Chapter 9

Zeik awoke to the feeling, or rather, lack of feeling in his legs. He sat up and stared at the two Half girls curled up on his legs and feet, soundly asleep.

"You're joking." He sighed. He had no clue why the two would do this, and he wouldn't expect himself to ever get used to it. How could they find that to be comfortable in any sense?

Zeik had arrived in Triuliy, kind of like a "melting pot" city in the human kingdom of Gridia, two months ago. He had stopped questioning the naming methods of this world once they just stopped making any kind of sense whatsoever. The names didn't even sound cool anymore.

He had found a small inn in a part of town with little traffic that was willing to let him work there, offering breakfast and lodging as payment. The environment was pretty idea for Zeik, who really just wanted to stay low and not make a fuss. As for his appearance, even though Gridia was a whole separate kingdom, people were sure to know of the blue-haired Vincent family. As for how to counter this, Zeik had remembered vaguely how, in medieval times, people had used plants, fungi, and even animal remains to color hair. As these methods made him want to puke, he settled with making a hood part of his everyday appearance. He decided, however, to stick to the name of "Zeik," since he had a serious doubt that the Vincents, who didn't seem to believe his story anyway, would go to the trouble of searching into a whole separate kingdom. On the contrary, they were probably thrilled that their monster of a son, Prince, was finally gone.

Zeik poked at the two Half girls keeping him from moving. They had no intention of budging. Zeik had kept them with him so that they wouldn't get re-captured and sold as slaves again, so they were given jobs at the inn, too. He tried to slowly slide his legs out from under the two, but found this effort meaningless. Zeik fell back and focused his attention on the ceiling, not wanting to wake them up.

During quiet moments like these, Zeik found his thoughts drifting towards his life before he was placed into the life of this blue-haired noble boy. He tried again to remember further than running out of the classroom, and having J yell at him to get back. Much like the many times before, this resulted in a splitting headache, and his head being wiped clean of any thoughts currently going on.

If that's where it ends, Zeik thought, then that's probably where I died. I couldn't have saved Annabelle.

Did J manage to get away safely, I wonder?

Zeik turned his head and recoiled at the feeling of wet fabric on his cheek. He reached a hand up to his face, and wiped at his eyes. Unknowingly, streams of tears had started rolling out of his eyes at the thought of his old schoolmates. Oh, how he wanted to see them.

Zeik raised his hand into the air, seemingly reaching for the ceiling. "If only I could have ran my fingers through Annabelle's hair one more time..." His voice cracked, and this time he was aware of his tears. Zeik brought his sheets up to his face and let them soak up whatever tears, snot, or sound that resulted from his crying.

"Mnh... Master?" The silver-haired Half, whom Zeik had named Amy, opened her eyes at the sound.

Zeik once again swallowed the clumped-up emotions in his throat and wiped his eyes with a dry section of the sheets. "I told you to not call me that, Amy." He said in the most normal voice he could manage.

"Master, are you alright?" Amy ignored him, and pulled the sheets aside to get a look at Zeik's face.

"I'm perfectly fine."

"Your eyes are red." Amy's cat-like pupils stared straight into Zeik's eyes. "Are you sad, master?"

"N-no. What would I be sad about? ha..." Zeik turned his head to the side.

Amy cupped Zeik's face in her hands, and turned it towards her. "Your eyes are wet, master."

"J-just your imagination."

"Why won't you tell me what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, I'm fine." Zeik insisted.

The worried look on Amy's face didn't go away, but she backed off. Zeik slid out of bed fully clothed, a habit from always waking up late and being late for school. The other Half girl, Ginger, named after her hair color, stirred but remained asleep.

Zeik looked out the window that the bed was nearest to. "Is it just me, or is the sun already way up?"

"I think it's about noon, if that's what you're asking." Amy confirmed.

"Man, I'd kill to get that stupid alarm clock back." Zeik muttered.

"Wha-"

"I'm heading down to see if I'm needed for anything. Don't wreck the place while I'm gone." Without letting Amy ask her questions, Zeik rushed down the stairs and to the tavern that took up the inn's first floor. Surprisingly, not even the daily visitors that sat around chatting over an affordable drink were in the place, and Clarence, the inn's middle-aged owner, sat behind the counter with his head lolling back, snoring so loudly that the neighbors were sure to have had complaints.

Zeik took a seat. There was no waking the guy once he started vocalizing his Z's.

It wasn't until the sound of the tavern's front door being violently pushed open woke him up did Zeik realize he had fallen asleep again. He jumped to his feet, combating a massive head rush as he did so, and faced the three extremely ripped men dressed in simple tunics and baggy pants standing in the doorway, the door halfway off its hinge. A brown-haired woman dressed in a dark robe followed after them.

"You guys are gonna have to pay for that." He said in the calmest way he could, despite completely panicking on the inside.

"No need." The woman spoke, holding up a badge as identification. "We're with the Imperial Right Hand."

Right Hand, the name of the Human Empire's main military force, answering directly to the Emperor himself. Zeik had heard enough stories about the group from Clarence's drunken ramblings to know that they weren't good news. And they were already giving off a bad impression even without that.

As Zeik tried to think of a way to respond, the woman looked at him and spoke again. "Him." She said to the three men. "I sense that he's useful."

"Wha-" Zeik tried to take a step back, but found himself unable to, locked in place by the woman's gaze.

"Check upstairs. This inn might be hiding more than just him from us."

Zeik gritted his teeth. Amy and Ginger were upstairs.

One of the men headed up the stairs, and returned momentarily carrying the two Half girls by their collars. The robed woman nodded, and he took them outside. Zeik heard the thump of bodies on wood, then the sound of hooves as the wagon began to move.

"Where..." Was all he managed to force out.

"Those slaves belong to us now." The woman stated. "And so do you."