Later that day, the girls’ were shepherded to the infamous ‘Dolly Room’, filled to the brim with crystal-powered dolls that cried, whined, shit and ate. It was bland, with plain white walls, gray-carpeted wooden floors and a few lamps to brighten the otherwise drab atmosphere. Cubbies and chests lined the left wall; cubbies where the dolls were placed, and chests filled with cloth diapers, cleaning necessities and fake food. A desk sat in the farthest right corner, illuminated by a lamp akin to a spotlight shining down on a stage.

She grabbed her assigned baby doll and sat down.

As soon as everyone had settled, Sannie stood in front of the dour girls, “welcome, once again to one of the most important classes you will ever know! Everyone knows how it goes, click the button on your dolls and get to it.” She then walked to the desk nestled in the corner and sat down, looking over at everyone and marking attendance.

Everyone did what Sannie said and Ione took one look at her baby doll and sighed.

Well. It's showtime.

Utilizing [Pain Resistance], and turning off [Slash Resistance], Ione grasped one of the fingers she had sanded down in secret to cut a long strip of flesh from the right wrist to forearm.

She swung the doll and howled, showering the floor in bright red blood as the girls surrounding her screeched in fear and disbelief.

Sannie immediately stood up and grabbed Ione by the shoulders, biting out, “what in the world happened?”

Ione turned off [Pain Resistance] and felt her eyes water, then immediately turned it back on, “I-I don't know, I p-picked up Layla and she was like this!” Ione wailed and thrust her doll at Sannie, showing the sharp fingers.

Iones cries continued as they quickly made their way to the infirmary, her pitiful noises clearly grated on Sannie as the severe woman grimaced, “Ione, stop your crying, I will heal you, but you must compose yourself.”

Fucking bitch. I'm 8. I’m a child.

They entered the infirmary and Sannie picked Ione up, placing her on the cot and then fussed with the cleaning rags.

She then firmly-none too gently-grabbed Ione's injured arm, placed it cut side up and moved both hands above the wound. A green light started to emanate from her palms.

Ione watched closely, her eyes greedily drinking up all the information she could.

Healing starts at the bottom-most part of the cut: the dermis, and then makes its way to the epidermis. Process takes about a minute and half. Wound seals shut and no visible scarring. Process takes about 5 minutes.

A twisted grin would have adorned Ione's face if Sannie wasn't directly in front of her.

“Wow! It's good as new!” Exclaimed Ione as she stretched her arm to show her.

“Yes, I see, I just healed it,” responded Sannie as she turned away to grab some wet cloths

“Can you heal anything?” Ione asked.

Sannie glanced her way, “most things yes, broken bones, fractures, sprains. Anything to do with the biological body can be healed.”

Ione nodded, “oh, so, could you heal yourself then? If you were playing tag and fell on a rock? And hurt your arm? What about a broken toe?”

Sannie roughly dragged the cloth across her skin, wiping away the blood, “I don't play tag, but if I were to trip and fall I can heal myself, yes.”

“Do broken bones heal fast?” Ione stared at Sannie's face.

“Are you asking these questions because you want to be a healer?”

Iones eyes drifted away, “maybe.”

“Well, you cannot. First off, you're an elf. And second, you have a much greater purpose. While you are elven, we can dilute the bloodline to ensure that your future generations are more human.”

Ione decided to ignore whatever the fuck that was, lest she say something she regrets.

“So what will my class become? Mother?”

“In a way, it'll most likely have the title ‘Homemaker’, or some other variation. It's a hard position and requires a lot of work. You'll be proud to have that class.” Sannie finished cleaning her skin and started washing the rags in the sink.

While Ione didn't discount that it was hard and required work, it simply wasn't for her. She wouldn't be proud because she'd be forced into it against her will.

“But, I don't wanna be a homemaker.”

Sannie's face flashed with annoyance, “Ione, trust me, adults know this better than you do. All of the other girls want to be homemakers.”

What a bold-faced lie. More times than Ione could count the other girls complained about doing this exact thing, and she was the one to comfort them.

Ione knew she couldn't let this continue, while Sannie was the arbiter of punishment, Belan controlled the whole operation. She was the mastermind behind this shitty reality.

The world wouldn't miss Sannie, and the world wouldn't miss Belan.

DING! Quest Obtained! Please refer to the quest tab to get a detailed explanation.

She completely bypassed the screen and saw the new quest.

You have received a timed quest! Kill Sister Sannie in 6 hours or less and receive 2x the rewards!

Shit. Ione still felt unprepared, but she desperately wanted to finish a quest. Especially one with double the rewards. She quickly checked the rewards to see if it was worth it.

Quest: Kill sister Sannie in 6 hours or less.

Rewards: 500 exp x 2, 20 attribute points x 2, Blanket of Warmth and Vitality x 2

Blanket of Warmth and Vitality? Two of them? 40 attribute points and a thousand experience? Say no more.

Well, she'll take it. It's the first quest where she doesn't have any question marks.

“Why can't I fight with the boys?”

“Because you have a special role and the boys have a special role. That's just how it is,” Sannie finished washing the cloths, “okay, enough, we need to get back so I can supervise you all.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Feigning ignorance, Ione persisted, “but you didn't answer my question, do broken bones heal fast?’”

Sannie looked at her with contempt, “if I answer, will you walk with me? I don't want to drag you.”

Ione nodded and jumped off the table, landing with ungainly grace and shot Sannie a nervous smile.

The woman rolled her eyes. As soon as she turned her back Ione stuck the middle finger at her.

As they walked back to class Sannie spoke, “yes, bones take some time to heal,” she paused, “as do brains. The brain is incredibly complex and even the most experienced healer will have difficulty healing brains quickly.”

Ione looked down at the ground and thought for a bit. She wanted to ask if it took conscious thought while healing the brain, but she had to think of how a child would ask that question and even if a child would understand the conversation in the first place.

“Brains are weird,” Ione decided to say.

Sannie agreed, “there are too many things happening in them. Some things can't be healed- like internal struggles. But wounds, like concussions and such, can be healed. It takes an immense amount of mental energy for a healer, however I can heal most brain wounds within 30 minutes,” she said smugly.

“Is 30 minutes good?”

“Incredibly. Mother Belan can do so within 5 which is nearly unheard of save for a few talented individuals.”

“Wow! That's amazing. So if I tripped and hit my head she could heal my brain fast?”

“She could, although she most likely wouldn't.”

“Oh...”

It’s like she takes every single opportunity to remind me that pretty much everybody hates me.

“But don’t worry your little head about it, you won't be doing any kind of activity that results in an injury like that.” Sannie reassured Ione.

They eventually made it back to the Dolly Room where the girls were busy taking care of their charges; the wails of fake baby crying grated on Ione’s ears and she couldn't handle it anymore. [Peaceful Aura] didn’t work on inanimate objects.

“Sannie, is it okay if I can go lie down?”

“No.”

Annoyance flashed through Ione, “But, I'm not feeling well! I feel dizzy.”

Sannie stared at Ione until she gave a curt nod.

“Thank you, Sister Sannie!” Ione, surprised, feigned gratitude and once she turned around to go back to the shared bedroom, her demeanor blanked. She hated Sannie. That whole interaction left a sour taste in her mouth; debasing herself like that for a crumb of information.

However, that crumb was mighty delicious though.

With her plan slowly falling into place, Ione developed a skip in her step. She whistled a quiet tune while she navigated the labyrinth of hallways until eventually arriving at the dormroom. Equally as drab as the Dolly Room; there were around 27 small single beds occupying much of the wooden floor space, with a small brown trunk at the end of each bed to hold clothes and bathroom utensils. There were a few windows lining the white walls, open with the warm summer breeze, and decorated with gray sheer curtains fluttering in the wind.

A place for cult members to live.

There was no sense of individuality, and any attempts at decoration were swiftly removed. Ione hated it. There were quite a few things she hated here actually. The decor, and the racists.

She made her way to her bed, closest to the back, where little spider-like creatures nestled in the corner to keep her on her toes. She often had to turn off [Prey Sense] because she would wake up hearing farts in HD on account of them staring at her.

She had hoped to find the map and pencil and upon looking under her pillow, Ione's eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning.

Letting a smile fall across her face, she quickly stashed the items under a loose floorboard she had been working on ever since she had made this plan in the first place. She needed to have a place to hide secret things.

Ione stood up, looked around and strained her ears. Silence. Her favorite sound. No footsteps or voices. No witnesses. She activated [Spatial Awareness] and was happy to find that there were no people around. She kept it running, not wanting to be caught unawares. Then she activated all of her skills and felt a surge of information enter her mind and body. It was a rush to be able to use her skills with one another and with that, she grabbed a cloak from her trunk and put it on, then set out to find Sannie’s room.

She kept close to the walls, her [Spatial Awareness] working overtime, as, on more than one occasion, she had to wait in an empty unused room while someone walked past.

She eventually made it to the bedroom wing of the orphanage where the nuns resided and was able to swiftly figure out where Sannie slept. It was a nondescript door located near another room she suspected to be Belan’s and when she went to open both doors, each was locked.

Well, that makes sense. Ione didn't know what she was expecting.

Using [Stealth] and [Multitasking] she quickly made her way outside. There were a few nuns and children milling about, but none paid her any mind. Although, Ione still felt that she had to minimize the amount of time she spent outdoors as there were very few places to hide in case she was looked at a little too closely. Unfortunately, [Spatial Awareness] couldn't go past 25m at the moment. She looked up and realized that Sannie’s room lined the exterior of the building, Belan’s did not; Sannie had a window.

She wondered if Belan was paranoid. How interesting that her room seemingly only had one entrance. Lodging that thought for later, she used her movement skills to scale up to the window on the 3rd floor, and upon a gentle push, the window opened inwards.

Success!

Wildly grinning to herself, Ione made sure to have her face and hair covered and peered inside, taking note of the bed placement and any other such baubles. There wasn't exactly much to see, but Ione got what she wanted. She instantly closed the window and jumped up onto the roof, thankful that [Prey Sense] told her no one was watching her.

Very rarely she could see a view like this, but more than once she had snuck up on the empty roof to view the stars and planets. To hear the chittering of exotic bugs and birds as she envisioned the adventures she would go on; ruminated on the actions she had taken while in the orphanage.

She looked at the horizon.

Tall canyon cliffs bordered the sheltered villages, towns and cities to what was presumably the west and north. The forest covered the south with a portion of it gated off that could only be seen from her vantage point. It was something to ask Coranne one day.

She decided to stay up on the roof for a while. Judging from the sun’s position she had about an hour and a half to herself before she had to go back and pretend she didn't feel well.

Ione didn't like having to deceive people all the time. She was known as the silent, but nice kid, courtesy of Fellis. While she appreciated being thought of as ‘nice’ she wouldn't describe herself as that. She was kind because she didn't want to deal with anyone’s bullshit and she was silent because she rarely had anything to say to either children or adults.

She desperately wanted to grow up. It was a different type of hell to have the body of a child but the mind of an adult. Every adult treated her as though she needed to have everything explained to her with the utmost of reverence. It was humiliating to have Coranne explain to her how to wipe her ass and how important it was.

Unsurprisingly, she was the fastest at being ‘potty trained’.

Coranne was very proud at how fast she picked it up, and that was equally as infantilizing. Everything was. She wouldn't be able to escape it unless she left for the woods or told Coranne who she really was, but she wasn't going to do that. Not yet.

Her mind ran in circles. It wasn't just the embarrassing thoughts that plagued her, it was her daydreams of a better future. One without war. These thoughts swirled around whenever she was on the roof, as if looking over the distance reminded her of how she already felt the weight of responsibility.

What happened to wanting to be so strong that she didn't have responsibility? She guessed that it would be quite some time before it ever came to that point.

The hustle is truly real, Ione internally groaned.

If changing the course of human and elf history wasn't for her, then it was for the children. They deserved a good world. A just world.

She almost laughed. Ione was reminded of a phrase she had learned a long, long time ago: ‘with great power comes great responsibility’. The phrase inspired a sense of nostalgia that took her breath away. She certainly wasn't hero material; her morals weren't the greatest, clearly, but she would try.

She knew that this wouldn't end with Belan. It wouldn't end with whoever was above Belan. Her ability to make a change laid in her drive to find who was responsible, and fuck shit up. She would have to brute force it.

The kids in the orphanage were very clearly mistreated and no one from the government, presuming this society had one, gave a single shit as long as they had bodies that provided for the war.

She had a hope that there was someone that was working behind the scenes, there had to be. The alternative was too horrendous to think about.

Since, if there was no one, then it had to be her.