Pretend you saw nothing.

Closing the carriage window, you push the entire incident out of your mind. You didn't see anything. There was no terrifying guy named Varrick calling you out in his status screen. Nope. You were just staring out the window. Not your problem. You're not going to look for trouble from now on, and God's eye is banned now outside of people trying to actively kill you. An hour passes by before the carriage slows to a halt, the driver opening the door for you all as you arrive at your destination.

"Welcome to Kolderim Estate. Please, do feel free to make yourselves comfortable." He says as you look outside to see a massive mansion with a plot of land vaster than anything you'd seen on earth or in your new world. The design of the home was strange, being constructed of pure marble as though somebody had carved it from a single massive stone mountain. It had a domed shape roof encircling it while every door was a vast archway, focusing more on aesthetic than utility. Somehow, there was a vast garden of flowers blooming in front of the estate despite the falling snow, nature itself deciding to avoid defiling such a work of art. Standing vigil at the door is a masterfully sculpted statue of a knight holding a blade upwards in triumph, his armor identical to the knight that had so graciously removed Alka from your life. Standing in a neat line outside is a seemingly unending line of maids and butlers bowing at the waist, each of them clad in identical attire and moving in unison. Standing at the front of the mansion is Mathias, the silver knight still carrying Alka in a princess carry as he sucks in a superhuman amount of air.

"Hail heroes! Our banquet shall be held tonight now that you have arrived! Refresh yourselves, and we shall celebrate your triumphant return!" He declares, his voice more raspy thanks to Alka **** him out earlier. The Amazonian had now given up entirely on trying to silence her lover, and was focused on hiding her face to conceal her shame. "Harvin shall show you to your rooms! I bid you all adieu!" He bellows as you look to the long row of maids and butlers, wondering which one was Harvin.

"Ah. Good to see you Harvin. How's the arthritis?" Tomoko says as you look around, searching for whoever she was referring to.

"The winter is a harsh mistress, but I shall prevail. Thank you for asking, Ms. Sakurai." An aged voice behind you said as you yelped, turning around to find a tall, elderly man clad in the black suit of a butler. He had a stern face and was thinner as a stick, being nothing more than sagging skin and and bones. You can swear the man isn't breathing or blinking, his appearance closer to an illusion than a man. That thought is amplified tenfold as you look down to find that there were no tracks leading to his position. He just appeared behind you like a ghost. You almost want to use god's eye to find out just what his skills or stats were, but the trauma from earlier still haunted you.

"Do you need any prayers or potions Harvin?" Elmeria asks as the elderly man cracks a smile at the offer.

"Dear me, how generous for the youth to tend to this old man, but I must decline." He says while walking forward, his footsteps dead silent as you walk to the estate. You track several flakes of snow onto the estate's cobblestone path, only to see the ice flakes slowly crawl away from the estate, proof that this estate was held together by magic rather than brilliant engineering. "Please follow me to your rooms. The banquet shall begin in the evening. We've prepared outfits for everyone to wear. Please, if there are any issues, we have many talented tailors on site." He says as Tomoko looks to the entire party.

"Ruya, Verdi, you guys can skip tonight's banquet. Neither of you look that good. Citrinas, you don't have to come if you don't want to." She says as Citrinas nods in confirmation.

"Then I won't come." She says as Tomoko clenches her fist, wincing at the answer as she looks away. You want to speak up to explain to Citrinas why she was rude, but you also don't want to risk being dragged into a room filled with heroes. Tomoko and Elmeria's voices already hurt like hell. An entire room like that would probably turn you into a smoking crater.

"Citrinas, are you sure you-" Elmeria says, only for Tomoko to stop her.

"It's fine." She says, her smile **** as Ruya looks sadly at her.

"Sorry I can't come." She mumbles, the buffs poured on her by Elmeria wearing off as her nausea returned with a vengeance.

"I'm going to bed." You say as the butler leads all of you into the mansion. As you enter, you can't help but notice how the entire estate is lit by a mix of lamps and magical lights, making it no dimmer than even a modern electric home. Leading the 5 of you to your own personal rooms, the butler places his hand over his heart as a salute as he clears his throat.

"Master Verdi, if you have anything you desire, please feel free to ask any servant to fulfill them. The master of the house has spared no expense in your comfort after your gift from earlier." He says as you nod, keeping that offer in mind as you mentally cheer. Finally, something good in your life! You could spend the week lounging around in your room ordering fancy food and drinking fine wine. For once, your second life might be enjoyable instead of painful, traumatic, or outright sadistic!

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." You say as the butler nods and leaves, giving you privacy for the first time in weeks. Travelling by carriage was miserable to say the least, and you were happy to be free of your party members after so long. Not wanting to be bothered by Citrinas, you lock the door before hopping into the sheets, the plush mattress and the warm furs more than enough to restore your body temperature. As you snuggle underneath the blankets and prepare to just enjoy the sensation of being warm for the first time in weeks, a strange white light appears beneath you. The light forms a strange symbol as you leap away in a panic, only to find the sigil of light following underneath you. Without warning, it flies upwards, passing through you as you find your room replaced by another, better lit room.

"Gyaaaah!" You scream, flailing about as you fall down 10 feet, slamming into the ground with an audible THUD, your warm bed now a mere memory as you lie on the cold marble floor, twitching in pain. You thought your pain tolerance had reached a new threshold from weeks of constantly being burned by Tomoko and mauled by wild monsters, but it seems you still had a lot to go when it came to mental fortitude. You genuinely wanted to cry as you hear a familiar female voice cheering at your pain.

"Great! It worked!" Citrinas says next to you as you hop to your feet, still dazed by what just happened.

"What the!? Where am I!? How did I get here!?" You ask, looking around to find several flames floating around the room, illuminating it as Citrinas sits on the bed with a smug grin on her face.

"You're in my room. I summoned you with the familiar talisman." She says, proud of her accomplishment. You hear a frantic knock as the two of you look towards the door.

"Ms. Citrinas? We heard a woman screaming and came as fast as we could. Is everything okay?" A guard shouted as your face tightens. Woman screaming? The only person screaming was you.

"Woman screaming!? I'll show you a-mph!" You say, only for Citrinas to cover your mouth with her hand.

"It's fine! Ignore me! Just chatting with my friend!" She answered as the guard walked away, continuing to patrol the halls of the mansion. Once the guard had left earshot, she looked to you.

"Alright. If I let you go, will you calm down?" She asked quietly.

"Mph!" You snap angrily at her. Taking that as a yes, she releases your mouth.

"Did you summon me just to see if you could?" You hiss angrily, the sensation of being summoned nothing short of disorienting.

"Well, yeah. Couldn't do it with everyone else around, and there's a lot of weird stuff about you. I half expected it to not work." Citrinas admitted as you scowled at her.

"I hope you're having fun making me miserable. A holy city where dark monsters are weakened and a city crawling with heroes? Where are we going next, a volcano? Maybe the desert?" You ask, hoping she said no to your suggestions. She did understand sarcasm, right? Right?

"I forgot Kolderia did that to monsters. My bad." Citrinas mumbles while looking away from you.

"I'm serious. The people here are terrifying. Especially Harvin." You exclaim, still remembering Varrick from earlier and looking around the room, half expecting that ghost Harvin to pop out from the shadows and stab you in the neck. For a half second, you actually see his face outside the window staring into the room.

"I... Forgot that it was the heroes summit too. Sorry." Citrinas mumbles as you prepare to yell at her some more. After seeing how guilty she looked, you take in a deep sigh to calm yourself. Yelling would get you nowhere, and alienating your lifeline is stupid.

"Can you give me a list of heroes that MIGHT be able to identify me so I at least know what to expect?" You ask as she rubs her chin, deep in thought as she tried to remember people she deemed to not be worthwhile. A lightbulb shines in her head as she snaps her fingers.

"The heroes of the hunt and justice are probably the most likely to catch you." She says as you nod, memorizing both of them.

"I understand how the hero of the hunt can catch me, but justice?" You ask.

"Anyone who has the god of justice's favor has the appraisal skill Blind Justice which lists any crimes a person has committed. If you've broken a law, you'll be branded guilty and be weakened by a huge margin." She explains as you think over your actions in the world. You haven't killed a single person, and you rarely did anything but complain. Hopefully you were in the clear for them.

"And their weaknesses?" You ask.

"Those who follow the God of Justice have to swear an oath to uphold the law, punish the guilty, and leave the innocent unharmed. If you haven't broken the law, then they will lose their patron God's aid if they harm you. This includes monsters." Citrinas says happily before snapping her fingers. "Right, I almost forgot. Most of Kolderia's guards have the God of Justice as their patron. Watch out." She says as you mull over the implications. Being a monster wasn't a **** sentence in itself, or else Ruya would be dead by now. You've done nothing illegal to your knowledge, so technically, you were innocent. Hopefully, you could use the guards as cannon fodder later you were ever identified as a monster.

"And the hero of the hunt?" You ask warily.

"The hero of the hunt is specialized for tracking and detecting monsters. They have some of the highest endurance and speed of any hero throughout history. Usually, they either kill their target or their target kills them." She says as you groan. Considering you had no offensive abilities, they'd probably kill you.

"And how do I avoid them?" You ask.

"You don't. Luckily for you, the goddess of the hunt demands their hunts be fair." Citrinas says, perking you up slightly.

"Fair how?" You ask, hungry for anything that would rig the odds in your favor.

"For strong prey, a formal declaration of a hunt must be declared, you must have a 5 minute head start to get away, and the hunter is not allowed to outnumber their prey. If a hunt is declared against prey weaker than the hero, then their blessings will be removed to make things fair. Furthermore, outside parties interfering with a hunt will be punished. They're simple laws really." Citrinas explains, surprisingly more knowledgeable than you thought.

"Who enforces the punishment?" You ask.

"Anyone interrupting a hunt will get a bounty placed on them." Citrinas explains.

"Surprisingly kind of her to have such nice rules against monsters." You note.

"She doesn't care about the war of light and dark, she just likes watching her worshippers fight." Citrinas answers as you memorize her information.

"Well, I'm going to bed. Thanks for talking with me, and don't summon me again." You warn as she waves you goodbye.

"I won't, I won't." She reassures, also yawning as you open the door and leave. Several servants stare at you leaving her chambers, mouths agape before looking away to continue readying themselves for the banquet. Suddenly, you feel a wave of violent pain as you hear chatter from across the manor, the numerous heroes' idle chatter enough to cause massive organ failure. You actually feel your heart stop for a brief moment, forcing you to grab the wall to support yourself. Limping forward, you grab at your room's doorknob, frantic to return to your room and hide.

Stuck. Oh right. You locked the door when you went in your room. Since Citrinas summoned you, it stayed locked. Preparing to call for a servant to help, you suddenly feel a hand grasp your shoulder.

"GYAAAH!" You yelp, turning around to find the aged butler, Harvin, standing behind you. He releases his grip on your shoulder and speaks, his voice as monotonous as ever.

"My apologies Master Verdi. I did not mean to startle you." Harvin said, his words doing little to alleviate your fear.

"I... I'm sorry for screaming." You mutter sheepishly. "I kind of locked myself out of my room. Can you help?" You ask as the butler reaches to the doorknob. His hands go blurry for a second, moving faster than you can register as he turns the doorknob.

"Apologies. I will investigate how the door locked on its own later." He says as you nod in thanks.

"Th-thanks..." You mumble, reaching for the doorknob. As you grab ahold of it, Harvin speaks.

"Master Verdi, are you free at this time?" He asks as you freeze in place, a strange aura filling the air as you try to avoid hyperventilating. You realize now that you missed having Citrinas within a stone's throw of you to protect you, and debate whether it was worth it to slink back to her room and hide under her covers until Harvin left you alone. No, he'd probably catch you before you made it 5 feet.

"I'm a bit tired, so I'd prefer to go to bed and avoid harassing anyone." You say while turning the doorknob. You see a blur go past your hands as you feel the doorknob jam, the lock engaging once more. You're now sweating, wondering just how the butler was able to engage the lock when your hand was covering the keyhole.

"Ah. Apologies. The door locked itself again." The butler says with a flat voice as the air around him grew thicker. "It seems the repairs will take some time. It's an old manor, my apologies." He says as you feel your blood run cold. Was everyone in this cursed city an overpowered monster!?

"I guess I am free now." You mumble while forcing yourself to look up at the man, unable to make eye contact with such a dangerous thing. "What did you need?"

"Master Kolderim wished to speak to you tonight. Alone." The butler said as you tremble ever so slightly, the reaction likely noticed by the aged servant. You dumped Alka on the guy to make sure he stayed away from you. Why would he abandon 200 pounds of Amazonian chocolate to talk to some hobo from the mountain? Then again, maybe that entire charade was a ploy. Maybe he was just as sharp as his butler, and knew of your true nature. You wanted Citrinas now.

"J-just me? Not my companions?" You stumble out.

"He was quite explicit in stating only you are to come." Harvin declared as you look to Citrinas' room, praying that she would go outside and save you from this mess. Sadly, no such thing happened, your savior busy sleeping the night away.

"I-I'm not sure you should let a commoner like me speak with someone like Captain Kolderim." You say, stumbling on your words as Harvin glared at you. "I could dishonor him. I don't know any manners. I don't want to be rude."

"My master does not judge others for their place in life, and he will not punish you for your lack of formal mannerisms." He says while making a cold smile, the air around him now **** for you to breathe. "Will you be joining him this evening?" He asks as you swallow nervously.