A faint screech sealed up Sera's sole way of retreat as the door was closed behind her. Her mother had just pushed her into the room, using a light touch and several lines of encouraging words.

 

"It will be fine," she had promised, "you will become friends for sure."

 

Sera didn't think she needed someone like that. She knew what friends were, but never had one herself. Back in Seba and her father's palace, there hadn't been anyone remotely close to her age around. Her youngest brother had been old enough to have a wife and children, and her oldest brother could easily have passed as her father instead.

Why would she need something she had lives just fine without for her whole life? Sera didn't understand her mother's intention. She only was sure of one thing: the guy in front of her who was looking at her half smiling, half shocked, would stick to her for the time being. She couldn't help feeling bothered by it.

 

"White hair..."

"Yes."

"You are Sera?" The brown-haired young man asked.

 

His brown eyes wandered down her body, examining each nick and nock of it. As Sera was still a child, there was nothing really she had to hide, but her girlish face alone did make him question everything he had been told before.

 

"You look like a girl."

"I'm a boy," Sera lied without batting an eye.

"Y- yeah ..."

 

Sera saw that Aron had trouble believing her story. She wasn't dressed much differently to him, who wore dark brown trousers and a pale beige shirt of some sort, but he was much taller and slightly muscular, too. Working in Lord Parron's house didn't seem to be easy, at least when you looked at him who did the harder work in the kitchen the chefs weren't willing to do.

The young man in front of her had no beard yet, aside from a few dark hairs here and there, and even those had been trimmed thoroughly. He looked a little like the owner of the inn she had stayed at with her mother, though Sera didn't know if that was something good or bad.

 

"You don't want to introduce yourself," Aron asked after a long silence.

"I'm Sera."

 

Her answer was as short as it could be, but Aron seemed to hope for something else, instead. After being stared at for a few seconds, Sera added another line to her introduction.

 

"I will be in your care."

"I see ..."

"Introduce?"

"What?"

"You are Aron?"

"Ah, yes! I'm Aron! I'm sixteen years old and have been working here for a year. My dream is to become a famous cook who..."

 

Sera stopped listening. The young man told her something about his dreams, his ambitions, his hobbies and his work, but nothing of it really stuck to her head as her gaze was restlessly wandering through the room.

It was a mess. After being tossed into her new life, Sera had never owned more than the little clothing she carried in her backpack right now, but even those few shorts, trousers, shirts and coats had been neatly folded and stacked. Aron's clothes were lying all over the place, making it look as if he had tossed them around in a fit of anger.

 

"Messy," she cut off his still babbling voice.

"Messy?!" It was only now that he seemed to realize his idea of tidiness didn't fit well with his new roommate. "Ah, sorry about that. I didn't have the time yet to clean up."

 

Aron hurriedly began gathering his clothes. He tossed his underwear and shirts into a large basket that stood next to the bunk bed, the trousers, however, he sniffed at before tossing them either onto the lower of the two beds or onto the dirty clothes he already had sorted out. All of this 'cleaning' did take about two minutes and ended with Aron pointing at the upper bed.

 

"You will sleep on top."

 

Sera felt like protesting, as climbing up the bed meant giving Aron way too many chances to check out her body and forcing her to always wear something underneath even while sleeping. It was only the display of slightly smelling clothing that urged her to just accept his decision and take the upper bed he probably hadn't slept on yet. It would be fresh, at least Sera hoped so.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

After climbing up to her bed, Sera placed her backpack next to the small pillow she had to settle with starting today. She sniffed at the blanket, and, slightly relieved, looked down to Aron again.

 

"Curtains," she demanded.

"Curtains? What is with them? We can close them at night, I don't care. But won't you need to wake up as early as me?"

"For my bed."

 

It took him a few moments to realize what she was asking for. When it finally clicked, he only shrugged his shoulders.

 

"I guess I could get you a blanket and some nails if you want."

"I want."

"At least say please and thank you!"

"Please."

"... you aren't stupid or anything, are you?"

 

Sera could only look at him dazzled. She wasn't stupid, it was quite the opposite of that. At least she had an easy time learning something new, be it how to sew, how to cook or what names and ranks important noblemen had.

Encouraged by her willingly sucking up knowledge like a dried up sponge would suck up water, her mother had taught her far more than Sera would ever need to survive. Naturally, she didn't really care about it. It had been a good way to pass time while she was stuck in boring inn rooms, unable to really leave them more than once or maybe twice a week.

 

"I'm not stupid," she finally answered, her voice filled with a strong resolve.

"If you say so."

 

Silence spread between the two of them as Sera didn't seem the least willing to talk to him. To Arno it didn't look as if she was in a bad mood but rather as if she was exhausted instead, not physically, but mentally. The truth, however, was a different one. She just didn't have anything to ask about as Mira had been especially thoroughly in her explanations before.

 

"You are really ten years old?"

"Since last month."

 

It was a lie Mira had preached to her over and over again. In the Rorint Kingdom, it was forbidden by law to hire children for work that were younger than ten years old, and they were unable to become enslaved by any means. Sera, on the contrary, wasn't even nine years old and, as a demon, wouldn't be protected by any human law in the first place.

 

"You look younger."

"I didn't eat enough."

"Even if you say so, what will you be able to do with such a weak body?"

 

Sera could only look at him questioningly. It was true for sure that she wouldn't be able to carry bags of grain. But that was not due to her strength but due to her size. She could lift just as much as her mother, if only she tried hard enough!

 

"I'm not weak."

"You are," Aron decided immediately. "What will Lord Parron pay you for?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"Mother told me I would be with his daughter and son."

 

Aron could only look at her in disbelief. It was the longest line she had said so far, and still, it wasn't any better at answering his question than anything else she tossed at him.

 

"He wants you to serve those two?"

"Yes."

"Why you of all? Doesn't he have enough servants?"

"Don't know."

"..."

 

A long sigh echoed through the room. Aron had tried hard enough to get friendly with his new roommate, but the boy was either too stupid or too shy to answer to any of his now fruitless attempts. For now, he had little choice but to give up on becoming a big brother figure for Sera. But he still had other days, weeks or months – all the time in the world.

 

"I will show you the servant's quarters for now."

"Already know them."

"The mansion?"

"I begin working next week."

"I don't care! Climb down from there, I will show you around!"

 

Sera thought about it for a few moments, before she gave in. Her mother already began working by now so she had nobody and nothing to fight the boredom with. Following around this strange guy was better than nothing. Maybe he would show her something good.

After having decided so, Sera simply jumped from the bed, and walked half the way to the door, before turning around to her new roommate.

 

"Show me."

"..."

"Please."

"... what did I get myself into?"