Chapter 48 – Goodbyes (2/2)

”I do! I'll always want to come with you!”

”Alright then. I'll promise to take you with me next time”

”Really? It's a promise!”

It felt like I was only delaying the inevitable, but for then at least, it did solve the issue for the meantime. I could just worry about the consequences the next time I came around, and if I made sure to save up a decent amount of money, I could just avoid most of the more dangerous parts of travelling if I ended up having to drag the little girl around with me.

”So...what were you doing?”

Flix looked around at everything I had made and pulled out.

”I made copies of a bunch of texts I found. Figured that you guys could use them to keep learning magic after I was gone.”

The little girl more than a head shorter than me stretched her arm and pulled one of the steel tablets off of the container on one of the tables and read through it. As expected, it looked a bit heavy to her, but she looked like she was doing her best not to let it show.

On the other hand, seeing her read through the etchings on the metal plate she held in both hands as she stood beside one of the tables was as good as play testing. I took out some planks of wood out of my bag and cut up then fitted the pieces together to make several sturdy chairs, some of which were extra high but with additional rungs securing the legs for the smaller kids.

I places two at each table.

”Here, try sitting on this.”

Flix climbed up on one of the taller chairs I had placed beside her and held the tablet upright on the table, now low enough for her to comfortably read on top of.

”Is all this really for us?”

”Yup. I figured some of you guys would want to keep learning magic, and it would be hard to find anyone else who would teach you.”

The little girl excitedly bounced on her seat, making me glad I made the inscribed plates thick and durable as she banged it on the stone tabletop before she sheepishly looked at me.

”Opps. Thank you Scarlet!”

”Just make sure you share, okay?”

”Okay!”

Excitedly, she went back to reading the tablet as I went to scan through the ones I haven't read yet. Unfortunately, I wasn't finding much of actual use. I kept finding incantations for spells that I could easily just do trough brute mana manipulation or descriptions of elemental properties that were pretty obvious if you spent any time looking outside of a window.

To my side, Flix's head dipped down before quickly jerking back up. She rubbed her eyes then concentrated on the tablet she was reading before her head started to dip again.

”Alright, I think you need to go to bed. You might hurt yourself, especially with how heavy the tablets are.”

”Mmmm! No!”

But to my surprise as I tried to lift the little girl out of the chair, she violently shook her head and struggled out of my grip before slipping and falling off. Thankfully, my reaction speed was more than adequate to reposition myself underneath her and catch the fluffy tailed girl in a hug.

When she realized what had happened, her arms snaked around me and held herself as tightly as they could manage.

”You're going to leave in the morning, right Scarlet?”

”Huh? Ah, yea, I did say that.”

”Then, please. Let me stay with you until then.”

Flix's entire body was trembling as she spoke into my chest.

(Philia wasn't the only one I needed to spend extra time on a goodbye it seems.)

One of my hands moved from holding her back and went to stroke the girl's hair. Her triangular ears slowly folded back as her tail wagged lazily and she buried her face further in between my soft mounds. I slowly lowered my body to the ground while holding her secure against my own and readjusted her body so that she sat on my lap. The moment my arm went back around her back, Flix's legs wrapped around mine as if she was afraid that her arms weren't enough to avoid losing her grip on me.

Flix's breathing also grew deeper and faster, like she was deeply inhaling through her nose and exhaling through her mouth. It wasn't the first time she had done this, so I wasn't too concerned about the behaviour, but it did make me curious. Actually asking the person in question about it was straight out though, so I had no choice but to leave that question unanswered for the time being.

The two of us stayed in that position until I could hear the kids upstairs stirring out of their beds.

”Flix? Time's up. Everyone'll be coming down soon. Flix?”

I dug the little girl's head out of my valley, only to find out that she had fallen asleep in that position. Her lips curled up into a small smile as her tail periodically wagged a bit here and there.

Without any choice, I held Flix close to me and rose to my feet to greet everyone else.

As the kids came down, they made a fuss about how Flix was stole a march on them overnight when they saw her in my arms as I carried the sleeping girl. I transferred her over to Philia's arms as soon as possible before preparing breakfast for everyone.

Once the kids ate, I gave them all goodbyes as they left to earn money. Many of them gave me teary waves as the left one after the next. Quite a few tried to stay, but a stern word by Philia was enough to make them hurry.

All that was left was Philia at the door. The kids too young to help around were dozing off on a couch inside and Flix was fast asleep in her bed upstairs. I had already explained about the room with the steel tablets to her, and even put aside a bunch of spare food and soap making materials to last everyone a little while.

After that, I had handed over the bag of coins I had gotten for the sale of the soap. Philia didn't bother to open the bag, but was still pretty surprised at the weight of it before she hid it in her room.

We stood there face to face at the threshold of the door.

”Take care on your journey.”

”You take care as well.”

Philia held both of my hands in hers as I stood just outside of the door.

Tears were threatening to escape from me and I could see the older dwarf's lower lip quiver.

”I'll be back.”

”I know.”

But our farewells didn't go anywhere. For the first time, I realized I didn't even know how to do one. I had thought that just saying goodbye was enough, but it didn't feel right now that the time came. No words that I could think of encapsulated what I wanted to say. Not even close.

”I, I...”

”I look forward to the next time we see each other again.”

My words choked up in my throat, but somehow Philia was able to say exactly what I wanted to say. No matter what I did, she always managed to stay one step ahead of me.

(I won't let it stay that way though.)

I squatted down a bit so that our line of sight was level. Philia's eyes widened a bit, but it was nothing compared to what would happen if my plan succeeded.

Throwing off her hands, I wrapped my fingers around the back of the gaunt dwarf's head and I pressed my lips against hers, pushing my tongue aggressively between her lips as I got a thorough taste of her. The seconds ticked by. I couldn't tell if it was only a moment, or half an eternity, but I pulled away, letting go of Philia.

Pulling back, she was completely frozen, her eyes as wide as they could go.

Satisfied with the expression I never got to see before, I licked my lips.

”That's something to remember me by.”

As I turned around, I saw her face grow cherry red. That expression of hers was a perfect souvenir for myself as I made my way to the city gates where I would meet up with Mint at.

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”Ah damnit!”

A tall figure clad in robust metal armour stepped past the large orc serving as the local boss.

The figure removed their helmet, revealing the short and wavy blonde hair atop her long and narrow, yet sensually feminine face. She shook off the glistening sweat that had accumulated on her skin as she took deep breaths.

”No environmental controls, no personal regulator. Just how the hell do these savages even survive?!”

She glared at the corpse for a moment before moving on without even bothering with any items the monster may have left.

”And they only give me this flat metal pole?! I demanded that they give me at least a shock rifle, and they give me a damn pole to fight with! How the hell am I supposed to do my job with a measly piece of crude metal?!”

Despite the names she called it, the woman carefully returned the light blue blade into it's sheathe.

”Damnit. And these supposed support systems that those bastards said I got? Why the hell do I have to power them up by fighting! Couldn't they have just charged the damn things in the first place instead of making me work for it?! At least they make up for the lack of power armour, but damnit this crude armour is hot!”

She tried to pull on the neck lining a bit, but the lightly elastic material refused to budge as much as she wanted.

”Damnit! Why the hell do I have to go through this shit?! Ah, they better make me rich and let me spend the rest of my life on a resort planet after this! Damnit!!!”

Leaving those words, the woman returned her helmet back onto her head as she trudged along down the stairs behind where the orc was guarding.

Ninetailed_Furball

Hi everyone! It's everyone's tardy furball! m(_ _)m

Finally, this arc has finished! Liked Scarlet's little revenge at the end? I couldn't resist, so sorry those of you who don't like yuri.

And that little Flix! She's so cute! But no way I can let such a girl on to such a dangerous journey. What's that? It's only dangerous because of Scarlet? Hmmm....oh well! ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Sorry for the delay on this chapter as well. I still hadn't fully recovered from some of the weird stuff that happened at work last week. This week should be better, and though there might be a bit of chapter shuffling, as the bonus Q&A is next.

It's still not too late if you have any questions!

That said, I look forward to whatever everyone has to say in the comments, and once again, thanks for reading! (≧∇≦)/