187. [INTERMISSION] A DAY IN MY WORLD

It has been five days since I’ve come to return to my own world. Many things have happened since our arrival, Nine and my beloved Noel have started to plan their goals for the future ahead of us. 

Of course, as Noel’s fiancee and future wife, I would support him in whatever he chooses.

You can do it! I pumped my fist as I secretly watched the two do push ups in the living room. 

The time was 4:30 in the morning, and this was the routine they had established a few days ago. As of current, Noel and Nine were able to reach 15 pushups. They had said to take it slow and increase the value by one each day. They weren’t depending on their stats as I’ve properly checked the STG to be 10… though Noel was different as his status window did not display STG so Nine had considered including the 6 components into it. 

Not intending to diminish the capabilities of my future spouse however.. he became much weaker once the status values were put in place. It wasn’t a phenomenon I could explain.

Oh, now they’ve switched to sit-ups.

The previous me would’ve never understood what the acts of sit-ups and push-ups were, even now, I could only attribute this unusual knowledge to the aid of the skill book I ate in the past.

Skill books were relatively rare and could only be found from dungeons. I couldn’t remember the proper manner of ingesting the skill though..

“10.. 12..”

“You counted wrong… 11..”

“.. 11.. 13..”

“Again.. 12..”

It’s surprising how omnipotent this Unique skill bestowed to me was. I could even hear their conversations as if I were there together with them.

“15.. done. Darn, we have a long way to go.”

“Yeah, but pushing ourselves.. isn’t really a good idea either. It’s something we have to stick to in the long run right?”

“True, true. It’s the first time I’ve actually had an accountability partner.”

“Speaking of which,” Noel got up, “What do you think we should do today?”

And so their discussion of the day's agenda began in the kitchen. I listened to them intently.

As I listened in, I felt myself become thirsty. I crawled over to the edge of the bed, passing Prune and grabbed the water bottle over the table.

“Eernn.. Liliath?”

“Did I wake you up?”

I had accidentally aroused Prune to wake.

“What were you doing sitting there the whole time,” she asked in a languid voice.

“Watching Noel and Nine.”

“Oh.. good night..” Prune pulled over the blanket and went back to sleep. It seemed she never did pay much mind to my answer. I’m sure this much can’t yet be considered stalking can it? I drank the water.

After reviewing the messages Her Highness Siesta has sent me, I included a few extra book recommendations and finally decided to greet Noel and Nine a good morning.

I did the 15 pushups and situps as intended with ease. Magic is convenient.

===

“Today’s weather is good,” Jennifer said, looking at the bright blue sky.

“The weather indeed is good,” I replied.

I was accompanying Jennifer to the education guild, otherwise known as a school in Noel’s world.

The education guild was something established to a better life for the commoners, and it indeed aided in the national productivity. However to a certain degree, it also took away power from the nobles as it is said that power is knowledge.

I was sure there was an internal conflict between the two classes that I have yet to be exposed to– it was something written in various novels from Noel’s world.

“Liliath, if you don’t mind me asking, which kingdom were you born in? I heard from Nine that you started out in this world before moving to the hero's world and then returned?”

“That happened as you said. I would’ve never thought I’d be summoned there, it was because of Noel’s ability…”

I suppose it isn’t wise to say that my existence, including the existence of everyone in this world is but.. fictional.

Fictional as I may be, what I understand is the fact that I am alive and have a will of my own. It isn’t something to brood about. My existence itself is a blessing, to be able to experience all I have till now, the good and bad.

“I was from Toren Kingdom.”

“Oh, that place is close to the demon city isn’t it? Were you summoned or teleported away during that time?” Jennifer asked.

Demon city?

“I believe it hasn’t been more than a year since I’ve gone and returned?”

“Then wouldn’t your parents worry?” Margrett asked in a concerned voice.

“Worry..”

How did my parents feel about my disappearance? It has been more than a year since that incident? My brothers and sisters remain healthy.. did they worry? Perhaps anee-sama alone could be.. mama too..

However.. if they worried, how was it that I remained locked up in that cell for an uncountable number of days? All my pleads, my cries, my begging.. it went nowhere. Hope crumbled into despair.. until I met Noel. Yes, Noel. 

“My apologies if I have touched on a sensitive subject, you may not answer it if you wish,” sensing my silence, Margrett said.
“I understand, then I will say no more.”

Do I wish to meet my family once more? I myself question that.

““Jennifer-chan!!””

“Gabriel-chan, Fancis-kun! Morning!” Jennifer waved and ran to her friends.

The education guild I believe had a similar system to the education system in Noel world, the difference here would be the infrastructure and contents taught. The education guild, Shining Stars, resembled the adventurer guild in some way, but had wide windows and a large play area with various other admentities to support the learning environment. 

“She’s another one of the adventurers that live together with you?” The child named Fancis asked loudly.

“She’s that adventurer’s friend.”

“Friend? Staying together?”

“Yup.”

“Ah, she’s so beautiful, just like Prune,” the girl Gabriel-chan said in awe.

“Liliath-sa.. Liliath-san, can you introduce yourselves to them?” Jennifer implored.

Oh, I’ve been caught up in my thoughts.

“Apologies for the late introduction, my name is Liliath Tor– Bougainvillea, please to meet you two,” I said with a smile. Ah.. this fuzzy sensation.. is this what it means to be part of Noel? How pleasant.

“Nice to meet you Liliath-san!”

“Nice to meet you!”

The two replied.

Jennifer’s other classmates came out to greet her, which began what was to be an introduction session that took up a few minutes. After which, Margrett and I waved Jennifer goodbye before we left for the florist once again. 

===

Today, the schedule would involve Noel and I. Nine and Prune were left at the florist.

After checking the posted quests in the guild, we exited the gate and went out of the kingdom.

“Need to kill some Goblins and Frost wolves.. Liliath, are these creatures born from miasma or does it go through the normal food chain? Because if these creatures are from the top or bottom of the food chain, aren’t we adventurers killing the ecosystem?” Noel asked.

“I believe it goes by the normal food chain. As for the destruction of the ecosystem.. That I have no say in,” That is a problem isn’t it?
“I was wondering too… oh look a squirrel,” Noel had me look upon the creature on the tree.

Though Noel may call it a squirrel, I believe that wasn’t the true name of the creature. With large fangs and a tail so big it overshadowed it’s body–

As we traversed the forest in search of goblins and wolves, we encountered various bugs and small creatures. Along the way, we gathered frost thorns and red Onicle berries– including a few other plants that we thought may possibly be herbs. 

As long as requests for such plants exist, there would be demand and thus, we would be able to sell it for some money.

“A hoppin,” Noel said.

“Do we leave it?”

Beyond this light thicket was a hoppin, you could hear the sounds of something being eaten. 

“Since it’s not our goal.. you know, nevermind, I want to try something.”

Noel operated his UI and brought up the magiccasting widget.

“Let’s try.. this.”

A ball of water appeared. He broke past the leaves and tossed the ball of water towards the Hoppin however..

The Hoppin stared as the magic flew towards the day after tomorrow. Scratching its ears, it hopped away.

“I guess you need a bow and arrow to kill something like that.. or maybe I should throw stones?” Noel grumbled. 

“It’s alright Noel,” I said.

“Uh.. yeah. I was just thinking how I could hunt something if I was by myself,” Noel said with a sigh.
“You’ll be able to do it.”
“Someday. Maybe.”

We continued walking.

The sounds of metals clinking and the shrill of goblins.

“Hm.. there are other adventurers here too. How many goblin ears did we have to get again?”

“I believe it’s at minimum, 5.”
“I give up, let’s just use the map..”
I found it confusing why Noel would abstain from the convenience of his Unique skill, after all, there were only merits to utilizing them. If he worried that the system would disappear, this fear was unjustifiable. I don't foresee that happening. 

Taking a detour past the adventurers, we headed for the next group of goblins. Along the way, Noel tried to hit a Hoppin with magic once again. It was probably the same Hoppin as it looked unfazed though Noel had a sphere of water ready. 

The sphere of water hit, but it also did nothing to harm the Hoppin. Killing was not the important part as Noel had earned 20 points from that action.

“Liliath, are the goblins here the intelligent kind?”

“No. Most of them act on instinct.”
“Kikiki..”

“I guess I need to just kill them huh..”

“I’ll cast a barrier around you,” I said and created a wind envelope. It would provide Noel with the minimum amount of protection.

“Thanks,”

Noel stepped into the fray of 3 goblins and swung his sword. The sword he held was an iron one, sold cheaply. It was of lower quality and pales in comparison to the lapiz-alloy sword.

He tore through the head of the first goblin– ran from the attacks of the attacks of the 2nd and 3rd goblin. Both of them wielded crude spears. 

He went around a tree and used that as a cover to strike down the weapons of one of the goblin.. the shaft broke into two. At that time, the third goblin thrusted the spear down towards Noel’s knee. It was a hit, the wind barrier protected him. The most he experience was a blunt impact.

Noel charged forth and tried to slash the 2nd goblin with the broken spear. It missed when the goblin lept backwards and tried thrusting the stick towards him with a shrill.

Staggering he kicked the ground and tried to jump back, snow flew into the sky and he made a retreat.

This process of hit and run repeated a few times until all goblins were killed. 

Noel leaned against one of the trees.

“Congratulations.”

“I don’t know how I should feel about this. I’m getting used to killing but.. fighting itself is hard. I don’t get it at all..”
“It’s alright Noel, I’m here for you.”

“Thanks Liliath,” he sighed yet again, “Anyways, we should get the goblin ears.”

Noel generated a ball of water, this time through his own efforts and tried to clean the blood and various fluids on the sword. It wasn’t effective without adding scrubbing motion and to remove the blood.

Three right goblin ears were sliced. The left ear had a hold in the skin, while the right ear did not. It was the right ear which served as proof of subjugation.

After that, while supervising, Noel killed another group of three goblins, and then a wolf with the help of the spears he acquired from the goblin before. 

“I think we’re done here..” Noel looked down at the corpse and breathed heavily.

“It seems so,” I used magic to quicken the pace which to drain the blood of the frost wolf. 

“Well, let’s get back,” he smiled weakly.

I nodded with a smile. Noel was growing.

188.

Teleporting to the edge of the forest, we returned to the kingdom. Passing the slums and ignoring the children that looked at us in awe as Noel ‘tried’ to carry the wolf back. 

Before, I had suggested we buy a magic bag that could carry objects conveniently. However, the magic bag could not store objects larger than a certain threshold. We returned to the guild after passing the guards at the gate.

There I had surrounded ourselves with a barrier of concealment to prevent theft or any troublesome encounters.

“4 silver and 2 copper, here you go,” the receptionist Avice placed the coins on the counter. “I’ve been wondering, shouldn’t you get some armor? You could get injured without them.”

“No, it’s alright.. ” Noel replied.

Avice nodded and turned to me. She looked a little reluctant to say something– but she spoke on a spur.

“And miss adventurer there, you came together with the boy the other day, you’re not two timing are you?” 

“Could the same be said for a beautiful woman attending to so many male adventurers like yourself?” I retorted

Noel’s expression cramped a bit, it was cute, I suppressed a laugh.

“Good one,” Avice smirked.

“Anyways, thanks for today,” Noel took the coins and quickly left the guild. He even took the effort to tug on my wrist. I was surprised how much he wanted to end our little banter.

The street was less crowded today with snow settling on the side of the street. The meandering stream built across the city had a thin layer of ice formed above. It would be possible to play atop the ice soon wouldn't it?

“Prune asked us to get some ingredients for lunch, any ideas what we should get?”

“Did she not specify anything?”

“She just said meat and fruits.”

“How about fish? Perhaps some Brapples to add to that.”

“Brapple?”

“Yes, you’ll understand once we buy one, I remember seeing it at the market the other day,” this time, as I held his wrist, I guided him towards the marketplace.

Though I may not be familiar with the demographics of the kingdoms, I still knew about the common ingredients and food items that Noel didn’t know.

The market was a short walk away, it was composed of various low hanging stores built simply on a cloth that stretched across the head to form a roof. Each store was separated by sticks of wood. The dribbles of white and blue snow caused the cloth to cave inwards. With a pole, a merchant could be seen hitting the snow off.

The white cold fluff fell on some people, it irked them– magic should’ve been used instead I thought.

It was here Noel bought the iron sword he used this morning. It was a cheap one costing no more than 1 gold.

“This is Brapple?”

“Yes, excuse me Miss, how much is this?” thought the price was properly stated on the basket, I asked anyways.

“That would be 3 large pieces of copper per piece, how many would you like?” The lady merchant who was cradling her baby with a cloth strapped around her turned to me and replied.

“Then could I have 10 of these with these..” pointing at the other fruit items, I said.

“What’s this?”

“It’s Wellech, a fruit local to this area, and it’s quite a popular during winter,” the lady said

The fruit Noel asked regarding was a reddish fruit that I would liken to a sweet tomato, it made the stomach hot as one would if they drank alcohol.

Moving around the market and picking up various food items. We returned to the florist and had lunch. Prune was skillful in her preparations, cooking up steamed fish in vinegar, coupled with the other side dishes– it proved to be another wonderful meal. Someday I would present dishes like thess to Noel. 

I have much to learn from Prune. It was interesting how she added Wellech fruit to the dish to what she referred to as: replacing white wine.

Jennifer, who came back from the education guild, was delighted to have fish. Margrett was troubled over how meals these days were made by Prune. I could only think of it as a mutual benefit. She did allow us to stay without any need to pay to begin with. This much is acceptable– Prune had no qualms in regards either.

At that, Nine and Prune spent the morning digging the field at the backyard to find a creature in the dirt. That was what Margrett told me on a whim. I believe they were trying to complete the quest to find a snow worm.

After washing up, the afternoon was spent attending to the customers in the florist together. 

===

“Jennifeeer-chan!” the boy I saw this morning– I believe his name was Fancis– approached the interior of the store as I watched the process of Margrett teaching Noel the know-how of creating a bouquet.

“Fancis-kun?! Why are you here?”

“I came to ask you to teach me magic!”

“Um, Fancis-chan, please lower your voice,” Margrett asked of him.

“Okay..”

Fancis and Jennifer went to the backyard area to practice magic. It wasn’t really a good place to do so as the space was small and filled with many precious flowers. If it were me, I could blow the space with but a single spell.

Though.. that may have been presumptuous of me as they were merely practicing intermediate magic. Jennifer herself seemed to be able to combine magic to create her own, unlike Francis who stuck to magic taught in theory.

“Liliath-sam-san, can you show us your magic? You’re really good at it right?”

Oh, I was caught peeking. In that case I suppose I will accept her request? 

“Why did you use -sama? Does Liliath-san have a grand title that I dunno about?” Francis asks.

“No, that isn’t the case.” 

“Then what is it?”

“Liliath! Use magic to create that dancing goddess spell last time, please, please,” Jennifer begged.

Though I was unsure how she would convince him in this manner, with a snap of my finger, I brought upon an ice statue of Bleu. I made it dance while swaying its body waving its hands in the air. The motions were smooth— otherwise impossible for statues made from normal ice— repetitive and could be played on loop. This was a spell I developed at Bleu’s place by her request.

“Wow!! You’re an archmage?!”

“Perhaps?” I replied with a wryly smile. In truth, I had never met an arch mage in my life, though I have been tutored by a grand sage in the past.

I disintegrate the spell.

“Then should I call you Liliath-sama from now on?” He asked, watching as the figure of Bleu melted away like a wax candle. Quite an eerie sight.

“It depends on which you’re comfortable with..”

“Then Liliath-sama, teach me how to use that magic just now!”

After a short explanation.. It seems their graduation exams are to arrive in a little over a month's time just before spring arrives. One of the requirements was to develop an original magic which.. Francis had been unable to do so.

Since the dancing Bleu spell was one that could be said as exceedingly complex, It wasn’t something he could learn..

“Ah! It’s you!”

“Heh,” in almost a sneer, Nine came to the backyard to see what we were doing.

“Nine-san, you can’t use magic yet can you?” Jennifer asked. 

“No, I still haven’t mastered a simple water sphere yet..”

“Huh? What? You can’t even use elementary magic?” Francis was bewildered.

“Yup, I can’t even use basic magic— but I can do this..”

Nine demonstrated a trick where he folded his thumbs hidden behind his index and middle finger. It made it seem as if he broke his finger apart before reattaching it. Assuming this magic was not a mere trick but something applicable– to move limbs remotely, it required one of the more advanced necromancy spells, spirit manipulation or string play. As for the part where the fingers are to reattach themselves.. that would be difficult, though possible. Probably by the use of holy magic?

“What original magic is that?! If you could break apart your body and put them back together.. that would revolutionize the world!”

I held back the urge to hold my head seeing through that simple trick at a glance. I wasn’t sure if Francis was acting or he was truly desperate to learn something useful. 

Jennifer glanced at me once, with a totally befuddled expression.

“No way.. use your mind a little, it’s easy stuff,” Nine said as if shooing him away.

“Teach me! You said it’s simple magic right?!” Francis clung to Nine.

“Hey!? Hey, get off, get off?!”

Sending an SOS my way, I said my word of advice:

“You reap what you sow~”

When Nine relentent and had no choice but to share the secret to Francis, the expression he made was.. one that was quite difficult to explain.

Today was another great day.