"You're finally awake."

As I slowly opened my eyes, I instantly regretted waking up. I had a terrible headache. I looked around, and unfortunately, I wasn't in heaven but in a fancy-looking carriage, having my hands and feet tied, laying on a seat padded with leather.

"You should be grateful to my bodyguard, Yasuko. She says you have potential, so she convinced me to keep you alive. From now on, you are my belonging. Of course, you have no right to refuse." A high-pitched voice said, and instantly, I looked up and saw her. She was relatively short, had ice-blue eyes, fair skin and silver hair. Her clothes looked well made, and they were primarily black and light blue with golden lines woven into them. Most people would consider her to be beautiful.

She was likely the daughter of some aristocrat, and her family was rather wealthy. Besides her guard, she was the only person in the carriage, which meant that she was in charge. But wait a minute. Did she say her guard was female? Confused, I looked at her. However, a cape and a hood still hid her body, so it was tough to tell whether she actually was a woman.

Well, in modern times, assuming gender was dangerous. Maybe this world had progressed in that topic way faster than my world. Personally, I didn't care. Instead of worrying about genders, I quietly tested the strength of my restraints.

"Don't even think about it. I magically enhanced these so you won't be able to break them." The bodyguard had a rough voice, but it definitely sounded feminine. My current situation didn't seem that bad. I still had to figure out if the reason they kept me alive was really because they saw potential in me and what they had planned for me, if that was the case.

"Hey you, can you even understand me? Hey, I'm talking to you. You better answer." The girl that appeared to be in charge interrupted my thoughts. I quickly pondered whether or not to answer. All things considered, I had little to lose and could gain more information through a conversation. I tried to speak as politely as possible.

"Excuse my silence. I was rather confused about this whole situation. I won't go into detail about why I attacked you. In short, I was starving. However, I didn't expect you to forgive me. But since you said you would spare my life and allow me to serve under you, I will make sure to not disappoint your expectations. I'm called Ken. How may I address you?" She looked at me confused before quickly regaining her composure and saying: "You shall address me as Fuyumi."

"If you don't mind Fuyumi, I would like to know more about where we are going and my duties will be." She swiftly answered. "We're on the way to my house's estate, where you will be trained to become a worthy servant of the Miyakami name."

They must be in a pretty rough spot when they retort to accepting strangers that are obviously dangerous into their household. Or they are just stupid. Only time will tell. Regardless, this situation is fantastic for me, almost too good to be true. Maybe they are hiding something important from me. I will have to pry further. "I am really grateful for your generosity, but why would you let a stranger that attacked you so readily into your household?"

Fuyumi Miyakami smirked and said. "I do not know your background, but your actions make it unlikely that you're a political enemy of mine and just a starving beast. Judging by how you talk, you're likely an abandoned beast that might even bring trouble. But instead of killing that beast, I will use it until the day it dies. In return, I will give it shelter and keep it well fed. Said beast has nothing to gain from revolting but everything to lose, so it's quite a safe bet for me."

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A satisfactory explanation. Still, that whole beast analogy was a strange way of going about it. Nonetheless, she made some excellent deductions but is still too trusting. I'm even more confident that their house is indeed in a rough situation.

For now, I will focus on gaining their trust, and if their situation isn't salvageable, I'll simply jump ship and escape. Since the journey still seemed to go on for a bit more, I wanted to gather more information. "In terms of strength, how good is your Bodyguard Yasuko comparatively?" With a smug face, Fuyumi spoke proudly. "She is an S rank adventurer and of the best in that category. After all, she is my bodyguard, so obviously, she's really strong."

A classic Tier list rating. I wonder if S is the highest category, but it's unlikely since she would have boasted about Yasuko being in the highest tier. I wonder what tier I am. "If you'd have to rate me, what category do you think I am in?" Yasuko looked at me for a few seconds before saying: "I'm not too sure, but we will know your theoretical strength once you get your evaluation at a judgment stone. Your practical combat strength should be around B-Tier, but you will also receive another evaluation for that later. And if you combine these 2, you get your category."

So there was a convenient way to know your strength. She called it theoretical strength, so it will likely show me my stats similar to how games do. I wonder why neither my partner Higa nor the group I was in mentioned judgment stones. Maybe they are scarce, or they had one and just didn't want us to know our strength.

The rating system also seems to be really solid if it measures not only your stats but also how good you are in actual combat. That way, even people with weak stats that are strong in combat will get a fair rating. I then asked, "I'd humbly like to request that my restraints are removed. You said that you would use me and that I wouldn't run away, so there should be no reason to keep them on any longer." She cheekily said, "Your request has been heard and denied. You will have them removed after we reach the mansion."

Shut down instantly. Not taking the risk of associating with them and just escaping would have been an option worth considering. With these shackles however, it would be even harder to achieve and likely not worth the effort and risk associated with it. "I understand. Maybe you can spare me some of your time by answering another one of my questions. I was wondering what your current position is in your family."

"I am the only heir. I also have a request for you. Kindly stop that lousy noble talk. It doesn't suit you. A beast should talk like one." Did she see through my act? I thought it was pretty good. But either she had seen through it, just disliked this kind of etiquette, or it had something to do with the beast thing she keeps repeating. Her character was still a mystery to me. However, for now, trying my best to stay on her good side was necessary. "I understand, but don't get me wrong. I only talked this way to make sure you wouldn't be uncomfortable. Since you said I would be your servant, I thought it was only appropriate."

"Don't get cocky. You are not a servant of the Miyakami family yet. At the moment, you are just a wild beast with potential that needs to be examined more before a decision will be made."

"I will exceed your expectations, so you have no choice but to accept me." After having said she just ignored me silently. It was tough to tell what she was thinking. She seemed so simple at first. Yet she shuts my attempts at getting into a better relationship down every time. Maybe she is just a tsundere, and I'm overthinking. I moved over to the windows and looked outside. There were trees everywhere, and this forest seemed to go on forever.

I focused my attention back inside the mansion and noticed that the bodyguard Yasuko had taken off her cape and hood. On closer inspection, you could clearly see that she had feminine features. Although more rough than Fuyumi.

She was quite tall and muscular. Her build could easily rival bodybuilders I had seen. Scars were scattered all across her body, showing her experience in fights. Her skin was dark-toned, and her hair and eyes were brown. Furthermore, she didn't lack curves, and there were certainly people that preferred this type over anything else.

"Hey quit staring at my bodyguard. I know she's beautiful, but aren't you way too young to be having these kind of indecent thoughts?"

How did Fuyumi figure out who I was looking at? I did it as stealthily as possible. Even worse, she seemed to have gotten the wrong idea. Best to just bluff it out. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"We are arriving soon." The coachman announced.