Eleanor:

In the morning of the day before the coronation, Eleanor had been in her practice room in her little residence.

At one stage, when she was young, she consciously decided to practice some martial arts for self-defence and exercise. The art she had chosen was knife throwing. Knives were small and didn't require high strength - just the thing for a lady with no high-strength attributes. And, by practising diligently for a year or so, she had gained the [Bonded Throwing Knife] ability. This was relatively rare; most people went for a sword.

She stood at one end of the room in a neutral stance. At the other end was a target square. She breathed easily, being careful to maintain a casual stance -

In a blur, she flicked her hand. A throwing knife magically appeared in it and sped towards the target. As soon as it landed, it disappeared and reappeared in her hand to be thrown again. She had a brief look at the two new gouges in the target.

Hmm, not bad; both are only centimetres from the bull's eye.

She repeated the process. After a while, she moved on to callisthenics and weight lifting.

She practised in secret; after all, there was no need to let anybody who might become her enemy know just how capable she was, was there?

Afterwards, she took a bath and consulted her status.

[Bonded Knife] throwing, now at 51. Not bad, not bad at all.

Strength is still at 9. It'll probably stay there; I'm not serious about increasing it. It's certainly notable that the Misfits have managed to max it out.

And, of course, [Emotional Control] is at 100.

Keep it on, never turn it off, and I'll be all right.

So, Kalitran, the king's nephew, has decided to be king, has he?

And nobody complained.

Well, I guess nobody would ever think about me being Queen.

I'm not even sure I would want to be.

She decided to think about something else. Like the Misfits. And the slaves. And that woman, Lena.

Since our ever-so-majestic kingdom is splurging with a public party, how about I invite myself to join their group? I can have some fun by needling that Lena again.

She finished her breakfast and then consulted her list of duties.

Hmm, I should check up on Mrs Kachraine to make sure she is taking her medicine.

And then there are two new babies. I need to see that the new mothers are coping well.

There was just a trace of a frown on her face before she controlled it.

If only the new mothers would stop trying to get me to cuddle the babies!

She wasn't asked to do this social outreach work, and nobody in the castle cared one way or the other. Nonetheless, Eleanor had decided to adopt this duty as her own. It gave her something to do. After all, the Treasurer was kind enough to pay her a small pension, so she might as well return something to her society.

Alice:

That afternoon, there was a training session for the Misfits. Aragon and Jane were the instructors, and the area just outside the dormitory was the designated training area. The Misfits might have felt a tad self-conscious since everyone else had decided they might as well watch. That is Lena with a child on either side of her, Esther and her daughter, and Eleanor. Eleanor had just arrived and had seated herself on the bench next to Becky. Oh, there were also two extra guards standing in opposite corners. By now, they were mostly ignored by the Misfits.

"Hello, Lena. It is certainly nice to have the free time to enjoy a bit of spectating, isn't it?" said Eleanor.

"Indeed, it is nice of you to spare some time to keep us company," said Lena.

With her enhanced perception, Alice could hear this.

It's nice that Lena and Eleanor appear to be getting along well with each other. At least, I think they are.

"OK, kids, stand in a straight line; that's right, now materialise your swords. You might be amazingly fast and strong, but your technique leaves much to be desired. So, for a start, Aragon, if you will, show us the basics..." said Jane.

They went through the forms. Downstroke, side stroke, lunge. Twenty times each.

This is getting a bit boring. And Jane doesn't look like she thinks highly of our forms. Why can't System-san download the techniques directly to our brains?

Ding! This System has already downloaded a lot into your heads. How do you think you managed to survive in the wilderness? Nevertheless, you do need to learn something by yourselves! Just be thankful that once one of you knows something, the others automatically understand it, too.

Oh, right. It looks like the others must have been thinking the same things.

Jane noticed that all four teenagers had stopped and appeared to be thinking things through.

"Hey, what's the break for?"

"System-san, err, I mean, The Voice of the World, has explained why we can't rely on it to teach us all this technique," said Alice.

"Naturally, you can't rely on it for everything... Wait, The Voice of the World told you that directly?" said Jane.

It's incredible how all the adults look so shocked whenever we tell them about any communication we have from System-san.

"Anyway, can you face each other in two pairs?" said Jane, "And we will practice some basic attacks and defences, using no more than the basic movements we have just been practising."

Alice smiled at Drayden, so they naturally ended up in a pair. Next to them were Cassy and Bronsen.

Then Alice had a 'bright idea'.

"Hey! If once one of us learns something, then we all automatically learn it, then why bother with all four of us training simultaneously?"

Jane didn't look all that happy at that, even after the message from System-san was explained to her.

"Tsk, tsk. You still need to have at least one of you learn it, and you also need to have two of you for practice. And if all of you are trying to learn something simultaneously, you can all learn four slightly different things simultaneously. So, no excuses!"

Jane gestured to Aragon, and they squared off.

"We will demonstrate the basic attack..."

After an hour or so:

Isn't this enough? And Drayden is also losing interest. Cassy looks totally fed up with it.

Say, is Bronsen still committed? I suppose he always was the athletic type.

Aww, geeze...

"OK, OK, I get the message! Let's have a break," said Jane.

Jane had a brief discussion with Aragon and then spoke to the group.

"Maybe there is something to that simultaneous learning thing you somehow get from your System-san. Since it appears that you all have noticeably improved, and all equally, but don't let that go to your heads! We will be having these training sessions regularly from now on!"

"Yes, Captain Jane," said Alice.

Jane:

Oh, bloody hell. All the discipline of a wet towel. And I will have to tell Aragon in private that he is not allowed to smirk like that in the future. At least not where I can see it.

But they certainly are powerful and fast.

Not that I'm the slightest bit jealous, of course!

So they all sat down in a rough circle. After a brief awkward silence, Cassy decided to jump in and start something.

"Say, Jane, this little country sure is nice towards us Misfits, what with giving us somewhere to live and plenty of food - but why are you so generous to us? I mean, you don't know about our attitudes or motivations."

You mean, apart from the fact that you all are incredibly naive and innocent, not to mention plain weird, which we can pick up by just looking at you?

"In actual fact, I do know a fair bit about you. While I don't advertise the fact, it is no great secret that I have one of the rarer abilities - I can tell if someone is telling the truth. It's not perfect, but if I'm at a normal speaking distance and looking at the person, I can tell if they are lying; I can also tell if they have malicious or benign designs against me or others. It even works against perfect psychopaths, those who have no conscience whatsoever."

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Ah! So that's why you were the one to query us when we first arrived!" said Cassy.

"That's right. It was easy to conclude that you weren't up to no good. Of course, you were, and still are, a bit of a headache." said Jane.

"Oh, sorry."

"Don't worry about it. It's just part of my job."

Drayden was looking interested. "Say, isn't your ability handy in criminal trials? You can just read each person and say which is the guilty party. Or innocent party, as the case may be."

Yeah, sure, sure.

Jane looked sour. "Actually, no, not really."

"Why not? If I were in charge, I would love to have some ability to tell the criminals from the good guys!" said Alice.

Why should I say anything more about this?

But then, they did make a very public statement about ending slavery. They have painted a bullseye on their backs and taunted the salver emperor to come and get them. So, OK, maybe I can be a bit more forthright than usual.

Now, how can I say this without coming over as too bitter?

"Well, now, let's say you were in charge. And, purely for the sake of the argument, let's say that you were one of the criminals... Do you see a possible problem?"

Four Misfits ran this hypothetical through their heads. They didn't seem to be liking what the results were saying.

"Soooo, you never were called upon to help out trails?" said Alice.

Sigh of exasperation from Jane.

"Of course I was. Back half a decade or so, when I managed to develop the ability enough to be useful. I even helped prosecute a little sleazy rapist."

He ended up being publicly garroted, which is a fucking awful way to die, but I don't think I'll say that.

"And then there was the next trail of another rapist, who I said was also definitely guilty. But guess what? Family ties connected him to the nobility. And that particular bunch of nobility was more worried about maintaining their perceived superiority than about the suffering of his victims."

A shocked silence from the Misfits.

"So I never again received an invitation to the courthouse. Of course, this coincided with the nobility gradually fleeing the country. By now, there ain't much nobility left to object to me, but on the other hand, there's not much call for my services anyway."

"Ah, but wait a minute! Wouldn't you also be a good way of testing if the new king is dedicated to helping the country or if he's only in it for his own gains?" said Drayden.

Doesn't he look so smug with his proposal.

Aragon laughed out loud.

"Sure, it would be. But... if the new king is not dedicated, why would he call upon Jane? And, even if he was, you are still left with the question of whether or not Jane is being truthful." he said.

Eleanor cleared her throat.

"Ah, if I may point out, the standard way for us to deal with that situation is for the king - or, for that matter, anyone in an official position - to make a public vow to the Voice of the World," she said.

"Ah, of course!" said Drayden. "So, tomorrow, the new king will make a public vow stating he will do his best for his country during his reign?"

Aragon, Eleanor and Jane exchanged a three-way glance.

After a while, Jane said, "That is possible, but I wouldn't bet upon it."

"Oh. OK. By the way, did the old king make a public vow?" said Drayden.

Eleanor looked away. Aragon and Jane looked at each other. Then Aragon volunteered to answer.

"No, he didn't."

With that short, emphatic statement, the Misfits appeared to run out of questions for the current topic.

The Misfits:

Later, after their meal and helping Aragon clean up, the Misfits had another meeting. They were sitting on their sofas facing each other in their usual order.

"Has anyone noticed that Eleanor doesn't live in the so-called palace? If she's the old king's daughter, wouldn't she still live at home? After all, it's got plenty of rooms." said Alice.

"Who knows? Maybe she didn't get along with her father," said Cassy.

"Well, are we going to ask her at the next opportune moment?" said Drayden.

"Why not? If she doesn't want to tell us, she can fob us off," said Bronsen.

"And, let's see... Ah, notice that Becky and Mason are getting along much better with Lena?" said Cassy.

"Yes, they're cute when they smile, aren't they?" said Bronsen, "Mason reminds me of my little brother... in fact, I think he is probably a little on the slow side, too."

"Well, my favourite is Becky - after all, she is a similar age to my sister," said Cassy.

After this, they hesitated. They knew another topic needed to be discussed but were reluctant to initiate it.

"OK, let's stop beating about the bush. These vows... It appears that we are unwilling to make exclusive couple vows with our partners - with good reason, of course! After all, these vows appear quite powerful, especially with System-san determined to give all of our vows the full 100% treatment. And we don't know the full implications..." said Alice.

"Of course!" said the others.

"Ah, anyway, but what about we make a four-way vow? After all, it's what we had made before we knew about System-san," she said.

"I think that could be a good idea." said Cassy, "Let's fully commit to our ridiculous terms of agreement; after all, we sort of have already, what with our shared System Status screens and all of that."

"Ah, yes, back then when we were all so young and innocent..." said Bronsen.

He was promptly whacked across the face by Cassy's tail.

"Excuse me, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm still young and in-, err, mostly innocent?" she said.

Drayden couldn't help giggling.

"Of course. Also, I can't quite remember what all of the conditions were - something about being exactly equal and in a perfectly balanced four-way group affair, and, err, ah, of course! No group sex!" said Drayden.

"Not to mention no girl-on-girl love, sadly," said Bronsen.

"Well, that's fair; if we can't have any Boy's Love, then you can't have any Girl's Love," said Cassy.

"Anyway!" said Alice, raising her voice a little.

"So perhaps we can have a private vow between all four of us? Say something to the effect that we remain faithful to each other and never stray outside our little foursome."

She stopped, then continued with a slightly lower voice.

"Of course, we remain faithful in our couples, right?"

Three yeses from the others.

"So there's no real need to make additional explicit vows for that, is there?" said Alice.

Three noes from the others.

"And, since it appears that System-san has already restricted our sexuality from ever going outside our group, then there should be no danger in making a four-way vow, is there?"

"No..." said the three others.

However, Bronsen did raise a little quibble.

"If System-san is already protecting our foursome, then perhaps there is no need for extra vows?"

"Yeah, maybe, but, you know, I just like to have the extra security of an explicit vow - after all, we are in a bizarre world where we don't belong. We've only got ourselves to remind us of home, so every little bit surely helps."

They thought this over, and no one could raise any further objections. However, Drayden thought of another question.

"Do normal Felixians make vows when they form couples, I wonder?"

Ding! They certainly do! They merely need to make a vow simultaneously while in each other's company, and it is treated as a combined vow. Such combined vows don't even need to be romantically based.

"You know, it's certainly nice having System-san talking directly to us. Apparently, the normal population doesn't get that same level of service," said Drayden.

So they did their four-way handshake and eventually got back the notification:

Ding! The Misfits have made a private vow just to each other, at 100%: To always remain sexually and romantically faithful to each other and to never, ever, stray beyond their foursome.

"That's the way to go!" said Cassy.

Then she stopped, fidgeted around a bit, and eventually added,

"I've already discussed this with Drayden, but you know how I am terrified of being raped?"

Nods of affirmation from the others.

"And, of course, those blasted slave collar horrors are effectively sex slave collars..."

She looked down at her lap, avoiding everyone's eyes.

"Well, anyway, what I would like is a vow from, well, everyone willing to do so, saying you will kill me as soon as possible if someone gets a slave collar on me. But only after the slave collar is on, of course!"

There was an intense, grave silence before Drayden spoke up.

"I've already agreed to that, so I'm happy - well, maybe that's not the correct word, but anyway - I'm willing to make that vow."

There was more weighty silence, and then Alice spoke up.

"Considering that those horrible collars cannot come off and that once they're on our lives as independent people are over, and, well, there is also the little fact that I don't want to be also raped, then I can see the attraction of ending it immediately, instead of spending the rest of my life in the hell of being raped whenever, and being worked to death, all for someone else's advantage."

She took a breath.

"So, I would also like to be covered by such a vow."

They listened to the wind-blown branches of a tree outside, tapping on the window.

The two boys looked at each other.

"Hmm, going from Esther's not-very-detailed descriptions and connecting up the dots myself, it does appear to be a horrible way to live. And, I would have to say I don't want to be also raped," said Bronsen.

"Yeah. Right. I agree. So, shall we make another four-way vow?" said Drayden.

"Does anyone want to think it over for a while?" said Cassy.

"Nyah, get it over and done with," said Alice.

"OK," said Cassy.

Ding! The Misfits have made a private vow to each other, at 100%: If any of you are enslaved, the others will do their best to kill you as soon as possible.

"Kind of gruesome, isn't it?" said Bronsen.

"Yeah. Hey, I just had the thought - you know how those people at the markets seem to be interested in our bodies but lose all interest as soon as they get close enough to us?" said Drayden.

"Oh, shit! Does that mean we can't be raped after all? So there was no need for that vow?" said Cassy.

"Ah, not so fast there. Perhaps we are not able to be raped, but we can still be abused. Not to mention there's the spend-one's-whole-life-as-a-slave thing." said Alice.

Cassy relaxed. "Yep, that's right. The vow is still needed."

A snort of amusement from Bronsen. "Not that it makes any difference now."

Lena:

At the same time, Lena and Eleanor were the last in the kitchen room. Evereena and Esther had volunteered to put Lena's two children to bed all by themselves.

"It's nice that those children are slowly making connections to you and the others, isn't it?" said Eleanor.

"Yes, it is indeed. But, ahh, you seem to be a bit reluctant to interact with them?" said Lena.

Lena got back a calm, steady gaze. Eventually, Eleanor said, "Well, my baby died in quite traumatic circumstances, you know. So I have avoided forming any bonds with other children ever since."

Just what did happen back then?

And that bloody [Emotional Control], she must have it set to the maximum. I can't tell a thing from her expression.

It might not be wise to ask just yet.

"Sorry, I don't mean to bring up any painful feelings."

Like hell, I do want to bring up at least something.

"So, I guess you might have had a strong exclusive vow with your husband? Which explains why you don’t seem to have formed a relationship with anyone since then?" said Lena.

Eleanor gave all the appearances of thinking this over carefully.

"Well, actually, we tried to make a mutual vow, but the Voice of the World rejected it." she said, "My husband was distraught at that."

Say, were you very upset at that?

But before Lena could think of anything to say, Eleanor continued. "And, I guess you and your husband never even tried to make a vow?"

"Ah, yes. I tentatively proposed it at one stage, but he said we should wait a little. And, of course, as time went on... Well, it never happened."

There was a contemplative silence, and then Eleanor spoke up.

"Did you know that Aragon's brother has a 30% couple's vow with his partner? You know, Jacob and Adrian."

"Oh, that's right, they are sometimes on guard duty for the Misfits. So, they're an item?"

"Have been for years," said Eleanor.

"Hmm, I did wonder... And, a 30% committment? That means they could separate and find someone else, but it will be tough and take several years."

"That's right. It's pretty strong, but nothing like these ridiculous 100% commitments the Misfits tend to go for!"

"Not just the Misfits, but, it appears, everyone connected to the Misfits. Like Aragon! And, well, me." said Lena.

They both laughed.

"I'm hoping I don't get straddled with some over-the-top 100% vow!" said Eleanor.

"Ha! If the current antics of the Misfits are anything to go by, you will probably be hit with a doozy of a one! Or, maybe, half a dozen!" said Lena.

"I am sure you will look forward to the schadenfreude," said Eleanor.

"I shall be sure to make time for it in my appointments calendar."

On that note, Eleanor left the building, and Lena went to her bedroom.

She found Becky and Mason asleep in their beds, cuddling their stuffed toys. Lena carefully shuffled to her bed (there wasn't much space left over with three beds in the room), changed and wrapped her blankets around her.

All in all, I think it would be a good idea to get Eleanor involved with my two children. It'll do her good!