“hn, sister… wake up.”

The familiar sight of a young girl spread out on their shared bed was in front of Mia, she had woken up earlier to take care of the morning chores and has been tasked with waking her older sister. “hm…” Mia climbed up on the bed, poking her in the cheek “Wake up… breakfast ready, dad will be mad.” When her sister did not wake up she puffed up her cheeks and got more aggressive with her pokes.

“urgh..hu-huh?” that seemed to get a reaction from her, as she lazily opened her eyes “Mia… five more minutes kay?” she turned away from her younger sister.

“No, wake up now.” Mia shook her “Ria, now.” She didn’t let up, and finally the girl conceded.

“Fiiiine,” Ria sat up, the girl looking like an older and taller version of her younger sister “Jeez, you could let me sleep in for once.” Ria stood up on the bed and leaped over her sister, landing on the floor she proceeded to get dressed.

“Sleep in everyday... I do chores…” Mia complained, crawling off the bed side.

“Hey, not my fault you wake up at the same time every day, you even took over some of dad’s chores.” She shrugged “Making the rest of us look like a bunch of lazy good for nothings,” She chuckled.

“sorry…” Mia hung her head, she had once tried to tell them about the weird sounds she had been hearing every morning, the blue panel, but they brushed it off. It was now just something she dealt with.

“hey…” Noticing her sisters state, Ria paused getting ready and patted her on her head, ruffling her hair “Its ok, I like being a lazy good for nothing if it means I can sleep in. dad thinks its helpful too, even if he doesn’t say it.”

Mia rose her head, looking at the wide smile of her sister he nodded “ok.” She then frowned, noticing the outfit Ria was putting on. Different than the patchworked clothes these were more well kept and heavy, made from stitched leather “Hunting today?” She said with a hint of disappointment.

Ria smiled “Yup! Dad wanted to gather everyone to hunt before it gets too cold and I can go with this time!” She did a few air punches, showing off to Mia “Apparently the wolf tribe is lending us some of their hunting grounds for some reason, dad thinks its cause they didn’t hunt enough but that just means more for us!”

“Wolf tribe…” she knew that meant they would be gone for awhile, it was a pretty far trip. The last time her dad went to the wolf tribe was to trade and it took him two weeks to get back, that was just for trading “How long till back?”

“Dad said 4 weeks, till then it is just you and…oh…” Ria knelt down to her sister “hey, it’ll be fine you know? Maybe play with the village kids? Kyle seems nice? And if he isn’t nice I’ll kick his butt when I get back, first thing, okay?”

Mia frowned, but there was no helping it. It was something they had to do, she didn’t want to get along with the other kids though, Kyle was mean to her, and the rest avoided her for some reason. She wondered what she did wrong… “okay…” she pouted.

“Good, I’ll make sure to save the best slice of meat for you as a souvenir, and maybe sneak some more fur so mom can make you a winter coat.” She then grabbed Mia by the hand and pulled her out of the room “Now come on, its breakfast.”

A small smile spread on Mia’s face, she was going to miss her but again there was no helping it. She got pulled into the kitchen, seeing her dad already at the table and her mom by the stove.

“Auntie!”

Mia blinked, auntie? Her hand was suddenly released and she saw Ria run forward to the table, she started talking to someone sitting next to her dad but she couldn’t make out who it was. She then noticed her father, mother, and sister talking to the person, but she couldn’t understand them, no…she couldn’t hear them.

The room got fuzzy, looking around Mia watched as everything flew further away, eventually leaving her in a black void alone with the person. She blinked, remembering something similar happened before, she was dreaming about her past again. The last time this happened was when she was way younger, this time it was when she was eight, her sister leaving before that tragic day.

She wondered, if the men didn’t leave to go hunting, or got back sooner would it have made a difference? She shook her head, at least she knew now that Ria had survived the ordeal and was now safe.

She brought her attention to the figure standing in front of her, unable to make out any details besides the large fox ears and the flowing mass of something behind her. Ria had called her their ‘auntie’ but to her knowledge she didn’t have one. Ria recognizing her, however, confirmed their relationship. She tried approaching the figure in the void but found with every step she took she only got further away from it.

She felt her conscious fading and in the next moment she found herself leaning up against the carriages wall, Rowan in front of her idly watching her. She sat up, remembering that after the events in the forest the group had left, returning to the carriages where the hero insisted on going back in Athena’s carriage for some reason. He didn’t talk to her at all on the way back, Mia figured he was avoiding her.

“Awake huh?” Rowan spoke and Mia nodded in response “Must have been tough… well, for what it’s worth. I’m sorry for your loss.”

Mia crooked her head to the side, at first not getting what he was talking about but then she remembered Roy, her eyes briefly turning wide she nodded “Its…ok…” she looked down at the floor of the carriage, the fresh image of the state Roy was in brought back into her mind.

“You knew him back in your village?” Rowan asked.

Mia nodded “Not well, one of the other kids.”

“Huh…” Rowan let out a heavy sigh “I’ll also apologize for tis… Mia raise your hand above your head.”

Instantly Mia did so, her head shot up “W-what are you…” She blinked, she had thought he was beyond this point, he was being nicer to her so why…

“Princess wants some answers, and te hero finally let you be alone with someone.” He crossed his arms “I’ll try and make it quick and easy; you can lower your hand.”

Mia did so, cursing her naivety but if that’s all he wants then she was perfectly fine telling on the hero. She felt his actions recently had more than justified her thinking so. “Fine… what is it.”

Rowan stared at her for a moment “First, Speak noting but te trut. Got it?” Mia nodded “Now, what lead to te hero wanting to keep you all to his self?”

“He saw my status after my level up, after he said I have to be with him.” Mia answered truthfully.

“Your status? What about your status.”

“Don’t know, I don’t know my stats.”

Rowan leaned forward “You didn’t ask him to tell you your stats?”

Mia shook her head “No”

“Why not? Did he not offer to tell you it?”

Again, Mia shook her head “he did, didn’t want to know them.” She said, hoping that answer would suffice. Not wanting to piss off the princess.

“You didn’t want to know? Tat was te only reason?” Rowan narrowed his eyes.

Mia paused “Didn’t want… the princess to know.” She said, cursing herself.

Rowan leaned back and began laughing.

Mia jumped in her seat; she was not expecting that. She was expecting to get hit, or some harsh order as punishment. She looked at him questionably as he finally settled down.

“Tat is gold.” He said, letting out a satisfied sigh “tis makes anoter question easier…but for now, did you make any plans wit te hero? What has he said his plans are?”

That’s it? Mia wondered what that question was but answered his current one “Said he wanted to save everyone, that he needs me as his companion and he was right in picking me. Wanted to save me.”

Rowan leaned forward again, getting a more series expression “And what do you tink of tat? What do you tink of the hero?”

That was… difficult. On one hand he has said that he wanted to save everyone, and with the power he briefly showed a glimpse of in the forest Mia believed he might have a shot… then came the other hand. Believing her to be just an animal, the immature outbursts, getting manipulated by the princess despite having other worldly knowledge of similar events happening but not suspecting her in the slightest. There was also the thing with his supposed story he wanted to live, how he apparently planned a role for everyone in it… that mess of hypocrisy that was so fragile compared to the world around it…

She shook her head trying to get rid of the pounding headache, overthinking it to such a degree was pointless, at the end of the day she thought of him as one thing “He is fucking annoying.”

A moment of silence befell the carriage before once again Rowan started bursting out in laughter “Right?” he asked in-between laughs “his power is his only strong point.” He sighed, wiping a tear from his eye “Tat fool almost got us all killed today, if it wasn’t all an illusion.”

Mia blinked; the tone of the interrogation had changed since a while ago. “What are-“

Rowan held up his hand “You can ask all you want after tis one.” He said, gathering himself from his laughing fit “Final one te princess cares about te most… You noticed it, right? What that slave collar does to a slaves mind.”

Mia froze. No, no, no no no no… when did they notice? Was it that obvious? The collar around her neck started to tighten, she needed to answer him but she didn’t want to. She feared that they could do something to it to permanently lock out her emotions.

“Ah, so tats a yes. You don’t have to answer tat anymore.” Rowan leaned back in his seat, keeping his eyes on her as she silently panicked.

“W-when, h-how… what are you going to do…” Her times when she could let herself slip out were over. She’d completely go back to that little girl passively living out her days, emotionlessly going with what ever someone told her to do… no it would be worse then that, she feared, at least back then she could sometimes force a thought out, now she would be completely emotionless, a doll.

Rowan sighed “Calm down, I ain’t going to do anyting.”

She stopped shaking, looking him over “Really?” He was lying, he had to be. He was under the Athena’s power.

“Really.” Rowan slowly nodded “I’ll just tell te princess John ordered you to be more expressive or some shit and I corrected it. In exchange keep your shit in check around her, no more speaking out of line, hesitating on orders, especially don’t shout at everyone. Do as you're told, no questions asked, immediately when told to do tem.”

Mia was shocked, it was that obvious? But more importantly “Why are you… why wont you tell them?”

Rowan huffed, crossing his arms “No reason.”

She didn’t believe him and stared at him. After a moment of silence he let out a loud groan.

“Cause you impressed me, aight? You are interesting.” Rowan looked away from her.

“Impressed you? That’s it?” She tilted her head to the side, she found it hard to believe that someone who happily kicked her when they first met was willing to now cover for her. “Can’t be it.”

“Look, let’s just say where I grew up strength was everything and tere were a lot of beastmen… you aint noting like em, okay? “He scooted away from her, ending up in the opposite corner of her “Leave it at tat.”

Mia small smile spread on Mia’s face, she wondered where he grew up but given his attitude now she decided to listen to him, thankful that she wasn’t completely wrong that he was being nicer to her and even was covering for her. Still, she knew now she had to be more careful when around the princess. It would be best to submit to the collar when around her.

She sighed, leaning back in her chair and looking out to the setting sun, the image of Roy flashing in her mind, followed by her older sister. She had to get stronger… enough to run away from the hero, the princess, and this country. She glanced towards Rowan who was no longer paying any attention to her, looking forward to their next training session. There was also the dungeon exploration happening in a few days, maybe she could level up a lot in there?

She was looking forward to it.