Evelyn

  ***

  With the days passing between school and work, I’ve been going off more than a few times a week to my hideout. In the end, I decided against making a tower. Although I am out of the way in a very secluded pce not owned by The Empire or any kingdoms, I don’t want to draw attention to myself. It is a HIDEOUT after all. Hide is in the name. So, a secret bunker it is!

  Using my imitation Earth magic, through my Magical Girl powers, I made a false wall to the cave. So, if anyone does find it, it’ll just look like a shallow cave. Maybe some creature will make its home there? Anyways, aside from strengthening the walls and ceiling, I made a few basic rooms with magic lights and some simple furniture to make myself and Angelica more comfortable.

  Ah, as for Angelica, she’s been coming with me on my trips to and from home. After making sure that no other Shadows were watching the house, I brought her back with me. Given all the birds in the capital, she should be fine with flying around in the open. But whenever we go home, I make sure to turn her invisible until we get to my room. So far, no one has noticed anything.

  Hmn? Getting her another body? When am I going to do that? Well… Yeah, that’s a bit hard. You see, there are only a few ways to get her a body. One would be to have her possess someone, no can do, and another would be to find a body with no soul in it. And that's… Yeah, I’m going to have to go with pn B. I need to make her a body. Luckily we both know what robots are, and we can afford the materials to build one, but to do that, we need special equipment. I can, and am, pnning on using magic to make most of it, but the thing that we’re worried about is a vessel to hold her soul. If she were to simply possess a robot, or anything non living thing for that matter, she’ll eventually lose energy and fade away. So, until we figure something out, she’s staying a bird.

  But that is for another time. Outside of acquisitions for our base, I’ve been making a few purchases in bulk. Makeup, dye for clothes and hair, wood, metal, rope, both normal and magical, and chains just like the rope. Magical tools and equipment to repair them, as well as bcksmithing supplies minus a forge, that sail fabric I used long ago, and various other supplies. Most of it went to the territory or used in the mansion, but I did make sure to take some for myself to use in and for my base. I can get or make most of the stuff as Melody, but this will same me a bunch of time. Also, a few suits of armor that i could use as references, but more on that ter.

  As for what I’m doing in this very moment, well, that’s simple. I’m testing out a commercially avaible telescope for reasons that I won't get into to right now.

  “Evelyn, I’m sure you know this, but you’re being very creepy…” Charlotte said, disapprovingly.

  “How am I creepy?” I asked.

  All I was doing was sketching a portrait of Robbie. Yes, it may be from across the school yard and without his knowledge but that’s not the point. If anything, I’m an artist. I even drew that bit of food that was stuck in his teeth. Would a creep notice that? No, only an artist would see those details! Although I have to admit, my drawing isn't the best. It's not bad! But, uh... It's not going into any museums any time soon.

  “How is that not creepy?” Nicole asked.

  “You’re making notes of what he eats and who he’s talking to.” Olivia said.

  “I’m sorry for keeping an eye on my brother.” I said.

  Ah, he just shifted a bit. I think he may have farted. Let’s write that down.

  “You really need to stop.” Chloe said. “Just go up and talk to him.”

  “Well…” I paused.

  Although I hate to admit it, we don’t really have that sort of retionship. He really doesn’t like it when I go out of my way to talk to him. He’s shy like that. Ah? He’s avoiding the carrots again. I’ll write that down and tell Uncle ter.

  “Okay, how about we arrange a meeting?” Charlotte suggested.

  “That’s a good idea!” Chloe said, grabbing my hand to stop my pen.

  “That’s kind of weird to have someone else arrange a meeting between another family.” I muttered.

  “And what you're doing isn’t?” Olivia asked.

  “Well…” I took a moment to think.

  I might be a bit weird. As if agreeing with my thought, 38, who stood behind Charlotte, nodded. Regardless of myself, I see a fw in the pn.

  “I don’t think it’ll work.” I admitted.

  In the past whenever I tried to invite him to anything, I was always rejected. Sometimes by Auntie and sometimes by Robbie himself. Never has he once accepted my invitations, and never has he ever invited me anywhere, or to anything. Now that I think about it, I could count on one hand how many times he said good morning to me. It was three, in case you were curious.

  “Even if it does, it’ll be awkward for everyone.” I said.

  “Why not invite some mutual friends?” Charlotte suggested.

  “…” I paused. “We don’t really have the same friends.”

  “Surely there must be someone?” Olivia said.

  Well, what friends do I have? There's everyone who works in the house, Aura and Bke and all the mercenaries, obviously my friends here, and Amber, there’s the goddesses? Do they count as friends? They feel more like sisters to me. Let’s count them anyway. Anyway, there’s also 38, 84, 77, 17, 19, and 26, and Angelica, and there’s Lloyd and Lna’s parents, and Nissia’s Dad… Huh? I don’t really have many friends my age…

  “Are there really none?” Chloe asked.

  “No there’s…” I paused again. “Is there anyone?”

  “Okay, so that idea may be a bit fwed…” Charlotte said.

  “Yeah, I don’t think he would be thrilled seeing a bunch of mercenaries…” I nodded.

  “Those people are scary, I’m not sure how you became friends with them.” Nicole said.

  “They’re not scary.” I said, looking through my telescope again.

  “Stop that.” Charlotte said, taking it away from me.

  “Oh boo.” I pouted.

  It looked like he just got a letter from one of Lloyd’s friends, but I suppose that doesn’t concern me. Although what does concern me is everyone’s scheming faces… I don’t like it. I hope they don’t do anything unnecessary…

  Lna

  ***

  “Seriously, what a pain…” I mutter as I lie down in bed.

  I know that I shouldn’t say that. This is a good opportunity to get to know the Saint. What am I talking about? Well, it’s simple. Currently Mom and Dad think that we aren’t interacting with our cssmates enough, among other things, so they told us to hold a tea party. Because of that, we’re inviting our friends, cssmates, and some other people who were recommended to us. That being said, we can’t invite everybody, so we have to make some decisions ourselves. Aside from the obvious guests, high ranked nobles, we are inviting some notable commoners that go to our school as well. Mainly Nissia and her friends. Mom especially seemed to want them to come due to them being potential Saints.

  Speaking of Saints, we obviously invited Charlotte and her sister. We sent them invitations. Well, we sent one for the both of them. That is so we can save our invitations for more people. Basically everyone who has siblings, like Charlotte and Evelyn, we only sent one for the both of them.

  That aside, this party is sort of on short notice. It’ll be happening this weekend, so everyone only has a few days to prepare for it. Luckily we have lots of expert staff, so everything will be prepared in time. I hope everyone can find the proper clothes in time. Well, if not, everyone is welcome to wear their school uniform. To be honest, I would wear my uniform if Mom let me. But no, “People expect you to look pretty” and yeah, she’s right. I don’t exactly like it, but everyone’s tax money is going to us, so I could at least look nice for them every once and a while.

  Wow, that makes me sound really bad. Let’s not say that out loud. EVER. I might make a donation somewhere to make myself feel better.

  “You pick your dress?” Lloyd asked, entering my room unannounced.

  “You ever heard about knocking?” I asked, sitting up.

  “What, didn’t want anyone to catch you farting?” He asked.

  “I should hit you for that.” I said.

  With the air beside him shimmering, a woman dressed in all bck appeared. With a karate chop like motion, she lightly hit Lloyd on his head.

  “Hey!” He said, covering his head.

  “Mission accomplished.” She said to me.

  “Great work.” I said.

  And there she is. Our hidden guard. Truthfully we don’t know her name, and whenever we ask, she doesn’t tell us. So, we’ve called her by her number, which is 19. Is 19 a rank or position? Was she the 19th person to be hired or the 19th person to guard us? We have no clue. All that we know is that Mom and Dad call her 19, so we do as well.

  “Seriously, you don’t have to do that…” Lloyd said.

  “Why would you enter a woman’s room unannounced?” She asked.

  “Yeah, talk about rude!” I said, joining in.

  “Whatever.” He said. “Do you have something picked out yet?”

  “Yeah. Mom was watching over me, so I had no choice.” I sighed.

  “Given what happened st time, I don’t bme her.” He said.

  “It was a private party. Why do I have to get dressed?” I asked.

  “You have a reputation to uphold.” 19 said.

  “I just want to rex.” I sighed.

  “Just in case, let me see what you’re wearing.” Lloyd said.

  “No.” I said. “And don’t go digging through my closet or I’ll have you thrown out!”

  “I don’t care about your stuffed animals.” He said.

  “Well I do!” I said.

  If he insists, I’ll give him a good beat down! We have healing magic, so they can get rid of any bruises I give him.

  “Fine, whatever.” He gave up. “We have three days left anyways, so just make sure that you have everything ready.”

  “I do, I do.” I waved him off. “So, all the invitations were handed out, right?”

  “Yeah. They’re probably all going to show up, but we should expect some no shows.” He said.

  “You think the Lottaway’s are going to show up?” I asked.

  “I would be surprised if they didn’t.” He said. “Given the rumors, going around, they’re probably expecting this already.”

  “Well, it’s not going to be public, so who knows.” I shrugged.

  Our tea party was being used for politics. Go figure. Aside from helping us build retionships with others, it was also an excuse to bring the Saint here to announce our support of her. Given how good of a job Melody is doing out in the world, it was decided to keep this event retively quiet. Hopefully those people who want Melody to be named the Saint don’t get upset from this. After all, it is just a kid’s tea party. Oh! And before I forget, let’s ask something!

  “By the way.” I looked at 19. “Does anyone else have any guards like you?”

  “Like your parents?” She asked.

  “I mean anyone outside our family.” I said.

  “Oh yeah. Does the Saint have one?” Lloyd asked.

  “I’m only informed on matters regarding the Regents.” She said. “Anyone outside your immediate family I can’t say for certain.”

  “Really?” Lloyd asked.

  “Given that you’re guarding us, I figured that you would know more.” I said.

  “If you’re trying to praise me, it didn’t sound that way.” She said.

  “Oh, sorry.” I said.

  Yeah, I really should fix that before it gets me into trouble. Now then, onto my next question…

  “So, why do the two of us only get one guard?” I asked.

  “What, am I not good enough for you?” She asked.

  “Wouldn’t it be easier on you?” I asked. “Like when you have to carry us away on the trip.”

  “If you want to make things easier on me, watch your weight.” She said.

  “How dare you!” I said.

  “Ha ha, fatty!” Lloyd pointed and ughed.

  “Hey, you’re not exactly as light as a feather yourself.” She said.

  “Yeah, well I’m a man so it should be expected.” He said.

  “Ah yes, and when was the st time this ‘man’ wet his bed I wonder?” She asked.

  “I’m sorry.” He said timidly.

  “Ha ha, bed wetter!” I said.

  “Really?” She looked at me with a knowing gnce.

  “I’m sorry.” I said timidly.

  Yeah, she had dirt on the both of us, so let’s stop before she turns on me…

  Grayburne