Novel The Death God's Daily Troubles

Discussion in 'Community Fictions' started by RubberDucky, Jun 25, 2019.

  1. RubberDucky

    RubberDucky Well-Known Member

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    Hi, everyone! Here's my attempt at writing a webnovel. This webnovel is also on Royal Road and Scribble Hub:

    Royal Road

    Scribble Hub

    Synopsis:

    "Starting from today, I'm gonna have a carefree life in the capital."

    Is what I'd like to say, but reality is cruel and the bills are even crueler. There are only two certain things in this world, death and taxes, and honestly, I'd rather die right now. Ugh. Welp, looks like I gotta get a job... And I just got out of prison too!

    Hmm, so what's the easiest job with the most freetime I could get that still pays well... Ah, I got it. I'll become a professor at the royal academy!

    Genre: Action, Comedy, Fantasy, Slice of Life

    Character Artwork and Cover Art:
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    Table of Contents
     
    Last edited: May 24, 2020
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  2. RubberDucky

    RubberDucky Well-Known Member

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    [Chapter 1] Prison Cells Are Way Too Hot During Summer
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    The Goddess of Love’s Underground Dungeon Modified Basement

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    The soft sunshine radiated in through the window, warming up my sleeping face as I groggily woke up to the cries of the birds cheerfully chirping outside. A moment passed before I slowly got up and stretched my arms out. The slight pain from my morning stretch resonated through my tired body, and after rubbing my eyes, I inadvertently let out a loud yawn before once again confirming my surroundings. But the familiar sight of the bleak stone walls surrounding my room, the cold metal bars to my right, and the small barred window that let the sunlight outside blast into my face like it was hitting me with a solar flare made me absolutely certain.

    Yep, I'm still in prison.

    I squinted a bit to stop the blinding sunlight from getting in my eyes and let out a defeated sigh as I looked down at my black and white striped inmate outfit for a moment before my sweaty and listless body slumped back down onto the simple wooden bed I was sleeping in.

    "I know I’m not in much of a position to complain, but prison cells are way too hot during summer!"

    Well, nothing I can do about the heat now. I looked over to the wall where the small clock that's been part of my oh so cozy home here since what seems like forever told me that it was about 10 AM.

    Hmm, 10 AM. That means it should be about time for my friend to show up. Coincidentally, she’s also my jailer, but let's just keep that to ourselves here. Ah. I just heard some footsteps coming down the stairs, which means she should be showing up any second now.

    "Hey, Ky, you awake yet?"

    What greeted me after the familiar voice was the sound of another yawn and the sight of a cute girl walking down the stairs. She looked like she was around her late teens with long messy hair that had a light brown color to it and eyes that gleamed a deep amber. Her outfit consisted of a pair of pink pajamas with white frills and she was hugging a small, purple pillow while rubbing her eyes drowsily.

    Oh, actually, before I forget, I should probably introduce ourselves! The young girl over there who always oversleeps, lazes about shamelessly all in her pajamas all the time, and pushes off all of her responsibilities to her assistant every day is the current Goddess of Love, Eliza Strateous. And the depressed guy sitting in his prison cell while being slowly baked to death from the intense heat because he can't cast any magic to cool himself off or even use an air conditioner because his application for one was rejected on multiple occasions due to 'budget constraints,' is me, the current God of Death and prison inmate extraordinaire, Kyle, or just Ky for short.

    And if you’re wondering why I didn’t tell you my last name, well… it’s a long story involving a lot of murder, burning souls as fuel, and creating things that go directly against this world’s natural laws, so I kind of don’t want to get into it right now. All you need to know is that, for now, I don’t have a last name.

    “Well, I’m awake now.” (Kyle)

    I let out another sigh and fluffed my pillow up a little before getting out of bed.

    “Great. Then for breakfast today I want my favorite, pancakes.” (Eliza)

    Eliza walked over, unlocked the entrance to the prison cell, then took out a metal collar with a chain attached to it and clamped it around my neck. After backing up and taking another look at my current disheveled appearance, she held onto the other end of the chain and let out a light laugh.

    “Alright. Onwards, Ky! To the kitchen!” (Eliza)

    “I know I’ve said this a million times already, but can’t we go back to the other method we were using before? Just some rope tied around my waist was working fine before, why did we have to upgrade?” (Kyle)

    “Yeah, the rope worked fine, but this is way more fun for me.” (Eliza)

    Welp, so much for being my friend. This is just cruel and unusual punishment at this point. I’m seriously about to cry here.

    Eliza showed me a toothy grin as I let out another sigh, and we walked up the stairs together while she followed behind me smiling and humming a tune. The kitchen was just around the corner of the entrance to the basement and we walked in with gusto before we were greeted by another woman dressed in a white blouse and black pants. She had pointed ears that signified her elven heritage and her platinum blonde hair was tied into a ponytail while a pair of glasses that gave her a mature, intellectual look covered her emerald green eyes. But despite how sophisticated her glasses made her look, the angry smile on her face right now was making her seem more scary than elegant.

    “Good morning, Ky.”

    Eliza tried to hide behind me as the woman greeted me, but the jingling of the chain attached to my metal collar gave her away.

    “And exactly where have you been, Lady Eliza?”

    Eliza slowly edged out from behind me and gave Olivia a nervous smile as I whispered to her.

    “O-Oi, Olivia’s really angry this time. What did you do?” (Kyle)

    “Ugh, looks like she found out about me skipping the blessing ceremony earlier this morning. I was sure that letting the high priest take care of everything would cover it up, but I guess not...” (Eliza)

    Well, as you may have guessed it by now, Olivia is the name of our Goddess of Love’s one and only assistant. They’ve been childhood friends since Eliza was still a mortal and hadn’t ascended to a lesser goddess yet. But honestly, I truly pity Olivia. She’s always taken the role of Eliza’s ‘big sister,’ so even after hundreds of years, she's still been stuck cleaning up after her messes.

    Ah, speaking of which, I should probably explain the whole thing about being gods too. You see, this world, Aias, is a world of swords and magic that looks like it came straight out of a JRPG. Aias was created by the Goddess of Creation, Gaia, who also took on the role of the world will, but shortly after creating this world, she fell into a deep slumber, so before she fell asleep, she used her power as the world will to create four True Gods that were absolutely loyal to her, held no free will, and would only operate to ensure the world’s natural systems didn’t fall apart, along with countless divine sparks.

    These divine sparks were Gaia’s gift to her children, a manifestation of her divine will, and also the key to becoming a god. Anyone who had a high enough mastery over one of the countless natural laws that governed this world and was also lucky enough to obtain a divine spark, either through sheer dumb luck by finding one coincidentally or through incredible strength by killing another god’s true body and stealing their divine spark, could use it to ignite their own godfire and ascend into a god. These new gods were basically there to help Gaia and the four True Gods ensure that everything was working smoothly since beings that lacked free will like the four True gods would never be able to handle mortal affairs. However, the power of a world will is nothing to laugh at, and using a divine spark to ascend into godhood comes with some unintended consequences. When you ignite your own godfire, it replaces your soul, so if your godfire ever goes out, that’s it, you’re gone for good. There’s no reincarnation after that since your soul itself is gone. And not only that, but when you ascend into a god, your physical body gets recreated using the natural laws, so as a result, your true body unconsciously bends the natural laws wherever it goes. But the soul part isn’t really much of a problem as long as you stay out of trouble because you do live forever as a god, the real issue is the bending of the natural laws by a god’s true body. Since the main dimensional plane of Aias wouldn’t be able to handle that kind of abuse, the new gods decided to gather faith from their believers and use that power to create divine domains, personal dimensional planes where they reside.

    So with the gods unable to personally interfere in the main plane, the solution they found was to create avatars that had limited power and send them down to the main plane instead of their main bodies, but creating avatars takes a lot of energy, and so naturally, the new gods started fighting over believers. Though, most of their fights over believers were done through their heroic spirits, followers of a god who are granted a portion of their god’s power and eternal life in exchange for being at that god’s service. Well, all this fighting eventually resulted in the current ranking system that the gods adopted once everything settled down. The world will, Gaia, and the four True Gods who received energy straight from Gaia, and were virtually invincible, were at the top, while right under them were the High Gods, who generally had enough believers and energy to create avatars, hire tons of heroic spirits, and maintain enormous divine domains, and finally under the High Gods were the Lesser Gods, newer gods that didn’t have enough believers to create avatars or hire a lot of heroic spirits and usually had small divine domains.

    Anyway, that’s enough about the gods’ ranking system for now. All you need to know is that Eliza, who's a relatively new goddess, was lucky enough to find a divine spark a while back and ascend into a lesser goddess. Unfortunately, she’s naturally lazy, so after spending almost all of her power making her best friend, Olivia, her only heroic spirit and creating a small divine domain, she basically did nothing all day and Olivia’s constant efforts were what kept Eliza barely afloat. Nowadays she just sits in this small wooden house in the middle of her tiny divine domain while always just avoiding total debt. I mean, I know I’m not in the best of situations myself, but it’s kind of sad really.

    Wait, what? You want to know what rank of god I am. Well, let me tell you. You're probably thinking that the God of Death sounds pretty important or high ranking, and you would be right. I, Kyle, the God of Death am a bonafide True God in charge of the cycle of reincarnation for all living souls in the world of Aias!... And, technically, eliminating any threats to Gaia, but considering my current circumstances, that part of my responsibilities has basically been relegated to the high gods. Now, if you’re wondering why it is that I still have free will if I’m a True God, or what I’m doing here locked up in the basement of a lesser goddess... once again, it’s a long story.

    Well, to start with why I still have free will, truth is, I’m not even originally from the world of Aias. Long story short, a long time ago I was summoned from Earth along with my best friend, Kazuki, by the Church of Light, which, of course, worshipped the God of Light, a current High God. Unfortunately, I was kind of an unwanted extra, since their original intention was to only summon Kazuki as the hero from another world to fight the demon lord running rampant at the time. And so, Kazuki was the only one blessed with the ability to use mana by the God of Light. In the beginning, I tried my best to keep up with him despite being manaless, but eventually... our circumstances changed and we subsequently set foot on separate paths. He went off to fight the demon lord while I was left behind because I was manaless, but due to a lot of murder and some, uh, methods I am currently legally obligated not to disclose, I gained the ‘ability’ to use mana, and got really, really strong. Like strong enough to kill a few gods. Also, due to reasons I’m personally not willing to disclose, I kind of had to become the God of Death to do something, and so after a long and arduous journey, I ended up using some more methods that I am, once again, legally obliged not to disclose, to kill the former True God of Death and steal his divine spark to light my own godfire. But when I finally got the divine spark, since I wasn't a creation of Gaia, I didn't receive any power from her even as a genuine True God, and right after my ascension, I had my mana and godfire sealed by Kazuki when he and the rest of the gods banded together to stop me.

    So after I got caught, the rest of the True Gods had to decide what to do with me since they couldn’t just kill me or they would risk throwing the whole reincarnation system out of whack. So they made me swear an oath that I would never teach another person any of the methods I used to kill one of the True Gods, since the world will had never accounted for the fact that one of the seemingly invincible True Gods connected to her would actually die, and subsequently, there was no system set up for a replacement in case it happened. Naturally, the gods decided that someone would have to keep me under surveillance too, but nobody wanted to take me since they would also have to take responsibility for me in case I did anything while I was under their watch and after what I did, nobody trusted that I would stay docile. Now, I won’t go into detail about how I almost cried when nobody said they wanted me, but eventually Eliza, who had just ascended into a goddess about a month ago at the time, made a bold decision to take up the role of my jailer, a decision which may or may not have been slightly 'influenced' by the promised yearly reward of some money and faith energy from the other High Gods for watching me, and that coincidentally is the only thing keeping her divine domain barely out of debt nowadays. And so, I became somewhat of an abused butler... err… helpful housemate around Eliza’s place and the position of the True God of Death was basically left empty along with the reincarnation system being set to autopilot.

    Ah, well that’s enough of that. Too much exposition makes my brain hurt and I’d rather see just how Eliza gets out of this situation again.

    Eliza turned to Olivia with her nervous smile on her face.

    “L-Look Olivia, how about we just discuss this later? I heard Ky’s making your favorite for breakfast today.” (Eliza)

    Olivia’s anger seemed to simmer down slightly when she heard I was making her favorite for breakfast today, and the glint in her eyes grew a little softer as she looked towards me for confirmation.

    “Really? We’re having omelettes today?” (Olivia)

    "Well, actually Eliza said she wanted panca- Urk!" (Kyle)

    Eliza pulled on the metal collar firmly clamped around my throat before cutting me off.

    “Yeah! We're having omelettes today! Right, Ky?” (Eliza)

    I saw Eliza shed a single tear as she watched her pancake filled dreams wistfully fly off while Olivia sat down at the simple wooden dining table and crossed her arms in anticipation.

    “Hmph! Well, I’ll let you off the hook this time I guess.” (Olivia)

    Hey! Olivia! You always say you’ll let her off the hook this time, but during my entire time here I’ve never seen you once ever punish her! This is exactly why she’s so lazy!

    Ugh... Well, at least it looks like today’s normal like usual. Just another lazy summer day with nothing happening, but, you know, sometimes days like these aren't so bad.

    “Alright, alright. Today’s breakfast will be omelettes.” (Kyle)

    I sighed before grabbing my personal apron from the hanger nearby.

    Now. I may not look it, but I can assure you I’m an accomplished chef. Food is one of the most important things in life, one of the three basic human necessities, and as a single bachelor for over a millennium, I’ve had to learn personally how important it is to be able to cook. The art of cooking is one that relies on experience, knowledge, and most importantly, heart. I’ve been cooking food for far longer than any mortal chef out there, so there’s no problem with my experience and knowledge, but without a doubt, heart is my greatest strength! In fact, I'm already getting fired up just hearing the growls of the stomachs behind me!

    "Ah. Looks like Ky's getting passionate again. Guess today's omelettes will be even better than usual." (Olivia)

    Olivia sat at the table behind me with even greater anticipation as Eliza deflated onto the table with a sigh while listlessly staring out the window at the beautiful blue sky outside.

    They say your cooking skill grows exponentially along with your time being single. And if being single for 30 years means you become a wizard then, although I can’t use mana anymore, I have ascended beyond even the greatest of arch-wizards. In fact, my chef level can’t even be read with a scouter anymore! It is one of my few prides left in this world that the only ones out there better at cooking than me, are the God of Cooking himself and maybe a few of his heroic spirit subordinates that I've acknowledged as fellow chefs.

    So, do you hear it my old friend? The cries of everyone behind us to win, their screams that they believe in us! I’ve already donned my sacred armor (apron)! All that’s left is to fight!

    This spatula will be the spatula that pierces the heavens! Come! Excalibur! Together we will conquer the real battlefield!

    It’s time… to head off to the kitchen!
     
    Last edited: Nov 15, 2019
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  3. RubberDucky

    RubberDucky Well-Known Member

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    [Chapter 2] Freedom and Loneliness Go Hand in Hand
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    The Goddess of Love’s Divine Domain, Eliza’s House (Kyle POV)
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    The first thing I did was gather the ingredients for the omelettes. I opened the ice element magic circle powered fridge and grabbed a couple of fresh eggs, various spices, salt, and some strips of bacon. I first chopped the bacon into fine pieces, and then after mixing the eggs, spices, and a pinch of salt to a perfectly uniform consistency, I opened the drawer next to the stove and picked up two red crystals.

    You see, in Aias, technology hasn't exactly advanced to the level of Earth’s, but in exchange, the study of alchemy, which refers to mainly magic circles and formations along with the materials used with them, has taken its place. Everyday appliances like the fridge that's being kept cool by a magic circle under it constantly lowering the temperature inside, and the red crystals, called ignition crystals, that I'm about to light the stove with, are what replaced technology in Aias. Most of these things, like, for example, the ignition crystal which just provides fire elemental mana, can even be made by alchemy apprentices, with the more complicated things, like the magic circle powering the fridge, requiring professionals to make. The best part is, most normal alchemy circles for household appliances don’t use much mana, and therefore can subsist just using the mana in the atmosphere, while those that do use a lot of mana only require a source of some kind for the mana they need. This source can be a person, but in most cases, it’s usually just a refined monster core. So that means, as long as I have monster cores, even a manaless like me can use them as much as I want.

    I put one of the ignition crystals into the slots on the side of the stove and after turning it on, a small fire appeared on the stovetop. Then I grabbed a large frying pan from the rack next to the stove before starting to melt a small amount of butter on it. After approximately 30 seconds, the melted butter formed a thin layer across bottom of the pan and I scattered the diced bacon bits around. A few more moments passed as I let the bacon cook a bit before slowly pouring the egg mixture into the frying pan.

    Sizzling noises and the delicious aroma of a bacon omelette spread to the table behind me before the glint in my eyes turned sharp as I wielded my spatula. Now, it was time for my trusty Excalibur to make his appearance. I first made sure the omelette was cooked evenly, then carefully folded the edges of the omelette over with precision beyond even the most skilled surgeons back in my world. After folding the omelette over perfectly, I let it sizzle in the pan for a few more seconds before I decided it was time for the finale. I placed a plate on the counter nearby and flipped the omelette high into the air as the wind generated by the sudden movement of the frying pan caused the flames from the stove underneath to flare up after it.

    It was fast! The fire itself seemed to want to devour the perfectly crisp omelette, however, while the fire was fast, my Excalibur was still faster! I tightened my grip on Excalibur before my arm let out a burst of acceleration.

    "Secret Technique! Swallow Reversal!" (Kyle)

    In an instant, my Excalibur had sliced through the omelette to split it into three perfectly even pieces while my other hand let go of the frying pan, grabbed the plate, and caught all three pieces of the omelette perfectly.

    I turned around smoothly and placed the plate onto the table where Eliza and Olivia were sitting as the flames died down behind me. Eliza was still out of it, but Olivia was clapping as she looked anticipatingly at the omelette. I gave a smug smile at the work of art I had just created before turning around with my eyes closed and taking off my imaginary headband.

    "It wasn't mu-" (Kyle)

    I froze. And it was at that moment that I realized I had miscalculated. While wallowing in my excitement and pride, I had forgotten something very important.

    I had forgotten about the frying pan.

    I instantly opened my eyes hoping to catch it before it broke anything in the kitchen, however, it was too late. What I opened my eyes to was not the sight of the familiar kitchen I had grown accustomed to, but the shadow of a flying frying pan centimeters away from my face.

    The only thing the frying pan was going to break was my skull.

    A sickening bonk sounded out in the kitchen as the frying pan smashed into my face like a meteor, and there was complete and utter silence for a second after I fell backward onto the floor with the frying pan rolling next to me. A moment later, Eliza fell off her chair and was rolling on the ground while hysterically laughing as Olivia came over to help me up.

    "Are you ok, Ky? Are you hurt anywhere?" (Olivia)

    I looked up at Olivia who had crouched over my body and put her left hand on my head with a worried look on her face.

    "You know, you might have looked more like an angel if you weren't eating with your other hand." (Kyle)

    Yep, in Olivia's right hand was an empty fork which used to have a piece of the omelette on it. That particular piece of omelette was now inside her mouth as she helped me up off the floor.

    Looks like my food is more important to her than my well being. Am I really that worthless to you, Olivia? I'm gonna cry you know!

    As my tear ducts began to fill up again, Eliza's laughter finally died down and she rolled over to me on the floor.

    "Well, looks like you're ok. It's a good thing that your skull is the thickest one out of all of ours." (Eliza)

    In case you're wondering what Eliza means, she's talking about how hard my body is. And no, not in that way! Anyway, looking at Eliza's physical appearance, if it really was that way I would have to go turn myself in at the station afterward, that is if this world's version of the FBI didn't come knocking first. But to get back on topic, she was referring to how I refined my physical body with the power of the natural laws.

    You see, since I originally didn't have mana, I couldn't use body reinforcement magic at all, and so, I was always physically weaker than everyone else. Even after I got the ability to ‘use’ mana, reality was cruel and no matter how hard I tried, I, unfortunately, could only ever use one type of magic, manifestation magic. So I still couldn't use body reinforcement magic to make myself stronger. However, after studying alchemy and magic circles to the point where I was a grandmaster in order to make up for the magic I couldn't use, the solution I had come to for my relatively weak physical strength and inability to use body reinforcement magic was to imbue my physical body with the power of one of the natural laws of Aias to strengthen it. Imbuing my body with the natural laws was basically like enchanting a weapon, but instead of enchanting a sword or something with mana, it was enchanting my physical body with a natural law, which in this case was the natural law of death. And it hurt like hell when I did it! I really felt like I was going to die, but I barely lived, and now the strength of just my physical body alone without magic or armor is on par with top tier body strengthening magic using mana. So in reality, Eliza is right, my skull is definitely the thickest out of all of ours. Trust me, it used to be way thicker when I was at the peak of my strength too, my physical body was around the level of top-notch body strengthening magic using natural laws, but nowadays it’s just sitting around my current level since I don’t exactly have the mana to manipulate natural laws and sustain that level of imbuement anymore.

    I let out a sigh.

    "Yeah, I'm fine. Now, let's eat before the food gets cold." (Kyle)

    "Okay." (Olivia)

    Olivia went back to the table while I got up off the floor with Eliza, picked up the, now dented, frying pan, and sat down at the table next to her. After a few minutes and some small talk, we finished eating breakfast and the three of us went to do our own jobs until lunch.

    Well, although I said that we all had our own jobs, the sad truth is that only me and Olivia were probably going to do them. Knowing Eliza, she's either just gonna goof off or sleep until lunchtime, and judging by how tired she was this morning, she probably stayed up late last night reading romance novels or something and will most likely be sleeping while I clean our small cozy house and Olivia is finishing the work that Eliza didn't do yesterday.

    I washed the dishes in the sink, then got the cleaning supplies out of the closet, and started tidying up the house while Eliza went off to her room to ‘work’ and Olivia went off the study room to actually work.

    After cleaning up the kitchen, the bathroom was spotless as always, the living room just had a few pieces of garbage left here and there by Eliza, and my ‘room’ had nothing to clean anyway, so I just wiped all the windows in the living room before going to Olivia's room, which was neat and tidy like usual. I made her bed and dusted the shelves full of old accounting books before wiping down the windows in there too. Next was usually the study room, but I decided to leave it for last since I didn't want to bother Olivia when she was working, so I went to the only other room left in the house, Eliza's room.

    "Hey, Eliza, you awake?" (Kyle)

    When I knocked on the door and called Eliza there was no answer except the faint sound of snoring, and so, left with no other choice, I completely ignored whether or not I had Eliza's permission and entered her room anyway.

    What? I need to respect her privacy? I could've just come back later when I got permission? Well, let me tell you something, Eliza never, ever cleans her room, and I'm pretty sure if I left her in there until I got actual permission to go in, which would probably take a couple months since she doesn't want anyone else to see how much of a slob she is, she would drown from all the random junk and garbage she throws around on the floor.

    I opened the door using the master key that Olivia gave me a copy of, and, as expected, Eliza was fast asleep in her pajamas hugging onto the same fluffy purple pillow she had earlier. Scattered around her were several romance novels and some empty snack bags. I cleaned up all the snack bags on the bed, put the books back on the shelf, put a blanket over Eliza, cleaned the windows, and tidied up the messy mountain of paperwork that Eliza had left on her desk. The slight jingling of the chain on the collar still clamped around my neck as I moved around made Eliza mumble a bit before rolling around, but she still stayed asleep in the end. Well, at least she wasn't snoring anymore.

    I still don't understand though. Why even have this collar on me if you're not gonna use it anyway! It's just humiliation play at this point.

    After making sure everything was clean in Eliza's room, I went to the study room and knocked on the door.

    "Olivia, do you mind if I come in to clean." (Kyle)

    "No problem. Come right in, Ky." (Olivia)

    I opened the door and saw Olivia seated at the desk doing some paperwork. She seemed pretty focused on her work though, so I quickly cleaned everything around her before I glanced at the clock. It was almost noon.

    "Olivia, it's about time for lunch. I'll go wake up Eliza, so just meet me in the kitchen in a couple of minutes." (Kyle)

    "... Sure." (Olivia)

    I left the study room and returned to Eliza's room where I tried in vain to wake her up. So after failing to wake her up, I just decided to carry her back to the kitchen. I heard her mumble some stuff again in her sleep, including my name once or twice, while she curled up closer to me in my arms, but it seemed that she was still dreaming about her constant emotional abuse of me when we got to the kitchen and I put Eliza down onto a chair before starting to make lunch.

    I decided that today's lunch would be grilled cheese sandwiches, and so, after having left the new frying pan on the stove this time, I made some simple grilled cheese sandwiches. I placed the plates with the grilled cheese sandwiches on the table as Olivia walked into the kitchen and sighed once she saw that Eliza was asleep again.

    "Lady Eliza, wake up already! It's lunchtime! You’ve been sleeping since breakfast!" (Olivia)

    Olivia shook Eliza until she woke up with a yawn. Eliza rubbed her eyes then smiled when saw the grilled cheese sandwiches.

    "Yay! Looks like it's grilled cheese for lunch today." (Eliza)

    Well, I felt bad for Eliza after the whole pancakes episode this morning, so I thought I would at least make up for it with her favorite for lunch, grilled cheese.

    After we ate lunch, I went outside to trim the hedges and weed the garden, while Olivia dragged Eliza with her to apparently discuss something important. Eh, it's probably just gonna be her nagging Eliza for skipping out on work again, or maybe she finally found out about Eliza eating the pudding that she tried to hide it in the back of the fridge.
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    Eliza’s House, Study Room (Olivia POV)
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    I honestly felt a little out of it as I dragged Lady Eliza to the study room with mixed feelings, but there was something important I had to discuss with her. Something that would change our lives forever. I sat down in the chair in the study room as I faced Lady Eliza kneeling on the floor.

    "Wait, Olivia, I swear it wasn't my fault that the pudding that you hid at the back of the fridge disappeared three days ago!" (Eliza)

    "Wait, what! I knew it was you! It was even my favorite flavor!" (Olivia)

    I felt the urge to berate Lady Eliza bubble up inside of me, but I resisted it and calmed down my emotions after a moment. I don't know if it was the somber expression on my face that gave it away, but it seemed like Lady Eliza realized it was actually something important this time. She got up and looked at me with a serious face as I took a deep breath.

    "I'm angry... but that's not what I have to talk to you about right now." (Olivia)

    "What is it then?" (Eliza)

    "... It's about Ky. I got word from his highness, the God of Light, that... Ky's sentence is up. His highness told me that the deal he made with Ky was that he would be restrained for a thousand years, and if he didn't do anything wrong during that time, then he would be banished to the main plane and granted his freedom again… At my monthly meeting with him yesterday... he told me that we need to release Ky by the end of today... He'll still technically be our responsibility, but... we no longer have the right to restrain him in our divine domain. And unless he does something wrong again, he'll have nothing to do with us anymore... I’m sorry I kept it from you for so long, and... I hope that my acting was good enough this time to at least give you a few more blissful moments together... but our time’s up... so… what do you want to do, Lady Eliza?" (Olivia)

    Lady Eliza just stared at me in silence for a few moments, but despite her blank expression, I know she was feeling hurt deep down inside because... I was too...

    It was a silence that felt empty.

    I don't know when it was, but somewhere along the line, Ky wedged himself into our hearts and the moment he made it in, this household went from a family of two with an unfortunate guest, to a family of three.

    I can't even imagine what it will be like without him.

    There'll be no more fun shenanigans anymore, there'll be no more laughter echoing through the house every day, and we won't be able to taste the cooking we've grown to love anymore.

    Honestly, I'm scared...

    Scared that we'll feel alone again...

    Scared that things will never be the same anymore...

    I stared back at Lady Eliza.

    "... So what should we do, Lady Eli-" (Olivia)

    "Just let Ky go then." (Eliza)

    Lady Eliza cut me off before turning around to face the door. She tried to act strong, but I could see her trembling.

    "... He's suffered enough, hasn’t he?... If the God of Light says Ky's punishment is over… then it's over… We'll send him back to the main plane later. Anyway, if he still technically under our watch, that means we'll still get the money and faith energy, right? It won't be that different around here, it's just that... Ky will be gone... If we want someone to clean up the house, we can just hire a maid, and we don't even need to eat in the first place, so we can save some more money since we won't need the kitchen anymore. And if we really want some good food, we can just ask the God of Cooking... I bet his cooking's ten times better than Ky's." (Eliza)

    Lady Eliza slowly twirled around to face me with a trembling smile, but it couldn't hide the tears flowing down her face.

    "...Everything will be fine... Right, Olivia?" (Eliza)

    After I saw that, I couldn't hold it in anymore either. I got up and hugged Lady Eliza, while my own tears dripped down onto her face. I don't even know how long we stood there, but after what seemed like an eternity, eventually, we stopped crying. We wiped away the tears and got ourselves ready to go release Ky.

    We had to be strong… for his sake too...
    [​IMG]
    Eliza’s House, Living Room (Kyle POV)
    [​IMG]
    Whew, finally finished tending to the garden and trimming the hedges into shape. It’s quite some fine craftsmanship too if I do say so myself.

    It was just past 6 PM when I stepped back into the house and called out to Eliza and Olivia.

    "Eliza, Olivia, are you there? I'll be making dinner in about an hour so don't forget to come down." (Kyle)

    A moment of silence passed by before both of them actually showed up from the direction of the study room. For some reason, they had formal clothes on and Olivia faced me with a serious expression, while Eliza stood next to her with a similar one. I immediately got concerned and put on a serious face myself.

    "Hey, what's going on?" (Kyle)

    "Actually, Ky... we have something important we have to do together. Here, change into these clothes and meet us outside at the ritual grounds." (Olivia)

    Olivia handed me a set of common clothes you could find anywhere. Just a white shirt, some brown pants, and a pair of shoes.

    "Sure. I'll be out in a few minutes then." (Kyle)

    I saw Eliza and Olivia walk away as I went back down to the basement to change.

    That was a bit weird... Hopefully they just need me for some formal ceremony or something. Maybe another god is coming over... Yeah, that's probably it. After all, I can't show up in front of another god wearing a striped inmate outfit, can I?

    I quickly changed into the set of common clothes, albeit with a little difficulty due to the metal collar still clamped around my neck, as a sense of foreboding overtook me before I slowly walked outside and met them at the ritual grounds in the backyard.

    The ritual grounds were just a stone platform with a row of hedges around them. It was supposed to be used for formal events, rituals, or to receive guests in Eliza's divine domain, but she rarely ever uses it since not many people come over to visit anyway.

    I saw both of them standing at the ritual grounds. Olivia was holding a backpack, which she handed to me as I came over.

    "Here, Ky take this." (Olivia)

    "What's this?" (Kyle)

    I opened the bag to find my apron, a bunch of my cooking equipment, including my trusty Excalibur, a map, and a small pouch of what seemed to be money.

    "This is all we can give you for now, Ky... Sorry..." (Olivia)

    Hey... this can't be happening, right? It isn't what I think it is, right?

    I looked at Olivia in shock, then over to Eliza as she slowly walked over to me. She stood in front of me for a second in silence before flashing a toothy grin and unlocking my collar.

    The breeze that blew by made my neck feel cold. Colder than usual.

    "Alright Ky, as of now, you're free to go. We just heard from the God of Light that your sentence is over, so we have to send you back to the main plane, but you're basically still on probation, so don't go around doing anything bad anymore, ok? Don't worry about us, we're still getting money and faith energy from the God of Light, so the truth is, without having to spend any of it taking care of you, we're saving a lot. We probably won't even have to think about being in debt from now on, right Olivia?" (Eliza)

    "Yeah..." (Olivia)

    Eliza dryly laughed a little as she stood there, while Olivia clapped and smiled back at Eliza.

    Oi, you two, don't even try it...

    Eliza, you're an awful actor, just stop it. Your fake smile isn't showing in your eyes, the sides of your mouth are too tilted, and your fists are clenched! Olivia, your eyes are lifeless too, there’s way too much tension in your smile, and your hands are trembling while you're clapping!

    ... Just... stop it... please...

    ... My heart is starting to ache already...

    ... You got me, alright?...

    ... The joke is over now...

    ... Let's just go back and eat dinner, I'll even make your favorites...

    ... Please...

    I desperately kept my tears from overflowing as Eliza started creating a magic circle where I stood before her voice started resonating in the sky, a sign that she was using her powers as a goddess.

    "As of this moment, I, the Goddess of Love, Eliza Strateous, declare that the sentence of the True God of Death, Kyle, is now over. He shall henceforth be banished to the main plane of Aias at the edge of the alliance's territory and prohibited from committing evil acts. Present to witness my decree is my Heroic Spirit, Olivia Faevaris." (Eliza)

    ... Fine...

    ... If that's how you wanna play, then allow me to follow along...

    I clenched my fists hard enough that my veins were pulsing. My nails broke through the skin on my palm and drew blood as I moved my right forearm to cover my face before finally letting the tears flow while screaming into the sky like a lunatic.

    "AHAHAHAHAHAH! FINALLY! AFTER A THOUSAND YEARS, I'M FINALLY FREE! I, KYLE, THE TRUE GOD OF DEATH AM FINALLY FREE! I'M SO HAPPY THAT I'M CRYING TEARS OF JOY! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" (Kyle)

    Only the sound of my own maniacal laughing accompanied me as the magic circle below my feet started to glow.

    But eventually, the magic circle activated, I was teleported back to the main plane... and the laughter stopped.
    [​IMG]
    Edge of Civilization, Entrance to the Zolran Mountain Range (Kyle POV)
    [​IMG]
    "hahahahahahaaa..." (Kyle)

    My broken laughter finally died out as I realized that I was back in the main plane of Aias. And after a moment, I let my right arm drop down to reveal my face covered in snot and tears as I fell to my knees and collapsed on the ground.

    "GODDAMMIT!!!" (Kyle)

    A rush of rage filled my head as I finally released my bloodlust again after a thousand years. The birds and wildlife nearby all scattered as the full extent of my bloodlust washed over my surroundings with an indescribable pressure while my scream echoed into the sky.

    I smashed my bloody hands into the ground over and over again, forming small craters that littered the area until finally, I fell down and rolled over to see the sky.

    It was a purple-colored sky. A beautiful sunset... but I didn't care...

    Because it wasn't the sky in Eliza's divine domain...

    It wasn't the sky that I slept under for a thousand years...

    It wasn't the sky that I cooked under for a thousand years...

    It wasn't the sky that I made memories under for a thousand years...

    It wasn't the sky where I found a family...

    It wasn't the sky which finally let me taste happiness again...

    No, this sky was purple during sunset... and the sky in Eliza's divine domain was always orange...

    "... So... in the end... I'm alone again..." (Kyle)

    I stared at the purple sunset in the sky which was slowly melding with the tears in my eyes.

    "... Always... always, alone..." (Kyle)
    [​IMG]
    The Goddess of Love’s Divine Domain, Ritual Grounds (Eliza POV)
    [​IMG]
    I finally let out a breath and looked down at the ground after teleporting Ky back to the main plane.

    My heart hurts right now... It really, really hurts...

    So why... why did you have to act so badly, Ky?

    You're not fooling me or Olivia you know...

    Your voice didn't have any happiness in it, your hands were bloody, and your tears were real ones.

    Your laughter didn't fool anyone... not one single person...

    I stood there for a moment before slowly whispering to myself as I started to tremble.

    "You idiot, why couldn't you just act cold?... Just act like you didn't care about us anymore. Then it might've hurt less... You didn't understand anything, did you?... Your skull really is the thickest out of all of ours..." (Eliza)

    I stood there for a moment as my eyes began to slowly tear up before suddenly, I felt someone embrace me.

    It was Olivia.

    Another moment passed in silence before I turned to her and we watched the beautiful orange sunset looming over my empty divine domain.
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2019
    Hazery likes this.
  4. Hazery

    Hazery Missing Member

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    I doubt that i have a time to read this today, so i just bookmark it at royalroad to read it later. Good luck!
     
  5. RubberDucky

    RubberDucky Well-Known Member

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    Cool. Thanks for, uh, planning to read this in the future, I guess? :blobpats:
     
  6. RubberDucky

    RubberDucky Well-Known Member

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    [Chapter 3] At Least Let Me Wallow in Depression a Bit Before Throwing Death Flags at Me
    [​IMG]
    Edge of Civilization, Entrance to the Zolran Mountain Range (Kyle POV)
    [​IMG]
    An endless purple sunset stretched across the horizon. At least half an hour must have passed since I last moved. I just laid on the ground and continued to stare at the sky blankly while my tears were the only thing keeping my eyes from drying out after staring unblinkingly at the sunset for so long.

    But eventually, I ran out of tears to cry. And I finally closed my eyes.

    No. Seriously. I think I’m slowly starting to die from dehydration.

    I've been crying nonstop for over half an hour after running around outside for a few hours in the blazing sun while tending to Eliza’s garden. And to add onto that, I went around smashing holes in the ground nearby with my bare fists. I even lost a good amount of blood after injuring my hands so much, so at this point, I'd be surprised if I didn't need some water.

    "... I've had enough. I'm already out of tears. I need to find water before I shrivel up." (Kyle)

    I slowly got up off the ground before picking up my backpack, which was thrown over to the side earlier. I opened it up and, after checking to see the contents were still all fine, rummaged through the cooking utensils before taking out the map.

    The first thing I noticed on the map was a big red X mark and what seemed like Eliza's handwriting under it. At first, I wasn't even sure if it really was her handwriting since I only had vague memories of what her handwriting looked like. But after reading the contents of the short message, I was 100% sure it was her handwriting. After all, only Eliza would be so bad with words and leave a badly drawn doodle of a smiley face at the bottom.

    Hey Ky, I've sent you down to where the red X mark is. Don't worry about me and Olivia anymore, we'll be fine. Olivia will make sure everything's running smooth around here like she always does. I promise I'll even clean my room from now on too. So just enjoy the rest of your life. And if you still have no idea what to do, then go to the capital city of the nearest kingdom and be a chef or something. Just promise me one thing, that you'll be happy from now on.

    P.S. I know you won’t just let it go like this. So if you wanna help me out as thanks for everything I’ve done for you, just go and spread love around or something like that. I’m not entirely sure how it’ll work, but it might help me get some more faith energy.

    The last bits of moisture in my eyes were leaking out as I held the map with trembling hands and stared at the messy handwriting.

    I really am gonna die from dehydration at this rate, aren’t I? I gave a big sigh and I looked up to the sky as my hoarse voice sounded out again.

    "... Hey, Eliza… What the hell do you even mean by ‘spread love around?’ If you want me to help you out, then don't be so vague! And I doubt anyone I find down here would even want to follow a lazy goddess who does nothing all day and has to rely on her heroic spirit to handle everything like you. Even your suggestion to be a chef is awful. I only know how to make simple homemade dishes from over a millennium ago! I can't just show up to a restaurant in the capital city and start as their five star ace chef! I'd probably barely even be hired as a waiter or a potato peeler in the kitchen. Hell, even if I did get hired as a chef, I wouldn't want to spend all day panicking in the kitchen anyway, a slow and easy life is the way for me. And lastly, don't make promises you can't keep. I don’t believe it for a second that you’ll ever clean your room!" (Kyle)

    After finally finishing my cathartic rant at the sky, I sat down and gasped for breath. The dryness in my throat finally caught up to me, and I stood there for a moment before deciding to go find some water.

    I looked as the map again and searched for the nearest water source, which happened to be a large river nearby.

    ***
    After a few minutes of walking it had become twilight. I caught sight of the river which looked like it had a pretty strong current going northwards towards a town nearby. I crouched down by the riverside and washed the dried blood off my hands, which had already started to heal back up. Then I rinsed the dirt off my face and hair, and finally drank a large portion of the river water to quench my thirst. The feeling of dehydration finally disappeared and I cupped some river water in my hands before staring at my choppy reflection.

    "Alright. I'm done." (Kyle)

    I splashed the water onto my face, and after opening my eyes again to see the stars starting to show themselves in the night sky, I felt oddly refreshed.

    "I've had enough crying, enough of being a god. From now on, it’ll just be Kyle. No more True God of Death… just Kyle, the guy who won’t cry anymore, the guy who's gonna live a carefree life running a small alchemy shop or something in the capital." (Kyle)

    I took a deep breath after my voice rang out with a quiet conviction, and I thought about what to do from now on, but it was then that I heard the faint sound of a roar.

    I looked up at the sky behind me as I saw the shadow of what seemed to be a dragon flying in my direction. Yes, a dragon. The kind with scales, wings, and everything.

    You see, in Aias, dragons are classified as monsters, one of the strongest types in fact, and the strongest ones can often live up to thousands of years. The color of a dragon’s scales classified what type of element their dragon lineage originated from. For example red dragons were usually classic fire breathing dragons that could even swim in lava, but they were weak to water and the extreme cold, while white dragons were ice based dragons that hated extreme heat, blue dragons harnessed the power of lightning, and so on.

    Dragons usually make their nests on mountain tops or in caves, and back when I was still running around, there were often requests made to the adventurer's guild to have teams of A and S rank adventurers chase dragons out of their nests when they were in inconvenient spots. Dragons usually don't do much all day except sleep and eat, just like a certain lazy Goddess of Love, and the only times they'll come out are when they're chasing big prey or fighting over their territory. Well, I'm just a tiny manaless human, so it'll probably just ignore me and look for some bigger prey.

    "Hmm, looks like it’s a dragon. It probably made its nest on the mountain and is out looking for food or something. Eh, none of my business. I should probably get going to the closest town, I might even have to camp out tonight at this rate." (Kyle)

    I flicked the last of the moisture off my hands and prepared to leave, however, as I got up, I heard another noise from the same direction as the dragon.

    On the small ledge behind me, the sound of faint rustling from deep in the bushes between the trees gave me a bad feeling again. My misfortune senses were tingling as I turned around and laughed to myself.

    "Ah, good thing that all my bad luck's been used up for today. NOTHING, and I mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING BAD will happen to me again. Ahahahahaha." (Kyle)

    I put my backpack on and turned northwards preparing to follow the river, but the moment I turned in that direction, the rustling sound got louder and I heard a panicked female voice followed by the ear-piercing roar of a dragon.

    "The river! If I can just make it to the river!"

    I turned towards the bushes with a distressed face.

    Then it was as if time slowed down to a crawl for me.

    I watched in abject horror as from between the bushes emerged a beautiful woman with short, crimson red hair. She looked like she was around her late teens or early twenties and firmly strapped to her back was a large two-handed greatsword that was almost the size of her, while her outfit consisted of some dirty, scratched up light armor that made it seem like she had been running through the forest for a while.

    She leaped out of the bushes and off the ledge towards me with a speeding red dragon above her.

    Then she glanced down at me and our eyes met. The expression on her face instantly turned to one of dismay. She screamed out at me.

    "Out of the way!"

    But alas, it was too late, she was already inches away from me by the time she yelled.

    I see. It's just not my day today, is it? There you go God, you got me, I give up. Like I said before, the joke's over now. So just let me go already.

    I patiently waited for some sort of miracle to happen, like waking up in bed after this nightmare, or for everything in my sight to actually just be an illusion and disappear... but nothing happened.

    Welp, looks like my entire existence was cursed from the start. If only that frying pan incident earlier today really had just killed me.

    I sighed internally.

    I guess it really do be like that sometimes.

    As I came back to my senses and accepted my fate, I had an oddly satisfied smile on my face, but the angry twitch in my smile and what I screamed out towards the sky afterward was anything but the sound of a man satisfied with life.

    "Come on! At least let me wallow in depression a bit before throwing death flags at me! It hasn't even been an hour!" (Kyle)

    Then, after I let out the last of my grievances, there was a loud crash, a splash, and the roar of a dragon.
    [​IMG]
    Edge of Civilization, Zolran Mountain Range (Aria POV)
    [​IMG]
    "I'll be waiting for you."

    It was four years ago when my father left me alone with those words and a dream. A dream to restore our fallen House of Irisveil to nobility.

    A year after my father passed away, the Head Captain of the Imperial Knights, a close friend of my father, returned to the capital and visited my father’s grave to mourn his death. But ironically it was the mourning of my father’s death that caused the Head Captain to discover the talent I had for swordsmanship, the traditional Irisveil style swordsmanship that my father painstakingly taught me every day before he passed.

    The Head Captain told me I was one of the greatest geniuses in swordsmanship he had ever seen and after discovering my talent, he let the Emperor of the Raidion Empire know of my existence.

    It was two years after the Emperor learned about my talent for swordsmanship that he presented to me an opportunity. A test of my potential. I was to go and slay the dragon that had made it home on the Zolran mountain range at the edge of the Empire's territory. The Emperor promised me that if I succeeded in slaying the dragon, then he would use my achievement as a dragon slayer to keep other opposing nobles silent and grant me a title of nobility along with a position as one of the Empire’s Thirteen Knight Captains, a position that needed to be filled due to the recent retirement of one of the Captains.

    And it was the morning before I left the capital that I saw for the last time, my friend since childhood, Max Almus, the primary successor to the Almus family, the Irisveil family's closest ally since the founding of the Empire, and it was also the moment where he confessed that he fell in love with me when we first met.

    I was torn at the time. One side of me wanted to stay, I was unbelievably happy once I learned that Max loved me the same way I loved him, but at the same time the other side of me wanted to accomplish my father's dream. In the end, I decided to finish what my father started first, and so, Max left me with the same words my father did.

    "I'll be waiting for you.”

    Those were the words that the two most important people in my life left for me. For my father, it was the passing of his dream to me, a dream to reinstate our fallen noble household, to reignite our ancient heritage as knights of the Raidion Empire, and to bring honor once more to the noble name of Irisveil. But for Max, it was a promise, a promise that he would wait for the end of my journey, a promise that he would not forget me even after the years passed.

    It was those five words that led the woman, Aria Irisveil, on her journey. It was her one and only chance to complete what her father had left to her and to also live happily for herself after that.

    And so it was exactly one year ago on this day that I set off to one of the several adventurer towns that lined the edge of the Empire's territory, the adventurer town of Delhurst. Delhurst was the closest adventurer town to the Zolran Mountain range and its purpose was to keep the monsters in the mountain range from entering the Empire's territory. Subjugation quests were the norm for the adventurers there and over the years, it’s grown from a quaint town to a small city.

    After I registered and started as an active solo adventurer in Delhurst, I completed subjugation quests day after day, and recently, I finally worked my way up to a B-rank adventurer. Being a B-rank adventurer came with plenty of perks, but the biggest one for me was access to the Guild's information about the red dragon that lives on the mountain range.

    The moment I reached B-rank, I made a request to the guild master for the information and I finally received the data yesterday.

    Today was the day that I decided to check if the information that the guild gave me was true. According to the guild’s information, this particular red dragon liked to sleep for days at a time during the summer.

    It was around noon time when I arrived at the red dragon's nest, a rocky cave on the side of the mountain, and the next few hours until sunset consisted of observing the cave.

    According to my own observations, it seemed that the information the guild had was true as the dragon didn't wake up even once during the whole time I was camping outside its nest.

    It was approaching twilight when I finally decided to start the trek back to Delhurst since the stronger monsters would start to come out at night.

    My plan was to come back and observe the dragon again tomorrow, but as I was looking at the sunset to try and judge what time it was... a terrifying chill suddenly ran down my spine.

    The sounds of countless birds scattering and the faint noise of what sounded like a roar came from somewhere down the mountain before I felt an insane amount of bloodlust wash over me. The burst of mind-numbing bloodlust only lasted for a brief moment, but it felt like a blade was slowly carving into my throat the whole time. My instincts were screaming at me to lose myself in fear, but somehow I managed to regain enough control of my body to cover my mouth with my hands and keep myself from screaming as I sat there drenched in cold sweat. However, even though I managed to keep quiet, another dangerous monster woke up, the red dragon.

    The dragon exited its cave, probably startled by the bloodlust earlier, and let out a deafening roar as it looked around in a panic. My legs were still frozen from the bloodlust earlier, and I could sense its mana spreading out to search for any threats nearby.

    When the dragon discovered me hiding in the trees nearby, it let out another roar before starting to chase me.

    I was in no condition to fight. I only had the bare necessities for a day-long scouting mission along with my greatsword on me. I didn’t have anything capable of taking on the dragon, so I had to run.

    I stumbled backward past the trees until my legs woke up from the impact and chantlessly cast body strengthening magic on myself as I began to sprint down the mountain as fast as I could while the dragon took to the skies after me.

    I ran and ran and ran and ran.

    Luckily the bloodlust from earlier scared off the rest of the monsters as I couldn’t sense the mana of any other creatures besides the dragon. I randomly weaved through the trees at a breakneck speed and used the foliage to try and hide myself as I ran, but my efforts seemed like they were in vain, as no matter what I did the dragon was still locked onto me.

    Time passed as I ran for my life and it was twilight now.

    After running randomly for so long, I had already forgotten where I was on the mountain and how long I had been fleeing from the dragon, but I knew I was reaching my limit. My body was screaming for me to stop, I was covered in cuts and scratches, my mana pool was dwindling, and my body strengthening magic was already beginning to wane.

    I desperately went through all the possibilities that I had to escape in my head, when suddenly, I faintly heard the sound of running water. Suddenly, I realized how I could escape. I had to make it to the river, the dragon behind me was a red dragon, a typical fire elemental one, so if I could manage to dive into the river, it would probably let me go unless it was hell-bent on killing me.

    As I strained my body to desperately work for just a few more moments, I spotted a clearing through the trees ahead and the sound of running water grew louder.

    There!

    As I quickly made my way towards the river, I faintly heard what seemed to be a voice and some crazy laughter, but the sound of my raging heart beat along with the roaring of the river drowned it out. I reassured myself as my only hope was getting closer.

    "The river! If I can just make it to the river!" (Aria)

    I broke through the bushes into the clearing and with the last ounce of strength left in my legs I pushed my body as fast as I could towards the direction of the river as the dragon followed behind me.

    Then it was as if time slowed down to a crawl for me.

    I looked down and saw a young man who seemed to be around my age. He had hair as white as snow, tied into a ponytail, a pair of piercing golden eyes, and a distressed look plastered all over his face. He had a slightly slender build and wasn’t wearing any armor at all, just some common clothes you could find anywhere, a scratched up white shirt and some brown pants along with a small backpack.

    Our eyes met and my face twisted in dismay as I realized I was stuck in a mid-air collision course with him.

    As I was a moment away from crashing into him, I yelled out.

    "Out of the way!" (Aria)

    But it was too late. I was flying through the air too fast and he was already too close to me to move anyway. I tried to maneuver myself into a position where I could hug him the moment we made contact and we could both dive into the river, but right before the collision, I saw the man shift his formerly distressed face into a weird angry smile and scream at the sky.

    "Come on! At least let me wallow in depression a bit before throwing death flags at me! It hasn't even been an hour!" (Kyle)

    Then, I crashed into him. I was expecting to hit a soft body before tackling him into the river, but in reality, it felt like I was smashing headfirst into a steel wall and I screamed internally from the pain.

    Argh! Just what the hell is he made of!?

    The last of my strength dissipated with the impact and all I heard before losing consciousness was a loud crash, a splash, and the roar of a dragon.
    [​IMG]
    Edge of Civilization, Zolran River (Kyle POV)
    [​IMG]
    I'm sorry God. I won't yell angrily at the sky anymore. I was wrong alright, just please stop screwing me over like this!

    I get it, the woman tackling me into the river was my punishment for pissing you off, but couldn't you at least give me someone who isn't carrying a damn greatsword the size of her entire body? I mean who the hell carries around a greatsword this big with them. I’m surprised she can even run and jump around so fast with something like this strapped to her back. Are you sure she’s not Cloud Strife's long lost sister or something?

    Once we fell into the river, the strong undercurrent ended up sweeping us along for a while as the red dragon that was following us made a sharp turn and flew upwards to circle overhead a few times while slowly following us down the river.

    I eventually managed to bring both our heads above the water to breathe after having to use all of my strength to swim upwards while holding the unconscious woman and her stupidly heavy sword, and after about 15 minutes of bobbing above and below the surface of the river while swallowing a few gallons of water, the dragon finally gave up on trying to eat us and left. I waited a bit after the dragon left to make sure that it was actually gone and not just waiting for us to just come out of the water, but after about two more minutes, there was no sign of it, so I broke free from the current and dragged both of us back to dry land.

    I checked to make sure the woman was still breathing and made her spit out as much water as possible before another feeling of dread washed over me.

    It felt like something very important to me was missing.

    And it was then that I realized the backpack Olivia gave me was missing.

    “No… It can't be... Not! Like! This!” (Kyle)

    I desperately looked up and down the riverside and even went back into the river for a bit to look for my stuff, but it was all to no avail.

    My trusty Excalibur was gone.

    I screamed into the evening sky once again.

    "Excalibur!!! Come back to me!!!" (Kyle)

    It was on that day, that I once again pounded the ground in agony and shed pain-filled tears approximately half an hour after promising myself to never cry again.

    After mourning my loss for about ten minutes, I finally remembered about the unconscious woman on the floor behind me, and with lifeless eyes, I somberly began to carry her to the closest town that I remembered seeing on the map, the adventurer town of Delhurst just down the river.
     
    Last edited: Nov 7, 2019
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  7. RubberDucky

    RubberDucky Well-Known Member

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    [Chapter 4] There's Nothing Quite like Being Forced to Form a Duo
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    Adventurer Town Delhurst, Calden Inn (Aria POV)
    [​IMG]
    The first thing I saw when I woke up was a familiar ceiling. I was lying in bed inside my room at Calden Inn which I had been renting out continuously for the past year that I've been active in Delhurst. I slowly pulled the blanket off me and rolled over to my side as I felt stinging pain from the numerous bandaged cuts and bruises all over me before looking around the old fashioned room.

    Everything was the same as I had left it earlier this morning and my greatsword was leaning against the desk across from my bed, but the clock on the wall indicated that it was currently around 10 PM. I moved my legs over and sat at the side of my bed when a dull pain emerged from my head. I brought my hands up to hold my head as I tried to remember what happened.

    The last thing my memory told me was that I was running from the dragon on the mountain. I remember was just past sunset when it suddenly woke up and began to chase me. All I could recall after that was running desperately for my life as the dragon chased me through the mountain woods and halfway through the chase my memory just cut off.

    "... What happened?..." (Aria)

    As I was pondering quietly to myself, I suddenly heard the door handle shake as someone on the other side was slowly opening the door. I immediately went alert as I spread out my mana to try and sense what was on the other side.

    Could it be the owner of the inn? No, he always knocks first, and I can't sense any mana signature from behind the door, which means it's probably either a thief or an assassin!

    As soon as I came to that conclusion, I instantly lunged forward from my bedside, grabbed my greatsword, and pivoted around before swinging it towards the door as it opened. My vision blurred from the intense movement and on the other side of the door, I vaguely saw the shape of a person, whose neck the edge of my sword was now almost touching. After a split second, I regained my visual clarity and shouted at the intruder with a grave tone in my voice.

    "Don't move!" (Aria)

    But instead of a suspicious individual dressed in black clothes and a mask like I expected, what stood in my field of vision was a man with white hair tied back into a short ponytail, holding a tray with two bowls of warm stew on it. He had an angry smile on his face and after a moment he spoke back to me with an irritated voice.

    "Well, it's a good thing that you're finally awake now, but are you sure this is how you should be treating your savior?" (Kyle)

    The moment I saw him, my head throbbed in pain again and a single vague memory of falling in the river with him came flooding back into my head. I instantly became enraged after remembering how much he made me suffer and angrily yelled at him while keeping my greatsword at the base of his neck.

    "You're that idiot that was in my way at the river!" (Aria)

    "Oi, it was this exact same idiot that had to drag you out of the river and back to town." (Kyle)

    "You wouldn't have needed to if you just got out of my way before." (Aria)

    "And how exactly was I supposed to do that? I was just minding my own damn business, when you ran over uninvited and immediately body slammed me into the river with a dragon on your tail! Even if I somehow did move out of the way, seeing how angry that dragon was, I'm positive that if he didn't eat you, he would definitely have eaten me! You need to learn to respect others more! I'm not your dragon bait! I even ending up losing all my stuff in the river because I had to save you!" (Kyle)

    "Why!... You!" (Aria)

    I took a deep breath. My blood was boiling from his victim-like attitude, but I managed to sooth my temper after rethinking the situation. With the unfortunate way things worked out, it’s undeniable I now owe this idiot for saving me from the river. I definitely would have drowned if he hadn't gotten me out. I forcibly held in my anger and took my sword away from his neck as I replied in an annoyed tone.

    "Alright. As much as I hate to admit it, I at least owe you for bringing me out of the river and back to town... So... Thank you." (Aria)

    I brought my right hand to my chest and formed a fist while bowing, forming a traditional Empire Knight’s salute.

    "Now that's more like it. Looks like even you have some human decency left." (Kyle)

    The man looked at me with an arrogant, smug smile on his face, and I had to reign in my desire again to strangle him. He walked past me to my desk, put the tray down, and pulled out the chair before turning to me and signaling me to sit opposite him on the bed. I sat down on the bed angrily, placed my sword against the bed frame beside me and faced him as I waited to see what he had to say.

    "So, it's nice to finally meet you after you've made me suffer so much, Miss Crimson Rose." (Kyle)

    A second passed by as I mentally reconfirmed that I had never seen him before in my life, and the glint in my eyes turned sharp as I grew suspicious of how he knew my adventurer moniker. I grabbed the handle of my sword again.

    "How do you know that name? I've never seen you in this town before, and only the adventurers at the guild in this town call me that." (Aria)

    "Well, I asked one of those adventurers at the guild of course! How do you think I found out what inn you were staying at? Do you know how much I've had to do just to get you back here safe and sound? I don't know what you did in this town to make everyone so scared of you, but when I carried you back, the guards let me through instantly saying that there was no way they would block you, while everyone I saw on the street while I carrying you avoided me like the plague while whispering suspiciously about me. And when I tried to approach some guys on the street to ask them some questions, they ran away the moment I made eye contact. The only way I even got someone to hold a conversation with me, if you could even call it that, was by sneaking up on him while he was loitering in an alleyway outside the adventurer's guild and cornering him. Even after I finally got him to stop running and face me, the first thing he did was take out his wallet and hand it over to me while crying about how he was sorry before pleading that I didn’t hurt him. I had to perform some ‘interrogation’ before he told stutteringly me that you were the infamous pseudo-S-rank solo adventurer in this town, that everyone at the guild nicknamed the Crimson Rose. He also told me that you're probably one of the strongest, if not the strongest adventurer in this town despite actually only being B-rank. After that, I had to enter the adventurer's guild because he didn’t know anything else about you, and it was only after 15 minutes of convincing the receptionist at the front desk not to call the guards on me and that I wasn't trying to kidnap you, that I got her to tell me what inn you were staying at. And that wasn't even the end of it! When I arrived at the front of the inn and knocked on the door, the owner actually did call the guards on me! He told them a suspicious person was loitering around the front of his inn and they seemed to be attempting to kidnap one of his guests. So only after another 15 minutes of sorting everything out with the guards did the owner finally let me in." (Kyle)

    I sat there speechless for a moment before I loosened my grip on the handle of my greatsword and sighed. I didn't want to listen to this anymore so I cut him off before he could continue to complain.

    "Look, Mister, uh..." (Aria)

    "Kyle." (Kyle)

    "Right, Kyle. I'm sincerely sorry for all the trouble I've caused you, and if there's any way I could pay you back for saving my life just let me know in the future, but I would like to rest for now after today's events, so if it's possible, please leave for today." (Aria)

    "Oh? And exactly where would I leave to? Literally everything I owned, including all of my money, was in my backpack which was washed away by the river when I was saving you." (Kyle)

    "Don't you live around here or something? I’m sure that I could at least pay for your stay in an inn nearby and some travel expenses for you to get home if it’s only a few days." (Aria)

    "Well, unfortunately, I don’t live near here at all. In fact, this is my first time even seeing this area. I only knew this town even existed because I saw it on the map before you tackled me into the river, and luckily it happened to be the town you were staying in, otherwise, we would probably still be on the streets around now." (Kyle)

    "Wait! Then what were you doing out in the mountains past the Empire’s borders if you've never even seen this area before!?" (Aria)

    It was Kyle’s turn to be speechless for a moment before he slowly covered his mouth with his hand and broke eye contact with an embarrassing look on his face.

    "I may or may not have been lost..." (Kyle)

    I was dumbfounded.

    "How can you possibly be that bad with directions!? If you came from the heart of the Empire, then that means you somehow avoided every single border town and went straight into the mountains unarmed!" (Aria)

    Kyle eventually sighed and made eye contact with me again, but this time with a bitter smile on his face.

    "Well… let’s just say, things happened and I ended up lost in the mountains. Anyway, all you need to know is that due to a combination of your actions and my unfortunate circumstances, I currently don't have a home to return to, or any money on me." (Kyle)

    His answer sounded really suspicious to me, and for a moment the fact that he might be a con artist flashed through my mind, but seeing the look of genuine concern written all over his face, he was either telling the truth... or he was an exceptional actor. After thinking it through a bit though, he was probably telling the truth, since if he really was a con artist, he would’ve just robbed me and left me for dead after getting out of the river, and in the first place, the fact that both of us were at the riverside at that time was just a freak coincidence, so there’s no way he could’ve planned all this out.

    I put a similar look of concern on my face before answering back.

    "So what do expect me to do? Look, I'm grateful to you for saving me, but I'm not going to feed, clothe, and shelter you for free the rest of your life." (Aria)

    After I finished my sentence, Kyle’s face shifted to a wry smile.

    "Well, you see, I already expected that you wouldn’t be willing to just pay for all of my living expenses, but fear not, I am a generous man who wouldn’t take advantage of you like that. So taking into account both our situations, I've spent some time to devise a plan that can benefit both of us. In fact, it's pretty simple, and you won't even have to do anything too out of the ordinary. My plan is that I can register as an adventurer and the two of us can form a team so that when we complete quests together, I'll get a cut of the reward, which would solve the problem of my living expenses. You're even the perfect candidate for this, since, as you've probably noticed by now, I'm a manaless, so even though I can kind of fight, it’s better to have someone who can handle things by themselves, someone strong enough to basically kill all the monsters without me, like for example, you. It’s genius!" (Kyle)

    Kyle started laughing maniacally as I feel into deep thought.

    Hmm, so he was a manaless… It was a possibility that came into my head after I didn't sense a mana signature on him, but since most people who have no mana signature were assassins or thieves who trained to conceal theirs, I kind of assumed that it was just that, an assassin or a thief... but to think he was actually just a manaless. Well, it's rare, but not unheard of for someone to be born without mana. Guess he was just unlucky… Actually, wait a second! What was his plan again!?

    "Wait! If you're getting a cut of my pay for doing nothing except being on my team in name, then there's no difference between that and me actually feeding, clothing, and sheltering you for free!" (Aria)

    I yelled at him after realizing how ridiculous his plan was. I’d rather have no one on my team than a useless slacker like him.

    "Don't worry. I won't be doing absolutely nothing. Like I said before, I’m a generous man, and as a member of your party, I'll properly follow you out on missions. It’s just that instead of fighting, I’ll be in charge of cooking and setting up camp for us when we're out of town. I can even carry all our supplies by myself. After all, the only thing I've got left is my physical body, and it's definitely not weak. And if you ever need help in a fight… well, I’ll try my best to bring you back in one piece." (Kyle)

    I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and calmed my temper down again to rethink things objectively. Looking at his slightly slender physique, pretty boy face, and smooth skin that looks like he's barely even worked before, he’ll probably fall behind if I’m going at full power... but I guess it might be okay to let him try it out for now. I'll just take on some slower, easier quests while I recover from my injuries, and it'll be nice to have a pack mule to carry everything even though I probably won't bring much like usual. Even if he’s a terrible cook too, as long as he can cook some simple stew, it’ll probably still be better than just eating dried jerky all the time. Plus, at the very least, I can get him off my back for now and if he's not useful, I’ll just kick him out of the party later.

    After thinking to myself for a while I opened my eyes to give my answer to him.

    "Well, I can just barely accept it if you're going to be doing something. It would besmirch my noble family name of Irisveil to just kick you out with nothing after you’ve saved me, so, at the very least, we could try it out for now." (Aria)

    I sighed and reached out with my right hand for a handshake while plastering a defeated look on my face.

    "My name is Aria Irisveil, and I look forward to working with you... I guess." (Aria)

    "Same here. Once again, I'm Kyle and… well, there are some issues with my last name, so you can just ignore it for now, but since we’re gonna be partners, just call me Ky." (Kyle)

    Issues with his last name? Is he a fallen noble too? Or did he get exiled from his house? Well, it would explain how he looks and why he’s out here on the edge of the Empire with nothing on him. And if that’s really the case, at least we have something in common...

    Ky reached out and shook my hand, but the moment our handshake finished, he immediately lost all his gusto and deflated onto the chair limply with a relieved smile.

    "Whew, that was a close one. I can’t believe you actually agreed to such a poorly thought out plan. It’s a miracle! I was really getting scared there for a second that you were going to just ungratefully throw me out onto the streets with nothing. Well, looks like, despite the rumors around the guild that you're a violent, incorrigible woman who snaps coldly at anyone in her way, you're actually a pretty nice person." (Kyle)

    Oi, that violent, incorrigible woman you’re talking about is sitting right here, you know.

    "But it's a good thing that this town is full of kind souls. I don't know what I would've done if the inn owner hadn't let us in after hearing my story. He even lent me some old clothes and a first aid kit. Oh, by the way, if we're going to be a team from now on, one word of advice from me is that you should definitely look into getting some simpler armor. I know that the whole diagonal leather straps aesthetic looks cool and edgy, but do you know how hard it was to strip that needlessly complicated hunk of drenched leather and metal off of you? I even had to bandage all your open wounds and change you into clean, dry clothes afterward." (Kyle)

    … Wait! What did you do!?

    My blood boiled over again as a bright red blush from the embarrassment of realizing what happened while I was unconscious reached even the tips of my ears. It looks like In my scramble to remember exactly what had happened at the river, everything else slipped my mind. Important things like, for example, exactly who had changed me out of my armor into my pajamas and treated my wounds, didn’t even occur to me.

    I instantly stood up from the bed, lunged forward, and yanked Ky's limp body off the chair by the collar while I used my other hand to bring the edge of my greatsword up to his neck again. A violent glint in my eyes shined while my entire face was still flushed red as I ground my next words through my enraged smile with a furious tone.

    "Never mind, I take back what I said. I'm definitely going to kill you right now!" (Aria)

    Ky had a defeated look on his face and traces of tears in his eyes as he mumbled to himself while in my grasp.

    "Ah, looks like no matter how much you do for some people, there truly are genuinely awful people in this world. All the initial kindness is just a facade to hide their undesirable inner natures... And to think I lost my trusty Excalibur for this. Well, at least now I know that the rumors at the guild weren't completely baseless." (Kyle)

    After shaking Ky's body around vigorously while yelling at him for a while, I finally calmed down again, whimpered a bit, and put my greatsword down as I threw him onto the ground before holding my head in my hands as I whispered to myself with tears in my eyes.

    "Am I even pure anymore?" (Aria)

    Ky got up, patted the dust off himself, and cleared his throat to get my attention.

    "Ahem. Now, I understand why you're angry, but it was either I changed you into clean clothes and bandaged up all your small injuries or I left you there in your cold, wet armor with open cuts and scrapes everywhere to possibly get hypothermia or an infection. Anyway, I can't look you in the eyes and lie to you about having absolutely not seen anything, but I swear on my life that I didn't do anything shady or take advantage of you like that. What's done is done, and you should move on. Just be happy that you're still alive and well." (Kyle)

    I sighed again. Unfortunately, he was right, what's done is done. And while I was still just starting to simmer down internally, at the very least, I can take solace in the fact that I'm still alive without any serious, life-threatening, or mortal wounds. I brought my head up to look at Ky as he sat down on the chair again and put the tray he had brought with him before on his lap. He scratched his head with his free hand and looked away from my eyes with a slight tinge of a blush on his face as he gave me one of the two bowls of stew.

    "Look, I'm sorry... and I'll try to make it up to you later, but for now, let's just eat dinner. The stew that the owner gave us is about to go cold." (Kyle)

    It was at this moment that my hunger finally caught up to me and my stomach growled loudly. My face went red again and I hesitatingly took the bowl of the now lukewarm stew from Ky and ate a spoonful.

    It was the beef stew that the owner cooked for his tavern customers all the time. I’ve had it on multiple occasions, and while the beef was always a little tough to chew, it was still pretty good. I heard it was because the owner used to be a chef in a big merchant city before he moved here to retire that he was a good cook.

    The stew was lukewarm, but it was still tasty, and I ate it all almost immediately, but after I finished the last spoonful, I was still hungry and contemplated whether or not to go down to ask for another bowl when I looked up and noticed that Ky wasn't eating his food.

    "What's wrong?" (Aria)

    He was staring intently at the spoonful of stew he had in his hand.

    "Hmm, I was wondering how the inn owner could even run that tavern downstairs if all he could give us to eat was this. Someone else has to be cooking instead of the owner for the tavern customers. I didn't notice it when the owner was giving it to me, but now that I've looked at it, this ‘stew’ really is just tasteless gruel isn't it? I'm hungry too, but I'm surprised you could even stomach this, much less wolf this down so fast." (Kyle)

    I looked at Ky with a sense of confusion as he was mixing the stew around in his bowl with the spoon.

    "What are you talking about, the beef stew might not look like the prettiest dish out there, but it still tastes pretty good. You should stop being so picky, the owner gave it to you for free anyway, right? The least you could do is eat it with a sense of gratitude." (Aria)

    "... You’re right. Looks like, despite my arrogance before, I still have a lot to learn in terms of heart, huh? Thanks for the lesson, Aria. I'll trust you this time and give it a try." (Kyle)

    Ky scooped a spoonful of the stew with a smile and put it in his mouth, but after actually tasting it, he immediately spit it back out.

    "Blegh! I knew something had to be up... How can you call this pretty good!? This is barely even edible! Are you sure you actually have a sense of taste!? Haven't you had any actual food before!?" (Kyle)

    I crossed my arms in disdain. The owner of this inn was definitely one of the better cooks I've seen and over my year-long stay at Calden Inn, I’ve tasted most of his repertoire, so I know for a fact that he’s a good chef.

    "What do you mean? The owner of this inn might not be an ace chef from the Empire’s capital, but his cooking is still some of the best I’ve had before. It’s definitely better than yours at least! I'd like to see you try and make something this good!" (Aria)

    "Make something this good? It would hurt my pride as a chef to even attempt to make something remotely as bad as this. It seems that you really have never had any actual food if you can even eat this slop. Anyway, I need some actual food, and I can tell that you're still hungry too, so just wait a bit. I'll be back in a couple minutes with dinner. Let me educate you on what real food tastes like!" (Kyle)

    "Fine, I'll be waiting then!" (Aria)

    Ky stormed out of the room towards the kitchen on the first floor of the inn as I sat on the bed waiting for him to crash and burn once he realized the owner’s cooking was better.
     
    Last edited: Jun 30, 2019
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  8. RubberDucky

    RubberDucky Well-Known Member

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    [Chapter 5] Registration Can Be Difficult When Your Plan Revolves Around Tacky Shoujo Manga
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    Adventurer Town Delhurst, Calden Inn, Ground Floor (Kyle POV)
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    There was a bit of a noisy atmosphere when I entered the tavern on the ground floor with a serious face. A couple of tavern guests were still out in the lobby, while the inn owner was sitting behind the front reception reading a newspaper. He was a large old man with a full beard whose hair was almost as white as mine, but his aged appearance was a complete contrast to his hearty personality. I called out to him as I was stepping off the stairs.

    "Hey boss, do you mind if I borrow the kitchen for a bit? A certain someone's still hungry after devouring her dinner, and she doesn't believe that my cooking's any good. So I feel like I have to show her my pride as a chef!" (Kyle)

    The owner let out a hearty laugh as he looked over at me.

    "I like the look in your eyes boy! I didn't take you for one to know his way around the kitchen before, but now it's different. You’ve got the look of a true chef! So, sure. As long as you don't completely destroy my kitchen, it's no skin off my back! Anyway, don’t worry about Miss Irisveil, she’s always been a bit of a cold one. Hell, even I was a bit scared of her when we met, but she actually a pretty nice lass once you get to know her a little better. So, go and show her the true spirit of us chefs! But on the other hand, I’m glad she enjoyed the leftover beef stew I warmed up!" (Owner)

    “Thanks, boss!” (Kyle)

    The owner gave me another hearty chuckle after I thanked him for lending me his kitchen and my face shifted into a confident smile as I made my way into the kitchen past the front desk while talking to myself.

    "His cooking might not be great, yet I can’t help but respect his character as a fellow chef. He’s definitely got me beat in terms of heart. Sorry about what I said before, boss. You’re undeniably a chef I can acknowledge." (Kyle)

    The kitchen was clean and well organized with a variety of pots, pans, and cooking utensils laid out neatly on several racks. I washed my hands at the sink as I thought to myself about what dish I should make. I wouldn't be able to make beef stew since it would take hours to simmer in the pot, but I could definitely at least cook up something fast and simple like beef and potatoes.

    "I'll show you, Aria. This time I'm going all out for my redemption arc!" (Kyle)

    As lightning lit up in my eyes, my self-mumbling slowly turned into yelling. After opening the large cabinet under the counter, I glanced through its contents and calculated exactly what I would need in an instant. My hands rapidly shot towards the bottle of olive oil and the salt shaker before grabbing them and placing them on the counter. Next, I opened the large fridge to rummage through all the ingredients and picked out a flat chunk of frozen beef, half an onion, and a few small potatoes.

    The first thing I did was leave the beef out on the side to defrost a bit while I lit the stove using the ignition crystals in a nearby drawer. I grabbed a knife and a frying pan from the rack and placed the pan on the stove. After spreading a thin layer of olive oil on the pan, I placed the onion in the center of the cutting board on the counter and held the potatoes in my hand.

    My fingers twirled the knife around in my hand as I threw the potatoes into the air and pushed my concentration to its limit. My grip on the handle of the knife tightened as every muscle fiber in my arm reacted. The knife burst out in a mid-air flash of white steel which minced the onion into small cubes and sliced through the airborne potatoes several times in an instant, splitting them into even chunks which were all caught in the frying pan. After dropping the knife onto the counter, I grabbed a spatula off the rack and sauted the potatoes until they were a crispy golden brown.

    "It isn't the same as Excalibur... but it's enough for something like this." (Kyle)

    After the potatoes were done, I placed them onto a clean plate, sprinkled just the right amount of salt on, and poked the cold beef with the spatula to check if was completely defrosted yet.

    "Damn, this beef is as hard as a rock even after defrosting." (Kyle)

    My eyes scanned through the kitchen once again for a meat tenderizer or a mallet but unfortunately, I found nothing of the sort. A moment passed as I tipped the rim of my invisible cap before letting out a sigh.

    "Good grief. Guess I'll have to do this the hard way." (Kyle)

    After spreading the minced onions around in the pan and dropping the spatula on the kitchen counter, I lobbed the beef into the air while the glint in my eyes turned sharp. My body struck a menacing pose as the beef reached the apex of its toss before gravity began to drag it back down again. Time slowed down for me and I waited patiently until the slab of beef fell down to eye level again before I suddenly moved. My hands clenched into tight fists and my arms blurred as dozens of punches rained down onto the beef within a second.

    "ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORAAAA!" (Kyle)

    After the rush of fists finally died down, the wind pressure generated by my punches rattled numerous cooking utensils off the racks and the now tenderized beef slammed into the wall and bounced off, landing directly into the pan with a satisfying sizzle as I picked the spatula back up and began to carefully stir-fry the beef, making sure that both sides got an even amount of heat from the stove. Once a few minutes passed, the beef was cooked to a flavorful medium-rare and I placed it next to the potatoes on the plate before wiping the sweat off my forehead and striking a cool pose.

    "Are you ready, Aria? This is my masterpiece, the final form of my burning passion, the greatest dish I've made so far! I'll show you what it means when I go even further beyond!" (Kyle)

    The lightning in my eyes was still going strong even after I finished cooking, however, it abruptly died out when I came back to my senses, looked around the kitchen, and realized the mess I made.

    "Ah. Looks like I got a little too passionate again... I should probably clean the place up first." (Kyle)

    I stopped posing and began to pick up the pots and pans on the floor so I could wash them. After tidying up the kitchen, I brought the plate of food along with a fork and a knife on a tray with me as I left the kitchen and re-entered the noisy tavern lobby with a serious face. On the way out I saw the owner again at the front desk with a smile on his face and passionate flames burning in his eyes.

    "So, this is the strength of your resolve... Superb! Absolutely superb! I could feel your intensity even from out here, boy! Now, go show Miss Irisveil what it means to insult a true chef’s pride!" (Owner)

    “Will do, boss!" (Kyle)

    My mouth couldn't help but edge upwards into a smile after such an exchange between two passionate cooks.
    [​IMG]
    Adventurer Town Delhurst, Calden Inn, Aria's Room (Aria POV)
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    About half an hour has passed since Ky stormed out, and I've been sitting here on the bed with my arms crossed this whole time. I was starting to doubt if he was even cooking and the thought of going downstairs to see what was going on crossed my mind when I heard the door creak open. I looked over and saw Ky entering. He looked back at me and we locked eyes for a moment. A resolute glint in his eyes met my annoyed expression as he walked over with a tray holding what seemed to be a plate of beef and potatoes.

    "Hmph, you sure kept me waiting." (Aria)

    "Sorry about that. I had to clean up the kitchen after I was done. Anyway, unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to make beef stew, so you'll have to make do with this." (Kyle)

    Ky placed the tray on my lap as he took a step back and leaned against the desk while staring at me. I stared back at him for a second before looking down at the tray. The delicious aroma of food wafted up from the plate, and the potatoes were a perfect golden brown while the beef glistened with juices. The hunger that I suppressed before broke out again as I swallowed my saliva while thinking to myself.

    Hmm, that's unexpected, this actually looks pretty good. Well, at least he knows how to make something that looks edible. Whether it's actually edible or not is an entirely different issue though.

    I picked up the utensils and started to cut out a small chunk of the beef. My knife easily slid through the surprisingly soft beef before I picked up the piece of beef with my fork, put it into my mouth, and skeptically bit down while still feeling a bit uncomfortable from Ky intensely watching me eat.

    And it was then that I experienced heaven.

    The instant my teeth came in contact with the beef, I already knew something was up. It was too tender. It felt less like biting into a piece of meat and more like biting into gelatin. My teeth cut through the beef easier than my knife and it was at that moment that the juices trapped inside burst out in an explosion of flavor. Time slowed down for me as I slowly chewed through the succulent beef and the unimaginably wonderful taste spread to every corner of my mouth as if there was no option for my taste buds but to be enraptured by the flavor.

    It was incredible.

    I couldn't stop my face from distorting in ecstasy, and I unconsciously closed my eyes to try and focus even just a little bit more on my sense of taste.

    It was only after I swallowed that piece of beef that I came back to my senses and opened my eyes. But what greeted my field of vision was Ky looking down at me with a smug smile like I was a pathetic naive child who didn't know anything about the world until now. The look he had on his face was pissing me off a bit, but despite how much of an urge I had to go smack that smug look off him, I couldn't resist the cries of my stomach to finish the rest of the food. Frustration filled my heart as I uncontrollably shoved the beef and potatoes into my mouth while staring at Ky grumpily.

    It was just too delicious. And in fact, the potatoes were just as good as the beef. They were perfectly crispy on the outside while being soft on the inside, and exactly the right amount of salt was added to perfectly accent the natural flavor of the potatoes without overpowering it.

    After a few moments, I finally stuffed every last morsel of food on the plate into my mouth and fell to the floor on my knees extremely satisfied, yet simultaneously angry. I punched the ground with frustrated tears in my eyes as Ky talked down to me again with that same smug smile still on his face.

    "So what did you say about my cooking being terrible?" (Kyle)

    "Damn it!... Alright, I admit it, ok? Your cooking is the best food I've ever had. Nothing else even comes close. The beef stew before really was just tasteless gruel compared to this!" (Aria)

    "Well, since you at least admitted your mistake, I guess I'm willing to forgive you this time. After all, I still need your help from now on anyway, so it wouldn’t be very beneficial for me to antagonize you." (Kyle)

    Ky's smile shifted to a softer one after that and he extended his hand to help me up. I grabbed his hand, which felt surprisingly soft, and got up. I took a seat on the bed and let out a sigh with a lifeless look in my eyes when suddenly the sound of his stomach growling echoed around the room. An awkward silence ensued as we stared at each other for a moment before he cleared his throat with an embarrassed look on his face.

    “Ahem. L-Looks like I got a little too passionate about proving you wrong and forgot to make something for myself… I’ll be back in a bit.” (Kyle)

    Ky picked up the tray with my empty plate exited the room as I sat there at a slight loss for words.

    ***​

    About twenty minutes later, I was still sitting on my bed with a dazed look on my face as I thought about what to do from now on when I heard the door open again. Ky walked back into the room and sat in the chair with a satisfied expression on his face.

    “Alright, sorry about the wait. So, what do you want to do now?” (Kyle)

    "Look, I've had enough emotional turmoil for today. I just want to go to bed. We'll discuss the specifics tomorrow." (Aria)

    "Sure, no problem. I was kinda getting tired myself. It's ok though, you can have the bed. I'm not shameless enough to make a girl sleep on the floor. I'll go ask the owner right now if I can borrow a sleeping bag. I'll be back in a few minutes again, so wait for me before you turn off the lights." (Kyle)

    Ky started to walk towards the door as the life came back to my eyes and my face slightly blushed again in anger after I realized what Ky wanted to do.

    "Wait, what!? No way! You're not sleeping in here with me!" (Aria)

    "Well, where would I sleep then? I already asked the owner before if there was an empty room he could lend me, but every room in the inn is already taken for the next week, so the only place I can sleep is in your room." (Kyle)

    Ky gave me a relaxed smile as he shrugged at me before turning to the door.

    "Don't worry, I won't do anything to you while you sleep. Anyway, I've already seen and felt everything I possibly could when I was patching you up, so there's nothing else I really can do." (Kyle)

    My face was now fully bright red and I had tears in my eyes as my anger surged again. I immediately got up from the bed, kicked Ky out into the hallway from behind, and locked the door. After turning off the lights, I drowned out the loud knocking on the door and Ky's yelling in my mind as I tried to forget everything that happened today and dozed off to sleep.
    [​IMG]
    Adventurer Town Delhurst, Calden Inn, Second Floor Hallway (Kyle POV)
    [​IMG]
    The noisy sounds of the breakfast patrons in the tavern downstairs and the chirping of the birds outside woke me up from my deep slumber, but what I opened my eyes to was just a simple wooden railing.

    You see, after the series of unfortunate events yesterday, I did manage to borrow a sleeping bag from the owner, but no matter how hard I knocked on the door or called out to her, Aria wouldn't respond, and eventually, I had to stop because I was bothering the other guests. After apologizing for the noise disturbance, I was eventually forced to sleep in the hallway right outside Aria's door.

    Well, at least it was better than sleeping out in the streets, and it was quite warm in the inn too. Speaking of warmth, the lazy atmosphere of summer was slowly overtaking me as I started to doze off to the ambiance of the tavern again when the door behind me opened and Aria came out dressed in her pajamas. I yawned and wriggled my body around in my sleeping bag to face her.

    "Mornin'." (Kyle)

    The first thing Aria did when she looked down and saw me on the floor was send a sharp kick my way. The kick hit me square in the stomach and sent me rolling down the hallway for a fair distance before Aria sighed.

    "Argh! What the hell was that for? All I did was say good morning! Is ‘good morning’ some kinda insult where you're from or something?" (Kyle)

    I freed myself from the sleeping bag before picking it up and walking back to Aria with a defeated look on my face.

    "Look, I know I'm relying on you a lot right now, but that doesn't give you the right to physically abuse me as payback." (Kyle)

    Aria looked at me and dryly chuckled to herself in a monotone voice before ignoring my complaints, walking back into her room, and sitting down at the desk as I followed her in.

    "We'll be going to the adventurer's guild later so you can register. It'll probably take a few days before your guild card gets printed and we can officially register as a team, so, for now, I guess we're on break. By the way, I want sausage, egg, and toast for breakfast today." (Aria)

    "Can't you at least say please?" (Kyle)

    "... Please." (Aria)

    "... It doesn't sound like you mean it at all..." (Kyle)

    I sighed before going downstairs to borrow the kitchen again. After a while, I returned to Aria's room with two plates of sausages, eggs, and toast, and we had breakfast together.
    [​IMG]
    Adventurer Town Delhurst, Adventurer's Guild (Kyle POV)
    [​IMG]
    It was about 9 PM when Aria and I finally made our way down to the adventurer's guild, and what I saw on the way was quite sad really. When we were walking in the street, everyone actively avoided us and even now as we walked into the crowded guild hall, it was only abrupt silence with whispers as a backdrop for us. I walked up to the front counter as Aria split off and waited for me alone in an empty corner of the guild hall.

    And if you're wondering how Aria was able to find an empty corner in such a crowded building, well, it's quite simple. You see, the moment Aria even turned in that direction, everyone there scattered like ants. After seeing what happened and feeling just a bit sorry for Aria, I turned around and got on the line for the front desk, but ironically, the moment I got in line, everyone else in line got out, leaving just me and the receptionist.

    The guild receptionist this time was a different person than the one I saw yesterday. Standing behind the counter today was a shy looking elven girl, who seemed like she was just on the cusp of young adulthood. She looked just like a stereotypical elf, with a pretty face, short blond hair, pointed ears, and pale skin, while her outfit consisted of the guild receptionist uniform, along with a pair of red-rimmed glasses that covered her sky blue eyes.

    Evidently, even she seemed a little scared of me and Aria since she was wearing a stiff, fearful smile while looking at me and trembling like I was gonna eat her.

    "E-Excuse me. H-How can I help you, sir?" (Receptionist)

    Damn, this is gonna be hard, isn’t it?

    I sighed softly to myself, but it seems that she heard me because the moment I sighed, she gave a short yelp and ducked down behind the counter.

    Well, looks like my first impression isn't very good... Hmm, guess it's time to tap into my ancient arcane knowledge of JRPG scenarios and manga. In this kind of situation where everyone's scared of me, the first thing I should do is show that I'm a nice person, so I guess it's time to work the old charisma stat. I'll start with the receptionist. Actually, come to think of it, how'd they do it in shoujo manga again? ...Oh yeah, I remember now. I don't know how well it'll work with these borrowed old man clothes, but it's worth a try at least, right?

    I called out with a gentle voice to the receptionist.

    "Excuse me, are you alright miss?" (Kyle)

    As she slowly peeked her head above the counter again to look at me, I stared into her eyes tenderly, gave her the nicest pretty boy smile I could muster, and spoke softly to her to try and calm her down.

    "It's alright. I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to register to be an adventurer." (Kyle)

    I reached out slowly with my right hand and gently parted her silky hair to the side before sliding my fingers across her cheek.

    "Besides, I don’t think I could bring myself to hurt a single hair on someone as pretty as you." (Kyle)

    Ugh, I'm gonna puke. I don't think I can take this much longer. Maybe this method was a mistake. I swear there are flowers starting to pop out in the background. Please, miss receptionist, just take the shoujo bait so I can register and never come back here again. My face is starting to cramp from holding this fake smile!

    "... Ah..." (Receptionist)

    The receptionist slowly stood back up again from behind the counter as she held her hands together while looking downwards with a blush on her face. The uncertainty in my eyes turned into confidence once again as I realized my awful plan was working.

    Yes! Hook, line, and sinker! Now, let's get this done with quick. Everyone's attention is already starting to shift to me instead of Aria.

    As I took my hand off the receptionist's face, she quickly glanced up at me with a red face before immediately looking back down again at her hands the moment after we made eye contact. She began to fumble around with her hands under the counter looking for a registration form.

    "U-Um, p-please wait a moment, sir, I-I'll go find a registration form." (Receptionist)

    She turned around in a fluster to enter the office behind the counter, and I don't know how she did it, but somehow she tripped over her own feet when turning around.

    She let out a cute cry as she tripped, but when I saw her begin to fall, I instantly leaned over the counter and grabbed her with my right arm to stop her momentum while I used my left arm holding the counter as leverage to pull her back to a standing position.

    "Whew, that was close. Are you ok, miss?" (Kyle)

    Damn, I guess my plan didn’t work as well as I thought it did… After all, she's so preoccupied with running away from me that she can't even watch where she's going. Maybe I should give her some encouragement or something. At least enough to make this all run smoothly. Then I can just register and drop the act.

    I looked through my mental archives to determine the next step, and my calculations led me to one conclusion, head pats.

    I reached out with my hand again over the counter and patted the receptionist's head compassionately, while the same fake pretty boy smile was still plastered on my face.

    "It's ok, take your time. I'm not in a rush, I would rather wait a bit than watch you get hurt." (Kyle)

    "...a-augh..." (Receptionist)

    The receptionist gave a cute whimper before running back into the office at top speed with a burning red face the moment my hand left her head. I heard some loud noises from behind the door and, eventually, silence before the receptionist came back holding up a crumpled registration form and a pen in front of her face.

    "S-S-Sorry." (Receptionist)

    She slammed the crumpled form and the pen down on the counter in front of me and instantly ran back behind the door to the office again to hide from me.

    Welp, looks like I screwed myself over again. At least before, she was still willing to face me! What did I do wrong!?

    My face finally exited pretty boy smile mode and I filled out the form as tears rained from my eyes.

    After filling out basically everything I could, and of course lying about things like my age and where I'm from, I called out to the receptionist again in the vain hope that she would come back.

    "Excuse me miss, I finished filling out my registration form." (Kyle)

    However, there was only another loud crash, then silence as my answer. After waiting a bit and calling out again, there was still no sign of the receptionist, and so I decided to just leave the form on the table. Well, according to the instructions on the form, it'll take about three days to make my physical guild card, so I'll have to wait anyway, and I'm sure someone will eventually come to pick my form up. I even feel kind of sorry for the receptionist after scaring her so much. Maybe she actually hurt herself when she was running earlier.

    "Excuse me miss, it seems that you don't want to see me right now, so I'll just get out of your sight and leave the form on the counter. Sorry for the bother… Oh and one last thing, you should watch your well being more, it would make me sad if you somehow got hurt because of me." (Kyle)

    I left the completed registration form and the pen neatly on the counter before walking back to Aria in the corner with a defeated face and sighing.

    "Alright, let's go back Aria." (Kyle)

    Aria looked over to me with a look of contempt and crossed her arms as she took a step away from me.

    "Who are you? Get away from me, before I call the guards. I don't know any womanizing sex fiends like you." (Aria)

    My temper spiked after hearing that and my face morphed into an angry smile.

    "Oi, I'm not a womanizing sex fiend, I was just trying to get the receptionist to feel more comfortable with talking to me. She was too scared of you to even look me in the eye at first, and anyway if I really was a womanizer, then what would you be? After all, between you and me, haven't I already seen everyth-" (Kyle)

    Aria's face went beet red as her hand instantly lunged out and clamped down onto my mouth to stop me from talking. The whispers from the guild members got louder around us and some people even started pointing as she pulled me out of the adventurer's guild as fast as she could with an enraged expression on her face.

    After that, she dragged me into an alleyway nearby and beat me up while crying and muttering about how she could never return to the guild again. Ironically, it was even the alleyway where I found that one guy to ‘interrogate’ yesterday. Ah, but it's a good thing I can take a beating since she really didn't hold back on some of those punches.

    A few hours later we returned to the inn to have lunch in her room, and after calming down a bit, Aria gave me some pocket money to get me out of her sight. She told me that she would be carefully re-considering her life choices for the rest of the day in her room alone.

    After splitting up with Aria, I decided that my best course of action would be to prepare myself for not only becoming an adventurer, but also living in the main plane again.

    You see, back when I was running around a thousand years ago, there were plenty of times where I had to wander around and sleep in the wilderness, but it’s been a long time since I’ve done anything of the sort, and while I’m pretty confident that I won’t be easy to kill, doing some research on the monsters around this area is probably a good idea. I don’t know exactly how strong the monsters in the main plane have gotten, but I’m definitely not as strong as I was before, so my best bet to avoid becoming monster food is to be as cautious as possible. At least until I get an idea of how dangerous everything is.

    After planning out my preparations, I ran around Delhurst asking people about the basics for adventurers, researching the value of money in this country, and finding out what the latest global news was. I even found that they had a pretty decent library in Delhurst since, apparently, the previous mayor was an avid reader.

    And so, for the next three days, my schedule basically consisted of me waking up in the inn's hallway, cooking breakfast for Aria, wandering around town to talk to people, coming back to the inn and cooking lunch for Aria, reading in the library for a couple hours, then returning to the inn to cook dinner for Aria before falling asleep again in the hallway.

    However, eventually, my guild card did get delivered to the inn. And it was that morning, four days after Aria and I met, that we set off to the adventurer's guild to register as a party and take on our first quest.
     
    Last edited: Jun 30, 2019
  9. RubberDucky

    RubberDucky Well-Known Member

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    [Chapter 6] Time Passes, and Eventually, People Too
    [​IMG]
    Adventurer Town Delhurst, Adventurer’s Guild (Kyle POV)
    [​IMG]
    When Aria and I arrived at the guild again amidst the whispers and stares of the other adventurers, we promptly ignored them and went up to the front counter to register as a party. Well, I was kind of distraught that their fear of Aria spread to me too, but on the bright side, at least everyone cleared out the moment we walked over so we didn’t have to wait in line.

    A different receptionist was at the front counter again, and this time it was a young man with brown hair and a stoic expression on his face. I didn’t want any chance for a repeat of what happened last time and it seemed that no matter what I did, the receptionists all had some sort of problem with me anyway, so I just sat back and let Aria talk to the receptionist.

    After talking with the receptionist for a while, Aria called me over to the counter while holding her guild card in her hand.

    “Ky, show him your card.” (Aria)

    I handed the receptionist my shiny new guild card, which was really just a thin piece of metal with my name, adventurer rank, and a small symbol carved into it that identified me as a member of the guild. The symbol itself was imprinted into the metal of the card, but the name was written on normally. My rank, however, would only appear after you injected mana into the guild card, which meant I couldn't use it... but on the bright side, at least the adventurer rank could be updated automatically without having to reissue a new card every time.

    Aria handed hers over too and the receptionist channeled a little mana into both of them as a large glowing 'B' and 'F' appeared on Aria's card and my card respectively. He looked at them both for a bit before signing a form and handing our guild cards right back to us.

    “Here you go. I’ll have your party officially registered in the records by tomorrow, but if you want to, you can start taking missions now. Just to double check though, are you sure you’re ok with this name for your party, Miss Irisveil?” (Receptionist)

    The receptionist gave us a slightly confused look before Aria put away her guild card and answered back.

    “Yes.” (Aria)

    “Ok then.” (Receptionist)

    The receptionist turned around and entered the office in the back as Aria and I walked over to one of the several large bulletin boards on the right side of the guild hall to pick out a quest.

    “Alright, we should probably take one of the easier quests first so we can test what our limits are right now.” (Aria)

    “Wait, hold up. Before we pick out a quest, what’s our party’s name? The receptionist’s reaction seemed awfully suspicious.” (Kyle)

    “Oh, I couldn’t think of one when I was filling out the form, so I just wrote down ‘Party.’ It’s short, simple, and easy. Honestly, I didn’t think much of it before, but it’s starting to grow on me a little.” (Aria)

    Aria gave me a proud smile as I sat there dumbfounded for a second before grabbing her by the shoulders with a serious expression on my face while staring straight into her eyes.

    “Aria, are you sure you’re ok? I think we should go see a doctor. Your cuts and bruises might have healed, but it looks like I was careless and forgot about the possibility of severe brain damage when I was checking if you were alright. You could’ve hit your head on a rock while we were underwater or something along those lines.” (Kyle)

    As I was checking Aria’s head for any bumps, she gave me an angry look before hoisting me up by the collar and gripping the handle of her sword.

    “Damn, looks like she’s already too far gone. She can’t even tell the difference between an enemy and an ally anymore!” (Kyle)

    “You got a problem with the name I chose? Come on, if you have a problem just say it!” (Aria)

    “Nope, no problem at all. In fact, I think it’s a great name for our party. Your naming sense really highlights the, uh... main focus of our party.” (Kyle)

    I struck a cutesy smile and tried to act as innocent as I could to escape from Aria’s grasp, but alas, it was to no avail.

    After whacking me a couple times as the people in the guild hall ignored my cries for help, Aria finally let me go and turned back to one of the bulletin boards. After a moment of rummaging through the mess of papers pasted on the first bulletin board, she moved onto the second bulletin board, which was way less cluttered. Aria ran her finger over the few postings on the second board before pulling out one for the subjugation of a pack of storm wolves that has apparently been a nuisance for the merchants coming to Delhurst.

    Now if you’re wondering what a storm wolf is, well, storm wolves are one of the stronger monsters native to this area that I read about while I was at the library. Apparently, they’re wolf monsters that can discharge electricity. The book said that they were extremely dangerous and that they should only be fought with proper preparation beforehand and a team of several people since they often live in packs.

    The quest was labeled an A-rank quest with a recommendation to have at least three A-rank party members or six B-rank party members to have a good chance, and there was a skull mark on the sheet along with a written warning that the size of the storm wolf pack has been reported to have exceeded twenty members.

    “Alright, this seems like an easy one. It says here that the den is nearby too, so we can just go there and wipe them out. We might even make it back to town in time for dinner if we’re fast enough.” (Aria)

    Aria turned around and started walking towards the receptionist before I ran up and grabbed the sheet of paper from her hands.

    “Exactly how is this an easy one!? This is an A-rank quest meant for an elite party, the sheet even has a literal skull mark that’s warning us about the size of the pack and you want to go straight in there alone to slaughter them all!? Aria are you sure you can read? Because if you look at our guild cards, it clearly states that you are a B-rank adventurer, and I’m an F-rank adventurer. At this rate, it looks like I actually will have to drag you to a doctor.” (Kyle)

    Aria grabbed the paper back from me, pushed me out of her way, and started walking towards the receptionist’s desk again.

    “It’s just killing a couple storm wolves. And just because I’m B-rank doesn’t mean I’m weak enough to only do B-rank quests. Ranks aren’t an absolute indicator of your strength, and I’ve already picked this one out, so I’m going to take this quest, whether or not you decide to come.” (Aria)

    Aria went up to the receptionist again to tell him we were taking the quest as I sighed and followed her with a defeated face while muttering to myself.

    “I think I’m starting to see why her reputation is so bad... Well, at the very least, we can probably run away if things go wrong...” (Kyle)
    [​IMG]
    Edge of Civilization, Zolran Mountain Range, Storm Wolf Den (Kyle POV)
    [​IMG]
    It was about 2 PM when Aria and I finally arrived at the area around the wolf den. We had just finished our lunch in a nice scenic area nearby a little while ago, and we were now hiding in the bushes near a small stream a few dozen feet away from the wolf den. As we popped our heads out to spy on them, we counted twelve wolves around the entrance to the den, while it looked like the rest of the wolves were inside. I reached into my backpack and pulled out some bait I prepared for the wolves back in town before whispering to Aria.

    “Alright, so I’ll try and lure a few wolves over here, you just wait in the bushes and ambush them when they’re distracted. Try and kill them as quickly as possible, because once we lure them over the first time we’ll have to find a new hiding place before the rest of the pack comes.” (Kyle)

    “That’ll take way too long. I’ll just go in and kill all the wolves at once. You can guard the entrance and tell me if any other monsters come. Ready?” (Aria)

    Aria immediately stood up from the bushes, attracting the attention of the wolves outside the den before sprinting towards the entrance.

    “Hey! What are you doing!?” (Kyle)

    I stood up from the bushes as well to try and stop her, but it was too late. Aria was about halfway to the entrance of the cave already when a few storm wolves lunged at her. Their light purple fur began to crackle with similarly colored purple electricity before Aria grabbed her greatsword and performed a few large swings. As she was swinging her greatsword around, she channeled her mana to activate a few sword techniques which made the greatsword faintly glow with a hazy white light whenever the blade made contact with a wolf. After several seconds, the only things left outside the entrance to the den were some wolf carcasses and Aria.

    Hmm? What’s a sword technique you ask? Well, you see, in this world the existence of magic, and more specifically, body strengthening magic, has allowed warriors to focus more on martial techniques fueled by mana rather than training basic physical strength and pure skill with a weapon.

    Since magic can give someone enhanced strength and speed or simulate supernatural phenomena, naturally, the same can be done with weapons and martial techniques. Martial techniques are basically pseudo-enchantments activated by channeling mana into a weapon in a specific way to give them special effects, and usually, they make the weapon glow with a hazy light. Higher level techniques can even imitate the effects of spells, and channeling elemental mana into a sword to do things like having it freeze stuff on contact, giving it an electric current, or shooting out Getsuga Tenshou ripoffs made of flames were quite common among advanced swordsmen. But while it required a decent amount of mana to imitate spells like that, just simple techniques like making the weapon harder, sharper, or faster could be done almost instantly without much mana.

    When I was running around a millennium ago, it was the general consensus that early on, while martial techniques were lacking in raw power and versatility compared to magic, they made up for it through lower mana costs and not needing a chant. But when you reached higher levels of power, the strengths and weakness of both magic and martial techniques kind of just blended together.

    Magic at higher levels still had long chants to cast and took tons of mana, but with practice and experience, mages could train to omit large portions of chants or even cast magic completely chantlessly, along with making the mana costs more efficient. And as for martial techniques, the more skilled you were at controlling your mana, the stronger the techniques were that you could learn and use.

    For example, skilled swordsmen were not only capable of using powerful elemental sword techniques, but also simultaneously using multiple lower level sword techniques, which gave them the versatility that they lacked compared to mages, and those who reached the peak of their unique understanding in the sword, could even alter their souls to be able to use sword truths, the highest level of sword techniques. Sword truths also required a long chant like magic, but they could bend reality to align with an aspect of the user’s understanding of the sword by manipulating the natural laws of Aias. Martial truths were slow and couldn’t be activated simultaneously with other martial techniques, but in exchange, they were just as powerful and impactful in a fight as the highest level spells.

    Now, if you’re wondering why I know about all these things regarding high-level magic and swordsmanship... well, if you ever got blasted with as many top-level spells and martial truths as I did, you’d probably start learning things about them as well. And anyway, I used to be a pretty strong swordsman myself. After all, when I was summoned, my options were pretty limited to begin with, and because I was unable to use magic, I was basically forced to learn swordsmanship.

    Unfortunately, my skills with the sword are limited to the absolute basics. Since I didn’t have mana when I was summoned, I wasn’t able to use sword techniques at all, so the only thing I could do was hone my pure skill and physical strength. Even after I got mana, I could only ever use one type of magic, and I couldn’t convert mana to a specific element for higher level sword techniques, so I was only able to use the most basic sword techniques, and it was halfway through my journey that I reached my unique understanding of the sword and gained the ability to use my sword truth since the natural laws of Aias only needed pure, non-elemental mana as a catalyst. So, to this day, my entire swordsmanship repertoire has only ever consisted of slashing, stabbing, blocking, the most basic sword techniques, and my sword truth.

    Well, nowadays, I can’t even use those simple sword techniques or my sword truth anymore since I’m manaless again, but it doesn’t bother me. I’m honestly sick of the constant fighting and killing I had to experience every day back then. I really don’t care if I’m weak again and I don’t care if I can never use mana again, I kinda just want to live an easy life and find people I enjoy being around. If every day can be a day surrounded by the laughter of people I care about, that’s good enough for me.

    Anyway, that’s enough of a tangent. I don’t know how far civilization has advanced in terms of combat or what the average strength of a swordsman is now, but watching Aria literally tear through these storm wolves with ease has made me realize just how strong she really is. Aria is definitely at least on the level of a borderline swordmaster from when I was running around.

    I haven’t wielded a sword for over a millennium, but I could tell just by watching how Aria used her sword that she was incredibly skilled. Maybe she’s currently a little inexperienced compared to the top swordsmen, but her basics are extremely solid, with almost no excessive movements, and the faint white glow of her sword that flashes only when making contact with a wolf shows that her intricate control of mana and timing was just barely below the level of a swordmaster.

    It would be a completely different story if she was at this level as an old woman who had spent her entire life training in swordsmanship, but from what I’ve heard about her from the residents in Delhurst, and just from looking at Aria herself, she’s only around twenty years old. If the average strength of a swordsman is still around the same level as it was back then, then Aria is definitely a one of a kind genius in swordsmanship.

    A moment passed before I came back to my senses, and I started to run after Aria as she dispatched the storm wolves outside with ease, but by the time I reached the entrance to the wolf den, she had already entered.

    The sound of electricity crackling, and the death cries of wolves resonated from the inside of the cave, but after a moment the sound started to die down and I saw a large storm wolf with a light wound rush towards the entrance. It had a slightly darker purple for its fur color compared to the other wolves, and it was crackling with a large amount of lightning as it ran straight at me. I started to panic as I heard Aria yell out to me from inside the cave.

    “Ky! The big one slipped past me, stop it from escaping!” (Aria)

    “Stop it!? What exactly am I supposed to stop it with!?” (Kyle)

    In my panic, I lightly tossed the bait I was holding straight at the wolf to try and make it stop, but the only thing it did was hit the wolf in the face then fall to the floor with a plop. In fact, the wolf got even angrier and started running towards me specifically as I froze.

    Welp, I gave it my best shot. Sorry Aria, looks like you’ll be solo again after this mission...

    The wolf lunged into the air to pounce on me and my eyes widened as I turned around to run away while screaming. When the wolf finally reached me, it’s jaw clamped down on my skull as its electrical discharge also reached its peak and purple lightning continuously pulsed throughout my whole body.

    “AAHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…huh?” (Kyle)

    My legs finally stopped as my mad dash away from the cave came to an end, and instead I was standing there in the bushes with a bewildered look on my face, a large wolf dangling off my head by its mouth, and a tingly sensation running through my body along with some streaks of purple lightning jumping out from my skin every now and then. After standing there in utter confusion for a second, I promptly came back to my senses, pried the wolf off my head, and held it in my hands as the purple lightning began to die down on the wolf’s fur. The wolf started trying to claw at me and growl as I held it in my hands like it was a newspaper I was reading before Aria came out of the den with her sword covered in blood and yelled out to me.

    “Ky, where are you!? I heard screaming!” (Aria)

    “Ah. Don't worry, I’m fine.” (Kyle)

    I held the still growling wolf over my head and ran over to her as she looked over at me with a baffled expression on her face.

    “Uh...what are you doing?” (Aria)

    “What? I caught the wolf just like you said.” (Kyle)

    I put the wolf down on the ground and held it in place as it yelped in fear and tried its best to escape.

    “Alright, quick, I’ll hold it down, try and kill it cleanly in one swing.” (Kyle)

    Aria stood there watching me with a dumbfounded expression on her face.

    “No, I can see that you caught it. I meant how are you holding it?” (Aria)

    “Are you blind? Look, I’m just grabbing it from the sides.” (Kyle)

    “But aren’t you getting shocked? I can see the electricity.” (Aria)

    “Huh? Well, there’s a bit of a tingly feeling right now, but I can bear it. Just kinda tickles. Anyway, you should kill it soon, the blood’s starting to make it slippery and I don’t know if I can hold it down much longer.” (Kyle)

    Aria finally swung her sword and activated another sword skill to decapitate the wolf while she kept staring at me with a perplexed look on her face before I took out a rag to wipe the blood off my hands.

    “Whew, that was close. It was struggling pretty hard. But man, you were right, these things were actually a lot weaker than I thought. I was originally scared of them since I‘ve never seen them before and the monster guide at the library said they were dangerous, but it looks like they’re just slightly bigger wolves with some electricity running through them… What? What’s wrong?” (Kyle)

    Aria had been staring at me for a while, and as the relieved look on my face morphed into a concerned one, she slowly walked over and poked me in the arm.

    The moment her finger came close to my body, a small bolt of purple lightning jumped from my arm to her finger and shocked her as she immediately jumped back with a shriek.

    “How is that just a tingly feeling!? Are you sure your nerves haven’t been fried off!?” (Aria)

    “Eh? Stop overreacting, it’s just a small current. Can’t be that bad. Look.” (Kyle)

    I walked over to the small stream nearby and dipped my hand into the water.

    I expected just a bit of static electricity to spread out into the river, but instead, thunder rang out instantly as huge bolts of purple lightning ran across the surface of the water and a small explosion splashed water all over me.

    I got up, stood there for a moment in silence, then turned around to Aria while trembling with a scared smile on my face and tears in my eyes as a couple of charred fish floated up to the surface of the water.

    “...H-Help... Get me to a doctor! I think I’m gonna explode!” (Kyle)

    I took a single step forward and extended my hand shakily towards Aria before she immediately started running for her life in the opposite direction.

    “Stop! Get away from me! You’ll kill me too before I can get you to a doctor!” (Aria)
    [​IMG]
    Adventurer Town Delhurst, Calden Inn, Tavern Lobby (Aria POV)
    [​IMG]
    The dazzling purple sunset stretched endlessly across the horizon as I stared blankly out the window. A moment of peace passed by as I sat at the wooden tavern table and silently watched the colors cover the skyline before taking another sip of my ale. After placing my cup down onto the table, my eyes slowly closed and the corners of my mouth edged upwards into a gentle smile as I began to reminisce about the past.

    Over a year has passed since I met Ky and it’s finally fall again. The weather has cooled down recently, so the lethargic feeling of summer has started to fade too. And well, as for me, I’m currently sitting in the tavern waiting for Ky to finish making dinner. But honestly, it all feels a little surreal to me.

    l still remember the hilarious disaster that was our first mission. After what happened at the wolf den, he chased me around all day, and when he finally caught up to me, there were still sparks of purple lightning leaking out from him, so I had him roll around in the mud and jump into a nearby river again. He finally managed to discharge the rest of the electricity after that, but when he came back to me completely drenched with an exhausted look on his face, I couldn’t help but burst out laughing. I don’t know why I found that image of him so funny, but I think it was the first time in years that I laughed so hard.

    It was only after sunset that we finally returned to the wolf den to collect the monster cores from the storm wolves, so we ended up camping out, and honestly, the entire quest was a bit of a wreck because of Ky... but in the end, I have to admit, it was kind of fun eating dinner outside and talking by the campfire while we watched the stars light up the night sky.

    I opened my eyes and took another sip of my ale before my memories brought me back to another unforgettable scene as I closed my eyes again.

    It was the first time we went to go observe the dragon. Ky was silent the whole time we were watching it, but on our way back to Delhurst, he finally asked me why we were watching it. I couldn’t tell him about the Emperor’s test because it was a secret, but the promise with Max was too embarrassing to tell him about, so I just made up a lie.

    Ky saw through it instantly though.

    So when I finally told him that I needed to kill the dragon for a secret mission so I could reinstate my family as nobles and return to the capital to get married, I was honestly scared. Scared that he would think I was crazy. Scared that he would leave me and I would be alone again.

    But, in the end, he just laughed and promised me he would help me no matter how dumb my reasons were... because I was his friend. I only faintly remember what happened after that, but I’m sure that I cried my eyes out when he said that he was my friend.

    I think that after being alone for so long, I forgot just what it was like to go on an adventure with another person.

    When I was a solo adventurer, missions were just a drag to me. They were just something I had to do because I needed the guild’s data on the dragon. I would go out by myself, complete my mission, and come back to town emotionlessly.

    In the back on my head, I always knew the loneliness was there, but I never really minded it because I had already grown used to it. After all, it’s been there since forever.

    Even back when I was a kid, every day was just swordsmanship training and learning about the world with my father. My only escape from the loneliness was when occasionally Max and his father would come over to visit. Max and I would always sneak out to play whenever he visited, and every time, we just ran around town for a few hours. Those were the only memories of my childhood where I ever had fun with a friend, but now it’s different.

    I finally found someone.

    Someone who would talk to me every day.

    Someone who would stay by my side, even through all the ups and downs.

    Someone who would always support me no matter what.

    I finally found another friend.

    Maybe I was just starved for companionship this whole time, but honestly, it feels like this past year has been a dream. This is the first time in my life I’ve been so happy.

    I can wake up in the morning every day with a smile on my face, eat delicious food three times a day, and go adventuring with Ky.

    So he might be weak, he might be manaless, he might be lazy, and he might even be weird sometimes, but Ky’s still my one and only friend.

    I took a deep breath as I finally came back to my senses. There were faint noises coming from the tavern kitchen and when I looked over, I saw Ky come out holding a cake in his hands. Our eyes met and I gave him a dazed smile as he called out to the owner, who just returned from the storage room.

    “Boss, why did you give her ale again?... You know she gets emotional when she’s drunk, and her tolerance for alcohol is non-existent! Look at her, she’s barely on her second cup and she’s already out of it.” (Kyle)

    The owner laughed heartily as he walked over to the table with a few more cups of ale.

    “What are you talking about, boy? This is a celebration, and what kind of celebration doesn’t have ale? Anyway, I let you two rent out the tavern for tonight so it’s not like there’s anyone else here. What’s wrong with getting a little drunk?” (Owner)

    The inn owner continued laughing and Ky sighed before bringing the cake over and putting it down on the table next to the food and ale in front of me.

    “Fine, I guess I’ll let it slide this one time since it’s a party. Looks like she’s already drunk anyway.” (Kyle)

    After talking with us for a few minutes, the owner left us alone and Ky sat down with a cup of ale in his hand too. He cleared his throat to get my attention before fidgeting around with an embarrassed look on his face.

    “Well, this is kind of embarrassing with only the two of us here, but congratulations Aria. As of today, you’re an official A-rank adventurer.” (Kyle)

    “Y-Yeah!” (Aria)

    I had a goofy smile on my face as I raised my cup of ale to meet Ky’s in a toast before we both chugged down our drinks.
    [​IMG]
    Adventurer Town Delhurst, Calden Inn, Tavern Lobby (Kyle POV)
    [​IMG]
    It’s about midnight right now, and me and Aria are alone in the tavern lobby. The moment the party started, we devoured dinner and the cake I made then drank our hearts out. Aria passed out on the table a while ago after drinking so much and as for me, well, it’s harder for me to get drunk because of my special physique, so I’m only a little buzzed.

    After cleaning up the mess we made, I nudged Aria gently to try and wake her up, but all I got in response was some sleep talking and another goofy smile. I sighed and picked her up off the table as she unconsciously wrapped her arms around my neck.

    “...mhmm....Ky…”(Aria)

    I quietly carried her up the stairs to her room before trying to lay her down on her bed, but even though I brought her all this way, she wasn’t letting go of me. After a few moments, I finally managed to pry off her arms and place her on the bed. She curled up a little from the cold bed sheets and I was about to leave when I faintly heard her voice.

    “... stop… don’t leave…alone...” (Aria)

    I think she was having a nightmare, but honestly, I don’t blame her. After all, we just decided a few days ago that we’re going to be fighting the dragon when winter starts this year. And even though we’ve spent the last couple months preparing for this, she’s probably drowning in anxiety.

    I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

    I still remember when she told me her ridiculous reason for killing the dragon. I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw the serious look in her eyes as she spilled the beans, and it made me think about the request a certain lazy goddess gave me to ‘spread love around.’

    So in the end, I decided to support her quest for love as much as I could. And while I would like to say that it was a selfless act of altruism, honestly it was more for my heart’s sake, than it was for the sake of Eliza’s request or Aria’s marriage.

    Aria’s an important person to me. She’s my one and only friend, and I could tell from the day I met her that she was the same as I was before, alone. Seeing her struggle against her loneliness reminded me of myself, and I would like to think that there’s some part of me that doesn’t want to see another person go through what I did.

    Even for me, just interacting with her every day reminds me that I’m not alone anymore either… But change will always come in the end... one day, I’ll have to leave her, and she’ll live out the rest of her life without me.

    Aria will go on and find happiness without me, she’ll forget about me, and, eventually, she’ll die without me.

    It’ll only be after she passes, that I might meet her again, but not as Kyle, her friend. Instead, it’ll be as Kyle, the True God of Death. So if anything, for now, I want to support her. I don’t want her to be chained down by the isolation like I was. I want her to live for herself... and one day, I want to meet her on the other side so she can tell me that she lived a happy life without any regrets.

    Maybe it’s selfish of me to say this, but I want her to be happy, so that I can say that, although I’ve killed countless people, at the very, very least, these blood-stained hands have saved one person too.

    I opened my eyes and exhaled slowly as I draped a blanket over Aria before sitting down beside her bed and holding her hand in mine. I stared at the moonlight shining in through the gaps in the curtains and took another breath before speaking softly.

    “... Everything’s ok... I’m still here… you’re not alone anymore...” (Kyle)

    Aria’s sleep talking died down after I sat there gripping her hand gently for a few minutes and her breathing became steady again, but when I tried to let go of her hand, she had a death grip on mine. So I sat there for a while, and I don’t know whether it was the soft sound of her breathing or the alcohol in my system that made me so drowsy, but in the end, I quietly dozed off while holding Aria’s hand.
     
    Last edited: Jun 28, 2019
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  10. RubberDucky

    RubberDucky Well-Known Member

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    [Chapter 7] Even If I Have to Run to the End of the World to Bring You Back
    [​IMG]
    Adventurer Town Delhurst, Calden Inn, Aria’s Room (Aria POV)
    [​IMG]
    I let out a light yawn as the gentle sound of raindrops hitting the window pane slightly roused me from my sleep. A few tranquil moments passed by before I realized that I was holding something in my right hand. I didn’t know what it was, but my hazy sense of touch told me that it was something soft and warm. It was a tender warmth that contrasted my cold right arm and I unconsciously tightened my grip as if I was trying to squeeze out all of the warmth. I pulled the unknown thing under the blanket and brought it close to my chest before holding it with both of my hands. After a while, the heat under the blanket finally enveloped me completely and I dozed off again.

    ***​

    The sound of the rain was still there when I woke up the second time, and I let out another yawn as I slowly got out from under the blanket. I shivered a bit after coming into contact with the cold air in the room, and one of my hands was still tightly grasping something while my other hand rubbed my eyes.

    When I finally regained my visual clarity, I looked down at the blanket and saw two hands holding each other. The grogginess still hadn’t disappeared and I sat there for a second before realizing what I saw was my hand holding someone else’s. My line of sight moved past the hand I was holding and along the arm it was connected to before I saw a head of white hair peeking at me from over the edge of my bed. Still feeling a bit dazed, I leaned over to look down towards the floor and there I saw Ky there with his arm bent towards me. He was fast asleep while leaning on the side of my bed and I could faintly hear the sound of his soft breathing.

    After returning to my original sitting position, I sat on the bed in silence for a few moments and stared at the hand I was holding as my brain finally reoriented itself from the heavy drinking I did last night.

    Over the course of the next couple of minutes, I finally put together all of my previous observations and came to a conclusion. The hand that I was looking at, the hand that felt so warm earlier, the hand that I had been holding for the entire night, that hand was Ky’s hand. I stared intensely at Ky’s hand as a slight blush appeared on my face and a few moments passed by as my blush slowly became redder in increments before finally spreading across my entire face.

    Eventually, I flung Ky’s arm off my bed and back on top of his body as I held my head in my hands, feeling the blood rush to my face while I desperately racked my memories to try and remember exactly what happened last night. But no matter how hard I tried, all I could remember from yesterday was us celebrating my promotion and drinking as much as we could before everything faded to black.

    After giving up on trying to remember what happened yesterday, I ran through my vague memories of this morning and the scene of me hugging Ky’s hand close to my chest while sleeping popped up in my mind. I buried my burning red face in my pillow as I hugged my knees and let out a cute whimper before peeking over to look at Ky’s head.

    “...a-augh…” (Aria)

    I stared at his snow-white hair as I wallowed in my embarrassment for a few more minutes before finally managing to barely pull myself together. Eventually, I just decided that the best course of action was to pretend like nothing happened and completely forget about it.

    I slapped myself lightly in the face with both hands before I got off my bed and started to lift Ky slowly so that he wouldn’t wake up. When I finally picked him up off the floor, he grumbled for a moment, which made me freeze up, but after a few seconds there wasn’t another response from him and I quietly let out a sigh of relief.

    After carrying him right next door to his room, I wanted to gently put Ky down onto his bed, but as I was carrying him over, he shifted around in my arms. I instantly panicked thinking that he woke up and unconsciously let go of him so I could use my hands to muffle my yelp. Ky fell onto the floor next to his bed and laid there silently for a while before I calmed myself down and doubled checked that he was still asleep. I quietly closed the door to his room before sneaking back to mine, getting back in bed, and muttering to myself with my face still burning red while trying to fall asleep again.

    “Nothing happened last night, absolutely nothing… all that happened last night was we had a party, went back to our rooms after drinking, and... Ky passed out on the floor right before he made it to his bed because he drank too much while I went back to my room to sleep BY MYSELF. I never held his hand, and in a little bit, we’ll both wake up and everything will be normal...ha...ha...ha...ha...” (Aria)

    I rolled around in bed with my pillow on top of my face, pretending to be asleep while running through every possible scenario for what could have happened in my head as the sound of my heart racing drowned out the rain hitting the window pane.
    [​IMG]
    Adventurer Town Delhurst, Calden Inn, Kyle’s Room (Kyle POV)
    [​IMG]
    When I woke up, the sound of light rain hitting the window pane was beginning to die down and I opened my eyes to find that I was on the floor in my room. I shivered a bit from the cold and a funny sense of deja vu bubbled up inside me from sleeping on the floor again like I did for that one week after I met Aria. I slowly rolled over with a groan as I grabbed the edge of my bed frame to hoist myself up.

    “Ugh… what happened?” (Kyle)

    I rubbed my temples a bit as the slight hangover from last night made my head lightly throb, and after a moment, I ran through my memories again.

    “Last night we had a party for Aria’s promotion. We drank a lot, and I vaguely remember carrying her back to her room, but after that, there’s nothing…” (Kyle)

    After running through my memories to no avail, I decided that I would go check up on Aria to see if she was ok. She did drink enough to pass out last night, so she probably had a huge hangover right now.

    I opened the door to my room, which was unlocked for some reason, and walked over to Aria’s room next door as I yawned while knocking on it.

    “Aria, you there? I’m gonna be making breakfast soon.” (Kyle)

    When I called out for her, there was silence for a moment before I heard a loud crash and a cry of pain from inside.

    “...Argh!” (Aria)

    I immediately got worried and pushed against the door to get inside. I was prepared to force it open if I needed to, but for some reason, it was also unlocked and I burst into the room with an uneasy expression on my face.

    My eyes scanned around the room for Aria, and I found her rolling around on the floor clutching her head with tears in her eyes. I ran over to her and stopped her from rolling to see what was wrong.

    “Aria, are you ok? What happened?” (Kyle)

    Aria didn’t answer me, but after glancing around again and seeing the small crack on her wooden bed frame along with the bump on her head, I came to the conclusion that she just hit her head like an idiot. I sighed and lifted her up off the floor before placing her back onto her bed.

    “Wait here, I’ll go grab some ice.” (Kyle)

    Aria gave me a whimper as I left her room and went back to mine. I rummaged through the bags on my desk and took out an alchemy stone from one. It was a monster core about the size of a bottle cap which looked like an icy blue colored crystal and it had a small magic circle carved into it. I held the alchemy stone in my hand and activated the magic circle carved into it.

    “Ice Shard, single cast, activate.” (Kyle)

    The crystal shone with a similar colored light before being replaced with a sharp chunk of ice about the size of my palm. I snapped the sharp edges off the chunk of ice and placed it into a small bag to create a makeshift ice pack before returning to Aria’s room.

    When I returned with the ice pack, Aria was covering her face with her pillow and hugging her knees on the bed. I walked over and nudged her in the face with the ice pack.

    “Alright, show me where you hit your head.” (Kyle)

    “Kyaa!” (Aria)

    Aria gave a small shriek from the sudden cold and peeked her eyes out from under the pillow for a moment. A moment passed as she made eye contact with me before immediately covering her face with the pillow again. I heard her muffled voice from beneath the pillow as she rolled over to her side to face away from me.

    “T-thanks, Ky. Just leave the ice here, I can do it by myself.” (Aria)

    “What are you talking about? It’s ok, I won’t make fun of you. Here, let me see how big the bump is.” (Kyle)

    I sat down on the bed next to Aria and ran my hand through her hair as she started fidgeting around. There was a small bump on the back of her head and I gently placed the ice pack on top of it.

    “...eek!” (Aria)

    “Hey, hold still!” (Kyle)

    Aria initially started squirming around in her bed after I placed the ice pack on her head, but after a few moments she calmed down and after about ten more minutes, the swelling had started to disappear. I softly rubbed Aria’s head a bit to make sure the swelling wasn’t too bad before smiling and looking at the clock. It was almost 11 AM, about time to get something to eat.

    “Alright, looks like you’re good now. It’s a little late for breakfast so I’ll be back in a few minutes with brunch. Today will be pancakes.” (Kyle)

    “...ok...” (Aria)

    I stared for a moment at Aria still holding the pillow over her face before shrugging and leaving the room to go prepare breakfast.

    “Hmm, did she really hit her head that hard? It didn’t look that bad. Eh, knowing her, she’ll probably be fine once I give her some food.” (Kyle)

    When I came back to Aria’s room with a tray of freshly made pancakes, she was sitting on the bed with a slightly red face as she fidgeted around with her hands. I pulled out a small table from the corner of the room and set the tray of pancakes down before taking the chair from under the desk and sitting down across from Aria.

    “Hey, Aria, you ok?” (Kyle)

    “Y-yeah, I’m fine.” (Aria)

    She had a small nervous smile and an unnatural flush on her face as she picked up her utensils and started to eat the pancakes in small bites. A few moments passed as we sat there and ate brunch together, but whenever I tried to make eye contact, she immediately turned her head away to look at the wall or the window. Eventually, I started staring at her to see what was wrong. I noticed that her face was slowly getting redder and I grabbed her hand.

    “Wha-” (Aria)

    Aria finally faced me and made eye contact as I got a good look at her extremely red face before I immediately put my other hand to her forehead to check what her temperature was. I was starting to suspect that she was sick after seeing her behavior earlier, and right now her face was burning up.

    “Aria, we’re going to a doctor right now. I’m 100% sure that you’re sick. Your face is redder than a tomato, your forehead’s burning up, and you’ve been fidgeting around weirdly. Usually, you shove everything you can into your mouth as fast as possible, but you’ve only been taking small bites of your food, and you haven’t even physically or verbally abused me for something unreasonable yet.” (Kyle)

    I stood up, moved the table out of the way, and started to drag Aria with me, but once I made it to the doorway, Aria stopped in her tracks and shook free from my grasp before muttering to herself with an angry smile.

    “So... that’s how you see me, huh?” (Aria)

    I turned around and was about to ask her what was wrong when she kicked me into the hallway and slammed the door shut before locking it. I got up and started to try and open the door.

    “I’m glad to see you’re acting more like usual now, but you should still see a doctor! Trust me, it’s for your own good!” (Kyle)

    “I don’t need a doctor! It’s your damn fault I’m like this anyway!” (Aria)

    “What!? How was it my fault!?” (Kyle)

    I cried out indignantly, but that was the last I heard from Aria until she came out for dinner that night looking perfectly normal, albeit slightly depressed.
    [​IMG]
    Edge of Civilization, Zolran Mountain Range, Dragon’s Cave (Kyle POV)
    [​IMG]
    I felt a light breeze blow across my face as I gazed at the colors in the sky and sat there, leaning against a tree. A few feet away from me, Aria was standing behind a different tree while staring intently at the entrance to the dragon’s cave.

    We were hiding behind the trees near the dragon’s cave in the mountain range, and according to our observations, and the guild’s data, this time of the year is when the dragon stays in its cave the most.

    You see, a few months have passed and winter has started again, but around this area, the winters are actually pretty warm. It isn’t exactly shorts and sandals weather, but there’s rarely any snow, and it basically just feels like a slightly colder fall. Honestly though, I couldn’t care less about that right now.

    Aria and I have been observing the dragon for the past week, and two days ago, we even saw it leave for about five hours before returning, so it should be in its cave for another few days at minimum.

    Today was just another normal day of observing the dragon, or well, it would’ve been if it weren’t for the fact that tomorrow is the day we’ve chosen to finally confront it.

    Despite the eerie silence of the woods around us and the slowly fading light of sunset, there was a visible tension coming from Aria as she stood there stiffly while taking long deep breaths with her eyes closed, almost like she was meditating. I watched her for a moment before walking over to her silently and whispering to her.

    “... Aria, it’s sunset, we should go back soon.” (Kyle)

    Aria exhaled and opened her eyes, which gleamed with uncertainty, before turning around and answering me.

    “...ok, let's go back...” (Aria)

    Aria glanced at the cave one last time before walking past me to lead the way back. I could sense the aura of anxiety surrounding her as we walked down the mountain in silence, and the dim illumination of twilight slowly devoured the last vestiges of sunlight as I stared at her back while we wordlessly trudged on through the mountain woods.

    Eventually, we reached the main road back to Delhurst from the mountains. The sound of our footsteps was the only thing cutting through the silence, and the lonely atmosphere was slowly overwhelming me... until I finally snapped.

    I couldn’t take it anymore.

    I hated the all too familiar sight in front of me.

    I hated the emotions it brought up, I hated the things it made me remember, and what I hated the most... was the fact that it was the sight of someone I cared about that was making me feel like this.

    What filled my vision was just a single person walking through the darkness by herself. It was a girl who was lost, a girl who didn’t know what to do.

    It was a girl who was alone...

    Aria’s hands were in the shape of tight fists as she made her way down the road. Her gait was stiff, almost robotic, and she was just staring downwards at the floor in front of her as she walked. I couldn’t see her face, but I already knew what it looked like.

    Because it was the same face I made a long, long time ago. A face full of fear and hopeless uncertainty, masked by a facade.

    “... I don’t want to see this anymore...” (Kyle)

    My right foot stopped moving. It hit the ground and stopped all my forward momentum as I stood still. Aria stopped walking right after I did, and there was a moment of silence before she turned around to face me.

    “What’s wrong, Ky? Come on, hurry up or we won’t make it back in time for dinner.” (Aria)

    I was right.

    Aria showed me a smile. It was a textbook fake smile, one that was as far from a real smile as possible. I’ve seen Aria smile a lot, and whether it was an angry one because I made her mad, a satisfied one because she was eating delicious food, or a happy one because she was genuinely having fun, there was always a sense of life in her eyes. But right now... there was nothing.

    I stared into her eyes for a moment before responding slowly in a soft voice.

    “...Hey, Aria… tell me the truth, are you afraid?” (Kyle)

    Aria froze as she stared back at me with that fake smile before letting out an even phonier laugh.

    “No way, I’m not scared at all. Don’t worry, we’ve already prepared a lot for the fight. We’ve got everything on lockdown. We have those two special fireproof cloaks to protect us from the dragon’s breath, we’re fighting in the winter when it’s at its weakest, and you even bought all those ice element monster cores to set up that big alchemy formation outside, right? We’ve already spent a lot of money on this... so just believe in me. We’ll definitely win. And we’ll go back to the capital together afterward, so-” (Aria)

    I grit my teeth and cut her off with a low voice after hearing her spew out all this fake garbage.

    “...Is that all you’re gonna give me?... Just a fake smile, some worthless semantics, and your flimsy facade of confidence?...” (Kyle)

    Aria stood there stiffly and we just stared at each other in silence again. For us, the faint night breeze blowing by was the only sound in the world. It flowed along and warmly caressed both our bodies as we stood there until finally, I moved.

    I took a single step forward.

    And then another step.

    And finally, one more.

    I stood in front of Aria and lifted my arms to hold her by the shoulders.

    “... If you don’t want to tell me anything then it’s fine, just let me say one thing…” (Kyle)

    I pulled Aria close and hugged her tightly, almost like I was trying to melt her with my warmth.

    “...You’re not alone anymore... So stop acting like you’re the one holding up everything by yourself. I already told you, I’ll cook for you, I’ll set up camp for you, and I’ll help you carry everything... even burdens, because... I’m your partner… so please, don’t lie to me...” (Kyle)

    It felt like time had stopped, but eventually another pair of arms wrapped around my back and hugged just as tight as I did. I felt my shirt getting slightly wet, and the sound of Aria’s muffled crying replaced the howling of the dry winter breeze as we stood there under a sea of stars.
    [​IMG]
    Adventurer Town Delhurst, Calden Inn, Aria’s Room (Aria POV)
    [​IMG]
    The faint sound of a pen scratching on paper was the only thing that could be heard in my room before I finished writing my letter, folded the paper in half, and placed it on top of my desk.

    It was a few hours past midnight right now, and I stretched a bit in my chair before turning off the lamp next to me. Darkness flooded the room as the moonlight outside peeked through the window. I stared at the ceiling and sat in silence for a bit until my eyes adjusted to the dim light and I got up.

    I picked up the letter and rummaged through my desk to find the extra key to Ky’s room that he gave me. And after staring at the letter in my hands for a few minutes, I made my way over to the door and left my room.

    I walked over to Ky’s room and unlocked it using the extra key before gently nudging the door open and peeking inside. The dim moonlight shone through the window and illuminated Ky sleeping on his bed.

    I slowly walked over and sat down on the floor next to his bed while I listened to his faint breathing. Then, I leaned against the bed frame and held the letter in my hands as I hugged my knees before my soft voice rang out.

    “...Hey, Ky… I think I finally figured out what I want to do…” (Aria)

    I turned my head toward the window and looked at the moon gently lighting up the night sky amidst a sea of stars.

    “... I’m going to fight the dragon alone… because I’ve finally realized who the most important person in my life is... it’s you... and that’s why you’re the one person I can’t drag with me into danger… I’m scared of the dragon, but honestly... I think I’m even more scared of losing you… You’re irreplaceable to me because you’re... my one and only partner…” (Aria)

    I took a deep breath and closed my eyes as I leaned my head back onto the bed.

    “... You know… if Max didn’t exist... I definitely would’ve married you… so if I do make it back... I think I’ll turn down that knight captain position… I’ll just settle down in the capital and take it easy… and if I do, I’ll definitely need a personal chef… so get ready, because I’ll be dragging you with me, whether you like it or not...” (Aria)

    I slowly got up and turned around to look at Ky as my face eased into a small happy smile.

    After a moment, I left the letter on Ky’s desk and had one last look at the room before quietly leaving.
    [​IMG]
    Edge of Civilization, Zolran Mountain Range, Dragon’s Cave (Aria POV)
    [​IMG]
    The howling of the wind masked the sound of my footsteps as I stepped through the darkness and arrived at the entrance of the cave. The dim light from the faintly glowing crystals lining the inside of the cave shone out and illuminated my silhouette. I held my greatsword in my hands and readied myself as the crisp morning air flowed through my lungs and I stared at the dragon sleeping inside.

    “... I have to keep it in the cave. If it gets out and starts flying, I can’t win...” (Aria)

    I inhaled and chantlessly cast body strengthening magic on myself like I had done countless times before. My body instantly felt lighter and my legs broke into a sprint as I rushed at the sleeping dragon’s head.

    I channeled the mana in my body into my greatsword and activated three sword techniques simultaneously, mana edge to make my sword sharper, reinforce to harden it, and increase weight to make it heavier. The hazy white light of mana thinly covered my greatsword, and then… the sound of metal cutting into flesh finally reached my ears. I canceled the sword techniques and channeled ice element mana into my sword before pulling it out from the dragon’s right eye and jumping away as the blood spilling out from the dragon’s eye began to freeze. The dragon let out a deafening roar of pain as it finally woke up and lifted its entire body up to face me.

    Immediately, I followed up with a spin to control the momentum, then a hard swing to its wide open chest. My sword lit up again as I activated mana edge and sparks flew from the blade while it ground through the dragon’s scales. I pushed against the ground with my left leg as I dashed past to the dragon’s right side.

    However, once I ran past its wing, I stopped in my tracks, clenched my teeth, and stacked reinforce as I barely held up my sword in time to block the tail flying straight at me.

    The tail collided with the flat part of my greatsword and I was blasted away about a dozen feet into the cave wall. Shards of crushed rock and crystal tore cuts and scrapes into me as the wind was knocked out of my lungs and my entire body rattled in my armor from the impact. My vision blurred for a split second before the image of the dragon’s gaping maw filled my line of sight.

    I instantly reacted and pulled the fire-proof cloak covering my armor to shield my body as a mass of flames poured out from the dragon’s mouth. The flames singed the edges of my armor, but the cloak blocked most of the fire and I jumped out as fast as I could before slipping past the dragon to its right side again as it tried to claw at me.

    Slamming my foot against the ground, I rolled past the swipe from the dragon as I activated mana edge again and stabbed my blade into the dragon’s flank as hard as I could. The scales shattered from the kinetic force and my blade tore into the tough flesh. I canceled mana edge and began to pump in ice elemental mana again as my sword gradually glowed with an icy blue aura.

    The faint crackle of ice crystals forming echoed throughout the cave as I grit my teeth and pumped more and more mana into my body strengthening magic to push my sword forward. The blade ripped through the scales and froze the dragon’s flesh as it sliced a gaping wound into the dragon’s right flank.

    Another roar of pain echoed out as it swiped at me again with its tail. I put strength into my legs and kicked against the ground to jump over its tail, but the dragon spun around and its head shot at me to try and bite me.

    I held my sword horizontally and activated reinforce to harden my sword as I waited until the dragon’s maw was right in front of me before I channeled a large amount mana into my body strengthening magic again and smashed its jaw closed from the bottom to push the dragon’s head above me.

    When I landed, I spun again and followed the momentum of my greatsword to slash low at the dragon’s right leg.

    I activated increase weight and reinforce as I strained every muscle fiber in my legs to push forward on this swing.

    “Uwwooohhhhhhh!” (Aria)

    My greatsword smashed against the dragon’s leg and it felt like I was whacking at a steel pole as the impact from the collision shook my arms, but along with that impact was the sound of bone and scale being crushed. I let go of my sword with my right hand and held it in my left as I quickly pulled out one enchanted knife from the pair I had on my belt before activating mana edge and increase weight. The knife drove itself through the dragon’s foot and impaled it to the ground as I channeled my mana into the enchanted knife to activate it.

    The dragon desperately swiped at me again and I held my blade against my arm and activated reinforce again right before it blew me back towards the entrance of the cave while the knife encased the dragon’s right leg in ice, freezing it to the floor.

    I bounced and rolled against the ground a few times before I smashed against the cave wall again and the dragon sent another blast of fire at me. I quickly covered myself with the cloak and strained my bruised body to get up from the floor and run towards the dragon again.

    It bit at me a second time as I dashed towards it and slid under the chomp to its left side. I activated reinforce on my sword again and held it at an angle against the ground to block the dragon’s left arm smashing down at me on the floor as the impact rattled my arms before being deflected. I grabbed the second knife while rolling over before casting mana edge and increase weight to impale the dragon’s left hand to the ground just like it’s right leg. I activated the enchantment while getting up and kicked against the ground to lunge away before rolling to stop my momentum.

    The dragon’s left hand was similarly encased in ice a moment later, and it roared towards me with a mixture of pain and anger while it was stuck.

    I stood there with ragged breathing as I took a moment of respite and leaned on my sword like a cane. The dragon flailed its limbs violently to try and reach me, and although it was still immobilized for now, the sounds of the ice beginning to crack told me it was going to escape soon

    “... Still not dead?...” (Aria)

    It was clear to me that it wouldn’t die so easily, but I knew I wouldn’t win in a battle of attrition, so my only choice was to kill it in one attack. I thought for a moment about what my options were before deciding that the only thing I had that could possibly kill the dragon instantly was the strongest sword technique I had, my half completed sword truth.

    It’s a fire dragon, so it has some natural resistance to the lightning-based sword techniques I normally use... but a sword truth is something on a completely different level.

    I’ve been training in swordsmanship for as long as I can remember... My entire life, I’ve been living with a sword in my hand, and even though I haven’t reached the peak yet, I’m, at the very least, close to it.

    My sword truth might not be a real one yet, but it’s still the strongest attack I have. Once I do use my sword truth, I definitely won’t have enough energy to move anymore, but the dragon isn’t going to be stuck forever and I’m running out of stamina, so it’s now or never.

    My eyes shone with resolve for a moment before I closed them and calmed down my breathing. I emptied any chaotic thoughts from my mind and picked up my sword with an expressionless face as I slowly put my body into a stance.

    The tip of my greatsword was pointed towards the dragon as I inhaled. After completely canceling my body strengthening magic, every last drop of mana I had in me moved through my hands into my sword before rebounding back into my body. The flow of mana formed a raging cycle as the speed of the revolution started to slowly increase before I finally opened my eyes again to reveal that they were glowing with a hazy red light.

    My voice resonated in the cave as I began to chant slowly.

    “May life itself revel in the edge of my blade,” (Aria)

    ... I need to make it back...

    “For the sword I know of is one of singularity,” (Aria)

    ... I have things I need to do...

    “One that exists not for the end, nor the beginning,” (Aria)

    ... I have people I need to see again...

    “One that exists only for a moment,” (Aria)

    ... I have promises that I need to keep...

    “It is an unstoppable surge, an imperceivable flash, an instantaneous strike,” (Aria)

    ... I have a friend to return to...

    “That will once again return to serenity.” (Aria)

    This is everything I have. This is my resolve!

    My sword shone with a solid crimson light as scarlet bolts of lightning revolved around me and my sword like vicious serpents. My body turned ethereal as the crimson light enveloped it and the sword in my hand was slowly replaced with a blade of red lightning.

    I struggled to hold my sword as I took a single step forward and before I could even react myself... I was behind the dragon facing the wall, and it was over.

    I had instantaneously burst forward in a single point the moment I took that step and pierced through the dragon. It tore open a gaping hole and cauterized the wound immediately afterward. The lightning even kept going after I stopped. It crushed both stone and crystal, ripping a clean hole into the wall as the area around it crumbled into broken chunks from the pure force.

    I dropped to my knees as the deafening sound of thunder reverberated behind me and I realized that my sword had shattered from the strike. All I was left with was the smoldering remains of its handle... and it was then that the sense of unease that I had been suppressing finally broke out. I desperately tried to fool myself into thinking that I had actually killed the dragon, but a moment later, I was finally forced to face reality when a crazed roar sounded out behind me.

    It wasn’t that my sword truth wasn’t strong enough, or that the dragon was able to unnaturally resist it. In fact, my sword truth cut through its flesh and bone with ease, and the dragon scales were basically akin to paper against a strike of that caliber. Even if my sword truth wasn’t complete, it was still extremely powerful, and I know that better than anyone.

    So why didn’t it work? Well, the answer was quite simple really.

    I just missed.

    Yes. That’s right, I missed.

    You see, the reason I didn’t want to use my sword truth wasn’t only that it would drain me of all my energy, it was also because I couldn’t control it. I can barely even aim it in the right direction and just keeping it in a straight line is my limit. Otherwise, even if it drained me of all my stamina, I would’ve just used it at the start to kill the dragon instantly while it was still sleeping.

    In the end, I took a gamble that I could control it, and I lost the gamble.

    I forced my exhausted body to move with what little energy I had left and collapsed with my back against the wall. I looked up and what greeted me was the sight of a badly wounded dragon. There was a large hole through its right shoulder and its entire right arm and wing had been torn off. But, although it was struggling to move, it was still alive, and it was about to break free from the ice.

    I stared at the dragon struggling for a moment, hoping that it would just die right there, but in the end, it just barely got up again, and the ice encasing its limbs broke. I closed my eyes and blocked out all the noise around me as my consciousness was beginning to fade.

    So… this is it huh?...

    Guess I’m not gonna make it back after all…

    It looks like this is my limit…

    I’m sorry, Ky…

    But as the darkness began to slowly invade my mind, I suddenly felt a familiar feeling envelop me. It was soft and warm just like Ky’s hand, and the moment I felt that familiar feeling, it was like a jolt of electricity instantly cleared the fogginess in my mind. I came back to my senses and opened my eyes just in time to see a face in front of me.

    It was a face that I had seen a million times before, a face that made me happy when I saw it, and it was also the one face that I didn’t want to see here. It was Ky’s face. He had a relieved expression on his face when he saw me open my eyes and he picked me up, but right after picking me up, he suddenly pulled my head to his chest and hugged me close to his body with his right arm. Then I heard the dragon roar followed by the sound of bones breaking as a strong impact shook me.

    Ky held me tight as we bounced off the floor a couple times and flew across the cave. Once we stopped rolling, Ky loosened his grip on me and got up while still carrying me.

    And it was now that I could see his left arm. It was mangled and broken with blood dripping down the side as it hung loosely off his shoulder.

    No.

    No!

    NO!

    This is the one thing that I didn’t want to happen! Why are you here!?

    Ky started running towards the exit while carrying me with his right arm, but the dragon swiped at us from above, and it was then that time slowed down for me.

    STOP! GET OUT OF HERE! JUST LEAVE ME TO DIE!

    Ky let go of me, and as my body floated freely in the air for a moment from the momentum, he sent a solid kick to my stomach. The kick knocked the air out of my lungs and launched me out of the cave. I reached out weakly towards the cave as the last thing I saw before my consciousness faded to black was Ky barely dodging the dragon’s claws.
    [​IMG]
    Adventurer Town Delhurst, Calden Inn, Kyle’s Room (Kyle POV)
    [​IMG]
    I yawned as I slowly woke up. Maybe it was because of the anxiety, but I didn’t sleep for very long today, and after rubbing my eyes for a bit, I got out of bed to turn on the lights since it was still dark out. I looked over at the clock and saw that it was really early in the morning.

    Well, I don’t think I can go back to sleep, and I don’t feel tired or anything, so I guess I’ll double check all the equipment.

    I walked over to my desk and sat down when I noticed something strange. On my desk was a piece of paper that was folded in half. I tried to remember if I had placed something like that on my desk yesterday, but after a moment, I unfolded it suspiciously.

    I expected a list or something, but inside was a letter addressed to me, in what looked like Aria’s handwriting.

    Dear Ky,

    If you’re reading this, then that means I didn’t make it back. I know you said that we’re partners, that you’d share the burden with me, but in the end, I just couldn’t bring myself to risk losing you. So I just want to say one last thing to you. Thank you, Ky. Thank you for cooking for me all the time, thank you for traveling with me all the time, thank you for everything you’ve done for me, and thank you for being my friend for so long. Just do me one last favor, forget about me and go live a happy life.

    From,

    Aria

    After I read the letter, I stood there for a moment before ripping it into pieces, grabbing the bag of alchemy stones on my desk, and rushing out of my room as fast as I could. I jumped down the entire flight of stairs, put pressure into my legs when I landed on the first floor and boosted my body forward towards the door as fast as I could. My legs pounded against the ground as I ran through the streets and left Delhurst to run towards the mountains.

    Hey, what is this garbage? Aria, you can’t just give me this lousy death flag of a letter and leave so easily. I don’t care if I have to drag you back kicking and screaming, I’ll make damn sure that I bring you back. Even if I have to run to the end of the world to bring you back, even if it’s the last goddamn thing I do! Some partner you are, huh? You can’t risk losing me? Well, do you think I can risk losing you? Stop being so selfish!

    I bolted past the trees as my legs propelled my body forwards and tore through any branches in my path. I ran and ran and ran until I even forgot how long I had been running for, but with every single step I took, there was a part of me that just screamed at my body to go even faster. And eventually, I made it to the dragon’s nest, where I heard a crack of thunder and saw a brilliant flash of red light shine from inside.

    I put strength into my legs again as I pushed against the ground hard enough to crack it and shoved myself into the cave.

    The first thing I saw was a severely injured dragon with cracked ice encasing it’s right leg and left arm. It was missing its right arm, right wing, and most of its right shoulder, but honestly, I couldn’t care less about that for now because behind it, sitting against the wall, was Aria. I ignored the dragon and instantly dashed over to Aria before picking her up. She was injured all over and almost unconscious, but there were no severe fatal wounds, and I could still hear the faint sounds of her breathing.

    She’s still alive, thank goodness. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I lost her just like that.

    Aria faintly opened her eyes to stare at me blankly as I finally came back to my senses and I just stared at her for a moment to make sure she was ok before the dragon tried to claw at me with its remaining arm.

    I hugged Aria tight against my chest with my right arm as I brought up my left arm and tensed up my body to block the swing. The dragon’s arm snapped the bones in my arm as it made a direct hit and we shot across the ground to the side of the cave.

    When we finally stopped rolling, I got up and held Aria again as the dragon stared at me.

    I have to get Aria out of here first, I can’t fight while protecting her. If I’m holding her, I can’t even divert the impact to the ground when I get hit. Her body isn’t like mine, the vibrations would rip her apart and rupture her internal organs if I tried to minimize the force of an attack like that.

    I kicked my leg against the ground and sprinted towards the exit, but the dragon lunged at us and swiped again from above.

    I won’t make it out in time... Sorry Aria, this might hurt a bit.

    I decided to get Aria out first. I let go of her then kicked her out of the cave while she was still in mid-air as I barely dodged the dragon’s claw.

    So now it’s just the two of us, huh?

    When I landed again, I took a deep breath, and my face turned emotionless as I stared at the dragon and talked to it in a low voice.

    “Well then, you’re not gonna let me just leave that easily, right? But that’s fine... After all, I never was good at protecting people... ln the end, it looks like all these bloodstained hands can do is kill.” (Kyle)

    I inhaled before closing my eyes.

    And when I opened my eyes again, they were terrifyingly sharp with a glint of crazed anger as I exhaled while releasing my bloodlust.

    Dragon breath from the front.

    The dragon roared in fear and exhaled a breath of fire at me as I pulled out an alchemy stone from the bag and activated it with a cold voice.

    “Frost Shield, wide cast, activate.” (Kyle)

    My right arm whipped out as I threw the stone at the burst of flames and a bright ice blue light shone from it. A large circular shield made of ice appeared in midair and covered the entire area around me. The flames slid off the surface of the ice like water, and once the fire stopped, the shield shattered. The glint in my eyes grew even sharper, and I dashed straight at the dragon through the countless broken ice fragments and residual flashes of fire. My eyes picked up on the slight initial movements from the dragon’s body and I reacted accordingly as I ran.

    Low swipe from the side, followed by the tail.

    I pulled out a palm-sized alchemy stone and put power in my legs as I kicked against the ground and leaped over the swipe. I held the alchemy stone in my hand towards the dragon’s side while midair as the bloodlust in my eyes sharpened.

    “Ice Shard, full power cast, activate.” (Kyle)

    Another ice blue light shone and a gigantic shard of ice the size of the dragon’s tail shot forwards and impaled the dragon’s torso.

    It blew the dragon’s body away from me slightly and when I landed, I leaned back as the tail hit nothing but air inches away from me.

    The dragon roared again in pain before rushing at me in complete desperation.

    Pincer attack with a bite from my left followed by the swing from the right.

    I put strength into my legs again as I was about to dodge it again, but then, I realized that I was standing in front of the entrance with Aria right outside.

    Dodging this one isn’t an option. I only have two stones left, and one of them is the unengraved monster core for the big formation outside.

    I grabbed my last alchemy stone and gripped it tightly in my left hand as I thrust my broken left arm towards the dragon’s mouth.

    You want this arm? Fine, then you can have it!

    “Frozen Burst, full power cast, activate.” (Kyle)

    I tensed every muscle fiber in my left arm as the dragon’s mouth crunched down and I heard my bones shatter even further as my arm barely managed to stay connected. The forward momentum from the bite traveled throughout my body before I diverted it past my legs and into the ground, as the rock beneath me fractured into chunks. I grit my teeth and grimaced from the pain for a moment before countless ice shards the size of my arm shredded through the dragon’s mouth from the inside, tearing open multiple holes in its snout.

    The dragon immediately opened its jaw to roar out in pain as blood poured out from its wounds and I pulled my mangled arm out. I stood there breathing heavily as the dragon stumbled backward, smashing the sides of the cave while it flailed around in its death throes.

    “Still not dead yet, huh? Fine, how about this then.” (Kyle)

    I grit my teeth as I dipped my finger in some of the blood dripping down my left arm and began to draw a magic circle on the ground.

    You see, the thing I’ve found out about modern alchemy is that it has evolved with the aspects of control and versatility in mind so that it can be used in everyday life. And subsequently, the complexity of the magic circles has increased along with the need for specific enchanted ink or dust to draw the circles.

    But back in my day, we didn’t fret the details so much about control or versatility because just like magic or swordsmanship, alchemy was used as a weapon. The alchemy that I know wanted to find the most simple, streamlined magic circles that only had one thing going for them, they were strong enough to kill. We didn’t care about control as long as it did its job, and we used anything that could leave a mark to draw the circles... even blood.

    I pulled out the fist-sized monster core, dropping it on the magic circle drawn below in my blood, and finally, my cold voice rang out like a death sentence to the dragon as I activated it.

    “Ice Nova, full power cast, activate.” (Kyle)

    A brilliant ice blue light shone through the cave and a wave of mana pulsed out in all directions from the edges of the magic circle. Anything the pulse of mana touched was instantaneously frozen as large chunks of ice covered the ground, walls, and eventually, the dragon.

    It was finally quiet again as the only thing that could be heard now was the sound of ice crystals cracking. Everything in the cave except me was frozen solid, and the ice sculpture that was once the dragon crumbled into pieces from its own weight.

    After a moment, I dragged my cold exhausted body over to Aria as the relatively warm air outside enveloped me. When I finally got to Aria, I checked again to see if she was ok, but luckily, she was still warm and there were only a few deep cuts on her while her breathing was steady.

    I finally let out a sigh of relief as I realized she just got knocked out, and all the tension from before disappeared as I collapsed next to her in a mess of tears.

    “...Really... thank god you’re still alive...” (Kyle)

    After a while, I ripped part of my shirt off to tie up my broken left arm and picked up Aria with my right arm before silently making my way back to town as the sun peeked over the horizon and dawn broke.
     
    Last edited: Nov 15, 2019
    sakuratemple likes this.
  11. RubberDucky

    RubberDucky Well-Known Member

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    [Chapter 8] To the Capital!
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    Adventurer Town Delhurst, Town Hospital (Kyle POV)
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    I stared out the window at the clouds floating by in the sky as the quiet boredom started to overtake me. I inadvertently let out a sigh. It was about 2 PM and I was currently sitting in a hospital bed with a full arm cast on my left arm. My arm was stuck in a bent position as the cast hung on the sling attached around my neck, and a sense of clunkiness was present whenever I moved it.

    About six hours ago, I finally managed to lug Aria back to town, and when the guards at the gate saw how injured we were, they immediately brought us to the hospital. Once we arrived, one of the nurses saw my mangled left arm and I was immediately taken to a doctor, who set what was left of my broken bones back in place before patching up the bigger wounds on my left arm with some light healing magic and setting it in a cast.

    And so, you’re probably wondering something along the lines of why didn’t the doctor just use magic to fix my left arm entirely if healing magic exists? But the thing about healing magic is that, while it can miraculously heal mortal wounds, it also drains the vitality of the person being healed.

    What? You thought you could just fix a hole in your stomach with no repercussions by chanting a few words? Well, unfortunately, it isn’t that easy, and if you ever tried that, you would live, but it probably wouldn’t be for much longer. Instead of becoming a donut, you’d lose a few decades of your life span in exchange. Healing magic is akin to high-level regeneration, and the amount of life force required for something like that has to come from somewhere, doesn’t it?... Well, the repercussions probably wouldn’t matter for me since in my case, I’m technically a god, so there’s the whole immortality thing going on, but the doctor doesn’t know that and completely healing my broken arm with magic would’ve drained several years of vitality from a normal person.

    Anyway, moving on, apparently there Aria only had light injuries and was just extremely exhausted, so the nurses just bandaged her up and let her sleep in a bed, whereas the doctor forced me to sit tight in a hospital bed for the last six hours even though my arm was already treated. There wasn’t even anything else wrong with me except for some slight blood loss. Sure, I was tired from sprinting at top speed for so long, but I’ve already been resting for hours and it wasn’t like I was so exhausted I couldn’t walk. At most, maybe my legs would be sore tomorrow.

    I leaned back in my bed after I realized I was beginning to go crazy from staring at the clouds for so long and my cast blended in with the white sheets as I slowly rolled around on top of the bed. After a few minutes of rolling around, the tension left my body as I returned to my original position and stared up at the ceiling with a sigh.

    “I should go get something to eat. They can deny me my freedom for now, but at least let me get some food!” (Kyle)

    I was beginning to mentally plan out how I would sneak past the nurses to the cafeteria when suddenly, I heard what seemed like the nurses yelling from the hallway outside. After a moment, the door to my hospital room burst open and a woman covered in bandages fumbled through the door.

    “-miss, you can’t go in there!” (Nurse)

    I sat up in bed and looked over at the door to see what the intruder wanted from me before we made eye contact. A pair of crimson red eyes stared back at me as the intruder, Aria, froze in place, and there was an awkward atmosphere for a moment as multiple nurses entered before trying to pull her out of the room to no avail.

    A few more awkward seconds passed by before I finally waved my hand at her to get her attention.

    “Hey, Aria, wanna grab lunc-” (Kyle)

    Aria instantly broke free from the nurses and ran over before tackling me on the hospital bed. Her arms wrapped around me in a hug and she buried her face in my chest as she squeezed as hard as she could.

    “Argh! Aria, stop! The doctor just set my arm and you’re gonna break it again!” (Kyle)

    Waves of pain pulsed from my left arm as Aria’s bear hug started to crush my cast, but after a moment, she looked up at me as she finally loosened her death grip. I let out a sigh of relief as the pain subsided and wriggled my right arm out from her hug before pushing her head away to pry her off of me.

    An awkward scenario played out after that as I explained the situation and our relationship to the nurses and the security trying to drag Aria out again. Eventually, after I apologized for the trouble Aria caused, they left us alone in the room.

    Aria was seated in a chair to the right of my hospital bed, and a moment of peace finally passed by again after that whole disaster. She stared down at her hands in her lap as she sat there, and I sighed before turning to her.

    “Ugh. Finally, they all left. I was already starting to feel claustrophobic after the nurses came in, and the whole security team afterward didn’t help either... Look, Aria, I’m flattered you rushed to visit me, but please just slow down and do it normally, otherwise the town guards will be here next.” (Kyle)

    “...why…” (Aria)

    “What? Did you say something?” (Kyle)

    Aria lifted her head to face me with a hurt look on her face.

    “Why... Why did you come for me?... I told you not to come! Didn’t you read the letter I left!?” (Aria)

    “Letter?... Oh, you mean that piece of trash you put on my desk? I ripped it to shreds right after I read it.” (Kyle)

    Aria suddenly moved forward and grabbed me by my shirt as tears started to well up in her eyes.

    “Then why put yourself in danger like that!? The whole reason for this was so you would be safe, and just look at what happened! You’re lucky you still have an arm! You could’ve died!” (Aria)

    I looked down at Aria’s hands gripping my shirt collar, and I slowly raised my hand before grabbing hers by the wrist.

    “... So?” (Kyle)

    Aria’s hands released their grip on my shirt as I grasped them, and I moved them away before sighing.

    “Let me tell you something, Aria. My name is Kyle, and I’m a B-rank adventurer in Delhurst. I’m one of the two members in team ‘Party,’ and my partner is a muscle-brained idiot who can’t do anything but fight.” (Kyle)

    “Wha-” (Aria)

    “She’s a glutton, awful at any form of social situation, has no friends except me, abuses everyone close to her, isn’t good at anything but swinging her sword, and worst of all... she thinks that it’s ok to just leave her partner behind so she could go die stupidly by herself.” (Kyle)

    “Oi!” (Aria)

    Aria grabbed me by my collar again with an angry look on her face as I gently smiled back at her.

    “But even so, she’s important to me. And if I had to risk my life for even the slimmest of chances to save her, I would still go in a heartbeat because she’s my one and only partner.” (Kyle)

    Aria’s grip on me loosened again as I straightened up my back and put on a serious face.

    “So what if I could’ve died? Is it wrong for me to try and save my partner? This broken arm hurts, but I wouldn’t mind breaking my arm hundreds of times if it meant that I could bring you back alive. You couldn’t bring yourself to risk losing me? Well, I’ve already lost too many people important to me, so let me ask, do you think I could bring myself to risk losing you too?” (Kyle)

    “... I… I... I’m sorry... I never took into account how you felt… Thanks for saving me, Ky...” (Aria)

    I released all the tension in my back and slumped over as Aria let go of me before placing her hands on her lap again.

    “Well, I guess I’ll forgive you this time. It’s all over anyway, and we’re both alive, aren’t we? We even managed to kill the dragon. So it’s a bit late, but congratulations Aria. You’ve completed your mission.” (Kyle)

    The edges of my mouth curved upwards into a small smile. My hand moved over and I patted Aria’s head as she finally let the tears flow and cried her eyes out.
    [​IMG]
    Outskirts of Solria, Capital City of the Raidion Empire (Kyle POV)
    [​IMG]
    Aria’s voice and some bumpy shaking woke me up as the background noise from the countless people surrounding our carriage finally reached my ears.

    “Ky, wake up. We’re almost at the gates.” (Aria)

    I let out a yawn and sat up on the carriage seat I was sleeping on before looking out the window to see the seemingly endless line of people and carriages behind us.

    It’s been about two weeks since we killed the dragon, and after we were released from the hospital, we still needed the dragon’s monster core as proof that Aria had slain it, so Aria and I went back to its den and dug out the monster core from the pile of shattered ice chunks that used to be the dragon. Afterwards, we rested in town for another two days and celebrated before officially disbanding our party at the guild, saying goodbye to the inn owner, renting a carriage, and starting the trip to the capital.

    I still remember when I saw the capital for the first time though, it had an imposing city wall, and you could see the countless buildings inside through the large gates, along with what seemed like the upper part of a huge castle in the center of the city. The roads leading into the city were large enough to fit four or five carriages side by side, and the gates had teams of well-armed guards to maintain order in the influx of people trying to get into the city.

    But ironically, the thing that surprised me the most wasn’t the grand castle, the solid city walls, or the seemingly well-trained guards, no, in fact, the most surprising thing was the size of the goddamn line.

    The line to get into the city was massive, and the end of it was so far away that you could only barely make out the details of the castle from there. The illusion and grandeur of the capital city lasted for all of ten seconds before it was promptly snuffed out by the crushing realization that we would probably be in line for several hours at minimum, maybe even days if we were unlucky. And so, we waited in line for god knows how long, before it was finally about to be our turn to enter.

    The carriage in front of us finished and the guards let them in as the morning sun warmed up the upper half of my body which was sticking out the side of the carriage. Aria brought our carriage up and a few more minutes elapsed as the guards checked our guild cards for identification before letting us in.

    It was finally the end of the torturous wait, and the moment we passed the gates I was overcome by the atmosphere of the capital once again. There were hundreds of people running about in every direction, dozens of carriages rolled along the streets, and there were layers upon layers of stalls and stands obscuring the shops and buildings. The sound of incoherent chatter echoed through the carriage as I stared around with a smile at the liveliness of the capital. It was nothing like Delhurst, where it was rare if you even saw a few dozen people on the street at a time, it really felt like I was back in a capital city again. A few minutes passed as our carriage chugged along the road and we were already pretty deep into the city when I called out excitedly to Aria while she drove the carriage towards the direction of the castle.

    “Aria, we’re finally in the capital. Where are we going first? We could check out the weapon shops or should we go try some of the restaurants?” (Kyle)

    “Well, I have to go to the castle to make a report first, so we’ll be heading off to the middle district.” (Aria)

    “Alright, sightseeing it is! Let’s go, I wanted to check out the castle anyway!” (Kyle)

    I gave a grin to Aria as she laughed and pointed towards the castle.

    “Yeah, let’s go. At this rate, we might even make it in by sunset.” (Aria)

    “Yeah!... Wait, what!?” (Kyle)

    I moved my line of sight over to where Aria was pointing with a foreboding sense of fear as my grin immediately turned into a distraught frown. And it was there that I saw it again, my mortal enemy, my eternal antithesis, my worst nightmare.

    It was another goddamn line.

    “What, you thought we could just waltz into the middle district so easily? Looks like you’ve never been to the capital before Ky, so let me tell you, the middle district is where all the nobles live and the only thing more rotten than the nobles is the bureaucracy, who decided to put this borderline antique checking system in to appease the nobles.” (Aria)

    Aria gave me a smug grin as she giggled at my pained face, and I slammed my head against the carriage wall a few times before my scream was drowned out by hustle and bustle around me.

    “Goddammit!” (Kyle)

    ***
    A few hours later, it was quite late in the afternoon and we had finally arrived at the castle in the middle district. I sat balled up in a corner of the carriage as I hugged my knees and sighed with tears in my eyes.

    “...I wanna go home…” (Kyle)

    Some knocking on the door of the carriage reached my ears as I finally got up and saw Aria outside with a serious face. She opened the door and dragged me out as she stared straight into my eyes.

    “Alright, Ky, you’ll have to come into the castle with me to make the report. I’m going to tell you right now, we’re meeting with the Emperor, so please, just stand behind me, don’t say anything stupid, don’t do anything stupid, and be on your best behavior.” (Aria)

    “What? The Emperor!? Wait, I thought we were just coming to visit the castle so you could hand in a written report, and then we would do some sightseeing or something! When did it turn into a meeting with the Emperor!?” (Kyle)

    “Didn’t I tell you before that my mission to kill the dragon was given to me by someone very important? Well, we finished the mission, so I’m reporting back to the person who gave it to me, the Emperor.” (Aria)

    “Yeah, but I thought it was just some high ranking noble, or maybe a member of the court, not the literal highest in command of this empire!” (Kyle)

    “Well, now you know, so come on. You won’t even need to say anything, I’ll do all the talking, so just sit in the back like a good boy and agree with everything I say.” (Aria)

    “Alright, alright, I got it, just be a yes-man.” (Kyle)

    I let out a sigh as Aria brought me over to the front gate before presenting a piece of paper with what seemed like a seal stamped on it to the guards.

    “I am Lady Irisveil. I request an audience with his majesty immediately as I have completed my mission and have returned to report my success.” (Aria)

    “I see, then I’ll inform the prime minister about your return.” (Guard)

    One of the guards left and entered the castle while Aria and I stood awkwardly in front of the rest of the guards. After a few minutes, the guard returned and told us to follow him into the castle.

    We entered through the gates and were promptly met by a team of maids, who led Aria and me inside the castle to separate waiting rooms. After I was escorted to the room, the maid that led me there left, saying that she would find some suitable clothes that I could wear for the meeting.

    The room was basically filled with expensive items like I expected. In the middle, there was a big sofa in front of a finely crafted wooden coffee table, a small nightstand with an expensive looking vase on it, and the walls were covered by paintings in gilded picture frames. I sat down on the sofa and waited in silence as I awkwardly looked at the fine art around the room.

    After a few more minutes, the maid came back and handed me some clothes before promptly telling me she would be back later when I was finished changing.

    The clothes she handed me were typical nobleman’s clothes, with a vest, a tailcoat, a pair of pants, and leather shoes. I was able to change into the vest, pants, and shoes, albeit with some difficulty due to my left arm, but the tailcoat was a little too small for me since my cast couldn’t fit into the sleeve. I opened the door and entered the hallway with the tailcoat in my hand to look for the maid, but there was nobody outside. I wandered down the hall as I called out, but there was still no response of any kind. After walking for a while, I had already given up on calling out and was just wandering around aimlessly, but suddenly, I heard some noise and what seemed like faint voices from one of the rooms nearby. I went over and opened the door hoping that maybe someone who could help me was inside.

    “Excuse me, have you seen any-” (Kyle)

    I cut myself off mid-sentence as everyone in the room froze up while we stared awkwardly at each other. Inside the room was a well-built middle-aged man dressed in what looked like a high-quality military officer uniform. He had brown hair with streaks of grey running through it and a similarly colored beard which showed his age, along with a slightly imposing presence to him. However, any imposing presence he might have had was immediately thrown out the window once you saw that he was currently in the process of running his hands all over the maid that brought me to the waiting room earlier.

    “Uh… Ahem. Sorry about the intrusion... Don’t worry, I understand that everyone has their needs. If anyone asks, I didn’t see anything.” (Kyle)

    I slowly started closing the door and backing off into the hallway as the middle-aged man and the maid immediately snapped their bodies back into a stiff standing position and looked away with embarrassed blushes.

    I returned to the waiting room, decided I just wouldn’t wear the tailcoat, and waited for a few minutes before I heard knocking on the door. I opened the door to find a different maid there who informed me that the Emperor was ready to meet with me before escorting me over to the audience chamber.

    When I entered the chamber, everyone in the room stared at me. I glanced around the audience chamber, which was a large room with a long red carpet and carved pillars on both sides leading up to a regal throne.

    Aria had her hair done up and was wearing a long red dress that looked like what a noblewoman would wear to a party. The dress matched the color of her eyes and hair, and she was holding a small box in her hands as she stood there waiting for me.

    There were a few guards standing at attention by the pillars, but sitting on top of the throne was... an awkward sight. The person sitting on the throne looked exactly like the middle-aged man from earlier, but this time he had a large navy blue cape and a golden crown on him. Smiling and standing behind the throne, was another well-built middle-aged man in a similar looking military officer uniform. He had a clean shave, short blonde hair, and a sheathed long sword hanging on his waist.

    Welp, looks like my head’s gonna be on the chopping block. It seems that only I could be unlucky enough to accidentally walk in on the Emperor sexually harassing one of his maids minutes before I’m supposed to have an audience with him.

    I locked eyes with the Emperor, and we both put on nervous smiles as we stared at each other awkwardly while I walked up and stood behind Aria. The sound of my footsteps died out and silence spread through the room as everyone turned away from me to stare at the Emperor for a moment before he finally cleared his throat and began the meeting.

    Aria kneeled down on one knee, and I immediately followed after her.

    “You may rise.” (Emperor)

    Aria and I stood up as we waited for the Emperor to respond.

    “So, it seems that you have returned, Lady Irisveil. I take it that you have successfully completed the test that I have assigned you.” (Emperor)

    Aria walked up and gave a formal knight salute to the Emperor before opening the small box in her hands to reveal the dragon’s monster core sitting inside.

    “You are correct, your majesty. With the assistance of my partner, Kyle, I have slain the dragon which made its nest in the Zolran mountain range, and we have returned to the capital to submit the proof of its subjugation.” (Aria)

    “Very well. I can see that you have passed my test and completed your end of our agreement, therefore, I will now complete my end. Under my authority as the current Emperor of the Radion Empire, Lady Aria of House Irisveil will be granted the title of Marchioness, and she shall be rewarded with the former mansion of House Irisveil, along with the spoils of her subjugation and a military office. We will once again meet in three days to hold the official ceremony and determine her military rank.” (Emperor)

    “Thank you, your majesty. The House of Irisveil will forever remember your favor.” (Aria)

    Aria took a deep breath before turning around and pulling me along by the hand to the exit of the chamber.

    Whew! I’m safe for now. Looks like the Emperor doesn’t want my head today, he even let me off scot-free. He might be a little perverted, but looks like he’s still a pretty nice guy. I guess I misjudged him.

    I let out a sigh of relief in my mind as I let Aria lead me towards the exit, but just as we were halfway there, the Emperor cleared his throat again to get our attention. Aria and I turned around as I put on another nervous smile.

    “Please wait a moment Marchioness Irisveil, I have not finished yet. Now, Sir Kyle was it? You have done a great service for not only Marchioness Irisveil, but also this empire and its citizens, which I believe should not go unrewarded. You may let me know of any desire you have, and if it is within both reason and my power, I shall reward you with it.” (Emperor)

    Hey, you perverted old man, just let it go already! I’m sorry I walked in on your sexual escapades with the maids, but it’s your damn fault in the first place for doing it, and even if you’re gonna do it, at least have the decency to lock the door! If you want my head just say it, no need to make some elaborate scheme to bait me onto the guillotine! I’m already happy with what I’ve got, I’m not gonna live the high life with your dirty money just to get put on death row a week later for a crime I didn’t commit!

    I gave a bow and tried to put on my best fake smile as my brain raced to push out a response.

    “Thank you for your generosity, your majesty, but it’s quite alright. As you can see, I am just a manaless helper and merely assisted Marchioness Irisveil from the sidelines during the battle. I am not deserving of any grand reward, even the chance to meet your majesty in person is more than enough of a reward for me.” (Kyle)

    The Emperor let out a surprised cough as I saw a faint bead of sweat roll down his forehead and he struck a wry smile on his face. My eyes shone with a sharp glint as I heightened my eyesight to its limit.

    I knew it. Did you really think I was stupid enough to fall for such an obvious trap, you old pervert? How stupid do you think I am? If you want to plant some contraband on me, you’ll have to place it in my cold, dead hands.

    “Nonsense, even just assisting Marchioness Irisveil from the sidelines is enough to merit a reward. After all, you were facing a dragon, and surviving the battle with a mere arm injury is proof of your capabilities. Not many have the bravery necessary to face a dragon, especially as a manaless.” (Emperor)

    Goddamnit! Just let me go! It was an accident, I won’t do it again, I promise! These lips are sealed, I’ll take the damn secret with me to my grave, so give it up already! What do I do now? Should I try to stall?

    “Thank you, your majesty, but I did not expect a reward so suddenly. If I may ask, would it be possible to discuss this at a later date? I am afraid that I must put some more thought into my decision.” (Kyle)

    “I see, but it would be rude of me to let you leave with just a verbal promise, and it would be difficult to set up another meeting without a definite time. Hmm… Ah, I have an idea. How about I leave you with a blank imperial edict and you can write down whatever you want when you make your decision. You merely need to send it to me through the guards afterwards, and if it is reasonably within my power, I will make it official with the imperial seal. Well then, it is getting late and I would like to retire to my room for the night. Someone fetch the deed to the former mansion of House Irisveil for Marchioness Irisveil and a blank imperial edict for Sir Kyle, then send them on their way.” (Emperor)

    “Ah, wai-” (Kyle)

    “Thank you for your favor, your majesty, I’m sure Sir Kyle will not forget your kindness either.” (Aria)

    I tried to call out to stop what was happening, but Aria cut me off with an urgent voice and immediately dragged me out of the audience chamber where we were handed the deed to a mansion in the capital and a piece of high-quality paper with the symbol of the Empire printed on it before being promptly escorted out.

    We left the castle stiffy and returned to our carriage outside where Aria and I stood facing each other for a moment. After letting out a deep breath, Aria immediately grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me violently.

    “What the hell did you do!? Why did his majesty give you a blank imperial edict!?” (Aria)

    “Goddamnit! He got me, that sly dog! I’m telling you right now Aria, this edict’s worthless! I don’t even want to touch this cursed piece of paper! I’m one hundred percent confident that if I ever use this blank edict for anything, my head will be on the chopping block by the next day!” (Kyle)

    “That doesn’t answer my question! In fact, it just makes me more worried! Tell me now! What the hell did you do!?” (Aria)

    “I can’t tell you! The whole reason he gave me this blank edict was as a threat to buy my silence!” (Kyle)

    After about half an hour of back and forth yelling, along with a nostalgic beating from Aria, I finally spilled the beans without giving out too many specifics and managed to convince her that as long as we never used the edict, we would be perfectly fine. Aria and I were currently sitting next to each other on the carriage with forlorn expressions as our bodies slumped down on the seats.

    “... Hey Aria.” (Kyle)

    “Yeah?” (Aria)

    “Where are we gonna go now?” (Kyle)

    “Where do you think we’re going?” (Aria)

    “Is it back to Delhurst? Because I kinda miss my inn room right now. Guess that fortune teller back in Delhurst really was a quack. What kind of good luck is pissing off the Emperor the same day I enter the capital.” (Kyle)

    The life came back to Aria and she whacked me in the head one last time before sighing, but after a moment, she started to giggle.

    “Argh!” (Kyle)

    “Are you an idiot?” (Aria)

    The sound of her gentle laughter echoed around me, and I got up and held my head as Aria stepped out of the carriage before facing the moon with her back to me. Her hands hung loosely by her side and her silhouette radiated a sense of tenderness as it covered a part of the beautifully clear moon in the night sky. I exited the carriage too and stared at her standing there for a moment until her soft voice drowned out the sound of the night breeze.

    “... You know, I still remember when I left the capital. That morning as I was packing up my things, I was trying to toughen myself up mentally, but deep down inside, I was scared. I thought maybe I wouldn’t ever return to the capital, maybe this would be the last time I ever saw the city I grew up in and the people I knew.” (Aria)

    Aria took a deep breath of the crisp night air before spreading her arms out as wide as she could.

    “But, I’m back now. It’s all over and done with, and it feels like I’ve finally gotten rid of a huge weight on my chest. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy in my life. So… we’ve been through a lot together, haven’t we, Ky? Well, I’ll be honest with you this time. Thanks for being my partner, Ky. I wouldn’t be standing here right now if you weren’t always there for me. You told me before that I’m an important person to you, and it’s my turn to tell you that you’re an important person to me too. Sometimes I wish that we could just go back to those dreamlike days in Delhurst, just adventuring without a care in the world, but everything has to come to an end, and it’s the same with our party. You can do whatever you want now, and as much as I would like to, I can’t force you to be by my side anymore, so I’ll only ask you once… Hey, Ky... if you have nowhere else to go, then...” (Aria)

    Aria dropped her arms again and held them together loosely behind her back before doing a cute twirl on her heels and turning to me with a lovely beaming smile.

    “Will you stay with me?” (Aria)

    Then it was as if time slowed down to a crawl for me.

    The gentle moonlight was ethereal as it danced around Aria, and a pleasant breeze swirled past both of us. The soft breeze made her dress billow slightly and her silky red hair flowed in the wind.

    I don’t know what it was. Maybe it was the tender atmosphere that enveloped us, maybe it was her adorable genuine smile that finally made her look like a girl her age again, maybe it was the way she finally made my heart skip a beat, or maybe it was a combination of everything, but at that moment, to me... Aria was even more beautiful than the moon in the night sky.

    A feeling of warmth slowly filled up my chest, and when I finally came back to my senses, I had a slight tinge of blush on my face. The edges of my mouth unconsciously curved upwards into a smile as I hid my mouth before sighing. I took a deep breath and reoriented myself before staring into Aria’s eyes with the same smile.

    “Do you even need to ask? Where else would I go? I’m already home. After all, I’m standing right next to you, aren’t I? So come on, let’s go to the mansion. I’ll even make your favorite for dinner tonight, beef and potatoes.” (Kyle)

    Aria stood there smiling for a second as tears started to flow down her face. She buried her face in her arm before wiping away the tears and giving a cute sniffle as her crystal clear voice rang out again.

    “... Yeah, let’s go.” (Aria)
    [​IMG]
    Solria Castle, Master Bedroom (Reynard POV)
    [​IMG]
    Hello everyone, my name is Reynard Charbert Raidion, current Emperor of the Raidion Empire, and I’ve just narrowly escaped castration. You see, I lost myself to temptation and got caught flirting around with one of the maids. I was scared out of my mind thinking that my wife would find out I was harassing the maids again. The last time she found out, she told me if I ever did it again, she would castrate me!

    At first, I thought it was a new servant who caught me, and I was going to have the guards stop anyone from leaving the castle so I could deal with it after the urgent meeting with Marchioness Irisveil, but imagine my surprise when the guy who caught me, Sir Kyle, walked into the audience chamber and stood behind the Marchioness. I initially panicked, but after a bit of thought, I took the chance to bribe him under the guise of a reward for helping Marchioness Irisveil.

    But man, that Kyle fellow really was scary. I told him he could have anything he wanted as long as it was in my power, and I thought he would just ask for some gold or a title of nobility, but I couldn’t believe my ears when he actually rejected the reward.

    I got nervous for a second there, showed an instant of weakness, and tried to cover it up with a fake smile, but the moment I slipped up, the glint in his eyes immediately sharpened like he was looking at prey. It scared the daylights out of me. I’m sure I was just a fat meal in his eyes. He even tried to leave right afterwards to put some more pressure on me. But I managed to keep my cool this time on the outside, and pushed a blank imperial edict on him. I kicked them out after that and even told him he could just mail in the edict so I wouldn’t have to ever see him again. It’s a good thing Marchioness Irisveil dragged him out of there in time though because I was about to blow my act if he didn’t take the edict. Well, now I’m just stuck in bed for the rest of the night. I didn’t even have dinner yet.

    I stared at the ceiling as tears leaked out of my eyes and the sound of my rumbling stomach filled the room.
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2019
    sakuratemple likes this.
  12. RubberDucky

    RubberDucky Well-Known Member

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    [Chapter 9] [End of Prologue Arc] Two Blocks Is a Little Far, Don't You Think?
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    Solria, Middle District, Irisveil Mansion (Kyle POV)
    [​IMG]
    You know, I’m getting a weird sense of deja vu right now, like I’m back in my natural habitat, but I guess after doing housework for a thousand years, you tend to adapt to it. Either that or slowly go insane. Well, here’s hoping it isn’t the latter.

    I ran my mop over the dusty floor as it erased any traces of uncleanliness from wherever it touched, and a strange sense of satisfaction bubbled up inside of me. It kind of felt like I was making a zen garden, and the mop slid across the floor as the clean wooden boards that were originally buried in dust began to reveal themselves to the outside world.

    Yes, here I was again, cleaning the floor of someone else’s house, almost like I was back at Eliza’s place except this time, the house I was cleaning was way bigger and, at this point, probably more dust than house.

    You see, when Aria and I arrived at the mansion in an excited hurrah, we failed to take into account one very important issue, nobody has lived in this house for a few dozen years. When we saw the state of the mansion from the outside, we didn’t think much of it, but after walking through the house, we realized just how run down it was. The place was alright on the outside, and the lights and water seemed to still be working, but the inside was caked in enough dust to fill a swimming pool, and all the furniture was gone too. It desperately needed a deep clean if we were even going to attempt to live in here, so we had to get down to work. I was currently mopping the second floor, while Aria was using some water magic to lightly flood out the dust on the first floor.

    After mopping all the hallways and rooms on the second floor, I opened all the windows and looked outside to see water flowing out from the front door onto the lawn. The sound of gushing water was present the background as I got a wet rag and started wiping down the windows and windowsills.

    A while later, I let out a sigh, took off the makeshift mask I was wearing, and leaned out the window as I finally got the chance to breathe some fresh air again. I stared outside at the street and waited for the second floor to air out. The streetlamps outside shone almost as bright as the stars in the sky, and I could even occasionally see a person or two still passing by on the road.

    A few minutes later, the wet wooden floor finally dried, the sound of running water from outside died down, and there was finally fresh air circulating throughout the second floor again. I double checked every room one last time to make sure all of them were clean and dry before going downstairs to check on how Aria was doing.

    Aria was lying down on the now clean floor of the living room as her arms and legs were spread out like she was trying to make a snow angel. I let out a short laugh as Aria looked over from the floor to see me standing in the doorway.

    “Aria, I finished cleaning the second floor, how’s everything going down here?” (Kyle)

    “It’s finally all clean again.” (Aria)

    “Hey, come on, get off the floor.” (Kyle)

    Aria sat up on the floor and stared at the empty room around her with a faint smile.

    “So, this is our home from now on, huh?” (Aria)

    I looked around with her at the blank walls as I couldn’t help but crack a small smile too. The walls were tinted a little beige, which showed the age of the mansion, but I think that honestly, it gave the mansion a bit of a homely feel.

    “Well, it’s a little empty so we’ll have to pick up some furniture soon, but yeah, it is.” (Kyle)

    I walked up and extended my right hand out towards Aria.

    “So, welcome home, Aria. Now, come on, it’s getting late, so help me move our stuff in. We can make dinner afterward. You said you have somewhere to go tomorrow, right? Let’s finish this early then.” (Kyle)

    “Alright.” (Aria)

    Aria grabbed my hand and pulled herself up before we went outside together and started unpacking our things from the carriage.

    ***​

    I stretched my back lightly as I walked out of the front door to the mansion. It was about 10 in the morning and I just finished cleaning up after breakfast as Aria was waiting for me by the gate. Yesterday, we unpacked our things before we chose which rooms we would be using and moved our stuff in. After that, we went to the kitchen and Aria helped me cook dinner. Luckily, the stove was built into the kitchen counter, so we didn’t have to start a campfire on the lawn to cook dinner, and after eating dinner we went to sleep on the floor in our sleeping bags as I once again had another strange sense of deja vu...

    Anyway, today, the plan was that we were supposed to go meet with Aria’s friend, Max, and then go furniture shopping for the rest of the day. I walked over to the gate and followed behind Aria as she began to lead the way with a smile on her face. We walked around the middle district and passed mansion after mansion, until eventually, Aria stopped in front of a gate to one of them and called out to a servant.

    “Excuse me.” (Aria)

    There was a gardener clipping the hedges on the lawn who stopped his work and walked over to greet us.

    “Good morning, miss. Are you here to see Master Almus?” (Gardener)

    “Yes, could you please tell him that Marchioness Irisveil is here to visit?” (Aria)

    “I’ll let Master Almus know right away.” (Gardener)

    The gardener left and we waited outside for a few minutes before the front door to the mansion burst open and a young man with short brown hair and a pair of similarly colored eyes rushed towards us chaotically.

    “Aria, is it really you!?”

    He ran over as fast as he could before shoving the gate open and grabbing Aria by the shoulders.

    “Yeah, I’m back, Max. How have you been?” (Aria)

    Max stared at Aria, who smiled back for a moment.

    “Thank god, you’re ok. I was always worried that something had happened to you, that you wouldn’t make it back.” (Max)

    “Hey, I’m right in front of you, aren’t I?” (Aria)

    “Yeah, you are.” (Max)

    Max took a deep breath as he wiped away the faint tears from his eyes before putting a smile on his face. Max let go of Aria’s shoulders and finally noticed me after his emotional outburst.

    “By the way, Aria, who’s this?” (Max)

    “Oh, this is Kyle, my adventuring partner from back in Delhurst. He helped me out a lot, and I couldn’t have made it back without him.” (Aria)

    Max turned to me with a friendly grin and extended his hand out for a handshake.

    “Nice to meet you then, Kyle, I’m Max Almus. Thanks for helping out Aria.” (Max)

    I grabbed his hand and we shared a firm handshake as I smiled back at him.

    “Nice to meet you too, Max. You can just call me Ky.” (Kyle)

    “Alright then, Ky. Anyway, you two should come in, we have tons to catch up on, so we can talk inside. Just let me change out of my training clothes first.” (Max)

    Max led us into the mansion, and one of the servants led us to a guest room on the second floor which had two sofas and a coffee table. There was a painting on the wall next to an armor stand with a suit of full plate armor on display, and a few expensive looking vases on small tables lined the walls. Aria and I took a seat next to each other on one of the sofas and we waited in silence for a while as I stared out the window right next to my side of the sofa at the sunny skyline outside.

    You could see the castle and the other mansions lined against the vast blue sky as a background, and hordes of people scattered about here and there in the far distance where the shopping district seemed to be.

    “So, that was Max, huh? Seemed like a pretty nice guy. He’s pretty well off, and good-looking too. Looks like you’re pretty lucky that someone like him likes you, Aria.” (Kyle)

    Aria whacked me on the back of my head before angrily staring at me.

    “Oi, what’s that supposed to mean?” (Aria)

    “Well, I hope he at least has a thick skull too, otherwise you’ll crack it in a week if your constant physical abuse of me is any indication.” (Kyle)

    I laughed a bit as Aria grumbled cutely behind me while pouting and turning away from me, but after a moment, both of us quieted down and silence pervaded the room again before Aria’s soft voice sounded out behind me.

    “... Hey, Ky... what do you think about me marrying Max?...” (Aria)

    I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment before holding my right hand open against the window. For a moment, it covered the endless blue sky in front of me, and I grasped at seemingly nothing before replying in a soft tone while a melancholic nostalgia bubbled up inside me.

    “... A long time ago, I once tried to hold everything together as it was. I was happy in my static little world, and I was scared that one day, it would all eventually change, which of course, it did. The only thing I could do was endlessly struggle as I desperately tried to put everything back together, but, in the end... I couldn’t even stop a single thing from slipping through my fingers. All I did was end up hurting everyone around me that I cared about in my vain attempt to try and relive a distant past... I would be lying to you if I said that I didn’t have mixed feelings, but, where I’m from, there’s a saying, ‘if you love something, set it free.’ It means that you can’t force something you love to stay around forever, and the truth is, these days won’t last forever. Neither you nor I can force things to stay as they are.” (Kyle)

    I retracted my hand and turned around to Aria with a gentle smile.

    “One day, you’ll leave my side, or maybe I’ll leave your side, but for now, I’m still here. So as long as you’re happy, then I could care less about some minor changes. If marrying Max is what you really want, then I’ll support you no matter what, until the day that we have to separate... And in the end, if one day, we ever meet up again, I would prefer to see you happy.” (Kyle)

    I caught a glimpse of redness on Aria’s face as she turned away from me again and meekly replied.

    “...Ok...” (Aria)

    We sat there for a few more moments with a warm atmosphere in the air before the door opened and Max entered, this time dressed in typical nobleman’s attire. He greeted us and handed both of us a cup of tea before he sat down on the couch across the table.

    The next two hours consisted of a chat between Aria and Max, and by chat, I really mean that Aria basically started narrating her time at Delhurst as I chimed in occasionally to make sarcastic remarks while we laughed together at Aria’s reimagining of her grand adventure. Honestly, Max was starting to grow on me too, after all, it was fun being able to talk to a friend who was a guy after being stuck around women for so long.

    And everything was going great, we were all happy, until someone showed up who was very important to our relationship dynamic...

    We were in the middle of another one of Aria’s stories about the time we cleared out a giant monster turtle from one of the big lakes near Delhurst when the door opened, and a pretty woman with long dark blue hair entered the room. She looked like she was around her early to mid-twenties, and her dress was a similar color to her hair, but the most notable thing about her was her swollen belly that indicated she was late into her pregnancy.

    She had a surprised look on her face before walking over to Max’s side and greeting us.

    “Oh, I didn’t know we had guests over, why didn’t you tell me, dear? I was looking all over for you. Nice to meet you two, my name is Karen Almus, Max’s wife. What are your names?” (Karen)

    The woman waved at us with a kind smile on her face as Aria and I froze up. There was an awkward silence for a moment before Max introduced us to Karen with an awkward smile.

    “This is Aria and that’s Kyle, they’re my friends who just returned to the capital recently, and... I have some important things to discuss with them right now, so could you please give us some privacy for now, honey?” (Max)

    “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know I was interrupting. I’ll see myself out then, it was nice to meet you two.” (Karen)

    Karen walked out and closed the door lightly before silence spread through the room again. Max had a heavy face as I looked over at him and he took a deep breath. He stood up and lowered his head in a deep bow to Aria as we stared at him waiting for an answer.

    “... I was thinking about how to tell you later on, but I guess that’s been ruined now. I know it probably doesn’t mean much to you, but I truly did love you Aria, and I’m still unbelievably glad that you’re safe and sound. It was just that while you were gone… I couldn’t take it anymore. I was worried about you every day. There were nights when I stayed up thinking about whether you were ok or if you would ever make it back, and as the days went on, my parents kept pushing me to marry soon. Initially, I decided to wait, and the agony tore me apart as I sat there not knowing if you were even alive, until one day, Karen came into my life. Just being around her eased my anxiety. It made me happy and filled up the emptiness in my heart. And eventually, I realized that I fell in love with her. So, I’m sorry, Aria, but I can’t marry you...” (Max)

    There wasn’t a single sound in the room as I looked over at Aria. She just sat there frozen with her head down as her hair covered her face. I could hear my heart beating as an indescribable feeling rose up in me. Countless scenes of Aria struggling towards her goal ran through my head, and anger filled my head as I turned back to Max before speaking in a low voice.

    “Hey, Max... you said you couldn’t take it anymore?... Well, let me ask you something, do you have any idea how hard Aria was trying? Any idea how many times she put herself in danger? All the pain, all the fighting, all of the killing... all of it just to get back to you, and now this is all she gets? Just a sorry?... I heard from her, all about your promise, you promised you would wait for her, didn’t you?” (Kyle)

    I got up and grabbed Max by the collar with my right hand.

    “I did… I’m not proud of my lies, but... I can’t lie to my heart, so, all I can say is... I’m sorry.” (Max)

    “Sorry? If you’re so sorry, then don’t make promises that you can’t keep in the first place!” (Kyle)

    I raised my left arm cast and was about to hit Max with it when suddenly, I felt someone hold me back. I turned around to see Aria with an expressionless face. She pulled my arm back down and separated my hand from Max’s collar before turning to me.

    “That’s enough, Ky... Don’t hurt yourself anymore for my sake.” (Aria)

    “Aria…” (Kyle)

    Aria turned back to Max and I took a step back as the emotions from my outburst began to die down.

    “Just tell me honestly, Max, how long have you been married?” (Aria)

    “Almost a year...” (Max)

    “I see.” (Aria)

    Aria stood there for a moment before she lifted her right hand up in the air. The crisp sound of a slap broke the silence and echoed through the room as Aria’s hand left a mark on Max’s face.

    “Goodbye, Max.” (Aria)

    Aria turned around, grabbed my hand, and pulled me along as we left Max’s mansion.

    We walked through the streets silently until we returned to the front of our house again. Aria opened the gate and walked up to the front door as I followed behind her.

    She entered, and a moment passed before suddenly, she stopped and stood still in the middle of the mostly empty living room with her back to me.

    “...Ari-” (Kyle)

    “Sorry, Ky, I completely forgot about the furniture... but is it ok if we go tomorrow? I kind of want to just sit down for a little bit and sort out my feelings right now.” (Aria)

    “...Yeah, take your time.” (Kyle)

    Aria walked up to the second floor as I entered the living room, and after a few moments, I heard the sound of a door being slammed shut. I stood there a little lost for what to do before I looked at the clock and saw that it was a little past noon.

    “I should at least make lunch for her or something...” (Kyle)

    ***​

    A few hours have passed since Aria and I returned to the mansion. It’s evening now, and I’m sitting on the living room floor surrounded by luggage cases. Earlier, when I went upstairs and tried to give Aria the sandwiches I made for lunch, she told me to just leave them there. So I left them outside her door before I came back down to the living room to wait for her. The sound of people outside was beginning to die down and I closed the book I’ve been reading this whole time before I got up and stretched a bit.

    Man, the writing level really has improved over the last millennium, hasn’t it? That novel was actually a pretty fun read, way better than what I was expecting. Back then, it was just generic heroic myth after generic heroic myth about god X or god Y’s exploits and they all felt the same, but now we have actual variety in genre and well thought out plot. No wonder Eliza got hooked to reading so many romance novels.

    I looked out the window and saw that it was dark outside before throwing the book back into one of the luggage cases.

    “Hmm, it’s getting late. I should probably make dinner soon.” (Kyle)

    I was about to walk to the kitchen as I thought about what to make for dinner when I heard the sound of footsteps from the stairs. I turned toward the stairs and saw Aria coming back down holding a plate with a faint smile on her face.

    “Alright, Ky, what do we have for dinner?” (Aria)

    I stared at Aria with a puzzled look on my face as she walked downstairs like nothing happened today.

    “Aria, are you ok? I thought you would be a bit more, well, depressed after what happened with Max.” (Kyle)

    “It’s ok. I’ve gotten over it.” (Aria)

    “You don’t have to put up an act. I’m the only one here, so just let it all out.” (Kyle)

    “I’m fine. I was sad and angry at first, but after thinking about it for a while, I realized that I can’t blame Max for what he did. After all, I did the same thing. When we came back to the capital, I was just happy to be back in the city I grew up in, but when I saw Max again, I didn’t have that same sense of pure joy, it was more... bittersweet. I didn’t know why at first. I told myself that I should be happy. I finally accomplished the dream I inherited from my father, and I was about to get married to the man I loved, I should’ve been all smiles, but after what happened with Max, I finally realized why it felt bittersweet. It’s because somewhere along the way, I’ve fallen for someone else too. I’m the same as Max, just being around him makes me happy, and, honestly, I’m a little relieved right now. I’m finally free, there’s nothing holding me back anymore, there’s no more waiting, no more promises, and I can finally be with the person I really love... Max was right, I can’t lie to my heart.” (Aria)

    The edges of my mouth curved up into a smile as Aria walked over to me with a happy smile.

    I feel like a father watching his daughter grow up. I can’t deny that I’m proud, but it’s leaving a bittersweet taste in my mouth. Well, I guess this isn’t too bad sometimes, after all, life isn’t always just sweet or bitter. Ah, but before I forget, there’s one more thing I have to do as a self-proclaimed overbearing father figure.

    “Glad to see you’re ok, Aria.” (Kyle)

    I smiled at Aria for a moment as she entered the living room.

    “But, I’ve learned from my mistake, so let me actually do something for you this time. Who is it? I’ll go scout them out for you first, and maybe some ‘interrogation’ might even be in order depending on their personality. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it works out for you this time.” (Kyle)

    I held up my fist threateningly as Aria froze for a moment before bursting out in laughter.

    “What? What’s so funny?” (Kyle)

    “Nothing, it’s just that... Sorry Ky, but you’re the only person in the world who can’t investigate him.” (Aria)

    “What? Is that a challenge? Trust me, all I need is his name, just tell me his name, and I’ll have every last detail about him in a week.” (Kyle)

    “His name? Well...” (Aria)

    Aria walked past me and flicked me on the forehead before going to the kitchen entrance, twirling around, and giving me a grin.

    “It’s a secret! Now, come on, let’s make dinner, I’m getting hungry.” (Aria)

    I stood there flabbergasted as Aria giggled at me.

    “...Look, how am I supposed to help you if you won’t even give me a place to start?” (Kyle)

    I sighed as I realized Aria was going to be stubborn and walked over to the kitchen to make dinner.

    ***​

    The moon and the stars outside lit up the night sky while I laid there on the floor, surrounded by darkness. Faint, ethereal moonlight shone in through the window, dimly illuminating the walls of the room as I stared at the ceiling in silence. A strange sense of melancholy overtook me as I thought about what happened with Aria before and held my right hand out in front of me. I gazed at the outline of my hand as the moonlight washed over it while the sound of my soft breaths echoed through the room.

    ...Love, huh? Well, I’m not a complete idiot yet, am I?...

    I might be dense, but after thinking through everything again, even I can tell that the person you love is me, Aria. And the truth is, deep inside, there’s a part of me that loves you too.

    It looks like a small fragment of light, glowing softly, yet bright enough to illuminate my world. Around it, there are a few more fragments too. And it’s only when I hold these small fragments, when I can feel the warmth radiating from them, that I’ll feel human again. But as tempting as it might be to touch them, I never can, because surrounding these precious fragments is a sea of darkness, and should the day come when I wade through the darkness to reach for that warm light, I know that the weight of my sins will drag me down to the depths.

    So, I’m sorry, Aria. I’m just a coward who can only stand alone by the edge of that darkness and lie to himself about being content with the faint light that pierces through, but the one thing that I can do right now is stay by your side, just like I did for everyone else… even her…

    I stared at the hand in front of me. Four slender fingers and a thumb spread out, illuminated by the somber moonlight. And I could faintly make out the tendons that moved those fingers. There wasn’t even a single sign of a callus or scar on the smooth skin that covered that hand. It just looked like the hand of a young man who hadn’t done a day of work in his life, much less held a sword. It was the hand of a man who enjoyed cooking, the hand of a man who didn’t mind helping those he cared about, even at his own expense, and most importantly, the hand of Aria’s partner. Yet, I knew better than anyone just how many times that hand had swung a sword, just how much destruction that hand had caused, and just how many lives that hand had taken. It wasn’t the hand of a young man I was looking at, it was the blood-soaked hand of a thousand-year-old monster wreathed in an aura of massacre.

    And attached to that blood-soaked hand was the thousand-year-old monster himself, a man who was afraid of drowning in the darkness, a man who was desperately trying to atone for his sins, a man who didn’t deserve love.

    … But you know what, Aria? I’m just glad that you seem happier now. I don’t see the same loneliness in your shadow that I saw when I first met you, so, at the very least, I can say that I’ve helped someone else now. It might not be much, but I’ve done a lot of bad things already, so if I ever want to atone, I’ve gotta start somewhere, right?

    They say everything that happens is fate, but honestly, I don’t like the idea that everything is predetermined. I believe in karma a lot more than I do in fate. Today I might be the one dragging you out of your darkness, but one day… maybe you’ll be the one who gives me the courage to face mine.

    So until then, I think I'll lock these feelings of mine away.

    ... I'll forget it all... just like I always have...

    I released all the tension from my hand and it fell limply to my side as I closed my eyes again with a faint smile. I took a deep breath and cleared away all the depressing thoughts in my head before thinking about what to make for breakfast tomorrow.
    [​IMG]
    Solria, Edge of Middle District, 7th Squad Barracks (Kyle POV)
    [​IMG]
    Today was a particularly warm day, and the sun shining intensely in the sky was as good of an indication as you could get. Aria and I walked along the street until finally, we stopped at the front gate of a large, dojo-style building with a plaque on the front that was labeled ‘7th Squad.’ It’s been three days since the whole incident with Max, and yesterday, the official ceremony for bestowing Aria’s title was held. She was awarded the open position of the, recently retired, former 7th knight captain along with her title of Marchioness, and apparently, she was supposed to take over the role of supervising a few members of the new generation of knights while they all trained and helped out the city guard.

    And so, today we came to the former 7th squad barracks to check out the state of things and tidy up as well as move into the office. Aria was holding a box of miscellaneous office supplies and I was right behind her with a pile of paperwork in my arm. We entered the building using the key that Aria received from the Emperor and walked along the halls inside until we reached a door labeled ‘Captain’s Office.’ The door was open, and when we entered, we were surprised at how clean the office was. For some reason, there was barely any dust and all the furniture was still neat and tidy.

    Aria plopped the box of supplies down and opened the window to the courtyard. Light shone through the curtains as the picturesque scene of sunlight illuminating the well maintained small garden and pond outside met our sight. I plopped down the stack of papers next to the box of office supplies and turned to Aria.

    “Alright, nice, looks like we don’t need to clean.” (Kyle)

    “Yeah, just leave everything here for now, we can check out the other rooms first.” (Aria)

    “Ok.” (Kyle)

    We left the office and went down the hall, checking the rest of the rooms, which were all basically in the same state as the office. The dorm-style bedrooms were all spotless, albeit a little empty, the main lounge was the same, and there was even a cafeteria on the left side of the building.

    Aria and I were walking through the outdoor hallway that surrounded the courtyard and the sunlight shone through the pillars and warmed up our bodies while we made our way towards the entrance to the training room on the right side of the building.

    “All, that’s left is the training room. We can wipe down all the dust later on and air everything out.” (Aria)

    “Yeah, hopefully it’s as clean as everywhere else, otherwise my sealed left arm will have to descend upon this world and activate its mop truth again.” (Kyle)

    We walked briskly for a bit before we reached the large door to the training room, and Aria was about to push it open. However, instead of Aria opening the door to an empty training hall, the door slowly opened by itself from the inside. White smoke floated out, and three voices sounded out to us one after the other from the inside, but what greeted my eyes was the last thing I ever thought I would see here, it was a power this world was not made to withstand.

    “Marchioness Irisveil, correct?”

    “We’ve been eagerly awaiting your arrival.”

    “We heard that you were coming over today, so we decided that we would come over to greet you.”

    From the darkness of the training hall emerged three men, one from behind the left side of the door, one from behind the right side of the door, and one from the middle of the room. All of them were extremely muscular, at least a full head taller than me, and wearing clothes that clearly outlined the musculature of their upper bodies.

    The one that emerged from the middle had blue hair in a short crew cut and the one on his left had long blonde hair in a braid while the one on his right had short spiky black colored hair. They walked up and stood next to each other before flexing their muscles and simultaneously posing together menacingly as intense music echoed from behind them.

    Yes, that’s right, actual music was playing. If you looked into the training hall behind them, you could faintly see an orchestra inside the training hall. The light from outside barely illuminated the first row of musicians, but just judging by what looked like rows of silhouettes behind them there were definitely more people in the back.

    The black haired man talked first.

    “Greetings, I am Reginald Balmar, First Lieutenant of the 5th Squad.” (Lieutenant Balmar)

    After him was the blonde one.

    “I am Morden Polum, Vice-Captain of the 5th Squad.” (Vice-Captain Polum)

    And finally, it was the blue haired one in the middle.

    “And I am Ozwald Gyffard, Captain of the 5th Squad. Nice to meet you, Marchioness, or should I say, Captain Irisveil.” (Captain Gyffard)

    That’s impossible. I never expected to meet them here, they shouldn’t even exist in this world. Could it be? Does their power transcend even worlds, or is it just that it’s universal.

    I stood in front of Aria before facing the three men with a distressed look on my face.

    “Their builds that resemble bricks of pure muscle, the hyper-defined jawlines, the way too tight clothing, the synchronized posing, the theme music in the background, the borderline homosexual tension in the air, Aria, there’s no doubt in my mind, I’m 100% sure that these guys... are stand users!” (Kyle)

    “Wait, what? What are you talking about?” (Aria)

    Aria stood there with a confused face as I pulled out a purple colored alchemy stone with a formation carved into it and held it in the palm of my hand.

    “Run away, I’ll keep them busy! Lightning ball, single cast, activate!” (Kyle)

    The stone shone with purple light as a ball of purple lightning spread out with the stone at the center and enveloped the area around the stone along with most of my right hand while small bolts of lightning shot off it occasionally. I felt a tingly feeling in my right hand as I was about to shove it towards the stand users when I felt a heavy impact on the back of my head.

    Aria punched me in the back of the head and I fell over as the lightning in my hand died out.

    “Argh, no! My Chidori!” (Kyle)

    “Ky, what the hell are you doing!? They’re knights from the 5th squad! That’s Captain Gyffard!” (Aria)

    Aria turned towards Captain Gyffard as she stomped on me while I was on the floor.

    “Sorry about that Captain Gyffard, it seems that my companion has some brain damage.” (Aria)

    “Haha, no problem Captain Irisveil. Don’t be too hard on him, he was just playing along, wasn’t he? It was just a practical joke for a little bit of fun. Anyway, you’re gonna be taking over the 7th Squad tomorrow, so as the fill-ins for the old 7th Squad, we at the 5th Squad took it upon ourselves to help you out by cleaning the place a bit as a welcoming gift. But we should probably be getting back to the 5th Squad barracks soon, we’ve been gone for a while after all.” (Captain Gyffard)

    The orchestra in the back stopped their music as Aria finally let up with the kicks and I got up off the ground as I turned towards the 5th squad members.

    “Eh, how long have you been in there?” (Kyle)

    “Hmm, since about 5 AM. We didn’t know what time you were coming over, so we’ve been waiting here since dawn.” (Captain Gyffard)

    “Wait, you guys are the top three members of the 5th Squad, aren’t you? Don’t you have important duties that you should be attending to or something?” (Kyle)

    “Not really, it’s been pretty peaceful these last few years, and if anything, these days we’re just patrolling around the city doing nothing most of the time.” (Captain Gyffard)

    “Well, at least spend it doing something else then instead of forcing a whole orchestra into a room for several hours just for the sake of a practical joke! Didn’t you get bored?” (Kyle)

    “The wait wasn’t too bad, we just talked with the orchestra members for a few hours, and we even had a deck of cards to pass the time afterward.” (Captain Gyffard)

    “I mean, your dedication was respectable, but don’t you think that this was kind of a waste of time? What were you going to do if we decided not to show up today, wait until tomorrow? If you just wanted to pull a practical joke on us you could’ve done this way more efficiently! Just show up outside our house next time, it saves both of us time!” (Kyle)

    “Hahaha! You’re right, I never thought about that. I like your spirit kid! What’s your name?” (Captain Gyffard)

    “Kyle.” (Kyle)

    “Sir Kyle is it? Well, I’ll remember it! You’ve got a clever subordinate here Captain Irisveil! Anyway, the new 7th Squad members should be arriving tomorrow to move in. Good luck!” (Captain Gyffard)

    I stood there facepalming as the 5th Squad members walked past us and left the 7th Squad barracks while the entire orchestra got up and shuffled out into the street behind them. I walked into the room and switched the lights on as the training room lit up before turning to Aria and sighing.

    “Well, at least the place is clean. Actually, you know what? It’s clean enough, let’s just go home for the day so I can wait in the closet for five hours with a trombone or something.” (Kyle)

    “Look, I’m tired too, but we have to at least sort out the office first. Come on, we can go home after, and I swear, if you actually pop out of the closet with a trombone, I’ll break your other arm too.” (Aria)

    “Alright, alright.” (Kyle)

    I gave another sigh as Aria dragged me back to the office and we began sorting out the supplies.

    ***​

    I sat out on the backyard porch and yawned as the sound of birds chirping in the background faintly filled my ears. I heard the front door open and Aria’s voice sounded out from inside the house as I leaned back to lay down on the wooden porch.

    “Hey, Ky, I left my plates in the sink and cleaned the table. I’m going to work now. By the way, the 5th Squad’s taking over patrol later today so I’ll be back early.” (Aria)

    “Did you remember to grab your lunchbox.” (Kyle)

    “Yeah.” (Aria)

    The sound of the door closing sounded out a moment later as I held up my now fully healed left hand to block the sunlight shining into my eyes. The doctor said my left arm would take years of physical therapy to heal and regain the former function it had before getting mangled, but looks like it didn’t take too long with my freakish body. I didn’t even need any physical therapy, but honestly, I’m not surprised. After all, I’ve come back perfectly fine from way worse injuries before.

    Well, moving on, it’s been a few months, summer has finally come around again, and the lethargy has been getting to me recently. After the grand reopening, the 7th Squad has been up and running for about six months, and Aria’s been taking care of everything. Apparently, they even made her start training some kid recently as her apprentice, while I’ve basically been a housewife, err, I guess househusband would be a more apt description.

    Honestly, it kind of feels like I’m right back in prison, doing nothing all day except cooking and taking care of the house, but if anything, at least this time I’ve got a lot more freedom. I don’t have a collar attached to me at all times anymore, and Aria is also a lot tidier than Eliza, so I’ve had a lot more free time. I’ve taken up reading to pass the time, and I even recently got a library card so I can borrow books. Ah, but I guess I’m gonna have to give it all up soon, huh?

    I reached over to my right side and grabbed the sheet of paper next to me before holding it up and staring at the numbers to do some mental calculations.

    Honestly, this is probably the first time I wished I was too stupid to do math. The sheet of paper in my hands was a bill, in fact, it was our tax report for this month, and by the looks of it, we were about to go into debt. Yep, that’s right, debt. You see, when the Emperor gave Aria this old mansion, he failed to mention how goddamn high the property tax was. I mean I knew it was gonna be pricey to live here since it was in the middle district where all the nobles live, but Aria’s entire income as a Knight Captain is barely enough to keep us afloat, and we spent most of her initial promotion reward buying new furniture and daily supplies for the mansion.

    I held the paper in my hand and dropped my arm to my side again before sighing. Yeah, looks like I’m gonna have to get a job.

    “Ugh, someone kill me.” (Kyle)

    Should I go for the best paying job? Or should I prioritize free time? Well, I mean preferably both, but I doubt there’s any dream job like that. Wait, first of all, what skills do I even have?

    Swordsmanship? Nah, I’ve had enough of adventuring back in Delhurst, the city doesn’t lack guards, and nobody would want to learn my swordsmanship comprised of literally only the absolute basics no matter how streamlined or efficient it is.

    Cooking? Nah, being a chef would probably mean being trapped in a kitchen 24/7 and no matter how much I love cooking, I’d probably run out of passion real quick.

    Housework? Well, that probably wouldn’t amount to much pay, and I don’t think I can pass off as a very good maid.

    What else do I have? Well, there’s alchemy, but I barely understand a thing about modern alchemy, and even beginners can pump out generic alchemical materials.

    Hmm, actually, wait, if I don’t understand modern alchemy, then... can’t I just teach ancient alchemy? Yeah, that’s perfect, if I teach at some prestigious university or something, the pay probably won’t be that bad, and I’ll even get the whole summer off! The school year’s about to start too, so this is the perfect time to apply!

    I sat back up as I stared at the sky and began to think about where to apply as a professor, but as far as I knew, there were only two well-known places that taught alchemy in the capital, the High Institute of Alchemy, which was run by the Alchemy Guild, and the Raidion Royal Academy, which was funded by the Imperial family.

    “Eh, well the Academy’s two blocks closer, so Academy it is I guess.” (Kyle)
     
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2020
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  13. RubberDucky

    RubberDucky Well-Known Member

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    [Chapter 10] (Soon-to-Be) Professor Kyle Is Now on Duty!
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    Royal Academy, Headmistress’ Office (Headmistress POV)
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    The noontime sun shone through the curtains, lighting up my desk as I yawned and continued to look through the dozens of applications piled up in front of me. The stamp in my hand left an ink print of the Royal Academy’s official seal at the bottom of the application that I was reading and I tossed the application to my left where it landed in a small, messy pile of accepted applications on the floor next to me. I spun my office chair around and stretched before covering my eyes with my hand to shield them from the sunlight outside. A light moan inadvertently left my mouth and the slight pain from stretching made the stiffness in my back fade. Outside, the beautiful campus lawn and the people rustling through the streets behind the fence painted a peaceful scene, and I felt my will to continue doing paperwork start fading away. There was a part of me that didn’t want to turn around and acknowledge the truth, but the reality was that behind me on my desk was a pile of applications I still had to go through.

    “Ugh… You know what, I think I deserve a little breather. Maybe I’ll have a small tea break and come back in half an hour. Yeah… that sounds good.”

    Hopping out of my chair, I stood up and turned around to face the door with a smile on my face. I was about to leave, but the moment I took a step, the sound of footsteps echoed in the hallway and a foreboding sense of exasperation overtook me for a second before the door to my office opened, revealing an old man with a head of grey hair and a similarly colored beard. He was wearing a blue robe that covered his whole body and in his hands was an opened envelope.

    I could already tell this was gonna be a nuisance just from the anxious look on his face when he walked in.

    “What is it, Professor Balrum?”

    “Headmistress, I just received another application for the alchemy department. What should I do with it?” (Balrum)

    Professor Balrum, who was the current head of the Royal Academy’s alchemy department, pulled out some papers from the envelope and placed them onto my desk. I felt a sense of fatigue bubble up inside me and averted my eyes from the papers while sighing.

    “The application period ended yesterday, so we’re not accepting any more applications. Just throw it out. Whoever it was, they were late anyway.” (Headmistress)

    “I already considered just throwing it out, but unfortunately, this application has a letter of recommendation from the House of Irisveil.” (Balrum)

    “Irisveil?... Oh, Marchioness Irisveil. The dragonslayer, right? Isn’t she the Captain of one of the Knight Squads now?” (Headmistress)

    “Yes, precisely. So, what should I do with it? I’m not sure if it’s acceptable to just outright reject it.” (Balrum)

    “What do you think we should do then?” (Headmistress)

    “Hmm, well, he looks a little young, but it says that the applicant specializes in ancient alchemy and we don’t have anyone who teaches that. So I was thinking that we could hold a small private test for him to get on the Marchioness’ good side. If he’s not up to the challenge, we can at least say we gave him a chance, and anyway, we wanted the best of the best for the golden generation this year, right? He might even be a hidden expert, and if he is, we’ll be one step closer to the Institute.” (Balrum)

    One step closer to the institute, huh? Well, I guess I can understand how Professor Balrum feels. After all, the alchemy department is the smallest one in the Royal Academy, since most talented students interested in alchemy would rather enroll in the Institute where they can build connections with Alchemy Guild members. If I remember, we barely had any alchemy professor applicants at all, even with the huge hiring campaign this year.

    You see, this year’s student population is what they call a golden generation, a wave of talent that only occurs once every few centuries. The testing scores for this year’s incoming students were off the charts, and we’ve had to react accordingly. After being the headmistress for so long, I’m well aware of how we compare to the other top institutions, and while the quality of our professors is significantly above average, only a few of them are truly at the top of their fields. So I set off a huge hiring campaign to search for the best of the best, the top experts to come and raise the golden generation this year.

    The application period for professors lasted a month and we’ve had applicants come from all over the Empire. Even after a rigorous preliminary test, there were still dozens of applicants who passed, so after weeding out a few more through one on one tests with some of our current professors, it was now up to me to personally sort through the remaining applications to figure out who the most qualified applicants were. As of yesterday, the testing period has ended and honestly, I’d rather not see another application on my desk...

    “Eh... Well, I guess it’s fine if you want to give him a chance, but I’m not filling out any more paperwork for it. So that means I won’t approve any requests for materials and I’ll leave his skill to your judgment. If you wanna test him, you’ll have to do everything yourself.” (Headmistress)

    “No problem!” (Balrum)

    “Alright, then you go handle it. I’m going to go get a cup of tea and take a short break.” (Headmistress)
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    Royal Academy, Front Gate (Kyle POV)
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    Why did it have to be today that I decided to show up?... Why couldn’t they have just extended the testing period until next week or something?... No, better yet, why is it that I’m unlucky enough to show up the day after it ends? Well, I guess it’s my fault for being a borderline shut-in these past few months... If I went out more often, I probably would’ve heard about the huge hiring campaign sooner.

    It was currently right after noon and I was standing outside the front gate to the Royal Academy in a dress shirt as the summer sun slowly roasted me. Time passed as I made some small talk with the security officer in the booth next to me who gave my application to the department head about 15 minutes ago.

    You see, when I showed up earlier and told him I was here for a job interview, he informed me about the testing period for new professors and how it just ended yesterday, but fortunately, he was a pretty nice guy and still helped me hand in my application. So hopefully, that completely legitimate recommendation letter that Aria definitely wrote and stamped for me with her personal seal will be enough to convince them to give me a second chance, otherwise, I’ll have to make do with the Institute, and that means it’ll be a total of four entire extra blocks I’ll have to walk every day.

    The security guard and I were talking about the warm weather recently when I saw the main entrance to the academy open out of the corner of my eye. An old man wearing a blue robe walked out holding my application and recommendation letter in his hand. The security officer greeted him and opened the gate, as the old man walked over to us before speaking to me.

    “So, I assume you’re Sir Kyle, correct?”

    “Yep, that’s me.” (Kyle)

    “Hmm, a manaless? How unusual... Well, it’s not like you can’t practice alchemy as a manaless. Nice to meet you, Sir Kyle. I am Professor Oliver Balrum, head of the alchemy department here at the Royal Academy. I’ve looked over your application and have decided to conduct a private examination to test your qualifications on the grounds of your recommendation letter.” (Balrum)

    My eyes lit up as I shifted my body back into a proper posture after slouching from the heat before.

    Nice! I knew forging, ahem, asking Aria nicely for that recommendation letter would help.

    “Really? Great! So what do I have to do?” (Kyle)

    “Just follow me inside for now. It’s a little too warm out here, so we’ll be holding the test in one of the training gymnasiums.” (Balrum)

    Professor Balrum turned around and walked towards the main entrance again as I followed behind him. We entered the building and quickly made our way down a few hallways until we reached a large gymnasium. He walked to the middle of the gymnasium before turning around and tossing me a few small bags.

    “Alright, since your application was a little late, I didn’t have the time or resources to set up another preliminary test. So instead, I will be personally testing your skill. You wrote in your application that you specialize in ancient alchemy, correct?” (Balrum)

    “Yes.” (Kyle)

    “Perfect, then this will be simple. If I remember correctly, ancient alchemy was originally optimized for combat, so your test will be to break this barrier.” (Balrum)

    Professor Balrum held up a large pendant which looked like a polished light element monster core on a chain. The yellow-colored monster core was covered with intricate engravings and inside the grooves of the engraving, there was some sort of sparkling ink which drew out the pattern of several alchemy circles.

    “Inside the bags I just gave you are some high-quality alchemy materials and monster cores to work with. Your time limit will be ten minutes, and you can attack me at any time during the duration. Your test will start… now.” (Balrum)

    As soon as Professor Balrum announced the start, he silently activated the alchemy stone pendant and it shone for a moment before a pale yellow barrier covered him from all directions like a bubble.

    “So, wait. All I have to do is break the barrier, right?” (Kyle)

    “Correct.” (Balrum)

    “Ok then.” (Kyle)

    I placed the bags on the ground and shifted my body into a basic fighting stance as Professor Balrum gave me a confused look. My left hand was held openly in front of me, resembling a loose spear-hand, while my other hand was clenched into a fist as I held it by my right side. A breath of air entered my lungs and a moment later, I exhaled as my leg pushed off the ground and shot my body forward.

    It wasn’t even a second before my other leg smashed into the ground right in front of the barrier, fracturing the floor and stopping a good portion of my momentum as my fist extended out from my right side, smashing into the barrier while a crazed wind burst outward from the air around me. The moment my fist made contact, a sound similar to glass cracking rang out as the barrier shattered and the broken shards evaporated into particles of mana. My fist went straight through the barrier, albeit having lost a good bit of its force, but just before it reached Professor Balrum’s head, I held back as much of my strength as I could, which resulted in me just bonking him lightly on the head.

    I retracted my hand and returned to a loose standing position as I smiled wryly at Professor Balrum who stood there dumbfounded for a moment.

    “So, did I pass?” (Kyle)

    Professor Balrum fell backward and sat down on the floor as he took deep breaths and held his hand to his chest.

    “W-Were you trying to kill me!? I think I just saw my life flash before my eyes! What the hell were you doing!?” (Balrum)

    “What? I just broke the barrier like you said, it sounds like a pass to me.” (Kyle)

    “I meant break the barrier using some sort of alchemy!” (Balrum)

    “Eh? Then say that in the first place...” (Kyle)

    “You’re taking a test to be an alchemy professor, not a knight squad tryout! What made you think that breaking the barrier without using alchemy would be any indication of your skill as an alchemist!?” (Balrum)

    I gave a sigh before walking back to my original position and picking up the bags off the floor.

    “Alright, reactivate the barrier and let me do the test again then. I’ll use alchemy this time. Ten minutes haven’t passed yet, right?” (Kyle)

    “Wait! You know what? Let me get a training dummy this time instead.” (Balrum)

    Professor Balrum ran over to the supply closet nearby and rummaged around in it for a few moments before returning with a training dummy with a target painted on it. He placed the dummy where he was originally standing and backed up towards the exit.

    “Alright, your new test is to destroy the training dummy. And use alchemy this time!” (Balrum)

    “Ok, got it.” (Kyle)

    I opened the bags and rummaged through them. Inside were various materials for making alchemy stones like enchanted ink, engraving tools, and raw monster cores, but all I really needed was a monster core. I picked out a decently sized red monster core and pulled out a pen before quickly scribbling an alchemy circle on it.

    Usually, when making an alchemy stone, I would engrave the alchemy circle on monster core since pen can rub off when I’m carrying the stones around. But since this one’s going to be used immediately, a pen is perfectly fine and a lot easier than engraving anyway.

    After I finished drawing the alchemy circle, I put the pen away as I held the monster core in my fingers, and the glint in my eyes sharpened. My hand shifted like a blur and I threw the alchemy stone at the training dummy before activating it.

    “Explosive Lance, full power cast, activate!” (Kyle)

    The alchemy stone shone with a red light in mid-air before transforming into a vague spear shape made of flames. A moment later, the flames stabbed into the training dummy, and a deafening explosion occurred. Fire spread out in all directions, engulfing the area around the training dummy as everything burnt to cinders. After the initial explosion, streams of smoke burst outward, making my clothes and hair flutter in the wind as the fire died down. When the smoke finally cleared up, there was only a charred crater left where the dummy used to be and the floorboards nearby were all either cracked or uprooted.

    “Alright, I used alchemy this time like you asked, so did I pass?” (Kyle)

    I turned around to look at Professor Balrum, who was just standing there and staring at the crater with his mouth agape. We stood in mutual silence for a moment before his eyes lit up and he finally spoke again.

    “Y-Yeah, you passed.” (Balrum)

    “Great! By the way, here’s the rest of your stuff back. What should I do now?” (Kyle)

    I handed the rest of the materials back to Professor Balrum as he gulped.

    “I-I’ll have to go inform the headmistress. Just wait here. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” (Balrum)

    “Ok.” (Kyle)

    Professor Balrum was about to turn around and leave when suddenly, a strong gale blew open the doors, and a girl dressed as an office lady burst into the gymnasium. She looked like she was around 15 years old, a little younger than what Eliza looked like. The wind blew in from behind her as it made her long blonde hair float in the air, and her skin was light with a slight peachy tint while her piercing sky-blue eyes with pointed ears indicated that she was an elf. She called out to us in a serious tone as Professor Balrum froze up.

    “Professor Balrum, is everything ok!? I was in the office when I heard an explosion!”

    I looked over at the little girl’s panicked face before trying to reassure her that everything was ok.

    “Are you a student here, young lady? Don’t worry, everything’s ok. It was just some alchemy being used on a training dummy.” (Kyle)

    “Who are you? Professor Balrum, what’s going on?”

    “Headmistress!” (Balrum)

    Eh? Headmistress?

    “I’ve made my decision. Please, hire this man right now!” (Balrum)

    “What? Wait, just calm down and tell me what happen-” (Headmistress)

    “Quick, before the Institute finds out about him!” (Balrum)

    “Professor Balr-” (Headmistress)

    “I won’t let them steal away another talent like this! He will be a part of my alchemy apartment if it’s the last thing I do!” (Balrum)

    Hey, Professor Balrum, I’m excited here too, but uh... it kind of looks like the headmistress is a little angry.

    There was a scary smile on the headmistress’ face as waves of anger radiated off her. Instantly, half a dozen light green magic circles appeared in the air behind her and small tornadoes formed, extending out from the center of the circles. Blades of wind radiated from the tornadoes as they hovered in mid-air, rotating around the headmistress while she spoke in a low tone with a furious glint in her eyes.

    “Oliver, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I’ve had a long day, and I’m not in the mood to deal with your incoherent rambling or the extra paperwork I’ll have to fill out afterward to clean up this mess. So first of all, you’re going to tell me exactly why my gymnasium is in pieces, ok?” (Headmistress)

    I flashed a nervous smile and took a step backward from the headmistress as I was about to let Professor Balrum take the fall for me, but the moment I moved, the headmistress’ head snapped over to stare at me with the same angry smile on her face.

    “And just where are you going, Mister? You saw what happened too, right? Well, I’ll be having both of you tell me exactly what the hell happened and why you’ve destroyed the gymnasium.” (Headmistress)

    Come on! Why is it always me!? Does every woman around have to be so violent and tyrannical!? Can’t I just meet some normal people for once!?

    My fake smile twitched a little as the wisps of wind coming from the tornadoes made my clothes and hair flail in the air while my internal screams echoed uselessly into the sky.

    ***​

    About half an hour later, I was sitting in the headmistress’ office next to Professor Balrum as the headmistress looked at us with an angry look on her face.

    “So, you’re telling me that you two almost tore the entire gymnasium down just to hold a test?” (Headmistress)

    The headmistress stared at us with a scary smile on her face after we told her everything that happened and I averted my eyes to break eye contact before nervously answering her.

    “Uh.. y-yeah.” (Kyle)

    “Alright then. Professor Balrum, let me ask you something. If you were going to have a combat test, why didn’t you hold it outside? Be completely honest. We had plenty of open training fields, so what genius epiphany made you decide that it would be a great idea to hold one in the gymnasium instead?” (Headmistress)

    “W-well, it was a little too warm outside.” (Balrum)

    “A little too warm? You destroyed an entire gymnasium because it was too hot outside!?” (Headmistress)

    “A-Ahem. Well, technically, yes. I didn’t expect it to get so out of hand though.” (Balrum)

    The headmistress just sighed and held her head down with both her hands as she closed her eyes with a distressed look on her face. Professor Balrum and I sat there stiffly while we watched the headmistress bang her head on the table in silence. After a few moments, she finally got up and looked at us before sighing again and talking in a disappointed tone.

    “I’ve had enough. Professor Balrum, just go for now, I’ll interview him and discuss the details of your punishment with you later.” (Headmistress)

    “Yes, headmistress!” (Balrum)

    Oliver, you damn traitor! Don’t just ditch me here! I thought we were in this together!

    Professor Balrum got up immediately and bolted out of the room with a relieved expression on his face as I sat there and smiled nervously at the headmistress. She picked my application up off her desk and glanced over it before staring at me again.

    “Alright, so your name was... Kyle, right?” (Headmistress)

    “Yes, ma’am.” (Kyle)

    “Well, you passed Professor Balrum’s test. And while he may be stupid enough to hold a combat test inside, I at least trust his discernment as an alchemist. So judging by how desperate he was, there’s no problem with your level of skill as an alchemist. However, there are a couple more glaring issues with the rest of your application. First of all, do you have any other identification besides your guild card? Guild cards are technically a form of legal identification, but with how easy it is to get one, they aren’t exactly the most trustworthy. Your guild card doesn’t even have your last name on it.” (Headmistress)

    Damn, I knew this would come up eventually. What else do I have on me for ID?... Come on, think, Kyle, think...

    “Uh… well actually due to some personal reasons, I’ve renounced my last name, but as for other methods of identification, I do have a library card, if that counts.” (Kyle)

    I pulled out my library card from my pocket and held it in my hand to show the headmistress as an awkward atmosphere filled the room. She stared at me for a second with a disappointed face before facepalming and sighing.

    “Looks like that’s a no. So… what exactly is your relationship to Marchioness Irisveil then?” (Headmistress)

    “I’m a former member of her adventurer party.” (Kyle)

    “Well, judging by the fact she wrote a letter of recommendation for you, she at least trusts you, and I’ve heard that the Emperor was fond of one of her party members, who I assume is you.” (Headmistress)

    The headmistress leaned back as all the tension left her body and she slouched backward into her chair.

    “So now for the second issue. I want to know. Why did you come to the Royal Academy? With your skill, the Institute of Alchemy would definitely hire you, even if you applied late.” (Headmistress)

    “... Do you want me to be completely honest?” (Kyle)

    “Of course.” (Headmistress)

    The headmistress picked up her cup of tea and took a sip out of it as she waited for me to answer. I sheepishly scratched my head as I kept up my nervous smile and answered.

    “Ahem. Well, the Royal Academy’s two blocks closer to my house, so I wouldn’t have to walk as far every day.” (Kyle)

    The headmistress put her teacup back down and bonked her head backward into the chair cutely as she sighed again with a distressed face.

    “How did I just know it would be something stupid... Fine, I guess you’re hired then.” (Headmistress)

    She tossed my application into the pile of papers next to her and sat up straight in her chair again before turning around and opening the window behind her. The warm afternoon sunlight shone in through the glass as a light breeze entered and cleared out the stuffy air in the room. The sound of the city outside could be faintly heard in the background and the headmistress took a deep breath before twirling around in her chair again with a professional smile on her face. The gentle breeze made her long hair flow in the wind and the soft sunlight reflected off her face as she spoke with a strong voice.

    “Welcome to the Royal Academy, Professor Kyle. I’m Mari Sylfey, the Empire’s Grand Mage of Wind, and your new boss.” (Mari)

    Eh? She’s one of the Empire’s Grand Mages? No wonder she was able to chantlessly activate such high-level wind magic before. Wait, I heard before that the Grand Mage of Wind looked young because she was an elf, but isn’t this a little too young? She’s basically a little girl. Well, anyway, appearances aside, I probably shouldn’t get on her bad side.

    I gave a gentle smile back before I saw Mari’s professional demeanor instantly collapse after she gave me that line. She melted back into her chair and took another sip of her tea before letting out a relieved breath and holding out her teacup towards me.

    “Alright, now that you’re hired, your first job is to go get me a refill.” (Mari)

    “Eh? Wait, don’t I start working on the first day of school? I’m a professor, my job is to teach, right?” (Kyle)

    Mari gave me a smug chuckle and sat back up in her chair before reaching over the desk and placing the teacup in my hands.

    “Well, the first day of classes is in a week, so yeah you’ll be teaching then, Professor Kyle, but for now, you’ll be working as my lackey, ahem, I mean my assistant. After all, I’m gonna have to do a lot of paperwork to get the gymnasium repaired, and since you were the one who destroyed it, it only makes sense for you to help me fix it, unless you want me to dock your salary instead. The teacher’s lounge is right next to the stairs at the end of the hallway. I want chamomile tea with two teaspoons of sugar. Even if you’re manaless, you can still make some tea, can’t you?” (Mari)

    “What about Professor Balrum then!? He’s not completely innocent either!” (Kyle)

    “Professor Balrum still has to sort out the budget and class placement for the alchemy department, and I already told him I would discuss his punishment with him later. Anyway, why would I choose an aging old man over a young new hire like you for menial labor? It’s alright, just think of this as a sort of hazing. Now, hurry up Professor Kyle, we’ve still got the rest of the applications to sort through, then the department budget distributions, and the personal facility check to make sure everything’s running fine among just the major things. Oh, and I hope you don’t mind if I just skip the titles, since technically, you’re not a professor yet, right, Kyle?” (Mari)

    Of course. It always just comes back to me doing menial labor, doesn’t it? First it was Eliza and Olivia, then Aria, and now Mari. I guess it’s just my destiny to eternally be a butler...

    Mari went back to reading through the papers on her desk as I let out a sigh before getting up and leaving the room with teacup in hand.

    “Just call me Ky then…” (Kyle)

    ***​

    Goddammit. Why the hell did I actually try to help!? I made a major mistake. I should’ve just acted utterly incompetent at everything until Mari let me go, but no, I just had to go and actually try, didn’t I?

    It was about an hour or two into the evening by now, and the lamps in the office lit up the pile of papers I was sorting through as I sat on the floor. Mari was sitting in her chair as she occasionally laughed while nonchalantly reading a newspaper. Approximately an hour ago, she finished sorting through about half of the applications, and immediately lost all will to continue. She loosened up her clothes a bit to relax, deflated all the tension in her body again, and took off her shoes so she could sit cross-legged in her office chair while I was still sitting on the floor sorting through more papers.

    Oh? Why am I sorting through the papers when it should be Mari’s job you ask? Well, you see, after I came back with her cup of tea a few hours earlier, she made me do some menial tasks for a while like organize the messy piles of papers she had on the ground and hand her more papers from a pile, but as I was looking over her paperwork, I noticed that she made a small mistake, and the moment I pointed it out to her was the exact moment my downfall started.

    When I showed her that I was competent enough to do paperwork, she made me help her process some easy documents at first like stamping papers that she already looked over and approved with the Royal Academy’s seal, but I was stupid enough to actually try completing the menial paperwork quickly since I thought if we finished everything early, I could go home sooner. However, instead of letting me go early, Mari just piled up more and more paperwork on me and only vaguely told me what to do with most of it, until eventually, I was the one who had actually finished most of the paperwork Mari was supposed to do today.

    I was currently sorting through the budget requests from the magic department that Mari was supposed to finish by tomorrow, and the sound of me flipping through papers echoed around the room as I wrote down numbers in the notebook next to me. Mari glanced at the clock before twirling around in her chair and kicking me in the back lightly.

    “Ky, how’s the magic department’s budget coming along? You don’t need to finish it today, but I’ll definitely need the numbers to double check by the end of tomorrow. Oh, and we need to send in a request for funds to repair the gymnasium tomorrow too, so you might have to make an errand run to the castle.” (Mari)

    I was about to cry as I realized just what I had gotten myself into before Mari kicked me lightly again, this time in the back of the head.

    “Hello? Ky, you there?” (Mari)

    I turned around and yelled at her as I closed the notebook and threw the papers to the side.

    “Argh! What was that for? I‘m pretty sure at this point, this qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment! I swear, I’m gonna report you to the authorities!” (Kyle)

    “And exactly what authorities are you going to report me to? I am the authorities. I’m the Empire’s Grand Mage of Wind, and even if I did abuse my power, you wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it. Who do you think the bureaucracy would believe, the headmistress of the Royal Academy or a newly hired Professor whose only legal identification are his guild and library cards? Besides, all I did was outsource some of the less important tasks to one of my subordinates. There was nothing wrong with my course of action.” (Mari)

    Mari nudged me lightly again with her leg as she gave me an evil laugh. The tears finally flowed out of my eyes as I handed her the budgeting notebook and cleaned up the pile of papers next to me.

    “Give it back! Give back the small amount of professional respect for you that I had before! I heard that the Empire’s Grand Mage of Wind was a noble elven lady with decades of experience and a kind heart, but you’re just an evil witch!” (Kyle)

    “Hey, I’m a noble lady through and through! Stop whining just because I made you do a little paperwork.”(Mari)

    Mari pouted before quickly flipping through the book and double checking the budget. After a moment she slammed it shut and threw it on the table.

    “Anyway, looks like there’s no problems with the budget. You know, if Professor Balrum wasn’t so hellbent on having you teach, I’d steal you in a heartbeat to work as my assistant.” (Mari)

    My heartbeat sped up in fear as I thought about the hell that being Mari’s full-time assistant would be. I put on a nervous smile and spoke with the most sincere voice I could currently muster as I tried my best to put on an act.

    “I deeply apologize, but unfortunately, I must decline your offer, headmistress. Being your temporary assistant was my sincerest joy, but alas, my heart tells me that teaching others is my true passion. So with the greatest of woes, I must courteously abstain.” (Kyle)

    “You’re an awful actor, you know that? Alright, I’ll let you go soon, but before you go, give me a shoulder massage, my neck is kind of stiff from all the paperwork today.” (Mari)

    Mari rubbed her shoulder with one arm as she swung her other arm around a bit to loosen up her back.

    “Just let me go home already!” (Kyle)

    “Hey, don’t forget that I’m your boss, which means I can dock your pay for any reason I want.” (Mari)

    I gave a sigh before I walked behind Mari’s office chair. She leaned over with a triumphant smile on her face and rested her upper body on the desk while stretching out her arms as I reached over and started lightly massaging her shoulders. A look of bliss appeared on her face and she let out a relieved sigh as tears started poured out of my eyes again.

    About fifteen minutes later, my hands finally stopped and Mari was half asleep on her desk. I gently shook her to wake her up, and after a moment, she got up and rubbed her eyes cutely.

    “... Ugh. How long was I out?” (Mari)

    “About 15 minutes. Now, can I go home already? I’m gonna be late for dinner at this rate.” (Kyle)

    Mari let out a yawn and stretched a bit before finally telling me I could go home.

    “Alright, you can go now. By the way, we’re starting at 8 AM tomorrow, so don’t be late.” (Mari)

    “Yeah, yeah…” (Kyle)

    I finally left the headmistress’ office as I slowly shambled home while thinking about how much of a pain tomorrow was going to be. When I got back, I quickly made dinner for Aria while complaining to her about my new job. And after dinner, I told her that I would probably be home late for the next week before going to bed early to prepare for my inevitable torture tomorrow.
     
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  14. RubberDucky

    RubberDucky Well-Known Member

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    [Chapter 11] Welcome to Ancient Alchemy 101
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    Royal Academy, Headmistress’ Office (Kyle POV)
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    I opened the door and entered the office as the sound of pages being flipped echoed throughout the room. Sitting behind her desk, Mari marked the last of the renovation documents with the Royal Academy’s seal before tossing them to the side and calling out to me.

    “Ky, did you finish double checking all the facilities?” (Mari)

    “Yeah, I finished it about ten minutes ago. Anyway, since I was already down there, here, I got you your tea.” (Kyle)

    “Thanks.” (Mari)

    I placed the cup of chamomile tea in front of Mari and sat down in the chair across from her as she slumped her upper body over her desk and let out a sigh. The morning sunlight illuminated the office, and I slouched backward in the chair while staring out the window to see the slow trickle of students walking onto campus while the faint sound of birds chirping outside was drowned out by my sigh. Mari got up off her desk again and took a sip of her tea before complaining to me.

    “Ugh… finally, we’re done with everything. Seriously, it was way too much, even with you here to get through the brunt of it, we still barely finished in time.” (Mari)

    “It’s your own damn fault for lazing around so much this last week! Do you know how much extra paperwork I had to sort through because you kept taking breaks every two hours!? We probably would’ve finished by yesterday if you just actually tried to do your work!” (Kyle)

    “But why would I try when I have my handy dandy assistant right here to try for me?” (Mari)

    Mari gave me a lazy smile and leaned back into her chair again before beckoning me to come over.

    “Anyway, since we’re finally finished, give me a massage. I think I slept funny last night, so my back is really stiff right now and I have to go give the opening speech in two hours too.” (Mari)

    “Your back is stiff every day! Are you sure your bed isn’t a rock? What kind of office assistant gives their boss a daily back rub anyway?” (Kyle)

    “Eeeh? Well, you’re not quite an office assistant. You’re more like my personal assistant, and as my personal assistant, it’s your job to make sure I’m in tip-top condition for important events, like, for example, the opening ceremony in two hours.” (Mari)

    “You know what, I don’t care anymore, just let me get it over with... After the ceremony, I still have to teach too. So please, at least give me a little break before class starts.” (Kyle)

    “Alright, alright. I’ll give you a break after this, so come on.” (Mari)

    Mari stretched a little and leaned her upper body over onto the desk again as I got up and walked over to give her a massage before sighing. My hands moved over to her back and began to delicately apply pressure along her spine as Mari’s gave out a blissful grin. I used my fingers to push against her soft skin under her clothes for a few moments before Mari inadvertently let out a satisfied moan.

    “...I know I’ve already asked you this before, but can you not let out erotic moans whenever I give you a massage? Especially since there are other people in the building now. If anyone overhears this, I’m sure the city guard will be here in a few minutes to arrest a lolicon.” (Kyle)

    “Well, who told you to be so good at giving massages? You always use the perfect amount of strength and it feels heavenly when you press on just the right spot. The stiffness just melts away and I can’t help but let out my voice.” (Mari)

    Argh! Why does everything I do have to eventually end up screwing me over someday!? Of course I use the perfect amount of strength every time! If I couldn’t control my strength so precisely I would’ve ended up snapping your spine like a twig the moment I applied any pressure! Back when I first imbued myself with natural laws, I had to train intensely to perfectly control every part of my abnormal body, otherwise, I wouldn’t even be able to walk. Every step I took would’ve crushed the ground under my feet and shot me forward hundreds of feet.

    “What happened the first time I gave you a massage then? You didn’t let out a sound then!” (Kyle)

    Mari’s face tinted a little pink before she muttered in a quiet voice.

    “Well, the first time it was a little embarrassing... so I held my voice in as much as I could and tried to ignore all feeling in my body until eventually, I fell asleep.” (Mari)

    “If you thought it was embarrassing, why are you doing it so brazenly now then!?” (Kyle)

    “You didn’t say anything when I couldn’t hold it in anymore the second time and let my voice slip out, so I thought you were ok with it.” (Mari)

    “You just moaned randomly out of nowhere, what was I supposed to say!? ‘Hey, excuse me, could you not lewdly moan, I’m afraid I’ll get registered as a lolicon in the sex offender database?’ Yeah, that definitely wouldn’t have made the atmosphere ten times more awkward than it already was.” (Kyle)

    “Well, it’s already too late for regrets. I’m already used to letting my voice out, so you’ll have to deal with it. Besides, everyone else should be making last-minute checks in their department, and I already told Professor Balrum to set up everything for you beforehand since you were here helping me. There’s no one around, so don’t worry. Anyway, I’m sure that my reputation would be impacted a lot more than yours.” (Mari)

    Mari had a blush on her face as she pouted cutely before telling me where to push a little harder.

    “Mmm, right there, Ky... A little harder.” (Mari)

    I gave out a defeated sigh before continuing to massage Mari with tears in my eyes as she let out indecent sounding moans over and over again.

    Dear god, please don’t let there be anyone around! I think more than just my reputation is at stake here!
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    Royal Academy, Outside the Headmistress’ Office (Oliver POV)
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    Hmm, will the headmistress approve the budget request? I tried to minimize our spending as much as possible, but with how much we’ve already used for the hiring campaign this year, I’m afraid she won’t be able to... Well, I guess I’ll at least try to ask her.

    I walked down the hallway towards the headmistress’ office with a few documents in hand.

    Just ten minutes ago, everyone in the alchemy department office was nagging me to go get more funding from the headmistress so they could get better materials to use, and all I could hear everywhere was ‘Professor Balrum this, and Professor Balrum that’ until I couldn’t take it anymore, so I just gave in and drafted up a quick request for a budget increase. I hate to bother the headmistress just before she has to go give the opening speech, but honestly, it’s true that the materials we have this year are a little subpar compared to previous years.

    I was about to reach the door to the headmistress’ office and knock on it when suddenly, I heard faint, muffled voices from inside.

    “Mmm, right there, Ky... A little harder.” (Mari)

    I recognized the headmistress’ voice coming from inside the office saying a suggestive line, and immediately afterward, I started hearing erotic moans. My face immediately blushed beet red, and I froze in my tracks right outside the office doors. After a moment, I decided it was best not to interrupt as I turned around and started to silently sneak back towards the alchemy department office while trying to clear my mind of all dirty thoughts.

    Well, looks like this is… a bad time to ask… But, who would’ve thought that the headmistress liked them so young? Or that Professor Kyle had such… special tastes…

    Well, I shouldn’t judge them too much, I guess I can understand a little bit. I’ve heard that the normal lifespan for elves is around 300, and the headmistress just passed 100 a few years ago. While elves might physically reach adulthood at around the same time as humans, their period as young adults is much longer, around 150 or so years, with 100 years old being around the time that most elves should be married. The headmistress would be around her mid-twenties if we translated her age to human terms, so it’s only natural that she would be looking to find a partner soon.

    And after all, she’s been alone with Professor Kyle in a small office for hours on end every day this past week. With a handsome young man treating her like she was his queen all day, eventually, there was bound to be some feelings budding between them. And I guess a younger man would probably be with the headmistress a little longer if we take lifespans into account.

    Ahem.

    Anyway, they have my blessings for the future should they ever need them. So for now, if anyone asks, my request was rejected by the headmistress due to budget constraints, and I returned immediately afterward without hearing or seeing anything.
    [​IMG]
    Royal Academy, Headmistress’ Office (Mari POV)
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    A few minutes have passed since Ky started giving me a massage, and the last tingles of pleasure slowly faded as his hands finally stopped. I let out a satisfied breath and lifted my upper body off my desk with a blissful smile as my originally stiff back now had a slightly springy feeling to it.

    “Huaaa, I feel alive again.” (Mari)

    “Yeah, I do too now that you’ve stopped moaning! I thought I heard faint footsteps outside before and my heart stopped for a moment!” (Kyle)

    “What are you talking about? I didn’t hear anything.” (Mari)

    Ky let out a relieved breath as he moved his hand away from his chest and slouched over.

    “Whew, I guess I was really just hallucinating then... Anyway, can I go now? I have a class to prepare for, and even if there are only five students, it’s still a class.” (Kyle)

    “Honestly, I’m surprised you even got five students to sign up with how late we opened up registration for your class. Alright, you can go for now. You’ve still got more or less an hour and a half before the opening ceremony starts.” (Mari)

    “Wait, really?” (Kyle)

    “Yeah.” (Mari)

    Ky immediately shot back into an upright posture as all of his energy returned and he started to celebrate.

    “Finally, I’m free at last! Sweet, sweet freedom! Ahahahahaha!” (Kyle)

    He opened the office doors and his maniacal laughter echoed through the hallway as he threw his arms up in the air and stepped out of the room.

    “See you later, you abusive witch!” (Kyle)

    Ky gave me a smug smile as he saluted me before turning back around, and I don’t know why, but I felt my blood pressure rising once I saw how happy he was to leave my side while a strong urge to wipe that smile off his face rose up inside me. I unconsciously reached out for the closest thing to my hand, my cup of tea, and enchanted it temporarily with wind magic before chucking it at him.

    “Ah!” (Mari)

    Oh no! I forgot he was manaless!

    The teacup was covered in a layer of green mana and it shot towards him like an arrow before nailing him in the back. Ky fell over face first onto the floor and the tea spilled all over him as I immediately ran to his side with a worried expression on my face.

    I kneeled down next to Ky and flipped his body over in a panic before taking a quick look at his complexion. My hand slid across his face, pushing his hair out of the way as I moved closer to get a better look at his slightly pale face. I could feel the warmth from Ky’s smooth skin through my hand, and my face tinted a bit pink once I realized how close I was to his face.

    Leaning back, I held my hand to my chest and waited a moment for my rapid heartbeat to calm down once I saw that Ky seemed to just be knocked out. I let out a sigh of relief before calling out his name and shaking him slightly to try and wake him up. After a few moments of shaking, he was still out cold, and I gently placed him on the ground before running back into my office to grab my first aid kit. However, as I started to rummage through my cabinets, I heard a faint noise from outside my office.

    My head snapped around to see Ky laying there with his eyes closed and slowly trying to creep away by pushing himself along the floor using his arm. After I started staring at him, he slightly opened one eye, glanced at me for a moment, and closed his eyes again before he began to speed up scooting away on the floor. My face went fully red from a mixture of anger and embarrassment as I ran over, kicked him to make him stop, then dragged him back into the office while sighing.

    “Why did I even try to feel concerned about you?” (Mari)

    “Why did you throw that teacup at me then? You even used magic!” (Kyle)

    “Ahem. Well, that was a small mistake on my part.” (Mari)

    “That was attempted murder.” (Kyle)

    I crossed my arms and looked out the window with a tint of embarrassment on my face as I pouted.

    “Look... I’m sorry, alright? I shouldn’t have thrown that teacup at you.”(Mari)

    Ky sighed before grabbing his shirt and wringing it as tea dripped out.

    “Being sorry doesn’t fix anything... Look, you even got my favorite shirt wet. How am I supposed to show up to class like this?” (Kyle)

    “Hmm, well, I guess you can borrow one of the student uniforms for now. It’s probably better than showing up soaked in tea. There should be a few spares in one of the storage rooms.” (Mari)

    Ky gave me a sigh before turning around to leave my office again with an exhausted look on his face. I got up out of my chair and extended my hand towards him before calling out as he walked through the door.

    “Wait, are you sure that you’re ok? If there’s anything wrong just tell me and I’ll take you to a doctor right away.” (Mari)

    “It’s alright, I’m fine. Don’t worry, the only thing I’ve got going for me is how tough I am.” (Kyle)

    Ky waved his hand nonchalantly before closing the door behind him.

    I stood there silently for a few moments and stared at the closed door as the background noise from outside slowly drowned out the faint sound of his footsteps. A strange sense of loneliness started to bubble up inside me.

    It felt jarring to finally to hear silence in my office again.

    It kind of felt like something was missing. Maybe it was just the sound of pages flipping and pen scratching on paper that I missed, or maybe it was that I subconsciously expected to hear a familiar voice start complaining about something stupid... but after a few more moments the feeling faded and I sat back down in my chair while staring at the ceiling. After a bit, I got up, rummaged through my shelves, and pulled out the same speech that I used every year for the opening ceremony before returning to my seat to jog my memory.

    ***​

    Half an hour passed by in silence as I sat at my desk and reread the speech before I heard someone knocking on my office door.

    “Come in.” (Mari)

    The door opened after my voice sounded out and a young elven girl with short blonde hair, sky-blue eyes, and a pair of red-rimmed glasses timidly walked into my office. She was wearing the Royal Academy’s student uniform, a light green blazer with the Academy emblem sewn on it, a black skirt, and a red tie.

    I immediately recognized her once she walked into my office with a shy smile and my spirits were immediately lifted. The young girl standing in front of me was my older brother’s daughter, my niece, Reina Sylfey. She was one of the new incoming students of the golden generation this year, and even without my, ahem, ‘help,’ her talent and proficiency in magic gave her one of the highest scores in magical ability this year.

    “Is that you, Reina?” (Mari)

    “Hi, Aunt Mari, how are you? I’m here to visit.” (Reina)

    My face immediately turned into a beaming smile once I saw my favorite niece and I got out of my chair to lead Reina to sit down.

    “I’m doing fine. In fact, I feel better than ever. Come in and take a seat, we have tons to talk about. By the way, how are your parents doing?” (Mari)

    “Oh, they’ve been well. Thanks for asking.” (Reina)

    “That’s great. You seem to be doing better too. Looks like letting you work as a receptionist in the Adventurer’s Guild these past few summers was a good idea. You look like you’re a bit more confident now. So, have you decided what class you want to take? If you still haven’t chosen, then just pick whatever class you want right now. Don’t worry about whether or not registration is closed, I’ll find a way to get you in!” (Mari)

    “Eh? It’s ok, Aunt Mari, I’ve already registered for my class and there wasn’t any problem at all.” (Reina)

    “Really? Great! What magic class did you take? I’ll make sure you have the best Professor in that section.” (Mari)

    “Um… actually, about that… I decided to register in the alchemy department instead.” (Reina)

    “The alchemy department? Why alchemy? I remember your father told me you came here to polish up your magic skills.” (Mari)

    Reina scratched her head adorably and looked away for a moment before looking at me with a rarely seen, determined expression on her face.

    “W-Well, because of some personal reasons, I’ve decided that instead of magic, I want to study alchemy. So please let me learn about alchemy here, Aunt Mari!” (Reina)

    My maternal instinct kicked in as I saw the determination in Reina’s eyes, and I rubbed my cheek against hers while hugging her as tears flowed out of my eyes.

    “It’s ok, Reina, you can do whatever you want! I’ll always support you, no matter what you want to do in the future. So if you want to be in the alchemy department, just say the word! I’ll make sure the department head is the one who personally teaches you! And if there’s anything wrong, come tell me and I’ll help you take care of it immediately!” (Mari)

    “Eh, the department head? No, no, no, it’s fine Aunt Mari. Um, I already signed up for the class on ancient alchemy, and there’s only one professor for that class, right?” (Reina)

    Ancient alchemy? Who was the professor for that again?... Ah. Wait, Ky! It was Ky! I remember his application said he specialized in ancient alchemy, which means that Reina is one of the five students in his class.

    I grabbed Reina by the shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes as my face turned serious.

    “Reina, I’m telling you right now, drop that class and register for another one. It doesn’t matter which class you pick, I’ll get you in. So just choose another class. Please, any class but ancient alchemy. The professor for that class is a reckless lunatic, and you’ll definitely get hurt!” (Mari)

    “A lunatic? What are you talking about? Anyway, my primary choice was ancient alchemy, and I already registered… I can’t tell you why, but I have to take that class! I won’t take any others!” (Reina)

    The determined look in Reina’s eyes returned, and once I saw it, I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop her.

    I sighed and let go of Reina’s shoulders before holding my head in my hands for a moment.

    What do I do? Should I let her follow her dreams? Or should I hold her back for her own good? On one hand, I want to support her, but on the other hand, her professor is Ky. Ngh… I guess I’ll have to go set Ky straight later then... for Reina’s sake.

    “Alright. If you’re dead set, then I’ll let you go. Just be careful. I’ll need to have a ‘talk’ with your professor later too.” (Mari)

    Reina’s determined look faded and she let out a sigh of relief as I planned out what I would do about Ky.

    “Anyway, enough of that. Let’s move on to something else. How was your summer, Reina?” (Mari)

    “Oh, it was great.” (Reina)

    Reina’s voice drowned out the background noise from outside as she went into detail about her summer working at the adventurer’s guild, and we chatted with each other until it was time for the opening ceremony.
    [​IMG]
    Royal Academy, Front Gate (Kyle POV)
    [​IMG]
    I felt the warm summer breeze run over my face as I took a deep breath of the fresh air outside. Students in uniform walked past me on the paved pathways, and I stood on the lawn while loosely dressed in a similar light green blazer, which had the Royal Academy’s emblem sewn over the left chest, as a satchel hung over my shoulder. A relieved breath left my mouth and I cracked a small smile before starting to walk around aimlessly with a newfound feeling of freedom.

    It’s been over a millennium, huh?

    Picturesque scenes of a vibrant school campus filled my eyes as I slowly drifted away from the main roads and picked a spot under a random tree a short distance away from one of the side roads to sit down. The leaves glistened as the summer sunlight seeped through the gaps in the branches, illuminating small spots in the shade. I made my way over silently, took off my satchel, and plopped down at the base of the tree as I leaned my back against the trunk.

    I sat there for a moment and stared at the clouds while reminiscing about the past… or at least I would have if it weren’t for those damn couples! Yep, I guess I accidentally wandered into Eliza’s domain again or something because while there were a fair amount of normal students walking by, there were also a bunch of couples flirting nearby everywhere, like they were mocking me about my status as an all-powerful arch-wizard.

    Look, some of them are even sneaking glances at me! I know I should be more mature about this after over 1000 years of being single, but just because I’m an arch-wizard, doesn’t mean I’m emotionless!

    I leaned my head backward to avert my eyes and look at the sky when I heard a voice from behind me.

    “Tsk, damn couples. They should all just go jump off a cliff together!”

    “Ah.” (Kyle)

    I glanced around the tree and met face to face with another student sitting down against the opposite side of the tree trunk. He had a slim build, short, spiky green hair, and brown eyes while his outfit consisted of the student uniform and a pair of glasses with a black rim on the underside of the lenses.

    The moment I saw him, I sensed a similar feeling from him, and I could tell that he was a true comrade, a wizard-in-training. I gave him a salute as I scooted around the tree, sat down next to him, and patted his shoulder with sympathetic tears in my eyes.

    “I understand your pain, comrade.” (Kyle)
    [​IMG]
    Royal Academy, Main Campus (Zane POV)
    [​IMG]
    I sat grumpily under in the shade of a tree as couples flirted with each other all around me. The aura of love was thick in the air, but unfortunately, there was a vacuum in my general area, and the exasperation only built up more and more in me as no matter where I looked, there was a couple nearby flirting. Eventually, I couldn’t handle it anymore, and I finally let out a bit of bitter soliloquy.

    “Tsk, damn couples. They should all just go jump off a cliff together!”

    Stuck in my own little world, I muttered my thoughts to myself, when suddenly, I heard a voice from behind me.

    “Ah.”

    Crap! When did someone get so close!?

    A shock ran through my system as a sense of anxiety invaded my thoughts and cold sweat started running down my back.

    Did he hear me? Please, tell me he didn’t!

    I mechanically turned my head to my side, and it was then that I met face to face with another man who was loosely wearing the student uniform. He had a slightly slender physique, a handsome pretty boy face accented by soft amber, almost gold-colored, eyes, and long, white hair that was tied into a ponytail.

    Argh, of course! It just had to be a super popular-type guy, didn’t it!? Look, I can even spot a few girls sneaking glances at him in the background!... Ah, I guess my reputation is done for. Everyone will hear about my true colors within a week... My academy debut hasn’t even started yet. Of all the people to overhear me, why did it have to be someone like him?

    My anxiety finally overcame my reason and I was about to start begging the other guy to keep quiet about what he heard when suddenly, he saluted me with tears in his eyes before scooting over next to me and patting me on the shoulder.

    “I understand your pain, comrade.”

    “Wait, what?”

    The unexpected series of events brought me back from the pit of despair I was in, and once I regained clarity in my mind, I sensed it. It was an unthinkable anomaly, but somehow, I felt a familiar wavelength from him. It was the same one that I had, the wavelength of someone cursed by the goddess of love.

    “I-Impossible, could it be? Despite your looks, a-are you actually, a fellow wizard?”

    “Trust me, I’m already beyond the level of an arch-wizard… You know, sometimes, I wonder to myself... why are we wizards still here? Just to suffer? Just to live out our lives being mocked by those happy couples around us? You feel it too, don’t you?”

    “Ah.”

    Tears spilled out of my eyes too as I extended my arm out and grabbed his hand in a manly handshake.

    “Yeah. I never thought I’d ever find another wizard out here. My name is Zane, what’s yours?” (Zane)

    “I’m Kyle, but you can just call me Ky for short. Nice to meet you, comrade.” (Kyle)

    “Yeah, nice to meet you too. So, are you new here?” (Zane)

    “Yep. I just started this year.” (Kyle)

    “Really? Me too. Well, actually, to tell you the truth, I only really enrolled at the Royal Academy because my two best friends did. I don’t even know what they decided to come to here for, but as for me, I have a goal that I definitely have to accomplish in my time here.” (Zane)

    “Eh? What is it?” (Kyle)

    Flames started burning in my eyes as I pumped myself up again and remembered my one true purpose for coming here.

    “By the time I graduate from the Academy, I’ll definitely get a cute girlfriend and escape from this accursed path to wizardom! I’ll do it! I’ll become a winner in life, I'll become a popular guy!” (Zane)

    As I made my proclamation to ascend into a popular guy, Ky grabbed my shoulder again and wiped the tears off his face with the other arm.

    “Become a popular guy, huh? To escape from the path to wizardom is a long and perilous journey, but I can already tell from the burning resolve in your eyes, you’re gonna fight till the end! So you know what, I believe in you, Zane!” (Kyle)

    “Yeah. I swear I’ll get out, even if it’s the last thing I do!” (Zane)

    The background noise slowly blended in with our conversation as I sat in the shade next to Ky, and we chatted with each other about our experience as wizards for the next hour before the opening ceremony started.
    [​IMG]
    Royal Academy, Main Campus (Kyle POV)
    [​IMG]
    The sound of a page being flipped sounded out into an almost empty campus as I sat alone reading a book under the tree. The opening ceremony started a while ago and Zane left to meet up with his friends while I sat here passing time until classes started.

    The surroundings blended together as I was enthralled by the romance novel that I picked up from the library earlier this month when suddenly, a loud bell started ringing and brought me back to my senses.

    I stared around to see nobody nearby, waited until the ringing stopped, then went straight back to my book afterward. However, after reading through another page in my book, I felt like I was forgetting something important.

    Wait, wasn’t the bell the signal for something? Uh, what did Mari say it was again?... Oh, right. It’s supposed to ring at the start of the semester... Ah. Wait, that means the semester started already! Crap! I’m gonna be late for class!

    I slammed the book shut before chucking it back into my satchel and swinging it over my shoulder as I ran into the school building.

    What room did Professor Balrum say was mine again? Room 208? No, wait, it was 207!

    I ran through the empty main hallway before jumping up the stairs and turning right into another empty hallway. As I sprinted down the hallway on the second floor, I glanced at the signs above the doors looking for my classroom.

    204... 205... 206... There, 207!

    I stopped in my tracks before grabbing the door to the classroom and thrusting it open. My legs propelled me forward and I stumbled into the room while glancing around. The classroom was built like a small lecture hall, with a blackboard behind a large desk in the front of the room and four rows of long tables facing the blackboard. There was a slightly lively atmosphere in the room as I saw five students sitting in the front row, which meant I was the last one to arrive...

    Next to the window were two girls dressed in student uniforms smiling and talking to each other. One of them had long silky black hair and dark purple eyes, while the other one had short blonde hair, blue eyes covered by a pair of red-rimmed glasses, and pointed ears which showed that she was an elf.

    On the other side of the room were three boys talking amongst themselves. One of them had a head of black hair and similarly colored black eyes along with a kind smile on his face while another one had a grumpy look on his face, blue hair, and sharp green eyes. However, the last one was actually someone I recognized, Zane.

    “Crap. I’m late, aren’t I?” (Kyle)

    All eyes in the room turned to stare at me as I sighed, and the blonde elf girl suddenly held her head down while Zane called out to me cheerfully.

    “Hey, Ky! You’re in this class too? What a coincidence. Anyway, don’t worry, you’re not late, the professor hasn’t even shown up yet!” (Zane)

    I sighed, walked over to the desk in front of the room, threw my satchel down on top of the table, and took a seat in the chair as I slouched backward.

    “Of course the professor hasn’t shown up yet... I’m the professor.” (Kyle)

    “Eh?” (Zane)

    Zane had a dumbfounded look on his face and I waved my hand around at the class as I gave them a lackluster greeting.

    “Alright everyone, welcome to Ancient Alchemy 101. I’m Professor Kyle.” (Kyle)
     
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  15. RubberDucky

    RubberDucky Well-Known Member

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    [Chapter 12] A Thousand Years of Alchemy, and One Year of Budget Cuts
    [​IMG]
    Royal Academy, Room 207 (Kyle POV)
    [​IMG]
    The warm sunlight outside was beginning to seep into the room as an awkward silence simultaneously spread through it. I casually leaned forward while I sat my chair and stared back at everyone in the room to maintain the deadlock, but eventually, Zane gave in and broke the atmosphere.

    “Wait! Ky, didn’t you say before that this was your first year!?” (Zane)

    Zane abruptly jolted up from his seat and I turned to him with a smile before giving him a thumbs up.

    “Yep, this is my first year teaching.” (Kyle)

    “Why do you have a student uniform on then!?” (Zane)

    “Uh… long story short, I had to borrow a spare uniform since someone spilled tea on my shirt.” (Kyle)

    I was about to go into more detail, but before I could say another word, one of the girls by the window, the one with long black hair and purple eyes, stood up with a serious expression.

    “Well, if you really are our professor, do you have some way to prove it? Even if you weren’t wearing a student uniform, you look a little too young, and I didn’t come here to mess around.”

    Eh? Wait, do I actually have anything that proves I’m a professor?... I don’t remember Mari giving me a badge or anything like that. And I still don’t have any ID other than my guild and library cards.

    “...Uhhh… Well, you see…” (Kyle)

    I tried to stall for time as I was thinking about how to prove my identity when I heard a knock on the door and the voice of my savior sounded out from behind it.

    “Excuse me, may I come in for a moment?”

    Professor Balrum’s voice echoed in from the hallway outside and a moment later, he opened the door before stepping in.

    “Hello everyone, I’m just dropping in to check if everything’s well. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” (Balrum)

    “Oh, perfect! Professor Balrum you came at just the right time. I need your help for a bit. I already introduced myself as their professor, but my students say they don’t believe me...” (Kyle)

    “Uh, sure, but... Professor Kyle, why are you wearing a student uniform?” (Balrum)

    “The headmistress got my shirt wet while I was in her office earlier so she told me to go borrow a spare uniform, but honestly, looking at how much trouble it’s caused, I should’ve just kept my original outfit... Now can you please tell my students that I’m not lying?” (Kyle)

    Maybe he was getting sick or something, but while I was explaining my unfortunate situation to him, for some reason Professor Balrum’s face turned red and he let out a few surprised coughs before making an announcement to the class.

    “Well, it looks like due to some… personal circumstances, Professor Kyle has been forced to borrow a uniform for now. So with him being a manaless young man, I can understand why you all might have had your suspicions, but as the head of the alchemy department I can verify that Professor Kyle is indeed the professor of this class.” (Balrum)

    “Eh, manaless?” (Zane)

    Zane’s voice faintly echoed around the room as everyone in the class had a surprised look on their face after they probably tried to sense my nonexistent mana signature. The black haired girl sat down and crossed her arms once Professor Balrum verified me.

    “Anyway, if there isn’t anything else, then I’ll be leaving now. I still have to check in on the rest of the professors.” (Balrum)

    “I should be good now. Thanks, Professor Balrum.” (Kyle)

    “No problem. Good luck with your class then.” (Balrum)

    Professor Balrum subsequently left the room and the awkward silence returned as I turned to face everyone with a smile on my face before clapping my hands together to get their attention.

    “Alrighty then. Let’s get started. I guess everyone should introduce themselves first. Just tell everyone your name and your goal. You can start us off, Zane.” (Kyle)

    “Eh, me?” (Zane)

    Alright buddy, this is all I can do for you right now. I believe in you! So take this chance and make a good first impression on the girls. It doesn’t have to be anything special, just show them you’re a nice, sociable guy. Break through and accomplish your dream, Zane!

    The glint in my eyes sharpened a bit as I sent out a passionate telepathic message to my fellow wizard. Zane froze for a second and stared at me back before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. A moment passed before he came back to his senses with flames of passion in his eyes. He stood up confidently and cleared his throat before giving a brief introduction of himself.

    “Ahem. Hello, everyone. My name is Zane Royhardt, and my goal… no, my life’s purpose is to get a girlfriend!” (Zane)

    Argh! Zane, you idiot!

    I slammed my head on the table as Zane immediately threw the chance I gave him right out the window. Cold sweat ran down my back while I sat back up and desperately waved my hands to signal him to stop, but alas, all it did was make the passion burn even brighter in his eyes.

    “It’s no use Ky, I’m grateful for the chance you gave me, but I won’t stop! You don’t understand yet. There’s no way I can compete with these two, so I need something to make me unique! And even if I lie about my personality now, I can’t hide it forever! Everyone will find out eventually anyway, so I might as well be honest!” (Zane)

    While I admire your resolve, Zane... please stop! I’m begging you! I can’t watch my fellow comrade suffer like this anymore, it’s getting pretty sad to watch! Look, one of the girls is staring at you like you’re a weirdo, and the other one can’t even bear to look at you, she has her head down!

    “I’ll get a girlfriend by the end of this year! Even if it’s the last thing I do!” (Zane)

    And with that last outburst, I let out a pained sigh as Zane sat back down in his seat.

    “... Um… Alright, I guess you can go next.” (Kyle)

    I made eye contact with Zane’s black-haired friend, who was whispering to Zane in a panic, and he stood up awkwardly before introducing himself with a slightly embarrassed smile.

    “Hi, everyone. Sorry about my friend here, he’s been a little… on edge recently. A-Anyway, my name is Halbert Alyon, and due to some special circumstances, I have to get stronger soon so I can save those who need my help and protect the people around me. I’ll be giving it my all, so thanks for having me!” (Halbert)

    Halbert’s embarrassed smile changed to a kind, yet determined one as the radiance of his main character aura illuminated the room after he finished his introduction.

    Argh! My eyes! It’s too bright! The level of his main character aura is insane! It’s too much to handle for a small side character like me!

    I averted my eyes from the radiance that Halbert was emitting and gave Zane a distressed look before sending another telepathic message to my fellow wizard.

    Zane! I’m sorry I doubted you! You were right, any nice guy persona you could’ve faked would’ve been overshadowed instantly by this monster. He even has the black hair and eyes of a generic self-insert protagonist! You don’t stand a chance with any woman when he’s around. They’ll all inexplicably fall for him just by being within 500 feet for an hour.

    Zane looked back at me as he wiped the tears from his eyes and nodded as he sent a mental reply back to me.

    Now you see what I’m up against, Ky? There’s no way I can beat Halbert at being a nice guy, I’m better off trying to be myself!

    I exhaustedly gasped for breath and rubbed my eyes as Halbert sat down while his radiance finally started to die out.

    “Ok, you can go next then.” (Kyle)

    I stared at the last member of the trio of boys, the one with the blue hair, and he stood up from his brooding with a slightly stoic expression on his face.

    “My name is Regnis Siegfried, and I’m only here for one reason, to get stronger, strong enough to surpass a certain man.” (Regnis)

    Regnis glared at Halbert for a moment when he made his declaration before closing his eyes and sitting down again.

    Ah, I see. So he’s the edgy rival. Let me guess, his whole motivation to get stronger is probably extremely one dimensional and fueled by something along the lines of ‘I’ll prove that I’m stronger than you, Halbert!’ or ‘I’ll show you that I’m better!’ Well, that is until Halbert’s natural plot armor eventually pulls a Deus ex Machina when he’s about to lose, gives him some sort of incredibly broken power from thin air that’s powered by friendship or something stupid like that, and Regnis is forever delegated to the impossible feat of trying to catch up to a main character’s plot armor. He’ll be stuck forever as the Vegeta to Halbert’s Goku.

    No wonder Zane showed his true colors immediately. His friends have already got the nice guy and bad boy positions filled, and they’re damn good at it! From what I can tell so far, one of them is just a real body away from being a literal cardboard cutout protagonist with almost no personality besides being nice, and the other one just needs a set of spiked black clothes before he’ll be teleporting behind people and cutting paper from ten feet away with just the edge radiating from him. There’s no way Zane’s acting could compete with these two character tropes on legs.

    “Um, ok. Nice to know. Let’s move on then.” (Kyle)

    I turned my head and looked towards the other side of the room at the black haired girl as she stood up and introduced herself while glancing around the room.

    “I’m Sophie Chryselle, and my goal... is to become a master of every type of alchemy, a Grand Alchemist.” (Sophie)

    “Eh? Wait, your motivation actually makes sense! You’re surprisingly normal.” (Kyle)

    “Normal?” (Sophie)

    “Oh, thank God. I thought I would be stuck in here with a bunch of weirdos after the first three. We only needed a few more walking cliches before we formed the time-honored fantasy RPG hero’s party, but it looks like at least one of you is normal, err, well, normal enough.” (Kyle)

    “Ky, you traitor! Who are you calling a weirdo!? You’re in the same boat as me, aren’t you!?” (Zane)

    I wiped the sweat off my forehead with a relieved smile as I ignored the verbal complaints of my good green-haired friend while Sophie sat back down with a slightly confused face.

    “Alright, last one.” (Kyle)

    We all looked towards the blonde elven girl who was sitting next to Sophie. She still had her head held down, and we stared at her for a moment in awkward silence before Sophie nudged her arm while whispering to her. She slowly looked up at everyone with a red face as she stood stiffly like a robot. After a glance in my direction for a moment, she immediately averted her eyes and looked down while fiddling with her hands.

    “H-Hello, e-everyone.”

    Hmm, wait. Actually, now that I’ve had a good look at her face, she seems faintly familiar, like I’ve seen her somewhere before… Yeah, I’ve definitely met her before, but I just can’t put my finger on when.

    I stared at her intensely while trying to delve into the depths of my memories, but the longer I stared at her, the more nervous she became, and eventually, I just gave up and asked her.

    “Have we met before?” (Kyle)

    “A-Augh… W-We have, P-Professor Kyle.”

    She let out a surprised whimper before stuttering out her confirmation, and I finally remembered where I met her after hearing that faintly familiar whimper. She was the receptionist at the guild in Delhurst when I registered as an adventurer! I remember now, the one who ran away from me!

    “Ah. Wait, you were the receptionist at the guild the day I registered. Small world, huh? Who would’ve thought you would end up as my student? Anyway, I’m sorry if I frightened you last time, please don’t run away again...” (Kyle)

    I gently smiled at her as she went fully red to the tips of her ears and covered her face with her hands, before ducking behind the lecture hall desk.

    It’s just gonna be a repeat of last time, isn’t it!? Seriously, what did I do wrong!?

    “Ah, I see... Well, sorry, but I guess you’ll all have to take another class. I’ll be handing in my resignation by the end of the day since it seems like whether it’s the adventurer’s guild or even my own classroom, I’m not wanted in either... Maybe one day I’ll even see one of you again.” (Kyle)

    Tears flowed out of my eyes as I picked up my satchel and began to walk towards the door with a depressed smile on my face.

    “...W-Wait! P-Professor Kyle.”

    I stopped in my tracks as the girl’s nervous voice sounded out from behind me and I turned around to see her head peeking over the desk. She made eye contact with me for a moment before turning around and muttering to herself as she lightly slapped her cheeks with both her hands. The receptionist girl stood up again and turned around to face me with a burning red face while talking in a soft voice.

    “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to run away like that the first time. I’m just very shy, so please forgive me if I seem like I’m running away. Honestly, I’m happy to see you again, Professor Kyle. So please let me finish my introduction! My name is Reina, Reina Syl- ack!” (Reina)

    She bit her tongue…

    There was a moment of fluffy silence as we all watched Reina cutely cover her mouth then duck under the desk again with a red face before I called out to her in a gentle voice.

    “Umm, it’s ok. You don’t have to talk so fast, just take your time. There’s no rush.” (Kyle)

    Reina slowly stood up again while trembling slightly before continuing with tears in her eyes.

    “... Reina Sylfey… And my goal, is to overcome my shyness, s-so I’ll be in your care. Thank you very much!” (Reina)

    Reina gave a quick bow towards me before sitting back down in her seat and releasing all the tension in her body. She melted backwards into her chair with dead eyes and a blank smile as she muttered something under her breath while Sophie consoled her.

    … I don’t know what ancient alchemy can do for your shyness, but to each their own I guess… well, at the very least, her goal’s probably the most reasonably achievable one out of all of them.

    Actually, wait a second! Did she say her last name was Sylfey!?

    “... Uh, Reina, are you by chance related to the headmistress?” (Kyle)

    As I asked Reina with a nervous smile on my face, she immediately snapped back to life with a small exclamatory squeal and fumbled around for a moment in her seat before answering me.

    “Y-Yes, Headmistress Sylfey is my aunt. I-Is there something wrong?” (Reina)

    Looks like I haven’t escaped Mari’s reach just yet, huh? What is this, a bloodline curse!? Even after I finally escaped that paperwork-filled hellhole, she sends her niece over to remind me of my suffering under her hand! What’s next? Will she start showing up to my class herself?

    “N-No, nothing’s wrong… I was just wondering.” (Kyle)

    I let out a dry laugh before sitting back down and letting out a sigh with a depressed smile on my face as I slumped forward onto my desk.

    “Well, I guess it’s about time I start class.” (Kyle)

    After a moment, I slowly got up out of my chair, turned around, and picked up a piece of chalk before writing ‘self-study’ on the board in big letters.

    “Alright everyone, your first assignment today is to do some serious self-reflection on why you decided to learn ancient alchemy. Don’t worry, I get paid by the hour, so take your time.” (Kyle)

    I returned to my seat and reached into my bag to pull out the book I was reading earlier before nonchalantly leaning back in my chair and opening it up to where I left off. There was silence in the room as everyone stared at me in disbelief before Sophie finally lost her temper and stood up.

    “What the hell do you mean self-study!? We’re here because we want to learn ancient alchemy! We don’t even have a textbook or any material to study! What’s the point of coming to your class, if you’re not even gonna teach us anything!?” (Sophie)

    “Uh... well, I believe that first, you have to look deep inside yourself and find peace with your inner soul before starting to learn ancient alchemy. Trust me, it’s an age-old tradition.” (Kyle)

    “That’s the most idiotic and pointless tradition I’ve ever heard of! If you’re gonna make an excuse, then at least make it believable!” (Sophie)

    “Damn. Well, it was worth a try at least. Alright, fine, you guys can study this then.” (Kyle)

    I rummaged through my bag again and pulled out the first monster core I could find as Reina held Sophie back. The small crystalline monster core in my hand glistened with a light green as I moved my eyes away from Sophie and Reina to glance at it for a moment. Once I confirmed that it was a wind-element monster core, my field of vision moved back to my book as I placed the monster core on the table, got up again, and erased the ‘self-study’ that I wrote on the board a few moments ago. My free hand picked up a piece of chalk again and I quickly scribbled the first alchemy circle that came to my mind as I continued reading my book.

    “There, done.” (Kyle)

    Once I finished lazily drawing the circle, I placed the chalk back down as Sophie’s angry voice sounded out behind me once more.

    “What do you mean done!? Do you think I’m an idiot!?” (Sophie)

    I returned to the table and picked up the monster core as I ignored Sophie’s rambling before placing the monster core against the alchemy circle.

    “There’s no way an alchemy circle like that would work! Look, one of the lines is even-” (Sophie)

    “Gale Burst, single cast, activate.” (Kyle)

    The alchemy circle and monster core both immediately lit up with a green light and a strong burst of wind blasted out in all directions as everyone immediately hung onto the desks and covered their heads. When the wind finally died down, their bags had been thrown to the back of the room and their clothes were still fluttering a bit.

    There was absolute silence as I sat back down, placed the half-used monster core on the table, and turned to the next page in my book. Everyone stood there with a dumbfounded expression as they stared at the alchemy circle for a few moments before Sophie ran up to the chalkboard to inspect it.

    “T-That’s impossible, how did it work? This is just regular chalk, and the circle doesn’t even look like it was drawn correctly.” (Sophie)

    She gazed intensely at the alchemy circle for a while before running back and grabbing a notebook to copy it down as everyone else walked up to the blackboard. I glanced at the clock to see that about half an hour had passed since class started, and I clapped my hands again to get their attention.

    “Alright, there you go. I guess your new assignment can be analyzing this alchemy circle. Just tell me what you all have at the end of class today.” (Kyle)

    I picked up my book again before I saw Zane run over to me with an excited look on his face.

    “Ky, how did you do that!? That was insane, it was almost as strong as a third-circle wind spell!” (Zane)

    Hmm, third-circle? If I remember correctly, Gale Burst should be somewhere around the level of a solid fourth-circle wind spell, but I guess this one was kind of weak for some reason. Well, maybe they’ll find out why after analyzing it.

    At least they still use the circle system for magic. I just assumed that the current modern magic system was similar to the old one, just with a few new tricks here and there and maybe some new terms, but it looks like they still call them circles. I guess the magic system hasn’t changed much at all in the last thousand years, but honestly, I doubt they could create a completely new system for magic unless there was a huge overhaul in how it’s fundamentally used.

    You see, the way most magic works is that a person channels mana into their surroundings and that mana naturally forms into a magic circle based on the mental image of the person, the type of mana being channeled, and the specific way they channel it. Most chants are only there to help build up the mental image of the person casting the spell, which is why if someone is skilled enough at controlling mana and has a strong enough mental image of a spell without a chant, the chant can be shortened or even omitted entirely. And even among chants, while there was a standard chant for almost every basic spell back then, the chants for most spells don’t need to be the standard ones at all, and they can even vary depending on the person.

    However, the natural formation of magic circles does have a limit, as mana can only condense naturally to a certain point, and while it is far from the absolute critical limit possible, after the natural limit is reached, mana can’t be condensed anymore unless the person casting the spell artificially condenses it themselves, which requires extremely precise control of mana. In the beginning, most high level mages did exactly that and trained specifically to raise their control of mana to an insanely high-level so they could artificially condense tons of mana into a naturally formed magic circle. This level of mana control usually took decades or even centuries of training for a normal person to acquire, and even after that, once you got to the higher-level spells, the slightest mistake during the process of condensing mana could lead to the whole spell backfiring and exploding, so there weren’t that many high-level mages at first, but eventually, mages found a different solution.

    One day, some mage came up with the revolutionary idea that since condensing mana into a single magic circle beyond the natural limit wasn’t very efficient, then they would just use more than one circle. And thus the magic circle system was born. So instead of artificially condensing tons of mana into a single circle, mages formed multiple circles layered on top of each other and let them all reach the natural condensation limit. This still took a decent amount of mana control, but the level necessary for this was nowhere near as high as it needed to be for the original method, and eventually, they created a system where magic was separated and classified based on the level of naturally formed magic circles required to cast it.

    The most basic spells still only used one circle, but as the spells got more powerful and complex, the number of circles needed to cast it increased until it hit the limit of normal spells, which was nine circles. Any spells above the level of nine circles tended to be unstable and usually needed to be formed by natural laws instead of mana, which, despite being vastly more concentrated and powerful, was usually much more difficult to form into magic circles or wasn’t even able to naturally form magic circles at all. And as such, many mages who reached the level of using natural laws to replace mana either fell back to the original condensing method of using a single magic circle, or completely dropped the use of magic and magic circles and instead, learned to manipulate the special properties of natural laws to generate supernatural phenomena or techniques, which was basically equivalent to circle-less magic in some cases. Anyway, I think I’ve rambled on a bit too long with my history lesson on magic.

    After returning to my senses, I turned to Zane with a serious face as I put my book down for a moment.

    ”Zane, do you want my answer as a professor... or do you want the real answer?” (Kyle)

    “T-The real answer.” (Zane)

    “Don’t regret your decision then.” (Kyle)

    I grabbed Zane’s shoulder as his face turned serious too before he nervously gulped.

    “Look, Zane, the truth is… I have no idea.” (Kyle)

    I wiped the serious expression off my face in a heartbeat and gave Zane a wry smile as I casually shrugged my shoulders.

    “Eh?... What do you mean you have no idea? Aren’t you a professor of ancient alchemy? How did you draw that alchemy circle then!? You’re supposed to be the one who knows how it works!” (Zane)

    “Well, truth be told, I don’t really know the specifics. It just works. As long as you draw the circle exactly like I did, it’ll function perfectly. And once you get enough experience drawing alchemy circles, you get an idea of the basic shapes and markings and what they end up doing when put together. It’s like a chemical reaction, you don’t need to know how it works, just what the reactants are to make a certain product.” (Kyle)

    Zane just stood there with a disappointed expression as I patted him on the shoulder.

    “Hey look, I could’ve lied to you about knowing everything and given you some fake answer to keep the wonder and curiosity alive, but you were the one who wanted to know the truth, so there you go.” (Kyle)

    “I mean, you’re right, but I’m still kind of disappointed...” (Zane)

    Zane sighed as he went back to the rest of the class gathered around the blackboard, and it almost seemed like he was being interrogated about his conversation with me, but that’s none of my business.

    I moved my chair over to the window and opened it a bit as I leaned back in my seat again and continued reading. The sunlight shone in through the window, illuminating the pages of the book in my hands as a faint breeze blew by and the scene of five students talking and standing around a blackboard played out next to me for the next few hours.

    ***​

    After Zane told them about his conversation with me, the rest of the class didn’t believe him at first and they, by they I mean Sophie, came over to ask me some complicated questions about the alchemy circle, like what the directional flow of the mana was or what the minimum necessary mana attunement level for the drawing material was, but I didn’t know any of the answers to their questions and Zane already told them the truth anyway, so I just honestly gave them the same answer I told Zane, ‘it just works.’

    A little bit after that we all had lunch, but it was mostly just me talking with the boys about random stuff since Reina and Sophie ate together on the other side of the room. And after lunch, I just sat by the window again to read for a few more hours as the class gathered once more together to analyze the alchemy circle until the end of class.

    I let out a lazy chuckle and flipped to the next page of my book as the sound of everyone chatting in the background began to die down. A few more minutes passed, and I was about a quarter of the way through a page in my book, when I heard Sophie call out to me.

    “Professor Kyle, here, we’re done with the analysis.” (Sophie)

    I lowered my book to see Sophie standing in front of me with a sulky pout on her face while holding out a small stack of papers. I took the stack of papers from her and flipped through them quickly to see pages upon pages of densely packed diagrams and notes on the alchemy circle.

    “Umm, g-great job, everyone. I’ll look it over and get this back to you, uh, sometime soon.” (Kyle)

    I gave the class a sheepish smile and threw the stack of papers into my bag as Sophie let out a sigh.

    “Look, while I can’t say much for your work ethic or your theoretical knowledge, after analyzing that alchemy circle, I have to admit you’re at least a professor capable of using high-level ancient alchemy, and probably one of the best I’ve met when it comes to your field. To be honest, your idea of drawing outside the outer edge of the alchemy circle is a innovative concept I’ve never seen before, and you even somehow made it work with just regular chalk. So please, let me at least keep some level of respect for you, if not as a professor, then at least as a fellow alchemist.” (Sophie)

    “Wait a second. Going past the outer edge of the circle? What are you talking about? There’s no way an alchemy circle like that would work properly.” (Kyle)

    I gave Sophie a puzzled look and she gave me a similar expression back while we stared at each other for a moment.

    “Eh? Wait, what do you mean? It’s right there in your own damn circle! Look.” (Sophie)

    Sophie pointed to the blackboard behind me and I turned around to look at the alchemy circle I drew this morning. After following the trajectory of her finger, I noticed a stray mark that slightly went past the outer edge of the alchemy circle.

    “Ah. Crap, you’re right, there’s a small line sticking out. Sorry everyone, I guess my drawing was a little sloppy. I probably didn’t lift the chalk completely off the board when I finished, and it went past the outer edge at the end. No wonder it was a little weaker than usual.” (Kyle)

    I walked up immediately and erased the bit that went past the outer edge of the circle as I grabbed the monster core again with my other hand and held it up to the new, correctly drawn alchemy circle.

    “Alright, there we go, it should be a little stronger now. Gale burst, single cast, activate.” (Kyle)

    “Wait! A little stronger!?” (Sophie)

    I turned around with a smile, but what met my eyes was terror on my students' faces as those in the back ducked behind the desks for cover. Sophie desperately looked around for cover too before a green light shone from behind me and I finally realized my mistake.

    Ah, wait... I shouldn’t have activated it…

    I immediately dove forward and grabbed Sophie to cover her with my body as a deafening explosion of air blasted out from behind me. Every window in the room shattered instantly, the door was smashed out into the hallway, and I was hurtled into the wall at the back of the room. I hugged Sophie tight in midair to shield her body from the blast and managed to turn myself so that my back slammed against the wall instead of Sophie’s. The wall cracked under the impact as we crashed into it before the vestiges of the raging wind ruffled our hair and clothes.

    There was absolute silence as the wind finally died down again and everyone poked their heads out from behind the lecture hall desks to stare at the back of the room with dazed expressions. I crawled out from behind the last row of desks as I loosened my grip on Sophie, patted the dust off her head, and placed her down on the ground again safe and sound. After looking around for a second at everyone staring at me, along with the destruction in the room, I promptly made an announcement to calm them all down.

    “Ahem. Unfortunately, it seems that a small mishap has occurred on my end, so with that, class today is dismissed. Umm, don’t worry too much about the damage, I’ll get the classroom fixed up by tomorrow. See you all then.” (Kyle)

    Alright, whose budget should I slash to fix this… the magic department? No, they’re already running dry. The business department? Well, they’re almost self sufficient. Ah, I got it, the weapons department! They just got that new training field too so they probably won’t need anything else for a while. Well, looking at last year’s budget, they’ve had it too good for too long anyway.

    I promptly walked through the rubble to my satchel and pulled out the master budget notebook that Mari gave me earlier before I began to flip through it and make some changes.
     
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  16. RubberDucky

    RubberDucky Well-Known Member

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    [Chapter 12.5] Commence Operation Unpaid Magical Girl Internship!
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    The Goddess of Love’s Divine Domain, Eliza’s House (Eliza POV)
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    “Urgh… I want pancakes…” (Eliza)

    A sigh left my mouth as I threw the romance novel in my hands on the floor before stretching my arms and rolling around on my bed. The sunshine outside shone in through the open window, warmly illuminating the bottom half of my bed while a faint breeze spread throughout the room. It was the same as always, just another peaceful day, but despite the picturesque scene, there was a lonely tone in my voice. Nothing but melancholic silence answered my request as I laid there, staring at the ceiling. A few moments passed before I sat up and stared outside at the clouds floating in the vast blue sky.

    It’s been about a year since Ky left, and things have changed a bit since then. There’s a lot that isn’t the same anymore. This house just feels empty without him, and there’s a part of my heart that still believes that one day he’ll walk through the door to call me and Olivia over for lunch or something like nothing ever happened, but I know that’s just a hopeless wish.

    A year is a long time, even for a god, and Olivia and I have learned to live with his absence, but if I’m going to be completely honest, the thing that affected us the most is not having Ky around to do chores anymore. I mean I miss Ky... a lot. And mixed feelings bubble up in my heart every time I think of him, but I don’t think that the house can survive much longer without him to clean it up every day, I’ve even had to resort to cleaning up after myself recently.

    My room’s currently a bit messy, but the truth is, this is actually the cleanest it’s been in a while. I remember about a month after Ky left, Olivia and I were both still depressed, so neither of us cleaned up at all and the house’s cleanliness slowly deteriorated until eventually, it got to the point where it wasn’t even fit for living in anymore. After that, we had a huge trash purge and got the house back to a barely livable state again, but we knew it was only a temporary solution. We needed to change something, so I agreed to try and clean up after myself while Olivia would clean out the house a bit every week, and we’ve been doing that ever since.

    I buried my face in the pillow and let the sound of the light breeze outside overtake the silence as I thought about what to do today. A few minutes passed and I was deep in thought when the faint sound of the front door opening reached my ears. I snapped back to my senses before letting out another sigh and getting out of bed. I picked my book up from the floor and gently placed it on my desk as I held my hand up to shield my eyes from the sunlight. I stood there for a moment and gazed at the scenic view outside again before reassuring myself about my decision for what to do today. I closed the window and left my room with a smile on my face as I walked over to the living room where Olivia was.

    “Olivia, do we have anything urgent to do today?” (Eliza)

    “Urgent? Not really... Today we’re actually pretty free. Why? Was there something you had in mind, Lady Eliza?” (Olivia)

    “Yeah. You know, since Ky left, I’ve been thinking about it for a while, should we find a new heroic spirit?” (Eliza)

    “A new heroic spirit? Well, I guess it has been kind of quiet around here recently, and someone new to talk to would be nice.” (Olivia)

    “Great!” (Eliza)

    “Then I’ll go and send out a request to his highness to transfer over someone. He usually has a few heroic spirits on standby, and we have a pretty good relationship with him because of Ky, so he’ll probably send over someone qualified.” (Olivia)

    “Transfer? No thanks, especially if it’s one of his cronies. They’ll probably just complain about how run down this house is, or praise how magnificent ‘his highness, the God of Light,’ is compared to us. We’ll never hear the end of it! I think we should find a talented rookie instead.” (Eliza)

    I held my fist up in the air and struck a confident pose as my eyes sparkled with determination, but it looked like Olivia wasn’t as keen on finding a diamond in the rough as I was. Her eyes glazed over and she looked at me with an empty smile before letting out a dry chuckle.

    “A talented rookie? Lazy Eliza, are you sure you understand what you’re saying? What talented person in their right mind would want to be hired by us? Let’s be real, just look at us. We have nothing except your divine domain and this house, which by the way is always messy thanks to your antics. The only reason we’re even getting by nowadays is because of the salary we get for being Ky’s jailers. Why would someone with talent join us over one of the high gods or even one of the other lesser gods? I don’t think we can even afford to pay them much.” (Olivia)

    Olivia’s arguments shot through my plan like arrows and the luster in my eyes began to fade as I finally faced the facts of our situation while the depression began to set in again. I let out a sigh as I plopped onto the sofa and slouched backward. A few seconds passed while I reworked my plan with our limitations in mind before calling out to Olivia again.

    “Well, whoever we find doesn’t have to be strong. We don’t need a fighter, hell, they don’t even have to be qualified to be a heroic spirit. Honestly, just someone else to talk to around here is good enough. Uhh… anyway, since we can’t afford to pay them, can’t we just have them on an unpaid internship? Just call them a heroic spirit trainee or something.” (Eliza)

    “Unpaid internship? What’s that?” (Olivia)

    “I heard about them from Ky. Where he’s from, they have this thing called unpaid internships. It’s where you have someone who’s new work for you for free. Apparently, it’s so they can gain experience in the field and eventually get a job afterward, but Ky told me it was really just a shady way to exploit free labor from inexperienced newbies.” (Eliza)

    “That sounds stupid. Who would ever fall for an obvious trap like that?” (Olivia)

    “That’s what I said too, but Ky told me never to underestimate the stupidity of people. According to him, thousands of people fall for it on a yearly basis. Anyway, we can’t pay any of our new hires, so let’s try it out. We’ll have something to do now at least.” (Eliza)

    “Well, it still sounds to me like this is just a waste of time, but if you insist, I guess we could give it a shot. So what do we do now?” (Olivia)

    Olivia let out a sigh and I lifted myself off the couch as the sparkle in my eyes returned.

    “I’m glad you asked, Olivia. Actually, there’s been a plan that I’ve been meaning to put into action for a while now. Wait here for a second.” (Eliza)

    I ran over with gusto to the closet nearby as Olivia watched me with a confused look on her face. The door to the small closet was torn open and a small cloud of dust flew out as I dug through the miscellaneous knick-knacks to find a magical staff. It was a long stick of slightly pink colored wood, and the bottom of the staff had a fist-sized crystal embedded in golden metal, while the top of the staff took the shape of a large hook, decorated with light golden colored feathers and tiny magic circles arranged to look like runes.

    I held the staff in my hands, patted the dust off of it, and threw the rest of the junk I dug out of the closet back in before running over to Olivia with a smile.

    “Tada! This here is a bonafide, one-of-a-kind magical girl staff. It’s the only one in the entire world, and it was co-designed by yours truly.” (Eliza)

    “Wait, a magical-what?” (Olivia)

    “A magical girl. Ky told me about them too. They’re mysterious female heroes that use magic to fight against the hidden forces of darkness in the name of things like friendship and love, a perfectly fitting theme for someone like say, me, the Goddess of Love. I heard from Ky that a magical girl usually has a cute familiar and a magical staff that allows them to transform into their costumes. So while we can’t provide a cute familiar, we can provide a magical staff. Now, let’s see if this still works.” (Eliza)

    I channeled mana into the staff, and it flowed around inside the wood before reaching the numerous fake runes at the top of the staff. Immediately the magic circles all began to light up with a pink glow and mana shot out of the runes to form a glowing ball of pure pink mana in the open center of the hook. A blinding pink glow spread out into the surroundings from the center of the ball of mana, and music mysteriously appeared from seemingly nowhere as a thin, yet solid layer of mana molded over my body to form clothes.

    When the transformation sequence finally finished, the pink glow abruptly died out and burst into particles of pink mana like shattered shards of glass as the glowing ball of mana reformed on the staff while the music faded out, revealing me standing there, striking a pose.

    I was wearing a short pink and white dress lined with gold-rimmed accents, along with a pair of long pink gloves that reached past my elbows, white stockings, and a pair of cute, pink shoes. Puffy frills and ribbons were lined all over my outfit, and on the side of my head was a single golden colored hairpin in the shape of a bundle of feathers just like the ones on the staff.

    Olivia stood there staring at me with a dumbfounded look on her face as I put my hands on my hips and let out a triumphant laugh.

    “Yes! It still works! Alright, Olivia, commence Operation Unpaid Magical Girl Internship! I’ll send you down to the main plane along with the staff, maybe near where I sent Ky, and you can go scout out our magical girl candidates!” (Eliza)

    “Wait, before we do anything, where did you get this!?” (Olivia)

    “Didn’t you hear me before, I co-designed it. It’s completely powered by alchemy. Ky helped me out with all the technicals, and after hearing his descriptions about outfits, I designed how the costume and staff looked. It’s our pride and joy. Here, take a look.” (Eliza)

    I handed the staff over to Olivia and she held it in her hands before beginning to inspect it.

    “When did you make this? I don’t remember ever seeing this before.” (Olivia)

    “Hmm, if I remember correctly, it was around 200 years ago. It was pretty fun at first, but we got bored of it after a few weeks, so it’s been sitting in the closet ever since.” (Eliza)

    “Wait, is this crystal a dragon heart!? And these are phoenix feathers!? The wood for this staff is even from the World Tree! Where the hell did you get the money to buy all this!?” (Olivia)

    Ah. Crap, I remember why we never showed it to Olivia now! Think Eliza, think! Where could we have found this?

    My face immediately cramped up and I plastered a nervous smile on my face as cold sweat ran down my back.

    “Uhh… I found them… outside.” (Eliza)

    “Ah, now I remember! About 200 years ago, there was a suspicious hole in our savings after I came back from visiting my family for a month. You and Ky told me that it was just a mistake in our records, but no matter how many times I redid the budget, I could never find the mistake and I always felt that there was something you two were hiding from me!” (Olivia)

    Olivia looked over at me with an angry smile as sweat poured down my face and my nervous smile started to tremble.

    “Lady Eliza, what do you have to say for yourself?” (Olivia)

    Olivia’s voice was terrifyingly monotone, and I slowly backed away from her, towards the couch as she stood there.

    “Now, Olivia. I know what I did was wrong, and I definitely should have told you, but everyone deserves a second chance, don’t they? Hehe.” (Eliza)

    I winked at Olivia with my nervous smile and stuck my tongue out cutely as I knocked my fist lightly on my head, but it seemed that Olivia didn’t care much for my adorable acting because immediately after I struck my pose, Olivia held the staff like a club and took a stance as I turned around and started running for my life.

    I kicked the door open and ran outside as Olivia started to chase me with the same angry smile on her face.

    “Wait! Olivia, I don’t care if you hit me, but don’t hit me with the staff! You’re gonna break it! Do you even know how much that staff cost to make!?” (Eliza)
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    Adventurer Town Delhurst, Nearby Reina’s House (Reina POV)
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    A light breeze blew by and I let out a sigh as I walked down the street towards my house. I turned right from the main road and entered a small pathway between two buildings as I navigated further away from the busy street behind me. I had just finished stalk-, ahem, observing Sir Kyle from behind the bookshelves at the library earlier today, and my social anxiety was already kicking back in as I made another turn. My keys jingled in the pocket of my guild receptionist uniform as I walked along the alleyway and I finally arrived at the front door of my house when suddenly, a strange person dressed in a brown hooded cloak appeared from around the corner.

    I could tell by the stranger’s figure that it was a woman, and there was a long pink and gold staff strapped to her back. The hood of her cloak shrouded the top of her face in darkness, but I could faintly see a pair of green eyes staring intensely at me from behind what seemed to be glasses. An awkward silence filled the alleyway as we both froze, but after a few moments, I heard her muttering something to herself.

    “... Lady Eliza, are you sure about her?... Yes, I know, but why do I have to do it this way?…”

    I stood there trembling as I watched the suspicious hooded woman talk to herself like a lunatic before she let out an annoyed sigh and reached out towards me with a smile on her face.

    “Umm, excuse me miss. This might be a weird question to ask, but... would you be interested in becoming a heroic spirit trainee? Look, I’ll even give you this magic staff.”

    The suspicious hooded woman pulled the staff out from behind her back before showing it off to me like she was trying to sell it to me. After getting a closer look at the staff, I could tell that it was definitely an expensive magical item.

    I-Is she a con artist? If I touch it, it’ll definitely break, won’t it?

    I turned around and ran towards the main street as I screamed out for the guards.

    “G-Guards! Someone, help! There’s a suspicious person here!” (Reina)

    “W-Wait! I’m not suspicious, I swear!”

    I made it about halfway down the street when suddenly, a large yellow magic circle appeared below my feet and a barrier of light-element mana materialized in front of me, trapping me inside with the hooded woman. I chantlessly cast a second circle wind spell and two light green magic circles layered on top of each other appeared in front of me before a small arrow made of wind shot out towards the barrier. The arrow crashed into the barrier and exploded into a small burst of wind as a spark of hope lit up in my heart, but that spark was quickly extinguished when I saw that my second circle spell didn’t even scratch the barrier. The sound of footsteps sounded out behind me and I fell backward onto the ground as I turned around to face the hooded woman with a terrified look on my face.

    “S-Stay back! I-I’ll blast you with magic if you come any closer!” (Reina)

    “Please, miss, calm down. I’m not here to hurt you.”

    The hooded woman took her hood off to reveal that she was an elf too. She had a wry smile on her face and platinum blonde hair a little longer than mine, tied into a long ponytail while her deep green eyes were covered by the pair of glasses hanging off her pointed ears.

    She slowly walked closer and extended her hand out to me on the ground as I sat there trembling in fear.

    “Are you ok, miss? I’m sorry about trapping you so suddenly, it must have been scary, but I’m not here to hurt you. I just want to talk with you for a bit.”

    The woman softly grabbed my hand to help me up off the ground, the barrier behind me was dispelled a second later, and everything returned to normal except for the woman now standing in front of me.

    “Ok, now I know this will definitely sound unbelievable, but here goes. My name is Olivia Faevaris, and I’m a heroic spirit serving under the Goddess of Love.” (Olivia)

    A glowing white halo appeared on top of Olivia’s head as soon as she finished speaking, and I felt an indescribable pressure radiating from her for a moment before the halo disappeared again along with the pressure.

    W-Wait! She’s actually a heroic spirit!? Oh no! What have I done!?

    My body immediately stiffened up and I began to profusely apologize as Lady Olivia stared at me with a confused smile.

    “I’m so sorry! Please forgive me, your holiness! I didn’t know you were a heroic spirit!” (Reina)

    “Wait, calm down! Look, it’s ok. I’m not angry. Honestly, I would’ve done the same if some random person in a suspicious hooded cloak came up to me in an alleyway and asked me a ridiculous question. Isn’t that right, Lady Eliza?... This is your fault in the first place!... What?... Bring her up?” (Olivia)

    “Eh?” (Reina)

    I stopped bowing and looked up for a moment to see Lady Olivia staring up at the sky with an angry smile on her face while crossing her arms. After a moment of awkward silence, she let out a heavy sigh and facepalmed before calling out to me again.

    “By the way, what’s your name, miss?” (Olivia)

    “R-Reina Sylfey, your holiness!” (Reina)

    “Miss Reina, I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to borrow you for a moment.” (Olivia)

    Lady Olivia stretched her hand out towards the ground and suddenly another magic circle formed at our feet. I immediately began to panic before a flash of bright light blinded me and suddenly, I wasn’t in front of my house anymore.
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    The Goddess of Love’s Divine Domain, Eliza’s House (Eliza POV)
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    I ran outside and got into position in front of the ritual grounds as I thought about what pose to strike for the arrival of our new hire. You know what they say, first impressions are the strongest, and if we’re gonna have someone new around here, the first thing we have to establish is the pecking order... Oh, looks like she’s here already.

    A magic circle formed in the middle of the ritual grounds and shone brightly for a moment before Olivia and our new hire appeared in front of me. I immediately put both hands on my hips and leaned my head back as I began to laugh evilly.

    “Mwahahahaha! Welcome to my divine domain! Once you’re in here, your fate is in my hands!” (Eliza)

    “Stop that, you idiot! You’re just scaring her more!” (Olivia)

    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Olivia angrily throw something at me and I instinctively took half a step to the side to avoid it at first, only to realize as it was flying past me that Olivia had actually thrown the magical girl staff.

    “Ah! Wait, the staff!” (Eliza)

    I instantly pounced towards the staff and caught it in mid-air before hugging it tightly as I tumbled along the lawn while protecting the staff with my own body. After I finally stopped rolling, I promptly got up and ran back to the ritual grounds with the staff in my hands.

    “Whew, that was close.” (Eliza)

    “The only thing close here is my temper to snapping! I told you that we shouldn’t have been so shady about it! Why did you think making me dress up suspiciously while standing around in alleyways looking for magical girl candidates was a good idea!?” (Olivia)

    “Well, I thought it would be cooler for our new hire to get the staff from a mysterious hooded figure appearing from the darkness. It really gives you the sense that it’s an ancient, sacred artifact being passed on to a chosen one instead of a toy that we made for fun then got bored of a few weeks later.” (Eliza)

    I stood there pouting meekly as I hid the staff behind my body and avoided eye contact with Olivia. She let out a sigh and stared at me in disappointment before facepalming.

    “You know what, I’m done. You just handle the rest. I’m gonna go take a break.” (Olivia)

    Olivia walked past me with an exhausted look on her face and entered the house leaving me alone with our new hire. The awkward silence lasted a few moments as I stared curiously at the trembling elven girl on the floor in front of me.

    “So... what’s your name?” (Eliza)

    “... R-Reina Sylfey.” (Reina)

    “Alright, Reina, today’s your lucky day. You’ve been personally chosen by me, the Goddess of Love, to be a heroic spirit trainee in our new unpaid magical girl internship program.” (Eliza)

    “Wait, what!? Heroic spirit trainee!?” (Reina)

    Reina slowly got up off the ground with trembling legs and a flabbergasted look on her face as I snickered at her a little.

    “W-Wait, y-your holiness, I don’t think I’m the right person for this!” (Reina)

    “No need to be so stiff, just Eliza’s fine.” (Eliza)

    “L-Lady Eliza, I have no idea how to do anything like this! P-Please, I just want to go home.” (Reina)

    “Eh? Nonsense, you’re perfect. Have a little more confidence in yourself. You don’t need any experience either because this is exactly how you’ll be getting all of it. That’s why it’s an unpaid internship. And anyway, it’s not like you have much of a choice in this. Like I said before, once you’re in my divine domain, you can’t leave without my permission so your fate is in my hands. Now come on, newbie! Let's go back inside. Your first assignment will be cleaning the house.” (Eliza)

    “...augh…” (Reina)

    I twirled around and started walking back to the house as behind me, Reina let out a defeated whimper and slumped down in depression for a few moments before catching up to me with tears in her eyes.

    ***​

    “Lady Eliza, I finished cleaning up the house, what should I do now?” (Reina)

    I was lying down on the sofa, halfway through another sappy romance novel, when Reina’s voice brought me back to reality. I closed the book and looked up to see Reina staring at me with a broom in her hands and a helpless expression on her face. A quick glance around the now tidy living room showed me that Reina really had finished cleaning the whole house, and after a moment, I sat up while nodding in approval.

    “Alright, good job Reina, you’ve passed your initiation test with flying colors. Follow me, it’s time for you to be officially hired. And I’ll send you back home afterward.” (Eliza)

    “Y-Yes, Lady Eliza.” (Reina)

    Reina saluted me while tears ran down her face and I grabbed the magical girl staff that was leaning against the arm of the sofa before walking outside again to the ritual grounds. After we arrived outside, I stopped in front of the ritual grounds and turned around to see Reina with the same helpless smile plastered on her face.

    “Alright. With my authority as the Goddess of Love, true name, Eliza Strateous, I hereby announce that Reina Sylfey will be officially granted the position of heroic spirit trainee. She will be appointed the title of ‘Magical Girl of Love’ along with a divine artifact as a reward for her excellence.” (Eliza)

    I put on my serious face for a moment and inducted Reina into her unpaid internship before gently handing over the magical girl staff. Immediately after handing over the staff, I wiped the serious expression off my face and the grave atmosphere disappeared along with it.

    “Congratulations, you’re now officially Reina Sylfey, the Magical Girl of Love. Wow! Yay!” (Eliza)

    I clapped my hands to cheer for her and mimicked an imaginary crowd as Reina stood there scratching her head with a confused face.

    “Umm, Lady Eliza... what’s a magical girl?” (Reina)

    “Oh. Uh, well, to put it simply, you’re now a magical warrior who fights in the name of justice and love.” (Eliza)

    “Warrior!? Wait, who am I going to fight!? I might have some natural talent for wind magic, but there’s no way I could beat anyone even remotely strong!” (Reina)

    “Don’t worry, of course I don’t expect you to beat anyone too strong as is, you’re still only a trainee so I won’t be throwing you into the fire just yet… probably. Anyway, it’s not like I’m just sending you out there by yourself. What you’re holding in your hands right now is a genuine divine artifact. Just try channeling mana through it and you’ll see exactly how powerful it is.” (Eliza)

    I gave Reina a confident smile as she skeptically channeled mana through the magical girl staff.

    The ball of pure, pink mana formed in the hook of the staff and the glow completely enveloped Reina as she let out an astonished cry that was immediately drowned out by the music from the transformation sequence. After a few moments, the mass of pink mana burst into particles, revealing a completely lost Reina dressed in the magical girl outfit as I nodded approvingly at her again.

    “See, I told you that you’d be perfect for the job! The three basic requirements for any magical girl are an unrequited love, a natural talent for magic, and most importantly, the ability to look good in costume. The moment I saw you, I knew that you would pass all three criteria with no problem and I was definitely right. We might need to work on your pose for the end of the transformation sequence later, but for now, just test out the staff and try to use some magic.” (Eliza)

    “Magic? Is it ok to fire it here?” (Reina)

    “Yeah, just fire it that way.” (Eliza)

    I pointed to the open field past the ritual grounds and Reina pointed her staff in the same direction before letting out a small cry as the small ball of pink mana in the hook of the staff turned a light green. Immediately a dozen double-layered magic circles formed in front of her staff, and wind arrows shot out before converging on the ground in the middle of the open field. A massive explosion of air blasted out from where the arrows converged, making our clothes and hair flutter around for a moment before the raging wind from the explosion died down.

    “Eh?” (Reina)

    Reina stood there dumbfounded as I gave another approving nod and turned to her.

    “Great, looks like the staff is still working properly. I told you, didn’t I? That’s a genuine divine artifact. If I remember correctly, it should act as both a magical amplifier and a spare mana pool. Even the outfit should be tougher than a suit of heavy armor, so at the very least, you should be able to protect yourself from most people for now.” (Eliza)

    “W-Wha-” (Reina)

    “Anyway, I promised I would send you back after this, so you can go for now. Here, take this pendant with you, I’ll contact you through the pendant tomorrow so be careful not to lose it.” (Eliza)

    I pulled a heart-shaped pendant out of my pocket and placed it in the hands of a bewildered Reina as I cast a teleportation spell. The white magic circle lit up with a sharp glow as Reina let out a final confused shriek before she was sent back to the main plane.

    “Alright, I’ve worked a lot today. I think it’s time for a well-deserved nap.” (Eliza)

    I let out a yawn as I turned around and started walking back towards the house with a goofy smile on my face.
    [​IMG]
    The Goddess of Love’s Divine Domain, Eliza’s House (Reina POV)
    [​IMG]
    “Lady Eliza, please wake up. It’s already noon.” (Reina)

    The sunlight shone in through the window in the living room as I gently shook Lady Eliza, who was sleeping on the couch, but even after shaking her vigorously for a few moments, she wouldn’t wake up. I stood there and panicked a bit as I thought about what to do when I heard Lady Olivia enter the room.

    “Reina, don’t bother. Lady Eliza won’t wake up until she feels like it, trust me I’ve already tried too many times.” (Olivia)

    “Eh? But won’t she be cold sleeping out in the open like that?” (Reina)

    “She’ll be fine. Anyway, yesterday his highness gave us some sandwiches when I went over for our monthly meeting so I left one for you. It should be in the fridge.” (Olivia)

    “Oh. Thank you, Lady Olivia.” (Reina)

    Lady Olivia smiled at me as she pointed toward the kitchen. I walked over and opened the fridge to see a sandwich on a plate. I took the sandwich out of the fridge and sat down at the kitchen table before starting to eat it.

    It’s been about another year since I was forcibly hired as a magical girl by Lady Eliza, and at first, I thought I would be risking my life, but luckily, the only thing I’ve done since then is clean up around the house and talk with Lady Eliza and Lady Olivia every once in a while. I never expected them to be so nice after what happened the first day, but it turns out that Lady Eliza is just a klutz while Lady Olivia is her voice of reason. To be honest, I even kind of enjoy coming over to talk with them. I’ve always been shy, so I’ve never had many friends, and while I have been improving on my social anxiety by working at a few different adventurer’s guilds these past few summers, the only ones I feel like I can freely talk to have been Lady Eliza and Lady Olivia.

    As I finished the sandwich, I heard Lady Olivia’s voice call out to me again before she entered the kitchen.

    “Oh, by the way, Reina, you said that you would be starting school again soon, right?” (Olivia)

    “Yes, I’ll be attending the Raidion Royal Academy, where my aunt is.” (Reina)

    “Hmm, I guess you won’t be coming over as often for a while then, right?” (Olivia)

    “Y-Yeah. Sorry...” (Reina)

    “No need to apologize, you’ve done more than enough for us. Actually, let me help you a bit this time. Come here, I’ll read your fortune for your unrequited love again.” (Olivia)

    “Eh?” (Reina)

    The blurry image of a gently smiling man with white hair that was tied into a ponytail resurfaced in my memories again and a blush spread across my face as I remembered the delicate mix of emotions that ran through my mind when I met him for the first time. A faint, fuzzy warmth spread through my chest as Lady Olivia held my hand, closed her eyes, and stood still for a moment before opening them with a smile on her face.

    “Well, it’s a still little vague like always, but I can tell you that you’ll definitely have some good luck in terms of love at the Royal Academy. Just make sure you take the class on ancient alchemy.” (Olivia)

    I looked out the window with a soft smile on my face before I lightly slapped my cheeks with both hands and put on a determined expression.

    “Ancient alchemy, huh? Alright, the Magical Girl of Love, Reina Sylfey is on it!” (Reina)
     
  17. RubberDucky

    RubberDucky Well-Known Member

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    [Chapter 13] Yep, It’s Definitely Too Late, He Already Has Severe Brain Damage
    [​IMG]
    Royal Academy, Second Floor Hallway (Kyle POV)
    [​IMG]
    The sound of hurried footsteps echoed throughout the hallway as a few late students ran to their classrooms while I yawned and continued to slowly make my way towards room 207. A few moments passed as the hallway emptied out before I finally arrived at the entrance to my classroom. Right above the new door that I installed yesterday, a simple sign with the number ‘207’ written on it was attached to the wall.

    “Well, it might be a little shoddy compared to before, but at least there isn’t a crowd here anymore.” (Kyle)

    You see, after class ended yesterday, everyone nearby gathered around the entrance to the classroom to investigate the cause of the loud sound and I had to drive them all away before being able to even make my way out of the room. But despite being unfortunately labeled a dangerous individual by my peers on my first day, I persevered and went to the shopping district to get some building supplies, where I managed to find a new door and some window panes as replacements. However, while installing the new window panes and door was easy enough, I wasn’t exactly an expert on fixing walls so I just left the crack in the wall untouched and decided to find a professional later.

    I stared at the door for a moment and wiped the sleepy expression off my face before grabbing the door handle and entering the classroom. The warm morning sunlight shone in through the newly installed windows, illuminating the classroom as six people locked their eyes onto me. Yep, that’s right, six. On one side of the room, Halbert, Regnis, and Zane were lightly huddled together, chatting to each other, while on the other side of the room sat Sophie, Reina, and… Mari. There was silence as I locked eyes with Mari who was smiling angrily at me while crossing her arms, and a moment passed before I cleared my throat and stared back with a smile on my face.

    “Ahem. Sorry, wrong room.” (Kyle)

    I immediately turned around, closed the door behind me, and started walking back the exact same way I came, but I only made it about ten feet down the hallway before I heard the door being slammed open behind me along with Mari’s voice.

    “Get back here, Ky!” (Mari)

    I ignored her voice, the sound of running footsteps, and the light gust of wind behind me with a blissfully unaware smile as I took two more steps forward. Then I felt someone dropkick me in the back. A strong force blasted me in the middle of my spine and I fell over onto the floor face first as wind blasted through the hallway, ruffling my clothes. Mari mounted me like she was riding a horse and sat down on my back while I was still on the floor before talking to me in a cold voice as her eyes shone with an angry glint.

    “So, Ky. What do you have to say for yourself?” (Mari)

    “I have no idea what you’re talking about, my dear Mari.” (Kyle)

    “Oh? Then I wonder what could have possibly been the cause of the cracked wall in your classroom? I guess it must have been an intruder or something, seeing as there’s no way you would’ve negligently put your entire class in danger while also wrecking half the classroom yesterday.” (Mari)

    “You know what... you’re absolutely right. In fact, let me go and I’ll make sure to find the true perpetrator right now.” (Kyle)

    “Who the hell are you going to find!? The true perpetrator’s right here! You’re lucky that Reina insisted it was an accident, otherwise, you wouldn’t have a job anymore!” (Mari)

    “But it actually was an accident!” (Kyle)

    Mari started lightly whacking me with her fists as she continued yelling at me and while it didn’t hurt me physically at all, it felt like I was being punished for a crime I didn’t commit. Aggrieved tears flowed out of my eyes as I popped my head up, and we sat there like that for a second as Mari bonked my head some more before a familiar grey-bearded figure rounded the corner into my line of sight.

    “Quick, Professor Balrum, help me! The headmistress has gone crazy!” (Kyle)

    I reached my arm out towards Professor Balrum to call for help as Mari continued her beatdown on me, and it looked like he was about to say something in my defense when Mari turned to sharply glare at him before calling out in a frighteningly cold voice.

    “I suggest you keep walking, Professor Balrum.” (Mari)

    Professor Balrum froze in his tracks for a moment and I saw my last hope die out as he softly cleared his throat before turning around and quickly strolling back the way he came while nervously muttering to himself.

    “... I didn’t see anything...” (Balrum)

    “Oliver, you damned traitor!” (Kyle)

    My indignant voice echoed down the hallway before being drowned out again by Mari’s yelling and the sound of Professor Balrum’s hurried footsteps in the distance.

    Another two minutes passed before Mari’s flurry of fists died down, and she sat on top of me hunched over in exhaustion. Her arms were now loosely dangling by her sides as she wheezed for air on top of me with a dazed look in her eyes.

    “Why the hell is your head so hard!?” (Mari)

    “... I’m sorry that I don’t have the ability to soften up my skull so you can violently beat it in, but if you’re not going to let me cut today, then at least let me start class…” (Kyle)

    I peeked my head up again and rolled around onto my back before grabbing Mari and lifting her off of me. After getting up, I propped her over my shoulder like a bag of potatoes and began to walk back to the classroom as she began to flail her limbs at me again with a red face.

    “Hey, let me go! I’m your boss! This is mutiny!” (Mari)

    “Yeah, yeah.” (Kyle)

    I made my way back to the classroom under the watchful eyes of five heads popping out the door as Mari hit the back of my head painlessly a few more times. Once I made it back inside the classroom, I put Mari down, threw my bag next to my desk, and took a seat in my chair before sighing.

    “Alright, so why are you here?” (Kyle)

    “Isn’t that obvious? I’m here to make sure I won’t have to attend Reina’s funeral next week! Since you obviously can’t be trusted with your students’ safety, I’m going to be supervising your class from now on.” (Mari)

    Goddammit, I knew this was a blood curse! Why did I even ask? I can’t even slack off now that she’s around. I’ll actually have to teach them something.

    “Don’t you have more important things to do than continue to torture me?” (Kyle)

    “Nothing is more important to me than Reina’s safety. And besides, you would know best that there’s nothing important I have to do, seeing as you were the one who did most of it.” (Mari)

    “Don’t remind me, damn it! I never want to see another empty form again!” (Kyle)

    Tears started flowing out of my eyes again as I remembered that paperwork-filled hellhole. Mari seemed to take some delight in my agony though as she let out a dry chuckle before waving her hand at me while she walked back to Reina.

    “Heh. Alright, you can start class now.” (Mari)

    “... Ah, I see. So you just wanted to make me suffer a bit to fuel your sick schadenfreude before letting me go…” (Kyle)

    I slammed my head onto the desk and kept it there for a few seconds before letting out a sigh as my muffled voice announced the start of class.

    “Alright everyone, in lieu of yesterday’s... unfortunate accident, I’ve decided that it would be best to study something a little more simple today.” (Kyle)

    I got up and rummaged through my bag with an exhausted look on my face before pulling out the first monster core I could find. It was a small water-element monster core and it shone with a deep blue gleam as I got up and turned around to pick up a piece of chalk with the other hand. The sound of chalk scratching against the blackboard echoed out as I quickly drew a simple alchemy circle on the board, this time double checking that it was drawn correctly. However, when I put the chalk down and held the small monster core up to the board, the sound of loud clattering and a faint gust of wind came from behind me. I turned around to see Halbert, Regnis, and Zane taking cover behind the desks on one side of the room as they anxiously peeked their heads over the top while on the other side of the room, Sophie and Reina were doing the same, except that in front of them there was a third-circle wind spell that Mari had cast. Three light green magic circles lined up in front of each other to form the spell, and they slowly rotated as a large wall made of wind was shielding the girls.

    “All it does is make some mist... Look.” (Kyle)

    I tapped the monster core to the alchemy circle on the board behind me and activated it with a helpless expression on my face as everyone braced themselves.

    “Mist Cloud, single cast, activate.” (Kyle)

    The circle faintly glowed with a deep blue light for a moment and everyone ducked behind the desks before a light cloud of mist started spraying out from the center of the alchemy circle. Complete silence filled the room as it poured out, and it wasn’t until the alchemy circle stopped glowing that Mari’s head peeked over the edge of the lecture hall desk, followed slowly by the rest of the class.

    “Do you guys really think I’m that untrustworthy?...” (Kyle)

    I sat back down at my desk with a defeated look on my face as Mari stood up from behind the desk and pointed to the large crack in the wall at the back of the room as the wind spell disappeared.

    “Of course! Just look at what happened last time!” (Mari)

    “I’m telling you, that was an accident!” (Kyle)

    A sigh left my mouth as I opened up the window to clear out the mist before turning around to see everyone returning to their seats. When everyone was seated again, I put the monster core down and pointed to the alchemy circle on the board.

    “Alright, so what can you guys tell me about this alchemy circle?” (Kyle)

    I took another glance around the room as Sophie’s hand immediately shot up. She had an excited smile on her face and an obsessed glint in her eyes.

    “Well, looking at the structure of this circle, it’s much less complicated than the one we studied yesterday and comparing its effects to the last one, it’s likely on the scale of a lower end first- circle water spell. The fact that it’s drawn in chalk and the size of the monster core used to power it means that the mana density of the circle should be very low, yet the circle still activated, so we can infer that the flow of the mana should be unhindered, which may be due to a multitude of reasons, for example-” (Sophie)

    Wait! Sophie, please! Stop! I couldn’t even understand a quarter of your report yesterday, how am I supposed to answer any of this nonsense about mana flow!?

    “Ahem. Thank you, Sophie. Your explanation was very, uh, detailed, and I believe that you have a lot of interesting points, but before you get into the specifics, maybe we should let someone else share their opinion.” (Kyle)

    “Oh... ok.” (Sophie)

    I had a nervous smile on my face as Sophie finally stopped spewing out a bunch of complicated terms like mana density with a slightly disappointed look on her face, and I felt a slight headache come on as I glanced around desperately for my new victim to push this onto. Mari stared back at me with an annoyed expression, while Reina broke eye contact with a slightly red face the moment I tried to establish it. When I looked over to the other side of the room, Zane was nonchalantly staring at the wall with a nervous smile on his face and Regnis was sitting there with his arms crossed and his eyes closed, so naturally, my attention fell to my last potential scapegoat, er, student.

    Alright, sorry Halbert, but please do me a favor and take one for the team here. Just give me something, anything simple that I can work with! Even something really stupid like literally what it does is enough!

    “Uh, how about you, Halbert?” (Kyle)

    “E-Eh?” (Halbert)

    I sent my mental pleas over to Halbert through my eyes while his original unfazed demeanor quickly transformed into another nervous smile.

    “Uh… well, it makes mist… so that’s kind of cool… I guess.” (Halbert)

    Perfect! Halbert, you’re a lifesaver!

    I gave Halbert a small thumbs up with tears of joy in my eyes as I pointed to the alchemy circle again with gusto.

    “Great point there, Halbert! As you all can see, this alchemy circle is probably around the lower tiers of first-circle magic like Sophie mentioned before, and its only function is creating a thin mist of water vapor, which, by the way, I can confirm is very cool. Now, are there any questions about this alchemy circle?” (Kyle)

    The moment I finished speaking, Sophie’s hand shot up again and the scary, obsessed glint in her eyes returned in full force.

    “Well, I distinctly remember that when we asked you about the specifics of how the alchemy circle yesterday functioned, you told us that ‘it just works,’ and if we drew it exactly like you did, it would always function perfectly. Could you please elaborate on why exactly it functions like this, Professor Kyle?” (Sophie)

    “Wait, what kind of stupid answer is that!? It just works? Ky, what have you been teaching them!? Why the hell am I paying you if you’re not even going to do your job!?” (Mari)

    Mari’s voice burst out as she stood up from her seat, slammed her hand on the desk, and pointed at me with the other hand while she had an angry look on her face. I stared back for a moment with a weary expression on my face before letting out a heavy sigh.

    “Are you sure you even hired me as a professor at this point? If I didn’t remember coming in and asking for this position myself, I would’ve been 100% sure you hired me as an office assistant or a secretary!” (Kyle)

    “Well, maybe I’ll promote you to my full-time secretary for real after this if you’re not going to teach them anything!” (Mari)

    “No, wait! I’m sorry! Please, anything but that! I’ll teach them everything I know right now! Just get me as far away from that accursed office as possible!” (Kyle)

    Mari sat back down with an annoyed pout as I fell to the floor while hyperventilating in fear of my possible promotion. After a moment, I calmed my breathing down and got back up before slumping over in my chair with a worn out expression.

    “Honestly, the best possible explanation that I could give you is that it just works. Like I said yesterday, I don’t know any of the complicated stuff either, so all you guys need to know is what all the symbols do when you draw them together and you’ll be fine. Alchemy circles are composed of the base circle and the symbols on the inside of the circle are what dictate its properties. As you all saw yesterday, some magic circles still might kind of work if you go outside the circle, but they probably won’t function properly. A specific combination of these symbols will always yield the same result, and if even one of these symbols is changed or drawn incorrectly, the magic circle could have a completely different result or might not even work at all. So basically, if you draw it exactly like I did, it really will work perfectly. Well, no need to sweat the details for now. You guys can practice drawing this one, and we’ll discuss it later." (Kyle)

    After finishing my little lecture, I melted into my chair and a few moments later, the class started trying to copy down the alchemy circle on the blackboard. I let out a sigh and drowned out all the background noise as I sat there taking a well-deserved break while thinking about what to do after the class finished copying the alchemy circle down. However, it wasn’t long before I heard Mari’s voice call out to me.

    “I can’t believe your best explanation for your literal field of expertise is ‘It just works’... What did Balrum even see in you?” (Mari)

    I opened my eyes and sat up straight to see Mari standing in front of me while sighing with a disappointed expression on her face.

    “Well, it’s too late to regret it now... Anyway, since you’re not busy right now, go get me a cup of tea. I’m a little thirsty after all that yelling. Come on, you know what I like.” (Mari)

    “Wait, I thought I wasn’t your personal assistant anymore! What happened to being a professor? Does that mean nothing to you anymore or do you just insist on tormenting me?” (Kyle)

    “Eh. What can I say? It’s just so nice to have you around. Now go get me my tea before I start missing you enough to promote you.” (Mari)

    “I swear, one day you’ll face retribution for your crimes, you abusive witch!” (Kyle)

    I cried out in indignation, but despite my vow for vengeance, Mari just gave me a smug smile and shrugged nonchalantly as I got up with tears in my eyes and left the room to make her a cup of tea.

    ***​

    A while later, I entered the classroom again holding a cup of freshly made chamomile tea with two teaspoons of sugar and saw Mari relaxing in my chair. We locked eyes and I walked over and handed her the cup of tea with an aggrieved look on my face. A moment passed as she took a sip of the tea with a smile before letting out a satisfied breath.

    “Ahh, perfectly brewed as always. Good job, Ky.” (Mari)

    After taking another sip, she picked up the cup of tea and returned to her seat next to Reina. I took my chair back and sat down with an exhausted sigh, but it wasn’t long before Halbert called out to me.

    “Professor Kyle, we’re all done copying down the alchemy circle. What should we do now?” (Halbert)

    “Eh? Uh… I guess we can move onto some variations or something then.” (Kyle)

    I opened up my bag and lightly rummaged through it again before pulling out two more water-element monster cores. After a moment, I stood up and grabbed the chalk again before erasing a few parts of the alchemy circle on the board and adding a couple of new symbols.

    “Alright, well, if you change the circle like this, it should shoot out a stream of water instead of creating a mist. Something like this would probably be around a mid-tier single-circle water spell. Aqua Stream, single cast, activate.” (Kyle)

    I held up one of the monster cores and held it against the magic circle as a deep blue glow appeared once again. A small stream of water gushed out of the center of the alchemy circle, forming a small puddle on the floor, and I turned back at the class to see everyone looking over curiously. Luckily, it seemed like the new alchemy circle managed to distract them for now. I took a seat at my desk again when something surprising happened, Regnis raised his hand.

    “Professor Kyle, could we move on to a more powerful alchemy circle? It doesn’t need to be as strong as the one you drew yesterday, but I don’t think this or the previous circle would actually help much in a fight, so something a little more practical would be nice.” (Regnis)

    “Even if these circles seem weak, you shouldn’t underestimate them. Even for something as basic as spraying out a stream of water, there can be a variety of uses in actual combat. Alright, does anyone else have any questions before we move on?” (Kyle)

    Regnis lowered his hand with a slightly disappointed face as he reluctantly accepted my explanation. It seemed like no one else had anything to say too, so I was about to move on when I heard Mari call out to me.

    “Oi, what kind of professor just glosses a student’s question like that? You can’t just tell him that ‘it just works’ again. If you’re going to claim that it’s practical in combat, then at least give him an example!” (Mari)

    “Fine.” (Kyle)

    Mari’s voice grated on my nerves a bit as I begrudgingly rummaged through my bag again and pulled out a pen while a petty revenge plot quickly formed in my head. I quickly drew the circle for Mist Cloud on one monster core and the circle for Aqua Stream on the other before putting the pen down with an irritated smile on my face.

    “Regnis, while these alchemy circles definitely aren’t strong enough for a direct attack on the enemy, they can still be used to create diversions or interfere with the enemy’s senses in a fight. For example, with Aqua Stream, you could blind your enemy for a moment like this. Aqua Stream, single cast, activate.” (Kyle)

    I held the alchemy stone with Aqua Stream drawn on it towards Mari, and another deep blue glow appeared as a stream of water shot out from the stone and drenched her face like I shot her with a squirt gun. Mari froze in place and water dripped down her face into her cup of tea while the room was completely silent except for me laughing hysterically at her. It was barely a second later that Mari put her cup of tea down, stood up with a furious smile on her face, and stared at me with a frightening glint in her eyes as Reina fumbled around next to her trying to hold her back.

    “Alright, so do you have any last words, Ky?” (Mari)

    “If it means anything to you, I’m sorry.” (Kyle)

    My laughter began to die down as I let out one last chuckle before activating the other alchemy stone in my hands.

    “And now, Mist Cloud can be used to create a diversion to escape. Mist Cloud, full power cast, activate.” (Kyle)

    I dropped the other alchemy stone in my hand on the ground and an explosion of thick, foggy mist billowed out from the stone like a smoke bomb as I immediately dashed forward and kicked open the door before running back and hiding under my desk.

    Haha! My plan is perfect. Mari can’t sense my mana to find me because I’m a manaless, so she’ll obviously think I ran out into the hallway once she sees the open door. She’ll probably be out of the room for a while looking for me, hopefully for the rest of the day, and I’ll deal with the fallout later on after she’s calmed down. Anyway, she was the one who wanted an example, so all I did was give her one.

    I cackled evilly in my mind as a strong gale blew the mist out of the room. Footsteps sounded out behind me and I held my breath as the wind got slowly stronger before everything suddenly stopped. A moment passed before I saw Mari’s head pop over the edge to the desk with an even scarier expression as the smug smile on my face immediately froze up while cold sweat started to run down my back.

    “... Like I said before, any last words, Ky?” (Mari)

    “H-How did you find me!? Didn’t you see the open door!?” (Kyle)

    “Do you honestly think I’d be dumb enough to fall for that? Who do you think the Grand Mage of Wind is? Even if I can’t see you, the air currents will tell me exactly where you went... So, I guess you don’t have any last words, huh?” (Mari)

    “W-Wait! Mari, i-it was just a little prank. All I wanted to do was show my student an example like you said before. L-Look, I’m really sorry. I promise I’ll make it up to you. Whatever it takes, just say the word and I’ll be on it. Want some paperwork done? No problem. Want a massage? No problem. I’ll even carry you home and cook you dinner if you want me to! I know you have a big heart, so come on, won’t you forgive a small-time jokester like me?” (Kyle)

    I winked at Mari and did a cutesy knock on my head while I did my best to stop my nervous smile from trembling as even more cold sweat ran down my face, but unfortunately, it looked like all I did was make Mari even angrier.

    “You know, you’re pretty brave to try and make an example out of me, Ky. Maybe I’ll even mention it in your eulogy.” (Mari)

    Think, Ky! think! H-How can I get out of this? Give up and turn myself in? No way, she’ll keelhaul me! Doesn’t seem like she’ll listen to reason either, so my best shot is probably escaping somehow and hiding until later. Wait, can I even hide anywhere, she’ll just read the air currents to know exactly where I went. Urgh, fine. I didn’t want to resort to this, but I guess I’ll have to just keep running until she tires out! I just need a second or two and I can jump out the window, she might be able to find me through the air currents inside where the air is stagnant, but I doubt she’ll be as accurate with the wind outside interfering. Anyway, she’s already pissed, so might as well keep going! This’ll be a battle of attrition!

    “Aqua Stream, full power cast, activate!” (Kyle)

    I held the remaining alchemy stone in my hand up towards Mari’s face again as it shimmered deep blue and another stream of water about twice as big as the last one blasted Mari in the face. I immediately rolled out from under the desk and kicked off the ground, shooting towards the window, and I was just one step away from lunging out of the room when I finally realized. I forgot to take something else into account when planning out my escape.

    My foot hit the ground as I tried to stop myself in time, but alas, on the ground was the instrument of my downfall, a product of my own negligent actions. It was the puddle that formed after I activated the alchemy circle on the board.

    So, this is how it ends, huh?

    Unable to stop the massive amount of momentum from my initial burst forward, I slipped backward and landed on my back as the spray from the second blast on Mari rained down on me.

    Welp, sorry Aria, looks like I’m done for. You’ll have to take care of yourself now, remember, get at least eight hours of sleep every day and eat your greens, it’s for your own good. It was nice knowing you all as well, kids. Maybe one of you will even show up to my funeral.

    I laid there and stared at the ceiling with an accepting smile on my face as I prepared myself for my inevitable mauling. A moment later, I saw Mari loom over me menacingly while staring at me on the floor. Droplets of water slid off her wet hair onto my face as she crouched down and brought herself closer to me before I let out a sigh.

    “Alright, Mari. Just make it quick.” (Kyle)
    [​IMG]
    Royal Academy, Room 207 (Zane POV)
    [​IMG]
    A soft wind blew in through the open window as I sat in my seat with a terrified smile and saw Ky face his certain doom. The headmistress grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the room like she was pulling along a bag of garbage as Regnis was guiltily clearing his throat. On the other end of the room, Sophie was somehow completely unfazed by the unbelievable turn of events and she just walked up to the board to inspect the magic circle as Reina followed behind her in a panic. I turned my head back to Halbert and Regnis as I sat there at a loss.

    “So, uh... what do we do now, guys?” (Zane)

    “I don’t know. Regnis, do you have any ideas?” (Halbert)

    “Well… I don’t think there is much we can do except wait… I guess I’ll go copy down that magic circle. Professor Kyle might never be seen again, but he was right, this alchemy circle be useful later.” (Regnis)

    Regnis got up and walked over to Sophie as the two of them stared at the circle on the blackboard while Reina fell on her knees with a hopeless expression behind them. I turned back to Halbert and he gave me a puzzled shrug before pulling out his notebook and getting up to join everyone else.

    Well... I’m sure Ky will be fine. After all, the headmistress wouldn’t actually kill him just for spraying her with water… right?

    ***​

    A few hours passed by as we all awkwardly waited, and everyone was now back in their seats chatting to pass the time after finishing their analysis of the alchemy circles. We heard a few muffled explosions from outside about an hour ago, but for the sake of my own mental health, I decided to blissfully ignore it.

    It was just about to be lunchtime, and I was chatting with Halbert and Regnis when the sound of the classroom door opening caught my attention. I turned my head to see Ky shamble in with a worn out look on his face. There were several rips and tears, ranging from tiny to large enough to stick a hand through, in his now battered looking clothes and his hair was a disheveled mess, but somehow it seemed like he was barely wounded at all. Following behind him was the headmistress with a gleaming satisfied smile on her face as Ky lumbered his way back to his desk and collapsed into his chair.

    “Alright, you know what? How about we have a break for lunch, then continue with class later.” (Kyle)

    After a moment, Ky pulled his lunchbox out of his satchel, slowly got up, and walked over to us as the headmistress joined Reina and Sophie on the other side of the room.

    A few minutes later, we were all having lunch together as he munched on a homemade sandwich while tears ran down his face. I unwrapped the sandwich that Halbert bought from the school cafeteria for me and took a bite out of it before my curiosity finally got the better of me.

    “So... what was that explosion sound earlier?” (Zane)

    “It was Mari using a fourth-circle wind spell on me! I swear she was actually trying to kill me this time!” (Kyle)

    I was about halfway through a bite of my sandwich when I choked a little once I heard what happened.

    “Wait, fourth-circle!? How are you still even alive!?” (Zane)

    “Well, I ran for my life and managed to barely get behind a wall before the explosion of air from the spell blew me about a dozen feet into the air.” (Kyle)

    I stared at Ky in astonishment as Halbert and Regnis gave him concerned looks before Halbert asked him if he was ok.

    “A-Are you sure you don’t need to go to the hospital!?” (Halbert)

    “Eh. Don’t worry, I’m fine.” (Kyle)

    “You don’t look too fine to me… What do you think, Regnis?” (Halbert)

    “Well... it doesn’t seem like he’s too injured. I’m just surprised you managed to get out of this whole thing without losing a limb.” (Regnis)

    Ky swallowed another bite of his sandwich before letting out a dry, lifeless laugh.

    “Actually, Mari tried beating me up at first, but it didn’t work too well and all she did was hurt her hands, so then she started using magic, and that was when I had to run. It was like running through a battlefield, everywhere I went there was a razor-sharp blade of wind or a small tornado flying straight at me, but luckily, I managed to keep dodging everything. Eventually she got irritated though and just decided to blast the entire area with a big fourth-circle wind spell. Well, it worked, and even though I managed to avoid direct impact, it still blew me up into the air where she caught me. After that, she beat me up again until she felt satisfied, this time with body strengthening magic.” (Kyle)

    The three of us sat there flabbergasted as we heard about the hectic series of events Ky somehow made it through without sustaining a mortal wound. Halbert wolfed down his sandwich as quick as he could before turning and whispering to me.

    “Hey, Zane, he looks fine on the outside, but I think the headmistress might’ve hit him in the head a few too many times or maybe even ruptured an internal organ. We should take him to a doctor right now just to be sure. Look, Regnis and I will try to keep him distracted, just lie about going to the bathroom or something and get the school nurse, quick.” (Halbert)

    “Alright.” (Zane)

    After we ended our little huddle, I was about to get up to ‘go to the bathroom’ while Halbert started to whisper to Regnis when Ky finished another bite of his sandwich and stopped me.

    “It’s ok, I don’t have internal injuries or anything like that. No need to get the school nurse.” (Kyle)

    “Eh? Wait, how did you know?” (Zane)

    “Halbert’s whispering wasn’t exactly the most inconspicuous thing, you know. Anyway, like I said, I’m fine. Trust me, if there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s how much of a beating I can take. The headmistress could probably whack me in the head a hundred times using body strengthening magic and I’d still be fine. In fact, I used to get hit in the head much harder on an almost daily basis by someone else.” (Kyle)

    I turned to Halbert and Regnis with a concerned look on my face, and they looked back at me with similar expressions as the three of us mentally agreed on one thing.

    Yep, it’s definitely too late. He already has severe brain damage.

    “Uh, well, since you seem like you’re… mostly intact, I was actually wondering about something. Ky, what exactly is your relationship with the headmistress?” (Zane)

    “Zane, our current relationship can be summed up as superior and subordinate, with me being the unfortunate subordinate. She’s just an abusive witch that holds my salary hostage to make me do as she says. When I got hired, she unofficially made me her personal secretary and pushed off all her paperwork onto me for a week while she slacked off. I didn’t even get paid for it!” (Kyle)

    Tears gushed from Ky’s eyes as he finished the rest of his sandwich before taking a swig from his water bottle. And after a few more minutes of talking about random things, Ky started to clean up.

    “Alright, looks like we’re all done eating. Let’s just get on with class.” (Kyle)

    Ky let out a sigh and returned to his desk with a defeated look on his face as we all threw out our trash from lunch before the classroom quieted down so class could start again.
    [​IMG]
    Royal Academy, Headmistress’ Office (Mari POV)
    [​IMG]
    “Mari, wake up. It’s already sunset.” (Kyle)

    I heard a familiar voice call out to me as some soft shaking slowly woke me up. When the shaking stopped, a light groan left my mouth before I stretched a bit as a small blanket slid off my back. After rubbing my eyes for a bit, I opened them to see a small pile of papers neatly stacked in front of me with Ky behind them in his torn up outfit.

    “Look, I finished all the paperwork, and it’s getting late, so can I go home now.” (Kyle)

    I let out a small yawn and slowly spun around in my chair. A deep breath entered my lungs as I gazed out the window at the beautiful purple sunset outside. After a moment, I finally realized that today was already the second day of the semester as I started to groggily recall what happened earlier.

    After I beat up Ky, he finished the rest of class without any major incidents, but since I was still a little angry, I dragged him back to the office to be my assistant for the rest of the day. It was mostly because I didn’t want to do my paperwork, but I managed to pass it off as some extra punishment for him, and he was the one who offered to do my paperwork anyway, wasn’t he?

    … Well, it looks like he was nice enough to put a blanket on me after I dozed off... but it’s still not enough to forgive him...

    I spun around in my chair to face Ky again with a small mischievous smile as I thought about what else I could make him do.

    “Hey, where do you live, Ky?” (Mari)

    “Over that way. Why?” (Kyle)

    Ky pointed out the window towards the direction of the middle district as he looked at me with a confused look on his face.

    “What a coincidence, I also live in the same direction. You know what, my legs feel a little tired, so you can go home, but carry me home first, Ky. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you which way to go.” (Mari)

    “... Haven’t you tortured me enough already?” (Kyle)

    “Well, you were the one who said you would do anything I want to make it up to me, even carry me home and cook me dinner, weren’t you?” (Mari)

    I got out of my chair with a giggle and opened my arms towards Ky as he let out a defeated sigh before walking over with tears in his eyes, turning around, and kneeling down to give me a piggyback ride. A faint warmth enveloped me when I got on his back, and I leaned my arms over his shoulders to hug his neck for support before unconsciously snuggling into a more comfortable position as I declared the start of my unusual journey back home today.

    “Alright. Onward, Ky!” (Mari)

    ***​

    What the hell was I thinking!?

    The warm evening sunset painted the surroundings a light lavender color as Ky steadily carried me down an almost empty road. The gentle ebb and flow of his footsteps made me shake up and down slightly on his back as I hugged his neck a little tighter and felt the familiar warmth from his back with a burning red face.

    I must have still been half asleep or something when I decided that having Ky give me a piggyback ride home was anything near a good idea. When we started, I didn’t think about it much, but over the course of the last couple of minutes, I finally realized just exactly what I was doing. Here I was, alone with a young man on an empty road at sunset, having him carry me home on his back while I hugged him from behind.

    … W-Well, I guess I never really saw Ky as a man after ordering him around like a lackey so much, but right now I think that I’m a little too aware of it! I mean, he might act stupid sometimes… most of the time, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t a man, and… if I’m going to be completely honest… at least he’s capable when it counts and, when you think about it... he’s even p-pretty good looking...

    I sat there on Ky’s back lost in deep thought for a moment when suddenly, Ky’s voice and an abrupt shake finally snapped me back to reality.

    “... Mari... Mari... Hey, Mari, you there?... Mari!” (Kyle)

    I let out a cute yelp from Ky’s sudden shout as I looked around and realized that we were in front of my house.

    “Mari, you ok?” (Kyle)

    “Y-Yeah, I’m fine.” (Mari)

    I buried my head in his back and put some space in between our bodies as the raging blush on my face spread a little more from my embarrassing yelp. I was about to tell him to let me down when I noticed the rips in his clothes again. They ranged from tiny to ones big enough to fit my whole hand in, and I could even catch a few glimpses of his skin through the bigger ones.

    “Well, we’re here.” (Kyle)

    “Yeah... thanks, Ky.” (Mari)

    I popped my head back up and looked over his shoulder to stare at the front of my house as my voice softened. I hugged his neck a little tighter as the blush reached the tips of my ears.

    “... Hey, by the way… sorry about beating you up earlier. I think I overreacted to your prank a bit too much… So, I’ll find some way to make it up to you later.” (Mari)

    “Eh? It’s fine. At least you apologized. What’s done is done, and I’m already used to getting beaten up anyway, so it’s not much of a difference to me. If you really want to make it up to me, then… just let me teach my class the way I want to.” (Kyle)

    I slowly let go of Ky’s neck as he crouched to let me down in front of the gate to my house, and I stared at him for just a moment before looking away again.

    “Alright, you’re home, so can I please go now? Or do you really want me to cook you dinner too?” (Kyle)

    “You can go now, this is enough... Besides, who would want to eat your terrible cooking anyway?” (Mari)

    I immediately twirled around to hide my blush from Ky, and a gentle evening breeze blew by as I ran over to my front door before fumbling for my keys and quickly opening it. I bolted inside and slammed the door shut behind me with my body before holding my hand to my chest to feel my quickening heartbeat. A moment passed by before I slid down the side of the door onto the ground while letting out a cute whimper.

    “...a-augh…” (Mari)
    [​IMG]
    Solria, Middle District, Outside Mari’s House (Kyle POV)
    [​IMG]
    “You can go now, it’s enough... Besides who would want to eat your terrible cooking anyway?” (Mari)

    Mari twirled around in front of her house and ran inside once I let her down, and I stood there with my blood boiling as every cell in my body screamed at me to go prove her comment about my cooking wrong, but despite the passionate urges from my chef’s soul, I restrained myself after thinking about the consequences for a bit.

    Calm down, Ky, just calm down. You learned from your mistakes last time, didn’t you? You could go up to her door, knock on it, prove her wrong right now, and watch her grovel at your feet for a while, but if you do, you’ll definitely be stuck cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner for her too! Aria already eats enough as it is, you don’t need another mouth to feed!

    I stared at Mari’s house for a moment before taking a deep breath and mechanically making my way back home for dinner as the faint breeze cleared out the humid summer air.
     
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  18. RubberDucky

    RubberDucky Well-Known Member

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    [Chapter 14] Once upon a Time, There Was a Fool Who Feared Change More Than Anything
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    The Goddess of Love’s Divine Domain, Eliza’s House (Eliza POV)
    [​IMG]
    The sound of slurping drowned out Reina’s panicked cries as I sipped the last of my fruit juice through my straw before tossing the empty cup to my side. The straw fell out as the cup rolled around on the floor next to the sofa where I was currently lying down on my side while watching Reina flail her arms around in a panic.

    “W-What do I do now, Lady Eliza!?” (Reina)

    “Calm down, Reina. You definitely poked your aunt with the arrow, right?” (Eliza)

    “Y-Yeah, I went straight to her office after you gave me the arrow and poked her in the arm with it as soon as my professor left the room.” (Reina)

    “Did she fall asleep right after?” (Eliza)

    “S-She did. I just left her there after I poked her too, just like you said.” (Reina)

    “It’ll be fine then. She fell asleep right after you poked her, which means the arrow’s working. It might take a bit to get through her system, but once she wakes up, the arrow should be in full effect within ten minutes.” (Eliza)

    “W-What do I tell my aunt though!? To her, it just looked like I came into her office and stabbed her with an arrow the moment we were alone!” (Reina)

    “Eh, you’ll be fine. Being the absolute genius that I am, I already anticipated that problem with the arrows when I made them, so I had them enchanted with a spell to erase any memories before getting stabbed. All the arrow will do is amplify her innermost feelings, there aren’t even any side effects.” (Eliza)

    “R-Really? That’s great then...” (Reina)

    Eliza held her hand up to her chest and let out a relieved sigh before holding out an arrow in her hands as she stared at me like a cute puppy.

    “What do I do with this arrow now though?” (Reina)

    The simple looking arrow in her hands was on the smaller side, about a foot and a half long, and the original pinkish luster that coated the surface of the arrow was now faint and beginning to dull.

    “Here, just give it to me.” (Eliza)

    I snatched the arrow out of Reina’s hands and threw it behind the sofa into a small wooden box full of dozens of similar looking arrows as I let out a yawn.

    Now, I bet you’re wondering what these arrows are. Well, they were the result of a failed plan to get some new believers a few hundred years back when I was running a little low on faith energy. The arrows were imbued with the natural law of love by yours truly, along with a number of additional smaller effects, and the basic idea was that anyone who got poked with one would have the natural law of love injected into them.

    You see, the natural law of love is one of the milder natural laws, and since people who have good mana control or the ability to manipulate natural laws would be able to sense the injection and expel it, I enchanted the arrows with a spell to erase any memory of getting injected, along with a high-level sleep spell so anyone who got poked would immediately fall asleep to help ease the assimilation of the natural laws of love into their system. The end result was the one time use arrow that Reina just handed back to me.

    By the time the victim wakes up, the injection of natural laws would’ve melded in to the point of being virtually undetectable, and the deepest feelings in their heart towards the first person they see would be amplified for the next 24 hours. Even after the effects of the arrows end, most of them end up with more feelings while trying to chase that after that high again. The level of amplification varies depending on how strong the person getting poked was, but on an average person, it should be around a hundred times.

    And so, you’re probably thinking that this arrow sounds great, why am I not using it more? Well, you see, that’s what I thought too, and I spent a lot of time and effort making the few dozen arrows in the box behind me, but the moment I proudly showed off my creation to Olivia for her ok, she got angry and started ranting about my complete and utter violation of personal rights or some nonsense like that so I just threw them in a box that’s been sitting in storage ever since. I mean, I admit the arrows did kind of force things a little... but Ky told me that if we wanted to get new believers, some more severe measures would have to be taken, and I believe that in times of crisis, petty things like personal rights can be partially ignored.

    Anyway, about two hours ago, Reina came over crying about how she was afraid her aunt was going to kill her professor or something like that, and since Olivia wasn’t here when she came by, it fell onto me, the beautiful and kind Goddess of Love, Eliza Strateous, to help my loyal subordinate. So after rummaging around the closet for a bit, the old box of arrows caught my eye and I bestowed upon my loyal subordinate another divine artifact to aid her in her plight. Judging by what Reina told me about her aunt, she’s a pretty strong magician who’s already on the level of manipulating natural laws, so the arrow’s effect should be largely diluted, but I’m estimating that it’ll still be around ten times amplification. Well, anyway, if she really, truly hates Reina’s professor deep on the inside, there’s not much I can do there, but from what I heard, even when Reina’s professor really pissed her off, he still got out of it relatively unscathed, so my divine intuition as the Goddess of Love is telling me that she kinda likes him on the inside and she’s just too embarrassed to openly express her feelings. As long as Reina’s aunt has even the tiniest bit of goodwill in her innermost feelings, all the arrow’s gonna do is help mend the rift between them. So by giving Reina the arrow, not only am I solving her problem, but I’m also doing my job as a goddess properly and speeding up the development of a possible new relationship. Everything will turn out fine.

    Hmm, I should probably send Reina back now. Her problem is solved already and honestly, I’m feeling kinda sleepy too.

    “So, is there anything else you need help with?” (Eliza)

    “No, this is more than enough. Thank you, Lady Eliza!” (Reina)

    Reina gave me a flustered bow as I stretched my arms out a little on the couch.

    “Alright, then I’ll send you back down. By the way, you said that your professor was going to be alone in the office with your aunt for a while right?” (Eliza)

    “Yeah, I think so.” (Reina)

    “Perfect. All you have to do is make sure that your professor is the first person your aunt sees when she wakes up and everything will be fine, so don’t let anyone else get in or else this whole plan might go down the gutter.” (Eliza)

    “Got it! No one else will get into that office without going through me first!” (Reina)

    Reina gave me a salute with a determined look in her eyes as I slowly got up off the couch and started making my way outside. She followed behind me and once we got to the ritual grounds, I quickly sent her back down to the main plane.

    After going back into the house, I walked by the sofa and stared at the empty cup and straw on the ground for a moment before turning and walking over to my room.

    Well, I should pick up after myself, but I’m pretty tired and Olivia will be back soon anyway, so it’s all good.

    I jumped into my bed and pulled the blanket over myself as its warmth slowly enveloped me. I began to drift off into sleep when suddenly, I remembered something really important that I forgot to mention to Reina about the arrow earlier.

    Ah, wait. Now I remember why I didn’t just ignore Olivia and use the arrows anyway. The person who gets poked will have the natural law of love build up in their body over the course of the day and they need to interact with the first person they see as an outlet or else it might result in permanent brain damage… Eh, Reina’s aunt and professor are co-workers aren’t they? They’ll be in the same place for work tomorrow anyway, I’m sure it’ll be fine.
    [​IMG]
    Royal Academy, Room 207 (Mari POV)
    [​IMG]
    W-What do I do now? Should I just go in and act like nothing happened?... But what do I say to Ky!? Argh!

    I held my head in my hands and furiously shook it back and forth as I hid in the empty hallway near the open door to room 207. My hair was slightly disheveled from the almost sleepless night yesterday hugging my pillow and rolling around in bed for hours while desperately trying to get the fuzzy feelings about Ky out of my head, and I barely even made it to work by noon today.

    I quickly popped my head past the door frame slightly and peeked inside to see Ky leaning back in his chair with a relaxing smile on his face and a book in his hand as the sunlight pouring in through the window illuminated the peaceful scene in the room. I shyly stared at him in silence for another moment as memories of yesterday evening came flooding back into my head again and a slight blush began to form on my face. I immediately ducked back around the corner and leaned against the wall as I held my hand against my chest and closed my eyes while feeling my heart beat rapidly.

    I stood there in silence for a few more minutes as my heartbeat calmed down and I took a deep breath before peeking around the corner again while preemptively plastering an annoyed expression on my face and glaring intensely at Ky, who was starting class again after lunch ended. I saw him freeze up for a moment once I glared at him, and my eyes shone as I saw my opportunity to enter like nothing ever happened.

    Alright! Calm down, Mari. You’re gonna walk into the room and make your way over to Reina like nothing happened at all yesterday, so whatever you do, don’t let anyone know about what happened yesterday night, especially not Ky. Remember, you’re just here to make sure Reina is ok, not for Ky.

    I took another deep breath and nodded to myself in reassurance before straightening my back and proudly walking into the room with a sense of resolve. The sound of my exaggerated footsteps interrupted the class and everyone stared at me walk into the room as I took a quick glance around to take in my surroundings. My legs went into autopilot as my line of sight scanned over the three boys in Ky’s class sitting together on one side of the room before making its way over to Reina sitting together with her friend on the other side of the room, and finally, it came to a stop on the person standing right in front of me, Ky, who was staring at me with a nervous smile on his face. My entire body froze up and I stopped in my tracks as my previous facade of confidence melted away instantly like an ice cube in a fire while sweat poured down my back as I struggled to keep the fake expression plastered on my face.

    Argh! Mari, you idiot, why did you just mindlessly walk towards him!

    I just stared back awkwardly at Ky without a word as my internal screams echoed around in my mind before Ky’s voice brought me back to reality.

    “Uh… hey Mari, what’s up?” (Kyle)
    [​IMG]
    Royal Academy, Room 207 (Kyle POV)
    [​IMG]
    It was a beautiful sunny day in the capital city and I was sitting in my chair waiting to start class again as I passed the remainder of the lunch period reading another cheesy romance novel. The sound of chattering permeated the room and I had a relaxed smile on my face as I basked in the warm sunshine blanketing me. The last few dregs of the lunch period passed by while I relished this rare peaceful moment before I moved my line of sight from my book over to the clock where I saw that it was about time to start class up again. I put my book down before getting up and glancing around the room to see that everyone was ready. For some reason, Mari wasn’t here today, but she probably just had something more important to do.

    “Alright guys, it’s about time to resume cla-” (Kyle)

    The classroom quieted down and I was about to finish my sentence when suddenly I felt an intense glare from behind the door focus on me. I froze up. And out of the corner of my eye, I saw the top of Mari’s head peeking past the door frame as she glared at me ferally like a predator stalking its prey.

    Hey! What did I do this time!? I taught class normally today!

    Her eyes flashed with a sharp glint and she revealed herself from behind the door frame before entering with slightly disheveled hair, messy clothes, and an irritated expression on her face. There was silence as everyone watched her glance around the room and mechanically walk up to me before stopping in her tracks. She stared at me for a moment with blank eyes and cold sweat rolled down my back as my originally relaxed smile started wavering.

    “Uh… hey Mari, what’s up?” (Kyle)

    We stood there in awkward silence for another moment before Mari grabbed my arm with an empty look on her face while I stared back with a mixture of nervousness and confusion.

    “Um… do you need something?” (Kyle)

    “K-Ky, gimme the budgeting book, I need to double check it.” (Mari)

    Crap! Is she onto me!? Did she finally find out about the budget I stole from the weapons department to fix the room!? Or was it the custom-made mithril spatula I used the magic department budget to buy!? Maybe it was even that time last week I used the cafeteria budget to buy groceries! A-Anyway, no matter what it is, I definitely can’t let her have the budgeting book back!

    “Sorry, I, uh, left it at home today. You know what, I’ll give it back to you first thing tomorrow.” (Kyle)

    I could feel my heart rate rising as I gave Mari a panicked smile, but she just tilted her head down so that her hair obscured her face and stared at the ground in silence while still holding onto my arm. I stood there desperately pleading in my head for Mari to just let it go and sit down as even more cold sweat ran down my back.

    After a moment she slowly let go of my arm and walked over to my desk in a hurry, then proceeded to open my satchel and rummage through my belongings before pulling out the budgeting book. She turned around and began to walk over to her usual seat next to Reina when I ran over and grabbed her shoulder to stop her as I used my other hand to snatch the budgeting book out of her hands before giving Mari a nervous laugh.

    “Mari, please don’t invade my privacy like that. This is my... lesson planning notebook. Like I told you I left the budgeting book at home today, so just wait a little bit, and I’ll give it back to you tomorrow.” (Kyle)

    A few seconds passed as I slowly let go of her, but the moment my arm completely let go of her, I caught a glimpse of her shaky smile as she twirled around and jumped for the budgeting book in my hand. I immediately threw the book behind her towards the boys where Halbert accidentally caught it in a panic.

    Damn it, looks like she won’t just let this one go. Sorry kids, but I guess class is postponed today. I’ll have to get Mari as far away as possible and keep her busy for a while until I can find a chance to sneak back and hide the book somewhere!

    “Halbert, take that book and run for your life! It doesn’t matter what you do with it, just keep it away from the headmistress!” (Kyle)

    “Eh!? What!?” (Halbert)

    He fumbled around with it in his hands as I hugged Mari tightly to hold her back before a few light green magic circles appeared between me and Mari. A large blast of air separated me from her and I helplessly flew backward into the wall as Mari ran up to Halbert, quickly snatching the budgeting book from his hands before making her way over to Reina’s side, sitting down, and opening the book.

    Crap! I’m done for! She’ll kill me after she finds out what I actually did with the budget!

    I slammed my fists against the floor in reluctant defeat for a few seconds before letting out a depressed sigh as I slowly got up off the floor under the confused looks of my students and restarted class for what could very well be my last day teaching.
    [​IMG]
    Royal Academy, Room 207 (Mari POV)
    [​IMG]
    I gave Reina a shaky goodbye as all the students in Ky’s class began to leave the room. It was well into the afternoon now and Ky was sitting dejectedly at his desk while I stayed in my seat. I slightly lowered the budgeting notebook that I was using to shield my red face before sneaking another glance at Ky as memories of his sudden hug from earlier ran through my head.

    In my panic, I tried to ask for the budgeting book as a cover, but Ky wouldn’t give it to me for some reason so I ended up having to take it by force. After that, Ky just went over a few low-level alchemy circles and I jittered around in my seat pretending to go over the budgeting book while secretly watching him.

    S-So now what do I do?... Class is over. Should I head back to my office?

    I held the book up to cover my face again as I stared down at the table in front of me. I shook my head a little to calm myself down. It rubbed against the pages of the budgeting notebook as I contemplated whether or not I should just take the rest of the day off when suddenly the sound of Ky’s voice made my heart skip a beat.

    “... Alright Mari, now I know you’re probably really angry about my blatant abuse of the budget, but I’m genuinely sorry this time. You can fire me if you want to and I’m even fine with paying back the money I embezzled from the budget, but whatever you do please don’t make me give up Neo-Excalibur! I’m not gonna lose another one, not after the terrible fate that Excalibur the First met!” (Kyle)

    I let out a small, surprised yelp and lifted my head up to see Ky bowing down in front of me with tears in his eyes. I desperately tried to contain the raging blush on my face as my heart rate immediately sped up and everything Ky said flew straight out of my head. A moment passed by as I stared at him in silence while the blush on my face reddened even more, but eventually, Ky realized I wasn’t saying anything and raised his head.

    “Come on, at least say something, Mari! Just tell me, what’s my punishment!?” (Kyle)

    We made eye contact for a split second before I immediately averted my eyes and the budgeting book in my hands shot back up to conceal my face again.

    P-Punishment? W-What is he talking about?

    “W-Why would I punish you?” (Mari)

    For some reason, there was complete silence after I finished speaking, and I sat there awkwardly for a moment, hiding behind the budgeting book before Ky suddenly grabbed it out of my hands. I immediately scrambled to try and get it back, but he held it up high out of my reach and I raised my head to find Ky’s concerned face just inches away from my own.

    “Mari, are you ok?” (Kyle)

    I froze up as he stared intensely at me. The blush on my face frantically spread to the tips of my ears as I desperately thought about how to get away and after a moment, I tried to tell him that I was fine, but the only sound that came out of my mouth was a whimper as I felt my brain slowly melting into mush.

    “...a-augh…” (Mari)

    Ky put the budgeting notebook down on the table next to me and held his hand against my forehead as my face started burning up so much that I thought steam would start coming out of my ears. I felt my heart almost leap out of my chest as the anxiety and embarrassment mixed together with the fuzzy feelings to make all my blood rush to my face. We stood there in awkward silence for another moment before Ky walked around the desk and picked me up in a princess carry without a word.

    W-W-What are you doing!? Stop it, Ky! My heart can’t take this much longer!

    My brain was fried at this point as all I could do was barely cover my furiously blushing face with my hands while Ky carried me down the hallway. Faint warmth radiated from Ky’s body as I unconsciously snuggled closer and the only thing my brain was telling me at this point was that it hoped this moment would last forever, but after a few minutes I heard the sound of a door opening and we entered into a room as Ky called out in a serious voice.

    “Excuse me, is the school nurse here?” (Kyle)

    I opened the gaps between my fingers a little and looked around as I realized that we were in the nurse’s office before another voice answered Ky and a middle-aged lady, the school nurse, Miss Sirona, walked out from around the corner.

    “Yes, that would be me, what’s the problem?” (Miss Sirona)

    “Please take a look at the headmistress, there’s definitely something wrong with her!” (Kyle)

    Ky walked over to an infirmary bed and gently placed me down before Miss Sirona walked over to me with a serious face. Both of them stared at me for a few seconds before she closed the curtain around the bed to speak to Ky, but I could still hear the sound of their voices even from behind the curtain.

    “Looks like she had a good amount of blood rush to her head. It might have given her some pretty bad vertigo. Do you know when the symptoms first started showing up?” (Miss Sirona)

    “I’m not sure when it started, but I brought her here immediately after seeing how red her face was. Her forehead was burning up and there was even a moment when it seemed like she couldn’t speak properly.” (Kyle)

    “What did she do?” (Miss Sirona)

    “I don’t know. She was just sitting and reading through a book for the last few hours.” (Kyle)

    The sound of their voices droned on for a while as they discussed my symptoms while my heart rate finally began to return to normal. I took a deep breath before burying my face in the pillow to cool my head down as I rolled around on the cold sheets and let out a light squeal. The freshly made memory of Ky princess carrying me swirled around in my head, and I desperately tried to clear out of my mind when the sound of the curtains opening caught my attention. I looked up to see Miss Sirona holding an ice pack. She put it against my forehead and stared intently at my face again for a moment before the curtains were closed again.

    “Hmm, it seems like she’s calmed down a little. Well, it’s probably not too serious if she was able to recover so fast. I would recommend just letting her rest quietly for a bit and checking up on her again in an hour or two.” (Miss Sirona)

    “Alright.” (Kyle)

    After that, I heard the sound of the door shutting and silence returned to the nurse’s office again.

    ***​

    About an hour has passed since Ky left the nurse’s office, and I think my heart has finally settled down, enough for me to face reality again at least. And I’ve been laying here in silence ever since. I’ve had a while to reorganize my thoughts, but no matter what I did, I just couldn’t get Ky out of my head. He was just sitting there in the back of my mind. I let out a depressed sigh and hugged the pillow a bit tighter before quietly muttering to myself as mixed feelings spun around in my heart whenever I thought about my relationship with Ky.

    “... What am I doing?...” (Mari)

    Why am I getting so flustered?... Let’s be real, a relationship between me and Ky would never work out. What have I actually done for him except take advantage of our positions to make him help me? To him, I’m probably just an annoying, abusive boss...

    And without our connection from work, we have nothing. We’re from two different worlds.

    I’m the Grand Mage of Wind, a pillar of the Raidion Empire and a high ranking noble, while he’s just a manaless commoner who has a bit of skill in activating rocks. We could never be together...

    … These feelings inside me make me sick... They’re too warm… warm enough that I’m afraid I’ll lose myself to them one day. Like a special kind of sweet, the kind that you can’t help but crave, even when reason tells you not to. And deep down inside, I admit that there’s a part of me that wants nothing more than to drown in that sea of tenderness, to feel the euphoria for even just a moment, but even more than that, I’m afraid. I’m afraid of the pain that comes after that moment of happiness. I might feel this way, but Ky probably doesn’t, and then... what will I be left with?

    Even if by some miracle he feels the same way too, even if by some miracle we can ignore our status, I’ve seen enough to know that there are some things that love just can’t conquer... After all, we can’t change fate. I’m an elf... and he’s a human. He might be young now, but how long will I really be able to feel his warmth? How long will I be able to feel that happiness? Eighty, maybe ninety years if he’s lucky? Maybe I’ll be holding his hand on his deathbed while still looking just like I do today. Then after those blissful days, all I’ll have to myself is painful memories and a broken heart.

    I moved my hand to cover my chest and felt my now steady heartbeat as reality finally shattered my daydreams like fragile glass. It was like the world around me became colder all of a sudden, and the colors faded a bit as I laid there wallowing in my depressive episode. I turned myself over to my left as I saw the sunlight shining in through the windows project a hazy light onto the curtains and thoughts about how to lock away my feelings forever meandered their way through my head.

    Then, I heard the door to the nurse’s office open again.

    Faint footsteps sounded out before the curtain behind me was opened. My heart leaped out of my chest for a moment as Ky called out to me with a worried voice.

    “How are you feeling, Mari? The nurse told me you were looking a lot better when she checked up on you again a little bit ago.” (Kyle)

    I desperately suppressed the surge of emotions rocking my heart as I continued to face away from Ky while answering him with a wistful tone in my voice.

    “Yeah, I’m feeling a lot better...” (Mari)

    There was a moment of silence as Ky stood there before letting out a sigh and sitting down on the bed behind me before speaking to me softly.

    “Alright, what’s wrong?” (Kyle)

    “What do you mean?” (Mari)

    “Do you think I’m an idiot?... Er, actually, let me rephrase that... I can tell from your tone, there’s obviously something wrong. Normally you would have nothing except absolute confidence in your voice, and admittedly it’s leaning slightly towards an arrogant kind of confidence, but still, it’s a familiar confidence. So maybe it's the borderline Stockholm syndrome in me speaking up, but even though I might complain all the time, I have to admit, you’re someone who can definitely back up that confidence. And the truth is… your voice is one that I‘ve come to kind of enjoy hearing every day. So just tell me what’s wrong... Tell me so I can help you... And, at least for me, I would consider us friends, so if you feel like it’s something you don’t want to tell your employee, Professor Kyle... well, then I hope you can at least tell your friend, Ky.” (Kyle)

    A wave of emotion shook me as Ky’s tender voice made just a bit of the warmth and color come back, and after a moment, my quiet voice broke the silence.

    “... Hey, Ky, what would you do if there was someone in your life that you loved, someone that you wished you could always stand next to, but it was that exact same person who you knew that you could never be with?” (Mari)

    “Hmm, well, I do know a self-proclaimed expert in this subject, but in my experience with her, she’s always caused more trouble instead of helping, so I guess this time, I’ll let you know what I think.” (Kyle)

    Then there was silence again before a voice tinged with a mixture of nostalgia and melancholy gently rang out.

    “... Let me tell you an old story, Mari. Once upon a time, there was a fool who feared change more than anything. And one day, that fool fell in love... He held his love in his heart, hid it deep from the outside world, but eventually, the fool lost even that small joy he had kept to himself. The woman he loved died in his arms and the fool blamed himself... So perhaps he yearned to feel that feeble sense of happiness again, or perhaps it was his way of coping with his laments, but the fool set out to try and reverse the change that he feared so much. He did a lot of terrible things and drove away all but one person in his twisted attempt to change fate. But ultimately, there was nothing waiting for him at the end of his path. Nothing except a cold, desolate emptiness... And it was then that he turned around to see what he had done... the pain and suffering he had caused, the realization of what he had become, and finally, he saw the last person in the world who cared about him. The fool fell to his knees, a hollow shell of who he once was as he talked to that person one final time and saw that the fool himself was the one who changed. The fool told the other person to kill him, but... the other person spared the fool. He left the fool to atone for his own sins. And the two eventually went their separate ways again... Time passed, and the fool finally found happiness again. But he knew better than anyone that he didn’t deserve that warmth, that he could never be with them. And so, he became content with just staying next to the people he cared about. The fool finally understood that no matter how much he dreaded it, change would always come, so he decided that instead of trying to stop the change, he would just accept it. He would watch over the people he loved until the end... whether that be theirs or his...” (Kyle)

    Ky ended his story with a slightly remorseful tone as silence returned to the nurse’s office. We sat there without a word before I spoke quietly again.

    “... Ky, you-” (Mari)

    But before I could ask, Ky cut me off.

    “So you know what, Mari? I think that just being next to the people you care about is more than enough. If you truly can’t ever be together, then just stay by their side until the end... I'm sure they'll cherish your company.” (Kyle)

    “... Yeah... Thanks, Ky.” (Mari)

    A tenderness washed away the mixed feelings in my heart and after a few seconds I slowly sat up in the infirmary bed before turning to face Ky with a gentle smile on my face.

    You’re right, if we truly can’t ever be together... then just staying by your side until the end is enough... But still, I can’t just forget about this fuzzy feeling in my heart so easily, so you know what? This time, I think I’ll be a little selfish and reach for just a bit more...

    “Hey, Ky, I think I’m gonna take the rest of the day off, but I’m still feeling a bit dizzy from all the blood rushing to my head earlier, so... could you do me a favor and carry me back home again?” (Mari)

    “Again!?” (Kyle)

    Ky’s face quickly morphed from a bittersweet smile to a tired expression and he let out another sigh as I let out a few cute giggles.

    “Yeah! Sorry, Ky.” (Mari)
    [​IMG]
    Middle District, Irisveil Mansion (Kyle POV)
    [​IMG]
    The sound of sizzling echoed throughout the kitchen as I poured a small amount of oil into the skillet on the stove in front of me while cheerfully humming a tune. I came home approximately two hours ago after piggybacking Mari back to her house again, and it was currently about time to start cooking dinner. I looked past the raw, handmade hamburger patties on the counter, through the entrance to the kitchen, and into the living room to see my bag on top of the coffee table right next to a certain budgeting notebook that I was able to ‘resecure’ from the classroom a while ago.

    Sorry, Mari. I don’t know what happened to you today, but you were stuck in the nurse’s office and you obviously didn’t read the budgeting notebook, so how could I not take such a great chance to save my job. I’ll give the budgeting notebook right back to you tomorrow morning with some inconspicuous charges written down in lieu of my, ahem, questionable purchases.

    Don’t worry my dear Neo-Excalibur, you’re not going anywhere! I’ll make sure you stay safe and sound! I’m sure it’s what Excalibur the First would have wanted.

    I rubbed the shiny metal spatula, which gleamed with a slightly bluish tint, against my cheek with a blissful smile on my face when suddenly, I heard the sound of the door opening.

    “Ky, I’m home!” (Aria)

    Aria’s voice called out to me and I popped my head past the kitchen entrance to see her taking off her shoes by the door with a slightly worn out expression on her face.

    “Welcome back, I’ll be finished with dinner in a few minutes. Tonight we’re gonna have some homemade hamburgers.” (Kyle)

    “Ok. Oh, by the way, are you doing anything this weekend?” (Aria)

    “This weekend? No, why?” (Kyle)

    “I might need your help picking up some things from the blacksmith. I put in an order a while ago for some stuff we needed at the squad barracks, and I just got confirmation yesterday that everything would be ready by this weekend.” (Aria)

    “Eh? Sure, no problem.” (Kyle)

    “Thanks, Ky!” (Aria)

    Aria flashed a cheerful smile at me before she walked over to the couch and sat down with a sigh of relief while I popped my head back into the kitchen and plopped the patties onto the skillet as a loud sizzle and the smell of hamburgers spread through the house.
     
    Last edited: Nov 15, 2019
    sakuratemple likes this.
  19. RubberDucky

    RubberDucky Well-Known Member

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    [Chapter 15] You Can Grow out of Hobbies, but Terrible Fashion Sense Is for Life
    [​IMG]
    Solria, Shopping District (Kyle POV)
    [​IMG]
    The hustle and bustle of the capital city surrounded me and Aria on this lazy summer morning as we slowly made our way through the streets of the shopping district. It’s been a few days since the whole fiasco with the budgeting notebook, and I’ve already handed a notebook with some perfectly reasonable ‘expenses’ back to Mari, who seemed to be all better after that day. The rest of the week passed by peacefully as I went over a few more basic elemental magic circles with the class.

    Today though, I’m helping Aria pick up some supplies from the blacksmith.

    She was dressed casually in a light blue blouse and brown pants while I was just dressed the same way as always, but as we made our way down the street together, I noticed that a couple of people glanced over at Aria every now and then like they had something to say. They all just turned away after staring for a few moments though, so after thinking about it for a second, I turned to Aria with a confused look on my face.

    “Hey, Aria, now that I think about it, aren’t you supposed to be pretty famous? After all, you are a Knight Captain. Normally, everyone would either be avoiding us like they did in Delhurst or swarming you to get your autograph or something, but there are only a few people even noticing your presence.” (Kyle)

    “Well, I haven’t made much of a public appearance yet. I stay in the barracks all day for work, so the only people who know that I’m the new Knight Captain are the nobles who were at the ceremony when I was appointed and the rest of the knights. The public probably only knows bits and pieces of how I look from rumors, and I don’t have my uniform on today, so I doubt anyone will recognize me. Anyway, look, we’re almost there, The blacksmith is just up ahead. Come on, Ky!” (Aria)

    Aria gave me a short laugh before she grabbed my hand with a beaming smile on her face and started to pull me along with her to a smithy on the side of the road. A few seconds passed before she stopped under a small sign board hanging from a wooden beam. ‘The Ironclad Forge’ was engraved on the sign board and the front of the building was made of bricks and stone with a large chimney above pouring out smoke. The sound of metal banging against metal was faintly ringing out from inside as Aria softly let go of my hand and stood there for a moment before opening the door and barging into the shop. I walked in behind her as a blast of heat hit my face while her voice echoed around the shop.

    “Uncle Grayhill, are you there? It’s me, Aria. I’m here to pick up my order.” (Aria)

    I stared inside the shop where I saw several gleaming weapons ranging from swords and spears to axes and shields lined up against the walls next to a few mannequins with armor on them. A few of the weapons and pieces of armor even gleamed with colorful lusters indicating that they were made of precious materials like mithril or orichalcum. There was a large, unmanned counter directly across from the entrance, and behind the counter, there was an open door to a large forge room with quite a rare sight around these parts standing in it. Inside was a dwarf. He was stereotypically short, only looking like he was a little over two-thirds of my own height, and a ruffled mound of dark orange hair sat on top of his head to which a large beard, braided into a knot at the bottom, was attached.

    You see, the Raidion Empire, being situated close to the border of the Elven forests, has a population mostly made up of humans and a few elves, but since it’s not too geographically close to the kingdoms of many other races, such as the dwarves or the beastmen, any trade or interaction between them is few and far between. As a result, races besides humans and elves tend to be somewhat rare in the Empire.

    The dwarf seemed to be in the middle of forging something as he hammered a piece of red-hot metal on top of an anvil, but once he heard Aria’s voice, he stopped and looked up at her with a smile as he called out from the other room.

    “Oh, it’s you, lassie. You’re pretty cheery today, ain'tcha? Anyway, your commission and the rest of the order’s in the back. Just park your carriage outside, I’ll even help ya load it up.”

    “It’s ok, you don’t need to help me load it up, I don’t have a carriage anyway.” (Aria)

    “Eh? Then how are ya gonna haul all this over? There’s no way you can move all this by hand.”

    “That’s what he’s here for.” (Aria)

    Aria grinned at the dwarf before stepping aside and pointing to me standing behind her as the dwarf quickly quenched the piece of hot metal he was working on in a water basin next to him before placing it back on the anvil and coming out of the forge room. He stood behind the counter and glanced at me with a confused look on his face before scanning me up and down and turning back to Aria with an even more confused look on his face.

    “You can’t be serious, lassie. You’ve got about four full boxes of equipment, includin’ your new blade. You might be able to carry two, but just look at him, he’s got no muscle! I doubt he’ll even be able to carry one!”

    “Don’t worry, if there’s anything he’s good for, it’s carrying stuff. He might not look like it, but I guarantee you, he could carry it all if he wanted to. He’s a genuine freak of nature.” (Aria)

    “... That freak of nature is standing right here, you know.” (Kyle)

    I slouched a bit and turned to the dwarf with a defeated look on my face before letting out a despondent sigh. Aria laughed a bit and turned around to face me before introducing me to the dwarf.

    “Ky, this is Uncle Grayhill. He was a good friend of my father, and he’s been smithing for the House of Irisveil before I was even born.” (Aria)

    The dwarf turned to me with a hearty laugh before taking off his gloves and extending his hand towards me for a handshake.

    “Nice to meet ya boy, the name’s Boerand Grayhill, but since you’re the lassie’s friend, you can just call me Uncle Grayhill.” (Uncle Grayhill)

    “Nice to meet you too, Uncle Grayhill. I’m Kyle.” (Kyle)

    I reached out with my hand to accept his handshake and we shook firmly for a moment before he came out from behind the counter.

    “Well, if you’re sure you can carry it all, follow me to the back then, I’ll at least box everything up for ya.” (Uncle Grayhill)

    Uncle Grayhill led us through another door to the right side of the counter, and we entered a hallway which led to a large storage room behind the store. The sunlight gleaming in through the windows illuminated the dozens of weapons and pieces of armor littered everywhere. Wherever you looked there was a box of swords or a full set of armor there and I called out to Uncle Grayhill as he walked down further into the storage room.

    “Wow, there’s a lot. Did you make everything here?” (Kyle)

    “Well, most of these are just failed or unsold products that I’ve gathered up over the years, but yeah, a majority of it was made by me. Anythin’ else is either something that’s been pawned off to me or the work of my apprentice, Lucas. The boy can be a strange one sometimes, but his talent for smithin’s definitely no joke. Smithin’s in my blood, but the boy’s not even a dwarf and he’s still three times as good as I was at his age.” (Uncle Grayhill)

    I stared around again at the piles of metal as Aria’s voice sounded out from behind us.

    “Speaking of which, where’s Lucas? He wasn’t at the counter today.” (Aria)

    “Well, today’s been a real slow day, and I was at the forge anyway, so I let the boy take a break. He’s probably just out back messin’ around again. Here, I’ll call him over.” (Uncle Grayhill)

    Uncle Grayhill walked over to a window at the end of the room, opened it up, and stuck his head out before yelling for his apprentice to come.

    “Lucas, where are ya!? We have some guests over!” (Uncle Grayhill)

    “Who is it?”

    The voice of a young boy answered Uncle Grayhill’s, and a moment later, the back door of the storage room burst open to reveal a young boy holding a small hammer. He looked like he was about fourteen or fifteen years old with blue eyes and short brown hair. A pair of goggles sat on top of his head and he was dressed in a brown leather apron with similarly colored leather gloves on his hands. He glanced around the room for a moment, before his eyes lit up as he saw Aria.

    “Miss Aria! Welcome back! How are you?”

    “I’m fine, how are you, Lucas?” (Aria)

    “I’m doing great! So, what are you here for today, Miss Aria? Just say the word and I’ll be on it!” (Lucas)

    Lucas ran over with an excited smile on his face as Uncle Grayhill closed the window and turned to him with a sigh.

    “Boy, stop botherin’ the lassie, she’s just here to pick up her order.” (Uncle Grayhill)

    “Oh, the order! Alright, where did you park your carriage? I’ll help you load it up right now!” (Lucas)

    “She ain’t got no carriage, boy.” (Uncle Grayhill)

    “No carriage? Then how are you gonna move all this equipment? You’re not gonna carry it all the way are you?” (Lucas)

    Lucas turned to Aria with a puzzled look on his face before Uncle Grayhill came over and pulled him back by the collar as he pointed over to me standing by the side.

    “The lassie ain’t movin’ it all by herself. She’s got help.” (Uncle Grayhill)

    Lucas stared at me like he finally noticed I was even there as I smiled back at him and waved while Aria walked over to my side and introduced me.

    “Lucas, this is my friend. He’s here to help me pick up my order.” (Aria)

    “Hi there, nice to meet you, Lucas. My name’s Kyle, but you can just call me Ky.” (Kyle)

    There was silence for a moment as he glanced back and forth between me and Aria while Uncle Grayhill slowly let go of his collar. Lucas crossed his arms and slowly walked over to me as he looked away with an irritated expression before turning to Aria.

    “Tsk, look at how slim he is, I bet he couldn’t even lift one box. If you need someone to help you carry this all, Miss Aria, let a real man help, like me! I don’t care if it takes the whole day, I’ll get all this stuff wherever you want it!” (Lucas)

    Oi, listen here you little brat! I came here out of the kindness of my heart to help Aria move all this stuff, and I don’t need your condescending attitude along with it! You need to learn to respect your elders more!

    I turned to Uncle Grayhill with an annoyed expression on my face as we stood there together and watched Lucas fawn over Aria while she tried to no avail to turn down his offer to help.

    “Is he always this rude?” (Kyle)

    “Aye, sorry about that, the boy’s got a bit of a fancy for the lassie. Every time she comes over, he drops everythin’ he’s got and runs over. The boy’s just rude cause he wants her attention, he doesn’t really mean it, so forgive him this time, won'tcha?” (Uncle Grayhill)

    Uncle Grayhill gave me a hearty chuckle as I let out a sigh before repressing my anger. After a moment, it seemed like Aria finally got it through to Lucas that she didn’t need his help, and Uncle Grayhill walked over to a corner of the room where a few large boxes of assorted blades and armor were sitting on the floor next to a large, sheathed greatsword leaning against the wall. There were about a dozen longswords and a few daggers in one of the boxes, and another one had a small metal chest plate with some light arm and leg guards in it, whereas the last two had a cover on top. Uncle Grayhill picked up the sheathed greatsword carefully before handing it over to Aria with a smile.

    “Alright lassie, here’s your new blade.” (Uncle Grayhill)

    Aria walked over before gently picking up the large greatsword, and despite it being such a large blade, there was an air of elegance to it as Aria slowly unsheathed it. The full sword was about the same size as her previous one, and it was a light steel color which gleamed with a reddish tint, indicating that it was at the very least made of an alloy with a large percentage of orichalcum if not completely made of it. The edges of the blade were razor sharp, and it had an inscription, which consisted of Aria’s name and the Irisveil family crest, running along the flat of the blade. The sunlight shining through the window reflected off the blade as Aria held it in her hands and took a few practice swings in the air before turning around to face a grinning Uncle Grayhill.

    “So, how do ya like it, lassie? It’s a beauty, ain’t it? Your last one was probably one of my best works, so when you told me it broke, my old bones got fired up again. The boy and I took a whole month to make this one special, and this time, I can definitely tell you that this is my greatest masterpiece. Right now, it might not be too impressive in anything ‘cept how tough and sharp it is, but once you get some enchantments on it, you’ll be holdin’ one of the best swords in the Empire!” (Uncle Grayhill)

    “That’s right, Miss Aria. Your new sword is definitely the toughest blade I’ve ever seen, the entire thing is made completely out of pure orichalcum.” (Lucas)

    “Yeah, it’s perfect! Thanks, you two!” (Aria)

    “Look, I even engraved the blade with your name and family crest. Here, let me show you.” (Lucas)

    “Alright, that’s enough, boy. Why don’t you come with me to go get the nails so we can close up the rest of these boxes? Let the lassie check out her new blade in peace.” (Uncle Grayhill)

    Uncle Grayhill grabbed Lucas by the collar again and dragged him off to the front of the shop as I walked over to Aria, who got into a stance and took a few more practice swings before sheathing her sword.

    “Wait, where did you get the money to buy all this orichalcum?” (Kyle)

    “I didn’t. The Captain of the 12th Squad returned to the capital about three months ago and her cousin is one of the knights in the 7th squad, so she heard about how my previous sword broke during our fight with the dragon and gave me a bunch of orichalcum to forge a new blade as a late welcome gift.” (Aria)

    “Who just gives out this much orichalcum as a gift!?” (Kyle)

    “Well, she’s the head of one of the richest families in the Empire, the House of Leonora, so it was basically a drop in the bucket for her. This isn’t even all of it. There was a little bit left over after the sword was made, so I gave the rest of it to Uncle Grayhill as payment for forging my new sword, but he told me it was too much and threw in all this extra equipment.” (Aria)

    “Why didn’t you tell me? We could’ve just paid him with money for the new sword, then sold the rest of that orichalcum to pay the bills! More new equipment is nice, but our primary concern should be putting food on the table!” (Kyle)

    “We’re doing just fine, aren’t we? It’s not like we’re in debt or anything.”(Aria)

    “Just because we’re not technically in debt doesn’t mean our finances are great. Until recently, we were just barely getting by. We don’t even have any savings right now. How are you gonna manage your finances if you keep spending everything you get on stuff like this?” (Kyle)

    “Well, I don’t need to manage my finances, do I? That’s what you’re here for. I mean you did it before when we were in Delhurst, so what’s the difference now? Besides, it’s not like we desperately need money for anything right now, and what’s done is done.” (Aria)

    Aria let out a cheerful laugh and grinned at me as I sighed and facepalmed.

    “Anyway, I thought you got a new sword after you got appointed as a captain, but obviously you didn’t, so if you didn’t have a sword, what have you been using until now?” (Kyle)

    “Eh? Well… I’ve just been using a practice sword that I borrowed. It’s dull on the edges, but it’s made out of metal at least. And since all I do is train with the rest of the knight squad, it’s been enough to get the job done so far.” (Aria)

    I stared at Aria with a look of disbelief on my face as she told me about how she’s been using a practice sword for the past few months with an embarrassed blush.

    “Even if it isn’t made of the most high-quality material, I’m sure that just a normal steel greatsword from a decent blacksmith’s shop would’ve been better than a practice sword! I could’ve at least gotten you one of those to use until your new sword was ready. How am I supposed to know you need something if you don’t tell me?” (Kyle)

    “Well, of course you didn’t know, it’s not like you ever ask me about work. You haven’t even been to barracks again since the day we moved everything in. Hmph.” (Aria)

    Aria looked away from me with a cute pout on her face as she crossed her arms and hugged her new greatsword while I let out another sigh.

    “Alright, I’m sorry for never asking you about work, ok? So, before we go to the barracks, let me just ask you right now, is everything else going fine at the barracks? Let me know if you need something and we can pick it up on the way there.” (Kyle)

    “Nope, we don’t really need anything else, everything besides my equipment has been in tip-top shape. Thanks for finally asking though, Ky.” (Aria)

    Aria gave me a satisfied grin as the sound of the door opening behind us caught my attention. I turned around to see Uncle Grayhill walk in holding a couple of large nails and a hammer in his hands while Lucas followed behind him with some rope.

    “Alright, lassie, just give me a minute to nail up these boxes, and you’ll be good to go.” (Uncle Grayhill)

    Aria and I stepped aside as Uncle Grayhill walked over and started nailing the boxes shut. A few moments passed as the sound of Lucas chatting with Aria was drowned out by the banging of a hammer and I took a closer look around at the various items around the storage room before a hint of red amidst the sea of silver caught my eye. Amongst the dozens of weapons which blended in with the similarly colored armor, there was something that vaguely looked like a long red piece of cloth laying flat on top of a metal table. I stared at it for a moment with interest before turning to Uncle Grayhill and asking him about it.

    “Hey, what’s that sitting on the table over there?” (Kyle)

    “Hmm? Oh, that. It’s just one of the boy’s strange creations again, he’s always making these random knick-knacks. A while ago, I gave him a small chunk of the leftover orichalcum from the lassie’s blade to play with and a few days later he made that thing. I put it out front for a few days after the boy begged me to, but like I told him, no one would buy that piece of junk. I can’t even melt it down again because of the way he made it, so now it’s just taking up space. I’ve been meanin’ to throw it out, but the boy insists on keepin’ it. Actually, why don'tcha just ask the boy yourself? Hey boy, the laddie here’s interested in your work! Why don'tcha show him what ya made?” (Uncle Grayhill)

    Lucas walked over with an annoyed expression on his face before asking me what I was interested in.

    “So, what do you want to know about?” (Lucas)

    The tone of his voice irked me a bit, but I took a deep breath and managed to let it go as Uncle Grayhill’s voice sounded out again.

    “I can’t believe it, but the red thing you made caught the laddie’s eye.” (Uncle Grayhill)

    “Really!? See Uncle Grayhill? I told you someone would be interested in it! That coat is definitely a masterpiece!” (Lucas)

    Lucas’ attitude instantly transformed into excitement and he gave an enthusiastic smile to Uncle Grayhill as a passionate twinkle appeared in his eyes before he turned over to me with a newfound friendliness.

    “Ky, right? Follow me, I’ll show you what I made.” (Lucas)

    Lucas ran over to the table as I awkwardly followed behind him to get a closer look at the coat. The coat itself was a slightly dark, reddish color with several streaks of straight white running along the edges, forming a cool design. A small trim of soft white fur lined the collar and bottom edge while a few black leather belts sticking out at angles around the waist and chest area functioned as a substitute for buttons to hold the coat closed.

    Argh! Stop it, Ky, you’re better than this! Don’t let your inner chuuni take over! I know it looks really cool, but resist your urges! Remember the consequences! You know better than anyone that you definitely can’t be seen in public wearing something like this. Not again. And anyway, what would you even do with something like this? You’re a professor at the Royal Academy for god’s sake, not a cosplayer! It’s still summer too, so there’s absolutely no use for a coat right now!

    I stood there for a moment staring at the long coat with a dazed look in my eyes as I mentally struggled against my inner edgelord before Lucas turned around to me with a beaming grin on his face and a zealous glint in his eyes.

    “So, what do you think, Ky? Isn’t it super cool?” (Lucas)

    “Goddammit, I guess this is my limit, huh? I can’t hold it in anymore, I can’t deny my true self. You’re right, it’s so damn cool!” (Kyle)

    The passionate flames in Lucas’ eyes went on full blast as the conclusion of my inner turmoil resulted in my inner edgelord finally awakening again from its long slumber.

    “I know right! It took me months to draw the blueprints. Just look at the colors and design! The entire thing is made of a special alloy fabric infused with the perfect amount of orichalcum to give it this deep red color and the white outlines are made of cloth mixed with snow iron from the north! The fur lining the edges is from a frost ferret and the belts are even made of dread boar leather. But even though the thing I’m most proud of is the style, the coat isn’t just looks either! Because of how I made the alloy fabric, the whole thing is tougher than steel armor while still being as flexible as a normal coat!” (Lucas)

    Lucas rambled to me about the different features of the coat and how it was made with a fervent tone as I listened to him intently before Uncle Grayhill walked over to us and sighed.

    “Well laddie, I don’t know how the tacky design hasn’t put you off yet, but let me be straight with ya. The boy’s coat might be tough, but that’s because the boy made the material so dense! The whole thing’s practically made of metal, and even though it’s stronger than most steel plate armor, it’s also about three times as heavy! Even if ya managed to put it on, you’d barely be able to move! And anyway, it’s still summer. You’d probably be roasted to death standin’ out in the sun with that coat on. There’s a reason nobody bought it when I put it on display out front.” (Uncle Grayhill)

    “A coat three times as heavy as steel armor? That is probably the single most impractical thing I’ve ever heard in my life… I’ll take it.” (Kyle)

    I pulled out my wallet as Uncle Grayhill gave me a look of disbelief and Lucas pumped his fist up in the air with a cheer.

    “I knew someone would want it! Everyone who ignored it before just didn’t understand my vision! Alright Ky, you know what, I won’t even charge you, you can have it for free.” (Lucas)

    “Really? I can pay, you know? It wouldn’t feel right just taking it from you after you worked on it for so long.” (Kyle)

    “It’s ok. Uncle Grayhill’s been trying to throw it out anyway, so I’d rather give it to someone who truly understands and appreciates my work than have it sit in a trash heap somewhere. I’ll even adjust it for you if I need to, so try it on and see if it fits. Just think of it as my gift to a new friend!” (Lucas)

    “Well, if you say so. I guess I owe you one then, Lucas. If you ever need anything, just let me know!” (Kyle)

    I gave a friendly grin and held out my hand as Lucas and I bumped fists before Uncle Grayhill sighed at both of us.

    “Well, since the boy seems willin’, knock yourself out, laddie, but you might need to trim off some of it to make it lighter if you wanna use it” (Uncle Grayhill)

    “Eh? I don’t think it’ll be that bad. Let me see.” (Kyle)

    I walked over to the front of the table and grabbed the coat by the collar before lifting it up with one hand. It was a little weighty at first, but after adjusting the amount of strength in my arm, I picked up the coat relatively easily and held it in front of me. After staring at it for a moment, I grabbed it with both hands and waved it around a bit to air out the coat before trying it on. The cuffs were a little long, reaching just past my wrists, but it fit me pretty well in terms of length, and after rotating my arms around a bit to see if there was any stiffness near the shoulder area when moving, I turned around to see Uncle Grayhill and Lucas staring at me in astonishment.

    “It fits great, the only problem is that the cuffs are a bit long, but that shouldn’t be too hard to fix, right?… What? What’s wrong?” (Kyle)

    “... I guess the lassie wasn’t kiddin’ when she said you could carry the whole order if you wanted to...” (Uncle Grayhill)

    I stared back at them with a slightly confused look on my face as Aria walked over to us from the corner of the room and broke into hysterical laughter once she saw what I was wearing.

    “What the hell are you wearing, Ky?” (Aria)

    “A coat. It’s pretty cool, isn’t it?” (Kyle)

    “Well, I wouldn’t say it’s cool, but it’s definitely something.” (Aria)

    “Oi, what’s that supposed to mean?” (Kyle)

    I gave Aria an angry smile as I stood there wearing the coat with my arms crossed. After a moment, Aria’s laughter finally started dying down and she wiped away the tears in her eyes before covering her mouth and letting out a few more giggles.

    “Anyway, I think it’s about time we go. I told everyone I would be at the barracks with our new equipment by noon. Come on, Ky, take that tacky coat off and let’s get going.” (Aria)

    I let out a sigh before taking off the coat and putting it back on the table as Aria turned around and walked back towards the boxes with her order in the corner of the room.

    A few minutes later, I heard the hustle and bustle of the city envelop me again as I stepped out of the door and into the sun with three boxes of equipment in my arms. Aria stood next to me with a box in her hands while her new greatsword hung from her back just like her old one did back when we were adventuring. She said her goodbyes to Uncle Grayhill and Lucas, who were standing by the entrance of the shop before following me out into the street.

    “Alright, see you guys!” (Aria)

    “Aye, come by again soon, lassie. You too, laddie.” (Uncle Grayhill)

    “Goodbye, Miss Aria! Hope you drop by again. Oh, and Ky, come back in a few days, I’ll have the coat ready for you!” (Lucas)

    “Thanks, Lucas! See you then!” (Kyle)

    “Alright, Ky, to the barracks!” (Aria)

    Aria turned to me and gave me a carefree grin before starting to walk towards the 7th Squad barracks while humming a tune as I followed after her.

    Hmm, speaking of which, this really will be the first time I’ve visited the barracks since I helped Aria move in. I don’t think I’ve ever met any of her subordinates either. Eh, well, it looks like Aria’s a lot more cheerful nowadays, and she always seems happy whenever she comes home, so they’re probably nice people... right?
     
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2020
  20. RubberDucky

    RubberDucky Well-Known Member

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    [Chapter 16] A Smile Is Worth a Thousand Words, but a Picture of My Little Sister Is Priceless
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    Solria, Edge of Middle District, 7th Squad Barracks (Aria POV)
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    “We’re almost there, Ky.” (Aria)

    My cheerful voice rang out as I walked down the familiar, yet sparsely populated road holding a large box of armor in my hands, and I couldn’t help but have a beaming smile on my face as I heard the sound of Ky’s steady footsteps behind me. We made our way out of the crowded shopping district and into the middle district a while ago on our way to the barracks and it was currently almost noon. After a few moments, the familiar sight of a large metal gate greeted me as I came to a stop and took a deep breath.

    Alright Aria, I know today’s been a great day so far. The sun’s shining in the sky, it’s nice and warm outside, and the cool breeze feels refreshing when it blows in your face. You finally got your brand new sword too, and…

    I quickly twirled around to sneak a quick peek at Ky before I immediately turned back around to face the gate again. I looked down at the box I was holding in my hands while a slight blush began to spread through my face.

    W-Would this count as a date with Ky? I mean he’s just helping me move some equipment, b-but we’re alone together, aren’t we? We walked through town together, and we’ll probably have lunch together after this too. So i-isn’t that just a date?...

    Well anyway, even if it is, you can’t let it show on your face! I don’t know who’s here at the barracks today, but you definitely can’t let them see you smiling like an idiot. Come on Aria, you have a reputation to keep! Just act serious like usual. Think about work or something…

    Argh! I can’t do it! This stupid smile just won’t come off my face!

    I dropped the box at my feet with a loud thump as the armor inside clanked around. My hands squirmed all around my face as I tried desperately to force it from a smile back into a neutral expression, but despite my efforts, my face would just instantly revert back into the same goofy smile every time. After a few moments, I gave up trying to manually make my face return to a blank expression, so I took another deep breath while trying to calm myself down before suddenly, I heard the sound of Ky’s voice from behind me.

    “What’s wrong, Aria? Did you forget your keys or something?” (Kyle)

    My heart rate began to speed up as I heard the sound of another thump followed by some more clanging before I felt Ky’s hand softly touch my shoulder. My hands immediately shot back up and covered the bottom half of my face as I spun around to face him with a blush a few shades redder than before. Ky stared at me with a concerned look on his face and I averted my line of sight to the ground after making eye contact with him for a moment.

    “No, seriously. What’s wrong?...” (Kyle)

    What do you mean, what’s wrong!? You’re what’s wrong right now! How am I ever going to return to normal if you keep making my heart rate skyrocket like this!?

    We stood there in awkward silence as I stared at the ground before speaking out in a quiet voice.

    “Well, because I just got my new sword, along with… some other reasons... I’m a little too happy right now and I can’t wipe this dumb grin off my face no matter what I do.” (Aria)

    “Eh? That’s it? I thought you were in serious pain or something with how suddenly you dropped the box. Anyway, you’re happy right now, right? You’re a person, not a rock. Just express it instead of bottling it up. Who cares if you’re smiling or not?” (Kyle)

    “Well, maybe it doesn’t matter to you, but I have a reputation to keep around here! I’m a Knight Captain! I’m not supposed to be grinning like an idiot, I’m supposed to be stoic and resolute!” (Aria)

    “Even if you’re supposed to be serious normally, it’s just a smile. It’s not like everyone will think any less of you for smiling every once in a while, will they? Even back in Delhurst, you were never too serious unless it was a fight. I mean I guess you could have been seen as stoic, but that was just because everyone was too scared to talk to you. What did you do to start the charade, this time?” (Kyle)

    “Well… the first day the new recruits came in, some of them got a little conceited and pissed me off. One even challenged me to a duel for the position of captain. So I beat them all up to show them who was boss, but after that, I’ve been treating them decently. At least I think I have...” (Aria)

    “... Well, at the very least, it looks like you haven’t changed a bit since our days in Delhurst. You might not actually be a rock, but apparently your social skills sure are at that level.” (Kyle)

    “What do you mean by that? Back in Delhurst, you were just as much of an outcast as me, weren’t you? Hmph.” (Aria)

    Ky took a seat on top of the boxes of equipment he placed on the floor earlier and let out a sigh while I crossed my arms and pouted at him with a slightly annoyed look on my face. After a moment, I looked back at him and opened my mouth to say something, but the moment I did he cut me off.

    “Oh. Well, there you go. Looks like you’re back to normal Miss ‘stoic and resolute’ Knight Captain. Now, where do you want me to put all this stuff?” (Kyle)

    “Eh?” (Aria)

    I held my face in my hands with some slight disbelief, but after a moment I confirmed that my face was back to a neutral expression again.

    “Huh, you’re right. Anyway, just put all the stuff in the training room. Here, let me open the gate for you.” (Aria)

    I watched Ky pick up the stack of boxes again and a warm, fuzzy feeling filled my chest as I unconsciously smiled at him again.

    “Thanks, Ky. Ah…” (Aria)

    Crap...

    “... Well… just think of this as your subordinates learning about a new side of you I guess. It’ll, uh, promote friendship...” (Kyle)
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    Solria, Edge of Middle District, 7th Squad Barracks (Kyle POV)
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    A few minutes passed as I sat there taking in the scenery while Aria finally managed to plaster a stoic expression on her face again. I stopped staring at the dojo style barracks building and hopped off of the stack of boxes I was sitting on as Aria opened the gate before picking up the box she dropped on the ground earlier.

    “Alright, follow me, Ky.” (Aria)

    “Sure.” (Kyle)

    I picked up my own stack of boxes and let out a small yawn as Aria led me through the open gate and down the small path leading up to the front door of the barracks. She pushed open the door with her leg and the slightly familiar sight of a large, but quaint lobby room greeted my senses as I made my way over to the hallway on the right side of the building before calling out to Aria who was closing the door behind us.

    “If I remember, the training room was this way, right?” (Kyle)

    “Yeah, just go straight and it’s to your right.” (Aria)

    “Ok.” (Kyle)

    I walked out into the courtyard with a faint smile, and a breeze blew past my face as I turned to my left to see the garden. The sunlight shining in beautifully illuminated the pond and garden in the middle of the courtyard just like the first time I saw it, but this time there was an extra. In the middle of the courtyard was a young woman crouching down by the garden. She had medium length blonde hair that reached down a little past her shoulders and her skin was slightly tanned while her light-brown eyes had a lively atmosphere to them. Her attire consisted of a white military uniform with black trims and yellow buttons, but she had a small watering can in her hands as she tended to the garden while humming a tune with a smile on her face.

    It seemed like she noticed me right after I walked into the courtyard though because she looked up and made eye contact with me awkwardly for a moment before getting up and calling out to me.

    “Umm, excuse me, who are you?”

    “I’m Kyle.” (Kyle)

    The girl stared at me in confusion, but after a moment, she placed the watering can on the floor and walked over with a suspicious look on her face.

    “... So, is there something you need from the 7th Knight Squad?”

    “Umm, I’m just here to drop off some stuff.” (Kyle)

    “A delivery? Who’s it for?”

    “Well, technically it’s for you...” (Kyle)

    “For me?”

    The suspicious look on the girl’s face flashed with a hint of surprise for a split second before immediately shifting into a serious expression.

    “I didn’t order anything though. Please stop lying and tell me the truth, otherwise, I’ll have to apprehend you for trespassing.”

    She took a few steps forward and it looked like she was about to attack when Aria walked into the courtyard hallway behind me and saw me standing still.

    “What’s wrong, Ky?” (Aria)

    “Ah! Captain Aria! Careful, there’s a suspicious intruder here!”

    “Intruder? What are you talking about?... Did you do something stupid again, Ky?” (Aria)

    “Why did it just default to it being my fault!? I just walked into the courtyard, I didn’t do anything!” (Kyle)

    “Eh?”

    The girl in the military uniform immediately dropped her fighting stance and the confusion on her face was back in full force as she stared at me and Aria standing next to each other.

    “Aria, you did tell them that I was going to be helping you pick up the new equipment today, right?” (Kyle)

    “... Sorry… I forgot...” (Aria)

    I stared at Aria for a second before letting out a defeated sigh and turning to the girl in the uniform as Aria called out to her.

    “Lillian, it’s ok, he’s not an intruder. He’s my friend who’s helping me pick up our new equipment from the blacksmith.” (Aria)

    “Well, like I said before, my name’s Kyle. Nice to meet you.” (Kyle)

    “I’m so sorry, Sir Kyle!”

    I stood there as the girl in the military uniform started rapidly bowing to me with a panicked look on her face, and it was only after a few minutes that we finally got her to calm down and introduced herself to me, albeit with a guilty look in her eyes.

    “My name is Lillian Leonora, nice to meet you, and once again, I’m sorry about accusing you before.” (Lillian)

    “I’m telling you, it’s ok.” (Kyle)

    “It’s not ok, I almost attacked an innocent person who was just trying to help, not to mention you’re manaless, so I could’ve ended up seriously hurting you!” (Lillian)

    So she’s the 12th Knight Captain’s cousin, huh? Well, at least she seems pretty well mannered for being a member of such a wealthy family, a little too well mannered even... I thought she’d be a lot more snobbish.

    I let out a dry chuckle as Aria walked past me towards the training room.

    “We can talk all we want later, let’s just put this stuff down first.” (Aria)

    “No problem, Captain Aria!” (Lillian)

    Lillian quickly gave a traditional Raidion knight’s salute to Aria before turning to me with a determined look on her face.

    “Sir Kyle, let me carry some of this for you! Helping you out a bit is the least I can do to make up for my blunder earlier, as both a noblewoman and a knight!” (Lillian)

    “Eh? It’s alright. We’re just dropping this off at the training room.” (Kyle)

    “Even so, I insist!” (Lillian)

    Lillian pumped her fists together and stared at me with a stubborn glint in her eyes. I let out a sigh as I realized she wasn’t going to give up so easily and put down the boxes with a thump before handing her one.

    “Fine. Then here, make sure you get a good grip.” (Kyle)

    I took the top box off the stack and held it towards Lilian as she stood in front of me.

    “You can give me more, it’s ok. Even if I don’t look like it, I’m still a knight, I’m sure I can at least carry more than a manaless civilian!” (Lillian)

    “Uh, well just make sure you can hold this one first, it’s kind of heavy.” (Kyle)

    Lillian stretched out her arms and accepted the first box from my hands with gusto, but the moment I let go, the box in her hands plummeted down and she almost fell over with a shriek.

    “Uwah!” (Lillian)

    “See… I told you…” (Kyle)

    I looked at her with a dry smile on my face as she strained a bit to hold it before saying a small chant to activate her body strengthening magic.

    “May the will of strength flow through my body! Body Strengthening!” (Lillian)

    A moment later, she stood back up again and put on a fake smile to try and act tough while a bit of sweat dripped down her forehead.

    “See, it’s no problem! Here, hand me another box!” (Lillian)

    “Uh… I think I’ll be ok, just one box off me is more than enough. Thank you, Miss Lillian.” (Kyle)

    “Wait! I swear, I can help! Just give me another box, Sir Kyle!” (Lillian)

    I picked up the other two boxes again and caught up with Aria as Lillian scrambled to our side while rambling about how she could help more.

    After a moment, we finally reached the door to the training room and Lillian ran in front of us to open the door.

    “Here, let me help, Captain Aria!” (Lillian)

    Lillian pushed against the door with her leg, and it opened up slowly to reveal the training room. About five large windows lined the wall on each side of the room and there seemed to be several practice weapons sprawled out on the wooden floor or leaning against the walls while directly across from the entrance was another large door that opened up to the yard outside. Standing in the middle of the room was a man doing practice swings with a two-handed battle axe which was almost as tall as him. He had short light-brown hair along with blue eyes, and he was also dressed in the same white military uniform that Lillian was wearing.

    Lillian entered the room first with a confident smile on her face before Aria walked in right after her while I trailed in last. However, as we entered the room, the man seemed to have noticed us, and he stopped doing practice swings before looking over at Aria with a surprised expression while scrambling to do a sloppy knight’s salute.

    “Urk. When did you get here, Captain Aria?”

    “Oh, there you are, Alain. I just arrived. Where’s everyone else?” (Aria)

    Aria walked over to a corner of the room and placed the box in her hands down on the floor with a thump before Lillian ran over and did the same as she spoke to Aria.

    “Umm, I think Edward and Charlotte are out right now, and the rookie’s with his friends today so it’s just me and Alain here. Is there something important you needed them for, Captain Aria?” (Lillian)

    “Not really. If they’re not here, then they can just pick up their new equipment when they get back.” (Aria)

    The man put his axe against the wall as Aria finished talking and walked over to us with a confused look on his face as he stared at the boxes on the floor.

    “Wait, new equipment? When did we get this?”

    “I just picked it up from the blacksmith earlier. The new gauntlets you wanted should be in one of these boxes, Alain. Ky, just leave your boxes here next to mine, I’ll go grab something to open them with.” (Aria)

    “Eh? Sure.” (Kyle)

    Aria left the training room while I put down the rest of the boxes in the corner too as the man turned to Lillian with a confused look on his face.

    “By the way, Lillian, who’s this?”

    “Alain, this is Sir Kyle. He helped us bring all the new equipment back to the barracks. Sir Kyle, this is Alain. He might be a bit... weird sometimes, but trust me, he’s a good guy on the inside.” (Lillian)

    Lillian introduced me to the man with a wry smile on her face and he stood there for a second before extending his arm out with a friendly smile for a handshake.

    “Nice to meet you, Sir Kyle. I’m Alain Reidson. You can just call me Alain though.” (Alain)

    Weird? I mean, he seems pretty normal to me, kind of a nice guy even.

    “Nice to meet you too. Also, ‘Sir Kyle’ feels a bit stiff, so just call me Ky. It’s fine.” (Kyle)

    “Then you can call me Lillian too.” (Lillian)

    I smiled at Alain and Lillian as I accepted the handshake. A warm friendly atmosphere filled the room, but it didn’t last long as the moment Alain and I finished shaking hands, he walked up close to me with a grave look on his face. Lillian stared at him with a demoralized look on her face as a passionate fire lit up in his eyes before he spoke to me with a serious tone in his voice.

    “Alright, now that the introductions are over with. Ky, I need to show you something really important.” (Alain)

    Eh?

    I stared at Alain with a puzzled smile as Lillian let out a defeated sigh in the background. I watched in bewilderment as Alain reached inside the inner fold of his uniform jacket, pulled out a small slip of what seemed to be paper, and showed it to me. On the small slip of paper was a picture of a young girl that looked similar to Alain. She looked like she was around the same age as my students, and she had a head of brown hair tied into twin tails along with blue eyes that were the same shade as Alain too.

    “Now, Ky. Tell me what you think of this girl here.” (Alain)

    Alain stared at me with a ferocious glint in his eyes as I started getting more and more creeped out.

    “Um… well, she looks very, uh, nice.” (Kyle)

    “You’re goddamn right! Just look at how cute she is! Her eyes are as blue as the vast open sky, you could just lose yourself staring into them! And her hair flows smoother than the finest silk!” (Alain)

    “Uh... could I ask who this is?” (Kyle)

    “She’s my pride and joy, my one and only little sister, Lucy Reidson! Isn’t she the cutest you’ve ever seen? I can say with absolute certainty, nobody in this whole entire world is cuter than my little Lucy! She’s a pure angel, and mere mortals like us don’t deserve her, but she’s kind enough to let us stay around her anyway. So, I’ll make sure at least that the people around her are good! If anyone thinks they can mess with her, they’ll have to get through me first, understand?” (Alain)

    Ah, I see. So he’s a super sis-con...

    I glanced past Alain with a dazed smile and locked eyes with Lillian who was panicking a bit as Alain finally took a step back and returned to his friendly smile from before. Lillian walked up to me with a sorry expression and apologized for the incident as Alain stared at the picture of his little sister before putting it back into the inner fold of his uniform jacket.

    “Um, sorry about what happened with Alain… he’s like this with everyone he meets at first, but I swear, he’s still a good guy, just a little bit… obsessed with his sister...” (Lillian)

    How did I just know there was gonna be at least one weirdo here… I mean I can understand loving your family, but this is a little too far isn’t it? If Alain has this much of a sister complex, everyone within Lucy’s vicinity will probably have to watch out for their lives!

    “I think this constitutes a little more than obsessed…” (Kyle)

    “Yeah… you could say that...” (Lillian)

    Lillian gave me a dry laugh as the door opened again and Aria walked back in. She didn’t have her new sword on her anymore, but had a crowbar in her hands instead.

    “Alright, here we go.” (Aria)

    Aria walked over and pried the boxes open as we all gathered around to see what was inside. Lillian glanced around before she pulled out a couple of daggers from it with a smile, whereas Alain walked over to another box and pulled out a pair of metal gauntlets with a strange metal square on the back into which he promptly mounted two pictures of Lucy that he pulled out from his jacket. I did my best to ignore Alain hugging the pair of gauntlets behind me as I watched Aria pry open the box she was carrying earlier and toss the crowbar aside before lifting a few pieces of light metal armor out. Lillian and Alain gave her some space once they got their equipment and tested out their new stuff in the background as I walked over to Aria with a curious expression.

    “Did you get a new set of armor too?” (Kyle)

    “Yeah, I don’t really wear armor all that much anymore since we stopped adventuring, but since some parts of my old armor are broken, it doesn’t hurt to have a new set just in case I need it. Here, hold this while I try it on.” (Aria)

    Aria handed me everything she was holding except one gauntlet which she wore on her right arm before gripping her hand a few times to test out how easy it was to move. After that, she started taking pieces from me one by one and trying them on until she was only missing the chest plate. The shiny new set of armor consisted of two shoulder plates, gauntlets that went up to her elbows, a pair of metal boots that went up to her knees, and finally the chest plate that I was still holding. Aria grabbed the chest plate from my hands and tried to put it on before realizing that she couldn’t completely reach behind her back with her shoulder plates on. She turned to me with an embarrassed look on her face and handed the chest plate back to me before asking me for my help.

    “Ky, I can’t reach with the rest of this armor on. Could you help me strap on the last piece?” (Aria)

    “This is why you always put the chest plate on first… I know it’s been a while, but you’re still technically an A-rank adventurer, aren’t you? This is like the basics of the basics.” (Kyle)

    “I got too excited to try on everything and I forgot, ok? You’re not exactly some expert adventurer either, and you’re a B-rank adventurer, aren’t you? Anyway, it’s not like it’ll hurt you to help this one time, will it?” (Aria)

    “Alright, alright, I’m sorry Miss Crimson Rose. Won’t a famous A-rank adventurer like you have some mercy on a poor support character like me?” (Kyle)

    “Don’t call me that embarrassing name again, or I really will make you suffer this time. Hmph.” (Aria)

    I let out a light chuckle as Aria turned around and hugged the chest plate against her chest while she pouted with an embarrassed blush on her face. I tightened the leather straps on the back of the chest plate and tugged on them lightly to see if they were good before taking a step back.

    “Alright, it should be ok now.” (Kyle)

    Aria stopped hugging her chest plate and let go before slightly flailing her limbs around and sending out a few punches and kicks in the air to test the armor. After a few moments, she turned to me and faintly smiled before starting to take off her gauntlets.

    “Yep, it fits perfectly. Thanks, Ky.” (Aria)

    “No problem.” (Kyle)

    I smiled back at Aria as she placed her gauntlets back into the box before turning around to see Alain and Lillian staring and pointing at me in shock from a corner of the room. They both looked slightly pale and whispered intently to each other as I walked up to them with a confused look on my face.

    “What’s wrong? Are you two ok?” (Kyle)

    Alain and Lillian stared at each other for a moment before each of them grabbed one of my shoulders and dragged me outside as Lillian called out to Aria in a shaky voice.

    “C-Captain Aria, we’re going to borrow Ky here for a moment.” (Lillian)

    Once all three of us were in the courtyard hallway outside the training room, Alain and Lillian cornered me against the wall as they both stared at me for a moment before Lillian spoke up with a serious tone in her voice.

    “Ky, just who exactly are you?” (Lillian)

    “Me? I’m Aria’s friend.” (Kyle)

    “There’s no way you’re just her friend. You’re definitely more than that.” (Lillian)

    “More? Well, I’m also a professor at the Roya-” (Kyle)

    “No, I mean what’s your relationship with Captain Aria? How do you know her?” (Lillian)

    “Oh, that’s what you meant. We used to be partners back when we were both adventurers.” (Kyle)

    “Wait, adventurers? How? I don’t mean to be rude, but how could you have been an adventurer? You’re a manaless, aren’t you?” (Lillian)

    “Well, you see, I was really more of a supporter than an actual adventurer. Back when we were in a party together, Aria basically did all the fighting while I just sat in the back and took care of everything else like cooking food or setting up camp.” (Kyle)

    “But, even disregarding your eligibility as an adventurer, you have to at least be a little more than just ex-party members. I’ve never ever seen Captain Aria smile before. I can’t even think of a single time she’s showed us even a hint of a smile, no matter what we did. Right, Alain?” (Lillian)

    “Yeah, it’s like talking to a rock. Until just now, I was 100% certain that she was incapable of showing any emotions besides anger. Her face didn’t even budge an inch when I showed her every one of my top fifty pictures of Lucy last week!” (Alain)

    … I’m more surprised that Aria managed to sit through it all with a blank expression instead of immediately glaring at you with disgust...

    Alain held his chin up and nodded repeatedly to affirm his own thoughts as I stared at him a creeped out before Lillian cleared her throat and put the conversation back on track.

    “Ahem. Anyway, the point is that we’ve never seen her even show any emotion even remotely close to happiness, so how did you manage it?” (Lillian)

    “Yeah, what did you do?” (Alain)

    Alain and Lillian stared at me with curiosity and started slowly closing in on me before I leaned against the wall, let out a sigh, and muttered to myself.

    “I didn’t think Aria would go this far with this dumb facade again.” (Kyle)

    “Wait, facade? What are you talking about?” (Lillian)

    The curiosity on Alain and Lillian’s faces was replaced with confusion as they took a step back and looked to me for an explanation.

    Crap, I didn’t mean to let it slip like that. Well, should I tell them?... Ah, screw it. They already heard it, and even if one of them is a little… strange, as long as it doesn’t involve his little sister, it looks like he’s pretty normal. Anyway, they both seem like they actually care about Aria, and it’ll probably help her get along with them better if she doesn’t have to keep pretending to be emotionless. I think that she deserves at least this much… more than I do anyway.

    I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before facing Alain and Lillian again as I asked them a question with a soft tone in my voice.

    “So... how much do you guys actually know about Aria? Has she ever told you anything about herself?” (Kyle)

    Alain and Lillian looked at each other for a moment as they racked their memories before turning to me with serious faces.

    “Well, besides the fact that she’s insanely strong, almost nothing. I can still remember the first day we met her she beat us all up because Edward challenged her to a duel and made her angry, but nowadays, she treats us pretty well as long as we listen to her. She hasn’t personally told us much about herself and I heard from my cousin that none of the other Knight Captains besides the Head Captain know much about her either. It’s kind of hard to hold a personal conversation with her too, right Alain?” (Lillian)

    “Yeah, it feels like it’s impossible to find something to talk about that isn’t related to training. I don’t think that even Edward has had an actual non-work related conversation with Captain Aria yet.” (Alain)

    “So she really hasn’t given you anything at all to work with, huh? Alright, well, you two seem like you actually care about becoming her friends, so I’ll tell you about Aria if you want, but promise me you two will keep what I tell you a secret.” (Kyle)

    “Will do. I swear no one will hear a word of it from us.” (Lillian)

    “Yeah, I won’t tell anyone. At the very least, I’m a man of my word.” (Alain)

    I smiled kindly at Alain and Lillian as they made their declarations with confidence before I began to narrate what I knew of Aria’s past. A few minutes passed as they listened to me intently while I told them about how I met Aria, her promises with her father and Max, our days adventuring in Delhurst, her fight against the dragon, and what happened once she returned to the capital. When I finally finished, it was silent except for the sound of the gentle breeze and some sniffling from Lillian. A few tears rolled down Lillian’s face before she wiped them off, and Alain stood there with a somber expression before Lillian’s sad voice rang out first followed by Alain’s solemn one.

    “...I never would have thought so much happened to Captain Aria... I can’t believe she made it through all that. We’re about the same age too, but I wouldn’t know what to do if any of that happened to me.” (Lillian)

    “Yeah… I always knew Captain Aria was strong, but it looks like she’s even stronger than any of us thought. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to just travel alone to the edges of the Empire like that, especially if my father had just passed." (Alain)

    A gloomy atmosphere began to spread through the courtyard hallway as Alain and Lillian stood there lost in thought for a moment before I smiled at them with a tint of melancholy. My line of sight moved up to the clear blue sky behind them as a sense of nostalgia overtook me and I started to talk in a gentle voice.

    “You know, when I first met Aria, I thought she was just a violent woman by nature. She and I would always argue over this and that, and she even hit me sometimes when I got her really angry, but I still stayed with her, even through all the trouble. At first, I didn’t know why I did. Honestly, I could’ve easily just left her and went my own way, but eventually, as the days passed by, I finally realized why... It was because whenever I saw Aria, it was like I was looking back at my past self again. She was alone. Alone without a single person by her side, just like I was... I know what it’s like to lose someone you love. It’s painful, it’s cold, and the only things you can feel are anger and despair. The dead don’t come back… no matter how hard you try to change that… and eventually, one day, you realize that you’re finally alone in this world. I hated it. I hated every second that I saw Aria like that. I hated every second that I saw her bottle up her loneliness until it turned into anger and violence because all it did was remind me of the past. I didn’t want to see her walk down the same path I did, clawing desperately just to try and grasp that faint happiness again. Because at the end of that path, there is no happiness. There’s just emptiness. An emptiness that hurts even harder than losing someone you love... So I decided that I would try to save Aria, just like someone else did a little too late for me. I tried my hardest you know, but I don’t think Aria’s change was completely because of me. There was only so much I could do, so there’s at least one thing I have to say to you two. Thank you for sticking by her side. Every time I see her now, she seems happier and I’m sure that she enjoys your company, even if she’s not the best at expressing it.” (Kyle)

    I bowed deeply to Alain and Lillian as I finished my monologue, but what I saw after I finished bowing was the scene of Alain and Lillian uncontrollably crying their eyes out.

    “Don’t worry, Ky! We’ll make sure that Captain Aria stays happy!” (Lillian)

    “Yeah, I swear that from now on, everyday she has with us will be a fun one! You too, Ky! You’re welcome here anytime! You and Captain Aria deserve at least this much after what you’ve both gone through. In fact, Lillian, do we have anything to do today?” (Alain)

    “Nope. Edward and Charlotte are taking care of the squad’s duties today.” (Lillian)

    “Perfect, we should start having fun right now then. Let’s go! We can all get lunch together then go sightseeing or something.” (Alain)

    “Eh?” (Kyle)

    “Great idea, Alain! You know what, lunch is on me today. We can even go to one of my favorite restaurants! You two wait for me outside, I’ll go get Captain Aria right now!” (Lillian)

    Lillian wiped away her tears with a small handkerchief before running back into the training room with a determined smile on her face. I watched her run off as Alain grabbed my arm and dragged me with him to the main lobby while he rubbed his face dry with the sleeve of his uniform.

    “It’s ok, you two don’t have to do this! Just doing what you usually do is enough!” (Kyle)

    “Don’t worry, Ky! This’ll be what we usually do from now on anyway! Come on, we’re gonna make sure Captain Aria can smile again!” (Alain)
     
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