Kary had already anticipated the so-called grandiose capital would be underwhelming at best, considering the wonders of modernity that filled her previous life. To merely say that she was correct, though, would be a great understatement, a massive downplay of the scene the girl witnessed upon crossing the iron gate. The first thing she noticed was the smell coming from the people on the large street through which they had entered the city, a rancid, putrid smell that would be more than enough to make a lesser person faint on the spot, and even those who had spent years practicing how to hide their emotions behind a mask couldn’t help but scrunch up their noses at the smell. It was a bizarre mixture of bodily odors and natural filth cranked up to a level Kary had never witnessed before, even on the few times she had to walk through the center of the city she lived in, the place filled with trash and miserable homeless people. It was as if none of the people walking around had ever bathed in their entire lives, which, considering what Asteria had told her, might not be as far from the truth as she had wanted.

She plugged her nose shut with the help of her hand, trying her very best to hold inside the tears of disgust that threatened to spill out. Looking around, she could see that, although her reaction was the worse, everyone’s face was still distorted in some way, the abhorrent smell of a medieval city affecting even those who, for all intents and purposes, should be long used to it. Looking around, Kary saw that none of the habitants seemed to care much about the foul smell that surrounded them, so used they were to its constant presence that they went with their lives unbothered by it, eating, talking, walking, doing business all the same. Despite the putrid smell of pure filth, Kary failed to notice what she had been worried about the most: death and disease. Sure, the smell strong enough to almost give it physical form was an ever-present constant, following the girl no matter to where she turned her head, but there were a surprisingly sparse amount of people lying on the ground or showing any signs of sickness.

From her position to the side of the arriving caravan, Kary could see a multitude of people of all shaped and sizes, all ages and dispositions, from kids running around the large stone road her group was walking through, unbothered by the approaching horses and important-looking people to housewives gossiping in the distance, holding in their hands brooms and other housework utensils. There were even some shady looking individuals on the branches of what Kary could only assume to be the main road of the capital, or at the very least one of the main ones, given its monstrous size compared to the dirty, unpaved paths that branched out from it. Despite the clear signs of past injuries, like amputated limbs or uneven joints, there didn’t seem to be anyone suffering from any type of serious injuries, despite the absolute filth that permeated the entirety of the city. Seeing all that, Kary couldn’t help but wonder if sick people were just isolated from the normal folks in order to contain the plagues, or if public health and safety were just important enough to warrant using magic to heal the masses.

Still, it was impossible to deny the prosperity of this city, as even the smallest of children seemed to be dressed decently, standard shades of browns and greens adorning their simple, rugged clothes. Of course, saying that the people in the epicenter of a country had the money to dress with some amount of dignity meant absolutely nothing in regards to the country as a whole, as it simply pretended that the poorer areas outside of the public’s eyes, as well as the poorer regions of the country, a few of them which for sure struggled to simply not dismantle into complete chaos over the crumbs they could afford, did not exist, and that the only place that mattered was the capital, where the rich and powerful congregated in droves. Despite the smiling faces of the vast majority of the people on the street, be they from commoners taking their kids to a walk with a pile of clothes on top of their heads or the merchant stands that spread throughout the sides of the road, there were still many who wore hopeless, depressed, or even angry expressions, though that might just a be a given, considering the sheer size of the capital.

Kary didn’t like to assume, and, for the present moment, she had no proofs that something more sinister was happening within the city. After all, this was not a game, despite its similarities, and she was most definitely not a protagonist of one, which made it so there would make no sense for something to start brewing as soon as she arrived in the city. For that, she was happy, since she really didn’t want to be burdened by the task of saving the world or defeating some demon king or the other. She simply wanted to explore the world, get stronger, and hopefully make some friends along the way. Sure, there would be some responsibilities from which she would be unable to escape, but she hoped that there wouldn’t be anything close to the level of what a video game character would be forced to do in order to get the good ending. For now, she simply resigned herself to admire the view of the big city as the caravan moved forward, making peasants step out of the way and merchants announce their wares with renewed vigor.

People stared at the big group walking down the street, the children specially were gawking and shouting at the sight of their heroes, the big, strong, sleek adventurers they have always admired, much to their parents’ dismay. As children, they felt no need to hide their excitement, contrary to the adults, who took a more reserved approach, silently looking at the bunch, in particular towards some specific individuals, like the scholars who refused to walk more than a few minutes under the sun a day and were particularly meticulous about their skin health, to the point where they ditched some of their essentials in favor of bringing more skincare products with them. It was an obsession Kary had witnessed many times over during her previous life, with the girls on her school putting on so much makeup that the girl oftentimes wondered if there was, in fact, a face to be seen behind all that. There were even some men who took caring for their own bodies to the extreme, spending their entire free time in the gym, almost reaching the point of bringing their mattresses there in order to spend the night training too. Of course, there were also the normal folks like Liz, who were naturally beautiful and didn’t really have the need or want to make herself prettier, but those were the minority.

Somehow, this obsession with their own prettiness seemed to seemed to accrue even more significant results in this world, with women falling left and right to pretty pale, skinny, and glossy boys whenever that specimen decided to leave their compounds in the noble area. Kary herself had never seen the appeal in wearing such thick makeup, but it wasn’t her place to judge other people’s interests, so she just decided to keep her mouth shut and watch as the townsfolk silently appraised each and every one of them, judging their appearances and quickly picking up favorites among them, discussing in low voices and with timidly pointed fingers their own preferences, defending with their lives the stranger they had just seen over another chosen by someone else. The girl even felt a faint burning sensation on her cheeks as she noticed some index fingers measuredly pointing at her from a distance. From her interactions with the rest of the exploration group, she had reached the conclusion that she wasn’t abhorrent or anything like that, at least not ugly enough to elicit any negative reaction from those around her, but she had never thought of herself as pretty. It was a weird, warm, fuzzy feeling, to see other people compliment her, saying that she wasn’t any worse than some of the beauties she had had the pleasure to chat with during the trip back.

She heard children loudly speaking in the distance, exchanging opinions about the nature of the arriving party. Some argued that they were the heroes who had returned after defeating the demon king, a being who, as far as Kary knew, did not exist, and it would hopefully remain that way. Other kids, more skeptical, pondered aloud about the places where they could possibly have been sent to, trying to take into account, in their own childish way, their outfits, group composition and the more well-known individuals walking on the edges of the street with somber faces, some carrying their weapons, other wielding their thick books and documents bundles. There was no order, no thought put into how they would waltz into the city, with the only requirement being that the leaders, Asteria and the elders, should be in the front, in order to lead them to the adventurer’s guild and, at the same time, ascertain their identity to anyone who knew what they had been up to these past few months.

That resulted in a mismatch of adventurers, scholars, and everyone in between walking side by side, passing by precarious wooden houses, from which people watched, mesmerized, the unusual parade walking through them. Even some shops stopped working momentarily as both workers and costumers crowded the windows to see the loud march of Kary’s group. Under all that attention, the girl wanted little more than sink into the ground, disappear from the public’s eye, and live in the woods until the end of times, She could feel their gazes on her, their stares directed at every inch of her body, making her feel vulnerable, exposed, almost naked, despite the bulky clothing she was forced to wear ever since her original white dress had gone to shit, thrashed beyond saving and filthy with earth, mud, blood, and other non-identifiable fluids. It was standard gear, really, with long pants and thick blouse, it too with long sleeves, with pockets scattered all around it, such that she could easily store whatever she wanted and pick it up again with relative ease.

She had received from Asteria a pair of thick leather boots, which for some reason fitted her perfectly, making her quite curious about how in the world that came into being. Perhaps magic was involved in some way, of maybe Asteria had simply gotten her measurements while the girl slept. She couldn’t deny the fact that, should someone approach her after the end of her grueling night training, she would continue to sleep like a rock, a rock that had been thrown around, stretched beyond what it should have been possible, made to repeat the same movements until its entire pebble structure became numb. Still, regardless of the manners through which she had obtained this pair of boots, it was hard to complain too much, as they had remained surprisingly comfortable after all the abuse they had endured during these past few months. Taking into account the lifespan of the shoes she wore back at home, it was nothing short of a miracle that these ones had managed to endure this long under such precarious conditions.

In fact, that same praise could be applied to every other piece of clothing she was wearing, their sturdiness commendable at the very least. As she absentmindedly followed the slow crowd through the emptied cobble street, though, her mind began to drift towards other places, such as the chaos that the architecture of this city was, from what the girl could see from where she was. It was as if the king had ordered its subjects to build with as much variety as possible and, somewhere along the line, the word ‘variety’ had been blurred beyond recognition, remaining only the previous example to go by. Sure the houses and stores to the left and right of the main street were all quite neat and cozy, their wooden structure, combined with the employment of some rudimentary form of lighting making for quite the homey ambient, even for someone spectating from a distance. But such a style failed to remain consistent as one went deeper into the city, with tall, shaky buildings rising from the ground and into the skies, attempting to touch a domain yet mostly untainted by humanity, their structures so crooked and twisted that even magic failed to explain how exactly they were not only standing, but also in a good enough of a condition to allow people to live inside them.

For a brief moment, Kary thought the entirety of the city would be like that, twisted and distorted beyond recognition, failing even as an exhibit of modern art, but she quickly discarded the thought. After all, there would be no way that the richer people in the city would bear to live anywhere near these monstrosities visible from afar, which made the girl think that these almost-towers were the places where the poorest of the peasants were crammed together, hidden away from society as best as they could, their only contribution to society being through the ugly sight one was forced to see if they happened to turn their head to any side after entering the city. It was bizarre and unnatural, as if those buildings had been taken directly from someone’s dream, no alterations made in order to placate the madness that plagues the dreamland.

Thankfully, the weird building in the distance soon gave way to a very spacious plaza, where people completely different from those Kary had seen up until now congregated, from maids in simple garments washing clothes at the well in the center, to old men with the glint of greed in their eyes selling food on their much more elaborate stalls. Even the floor and the building around it changed in order to accompany the change in mood, with the previously gray road of cobblestone now a circular floor of red, dirty bricks, marred by the constant stream of people that walked on top of them every single day. The establishments by the side, too, were much different compared to the ones that had greeted them at the entrance of the city. Gone were the wooden structures, cheap stalls almost falling apart, run by dirty yet cheerful old men and women. Even the larger stores, once made simply out of wood, with their windows being simple holes in the wall protected by thin wooden boards attached to noisy hinges, had become much more sophisticated, clearly catering to a much more different public.

Kary saw a myriad of different types of products being sold, from delicious-smelling food coming from a nearby eatery to rugged tools protected by a thick layer of glass. No matter where Kary looked at, there was always something new to see. It was kind of fascinating, the amount of variety just this one part of the town offered, especially compared to the bland, uninteresting, and a bit same-y houses and stores that filled the main road before this point. It was as if she had entered an entirely different world purely by accident, though she seemed to be the only one thinking that, as the rest of her group seemed to even be more relaxed than when they had arrived. It would be quite interesting to think about the reasons why some of the scholars, and even a couple of the weaker adventurers, employed due to the lack of a good number of the stronger ones, felt seemingly uncomfortable among the commoners, was it not for the fact that Kary felt the same say, though probably for different reasons. After all, in this plaza, where much better trained people came together to do their own businesses, few people cared to pay attention to the group, offering at most a greeting through a nod of their head before returning to whatever it was that they were doing.

It was relieving to not have all those people constantly looking at her, pointing at her, commenting about her skin and her clothing. Of course, there were still some occasional odd glances, but those were few and far in between, a number small enough that Kary could endure them, even if they still caused some amount of discomfort. Compared to the feeling of being once again integrated into society, the privy gaze of a few unsavory felons was nothing to write home about. Not that she had any home to return to, but hopefully the gist of the idea was conveyed in a satisfactory manner. These silly thoughts that continuously intruded her head, however, were completely blown away in the moment she saw what she could only assume was the adventurers guild. If the other establishments around the plaza felt like residences and shopping places for the rich and influential, then the adventurers guild felt like a castle for the common people. It was made out of stone, just like every other building around this area, though the tone was much darker than the uniform gray that adorned the facades. It gave out an ominous feeling, as if one was not supposed to enter it, at the risk of losing their own lives, a feeling which, after thinking about the temperament of adventurers she had seen in books, Kary couldn’t really deny.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Its surroundings were eerily quiet, as if none of the servants of the rich folks wanted to have anything to do with the place. As they approached the guild, Kary could make some of the more intricate details that she had failed to see from afar, like the intricate patterns adorning the dark stone, conferring it a somber, mysterious, and yet at the same time majestic atmosphere, like the grand lair of an evil mastermind. It was a two story building, with both of them containing structures that resembled windows, though the ones in the first floor looked much friendlier, with their small, darkened glass panes almost blending in together with the rugged stone, than the small holes on the upper floor, almost resembling the little opening of castles from back on Earth, from where archers could fire their bows with minimal risk of getting shot in retaliation. Perhaps that was the reason those holes were there in the first place, or perchance it was for another reason altogether, considering that the way warfare was conducted probably differed from Kary’s original world thanks to the existence of magic.

Still, as they got closer and closer to the big double doors in the exact middle of the building, Kary was unable to simply forget those weird rectangular holes at the top, her imagination left to wonder if there was even any deeper meaning for their existence. Heck, she might have been overthinking everything, thinking of simple passageways for the light as anything more grandiose. They were in the middle of the capital of a kingdom, for the Gods’ sake, if any enemy managed to reach this point, than there was little reason to mount a resistance here. A valid counterargument might be that such a thing is there in order to protect the rich as they make her way out of the square, which would be quite ridiculous, as any enemy that insisted on killing the top brass of the kingdom would seldom be deterred by such things. If someone was determined to kill everyone until they reached the castle at the other end, than the adventurer guild, which had been forced to let the kingdom borrow some of their younger talents for the lack of the necessary number of actually strong members, wouldn’t be able to deter them for nearly long enough.

Kary was only forced to shake these useless questions away when she finally managed to enter the den of adventurers, the headquarters of everything related to adventuring in this kingdom whose name she had yet to learn. For a moment, all she could see was the blurry, dim light coming from above, the darkness within a stark contrast to the cloudless day outside, the blue of the sky seeming to be nothing more than an illusion for those trapped outside this cold, dark, and damp structure, where almost incessant shouts came from above, a constant barrage of stimulation that had made many requesters quake in their boots before gathering the courage to post their requests.

After allowing her eyes get used to the dim lighting place, she took in the interior of the guild, which she found fairly bland, though not nearly as much as the amalgamation of near-identical little wooden houses she had seen upon entering the city. There were some wooden tables, which were mostly empty, apart from one man or another looking at the group pouring in with some suspicion in their eyes, showing no hostility at the newcomers, at least for now. There were some people discussing among each other, holding a piece of paper as they explained something to the four others that surrounded him. On the very back was the board from where that piece of paper was most likely obtained, considering the amount of pieces of parchment that were located there, glued to the simple wood board through the use of little metal pins. To the side were a few counters, where some bored-looking staff members waited for someone to either decide to take on a quest or for someone from outside to come and request for some task to be added to their already overflowing board.

Still, as bored as they seemed to be, they looked pretty content in just staying there, seated on their chairs, looking bored as they enjoyed their own personal hobbies. Hell, there was even one woman who didn’t even bother to hide the book she was eagerly devouring with her eyes, the silly smile on her face an almost comical contrast to the overly serious atmosphere of the place. It was refreshing; to see someone having some degree of fun inside this joyless environment, regardless of just how utterly out of place the woman seemed to be. With a bright smile on her face, Asteria approached the girl at the counter, who appeared to be utterly oblivious of the stream of the people who had just entered through the door, absorbed as she was by the literary work.

As the rest of the group who had gone to explore the ruins stayed a fair distance away from the guild dwellers, Asteria approached without a hint of fear within her eyes, sure that they wouldn’t come picking a fight and confident in her own strength, capable of turning almost every single person inside the building into red paste. Her smile alone was enough to cause some trembling on the poor fools who dared to entertain the idea of scaring this woman away, their eyes quickly finding something more interesting to look at, preferably something far from the monster who had decided to just barge into the place, and who walked around as if she owned the place. Some of the adventurers to the side were certain that they had seen the woman before, but, considering that they were unable to bear with the pressure forced upon them whenever they dared to stare at her back with any amount of hostility, they were unable to confirm they suspicions, though that didn’t prevent them from still staring into her, trying their very best to find characteristics that could give her away, apart from the obvious, generic traits that were visible even as she neared the counter with slow, deliberate steps.

Everyone watched as Asteria stood there, tall and unmoving, staring intently at the top of the girl’s head, the intensity almost enough to bore a hole in her hair. Despite that, however, the girl continued to read her book, uncaring about her actual job, knowing that there shouldn’t be anything important enough to make her get out from her position. If some adventurer still wanted to talk to her despite her clear show of uninterested, than it could only be their fault if they left disappointed, or worse, fuming with anger. It wasn’t as if she bothered to hide her own nature, so it would make no sense for someone to insist on coming to her, especially when there were so many employees just eagerly waiting for anything that could break their daily monotony. It was only when she heard a cough coming from the space in front of her that the girl bothered to raise her head, her eyes fixating on Asteria’s calm, calculating, and a little mischievous gaze.

At that moment, the world seemed to freeze, as the woman finally seemed to come to her senses, realizing, much too late, the mess in which she had put herself in. Carefully, she looked from Asteria, whom she recognized almost immediately upon laying eyes on her, to the huge assorted group behind her, standing respectfully to the side of the door so as to block the least amount of traffic possible. Her mind raced as she tried to recall any reason such a big group would come all the way to the guild, her imagination going to the wildest of wonderlands before considering some sensible options. Of course, if she had had a little more time to process the situation, she would be quick to realize that these were the people sent by the king to explore Táfos and that, just like the note she had received at the start of the week had said, were coming back to the capital. Since she knew many of the faces staring at her expectantly, it should be something easy for her to figure out even if her mind decided to blank out the contents of the letter the guild had received, bearing the official shield of the royal family.

She still reached that conclusion, thanks to her experience and the fact that she still had some braincells still bouncing around her flabbergasted head, but it took her several, painfully embarrassing seconds, her cheeks growing redder and redder as she struggled to remember why those people were there. Seeing the flustered girl, Asteria patiently waiting, noting in the back of her mind that she would surely write to the guildmaster about the lack of activity within the guild, and how he could probably afford to send some of the unoccupied workers here to work with the overflowing paperwork within the castle. After the girl finally regained the composure befitting of an employee of the guild, she politely addressed Asteria, a business smile, much too different to the flustered expression she wore just before, plastered on her face:

“Welcome back, Asteria. It had been quite a while since you last stopped by. And you brought quite the crowd with you today”

“It sure had been some time since I was here in the capital, yes. As I hope you have been informed, me and this group of lovely gentlemen and gentlewomen have spent the past… half a year exploring the ruins of Táfos, and, although there were no qualms about remaining there for longer, we have returned as per the order of the king”

“Yes, yes, the guild had received an official letter warning about your arrival in the near future. As it turns out, though, ‘near’ happened to be nearer than what we had thought, but thankfully the rewards for you and your wonderful team had already been measured and properly sorted out and separated into equal amounts for everyone” Turning her head from Asteria to the exploration group, who all watched the girl in the counter with wide, ravenous eyes, ready to gobble her up at the first of opportunities, the woman, completely unfazed by the uncomfortable atmosphere, raised her voice as she asked them all to form an orderly line in front of her counter, for she would start handing out the rewards. As if in a trance, both the rough adventurers and the frail, almost delicate-looking scholars formed a perfectly straight line, going through the middle of the room, the people not bothering anymore to appear respectful or mindful of whoever decided to enter the guild.

Kary watched from the side, instructed to do so beforehand by Asteria, since she technically wasn’t part of the expedition that had left the capital half a year prior, as everyone received a small bag of money, the clinking inside enough to make some of the ones who were previously the most nervous jump with joy, fall down to the floor, break down crying, or simply clasp their hands together in a prayer to whatever god they followed. To the girl’s side was Asteria, the last one in the queue, carefully monitoring everyone as a kindergarten teacher would their unruly students. Thankfully, there was no need to intervene, and, after some time, even her got her just-deserves.

After that, everyone scattered, breaking into smaller groups now that they weren’t required to stay as one big, unified group. Some people, like the elders, left the guild right away, having more to do than celebrate their successful return with a bunch of younglings they barely knew. Others picked tables at random to sit at, discussing, laughing, and spending the money they had just earned with warm meals and alcoholic drinks, things Kary hadn’t even realized were served here until she happened to notice a man drowning in his own puke after trying to drink a whole bottle of some unidentified alcoholic drink in a single go. Seeing that surreal, jolly scene, the girl let out a laugh that she herself failed to realize just how much she needed. Her quiet, shy laugh, as if afraid of leaving her mind and entering the physical plane, failed to travel through any significant distance, but it was enough to make Asteria once again pay attention to the girl she had been avoiding for these past few days, neglecting for the sake of seeing her duty to the end. Now that everything was finished, though, she could at last spend some time with Kary, talk to her, explain this world that she seemed to know nothing about, allow her to ask question, dote on her with the money she had stored and never really used.

With a gentle smile on her face, something terrifying on its own, Asteria thought about being more daring, to ask Kary something that never in her whole life she had even considering asking someone. It was a bizarre thought, wholly disconnected from her own mentality as a knight, but the woman couldn’t quite get it out of her head. That very, very uncharacteristic question remained there, nagging at the back of her mind, reminding her time and time again that she should either question the girl at once or drop the subject entirely. Running around, delaying things, ignoring the poor girl, things like that would only work temporarily, as her mind worked tirelessly to make her feel as guilty as possible for not asking that one simple question, for never before trying to address it, even when the knight herself clearly wanted to. Sucking in a large quantity of air, the woman resigned herself, praying to the gods that Kary wouldn’t grow to hate her for what she was about to ask. She silently approached the girl, the nervousness she felt as clear as day on her face as she gently tapped the girl on the shoulder, trying to get her attention.

“Umm… Kary… sorry to bother you like this… I know we haven’t talked much during these past few weeks, but I’ve been wanting to ask you something, and I ask you to please consider it very, very, very carefully, okay?” Seeing the normally confident as sure of herself knight fidgeting like a little girl in love for the first time made Kary very confused, to the point where her mind practically shut down on the spot, forcing her to reply to the awkward question with an even more awkward “Okay?”

“Would… would you like to come live with me? I… I know this is a sudden question, and for that I’m very sorry. I haven’t got to know you particularly well… I don’t know where you’re from, or how was your life like before ending up in those ruins. I don’t know how your relationship with your family was, or if you had any friends. But what I do know is that you are alone here, without anywhere to go. So I through that… umm… since I’ve been trying to take care of you thus far… why not come with me to my place? It’s definitely big enough to fit the two of us, even if you desire some personal space. It’s so big that it ends up being a bit lonely at times, heheheh… still, I love that place to death, and I think you’ll like it too. So… umm… what… what do you think?”

Listening to Asteria’s speech, awkward beyond belief, Kary’s brain, which had already short-circuited, couldn’t help but burst into an explosion of intrusive thoughts and self-doubts. Why would a renowned knight such as Asteria make her such an offer? Was there some ulterior motive? Was it done out of pure goodwill? The girl sincerely wanted to believe that yes, there was nothing shady going on, which would make perfect sense when taking into consideration the stern, but always fair personality of the knight. But if that was the case, than that left even more questions for her. Why would she want to take her in? What had she even done to deserve something like that? Why did Asteria even consider helping a freeloading brat like her?

Kary narrowed her eyes, the corners of her vision dimming, as her brain went into overload, taking into account every possible doubt that still remained within the girl’s mind. If she did take Asteria up on her offer, how much would her life change? Would she be forced to be a knight like the woman in front of her? Or would she be allowed the freedom of choosing her own path? Would Asteria even let her follow her newfound dream of traveling the world, considering all the debt to her she was bound to accumulate? Or would she simply allow her to live there out of the goodness of her own heart? If so, then would things be different? Would life be better than it was prior to her reincarnation? Would Asteria even be able to take care of her? Would she be happy living such a life?

For a few agonizing moments, the entirety of the first floor of the guild fell silent, as everyone strained their ears in order to hear Kary’s response. Even the girl on the counter, as absorbed as she was by her readings, stopped in the middle of turning a page, her expression unreadable as her legs trembled as if she hadn’t gone to the bathroom for the past two days. If not for the usual obnoxiously loud speaking from the drunken costumers at the second floor, it wouldn’t be implausible to think that the world had frozen for a few seconds. For what seemed to be eons, Asteria stood there, her shoes feeling like lead, dragging her deeper and deeper into the ground. She clenched her fists, making monumental effort to avoid grinding her teeth against each other, the pressure of the moment endlessly mounting as the girl in front of her carefully thought about what she had to say. At least, that was what Asteria had assumed the meaning of Kary’s prolonged silence was.

Contrary to the direct response Asteria had been expecting, Kary simply moved forward, not a word spoken between them. Tears brimmed at the corners of her narrowed eyes as she slowly, measuredly took step after step, bringing herself closer and closer to the woman who had not only saved her life, but also offered her a way through which she could live the best of this new life she had been granted by some mad god. Looking at the paralyzed statue of a woman right in front of her, Kary realized that, at this moment, she didn’t need anything more. Spreading her arms out, she embraced the woman in the tightest hug she could muster, which wasn’t saying a lot seeing as the knight was as sturdy as the rocks used to build ancient fortresses. She let the tears that had been put on hold on the corners of her eyes fall, and with them came and entire cascade of tears, a waterfall worthy of receiving a legend to go along with it. If one could see Kary’s face, they would witness the biggest, goofiest smile the girl had ever conceived as she stood on her tiptoes so that she could quietly whisper into Asteria’s ear “Yes”