5. A Bard's Tale

I felt myself reminiscing of the past as I ate the only cafeteria food I ever liked. Chicken Parmesan! As I ate, I also stole glances to the table across from me. There, sat a girl with red hair that hung just past her shoulders and a single braid on the side. She chatted happily with her friends as they ate thier lunch. Myra..

A tinge of guilt and regret stung my heart, only to be interrupted by the most annoying little brother in the world. "Do you like that girl, barf bag?" Cleo sat down on the other side of my table as he mocked me. I thought for a moment whether I should buy a new pillow to smother him with later before I head home today, but I did missed the little bastard, so he's safe... for now...

"Hmph!" I snorted before replying, "Little brother, you're playing with fire." I only smirked before continuing to eat.

"Hmm, well I heard this morning you got in a fight and had to be carried to the nurse. And this was over a girl? You're a loser!" He chuckled. "And guess what?"

I was a little annoyed by that point. "...What?"

He continued, "That girls' friend approached me on my way to the cafeteria, and she was asking me about you."

My brow twitched, "..."

"She asked me to tell you to come meet that girl next to the gym before lunch ends. What are you gonna do?" The nasty smile on his face made me want to punch him.

(Why is this happening? The only thing I've done different is I chose to fight back against Zack this time around. Did she think I was fighting him on her behalf or something?)

I didnt say anything and instead narrowed my eyes at him and then got up and carried my tray to the bin. I could hear his stupid chuckle as I left the cafeteria.

(What an annoying little brother...)

There was only 15 minutes left for the the lunch hour. I've been back for a total of 6 hours, and already regret not just dying in the apocalypse.

I walked around the gym to the place where students usually go to make confessions to each other. (Let's just get this over with...)

As I approached the spot I saw a girl, with long light brown hair and a petite figure, waiting for me. She turned her head in my direction and smiled softly. "Hey, Jason." a tinge of blush visible on her cheeks.

"Tania. My little brother told me to come meet you. What's up?" Even though I could guess what she wanted to say, I felt a little guilty about how I was going to respond.

"I-I decided to take your advice from the other night and broke up with Zack... He's a jerk..." I stayed silent thinking about what my 17 year old self could have said to this girl while he was drunk to illicit such a reaction, before she asked, "S-so... will you go out with me?" And there it was. It was easy to tell this was coming. After getting beat up by Zack originally I had chosen to avoid her like the plague. There was not an event where she asked me out back then. (My manliness she saw this morning must have stirred her womanly instincts.)

Honestly if I was still my 17 year old virgin self, I would have jumped on this opportunity. (But... I'm not.) Over the years I had slept with numerous beautiful women. The presence of mana had made most people breath takingly attractive. The rule of thumb was, the stronger a person was the more attractive they were. An ugly person was usually weak or just very unfortunate.

(And not to be rude but, Tania was... Well... she's plain.) Among the plain girls at this school she was probably the prettiest, but there wasnt much that stood out with her.

*sigh* Seeing my reaction wasnt what she was hoping for, she frowned. I decided to let her down gently. "Tania... I'm sorry, but I've got my heart set on someone else. I can't go out with you..." The corners of her eyes seemed to get moist and she had a look of confusion on her face.

"I-I dont understand. The other night you said there's no one you like.. So.. so.."

(Ah, Fuck! Damn you younger self!) But I'm not weak to the tears of women anymore. The amount of times I've been honey trapped and nearly lost my life as a result gave me a firm will. "I'm sorry..." In this situation, I can only apologize and wish her well in my heart.

Tears dripped down her face and she turned and ran off. I stood there feeling slightly guilty but... (This is for the best. If I have the chance, I'll give her the mana treatment so she can at least survive the cataclysm.) I thought back to the girl I had wanted to save. A girl I had yet to meet... I didnt even know if she had survived the cataclysm when the apocalypse started.

That day... I was about to board a plane and return to college as Spring Break was ending, that was when the world went to hell. When I was strong enough, I tried to find her, but I never did. I can only assume she died from mana poisoning or died after, likely violently.

I had never forgotten her. We were dating for over a year but I was crazy about her. I tried to move on, but my mind would always return to the thought of her whenever I tried to get serious about someone post apocalypse. You could say she was one of my biggest regrets. Penelope...

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. I got through my classes and Cleo and I went home. There was no event where a jock tried to fight me or bully me. (If he comes back... I'll punch his throat next time.) As Cleo and I approached the shuttle station, "Jason!" I heard someone calling out to me.

My friend Kyle. Kyle is what men of culture would call... An otaku. I dont think this guy ever misses an anime convention. Not to mention his love for his body pillow... Well let's not think any further about that.

"Sup Kyle." I was actually thinking of bringing him on board my plans for the future. After high school we attended different colleges and drifted apart, but he was always a good friend. And it would be nice to have a partner in crime. (I wonder what power he will awaken to?)

"Man, I got the new Howl of Duty game, do you wanna come over and hang out?" Kyle looked really excited about the new game. Me? Less so. Howl of Duty 7 was good but I had already played up to Howl of Duty 9 and already know what happens. (But, this might be the best time to talk to him about things... and put him to work on my schemes for me, hehe) "Ah. Sure, dude. Let me just drop my stuff off at home then I'll come over. The shuttle shortly after and took us to our sector.

I dropped my bag off at home, and took a shower before getting ready to go to Kyle's house. I've decided to make Kyle play an essential role in my preliminary plans. I need to find someone to help me build my dimensional device, but at the moment I'm going to need capital. (Credits. I'll need millions of credits) And that's where Kyle comes in.

My best friend is a walking piggie bank full of seed money. His family won a lawsuit against some big corporation over some kind of injury. But they still live frugally and put that money into an interest bearing account. And Kyle ...has access to said accounts.

I'm not just going to use his money though without giving him the value for it... I'll exchange it for power...

Once we've retrieved the mana crystals from the Elves, he will get the mana treatment and develop his abilities before the apocalypse has even begun. Not to mention... If I bring him with me to meet the elves, I can exchange him to the Elven Martriarch for the "Right of Access." (Its a win-win for me and maybe him.)

I finished getting ready after plotting to give my best friend to an Elven dominatrix, and left out the door. It didnt take me long to reach his house since he only lived around the corner from me.

I knocked on his door and his older sister Malka answered. Malka is a year older than Kyle and she had graduated but she had yet to choose a college. "Oh.. Its you." She said in a flat tone. "Uh, Kyle invited me." After telling her she opened the door wider and pointed to the stairs. "The nerds in his lair." was all she said as I entered before she turned and walked away.

I watched as she went into another room. (Malka has that whole ice queen vibe down pretty well, and shes a beauty too. It's a shame shes my friend's sister..) I lamented this fact as I trudged up the stairs and walked upto Kyle's room. I knocked and Kyle answered "Bro, come in!"

Kyle's room is exactly what you would expect an otakus room to look like. Various anime merchandise decorated the entire room, manga, games, figurines, and a body pillow with a pink haired girl printed on it. (...)

"Here it is. Howl of Duty 7. Jealous?" Kyle couldnt help rubbing his new game in my face with a goofy smirk on his face. (Makes sense since it came out yesterday, so it's new to you bastard... But I'm a veteran at this game...) I was about to show him how it's done.

But I had some things to discuss with him first... I had him sit down and I did the same before I began explaining. "This is going to sound unbelievable, but I swear every word I'm about to say is true..."

I told him about the apocalypse starting at the beginning. About the day the cataclysm hit and nearly all the humans had died. As I told the story, I observed his reaction. Calm. He didnt really react, he listened patiently until the end, nodding occasionally in understanding.

"... and due to some parts that failed, and caused the system to fail, I had to take the risk and jump to the past, not knowing when I would end up. I arrived this morning." I finished telling my story. I omitted alot of things, as i didnt want to overload him with truths he may not be ready for.

He looked at me and smiled softly, before saying, "Hm.. Jason, I didnt realize you wanted to write webnovels. That was an exciting story, you should keep writing it."

(Yeah.. I knew it would be like this. So I prepared a trump card for last, just in case.)

"hmph! You know... I did say every part of my story was true. Kyle..." I paused to build some suspense, "I can prove it." I pointed to the game console and then said, "Howl of Duty. I know everything about that game. You said it only came out yesterday, right?"

He narrowed his eyes at me in doubt, "Oh ya? Let's see then. If you really know as much as you say you do, then I'll believe that you're from the future." His face became more serious at the end."Okay." I picked up a controller and he did the same.

Two hours had passed since we started playing. "H-How?" His face showed shock once the final boss had been defeated. I had sped run him through the entire game and collected every moon medal, every artifact, and killed the final boss with the cheesiest method.

"Do you believe me now?" He just gazed at me before sitting back in his chair and staring at the ceiling in thought.

After a few minutes he sat up and then, "Okay... I have a few questions." Of course it's reasonable that he would. "Alright. Ask."

He looked right into my eyes and asked, Tell me about the Elves... Are there busty elves?"

(...This guy...)

"Ahem!... My friend, I'll tell you about the Elves." This guy has a one track mind so I might as well get this over with. "About the elves..."

I told him about how the Elves have thier own home world, called Mythral. The elves themselves are a race similar in appearance to the human female. Not Male. That's right. Theres not a single Male elf in existence. The elven women are born from the World Tree. The World Tree's roots extends to other worlds and connects to them. The Elves travel along these connections and seek mates once they reach adulthood, although they do try to blend in using magic. And once they have taken life essence in them, (after doing the deed) they return to the world tree. They use the life essence and feed it to the tree, and it, in turn grows a fruit. The fruit, once mature after several decades to a century, will bloom and a new elf child is born.

..."And it's because all of them are woman, their culture has developed in a strange direction.."

He looked at me unquestioningly, "...Strange?"

I couldnt help but look at him with pitying eyes. For this guy will soon be a Papa to an elven child, in my stead. I wont let history repeat itself... On Mythral, if an elven woman sees a man they like they wont hesitate to try to copulate with him. (So basically... they're slutty man hunters.)

In stead of answering him, I just asked, "Do you want to find out? And yes, They're busty."