I'm not a Princess!

Elin couldn't help but feel excited. For the first time she was out of the house she lived in and was doing something she'd only ever imagined in the books she'd read. Not only that, but she had this thing called a 'system' that should help her out. Even after seeing the lizard creatures that Kim killed easily she didn't think of as anything more than almost part of whatever wonderful dream she was having.

They'd continued walking in the direction they'd originally started moving in after Jonas went ahead of them to do some scouting. The reasons were understandable for Elin. For one thing, it was always better to know what they were facing before their opponents knew they were there.

They were close to what appeared to be a room ahead of them when there was a loud chime that sounded all around them.

"Well this is a surprise!" the same voice that introduced them called out. "We've had our first death in this contest! I think this might even be a record for the fastest death! Charles McCoy has died at the hands of a weak Minotaur! What a gruesome death that was! We'll have highlights of that scene later on. Hope not too many of you bet on him winning. So, let's continue watching!"

Then there was quiet after that for a minute before Elmo spoke, "Looks like Jonas is just up ahead."

Elin looked ahead of them and it looked like Jonas was standing in the room, just outside of the wide corridor they were walking down. She accepted that there wasn't anything really to say about someone dying, but it still felt wrong to let it go by without even at least an acknowledgement.

"You're not even going to mention that horrible announcement they made?" Elin asked, appalled at the disregard of another's life despite her understanding of why they might not say anything.

"What good would that serve, princess?" Kim asked. We can't do anything about it and we don't even know where that weak Minotaur is."

"It's still not right," Elin murmured before realizing exactly what Kim said. "I'm not a princess!"

"Then what are you?" Kim asked in a teasing tone. "I mean, who else would be able to live their entire life without having left their mansion?"

It took Elin a few minutes before she could get her mouth to work and not just to open and close. "I am the second daughter of the Marquis of Meadowvale. I will not tolerate you not getting my title wrong again." Elin decided this was a time to use her 'firm' face.

"Whatever you say, Princess," Kim replied, not looking at Elin anymore.

Elin was apoplectic. How dare Kim treat her that way?! She didn't know what she was going to do, but she certainly was going to something to that woman.

Elin wasn't sure about Kim. While she liked Kim and didn't mind her company, she was the first person she couldn't really read their intentions. It made her a puzzle and she really wasn't sure how to handle it. She didn't want there to be tension in the group, but she wasn't sure if there was anything she'd be able to do about it. Especially if that sort of thing kept coming up. She admired Kim's beauty and would like to get to know her better, but first she had to deal with what Kim was calling her. Somehow.

As they reached the room, Jonas looked at them and sighed. "What happened?" he asked, sounding like something bad had happened.

"Kim won't stop calling me princess!" Elin blurted.

Elin was mortified when Jonas and Kim burst out laughing, and to add insult to injury, she even saw Elmo chuckling. Although, at least he seemed to be trying to not let his amusement show. Why were they being so mean to her? she couldn't help but wonder.

"Was that it? Jonas asked when he started to calm down.

"I think so," Elmo replied.

"What'd you find?" Kim asked.

"Nothing here really," Jonas replied. "Though, it looks like we weren't the first ones to reach this place." Jonas pointed to some bodies of more small lizards in another hallway that the room branched out to.

"Think we should head that way?" Kim asked. "Or down the other corridor over there?" Elin looked and was a little surprised to see that there were only two other hallways that the room led them to.

"Let's take a look. I'm not sure where any of these hallways lead, so I couldn't say if we'd be going back for taking that path rather than the other one," Jonas said, already walking over to where the bodies were.

Elin however wasn't that interested in those bodies. So, instead she looked around the room. There was a table in it and she wondered if a room like this would be a good place to spend the night if it came to that.

"Yeah, I see that," Elin heard Jonas remark.

She tried ignoring their conversation, since he wasn't happy with them for treating her complaint about what Kim kept calling her. She wasn't a princess, she was just herself.

However, there wasn't much else to look at. She wondered for a brief moment if whoever came through here previously had taken anything that they might have used with them.

"Well, at least we know that," Elin heard Kim say.

Sighing, she started to head over to the others, since she couldn't find anything else of interest in this room.

"So, which direction should we take?" Elmo asked.

"Given the signs of footsteps that walked through the blood from these creatures, I'd have to say we should take the other corridor," Jonas said. "While it probably wouldn't be a problem if we encountered whoever killed this group, we might get lest EXP since whoever would be ahead of us would have already defeated any enemies we would have come across."

Then about the same time Elin reached the rest of the group, they immediately started walking for the other hallway. Elin merely sighed. She wasn't happy, and while she had to admit that she was the one who hadn't joined them at first, she didn't like that they hadn't seemed to notice she hadn't been with them when they searched the bodies for whatever.

"Are you okay?" Elmo asked Elin as they entered the hallway, Jonas already leaving to scout ahead again.

"I guess," Elin replied. "I just wish that there was something that I had from my home."

I can't even imagine saying in the house I lived in all of my life," Elmo remarked. "How'd you survive it?"

"I don't know what you mean," Elin replied. "It was my home, so why wouldn't it be safe? My father had plenty of guards to keep us safe."

Elmo shook his head. "I mean how did you survive from never going outside? Seeing only the same faces and places , day in and day out," he clarified.

"I've never been anywhere else, so I never had the interest in that. I mean, I knew there was an 'outside' world and all that, but I never had any interest in going out in it. I have everything I could have wanted in my father's house."

"So, you're saying, you don't feel any different now than when you were in your house?" Elmo asked.

Elin just shook her head. I don't know if I can explain it," she said, starting to wonder if Elmo actually had a point.

"Well, regardless of all that, I'm glad that you were selected to be a participant with this game," Elmo said. "I think you might be a good friend to have."

Elin looked at Elmo. He wasn't looking at her, keeping his eyes ahead of them was they make down the hallway. He didn't look like anyone who could protect her from any danger, not the way Kim and Jonas definitely could, but she was happy to have him as a friend. Even if he wasn't one of her servants.

The hallway ahead of them turned after a few more minutes, and they found Jonas waiting for them at the bend.

He didn't say anything as they got close, but when they were at about the same place where Jonas was, he spoke.

"It looks like we might have a real fight up ahead," he commented as Kim was about to walk past him.

"What did you see?" Kim asked.

"Up ahead are creatures of some sort. Some are like the lizards we've killed this far, but others are a kind of creature that look like they have green skin that could be scales of some sort," Jonas replied. "Not really sure what else I can do myself about those creatures.

Elin decided that she was going to head into battle herself. She might get seriously injured, but she didn't feel like it was really a problem for her. She'd just heal herself if that happened and she certainly would show them that she wasn't something that was weak and acceptable to ignore.

She also had plenty of magic for it. This certainly would be a time that she wouldn't soon forget. She had an attack spell, and she didn't even think about the others helping her against the creatures. It was time to show them, especially Kim, that she wasn't she just a vulnerable girl when something like this came up in the future. She knew that it would be only a matter of time before it happened again.

After this, they wouldn't think of her as just a helpless girl. She would show that she can figt just as well as they can.