The hangover was just as bad as last time.

  Bonus points to me, though: my closet was intact.

  Negative points: I wasn’t in my room, I was in a lounge near it.

  Groaning, I somehow had a blanket over me, and there was a glass of water waiting on a nearby table. A book fell as I rolled over, and I made a halfhearted effort to grab it and set it on the table.

  My hand found the book, but moving it was more than I wanted to do.

  The room was still dark, which I was grateful for. I was probably on the opposite side from my room then. If my mental map was right, and not the fuzzy blur everything else seemed to be, I was probably in the one decorated in soft blues and reds. Lot’s of metal flowers with magic lights to make them look like they were on fire.

  I actually liked this room a lot, so it makes sense I’d pass out here.

  Suddenly, a voice spoke from nearby. “Finally awake?”

  The sound was like a drum beating against my head, but I fought through it. “Who…?” I sat up, slowly. I was wincing as I did, the movements not helping the growing headache. I cast my Heal spell to get rid of it. It made it easier to think, but did nothing for the weakness in my limbs or the cotton mouth.

  I turned around and saw Geraldine sitting in a comfortable chair with a dim light coming from a table lamp in the shape of a rose. The petals glowed faintly.

  “I suppose you spoke with Toren about Lord…” She paused, looking at me. She cleared her throat, “Sorry, I won’t bring it up.”

  I took a long drink from the water and collapsed back onto the couch. “This you asking what happened? Or what I said to Cal?”

  “Threatening him with a knife likely didn’t go over well, no.” She snapped her book closed, “But not why I’m here.”

  I waved a hand over the couch, motioning for her to continue. She did, but not how I expected “You could at least face me when talking. I know I am probably not your favorite person, but I deserve at least that much respect.”

  I winced at the callout, but she was right. That said, I also did not feel like getting up. “Can I ask you to come over here then? I’m hungover and this honestly feels like an after coffee conversation.”

  I heard her get up and come around the couch. She took a dainty seat upon the couch, practically oozing charm. Then she waited for a moment.

  Now that I knew what to look for, I could actually feel the moment when whatever it was started trying to cover me. It wasn’t anything physical, more like a sensation that the person could be trusted.

  I glared at her. “Turn it off.”

  She blinked, frowning, “Turn what off?”

  “Whatever you’re using to put me at ease. Off. Now.” I was immediately put on guard and this was NOT how I wanted to wake up.

  Geraldine tilted her head, confused, “I don’t… what are you talking about?”

  My brow furrowed, “I can feel it. Turn it off, or leave.”

  She frowned as well, but got up and left the room. I sighed when the door closed, feeling the aura fade away. I held my hand out above me, staring through my fingers in the dim light. Can they not feel it? Do they not know?

  I couldn’t see how that was possible. It even says in the tu… torial…

  “They don’t even see the full sheet… they probably don’t HAVE a tutorial.” I swore, not having realized it before. There was honestly a good chance Geraldine really didn’t know what she’d been doing.

  But Porter knows about his skill… It didn’t make sense. And I hadn’t tried playing with it yet. Honestly, I hadn’t tried messing around in my menus too much from the start. Some of the stuff from the Moderator’s Manual scared me.

  I brought up my Charisma and tried to focus on the statistic itself. It actually brought up a little window with a dial. Currently, it was set to 0, but could go all the way to 13. I hadn’t expected an actual dial for the thing.

  I tried tuning it up to 5 and felt some kind of electric buzz as something came out of me. It faded away almost immediately and I didn’t notice a change. I didn’t know what it’d do, but when I checked for the other stats, they didn’t have anything similar.

  Sighing, I stood up and stretched. I’d leave it and see what it did. I couldn’t do anything else, after all.

  After a few minutes cleaning up, and tossing the blanket over the back of the couch, I left the room. I looked around and noticed my room not far away. I went in, showered and changed before heading down for breakfast. I kind of wanted to apologize to Geraldine if I could.

  When I asked a maid, she said the therapist had left for the day, and wouldn’t be back until tomorrow. I wasn’t exactly going to run after her, so I headed to breakfast.

  At breakfast, Calmar and Porter were missing as well, so I ate and when I felt somewhat human, I went about my day. It was fairly basic.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

  Run around the perimeter of the manor.

  Practice with the weapons for about an hour.

  Go read some books.

  There was time in between for lunch, but I was mostly just left alone. I did ask around about Samuel one time, but he was gone as well, which led me to assume he was driving the carriage for Cal and Porter.

  The day ended with Cal returning home and making his way to his room, stumbling to bed. Porter had disappeared almost as soon as they’d made it back. I couldn’t find Grimoire either, though when I asked he was taking a couple of days off.

  Since I didn’t know what else to do, I went to bed.

  The next day was much the same. I did manage to convince one of the manor guards to help me with practicing with the weapons. He reluctantly agreed to spar. Since he was used to a spear, we practiced with staves.

  My ass quickly formed an abusive relationship with the floor. The first time, he apologized profusely and suggested he return to his duties. When he looked at me, though, he reluctantly agreed to continue.

  As an experiment, I turned the Charisma dial all the way back down, and he immediately got more comfortable. Which led to him beating me much faster before he started to ease up on his own. His apologies faded to something more relaxed.

  I asked him about it, and he laughed it off, saying he just got into the training. I wasn’t so sure, but practicing with Charisma was not making me feel good. I wonder if some nobles just can’t turn it off? Or maybe a skill does it for them?

  I wasn’t going to get an answer here, and I had finished before Cal and Porter were due back. Instead, I decided to play with my new trait.

  Spatial Closet

  You are given access to a 5m by 5m by 5m space to store items. All items stored this way are stored in a vacuum and thus will be unchanged over time. Because it is a vacuum, living organisms cannot survive within including plants, animals, people, and anything that requires breathable air or light. Objects within can be damaged by other objects inside.

  Looking it over, I didn’t really see too many issues. I couldn’t store anything living, but books and food should be fine, right?

  I tried to open it. The process was a little weird. I could open it like a door. It was even large enough for me to walk into. I almost considered stepping inside to check it out, and my brain practically screamed at me to stop. Every warning signal in my body went off at once and I had backed into a wall before stopping.

  The door to the Spatial Closet had closed as soon as I’d stepped away, but that fear. I KNEW something about it. Enough to know that the warning was underselling how dangerous it was.

  Hesitantly, I opened it again, and reached into it. It was… cold. Not freezing, but it was like temperature didn’t exist inside.

  I reached over to the desk and put a book into it. It vanished, and I could mentally sense how full it was. I checked the menus and found a new tab that was available to me. It was, appropriately, labeled Inventory.

  Inside was History of Greathall. I concentrated on it and opened the Spatial Closet again. I reached in and the book dropped into my hand. I closed it and examined the book.

  It was cold, but not painfully so. Nothing else about it had changed. I flipped through it and the pages were fine.

  I put a few more things in: A chair, a pen, several sheets of paper, the two treatise I kept going back through to try and retain the information, and a glass of water.

  Everything was fine, until the water.

  Once the water went in, the glass turned into ‘shards of glass’ and the water turned to ‘ice’. That… was concerning, and as I took them out I was careful not to injury myself. Frowning, I thought about why it did that, and considered it. Was it because it was an open container?

  I didn’t have any bottles or anything to test it with, so that’d have to wait. Instead, I pulled the chair out and returned it to where it belonged.

  “Well, that’s interesting, but not immediately useful.” I went to where my tonfas lay in my room, and looked at them. I put them in, and considered it done. If I was asked where they went, I’d just ‘go get them’.

  I looked up at the ceiling of my room, “Keeping secrets is exhausting.”

  “It can be.”

  I practically jumped out of my skin at the sound of the voice. I whipped my head around to see who it was.

  Surprisingly, it was Porter.

  “How long were you standing there?” I asked as I tried to calm my heart.

  “When you pulled the chair out of nowhere.” He said, calmly. His posture read as ‘unconcerned and casual’ but I did notice his one hand was close enough to his sword to easily draw.

  My notifications started blinking in the corner of my vision and I closed my eyes as I took a steadying breath.

  “You’re still bad at that.” I opened my eyes and he had a faint smile on.

  Sighing, I sat down on the chair he’d saw me pull out. “You going to tell Cal?”

  Porter shook his head, “Not my job. Besides, I think you will yourself when you’re ready.”

  My brows furrowed and I avoided his gaze. “So, why’re you here?”

  “Geraldine. She was shaken pretty badly, and we can’t figure out why. Since she was going to talk to you…” He trailed off, accusing without saying it.

  “I felt her using something on me. I asked her to turn it off. She didn’t know what I was talking about.” I explained, simply.

  Porter nodded, “Ah. You figured that out faster than I thought you would. Calmar still hasn’t.”

  I met his eyes and my head tilted a fraction of an inch as I processed what he said. “And she hasn’t either.”

  “Most haven’t. I suspect Toren and most high ranking military do. Probably several nobles as well.” He moved to sit on my bed, closing my door behind him. “They’re auras.”

  “Auras?” I asked, my confusion growing.

  “A number of classes can get them, either with traits or skills that have tiered up high enough. Instructor is one. I suspect Geraldine’s involves trust, likely because of her profession.” He laughed, “Most people don’t even realize they’re doing it.”

  I looked at him, and then dialed my Charisma all the way up to 13. His eyes widened, but he didn’t move. “How does mine feel?”

  Porter didn’t answer right away, considering what to say. “Right now? Sharp. There isn’t any focus, but… you’re angry, aren’t you?”

  I looked away, “Among other things.”

  “At yourself, right?” He continued.

  I sighed, “More than I’d like to admit.”

  Porter then scratched the back of his head, “Well… and forgive me for saying this. It is probably… close to that time.”

  I blinked and looked at him, “What time?”

  “The time of the… month…” He blinked a few times, “Core, of all the things to forget.” He rubbed his hand across his face. “I’m not explaining this.”

  “Explaining what?” I asked, turning the Charisma back to 0.

  “Nope. This is a conversation for Geraldine. Or Lucille. Hell, even Grimoire.” He got up and headed for the door.

  I watched him go and was left blinking in confusion. “What in the stars is up with him?”