WIEDERGEBURT Act II: Chapter 33

It took 24 days to travel from the north western peninsula to Vesperia—the city in which the Explorer’s Guild was located. After emerging from the jungle that made up a good portion of the peninsula, we headed for the nearest town and found a caravan willing to let us travel with them in exchange for our services.

During our time traveling with the caravan, we learned about what had been happening on the continent while we’d been in that other world. The war with the Sekbeists was still going strong. It appeared Warp Gates were being opened all across the continent. Several towns and villages had been destroyed, though none of the larger cities were occupied like Vahn had been. On that note, it seemed the Paladin Sect and Battling Valkyries managed to secure that city during our absence and it was now one of our sides most fortified strongholds.

Six months had passed since our battle in Vahn.

The amount of time that had passed was shocking. While my sense of time was skewed in that other world thanks to the blood red sky, it didn’t feel like six months had passed. In fact, if we went by the number of times Kari and I had slept, then only 33 days had passed in that other world. That was just a few days over half a month.

“I think time passes more slowly in Niðavellir,” Kari theorized as she and I sat in one of the carts belonging to the caravan we were traveling with.

“That’s as good a theory as any,” I sighed, leaned back, and crossed my arms. “But… how would that work?”

“Well, it’s a different world, isn’t it?” Kari said with an excited smile. “It only makes sense that time in a different world would be different.” She tilted her head and cupped her chin. “That said, I am curious about how such a thing would work. Why does time in Niðavellir pass more slowly than time here? The days didn’t feel any slower or faster, but surely there is an explanation.”

“I suppose we could ask one of the Dwoergs when we see them again,” I said.

“Yes.” Resolutely nodding as if her choice had already been made, as if she had already asked them, Kari grinned. “That’s exactly what we will do.”

Since the area surrounding Midgard was made of mostly plains, there were a lot of roads that crossed and intersected while leading to different cities, villages, and towns. The one this caravan was traveling on was wider than most. It was a well-used road. Vesperia was a large city similar to Vahn in size, and it was located at a major cross section between Midgard and a few of the smaller towns, meaning many people passed through it. Currently, the road we were on would lead to Capistrana, a smaller city that was a few days from Vesperia.

“Think our sect mates are worried sick about us?” I asked.

“I’m sure Felicia is worried sick, though I doubt Markus is.” Kari giggled a little. “In fact, he’s probably glad that you’re not around.”

“Ugh…”

I felt my shoulders grow weak at the mention of Markus and Felicia, two of our sect mates and people I tended to have a hot and cold relationship with. Felicia got along well with me—a little too well, if you asked me. She’d actually asked me once if she could join Kari and I in bed. I had turned her down, of course, but the woman was persistent. Fortunately, she kept from doing anything too dastardly like trying to sneak into bed with us. Her fraternal twin brother didn’t appreciate how I refused to acknowledge his sister’s feelings.

“Give me a break. None of that is my fault,” I complained.

“Not interested in letting Felicia share our bed?” Kari asked.

“Not really.” I grimaced. “She’s a nice woman, but honestly, some of her hobbies disturb me.”

Kari’s smile became a little fixed. “Yeah… I don’t blame you.”

By hobbies, I meant her collection of erotic male on male fiction. Felicia was one of those girls who seemed to adore reading erotic stories about gay couples. Now, I wasn’t the kind of guy who would let my actions be colored by a person’s personal preferences in fiction. Everyone deserved to like what they liked without having others judge them. However, Felicia not only read fiction about men having sex with other men, she also wrote it as a pastime.

One of her stories, which I’d accidentally read when she left it on a table in the library, had been about me.

Me. And her brother.

Shudder.

Setting aside Felicia and Markus, I was sure Danivan, Axel, and the others would be worried about us. Kari and I had grown close to all of them. We’d even been introduced to everyone’s families since they all lived in Vesperia and spent many nights with them eating dinner and chatting into the early hours of the morning.

As our topic of conversation changed from what our sect mates thought of our disappearance to what we would do after getting home, a young woman riding a Strut came up to our carriage. Her middle-aged appearance was emphasized by the slight wrinkles around her eyes and mouth. She didn’t have any gray in her brown hair, though. The basic brown pants and vest over a white silk shirt marked her as a standard merchant. Her outfit had no real adornments outside of a small pin on her chest, which represented her association to the merchant’s guild.

“Hey, you two! I forgot to ask when you said you wanted passage, but where are you heading?”

“We’re going to Vesperia,” I answered for the two of us.

“Vesperia?” The woman’s face paled as the blood was drained from it. She looked shaken, and that made me worry.

“Is something wrong?” asked Kari.

“Wrong? I guess you haven’t heard the news,” the woman said. What she said next shook me to my core. “Vesparia was destroyed by the Sekbeists about a month ago. It’s nothing but ruins now.”

***

I woke up to the sight of golden strands filling my vision. For a moment, I wondered why. There weren’t any decorations with gold threads in my hair, far as I knew, and in fact, I don’t think I had any decorations in this room period. It wasn’t until I looked down and found Kari snuggling against me that I remembered what happened last night.

That’s right.

I had sex with Kari.

A sigh escaped my lips as I closed my eyes and settled back down, allowing myself to be comforted by the lulling warmth of Kari’s body. This was the first time she and I had sex in this new life. Perhaps it was because of how long it had been, but I’d completely forgotten about just how good sex could feel.

It was more than just the sex. Sleeping with Kari like this, cuddling underneath the blankets after sharing a night of passion, ranked up there with my list of favorite past times—just after training with Kari and Fay.

These senseless thoughts filled my mind when someone knocked on the door. I groaned. However, in the interest of letting Kari sleep some more, I replaced my body with a pillow and snuck out of bed to answer it. In my haste, I almost forgot to put on my clothes. After slipping on my pants, I opened the door.

“I see you had a good night,” Rainer said with a smile.

I froze. “Um… yeah…”

A cold sweat poured down my forehead as he looked into the room, and more specifically, the bed. There was no way he could miss Kari sleeping there. What should I do? What should I say? My mind fell into a nervous breakdown as I wondered whether it would be safer to stay and confront this man or run away before he could try to skewer me. I was pretty strong. I mean, you know, I could kill A-rank Demon Beasts and stuff, but the fury of a father was not to be underestimated.

Damn it! I never had to deal with this in my previous life, so I had no idea what to do now!

“Relax,” Rainer said in a soothing voice that didn’t soothe me. I felt like it was the calm before the storm. “I’m not going to do anything to you.”

“You aren’t?” I blinked. “Really?”

“Eryk.” Giving me a “look” as he placed his hands on his hips, Rainer asked, “Do I look like the kind of man who would happily murder his daughter’s boyfriend because they had sex last night?”

“Uh… no,” I admitted. “If anything, Valence seems the type to commit murder.”

Rainer snorted. “Don’t let him catch you saying that. Anyway, I’m assuming your… night together was consensual?”

“… Yes.”

“Then there’s nothing to worry about.” Rainer smiled at me as he placed a hand on my shoulder. It was warm and comforting, like a father giving his son a reassuring pat. I tried not to shudder. “So long as Kari consented to it, I do not have a problem with the two of you sleeping together. You’ve made Kari happier than I’ve ever seen her. To be perfectly honest, I’m glad she gave herself to someone who makes her happy.” His smile became a little strained. “Had you not come along, we might have been forced to let Kari marry into the Leucht Family. I much prefer you.”

“I suppose… I can see where you are coming from,” I said.

“Right. So there’s no problem,” Rainer repeated. “In either event, I came to get you because I’d like you and Kari to wake up and refresh yourselves. Lady Hilda wants to see you all for brunch. She has news on the Leucht Family.”

Now that I knew Rainer wasn’t going to try and skewer me like an overprotective father, I calmed down. Nodding, I said, “I understand. Give me just a moment to wake up Kari. We’ll head down together.”

“Good. Lin and Fay are already with Lady Hilda, so don’t keep them waiting.”

As Rainer left, I closed the door and breathed a sigh of relief. I wasn’t sure why, but I felt an odd sense of tension drain from my body, like I’d been high strung the whole time Rainer and I were talking. It must have been the issue with me and Kari having sex. No, rather it was those stories some of my sect mates had told me about how they had to deal with angry parents after taking their daughter’s first time.

Shaking those thoughts off, I went back over to the bed and sat on the edge, admiring Kari as she lay on her side. She was hugging the pillow I had replaced myself with, but it didn’t seem to suit her taste. The frown on her face all but said she was dissatisfied with something. I know it was weird to feel proud, but I prided myself on making a damn fine pillow.

“Kari.” I placed my hand on her shoulder and shook her head. “Kari, it’s time to get up. Rainer came by and said he wants to see us.”

Grumbling under her breath, Kari released her grip on the pillow and opened her eyes. She glanced around for a moment before locking eyes with me. It seemed to take her a couple of seconds before she realized why I wasn’t sleeping with her. Rolling over to her other side, she graced me with a sleepy smile.

“Morning, Eryk.”

“Good morning.”

Unable to resist that sleepy face, I leaned down and kissed her. I was happy when she returned it. Ever since coming back to the past, one of the things I wanted to do the most was act like an “overly affectionate and love struck idiot” with Kari, which was what some of my sect mates often called me. Personally, I thought hugging, cuddling, and kissing was perfectly natural.

“Rainer came by and said Empress Hilda wants to see us for brunch,” I said after leaning back.

“Brunch?” Kari questioned me as she sat up. The covers fell from her body, revealing several black marks on her neck and also her bare breasts. We hadn’t fully removed her nightgown last night either, so that was still on, though it was bunched around her waist.

“It looks like it’s early afternoon.” I gestured to the window. “We slept in later than usual.”

Kari glanced out the window to see the bright sun shining through it. There were a few clouds in the sky. Judging from the position of the sun, I could say that it wasn’t quite noon, but it definitely wasn’t morning anymore.

“I guess… we were really tired,” Kari replied carefully. Her cheeks were glowing. I suppose even Kari, who had reached a point where she could kiss me in public without concern, would get embarrassed about having sex for the first time.

Chuckling, I asked, “How do you feel?”

Kari took a moment, tilting her head as she shifted underneath the covers. “I feel… sore.”

“After what we did last night, I’m not surprised.”

“Last night…” Glancing down at the bed, Kari grabbed the blanket tightly. “Last night was… really amazing.”

“It was amazing for me too,” I admitted.

Kari nodded even as her cheeks darkened. “It felt… really good too. Really good.”

“What are you getting so embarrassed for?” I asked, though I didn’t give her a chance to respond before leaning down and kissing her again. Then I stood up and, keenly aware of her eyes on me, I grabbed our clothes, set hers on the bed, and began getting dressed. “Come on. We’ll need to get dressed if we want to walk down the halls.”

I slid on my pants, put on my white shirt, and buttoned it up, all under Kari’s watchful eye. She was frowning at me. However, after a moment, she sighed and stood up.

“I feel a little silly being the only one who is embarrassed about what we did last night,” she mumbled.

“I’ve been waiting for last night to happen since I fell in love with you,” I informed her. “I guess you could say I’ve been prepared for this day, so I have no reason to be embarrassed.”

“Is that how it is?” Kari asked as she picked up her still very wet panties, blushed bright red, and dropped them on the bed.

“That’s exactly how it is,” I said.

I got dressed quickly, but Kari took longer. The reason was that she didn’t have a change of clothes. She’d come to my room last night in nothing but a sheer nightgown, so I had to offer her the few changes of clothes I had brought with me for… well, occasions like this. I hadn’t been lying when I said I’d been waiting for this moment, though I would be lying if I said I’d planned it just like this.

My original plan involved me coming into her bedroom. It hadn’t involved her propositioning me first.

We walked down to the first floor and then went our separate ways. The bathing room I used was on the west wing and the one she used was in her room in the east wing. The Imperial Royal Palace was actually divided into three wings: East, West, and South. After taking a quick bath and getting dressed, I traveled up to the third floor and made for the south wing.

Rainer hadn’t been lying when he said that Lin and Fay were already waiting for us. The two girls were seated next to Empress Hilda as they ate scones, pastries, and sipped tea. Fay looked like a nervous wreck. She hadn’t eaten with the empress by herself at all, so I was sure she felt like panicking without me and Kari there. On the other hand, Lin didn’t even seem to care, but when I took her haughty exterior into account, I figured she just wasn’t the type to be bothered by royalty.

“Eryk.” Empress Hilda smiled at me as I arrived. “I am glad to see you have decided to join us. Won’t you please sit down and have brunch with us?”

When the empress asked “won’t you please sit down and have brunch with us?”, it wasn’t actually a suggestion or a request. It was an order.

The maid current attending to Empress Hilda, Fay, and Lin pulled a chair out for me. I sat down and greeted everyone. “Good morning, Lady Hilda. Fay. Lin. I’m glad to see you two slept well. How are you both feeling?”

Fay relaxed almost immediately after I sat down, her shoulders visibly slumping as if she’d been hardened clay that suddenly turned soft. “I feel much better now that I’ve had to chance to sleep in a real bed.”

“This princess seconds that.” Lin raised her hand as she jabbed a piece of steak with her fork. It looked like the chef had prepared this food just for her. “You never realize how luxurious you have it until you’re forced to sleep on the ground. It reminds this princess of when she’d been injured and transformed into a snake. She had to sleep on the ground back then too, and it wasn’t pleasant.”

“I definitely understand why you’d feel that way,” I said.

“Though this princess did enjoy sleeping in the futon with everyone,” Lin admitted after swallowing a large bite of steak. “She wouldn’t mind doing that again—provided we don’t run into the same trouble and end up losing our futon like we did this time.”

“Speaking of that trouble you four encountered in the Demon Beast Mountain Range,” Empress Hilda suddenly interrupted our conversation. “I was hoping you could give me an account of what happened. I have already heard from both Lin and Fay, but I would also like to know your thoughts on the matter.”

I acquiesce to her demand easily enough. She should have already known everything that happened thanks to Rainer, who informed her about the matter last night, but I guessed she just wanted to know how we felt about the issue.

As I informed her about what happened and answered all the questions she had, Kari entered the room wearing a long white dress that trailed down to just above her bare feet. There was a gap in the front to show off her cleavage, but it was fairly modest all around. She took her seat next to me (on my right since Fay was sitting on my left) just as I finished informing Empress Hilda about our expedition into the Demon Beast Mountain Range from my perspective. As the empress leaned back and furrowed her brow pensively, I placed a couple of scones on mine and Kari’s plates.

“Everything matches what I’ve been told by everyone else,” Empress Hilda finally said as Kari and I began eating. “You four have faced a very harrowing experience. I am please to see that all of you managed to make it back safely, and you—” she gazed at me with a sudden gleam “—to think you were strong enough to defeat an A-rank Demon Beast like the Giant Rock Golem on your own. You have greatly impressed me.”

“I’m grateful to hear that, Lady Hilda.” I bowed at the waist.

“Oh, please. There is no longer any need to be so formal around me.” Empress Hilda smiled as she waved a dismissive hand through the air. There was a gleam in her eyes that I didn’t like. “You and my daughter have finally copulated. Given that, it is only right that you call me ‘Mom’ from now on.”

“M-Mother!” Kari shouted, red-faced and embarrassed. I guessed there were some matters that girls got embarrassed over, and having your mom ask the boy you were romantically involved with to call her “Mom” because you two had sex was probably just one of those things. 

I tried not to let it bother me, but not only was Empress Hilda giving me a pleasant smile like she was expecting me to call her that now, both Fay and Lin were staring intently at me. Lin was licking her lips with her extra long tongue. Meanwhile, Fay’s face was almost as red as her hair as she stared in my direction with an oddly seductive pout.

“Er… well…” I suddenly felt nervous as I found three girls and one full-grown woman staring at me. Kari was pouting, Fay was blushing Lin looked like she wanted to ravish me, and Empress Hilda still wore that pleasant but predatory smile. “I guess… that’s fine… uh… Mom?”

The word felt weird on my tongue. I never had a mother or a father, so it was a word I hadn’t used in my entire life. I know my body was that of a 17 year old boy, but mentally, I think I was closer to 40 or 50. Going 50 years without ever calling someone mom or dad even once meant it was hard for me to do so now.

“That sounded terribly forced,” Empress Hilda announced with a frown.

“S-sorry.”

“Relax. I am just teasing you.”

“Huh?”

As I released that incredibly intelligent and eloquent sound from my mouth, Empress Hilda, Fay, Lin, and even Kari began giggling at me. I wanted to hide in my shirt. Since my shirt wasn’t big enough, I went for the next best option.

I changed the subject.

“Rainer said you wanted to talk to us about the Leucht Family,” I prodded.

“Indeed.” Settling down, Empress Hilda took a cup to her lips and sipped her tea, buying some time before she had to inform me of her findings. She set the cup back on the fine tableware and glanced at all three of us. “As you know, I mobilized the Imperial Royal Guard under the command of Valence. Thanks to us having the full-cooperation of the Kriger Family, we were able to storm the Leucht Family estate unimpeded.” She sighed. “Unfortunately, nobody was there.”

It felt like my brain had fried via a Spiritual Fire Technique the moment I heard those words. For a second, I was sure I’d heard wrong, but I knew that couldn’t be possible. After taking a large bit out of my scone and using the subsequent time to run through a number of theories, I came to one conclusion.

“You think they were tipped off and escaped?”

“Not think. I know they were tipped off.” Empress Hilda’s voice might have been mild, but there was an undercurrent of anger within it. Her voice was like a simmering pot getting ready to boil over. “While I do not know who informed them of our plan, we found evidence that the entire Leucht Family evacuated several hours before the Imperial Royal Guard arrived. Aside from several files having been left because they were in a hurry, we also discovered a secret passage they left open.”

“Did the Imperial Royal Guards go down the passage and follow them?” asked Fay, entranced. She was leaning over, not even bothering to eat anymore, unlike Lin, who seemed to be shoving steak in her mouth even as she listened to the empress.

“They did, but they did not find anything.” Empress Hilda pinched the bridge of her nose. “The passageway leads into the sewers. There is a very large sewer system located several meters beneath Nevaria, which is how we are able to keep the city so clean. The sewers are basically like a maze, with numerous twisting passageways and several different levels. Given how many hours it had been since the Leucht Family disappeared, it was only expected that they wouldn’t be able to find anything.”

Our table grew silent as everyone contemplated this new information. The Leucht Family was gone. I could only take a guess and say that the one responsible had been that Nevarian Spiritualist who saw our group enter the city and ran off. I’d assumed he was going to inform someone at Nevarian Headquarters about our return, but he probably went to tell the Leucht Family instead. That made me wonder how many people were in that family’s pocket. How many spies did they have that no one was aware of?

As our tea grew cold, Lin summed up my thoughts pretty nicely. “It sounds like there’s going to be even more trouble.”

“Probably,” Empress Hilda admitted. “However, unlike the matter with Grant Leucht, this time the Imperial Royal Guard and the Kriger Family are pouring our resources into finding them. Even if they have escaped into the sewers, there are only so many places they can hide. We’ll scour the entire sewer system if we have to. I promise you, we will find them.”

Her words inspired confidence, but I honestly didn’t know if she’d be able to keep that promise. I’d been in the sewers before, back in my previous life when I had returned to Nevaria after Kari’s death, and despite spending nearly two years searching the sewers, I never managed to explore every section. A few had simply collapsed, but some sections couldn’t be accessed without a key, and there were many hidden passages that I had only discovered by accident. How many more might there be that I never uncovered?

“There is another matter that we must talk about,” Empress Hilda said into the silence. She ran her finger along the lip of her teacup. I looked at Kari, Fay, and Lin, but none of them seemed to know what else she wanted to talk about.

“What other matter is there?” I asked.

“Now that you have slept with my daughter, we will need to plan out your wedding,” she said. She didn’t sound like she was teasing me, so I assumed she was serious. “Kari has given herself to you in both body and heart. This means you are the man she wishes to spend her life with. Is that correct?”

Empress Hilda turned to Kari who, now that she was put on the spot, could only nod once. “Uh… ye-yes, that is right. I would like to marry Eryk.”

Nodding, Empress Hilda turned to Fay and Lin. “And the two of you? I assume you also intend to marry Eryk?”

“Er…” Fay looked around quickly at being addressed as though trying to find an escape route. When none presented itself, she placed her hands in her lap and squirmed in her seat. “That’s… I mean, we haven’t really spoken about it, so… er…” She flicked her eyes over to me, but then quickly looked away when she saw me looking at her. “I would… like to… yes. Spend my life, I mean—I mean spend my life with Eryk. Yes.”

Whether Empress Hilda was amused by her embarrassment or not, the woman did not show it at all as she looked at Lin. Unlike the easily embarrassed, all-attack-no-defense Fay, Lin puffed out her chest and crossed her arms.

“This princess and Darling are already married! I gave him the Ring of Marji.”

“Yes.” Empress Hilda glanced at the black rose-thorn pattern circling the ring finger of my right hand. “I am aware of that.” She looked away from my hand and resolutely nodded at me. “As there are three women who intend to marry you, we must take the appropriate steps to begin matrimony arrangements. First, you will need to speak with Stelys Valstine and request his permission to marry his daughter. Once he agrees and you offer him a dowry, we can begin planning out the next step—namely, when to announce your engagement.”

Kari and I never got married in my past life, so I didn’t know the first thing about marriage or becoming engaged. However, Kari was the princess of Astralia, an important position even if she didn’t hold any authority. She couldn’t be sleeping with a man she wasn’t engaged to. What’s more, we couldn’t not announce her engagement to the people. It was good publicity, I guess. Also, in my previous life, Kari’s engagement to Grant Leucht had been announced two years before the marriage actually happened.

“I’ll make sure to speak with Stelys Valstine soon,” I said. I glanced at Fay and held out my hand, which caused her to blush bright red even as she placed her hand in mine. Smiling, I turned back to Empress Hilda. “Is there anything else?”

“No, there isn’t—oh, wait! There one other thing I need to tell you.” Clasping her hands together, Empress Hilda decided to hit me with her strongest and most shocking surprise attack. “It seems someone destroyed the house you and Lin were living in while you were triapsing through the Demon Beast Mountain Range. We suspect it was the Leucht Family who did it, but we haven’t found any evidence as to who the culprit might be yet. Don’t worry, though. It seems nothing was stolen. We brought over all your supplies, including your alchemy set and those interesting alchemy pills you refined—which I would like to speak with you about some time soon, by the way. In any case, until you find a new place to live, I would be delighted if you and Lin could move into the Imperial Royal Palace for the foreseeable future.”

“Huh?”

As I was hit from several different directions at once with what amounted to verbal Spiritual Techniques, all I could do was release single syllable sounds.

“Huh?!”

As Empres Hilda’s words finally sank in, the sounds my mouth produced got louder.

“HUH?!”

I was pretty sure everyone in Nevaria heard that one.