth, both due to her shock and admiration and due to her want to question her silent instructor, but Anna, noticing the movement from afar, simply pressed her index finger on her lips, indicating that, right now, she demanded absolute silence, an order so direct that Kary would never dare to try to break. She closed her mouth, wondering what would come next, before noticing that the form of Anna had all but disappeared from the place it originally was.


    Was Kary so lost within her own little world that she had failed to notice such a big chance? No, not really. What really happened was that Anna, as a way to show off her prowess to the little girl who had been growing on her during these past few weeks, decided to engage with melee with the little inconveniences that were goblins. They were surprisingly sturdy for the size, and also bred like rabbits, their populations serving as tasty snacks to many predators immediately above them in the food chain. Right now, though, they were nothing more than training dummies, whose only purpose was to show what Kary could also one day be able to do, should she continue to travel the same professional path as Anna had adventured into, so many years ago.


    It was even a good practice for the adventurer, as she was forced to slow down a little so as to not completely overwhelm the watching girl, while at the same time displaying enough strength that she should be left in awe. Thankfully, the careful control of her own strength that she had developed through the years of adventuring did pay off, with her being able to move with the speed of the northern wind and the fluidity of the Great River that crossed the capital at its center, dodging attacks coming from all directions, while at the same time hacking and cutting through the horde of monsters, untouchable.


    The experience would make Kary realize just how small she was, how insignificant she still was when compared to the best of the best, the apex of their own fields, the masters of their craft. She was still nothing more than a fledgling with dreams of grandeur, though those were still there, lurking, pushing her forward and forcing her to diligently practice every day. Even during later attacks from more powerful monsters, who were swiftly defeated by the combined force of the adventurers employed by the king, none could ignite in her the same spark caused by Anna¡¯s flawless victory over a few dozen goblins.


    Days passed leisurely, her routine unchanged, the biggest difference in general being the atmosphere of the caravan, who grew somber by the day as they slowly but surely approached the capital of the city. They had passed on the vicinity of numerous small villages during their one and a half month of travel, but, if the stories she was told were the least bit accurate, then Kary would be eager to see the capital of the kingdom that had taken her in. During that time, the elders returned to their positions, reigning order to the slight chaos still remaining despite Asteria¡¯s best efforts. For the first time in a long while, Kary was actually enjoying herself, going out of her way to listen to gossips, to laugh with others, to enjoy terrible meals by the warmth of the fire. It was nice.


    Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and that little moment of joy wasn¡¯t any different. During another lazy day, in nothing different from any other, the girl laid on the cart she had almost grown to call home, staring at the sky and thinking about unimportant things, before she heard a shout coming all the way from the front, startling awake Mia who, before looking around to see if there was anything important going on, immediately went back to sleep.


    ¡°We are nearing the valley! The capital is near, friends!¡±


    Overjoyed cheers were shouted from all across the caravan, the meaning of the words impossible to be any clearer. Their journey was coming to an end, after two months since Kary had come to this world. In one rare exception given to her by her own brain, she got up from the cart, a trick she had learned some time before the end of the first month of travel, and walked towards the front, passing through crying scholars and grinning adventurers, everyone clearly happy to be finally home. On the front of the caravan, Kary had full view of the sprawling valley in front of her, descending like the belly of a giant beast long slain by some powerful hero. Sitting on the belly of the round depression on the ground was a walled city, from where sprawled countless towers into the sky, visible despite the immense distance that still separated the group from the gates. At last, they had arrived.

 10. Hollow oath

    Two days. Two more days was what it took for them to arrive in front of the walls that surrounded the massive capital they had seen in the distance. From the moment Kary saw the amorphous shape resting on the underbelly of the plains, she immediately noted the massive area it covered, though through the passage of time and the gradual shortening of the distance, the girl came to the realization that even after seeing the city from afar she had holly underestimated its sheer size. Even the walls that protected the interior from possible threats from the outside were many times the girl¡¯s height, not that using her height as a measure for comparison did the girl or the object being measure any respect, but, since there weren¡¯t any convenient measuring tapes that she could use, she resigned herself to using her own body.


    It extended far beyond what she could see from both of the sides as they approached the main gate, where people congregated as they waited for their chance to enter the busy town. There weren¡¯t many of them on the gate, but the process of getting through was just bureaucratic enough that it allowed a queue to be formed in the first place. There were a trio of peasants in brown garb, eyes tired as they held into their farming tools so as to not fall asleep on the grass. Behind the clearly exhausted trio was a carriage, clearly a step above from the simple carts Kary had seen being used by the caravan to store their resources. Different from her sleeping place, the one she saw seemed to be designed so that people could sit inside and enjoy the view leisurely, the only worry of its occupants being the shaking proportioned by the uneven ground.


    The carriage was linked to a horse as dark as the night sky, its strength visible in its clearly defined muscles, which were, at that moment, very much not in use, for the carriage was completely inert, its driver patiently waiting for the time when he would once again exert his function. For the people inside of the ratter prestigious-looking carriage, however, such delays were unacceptable, and whoever was responsible for making them wait should be at the very least demoted to the job of cleaning horses¡¯ manure. The constant shouting from inside the confinements of the carriage was seldom interrupted, and if it was, it was due to the voice¡¯s owner need to sporadically stop to quench his throat. After all, shouting so much with such consistency was bound to wear down his voice, and he didn¡¯t want to sound like a dying man while he still had much of his life yet to be lived.


    Kary had noticed the shouting long before she could identify its origin, and no doubt the more sensitive and seasoned experts among the caravan had already noticed the ramblings of the mad man long ago. He spoke in a loud, raspy voice, just as pleasant as the orchestra of crickets that insisted in playing when everyone was trying to sleep, his tone carrying a certain noble demeanor, as if he was greater and grander than the people that surrounded him, and that he demanded to be treated as such. Personally, Kary was curious to see what kind of figure it was that kept spouting just as much nonsense as an insane inmate at an asylum, but, after a single glance in Asteria¡¯s direction, she quickly retracted whatever questions she wanted to ask, since it was pretty obvious that the knight was in a pretty bad mood, and the girl absolutely did not want to be the one to worsen it.


    Through subdued glances, Kary saw as the knight she had grown quite fond of, despite the rough methods with which she trained the girl¡¯s strength, tried and failed to suppress a sigh, a blend of anger, frustration, and annoyance mixing in with the warm breath that left her mouth. Massaging her temples while taking deep breaths, Asteria managed to contain the outburst that was about to happen, morphing it into a cold expression, serious and calculating, not a glimpse of her earlier frustration to be seen. Seeing this, Kary couldn¡¯t help but swallow the lump of saliva that accumulated on her throat, wondering what type of skill that she had that could possibly do something like that. It was scary, unnatural, and yet, considering everything that the woman had confided Kary over these past weeks, it seemed to be necessary in order for her to survive in her professional environment,


    Unflappable, the knight strode forward with big steps, the light armor she wore clinking and clanking as she made her way to the front of the group, and then past it, walking to the gates with an expression as serene as an unperturbed lake, her appearance just catching enough to catch the attention of the guard who had been profusely bowing down and asking for forgiveness from just outside the gaudy carriage. The young knight, after superficially gazing upon the approaching woman, simply dismissed her as some adventurer or the other, preferring to ignore her in favor of continuing to grovel in front of the carriage. It was only when Asteria scoffed just loud enough to be heard that the knight directed his attention towards her, albeit begrudgingly.


    His expression, once pleading, almost desperate, turned cold as he narrowed his eyes at the woman who dared to interrupt his conversation with the father of one of the dukes of the kingdom. He didn¡¯t knew what kind of penalization he would receive due to insisting on upholding what had been asked of him, but, considering the old man¡¯s reputation, it wouldn¡¯t be anything good. That was why he was making such an extraneous effort into placating the noble¡¯s temper, to the point where he didn¡¯t even mind that he was humiliating himself in front of peasants. After all, it was not as if that trio would dare to try to do anything to him, a noble himself, although with a much lower standing than the one with whom he was talking, but a noble nonetheless. Even if they decided to ignore all the red flags that would be promptly raised up once they decided to talk to any authority about it, their concern would be simply dismissed and the knight would most likely walk away with all the freedom his position warranted.


    With a haughty face belonging to arrogant fools who failed to realize the situation they were getting themselves into, the young knight, a mere hooky in comparison to Asteria and the group she led, turned fully towards the woman, sizing her body from head to toes, his slimy gaze fluctuating towards the curves of his body just as naturally as a moth that had it firmly ingrained within its instincts that it should always move towards the light, regardless of the consequences that would come after. Just as a jeweler couldn¡¯t resist the sight of a beautiful gem, this noble, raised without being told a single no, could not hold himself together at the sight of a pretty lady.


    He was about to call her out to shoo her away and, perhaps, invite her to do something more later that day, but a single glance at her eyes, which had been growing narrower and narrower as his gaze toured her body, were enough to leave him petrified on the spot. They were sharp, piercing, as if they could see the knight¡¯s very soul. They had an undecipherable depth that seemed to drag him towards it, swirling, swirling, getting closer and closer to the darkness in the center, a sinking hole that seemed to grow with every passing moment, until that was all that he could perceive. In a trance, he tried to look around, his movements sluggish, far from what should be reasonable to expect from a knight, but, no matter which direction he looked at, the darkness that surrounding him was cold, oppressing, and all-encompassing.


    He started to feel physically bad after a while, his mind struggling to keep his body from collapsing into the ground into fetal position. As he fought the urge to puke the contents of the feeling breakfast he had eaten before moving out to the gates, he felt his heart begin to beat faster and faster, as if trying to free itself from his body, jumping up and down with such a velocity that it made the rookie visibly flinch as he grasped the place where his heart was located. It became much harder to get oxygen towards his lungs, and he could feel his consciousness beginning to falter as he failed to get enough air inside to make his body function properly. At the same time, he began to hear a strange, continuous, grating noise in his ears, which only got louder as he struggled more and more to resist the sweet release of unconsciousness. After all, he had no idea what would happen to him once he became defenseless, and, because of that, he fought with all his might to keep himself in a condition capable of fighting.


    The ringing on his ears got lauder as a small white dot began to form in the middle of his vision, a little speck of light to shine brightly upon this encroaching darkness. Relief filled the man as he thought that he would be saved, but reality refused to allow him to walk away unscathed. As the white dot grew, turning dark into a light so bright that it almost blinded the man, the ringing on his ears only got louder, drowning the sounds of both his incessantly beating heart and the screams that left his mouth. There was so much stuff happening, so much sensory stimulation at the same time, that the man didn¡¯t knew what to tackle with his two flimsy, trembling hands. He didn¡¯t know whether he should gouge his eyes out, rip his ears off, or punch a hole through his chest, though thankfully none of these options were needed in the end, as the blinding light, after encompassing him in much the same way the darkness had done in what felt like an eternity prior, slowly gave way to the colors of the world that he hadn¡¯t even realized he so dearly missed.


    From a small distance, Asteria watched the whole scene unfold, her eyes, still as narrow as those of a snake, never once breaking contact with the man¡¯s eyes. She silently observed as the effects of one of her most prized skills, [Primordial void], took hold of the young fool. It was a scene she had seen countless times before, but, at the same time, she couldn¡¯t help but shiver every time she had to use it, be it in order to give someone a lesson or to make sure that someone would never approach her again. She quivered not just because of the intense mana consumption, which caused the mana in her body to flow in droves towards her eyes, leaving behind an empty, exhausted vessel, but also because of how cruel the skill itself was. Sure, she had obtained this skill through years upon years of glaring at people, and she used it for self-defense and nothing more, but the short and long term effects of the skill were the reason as to why she seldom made use of it.


    Making the victim sink into endless despair, losing themselves amidst the empty void of their own heads, wondering around for eons, unable to find an exit, their minds playing tricks on them, giving them false hope of escaping, only to break it immediately after. If that wasn¡¯t enough to leave a lasting scar in the victim¡¯s psyche, there were also the growing heart palpitations, which only made whoever had garnered enough attention from Asteria more and more anxious, making them feel as if they had a time limit to find their way out, otherwise they would be forced to watch as their heart forcefully leaved their bodies. Of course, such a thing would never happen, but the terror of the unknown void was a powerful amplifier of emotions. For the grand finale, the skill tortured the victim some more through sensory overload, drilling in loud sounds and blinding lights, until the victim was finally brought back to reality, where they belonged, and where they would forever suffer the aftermath of [Primordial void], as there were no psychologists on this world yet.


    It was cruel, ruthless, and a wholly unnecessary process in most cases, a skill so brutal that Asteria refused to wield it unless it was really necessary. Sure, without any context, one could argue that the young knight¡¯s actions didn¡¯t warrant such a show of force, but the toned woman was well aware of his reputation, and she refused to allow him to paint black with his wretched hands the lives of anyone else. She had heard of the tales regarding the man before her, the terrible things he had done to others simply because he had the power to do so. More importantly, he had seen him drag girls from the street and into the knight¡¯s academia, his position just important enough that the teachers there refused to lift a finger to save the commoner whose life would be forever changed against their will.


    It was never a pretty sight; to see women scream, beg for them to be spared, to offer him all the riches in the world in order to save their chastity. But the beast was never satisfied. The beast craved for carnal affection more than anyone at the academia, to the point where even his ¡°friends¡± were put off by his behavior. Thankfully, they were well aware that what the knight was doing was awful in so, so many levels, but still, they never acted. They watched from afar, never taking the risk of losing their political standing, their behind-the-scenes dealings, their advantages on the administrative game, in order to help a commoner, for those were expendable, contrary to them. At least, that was what they believed. If the common folk were mere pawns on the game of chess, unlikely to ever reach a position better than the one they held now, then their parents had taught them that they were supposed to aim to be kings. Irreplaceable, high enough in the political ladder that they could count themselves untouchable, capable of only being seen eye-to-eye by people of equal standing.


    Asteria had seen many men, and even some women, despite their usual position as objects to be married off, acting as if they owned their world, and that the academia was their playground, often going around with their cronies doing whatever they pleased, undeterred by laws or social norms, since, as they were far from the prying eyes of their families, they could simply say that any rumors about them were spread in bad faith, and that they would never do something so hideous. Of course, that wouldn¡¯t work for some of the more prominent families, where the usage of spies was quite common, but for those that could afford it? They made sure to abuse their title as much as they could.


    Now that Asteria was face to face with the thirsty beast, though, she would make sure that he would be forever unable to ruin any more lives. He, himself, would still be alive, although whether the husk that she had left behind could still be considered a human was up for debate. The man could hear, speak, and do every action he was capable of before [Endless void] dragged him into the worst of his nightmares, but, if left to his own devices, he would simply wither away, his mind now unable to comprehend the fact that he needed to eat and drink to stay alive. Gone was the time when he would be able to enjoy some fine wine and play with the most beautiful women money could afford him, gone were the days when he would leave the academia¡¯s ground only to come back dragging an unconscious person by the hair.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Few were the times Asteria had even considered using that skill, even fewer the times when she actually used it. But every single instance of her frying the brains of someone were deeply ingrained into her mind, nightmares that kept her awake at night, sweating profusely as she brooded over the choices she had had, the decisions that had led her to that point, never ending regrets that refused to cease haunting her. It was terrifying, to see the light in someone¡¯s eyes slowly drain as their brain turned to mush under the torture, knowing that they would never ever recover from her act. Every use of her skill added a heavy weight to her very soul, a constant remind of what she had taken, a shackle, tying her to her victims, constricting her, reminding her through the pain of the much too small holes that secured her limbs of her decision of summarily executing someone, forcefully taking away their will and forcing them to live the rest of their lives like a zombie, responding only to external stimuli, bound to die a miserable death.


    And yet, this time she barely even flinched before resigning herself to use her skill, for she knew the bastard in front of her, and he, he was one of the few people that she didn¡¯t mind using her skill on. She had personally witnessed the horrors committed by him, slowed by his peer, and, to some degree, by her as well. A single glance at his face told her more than she had ever wanted to know about him, his gaze licking her all over, the slimy expression on his face making her more disgusted the more she was forced to look at it. He seemed to be so full of himself all the time, so much confidence trapped in such a mediocre person, a boy who thought himself to be king, above the knighthood where he unfortunately belonged to, above the laws that allowed this still-crawling kingdom to flourish. For a few more moments, she stared at the shell of a man that kneed before her, her expression a mix of complete disgust and pity. She spat on the ground in front of him, before marching onwards towards the closed gate, where the man¡¯s companion stood, unbothered by anything and anyone around him, looking just as gone as the first knight.


    He looked at the sky, his grey eyes completely focused on the clouds above. It was only after Asteria gently tapped on his shoulder that he seemed to remember where he was. With his cheeks slightly tinged red, he cleared his throat before addressing the woman before her, his tone much more professional than anything the beast from before could ever achieve. Asteria smiled lightly, he stone face finally crumbling at the sight of a decent knight, seeing as there was still hope for the knighthood, and that not all knights were foolish sons of prominent nobles trying to make a name for themselves.


    ¡°What do you want¡­ my lady?¡± Though the last past left his mouth with clear hesitation, a testament to his lack of actual experience, as a knight, Asteria couldn¡¯t help but be a little proud of her juniors. After all, even when the man in front of herself was unaccustomed to both his job and being polite to commoners, he was certainly trying, which was already much better than how some other people pretending to be knights acted. Without missing a beat, she replied to the daydreamer:


    ¡°Me and my group just returned from a journey from far away, and we are very, very tired. We wanted to enter the city right away in order to turn in our report, but it seems that something happened to the capital that forced the closure of the gates. I was just wondering if you had any information on what may be going on inside¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­ oh! I see! Well¡­ my lady, the reason why the gates were closed is because someone dared to rob the crown of the fifth prince! I don¡¯t know what in the gods¡¯ name the person who did this was thinking, but I doubt they were straight in the head. After all, they made the whole city go into lockdown until they are found, so that the little prince stops with his tantrum! Sure, the crown, made out of gold and all that, is probably worth more than what I will earn throughout my whole life, and I know for a fact that the little prince loved to flaunt his status to anyone that cared to hear, and even to those who couldn¡¯t care less, but who would be stupid enough to try to steal from the crowns?!¡±


    ¡°I¡­ see. The situation sure changed since we left town, huh? Well, I guess that was to be expected, considering just how much time we spent out in the ruins¡±


    ¡°The ruins?¡± Hearing the question, Asteria simply smiled, a predatory, toothy grin that she often showed Kary whenever she wanted to torture her with more training.


    ¡°Yes, the old ruins of T¨¢fos. I suppose you heard of us, right? The group sent by the king in order to study those moldy ruins, comprising of knights, adventurers, researchers, and the five elders from the Institute¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah, I¡¯ve heard about you! I was told to allow you guys to pass, and, not that I don¡¯t believe in you, for that I will need some credential to prove that you folks are, in fact, who you claim to be. Don¡¯t worry; it doesn¡¯t need to be anything substantial. Maybe bring here one of the adventurers you took from us, and I might feel inclined to open this gate¡± At that, Asteria¡¯s smile only widened, as she reached into her pocket, showing the knight the silver badge that identified her as a knight, its shiny plating reflecting the light of the sun.


    ¡°The name¡¯s Asteria, commander of the third special platoon under the king king, absent on my post for the past half a year due to a mission I was personally recommended to, the one about exploring some old stones that were once a city. Does this ring any bell?¡± Listening to that remark, the knight¡¯s heart sank, as he tried to come with some excuse as to why he hadn¡¯t recognized the living legend in front of him. Like many other rookie knights, he was well aware of the legendary figure of Asteria, though the fame gathered by a single commoner, and woman at that, did cause quite the commotion among the knights. He admired the person that managed to rise to such heights through her own efforts, and he aimed to, perhaps one day, become a legend worth telling as well, hopefully not for his infamy. Yet, despite knowing every legend and every rumor related to the woman in front of him, to the point where he could perfectly describe her appearance, he was completely incapable of recognizing her.


    ¡°¡­Sorry, commander, for not recognizing you. It¡¯s just that¡­ hah¡­ today has been quite the long day, and it isn¡¯t even lunch time yet! I swear, if I have to bear with Derrick again tomorrow, I might ask to be transferred to somewhere else. It¡¯s quite impressive, the way he manages to be annoying to everybody, no matter if they are commoners of nobles that could kill him without anyone bothering to investigate. How in the world did someone like him even become a knight?!¡± Seeing the mischievous grin that adorned Asteria¡¯s face, the young knight stopped dead on their tracks, stunned for a moment by the proximity of his goddess. Though some might call it blasphemy, the man had no qualms about saying that the goddess that he followed was none other than the knight in front of him, his guiding light, the person who, despite probably not even knowing who he was, completely changed his life for the better. With a sigh, he gave up on the conversation.


    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m just venting on you. I¡¯ll go open the gates now¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Your concerns are very valid, but thankfully, you won¡¯t need to bear with that sorry excuse for a knight any longer. As for your question about who he did become a knight, I feel like you already know the answer, and you¡¯re just unwilling to admit it¡±


    ¡°Huh? What? Why?¡±


    ¡°This you should find out yourself. Otherwise it¡¯ll be no fun!¡± With that, she turned her back to young knight, before walking back to her tent, ignoring both the trio of commoners and still blabbering mad man inside the carriage. She spared a single glance towards the once Derrick, the womanizer who was in both dreams and nightmares of the common folk. Seeing him on this vegetable-like state, she was almost sorry for what she had done to him. Almost. No amount of self-doubting would change the fact that she had only gotten rid of a pile of garbage that no one had the courage to take out. Turning one last time towards the young knight, still in a daze after interacting with the idol he held in the highest of pedestals, she left one last remark, this time with a bone-chilling tone, capable of making even the hottest of volcanoes freeze over, the most powerful of fire dragons wish they had brought a jacket, the unruliest of elementals scampering back to their natural habitats.


    ¡°Oh, I never said anything about Derrick, all right? Neither you nor I ever made a reference to him, and whatever you heard, no you didn¡¯t¡± With these parting words, she made her way to her caravan, which had been patiently waiting for her to get an answer as to why they were still there, and not in the Guild,  reporting their finds and earning exorbitant amounts of money. Looking around, Asteria could see Tom polishing his axe despite her being quite sure that he didn¡¯t need to, though she knew that he always did that whenever he was bored. Instead of interacting with other people, or even simply enjoying a hobby, this weird big fella preferred to spend his alone time doing more work. She appreciated the dedication to the craft, but at the same time she felt like this was a bit of a waste. After all, despite his shady appearance and his off-putting size, Tom was one of the nicest guys she had ever had the pleasure to befriend.


    On the other end of the spectrum, however, was the pair of brother and sister, who was sitting together as they usually did. They gazed at no particular point, simply staring into the distance; their reasons unknown, for no one had the guts to go ask them about it. Watching that scene, however, Asteria noticed something quite unusual, something she could probably even call a first. Different from her brother, Anna¡¯s eyes, usually fogged and distanced, almost detached from reality itself, seemed to not only show some meaning behind them, but they also seemed to be fixated on a particular someone, a being that Asteria had saved on a whim, and with whom she had been growing closer and closer over the course of the expedition, someone that, by this point, she didn¡¯t want to let go.


    Yes, surprisingly, Anna¡¯s eyes seemed to follow Kary¡¯s every movement, regardless of how small or insignificant they were, from her running from her newfound friends or from the rise and fall of her chest after she had grown tired and lied down on the grass. If Asteria looked carefully, she could even see the beginning of a smile forming on Anna¡¯s usual stoic face, a stark contrast to how she had acted during the entirety of the trip. For a moment, the knight even entertained the thought that Anna would try to steal Kary away from her, but, after some basic pondering, she realized that doing such a thing did not suit the adventurer¡¯s style, and that she would probably prefer to go through a much more silent route, maybe kidnapping, in order to secure the girl all to herself.


    In the distance, she could see the researchers and scholars playing various games, from card games to simple table-top games they had brought with them. The sight in front of her resembled less a caravan full of veterans and more a picnic sponsored by the castle. It was a surprisingly wholesome scene, an almost complete contrast to the ruckus from the start of the way back, though that still paled in comparison to the excitement felt by both scholars and adventurers during the very first day of their long, long journey, when they knew little of what awaited them, lured to T¨¢fos by the promise of gold and knowledge. Honestly, Asteria couldn¡¯t really blame them for taking upon themselves the mission of uncovering the secrets of a civilization long gone, since she knew that, if she was given the choice, she would have jumped at the opportunity without sparing it a second thought or a moment of research, which, in retrospect, seemed to be a rather bad idea, especially now that the knight was fully aware of the dangers lurking around the ruined city.


    Cleaning her throat, she prepared to address the people she had been with for the past almost six months, people with whom she grown some sense of camaraderie through their shared burdens and challenges. Sadly, not everything can last forever, and the expedition that had made so many stranger met and even befriend each other had come to its end. After thinking for a moment about the most efficient way of gathering everyone¡¯s attention, she simply went with the most basic choice: shouting as loud as her vocal chords allowed her to.


    ¡°HEY! EVERYONE! PAY ATTENTION FOR A MOMENT, PLEASE!¡± After she assessed that all eyes were on her, she continued, this time in a more subdued voice. ¡°I appreciate the patience you have all shown today as we were forced to wait outside the gates for reasons nobody was aware of. Thankfully, the guard at the gate was reasonable enough to allow us to pass through the gate, an exception allowed by the king or his court. Once again, I thank you all for the collaboration for these past six months. I know not every single one of you is satisfied with the result of the exploration, and many wished that they could have studied more, but, for now, I ask that everyone rest once reach the palace, for the audience with the king is sure to leave most of you completely spent. With all that said, let us raise our heads up and march forward, for our journey is not complete without our victorious march through the city to the castle. Come, men, get up, pick up your things, pack whatever you need, and begging marching. You have five minutes to finish everything up. Should the count reach zero with you still arranging your luggage, fret not, for you will be left behind¡­ So? What are you waiting for? Get these cards and games packed before I feed them to the horses!¡±


    Within a few moments, they were already moving towards the massive gate that loomed over them, its imposing form raised just high enough to let them all pass. Seeing the approaching bars of steel, Kary couldn¡¯t help but feel excited, as it would be her first time entering a big city, the closest she would probably ever get to her original world. At the same time, the skeptical part of her mind was forced to look at things from a more logical point, wondering just how much smaller this so called ¡®capital¡¯ would be when compared to the cities of her formal world. After all, even the city she came from, despite not even being the capital of her state, had a population on the hundreds of thousands, and she knew that there was no way it would live up to the standards she had grown used to. After what felt an eternity of waiting (though it couldn¡¯t be more than five minutes), they were finally crossing the threshold of the fabled capital, heart of the kingdom. Looking up at the menacing bars that comprised the raised gate, Kary failed to conceal her excitement as the thought that they had finally, finally, after two months of walking and training and sleeping and feeling sore all the time, they had reached the big city.

 11. Life begins anew

    Kary had already anticipated the so-called grandiose capital would be underwhelming at best, considering the wonders of modernity that filled her previous life. To merely say that she was correct, though, would be a great understatement, a massive downplay of the scene the girl witnessed upon crossing the iron gate. The first thing she noticed was the smell coming from the people on the large street through which they had entered the city, a rancid, putrid smell that would be more than enough to make a lesser person faint on the spot, and even those who had spent years practicing how to hide their emotions behind a mask couldn¡¯t help but scrunch up their noses at the smell. It was a bizarre mixture of bodily odors and natural filth cranked up to a level Kary had never witnessed before, even on the few times she had to walk through the center of the city she lived in, the place filled with trash and miserable homeless people. It was as if none of the people walking around had ever bathed in their entire lives, which, considering what Asteria had told her, might not be as far from the truth as she had wanted.


    She plugged her nose shut with the help of her hand, trying her very best to hold inside the tears of disgust that threatened to spill out. Looking around, she could see that, although her reaction was the worse, everyone¡¯s face was still distorted in some way, the abhorrent smell of a medieval city affecting even those who, for all intents and purposes, should be long used to it. Looking around, Kary saw that none of the habitants seemed to care much about the foul smell that surrounded them, so used they were to its constant presence that they went with their lives unbothered by it, eating, talking, walking, doing business all the same. Despite the putrid smell of pure filth, Kary failed to notice what she had been worried about the most: death and disease. Sure, the smell strong enough to almost give it physical form was an ever-present constant, following the girl no matter to where she turned her head, but there were a surprisingly sparse amount of people lying on the ground or showing any signs of sickness.


    From her position to the side of the arriving caravan, Kary could see a multitude of people of all shaped and sizes, all ages and dispositions, from kids running around the large stone road her group was walking through, unbothered by the approaching horses and important-looking people to housewives gossiping in the distance, holding in their hands brooms and other housework utensils. There were even some shady looking individuals on the branches of what Kary could only assume to be the main road of the capital, or at the very least one of the main ones, given its monstrous size compared to the dirty, unpaved paths that branched out from it. Despite the clear signs of past injuries, like amputated limbs or uneven joints, there didn¡¯t seem to be anyone suffering from any type of serious injuries, despite the absolute filth that permeated the entirety of the city. Seeing all that, Kary couldn¡¯t help but wonder if sick people were just isolated from the normal folks in order to contain the plagues, or if public health and safety were just important enough to warrant using magic to heal the masses.


    Still, it was impossible to deny the prosperity of this city, as even the smallest of children seemed to be dressed decently, standard shades of browns and greens adorning their simple, rugged clothes. Of course, saying that the people in the epicenter of a country had the money to dress with some amount of dignity meant absolutely nothing in regards to the country as a whole, as it simply pretended that the poorer areas outside of the public¡¯s eyes, as well as the poorer regions of the country, a few of them which for sure struggled to simply not dismantle into complete chaos over the crumbs they could afford, did not exist, and that the only place that mattered was the capital, where the rich and powerful congregated in droves. Despite the smiling faces of the vast majority of the people on the street, be they from commoners taking their kids to a walk with a pile of clothes on top of their heads or the merchant stands that spread throughout the sides of the road, there were still many who wore hopeless, depressed, or even angry expressions, though that might just a be a given, considering the sheer size of the capital.


    Kary didn¡¯t like to assume, and, for the present moment, she had no proofs that something more sinister was happening within the city. After all, this was not a game, despite its similarities, and she was most definitely not a protagonist of one, which made it so there would make no sense for something to start brewing as soon as she arrived in the city. For that, she was happy, since she really didn¡¯t want to be burdened by the task of saving the world or defeating some demon king or the other. She simply wanted to explore the world, get stronger, and hopefully make some friends along the way. Sure, there would be some responsibilities from which she would be unable to escape, but she hoped that there wouldn¡¯t be anything close to the level of what a video game character would be forced to do in order to get the good ending. For now, she simply resigned herself to admire the view of the big city as the caravan moved forward, making peasants step out of the way and merchants announce their wares with renewed vigor.


    People stared at the big group walking down the street, the children specially were gawking and shouting at the sight of their heroes, the big, strong, sleek adventurers they have always admired, much to their parents¡¯ dismay. As children, they felt no need to hide their excitement, contrary to the adults, who took a more reserved approach, silently looking at the bunch, in particular towards some specific individuals, like the scholars who refused to walk more than a few minutes under the sun a day and were particularly meticulous about their skin health, to the point where they ditched some of their essentials in favor of bringing more skincare products with them. It was an obsession Kary had witnessed many times over during her previous life, with the girls on her school putting on so much makeup that the girl oftentimes wondered if there was, in fact, a face to be seen behind all that. There were even some men who took caring for their own bodies to the extreme, spending their entire free time in the gym, almost reaching the point of bringing their mattresses there in order to spend the night training too. Of course, there were also the normal folks like Liz, who were naturally beautiful and didn¡¯t really have the need or want to make herself prettier, but those were the minority.


    Somehow, this obsession with their own prettiness seemed to seemed to accrue even more significant results in this world, with women falling left and right to pretty pale, skinny, and glossy boys whenever that specimen decided to leave their compounds in the noble area. Kary herself had never seen the appeal in wearing such thick makeup, but it wasn¡¯t her place to judge other people¡¯s interests, so she just decided to keep her mouth shut and watch as the townsfolk silently appraised each and every one of them, judging their appearances and quickly picking up favorites among them, discussing in low voices and with timidly pointed fingers their own preferences, defending with their lives the stranger they had just seen over another chosen by someone else. The girl even felt a faint burning sensation on her cheeks as she noticed some index fingers measuredly pointing at her from a distance. From her interactions with the rest of the exploration group, she had reached the conclusion that she wasn¡¯t abhorrent or anything like that, at least not ugly enough to elicit any negative reaction from those around her, but she had never thought of herself as pretty. It was a weird, warm, fuzzy feeling, to see other people compliment her, saying that she wasn¡¯t any worse than some of the beauties she had had the pleasure to chat with during the trip back.


    She heard children loudly speaking in the distance, exchanging opinions about the nature of the arriving party. Some argued that they were the heroes who had returned after defeating the demon king, a being who, as far as Kary knew, did not exist, and it would hopefully remain that way. Other kids, more skeptical, pondered aloud about the places where they could possibly have been sent to, trying to take into account, in their own childish way, their outfits, group composition and the more well-known individuals walking on the edges of the street with somber faces, some carrying their weapons, other wielding their thick books and documents bundles. There was no order, no thought put into how they would waltz into the city, with the only requirement being that the leaders, Asteria and the elders, should be in the front, in order to lead them to the adventurer¡¯s guild and, at the same time, ascertain their identity to anyone who knew what they had been up to these past few months.


    That resulted in a mismatch of adventurers, scholars, and everyone in between walking side by side, passing by precarious wooden houses, from which people watched, mesmerized, the unusual parade walking through them. Even some shops stopped working momentarily as both workers and costumers crowded the windows to see the loud march of Kary¡¯s group. Under all that attention, the girl wanted little more than sink into the ground, disappear from the public¡¯s eye, and live in the woods until the end of times, She could feel their gazes on her, their stares directed at every inch of her body, making her feel vulnerable, exposed, almost naked, despite the bulky clothing she was forced to wear ever since her original white dress had gone to shit, thrashed beyond saving and filthy with earth, mud, blood, and other non-identifiable fluids. It was standard gear, really, with long pants and thick blouse, it too with long sleeves, with pockets scattered all around it, such that she could easily store whatever she wanted and pick it up again with relative ease.


    She had received from Asteria a pair of thick leather boots, which for some reason fitted her perfectly, making her quite curious about how in the world that came into being. Perhaps magic was involved in some way, of maybe Asteria had simply gotten her measurements while the girl slept. She couldn¡¯t deny the fact that, should someone approach her after the end of her grueling night training, she would continue to sleep like a rock, a rock that had been thrown around, stretched beyond what it should have been possible, made to repeat the same movements until its entire pebble structure became numb. Still, regardless of the manners through which she had obtained this pair of boots, it was hard to complain too much, as they had remained surprisingly comfortable after all the abuse they had endured during these past few months. Taking into account the lifespan of the shoes she wore back at home, it was nothing short of a miracle that these ones had managed to endure this long under such precarious conditions.


    In fact, that same praise could be applied to every other piece of clothing she was wearing, their sturdiness commendable at the very least. As she absentmindedly followed the slow crowd through the emptied cobble street, though, her mind began to drift towards other places, such as the chaos that the architecture of this city was, from what the girl could see from where she was. It was as if the king had ordered its subjects to build with as much variety as possible and, somewhere along the line, the word ¡®variety¡¯ had been blurred beyond recognition, remaining only the previous example to go by. Sure the houses and stores to the left and right of the main street were all quite neat and cozy, their wooden structure, combined with the employment of some rudimentary form of lighting making for quite the homey ambient, even for someone spectating from a distance. But such a style failed to remain consistent as one went deeper into the city, with tall, shaky buildings rising from the ground and into the skies, attempting to touch a domain yet mostly untainted by humanity, their structures so crooked and twisted that even magic failed to explain how exactly they were not only standing, but also in a good enough of a condition to allow people to live inside them.


    For a brief moment, Kary thought the entirety of the city would be like that, twisted and distorted beyond recognition, failing even as an exhibit of modern art, but she quickly discarded the thought. After all, there would be no way that the richer people in the city would bear to live anywhere near these monstrosities visible from afar, which made the girl think that these almost-towers were the places where the poorest of the peasants were crammed together, hidden away from society as best as they could, their only contribution to society being through the ugly sight one was forced to see if they happened to turn their head to any side after entering the city. It was bizarre and unnatural, as if those buildings had been taken directly from someone¡¯s dream, no alterations made in order to placate the madness that plagues the dreamland.


    Thankfully, the weird building in the distance soon gave way to a very spacious plaza, where people completely different from those Kary had seen up until now congregated, from maids in simple garments washing clothes at the well in the center, to old men with the glint of greed in their eyes selling food on their much more elaborate stalls. Even the floor and the building around it changed in order to accompany the change in mood, with the previously gray road of cobblestone now a circular floor of red, dirty bricks, marred by the constant stream of people that walked on top of them every single day. The establishments by the side, too, were much different compared to the ones that had greeted them at the entrance of the city. Gone were the wooden structures, cheap stalls almost falling apart, run by dirty yet cheerful old men and women. Even the larger stores, once made simply out of wood, with their windows being simple holes in the wall protected by thin wooden boards attached to noisy hinges, had become much more sophisticated, clearly catering to a much more different public.


    Kary saw a myriad of different types of products being sold, from delicious-smelling food coming from a nearby eatery to rugged tools protected by a thick layer of glass. No matter where Kary looked at, there was always something new to see. It was kind of fascinating, the amount of variety just this one part of the town offered, especially compared to the bland, uninteresting, and a bit same-y houses and stores that filled the main road before this point. It was as if she had entered an entirely different world purely by accident, though she seemed to be the only one thinking that, as the rest of her group seemed to even be more relaxed than when they had arrived. It would be quite interesting to think about the reasons why some of the scholars, and even a couple of the weaker adventurers, employed due to the lack of a good number of the stronger ones, felt seemingly uncomfortable among the commoners, was it not for the fact that Kary felt the same say, though probably for different reasons. After all, in this plaza, where much better trained people came together to do their own businesses, few people cared to pay attention to the group, offering at most a greeting through a nod of their head before returning to whatever it was that they were doing.


    It was relieving to not have all those people constantly looking at her, pointing at her, commenting about her skin and her clothing. Of course, there were still some occasional odd glances, but those were few and far in between, a number small enough that Kary could endure them, even if they still caused some amount of discomfort. Compared to the feeling of being once again integrated into society, the privy gaze of a few unsavory felons was nothing to write home about. Not that she had any home to return to, but hopefully the gist of the idea was conveyed in a satisfactory manner. These silly thoughts that continuously intruded her head, however, were completely blown away in the moment she saw what she could only assume was the adventurers guild. If the other establishments around the plaza felt like residences and shopping places for the rich and influential, then the adventurers guild felt like a castle for the common people. It was made out of stone, just like every other building around this area, though the tone was much darker than the uniform gray that adorned the facades. It gave out an ominous feeling, as if one was not supposed to enter it, at the risk of losing their own lives, a feeling which, after thinking about the temperament of adventurers she had seen in books, Kary couldn¡¯t really deny.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    Its surroundings were eerily quiet, as if none of the servants of the rich folks wanted to have anything to do with the place. As they approached the guild, Kary could make some of the more intricate details that she had failed to see from afar, like the intricate patterns adorning the dark stone, conferring it a somber, mysterious, and yet at the same time majestic atmosphere, like the grand lair of an evil mastermind. It was a two story building, with both of them containing structures that resembled windows, though the ones in the first floor looked much friendlier, with their small, darkened glass panes almost blending in together with the rugged stone, than the small holes on the upper floor, almost resembling the little opening of castles from back on Earth, from where archers could fire their bows with minimal risk of getting shot in retaliation. Perhaps that was the reason those holes were there in the first place, or perchance it was for another reason altogether, considering that the way warfare was conducted probably differed from Kary¡¯s original world thanks to the existence of magic.


    Still, as they got closer and closer to the big double doors in the exact middle of the building, Kary was unable to simply forget those weird rectangular holes at the top, her imagination left to wonder if there was even any deeper meaning for their existence. Heck, she might have been overthinking everything, thinking of simple passageways for the light as anything more grandiose. They were in the middle of the capital of a kingdom, for the Gods¡¯ sake, if any enemy managed to reach this point, than there was little reason to mount a resistance here. A valid counterargument might be that such a thing is there in order to protect the rich as they make her way out of the square, which would be quite ridiculous, as any enemy that insisted on killing the top brass of the kingdom would seldom be deterred by such things. If someone was determined to kill everyone until they reached the castle at the other end, than the adventurer guild, which had been forced to let the kingdom borrow some of their younger talents for the lack of the necessary number of actually strong members, wouldn¡¯t be able to deter them for nearly long enough.


    Kary was only forced to shake these useless questions away when she finally managed to enter the den of adventurers, the headquarters of everything related to adventuring in this kingdom whose name she had yet to learn. For a moment, all she could see was the blurry, dim light coming from above, the darkness within a stark contrast to the cloudless day outside, the blue of the sky seeming to be nothing more than an illusion for those trapped outside this cold, dark, and damp structure, where almost incessant shouts came from above, a constant barrage of stimulation that had made many requesters quake in their boots before gathering the courage to post their requests.


    After allowing her eyes get used to the dim lighting place, she took in the interior of the guild, which she found fairly bland, though not nearly as much as the amalgamation of near-identical little wooden houses she had seen upon entering the city. There were some wooden tables, which were mostly empty, apart from one man or another looking at the group pouring in with some suspicion in their eyes, showing no hostility at the newcomers, at least for now. There were some people discussing among each other, holding a piece of paper as they explained something to the four others that surrounded him. On the very back was the board from where that piece of paper was most likely obtained, considering the amount of pieces of parchment that were located there, glued to the simple wood board through the use of little metal pins. To the side were a few counters, where some bored-looking staff members waited for someone to either decide to take on a quest or for someone from outside to come and request for some task to be added to their already overflowing board.


    Still, as bored as they seemed to be, they looked pretty content in just staying there, seated on their chairs, looking bored as they enjoyed their own personal hobbies. Hell, there was even one woman who didn¡¯t even bother to hide the book she was eagerly devouring with her eyes, the silly smile on her face an almost comical contrast to the overly serious atmosphere of the place. It was refreshing; to see someone having some degree of fun inside this joyless environment, regardless of just how utterly out of place the woman seemed to be. With a bright smile on her face, Asteria approached the girl at the counter, who appeared to be utterly oblivious of the stream of the people who had just entered through the door, absorbed as she was by the literary work.


    As the rest of the group who had gone to explore the ruins stayed a fair distance away from the guild dwellers, Asteria approached without a hint of fear within her eyes, sure that they wouldn¡¯t come picking a fight and confident in her own strength, capable of turning almost every single person inside the building into red paste. Her smile alone was enough to cause some trembling on the poor fools who dared to entertain the idea of scaring this woman away, their eyes quickly finding something more interesting to look at, preferably something far from the monster who had decided to just barge into the place, and who walked around as if she owned the place. Some of the adventurers to the side were certain that they had seen the woman before, but, considering that they were unable to bear with the pressure forced upon them whenever they dared to stare at her back with any amount of hostility, they were unable to confirm they suspicions, though that didn¡¯t prevent them from still staring into her, trying their very best to find characteristics that could give her away, apart from the obvious, generic traits that were visible even as she neared the counter with slow, deliberate steps.


    Everyone watched as Asteria stood there, tall and unmoving, staring intently at the top of the girl¡¯s head, the intensity almost enough to bore a hole in her hair. Despite that, however, the girl continued to read her book, uncaring about her actual job, knowing that there shouldn¡¯t be anything important enough to make her get out from her position. If some adventurer still wanted to talk to her despite her clear show of uninterested, than it could only be their fault if they left disappointed, or worse, fuming with anger. It wasn¡¯t as if she bothered to hide her own nature, so it would make no sense for someone to insist on coming to her, especially when there were so many employees just eagerly waiting for anything that could break their daily monotony. It was only when she heard a cough coming from the space in front of her that the girl bothered to raise her head, her eyes fixating on Asteria¡¯s calm, calculating, and a little mischievous gaze.


    At that moment, the world seemed to freeze, as the woman finally seemed to come to her senses, realizing, much too late, the mess in which she had put herself in. Carefully, she looked from Asteria, whom she recognized almost immediately upon laying eyes on her, to the huge assorted group behind her, standing respectfully to the side of the door so as to block the least amount of traffic possible. Her mind raced as she tried to recall any reason such a big group would come all the way to the guild, her imagination going to the wildest of wonderlands before considering some sensible options. Of course, if she had had a little more time to process the situation, she would be quick to realize that these were the people sent by the king to explore T¨¢fos and that, just like the note she had received at the start of the week had said, were coming back to the capital. Since she knew many of the faces staring at her expectantly, it should be something easy for her to figure out even if her mind decided to blank out the contents of the letter the guild had received, bearing the official shield of the royal family.


    She still reached that conclusion, thanks to her experience and the fact that she still had some braincells still bouncing around her flabbergasted head, but it took her several, painfully embarrassing seconds, her cheeks growing redder and redder as she struggled to remember why those people were there. Seeing the flustered girl, Asteria patiently waiting, noting in the back of her mind that she would surely write to the guildmaster about the lack of activity within the guild, and how he could probably afford to send some of the unoccupied workers here to work with the overflowing paperwork within the castle. After the girl finally regained the composure befitting of an employee of the guild, she politely addressed Asteria, a business smile, much too different to the flustered expression she wore just before, plastered on her face:


    ¡°Welcome back, Asteria. It had been quite a while since you last stopped by. And you brought quite the crowd with you today¡±


    ¡°It sure had been some time since I was here in the capital, yes. As I hope you have been informed, me and this group of lovely gentlemen and gentlewomen have spent the past¡­ half a year exploring the ruins of T¨¢fos, and, although there were no qualms about remaining there for longer, we have returned as per the order of the king¡±


    ¡°Yes, yes, the guild had received an official letter warning about your arrival in the near future. As it turns out, though, ¡®near¡¯ happened to be nearer than what we had thought, but thankfully the rewards for you and your wonderful team had already been measured and properly sorted out and separated into equal amounts for everyone¡± Turning her head from Asteria to the exploration group, who all watched the girl in the counter with wide, ravenous eyes, ready to gobble her up at the first of opportunities, the woman, completely unfazed by the uncomfortable atmosphere, raised her voice as she asked them all to form an orderly line in front of her counter, for she would start handing out the rewards. As if in a trance, both the rough adventurers and the frail, almost delicate-looking scholars formed a perfectly straight line, going through the middle of the room, the people not bothering anymore to appear respectful or mindful of whoever decided to enter the guild.


    Kary watched from the side, instructed to do so beforehand by Asteria, since she technically wasn¡¯t part of the expedition that had left the capital half a year prior, as everyone received a small bag of money, the clinking inside enough to make some of the ones who were previously the most nervous jump with joy, fall down to the floor, break down crying, or simply clasp their hands together in a prayer to whatever god they followed. To the girl¡¯s side was Asteria, the last one in the queue, carefully monitoring everyone as a kindergarten teacher would their unruly students. Thankfully, there was no need to intervene, and, after some time, even her got her just-deserves.


    After that, everyone scattered, breaking into smaller groups now that they weren¡¯t required to stay as one big, unified group. Some people, like the elders, left the guild right away, having more to do than celebrate their successful return with a bunch of younglings they barely knew. Others picked tables at random to sit at, discussing, laughing, and spending the money they had just earned with warm meals and alcoholic drinks, things Kary hadn¡¯t even realized were served here until she happened to notice a man drowning in his own puke after trying to drink a whole bottle of some unidentified alcoholic drink in a single go. Seeing that surreal, jolly scene, the girl let out a laugh that she herself failed to realize just how much she needed. Her quiet, shy laugh, as if afraid of leaving her mind and entering the physical plane, failed to travel through any significant distance, but it was enough to make Asteria once again pay attention to the girl she had been avoiding for these past few days, neglecting for the sake of seeing her duty to the end. Now that everything was finished, though, she could at last spend some time with Kary, talk to her, explain this world that she seemed to know nothing about, allow her to ask question, dote on her with the money she had stored and never really used.


    With a gentle smile on her face, something terrifying on its own, Asteria thought about being more daring, to ask Kary something that never in her whole life she had even considering asking someone. It was a bizarre thought, wholly disconnected from her own mentality as a knight, but the woman couldn¡¯t quite get it out of her head. That very, very uncharacteristic question remained there, nagging at the back of her mind, reminding her time and time again that she should either question the girl at once or drop the subject entirely. Running around, delaying things, ignoring the poor girl, things like that would only work temporarily, as her mind worked tirelessly to make her feel as guilty as possible for not asking that one simple question, for never before trying to address it, even when the knight herself clearly wanted to. Sucking in a large quantity of air, the woman resigned herself, praying to the gods that Kary wouldn¡¯t grow to hate her for what she was about to ask. She silently approached the girl, the nervousness she felt as clear as day on her face as she gently tapped the girl on the shoulder, trying to get her attention.


    ¡°Umm¡­ Kary¡­ sorry to bother you like this¡­ I know we haven¡¯t talked much during these past few weeks, but I¡¯ve been wanting to ask you something, and I ask you to please consider it very, very, very carefully, okay?¡± Seeing the normally confident as sure of herself knight fidgeting like a little girl in love for the first time made Kary very confused, to the point where her mind practically shut down on the spot, forcing her to reply to the awkward question with an even more awkward ¡°Okay?¡±


    ¡°Would¡­ would you like to come live with me? I¡­ I know this is a sudden question, and for that I¡¯m very sorry. I haven¡¯t got to know you particularly well¡­ I don¡¯t know where you¡¯re from, or how was your life like before ending up in those ruins. I don¡¯t know how your relationship with your family was, or if you had any friends. But what I do know is that you are alone here, without anywhere to go. So I through that¡­ umm¡­ since I¡¯ve been trying to take care of you thus far¡­ why not come with me to my place? It¡¯s definitely big enough to fit the two of us, even if you desire some personal space. It¡¯s so big that it ends up being a bit lonely at times, heheheh¡­ still, I love that place to death, and I think you¡¯ll like it too. So¡­ umm¡­ what¡­ what do you think?¡±


    Listening to Asteria¡¯s speech, awkward beyond belief, Kary¡¯s brain, which had already short-circuited, couldn¡¯t help but burst into an explosion of intrusive thoughts and self-doubts. Why would a renowned knight such as Asteria make her such an offer? Was there some ulterior motive? Was it done out of pure goodwill? The girl sincerely wanted to believe that yes, there was nothing shady going on, which would make perfect sense when taking into consideration the stern, but always fair personality of the knight. But if that was the case, than that left even more questions for her. Why would she want to take her in? What had she even done to deserve something like that? Why did Asteria even consider helping a freeloading brat like her?


    Kary narrowed her eyes, the corners of her vision dimming, as her brain went into overload, taking into account every possible doubt that still remained within the girl¡¯s mind. If she did take Asteria up on her offer, how much would her life change? Would she be forced to be a knight like the woman in front of her? Or would she be allowed the freedom of choosing her own path? Would Asteria even let her follow her newfound dream of traveling the world, considering all the debt to her she was bound to accumulate? Or would she simply allow her to live there out of the goodness of her own heart? If so, then would things be different? Would life be better than it was prior to her reincarnation? Would Asteria even be able to take care of her? Would she be happy living such a life?


    For a few agonizing moments, the entirety of the first floor of the guild fell silent, as everyone strained their ears in order to hear Kary¡¯s response. Even the girl on the counter, as absorbed as she was by her readings, stopped in the middle of turning a page, her expression unreadable as her legs trembled as if she hadn¡¯t gone to the bathroom for the past two days. If not for the usual obnoxiously loud speaking from the drunken costumers at the second floor, it wouldn¡¯t be implausible to think that the world had frozen for a few seconds. For what seemed to be eons, Asteria stood there, her shoes feeling like lead, dragging her deeper and deeper into the ground. She clenched her fists, making monumental effort to avoid grinding her teeth against each other, the pressure of the moment endlessly mounting as the girl in front of her carefully thought about what she had to say. At least, that was what Asteria had assumed the meaning of Kary¡¯s prolonged silence was.


    Contrary to the direct response Asteria had been expecting, Kary simply moved forward, not a word spoken between them. Tears brimmed at the corners of her narrowed eyes as she slowly, measuredly took step after step, bringing herself closer and closer to the woman who had not only saved her life, but also offered her a way through which she could live the best of this new life she had been granted by some mad god. Looking at the paralyzed statue of a woman right in front of her, Kary realized that, at this moment, she didn¡¯t need anything more. Spreading her arms out, she embraced the woman in the tightest hug she could muster, which wasn¡¯t saying a lot seeing as the knight was as sturdy as the rocks used to build ancient fortresses. She let the tears that had been put on hold on the corners of her eyes fall, and with them came and entire cascade of tears, a waterfall worthy of receiving a legend to go along with it. If one could see Kary¡¯s face, they would witness the biggest, goofiest smile the girl had ever conceived as she stood on her tiptoes so that she could quietly whisper into Asteria¡¯s ear ¡°Yes¡±

 12. House of cards

    It was a big, nice house, located in an equally nice neighborhood, where the houses were all nicely spaced from each other, in such a way that whatever happened with one of them would never be able to affect the rest of the residents. The street was neatly clean, almost to an exaggerate degree, with trimmed bushed lining the pristine white sidewalks that flanked the quite worn down stone path that lead to the majestic castle sitting at the other end of the entrance where Kary had, for the first time since coming to this world, entered a de facto city. Despite the relative size of the houses on that particular neighborhood being much higher when compared to the rest of the capital, it was still dwarfed by the sheer massiveness of the royal castle, its towers reaching high into the sky in an attempt to pierce the very veil of reality, the white marble with which it was made shimmered gracefully under the warm morning sun, its golden gates, bearing the shield of the royal family, protected by burly knights enclosed within their heavy steel suits, daring anyone who saw them to approach, to get closer to the heart of this kingdom, its very epicenter.


    Though it was quite smaller than some if its neighbors, the very fact that it resided on the most prestigious and coveted street in the capital meant that Asteria¡¯s manor was much grander than needed, especially considering that there weren¡¯t even five people living full time at the place, with the staff only being composed of an experienced cook that had agreed somewhat reluctantly to the job offer, a maid, who only periodically cleaned more than what was absolutely necessary to keep the mansion at a presentable state, and a an old gardener, who took pride in his meticulous care for tensing the massive garden that surrounded the building proper. As Asteria seldom spent too long inside the aforementioned building, despite having received it as a present from the kingdom due to her efforts in protecting the lands from night abominations, the three servants¡¯ lives were quite relaxed, especially when comparing to the routine forced upon the workers of others, more hectic houses. Sure, they did their job with the diligence expected of them, but there was no pressure to make everything clean and proper on the smallest time windows possible, as there was no master to deliver harsh punishments should some minister or random noble arrive while there were still specks of dust gathered in an aisle no one would ever visit.


    Even when the knight was there, the atmosphere between employer and employee was much closer to that of old friends who had known each other for years, sharing secrets, tales of fantastical adventures, and heartfelt moments. Don¡¯t mistake though, as there was still a clear employment relationship between them, a certain barrier the servants knew not to cross, lest they get thrown out to the streets. Still, the three, sometimes four, companions enjoyed the time they had spent at the mansion, their lives largely unchanged ever since Asteria had managed to get them to work for her, lives that they didn¡¯t expect to change in any significant way anytime soon, which made it all the more surprising when the gallant knight approached the estate piggybacking a girl so pale that the gardener, the first to spot them walking through the cobble street, thought that there was a spirit possessing the woman. As the two got closer, however, the man realized that the snoring girl, draped in various shades of brown, legs dangling to the side as her head bopped up and down to the movement of Asteria, couldn¡¯t possibly be a spirit, mainly because the old gardener had no skills that related in any way, shape or form to the detection of the unnatural.


    Dropping the large gardening scissors he had been wielding, the old man began patting his pockets on the hopes that he hadn¡¯t forgotten the keys for the manor inside, as he knew that he would get an earful from Asteria once she was over with whatever it was that was happening to her¡­ and the strange girl she had with her. Relief washed over him as he felt a slight bulge on his left pocket, his wizened face immediately breaking into a grin as he tried to hide his confusion and apprehension from his employer. As he brought the key to its hole at the gate that would do little to stop someone truly determined, he tried prodding a bit in an attempt to get a grasp at Asteria¡¯s bizarre behavior. From all the years he had spent taking care of her garden, listening to her almost absurd stories about her own experience as a knight, she had never hinted at wanting to take in anyone, but lo and behold, she had brought a child home, hopefully not through kidnapping.


    ¡°Oh, hey boss. Fancy seeing you here. I thought you were gone for good this time around. How long has it been, since you last stopped by here? Five months or so?¡± The man stared fearlessly into the dark eyes of the woman who could kill him and all of his family before the dawn of the next day without breaking a sweat, years of interactions with this awkward being telling him that, despite her sharp eyes, she would never belittle him for showing some degree of familiarity. Although he knew that the woman before him could be as ruthless as the monsters that killed and pillaged with abandon, there was a soft side to that torn-y rose that not many had had the chance of seeing. Her appearance was scary, yes, especially when she was wearing her bulky full body armor, but she was a good human being, a stark contrast with the owners of the other manors in this street.


    ¡°Yes, I do believe it has been around half a year since I have last stepped into my own house. I do certainly hope nothing has happened to it during the time I spent away.¡± The woman narrowed her eyes, mouth parting into a savage grin as she looked down at the gardener who, despite knowing that no harm would befall him unless he explicitly asked for it, started shivering like a victim of hypothermia, his attempts at breaking eye contact futile. Just as his legs were about to give up, however, the immense pressure that had befallen upon him suddenly lifted, allowing his lungs to once more grasp for the air he hadn¡¯t even realized wasn¡¯t there, his heart beating with a fury he had seldom experienced before. Paralyzed, the man watched in a daze, half amazed and half terrorized, as the expression on Asteria¡¯s face, befitting of a demon from the deepest pits of hell, seamlessly turned into a kind and gentle visage one might see in a saint, untainted by the blemishes of the world.


    ¡°Heh, I¡¯m just pulling your leg. Sorry, sorry, it¡¯s just¡­ it has been such a long time since I had the chance to get you like this, all serious and worried, and I just couldn¡¯t resist. You seemed to be so on edge¡­ too on edge, considering how playful you usually look. No, don¡¯t look at me with this face; you should already know that you are as easy to read as children¡¯s books. How many times have I told you that you should at least try to practice your poker face?¡± The gardener looked down, swallowing the words he wanted to say, as he knew that, at the end of the day, the knight was right. Time and time again he had been scolded for being too open in regards to what he shared with strangers, be it due to his very expressive face or due to his tongue, so loose that Asteria had grown tired of threatening to just outright cut it. The man had never really put much thought into Asteria¡¯s borderline paranoia, as he had never felt threatened by the people who came to and from the noble¡¯s street. Perhaps this experience would be enough to remind his that his employer was someone important, and that important people often had their lives extinguished by the whims of the powerful. Still, Asteria tried not to be too overbearing, her tone shifting to a gentler one as she asked the old, sweating man:


    ¡°So, what have gotten you so flustered? Surely nothing too terrible could have happened in the time I was away, right?.¡± After hearing no response from the gardener, who was usually the most talkative of the people in the mansion, Asteria began to think that something was amiss. She decided to ask again, this time a little more forcefully: ¡°Nothing of note has happened since I was asked by the His Majesty the king to go with the exploration group, right?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­I hoped you would have already been informed about it by now, but seeing your confusion, that doesn¡¯t seem to be the case at all. Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s nothing too bad, but there might be some¡­ turbulence for the foreseeable future. Before I tell you, though, I will ask you to come inside at once, and tell me the story of this girl you¡¯ve been carrying ever since you arrived. Come on, I want to know all the details.¡± The old man said, a glint of excitement visible deep into his sunken eyes as he beckoned the woman to enter the manor that, at least in paper, belonged solely to her. Abiding to his insistence, Asteria marched onwards with the gait befitting of the noble ladies who often gossiped in the luxury of their homes.


    They went past the gates, walking through the extensive garden, cared to perfection by the gardener, and after a brief, pleasantly relaxed walk, reached the thick double doors of the mansion. With no hesitation whatsoever, Asteria barged them open, their creeks and shrieks far from enough to scare the lady of the house, though the sound was loud enough to make Kary, still carefully carried in the knight¡¯s back, stir a little, her eyes threatening to open for the first time since she had passed out at the guild, right after giving Asteria the biggest hug she was capable of. Still, the girl remained as peaceful as ever, her even breath lifting strands of Asteria¡¯s hair every time her chest heaved up and down. As she walked down the main how with the dirty-looking gardener in tow, taking shy glances at the mighty statues lining the walls in various poses, she suddenly stopped, her right hand reaching for the handle of her sword, eyes sharpening in preparation for whatever it was that the quick footsteps approaching them, barely even trying to be concealed, brought with it.


    Eyes locked on one of the side doors, she waited for a few moments, ears attentive to any changes, her heart beginning to pound harder and harder as a she thought about the myriad of things that might happen. She forced herself to calm down, before letting Kary down from her back, laying her on the ground, trying to make as little sudden moves as she possibly could, in an attempt to allow the girl to continue her rest. Hand tightly grasping her sword, she slowly approached the door, as ready as she could be to strike anything that dared to barge through. Since she had failed to recognize the sound of those footsteps, which were getting louder and louder, their presence made known by the sparse amount of decorative items within the manor, she thought it appropriate to be ready to protect the two people behind her. Worst case scenario, she would have to fight an enemy within the precincts of her manor, and best case she would be simply greeted by her overenthusiastic maid.


    As the door opened with thunderous noise, a shape too fast to be recognized flying through its opening, arms opened wide as it tackled Asteria to the ground. The knight smiled a little, repressing as best as she could the desire to bonk the creature in front of her as punishment for making her worried. After thinking again, though, it seemed that the young girl in charge of cleaning had been much more worried about her during her long absence than what she had initially expected. Sure, the girl had always been clingy, ever since Asteria had brought her in from the streets after noticing the unnatural tidiness and cleanliness of the little corner she called home. The girl did her duties with almost religious dedication, a sparkle within her eyes that at times seemed almost otherworldly, her diligence so thorough that, if not due to Asteria explicitly telling her that the unused rooms needed no cleaning and that she should just focus on what was actually put into use, she would have probably spent the entirety of her days with the impossible task of cleaning the much too big house by herself.


    Though Asteria failed to recognize the shoes the girl, now practically a full-fledged adult, was wearing, she simply attributed it to the fact that six months were not, in fact, a short period of time to be away from the people she knew and enjoyed the company of. Because she left the mansion fully on the hands of her three trusted aides, including finances and the like, it was totally possible that the old gardener or that lazy chef of her could have taken little Marta to the common market to buy some things. With a smidge of a smile creeping onto her face, she caressed the maid¡¯s back, soothing her until the girl found it within herself to let the woman who had allowed her to live a better life than she could have ever fantasized go. Marta had her own duties to tend to, after all, and the return of her mistress called for an extra-thorough clean. With new found conviction in her eyes, she gave a little squeeze to the sturdy knight in front of her, before picking the broom lying beside her and running back to the place she was supposed to be cleaning.


    Asteria sighed, slightly exasperated by the utter shamelessness exhibited by the maid, but she failed to hide the grin that had spread through her face. She didn¡¯t like the house for many reasons, ranging from its unnecessary size to its dangerous location, but she couldn¡¯t deny that it was nice to be home at last. If there was ever a point where there were no more threats to be fought, no more enemies for the king to throw her at, then she wouldn¡¯t mind spending the rest of whatever life she would have left here, where she had friends close enough to her heart that she felt no apprehension in calling family. They were nice, helpful, and so sweet every interaction she had with them threatened to give her diabetes. She had her own platoon to command, with people she had known from her days at the academia, sure, but it just wasn¡¯t the same thing. The employer-employee relationship existed in both situations, and yet it felt that more constricting in her military career. She argued with them, played with them, shared memories with them that created an atmosphere she had only ever experienced before when she was little, in the presence of a family that no longer could embrace her.


    With a sigh, Asteria once again picked up Kary, this time taking her to one of the many vacant rooms in a princess carry, leaving behind an astonished gardener, his mind still trying to figure out what was up with the overly-pale girl, who he would assume was dead, were it not for the subtle moves done by her body during her sleep. He wanted to follow the two of them, question the knight about the origins of the girl, but he felt like that would be a terrible idea, his gut feeling telling him that he should just stay put for now, allow the two of them to have some time alone and, hopefully, Asteria would tell them what had happened during the exploration journey once she was comfortable with sharing the juicy details. A gentle, almost paternal smile adorned the man¡¯s face as he made his way to the garden he loved second to the woman he had seen blossom into a wonderful person over the passage of springs. He was the oldest of the three employees that worked on this manor, and he was also the one who had spent the most time with the knight, their shared story going all the way back to her parents, when they would occasionally request his services to tend to the ¡ª admittedly very small ¡ª garden they had in front of their nice, comfy residence. It had been quite the journey since then, and, despite the many losses he suffered throughout, he couldn¡¯t say that he disliked how things had turned out.


    Inside the house, Asteria was just finishing tucking the girl in bed of the guest¡¯s room, the mattress so comfortable that the knight could see Kary physically sink into it, a pure smile of joy blossoming in her face, piercing Asteria¡¯s heart in a way that not even Marta, her very diligent and sometimes very adorable maid, could. In a spur of the moment, she sat down on the edge of the bed, caressing the girl¡¯s head in a scene that would leave each and every single one of the people who thought they were familiar with the woman in absolute shock.  But there was no one there other than the two of them, no one that could judge them, no one who could feed the rumor mill with baseless accusations. It was a moment of simple bliss, a form of enjoyment that led to the knight being so lost in her own thought that she almost failed to notice Kary stirring and turning, her eyelids fluttering in an attempt to filter out the ungodly amounts of light her sleepy eyes were receiving. After a few moments, the girl was finally able to open her eyes, her half-asleep mind desperately fighting so as to not give in to its desire to go back into sleep, to sink into the mattress until nothing of her could be seen from the surface. But she resisted the temptation, despite how alluring the proposal was, her mind shifting focus onto trying to find out where she was.


    The first thing that she saw after she got used to the light was Asteria¡¯s face, bearing a smile that would make any man¡¯s heart flutter. Though the knight seemed to realize Kary had woken up, she made no effort to get away from the girl, her callous hand, marred by countless hours of ruthless training, still stroking her head as if there was nothing wrong with it. She knew this to be inherently true, as there would be nothing bad coming out of Asteria petting her head, and yet Kary still felt apprehensive, almost afraid to be on the receiving end of so much affection. Was it okay for her to be there, enjoying a nice rest, possibly the best rest she had had in her entire life, while she had done nothing to earn it? Why was it so hard to simply enjoy the nice gifts of life, especially after everything she had gone through? Why, even after all this time, she still felt like she wasn¡¯t supposed to be here at all, that she didn¡¯t deserve the friends she had made, the nice people she had met during the journey, the few nights they had spent together, sharing stories, singing badly and enjoying each other¡¯s company wrapped in the comfort of the chilly weather of the dusk? It was frustrating, annoying, almost off-putting, the way both her body and mind simply refused to understand that it was okay to be happy.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    And so, defying her stubborn mind conditioned through years and years of dealing with the woman that had given birth to her, for the first time in a long, long while, so long, in fact, that she failed to remember any other time she might have done the same, she allowed herself to simply be there, enjoying the attention, the care that was dedicated to her, not allowing any awful thoughts to intrude her mind, like parasites finally being squashed after wreaking havoc within her own psyche.  For a few moments, she stayed like that, lying on the bad, eyes barely opened as she simply let herself be pampered for a couple of sweet seconds, until her brain finished working up, letting in the flood of negativity that Kary¡¯s ¡®barely awake¡¯ state had been putting at bay. For the second time since they had arrived in the city, the girl cried, her sobs echoing through the empty hallways as everything that had happened to her during these past months came crashing down, her little moment of rest the perfect opportunity for her own weird little brain to overwhelm her way past her limit, way past what she even considered her mind capable of doing. Sure, she had thought about the present and what would be of her in the future, but now that she was in what she assumed to be in a safe place, protected from the outside world and everything that would cause her harm, everything that she had avoided thinking about, everything she had shelved into the depths of her own mind, everything that she hoped she would never had to think about again, feelings she hoped she would never have to properly face, each and every one of these things came at once in a brutal attack.


    Yet despite her clear show of vulnerability, despite the ugliness she was showing for the entire world to see, there were no harsh words directed at her, no belittling comments came her way, no one was there, saying that she should just swallow her tears, or that if she continued crying, she would be given something to cry about. There were simply Kary and Asteria, who never, not even for a single second, stopped caressing her head, the knight¡¯s eyes growing gentler by the second as she tried and ultimately failed to understand the emotional baggage weighting Kary down. She knew that she hadn¡¯t been the most present person in the girl¡¯s life during their journey back, but even now she had vastly underestimated the suffering the girl had experienced. Asteria, in all her wisdom as a knight, felt completely unable to grasp at the pain that the girl beside her had been silently experiencing this entire time, silently enduring so as to not cause any alarm, suffering alone so that no one would waste their time looking after her.


    The two of them stayed like that until Asteria heard the sound of Marta¡¯s loud shoes echoing through the corridor, getting closer and closer to them. Noticing that Kary seemed to have calmed down significantly, the knight reached down and gave the girl¡¯s head two quick pets, before asking if she was hungry, to which Kary responded with a vigorous nod and a rumble of her stomach. Although the girl could survive solely by staying on the sun, that didn¡¯t mean that she didn¡¯t hunger for more normal food, or that recharging her batteries under the sun was of any pleasure. She liked to eat food, to feel the chewing, the sensation of food going down her throat and landing neatly on her stomach. It was something that she felt like she would never be able to ditch, to the point where she forced herself to put up with the awful-tasting, hard, and very chewy food that was the exploration group had available for her to eat.


    Soon after, the door was opened with a loud bang, making the fancy chandeliers in the corridor tremble from the sound, almost making Kary jump high into the air. From behind the door came a woman, a bit older than the girl laying on the bed, with rosier skin than her, clearly indicating that she wasn¡¯t of any weird race like Kary. A grin so wide it threatened to split her face in half was splattered across her face as she brought with her two trays of delicious smelling food. As she saw the pale girl lying on the bed, being held tight by her mistress, Marta was confused for a moment, wondering who that girl was, since she hadn¡¯t seen her when tackling Asteria before. After an almost imperceptible moment of wondering, though, she came to the conclusion she didn¡¯t so much as cared for who the girl was, just that her mistress seemed to be enjoying her time with the girl. In retrospect, it should have been obvious that her mistress was not alone, considering that the chef had asked her to bring with her double the amount of food someone would normally ingest, but Marta had simply attributed it to the knight¡¯s ravenous appetite, failing to consider that she might have missed Asteria¡¯s guest on her desperation to greet her.


    As Marta got closer to the girl, she began to notice her less natural features apart from the skin, which was kind of hard to miss if one so much as looked at the girl. She had bright, red eyes, almost too big to appear natural, as if two polished pieces of ruby had been simply squeezed into the sockets without much through being put into it. They were weird, but at the same time the maid couldn¡¯t help but find them oddly captivating, its uniqueness charming in its own way. The girl on the bed also had quite the long hair, extending far down, almost to the point of reaching her legs when lying down, its paleness less appalling than that of her skin, the tone closer to silver-y white than it was to the pure, untainted color of the clouds, though from appearance alone the texture seemed to approach the fluffiness of the clouds than the straight, sharp appearance of the silver weapons used by the rich in their decorations.


    Her face seemed to be an artist¡¯s representation of beauty, her features just sharp enough to carry a certain allure, while at the same time retaining just enough baby fat that her every expression had some degree of cuteness. From what Marta could see, Kary had been blessed with a perfectly proportional body, with both her arms and legs not being a centimeter longer or shorter than they should be, the exercises she had spent the past months doing making it so that every flex of her limbs showed some amount of muscles. It wasn¡¯t to the point where people would be appalled by it, but they added some much-needed substance to her lean, almost too thin arms.


    Marta approached the bed almost as if in a daze, for a few moments forgetting herself as she hyper-analyzed every single detail of what she could see of Kary¡¯s body. Realizing she had been staring for too long, though, the maid let out an awkward cough, before laying down the two trays of food on the nightstand beside the bed. After respectfully bowing down to Asteria, the maid turned to the door, intending to return to her never-ending duties, when the knight stopped her much in the same way she had prevented Kary from jumping in fear, making Marta let out a surprised yelp as she was stopped dead on her tracks, her monochromatic maid outfit fluttering in complete disregard to its owner complete lack of movement.


    ¡°Umm¡­ mistress¡­ what is it that you desire of me? I see you have a guest, so if there¡¯s anything I can do please do inform me.¡± As Marta turned around to address Asteria and her guest, who looked at the maid with shy curiosity within her eyes, Asteria retracted her hand, placing it once more on top of Kary¡¯s hair, continuing to stroke it as she looked at the young maid, her face turning into a frown as she thought of the words delivered to her by her gardener when she arrived. Since they were in a more relaxed environment right now, she thought that it would be the best moment to hear what the man had to say, with the great food hopefully enough to qualm the headache that was sure to come.


    ¡°Why yes, there is something I wanted to ask from you. Though I do appreciate the consideration towards Kary here, I simply want you to go fetch Gunther for me. I know you already know that, but he should be at the back of the house right now, taking care of his dear flowerbeds. If it isn¡¯t asking too much, I would like for you to bring him here, as there are some¡­ matters that I wish to discuss with him.¡±


    ¡°Of course you aren¡¯t asking too much. It¡¯s my job, after all. I¡¯ll go fetch him right away!¡± With a playful salute, Marta dashed out of the room, soon getting out of both Kary¡¯s and Asteria¡¯s earshot, leaving the two of them once again alone together. Since Kary was now fully awake, she began to feel a bit conscious of the hand continuously petting her head, leaving her awkwardly shifting on the bed, futilely trying to escape Asteria¡¯s grasp, much to the knight¡¯s enjoyment. After all, that meant that there was nothing wrong with Kary, and that her passing out on her was simply due to the cumulative tiredness from the journey to a town, along with the shock of being within human civilization after who knew how long. For all Asteria knew, it could have been years since the girl lying in front of her had any sort of interaction with humans. Considering how strong of a reaction she had when the knight had stated her offer, though, she was somewhat skeptical about her theory, the girl¡¯s almost exaggerated movements and expressions in regards to such topics making the knight¡¯s mind wonder about what sort of traumas Kary might have experienced throughout her life.


    Despite being so young, she had suffered much, much more than she should. At least that was what the knight believed. She wanted to question the girl, of course, as endlessly speculating about her past would get them nowhere, but such thoughts were quickly dismissed, for she wanted to build some degree of trust between them before she even tried to make Kary comfortable about talking about her past. Asteria knew that if someone she had only known for a couple of months suddenly began showing an interest on the mess that her past was, the knight would only be able to see such person with suspicion, so she refused to put Kary through something similar. As she imagined what would her days be life from here on out, with the presence of this weird girl from nowhere, doubts still lingered on the back of her mind, questioning her decisions, expecting the worst of the worst to happen due to what she had done. It was annoying at best, and, at worst, it was almost enough to make her punch through a wall, for she knew that each and every single one of these doubts were not only baseless, but also complete nonsensical, scenarios that would never happen sapping away at her energy, living rent free in her head.


    Her musings were interrupted rather abruptly by the arrival of Gunther, her loyal gardener, who unceremoniously barged into the room after giving the door a warning knock. Before Asteria could respond, the man was already inside, his face unusually serious as he approached the two women, arms and legs trembling slightly, either out of anticipation or fear, his left hand gripping a beautifully adorned letter, as if he was afraid of losing it. Noticing the man¡¯s clear distress, the knight ordered him to take a seat, something he was quite glad to accept, as his strength was far from what it used to be, exhaustion easily taking the best of him these days as he tried to enjoy his job to his fullest. With the room set, Asteria wasted no time confronting him.


    ¡°So? What did you want to tell me? Go on, I¡¯m waiting to see what news I have lost in these past months.¡±


    ¡°Umm¡­ before I tell you, I must first inform you that these matters relate to the nobility and the royal family. Knowing this, I have to ask: is it okay for this girl to be here, listening to these¡­ pretty interesting pieces of news I¡¯ve managed to get my hands on?¡± Listening to the cautious tone of his voice, Asteria let out a small laugh, as if mocking the old gardener for his lack of trust in her companions. Still, she could understand what he was coming from, so she decided to make it as clear as possible for it to enter his thick skull


    ¡°This girl here is my prot¨¦g¨¦, although not officially yet¡­ hah¡­ that reminds me¡­ I¡¯ll have to tell the king about this eventually¡­ and it will be an absolute pain¡­ Well, anyway, what I wanted to say is that I will respond for anything this pretty girl right here speaks and does in the future, so there¡¯s no problem in telling the nobles¡¯ dirty little secrets to her. If not you, then I would probably the one to spill the beans eventually. Now come on, tell us. What happened while I was away that made you so anxious?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ I hoped you would already be aware of it, but it seems that I was mistaken. Oh well.¡± Getting closer through little hops of his chair, he lowered his voice, afraid that there might be someone uninvited listening in to their conversation. ¡°The thing is, the second prince has just gotten back from his studies abroad, and I head from¡­ reliable sources, that there are already nobles planning to make the boy king, grooming his from the moment they get to interact with him so as to control the direction the country will take. That¡¯s just my opinion, though it is supported by the recent moves of the nobles who remain loyal to the royal family, abiding by their rules and supporting the first prince to their full capacity. Since I¡¯m just a gardener who only leaves this mansion to secure perishable products every once in a while, my information might be a bit outdated, but big things are happening under the curtains, that I can say with utmost confidence.¡±


    Hearing his assertive considerations of the political landscape of their kingdom, Asteria couldn¡¯t help but grin from ear to ear, as this old man in front of her once more showed her that he was much more than a mere gardener, as he insisted on saying. For what it was worth, the man excelled at the more delicate and simultaneously brutal jobs, from stalking to information gathering. Although the knight would prefer that he stayed within the confines of her mansion due to his deteriorating health thanks to his old age, she had been forced to recognize his masterful abilities time and time again, as he was capable not only of gathering any piece of information that he desired, but also of accurately judge and predict what the fallout of certain events would lead to, acting with more precision than those clairvoyants who sold their service on the local market. Her satisfied grin, however, quickly faded from her face as Gunther continued his report.


    ¡°Another thing: before you arrived this morning, we received a letter from the castle. There are some things that I would like for you to personally take a look at, but what I can tell you outright is that the king had called the nobles and the most noteworthy members of the exploration team to attend to a party that will be held tomorrow afternoon, at the palace grounds. If memory serves right, you are allowed to bring with you a single attendant, so it is best to decide these matters as quickly as you can. After all, weren¡¯t you that told me time and time again that I should take utmost care of appearances, especially in front of nobles?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Fuck nobility, fuck royalty, fuck everyone who thought throwing a party immediately after half its guests arrived from a six-month trip was a good idea. If the plan was to catch us tired and unprepared, then I guess it went flawlessly, but¡­ hah¡­ gods be damned. So much stuff to do, so many things to get done until tomorrow, and I haven¡¯t even read the fucking letter! If it wasn¡¯t for you guys, I don¡¯t think I would be able to last this long without wiping out some very important people from the face of this wretched earth.¡±


    ¡°Please, mistress, we all know about you dislike for formality and backstabbing, but getting yourself thrown in a maximum security prison wouldn¡¯t do you any good. Sure, you are an essential piece to the protection of our beautiful lands, but there is a point where even you would need to face the consequence of your own actions. I ask you¡­ no, I beg you; please reconsider delivering summary execution to unruly nobles. At least wait until they¡¯re charged with some crime.¡±


    ¡°Oh well. At these times you sound so convincing. It¡¯s almost like you know what you¡¯re doing¡­¡±


    ¡°I know that you know that I am perfectly able to do my job, thank you very much. Instead of playing around until night falls, it might be better for you to start working on the piled-up things you left behind after fleeing from work for six months straight.¡±


    ¡°Okay, okay. As much as I dislike it, paperwork and noble gatherings are still part of my job. Can¡¯t be caught slacking off, or else I might be sent to the middle of nowhere again.¡± With a sigh, Asteria turned to Kary, the poor girl almost dozing off after being pampered by the knight and being forced to stay put in that most comfortable bed. With a last pat to her head, the lady of the house told the girl that, for now, she should simply get some rest, as the next day would be incredibly busy, and she ought to be in her most optimal form by then. With this, Asteria left the room, accompanied by Gunther, who gently closed the door behind him, allowing the girl to catch the sleep she had been desperately trying to fight against up until now. Kary feels her body getting heavier and heavier, sinking into the mattress in a feeling of bliss and relaxation she had seldom felt before. For a couple of minutes, her consciousness wavered like a lit candle under a strong wind, until the flame gave up and eventually went out quietly under the constant stimuli provided by the wind, or, in this case, the mattress.

 13. Fashion hurricane

    The sun faded into the horizon and made its round around the planet, before once more gracing Asteria¡¯s manor with its warm light once again, the gentle rays entering uninvited through the window of the guest¡¯s room, waking Kary from her long slumber. Eyes still closed, the girl yawned like never before, here body still struggling to process that she was, indeed, not asleep anymore. For a good while, she battled her growing desire to simply go back to sleep, the coziness of the bed so inviting, so tempting, that she seriously thought for a moment that the battle was lost. Thankfully, her inner debate was settled when Marta, Asteria¡¯s maid and the person who had brought her some of the most delicious food she had ever eaten, unceremoniously barged into the room, bringing with her another tray made out of what Kary could only assume was iron, filled with more delicacies than the amount the teenager had eaten during the entirety of her previous life.


    Breads of various kinds, each exhaling a different, equally appetizing aroma, pastes she failed to recognize accompanied by a silver knife with which she could splatter the differently colored condiments onto the interior of the breads. Even a bowl of soup if she so desired to wet the bread with it and a glass of what she assumed to be water to quench her thirst were present, the soup in particular making Kary more excited to eat her meal than she would have liked to admit. Although she tried to maintain a stoic face so as to not appear completely ridiculous in front of Asteria¡¯s servant, the glint in her eyes was more than enough for Marta to understand the girl¡¯s intentions. With a smile that made her appear to be much more mature than her age would entail, she settled the tray on the nightstand, the foodstuff on top of it barely trembling at the sudden motion. It was a brief exchange, but Kary felt something fluttering in her, the same sensation she had when she first talked with Liz or Asteria, a sentiment she had grown to realize might be causing her to grow too attached to some people.


    It was something that had been so alien in her own family life that she couldn¡¯t help but desire it, crave for it, sometimes even imagine how her life would be if her mother had any semblance of it, if the bitter woman held any desire to propagate human warmth. With a sigh, Kary realized that she had been lost within her own thoughts, making her fail to catch part of what the maid had been talking for the past few moments. Resisting the urge to slap her own cheeks to quench her own embarrassment, the girl offered a silent prayer to the mad god that had brought her to this world, since despite his obvious lack of sanity that should probably be checked at by the local psychiatrists, he was the only god whose name she was aware of in the present moment. Perhaps it would come a time where she would be able to pray for someone slightly less unhinged, but, if the prayer was only about her desire to not having missed anything important, then it should be okay to deliver it to Limo, right¡­?


    ¡°¡­ and this bread right here is supposed to be eaten with the soup, since it¡¯s the hardest of the three and made specifically to blend with the flavor of the ingredients, or at least that¡¯s what Calvin told me. Hah¡­ I¡¯ve never seen a man so prideful about his own creations, but alas, he does his job well enough, I guess. Oh, sorry if I was boring you with all that explanation that turned into a bit of venting at the end. You can just eat everything in any way you want in the end. Since it was Calvin who made it, any combination will probably taste good. The combinations I just told you were just his personal recommendations, so you don¡¯t need to abide by them though it would surely make him very happy.¡±


    ¡°Ah! Before I forget it, I might as well tell you right now about the mistress¡¯s plans for today. As you heard yesterday, there will be a big party in the royal castle this afternoon, and the mistress decided this would be a good opportunity to present you not only to the king, but to the nobles and important people who will be attending as well, and, for that, you¡¯ll need to be dressed accordingly. Since we wouldn¡¯t have time if we just waited for you to wake up on your on, I took the liberty of measuring you while you slept, and for that I am very sorry. I have to admit, though, you have quite the nice body. Make sure to thank the mistress later for protecting you from any potential suitors, alright?¡±


    While the girl in maid outfit went over Kary¡¯s day, the girl herself was just trying to make sense of what she had been hearing. Sure, the broken pieces of information about her breakfast were easy enough for her to digest, but everything that was said after just went over her head. As Marta had said, she should know that there would be a party later today, but for some reason she hadn¡¯t even considered the possibility that she would part of it. Since almost nobody ever invited her for parties, birthdays and the like, and she never went out of her way to interact with people in order to get said invites, she had simply assumed that herself and the term ¡®party¡¯ would never be said in the same breath with any correlation between them. And now here she was, just waking up and being told that she not only will be part of a party containing the most important people of the country she was in, but also that it would be used to introduce her to the king himself. The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to simply sink into her bed and fall, fall for eternity, until time itself became meaningless, her body a mere shell of its former self, trapping her thoughts within its fleshy entrails. She would be able to accept such outcome, if only it meant that she would be exempted from the responsibility that had been suddenly placed upon her shoulders.


    Sadly, the bed she was still lying in was perfectly solid, and, as far as she knew, it existed entirely within the same material plane, making her wishful dreams nothing more than that. If the out of the blue reveal that she was going to a party wasn¡¯t enough to short-circuit her brain, than the nonchalance with which that maid had said that she had taken her measurements during her sleep was sufficient to make the girl question all the decisions she had made during both of her lives that had led her to this very moment. On a fundamental level, she was able to understand the need to do such a thing, as the announcement of the party came with little to no time for its participants, especially the ones who had just arrived from T¨¢fos, to get themselves sorted. Thinking about it, Kary couldn¡¯t help but agree with Asteria¡¯s indignation from the day prior, since the invitation was like an attempt to make the people who had managed to make significant advancements on the study of the people who lived on the regions centuries, perhaps millennia ago look like complete fools. What other purpose could a party thrown with so little prep time serve, if not to humiliate those who were only able to receive the invitation at the last possible moment?


    The day had barely started and Kary already felt exhausted, the sheer thought about what she would be forced to endure enough to make her consider just going back to sleep as soon as Marta left the room. Of course, she would never do such a thing to the people who had brought her in after arriving in this weird, fantasy-like world, but the thought nonetheless crossed her mind. With a sigh, the girl stared at the food tray perfectly standing on top of the small piece of furniture beside her bed, before once more focusing on what the maid still had to say. While she was criticizing the nobility of this kingdom in her head, Marta had taken a small brass bell from somewhere, with a string attached to its very top, placing it on the far edge of the untouched tray, letting out a soft, melodious sound, clear enough to be heard from a distance, and yet pleasant enough that it wouldn¡¯t annoy the one who used the little bell. The moment it touched the tray, though, the sound was immediately gone, restricted to the confined of the bell¡¯s smooth interior, fated to die out in mere seconds. Noticing that Kary¡¯s attention was once more on her, Marta continued her speech, unbothered by the girl¡¯s seemingly waning concentration.


    ¡°Since today is a very abnormal day, in the way that we have very little time to get everything in order before the party, I was instructed to give you this little bell right here. After you are done with your breakfast, please ring it so that I know when to come and get you. The mistress spent the rest of yesterday contacting everyone she knew to get you a proper dress, even providing one of her old ones to be modified. Though we did manage to get your measures, we still have plenty of fine-tuning to do if we want to make you presentable to those prickly folks, so time is of the essence here. I know I asked you to enjoy your meal at your own pace, but please don¡¯t take to long, for your sake and Asteria¡¯s.¡± With that, Marta bowed towards Kary and hurriedly left the room, leaving the girl alone to catch her thoughts while she enjoyed the most delicious breakfast she had ever eaten, much too different from the simple, tasteless food she had been able to eat in the mornings before school. Despite not having listened to most of what the maid had said regarding the food, just the first spoonful of soup alone had been able to convince her that she had never eaten anything quite this good.


    It was a delicacy like no other, its flavor spreading through her mouth in an explosion of flavor, a combination of salty, sour, and something else she failed to recognize, all working in tandem with each other to provide the best experience possible. As soon as Kary processed that first spoonful, she turned her eyes towards the soup itself, the gears on her head turning in a futile attempt to understand how something that looked so¡­ normal could possess such taste. In the blink of an eye, all that remained in her hands was an empty bowl and a spoon in the process of being licked clean of any remaining soup that might still be there. With a satisfied burp, she eyed the rest of the tray with greedy eyes, almost as if she was trying to eat the rest of her food with only her stare. Once she realized she would need to physically move in order to finish everything in a reasonable time, she got to work, experimenting with different combinations, eating with so much gusto that her previous self would be unnerved by it, until not even crumbs remained. In the end, despite having thoroughly enjoyed herself, she still felt like she could have eaten more, despite knowing on a logical level that if she were to stuff more food in her stomach she might explode in a gory mess, and that wouldn¡¯t be fun.


    Feeling full and ready to start the nightmare that would be the rest of her day, she picked up the little brass bell, still obediently sitting on top of the now empty tray, swinging it from left to right, left to right, each swing bringing about a sonorous, almost melodious sound, which traveled far and wide, its invisible waves penetrating the smallest of crevices, propagating in all directions in the spacious manor, until they finally reached Marta. The maid, upon listening to the ringing bell, dropped everything she was doing (mainly cleaning and dusting the same things she had grown used to taking care of) and rushed to the girl¡¯s room, moving swiftly and efficiently, her path so direct it was if she knew the corridors and passageways of the mansion better than the lines and creases in her own hand. In a timeframe much shorter than Kary could have ever predicted, Marta was already barging into the room, arriving just in time to see the last crumbs of bread that had once been on the girl¡¯s bed disappear into her mouth, her professionalism the only thing preventing the maid from teasing the hungry girl in front of her. Ignoring the wide-eyed girl who stared at her as if she had just seen a ghost, Marta walked to the bed, grabbed the girl by the arm and began pulling her out of bed, her unimpressive strength doing little to move the sitting girl, though it was enough to wake her up from her shock.


    ¡°Wait, wait, wait! I¡¯ll get up myself, so please top pulling me! See! I¡¯m getting down, okay? Okay. See, I¡¯m already on my feet and ready to go¡­ wherever it is that I am needed. There was no need to be so forceful at all!¡± Kary said while hurriedly leaving the comforts of her bed, the girl¡¯s teary-eyed expression almost making Marta regret playing what she had assumed to be a harmless prank. Almost. Maybe she would have stopped if Kary didn¡¯t make it so easy to tease her, with the shy personality she had expressed yesterday so vividly contrasting with her eagerness to be of help. With a smile, she petted the slightly smaller girl¡¯s head, before telling that she wouldn¡¯t do anything of the sort ever again, the lie so blatantly told that Kary wouldn¡¯t even think that the maid hadn¡¯t told her the truth. Before the pale girl could process the sudden act of being petted, a sensation so foreign to her that she was on the verge of physically interrupting the act, Marta¡¯s hands moved in a sudden burst of speed, the gusts of wind created making Kary closing her eyes on a reflex, the only indication of where the maid¡¯s hand might have gone being the sudden warmth in her left hand. And then Marta started running.


    ¡°Wha ¡ª¡±


    In much the same accelerated her day post-breakfast had started, it continued for the rest of the morning, with Marta taking Kary from place to place at breakneck speed, dragging her out of the manor and into the city, the concentration required to keep up with the crazed maid making it so that Kary was unable to appreciate or even look at the places they were going, the twists and turns taken by the maid more than enough to make the girl being forced to dance to Marta¡¯s tune not only lost, but completely dizzy as well. Their first stop was at a store hidden from the public eye; on a side street that was just shy of being completely devoid of people, where Kary was made to choose between a few different shoes, each one more beautiful and stylish than the one before, and all made to perfectly fit her feet, just like the boot she had been given after she was found out in the last expedition in T¨¢fos.


    While choosing, she felt as if she couldn¡¯t be more grateful towards Asteria and Marta for allowing her to make the final decision, as there was one high-heels shoe that, despite its stunning beauty, seemed like a nightmare to wear, especially for someone like Kary, who had no experience with shoes of that type. In the end, they ended up going with a black platform shoe that made the rather short girl barely an inch taller than Marta, with beautiful silver decorations on the side and a charming ribbon on the front of each shoe. It was a bit showy, but Kary was quite fond of it, despite being overly conscious of the fact that this pair of shoes was fancier than anything she had ever worn before. Before she could think too much about it, though, she was dragged out of the shop, her left arm linked with Marta¡¯s right one, with the maid¡¯s left arm carrying a leather bed with the shoes in it. Once more poor Kary was forced to hasten her pace to inhuman levels, her body sweating like she had just gotten out of heavy rain, until they arrived in a dress store in what was possibly the second tidiest street the girl had ever been, only behind of the nobles¡¯ street where Asteria resided.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Without giving her any time to rest, Marta brought her inside, where the same scene from the shoe shop repeated itself, with Kary being forced into different outfits so that she could choose which one she liked the most, which ended up being a red dress that perfectly matched Kary¡¯s eyes, its sleeveless design and its size, that almost reached the girl¡¯s feet, coupled with the professional work done on the fly by the staff at the store, perfectly accentuating both Kary¡¯s face and curves, making the dress almost unanimously chosen by the people who were helping the girl change from dress to dress. With the clothing sorted, Marta once more took the lead, taking the already exhausted girl through side streets and bustling avenues, buying little things that Kary failed to recognize. They passed through adults, carriages, and cheerful children, all watching with fascination as the interesting pair passed in a flash through them, disappearing on the next turn right after. Thankfully, in the end, it all worked out, as they were back at the manor before the sun reached its peak, the combination of Marta¡¯s speed and the lightning fast work done by the employees of the shops they visited giving Kary a little more time to get everything sorted.


    For a few blissful moments after she saw the mansion approaching, Kary thought that she would be allowed a moment of respite, but she couldn¡¯t be more wrong even if she had tried. If she had seen that Marta¡¯s devilish grin, which had been plastered onto her face ever since she began running around with Kary, had shown no trace of disappearing, the girl might¡¯ve realized that the ruckus was still far from over, though she was forced to come to terms with it after they arrived in the mansion and the first thing they did was head to the bath. In her previous life, baths, no matter how short they were, had always been a moment to unwind and relax, a moment away from everything that could stress her out, a small break from life itself. During the almost entire hour she spent on that damned bath, however, Kary felt nothing but despair, longing for the blissful moments baths once represented, and a newfound fear of Marta, who made sure to scrub, clean and rinse the poor girl until her skin was almost transparent, her hair ready to be dried and styled, and her overall body getting scarily close to being able to deflect light.


    After the nightmarish experience she had just gone through, Kary was dragged to an inconspicuous room, where the torture continued, this time on the form of drying her hair much quicker than she had thought it to be possible ¡ª a consideration that had been repeated so often throughout the day that it was becoming naught but meaningless ¡ª with Marta using some weird combination of fire and wind to turn her hair into a disheveled, dry mess, which was then molded into different shapes and forms by the maid¡¯s apt hands, until she reached a style that she thought to be good, keeping it a secret from Kary thanks to the simple fact that there were no mirrors on room they were in, creating a suspense that only served to make the girl even more nervous. With that done, Marta took the dress and the shoes from somewhere and helped Kary put them on, making sure that everything was according to the plans they had previously made.


    Kary almost wanted to believe her suffering to be over, but by that point she knew better than that, and the endless makeup session that followed was enough proof of her suspicions. Time passed in a blur as Marta took out a never-ending amount of supplies from the leather bag she had taken to their little shopping section, applying products left and right with the grace and precision of an Olympic champion. Though Kary tried to keep up with the process, her utter lack of knowledge when it came to fashion, beauty, and everything in between made it so that the only thing she accomplished by trying to follow Marta¡¯s hands flying from bottle to case then to another bottle and so on was a sense of dizziness strong enough to make everything blend physically into a blur. It was only when that last session of torture was over that the maid allowed Kary to rest, as she was now ready to mingle with the local nobility. Despite being asleep from yesterday¡¯s early afternoon to the today¡¯s early morning, Kary could say with confidence that there were few times when she felt more exhausted then right now. It was nothing physical, thanks to the grueling training she was put through, but the mounting pressure on her shoulders, constantly weighting her down, was more than enough to bring her to the verge of a mental collapse. The more she thought about such things, the more Kary felt grateful for the help both Asteria and Marta had provided her, the former with arranging multiple choices of outfits for her, and the latter with taking her from place to place quickly enough to have everything done before she had to go with Asteria to the castle.


    She was so tired that she almost thought about trying to get some sleep before Asteria came to fetch her, but in the end she decided that any sleep time she might be able to get would much too short to recharge any significant amount of her batteries, serving only to leave her craving for more sleep, which would not be good if she is made to interact with the (assumedly) proud and pompous nobles, especially when they might use any weakness she may show against the knight who had not only saved her after her first, rather reckless fight amidst the ruins of an ancient civilization, but also had been kind enough to take her in after months of helping her getting stronger and more apt to socialize with the adventurers and the scholar of the expedition group. After getting so much help, the girl felt as if she had to reciprocate in some way, though it was hard to come up with something little old her could do that the knight, with all her strength, influence, intelligence and kindheartedness was unable to do.


    Knowing that, Kary told herself that she would do her best to not bring shame to the household she had been made a part of, using her very limited social capabilities to hopefully navigate through the sea of piranhas she would soon find herself thrown into. Perhaps this time she would use the ability to hide what she truly felt, something honed through years of hiding her feelings from the world around her, to do something good, instead of just bottling up her feelings until it became too much. Clenching her fists, Kary grew more and more determined to make it so that her presence would be felt by the people she was soon to meet, to make it so that they remembered who she was and where she could be found, her memory in their heads hopefully nothing negative. As she ruminated these thoughts, trying her very best to lower the tension she felt all throughout her body, the door of the room she and Marta were in suddenly burst open, a figure Kary was able to vaguely recognize entering with no hesitation behind her steps, her conduct as perfect as a that of noblewomen who spent their entire life perfecting the way they held themselves.


    Although Kary knew the person in front of her to be Asteria, the image she had of the stoic, toned and tanned knight failed to connect with the woman in front of her, her braided black hair cascading down her back, almost reaching the bottom of her spine, her body covered by a beautiful orange dress, with delicate yet fiery patterns inscribed all over it in light yellow, her feet protected not by the sturdy boots Kary had grown used to seeing her wearing, but by high heels that seemed to have terribly thin platforms connecting them to the ground, looking as if they were ready to snap in half at a moment¡¯s notice. For longer than she would have like to admit, the girl stared at the beauty in front of her, her brain desperately trying to make sense of the fact that the woman was the same sharp-eyed knight that she had grown fond of during the few months they spent together. It was only after Marta began to lightly shake the girl¡¯s body that she remembered where she was, growing terribly red as embarrassment flooded her systems, her head hanging low as she waited to be berated. What came instead was laughter, a melodious laugh that permeated the room, seeping into Kary¡¯s ears, making her jolt her head upwards, confused, as she wondered what was so funny as to invite such joyous laughter.


    Looking up, she saw Asteria looking away; hand over her mouth as she silently trembled on the spot, her eyes curved like crescent moons, from which little droplets of tears occasionally escaped. Kary quickly turned her head to the side, just in time to catch Marta doubling over herself, laughing her soul out with no concerns about keeping appearances in front of Asteria. She wanted to ask what had happened, as she didn¡¯t feel like her reaction to the knight¡¯s appearances called for such extreme reaction, but before she could do so she was interrupted by a still recovering Marta, who cleaned the tears in her eyes before explaining to the lost girl:


    ¡°Sorry, sorry. You must be surprised by our sudden outburst. Heh heh heh. You see, Asteria and I made a bet yesterday night, to see if you would be able to recognize Asteria in a dress. She was hell-bent on her belief that you would immediately recognize her, whereas I, the ever-reasonable one, betted that it would take you a while to recognize Asteria. Heh heh. It seems I won, doesn¡¯t it, mistress~?¡±


    ¡°Hah¡­ yeah, yeah, it seems that even after months interacting with the girl, she still has that same trouble people always have whenever I have to change outfits. I should have guessed that it would happened, but oh well. I girl can hope.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­ sorry ¡ª¡±


    ¡°You still call yourself a girl? Hah! You¡¯re closer to the grannies selling food on the main street than to their grandchildren blissfully playing by the well nearby.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re calling me a hag?¡±


    ¡°I never said anything of the sort.¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ you¡¯re not too far off¡­ Sometimes I still think of myself as the excited girl who had just entered the knights¡¯ academia. Oh, how I wished things could have stayed the same. But here I am, pulling my prot¨¦g¨¦¡¯s leg right before a high-profile party at the royal palace. If I had told my younger self that, I wonder how she would¡¯ve reacted¡­¡±


    ¡°Mistress, you¡¯re being weird now.¡±


    ¡°Heh¡­ I guess so.¡± Shaking her head, she turned to Kary, a complex expression on the knight¡¯s face. She tried to smile, but, if it was meant to lighten the mood, its melancholic complexion failed wholly in its task. ¡°Sorry about that, Kary. It¡¯s just¡­ I haven¡¯t had much time to think about anything other than my job, or, right now, about the party we have to go¡­ I just needed a moment to vent, that¡¯s all.¡± Kary pointedly felt like there was much more to it than what Asteria was letting through, but for now she could do nothing except trust the knight to eventually be able to be more honest with her. With a barely audible sigh, the girl addressed the almost perfect image of a noblewoman in front of her, the only difference being the peculiar expression she wore, a mix of different emotions that Kary failed to recognize.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. Hopefully you¡¯ll have some free time after the party; otherwise I don¡¯t know what will be of you.¡±


    ¡°Hah¡­ I don¡¯t know either¡­ Whelp, no time to worry about that right now. We have a party to attend and I don¡¯t want us to arrive later than needed. Are you ready to go? Is there anything you need to do before we leave?¡±


    ¡°Nope. I¡¯m ready to leave whenever.¡±


    ¡°Then come, let us go at once. Come on.¡± Asteria said, holding out her hand to the still sitting Kary, who apprehensively took it, as if afraid that she would get a repeat of the hectic journey from earlier. Thankfully, nothing of the sort happened, and they just walked out of the room with the knight taking the lead, the door held opened by the maid, who had silently made her way to their front. Powerwalking through the manor, the duo quickly made their way to the front, where the massive wooden double doors were already open, revealing a simple carriage down along the path through the garden. Although Kary had never been in a carriage before, with her closest experience being lying down on a cart, she wasn¡¯t particularly excited about the ride, considering that she had never seen a work of fiction that depicted the first carriage journey in a nice light. Still, there was nothing she could do to prevent it, as it was through that same carriage that they would make their way to the castle, despite the place being at walkable distance.


    From somewhere, probably from behind the carriage, the gardened Gunther appeared, wearing a garb that contrasted with his usual outfit almost as much as Asteria¡¯s clothing contrasted with hers. With a perfectly angled body that one wouldn¡¯t expect to belong to a gardener, the man stepped forward, before swinging the carriage door open, waiting patiently for the two women to approach, each stunning in their own way. Once they were close enough, Gunther gave a perfect ninety-degree bow to his mistress, looking at the verdant ground he had put his body and soul into as he waited for the knight and her company to get comfortable inside. Once he heard them both sitting at the padded benches inside the carriage, he gently closed the door before moving to his spot on the front, where he jumped up in a practiced, fluid motion that betrayed his age, a crisp contrast to the pained grunt that followed right after. After the few moments the man took to recover, he took the reins that were lying beside him on the wooden bench sitting in front of the de facto carriage and the two horses tasked with transporting it, commanding the animals to move.


    Inside the carriage, Kary could do naught but hold on to dear life as she tried not to fall from her bench as the vehicle moved through the cobblestone streets, shaking and jutting due to the irregular path. Due to her previous experience during the expedition, the girl had naively thought that there would be no problems, despite an annoying part of her brain still insisting that she would suffer just as much as the heroes of those cheap, wish-fulfillment-type novels she read in droves online anytime she was free. She hoped that part of her would be wrong, though she was prepared for it to be somewhat accurate still. What she wasn¡¯t expecting was the just how on the spot that tiny portion of her mind had being, with she now being reduced to a shaky mess, not falling to the ground through the sheer power of her will, all the while Asteria watched from the front row, trying her very best to contain the laughter that threatened to escape her mouth. For Kary, it was a bit frustrating, as she was unable to talk to the knight sitting in front of her with all the composure of a princess any of the things she would have liked to say, forced to direct every ounce of her concentration into keeping herself seated.


    For a few more minutes, her suffering held strong, the constant shaking a stark reminder of the privileges she had access to on her previous life, making Kary all but wonder why there was no magic implemented in the transport system for nobles, given that they were the only ones who were allowed to use magic to their leisure. She had to admit that she was quite unknowledgeable about all things magic, but what little she knew made her question the very ineffective ways it had been put to use, at least from what she had seen so far. Perhaps things would be different inside the castle. Part of her really hoped that would be the case, as her inner child yearned to see some real magic taking place in any place other than the battlefield. Before she could dive deeper into that train of thought, though, the carriage suddenly grinded to a halt, making the girl almost fall on the ground, this time not due to the erratic vertical movement, but because of the abrupt stop of the horizontal one.


    Looking at the small window on the door, Kary saw a massive structure extending upwards, farther than her small field of view allowed her to see, stories and more stories jutting from the base in an almost orderly manner, creating a bizarre layered cake-like structure, where the floors got smaller and smaller the taller they were relative to the ground. In front of them stood not a closed gate, or even an open one, but a queue of carriages that were patiently waiting for the guards at the very front to allow them entry. With a nervous sigh, Kary realized that they were here, and that there was be no coming back. Despite not knowing anything about noble customs, she would see this to the end to the best of her abilities, hopefully not messing everything up in the process.

 14. Lurking horrors

    Fear. Overwhelming fear. An overbearing feeling that threatened to consume Kary whole as she was forced to wait for the painfully slow queue of carriages to walk forward, every movement, every rattling of the wooden box she was confined in making her feel smaller and smaller, like a bug watching its impending demise from the floor of a dirty kitchen. She felt vulnerable, frail, a mere plaything ready to be picked up and toyed with by the monsters, the soulless giants that took great joys in squashing into bloody pulps everything and anything that wasn¡¯t to their liking. As she looked outside the windows on the door of their vehicle, the girl sincerely prayed to the made god that the nobles she would soon be meeting would be different from the demons her mind was made to conjure out of senseless fear. She had heard stories, read tales of their vanity, their cruel and detached way of living, characteristics that, in a fictional setting, only served to make the readers mock the fools driving the country to the ground. If the nobles she would be meeting were anything like the ones from the books, however, Kary wouldn¡¯t be wrong to fear for her life.


    With her heart intensely beating inside her chest, almost threatening to burst out of its confines, the girl looked outside, in an attempt to find anything that could ease her nerves, lest they burst from the pressure. Other than the large, empty area around them and the castle to which they were close enough that the only discernible details were the walls that surrounded it, though, there was little to note about the place, with the only thing capable of capturing Kary¡¯s curiosity being the curious designs of the carriages both in front and behind theirs. Inside her always-running mind, the girl couldn¡¯t help but snort at the design of the vehicle in front of them, an oversized carriage with such strong colors that it almost resembled the evolutionary characteristics developed by male birds to attract females. Bold colors resembling the fire of a fireplace were plastered along the back and the side ¡ª the only parts Kary was able to see ¡ª creating an interesting pattern that resembled both the crackling of the fire and the advances of the waves, in a fluid display of fiery brutality that was only broken by the family shield on the door, too intricate for the girl to discern its details from where she stood. If that wasn¡¯t enough, the girl was able to notice some intricate details on the border of the vehicle that she could only assume were made in gold, all but adding to the excessive extravagance of its owner. For a formal carriage used to drive its owners to such an event on the heart of the nation, Kary couldn¡¯t help but question the design choices that went into the making of it, as the behemoth of a vehicle seemed all too aggressive in its attempt to show the owner¡¯s grandeur, wrapping back around to being nothing more than laughable.


    Still, Kary maintained her mouth shut, promising herself to take such thoughts to her grave, choosing instead to divert her attention backwards, focusing instead on the much more sensible design of the carriage right behind them. As it was much smaller than the monstrosity at the front, there was a considerable decrease in the amount of details the girl was able to perceive from the small hole that had been dubbed as a window. Regardless of that, though, Kary could still note with ease that the owner of that carriage held practicality in a much higher standing than the other carriage, albeit still not to the same extreme as Asteria, who saw fit to walk around in such a plain carriage that it wouldn¡¯t surprise Kary one bit if it had been among the cheapest from whatever store the knight had acquired it. No, the carriage behind them was still befitting of a noble, much like the one in the front, painted with beautiful colors and intriguing patterns, but it all felt¡­ less. Less extravagant, less exuberant, a less desperate attempt show of prowess. Shaking her head, Kary dismissed those thoughts, silently chastising herself for so readily applying her world¡¯s values to the present situation. Things were different, to the point where comparison would be futile, and attempting to draw parallels between the two realities could only end badly for the girl.


    As she looked at the overbearing stone walls erected in the distance, her mind drifted to the things she had experienced ever since she had arrived in this land, from the interactions with the locals, including her first... unsavory encounter, to the distinct way everything seemed to work compared to what she had grown used to. Trying to ease her mind, she took deep breaths, closing her eyes as she attempted to control her shaking hands and dancing legs, trying her very best to make herself look presentable, but, no matter where she looked, there was always something to remind her of the situation she was in, as well as the multitude of things she could mess up in the upcoming event. To call it nerve-wracking would be to severely downplay Kary¡¯s efforts on not breaking down crying on the spot, despite how much she wanted to. It was downright terrifying, with the only saving grace being the modicum of curiosity she held for the party, as it promised to be much too different from every social event she had been forced to partake in on her previous life. In a way, it was even thrilling; though she would prefer not to have this type of excitement in her life should she have a choice about it.


    On the opposite bench from the girl, Asteria could only watch as Kary cycled through a myriad of emotion, from fear to resignation and then to grim determination, all in the span of a few minutes. Although the knight wanted to help the girl in front of her in some way, especially since she, too, had experienced the fear of being forced to mingle with nobles for the first time. Different from Kary, though, Asteria¡¯s first contact with nobility happened in a place where status theoretically shouldn¡¯t matter, as long as the students showed their desire to become protectors of the kingdom, and, although that was really not the case, it still created a much more relaxed environment where normal people could walk around the most prominent figures of the nation without the fear of being beheaded on the spot for some made-up mistake. Of course, since today would be more of an informal party thrown to celebrate the success of the expedition, there wasn¡¯t much to fear, but understanding such a thing wasn¡¯t something that just happened, not without extensive experience dealing with the societal upper echelons. Knowing this fact, Asteria opened her mouth to tell as much to the girl, to ease her worries, even if only a little bit, to allow this experience to be not something to be remembered as traumatic, but simply as memorable. Nerve-wrecking, perhaps, but not to the degree the girl was taking it. As Kary looked at the knight, a hint of curiosity showing through the ugly expression the girl wore, Asteria stood there, mouth open like a fish, her mind going into overdrive in order to find words suitable for comforting what was in her eyes a worried child.


    It was something that she should be able to do, given her experience as a commander and the inherent responsibilities for the group she lead that befell upon her, and yet she stood there, not knowing how best to approach this situation. Time and time again, she had been able to simply tell her knights that everything would be okay, that reinforcements would arrive in time, that the injuries would heal, that the fallen comrades in battle would be mourned and remembered, for she had been taught to do just that. To maintain the spirits high and keep the well-oiled war machine working was the job of the commander, despite how many of them failed to understand this simple notion, despite it being drilled repeatedly during their training in the academia. But preventing sorrow and animosity, fear and distrust from interrupting the duty she had with the country wasn¡¯t what the knight wanted to do right now.


    She knew nothing about children, not even how to properly interact with them, much less how to prevent one from spontaneously blowing their own head from self-induced mostly unnecessary stress. She had been able to talk and joke and instruct Kary so far due to the maturity the girl demonstrated, something that betrayed her young-looking appearance to the degree that a good chunk of the group in the expedition, most of them scholars and nobles with plenty of academic feats under their belts, were surprised by the way the girl spoke and interacted with everyone around her. It was so different from what they were used to that most were quick to give up on treating her as a young teenager and never looked back, mainly to Kary¡¯s nature that made her keep most of her thoughts to herself. Now, though, the girl¡¯s quiet and reserved personality made it so Asteria was unable to find the right words to qualm her worries without sounding exceptionally cheap and generic. Closing both her eyes and mouth, which had been open during all this time, the knight thought and thought, ignoring the movement of the carriage, the staring girl, the royal knights¡¯ voices growing louder and louder with each carriage that managed to pass through the gates, digging deep into her brain in order to find something, anything that could help the girl she had one-sidedly taken into her wings. For a few moments, the interior of the carriage stood in tense silence, as Kary waited for Asteria to do something, temporarily forgetting her own nervousness as she stared with curious eyes at the pensive woman.


    Seconds ticked by, the never-ending march of the little servants of the time god slowly creating a more and more awkward atmosphere, as Asteria remained in her own little world, single-mindedly obsessing over the ways to soothe a child, while Kary could only stare from the outside, oblivious to the whirlwind of ponderations and considerations of the knight, capable of only staring at the minute changes of the woman¡¯s expressions and body movements in order to keep the creeping stress from overflowing and¡­ well¡­ doing whatever stress did when it reached a boiling point. Despite everything Kary had experienced during her life, the hellish descent she lived through happened in slow-motion, at least when comparing to the suddenness of the situation she was now facing, giving her time to build a shell around herself, closing herself from anything and everything that could ¡ª and would ¡ª hurt her, push her down, drive her to a breaking point. Before she realized it, she had become the <i>being</i>


    she now was, from her way of seating to the way she moved around, everything contributed to the image she had unconsciously created of herself, a closed-off, unsocial, overly polite, awkward and slippery being, attempting its very best to disappear into the background, in order to not be noticed, to not be picked on, to avoid everything that she knew would cause her pain. Contrary to the suffering she had endured during her time on Earth, the out-of-the-blue noble party she had been forced to partake in, instead of a slowly boiling pot, it had hit her like a truck, bursting through every coping system she had developed over the years, almost completely overpowering her mind.


    As she continued to observe Asteria, the girl began to slowly but surely calm herself, telling her brain that everything would be alright, since she would be with the woman that had not only saved her life, not only taken her in, but also seemed to hold quite the important position, if the snippets of conversation she had gathered were proof enough. Closing her eyes as well, she began to think about what the woman could possibly be in charge of in order to be able to be entrusted with responsibilities far beyond the pay grade of a regular soldier. Wild thoughts filled her mind, allowing a small smile to surface on her tense face, for a brief moment not only resisting but actively pushing back against the stress. At that moment, while Kary relished on the absurd ideas her imagination conjured from the depths of her mind, Asteria finally settled in on what method to best placate the nervous girl in front of her, choosing the simple yet effective method she had seen countless times being done by commoners, and one that seemed to work remarkably well for its simplicity.


    Opening her eyes, what greeted the knight was a smiling beauty, staring into the void with her eyes shut, her unnaturally white skin, almost as if carved from marble itself, giving her an ethereal look that for a moment captivated even the hardened knight. For a brief moment, she herself worried that the girl would face some trouble from meddling nobles, but she simply shook her head at the notion, as she knew that few were the nobles foolish enough to mess with one of her own. Looking at the smile shyly plastered onto her otherwise serious face, Asteria couldn¡¯t help but think that her help would be unneeded, perhaps even troubling, but, as she had long learned how to, she swallowed her doubts and trusted her gut, reaching her hand towards the girl¡¯s hair and gently caressing it, her callous hand passing through Kary¡¯s silver, smooth hair, the sudden touch making the girl jump slightly in her seat, although she didn¡¯t shy away from it once she understood what was happening. She simply stood there, trembling slightly as her heart rate shot through the clouds, forcing herself to not do anything irrational, for she knew that there was no one there that would hurt her. What seemed to be an eternity passed as her tense shoulders began to ease up, her clenched fists slowly relaxed, and her timid smile took on the form of a more relaxed grin as the girl enjoyed a form of affection she had severely lacked throughout her life. It was a moment of pure bliss, despite Kary¡¯s initial fear, a moment that she felt as if it should never end, lest she be forced back to the stress-inducing reality she had been kicked into.


    But alas, Asteria¡¯s impromptu head petting had to come to an end once the much too big fiery carriage in front of them reached the gates, making their own vehicle the next in line. With the sigh of someone that was not looking forward to what would come next, the knight lifted her hand from Kary¡¯s head, flashing a satisfied smile that matched the girl¡¯s grin in its grin determination to leave the party in one piece. From the outside, the knights¡¯ voices rang loud and clear as one of them asked in a deep, baritone voice for the reason why the owners of the comically large carriage desired to enter the domains of the royal palace, despite certainly knowing the reason. It was but a boring formality, something Asteria had always had distaste for, although she could understand why it would be useful, even if such knowledge had only managed to infiltrate her brain through countless hours of relentless studying. Somewhat curious about the identity of the so-very-important nobles riding that carriage, Kary strained her ears and peeked through the small window, waiting for something to happen, for the seemingly vain people inside to show their faces, but not even that they would give to the girl. They preferred to stay faceless as their coach instead took a letter much like the one Asteria had received and wordlessly handed it over to the nearest knight, who proceeded to verify its integrity and nod to the other plate-covered man, who told the coach to proceed forward, in a bizarre dance of dry courtesy and noble arrogance.


    Seeing that, Kary wondered if in their turn their interaction would be the same, though it seemed that Asteria paid little mind to the customs, since, as soon as their carriage came to a stop in front of the open castle gates, she opened the door closest to her, letter in hand as she stepped outside in full view of both the knights and any other noble who might¡¯ve wanted to see the owner of such a flabby, sorry vehicle. As Kary peeked through the little window, the knight introduced herself and the companion she had brought, showing the letter to the man in front of her, who, without sparing a single word, much like before, scanned the letter and once again turned to look at Asteria¡¯s face, only to do something that Kary would have never expected from these presumably stone-faced man, with how seriously they seemed to take their jobs. It was so out of the left field that the girl couldn¡¯t help but sit there, stunned, looking at the window as the man hidden within his heavy suit of armor gave the tall woman a respectful salute, before turning to his companion and signaling that Asteria¡¯s carriage had been allowed passage. It all felt surreal to the girl, like a kid after discovering that their teachers had lives outside the school grounds, opening the door to a new degree of speculation about the importance of Asteria to the country they were in. If Kary¡¯s previous theories were nothing more than imaginative, absurd scenarios, then they had just gotten a lot more believable now.


    ¡°It is good to have you back, ma¡¯am.¡± The knight by the gates said after Asteria had turned around, just audible enough for the woman to listen. Before opening the door to her carriage and making her way into the dreadful castle, without turning around, she gave a quick nod to the royal knight, before simply telling him to keep up with the good work. After that, it didn¡¯t take long until both Asteria and her prot¨¦g¨¦ were inside the premises of the palace, with their carriage expertly stationed along the rest of the much more extravagant vehicles, creating a contrast that was exceedingly funny to Kary due to its absurdity. After all, who would¡¯ve expected a plain old carriage to stand alongside beasts created and refined to best represent the most powerful groups in this feudal society? Once that passed, however, the girl was forced to acknowledge reality, which was that each and every single one of these carriages represented at least one person with the authority to do anything they so desired to her, though now she had the reassurance that Asteria was quite the important figure, despite only bearing the tile of knight.


    Other than that, though, she couldn¡¯t help but be mesmerized by the patio they had arrived at, from the tall walls casting an almost oppressive shadow upon them, to the contrasting exuberant greenery that had been meticulously trimmed and arranged in order to be the most pleasing to the eyes without feeling too overbearing. It perfectly encapsulated what Kary thought this place would be, but actually seeing it with her very own eyes was something different. If it weren¡¯t for Asteria, the girl might¡¯ve spent the rest of the day obsessing over the building and its intricacies, but alas, the time was not ideal. And so, the duo walked towards the doors, with the knight chuckling at the look of astonishment and childlike wonder apparent on Kary¡¯s face, while the girl herself tried to be subtle in her glances, only adding further mirth to the knight¡¯s silent laughter. Reaching the huge, open double doors to the interior, a few maids stood in wait for anyone that might come through. As the pair approached, one of the young servants approached, bowing at a perfect ninety degree angle, the woman¡¯s face a mask of both politeness and coldness, creating a certain distance between the maid and her guests. With a stiff smile, she referred to the knight who seemed to be the main guest to party.


    ¡°Madam,¡± she said, before turning to Kary, ¡°and milady, please follow me to the room appointed for the party. Although it is not too far from here, I ask that you both follow me closely, as the castle can be quite confusing for those unacquainted with its structure.¡± She continued, pointedly looking at Kary, who failed to notice the woman¡¯s stare as her eyes continued to wander through the antiques displayed on the hallway beyond, her expression bright as she thought about the rich history that most definitely existed behind those paintings, murals, statues and even the metal objects holding bright torches. Still, she didn¡¯t forget that composure was what she should be concerned the most right now, so she forced herself to behave, lest she made a bigger fool of herself. For a few minutes, the girl focused solely on copying the way Asteria moved, in order to appear as dignified as the knight, using the surprisingly difficult task as a means to distract her from everything that was going on inside of head, from the building nervousness of being ever so closer to meeting with actual nobles, to the repressed, childish desire to simply ditch everything and go explore the ominous hallways that they had already passed through. As they walked by the twisting corridors, passing through guards and locked doors, they eventually reached the end of their journey, an humongous double door that seemed too big to be realistically moved by anyone other than professional bodybuilders, its dark wood and intricate contours highlighted by the torched on the sides. Blocking the passage of any unauthorized personnel, two guards stood by the sides, both in their heavy armor, although none of them wore a helmet, revealing a handsome yet bored face and a face so unremarkable it didn¡¯t even need a crowd to blend in. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    While the first man seemed as though he could fall asleep at any moment, the other seemed to be at least trying to do his job, focusing forward while he changed his weight from one leg to the other, making clanking sounds that echoed through the desolate, stone walls, travelling through the hallways in such a way that, in a more modern society, it could and probably would be attributed to paranormal activities. Though that begged the question: considering Kary herself wasn¡¯t human, would the existence of ghost and other supernatural being be such an impossibility? Shelving the question for a more private time, the girl watched from behind as the maid and knight pair got closer to the two man, their loud footsteps making the half-asleep man jolt upright as he scanned the area, his sight stopping at the approaching women. For a brief moment, he thought about flashing his best smile before inviting the lady being accompanied by the royal servant to do something more¡­ private after the boring party he had been forced to stand guard for was over, but a quick glance at her and he ditched such ideas with the speed with which a goldfish forgets things, for he knew the demon in human skin standing in front of him. Despite trying to look more like a normal human being, it wouldn¡¯t be a mere change of outfit and hairstyle that would make the man forget the things that woman had forced him to experience. Before the woman herself could even take a better glance at the knight, his expression contorted into one of pure horror, the trauma ¡ª what Asteria called training ¡ª inflicted to him too much for him to maintain his usual fa?ade. On the other hand, the unremarkable man flanking the doors along with him immediately saluted the female knight once she had gotten close enough, respect overflowing from his body as he tried and failed to maintain a serious expression.


    ¡°It¡¯s good to see you back, commander!¡± He said with a tad too much excitement in his voice, receiving in return a look of disgust from his colleague and a wry smile from Asteria.


    ¡°At ease, Kleber. I¡¯m not here as a knight today, but as a guest to the party thrown in celebration to our return. Though I will say that it is indeed good to be back. I did miss the atmosphere of the capital, with its bustling activity and ever-cheerful population.¡±


    ¡°I see, I see. Do you have anyone with you today? I know you don¡¯t usually take others to these events, but I do have to ask every guest before they are allowed to enter. Y¡¯know, standard boring noble formalities.¡±


    ¡°You would do good not badmouthing nobility while not only standing beside a noble, but also while guarding a room chock-full of them.¡± The other man commented, turning to his colleague with narrowed eyes. ¡°For a commoner, you sure are bold with the words you speak. One of these days you¡¯ll end up in the chopping board, and nothing, not even the gods themselves, will intervene in your favor.¡±


    ¡°Hah¡­ I know you¡¯re right, and¡­ and yet I can¡¯t keep my mouth shut.¡±


    ¡°Yelp, I¡¯ve warned you. Yawn~ Now please help me opening this stupid door before snitch on you.¡±


    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t!¡±


    ¡°Do you know, now? Come on, help me with this crap.¡± As the two men turned to the hinges of each side of the door, Asteria was forced into a watching position, crossing her eyes as she judged the two knights teamwork while they timed their push in order to swing each half of door open at the same time. Seeing the synchrony with which they moved, the woman looked behind them, finding Kary standing timidly in the dark, her heart threatening to burst through her chest as she tried to calm her shaky, sweaty hands, taking deep breaths as quietly as she could in order to not attract further disdain from the maid who was still there for reasons beyond the girl¡¯s understanding. Seeing that, Asteria squatted in front of her, looking at the girl in the eyes, before addressing the much too worried girl.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Everything will be okay, even if it doesn¡¯t sound like it. You saw how that knight, who also happens to be a noble, reacted to a direct complaint to nobility. Of course, that man is quite lax when it comes to that, but as long as you don¡¯t do anything as outrageous as Kleber, you¡¯ll be fine. It¡¯s not like they expect a commoner to walk on thin ice around them all the time, especially in a party that was meant to be more on the informal side.¡± Hearing that, the girl seemed to subside slightly, at least internally. In a way, Kary doubted it would things would go smoothly as Asteria had described, but it wasn¡¯t as if there was anything she could do about it other than following the knight¡¯s advice and taking care to think things through before saying anything. With a last shaky sigh, she swiped her hands on her read dress before closing her eyes taking a big breath and going with Asteria towards the open door, with both of them being closely followed by the maid, who stayed half a step behind at all times, until they entered a brightly lit room, where servants ran left and right to serve food to the many people talking and laughing as they interacted with one another, the atmosphere in the room almost inviting, were it not for the edge Kary noticed from behind every warm word and nice sentence spewed by some of the better-dressed ones. Without any warning, the maid remained at the door, clearing her throat before addressing the entirety of the room.


    ¡°In enter lady Asteria, commander of the third special platoon serving directly under His Majesty the king, along with her companion.¡± Now once more turning to the duo of women, she continued: ¡°Please enjoy your time here during this pleasant afternoon. Now, if you¡¯ll excuse me, I must return to my duties.¡± With another respectful bow, she turned her back and hastily left the room, before the heavy doors were once more closed with a loud sound, trapping Kary and Asteria inside this den of snakes ready to advance given a single moment of weakness. Even now, the girl could see some smirks forming in some faces, their delicate features overwhelmed by a thick layer of make-up failing at concealing their complete disdain for the common-born. Thankfully, it seemed to be the minority the ones who didn¡¯t bother to hide their trued natures, while most of the other guests either approached Asteria in an attempt to question her about the girl by her side or continued their conversations as if nothing happened. For the people that approached the knight clear with their intentions, she responded in kind, answering any question they might have as long as it didn¡¯t compromise Kary¡¯s integrity too much.


    The party continued in such a manner, with small circles of conversation naturally forming amongst like-minded people, the interactions between them growing very little as the prying ones had already gotten their curiosity sated, making it so the only time nobles mingled among themselves and among the commoners being when new people joined them in the room. Frankly, it was boring beyond words, at least for Kary, who was used to the modern world¡¯s immediateness, and, although she had been forced to adapt during her time on the road, at least there she could talk with people without mincing her words, at least there she could look at the beautiful natural sights that surrounded them, but here? There was nothing to stare at other than the intricately decorated wall, and even that got boring really fast. There were some people there she knew, though, so for the most part she simply stayed with them, shyly interacting whenever she was spoken to, trying her very best to sink into the ground and disappear, especially since she could hear the comments from the noble circles about every little thing she said, as if these men and women had nothing better to do other than nag at people who couldn¡¯t retaliate. It would be anger-inducing, if not for the fact that Kary couldn¡¯t think about these people as anything more than pathetic, not that she would ever voice it.


    This not-so-subtle one-directional dissing competition continued for a while, though for how long Kary wasn¡¯t so sure. She just enjoyed to be around people she knew and be able to eat delicious She just knew that it was finally over when the royal family decided to make its grand appearance, interrupting any and all conversations as the doors swung open to the sound of marching boots and trumpets, a thick red carpet unfurling through the now open space in an act of theatrics almost as vain as the interaction the girl had witnessed between the front of them in the line and the guards at the castle gates. Trying to maintain a straight face so as to not out her distaste for these bizarre shows of power, she watched as the entirety of the royal entourage, consisting of the royal family, in their opulent, colorful clothing that exuded wealth and power, two old men in vastly different outfits, a grumpy girl Kary recognized as the mage she had befriended during their long journey back to the capital, and a whole lot of knights in shiny armor made their way into the room, making everything feel much more cramped than before. If the presence of acquaintances to interact with and their isolation from the bigger noble circles had allowed Kary to momentarily forget that she was surrounded with the most powerful, arrogant men and women on this nation, then the arrival of the king, with his protuberant belly, graying hair flattened by the golden crown sitting atop his head, a striped shirt and pants pair that stood somewhere between the vest of a clown and an uncomfortable-looking pajama, covered by a long, thick, fluffy cape with a purple interior and details in white that seemed to be way too hot for the moderate climate they were in, definitely made her fears return ten times worse than they were before.


    With her heart threatening to jump from her mouth, Kary tried her very best to not show her inner despair, taking in deep breaths as she saw the king calling for one of the servants carrying various beverages from across the room, signaling that he too wanted something to drink, despite the fact that he had yet to say a single word, preferring to scan the room with a fledgling of a smile on his face as he used his free hand to coddle the woman standing beside him, whom the girl assumed to be the queen. She did find it weird that she adorned no crown, showing instead a myriad of jewels, bracelets and other extravagant and probably terribly expensive accessories, though she simply chucked it to the peculiar tastes of the crown. Kary, along with every other person in the room, watched in silence as the well-dressed butler nervously approached the king, until he stood a few feet from the ruler of the country, where he performed a perfect ninety degree angle in the exact same fashion as the maid who had brought the knight and girl duo to this place. After he was once more in his previous posture, the king approached, much to the man¡¯s terror, as it took his entire mental fortitude to prevent him from flinching in the face of the glaring of an amount of guards enough to kill him a hundred times over. Although he did work at the castle, it wasn¡¯t as if he interacted with the king on a daily basis, much less in such a personal level. On one hand, he was honored to be of use, but on the other he was scared shitless, afraid of what would happen to him should he mess things up in some way, for he knew that beneath the king¡¯s benevolent fa?ade laid a man fluid in the art of politics, the volatile and unpredictable game that more often than not involved some¡­ unsavory moves from its players. The man was far from stupid; though it was much easier to trick political opponents with the front he put on, that of a nice old man who spared no efforts to help his citizens. With a polite smile plastered across his perfect poker face, the servant timidly asked what was it that the king desired, to which he simply responded, his voice echoing through the empty salon:


    ¡°A glass of our finest wine will suffice. I have been making our guests wait for far too long now, haven¡¯t I? For that I humbly apologize. It was not within my plans to test your bountiful patience in such a manner. It is simply that there were some urgent matters that required my immediate attention, delaying severely our arrival through no fault of any of the wonderful men and women here present today.¡± He said, scanning the crowd for resentment in anyone¡¯s faces. Not finding anything, though, he simply nodded to himself, before picking up the glass of wine being offered by the poor servant who seemed way too nervous. Not that he could blame him when an entire group of armed men tried their very best to bore holes into his body through intent alone. With a chuckle, he picked up the glass, before raising it high into the sky as a confident smile blossomed in his aged face, his whole body portraying the confidence of a war general after announcing the order that would bring victory to his country, trapped within the chubby, almost squishable body of a ruler. Seeing all eyes focused solely on his image, the man began his speech:


    ¡°Despite the challenges placed upon me in such a way to prevent me from attending this lovely celebration, here am I, together with the amazing folks to whom I dedicate this simplistic, yet hopefully still satisfactory for our more distinguished guests, party. Don¡¯t be mistaken, for your efforts in the quest of unveiling the long-gone past of our nation shall be rewarded accordingly, though the exact details are still being drafted by much more capable hands than mine. It does saddens me much that not everybody who took part in that expedition was available to be present with us in this lovely afternoon, although they each had their motives, with quite a few of them stating their desire to work on translating the artifact found in the ruins immediately upon arrival. Although it pleases me much to see their eagerness to do their job, I hoped that they would be willing to take a break from their arduous work, though it seems that I¡¯ve greatly underestimated their determination. Heh. Anyway¡­¡±


    As the king continued his endless monologue, Kary found herself tuning most of everything he said out, her mind wondering about the stuff she had actually paid attention to, most notably about the apparent humongous job that the translators were undertaking right at this moment while they ate and talked to their leisure, suffering through the most boring yet nerve-wracking afternoon the girl had ever experienced. Although there were things she wanted to ask Asteria, she thought it more prudent to wait until the king finished his speak, although from the way kept going and going, it didn¡¯t seem like that would be soon. Perhaps it was just due to its inherent sleep-inducing boringness, but, for Kary, it seemed as if the man had been talking for days on end, trapping them in this room as the unskippable dialogue continued to oblivion, eventually boring even the most resilient of nobles, who were themselves used to doing such lengthy and unnecessarily verbose speeches. Eventually though, for the joy of every last person in the room, be it the commoners, the nobles, the rest of the royal family or even the guards forced to stand upright and appear serious throughout it all, the king ended his discourse with a simple ¡°With all that said, I ask that you please resume your activities prior to our arrival, and, for those of you unused to my presence, you don¡¯t need to mind me, for I¡¯m here still mostly for the delicious food heh heh heh.¡± As the people slowly returned to their small circles of conversation and gossiping, Kary gathered all the courage she could muster before asking Asteria to go with her to a less crowded place, to which the knight obliged, curious about what the girl was on to this time. Once they were in a corner far from prying eyes (at least, that was what Kary thought at the time), she began to speak in a hushed voice, almost as if afraid to be heard by the rest of the guests:


    ¡°Hey¡­ umm¡­ sorry for dragging you here out of nowhere, but it¡¯s just¡­ I¡¯ve been meaning to ask you something that I really don¡¯t want anyone else to hear.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay, don¡¯t worry your little head about that. I¡¯m just glad you trust me enough to do that.¡± She added with a smile capable of blinding a lesser man. Swallowing as she tried to organize her thoughts, carefully thinking about the words she wanted to say, the girl eventually replied:


    ¡°So¡­ umm¡­ if I told you that I have¡­ a skill that could tremendously help with the translation¡­ would¡­ would I be allowed to help?¡± Asteria, a moment ago so playful, suddenly turned serious at the unexpected question. No wonder she didn¡¯t want anyone to hear that! A skill like that could force her to forever work behind a desk, her entire life thrown away by the simple fact that she apparently could translate things not even experts were completely sure of. Massaging her temples, the knight racked her head in order to find the best reply to the reckless girl in front of her, hoping that things wouldn¡¯t escalate beyond a salvageable situation. To her dismay, though, she heard a voice that was much too close to not have heard the stupid question from Kary, an old voice; belonging to a man Asteria was only familiar with due to her profession. With eyes filled with indignation and unbridled anger at not just the lack of any amount of privacy under the scrutinizing eyes of the royal court, but also at the way the man had approached them, he turned towards that the man who was still semi-translucent after employing an invisibility spell to approach the pair of women.


    ¡°If I may ask, what business does the court mage has with two gossiping women?¡±


    ¡°You say gossiping, but I swear I heard something very¡­ interesting coming out of the mouth of the girl you¡¯re attempting to hide with your body. Hmm, yes, very interesting indeed.¡±


    ¡°Since when were you here?¡±


    ¡°Since when, I wonder¡­ Well, no use in hiding it from you, lest I lose my head in a much more literal way than I¡¯d like. When I saw you being dragged to a corner by a little girl who is, by herself, quite interesting, with the lack of color displayed by her skin, I couldn¡¯t help but wonder what she could possibly want to talk about with such an important figure, though I will say that I wasn¡¯t expecting¡­ this. I can¡¯t say that you didn¡¯t pique my interest, girl. I hope this isn¡¯t too much trouble for you and your¡­ guardian, I think, to meet after this lovely party is over. Don¡¯t worry, she knows where to find me, so that won¡¯t be a problem.¡± As he turned around to return to whatever it was that he was doing before, he ominously added: ¡°I do sincerely hope that you don¡¯t disappoint me girl.¡± he said, before chuckling with his raspy, aged voice. Seeing that old man again, Asteria was pointedly reminded of the reason why dealing with him was such a pain. With a long, drawn-out sigh, she turned once more to Kary, shaking her head in disapproval of both the girl, for her lack of forethought and immediateness after deciding that this room filled to the brim with important, petty people would be the most appropriate place to tell the knight such a secret, and herself, for her own carelessness that had immediately bitted her in the ass.


    ¡°Well, shit.¡±