Even amongst the relatively small Rabbitmen, Lilia Adamantem would still be considered quite small. She was fifteen years old, but no one she came across would be kind enough to guess an age anywhere near that. The oldest anyone ever assumed she was, was eleven and that was after she scowled at them for saying she was eight years old.

The Rabbitmen weren't a long lived species so she couldn't look forward to catching up with her age anytime soon. She had essentially been alive half her expected lifespan. Rabbitmen living past fifty were so rare that it was considered a legend, those who made it to forty were well respected and looked to for guidance.

Be that as it may they didn't age like humans who would wrinkle and bend to the point of being nearly unrecognisable as they aged. It was because of this that many chose vocations that would allow them to live in a glorious fashion, seeing the world, meeting different kinds of people. This isn't to be confused with a flashy species – quite the contrary – because of their relatively short life spans they had a high self-preservation value.

What got Lilia thinking about this was the demon that greeted her as she walked in at a time that she considered early in the morning. Demons were immortal. Plus this one was already physically mature in every aspect that Lilia knew she would never reach. Lilia was unsure if demons were born or simply came into existence in some other way, but no matter how much she thought about it the one if front of her was so beautiful she could have only been sculpted.

Lilia waved away the scary thought of someone being able to create a demoness this powerful out of her head as she lowered her head in greeting alongside her companions.

"Good morning Albedo-sama. It seems you are an early riser. Have you decided on where you would like to start touring the city?"

"I don't know much about your country, so I will leave the choices for you to make."

"Then I know the perfect place to start! It's the most beautiful place in this city, even if I do say so myself!" Lilia froze at the unexpectedly joyful words that came out of her mouth.

She's used to playing people isn't she, she gets on my nerves! But ... she's perfect! If she weren't in the right hand of the Sorcerer King I would believe it if anyone told me that the last war was fought for her hand. But then again ... what she says is true, neither country has made contact until now. I should really stop overthinking things, it's bad for my health.

The place she was thinking of was the place where she had realised her life would no longer be meaningless.

She was only eight years old when she stumbled across the place by accident. It was completely rare for someone as young as her to have the expression she wore. What was painted across her face was a look of hopelessness.

"Mm? You don't look like you came here to kill me, rather you look like you came here to die. I'm not averse to eating you but I doubt it will be painless considering I'd most probably swallow you whole and alive, tiny one."

Lilia couldn't find the owner of the deep but gentle voice. All that stood ahead of her was a wall.

"I'm right here. I thought it was odd, someone coming all this way without even so much as a futile attempt to conceal themselves. I suppose you weren't looking for me after all?"

Lilia looked up. "Dragon?"

The shimmering dragon chuckled. Even with the small amount of light in this area the light seemed to bounce off of him so much so that Lilia thought he was producing the light himself.

"Would you be willing to listen?" Lilia asked forgiving him for calling her 'tiny'. She was well aware of it, having people remind her how insignificant she was hurt.

"Dragons aren't known their therapeutic disposition."

"Even if you listened to me talk until I died it would be nothing to you right?"

"It would take precious time off my sleep so I wouldn't allow you to do that. It would be faster to nap, you'd be dead by the time I woke up."

"Then if I offered to serve you, would you listen to your vassals ire?"

"No. Most of my vassals solve their own problems by themselves. I don't even know if they're alive."

"Doesn't that make you a useless leader?"

"I didn't ask them to serve me, I was just told I had servants under me when I agreed to a certain title." The dragon sighed. "Like you they simply opted to do it out of their own feelings, so I couldn't care less."

Lilia had tears in her eyes. "You're perfect! That means I can never disappoint you!"

"Well that's one way of putting it."

Lilia ignored the dragons words and began expositing her life story.

She was born into a family of assassins, due to her gentle disposition her parents encouraged her to seek a vocation elsewhere when she had shown interest in their trade at five. She had work hard too.

She learned how to blend in: with the shadows, into different societies, around people. She studied hard, learning critical strike points, how to read and write multiple languages and used her body to her advantage in practise situations. She would have been perfect considering it took her two years to fly through a three year course.

Of course that was until she learned that killing people meant seeing blood. If simply poisoning people was enough she would have made it far, but that required getting close enough to the target to have them ingest it. It wasn't anything like ambushing them in a dark alley in the darkness of night, unless you were willing to write elaborate plots to ensure things went without a hitch.

She had failed all five of her given missions because she couldn't stab her victim with a poisoned needle, never mind a knife. So she had been trying to look for a different career path for the past year, but never stuck around if she felt she disappointed her employer.

"I'll be honest with you, I really didn't need or want to hear that. Really. Besides what you sound like to me is a child throwing a tantrum. Life is full of disappointments and unexpected turns. Sometimes when given the option to die meaninglessly or live meaninglessly ... it's easier to choose the path with the least bloodshed."

The dragon seemed to start talking about something far away. Lilia was smart enough to know not to interrupt.

"I don't want to live meaninglessly! I want to know that I did my best and that someone will be proud of me! I want to be useful to someone who will ensure my life, but at the same time whose backing will ensure my happiness."

"You sound like a adult and a kid at the same time. If it means you'll get out of here take this." He said handing her a piece of his scale. "Then continue south, you'll find a country full of many different races, go to the capital tell them you are now in service of Omnaadsence Iculvus." He responded turning his head away from her.

"You'll take me on as a vassal just like that? Why?"

It wasn't as if Lilia suggested what she did because she thought she'd be accepted, everyone else had told her to go play with other children.

"It's the only way you'll leave right?"

"You could have killed me if I was being annoying."

"Not much sense in to doing so. You're too weak. I couldn't be bothered."

Just say you're lazy!

Lilia had used her earnings from the past year to make it here, now she was short on cash, well if she sold a certain item she would be well off for life but she wanted purpose and that item guaranteed it. Her parents were shocked to hear she was already ready to leave. It wasn't as if leaving home was bad, it was merely done at a slower pace compared to other fecund species, she had at least another year or two before they would have kicked her out.

It was then that she it, a beautiful sight that told her all she had know up until now would change. It was indeed beautiful.

Nabe was upset. If she was allowed to she would killed the fly that made her feel this way but that would cause an international incident, she didn't want to cause the Supreme One more trouble than she had in the past. Her entire morning was wasted on the sudden whims of an impudent click beetle, but this was taking it too far!

It had indicated that it would show them the most beautiful site in the city. Nabe was not expecting much but even this pushed her to her limits.

"Planarian, explain yourself."

"Isn't it beautiful?"

It seemed genuinely pleased with itself, if this had been a bad joke she would have a better time letting this go, but it was serious. The ant had driven them for over half the morning to show them a ... gate. It was the cities northern entrance, but it looked no different from the southern gate they had entered through three days ago, at least not to Nabe. Apparently the dung beetle had eaten something bad and was now seeing things – that was her only solace.

"For a maggot you certainly know how to waste people's time. You should pay for this sin with your life."

The water-flea was looking flustered.

"Haha, did you think this was it? ... No! ... This is only where the beauty begins ... you'll love the site I really intend to show you. Nabe-san, you need to lighten up a bit."

It had better show them something otherwise ... well she couldn't do anything. Yet.

I'll admit that in my initial planning I didn't plan on having this as an individual chapter, it was going to be much shorter too. But I loved the idea of Lilia being a sort-of character with a sort-of backstory. Also, also, this chapter is still shorter than I said it will be so ... DOUBLE UPLOAD AGAIN! Your comments/reviews really help me, so please keep them coming.