“Come on Erin! Fight back!” A young girl around the age of 10 shouted.
She used her wooden sword to attack the fragile and beautiful young boy who was having a hard time blocking her aggressive strikes. He had his own wooden blade and around them were knights watching their duel. The knights watched with slight interest in the young girl. Her skill with the blade wasn’t horrible. If she got proper training in the ways of the sword, she could definitely turn out to be a fearsome swordsman in a few years.
“I don’t want to play this game anymore, Sophia...” Tears pooled around the boy’s big blue eyes.
“You’re so pathetic!” The girl kicked him in the stomach, rolling him away in the grass. “I can’t believe you’re my cousin when you’re such a sissy.” She huffed before walking away upset.
Erin was left crying in the grass by his cousin. The knights went over to patch up the young boy and comfort him. It was their job to make sure that the two kids were safe and alright while on the Reglias estate. They thought it’d be an easy job taking care of a couple of children but the young lady was something else...
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Sophia didn’t care if Erin was crying, he was always crying. Every time he came over with Auntie Adela and Uncle Olwin to play, he would cry if she wanted to do something fun. It was so annoying and ruined her own fun. Why couldn’t he just be a man and stop crying all the time?
Sophia walked back into the house with her wooden sword. She was too upset to care about Daddy’s knights warning about bringing swords into the house. All because she beat a few maids that made her upset. They deserved it for gossiping about her.
The lower-class should stay in their place. Her Daddy told her that as a noble, she was above the lower class. The lower class were no better than dogs and cats while she was like a beautiful graceful angel to them. If she wants to beat a few disrespectful dogs barking at their master, why should she be stopped?
The maids learned their lesson about gossiping about her. After that incident, the maids never spoke around her again. Except for the Head Maid. The Head Maid even took care of Sophia’s mother when she was young so, she couldn’t treat her how she wanted. She was her mother’s personal maid and was free to order her around all she wanted until she was 14 and became an adult.
Sophia wasn’t upset about this because the Head Maid was nice. Even though she always made her do things she didn’t want to do, Sophia didn’t hate her because of it. Her daddy and mother always treated Head Maid Layla nicely. So, she did the same.
The small rumbling of her stomach and the sweat sticking to her skin was starting to bother her.
“Rosie!” She yelled out.
A young girl dressed in maid’s clothing came clumsily running from the top of the large staircase. Once she heard her name called, she knew to come immediately or else. Rosie was Sophia’s personal servant. She was the same age as her and a demi-human. Rosie had dog ears instead of human ears along with a bushy brown tail and that was as far as her mixed-blood went outwardly. There were some half-breeds that were almost entirely animals and only similar to humans in body shape. Those types were looked down on the most.
“Yes, Lady Sophia?” She replied out of breath. She just came back from training with the knights.
“I’m going to take a bath and I'm hungry. Go tell the chefs to make me a meal before I get out of the bath. I don’t need to tell you what I want to eat, do I?” Sophia asked with a menacing tone.
“Not at all Lady Sophia! Your favorite double roasted Twin Horned Boar and Golden Pig with a side of mana-infused greens and a small cup of milk.” Rosie spoke as if religiously repeated every night.
“Good doggy.” Sophia complimented as she walked away to the bath.
“Woof!” Rosie responded. If she didn’t, Lady Sophia would definitely beat her with the wooden sword in her hand as punishment for not knowing a dog’s place.
Sophia gave a small smile at Rosie’s bark. Sophia’s daddy bought Rosie very cheaply at a slave market. Most Demi-humans are gifted physically. He gave her to Sophia in hopes that she would be raised as a guard dog to protect her in the future. That was why she was trained by dad’s head knight and being trained by Layla.
Normally, the maids would be helping her bathe but ever since she beat the maids that talked ill of her, she couldn’t stand being around them for too long. Now she does most things for herself. Dressing, bathing, eating, walking. When she was younger, she used to have the servants carry her around or ride them like horses. But she wasn’t a little kid anymore, it wasn’t fun playing with the servants like that now that she was older.
After her bath, Sophia dressed herself into her nightwear and ate by herself at the dinner table with Rosie watching. Daddy was busy with his work and Mom had to prepare herself for the Academy next week. So, she was eating all by herself tonight. She wasn’t a baby who needed her parent’s attention all the time. Sophia didn’t mind eating by herself like an adult.
“Would you like some?” Sophia asked with a teasing smile. Rosie gulped.
“Here, have some.” She dropped a large piece of meat off her fork to the floor.
Rosie had no pride whatsoever as she dug in like a ravenous beast. Seeing her so greedily eating the tainted food made Sophia laugh with childish glee. This moment was definitely the best part of her day for sure. Seeing her personal servant acting like an animal always brought a smile to her face.
Then it was time for bed. Her father came into her room looking tired as usual. He still tried to give her a loving smile. Sophia was always glad to see her daddy.
“Hey sweetie... I heard you had a fight with Erin today.” He rubbed her head while she was tucked under the covers.
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“He’s such a cry baby. All he does is cry and whine like a little wuss.” Sophia shared.
“Heh. He might be a sensitive boy like his father but don’t forget you’re both family in the end. As the older cousin, you have to look out for your younger cousin. Even if he’s a bit of a baby.” He whispered that last part.
“Tch.” She clicked her tongue. “He’s so annoying though.” Sophia was upset about having to take care of that burden.
“You know Sophia, Uncle Olwin used to be just like Erin when we were younger.”
“Uncle Olwin used to be a sissy like Erin?! But he’s so big and hairy and got a really deep voice.” Sophia exclaimed in shock.
“He looked exactly like Erin when he was a kid.”
“You’re lying to me so that I'll be nicer to Erin, aren’t you Daddy?” She smirked at him, knowing his game.
“Erin looks more girly than Olwin did but they are pretty much a spitting image of each other.” Sophia stared at him with her eyes filled with doubt. He shrugged his shoulders.
“I’ll show you a picture next time we visit your uncle and aunt. But my point is, as nobles we have to take care of our close ones. I’m not telling you, you have to treat Erin any differently but when you two enroll in the Academy next week, make sure to keep an eye on him and make sure no one messes with him.”
“Can I mess with him?” Sophia asked.
“Don’t take it too far, okay? You don’t want your cousin to hate you, do you?” He asked.
“I don’t care what Erin thinks. He’s weak and he cries a lot. He’s not strong enough to have other people care about what he thinks.” Sophia bluntly responded.
Sophia’s father could only proudly smile. He’s taught his daughter too well. Filled with the pride, talent, and mindset a proper noble should have. He couldn’t be prouder to say that she was his pride and joy in life. The only reason why he was even telling her this was because his brother begged him to. His sad excuse for a son only has Sophia as a friend. He’s grown attached to her and he can’t handle it whenever they have a fight. Erin also doesn’t have the spine to man up and try to fix things for himself.
“How about this? I will buy you that latest magical rune book you wanted if you make sure no one bullies Erin.” He offered. He refused to threaten her into doing it because she hasn’t done anything wrong.
“What do you mean by bully?” She asked specifically, very interested in this offer.
“If anyone is calling him names or physically hurting him. Step in and help him out.”
“Shouldn’t the little coward stand up for himself?” She muttered. “Okay, I accept as long as I get it before school starts.”
“That’s my girl. Good night. You have magic training with your mother tomorrow, so get some rest.” He kissed her on the forehead and turned off the light before leaving.
“Ahem...” Sophia coughed.
“Goodnight Lady Sophia.” Rosie spoke as she lay on the cold floor with a thin blanket.
“Good doggy.” Sophia turned on her side and slowly drifted to sleep.
As Sophia and Rosie slept peacefully for hours, Sophia had a strange dream about herself. She was alone in a large grassy field. There was no one around but herself. The scenery was beautiful and very peaceful. But Sophia felt like something was wrong with this view. It was too calm and that struck a nerve within her. This place didn’t seem very fun!
She held out her palm and soon a complex rune manifested in front of it. Sophia was surprised when she saw the size of a magical beam. The spell completely tore through the peaceful scenery and created a devasting gash into the earth. Even her mother who's a genius in magic couldn’t shoot something this powerful at her age! She spent the next few hours playing around with rune magic before wondering, why was her magic purple?
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A large crash woke Sophia and Rosie up from their sleep.
“Which one of you lower-class bugs dare to disturb this young lady’s beauty sleep!?” Sophia shot up with rage and gathered the mana within her body. Her appearance was still quite cute and regal despite being rudely awakened.
Rosie immediately shot up upon feeling the impact of whatever came through the roof and stood next to Sophia. Sophia got up from her bed and walked over to the object that had just broken into her room. It was some sort of weird meat egg thing. She bent down to grab it and heard a strange voice in her head.
‘Host... I must find a healthy host...’
“Did you hear a voice?” Sophia asked Rosie. Rosie shook her head and cried out as the weird flesh ball jumped at Sophia’s face.
The unidentifiable object stretched out and completely covered Sophia’s face who immediately started screaming and trying to pull it off of her face. Rosie also screamed and dashed over to help, also tearing at the thing trying to suffocate Sophia. The two of them combined weren’t enough to overpower the weird creature and soon Sophia drifted off into unconsciousness once again.
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“A healthy host. This is good. Very good. Me can survive long this time.” An irritating voice rang in her ears.
Sophia shot up and saw a disgusting brown rat-like creature cackling to itself. She was in some place filled with nothing but whiteness. It was only her and the ugly rat thing. And this made her very upset. Sophia stormed her way over to the nasty little monster and began unleashing her rage upon it. Her foot found itself stomping on the creature’s face over and over again.
It cried and begged her to stop but her anger wouldn’t be appeased that easily. She had a feeling it was this thing that jumped on her face and put a hole in her roof! Sophia wouldn’t stop kicking this rat until she crushed its bones and saw nothing but blood leaking out from its body. It pleaded with a hoarse voice and tears fell from its face.
“Please... Host... I’ll give you full control... Just please don’t kill me...” Its voice was drenched in desperation. It truly was going to die if she didn’t stop.
“Full control? What are you on about?” Sophia asked. She was out of breath and tired, that was the only reason why she stopped beating its face in.
“My race allows us to inhabit the bodies of other races and drastically improve both their and our own strength... If you choose not to kill me, I can make you the strongest member of your species...!” It violently coughed a purple liquid from its mouth.
“Interesting offer...” She picked the creature up by his neck and squeezed.
Her mana was acting strangely when it came to this thing. She wanted to find out what would happen if she infused some of it into this monster. It was choking from her grip but she didn’t care about that. As a noble, it should be glad she hasn’t been executed already for assaulting her and awakening her from her sleep.
Sophia used her mana to grip ahold of the energy inside the symbiote.
“Please... Only take 90%… I don’t want to die... I can help you! I can be useful!” It begged.
“Daddy always told me to always get the better deal. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t take all of your weird mana.” Sophia spoke menacingly, not resembling an innocent 10-year-old girl in the slightest.
“I can teach you how to use my hanni to the best ability! When our species integrate with a host, we merge our hanni with theirs and create an entirely new type of hanni! Only the symbiote will know how to train and use this energy though. If you take all of my energy, you’ll barely be able to use even 10% of it...”
Sophia sucked up exactly 99% of its energy before letting it fall to the floor shriveled up like a husk.
“Fine. Consider yourself spared ugly. But understand this, I am your master and I will always be in control. Now get me out of this place.” She ordered.
“Yes Master...” It rasped in a barely discernable voice.