I let out what is probably the biggest sigh of my life.

"What's next then, huh? Is the god of, I don't know, ridiculous circumstances or something just gonna waltz in the door behind you? Why do you all want to bother me of all people? I'm nobody! Just a random homeless half-eldra – or whatever the fuck I am now! Half-gorgon or something? None of this makes any sense! And besides, I'm pretty sure I'm homeless to begin with thanks to all this crap! All I wanted was to… I don't even know what I wanted to do, but not this!"

Joy blinks at my sudden outburst, clearly not the reaction he was expecting. To be fair, I have no idea what he was expecting, nor do I care. It doesn't matter.

"I, uh, buh?" is all he gets out at first.

Alice, meanwhile, has gathered her number around us, all glancing nervously at each other.

And I understand why.

She's been ordered to do whatever I say as well as defend me to the death… but that fae wolf thing is also her prince or whatever. She doesn't know what to do in this situation…

And neither do I!

"M-may I suggest some after dinner tea? Perhaps some… more relaxed dialog could help to ease this tension, yes?"

I'm surprised to actually hear the usually confident stheno stumble with her words as though trying to find something, anything, to ease the situation.

Joy shrugs at me awkwardly. "I don't know, maybe? I, um. I'm still the same person, Sadie. This… well."

…

"This is exactly what I wanted to avoid. You're going to treat me weird now, aren't you? I don't really care that I'm… whatever I am to my parents, or that the household staff treat me like this. And I meant what I said… I just want to fight strong people, like Master Omorth. By the gods is he strong!"

"I don't really care either, to be honest."

The one human among us is visibly dumbstruck by everything happening and I don't blame her. I'd be overwhelmed too. Maybe I still am a little bit, but it doesn't even feel like it matters anymore. If the gods are going to kill me, or lead me around like a pet or whatever, I'm powerless to stop them. That much has been made plainly clear.

And Olive… oh my poor loyal Olive, just sits on the table looking between everyone as though beside herself.

"Ugh, fine. Tea or whatever, I don't care."

Practically in a flash my handmaid has replaced the dishes on the table with a silver tea set, already steaming. Did she just have this ready to go? Was she anticipating this?

I have no idea, and I don't really care about that either. Maybe I've joined Lyra in the wrapped-around-to-resignation club.

***

It's another day with my party. We're small, but it hasn't hindered us.

Not much, anyway.

I won't let it stop me though. I'm going to prove to father once and for all that I'm worthy of great-grandmother's name, even if it wasn't the one he gave me.

We meet at the large rock at the edge of town per usual, and nothing seems different until Gattas arrives. He's a good leader, consistent and resolute, and his strategies always seem to work well.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

But no, the question is the strange newcomer he's bringing in tow.

Neborah and I both look on in vague confusion before our companion rapidly signs, 「Cousin. Temporary addition. Tank.」

And then he offers a single audible word: "Sadie."

…Which the newcomer takes as a cue to start talking happily in that strange language the humans use.

"Ert wol dis enkel!"

We all blink in half surprise.

…

「She's a halfling, right?」Neborah signs quickly. 「Did her mother not bother teaching her to talk?」

「Nope. Just the human tongue.」

The mage sighs as Gattas glances somewhat apologetically at his cousin – some strange hybrid between our kind and a lizardkin variant or something. Probably anyway, it's hard to tell with halflings, but the shape of her face and ears as well as her skin tone make it fairly obvious that at least some part of her is related to us somehow.

Well, what skin isn't covered in tan scales anyway.

It doesn't really matter I guess. She'll never belong here, and she shouldn't either. We serve the forest masters by defending the edge from encroachment, as well as keeping their least spawn from invading the rest of the plane.

They gifted our ancestors everything we have, and so we're too important to be diluted.

No, she'll have to leave. That's how it should be, how it has to be.

But for now, we'll make do. Hopefully she'll pull her weight, even if she doesn't have a Class yet. Communication will be an issue, but Gattas speaks the human language so it'll have to be his problem.

***

We've been in this dungeon for a few days now, and to be fair? The halfling actually isn't half bad at her role. It's clear that she's been taking some kind of training for it seriously, although her fighting style…

Well. It leaves something to be desired. There's no refinement at all! No question that it's some weird, personalized derivative of that dirty fighting style the humans seem to favor, focusing on opportunism and weak points instead of any kind of grace or skill.

As I think it, she proves me right yet again… the kobold whose attention she's been holding manages to slide its rusty sword past her defense to cut a gash into her shoulder. And in response?

She twists her shield to pin the blade into the wound and kicks her attacker in the groin, hard. Hard enough to make it stumble, directly into a clean headshot from my expertly fired arrow.

Disgusting, yes… unrefined, also yes… and yet, effective enough I suppose.

Maybe she can be taught, but we'll see.

She starts babbling again as she runs back to the party, all smiles despite her panting and bleeding all over her armor – which is far too light for a tank of any kind, but I suppose she's too small for anything better… The rest of us are all around the same height, but she must be almost a foot shorter. Plus, Gattas has shared that she told him her stats apparently favor a social build. So why the hells is she trying to be a tank!?

I guess it doesn't matter, at least for now. She's definitely trying, and it's clear her efforts haven't been completely worthless. Plus despite being in enough pain from her wound that she's visibly failing to hide it, she's still smiling. It's a good thing that Gattas has plenty of mana or she'd have run him out by now.

…

Still disgusting and unrefined though.

***

That diminutive tank doesn't seem to like resting in silence. She keeps on babbling in the human tongue, even though it should be clear by now that most of us have no idea what she's saying. Well, outside of a handful of loan words that managed to find their way into our own… and I'll admit I might be picking up a few more from her here and there.

Now if only it didn't sound so grating, full of harsh consonants and weird inflections…

Hopefully we won't have to deal with her too much longer and can just get a normal tank with a normal build.

It's been some time and my mana has fully restored itself, so I signal the others and stand. Of course, they stand with me. Our communication is impeccable as always. Sadie takes a moment to stumble to her feet though.

Yeah. She'll never be one of us.

And without another word, she pushes the door to the boss chamber open.

Our actual quarry isn't surprising at all, considering we've mostly been fighting kobolds in this dungeon to begin with. Furry brutes, not particularly bright but strong enough to be a threat to novices like us. And that's where tactics come into play.

They absolutely do, too. The tank does whatever she wants per usual, and we take advantage of the openings she creates.

What I'm not ready for, however, is one of the boss' guards to suddenly redirect its charge toward me. Enough that I actually stumble, for what might be the first time since my first dungeon run a few years ago.

I'm even less prepared to see Sadie let out a battle cry and run it down.

And die.

…

...For me.

Well, to the extent that anyone can die in a safeguarded dungeon.

…

…

I blink.

There's…

There's no way she understands the implications of something like that. Sacrificing herself for someone else, especially among us.

…

But I do.

And that's probably why, for the first time in my life, I feel a spark of something inside me, an ember of something deep in my chest that I'm completely unprepared for.

Especially not for a half-breed, weird monster thing that doesn't even speak my language.

Oh.

Oh no.

…

This is going to be a problem.

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