I let out a sigh as the door clicked, muffling the screams of the clownfish waitress.

We walked down the hall with a strong silence lingering with us.

‘I honestly surprised myself that I thought of a plan like that. Looking at Master and the others, it seems like they didn’t expect it either. I don’t regret it though. It felt right to me.’

“Well then,” Master spoke, breaking the silence and shaking me from my thought. “It’s getting late.”

She yawned and stretched her arms and wings.

“I was originally planning on getting you a room here for a little while, Maua…but I doubt that you’d want to stay here after what happened earlier?”

I nodded my head in agreement.

“Good. That saves me the trouble of convincing you otherwise. As much as I trust Aunt Moni, I wouldn’t want to leave you here. You’ll just have to come back to the guild with us. There’s a couple of rooms for special guests, we’ll just have you stay there for a little while.”

“For special guests? Is it fine for me to stay there?”

Master shrugged.

“It should be fine. But just to make sure, why don’t we ask someone who should know,” she replied, pointing at Tiki. “She may not act like it but she’s actually the Vice Guildmaster.”

“I’ll let that comment go, partly because it's kind of true,” Tiki said with a finger on her lip. “But there might be a slight issue. We only have three special guest rooms…and if my math is correct…all three of them are being used. One by Kna’Ve and Ruru. Another by the other two members of your group, and finally one by the adorable Mayari.”

“Tree bark!” Master cursed…? “If I had just bought that mansion, we wouldn’t have any issues.”

“We decided that it would’ve been a waste because it would barely get used, remember?” Ms. Kna’Ve prodded.

“Yeah, I know. I know. It would’ve just been convenient right now,” the golden dragonoid said.

“Well, there was no way for us to expect something like this.” the two-headed lady shrugged.

“Wait!” Mayari interjected excitedly. “Can’t she just sleep with me? That’s fine, right?!”

‘She’s drooling.’

“Mayari, you’re drooling,” Master vocalized my thoughts.

The redhead frantically began to wipe her mouth.

Ignoring Mayari, Master turned to me.

“Well? I’d feel better if you’re close by, but I understand if you’d rather not sleep in the same room as that.”

“Hey!” the starfish girl protested.

‘Well, I’m honestly not too worried about Mayari. Discounting her quirks, she’s actually the reliable sister type. And I’d feel safer if Master is nearby too.’

“I don’t mind.”

—⁕🎕⁕—

With my sleeping arrangements decided, we made our way back to the Guild. After bathing, in which I denied both Mayari and Tiki’s invitation, I was given a nightshirt by the aforementioned redhead.

Due to the size difference, the shirt was more like a robe, which Mayari seemed to find extremely cute if her squeals were anything to go off of.

Once she calmed down, we clambered into the large bed, with the starfish girl enveloping me in a hug from behind.

“...Um. Mayari…why are you hugging me?” I asked.

“To use you as my hug pillow of course!” she responded shamelessly.

“...”

‘Well, it's not uncomfortable, so I guess it's fine.’

I heard a light wheezing from behind me.

‘She fell asleep already?! I’m envious, I’ve always had a hard time sleeping…come to think of it, this will be the first time I’ve actually gone to sleep in this world. I’ve been knocked unconscious too many times but I’ve yet to fall asleep. I hope I can…’

After a few minutes, I found myself drifting off and I soon fell asleep.

—⁕🎕⁕—

I woke up to a knock at the door.

Mayari, who seemed to have been riled up by it too.

She slid off the bed, and groggily answered the door.

After having a short conversation with the person behind the door, she turned back to me, looking down in the dumps.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, moving to sit at the edge of the bed.

“I forgot I have to go back to the Academy today. I won’t be able to see you until the week is over.” she wailed, tackling me in a hug. “What if I run out of energy because I didn’t get to charge my cutie battery with Mauaium?!”

“You’ll be fine,” I said, indulging her and reciprocating the embrace. “Does your sister go there too? Isn’t she cute? And there’s got to be some other attractive students there right?”

The redhead’s face brightened.

“Oh yeah! She does!” She exclaimed, smacking a fist on top of her other hand. "But she’s more of a beauty than a cutie but I’m not against that. And now that you mention it, there are definitely a few other cuties too.” 

“Then you’ll be okay?”

“Yep,” she nodded. “I’m going to tell my sister all about you. I’ll have to introduce you two sometime soon.”

“Please don’t tell her anything embarrassing.”

“I won’t make any promises. Oh yeah, Aunt Murua asked me to escort you to the library before I leave. So hurry up and  get ready, I don’t want to be late!”

After we got dressed, Mayari lead me to the library door, before saying her goodbyes.

I waved her off, then turned to enter the library.

As I made my way inside, I looked around for Master. 

Soon I found her sitting at a table in a far corner of the room, reading something, surrounded in by a massive pile of books.

Ms. Kna’Ve was around, hopping from bookshelf to bookshelf, periodically placing a book upon the already huge stack.

“Good morning Master, Ms. Kna’Ve,” I greeted as I neared the table. 

Ms. Kna’Ve gave me a friendly wave before scampering off to look at other bookshelves.

Master looked up from her book, giving me a smile.

“Oh, Maua. Good morning. How’d you sleep?”

“Better than usual,” I answered truthfully. “What’s all this about?”

“Ah, right.” She put down her book. “Well, I’m your master and it’s my job to teach you right? I know you’re well versed in several things but you don’t really have any know-how of the world. So today, we’ll be covering the basics.”

I took another glance at the huge mass of books. 

“This is the basics?” 

“No, well. It’s- actually it makes more sense I just explain.” She said. “Sit, sit.”

I complied, seating myself in the chair right in front of hers.

“Okay. How much do you know about Fanalaau, Maua?”

“Fan of what?” I asked.

“I see,” She said, grabbing one of her horns. “Nothing at all. We’ll start from bare-bones then.”

She adjusted her seat.

“Fanalaau is the world we're living in. It's a world made of diverse landscapes and beings both sentient and non-sentient.”

She put up three of her fingers.

“Of the sentient races, most can be categorized into three groups. The first is the Imerza, which are the humanoids like humans, orcs, elves, and dwarves.”

‘So there are dwarves!’

“The second are the Nuedons, which contains the spiritoids from the Spectre Kingdoms and most of  the other supernaturals.”

She paused, taking in a breath.

“And last but not least is the Beasuha. The beastmen. They ranged from deep-sea kin, like me and my family, to insect people like the people of Antithe. Got it so far?”

I nodded. Then a question struck me.

“Wait, do you not know what group I belong to? I noticed you didn’t put me into anyone during your explanation thus far. And before, when you were poking fun at my height, you said I might be a deep-sea kin, but you sounded unsure.”

Master’s eyes widened and she tensed up.

She let go of a breath and she slowly nodded.

“I need to remember how sharp you are. But yes, the truth is I don’t really know. Do you remember when Kna’Ve had you put your hand on that tablet thingie?”

“The T.A.R.T.A.R. S.A.U.C.E. right? What about it?”

Master giggled.

“It's the T.A.T.E.R. T.O.T. but anyways. It’s supposed to basically record all the information about the person who inserts their Soulia onto a sheet of paper, right?”

“Right.”

“Well, let’s just say that your information is…unique. Yes, unique. The truth is, we don’t know a lot. But I have a theory, and Kna’Ve and I are trying to find evidence to support that theory. Hence the books.”

“What’s the theory?” I asked.

“I’ll tell you, but first, there’s a story I want you to listen to…”

Lulla

Hey guys! I don't have too too much to say today. Obviously, we'll be getting into some lore shortly, so woohoo if you like that! Other than that, I have a bit of announcement. For those of you aware, I had a story that I was working on last year, called The Saga of Slug. If you haven't read it, don't. It's trash. This story is actually the reboot of the premise of that one. Anyways, I had an idea that sort of revitalized the protagonist from there and put them in a new story entirely. I may post a prologue here as a sneak peek of some sort...so be on the lookout for that possibly. I don't know, it might fall apart completely. But enough of my rambling...thanks for reading!!!