Food.

No that’s the Masters’ mother. We can’t have anything from her. You already know she’s off-limits. Even if she did attack you twice. But blood’s thicker than water. If she utterly ruins her relationship with the Master, you might have a chance. Until then, just carry her around like the Master told you.

An action you are having a much easier time with than your Master and the young hellspawn. Their managing but it’s clear they don’t have that much stamina since they keep taking quick brakes. Something you’ll need to work on during your service. Can’t successfully dominate the world if climbing stairs has you gasping for breath.

Food.

No, the beta male is not food. At least not yet. Hard maybe. He’s young so he may develop and be worthy of being a meal. Or die. Either works. As long as he doesn’t spread his poor character to the Master. Now that would be a tragedy.

Food.

Not sure yet. Master said no when you asked. Something about ‘owe her’ and ‘consequences if you kill her’ or something like that. Not that you much cared for the why, since you’re here just to follow your Master’s orders. Something the hooded woman should be grateful for when she wakes up.

But speaking of orders, you have to say you are incredibly happy to have finally been following a number of them. No more constant searching, no more pointless fights, and no more blind stumbling through this world. Just some simple and safe service that you were made for.

Not Food.

Indeed, she is not. Well, not for the stomach. Food for the soul possibly at the very least. She is rather filling as the latter you’ll admit. Will need to work on some things though, for her benefit. While you’re glad she had not attacked you in some misguided fear of her Minion, that there may be a problem.

From what you’ve seen so far, she lacks the killer instinct everyone else has. Even the weakest individual here, the hellspawn male, took some initiative. As far as you can tell, your Master lacks in physical and mystical prowess. Enough to have no confidence in trying to deal with you. While you could chalk that up to simple inexperience, as she was capable enough to raise you from death, it isn’t much to go on.

While it takes a mage of some talent to be a mess with the cycle of life as far as you know, there have been rare exceptions.

You think.

Maybe.

Hopefully.

Damn, it is frustrating having a casual train of thought get suddenly derailed like that. You have all this background knowledge, but then remember you have no idea how you know this info. Which kills that info as your mind suddenly loses its grasp on it. Ugh, so annoying.

Eat.

It sure as shit isn’t helping with the memory thing if your mind stomach keeps growling for food. Damn you are hungry. Hopefully, there’s some non-questionable food where your Master is leading you. Have some room in your head to focus on other things.

“We, humph, are, ugh, here!”

Oh, thank the God’s for that! Now all you need to do is open the-

Oh.

You are in front of the door of the room you first fully woke up in.

Oh, dear.

Um, Master, it has come to my attention that I may have forgotten some important information to relay.

Your Master gives you a confused look as she and the hellspawn put down the woman. Whatever she had in mind is brushed aside as the door is kicked open. Behind it is a rather angry looking gnome with an intimidating pair of glyphs in his hands.

“Uh, dad I can-“

“Magic Missile!”

“Dad wait no!”

It would seem he was not in the mood for conversation, as he activated his spells. Three magical orbs launched forth and slammed into your chest, shattering several ribs. Again. God’s be damned you know aiming for center mass is the easiest way for ranged attacks but come on. You just finished regrowing these!

Welp time for the same old song and dance.

Eliminate whatever obstacles lay before you.

You drop your Master’s mother and step in for some hits. And are surprised by how nimbly dodged the first. That surprise increases when your attacks are halted by some magical shielding. Getting a closer look, you can see he is wearing some magical see-through armor. Possibly a spell. Which is obvious, but still frustrating.

Even more frustrating when he tried casting and successfully sidestepped your attack at the same time. For someone who looked like a civilian, he knew how to fight. Granted, this would be a different story if you weren’t holding back because he’s your Master’s father.

“Magic Missile!”

The world fades.

There is silence.

You have regained 1 Health

Not that it stopped his second spell from knocking you out. It was just a second, but you found yourself on the floor after you recovered. Again. Man, this is getting annoying. At least you didn’t get any lip from the Golden Duck.

Standing up, you try another soft tap on the head. Thankfully, this one connected and broke through his barrier. Other than a busted lip and bruise, he should be fine. Unfortunately for you, it wasn’t enough for him to go down. Summoning a different glyph, there is a noticeable dip in the temperature.

“Ice Spear!”

You’re fast enough to slap his hand away, where a solid rod of ice shatters on the wall. Clasping your hands, you go in for a concentrated hit, trying to see if mixing up your attacks will trip him up.

It doesn’t, as he easily slides between your legs. Now, the gnome has you outflanked and out of your reach. This guy isn’t half bad. Much better than his wife so far. Think maybe the Master should learn from him instead of her mother.

“Ice spear!”

Oh, God’s damn it. The world fades.

You just hear laughing.

You have regained 1 Health.

“Dad, please! You have to stop before he-!”

The gnome, even though he was smart enough to keep his eye on you after he saw you get up the first time, was distracted by your Master. Enough for you to grab his ankles and pick him up as you stood up.

And then you started swinging him like a sack of potatoes against the wall. He went limp after the first hit, a rather gruesome one if your ethereal ears were anything to go by. Not that that stopped you from giving a few more solid swings.

“Stop!”

You obey.

With little ceremony, he dropped to the ground. Looking at your surroundings, you can see the hellspawn is cowering again. Your master on the other hand was pulling at her hair. The look on her face is quite distressing you have to say.

Ah. Right. Looking down at the unconscious gnome at your feet, you remember you all came here to heal and awaken everyone you had beaten into submission. And you just added another person to that list. Who may have been the one capable of doing said healing.

Whoops.