Two days without incident, and Blake was getting impatient. Access to the girl remained strictly controlled. She was escorted everywhere, generally to the closest mess hall and back, with maybe the occasional walk. Blake hadn’t even gotten a chance to speak with her.

But the end of his patience had arrived. Seul-ki was having a nap, but he was going to go warp some minds and he needed the extra mana. He walked to her room with his mind full of swirling thoughts, and forgot to knock before opening the door. Then he looked up, and froze.

“Out! Please! Out!”

A woman stood before a mirror, topless and wearing only thin, white panties. She seemed to be wrapping her chest in a skin-color cloth, and she had long, dark hair, and a beautiful, tear shaped face that could have maybe belonged to Seul-ki’s distant relation if she wasn’t so…

Blake knew it was her when he met her eyes. The same, brilliant green, so unusual on a Korean girl. He couldn’t help but stare at the obvious swell of her breasts inside the cloth—the wide curve of her hips, the porcelain skin.

“I’m…sorry,” he said, not moving. “I thought you were sleeping. I mean, I needed your help. I thought I’d have to wake you.”

At least some of the girl’s obvious annoyance and concern seemed to leave her face, but certainly not all. She sighed.

“It’s alright. Just turn around. I’ll finish getting ready.”

He turned, a bit at a loss. “Um, what are you doing?” And, you know, why do you look like an entirely different person?

Seul-ki let out a long, defeated breath. “My class can hide my nature, as I’ve said. It can even alter my appearance, though not very much yet. One day, perhaps, I can look entirely different. But for now I must use old tricks to help with the disguise.”

Blake desperately wanted to turn around. Desperately wanted to use Mental Influence to improve his chances, but forced himself not to.

“Would it be alright…if I looked at you again?” He shrugged. “I just want to see the real you.”

“I…” Blake heard Seul-ki sit on the bed. “I suppose I’m trusting you with my life already. And living here, I guess it was only a matter of time. You can look, if you wish.”

Blake turned back to see the girl still holding the fabric before her chest, head drooping slightly. Her teeth were perfect. Her skin was flawless. Her hair was like a dark waterfall splashing off her shoulder.

“Seul-ki,” he said to himself as much as her, “you’re…stunning. Why would you wear such a disguise? Surely your looks could be…an asset.”

She pressed her lips together and frowned. “Sorry, but that is very male thinking. You have seen how the men of this town reacted to the newcomer.”

“Yes, but they treat her like a princess. Surely that would be useful for someone like…”

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“She is a civilian, I am not. There are no rules which protect me. None.” Seul-ki’s tone harshened, and Blake sat on the lone chair in her room and said nothing, finally understanding.

Players could be killed with no repercussions whatsoever. They could certainly be…taken, against their will, if one had the strength. So the clever girl had tricked the brutal men of Nassau not only into believing she was a civilian, but a rather ugly woman, not worthy of much attention. And the less attention she received, the better.

“Your secret is safe with me,” he said quietly, then bowed his head. She held the fabric against her breasts more tightly, and returned it.

“I find I’m glad you know,” she said, smiling slightly. “Together in the house, perhaps, I can take a rest from the disguise. It’s very…uncomfortable.”

“I can imagine!” Blake laughed, trying not to let his eyes roam over her face and body. Her shapely legs were together awkwardly, her flat stomach, her hips and ass curved and sexy, her discomfort with her lack of clothes obvious. She looked like some kind of Korean porcelain sex doll, and he just wanted to go wrap her in his arms and comfort her, and then maybe …

“We’re under attack!”

A voice called from somewhere on the street, and others soon took it up. Blake raced to the window to see players and civilians scrambling all over, then turned to Seul-ki with a smile.

“Best finish that disguise. I think we’re going to have a rather exciting day.”

She nodded, her eyes glowing slightly before her hair and face warped and altered into the non-descript, nearly ugly face he’d become accustom to. Her body didn’t change, though, so he understood the need for the wrapping and baggy clothes. “Eh hem,” Seul-ki cleared her throat, and Blake grinned and left her room with a final glance.

Then he ran out of the house and into the town, ready to sow a little excitement of his own.

* * *

Blake went straight for the new girl’s house, and found a guard outside looking mighty concerned.

“What are you doing here?” Blake shouted.

“Eh?” The guard grimaced. “What are you on about? This is my post.”

“If you haven’t noticed,” Blake glared as he stepped forward. “The town is under attack. It’s all hands on deck.” The idiot still looked confused and Blake rolled his eyes. “It’s a rallying call. A gathering. The damn banners are called. Go to the chief and see if he needs you!”

“Shit.” The guard glanced worryingly up at the chief’s house as his shoulders sagged. “Watch the bloody girl, then. And don’t do anything stupid.”

“I wouldn’t even know how,” Blake assured.

The young man ran off, and Blake instantly walked through the girl’s door. He found the beautiful blonde cooking eggs in the kitchen, listening to some kind of old jazz on the town’s digital database. She turned and frowned as the door opened, but her eyes went wide when she saw Blake.

“You’re him, aren’t you?”

“I am me,” Blake confirmed. Then he closed the door and took a seat at the table. With the girl’s identity confirmed, he was feeling a strange mixture of calm and excited, but locked that away behind a wall of will.

“Over easy for me,” he said, then waited for the slight footfalls he heard outside, and the door to open with Seul-ki awkwardly looking inside. “My apologies. Seul-ki? How do you like your eggs? I don’t imagine we have any rice.”

She glanced around the room shyly before sitting at Blake’s side. “Eggs? Um, hard boiled, please,” she said finally when Blake didn’t look away.

“There you are then, two over easy, two hard boiled.” Blake smiled and waited for the girl.

“Oh yes,” she laughed, which was a most pleasing sound. “You’re definitely Blake. Your brother’s told me quite a lot about you.”

“Of course he has. I’m the most interesting thing he knows about. Now if you wouldn’t mind terribly, could you tell me a little about him? Possibly, oh I don’t know, his relative power. How he fights. If he can kill fifteen to twenty players single-handedly and if not how we might go about helping him. That sort of thing.”

The girl blinked, clearly still processing all he’d said, holding her spatula as if frozen in the air.

“But do see to those eggs,” Blake added. “We’re going to need our strength.”