A New Home

"What were you thinking?"

I never imagined that I'd wake up to a scolding after being struck by lightning.

"Are you listening to me? You could have died."

"I am listening."

Elizabeth is rather angry with me, but truth be told, I'm just happy to see her up and about again.

Once she's calmed down, I ask her what happened to the others. Apparently, we were all burnt quite badly, with the exception of the mage who wasn't in the water. The others woke up some time ago, but my condition was so bad, the healers weren't sure if I would make it.

It seems like Elizabeth was quite worried about me. I guess that's why she's so upset. It feels weird to have somebody care that much. Not bad, though.

She told me I was out for about a day, and it took one more before the healers would allow me to leave. When I finally did, I found Elizabeth waiting for me outside.

It seems like word has gotten around about the death of the greater monster. I doubt anybody knows I was involved yet. Since I would prefer to keep it that way, I ask Jonas and his group to be the face of the fight, and claim credit for the kill.

"What?! But we didn't-"

"I know you didn't, but you look the part."

It resulted in a rather drawn out argument, of which I'll spare you the repetitiveness. To make a long story short, I made it sound like Elizabeth would get dragged into this more than she already has, which was enough to convince Jonas. He's got a real weak spot for her.

I guess I do, too.

It has been about a week now, and Elsvaert has started receiving "tourists." Which is to say, people who want to see the corpse of the greater beast, as well as the heroes who killed it. Jonas and his little crew has fallen into the role well. They seem to enjoy the spotlight.

Elizabeth and I are have been taking on regular assignments to get back into the groove of things. We were out on patrol, her sword back on her hip, where it belongs, when I finally managed to apologize to Elizabeth.

"Hm? What are you sorry for?" she asked, blank as ever.

"You were right. The odd monster spawns around here. They're my fault."

"...Oh."

"I consulted with an elven magic researcher during your time unconscious. According to him, my mana store is heavily damaged, and leaking large amounts of mana."

"My condolences."

"Don't say it like that. I'm not dying."

"I was making a joke."

I facepalm, then find myself chuckling slightly. I missed her.

"What are you going to do?" she asks.

"The magic researcher I talked to is working on a solution, but he doesn't know how long it'll be, or if it's even possible."

When we arrive back in town, we find it swarmed with people.

Elsvaert is getting a bit too crowded for my taste. Too many attention-grabbing things have been happening, and Cerla has probably already told the king about me by now. It might be time to look for a new place to stay.

But where would I go?

Something close by, like a neighboring town, maybe? It'd be a much longer walk to Sheere, though, and I need a way to get to Rosewood to communicate with Vol.

...

Oh!

---

It wasn't easy to gain access to Rosewood. The place is supposed to be a purely elven city, so they aren't too keen on humans. They're perfectly fine with visitors, but getting permission to live there was another matter entirely.

It took some serious pulling of strings. I got Jonas and his group to testify before the elven council that it was, in fact, me, who killed the greater monster. I can only hope that nobody on the council has a loose mouth, since I'm hoping to avoid that getting out. Even with that, though, they weren't all happy to let me stay.

It wasn't until I had them bring in Vol from the magic academy to testify that I was absolutely critical and indispensable to his research, that they finally wavered. I had gotten the sense that he was an influential figure before, but not nearly to such an extent.

Well, I spent the next year working with Vol at the elven magic academy. Our eventual goal was the artificial mana store, but we worked on many other magical tools together. Swords, knives, maces, and some devices of my own invention - or so I claimed, since they were actually just ones I remembered from my past lives. I was rather surprised to realize just how easy it was, and how quickly it went. I've been working by myself for centuries.

Who knew other people could be so helpful.

Once or twice a month, Vol will bust down the door to my home to present his newest idea or prototype. His excitement tends to be infectious, and it can be difficult for us to stop working. More than once, Elizabeth has had to drag us away from work and force us to eat dinner.

Oh, right, did I forget to mention? Elizabeth and I are living together now.

We're not married or anything, but when I told her that I was planning on leaving Elsvaert, she insisted on coming with me.

We've grown a lot closer over the past year and I sometimes find myself reminded of my time with Princess Sofia. I don't mean to say that I have romantic feelings for Elizabeth; merely that her and Vol evoke certain emotions in me.

I guess you could say that I'm... happy.