Chapter 2: Yuki and The Lady in Black

The next morning it was sunny, I looked around for my master but he was nowhere in sight. I walked outside to see if he was there, but I was met with a beautiful view. Pure green grass, an easy-to-walk pathway, and trees that cast a shadow over the place with spots of light gleaming through. I began to yell "Master! Master this place looks so nice. Master!? M-mm-Master!?" I said begging to tear up. "Master King! Please come home." As I said that I saw him walking up the path, he said "I hear you, so quite crying already. I had an important errand to run and thought you would be asleep longer. I bought some food and clothes for you so that should make up for my absence."

He looked tired and had different clothes on today than yesterday. He was wearing a white cloak, his left sleeve all the way down, covering his arm, while the right had no sleeve at all, but a golden ring on his upper arm. He had a regular black shirt and pants underneath, and his hair was all types of colors, it looked like a rainbow, it was pushed back with one strand of red and purple in the front sticking up. "Here go and put these on he said."

I was handed a fresh pair of clothes, there was a white shirt, brown pants, and dark brown overalls. My eyes must have lit up "Thank you! I will take good care of them!" "Umm please use them, and wear them down, I will have to buy you more soon anyway since you will grow out of them" he replied. "Right!" I ran back to the cave and got changed. I rolled up the sleeves of my shirt and pants and fluffed up the front of my hair like my master had. I was able to get cleaned the night before due to my master's magic, and for the first time in my life, I felt clean.

"How do I look, master?"

"Looks great!"

"Now Kazuma, I have a question for you." He said.

"Yes, What is it?"

"I know you are a child, but I don't want to treat you as such. Do you know what it means to be a human?"

"I know humans are hated, but no I guess I don't."

"Humans cannot use magic. The thing that this world runs off of, the thing that exists in everyone. You cannot use, but I wish to train you to be a strong human who can survive in this world." He explained.

"I see," I said nervously.

"My real question for you, is do you wish to be stronger? Do you wish to live Kazuma?" He said with all seriousness.

"I DO!" I said with steeled nerves.

"Great then your training starts today. Go run from the start of the path to the entrance of this cave five times, by the time you're done dinner should be ready. And if anything happens start yelling for me."

"Right" I started running. The pathway was amazing to see and I was given permission to wander without fear of being attacked. But this run was a long one, it was about an hour there and back. On the path, I saw bugs; the trees came to an end and I saw a pure yellow, the lake nearby was glistening, and there was a straight path from the lake to a small village. The path ended about ten minutes before reaching the village, so I turned around and went back. This repeated five times. By the end, I was exhausted and starving. Master had dinner ready as I came back for the last time, and night had fallen upon us. "Kazuma, you keep eating, I need to go talk to a friend outside."

"Aye," I said chewing on the cooked fish. I looked out into the night and saw two silhouettes, one was a tall figure with a massive hat, and the other seemed to be a young child standing by her. I couldn't hear anything from where I was though. The conversation ended quickly, and Master came back with a young girl by his side. She was in a black dress, with beautiful purple eyes and white hair that was in a braid. She had a small black and white hairpiece that matched the dress. I felt as though a commoner human had no right to see her. "This is my friend's daughter, Yuki, she will be staying with us for a while. Please treat her with kindness. Also, she doesn't speak much, so don't feel hurt if she doesn't respond to you. You too are the same age so you should get along. I am going to go finish my conversation."

"R-right, it's nice to meet you my name is Kazuma, it's nice to meet you," I said kind of blushing. All she did was nod. "Would you like to sit down and eat?" She did, she sat down next to me and awkwardly tried to reach for a piece of fish from the fire. "Ah, it's probably too hot for you to just grab huh? Here." I grabbed one and blew on it, then handed it to her." She bit into it and started to blow in her mouth to cool down the fish some more. It was a funny moment to see, but I held back from laughing, "do you like it?" I asked. Again all she did was nod. "I see, I am glad then."

I let the mood get awkward, between us. Crap master, when are you coming back!?

"Hello, sorry that took so long, how are you two doing?" Yes, thank God you're back. "We're good," I said. "I am glad to hear it, you two should get to bed soon." He said as he rolled over himself.

Eventually, the fire dwindled out, thankfully master had bought a blanket. Although he didn't account for there being two kids tonight he would have to take care of. So I let Yuki have the blanket, and I slept in a ball next to the campfire.

"You two look like a married couple, sleeping so close together like that."

According to my master when he woke up, Yuki and I were cuddled up together, with the blanket over both of us. My head was on her chest, and her arms were around me. That was the best sleep I had ever had.