After dinner, Louise strongly “suggests” that Quinn should sleep in a spare room of the main house. Before Quinn can refuse, Albert places his hand on Quinn’s shoulder and shakes his head.

  “There’s no use trying to refute her.” Is what Quinn read through the action. With no objections, Louise takes Quinn to one of the many spare rooms she has.

  “Rest up. We have much to discuss tomorrow.”

  “Alright.” Louise turns around and walks out, just as she is about to shut the door, Quinn catches her attention. “Hey, Louise?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Thank you.”

  “Hehe. You’re very welcome.” Louise smiles and gently closes the door.

  “What a crazy day,” Quinn says aloud. He is left alone in a spacious room. The room has only a lamp on the nightstand by the bed, turned on to cast light in the otherwise dark room, a large cabinet for his clothes, and a bed large enough for three adults. He gets up, walks over, and stares out the window. There are plenty of bright stars visible, but nothing is more visually appealing to Quinn than the two moons that light up the world at night. As a child, he would listen to his mother read while they stared up at the blue moons that orbited their world, Friasha.

  “Do I even deserve this?” Quinn feels conflicted. Does he have the right to enjoy such pleasantries? He was lucky to encounter friendly people who gave him enough food to fill his stomach, a warm bath, and a soft bed. All of it was more than he had had since he left home.

  He has been punishing himself since no one else could. Everyone who knew him believed he was dead, so he took it upon himself to ensure some form of justice was carried out.

  It is foolish. Not even his father, the reason Quinn is punishing himself, wanted him to suffer. Zeke said it himself; it isn’t Quinn’s fault. His final words were also a plea to a god or something like that, to protect Quinn. Yet Quinn still sought some form of retribution.

  Whether it was an accident or not, he became a monster and killed his father. He can’t get away with it that easily. There has to be a cost for Quinn to pay. This expedition may be a step toward his redemption. If he can save many people, he wouldn’t hate himself so much. At least that's what Quinn reasons.

  “Don’t worry, Dad, I’ll make sure this life is meaningful. I won’t let a single one of them die. I promise.” Quinn turns off the lamp and plops onto the bed, finally allowing himself a brief respite. His eyes grow heavier by the second, and before he knows it, he falls asleep.

  ***

  The next morning, Quinn is still asleep in bed. His body is exhausted after weeks of moving from place to place. At the time, he was living on an hour of sleep here and there. He didn’t have the luxury of letting his guard down. Day after day, he would encounter either monsters or bandits.

  Now that he is in a real bed, surrounded by the safety of walls, Quinn intends to take full advantage of it and catch up on the sleep he missed. Not even the three young-looking servants who came to wake him were successful. They tried knocking on the door, but after not hearing a response on the fifth attempt, they let themselves in.

  All of them are wearing uniforms typical of servants; the young redheaded man, who looks to be in his early twenties, stands at 179 cm tall and wears a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled back and black pants. He doesn’t have a big frame, but you can tell from a glance that he is fit. He has a defined face and muscles that show through his shirt.

  The other two are young women, who also appeared to be in their early twenties; they wear long maid outfits. One of the girls has her long black hair in a single braid down to her waist. She is 168 cm tall, with subtle curves and long legs. The other is shorter, at 163 cm. She has long green hair that reaches the middle of her back, a black headband, and thick rectangular glasses. Her long, fluffy outfit can’t hide her soft, voluptuous body.

  “Ah, you’re right. He is adorable.”

  “Isn’t he? I caught a glimpse of him during Louise’s dinner. He looked like a human doll,” says the maid with glasses.

  “Meh, I don’t see what’s so good about him,” the boy says begrudgingly.

  “Shhh. Don’t wake him just yet. I haven’t had my full yet.”

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  “Are you crazy? You need to fix that weird fetish of yours,” the black-haired maid rebuked.

  “What? It’s not a fetish! I just like cute things, and it’s not like I'm going to do anything while he’s asleep.”

  “Enough of this.” The boy pushes past the two girls.

  “Wait, what are you doing? No, stop.” The maid with glasses tries to stop him from waking Quinn, but the other maid is holding her back.

  “Lady Louise told me to wake him, so that’s what I’m going to do.” He reaches his hand out to wake Quinn, but as soon as he gets close, Quinn opens his eyes and swiftly leaps off the bed, landing on the far side of the room. The maids stare in awe. Even the boy can’t help but be impressed.

  “Who are you people?” Quinn takes a defensive stance. Quinn already had a sort of sixth sense that lets him sense incoming threats, and he could also vaguely feel people’s presence if he focuses. Now that his powers have grown, his sixth sense has also amplified. So when the boy closed the distance, Quinn immediately felt it and woke up.

  “Sorry to wake you like this. My name is Ellen, the boy is Eustas, and this one here is Phiona.” The braided maid explains as she lets go of Phiona.

  “Why are you in my room?” Quinn is still on guard, looking between the three intruders.

  “We tried knocking, but no matter how many times we did, you wouldn’t answer. So we came inside to help you get ready to meet with Lady Louise,” Eustas says.

  “Ah, right.” Quinn glances around and lowers his stance. He finally remembers where he was. “What time is it?”

  “Close to nap time. So around two o’clock,” Eustas responds.

  “Two o’clock?” It was close to midnight when Quinn fell asleep. All the built-up stress and exhaustion took fourteen hours to wash away. Now that I realize, my body feels lighter than before. Quinn thinks to himself as he feels invigorated.

  “That’s right. Louise is waiting for you in her study. Now let’s quickly get you changed so you can have your meeting.” Phiona has a strange look in her eyes as she creeps towards Quinn.

  “Oh no. Ellen quick, the pervert’s lost it again.” On command, Ellen once again locks down Phiona.

  “Pervert? My intentions are pure. I just want to put Quinn in different clothes and admire him.” Phiona flails her arms and legs, but no matter how much she struggles, she cannot break free from Ellen’s grasp.

  Quinn just stands there, dumbfounded; he doesn’t know which is stranger. One of the supposed personal maids of Louise, thrashing around, intent on turning Quinn into a plaything she can dress however she wants. Or the girl holding Phiona, dragging her out of the room without so much as breaking a sweat.

  “Sorry about that. It’s best to ignore her when she gets like this.”

  “Does this happen often?”

  “Aha,” Eustas lets out a nervous laugh. “Only when she sees something she finds cute.”

  “...”

  “Ahem. Anyway, it’s true that Lady Louise is expecting you, so if you would follow me when you’re finished getting ready, I can take you-” Quinn’s stomach interrupts Eustas.

  “...”

  “...”

  -Grumble

  Quinn’s stomach gets louder.

  “I will inform Lady Louise that you will meet with her after lunch. Go ahead and shower. I’ll set out a fresh pair of clothes outside the bath for you to change into. We’ll go to the kitchen afterward.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Move it along. I won’t get a chance to nap if you keep dilly-dallying.” Eustas exits the room, leaving Quinn to his thoughts and a loud stomach.

  “What the hell just happened?” Quinn tries to make sense of the chaotic morning. Lady Louise was hard to deal with, but the servants were an entirely different hurdle.

  ***

  Quinn finishes his bath, and just as promised, different clothes are laid out for him. They are a teal shirt and black pants. A pair of boots sits to the side, and a cloak, similar to the one Quinn had worn into the city, hangs on the coat rack. This one is silver and has no holes.

  Eustas arrives shortly after Quinn gets dressed. The two head to the kitchen. Unlike the other two servants Quinn met that day, Eustas seems “normal,” almost to the point that it is hard to see him as a servant of a prestigious family. He doesn’t have a formal manner of speaking, nor does he act any differently than an ordinary boy. The only things that mark him as a servant are his clothes and the fact that he is forced to address Louise as Lady Louise.

  Quinn and Eustas make it to the kitchen, but when Eustas opens the door, Phiona, who was headed out of the kitchen holding a big plate of chocolate cake, crashes into him, smearing his white shirt.

  “...”

  “Wait, this wasn’t my fault this time.” Phiona frantically tries to claim innocence.

  “...”

  “As a matter of fact, you were the one who barged in here without so much as a word. And that was the last piece of cake, too. Do you know how expensive it was? Now I have to wait for Louise to buy me another one.” The chiefs and other kitchen workers set everything aside and leisurely leave, seemingly knowing what comes next.

  “...”

  “Uh-oh. Quinn, get back!” Phiona warns as Eustas trembles, growing redder and redder.

  “Huh?”

  “You-you idiotic, mischievous, perverted!” Quinn quickly steps back just as wild flames erupt from Eustas’s body, raising the temperature several degrees.

  I take it back. No one in this place is normal.