“Maria…” So that was her name. Mia looked the women over, particularly lingering over the bottle the woman was still occasionally chugging from. She wondered why she couldn’t remember someone like this, especially if they were related or this important to the village but she’d have to wait a turn.

“You got your turn, now mine” Maria’s eyes narrowed “How did you get that title?”

Mia frowned “Like said, don’t know. Probably from hidden skill?” She shrugged, she only recently got the ability to keep her memories between saves, she could only assume some event lead to her getting the title from her… which now that she thought about it, was odd. If everything was set in stone, then how did she have any different skills? Why didn’t she just have the skills she got from last cycle?

“Don’t lie to me! And what hidden skill?” Maria protested, distracting Mia from her thought.

“Mn, my turn. Answered yours and wasn’t lying” Mia pouted.

“…fine.” Maria leaned back, taking another swig from the bottle but stopped, apparently finding the bottle emptied as she inspected it’s opening “Tsk”

“Why can’t I remember you?” Mia asked, “Big figure, my aunt…I remember sister calling out to you but not you.”

“…” Maria paused, she tried to take another drink from the bottle, but it was in vain “Poor time to run out…aaaaah, that is a long one.” She sat up, placing the empty bottle at her side “Remember how I said that title is supposed to be handed down?”

Mia nodded “By you?”

“Yeah… well it’s something decided in advanced, picking a successor… originally it was going to be your sister but, frankly, she has zero magic.” She shrugged “So when you were born it was shoved onto you and that girl got to do what she wanted”

Mia crooked her head to the side “What does that have to do with-“

“Am getting to that.” Maria snapped, the looked off into the distance “To be honest, times are peaceful right now… even a shrine maiden like myself can stay indoors all day and laze about, only sometimes getting called to do work… so, we decided to put it off, training a successor.” She waved her hand lazily in the air, as if brushing off the issue “So we wanted you to live a normal life, see if you even wanted to do it after living your life… there is also the matter of your height but… no matter, if you didn’t… “Maria shrugged “We’d just get someone else, peaceful times gives us these advantages.”

Mia blinked, she was supposed to be the next shrine maiden? The hero of the fox tribe? And what’s wrong with her height?! “Still doesn’t explain why I can’t remember you.”

Maria’s ears twitched “Hrm… as I was saying. As we didn’t want your decision to be skewed towards being a shrine maiden because of your awesome auntie, I used my hidden skill to remove myself from your mind.” She then frowned ‘I… Didn’t like doing this to my own kin, but it was better than the alternative…” She sighed, standing up and slowly walked over to her niece “With this… I hope you can forgive me…I am sorry.”

“Mn, forgiven.”

She blinked “W-what?” Maria was taken aback “Just like that? After everything I’ve done? Everything we have done? We messed with your mind, y’know? You can be mad!?”

“Mn, not a big deal.” Mia said, she had been through a lot, and as far as she could tell it was only when Maria visited that her memories of her were altered, even then it was only removing herself from her memories, that wasn’t even close to the worst thing done to her. There was also Ria, her sister, who despite knowing everything still rushed to her aunt’s side, surely that was proof enough she didn’t mean any harm in it. She still reeked of alcohol though… “Not the worst thing do- Hhmnph?!”

“Thank you!”

Mia found herself in an embrace as Maria rushed forward and scooped up in a hug “W-wait.” She grumbled as Maria rubbed her cheeks with her face, trying to ignore the stench.

“You have no clue how much I dreaded this day!” Maria held Mia out, staring at her with a wide smile “We always had you in a daze when I came over…Oh~ I gotta make up for lost time!”

Mia was biggening to think letting her off the hook so easily wasn’t the right choice… This person did a 180 the moment she was forgiven…but looking at the smile she had on her face now compared to the stern and sharp expression she had on previously…no, she reminded herself of what was currently important “No, later. You wanted to know hidden skill for your question?”

Maria shook her head “Oh that can wait, right now I am not the shrine maiden I am your auntie who has a looooot of making up to do, rather, you can tell me what you want y’know? What you like, what you like to do! We can talk about a who-“

“No, important.” Mia protested “Very, important.”

Maria stared at her for a moment “Really important?”

Mia nodded and repeated “Very, important.”

Maria sighed, putting the child down “fine, Let’s hear it then.” She went back to the entrance, sitting down and patting the space next to her, looking at Mia expectingly.

“…” She slowly walked over, sitting down herself, stealing a glance at Maria who looked very happy “Ok… my hidden skill is- “Mia then for the next hour explained her skill, what it does, and what she currently understood about it. In doing so she also explained what she remembered going through and explained it had apparently been going on for awhile without her being aware. Of course, this also included what happens tomorrow.

“That is… a lot to take in.” Maria said, who had been silently listening while idly stroking the empty bottle “That would explain why you have that title.”

“Did it? Thought you had to give it to me.” Mia asked, then blinked “You believe me?”

Maria nodded “Well, if what you said is true then two things could have happened. The first and more likely case is, with you already decided my successor and with my apparent death, you naturally got the title.”

“That can happen? But you said…”

“You know how often a hero dies while away? As long as a successor is decided then it’s fine.” Maria shrugged “The second thing that could have happened was we escaped together, and I gave it to you… more importantly of course I trust you.” Maria leaned back, staring into the open bottle “The skills, titles, and you even having knowledge of this stuff in the first place…besides…”

Mia crooked her head to the side, watching Maria’s gaze fall onto her.

She smiled, suddenly lifting her up “Hold tight.” She then leaped on top of the building “The proof is right there.” She pointed out into the distance.

Mia blinked, momentarily feeling sick from the forced movement, after recovering she looked in the direction of her finger, seeing a pillar of smoke in the distance “Eh? It’s that late?” she looked around for the sun, seeing it getting ready to set.

“Hrm, yeah. Not the hunting party.” Maria nodded, placing Mia down on the roof.

“How can you tell?”

Maria tapped her head, not looking away from the smoke “Part of my skill, I can kinda probe my thoughts towards others. If it is someone I am familiar with I can even form a sort of telepathy with them… like talk to them from a distance with out minds.” Her tail swayed behind her as she tapped her chin “Knowing me, I would’ve noticed that last time, but thought nothing of it, maybe it’s a few traders? Then I would swiftly go back to sleep. If what you said is true…Can you save?” Maria asked, glancing towards Mia.

Mia nodded, saving “Did.”

Maria nodded “How was it?”

Mia crooked her head to the side “How was what?”

“…The thing I did?”

“…You didn’t do anything?”

“But you…saved right?”

Mia was thoroughly confused “It… doesn’t matter if you didn’t do anything… I didn’t load.”

Realization dawned on Maria’s face “Oh, so this is the first time… wow this is weird, I wonder what happens to the *me* now… no matter.” She then outstretched her hand towards the pillar of smoke, a red circle appearing in front of it.

Instantly the hairs on Mia’s tail and ears stood up straight, noticing the air getting dense, especially around what ever that circle was.

“Fire.” Maria spoke, a beam of white light exploded from the center of the circle, smoke spreading out in all directions as the white light barreled through the tree line, torching everything in its path until a loud *CLANG* was heard in the distance, smoke spreading out and blocking their view “Tsk, course it wouldn’t be that easy.”

The smoke cleared, allowing Mia to see the result of what ever magic Maria had decided to shoot out. The treetops in a direct line from Maria’s hand to her target was cut clean through, the area around the beam scorched brown, however her target was in a different state. A white, glowing orb had appeared, protecting the area from harm around the camp.

“Mia, load and tell me my plasma beam failed, they erected a holy shield around the camp and are preparing a counterattack… “Maria said, her tail shaking “Quickly, they have… something… there… I think its that thing you mentioned with the lights, it feels… bad… I can feel it whirring up…that area just feels…*wrong*…there is something else, but I can’t tell what it is.”

“But…what about you?” Mia asked, this was a bit sudden, but she didn’t expect this. She still didn’t know what happened to other people when she loaded.

“Mia, don’t think about it. As far as you should think, until you know for sure everyone can be saved… what happens to us when you use your skill doesn’t matter.” Maria gulped, swallowing what ever fear she had as she knelt next to Mia, putting her hands on her shoulders “Quickly, from what you told me what ever they have fucks with magic, that includes skills that work with magic… please… before you get stuck here for longer than I planned, load, go back and tell me what happened.”

Mia stared at her, her tail catching her gaze and noticing it was restless, shaking widely behind her. “…not fair…using my skill like this.” She said, Maria only smiling in response. She sighed, noticing the sky beginning to shift shades of color and loaded slot two. Her vision blurred and she found herself back on the roof, everything back to normal with Maria staring at her expectingly “…Fired plasma beam, hit a shield, they started preparing and you got scared…not happy being used.”

Her aunt who appeared to be happy and relieved at first, frowned. She knelt besides her and pulled her into a hug “I’m sorry… was just seeing if this could be easily solved.” She gave her back a few pats before standing up, looking towards the smoke she frowned “We have to resolve this, Mia. I should have explained more but…wait is this the first time we are having this conversation?”

Mia frowned “…yes…” she then sighed, she was right, about all of it but she didn’t know how to feel about the fate of those left behind when she loaded…it might be a little too late to care about it though, if what she gathered from [LOG] explained anything, it was the pure number of times she has already loaded. “And you are right… what’s next?”

Maria nodded “That’s my niece, now.” She stretched, rolling her shoulder a few times “Let’s test out that stupid shield they…apparently have…” She paused, putting a hand on her forehead “Thinking about this from my perspective…this is going to be very weird…I want another drink…”

Mia let out a slight chuckle, not that it wasn’t any better from her perspective, she wished there was a way she could share this…wait… she opened her status page, taking another look at the description for [Time] “Wait, have an idea.”

Maria paused, turned back towards her niece “What? What i- ooof!” Maria bent down in slight pain, Mia had punched her square in her lower waist “W-what did you do that fo-“

While she was talking Mia saved, then after a moment passed, she loaded and looked to Maria who was back bending down, slowly she looked up, confusion dotting her face.

“…huh? What?” She stood up, staring at Mia “What was…”

Mia smiled, looking at the description for one of her skill warnings.

[WARNING: saving and loading in battle may cause opponents to be aware of the load.]

“With this, maybe we can tell the difference yourself?”

Maria narrowed her eyes “I would have liked more of an explanation before you do something like that.”

Mia smiled “So would I.”

“Tsk…brat.” Maria clicked her tongue, then shook her head with a slight smile on her face. She then faced the pillar of smoke “Let’s see how they handle this spell then, shall we?”

Mia nodded, getting ready to watch the results.