(Chpt. 60) Shaping a new reality (1)

Alice.

A lot of you voiced your concerns on the previous chapter, all I can say is. Don't worry about it, the story is not heading into a permanent capital arc. I am not a big fan of lingering on a location for too long. Hopefully, everyone enjoys this chapter as much as I did.

“Woaaa!” The fishes were shining! Well, it was the sun striking their scales, but it was still beautiful watching them glisten in a myriad of colors. I could see the smooth rocks at the bottom of the river and watch them swim by. The cool and wet grass felt nice to the touch; the forest's was wood covered by moss and the greenery felt so peaceful. I looked up at the sun, it was shining brightly, striking a perfect balance of heat and cold. 

I looked at the sky once again, the sun looked weird, it started morphing and spinning?! The light blue sky started becoming duller until it became gray and rough-textured. The sun turned into a shiny rock. What? I looked below, I was no longer standing up. I could not even feel my body… What was happening?! 

I started darting my head around the unfamiliar place I was at. Old and worn down white brick walls, as well as a pristine and flawless marble floor around. I couldn’t feel my body, but I noticed I was on a bed covered by heavy and warm sheets. Fluffy and soft, my neck felt cozy as I moved it around. It was bliss. I finally started feeling my spine and upper-body in general. Making me somewhat rise up from an unfamiliar place. 

As soon as I got somewhat up I saw someone asleep sitting on a chair, resting their head atop of my bed with silver and silky hair. Said person was wearing robes so I had no idea who it was. The figure woke up and slowly rubbed her teary eyes, it was… “Aizen?” 

She hurriedly looked at me with teary eyes and rose her arm up high. Then she slapped me, making a clapping noise resonate throughout the room. My eyes trembled as I couldn’t believe what had just happened. I held my burning cheek with a slightly open mouth in shock. 

“IDIOT!” She yelled at me then furiously left the room… I couldn’t help but hold my cheek tighter. What was the reason for that, it was completely unnecessary. I don’t know the current situation but still...

“What’s with her?” I muttered. 

“She had been crying for the past few hours…” I heard a response from across the room, making me glance in said direction. It was the dwarf, his voice was no longer as friendly nor as carefree as usual. He sighed. “Sheesh, girly, don’t go around and shocking us like that. I was worried for you…” He made a bitter smile. “I don’t want to see something like that again. Also, she might have gotten mad simply because all you did was get confused instead of saying something reassuring to her, but those are just my thoughts. I certainly would've gotten mad." Eh. 

I couldn’t help but tilt my head, one moment I was playing with my metal and the other I was facing at the sky, hopelessly looking as the world spun around and blurred into nothingness… “What happened?” I decided to ask. 

He got to thinking. “Well, you see… I found you lying on the ground heavily panting,” eh… “You wouldn’t respond nor react to anything. I did not think much of it, since I am used to seeing newbies faint.” He laughed for a second. “Well, I wouldn’t have thought much of it, but after a minute, your partner and the wolf busted into the forge by breaking the door with a single hit, I don't even understand how they knocked it down.” Eh?! “Anyway, they hurriedly rushed to your side and checked but since you weren’t responding, they rushed you out of the forge and to the king.” What?! 

“And now we are here.” A voice chimed in. I hurriedly looked in front of me, there it was, a tall man with a sharp gaze and light wrinkles on his mouth and eyes. He was standing by the door as it silently closed behind his towering bath-like robe figure. “You had me worried for a second…” He added. Who was this person? 

“You ran out of mana, somehow.” Wait, what? He sighed. “I am honestly impressed, it’s the first time I hear that happening, anyway girly, since I see you confused I will briefly explain.” He locked gazes with me, making me gulp my dry saliva. “You almost died…” 

My eyes went wide, how could something like this possible. I can think of the mithril since it took my mana, but I probably have way more mana than the average person, then… How? No wonder she called me an idiot, not even apologizing to her… Sigh… I still have a long way to go, but I am here now. Wait… Who is this person? 

“Umm… Are you the doctor? Thanks for saving me…” I sheepishly muttered. 

The dwarf froze and the man in front of me started laughing. “I wish I was the doctor… I was just doing what your friend asked me to. Your friend is very important to me after all.” I stiffened from the void and blank words. 

“And you are?” I asked with a slight frown. 

“Oh sorry, I am Gazel, or, the current king of Tortul.” Tortul? What was that? Hmm… Oh right… It was the name of the capital, you mean this person is… “Eh? Don’t make that face, I am not going to execute you, I don’t care about disrespect or respect, but if you think you can defy me…” His veins bulged. “Just try it.” 

“... No thanks…” I silently replied. 

He laughed. “I thought so. Anyway, your friend is very unique and strong, I am sure she will be a great asset for the kingdom.” There he goes again. 

“Asset?” 

“Well, I have to keep the peace in the kingdom, and regardless of how powerful I am, I cannot do it all. Besides, the strong reign over the weak; offer their protection and shelter, as well as keeping things in line and peaceful. Or at least I would like to think it is like that, seeing the country united.” What’s with this man, also, I wouldn’t call it peaceful at all… 

“Is keeping things in line and peaceful; killing people and robbing little girls?” I decided to ask. 

“Hmm…  Well, it really isn’t, but it is better than to have unnecessary bloodshed,” Eh… Wasn’t what happened today unnecessary bloodshed?! “A few lives sacrificed is better than a few thousand, after all, I take the strong under my wing and nurture them, I offer protection to the weak. I shall keep the peace for as long as I can, the previous king was good for nothing, after all, allowing greedy nobles to stay in their place even if they didn’t do anything. The strong should be rulers. Don’t you agree girly?” 

“Eh…” 

“Well, I didn’t expect someone as weak as you to understand, keep in mind. I have no interest in you, but your friend is important to me, don’t think I saved you out of joy. Also, try to not use your mana too much, it probably is below the average value if this happened. See you.” He left after that cold speech. I couldn’t bring myself to close my agape mouth. 

“Well, that’s the king for ya girly,” the dwarf added.     

“Sigh… What a stupid ideology…” I muttered. “Being strong does not make one smart, being strong does not make you the best king, being strong doesn’t mean you will improve the quality of life for people… Just what is wrong with this person?!” I messed up my hair in annoyance. 

“Relax, the king isn’t someone you can make sense out of.” 

“Then, why him?” Wouldn’t a king need to be you know… Dependable? 

“Hmm… Well, I am sure everyone has their own reasons, for me… Well…” He bitterly smiled and scratched the back of his head. “He pays me a lot of money.” 

“That’s all?!” Is all he cares about money? 

“Well, he also keeps me alive, offers me protection, allows me to do whatever I want. What else could I ask? Besides, it is not like he goes on a rampage whenever people do “peace-breaking” things, I think you are overthinking it. Bloodshed does happen, but it's rare.” 

I started thinking, was this the right thing. I am not really planning on defying the king, but it really makes me wonder who he is, based on the little things he said. I am pretty sure he is not really a king but more of a warrior, or just a powerful person. What a problem, no wonder people are so crazed about status. I wonder what would happen if people found out Aizen’s status? Hmm… Well, whatever. I should probably think about what got me in this situation instead; even though I truly don’t understand what happened. 

“Well, I am sure you want to be alone.” The dwarf left after saying that, I didn’t really understand him, but well… I couldn’t read minds. 

I pondered for a few minutes but all I could think of was the mithril. But then again, I doubt it would consume so much mana to leave me exhausted just after three times. It sounds unrealistic, it doesn’t really make sense, the numbers don’t add up. I am pretty sure summoning Fifi wouldn’t consume over one thousand points, then why would the mithril consume over twenty times that? All in a single-use... I wonder what could’ve caused it. Sigh. Well, at least I got good news. 

I decided that I should go back to the forge. Removing the heavy and warm sheets from over my body I noticed something… There was a big white ball on top of me! It was breathing… Could it be? As I glanced it with speculation it woke up and looked at me. It was Fenri, he gave me a death-glare. His eyes were so fixated in looking inside my soul that it made me uncomfortable; he was mad. 

“Grrr…” Fenri growled… I couldn’t help but gulp my saliva. He slowly got up with his hind legs first and slowly walked to stand right in front of my face. Showing me his fangs and with icy-cold unfriendliness. He growled one more time before he got really close to me and let his legs collapse atop of me. 

“Fenri?!” He was way too heavy. He didn’t answer me and just started licking me instead! Every time I tried to get him off he would re-stick to me like glue… I sighed in defeat, he was probably just as worried as Aizen if not more. With those considerations in mind, I decided to just stay in my place until he felt like moving… 

It was a bad idea… He had been licking me for the past thirty minutes with no signs of stopping. A few more minutes passed and he finally stopped and got up; staring me once again into the eyes, this time his eyes were sparkling with happiness. I petted him and rubbed his neck, as well as hugged him. I kind of felt guilty for doing such a disaster unintentionally…

After easing my guilt by cuddling with Fenri I finally got up and left the room. The whole place was unfamiliar, with the dull-colored ceilings and the oversaturation of white colors. There were a lot of paintings and the floor had a long red carpet running. The first thing I noticed was that… I had no idea where I was… It was just a long hallway with evenly spaced windows throughout.

I couldn’t help but wordlessly stand on the hallway and look both sides, it was pretty much the same from either side so I really didn’t know where to go… I dropped my shoulders in defeat before I felt some tugging to my side, Fenri was biting and pulling on my clothes. I looked at him with hope and he started walking in a direction. It was left, but could it really be left? Both sides looked the same. Worrying about random things I followed Fenri. 

The place was big, it felt like a maze or rather, a linear maze, but Fenri still guided me throughout and after a lot of walking I recognized where we were. We were in the entrance hall near the garden, or well… The entrance hall that was connected to the garden. Either way, I could finally know where I was. Fenri did not stop walking and guided me into the garden. 

Aizen was quietly sitting under the shade of a tree; sun piercing through the foliage as she silently looked at the ground. She noticed I was there and simply looked up to see me. She sighed and loosened her shoulders. 

“You know… I was worried…” She looked at me. “Just don’t do whatever you did again, you really gave me a lot of trouble. Especially with convincing the alchemist or whatever you were just a normal girl."

“Eh?” 

“You see, this person was really convinced that the reason the potions did not work was that you were just dead.” Eh... She sighed once again. “Well… I don’t think I need to keep explaining everything that happened.” 

I couldn’t help but swallow my saliva. “Did they find anything out.”

“Idiot… The thing you should be saying is ‘I am sorry…’ instead.”

“I am sorry…” 

“That’s better.” She gave me a smile and stood up. 

“Still, I wonder what could make something like that happen.” Aizen pondered as she looked at the sky. 

“I wonder the same… But I have a surprise for you!” 

Aizen tilted her head. “Surprise?” 

“Just come with me.” I grabbed Aizen and brought her to the forge. The dwarf wasn’t there for some reason. The door was also on the ground as the dwarf said. 

There it was, a white piece of ceramic or rather dead mithril on the ground next to the scrap. It seemed to have “dried-out” for some reason. Aizen was weirded out by said ceramic and tilted her head. 

“So, what is it that you want to show me?” 

I smiled. “Just grab that thing and you will see.” 

Aizen wordlessly knelt down and held the mithril on her arms as she stood up. She held it for a few seconds, then her eyes widened. 

“You idiot!” She slammed the mithril on the ground, it had become dark as I remembered. However, Aizen seemed extremely mad. “No wonder why you almost died. That thing literally sucks your mana forcibly!” 

“Well… Can’t you move it since it has your mana now?” I asked as I scratched my cheek. 

“That’s not the point!” She yelled at me. “What good can it do being able to make it into a weapon if it kills you before you get to use it? I will admit, it is plenty interesting. But you know what isn’t? You dying because of an stupid metal experiment!” Aizen was mad. 

“B-But…” 

“No buts… Just don’t make me worry like that again…” Aizen wiped the corner of her eye. “It was a bad joke…” 

“Y-yes…” I wanted to use it to make it into a gauntlet for her though… Aizen sighed. 

“Yes, you can use it for making the thing I asked you about. I am sure I can do something so that the metal doesn’t kill me…” She said in defeat. “But! I will be here when you make it, so that you don’t kill yourself, got it?” I sheepishly nodded as I wondered how she knew what I wanted to do. 

Aizen finally allowed her stiff shoulders to relax as she breathed out in relief. After calming down she looked at me fixedly before rushing to me and tackling me into the ground. 

“Aizen?!” What’s with her all of the sudden. 

“I was really worried…” She muttered as she rubbed herself against me, staining my clothes with her face… I couldn’t help but bitterly smile at my naiveness.

“I am sorry…” I quietly apologized once again. Aizen just hugged me tighter.