10 YEARS AGO

A woman named Saya was on top of a tree. She was confronted by her retainers, Yuuno and his daughter Yuulah.

“Young mistress, get down there right now!”

She stuck her tongue out to Yuuno

“Come get me.”

Saya then jumped from one tree to another.

“Stop being so reckless!” said Yuuno

“Hahahahahaha.”

Saya jumped from one tree to another until she overjumped on one tree.

“Mistress!”

Suddenly, strong arms came to catch her.

“Don’t be too reckless.”

“Sorry.”, Saya said.

Saya looked towards the man, and as her gaze met her, the man blushed, evading her gaze.

“It’s no problem”

Panting and exhausted, Yuuno finally reached his young mistress

“Thank you for saving her…”

“Musa.”

“Thank you, Musa.”

As Musa walked away, Yuulah noticed a young boy following her. The two of them locked their eyes towards each other.

“Daddy, it seems he also has a kid.”

“No need to be nosy, dear.”

“I want to be his friend.”

“Maybe we can meet with them at a later time.”

Yuuno turned his gaze at Saya

“Young Mistress, it’s about time we go home.”

Saya nodded and went to their castle home.

“Yuuno, thanks for raising me.”

“I owe your parents my life. I swore to them that I would guard you on their deathbed.”

When they were back at the castle, Yuuno prepared the meals for Saya.

“You make the best meals, Yuuno.”

“I know. But my wife makes better ones.”

“Yeah. Yana always makes the best dishes whenever she is here.”

As they were reminiscing. The meal was interrupted by a servant

“Mistress. They’re here.”

“Again?”

“Bring them in.”, said Yuuno

A group of nobles entered the castle. One of them looks old, while the others look snobbish. When they walked to the castle, they looked at the servants with scorn. Another one covered his nose, insisting that he only breath the air of nobility and not the air of commoners.

A group of jesters, complete with trumpets, introduced their masters.

“All us to grace the presence of our wonderful and glorious masters, the House of Alaborn.”

“Pretty lady, I am Lord Guanyo, and this is my son, Lord Hulio.”

“I have a name.”, said Saya

Ignoring Saya, Guanyo looked at his son.

“Son introduce yourself to your future wife.”

“Hulio here, I am your fiancé. So were going to be…”

“I never agreed to anything.”, said Saya

“You don’t need to. We are nobles. We have status. You should know this, you came from a noble family.”

“I don’t care.”

“Dad, I don’t think she is worth it.”, said Hulio

“Shush son. Young girl. The only thing you have is your castle. You have no status to you. You little ingrate.”

Defiantly, Saya stood up and looked at the nobles.

“GET OUT OF MY CASTLE!”

“Make us.”, said Guanyo

Suddenly, an explosion was heard. The servants of the Alaborn family were quickly knocked out. They were surprised and saw a lone woman at the door.

“Welcome back Yana.”, said Saya

“Now, who is harassing you again, dear?”, asked Yana

Saya pointed at the Alaborn family.

Yana then pointed her staff at them. An giant orb of water showed up at the end of the staff. Blue glow emerged from her eyes and the glow flowed from her body into the staff. As the orb grew larger and larger, the eyes of the Alaborn family members were larger. They were shocked at the size of the orb.

Afraid, the Alaborn family simply left the castle. Angrily, they glared at Saya, who in turned stuck out her tongue, mocking them.

“You will regret this day, you stupid moron!”, said Guanyo

When they left, Saya rushed towards Yana and hugged tightly.

“I’m happy that you’re back Yana.”

“I’m glad to see you too young Saya.”

“Are you back for good, Yana.”

“Sadly, I can’t. I need to leave after another week.”

Sigh

“Now, where is my beautiful daughter?”

“Mama.”

Yuulah ran towards Yana and hugged her mother.

“I miss you, my little daughter.”, said Yana

“So how’s your last mission?”, asked Yuuno

“It was hard and exhausting.”, said Yana

Hmmmm

“I’ve prepared our room.”, said Yuuno

“I need to rest.”, said Yana

Yuuno then looked at Saya, who simply nodded.

“Go, I can take care of myself”, said Saya.

“Oh before anything else”, said Yana.

Yana raised her wand to repair the broken gate and the small wreckage in the hallway.

Earth, help me. Let us restore this back to what it is.

RESTORATION

“Thank you Yana.”

“No problem, young Saya.”

After helping in the cleaning of the debris, Saya went to her room.

I hope Yana stays with us forever

After a while, she went to a deep sleep.

On the next day, Saya went around the town. Kuldro currently is undergoing a festival, to celebrate a year of peace and prosperity. No wars or attacks have affected the town, and the officials decided to celebrate. Many traders from the surrounding towns or far away lands arrived at Kuldro selling their goods.

Saya, curious about the outsiders, bought herself a cloak so that nobody would notice her. Although she is known in the town, she is still a noble, and with the knowledge, some of the people have resentment towards nobles. Saya understood that her lifestyle as well as her castle is maintained by the hard-earned cash of the people. Although naïve in terms of politics, Saya wanted to provide back to the people.

While walking on the town, Saya looked for the townspeople, intent on buying their goods to support them. When she looked at a stall, she saw a farmer. She brought out her pouch, to buy fruits and vegetables from the farmer.

“Keep the change.”

“Thank you, kind stranger.”, said the farmer.

When Saya was away, the farmer thought to himself,

Thank you, Lady Saya.

Saya continued her tour around Kuldro. She continues to observe the people and the transactions that happen in the area. She bought a lot of items and goods from the people, asking them to keep their change every single time.

As she was about to go home, a knife was aimed at her.

“You must be a rich woman, always telling the sellers to keep their change.”, said the assailant

Nervous, Saya turned around and saw the face of a clean-shaven man.

This person does not live here. He is an outsider

Shivering Saya turned away and looked at the direction opposite of the assailant.

“Do you really think you can get away with this?”

“I don’t care, you’re not a noble. You’re not rich. No one will notice if your gone.”, taunted the man.

But Saya looked around and saw that the townspeople were taking something from their stands.

“We must protect Lady Saya.”, whispered one vendor to another

But before they could attack the mysterious man, a sword swished through the air. The strike was precise enough to bring the man down. Saya turned around to see her savior, and saw Musa saving her again.

“You must be in trouble again, huh?”

“Yeah. Thanks for the rescue.”

“No problems.”

“I forgot to introduce myself. I am Saya, the daughter of Lord Oldernn and Lady Haisha. We own the castle outside the town.”

“And I am Musa, a wandering runewielder.”

The two continued to stare at each other, when they were interrupted by the noise of a kid

“Brother, I won a toy prize. Here!”, said Moto

Musa looked at his brother, and patted his head.

“Good job, Moto. Wanna train again?”

“Sure brother.”

“Wait, before the two of you train, wanna go to my castle. We have training grounds there.”

Musa turned to his brother who simply nodded.

“Oh, Moto, I would like to introduce you to Lady Saya.”, said Musa to his brother

“Lady Saya, meet my younger brother Moto.”

“A pleasure to meet you.”, said Saya

“What a beautiful lady, brother.”

Saya and Musa simply blushed at Moto’s statement.

“Why is your face red, brother?”, said Moto

“Shut up.”, said Musa.

Saya simply giggled at the banter of the brothers.

“Come with me.”, said Saya

Saya along with Musa and Moto went back to her castle.

“This is a huge house, brother.”, said Moto

“I know, this castle is enormous.”, said Musa

When they were at the hallway, Yuuno greeted them.

“Thank you for saving this idiot mistress of mine.”

“It’s not a problem.”, said Musa.

Yana, with her daughter Yuulah, came to the hall to greet their guest.

“Hi, my name is Yana, I am the wife of Yuuno. Yuulah, come here, introduce yourself at our guests.”

“Hi, my name is Yuulah. Nice to meet you sir.”, said Yuulah

“Hello, my name is Musa. Here is my younger brother Moto.”, said Musa.

Looking at his brother who appears itching to play, Musa touched his shoulder.

“Moto, you can play with young Yuulah here.”

“Are you sure brother?”

“Yeah.”

Moto then approached Yuulah

“Hi, I am Moto.”

“I’m Yuulah.”

“Can we play?”

“Sure. I’ll show you a good place to play.”

Yuulah then led Moto to a place in the castle. Before leaving with Yuulah, he looked at his brother who then nodded his head in approval.

When Yuulah and Moto were out of sight, Saya went to Musa and pointed her finger at him.

“Musa, you can stay here for a while.”, said Saya

“I am grateful for your offer, Lady..”

“Just Saya.”

“I am grateful for your offer, but I’m not sure if were going to stay here for long.”

“You can stay the night.”

“Alright. But can I get my things from the inn me and my brother were staying at.”

“Sure thing.”

After bowing his head to Saya, Musa went back to the town to get his goods.

“Young Saya, that was admirable of you, but he is still a stranger, and we don’t know anything about him.”, said Yana

“He saved my life twice. I’m going to trust him for this one.”

“I hope you’re right Saya. I hope you’re right.”

Somewhere in the castle, Yuulah and Moto were playing with each other, both of them using wooden swords to train against training dummies.

“25 to 20. Looks like I win, Moto.”

Exhausted, Moto simply laid on the ground.

“You’re good, Yuulah.”

“You’re not too bad yourself, Moto”

“Compared to my brother, I am nothing.”

Yuulah then sat next to Moto and asked him some questions.

“So why did you go here anyway.”

“My brother is hunting a thief. I believe that his name is Barone. Barone is very evasive and we still don’t know where he is hiding.”

“Ooohhhhh. But isn’t it very dangerous for a kid like you to go with your brother when he is hunting a bandit.”

“Yeah, I know. But brother is the only family I have. The wars and conflicts took our family.”

Remembering his parents, Moto started to crying, with Yuulah simply embracing him.

Despite the small moment of peace, two sorcerers were outside Saya’s castle. The sorcerers looked at their benefactor asking him if they are at the right place.

“Of course, you are at the right place. This noble girl thinks she is above everyone. I want you to capture her, then we will pay you.”

“Sure thing Lord Alaborn.”

Guanyo smiled to himself.

If you refuse to marry my son, they we will simply force you to be his mistress. These two sorcerers are said to be the strongest ones available. Let’s see if you’re still as arrogant ever. Hahahahaha