My Day as an Accessory

“So, are you happy now, Amelia?”
“Absolutely yes! Thank you so much for coming with me, Persephone-chan!”

“No problem. Now let's catch up to the others.”

Once again, I found myself in darkness, and I couldn’t see a thing because the bag was tied shut. Still, all of this movement was unnecessary. Amelia was swinging the bag with reckless abandon, and the other rocks were loudly clattering and crashing with each other and me. At the same time, she was skipping merrily, her footsteps pounding all around me, and all the while she was humming an upbeat tune. To call this noise unpleasant would be an understatement.

But still, I noticed that this girl seemed to possess an unwavering degree of childlike innocence, to the point where it was genuinely disturbing. If even being an accomplice to murder didn't faze her, then what could?

“Hey Amelia! Wait up!” I heard Persephone shout.

Amelia stopped. “Oh! I’m sorry, Persephone-chan! I didn’t know I was so far ahead.”

“It's fine,” Persephone replied, breathing heavily. “By the way, you should be far more careful with what you’re holding. You might break them by accident."

“Oh, oops. My bad. Speaking of which,”

Suddenly, light began to shine into the bag. I could see a rock in front of me that had been dislodged from its pendant. However, since I could only see in one direction, I knew the same had not happened to me. Things around me began to blur as I was met with even more light.

“Wait, you’re putting that thing on now?” Persephone asked.

“Oh, I’m sorry! I just can’t wait to show Arthur-san!” Amelia giggled as she placed the necklace around her neck. When the dust settled, I was able to see part of a wall and roof. It looked like I was now facing at a somewhat upward angle, though that did not last long because this girl couldn’t seem to stay still for even a second.

“Ooo, it fits perfectly!” Amelia exclaimed.

Persephone sighed. “If you insist.”

“Oh no!” Amelia gasped, looking down at the bag. “Sophia’s necklace broke! What am I gonna do?”

“Amelia, you should have been more careful.” Persephone said.

“But she’s going to be so disappointed,” Amelia cried.

"She’ll probably be fine. After all, Sophia has tons of jewelry already.” Persephone spoke in a comforting tone. “Besides, we can get it fixed later, right?”

“I guess so,” Amelia responded as she put the rock back in the bag before closing it up again with some string.

“The others shouldn’t be too far away.” Persephone mentioned. “The guild should be just around the corner.”

Oh goody.

But her comment seemed to be enough to cheer Amelia up, who started to run again. And when she did so, everything in front of me began to shake.

“Slow down!” Persephone shouted.

“Oh, right!”

While the two continued to walk, I took in a little more of the town. There seemed to be rows of houses on each side of the street. And in my periphery, I could see part of what looked to be a towering castle. However, I wasn’t able to observe things for long, as I was interrupted by the girls turning a corner. My view was shifted to another street, where the rest of their group was waiting.

It was the catgirl who seemed to notice the two first.

“Ami-san! Sephie-san! You’re back!” She exclaimed, running towards the two.

“Awww Kit! I missed you too!” Amelia replied, bending down to pet the little catgirl’s head.

From the angle I was at, I could’ve sworn that I saw a pair of human ears peeping out from behind her hair. And this was in addition to her pair of cat ears, which I could see twitching.

“Hey, we’ve only been gone for a few minutes!” Persephone chimed in.

“A few too many, as far as I’m concerned,” the princess retorted.

“What matters now is that we’re all together.” The boy stated, “Right, Myrtle?”

“Yeah, yeah,” the elf girl responded. I heard her footsteps getting louder as she walked over.

“Hey,” she said coldly to the two girls.

“Sorry about the wait, guys,” Amelia apologized. “We got a little distracted. Did we miss anything important?”

“Don’t worry, you didn’t miss much.” The boy replied, “We were just seeing if there were any good quests.”
“And did you find anything?” Amelia asked.

“We’re going to the mountains.” Myrtle responded monotonously, “The chilly and icy and bleak and freezing-cold mountains.”

“I was about to say that!” The boy shouted, “But yes, we’re going to the Eastern Range. Remember that hotel we stayed at?”

“Don’t remind me.” Persephone groaned.

“You mean that hotel?” Amelia asked.

“Not exactly.” The boy clarified, “The receptionist told us that another one opened up nearby. Our quest is to keep watch over this new hotel for the night. In return, we can have a room of our choosing that we can visit at any time we want. For free...”

“Well, the other hotel never rewarded that,” Amelia remarked. “And if it also has the hot springs, then that's even better!”

“I don’t think this one has them,” the boy said. “Just a sauna.”

“Oh poo!” Amelia exclaimed, “Well, I guess that’s ok too.”

“Can’t we just stay at the mansion?” Myrtle suggested. “It would be great if we could just do nothing for once, you know?”

What she said really irked me. Yes, it would be great to just sit and do nothing—that is, if you had a choice in the matter!

Additionally, these guys lived in a mansion. How? Pretty much everyone else I’d seen seemed to be struggling to even afford food—trading and working desperately to even get a single bite of food to eat. How did these people get a mansion? From adventuring? If that was such a lucrative job here, then why didn’t all those people at the street market just become adventurers rather than continue to trade for scraps of food? It seemed that such a question had never crossed any of their minds.

But I didn’t get to stay inside my thoughts for very long, as the conversation resumed.

“My apologies, Myrtle-chan,” the princess said in a condescending tone. “But Arthur-san has already made his decision! You wouldn’t want to disappoint him, now would you?”

“I guess not,” Myrtle responded softly.

“Excellent! Now let's get going!”

“So what if he decided?” Persephone interrupted, seemingly to everyone’s shock. “We certainly haven’t.”

“What are you saying?” The princess retorted.

Persephone let out a sigh. “I just think that we should be able to have a say in what we’re going to do. We’re all adults here—well, most of us are anyway. We can make our own decisions.”

“But Kit wants the sauna!” Kit blurted out. “Kit wants the sauna!”

“Persephone, are you listening to yourself right now?” The princess asked.

“Yeah, and honestly, Sophia,” Persephone said, “I think I can ask you the same thing!”

“I beg your pardon,” the princess, Sophia, asked.
“Have you ever thought for a second about how any of us feel?” Persephone asked, “Or are you too self-absorbed for even that?”

“Well, I’ll have you know that I—”

“What gives you the right to treat everyone the way you do?” Persephone's voice began to rise. “Why do you think it's ok to be such a jerk to all of us?”

Everyone gasped.

“Persephone, that’s such a harsh accusation for you to make." Sophia responded, "I’m just trying to make sure things go as they’re supposed to.”

“And how would that be? for all of us to be humiliated and degraded over and over again! Each and every time, you just let that happen.” Persephone's voice trembled. “And Sophia, you're telling me you’re okay with that, right? Well, I’m not!”

Not okay with what? What were those two even talking about?

As they spoke, the skies quickly clouded over, and thunder began to boom.

Sophia let out a nervous chuckle. “Be careful with what you’re saying, Persephone-chan,” Sophia said, her confidence seeming to waver. “You’re making me very upset! And you’re making Kit upset!" She gestured towards Kit, who must have been starting to cry. "And worst of all, you’re going to make Arthur-san upset! And no one wants that!”

“Who wants what, Sophia?” the boy interjected.

“Nothing, Arthur-san! Haha!" Sophia replied with another anxious laugh. "Just take the others with you to the gate. We’ll catch up!”

“Ok,” Arthur responded, seemingly unaware of the previous conversation. “Myrtle! Amelia! Kit! Let's head over to the gate!”

They all replied at the same time, so I couldn’t understand what any of them had said. But regardless, we started to move again.

As they were walking, the voices of Persephone and Sophia became more distant, and storm clouds that were previously above us quickly dissipated. I thought back to what those two said to each other. Did these girls hate it here as much as I did? I found that hard to believe. I recalled how they all behaved at the lake—how they swam blissfully in the resting place of an innocent they had just condemned to death. If none of them seemed to be distressed then, why should I be concerned about their worries now?

Before long, they reached the gate. It towered above everyone, with the adjacent walls making it appear even more imposing. But what the party seemed to be looking for was on ground level. At the front of the gate were some horses attached to a carriage, as well as a man leaning against it. As the group approached, this man looked up.

“Oh! Hello Arthur-sama! What brings you here?” he asked.
“We’re going to the Eastern Range,” Arthur answered. “What do we need to give you in return?”

“Don’t worry, it's on the house!” The man responded in a cheerful manner. At the same time, he violently punched the back of the carriage with one hand and clenched his fist with the other, not that any of them seemed to notice.

“Excuse me,” Arthur interjected. “But could we wait for some friends of mine before we go?”

“Sure thing, hero-sama!” The man replied.

“Thank you very much, sir.” Arthur said.

As they began to wait, I saw Kit’s ears passing by.

“Hey! Myrtle-san, carry me!” Kit exclaimed.

“Not interested,” Myrtle responded.

“But you pwomised!”

“When did I promise you anything?

”There was a moment of silence.

"Whaaaahhhh!” Kit began to cry. “Myrtle-san’s being a meanie!”

“What’s wrong, Kit-chan?” Amelia asked.

“Myrtle-san won’t carry me! Whaaah”.

“Well then, up you go, ya little rascal!” Arthur said as he picked up the little catgirl. Despite this, Kit didn’t stop crying—at least not until Sophia and Persephone returned.

“Yay! Sophia-san and Sephie-san!” Kit exclaimed as she ran past me and towards the other two. “Hey! Get off me!” Persephone shouted.

I heard Kit run again, followed by the sound of Amelia giggling.

“Hey girls!” Arthur called out, “Did everything work out?”
“I would say it did!” Sophia spoke in a smug tone.

“Yeah, I’m ready to go.” Persephone sighed.

“So everything's ok, Persephone?” Amelia asked.

“Yeah, I’m feeling better now,” Persephone replied wearily.

“That’s great! Let’s begin a new adventure!” Amelia cheered as they all boarded the carriage.

I could see that, in the end, their arguing was all for nothing—just a superficial conflict to be resolved in an instant and nothing more. After all, a return to the status quo was simply inevitable, and so nothing of value was gained.

The carriage was decently spacious, at least enough so to fit all of them. It had a roof but no windows, aside from a few narrow columns of support. Kit leapt onto Amelia’s lap and closed her eyes. The girl started to pet her, and Kit’s tail wagged in return. After they all seemed to get settled in, the gate began to open, followed by the sound of the horses’ feet clopping on the ground. After crossing the gate, the carriage entered a thick forest. As the town got further and further away, I began to have a feeling that I would be stuck with this group for a long time.

But that was not to be.

After a little while, Amelia turned towards Arthur, who was sitting next to her.

“Hey Arthur-san?” Amelia asked.

“Yes, Amelia?”

“Do you notice anything different about me?”

Arthur paused. “Did you do something with your hair?”

Amelia twitched in shock, and the necklace that I was attached to seemed to bounce along with her.

“So you didn’t notice my new necklace? Oh poo!”

“I’m sorry,” Arthur said. “I was just having so much fun spending time with all of you.”

That wasn’t going to work, was it?

“Awww. I forgive you.” Amelia responded, his words assuaging her far more easily than I thought they would.

“Now, can you tell me what you think of my new necklace?” Amelia asked.

“I think it suits you perfectly!” Arthur said.

“THANK YOU!” Amelia squealed. “Oh, by the way! I got ones for everyone, and—”
“Wait a second,” Sophia interrupted. “Give me that!”

“But Sophia, I-”
“Just do it!” Sophia shouted.

“If you insist,” Amelia began to take the necklace off her neck. My view spun rapidly until I was facing toward Sophia, who seemed to be staring at me angrily. “Here you go,” Amelia said.

“Thank you.” Sophia replied as she grabbed the necklace. While Sophia stared at me, she started to shake it, and everything around me moved violently. I turned back to shield my ‘eyes’, but I suddenly saw the pendant above me. Now separated from the pendant, Sophia stared at me again for a few seconds or so before making an announcement to the rest of the group.

“It's a fake," she declared.

“What!” Persephone exclaimed.

“How do you know?” Amelia asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Sophia stated, “A princess knows her jewelry. Ohohoho!”

“But why would that shopkeeper lie to me?” Amelia asked, sounding like she was about to cry. “He was so nice to me!”

“Amelia, you can be far too trusting sometimes,” Myrtle remarked.

“But I bought ones for everyone, and…wahhhh!” Amelia started to cry.

“Stop being a crybaby, Ami-san,” Kit remarked.

“You’re one to talk, Kit!” Persephone shouted back.

“Hey, ladies,” Arthur said. “Why don’t we head back to town and give that con artist what he deserves?”

“Wait, head back to town?” Myrtle asked.
“Of course, Myrtle-chan,” Arthur replied. “Why do you ask?”

“I have a better idea.”
“What is it?”

Myrtle suddenly leaned towards the row that Arthur, Kit, and Amelia were sitting in.

“Hey Myrtle! What’re you doing?” Arthur asked.

Myrtle picked up the bag from the floor of the carriage and threw it through one of the openings.

“Well, I suppose that works too!” Sophia exclaimed, tossing me out of the opening as well.

Everything moved rapidly around me as the carriage got further and further away. Passing into the woods, I began to fall down, and the world began to spin. This rush of movement was overwhelming, and unlike earlier today, I had nowhere to hide.

Still, I had a guess of what was to come. I was sure whatever place I ended up at wouldn’t be as stunning as the lake, even during its beginnings. The paint that was still obstructing my view certainly wouldn’t help either. But after all the movement, particularly all the constant swirls of green, a little bit of a break would be kind of nice. Besides, someone would probably pick me up again in the distant future, whenever that would be.

But I wasn’t prepared for what would happen next.

As I kept rolling down the slope, I began to see what looked to be solid ground, but before I could reach it, I hit a bump in the middle of my path, redirecting me upwards. I didn't think that would mean much. I would just end up a little deeper into the woods—not a big deal. But while I was spinning, for a split second, I saw what looked to be a young girl. In the next instant, I impacted her arm, and a bright light quickly engulfed me.

After the light dissipated, I saw the girl staring down at me, her face tense in fear. She was holding onto her left arm, which, despite all the green in my view, was glowing a bright purple. Feeling panicked, I flipped backwards and... Wait a minute; I couldn’t do that before. I began to sway a little, left and right, forward and back. I can’t believe it. I can move again! But how is this even possible? I turned towards the girl, who had a look of terror plastered on her face.

What just happened to me?