2

A knock on her bedroom door startled Sami out of her half-asleep state. One of the maids—a woman in her thirties with her brown hair in a ponytail—had come to give her a wakeup call, but she had been awake for a while, just lazily lying in bed under her covers.

Claudia, Sami's personal attendant, opened the door and entered the room to see her mistress sleepily glaring in her direction, her face only just visible among the large pillows, blankets, and her messy pile of long, blue hair. "I suppose asking for an extension would be too much to ask?" sighed Sami, from deep within the mound of softness.

She pushed the covers aside and sat up, brushing aside a few stray hairs from her face. Sami Locke was the daughter of a Duke who lived in an isolated mansion just outside of Spira City. He greatly valued his privacy and didn't interact much with society or other nobles.

As a result, Sami had very few responsibilities of her own. In fact, it was currently just shy of noon when Claudia came to wake her; sleeping in until at least this late was just a usual part of Sami's daily routine.

Lady Sami stretched and yawned in a sloppy way that wasn't particularly befitting of her title, not that she cared. She got out of bed, waved away Claudia's offer to help her get dressed, and changed out of her nightwear herself.

For today, she picked out a fairly simple outfit, a dress shirt and knee-length pleated skirt. She kept searching through her wardrobe and the area around it, but couldn't seem to find whatever it was she was looking for.

"Under the bed, I believe," Claudia eventually advised, after she had enjoyed enough of watching her mistress struggle. Sami wasn't the only one in this household whose attitude didn't match their position.

The Lady herself sheepishly checked under her bed, and pulled out a length of heavy cloth. "Are you planning to go out today, Miss Locke?" inquired her maid.

"Of course," Sami replied as she fastened the cape and straightened it around her shoulders, "It's always so boring around the manor."

"Yes, and you do seem to always be trying so hard to find productive things to do with your time here," Claudia stated simply and calmly, without any hint of malice in her words.

Sami narrowed her eyes at the gently smiling maid, "You may be good at pretending to be genuine, but I'm not an idiot. The sarcasm there was obvious!"

Claudia pretended to be shocked, covering her mouth with her hands to reinforce the gesture... but Sami knew full well there was a playful smirk under those hands. At the very least, unlike with the other maids, there was never a dull moment around this woman. Sami rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but grin herself.

* * *

Sami and Claudia strolled through the north gate into Spira. The people of the city were used to seeing the two of them around, so despite the fact that Sami was technically royalty, nobody raised a fuss beyond greeting her as she passed by.

They didn't need a bodyguard either, as there were very few people who could match the skill of any member of the Locke family in a swordfight, or most other forms of confrontation for that matter.

Any direct assassination attempts would be, and had been several times in the past, expertly thwarted, the perpetrators immediately caught and punished. Today, Sami's ornate rapier hung at her side on her belt, as a firm reminder of this to any passing ruffians.

However, even though those ruffians wouldn't dare target Sami herself, they apparently didn't exercise enough restraint in targeting those around her. No sooner had the two women entered the town, than a cloaked thug roughly pushed past a nearby pedestrian.

Before the girl could react, he had sliced the strap of her handbag and had begun to make a break for the gate out of town, hoping to disappear into the woods that separated the Locke estate from the city. If only he had seen Sami there, he might have thought twice about this.

Without missing a beat, Sami took a deep breath and stepped in front of the fleeing thief, who moved to swerve around her. Not quick enough, however; Sami took another step, forward this time, lowering her center of gravity and pulling her rapier from its sheath, hilt-first into the man's stomach.

She may have been smaller than him, but with the colliding force of their opposing movements behind the strike she easily knocked the wind out of his lungs. Frantic, and determined to not be caught unawares a second time, the thief regained his footing and rushed to stab at Sami with the same dagger he had used to cut loose his victim's handbag.

Light flashed off her rapier’s surface as it traced a swift yet serene arc through the air and into her aggressor's own blade, deflecting the blow as she stepped aside. The next swing was just as pleasing to the eye as it cut a perfectly straight line through the rogue's back, dropping him to the ground and neatly severing the lower half of his cloak.

A rapier is typically meant more for thrusting attacks than for slashing, but with the graceful and precise way Sami swung that narrow blade it hardly mattered. Such showmanship was entirely unnecessary, but it definitely impressed the original owner of the handbag, who gratefully accepted it from the hands of her savior.

This wasn't the first time Sami had stepped in to help out a passerby, and for a moment she enjoyed that familiar feeling of satisfaction that came from doing someone a favor.

All her life, she had had to just sit around at home, either practicing her fencing skills with her younger brother, or... doing nothing. She didn't want to become a pampered noble daughter, so doing something for once always made her happy.

Sami was brought out of her daydreaming by another quip laced with gently concealed sarcasm by Claudia: "My, how noble of you to help that poor lady, while also displaying your expertise."

The real meaning was clear: Wow, you sure do like to show off, don't you? Sami chuckled and shook her head. Where did this maid learn to be so sneakily impertinent?

Well, she was good enough at her job, and she meant no harm. All in good fun. Besides, she had been in the family since she had arrived from who-knows-where when Sami was little. Things wouldn’t be the same without her.

* * *

The excitement of that initial encounter was over, and Sami and Claudia wandered around the streets aimlessly. Now that she thought about it, Sami realized that there wasn't really anything else for them to do around here today.

Claudia followed behind patiently, and would never protest about their lack of direction, but Sami couldn't help but feel a little guilty for the inconvenience she was putting her through. Well, following her around was a job she was paid to do, but even so...

It was at that moment, as she glanced sideways to check the maid's expression for any signs of irritation, that she instead caught sight of a flier stuck to the side of a building. By the looks of it, it had been printed quite recently.

Sami stopped walking, and peered over the fancy lettering on the paper. Find your own fateful path! Fight for your own destiny! Hiring skilled mages and swordsmen and women for all manner of heroic duties. An address was also listed at the bottom of the sheet.

Sami figured that those flowery words and promises were nothing more than exaggerations and marketing, or maybe even just a scam, but... what if, right? It's not like she had any other duties, heroic or otherwise, to take care of these days.

Plus, if her mind wasn’t just playing tricks on her, the name of contact listed on the page might have been one she recognized. Gina Rosen… where had she heard that family name before...? Anyway, It couldn't hurt to stop by that address at least, just to scope things out…

Another thought surfaced in her mind. This could be a way for her to help more people, to really make a difference in the community. If even just rescuing a stolen handbag could be so gratifying, imagine what it would be like to save lives? Maybe this was the chance Sami had been waiting for for so long...

Claudia peered over Sami's shoulder as she read, lost in thought for the... she had lost count of how many times she'd noticed her mistress like this today. "Ah, how cliché," she murmured as she read the words as well, more to herself than anything.

But a little bit nostalgic, she added in her head.

"Well then, mistress, do you think you will take them up on this?" she then asked.

Sami put a finger on her chin as she deliberated her response, then shrugged. "Sure why not, right? Any objections?"

"Of course not, my lady. I'd follow you into any death trap and lay my life on the line any day... as long as your father continues to pay me."

Sami laughed at that. She knew her attendant was actually only joking, and the dramatic tone she used was only to add to that comedic effect. The wholly genuine smile that Claudia gave in response to her laughter was proof of this.

But at the same time, she couldn't help but wonder. What if she really, truly meant it?