I couldn’t wrap my head around Kassimer just yet. I didn’t understand. An aasimar? A fallen one at that? How can you fall from…that?

  I don’t know the title, but I didn’t want to bring it up just yet. Apparently any one I meet here just happens to have this…“concept” of me already in their head.

  Weird.

  I take a sip of orange juice from the cup. It’s been a couple of days since I visited down there. 4 to be exact. I’ve been living each day comfortably.

  Now knowing that things are changing.

  And it starts from home.

  “Good morning Master Lucien.” Jex begins, her voice heart-warming and light, devoid of any fear she’s had before.

  Ever since the last event, Breakfast Roulette, it’s easily become her favorite game. Now, it’s not that I punish her or anything. I think Jex found out that really easily I was able to cooperate.

  “Mornin’ Jex,” I wave back, she gives me a nice smile. I feel like there’s one more person I’m forgetting too…

  Hearing a quick, snap and a yawn, light footsteps and a chair pulled to the side. My eyes followed the bright red being.

  Rei.

  “M-morning…m-master…” She wipes her tired eyes, dressed in a night gown she woke up in.

  I still haven’t forgotten either. She’s more of an assistant now than ever. Now even living with me in the ranch house. Both of them are.

  And maybe I’m being a bit selfish, but seeing them in better moods so far beats the dark atmosphere I was facing on.

  At times, I even forget that I’m a Ranchmaster.

  And that? That’s the scariest part. When it feels…normal. Am I getting adjusted to the dark atmosphere here?

  Or am I settling too much into my own job?

  Jex meets us at the table, her smile almost smug. Oh. I know that look.

  “Breakfast Roulette.” She declares. Not ask. Declares.

  I’m not one to shy away from a challenge, “Three questions, your turn.”

  She takes some time to think on it, before her faves lights with curiosity and excitement.

  “Strangest foe you’ve ever fought?”

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  I ponder. I haven’t really fought much since I got here. Fighting verbally? Yes, plenty of times. My own words saved my skin from time to time.

  But before here…?

  “Fought this…this thing. Grotesque, nasty in nature. Killed a lot of humans and ate them maybe. It had tusks near it’s face, you guys know anything about that?”

  Jex took a bite from her toast, but nothing came to her mind.

  Breakfast Roulette was no longer a game of punishment, may I add. It’s more like a show and tell thing. Ask question about the other and get answers in return.

  Game evolved in the last few days. I have the both of them to thank for that.

  Rei’s face lit up, dropping the sausage she was going to devour before looking at me.

  “M-master…you b-beat a h-hobgoblin…?!” With the way her voice was rising, even that was something she couldn’t believe.

  I nod, “Yeah. Some time ago.”

  As if it wasn’t just last week. But the more I know I guess. Those things were called Hobgoblins? Who came up with that?

  Why not just call it, “Unidentifiable Terror of Murder and Death”. That seems to be the major problem. If it was named that, I think most people would walk away from it…

  And if it was named that, I guarantee you the horde of people it killed wouldn’t…you know. Die.

  Jex doesn’t seem to understand the full depth and capability of it, but Rei does. I would assume so. Unlike her, Rei reads from time to time.

  Must be from her lingering curiosity that cannot be satisfied. Despite still being a “slave”, Rei yearns for freedom more than anyone.

  Even if she doesn’t verbally say it.

  “Alright, my turn. How many times does a Ranchmaster come down to the Oni quarters?” I ask, taking a bite from a bagel.

  Jex scoffs, “Barely. I can’t remember in hindsight excluding you. They never did, and never would. Too much on their high horse to do so.”

  “But you’re different.”

  I finish chewing before I respond, “Thank you. I try my hardest. Is it really that noticeable though?”

  Jex shakes her head. “Not on the first day. It was hard to read you. This Quadrant never had a ranchmaster outside of Master Flugel—“ She cuts herself off at the narrow of my eyes.

  “Sorry…shithead Flugel.”

  My eyes ease up now, with a soft laugh coming from me. “Better.”

  “…and so when we did, you were very hard to decipher. I honestly thought you would turn out like everyone else.”

  I slowly nod, “That's a fair assessment. I wasn’t always going to intend on being like that forever. I just needed to find a way to buy your trust…without doing it so openly.”

  Jex nods. Not because this is something practiced, but because she understands now. Not out of fear, but out of her own feelings and mind.

  It’s perfect.

  And for a moment. The three of us. Eating together.

  It feels like we are a perfect family out of a perfect sitcom.

  In the moments that pass, I entertained the thought slightly.

  Can I live like this for the next six months?

  If...if every day was like this. Would I still have something to be frustrated about? Be mad about? Anything?

  I…I couldn’t tell.