“You have met Vargas?” Alice asked in surprise. “He has been missing for a while now. No one knew where he ran off after his drinking binge. We were sure his family would disown him soon after how he treated his peers.”

“Yes, he was insufferable as a boy and even more once he came of age. Remember how he treated his brothers who worked hard to earn the recognition of the late duke?” Claire asked Alice.

“All Vargas cared about was getting the approval from others and then crying about it once it did not come. His parents gave him every advantage one might ask for here in the North. And what did it do with them? Nothing! He did not study and was not interested in being a guilder with a pretty expensive aspect seed. Despite their effort, he only whined about how his brothers were better at everything than him.”

Ethan laughed, “Yea, that sounds like the same guy I met. Damn, this place is not so large after all. Wait, the guy is some noble brat?”

“Well, yes, though not a brat, really, he is close to our age. His mother, Irene, pushed him for years to prepare to take the family matters into his hands. Together with his brothers, of course. He never came through. Then he just went up and vanished. Leila was so mad, I remember,” Alice said, shaking her head.

“Who is this Leila?” Ethan asked, not following the names the ladies kept bringing up.

“Oh, she is Irene’s childhood friend,” Claire answered. “A minor nobility from the house Monroe, here in Veer, same as my family. Though the word is, she has been aiming for the Latimer seat for years, like her father before. But those are only the rumors we have overheard in the Latimer mansion.”

“You stay there a lot?” Ethan asked, trying to understand what the girls were talking about. To him, it sounded like these women, dressed in Victorian-style dresses, talked about tea parties, politics, and all the other usual ongoings of a British TV show.

He did not expect to see it next to the wilderness filled with monsters. But, to be honest, Ethan could not understand how people could go about their happy lives while behind their walls, true horror resided either way. Maybe it is just the nobles? he reasoned.

“Yes, we have to,” Claire said, bringing Ethan’s attention back to the discussion. “Lady Latimer decided to sponsor us by becoming our patron and teach us the ways before we take off to the capital and establish ourselves there.”

“And once you get there, what is the plan? Do you plan to start your merchant venture, join the guild, or…?” Ethan asked, curious about what two young women, who looked a little older than the legal drinking age back on Earth, would do alone in a large city.

“Our families believe that the best way to establish ourselves would be through marriage, of course,” Alice said. “It has been the way for generations for nobles ladies of our social standing.”

“Wait,” Ethan interrupted. “Why marriage? Women do have rights, right?”

“Yes, of course. What kind of question is that?” Alice asked. “But what does having rights give you? Unless you have either the money or strength to back it up, of course. Political influence is also useful, but in the end, money and personal power govern Morwhea. The rights are not enough; you must work to utilize them."

“What about the strength then? Surely you have some aspect seeds of your own, given that I managed to find two in these parts?” Ethan asked, following up on what she stated about nobles buying the seeds.

Claire shook her head, “No, Ethan. That is the thing. We do not have them, though I would not risk my life over trying to absorb one even if my parents managed to buy me one.”

“What? Why?” Ethan asked, baffled.

“Because the absorption rituals are not perfect. One in three tries fails with mixed results. Some go mad and start rampaging and are promptly killed off, as they cannot control their powers. Others become monsters themselves, their flesh warping before recognition.”

“So that means that even if you find an aspect seed, the usual course of action is to better sell it off rather than risk it?”

Both of the women nodded. Claire continued with a tinge of sadness in her voice, “Indeed. That is why for us, the only way out of Veer and forward is going to the capital in the form of marriage. We are both schooled in the proper decorum and noble ways but lack the magical strength to give us more options.”

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“If you had the options? Would you at least consider it?” Ethan asked, looking between Alice and Claire.

“No, of course not. I am fine with how things are,” Alice said immediately, leaving Claire to think about it. Then, she looked at the carriage window and said, “I would….”

Then the carriage started spinning and breaking, pressing Ethan’s back against its side while both ladies tumbled forward as the wooden wheels skidded against the rough dirt road they had been traveling on for the past hour.

“What the…?” Ethan asked once the vehicle stopped and peered outside the window. What met his gaze was a majestic stag towering over the trees, with antlers as wide as the carriage they were in adorned in glistening gold. The creature was at least twenty meters high, standing proudly in front of the carriage in the middle of the road they were traveling toward Veer.

“Well, that is not good,” Ethan commented, identifying the creature.

[Antler deer] (adept rank)

The unnamed king of the northern forests. Beware of the pointy things.

“Shit,” he said, noting the beast’s rank and size, trying to think of the way how to get the two women out of its way before the inevitable fight broke off.

“What is it? What happened?” Alice asked, slowly getting up from the carriage’s floor and rubbing her forehead. Claire, next to her, was in an equally disheveled state; however, she understood that the carriage stopping must have meant something significant must have happened.

“There is a monster blocking the carriage. An [Antler deer], by the looks of it,” Ethan explained, eyeing the monster and its movements through the small window.

“Dammit,” Claire said and immediately apologized. “Sorry. That is terrible. They can rank up to adept rank and have powerful charge abilities. If it attacks the carriage, we are done for. Despite all its enchantments, this thing was not built to withstand something of such rank.”

“What are our options?” Ethan asked, once again regretting not having read the bestiary he found. The more he got to know this world, the more he understood that being clueless did not bode well for his immediate survival.

Claire thought for a second and looked through the window, seeing the creature scratching the ground with his leg. “Only one, Ethan. If we leave the carriage, it will charge us immediately. I am sorry, but you are the only one of us who can deal with the thing,” she said, eyeing his lack of a weapon.

“How you handled those bandits must mean you are apprentice rank, not higher. Therefore, you do not need to fight the creature; just lead it away into the forest. You said you have two aspect seeds, right? What abilities can you use?”

“I can conjure a sword and other small constructs and basically teleport. Why do you ask?” he answered, nervous a little about giving away some more of his secrets.

The women started with open mouths at him for a second before Alice continued, “No matter, we will talk about it later. Use your conjuration ability to draw its attention and teleport through the woods behind the tree cover to avoid its charge. Be sure not to go too far so that it follows. Just keep changing the direction constantly, and do not run in a straight line.”

“Well, there is this small problem, however. I have not learned how to use the teleportation ability yet,” Ethan explained, wincing as he heard a loud snort from the creature outside, seeing it rise on its hind legs, ready to strike.

“To hell with it,” Ethan swore and opened the carriage’s door, yelling at the creature as he ran towards the woods, “Hey, you! Yes, you, with the pointy things! Here I am! Come and get me!” As he ran toward the woods, the ladies just stared at his back with their eyes wide, uncomprehending how easily the man took their advice and charged what would possibly be his death.

The creature glanced at him briefly before looking back at the carriage and prepared to charge. “God dammit,” Ethan said as he conjured a spear, praying to whatever gods Erde had that his aim would be true this time. Then he threw the thing with all his might, aiming for the creature.

The spear made from pure mana flew across the road some fifty meters, and the creature turned to face it just in time for it to hit it in the chest, drawing the usual black monster blood. The beast screamed in an ungodly voice and angrily rose on its hind legs, throwing its head back.

Then, dropping down on all fours, it faced Ethan instead of the carriage. Ethan winced, covering his ears, seeing that the women in the carriage did the same and got ready for the creature’s inevitable charge.

“Oh sh…,” was all Ethan got out before he hastily teleported towards the forest as advised by Claire, narrowly missing the monster's antlers as it closed the distance between them in a flash. Given its size, Ethan thought the beast would be slow and sluggish, but he was utterly wrong.

Ethan appeared twenty meters away from the deer and turned his head. As he did so, he immediately noticed the creature’s eye fixated on him as it changed the trajectory of its charge. The beast was upon him again in an instant, its antlers poised to skewer him.

“Oh, come on!” he yelled as he vanished again, stumbling on a tree root before teleporting away.

He appeared behind the deer this time, his eyes widening as the creature skidded to a halt as if it had eyes at the back of its head. The humongous deer stopped and cried out again, somehow jumping back toward Ethan without waiting for him to plan what to do next.

Forgetting Claire’s advice, Ethan did not try to teleport again but dove at the deer and its jump, narrowly sliding below it. As he turned around, his fight or flight instinct took over, choosing the former option as he summoned his sword.

Here goes nothing, he thought to himself and dove toward the creature.