Needless to say, Hazeel didn’t talk to me for the rest of the day following the pain that came post-transformation. Granted, I could have warned her in advance, but her bracing herself for pain had a different effect than if it just hit her all at once.

We exited the training field following that incident, as it soon became apparent that neither Leresa nor Dantae would have the wherewithal to join us. Hazeel took the lead, angrily grumbling to herself over my treatment of her.

Even Rexir looked at me cautiously, no doubt dreading the time when he’d have to do the same exercise and have his body endure the same pain as Hazeel.

By the time we got back to the village, the sun was beginning to set. I told Hazeel and Rexir to go back home first, and went to the bakery where Kokoro’s nephew lived.

Upon opening the door, I was hit by a wave of sweet smells and an inviting atmosphere. I remembered once that Dantae had told me that the smell of freshly baked bread was her favorite, and now I could see why.

“Oh, you’re here! Thanks for coming by. Aunt Kokoro has been praising me for doing a good job delivering the pastries!”

The kid was practically beaming at me, and his cheer was contagious, making me smile myself.

“Come now dear, don’t bother the nice man.” A slender woman with toned arms walked out from the back of the shop.

“Okay mom!” The boy waved goodbye, and ran to the back of the shop where his mother had come from.

“Thanks for taking care of our boy. He’s the only one in his age group in the village, so I think he likes having someone around who he can look up to and befriend.”

I wanted to object and tell her that I was much older than her son, but with the way people were naturally taller in this world, she probably wouldn’t have believed me anyway.

“It’s no problem, he’s a nice boy. Thank you for sending the food, by the way. It was a godsend yesterday.”

The woman smiled at me and walked up behind the counter, where many breads and pastries were on display. “It’s really no issue. In fact, thanks for keeping the fact that he dropped some of the bread a secret, and not making a big deal out of it. Now, what can I do for you?”

I stood in place, stunned for a moment, but decided to let the moment pass and just get on to my business. “I need two loaves of bread, and two containers of butter. Fresh, if possible.”

“Coming right up!” The woman grinned and got to work behind the counter, putting the goods into a bag for me. “A man from the capital came today to deliver a letter to Rexir. Since he was out, he left the letter with Kokoro, who gave it to me to deliver later. You coming here just makes things easier.”

She slid a sealed letter to me, that was closed with a wax seal of a dragon. “Please take care of yourselves and little Rexir for us, would you? He’s like a child to all the village mothers.”

I grinned at the unexpected information, but just nodded. “Of course I will. In fact, this is our dinner. I guess Rexir will explain himself then.

---

As soon as I walked through the door of the house, I was tacked to the ground by a platinum-haired beauty. Luckily, I made sure to keep the bread from falling to the ground, and put one hand around Vanessa’s waist in order to keep her from falling off of me.

“Leo! Why did you just leave me!? I finally got back my memories, yet you went out to train!?” She grabbed my collar and was violently shaking me while sitting on my stomach.

I looked up and saw the others standing around us, with kind smiles on their faces. “She only woke up twenty minutes ago and was frantically looking for you. Hazeel calmed her down, but I guess she couldn’t hold in her anxiety when she saw you come in.”

Leresa said, putting an arm around Rexir. “Rexi’s already brought me up to speed on what you taught, so I think our next step would be to put it into effect in real training.”

I nodded, which was hard to do with a tall Japanese woman on top of you. I put down the bread and started to stroke her hair.

“Easy, easy, Dantae.” I tapped out on her thigh and she paused. She looked down on me and tears started to well in her eyes.

“I missed you so much!” She hugged me closely and started crying. I hugged her back, and mentally cursed the three people who just stood around while I was nearly suffocated by Dantae.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” I started, having managed to briefly separate Dantae away from me, “But we have a letter for Rexir from his father. Kokoro received it while we were away, and gave it to me to pass on to you. It’s in the bag next to our dinner.”

Rexir tenderly reached inside, and grabbed the sealed letter from within. He opened it, and started to read the contents with a stern look on his face.

After finishing, he put down the letter, only to pick it back up and start reading it again. By this point, I had been able to stand back up, although Vanessa was still glued to my side.

Rexir then looked at Leresa and had a silent, mental conversation between the two of them. Leresa frowned after conveying something to Rexir, who shook his head.

Leresa sighed, and turned to the rest of us. “Listen… we have to talk about what my father in law is planning. What he sent us… there’s some unsettling things in that letter.”