[Title: Marked by Fate]
[Fate has taken an unusual interest in you. You bear both its blessing and its curse, with no promise of which awaits you next. Your presence bends the odds, drawing extraordinary fortune and misfortune alike.]
Luke had an inkling from the very beginning that this title was not just a title and probably more important to him than his talent. He wanted to believe that he was unnecessarily overthinking but how could he still afford to ignore the title?
It was just day 3 damn it and he had already been dumped, kicked out of the house, electrocuted and almost mauled to death.
What concerned him most was the severity of events. Getting kicked out and dumped was not a big deal. However, being electrocuted and almost mauled were more serious events.
This begged the question. What was going to happen tomorrow and the day after? With every luck point he gained, would the misfortune grow worse too?
Luke stared at the number on his status panel.
[Luck: 3]
Three points, and he had already spent part of the afternoon waiting to be torn apart by a boar. What happened at ten? And at a hundred? Would he trip over a dragon’s egg with its mother standing right behind him?
He had been looking forward to watching that number climb. Now he wasn’t sure whether he was checking his progress or counting down to something.
"No. Hold on."
He sat up a little straighter. He was making assumptions. The title didn’t say the danger increased with his luck. It didn’t even say the two were connected. His talent increased an attribute; his title attracted extraordinary events. They could work together, work against each other, or have nothing to do with each other at all.
Unfortunately, the system had decided that one vague paragraph was enough documentation for a potentially fatal condition.
Luke read it again.
Drawing extraordinary fortune and misfortune alike.
The examination had ended with compensation and a funded stay in the Sanctuary. The hunt had ended with a fire lily and Emma becoming a D-rank mage.
Both were good outcomes. Neither had felt particularly fortunate while he was screaming for help.
Was his luck the reason those disasters had ended well? If so, would tomorrow’s extra point make him safer?
He wanted to believe that. He also wanted to believe he could spend the next month eating expensive food and looking at attractive women in hot springs. Neither seemed like a sensible basis for a survival strategy anymore.
His gaze moved toward Emma. She was asleep, finally comfortable after everything she had endured. A few hours ago, she had jumped out of a tree because she thought dying might buy him enough time to escape.
Luke’s stomach tightened. Whatever the title was doing, she had been caught in it too.
He opened the title’s options, searching for a way to remove it. There was no unequip button. Pressing on the name only brought up the same description.
"Helpful." He dismissed the window before frustration tempted him to keep poking at it all night.
There was one thing he could change without understanding fate.
Garrick.
Luke opened his messages. He had ignored his own judgment that morning because Helena sounded certain and he didn’t want to make the situation more difficult. Then he had agreed to leave the stronghold with a man he already distrusted.
He couldn’t tell how much of the afternoon had been caused by his title. He could certainly stop volunteering for the parts that didn’t require one.
He began typing.
Before we go anywhere else, I want a different escort. Garrick is not to accompany us again.
Luke read it, then added another line.
This is a condition of continuing the arrangement.
He sent the message and leaned back. Tomorrow might bring another disaster. He had no way of knowing yet. But he wasn’t going to help it along by making the same fucking mistake twice.
Also, he had a plan to test something out tomorrow. Today, shit happened because he stepped out of the stronghold. What would happen if he actually stayed inside the safe zone and simply chilled out all day? Would his title still be able to fuck him up?
There was only way to find out. He would have to wait and see. With Emma’s rank shooting up, and his new plans, there was a lot to think about.
Luke had no idea when he finally fell asleep. He was mulling over many things when he fell asleep unknowingly. That too, he had fallen asleep on the same bed as Emma, right next to her.
Luke only realized what had happened when Emma woke up in the morning with a loud shriek. For a moment, Luke’s heart stopped.
Shit! Did she think that he had raped her or something? He was just about to start explaining everything when Emma hastily jumped out of the bed, fell to her knees and started blurting out things one after the other.
"Young master, please forgive me. I have done the unthinkable. How could I be so selfish and useless. I ate your precious herb. I failed to protect you in the face of danger. I cost you time and money and on top of that, I dared to sleep right next to you.
She wrung her hands, barely pausing for breath.
"You were exhausted. Your clothes were filthy. You hadn’t even eaten, and I just slept beside you as though I had any right to be there. What kind of maid does that? I deserve to be whipped to death. I-"
"Right. That’s enough." Luke took her gently by the shoulders and helped her to her feet. Seeing Emma having a huge breakdown right in front of him, Luke felt extremely awkward.
The thing was... he had already had this conversation with her. He had asked her plenty of times to just call him Luke and not as young master but that got him nowhere. He knew from the previous Luke’s memories that these women undergo a lot in their childhood.
Being a maid and their rules and responsibilities were drilled into them from such a young age. Changing all of that would be very difficult in such a short time. Anything he said now would probably be useless.
But he had to say something. After all, this was a person who was willing to throw away her life for him.
Luke sighed and tried something. "Emma, you can relax. First, you are no longer my maid. Have I not told you that already? You are fired."
Huh? Emma’s face started panicking. Seeing that, Luke quickly added. "Wait. Wait. I have something else to ask you. Will you become my personal body guard from now on?
Emma stared at him, her mouth still open. "Your... bodyguard?"
"Yes."
"But I couldn’t protect you yesterday."
"You awakened yesterday. I’m not expecting you to start wrestling monsters before breakfast."
Her gaze dropped toward her hands.
"I don’t know how to fight."
"Then you’ll learn. In fact, we are going to do something about that this morning. Can you get ready fast?" Luke smiled.
Emma clenched her fists. A new look of determination flashed in her eyes. "Yes, young master. I’ll be ready in ten minutes." She hurried toward the bathroom, then stopped at the door. "You aren’t sending me away?"
Luke shook his head. "Nope. You’re staying with me."
She nodded, and quickly made herself busy. Luke could only smile bitterly watching her do this and that.
Really, he wanted to ask her to become his girlfriend. That was the first confession he had ever received in his life. Emma was also very beautiful. Especially after consuming the fire lily, her beauty had actually gone up a notch.
There was more color in her cheeks, and her eyes seemed brighter. Of course, some of that might have been because she was no longer curled up in agony. Either way, Luke would have had to be blind not to notice her.
And she had said she loved him. He had replayed those words more times than he cared to admit.
Unfortunately, the woman who had said them had also just offered to be whipped to death for sleeping beside him. How the hell was he supposed to ask her out after that?
Would you like to be my girlfriend?
Yes, young master. What are my duties?
Luke rubbed his face. The whole thing was way too complicated and he was a horny asshole. He did not want to do anything nasty and regret hurting the one person who was in his corner.
Fuck it. Luke shook it off and decided to focus on the other important things he had in mind for today.
His gaze turned towards the spatial ring, Helen had given him. It contained some healing potions, and mana potions for Emma. She did not bother taking it out of the spatial ring and giving the items to his hand since Emma would be able to access them directly out of the ring.
Even if Emma was an F rank, she would normally have no issues opening and retrieving items from a low-tier ring. The whole process typically used a very very minuscule amount of mana. So there was nothing odd about this.
However, Luke had another question.
He technically did not awaken. So he should not have any talent or title. He should also not be able to inspect and get details about other beasts or herbs. But he was able to do both of that. Then what about a spatial ring? Would he also be able to use one?
Luke took the ring in his hand and wore it. He took a deep breath and then without hesitation willed for the thing to open up.