Aura

  ***

  I couldn’t help but look at this pitiful child in front of me. She looked so proud as she was showing us her, primitive at best, hole in the ground. I’m not sure I could even call it a cave. No wonder she’s so thin. All of her food, which admittedly is well organized, is simply dried meat, dried fish, and what she calls edible grass. Given that she is still alive, it’s probably not the poisonous stuff growing around the hole she calls a home. Still, I am curious as to what grass around here is edible. Even our horses won’t eat the stuff.

  “Gimme.” The kid reached her hands out to me. “Food.”

  Right, I did promise that. But I promised that, thinking that she lived in an actual house and not a hole in the ground. I don’t care what sort of promise I made, I’m not letting a kid live like this.

  “Right, well the food that we brought isn’t cooked.” I attempted to reason with her. “If we give it all to you now, it’ll go bad.”

  “…” She tilted her head and looked at me silently for a minute, before speaking. “I can make a fire to smoke it.”

  “You can?” I asked doubtfully. “Can you show me?”

  Good, all I need to do is tell her that she isn’t good enough at it and have her stay at the camp.

  “Alright!” She said energetically.

  She pulled out two white stones from her belt bag that looked a lot like the highly explosive magic ore that is sometimes found out here. Wait.

  “Look!” She shouted as the ore started to glow.

  I felt a pit open in my stomach as the blood drained from my face. With a smile on her face, she banged the two pieces of ore together and deadly sparks shot off of it. We should be dead. There is no reason we should be alive right now. Maybe because of the look on my face, her smile turned devious and she brought the ore far apart to bang them together once again, but harder.

  “S-stop!” I said grabbing her hands, keeping her from killing us all.

  “See!” She said cheerfully. “I can make fire!”

  “You are going to kill yourself, stop that!” I said throwing the ore into the river.

  “My spark rocks!” She compined.

  I seriously can’t leave this kid alone. I’m surprised she sted a day, let alone twenty weeks.

  “That’s it!” She crossed her arms. “I don’t like you anymore!”

  Did she ever like me?

  “I’m sorry but those were very dangerous.” I apologize, on my knees to be at eye level with her.

  “No they aren't, I use them every day!” She said.

  How is this kid alive? Every day she almost sets off magic explosives. Wait. Magic explosives?

  “Hey kid.” I said.

  “That’s not my name.” She pouted and turned away.

  “Kid, this is important.” I said turning her around. “Can you use magic?”

  “?” She looked at me in silent confusion for a minute.

  Does she not realize? How can you activate magical ore without magic? Given the way she made them start glowing immediately after she grabbed them, she must know it.

  “What are you talking about?” She finally asked.

  “That was magical ore.” I expined to her. “You used magic to ignite it, right?”

  “I just looked at it.” She said and then paused. “… Oh yeah… I think I can.”

  “Okay… Do you have anything else like those rocks?” I asked, changing the subject.

  “No…” She looked away from me.

  She obviously does. I reached into her belt bag to see what else she had.

  “Hey stop that!” She tried to stop me.

  What’s up with all this bacon? Did my men give this to her after I left? Those idiots. They know it’s dangerous to let someone as malnourished as her eat a lot of food all at once. I even ordered them not to. That’s the reason we gave her a small pte. They even saw me switch it back after she very obviously took my pte. I seriously need to keep an eye on this kid. With all of the struggling she was doing, I just took the belt off of her and kept looking through her bag. Freed from my grip, she started picking up the bacon off the floor and rinsed it off in the river.

  You know, now that I look at this, this bag is way too big for a child. Where did she get this? Did this belong to her parents? Gncing at her, it seemed like she didn’t really care about the bag. She was far more focused on the food. Curious as to it’s origins, I decided to ask.

  “Hey kid.” I said. “Where did you get this bag?”

  “…” She looked bnkly in the river.

  “Kid.” I said a bit louder.

  “That’s not my name.” She said, continuing to wash the bacon.

  “Where did you get this bag?” I asked.

  “I found it.” She said, not looking at me.

  What an illusive answer.

  “Where did you find it?” I asked.

  “Around.” She said.

  Speaking of finding things, where did she find the arrow head?

  “Is it the same pce you found the arrowhead?” I asked.

  “!?” She looked armed.

  “Hey-” I stared.

  “No!” She shouted. “I’m not telling you! You’re mean!”

  Oops, I made her mad.

  “Will you tell me?” Damian, my guard who carried her food asked.

  Ah, that’s a good idea. She was talking to him during breakfast and looked to be enjoying herself. Maybe she’ll be friendly to him.

  “I don’t know you!” She said.

  That’s odd. He even told her his name and about his parents. Maybe she’s just being difficult?

  “I gave you bacon…” He seemed genuinely hurt.

  Ah, so he was one of them giving her extra food. I gred at him and he turned away, realizing that he was going to be punished for disobeying a direct order. Looking back to the kid, I sighed.

  “Will you please tell us where you found the arrowheads?” I asked her. “I’ll give you anything you ask for after that. Okay?”

  “No.” She said. “You promised to give me food but didn’t. Then you asked me to start a fire and I did and you still aren’t giving it to me. I’m not telling you.”

  She doesn’t trust me. I sighed. Yep. This one is on me. Looking at her, she pouted and turned away from me. Walking to the edge of the river, I once more got on my knees. Though this time it was to put her belt back on. She didn’t resist me, but obviously didn’t like me being near her. Maybe I should have asked one of the parents to come and help? The kid is pouting. What do I do now?

  Nissia

  ***

  Every day is hell… Once more, me and my family were sitting at the dinner table with our heads down. I should have learned from the cinnamon buns… Why did I think garlic bread was a good idea? Why hasn't anyone thought of garlic bread? I just wanted to make dinner more fun. Why do we have to sell it?

  “Nissia…” Mom called out to me.

  “Yeah…?” I barely responded.

  “If you have any more ideas for bread, please don't tell anyone.” Mom honestly pleaded.

  “Yeah…” I agreed.

  Ah, that’s right. I told my friends about what I had for dinner one time and they told their parents and they came to ask for the new bread. The customers that were already here then asked for the garlic bread as well leading to all of this… Let’s just keep my mouth shut from now on.

  What a tiring life. As much as I hate to say it, school was a lot better than this. At least there we got to go home if we cried. Oh that's right. This is my second life. I’m in a game world right? Something about being a saint and fighting a demon lord, right? When is that supposed to start anyway? Trying to remember the plot of the game, I could only remember the basics. I should have written it down, but I kind of forgot about it.

  Now that I think of it, I wonder if I actually am the saint. How many pyable characters are there? I wonder if anyone else was reincarnated just like me. I hope so. I don’t want to fight the demon lord. Wait, who was supposed to be the minor vilin? The demon lord is the big bad evil guy, but there’s always some sort of minor vilin before the actual threat appears.

  Think Nissia, think! It’s a school life sort of game, so it’s probably some bully. Maybe a posh teacher? Some sort of noble? What am I talking about, ninety percent of the game’s cast is nobles! Obviously it is going to be one. Whatever, I’ll sleep on it.

  Gosh, today was tiring. I want something sweet. I wonder if I can make a cake. No, that’s too big and expensive for a snack. What about a cupcake? Yeah, that should be easy enough. I’ll try my hand at making some on my free time.

  Lna

  ***

  Hey, Lna here. The first daughter of the current ruling regent’s family and second in line for the throne after my brother Lloyd. Recently the world of nobles has been shaken up by the deaths of the main Eytell family line. Both parents and their child died in a carriage accident. Luckily it seems like the former Duke’s brother took up the title, so there was no issue with distributing their former territory to any nobles.

  Normally as a five year old child this is where the issue ends for us. However, because of Lloyd’s knowledge of this game, this is the start of the DLC where demons are going to start appearing. It’s an early and overlooked sign that the Demon Lord was getting ready to appear.

  So, knowing that, what events does the game have in store for us? I don’t know Lloyd, you tell me. Look me in the eyes and tell me that you remember the story that actually means life or death for us! On his knees, unable to look at me, Lloyd apologized once more.

  “Please forgive me…” Lloyd said pathetically.

  Currently the two of us were in the middle of the hallway with me looking down on him. A few servants walked around us and smiled. A sight like this isn’t unusual to them. Many times over the past few years, Lloyd has pyed pranks on me and this is usually the end result. That being said, I hate how tall he is. Despite being the same age, even on his knees, It’s hard for me to look intimidating to him. I really want to hit my growth spurt soon…

  Whatever! I give up! I’m not going to py his game anymore. If I'm going to survive this, I need to prepare! So what do I do? We can’t learn magic until we are older, and I’m a bit scared of trying to learn how to use a sword like Lloyd, so that leaves me one option. Stepping forwards, I reach down and grab his hand.

  “Come on.” I said pulling him.

  “Wai- what?” He asked stupidly.

  “I wanna ride a horse.” I said.

  “A horse?” He asked, confused. “You can't ride a horse.”

  “Teach me to ride a horse.” I said.

  If the Demon Lord is going to be a problem, I’m not going to wait to see if the saint beats him. I’m getting the hell out of here! The second he gets too close, me and Lloyd are out of here. Forget the story, I’ll give up my spot on the throne. I don’t care. I’ll work on a farm away from the danger. Worst case, I’ll become a crab fisher up north. Get my own ship and sail away with me, Lloyd, and Mom and Dad. But I’m too young to steer a ship, so first I’ll learn to ride a horse! And thus, the first step in my grand escape pn was formed.

  Grayburne