WIEDERGEBURT Chapter 2

I woke up with a startled gasp. My body jerked into a sitting position like it was a puppet whose strings had been tugged. Hacking and rasping, I placed a hand against my chest and tried not to vomit. My head was spinning. I closed my eyes, inhaled, exhaled, and slowly let my rapidly beating heart settle down. One minute passed. Then two. Finally, my body relaxed, and I fell bonelessly onto my back.

A somewhat uncomfortably hard mattress underneath me caused my thoughts to pause before they could fully form. It felt familiar but vague, like I should recognize the sensation on my back but couldn’t. Opening my eyes, I stared at the dull brown ceiling overhead. It was made of wood panels. As I glanced at it, I found a crack in the ceiling that I followed until it disappeared into a wooden wall.

Where was I?

The last thing I remember was clashing with the Great Overlord of the Seventh Plane, of my fist meeting his sword, creating spatial distortions as reality warped around us, and then nothing. The world had gone black, and then I was here. The problem was that I didn’t know where “here” was.

After lying in bed for another half an hour, I decided that it was high time I figured out what was going on. I climbed out of bed. Then I paused. Maybe it was just my imagination, but the world felt bigger somehow. Shrugging that thought off, I glanced around the room.

It wasn’t much of a room. I’d say it was about 30 or 40 square meters. It had the plain-looking wooden bed that I had been resting on behind me, a bookshelf to my left, and a small basin filled with water on my right. It sat against the wall. Above that, a broken mirror hung. There was also a small dresser next to the basin.

Frowning, I wandered over to the basin, splashed some water on my face, grabbed the towel that was next to it, and dried my face off. The action was so smooth that it made me pause. I was used to bathing in a tub or taking a shower, not washing myself off with water and a towel, but the action was so natural it startled me. It was like my body had reacted out of habit.

A strange sense of dread welled up inside of me. I tried to shake it off, but I couldn’t. Finally, I glanced at the mirror.

The face that stared back at me was both mine and not mine. It was a smooth face that would probably get me mistaken for a girl. Pale and smooth skin without a single blemish or scar greeted me. I ran my left index finger over my left eye, trailing down where a scar I’d received years ago had once existed. It wasn’t there now. My face was surrounded by light green hair that was so long it traveled down to the middle of my back.

I looked down at my shirtless torso next, and a strange sound escaped my mouth when I saw the scrawny-looking body my head was attached to. While I had never been covered in bulging muscles, the years of training I underwent to gain strength had given me a body filled with compact muscles that contained explosive power. Now I looked like a twig that would blow over in a stiff breeze.

“What… what…”

I think I tried to say, “What happened to me?”, but all that came out was this single word. Glancing around the room again, I spotted a window near the bed. It was covered by a wooden shutter. What the heck? Shaking my head, I rushed over to the window, opened it, and peered outside.

The sight that greeted me was at once familiar and foreign. Numerous wooden and stone structures spread out as far as the eye could see. A combination of flat and shingled roofs greeted my gaze. Glancing down, I realized that I was on the second story of a building. Several meters below me was a swelling mass of humanity, a threnody of people walking to and fro as they went about their daily lives.

“This place…”

My throat felt thick as I gazed at these people who were both familiar and unfamiliar, trying with all my mental capacity to figure out what was happening, to figure out where I was. My thoughts flitted to and fro as I wracked my brain. I eventually discovered an answer, but it was not one that I could just accept.

“Is this… Nevaria?”

No one answered me. Of course they didn’t.

Closing the wooden shutters on the window, I hurried over to my dresser and pulled out a set of clothes. I slipped into the black pants and ruffled shirt. The quality of the material wasn’t what I was used to anymore. It was rough and definitely not made of A-rank Demon Beast silk. I ignored the feeling and slid into a leather vest that I fastened together with straps. The last thing I did was put on a pair of brown boots.

Then I headed out the door, down a set of stairs, and walked outside.

The cool spring air hit me immediately thereafter, as did the noise that came from the massive crowd of people. I tried to contain my growing sense of unease as I allowed myself to be swept along by the crowd.

This place was definitely Nevaria. The architecture was familiar to me. I recognized the combination of wood and stone structures that were packed so tightly together there was barely half a meter between them. This particular part of the city was known for its Residential Units, but it was also sometimes referred to as the Peasants Quarters, and it was known for the housing units that people rented out for dirt cheap. Back when I had been living in poverty, this was where I had lived.

Something was wrong, so very wrong. What I was seeing could not be real. Nevaria was gone. It had been destroyed 45 years ago in a Demon Beast invasion. I remembered coming back here after Kari and Kayli had been killed. The entire city-state had been in shambles and inhabited by numerous powerful Demon Beasts.

I let my feet take me wherever they willed as I tried to figure out what was happening. A young man walked past me, brushing against my shoulder. A pair of children ran through the street. Several young women stood on the side of the cobblestone road, gossiping about something. I turned my head every which way to take in the sights as I tried to figure out what was going on.

Was this a dream? Had I been trapped inside of an illusion? Was I hallucinating? Was I dead? I had no idea, so I pinched myself really hard to see if I was dreaming.

“Ouch!”

A slight stinging pain erupted from my arm, which I believed meant I wasn’t dreaming. That said, I could have still been hallucinating.

While I was doing everything I could to figure out what was going on, my feet eventually stopped in front of a two-story building. While the first floor was composed of stone, the second floor was made of logs. Likewise, the roof was mostly made of wood shingles. It didn’t look like much, but a wooden sign hung from the door, and on that sign was an open book and the words Library engraved underneath it.

“I think… I used to work here, didn’t I?” I muttered to myself. After debating what to do for longer than was probably healthy, I slowly walked up to the door and entered.

The library didn’t look like much on the outside, but it was longer than it was wide. Four long tables had been set up in the center in a two across and two side by side format. There were another two tables located in the back, sitting lengthwise against the wall. Around the tables were isles filled with books.

As I walked further inside, I glanced at the staircase to my left, partially hidden by a bookshelf, and then I looked over to my right. I stopped. A long table was situated a little ways off near the wall. This table… I used to sit there a lot when I was younger. Yes, whenever I had a free moment from work, I remember sneaking books back there to read. Ms. Nadine would always scold me…

The more familiar sights I laid eyes on, the more I remembered. This library used to be my sanctuary. Back then, I was always coming here to escape from bullies who used to pick on me for my hair and feminine appearance. Ms. Nadine, the owner, eventually gave me a job. She’d said something about how if I was gonna keep coming here anyway, she might as well put me to work. It was thanks to her that I could live in that small room. Also, this place was where I first met her.

“Eryk Veiger, I hope you realize how much trouble you are in,” a calm voice filled with annoyance came from behind me.

I turned around and faced the person who the voice belonged to. She wasn’t very tall, only coming up to about my chest. That said, she was about average height for a normal person. Her shoulder-length blond hair had slightly curly ends and framed a pale face with green eyes and a smattering of freckles. While her face retained a youthful appearance that made her seem like a teenager, she had a massive chest hidden underneath her red tunic. I remembered accidentally seeing her naked once before. The term “womanly” definitely applied to this woman as far as her figure went.

“Ms. Nadine,” I said.

“Don’t ‘Ms. Nadine’ me.” Ms. Nadine narrowed her eyes and smacked the book in her left hand against the palm of her right. “Do you know how late you are?”

I actually needed a moment to answer her, and when I did, I gave her the most brilliant answer I could muster. “Um… no?”

“It is half past noon. You were supposed to open. Do the math.”

“I… I see.” I paused for a moment to try and collect my thoughts, but it was really no use. I was overwhelmed by everything I was seeing and couldn’t even begin to fathom what was happening. However, I at least managed to reply. “I’ll stay late to make up for it.”

“See that you do,” she mumbled. “I don’t pay you to laze around in bed all day.” She walked over to me and slammed the book into my chest. I grunted and took a step back, but I at least had the sense of mind to catch the book before it fell. “There are several books that you need to sort. Hop to it.”

“Okay,” I responded in an absent tone that caused her to look at me.

She narrowed her eyes again as though searching for something. I stared back under her scrutiny, causing her frown to deepen. However, after several minutes, she shrugged and walked away.

I watched her leave, and then looked at the book in my hand, an adventure story about a young alchemist who journeyed across a dangerous land to gather the ingredients he needed to cure his wife. I remembered reading this one. It was also one of the few romance stories that she liked.

Regardless of whether this was a dream, a hallucination, an illusion, or whatever after life awaited humanity, I decided to do as Ms. Nadine said. I found the shelf where this book went and placed it in its proper spot. Then I went to the counter where several other books were sitting. I studied them one by one, pulling the memory I had of them from my head, and then placing them where they belonged. It was almost frightening how quickly my memory was coming back to me.

And while I did this mundane task, I created a theory on what could have happened to me.

When I fought against the Great Overlord of the Seventh Plain, our final attack had caused spatial distortions to appear around us. Spatial distortions were created when a technique was so powerful it caused tears in reality. It warped reality in a way. During those last few seconds, I specifically remember the Great Overlord of the Seventh Plain bringing down a massive sword composed of the darkness element, which I had met with my fist containing only three. The world had gone black and I woke up in my old room immediately thereafter.

I think what happened was the spatial distortions from our clash had warped the fabrics of reality and sent me back in time. Granted, there was also a chance of it being one of the former possibilities I had already mentioned, but I think this one was more plausible. No, maybe it wasn’t. However, I wanted more than anything to believe that I’d gone back in time.

Because if I really did get sent back to the past, then it meant she was still alive.

As I thought about her, an almost irresistible urge swept over me, to find that woman, sweep her off her feet, kiss her senseless, and then make love to her under the moonlight. The desire to do just that was nearly overpowering. In fact, before I even realized what was happening, my body was moving toward the door. It took everything I had to stop myself. I closed my eyes, took several deep breaths, and shook my head.

Idiot. You can’t go see her now. Not when you are like this. Besides, she often frequented the library back then. If this was the past, then we were bound to run into each other at some point.

After I finished putting all the books away, I went behind the counter, sat in the chair, and pulled out a quill, some ink, and a sheet of parchment from a drawer. I quickly scribbled on it:

Goals now that I have gone back in time.

1. Save Nevaria from the Demon Beast Invasion.
2. Meet Kari.
3. Marry Kari. We never did get married in my previous life.
4. Give birth to Kayli.
5. Defeat the Great Overlord of the Seventh Plane.

I frowned as I stared at my list of things to do. It was an admittedly simple list. However, not all of it would be easy to accomplish.

The first one and last one would be particularly tough. From what I remember, the Demon Beast Invasion happened when I turned twenty, and from what I saw in my mirror after waking up, I was currently 17 years-old, or thereabouts. This meant I had three years to prepare. That was a lot of time, but there was one little problem that kept me from feeling good about this goal.

I wasn’t sure how to prepare for this.

I suppose the first thing I should do was figure out how strong I was. I’d gone back in time after being injured in a great battle. Did I still possess the same strength I had before? My physical prowess definitely wasn’t up to snuff given how scrawny I looked in the mirror, but what about my strength as a Spiritualist? I would need to figure out how strong I was before I could do anything.

As for number 2… I wasn’t actually sure I needed to do anything yet. Much as I wanted to rush over to her and proclaim my undying love, I was at least aware enough to know that wouldn’t be received well. She probably didn’t even know I existed right now.

The thought caused an ache to appear in my chest.

***

Because I had arrived late for my shift, I stayed until it was time to close the library, which was right around the time the sun began going down. The sky was painted in hues of oranges and reds as I wandered the street. I wasn’t traveling to my room, however, but was instead traveling further out.

Nevaria was a city-state. I didn’t know how big this place was because I’d never bothered measuring it before, but Nevaria was made up of several sections. There was the city section. This could be considered the inner-part of Nevaria, where most of the population lived. Once someone traveled outside of the city gates, they would be met with large plots of farmland and open plains—at least, if they traveled east.

I was traveling north.

Using the memories I vaguely recalled, I headed up toward the north. As I moved, I glanced at the large mountain located in the center of Nevaria. It was more of a hill than a mountain, though it was far larger than any normal hill. It looked like someone had found a small mountain, sliced a good portion of the top half off, and then created a villa on the newly created flat surface. The building located atop this mountain, surrounded by a large stone wall, was the Imperial Royal Palace where the Astralia Royal Family resided.

“Kari…” I mumbled softly as once more the desire to see her overcame me. I resisted by turning away. “Please wait for me.”

Nevaria was surrounded by a large fortification. The rampart was made mostly of stone, and it towered over me by a good 20 meters at least. As I closed in, I could see several soldiers patrolling the top, while a pair of guards stood before either side of a massive gate, which, fortunately for me, was currently still open.

The guards wore dark lacquered armor over a chainmail tunic. Their brown pants were slightly baggy but looked easy to move in. One of them was carrying a sword and a buckler shield, but the other held a spear in their left hand. All of them had a black cloak thrown over them with the symbol of the Sun stitched onto the left breast.

These were the Nevarian Spiritualists, the first line of defense against potential Demon Beast incursions.

There were quite a few people still coming and going through the gate, so no one paid me any attention as I slipped past… well, one of the guards did glance at my hair, but other than making a face, he didn’t do anything.

I wandered around a bit more before journeying toward a large forest with trees that were almost the same height as the rampart surrounding the city.

Nevaria was surrounded by a mountain range on three sides: North, south, and east. These mountain ranges were all connected to one another. They formed something of a crescent moon with Nevaria at its center. I didn’t know if Nevaria had been built in this location as a strategic move to keep the people safe from an invasion by other humans, but I think part of the reason the Demon Beast Invasion happened was because this city-state was so close to their territory.

I wasn’t sure how far I should go in, but I wanted to make sure I was far enough away that I wouldn’t disturb anyone who was sensitive to Spiritual Pressure.

Honestly, I wanted to head into the Demon Beast Mountain Range, but entering that place required a person to either be a Nevarian Spiritualist, a noble, or have special permission to enter from someone who was at least a captain in rank.

I eyed the large gate that sat before the gorge that would take one to the Demon Beast Mountain Range. It was being protected by another pair of guards. After staring for nearly a full minute from a spot I’d chosen to hide behind, I slipped away and wandered deeper into the forest.

It was dark as I walked, made all the darker by the light slowly disappearing as the sun moved behind the mountains. The canopy over head also blotted out the stars. Despite this, i walked with surety, stepping over roots and around trees.

Passing by trees, shrubs, boulders, and ponds, I eventually arrived at a very small clearing. It didn’t look like much. There were patches of grass here and there, but most of it was made of dirt, and several large roots were shooting through the ground and twisting around each other. As I stepped foot into this clearing, the sound of trickling water reached my ears.

“I guess this will work fine,” I muttered to myself.

After hesitating for a moment, I sat down on a patch of grass. Crossing my legs, I placed my hands in front of me, my palms about four paces apart, and took a slow, calming breath. Reaching into myself, I was preparing to access my Spiritual Power to see just how strong it was. However, the moment I reached into myself, something unexpected happened.

“Hrnk!”

Almost the moment I reached inside of my own psyche, an overwhelming pressure slammed into me. Spiritual Power burst from my pores. This Spiritual Power took the shape of a massive blue pillar with arcane bursts of lightning shooting out around me, extending far into the sky as it broke through the canopy of trees. It was so unexpected that I couldn’t control it, and when I finally got the sense to try, I realized with some horror that it was beyond my control!

I gritted my teeth as the pressure continued pushing down on me, becoming so strong it affected the environment. The ground cracked. Several tree branches broke apart overhead. A boulder to my left shattered. Water gushed from beneath my fingertips as lightning arced into the sky. I bit the inside of my lip and the sweet taste of blood welled up in my mouth. Everything was going dark. My vision was getting spotty. What the fu—

***

Hilda had been sleeping with her husbands when a powerful Spiritual Pressure blanketed the main city of Nevaria. She and her three husbands sat bolt upright in bed. All of them looked at each other before scrambling out of bed as one.

Quickly finding a nightgown to cover her naked body, she joined her husbands in looking out the window to stare at the direction where the massive surge of Spiritual Pressure was coming from. Fortunately, she didn’t have to look far.

“Now there is something you don’t see every day,” she murmured, rubbing her arms as goosebumps appeared.

A massive pillar of blue Spiritual Power was jutting out of the forest, swirling around like a tornado as bolts of lightning arced out of it. Several bolts struck a tree, tearing through it with ease, but most of them ascended harmlessly into the sky. Hilda was so surprised by the sight that she and her husbands could do nothing but stand there until well after the intense Spiritual Power had dissipated. Only then did she consider giving her husbands orders.

“Valence,” Hilda turned to her first husband, “Gather the Imperial Royal Guard and have them investigate that Spiritual Power. Do so quickly. I have no doubt there are members from the Three Heavenly Families already getting ready to send people as well.”

“Yes, My Queen.”

Valence bowed to her before hurrying into their closet to get dressed. She watched him for a moment, then turned to her other two husbands.

“Rainer, Dante, I want both of you to gather Edgard, Felix, and Hilda and head over there with a squadron.” She gave the two a stern look. “Do not search for the source. Instead, command the Nevarian Spiritualists to cordon off the area so no one can get in or out.”

“Do you think whoever released that Spiritual Power is hostile?” asked Dante as Rainer bowed his head and ran into the closet after Valence came out in the golden armor of an Imperial Royal Knight Captain.

“I am unsure, but I do not think so.” Hilda paused, though not for long. “That release of power felt more like an accident to me, as though someone had been training and their Spiritual Power went out of control. I’m more concerned that someone from the Three Heavenly Families will find a powerful ally to pressure us with. If the Leucht Family were to discover this person and get them to join their family…”

Dante didn’t need to hear anymore. His normally lackadaisical expression was nowhere to be seen. After nodding in acknowledgement of her words, he went into the closet, came out dressed in the silver armor of a Nevarian Spiritualist Captain several minutes later, and then followed Rainer out of the room.

Hilda watched them go before turning her attention back to where the Spiritual Power was—had been. The last remnants had finally dissipated. However, that hardly mattered now. Anyone who was even a little bit sensitive would have felt that powerful and dense Spiritual Pressure, and anyone with eyes would have seen the pillar of Spiritual Power rising into the sky…

With that thought in mind, Hilda slipped out of her nightgown and wandered into the closet. It was a large space. It needed to be since hers and her husbands’ armor was there. Unlike her husbands, she did not don armor. She slid a pair of white silk pants up her hips, slipped into a long-sleeved shirt that showed off hints of her stomach and cleavage, and then threw on a light purple cloak that was bedecked with jewels. Since she would probably end up in several meetings soon, she also slid her feet into a pair of well-crafted slippers.

Done changing, she wandered out of her extravagant bedroom and down a hall made of gleaming white tiles. Spirit lamps illuminated the way as she walked across a purple rug that extended down the large hallways. Taking a number of turns, she eventually arrived at a door. 

She knocked once.

“Kari?” she said. “Are you in there?”

A barely audible sigh came from the other side of the door. “I am here.”

“May I come in?”

“… You may.”

Sighing in relief, Hilda pushed the door open and walked inside. The room on the other side of the door was spacious and not the least bit girly. There were no decorations on the wall, no shimmering curtains. Bookshelves lined most of the space, though there was also a door leading into a closet, another that led to a personal bathing room, a large bed with a canopy, and a desk sitting in the far left corner.

Her daughter was standing by an open window and staring into the distance. It didn’t escape Hilda’s notice that she was staring at the spot where the pillar of Spiritual Power had been.

“I came to check in on you.” Hilda smiled as she wandered up to Kari. “Is everything all right?”

Kari sighed but didn’t turn around. “I do not see how anything can be all right when I’m several breaths away from being sold off like chattel.”

Hild frowned at her daughter’s words. “We’re not selling you off to anyone. We’re merely discussing the possibility of an arranged marriage.”

“That is the same thing to me,” Kari muttered. “I wish you would just tell them I’m not interested.”

“Even I don’t have the right to outright refuse their proposal.” Hilda wore a dry smile as she stepped up to the window and stood by her daughters side. It was large enough that both of them could look out while standing several paces apart. “Were I capable of such a thing, I would have shot the Leuch Family down a hundred times already.”

Kari’s only response was to sigh again.

Hilda could only curse her own powerlessness in this regard. Were her daughter the eldest, or even the strongest, among her children, she could have told the Leuch Family exactly where they could stick her proposal. However, Kari was not only the youngest among her children, she also wasn’t the strongest. In this world where the strong ruled over the weak, she did not have the right to deny the proposal out of hand, especially since the Leucht Family wielded a lot of power themselves.

Fortunately, they could not demand for her daughter’s hand yet, though she knew they would try within the next few months.

“Did you sense the Spiritual Pressure just now?” She changed the topic. “It was quite impressive.”

“I… yes.” Kari furrowed her brow. “That Spiritual Pressure was quite strange. It felt oddly familiar somehow.”

“Familiar?” Hilda asked. However, Kari didn’t say anything more on the matter, and so Hilda turned back to the window.

She hoped her husbands would discover something.

***

I wasn’t sure how long I had been unconscious for, but it couldn’t have been long. The sky was still dusky when I opened my eyes. Night had yet to truly fall.

As I became more aware of my situation, I realized that I was lying in something of a crater… and that my body hurt. A lot. I remember one time when I had been learning how to cook so I could surprise Kari with a home cooked meal. I burnt my hand at the time by touching the stove. This felt like that, except it was inside of me and spread across my entire body. Yes, it felt like I had been cooked from the inside out.

There was also a puddle of water in the bottom of this crater. My back was soaking wet. 

My body howled in pain as I slowly sat up and crawled out of the crater. My legs were shaking, my arms had the strength of soggy noodles, and my body was burning. I gritted my teeth and pushed past that feeling. I needed to get away from this place. There was no way someone hadn’t sensed me releasing my Spiritual Power, and the last thing I wanted was to get caught by someone I didn’t know.

After crawling out of the crater, I headed away from the clearing in the opposite direction I had come. The gate I had used to get here was the closest to this location. Logic dictated that anyone seeking to discover me would come from there.

I decided to travel further away from Nevaria. Since my current location was somewhat north-east of the city, I headed more east.

My breathing grew ragged as I stumbled past trees and carefully watched the ground for roots I might trip on. I hadn’t noticed it until the pain struck me, but my body seemed somewhat dissociated from my brain, or perhaps my spirit. My body was in agony. It was howling at me. This body clearly wasn’t used to feeling pain. However, my spirit and mind were firmly rejecting that agony. It was like they were telling me one thing, while my body told me another.

I wasn’t really sure how long I walked—stumbled. However, I eventually felt several presences converging on the location of where I had released my Spiritual Power. Dang. They worked faster than I thought.

With no desire to get caught, I used Spiritual Perception, extending my ability to sense Spiritual Power outward and locating all the people currently swarming around this area. They appeared before me as little flames of color. There were… quite a few. I supposed I shouldn’t be shocked, but I sensed at least twenty different Spiritual Signatures within the area. A few of them had stopped near the gate, but many more were gathering around the area I had vacated before spreading out.

The longer I ran, the more energy I lost. I eventually realized that I couldn’t run anymore. Placing a hand against the trunk of a thick tree, I cursed this unathletic body. This was another problem I would need to rectify as swiftly as possible. However, for now, I needed to completely hide myself.

Observing my new surroundings for a moment, I realized that I had entered a small area with a pond. It wasn’t deep enough for me to hide in, however. As I looked around some more, I noticed one of the trees had thick roots coiling around it. The roots formed something of a small cage that was only accessible via one part that looked barely big enough for me to slip through.

I went toward the tree and slipped inside. Then I sat on the slightly muddy ground, curled my knees into my chest, and closed my eyes. After taking a deep breath, I used a technique known as Masking to hide my presence. All it really did was hide my Spiritual Signature. It couldn’t hide my body. However, all of these people would be looking for an intense Spiritual Power. With a little luck, they wouldn’t even dare to think someone powerful enough to create a crater in the ground with his Spiritual Power was hiding underneath a tree.

Not long after completely hiding my presence, the sound of footsteps echoed around me. I kept myself calm and listened. The footsteps soon stopped.

“Did you find anything?” asked someone. This person was definitely a man. His voice was deep, slightly raspy, and had a stern quality I’d expect from a leader.

“Nothing,” a younger male voice said. “Sorry Father.”

The older man sighed. “Tch. I feel like we just wasted our time. What’s more, we ended up snubbing Dante and Rainer to get here before Valence did. If our Leucht Family wasn’t one of the Three Heavenly Clans, there’s no way we could get away with slighting them unscathed.”

“Do you think this will affect the marriage talks?” the young man asked in a worried voice.

The older man blew out a slow breath. “It shouldn’t so long as we are smart. I’ll spin this in a way that makes it sound like I was trying to be helpful. In either event, it looks like whoever or whatever released that powerful Spiritual Pressure is now gone. We won’t find anything here. Let’s return home.”

“Yes, Father.”

As the voices disappeared into the distance along with their footsteps, I found myself frowning. Marriage talks. Why did that term leave such a bad taste in my mouth? I seemed to remember something about marriage talks happening a long time ago, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember why it was so important.

A yawn escaped my mouth as I realized how tired I was. I could think about the matter of marriage talks and this Leucht Family later. Right now, I needed some sleep.