Once outside, the sunlight forced my eyes to close, such was its powerful brightness. Softly and slowly, I managed to get them to do their thing. But there was something that quickly piqued my interest: the sky was of a purple hue, the clouds of a dark blue, and everything felt rather odd. Once there was wind and now, there was a floating transparent fluid passing through as if it had a life of its own. It gave me a ticklish harmless sensation, “so, where did I end up in?”

“One of humanity’s kingdoms.”

I turned my body around finding a peculiar figure in red and blue attire. Minor figures spread from top to bottom, showing me the different symbols of cards. On his hands were three almost circular balls. The sound they gave was strange, and it felt like they contained something within.

“What are they?”

“Not who, but what?” he smirked, amused by my question. “These are little sacks of sand.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Who are you?”

“A jester, or so they call me,” skilfully he juggled them in the air.

And at that, I clapped briefly, “you’re amazing! I could never fathom doing something like that!”

“With enough practice, you, too, may manage,” all of them flew higher than before, and with one hand he got hold of them as they fell: one by one.

“Surely,” it felt like his words were right, but the truth was that I was not interested in learning it. I was rather satisfied by merely watching his ability.

“Haven’t seen one of your kind before.”

“One of my kind...” the mumbling escaped my lips as I repeated some of his words, realizing that I was no longer a human being.

“Though people may like it, the common folk, I mean.”

“Really?” Embarrassment got the hold of me as I wasn’t used to being complimented.

“As for the others, you’ll likely be hated.”

 My ears got closer to one another as I felt surprised by such a strange remark, “others?”

“You’d know better,” he pointed at his arm and then at me. 

That made me realize he meant the bracelet from back then. “Right. The contract...”

He nodded a few times in silence.

“In this world... what are the summons for?” 

“Humans are very weak beings. They can’t fight the creatures that rule this world by themselves.”

“Oh! So they summon help.”

“Exactly. Sometimes they even give birth to new species.”

“Hum? What do you mean by that?”

“Male humans with summoned females,” his finger pointed below, in the direction of his pants.

After understanding what he meant, I turned my gaze away, embarrassed. At the same time, there was some realization about slavery that I hadn’t grasped so easily. Naivety was still in place, and I believed the same wouldn’t happen to me. But she had looked at me with vile eyes. Perhaps that could be the prelude to something awful. “In other words-“

Suddenly, he interrupted me, “in other words, useless slaves have it the worst.”

As soon as I recollected the results of the trial, my body shivered.

“Kind of like...” he pointed at me unhappily, almost tearing up, “you.”

“I...” despite trying to contest his words, nothing came out. There was not a single thing I could do about it and that tarnished my heart. 

‘Something is wrong,’ the wishes I had asked for resounded in my mind. Supposedly, I should be able to grow infinitely strong like those heroes from television.

“Go now, child. Do your best to survive the many hardships that await you.”

“I...”

“Behind you,” he added briefly, causing me to turn around, only to find a certain girl in the distance. She seemed to be looking for someone, possibly me, who had left the summoning place.

‘For the time being, I’ll tag along with this charade.'

I moved toward her, stealing a glimpse at the jester, no longer finding him where he was. Mysteriously, he managed to escape my sight without making as much as making a sound. It seemed I had been far too distracted to notice such a tall figure’s steps. Even though I was rather grateful that we had met and chatted.

‘To become stronger...’ I frowned upon my parameters and at how horrible they were. Just what in the world had I done to deserve such an inauspicious start? It was to the point of silencing the grand hall. With one last sigh, I mustered in me the strength to hasten the pace toward her encounter. As I was about to reach her, a different girl got there, causing me to end up eavesdropping on their conversation.

With a burst of annoying laughter, the blonde girl covered her mouth, finding something funny. At her behavior my master frowned, hiding her hands behind her back, gripping them tightly, “as to be expected of a half-breed! You couldn’t even summon a proper slave! What’s up with those ridiculously negative numbers?” 

The moment Farnese was about to contest, the other girl went on, “a child at that. How do you even summon a kid? Just how little mana did you use?”

Despite her annoying laughter and the revolting sensation Farnese felt, there was nothing she could say to her. In the end, she didn’t have as much money or resources to get a good catalyst for a good summon. Farnese parents were not as wealthy as others and even had some debts.

“Frederica!” a voice from the mansion entrance called up to her.

“I’m coming!” As the girl was about to turn around, she looked in Farnese's direction, “good luck with the training tournament half-breed.” With delicate steps, she headed back inside the house, leaving my master behind in fury.

I could tell from the conversation how bad that had been. Therefore, I waited for a while before heading to her, hoping her frustration and anger to subside into nothingness.