Fixing Things

“Okay!” Audrey shouted after Elena as she ran off. That was strange, she thought while entering the house. Laying down on the bed, she closed her eyes and curled up into a ball. Looking at the floor in front of her, a rock broke through it and protruded out of the ground. She carved a hole into it with her eyes and her Mana.

She quickly made a fire elemental and told it to stay inside that pan-like hole in the rock and create a simple fire beside the bed. She soon felt her body warm up and it took only a few seconds before she fell asleep.

Jake came in running not long after, hoping to find out what her kiss exactly meant, but all he found was Audrey sleeping on the bed. “Great…” he muttered, feeling dissatisfied yet happy at the same time. At least, we have made some progress. What if...?

Having a sudden idea, he sat down on the bed above Audrey and after slowly inching closer to her, he put her head on his lap. Pulling her silky red hair to the side, he looked at her pretty face and started caressing her head with a smile on his face. Resting his back on the wall, he closed his eyes. It’s so peaceful like this. Uh- I’m happy to see Elena and Dred too, but being together 24/7 for a year has taken its toll on me. Now I’m really happy to see that it’s just the two of us.

Geh, if only she was awake and she was my girlfriend by now… But I shouldn’t push her. Looking one last time at her face, he thought, I’ll wait for you, my love. Closing his eyes, his hand slowly stopped moving as he fell asleep.

Feeling as if somebody was looking at him, he opened his eyes and was met with Elena’s face. Looking around, he realized that it was already morning. “Huh? How come I slept for so long?”

Standing up straight, Elena replied, “You must have been tired. I mean, it’s already past noon. Don’t jump,” she pointed towards Audrey who was still sleeping.

“I know. Where is Dred?”

“He went to get Cor and will be back in a moment. Have you had anything for breakfast yet? Though I can guess the answer.”

“Haha, no.”

“Then you surely don’t mind eating this,” she smiled back, pulling out a dead small animal from behind her back. “It has a lot of meat and Dred said that it had a very good taste, so-”

“What’s up? You seem to be in a very good mood,” Jake raised his brows.

“Eh~ I can’t deny that,” she smiled back as she turned around and started cooking on Audrey’s fire. When the fragrance of the roasted meat started spreading in the room, Audrey opened her eyes with her stomach growling. Realizing her position, she was surprised, but didn’t say anything and just sat up thinking. Did something happen? No… I just came back and fell asleep. Did he put my head on his lap?

“Good morning,” Jake said.

“Mhm. You too.” What now? This time not only him but I too am lost at where we stand, she looked at him from the corner of her eye.

“Breakfast… Rather, lunch is ready,” Elena interrupted their strange silence and at the same time, Dred and Cor entered the house, turning it a bit crowded.

“Perfect! But where is my food?” Cor questioned her, not seeing a single heart or brain in Elena’s hands.

“Go hunt for yourself, damn it. I just cooked for the others since we eat the same things. I won’t eat a mangled corpse, like you,” Elena furrowed her brows.

“Then why the hell did you even call me here for?!”

“Eh? Well, just to tell you that we are back?”

“...”

“I’m sorry?”

“You’re not, but fine! It’s not like I actually have to eat. My food is Mana anyway,” Cor shrugged his shoulders and after leaving the house, he sat down on the ground.

Coughing in her hands, Elena continued, “Let’s eat.”

She used Nature Magic to create a table in the middle of the room, with four chairs surrounding it. As they started eating, the room turned strangely silent and awkward as only the clangs of their plates and cutlery could be heard. Dred quickly finished and said, “I don’t like this silence.”

“...”

Seeing that nobody said even a single word, he continued, “You don’t have to make this even more awkward. What happened while we were off?”

Raising her head, Audrey replied, “Nothing much. But I could ask the same?” she raised a brow.

“Hmm- I laid down with Elena and now we are a couple,” Dred replied with a serious voice.

Both of the girls choked on their food on the spot, while Jake got off with a smaller cough. “Dred. You aren’t supposed to say it so bluntly,” Elena shook her head.

“Is that so? I just said the truth. It’s easier than beating around the bush, don’t you think?”

“Hahaha, it is.”

“Though, I hope that you won’t go around telling it to everyone in this manner,” a shudder ran through her back as she imagined.

“...I’m not an idiot. I won’t go around the city and stop everyone to tell them that I had sex with you. I just said it this time because it was quicker.”

“Oh well, that’s how it is,” she shrugged her shoulders as she looked into Audrey’s eyes.

“When you are that blunt about it, I can’t help but accept it and ignore it for some reason…” Audrey replied with a shrug.

“See? Being straight is much better,” Dred said proudly.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve got it already. But there is a small problem,” Elena raised a finger before continuing.

“Atelon’s description matched with the Emperor of the Sliton Empire. Shin, was he? This means that he knew at least as much as we did about the kingdom of Atelon, if not more. Now he is roaming the world freely, just like Atelon. Atelon doesn’t know about us, probably. But whether Shin plans to conspire against us or not is unknown.”

Raising another finger, she added “Secondly, I had realized in the battle that our teamwork is rather poor. Not the three of us, but with Audrey. So instead of randomly attacking, we should come up with strategies and formations, which would allow her to freely help us out anytime. Since in most cases, we were the ones blocking her.”

“Thirdly, where do we go now?” she raised a third finger.

“Do you not want to even meet with Bethor and Hector? I don’t think that their alliance would go smoothly if you weren’t there,” Jake pointed out.

“Well, we will have to help them out, but once we are done, we should go somewhere. Unless you want to live here?” she tilted her head to the side.

“Hell, no,” Audrey was the first to disagree. “I want to explore the world, not sit in one place.”

“I didn’t plan to either. I just asked,” Jake added.

After pondering for a few seconds, Dred said “Hmm- As we know, there are many kingdoms on this planet, which is much bigger than Dink. The kingdoms have a ranking number, which shows their military strength and we are at the outermost area, in a kingdom with the lowest number, one. The planet has very different Mana density at each place and the closer we get to the level ten kingdoms or empires, the higher the density will be.”

“So basically, you have to fight if you want to reach greater heights since normal humans probably wouldn’t be able to train enough and become truly powerful in these areas. For Bethor and Atelon to go beyond the four hundredth level is a miracle in itself. And honestly, even in the battle, we saw many ‘geniuses’ who couldn’t even use all of the elements. They were like commoners…”

“While at the better places, I’m quite sure that it’s common at their level to know every element to some degree.”

“Yeah, but at least a few of them had their own spells,” Audrey chimed in.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that. I think that it was the legacy of their families in most cases,” Elena said.

“Hmm, that could be true,” Audrey said with a thoughtful face.

Clearing his throat to catch their attention, Dred continued, “So my conclusion is that we have two choices. We go through the level one kingdoms and clean them from the kind of people like Atelon or we go towards the level ten empires. The latter will be obviously harder but more rewarding in the long run. Also, what do you plan to do with this kingdom?” he asked, turning towards Elena.

“Well, although the king was a trash, along with many of those young assholes, and this city too was conspiring and rebelling, but they did it to make everything better. Supposedly, now the pros outweigh the cons, which means that I’ll leave them be. Unless… they fuck up in the time frame I’m still here. If they do, I’ll devour all of them,” Elena replied with a serious voice.

“By the way, Audrey. Since you are in the back and you have a full view on the battlefield most of the time, it should be you who plans and creates formations,” Elena added, brushing her hand through her black hair.

“I’m fine with that. I’ll think about it and share them with you tomorrow. We can test it on weaker people, who are too prideful and pick a fight with us,” Audrey nodded her head.

“Great. Now then, I’ll go the city. Whether you come or stay here is up to you,” Elena stood up from the table.

“I’m not interested in politics and you will be the only one talking anyway. Dred will surely go with you too, so I’m staying here,” Audrey reasoned.

“I’m not going either,” Jake and Cor said almost at the same time, though Cor’s sudden appearance behind Audrey startled her.

“God damn it. Don’t sneak up on me like that,” Audrey cursed out loud.

“Keke, but you are always fun to tease, right? Jake.”

Averting his eyes, he didn’t say anything.

“You seem to be better at controlling yourself,” Cor muttered while looking back and forth between Audrey and Jake.

“It’s simple. Just like I did, other people were underestimating their own bodies too. I suddenly turned young and you can tell me that I’m just looking for excuses, but our bodies have very strong effects when it comes to our personalities. Unlike when I was past forty, I suddenly had that strong sexual desire again. My body was young and fit with no aching spots. I was kind of lost and didn’t know how to handle that change, especially when my love for Audrey came to be. But I think that I’m better at it now since I have time to practise,” Jake replied with a smile on his face.

“It’s partly thanks to her indecisiveness too…” he added with a sigh, while Audrey just sat on her chair silently, afraid to even look his way while everyone was still there.

“Ah, I have to go now. See you later,” Elena quickly left the house.

“I’m going with her.”

“I’ll go and train and won’t be back for a few hours. See you later,” Cor was the last to leave.

“Eh?” Audrey’s surprised voice resounded in the empty house.

“Hahaha, I didn’t know that our friends were so considerate. So? Since we are alone, you might as well tell me what your kiss meant,” Jake said as he elbowed on the table and turned his head towards Audrey.

“...You are using Dred’s method, aren’t you? Being so blunt.”

“Well? It seems to be working,” he smiled back.

“Haah- I’m being cornered. It’s just hard to talk about for me. I don’t know what is considered normal in these situations,” she sighed loudly, clenching her fists.

“Does it really matter what is the norm among humans? We aren’t humans anymore. Just do it your way.”

“Fine. I kind of believed that if I became your girlfriend, I’d have to get in bed with you instantly, which I was afraid of. But thanks to Cor, I realized that being your girlfriend has nothing to do with that. Or at least, not in the first few days. So take my kiss as a yes. I’m just hoping that you don’t mind if you have to wait some more until I feel that I’m ready.”

“Great! By the way, it’s not something you have to be ready for. It’s something that you are supposed to want because you like me. I’ve got by up till now too, so waiting some more doesn’t really matter. I won’t do anything like that to you unless I see that you want it,” he replied, his mood visibly much better.

“Mhm, thanks. Uhm, what do you plan to do now?”

“Hug you,” he said as he leaned closer to her and coiled his arms around her back. Switching to a gentle tone, he whispered, “I know that you had bad things happening to you in the past and that you feel uncomfortable around men, but we have been together every day ever since I became Elena’s blood servant. Don’t tell me that you are still uncomfortable around me.”

“No. I’m fine with you.”

“That’s good then. Can I… kiss you?”

Turning away, she thought about it for a moment before turning back and nodding her head. Jake slowly inched closer and savoured her rosy lips. They separated a good thirty seconds later and opened their eyes. “That felt good,” Audrey muttered. Jake let go of her and stood up from his seat.

“Shall we train now? I feel super energetic!”

“Haha, alright,” Audrey replied with a chuckle. His arms were so warm and gentle. This whole relationship might be better than I thought. Oh well, at least, I know that I’m fine with a kiss here and there. I wonder how the rest of it felt… Ah! What am I thinking?!

“Audrey? Why are you spacing out?”

“Ah- hahaha, I was just thinking about a spell, but now you messed it up for me!”

Looking at her face sceptically, he said, “Sure, I did… Women and their secrets…”

“I- I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Haah- whatever. Come with me,” he said with a smile. Taking his hand, he led Audrey to the bed. They sat down on it, back to back. Closing their eyes, feeling each other’s warmth, they started meditating.