“The what?” Lucky asked, sounding confused.

“The Nine Destiny Queens,” repeated the Decisive Player.

Lucky furrowed his eyebrows at this unfamiliar name and made it clear to the wandering spirit.

“Um. Sorry, Decisive Player. I have no idea what that group is, and is Sumara a part of it?”

“The group comprises of nine really beautiful, really carrying, and really powerful women! In the future, I expect more of them to show up and end up being together with you.”

“Wait,” said Lucky, realising something from his words. “Be together with me? Does that mean we’ll live together? As friends?”

“As lovers,” the Decisive Player said, chuckling at the kid’s choice of words. “And then as a married couple.”

“Wait! I’ll marry all of them?! All nine of them?!” Lucky exclaimed in shock. “But I’m only seven and Miss Sumara is far older than me! How can it work?”

The wandering spirit chuckle and said, “Not now, but later in the future. Besides, should appearance and age matter when there is true love?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you are destined to be together with them regardless of what you want to do. I confirmed that with the appearance of her, and her recent behaviour towards you. It’s showing signs that she is being drawn to you.”

“Destined? How?!”

“Because they were the wives of the original Phoenix Titan.”

“They were?!”

“Yes. You see, it was during the time when the you of the past was dominating each and every clan there was. Those who opposed you instead of surrendering like the others, you destroyed. However, there were clans that didn’t want to give up their rulership and sent their daughters as sacrificial pawns to please you into sparing them.”

“What sort of garbage do they think I am?!” Lucky exclaimed, flaring up angrily at his words.

The Decisive Player chuckled and said, “Your reaction was the same as your past self’s,” and he tried to imitate what the original Phoenix Titan said.

“How dare they treat women as commodity?! What am I, a barbarian to them?! Screw this! Minister! Get the army ready! We’re going to destroy those fools!”

His words instantly made Lucky feel shocked and said, “Did I say that?”

“You certainly did because you got very angry,” the Decisive Player replied in a humorous voice. “So, you were prepared to kill every last of them, but then the girls fell on your legs begging for their people’s mercy, and you had to let it go.”

“Phew.”

Lucky sighed in relief, the fear of what he had done in the past going away.

“So, how come you got angry, Lucky?” The Decisive Player asked curiously.

“What kind of man won’t get angry when a woman is being treated like that?!” Lucky exclaimed irritably. “How would you feel if your mother was treated like that? How would you feel if your sister was treated the same? Of course, I don’t have a sister, but it’s the same thing; it’s despicable!”

“But they wanted to survive,” reasoned the Decisive Player with the kid. “They wanted to live and keep their rights, and since they experienced tyrannical rulers demanding girls as payment, they took the best decision to preserve themselves.”

“It still won’t change the fact that they are a bunch of despicable people.”

The Decisive Player remained silent for a few seconds before he said, “Well, after that you forged a wonderful bond with them and got married happily. Sadly, it didn’t last long because a lot of terrible things happened, and you lost them forever.”

“What?! What happened?”

There was a moment of pause before the wandering spirit said, “Sorry, Lucky. Now is not the time to tell you about it.” As the kid went to speak, he overruled him by saying, “I promise I will tell you when it’s the right time, but now isn’t it. Sorry. You’re much too young to know the details of what happened that day.”

“Come on, Decisive Player. You can tell me,”  Lucky pleaded, but he only received silence from the wandering spirit. Then he sighed and asked, “So, they’re reborn also, and now we’re going to encounter each other soon?”

“That’s right,” the Decisive Player said, glad that the conversation moved on. “Fate has brought you to your first Destiny Queen, but it won’t’ stop there. The rest of the girls will follow, and believe me, you’ll be living a happy life together with them in the future.”

Lucky instantly felt sweat form on his face with fear and asked incredulously. “If mom found out that I got myself more than one girl to love, she’ll kill me!”

In that world, religion was a common thing, and his mother daily prayed to the God of Justice, who was said to only have one wife. So, the thought of what his mother might say about him having multiple affairs in the future certainly scared him.

“Things will change by then,” the Decisive Player replied with a laugh. “I’m not telling you go hook up right now. In the future, after you turn fifteen.”

While his words sounded reassuring, Lucky was not being optimistic, especially after the anger he saw in her that morning. He never dreamed that his mother could get angry like that, but a situation like that would cause her great concern, worry and make her become angry at him.

“So, how did you know Miss Sumara is part of this group?” Lucky asked casually. Then, as if realising the answer to his own question, he said, “Wait! Don’t tell me they look like they did in the past?!”

“Good. You were able to correctly guess without me explaining about it.”

“It sounded like the only possible thing since that’s how you proved that I am the Phoenix Titan,” said Lucky and laughed. “Anyway, how do I recognise them though when I have no recollection of who they might be?”

“You’re already close to four of them.”

Lucky coughed in shock and exclaimed, “Four?! Who?! Apart from Sumara, who are the other two?” Then his eyes widened with shock and he asked “Wait. Are you saying Mariana is also one of my wives?!”

“Don’t be thick,” replied the Decisive Player with a light chuckle. “She’s your maid and can never be at your side. No. The other two are pretty close by, one literally is in this house while the other two in the nearby vicinity.”

“Seriously?” Lucky asked, sounding amazed. “How can you tell?”

“Call it my powers as a wandering spirit.”

His words caused Lucky to narrow his eyebrows and look dull as he asked, “You made that up, didn’t you?”

The Decisive Player laughed and asked, “Damn. You’re good!” Then he sounded more serious when he said, “No. I’m able to feel their presence strongly due to the Divine Protection of Love.”

“The what now?!”

“The Divine Protection of Love. It helps you get together with those you are destined to be with and helps all of you to stay in touch with one another even if you are separated by many continents, although, it won’t work if you’re in separate worlds so there’s that drawback.”

“Wait! Divine Protection?!” Lucky exclaimed, realising the implication of the words. “Do you mean the protection that Gods grant us people with for doing certain things and so on? I have that kind of protection?”

“You have many more, but it’s a waste to tell you right now when you have yet to grow,” the Decisive Player said with a chuckle, causing Lucky to become very annoyed.

“Decisive Player,” he began in a firm voice, “what else are you hiding from me?! Spill it!”

“I swore to you before that I will never lie to you,” replied the Decisive Player in an honest voice. “I also said you’re much too young to know all about the Phoenix Titan’s background, details and powers, so I’ll slowly teach it to you over the years. There’s no rush.”

“For some reason, I feel as though you’re doing this on purpose!” Lucky exclaimed, looking annoyed.

“Believe me, Lucky!” The Decisive Player said in a firm voice. “Cross my heart, hope to die—!”

“Your kind of in between, aren’t you?” Lucky asked, raising an eyebrow in a humorous way.

“That’s not the point! I’m saying that I only speak the truth with you, Lucky! I want the best for you, that’s why I’m holding back a lot of information, otherwise, it’ll be too much for you to process all at once!”

“Because I’m seven. Is that right?”

Lucky asked that question and sighed tiredly, giving up his fight to make the wandering spirit tell him anything. He also understood that much of what the Decisive Player told him did not initially make sense until he had fully explained them, which took quite a bit of time. So, he reasoned that maybe it was better to slowly learn about his past and uncover the many mysteries about himself.

“Alright. Fine,” he said, and heard the Decisive Player sigh in relief. Then he said, “I’ll let you have your way, but you better keep your promise with me, Decisive Player!”

“So, demanding! You don’t seem to realise but you sound more and more like your past self!”

“Of course, I would because I’m dealing with a wandering spirit that’s playing with me!”

At Lucky’s retort, the Decisive Player let out a cheerful laughter. So, with nothing else to do there, Lucky took his clothes and headed out of the room to his bath.

The rest of the morning, he spent studying with Mariana till lunch. After lunch, he switched over to having magic lessons with Sumara. It was a peaceful day that was undisturbed by the chilly breeze that was blowing, signs that winter was coming.

At the end of his training session with her, Sumara was giving him advice on improving his focus on the magic. He had attempted to conjure water ball and make it move through the air, but it would fall away within a few seconds. When he looked disappointed at himself, she cheered him up by saying encouraging words and then parting ways, she headed to her room while he remained standing near the staircase.

As Lucky watched her go, he heard the Decisive Player comment in his mind, “She’s certainly focused on you.”

He sounded shrewd, almost like he was suspecting that the kid was beginning to have feelings for the young adult. Lucky, on the other hand, chuckled and replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

“You’re dreaming, Decisive Player. I’m much too young to think of her as life partner.”

“Maybe not now, but once you hit the age of puberty, you’ll start feeling all sorts of feelings that you’ve never felt before. Oh~! I can see it now! You blushing and acting nervous around her.”

“Cut it out!” Lucky said irritably, and the Decisive Player let out a loud laughter.

At that moment, the Decisive Player suddenly stopped laughing and went very quiet, making Lucky wonder what had happened.

“What’s wrong?” Lucky asked curiously.

“Something’s not right,” the Decisive Player said slowly, as if he was trying to figure something out. “The spirits are scared.”

“The who?”

“Elemental Spirits,” elaborated the Decisive Player distractedly. “They’re what help magicians use magic by heeding to your words and doing your bidding. Although, they only listen to users with any real Magic Force and people like your father, without any magic capability, will get ignored by them.”

“Oh…! Okay,” Lucky said, nodding in understanding. “So, these Elemental Spirits are telling you there’s trouble?”

“They’re aren’t telling me anything, but they are scared. Something bad is headed this way.”

There was a moment where Lucky stood there in silence, wondering what was going on. Suddenly, he received a shock when the Decisive Player suddenly shouted at him in his mind.

“Lucky, go outside now!”

“What?” Lucky asked, looking confused.

“I said go outside!”

“Why? I don’t—!”

“Now!”

The Decisive Player yelled the last word in a commanding voice, causing Lucky to jump in surprise.

“Okay! Okay!” Lucky said, and he hurried out of house and into the lawn.

He quickly moved forward and came out to stand on the road, where there was nothing different about it. He looked left and right, expecting something unusual to be there, but things appeared like they normally do.

“Decisive Player,” he began curiously, “what was that—?”

He stopped speaking because he heard a rustle of grass, and quickly turned around to see a black cat emerge from the undergrowth of the grass. It looked to be injured because it was limping slowly, with blood dripping from the wound it obviously had been inflicted with. Shocked at seeing the animal in pain, Lucky quickly moved forward to tend to the poor thing.

“Oh no! What happened to you?!” He asked, holding the animal gently in his arm.

The cat would not respond, merely purring weakly due to how exhausted it seemed to him. He shifted the cat’s body over and saw that the animal had sustained a large bite mark around its neck. It was not a small bite either, showing that something big had attempted to eat it, but the cat managed to escape all the way here, where it finally ran out of strength to keep escaping.

“What did this to you?” Lucky asked that question with a worried look on his face.

At that moment, he heard the sound of rustling grass and felt something appear on the road. He did not look at him, but something from its presence made his skin prickle and caused the hair on his back to stand up.

He slowly shifted his eyes upward to look at what had appeared out of the grass and heard the Decisive Player say in a calm voice despite the dangerous situation they were in.

“That answers your question.”

It was a large four-legged monster with black fur and two heads, which he identified as a Two-Headed Cerberus.