Looking at the latest dice in my hand I couldn't help but grin. Even if my life has turned upside down I'm a few steps towards a new, improved life. Rolling the dice I got earlier it landed on a small 3, but I can't really complain.

After taking the instructions from Lucretia I couldn't help but frown inside. At my current abilities I will keep messing up or severely underperform. I doubt she will put up with a mess up of a butler whose only worth is unskilled labor. With a sigh I decided to use some of the gathered dice to improve myself before I started working.

"X, I need to become better at the tasks set out for me. How do I do that?"

'Well, you can ask me to improve your abilities or attributes, or even get a specialty in cleaning?'

'It's up to you. The way you can do that is the same as you did right now, just ask me to improve something about yourself.'

So not only I need X to gain more dice, but I need him to improve my abilities? Good to know that now.

Taking a look at my 'character sheet' I knew what I need to do right now. With a deep breath I asked X to improve myself.

Dexterity 2 - 3: 8xp

Dexterity 3 - 4: 12xp

Craft 0 - 1: 3xp

Craft 1 - 2: 2xp

Craft 2 - 3: 4xp

(Wood, Water, Earth)

Temperance 1 - 2: 3xp

Just as I asked for those traits to rise something inside me changed, knowledge pouring inside my head on how to perform several kinds of abilities and tasks. Somehow I was aware that my expertise went further ahead than simple tasks like 'cooking' or 'distilling poisons' or 'tending the garden' or even 'cleaning'.

"What was that X?"

'Didn't you know? Those abilities have a wider application than simple skills. Things like oratory or dancing or cooking, but your default character sheet has those wider abilities that are all encompassing.'

'It does give you the illusion about sucking at everything for the average person, however.'

That… sort of makes sense. So I went from a form that gave me 'skills' and now I use 'abilities' instead, which are much better in the long run. Considering I can still buy specialties, that's not bad, not bad at all.

With that in mind, I started to walk back to the house, ready to put my first step on my new life.

~~O~~

Getting back to the house I found it empty save for a single piece of paper.

'Hi Ryuan, I'm sorry I had to go without telling you but I had an emergency to solve. Anyway you can start by cleaning the house until I'm back. Alongside this note there's a uniform I believe will fit you perfectly. You should wear it while cleaning the house. Stay away from my personal library! It's the only locked room anyway.

Ciao!

Lucretia Zola, your new m- employer'

Looking down I saw my new uniform which included a white shirt, cufflinks, white gloves, a butler's tie and more. Thinking on the irony of wishing for more agency while preparing to dress like a servant I went ahead to change and perform my duties.

It took me a good three hours to completely clean everything, but my new patience helped me concentrate myself on my task without distractions. Looking back while cleaning I had also found another note.

'Why don't you try and prepare dinner afterwards? The fridge is stocked and you can make anything you wish. If you do well I might employ you as a cook too.'

Looking around I found a few high quality ingredients so I decided to prepare a chicken with potatoes in the oven, preparing some stewed vegetables, rice and black beans. Setting myself to work I started chopping and peeling the potatoes, cutting the chicken into smaller parts and preparing the right seasonings.

She didn't have the specific seasoning I'm used but she had something close. Combining it with a few dry herbs I found inside the pantry I managed to make something good enough.

I was cleaning everything when the door of her house opened and I saw a very tired Lucretia coming in. "What smells nice?" She asks while flopping herself on the couch.

"Dinner, just something simple for today."

"Aw, anything at this point will feel like a feast. Those old, crazy bastards are playing with fire and have the guts to demand me, ME out of all people, to act like an immature apprentice and toy with power beyond mortal understanding."

"I wonder where that came from," I deadpanned, looking at the woman sprawled on the couch in the most undignified manner possible, a glass of wine at the feet of the furniture and her drinking directly from the bottle.

"Shush you, and weren't you preparing dinner?" Nodding back at her I went towards the kitchen, and noting that it was already done. I almost yelled for her to come, but instead turned back to tell her. Just as I did that she was already turned upside down on the couch, the first wine bottle at the feet of the couch and a second one being downed at incredible speed.

"Dinner's ready." She woke up lazily from the ground and went to the table to eat, sniffing the food first. Taking a fork she took a few bites of everything before starting to eat at a more rapid pace, giving me a thumbs up at the end.

"Nice job!" She said while my face reddened.

"I was inspired today, I doubt I can repeat this quality of food often."

"Even if it's once in a while it's better than nothing," she said with a wink. "Say, do you drive?"

"... no, I never went for a license."

Tapping the side of her lip, she frowned. "You will need to go to the city for groceries and any small tasks I hand you. Oh well, it can wait until I make you some fake ID."

I blinked at her choice of words. "You can do that?"

"The perks of being the 'strongest witch on earth' is that I know which people to go to and how much arm twisting I can get away with."

"Hah…"

"Anyway, the cleaning was also done to an acceptable degree so I can say your trial time is done. Congratulations on your new job!"

"Uh, thanks? I just hope I can repay you for your kindness eventually."

"Oh, don't you worry." She said with a sultry tone. "There will be plenty of time for you to repay me~"

Looking left and right I coughed a bit. "Uhn well, if you don't need me I will be off." With that I boldly retreated to the safety of the kitchen.

What manner of trouble I put myself into?

~~O~~

The next few days were hectic for me considering I had to juggle questing with my duties at the house. I also felt that X was being rather stingy with his quests, giving between one and two quests per day at a low dice rate.

For example the first day after being employed I had to 'clean everything with only my left hand before Lucretia came back'. I put my everything and all my focus on this quest since it was one with an incredible three dice reward.

At the end of the day I was panting with exertion in order to perform the task to an acceptable degree, by Lucretia's standards, and getting three new dice that day.

This was the 'toughest' quest so far, with the rest being simple shores or small pranks, like stealing one of my employer's bras (a misplaced laundry took care to avoid any misunderstandings) or leaving the toilet seat open after using it three times consecutively. All in all I managed to get ten dice this week, which I rolled immediately after acquiring them and getting a total of 35 dice points.

In total an average roll, leaving me thinking on what to improve next. Considering the nature of my abilities and the dependency on X for quests and dice, the chance of me avoiding direct violent conflict is next to none. Either by my quest involving violence in some manner or by being in the wrong place at the wrong time due to questing.

Sighing I also pondered my other dilemma, namely telling Lucretia about the dice. Considering she's a 'witch' it's possible she can help me determine what they are made of and what I'm actually made of as well. One part of me wanted to ask her but another, more vile, part wanted to keep the secret of X and the dice away from anyone else a little longer.

After all it's stupidly easy to become a dicer. According to X all it takes is to roll a blue, unclaimed, die and X will congratulate his new player (I suppose he congratulates those without cellphones eventually). I wanted to guard that information for myself for as long as I could, partly to protect myself.

I wonder how strong I must become before escaping those traitorous thoughts, or how much more smart I need to be to properly think things through and not fall in those old pitfalls.

~~O~~

Perception 1 - 2: 4xp

Perception 2 - 3: 8xp

Wits 2 - 3: 8xp

Martial Arts 0 - 1: 3xp

Martial Arts 1 - 2: 2xp

Linguistics 0 - 1: 3xp

(Romantic)

Ride 0 - 1: 3xp

Socialize 0 - 1: 3xp

I decided to spend some of the points accumulated this week on abilities and attributes I found useful for now, before going down to continue my duties at the house. No rest for the wicked I'm afraid.

As I descended the stairs from 'my' room I saw Lucretia entertaining a few guests, her always present smile changing into a frown as the conversation went on.

"... Voban's influence is spreading once more. We need a Campione on our side that can be better controlled, or at least have his head straight! Black Prince Alec won't move unless Lord Voban steps on his toes and the less said about Lady Luo Hao the better."

Lucretia tone was ice cold in return. "And your wish to summon a Heretic God and hope one of your prepared knights kill it is any better?"

"We have some of the strongest Knights gathered, their power easily the highest in the world save the Campione themselves. Besides we wish to summon an Heretic God without martial legend to make things easier to handle."

"There's nothing easy about a Heretic God!"

The rage of my employer reached such a turning point that her face twisted to become a visage of pure wrath, making me fall down from the step I was on. I wasn't the only one affected however, the two other guests falling down from their seats.

It was too much to hope for them to ignore me by concentrating on their own reactions, but from the couch there's a plain view of the stairs where I was sprawled over. One of the guests, a man wearing a black set of formal wear, pointed at me. "Who are you? How long have you been listening?"

"Oh", Lucretia face's changed immediately to something more amiable. "he's just my new servant. He doesn't speak Italian..." At this remark she narrowed her eyes. "Do you?"

I gulped before averting my eyes, earning a long 'hmm~m' in reply. What a wonderful way to introduce my new abilities, and what an incredible idea it was to buy instant, all encompassing language understanding. Go me!

"Anyway, he already knows most of the details about some old fools asking me to toy with forces beyond mortal understanding."

Ah, that. With the mention of Heretic Gods, Campione and people 'less said about' I thought it was another problem involving forces beyond mortal understanding. Oh well, not really my problem.

Time to go back to work and all that shit. Ignoring the two guests that are likely too dumb to live because they were angering her, I went back to my duties without a second thought. I tuned out the conversation as I went to do the laundry of the day and after that I started cleaning proper.

It didn't last long since I could hear their conversation and was a bit curious as to what they were talking about. As I went through the house I could get bits and pieces of the conversation.

"... with the aid some of your grimoires it will become easier to perform this task. We can arrange to transport them to a secure location. We can also ask you to verify the authenticity of some artifacts..."

While asking for forgiveness I cleaned a bit of the floor, not minding the guests or my employer. With a quick look at her she just shrugged and put her feet up.

"My prized possessions are not for rent like a car! Besides..."

A pass and swish later I'm back trying to clear the furniture of dust.

"... please be reasonable." Pleaded the too-dumb-to-live guest. Doesn't he ever learn? Of course not, if he did he wouldn't be too-dumb-to-live.

"Stop listening in you uncouth plebian!"

What? The last one was a bit different. Turning around I saw one of the other guests right at my face glaring at me.

"Don't you see it's an important meeting? Or are you being an impertinent moron on purpose."

"... I'm sorry?" I said while looking at Lucretia, and again she just shrugged her shoulders. Looking back at the angry man I tried once more. "I won't do it again?"

"Damn you little-" he started, but was interrupted by the coughing of Lucretia.

"Sorry, he's new to the job and isn't properly trained as a butler yet, even if he usually perform his duties without problems."

"He's clearly not trained," he said dryly before looking back at my employer to get back at the conversation.

"I think the conversation is over," I said before I could properly think. "For a while you three have been rehashing the same arguments over and over, and L- mistress Lucretia clearly wants no part in your harebrained scheme."

Both men started to look angry, the one right in front of me starting to redden. "Harebrained…"

"What else would you call invoking a god in order to kill it and hoping everything will go according to plan? I'm not an expert in those matters, hell I only heard about the term Heretic God today and even I know this has disaster written all over it. It's such an absurd action that it's right next to making a plan that has step one: reach enlightenment."

"Now wait here," again he was interrupted by Lucretia with a polite cough.

"What my poor mannered servant is trying to say is that I grow tired of these incessant pleas of yours. Even considering your stations it should be considered a boon for you two to even come to my house and be listened to. Until you have a better course of action that doesn't involve making me being part of summoning a Heretic God, this discussion is over."

Both men opened their mouths to start to argue but she simply pointed her finger toward outside. "The exit is that way."

As they stood up to leave both men glared daggers towards me, hoping to curse me through gaze alone but fortunately staying away from the real deal. When both men were fully out of the vicinity of the residence, Lucretia started to laugh almost hysterically.

It took her a few minutes before she managed to let out everything from her system. I also waited right then and there as something, probably my often ignored survival instinct, told to not wander away until she's done talking with me.

"Ahh~ that was a good laugh. I wanted to tell them off like you did for a lo~ng time." With a few more breaths she was fully recollected. "Thanks for that."

"You're welcome," I said relaxing a little before her own posture straightened and I found myself becoming smaller under her gaze.

"But you shouldn't try to speak for me, using my authority as if it's yours when it clearly isn't. I am clear enough with that?" For an instant her eyes where blazing with literal fire, and I gulped and nodded.

"C-crystal."

She nodded before getting out. "I also want you to do something as your punishment. Please wait there." With this she went away to her room.

A few minutes later she came with a-

"Please tell me you're joking." I deadpanned.

"I am, and you are the punch line." She replied with a giggle.

In front of her, there was a full maid uniform roughly in my size, complete with that weird head piece. Just as I was about to object a message rang on my cellphone, making Lucretia's right eye twitch a bit. "Uh, just a moment please."

'Ask to use the undergarment too. Quest reward 2 dice.'

'Bonus Dice: Wear the undergarment for a full day. Bonus Reward: 2 dice.'

'Accept Quest? Y/N'

I had accepted the quest without thinking, again, and only afterwards I realized what I had done.

"... do you have undergarments to go with that?"

"As a matter of fact, I do."

Damn you X. Damn you to hell.

~~O~~

The latest quest only gave around 8 new dice points, which was quite the let down.

That was an awful day to say the least. The undergarments were uncomfortable and Lucretia spent a good deal of time teaching me certain 'proper attitudes' a maid should know. The worst part was that I took to the lessons rather well, my dice expenditure showing it's fruits.

Speaking of dice and X, Lucretia extended the maid uniform punishment to a full month since she'd caught me talking with my benefactor inside the boundaries of the house. The fact I couldn't control when he called didn't persuade her in the slightest. Then again, according to my character sheet my chances of persuading someone are abysmally low.

"Sorry X," I said at night while outside the house. "but if I keep the phone on inside the house I will be punished."

'But don't you want quests? I might give you quests at any time and if you can't perform them they count as automatic failures.'

'Don't you want dice?'

I took a deep breath before thinking things over. Certainly I want dice, but for now I'm a guest to Lucretia and I must abide by her rules at the moment. Still, the dice…

"I will see what I can do."

The next week X was even more stingy than the previous, giving me only half the dice as the week before, but still being 'nice' enough to grant me at least one quest when I went outside to ask him for some. While thanking him, I couldn't help but be suspicious of his compliance to the situation.

Out of those quests, the most memorable was to switch sugar with salt and vice-versa on the dinner I was about to prepare, with a bonus if the meal ended up edible. Carefully thinking things over I set to work, trying and testing flavors on the fly in hopes to not poison my employer.

The finished product was at an acceptable level if not nearly on par with my usual, but I gained a few points for the different taste I put forward that day.

Thus the first week of my punishment was rather unmemorable, granting me a total of 20 dice points, slight above average.

~~O~~

"I want you to go and buy groceries for the pantry." She pulled from her dress a set of keys. "I will most likely be away when you return so open the door yourself." Before I could take the keys she pulled back to herself, face and tone serious. "Protect those keys with your life."

I nodded, a shiver running down my spine. Somehow I didn't think she was being overly dramatic.

It was also a good thing I only mentioned to her my lack of license instead of inability to drive since she had gotten part of my new identification made with the driver's license, complete with photo (when did she take it?). It was also a good thing since I had bought the necessary ability with my dice.

While driving towards the city using a map provided by Lucretia I couldn't help but ponder the last thing she said to me, 'protect those keys with your life'. I shuddered at what it might imply, and I hoped against hope for her to be joking.

Knowing my luck she was dead serious, and I would have to deal with robbers or worse. Swallowing the lump forming inside my throat, I took the cellphone. I needed some form of insurance in case things went horribly wrong and I wanted to spend my dice toward those purposes anyway.

Dexterity 4 - 5: 16xp

Martial Arts 2 - 3: 4xp

Martial Arts - Unarmed 0 - 1: 3xp

Martial Arts - Unarmed 1 - 2: 3xp

That should do for now. Looking at my expenditure, however, I couldn't help but wish deep down that something extraordinary happened. Of course, I'm sure that wish will come back to haunt me very soon.

Damn it! I can't wish for a more exciting life and hope that nothing happens. Bad habits don't die easily, or perhaps I'm creating a new bad habit right now?

~~O~~

"It's been a while since we could talk X," I typed on the cellphone. It'd been two days since I discovered I could talk with him purely through messages, which was a more discreet if slower method to communicate.

'So it is. :/'

"Oh come on, are you still annoyed by me turning off the phone while inside Lucretia's house?"

'It's always the same with you players. :/'

'"Give me more quests X" or "can't you give me more dice X"'

'You never ask about the wishes of the GM.'

' :'( '

"I also remember you answering any questions I had about you with 'classified', 'secret' and the always wonderful 'you'd like to know, don't you '".

'Everybody's a critic.'

"Well, if you don't want to talk about yourself let's talk about me then, or more explicitly my limitations, if I have them and how do they work. I know I can buy specializations, but how does that work? Aside from a cap to the amount of points I can raise in an ability or attribute, what else is restricted?"

'There it is again! With you players it's always me, me, me!'

'But I'm going to answer because I'm a nice GM.'

'Praise me! Worship me! Dance for me!'

'Kidding! '

'Anyway you are restricted to four specializations for each ability, and considering that the abilities are all encompassing and already take into account your specialization it means that buying a specialization is a way to break the natural cap of your ability. I think that's a good enough trade off.'

Instinctively I knew he was right. As of now I felt like being one of the greatest martial artists in the world even if I was sure my potential could grow a little bit more when I truly reached mastery of the ability.

'As for the caps in your abilities they are there because otherwise your body wouldn't be able to take it.'

"Are there ways to break through those limits? After all it's where the blatant supernatural abilities come from, right? Being supernaturally good at martial arts or crafts, or is there a different system for that?"

'It depends. I'm not going to lie to you, breaking through those caps is a hell of tough job for you but the possibility exists.'

"I see. I wanted to ask something else, too. Can I use magic? If I can, what are the prerequisites for using it?"

'Now that would be telling :3 ! Besides, don't you have the strongest witch on earth to help you with magic?'

"I was thinking more about the 'occult' ability I have and that mysterious trait that apparently has no clear use but is listed anyway. Essence."

'Oh, you found that out. Bravo! You can read a piece of electronic paper!'

'ヽ(＾Д＾)ﾉ'

Cheeky bastard. "And what does it do?"

'Something rea~lly special.'

"It's my magical trait isn't it?" I deadpanned loudly this time. "Which appears to be locked, somehow. Why?"

'Way to spoil a surprise (- 3 -).'

'You could say it's your magical trait, and yes at the current time it's locked.'

'As for why, let me ask you something. Do you think everyone is made equal?'

What an odd question to ask. "Usually I would answer yes, but that's not right is it?"

'Yes, or perhaps maybe. If you're into religion and omnipotent/omniscient almighty god then an ant is as relevant as an elephant to this god.'

'But on a more base level people are different from each other, with various talents and flaws that make them unique.'

I nodded idly, knowing that full well. Some people were simply too 'gifted' with talent, looks and even stronger ideals or virtues, while others simply couldn't compare with them.

'Essence is one such ability. It takes a certain natural talent to be able to use it, though you can unlock your potential with decades of training on average.'

'That's the norm of course, but you dicers can cheat that rule.'

'Isn't it wonderful?'

"Yeah, yeah it is," I agreed with him. "There's something that doesn't add up however. When I want to improve myself with the dice I can sort of 'feel' my abilities and attributes and how much of the dice points accumulated I need to expend, even for abilities that I don't plan to buy yet. All except for Essence, why is that?"

'For Essence you need something a little different than normal dice.'

'A Special Die, if you will.'

'But that's talk for another day. You are still far too green to even hear about the Special Dice, let alone perform a quest to acquire one. Besides, aren't you supposed to buy groceries? Why are you sitting in the car right now?'

Looking at my borrowed watch I saw that X was right, and I did what I was dreading since arriving at the small city.

I got out of the car in my full maid outfit glory.

~~O~~

"Here's your change", said the woman at the cashier trying not to stare too much. I took the change and the groceries with a grunt before walking back to where I parked the car.

At first I was almost dying of embarrassment, but since the few people walking on the streets at this hour accepted my existence with elegance it wasn't nearly as bad, and when I say 'accepted with elegance' I mean they only pointed at me and whispered, some of them giving me looks of disgust while I walked.

I walked as if at any moment I would be arrested. Of what I'm not sure, but the fear was there, and I wasn't sure of what I was more embarrassed at the time, if it was my ridiculous outfit or the fact that taking even a single step outside felt like the hardest chore I had ever done before. I wanted to hide and never be seen again, until I reached an epitaph in my downward spiral.

Nobody knew me. I had no friends. No family. No history.

In a sense that liberated me to become more calm and help complete the task. I took a deep breath and started to walk while ignoring the other people on the street as if nothing mattered anymore, and in a sense that was close to the truth.

For me nothing mattered much anymore save perhaps...

I felt the cellphone in my pocket and remembered the dice I gathered. Yes, aside from dice few things in this world matter to me anymore. If I think things through this whole experience I'm having sounds more like I'm stuck in a coma after miraculously surviving the airplane crash or... I stopped and took another deep breath. Theorizing about the truth of my current circumstances these last few days always leads to unpleasant thoughts so I stopped before getting worse.

With the groceries in my arms I went back to the car when I received another message from X. Struggling with the groceries I pulled out the cellphone with my free hand to see what quest he would provide me.

'Provoke the two suspicious looking guys to a fight. Quest reward: 10 dice.'

'Bonus: Win the fight without taking any injury. Bonus reward: 5 dice.'

My mind immediately ground to a halt just before I would accept the quest, unlike how normally I would immediately take it without thinking.

What? Who? What suspicious people? Turning around I saw two shady looking guys at a darker corner on the street, nobody else fitting the description nearby. Gulping I looked at the quest for a while, thinking on all the dice I might gain, but my survival instinct kicked in right away.

What if those guys were armed, either with melee weapons or firearms? This quest is certainly more dangerous than the others, if only because the reward is better than I had seen in a while.

Thinking it through I couldn't just fight with the groceries on my person so I started to walk away without accepting or declining the quest before another call came from the phone. Another message from X.

'Aren't you going to accept that quest?'

'It gives a lot of dice and is simple in execution, you even get a lot of dice if you perform exceptionally well.'

'Oh! Maybe you're developing cold feet?'

"Shut up." I said while looking at the cellphone in front of me, and immediately I got another message.

'Oh my, you really are developing cold feet.'

'Boy this is pathetic. Shouldn't you be more concerned with dice like a proper player should?'

'Or are you afraid of the consequences of your actions?'

'Or are you scared to get hurt?'

'You big bad master martial artist.'

"Shut. Up." I said through gritted teeth with the groceries still in my hands. Pocketing the cellphone I restarted the walk towards my previous destination, placing the groceries into the car and sitting in the driver's seat.

Just as I did that another message came from X.

'Well, if you don't want to perform the quest then just decline it, don't hang up on me.'

'Though I wonder why you're so scared of a little scuffle.'

'Or perhaps you don't want anymore dice?'

'Are you already content with how you are? After just a few quests done?'

'You didn't even improve your appearance or intelligence to the max.'

'What a disappointment.'

'Perhaps giving you dice in the first place was a mistake.'

I gripped the cellphone in my hands, and I wished I could throw it away to shut up X, but I stayed my hand. He's right in a sense, I'm too scared to commit to a plan of action.

I want the dice, but I'm too scared to enter into conflict with those guys.

I want to go away, but the temptation of that many dice in one go is holding me up.

Didn't I want to change? Earn dice at all costs? Yet here I am unable to decide if I should risk it or run away. In a sense I knew that my ultimate response was to run away if I freeze like this, just like many times before.

Looking back at the phone, I scrolled up back to the quest prompt message.

"I guess you're right X, that's really pathetic." I said holding the cellphone in front of me. "And I want to stop being so pathetic."

I accepted the quest and promptly went outside to meet my destiny. It didn't take long for me to see the two suspicious men, and clenching my fist to steel my resolve I pointed in their direction.

"Hey you two!" I yelled, catching their attention. "Do you think it's funny? Do you think I'm funny?" I yelled while pointing at myself. "Do you think it's funny to see a grown man wearing a maid's outfit, do you?"

One of the guys turned to me, and as if looking at me for the first time they started laughing, loudly. I let them continue while closing the distance from them step by step, trying to look intimidating but clearly I was failing pretty hard at that task.

That's fine for now I just need them to be occupied for a little more, let them laugh some more at the dumbass wearing a dress. I managed to come close enough to hit them in the face if I dashed forwards. Maybe they also realized it too and looked back at me, their faces still holding some of the mirth. "Yeah, you look pretty damn funny you creepy fag."

"Come and say that to my face then you ass licking moron."

One of then calmly came towards me, getting within centimeters in my face. "You are. A funny looking. Creepy Fag." He said while lightly slapping my face without force.

That was my breaking point.

Twisting myself within the small space I had it was still good enough to land a solid and well placed kick, sending him stumbling a few paces back. The fight was on!

Taking the initiative I charged at the guy I had already beaten up, intending to keep up the pressure of my attacks. With a jump I landed my first kick into his diaphragm making him double over and with a backward twist I gave him a last attack to his jaw, which knocked him to the ground dizzy and gasping from my onslaught.

The other guy tried to take something from his coat, a glint of light showing it was a gun. He managed to shoot at me, hitting me in the shoulder and drawing a strangled scream of pain, but I had too much adrenaline in my body to stop. Ignoring the fallen thug I charged towards the guy with the gun, he brought it up to shoot once more, but I was faster than him this time. Once more my feet lashed out, this time striking his knee cap before going straight at his face. The attacks stunned him, his gun dropping from his grasp as his hands reflexively raised up to protect his face, leaving him complete unarmed.

The first thug I had knocked down was too badly wounded to be of much use, probably suffering a concussion from my kick to his head, as he tried to draw his own gun from an inner coat pocket. I had to defeat these two immediately. I followed that thought by charging at the one still standing as he turned to try and open some distance, or perhaps he was just running, but I performed a flying kick to his retreating back before a follow up snap kick slammed his head onto the pavement, instantly knocking him out cold.

The other thug finally managed to draw his own gun and shot in my direction but thankfully missed by several meters. In response I kicked his face hard, finishing him off. At this point a biting pain in my shoulder reminded me about it's status, but I was too high on adrenaline to care. I started walking back to the car in order to improvise some bandages and get the hell out of the city as quickly as I could.

Pocketing the dice that appeared to roll later, I hoped Lucretia won't mind too much about the new hole in the outfit she loaned me. My abilities I had raised from before already showed me several ways to wash the blood out, but sewing it back up would require access to materials I didn't have on hand.

Absently I thought that healing my bullet wound would be nice too.

~~O~~

*SLAP*

"OUCH! That was uncalled for!" I yelled as she slapped the wound after extracting the bullet with a spell. Nothing too fancy-looking but impressive nonetheless, a few words muttered silently and with her finger, which glowed with a dim light, she drew a circle around the wound. The bullet and bullet fragments fell from the wound exit.

"What in all the hells in the Underworld were you thinking?"

It didn't take much after I came inside for her to start probing me with questions, at first incredibly concerned about my well-being, but under her questioning I let things slip. Like the fact I had started the fight in the first place.

Under her inquiring gaze I felt the last shreds of my willpower melt away, so I confessed about starting the fight after hearing those thugs laughing at me.

That didn't go over well with her.

"I'm sorry." I answered back before she could come back from the kitchen. There was an awful smell coming from it and I hoped that whatever it was I wasn't going to have to clean it. It didn't take long for Lucretia to come back with a vial full of an awful-smelling concoction, which she crushed a few leaves into before the color of the, hopefully, medicine changed from a transparent collor to a reddish one.

"Drink in a single go", she commanded and I took the vial.

That THING tasted like, tasted like the worst drink I ever had, burning my throat while I swallowed it. "Couldn't this taste better?" I asked immediatelly after finishing swallowing it.

"It could, like it could hurt less when it heals you, but I figured that can be the punishment for you acting like a moron."

I was about to inquire about the 'hurt' part when suddenly my shoulder started burning, and I felt bones and muscles creaking and mending, a hot sensation burning at my skin. It felt horrible, the nerves around my shoulder and arm flaring all at once and locking my arm with pain.

Then suddenly as it came it was over, just a bit of ghost pain still lingering around the now sealed and healed wound. Now there was just a little, almost imperceptible dot as evidence of my foolishness, and I generally felt much better than before.

All would be perfect if it weren't for the glare she was sending me afterwards. "Now, explain yourself."

"I'm, I'm sorry?" I tried, which earned a frown, "I wasn't thinking when I started the fight. I just got so angry, I only wanted one thing at the time, to beat them up with my own hands."

She put her hand towards my face and involuntarily I flinched, before she pulled my ear hard. "I don't want to patch up a moron, so don't do this ever again, do you understand?"

"Crystal".

~~O~~

I had rolled the dice, getting a nice 34 points, while coming back to Lucretia's home and I managed to hide them inside my pockets. Finally able to catch my breath I placed the dice on the drawer, remembering I rolled average.

Looking at my 'character sheet' I found something odd on it. I'm not sure if I had intimancies before, but perhaps I simply didn't noticed them before.

Sighing I sprawled myself on the bed, remembering my situation.

I'm living on Lucretia's favor after surviving a plane crash on the ground. I'm currently in Italy without documents or money. Oh, and I will have to wear a maid uniform for three more weeks.

And magic is real, go figure.

I need a plan of action since I don't want to impose much more on Lucretia if I can help it. After burning a bit of goodwill with my foolish grab for dice I'm already on thin ice with her. I can stay for a bit longer, but after I get my documents I should try and get my own place.

My own place in the world, hopefully.

I wonder where I will go from now on.

Updated 22/8/2014