yemalu

I managed to extract a promise from Lisa that she would explain everything to me when I go to visit her shop during the weekend.

Seriously, there were so many questions that I couldn\'t even think of where I should begin.

The most important thing I got from her was the fact that she was hiding her status as an Infrid and masquerading as a Mahun to fit in. She never asked me to keep that a secret but I have a feeling that this wasn\'t something she wanted to be broadcasted around in the first place.

Since that was the last class of the day, that meant school was over for me.

There seems to be the existence of clubs here as well but it looks like the recruitment for new members doesn\'t happen until later on to give the new students time to settle into their school life first.

That means the day has also ended for all of the first year students and everyone was on their way home including myself.

"She\'s the one?"

"Yeah… Gave out the challenge of using eight different kinds of magic… Who the hell can do that?"

"She\'s strong and pretty… She\'s really blessed by the Gods…"

"Big sister is so cool…"

"Shh… She\'ll hear you!"

The irony that this scene was practically a mirror of the one in my previous World was not lost on me.

There was one difference though…

"Sister Asteeeer!!" Odeta waved enthusiastically from the school gate.

Yeah… There\'s a close to six foot high twelve year old Amrap waiting for me at the school entrance to go home together, so that\'s a big difference from my previous World already!

I went up to her with a smile, "Hello Odeta, were you waiting for me?"

"Ahaha! How could I leave school without sister Aster? Of course I will wait for you!"

At least she\'s still full of energy after a whole day of school.

Walking side by side, we settled into a comfortable pace as we got on the road back towards her dorms while she told me about her day.

Apparently for her, most of her classes were centered around physical combat so she got to learn alongside aspiring Knights and Mercenaries.

"And they even taught us how to do this really cool spinny thing with the sword to get your opponent to lose their weapon!"

I giggled, "That\'s really cool~"

"Yeah! Oh! I just remembered. Could we visit your place today, Aster?"

I paused for a moment, "Eh? You want to go to my house?"

"Uh huh! I wanna see if that girlie is treating sister Aster right! If she isn\'t, then sister Aster can stay with me instead!"

Well… About that…

Actually you know what? Since I\'ve already told her about my status as a noble, I might as well just tell her everything already. No point in hiding all this anyway.

Then I might even get to ask her to move out of her dorms to stay with me instead. It wouldn\'t even be a problem with all the empty rooms we have on our side of the house.

"Alright, let\'s go then."

"Really?! Yayyy! Let\'s go!"

I redirected her from the path and guided the two of us towards the Noble\'s district, continuing our conversation from just now.

Right as we turned a corner however, Odeta suddenly pulled me back and pushed me against the wall on my back.

I looked up at her to see the Amrap leaning down towards me with her lips parted slightly.

Oh wow… Is she actually going for it? I mean… Our bodies are technically matured already but is this really alright? Because if it is I am totally down for it you know?

"Someone\'s following us…" She whispered in my ear.

Ah… Right… She did think that marriage was simply a group of people living together after all… There\'s no way she would think about those sorts of things now.

But we\'re being followed? Is it another group of assassins or something? Didn\'t Mary say that they had been taken care of? Could they be a new group after me?

I better prepare to use my magic just in case too.

I watched as Odeta turned to the corner and crossed her arms in front of her, right as a group of girls appeared there and ran straight into her.

"Why are you following us? You looking for sumthin\'?!" Odeta growled.

"Eeeek!! Sorry! We took a wrong turn!!" One of them screamed before running off, prompting the rest of them to run off as well.

Oh… So we were being followed by a bunch of girls from our school… But why?

Odeta scoffed at the retreating girls, "Hmph! They think they can try and find out where sister Aster lives so easily? Not on my watch!"

Eh? That\'s why they were following us? Weird reason but ok I guess?

Were they planning to harass me or something? I know there\'s always the possibility that they might be envious of me and use such methods to make themselves feel better.

But with Mary and Sebastian around, I don\'t think  they would get very far anyway. That is assuming they still dare to do something after knowing the family I\'m from I guess.

Odeta dusted her hands before grinning at me, "See? I can protect you, sister Aster! What do you think?"

I giggled, "Thank you, Odeta, I definitely feel safer now!"

"Ahaha! Leave it to me!"

She\'s so cute~

We continued on our way once more and I just had to ask, "How did you know we were being followed?"

"Eh? They were making so much noise and weren\'t even trying to hide so it was easy to know!"

I didn\'t even realise that at all… Or is this because she has that tracking skill that helped her spot them? I think that\'s a more possible reason.

Seems like a pretty useful skill to have, I wonder how do you get that? Maybe when I get the chance, I\'ll ask her to teach me.

But what does one have to do to get that skill? And how does it differ from the hunting skill? So many questions.

Soon enough, we arrived at the gates of my home.

Odeta looked up at the building in awe, "Ehhhh?! This is sister Aster\'s home?!"

"Umm… Yes?"

Wait… Did I tell her who my family is? Oh no… I didn\'t! How is she going to react now that she knows?!

"No wonder you didn\'t want me to come over yet! You must have been busy unpacking your things for such a big house, right? Ahaha!"

Huh?

Oh… If you think about it… It would be weird for an Amrap like her to even be familiar with Mahun culture right? Seeing that I know next to nothing about Amrap culture as well.

Her sister Ardi might know but it\'s probably safe to assume that she did not teach Odeta about our Nilm family before she came here.

There was a crack as one of the main entrance doors swung open, revealing Katsuki standing there to receive me.

I of course noticed how her face scowled for the briefest of moments when she saw Odeta before she schooled her face back to normal.

"Welcome home, Mistress. Would you like dinner, a bath or perhaps some sweets first?"

"SWEETS!" I cheered, already thrusting out my hands eagerly to wait for the sweets I knew would come.

Katsuki reached into her apron pocket and fished out a candy to pass it to me.

I unwrapped the candy eagerly before tossing it into my mouth, moaning out in pleasure when the sugary goodness washed over me.

Ahhhh~ It\'s sooooooo gooooood!!

The sweetness, the taste, the absolute ecstasy that came with it… It\'s perfect!!

"... --sense, I am doing no such thing."

"Hmph! You can say that all you like but I can see it clearly! Do you think I\'m dumb because of my muscles?!"

"I do not know what you are talking about. Besides, I know that you have done the same thing with Mistress as well."

"That is different! I was letting her try my village\'s specialties!"

"Then as an outsider, you have no right to say anything about what goes on here either. It is my duty to take care of Mistress\'s every need."

"Your \'duty\' huh? That just sounds like an excuse to me!"

Eh? When I finally came back to myself, I realised that Odeta and Katsuki were talking about something.

Hmm? What were they talking about? Were they debating about which sweet is better? In that case I can understand that is a very difficult question to answer considering that there are so many choices!

Oh! Maybe they are discussing what we should eat for dessert after dinner? That\'s always a hard choice too!

Katsuki was first to notice that I had finally recovered from my initial stupor.

"Ah Mistress, was the candy to your liking?"

I nodded vigorously, "Oh most definitely! The candies you make are always tasty, Katsuki!"

My maid flashed my schoolmate a smirk which I don\'t know the meaning of before bowing to me, "If Mistress does not mind, dinner is already prepared. Shall I also set aside a portion for… Miss Odeta?"

"Oh yes please! You\'re reliable as always!"

Again, she gave the Amrap a look which I\'m not sure why.

Oh whatever! I\'m looking forward to dessert!