Re: Ascension Rebirth – Resurrection of the guard dog princess

Chapter X

PART ONE

[Eternum Calendar - Year 981]

It was a bright, sunny day in the middle of August when a certain baby girl was born. She had black hair and red eyes, not a surprise since the father had black hair and the mother had ruby eyes. This girl was the second child of [Aidus Crow Xix Ariadyne] the Tetrarch of West Ariadyne and his wife [Lorna Crow Xix Ariadyne], before her was an older sister of 4 years: [Lyssa Crow Xix Ariadyne].

When the girl was born she did not cry much, instead she almost looked like she had given up on life upon birth. It was as though she had been stillborn, of course that was not the case as her heart beat normally. It was a mystery even for Lorna and the doctors, however aside from that fact everything else about her was normal.

Lorna felt a mixed rush of emotions as she gave birth, she felt exhilarated that she was able to safely give birth to another child of her beloved husband’s, but at the same time she also knew that what he wanted more was a male heir. Still, that didn’t mean that Aidus would love his daughter less, it was simply just a missed opportunity.

[Lyssa Crow Xix Ariadyne], the first child and Liliana’s older sister was known as a prodigy amongst her peers for her superior intellect and unmatched talent in combat. It was everyone’s opinion that she would grow to become an extremely influential military commander. Not wanting to hinder that line of progression, Aidus wanted to bear another heir so Lyssa could continue on. However the result was Liliana, another female.

As she was born, Aidus stared deeply at his new baby girl. He felt an odd sort of empathy for her, for he too often had such eyes. That being said, Aidus was not such a cold man that he would disregard the efforts his wife had put into bearing him another child. He gave the baby girl a stiff smile.

“What shall we name our new daughter, honey?”

Lorna asked with a weakened face due to childbirth.

“This child will be named [Liliana Crow Xix Ariadyne]. A name similar to yours.”

He proclaimed, there were no objections from the people present.

“I see, what a wonderful name, thank you honey.”

Aidus made a satisfied face as he left the room. As the Tetrarch of the entire Western part of the continent, he was understandably a very busy man. It was doubtful that he could spend much time with his family after his new daughter was born either, but he was thankful that they understood that his job was important and supported him from behind even if he was rarely there.

Although their marriage was a political one, over time they had come to love each other, it was the best ending that both parties could’ve hoped for. She gave birth to healthy heirs and supported her husband to the best of her abilities.

“Welcome to our life, Liliana.”

Lorna called out as she held her daughter in her arms. The baby did not respond but looked up to her as if it had understood what she was saying; she had reacted to the word ‘life’.

Lorna gave her a soft smile as she hummed her a song.

PART TWO

-Liliana Crow Xix Ariadyne’s PoV-

[Eternum Calendar - Year 988]

“Are you sure about this Liliana?”

A girl 4 years older than me asks. This is my sister, she has a similar shade of black for hair and ruby eyes like mine. Today too she is wearing her custom armor, well it was mostly just a dress with pieces of protection stuck on the skirt, chest, shoulder and arm area. To her waist is a small one handed blade, even though it’s for children it’s still sharp enough to cut through wood.

My sister, Lyssa asks with a worried tone, her face is clearly filled with a troubled expression but I couldn’t give up just because I’m troubling her a little. I mean this is completely fair! My sister gets to go out and play all day so she doesn’t understand my suffering, so if I want to sneak out and stretch my legs for just one day, it’s worth all the trouble.

“Lady Liliana, I don’t think we should-“

Trying to stop me is an adult woman, around the age of 20… I think. Her name is [Soumee], she has a beautiful white hair and ruby eyes like mine. She is known as something called a [Praetorian Guard], basically it means she’s my bodyguard. From what I have been told from father she was a powerful person that was revered as the [Goddess of the battlefield], but to me she just looks like a slow idiot. But she is kind of cute I give her that.

Although that scar that runs down her left eye is a little convincing, but she probably just fell down or something.

“We’re going now, Soumee!”

Disregarding her protest I decided to go out with my older sister to have a little sparring match, they were against it at first but due to my constant plea they finally let me. We walked down the long hallways of this castle, which is really long in my opinion, too long, and finally arrived at the backyard where there were several soldiers also training.

The way that they moved in unison was so cool!

It beats what I have been doing all along, which is studying every day, without rest! I was starting to worry that I wasn’t ever going to be allowed to do anything fun; father is never around and mother has been oddly sick lately so I only had the tutor to keep me company. But that man doesn’t know how to play so today I’m running out on him.

Grabbing one of the swords off the walls of the armory, which was next to the training field, I tried to quickly get into position. However it proved too heavy for me and I ended up falling down.

“Lady Liliana!”

Soumee comes running to me in panic. Geez, she really worries too much, I only scraped my knee a little, there wasn’t even that much blood. However she immediately applied [healing] magic to heal my wounds.

Right after I was healed I ran to get a smaller sword this time. Finding one right for my size I moved onto the field in order to test them out on some dummies, but unlike the other soldiers I couldn’t even leave a mark on the wood. My hands probably suffered more damage than the piece of wood did as it received my attack.

I dropped the sword and took a look at my hands. They were glowing red just from a few swings. This was a lot harder than I thought.

“No, no, you can’t hold a sword like that Liliana. Here this is how you hold them.”

My sister came to correct how I was holding my sword. When I changed my grip and posture and tried again, I really saw an improve done to the wooden dummy.

“Lyssa! Lyssa! Look! I did it!”

“That’s great. Why don’t you try again?”

“Eh~ but I already did it, and I’m bored of this. When can I start the real fight?”

She gave me a complicated expression as she tried to tell me that I needed to practice before I could have a real spar. However this was probably the only day that I would get to actually run around in the field, no doubt the tutor will double his guard so I won’t be able to escape.

Thus I tried to fake my tears a little.

“B- but… if I don’t get to fight today I never will… I’ll have to start studying again… alone in that room…”

Seeing my ‘crying’ figure my sister came to console me. Giving in to my demand she let me be her sparring partner, but I had to wear a lot more protection than she did. Sister only wore her armor dress, gauntlets and greaves, whereas I had to wear all that plush a few extra padding and a helmet.

“Okay Liliana, whenever you’re reading come at me!”

She says from the edge of the field. Some of the soldiers ceased their training to overlook our little match. It was finally getting interesting and my heart was pounding for real. Soumee was going to be our referee and she will step in if things looked like it was going to get too dangerous.

At my sister’s remark I decided to get in the first strike. I dashed forward with my sword and gave a perfect straight cut but it was easily dodged by my sister, having lost balance I flew forward and planted my face into the wall. However due to the helmet I was wearing there wasn’t too much damage, although the sound rang through my head.

I shook my head and stood up once more to face my sister. I ran faster than before and tried to get in another perfect straight cut but once again it was easily dodged. Right about now I was feeling a little sour because I couldn’t hit her but my facial expressions were covered by the helmet.

Having missed all of my attacks I was a little out of breaths but that didn’t mean I was going to give up anytime soon. This time I wanted to try something a little different and instead of a straight cut I decided to go with a side cut. My having thought I was going to do another straight cut dodge to her left only to be met with my side swing.

However even that wasn’t enough as my sister reacted to it quickly and blocked with her sword. Unfair! I was just about to hit her!

“You almost got me there, Liliana.”

“You cheated!”

I shouted at her but she had a coy look to her face as she taunted me with her ‘superior’ skills. So while her guard was down I decided to get in another hit! I quickly stepped into her range and went for a stab this time. I was successful in catching my sister off her guard but what I didn’t know was that even though my sister was hailed a s prodigy she was still an amateur as well. Not knowing how to completely counter a surprise attack she went for a serious one, sending me flying back a few meters.

“Liliana?!”

“Lady Liliana!”

I landed on my head, though the impact was mostly received by the helmet I could still feel the shock.

Slowly… I felt my consciousness fading to black.

Ah… not good if I don’t wake up now the day will be over and I’ll be forced to study…

Such mundane thoughts came to me but something else came as well. A deep, piercing sensation within the depths of my heart. I felt desperate and sad, like there was something I wanted to say but I didn’t know what.

I wanted to scream out.

I wanted to… apologize…

To who? I don’t know myself… but the words came out of my mouth as the darkness completely overtook me.

“Forgive… Sir Aran…”

PART THREE

[Starting System Initialization… ]

[Initializing… 15%]

[Initializing… 45%]

[Initializing… 85%]

[Booting System…]

As my consciousness came back to me I stood before a great black void with the only thing to keep me company being incomprehensible, mechanical words that were more suited to be on a computer monitor.

“Liliana!”

“Lady Liliana!”

I could feel my body being shook by someone violently, and it was at the worst possible time too as I was having a heavy migraine. As the shaking became more frequent I found it harder to rest so I decided to open my eyes.

Streams of sunlight poured directly into my eyes prompting me to close them once more and this time slowly as my pupils adapted to the light I opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was the sight of a little girl with black hair and clear red eyes. She didn’t look oriental, perhaps Caucasian?

She was shouting at me with a worried expression in a language I had never heard before, but for some reason I understood perfectly what she was saying. She was calling out… my name.

“Liliana! Are you alright?”

She had tears in her eyes as she embraced me with her full strength, it hurt but it wasn’t to the point I couldn’t endure.

“Are you okay, Lady Liliana?!”

Another woman came to ask. She had long white hair, ruby eyes as well and a large scar down the side of her left eye. From a glance she looked rather slow and timid but I could feel it, the power and strength swirling around her body, it was incredible. So much so, to the point where I would have no confidence to win against her in a straight up fight.

I wanted to ask, what kind of martial arts or fighting style she used to get so strong but now wasn’t the time. Actually, this woman was huge, or so I thought but it turns out that it was myself that had shrunk.

“M- mirror. Do you have a mirror?”

I asked, at first the two were confused but the white haired lady went and brought me a mirror. When I took a look at myself, what I saw in the reflection shocked me even more. This wasn’t me… it was a child!

No… even I wasn’t that stupid, I knew this was the real me because I had all sorts of memories of this body too. However those memories didn’t feel personal, it was like for the past seven years my body was on auto-pilot and those memories were just like random images flying straight past me.

Not good, I was starting to get another migraine.

Still, before I decide to do anything else it would be better to survey the situation and get my memories straight. After confirming that there were no hostile threats in the immediate vicinity I decided to think a bit deeper and search my memories of both this body and my real one.

The last thing I remember was that I died, along with Sir Aran, during that plane incident. Then right after that I was reborn into this body as a baby… reincarnation? Though I wasn’t really the superstitious type I did hear about many religions that proclaimed reincarnation, to think those might’ve been actually true… no let’s thing about that a bit later.

So then, I was reincarnated into this body. [Liliana Crow Xix Ariadyne]… I am the second daughter to the West Tetrarchy, second-in-line for the throne. Age seven. No notable accomplishments so far.

I turned to my right and the older girl, my ‘sister’ continued to inspect me with a worried face. [Lyssa Crow Xix Ariadyne]. Age twelve. Some latent combat potential. Though I can only remember it in a distant way I still knew how she moved just prior to when I was knocked out, her movements were solid and her footwork was elegant. A good fighter.

Then towards my left was the white haired woman. [Soumee]… age 21? She’s a warrior with the nick name [Goddess of the battlefield] and just from her aura alone I can believe that. She’s something akin to my bodyguard… how odd for a bodyguard to have a bodyguard.

I tried expanding my search parameters of my memories to something a bit broader.

Let’s see… I think… seven years.

Seven years had passed since I came to this world, no perhaps it would be more apt to say I was ‘reborn’ into this world when I died in my old world. Right now so many emotions swelled inside me but I too was a warrior. I didn’t let these kinds of emotions dictate my life before and I wasn’t going to start, at least not until I have a firm grasp of my situation.

I am in a country known as [West Ariadyne], and my father is a kind of ruler of these lands. Other than that I only have information about studying rudimentary mathematics and language. Unnecessary, I already knew them all.

As I tried to get up I noticed a small sword in my hand.

This is… that’s right we were sparring before I was knocked unconscious. I stared at the sword a little more because in my previous life I never really got to swing around a sword all that much, most of the time I used guns.

When I stared at them something amazing popped out. 4 holographic boxes appeared, when I tried putting my hands on them I just phased through as though they didn’t really exist outside of my vision.

They read.

[Status Menu]

Liliana Crow Xix Ariadyne. Level 1

N/A

Strength: 5

Dexterity: 5

Magic: 5

Insight: 5

Agility: 5

[Status Points: 10]

[Skill List]

N/A

[Equipment]

N/A

[Inventory]

N/A

[Status Menu]. [Skill List]. [Equipment]. [Inventory].

Similar to those net games. Eh? Is this real? It has my name on it. Since on the status menu it had a small [+] and [-] symbol on it I figured that meant I could assign those [status] points into the above categories. Though if this really is mine I don’t want to recklessly add points but it was more important to test the waters.

When I pressed on the [+] button next to the [strength] category another interface box came to interrupt me.

[Status points cannot be distributed until a class has been selected].

As I was wondering what it was talking about, another interface box popped up to answer my question.

[Please select a class]

[Magician]

[Knight]

[Assassin]

[Archer]

[Cleric]

[Necromancer]

[Brawler]

[Alchemist]

[Bard]

[Puppeteer]

“Liliana? Are you really okay? You seem oddly vacant.”

Lyssa waved her hand in front of my face to see if I was paying attention.

“Ah, I’m okay… just feeling a little tired, please give me a moment.”

She gave me a nod and sat next to me, waiting for me to ‘recover’.

Right now the one question I want to ask is if choosing a class is permanent, if so then I don’t want to make that decision so easily. Though I wasn’t in too much of a rush to select a class spending more time than necessary deciding seemed vain to me. If I’m to go with this then choosing a class I can relate to was probably the better option.

[Knight], [Assassin], [Brawler]. Those were probably the most optimal choices for me since I had a quite a reasonable amount of knowledge when it came to close quarter combat. Usually in RPGs when you choose a class you can’t use weapons of another class, that point is fairly important, all the more so if this decision was permanent. However this feels like real life, so I just can’t see the system rejecting whatever weapon I use.

Between the three choices, [Assassin] would probably be the most optimal choice. The [knight class] seems like it would wear heavy armor, which would be cumbersome in real battle, at the very least it won’t be compatible with the self defense techniques I use.

[Brawler] does seem like a decent decision, but then again the point of a fight is to beat your opponent as quickly as possible. In that regard I think [Assassin] would be the best. A quick stealthy kill is always better than a drawn out slog.

Very well, then I’ll go with [Assassin] then.

As I pressed the [Assassin] button a rush of wind surrounded us, because of this, Lyssa and Soumee were in confusion as to what was going on. However I knew, I could feel it within me, a power starting to form. The sensation of sharp daggers sinking into my skin could be felt at the deepest part of my soul; it hurt but I could endure it.

The pain only lasted for a few seconds but during that time I felt as though it would last forever. As the pain ended I felt myself break into a cold sweat and along with it the wind that was surrounding us snapped away.

“Eh? What was that just now?”

Lyssa asks as she surveys the area around us. The soldiers that were lined up also seemed to be equally confused as they muttered amongst themselves about what that just was. However, Soumee was different, she didn’t break into a panic or confusion but she stared right at me, perhaps she knew it was my doing? Or that something had happened to me?

Regardless, I felt stronger now.

I decided to check my [status menu] to see if anything had changed.

[Status Menu]

Liliana Crow Xix Ariadyne. Level 1

ASSASSIN

Strength: 5

Dexterity: 5

Magic: 5

Insight:

Agility: 5

[Status Points: 10]

As expected, I gained the class [Assassin] under my name. then perhaps I also got some new skills? In a similar fashion I opened up the [skill list]. As I did four interface boxes appeared right in front of my face without warning.

[New skill acquired: [Instincts of the Assassin(Passive)]]

[New skill acquired: [Shadow Dash(Active)]]

[New skill acquired: [Shadow Cloak(Active)]]

[New skill acquired: [Assassinate(Active)]]

Closing the four interface boxes that appeared I inspected the [skill list] and like I had assumed the skills were definitely there.

[Skill List]

(PASSIVE) [Instincts of the Assassin]: Level 1

(ACTIVE) [Shadow Dash]: Level 1

(ACTIVE) [Shadow Cloak]: Level 1

(ACTIVE) [Assassinate]: Level 1

On closer inspection there was an [inspect] button next to those skills. Click on each of them brought to me a small description box on each of the skills.

[Instincts of the Assassin: Detect nearby presence, detect enemy’s vulnerability, detect hostile threats and attacks]

[Shadow Dash: Allows the user to quickly dash forward a small distance]

[Shadow Cloak: Allows the user to become invisible, duration and effectiveness depends on level]

[Assassinate: A powerful strike that ignore opponent’s defense rate]

These skills… I’m not entirely sure on how they work or activate but I assume that they’ve been intuitively designed. In my experiences from my past life, during such situations where one cannot gain any more useful info it is better to go with one’s gut feeling.

“Lys- sister, mind if we continue the sparring session?”

When I asked I was met with dubious eyes, figures since I was just sent flying and lost unconscious, it would be dangerous to continue with strenuous activities right after getting up, however I wanted to test it out. I also wanted to know how much of my martial prowess I have retained. Considering this is a completely new body I don’t think I have my former body’s muscle memories, which is a bit of a pain but that can easily be mitigated with continuous training.

Actually it works out better because I can train from a younger age, I might end up becoming more powerful than my previous life.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Liliana. You just lost consciousness and-“

“Please!”

Lyssa became flustered as I lowered my head. I hope my seriousness was successfully portrayed.

“O- okay, but we’ll have to take it slowly.”

“Okay.”

I agreed and split away from Lyssa and Soumee. We were now facing each other again on the opposite side of the field. While Lyssa still had an uneasy expression, Soumee’s gaze was a little different, more intensely focused, as if to unravel some sort of mystery surrounding me.

“You can start first Liliana!”

Lyssa gave way for the first strike.

I went into a striking stance and positioned myself for a dash. I wanted to try out my new skills and I thought it would all go well until this point. I really had no idea on how to use those skills, at this rate I’ll have to go with plan B, which was to shout out the name of the skill before using it, but that was embarrassing.

No choice then.

“[S- Shadow Dash]!”

I felt my entire body accelerate forward at breakneck speed; I was already in range for a perfect hit. I know I only took a single step but I must’ve covered at least 3 meters. It wasn’t instant but it was fast enough that it caught Lyssa and even Soumee off guard at what I had just done.

“Wha- no.”

Reacting appropriately towards my movements, Lyssa snapped back to posture and made some distance between us using a small horizontal swing. Yes, that was certainly the correct course of action a fighter should take, though it was a little too delayed, if I had committed towards my attack I would’ve already cut her down 3 or 4 times in that period.

Currently my only goal was to test out my abilities, whether I won this sparring session or not wasn’t really important.

Taking me a bit more seriously, Lyssa moved her sword forward into a defensive stance. For a twelve year old she has impressive discipline, instead of asking me what I just did or what happened she went straight for a defensive pose and decided to continue the battle.

Seeing that, it got my blood boiling a little. I couldn’t help but smirk as I saw her serious expression. It wasn’t like I was naturally a bloodthirsty or battle born person but the sight of a fight did rekindle a sort of flame in my heart. Holding this small sword I could feel it, this was real, everything around me was real; I had died but also have been reborn, I couldn’t amend the mistakes I made in that life but I can try again in this one.

And the one true link between this life and that life; the proof that I was me and not just some random princess, was the feeling of battle.

I can live as [Liliana Crow Xix Ariadyne], but my soul was undoubtedly that of [Yui Kirisaki]. It was that single thought that gave me comfort, please watch me Sir Aran.

“Sister, are you ready?”

“Y- yeah, come.”

“[Shadow Dash].”

I used the skill once more and close the gap between us, this time I didn’t dawdle around and went for a straight downwards slash. Of course I tried to make the attack as projected as possible since if I fought with my full skill it would be too one sided. Easily blocking my downwards slash, Lyssa parried and pushed me back, then decided to go for a swift stab.

“[Shadow Cloak].”

I moved just a few inches to the left and activated my second skills. Everyone’s jaw dropped as I became transparent. As much I wanted it to, I wasn’t fully invisible, if one concentrated hard enough it was possible to see the refractions of light and a small outline of my body. I noticed that the skills had levels so perhaps as I increase those levels this skill may become more akin to true invisibility later on.

For now this would have to do.

I took a step in and threw in another downwards swing, this time getting a direct hit on Lyssa’s shoulders. There was a bit of damage but thanks to her armor, as well as the fact that this was a blunt sword, she was fine after a brief moment of recuperation.

Gritting her teeth Lyssa went in for a succession of swings and stabs but I was able to dodge them all easily. I thought my muscle memories would be entirely gone but that didn’t seem to be the case, I still had some residue memories and acting on those I could move the way I did.

I guess it was about time this sparring session ended, but after displaying my skills and dominance it was a little awkward to deliberately lose the fight. I don’t think Lyssa is the type of person to hold a grudge if she lost a match but it might hurt her pride a little, considering from their perspective I was a complete amateur in fights.

She swung her sword in a horizontal slash but taking advantage of that I used my skill.

“[Shadow Dash].”

But I used it in an upwards direction, completely evading her attack and as I landed I struck down with my sword and delivered an unguarded blow to her torso. Lyssa flew back a few meters and the fight was over.

[You have gained (3) level(s)].

PART FOUR

After the spar with Lyssa I tested out [Assassinate] on one of the practice dummies and I fell apart instantly, and to think I was debating on whether or not I wanted to use it in that fight. I decided against it since the description said it would ‘ignore enemy defense rate’.

At any rate, I decided to take Lyssa to the infirmary since she was a little wounded.

“Where did all that strength come from?”

She asked as she walked with me as her support, Soumee wanted to help but she was much too tall.

“I don’t… know. I just felt it from deep inside.”

I answered vaguely, I could explain the truth but that in itself is a little troublesome. It was probably for the best if I kept it to myself for the time being.

“Deep inside? What do you mean?”

I shook my head and pretend to act like I didn’t know.

“I don’t know, it was an… intrinsic thing.”

“… I see. It’s a little sad that I was beat by my own younger sister who never trained a day. I guess this is what you call true talent.”

Even though she said it herself she was getting a little depressed. I couldn’t help but feel a little guilty, though I don’t think she will let it get to heart it was my duty to make her feel better, as an adult.

“No, you don’t have to worry about that, sister. What I have… you can’t really call it talent, it’s more of a… cheat.”

“A… cheat?”

“Yeah, this strength isn’t something innate. I didn’t earn it nor was I born with it, just something that I suddenly got. I wish I could explain to you what happened when you knocked me out, but I don’t remember much of it. Sorry.”

Lyssa put her hand on my head and gently stroke.

“Fufu~ you don’t have to worry Liliana. I’m not upset. But I see, something you got suddenly. Should we have [Nicholai] look at you too then? Maybe we could get a little more detail on what happened.”

“O- okay.”

I couldn’t reject it since it was a reasonable suggestion, but I was a little nervous that something might actually turn up in an inspection.

* * *

“Hmm~ there isn’t anything specifically different. Lady Liliana’s bio is all the same and her muscles haven’t gotten any bigger either. You say that she suddenly gained some strength but there are no indications of that, at least it isn’t a physical thing.”

After we arrived at the infirmary, Nicholai, our resident cleric inspected me. He was a little old, perhaps around his late 40s? But he was a trusted doctor and once even worked as a [Praetorian Knight] in the castle. I wonder how strong he is-

As I was contemplating his strength something else popped up above the doctor’s head.

[Nicholai. Level 49, High Cleric].

What the-?

I rubbed my eyes and it was gone and when I tried to concentrate the interface box popped up above his head once more. I see, so this is like those things you see in MMORPG, other people’s name, level and class.

I tried look at Lyssa’s and Soumee’s as well.

[Lyssa Crow Xix Ariadyne. Level 12, Apprentice Knight]

[Soumee. Level 111, Praetorian Knight Commander]

Huh? Level 111? That doesn’t seem right. Once again I rubbed my eyes and tried again but I was getting the same thing. No, this definitely wasn’t wrong, the pressure and feeling I get from watching her definitely syncs up. Back then, she was the first to notice that I had gained an odd strength and the way she moves is definitely extremely well disciplined.

“Is something the matter, Lady Liliana?”

Noticing my stare, Soumee asks me with a piercing gaze.

Behind that easy going, clumsy persona she’s wearing right now, I don’t know if it’s her true personality but I can only shudder to think what she’s like when she’s serious.

“No, don’t worry about it.”

“I see…”

It probably wouldn’t take a genius to figure out the shift in personality from the me before I regained my memories and the me after, I guess that’s why she’s a little cautious of me.

“So then, there’s nothing wrong with me right?”

I asked Nicholai and he gives me a nod.

“Right, as far as I can see, there are no irregularities with your body, and I don’t sense any presence of foreign mana, so I don’t think you’ve been affected by some strange magic either. It’s really an oddity as to why you’ve gained such a strength, Lady Liliana.”

He reports.

“If that’s the case then I don’t think there’s much to worry about then.”

I reassure everyone.

“Well, if you say so.”

Lyssa concedes.

“Then I shall retire to my room for the day.”

I waved goodbye towards everyone and returned to my room. There was a lot to think about and I needed some time to adjust.

PART FIVE

“Eh? A mission? But I am sworn to protect Lady Liliana.”

“We can temporarily assign a different praetorian knight as her guard for a few days. It just means this mission requires someone of your expertise on the scene.”

Passing by the Tetrarch’s study I heard Soumee’s voice leak through. It seems that she’s talking to my father of this world, the West Tetrarch, [Aidus Crow Xix Ariadyne]. From the sounds of it some situation has arisen that requires Soumee’s presence. Speaking of which, I wonder if father knows about Soumee’s true strength, I mean, from the past few days I’ve measured the median level of most praetorian knights at they usually float around 45 ~ 55.

I guess if he’s trusting her enough to assign a special mission he at least has some knowledge that she’s stronger than the normal knights.

“But…”

Soumee wants to protest but if it is father’s orders, the Tetrarch’s orders there was no way to outright reject it.

“Is there some reason you don’t want to go on this mission?”

“No… well I… actually I wish to observe Lady Liliana for a bit longer.”

There is a brief silence in the room.

“Hmm, I did hear that a few days ago she gained some sort unusual strength. Is that the reason behind this?”

“There is that but, I feel that the lady has somewhat changed… in terms of her personality, almost like she’s a different person now.”

“And the possibility that she’s been possessed by some force?”

I get where he’s coming from but I’m still your daughter you know? I’m still the same Liliana, I just have a few more memories tacked on. I guess in a land of swords and sorcery it isn’t whole outlandish to suspect foul play or ghostly possession, so I can’t really complain about him going through that possibility.

“No, I’ve checked everything and even Nicholai agrees that it isn’t some kind of possession. Actually it’s kind of the opposite.”

“Opposite? What do you mean?”

“It’s almost as if this personality of Lady Liliana is the true personality and the one we always knew was some kind of alter ego.”

“Hmm. Quite troubling, you may have some point about observing her for a bit longer. Then how about this? She will accompany you along with your mission, that way we can fulfill both our objectives.”

“Are you sure? Wouldn’t that be too dangerous?”

“Perhaps, but I trust you enough to leave my daughter’s life in. Besides, you said she got stronger right? It might be wise to test out how much stronger she has gotten.”

There was another brief pause in the room before Soumee answers.

“I understand then, we shall do that.”

END REPORT

[Status Menu]

Liliana Crow Xix Ariadyne. Level 4

ASSASSIN

Strength: 5

Dexterity: 5

Magic: 5

Insight: 5

Agility: 5

[Status Points: 25]

[Skill List]

(PASSIVE) [Instinct of the Assassin]: Level 2

(ACTIVE) [Shadow Dash]: Level 3

(ACTIVE) [Shadow Cloak]: Level 1

(ACTIVE) [Assassinate]: Level 1

[Equipment]

N/A