Milly wondered if she looked cool? Did she look like an adventurer perhaps? Or simply a mercenary? Not really either? Hmm. Atleast she looked kind of cool.

Milly tapped the elegant blueish blade hanging on her newly acquired leather belt. The armor the little demon had gifted her on a whim had been appraised.

Long story short, it was ridiculously strong armor easily classified as S rank adventurer gear, and the man hadn't been able to appraise the sword at all...

Milly made sure her hair was tightly set in a long ponytail down her back, and splashed some water onto her freckled face. It was finally time. How had the school been? A few of her friends were still attending, unless they'd dropped out of course.

She straightened, standing tall before the mirror. ”I can do this. I am Milly! I'm not a slave, I'm not a victim. I'm not weak, but strong!” Yosh.

Milly turned her back to the mirror in her temporary room at the Ouroboros guild house. Her sister had asked if she wanted to join Ouroboros, but Milly declined. With what she had done, how could Milly be worthy of joining Ouroboros? Besides, she was too weak to join. She had to get stronger...

Milly had an odd feeling in her tummy, a mix between butterflies buzzing about, and a rock rattling round. With long, powerful strides, Milly made her way proudly towards the Royal Academy.

What luck Elana had come by last night and Caia, bless the woman, had been able to convey Milly's wishes to her mother directly.

Being accepted as a teach- okay, assistant teacher... but still! She'd help with demonstrations and beat on knight students!

And she would have to polish her skills... She had almost lost to those awful guys that had accosted her on the street. She probably would have lost if not for the little demon. Milly hated that. And she hated how weak she was. Weak enough to be captured as a slave again.

That was less likely now though.

The meeting for new staff took place at the garden of Illubriel. It was a beautiful marble terrace sitting snugly amidst lush dark green trees and colorful flowerbeds. ”Only a dozen new faces this year, is that right Mort?” A beastman called.

He was one of only a few Milly knew about, that lived this far south. Most of them had their small tribes in the northwestern lands, living in the great desert, the forlorn steppes or the kert plains, largely unpopulated, monster infested regions.

”That is correct. Everyone's gathered so let's get this over with and get you assigned to your first job training.” Mort said. The man was a bald, middle-aged human in clerics robes and his name was Mortimaeus.

Appearance belied his strength, as this was one of the best healers currently living in the Azure kingdom.

The beastman was Taldar of the tiger tribe, her previous sword instructor and Milly knew his strength well. She'd experienced it first hand many, many times.

Mort smiled at the gathered hopefuls. ”Today's our first day of the school year, so students will be busy getting settled in. Take today to walk around, get familiar with the grounds and do some meet and greet. You can come with me for a guided tour of the premises, or go your own way exploring.” Mort said. Milly cleared her throat.

”Yes dear?” Mort replied.

”If anyone wants to come with me instead of boring old Mort, worry not. I'm a former student here and probably know my way around better than him anyway!” Milly said, grinning. Mort chuckled, and several of the gathered hopefuls laughed along merrily. So far so good.

”Very well. Let's be off.” Mort said, waving a hand in the air. 8 people followed Mort, and Milly payed those little mind.

This place was huge enough that she might not see those people again for months... Two went their own way, leaving only one other person behind. Milly nodded to the strange looking woman who was standing on the marble terrace looking a little out of place.

”Perhaps this is your first time on the premises?” Milly said as an icebreaker, walking up to the other woman.

”No.” Came the womans taciturn reply. ”Everything is just different... when I can see with my own eyes again. That's all.” The strange woman said. Her voice was oddly soothing.

”My name's Milly. You?”

”I...I'm Bath.. err...that's no good, is it? Master will be...right, yes. I am called Nithra. Pleased to make your acquaintance young miss.” Nithra said.

Milly raised an eyebrow at that odd statement. ”Oh no, you don't look a lick older than me!” Milly replied. Nithra just smiled faintly.

”Well, you wanna tag along on my journey down memory lane Nithra?” The white haired beauty nodded her pretty little head, and thus began Milly's very awkward tour of the premises where she expected to live from now on.

Along the way she bumped into acquaintances several times, and exchanged greetings with teachers both known and unknown. She even saw one of the head librarian's assistants and asked him about his studies.

Milly was being a good, obedient girl and a proper example for the woman following behind her. Nithra was her name. She just watched everyone curiously, saying little and occasionally smiling. Perhaps the woman wasn't quite right in the head, but Milly shook away that notion. It wasn't fair to assume that about people just because their behaviour was non-standard. Though her track record had been rather good lately, what with her correctly identifying the little demon as a mad little boy.

She wasn't quite sure when she noticed it, but somewhere along the path that snaked its way through the student housing area, Milly became cognisent of a very odd phenomenon. Nithra made no noise at all as she moved through the world.

She was absolutely silent.

Milly sent out a brief flash of energy, trying to feel her out, but she got no response from the woman. It was like she wasn't there.

A shiver ran down Milly's spine and she couldn't help but whirl around. ”You're not a ghost, are you?” she said, reaching a hand towards Nithra, who merely raised an eyebrow.

”Will it pass through...” Milly muttered to herself. She had never experienced this before. She could feel even the strongest or weakest of people to a certain extent, but not this woman. It was very unsettling.

Nithra looked a little odd, but it wasn't like the woman was an extraordinary super spy or a legendary S class rogue adventurer specializing in stealth. There was no way such a woman would be in a place like this, Milly thought.

”I am real.” Nithra said, grasping Milly's trembling, outstretched hand and putting it directly onto her... boobs.

With a wicked grin, Nithra squeezed Milly's hand.”See? I'm quite real.” Nithra said, chuckling to herself. Then she licked her lips.... with a forked tongue.

”Wh-what the hell?” Milly said, taking a step back. This only widened Nithra's grin, twisting the womans expression even further into something almost inhuman.

Then her face sobered. ”Alright alright, it was just a wee jokey joke girl. No need to be so flustered. We're both women, after all.” Nithra said. Then she struck an odd pose, stroking an imaginary beard... ”or are you perhaps one of those with a little extra...” she mused.

”One of those Master told me about. Hoho, that might be fun... perhaps I should...” Nithra said, her wicked grin making a return.

She had to stop this crazy woman, who had at first seemed docile, but turned out to be a crazy demon lady. Milly cleared her throat and turned her back to the woman.

”Okay okay, I think that's it for the tour, eh?” Milly said, narrowing her eyes.

Most of the students should be breaking their fast in one of the four ridiculously oversized cafeterias right about now, yet Milly spotted a group of younger students rushing towards a house carrying what appeared to be an unconscious child.

Worry appeared on all of the immature faces, so it seemed like the child was in good hands. Well, It wasn't like Milly was much older than them really, so calling them immature might be a bit insulting.

Still, wasn't this a golden opportunity? She'd become part of the schools staff, and currently she had no responsibilities. Which meant she was free to act on her own...

Yes, duty called for her, Milly decided. Looking over to Nithra for a moment, Milly discovered that the jovially grinning Nithra was frowning instead. How strange.

”Nithra, it seems like we should go take a look. We're a part of the staff, after all, so we're duty-bound to make sure the students are doing well!” Nithra nodded, and the two made their way over to the white house, number 27, into which the group had carried the unconscious child.

Really, her first school day.. poor kid. What could've happened to her, Milly wondered. Raising a hand to knock on the door, she was about to find out.

”Yes?” A young mans voice replied. ”My name's Milly, I'm part of this years new staff.” She said. The door was opened, and a blonde haired boy of about 14 stood before Milly.

His eyes widened a little when he saw Milly standing there with her armor and sword. She had to admit, that felt kind of good. ”What can I help you with then, uhm, Milly-sensei?”

Uwaah! He had called her teacher. No, no she shouldn't smile. This was a serious occasion. There was a girl to worry about. ”Right, well. I'm not really a teacher yet, more like assistant... anyway we saw you carrying that child and became worried.”

”My name's Sebastian. I think we're good here. She just needs water and some rest, something really upset her... so it's fine, probably.” The boy said, uncertainty creeping into his otherwise confident-sounding sentence.

”And that probably, is the problem.” Milly replied. ”While I am no healer, I graduated the first aid course here at Xuberanth and...” Milly looked over to where Nithra stood.

Now would be an ideal time for the woman to help, if she was going to say anything... ”Can examine, administer potion if needed.” Nithra said.

Sebastian sighed. ”Okay then, come on in and have a look. But I warn you. You guys better not get any funny ideas. Lisa's close with the headmistress herself!” Sebastian said, crossing his arms across his chest in a bid to seem more imposing.

Milly smiled, trying to appease the oddly aggressive boy. ”Ah, I see. We're acquaintances of Elana aswell. Now, may we?”

”Hrmp, go ahead then. Come, she's in her room. ” Sebastian waved them inside. Just as Milly was entering the living room, she saw a blonde haired little beauty ushering 3 others out of the room.

”Out, out. You're sucking up her air with your stares.” The girl said, then she spotted them.

Milly pre-emptively prevented problems by briefly explaining what she desired to do.

Isabel was the girls name, and she gave Milly and Nithra grudging permission to enter the room. Looking over her shoulder as she entered, Milly said. ”I know there's no classes today, but you guys should go out and explore the school a bit. It's huge you know?”

To her surprise, each and every one of the younglings froze, then shook their heads. ”She's... we have to make sure she's alright.”

Knock, knock. Who was it this time? Jeez, this girl sure was popular. It seemed like half the school was coming to see if she was alright. Perhaps they should just leave... but Milly had promised, and now she was here.

She might aswell give the girl a quick looking over just to make sure she wasn't injured or anything.

”I'm entering!” A piercing, super high-pitched voice called. Several people in the room cringed at the sound of the voice.

The door exploded inwards, and a red-faced young girl, who looked like she was about 12 years old, entered the room carrying a small bag in her hands, her curly blonde locks fluttering.

”What are you doing here?” Sebastian asked. This boy seemed to be the leader of this group?

”Where is she?” The girl said.

”Yseralin, why are you here?” The dark-skinned, bald boy said.

To that, the girl called Yseralin blushed a darker shade of red. ”Th-that's ivellerant! I mean irrelevant! Guuuh...” The feisty girl stomped her small foot obsinately.

”Fine, you go with those two, but be quiet alright?” Sebastian sighed.

Yseralin nodded, and Milly decided that it was best to just push through this weird situation. She felt out of place, but as an assistant teacher she had to get used to this feeling. Right now, Milly just felt like she was meddling in student affairs ...

Deciding that the best course of action was to just quickly get it over with and escape, Milly moved. As a result of her slightly anxious dash, Milly was the first to enter the room and as soon as she did so, she froze in the doorway, her stomach flip-flopping.

This... wasn't happening. That was the girl... the very girl she had...

Milly felt like puking, and put one hand on her stomach. ”Move it lady!” The high-pitched voice of that girl from before called. Yseralin, she was called.

”Ah right, sorry.” Milly mumbled, stumbling a few steps forward into the room. Gaudy drapes were pulled, shielding the room from much of the sharp morning sunlight. This gave the place an almost gloomy feeling, atleast Milly thought so. A huge bed, a small girl, her eyes closed... if Milly looked closely at the former slave, she could see red around the girls eyes as if she'd been crying.

No, actually she was still crying. Crying in her sleep... how awful. This was her fault. Milly should just die...

”Stop spacing out.” Yseralin said, elbowing her way past Milly, who remained dazed. Her vision even swayed. Strong hands grabbed Milly by the shoulders and guided her to a chair near the window drapes.

”Sit, girl. Don't know what's with you but I don't want you passing out on us. That'd be double trouble for me, you know?” Nithra said. Milly's mouth opened, then closed again.

Had she completely misjudged Nithra? Was she not taciturn? Ack what the hell. She was so fucked up. Looking over at the bed, Milly saw the Yseralin girl kneeling at the bedside.

As Yseralin pulled items from her bag, Milly studied the other girl. The one she had chased... she had seen one of her former 'comrades' stabbing the girl, then something strange happened and she was just... gone.

They followed the trail and then... that happened. It felt like an age ago that Milly was a knight, proudly taking orders from her esteemed knight commander.

Frowning, Milly noticed that the girls hairdo was coming apart and her demon horns could be seen faintly poking out from the inhumanly beautiful brown locks.

Yseralin who still knelt at the bedside, had frozen, one of her hands in the pouch. ”What? What's this?” She muttered.

”No way... Lisa, really?” Yseralin said, reaching a hand out to touch the horns.

Milly should do something. She couldn't allow this unknown girl to report this... So she stood. ”She's a demonkin, wanted by the kingdom.” Milly said tightly, clenching her fists. Yseralin whirled on her, and Milly nearly took a step back when she was met with those fierce eyes.

”So? You're going to tell them? If so... I must-” The Yseralin girl started chanting something under her breath, and Milly felt the flow of mana from the girl.

”Wait wait! There's no need for that.” Milly said, holding up a hand. ”I won't tell anyone about the girl. I knew already. I was more concerned about you.” With that, it seemed that Milly had been able to appease Yseralin. Atleast enough for her to stop chanting. It would be a shame if Milly had to knock out a student on her first day as a member of staff...

Yseralin crossed her arms. ”Hmph, as if. I will certainly not be the one ratting her out.” Milly nodded, and they both turned to look at Nithra.

The oddly quiet nithra. For a moment, Milly was scared. This ghost girl... did Milly have to fight her? She would. She owed the demonkin girl as much. Alot more actually. She wasn't even sure she could atone for her sins, but Milly would try, even if it took her the rest of her meager life.

Nithra stood near the door, frozen as a statue as she looked at the girl. Soundlessly, her mouth was moving as if she was talking to herself or saying something under her breath.

Milly squinted at the madwoman, trying to lipread. Favorite? Or favored, perhaps. What did that mean? This Nithra... was she into young girls? A dangerous lesbian?! Milly shook her head.

”Let me check her real quick then.” Milly said, stepping over to the bedside near Yseralin. ”You've brought out some surprisingly good potions.” Milly commented as she saw the stuff Yseralin had pulled from the bag. At that, the girl blushed.

”Sh-shut up. It's not like I did this for her or anything. These are my potions. I am just, maybe.. sharing them. Okay?!”Yseralin said sharply.

Milly shrugged. ”Sure, sure.”

She felt a little relieved. Mostly because the demonkin girl... her name was Lisa? Yes, Lisa was currently sleeping. Milly put a hand on the girls throat.

Her pulse was steady. No abnormalities detected with Life sensing either. This meant she wasn't poisoned or diseased. ”Good, she seems fine.” Milly said, relief evident in her voice.

”Nithra, maybe you should- huh? Where did she go?” Yseralin said and Milly whipped around.

”Oh shit, did Nithra run off to tell someone?” Milly asked inadvertently. She would not allow this girls life to be soiled again. Steeling her resolve, Milly prepared to chase after the ghost girl, but Yseralin stopped her.

”No. She didn't run off.” Yseralin said, her fierce eyes wide. Milly raised an eyebrow.

”She just... disappeared. Like a ghost.” At that moment, the blonde haired girl from before appeared in the doorway.

”Hey you, are you finished with.. what? Where did the other one go?” Milly could only shrug.

”Nevermind. Anyway, Lisa seems fine so I will take my leave. ”

Milly couldn't stand to be in this place any longer. She practically fled house 27 and before she knew it she had gone to her old place. A small grove of trees that didn't stand out. The inside was much the same as she remembered, and Milly fell to her knees, snapping a few twigs in the process.

Then she covered her eyes with her hands... and began to weep, eventually curling up on the ground and sobbing. Gosh how her stomach hurt, how her chest felt constricted. She was so disgusting and ugly and worthless. She felt so dirty, so ashamed of herself. So stupid...

After a long time, Milly's sobbing subsided and she closed her eyes, feeling utterly spent.