“Cyne! Long-time no see!”

I looked over from my shaded spot to see Yuki running towards me happily waving his hand in greetings. Following behind him were Hina and Rin as well as, Catherine and Deane… Why are they all together already?

At that moment I was leaning against a tree by the South gate, taking refuge in its shade from the unnecessarily bright sun. The arranged time to meet had finally come, and I’d happily spent last few days having some me time. By my side was Melissa, dressed suitably in travel attire, my luggage on her back. Despite the almost ridiculously sized bag she carried, she showed no physical strain, although she did look a bit nervous, which had been the case ever since I’d told her she’d be meeting the heroes and other companions today.

Looking at the heroes, I could immediately spot some changes. They had more of an air of confidence about them, and their travelling attire actually made them looked reasonably competent adventurers. Catherine was in her usual tight fitting practical clothing, while Deane had finally changed out of his uniform into similar clothing to the heroes.

I was still curious as to why they were in a group already. If I had been left out, then I’ll be honest, I’d be hurt. Hina looked over towards my position after Yuki had shouted his initial greeting and gave a small frown, dislike evident in her eyes. Damn woman was starting to get on my nerves with that attitude. Rin waved happily alongside Yuki, while Catherine raised her hand and Deane just gave me a nod. I decided to take the initiative to start off the conversation.

“Indeed, it’s been a while, I’m glad to see you’re all looking well. I am a bit confused though, weren’t we only supposed to gather at the gates and not prior?” I asked.

Everyone sported a confused expression.

“Umm, we sent messages out the other day that we should meet up beforehand. This is our first time out of the castle, so we thought we could all have some fun. Umm… we thought you were busy since you hadn’t shown up.” said Rin.

“Message?” I asked, now I was genuinely puzzled… What message, I check my written messages every morning.

Yuki turned to Hina and gave her a questioning gaze. She adopted an apologetic expression in response.

“Oh, sorry! I must have forgotten to send you a message.” she said.

I see, so you’re playing those kind of games… If it wasn’t obvious before, it was now that Hina was out to get me. This one can certainly hold grudges, but I can too. I smiled sweetly back at them.

“Don’t worry about it, everyone forgets thing from time to time, in fact, I’m sorry but… this is a bit embarrassing but leaving it for later would be more so… what was your name again?” I asked.

Hehehe. Her expression was priceless after that, she turned red, whether it be from the embarrassment of having her name forgotten or simply from anger, I couldn’t care either way. I admit it was a bit childish but it left me with a satisfied feeling.

“Her name’s Hina” answered Rin, in place of Hina who had decided to withdraw from the conversation.

“Thank you Rin” I said.

“Well, now that that’s over, Yuki, how was your day in Sol city? Was it as you imagined it to be?”

“Yes, it’s so cool! Everything looks like it’s out of a fantasy novel, and I love the European styled buildings! And…” Yuki started to talk endlessly, showing an excited gleam in his eyes, but soon his expression darkened.

“But, when we were walking through the commercial district we saw that you guys still use slaves. It isn’t moral! If Deane hadn’t stopped me, I would have gone and freed every last one of them! What kind of hero would allow something like that to continue?” Yuki said, his tone getting unhappy and angrier as he continued.

Oh dear… Maybe I shouldn’t have bought a slave. I could feel my nervousness start to rise from the pit of my stomach. How can I communicate to Melissa that she shouldn’t identify herself as a slave? But even then, there’s the slave collar… My smile had started to strain itself as I looked for a way out of the situation.

Rin seemed to have noticed my uncomfortable expression, and interjected.

“U-umm! Of course we also know that Cyne wouldn’t get involved in anything like that, Yuki is just really unhappy about it. Slavery isn’t right where we came from, so we can’t accept it, he’s not directing any ill-will towards you.” said Rin.

That’s very kind of you Rin, but my actual concern is how to hide the fact that I actually have a slave with me. I saw Hina look over towards Melissa with curious eyes.

“Cyne, who’s that?” she sked, gesturing towards Melissa. Damn it woman!

Melissa froze, as she became the centre of all the gazes and hid herself behind me. What the heck are you doing?! Didn’t I tell you not to embarrass me? Oh well, at least this way only I’ll be doing the talking.

“This is my attendant, she’ll be accompanying us on the journey. Of course, when we enter dangerous areas, we’ll leave her behind at the nearest village or town.”

“Oh yeah! I heard you guys could bring one each. Cath and Deane didn’t bring any, so we thought you probably wouldn’t either.” Yuki said, perking up from his previous slump.

Really, I was the only one? This is actually a bit embarrassing. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought one. Well too late now. Catherine was looking over towards Melissa, making her increasingly anxious.

“She’s a demi-human right? Are they allowed to work as attendants? Also, isn’t she a bit shy for an attendant?” she asked.

“Well she’s only been recently trained, and despite her nervousness around others, she is perfectly capable as my attendant.” I replied.

Melissa’s eyes brightened, and then steeled with determination. She stopped hiding behind me and walked in front of the others, trying to look professional. Too late now, you already messed up. Wait, damn! They’ll see the slave collar. Before, she could properly reveal herself I used some of the moonlight in my glove (which I’d been storing for the past few days) to cast an illusion around her neck, making it look like a type of thin scarf.

“I-I’m Cyne’s attendant, Melissa. P-pleased to make your acquaintances.”

“WOW! You look so cool!” exclaimed Yuki, eyes glued on her slightly scaled skin and tale.

Melissa began to shift uncomfortably under his gaze, hiding her tail behind her. Hina took notice, and smacked Yuki over the head, after which he seemed to calm down. Why is it that Hina gets so considerate whenever she sees something cute? I could see the same gleam in her eyes as when Mary was around.

“I’m sorry.” said Yuki.

Unfortunately, Melissa had regained her shyness, began to hide behind me once again. Yuki looked apologetically towards me, and then endured a scornful glare from Hina. Catherine simply watched in amusement, before turning back to me.

“So why did you bring an attendant?” she asked.

Why… what do you mean why? How else am I supposed to carry around all of my luggage?... Speaking of which, why didn’t these guys have any bags.

“Didn’t you get a storage ring?” she continued.

She raised her left hand and on it was a silver ring, completely covered in miniature inscriptions, layer upon layer, it was dizzying to look at. Those things cost a fortune, why do they have them?

“Where did you guys get them from?”

“Well I got mine from the adventurer’s guild, and the heroes and Deane got theirs from the royal family…” she explained.

Those stingy church bastards. Damn! Well, nothing I can do now, and the higher echelons in the church would never consent to spending any of their money regardless of the practical purpose. Catherine seemed to have realised that the church hadn’t exactly been forthcoming with their monetary support, and stopped pressing the subject looking slightly awkward. I could see Hina smirking at me in the background. I swear, if she doesn’t stop that, I don’t care if she’s a hero or not, she’ll end up like chuckles.

“Well, anyway. What is our plan of action then?” I asked, changing the subject.

“Oh we’ll be going to some place called Plyan. Apparently we’re going to get experience there, killing magical beasts in a nearby dungeon” chirped Rin, who looked a bit left out from all the conversations that had just occurred.

I smiled appreciatively at her, causing the appearance of a flushed face. Hehehe, Rin will definitely be the easiest to manipulate and deceive in the part- OW! Cursing at the sudden pain in my back, I looked back to see a slightly unhappy slave. Jealousy… really?! You’re my slave, and doesn’t this count as causing me distress? That blasted Sol’s Pledge spell is really temperamental sometimes.

It looked as though she didn’t realise that her nails were digging into my back, she just started to grab onto me hard than usual. I suppressed a sigh, and turned towards her, bringing my mouth to her ear.

“Melissa, could you relax your grip a tad, it’s starting to hurt.” I whispered.

She looked at her hands, realising the mistake she’d made. Quickly releasing me from her grip she looked away, ashamed. It only took a few moments before she turned back to me with watery eyes.

“I-I’m sorry…” she said.

Dammit, don’t cry here! Do you understand what I meant by don’t embarrass me; having an incompetent and emotional attendant is perhaps one of the most shameful things in high society, here in Sol city. She really needs to control her emotions better, or find a release… I wonder if I could introduce her to torturing and burning… No, I don’t think she has the right qualities needed to truly do such activities justice. Anyway, I needed to immediately calm her down.

“Don’t worry, I’m not angry. It’s your first time meeting my companions, so I can understand you are feeling nervous. Just take a deep breath and do your best” I said.

I gave her a reassuring smile, calming her down. She quickly regained her composure and gained a determined look, similar to the one that had inspired her to take the initiative to introduce herself. Looks like she’s getting more confident. Maybe she won’t be useless for much longer.

The other members of the party had given our hushed discussion curious gazes, but decided not to pry, seeing that Melissa was still relatively uncomfortable in their presence. Anyway, where were we going again? Oh right! Plyan, an average sized city to the South of the kingdom. When they say dungeon, they must mean the progressive dungeon found in its vicinity. Unlike most dungeons, this one increased with difficulty as you got deeper, instead of adhering to a set difficulty. I think the adventurer’s guild has all different kinds of ranking systems which would be able to better explain it… I’ll ask Catherine later.

“Well, should we be on our way, Plyan isn’t too far away, but the sooner we get there, the better. Have we been provided transport?” I said.

The heroes and companions shook their heads.

“Apparently we’re travelling by foot to get used to environment around here and to build- up our stamina, so the journey will take about 2 weeks.” Replied Yuki.

Walking huh? It wouldn’t be so bad if Serenity was still awake, then I could just talk to her all the way. Everyone decided that now was the time to set off, while the sun was still indicating early morning, and with that we took our leave.

Cyne? I’ve recovered enou-

SERENITY! You’ve got no idea how lonely I’ve been! Just hearing your voice is sending shivers down my spine. You’ve actually arrived just in time, I bet you’ll be wanting to hear all about what happened while you were asleep. Hehehe, I know you too well. Okay, so listen here…