My Master, Annie (Revised)

"Hey, this place is really fun, but I'm hungry~!"

Night fell. Annie, wearing a red princess dress and a little red hood, sat alone on a swing in the grass, rocking back and forth.

Earlier that morning, the eight-year-old had been happily wandering and playing in the wilds of the Voodoo Lands, carefree as could be. Whenever she was in a bad mood, she'd bully the wild monsters for fun. Trolls, giant snakes, crocodiles—and that old dragon! Oh, no, wait. She'd burned that old dragon to death a long, long time ago. It didn't exist anymore!

The whole Voodoo Lands was Annie's backyard. She went out for a wander every few days; it had become a habit. Even though she knew the Voodoo Lands like the back of her hand, she could still find interesting little things from time to time. Maybe a pretty gem, or a cute little animal? Well, some animals were a bit big and a bit cute-looking (ferocious?)—but that was no problem at all for Annie!

What? You said the Voodoo Lands was dangerous?

For Annie, who'd caught a ferocious Shadow Bear alive at the age of two (Oh, my master, could you please stop rubbing it in?), burned a rampaging old dragon to death at three, reached Hero Rank at five, and was nearing Demigodhood at eight—and who played with fire as easily as she breathed—was the Voodoo Lands dangerous?

You had to be joking, right?

Perhaps Mystic Warlock Gregori Hastur and his wife, the Shadow Witch Amoline, were more worried that little Annie might accidentally burn some unlucky soul to a crisp again.

So, for the wild creatures of the Voodoo Lands, life meant not only going out to forage and avoiding predators, but also making sure never to enter the Great Demon King Annie's field of vision!

And if they were unfortunate enough to be spotted by Annie, they had to lower their heads and lie flat on the ground, never drawing her attention! They had to remember: little Annie was the greatest danger in the Voodoo Lands, the most terrifying demon of them all! Without exception!

Of course, all that had happened earlier that morning.

Earlier, while wandering around the Voodoo Lands, Annie had curiously passed through a suddenly appearing portal that looked like a barrier of mist. Then she'd arrived here...

And this place was Central Park, New York, on Earth?

It was almost dinnertime, and New York's Central Park looked rather deserted. The streetlights had all been switched on, but the stingy Americans hadn't installed many of them in the park.

The official explanation was: "We can't waste taxpayers' money!" So, with too few streetlights and all the trees, it was hardly surprising that the park grew dim once night fell.

Now Annie saw that there were fewer and fewer visitors in the park. Even the pretty big sisters who shamelessly lay bare-chested on the grass, reading and sunbathing, had slowly left after the sun began to set. And just a moment ago, the kind, dark-skinned aunty who sold hamburgers and drinks by the lawn had driven away her food cart!

Mm... Thinking of that thing called a hamburger, little Annie couldn't help swallowing. It was so delicious... She could still taste it!

It was a shame that the dark-skinned aunty hadn't accepted her coins or gems. That was so annoying!

Coins and gems couldn't buy things, but those colorful pieces of paper could? What kind of sense did that make?

Her Little Bear, Tibbers, had wanted to egg her on to rob the woman, but Annie was a good girl. How could she blatantly steal someone else's things? What would people think?

Besides, her mother Amoline had told her not to use magic to bully the weak, and never to steal things from other people! That dark-skinned aunty was certainly a person, not some kind of animal, so little Annie hadn't dared to rob her.

Annie still remembered going to the strange dark-skinned aunty's food cart at noon. She'd held out a fistful of coins and said she wanted to buy a hamburger, and the aunty had been quite startled!

The dark-skinned aunty, whose name was Jenny, had stared at her for a long time but hadn't taken her coins.

In the end, though, she'd kindly given little Annie a triple-decker hamburger for free. After all, a cute little girl did have certain privileges, didn't she?

Come to think of it, that was the first time Annie had ever gotten something to eat just by relying on her looks. She felt a little embarrassed about it.

Back in the Voodoo Lands, she'd always relied on her strength, whether openly or in secret—by threatening people in one way or another, or by conjuring fireballs and forcing them to give her whatever she liked for free.

That's right, give! It absolutely wasn't stealing! You'd better not go telling anyone.

Little Annie looked at the mountain of gems and coins piled in her Spatial Pocket and sighed helplessly.

Some of the coins and gems had been picked up in the wilds of the Voodoo Lands. Annie was always finding interesting little things out there. Some had been given to her by her parents, and some she'd spotted in the Gray Order's treasury and casually taken because they looked pretty. But a large portion of them had come from the lair of that nasty old dragon she'd burned to death.

"It wouldn't take Annie flying! It was a bad thing!"

That was what Annie had said at the time. After Gregori Hastur and his wife learned what had happened, all they could do was mourn the ungrateful old dragon and enthusiastically help Annie confiscate its estate.

However, Mystic Warlock Gregori Hastur hadn't appropriated his daughter Annie's spoils. The Gray Order was rich, after all. As the saying went, even a poor warlock wouldn't be short of money—especially not a whole organization made up of warlocks!

For this reason, Annie's mother, the Shadow Witch Amoline, had specially enchanted the pockets of Annie's clothes with a dimensional space, so Annie could store all her toys? Interesting little things? Shiny stones? Or... spoils of war?

"Tibbers... I'm hungry now! Are you hungry?"

(Tibbers didn't answer its master through Mind Stone, because no one knew its master's black-hearted nature and strength better than Tibbers! After spending a full six years at her side, it wouldn't fall for her acting cute and helpless anymore. Back then, she'd pretended to be cute and stupid to trick it into eating her, but the result... Sigh... Forget it, no need to bring that up! She'd only been two years old at the time! How had the wise and mighty future king of the Shadow Bears fallen for her trick?)

Annie sat on the swing, pulled her toy Shadow Bear in front of her, and spoke as she fiddled with its two furry arms.

Although this place called a park was a lot of fun—far more fun than the Voodoo Lands—with swings, carousels, lots of children to play with, and delicious cotton candy, fried chicken, and hamburgers... Well, just thinking about hamburgers made Annie even hungrier!

"Why hasn't Mommy found us yet? Tibbers... I clearly activated the coordinates! I think Mommy must have forgotten! How annoying!"

Annie was starting to miss home.

Whenever Annie got lost in the Voodoo Lands, she would activate the necklace her mother had given her. Within ten breaths, her mother Amoline or her father Gregori Hastur would always arrive at her side.

The necklace was said to be enchanted with all sorts of interesting protective magic.

Little Annie had never tested it, though, and had never needed to use those protective spells. She was a powerful mage in her own right!

The spell she activated most often was the spatial spell that marked her coordinates. Once activated, Gregori Hastur and his wife would immediately lock onto Annie's location and teleport to her side.

The spell had originally been meant to protect Annie in case of an emergency. But she often used it whenever she got lost, so over time she'd come to prefer calling it the Grand Summoning Technique! Summoning her father or mother?

Unfortunately, for the first time, Annie's summoning spell had failed today. She hadn't gotten any response.

(As for the fact that its master hadn't gotten a response to her spell, Tibbers knew the reason. This place was no longer in the main material world of Valoran, but in another, different world. But Tibbers hadn't offered its master any warning. It had finally gotten out for once, away from the safe Voodoo Lands, and it hoped this world would be as dangerous as possible. That way, perhaps it could get out more often!

You had to understand, back in the Voodoo Lands, aside from beating up that old dragon, it had been trapped in a toy bear for a full six years! Tibbers had once thought about ending its bear life. But when it considered how long humans lived, then thought about its own lifespan of at least several thousand years, it decided it might as well endure it! It was only a few dozen or a hundred years, give or take. It could put up with that, right?)

By now, it was slowly growing dark.

As the saying went, a big forest held all kinds of birds. At noon, Aunt Jenny hadn't dared accept the coins, but a gang of ruffians who would stoop to anything had spotted them. They hadn't dared make a move while there were lots of people around, but now...

"Hey~! Little girl, come take a look at this. What do you think? A lollipop! Do you want it?"

Three black youths with a disreputable air suddenly emerged from the wooded part of the park. They first looked around warily, then all pulled their baseball caps down lower. Once they were sure the surveillance cameras wouldn't be able to see their faces under the circumstances, they surrounded little Annie, who was swinging alone.

One of them, a black man named Bruce, held a big lollipop out in front of Annie. His accomplices, Andy and Mike, eyed Annie's pockets greedily.

The three of them had once worked at a jewelry store to steal gold. In the end, the shopkeeper had caught them in the act and promptly called the police. They'd been lucky enough to spend several years in prison, and had only recently been released on parole. They were still unemployed.

At noon, thanks to their experience working at the jewelry store, they'd recognized the coins in Annie's hands as genuine at a glance. But they hadn't dared say anything. They'd merely exchanged glances and kept it in mind.

They'd originally planned to find a chance to steal them, but there had been too many people in the park. Besides, they weren't professional pickpockets, and without the right expertise, they couldn't be sure they'd be able to steal the coins from little Annie's pocket without anyone noticing.

So they'd kept an eye on Annie and waited until now.

By this time, this part of the park had grown quiet. On top of that, the dim surroundings had made the security cameras far less effective.

This was their best chance to make their move!

"Look! It's a lollipop. Do you want it? It's really sweet! Just give us some of those coins, and it's yours."

Annie glanced at the lollipop, then at the black man Bruce holding it. After thinking for a moment, she took a handful of coins and gems out of her pocket.

"Are you looking for this kind of thing?" Annie asked cutely, blinking her innocent big eyes.

(Sigh... What idiots! Tibbers, held in Annie's hand, rolled its eyes inwardly. These three weaklings couldn't even fight worth a damn, and they dared act up in front of its master Annie? They were asking to die! They were so weak that Tibbers didn't think it would even get the chance to be let out, so it simply dozed off.)

Coins! And... gems?!

At the sight, the three of them immediately turned red-eyed, their nostrils puffing with quick, hot breaths. They thought: We're rich! We're really rich this time! With all this gold and these gems, they could spend ages enjoying fine liquor and women at nightclubs—and those adorable little bags of powder!

Bruce had just reached out to grab them when Annie nimbly pulled her hand back and stuffed the coins and gems into her pocket again. Then she hopped lightly off the swing, grabbed one of the toy bear Tibbers's hands, and skipped toward the park gates.

"I'm not eating candy from strange uncles~! Annie's going home, bye~!"

Seeing Annie about to leave, Bruce and the others panicked. Mike had always been quick-tempered, and he immediately pulled out the knife he carried and rushed after her.

"Don't be stupid, guys. Let's just rob her!"

They weren't decent citizens! Only a few days after getting out, they'd stabbed some unlucky guy to death in an alley over a few dozen dollars! Who knew if the poor man's body was rotting in the sewer yet?

Seeing the three of them blocking her way again, Annie tilted her head and furrowed her cute brows. She hadn't expected these people to dare treat her like this. It really surprised her.

"Hey, white kid, quit wasting time! Hurry up and hand over all the coins in your pockets, or I'll cut that pretty little face of yours!" Mike brandished the gleaming knife in his hand and reached for the pocket on Annie's left.

"Don't cut her, Mike! Don't you think this little girl's got soft skin and a pretty face? We might as well kidnap her too. Maybe some rich perverts with unusual tastes would pay a hefty price for her."

"Yeah, yeah! That'll work. Good idea! But first, make her hand over the coins and gems!" Andy also reached out to grab Annie's right arm, reaching toward the pocket on her right.

Bruce, who'd hurried over to block Annie from the front, had already tossed away the lollipop. He spread his hand and clamped it over Annie's face, hoping to seal her mouth so she wouldn't scream in fright and attract unnecessary trouble.

"White kid? Hmph! Annie doesn't like you. You're bad people!"

Annie nimbly hopped backward, easily dodging their clumsy attempt to grab her. They'd actually dared to put their hands on her!

"Mommy said that if I ran into bad people, I could burn them!"

As she spoke, she stretched out her right hand, the one not holding Tibbers, and opened her palm toward the three men in front of her.

"Fire..."

Officer Rick Grimes was a beat cop. He'd just finished his patrol for the day, and his beat happened to cover the Central Park area.

He could have gone home ten minutes ago, but just before clocking out, another damn cop had said over the radio that there was still a little girl playing by herself in the park. Apparently, she didn't have a parent with her.

So in the dispatch's latest reply, the station had said it hoped Rick would check on the girl one more time before he went off duty.

In this city, taxpayers were a powerful species. To avoid complaints that he was neglecting his duty, and to protect his already meager bonus, Rick gritted his teeth and reluctantly pushed back his clock-out time just a little. He planned to go to the place his colleague had mentioned and check on the mischievous little brat.

What a troublesome little girl... Maybe he'd have to find her mother, or take her home. What a pain!

Rick was hungry by now. He just wanted to get off work soon, go home, take a nice hot shower, and have a good dinner.

But even if that was what he wanted, he still had to follow his superiors' orders—unless he didn't want to keep doing this job. So, while complaining helplessly to himself, he could only trudge slowly toward his destination.

Finally, after wandering around for a while, Officer Rick turned a corner.

"Oh~ my God! Wh-what is this...? This can't be!"

"Hey? Gentlemen... I don't think you'll believe what I just saw!"

Rick pressed the transmit button on the radio clipped to his shoulder. He stared blankly at the scene in the distance and spoke in shock.

Actually, he was more than shocked. What had just happened not far away had completely overturned Rick's worldview. He could never have imagined anything like it was possible.

The first chapter has been revised again, and the first two volumes have also been revised. When I first uploaded them, I didn't know what I was doing, so the writing felt a bit messy and I had to go back and rework it. The VIP chapters, though, are much better.