Evelyn

  ***

  Hey, it's me! Boy time sure does fly when fighting evil! Looking at myself in a pocket mirror, I can’t help but smile. A few days ago was my birthday. I had just turned thirteen, and I think I’m starting to look cool! Well, not now as a magical girl, but as Evelyn. I wonder if my hair would look better long or short? All of my friends have long hair, so let’s keep it long for now. Still, thinking about it, I'm not as cool as Orion. Yet! Slowly but surely, I'm getting there! Birthday present? Oh, we don’t do that here. I got a “rexation day” so that’s good enough for me. That being said, evil never sleeps, so I went out anyway. Luckily school was on break before the st stretch, so no one minded that I was out for a week. Flying once more through an open window in the capital residence, I returned hom- Ah? I’ve been caught. Appearing from nothing, 38 was shaking my shoulders.

  “What in the world are you doing!?” She demanded.

  “Ah.” I said.

  Looks like I’m going to be scolded again.

  “You said that you were going to take the day off!” 38 said. “The next thing that we know, you flew off before anyone could stop you!”

  I did say that, didn’t I?

  “Well there were demons.” I said. “Someone had to-”

  “That someone doesn't have to be you!” She said. “Let other people take care of those problems. You’re just a kid! You don’t need to go out fighting demons for a week straight!”

  “I’m thirteen.” I defended. If I was a commoner, I would already be working.

  “When was the st time you took a day off?” She asked.

  “Um…” I took a moment to think.

  When was the st time? Was it the end of the school year? No, that was exam season. I wasn’t working since I had to be at school. After that I went out to clear all the demons that appeared when I was busy, so that took a while. Okay, well what about before then? No, I went out almost nightly to deal with nearby demons so I could head further in the future. Okay, so what about- no that was a wildfire in a neighboring kingdom that I stopped. What about- No I left the kingdom to avoid being named the saint by the Church and Regents. After all, there were like what? 14 or 15 known saint candidates? I know that I’m not a saint, so I don’t want to take the title from someone else. Also, that would tie Melody too much to the Empire, and I don’t want to do that.

  Seeing that I wasn’t answering, 38 sighed.

  “See.” She said. “Take a break.”

  “Yeah but-” I started.

  “No buts. You are going to rest.” She said. “We are going to start by taking a bath.”

  “We?” I asked. “I can bathe myself.”

  “The st time you did anything by yourself, you ran away from the Lord Regents for a week.” She pointed out.

  “Yeah I did do that.” I slowly nodded.

  Multiple times actually.

  “Now hurry up and change back.” She said.

  “Okay.” I said.

  With my body glowing, I changed from the form of Melody to my normal body. I was taller than Melody for the first time since reincarnating in this world. Although my hair wasn’t nearly as long. It hadn’t yet reached my lower back, and to be honest, it doesn't seem like it’s getting any longer. Either way, I’m fine with it. As for my hair color, it’s still bck. Yeah, I’ve lost hope that it’ll ever change back… Oh well, it’s close to Orion’s hair, so I’m fine with it!

  That aside, I’m looking good! Or at least okay... maybe! Given the way 38 reacted, I probably have bags under my eyes again. I’m very tired… Looks like four days and nights without sleep is my limit. Luckily the fatigue hits me when I turn back and not as Melody fighting demons. So that’s good. By the way, what happened to my shoes?

  “Come on, let’s go.” She said, taking me by the hand.

  Leading me out of my room before I could get distracted, 38 took me to the bathroom. Huh? It’s bigger than I remembered. When was the st time I used this? Normally I use magic to clean myself since it saves time, so I’m not too familiar with this room. Actually to point out one thing, this is the bathroom. Specifically the room with the bath and not the toilet. That is in another room. And this room was fairly big with some sort of wooden floors. I wonder how they keep it from rotting? Anyway, the bathtub itself is quite rge. It could probably fit like three fully grown adults in it. Well, I guess that I should get undr- huh?

  “Um…” I look at 38, who still had a firm grip on my wrist. “Hey… Don’t I need to get undressed? I can’t really do that with you here…”

  “Remember what I said?” She asked.

  “That we were going to…” Wait…

  “Stay right there.” She slowly released my hand.

  “Um…” I couldn’t help but be confused.

  Before I could react, the door to the bathroom was practically kicked open. Looking over, I saw three maids standing there looking at me as if I was their prey. It was almost frightening. Seeing me standing there, I was quickly surrounded and the woman in charge smiled and looked at 38.

  “Thank you miss, for bringing her here.” Mrs.Griffin, the head maid, thanked her.

  “We can never be too careful around her.” 38 sighed.

  “What’s going on?” I asked, looking between them.

  “Young Eytell, you are far too busy for your own good!” Mrs.Griffin scolded. “Do you know how much you work?”

  “A lot.” I answered honestly.

  “And do you know how much we worry for you?” She asked.

  “?” At this I couldn’t help but be confused. “Why…?”

  The maids and 38 seemed to recoil at this question. Why would they worry about me? Demons can’t hurt me, and I’m sure that even the Demon Lord wouldn’t be able to do much to me. To be honest this pce, even with demons running around, is far safer than Earth. Here I don’t need to deal with aliens, killer robots, city sized monsters, even town or block size monsters. Also as far as I can tell, there's no time travelers trying to take over or stop me from being born. Also meteors. There’s no meteors that are going to crash into the pnet. Orion would tell me if that was the case. Also nukes. Those don’t exist here, so I don’t need to worry about that.

  Even the magic here isn’t that strong. I haven’t seen any magic here that can hurt me. My own magic, which is considered to be overwhelming, isn’t enough to hurt me. Also, to be honest, I’ve been holding back. Not because I’m overestimating myself, but because demons are just weak and they aren’t worth destroying mountains over. Unlike the stories that I still hear, you don’t even need Holy Magic to beat them. Holy Magic makes it easier, but it isn’t necessary. Well, I guess my magic counts as holy magic, but punching them kind of hard still works. Also, I bet if I took a newborn werewolf from Earth and dropped them here, they would probably be considered a Demon Lord. But I've gotten a bit off track. It looks like they've come back to their senses.

  “Why?” 38 asked. “What do you mean why? Why wouldn’t we worry about you?”

  “Well, it’s not like there's anything that can hurt me.” I said.

  I’m not trying to invalidate their feelings, but there isn’t anything here that can hurt me. Even if I were to fly up as high as I can and just let myself fall, I would still be fine. I would know because I tested it. Although I’m not going to tell them that. I feel like they’ll get mad at me. Also there is poison, that was able to weaken me, but it didn't really hurt much, it just kind of stopped me from healing for a bit. But let's not worry about that.

  “It doesn't matter if you get hurt or not!” 38 said. “Just look at you! You look like you’re about to fall over!”

  “It happens.” I shrugged.

  “It’s not supposed to happen!” Mrs.Griffin said. “You are a young dy. Treat yourself as such!”

  “I treat myself all the time.” I said.

  To prove it I reached into my magic bag, which didn’t break this time, and pulled out a bag of cinnamon buns and cupcakes that I bought on the way home.

  “I pnned on having these with everyone ter.” I said, very aware of 38's grip on my shoulder.

  “Yes, and that's very kind of you, but that’s not what we mean.” Mrs.Griffin said.

  “Then what do you mean?” I asked.

  “Do you remember the st time you took a bath?” 38 asked. “And not just cleaning yourself with magic.”

  “Um…” I paused. Okay, I think I know what they are getting at…

  “See.” 38 said. “If you understand, then be obedient and do what they say.”

  “Okay.” I nodded meekly.

  “Honestly…” Mrs.Griffin sighed. “You are a duchess. Let yourself be spoiled. Be selfish and call on us when you need something.”

  “Furthermore DON’T GO OUT TO WORK ON YOUR BIRTHDAY.” 38 said, repeatedly poking my forehead.

  “Yeah but-” I started, covering my head.

  “No buts!” 38 said. “You are staying here and you will open your presents.”

  “?” I paused and looked at her. “Presents?”

  I don’t get presents? Why did I get presents? It couldn’t have been Uncle or Simon, and it certainly wasn’t Aunty or Robbie. Before I could think too much on it, Mrs.Griffin pced a warm hand on my free shoulder.

  “We can get to that ter.” She said. “For now, let’s prepare that bath for you.”

  “Okay…” I slowly nodded.

  Seeing that I was giving up, 38 seemed to rex a bit and gently took the bag of sweets and my magic bag from me.

  “You can have these after your bath. I’ll have them prepare a meal to go with them.” 38 said and then sighed. “I don’t even want to think about the st time you had a proper meal.”

  I nodded quietly. I don’t want to tell her that I’ve been eating nothing but dandelion jam for the past few days…

  Lloyd

  ***

  Looking at the paper in my hand, I thought for sure that this was another game event. For simplicity, let's call it a camping trip… For students interested in participating, there will be a multi-day excursion in some managed woodnds to fight some low level demons to give us real life experience. Not only for combat, but also for survival and exercise we can’t get at school. Apparently they even hired outside experts to guide for us.

  Now, if this was the game, then I would say that we get attacked by a strong demon, however this isn’t a perfect copy of the game. Also, Magical Girl Melody supposedly defeated all the major demons in The Empire, so we don’t need to worry about it. In fact, because of her, the roads are so safe that some people don’t even hire guards. As for bandits, they aren’t really a problem due to the soldiers patrolling the roads. Given how little they need to worry about demons, they are able to focus on other important matters, but that’s another thing entirely.

  The main point is that I have no idea what challenge will be waiting for us on this trip. It can’t be Evelyn, because let’s face it, even if she was acting evil just like in the game, her health is bad. There is no way she’ll be participating in this. So, what will this threat be? Maybe one of the instructors will be an enemy spy or working for the Demon Lord? Whatever it is, we'll need to be prepared.

  That aside, we were told to form groups, so who am I going to team up with? Truthfully I want to team up with Nissia as she was the saint, but she’s likely going to team up with her friends. Also, it would be problematic if the crowned Regent were to be in the same group as some commoners. So that was a no go… As I thought of that, familiar footsteps drew towards me. Turning, I saw Lna enter the room with a letter in her hand, and an annoyed scowl on her face.

  “What did you do this time?” I asked.

  “I didn’t do anything!” She defended herself.

  “What’s that then?” I asked.

  “A problem.” She sighed, dropping down on the couch next to me. “We got a guest.”

  “A guest?” I asked.

  “Take a look.” She handed me the letter.

  Looking at it, I immediately frowned. It was from the neighboring Alterrai Kingdom’s royal family. A request, which looked simple on paper, but was a pain in the ass. Not just for our parents, but for us as well. Sighing I put the letter face down and covered my face.

  “I know, right?” Lna sighed as well.

  “What the hell?” I couldn’t help but ask.

  Looks like I know the in game event for this trip. The visit of a foreign prince to our outdoor excursion… Not just any prince, but the fifth prince. The troublesome one. The weird one…

  “Is it too te to drop out?” I asked.

  “Dad said no.” Lna sighed.

  Damn… Looks like it’s time for pn B.

  “I need you to break my legs.” I said.

  “Mom said that she would revoke our allowance if we tried that again.” She said.

  ““…”” The two of us sat in a desote silence.

  Damn…

  Nissia

  ***

  “““““Field trip! Field trip! Field trip!””””” Me and my friends cheered over dinner.

  Our first field trip in this world! And it’s a camping trip! I never said this before but in my previous life, I loved camping! I always loved going into the forest and looking up at the stars! Unfortunately I couldn’t do that at all in this life due to work and the very real demons that existed in this world. But that’s besides the point! We get to go out camping! And it’s not like we have to deal with anything dangerous because of Melody! Thanks to her, the Empire is safe from demons, so all we need to look out for are the normal forest creatures. And as far as I know, bears like to stay away from groups of people with lots of guards. Also, now that I think of it, nobody has ever mentioned bears. Do they even exist here?

  Having said that, it’s not like the trip was happening immediately. We still had plenty of time to prepare, so instead of packing, we were preparing a list of everything that we would need. Luckily with all the money we have saved up, we shouldn’t have much trouble buying what we need.

  “What should we call our group?” Lidia asked.

  “Let’s go with the Saint Squad!” Alice said.

  “That’s a good one!” Lidia said.

  “Hey, you think Lna and Lloyd will join our group?” Jenna asked.

  “I hope not.” Alice said.

  “Yeah, I don’t want to deal with royalty.” Lidia said.

  “They’re probably going to be going with those boys.” I said.

  “Probably.” Alice said. “Hey, how many people per group is it again?”

  “It should be five, but we’ll probably be fine.” I said. “I think we’re the only commoners who are going, so it’s not like anyone will want to join us.”

  “Yeah, I guess so.” Alice nodded.

  “Aside from what it said, what else should we bring?” Lidia asked. “We have a lot of space if we're only bringing the 'bear minimum' like it says.”

  “I'm not sure.” Jenna said, checking the list one more time. “Unless you want to bring some more snacks.”

  “If we can fit them, we should.” I said.

  “Snacks are always good.” Alice agreed.

  “Hey, did they say where we were going anyways?” Lidia asked.

  “Some managed forest down south. But I don’t know where specifically.” Jenna said.

  “Aw dang. I was hoping I could visit home if we were passing by, but I guess not.” Lidia said.

  “Yeah, same here.” I nodded.

  “Well, we can’t have everything.” Jenna shrugged.

  “Yeah, that’s true.” Alice nodded.

  With that, our pns continued off into the night, maybe a bit longer than they should have, but that’s a problem for us in the morning…

  Grayburne