NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1225: You have to make a choice
Orion didn't bother with introductions. No matter how pitifully Aina acted, Caesar and Aerin remained silent. It wasn't until Scarecrow joined that the private channel sparked to life.
Orion: @Caesar @Aerin, introductions. These are our new partners. The chatty one is Aina. The quiet one is Scarecrow.
He didn't mention Tangere, who was still on the battlefield and had no time for the Survivor's Platform.
Scarecrow: Hey everyone. I'm a grain merchant. Happy to be here.
Aina: A grain merchant? You mean like, a shady one? ;)
Caesar: Welcome. I'm Caesar. Just a warrior.
Aerin: Hi, I'm Aerin. I'm an alchemist.
Orion skipped his own intro; he was the one who had invited them all, after all.
Orion: @Aina @Scarecrow, give us a status report. I've got a war going on right now. If you're interested, there's an open slot.
Orion knew next to nothing about their current situations. He'd met Aina in the Tower Defense World, and their rapport had grown slowly over time before they connected on the platform. As for Scarecrow, he'd been completely off the grid.
Aina: Mister, you know Aina's just a poor little kid who barely hit Alpha-level. :(
Aina: And Aina's so lonely, she doesn't even have her own faction…
No one took the bait. Caesar and Aerin were waiting for Scarecrow's response. They were also Alpha-level, but fresh off a major war where they'd been supported by Orion, they felt a quiet confidence they hadn't possessed before.
Scarecrow: I just broke through to the Legendary level. There's a lot I still don't understand, so I need some time to get my bearings. As for joining a war… I think I'll sit this one out for now.
Scarecrow wasn't being coy; he was being honest. Before his ascension, all scarecrows in his world had to obey a strict set of rules, accepting planting tasks dictated by the system. They were essentially organic machines, programmed with a limited set of emotions and directives.
But the moment he hit the Legendary level, he discovered that many of the world's restrictions had simply vanished for him. He was no longer forced to accept tasks. He could now recruit his own combat units.
He had gone from being a piece on the board to a player.
He could now issue those same planting tasks to the countless restricted scarecrows below him, forcing them to work for him, to be exploited by him. He could also raise an army and wage war on other worlds.
He was, for all intents and purposes, free. If before he had been an oppressed slave, now he was the landlord. The rules of his world felt alien from this new perspective, and he needed time to learn them.
Orion: Understood. In that case, I'll leave you to it.
Orion: You all should network for a bit. You might have resources the others need.
Orion: Once things cool down on my end, we'll sync up for a group activity.
With that, Orion logged off the Survivor's Platform and returned to his meditative slumber.
In the private channel, the addition of a Legendary-level powerhouse had Aina, Caesar, and Aerin buzzing. They knew Scarecrow would have resources they could use. Grain, in particular, was something both Caesar and Aina desperately needed.
Aerin, however, thought of something else: the Sacrificial Scarecrow Orion had once given her.
Without hesitation, she sent Scarecrow a private message.
***
An Unknown World, in a Duke's Estate.
A young girl woke from her sleep, stretching her arms wide with a soft yawn.
I'm thirteen. Five years until I come of age. As the Duke's youngest daughter, I have no right of inheritance, no territory to my name. When I turn eighteen, I'll be married off like a prize mare to seal some political alliance.
Oh Aina, you're running out of time. You have to make a choice.
She climbed out of bed, the sound stirring her maidservants in the next room. One of them entered.
"My lady, you're awake!"
"The Duke and the three young lords went to the stables this morning. I heard several new foals were born this year. Wouldn't you like to see them? If you find one you like, perhaps you could beg the Duke for it. He might just grant it to you."
Aina felt no animosity toward the maid, who had watched her grow up. She knew the woman was just a servant, one who would follow her as part of her dowry. So, whether for her own sake or for Aina's, the maid was always looking for ways to build up Aina's personal assets. A larger dowry meant higher status in a noble marriage, and by extension, the maid's own station would rise as well.
"Father and my brothers are up so early!" Aina said, her voice a perfect imitation of childish innocence. She wore the mask of a Whitefur Rabbit—silly, sweet, and harmless.
Normally, a Duke's youngest daughter would be doted on, spoiled beyond measure.
But Aina was different. Her birth had cost the Duke his wife, and her three older brothers their mother. It wasn't a curse or some political intrigue, just the cruel, simple reality of a difficult childbirth.
Because of this, her father and brothers kept a respectful, but tangible, distance. They were connected by blood, and she knew they tried to accept her. But whenever they looked at her face, so eerily similar to their lost mother's, they would instinctively pull away.
As an Awakened, as a Survivor, Aina understood it perfectly.
It's because of love that they keep their distance.
Besides, her family wasn't cruel like the villains in stories. They never mistreated her, never let her go hungry, never forced her to do a servant's work, and certainly never made her sleep in the kennels.
I get it. We can all be adults about this.
She could understand their silent isolation and felt a surprising tolerance for her family's emotional shortcomings.
But her fate was her own.
As an Awakened, there was no way in hell she was going to let herself become a sacrificial pawn, playing the dutiful wife and mother for some hypocritical lord.