Once again, I was being taken somewhere without being told where it was. It wasn't an unfamiliar experience to me.

I was in a carriage. The decoration inside was immaculate and extravagant, with all sorts of rare, expensive jewelry and gems littering the interior. The seats were comfortable, but a little too comfortable compared to what I was used to.

I couldn't help but uncomfortably shift in place.

They dragged me out of the room I lived in again. This time I was to accompany my sister on a mission she had. My only role was to use my useless magic to give the construction workers some extra strength and help them along with speedy work through buffing. It was supposed to be a 'show of goodwill', she said.

In the end, I was just a tool again.

"A-Ah!"

The carriage I was in rocked, startling me for a second, though I eventually quieted down as it calmed. Mostly because I could now feel my sister's burning gaze on me. I dared to slowly lift my head, staring at her.

Her burning crimson eyes looked directly into mine, unflinching. She had long hair that was a shining, nearly translucent white, cascading down her shoulders. There was an aura of refinement and maturity that surrounded her...I would've been hard-pressed to believe she was my age, if she wasn't my sister.

Silence came between us, and I was sure she was expecting me to say something.

"I-I'm sorry sis-"

Her eyes narrowed once more, silently threatening me into changing my words. Hastily, I reformed my mouth to say the name I was under order to call her.

"Y-Your royal highness." 

My corrected words placated her for the moment, and she leaned back into her seat.

We had ridden like this for a few days now, just with the two of us in here, on the journey to Aureal - a village recently ruined by monsters, or so I heard. I didn't really have too many chances to hear news, other than what my sister told me.

I decided to focus on another thing - the seals littering the carriage.

It looked like a regular extravagant carriage from the outside, with just the drivers and about two knights following from behind, but on the inside were innumerable powerful and complex magic seals. Just by looking, I could tell the various effects, even if the markings were small and hard-to-read.

All I spent my free time on was reading up on magic.

Incidentally, these seals weren't just cast by mages. They were created using the essence of Treasures specialized in defense and protection. It was said that even a dragon's breath or a troll's power couldn't damage this carriage!

I enjoyed storing useless little bits of information like that. Maybe it was because it made me feel like I had a little more value by learning.

"Seriously...if it weren't for the decree of the king, I would not have bothered taking you with me. I would have preferred Emerald. A useful servant is better, compared to an easy-to-startle ball of nerves."

My sister's cruel words came out suddenly, and razor-sharp. All I could do was parrot the same response to her I always did.

"I'll...do my best to be useful. A-and, I'll make sure to stay out of your way."

I replied meekly, fidgeting in my seat. Already, I wished we were there so that I could find some far-away place from the village and read. I liked reading. You didn't need anyone else to do it, you didn't need to talk, and you could just get lost in a book...

"You always do that, don't you?" 

My sister sighed and shook her head, turning her gaze out of the window instead of looking at me. I felt she was annoyed and disappointed, tired of looking at my pathetic face. I could feel my ears atop my head, curling down in response to my thoughts of her feelings.

"Just remember to properly buff the magicians and soldiers before you leave. And be back before nighttime. I have to meet some important people, and then go straight into the 'charade' for the villagers. I won't have the time to watch over you, or the personnel available to guard you." 

She gained a gleam in her eyes as she spoke about those 'important people'. It was a look I was used to, one that showed whenever she was taking another step towards her grand ambition. A stage I could never see, even if I wanted to.

I felt a little bitter knowing that she cared more about some random people than me, her own sister. At the same time, an overwhelming resignation overpowered those thoughts.

After all, I wasn't even supposed to exist in the first place.

"Yes, your royal highness." I murmured, lowering my gaze down to the floor of the carriage.

Staring off the three summoned goblins, I couldn't help but be tense. They didn't make a single frenzied noise, they didn't move their gaze from me, and they didn't say anything debased yet.

Even if they were just standing there mindlessly though, it seemed obvious that they were under very simple orders: eliminate this girl. 

That was how all summoned monsters worked. Unlike golems or even undead servants, which could be imbued with false egos that allowed them a degree of thought, summoned monsters were essentially one-time zombies that fulfilled a purpose and then died. While it meant they were slow to react to their orders being disrupted...it also meant that they were disgustingly single minded, and unless they executed an order, they would never stop.

After recovering from the initial shock of having their assassination attempt interrupted, the goblin which had already fired its' single arrow retreated into the field of flowers again, with the second and third one following it in a stealthy move far too synchronized for goblins.

They disappeared under the colorful lush field of flowers, which had become much more dangerous than peaceful. 

"T-They left? Did they...give up?"

The girl behind me stuttered, staring at the flowers that the goblins had disappeared into. She was confused, but relieved. I immediately corrected her.

"No, they just moved on to another plan. It looks like they only came with one arrow, probably to travel light, and probably because they didn't expect you to survive."

She paled at that last bit, and I felt a little sorry for scaring her, but now wasn't the time. What I needed to do was explain the situation to her. If not, I'd have a panicking girl to protect, and I wasn't sure that I could do that with my current skills.

"To explain it...when summoned monsters fail a task, they-"

"T-Their tactics fallback to the nature of the monster that they were based on...right? U-Um, sorry to interrupt you!"

She murmured, completing my sentence for me. I widened my eyes at that. Well, would you look at that? She seemed pretty well-informed. I couldn't help but smile in surprise.

"Don't be. That's right. So those goblins aren't gone...they're just going to start acting the part of goblins a little more."

As if on cue, I heard a rustling sound close to my right ear. I turned my attention to it, but nothing came out.

Instead, I felt a tingling sensation on the back of my body. Flowing air, like something was rushing at me, something big. Immediately, I  snapped my body clockwise in the motion of a roundhouse kick. It was on instinct, but I did indeed hit, my foot leg slamming into skin, and the sickening sensation of cracking bone following directly after.

It was a simple, efficient move. I didn't need to be flashy, just effective. These little bastards loved messing with you using the environment and the dirtiest of strategies, so leaving myself open when I was just a beginner was suicide.

They were low HP, so even a good hit on the head from 3 strength could kill them. But if you messed up, you'd pay the price quickly.

There was a clattering sound as metal hit the ground, a crude dagger falling while the goblin that had been wielding it went flying into the field of flowers, crashing into the ground with a weighty thud. I had put all of my weight into it, and I was sure that one wasn't coming back.

Then a sharp pain registered in my leg.

I immediately winced, chancing a look down. The tenacious bastard, while being kicked, still took the opportunity to cut at my leg, opening a large gash on my ankle. It hurt like shit, but I'd live.

More importantly, the fight was far from over. If one had rustled the flowers to draw my attention, and the other tried taking a stab at me, then where was the third?

"A-Ahh!"

The girl behind me was precariously unguarded, and when I turned around, I saw more than I even expected to.

Six goblins had suddenly surrounded her...and when I looked back in front of me, there were four more standing out of the flower field. It was a veritable mini-monster army.

For now, they were just observing us both, seemingly taken off-guard again by the way one of their peers had been dispatched. Likely thinking of the optimal way to maim and kill me, and then kill the girl behind me.

I realized then two things: goblins were even dirtier than I remembered, and that I had made a grave assumption thinking there were only a mere three of them hidden in this field of flowers. It was overconfidence, plain and simple.

I stared down at the dagger the goblin had dropped, but there was no way I'd be able to pull off some cool throwing move. Plus, there was no stat that increased accuracy.

Still, I pocketed it. In a fight, you never knew what you'd have to use. For a guy like me, I couldn't be picky.

But since I couldn't pull off any fancy tricks alone, I'd have to rely on the weird feeling I was getting from that girl this entire time.

"Hey! That scarf you have is a Treasure, right? Can you do anything with it?" 

I did say that I had a weird knack of identifying people's Treasures, didn't I?

Ever since I first saw her, I knew something was up with it. Maybe it was my slight increase in Intelligence, but I swear it had a faint blue glow surrounding it.

"W-Well, I...it's only...I can only cast Natureless magic using it!"

She replied in exasperation, flinching like she was expecting me to react more violently than the goblins now out to take both of our lives. But instead, her words brought me an inexplicable peace.

Natureless magic. That meant...

"Buffs. Can you cast them?"

She quickly nodded. 

"U-Um, yes! Up to the third level!" 

Good. More than enough to kill these goblins, if I treated them with the proper caution they deserved. Honestly, it would be overkill. But now that I was facing a horde, having  just enough stats would not cut it.

The goblins, having formed their own consensus, began to slowly move in, synchronized. It was approaching our time limit to act.

"Alright...cast [Speed up], [Strength up], [Poison], and then [Hasten]. All on me."

All very basic buffs...except for Hasten, which was a level two buff. Her eyes widened, as I expected them to. Of course, I had just asked her to purposefully cast a debuff on me.

"W-Wait, what? You want me to cast Poison on you? And three buffs? But you know, having more than two is dangerous..."

"I know. Just trust me and do it, or these goblins are going to kill us!"

Her ears folded back at my shouting, but it spurred her into action. Both of her hands firmly grasped at the blue scarf around her neck, her eyes closing. 

She began to speak in wordless murmurs, as she channeled Mana through the scarf and formed it into the spells I asked for.

Naturally, the system window appeared.

"Thank you...whew." 

The cat-eared girl seemed amazed by the fact that I was even standing after receiving three buffs, and for good reason. It was something to explain later, as I had to now focus on the fight.

I could feel the power coursing through me. My arms and legs felt twice as strong, and my body was lighter, like I could move it much faster than before.

But at the same time, the sickening feeling of magical poison forcefully entering my body and invading my system pervaded me. It felt worse than the worst case of food poisoning I had ever suffered. I almost regretted choosing this, but I knew I needed to do it to get both of us out of here alive.

Considering my constitution...I only had about two to three minutes to wrap up this fight. There was no HP stat for me yet, so I'd just have to guess on how good my condition was as I fought.

The first goblin immediately attacked, jumping from behind the circle of flowers to stab at me, probably as an opening for another goblin.

'Let's get started, then.'

I wasted no time. I palmed the goblin's face, my fingers sinking into its' skin with a firm grip, as I carried all my body weight forward and into the ground, slamming it into the ground. The goblin's small, light body bounced off of the dirt, with a resounding

Boom!

Dust lifted from the strength of the impact, and there was silence and stillness. 

...

The rest of the goblins charged like a horde, throwing tactics and caution to the wind They were smart. I was stronger, but not strong enough to take down nine goblins all on my own.

While I was thinking of how to deal with this, some of the goblins slowed down, their bodies like they were moving at a different rate of time than the others. A faint purple aura surrounded them, and I guessed that it was the result of another Natureless debuff.

"I-I've got your back!" The girl reassured me with an uncertain voice, yet with a firm, determined face. "I promise!"

Her words were still a little shaky, but I knew I could trust that look in her eyes. Now reassured, I began weaving in and out of the crowd of goblins. I took a page from their book and used the flowers as a form of stealthy cover for myself.

We were both low-stat creatures, but with my current stats, I was in a level just above the goblins. Therefore, I could attack as freely as I pleased.

I kicked a goblin, sending it crashing into one of its' nearby allies. The moment those two were sent off, one leaped towards me from a hidden patch of flowers, aiming for my jugular with its' jagged, sharp blade. 

I simply lifted my knee, slamming it into the goblin's chest mid-flight, and sending it upward into the air. Knowing the fall would finish it off, I immediately turned around to face another, though I could feel that my reflexes were getting slower. The poison was certainly affecting me...I only had about a minute left.

I slid forward, immediately positioning myself into punching distance before it could react. I spread my legs forward, continuing to slide while lowering my center of gravity. All of my momentum and strength went into my fist.

"GRRRRRROOOOOAAAA!"

I plunged a vicious fist into its' chest, twisting it and carrying the creature into the ground with a roar of effort I didn't know I could let out. The earth didn't crack or anything, but I could feel my fist throbbing with pain. I had hit that one so hard that I hurt myself.

Then I felt a pang in the back of my head. A throbbing pain, worse than the one in my fist. The poison was settling into the deeper parts of my body. The numbing sensation was now beginning to become painful, and I felt like I had needles pricking every part of my body. 

It only drove me further.

That didn't matter.

I ran to the next set of goblins myself, using the momentum borne from my own speed to punch another goblin that was running towards the spellcaster. She dodged it, allowing its body to roll down the hill, tumbling and breaking on its' way down.

I twisted around to catch the next goblin trying to approach me with a mean elbow to the side of its' face. It got me with a deep cut across my back, which burnt like hell, but its head was twisted from the impact of my elbow. I took the moment to grab the crude dagger I had taken from the first goblin and stabbed it into the goblin's neck.

It broke off with a sickening snap, but I didn't care. I just grabbed the knife this one had, and kept moving.

The second one came, and I slid around its' side, using my superior speed to outmaneuver it. It couldn't have seen it coming when I kicked its legs from under it. It fell, and I immediately sat atop its' chest, slamming the crappy dagger into its' throat and breaking it off.

It flailed, managing to stab me in my leg, but it went limp soon after.

"D-Damn it!"

I yelled out in pain. The stab, combined with the increasing pain of the poison, which was now biting at my nerves, was starting to drive me mad. I pulled the dagger from my leg, which thankfully hadn't gone deep, and prepared myself to fight again.

"T-Three more left!" 

Now. Why did I poison myself? The simple answer was that it was to become capable of successfully wielding three buffs, even as a kid.

In Treasure Quest, you were only allowed to have two buffs of whatever level. Unless you were already past a certain threshold, you could only have two buffs. Otherwise, your player would suffer from a mechanic called [Rebound]. Let's just say that was not a desirable side-effect.

This kept Players from exploiting the use of temporary buffs to get past the usage of Treasures in the early game, when characters were especially weak and underdeveloped. The devs were saying, "you're supposed to be relying on your Treasure, not your basic spells, dumbass."

However, the devs were slightly fair, and knew that this wouldn't translate well for repeat players like me, so they added a hidden mechanic.

If you were to purposefully cast a lethal debuff on yourself, you were, in return, allowed to take on more than one buff of that same level. An extra buff per every extra debuff. So I had that girl cast Lv1 Poison, the weakest lethal debuff that existed.

I had Haste and Strength Up as my two regular buffs. Because of Poison, Speed up counted as my extra, because both were Lv1.

Even if I was making use of that forbidden knowledge though, I couldn't help but be surprised at how well I was managing to do in my first fight.

I was no martial artist in my last life, but all of this just felt natural. I might have to thank training with Aurum for that. We didn't spar or anything, but watching her practice her moves sort of inspired me.

I felt an odd sort of...understanding of her moves, now that I actually put them into practice.

With my buffs running out, I almost thought I wouldn't be able to finish the other two. I was also sure that the girl behind me would be far out of Mana by now...but boy, was I wrong.

"[Weaken], [Weigh Down]!"

She cast another two spells, one which made the goblins move with a little less energy than usual, and one that slightly weighed them down even more than they already were.

I easily got within distance, using the knife to stab one in the throat and my fists to crack the skull of another, panting. Once again, the shitty knife snapped, and I was out of breath, out of time, and based on my spotty vision and the strength leaving my body...

I'd soon be out of life.

But as if on queue, the girl chanted, 

"[Detoxify!]" 

And I felt the poison being lifted from me. It was like a burden was off of my shoulders, and I was finally breathing right for the first time the fight had started.

Then the final goblin popped up in front of me from the flowers below, a malicious grin on its' once emotionless face. It had me.

I almost wanted to laugh.

I didn't manage to finish all of them off at once...three minutes was a little too much, and the wounds all over my body were burning in pain. Halfway through the fight, the goblins probably noticed my desperation, and kept this one hidden nearby to finish me off.

"Damn..."

I thought those would be my final words.

"N-NO!"

The timid girl yelled in a voice I hadn't even heard her let out when her own life was at stake. An aura surrounded the goblin and the knife it held, stopping it mere inches away from my neck.

"...huh?" 

Now it was my turn to be confused. The goblin was motionless, like it was frozen in time. I could tell it wasn't, though. It was clearly trying to move, twitching against the magical pressure that surrounded it, and the girl behind me was grunting and groaning in apparent effort. 

I took my chance. I reached forward, sinking the knife into its' throat and ending its' miserable life right then and there. And then I collapsed back onto the flowers, the energy gone from my body.

"Ha...ha..."

The girl behind me was panting, exhausted in her own way. But I barely registered even that. I could feel my consciousness slipping away. My vision was becoming fuzzy, and every sound was getting muffled.

'Shit, did I wait too long to detox after all...?'

I...I...

'At least I won...one good fight...would've liked to win some more though, haha...ha...ha.'

Well, what did I really care about?

'...At least that girl's safe. If I die doing what I want to, then...I have no regrets.'

And then my vision was gone.

It was late at night. The moonlight was shining brightly onto the town of Aureal.

With her duties for the day done, and someone temporarily taking over for her, Arianwen had left her guard station for the night.

She entered into a certain building, making sure that she wasn't being followed, and that nobody was watching her. The village doctor was there to meet her.

He was a rat-like man, with a long mustache and a beard that made him look as villainous as one could get.

"Where is Thomas."

She spoke, in a way that sounded more like a statement than a question. But having dealt with her in the past, this doctor was more than used to her demeanor.

"Right here, Guard Captain. He's sustained multiple cuts and bruises, but oddly enough, he didn't seem to take nearly as much damage as you'd expect." The doctor explained, while leading her down a certain hallway, one away from the regular patient rooms. "The wounds may be painful for him, but it's mostly the weakness in his body that I'm concerned about. It's like he was poisoned, or his energy itself was drained. It's why we haven't used the priest's healing magic yet, as it may worsen his condition."

He cleared his throat, stopping in front of an old-looking wooden door.

"Now before you go in, I don't discriminate against patients, but, well, you know...he's quite a...burden. The fee will be-"

"I'll pay your fee once he's healed. Now leave."

Arianwen's cold voice cut through the doctor's disgusting words. If she had her sword out, it was a foregone conclusion that she'd have already turned him into dust with a thousand cuts. The doctor gulped, recoiling in fear, but still opened the door for her, which she stepped through without another word.

It felt like a farce to protect these people sometimes, when they would even deny an innocent child treatment.

Inside was a simple resting room. It was small, with not much but a chair, a table, and a bed within. The most light in the room was a small window that allowed the silvery moonlight to shine inside.

There laid a young boy's body atop a simple bed, and he was covered under clean sheets, breathing in and out peacefully. His hair was black, and his face was totally average. He didn't seem like anything special at a glance alone - he certainly didn't look like her son.

In a chair beside his bed was a girl Aria was not familiar with, a beastkin with shimmering white hair and cat ears, holding a thick book close to her chest. And actually laying in the bed was her student Aurum, snoring loudly at his side.

She ignored these two girls for the moment, though. Her gaze was only locked on her boy.

Just by looking, she could tell - that he had been through a battle. A battle that had probably changed him in a way she would probably never know, because she never knew anything about him.

He was so special to her, so precious, and it wouldn't be wrong to say that he was the only reason she was even alive right now.

Yet she didn't even know simple things the places he liked to spend his time at, or that he was now apparently strong enough to fight monsters.

Just like she didn't know why he stopped talking to her as much all those years ago.

'How many more times will I continue to fail you, Thomas...?'

When she was sure the doctor had long left, running away like the money-loving coward he was, she stepped closer towards him, gently caressing the top of his hair with her hands.

She could only stay there for a few minutes longer, before leaving. There was no trace that she had been in the room, her presence almost ghostly.

She paid the doctor on her way out, but also made note of his words. It was something she'd be sure to bring up on her next meeting with the crown princess. Sometimes it was good to have friends in high places.

Aside from her son, there was one more thing on her mind. That white-haired girl, sleeping in the chair at his side...she looked familiar. Far too familiar. 

The image of a smiling little princess came to her mind, an image which hurt her heart deeply. But her pain was nothing.

Thomas had been hurt, but he was also growing away from her eyes. Growing into something even she wasn't certain of. With how little she truly mothered him, maybe it really wasn't fit to call him her child. Aria could not help but wonder if she even had that right.

"Maybe it's that time..."

With the crown princess here, she felt that it would soon be proper to begin her efforts in earnest. Efforts that would begin with getting into the crown princess' good favor again.

overclockedw

Whew. These chapters just keep getting longer and longer, but I can't help it! You guys have no idea how much fun I'm having writing this story for you. It's also made me really happy to see that many of you are really getting at hearting the chapters, so I just want to say, thank you!

I hope this chapter's battle scene was a little refreshing, and I'm sorry if you all were a little disorientated by these POV changes. I do think multi-perspective stories are interesting, so I will be doing it some more when necessary. See you all in the next chapter, which again, will hopefully be tomorrow!

I've also gone ahead and added the images for both Aurum and Aria, a suggestion I got from my most avid commenter, Harem-Fan (please comment you guys I really wanna interact with you) so feel free to look back at those too! Until next time, peeps.