Chapter 48 – Goodbyes (1/2)
With my meeting with the merchant Mint over, I headed back to the orphanage. The sun was starting to dip below the city's walls and the blue of the sky was retreating from the orange and red.
Before long, I made it back and was greeted by the kids and Philia. We quickly made dinner and the kids ate with all the gusto they always found a way to gather.
After they all finished dinner, I gave out the news that I was leaving the city the next day. They all cried out and begged me to stay, but thanks to Philia, we managed to calm them down. Strangely, Flix was surprisingly quiet during the whole ordeal. I figured that she would have been the loudest amongst the kids considering her track record, but she didn't say a word and stayed at the back of the group the entire time.
Due to the time it took to calm all the kids down, we weren't able to play, and thus with Philia's prompting, we got them all to go to bed.
”I suppose this will be the last time we'll be together for a while.”
Philia nursed a cup of tea she brewed as we sat together at a table.
I felt bad about how my arrival was now making her miserable. Even if I had never intended such a thing, it was still my fault that she had gotten so attracted to me, that I let her pretend that there could be something between us despite the fact that I would have to move on at some point.
Now, the longer I stayed in this city, the more danger I brought to her. Just staying long enough to depart with Mint was pushing my luck, but it was still better than simply leaving on my own like a vagrant, though I virtually was one.
”Have you decided on a destination?”
”Knossos. I got a job escorting that merchant I introduced you to yesterday to that city.”
”I see. Will you tell me about it if you come back?”
”I will. I'll definitely come back some day.”
”You don't have to if you don't want to you know.”
”I want to. You, you're my first friend after all.”
Philia's eyes opened wide as she looked up at me.
I wasn't really lying. While I had friends in my previous life, I didn't have any in this one, and since she became family, Alicia didn't count either. Even including ones in my last life, I never felt nearly as close with them as I did then with Philia. I couldn't even remember the names or faces of most of them anymore, but I doubted I'd forget Philia's for a long time.
”Your first friend? Really? You'll call me that?”
”Why wouldn't I. It's true after all.”
I gave her one of my biggest smiles. The little dwarf's face went beet red as she stared at me for a second before shaking her head.
”That's cheap. You know I'm not good at resisting that.”
”Ah, sorry.”
My hand grasped at the edge of my hood and pulled it down further.
”No! No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that!”
”But...”
”How many times do I have to tell you, that beauty of yours is a part of you. It's something I love about you.”
”But it's the reason that...”
”Don't. It's my feelings that put me on that spot, and I won't let you deny that. You have a charm beyond simply your appearances. There is genuine beauty on the inside as well as the outside. I guarantee it.”
Philia kept interrupting me and refuted my arguments even before I made them. Her hands firmly planted on the table as she leaned over and looked up at me through the shadow of my hood.
”I want you to promise me. I won't ask you to hold pride in your appearance, but at the very least, stop denying it and make it as a part of you. Even if you can't do it immediately, try to accept that part of you.”
She stared into my eyes as she practically pleaded this. I wanted to avert my eyes, the burden of what she was asking felt heavy, even though it sounded so reasonable. But my eyes couldn't break contact with hers, like there was a force compelling me into this staring contest with the only way out being to accept her promise.
”Alright. I'll promise.”
Unfortunately, my force of will against that sort of attack was miserably weak. Maybe it was weak in general, but when a person appealed to me like that, it was as good as me not having any defences at all.
”Good. Don't forget it, your first promise to your first friend!”
Philia smiled brightly as she got off the table and sat back down.
”Geez, just rubbing it in huh?”
”Yup!”
Somehow that smile of hers seemed to just grow even bigger. Philia grabbed her now cooled cup of tea with one hand and chugged the entire thing.
”Don't leave in the middle of the night this time, you hear? We all want to give you a proper goodbye in the morning!”
”Alright. I promise.”
”So your second promise belongs to me as well huh?”
Philia flashed another bright smile before turning and headed back to her room, leaving me a little dazed at how dazzling she looked.
I couldn't help but feel that if things were a little different, we might have really started dating and maybe even gotten married someday.
There was still a bunch of work for me to do before heading out in the morning. I didn't have much time to spare.
Looking around, I found another small unused room. Putting my rabbit plush bag down, I took out the etched steel tablets I had made and started to skim through them, sorting out the contents. They went into four separate piles. One for absolute beginners, one for early learning, one for intermediate learning, and a trash pile. The first three were self explanatory, but the fourth was tablets filled with magic theory that most likely wasn't true.
At the very least, they defied the logic of Earth, even after taking into consideration the differences because of magic and mana. I was pretty sure that the one that theorized air as a mystical force caused by invisible and untouchable wind aspected mana was outright wrong. I had no proof, but I was pretty much convinced that air was more or less the same here as on Earth. Just infused with mana in addition.
For each pile, I made a stone container with labels to keep the steel tablets sorted and placed them around the room on simple but sturdy tables made of more magically manipulated stone.
rustle
There was a sudden sound from behind me. Turning around, I saw a kid with her arms buried inside of my bag as she tried to push her head through the stretched opening as well.
”Hey hey hey, what're you trying to pull?”
I grabbed the girl's collar and the bag to separate the two.
”Eeep.”
Flix looked at me with a meek expression as her arms retracted like a cat's while being carried by the nape.
”Do you know how dangerous it can be for a living being to be put inside a magic bag?”
”...No...”
Frankly, I didn't either, but I didn't want to even test the idea, especially on a kid.
”...So, why did you try to get into my bag?”
”I, I...”
Flix started to sniffle. It didn't take a genius to realize that she was holding back her tears.
”Let me guess. You planned on hiding in my bag until I was far and away from the city, then when I found you, I'd be forced to take you along with me, right?”
”...”
She turned her face away from me, but it was as good as an admission of guilt.
”Flix, what do you think everyone else would think if you suddenly disappeared?”
”Huh?”
”I know you want to come with me, but have you thought about what Philia's or the other kids' feelings? Of what they'd think if you suddenly disappeared?”
”I...”
”Personally, I think they'd all be in a panic. They'd think some bad people might've taken you or something. Philia and the older kids would go all around the city looking for you and the younger kids would be scared that their family was being taken from them. You wouldn't want that, would you?”
”No...”
Thankfully, Flix didn't think things through nearly as well as Alicia did, so she was pretty easy to handle in comparison. She was a good girl, so simple guilt trips were really effective on her.
”And besides. I'm an adventurer. That means that I go to dangerous places all the time. You still haven't even learned how to use magic yet, and I bet you don't have a single combat skill either, right?”
”No...”
”That's right. I'd be beside myself with worry that something might happen to you all the time in such dangerous places!”
”Really?”
”It's a bit depressing that you'd even think I wouldn't be.”
”No! That's not what I meant!”
Flix shook her head as hard as she could, wholeheartedly denying my little joke.
”I, I didn't mean to make everyone worried, not Miss Philia, not everyone else, not you. But...!”
”It's too early for you to come with me, but I won't always be adventuring, nor always going to dangerous places. If you sit tight, I'll be back someday. Maybe then you can come with me if you still want to.”