The first day of the journey back to the capital went without a hitch. There were no monsters to slay, no disagreements that escalated too much, nothing that could disturb the festive vibe of the caravan. The scholars were elated by the fact that they had been part of such a huge breakup in understanding their past, while the adventurers who had been contracted to accompany them were just glad that their job was finally coming to an end. Of course, they were still required to protect the fragile scholars, who had spent their lives doing nothing but studying their areas of interest, but there were seldom any monsters worthy of being defeated by the best of the empire on the way to the ruins, so it was likely that there wouldn’t be much to worry about.
Still, looking at the way everyone around her was acting; Asteria couldn’t help but let out a sigh of frustration at these people who failed to take their jobs seriously. At this point, they were treating the journey back home as more of a victory lap than anything, throwing caution out of the wind and simply enjoying themselves to the fullest. It was annoying, yes, but the knight couldn’t really fault them. After all, if she caught notice of the fact that the remains of the legendary heroes depicted in countless tales were found, she would be hard pressed into not going to the site of the discovery herself to take a peek at one her childhood heroes, the people who inspired her to walk the path of a knight.
Even if such a thing happened though, she would be forced to show some decorum, as her profession was a public one, in which she was forced to interact constantly with both the common folk and the high-born. She had to maintain her face so as to continue to practice her job with the least amount of obstacles possible, contrary to the people all around her. They were free to laugh, to joke, to drink in broad daylight, to play rough with each other, to be as annoying as they pleased. Few people cared about the personality of adventurers, as long as they get their jobs done, and even fewer paid attention to the people behind the research that had been allowing this new-born kingdom to stay afloat. Just as long as there were results, they were simply faceless people, wearing their professions as their masks.
Asteria, however, could not afford to act like a moody teenager, since she would be readily demoted should she accidentally upset some noble or if she made enough of a ruckus that even the common rabble became upset with her. If those scholars and adventurers were part of her platoon, they would have already been whipped at least ten times and would be doing some form of menial work in order to pay for their demeanor. Here, though, she had her hands tied, even with the modicum of influence she had been gifted in the absence of the elders, as doing anything would only result in her being branded as a nosy knight, a knight unable to restrain herself, a knight who unleashed her power at the innocent, a knight not fit to be one.
She was already well aware of the strong preconception that came with her being a woman in this line of work, and the unsavory comments she heard ever since she entered the knight’s academy were numerous, with some bolder nobles even trying to get her under their sheets, though they were never able to pin her down. During school years, Asteria had to train every single day from after her classes ended until the school staff forced her to go to bed so as to get the same amount of recognition as her male classmates. She was forced to present herself as an ideal lady, despite being at a place designed to mold people into knights, for the simple fact that doing anything less would get her berated by some instructor or another.
Even now, after getting the job she had wanted since she was a little kid, she still had to consider every little action she did, every little thing that came out of her mouth, so as to not fan the flames that those who wanted her gone from her position had been lighting up ever since she had managed to pass the exam to enter the academy. It was an extremely annoying position to be in, and it often required her full attention, but it was through her caution that she had managed to rise to the position where she was at the present, and she vehemently refused to let some good-for-nothing nobles who were only enlisted as knights because they had no hope of ever inheriting anything of significance from their families ruin it for her.
That was why she forced the girl currently sleeping peacefully in between two other girls into such an extreme training regime right out of the bat, since she knew that the girl would need some strength in order to protect herself in this savage world. Still, this only made people talk more and more about her. Asteria had overheard some folks gossiping about her relationship with Kary, about how she was overworking the poor girl to death, about how she was abusing the poor girl just to feel better about herself, about how she was forcing the girl onto a path unbecoming of a lady like Kary, about how she was doing everything out of jealousy. They were farfetched and, quite frankly, ridiculous rumors, but the believability mattered little on the face of those who sought to bring about chaos.
They didn’t care about Asteria’s circumstances of the context, or about the truthfulness of the statements. Some nobles at the capital would gladly spout this nonsense left and right amidst their social circles, in an attempt to undermine the woman who had fought her entire life for the position she was in now. It would come as a great surprise, even, if any of them even knew who Kary was and why she was under the knight’s tutelage. Just as long as they could badmouth the knight, they were completely satisfied, knowing that the woman who dared to achieve what they did without the help of their status and wealth would soon have her wings cut and would be brought back to the ground, unable to ever soar the skies, unable to ever experience the same amount of success she had already achieved ever again.
It was a level of pettiness that Asteria had learned to deal with, as it was almost a requirement for nobles of this day and age. Every time the woman was made to accept a job from a noble house on the behalf of the king, the difference between young, rash, and arrogant nobles and their parents always stunted her. Why was it that the older generation was actually competent at their jobs, while their sons and daughters only knew how to badmouth and talk about people behind their backs? Why was it that they refused to accept the change in the status quo while their parents had no trouble adapting to it? From what she had seen, few were the nobles in charge of their houses who had anything to say about the fact that she was a woman leading a group of knights. It would be almost an interesting situation to study, was it not for the fact that Asteria was directly affected by it.
But alas, what mattered now was that she could not, regardless of how much she wanted to, get in the way of the boisterous laughing and over-the-top festive atmosphere, for she could not afford to have anyone complaining about her. At the same time, though, doing nothing could also cause some people to question her as the temporary leader of the caravan, since there were definitely some, albeit not many, who were just as annoyed at the people who had been showing such a complete disregard of social norms as of late as she was.
Asteria looked at the blue sky, devoid of any clouds, trying her best to ignore the out of tune singing that echoed through the deserted plains. No matter what she thought of, there would be always someone dissatisfied with her, so, true to her nature as a leader and someone who had learned through the hard way that it was impossible to please everybody, she tried thinking about what would leave the least amount of scholars and adventurers annoyed. She couldn’t ask them to calm down, nor could she ask the few who shared the same views as her to simply ignore, especially when the knight herself had trouble tuning out of the drunkards’ symphonies.
With a sigh, she looked back at the cart the girl she had taken under her wing was peacefully sleeping, serving as a comfy, although a bit dirty, body pillow for the two girls that surrounded her. At that sight, Asteria couldn’t help but smile just a tiny bit, forgetting for a moment the many worried that constantly plagued her mind. Despite all the trouble the girl had been causing her over the past week, the knight could tell that she had been smiling a lot more than she had just the week prior. Some of the adventurers who knew her even raised questions about her unusual behavior, but, right now, not even the knight herself could answer them, for she still did not know what was that feeling slowly but surely growing inside of her. Hopefully it wasn’t a tumor, but only the gods knew what was on that water she had been drinking during their time in the ruins.
A slight chuckle escaped her lips, startling the few people that didn’t mind staying close to the scary woman. One of them, a young scholar who had been walking in silence ever since they departed, began to open his mouth to do what no one else had the courage to ask Asteria for the reason why her expression had been changing so constantly on this past hour, but, before he could voice his concerns, he saw her face cloud once more, making him hastily retract everything that he wanted to say. The pressure she exerted suddenly increased many times, making the weaker and more fragile of the bunch almost buckle over, and the more resilient ones look around in a panic, trying to catch to origin of such intense pressure, before laying their eyes on Asteria and quickly looking the other way.
Nobody knew what the woman was thinking, and they could only pity the fools who had invoked her wrath. Inside of her mind, though, Asteria was perfectly composed, even satisfied with herself after coming up with a plan that, to a certain degree, would manage to appease both the drunk and the sober alike. It was quite simple, really. She would only have to impose specific times at which they were allowed to be as annoying as they pleased, preferably as far away from her as possible (though she would never speak that aloud). With that, she would still be providing an outlet for the explorers who had achieved much in regards to their researches and the adventurers who had joined them in their festivities, while at the same time giving some peaceful moments for those who, like her, preferred their quietude.
With powerful strides, Asteria briskly walked towards the front of the caravan, scaring away anyone that could sense the pressure she exuded from simply being concentrated. That uncontrollable pressure was one of the reasons the knight had to constantly keep her own power in check, since it was on its nature to want to expand, to encompass and oppress as much people as possible, to make them feel small, and it tended to get out of control whenever she began thinking too deeply about something.
When she was with her unit, the good-natured knights who had chosen to follow her would usually remind her of her rampant power, though it usually only after enough time had passed for them to be expelling sweat like they had been suddenly thrown into the Endless Wastes. Here, though, there were few who had the power to point out such a thing, and even fewer who were willing to do so. What happened, then, was that everyone simply decided that the easiest course of action was to simply steer clear of the woman; afraid that, should they try to confront her, the backlash waiting whoever had made her blast the pressure of a terrifying beast would inadvertently befall them.
Asteria, mostly unaware of this, made her way all the way to the front of the caravan, from where she could easily see most of the people accompanying her on the journey back. She looked at each and every one of them, her gaze lingering for a few moments more on the ones who had been causing the most ruckus, making them unconsciously flinch, as if they were being sized by a predator on the top of the food chain. Some gulped down the saliva that accumulated within their mouths, some wondered what was happening, and some others couldn’t even process anything anymore, their brains drowned in the cheap booze they had managed to bring with them. After making sure that everyone was paying attention to her, Asteria began speaking.
“Ahem! Ladies and gentlemen. I know you are all elated by the recent discoveries on the ruins of the ancient city of Táfos, and that the significance of it has resulted in quite the festive atmosphere! For the past week, most of you have been doing nothing but partying and talking to each other slumbering nonsense until the crack of dawn. At the time, there was no problem with such an arrangement, considering that those who opposed it were able to simply go farther away in order to get a proper night’s rest. HOWEVER! The situation now in much differs from what it was just a day ago. We now travel together, bundled and protected in case anything happens, and I, as the acting leader of this group, nominated by the elders, cannot allow these never-ending festivities”
“I won’t pretend like I understand what is going through your minds ever since out job here has been finished, but I ask you to be considerate to the ones who don’t have the same eagerness to drink ‘till the point of passing out! I cannot, and I will not, feign understanding of the complex mix of feeling swirling inside you all, but I can say with confidence that there are many here who struggle to deal with the way you output these feelings. I am not asking you to stop, nor am I asking you to go back to the seriousness present in the encampment prior to the discovery of the registers in stone slates, but I do ask you all to take into consideration those who fail to find meaning in the partying you partake in from dawn to dusk. Until someone with a higher degree of authority than I have declares it as much, excessive partying and drinking is prohibited from the moment the moon appears on the sky until the moment it vanishes”
Hearing that, most people nodded their heads in agreement. Even the ones who had forced Asteria to make a statement seemed to mostly think that the restriction was reasonable. After all, they could all empathize with the ones who had to suffer due to the loud noises, especially when they wanted to take no part in either producing or listening to such noises. Of course, there were still those who thought that was an absurd, a direct attack against them and folks with whom they had been mingling with every night, a clear notice that they were being bullied by the simple fact that the person in charge disliked them.
They had experienced such things many times over their careers as both scholars and adventurers, but they usually unfolded when they weren’t under the influence of alcohol, their inhibitors and their sense of what should and shouldn’t be said being completely gone. And so, they, which is to say five or so people so lost in their own world that they couldn’t even properly comprehend the words leaving Asteria’s mouth, tried to retaliate with complete nonsensical arguments, which would make them the laughingstock among their peers for the months to come.
“W-Why? Just because you don’t like our voices doesn’t mean you can dictate when we can and can’t sing!”
“Yeah! The only people who can judge our voices are our mothers, and they aren’t here, so you shouldn’t be saying such things!”
“They’re right! Just because y-y-you a-are s-s-strong and s-scary, d-doesn’t m-m-mean that you c-can just b-b-b-b-bully us!”
Hearing their pitiful attempts on turning her into the bad guy, Asteria had to give her all in order to suppress her desire to laugh, which grew with every drunken remark that was flung her way. Instead, she steeled herself, telling herself again and again that she could not, under any circumstance, laugh, and that she should maintain a serious face throughout the whole affair. With a sigh, too quiet for even those who were nearest to her to hear, Asteria looked directly into the eyes of the troublemakers, before letting just a little bit of her bloodlust reach them.
It was a delicate skill that had taken her years of tireless training to perfect, but the results were always satisfying to watch. The few remaining troublemakers started quaking on their boots, copious amounts of cold sweat dampening their clothes as they tried to take a step back, only to trip on the uneven dirt they have been walking on for the past few hours, comically falling to their butts. A few chuckles could be heard here and there, which only served to make the stubborn drunkards all the more annoyed. With their faces red with shame, anger, and alcohol, they tried to get up, mumbling incoherent things that didn’t manage to reach Asteria’s ears, though those who heard it would later say that it was for the best.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Still, no matter how annoyed they were, the fact remained that they had attacked one of the strongest people on the country, who received orders from His Majesty himself, with baseless accusations, only to be thrown to the ground by their own incompetence (and a little bit of encouragement from Asteria). Of the few who still disagreed with the knight, all but one hung their heads in shame before walking to the back of the caravan, trying to make themselves appear as small as possible, as they did not have the ability to fully disappear, contrary to some master assassins. Even the last one, an old graying man, with a receding hairline and a pronounced belly, as well as a height that could make people mistake him for a dwarf, after seeing everyone else accept, albeit begrudgingly, Asteria’s words, simply followed his mates to the back, soon enough disappearing from the woman’s line of sight.
With a sigh, Asteria looked around, even spotting Tom among the nervous bunch who waited to see what would happen next. She nodded at him, hoping that he hadn’t forgotten about what she had asked him a few days ago, before going back to the proximities of where Kary, Penny, and a third girl spent the entire length of her announcement peacefully sleeping, unbothered by the obnoxious yelling of the drunkards, too engrossed in their own dream to care about physical matters.
Once again the knight gazed upon the peaceful face of Kary, a face she had never seen when the girl was awake, as she always wore either a serious, almost detached expression, or the concentrated expression of someone who really didn’t want to fail at their job. She laughed with some people after her workout routine was finished, she played with them, but she never really allowed herself to relax. Asteria, as someone who had gone through extensive physical training, could spot from afar that, even in a relaxed environment, the quiet, reserved girl always seemed tense in some way, as if her mind never was truly there. Honestly, though, the knight couldn’t really blame the girl, for she had suddenly popped into an almost finished expedition with no context whatsoever and was just expected to play along with Asteria’s whims. It was a completely alien place for the girl, full of people she didn’t’ know and that could do anything to her. After all, she had just met them, so it was fair to assume that trust hadn’t budded yet, though Asteria sincerely hoped that, with time, they would grow to trust each other. Still, only time would tell which direction their relationship would move towards.
There was nothing particularly noteworthy during the rest of the afternoon. People still talked loudly and badly sang songs, but that was par with the course, and those who disliked that found solace on Asteria’s announcement that, as soon as night came, they would be allowed some peace and quiet. And so, they managed to endure until night fell and they were forced to stop the caravan to rest for the night.
Tents were set, people were fed, and reprimands were delivered for those who had either somehow forgotten the new rule or had simply ignored it, thinking that it wouldn’t be enforced. They did realize that Asteria took her own promises with utmost seriousness, though that could have happened without spreading the nasty smell of ammonia all over the temporary camp. By then, the knight figured that she maybe had been too heavy-handed with them, but softening up now wouldn’t do her any good, as the previous victims would undoubtedly complain about the unfair treatment. Since she had begun distributing harsh punishments, she had to be just as harsh on everyone else who did break the rules, so that they would have nothing to complain besides the fact that she would not budge in her decisions.
After the horses were stopped, the trio of girls, who had grown used to the rocking of the cart in which they were sleeping, almost immediately woke up upon the sudden interruption of it. Penny looked around, excited, her body proportions doing no service in portraying her bubbly, talkative, and a bit childish personality. The other girl, who had yet to introduce herself, simply hugged Kary tighter and went back to sleep, unperturbed by whatever was happening outside of the boundaries of the cart. That put Kary, who had just woken up and was just as confused as Penny, in quite the awkward situation, as she did want to get up to see where they were, but was unable to, lest the almost mute girl using her as a body pillow gets upset at her.
Because of that, if one were to see the cart at the moment, they would find a girl in her late teens stretching and looking around at such a pace that it could only be called a miracle that her head was still attached to her shoulder, a stiff girl looking fixatedly at the stars above, immobile, and a sleeping girl in long robes, which did little to mask her small frame. From not too far away, Asteria watched with demure curiosity the interactions between her protégé and the two other girls, quite pleased that they were getting along. Sadly, she would need to interrupt their bonding time, for every moment during these next nights would be necessary for Kary to improve her technique.
With quiet steps, she approached the trio, allowing herself to be quite easily found out by Penny, who had the biggest vantage point of them all, since she was the only one who was standing. The girl poked Kary with her feet, prompting the body pillow-girl to turn her eyes to her assailant, almost as if questioning her. Penny crouched down in one smooth motion, before whispering to Kary in that ambiguous voice of hers, which was impossible to determine by sound alone if it belonged to a girl, a fledging teenager, or a full grown woman.
“Your momma is here… heheheh~”
For a moment, Kary looked confused, wondering about what in the world she was talking about. After all, there was no way that her mother was also here, right? She, herself, was only here because she had died and received special treatment from a weird god due to her unfortunate circumstances, so it was unlikely that someone from the same family as hers, especially someone as despicable as her mother, would be reincarnated and placed on the same place as Kary. She racked her brains for a solid minute, trying and failing to interpret Penny’s words in any ways that would make sense. Eventually, though, the need to guess meanings was no more, as a familiar face entered Kary’s line of sight, blocking Penny who, at that point, had already returned to her vantage point.
“Good morning, Kary. Or should I say good night? I hope you slept well during the day, because I’m going to make you work hard until the sun rises again” Asteria said, with a creepy smile on her face that sent shivers down Kary’s spine. She looked around, trying to find some solace in her newfound friends, but, to her dismay, they had already darted away, even the girl who looked like she was in constant need of sleep had disappeared with surprising agility. Looking at their backs growing smaller and smaller as they approached the congregation of tents not too far away, the girl who was left behind couldn’t help but let out a sigh, honestly impressed by her friends’ foresight and athletic abilities. The girl tried to smile at the stern knight, but it probably looked so stiff that it might have been better if she had just continued to use her default expression.
“Umm… hello…? Umm… what are we gonna do today?”
“You don’t need to be so scared, sweetie, you’re just going to start learning how to yield a number of weapons. Of course, we are limited by both the quantity and the diversity of adventurers that were employed by the king, but I managed to get some heavy-hitters to give you some pointers. Don’t expect to become a master at the usage of any weapon within the month that we will probably spend on the road, but I want you to arrive at the capital with at least some knowledge about how to use any weapon”
“…Okay, that doesn’t sound so bad. What’s the catch?”
“The catch is that I’m going to make you practice with them until you pass out of exhaustion, and then some more, every night, for the entire duration of our journey. I hope you are well-rested, because that will be the last time you feel like that. Oh, and you are finally allowed to take a look at your status, though always keep in mind that it’s purpose is to showcase in an easy-to-digest away your current prowess and you progress”
“Oh, finally? I thought you would force me to live the rest of my life without ever getting in contact with the little status page ever again!”
“What image do you have of me?!”
“Do you want me to be nice or to say the truth?”
“Hah… I already know what the truth you’re going to speak is. Do you have any idea about how many people seem to think of me as some sort of terrifying monster?! I tell them that I’m not like that, that I’m simply a little more strict than usual instructor, but they don’t even bother to gossip about it behind my back!”
“Wait… you’re not a terrifying monster that tortures people through exercise until they are up to your preferences before devouring them whole?!”
“No!!! I’ve never done that… yet. If you want to, you can be the first”
“Nope! No thank you very much. I still have things I want to do in this life of mine, and it would be pretty bad for me to allow myself to be eaten by a knight monster shapeshifter due to my own stupidity”
“Haha… okay, okay, now stop joking around and quickly see your status. After that, you can look for me and Tom on the other side of the camp. Take as long as you need, though if you take too long I will come to fetch you, and you will not like that”
“Okay, ma’am!”
“Good. Remember, I will be waiting you~”
“…O-okay…”
Despite being slightly weary of what would be written in her status page after a week of non-stop training, Kary would be lying to herself if she said that she wasn’t also a bit curious to see what it looked like. After all, considering Asteria had taught her how to disable system notifications and had specifically asked her not to re-enable them or look at her status until further notice so as to not make grow the bad habit of chasing the numbers, Kary wondered if it had even changed that much after just a week. The transformation couldn’t have been anything more than a slight boost to her physical stats… right? Unable to endure the suspense any longer, Kary finally called forth her status page.
Name: Kary Denove
Age: -
Species: Mavka
Lv: 4 (200/400)
(20 × 1.0) HP: 20/20
Free points: 35
(13 × 2.0) Mana: 26/26
Job: None
(16 × 1.7) Intelligence: 27
Titles (3)
(14 × 1.8) Charisma: 23
(23 × 1.1) Strength; 25
Skills (7)
(30 × 0.9) Endurance: 27
Although Kary failed to remember precisely the numbers that were written on her page, she was pretty sure that none of them were that high. Especially the physical stats, she was sure that they were among the lowest of them all, and now they all at the very top. It would be quite funny to see, the girl who never worked out a day in her life prior to a few weeks ago suddenly appearing as this muscly, macho person oozing pure testosterone, but that wasn’t the case at all. Despite both her strength and her endurance being much higher than they were, Kary failed to notice any physical changes to her appearance. She was just as tall, just as slim, and just as muscly as before. For some reason, it seemed to be that her body, perhaps her species, was preventing any active changes to it, though she was sure that the changes were there.
She felt more powerful, faster, and quicker to react to the things happening around her. It was a feeling that she had never experienced before, as if her senses were clogged by wax her entire life and were only now cleansed. If Kary had to attribute one word to the way she was feeling after the hellish physical training she had endured, she would confidently say ‘invigorated’, something that would considerably shock her past self. The numbers were just a bonus on top of the feeling of being alive, of refining her body until it reached its peak, a numerical way to tell just how she had grown. Still, it was pretty nice. With a silly smile on her face, Kary decided to also check the new title, though she really didn’t expect anything special from it, considering that, again, she had only been in this world for a few weeks.
Survivor I
You have managed to survive the physical exercises of Asteria, one of the strongest knights in your country. If you want to survive the next steps of her training, you will need the 33% decrease on the use of stamina provided by this title. Good luck, and don’t die.
Well, wasn’t this ominous. Kary hoped that she would be fine, but, honestly, after the two weeks of pure torture, she wasn’t so sure anymore. Whoever wrote that title almost seemed to be speaking from experience when mentioning the certain need for the poor soul who got this title to sustain their stamina for longer periods of time. She honestly hoped that she wouldn’t need it, but only the gods knew what passed through the head of Asteria, so there was quite the chance that she would eventually come to rely on the bonus provided by this title in order to survive the next nights.
Satisfied by the haul, Kary began her walk to the other end of the camp, passing through precariously-mounted tents and people resting on crude benches made out of wood. She tried to delay her arrival for as much as possible, but, since the camp was neither particularly big or spaced out, the walk she had to do in order to find her instructors was much shorter than what she was intending, ending up in less than five minutes after it had started.
There, standing tall under the moonlight, were Asteria and Tom, the former looking at Kary like a hawk staring at its prey, while the latter stood there much in the same way as Kary remembered him: tall, gruff, buff, and with the expression of someone who was done with everything and everyone. Despite that, though, he was surprisingly gentle, helping people out whenever they needed. Of course, there were exceptions to what he was willing to do, but he was a popular guy within the many social circles that were gathered within this expedition, despite not being quite the talker. As Kary approached the duo, Asteria waved at her and also began to approach the girl from her direction, pulling an unwilling Tom along with her.
“Oh, you’re here! You came pretty quickly, though… are you sure that you looked at everything you wanted properly?”
“Y-yes, I think so. I got a bunch of points on endurance, strength, and HP, and also a new title… which said that I would need its bonus to survive your training”
“Oh… wow… I wasn’t expecting the system to address me personally, but that matters little right now. Don’t be fooled, though, I still want to see the title description and its bonus, so don’t think you’re off the hook just yet. For now, I asked Tom here to give you a crash course on wielding an axe, like he does. As I said before, you don’t need to end up fully proficient at this, nor does this have to be your main weapon, I just want to present to you all the options I can in order to make your eventual choice easier”
“Thanks…”
“No problem! Well, if you two need me, I’ll be on my tent sleeping. Tom, you know where to find me. Sorry if I sound a little rude today, its just that managing a whole caravan is a lot more demanding than what I was expecting… Sigh… anyway, have a good night, you two, and make sure that you don’t slack off. I WILL know if you guys begin slacking off, okay? So make sure not to do it”
With that, Asteria briskly walked away in the direction of the tents, leaving Kary and Tom to fend for themselves. She wasn’t particularly worried, though, since Tom was quite the skilled teacher, and his patience knew almost no bounds. That didn’t mean that the woman trusted either of them to not mess something up in some horrible way, so, instead of returning to her barrack, the knight took a slight detour before hiding in the shadows in the distance, watching Kary trying to copy Tom’s movements. Asteria knew that she would pay dearly for this in the next morning, but, for now, she was quite satisfied in seeing the girl she had found in nothing but bloody rags learn her way through life.
Eventually, though, even the esteemed knight Asteria needed to stop her monitoring, since her eyes had begun to grow heavier and heavier, to the point where she was experiencing moments of total blackout. Suppressing the yawn that threatened to make its way through her throat, she swiftly made her way back to her tent, nodding satisfied at the quietude of the place. After her little demonstration, it seemed that the rest of the caravan had begun taking her words seriously and, for that, she couldn’t be more grateful, as it allowed her to get at least some hours of sleep.
Truthfully, she wanted to keep watching the girl, especially after she had begun to actually understand what she was doing. Sadly, she had many responsibilities that would require her to be fully rested by tomorrows morning, so she couldn’t afford to lose sleep to keep monitoring. At least the girl was in trusted hands. With a smile on her face, Asteria accepted the invitation of the god of dreams, slowly drifting to sleep to the distant sounds of unintelligible speaking and steel hitting wood.