He who commits sacrilege must be put to death, lest his sin brings the goddess’ wrath upon the whole community.

—Fragment of a longer sermon on impiety carved on a stone monument in the Ancient Temple

Asteria

“How do I look as a redhead? Hand me the mirror, please,” I said.

My weekly music lessons with Ms. Lily had been going so well that she had invited me to practice with her group of musical proteges, all amateurs like me. They played chamber music at private functions. I hadn’t met them yet, but Ms. Lily, a dignified-looking woman of around forty years old, had told me their names. I realized that they were from some of the wealthiest families in Kraej City. Classical music must be a rich person’s hobby in this world.

Joining the group would help with my mission since one of the members, Laila, was probably a relative of Ravn, the mysterious gunman from “Tales of Vesterland.” They had the same last name.

“Terrible. You should go with the blue wig instead,” said Sariel.

“Nooooo, blue stands out too much. I want to remain in the background,” I said. Blue was a rare hair color, though not as rare as black.

With input from Sariel, I decided on a brown wig, brown contacts, and glasses as an appropriate disguise for the practice session. I was wearing one of the rich girl outfits the Lifers had picked for me during my stay at Kraej headquarters. The mint green silk blouse, black jacket, cream-colored pencil skirt, and nude pumps were pretty comfortable and low-key. I applied enough makeup to look a little older than I really was.

“Why do you need a disguise?” asked Uriel.

“It’s fun!” I said.

“Because it would look suspicious to her precious hero if people knew she was associating with the Kraej,” said Seraphiel. His pout today was truly epic.

Laughing, I tweaked Seraphiel’s nose and said, “The hero is the goddess’ chosen, not mine. You know I chose you.”

Seraphiel grabbed my mischievous hand and kissed it before releasing it. My stomach roiled, but I had no regrets.

Sariel made gagging noises. “Kill me, kill me now.”

“Uriel, if you please…” I said.

“It would be my pleasure.” Uriel put his hands around Sariel’s throat and the two Commanders rolled around on the floor in a mock wrestling match.

“Besides, I would have thought you’d be happier about this, Ely,” I said. “Now we can leave your apartment. I’ll just wear my disguise.”

“It’s about time, too.” Uriel disentangled himself from Sariel and sat back down on his chair.

Things were going well, and I felt I could relax a bit and have fun. During the past three months that I had been in Kraej City, I’d been able to strike up a casual friendship with Oren and Katja. Scientific studies in this world and back on Earth had established that, on average, it took forty to sixty hours to form a casual friendship. It took eighty to one hundred hours to become a friend.

I wanted to play it safe and pose as an ordinary girl from the countryside for three more months to gain their trust before complicating things by revealing my close connection to the three S-class ELs.

In the meantime, I thought it would be safe to be seen in public with the Commanders as long as no one recognized me as the same Asteria who lived in East Thuesen and worked at the Brew Crew Cafe.

“There’s more to life than plants and books,” said Sariel. He put an arm around Seraphiel’s shoulders. “Since your little angel is interested in the nightlife, let Papa Sariel guide you to the best, most exclusive places in Kraej City!”

“Papa Sariel? That doesn’t sound right,” I said. “It’s more like you and I are the kids. Ely and Uriel are our parents. You’re the bratty kid of the group.”

Sariel burst out laughing. “You’re the baby! Who is the father figure, Uriel or Seraph?”

“Uriel, of course,” I said.

“Mmm,” said Uriel.

“Seraph’s the mom?” said Sariel.

“People love their mothers more, that’s why,” said Seraphiel. He picked me up and cradled me in his arms like a baby for a moment before putting me back down. As always, he was considerate of my reaction to the virus.

“Wrong,” said Uriel. “Don’t you know girls are closer to their fathers than their mothers?”

“Papa Uriel, Mommy Seraph, Bratty Sariel, and Baby Asteria!” said Sariel. He loved being the naughty little kid of the group.

“That’s right. Let’s go, this baby is raring to go to her first musical playdate,” I said.

Seraphiel was driving me to Ms. Lily’s practice hall at an upscale part of the city near his apartment.

***

I was frozen in place, enraptured by the portrait of a society lady that was hanging in pride of place above the fireplace of the Forty-Second Club’s reception hall. The artist must have been divinely inspired because the portrait’s red and gold paints subtly formed a pattern that reminded me of a healing spell’s thought structure in the spiritual plane.

The spiritual realm is a higher plane of existence where the goddess Elyon lives. Anima flows from there to the mundane world and vice versa.

A talented person such as myself can make anima do tasks for them. Some tasks are simple like “shoot fire at something” or “zap it with an electric bolt,” but others are more complicated like “accelerate this person’s healing rate, restore the blood lost, make sure there are no scars, set the broken bones properly, and remove all the foreign matter,” aka the basic heal spell. Artifacts make it easier.

The spiritual realm is also where I can train chibis to create unique spells, also called special skills. Spells like Paradisiacal Rain appear there as colossal, immensely complicated thought structures. They were built by the goddess to channel anima to achieve the desired outcome.

Incredibly, the brushstrokes of the portrait in front of me seemed to echo the spiritual plane’s spell formations. Ms. Lily wouldn’t be here for another ten minutes so I had time to appreciate this marvelous work of art.

“It’s a Daugaard,” said a voice from behind me.

“It’s amazing,” I said.

Magnus was wearing yet another elegant three-piece suit. Did he always look this polished and suave?

“I could lend it to you if you like it that much,” he said.

I laughed. “It would look ridiculous in my tiny flat.”

“You could keep it in Seraphiel’s flat,” he said.

“...Seraphiel prefers abstract works,” I said.

There was an awkward pause.

“I was surprised to know that you’d gotten involved with someone so dangerous.” Magnus’ eyes were hooded as if to conceal some emotion.

“All men are dangerous, aren’t they?” I said.

“Indeed. But some are more dangerous than others. He’s ten years older than you and you’re still underage.”

“My age doesn’t matter since we’re just friends.”

“I could almost believe you.”

“It’s true.”

“You have money now. You don’t need to stay with him.”

My eyes widened. “He’s not my sugar daddy. I have money from selling my parents’ house in Lieceni.”

“Is he somehow forcing you to stay with him?”

I covered my mouth with my hand to try to stifle my reaction, but gave up and spoke in between bouts of laughter, “I… I’m being... forced… to water… his plants… and organize them… alphabetically!”

Magnus’ straight-backed, tense posture relaxed a trifle. “You must realize that it’s strange for you to be living with him.”

“I’ve been told that I’m a strange person.”

“You’re the strangest person I’ve ever met.”

“Thank you. There’s no need to be concerned.”

“I am concerned. Do you even know that you’re playing with fire?” Magnus sighed and looked away. “What will you do when things go south? Go back to Lieceni?”

“It’ll be fine!”

“Do you still remember the number I gave you?’

“Of course.”

“Use it if you ever need help. Someone will always be on there to answer and I’ve instructed them to help you.”

“Help? With what?”

“With Seraph. I doubt there’s anyone but me who could help you with him.”

“...Why would I need help with Seraph?”

Magnus shook his head then patted my head. Why was everyone taller than me?

“Do you know what happened during the three days you were staying with my family?” he asked.

“What? You mean that time you had me kidnapped? When I was your captive? When I was cruelly deprived of my freedom?”

“Seraph went completely-”

“No, don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.” I plugged my ears with my fingers and hummed, trying to tune out whatever he wanted to say.

Magnus waited until I had unplugged my ears before speaking again. “My staff didn’t find out until after you left that your disappearance must have been the cause of Seraph’s… aberrant behavior.”

“Eh, he might have eaten something that disagreed with him.”

“Don’t be childish. Call the number if you need help.”

“Wow, I can’t believe you’re offering me your protection against Seraphiel.” I looked at Magnus with new respect. He’s got guts to stand up against the world’s most fearsome warrior. Maybe it was just that supreme Kraej confidence that the world was theirs for the taking.

Or maybe it was because he had the resources to deal with Seraphiel.

“A favor for a favor. You did save me once. If you need something, but it’s a non-emergency, you can call my secretary.” Magnus gestured to a Lifer who handed me a card.

“Thanks.”

“I’ll be seeing you soon.”

“Later,” I said.

I might have misjudged Magnus. The Magnus Kraej from the game had been a ruthless, calculating character, but the real Magnus seemed genuinely concerned for me. From a normal point of view, my secret friendship with Seraphiel must look like a tawdry affair between a much older man and an underaged girl. That was why I wanted to keep our relationship under wraps.