Author’s Note: So I wanted to respond to a certain reader complaint that I got after last chapter regarding Myura's backstory. My story is tagged Mature, that means mature topics will come up. This world is not one of sunshine and flowers. I mean my MC almost killed herself in the 7th chapter! I also intentionally left it totally open to reader interpretation how far things went in Myura's backstory. So in conclusion, if you're a reader that is bothered by horrible things happening, I can only say that well, more will definitely be coming in the future. (I will not reveal how close or far away in the future)

In much, much happier news, my story has now surpassed 200 pages written judging by my gdocs file. It's also about 109k words. I'm quite proud of myself for managing to get this far. Please enjoy this next chapter.

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Chapter 29

Myura still had tears streaming down her cheeks so more weighty matters could wait. There was something that had to be done first. The only problem was the general difference in physique between the two of us. “Myura, come over here.” She came over to the sofa I was sitting on. I stood up. Damn height difference. She was over a head taller than me. This definitely wasn’t going to work. “Myura, sit down.”

“My lady, I can’t sit down if you’re standing!” Myura complained.

“Myura, sit down!” I pushed her over onto the sofa. I turned off my shield as well. It was another thing that would just get in the way for the next while. Before she had a chance to recover and get up, I bent over and pulled her into a tight hug. She froze. “I apologize, Myura. I shouldn’t have forced you to tell me that.” I placed one hand up on her head, avoiding her large horns, and started to stroke her hair, slowly and repeatedly. I could hear Myura started to cry a bit more audibly. “It must have been hard on you. That’s why, for now at least, just let it all out, okay?”

Myura grasped onto my dress and started sobbing uncontrollably. I just kept her tightly in my hug and allowed her this moment of comfort. It was really all I could do for her right now. The assholes that did this to her are lucky they’re not here right now. I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from killing them. I’d be sure to make it be extremely painful too.

Now while she cried, I had to figure out what to do with her. Right now, I’m leaning toward taking her with me. At the same time I think it’s probably an absolutely horrible idea. If I take her with me, I’ll have to eventually tell her everything and how will she react when she finds out I’m not really a noble? That’s probably something I should tell her right away. I’m worried it might break her though. She’s clearly hung her hopes and dreams on me. I don’t want to deal with this kind of trauma. I have my own share of problems! Like the fact that I’m a 149cm tall girl for one.

Well, there’s nothing for it. I’ll need to discuss this with Lynn. I am already pretty sure she’ll just say there’s no way I can risk taking this girl along. That’s the key point too. She’s a gigantic risk to have along. Even I know it, but, but still! How can I abandon this girl now!? I need to think of this logically, rather than emotionally. Despite that, after hearing the story it’s not easy to do.

Myura was starting to calm down and she finally pulled away and looked at me. “I’m sorry, my lady. I have shown you a pathetic sight.” She looked back down.

“Myura, there was nothing pathetic about what just happened. Something terrible happened to you, but you managed to pick yourself up and still move forward, even if you felt like you lost your way along the line. That is admirable!” I stated.

“My lady is really too kind and gentle.” Myura sniffled and said.

I’m not kind or gentle at all. I sighed. “Myura. I trust you, but I can’t decide yet whether or not I’ll take you with me. It’s a large decision and I need to think it over. I absolutely promise that I will give you an answer tomorrow. Sorry. I know that’s probably not what you wanted to hear.”

Contrary to my own expectations, Myura smiled. “That is what I expected from my lady. Please think it over well. I won’t fault you if you decide to not bring me along.”

Without even thinking about it, I pulled her into another hug. This time she returned the hug and we stayed like that for a few minutes. “Myura, I will be taking a nap for a few hours.”

She nodded. “I’ll make sure that my lady is not disturbed.” She stood up and curtsied and then left the room. With my senses I could tell that for a minute she stood on the other side of the door before finally walking back down the hall and downstairs.

Time for a discussion with Lynn. There’s a number of topics that I need to discuss with her too. I went over to the bed and laid down. I turned off my auto translator and planned to speak quietly. If anyone heard me they’d just hear me mumbling gibberish, I hope. “Lynn, let’s have a chat.”

“Yes, Mistress. I’m here for you whenever you need me.” Lynn instantly replied.

“First, let’s discuss the obvious. What do you think of Myura?” I asked.

“I believe Mistress should take her along. I’m sure she will have uses that Mistress would benefit from. Mistress has already benefitted from her assistance, after all.” Lynn gave her opinion.

Huh? That completely betrayed my expectations. I had expected Lynn to veto the decision. To be honest, I had almost wanted her to do so. It would let me escape making the decision myself. Lynn was now denying me that easy option. “Are you sure, Lynn? I expected you to tell me that she’s a risk I can’t afford to take or a number of other objections.”

“I know Mistress was gauging her carefully when she told her story. If she had failed your test, you would never have comforted her. By doing so, it told me she had passed. As a result, I have no objections.” Lynn clarified.

“Alright. Then the question changes to, is it right for me to take her along?” I asked.

“That is a tougher question. I know what Mistress likely plans to do in the capital. You are worried that if you take her along, you will only be taking her likely to her death.” Lynn answered.

“That is so. Do I have the right to accept her service when I know what is likely to happen to her? It is very likely that I’m going to end up in a fight with an organization that is well known for lurking in the shadows and removing any threat that appears. It’s very unlikely that I’ll be able to hide my identity for long once I start investigating, which means Myura who will be my side becomes a target. My shield will protect me, but Myura will not be so lucky. I would have to keep her completely by my side and never let her part from me to protect her. I don’t know if her pride as a servant will allow her to be protected by the lady she is serving. Of course, I can’t deny that she will also become a possible hostage and tool to use against me.” I explained.

“Then all Mistress needs to do is give her another test. Take her with you tomorrow outside of the town and test her abilities. If she is reasonably strong enough to protect herself, then take her along. If she is not, then leave her behind.” Lynn said.

“I suppose that that really is my only option. I’m also going to reveal to her tomorrow that I’m not a noble. She has the right to know that at the very least. I won’t share the rest of the story with her yet though. Too much risk in it. If she does come along then she’ll learn it all when I return to the ship anyway. If she fails the test, then that’s the end of it. She will be hurt if I decline her, but I’d much rather know that she was alive and safe.”

“Mistress, while that is all well and good in theory. I’m quite sure that she knows you plan on going to the capital next. It is quite likely that she might simply follow after you anyway. I suggest that if she fails the test, that you add some level of strength for her to reach before you’ll accept her. That should keep her occupied. As long as you stress that you do not want her to risk herself unnecessarily to reach that level of strength.”

“That makes sense, so I’ll go with that. Then next on the agenda would be whether or not you made any progress detecting the ambient magic with Lullaby’s sensors?” I requested.

“Sadly, none whatsoever Mistress. I’ve recalibrated the settings numerous times but no matter what I don’t detect anything. I question whether there is even anything to detect!” Lynn answered, not bothering to hide her frustration.

It was probably hard on her to accept this kind of outcome. Lullaby should have some of the best possible sensor equipment that could be outfitted on a ship her size. So for those sensors to fail completely does seem mind boggling. “I guess trying to perfectly understand magic with our technology might be a fool’s errand.”

“I’m not going to give up yet, Mistress! I’ll detect this mysterious energy and figure out what it really is! I still refuse to accept the existence of something as illogical as magic if it can’t be explained by science! There must be some kind of rational explanation for everything!” Lynn stated.

“Do as you like. Not like I could stop you. I think you’re being a bit too inflexible though. I mean, you did accept how weird my situation was but you can’t accept the existence of magic? Regardless, how goes deciphering the language?” I inquired.

“That is a much happier prospect. Thanks to the letter, merchant note and now the addition of the witch’s journal, I would estimate that my understanding of the written language is approximately forty percent complete. If Mistress could acquire another book to compare with, I’m sure I could have the language fully understood.” Lynn said.

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“Alright, I’ll see what I can do on that front.” I took a breath. “The last topic is the most important. Lynn, what do you think about the Spirit business we heard about today?”

“I probably have the same idea Mistress has. That people like Mistress had arrived in the past as well. There might even be others like Mistress that arrived the same time as her elsewhere. We have no way of knowing. I suggest that it become a key research target. I’m also worried about why the term Spirit is used to refer to them. A spirit typically refers to, for the people that believe in that, the soul or non physical part of someone’s being, yet it seems to refer to living, breathing entities in this case. That must mean there was some other reason for why they came to be known like that. Until we get more information, we can’t be sure what that is though.” Lynn conjectured.

“You’re right. I think I might be a Spirit by this world’s reckoning. Or at least, even if I’m not one, they’ll consider me one if they ever learn of my full abilities. What you said about there possibly being other Spirits around also makes me scared. It might mean Carol was dragged here too, and I don’t want that to have happened. There’s another possibility too. How many Spirits end up on this world but then never reveal that they are one? I would think it’s not a small amount. You’d have some that would immediately show off and reveal themselves but then some would be like I’ve been doing and try to hide as much as possible.” I answered.

“If we investigate the Spirits, it might be possible to find a way for Mistress to get home, too. That is, if they’re the same kind of beings as Mistress anyway.” Lynn said.

“That is the key point huh? They could just be abnormal beings of this world that pop up every so often. They’ll be no use to me then.” I sadly said.

“Don’t worry Mistress. We’ll absolutely find a way to get you home. I have something to report though, regarding things here.”

“Did something happen at the ship?” I sat up and spoke worriedly. If anything happened to Lullaby...

“Everything at the ship is fine. The wolves are still doing their patrols and I’ve been doing my aerial sweeps to observe them. I’ve also started using one of the drones to explore more of the forest area. I’ve noticed that the wolves don’t go too deep in the forest and was curious if there was a reason for that.” Lynn answered.

“I’m guessing that you discovered something dangerous?” I asked.

“I don’t know what I discovered Mistress. I had to travel quite a distance before I found anything, but about two hundred kilometers from the ship I started to find mangled trees and large footprints belonging to what I assume to be some kind of reptile.” Lynn explained.

Oh no. “When you say large footprints, how large are we talking about here?”

“Approximately two meters by one meter Mistress.” Lynn replied.

Damn it! Why can’t things ever just be simple? “Lynn, I want you to cease and desist your explorations. I don’t want you to accidentally lure whatever that is back to the ship.”

“I have already done so Mistress. After that, I spread a number of sensor probes aimed in that direction about twenty kilometers from the ship to give me an early warning just in case.” Lynn stopped for a moment. “Mistress in the worst case scenario, do I have permission to use the special ordnance?”

“In an absolute worst case scenario, yes. I don’t want whatever that thing is getting to Lullaby. If possible, though, try to use other weapons first. If you use that stuff, it will be visible for hundreds of kilometers. If we only had a few searchers after me before, that will definitely change things.” I said.

“Understood Mistress. What are you plans for the rest of the day?” Lynn asked.

“I plan on doing absolutely nothing but lay in bed!” I stated.

“Mistress…” Lynn grumbled.

“Lynn, I did a lot yesterday. I think I can get away with having one lazy day. Tomorrow I have to deal with Myura and then the next day I’m leaving town and starting my journey toward the capital. This will likely be my only chance to relax for awhile.” I said.

“Alright. I’ll overlook Mistress being idle this time.” Lynn responded.

“Thanks, Lynn! Now I’m going to relax, so I’ll end the conversation here.” I replied.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The rest of the day not much happened since I didn’t leave my room. Myura happily brought my supper and I got her to actually sit and eat a little of it with me, though she was worried she’d get caught and in trouble. Following that I had a long soak in the bath and then turned in for an early night.

When I woke up in the morning I got a bit of a surprise.

*Coa has leveled up x 3* -Due to overall physical growth, Coa has leveled

-Stats gained:

Health + 15

Strength + 2

Agility + 3

Constitution + 2

Resistance + 4

Intellect + 5

Wisdom + 4

I definitely hadn’t been expecting that. The next window was even more of a surprise though.

*Set a growth plan for Coa?* -As Coa is an immature beast, your Beastmaster ability can be used to determine how you would like her stats to grow. The choice will bias her stats to grow in a certain direction.  

-Your options are as follows:

[Natural]

[Physical]

[Mental]

-You may make this choice at any time.

I’m absolutely not going to make a choice on the spur of the moment. I think I’ll sit on it for now and then make the decision later today. Based on the names on the choices, Natural should mean I let her stats grow how they would without my interference. Physical would likely make her Strength, Agility and Constitution stats increase more. Maybe Resistance would be included in there too? Mental would increase Intellect and Wisdom. If I consider how a normal fantasy game would work, Intellect and Wisdom would also apply to magic which is something Coa lacks at the moment. As a dragon, I’m she’ll have some kind of magic as she gets older.

Let’s review her stats for now.

Name: Coa Level: 14 Species: Feathered Serpent Dragon Gender: Female Age: 52 Days Health: 180/180 Strength: 7(6) Agility: 10(9) Constitution: 11(10) Resistance: 10(9) Intellect: 23(21) Wisdom: 18(16)   Luck: 58(53)  

I have absolutely no idea how good these stats are. Should I try comparing it with one of my wolves? Checking Sirius wouldn’t be a good idea since he’s more than four times her level. Let’s see, my lowest level wolf was still eleven levels above her but it’s the closest thing I have to compare with.

Name: No Name Level: 25 Species: Mutated Wolf Gender: Male Age: 4 Years Health: 525/525 Strength: 46(42) Agility: 54(49) Constitution: 40(36) Resistance: 31(28) Intellect: 25(23) Wisdom: 24(22)   Luck: 24(22)  

Comparing the two, Coa’s physical stat growth is terrible but her mental stat growth is way ahead of the wolves. The wolf is also fully grown and probably gained levels afterwards so it’s not exactly a totally fair comparison since I have no idea what level Coa will be when she fully grows up. If I estimate how Coa would look in 11 levels based on the growth she just had, she’d probably be the total opposite of the wolf. So, should I leave her to continue growing naturally or try to adjust her?

I’ll think more about this later. Myura should be coming with breakfast soon.