A Nightmare and a Friend

Re:Beginning: A Job-Filled Reincarnation

Crimster

Chapter 5: Re:Beginning: A Job-Filled Reincarnation | Chapter Five: A Nightmare and a Friend

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Re:Beginning: A Job-Filled Reincarnation | Chapter Five: A Nightmare and a Friend

Warmth was the first feeling I felt.

My eyes fluttered open, and the light from the windows shone into them when I looked up at the ceiling. I felt refreshed, but there was also a feeling that I could've slept for longer. I woke up in a familiar bed. Its wide and open surface was far more extensive than any one man could fill. Stuffing my face in the white sheets, I could still smell them with one deep inhale—the distinct scents of the women I loved so much.

My eyes snapped open upon the realization. This room was something I hadn't seen in just over four years. This room—my room… I'm in Sharia. My eyes didn't deceive me; even pinching myself proved futile. "That had to be the most lucid dream I've ever had." Thinking back to everything was bizarre. I was able to live in Buena again after so many years. It was an excellent dream, even if different than how I remembered it; I'd like it if I never forgot that dream.

I pulled myself up, my body refusing to right itself immediately. I guess that's what getting older is like. How old am I again? I'm forty-eight this year, right? All the kids are gone now, just Roxy, Sylphie, Eris, Zenith, and Lilia in the house, which meant much more time to get frisky at night.

Speaking of. Patting the space next to me, I sighed as I noticed the distinct lack of presence or residual warmth. I slept too long. I usually would've whined about it, but I was at fault for hitting the snooze button. Whenever I slept with Sylphie or Roxy, they'd let me rest for however long I wanted. This usually happened whenever we would go particularly hard the night before. All I was doing was getting older; all they were doing was staying as young as when we met. I couldn't do it like I used to, but those two had terrible endurance, so they still couldn't compete with me. On the other hand, whenever Eris and I would, she'd wack me awake and force me to train the morning after. Even if she's older than me, she never changed.

"Haah…" I stretched, "Better get dressed then." I spoke as I yawned, pulled myself out of bed, and slapped my legs awake. I forced my body to move over to my dresser close by. I didn't much mind being in the nude. Most days, this was how I usually found myself after waking up. My wives are pranksters, all right. "It's hushed down there. Wonder if everyone's out?" There was a distinct lack of noise. It wasn't odd for the house to be empty on any given afternoon, but I can't remember anyone saying they had anything going on today.

Pulling on my cloak, I left my room. I still like to remind myself about how funny the whole situation was with my house. It was dirt cheap when I first scouted it with Zanoba and Cliff. Now, it was home to the Greyrat family and the Seventh Great Power… It always left a bad taste in my mouth whenever someone would address me with varying degrees of importance. Even if I wanted to live a quiet life after Biheiril, it looked like the world didn't wish to offer the luxury to me.

No matter how hard I try, you can't fix some things, even by threatening someone. Remembering that one time a noble got on my nerves always made me laugh.

I saw something peculiar when I arrived at the stairs to the main entranceway. There stood Roxy... She wore her traveling clothes draped over her petite figure and her pointed hat on her blue-haired head. She had the same old metal briefcase in hand, and her staff was lying against the wall closest to her. What's she up to this early in the morning? She looked up at me, and I was startled. Those weren't the same eyes I knew. Those same blue orbs that always looked at me with such honest passion or thought had only sadness reflected in an ocean of blue, a slightly reassured faint grin spread on her lips when our eyes met. "What're you doing this early, Roxy?" I approached her, but she stretched her hand to stop my advance. That was strange… "What? Is it weird that I want to hug my adorable wife first thing in the morning—"

"I have to leave, Rudy." There was the same sadness in her voice that lay in her eyes.

Huh—am I hearing things? She grabbed the staff next to her as she reached for the knob on the door.

"Wait, wh-where are you going?" I nervously chuckled, rubbing the back of my head with my hand. I could tell I was getting worried. "If you're in that much of a hurry, I can always walk you to headquarters. Then you can just use a teleportation circle—" I was speaking far too fast, but she cut me off again.

"You shouldn't follow me to where I'm going." She didn't look back at me when she spoke. I could hear her voice crack as her shoulders shuddered. "No matter what."

She doesn't have to be so cryptic about it. I thought as I reached out for her again, but she opened the door before I could. She let it swing open, and the wind blew her hair haphazardly as her hat somehow managed to stay on her head.

However, outside of the house was something I didn't expect. Out there was a seemingly endless nothingness, just pure white. Almost as if you were looking at the blank canvas of a struggling painter. I had seen this scenery time and time again before. It was, without a doubt, the void world.

She took the first step out of the doorway, seemingly walking on nothing as she did so. "Wait!" Something was wrong. I knew something was wrong then, and I rushed towards her from the bottom of the stairs.

I was so close. I was mere inches away; I could even feel my fingertips brush the cloth on her back, but my hand slammed against an invisible wall in the doorway. My fingers bent in awkward angles, obviously broken from the force. I didn't let that get to me as I tried smashing, punching, and hitting the invisible wall, and all I got in return was a dull echoing sound that reverberated in the house.

All I could do was watch as she left. "Where are you going?! Please, just tell me!" I screamed at her, but she didn't look back. "Just stay…please," The tears clung to my cheeks in desperation; she didn't look back at first.

When she finally turned around, I saw her face as clear as day.

Her face, like mine, was also marred with tears. Those same blue eyes I loved to look at and admire; the woman I loved was crying as she looked back at me, her mouth formed into a grimace. She looked like she was struggling more than me. "You know where I'm going, you idiot." Her voice was serene and sorrow-ridden. She didn't seek to admonish me or ridicule me. She was going somewhere, somewhere that I knew deep in my heart the location of, and I couldn't stop her.

Why can't I stop her?

I fell to my knees; I couldn't do anything. "Please—pl-please, just stay." I whimpered. I didn't want to lose her—not the person who helped me so much—the person I hadn't repaid. The person I loved.

Even while her emotions had the better of her, she turned around and left. She kept moving forward like always, leaving me behind as I slammed my fist uselessly against the invisible barrier. "I swear, I won't leave again!" With another punch, the space between us cracked, then shattered. An invisible glass gouged into my skin, but I couldn't care; I had made it through. I ran towards her, my feet finding purchase on the hidden mist-laden white floor, as I reached for that girl's back. "I don't want to leave you!"

She turned back towards me, a small cute smile on her face, tears streaming irregularly from her eyes, the same blue bangs covering her forehead and hair framing her face. My hand reached towards her, to the woman I couldn't afford to lose. My vision went black as it took all I had to try to grab hold of her. To grab hold of the girl that meant so much to me. "Roxy!" Her mouth opened almost as if to answer my pleading cries, but I heard nothing as I was pulled away and sucked into the black void beneath us.

When I woke up, I felt warmth. "Rudy, are you okay?" Opening my eyes, I realized I was back in Buena; I had seen a dream—a nightmare heavily burdened with guilt and grief.

Roxy held the hand I had stretched out. Her face was flush. I quickly noticed she was still in her nightgown. It appeared I had woken her up. I must've been screaming while I was asleep. Even if she still had that same poker face she always held, I could read her like an open book: worry, shock, and even a smidgen of guilt. I'm sorry I'm like this. It looked like I had become so used to this life that it seemed even my mind wished to remind me of my past follies.

It's been a while since Roxy and mine's original confrontation. In the time since I'd officially hit the age of four, the winter had passed us by. We've grown used to helping each other; we even became friends. Not that the woman infront of me would ever admit having a now four-year-old as her friend. "I'm fine." I removed my hand from her grip. The candle in my room was burning, most likely from when Roxy came to check on my screaming. I looked behind her and, in the doorway, saw Zenith and Paul holding each other worriedly. Lilia stood behind them, worry evident even on her face. It seems I woke up everyone.

"Are you sure?" What Roxy said wasn't much of a question. It wasn't normal for a child to have such an intense nightmare. She was just being apprehensive; anyone would in this scenario.

"I'm—I don't know… Can you all just—leave me…alone for the night?" I paused as I structured what I wanted to say. I was still breathing heavily from the nightmare. It was still so fresh, and it still felt so real. The only thing that was pulling me into reality was Roxy beside me. She quizzically looked me up and down; my demeanor betrayed what I had said, but she walked back to my doorway anyway. My body fell back onto the bed as I rolled away to face the wall opposite my door. They would leave soon, so I closed my eyes to think. I don't even know why I had that dream; undoubtedly, my guilt returned to bite.

But the way she acted, the way she sounded. It was just like her. It was like I was talking to her again… Damn. As I reminisced , I could already feel a few tears coming to the surface. A weight pressed into my bed behind me, and a hand brushed against my back. I knew who it was before I even turned around.

Roxy sat on the edge of my bed, a soft smile on her lips. "Zenith told me to spend the night with you." Her answer was to the point; she didn't move. It looked like she was waiting for my response. I looked behind her, and lo and behold, everyone else had left.

"It'll be better if you just go back to your bed for the night," I grumbled, even if I tried to appear intimidating; I was still a four-year-old, and this woman had torn through her fair share of beasts in her time.

She gave a relaxed shrug, "And what? Leave a kid who's just had a nightmare to fend for himself the rest of the night? You may be the high and mighty prodigy, but sometimes you act as childish as any of the kids in the village." She giggled softly. What she said was the epitome of my childhood of both lives I've lived so far: act like a child, then realize I was never that good of an actor. She fell beside me and looked at me with her blue eyes. Just like the ones I had seen in the dream, she looked exactly like her because she was her. "Do you want to talk about it?" It was a coy question; obviously, I didn't, but she knew that.

"Not right now—I don't know when I'll want to." I didn't want to talk to her about it, not her. Maybe I could discuss it with Orsted, but he wasn't here. God knows where he is.

She gave another nod and wrapped me in her arms. I tensed at her embrace. Was she coming on to me? Now is not the time, Roxy! "As long as you don't do anything perverted, I'll spend the night with you. I'd make a lousy Master if I couldn't help my precious pupil this much." The smirk that laced her lips made me feel so comfortable. Even in this reality, she's found herself helping me.

My debt is only growing…

"Like I'd do anything!" I was a four-year-old; nothing down there worked yet, not that I would want it to in this scenario. It didn't help my case that I could tell I was blushing. I think my child's brain was making me more easy to read sometimes.

"That's funny coming from you." Her smug voice sounded the same as I remember. "Well, whenever you're ready to talk about it. You know where to find me." She ruffled my hair a little bit. "You helped me out of a rut, so this is the least I could do to return the favor." That stung more than I'd care to admit. I was being cared for by the woman I loved as if I was a scared child—I mean, that was precisely what was happening.

As I felt slumber overcome my body, I spoke the last few words my mind could muster. "You still have no idea how much you've done for me." With those words, my consciousness faded, and I fell asleep.

Roxy's eyes fluttered briefly; she tried to comprehend what he had said but couldn't quite understand what he meant. In the end, she decided to follow the boy who was nestled close to her into slumber.

I woke up early the next morning; however, the supposed grogginess I had expected did not follow. Looking next to me, I realized I didn't wake up soon enough.

Roxy had presumably already quietly exited and left me alone. Leaving me with the realization that I would never live last night down for the rest of my life. Especially if I married the woman again, it was only a matter of time before she'd mention, "Remember that one time you clung to me in your sleep like a scared baby." She was never that rough with her approaches, but she liked to be smug, boast, or get jealous—though that last part was easily Sylphie's piece of pie. However, those were all the traits that only made me love Roxy even more.

Thinking that, I hopped out of my bed and got dressed. I'd been asleep longer than usual, and there were things I wanted to finish by the day's end. That nightmare caught me by surprise, no doubt about that, but that's all it was. A nightmare. It wasn't real.

It was nothing more than a child's imagination, if not an old pitiful man's lingering guilt over what he left behind.

I shouldn't let guilt be the cause of my life. That wasn't a healthy outlook, nor one that was sustainable. I knew that from reading the journal. I had to try and get through this in my way; no one I knew could reasonably help me. Not that I didn't wish for them. It was the simple fact that no one here truly understood what I had been through, nor what I had to endure for their sake.

When I thought about telling them who I was, the only realization I came to was that it would end rather poorly. I don't think telling someone at some point would be terrible, but I wished to at least keep my family in the dark. If that was for their sake or my own, I didn't know.

I opened my door quietly and went down the hall to the stairway. "So, did you figure out what happened to him last night?" I stopped moving when I heard them. That was Paul's voice. I could already hear them by the time I reached the middle of the hallway.

"He didn't want to talk about it. It'd be best to leave him as he is, not to trigger any other emotions. That's how I see it anyway." Then there was Roxy's voice; she sounded as calm as any other day. It seemed she was being the voice of reason among my parents.

"I think it would do him better if we talked it out with him." Zenith's voice was exasperated; anyone could tell she was worried sick about me.

"Maybe this is a good thing, Honey. He's finally acting his age now, after all." Paul retorted. If he acted so casually about what had transpired the night before, I could only guess how long it'd take him to get smacked.

"May I remind both of you, especially you, Mister Paul, that it's not normal for a child to have such nightmares? I think we leave what happened last night as just something that happened. Raising a boy is difficult, but when one as mature as Rudy has such a nightmare—" Roxy chided both employers as she paused. Her tone of voice quickly became irritated from what I could hear. "I believe it'll do us all better to tread carefully." It was times like this when you realized the girl was thirty-eight this year and had more than a decade on both my parents.

"I know it's not normal! It's just—" I had better step in before they got at it. I didn't want to worry them any more than I already had.

"Mom, Dad, can I go play outside?" I rubbed the back of my head with a hand. I could see their faces contorted into very differing emotions as they turned to look at me. On the one hand, Paul looked ready to relent. To be fair, he probably thought I was of age to roll around in the hay with some chick I had just met, but with one look over to his wife, who looked worried sick, he decided to keep his mouth shut.

Good idea, oh great father of mine.

"I think that's a great idea!" Roxy was the one to intercept my question, her dull eyes glowing just a little bit at what I had said. "Don't you agree, Miss Zenith?" Roxy tilted her head toward the woman in question. Roxy probably had also already realized that my mother would be the one in need of the extra push. Zenith looked slightly uneasy but seemed to give up when her precious son gave her a naive, big-toothed smile.

She was always a sucker for her kids. I mean, I was, too, so I get it. I can't remember everything in Buena, only bits and pieces. It has been decades since I was here, and I'm reasonably sure I had dementia when I got older. Still, I remember the day I had to help Lilia and how my mother quickly folded to me for such a troublesome topic they had been dealing with.

My mother, more than anything else, loved her children with all of her heart. If not her entire family.

"Haah, fine!" There's the mother I knew. "But Roxy, can you accompany him, please?" Zenith seemed to manage to organize her thoughts, and of course, the conclusion she came up with was a request.

First, I had to be held by the woman I loved just to go to sleep. Now, I need her to hold my hand to go outside—just fantastic… I even have to worry about that stupid nightmare I had last night, to boot. It seemed my mind wouldn't make this life any more straightforward than I intended.

"I can do that." Roxy still held that same indifferent look she always had when she responded to Zenith. In a motion, the blue-haired girl moved over to me almost as if she, too, was eager to get out of the house. She placed her hand on the small of my back with her off-hand, guiding me out the doorway.

"Man, I wish we could've at least trained today—Rudy's been getting the hang of things recently." I heard Paul's upset voice behind us as we left.

It was a quiet affair when we left the house and set out for the village. Roxy didn't seem to mind when I made a few minor spells in my hands as we walked. Is she in a good mood today? She was humming a little tune that I had a hard time remembering. That's a Migurdian nursery rhyme, if I remember correctly. She used to hum it to the kids whenever we put them to sleep.

"You can run off when we get outside of eyeshot." Her voice cut through the quiet.

"Are you not going to listen to Mother?" I looked quizzically at the girl walking beside me. She wasn't one to go against orders, especially from her employers. For as long as I could remember, she was always strict.

A sigh escaped her throat, "Harvest is coming up, and the weather will only get colder in a couple of months from here on out. So let me ask you a question, Rudeus. Do you want to help your teacher in the fields for a few hours?" She looked at me with a twinge of guilt, "Or would you like to go around and play like the kid you are?" The smug smile she had told me all I needed to know what she expected me to say. "I drive a hard bargain, don't I?" A knowing slight tilt of her head followed what she had said. I can't recall when Roxy didn't like to toy with me like she was doing right now.

Winter was always a topic for discussion in a farming village like Buena. Even if we had months to go before it hit us. From how much Roxy had been going into the town recently, I could tell the villagers were taking good advantage of the mage they had on call. It reminded me of how I used to help some farmers up in Sharia. Those guys could only ever farm for a few short months in any given year, but I did my best to help them out now and then. Of course, I, more often than not, had more pressing matters to attend to, but hey, I was a busy guy. I was a chairman of Orsted Corporation; I was practically a businessman.

"Besides, I can tell you're worried about how Paul and Zenith are taking your whole predicament right now." She leaned towards me to whisper into my ear. "You have a habit of brushing your hair with your hand whenever you're nervous or worried, and you weren't exactly inaudible when peeping from the top of the stairs either." Her whispering sent a tingle up my spine. As expected from the Goddess of Wisdom, I needed to work on my sneak skill a little before I could do covert operations. She pulled away from me and sighed. "I won't tell them, but Mister Paul might have also noticed." Paul was an adventurer, so he had better senses than any average knight, but knowing him, I felt like he hadn't noticed what was happening around him.

"Father is too preoccupied with ogling or feeling up Mother most of the time. Though I'd greatly appreciate it if you didn't, Teacher." I didn't want them worrying for me even more than they were currently. "Is that why you're letting me go—because you're worried, too?"

"I do wonder why," Almost mockingly, Roxy spoke, and a second later, she patted my back. At this point, our house had become more or less invisible to where we stood. All I could see was the same old grass plains, small forests, and wheat fields surrounding Buena. The wheat fields looked to be growing marvelously, no doubt because of Roxy.

Roxy looked down at me and gave a slight smirk. "Go be a kid for a little bit while I go do grown-up work." Roxy's hand left my back and ruffled my hair as she kept walking down the path we had been walking, leaving me to do what I wanted without supervision.

"To think she'd leave a kid like me with such freedom." I smiled as I watched her hat disappear over an inclination in the land. "She's right to be worried, though." I figured the whole debacle we had found ourselves in would tear our relationship apart, but I only grew closer to the Migurd girl, or more accurately, she had grown closer to me.

Of course, I hadn't spent all my free time playing student or loitering around. I had already planned what to do if the Man-God were to interrupt my quiet life and send an apostle my way. It wouldn't be unbelievable for that guy to do that much, considering I am associated with Orsted, but that by no measure meant I could let him have the upper hand.

So, I may have—accidentally engraved a king-ranked healing magic circle underneath everyone's beds in our house. It's the Greyrat way to be cautious, after all. Well, that was the saying for the household after I took over.

After all, the Man-God could be in cahoots with anyone he wanted to, so there was no such thing as being too cautious. Who knows what would happen if he made Darius send Water God Reida after me? I'd be a dead man; I didn't have my magic armor, nor was I in any shape ready for an assault by the Water God. I couldn't even develop touki. Having a Laplace Factor doesn't always come with upsides.

I remember repeatedly trying to get my battle aura to form, but no matter what I did, it wouldn't come. Even if I didn't have any touki, I still think it should be logically possible for a mage to wrap their mana around their body, almost like a pseudo touki, but I could never figure that out.

What I do for knowledge is almost like that of a madman when I think about it. If I fail, try and try again… That was how my life always was.

But, I guess it's also common knowledge that a mage needs their hands to cast magic. Without interrupting my stride as I walked on my path, a Water Ball formed infront of me; however, my hands didn't move.

Throughout my life, I had to use my hands or some apparatus I could carry, like a staff, to use magic. That was just how a person used their mana. When I lost both of them at once from Kalman and Gal Farion, I thought I was a dead man. That was just the reality of being a mage.

That was until one day, about a year ago, when I proved this knowledge entirely wrong and decided to pool mana into my feet. After that, my entire world was thrown upside down. I figured out that day that all you needed was an endpoint. These endpoints, as I call them, are formed when a mage casts magic through one of their limbs, thus creating an endpoint from which one's mana can flow. The simplicity of it all made me feel thoroughly stupid.

Still, it felt like trying to do calligraphy with my toes, so I was anything but ready to engage in a battle with my feet alone. Not that I was going to go into a fight with a handicap like that. If anything, I'd prefer if I could blast them before they knew I was there. That is how a mage fights at the end of the day.

It's a shame that it never dawned on me to use magic from any other body part to cast spells in my previous life. Mainly because no one could. Endpoints seemed only to form before the mana growth period ended, or in other terms when your mana pool settled. Shaping and growing your mana pool was very much like shaping clay. When you reached the age of ten, the clay hardened and could no longer be molded. So there was no more hope for me to get endpoints or more mana by the time I was ten; this time, though? I could now successfully cast magic through all four limbs—well, semi-successfully.

Do swordsmen develop aura by making endpoints from their pores? That would let them cover their entire body in it—holy shit, is that it! There's absolutely no way it's that simple. The thought of having even something similar to an aura stoked me, but I wasn't going to get my hopes up too much.

I'm not lying when I say that I wanted to boast just a bit in Roxy's face about what I could do, but I also knew that would be the last straw before Roxy would seriously leave the house. The girl only had so much pride she could lose. I remember distinctly from my past life after we had married how she'd scold me for treating her like a child or how sometimes I would act like I knew better than her, then the next moment, she'd have her face burrowed in my bedsheets to muffle her moans—

I'm missing that life more than I thought. I deadpanned at what I had thought.

When that thought came to mind, I realized I had walked quite a ways from where I and my Master had parted ways. I looked around myself. I could only see a landscape littered with trees; no more fields were in sight. My best guess was that I unintentionally started walking towards the hill I like hiding out on at night.

"Get out of the village, demon!" I could hear a distant shout from a child.

"Go back to the Demon Continent!" I think I knew where this was going.

"Go away!" I moved over to the origin of the voices.

I hid behind a tree over the hill, and looking down the path I had been walking on was a sight I could barely recall. Three kids were throwing mud balls at another lone child who was hugging their knees. Their hoodie had been dirtied, and they were shivering. However, it wasn't from being too cold. It was a lovely day to be outside, all things considered. No, I could tell it was from fear.

I knew who was infront of me. I could tell at a glance that it was Sylphiette. There was only one girl like her in this village.

Even from here, I could see those green strands of hair cling to her face. It was shorter than I remembered, but give any man seventy-some years to recognize some minute details, and he'll undoubtedly forget.

"I can't—interact, can I?" I felt horrible watching what was happening infront of me. Still, in my original timeline, we became friends after I graduated from Roxy's tutelage, but even the thought of her being bullied was enough to make me fly into a rage.

"Get lost, demon!" The kid in the middle of all three bullies threw another mud ball at the crouched girl. Once it made an impact, she let out a pitiful whimper.

"Fuck that shit! As if I can just sit here and watch." These kids were jerks, sure, but there was no way I could just let them pull this shit when I was here.

I pulled myself from the tree I had been behind and ran towards the group. "Oi!" The kids immediately took notice of me. I could even see Sylphiette briefly look over at me in confusion.

"What do you want, huh?!" If I remember correctly, this kid was Somal—I think? I had heard the name in passing a day or two ago, but I'm almost sure that he was the kid I saw getting captured by Paul's rescue party in Millishion way back when. The details are pretty hazy.

"Let her go, dipshit!" I called back to him, my voice very prominently featuring my anger. Maybe swearing at children was childish, considering how old I was compared to them. I could see from their faces that they took offense to that kind of language.

"Isn't that the knight's kid?!" The one next to Somal questioned.

"So what, is the knight's kid a demon lover or something?!" Somal bent down and rummaged together a sloppily made mudball from the ground.

I was ready for a lot of things in this engagement. They were kids, so it wasn't like I couldn't deal with them. I wasn't against self-defense or anything like that, so if he threw it at me, it would be like he effectively forced my hand—I heard a gasp and a whimper. I was prepared to dodge the volley of lazily thrown balls of mud from these kids any day of the week, but instead, right infront of me, he threw it at Sylphie. Almost as if he intended to piss me off. Somal snickered after he did it.

A long sigh escaped me. If he wanted me to be angry, he succeeded. I drew my hand infront of me; I guessed none of the kids knew what to expect from someone like me. They probably thought I'd just yell for my father or something, but I wasn't that desperate. Nor that merciful. " Exodus Flame ," I let out in a cold voice and betraying my tone, a flash of heat erupted from my hand. A fireball far larger than my entire body grew from my palm instantly. It seared the land it sat on and burned the grass around it. This much was overkill, but all is fair in love and war.

The three kids immediately panicked. "Somal, we should get out of here! The knight's kid is crazy!" The kid beside Somal frantically pulled on his arm. The other one had packed it up and run off at the sight of the raging inferno I had summoned.

Even from here, I could see Somal quaking in his boots, but he stood his ground. Fine. I thought, and a moment later, that orange heat wave of death catapulted by the two children.

All they could do was watch the enormous fireball whiz past them. They had to watch as sure death passed them by a mere few inches from their face, soaring off into the sky, where it fizzled out. The sight most certainly petrified them.

I think the kid next to Somal pissed himself. I would've done the same, too, in this scenario.

I planted my feet on the ground. "Now apologize." I needed to make an example of these kids here and now. I was a year ahead of schedule, but the simple fact that I found them bullying Sylphie this early meant they had done it for at least a year before I got involved in my last life. This was something I needed to do right. Something I needed to fix.

They looked at me with fear but also anger. "Why should I do that, huh?! She's a demon!" For a kid so young to display so much hate. It was sad, honestly.

Don't they realize that I could easily maim them? I mean, come on, it's just an apology.

"It's quite simple." I dragged my hand back from its resting position and made a simple Fire Ball , "If you don't apologize, I won't miss this time." I gave a cocky smirk and pounded my foot into the ground as I stepped forward. They seemed to realize shortly after that this wasn't just fun and games.

That got them thinking more rationally. They quickly got onto their knees and smashed their foreheads into the ground. "We're sorry for picking on you! We won't do it again!"

You call that picking on someone? What the hell is the bullying then? Well, that's good enough, I guess.

I let the magic in my hand dissipate, and when they saw the small fire in my hand disappear, they ran off with their tails between their legs, leaving me and a terrified Sylphiette alone on the path.

The girl was still as pitiful as I remember when I first met her. She was also as cute as Lucy was when she was a kid. The genetics here were terrifying.

"W-why did you h-help me?" Her quiet voice leaked from her lips. She had a slight look of fear on her face. Sylphiette had now stood up to look at me. I could understand her anxiety. I'd also fear a kid who could summon a mini-sun on command. "They won't p-play with you n-now. They'll try to bu-bully you too." She sounded like she would cry at any given moment.

"Why would I want to play with kids that bully people?"

"B-But I have green hair. Everyone h-hates me for it." It was sad just to hear that. I always thought that was such a stupid reason to hate someone.

"I like green. It's my favorite color." I gave the meek girl a grin. She looked at me like I was crazy. I never understood the fear of green hair. Sure, the Superds had a curse placed on them, but Ruijerd was kind, and Sylphiette had done nothing but love me, so I loved the color. Even Roxy's hair in the proper lighting would have an emerald sparkle. So, yeah, it wouldn't be an understatement to say it's my favorite color.

"It's not good to stay dirty like that. Let me wash your hair with some water, okay? It won't take long, I promise." I summoned some water in my palm. Her teary eyes saw it, and she seemed to panic a little, but maybe it was because of my tone of voice that she didn't try to run away.

"Um, okay." She leaned over slightly, and I ran the water in my hand over her hair. It was still as soft as I remember.

Do all elves have naturally glossy hair? They're lucky; mine started losing color and getting rough by the time I was fifty. Not that I'm complaining about the old man look I was rocking. At least Sylphie and Roxy seemed to like it.

As I promised, it didn't take long for her hair, which had been caked in mud, to be as clean as it presumably was before she was attacked. She shook the excess from her head like a dog would. "See, all clean! A girl like you with such pretty green hair should take better care of herself!" I smiled at the girl; she looked embarrassed and diverted her gaze from mine.

"You're r-really not scared of me? You don't care about my h-hair?" Her voice cracked; she wasn't used to being flattered, let alone by someone her age, and especially not for her hair.

"Why would I be scared of a little girl like you? You're about as scary as a stray cat—" The girl offered an uneasy smile. "My Master has an odd color to her hair, too, so I'm used to it, and I wasn't lying earlier about green being my favorite color." Such an obvious statement to myself was not so to the little girl infront of me since she erupted into tears momentarily after I spoke. I almost forgot how Sylphie used to act around me. She grew up when I wasn't around her, so I didn't see much of crybaby Sylphiette.

I panicked slightly, "There, there." I patted her head as she cried.

After she finally stopped crying, we walked a little ways away just on the chance that if Somal returned with his lackeys, we wouldn't be in sight anymore. I sat her down so I could dry her hair, and she did as she was told without argument. I usually did this for my wives whenever we got out of the bath together. I even made a few hairdryers so they could do it themselves whenever I wasn't there. This sure brings back memories. If I'm not careful, I might start crying. Luckily for me, it wasn't long before her hair was dry.

Sylphie's ears twitched up and down when the hot air subsided, and the cool Summer air resumed. She looked back towards me. "You said your teacher has odd-colored hair too?" Was it just me, or did something about her tone sound hopeful?

"Yep, her name's Roxy Migurdia. She's my magic tutor." I could see her face grow flush, and then she quickly drew her face to look away from me.

"Does that mean you're R-Rudeus?" The timid question left her lips in an almost inaudible whisper.

I almost forgot. This version of Sylphiette knows Roxy. We live in a small world—in this case, a village.

"That's my name. How do you know?" I decided to play dumb, and she squirmed after I asked that. Just what did Roxy tell her about me?

"Uhhh—my father's name is Laws; he knows your dad. L-Lord Paul does a lot for the village, and I met M-Miss Roxy when she first got here—" She was rambling. To think the shy and reclusive Sylphie could be this open.

"You're fine." I put my hand on top of her head to ease her worry. She blushed, and instantly, I reeled my hand back to my side, fearing that I had crossed a boundary I shouldn't have. This version of her reminds me too much of when Lucy and Christina were younger. To put it simply, she was dangerous. "Since you know my name, may I ask you what's yours?" It was better to ask first. I shouldn't have known her name before she even introduced herself.

"I'm Sylphiette." It came out of her mouth with zero interruptions. I remember in my previous life thinking her name was Sylph initially—or something to that extent. Which made me think she was a he. I was awfully dense back then.

"Okay! Sylphiette it is! Reminds me of a wind spirit!" I was excited to see her again. It had been a long time since I saw this version of her.

Since I saw my childhood friend.

I still can't believe that the only friend she ever had at this point in her life wanted to manipulate her. I had become friends with Sylphie after the bullying engagement we had just undergone a little bit ago. I had initially confused her as a boy and intended to use her as a chick magnet later in life. Then, when I realized she was a girl, I wanted to manipulate her into liking me. That was until Paul kicked me out of the house and shipped me off to Roa.

I wanted to vomit just thinking back to that time. Thank god Paul kicked me out.

I didn't want that anymore. I just want to give this girl a pleasant childhood she can remember fondly. I want her to be able to live the life she wishes. Maybe I can repay her for even a fraction of what she did for me, even if this version of Sylphie isn't the one who helped me when I was at my lowest. "You want to be friends?" I asked the question with a smile. I could tell the look on my face took her aback. I could guess it was something like admiration.

"W-With m-me?" She looked at me puzzledly, her hand pointing at herself, almost as if to say she had misheard what I said.

"Who else is here to ask?" I tried to ease her confusion. "I don't have any other friends in the village, and you seem nice. So I figured I'd ask, is there a problem with that?"

She quickly nodded her head. "T-There's no problem! I'd like that!" She bowed—I should help her with that timid nature of hers. A few tears fell from her eyes. She was pretty hopeless, wasn't she? Thinking this girl would become Princess Ariel's fearless bodyguard made me choke back a laugh.

Seeing her infront of me made me want to do better in this life. I didn't want any superficial reasons for my friendship with her. I didn't want any ulterior motives laced intermittently along our friendship. This time, Sylphiette and I would be true friends. The nightmare I had the night before proved that I had to do better this time. I'd have to be an even better person.

"We should go and play, then! I know a spot no one goes to!" She nodded at what I said and followed meekly.

That's how I met Sylphiette for the first time in this third life I was given.

Notes:

Author's Note: Well, here's chapter five. This was a chapter that I've had to tweak a couple of times. I'm somewhat satisfied with the result, so here we are. I assume the next chapter will be released tomorrow, then after that, another two-day wait.

It's been really interesting to hear everyone's opinions on this, and I hope you guys continue to leave feedback. It really does help. As always, thanks for reading.