CLYDE ASTLEY POV:

I managed to get a carriage the next morning after the events of yesterday. It was a little later than I would’ve liked but at least not all the stables were empty.

“~~~”

The morning sun touched the skin of my face. The cold breeze swept my light brown hair. Despite the fact that the sun was shining, it was still so chilly.

I infused mana into my robe which made the utility spell warm my body up.

“~~~”

“What tune is that, boy?” While I was humming a certain song, the coachman spoke to me. He was an old man with a fedora on his head.

“Just something my mother always sang to me when I was a child. It always calms my heart down.”

“Ye don’t say, huh? What’s bothering you now then?”

I hopped onto the front seat and pulled out a leather pouch filled with water.

“It isn’t that interesting. Just…” I opened up the pouch. “…there’s this girl that confessed to me and I don’t know how to answer her.”

That girl being Artoria. I had tried to get in touch with her again since she was going to be roaming the kingdom before heading back. However, I found no trace of her.

Artoria disappeared that night of the party.

“Well, how much does this las love ye? Not just any girl would make the first move, y’know? She must be madly in love with you.”

‘I don’t know about that, old man. How would you feel if someone told you they met you in their past lives?‘

“I’m not sure myself how much she loves me. To be honest, I feel like I don’t know her anymore.”

Artoria was completely different from the boy I befriended when I was a child. The two of us were like brothers. We slept together. Bathed together. Ate together.

It felt like all of those years were just a long dream of mine. It was like a kind of unreality.

“I feel like I don’t know my childhood friend anymore.”

“Hold on, childhood friend!?” The old man pulled the reins which made the horses stop abruptly.

My destination was just a few hundred metres away. It was the port town where the station of the mana train was built.

“Are ya saying the two of ye grew up together?”

“Yeah.”

“How can you be hesitatin’!? The pure love of one you’ve spent your whole life with is the strongest bond in this world. The two of you know everything about each other. You’ve been together through thick and thin and now you’re hesitating!?”

The old man was a little too excited about this.

“Listen kid…” He put his hands on my shoulders. “…You gotta answer this girl’s feelings. If you don’t then you’ll lose a one in a lifetime chance.”

“What do you mean?”

“This girl will probably think that you’re not interested if you keep stalling. Don’t you think she’ll fall for someone else at this rate?”

‘…Huh?’

The old man’s words made sense. But was it really that easy? We were talking about a girl who became my lover in five of her other lives. Was it just undying love or was it something much darker? I doubted whether Artoria was still the same innocent girl she was when she was born. Or he. I had no idea what to call her.

“You have a point.” I looked over the horizon that was blanketed by the snow that fell last night. “Maybe I’m pushing these feelings down so that I don’t leave my comfort zone.”

It felt like just yesterday that he was Arthur. Today he was a bombshell beauty madly in love with me. Anyone would feel a little creeped out or even confused. I was the latter.

‘I promised her that we can become real lovers once she comes back home. There’s no turning back.’

The old man smiled. “That’s the spirit! Alright, let’s go.”

“Ah, actually I’ll get off here.” I grabbed my backpack.

“You sure? The highways is full of bandits. The duke is trying to send his knights all over his land to improve security. Steps have been taken but it’s still dangerous to travel alone.”

“Thanks but I’ll be fine. Plus, I’m a student of the academy.” I took out my wand and showed the insignia.

I had Undine by my side as well.

“Alright then, kid. I’ll be going then. Safe journey ahead. Hyaah!”

The carriage began speeding down the road after he flicked the reins.

I tightened my grip on the backpack. My eyes gazed up at the skyscraper that was in the middle of the town I was headed to.

It was one of first magic stations to be built to operate the mana train.

I took out a map that had my path marked. I would take the Devil’s route which was the path the train will go. After going further east, I’d stop by closest town to the tracks.

After memorizing the path, I folded up the map.

“Let’s go.”

◇◇◇

I walked for about ten minutes before the town’s gates came into view. There were a long line of fancy carriages in front of me when I tried to enter the gate.

“Huh? Isn’t that Clyde?” A voice called out.

“Hm?” I turned around and saw a couple of familiar faces. “Byron?”

It was Byron and his party members.

“It really is him!” I saw a giant man with a towering shield run towards me. He gave me a tight, firm hug.

It was Kyle.

“Ugh!”

“Hey, you’re crushing the kid.” Brooklyn chuckled and pried me away from Kyle’s arms. She gave me a hug as well.

Cliff and Rela were approaching from the forest path. It seemed that they were coming back from a hunt.

“What are you doing here of all places?” Byron asked.

We came to a bar after everyone gathered. It was a small bar with barely any customers. Rela brought everyone a round of beers.

“I’m taking the mana motor that’ll arrive tomorrow morning and then I’ll head to the Holy Kingdom.”

“Holy shit, you got a ticket to take a ride in that thing?” Cliff asked dubiously. “How did you pull it off? Not even a noble can acquire one that easily.”

“Haha. Yeah. I got some help from a friend to arrange one for me.”

It was Charlotte who saved me a ticket. I wasn’t sure how expensive it was though.

“Anyway, where have you guys been all this time?”

Byron shrugged. “We’ve been doing some shitty quests these days.”

“Yeah. It’s like the battle with the Hydra made the quests at the guild look like child’s play.” Rela chuckled. “At this point we’re adventuring only for fun since we have so much money. We might as well play around for a while.”

“Why not build a guild of your own and become mercenaries for hire?”

“That does sound like a good idea but we’ll see what the future has in store for us. There were rumours circulating around that the duke is forming a massive group for a high-end job.” Byron said when he leaned forward. “We were thinking of heading to Hurge city after we’re done clearing out the mobs here in this town.”

“Does this have something to do with the disappearance of villagers in the area?”

“Yes, it does. Just a week ago another village was found to be deserted. People are moving out of their own houses because of what is going on. It wouldn’t be long until this trouble reaches Hurge city as well. If the surrounding villages are evacuated then it’s highly likely that they’ll flock to Hurge city.”

‘Is it them? Could it be the work of Zero?’

I had already warned Odette of what was to come, however, she hadn’t made a move yet. There weren’t even any knights being assembled at the palace or announcements being made.

‘What did Yeltena mean when she said that Odette would know what to do?’

“We heard your father-in-law is also joining the duke. If two high ranking nobles are involved then this is definitely a big deal. Shouldn’t you also help out?” Kyle asked.

“I don’t have the time to lend a helping hand. One person wouldn’t make a difference.”

“…..” All of them looked at me in silence.

“W-What?”

“You’re basically a one man army. How can you not be essential?” Kyle shook his head. “Forget it. We can’t ask you to join us like last time. That’ll be selfish of us.”

“We’ll make a plan to recruit a mage, I guess.” Rela muttered.

“So where’s Aria? Wasn’t she with you guys last time?” I asked.

I didn’t see the demihuman girl when I ran into them.

“Well, I left her at her family home after releasing her.” Byron said.

“So she was your slave after all, huh?” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“H-Hey. Don’t look at me like that. It’s not like I’m into kids or anything. She was just good at tracking. Hahaha…” He laughed awkwardly as his eyes swam across the bar.

“More like she was into him.” Brooklyn said from the side.

“What do you mean?” I turned towards her. She gave a mysterious smile.

“As a parting gift, Aria asked Byron to take her first time.”

Byron coughed from the side. He acted as if he was reading on the menu. I noticed that it was upside-down, though.

“Being the wizard virgin that he is, he turned her down. Not being into kids my ass.” Brooklyn looked at Byron with a teasing smile. “He’s just scared she’ll leave him like that other bitch, Rosalyn.”

“Rosalyn?”

“Would you guys not talk about my life!?” Byron looked like he was about to cry. “It’s over, alright!?”

“You broke the poor girl’s heart. All that hard work for nothing. You’re really scum.” Brooklyn looked at him as if he was trash.

“Didn’t you say that I’m too old for her…”

“She’s already 15 so that doesn’t count anymore.”

“Let’s stop talking about Byron’s twisted past.” Rela stood up and took everyone’s glasses. “I’ll bring some more beer.”

“Huh?” I noticed that there was a large cut on her arm when she walked away. “What happened there?” I pointed at it.

“Ah, miss Rela got into a fight with someone.” Cliff explained. “She went to the Rusa Dynasty to buy herself a sword but ran into trouble with one of Rosetta’s disciples.”

“Rosetta’s disciples?”

“Yup. She got her ass handed to her by a girl who’s so much younger than her. I can’t stop laughing when I remember how stupid she looked when she was defeated.” Brooklyn said.

“What did she look like?”

“Eh…She had black hair and red eyes, if I remember correctly. They call her the Black Sword Maiden.”

‘Is it Celina?’

The name and description matched her.

“She’s been drowning in alcohol ever since. Apparently, a tournament is being held by the end of the year and she’s going there to challenge the girl again. We’ve been telling her that it’s no use fighting the girl again.” Byron smiled wryly. “But as expected of a demihuman. They must have pride thicker than mountain climbing ropes.”

“Here she comes. Don’t mention that day to her. She gets a little crazy.”

“O-Okay.”

Rela was carrying two barrels of ale on her shoulders. There was a boy next to her. He looked a little older than me by one year.

“I’m heading back first.” She put one barrel down. “Don’t look for me. I’ll meet you guys at the guild tomorrow.”

She just said that and left with the boy.

“Who’s he?” I asked.

“That’s our porter. Poor boy has been dragged around by Rela ever since he joined. He’s always out of energy in the mornings so anyone can guess the torture he goes through every night.” Brooklyn shrugged. “He’s not complaining, though.”

“I see. Oh, right. What about you two?” I looked at Cliff and Brooklyn.

“I gave the little pervert what he wanted. Now he won’t stop chasing me around like a dog.” Brooklyn glanced at Cliff.

“I-I don’t do that!”

“You sure it’s not you leading him on, Brook?” Byron shook his head with a sigh.

“The attention is nice but I’m pretty bored with it by now. Hey, Clyde~.” Brooklyn threw her legs over mine and put her arm around my neck. She smiled coquettishly and lifted one of her breasts. “Why not sleep with this big sister tonight? I can make tonight a night you’ll never forget.”

“No thanks.” I moved back when I saw Cliff’s moist eyes. He was basically pleading to me to say no.

“I need to be up early tomorrow morning so I can’t fool around with someone.”

“Awww~ Worth a shot anyway~” She shrugged.

‘She’s teasing you, man.’

She wasn’t being serious anyway. I was sure that if I said yes then she’d say that she was joking.

We talked about random things like where we were headed to after tonight. Byron said that they’d stop by guild first before leaving this town. I had to wake up early tomorrow morning to catch the first train.

We parted ways at eight in the evening in front of the bar. They headed to the inn they were staying at while I went the opposite direction.