The next morning, I woke up with someone shaking my shoulders.

-”Young miss, please wake up.”

“Five more minutes…”

-”It’s already nine.”

“But I’m sleepy…”

The shaking only got worse.

Annoyed, I shot my eyes open, only to see a pair of emerald eyes staring back at me.

“Uhhh…”

“Young miss, it’s not good for a noble lady such as yourself to sleep in!”

“Okay…”

I scratched the back of my head. Then, I quickly got out of my bed and tried to open my wardrobe. However, my hand was grabbed by Head maid Ria before I could do so.

“Young miss, you’re a girl now, those clothes are simply not suitable anymore.”

“Aren’t they the same things?”

After all, there wasn’t that much of a difference between the clothes of the girls and boys of my age apart from color.

“No, they are very different.” Ria shook her head. Then, she took out some kind of clothes from seemingly nowhere. “Look at this.”

Heeding her words, I scrutinized the piece of clothing. It was white in color, very frilly, and much fancier than my normal clothes. Now, I had no choice but to admit that the clothes were indeed different. However, I had another question.

“I don’t remember seeing clothes of girls my age before…did you buy this yesterday?”

“Ah…yesterday was Sunday, so the stores were closed.”

“Then how did you get that?” I pointed at the white frilly dress she was holding.

“Simple. It’s madam’s old dress.”

“Oh…”

That makes sense.

As I was about to just dismiss Ria and get into my normal clothes, I had a thought.

‘Say…I’ll have to wear dresses eventually, right?’

It couldn’t hurt to try to get used to wearing it now. Besides, I wanted to see how flexible I could be in a dress.

As such, I walked away from the wardrobe.

“Ria, please help me put the dress on.”

Suddenly, and almost ominously, Ria’s eyes sparkled.

“Yes!”

‘...I hope I didn’t just make a mistake.’

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It was a mistake; a big one.

As it turned out, the dress that Ria showed me wasn’t the only one, since as soon as she finished dressing me up, she pulled out other old clothes of Mom and made me also wear them.

I tried literally everything on, from the plainest of shirts, to the most fancy and intricate things I’ve ever seen.

“Hmmm…the young miss looks good in this…but she looks cuter wearing this…mmm,” Ria would always mutter as such every time I try on new things.

All in all, this took two whole fucking hours. If I knew that it’d turn out like this, I would’ve chased Ria out.

Eventually, I managed to convince Ria to let me wear a plain white buttoned shirt, a pale pink linen skirt that reached my ankles, and a gray cloak and hood.

Of course…Ria had to cut a part of the skirt to make space for my tail to poke out.

Honestly, I chose this set of clothes since it looked the closest to travel clothes. Though, looking at the quality of the fabric, anyone can guess that normal clothes wouldn’t cost nearly as much as it.

“So plain…but the young miss still looks cute in it!”

After reluctantly putting away all the other clothes, Head maid Ria sat me down on a chair and began combing my hair, which had now grown to my waist.

As she was doing that, I pulled a stray strand of hair to my eye level and thought, ‘Should I cut it short?’

After all, I wasn’t used to having long hair.

However, remembering Herald’s words yesterday, I decided not to.

‘Cutting my hair feels like giving up. I will prove to him that I can become Swordsmaster again, even with long hair and useless fat on my chest!’

After that, Ria finally took me to the dining room to have breakfast with Mom. There, I could see Mom already sitting at the table; her face looking more tired than ever.

‘Must be because of last night…’

I’d have to be as dense as the Hero to not notice what Herald did to her last night.

‘Seems like I’m having a sibling soon.’

Putting such thoughts aside, I dug into the breakfast (well, lunch, now). As I was only halfway through the meal, however, Mom spoke up.

“Little one, would you like to go to our territory’s biggest city today?”

“...What gives?”

Already used to me asking question, Mom immediately answered,

“You need new clothes, and you can’t keep wearing my old clothes.”

‘Makes sense.’

As long as I could buy clothes that functioned and looked like the ones I was currently wearing, I was fine.

“...And, you’ve been stuck inside this mansion for so long. Yesterday’s…incident has shown me how much you want to go outside. So, you can explore the city as you wish for the rest of today and tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” I politely thanked her.

Despite my blank expression, I was actually grinning on the inside.

‘How long has it been since I’d been in a city?’

Ten years had passed since I died; of course, I wanted to see how everything changed!

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So, after finishing my meal, I thanked Mom once again and went to prepare my stuff.

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“Hmm…I think I got everything.”

I stared at the bag that contained every of my daily necessities and double checked everything. Feeling insecure, I even triple checked.

“Hmm? Why do I feel like I’m forgetting something?”

Thinking about it for a while, I finally figured out what caused that feeling—I didn’t have a sword with me.

As a Swordsmaster, it was extremely uncomfortable and unsafe to venture outside without a sword of some sort by my side.

I briefly considered asking Mom for a sword or stealing one from one of the guards, but I eventually decided against it since I was sure that she wouldn’t let a child like myself wield a training sword, let alone a real one.

After a few more minutes of pondering, I sighed.

‘Let’s just get this over with.’

I reached into thin air and cracked space open. Then, I muttered,

“Come to me, [Avaron].”

As I felt something cylindrical appearing in my palm, I pulled it out and sealed the space shut.

{YOU FUCKING BITCH!}

‘Ah, here she is. Summoning successful.’

{SUCCESSFUL MY ASS! YOU LEFT ME BURIED IN THE SNOW FOR A WHOLE DAY!}

I shook my head and approached my bag with Avaron in my hand.

‘Right, my bad.’

{B— wait, y-you’re actually apologizing?}

‘Well, I did forget about you.’

{Ehem,} Avaron coughed almost bashfully. {I suppose I can forgive you just this once.}

‘Great.’

Then, I tried to stuff Avaron into the bag. However, she couldn’t fit.

‘Should’ve known that you’re too fat to fit inside the bag.’

{I-It’s the bag that’s too small!}

It seemed that she was conscious about being called ‘fat’...despite being a fucking sword.

‘Whatever. Can you turn into a stick like Kirion?’

Avaron stayed silent for a few seconds before cursing me out like usual.

{...You dare tell me, an Archangel, to turn into a mere stick?! Back in the New Gods’ army, anyone who made a fool out of me and my Sisters would be turned into ashes and fed to th—}

‘If you don’t turn into a stick right now, I’ll stuff you up Fenris’ ass.’

{Y-You wouldn’t dare!}

In response, I went behind Fenris, who was lying next to my bag.

‘Try me.’

{F-Fine!}

Then, she turned into a tree branch (that somehow still looked decorated and fancy), while mumbling about how I was obsessed with sticks and things like that.

With everything now prepared, I picked up my bag and left the room. However, upon seeing that Fenris was also getting up to follow me, I halted my steps and turned around to pat his head.

“Fenris, stay. You’d attract too much attention in the city.”

Without any further resistance, he laid down on the ground and fell asleep again.

“Don’t worry,” I whispered, “I’ll make it up to you later.”

Then, after feeling his fluffy head for the last time, I left the room for real.

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“Young miss, welcome.” Head maid Ria greeted me as soon as I arrived at the front gate of the mansion.

I placed my bag down and looked around. Apart from Ria and the horse that we were going to ride on, there was literally no one. Not even a guard.

‘Well, Mom did say that I’d have to go undercover but…’

Wasn’t this too much? I mean, I was a noble, right?

But that didn’t matter. A Swordsmaster being protected by mere guards? How laughable. As such, I approached Ria without any other thought except for—

“Where’s Mom?”

“Madam says that she’s tired, so she can’t go with you. She also wishes for you to have a safe and fun excursion.”

Then, she put her hands under my armpit and lifted me up onto the horse.

“I know that it looks like fun to ride a horse alone, but even the worst horse riders have to go through tough training. So, please bear with riding with me for today.”

I nodded and accepted her suggestion without any hesitation. I didn’t know how to ride a horse anyways; this life and the last. I always got Ihwa to ride with me, so I didn’t really need to.

Ria got on the horse and sat behind me. As she put her hands on the reins, the journey began.

Normally, I’d have taken time to admire the wintry scenery around me, but with Ria occasionally rubbing her chin on my ears, I couldn’t.

Every time she did so, a weird feeling coursed through my body. It wasn’t sexual arousal, of course; I doubt a five-year-old like me could even experience it. Instead, it was a weird feeling that made me feel…happy.

Having a tail did nothing but amplify that feeling. As I felt happy, my tail wagged; and with Ria sitting right behind me, it brushed against her body, sending more of that weird feeling through my body.

{Ahhhh~ Tell the maid to keep doing that. It feels so good~}

‘You can…feel that?’

{Of course. My senses are linked to yours, but not the other way around, unfortunately. I’d have tortured myself to put you in your place if what was the case.}

‘...Why didn’t you tell me about this until now?’

{You never asked, and except for when you’re around the Mage girl, everything that you could feel was numbness; I hated that damn sappy feeling in your heart. In a way, I’m already liking the new you.}

‘...’

{Speechless? Don’t tell me…you’re concerned about me feeling your first night? Oh my~ looks like our Ex-Swordsmaster is shyer than I thought.}

‘This bitch!’

{Kuhahaha! “Fitting that I claim you,” she said. PFFFT! I can’t believe you actually followed her order like an obedient little dog!}

‘Y-You! You dare call me an Ex-Swordsmaster?!’

{Hahaha! That’s right! You’re a botto— wait, y-you’re mad about…that?}

‘What else should I fucking be mad about?! Following Ihwa’s words is the least I could do for her!’

After that, Avaron went silent.

‘Hey, you bitch! Don’t run now! Take back your words! I’m still a Swordsmaster!’

{...}

‘Hey!’

{...}

‘HEY!’

{...}

‘C—’

“Young miss, a-are you alright?”

Hearing Ria’s concerned voice and feeling her pat on my head, I was snapped back to reality. It must’ve been awkward for her, watching me wailing the stick that was Avaron in the air while staring blankly at it.

“I’m fine.”

I couldn’t let Avaron rile me up too much and make me look like a mentally incapable Fox girl after all. Thus, after stuffing her into my bag, I continued with the ride and focused on the sensation of my ears being pet.

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After what felt like an hour or so, I could see something gigantic in the distance.

As if noticing my line of sight, Ria slowly opened her mouth,

“Young miss, what you’re seeing is Leiner, the biggest city in our territory.”

Concrete walls as tall as a two-dozen adult men, sturdy ramparts with armored crossbowmen patrolling on top, and majestic wooden gates that had lines of people queuing up for them. Yep, this was a really big city, alright.

‘Though, not as big as the biggest city in House Magrise’s territory.’

I shuddered in fear of my past self as I recalled the pandemonium of blood, gore, corpses, and smoke that I’d caused there.

‘I can’t believe a mere stray attack of mine destroyed a city that big… How long will it take for me to regain just a fraction of that power?’

As I finished my recollection, I found that I’d already arrived at the huge line of people. However, instead of waiting in line like everyone else, Ria decided to skip the line and go straight for the gate.

During the way, I could feel the people in the lines glaring at me; though, I didn’t know if it was because of my race, or if it simply was that we were skipping the lines.

Whatever the case was, Ria still seemed concerned by this. She removed her left hand from the reins and hugged me, as if telling me, “It’s alright,” through her action.

Eventually, we arrived at a gate. Not the huge that that I saw before, but another that was small enough for a medium-sized carriage to go through.

As we approached the small gate, the guard stationed there stopped us.

“Halt! Identify yourself!”

Ria took out some kind of token from her pocket and handed it to the guard, who scrutinized it carefully.

Then, he said, “Wait here,” before going into the gate.

Soon, the same guard emerged again; this time, bringing another guard with him. The new guard, with his fancier armor, looked like the superior here.

“Head maid Ria serving the fifth Wife,” the superior guard said as he twirled his already very twirly mustache. “What brings you here?”

“I’m running some errands for my lady,” Ria replied with a nonchalant tone. “Do you really need to greet me personally every time I come here?”

“It’s just standard procedure.”

“I see…”

“Mhm…” The city guard nodded. “...And what about that thing—” But upon seeing Ria’s glare, he gulped and corrected himself. “I-I mean what about that c-child?”

“She’s simply a maid-in-training. I’m taking her with me so that she can learn through observing me.” Ria gave the guard a cold smile that sent chills down even my spine. “However, to call a maid-to-be of House Leinfall a ‘thing,’ have you decided to betray the House already?”

“N-No! I-I misspoke! Please forgive me!”

Then, Ria turned to me and whispered, “sorry for calling you a maid, but you must remain undercover. You understand, right?”

I nodded.

Smiling, Ria then entered the city with me.