“Do I reeeeally have to carry all this?”

Tomoe simply nodded.

It was refreshing to have what the Europeans called a serf. Her body felt so much lighter, and she felt like she could go for a massage after noticing how tense she was. Truly, whoever sent this person straight to her was kind.

Tomoe looked back at the woman she believes is called Isirith. The girl could stand to gain more muscle-mass anyway.

As she walked, she cupped her chin with her hand, a bad habit Tomoe’s always had. She didn’t want to have an incompetent serf, so she would need to teach Isirith to fight later. Possibly even start a workout routine for her, once they get the right sort of food for it. You are what you eat, and she didn’t have any pigs or cows around.

Giving a solid crack to her neck and back, she continued her trail of thought, though not without internally remarking how good it felt.

The inhuman woman was surprisingly docile once she asserted who was the top of the food chain. Perhaps, once she earned Tomoe’s respect, she could become a proper retainer.

The semi-person named Isirith had grayer skin, which did not at all detract from the beauty of her ruby eyes. Her nose is of just the right size, and fit together with the rest of her face nicely. At least, it did before it was broken. She had winglike flaps which were currently folded inward, while the rest of her looked stunning. She had more of a woman look than Tomoe did, and was perfectly proportioned.

It reminded her of the Greek legends about harpies, yet they weren’t even close. Those things only had a humanoid head, while she had only the wings. Maybe it was more of the Christian ones? The, the, something she couldn’t remember.

Her fist fell into her palm, startling her companion. A succubus!

The woman named Isirith had the same effect as them, though in a different way. Whenever Isirith neared her, Tomoe felt a strange sense of… euphoria? Likely. Once Tomoe sedated her, however, she made Isirith stop whatever caused it. Apparently it was something activatable, which she should note. Meanwhile, the succubi or incubi in Christian myths from what she could recall could merely lure humans with perfect bodies and a person named Satan’s tempt. While Isirith falls into the almost perfect body template, she didn’t seem like a demon. In addition, they had bat-like wings, not her feathery kind.

What made it worse was that Tomoe had no idea how to speak the language known as the 'common tongue'. She had a partial understanding, but it seemed that her capability of speaking it without learning it again was, as they say, thrown out the window by the recent 'event'. Even then, she only has a basic understanding, so she only got the general idea of what is spoken. She would never be able to learn whether or not the races were the same, different variations, or completely different.

The only good part of that was that it would give her something to learn, which she enjoyed doing. Mayhaps Tomoe could teach Isirith Japanese as well, then they could communicate in ways no one else knew.

A whole new world opened up with meeting one person.

Of course, Tomoe denied her serf’s request to visit her village. That weird euphoria Isirith exuded was probably to capture people, and she most definitely originally came with hostile intentions. In fact, it would likely have even a hypnotic effect on normal people. She would not just rush into such a place.

The clothes Isirith wore gave it away as well, if one inspected enough.

A normal person might have a few sutures to fix their clothes as they rip from time to time, but the stitchings exceeded that. It even looked like resizing might have been done a few times, while very similar yet still different fabrics were also threaded in masterfully. Poor villagers might do this, but the covering was practically all black save it be for the heavy gold embroidering near the shoulders while thin strands trailed all about, creating a beautiful and noble design similar to that of Europeans. The sleeves were a bit big yet not as big as a kimono. Why would a rich person need to save money?

It was stolen. And with teeth favoring carnivorous tendencies over omnivorous ones, she was aware of the result.

She was popped out of the world she created.

“Junta, junta, Tomoe. Do you speak this language?”

Tomoe shook her head.

“And you rilio it, but speak your own?”

She nodded. Filling in the blanks is easy enough.

“Coo-coo-coo!” She trilled in delight as a bird would. Small movements riveted about her hand, but from what, Tomoe didn’t know.

“Sisters are going to ilp happy to have something to do! Onoe know, to become a full sister you got to learn kunta people speak!”

The silence urged Isirith to continue.

“Iel lots of different words, but gult focus on the ones that are spoken by most. I illios they oponi it the ‘common tongue’. To ilp able to leave our place, you must learn it, and I’m ursi of the only ursils to know it! Coo-coo-coo. I’m jkal, right?”

Tomoe didn’t know what descriptor she used for herself, so she just nodded.

Isirith trilled in delight yet again, making Tomoe even more interested in what she said before putting it off again.

To put it into perspective, everything she heard was in this 'common tongue'. Then, her brain translated it, and then she understood it. That was the problem, however. She didn’t clearly understand the language, it was just translated. Just as if you learned a different language. If you hear a word in that language, you understand it in your first language. Only, she didn’t consciously understand what it meant, it was more passive.

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Which meant if she wanted to properly to speak, she had to specifically stop herself and listen to every individual word, rather than just hearing it. This is not the tedious work she appreciates.

“Soooooooo, we ARE heading to my sisters?”

Tomoe gave a look of annoyance, but it couldn’t be seen through her helm. It’s not like she was heading there, but there has been only one path forward so far, so she had to take the route.

“Can you climb on the ceiling?”

A weird question. She tilted her hand from side to side. However, Isirith just raised an eyebrow.

“What does that mean? I don’t get it.”

Oh. Of course a different place would have different meanings for things. Though it was weird that nodding and shaking your head stayed. Maybe that was just universal for humanoids. So, instead, she just shook her head.

“That’s a problem.”

Tomoe tilted her neck in question.

“There’s a HUGE ice field ahead,” her hands were outstretched to demonstrate the all-encapsulating size, “It has lots of floor ice, white powder, and weird lionic on the top. Also, there are kujina, lilino, and ice bat things. It would be better if we went across on the ceiling, since the ground ice does kgire limintin to people.”

Tomoe frowned for not the first time that day.

That sounded like something important. Although all her emotions were kept mild, Tomoe still gave the mental middle finger to her limited understanding. Also, ice bat things? She’s encountered cave-traps, strange cave people with bird feathers sewn into their bodies with probably some religious importance, but ice bats just seemed unlikely. Perhaps they were just blue? Sorcery isn’t real, so maybe they just sustained somehow a terribly low body temperature, or stuck ice to their fur to attack?

After a lot of finger movements, gesturing, and bad communication, Tomoe lead her to what she was aiming for. “How close are we? We’re, like, isoo minutes away.” Tomoe frowned again. Inconvenient. She would just have to see by how much the temperature dropped.

And it plummeted.

The change could be felt by a degree every step. Isirith instinctively tried to crawl up, but Tomoe just grabbed her ankle and dragged her back down. This would be a test for her serf, to give her the courage required to brave danger, and perhaps fill the role of a retainer.

Isirith didn’t approve, but decided it was better not to stage a complaint to her new boss.

She could not help but be slightly in awe after the next turn.

It was a sight to behold in all forms of the sentence. Not of malice or beauty, but of the extreme forms that nature could take.

There was no surface that wasn’t covered in the cold sheets of frost. It was almost like art, icicles hanging from above and built from below, seemingly randomly placed, yet done in such a manner that it gave off a sense of elegance. The floor gave way to slants downward and upward, over four different levels within the huge cavern alone. Only the ceiling retained some patches not yet covered.

The air was gel, hard to breathe, and hard to walk through, the warmth freezing to her body. In the center of the room there was an ominous pit, flowing out with white, slightly waving tendrils, as if there was wind. The area seemed to be devoid of any creatures, but her sense as a warrior told her otherwise. Camouflaging predators were likely, saves them energy and allows them to get an unsuspecting bite.

“M-m-m-master,” the poor girl held herself, chattering, “I'm cold!”

Obviously.

Backing off from the area for a bit, Tomoe reaching into her kit for the kindling. She had enough for a small fire and a torch.

“M-master, how wi-i-ill you start a fire?” She ignored her side comments as she chewed upon the thought she had. Perhaps Tomoe didn’t overestimate the girl's capabilities. Maybe it was just that Tomoe is much more experienced, and Isirith is just normal. She would have to start being a bit less insensitive towards her needs.

The last part of the starter kit was a bit of paper. It was some of the worst quality, extremely thin and fluttery. Isirith watched with rapt attention, interested in what was happening.

Shedding her right gauntlet, Tomoe gave a large inhale, held it, and exhaled.

It was a strange, indescribable sensation.

After so much meditation, she could only say she was more ‘in-tune’ with the human body than most. She learned techniques from old grandmasters to wanderers. Tomoe always believed that being able to do things such as entering your own mind and levitation were impossible. That is, until she started meditating as well.

It turns out, it wasn’t nearly as impossible as she thought.

And one such ability she was about to demonstrate. There was no need to use the matches she packed.

Inhale.

...

Exhale

Shaking her hand over the crumpled wad of paper, it shuddered with a snap. Crunching it with a sudden grip, the paper took aflame. Tomoe hurriedly threw it to the other kindling so they, no, so Isirith could warm up, completely disregarding her reaction.

Isirith was wide eyed, “You’re a mancer?” Tomoe shook her head, not knowing what that was. “But you just summoned fire! Do you know what a mancer is?” If she had to guess, it was a wizard, and she wasn’t one, so she nodded, “Then how siltinp… oh, you can’t respond.”

Tomoe decided she would have to reproach her later, as a servant having such rude attitude towards her master is unacceptable, even in these irritating conditions. Perhaps weapon training would be the perfect time to dish out some respect to her. A solid plan. Unaware such thoughts were going on, the serf continued with her spiel.

“Well, Isirith IS a mancer. A little bit, some weird man-male who gave me his fancy robe taught me. I’m ursi of the only sisters who know it! Coo-coo-coo!” Her quirk shone again. “See, see!” From one fingertip, fire flickered, and from the other, droplets started accumulating.

Circles within the air almost seemed to enshroud it, as some sort of unknown, intangible substance was greedily sucked into it. Tomoe didn’t know how she knew that the weird invisible force acted as fuel, but perhaps it was a sixth sense.

…

…

They just stared at each other. Tomoe didn’t know what to make of the situation currently, so she didn’t. She just stared until Isirith didn’t know what to do. “Soooooo, is Isirith jkal?” she said, a bit of a cold sweat and awkwardness. The descriptor again. She just nodded since it got a positive reaction last time. “COO-COO-COO!” The equivalent of a squeal of delight. Blood dripped from her bashed in nose, though Tomoe worked on bracing it properly while she slept earlier.

Isirith frowned. “What is that? Did I get a bad head-ouch?”

In reply, Tomoe tapped where her nose would be.

Following the gesture, Isirith did the same.

And, in a moment of inspiration and pure agony, she screamed bloody murder.