Awakenings

(Eris POV)

My name is Eris, the name my most beloved Master bestowed upon me.

Before I was known as Master's Eris, I was called by many names.

I had the damndest luck to be called 'Bait' for the short time I was captured by those blasted, stupid bandits!

My name was 'Laverna' to the Adventurers...

'Denna' had been this one's humble name when hitching a ride with the merchants, the same merchants that had the misfortune to be ambushed by bandits.

Even before that I had many other names, so many in fact that I've already forgotten the name I was given when I was born.

Simply put, this one is but a humble trickster.

Being abandoned from young, I learned my talent for trickery at the orphanage I was staying at, manipulating the people there to do what I wanted.

Changing personalities and expressions to appeal myself to the people I'm trying to manipulate became second nature to me.

An innocent, humble girl in front of caring adults. A confident and dominant girl in front of hapless, naive kids. A cold, unapproachable girl to the various irritating boys.

I left the orphanage when I was twelve...

A teary eye there and a batting of eyelashes here, most men would be bent around my little finger. A little sob tale here and a bit of gossip there, most women would take my side.

Of course I've still kept my own purity! No way in hell I'll give that away so simply! It's actually easy to manipulate most people without resorting to using that you know?

When the bandits ambushed the caravan, they had wanted to kill everyone there.

But this one managed to convince them otherwise by offering this one's humble service, luring potential targets to lower their guard to be ambushed.

The bandits thus decided to lock me up instead, opting to use me to bait out any other convoys or Adventurers that were passing by.

This damn joke continued for quite a while and a number of dumb dumbs fell for the silly trick, at least the stupid bandits treated me better for awhile. I'll still rip their heads off if given the chance though.

That was when a mole in the Adventurer's Guild informed the bandits that an Adventurer team had taken the quest to subjugate them.

I had thought it would be my chance to escape from them.

I was once again used to lure them to the stupid bandit's ambush where they were predictably slaughtered. While they were busy with the clueless Adventurers, I tried to make my escape only to run straight into a damned group of waiting bandits.

It seemed they had anticipated that I will run from the beginning, can't believe there's actually someone with brains there.

I was then locked inside the cell without food as the price for my mistake.

That was when my most kind Master came to rescue me.

To think I had only saw him as another target to fool for my own ends back then.

How deplorable of me...

I am infinitely grateful for my fellow sisters who have shown me the error of my thinking and awaken me to my true selves.

My meeting with Master was fated to be, my rightful place is at his side for eternity.

Ain't no way I'm leaving Master! I'm not gonna let Master go!

I will remain by Master's side forever...

As long as Master allows it, this one's humble self shall stay with Master.

That is why when that man suggested I leave Master's side to accompany him, I was enraged.

NoNE maY SPeAK THAT waY WITH mY MoST SuPERB MAsTER! WhO DO YOU THinK YOU ARE deFAMiNG rIGHT NOW HuH?

Did we not already say we belong at Master's side as his servant? We did, didn't we? Yes, yes we did. So why?

Ahhh how irritating! I can punch him right?! No? Why?!

Master might not like it...

Yes, that is right. See how Master is calmly standing there, he must not want to resort to violence so easily. We should stand by him.

If this one might humbly suggest that we also defend Master's honor?

Yeah, that's right! Here, I'll show him, "Haa? Master has better things to do than to waste his time with you, you know?"

Mmm… not how I would phrase it, but well said nevertheless.

Haha! Of course!

Too loud...

We should be more ladylike.

This ain't a time to be quiet or ladylike ya know?! These bastards are insulting Master!

This one might humbly suggests assassination.

Poison… Less messy, more pain...

Heh heh, you two are quite merciless as well aren't ya?

Quiet, Master is talking.

*

(MC POV)

Oh no.

Look at what you did with your courting death shout.

"Papa… That thing is mean…" Cai Hong cried, clinging to my leg.

I stroked her hair to calm her.

"Young master Xi, she is just a child. Surely your generosity would not allow yourself to be infuriated by a child's antics?"

"Grr… She called this young master a thing again!"

I looked at Cai Hong, who was looking up at me all teary-eyed.

"I'm sure she doesn't mean it that way, why not find it in yourself to forgive such a small matter in your wondrously big heart? She's just a child after all."

"Grrr… This young master deserves some respect, even from a child!"

"I'm sure people would praise young master Xi's magnanimous heart should they hear he let a child's innocent joke slide, wouldn't they? It won't be good if they hear young master Xi lost his temper because of a child's antics, right?"

"Cheh, just because this young master has a generous heart, fine!"

Too easy. Power of bullshitting.

"But that still doesn't change the fact that you have been using this young master's place!"

Damn it.

Digging through my sleeve, I retrieved a small pouch of coins that I tossed to him.

"Here, a small gift for the inconvenience."

"Hmph," the young master scoffed while opening the pouch. "You think a small bag of copper coins like this would suffi--"

His words died in his throat when he saw the pouch's content.

Well of course, there's about fifty gold in there after all, not a small amount by any means even for someone like him.

Problems that can be solved with money isn't a problem at all, as they say.

Oh, and the fact that he probably still thinks I'm a poor commoner should play a big part in his shock.

He looked up at me with uncertainty evident on his face, "Wh… Who are you?"

I gave him a smile, "Just a normal Practitioner out training with my disciples. I hope young master Xi will take care of us in the future."

I turned and began ushering my girls to leave.

"Wait, wait, wait. You don't think just giving me this pouch of money would let this young master forgive you, right?"

I feigned a gasp, "Oh? Is the money not good? Should I take it back and--"

"No, no, the money is good enough," the young master quickly pocketed the pouch within his robes. "But this is just for the usage of my place. There's still the fact that I was disrespected by that little girl there."

"Ara? Didn't you agree with Master that you will let a child's innocent joke slide?" Manami asked.

The young master crossed his arms, "Of course, I forgive the girl. But the parent who failed to discipline his child must be taught a lesson."

Discipline Cai Hong, have you seen how cute she is? The only discipline I'm doing to her is giving her cute cheeks a pinch here and there.

"What are you looking for then," I sighed.

"You claim that they're your disciples right? Just have a bout with my man here," the young master pointed to one of his muscular goons who stepped forward. "If you win, you can go. If you lose, the fairies must stay behind."

Seeing no other way, I stepped forward, "Very well then, whenever you're ready."

Without warning, the man charged towards my direction with his fists raised.

He barely covered half the distance between us before I blurred towards him, slapped his face with an open palm before blurring back to my original location.

Everyone stared at me, then turned to see the man halfway embedded into the tree a distance away.

Without another word, I brought my disciples away from the field without even looking back. No one stopped me from leaving.

Shit.

Now we'll probably get chased by the Xi family for humiliating their young master or something.

I only wanted to lightly tap him to knock the guy out, but I didn't expect him to be that physically weak that a slap will send him flying so far away.

Noooo… My easy life is drifting further and further away...

Do you know how irritating it is to have some 'powerful' family coming after you? They'll just keep sending their men to keep hounding at you at every opportunity they get.

Even when you burn their entire family home to the ground, there will always be that one cockroach family member that cannot die and swear vengeance on you.

He'll probably uncover some dark power hidden within his family and get some nonsensical power up before coming back to take revenge.

Do you know how troublesome that is?!

It's like someone coming in to your room at night to take something while you're comfortably in bed, then leave the room without turning the lights off and leaving the door open.

And it will happen…

Every.

Single.

Night.

Oh, why not just kill that 'cockroach' family member? Oh so simple huh?

Guess what, that guy has connections, and his connections has connections, then his connections' connections has connections too! How do you want to deal with that?

That's right! Just envelope the world in Divine Lightning of course, hahahaha!

…

I'll just send another bag of fifty gold over to him later, hopefully he'll just forget about this.

I only slapped his goon after all, not him.

"Master? Is there something special about that bug-- man?" Manami asked.

Did I hear her call him bug? Must be my imagination.

"The Xi Family is quite powerful in this city and they control the auction house," I explained. "It's better to be in their good graces to avoid trouble in the future. Besides, it'll be troublesome if something like this causes me to be banned from the auction house. Not to mention, the family is quite influential as well."

They looked at one another before nodding.

"We understand, Master," Lian Li affirmed.

"Yes, we shall make the arrangements," Eris offered.

Ha~~ At least I have my cute disciples to heal my tired soul.

"Umu, good, good." I nodded. "I'll go back and make something nice for all of you to eat."

"Yay~~ Papa cook!" Cai Hong cheered, hugging my waist.

So cute.

My disciples are the best.