Yhaine’s head dropped low, “you- do you really think that?”

 

The person who was the target of her question- and frustrations, - nodded, “yep!” The excited glint in her eye told Yhaine that Lucille really believed her words, “the princess is simply kind! I’m sure that if anyone asks to be trained by her she’d do the same for them!”

 

Yhaine met Zyra’s eyes halfway through Lucille’s rant, and the two of them shared a silent conversation agreeing that yes, Neophyte would, in fact, spend money aiding her classmates, but not to the extent that all of them are getting- or rather Lucille is getting.

 

The heroine in question though wasn’t exactly convinced that Neophyte was treating her better than she would everyone else.

 

Mostly because she didn’t believe she was the prophesized Rogue of the Hero’s party- someone that Neophyte would do everything she could to help out thanks to her past mistake.

 

Of course, Lucille wouldn't believe such a simple answer.

 

Instead, the explanation that Neophyte is going over the top to buy them each a basic set of camping essentials, food, extra weapons- which are forged from Holy Silver by the way, - as well as standard leather armor was simply because she was- get this- kind.

 

Oh, the princess is definitely kind, there's no denying that and Yhaine agreed with that sentiment easily enough but-

 

Yhaine looked over the small mountain of stuff that they got from Neophyte, all of it had been dropped here, on the school's field, by a flying carriage, an act that would normally get the teachers and guards to panic unless the one doing it was Neophyte, then things would just be fine.

 

And speaking of Neophyte, she also said that she’d go back to them in a “little while” to help out with moving their stuff to their room but Yhaine thought otherwise, they needed to get these things moved before she came back.

 

“This is too much,” she muttered in dismay, but that was just the start of a social ploy, to get her friends to feel guilt and make them more willing to do what she was going to suggest next- “and how do we even get all of this to our rooms?”

 

“Her majesty can do it-”

 

“Lucille, do you hear yourself right now?” Zyra’s conflicted voice entered Yhaine’s ear and got her to nod reflexively, thank Goddess one of them was sensible. Getting a princess to work for them is the worst idea they can possibly come up with, “just because Neophyte is fast doesn’t mean that we should just let her do all of the moving for us,”

 

“Why?” Lucille was really adamant about being scolded wasn’t she?

 

“Because she’s a princess.” Yhaine emphasized the last word by putting both her hands on top of her head in an imitation of a crown, “and princesses, especially someone like her, are treated as fragile little flowers never allowed to work- for us of lower status, that is.” Yhaine shrugged at Lucille’s confused look, “Neophyte can exercise all she wants, that’s work too,”

 

“Oh.” Lucille murmured dumbly, “so uh, how are we going to do this?”

 

“It’s great that you accepted what we said and all but you’re also right,” Yhaine started, glad that Lucille had conceded but again, the heroine was right- “how are we actually going to do this?” Yhaine turned to their tactician, hoping for an answer.

 

“I don’t know.” Zyra was equally baffled as the rest of them.

 

Shit.

 

“Uh- uh- how about we-” Yhaine started to stutter, worried that the princess would be finished in taking care of her sendoff to her two other noble friends and fly back here with Fafnir, “- we uh…”

 

Yhaine was out of ideas and she slumped, “we’re fucked.”

 

“It’s fine,” Lucille’s casual tone made Yhaine even more worried, “if people think that I’m actually the Rogue then they’ll assume that Neophyte helping us is normal right?”

 

Both paused.

 

“Can’t argue with you there,” Zyra, who was now sitting down cross legged on the dirt, agreed with a nonchalant tone, but Yhaine could tell from her expression alone that she was panicking internally.

 

And Yhaine decided to follow after Zyra’s example, she raised both her hands in resignation and sat down, content on waiting for Neophyte to come and do whatever.

 

“You know what?” She smiled, “I think that everything is going to be fine,”

 

It’s not like they’re waiting for one of this Kingdom’s princesses to carry their stuff back to their room for them after all! Haha!

 

The wait had been tense but eventually, Fafnir’s shadow loomed over the field of grass and Yhaine covered her eyes as powerful gusts of wind started to blow all around them.

 

By now, she was used to seeing Fafnir in her humanoid form during their classes but looking up and seeing the Dragon’s gigantic frame flying down to them had reminded Yhaine that the people that they just went shopping with were powerful enough to kill a Demon Duke as a duo.

 

And in their first year no less.

 

“I’m really glad that Fafnir got a humanoid form from killing the Duke,” Yhaine muttered, thinking that the blowing winds would be enough to hide her words.

 

It wasn’t, and Zyra faced her, “why?”

 

“Because I can’t imagine how Fafnir would feel if she was just left at the stables like the rest of the royal mounts,” Yhaine answered and added further context when she saw Zyra’s confused look, “she was… only recently released from her old stable, which she grew up in.”

 

“Oh.” Zyra fumbled with her words and Yhaine softly smiled, the blue haired Florist eyed the Dragon in pity, then she blinked and her expression and gaze shifted into a confused frown, “is it just me or are the people around Neophyte…”

 

“... problematic? Full of issues?” Yhaine listed with a bitter smile, knowing full well that it wasn't just the people around the princess. She swiftly turned away from Zyra and towards Lucille, who had run excitedly forward the moment Fafnir's shadow came over them to greet Neophyte and was now talking to her, “except for Lucille apparently,”

 

“Right…” Zyra watched their mutual friend laugh at something the princess said, “the shopping really did well to ease her up huh?”

 

“It did,” Yhaine nodded, jealous that the only problems Lucille had were “getting strong” and “nervousness while talking to the person she admired,” - problems that, compared to Yhaine's, seemed very simple.

 

“Guess she enjoys that kind of thing,” she pushed herself off the ground and offered Zyra her hand, “maybe we should go shopping again, just with the three of us this time,”

 

“Maybe,” Zyra replied in a murmur while dusting herself, “it was a bit awkward- I mean the whole thing about Neophyte and her…”

 

“Ex?” Yhaine guessed.

 

“No, they’re still together, it was obvious from the way Capscaria looked relieved,” Yhaine moved a strand of hair from her forehead and blew out a small, stressful breath, Zyra continued, “it’s like something heavy was lifted off of her shoulders after they came back from “window shopping”,”

 

“You had something to do with it,” she crossed her arms under her- annoyingly, - large chest, “that morning… I wasn’t able to catch everything-”

 

“Good, and don’t pry any deeper than that, what happened was between the two of us,” Zyra’s serious look only got Yhaine to slowly nod, she didn’t say anything more.

 

She turned back to Neophyte and Lucille just in time to see the princess turn into a white blur that constantly moved between their supplies, taking them… somewhere- wait- Yhaine frowned and glared at Lucille as she neared the two of them, Zyra wore a similarly annoyed expression.

 

“Did you tell Neophyte to go into our rooms?” Zyra’s tone wasn’t aggressive or even inquisitive, she voiced it out naturally and casually and Yhaine envied her for her ability to act the opposite of how she felt.

 

“No?” Lucille, who most likely hadn’t caught onto their irritation, tilted her head, “and I’m pretty sure that the princess wouldn’t do something so criminal, she most likely just dropped your stuff outside your dorm rooms?”

 

Oh, that makes more sense.

 

Yhaine sighed in relief, “yeah, I guess,” she tapped her foot, “so, uh, how do you feel?”

 

That was out of the blue and if Yhaine could see her face right now, she’d look as shocked as her two other friends.

 

“Fine? What brought this on?” Lucille asked.

 

“I’m worried I guess,” fuck it, she’ll go with the flow and just spout something on the spot, “we’re going to hunt tomorrow and I don’t know about you but I feel that we’re not ready, at all,”

 

“I know that,” Lucille replied, “but the princess is helping us out, isn’t she?! I’m sure that we’ll be fine,”

 

“We haven’t fought anyone or anything outside of spars,” Zyra raised her hand and her index finger went up, counting one, “some of us are downright inexperienced when it comes to navigating forests,” two, “and more importantly, we lack a fourth member that will support us,”

 

“Nickos-”

 

“Nickos is with Inferno and his group,” Zyra cut Lucille off, “your childhood friend isn’t coming with us this time around,”

 

“Oh.” Lucille frowned, then nodded. “Alright, I’ll talk to the princess about it,”

 

“That’s not what I meant-” Zyra snapped her mouth shut when a white blur stopped directly in front of them, Neophyte stretched.

 

“That was a whole lot easier than I thought,” the Saintess casually stated, and Yhaine believed her, she didn’t even look tired, and her breathing was calm and casual, anyone else would have been grasping the sides of their head from the pain of exerting themselves.

 

“Neo?” Lucille calling the princess her standard nickname meant that the two had gotten quite close during their shopping trip and Yhaine wished that she had been there with them to see how the two interacted.

 

It was really too bad that she wanted to make connections with the Castella first though.

 

Not that she regrets it.

 

“Hm? Do you need anything else?” Neophyte hummed, Lucille fidgeted.

 

The heroine looked at Zyra, who averted her eyes, and then back to Neophyte, “do you know anyone who can be our support? We don't really have one right now…”

 

The princess gained that thoughtful look that only appears whenever she interacted with Lucille and a moment later, she smiled and nodded, “I know just the perfect person for that,”

 

“Karsten?” Yhaine guessed.

 

Neophyte snapped her fingers, “yeah, her!”

 

“Okay…” Yhaine nodded followed by a relieved sigh, Karsten was good, and her Pledge was even complimented by their Pledge Theory teacher even though he hadn’t seen it yet, so she was confident that the church servant would do a good job at supporting all three of them.

 

But-

 

“... won’t she go with Laceresta and Zathania?” Yhaine wanted to know if their team was stealing a vital part of that particular group because if they were, then she’d tell Neophyte that Karsten’s help wasn’t needed.

 

“Those two don’t need support,” Neophyte answered with a shrug, she looked sure of what she was saying, “they said so themselves, and also, if you’re worried about Karsten already having a group then don’t, she already said that she wanted to spend the weekend reading books and praying so she’s more or less free to go with you,”

 

“Aren’t the things she’s going to do important? If not to us, then to her?” Zyra questioned rebelliously and Yhaine, as always, forced her expression to be stoic. Why her friend was so insistent on pissing off Neophyte by being disrespectful, Yhaine didn’t know, and she didn’t want to know, or join in for that matter.

 

“Karsten needs a breath of fresh air,” Neophyte answered, “and even if she has “plans” for the weekend, convincing her to go with you wouldn’t be that hard, trust me,”

 

“Fine,” Zyra backed off without saying anything more and Yhaine relaxed.

 

Neophyte clapped- Yhaine did not flinch, - and grinned, “okay, since that’s done, how about we discuss a few more things before night comes?” When all three nodded, Neophyte gestured for them to follow after her, as they walked, she started explaining, “I want to talk to you guys about the kind of monsters that you’ll be facing,”

 

“We’re listening,” Yhaine heard Zyra say from behind.

 

“For today there's going to be no lesson and instead, I’m going to talk to you guys about weaker monsters and recommend several of them for you to hunt,” Neophyte pointed to a nearby shed as Yhaine wondered where Fafnir had gone, “and you can pick whichever you feel like since they’re exactly at the level your group is at,”

 

The exact same huh?..

 

Yhaine pursed her lips, opting to stay silent even when she saw the princess’ expression.

 

She continued listening, “tomorrow, I’ll let Laceresta spar with all of you after class to get you all in top shape for the weekend,” everyone found their seat, “but before that, and what I mean is during the day, when we still have our classes; I’m going to give you everything I know about the monster you will pick right now,”

 

Neophyte smiled, it was shaky and fearful and shaken- out of character, “so, with that being said, let’s start with a simple monster, Dire Wolves hunt in packs-”

 

….

 

Yhaine placed the last of the cardboard boxes in her living room.

 

Even after stacking all of them together and putting them in a mostly spacious corner, she could barely fit everything the princess bought for her, and most of them were change of clothes sure, but several gambesons, chainmail, and even leather armor were there too and Yhaine wondered just how she was going to use all of this.

 

Right now, she was experiencing the typical noble problem of having too much stuff and so, through sheer experience (she wished) she went on and did what most would do in her situation: accept that the stuff would run out at some point and just keep using them until they do.

 

She does still need to get a place to put them in though…

 

“Eh, I’ll worry about it tomorrow,” she shrugged and walked away from her pile of stuff. Yhaine plopped herself on her couch and stared at the ceiling in a daze.

 

In the end, the monster that her team agreed to fight had been Eukaleafs, small, monkey-like monsters whose hair were poisonous leaves or had their entire body covered in a tough, fungal armor.

 

Neophyte had told them that it was the best choice as the Kingdom that they would be going to for their chosen hunt is ruled by her elder sister, Calcite, as well as her husband so they would have plenty of support when they go there to hunt.

 

Effectively, their lodgings, food, and the like are now solved, which Yhaine thought was great!

 

And she didn’t have any complaints about this at all but… something bothered her, and it was when the princess told them about the difficulty of the hunt.

 

Which shouldn’t be too hard, according to her, but even she wasn’t sure, because she kept backtracking to the difficulty and said that it shouldn’t change and that the mission that she picked should be beginner friendly and easy but again, the princess wasn’t confident when she told them about it- which is rare for her to do.

 

And Yhaine was concerned because of it, Neophyte acting out of character, like back during the entrance ceremony, usually means that things are bad.

 

Looking back, Yhaine realized that the princess seemed sure the difficulty wouldn’t change but it was like she knew deep down that it would somehow, and that she didn’t know the reason why.

 

Yhaine hoped that her worries were unfounded obviously because the princess wouldn’t send them to their deaths, she wouldn’t send anyone to their deaths- not after what happened to the Hero.

 

And maybe that was it?.. Neophyte was scared that she’d make another mistake in giving them a mission so she was scared.

 

And she really was scared- they weren't visible because Neophyte hid them well but she kept shaking all throughout their conversation and Yhaine knew that it was only because of Fafnir that the Saintess didn’t say that she would go with them.

 

Yhaine really, really hoped that Neophyte is scared only because she didn’t want to repeat a past mistake.

 

Because anything else is… rather discomforting to think about.

 

Fate is… it exists, Yhaine is sure, and in some of its interpretations, it is said to be nigh unstoppable, that everything it wants will happen.

 

Yhaine remembered the look Neophyte gave their group, it was like she was sure that they would die…