A few minutes later...
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Having arrived to the castle's township without incident, the First Princess is suddenly given a book by her head maid Elena, titled 'advanced Inerti biology'. Anne throws her maid a mean look, but relents before the maid can react, opening the book with a resounding sigh as she continues to walk further into the city alongside her sister and their two maids.
Today's task, it seemed, was to pay a visit to a livestock farm and learn more about all the animals that the Inerti have domesticated, tamed or enslaved. However, her lessons are never so simple, which is why this book is a familiar addition; something she was meant to study while overseeing the farm in question. Yvonne groaned as she saw how easily her sister gave into the maids unspoken orders, pouting openly and showcasing her displeasure. "Hey! Let her breathe without demanding stuff for a change!"
"Your highness, this book was given to me by Chief Researcher Vostokh. Please, if you have any inquiries and/or demands, take it up with him, not me." Elena calmly answered the younger princess with a cold tone, causing Anne to quirk an eyebrow at the maid. That merest form of acknowledgement sent shivers down Elena's spine, causing the youthful woman to stop dead in her tracks and grasp her rapidly beating heart. The First Princess cares not for the insults and disrespect that are thrown her way, but this does not apply to her little sister and the head maid knew this very well.
With a hard swallow and cold sweat falling down her brow, Elena slowly rose her head towards the Second Princess, eager to apologize to her even if only to buy favour with the older sibling, as well as to prevent any further staring from the granddaughter of death itself. To the weak, Anne's very gaze could feel as if something was caught inside of their throats, as if life was fleeing from their bodies and Elena, despite only respecting those whom possess a great amount of power, was a member of 'the weak'. In fact, this truth was the only reason why she, the daughter of a nobleman, was a mere maid instead of a lady.
Yet, as her head finally rose upwards, she found that the Second Princess was no longer there, having quickly moved to her sisters side. "Anne~, don't mind them! You can read that boring book later!" Yvonne cutely cupped the cheeks of her elder sibling, causing Anne to smile and gently put her hands away.
"Don't worry. I promise I'll only absent-mindedly read it while giving you my full attention." Anne replied in a joking tone, clearly not intending to follow her little sisters advice, but smiling nonetheless as she put the book at a lower angle. This was enough for Yvonne, whom smiled back and then grinned.
Anne however, focused her gaze behind her little sister and back towards the head maid, who fell to her knees from the secondary application of that same, wrathful gaze. "The only reason why you're still alive is because I find your existence convenient. Do not make it inconvenient." Anne's soft whispers echoed through the maids ears, striking against her very soul like waves eroding a mountain. Her fellow maid knelt before her to check up on her boss, gently lifting her head up.
The shocked, shivering co-worker carefully wiped the sweat from Elena's brow. "A.. a... a-are you alright, miss?" Her legs were shaking from a combination of her previous experience of having the arachne silk stick to her skin, as well as pure fear. Poor girl didn't even know why she was feeling what she was.
But Elena, you see, was risen to her prestigious position for a reason. "Yes, your majesty!..." She gritted her teeth with a whisper and wiped away drool as she stood up, regaining her composure in full, for Elena was never jealous of the strong. Why would she? For they were her idols of worship and adulation, to be given respect and love eternal.
Elena then threw a look at her co-worker, quirking an eyebrow with an emotionless expression. "What are you doing on the ground, Marie? Such is no place for a maid of the Sedellean dynasty!" Her prideful tone shook and confused the poor woman, but eventually, she received a nod in response as the other regained her own composure, rose and joined her hands together in a traditional fashion. The citizenry around them were all stuck in various states of shock, much like Marie was moments prior, though the source of that fear gave nobody any further mind than her little sister.
Anne and Yvonne, on the other hand, continued walking forward and reached the entrance to the farm, whereas the younger one leaped above the icy fence and pointed towards a herd of mammoths with excitement, while her sister continued to smile brightly and read the book that she was given.
"Though we may appear similar to the lesser races on the outside, such is not the case on the inside. Unlike the other sapient species of the world, the Inerti do not have muscle directly under the skin, but a softer exoskeletal frame coating over a harder frame, shielding away vital muscle and other organs deeper inside. An average Inerti's arm has seventy-four bones, twelve joints, twenty-two muscles, as well as over two hundred ligaments and tendons. The nervous system is also different from the norm, being separated into efficient, interconnected segments rather than spreading as if the tributaries of a river." Anne hummed within her mind as she continued to read with greater interest, since her martial arts rely heavily on understanding her own body. This was the actual reason as to why she was so reluctant to drop the book in truth, for she found its contents to be of major interest. The Inerti's exoskeletal frames reminded her of an insectoid body or perhaps that of an arachnid, despite appearing humanoid.
It helped her realize the reason why the Inerti are so resistant to the cold, in spite of having no visible fur on the outside; their bodies were structured in such a way that didn't require many nerves to be on the surface of the skin, making it effectively less sensitive, while the double and in some cases, even triple layers of bone plating helped conserve heat within their bodies. The softer frame above the harder underside likely had some form of thermal property that further allowed for this conservation, which also meant that Inerti skin might be easier to penetrate, but it would require much greater forces to break through the inner layers and do any lasting, real damage.
Combine all this with a tendency to love heavy, quality plate armour and you get an incredibly tough breed of people, which further explains how the Inerti manage to keep their society functioning despite being somewhat outbred by their numerous slave races. "Sister, sister! Look! That little one is cuddling with its mother!" Yvonne shattered her elder sisters concentration, as Anne turned her head to look at the charming scene of a mammoth gently coddling her spawn with a well-groomed trunk. A piece of her was slightly saddened by this, as she knew that her sister likely found the scene endearing exactly because their mother was far away at the moment.
"Mhm. Its cute, though not as cute as you~." Anne smirked as her sister blushed a light red. "Dummy.. and then you say you don't want me to call you a prince." Yvonne's blush was quickly replaced by a snort as she put a hand above her mouth with a smirk.
"Mh-... mhmm..." Anne didn't reply, turning her head away as she got 'called out' by her sibling. Then she smiled and chuckled. "Lets go. I don't really wanna stay here for long."
With a nod, the two continued walking forward just as their maids finally caught up to the pair, walking past several fields of almost-alien green. This place, this farm, was built much like a large igloo, a dome akin to an Inerti city, carved into a pre-existing glacier, with dirt and other required materials brought in from the outside. It served to feed the castle's denizens, as well as the residents of the township. Anne could feel herself smiling and even salivating slightly as they left the mammoth part of the farm, as the large creatures milk was one of her favoured drinks, while their cheese held healing properties, with both products being immensely nutritious.
Milk, in general, is held in high esteem by the Inerti due to it being cheap to produce and easy to consume. Alongside sunlight, it is a stable of regular diet in these lands.
The fur of these animals was the main source of clothing for pretty much the entire non-noble class of the Inerti, alongside the next onset of animals; sheep, chicken, hogs, goats and cows. Though the Inerti do not often have a need for meat, soldiers and other workers assigned with rough manual labour are often allocated extra protein foods to help them along with their work, for in this society, food is given out by specialists and everyone gets what they need, while the remainder is stored away for later use. Refrigeration, at the very least, is not a point of trouble for the Inerti, as food can basically be left outside in boxes without much issue.
All food however, must undergo many processes of sterilization and alchemical curing before it is handed out, but even if you aren't able to get access to actual food or drink, all an Inerti usually needs is raw sunlight, which can be drained from black spires for without incident. Undeserving gluttons are looked down upon, but no matter how much you take from the spire, it isn't considered a crime due to how easily it refills.
If anything, whenever Anne would find herself contemplating Inerti society, the best description she could come up for it is a form of communal autocracy, with the general human element cut out of the equation as much as possible. That does not mean that this society was a utopian one, even if you were to forgo their genocidal tendencies towards everybody else, as it is highly based in family and dynastic growth. However, not everyone has a family to back them, as some Inerti choose to foolishly set out on their own into the world, likely damning themselves to a life of solitude and poverty, before ending their lives or finding a way to flee the continent.
Anne found herself unable to sympathize with these Inerti, for they had the choice to become part of a greater whole, only to choose to be an individual, suffer and die a horrible death. Suicide was, perhaps unsurprisingly, a rather common occurrence for the Inerti, a fact of life which they looked upon with disdain, for it meant that the people around the person failed to provide them with the love and care needed to prevent tragedy. When such a thing happens, communities of those who knew the person come together to celebrate their release, apologize for their failure as well as make vows to be more mindful of others in the future. Generally, this prevents most following attempts at ones life in a community, but it isn't a perfect system, as it only lasts for a short time after someone's already gone.
Eventually, people move on, because that's the only thing they can do. Unfortunately, not everyone uplifted to become an Inerti is able to withstand the truths carried by every member of the species. Anne's own understanding has given her enough reason to not pry further, though she does have a good grasp as to why exactly people would become unbearably depressive when they learn even the beginnings of Aestra's truth.
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"RAAAAARGH!" Something roared in the distance, causing Anne and co to turn their heads upwards and to the front just as a great glisterfang leaped from its pen and opened its jaw wide, ready to devour a human slave. "A-aaaah-AAH!" The young boy was frozen on the spot as the lion continued to roar in anger and fury.
Quickly reading the situation, as well as the souls of those present, Anne threw her book at Elena, who caught it, despite being surprised, before rushing at full speed towards the white lion monstrosity. "Sister!?" Yvonne's worried shout echoed in her head as Anne found herself gritting her teeth in self-hatred, knowing full well that the only reason she went to save this boy was because of the heroic curse etched into her soul.
Within an instant, she found herself in front of the lion, stamping her foot loudly into the ground and cracking the concrete, causing the monster to turn its head towards her in confusion. Taking the chance presented, Anne stepped onto the lions front paw and reached with her hand into its mouth, promptly ripping out a bad, fanged tooth as the lion pulled its head backwards, knowing by instinct that this being should not be harmed. Yet, as it pulled back, it realized that its pain was lessening and soon saw the broken fang in the little girls hand. Testing its bite, the lion promptly bowed its head and allowed Anne to pet it with a smile, right before her expression grew darker as she turned to gaze at the human slave boy.
"I should just kill this piece of existential waste." She thought to herself as she approached the human, whose fur dressing did nothing to hide the yellowish liquid pooling beneath him, yet as she rose her arm in preparation to kill, Anne realized that this boy was innocent. How? The same way she knew that the glisterfang had a bad fang; via the art of Soul Reader. It came to her as naturally as it did to her mother, though she was far less skilled at it. The magical art required a jaded outlook on life, being able to peer within the soul of a person without being drowned by their own emotions and experiences.
She couldn't see the full story, but from what she could see, there was another, older slave that tricked this young human to release the lion as soon as an animal handler attempted to approach the creature in order to heal it. With a disgusted groan and after spitting at the boy's face, Anne turned around and demanded loudly. "Someone get this waste out of my sight and explain what exactly just happened."
An order that both the Inerti and the slaves around the scene knew had to be carried out, as an elf and an orc quickly carried the soiled boy away while the a well-dressed Inerti rushed out of the lions pen. "Y-your highness?!" He stopped dead in his tracks and knelt within an instant. "I- I apologize for not being ready to receive you on time!"
"Spare me the trivia." Anne waved a disinterested hand in front of her face, causing the farmer to swallow down hard and nod. "O-one of my lions was abnormally enraged s-so we called in a doctor, b-but before the man was ready to address the monster's issues, t-that human filth behind you o-opened its cage!"
With a nod, Anne finally stepped off of the lions front paw, doing a light jump to the ground as the giant beast remained unmoving, appearing almost prideful of itself for some reason. "What about the doctor? Did he survive?" Throwing a look-over at the lion, she noticed that it had no blood on its fur, which was a good sign.
The farmer, still kowtowing before Anne, nodded quickly. "Y-yes! The monster sent him flying and the man hit his head on a wall, b-but he is breathing." A severe concussion, though perhaps not as bad as she would otherwise think, considering what she'd just read about Inerti biology. "I see. Was there anyone else inside of the pen at the time?"
Now the man was confused, looking at her with quite the expression. "I- uhm... a guard and some other slaves, your highness?"
"Bring the slaves here." Within seconds of her order and without questioning why, a group of four adult slaves was brought before Anne. "T-these are the slaves, your highness. May I ask what you plan to do with t-them?"
Looking over the group, she saw a dwarf, two elves and a human, the last of which was shifting with a sadistic expression, right up till Anne pointed directly at him. "That slave, myself and you shall go into the pen alongside the lion. As for the rest of you; scatter." Shaking from sudden fear, the human slave breathed in harshly before trying to make a run for it, causing Anne to grin savagely before leaping towards him, yet mid-way there she remembered that Yvonne was still watching, so she held back from outright killing the sadistic perpetrator who thought that the sacrifice of a child was a price he was willing to pay for the death of his master.
Instead, she found herself grabbing the human by the foot and then dragging the now-screaming person into the pen, with the farmer, who had managed to figure out what was going on, nodding and sending everyone else away as he guided the lion monster inside of its pen. Once inside, Anne flung the human against a wall of concrete and snorted. "So, what do you have to say for yourself?"
"I- I'm innocent!" The twenty-ish year old yelled as loudly as he could. "Is that why you tried to run away just now? Because you're 'innocent'?"
"Y-you have no proof that I did anything! That stupid brat just let the monster out too early! What was I supposed to- *smack*." A thunderous sound erupted through the pen as the farm owner, the slaves master, promptly took out a whip and slashed it against the wall, brimming with fury. "Insolent slave! How dare you speak with such disrespect to the Princess?!"
The human became visibly pale and threw his head on the ground in realization. "W-wait, please, f-forgive me! It was me! I- I convinced the brat to do it! P-please, don't kill me!"
Anne grinned and put her foot on the man's head, pressing it lightly to the ground with a strength that surprised the man, with the hay covering it being the only reason why his nose hadn't already shattered. "See? Now that's a much better attitude." Having blinded the man, Anne threw a look at the farm owner and pointed towards the lions fang, which she had dropped moments prior, signalling him to bring it over, to which he complied with a silent bow.
"Y-yes! I-I'll do a-anything you want! Just please! Please, don't take my l-life!" The swine was shivering beneath her heel, eliciting a sadistic joy to form within the little girls heart. "Ooh? Anything?" She removed her foot just as the slave's master came back with the fang. "Y-yes!" He yelled out instantly as he rose his head, only for the farm owner to crack his whip once more.
"Disgusting pig! You will only speak when ordered to!" The slavemaster presented the fang to the princess, who chuckled and nodded, whispering to him to hold it for now. "Then strip yourself and turn around." Swallowing down hard, the slave did as he was told, his shivering frame becoming more and more frantic by the second.
Even now, the princess knew that he was faking it, having become used to the cold long ago and thinking that it was a frosty punishment that the princess had in mind. With a wave of her hand, a sound barrier was erected around the pen, her magic flowing as easily as the slaves sweat. Knowing that he was ordered not to speak and turn around, the slave didn't try to look back, patiently waiting for whatever next is ordered, but if he defied those orders, he may have seen the broken lions fang being positioned straight above his rear, right before Anne punched the long fang straight through the humans lower body and towards his spine.
His scream would have rattled the entirety of the township, but in this case, it just woke up the good doctor that had been previously slammed head-first into a wall on the opposite side of the room, whom had to blink several times before his brain caught on to what was happening. In the meantime, the princess chanted words unheard and pointed a spell at the now screaming human. "Greater heal." She spoke, her tone laced with sadism, as the magic forced the man's body to adapt and heal in its current shape, resulting in a blathering mess of a man that couldn't walk or talk due to the pain coming from his backside.
Likely, he would die in the coming days from being unable to properly dislodge waste from his system or due to internal bleeding, but the princess made sure that he would suffer greatly for the next couple days. She looked at the horrified doctor and the slavemaster, who was nodding with respect. "You two are to keep this a secret, 'kay?" The lion roared, causing her to direct a light chuckle at it. "Okay, you 'three', keep this a secret."
"As you wish, your highness." The slavemaster instantly replied, while the doctor remained silent, only managing a nod as he continued to fight the sickness within his stomach. Then Anne walked out of the pen with a satisfied expression, turning to look at her maids and sister as she said. "Justice delivered~!"
The two maids let out a light chuckle, while Yvonne smiled brightly. "I knew it! You went in to punish the real bad person!"
"Of course, little sis. Why else would I go into that dirty place?" Anne joked with a smile which caused Elena to shudder, having come to know the sadistic undertones of her royal charge, while the others mistook it for simple, childish pride at a task well performed. And as the crew continued their little sightseeing trip of the farm, Elena couldn't help but wonder what really happened to the human that caused this event to happen.
She knew just how deeply the First Princess' despised humanity. At first, she paid it no mind, after all it wasn't exactly rare or even abnormal for an Inerti to despise members of the lesser races, but the level with which her princess viewed the human species rivalled that of the most zealous inquisitors and/or paladins, the kinds of people that usually wished for the death of all other forms of life.
Knowing full well that Anne was a reincarnated human, as well as one of their vaunted 'heroes only served to further confuse the head maid, since humans often preferred other humans to members of any other species, much like the Inerti did for themselves, but the levels of pure hatred that the princess showed are an extreme that no average Inerti could ever reach, much less aspire to.
In the end, Elena kept her thoughts to herself, for Anne was powerful and if her power's roots lied within her hatred for her race of origin, then that wasn't something Elena was meant to understand. Anne, even as a four year old, was strong and that was the only thing that actually mattered.
As for the princess herself, Anne was burning on the inside with her emotions swirling in torrents of aimless rage and deep shame that burned away most of everything else, only kept in check by the presence of her adorable sister. Her spite for humanity grew with every sin that she committed against them, for as an Inerti, she saw the species as little more than talkative livestock, her former humanity being largely forgotten and rejected.
These feelings then, surely, were nothing more than the effects of Anne's heroic curse, forcing her to 'feel negative emotions' whenever she would go against its orders. She knows this to be true, for she felt elated when she managed to save the human boy, even if only for the briefest moment, before her rage caught up with the fake, magic-induced emotions created by the 'hero correction'.
She hated it. She was furious, like a bubbling cauldron of toxicity held back by resistant, steel chains.
She wished deeply to be rid of her remaining humanity, to remove and distance herself from that which she now firmly believed to be a curse and a weakness, for if it was completely removed, she could live her life happily as an Inerti with a powerful family, a life without worry, despair or hardship, because even her torment called training would surely be lessened if her teachers realized that she wasn't empowered by the hero correction any longer.
Anne would give anything to be freed from this curse. To be free and to take revenge upon the humans that summoned her here to be their slave, their 'heroine'. She didn't wish to completely exterminate the species, after all, they did allow her to meet a loving mother, an adorable twin sister as well as be part of a society she finds agreeable.
Humans did have some merit, though she debated that even feeling that is part of the hero curse's effects on her brain. With an exasperated sigh, Anne shook her head out of her own thoughts, focusing on the reality in front of her and enjoying the peaceful times with her sister while she could, for even she knew that these lovely days would one day come to an end, when she would venture out into the human lands to seek out a cure for her curse and affliction.
Until that day, she only needed to continue gathering power, as well as her mothers favour, neither of which she felt like she was lacking. In fact, it was already certain, that humanity's days were likely numbered.