I’ve made a terrible mistake. A terrible, horrible mistake.

Have you ever told yourself that you won’t do that one thing, but get so caught up in the flow of the situation that you do it anyways? Well guess what I just did? I just joined the Othium Empire. The same god damn people who killed Daddy.

It wasn’t even intentional. When the Second asked about me making weapons I just got so excited. No one in this life has ever asked me about my weapons with interest! Not even the Griffin! He would always just give disinterested grunts when I ranted about them, but the Princess asked me first, so it’s okay to gush about it right? I mean, how could I not take supreme enjoyment out of their expressions when I gave my demonstration? They were completely floored!

This is exactly how my Boss from my previous life got me in that life-long contract, he distracted my by asking about my prototypes then robbed me blind. At least I was able to get a decent salary this time around.

When the Princess told me to name my price, I immediately answered seven figures. She cut me down to four. I tried to work back up to five, but she shot me down saying four is enough to feed three people assuming you don’t eat out everyday and I’m just one person.

And with that, we shook hands and I sealed my fate. At least the Princess rented out a room at the inn for me so I didn’t have to sleep in the former brothel anymore. So only now, the next morning, do I realize how much I’ve fucked up.

I’m going to have to be in close proximity with one of the people who are out to kill me. That's not an optimal strategy for staying alive. I’m also pretty sure she suspects me to be a Second. I mean, she even fucking showed me her rock trying to get a reaction out of me!

I should leave. I should run away as soon as possible. Make my way back to the Griffin or something. He’ll probably yell at me for coming back so soon but it’s better than staying close to the Second.

I get off my mediocre bed and start packing up as fast as I can. It’s still pretty early in the morning so I might be able to sneak past everyone and ditch town before they wake up. I’ll also need to buy new clothes the next time I’m able. I can only wear these animal furs so much before I outgrow them.

As I’m almost ready to quit my new job, I hear a knock at the door.

“Julie, are you awake?”

It’s the elf. Why is she awake? Isn’t it like eight in the morning? That's so early!

“Uh, yeah. I’m just waking up.”

“Great, then when you are ready to leave meet the rest of us downstairs in the common room. Although I’d have to suggest that you hurry. It is rather early in the morning so the Mistress’ patience is quite thin.”

“...I’ll be down in a few minutes.”

Well, there goes that plan. Maybe I could jump out the window? But could a nine year old survive a two story drop without injury? Probably not. So I have to go down there to leave the building, but the people I’m trying to avoid are down there. How did I handle this situation in my previous life?

**********************************************

FLASHBACK

**********************************************

“Hey Engineer! Have you made any progress on that project yet?”

“Bet not. I mean, come on. It’s PLASMA. It might work in labs but it’s too expensive to be mass produced. In my opinion, everyone in that department should just get laid off, there’d be more money for the rest of us.”

“Yeah, haven’t they been working that project for like three years now and still haven’t made any progress?”

“Giant robots are the future of warfare and everyone knows it. Admit it, your department is a waste of money.”

“I’M TRYING MY BEST JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!”

“She’s got a gun!”

“I told you she was close to snapping! RUN!”

*MULTIPLE GUNSHOTS*

**********************************************

FLASHBACK OVER

**********************************************

...I don’t think that's a good idea. Especially considering I missed all my shots, and that I’d be trying to kill a Princess in a public place. But really, those guys were assholes. The Mecha-department always had a stick up their ass.

With no other options, I picked up my bags and went downstairs. I could try to run, but that would just announce that I’m a Second, so I should just play it off like I have no idea what anything is. When I got to the common room, the elf noticed me almost immediately and called me over. Based on the empty plates and half-drunk water cups, I’m guessing that they ate without me.

“Julie, it’s about time. Sit down.”

The Princess gave a curt greeting and commanded me to take a seat. I really didn’t see much of her yesterday, but even I can that she’s about to fall asleep. Her eyes are half closed and they have bags under them.

“Since we have to leave soon I’ll make this quick. Julie, from now on you’ll be under my direct supervision. You will place my orders above even those given to you by His Majesty the King. I am the third born of His Majesty Alphonsins Ernis Hemadra, Rola Eylna Hemadra. This is Alice Rosemary, my oldest servant. If you have any questions regarding my orders or anything else about your future duties, please ask her. The person next to you is Esia Mirthbrow, a former Captain from the Military Enforcement Department.”

The Princess went around the table and introduced everyone.

I already knew that the Princess was a princess, but at least now I know her name. Although she basically told me not to ask her anything about what I’m supposed to be doing, I don’t find myself annoyed by that. Less conversation with her means there's less of a chance that she’ll figure out I’m a Second.

But hell she’s crazy. I mean, SHE FUCKING THREW A KNIFE AT ME, well not at me but the Elf, BUT THATS NO EXCUSE! The elf was what, maybe an hour or two late? That isn’t a reason to commit murder! If she would throw a knife at someone she knew for a long time, then how many knives would she throw at me?

As for the Sellout- I mean the Elf, she’s the whole reason I’m in the mess. When I try to look her in the eye, she can’t meet my gaze. I don’t trust her. If she would sellout a small child to save her ass from the crazy Princess, then I’m sure she would do a lot worse in the name of self-preservation. Although I guess she did recognize my amazing skills, so I’ll give her a pass for now.

As for the Valkyrie, it’s the one that got shit faced drunk and had trouble paying her tab. She clearly incredibly hungover at the moment and has three empty water cups around her, so it looks like she’s trying to be professional in front of the Princess, but she keeps eating some of those berries I saw that the bar. I can’t help but feel like I’ve eaten those berries before, but I can’t remember what they taste like. Speaking of things I feel like I should remember, I can’t help but think I’ve heard the name Esia somewhere before.

Oh well, I’m sure there’s more than one person named Esia in the world. Speaking of Esia though…

“Um, if we’re about to leave soon, why doesn’t Esia have any luggage?”

The Valkyrie downs the rest of her water, as if wishing there was alcohol in there.

“Sold it to pay off some bar tabs.”

“...oh.”

“Now that we all know who everyone is, let's discuss our itinerary for the day.”

Alice, the sellout elf, got Esia’s and my attention.

“In a few minutes we are to leave Bexelleaf by carriage and make our way to Talcaya, the capital of Talcoya, where we will board a train-”

“I refuse to get on another shitty train.”

“I refuse to spend another minute around a train.”

Esia and I interrupted the elf as she spouted heresy.

“Um… I’m sorry if neither of you enjoy trains, but you don’t have a choice. If we go by train, well be able to return to the Capitol in three days, where as it would take a much longer otherwise.”

“I don’t think you understand.”

Esia leaned towards Alice.

“I don’t care how long it will take by carriage. I refuse to step even a foot on a clunky, worthless, piece of shit train and you will not-”

*THUNK*

A knife dug itself deep into the table between Esia’s fingers while another gently pressed itself against her neck. Rola, the Princess, was not happy and looked like she was ready to kill Esia if she voiced even another syllable of displeasure.

“W-What I’m sure Esia meant to say your Majesty, is that she would be happy to ride on the train and wouldn’t even think of complaining even a little bit.”

“I would hope so.”

The demon retrieved her floating knives, hid them beneath her dress, and stood up to leave.

“Esia, pay for the table on your way out. Lets go.”

The carriage ride had been about what I expected, bumpy and awkward. It was the four of us, the elf, the princess, the drunk, and me all stuck in a small box trying our best not to make eye contact with each other. Well, it was more like everyone else was trying to avoid the gaze of the Princess because if she got mad now then there was nowhere we could run. Alice got brave a few times and tried to start up a conversation, but all she got were one-syllable answers.

It took us half a day to get to Talcaya by carriage. When we got there, a small group of Valkyries escorted us to the train station and soon enough, it was time to board the train. I looked at Rola, trying my damnedest to kill her with puppy-dog eyes.

“...do I have to?”

I saw Alice physically recloile, but Rola didn’t seem impressed. Just as I was about to give up on my cutesie-act, Esia placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Come on your Majesty, you can’t really mean to force this poor orphan to get on this big scary death machine, it’d just be cruel.”

I looked up at Esia just in time to see her give me a wink.

I knew what I had to do.

“W-what do you mean death machine?”

“I mean that trains will look for any excuse to kill you. The circuitry is so fragile that even a slight bump will make the whole thing explode in a big fireball. Because it weighs so much and goes so fast, if it were to come loose of it’s tracks then anyone on it or near it will die. If you were to fall onto the tracks, then it wouldn’t be able to slow down in time and you would be crushed underneath 5000 tons of cold, uncaring steel. If your finger accidentally got caught in any of the thousands of holes in the train then it would be cut off the second it started moving.”

Throughout Esia’s perfectly reasonable rip on trains, I did my best to slowly change my expression to one of pure terror. When Esia finished her speal, I looked at the train as if it would jump off the tracks and eat me. Alice clearly couldn’t take it. By the end she looked like she was ready to give the gentlest hug imaginable to calm the clearly terrified me down.

Doing my best to keep the expression, I turned Rola.

“Your Majesty! You absolutely can’t get on that thing! You could die!”

That was the final blow for Alice. She came over and gave me a hug so warm you’d mistake her for a mother, started stroking my hair, and whispered words of encouragement in my ear.

Unfortunately, Alice did not have the final say regarding our travel plans.

“Good acting. Get on the train.”

“I wasn’t act-”

Esia and I opened our mouths to defend our con, but Rola clearly wasn’t having any of it. She drew ten daggers and all of them were pointed at vital areas of our bodies.

“I said get on the train.”

While I wasn’t scared of trains, I think that I was starting to get scared of Rola.

“O-okay.”

I slowly separated myself from Alice, the daggers still floating an inch from my flesh. And so, I, with great reluctance and no other choice, boarded the train.

An attendant on the train, who just saw that whole skit, lead me and Esia to our passenger car while do her absolute best to ensure that I was aware that the train wasn’t an evil monster who would devour my soul in the night. I was only half faking the look on my face that told her I didn’t believe a word she was saying.

A few minutes after Esia and I sat down in our private train car, the train started rolling. Trains in this world were just like I remembered them, slow for trains and bumpier than I would prefer. Esia and I really didn’t talk, as we didn’t have anything to really talk about and I don’t think she wanted to make conversation with a nine year old. I just sat by the window and watched the scenery roll by as I tried not to think about Daddy.

About two hours after it got dark, Alice poked her head into the car and told me it was time for bed. I told her to piss off and stayed put. I was still mad at Alice for selling me out and I was going to make sure she knew.

“Come on Julie, you’ll need all your energy for tomorrow.”

“Really? I’ll need all my energy to sit around in a train all day? That doesn’t sound like the most draining activity if you ask me.”

“Well, Mistress Rola wanted to have an in depth discussion about your future duties and she decided that tomorrow was as good a time as any.”

Uh oh.

A private talk with Rola about our current relationship is probably the last thing I want right now considering that she probably knows that I’m a Second. While there’s still a chance she doesn’t know, if I spend too much time around her then she’ll figure it out for sure! I have to get out of here! But how would I do that? Last time I tried to get off a train I almost died!

I looked to Esia with a pleading expression.

“Don’t look at me, I can’t help you.”

Well, that was unhelpful.

Noticing my sudden distress, Alice sat down next to me and put a hand on my shoulder.

“Julie, I understand that you may not trust me, and you’re completely justified in that, but I don’t think that you have anything to worry about.”

“What do you mean I don’t have anything to worry about?! I’ve known the Princess for a little over two days and she’s threatened to stab me like four times already! How do I know that she won’t just impulsively kill me?!”

Alice’s smile went stiff as she tried to think of something to calm me down, but Esia spoke up before she could think of anything.

“Julie, what do you know about the Princess?”

“I pretty much just learned about her two days ago when I heard she was coming to Bexelleaf. Should I know more about her?”

“...Julie, have you been living under a rock all your life?”

“Well, yeah, but I…”

It was kind of embarrassing to not know anything about things considered common knowledge, even if I have the excuse that I wasn’t living in the most accessible part of the world for most of my life.

“Whatever. Look Julie, her Majesty Rola has a reputation of excessively culling her servants over the smallest misdemeanors. There are even rumors that she mounts their heads on her wall as trophies and uses the bodies as animal feed-”

A blue box materialized on Esia’s face, covering her mouth and preventing her from speaking.

“Don’t worry Julie. While Mistress Rola might have a bit of a short temper, she isn’t nearly as brutal as those overblown rumors suggest.”

Alice gently turned my head to face her while Esia struggled for air.

“Just get a good night’s sleep, eat a hearty breakfast, and say your prayers, and you’ll be just fine.”

I could hear Esia start clawing at her face trying to get the box off.

“If she isn’t as bad as the rumors say, then why does it feel like your preparing to send me off to war? I really don’t feel safe around her. Could you ask her to leave her knives in a different room before we start talking about things?”

“Uh, Mistress Rola herself doesn’t feel safe without some kind of weapon near her. It’s a quirk of all the Othian Royals so it’s not something you have to worry about. But like I said earlier, you don’t have anything to worry about. The Mistress was incredibly impressed by your weapon so she won’t actually hurt you, but just to be safe, be sure not to press the issue.”

Esia fell off her seat and started slamming her face onto the ground to try and break the blue blox that's preventing her from breathing.

You know, Alice makes a good point. Even if she suspects I’m a Second, I still have my weapons to not only keep me safe, but also to use as a bargaining chip when it comes to negotiation. I saw how absolutely floored everyone was by my Plasma Pistol, even if there was a small chance it would have exploded and killed us all.

“Okay, I’ll give it a try.”

“That's good to hear, I’ll come get you tomorrow when Mistress Rola is ready. Now follow me and I’ll take you to your sleeping quarters.”

Alice stands up to leave the car and I get up to follow, but before she’s even taken ten steps, Esia fucking tackles the elf and pins her to the ground. Esia still had the blue box on her face and she looked like she was about to collapse from oxygen deprivation. She started shaking Alice around while doing that thing where you try and scream but you’re gagged so you just hum really loudly and aggressively. When the blue box on Esia’s face disappears, she flops to the ground and starts gasping for air.

*GASP* “What the fuck! *GASP* Were you trying to kill me!?”

“Sorry! You were scaring Julie and I couldn’t think of a different way to shut you up!”

“You didn’t have to leave it on so long! I swear I was starting to see Ruth! If you wanted to trick Julie all you had to do was talk about it to me beforehand! She’s like seven years old she’ll believe anything you tell her!”

“I’m sorry! I’ll be sure to do that next time!”

“...You guys know I’m still here right?”

“”Go to bed already!””

The next morning came quickly.

Alice woke me about an hour before my scheduled meeting, so I had enough time to do my usual morning routine, but with the added bonus of a professionally cooked breakfast. Traveling with royalty, even ones who might try to kill you, does have its perks. I sat by the window with my food so I could look outside at all the stuff rolling by. As much as I hate trains, there's something calming about looking out the window of fast moving objects.

Far off into the distance, across great lake that was the Silver Lake(named for its proximity to the Silverset mountains), I saw a fiery speck flying high above the water.

What’s that?

Straining my eyes wasn't helpful at all, it was just too far away. Although, if I didn’t know any better, I would say it kind of looked like the Griffin.

I repose in the main chamber of my domain, treasuring the sacred silence permeating through it.

It had been four or so days since I delivered the cub to her wanted destination and I had spent most of that time resting and recuperating from the taxing work known as guardianship. Truthfully, sheltering that cub was a task I would describe with more “dally” than “tarry”, but I wouldn’t consider it a waste of my time.

It was a valuable lesson in why I should be careful not to procreate. The thing was so loud! It got sick seemingly whenever it got the chance and used it’s ill health as an excuse to not hunt for me. Not to mention that it kept stealing from my hoard whenever it felt that I wasn’t looking. Not that my hoard was anything special, but it was still mine.

Speaking of hunting…

I stretched my body as I yawned and prepared myself to go hunt. As I did so, one of my talons bumped into one of the many infernal contraptions the cub left lying around my domain. If I recall correctly, this one was made to test some sort of communication, but all I’ve ever seen it test was my patience.

As I said before, these things are all over my home, having sprouted up like a weed. I’ve yet to remove any of them.

Not out of any lingering attachment mind you, oh absolutely not. It’s just, I’m afraid they’ll explode if I move them. The cub seemed obsessed with combustion as everything she made either exploded or caused something else to explode. So I’d long since adopted the policy of non-intervention when it comes to her experiments.

Ignoring the strange devices I made way to the exit of my domain to begin my hunt in the forests below, which is when I sensed the one presence I despise more than that of Vulkira’s Sword.

“Dorran! Are you still living in this wasteland?”

He doesn’t know I’m here. If I just stay quiet maybe he’ll just leave.

“Dorran I know you’re in there! Don’t you always complain about how it’s rude not to greet a guest at the door?”

It isn’t rude if I don’t consider you a guest.

“Well if you’re not here then I’ll just make myself at home.”

“No no no! Absolutely not! Stay outside!”

I ran up to the entrance to prevent the damn punk from entering and ruining my decor. Much to my dismay, even though he hasn’t set foot in the cave, all the ice has already started melting. I could clearly tell his path up the mountain from the melted snow that lay in his wake.

It was too late, it’s all ruined.

I called the human cub annoying on many occasions, but if I had to say who was more annoying, then this… disgrace… would be my choice every time. Back when he was young, he hated being cold much that he began to douse himself with fire to stay warm. Unfortunately, burning himself has become so ingrained in what little brains he has that he just keeps himself ignited wherever he goes. That gold color he has just makes him even more insufferable.

“Dorran, it’s been so long! How have you been?”

“Not long enough. To what occasion do I own this displeasure?”

“Must you be so cold? I’ve only come to talk with an old friend.”

“You have a friend here? They must be a master of stealth because I certainly haven’t seen them.”

“Oh Dorran, you haven’t changed a bit.”

Not even asking, the bastard waltzes into my home, melting all my snow and ice in the process and setting the moss adoring the ceiling ablaze. I would try to stop him, but I know better then to partake in futile tasks.

It would be a stretch to say he's stronger than me, but in certain conditions it would be understandable if you made that mistake. Unfortunately, the small cave I call my home meets all of these conditions.

I didn’t even bother remaking the ice he melted as he went deeper into my domain, as I knew he would just melt it again as he left. He stopped when he reached my main chamber and looked around at all the junk the cub left lying around.

“Dorran, I know you aren’t as enthusiastic about you’re hoard as the rest of us, but to leave it in such a state of disrepair is just unprofessional.”

I knew he would bring up my hoard, the bastard just loves comparing sizes.

“These pieces of junk are not apart of my hoard. My hoard is just where I left it.”

“And I presume it’s as small as I remember it being?”

I may not particularly care about my hoard, but the look of knowing superiority on his face just pisses me off.

“My hoard is not small, I’ll have you know. It is a respectable size.”

“Oh so it’s gotten smaller? How tragic.”

“We are not dragons who hunger over treasure with lust, Boreas.”

His smug grin grew wider.

“Oh Dorran, it’s not about the treasure.”

After delivering his favorite line, he turned around and began to make his way towards the cub’s old chamber.

“Dorran I have to be honest with you, I’ve come to get one or two things from you.”

“And what would that be?”

“Just some information, and that sword you hate so much.”

I wasn’t surprised. Boreas had always eyed that annoying sword every time he dropped by for an unwanted visit.

“Unfortunately for you Boreas, the sword-”

“Isn’t for sale? I thought you’d say that.”

The golden bastard begin to cycle his magic to a noticeable degree. The temperature of the cave rose a few tens of degrees.

“I’ve wanted that sword for a while now, and you clearly don’t want it, so I don’t see-”

“The sword isn’t here anymore Boreas.”

His magic came to a halt.

“What?”