The hero is now gone, but I'm still here, now what?

[NotACryptid]

The town of Kleptor was… normal, safe. That's why I came here after accidentally killing my master, no one would bat an eye to an Outlaw here and they were treated as nothing more than an everyday, normal thing that the occasional sheriff that passed through the town didn't bother to catch, or worse, kill.

Kleptor was nice, it was safe, and more importantly, it had just enough to get me started- and that was good enough.

I arrived in this town some time ago, wearing nothing more than scrapped rags in place of my old maid's outfit, which I sold for a handful of Nuggets to a passing merchant sometime back.

With nothing more than a bag of money and a Gun to my name, I walked into this shanty town without much fanfare, the residents themselves took agreement with my way of things and the people here were mundane, normal- safe. There were no risks involved with their lives and seeing them go about their day without safely and without risks made me want to do the same, if possible, I'd come back here in the future and live out a normal, non-outlaw life once I've paid my bounty.

I greeted the men and women who passed me by, and they nodded back, though mostly in silence.

I… didn't immediately go anywhere, opting to take to an Inn and rest my exhausted body for a few hours or so before heading out into the nearest shop to buy a bag of supplies, said bag was packed with stuff, and among them was a portable sleeping tent, a few cooking implements, tools, and a lot of rope- that'll get me somewhere, it was also risk free and so much better than the Dynamite offered to me by the shop keeper or the upgraded gun that the local gunsmith said he would make me.

Bag in hand, I decided to buy a wagon and a mule as well, it's safe, though it'll slow me down, at least it's consistent and not to mention, it'll make my traveling easier. I bought a bunch of supplies from the shop too, just to make sure that I'd survive the night out in the woods.

Once that's done, I headed out, westward, towards the Iron Mines.

Hopefully I'd find something useful there.

…

"Wait, wait, wait, Iron Mines?" Laceresta asked incredulously, "Why?!" She stared at Zathania like she had grown a second head. The Lioness opened her booklet and started reading through the entry for the location, then frowned, "there's nothing to get there other than the objective of taking over the mine," she said, "and you don't have enough Nuggets to both buy and man the mines, you're gonna have to rent it out if you want to get Nuggets out of it,"

Everyone- including Zathania, - stared at the beastwoman with the same incredulous look she was giving the maid and Laceresta stared back, eyebrow raised and arms crossed.

The Lioness huffed, "what? I can be smart. Being a general is one of the many things that my father taught me as I grew up,"

"She does have a point though…" Neophyte said, the silver haired princess nodding along to the beastwoman's words as she considered the action that her maid had done for her turn, "you have a lot of Nuggets and you don't use it to upgrade your gear or even buy armor," she said, referring Fafnir's earlier turn, "honestly I would've bought the best vest that the shop sold before upgrading my gun to three and buying hellfire bullets before heading straight to the Oaken Lands, I would've made a name for myself and taken over the only place with wood in it,"

"I would've hired a few workers and would've gotten more Nuggets in the river for a few turns," said Fafnir, "but you can do what you want Zathania," she said in encouragement to the maid, "I'm sure that you know what you're doing,"

"I do," nodded the maid, "I just want to play it safe,"

"You suck then, you can do whatever you want and this is what you come up with?" Neophyte mocked as she grabbed her dice threw it onto the board, "that's an 8," she said, "which means that I don't get murdered by a sheriff the moment that I step into Cheapskate and I get to kill the guy,"

"Free Nuggets?" Said Laceresta grinning.

"Free Nuggets," nodded Neophyte, also grinning.

…

Over the course of my life, I have gone by many names; thief, murderer, parasite, bandit, outlaw, and even sinner at some point, my names, no matter where I go and how far I run, always catch up to me, even if I go to the ends of this square-shaped world, my reputation would follow like a particularly hardy dog, or like a river of blood that flows on the ground that I tread, as if it's a curse.

My reputation comes where I go. I like to think that it is embedded in my very being.

I have gotten myself a speedy stallion in hopes of outrunning my past but no matter what, it always follows, always comes. Not even Speedy Granny can outpace the river of blood that flows in my wake, but she was a beautiful thing, with a mane of gold and a spotted brown body packed with dense muscles.

And not to mention, the name "Speedy Granny" was catchy and because of that, people knew who she was and she herself had a reputation.

It is no surprise that the people of Cheapskate knew who was coming the moment that they saw the spotted brown horse galloping towards their town and when they saw the "White Ghost" and her glistening silver gun riding atop the stallion, their suspicions were all but confirmed and now, they knew who it really was that is making her way into their town

I passed by the arching entrance of the town, the sign at the top was torn and worn, but the words were there, "W–com-o-C-e--s--e" - they were faded, but they were there.

The townsfolk reacted like normal to my presence; with wariness and vigilance and tucked guns. They were ready to spring into action, that much I knew, and I also knew that they'd lose to me, and from the way they were acting, they knew that too.

But they ain't gonna have a shootout with me- right as long as they behave that is.

I hopped off of my horse and started walking, my black boots creasing as I made my way across the dusty path, tumbleweeds and watering wheels attracted my stallion's attention and I allowed her some respite, she ate and drank for a bit before we moved on and I made my way towards the saloon, and there, the 6 patrons inside greeted me with raised guns, "what brings ya here, Ghost?" Said the man with a scar on his face and a puffy beard, "ye ain't welcome anywhere so it's best that ya git-"

I looked at the golden star on the side of his chest and huffed, "so a sheriff, then?"

He scowled, "ya listenin' to me, bitch?"

I took out my gun and with a twirl, pointed it straight to his face, "you talk much for someone who's this close to my muzzle,"

"Heh, the nerve on this bitch-" he prepared to pull the trigger but I was faster, I always was.

With a loud bang, he fell lifelessly to the floor and I shamelessly went near his corpse to grab his pouch of Nuggets, I counted them all, a little over 20, bringing my total Nuggets up to 34, I turned to the rest of the patrons, "well, anyone else?"

They all moved on and I was free to go to the bartender, "give me a few bottles of whiskey, and that tablecloth too while you're at it,"

"Is that a threat?" In response to the bartender's words, I threw a small pouch of Nuggets in front of him, he nodded and took the money that I stole from the Sheriff's corpse without complaint, "fer nough,"

I got my bottles of whiskey, tablecloth, and with those items safely held in my hands, I left the saloon silently and went to the shop where I bought a pair of flint and steel.

Now? Now I just had to leave town and ride to the Infested Caves, I heard that there were spiders in there this time around, guess that hoofed bastard that called itself a minotaur is now gone, good- it makes it easier for me.

I left the town of Cheapskate and rode towards the Caves, I'd get the rumored Ranger's gear there if I could, and once I have it, I'd start striking down the town of Cheshire and take it over, then I'd move on to their Gold Mine, after that? I conquer more and more, then after that?

I pay my bounty and live a peaceful life.

But I know that's impossible for someone like me, so, I'd take over this land and make it my own, give it my own laws.

…

"So what does the horse that you went with do again?" Asked Fafnir as Laceresta did her turn, which involved nothing more than her searching for the rumored "Hellfire Gun" out in the prairies, said to be capable of firing actual fire out of its mouth and burn the enemies stupid enough to stand in its way.

"Eh, nothing much, it just allows me to travel twice as fast, if I want I can go past two objectives per turn, which I did here," Neophyte replied as she moved her Outlaw to the Infested Caves, two objectives away from her starting town, Cheapskate, "other than that, it also makes it so that other people want to hunt me down for my Stallion,"

"A risk it all type of thing then?" Fafnir asked to which Neophyte nodded.
"Hm." The dragon grunted. "Guess it's my turn now," she grabbed the dice and threw it for a roll, "it's 6 to find the native tribes in the Free Plains," the dice stopped and she got a 7, "guess I found them," she moved her Outlaw towards the now available objective, "for my actions this turn, I want to ask what problems the tribes have currently and another roll…" she got a 4, "so they trust me but not enough to give me the full information,"

"Yeah," / "seems about right," / "I don't think it'll be a problem for you to take out the Iron Fist Bandits so I think you're fine," Neophyte, Laceresta, and Zathania said in reply at the same time.

Neophyte placed the objectives for the Iron Fist Bandits on the free plains and Fafnir eyed it, "I move my Outlaw there and roll damage next turn?"

"Yes," Neophyte nodded, "you only need to get a 4 thanks to the bonus from your upgraded weapon,"

"Got it," Fafnir nodded.

"It's my turn now," Zathania started to the expectant gazes of everyone else which turned to one of disappointment when she decided to buy out the mines and… ride away from it to go to Tattoo, a nearby town.

A frowning Zathania turned to Neophyte and the rest of her friends, "what?" She asked as she rolled her dice, she got a meager 3, not enough to make her sudden appearance to the town more impressionable, "I'm gonna hire workers after I earn enough Nuggets from clearing the Cactmen tribe to their south,"

"We… know that Zath." Neophyte gave her a shaky yet encouraging smile, "but maybe you can try to… you know, be more risky?.. Is that the right word?" The princess deflected to the other two who simply shrugged in response, her smile broke, "y-yeah, that's the uh, right word."

"She has a point though, this is just a game so you can take risks," Fafnir said as Neophyte took her own turn, and with a roll- that was wholly unnecessary- the lowest that she needed to clear the mines was a meager 2, - she wiped out the spiders currently living inside the caves and proceeded to take the Ranger's gear inside of it, which she wore to get better protection. After that, she moved to Cheshire to start her hostile takeover of the town, "just look at Neophyte, she's playing villain but…"

"Her Outlaw more or less revolves around it, which is why builds are also important," Laceresta butted in, cutting Fafnir off, "Fafnir's Outlaw also revolves around damage but has a hard time doing "constructive actions" while mine is just a sub standard Outlaw but that lets me do whatever the hell I want," the beastwoman took her turn and did a roll, the 20 headed dice landed on 19, pretty far off from the needed '8' in order to get the special gun.

As Fafnir took her turn, Laceresta faced Zath again, "you had a lot of money, you could've bought a few bombs, upgraded your weapon, and started a takeover of the Oaken Woods, or if you want, buy a train ticket and see if you can find another job on Center City,"

Neophyte nodded at the Lioness' words, "That's a good point, you could've pulled a heist Zath,"

After killing the Iron Hands Bandits, Fafnir finished her turn by going back to the Natives on the Free Plains to tell them that their home is now theirs again, "I agree," the Dragon said, "it's not like our Outlaws are in any actual Danger and besides, you only need to upgrade your weapon twice to make sure that no one beats you,"

"No one except other Outlaws," Zath rebuked as she controlled her own Outlaw to move towards the Cactmen tribe and she finished her action by rolling a dice, it landed on a 6, not enough for the 8 that was needed to clear the Cactmen, "ow."

"That's… uh, 3 Wounds right?" Neophyte said as she opened the booklet, she hummed then nodded, "yep, your girl now has 3 Wounds to her name, that's 3 more compared to the rest of us," she grinned before taking her turn, "I start a shootout against the people of Cheshire, she rolled her dice, it landed on a 3, two digits less from the needed 5 to do the action safely, which meant that her character did earn Wounds but not much thanks to her newly found Ranger's Gear, "guess I'm on a shootout, until next turn" she said calmly.

 

[Mirriam Grave]

This is suprisingly entertaining to me.
Now the question is if Zath's caution bears some fruit down the line.
Granted, considering her comments before the game, they might not, but I am interested in seeing if it does.
I am also interested in seeing if Laceresta dies out in those plains from starvation, or simply spends the entire game there while Neo takes over the 'world'... until near the end where she gets her special gun and kills Neo with it becoming the new boss/savior of the world. Fafnir takes umbrage to this and goes hunt her down, and Zath meanwhile quietly buys out her bounty and settles into a new peaceful life as her own master. XD

 

[NotACryptid]

snip

Click to shrink...

...

Just like what I did to everyone in my life; I'm gonna have to disappoint you in this one, this little adventure is gonna be cut short because I thought it was a bit redundant, we're gonna go to Lucille and friends after this chapter to see how they're settling down with their new life. BUT in exchange, expect a lot of the standard Lucille fluff that usually comes with her chapters/interludes.

 

[NotACryptid]

"This place is amazing!" Lucille exclaimed as she pushed herself against the railing of the school's rooftop. Zyra raised a hand to stop her but was quickly blocked by Yhaine, the blue haired girl turned to her and in response, their tank simply shook her head slowly, mouthing, 'let her enjoy this,' with a soft smile followed by a tired sigh.

Since her eyes were practically glued to the view of the entire Academy (the place that she would be going to for the next FIVE YEARS!) Lucille didn't get to see it happen, her smile was excited as she scanned the courtyard of the school, sure, the front gates were nice and clean but this?

Lucille didn't expect to see a massive flatland worth of grass behind the school! It's- it's basically the greatest thing that she's ever laid her eyes on!

"It's like I'm back home," the heroine said with a content smile before turning back and facing her two friends, "don't you think so Zyra?" She grinned and pushed herself further into the railing to sit on it-

Zyra ran forward, hand raised but quickly stopped when Lucille was sitting on the 3 inch wide railing just fine.

"Like home huh?" Zyra smiled at her, it was tight and awkward and it looked fake but Lucille thought it was a smile nevertheless, Lucille didn't care about the reason behind her putting up that sort of mask because Zyra was doing her best to do it regardless- and to her, that's what matters.

Lucille patiently waited as her friend tried to find the words she couldn't say until eventually, she spoke, "I guess," she said followed by a sigh, Zyra took a single step forward, walking until she was right next to Lucille, she pressed her back against the railing, eyed the scenery before them, then said, "it does look nice,"

Lucille didn't point out the fact that Zyra didn't say anything related to the part where Lucille said the field before them felt like home, with her avoiding it entirely.

No, she wouldn't want to call it out, Zyra had her problems and Lucille wasn't planning on prying- instead, the heroine smiled and jumped down from the railing, she followed Zyra's example, though instead of pressing her back against the railing, she instead rested her arms and chest on top of and against it, "it does, doesn't it?" She replied softly, humming, "I never knew that Pledge Academy is so… large,"

"It's bigger than the Everlast Castle, if any of you are curious," Yhaine said as she walked up to the railing and followed Lucille's example, "kinda neat huh?" At that, the two of them nodded, Zyra faced forward and eyed the field and silence was the only thing around the three girls for a while before Yhaine broke it, "there's plenty of space for physical activities here," she said, "and I think… that we're gonna have to suffer through everything if we want to be able to fend off the current Demon Horde,"

"... how much effort do you think the Princess put in order to be as strong as she is?" Said Lucille, "if- I heard that a Pact only gets amplified when… you know, the human is stronger than the magical creature initiating it,"

It was why most Pacts are made with a young magical creature after all and the Princess made one with what's considered to be one of the strongest magical creatures out there, only for them, in the end, to become stronger.

"You're saying that Neophyte got a boost from making a Pact with Fafnir right?" Zyra said and Lucille nodded, "well… if you're implying that she's stronger than an Adolescent Dragon, you're not wrong, she is." she said, "I heard that both her and Fafnir weren't even lethargic or weak after they made the Pact,"

"I know," Lucille said, she remembered the day when the Princess got an adolescent Dragon and rode it towards the Flora and Fauna territories, and she remembered the shock she felt when news broke out that the princess made that Pact on the same day. She was stronger than an Adolescent Dragon by a large margin before she made that Pact!

And it was- it was one thing to realize that she's powerful, to know that she's at least as strong as an Adolescent Dragon but… to be as strong as a Demon Duke? To be able to kill one?!

That's not something that Lucille ever expected.

"She's the Saintess," Yhaine said what was undoubtedly on all of their minds at this exact moment- proof of that is when the two girls quickly nodded in agreement to her words, "and I heard that she… trained till collapse ever since she was a child," Yhaine sighed, a tired one? Or one of resignation? Lucille couldn't tell… "Did you know that it was her that told the King of the original Hero's origin and name?"

"We do," Zyra replied and Lucille nodded, who doesn't know of that story? It's as widespread as it could possibly get, the story serving as both caution and an inspiration for many aspiring Slayers out there.

"I… think that we're gonna be fine in the end," Lucille said, "even without him- the Hero, I mean."

Zyra smiled, "maybe," she said in a tone that felt of reminiscence, "we can probably last until the next Hero thanks to the Princess and the current Beast King."

"Do you think the other party members are out there?" Asked Yhaine, "the Caster, the Shield, the Powerhouse, the Support and the Scout?"

"They're probably here in this very school, they just don't know it yet." Lucille said with a smile, wondering how it would feel to be one of the characters of prophecy.

Surely they must be in here, in this very school? Waiting to realize their true purpose and go with the princess to stave off the Demon Invasion and wait out the arrival of their predecessors alongside the new Hero, sure, they would never be able to beat the Demon Lord on their own but at least they would be able to stall him until the next set of Prophecies arrived, and then, they'd pass on their mantle, just like all the retired Prophecies of the past.

Lucille smiled, "...and, I think they need our help," she announced with calm resolution to the rest of her friends, "Not just Saintess Neophyte, but also the rest of the team as well."

Zyra nodded, "the civilians have always been the backbone and the people who hold the line," the sacrifice, she didn't dare say- the scapegoat for the seemingly unbeatable Prophecies, Zyra silently thought, the people fighting for their right to survive, she said to herself with conviction.

"The Prophecies are the ones destined to fight the Demon Lord, but that doesn't mean that we're gonna let the invading Demons kill us all without a fight," Lucille said with a grin, "and we're gonna show those stupid demons why we were given Pledges,"

Yhaine's sudden laughter broke the atmosphere and the two girls turned to her, "sorry- it's just, why are we all so serious?" Her smile was soft as she spoke, "come on, we just survived a horde of Demons! We should be celebrating down there with everyone else!"

"Is Neophyte there?" Lucille asked with a tilt of her head.

"No?" Yhaine answered, "everyone thought that she needed rest after she… you know-" she waved her hands around, "- killed a Demon Duke with her Dragon?"

And that was when the reality of the situation fully dawned on all three, yes they've been mentioning her being as strong as the Demon Duke and even going as far as talking about her being a Saintess but… saying that someone within their year killed a Demon Duke is just… different, in a way that… well, manages to make all three girls feel obsolete, and saying that out loud placed them in a spell that forced them to accept that type of reality- that someone who's as old as them killed a type of Demon that would've taken several teachers and a few House Scions to defeat.

"She's really something," Lucille murmured, "I remember the day when I first met the princess," she started, "... she-" Lucille paused when she saw the expressions that her friends wore and she decided that maybe, just maybe, talking about this isn't the best idea at the moment, "- I'm gonna be as strong as her one day," she said, "I'm gonna beat a Demon Duke one on one and without a Dragon,"

"They're the same thing," Zyra pointed out.

Lucille grinned, "yep!"

Her blue haired friend sighed, then smiled, "but you're right, I'm gonna do what she did one day,"

"Might as well join," Yhaine butted in, "well, good for us right? We now have a goal, one that our generation's prodigy managed to get…probably since a few weeks back," she chuckled and looked at her two friends with a mischievous look, "how strong do you think she'll become when we reach our goal?"

"I'm gonna catch up to Neophyte!" Lucille pumped her fist.

"So will I!" Zyra joined.

"Sure, why not?" Yhaine chimed in with a smile.

Lucille shook her head and started moving away from the railing, "but… learning and becoming more powerful can wait," she faced her friends, "I'm starving,"

Zyra and Yhaine shrugged before following after her and all three walked back to the rooftop's entrance in complete silence- a few sets of stairs later and they reached the packed hallways of Pledge Academy, students of all races and Pledges milled about, talking and laughing as though the school hadn't just gotten invaded by a horde of Demons and threatened all of their lives, enjoyment was clear on their faces and Lucille couldn't be anymore happier for them but… this sort of atmosphere simply isn't for her.

"It's more cramped than I thought," she muttered to the nods of her two friends, the celebrations back in her village wasn't this packed… "you guys ever been to this sort of thing before?" She asked the two girls and only Yhaine nodded confidently.

"Yeah, plenty of balls are held by nobles but it usually isn't this packed," Yhaine faced Lucille with a soft smile, "it's close though, so I'm used to it. Somewhat." The yellow haired girl looked away from them and faced the frolicking students, "it's fun when you get used to it,"

"I don't think I ever will," Lucille said with a tight smile while eyeing a couple kissing so openly on public, "haha…" Lucille trailed off in response to the sight, "how nice,"

"Maybe we should go to the Cafeteria first?" Yhaine and Zyra exchanged looks.

The blue haired Florist nodded, "good idea," Zyra replied before grabbing Lucille's hand, "we're going to grab food and then leave the building, how's that sound?"

"... I like it," Lucille warmly smiled.

…

All three girls found themselves at the back of the school eyeing the fields while sitting on a bench, their gathered food silently sat on their laps, occasionally, one of them would pick theirs off and start eating. Under the blue hue of the evening, everything felt so calm and serene, and they found themselves thinking with clarity as they silently watched the swaying grass in front of them.

Lucille took a bite out of her food and appreciated the silence between her and her friends, it was the comforting kind that usually, she would only find whenever it was raining- Lucille concluded that she liked this kind of atmosphere, the peace between her and her friends as they sat outside and basked in the silence, she hummed and that tiny little sound coming out of her mouth broke the ice and suddenly, all three started talking, it was Zyra that spoke first-

"I heard that those box-shaped buildings over there are used to train infantry students to live in barracks," the girls looked at where she was pointing, and indeed, it was a building in the shape of a box, the blue haired girl placed her hand down and stabbed a piece of meat and eating it, "that's their dorms apparently,"

"That's…" Lucille trailed off, she didn't know that… "isn't it a bit too harsh for them to live there?"

"Not really," Yhaine answered, "they'll only stay here for two years before getting drafted to fight Demons," their party's tank explained, "after that it's a new set of infantry students who will live there,"

"Still, two years living like that…" Lucille had heard about the state of living in the barracks before, and from what her father told her about it- the barracks were cramped and completely uncomfortable so she couldn't imagine living like that for two whole years- probably more given that a standard service in the military goes for as long as 4 years, "it's kind of sad that the people holding back the Demons have to live like that right?"

Zyra nodded slowly, "I guess but you should also know that spending too much on their comfort would be expensive- and that extra money can be used to forge weapons or make Holy Silver,"

Practicality over Commodity- Lucille isn't unfamiliar with that line of thinking but still… it's a bit harsh in her opinion.

She turned her eyes back to the fields and gave out her opinion, hoping it'll change the subject, "you know," her eyes scanned the flat plain, "I've always been curious about the purposes of the marked areas,"

"The track fields and the training grounds are there for training all of us," Zyra said.

Yhaine nodded, "I heard that this place is never empty whenever the school is open, there's always a bunch of classes here that train and exercise at every hour of the day, it's all scheduled."

"We have a lot of work ahead of us huh?" Lucille said with a wry smile.

"We're gonna become powerful Slayers in no time," Zyra said, trying to be positive.

"Agreed!" Yhaine chorused, her enthusiasm not needed to be masked or faked and Lucille guessed only the princess made her feel weak- which, Lucille had to admit, Neophyte also had that sort of effect on her but the Princess is fighting for them! She saved a lot of students- all of them really, - by fighting that Demon Duke with Fafnir and killing it!

Feeling envious will just make the Demons prouder, stronger- there's simply no point to it.

Lucille hummed, "I wanna see how far we'll go,"

Will they burn out? Will some of them stop? Will… some of them die? Disappear? Lucille knew that the next few years of her life would be wrought with dangers and monsters of all kinds but she's ready, she's already experienced fighting a Demonic Horde once and after a bit of reflection- realized that fighting against Demons wasn't as hard as she assumed it was.

Or maybe that was thanks to the presence of the House Heads and the Saintess herself but even then! People like them would always be present on the battlefield and Lucille is sure that should she face another horde, she'll be ready and then she'll come out on top!

Or maybe she won't and simply die- but that's always part of the risk isn't it?

Lucille eyed the swaying grass and ate another piece of her meal, wondering what kind of future is ahead of her, this, she knew is- and always will be, - considered daydreaming because no matter what, her current, hopeful thoughts of the future of her winning against hundreds of Demons and coming back victorious are nothing more childish fantasies.

But her daydreams of pushing herself in training every day, becoming stronger, and taking in missions that will push her to her limits aren't- after all, unlike fighting hordes of Demons with ease, which at her current state might as well be impossible, Lucille had a choice on whether or not she can fulfill those dreams.

She just has to work hard on achieving them.

 

[NotACryptid]

Lucille looked up at the four story dormitory that she would be staying in for the foreseeable future, guiltily, she felt slightly thankful that it wasn't the cramped barracks that she and her friends had talked about when they ate outside the school earlier- she… knew from secondhand stories from her father just how bad the lacking space can get and the way he described himself quite literally cuddling his squadmates had been scary and Lucille hoped she wouldn't have to deal with something like that in the foreseeable future.

There is a silver lining to all of it, and that's perversion being prevented by gender based barracks.

Even then, she's glad that she had her own room-

- but just to make sure, she eyed the dormitory again in case what Zyra told her had been wrong; white in color and four stories in total, gleaming metal railings on top of 4-foot tall concrete walls prevented students from falling off and dying while behind those walls is a hallway that led to dark-blue doors with black numberings placed on the topmost doorframe, she couldn't see the numbers but the gap between each door was visible to her and from what Lucille is seeing… it did look pretty spacious, enough that it could allow 3-4 students to live there at the same time but Zyra did say that their dorms would only allow for one person to use them so…

… so wait- is it that spacious inside?

Lucille was eager to find out and she found herself on the western end of the building, directly at the foot of the stairs and she stood there, Pledge in hand and the keys to her room dangling on a chain hanging by her hip, she looked up, wondering if she was in the wrong building or if she somehow got lost so for the third time, she grabbed her keys and looked at the number- 095.

Okay- that gave her nothing about the building she was on let alone what building she's supposed to go to…

Deciding to take a leap of faith, she started going up the stairs and room #50 on the first floor disappeared from her line of sight to be replaced by white walls, blue staircases, and metal railings to the walls on either side of her.

One step up the stairs turned to four, then it went up to six, then when she got to ten 15, she finally reached the second floor, and room #100 greeted her warmly- sadly, Lucille's racing heart felt anything but.

She anxiously made her way across the floor while heading straight for room #95 and once there, she slowly inserted her key and twisted the knob to hear a… click come out of it, the sound filled her with relief and Lucille practically shoved the door open and ran inside like she was being chased by dangerous monsters.


She pushed her back against the door and started breathing heavily, her head feeling light from the sudden surge of relief that replaced her anxiety at the anxious thoughts that plagued her head about possibly missing her room, being in the wrong building or worse, not getting in.

But here she was! Facing the hallway that was the entrance to her room, the end of which allowed her to take a small sneakpeek of the living room but she wasn't going to cheat and instead savored the design of the hallway, right now she was standing on a small, white square floor that's lower than the hallway's actual floor- which is light brown in color, and glossy too, she heard that this is where some influential families make their guests take off their shoes or something?..

AHHHHHHHH- She's now fancy!

To her right rested a small shoe rack that reached up to her knees, there were only two available shelves on it and one was already filled with… she walked near it and-

"Huh," guess that fill out form for her request on what she wanted her room slippers to look like wasn't a trick question randomly thrown at the back of the Academy's introduction papers and was in fact, real…

Lucille grabbed the angel-themed slippers and eyed it with a small pout, she should've requested for something better! Like maybe- uh, a- uh- uh- a- uh-

Whatever! The slippers that she got looked good anyways!

The pair were colored in pure white with feathery undertones- well they were more like fur, really, like, long fur, ones that wouldn't be strange to harvest from a Dire Wolf- okay not important! Back to the shoes- slippers-

White wings jutted out of the slipper's dome, they faced backward and went upwards in a way that's reminiscent of that of the feathers found on Harpy ears.

Lucille twisted the slipper around and found two swords placed at the front of the dome, she eyed it for a second, inspecting the weapons with a critical eye while wondering if they were Pledges or not but eventually decided that it didn't matter, she placed the slippers on the floor, took off her own shoes, then slipped into the angel-based footwear that she accidentally asked for. (But is not regretting.)

She placed her shoes on the shoe rack before looking forward and scanning the hallway of her new room; it was big enough to fit around two hers side by side with a bit of room to spare, maybe for an arm or something? A Cane maybe?

The hallway was also colored in a beautiful dark brown, a color that complimented the caramel colored floor quite well, paintings were hung on the walls here and there, most of them were, at the moment, nothing more than framed words of encouragement but Yhaine did say that students can replace them with something more to their liking if they so wished.

And Lucille is planning on doing just that, especially after she saw the things written down on the frames, like [Keep going and never give up!] - as if giving up was an option that Lucille would ever consider, how offensive.

Walking forward a few more steps led Lucille to see her new room- well she mused that it was more appropriate to call this her living room, it was less than half the size of her old room- which isn't really a comparison since that was a refurbished storage room to begin with, - but is more packed with furniture and other comforts such as a couch that can fit three people at the back wall, it was blue in color and made of wool, or is that leather?

On top of the couch were four pillows, each one colored in a complimentary…

… Brownish? Color? Wait- no- she knows what this is, she's used this color once when creating a piece of cloth for the baron's daughter of a neighboring village- what was it again?

Ah- right, maroon, the pillows were a complimentary maroon.

In front of the couch was a small glass coffee table while to its right was an empty bookshelf with three shelves and a cabinet at the bottom, a box of first aid hung on the wall to the couch's left and further down that direction was a door, Lucille scanned the living room one last time- and mentally noted to remove the framed encouragement hanging on the dark brown walls, - before heading for that particular door.

Opening it, she was greeted by a large bedroom, though it wasn't as big as the living room courtesy of another door by the wall, which led to a slightly cramped bathroom with a shower.

Walking back into her bedroom, Lucille eyed the bed at the center, then stared at the lamp and table placed to its right, then the empty table to its left and just stood there, amazed that the Academy can afford such a luxury for its students.

Briefly, she wondered if the budget of the infantry students went here but quickly remembered that living like that was part of their training so maybe their living in barracks was intentional?.. The princess obviously wouldn't forget to help them right?

Now she's really glad that she wasn't an infantry student and no, her guilt is not gonna force her to only use one of the five pillows on her bed! They were hers!

Moving on, Lucille neared her bed and touched the sky-blue bedding on top of it, her hand pressed against the mattress and she silently noted that it was soft and also thick enough that she pressed down for three straight seconds before the mattress refused to give in to the pressure she was pressing down on it.

She looked away from her bed- which had five pillows! - and faced the closet on the opposite end of it, she walked near the white thing- which oddly fit with the black walls of her bedroom, but it wouldn't be just black soon enough, she's gonna paint it and put dots of white across its surface, which will look like stars! - Lucille opened the closet to see that it was in fact, empty- wait no, not really, there's a few of the standard Academy uniforms currently hanging inside of it, which Lucille took out, checked, and then put back in.

She closed the closet and eyed her room one last time before moving out of it- it was still downright unbelievable that she was going to sleep there of all places! - and into the living room, she looked around, eyeing the place one last time before closing her eyes and SQUEALING-

Knocking came from the door and Lucille blinked- oh Goddess what did she just do- she shook her head and walked towards the door, slowly, she opened it and came face to face with a middle-aged maid, "is everything okay in there?" She asked while trying to peer behind Lucille, "why did you start screaming?"

"I-I'm fine yep!" Lucille said after a small pause, she decided to tell the truth, "just uh, excited,"

The maid narrowed her eyes at her before nodding and walking away, but not before telling her that- "I'll be marking this,"

Oh. Oh. Of course attitude is graded too!

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY-


….

After that small… mishap, Lucille went back inside her room and as a first order of business, she took down all of the picture frames found on the walls and temporarily placed them in a corner of her living room, then after that, she proceeded to open the envelope left at the center of her coffee table and watched as a small, white card with golden lines and a piece of folded paper poured out of it.

Lucille unfolded the paper and started reading what was written inside- "Dear Student, we at the Academy treasure your potential as a future Slayer that will push back and fight against the invading Demon Horde and wish to nurture that potential; thus, we will be granting you this particular card, which has a monthly deposit of 5,000 as a start but if you grow in rankings and strength, that amount will increase.

Use it well and grow to become someone who will defend humanity and keep everyone else safe- sincerely, the Student Council President, Prescine Crescate.

At the bottom was the signature of the Principal Herself and staring at it made Lucille's doubts of this being a trick disappear- slightly, she was still suspicious but regardless! Yhaine was (maybe) right and now she had money!

But what would she do with it?..

Lucille… couldn't decide on what it is exactly her plans were for her newly found wealth so she decided to meet up with her friends first who specifically pointed out that she "wasn't rich" and that spending all of that in one go for some random thing would just ruin her next month- after all, what would she use to buy her day-to-day food?

The answer was simple- for Lucille at least because her friends decided that taking a visit to the local market would just be annoying or something… anyways, back to the simple answer; what could she possibly eat every day when her budget had been spent is simple and it's the pieces of cheap meat and vegetables that she'll be buying from the market tomorrow morning using the money that she brought (around 2,000 or so- more than enough for an entire month for one person really,) with herself when she went to the Academy.

"So what do you think of my plan?" Lucille asked with a proud smile.

"It's good," Zyra nodded, "I can't believe I never thought of actually just cooking my own food,"

"Personally, you can just eat the stuff they put in the cafeteria, sure they're made from cheap stuff because they need to feed a lot of students-" Hey! Lucille was planning on eating those! "- but the chefs do their best with it, so it turns out pretty good,"

"That's only for lunch though right?" Zyra asked.

"Better than nothing," Yhaine shrugged.

"... aren't we gonna train?" Lucille pointed out, "I'm pretty sure that we need to eat a lot of food for that,"

Zyra nodded, "good point," she conceded, "what do you recommend?"

"Grain?" Lucille said, making the blue-haired girl nod at her while looking thoughtful, Lucille looked up and thought about what else could be eaten cheaply, "what about… bread? I'm sure that there's a bakery we can work in out there in the city during our free time right? Maybe they'll offer us bread?"

"We're not peasa- we don't need to do that Lucille," Yhaine said with a sigh, "we have money every month remember?"

"Oh. Right." Lucille nodded before feeling up the card in her pocket, "I won't be spending most of this I think?.." she muttered, she was planning on saving up some of her monthly allowance so that she could have stuff to bring to her siblings back home when she returns… but maybe she can earn more during the month by hunting like she originally planned? "I'll buy the usual, then," she said with a nod, "just a standard set of monthly food and then earn it back through the month by hunting,"

"You're planning on doing that right away?' Zyra asked, right eyebrow raised, "isn't it a bit too early?"

"When do new students normally start?" Lucille asked.

"Two months at best," Yhaine answered, "by then we'd have sufficient training to fight monsters,"

"But they aren't really that hard to kill though?" Lucille said, remembering her own experience with a Grisly Spider, it wasn't even that hard, just… risky, but she'd learned and gotten stronger since then so she was sure that when she faces another Grisly Spider, she'd come out on top and wine, she's confident in beating Grisly Spiders so weaker monsters like a pack of Bark Wolves isn't even a question.

"They are," Zyra refuted, "and that's why we need to learn how to fight first before we go out there like idiots and get ourselves injured or worse, killed." She shook her head at Lucille, "don't do anything stupid or rash Lucille, monsters aren't something that you can easily fight,"

"Good point there," Yhaine nodded before taking out her school given card and swiping it to the scanner of the vending machine in front of them she proceeded to push out a small carton of milk, Yhaine shrugged at Lucille's flat stare, "what? It's good? You should try it."

"You just…" Lucille sighed- it's not really rash spending of her money if she was a noble to begin with wasn't she?

 

[Mirriam Grave]

Hahaha. I love the showing of different mentality born from different upbringing and social class.
I am also surprised at how how well Yhaine has integrated with them despite this.
A showing of how different nobility is here thanks to circumstances? Or based on some of the earlier showings of others, just a mark that Yhaine herself is a good egg?

 

[NotACryptid]

The royal suite we were staying on was located on a tower, around the middle floor or so, it wasn't so high that we could see everything across the school, only enough that when we stood on the suite's balcony, we were able to see all of Pledge Academy's field- and that's what I'm doing currently: staring at the massive field before me while doing my best to avoid speaking out or give out any opinion or else Fafnir would continue our prior conversation.

I scanned the vast grassland and one by one, noted all the facilities that were familiar to me, all of them were something that the Player could do ingame to increase their stats and there were five facilities in total- Track Fields for Agility, Mud Pits for Constitution, Dummy Dojos for Defense, Archery Ranges for Dexterity, and Training Grounds for Strength/Damage - ingame, there were only one instances of these facilities across the entirety of Pledge Academy but here? They can be found all across the field, with them numbering in the high hundreds.

There were other facilities available too, most I hadn't seen before like the odd, training-ground-esque facility I could spot in the far distance with actual Dummies instead of simple strawmen, or the pools of water reflecting the moonlight in some areas.

The Barracks that the infantry students lived in can be found aplenty too, their square-shaped silhouette casting shadows over the darkened field. Some barracks were more pronounced, their locations obvious to me even from a distance.

A few of the barracks still had activity around them, I knew this because there were groups of students (most likely freshmen, I know how harsh and exhausting the infantry course can get,) lurking outside of some of them, acting all energetic and partying while surrounding a blazing bonfire- they reminded me of frat kids… I've only seen on TV since I… never actually got to experience college in my past life but maybe I will here?

Will I even survive till then?

In the corner of my eye, I spotted Fafnir's eyes scanning me and I decided to focus on the partying students: I didn't know what they were doing- cooking dinner or something? But it's too late for that right? So maybe they really were just partying around… - but they seemed like they were having fun, and when one of them turned their head in my direction, I raised my arm high in the air and waved at them.

It wasn't just that particular person that noticed me wave and my gesture got a massive chain reaction across the field, like ants suddenly being splashed with a bit of water, the infantry students started to frolic around, running excitedly and causing a cascade of movement that waved across their numbers.

I giggled, "I didn't know that this will happen,"

Did I regret speaking out? No. Honestly, I wanted Fafnir to notice the various infantry students waving at us- if she hasn't already, which she would unless she's blind or something.

I giggled again when one guy dragged another into a mud pit and started wrestling them, even the mostly tired, inactive, senior infantry students filled barracks were starting to react, some simply giving me a series of small waves before going back inside their cramped dorms, I returned their listless gesture while eyeing the others who went ahead and started their own bonfires, which after a while I realized they weren't doing to party like the rest of the freshmen but to simply sit down and chill around of.

Well, the night is peaceful.

And also perfect for love I guess- man, people just go to forests for that huh?

Also- they better be thankful that Pledge Academy made it's field authentic!

Overall though, it's a nice scene and one that I knew Fafnir would appreciate, and that's why I called it out to her, even when she'll possibly talk to me about my hesitation with teaching the current hero.

"It's because of you," she said and I only nodded, already expecting something from her, "you're ready- we're ready."

"No- no we're not," I replied without hesitation, far faster than normal too. Holding back a stressful sigh, I looked up at the starlit sky and ran my hand through my silver hair, "you know we're not ready. Not right now. Not ever."

"You shouldn't delay her growth," Fafnir refuted and I sighed, closed my eyes, and then went silent.

"... what if she dies?" I eventually said.

How long have I kept my eyes closed? I didn't know- but Fafnir was patient enough to wait me out.

"She won't." Fafnir sounded confident but I- I wasn't- something hard wrapped around my hand and I opened my eyes to see Fafnir holding it, "we're here remember? We can help her- you just need to trust yourself and the Hero,"

I didn't know what my expression looked right now but the bitter feelings aching my heart probably twisted it into something ugly- I looked away, "she'll die,"

Fafnir squeezed my hand, "she won't." She said, voice resolute. "You can guide her. Trust her. Trust us."

"I- I don't know," I stuttered, what if she does die? What if our second chance disappears? What if-

"Stop overthinking it, Neo," Fafnir leaned close and nuzzled my neck, her black hair intertwining with my silver in a mix of black and white. And if she was looking for a reaction from me, she got it when some of the people on the field below us started to whistle and catcall.

Why- Ugh! I tried to push her away but it only resulted in me letting out a self-mocking sigh of resignation, "I'll try," I leaned into her nuzzle and whispered- it was barely audible but I knew she heard it, if not for her sharp senses then my rather close proximity to her right now.

"But I know she isn't ready," I added, I looked up at the sky, at the various stars lighting it up, at the dark clouds in the distance that promised rain-

At… everything, really, it all seemed so vast and so beautiful that it made me feel free of my worries just from looking at it, like none of them mattered in the grand scheme of things.

I looked around, trying to spot the series of stars that the "Astral" in my name is supposed to represent and there, in the far east, was a constellation shaped in a perfect circle, this particular series of stars stood alone and distant from other heavenly bodies, with enough blank space surrounding it to distinguish the circular constellation within a sea of their own kin.

I eyed the constellation known as Goddess' Eye, it was said that when I was born, the Constellation glowed and started blinking- I didn't know if it was real and I quite frankly didn't care, I just knew that looking at it gave me comfort and that's enough. More than enough really. Comfort rarely comes to me these days-

The purr on my neck brought me back to the present and I giggled, "you know I just thought of something funny," I said and Fafnir moved her neck to smile up at me, silently gesturing for me to elaborate, "I just thought of something that only old women can think of,"

… like me. I didn't dare say out loud.

"Are you old?" Fafnir asked and I reluctantly nodded, I was thirty now, I had lived 14 years in my past life and 16 in this one, I was very much old- "I don't believe you but fine, tell this younger girl all the things you've experienced," she was clearly teasing me but it still felt like I was being mocked.

But Fafnir wouldn't do that- of course not-

In the end though, with her remaining silent, I tried to find the words to say and I…

"I-"

Simply didn't know what to say and at this exact moment, I quickly realized that despite all my thoughts of being old I… didn't know that I would be speechless when asked about it-

I frowned, I've never really experienced much of anything during both lives have I? And not to mention I'm currently physically young.

I met Fafnir's gaze, what do I tell her? That I've lived two lives? That I spent most of my current life learning how to fight and be a better fighter to save humanity or that I have decided to spend my last one sitting in front of a computer?

"I don't know," I mumbled in reply.

Am I old?..

A squeeze in my hand made me focus back on the present… and Fafnir-

"look," she said, pointing towards a group of girls giggling at one another, we both stared, idly watching as they kissed, and Fafnir, unlike what I expected, didn't say or do anything and simply watched in silence to my… confused disappointment? I didn't know why I expected her to suddenly kiss me but I… I don't know- how- I don't know how to sort out my feelings right now-

"Good for them," I said with a small smile, finally being honest and not thinking about how I feel about saying things for once, does it have something to do with the fact that we're not talking about killi- helping the hero? Probably, but this is still respite regardless of that fact, "it's great they feel so free that they can kiss like that,"

"It's all thanks to you, you know?" Fafnir said and… I… didn't think she's right but- uhm- I faced her and she looked back; an abyss in the form of two onyx eyes shining white under the light of the stars and glossy lips-

I squeezed her hand and turned away from her- she's not just 16, she's also a Dragon, what kind of offender would I be if I'd done what I was thinking of just now?!

Panicking inside, I calmly said, "thanks, Fafnir."

"Nir." I tilted my head to look at her, I met her eyes, she didn't look away and simply repeated what she said, louder this time, "call me Nir."

"Why?" I was doing everything to hold back the giggles rising up my throat- how the hell could she suddenly act like this?! We were so serious and then she just-

"Neo." She called, voice serious.

"... fine, thank you, for everything, Nir." In response, she nuzzled my neck and we both stood there, watching over the groups of infantry students celebrating for the night- this? This was a nice feeling and it's- that's something that I'm willing to admit.

I would've loved to stay like this for the entire night but sadly, like everything else, our tiny, peaceful moment together came to an end and it happened when Fafnir decided she wanted to sleep and I, well, I told her that I wanted to stay here, watch the stars for a while.

I didn't know for how long I stayed but eventually, everything lulled and I started daydreaming- actually it was more like worrying about the various things that'll happen in the future and those kinds of thoughts stuck themselves in my head for quite a while, time slowly passed like that and eventually, someone made their way to the balcony and stood right next to me.

I turned to see Laceresta, "hi,"

"I didn't know you were staying here," was the first thing she said, which made me frown and think- what? Was she planning on going here as well? To… think? Or maybe she wanted to find me?

Confused about the two possibilities I asked, "then how'd you find me?"

"... well Fafnir uh, said that you'd be here," the Lioness answered after a brief pause, she looked up at the sky, her expression uncharacteristically peaceful instead of the usual aggression.
"The stars," she started, "my father told me that the stars are angels, the strongest- not the humanoid ones but the Angels. Angels." She emphasized twice and I assumed that her angel had a capital A at the start, the Seraphim, I think are what she's describing, "the Goddess' ultimate weapons, the living Pledges,"

"The balls of cleansing fire," I said with a smile before looking up, "are we protected?"

"No." I knew that the answer would come.

I nodded, "we need to fight for our lives," I said starting something that I only knew of in this life after going to church when I was a kid and to my side, Laceresta added to the prayer-

"Because the Seraphim will only come down once the Demons won, to wipe everything out and reset the world anew,"

Like janitors, I guess, except these ones can destroy mountains- plural, - with a single "sweep" of their "brooms" of light. Laceresta tapped the railing, making small clink, clink, clink sounds with each tap, meanwhile I… decided to break the re-telling of the Seraphim hymn and said, "they're not our silent guardians watching us dutifully, that purpose belongs to ourselves- who said that again?"

"A past hero, Raphael," Laceresta answered without missing a beat, "it's found in an ancient burial,"

"Mhmm." I nodded, humming, "how nice would it be if they were though? The Seraphim I mean."

"Then we'd be complacent," Laceresta said, speaking out and starting one of the holy quotes of creation, "the Goddess made us with flaws specifically because it's those flaws that make life interesting- we are cruel, hedonistic, and stupid because if we were perfect, then everyone would do the same thing every time, without mistake and without consequence,"

"And life would be boring if that were the case, even if we are safe, do we even know the concept?" I replied.

"Unless, of course, our boredom is removed and we accept that safety isn't real unless danger exists," Laceresta added.

"But that would make us less human," I added.

"And then another piece would be taken," Laceresta chimed.

"And another," I repeated, knowing that we were close to finishing it now.

"Until we are no different than the dummies that we make," Laceresta and I did as well, after a second or so of delay.

For a while, we both stayed on the balcony to talk and I learned that for someone who's supposed to be and looks like a brute, Laceresta is actually smart.

She's smarter than a good portion of the students attending our school, than the educated nobles and the well funded citizens of Everlast- and I can say this confidently because the Lioness knew a lot about past heroes, and even more when it comes to their personal philosophies, which people translated and understood over the course of centuries, and knowing a lot about that is pretty impressive, especially if Heroes are at the center of all culture found across the world.

"I do it because it's for me to learn empathy and to be humble," she said then, I didn't even ask her, she just mentioned it but I understood, especially after she added, "father said so,"

I held back a sad, pained smile when she casually mentioned that the Beast King from 5 generational heroes ago has been training and teaching her basic empathy- I guess that old Lion has finally decided that going on a maddened rampage doesn't always solve everything…

And chances are, it's because he was the reason why some of his party members died when they fought against the Demon Lord-

Laceresta didn't have this kind of dialogue ingame or anything related to her trying to be empathetic and moving away from her father's past, it made me see her in a new light.

"How many do you think will remain?" I asked vaguely, I didn't want to offend Laceresta and I… I- I didn- I didn't want Laceresta to answer it outright, I wanted her to ask me 'what do you mean?' and then I'd deflect it- I knew this was a mistake-

"All of us." I flinched when Laceresta growled up at the sky, "we're making history, prove that all of the Prophecies can survive the fight against the Demon Lord and that the Hero doesn't have to sacrifice themselves every time."

I nodded followed by letting out a very girly squeak- I expected her to growl at me because I was being insensitive, not at the sky in determination, also, she knew what I was talking about!

Laceresta finished her determined words by glaring at the sky, and then… silence, everything was followed by complete and utter silence until eventually, Laceresta left, and I stayed for a while before heading back inside, I took a bath, went to my room and quickly found out that…

… I couldn't sleep.

The ceiling was nice to look at at least-

"Who am I kidding?" I said to myself, tone sardonic and laced with venomous sarcasm.

I was scared- that much is obvious- from not just the future of being mistaken for the Saintess- I- I could become one but I knew- knew that I wasn't fit for that role, not now, not in the future, not ever- but enough about worrying about me being forced to become the Saintess- well I guess the main worry that's keeping me up and unable to sleep is also connected to that but-

Shaking away my stressful thoughts, I got up and headed out of my room, as I placed my bare feet onto the polished wooden floor of the hallway, I heard a sound and turned- "Fa- Nir," I called out to the armored dragonoid standing to my right, "can't sleep too huh?"

She nodded, "no,"

I gestured for her to follow, we went to the kitchen and I prepared two cups of hot cocoa before grabbing a bag of marshmallows- not invented by me oddly enough, these existed since the game and were even the original Neophyte's favorite food, - and opening the plastic bag, I poured the contents down a bowl.

I then grabbed a bar of chocolate, snapped it in half, then dipped and melted them into the two cups of hot cocoa, "I know this isn't tea but this helps me calm down," I grinned reassuringly at Fafnir, "Zath and I usually did this together when I'm… yeah," my grin turned into a sad smile, "... but since she's asleep from her own training, we just have to deal with not being able to properly melt the marshmallows into the hot cocoa.

I handed her a marshmallow and smiled, "chew it," I said, "enjoy the softness,"

She did, "I-"

"Good right?"

A subtle nod, "yes,"

"You don't sound like it," I teased as I brought our late-night snack to the living room.

"It's good," Fafnir added a smile to her words as she took a seat.

"I'm glad you like it," I said as I slid on the chair in front of her, "now, try this one," I pushed the cup of hot cocoa on her side of the table, "you can also-" I reached out to a small shelf on the right of the couch and grabbed a bottle of milk, I slammed it down the coffee table, "- try it with this!"

Fafnir poured a bit of milk into her hot cocoa and took a sip, she nodded then placed the steaming cup back down, "amazing,"

I did the same as her and poured down a bit of milk on my own cup and took a sip, the steaming cocoa was hot but I was able to enjoy the sweet, smooth taste on account that my tongue didn't get burned from the heat, no pain here, just an oddly warm feeling that made the chocolate, somehow, taste even better.

"It's good right?" I said as I put my cup down.

"I already said that it was amazing so many times already," Fafnir retorted, shaking her head, "but yes, it's good."

"Right?!" I grinned.

 

[NotACryptid]

Hahaha. I love the showing of different mentality born from different upbringing and social class.
I am also surprised at how how well Yhaine has integrated with them despite this.
A showing of how different nobility is here thanks to circumstances? Or based on some of the earlier showings of others, just a mark that Yhaine herself is a good egg?

Click to shrink...

Says a lot about Zyra's silence honestly- but yeah, Lucilles party are all raised from different states in life, completely unlike Neophyte's which has a powerful fucking dragon meant to be the strongest, the literal Beast King, and the highest ranking maid there is.

And Yhaine is one of the better nobles out there yes.

 

[NotACryptid]

"The crowd is starting to get bigger," I heard Zathania murmur in worry, she bit her lip and turned to me and Fafnir, "aren't you two worried?" She asked as she walked away from the balcony, I turned my head and smiled reassuringly as she sat next to me, "Neo?.."

"It's fine," I soothed, my lack of care about the situation showing itself in all its glory, which is pretty justified because those students- "they're not gonna do anything to us, the teachers are gonna come here and prevent anything bad from happening, and by the time we leave this place, the outside of the tower is gonna be empty, just watch."

Ingame, this particular event- which is to say, the crowd of students, - always passes whenever something important happens, and I was glad that I knew this would come and will eventually- if I wait it out, - also get quenched down by the teachers, if I didn't know that this will eventually pass, I would be shaking in the same way Zath is right now.

"They're here for us," I said, trying to encourage her to understand the students outside, "let them have it, killing a Demon Duke is a pretty big deal so it's safe to say that there's going to be a crowd of students wanting to congratulate me and Fafnir," I said and added something else so that she doesn't feel left out, "they probably think you're a hero too since you killed a lot of Demon Captains and saved a lot of students,"

"Are we sure that things are gonna be fine?" I nodded and my maid decided to leave it at that, staying silent.

Since there's nothing better left to do than think, I decided to consider whether going out right now and talking to the crowd outside of the tower is a good idea because ingame, the Player can choose to interact with these guys, which who wouldn't? They give free items after all- but sadly, this world is now realistic and I'm pretty sure that the students below us wouldn't just have simple dialogues that consist of "wow! You did great work!" or "Thank you for keeping us safe!" or whatever, they're gonna want to talk and more importantly, touch my arm or something which… jeez, I'd rather not.

Anyways, since this is practically commonplace- when I was playing the game, this event always happens whenever a milestone in the main quest gets passed, - I knew that after a while, the staff would come down and stop anyone from doing too much or acting a bit… much.

Eventually, the crowd would just fizzle out, we just had to wait.

"Alright, fine, I trust you," Zath said and I smiled.

I decided to fully relax and slumped down on the couch and just stared at the giant chandelier hanging on the ceiling of the living room lazily-

Honestly? The students are a problem (socially speaking,) but I'm more worried about how me killing that Demon Duke will affect the world going forward, I mean, it's nice that I managed to do it- especially since it saved all of the students in the process, - but I knew that the Demon Lord wouldn't take this lying down and since a first year student of Pledge Academy is somehow capable of killing a Demon whose rank is only below him in terms of hierarchy; chances are, he's gonna do something about it- do something about me and spend his energy to boost a few of the lesser Demons under him.

And that will be a problem for the regular men and women that make up the infantry, if worse comes to worse, said boosted Demons might even kill important Pledge Bearers, which sure, doesn't affect me but a struggle is still a struggle, and I'm not as important to the bigger picture as everyone else thinks I am- I know this.

But can I do something about it?

I looked away from the chandelier and turned to Nir and Zath.

"Say," I started, getting the attention of the two girls, "what if we do something like an after-school activity? A club maybe?" I suggested, remembering that it is possible to join a predetermined club ingame to get stats during the "after class" phase of the day but this is real life so it's possible for me to go beyond that and create a club on my own, "What if I make a club?"

Surprisingly, it wasn't Zath or Fafnir who replied to my suggestion but the person we've been waiting for instead- "and what? Hire a bunch of secretaries? Do you know how many people will want to join your club if you make one?"
We all turned to the freshly showered Laceresta, who was bare naked right now, which I already knew she would do, no surprise there- and also we're all girls so it doesn't really matter, - and from Fafnir's reaction, she felt the same way.

Zath though…

My maid was as red as a tomato-

"Zath?" I poked her cheek and she pushed herself away from me in panic and proceeded to cover her face with a pillow. Okay… that's a pretty extreme reaction, What? "It's only Laceresta, this is normal for her," I explained as my maid buried her face deeper, "and you should be happy, Beastmen only do this to people they consider as family,"

"Yep," Laceresta nodded before going to her room, when the door shut, I poked Zath on the back, causing her to flinch.

"She's gone," I said and my maid peeked at me and the living room with one eye, "see?"

"W-why are you both so calm? Especially you!" She pointed at me accusingly, hand shaking and voice panicking, "why?!"

"It's normal for them," I said, that's a full answer on its own, isn't it? There's no need for further explanation because Laceresta trusted us and If I reacted like Zath, then Laceresta would just feel out of place, or foreign. Alienated. "You shouldn't react like that if Laceresta gives you this much trust,"

Shaking her head, Zath stood up and huffed before stomping over to her room, "you're both insane!" She yelled at us before she slammed the door shut.

I met Fafnir's eyes, "I'm a Dragon," she said, shrugging, "I'm surprised you honestly didn't react to it yourself,"

"She's not a guy though?" I replied idly, putting out my one other reason for why I didn't mind seeing Laceresta naked, I mean, back in my first life, I used to swim for the school so a locker room full of naked girls had been a daily sight for me, so with that being said- "I don't think seeing her naked really matters?"

Fafnir sighed but didn't say anything.

We only sat there after that, not exchanging words while waiting for Laceresta to finish changing- Also, Zath came out of her room seconds after she slammed the door on us and when she sat right next to me, I explained to her that Laceresta doesn't mind so she shouldn't as well, and to also not react the way she did for all the previous reasons.

When the Lioness finally came out of her room- now with clothes on her back, - we started moving immediately, eager to get started for our first day of class. And to our surprise, when all four of us got out of the suite and stepped into the elevator room- I swear it has a term… lobby? - we were greeted by the current President of the Student Council.

With a head of chestnut hair, a slender neck, and a lithe frame that's almost as tall as me, Prescine Crescate met us outside of the elevator with a chipper smile and a wave.

She had a black and white suit, which, oddly enough, was the same type of clothes I wore: a white waistcoat that went down to her knees, black combat boots, as well as a pair of long, white pants with black belts running on top of it.

… well, I guess not the same as me because this type of uniform belonged to would-be leaders, and she's literally the current President of the student body of the entire school so it should be expected that she'll wear the same thing as me.
Still, it is pretty strange that our uniforms had the same colors, ingame she had a set of vibrant and emerald green, which in my opinion made her more beautiful than this drab looking thing but that's just me, her fashion sense is up to her.

"Hi!" Prescine greeted me before raising her hand, I shook it, "it's nice to finally meet all of you,"

"We feel the same way," I replied for all of us.

"So-" Prescine started as she pressed the button of the elevator and as the feeling of weightlessness overtook me and we started going down, Prescine continued her small talk, "I'm guessing that you've heard stories about me, especially from your brother?"

I nodded, sort of, Adamantite never really talked about her to any of his siblings but I knew that she and Adamantite were in a relationship, both ingame and here I think? Or are we so early in the timeline that none of that has happened yet?

Instead of silently wondering, I decided to ask her about it, "Are you and Adamantite already together?"

A frown crossed Prescine's pretty face and she quickly shook her head, "what?! No!" She denied loudly- enough that her voice bounced around the cramped elevator- also, oof, poor Adamantite, guess the girl doesn't want to be his wife, which come to think of it, ingame was more than guaranteed…

Why?

What changed for her to answer in denial like this?

I stared Prescine down- okay, what changed? You know what- no- I'm not going anywhere with only staying silent, "why?" I decided to stop wondering, "I thought you liked him back?"

"No- of course not," Prescine shook her head, "I don't… uhm, like guys?" She said, a tad bit too unconfident, "like you,"

"I'm not gay," I replied reflexively, "- but that's not important," I shook my head, a few pieces were already clicking for me, if she needed help then I'll provide it, she didn't have to wear… this.

"I thought that Adamantite was helping out Exube? And your parents agreed to your marriage because of it..?" I trailed off with a frown, Adamantite's been doing his best to push for aiding that particularly beautiful Kingdom for what? A year now? Maybe less if I'm remembering things wrong- or- "wait, he wasn't funneling money out of Dad's pockets wasn't he?"

"No- no- not at all! He helped us as best as he could!" Prescine waved me off and I felt relieved, thank Goddess that he didn't throw away his life like that, it would've been very stupid, "there's uhm- just- well he did help me out and I did like him back then but… you know, lately, he's been?.."

"Aggressive?" Zath cut in and Prescine nodded, "it wasn't just you who noticed that, even Neo's been complaining about it lately,"

I nodded, "yep."

"Oh." Prescine sighed, "so- you're probably thinking I led him on-"

"Or that you're now considering other options," I cut her off and placed a placating hand on her shoulder, "I kind of get it," I said, "you liked Adamantite but then he started… losing screws on his head so you became scared and now you're considering other, less violent options, which are girls,"

"Can someone just change like that?" Laceresta asked, "their preference?"

"Hm? Yeah, she's probably just bi or something," I answered, it does make the most sense.

"... uh, yeah?" Prescine said dumbly, "what's it mean when you say I'm bi?"

"It means that you like both girls and boys," I answered.

"Huh," Laceresta said and I turned to her but she only shrugged in response and didn't say anything.

"... right," Prescine nodded, "guess I'm that?"

I nodded at her, "well, if you want I can help in Adamantite's place," I offered, "I can ask Dad to give you aid and he'll probably say yes,"

"Uh…" Prescine trailed off.

Fafnir huffed, "Neo, do you know what you're doing right now?"

I turned to her, "what? Helping her out?"

"Goddess-" She closed her eyes and chuckled, "you're hopeless."

I blushed, are they seriously doing this now?! "Yeah… I get what you mean but I'm doing this out of the goodness of my heart!! I swear!"

"Oh, you're following your heart alright," Laceresta grinned.

"By the way, if you say yes to the offer," Zath started to say, mentioning Prescine, "then I'm sure that the King would immediately agree to provide aid to your Kingdom, even when it's basically on the edge of the Everlast borders."

"It doesn't have to be quick since it's not like Exube is gonna get invaded by Demons," I said and Zath raised her eyebrow in response, "what? You sound like you were implying that."

"It won't get attacked by Demons?" Prescine asked.

"Hm? No?" I replied, murmuring, it's never been under threat ingame as far as I'm aware, "I think it's too far from the current "cone" of the main horde and also beyond the reach of other, smaller hordes, and that's me not mentioning the fact that there's also the forest surrounding your Kingdom, as well as the several, literally harpy filled floating islands found around your skies, and the swamp that's being lived in by Fault Crabs," I met Prescine's eyes, "your home is kinda hard to invade,"

"Oh…" she had a small smile on her face while saying that, "that's good." She nodded.

"Yeah, well, don't expect it to be impossible to invade, I only said hard," I ignored the searing look everyone else shot me. She needed to know the truth, "and if an actual invasion happens, then the resulting war will ruin everything."

"But it'll rarely happen right?" Prescine asked.

I nodded, "yep."

"That's good." She nodded again, "I'm glad that I accepted this task,"

"What task?" I asked.

"To… lead you guys to your classroom?" She said, "I know that you know where it is but I've been told that you'll have problems going there?"

"... we do," Zath nodded with a sigh, "there's an entire crowd of students outside of the suite-"

"It's been taken care of," Fafnir replied, "look behind you,"

And we did, we stared out the glass wall behind us and saw that the space around the tower was now empty of students. I met Zath's gaze and shot her a smug smile, "see? I told you."

Zath nodded, "I suppose you were right,"

There was only silence until we reached the bottom and by then, Prescine told us that her presence was no longer necessary and after giving me a thankful hug, she walked away to head to her own classroom while we went to our own- and as we walked through the hallways of the school, the students let me know of their appreciation for my killing of the Demon Duke by staring at me like some sort of zoo animal, but since their faces were full of smiles as they piled on top of each other just to look at me through the window I… kinda didn't mind?

Also, why are most of them girls-

"We're here, Neo," a large hand dropped on my shoulder and I snapped back in the present.

I nodded at Laceresta in thanks and slid the doors open to the sight of…

Silence- which after experiencing just how loud and annoying my peers can be, I kind of appreciated, my classmates let me know of their congratulations by either nodding at me as I walked past, telling me that I did a good job for saving everyone, or in the case of Naviri, hugging me tightly just as I took a seat right next to her-

"I didn't know you were that strong!" She tightened the hug and from the way that she felt stronger than before, I just knew that she was using a strength-boosting Technique while doing this- she tightened the hug even further and I wheezed, "how are you that powerful huh?!" She broke the hug and started poking my cheek, "tell me!"

Satti nodded, "she does have a point," he said, tone serious, "I didn't know you were holding back during… well, everything,"

"My pact with Fafnir helped with it by a lot I think?" I pointed out and only got dry stares in response.

"A Pact only makes both parties grow stronger when the human is stronger than the magical creature," pointed out someone from in front of us and it's… uh, a girl with black hair and pale skin, who is she again- oh- there's an emblem of a silver crow on the right side of her uniform's chest.

Korbinian turned to me, "Korbinian,"

"Neophyte," I replied, "nice to meet you."

"Likewise, so, you were stronger than Fafnir before you made your Pact, why hide it?" Korbinian looked at me with narrowed eyes while I remained silent. "Also, how? She's an adolescent Dragon, one of them would've been enough to kill an Omegafauna that can threaten an entire Kingdom."

"Uh…" what do I say here? That I had a past life so I know about endgame level Techniques? Bad idea- okay, how about that I spent most of my childhood literally working to become stronger? Is that a good answer? It's an honest one sure but will they even believe-

"Neophyte has been training from the day I came to her side," Zath replied for me and Korbinian turned to her, "that's why she's strong,"

"Right, guess it does make sense," Korbinian nodded, "but-" I held back a frown, what's up with this? "That's the case for most of us isn't it?" The summoner turned to Naviri, who averted her eyes, "almost everyone here trained ever since they were a child, and I'm pretty sure that none of us can beat a Demon Duke 2 on 1, or, really, cut its hand off when it's guard is down,"

"Well…" I started, "I uhm- train on a Gravity Well?"

"I do too, actually," a guy to my right said and turning to him let me see a boy with dark-blue hair and a muscular build, from the hair and eyes, I recognized him as Brine, a member of Whirlia, "and I will never claim to be as strong as you-"

"Then you're all weak," Laceresta cut him off loudly, "the problem here is obvious, you're all weak." She said, "either work harder or deal with it."

I stared blankly before the situation caught up to me and this is the perfect time to pitch this out isn't it?-

"... we can start a club and train together," I suggested, "I don't know how to do it yet-" okay, maybe saying it out loud when I haven't planned things out is a bad idea now that everyone is staring at me expectantly… "- and uh- I mean but maybe we can… you know, try to make a club and train together there?"

"Neo your face is red," Naviri pointed out and- yeah, yeah it is, my cheeks feel like they're burning right now.

"I know," I squeaked, "I'm a bit embarrassed." I chuckled nervously.

 

[Mirriam Grave]

Neo accidentally pushing the LGTB community into existence and prominence.
Also, I am starting to wonder if maybe she really isn't gay, but some kind of Demi instead.

 

[NotACryptid]

Neo accidentally pushing the LGTB community into existence and prominence.
Also, I am starting to wonder if maybe she really isn't gay, but some kind of Demi instead.

Click to shrink...

Eh, she's getting there, Neophyte never really had the chance to mature in both lives so her preference is downright undecided, she still has her past life's standard societal orientation- which are that girls should be liking guys, - so her acknowledging that other things are possible are kind of hard for her to do right now.

 

[NotACryptid]

"- and that is what you can and can't do across the school," our adviser said as she finished reading out all the rules and regulations within Pledge Academy, "and since that's now done, we're gonna move on to enforcing the rules I just read out and start nominating your classroom officers, first starting with the president-" as she turned her back to us and wrote the words- President: - down on the blackboard, all of my classmates were suddenly looking at me, making me blink, what's happening? Is this a coup?! "- I already wrote her name down since I know that she is going to be nominated regardless but just to be sure, who here wants Neophyte to be President?"

… all hands were raised-

Wait-

Wait- this isn't supposed to happen-

The people of Everlast are rebelling against their princess! I stood up to tell everyone they're clearly picking the wrong person to become the head of our classroom here.

"I don't think I'm fit for this role though?" I said, breaking the silence borne out of unity, (or in other words, a coup,) inside the classroom, and now that everyone isn't obsessed with nominating the wrong person into such an important role, I cleared my throat and prepared a speech about how I was not simply built for this role, say bad things about myself like… my… my…

Thoughts died down from the nervousness and fear of just standing there looking like an idiot so I decided to say the first thing that came to my mind, "I mean, isn't this too much responsibility to give to someone like me?"

I heard a sigh and thought it came from Zath but apparently not since when I turned to her, she was silent and just staring at me with a tilted head.

"Put your hands down," our teacher said and she and I were looking directly at each other now that the wall of hands went down, "your majesty," she said, I averted my gaze and looked down, damnit, this is unfair, there's so many others in this room that's better at me than this- I sighed and slowly started to sit back down, "keep standing," she said and I did, "look at me," I did, "let me ask you, Neophyte, are you gonna shirk off your duties?"

"... no," I answered, that would just be stupid of me, especially with Lucille in the classroom.

"Are you only gonna do your job halfway?" I shook my head, "so you're saying that you're gonna work hard and fulfill your role as President no matter what?"

Well if that's what I need to do then I have to don't I? I can't just abandon my post, "yes," I answered, "I will, I'll fulfill my duty as president no matter what-" something snapped in me and I couldn't finish, I glared at everyone, "if I get it in the first place," I crossed my arms defensively, I'm not backing down damnit, I'm still too irresponsible for this role, "I'm sure other people will do this role quite well too,"

"Let me ask you then," she said, "do you know how to act as this class' president? Do you know how to lead the other officers?"

"Yes." Of course I do.

"Then I don't see the problem," our teacher started beckoned for me to come to her, "write down the rest of the roles and get your classmates nominated into them," she instructed, "after that we'll spend the remaining time discussing the start of Demon Biology,"

I nodded and stepped up to the stage to do what I was told, I wrote the rest of the roles down; Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and then finally, Officer. Once those names marked the blackboard, I started the nomination for the next role, "any nominations for vice president?"
I faced my classmates and all of them raised their hands, I scanned the room and wondered that they wouldn't find it strange for me to just straight up remember their names even though rolecall only happened once right? Right?

Right-

"Karsten?" A pious girl that's literally in possession of a Pledge that can only be described as a Seraphim wouldn't pick a bad person as a Vice President right? With a hopeful smile, I eyed the white haired girl- like white, white, enough that her hair makes my eyes hurt if I stare at it for too long, - and waited for her nominee.

Karsten met my gaze and I nodded at her.

She stood up- "I nominate myself as Vice President."

Well… I guess she didn't pick a bad person to nominate per se but is this even allowed? I turned to our adviser and she looked up from reading her class plan and nodded, "I'll allow it,"

I wrote Karsten's name down, "other nominations-" a few hands raised themselves and I picked another student, "Hail," I called out the name of a light-blue haired boy from House Nimbusegia.

He stood up and bowed, "I nominate myself-"

I cut him off, "is everyone just gonna nominate themselves?" I asked and got a series of nods, "is there anyone who doesn't want to nominate themselves as the person I'd be dumping all my paperwork to?"

Hail raised his hand, I nodded at him, "I thought that would be the secretary? Don't the president and vice president only plan out class activities and other projects?"

I paused at that… is that what we're going to do? Plan stuff? I turned to our adviser and Miss Garnish gave me a nod of confirmation, huh, guess this job is easier than I thought, "you are only going to be planning for your class' activities yes," our teacher said, "and also making groups for any would-be projects for your subjects, and I guess you can also suggest things in the classroom and we'll consider it,"

"Got it," I murmured and wrote down Hail, "other nominations?" I asked.

Hands raised themselves, "Stream?"

"I nominate myself," the blue-haired girl said.

"Okay, other nominations?" I asked as I wrote her name before turning back and picking a member from House Eruptia, "Fumerole?"

"I nominate myself," he said and I wrote it down.

"Okay, two more," I said, noting that all of the members of the notable Houses now have names written on the blackboard so they shouldn't be angry at me for 'being biased' or whatever, I picked another student, "Satti?"

"I nominate Naviri," he said without missing a beat.

I wrote it down and faced the groups of raised hands for one last name, "Lucille?"

The girl blinked like she wasn't sure I just called her name before snapping up- "well uhm- I want to nominate Zyra?"

"Not yourself?" I said with a smile and decided to push a bit more, come on, nominate yourself and be a part of this thing like in the game pleaseeeeee- it'll really give me peace of mind if you dooo- "I think you're capable enough for the role of vice president but if you don't want to then…" she stayed silent and I held back a sigh as I wrote Zyra's name on the blackboard.

I was on the first letter of Zyra's name when our teacher said something that even I was surprised about; "you were the one who killed that Demon Baron with your team correct?"

"Well- uhm-" I turned back in shock and saw that all eyes were now on Lucille and I get it, I completely do- she killed a Baron? Wait no- that's only a bit surprising since she's the Hero, "yes…" she meekly said while looking down.

"I saw the dead Baron and the corpse was dried up," I said, adding my own two cents into the conversation, "and you do have a Sanguine Pledge so it checks out,"

"There could be other people who have Sanguine Pledges inside the Academy," Fumerole said in denial, "it couldn't just be her?"

"How'd you beat it?" I glossed over his words and questioned Lucille.

"Well, we beat it, me, Nickos, Yhaine, and uhm, Zyra," she pointed to all the mentioned people and I smiled, guess she did get her standard "starter" party after all, I didn't comment and simply stayed silent, "but as for how… we worked together-"

"Lucille did most of the heavy lifting though," Zyra pointed out, "Nickos gave us silver coating and boosts sure but it was Lucille's idea to splash the Demon's legs with condensed light so that it gets crippled, she also dealt the killing blow using the same method."

"You were the ones who ransacked the first aid kits in several classrooms correct?" The party nodded guiltily, "in any other circumstance, you would be paying for the property that you ruined but I'll let this one slide and not write it down, good job on such a feat."

"Thanks," Lucille bowed.

Things calmed down- but sadly Lucille still refused to be a part of the Officers, - and I finished writing Zyra's name and faced my now silent classmates, "okay, that's the last one," I said and started the next part of the nominations: Voting.
"Anyone wants to vote for Karsten?" A lot of hands were raised, I counted them all, and wrote down 11 next to Kartsen's name, huh, I didn't expect her to get that many votes honestly, that's almost half the class, "Hail?" a measly 4, "Fumerole?" 5, "Naviri?" 3, and then finally, "Zyra?" got the remaining 3, which is Lucille, Laceresta, and Fafnir, Zath and the rest of her party voted for Karsten earlier.

I wrote Karsten's name next to the role of Vice President, she went up the stage and gave me a bow, "I'm honored to work with the Saintess," her hair somehow became brighter after she said that…

"I'm not the Saintess," I refuted as I removed my hands from my eyes, my words only earned an understanding smile in response.

"... right, moving on, nominations for the secretary are now open," I said and despite this being literally the role where all the Officers will dump most of their workload onto, a lot of hands still went up and in the end, we got a willing guy who will write everything down in the form of Nickos, good for him. I think?

For the Treasurer, we got a guy from Whirlia named Slue and after he got nominated we started the nomination for the last member of classroom officers, and to no one's surprise, the role of Officer was a battle between Garth, Charcoal, Laceresta, Eber, and Frovan and one won amongst them all by a landslide- the Beast King.

I smiled at Laceresta as she walked up the stage, "I never expected that I'd get nominated," she said, grinning a bit, "so do I punch people or?.."

"Goddess no!" Karsten said in- genuine, - horror, "you just scare them into being proper students,"

"So I punch them," she said, waving the pious girl off, "it's fine, they're Pledge Bearers, they're strong enough to take a punch or two,"

"..." Karsten simply remained silent in response which honestly? Yeah, that's fair, I don't think I'd say something about it either, if anyone wants to mess around with Laceresta acting as the Officer of the classroom then great, I wish them luck.

So the picking of the classroom officers went by without a hitch and now that we're done, we went back to our seats.

Afterwards our homeroom turned into Demon Biology and without wasting time, Miss Garnish went forward to start her lesson, "first, I welcome you all to Pledge Academy, congratulations for getting in," her words were met with calm claps to ourselves followed by silence, "good, I expected this much discipline from all of you,"

"Now, to start the first of our lessons," she grabbed a chalk and wrote down the words Demon Biology at the center of the blackboard, "we will have a brief introduction into Demon Biology by discussing one of a the Demons' most vital body part," she turned to us and looked around, "so, what is Demon Biology?" Miss Garnish walked to the side of the classroom and picked up the Demon statue that had half its insides exposed and placed it up front, "Demon Biology is exactly what it says, it is the study of the various parts of the Demon Body as well as how it functions,"

She pointed at a part of the exposed brain, at an organ that had an oval shape and a smooth surface, "for our first lesson on this subject, let's talk about what makes Demons so dangerous- no, it's not their sin, put your hand down Karsten," the pious girl did so with a frown, "but their reproduction," our teacher pointed at the smooth organ at the top of the Demon's brain, "this organ is mostly responsible for that, it doesn't have a true name that we have translated from the spoken words of the Demon Lord but we do have a term for it; Bleed."

The teacher pulled out the egg-shaped organ and started showcasing it, "Bleeds are what can be considered as the reproductive organs of any given Demon, including the Demon Lord himself and what it does to "birth" more Demons is a mystery to us but theory has it that it is essentially capable of harvesting the energies of infected lands and turn it into a living being." Her grip tightened around the organ, "Bleeds are thought to coalesce the energy on top of the sleeping Demon before materializing it when the Demon gives the ball of energy an image through nightmares so vexing that the creature accidentally casts a powerful Technique in its sleep, and thus is the birth of a Demon,"

The lesson went on about the organ and how it functions as well as the various theories surrounding its function and how it may very well be able to be used to create materials out of nothing or even create living, non-demonic creatures, until eventually, it ended with our teacher saying- "now, I'm not saying these following words to say that Pledges and Demons are the same but we do have ways of suddenly creating items in the spot don't we?"

I nodded at that, huh, I never thought of that before…

"And no, we don't have organs for Pledges on our brain," our teacher said while staring in a particular direction, "it's in our soul and according to most confirmed studies, calling a Pledge is the same as casting Techniques, in that it causes our soul to suddenly flare up whenever we do it,"

Miss Garnish placed the Bleed back onto the head of the Demon before dragging it back to the side of the stage, "now, in our next lesson, I'm gonna discuss why it's so hard for us to utilize Demon parts for our uses, which is mostly because they turn into sludge during death but also because of another, particularly odd organ within their stomach,"

Our teacher picked up her stuff from the desk on the side of the stage and waved at us.

"See you next time- and wait for your next teacher in silence, I don't want any of you to be loud during the small moment where you're all alone got it? Neophyte, go up to the front with Laceresta and make sure that they don't do anything stupid."

We all nodded and I stood up to go do what I was told and Laceresta quickly followed, I sat on the teacher's chair while Laceresta stood next to me and glared at everyone, not that her authoritative actions stopped her from talking herself of course, "so Demons can cast techniques?"

"They always can," I answered, "the Demon King being the best example for that but you can also look at the sins," I said, "we managed to… study them on the field after we found a way to put them to sleep using Techniques that somehow manages to make it so that they don't kill themselves and after dissecting the sins, we found out that the Bleed of these particular Demons are larger than most, it also has a series of roots that goes down onto the brain and their spinal cord," I said, "and thanks to their upgraded bleed, they're in a constant state of casting some sort of Technique,"

"So you knew about it?" Laceresta asked, I nodded, "then why did you look like you realized something earlier?"

"I… never thought about creating something using Bleeds before," I replied with a frown.

"But you have with other methods?" Laceresta asked.

"Yes?" I said easily, there's plenty of "duplication glitches" within the game, and the most common one is- "you can ask the Goddess for something and if you're dedicated enough, she'll give it to you," I said, "you can also find a Cavernous Pitcher Plant on magical forests, like the one around Exube and give it a seed called Heart's Desire followed by a piece of the thing or being that you wanted to duplicate and you'd get it," I hummed, "I never knew that Bleeds can work like that too,"

"Why research that?" Someone from the front asked and since Laceresta didn't glare at them, I assumed that the Lioness was curious about it as well.

"Just felt like it," I said without facing the student, I can tell that it was Inferno from the voice alone though.

"Or you want to make something that you can't naturally make yourself," I blinked, then just who the speaker was caught up to me and I glared at Charcoal, I swear if she says- "do you want to make a child sister?"

"W-what? No!" I defended and got stared at by several accusing gazes.

"It does make sense," Karsten said with a thoughtful nod, "I remember two old men back in my hometown asking the Goddess for a child and succeeding so I guess her majesty's claim makes sens-"

"I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO SCULPT!" I shouted before snapping my mouth shut and covering it with my hand. I cleared my throat, "sorry, but that's really not my goal-"

"How do you know it was sculpting?" Asked Frovan- and dude, I thought you were meek!

"Yeah Neo? How did you?" Charcoal asked accusingly and I groaned.

"I've heard stories…" I trailed off and got met with silence thick with skepticism, "... and uh, among them is that particular story of two guys practicing their sculpting until it was good enough for the Goddess so she gave them a child for their dedication, it sounds like a myth so it's pretty widespread."

"Nope, never heard of it."

"I didn't even know that the Goddess did that!"

"How widespread is it? I've never heard of it."

"Is it from a faraway Kingdom?"

"Yes, it's from a faraway Kingdom." I said with a nod choosing to reply to one comment among many.

"Neo, you're not helping yourself when you say that," Naviri said with a chuckle.

"Okay, just so you all know, I am not planning on making a kid okay?" I glared at all of them.

They all nodded. Good!

 

[Mirriam Grave]

Ok, first of all... Neo, why you fold like soggy cracker? XD
Two, Laceresta went into her new role swinging. Already she has threatened everyone to behave or she would punch them... this being the same woman who took on and killed SEVERAL Demon Barons during the recent invasion.
Three,

"It does make sense," Karsten said with a thoughtful nod, "I remember two old men back in my hometown asking the Goddess for a child and succeeding so I guess her majesty's claim makes sens-"

Click to shrink...

Goddess approved homosexuality. Nice!
Also, Pinocchio equivalent tale. Double Nice!

"Okay, just so you all know, I am not planning on making a kid okay?" I glared at all of them.

They all nodded. Good!

Click to shrink...

Fourth, Neo, why you so stoopid?
At best your class is thinking 'Yet.'
More than likely, they are thinking that you already claimed you aren't good at sculpting, so are not 'making' a kid. But the other two don't qualify as 'making' so it is still on the table. XD

Also, I truly liked how you got around the whole having a 'heir' thing for Neo in regards to her ever growing Lesbian Battle Harem.
And that Neo's game knowledge for duplication tricks comes to bite her like that. Considering how her game knowledge KEEPS biting her over and over and over again, I am genuinely shocked Neo is still such a staunch follower of it. XD

Side note, do we have any knowledge on the other prophecies?
Besides Lucille and Laceresta I mean?
Does Lucille's 'standard' party include others, or are they just the other important but not 'important' characters, like in the Kiseki games? Where everyone is important but only the Awakeners are 'important'... besides the 'Ogre' of course. XD

 

[NotACryptid]

Pledge and Light Theory was the class that followed after Demon Biology and our teacher for the subject was this man named Han Vonhaum- a relatively short guy with a clean shaven, handsome face and a head full of dark hair, - and he wore a simple checkered shirt on his person as well as the mandatory pants that the Academy enforces needs to be worn, which he modified; in our teacher's case, his is a pair of dark-gray Cargo pants with six pockets.

After entering the room with a confident gait, he walked up to the stage and gave us all a warm smile, "congratulations for passing, and welcome to Pledge Academy," were the first words he said to us while placing his personal belongings on the teacher's desk to the side of the stage.

He then grabbed a piece of chalk before walking over to the blackboard to write down his name:

Han Vonhaum- also known as a favorite teacher amongst players because his and another teacher's classes give the ability to create "unique" Techniques after attending them a few times, and the process of making them is pretty easy too since creating the Techniques used pre-determined assets such as a blank "wall" asset that the player can turn into a Fire Wall, Water Wall, Wind Wall, or Earth Wall depending on their build and preference.

Not that the simplicity lessened their usefulness by any margin of course.

Our teacher faced us with a kind smile, "I see that all of you are well behaved, good on that,"

Moving over to the front of the stage, Sir Vonhaum started his lesson with a question, "to start, I want to ask something- what is a Pledge?"

Expectedly, because of their first hand experience with Pledges, most if not all of the nobles/everlast citizens were confident in raising their hands while the Florists and Faunists kept their hands down, our teacher scanned the room and let out a small yet encouraging smile, "it's okay, no need to be shy," he said to everyone who didn't have their hands raised.

Meanwhile, I silently eyed Lucille, who looked constipated as she wrestled her hand, which was constantly going up and down.

Our teacher followed his words of encouragement with ones of reassurance, "this isn't graded and no one's here to judge you,"

"R-right," I heard Lucille say and with a sigh of relief from not being graded, she raised her hand.

Sadly, no one other than her changed their mind and raised their hand and our teacher continued the lesson without any further delay on his part, "Now, I'm curious about what most of you think a Pledge is but in particular, I want to hear your opinion on it, your majesty," I held back a groan, it could only be one your majesty he's referring to isn't he?

All eyes turned to me, I chuckled nervously, "I think he means Charcoal?"

"Not quite," our teacher shook his head, "if you will?"

I stood up and prepared to answer, well… according to the lore- "Pledges are materialized emotions, it's what makes them so effective against Demons,"

Sir Vonhaum nodded, "good answer, and a factually correct one," he complimented, "but a small correction, Pledges don't represent the entire spectrum of emotions but what fuels it," I tilted my head, is that- no, no of course not, it's not what's written in the lore, "Pledges are more like materialized will, making her majesty's second answer correct, in that they are effective against Demons, especially that of sins, because what else would defeat the temptation of vices but our will?"

I nodded at that… I guess it does make sense but the Lore is literally the thing that explains this world so uh, yeah…

"It's fine to speak your mind about what you think Pledges are," Sir Vonhaum commented when he saw that the raised hands had now gone down, "the princess' answer is factually correct yes but I didn't ask this question for that alone, I want to know what you all think of the weapons gifted to you by our Goddess, even if the answer is wrong, it just has to be technically correct."

A few hands raised themselves again and our teacher picked a random student, who just happened to be Korbinian, "how about you miss?.."

"Korbinian Unleer, sir," said the girl sitting in front of me.

"Nice to meet you," our teacher replied with a nod, "now, what do you think Pledges are? And remember, it doesn't have to be correct, just right."

"Pledges are proof of our responsibility," was the admittedly good answer, at least in my opinion, and from the way a few hands went down, a few of my classmates felt the same way as well, "they are also reminders that we have the Goddess by our side, always."

"Good answer, and you are right, Pledge Bearers are responsible for not just our personal safety, but the rest of humanity as well, we are what stands between safety and total oblivion," Sir Vonhaum nodded and Korbinian took a seat, "next would be… how about you young sir?"

Inferno stood up, "Pledges serve as a reminder that power reveals and what a Pledge Bearer does with it is entirely up to them, be it good or bad,"

Yeah sure asshole- I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at Inferno's back and mock him for being such a hypocrite, yeah, power reveals, definitely, it fucking shows just how abusive someone like him can become just because he has it but also-

"Are you okay?" Fafnir asked, cutting my internal tangent.

"Yeah, I am." I said, huffing, "just thinking that Pledges also mask someone's reputation, not just reveal their intention,"

Inferno turned his head slightly to look at me and I stuck my tongue out at him. He quickly looked away like the coward that he is.

What an asswipe.

The lesson went on with the teacher asking several students- Karsten said that "Pledges are a gift we must share," Brine said "Pledges are a source of power," and finally, Lucille said that "Pledges are a proof of purpose," adding that Pledges are also, "a guide for a better world,"

Which is kinda similar to Korbinian's answer but also not really? I don't know, she didn't seem like she minded it so I guess she either didn't care or didn't even notice it because of how far off Lucille's answer was from her own.

"Good answer, all of you," nodded our teacher.

Sir Vonhaum walked to the front, "now, let's discuss what Pledges really are shall we?" He started, "her majesty was right, Pledges are materialized emotions, specifically, our will," he went back to the blackboard and wrote things down and that was when I realized that this is why Bismuth said we needed notebooks- I turned to my right and frowned, how did Laceresta of all people come prepared for this?

As my classmates wrote things down- while I was memorizing everything and burning the words into my memory, that's what I was doing yep, not just staring into blank space, - Sir Vonhaum went on and explained the things he wrote down, "and the growth of Pledges is highly dependent on our will and perseverance-" those two particular words are underlined, "- so with that in mind, we can all conclude that the personal power of a Pledge Bearer is their own, never the Goddess', so when people claim that the power of a bearer is dependent on the Pledge itself, it is safe to say that they are wrong,"

Pfft, see? Even a teacher thinks that all Pledges are the same in terms of power- Lucille raised her hand and I instinctively looked at her Sanguine Pledge… wait- obviously Sanguine Pledges are the exception to this rule since by definition, they're meant to grow, and it's obvious that it's because of that they are meant to start out as weak…

But then again there has never been an explanation for those ingame other than "it's for Hardmode, obviously," and so I considered them not canon but they obviously are…

"Lucille?" Our teacher called.

"Well… what about uhm- Sanguine Pledges?" The Heroine asked.

Sir Vonhaum, completely unlike what I expected, kept his confidence and gave out an answer that made complete and total sense, at least in terms of him not reading about ingame lore- "Sanguine Pledges are unique in that aspect," he answered. "see, the Goddess is benevolent and patient so she gives those who have yet to decide on what kind of Pledge Bearer they want to be an opportunity to walk a path of their own,"

"Although it is the Goddess that mostly picks what kind of form a Pledge will take, she understands that the Pledge is worth just as much as its Bearer and thus, knows that those who don't understand their given weapons won't be effective, and that is why Sanguine Pledges exist,"

I nodded in understanding, it does make sense, so I guess the teachers do have an understanding of their own when it comes to the Pledges huh? Kinda neat, I thought that they knew the same stuff they did ingame.

And going by his words, how did Lucille get- wait that can't possibly mean that she mistook me for the actual Hero right? And that's why she has a Sanguine Pledge-

As if to answer my paranoid thoughts, Sir Vonhaum added an explanation as to why Lucille has a Sanguine Pledge- "Now, as for the Heroes of the past who possessed Sanguine Pledges of their own, I think it all boils down to them being placed in a rather unique, but in the end, dangerous circumstance, see, whenever the Demons rise in number to the point that they become hard to control, the Goddess gifts the Hero a special Pledge, one that can grow based off of the amount of Demons and Monsters that they slay, and the constant conflict from the large number of Demons means that the Hero's potential for power also increases, and it'll just go up the more Demons that's felled by his blade, hence why heroes also have Sanguine Pledges."

So it's because things went out of control huh?.. it's still my fault…

I swallowed down a bitter sigh and continued listening to the lesson, and eventually, we went on to stop talking about what Pledges are to the functions of Light, and our teacher's take on them is definitely interesting- "Light makes up everything," obviously it's atoms or whatever but go on teach, tell us what might as well be Fantasy science, "but why is that?"

Before anyone could raise their hand, our teacher continued, "it's because everything has a soul, even if it is rudimentary, and thus makes everything be in possession of Light," he explained with such a serious face I might just believe him, "it is what makes reincarnation so random because in one moment, you might be a human but in the next? You can spend millennia as a rock,"

"And Light, in the next context, is the power of the soul," he explained and went back to the blackboard to erase what he had written down and replaced it with a new series of explanations, this time about the power of the soul, it even has a neat little equation, which our teacher explained once he went back to talking, "this equation right here is what makes Techniques possible," he pointed to it, "this," he turned his finger to the letter W at the start of the equation, "is our willpower and what it does is it acts as force for Light while Light affects the power of Techniques,"

It's willpower till the bottom huh? First Pledges and now Techniques?

Our teacher pointed to another part of the equation, "and since Light is the power of the soul, our will affects that as well, allowing for mortals, under the right circumstances, to even overpower Omegafaunas,"

"Wow," I heard Naviri say and I turned to my right to see that she had gotten goosebumps while writing down the teacher's words.

Neat. Never saw that before.

"Our will is what allowed for the people of the past to fight back against the absurdity, to push it back, to go against it." Sir Vonhaum said with a proud smile, and honestly, I am too, even when they're not really my people, "and right as long as we continue to fight back, there is always a chance that we'll rise to the top,"

A beeping sound erupted out, interrupting my continuously spiraling thoughts as well as calling the end to our lesson.

Everyone turned to the source of the sound, Sir Vonhaum's bag, as our teacher gave us an apologetic smile, "well, I guess that's the end of our lesson for today," he said, "tomorrow we'll talk about the different types of Pledges, then discuss how those can affect Light, and then go into detail about each of them as the days go on, for now, you can all sit back and relax, oh, and make sure to study your notes!"

When he left, I groaned, "but I don't have them?.." I trailed off with a small whine.

"I have written them down for you, mistress," Zath, the light of my life, my ever reliable friend said and I faced her with a smile.

"I really can't thank you enough-"

"Start by not getting her to copy your notes," Charcoal barged in and I glared at her, she glared back, eyes flaring red, "write your notes Neophyte."

"... fine," I reached my hand out and Zath gave me the spare notebook she was writing for me on.

"Can I ask you both something personal?" Korbinian and her seatmate- Sleet Nimbusegia, - both turned to me, and I nodded, "what is your relationship with your maid exactly? I thought that you two are beyond asking each other for chores-"

"Zath insists," I snapped.

"Oh." Korbinian turned to my maid, "is this true?"

"Yes," Zath nodded, face red from anger- you can snap at her Zath! Tell her that your duties are important! It's fine! You always say it! You can do it now too!

"Zath takes care of us actually, like last night when she cooked dinner for us," Fafnir chimed in while Laceresta nodded, "I'd say she's the dependable big sister when it comes to our relationship,"

"Right. That." Laceresta chorused. "And you should mind your own business, you turning back like this is getting annoying,"

"... I will, next time," Korbinian nodded and faced me, "I am sorry, I didn't know."

"It's fine," I waved her off, "you were clearly just worried about Zath and I get it, I did just get her to copy my notes," on accident, but I would never say that because that'll make me look incompetent for not bringing a notebook, "and like I said, I'm gonna start taking these from now on so you can sleep tonight knowing that my maid doesn't copy stuff for me during class, only cook, like yours."

"Again, I'm sorry," Korbinian bowed before turning away.

I nodded and turned to Zath, I smiled at her, "sorry,"

"I'm only doing my job-"

"You're a student," Charcoal cut her off, "when you're in this classroom, not a servant. Got that?"

"I'll remember that, thank you," Zath bowed.

"Okay, so now that we've established we're all equal, I want to ask, Fafnir, can you sense the soul of this desk?" my smug smirk fell when Fafnir nodded. "What?"

"It's very faint but it's there," she answered, "existing within the desk,"

"Maybe that's just light?" I suggested, I mean, the Academy would enchant their desks right? There's no way that there's actually a soul in this desk..,

"No, it's a soul," Fafnir said, "or else I wouldn't be able to sense it,"

"That's…" weird? "Are desks alive?"

"No, no they're not alive," Fafnir cut my train of thought before it could spiral, "they merely have a soul,"

"But didn't someone reincarnate as this thing? How are they not alive if they… you know, got reincarnated?" I pointed out and that got Fafnir to frown.

"Maybe the Goddess wipes the soul clean before she puts them into reincarnation?" Suggested my Dragon and that just got me to wonder how the fuck do any of these make sense because if the Goddess does wipe souls- including their memory, - then doesn't that mean that I would've reincarnated as Neophyte anyways? And if I did, then why are my memories intact? Are there others like me out there like I always thought?

If so, where are they? I haven't seen a single sign of them existing and if they always have, then where are the signs?!

Wait- is that what Vigoliths are? No one has figured out how a species of living rocks came to be but what if they're souls who reincarnated in rocks with their memories intact? But they don't visit their family though?.. Or even talk about their past life?..

Was their very first ancestor just like me and then they just turned into an actual species over time?

Goddess this is confusing.

 

[NotACryptid]

Ok, first of all... Neo, why you fold like soggy cracker? XD
Two, Laceresta went into her new role swinging. Already she has threatened everyone to behave or she would punch them... this being the same woman who took on and killed SEVERAL Demon Barons during the recent invasion.

Click to shrink...

Neophyte is, as always, getting ganged up on by everyone, poor her, there's no way that she's going to survive the rest of the school year if THIS is her first day.

Three,

Goddess approved homosexuality. Nice!
Also, Pinocchio equivalent tale. Double Nice!

Click to shrink...

Yep! The Goddess is kind of not really caring about relationship all that much you know, because if you can create humans anyways, what's the point of worrying about anyone not being able to make a kid?

Personally creating humanity has its perks.

Fourth, Neo, why you so stoopid?
At best your class is thinking 'Yet.'
More than likely, they are thinking that you already claimed you aren't good at sculpting, so are not 'making' a kid. But the other two don't qualify as 'making' so it is still on the table. XD

Also, I truly liked how you got around the whole having a 'heir' thing for Neo in regards to her ever growing Lesbian Battle Harem.
And that Neo's game knowledge for duplication tricks comes to bite her like that. Considering how her game knowledge KEEPS biting her over and over and over again, I am genuinely shocked Neo is still such a staunch follower of it. XD

Side note, do we have any knowledge on the other prophecies?
Besides Lucille and Laceresta I mean?
Does Lucille's 'standard' party include others, or are they just the other important but not 'important' characters, like in the Kiseki games? Where everyone is important but only the Awakeners are 'important'... besides the 'Ogre' of course. XD

Click to shrink...

She has all of that knowledge to make things, what else could it be for? A game? Pfffttt- silly Neophyte, duplication glitches don't exist in real life!

Oh yeah, definitely, games and duplication glitches don't get used all that much in most stories- especially the system breaking ones, there's so much potential when it comes to all the glitches that already exists in our world you know? So I thought, why not just use that to duplicate children?

P.S - these aren't really "glitches" though.

And as for why Neophyte still believes in her game knowledge- well, it is her biggest advantage.

Other "prophecies" don't really exist per se, think of it as like Final Fantasy or Genshin Impact, creating a party doesn't need to have a specific person, and the same goes for this fictional game, it doesn't matter which person is in what role right as long as said role is filled. Said roles also have additional "boosts" that has a button ingame.

 

[NotACryptid]

"And that'll be our lesson for today," those were the parting words of Nabatea Unchast- our Techniques teacher, - to us as he grabbed his belongings from the teacher's desk and left the room.

I closed my notebook, "so do Techniques really feel different for you?" I asked Fafnir as we stood up.

Techniques was our last subject for the morning period which meant that lunch was effectively upon us! Yayyyyyyyyy- but I'm not all that excited to eat food right now and instead, I'm very curious about whether or not what Sir Nabatea said about magical creatures perceiving Light differently than us is true, Fafnir hasn't answered my question even as we went to our locker though so I turned to her in concern and called her name, she usually doesn't space out like this, "Nir?"

"Hm?" My friend snapped the locker she and Laceresta were sharing- because she was apparently a new student instead of being part of our class already, which oddly enough, no one really bothered to correct? Isn't there an entire rule about this? I just thought she was always a part of the class but was simply too big to join or something…

My internal rant came to an end when Fafnir faced me and tilted her head, "what do you mean?"

"Are Techniques different for you because… you know, you see Light differently?" I repeated, wondering why she didn't hear it the first time.

"It is, somewhat," she confirmed but then she quickly shook her head, "but also not since I also use my thoughts to turn my Light into Techniques so I think it's not really all that different." She shrugged, "I don't think it is,"

Someone walked up to us then, "can I join in? Your talk sounds interesting, and I think that my experties in such a topic may prove useful since no one in this class has made a Pact with a magical creature other than you and me,"

I faced Korbinian, lips tightly pursed, and wondered- is this how she always talked? Man, she sounds stuck up… I don't really remember her much back in the game but you know what? Sure, I'd give her a chance.

I nodded and so did Fafnir, "we don't really mind,"

"Thank you," Korbinian bowed, "I think, what sir Unchast meant when he said that Techniques are different for magical creatures is that to them, casting Techniques is instinctive," Korbinian said, I nodded, she did have a good point, "but I also hear that more intelligent creatures like Dragons or Omegafaunas do have a series of self taught or even passed methods that don't just allow them to cast more complex Techniques, but also makes their instinctive Techniques stronger," I faced Fafnir after that explanation and my Dragon nodded, huh, pretty neat, "for most magical creatures though, they mostly rely on their natural instinct or need to be trained in order to properly cast Techniques,"

The raven haired girl raised her hand and with a snap of her fingers, a Shadow Crow materialized on top of it, tilting its head, the animal gazed at us with blood red eyes while perching atop its master's index and middle finger, it tapped one of Korbinian's many rings with talons that sucked in light, "Cacaw!"

Korbinian smiled up at the corvid, "my dear Unawa is a perfect example of a well trained magical creature, as she knows Techniques that most of her peers do not," after finishing her explanation, she rubbed the crow's neck, making the avian coo in pleasure.

We walked out of the classroom then and I decided that since it would be weird for her to split up with us after everything, I might as well invite her to eat with us, "do you want to eat with us?"

"I'd love to," Korbinian smiled, "anyways, I think it's time for my familiar to go and rest," with another snap of her fingers, the tiny crow dematerialized- which I assume must be some sort of Technique but probably not?.. I'm not really sure since Shadow Crows ingame could also disappear in an explosion of feathers to teleport somewhere else but those were fully grown, 4 feet tall Shadow Crows while the one Korbinian had just now is nothing more than a hatchling.

So I guess it is a training thing.

She did use it as an example earlier but just to be sure-

"Did you train Unawa to be able to dematerialize like that?" I asked and got a nod of confirmation in response. "Huh, neat."

The moment we stepped out into the hallway, Prescine was there to greet and escort us again, she waved, "Neophyte," she said to me before turning to the rest of the girls I was with, "Laceresta, Fafnir, Zathania, and you are?.."

"Korbinian Unleer," the crow caretaker introduced herself with a bow, "nice to meet you?.."

"Prescine Crescate," the student body president answered with a smile and a polite nod, "nice too meet you too, Korbinian,"

"Likewise," Korbinian shook Prescine's hand.

Honestly, I'm surprised that these two didn't know each other, with Korbinian belonging to a powerful military noble household- and isn't that a mouthful? - within the Vagran Kingdom, if memory serves me right, her father is either a Count or someone higher, Prime Minister maybe?..

One of those two.

Meanwhile, Prescine Exube is a princess who came to this school to learn to become a Slayer like everyone else.

One belongs to a family whose names are echoed throughout history and the other is one of the heirs to a Kingdom that is arguably the most beautiful in this world, I say arguably because the Hydrokith and the coral reefs that they're living in are also very nice to look at.

Anyways, like earlier, the reason for why the president of the student body came with us is because we needed protection, which she can grant thanks to her authority.

Take for example, the moment that we stepped into the crowd; students started shoving each other to run towards us and if I didn't know that this was something that the Player could avoid ingame then I would've activated Maximum Speed to go hide in a hole somewhere but since I didn't, I got to see the president raise a rectangular card.

And as per her authority, she used it so that the students who went near us would get detention by the end of the day, the IDs of the students glowed as the individual Light saved inside of them activated, "you're all gonna get detention if you go near us," she threatened with a sharp smile and a glare, "so if all of you can just act as proper students of this prestigious school, you'd have no problem and my council won't be slumped with work checking the logbooks for your names-"

One student tried to go near us while she was talking and his ID glowed red and he stared at it in horror while Prescine gave him a bored look, "you just don't listen do you?"

The now detentioned student meekly nodded before walking away in shame, since it's so useful, I decided to ask if we'd have something like it as well, since the Player character- and now Prescine, - also have it, "wait, are we gonna get something like this?"

"Hm? Yeah." Prescine nodded, "a week from now, after the school finishes your IDs." She gave us an encouraging smile, "taking your pictures should happen tomorrow, when the school day is over, and after that you all will have to wait as everything gets finalized,"

"Great!" I said with a bright smile, I can't wait until I can walk around the school whenever I want without getting swarmed by students, but I guess before that, we have to pester the president so I decided to apologize to her in advance, "sorry to inconvenience you before that," I tried to meet her eyes, "we'll make it up to you at some point," I grinned.

"Think nothing of it and besides, I get something school related out of it anyways," she giggled and I still tried to protest and noticing the hand that I was slowly raising, she sighed, "you being willing to aid my home Kingdom already made up for everything," Prescine replied, as if those two things are somehow similar- I mean, I'm being kind when I'm offering support to her Kingdom and there's no need for payment, it's not like it's a big deal after all. Meanwhile, being free for one week from being swarmed by students is kind of a big deal?..

And… I just realized my hypocrisy- fine, I'll allow it just this once.

"Thank you for coming with us," I said as we took a turn into the last hallway before reaching the cafeteria.

"And thank you for having me," Prescine replied and that's it, the conversation ended and we walked until we reached the place where we were supposed to eat and once there, I headed straight for one of the lines of students waiting to get their food to test out my newly gotten unlimited-money-cheat-glitch (or a credit card with unlimited money provided by the school,) but was quickly stopped by a hand that landed on my shoulder.

I glared at Bismuth and he glared back, asking, "What are you doing?"

"Getting food?" I said sarcastically, no shit?

"I-" he sighed, "Neophyte we're Royalty,"

"Uhuh, and?" I said, "Zath's no longer a servant while in this school which means that I'm also just a regular student now let me do this-"

"That's not how that works," Bismuth retorted, his glare never fading.

Karsten- when did she get here? - joined Bismuth's side and from behind me added, "the Saintess should have priority when it comes to meals," the pious girl hummed before grabbing my hand and dragging me to an empty table- rightfully leaving Bismuth behind, -and it was one of the larger tables too, which Karsten picked even when there's only around what? 6 of us?

Well, there's me, Laceresta, Nir, Zath, Korbinian, Prescine- oh and Karsten- there's only 7 of us and we're occupying a table that can fit over 10 students-

"Neo you're staring into space," Zath said.

"Aren't you guilty?" I asked accusingly, now only slightly pissed that the opportunity to use my unlimited credit card got taken away, this is more pressing anyways, "we're taking over a large table-"

"It's fine," Laceresta growled out, "who cares? Everyone else is okay with it,"

I reluctantly looked around and- yeah- I guess it's fine… No one seems bothered with it-

But what if they're hiding it?

"So Techniques," Zath started, picking a topic.

"Look, the servants are here," Karsten's small clap got me out of my stupor, I stared at Fafnir, she was pointing somewhere- oh, huh, she's right, 2 servants pushing a cart full of food are heading for us whilst several others were coming to my siblings as well as various other noble children.

That's… good- it's good that we're not looking stupid while sitting here,

"Neo, you don't need to drool, the food is gonna get here soon," Fafnir mocked which okay, you fat dragon.

"Am I the one who's drooling?" I smirked, looked up, and started tapping my chin, "look, the scales on your neck are slightly more glossy, from what? I wonder?.."

"There's a bit of bread stuck to your hair you know?" She said, face serious.

No there isn't- I checked for a few seconds and nope, I refuse to believe that there's a stray piece of bread just hanging in my head, the liar, "wow, I can't believe that you'd lie like that, now look, Karsten is glaring at you for lying,"

"You shouldn't mock the Saintess like this," she said with narrowed eyes before crossing her arms, okay, maybe I was wrong about her priorities but the point still stands- Fafnir is the one being scolded, "Powerhouse you may be, it is imprudent to mock the closest person to the Goddess herself."

"Right, she has a good point," I nodded, riding along with the pious girl's words, "see Nir?" I smirked, "you shouldn't mock me like this,"

"Are you saying that you're the Saintess then?" Fafnir retorted easily.

"N-no of course not!" I denied vehemently while shaking my head, "I- I- uhm, I was just playing along with Karsten's words!"

"Uhuh…" Laceresta trailed off and I thought that she was about to join in but she quickly shrugged and faced the servants pushing the food over to us, briefly, she looked away from the servants and faced all of us, "our next subject is combat right?" She asked, "can we ask the servants for more food?"

"Our next subject is combat?" I repeated her question, genuinely confused how she managed to find this particular piece of information on her own, not one of our teachers said anything about a schedule though? "How'd you know that?"

And that somehow got all of the girls sitting with me to speak out in unison-

"There's a schedule on the outside of the door?" Laceresta answered.

"There's a printed schedule on the outside of our classroom isn't there?" Karsten said with a tilt of her head.

"There's a schedule outside the classroom," Korbinian said.

"There's a schedule on the right wall outside our classroom," Fafnir pointed out.

"Usually, during the first few days of school, the advisers put up their class' schedules outside the door of their classroom, did you guys not have that? The Academy is pretty strict with it…" Prescine said in confusion.

"Mistress, I copied the schedule on one of your notebooks," I stared at Zath. She did that? When?

"... Neophyte? Did you not?.. Look at it earlier?" I frowned at Fafnir- so that's what it was about!

Also, they're ganging up on me on purpose aren't they?

"This is unfair," I slumped, I didn't know we had schedules! Well I mean I did but not that we had one of those on the door of our classroom!

"Well? Can we ask the servants for more food?" Laceresta asked again before adding, "I don't want to go into training with an empty stomach,"

"... what is empty for you, exactly?" Korbinian asked, tone curious.

"Around three plates of meat or so," Laceresta answered confidently and without an ounce of shame, "why?"

"Nothing," Korbinian shook her head, "just curious about how much a girl your size eats,"

"Is it that surprising?" Laceresta asked, eyebrow raised.

"Not really," Korbinian said, "I'm just surprised that you eat as much food her majesty Neophyte is rumored to eat, which are, of course, rumors, right?" She turned to me, I nodded with a tight smile, she nodded back, expression satisfied, "but yes, you can ask for more food,"

Laceresta smiled and nodded, "good, because I want to eat a lot during lunch if I want to do my training properly,"

…

"ARGHHHHH-" Laceresta's training, as it turns out, involved pulling entire logs using rope, she's only started and I can already tell that she's struggling to pull the 10 trees that she specifically requested would be cut for her day-to-day training and I'm already wincing in pain from just simply looking at her struggle like this so I can't imagine how it must feel for Laceresta.

"Neophyte," my focus went back to the things around me and I faced Instructor Quoketh with a chippy smile, our Combat Class teacher wouldn't be able to train and torture me like back then- "you're also doing that,"

"WHAT?!" I exclaimed suddenly, causing Karsten- how'd she get there? Also, since when had she started poking my stomach? - to flinch and fall to the ground with a yelp. I caught her arm before she reached the ground and pulled her back up, "sorry,"

The pious girl regained her calm demeanor and her widened eyes- that, just like her character portraits ingame, made her cuter, - disappeared as she fixed her white T-shirt to nod, "it is fine," she said with a shake of her head, "it was my fault for invading your personal space to start with,"

"Yeah… about that, why were you poking my stomach?" I said while gesturing at the dents and wrinkles on that particular part of my white T-shirt.

"I… was curious about how you were able to store that much food inside of you," she said- and poking my stomach helps with that… how?

"Oh that? My body digests food quickly, they're gone before I shove another piece of meat into my mouth," I replied, "Pledge Bearer bodies are efficient like that,"

"I see," she nodded, "I'm guessing the same goes for Laceresta as well?"

I repeated her nod, "yep!" I answered happily, "her body also digests and turns the food she eats into energy rich fat very quickly,"

"Hmm…" A thoughtful look crossed her face, "thank you,"

"It's fine, but if you want to do it, make sure that you train a lot beforehand to get your body used to that sort of thing," I pointed out, "because if you don't, you will get fat," I said, "your body needs to get used to burning and storing energy very quickly before you can get to my and Laceresta's level of eating,"

I turned away from her to listen to Instructor Quoketh but Karsten spoke again, "... let's say that I want to eat chocolate," she started and I snapped my head at her while holding back a grin, this is the first thing that I tested out! "Will… I?.. get…" her gaze went lower and lower with each word spoken.

"Nope!" I said happily, "you will not get fat,"

Joy quite literally washed over her features and she nodded, "I see!" She said, tone a lot more high pitched than it usually is, "thank you, Saintess,"

"You're welcome but I'm not the Saintess okay?" I said with a smile, I'm sure Lucille is gonna pick a proper Saintess for her party but that person simply isn't me, I'm strong, yeah, but still not on the level of the Saintesses in the past when they earn their title.

"Of course, Neophyte," she said.

"If you two are done," Instruc- Tea- Instructor Quoketh cleared her throat and when we faced her, she was pointing at the exercising students behind her, she then pointed at Karsten, "you-" then she pointed at the (I think 200 meter) track field our classmates are running on behind her, "- will need to join them, 10 laps across this field,"

Karsten eyed it and blinked, "so much?" She said, white hair glowing a bit, "but my Pledge is for support?"

"Yeah, and so is Nickos', and he's doing fine for himself, also, if you want to eat all you want like Neophyte, you better do as I say because I trained her since she was a kid, now get on with it." She clapped her hands and went over to Karsten to keep doing it until she started running, which she eventually did, "Good! Go! Go! Go!" Instructor Quoketh's grin was sadistic as she watched Karsten start running.

… said grin fell when she faced me, she gave me a nod of respect (a nigh mythical, super rare ingame emoticon by the way,) and then said, "so a Demon Duke huh?" She slapped my back and I wheezed, "good job, but that means you're gonna have to work extra hard to become even stronger and since there's no gravity well here, you're gonna have to push yourself to your highest unboosted speed and run across the entire field and I'm not talking about the one we're using."

"... no," I said meekly- I need to find the strength to deny her-

"What do you mean no?' Quoketh asked, "you're gonna run across this entire thing," she made a gesture of both her arms going outward into… well, everything and I quickly got the message, I already did when she first said it but I wanted to make sure first because running through the entire grassland behind the school is just overkill!

What the hell?!

"Neophyte, you're fast," she said, encouraging words entering one of my ears and out the next, "if you're worried about spending hours trying to run through this entire thing,-" Oh yeah, yeah, that's the problem, yep. "- you can rest easy knowing that you'd be able to run at least 80 laps throughout the two and a half hours for this class and with that being said you can run for-"

"Uh, 20 laps right?" I started doing my warm ups while shooting Instructor Quoketh with my best 'please don't do this,' smile and from the way she looked at me with disinterest…. It didn't work.

Damnit.

"60." She said and that was it, I had no choice but to get tortured.

I started my run by jogging and as I got further away, I heard our very, very evil teacher yell- "And remember! Jog first!"

Yeah, yeah, jog first before running immediately or else my heart would explode- I know that much. What does she think I was doing? Walking? "When you're that slow, you look like you're walking to me girl!"

Damnit.

 

[NotACryptid]

I was… exhausted and I felt refreshed because of it- sure, my heartbeat is literally pounding down my brain right now but I didn't care since I managed to get exhausted without using a gravity well and it feels pretty fucking refreshing!
I have to give it to Instructor Quoketh for being able to figure out my limits from just knowing that I'm strong enough to fight a Demon Duke, that's one hell of a talent and I'm curious if that applies to everyone? Can she figure out the physical limits of a Demon?

Maybe not since those guys are known to have little to no physical limits but it's still a pretty impressive thing for her to do.

"Now that all of you are done," Instructor Quoketh's voice rang out as several students started to sit on the grass around me.

Laceresta was among them and she sat right next to me with Fafnir and Zath shortly following, and while the latter was panting and sweating from exhaustion, my Dragon sort of just… sat there, a bored look on her face before it broke apart when she yawned.

"You don't like tired Nir," I said.

"Because I'm not," she replied followed by another yawn, "I just woke up,"

"And Instructor Quoketh allowed you to just… sleep?" I asked and got a nod of confirmation in response- wait, how is that fair? All of us had to exercise and she just went to sleep? "Why?"

"I'm a Dragon, our muscle keeps themselves at peak capacity no matter what," she turned to me and flexed her arm which… didn't change much, it was just as thin as it was before she flexed it, "it didn't show because of my scales but my muscles are there,"

"I believe you," I smiled at her, it's still super duper unfair though, "you did fight a Demon Duke with me weeks after you got out of the royal stables,"

She looked away, "Mhmm."

Okay, that's a sensitive spot for my Dragon, right, I forgot that she spent all of her childhood and half of her teenage years there, minefield aside- "I think it's kind of cool and I wish my muscles maintain themselves no matter what like yours do,"

"Then you wouldn't be able to grow strong," Fafnir said, her eyes still on Instructor Quoketh, who was explaining the physical part of our combat class which will involve us fighting each other, "a Dragon is stuck with the strength they were always meant to have, it doesn't grow, it doesn't weaken, it's just it."

I… "huh." I murmured, "you're pretty strong at least,"

"We both know that I'm the exception when it comes to that,"

"I know," I replied in a small voice, guess she's still thinking about her time in the stables, regardless- Fafnir is the exception when it comes to draconic strength, which means that she would be greater than most if not all Dragons when it comes to overall capability-

"But that's why you make Pacts with humans right?" Laceresta pointed out, "so that you guys can still grow in strength,"

"Mhmm." Fafnir nodded.

"Did you all get that?" Several students, including myself, nodded at Instructor Quoketh, "then how about we start with a little demonstration first?" She pointed at me and then at Laceresta, "you two, get up and go to this circle," I met Laceresta's gaze, she nodded and pushed herself up, I followed after her. We both went to the circle that our teacher drew on the ground, "now, remember that this is just a spar so these two aren't seriously fighting and no Techniques are going to be allowed,"

"Fair enough," Laceresta nodded, "I don't think I can catch Neophyte or even see her when she's going all out,"

"Exactly," our teacher agreed, "but before they fight, I want to talk about the difference in their fighting styles first," she pointed at me, "what do you all think Neophyte's fighting style is?"

Several students raised their hands but it was Charcoal that got called, she stood up, "mechanical precision,"

"Good answer, and a close one, but you're wrong," Instructor Quoketh replied, "anyone else? How about you?"

"Speed?" Lucille answered uncertainly.

"Are you asking me or are you answering?" Instructor Quoketh said while staring Lucille down.

The Heroine gulped, "well… uhm, her fighting style is speed."

"No," came the expected denial, "it's a part of it but being close doesn't make you right,"

"Oh…" Lucille sat down.

"Well, good tries, both of you," Instructor Quoketh nodded at the two of them, "Neophyte's fighting style is reach and relentless attacks," I tilted my head, is that the way I fight? I didn't know that… "she stays far away using her Pledge, which is her defense, and then ensures an onslaught of slashes against her opponent, which is her offense,"

Instructor Quoketh walked up to me, "some of you may have noticed that Neophyte never feints or cancels her attacks, why is that?"

"Because she forces people to block her attacks anyways, so what's the point of a feint?" Laceresta answered with a shrug, "she doesn't need to cancel her attack when her enemy is gonna go and block themselves,"

"Good point, and also the correct answer, but raise your hand next time," Instructor Quoketh nodded, "Laceresta is correct, Neophyte's offense is also a great defense because through her speed,-" I saw Lucille nod in the corner of my eye, "- she constantly sends out attacks that force her opponent to go into the defensive, it's a hard fighting style to counter, especially if you are only using a sword but it is possible, which brings me to Laceresta's fighting style,"

Instructor Quoketh went back to staring down her poor students, also, did she imply that my weakness is Laceresta? Not really right?

"What do you think Laceresta's fighting style is?" She asked.

Karsten was picked among those who raised their hands, "like the Beast Kings of the generations past, it would be Ferocity and Sheer Strength,"

"Exactly," Instructor Quoketh smiled, "and that makes the perfect counter for Neophyte's own fighting style, why? Because her reach would be useless when Laceresta is gonna push herself in Neophyte's personal space no matter what, and in this case, it also makes Neophyte's distance-based fighting style a weakness because if her rapier doesn't swing properly, it wouldn't be effective,"

I nodded at that, makes sense, but it's only in this context right? I mean I'm trapped in a ring with Laceresta so I can't move much.

"Meanwhile, Laceresta can easily choose to allow Neophyte to attack her because of her naturally toughened skin, especially if Techniques are in play but I'm not here to talk about that," our teacher shook her head, "regardless, it is important to note that because Neophyte is gonna be forced into close quarters combat, she wouldn't be able to do much, allowing Laceresta to beat her."

"I feel like this is just you insulting me," I murmured to Instructor Quoketh- which she thankfully didn't hear.

Laceresta chuckled, "well, it only works when we're in a ring," the Lioness said, "if we're in an open space I'd probably be forced to take hostages if I want you to go near me or something…"

I nodded, "I would have to save them and you'd capitalize on it,"

"Pretty much," the Lioness shrugged.

"But I can probably rescue them and move them to another spot before you even notice thanks to my speed," I pointed out.

"Yep." Laceresta nodded.

"- you're all probably eager to see the fight so I'm not gonna slow it down any further," Instructor Quoketh turned to me and Laceresta, "you can both start,"

"At least start a countdown first?" I said.

"If you want," our teacher raised her hand, and when it went down-

I was immediately forced into the defensive- okay, I'm the one who's supposed to have long legs so I can shorten distances! Not- ugh!

Laceresta went for a punch to my face and I moved my head to the side, she then went for a low kick and I backed off to dodge it and our exchange was then followed by punch, after punch that came as we both looked for an opportunity to call our Pledges while at the same time, we focused on either keeping our distance towards each other close (in Laceresta's case,) or were moving away (mine).

Laceresta's fist came for my neck and I jumped back- a mistake that she quickly capitalized on because she was stepping forward and sent out a kick before I regained my footing- I went to grab her leg to push myself out of the way but then quickly weaved to the left once I felt my soles touch the ground before letting out a punch of my own aimed directly at her gut.

An open palm went to intercept my hand and I had to pull it back before Laceresta clamped her fingers down on my fist-

Another punch came for my face- I moved back and when Laceresta stepped forward, I prepared to dodge another punch but what I didn't expect was for her to raise both her hands in the air in preparation to call her Pledge.

I gritted my teeth and anchored my feet on the ground, my form was shabby but I didn't care, I threw my right arm to my left, pointed downward and ready for a swing and just as a greataxe materialized on my opponent's hand, I called my own Pledge and swung at her neck-

CLANG

Both our weapons met and sparks flew outward, I pushed myself back and started slashing and hacking, making sure that she wouldn't get close while at the same time, keeping my positioning and stances firm to make sure that my swings were capable of damage.

And unfortunately for me, Laceresta knew what I was doing and she was moving in ways that either prevented me from letting out full swings or in the worst case, moved to my left side and forced me to move my rapier in a long arc whilst also being forced to take a step back while swinging- which cut the effectiveness of my slashes.

"Now, what did you all learn about their exchange just now?" Instructor Quoketh's voice rang out and fought against the clangs of both our weapons colliding, the edge of my rapier against the shaft of Laceresta's greataxe.

The win condition for Laceresta here is simple, and that's her managing to push me down by forcing me to parry against the head of her Pledge, which would get me disoriented enough that she would be able to move in and finish the fight.

"They were forced to fight with their fists?" Someone said.

"Yes, yes they were Hail," Instructor Quoketh said dryly, "what else?"

"They were finding opportunities to call their Pledge, which didn't come until later down the fight when Laceresta lost the distance advantage she had with Neophyte so when she realized that Neophyte would just continue putting distance between the two of them, she decided to cut her majesty's plan short and forced them both to call their Pledge instead," another person lengthily said, the time that took them to say all of that was enough for me to exchange a lot of blows with my opponent; from the Lioness' kick at my knee to my attempt at striking her hand a while after that.

"Good," Instructor Quoketh nodded, "and Zyra's right, the two of them were looking for opportunities to properly call their Pledge and Laceresta realized that Neophyte would've gotten the distance she needed sooner or later so she decided to force her to call her Pledge early, where the Lioness would've potentially gotten the advantage, but as things stand, they're at a stalemate since Neophyte is striking the shaft of Laceresta's greataxe to properly parry her attacks,"

But that can change- I silently said as I once again made sure to parry and hit said shaft with the middle of my rapier, if I miss once I lose, if I parry with the blade near the hilt my Pledge would be thrown from my hand or even shatter my fingers, and if I parry with the pointed tip, my parry wouldn't work- the fight was a delicate balance that needed me to be patient and wait for the right timing where I can-

Laceresta grinned and stopped her attacks. I tilted my head, "why'd you stop?"

"Look down." She said.

"And Neophyte loses," Instructor Quoketh said as I stared at my feet, letting me see that my right foot was, in fact, outside of the circle.

"... unfair," I said.

"It's the rules," Laceresta grinned.

"Now that the spar is finished," Instructor Quoketh came up to us, "how about you two explain your thoughts on the fight?" She turned to Laceresta, "starting with the winner, so you made her go out of bounds, why?"

"Because she would've won, obviously," Laceresta crossed her arms, "Neophyte was continuing to get distance and sooner or later, I would've been forced on the defensive while she tries to attack my hands to stop me from swinging right or even carry my Pledge," the Lioness pursed her lips, "so I decided to look to her footing and when I realized that she always goes back by a foot whenever she parries because there's an opening for me to attack inbetween that, I planned to push her out of bounds,"

I nodded, good point. Looking at my right foot… hm. Guess Laceresta figured it out, and it was my fault for not remembering there's a circle around us to begin with.

"But you also had other win conditions right?" I said, honestly mine were kinda limited since I wasn't as strong as Laceresta is physically and also not as tough as her, my only win condition involved my Pledge and I needed to get the distance necessary to even execute it.

Laceresa nodded, "I did, and it was punching you out before you can call your Pledge," again, not as strong as her, unfortunate, "then it was to make you parry wrong with my heavier weapon and then capitalize on it," again, involves strength, "and after that I went on with putting you out of bounds," that one actually required tactical acumen to do, neat, "if the ring didn't exist and you were able to run circles around me I would've lost,"

"All good points!" Instructor Quoketh grinned, "how about you Neophyte? What are your thoughts on the fight?"

"Well… I don't have anything more to say since Laceresta summarized everything so I just want to point out that everyone can do what Laceresta and I did when we called our Pledge, which is prepare for a swing beforehand, call it, and take your opponent by surprise," I answered.

"A good tip that everyone should know about," Instructor Quoketh nodded, "it is worth noting that Laceresta's words just now also summarized why Neophyte lost and that's because she was confined in a small space, if she were free to move around, things would've gone differently, which is why it's important for people with Pledges like hers to make sure they know how to pick their battles, don't go in cramped caves, small caverns, or even fight in houses, if you have a team, leave that sort of job to them and either act as lookout or backup."

Lucille raised her hand, "what if we're forced? What if someone from a cave is being surrounded by Demons and they need our help?"

Instructor Quoketh smiled, "then you do what's right."

 

[NotACryptid]

After Laceresta and I sparred, Instructor Quoketh decided to do a relatively small explanation on what to expect in the upcoming sessions, "I am doing this for all of you," she had her hands on her back and was glaring at the gathered students in front of us, "but just because that's the case doesn't mean that what I am doing is always right, this isn't what actual combat is and out there? There are a lot more options for you to do in a fight; retreat, fight, prepare an ambush, whatever- so don't go away from this class expecting that you are all expert Slayers because you aren't."

"Fafnir, come up here," our Teacher said and my Dragon followed, "Frovan," the large teen came and he… was shaking despite only being slightly shorter than Laceresta, making him infinitely taller than the rest of the class and my Dragon's humanoid form was small compared to his bulk.
Instructor Quoketh turned to Fafnir, "I don't expect you to fight in your human form most of the time but I know that you'll have to at some point, so this experience is fairly important," she said to the nod of Nir, "as a Dragon, you have natural instincts that help you fight and read the state of a fight better than anyone- but instinct can be refined through techniques, and Neophyte is teaching you how to fight yes?" Another nod, "good, I want you to hone them during these spars,"

Fafnir nodded, "I understand,"

I smiled encouragingly at her, "you can do it!" I whispered into her ear, "goodluck!" I said that one out loud.

"Thank you, Neo," Fafnir returned my smile with one of her own before turning around and walking inside the circle meant to represent the ring, a steely gazed Frovan was already on the other side, though he was also sweating and his face was whiter than a ghost, he gulped as Fafnir gave him a nod, "hope we have a good fight,"

"Go easy on me?" He said, his smile looking more like a wince.

"I'm afraid not." Frovan's much smaller- albeit armored, - opponent said with a shake of her head, "if I am as strong as a Demon Duke even in this form, I would not hold back just because you said so, I'd make it quick, the Demons wouldn't slow down just because you asked them to,"

"R-right," Frovan nodded followed by another gulp, "please make it quick,"

Fafnir nodded and they both waited for Instructor Quoketh to raise her hand and start the fight, when she finished her gesture, Fafnir was already in front of Frovan with a punch at the ready, she threw a blow to his stomach, which struck and caused the guy to wheeze and bend over coughing, and before anything could be done by him, Fafnir proceeded to strike his temple with the side of her gauntleted forearm and he fell to the ground with a thump.

"Well, that was… completely expected," I drawled, "honestly, when Instructor Quoketh said that we'll be the ones acting as a gate for our classmates to know how strong they are I didn't really believe her…"

Nir turned to me, head tilted, "I'm gonna continue fighting them?"

"We'll take turns," I said as she left the ring and walked up to me and Laceresta, "tomorrow it will be Laceresta's turn to fight some unfortunate soul while you and me spar, after that it's my turn to give a beatdown to one of our classmates," I explained, "and it's not like we won't spar with each other later anyways," I said, "it's either Laceresta or me who'll do it and we agreed to teach you so that you know how to fight without relying on your instincts, we'll show you what kind of punches are effective, when to sweep, how to spot opportunities, that sort of thing."

"Thank you," Fafnir gave me a grateful nod.

"Don't mind it," I returned her gesture.

After Fafnir came a standard spar and it was between Zathania and Naviri.

As the two combatants stood on the opposite end of each other, Naviri's mom (also known as Instructor Quoketh,) started explaining why they were picked to fight one another much like how she did for me and Laceresta earlier-

"These two can choose to switch between close and long range combat whenever they want, making them quite versatile but as you all can see, there are still two of them in the same class so you shouldn't think that you're unique just because your Pledges make you versatile," she said harshly, which both Zath and Naviri took in stride, honestly I would too knowing full well that Instructor Quoketh's words don't hurt as much as her exercise.

Instructor Quoketh eyed them down once she finished talking and Zath and Naviri nodded at the same time, a small gesture that told our teacher they were ready to fight and since they were, she raised her hand.

When it went down, a dagger flew for Zath's neck in seconds- but was quickly stopped by a wall of ice that formed in front of her, from my perspective, I was looking at a wide eyed Zath- who, at this moment, is definitely feeling glad that she opened up the fight like that.

Though instead of going the usual route of obscuring the area with fog, Zath made it so that the wall of ice turned to steam and the steam turned to water before solidifying back to icicle spikes that flew for Naviri's neck, who met them all with her daggers blow for blow.

Zath wasn't done though and she dashed forward, staff wreathed in flames and when she was close enough, she pulled off a feint that tricked Naviri and got her to grab hold of one of her daggers in preparation for a block- the action turned out useless as Zath did a sweep that Naviri jumped over and when their Pledges struck one another, they moved away from each other to take a breather and see the state of the fight.

"Naviri could've thrown a dagger at Zath just now right?" I said to the nod of Laceresta as well as Fafnir, "and Zath could've continued using her icicle spears, maybe turn it into armor or something to block Naviri's attacks,"

"Good point," Laceresta said as Zath started jumping back, her footsteps causing the ground to form a thin layer of ice that quickly spread across the ring and even on the ground outside of it.

"She's really turned out to be a pretty good fighter huh?" I couldn't help but say as I watched my maid- who just a few weeks ago couldn't even fight Naviri without her holding back, - start to break down Naviri's quick paced fighting style.

"It's not over yet," Fafnir said, "Naviri still hasn't used a single Technique, she's making something."

As Fafnir said, Naviri hasn't used a single Technique in the fight so far and when she did, [Feather Steps] came first and with her newly found foothold, she started treading and running across the icy ground without problem.

Naviri ran across the ring like the ice underneath her feet was just regular, solid dirt and the shock that Zath felt from seeing that caused her to almost get hit by a Dagger, but she thankfully dodged with a swift weave to the right.

And that was when Naviri went on the offensive, she cast [Novice Archer], which started allowing her to hit her daggers with efficiency, sure, Zath still managed to block them but without the worry of her possibly missing- in this close a distance at least, - Naviri was able to buy herself more attacks, and some were starting to move past Zath's guard.

Zath pulled off an attack when an opening presented itself and threw out a large ball of fire at her opponent-

Naviri easily dodged the fireball before seamlessly executing another Technique; back when Everlast was still a game, [Target] was a simple and admittedly weak spell that was only really useful in the first parts of the game, and despite the lengthy description, what it actually does is it allows for someone to "hit their target no matter what" - ingame, the effects translates into an invulnerable dash that can be used for cheesing certain enemies.

Here though? The Technique does exactly what's described-

With her new Technique, it didn't take long for Naviri to find the opportunity to strike and she moved forward, forcing Zath into close quarters combat and after that, she never left- continuing an onslaught of slashes with the daggers that she was both holding as well as the ones floating behind her, Zath was forced into the offensive and Naviri didn't let up, using [Minor Speed] halfway through to boost her speed further and continue her attacks.

Eventually, Zath lost-

"And you're out," Naviri said as she stopped attacking, breathing ragged from her fast paced movements, "good work, Zathania," Naviri nodded at her and offered her a hand, which Zath shook, "you really did get stronger,"

"I tried my best," my maid bowed, "thank you,"

"Yeah, Zath really did get stronger," I mirrored Naviri's words, "good work,"

My maid bowed, "thank you, mistress,"

After that, Instructor Quoketh did her usual thing, starting with- "yes, Techniques are permitted, it's only banned against Neophyte and most of her team," she said for the students who haven't figured it out yet, "now, why did Zath rely on her long ranged capabilities and Naviri didn't?"

One student got called- Sleet, someone from Nimbusegia, - they stood up and answered, "because Zathania knew that Naviri is better at her in close combat,"

"Correct," Instructor Quoketh nodded in approval, "Zathania knew that Naviri was better at her in close combat and so did Naviri, and true to that fact, when the distance between them got closed, the battle all but ended- most of the time that won't be the case, especially if you have a team but you all better be prepared to fight when you're at a disadvantage," our teacher explained, "next up are Lucille and Vicissi,"

"Now, why did I pick the two of them?" Our teacher scanned the crowd but no one raised their hand, Instructor Quoketh shook her head at that, "it's a pity that the only thing all of you see is how weak Lucille's current Pledge is," she said to my genuine confusion, did everyone really think like that? What?

"Pledges aren't everything," our teacher said, "and Lucille, for all she's weak right now, still managed to kill a Demon Baron, why is that?"

"Because of her Techniques," I answered simply, "that's how I managed to beat the Demon Duke even when I wasn't as strong as him,"

"Yes, which means that you are as strong as Demon Duke with the addition of your Techniques," Instructor Quoketh said, "and that's exactly why Lucille, even with her Pledge, will be fighting someone who's considered to be a prodigy within Nimbusegia because for all he is said out to be that way, someone from the Flora territory still managed to beat him at upgrading their Technique,"

Vicissi scowled, "and as you can see, he scowls," Instructor Quoketh grinned, "being called a Prodigy and living life getting treated as one seems to have gotten over his head, Neophyte, you're also prodigious-"

"Don't compare me to a Prophecy!" He snapped and kept going even as our teacher glared at him, "they're not meant to be treated the same way as other Pledge Bearers to begin with!"

"Fair enough," Instructor Quoketh shrugged, good for her for not reacting at that disrespect honestly, "so, we have someone with a Sanguine Pledge fighting him, a humble village girl-"

"U-uhm please don't say that, can we just fight?" Lucille said.

Vicissi smirked, "what? You're excited to get your teeth kicked in?"

Lucille nodded quickly in response before her reply caught up to her and she started violently shaking her head- "n-no I mean I just want to fight," she bowed, "I don't want this to get any longer and offend you,"

"Whatever," Vicissi scowled, he turned to Instructor Quoketh, "so?"

Our teacher called her Pledge in response, she raised the massive greatsword and glared at Vicissi, "do that again."

Vicissi bowed, "sorry,"

"It's good that you know how to act humble and admit your mistakes, even if it's only when you're about to get struck down, work on that and you'll be fine in my book," our teacher raised her hand.

When the fight started, Lucille didn't hesitate to call her Pledge, which is a good call since Vicissi did the same.

The spar was between a small, hand held dagger vs a grimoire and to everyone, it's probably a fight that couldn't be easily won by the heroine but they're slightly wrong, Vicissi has the advantage sure, but Lucille can become faster than him if she manages to use her Technique.

The start of the fight was all but standard; with Vicissi using a bunch of attacks that involved changing the dirt into something hard to step on- control, that's what he was going for and as Lucille kept dodging his balls of ice, pellets of snow, and cold winds, the ring was slowly changing into an environment that's not to her favor.

And it would've been his victory- and I thought that too honestly, - if Lucille didn't suddenly pick up speed and run for Vicissi like her life depended on it, when she got close, the wide eyed prodigy could do nothing as she struck him in the solar plexus with the pommel of her dagger, sending him to the ground.

Lucille hesitated for a bit before she sighed when Vicissi was starting to get up and without thinking twice, struck the back of his head with the pommel of her dagger.

"Please don't get up," she said while preparing for another strike, her Pledge raised in the air.

"You think-"

"Just stop it," I cut him off and he stared at me in shock, "you lost, that's all there is to it, give up."

Vicissi huffed and he glared at me, I glared back at him, seriously, what a prideful little shit, "fine," he said, "I give up," he didn't forget to glare at me as he turned his back from us and walked back into our gathered classmates.

With that troublemaker gone, Instructor Quoketh walked up to the front to start her explanation, "you look like you knew what you were doing," she said to Lucille who nodded, "why were you so confident in calling your Pledge against Vicissi earlier?"

"Because I knew he'd call it first instead of using Techniques," she answered, "and if I do the same, then we both call our Pledges at the same time, making things even."

"And the fact that you continued to dodge instead of fighting? You used a Technique before your upgraded one right?" Instructor Quoketh asked again.

Lucille nodded to confirm it, "mhmm!" She said, smiling, "I used [Light Weight] to go even faster and then [Greater Speed] after that,"

"Good work, and good call," Instructor Quoketh complimented before allowing Lucille to go back to her friends.

When things settled down, the next combatants came and as usual, there's an explanation- Eber and Garth both specialize in physical attacks yadda yadda yadda, - before it starts and then after that, the actual fight begins.

I watched the two combatants go at it, but my main focus was on Eber, if I remember right, he should have the blood of a Beastkin running in his veins, he just lacks the typical animal traits found on them or, at least according to a theory I read on a forum- it did manifest, just not externally, he had the physique of a Boar, but nothing more.

And I'm not gonna lie, physique is already good enough, it's why my eyes were on him- brown hair, a muscled body, and a tall height, those are the traits that can be said to be Eber's strongest but then no one mentions the fact that-

"Huh, I never knew that he's that strong," Laceresta commented appraisingly while eyeing the fight.

"It has something to do with his Pledge maybe?" I lied while eyeing the clawed gauntlets on Eber's hand, "maybe it's his Pledge's effect?"

"Maybe," Laceresta looked skeptical as she eyed our classmate.

As the fight went on, it was obvious that Eber is going to win the spar and Garth couldn't do anything about it with his naturally gained strength- which can grow bigger thanks to him being a Pledge Bearer, but he's still weak now, - or his Pledge, which is a standard dark-blue sword- a bad match up for someone who has gauntlets that allow them to easily grab the sword and then proceed to attack with their other gauntlet wearing hand.

It didn't take long for Garth to fall in the end.

 

[NotACryptid]

Merry Christmas.

Uploads will resume after new year.

===========

It may be arrogant of her to think like this but it can be said that she- Amber Lenora Everlast, - is someone who's competent, who's capable, who's smart- someone who will one day be one of the many Everlasts written on the history books for the Kingdom that her family rules over.

A lot of good things are going for her- is she smart? Everyone seems to think so for someone her age, and her tutors are especially proud of her.

Is she competent? Of course- she's been taught and has learned the importance of schedule and time management and how work ethic often affects her results.

Is she beautiful? Yes- A lot of suitors have been promised to her name and all of them reacted the same way; red faced and shy.

Despite that though, Amber has found them… stale? Unattractive? She didn't know how to feel about the boys her father and mother had chosen to be the "candidates" for her marriage and the best she can describe her feelings on the matter is complete and utter apathy.

Amber found herself feeling restless as she lay on her bed.

Again- there were so many ways to describe someone like her and she, much like the boys who were chosen to be her husband one day, found all of those titles, all of those expectations… completely dull.

Sure she wants to fulfill them and do her best because it is what's expected of her but… there's no joy in it- no- no inspiration- she has no real motivation to do any of it other than the simple fact that she needed to finish them, so she will.

It is completely unlike her sister. The complete opposite of it in fact- Neophyte has always gone through her days full of purpose, full of life- full of vigor- so much of it that when things went wrong, she started breaking herself using her very own conviction.

Would have- broken herself if not for the intervention of Amber and the rest of their siblings.

"Neophyte…" Amber found herself lulling as she rubbed the drowsiness off of her eyes.

Even with their city literally floating close to the sun, the morning light up here in the sky was, surprisingly enough, always tame. Like most things about Everlast that baffle her, it is absolutely unlike what she expects whenever the words- 'our city is floating among the clouds,' - get uttered by her family.

Or whenever she thinks about it really, which is starting to get rarer as the days go by.

It makes sense, of course, logically speaking, Amber supposes that with her days getting more and more busy, the thought of their city quite literally floating amongst the clouds is now staying comfortably at the back of her mind.

It was a state that Amber preferred, because worrying about whether or not everyone is going fall to their deaths seems redundant or even downright pointless when Everlast, according to written history, has been flying for more than a thousand years.

It will most likely not fall during her lifetime, nor will it ever.

"Ughh…" Amber grabbed her head and groaned-

Not that her self-assured thoughts of the city's capability to sustain its flight do anything to push back the feeling of lightheadedness, weightlessness, and nausea that assaults her very being at the thought of- staying in the SKY.

A knock got her attention and Amber faced the door to her quarters, guess Iverie heard that just now and the best thing she could do was pretend like nothing ever happened. She did not let out a pained sound, no. Of course not.

Amber schooled her expression and cleared her throat, and when her voice sounded good enough for a conversation, she put on a smile and faced the entrance to her room, seconds later, another knock came.

"Come in!" Amber said, feigning- though not much, a light meal always gets her going regardless of how she feels after waking up, - excitement and her smile turned genuine once her personal maid met her gaze.

Amber was proud of being served by someone like her because even though they were of the same age, Iverie was already capable of doing so many things that it was enough to make Amber feel jealous.

As expected of a servant directly serving under Royalty, Iverie had a lot of skills- cooking, cleaning, writing, and the standard weaving were just the few that were on her maid's arsenal of skills but if needed, she could also concoct various chemical agents, or even make traps, or, if Amber asked of her, she can also show off her swordsmanship, which, of course, just like everything else that her maid does, is very impressive.

For her age at least.

But even then! Calling Iverie simply skillful does not cut it and Amber is sure that she would be a master of a lot of things when they grow up.

"Mistress," her maid bowed and Amber responded to the gesture with a smile- it wouldn't do for Royalty to return the greeting and calls of their servants, or even act humble, as according to her father, it would make her look two-faced.

If Iverie minded Amber's treatment, she didn't show it, "do you want me to talk about what's been happening around the castle while preparing your food?"

"Yes please," Amber politely replied, hearing about the information that her maid had somehow managed to gather overnight has always been one of the things that she enjoyed during her mornings.

Iverie talked about a lot of things as she ate, with most of them either being a progression of yesterday's information or were things that Amber had never heard of.

After her light breakfast, Amber went and did her usual morning routine of cleaning herself- with the help of her maid, her pesky hair is- no matter how much she protests, - recommended by her mother to be grown long because it looks pretty.

And in exchange? It is absolutely horrendous to wash without aid.

After her bath is the time for her to start picking out her dress; a phase of the routine that she admittedly very much enjoys.

And right now, Amber's smile was joyful as she scoured through the hundreds upon hundreds of outfits available for her to wear.

She had nothing more than a towel on her person and all the passing dresses made her feel both inadequate and excited for what was to come.

To her left, Iverie stood next to a lever, acting as its silent guardian and overseer who, after Amber picked out her dress, would pull it so that the clothesline stops moving and the chosen dress can be taken.

"Oh! I want that one!" A miniature hand took over the entirety of Amber's vision and she eyed it in a sudden surge of self reflection- her milky skin glowed under the soft yellow light, the soft hue emphasizing the tenderness of her flesh.

Her eyes trailed her arm, going past her wrist and onto her hands before eventually settling on her fingers, which were nothing more than tiny digits.

But as small as they were on the outside, Amber didn't like the way they looked.

A bit of worry ached away at her heart, it wasn't painful, just… uncomfortable, and it was a state that she's very familiar with- she was already ten years old, and that meant marriage would soon come her way- well, a small partnership for now, because much like the rest of her engaged siblings, she and her "fiancee" would need to be acquainted first to prepare for their future together.

Regardless, it is still something that she's worried about.

A simple trial it may be- Amber wasn't willing to spend time with a boy she feels nothing for.

The worry in her heart growing, Amber faced Iverie, "do you think I can avoid marriage?"

Amber trusted the answer that'll come from her maid- Iverie is smart, she knows a lot of things and Amber knew that she would have a satisfactory answer to her question but… the silence of her maid was starting to unnerve her so she pushed herself mentally to be more confident and subconsciously puffed her chest, "Iverie? Do you think I can avoid marriage?"

"... it's possible," answered her maid after a pregnant pause, "why do you ask?"

"Because I don't feel anything for my suitors," Amber replied honestly, she didn't want to marry someone whom she didn't feel anything for, and she'd continue pushing that agenda until something happens, "they're all just there- do you know what I mean?"

"... I don't know," her maid was soft spoken, Amber knew, and she hoped that she would be more active when spoken to, because this- this is starting to get kind of annoying, if she wanted to talk to something that barely replied, then she'd buy a hound and converse with it!

"So it's possible right? That I don't marry them?" Amber questioned, tone solemn yet hopeful.

"Yes." Her maid's answer came immediately, adding fuel to the spark of hope growing within Amber's chest, "it is possible, a lot of princesses borne from your family in the past managed to live fairly alone so you should be able to do that as well,"

"How?" Amber gestured for her to stop moving the clothesline and smiled when a light blue dress made of soft wool stopped directly in front of her.

"You need to show that you're worth more staying with your family than marrying outside of it for alliances," Amber pouted as she watched her maid take out her chosen dress- that's a bit unfair? Isn't it?

"Like you? Iverie?" Amber asked, her maid's useful isn't she?! Maybe Amber can follow along her footsteps?

The maid shook her head, "no- not like me, never like me- Everlasts like your father appreciate people with minds similar to the family members within Tequi,"

"Who are they?" Amber questioned again.

Her maid, as patient as ever, provided an answer, "a family that buys businesses across Everlast and earns money through them, they mostly sell stuff as well."

"So I just have to be a merchant?! Like Tranil?!" She said excitedly, spouting the name of an ancient Hero who, unlike most of his peers, had the profession of that of a merchant, and he became rather well known because of it.

"Exactly like him, yes." agreed her maid.

"So I just have to sell stuff?.." Amber murmured, "but how do I do that?" She faced her maid.

A sigh was the response to her question, "I do not know, mistress," her maid spoke with a resigned smile on the edge of her lips, "do forgive this simple maid for not being able to be knowledgeable in the art of businesses and being a merchant,"

"Forgiven," Amber replied casually, though her face was heating up in embarrassment- okay, maybe she's over reliant on her maid to answer most, if not all of the questions that pop up at the forefront of her mind.

That fact shall be well and duly noted. She will increase the amount of studying that she does in her free time.

"Well, no matter- I'll learn about it in time," she cleared her throat and raised her hands in preparation to wear her dress, "wait- do you think that my younger sister would be able to… know about it?" She asked as Iverie fixed her dress, "about how to sell stuff?"

"Maybe Lady Neophyte knows how to do it," replied her maid, sounding a bit uncertain, though Amber felt proud that Iverie knew who she was referring to when she merely said 'little sister' just now, she's glad that Neophyte's name is known to her maid and hopefully, in time, the rest of the castle's servants will realize who she is as well.

Her overworked sister needs people to watch out for her after all.

"Do you want me to ask her?" Iverie suggested without missing a beat and Amber thought her words through- typically, should she need something, her maid would be the one to leave and go talk to the person who's responsible for handling anything necessary but in this case-

"She's my sister, not some servant or personnel who offers their services, I will talk to her myself," Amber knew she was being haughty, doubly so when she's willingly going out of her way to take over her maid's task but she knows better than to merely let go of such an opportunity.

"If you wish," Iverie didn't even try to talk back and Amber is happy that she understands the importance of this particular event.

Which, unfortunately for her- didn't get to happen because like always, Neophyte Astral Everlast, her prodigious younger sister of 6 years who beats her in almost every category (except emotional intelligence,) is nowhere to be seen around the castle.

Chances are, she's probably in some gravity well somewhere, training her feeble and young body till collapse but since she was a Pledge Bearer, Amber deemed that it was fine right as long as it didn't get too much which… knowing her sister, the exercise that she's going through would most definitely go past that point.

"This is getting annoying," she murmured while glaring at the scenery in front of her, she didn't even know how she got here, her thoughts just ran wild and suddenly, she was standing in a whole nother place, was the balcony she found herself on enough to trigger whatever fear that's gripping her heart related to tall heights? Yes. Yes it was.

But did she care?

No. Not at all.

In fact, the Nausea and the lightheadedness served as a great way to take her mind off of things- which is probably bad, given that it's the kind of fear that's affecting her this much but… okay- she's willing to admit it- she has no reason to stay here but she's going to stand here regardless of opinion, personal or otherwise.

Her thoughts went back to Neophyte quickly enough and she let out a tired sigh, "every day, training, day in and day out,"

Amber found herself hammering the stone railing with the bottom of her fist, "no one can reach her and whenever she's needed, she's nowhere to be found,"

She raised her hand and once her mind registered the dull ache currently eating away at it, her anger went away to be replaced by a sense of tranquility that managed to even remove the nausea ailing her stomach and head.

She let out another sigh, "sister, I can hear you, you don't need to slow your steps,"

"Why worry?" Asked a peer of hers agewise, no sooner after those words were spoken, Amber found herself standing next to her sister- Calcite Venear Everlast.

On the corner of her eye, she got a glimpse of her sister looking at her in concern, "you know that Neophyte's self imposed repention of her mistake is one of the few things that's keeping her from being hanged,"

"... I know," Amber sighed- and that's exactly why she's annoyed, all of that and for what? Nothing. The Hero is never going to come back, and Amber feels as though this entire charade is nothing more than a way for everyone to feel satisfied and stress free from the fact that the Demon Horde may do more damage to humanity than originally predicted.

Will they get wiped out? Amber wanted to laugh- of course not, humanity was pushed to the brink more times than historians could count, and they had so many struggles in their past that most of them weren't even written down.

Now? Now they had weapons that allowed even the weakest soldier to kill a Demon. Assuming that they get a lucky shot. That is.

With weapons that are effective against Demons at their disposal, humanity is more than guaranteed to be able to buy time until the arrival of the next Hero, making it so that they can finally fight back again. The only real problem Amber has with her plan is that they would have to expend a lot of resources in order to do it which… isn't really as bad as it may seem at first glance.

Their Kingdom exists, doesn't it?

"You're worried," Calcilte said and Amber sighed- wow, really? Such a hard thing to guess. "You shouldn't- Neophyte is going to be fine, she's pushing through everything coming her way, and with a will like that, I'd be surprised if she loses the fight," Calcite smiled, it was one of hope, "believe in her, believe that she'll push back and come out on top," Amber sighed, Calcite's smile wavered, "please?"

"I'll try, dear sister," Amber mirrored her peer's shaky smile- out of everyone in their siblinghood, Calcite would be someone that she'd willingly call an ally without hesitation but sometimes- sometimes she speaks with ambition that can be considered too much.

Neophyte surviving on her own? What are the chances of that? She's already been dragged by several servants back to her room several times due to the fact that she trains so hard she collapses- and even then, Amber knew that her sister simply wouldn't stop, that she would keep going even when she's lying on her bed, sick as a wet rat and bedridden.

She would be forced to sit and wait due to being unfit to move and Neophyte would find a way to keep training in spite of that. Amber didn't know how she would do it but she felt as though her sister would just grit her teeth and find new ways to get stronger.

A tap on her shoulder broke her out of her thoughts, "come on, dear sister, breakfast is about to come and I think we need to move to prepare for Neophyte's arrival,"

"Yes, pethaps we should," Amber nodded, holding out hope that their sibling would join them again, "are the twins awake?"

"If you mean the two that mostly sandwich Neophyte to protect her from everyone else- then no, Stalactite and Stalagmite aren't awake yet," Calcite answered.

"A shame," Amber replied, "then it is up to us to fulfill their roles isn't it?"

"It is," smiled Calcite, "now, come on, I do not want to be late- well, too late that our plan won't be fulfilled, the seating arrangement can get pretty messy after all,"

"Mhmm." Amber hummed in agreement, "let us go,"

Like always, arriving at the dinner hall made Amber feel tense, the way the atmosphere felt to her during this time can only be described as choking and she could never get used to it, no matter how many times she experienced it.

Everyone had… an opinion of their own on what Neophyte did and Amber could somewhat understand why some- if not most, - of their family would resent Neophyte for what she did but again, did they not think that the world wasn't going to end simply because of what happened?

Sure this is perhaps the first time this has happened in the history of humanity- something Amber doubts, honestly, - but it happened during a time when Everlast existed: a city with so many resources that it could provide aid to Kingdoms all across the land and it wouldn't even hinder its economy.

But, Amber supposes that not everyone can think the way she does- or even be as biased as she is towards their younger sister, who, for some reason or the other, figured out who the Hero was before everyone else did, there's a motive behind why she… did the thing as well- and it wasn't to kill him, quite the opposite in fact.

Whatever- whoever told or gave her sister such information remains to be seen but Amber believes that it was all Neophyte's doing and the implications of that is… rather staggering, especially if what she's thinking is true-

That Neophyte is supposed to be one of the Prophecies- Pledge Bearers who were meant to party up with the Hero and help him succeed in his quest to kill the Demon Lord.

Which one she is, Amber has yet to figure out but with how she's able to figure out who he was beforehand… there's a high chance that she's the Saintess- the healer of the party.

And how ironic is it that she's the one responsible for killing the Hero, huh?..

Amber silently removed such thoughts from her mind, what happened has already happened and she needs to focus on the present instead of the past.


Amber proudly walked.

Despite the gazes being directed their way, she and Calcite moved with confidence and bearing that would make their etiquette tutors weep in joy and before long, the two of them found three pairs of empty chairs, which they quickly occupied.

They both sat on either side while leaving the one at the center open. What they did got one of their siblings to scoff.

"Why bother helping her?" Cobalt asked, instantly knowing their motive, "it's not like she's going to come," he said with a shake of his head, "she never does,"

"... we know that," Calcite answered, "but it doesn't matter, does it?" She met her brother's gaze, "because holding out hope isn't exactly a bad thing to do,"

"Do what you want, then," Cobalt shook his head, a condescending smile mirroring his arrogant expression, "just know that you're both wrong for doing this,"

"At least give her a chance?" Amber asked in a vain ray of hope. Cobalt- Cobalt isn't a bad person… just misguided.

"No." Cobalt answered softly, it didn't have any malice to it, at least.

Dinner finished but…

Neophyte hadn't come.

She already expected it…

Amber felt frustrated-

"That-" she cut her insult short and faced her maid, the hallway they were on was empty, she checked, so it should be fine to say what was on her mind out loud but she didn't have the heart to, so she settled with worrying instead, "I'm starting to think that Neophyte's life is at risk,"

Iverie's expression didn't change, remaining stoic as she tilted her head, "wasn't it obvious from the start?" She said as though she already knew that Neophyte was going to die at some point, Amber shot her maid an angry look, which she didn't care about.

"You didn't know." Iverie said seriously, "how? She was coughing out blood, and despite being a Pledge Bearer, her body can only take in so much damage before it gives up altogether."

"..." Amber turned away and gazed at a nearby window, she took in the scenery while doing her best to control her anger-

It was… meant to make the hallway scenic during the night and give it light during the day- the window only served two purposes but those were important ones- she didn't know where she was going with this but… but…

She let out a frustrated sigh, "And? What about it?" Amber snapped- "are you saying that I should just let her die?"

"I didn't say anything but if I did, then I'd suggest that you should let Neophyte rest, give her a chance at a break," her maid, again, said that with a tone that made Amber think Iverie was just stating the obvious.
"You know how important this is for her, right?" Amber nodded, again noting that her maid's tone wasn't soft like the rest of her siblings, where they're encouraging Neophyte's training because it's "important to her" so they should "leave her be," as if willful ignorance will solve anything-

No, instead- Iverie was stating it as fact, and Amber agreed with her- Neophyte's training is important to her, isn't it? How else is she going to let her frustrations out otherwise?

"I do." She replied and a part of her recognized that she only agreed because she knew that Neophyte's frustrations would eat away at her if left alone.

Amber gazed out at the scenery, a question in her mind.

She decided to voice it out- "then how are we going to make her stop?"

"Give her something more important to do- make it feel like a one time thing she shouldn't miss," Iverie suggested not a second sooner after Amber asked her question.

Amber hummed in thought while her maid turned silent, they resumed their walk shortly after that.

Once they passed by another one of the massive square windows placed in the hallway, Amber stopped walking and stared out into the open field of grass that was the courtyard of their castle… she started thinking, her mind whirring up different possibilities as for what is the "thing" that can get Neophyte to stop pushing herself…

"I remember her enjoying a particular holiday," a smile was tugging at her lips, "before… everything- Neophyte used to enjoy it when we celebrated the birth of the world, do you know what that is? Iverie?"

"Who doesn't?" Her maid asked in return and Amber smiled wryly, guess that was a stupid question to ask. Iverie continued, "The Goddess created the world and so it must be celebrated, no?"

"Yes!" Amber snapped her fingers at her maid, "that's exactly what makes Neophyte so excited about it-" for some reason or the other, "-it's because it's a celebration of the Goddess creating the world and it's happening… tomorrow, isn't it?"

Iverie nodded, "the celebration is happening tomorrow, yes,"

"Do we have enough time to make it so that every single thing that Neophyte likes happens? That'll get her out of her fugue right?" She hummed in thought for a scant few seconds before her expression twisted into a frown, "we don't, don't we?"

"We could if you somehow manage to convince your father of what you wanted to do," her maid answered which again, got Amber thinking- convince her father? That's a harder task than most would assume, and she's the eldest daughter, "if you somehow do it, then he can hire a lot of people to make it happen no?"

Amber snapped her fingers- "good point," she agreed, "he can do so much that it wouldn't even take a day for things to get going right?"

Her maid nodded, "indeed, at best it'll be a few hours- or, if things really needed to get rushed, then he can pay the workers to work overnight, and by tomorrow evening, everything will be ready,"

"Right! Right!" Amber wanted to start skipping but that would be unbecoming of her- "I just need to convince father about my plan right?!" She had an excited smile as she turned to Iverie, "how do you think I'll be able to do it?"

"I say we need to start with something more pressing first," a voice cut in, and upon hearing that, Amber snapped her gaze at the turn of the hallway and saw Pearl standing there with her arms crossed, "do you think our siblings will just let it happen? They'll go to their mothers and when they start complaining about how the things their child wants should also be included then everything will go out of hand, and do I need to say what happens after that?"

Amber frowned, "you're… actually right-" she paused, "how do I deal with something like that?"

"We need to talk it out without dragging our parents obviously," Pearl replied, "and we need to pressure everyone else into agreeing with our plan and not put up their own." Her sister added as if what she said wasn't horrific, "they need to keep themselves down until everything is done- after that, they can complain as hard as they want,"

"And we can do that, how?" Amber questioned, not truly minding Pearl's plan- pressure everyone? How? With how spoiled their siblings are, they can't be controlled, it'll be impossible-

"If I may join in," her maid asked for permission and both she and Pearl granted it with a single nod, "Lady Neophyte does have her allies within your siblinghood yes?" The two of them nodded again and Amber was starting to understand what her maid was trying to go with- "then if I may, suggest, wouldn't it be good if all of you band together to convince your siblings that doing things your way is a good idea?"

"She has a point, Amber," Pearl said in agreement, "I think that can actually work, so we need to set up two different meetings… the first one is an hour from now? Two? And everyone willing to help Neophyte is included," Pearl stopped looking up at the ceiling and faced her, "you can tell your maid to call the people we consider as an ally and I'll do the same with mine?"

"Deal." Amber reached out a hand that Pearl quickly shook, "it should also be important for us to go and call those people ourselves too yes?"

"No- we need to plan on what we need to say to them, and we only have an hour to do it," Pearl shook her head, disagreeing immediately, "and I'm not exactly that good of a spokesperson but I'm sure the meeting would go well,"

Amber bit her cheek, telling their servants to go fetch their siblings may be seen in bad taste, "but-"

"I agree with her," Iverie chimed in, cutting Amber off before she could protest, "I suggest you two find a room- preferably something comfortable and spacious, - to call the meeting in and then we'll tell your siblings to go there,"

"Right- fair enough," Amber decided to agree, she faced Pearl, "what do you think is the perfect place to hold a meeting in?"

"How about the Brine Cellar?" Suggested her sister and Amber thought it through- the Brine Cellar was… no- it wouldn't work.

"Jars of pickled meat and vegetables wouldn't do to set an atmosphere for a meeting," Amber said with a frown while scouring her memory for something that'll work… "how about we just go to one of the lobbies outside our spas?"

"There?" Pearl hummed, "why?"

"Well it has enough seats," Amber raised one finger as she made a single point, "we can lock it for privacy because there's only one spa per lobby," another finger went up, "and if we want to eat something during the meeting, then there's a vending machine there for food."

Pearl reached a hand out and slowly, used it to push down the hand that had three of Amber's fingers raised-

"No." She said.

"No?" Pearl shook her head and Amber once again decided to think things through, "okay- then what about… uhm- one of… the empty studies across the castle?"

"That can work," Pearl agreed readily, "I was just thinking about it too actually, there's a lot of things there that'll be useful for a meeting because one, we have a blackboard and chalk available to us to write down our points, we also have books… for when we want more information while at the same time, there's enough space to fit all of us inside."

"Right." Amber nodded with a smile, "guess it's settled then?"

"Yes," Pearl nodded, she then faced Iverie, "we will pick the second study on the third hallway of the castle's left wing, and Dioxine should be staying around the 2nd kitchen on the first floor," Iverie nodded and Pearl faced Amber, "come on, we need to plan for the eventual talk that we'll have with everyone,"

Amber reluctantly left her maid- Iverie had a job to do and so did she…


Walking through the halls in silence had gotten her tense, and now, after passing through several corners and turns, she and her sister reached the door that led to the study they were planning on using but now, after what felt like hours of disarrayed thoughts full of worry, she felt unsure of what they were about to do-

She turned to her sister, "are you sure about this? What if everyone disagrees?"

"Don't lose your nerve now, come on," Pearl confidently twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open, she walked inside before turning back to her, "so? Are you coming or not?"

Amber nodded, "okay, let's do this."

Following her sister inside, Amber headed deeper into the room, she scanned the desk at the center of the room, the massive bookshelves on the walls, and the cushioned couches meant for guests and thought that it was all perfect for what they wanted to do but she still felt like the meeting would go badly…

She heard the door behind her slam shut before the sound of a lock clicking in place entered her ears.

She turned to her back and faced her sister, "so, what do we need to plan for?"

"A lot of things, mostly the things that we want to suggest to Dad," Pearl answered, "but more importantly? We need to convince everyone that Neophyte- our sister, needs a break," her sibling stalked forward and Amber tailed after her, they walked until they reached a shelf on the opposite end of the door and there, Pearl grabbed a book, one that's meant to tell a story, "and this is our key to doing it,"

"A… storybook?" Amber trailed off, unsure of what her sister is getting at.

"Yes!" Pearl replied enthusiastically, "this isn't just any storybook though- this is a story that happened between a past Hero and a Saintess,"

Amber's eyes widened in realization- "Oh- I get it- you want to convince them that Neophyte is the Saintess right? So that they- they'll agree to it!"

"Exactly like that- I want to tell them that we don't want another Prophecy to die on us so we need to help her out- and after that, we tell them what we want them to suggest during the second meeting which-" She and Pearl moved over to the desk of the study, and her sister didn't continue what she was going to say until she pushed the curtains blocking the blackboard to the sides, revealing a glossy black surface, "- we'll plan right now!"

Amber nodded, excited at the prospect of succeeding in their plan, "let's do it!" She pumped her fist.

"Yeah!" Pearl did the same before grabbing a white chalk that she used to draw a line across the blackboard, she wrote down the words Help Neophyte on top of the line before facing Amber, "so, how are we gonna do it? Any suggestions?" She wrote down a number underneath the line, then she pressed the tip of the chalk against the blackboard again, "I'm thinking of…"

As her sister trailed off, Amber put up the first thing that came to her mind earlier, "how about we make it so that Neophyte's favorite things are all included in this year's Celebration of Creation?"

"Right- Good idea," Pearl nodded with pursed lips, "it's so that Neophyte has even more incentive to go right?"

"Yes." Amber nodded seriously, "if the things she likes are there, then she'd want to go ahead and be part of it."

"Okay-" Pearl wrote Neophyte's Favorite Things down while nodding enthusiastically, "that's done, what else?"

"Uh… maybe we can set up friends for her? I think- personally, Neophyte needs more people to talk to than just us, it's affecting her mentally I think…" Amber murmured, "she's starting to look at us in distrust,"

"Good idea," Pearl wrote it down, "and yeah, I think I know what you mean- did you know that she murmured I wasn't real at some point?"

"No." Amber said in horror, "what is she thinking?"

"I have no clue," Pearl shook her head, "but I think she needs to start going out-" she snapped her fingers, "and that's going to be a part of the plan, Neophyte getting out of the castle and seeing the world for once,"

"But… wouldn't that be bad?" Amber asked, "the people kind of…"

"We're gonna make her wear a mask!" Pearl said with a grin, "that way no one would be able to know who she is!"

"They'll just be more suspicious," Amber pointed out.

"Then we're all gonna wear masks so that no one knows which is which!" Pearl refuted.

"... we all have distinctly colored hair," Amber said again.

That got Pearl to wince- "uh… we'll make it so that our masks our enchanted so that we can hide our hair color!"

"Won't that cost a lot of money?" Amber pointed out another problem.

This time, Pearl scoffed and waved her off, "pfffttt- as if that's a problem. Father has a lot of it, it's fine,"

Amber giggled alongside her sister's chuckles, "okay, fine, I concede, guess it's settled, Neophyte is going out- but where?"

Pearl stopped writing all the "requirements" for Neophyte's day out and tilted her head, "... the Flora and Fauna territories?"

"Good idea, let's do it." Amber nodded.

"Okay, what more do we need to do?" Pearl asked and Amber started thinking of all the ways they could make tomorrow just that much more lively for their sister, and their brainstorming session continued on even as their siblings arrived at the study, the first to come was Bismuth, who looked as though he just finished his own exercise and training.

Moderated, this time- he says that he isn't as obsessed with it as Neophyte, and he added that he meant no harm when he said that too, which was wholly unnecessary since much like her and Calcite, Bismuth has been one of the few people who willingly entered Neophyte's room and talk to her so his status as an "ally" isn't really questioned by anyone present.

He helped plan and smooth things out- even suggesting a "sparring ring" so that their sister has an even bigger reason to go because if she can exercise while at the party, then there's a higher chance that she's going to come.

Eventually, the last of their siblings came and Amber scanned the room as Pearl told Charcoal to lock the door.

Everyone that she knew wanted the best for their wayward sister was here; Stalagmite, Stalactite, Bismuth, Charcoal, Byzanthine, Ruby, Cobalt, and the like met her gaze with unwavering resolution.

They clearly didn't know why they were here- well, they do, but that's not important- what is, though, is the fact that they all came even though they knew that it involved their most problematic sibling.

And to Amber, this is a better gift than all the things written on the blackboard behind her.

Pearl walked forward, "to start," she said, raising a book that was bigger than her torso, "can I read out this story?"

Two pairs of hands were raised at the same time and Pearl turned to the twins, she nodded- "uh, Sister? Sister?" Started Stalactite, repeating her words as though she was a music box with a twisted lever, "don't you both think that we all know that Neo is the Saintess?"

"I agree with Stalactite," Stalagmite nodded, all the while doing her best to put on a cool, stoic expression- which Amber genuinely found cute.

"Neo… did predict who the Hero is and we checked the place where she sent him to… on a fetch quest," Charcoal slowly uttered, each word carefully selected, "- and we did find the artifact that she talked about but what we didn't know is that the place is guarded by a Demon Baron so…"

"She's the Saintess," Bismuth nodded, "that much is obvious," he looked around, "I don't see why you need to emphasize it," Amber lightly smiled at her brother- again, everyone acting serious is something that she finds amusingly cute, her own guilty self included. Bismuth pointed at the blackboard behind them, "how about we start talking about the things that we need to do in order to save the Saintess and prevent another Prophecy from dying on us?"

"Alright," Pearl placed the book down, "you all win, let's talk about all the things that'll convince Neophyte to come and join the celebration,"

Amber nodded, the meeting was going well and she hoped that the one after this would go the same way.

Neophyte needs it.

…

"Amber, I don't think you should go with us," Bismuth, for some reason, kept insisting that she didn't need to come with them to the second meeting that's being held - which will happen 2 hours from now, - even though Amber is confident that she'll do well with convincing everyone else.

Bismuth and the rest though weren't so keen, even Calcite, who had arrived at the meeting late, wasn't on her side.

"Why?" Amber asked while glaring at everyone, she felt betrayed- she's competent enough isn't she?!

"Because they'll just target and keep pressuring you," Pearl replied, tone assured, "and someone- probably Graphite, knowing him, will point out the fact that you're starting to bend as a sign of guilt, and that'll break our argument apart, turning what's supposed to be a proper meeting into a one sided shouting match," Pearl looked away, refusing to meet her gaze, "sorry but we need all the advantage that we can get,"

"Advantage that you can get- why are you all even doing this?" Amber snapped, "why is there-"

"Amber, we need an advantage because we need to win," Bismuth's words made absolutely no sense to her but what he added to them did, "the Saintess needs to live, we can't have another Prophechy- as misguided as she is, - die."

"So you all just want to- to-" she tried to find an argument in Bismuth's words, something that'll make everyone think otherwise of their opinion of her- make them feel guilty for their motives-

She found none.

But she'll still try.

"- you're all just doing this because Neophyte is the Saintess!" Even she knew that the words that she uttered were completely wrong and full of holes, with one of them being-

"We want her to live." Bismuth snapped back, "that's what matters. Saintess or not- Neophyte has to live."

"And, I think, we'll all agree that if she wasn't the Saintess, then none of this would've happened correct?" Pearl said to the nod of everyone around her, "personally, her status as the Saintess doesn't matter in this scenario but we'll use it as an argument anyways, anything to convince everyone that our sister is going to die if we don't let her understand that moderation is important,"

That there's more to the world than gravity well and training mats- Amber silently said to herself.

She let out a sigh, "fine," she narrowed her eyes at them, "I'll go search for Neophyte in the meantime," when Pearl smiled at her, she responded with a tired sigh, "you better convince them,"

"Don't worry," Stalactite nodded, grinning, "we will!"

"Agreed," Stalagmite's slow nod that followed her words forced Amber to hold back a smile.

So cute!

Sadly, with her unable to go to the second meeting- and one that she personally feels is more important than the one they just finished, - her happiness only lasted for a little while and the smile she held back in Stalagmite's presence never came when she started walking the halls alone.

Iverie was nowhere to be found- and this was something that was done on purpose on account that it is possible that the personal servants of those who joined may very well snitch on one of their siblings given the chance.

She did find Iverie eventually, inside of a guest room alongside all the other butlers and maids that attended Amber's siblings, unlike their master's excited yet tense meeting though, the servants were having tea while talking calmly with one another.

The scene that greeted her when she opened the door was everyone turning their head toward her, Amber greeted them with a wave and all of them returned her gesture in some shape or form while Iverie stood up, bowed in apology to the rest of her acquaintances, and then proceeded to follow Amber out.

"I take it that you weren't allowed to join the rest at the second meeting?" Amber's nod was followed by a sigh- of course, Iverie would immediately figure it out. Was it that obvious? Was she really a liability to the rest of her siblings?

She's not that easily pressured is she?..

She let out a tired sigh, "am I a liability?"

"In some cases, yes," responded her maid bluntly, "like the one right now- where what's needed are steeled hearts and stoic faces, your kindness is nothing more than an opportunity to be taken advantage of,"

"I guess…" Amber trailed off, "but can I ask you what kind of scenario my kindness will be useful in?"

"Talking your sister out of her training and making her understand that her mistake shouldn't be dictating her life," Iverie's words were like a blunt hammer that struck Amber's conscious thoughts, sending them in disarray- well, it seems that her musings of trying to find Neophyte was actually the right call, isn't it?

Is that why no one disagreed with her back then?

"Say," Amber started, "if I want to search for Neophyte, where do you think I can easily find her in?"

"I'd say that it would be one of the gyms across the castle or the gravity wells attached to them but that would be a mistake," Iverie hummed, "if I remember correctly, one of the maids brought her back to her quarters two days ago, she was… incapacitated-" like always, Amber thought in worry, "- but she managed to recover after a day and knowing Zathania… I think she would have asked Neophyte to teach her stuff to distract her mistress from training any further so chances are, you can find her in the royal library."

"I see…" Amber pursed her lips in thought, impressed with her maid's deduction skills- also, do the servants actually talk to each other whenever they're off duty? That explains all the things that Iverie knows about…

Anyhow- "Okay! Let's go to the royal library so I can talk Neophyte out of her problems!"

Amber's steps were excited as she made her way across the castle until she reached what might as well be the heart of the massive fortress.

Amber stopped in front of the library's oversized double doors, their half-oval shapes looking as though they were the gates of a chamber that hid valuable treasures within, and in a sense, perhaps that analogy is correct- knowledge is one of the most valuable things that someone can possess in this world after all.

In the corner of her eye, Iverie moved silently towards the tiny lever that was supposed to open the doors looming over the two of them, she flicked the switch and the sound of colossal gears turning echoed like the yawns of a giant that's been awoken from its slumber, breaking even the sound of Iverie's footsteps as she made her way back to Amber's side.

When the doors fully opened, Amber walked into the library with her maid in tow and it didn't take long for her to hear the sounds of someone talking-

"The place that the Hydrokiths are living in is amazing!"

Amber smiled lightly… that- that was her sister's voice. Undoubtedly hers. Amber is sure of it.

And… Neophyte sounded excited- absolutely unlike her typical state of dull boredom whenever she faced all of them.

Amber nodded when she passed the silent guardian of the library- a Vigolith whose marble body had been carved into that of an armored statue, complete with smooth pauldrons on the shoulders, a knight's helmet for its head- the gaps of which, show nothing other than darkness, - and several interlocking platings reminiscent to that of an insect's carapace found across its person.

"Mistress," the living stone said with a nod, the Ruby attached to its chest glowing slightly, "servant,"

Iverie returned the Vigolith's nod while Amber stalked forward.

She continued moving without acknowledging the Vigolith, the etiquette that had been drilled into her since she was a child was the only thing holding her back from running across the massive space, she kept moving, face forward and expression schooled.

All around her, the looming bookshelves which were taller than houses didn't grab her attention, no- she was focused on the voice that echoed within this otherwise silent land-

"They live in corals! Do you know what those are Zath?!" A pause, and Amber assumed her sister's maid shook her head then, "well if you don't the corals are like uh- Kagron! You know! The Vigolith standing guard over the entire library?!"

Amber turned back to where Kagron stood and found him missing- "she knows a lot, for a young kid," Amber flinched before snapping her head at the massive stone being, a deep rumble that reminded Amber of an avalanche of glaciers she saw while flying over the White Spines echoed out of its empty helmet, "I do not mean harm, I am merely here to remind you that your sister shouldn't be disturbed without a good reason,"

"It is fine," Amber said in reply, "I am here because of something important."

"I see," the Vigolith nodded, "then I hope Neophyte finds you well, she's… she likes to hide if she doesn't like who's searching for her, and it's like she knows this library like the back of her hand," another rumble of a chuckle emerged out of the creature, "well, I wish you luck, I for one, can be found in my usual spot, listening in to why corals are similar to my species,"

The helmet that served as the Vigolith's head shook back and forth smoothly, nary a sound came out, as though the marble didn't grind against one another from that simple action.

"Exactly! Vigoliths are living rocks but get this- corals are too! It's why when taken out of the water, they die and lose color and stuff!" Neophyte explained excitedly, and Amber found her explanation made sense, so that's why her colorful corals went dull…

"How do they work? Well- plants don't usually grow underwater, or at least in the sea because it's so salty so obviously, it has to be another animal that needs to take over their place and just like anemones and other stuff, corals are also animals!"

Neophyte was repeating herself now- Amber thought in amusement, "and I guess that's all she knows about corals, that they're alive and similar to animals,"

Neophyte kept droning on and on about corals and how they're alive and Amber found it amusing that she was repeating herself again and again- and her amusement only grew when she found the spot where her sister was located and saw her standing on top of a table, arms outstretched and expression grinning-

She faced Amber and beamed, "Amber!"

Zathania sprung up and raised her hand in concern when Neophyte jumped down from the table, and without so much as a stagger, immediately bolted for Amber to give her a hug that, to the older royal, felt like a painful tackle.

Amber smiled while rubbing her sister's hair- she had so much to say to her and she didn't know where to start…

 

[NotACryptid]

Our teacher for Omegafaunas and Monsters was this guy called Scrag Commfab, and he walked into our classroom with confidence and vitality that betrayed his bearded, wrinkled face- he was getting in on the years, he said as much as he entered our room, and when he finished putting his personal belongings on the teacher's desk, he walked up to the front of the stage and said, "this old man has gone feeble, please be patient with me okay?"

As everyone zipped their mouth to give our teacher his much needed silence, I thought about Sir Scrag's singular ingame quest; and what it is about is essentially him asking the Player to start finding ingredients across the world so that he can make an Elixir of Life.

Because of how the ingredients are hidden, doing his quest for the first time is a pain in the ass and even then, the Player still has to present him with one of the ingredients before his quest becomes available, making it so that the Player has to find one of the super secret things before they can even discover said quest's existence.

Lorewise, the explanation for this is because Sir Scrag wouldn't have realized that the Elixir of Life is actually real before he sees one of the ingredients for himself.

Meanwhile, the ingame explanation is that the item that he gives when the Player finishes his quest- a timer that tells when one of the Catastrophes wakes up, - is super duper broken and so, they had to nerf it using this method.
And why did they need to nerf it? Well it's because of what the item does; which makes it so that the Catastrophes don't cause "events" to happen every once in a while, effectively forcing them to go idle and turning those ancient Omegafaunas into raid bosses that the Player can beat whenever they want.

Even with how useful the Calamity Timer is, Sir Scrag's quest is still bothersome to deal with- which honestly won't stop me from completing it in this life because I need to find out when these gigantic fuckers wake up because Lucille would be forced to take care of them when they do and what if she dies? It'll be my fault because I didn't do anything to figure out a way to stop it beforehand.

Someone to my side poked my cheek and forced me to focus back on the lesson.

"-ut enough about the various types of Omegafaunas," I heard our teacher say as I turned right to glare at the person responsible and seeing Naviri grin at me playfully made me sigh and apologize for being so aggressive, she said it was fine and that we just finished discussing the different types of Omegafaunas before pointing to the blackboard where all of their names were written down- Calves, Juveniles, Pupa, Adult, and then finally, Catastrophe.

"As I said earlier, we will only be touching on the surface level knowledge of these walking calamities, and instead, for today's lesson, we will be focusing on the formation of Monster Hordes and how to spot, exterminate, or if you're not strong enough or are just a simple human, avoid them." A brief pause came as my classmates wrote down the words that had been said, then the lesson continued, "Usually, one can tell when a Monster Horde is forming through 3 simple signs; the animals are starting to become scarce, the trees and plants start to wilt, or when it comes to expert Slayers, they get a sense of wrongness within the forest."

"Of course, one could also use a Dragon to spot and clear out a Monster Horde before it could become a full threat but making a Pact with them is often rare, especially if they are no longer a newly hatched Dragon," somehow, despite not everyone focusing at our teacher, it still felt like everyone's eyes were burning a hole through my head.

"Your majesty,"

I flinched and stood up- "Yes?!" I answered quickly.

"You have exterminated a Monster Horde by your lonesome before yes?" I nodded in confirmation, "Can I ask you questions?" I nodded again, of course you can! I don't mind really, just don't ask about how I'm strong enough to wipe it out all on my own…

And fortunately for me, out of all his questions, none of them involved asking me about my strength- "First question, how did you find out about the formation of the Horde?"

"Fafnir has life sense," I answered, and then quickly realized that I didn't find the monster horde through that method so I added, "but I also kind of had some sort of feeling that something wrong is going on underneath Everlast so I decided to check it out with my Dragon,"

"Good choice in doing that," our teacher complimented, "now, for the next question, what was your method of wiping out the horde?"

"I kinda just slashed at the monsters until they died?" I answered honestly, losing a bit of confidence, I mean, when I say it like that, it makes me look like an idiot who doesn't know how to wield her Pledge or something…

"I see," our teacher nodded twice before turning away from me, "as you can all see, her majesty did two of the things that I explained just now; she felt for the monster horde and then exterminated it with the standard method, which is to say, killing and hacking monsters until you get results."

Our teacher wiped the blackboard- which didn't have much writing on it to begin with, - and wrote new things down, at the top is the underlined title written as Methods of Disposing Hordes, and at the bottom is a list of methods to exterminate hordes- Standard, Poison, and then finally, Denial.

"We've already talked a bit about the standard method of extermination but as with all things, there is more to it than just simply slashing at monsters until their numbers can no longer be considered a horde, and as for the other methods of disposal, these are outliers because usually, villages, towns, cities, and kingdoms would prepare an army of men to cull the forming horde before it reaches breaking point and the monsters run amok."

Our teacher walked back to the blackboard and wrote down Armies right next to Standard and I decided to put a dash over the two just in case I get confused in the future and think that it's a standard army or something…

When I looked up from my notebook, Zathania called my name, "Neo?"

Hm?" I turned to her.

"Do you know how to properly manage armies?" She asked, I nodded, of course I do, armies were pretty involved with Everlast's gameplay back then so I kinda knew how to lead one, somewhat. "Can you teach me about them later?"

"Gladly!" I beamed at her, "you can just ask anytime okay? I'm here for you," For some reason, my reply made her lips shake and Zath quickly looked away from me, "are you okay?"

"I am fine, mistress,"

"Yeah…" I trailed off.

She's clearly not fine because she refused to look at me but I'm sure we'd have more time to talk about this later- for now, we need to not make our teacher die early from a heart attack because we're talking during lectures-

Do I sound old? I probably sound old don't I?

Before my thoughts could get any worse, I focused back on the lesson at hand-

"-and usually, these armies are dispatched in such a way that the leadership of the town knows will be effective against the horde because as I said; we have experienced this particular event throughout history, and because of that, we have familiarity on how hordes usually go," was the part that I caught from our teacher's explanation, "and there is a method to this but if you are merely starting and don't know how to judge horde formations but still forced to confront them, then the best way cull them is by focusing on the fastest monsters because those would always reach villages first, you can deal with the slow monsters after the fact,"

"Of course, different monsters have different preferences for what kind of area they will attack and specific species target specific places but we won't talk about any of those today, so let's continue on with the rest of the lesson-"

"- now, for the poison method, there are usually special ingredients involved with the poison in order to quickly affect the ravenous monsters because otherwise, their irate and angry state would render the poison null,"

Sir Scrag wrote something down on the blackboard; the word, Prevention next to Poison, and then proceeded with an explanation; "this method however isn't used to exterminate monster hordes but rather, to prevent them from forming to begin with," I wrote that down because everyone else did, "and whenever this method is used, the horde is found out prematurely, allowing the local powers to prevent it before it could begin,"

Prevention had the word Premature written right next to it now, which again, I put a hyphen in between because I'm sure that I will actually get confused by this if I don't.

"And finally, there is Denial but this method is an outlier among outliers, and this can usually only be done by a Prophecy because of their personal power, and using it, they will cast a powerful Technique that washes light over the entire forest and prevents the monster horde from ever forming," from the way our teacher nodded, I knew that this particular topic is now done.

And like I thought, our teacher's next words were about the closing of said topic- "Now that extermination is finished-" our teacher paused when a hand got raised, "yes?"

Korbinian stood up, "we never talked about how monster hordes formed,"

"I did that on purpose," our teacher answered calmly, "because as I said earlier, we are only discussing how to spot when a monster horde is forming and not how it forms, I understand why you couldn't distinguish it though, sometimes I make that mistake myself!" I smiled when he started laughing at his own joke.

When Korbinian sat back down, our lesson continued; "now, how do you avoid monster hordes?" Our teacher asked as he walked around the stage, "usually there are several options a regular person can do whenever a horde is descending on them and those are- running away and finding a place to hide, going to a territory of an Omegafauna Calf and waiting the horde out, then finally, they can attempt to kill one of the monsters and then bathe themselves in blood to mask their smell."

So it's either die while running, go to an even deadlier monster's territory, or kill one, get bloody, and then hope for the best.

I'm starting to think that maybe the people of this world are a bit too defenseless against the standard monster commonly found across the world… but how do I do something about it?.. It's not like I can help in this particular scenario right?..

I frowned, guess it's just one of those things that Fafnir said I couldn't do anything about- I mean, I can fight Demon Dukes and move valleys with the amount of workers I can hire but focusing on… hm, why would I be the one focusing everything I have on Monster Hordes? Amber can probably do it just fine but then I'll have to ask her and she'll probably say it'll take a while- a few months or so, - to train proper soldiers, which even as Royalty, is pretty expensive to do…

Training soldiers takes a lot of money and as great as my funds are (both from my own stuff and from everything else,) I'm not exactly so rich that I can just raise a personal army meant to protect everything inside of Everlast's borders all by myself…

Come to think of it, how many soldiers do I even need for that?

"Neo, what are you thinking about?" I faced Fafnir.

"Well I just thought how hard it would be for me to raise an entire army that can defend everything inside the borders from monster hordes," I answered honestly, followed by a frown, "it's kinda sad that everyone is dying from them all the time,"

"No, no- not everyone dies from monster hordes all the time," Laceresta cut into the conversation and shook her head at me, "if you've been listening to our teacher, you'd know that the hordes rarely kill anyone since villages and kingdoms move before they can rush out of the forest and start doing actual damage to the surrounding settlements and the only time that the armies of those places fail is when the monster horde is bigger than they initially thought which… only happens twice a month, or at least it's what our teacher said,"

"Kingdoms and villages have their own personal armies?" Huh, I did not know that, and from the way my seatmates are staring at me… I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to since… it was literally one of the first few things our teacher said at the start of our lesson, I sighed, "sorry,"

"It's fine," Laceresta waved me off, "just continue listening, we're only one more subject away before our first day of school ends,"

"Right," I nodded, "I guess we are,"

Hm. I'm feeling a bit stressed, should we go out into the city after this?

I turned to all my friends, feeling a bit excited but choosing not to tell them about it.

The rest of our lesson for Monster Hordes had been pretty standard all things considered, and since we still had (a bit) of time left after discussing the various ways a horde can be defeated, our teacher decided that we'd talk about the standard, typical monsters that can be found everywhere.

"It's to prepare you all for your hunts," Sir Scrag said as he wrote down Iron Tusks, Dire Wolves, and Grisly Spiders on the blackboard, as I read through the names, I couldn't help but wonder what kind of monster would be considered as a "boss" in a more realistic Everlast.

Obviously, the Omegafaunas are a given and those ranged from mini-bosses to Raid Bosses that can wipe out entire parties back in the game, here though? I'm not so sure…

I mean, they are being treated as dangerous by everyone around me but I don't know just how dangerous they really are since I haven't fought one and compared my ingame experiences yet- I pressed my cheek against my palm and faced Fafnir and Laceresta, "say, do you guys want to hunt an Omegafauna calf and juvenile with me on the weekend?"

"No." Laceresta immediately denied, "I'm gonna go hunt with Zathania and guide her on how to properly kill monsters, you've been teaching her how to fight but she lacks experience and since our personal strength is close to each other's, I'm gonna go hunt with her."

"Good for you Zath," I smiled at my maid, "you should get as much experience out of this as you can," she nodded and focused back on the lesson, "Nir?" I eyed my Dragon.

She nodded, "I do need to stretch limbs," she hummed, "and I guess this is a great way to do that,"

"Yay~~" I grinned, "we're gonna kill so many of them it's gonna be great!"
=====================

And as promised, a new chapter after new year (for me at least, I'm one day ahead into the future,) and with that being said, Happy New Year to all of you, hope 2024 goes well for all of us.

 

[NotACryptid]

"- and remember, we will have a tour across the Flora and Fauna territories next week, so be sure to prepare for that, that is all." Mrs. Edith Decalouge- our very librarian looking teacher, complete with glasses, a wrinkled face, graying hair on the sides of her head, and a checkered coat, - nodded to us one last time before carrying all of her stuff out of the classroom.

Once the door behind her slammed shut, I sighed in relief before slumping down and stretching in my seat- "finallyyyyyyyy~" I said with a small grin as I watched the rest of our classmates stand up and walk to their lockers, the entire day felt like it was forever and I couldn't wait- wait to go out of the school and start enjoying myself.

As a student, going around the city after class should just be a given, both in this life and my old one.

I stood up and followed after my friends to go store my notebook and as we opened our lockers, I went ahead and asked, "so, what do you guys want to do after this?" I said with a small grin directed to the rest of them, "we can hang out by Cream's Edge and start drinking chocolate drinks there," like chocolate, milk, chocolate milk, chocolate with sprinkles, milk fundou- a lot of sweets really.

When my friends stared at me like I had grown a second head, I tilted my head at them in return, why are they staring at me like that? "What?"

"We're going somewhere?" Laceresta asked and I nodded, "why?"

"To enjoy ourselves after an entire day of class, obviously?" I looked at all of them, my confused expression growing, "what else?"

"But why?" Fafnir asked, "can't we just go back to the suite-"

Horrified, I slammed the door of my locker a lot harder than I intended, "what?!" I screeched, "we can do whatever we want now that we're free from class and our responsibilities!" I pointed at them accusingly, "We can go around the city for the next-" How much time did we spend on our classes again? Hm… Eh, I'll figure it out- "- till night!"

"You mean for an hour," Laceresta emphasized, "Neo, we can't- we need to train, not enjoy ourselves, that'll just make us lax."

"Oh come on, we have the gravity well on the suites and we can increase it till we can barely move so that we get the exercise we lost from the two hours running around the city and enjoying ourselves!"

"Tw- no, one hour, I'm not gonna go with you if you're just gonna waste time enjoying yourself like this, we are. Going. To. Train." Laceresta growled out each word, "we need to work harder every day now that we're at the Academy, not the opposite!"

"Well if you all want, both you and Fafnir can just spend an hour out there," I asked, "when an hour passes, you can both fly together back to the suite so you can train, Basilisk Carriages are cheap anyways,"

"And what about you?" Fafnir asked.

"Zath and I will go back on our own!" I said with a grin.

"Actually mistress-" I turned to my maid- who was already bowing in apology, - and frowned, is she really gonna betray me like this? "I want to train as well, I want to catch up to all of you,"

"Et tu, Zath?" I made a show of clenching my chest with my hand.

"I'm sorry but I really need to do this," she said.

I pouted, "fine," I said, "fine, you can all go back after an hour, but before that, we go to Cream's Edge and enjoy ourselves!" I wrapped my arm around Zath's neck and started dragging her, "and no, you can't not go to this, I want us to enjoy ourselves after a stressful day of class and you are included in that us, now let's go!!!"

…

"What do you think Mrs. Decalouge meant when she said 'territories are like humans,' earlier?" I glared at Zath while she bit the nub of her pencil's eraser in thought.

Is she really gonna spend the rest of the way to the cafe studying? Seriously, we're supposed to forget about classes right now! "No one?" She looked around and so did I, but no one answered her, "okay, maybe she meant that we shouldn't let it get sick?"

"No- that's not what she meant," I sighed when my maid raised her eyebrow at me- hey! Just because I don't do administrative stuff like the rest of my siblings doesn't mean I don't know how to do it!

I didn't say any of that though and instead eyed my maid patiently, "Zath, what she meant is that like a human, territories have a heart- the leader, - a head- the people managing it, be them a group of scribes or the congress, or its leader, - and… I think that's it," Zath managed to look impressed and I didn't know how to feel about that particular reaction… "but if you want me to go further, then the arms are the armies/defensive line of the territory and the legs are the economy, because if you want your territory to keep moving forward then you're gonna have to manage its finance well,"

"And that's it?" Zath asked she had already finished writing down everything I said just now.

"There's also the mouth, which is the leader, because they are the territories' spokesperson or as another example, they may take too many resources for themselves, even when it's not needed and become fat, or, they control themselves and make the territory improve and good looking," I shrugged.

"Well, I guess I wouldn't want someone fat to fight alongside me either," Laceresta butted into my confusion- what did she mean by that?

"Mhmm." I nodded, "but it is also worth noting that- and I am specifically talking about people here, not territories, - some people can't control themselves."

"They should," Laceresta said.

I remained silent while wondering what is up with my friends acting so grumpily today, seriously, do they hate us going out this much? I wanted us to enjoy ourselves and they clearly won't if they'll just feel bitter about everything so you know what?

"Fafnir, you can just drop me off at Cream's Edge and you can all go back to the suite, I'll be fine all by myself," I was trying not to sound bitter. Trying.

'Are you sure about this?' Am I pissed that she didn't even try to deny my request? Yep- slightly. 'Neo… you know how important training is for the two of them, especially after what happened at the gym,'

"Yeah but this is our first day of school, it's not like we'll do this every day," I huffed, well, I'm actually planning on doing it every day- I already made it so that my morning exercise is double the amount I usually do, and that's not me mentioning the exercise I'll do during Professor Quoketh's class too, we can clearly afford to be lax for an hour or two at the end of each school day.

I frowned when they all shot me confused gazes, "okay, fine, I'll be honest, I'll do this every day but come on! We can enjoy ourselves through this! Imagine if you go to school tomorrow worn and tired? Do you think you'll be able to listen to the lectures huh?"

"Mistress, that'll only happen when we stay up late into the night, we can always get ample rest so that we're ready for the next day," Zath replied easily, and with narrowed eyes, she shook her head at me before fixing her glasses.

"Can I ask you something?" Laceresta said and fearing for the worse- she'll definitely ask me why I'm doing this, and I don't have a good reason for it so… - I looked over Fafnir's shoulder to see how close we were to the cafe and okay, it's still a bit too far for my liking… I turned back to Laceresta and nodded, "why suddenly change?" She asked, "it's not like you to do this,"

I slumped- I don't actually have a good reason for doing this but come on! Do I need one?! A break is a break!

I sighed, "well… I just thought that we needed a break, and besides, we train twice a day thanks to Instructor Quoketh's class right?"

"Yeah, which means that we can get stronger if we train after school," Laceresta pointed out.

"Okay, you know what?" I said, this whole circular logic thing is starting to piss me off, "fine, you can go train but don't come crawling back to me when you're all suffering from burnout and you don't wanna continue going to school anymore." I crossed my arms and huffed.

'Neo… you know that's not- you know that we need to train right?' Fafnir's voice echoed inside my head.

Laceresta nodded, "you clearly hate this, do you hate us?"

I couldn't say no when I hear that kind of tone damnit, "I… don't," I replied, "I only hate the fact that you all don't want to do this, I don't actually hate any of you,"

Laceresta leaned forward and gave me a hug, "and we don't care if you spend 2 hours in this cafe too, so enjoy yourself, it's just… we need to train."

I nodded, I know what she said still means that they're not going!

Zath held my hand, grabbing my attention, "we need to catch up to you,"

"By what? Working non-stop?" I scoffed.

"Well, it is what you did," Laceresta said with a shrug.

'We're here,' Fafnir said and her words were followed by our ride becoming bumpy as she slowed down and began her descent, when Fafnir gave the confirmation that we'd landed, I looked down on the ground and hopped off of the saddle, the slippery marble almost making me fall, 'See you, Neophyte,'

"This feels like you're all permanently saying goodbye to me or something," I replied while sighing, "but yes, I'll see you all back in the suite,"

With that last exchange, my Dragon flew off and for once, I was alone. I've always either had servants or my siblings to go with me and standing here all by myself feels kind of awkward-

Is my collar fixed? What if a part of my clothes is wrinkled? - I ran a hand through my forehead and held back a wince when I noticed a stray strand of hair stuck to my cheek-

I looked forward and focused; okay, Neophyte, this is normal and would have happened at some point, so it doesn't matter if I'm alone or not, I just need to not look nervous- right, that, if I start shaking like a leaf then the people would look at me and think, "oh god! The princess isn't confident! We're doomed! Humanity is going to end! AHHHHHHHhh-"

And then it'll be the end of the world as I know it.

After telling myself to push forward, I nodded and picked up the black and gold credit card from my pocket; unlimited money, that's what the school gave me when they decided to hand me one of these things and genuinely speaking, I was shocked when I saw this card the first time because they don't do this for just anyone.

Not even the Player character when I was playing got this card- probably because infinite money is cheating, - but now I'm holding one of the rumored black cards that doesn't have a limit.

I am a bit curious if they'll freeze it when I spend too much money and the temptation to just go on a spending spree is there but since I don't want to risk losing something like this, I decided to just casually spend instead of going over the top and like, buying out the entirety of Cream's Edge or something…

Amidst the gazes of other people as well as my fellow students coming off of their carriages, I decided to stop standing around and adopted my usual, carefree self.

I mean, yeah I'm fighting my own instincts to get away from this place right now- or maybe find someone to talk to or something so that I don't do this alone, - and doing so is growing a headache at the top of my head but I need to push through this in order to enjoy the chocolates and other sweet drinks!

Sugar? Diabetes? What's that? My body is super efficient so I don't have to worry about anything!

…

Dialecta Tundra tilted her head when she heard a sudden 'Hoot! Hoot!' outside of her office, curious as for what her Bulleater Snow-Owl was calling her for, she opened the window and greeted the 8-foot-tall magical creature by nodding, "You have news?" She asked and cold wind blew in response to her words.

Her familiar reached out a talon that held a scroll, "what is this?"

"Hoot!"

Taking the scroll, the Principal of Pledge Academy unfurled it and her eyes widened at the sight, "how could she have spent over 6,000 in the span of 50 minutes?" She asked calmly, she didn't know that the princess was this frivolous when it comes to spending… but then again, with the way the princess' presence encouraged everyone within the school to work hard, 6,000 or more is a meager amount, "where is she?"

"Hoot!" Came the answer.

"It's impressive that she can somehow spend that much money in such a short time," the principal waved her owl off, "it's fine, you know she's worth more than 6,000."

"Hoot!" Bifard nodded before flying off.

Even as she said that the princess' spending is fine though, she couldn't help but wonder what Neophyte is exactly doing in Cream's Edge at this moment for her to spend so much money in such a short amount of time.

…

I gulped down the last of the melted milk and slammed the massive crystal bowl down, I grinned at the waitress, "more please!"

"B-but you already ate so much-" she stuttered but I shook my head at her and waved the black card around.

"Come on, you guys are literally earning money off of this! And I get to enjoy this kind of sweetness after so long!" I pouted which like the last few times, made the waitress give in to my demands and went back to the counter- which had chefs and servers staring at me like I'm insane by the way! Hmpf. Or maybe they're just concerned about how much I ate? Are those two things the same? - and after an exchange of words, one of them went back to the kitchen to make me another Choco-milk Mountain- a very, very expensive meal that's meant to be bought during birthdays but clearly, it can also be eaten like this!

I mean, I do it.

When another of the mountains arrived, I grabbed the large spoon stuck to the tip and started scooping up the chocolate and milk ice cream and as I continued eating, I pitied Zath and the rest, it's their fault for not going along with me and not experiencing this sweet haven of smooth chocolate and creamy milk, if they were here, I would've bought one for each of them.

"Wh-w-huft ai Shwamef," I shook my head at the thought and continued scooping up the delicious meal, poor fools are only training instead of taking a break!

 

[NotACryptid]

After visiting the cafe known as Cream's Edge, the next hotspot I was going to was a restaurant called Horizon- and yes, I am doing this to simply eat food because who wouldn't want to? - but before I go there and eat a meal, I decided to run around the city for a bit to you know, sightsee and stuff, see how everyone is doing.

All the while holding and eating a bag of chocolate donuts, which honestly is very, very delicious, I really need to compliment the guy who made this when I eventually go back to Cream's Edge or something.

For now though, I'll stick to enjoying these circular, tasty food- also, I kinda forgot to give my compliments to the chef (maybe he's a baker?) when I was leaving that cafe… but I'm not mostly at fault of course- okay, maybe I am mostly at fault since I didn't really bother with doing anything else other than focus on the donuts when I was leaving the cafe…

Moving on-

I gulped down my latte before sliding another donut into the mouth of my paper bag.

I started walking down the streets of Everlast without so much as a care in this half-frozen world- honestly ever since I found out that most of the people looking at me were doing it because they think I'm cool I've decided that shame shouldn't be my reaction to all this and after getting approached five times by groups of people in the first few minutes of leaving Cream's Edge, I decided that these guys weren't so bad- but also very annoying.

Right now, no one is approaching me thanks to me using Maximum Speed to blitz past them before they can even react or do anything about my presence, which, even when I'm taking a leisurely walk across the street, in the eyes of the typical person; I'm nothing more than a white blur that briefly passes them by.

I finished another one of my donuts and after taking another chug of my coffee; decided to sit down on a nearby bench on the side of the road and just watch the semi-frozen world move past me.

I say semi-frozen because everyone still manages to move from my perspective, but they're so slow that they might as well be snails compared to me, the carriages and the animals pulling them were a tad bit faster but not by much.

This gave me enough time to look around the place and appreciate the city that's under my family's rule, Everlast isn't exactly what most people would call beautiful- the city is after all, more industrialized than natural, with houses and other human comforts instead of plants and trees, - but even then, there's something about it that attracts my attention; it could be the fact that the city is perpetually clean and so is appealing to look at, or maybe it's the aesthetic of the greco roman houses mixed with modern day architecture that made it look good, or maybe it's even the various technology and the people using them.

There's honestly no real reason why it's beautiful to me; it just is.

Everlast is beautiful- it's also good, nice, and comfortable: a lot of words can be used to describe this city but in the end, none of them capture the… feel of humanity's greatest bastion, the last stand against the Demons.

Of a city found amidst clouds.

Shaking my head- honestly, I'm getting a bit nostalgic and sentimental about all this, must be all the sugar I've been eating, - I put another donut in the mouth of my paper bag and bit out a large chunk out of it, then I washed it down with my latte until the cup was empty before throwing the now useless paper cup on a trashcan to the side of the bench.

Another bite out of my donut later and I got up and started making my way downtown.

At some point, I turned a street corner and noticed something on the glass window of one of the shops found across the city- the store was one of the smaller ones and what it sells are clocks, most of them regular, circle-shaped, clocks that come in a myriad of forms, some looked as though they had vines wrapping around the edges of their earthen colored body, with a root of them dangling at the bottom like a beard, others were artistically designed glass.

Each clock was unique in its own little way and they were so intricate that eyeing all of them barely got me to notice the two grandfather clocks standing on either end of the window, they towered over even me and their imposing presence gave off this strong feeling that made each clock between the two of them more… solid.

Protected.

But if the grandfather clocks barely got my attention- though they are nicely made, - then the clock at the center of everything was the object responsible for my-way-too-long window shopping, and what it is, is an hourglass filled with golden dust, which felt like it was letting out a hue of gold so strong that anyone would eventually find themselves staring at this thing should they decide to turn to this particular street corner.

It was a beautiful little item and I couldn't stop staring at it. It also had an enchantment that told the person viewing it what time it was- and would you look at that, I just finished the first hour of my break… still not going back though, - but that wasn't the best thing about the clock, personally speaking, I considered the small granules of gold slowly falling to the bottom as the best feature that this thing has.

I know that this is probably only true in my slowed down perspective but… it's the most eye catching thing to me and the beautiful lines carved across the surface of the hourglass, nicely carved wood, and the tiny statuette of a golden phoenix held nothing to the slow falling granules of golden dust.

Pushing a strand of stray hair behind my ears, I eyed the hourglass with a small smile.

Drip.

A small series of golden dust would fall from the head of the hourglass and into the funnel at the center, then, due to time being slowed down, the dust starts to gather as it falls through the neck, coalescing into a thin cylinder of glittering gold before falling down and slowly, as the dust touches the open air, they begin to spread, others strike and bounce away from those too close to them, some simply parting due to the pull of gravity.

And then… they'd fall, landing on the bottom with a sound so inaudible, no one would be able to hear it.

After looking at it for a while, I moved on and looked away from the hourglass.

Continuing my trek through the streets and moving downtown led me to pass various people, all in different states of emotion and expression that gets captured in this small, picture perfect moment that only I could see: People who were halfway through laughing, holding their bellies or wiping the corner of their eyes, people who were smiling as though what they heard was the best thing in the world or couples who listened in to one another sweetly.

For that last part; one had the girl resting her cheek on the back of her hand while staring affectionately with half lidded eyes full of mirth at the guy sitting in front of her, who had both his mouth half open and his hands raised animatedly. In between them were two plates of pancakes as well as a pair of juices, one orange and the other… strawberry.

Life- these people are living, and I want to keep things that way. I don't want any of these men and women, children or old men to fall to the demonic horde and lose the safety of Everlast and start surviving in groups out in the wilds.

I'll fix my mistake and keep these people safe- that is a promise that I have said to myself once and I'll repeat it throughout the course of my life.


The last, notable thing I saw before I arrived downtown was this statue of a Hydrokith- a Nymph, - spewing water out of their mouth, water that was stranded in mid air, water that was forming tiny transparent globules that refused the pull of gravity.

I liked to think that the tiny blobs of water were glaring at the basin of water below, as if they were confused about why everything's frozen.

Well it's me! It was me who made you all fall so slow water droplets! Haha!

Villainous Neophyte strikes again!!!!

Anyways, the spectacle that were the water droplets only managed to entertain me for a good second or two before I eventually decided to move on from cupping them into my hands and moving them around the air to actually head into downtown proper.

And here is a bustling market full of stores of all kinds, there were no stalls here, just tiny, family owned businesses that had either rented out a store or purchased it for themselves.

Just like me, a lot of people were window shopping around here, though unlike me who could move freely, most of them were frozen in time; girls pointed at various storefronts and open windows in excitement, with some tugging on the sleeves of their boyfriend or fathers… question mark?

Some of the girls had old men as companions and I really hoped what I was seeing isn't actually what I think it is- but everyone has lives of their own and they can do whatever they want with it so it's fine.

I guess…

I stopped in front of a clothing store, one that had an open front instead of being covered by a glass window, walking forward, I entered and eyed all the clothes hanging on the racks and checked them out, I mean, I can always make my own clothes through my family's factories and brands didn't really exist here- well, they did, but those were for swords and enchanted stuff rather than clothes since they sell more, ingame the brands are translated as "attributes" that a weapon comes with, like Extra Damage or something. - so me window shopping for these things is kind of pointless but it's the experience that counts damnit!

I checked out the last of the clothes and silently left, and I think there shouldn't be a sudden burst of air that would pass around the place thanks to me running around it while it's frozen… that usually never happens with Maximum Speed.

I am feeling a bit anxious though…

I decided to deactivate my Technique and sighed in relief when nothing bad happened- then I activated it again.

As my foot touched the streets once more, I wondered if I should actually buy something and then it hit me- I should totally buy something for my friends shouldn't I? But what can I buy them that they'll appreciate and use?

Training stuff?

Training stuff.

Okay, as it turns out, I didn't actually know where to start with anything related to "training" out in downtown because back in the s, I usually got those in the mall, at a shop called "Hero's Strength," which sells equippable/wearable weights, a few vitamins which enhance stat growth depending on what kind of vitamin is drank, then there's also the herbs, and I guess the drink that gives a temporary exp boost as well, which I don't know how it'll translate here since EXP don't exist…

… or even if any of those are as effective as their game counterparts since real life doesn't exactly have "instant" training stuff unless it's hardcore drugs or something…

… I pursed my lips and paused in thought, should I just go ahead and go to the mall and buy those things there or something- no, nope, that's a boring shopping experience and I am not gonna go to Hero's Strength without checking out all the alternatives first!

And with that being said, I took a brave step forward into the unknown world called downtown.


"Huh, neat," I found one, and it's a shop that sold "growth herbs" or whatever.

All of which were available for me to see on the shop's window, and I managed to recognize some of them, with a few even being something that I actually spammed harvest whenever I go into forests because of how useful they were as healing items- well, no, they only healed for like, 15 HP but they were very common, - and even herbs that can only be found on quests.

Nodding to myself, I looked up at the top of the store to see if they had a name and… the sign says Herbalist's Needs, okay, noted, I'll come back here if they sell good stuff- I stopped when I was about to enter the store, no one inside would actually be able to talk to me if I go in there with Maximum Speed activated right?..

Hm… but what can I do so that none of my fans disturb me while I buy stuff?

Let me see… I don't think I can go back to Pledge Academy and get a change of clothes because it's too far and also too tedious, enough that it'll just ruin my mood when I do it so instead, I'll go ruin the mood of someone else!

And that particular winner was a girl who I found sitting on a remote bench in a park, there's no one around her and there were bushes to her right that I could hide on while I convince her that I was the real deal so uh, yeah, I think this is gonna go great.

I walked up to the bush, deactivated my Technique, and as the world went back to normal, I peeked my head out and started 'psshing' the girl-

"PSSTT!!!!" I called out to no success, okay, this is embarrassing but it's for the disguise! "PSSSSStTTTTTTTTT!"

And that was it, the girl stopped feeding the ducks with the bread in her hand and turned to me, "What do yo- YOUR MAJESTY?!"

I flinched and looked around before placing my finger on top of my lips in a shushing motion, she slowly nodded and I gestured for her to come forward and she did, cautiously, "I'm the real Neophyte," I said and she took a step back, I called my Pledge and showed it to her as proof and her cautious and fearful expression turned into one of happiness.
Okay, wow, doesn't she know that other rapiers like mine exist out there in the world? Can't believe that's all it took to convince her, I was preparing to show my credit card as the final nail in the coffin but I guess this works too.

"I need your help," I said and she nodded, conviction written on her face.

"Anything for you princess!" She said with a bow, "what do you need from me?"

"I want to buy your bag," I said and that got her to blink.

"You mean my clothes?" She said and I nodded, "but why?"

"Well people are gonna notice me if I just walk around like this so I need a disguise, and wrapping myself around different clothes should do the trick," I said.

"Well… I do have a cloak in there but I think it'll only reach halfway through your body? You are pretty tall compared to me…" she mumbled.

"It's fine, it's fine," I waved her off.

Who cares?! That's just double the disguise isn't it?! People wouldn't dare assume that I, Neophyte Astral Everlast will somehow be stupid enough to wear something so silly, nope, of course not, that'll ruin their image of me and the girl who's gonna be wearing that cloak that only reaches half her body? She's not gonna be Neophyte, but some crazy girl with silver hair instead!

But maybe I should buy a wig too? But how do I prepare to wear one? Should I also get sunglasses? Maybe…

"Uhm," she was reluctant and I decided to do what I've been planning to convince her- I showed her my gold and black credit card, "wait, you're going with me to buy new clothes?"

Wait what? I was planning on letting her borrow- oh, I'm an idiot, who lets other people borrow their unlimited credit cards?

I'm so stupid.

Slowly, I nodded, "... yes,"

"Then okay!" The girl said happily before skipping over to her bench and proceeding to hand me her bag and after checking out the inside, what I saw was a cloak, a small T-shirt, and then finally, a pair of black pants.

Okay- okay, this is great, now I have my disguise, I shook off my clothes and started changing.

Also, if the girl- Mindy, as she'd introduce herself later, - was going to look at me with a red face while watching me change, then maybe she should've given me privacy and moved away from the bush?!

Now I'm also embarrassed!

 

[NotACryptid]

"That's clearly her," Ceatri Beallette said to her shop aid who, for some reason, still refused to believe that the badly disguised girl moving back and forth in front of her store was the greatest and most prodigious royalty that their city has produced- well, maybe not the greatest or even the most prodigious, as throughout the history of the city, it produced amazing Everlasts that led the people against the brink of destruction.

With some even going as far as moving alongside their generation's Hero to fight against the Demon Lord despite not being a Prophecy but…

Princess Neophyte Astral Everlast may not be the greatest royalty their city has produced, but she is up there, alongside her ancestors responsible for making Everlast touch the clouds.

And right now, said person- who might as well be a walking myth because of all the things Ceatri has heard her do, - is standing in front of her store, walking back and forth in barely restrained manic while wearing a cloak that barely fit her tall frame- it stopped just above her knees, - sunglasses that did diddly squat to cover her silver eyes, and a badly worn wig that still had her silver hair poking out in some areas.

Whatever it is that's going through the mind of the princess for her to do this, Ceatri didn't want to know.

Maybe the girl following around the princess like a tail would know the reason for why she's acting like this but Ceatri has been observing her too, and she's exactly as- if not more, - confused as Ceatri and her aid.

And it's not like the princess herself didn't look confused- well, the proper term to be used on Neophyte right now is that she's confusing to look at because she herself didn't seem confused, just nervous about entering Ceatri's store, which in turn made everyone around her act out in confusion.

To Ceatri though, the scene didn't make her feel confusion.

No.

It made her feel like her store was about to lose all of its customers because of the fact that the princess was possibly suspecting her of something, and if Ceatri felt that way then she couldn't imagine the reaction of everyone outside who managed to recognize the princess and seeing her act out like this.

She wanted to go out there and ask her why she was doing this but since the inner workings of Neophyte's prophecies are often hard to decipher- standing in their way is simply a foolish thing to do or worse, it would cause a repeat of the situation back when she was a kid, when she told her family about the Hero's name and location years before she got him killed, which none of them believed.

Her prophecies shouldn't be messed with- that much Ceatri agreed because if people believed her back then… maybe things would be different right now.

But unfortunately, such time has already passed and its sands rarely go back, if they ever.

Ceatri knew that there was no point in ruminating about past regrets- mourning it for a while after it happened is a good idea, get peace of mind from it, doubly so, but keeping the past close to one's chest is rarely, if ever, a good thing, and those that do often find themselves stuck at a local tavern or bar, drinking their regrets away using alcohol and beer.

Ceatri didn't truly know if the princess still had a small fragment of the past stuck to her heart like a particularly painful shard of glass but from the way she energetically acted, the old herbalist could tell that what happened back then didn't bother the princess as much it would have- which is a good thing, for the world needs everything it could throw against the Demons and their hordes and push them back and Neophyte is someone capable of doing just that.

For now though… the stoic heroine who killed a Demon Duke is nowhere to be found…

… the princess kept going back and forth for a while before she eventually stopped directly in front of the door and with a resolute nod, pressed her hand against the handle and pushed it forward-

"Remember, don't call her out," she said to her aid.

"It's not even her," he said with a roll of his eyes, "and what's up with everyone just going along with the princess' "joke" anyway? Some sort of noble thing? I've heard they can get pretty eccentric,"

Ceatri shrugged, "I have no idea."

Personally, when asked about it, Ceatri would've just said to go along with the princess' wants to keep her relationship and other secrets as well, "secrets" since there's no harm in doing so.

While at the same time, going along with them gives the princess- the same one who is training and will be one day fighting against the Demons in humanity's stead, - peace of mind, which will help her train more efficiently since she's not being held back by petty rumors.

All in all, playing along with the princess and not calling her out was beneficial and more importantly, didn't do any harm.

Those reasons were why Ceatri only smiled at the completely "unrecognizable" newcomer that entered her store with unsteady, fearful steps that, if Ceatri wasn't sure belonged to Neophyte, would've been enough to convince the herbalist that the person is just an insane noble daughter who wouldn't be able to dress up even if her life depended on it.

Because the princess doesn't walk like this, she doesn't walk like some spineless twerp- she walks confidently and reassuringly, as a proper, regal high-class should.

Her natural confidence was completely unlike her current chosen act of this meek, fearful, shy, and yet at the same time, insane looking woman.

The act was so believable that Ceatri herself wouldn't want to believe that this was the same person who defeated a Demon Duke with her Dragon.

Those (very confusing) feelings helped the old woman put on her own act, one that's supposed to be of complete ignorance and obliviousness-

"Hello, young miss, how can I help you?" She greeted with hands held in front of her stomach, she didn't bow like she typically would to Royalty, as that would simply ruin the princess' (badly done) disguise, the princess looked around, frowning, and Ceatri held back from talking using a terrified tone, she didn't have poison within her shop- she made sure of it.

The herbalist put on her best smile, "if what you're seeing around you is not to your liking, we have a catalog for our wares,"

Her majesty fixed her sunglasses and stared at Ceatri, the prior action revealing her silver eyes, "you do?" She sounded happy and so, Ceatri, as much as she suspected that the princess was here to inspect her store, nodded, "oh, that's great! I've been looking to buy some Iron Leaves, Meat Roots, and uh, Red Ginger? Do you have those?"

Ceatri nodded, so far, in all her experience as a herbalist, none of those plants have ever been used in hard drugs, quite the opposite in fact, these plants are typically used in prolonging lifespan as well as promoting vitality, or more commonly, drank as an after workout supplement because of the way they encourage muscle growth.

The fact that it was these three herbs that the princess asked for has made Ceatri feel hopeful that maybe she was just here to buy herself or maybe her… friends back in school a gift or two. Ceatri knew that much like Neophyte herself, the princess' party also consisted of people who loved physical activities.

Idly, the herbalist's gaze landed on the crushed seed of a particular flower- one aptly called "Rabbit's Ears", - which when consumed, turns the user into the animal that the flower is rightfully named after.
It is a very potent aphrodisiac that… the princess and her friends do not truly need, honestly the fact that they're not just Pledge Bearers, but have high chances of being Prophecies makes the need for enhancing their performance in bed unnecessary.

"Here you go, young miss," Ceatri handed catalog at Neophyte with a smile as though she didn't just have perverse thoughts about her and her team.

Alongside the catalog came the requested jars of crushed Iron Leaves, as well as powdered Meat Root and Red Ginger, "we have plenty of copies of our catalog so if you want, you can take your time in checking out the rest of our wares and buy anything that catches your eye,"

"I will!" The princess nodded and Ceatri watched as the princess' eyes scanned the catalog up and down, after a while, she started buying things such as Honey Bark incense, powdered Blood Buds, Crushed Yellowsap, powdered Vitalitree Horns, and even Vine Snake extract.

If she wanted her exercise to yield better results over time, all of those were good choices, especially from someone that Ceatri has always assumed never knew anything about herbs but she supposes a prodigy is a prodigy and it seems that the princess didn't just focus on how to be a Pledge Bearer, but other, more mundane pursuits such as herbalogy as well.

Most impressive.

The princess' orders were quickly taken care of and it took everything out of Ceatri to not facepalm when she saw the princess casually take out her black and gold credit card- does she not know how to properly disguise herself?!

"I am paying? Hello?" Ceatri's eyes followed the black and gold card as it moved from left to right, "helloooo?"

"Right- sorry, but are you from…" Ceatri wasn't sure what to say… and what she's saying is an obvious mistake-

The princess' eyes widened and Ceatri resisted the urge to laugh in self-pointed mockery- "House Tequi?! You mean house Tequi right?" Neophyte asked twice and Ceatri… slowly nodded, how- how can someone be so smart and yet so stupid?.. "well I am!" Neophyte proudly said, as though her identity wasn't already obvious, "that's why I have a gold and black card, just ask Mindy Whiskette over here,"

The quiet- if not tense, - girl suddenly flinched and with a squeak that wouldn't be strange to hear from a mouse, said, "y-yep! She's from the main branch!"

Wow these two are bad actors. Guess the princess does have a lacking talent and that's- whatever this is.

Not Neophyte soon finished her orders and when she took the bag full of herbs without fanfare or even a skeptical gaze, Ceatri felt tempted to ask her about the thing that's been bothering her, she already knew the answer to her question, but just to be sure… "can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead," the princess nodded.

"Why bother with this disguise?" She asked.

"Oh, it's so that no one recognizes me for being a notable member of House Tequi," Neophyte nodded, seemingly proud of herself.

So it is just a disguise after all… it's still weird that the princess went so far to do this but when it comes down to it, Ceatri supposed that this is on par for the course.

…

I can't believe that worked! I mean, I almost got caught by the end there but it's a good thing that the nice old lady already asked about me being a member of House Tequi moments before she questioned my disguise because if she didn't… Goddess I didn't know what I'd do and I would've just stood there like an idiot without realizing that she was asking me about being a member of Tequi.

Really, it's a good thing that things played out the way they did.

Grinning proudly at a disguise well done, I turned to my latest friend, Mindy Whiskette, who, just like that shopkeeper and her store earlier, wasn't a character ingame, let alone someone with a presence as an NPC but she was here and she did help me, making her as real as everyone else which for some reason never really clicked with me until I was about to enter a store that for once, wasn't familiar to me and my ingame knowledge.

It was… pretty odd, all things considered and I felt downright terrified about whether or not the herbal store would be like a glitchy area that hadn't loaded properly when I was about to enter it.

Which was… wrong, making my panic pointless.

Eh, it's not like I wasn't scared of another thing, mostly about the fact that I didn't know what to expect- would the old lady I saw in the window glaring at me be scary? Would she be kind? Were there people in that store? Will they recognize me?

So many anxious thoughts just plagued my mind and the worse part is, I didn't need to pretend like I wasn't scared because I'm technically no longer Neophyte so my fear was out for all to see and they surprisingly didn't react to it much.

"Uhm… why are you just staring at me like this your majesty?" Mindy asked and when I focused back on her, I noticed she was blushing and the desire to call it out and say that I didn't mean it came to the forefront of my mind but just as quickly, it left because let's be honest here, she's just gonna think it's a joke like everyone else.

"Don't call me by that title when we're outside, okay?" She nodded, "no, instead, you call me by another name like…" Phyte obviously wouldn't work, and so will Eoph, Yte sounds stupid, then what about my other name? Tral is weird, Ast is… good, actually, Ast..er?

"Aster. Call me Aster when I'm like this," I offered a raised hand to Mindy, "I'm Aster."

"Mindy," she introduced herself again with a bow, "now are we gonna?.." she trailed off and I hammered my fist into an open palm in realization, right, I completely forgot about that!

"Yep! We'll have to go to the mall and buy you a new change of clothes!" And hopefully for myself as well because holyyyyy is the current set I'm wearing very uncomfortable. I grabbed Mindy's hand and started dragging her away, "Okay, we need to get going if we want to catch the mall before it closes,"

"Uhm… can't we just ride a carriage for that?" Her words made me pause.

Huh, guess she's right, I chuckled, "sorry, it's just… I'm fast enough that I've only been running whenever I want to go somewhere you know?" After experiencing walking through the city in slow motion, I feel like unless it's super important like a ball or a noble gathering or something, I'd prefer to just use Maximum Speed and travel that way.

"I didn't really think that we needed a carriage," I said wryly, "alright, let's go take one and then head for the mall."

Me and Mindy got to the mall with an hour and a half to spare- and yes, I'm aware that I am spending a lot more time in the city but it's fineeeeeee, those three can take care of themselves without me for an hour or three, - and after standing in front of the doors, fearing for my life that the guards will stop me because of how suspicious I look, I decided that I should just take a leap of faith and simply walk in.

It would honestly be a miracle if I somehow managed to get past the entrance with how the guards were staring so… painfully at me.

No really, it feels like it- they've been staring at me weirdly for a while now and even when they try to look away they still can't stop looking at me and the same goes for the rest of the people walking to my side.

"Uhm… Ne- Aster? Are we going in?" I nodded at Mindy.

"Yeah, we should." I started going forward and one of the guards, as expected, stopped me, but I'm not gonna let them cow me, I'm gonna show them confidence and anger from being wrongfully accused and let them know that just because someone looks suspicious doesn't mean that they are!

"Your-"

"Your what?!" I snapped, my what huh? My weird, suspiciously short cloak? My sunglasses? Are they suspicious- I swear- swear I prepared several comebacks in my head as he stared me down with a pale face (which may or may not have encouraged me to continue, am I sadistic?) and shaking hands, I shook my head at him, "my what?! Huh?!"

"Pr-"

"I- I think what my partner is meant to say here is that do you kn- know this person miss?.." the guard turned to my companion and I honestly didn't know who he was asking (and he was staring at me so it could be possible that I was the one being questioned but I still don't get it, is he asking that Mindy knows me to confirm that I'm not dangerous but is signing that using his stare or what?) and so I waited for my friend to answer for me and after a pregnant pause, she nodded.

"Yep!" She said happily, only a bit of her embarrassment for having to cover for me showing itself in her tone, "we're actually here to buy me a new set of clothes,"

"Why?" Asked one of the guards skeptically and I stepped in before another misunderstanding happened.

"It's my gift for her, that's why I'm wearing this see?" This is totally not her clothes at all, nope. "So I can do it discreetly because I don't want anyone to know about this. So if you will-"

In a shocking turn of events, the guard quickly stepped to the side to let us through, "R-right! Got it Maam! Please proceed!"

 

[NotACryptid]

Goldrune Mall is- as the name might suggest, - a chain that's mainly owned by my family.

We do have shareholders like Tequi- who have shares on businesses across Everlast anyways, - but mainly, the mall is owned solely by the Everlast family, and between us siblings, we get shares, with the least important ones having forced to split a 15% share to themselves- which is still pretty big, even if they get like, 0.30% each, - while me and the "main" children such as Adamantite, Bismuth, Amber, Byzanthine, and Pearl get to have a piece of Dad's share, netting us what? 9% Each?

It's a pretty big income that we were born into honestly, and it's mainly why Amber can just sit back and do whatever the hell she wants without getting married.

Before I decided to ask for Amber's help and start a business of my own, it was this particular share that allowed me to pay for my weekly runs on the Flora and Fauna territories. Granted, I did have a lot of savings from all the years I spent training and nothing else so all in all- things have always been smooth for me when it comes to providing the citizens of Everlast aid.

Anyhow, despite partially owning this place- not one of the guards or even the personnel bothered with trying to go near me and say something like, 'come with us, your highness, as we have prepared an entire array of servants to aid you,' - which is a good thing really, I don't want to ruin the experience of the regular folk just because my presence here made it so that the mall is now centered around my person.

I mean, the guards are staring at me- like they're really hyperfocused on me but I assume that's because of my purposefully badly done disguise instead of my status as a princess, which, by Everlast law, I should be protected at all cost. (Not that I needed it.)

And speaking of disguises, I'm actually planning on changing out of my current outfit and into a less attention-grabby one since it probably won't take people long to realize who I really am if they keep their eyes on me at all times, and this disguise kind of does that- anyways, once that happens… eesh, I don't think I can be bothered to explain just how bad that sort of thing can get.

Seriously, newspapers exist in this world, and not to mention the tech here is actually pretty good despite the world's mainly fantastical aesthetic, if people recognize who I am, there's going to be a picture of me in the news tomorrow morning so with that being said, I headed for the nearest fashion store with Mindy in tow.

Once I got in, I looked around the place; cream colored walls, white tiles for a floor, a coffee-brown ceiling with circular, yellow lights that were bright enough to light everything up but also not hurt the eyes, and racks upon racks filled with clothes- the standard sight when it comes to clothing stores really.

The clerks and other… you know, the girls that stand in front of a particular spot so that shoppers can ask them for help? Yeah, those guys- anyways, they blinked when they saw me but since the guard let me pass, they didn't really do anything and simply kept eyeing me, so I walked around and tried to find a coat that fit my height as well as a standard set of civilian clothing so that I can change out of my uniform.


So I found a coat and it's this beautiful thing made of wool and light brown in color, it looked and felt like bear fur and it was also big enough that it didn't just hide my everything from the neck down, it also made me look like some type of woods witch… which I think was what the designer was going for to begin with.

I was about to wrap it around my hand when one of the salesperson- hah! Found the word! - came near me and said, "I'll carry that for you miss,"

I eyed the girl before slowly handing her the coat, okay, fine, you think I look suspicious- which I am, I admit as much, but I'll still make you swallow your feelings once I pull out my credit card.

With my new carrier in tow, I started walking around the shop for a set of day-to-day wear, I turned to Mindy as we got out one of the aisles, "aren't you gonna pick something?" I asked and she stared up at me, "you've been awfully silent," I said, I mean, I get it, she's feeling shy and is thinking that I'll pick things for her but the silence is getting unnerving, "it's fine to talk you know?"

"Well… uhm-" she bit her lip, "can I just get money as payment?"

"Hm? Sure, why not?" I said to her, it's not that big of a deal, "I'm not the type to force you to buy you clothes," what's even up with that anyways? Seriously, if someone is asking for money then just give it to them, there's absolutely nothing wrong with doing it, "We'll go by the nearest pin out and I'll withdraw the money,"

She looked down and bowed, "thank you,"

"You're welcome," I smiled at her.

I quickly bought all the stuff I needed and after paying for all of it- and realizing that salespersons have practiced stone faces because she didn't even blink or react when I pulled out my credit card, I guess that's just what happens when you work in retail, disappointing really, - I brought my stuff into the changing room so that I can get out of this goddess forsaken uniform and into a proper disguise.

"How much do you need?" I asked the girl standing outside the door, whose feet were visible from the gap on the bottom, her feet moved in uncertainty and Mindy oddly didn't answer so I asked again, "Mindy?"

"Uhm… 500 is enough,"

So 1,500 it is then- I silently thought as I hummed in response, "okay," I replied, and then silence…

… okay, how do I do small talk?

"So, what do you usually do in your free time?" This is a good topic right? Yeah, this is good, I nodded at myself for a job well done at finding a topic, Mindy though didn't say anything so as I threw on a pair of linen slacks, I decided to start things first, "for me I usually just train, and learn too I guess,"

"I-I sometimes like to do handweaving?" She replied uncertainly.

"Neat," I said, "you don't stitch?"

"I do," she answered, "sew as well but handweaving I find is the most relaxing hobby that I could do," Mindy sounded like she was smiling, "I like to re-create the flowers that I find in my travels and put them into handkerchiefs,"

Wait- I thought handweaving is that thing with baskets? "What's handweaving again?"

"Sewing in smaller scales," came her answer, "I think… if you want a clearer example it's when… someone puts a blank handkerchief on a ring and then stitches a design on it,"

Right, sewing, guess those terms are interchangeable, "neat," I said as I threw on my brown coat over my black and white plaid shirt. "I'm done," I finished my disguise by rolling a scarf around the bottom half of my face, covering it.

I got out of the changing room and raised my gloved hand at Mindy, "come on," I said, voice muffled, "let's go,"

She grabbed my gloves and I dragged her away from the dressing room- so the plan is, I'll go to the nearest pin out, give Mindy the money that I owed her, then I'd have to go to a postal office to send my stuff back to the school.

Then I'd go to Horizon and eat that sweet, sweet Rosein Stake all by my lonesome.

It's gonna be great!

I did those things as quickly as I could and as I waved at Mindy's carriage as it drove away, my eyes scanned the street around me for a blue and white building, which didn't take me long to find so I made my move and proceeded to send my stuff back to Pledge Academy, the people manning the office were surprised that it was me- though they didn't really look like it, - and once my identity got confirmed, I sent my stuff before going on my way to eat a delicious stake.

I went out to the street, called for a Basilisk carriage, and that was when I noticed a slightly familiar figure on the corner- it couldn't be him, right?

…

"She's currently waiting for a Basilisk Carriage," the man paid to tail one of the city's most influential princess said as he eyed the woman adorning a light brown coat that covered her entire body from head to toe.

Body language is an important thing in his work and the way she covered herself prevented him from reading anything substantial but from the way the target's body was tilted, the investigator could tell that she had one hand on her hips, and from the way she bobbed in place, he also concluded that she was tapping her foot impatiently.

His Employer, the man on the other end of the message scroll, was silent even when the investigator told him that the carriage was now starting to go near, that silence kept going until the carriage started moving away, afterwards his employer said, "follow after her,"

And so he did.

He called for a carriage of his own and what came was a relatively cheap carriage pulled by a pair of stallions, "where will it be lad?" The coachman asked.

"I'm not sure, go forward for now and I'll give you directions on where I feel like going," he replied as he made himself comfortable on the seat.

"Aye," no more questions were asked as the coachman flipped his hat and whipped his horses, they started moving and he looked out the window, subtly eyeing the high-class vehicle that the princess had taken.

It went left, and so would he, "go left,"

He was starting to get a picture of where the princess wanted to go after the second turn- they were heading for the Southwestern Edge and there could only be one place someone of her class would want to go to on this particular side of the city, "I think I'm feeling Horizon today, can you take me there?"

"Aye," the coachman nodded and with another whip, his horses galloped and they were out of the general direction that Basilisk Carriages usually take, due to their much slower speed, they took a detour to one of the crowded streets and it took him a while before he reached the restaurant.

Well, no matter, his guess had been right and as he stepped off the carriage, he could already see the princess sitting on the second floor, her beautiful form highlighted by the mesmerizing orange light of the setting sun casting itself across her body and lighting up the edge of her silhouette- which was stuck in a thinking man's pose, her chin propped against her fist as she remained unmoving even as the servers and waitresses around her rushed about.

Moving forward, he scanned everything he could, rarely does he go to the district where the rich often go, and as expected of a well funded establishment, the streets and sidewalks around Horizon were clean, spotless from dirt, and had multiple armed men patrolling the area.

The place reeked of money and looked expensive but he knew he had enough for one of the restaurant's smaller meals, he wouldn't be full because of it, but observation comes first.

His client wanted to know more about the princess and her potentially meeting up with someone in the restaurant is something that he didn't want to miss.

"Hello," he bowed to the receptionist who smiled at him in return, "does Mr. Crust have a table in reserve on the second floor?" Well, he had the money to pay for the meal but the seating here is often… hard to get and his client did say to use everything at his disposal didn't he?

Nodding, the receptionist replied, "can you please wait for a moment?" A call was made and soon, confirmation, the receptionist turned to him again, "yes, yes he does," she smiled up at him before nodding to a server standing to her right, "please follow him,"

"Thank you," with one last charming smile, he followed after the server who led him to the second floor of the restaurant, where he then proceeded to be met with the biggest surprise of his life- and no, it wasn't just because he saw what might as well be a rare sight, the princess wearing an immaculate black dress fit for a dinner, which according to everyone who knew her, she rarely ever did.

The dress clung to her body and showed off her curves, and even without showing skin, the princess somehow managed to look alluring.

His surprise- as much as he hated to admit it, - didn't have anything to do with his target's chosen get up of a black dress, black opera gloves, and gleaming black accessories- the most eye catching of which being the metal rose on her hair, near her ear, - but instead, his surprise came from the fact that such a beautiful girl is waving him to come forward.

Every. Single. Eye. Was. On. Him.

"Finally! You came!" The princess said, voice excited as though she was meeting someone important, "come! I've been waiting for you!"

The gazes turned harsher and even the server, who had been all smiles for him just now turned to him with a barely hidden scowl, "do you want me to cancel your reservation sir?" He said, tone apathetic.

"No- no," he wanted to run away and through a moment of clarity, realized what he had just said, "I mean, yes, please do so,"

Well, good news, his employer didn't have to waste one of the seats that he's reserved in this place but on the other hand… how did the princess know about him? Well- it's probably not that right? She's just mistaking him for someone else-

"Well, what are you waiting for?" She was still all smiles as she gestured for him to come and again, all eyes were on him.

Left with no other choice, he played along and moved over to the princess' table, he pulled on the seat and once comfortable, complimented her choice of wear, which he genuinely thought was a- "lovely dress,"

"Thank you, thank you," she said, smiling a bit, "but this is a gown, it isn't obvious because I'm currently sitting- wait, it's the same isn't it?" She giggled and he did his best to control himself, "well, anyhow, I bought this as I rode here in preparation for this, like it?"

"I did say it was lovely," he smiled- what preparation?

"You're right, you're right," the princess nodded and waved at a waitress.

She came forward and gave him an ugly look that quickly turned into a smile once she faced the princess, "can I take your orders?"

"Yep!" His target replied quickly, "I want two plates of Rosein Stakes please,"

"Of course, your majesty," she bowed and left.

"Hope you like it, it's very good," Neophyte turned to him, "anyhow, Basilisk Carriages are faster than horse based ones so it's expected that I managed to change before you arrived," she hummed and started tapping the table while he looked around, everyone is listening in to their conversation and whispers were breaking out, the princess clearly didn't mind so what's her game here- to root him out? Well, he had plenty of disguises and faces at the ready so he didn't mind…

The princess spoke, "I know that you usually give written files on everyone but I want to hear you say it this time,"

He nodded, "what do you want to hear?" Play-along-play-along-play-along- he silently chanted.

"I never knew that one of my father's brothers was out to get me," she said while eyeing the table he was supposed to go to, "did you know that there's a series of signs that can be shown on the counter on who's table is going to be which?"

He shook his head, "really?"

"Yeah, it's an entire mini-game and everything, and sometimes, the signs indicate an important person, you know, a special guest, a boss, that sort of thing?" The princess only smiled at his confused expression, "anyways, so, one of my father's brothers is out to get me, talk about him,"

 

[NotACryptid]

I can't believe it's actually him; it was just a stroke of luck that I saw him observing me back when I was waiting for a carriage.

I genuinely thought that it was just a coincidence that the person staring at me was wearing the same clothes that he usually would ingame- he is a private investigator after all, so wearing the same thing over and over again is just bad business practice, - but I guess not, it genuinely was John Doe (real name not revealed even with all my playthroughs,) and out of all the private investigators in this city, I couldn't believe that it was John Doe of all people who had been sent to tail me.

I'm curious about how Crust Eruptia of all people managed to find him- as far as I'm aware, the guy had never been John Doe's client in canon, - but that can wait, for now, I want to know about why Crust wanted information about me.

"Are you gonna talk or not?" I tried to play it cool and my years of dealing with petty nobles have helped with that by quite a lot but I was still feeling nervous, this is John Doe we're talking about- someone who's capable of listening in to conversations and parsing what they meant from a rooftop away.

I'm basically pulling off a bluff on someone who was smarter than me here, I'm sure that with his skill set and experience, John Doe already knows what I was doing and that I'm obviously bluffing.
Chances are, he's probably also aware that I couldn't actually do anything to him even if I tried- revealing him to the world wouldn't work because of all his disguises and identities and if he wants, he can also lie to me and not reveal anything about his client at all so I'm on the losing end here.

I probably (definitely) also sound like an idiot to him right now.

It was why I was wearing clothes that I knew were appealing to him, or at least they should be according to one of his many idle dialogues back in the game, it's one of the few things that he revealed about himself; that he liked ladies who wore black dresses and other accessories with the same color.

"Can it wait?" He replied and reluctantly, I nodded, after a second or two of just sitting there, he started looking around and tapping the table in a rhythm.

Okay, what the fuck does that sign mean? Do I pretend I know what it is?.. Wait no, he said that he hated that sort of thing, it's better if I just say that I don't have a single clue what it is then, even when it makes me look stupid.

"I don't know what that sign is," he actually had the gall to look shocked at that, does he think I know everything or something?

Okay, maybe I'm panicking and also being aggressive, not a good idea when I'm dealing with him, "sorry, but uh, don't just do that? Just say it out loud or make new signs if you want to stay hidden or something,"

"I…" he trailed off, "how can you say that so loudly?" He asked while gesturing at everything around us with his index finger, which spun in place like a compass, "there's a lot of people here,"

Now it was my turn to look stupefied.

"What do you mean?" I asked in genuine confusion, wasn't it his idea ingame to go to Horizon because the restaurant can make their tables private? I mean, sure, it was just a weaker version of the "mute" function in the settings tab but I still thought it was kind of cool that the devs went out of their way to actually implement it into the game.

Even with that knowledge though, I did my best to play it cool and raised my eyebrow at him, "this table is completely silent, no one can hear us here, it's part of Horizon's thing?"

He looks at me, then at the table, "they can do that?" I nodded, just when did he learn about this particular tidbit about Horizon exactly? I thought he always knew about this? John Doe shook his head, "no, I guess it's on par for the course, I've heard rumors about it from my peers but never actually believed any of them,"

"So… you've been what? Talking to your clients in bars? Also, aren't those more packed with people?" I asked, "wait- is that why you have hand signals?"

"Well not everyone could afford to be in this place," he said and I narrowed my eyes at him, not everyone can afford to be in this place huh? So who's the buyer that allowed him to know about this sort of thing back in the game then? It couldn't have been Crust because I wasn't in the game, so he wouldn't have the motive to tell this guy to stalk me, so if it isn't him…

I realized that I wouldn't be able to know anything about it unless I actually see it directly happen… which never will since John Doe is already here and now also knows about it thanks to me- okay, that's fair, someone paid him with enough money that he knew about Horizon in canon, whoever they are, they aren't relevant right now.

"You didn't know about the tables being silent in this place," I said, "and that's why you weren't willing to talk,"

He nodded, "right,"

"Well now you do, so, talk, what did Crust want to know about me?" I asked, letting a bit of my fear seep out and hoping that my tone sounded impatient to him instead of scared.

"How'd you know it was him?" He questioned back.

I stared at him- I already told him about the signs that Horizon uses for special clients but if he didn't want to believe me then I could always just say that-

"It's obvious, isn't it? Who else would it be but him? Crust has a lot of reasons to hire a private investigator to spy on me," I answered vaguely, "and not just anyone can afford you either," and that was the truth, the guy in front of me isn't exactly the cheapest private investigator out there, "also, how many people know about you in this city?"

From my own ingame knowledge, I knew that the only ones who knew about his existence would be sleazy nobles and among them, the one who'll want to hire someone like John Doe to investigate me would be my uncle, Crust Eruptia- connecting all of those dots isn't exactly that hard to do.

I crossed my arms, "I'm not gonna say anything more, just that it's obvious, and that's it."

"Fair enough," he gave me a reaffirming nod, "but just to be sure about this whole silent table thing, I'm gonna say something bad about one of the other diners around us and you'll take responsibility for it if they react,"

"Sure, go ahead," I nodded, does he really think I was lying even after everything I just said? Seriously, we talked about one of higher ranking members of Eruptia in the open, that's more than enough proof that the table is silent.

"The pig right next to us is an old hag who doesn't know how to properly hold a fork, so she's clearly new to this nobility thing, is she a gold digger or something?" When John Doe finished, I just stared at him weirdly- Okay? That's an odd thing to say but fair enough.

The two of us waited for a reaction and even after a while, got none, I smirked at him, he scoffed, "don't stare at me like that, I wanted to make sure,"

"Do you hear them talking?" I asked and that somehow got him to react in shock and surprise- and I tried to figure out the reason as for why that is and got nothing other than the fact that he's potentially- "wait, are you deaf?"

He scoffed in reply, "of course not, if I was-"

"You'd rely on lip reading," I said, remembering this particular Technique that he taught the player ingame- which is now starting to make sense to me, "you're actually deaf aren't you?"

Reluctantly, he nodded and I let out a sigh, that explains everything- I've been wondering how he was able to listen in to conversations from another rooftop when I was following him during a quest but I guess he wasn't listening in, but was just reading their lips, and I guess most of his dialogues make sense under this context too.

But I guess that also means that he's not a Beastman, "so wait, you're not some sort of Bat Beastman?"

He shook his head in denial, "what made you think that?"

"Well you're wearing baggy clothes, so I thought you were hiding something," that was always my headcanon as to why he wore thick, woolen clothing; because he wanted to hide his animalistic features but then again, his hat was small enough that bat ears wouldn't be able to fit underneath there at all…

"Well I am hiding something," he said, admitting it easily, which made me suspicious that he might be lying, "but not for the reason that you think,"

"Okay? I'm not gonna pry, and we really need to go back to talking about Crust here," taking a brief pause, I looked over to the side of his head and smiled at the waitress carrying over our food for us, "thank you," I said when she placed the two delicious smelling steaks on our table, I turned back to John Doe, who I hope is more comfortable now that food has arrived, "so, why is my uncle making private investigators go after me? It's not like he'd get something out of it right?"

And it's not like I was lying either- Other than my ingame knowledge- which no one but me is aware of to begin with, - nothing that I knew would have any use to that guy, Crust is effectively set in life, what with his position in Eruptia, the fact that he has a powerful Pledge, stuff like that, it's why I'm confident that I didn't know anything that can be useful to someone like him.

"The goal isn't always to get something vital," John Doe replied as he dug into his food, I waited for him to talk, curious as to what he was going to say next, "he might just want your everyday activities and actions written down, or your occasional, very rare outings in the city recorded, or, maybe he wants me to make a psychological profile for you, any of those can work really,"

"And which one did he ask you to do?" I asked and he looked at me with a raised eyebrow, I showed him my card, "I'll pay for it,"

He nodded, "all of them,"

"All of them?" What the fuck? That's taking the word creepy to a whole nother level! What does he want all of those for?!

"Why?" I think I sounded pretty close to being demanding when I asked that.

"I only work, not ask questions," he shrugged and continued eating.

I bit my lip and followed his example- at least the steak was good enough to calm me down, - I chewed on his words for a bit and thought about how I felt about what I just learned and I found out that I don't actually have anything to say other than ask John Doe's opinion about his task and what he thinks Crust's motives are.

And that's exactly what I did- "so what do you think he's making you do this for?" He met my eyes, I showed him my credit card again and pushed, "it doesn't have to be right, just what you think he's doing all this for,"

"What I think huh?" He stopped eating and wiped his hands, "I think he's planning on kidnapping you,"

"What?" I asked.

"Or at least something along that line of thought," he shrugged, "I don't really know though, since all he asked me to get was your psychological profile, day-to-day activities, to note the places that you frequent, write them down, that sort of thing," he smiled, "those could lead to anything really, poison you, set you up for a crime that you didn't commit-"

"Okay, how?" I asked, genuinely curious, how does one set up another person for a crime they didn't commit?

"You walk in on something at the wrong time and the guards just so happen to be patrolling that particular area during that time, by coincidence, of course," he answered with a carefree smile.

"But no one would believe him," I said.

"Not unless he gets me to investigate people close to you, or ones that you hate," he retorted confidently, "he already told me about you hating a particularly annoying brat from Vicissi earlier, which means we have someone who can act as the victim to your "crime", which, since your classmates know that you have a bumpy opinion of each other, will have potential witnesses who will confirm that yes, you did hate Vicissi,"

I scowled, how the hell does he even know about that? Did Inferno snitch on me?

John Doe stopped eating and raised his hand defensively, "it's not his son that told him about this, if you are curious,"

"Uhuh," I said, not believing him.

He shrugged, "believe me or not, I don't care what you think who's responsible for this but just know that you're definitely blaming the wrong person," his words were followed by a shrug, "do what you want," he added before he went back to our prior topic, "anyhow, he can get me to learn and stalk people you've talked to, like that Whiskette girl, and when the time is right he'll-"

"Kill them and then set me up, and since I talk to them a lot…"

"You'll be the perfect suspect yes," he finished for me and went back to eating.

So did I, and I thought everything through- I can't believe that the games that the nobles played ran deeper than I expected, I never knew that this shit was a valid strat, and until now, the only thing on my head is that they- I don't know, that they only did things to be petty or something, to ruin the names of other nobles but this?

Framing others for murder? Holy shit- what?

Come to think of it, this is way too similar to the rich back in my old world literally getting others to catch their spouses cheating for a divorce isn't it? Does the same go for here? "So if I ask you to find my husband cheating so I can divorce him, will you?"

"You have a husband?" He looked shocked.

"Assume that I do," I replied and he sighed in relief for some reason- I eyed him, trying to spot why he would react like that, and well, even with the clothes that I was wearing, he didn't seem like he likes me romantically, so it's probably for Inferno. AGAIN.

I swear I'm starting to feel tempted to punch the guy. And not just in a spar either, but on a regular, normal day where he least fucking expects it.

I hate him, I really, really do now that I know the extent of what he's doing to me, and sure, it's Crust who's doing all of this but he is Inferno's father, I also know that Crust is an asshole yes, but I think this is just the standard case of the fruit not falling far from the tree- or a saying similar to that.

"I can," John Doe answered a positive to my question, and that made me sigh.

"Fucking knew it," I said, guess it's all the same in the end- but still, it feels pretty weird that nobles and rich people will literally hire investigators to prove that their partners are cheating, and all of that for what? A divorce?

But John Doe being here isn't exactly because Crust needs me to divorce someone right? They want to frame me for something- or even kidnap me? That last one didn't make sense but my point before that did. Ruining my name sounds like a valid option to bring me down after all…

I resisted the urge to pull on my hair and decided that you know what? I'm just going to sit here and eat.

I chewed on my steak- I'm now forced to take part in the noble politics within Everlast, which is annoying.

Also, does this mean that Adamantite is also doing this shit too? Do I need to watch out for my brother of all people now as well? Fuck this is such a headache- I'm supposed to only fight Demons! And not- not do any of this!

I didn't have to deal with this back when I was a Player so what changed? That I'm a princess instead of a player character? Is that it?

Goddess that's… it makes sense that I'd be dragged into politics because I'm a princess but it doesn't mean that I like it.

I finished eating, "thank you, for this," I said as I stood up, "is there a way that I can make you come to me or do I have to go to Razor's to find you?"

He looked at me with narrowed eyes before throwing a rolled up scroll my way, I grabbed it in the middle of the air and nodded, "thank you, I'll pay on the way out, oh, and-" I took out the rarely used cheques on my person and wrote down a number, my payment for everything, "here, thanks again,"

He took it with a smile, "pleasure doing business with you, your majesty,"

"Mhmm." I replied.

I got out of the restaurant and called for another Basilisk Carriage and as the chameleon-looking reptile ran my way while towing a large, rectangular carriage behind it, my thoughts slowly went back to what I learned from my talk with John Doe, and the more I thought about it, the angrier I got at the situation.

I'm being dragged into politics even though I didn't want anything to do with it, and worse still, I don't know anything when it comes to that sort of thing so I'm either gonna have to ask one of my sisters for help (Amber and Pearl seem like the best candidates,)

… or, I suck it up and learn how to deal with all these stupid, unnecessary politics by making Zath, Prescine, Korbinian, and possibly even Elise teach me standard politics stuff and then fight fire with fire.

Am I gonna learn how to do court stuff now? Well, I have to, I don't have a choice.

Will I like it? That still remains to be seen but as I rode back into Pledge Academy, I couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, there's a merit to all of this, I was never one for politics but then again, I didn't really need to learn anything about it did I? I've always focused on learning how to fight Demons and make myself an effective fighter because I never had the thought of becoming Crown Princess but if I'm being forced to do this anyways then sure, I'll play along.

Learning politics didn't sound so hard either.