"Are you okay, Lucien?" Marianne asked.
"What is it?" Marie stroked his leg tenderly in worry.
[Ding!]
[You have reincarnated into a different world.]
[Your Soul now resides inside Lucien Gregorian's body.]
[Having contracted a disease during the trip, Lucien Gregorian succumbed.]
[You have been healed of that disease.]
[Status Window:
Name: Lucien Gregorian
Titles: (None)
Class: Slave
Job: (Unspecified)
Skills: (None)
Stats:
-Vigor: 6
-Endurance: 10
-Perception: 8
-Strength: 7
-Agility: 9
-Magic Affinity: 5
-Mana: 5
]
[You are currently on your way to the Estate and Castle of Lady Frida, the new Duchess of Ricarnia.]
[Her fiancé, the previous Duke of Ricarnia, died two weeks ago.]
[Tutorial Quest is initializing...]
[Tutorial Quest: Make allies on your way to the Estate.]
[Estimated arrival time: 90 minutes.]
[Reward: Awaken the "Peak Performance" System, a System that will help you reach peak performance in any job you undertake.]
[Additional Rewards will vary depending on Quest Success Rank and Achievements.]
"Lucien...?" Marie echoed.
His chained hand moved to gently lay on hers.
"I'm okay." He nodded. "Just a bit shook up still."
"I-I see..." Marie stuttered, blushing slightly as his large hand rested on hers.
Lucien moved his gaze towards the rest of the chained slaves in the caravan.
They gave him frowns and glares. One even spat in his direction.
"What's up with them?" Lucien muttered.
It was a rather bad question. They were slaves, and had every right to be as antisocial as they wanted to be.
"They've hated us since we got here." Marianne sighed. "Mom and I tried to be nice to them, but..."
"What about me?" Lucien asked.
"They hate you, too."
"Did I do something to annoy them?"
The daughter and mother thought for a bit. Lucien was a lot more talkative now, more down-to-earth. Still, the main reason they hated the three was,
"They hate us because... Well..." Marie found it particularly awkward to say. "They say we're..."
"We're too good-looking," Marianne said with a nod.
"Huh?"
"It's true." Marie nodded. "Well, especially for you, Lucien..."
He did not know whether to thank her for the compliment or not.
"They say that we won't get the hard jobs," Marianne explained. "That Mom and I will be made servants who will work inside the castle, while you will... Well, you won't be made to slave in the fields."
"Then...?" Lucien tilted his head.
"They said um..." Marie blushed slightly. "They said you would become the Lady's boy toy. In fact, the knights told that you would be the Lady or someone else's boy toy."
"I see... How did I respond?"
"You spit in their faces and said that you would rather die."
"Hm." Marianne nodded. "That's when they started really, really hating you."
Lucien was dumbfounded by this information.
'So this body's previous owner was so prideful that he would rather die or work in the fields rather than sleep with some ladies? He was too prideful to tell people he was sick too, since Marie and Marianne thought it was just dehydration.'
Lucien slowly nodded.
'This guy's a retard. I'll be a boy toy if I need to be, as long as this Lady Frida is hot.'
And oh boy, she is.
"It's a good thing they didn't separate you," Lucien said after a couple of silent seconds. "It would have been much harder for you if you'd been split."
"That's definitely true," Marie sighed. Just the idea of being separated from her daughter caused her skin to crawl. "Apparently, Lady Frida wants all groups to remain united. She wants those who were bought together to remain together, if that makes sense."
"Yes, that's what they said." Marianne nodded.
"I see."
Lucien took some time to look at them.
He noticed that their chains were much looser than his. They were longer, too.
Lucien was lying at the edge of the caravan with his back against the iron bars. Marianne, the daughter, was seated next to him, and Marie, the mother, was seated on her knees next to his legs. Her hand remaining on his leg was both a way to comfort him and to keep her balance.
The more he stared, the more beautiful he found them.
A good shower would make them perfect models.
Marianne had long golden hair falling to her waist. Her limbs were long and thin, and she had the cutest pointy nose.
Marie had shorter hair, falling just beyond her chin but not reaching her shoulders. Her face was a tiny bit rounder, giving her a motherly and kind appearance despite the healthiness of her skin that made her look no older than 30.
However, with Marianne looking in her early twenties, that couldn't really be the case.
Lucien scratched his head, unsure how he was supposed to make friends in this situation.
The others didn't look his way and outright detested him.
Marie and Marianne didn't want to speak about how they'd ended up here, so Lucien was running out of ideas.
With the castle in the distance approaching, Marianne felt fear and anxiety set in again. Lucien waking up had distracted her from those feelings, but now,
"...!" Marianne's eyes opened wide as her shaking hand was suddenly grabbed.
"Don't worry." Lucien had the warmest smile on his face. He slowly brought her hand closer, laid it on Marie's hand that already lay on his leg, and rested his hand above theirs. "As long as we're together, we'll be fine." He added, gaze alternating between daughter and mother.
Marie pressed her lips and nodded.
Marianne almost felt tears rise to her eyes, but managed to keep them in. "Yes..." She said, her voice breaking.
The three remained like that the whole way through the Duchess's Estate. They remained with their hands together.
It was surely enough to qualify them as allies, and friends.
Soon, the caravans would come to a stop.