The king of Atrescha, Ryon Anomar Elcrius Astres, was simply having a very, very, strange day. Simply put his advisors had cleared his schedule for a number of hours to meet with one person. The king, as was well known to the populous, was a just, noble, and over all kind man. He simply saw no need for conflict in the kingdom, a trait he had inherited from his father and his forefathers. If you were to ask anyone on the continent about what kingdom they would prefer to live in, it was Atrescha.

 

That being said, the king would, oddly enough, be the first to admit he was not the most intelligent man. Certainly, he was smart, yes, but not some sort of genius. It was, of course, extremely shocking and utterly confusing when, at the meeting he had been scheduled, he discovered a rather petite and delicate looking young girl. Her hair, most oddly enough, was a silver blonde that shimmered in the light, but atop her head was a cloth, much like some maids wore.

 

He blinked, and the young girl had seemingly yet to notice he had entered, her face buried in one of the texts he kept littered across the table in the large study he used for things such as this. An unusual practice of nobility, but the room was comfortable and helped put one’s mind at ease. His eyes fixed on this strange girl, he made his way to his chair. Still ornate and large, it defined that he was still royalty without needless gaudy additions.

 

As he sat, the girl looked up at him. Her face was, in his opinion, downright adorable. In terms of appearance, she still had some of the quirks that only the young could, and her cheeks were slightly pink, her nose was small and pointed, and her eyes were large and round. In terms of presence? The girl reminded him something of a young kitten.

 

Her violet eyes pierced his for a moment, before she bowed her head. “Your majesty,” a soft, lilting, melodic voice greeted his ears. The king, being old enough to have children, and he did, was not attracted to the young girl. Instead, as he locked eyes with hers, he could, shockingly, see some sort of daunting pain, a mass of grief that she had seen something so terribly wrong.

 

The king was a good father, this was another thing that was well known, and his paternal instincts were roaring to life like that of an enraged lion fighting for the life of its cub. Squashing his internal reaction for a moment he nodded, “Though I was informed that this meeting would be taking place, I was neither informed of who you were, or why you are here. Why is that?”

 

Obviously, the girl had interacted with those in power before, as she bowed her head in acknowledgment before speaking. “Your majesty, my name is Adelaide Fortense. I am here to discuss the lands of my ancestors.”

The king frowned, “Your ancestors you say? I have not heard your surname before, nor is it in any of our history.”

 

She nodded again, “As you know, marriage often changes the name of the mother to match that of her husband. My ancestors were granted, by your forefathers, the land now abandoned and decrepit, which was once known as the city of Valeri and that surrounding it.”

 

The king froze, an angry gleam invading his eyes, “You say this, but many before you have as well! Those lands are not to be trifled with and do not belong to any others but the Valeres and their children, who no longer inhabit this world.”

 

The girl calmly nodded her ascent, “Your advisors said this as well, I only recently learned of my heritage. In an attempt to prove me wrong, your court mage and several state magicians used the Archontiá Codex and a series of spells to determine my heritage.”

 

“And?” the king positively hissed out.

 

The girl simply held out a book, the very codex they had been discussing. It was, obviously, not the only copy but this one belonged to the very court mage the girl had spoken of. Frowning, the king took the book from her hands. Having read through the very thing in his hands numerous times, he was not a fan of his children marrying their cousins, he was easily able to find the Valeres line.

 

There was, remarkably, a series of empty names only represented by question marks, underneath the names of the very last known nobles in the line. At the very bottom of the page was, most shockingly, a small portrait of the girl before him. “It only appeared after I was made to drip a single drop of blood on the page.”

 

The blood mark was not there, an artifact such as this did not have an issue with such things. However, her name was, and even the girl herself. With a heavy sigh, he laid the book on the table and rubbed his forehead. This could end up being such a bother. “Very well, what do you want?”

 

“Is it not obvious?” the girl titled her head in confusion.

 

The king merely stared at her.

 

“I wish to restore Valeri.”

 

[Nearly a fortnight prior…]

 

In a dark place, it could not be a called a room because it simply was not, a young man stirred to life. After a few moments, he blinked and realized he could see nothing, stared ahead as he called out. “Hello?”

 

The sound, oddly enough, of a typewriter finishing a line echoed throughout whatever the place was as he did so. While, still, unable to see, the young man instinctively turned towards the sound. “Ah,” a voice said, “Right, apologies. I meant to get to you earlier but you were sleeping rather peacefully.”

 

The young man remained silent.

 

“Anyway…” the voice drawled off, seemingly embarrassed, “Welcome to reincarnation.”

 

“?” was all the boy could say.

 

The voice made a frustrated groan, “How the fuck did you manage to say that without actually saying the words ‘question mark’ or something? Honestly, humans…” There was a sound of papers being shuffled, “Right, so, you’ve probably read something like you get points or assigned a few skills. Frankly, that’s only partially true.”

 

A device appeared in the room, it was a level connected to a large screen showing three images and half of a few more. “We prefer to leave it to luck on how many points you get. Even if you don’t get anything, you still get a moderate amount of points based on what you’ve done. If you get a larger sum than you earned, by a certain portion, then you get that exact amount, whereas if it’s lower, they’re added together. Can’t have anyone being too under the bar.”

 

“Gambling?” the boy asked.

 

“It makes things interesting,” was the monotone response, “Nonetheless, this is only to decide your skills and such. Everything else, well, roll first then we’ll determine that.”

 

The boy cautiously approached the lever and pulled it, causing a soft rumble to permeate the area before rolling to a stop. Three consecutive dings came from the machine and the voice that was speaking let out a whistle. “Not bad, that’s the highest roll yet. You have quite a bit of luck.”

 

“What does that mean?” the boy asked.

 

“Well, higher points mean you will be allowed more lee-way with your skills and innate talents, that and depending on what you wish, I can also reincarnate you to better fit what you want,” the voice responded.

 

“Oh…” the boy looked at the three symbols.

 

“Right, so, no need to go through any of the race or appearance decisions, I’m sure you’ll be fine with what I’ve lined up. You might be mildly annoyed, but I believe that from what we have of your life and personality, it won’t be an issue. Now, what skills and talents would you like? Ah, you get to carry over what you currently have in some aspects.”

 

A screen appeared in front of him, a list of skills, their types, their usages, and so on so forth. Even their ability as one increased their level. It was rather streamlined and easy. After a few moments, he nodded in satisfaction when the window disappeared. “Excellent, you haven’t chosen any high-end cheat skills.”

 

“Should I have?” the boy asked.

 

“Only if you wanted, but those skills make the process a little more difficult and they cause many changes world side,” the voice seemed to be waving a hand dismissively. “That being said, as a gift of thanks, for being mostly sensible, you will retain most of your memories, excluding your name so as to make adjusting easier.”

 

“Oh… I wouldn’t have retained them?”

 

“You would have, but not very well,” the voice answered, “Enjoy your new life kid, it’s been a pleasure.”

 

The world went dark for the boy and there was a heavy sensation of falling. Of course, after a few moments, the sensation vanished, and his vision went from black to a deep red, before he opened his eyes. Before him was a forest, not anything special and not even that dense of one either. When he turned around, it seemed he was right at the edge. Just beyond it was a still and crystal-clear pond, quite convenient really. Muttering to himself, he leaned over the water to see his reflection, and was startled by what he saw.

 

A young girl, likely somewhere around the age of eleven, gazed back at him with wide eyes. The eyes themselves were startling, a vivid violet in color that gave a mystical feel, only pushed by the silver blonde hair atop her head. Another start when he noticed that she had cat ears, he honestly hadn’t expected to become a catkin or really any other type of beastkin. “Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic,” he muttered, which wasn’t exactly helped by his new voice, rather, her new voice.

 

Taking deep breaths with her eyes closed, she managed to calm down enough to take a look at her surroundings. Really, it was nothing of too much note. Just the forest behind her, the pond, a plain, and some mountains in the distance. As for anything else, well, it was true that her eyesight was a lot better but seeing shadows that far off was impossible without binoculars or something. She sighed and shook her head.

 

“{Thési},” she called out. It seemed the voice had been kind enough to tell her how to draw out the status window, without actually telling her. In fact, it had probably done a few other things too. She watched as glowing words appeared before her on an almost transparent rectangle.

 

Name: [Adelaide Fortense]

Race: Beastkin [Gáta]

Level: One

Innate Ability-

STR - 5

VIT - 7

DEX - 14

AGI - 15

INT - 10

MIND - 11

[Abnormal] LUC – 23

Talents: [Quickpaw] [Fortune’s Favor] [Retain Memory] [Deduction] [Mana Sense] [Violet Eye]

Skills: N/A

 

All in all, she couldn’t complain. The skills she had selected weren’t designed to be usable immediately, as explained by the voice. As for her talents, [Quickpaw] seemed to increase how much her agility went up by level, [Favor] increased her luck and that of her party, [Retain] was just as it seemed and was why she remembered her past life, [Deduction] seemed to be the ability to use status windows and get some information on enemies and people as it got stronger, [Sense] meant knowing mana strength and permeation, while violet eye didn’t actually have any information. The last was odd but it was unlikely it was a cheat skill, she hadn’t chosen any.

 

The LUC stat seemed to be a result of [Favor] and her natural good luck in some cases. If she had guessed what abnormal meant, it likely meant most people didn’t have that stat shown. Overall, she wasn’t that strong, however she did get the feeling that [Sense] would come in hand with noticing monsters. Which was exactly why she shuddered a few seconds after realizing it. There was an intense amount of mana near her, and how right she was when three wolves arrived.

 

These wolves were natural predator in Atrescha, and less than monsters but more than beasts in some ways. Grey Wolves, unlike the weaker Brown Wolves, seemed to be able to sense prey using not purely smell but mana as well. Brown wolves were a monster that even a weak level one could take out by themselves, whereas greys were stronger in general which meant this was a party job to exterminate them. Rampaging wolves were not good for moral, yet she was likely miles from the nearest town. How she knew this, it was likely because the voice, probably a god, bestowed her some [Common Sense].

 

Nonetheless, she was not used to combat. And, despite [Favor]’s usage as a passive skill, she was sure it only affected things that could be drawn or actually affected on almost sheer luck alone. Monster encounters? Not exactly the forte of luck. And so, she did the sensible thing.

 

She ran.

 

Obviously, a normal human couldn’t outrun a wolf, of any kind, but she was a beastkin, a cat type beast kin, so her agility was high. And if need be, she could jump into a tree, dexterity should help as well. Of course, that was assuming she actually could outrun the Grey Wolves.

 

So, of course, she ran.

 

The result was that she ended up having to climb into the trees as fast as she could and then follow along the branches. She felt more like a monkey than an actual cat, it was exhausting but dying right after getting to this world was not okay.

 

Musing about which way to go around the clearing she had found, the tree shook. It shook hard enough it knocked her clear off the limb and the result was that all the air in her lungs was forced out. Her vision tinged with black as she noticed the wolves coming closer from the angle she was in.

 

“What a terrible way to die,” she muttered as her shortness of breath caught up with her and she dropped like a sack of rocks. However, as one of the wolves lunged towards her, a sword flashed out and a line of dark red, nearly black, blood splattered the grass nearby. The wolf howled, and its attacker struck again as the beast’s comrades raced in.

 

Like the wolf, the attacker was not alone either and three more people entered the clearing. One of them, wearing a cloak and wielding a staff groaned. “Really, we’re attacking these pipsqueaks?” he said, frowning.

 

“Look at the ground, idiot,” the attacker retorted.

 

The mage turned his gaze to the ground, “Ah, so we’re attacking these pipsqueaks because you found a kitten, lovely. Just get it over with, Mira and I will set up the camp. Darius,” he turned to the heavily armored man, who turned his scarred face towards him with a grunt, “make sure we’re clear for a bit.” The man grunted again, in acknowledgement it seemed, as he departed back into the forest.

 

At this point, the vanguard who had attacked the wolves, was having no issues with the beasts. She casually struck them as they advanced before finally lopping the foul creatures’ heads off. Frankly, it looked entirely too easy, probably because it was. This group of adventurers was quite strong.

 

So, the wolves that had been chasing Adelaide through the forest for a substantial part of the day died easily, without some sort of grand battle or last-ditch effort. After kicking the bodies out of the clearing, the vanguard woman turned around to find her companions had already set up a small campfire and already had water in a pot hanging above it.

 

She removed a cloth from her bag and began wiping the blood from her blade, staring at the now unconscious beastkin. Her companions had apparently been courteous enough to get the girl situated on top of a bedroll.

 

Her blonde hair practically shimmered in the sunlight as her ears twitched, the girl made no noise though, so she couldn’t be sure what she was dreaming of. “So,” the highly sarcastic mage said, “exactly what do you plan to do with this stray, Yona, I can’t imagine any use if it had issues with grey wolves.”

 

She glared at him, “Arin, she’s not MINE.”

 

“Whatever you say,” her rolled his eyes and turned back to the pot, “Use the window to see who this stray even is, in case she wakes up and tries to kill us.”

 

For as annoying as the mage was, he actually had a point. So, with a call of magic, she revealed the girl’s status, to some degree, once she laid her hand on her forehead. Other than your own, a status window wouldn’t reveal innate ability or skills, just level, name, titles, and race. Not that she needed to know the last one, the girl’s ears were on full display. Yona wouldn’t lie, the girl’s ears were extremely fluffy and seemed to be demanding rubs.

 

“Adelaide… Fortense? She’s level one, and she has no titles to speak of. Completely normal, though the name seems a bit pretentious,” Yona admitted. “At least she’s cute.”

 

Arin rolled his eyes, “Right, that’s a plus, and so is this detour.”

 

“What, did you want me to leave her?” she spat back.

 

“It would’ve been her own fault if she died,” he answered succinctly.

 

“We’re adventurers, Arin, we’re supposed to do things like this,” Yona retorted, the exasperation at the conversation was evident in her voice. “At the very least, we should wait until she explains he-“ Yona was interrupted a vibrating sensation in her hand and the something bumping into her. When she looked down, the girl had rolled herself into Yona’s lap. And, most of all, she was purring.

 

“Oh, that’s a good sign, I guess,” Yona muttered.

 

“Of course it is, you just love it when cute girls rub into you,” Arin snorted, “though she seems a bit young for your strike zone.”

 

“Oi!” Yona yelled.

 

At that point, their guest started moving and her eyes slowly opened, revealing a startling vivid violet. Yona choked back the gasp that threatened to escape her throat as Arin stared at the girl. “Violet, huh.”

 

“What?” Yona turned to him and asked in bewilderment.

 

“Yaya, violet eyes are uncommon, even amongst mages, but they allow one to perceive the flow of mana, more so than any spell could,” Arin answered with a dismissive wave of his hand, “forgot that wasn’t common knowledge to the Vanguard Class.”

 

“It does?” a quiet whisper responded. When Yona turned her head, the girl was blinking slowly and seemed as if she had woken up well enough to engage in conversation. Of course, that wasn’t all she noticed. The girl’s voice, which she frankly wasn’t sure was possible, made her even more adorable, it was airy, light, and most curiously, melodic. Like she was singing her words in some fashion, but wasn’t? Yona was confused, but she already knew she would not be letting such a source of adorable fluffiness leave.

 

Arin blinked, “That’s common sense for mages, and those eyes mean you are especially well suited to being one,” he gave a hefty sigh, “fair enough, though, as you are level one, and I don’t recall Yona mentioning a class of any kind.”

 

The girl nodded slowly, “I’m not well versed in common knowledge,” she slowly sat up and bumped into Yona. When the girl looked up at her, Yona forced down a squeal. Very few women that acted as vanguards, or any class relying on strength, were able to openly admit their preferences (sexual or in general), but Yona’s were left on full display. Instead of squealing, she did say something.

 

“Can I pet you?” the words blurted out of her mouth.

 

“Pervert,” Arin muttered.

 

“I’m not, I just want…” Yona trailed off as the girl titled her head at her.

 

“Is it wrong to let others touch your ears for beastmen?” she asked.

 

Arin groaned, especially loudly this time, as Mira, who had finally turned around after setting up one of the tents, spoke up. “It’s usually only reserved for those close to them,” Mira held up one of her hands to reveal the long claws that had extended from her hands, “Of course, it’s mostly canine and feline ones that actually have the ears.”

 

“I see,” the girl answered, “but, in this case, you have saved my life. You are also the first people I’ve met here, so I suppose it’s fine.”

 

Yona let out a delighted squeal and started gently petting the girl’s head as she rubbed her ears. Slowly but surely the girl seemed to relax, and her eyes were half-lidded. “With the way you talk I would believe you’re a noble, but you don’t have any titles.”

 

“In the place I come from, speaking formally is how nearly everyone talks,” the girl answered through a starting purr, “You only speak informally with family or close friends.”

 

“I see,” Arin answered, “Where even are you from? And, most of all, why the fuck were you in this forest at level one.”

 

“I can’t imagine you would know of it,” the girl shook her head, “And, to be utterly honest, I am unsure as to how I ended up here myself.”

 

“You’re like, what, ten? Why are you out here without family?”  Arin pointed out, rather brutally.

 

“I am seventeen,” the girl responded. “And, as far as I am aware, I have no family.”

 

“Oh, so you ARE in her strike range then,” Arin answered. “That being said, I’m sorry for prying, but…”

 

“It’s perfectly reasonable, I am a stranger in the woods and I can’t imagine you can trust everyone, being adventurers,” Adelaide said, before closing her eyes as Yona rubbed her ears again. Arin finally rolled his eyes and glared at the larger of the two girls before him.

 

“You can stop now, you’re distracting her,” he reached forward and thumped her on the head with his hand. She finally let go and Adelaide opened her eyes slowly as Yona teared up and rubbed the top of her head.

 

“That was uncalled for, Arin,” she moaned, “seriously uncalled for.”

 

“You decided to rescue her without considering who she even was,” the mage scoffed, “If anything it was heavily deserved. Saving a stranger in the woods, really? Nothing meant by it, Adelaide, but this one is a few sheep shy of a herd.”

 

“Of course,” the beastkin girl nodded, “If you would point me to the nearest town I would be grateful.”

 

“Sure it’s-“ he was interrupted by a yelp from Yona. The dark-haired girl lunged forward and covered his mouth with her hand before turning and grinning at Adelaide.

 

“Why don’t we take you with us, we’re headed back soon too!” Yona said cheerily, still not taking her hand from Arin’s mouth, and one could see him rolling his eyes again. As Adelaide looked at her, Yona’s smile twitched and started to relax before Adelaide finally nodded.

 

Yona clapped her hands together, “Excellent! Since we’ve already set up camp, let’s all take a rest and treat our injuries. I call dibs on tre-“ She was quickly cut off by the other female in her party pinching her rather hard from behind and clamped her mouth shut in an effort not to yelp in pain. Mira had claws, for fuck’s sake, and those things hurt. The shorter girl glared and shoved her aside before crouching down to examine their rescue.

 

“How’s our stray lookin doc?” Arin asked as Mira peered down at the girl. She lifted Adelaide’s arms and searched around her. After a few moments, Mira brushed her hands off and handed the girl a closed jar.

 

“A slave for the bruising, lightly rub it on your sides, once you are done, I’ll take care of your back,” she sent a glare at Yona who looked away sheepishly. The only response the young gáta gave was to simply tilt her head at the exchange before nodding. She lifted the rather ragged cloth shirt she was wearing and Yona’s eyes locked on to her stomach. Adelaide was already dainty, but her skin was almost milky white, as if she had never been in the sun before. As she was practically drooling by the time her prey had finished, Mira swatted Yona upside the head with her hand before sitting down behind Adelaide. The girl’s ears perked up and she froze before she relaxed into the gentle ministrations of the dark-haired healer.

 

“Would you mind answering a question?” Adelaide asked as the other woman’s hands rubbed the paste onto her bruised back. The lizard woman merely sent a look to Arin as he stared down at the girl with a frown. The young girl’s legs were visible and, while some might note such a look as lecherous, something in Adelaide’s mind argued quite strongly otherwise.

 

“I suppose, though I won’t answer it in all truthfulness if I find it suspicious,” the mage pushed his shaggy black hair back with a hand and shook his head before gesturing at her to continue. The girl watched him for a moment and then looked out into the forest. Her eyes took on an almost glazed look, as though they weren’t staring at what was there, but rather something elsewhere.

 

“Where is this?” the girl finally asked, “You’ve mentioned magic, beastmen, and the creatures I’ve seen resemble what I know, at best. I can make a guess about the whole of it, but where are we?”

 

“In general?” the mage quirked his eyebrow and frowned, “Or more specifically?”

 

“Well, either would be fine, but I know very little of this place, so I’d rather know both,” she answered, her violet eyes meeting Arin’s vibrant green. The mage watched her for a moment and then nodded, shifting a hand to a bag at his hip.

 

“I pride myself in knowing people,” the man answered as he unrolled the parchment, revealing a particularly detailed map. He crouched down and laid it in front of her. “While I can’t say I trust you, I will admit I believe you pose no danger to us, in any form. Currently, we are in the outskirts of the capital territory, a so-called monster forest. The territory is Astres, for the royal family, and the capital is Astarte. This is in the kingdom of Atrescha.” Arin gestured at each portion of the map as he spoke, before rolling the map back up.

 

“And a monster forest is what exactly?” she asked quizzically, her brows furrowing in confusion.

 

The mage nodded as he slipped the map back into a pouch that seemed far too small for it. “The general description is that it is a forest in which monsters are too plentiful for it to be of use to any settlements nearby, and too much of a risk to settle close to. More specifically speaking however, it is a forest in which the monster presence has grown out of control due to a wild source of mana or other particular energies.”

 

“I see, “Adelaide bit her lip, “So it would seem my luck has chosen misfortune this time, yet I could say I’m lucky as well.”

 

Arin cast a glance at Yona, who seemed particularly interested in one small patch of grass for some reason, before sighing heavily. “Lucky we have a pervert in the party, yes.”

 

Mira snorted softly behind her as Adelaide glanced over at the armor clad woman, “Despite that, I really do owe you all my thanks.”

 

Mira scoffed again, “Despite what our token grouch might say, he would have been first in line if Yona wasn’t. He’s far nicer than he looks.”

 

Arin gave Mira the stink eye as Adelaide’s eyelids fluttered and she nodded, “I know.”

 

“I think you’re fine now,” Mira took her hands off the girl’s back, “Though I’ll have to look again later. Are we finished with the quest, Darius?” The woman turned her head, causing her dark brown locks to brush against the girl’s back and her to twitch forward. Mira’s brown eyes gazed up at the scarred face of the much larger man, his rough façade unsoftened by nearly black eyes and a shaved head.

 

The man stared down at the small girl in the herbalist’s lap and nodded, “S’done. S’dead.” He gestured behind himself at a rope adhered to his waist. The rope stretched out to the ground before wrapping itself around the neck of a large, clearly dead, beast. It was large, and were it not for the excessively large teeth and few spikes protruding from it’s back, one might have mistaken it for some kind of alligator.

 

“Excellent, then we can get this stray back to civilization-‘” the scrawny man stumbled forward, nearly tripping over his own dark blue cloak. He spun around and Yona cheerfully slapped her hand on his shoulder.

 

“Dibs!”

 

“On what?”

 

Yona smiled and pointed at Adelaide, who merely stared back at the finger directed at her. “She’s my buddy today, I’ll take forward.”

 

“…I can’t say I’m surprised, but so be it. Just don’t get yourself killed protecting the new stray,” Arin sighed.