I awoke with a pounding headache and was extremely cold and wet. After a moment had passed I realized that everything below my waist was in water. I couldn't remember what had happened. Why was I waist-deep in the water?

I vaguely remembered being attacked by figures in black and being picked up by Helnion. What had happened after that? I couldn't remember. My head was foggy and it hurt to think. It hurt just being awake. I wanted to go back to sleep. The headache would go away if I did that. Wouldn't it?

“Salis.” I heard someone call to me. “Salis. Are you awake? Please wake up.” The voice sounded familiar. Why did it sound like they were crying? “Salis. Please wake up.” I heard again.

Should I answer the voice? My head hurt. Opening my eyes might make the headache worse. I just wanted to go back to sleep. Yes, sleep would be nice.

Then I remembered. The long chase. The long night. The cat man. Helnion going to try and chase them off. The two men that had forced my hand and me shooting us into the air and landing on the two carriages. Then the jump that had too much power behind it. My last memory was of right before I hit the wood just under the window I had been aiming at. What had happened after that?

I opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was Helnion next to me, holding me. She was crying, softly calling my name. She looked like she had been crying for a while. This was the first time I had seen her cry, though nothing had happened before that would make her do so from what I had seen. Her eyes were closed and she hadn't noticed that I had awakened yet.

Before I said anything to Helnion I looked around me. We were not in a carriage. We were still in the middle of the river and were holding on to a large piece of wood. Helnion couldn't swim so it wasn't surprising that we had not gone to the shore.

Now there was the big question, what had happened to the men and carriages. The fact that we were in this forest could wait for now.

“Helnion,” I spoke.

“You are awake!” she said after almost letting go of me and the piece of wood. “How are you feeling?”

“Well enough,” I said and then got to the point. “What happened?” She told me. To be honest I was baffled more than amazed. Why had the drivers of the carriages just sat there and let themselves be shot? Sure the carriage would crash without them at the controls but they could have just jumped to a nearby carriage and let Helnion go down with it and be rid of her. They could probably have easily killed her before it hit the water and get back in time. The only time a driver had actively attacked her was when he was the only one left to complete the mission and even then he had disregarded the fact that the carriage would crash into the water after he had knocked her way into the controls. Still, I would not complain. I had made escaping easier.

Now we're no longer being chased. The forest we had entered was the reason. Nobody except the followers came into this forest, the Howling Forest, except for followers of Usui. This was why many people called it Usui's Playground. I hated Usui so I called it the Howling Forest.

We didn't look too deep into it yet. We were far enough in that I couldn't see the edge of the forest upriver.

“How long has it been?” I asked Helnion.

She thought and then shrugged. “You know I have no sense of time.” She didn't.

“Want to go to shore?” I asked her.

“I am staying here until we leave the forest.”

That would take days at the speed of the river. Even then the river exited from the middle of the river and there were no towns for a hundred miles in either direction.

“We're not too far in yet. Now would be the best.”

She looked at me worriedly. “Okay.”

It was now time to go to the bank. It would be a long and hard swim. Not only would I have to drag Helnion behind but she had also managed to save my poleaxe and bag. The sword was also still at my hip. At least I had the piece of wood we were holding on to help float everything. In the end I ended up teaching Helnion a little swimming. It wasn't much but I think we made it to shore faster with her help.

We made it to shore after… I couldn't tell how much time had passed. Neither of us stood up upon reaching the shore. We hadn't eaten since the day before, been slammed into things, and I hadn't slept unless you counted being knocked out for an hour or two.

The sounds of animals were everywhere. Most of them seemed harmless but the forest had been named Howling Forest for a reason. There were wolves here. Lots of them. I also knew there would be bears. From what I had read about these two predators were not like their normal counterparts. They always seemed to know when someone that didn't belong here came. They didn't eat them either. They would drag the remains back to the edge of the forest as close to the nearest village as possible so all could see. No one came to the forest, not even in boats. This place was Usui's and his alone.

“We need to go,” I told Helnion. She nodded.

I stood up, barely. Dizziness and nausea swept over me and I almost fell. I must have a concussion or something. I hoped it was nothing worse.

“Are you alright?” said Helnion as she rushed to support me.

“Can you carry me like a princess? I would like that.”

“Like a princess?” I didn't wait for her to figure out I was joking and started walking upriver.

It was slow going. Neither of us had regained any energy. We would just get more tired as time went on unless we got food. Even if we still had the crossbow or any energy we still wouldn't try to hunt for food. We didn't want to kill any of Usui's friends and get his attention. We didn't want to go away from the water anyways.

I was pretty sure we were being followed. I think it was wolves. They had probably been following us since before we came out of the river. I didn't know why they were only following and hadn't attacked. They didn't need to wait for reinforcements. We were as vulnerable as anyone could be. We had regained magical energy but Helnion was tired and wouldn't concentrate well and it was dangerous being around her when she tried using magic when she was tired. I might be able to do something but I would have no idea how well until I saw what my current output was.

I fell. I had no energy. My legs were also in bad shape from the grinding they had received. If I didn't get something to eat I wouldn't be moving much farther.

“Helnion, will you go look for some food?”

She looked around and shivered. “Alright Salis.” Helnion sat me next to a nearby tree and left.

There wasn't much I could do. I decided to sleep. I wasn't worried about getting attacked while I was asleep since I wouldn't be able to defend myself well and I would rather die painlessly in my sleep than when awake. I fell asleep easily.

There was a scream. I sounded like Helnion. It could only be Helnion. She was in trouble or dying. I knew I wouldn't make it in time but I would at least try. Using the tree I stood up. I could walk far enough, I would walk far enough to get to her. I didn't want her to die alone.

Helnion burst through some foliage to my left. She was breathing heavily and I had never seen anyone as scared as she was. She saw me and ran to me. I soon found myself being pulled towards the river.

“What's going on?”

“Wolves.” she managed to get out between frantic breaths.

I wasn't surprised obviously. I had known they were out there. I had just hoped that they would leave us alone. They had left us alone. That is until we started looking for food.

“Stop,” I told Helnion before we entered the water.

“No. They will get us if we do not get into the water.”

“I'm pretty sure wolves can swim,” I told her.

“They can…” she said before slumping to the ground.

“We couldn't swim anyway.”

A wolf walked into view. Helnion stifled a scream. I watched the wolf and it watched me. I didn't know what the wolves were doing. I was sure that they would make examples of us, but they hadn't. The only explanations I could think of were that we would die on our own and they didn't need to kill us or that they had been told not to kill us. They were controlled by Usui and his followers after all.

The wolf went back the way it had come from. Helnion relaxed and sat down by a tree. I sat down too. Neither of us said anything. There wasn't anything to say. There wasn't anything we could do with me in my condition. I fell asleep.

I heard Helnion scream again. I woke up. There was another wolf. In its jaw was a rabbit. It walked up to me and placed the rabbit by my feet then left. It had brought us food. Did someone, namely Usui, want us to live? I felt nauseous. It made sense. Usui was known to love natural beauty and unique things. I didn't know if I could be considered beautiful, I didn't care about that, but I was certainly unique. In more ways than one.

I picked up the rabbit. It would need to be skinned and gutted. Fire would be no problem. There should be a knife in my bag as I had bought a couple of small throwing knives. I didn't want to dirty my sword with something like this.

Helnion took the rabbit from me. She seemed to have already forgotten about the wolf and was happily preparing the rabbit. I wished there was more but I would be more than happy to even have this much.

I awakened from my doze to the sound of a crackling fire and the smell of cooking meat. Helnion was sitting next to me and was holding a stick with the rabbit on the end over a small fire. She was rocking back and forth happily as she watched the rabbit cook. She seemed to have forgotten completely about the situation we were in. There was no reason to worry. Whatever happens, will happen we just had to overcome it when the time came. The wolves also seemed to be helping us and we were probably safe and would make it out alive. There was nothing to worry about.

“It is done!” Helnion yelled happily after a little while. “I think,” she added.

It smelled good. I had had rabbit when I lived in Porra-Kel. My “father” often went hunting when he was not working in the mine and would often bring back rabbit.

“Here,” Helnion said, handing me a large chunk of meat.

Helnion ended up giving me a larger portion of the meat. I didn't complain. I was more than happy to eat it even if it meant Helnion getting less. Selfish I know but I needed the energy.

“We should rest for the rest of the day,” I told Helnion when we had finished eating. She nodded and then helped me stand. Neither of us liked sleeping on the ground. We felt exposed. So we would be sleeping in a tree. Helnion almost preferred sleeping in her tree back in out hideout over her bed, despite the falling hazard. I preferred a bed but I was fine every once in a while.

Helnion had hoisted me onto a low branch and I moved to a sturdy branch while she got up behind me. It was still light out but I didn't care. Neither did Helnion.

“Hello children!” said a male voice below. I awoke with a start, as did Helnion who fell partway off of her branch before catching herself.

There was a man below looking at us. He was surrounded by wolves. From his looks, meaning he was filthy and only wearing a loincloth, he was one of Usui's resident fanatics and had probably not left the forest in years.

“Imagine my amazement at finding two young girls sleeping in a tree!” he said and then laughed. “You are lucky Usui favors you child.” He looked directly at me. “Or the wolves would not have even let you come this far.”

So Usui did have something to do with keeping us alive. I guess that was lucky but I didn't particularly want to think about what it was that made him favor me.

I glance at Helnion. She had seemed to lose interest in the conversation when she saw that it was something I would be handling and was now bouncing her branch up and down because she was bored.

“Why?” I asked.

“Why?” the man repeated my question. “Why are you not dead? Why does Usui favor you? Why did the wolves give you food?” It does not matter child. You can reach your conclusions if you wish, but what matters now is that you will not die as long as you…” He thought for a second. “Behave. Now come down from the tree and I will guide you to a safer place.”

“You're taking us out of the forest?” I asked.

“Not yet. There is another place I will take you and from there what happens to you will be decided.”

I looked at Helnion and then back at the man.

“Will you not take us out of the forest?” I asked again. “It is not far.”

The man smiled. “No one that is not pledged to Usui will leave the forest alive without special permission. I cannot give that permission so if you insist on leaving the wolves will not be so kind.”

So all we needed to do was get permission to leave. I imagine that the person in charge of the forest would be the one to go to. I didn't know if that's where we would be going.

“Will we be able to see him?” I asked.

“Oh yes. You should be honored. Outsiders like yourselves seldom get permission to go to the Deep Forest and meet with the Elder of the Forest.” He smiled. “Because they never live long enough to ask!” and he laughed.

There was no use arguing against him. I didn't want to talk to him anymore anyways so I would go with him and after motioning to Helnion to get down I jumped down out of the tree. It was a dumb decision. My legs were feeling better so I didn't think about them but they were still in no shape to be jumping out of trees. When I landed my legs gave out and my knees slammed into the ground.

Helnion had gasped when she had seen and in her excitement had jumped out of the tree sideways to get to me. She lost her balance and landed on her side with a grunt. I couldn't tell if she had hurt herself. She had a hard head so she was probably fine. The girl had smashed through the wall of a carriage and only got cuts, while I had smashed though one and had not only gotten cuts but had been knocked out for a while and I had been shielding myself with my arms while she hadn't.

Sharp pain brought my attention back to my knees and I saw spots of fresh blood had appeared on my bandages. I was in no position to get up and look at Helnion. There was someone else that could.

“Are you two alright.” said the man as he came rushing towards us. He looked at us. “I could not tell from up in the tree but you two look like you have had a bad day.” He walked over to Helnion first. She jumped up as soon as he touched her and she was back in the tree before she realized what was going on.

“Salis!” she said and then jumped back out of the tree and ran to me. She ignored the man.

The man laughed. “I had always wanted to see a monkey and now I have!”

“Are you alright?” Helnion said, looking at my knees.

“Could I take a look at you two?” the man asked. When he leaned over me his stench made me think that it would make me more sick than any of the injuries I had received so far .“I am not well versed in medicine but I know a little bit.” He continued. He walked over to us and looked us over. “I will need to get some herbs to help keep your wound from getting infected.” He said to Helnion. To me he said. “I would not walk too much with those knees but as a Terran, you will not have to worry about infection.”

I wouldn't have to worry about an infection because I was a Terran? I had indeed read that Terrans seemed to have immunity to most diseases but I never understood why. I could only guess.

“Do you know why?” I asked him.

“Why you will not get infected? That is a good question. One that only the Deity would know the answer to.” He looked at Helnion. “I will go and find some herbs for your wounds.” He looked back at me. “The wolves will bring you more food so eat while I am away and we will leave when we are ready.” He looked at the wolves and then back at us. “Please do not try and leave this spot. The wolves will not like it if you leave without me.” He left.

Some more wolves had appeared. There were two rabbits this time. Helnion and I each prepared our rabbit and we soon sat in front of a fire cooking our meal. Strangely the wolves didn't have any reaction to our fire.

We had finished eating for a while when we saw the man come back. He was carrying some leaves.

“Good to see you still alive.” He chuckled. “It will not take me long to make the medicine.” Helnion and I were both extremely bored. Helnion ended up doing something to my hair and complained that there was no comb in my bag.

The man finished his medicine and dressed Helnion's wounds. “I am so sad.” He said, faking a cry. “Neither of you seem to want to get to know me. You did not even ask for my name.”

“It's not our fault,” I said. “We never stopped you from telling us. I don't care anyway.”

“You can call me Leeja.” Smiled. “I know you are Salis.” He looked at me. “But I have not heard her name yet.” He looked at Helnion.

Helnion looked at him. She didn't say anything but smiled instead. It looked like she was going to not tell him, just for fun. I wouldn't stop her. It would be fun.

“I do not like that smile. You are not going to tell me are you.” He laughed. “I have to call you something.”

If it were me that was about to get a nickname from this man I would have immediately told him my name. I would not want to get a nickname from someone like him. In Helnion's case, it would probably be something to do with being a monkey. Poor Helnion was soon going to get a monkey name.

The man laughed. “I cannot think of anything good. I will just call you Salis Two. That will make it easier to remember.”

“Salis Two?” Helnion repeated the name.

“Salis and Salis Two let us move on. The day is yet young and we have far to walk.”

My legs were still tired and hurt and I only managed to walk for a half-hour before I had to stop. I had a lot more energy now that I had eaten but there was no getting around my wounded legs.

“This is no good.” Said the Stinky Wolf Man. “Those legs of yours will not be able to make the trip. In that case, someone will have to carry you.” He motioned to one of the largest wolves and “talked” with it.

When he finished talking to the wolf he spoke to me. “I have asked this wolf to carry you.” The wolf crouched in front of me, waiting for me to get on. “It is good that you are still small or the wolf would not be able to carry you.

The going was much easier now. It was strange riding on the back of the wolf. I didn't ride it for too long. Despite me still being small I still weighed too much for a wolf to be able to carry for more than an hour or so. This didn't matter. All the wolves obeyed the Stinky Wolf Man and I rode about four different ones before we were met by another pack and the old wolves left to go back to their territory or something like that.

The new pack brought us more food and we rested and ate before continuing. This happened once more that day. When night fell the last pack left and we set up camp for the night. The next two days were much the same.

Even though I had hardly walked much the last three days my legs felt just as bad now as when I had started. There was no doubt that they had healed some but they had been pretty bad.

Helnion looked worse than I did in a way. My only problem was that my legs still had a while to heal. She had to walk for three straight days. Since she was part of the aristocracy she had had the luxury of using a carriage to get everywhere and the most she had to walk was to our hideout in the grove of trees. She didn't even have training. Suffice to say she wasn't in the greatest physical shape and was now being forced to walk for hours with little chance for rest.

The forest had thickened substantially. When we first started I could tell a little about the time of the day. Now it was almost a perpetual twilight. Very little light was getting through the trees. If we had not entered the Deep Forest yet…

Sometime during the fourth day, we made it. The place in the middle of the Deep Forest that the followers of Usui called their home was much as I had pictured it. There were no buildings. There wasn't even a temple. They had done nothing to improve upon the land. The only thing that gave away that this was their place was that there were lots of people here. Unfortunately, most were naked and dirty. They looked as if they had shunned all Technology.

I hated this place. It wasn't because of the lack of Technology but all the naked people. It was all I could do to not see any. The only place I could look was down at my feet since they were even in the trees and that was the worst view. Helnion didn't seem to be enjoying it either.

The wolves had left us. I hadn't noticed when they had left. The only one remaining was the one I was currently riding on. It looked like it didn't want to be here either.

I was surprised at how many people were here. Usui had as many followers as the rest but few were this… radical. Being amongst all these people was one of the most uncomfortable feelings I've had in my memory. I didn't look at them but I could tell they were all looking at us.

“We are here.” The Stinky Wolf Man said.

I looked sideways at what was in front of us. There was a large rock sticking out of the ground. Fortunately, there weren't many people in the direction of the rock so I looked at it to see what was so special about this rock and from what I could tell there was nothing special about it other than its size. There was a naked man on top. He was the oldest person I had seen yet, which wasn't saying much since I had avoided looking at people as best I could.

“I am going back now.” The Stinky Wolf Man said before leaving. I wasn't sad to see him go. His jokes were really lame, and he stank.

Helnion and I did nothing. Helnion wouldn't do anything on her own and would wait and see what I did. I, on the other hand, couldn't think of anything other than to wait. I imagine that the old man up there was who we were here to see, the Elder of the Forest, and I wouldn't bother him because I didn't want to.

“You have finally arrived.” He said before spinning himself around while still in his sitting position. That was good because his legs were blocking that place. “Tell me. What is your name child?”

I wanted to get this over with so I decided not to be difficult. “Salis and this is my sidekick Helnion.”

“I am glad to see you came here without giving us much trouble. Lord Usui would have been saddened to hear of your death.” The EotF had directed that only at me which meant that they didn't care what happened to Helnion. This also raised another question. Why would Lord Usui be saddened at my death?

“Why would Usui be sad if I died?”

“Why would he be sad? Because you are perfect for his collection. Ever since you entered his forest you have been his as is everything else. But you are special. A Terran! Your uniqueness is highly prized by Lord Usui and he has chosen to have you in his special collection.”

I was owned by Usui now? The thought disgusted me. The thought of anyone owning me disgusted me. “I can't allow anyone to own me,” I said.

The EotF showed no expression. “It is this or death.”

Death almost sounded better, but I couldn't die. As long as I was alive I could move forward. I still didn't know what I was moving forward to but I didn't care as long as I had the freedom to decide. So I would live and figure out what I could do to escape this situation.

“What are you going to do to me?” I asked the question that must come.

“Why you will be going to Lord Usui's home and there you will stay for a thousand years when you will be returned to the life cycle.” He said but added, “If that is the fate of Terrans.”

“What of Helnion?”

“That is for Lord Usui to decide.” He said and then twisted a ring on his finger.

We were done talking. The EotF had turned back around and paid us no more attention. There was nothing to do but wait. I didn't know if Usui himself would personally come and take us or what

I got off of the wolf, which promptly ran off, and sat next to the nearest tree. Helnion sat next to me with a sigh of satisfaction. I wasn't tired like Helnion but I decided to get some rest. It was also a good time to think about what to do. I didn't know what I could do against a Deity I was going to think anyway.

“Salis.” Came a voice, waking me. “It is time.”

A man was standing above me. His presence was enormous, but he was, fortunately, wearing something. In this case a highly polished breastplate and other pieces of armor.

“Are you Usui?” I said, standing up.

“No. I am but one of his humble servants.” I kicked Helnion in the ankle. “She's coming with us,” I said while trying to wake her up.

“I have not received orders concerning bringing another.”

“She's coming with us.” Having Helnion with me would increase my chances of escaping no matter how small, and it would be cruel to leave her here with all these naked people. Oh, and they might kill her.

“If you must.” The man in armor said, picking up the now waking up Helnion and grabbing my arm.

In a flash, we were somewhere else. It was much brighter and I had to shield my eyes. I looked like Usui didn't live in the middle of a deep forest.

It was like I was in a park. There were even paths paved with cobblestone and a large pond. This park even had clipped grass from the animals grazing all around. There were animals from every place I could imagine and fortunately they were all herbivores.

“Follow me.” The man in armor said and began walking.

In the direction we were now heading I saw actual buildings in the distance. This place was turning out to not be as bad as I was thinking it was going to be. I just hoped they wore clothes and bathed occasionally.

There were lots of people. They were all either extremely beautiful or… um, unique. They were also all clothed to varying degrees which was better than nothing. They were also clean. Almost too clean. Everything here was clean from the people to the animals.

Helnion, now awake, was even more fascinated than I was. I don't think this had seen any place this clean and there were so many animals that she could have only heard about. I watched her as she wandered about and got closer looks at the more exotic animals before getting distracted by the next interesting thing.

We arrived at the buildings. There were many of them. All different shapes and sizes. They reminded me of pictures I had seen on Earth of ancient ruins. They even were covered with plants, albeit well-groomed plants. The plant-covered stone buildings could only be described as beautiful. Which was saying a lot since I never cared about beauty.

We entered the largest building. Inside was even more wondrous than the outside. Despite now being in a building it was almost as if we were still outside if you ignored the walls. Here too plants grew. There were even some animals in here, all tame.

We entered a courtyard that appeared to be in the center of the building. We were back outside now. The armored man led us to the center and directed us to sit on some stone benches while we waited.

The fun was about to begin. I would be one of the few that got to meet a Deity. I was not happy about it. It could be worse though. Usui was not a bad god, just one that rubbed me the wrong way. Thinking about being enslaved by Dugin would be much much worse than Usui.

There was nothing to do while I waited. Helnion was looking around in amazement and if she wasn't so tired I imagine she would be all over the place. I too looked around. I had already seen enough of the building so I looked for anything else.

This place was only filled with women. Like those outside, they were all extremely beautiful or unique. The clothes they wore was also the same. All made with the finest materials and from what I could guess they were in the style from wherever they had come from.

A group of women came out of one of the hallways. They did not have the same feel about them as the other women. Their clothes were not of the same quality and while still beautiful were not as beautiful as all the other women I had seen earlier. My best guess was that they were servants or visitors. I had yet to see any children, not even in the town.

“Are these the girls?” one of the women asked the others.

“A Terran girl and another. It would seem so.” another woman said.

“What dreadful condition.” said a third.

One of the women stepped out in front of the others and looked at me. “I will not ask how you came to be like this. It is, however, my job to see that you are made proper before Lord Usui sees you.” She took my arm. “If you would follow me.”

I welcomed the opportunity to get new clothes and cleaned up. Not only was I filthy my clothes and flesh alike were cut and torn. The dried blood didn't help either.

Helnion and I were eventually placed into a small room with some baskets where we were asked to strip. I didn't usually didn't like being nude in front of others but it was only women and they probably would strip me themselves if I didn't.

I now found myself in a room with a small pond and stream running through it. It must be what passed for a bath around here and in no time I was being scrubbed by the women. Helnion was on her own. I almost envied her for it.

It had been a horrible bath. It felt like my skin had been scrubbed off. They had also cleaned my wounds, more like scrubbed them. Helnion was once again left alone. Maybe I could ask to switch places with her.

After the bath came grooming. Helnion normally did this for me, but not only had I been gone all summer it had also been a tiring last few days and even Helnion hadn't touched my hair. Now she practically fought them. In the end I suffered for it. Getting hair untangled is pretty painful when rights to your hair are being fought over.

Finally, I got new clothes. What I got wasn't what I expected. They had prepared a Toga for me and not a chisha. Like those of the women I had seen earlier it was of the highest quality, silk from what I could tell, and was finely handmade. If I got out of here I could sell it for a lot of money. Helnion, on the other hand, got a cotton chisha.

“You look much better now.” One of the women said, smiling. “I wish I could do something about those wounds.” She put a serious look. “Lord Usui should be ready to see you now. Follow me.”

We walked through the building and entered a room that was larger than most of the others from what I had seen. It was filled with women and in the middle of them was a man like I had never seen before.

It had to be Usui. His extremely long hair gave off a soft glow and there seemed to be a faint aura around him. He was also unnaturally attractive. If he was not Usui than couldn't imagine what it would be like to see that real Usui.

The man saw us as soon as we entered and waved us over. The women whispered among themselves and giggled. Not all of it was directed at me, fortunately.

“Welcome!” he said happily. “I'm Usui and you must be Salis and her sidekick…” he paused at the word sidekick and smiled wryly, “Helnion. You will have to tell me what sidekick means later.” He chuckled and on cue the women did also. “Maybe you'll tell me your real name at that time too. Salis certainly isn't your real name.”

In that moment I noticed something. He wasn't speaking Flaern. He was speaking the language I hadn't heard since I had been on Earth. The weird thing was that his lip movement didn't match his words. Now that I had thought about I realized that servants earlier while speaking Flaern had also had their lip movements off. I wonder what the difference was. I would have to ask him later if I got the chance. For now, I would see what he had to say.

He leaned forward and rested his chin on his hand. “Tell me, do you know why you have been brought here?” He asked me.

A part of me wanted to stay silent and frustrate him, but I needed to stay on his good side and I also wanted to know as much as possible about my situation. So I replied, “I was told that I become your property when I entered the forest and I would become part of your collection.” I would become one of the women here probably.

He laughed. “I guess collection is one way to put it, but I prefer to call it getting married to me.”

Get married to him? So this was a harem after all. There was no way I would get married. I wasn't old enough anyway, unless he is a pedophile. I didn't see any young girls here so he might not be one, they grew up, or they just weren't here at the moment.

“I have no desire to become your wife and I'm too young anyway,” I told him straightforwardly.

He laughed again. “You're standing before a Deity and you say something most would be too scared to say. Are you not intimidated by me?”

I would be lying if I said I hadn't been intimidated by him, he was a Deity after all. But being overcome by my intimidation would not help. As to answering his question I stayed silent.

“Not going to say? Well, it doesn't matter. You will grow used to me in time and even come to love me. As to being too young you are quite right. Children are most beautiful with their innocence and I don't like to take away that beauty. Therefore I will let you stay here as a guest until you have fully matured and I will then welcome you as my newest wife. I'm doing this even though we both know you are older than you appear, if only on the inside.”

“As I have said before, I have no interest in getting married. Not to anyone. Ever.” I told him the truth. I wanted the least amount of connections to Calorin and wherever we were at the moment.

“Not to anyone?” He looked genuinely shocked. “Marriage is a wonderful thing. Why would you not want something so wonderful?”

I had no reason to explain to him why I never wanted to get married. If he wanted it he would have to mind probe me or something.

“Alright.” he continued. “What will I do with you then? I won't let you go home.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Why? As you said, you are now part of my collection and while I might have considered letting you go back, as foolish as it sounds, I can't let someone as pretty and unique as you go back to the certain danger you will face.” He looked at my legs. “ And I am not the only one that wants you. Terrans never have easy lives and with you showing that you brought knowledge from Terra there will be many that seek you. Both for your knowledge and even to kill you to get rid of that knowledge.”

He was right. I knew even before I had gone to Kein that people would want to exploit me. If I had been sure that I wouldn't have been found in Porra-Kel I might have even stayed there, as unpleasant as that would have been. But that wasn't the case as Pali's arrival showed. So I went with one of the very people I wanted to avoid. But I needed the skills that they had taught me to better escape others that would come after.

“I'll take my chances,” I told him finally.

He leaned back. “I'll think about this for while you finish healing.”

That was fine by me. But there were some things I wanted to know before I left.

“Can I ask you a few questions before I leave,” I asked.

“Certainly. I'll do all I can to make you feel comfortable.”

“What are you planning on doing with Helnion?” I asked something that needed to be asked.

“Why don't we ask her what she wants?” He looked at Helnion. “So little Helnion, what do you want? Do you want to go home? Do you want to stay here and become a servant?”

Being around a Deity had made Helnion concentrate for once, which goes without saying, and replied immediately. “I want to go where Salis goes.”

“So if she stays here you will too? And if she somehow convinces me to let her leave you will give up the chance at this wonderful life?”

Helnion repeated. “I will go where Salis goes.”

“Are you satisfied with that Salis?” he asked me.

“If that's what she wants.” Now that I had that out of the way I had one more question. “I only have one more question,” I told him.

“Alright.”

“How did you learn my native language?”

“Oh that? Let's just say it's one of the perks of being a Deity. If you stay here with me I might give it to you too.”

It looks like he wouldn't explain in depth. While it was convenient it was distracting having the lip movement match his words. His offer to give it to me was not tempting either. If I went somewhere where I couldn't understand the language it would be a great excuse to not have to talk to anyone.

Now that I was done talking to him Helnion and I were separated and taken to our rooms. While it wasn't the biggest bedroom I had ever seen it certainly was one of the most luxurious rooms I had been in. While it certainly celebrated the beauty of nature like everywhere else there was plenty of man-made things here too. The bed was large, with a canopy overhead and slightly transparent silk curtains hanging down from it. There was a large bookshelf, albeit empty, a reading chair and desk. All of which looked as if they had been grown and not cut.

The servants were busy with me too. They had brought me a large dinner with plenty of vegetables, fruits, and dairy products, but no meat. They also eventually started bringing books that were written if Flaern and the shelf was soon full of all sorts of books.

Later I was inundated with clothes, most of them Romanesque, but also many of the styles that were popular in the Flaern Nobility. I didn't care so I just let them use me as a dress-up doll and kept what they thought looked good on me. Most of the clothes ended up all white. I did end up choosing one thing. I had gotten sick of all the white clothes people seemed to always choose for me so I chose one of complete black. They joked that I must be in mourning about something, which I was. I was in mourning about being here.

Helnion eventually came when the servants had left for the night. It was obvious that she had not received the same treatment that I had gotten. Her clothes were the same cotton chisha she had been given earlier while I was now wearing my thirty somethingth outfit today. I imagine her room was nothing like this.

“I am bored.” Was the first thing she said.

I was bored too. It was late in the day now but we still had time to do something. Then the light bulb hit. If we could just annoy them enough to not want us here… It was the best idea I had had yet. It was risky. I could see Usui's no longer smiling face as he ordered the trouble makers exterminated, but I would rather risk that than to become another love slave to Usui no matter how luxurious a life it would be.

“Let's just take a walk and see if there is anything interesting to do.” Survey the battlefield I say.

“Alright,” Helnion said with a smile.

We ended up not walking very much. My legs were still sore and Helnion eventually just sat down on the ground and rubbed her legs. I didn't blame her, she had been walking a lot the past few days.

The rest of the day proved uneventful. When it had gotten dark the other servant found us and took us back to our rooms and served dinner. I wasn't sleepy yet so I used a crystal lantern I had found in my room and read.

The next day was uneventful too. My knees still needed some more healing before I would let myself walk around too much and Helnion was still sore though we were feeling better. So we just stayed in my room and at one point in the day had a strategy meeting. We still did not know much about where we were but with the way they were trying to please me I bet that I could easily get materials.

Our second full day here Helnion and I finally felt up to walking around. Surprisingly everyone was super friendly and despite the extravagance did not seem elitist in any way. I didn't know if that's just how everyone was or that they were just being nice to help convince me to stay. I ignored them for the most part and eventually even left the city to get away from all the people and their now creepy to me politeness.

Helnion loved it outside the city. While there had been animals inside the city there were much more out here and they fascinated her. While I recognized most of the animals she couldn't have. Flaern generally kept to itself and didn't have many explorers throughout its history and mainly got its outside information through traders.

Helnion and I had ended up skipping lunch and had been scolded by the maids when we got back to Usui's house. They had now gotten used to Helnion and no longer herded her back to her room though she did get yelled at more than I had and was told to not let me miss meals as we had.

The third day was the preparation day. We now knew what we wanted to do. It hadn't taken us long to know what we wanted to do as we just recycled many of the things we had done back at the school.

I had been right about easily getting equipment. I was often asked why I would need what I wanted but they got it for me even though I never gave them an answer. Since I had already built lots of these things earlier I easily got done before the end of the day.

The fourth day was showtime. Helnion was back to her old self and my knees didn't give me problems anymore except if I hit them on something. I knew that we had to start today. Usui had told us that he would get back to us when I had healed. I didn't know if that meant completely or just back to where I could walk with no problems.

We began our work after breakfast. Our first stop was the kitchen. We had built another air canon since Helnion had lost the one I had brought with me and needed ammo. We had found the spot where they put the rotten fruit and vegetables by the animal feeding place. We loaded bags with vegetables and fruit before leaving for our launch site.

We were now on the roof of the Usui's house. From here there were plenty of places to target but there was one that we wanted to shoot at above all. The center courtyard. There were always plenty of Usui's wives relaxing or chatting here. It was perfect. I just hoped they didn't mind their clean place a little messy.

My air canon ended up becoming more of a giant shotgun. Many times the fruit would just spray out of the canon after opening the pressurized chamber that held the projectile. Not only was this much better at saturating our target with pieces of fruit and vegetables it also didn't hurt as much when it hit someone. I still enjoyed watching the few intact projectiles splatter more.

We had made a huge mess. Usui's wives eventually found and we got away after they began to chase us. We had planned on this and already had our escape route planned. We were also lucky most of them weren't very athletic though a few managed to keep up with us for a while. Helnion laughing all the while.

Having lost our pursuers we headed to our next location. I goes without saying that all those women were going to want a bath after what we had done. It would be too late to get all of them, but we were going to get as many as we could.

In front of us was the stream that fed the bath in Usui's house and next to it were a pile of rocks we had put there the day before. We were going to dam the stream. It didn't take long. We had stacked the rocks in a way that they all fell in with just a push and then fill in the gaps.

When I planned this I knew that rocks alone would not be enough to stop the water so I had chosen a special spot. The spot was a place that made it easy to divert the stream down a nearby hill after a little digging. In no time we had most of the water going where we wanted. Now only a small amount of water was going to make it to the bath and it would hopefully empty.

Our next plan was Helnion's. It was good. The only problem with it was that it was pretty dangerous, not only to ourselves but to those that were unfortunate enough to get involved in it. If they could run fast enough they should be fine.

This plan only had one problem. It involved finding a herd of animals. We not only had to hope there was one around we also had to get them running and get them to go in the right direction. Fortunately for us, they were tame and some of them had let Helnion ride on them. We also needed to find a way to scare them and get them to run.

There they were. It was a herd of something like a gazelle, or a gazelle. They did nothing as we approached them. There were no predators here for them to run from so they must have seen everything as safe. I hoped that I could exploit this.

Helnion had gotten on one of the animals. She knew what we were here for so I didn't see why she would do that but it didn't matter. All I needed to do was get the animals to run, having Helnion riding one would add to the effect if she could stay on.

I positioned my self so the animals were between me and the city. I had an idea of how to get them to run and pulled out my sword. I didn't need to kill the animals so it wouldn't matter if my current magic power output was low as I just needed to shock them. It worked better than expected. I smacked the hindquarters of as many animals as I could and they soon ran away from me as fast as they could. Helnion managed to stay on her gazelle and was screaming happily as she went off.

After watching the event unfold I went to our temporary hiding place. I was going to have to wait for the town to settle down before the last event of the day. I also needed to see if Helnion would come back. I had lost sight of her and didn't know if she had fallen off or gotten caught. I would have to wait and see.

It was almost time to start the next event when Helnion finally arrived. Aside from some scratches, torn clothes, and some bruises she seemed fine. I had expected as much. She had gotten good at escaping as long as she didn't find something more interesting.

“Sorry Salis, I got lost,” she said before sitting down and opening a basket of food we had hidden here.

Night had now fallen. We had been lucky to not have been found by some servants that had come. I hadn't seen any for a while so I decided it was time to leave. Helnion was next to me dozing and I shook her awake.

“Is it time?” She asked sleepily.

I nodded and picked up one of the bags we had stashed here along with the food. What was in these bags were the main attraction for our last event of the day. Inside the bags were several things. Operation Night Whistle is what I liked to call this event. I had been wanting to try this at the school when I had gotten back but here would be even better than at the school. I had even made a prototype that was in my bag I had brought back from Flae.

As the name of the operation suggests this had something to do with whistles. I had also waited for night to fall so everyone would be asleep or getting ready. What made the plan even better was that I would be attaching levitation crystals to the whistles and would tie them off with a fine string so they wouldn't float off. The whistle was connected to a wind crystal to make the noise. These were connected to a magic storage crystal to make the effect last a while. I had prepared several of these floating whistles and hoped it would be enough to wake the whole town.

The moment had come. I could see many of the lights going out in the houses. Helnion and I each took a bag and snuck to the center of town where we split up and began the operation. We knew we had to rush. As soon as the crystal got their power they would give our position away. I had wanted to make a timer somehow but didn't have time so we would have to start them and run off as soon as it floated away.

Soon the town was full of wailing whistles. By the time the town folk had realized what was happening I had placed my last floating whistle and went back to my room. I didn't care about being caught now that my work was done and they probably wouldn't think to look back in my room anyway.

I said I didn't care about being caught but I found myself enjoying the sneak back into Usui's house. Almost everybody was awake now and none looked happy. None of them were looking for me so I easily navigated around them through the sparse light in the building. In no time I was back to my room. He was waiting inside.

“What an eventful day,” said Usui to me, smiling as usual. “Did you enjoy yourself? I know I did. There hasn't been this much excitement here in ages.”

So he had enjoyed it had he? I wasn't surprised. As a Deity he must not care too much for those under him and just watched the show. I hoped he wouldn't keep me around so I would liven things up a bit.

“The whistles are a bit annoying but I thoroughly enjoyed how you covered the girls in rotten fruits and vegetables and then stopped the water to the bath.” He laughed. “Which you need.”

This wasn't going to plan. I had needed this to annoy him not to provide entertainment for him. I just now had to hope that the others would complain enough to keep me from staying.

“Don't think that I will let you off the hook for providing me entertainment, it wouldn't be fair to the others. While I had considered it that stampede through town could have killed someone and I can't ignore that.” His face no longer had the smile he always seemed to have and had been replaced by a serious expression. It almost gave me chills. Almost.

“So what will my punishment be?” I asked.

“First thing tomorrow morning I'm going to have the entire town gather and have you give them a formal apology. After that, you will spend the rest of the day helping the servants clean.”

I was fine with the latter punishment but the first was a problem. “I'm fine cleaning, but I will not apologize.”

“Why not?”

“I will not apologize for something unless I genuinely feel regret for it and I feel no regret for what I did today.”

“Even if you don't regret it apologizing will still lessen the anger your victims will have against you.”

Having the town folk angry at me had been the plan all along. Apologizing would just take back the effort I had put forward. I also didn't like being dishonest and apologizing when I felt no guilt would not be honest.

“Very well. If you don't mind the anger of everyone then that is your problem.” He sighed. “I have one last thing. Since you seem better I will tell you of your options that I will give you after you have finished your chores tomorrow.” He stood up and left. I wasted no time and prepared for bed. It had been a long day. I soon fell asleep despite a whistle or two still sounding in the distance.

The next day was interesting. While the cleaning wasn't too bad of a punishment my time with the other maids proved to be the real highlight of the day. I could tell that they were irritated at me from my actions the day before they kept it to themselves. The thing that was interesting to me was that they were not sure about how to treat me. They knew that Usui wanted me to be his wife and wanted to treat me with respect, but at the same time, they knew I was in the middle of a punishment and that they were expected to treat me more harshly. Trapped in this duality they would treat me like a low-class servant and in another moment slip back to treating me like I was their master.

I had worked hard. The mess from the day before had been cleaned already so I found myself doing deep cleaning. I quickly found out how many pots were in the kitchen, how many clothes Usui's wives went through, and where the chamber pots needed to be emptied. Strangely I never saw Helnion once throughout the day. Had she even come back or were they just keeping us away from each other?

The day was now almost over. I was tired and my knees ached. I ignored this and went to Usui's room. Here I would finally find out what would be happening to me.

“You look like you worked hard today,” Usui said, his smile back on his face. “I expect you didn't learn any lessons from today, but an example needed to be made regardless.”

He was right that I hadn't learned a lesson from my punishment today. I would gladly risk another day doing hard cleaning for the sake of my mission.

“I know you don't like idle talk so I'll get right to the point. What is going to happen to Salis? I have come up with two options. The first is obvious, you will stay here and become my wife when the time comes. Since we already talked about this it would be a waste of time to talk about it anymore.

This leads to your second choice. Your second choice will be a test. If you can overcome this test I will let you go. But what is this test you ask? It will be to help a dear friend of mine. Well, maybe not friend but acquaintance. You see, Kel has been having a bit of overcrowding problems in one of his realms. He has asked the rest of us Deity if we could help. For the most part the rest of us Deity like to stay as far away from Kel and his realms as possible. Even Dugin leaves him alone.

Until now I've had no reason to answer Kel's call for help but I think this is an excellent opportunity. If you can help Kel with his problem then I will let you go. I will warn you. There are many dangers and you probably will die if you go.

Now that you know your options what will you choose.” He finished.

Stay here and live a thousand years in luxury married to a Deity, fawning over him, or certain death. I really must be stupid, but I didn't want the life he was offering. What would I do for a thousand years anyways. I had a hard enough time now fighting off boredom.

“Is Kel so bad?” I asked Usui.

“I get depressed just being around him.” His smile left his face for a moment as he thought about it.

I wished I could laugh. The reason Usui didn't like being by Kel was that he was depressing? Well, he was the Deity in charge of the afterlife. Having to deal with dead people… Yeah, I could see a person like that as depressing.

“I'll take my chances.”

Usui sighed. “I was afraid of this. Such a waste. Such a rare physically complete Terran sent off to die.

Now that we have decided I will go over the details tomorrow.” he said, dismissing me.

I was glad that he hadn't sent me off to Kel right then. If I was to face certain death I wanted to at least get another night of sleep.

It was hopefully the final day here at Usui's realm. I had been brought back to his chamber and, since he wasn't here yet, rested on one of the many cushions.

Since Usui wasn't here the hordes of women were gone too. Aside from myself only Helnion, a few maids, and a depressed-looking girl two or three years older than Helnion. No one spoke, although Helnion happily hummed a song while doing something to my hair.

Usui came after about an hour and a half. He didn't look happy. I didn't need to think about why. He didn't even speak to any of us for a few minutes before sighing and coming to me.

“Will you not change your mind.” He said. I said nothing. “No? Well, let's get this over with. First I want to introduce you to someone else I'm sending with you.”

Usui nodded at one of the servants, who brought the depressed-looking girl over. Now I knew why she was looking depressed. She had to come with us to our supposed deaths.

“This is Perrinu.” Like you she was rescued by some of my followers. She is one of the last of her people so I wanted to at least preserve one of here line. Unfortunately, she says that she cannot live a life of luxury when the last of her people are still being hunted.” He looked at the girl sadly.

The girl repeated the name and said something in a language I didn't recognize. If her language didn't give away how foreign she was her honey-colored hair and blue eyes were unheard of in the continent Flaern was on.

“I was going to make her a servant but she was too depressed to do anything. I had no idea about what to do with her until you came along, Salis. You see, I believe neither you nor your sidekick are completely qualified to handle Kel's task and I think Perrinu does.”

“What is our task exactly?” I asked.

“I will leave the full explanation to Kel. But first I would like to give you some supplies before we go. You will need them. Just don't expect me to give you any great object of power.”

We all walked to a different part of the building. I hadn't been inside this particular room before and wished I had found it before. I was filled with anything and everything related to weaponry and magic and there was lots of it.

“I don't like this room,” Usui said when we had entered. “But with Dugin around we have to have something to protect ourselves with.” He walked to a table. “I have asked my servants to put somethings you will need and some others to choose from here.”

He picked up a large ornate wooden box three latching drawers and had straps and padding on the back. “This I got from Melche. Only the Deity of Magic could make this wonderful thing. You should be thankful to her because without this you would starve to death.”

We would starve to death? So were we going to go somewhere that didn't have access to food? I guess I was fine with that if he was providing the means to give us food.

He continued. “By placing something in this drawer it can be accessed from an identical set of drawers that have been connected and this big drawer on the bottom is the most important.” He opened it. “It will have food and water placed in it at designated times of the day so keep an eye on”

He closed the large bottom drawer and opened the small drawer in the middle. “This is your chamber pot. Kel doesn't want the place you are going to to be contaminated so be sure to use it or he might not let you go.” Didn't laugh like I thought he would so he might be serious about this. Now the only problem was that it was pretty unsanitary to keep the chamber pot right next to the food.

Usui closed the middle drawer and opened the top drawer. “This drawer is for whatever I feel like.” He did laugh this time.

All in all, this was a pretty amazing tool he was giving us. Since there were three of them we wouldn't have to share one which made things easier. The only problem I could see with this was that it was big and bulky. It would be worth any discomfort.

“The next item is something also made by Melche. Only she doesn't know that I took them from one of her storerooms a millennia ago.” He picked up a silk bag and pulled out a white ribbon with Melche's symbol on it. I had seen one of these on everyone's neck here. There was also the question of how he had stolen so many without Melche noticing. “These wonderful things were the answer to the language problems I had. Even though I enjoy the diverse languages from around the world it is a bother when your servants can't speak the same language and teaching them takes time…” He was immortal, why did he care how much time it took to train a servant?

Usui handed one to each of us, which we all put on our necks. I immediately felt it tighten around my neck and when I tried to loosen it I found it wouldn't come off.

Usui laughed. “Did I forget to mention that Melche is the only one that can take these off? Well, dying lets them come loose too.”

He knew me too well already. I probably would have never put one on if I had known it wouldn't come off without Melche's help. At least it was useful.

Strangely all the ribbons had matched the colors of the wearer. I couldn't see mine but Helnion's was the exact color of her magical energy. The new girl's had also changed colors.

Usui stood behind the table now. “I know you and your sidekick,” he spoke to me, “have been trained. I know you still have some weapons and tools Salis, but Helnion does not. On this table I have some things for you to choose from. Most of them are weapons and none of them will be like your sword if that is what you were hoping for.”

If he had prepared weapons for us then we were going someplace dangerous. It was true that I still had my sword and somehow my poleaxe, but I didn't have my crossbow anymore and I wanted another one or at least a bow. Helnion would also need some things to protect herself. While she knew magic pretty well she wasn't reliable with it. While she wouldn't be much help with a sword or bow it would be better than nothing.

“Lord Usui.” The new girl said, the ribbon helping me understand her now. “I cannot fight. I will not fight. I have seen too much bloodshed.” She said desperately.

“I never expected you to fight, Perrinu,” Usui said gently to her. “I do not want to send you with these girls but I do not believe that they can finish their task without you. Not only will they do the fighting for you if needed, helping them will lead to your return to Calorin.”

“Is there not another way?” she pleaded.

“There is no need to worry. It will be dangerous and there will be fighting but I think it will be something you can look back on and be proud about.”

The girl, Perrinu (I would have to remember that if I was going to be stuck with her), didn't say anything else.

During their discourse Helnion had approached the table and was eyeing a sword suspiciously. She had never had good luck when it came to weapons and didn't like handling them, but she listened when it was important and she must have realized how much she needed to arm herself.

“Don't worry,” I told her. “I'll let you train with me.”

Helnion backed off a little when I said this. She knew how hard I was on myself and others when I sparred. She had seen how bad my bruises could be and how bad my opponent could get if they were less skilled than I was. Suffice to say I couldn't get anyone less skilled than me to train with me after a while.

I let Helnion go back to her scrutinizing of the weapons and I decided to take a look too. After a quick look over I saw that there wasn't much variety. There weren't any crossbows so I would have to choose a bow. Everything else wasn't of interest to me since I already had a sword and poleaxe and there were no magic crystal of any kind.

I looked more closely at the bows. I wasn't disappointed that there was no crossbow. While I preferred a crossbow over a bow for its ease of use and penetrating power bows had longer range and more accuracy.

The bows were all well made. They had also been made to look like they had just been taken off of a tree. This didn't seem to take away from their usability and I soon had one of the best bows I had held picked out along with a few quivers of fine arrows.

Helnion had finished picking her things too. I doubt it had taken her long and that she just picked out something at random. They were all fine weapons so it probably didn't matter what she chose because she would be equally bad.

I then noticed that the new girl Perrinu hadn't picked up anything and was just standing next the door looking at the floor. I knew she didn't want to fight but she would get in the way if she didn't have a weapon. Even if she wasn't good with one it would still help. Since I knew I was already going to be carrying a lot of things I just grabbed a small dagger to give her later and if she didn't take it, oh well I had another dagger.

“Finished?” Usui said after I had picked up the dagger and went to Helnion. “I no longer have anything else to say to you so go back to your rooms and get your things and a few changes of clothes then meet me back in my room.” Usui left as did we all.

It didn't take me long to get my things. I never had taken most of the items out of my bag and I always took my sword with me, which no one seemed to notice, and since I wouldn't be coming back here I changed into fresh clothes, my black ones, then grabbed a change of clothes and put them in my bag. I also put on my armored bracers. If it was going to be dangerous I wanted them on.

Laden with my now more than ever bulging bag, sword, poleaxe, bow, quivers, and magic box I set off for Usui's room. I was going to have to figure out how to carry all of this stuff… I was too small. Even Helnion would have a hard time carrying it all, still, I somehow made it.

Everyone was already there. Usui laughed when he saw me and Helnion looked at me curiously. She was probably wondering how I managed to carry it all here. As for the new girl, forgot her name again, she was sitting quietly and said nothing.

When Usui had finished laughing he said, “How are you planning on taking all of that with you? Just because you made it here doesn't mean you will be able to carry it around like that everywhere.”

I didn't answer him and walked over to Helnion. She looked at me curiously but said nothing. I put everything I was holding down and picked up her magic box and put it on her. I then placed my bag on top of her box and tied it on. Helnion didn't have much so it was the best place to put it. Helnion seemed to be happy to help me. She always did. Should I feel bad about taking advantage of her loyalty?

Now that I had gotten rid of my biggest burden on Pack Mule Helnion my load was manageable. It was still a lot for someone of my age but all the training I had gone through hadn't left me weak.

“Alright, now that you have seemed to have solved that problem,” Usui said after seeing what I had done. “We will leave as soon as the rest of you have your belongings ready.” And Perrinu and I strapped our boxes on like a backpack and picked and Helnion and I strapped on our weapons.

We were now ready to go and see Kel. He had a different realm than Usui, obviously, and we would have to travel the same way we had come here. Deity Sure did have it nice being able to jump from place to place in an instant. And just like that we left and were there.

I believe this is the oldest chapter in the book. I had rewritten the first few and even added three new ones to expand the school arc but kept this chapter as well as the next arc. I wrote
these older chapters in Word but the newer ones in yWriter so that also had made a difference in formatting.