The maid jumped awake as she shook her head, looking around in confusion but only seeing Aleister’s blank stare. Her pale face turned red as she realized her situation.

“Look at who’s finally awake,” Aleister said.

She stepped out of bed and deeply bowed. “I’m so sorry, young master. Please, feel free to punish this lowly maid in any way you see fit.”

“I think being woken up by getting water splashed in your face is punishment enough,” Aleister said. Although still irritable from his poor sleep, he didn’t plan on any other disciplinary actions, and even less so seeing how flustered she was. “Also, you can just call Aleister.”

“Oh—okay,” the maid said.

“This is a perfect opportunity,” Syn said with a mischievous smile.

“For what?” Aleister asked with squinted eyes.

“Perfect opportunity to have a personal maid.”

Aleister nodded. “I don’t know why, but I thought it was going to be something more sinister.”

“It can be if you so desire,” Syn said.

“I’m going to ignore the implications of that statement.”

The maid who silently stood there asked, “Are you talking to your bird?”

“Yes,” Aleister said.

“Are you calling me a bird?”

Aleister rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine, she’s technically not a bird, she is a Contractor, so her physical appearance in this world is one of a raven.”

The maid nodded. “Contractor? Just like the old master of the manor?”

“Yup,” Aleister confirmed. “Also, that reminds me, I don’t think I’ve seen Master’s Contractor in all this time.”

“You will soon enough,” Syn said. “You need to remember that the only commonality between Contractors is that they take on an animal or bestial form. And the range of creatures within that category is rather vast.”

“I have only seen her Contractor twice, both for less than a minute,” the maid said. “I haven’t ever interacted with it though, not that I ever interact with the old master of the manor in the first place.”

“Trust me, that is a good thing,” Aleister said. “Oh yeah, and before I forget to ask, what is your name?”

“This lowly maid goes by the name, Myra.”

“Alright then, Myra, follow me,” he said, motioning her with a wave of his hand.

Master rubbed her forehead with both hands as she said, “You have been in Osetia for barely a day, and in my manor for even less, and you want one of my manor maids to become your personal maidservant?”

“I’m glad you understand,” Aleister said. “I need her for a very important part of my process.”

“And you can’t just visit a brothel instead for this?” Master asked.

Aleister shook his head as he blinked rapidly. “Uh, ok, maybe you didn’t understand. I need her to make the proper food and stuff for my diet and to assist me when I put my alchemical studies into practice, or something.”

“Fine,” Master said. “You can have her, but this is the last time you take advantage of my kindness.”

“Understood,” Aleister said, while standing up. “I really do appreciate all the help and resources you have provided me. I promise you that it won’t go to waste.”

“Humph.” Master let out a fierce breath. “You have nothing to prove to me. Now scram, I have actual important stuff to deal with.”

“Thank you,” Aleister said as he left Master’s office and headed back to his room.

Upon seeing him return, Myra stood up and asked, “How did your meeting go young master?”

“Well, as my personal maidservant,” Aleister said, pulling out a piece of paper, “Your first duty is to make...fried toast? Eh? That doesn’t sound healthy at all!”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Syn said. “You don’t know anything at all about cooking and what goes into making a proper diet.”

Myra read the ingredients and recipe on the paper. “I haven’t heard or made anything quite like this before, but it appears to be easy enough to create.”

“Well, that’s good to hear,” Aleister said. “Anyway, I’ll be back in about three hours so, it just needs to be done by then for today, but in the future it needs to be done before I run, alright?”

“Understood young master,” she said.

Aleister turned around and noticed Syn intensely staring at Myra as she left. “Was there a problem?”

“No,” Syn said. “I was just wondering.”

“Hm? About what?”

“About whether or not I should have chosen to become the Contractor for that girl instead of you,” Syn said.

“Well, its way too late. There are no take backs,” Aleister said. “Besides, does that mean what I’m thinking?”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you,” Syn said. “And to answer your question, what are you thinking?”

“Well, it’s based on an observation I made last night after noticing her hair color,” Aleister said. “After all, how many people do you see with white hair?”

“You’re right, white hair is uncommon, but I would have assumed that the fact she was demihuman would have been more interesting,” Syn said.

“Oh, so she’s a demihuman,” Aleister said with a nod. “Well, the white hair ties into that, as I thought she had some sort of interesting bloodline. But I dismissed that because, well, I didn’t think someone with such a bloodline would be a maid.”

“Why couldn’t they be?” Syn asked.

Aleister opened his mouth but said nothing until a few moments later. “I don’t know why, but I just assumed that someone with a strong bloodline wouldn’t be in such a situation. But obviously, that isn’t always the case,” he said, speaking from his past. “Maybe it's because of everything I’ve experienced and know about the Lillium Empire that I believe it to be a better place than Vallonia.”

“Perhaps it is better, perhaps it is worse,” Syn said as she tied up her hair. “Comparing places and ideologies isn’t something that is easy to do, especially when it isn’t black and white and instead on a spectrum. All that you need to keep in mind is that just because you have the ability or talent to do something, doesn’t mean that you can actually put those into practice. The hands people are dealt are all different, and unfortunately, life isn’t fair. But that can’t stop you from making the best out of your own situation.”

Aleister shook his head up and down as he contemplated the words she spoke.

“The entire reason for my speech was to motivate you to run,” Syn said. “So why aren’t you running?”

“I was just thinking—”

“You can run while you think,” Syn said.

Aleister clicked his tongue, but instantly turned around and headed for the manor’s exit.