Gift

"Can we talk for a moment?"

Emma seemed to be out of breath, probably from hurrying to catch up with me after I left. I wasn't sure what was happening, and it was odd, having a direct conversation with a person who was previously a fictional character, but I nodded.

"Uh... I just wanted to say thank you and sorry. I know my brother can be a little dense at times and maybe even a bit insensitive but he's a great person and an even better brother so thank you!"

I was going to speak but she continued, "Also, sorry. My brother despite his age, loves playing pranks on people but he took it a bit far. He knew it made you uncomfortable and he shouldn't have done it. I'll make sure to lecture him a thousand times!" She said with a dark glint in her eyes.

"It's alright, please don't. I'm not angry at Adam, he has been very helpful these past few days."

"Still! He should have come out here and apologized himself! I know he's busy with work, but somethings are more important! Anyways, I'll see you later I should go back before they realize I'm gone." She said before running off to the direction of the tent.

That was... interesting? She was quite an energetic person; I had never seen this side of her in the novel, but I suppose this is who she originally was. That reminded me not to think of the information in the novel as the universal truth especially when it came to people. However, information about location of items that had been set before the story would not change and that was really the only thing I could rely on.

Walking back to my tent, I let out a sigh of relief. Things were going surprisingly well which I was not expecting but this made a lot of what I had planned before easier. I knew I was probably not going to get into the academy, which meant that I couldn't be a hero but that was alright. A mercenary would suffice, and the lesser restrictions offered by the job worked in my favor. I had to find a job as an awakened as I had to grow stronger in the time I was given, and I also had never received a proper education so I most likely couldn't find a job elsewhere.

I should worry about those things later; I might not get much time to rest after tomorrow and it was getting late, I would be woken up by morning and probably would be settled into my new residence by evening. It was an odd feeling, knowing that I would visit the place where the first arc of the story I used to read took place, but I decided not to dwell on it.

'This is reality now' I thought as I channeled mana into my hand, making it give off a slight glow but with a thought, the glow dissipated as my hand was covered in streaks of pitch-black mana and then, a miniature tornado danced upon my palm. Converting pure mana into dark was near effortless but converting it to wind mana required some concentration. In other words, dark was my primary element which was not surprising considering my... background.

Retracting the mana back into my core, I laid down on the soft bed and closed my eyes and soon fell into a dreamless sleep.

*** Adam POV ***

'I'm so fucking tired.'

Corin and my parents were talking basically till midnight and after they were done, my family bombarded me with questions about the last few days and after that my sister scolded me about the way I had treated Ajax for another hour. I wasn't able to get to bed until 3 or 4 AM and I was already woken up at 6 AM.

However, despite all this I was excited about today. First of all, I got to go home today, after living in a tent for over two weeks because of this damn attack, getting to go back to our residence in Copperfront was a godsend.

The second reason was a small box sitting on my table that I was going to use as a way to apologize and also repay Ajax. Freshening up and putting on a new pair of clothes I headed out of the flimsy tent and made my way to the one Ajax was staying at and called out to him.

"Ajax! You awake?"

In response, Ajax opened the entrance to the tent and let me inside before asking in his soft monotone voice.

"Why are you here?"

The kid could really work on his conversational skills and expressions. His voice was pleasant but always seemed void of emotion, so it was difficult to tell if he was angry at me or excited to see me. So, I just decided to tease him.

"Do I need a reason to visit my hero?"

As always, upon complimenting him, he had a slight look of discomfort as his eyes looked away.

"You don't owe me any-" He began but I decided to stop making fun of him and interrupted.

"Yeah, yeah whatever. Anyway, what's a kid like you doing awake so early? I'm pretty sure it's going to be at least a few more hours until you leave."

"Yes, I just wanted to be ready." He said and I saw his half open bag which barely contained anything. I also noticed that the kid had been up for a while, he had tied his hair back and he was no longer wearing the torn violet fang clothes, but the ones provided in every tent by the association which didn't fit him very well.

I decided to send him some clothes later on as well but decided to stop beating around the bush and get to the point.

"Hey, I'm sorry about last night. I shouldn't have taken it that far."

His eyes seemed to become a bit distant as he said.

"There is no need for you to apologize, I was the one who made the situation worse."

"No, none of it was your fault." I said, before continuing.

"I know this isn't much, but I wanted to give you something to repay you for what you did and also apologize. I can't ever repay you fully but hopefully this ties me over for now."

I said as I gave him the small box with expectant eyes. I couldn't wait to see his reaction to it. He took the box with his head tilted in confusion but as he opened it, a small glow illuminated his unchanging face as he simply sealed it back and spoke.

"I can't take this."