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I woke up to small hands clutching at my blankets.

What I really meant was that I woke up feeling cold, because apparently the blanket draped over me wasn't necessarily for the patient. It was meant to be pawed at, dragged towards and eventually stolen by my bedside nurses. They'd taken it upon themselves to each grab a corner of my blanket, smoosh it up into one giant rolled up pillow and lay their heads on it. Like students in a classroom on a hot summer day, Stole and Darwin lay with their heads on either side of my bed near my legs.

"Mmm…nyah…." Stole grumbled.

"N-n…Mmm…" Darwin replied to her from his side.

I took that moment to gather in my surroundings.

It was more luxurious than anything I'd ever been in. Period.

Perhaps a reminder is in order. When I first got to this world, I lived as a Slave in the Samak Desert, under the purview of the Samak Horde. Afterwards, I founded a small settlement in the slums of the one of the Free States of Jayu. Needless to say, the bedding wasn't great. Actually, I'd say the slums were worse than the slave encampment. At least the Samak Slave Barracks had proper bathrooms.

I usually camped during my expeditions, choosing to save costs on things like tents and outdoor equipment. In the game version, most tents had been separated into three separate grades; but here, the options were limitless. I slept in the hammock of the initial ships, then after those were destroyed, I slept in the group tents of the barges. Always swaying and rolling in the deep bellowing tides of the ocean.

It wasn't that I was a masochist or anything. Trust me, I was a trust fund baby for most of my life. Even after my parents' company went broke, I'd argue that any mattress in the 21st century was leagues ahead of the bedding technology available in MSS. I love a good mattress as much as the next person.

It's just that I never had real time to worry about bedding and neither did anyone else. Kyrian, Skaris and I spent our first week sleeping on the floor of the slums with a roof made up of planks. Not the thick lumber kind made for houses, but the kind made for crates. And you know what, I was fine with that. There was always something else to worry about. Cores, Gear, Levels, Survival…

But this bed made me rethink my life choices.

Even though the blanket only covered my feet (courtesy of Stole and Darwin), I could immediately tell how soft it was. Some kind of feathered, plush, cloud-like material with milky silk threads that made me wonder if it was enchanted with magic. It was only then that I realized I was lying on a mattress. The cursed thing had been so comfortable that I didn't even realize that I was lying on one. I thought I was… I thought I just was.

So my first thought was: 'Is this what every one spends their money on?'

And the next: 'How much does Jared Akka Xalud have in his coffers?'

Because I was pretty sure that no matter which room I visited in this manor, they'd all have the same bedding. And that no matter which manor I visited on Jared Akka Xalud's estate, I'd find the same layout, with the same number of rooms, the same decor and this same bed. The same dull green with flahes of bright orange, decor that reminded me of a forest or the jungle canopy. Identical in every way, just in different styles.

Just like an ant's nest.

That thought sobered me up.

Eventually, my thoughts went from bed to the immediate needs of my body. Taking stock of my body was like drawing a mental checklist and a human mannequin. Like a mental vision of a character sheet. It started with moving my toes, to my ankles, to my knees and so on.

I was in the middle of checking my fingers when there was a knock.

"...Ms. Stole, I just wanted to check in on-" The door opened halfway and Aurora stuck her head in. Her green eyes met mine, faintly surprised. "Mr. Lock, you're awake."

It was then and only then that Stole woke up.

"W-Wha! The hell! What's- Oh, Mister. You're awake." She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes with one hand while nudging Darwin with the other. It took her a couple of tries to get the large priest to wake up.

"Wuh-wuh." Darwin woke up, more startled than anything really. He saw me looking at him, let out a silent squeek and promptly ran to the door and left.

"Darwin, wait! You said you had something to tell Mister!" Stole called out after the young priest. She gave me a smile, showing canines. "He's the one who healed you up! He was really worried about you, you know! I'll go grab him!" Then ran out the door with more grace than Darwin had.

I couldn't suppress the sigh that escaped from my lips.

Aurora walked over, chasing Stole with a look that a mother might give her misbehaving daughter. She shook her head and set her stony gaze on me. "How're you feeling, Mr. Lock."

"Well enough," I lied.

I faintly remembered being disemboweled during the duel. I didn't dare look though, judging by the pain, I hadn't fully healed yet. My neck muscles were still stiff, no doubt from when Kariyo tried to give me a new hole to breathe from. Besides those two major pains, nothing else was out of the ordinary after a big battle. Which meant that every joint, muscle and tendon had were complaining about their aches.

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Aurora gave me a knowing look. "Darwin tried his best."

"I know." I muttered, taking another look of the room. But nothing else really caught my attention. "Was he the only one available?"

"No, the other priests refused to heal you."

I didn't answer her right away, thinking.

"...Mr. Lock?"

"Nothing." I waved my hand, as if doing so could dismiss the dark thoughts in my head. "It's nothing at all."

"It's not nothing." Aurora whispered. "Tell me what is on your mind."

Then she took a seat.

That wasn't like Aurora. Aurora was stoic. Calm even in face of death. But there was heat to the way she spoke just now, which wasn't like her at all. To be honest, I didn't feel like talking about it. But Aurora was my party's Shielder. And she was my comrade. We'd risked our lives for each other more than once.

I could talk to her. Yeah, I could talk to her any day.

She deserved at least that much truth from me.

"I expected some kind of fallout with Zenom's group, or better yet, the Church after the duel. I just didn't think it'd be this bad." I said.

"Please, explain."

"There are repercussions to victory. Especially because Jared set up a champion." I reached over to grab the blankets, feeling cold. Aurora did the favor of dragging them over to me and I nodded in thanks. "Everyone's afraid of what he's going to do. I'm assuming this is his Manor?"

"One of many." She confirmed.

"Who else is here?"

"In this Manor specifically? Zenom and Cecilia, the Bishop and his Shields. Delas, Borealis and Arione, plus their respective parties."

"What about the Sailors? The Dwarves and the others?"

"The Auxiliary forces were given a couple of manors. The Dwarves, Sailors and other supplementary forces have been sent to… adequate lodgings. Mostly Inns."

"...Why?"

"The official answer is that there were too many of them even for Jared Akka Xalud's estate."

"The real answer?"

Aurora hesitated.

I answered my own question. "He doesn't want non-humans in his precious little house."

Aurora looked away.

Suddenly, the bed felt very uncomfortable.

"Hmmm." Aurora hummed.

She sat perfectly straight with her hands folded in her lap. You'd expect that from a lady wearing a dress, but Aurora pulled it off even while armored. She was waiting for me to explain the rest of my thoughts.

"It's a power struggle," I shrugged, "The Church doesn't want to get on Jared's bad side. Hence, Cecilia or the Bishop probably went over to tell all the priests not to heal me. Probably didn't need much encouragement, no doubt they're too afraid to approach me anyways. They're going to wait to see what Jared's feelings are towards me before deciding what to do with me."

"Mmmm." Aurora mirrored her earlier hum.

"There isn't any more to tell, Aurora."

"You haven't inquired about the other adventurers, Mr. Lock." Aurora countered.

I frowned. "What is there to-"

I stopped.

Aurora wasn't this talkative. Nor was she so 'nosy' in my thoughts, for the lack of a better term. Now, I'm not saying Aurora is dumb or scarce of words. Actually, she talks quite a bit if you get her going. But this line of inquisitive questioning wasn't like her. Aurora wasn't the type who asked me for my thoughts a lot, mostly because we'd been traveling together for awhile now. She knew that if I had something to say, I'd say it. Especially when it pertained to my party.

This whole conversation wasn't like her in a lot of ways. Almost as if…

As if she was trying to teach me. Trying to make sure that I knew all the information I had to have.

I shuddered.

Two words flashed in my brain.

Turina Empire.

An Empire founded by Humans and for Humans. An Empire whose entire economy was fueled by the strength of its army, its expansionist-militaristic theorem grounded in human-supremacy which dated back to thousands of years. An empire founded on the strict hierarchy founded on the Three Great Houses –the foundation of the empire's power.

In Turina, power spoke. And there was no limit to the number of languages for power.

Military Might.

Wealth. Riches.

Influence.

And Politics.

I shivered once more.

The moment I was shuttled off to Akka Xalud's manor, I was seated at the Table.

And here I was, thinking about how comfortable this bed was when the poker game had already begun.

Stupid, stupid me.

"...Tell me who visited me."

"Clover Weinport, L'teya, Daughter of Agda, Maria Akka Xalud, Scarlet came together. Besides them, Borealis Vetilius came to ask for your well-being. Separate from him Dorocian Kojisan and Gurran Turinan visited on their own, also asking after you. The Wayfinder, Astelion Giantler also came by." Aurora counted off her fingers. "Those are just from the Expedition."

I stopped myself from asking after Doror and Fluporuin. No doubt, they wouldn't be allowed in even if they wanted to.

"Jared Akka Xalud has been sending messengers three times a day, breakfast, midday and supper. All asking that if you are awake, they were to escort you downstairs so that you could join him."

"I'm flattered." I said dryly.

Aurora's expression didn't change an inch but her tone hardened. "Mr. Lock, take this seriously."

Whoa. Aurora was… scary when she was mad.

"I… apologize."

She closed her eyes and gave a curt nod. "So far, you were unconscious. Though they were eager to check for themselves, Mr. Skaris made sure you were not disturbed."

Images of Skaris burning Kariyo's expensive armor to a crisp came to me. Damn, even my Aura had a tough time cutting through that thing. Skaris had turned the thing to ash in a single blow. No wonder people didn't want to step on his toes.

…If it came down to it…

'Skaris. Three to One.' Which meant he'd win three times out of four.

It made me feel both happy and sad. Kind of nostalgic.

"Has anyone else been joining them for these... meals?"

"Mr. Kyrian and I have been taking turns." Aurora answered.

Right. To keep a pulse on things for me.

"Thank you. How long have I been out?"

"A little over one day. Midday has just passed."

"Aurora?"

"Yes, Mr. Lock."

I wondered if I was stepping on a sore spot here. In my party, there were no Scions. Just Bastards. Kyrian Tricilan. Aurora Candrian Vetilian. The twice repeated 'an' suffix was a title given to bastards. I actually had no idea what bastards even were. Was everyone a bastard? Because there were definitely those with different mothers than were recognized as rightful heirs –giving them the title of Scion.

So what made a bastard a bastard?

I didn't even know the basics of the basics.

Whatever the reason, I had two of them in my party.

And it went without saying, there were scars that came with it.

Scars that could only be received from family.

So I ran through all my options before making sure this was not just the best choice, but my only choice. The last thing I wanted to do was open up old wounds.

I always talk about things I have to do and things that I can do.

…I wonder sometimes how much that attitude has influenced my party members.

Because this was something that Kyrian and Aurora definitely could do. But would they want to?

"I think I need help." I grabbed the blankets, taking them off of me. "I'm in over my head. Will you and Kyrian?..."

"Mr. Kyrian said you'd say that." Aurora reached out and gingerly took my hand, helping me to my feet. "He also said that, you are not as… you might not be as…"

"That I'm dumber than I think?"

"His words, not mine."

I smiled at her.

Aurora didn't quite smile back, but I like to think her eyes shimmered a little. She helped me take a step, leading me towards the dresser.

"One step at a time, Mr. Lock." Aurora said, "Let's try to survive supper first."

"Would he really do that? Kill me at supper? I haven't been awake a day yet."

"Mr. Lock. He's a former War Prince." Aurora gave me a deadpan look. "Back in Turina, it'd be considered disrespectful if he didn't try to kill you during supper."

"Really?"

"I'd avoid the soup."

"You're kidding, right?"

She didn't answer.

"...Aurora?"

…But I fucking love soup.

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