I got up and walked over to within a few feet of Sasha, and her tail thumped against the couch as she looked up at me queasily.

“Sorry, Master, I didn’t mean to listen in… not that I really understood much of it… just, Master and her highness were having a conversation, and that’s more important….” I frowned a little at that reasoning.

Chapter 13: In Which I Stand In The Hallway With A Woman Whose Name I Don’t Know For A Very Awkward Five Minutes

It took me a moment to process that offer with a very hot and extremely naked Princess pressed up against my own naked body, but then:

“No.”

She blinked, tilted her head to one side, raising an eyebrow as she tapped my nose with her finger.

“I mean, no, sorry, your highness… anything that involves the death of Master is not something I’ll ever agree to.”

“Okay, I can respect that. What if your Master agreed to it?”

Chapter 11: In Which The Cards Hit The Table, Metaphorically That Is, I Mean Like, There Aren’t Any Literal Cards

I glanced around, nervous– how had she just disappeared like that? Valentine was huge. No, wait– why had she disappeared like that? That was probably the more important question.

Chapter 9: In Which I Share The Secret With Someone Else For The First Time, And Begin To Learn Something Even More Valuable

We stopped by another town on the way, at which Master said she had an errand– she did not elaborate, and no one asked her to.

Chapter 7: In Which Sparring, Which Seemed Harmless At The Time, Leads To A Great Quandary

I awoke in the morning the sound of a loud thwack, two objects impacting each other at an incredibly high speed. My eyes flickered fully open, body surging with adrenaline, and I rushed over to peek outside of the tent.

We stood over the fallen tiger lady… she seemed to still be breathing, at least.

Master stared off into the distance with a slight smile and a sort of vacant expression.

I blinked… I hadn’t seen that look on her since she switched places with me. “...you okay there, Master?”

“Shhh, quiet, trying to think, Master.” From her superior tone, I gathered she hadn’t meant to say ‘Master’… actually, maybe she had said my original name instead, whatever that was. Maybe I should try to read her lips next time… but how would I even know when or if there would be a next time?

“Okay, Sasha. Cast the spells you know, and tell me which ones you’re casting as you cast them.”

Master had released the control on my collar until sunset, and she sat in one of the chairs in our room, while I stood in front of her. Naked. I really didn’t get why I needed to be naked, and it was more than a little distracting.

“Mmm, I just know two spells: Fire,” I raised a finger and shaped my mana into the proper pattern, and a small gout of flame raised from my finger. I blinked a few times. That spell would usually just get a lighter-sized flame.

The Hero From Another World was overpowered, moving faster and with more strength than anyone in the world, in ways that trivialized combat with enemies... but that doesn't mean he understood how to navigate a foreign culture, much less change the systems within in it he disapproved of.

After gaining the enmity of his former ally Lady Wren, he complains to his rather dumb but kind slave girl Sasha that he'd like to switch places with her and live her comparatively easy life. To his surprise, she does just that-- and it turns out she's not as dumb or as kind as the former Hero thought.

Despite her betrayal and intermittent cruelty, the former Hero becomes convinced to work with her to end slavery as a whole, and becomes enmeshed with a power struggle that lies beneath the surface of the kingdom... even as they struggle with their own identity in their new body and role.

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Cover image created with Picrew’s “五百式立ち絵メーカー“!! https://picrew.me/share?cd=CSbCyez3YZ

Link: Lost Faith Title Page and Description

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The two were startled awake by knocking on Faith's door.

Link: Lost Faith Title Page and Description

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Erica and April entered their shared apartment in Concord, having just driven the four hours from Hargrave House. Erica had barely put down her suitcase when she felt a hand turn her around quickly. Just as she was about to ask what April wanted she felt the girl's lips press into her own with an urgent need. Surrendering to her own passions, Erica responded in kind, pulling April in close and relishing the feel of their bodies pressed together.

Eric Dunning was only twelve and in the last six months had watched his mother Erica waste away with cancer, eight years after the death of his father Jack in the early months of fighting in Afghanistan. Torn away from everything he has ever known, a happy southern California life with his mother and his best friend April, he is sent to the complete opposite side of the country to live with an aunt and cousin he has never met. Enduring one trauma after another, circumstances alter the way he sees life, God, and himself in ways he could never have imagined.

Set against the backdrop of rural northern New Hampshire in the 2010s, Lost Faith combines elements of coming-of-age, transformation, self-discovery, and romance, interwoven with a potential answer to the question, "Why does a loving God allow good people to suffer?" It is written as a companion story to the novel, Every Day is Your Last.