Altair was pulled along through the Servants Quarters by the woman. She had a weird sensation of having gone through this kind of treatment before as a memory of her mother came to her mind. She had been playing with her older brother near a river and had fallen in. She had just gotten new clothes that day and her mother was furious with her for getting them soaking wet. She then dragged her away to have her father punish her.
Altair found her current situation oddly fitting to what happened to her before. The main difference was that the woman who was pulling her along was talking happily without a care in the world.
"We servants of the Marnithok family are really lucky you know. The Master and Mistress are very friendly and give us a lot of resources to make ourselves better. They even help us find suitable partners to live with and offer benefits to us when we have children. Of course, they accept our children into the family as well and, if they want to, they can serve the Master and Mistress too. So not only are we getting a good opportunity but our children are as also."
She stopped and turned abruptly to look at Altair with a gentle smile. She then continued, "That reminds me, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Noel of the Marnithok family."
Altair blinked but did not reply. Her sudden declaration of her name didn't really mean anything to her.
Noel didn't seem to mind as she started another barrage of words, "We were all told you're an orphan. So, what was the orphanage like? Where was it too? Was it sunny there like it is here? Or maybe…" She gasped exaggeratedly before she asked, "Are you an Off-Worlder?"
Altair didn't want to answer that. It was complicated and she didn't have the vocabulary skills to explain it. It would probably take far too long to do so. She also wasn't sure if 'Off-Worlder' was an insult or not.
Before Altair could answer, as if she wasn't actually expecting a response, Noel continued to ramble on, "Anyway, you should be careful about the Young Master's temper." She started counting off with her fingers while saying, "He's still a child and doesn't have much restraint. Even though he has the best education he can get there are still some problems with his ability to think things through for how old he is. However, he is very strong and talented with his Spiritual Self for his age."
She gave Altair a knowing look, "But I'm sure you already noticed that, right? He's going to be amazing in the future. Can you believe it? He's already a second stage Warrior!" Noel was practically shouting that out with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, "He's only nine and he's a second stage Warrior!"
Altair's only response was a blank stare. She had no idea what she was talking about. 'Spiritual Self? Warrior? Isn't he just using Mana to reinforce his body? He's talented to be able to do that so young but to call him a warrior with only that much Magic Strengthening is a joke.'
While not everything was known about how exactly Mana was used with Magic, it was commonly believed that the total amount of Mana one person had would have a massive impact on how strong someone's Magic was.
Seeing the look of disdain on Altair's face caused Noel to think she had failed to get her point across. She quickly continued her one-sided conversation, "Ah, I seem to have failed somewhere." He put her hand to her chin and made a big show of thinking for a few moments before she suddenly remembered something. "That's right! You were raised in an orphanage so they probably didn't teach you any of this! Those jerks, skimping so much on a children's future."
Noel sighed lightly before explaining, "A person's Spiritual Self is how they connect with the power of their soul. Depending on the tier they get to effects how much Spiritual Energy they can use. There are seven tiers a person can reach and the Warrior tier is the second tier. For the Young Master to have gotten to the second tier already is an amazing achievement you know! You shouldn't hold what he did to you against him. It won't be in your best interest if you do."
Altair's brows furrowed at the information she just received. She didn't know that the Gods had a different type of power. This was important information for Altair. She had originally thought that they used Mana but if they used something else then she would need to change how she approached them. 'Is that how Donel is able to use Invisibility Magic?... If I can use this type of power, then wouldn't I be able to teach the others and turn the war around?' She had to learn more about this Spiritual Self and Spiritual Energy before she left. She had suddenly found a reason to postpone her escape.
But if that little twerp showed up again then she would… consider if it was worth it to skin him alive.
"You know, since you appear to be around the Young Master's age it's likely that the Master adopted you to serve as either his private servant or bodyguard. But since he's so strong already, I assume you'll end up as his private servant."
Altair's mood hit rock bottom with Noel's words. If it came to that she would rather run than stick around. Even if she lost out on the opportunity to learn about this Spiritual Self stuff as a result, she would rather be free than chained to such a Human-like God.
"So-"
"Noel!" A female's voice interrupted Noel from behind her. "This is where you've been?!"
Noel turned around while also moving slightly to the side to let Altair see the woman who was approaching. She had long, blue wavy hair, a beautiful face and a full figure. She was wearing the same clothes as Noel but the impression of her being a beautiful servant was ruined by the stern expression she had.
"Why haven't you gone to the lounge yet? We won't be able to finish in time if you don't hurry up!"
Noel scratched her head while laughing lightly. "Sorry Stacey, I got distracted by the trainee here." She motioned towards Altair next to her, which caused Stacey to just realize that Altair was with Noel.
Stacey's eyes widened slightly at the sight of Altair. She quickly examined her with the eyes of a predator and her facial expression twitched repeatedly as she tried to maintain her stern look.
Altair recognized that gaze from her. It was the same kind of look the doctor's on the Starship had given her. She felt a chill run down her spine in response to it. She took an involuntary step backward under the intense look that Stacey was giving her.
"S-So, that's the trainee?" She said while struggling to keep a straight face. "I can understand why you are taking so long, but we still don't have much time. The Mistress will severely punish us if we don't get this done on time." A dangerous glint flashed through her eyes when she turned back to Altair and said, "You should go on ahead. I'll look after the trainee for a little while before I come."
Altair suddenly felt that her best option was to stick to Noel, who could talk a fish into walking on land and breathing air, than stay with this Stacey person alone. So, she quickly threw her hand out and grabbed Noel's skirt with determination, stating her opinion on her Stacey's words with her action.
At the same time, the strange madness in Stacey's eyes seemed to deepen from her action. Altair couldn't understand it and attempted to grip Noel's skirt hard enough to dig into her fists, but her grip wasn't what it used to be. She only looked like a cute little sister to Noel by comparison.
Noel didn't seem to notice Altair's desperation, "Well, I suppose we can do that. I originally wanted to bring her along for observation anyway and to introduce her to the others but I guess it can wait."
Hearing Noel's words, a new idea came to Stacey's mind instead. She gulped hard before hesitantly saying, "That's a good idea, Noel. Let's do that. Come along now," she immediately reached out for Altair's free hand with her own. It was like she couldn't wait to grab hold of Altair.
The sudden movement caught Altair off guard but she quickly recovered and attempted to hide behind Noel's skirt.
She failed however. Her reaction time was too slow and Noel's skirt was too far. She was outmatched by Stacey's quick assault.
Stacey was quick to snatch Altair's other hand in her own and her lip twitched upon catching it.
Noel saw the movement and she had her own ridiculous idea pop into her head. She quickly reached out and grabbed Altair's other hand while brightly stating, "With us looking like this, aren't we like sisters?" She got a distant look in her eye for a brief moment when she added, "I always wanted a little sister."
Stacey fake coughed awkwardly before she said, "We should hurry. The others will only forgive us if we can bring our new junior along, I'm sure." She didn't have any proof of that but she had already felt that Altair's cuteness in her servant's clothes was high.
She wondered what other outfits she could put Altair into before she grew too big for them. Maybe she could dress her as a certain heroine from Miracle Dancing Magical Girl Arneli Arnessa. She was about the right height and age. She was sure she would look absolutely adorable in it. She just needed to check her measurements in case her eyes were deceiving her, then she could order the costume. From there, she would have to get her alone in her room and…
Altair was practically dragged through the hallway between the two women. She wondered if Donel had planned this out so well. She had originally thought that Noel was going to take her to receive her punishment. Then she heard Noel talk and quickly assumed that it was Noel's mouth that constantly spewed a string of mostly gibberish to her. However, with the sudden appearance of Stacey she felt that it was a combination of Noel, Stacey, and whoever they were taking her to see.
She really didn't want to meet the others if they were like these two.