Aims justify the means, whatever the aims, whatever the means. I lived in a world that lived by that mentality.

A father, a mother, and younger siblings. I once had them all until one day, I had no one. Such a happy life wasn't meant to last when they were taken in a car accident.

I survived by a miracle and walked on my feet the very next day. I was dazed not by any injury but by a wound deep in my soul.

I had no one to hate or blame, it was just an accident after all. One moment we were in the car, the next it was black. Even the truck driver that crashed into us left behind an orphaned family.

I returned home and it was empty. Mother had no relatives since she was a foreigner but father's family was just obsessed with the money he left behind. Money I neither cared about nor knew what to do with. I was just sad and angry.

Fast forward a few years, I am in juvenile detention.

Fast forward another few years, I got out and joined a crew I met in prison to steal things from a rich man down south that caused me to fall into custody. If not for the fact that one of the crew was a Medjay, we would have been killed and buried.

After getting extracted by the Medjay, I realized it was a recruitment evaluation all this time. I was introduced to a new life and met new people. I was taught to become less angry and I appreciated what I learned. Then after 10 good years of running for them, it was all over in the UN Heist.

Now why did my past life just flash through my head? The dream felt really distant as if I am no longer that person and it felt like I am watching a movie from a screen.

That's when I pushed my body off my bed and rested my back against the ornate headboard which made me feel an immense pain all over my back. This type of classic furniture has all sorts of wood carvings that would stab one's back and make them regret their life. (A/n: personal experience.)

But today is an important day. After training and having an early breakfast, I had a refreshing bath in that copper tub in my room and felt like having some sun on my body.

"MY LADY!"

Yet Esmeralda had to cover me with a flying sheet and wrap my body like a baby whose parents were scared of him catching a cold.

"You can't stand like this in front of the balcony." She said and held my shoulders tightly.

"Calm down, big girl!" I said while trying to get myself out of her powerful hands.

"What if someone sees you?" Esmeralda said with a face filled with dread.

"From this angle?"

Currently, we're deep in my room with at least five meters between me and the balcony. The only eye that can pry on me is the eye of the sun which I intentionally allowed to.

Vitamin D, some warmth, and tan. There are so many benefits to getting yourself exposed to the sun. The sun in Archester is too weak I am feeling cheated. If this frail pale body is to get any healthier, I need it to hit a minimum of 1000 iu a day.

While it is not snowing in winter too heavily in Archester, the weather is cold enough for the night to be nightmarishly cold. Hence, this tiny amount of sun is something people actually celebrate.

Although I succeeded in stopping Esmeralda's nagging, I flung off the sheet she had covered me with and ran back to the sun spot that was coming through the balcony.

"My Lady! Please, stop it." Yet Esmeralda valiantly jumped between me and whatever imaginary prying eyes she was feeling and I was held tightly by her mighty Hulkling arms.

Bye bye, sunny day. A certain grumpy giantess can't let me go butt naked even in my own chambers.

***

Typically, Vivian wouldn't go around her own chambers butt naked, an effect of having a certain Nadia running through her brain, which made her actions more wild and eccentric to the common sense of this world.

Esmeralda's reaction was normal for a maid since Vivian's chamber was on the first floor yet as Vivian judged, she was already too deep in her room and no one would see her from down outside.

But while Vivian kept admiring her body in the mirror and Esmeralda kept forcing clothes on her, neither of them really expected that someone was daring enough to watch her from outside.

Of course Esmeralda feared it since her lady was in an indecent state but she just feared it, not fully expected it.

But it happened. She was being peeped at and the one who saw her made sure he wasn't found out while he climbed down the oak tree that is 30 meters away from Vivian's balcony.

His appearance was young, his face was flushed red, and his state was miserable from what he had just seen.

The blood ran red through his face as he saw a stunning beauty in her birthday suit. His eyesight was very good which made things worse for him as he saw Vivian in great detail.

The sight can't be erased from his mind any time soon. It was his first time seeing a woman like this and the situation made his heart almost jump off his chest.

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"Hey! Ollie! Over here, boy."

The boy heard his name being called and felt like a lightning bolt had struck him on this sunny, cloudless day.

"Yes…" He replied, panicked and sweating.

"Come 'er, boy!" The voice owner called out again as he walked through the garden hedges.

A man in work clothing came out and what followed him was an elderly man in a neat suit.

"Boy." The worker man called, "This is the manager of this mansion, Butler Theo. Greet him properly."

"Yes, sir." The boy called Ollie replied awkwardly, "Hello, sir. My name is Oliver. Mr. Bax recommended me to work as an apprentice gardener, sir."

"Quite the tense boy you are." Butler Theo eyed the young man up and down, "Where do you live, boy?"

"I'm from Archester, sir. From Watertemple." The boy replied.

"A boy from Watertemple working at a lord's mansion. Somehow poetic! You good with gardening, young Ollie?" Old Theo asked.

"Yes, sir. The boy is a wonder, Sir." Mr. Bax, the gardener of the mansion, replied excitedly.

"I learned from my late father, sir. He used to be a gardener around the Great Towers garden." Ollie said.

"That is splendid, you start working from tomorrow. Mr. Bax will be your superior and he will assign you jobs. Work starts at 8 in the morning and ends at 8 in the evening but since you are a gardener, you can leave whenever Mr. Bax sees you are done. Your pay will be 200 pounds a week. You will be dressed according to the house rules and be fed a single meal in the middle of your work hours provided by the house's kitchen. Are there any questions?"

Old Theo recited the usual speech for the boy who kept nodding like a chicken.

"No, sir. You're very generous! Thank you! Thank you greatly, sir."

"Before I go, I want to write a name and an address. Your full name, boy?"

"It is Oliver, sir. Oliver West."

***

For the first time in a while, Vivian was actually free. She had nothing that she could recall, but it doesn't mean she can simply loiter around.

As she sent Esmeralda to deal with the housework, she remained in her room thinking deeply about this life.

First off, she has exams in two weeks. If she can recall correctly, Vivian was excellent at her studies so there is not much work needed to be done on that front.

She opened the quest list and saw that the missions were still what they were except for one.

« You have completed the quest: Acquire the Spirit Lotus! »

The moment she tapped on the quest it disappeared from the list.

« 1000 SP have been awarded »

« An Uncommon Item will be rewarded from the Shop. Open the lottery tab to initiate the lottery. »

"Lottery now?" Vivian frowned, "So the Storage Purse I received at first was a scripted award and now I must go through the damned Gacha again? You've got to be kidding me. Who even created this System?"

Vivian went to the Store screen and then found that there was a ticket icon on top, as she tapped it, this message appeared.

« You have 1 Uncommon Lottery Card. Do you wish to use it? Y/N »

"Yes."

The card appeared in front of Vivian and started to glow. In a final flash, it took a different shape, and an item was formed floating in front of her in a dazzle of sparkles.

Once the sparkling wore off, the item submitted to gravity and fell off its place but Vivian caught it.

"That is…" She said with a depressed voice, "… an Umbrella."

It was a great letdown. She acquired the Spirit Lotus with great difficulty and what she was rewarded with was an umbrella.

"What's that, Sir System? Throwing useless stuff at me?" She asked with a long sigh.

But as if the System was offended and wanted to show her the error of her words, a System Screen appeared.

————————————————————

[ Tactical Umbrella ] < Uncommon Cane Sword>

* Cane Sword: A 76.2 cm stainless steel single-edged straight razor blade with a plain handle.

* Chameleon Canopy: A canopy equipped with a translucent interior that allows vision and an illusive exterior for camouflage.

————————————————————

Vivian had to hold herself there for once and from the look of it, this was not just an incredible item.

"Woah woah woah… that's amazing!"

The Umbrella was everything she currently needed all at once. Her head was like "What the heck!" but her eyes were running through that umbrella trying to figure it out.

For all things considered, it was a large umbrella, one that can be used as a cane very naturally. It was balanced and not that light giving it power and substance. The canopy can be opened by untying the strap holding its fabric and pushing the spring up for the runner to go up the shaft and spread the canopy.

Vivian left the umbrella open and put it on her bed before walking to the opposite side of it. Seeing how it looked from the other side, Vivian was both in shock and awe as her eyes were dazzled but the sudden disappearance of the umbrella. Just like a ghost in a dark corridor, the umbrella's canopy hid itself from sight by mimicking the same pattern of Vivian's bedsheet but not just that, this illusive enchantment was so sophisticated it mimicked even the light patterns so that the onlooker could see no trace of the umbrella or its edges.

Vivian had to narrow her eyes and focus with her vision on where she put the umbrella before tapping the edge of the canopy with her finger slightly and seeing it crease to her touch.

"This is like a dream!"

If she hadn't witnessed the suction force of the Storage Purse or the shocking effect of the Aura Force, Vivian wouldn't have believed what she was seeing but she knew this was magic and this was her first time having it within her touch.

The things she can do with such a tool!

She recovered her umbrella and focused on its other property. The umbrella's handle was straight and neither curved nor twisted yet plain and straight. By twisting the handle, a quiet click would be felt in the body of the umbrella and a smooth blade would slide out of the wide shaft until the entire 76.2 cm of it is fully displayed in its full stainless glory, revealing not only a sharp but a razor-sharp ninjato-like sword with a bloodthirsty edge and a menacing tip.

With a slight side swing, Vivian could feel the air resistance as if it was being cut and only stopped when the blade was pointing down to the floor in line with her right leg.

The blade's tip was less than an inch away from the floor at this position which made Vivian whistle in admiration.

"And right to my size as well." She exclaimed, "Sir System, you are pampering this young lady so much. You sure I won't get spoiled rotten?"

The grin on her face could only grow wider as she returned the blade to its sheath. Girls who love weapons in this country are called "mannish" while the ones who practice magic are called "witches". Vivian would love to know if there is a "gun freak" category but in the meantime, she will explore the realm of the mannish.

Now, she has to prepare herself for the coming exams and start focusing on surviving this new life.