Parallel Cosmos (1)

Before I know it, winter has already come.

During this year's early autumn I made friends with someone who I never expected to become friends with.

Together as a group of 4, we hung out frequently. Even though he has just joined us, surprisingly he fits in rather well because he's just like Mike. His past bullying action is just like me back on earth,, which is the most likely reason why I felt empathetic to him.

"Haha, you 3 suck at playing chest!" Richard ridiculed us in a bantering way.

"No fair! How could your queen trap my king so easily with just 4 moves?! You must be cheating Richard, damn you!" Mike who's a bit too excited over this little game yelled out at him.

"Calm down Mike, how do you even cheat in a chest game anyway? He is just that good. " At least Gerdur is rational.

"But you are such a petty boy... Dominating us in a game that we aren't good at... At least give us a fighting chance...!" Nevermind, she's just as irrational.

Besides our playing mini games together, we also trained each other. I trained these 3 in magic, while Richard becomes a tutor for us. I'm currently receiving miracle lessons from him, but honestly I still suck at it.

Back then on earth, I never was lucky enough to have a friend who accepted me again and saw me for who I am, a changed person. This is why I learned that for others to notice this fact you have to present it to them because they wouldn't notice it if you don't. That's just how humans are.

Richard isn't mature enough to see this point, that is why I lent him a helping hand. For now, he still isn't accepted much within our class, but gradually I could see his relationship with our classmates returning. Maybe into the next year I might see more improvements on his part, I'm having good expectations for him.

Well, maybe I was actually lucky enough to meet people who saw me for who I was. A group of classmates who invited me for the day trip of our school. But honestly I don't know how our relationship would've turned out because we never got the chance to spend our time together.

When I grow up, I will make a real effort to actually find these classmates since I'm now sure that there's a possibility of them being reincarnated here as well, Marielle is the proof.

If logically speaking, the bus had something happened to it and we all died and I reincarnated here, they must also have been reincarnated here as well since they would have died there.

And there's also the fact that Marielle, my sister, is literally the girl who invited me on the trip, and she sits next to me in the bus. Our reincarnation location might be base don't the proximity of us when we are sested, but honestly I don't know if that's true.

But if our seat distance has anything to do with our reincarnated distance, that means at least the ones who sat near me will be reincarnated rather close, maybe even in this city. They could be anyone, they could be Gerd, they could be Mike, or they could even be Richard. I won't have any means to find out.

Aside from these things, I also had my final test again. Soon, it was near winter already, and as usual, school will close down.

We had our tea party again this year. This time I have a new party trick to show, one that I copied from the Indians back on earth, where they pour down tea into a cup from the top most of your arm's length, to the bottom most of your arms's length. I think it's called 'teh tarik'?

After that, the four of us exchanged gifts again. Specifically, we only got gifts for Richard, and he gave all three of us a pocket watch. It seems that his dad has a few of them from one of the shops that he runs, and Richard gave us one each. It looks really nice, not the best, but still nice.

"This is called a watch, it's something that was invented rather recently. Since you lot knew how to use magic tools, I figured this would be the best gift for you three! It's useful, and you can remember me through using it. "

"It looks expensive, is it really fine?"

"Of course! But Kyrie, have you used a watch before? You seemed rather familiar with it already. "

"Oh not really. " I lied. I knew how to use watches.

"I see... Anyway, you use this thing to track the time of the day. It costs a really small amount of mana to run it for a day, so it won't stop counting. It counts our day in hours, and accurately at that. Each day has 24 hours, just like how we count it by looking at the sun's position. "

"That is some rather complicated thing..."

Mike and Gerd isn't familiar with this, so they would obviously think it's complicated. While for me who's already familiar with watches because of watches from earth, this just makes my life more convenient because I don't have to guess the time of the day.

"Besides, I heard that the king is planning to build a giant watch on a tower in the middle of each city, ours included! "

"Oh? Then that is really convenient! We are lucky to have such a responsible monarch aren't we?"

"I know right?"

Compared to his gift, mine is a really lame one. I know it's a weird gift but I gave him my hair bands, the two that I wore when I was 4, since I didn't have a use for it now that I'm wearing the one that Gondur gave me.

"You mustn't do weird things with these bands okay? I wore it for years afterall, it's bound to have my scent on it hahaha! "

"I-I won't! " Boys of his age gets really flustered so easily, it's cute.

Speaking of Gondur, I visited him on the next day by myself, since school is done. And this time I actually saw his house. He gave me some cookies as gifts and I used his house's library which has some really interesting books that he allowed me to borrow for the winter. He has a wife as well, a grandma.

She was rather welcoming, that's because the sad fact is that they are physically unable to have kids since the grandma has a disorder that won't allow her to become pregnant, and there isn't a cure. I just wish they have a good life ahead...

At the same day after visiting Gondur, I have also visited the church again, this time alone. I talked with the pope again but this time not in his room since he's not busy. We talked in front of the altar, sitting on a bench next to each other. He checked on me with his magic eyes again.

"...No signs of the dragon waking up yet. You are good. "

"Phew..."

"...So, did you talk to your sister? About the other world thing? And also did you tell her that you are also an other worlder?"

"Yeah. She's from my world as well."

"I see. Did you two get along well even after knowing the truth?"

"Yes, we are sisters after all. "

"I see... I was worried that things would go awkward between you two but guess I shouldn't worry about relationships at all when they involve you. "

"What do you mean?"

"For your age, you are oddly friendly and mature, and that's a genuine praise. But then I guess that's just because you have your past life's memories then."

"Thanks for the praise."

"Come to think of it, how old are you now if you included your past life's age?"

"Not even older than you. 17+7 is 24. I died young, sadly. "

"I see... that is a shame... but you now have a good life right? "

"Yeah, and that's all that matters. I'm grateful with this life that I was granted with, and I had many chances to right my wrongs from the past, so I'm really satisfied. "

"I see. That is rather mature of you. "

"Well, it's only natural."

"Anyway, it's time for you to head back, little magical midget."

"That wasn't funny."

"Hahaha! I'll see you next year then. Go home earlier, or else there may be weirdoes who kidnap little girls, or you'll freeze to death! "

"Thanks for the concern, goodbye!"

The pope is a really nice person, after conversing with him I felt better as well. If every pope back in my world was like this, there'd wouldn't be deadly religious wars like Jerusalem Crusade, or Hitler's anti Jewish sentiments, or things like that...

This world is almost too peaceful sometimes, but it's true. This is just like when the world war just ended back on earth, where everyone is genuinely happy and nice.

That isn't to say that there is no war or death from conflict in this world. I heard that there is a civil war going on in the eastern continent, the Moonfall Continent.

...come to think of it, the demonic war is called 'The Great War' as well, which is the name for the first World War on earth.... Doesn't this meant that there will soon be a second Demonic War?

The demons weren't wiped out at all, in fact this is just a truce. If any side of the war wanted to fight, the war will just begin again... I shivered when I thought of this. Let's just hope that the deadliest war back on earth, the Second World War doesn't get an equivalent version here...

After visiting the pope, I headed back home.

"Welcome back, onee-chan!"

"Mmm, thanks Marie. Mom, I'm back. "

"Welcome back. So what did the pope say?"

"He said that there's no sign of the dragon awakening, it's a good thing. "

"I see. Come on in and warm yourself then, it must have been cold outside. "

"Thanks! Do you need any help with your work? I was actually thinking of redoing my studies of alchemy!"

"Oh? Kyrie is welcomed to come and help out mom, if you feel like it. If you don't like doing alchemy then you shouldn't push yourself okay?"

That was exactly how my second year as a student went.

Thus, my winter vacation was spent with my family again. I played mini games with my sister, whom now have more free time because she can already speak rather fluently and have no need to take language lessons from me.

And then, I also sparred with dad almost every weekend in the backyard. Marie would sit on the chair in the backyard and watch us curiously.

On the warmest time of the day which is 12 pm, you'd hear loud 'Tak!' sounds of wood hitting wood at the backyard of my house.

First, only my sister watched us. Gradually however, more and more people peeked on our sections between the terrace windows, and also over our backyard's walls. We have a frequent audience of about 9 people, most of them kids.

My swordsmanship has hit a deadlock however. While my deflecting and parrying skills are getting better slowly, it's too slow to call improvements. Why? I haven't ever beaten dad in our spars, not even once.

Anytime I was close to deflecting his strikes until I can launch a counter attack of my own, he'd either just slip through my deflects and hit me, or he'd actually defend against the counter strike itself via his own deflect or dodging, and then hit me in the process. It seems that I can't land more than a few deflects at once.

'Tak!' 'Tak!' The sound of wood hitting wood was made when I deflected the first hit from dad. Then for the second hit I deflected it and launched a counter attack.

"Too slow!"

'Tak!' He received my attack simultaneously as he steps to my left. Then I quickly reactes by pulling my attack back and tried to block his flanking attack... He slipped through my guard easily with a thrust, and poked his wooden sword on my stomach when I tried to guard my head with my sword.

"Ouch!"

"I won, Kyrie."

"...How..."

"Remember what I told you about defensive offence. The technique I just used to flank you is one such technique. You deflects your opponent's attack as you dodge to the sides to create an opening."

"...yes!"

"Also, keep your eyes forward and be ready to react to my moves. Your weakness is your lack of reflexes, you should have deflected my stab instead of trying to block it."

"I see..."

"...you sound down. Don't worry, you have just hit another road block, remember what I told you when you first started your swordsmanship lessons?"

"...its to never give up, be careful of accidents, and never bully the weak. "

"Good. As long as you live by those words, I trust that you will one day get over this deadlock, Kyrie."

"Mmn.... "

He patted my head again as I was sitting in the ground sulking over my continuous losses against dad. I don't dislike being head patted by him to be honest.

"I will head in for now. Kyrie, if you wish to you should keep practicing then you can continue. You should take care not to get burned out, and never neglect your training! Try to do 2 consecutive 'One Line', that'll be a good training!"

"...Yes!"

"And Marie, make sure you tell your sister if you are cold okay? Dad will head in for now and clean himself."

"Okay! "

He patted Marie's head as well before he headed back into the house. In the end, I couldn't do two consecutive One Lines either... It feels really bad because this slaps the hard reality that I suck at swordsmanship on my face.

Anyway, as for Marielle, she also hit another road block with magic, just like me right now.

For Marie, her problem lies in her comprehension of the spells itself. She doesn't understand how spells works conceptually like I do, and she also can't control her mana really well. She isn't talented at all.

As for me, my road block with magic now is the lack of learning new spells. Adept spells were the limit for beginners to learn, so it's extremely rare to even find an incantation for any magic above the rank of adept rank because you need an approval for the school.

Besides that, I lacked a better training ground. Why? It's collateral damage. The school's training field can technically be used as a training ground, but it's dangerous to do large Area of Effect spells because it's still an enclosed space.

I wanted to try mixing Magic Techniques with spells to create new fused magic, but I needed somewhere that I won't destroy. Too bad there is just no place like that. This is my current road block.

As for how me and my sister got along, we talked about a lot of things actually. Usually things about this world, and then occasionally some anime or something else from earth was brought into the conversation.

"Anyway, you know about how I've told you that the Demon Lord is already dead right?'

"...You did? I totally forgotten about that haha..."

"Well, now you remember. The Demon Lord was killed by the Magic God Lynn. She is a monster with magic, though not literally a monster per see but she's apparently incredibly strong. It was said that the Demon Lord Baal could level fortresses and cities with a single spell if he wanted to, and the Magic God is someone who killed that Demon Lord. "

"That's just insane... To think that an individual would have firepower that rivals an artillery..."

"I know right? "

"So, what's the difference between monsters and demons anyway?"

"I'm glad you asked! Demons are classified differently from monsters because demons are sentient and intelligent, while monsters are not smart and not sentient, and are usually animals that are changed by mutations in their genes, most likely caused by mana similar to the way that radiation works."

"I see."

"You shouldn't confuse the Demonic race with actual demons though. The demonic race involves a lot of creatures, like skeletons, ogres, undead, sentient beasts, kobolds, and more. The actual demons in this world is actually called devils, and most devils are usually very strong because their genes are just stronger."

"Does this means that the members of the 72 arch demons aren't necessary a devil themselves?"

"That's right! There are multiple races within these 72 arch demons, and the ones that are actual demons are called devils."

"Uh huh... wait if you said that there were undeads and other creatures, how do they make babies? Aren't they dead?"

"Undeads don't make babies, that's just how it is. As for other 'living' creatures like kobolds and devils, they do indeed mate and make babies. And some demons that are rather similar to humans like orcs and minotaurs can also crossbreed with humans."

"Really?"

"Yep. And like it or not, except the demons who's face isn't human like, most demons find a human's face attractive. I'm sure that you understand the implication of this message, especially for girls like us.... right?"

"...Yea... I'll be careful."

"Well it's not like every demon is out for your behind, cases where a demon forced themselves on a human is actually very rare. Not that I know much about demons though..."

"I see... Anything else that I should know of?"

"Hmm, there's the timeline of this world. The time before first era is not recorded, and it is considered as prehistoric. The second descend of the Twelve Gods created the first calendar, about two thousand years ago, and it is called the first era. The second era is the Armored Titan's era, named after the golem that helped win the war. Like wise, the calendar is names after the same golem."

"That is really cool, is it a robot?"

"I don't know... I heard that golems completely changed the tide of the war, but in reality I haven't seen any golems at all. "

"I hope that someday we would be able to see one..."

That was just one of my conversation with Marie regarding this world's history. 3 months has passed just like that and before long, it was time for me to head back to school.

Back in school, I had my reunion with Gerd, Mike and Rick after a long 3 months time.

This time however, while we remained in the same class, Mike and me didn't become the monitors again. Other people were chosen instead by the new teacher, so that they also get a chance to take the responsibility. This just make my life easier because now I can play more, as I don't have to be busy with monitor work like submitting home work, locking the class, helping out with events that involve our class etc...

Then, the first week passed just like normal. However, something interesting happened on the second week.

I was in my class, having my lunch with my friends and talking with some of my classmate. Then, a boy from the senior grades came and dropped by our class.

"Is Kyrielle Buffet here? "

The entire class looked towards me while I was busy munching down on a cheese bread. I quickly swallowed the bread and then talked.

"I am. Can I help you?"

"Yes. I have a request for you, also for a person called Richard Boreal. "

"Me and him? For what?"

He cleared his throat with a cough, then he handed a letter to me and Richard. Before I could open it though, he spoke first.

"As a representative of the Student Council President, I hereby invite you two to join the student council as a security ensurer. "

"...Huh?! Us?!" (2x)

"Yes, you two. "

"Y-yes, I see! Thank you for the invitation! But we need to talk this over with the president first, can we do that?"

"Yes. If you are free, you can go to the office right now and the president will meet with you."

"Hmm, maybe tomorrow? Because we are still unprepared and this is a bit sudden haha..."

"It's fine. You two can just drop by the office during lunchbreak next day. "

"Okay. Thank you for the trouble!"

"I'm just doing my job as the secretary. "

Then, he left the class. The class was silent for a few seconds before it broke out into cheers.

"You two join not just as a normal member but as a Security Ensurer! That is a position that is only reserved for the best fighters in the school!" or along the lines of that is what was said by them.

"Rick, remind me... what is a Security Ensurer? I heard you had dealings with them..."

"Oh it's just that my fights always cause them to show up. Anyway, they are like guards of the school, and people can't join or apply for it because the president will only pick the people they deem as the strongest fighter. Besides that, theres only 4 Ensurers to imitate the four human gods."

I proceeded to read the letter.

"Good day, Kyrielle Buffet.

I hereby as the president of the Student Council invite you to join us as a member and as a Security Ensurer, one of the best possible position in this Council. May this letter be the prove of my words, and you may come meet me at anytime of your leisure.

-Farron Louis. "

(Chapter 30 end)