In Loki's Honor

Twelve years have passed since I was sold to that merchant by my father. That was equivalent to roughly sixteen Earth years. And it finally clicked. The 99 years of longevity the System assigned to us humans was actually one hundred and thirty-one Earth years. Quite a lot, if you think about that.

My body grew and developed its womanly curves, as expected. While I wasn't the prettiest flower in the garden, my rigorous physical training and impeccable nutrition led my figure to become enviable. Lean, well-toned, graceful, and deadly. I wasn't the only one suffering heavy changes, though.

Anjou gained her System and selected [Lady] as her Class. It is a rare Class so it became a reason for celebration in our family.

A [Lady] is a mix of [Administrator], [Governess], [Leader], and [Bourgeois]. She has Skills and Perks to run a business, run a household, boss people around, and navigate the upper strata of society. There's the very rare [Aristocrat] Class, the barons, counts, and marquis which was a step above [Lady] and the ultra-rare [Royalty] Class. Dukes, princes, and Kings.

Since Classes are selected in one's earlier levels and are immutable, people with these Classes are usually born into them. A [Warrior] can become a King and even access a Class evolution that adds elements of the [Royalty] Class to his options. Only his heirs will have the option of selecting the [Royalty] Class straight away.

This meant that Anjou was now someone important to society. Mentioning that she was the daughter of a prostitute would be slander and bring heavy repercussions. Especially because she was Lord Ackerton's protegé.

Some even rumored he was her father. Master did nothing to deny that rumor.

But my family was rising in life if one considered our classes.

My mother and Mirabelle were [Farmers], a common Class they picked during their time at the farm. Cerise was [Governess], uncommon. Olive, to my surprise, picked [Emissary]. It was an uncommon Class that had information-gathering, administrative, diplomatic, and stealth abilities. An overpowered secretary.

And both Anjou and I had rare Classes. I didn't share what my Class was, only the rarity and my mother didn't prod too much. Status information was a closely guarded secret and it was rude to force someone to surrender their information even among family. It was a talk I would have to stop postponing but one I dreaded.

To Apricot, her family was the most important thing. The tug was unnatural. Resisting all these years without going after my brothers or their killers was painful. And no news of Almond yet. He might have vanished in thin air. Another anonymous corpse elsewhere.

A full-course banquet and new clothes were prepared for us. The girls were on cloud nine, with the fancy clothes that could probably buy our old farm back. I put my dress and looked myself in the mirror, something I seldomly did.

My chest was big but not huge. If I had to guess, a C or D cup. It was big enough to bother me when I did my acrobatics. Having breasts was still a new experience for me.

We were dressing up because today was a day for celebration. Lord Akerton came to congratulate Anjou for her class and brought Gloria with him. Seeing the veteran assassin wearing makeup and dressed in a corset and long dress made my chin fall on the floor. She studied me from head to toe and grinned.

Sitting on the table and feeling awkward, our family listened to the Lord's speech.

"Friends, we are here today to celebrate," Ackerton said. "Our lovely flowers blossomed and now are ready to join the society. Both with rare Classes. What a blessing, Mrs. Juniper."

Mom had tears running down her cheeks. Mirabelle as well. "We are so thankful, milord. It is only through your kindness it was possible. We could never repay you."

Olive gave me a long stare. I poked the tip of my tongue out at her. Gloria noticed our exchange and raised an eyebrow.

"Nonsense. I did it because I wanted it. It fills my heart with joy to be able to help. Honestly. You restored this haunted shack and transformed it into a true residence. [Lady] Anjou, congratulations on your Class."

"Thank you, Milord," Anjou beamed. It was her day. She was already level eight. The System granted her some retroactive Exp for actions she took before her induction.

They talked a bit about what it means to be a [Lady] and the responsibilities of representing a House before society. Anjou would have to participate in social functions and network with the upper echelon. I was wondering how she would do so without money when the Lord dropped a bomb.

"... and that's why I want your permission, Juniper and Mirabelle, to formally adopt both Apricot and Anjou. They will become my heirs. This house is yours. It comes with a modest stipend but I expect that [Lady] Anjou will start her seamstress business soon as it was her wish."

Anjou wanted to be a fashionista. They didn't have the concept but that's what she wanted. The women of our family had a decade working with clothing repair. Now she wanted to make clothes for the high society. Set up a boutique, so to speak. The girl clapped and squealed with excitement at the Lord's words.

"We would be honored, milord," Mirabelle answered. Mom was about to faint. And Mirabelle would be honored with whatever the Lord did. Like marrying her.

"Then it is settled. We will set the paperwork tomorrow. But now, let's feast!"

He rang a bell and the servers brought the food. Now that Anjou would be the lady of the house, we were scheduled to move from the servant's quarters in the attic into the house and new staff would take over the house's chores.

After the feast, Gloria "requisitioned" me to work for a season as her lady-in-waiting for "special training". I left the house and went with them to the carriage.

"We are going on a long-term mission, milady," Gloria said, oozing sarcasm at 'milady'.

"I hope you didn't lose your edge," Master remarked.

"You've seen me beating the crap out of your men during the sparring sessions, didn't you?" I bark back.

It should be the other way around. But I had one huge advantage. {Favored Enemy [Human]} was the great equalizer to my low Attributes and Skills.

"Yes. I really wish to know why your base Exp doesn't tell us your level. And why you have a Rank multiplier," Master retorted.

They finally got an Exp message for defeating me. It marked my base Exp as 15,000 and it didn't reveal my level. Reverse-engineering the Exp message also didn't reveal anything. It painted my level in the high thirties but they suspected as much.

I looked at the curtain blocking the carriage window. I wasn't ready to volunteer too much information. I already overshared with the elves.

We slept at Lord Ackerton's mansion. Before the sun rose in the horizon Gloria and I was on our way to the plantation on riding horses. There we took what we needed, some tools, supplies, rations, and a few reagents before we took the road to the capital.

It was the same road the pedo merchant took me all those years ago. During our trip, Gloria explained the mission to me.

"You will assassinate Count Losias in his mansion. Do not replace the contract on him even if you're losing Exp," She said.

"Okay. What do you have on him?"

She explained to me. It was a political assassination but there wasn't a single noble in this place that didn't deserve to die. Torture, rape, slavery. Tax embezzlement.

A week on the road, I wondered if I were close to where the merchant died. We entered a forest and my intuition flared. Gloria sensed it as well but the arrows flew before she could give a warning.

You were struck by an arrow. You lost 125 HP. You are immune to poison.

You were crushed by a horse. You lost 87 HP. You are pinned.

Our horses were hit as well and we fell down on the ground. I was pinned under my horse and I couldn't see Gloria. A band of men came out of the woods. I stopped struggling to get out of the horse.

"Check if they are paralyzed," A man said.

The bandits came and examined us. I was playing dead and their cursory check didn't reveal my ruse.

"Get the women from behind the horses and tie them up. They might fetch some money at the slave trader."

I let them drag and bind me. A bandit groped me but it wasn't the time to strike yet. Pretending to be groggy, I kept one eye open and appraised them. Levels in the twenties, thirties, and the leader was forty-one. Not bad.

They kept me and Gloria together while they rummaged our belongings. Gloria's poisoning was wearing off and she started to squirm.

"Stay quiet, Gloria. We need to plan how to get out of here," I told her.

"We need to act now or they'll come to poison us again. I know what they used on the arrows. It's black binder's sap. You get weaker to it the more you're exposed to it. Damn, I'm bound too tightly. Can you break free?"

"Already did," I replied. The pseudopods were eating the ropes the moment they touched my skin. "I'm working on your bindings now."

Before I could get Gloria free, the leader bandit approached us.

"What beauty we got here! Your retarded maid has a nice body, but you are a treasure!" He said to Gloria. "Mind your words now, women. If you do anything untoward, you're getting punished."

The bandit removed our gags. He lowered his trousers, exposing his dick. It reeked. Grabbing Gloria's hair, he watched with delight as he approached his manhood to her face.

"Clean me, bitch. Make me feel good and I might let you get out of here."

I put a contract on all of the bandits and shared it with Gloria. "Let me do it, my lord. I'm good at this!" I lied to him while I did my best to stare at his member with interest. Inside, I wanted to throw up in disgust. I let some drool escape my mouth.

He looked at me. "Yeah. Your stupid maid's face is wetter than she. The blonde might bite my dick off. Here, have your tasty cock meal, retarded wench."

He ran his knife to cut my hands free and I just go off the ropes I was holding in place. I held his mast and caressed his balls. The smell was even worse up close. This guy hadn't washed in months.

"Come on. Put it in your mouth, dumb bitch!" He grunted.

I approached with my head and bit his thigh. {Vorpal Bite} did its job as the whole leg came off and he fell down.

Bandit is bleeding. Bandit is stunned.

I bit the other leg but didn't get a critical. I gave up on dismemberment and jumped on him. The rope around my feet was already weakened to the point of snapping. I'd revealed {Vorpal Bite} in front of Gloria and she would pester me for the details later. But now I had a brute to murder. Before the stun wore off, I was already on his neck. The critical hit came on the third bite.

Contract Fulfilled.

You killed level 41 Bandit Lord. You gained 388,117 Exp (16,810 base x 10,000 perk x 0,0001 curse x 3.05 perk x 7,57 contract).

I drew the dagger on his waist and rushed to the next bandit. He swung his sword but I swatted it aside with the dagger and crashed on him, biting his arm near the elbow joint. My ridiculous perk severed the limb and I slashed his throat as he screamed in pain. I nicked his jugular and knew that the bleed and stun debuffs would keep him out of the fight long enough if it didn't kill him outright.

I screamed and growled as I ran toward the next two bandits.

Charisma check (plus Endurance) passed. Your scream intimidated the bandits. You gained first strike.

I threw the dagger on the first one's thigh at point-blank and jumped to bite the neck of the other. The dagger stunned the first one with the bleeding debuff and {Vorpal Bite} beheaded the other. I got a spray of blood on my face as I pushed the body away from me.

Wiping my face, I cleared my vision too late to dodge the sword coming down on me. All I could do was sacrifice my left arm to avoid a fatal wound.

Bandit attacked with Sword. You lost 235 HP (Critical Hit). You have a broken arm.

The vambraces I was wearing underneath my dress long sleeves saved em from a bleeding debuff.

I looked around and the other bandits were preparing to fight. I would have a hard time keeping myself safe against this many. I'd already lost a third of my HP and soon my wounds would affect my combat ability. I needed to even out the fight.

"Nenandil, I need you," I said in English.

The fairy flew from my chest, glowing blue. We didn't waste more time. I jumped back and yanked the dagger from the bandit's leg, slashing his neck with one swift motion. Nenandil threw a shower of ice shards at the face of the one that broke my arm.

I rushed the bandits with Nenandil harassing them with water balls and ice spikes. The sight of magic drained their fighting spirit. and I could engage them in smaller groups. I took some minor wounds and my health reached half but I was done with more than half of the bandits. The others decided to run away, going deeper into the forest. I let them escape and walked back, finishing the bandits that were incapacitated by my heinous bleed debuffs.

Assassin reached level 17.

Human reached level 16.

Chemist reached level 14.

Surgeon reached level 1 [14].

I spent my Skill Points buying new skills I would later train up. The Beginner levels were easy to gain now that I had access to trainers, tutors, materials, and equipment.

You purchased the Strovese Dwarvish Language (uncommon) Skill. You can speak the language of the Strovin Dwarves.

You purchased the Itlinish Centaur Language (rare) Skill. You can speak the language of the Itline Centaurs.

You gained the Track Contract (rare) Skill. You can know the general direction and distance to a contracted target you've seen recently. Helps with tracking a contracted target otherwise.

You gained the Defensive Roll (uncommon) Skill. If you have room to tumble, you can mitigate the damage of a critical hit.

You gained the Mind's Blank (very rare) Skill. When fighting with an opponent, you can delay your attack to strike at a moment between his perception. If successful, you score a critical hit.

You gained the Titration (very rare) Skill. You pour solutions on another with more precision, reducing the chances of missing the desired point or concentration.

You gained the Filter Solution (very rare) Skill. Spend MP to remove solid impurities from a solution.

You gained the Estimate Heat (very rare) Skill. You can estimate the temperature of a hot object. The precision of measurement increases with Rank and Mind.

You gained the Neutralize Fumes (very rare) Skill. Fumes produced by your reactions can be Rank x Mind x 0.5% less noxious if you so desire.

You gained the Retrieve Catalyst (ultra-rare) Skil. Increase the amount of catalyst recovered after a reaction by Rank x Mind x 1% (Maximum 100% of the catalyst used).

You gained the Estimate PH (ultra-rare) Skill. You can estimate the PH of a solution. The precision of measurement increases with Rank and Mind.

You gained the Diagnosis (rare) Skill. You can know the ailments on a person after a cursory investigation. The precision of the diagnosis increases with Rank and Mind.

You gained the Sterilize Implement (rare) Skill. Tools you wield are sterile. Reduce the chance of infection when performing surgery.

You gained the Estimate HP (rare) Skill. You can estimate the HP and wounds of a person after a cursory investigation. The precision of measurement increases with Rank and Mind.

You gained the Intensive Care (very rare) Skill. As long as you don't stop seeing a patient after surgery, double the recovery rate.

I cut Gloria free. She stood up and examined me. "We must look after your arm," She said.

"No. My arm will heal very soon. You stay here, I'll go after the bandits that fled. I won't let them live and I think they have prisoners elsewhere. You stay here and loot the bodies. See if we can save our horses," I told her.

Our mounts didn't stand up yet. I think they are under the poison's effect and that Gloria had something to fight the poison but I couldn't be sure. I also needed to be alone to shift and let my regeneration fix my wounds.

"Okay. I owe you a big one, girl. I wouldn't dare put that thing in my mouth."

"Me neither. And for the record, It never touched my face. You're welcome. I wouldn't wish that to anyone," I winked.

"We're talking about how you can bite legs and heads off like that when you come back," She stared at me seriously. "The fairy too," She pointed at Nenandil flying next to me.

"Maybe. We shall see. Nenandil, let's go."

I broke into a jog after the bandits with the fairy on my shoulder.