Chapter 59 – Sharing and Caring (1/2)

(Shit shit shit!)

With Claret happily clinging onto my shoulders again, we were flying through the skies again as quickly as I could manage. Alicia was giving out constant exclamations as she enjoyed being able to see the environment while Claret gave me directions back towards the wagon.

It seemed the little seven year old didn't have any fear of heights thankfully. Most likely it was because she had no learned recognition of what height looked like. She wasn't able to connect the feeling of height she had learned with what she was seeing.

Well, that was better for me, as she wasn't scared at all with us flying so quickly while occasionally skimming the tops of some of the hills.

As we got close, I activate [Materialize] before dropping down near Mint's wagon.

”Miss Scarlet!”

Just as I landed, Mint yelled out and everyone gathered immediately from positions further around. It looked like they had already closed camp and was ready to move out at any moment.

”What in god's name happened?!”

”That's right! We woke up and we couldn't find you anywhere!”

”The imps were crying out so much! There must've been a huge horde of them fighting nearby!”

(It figured that they'd go for the main topic right off the bat.)

”Ah, umm, sorry. That was my fault.”

”Your fault?”

”Ah, ummm, well, I was checking something out, and accidentally killed an imp. And after that...”

”Haaa. Well, it seems like you got out of that fine. I suppose that's a testament to your strength? It's good that everything went well, but please be careful next time. When imps call for reinforcements, you never know how many may show up. Some of the groups can also become distracted by other targets and cause collateral damage even when you purposely try to draw them away from friendlies as well.”

”Ah, umm, alright. I'll be careful.”

I wasn't at fault. I wasn't at fault in regards to this, but it was a good thing to know. But it really wasn't my fault. It was entirely an accident that I fell on one of them after all.

With that, we grouped up and made our way through the rest of the craggy hills, emerging out the other side as the sky was starting to turn a different colour. It seemed like normally they were able to cross the hills while the sun was still high in the sky, so I apologized once again for delaying everything.

We set up camp a small distance away from the hills, and like before, I volunteered to handle the full night watch. While the others protested since I had not only been up all day to help with the day escort but even had less sleep because I ended up with the last watch the night before and was the only one to fight monsters on top of that. They backed off once I insisted that it was in apology for making a mess of things the day before and waking everybody up because of my fight in the morning.

They didn't seem very satisfied with my argument, but I continued to press my point until they all gave up. It wasn't like we hadn't been doing this the entire time up to then anyways.

<You're still cooking even though you can't eat normal food Scarlet?>

After everyone went to bed, I was laying on my back while staring at the stars. Claret laid her head on my belly as I slowly stroked her hair.

”Ah, yea. I figured I'd do something to put me in their good graces.”

<Master, I think you can talk to Alicia through your thoughts instead of speaking out loud.>

The dark spirit pointed out that theory when I whispered my answer out.

<Oh, can you hear me?>

<I can!>

<Claret, can you hear Alicia fine as well?>

<I can, Master>

<I wonder how that works.>

<I don't know. I can't even see my own status anymore, but your status show up whenever I try, Scarlet. They're even more amazing than I imagined.>

<Haha, thanks.>

<Maybe...>

<You have an idea Claret?>

<Master, maybe it's because you're sharing your body with Alicia that she counts as part of the familiar contract with me?>

<Ah, that makes sense. In theory, you should be able to use any of my skills in your current state after all Alicia.>

<Really? Wow, there's so many skills I've never heard of before.>

<Well, some of them aren't even...oh yea.>

<Mmmm?>

<What is it Master?>

Considering how things were now, it was probably impossible for me to keep my secrets from these two. No, even more than that, considering the kind of things we said to each other the morning before, I didn't want to keep these sort of things secret from them.

<There's a few things I haven't told anyone, even to you two, but I don't want to keep it a secret anymore.>

<What is it?>

<!>

Claret trembled on my belly. She probably wasn't angry or sad because I kept a secret from her. No, I was pretty sure that wasn't the reason.

<I kinda told Claret a bit of it, but I wanted to expand on it and make it all entirely clear for the two of you. First of all, I remember my previous life.>

<Your...huh?>

<Master! You finally remember it then!?>

<Ah, no, it's probably not what you're thinking Claret. You said that you were sure that I'm the same Scarlet that you originally served, right?>

<No doubt at all! Your body looks different, but there's no way I can mistake your soul for any other!>

<You and the saint Scarlet are the same person?>

<Ah, well, what I think happened, is that I was once the same one you talked about in your stories Alicia...>

<You're even more amazing than I ever though!>

<Isn't she? Master is the most amazing in the entire world!>

That was a completely different direction than what I planned.

<Well, I don't know about how amazing that is, since I don't remember any of it.>

<...>

(Aaaand in a single sentence I feel like I just stepped on a kitten.)

<Umm...anyways, that aside, so what I think happens when someone dies is that their soul gets reborn into a new body. And I think after that happened a few times, I cheated the gods and managed to be reborn without having my memories erased.>

<Umm...then...in the end you remember your last life as well as this one?>

<That's right.>

I confirmed Alicia's thoughts.

<That's pretty amazing!>

<Well, I think I got lucky though.>

ven still! Ah, but did you say gods? As in more than one?>

<Ah, yea. I don't know what people believe normally around here, but I think that there's quite a few gods, and a bunch of them manage the reincarnation cycles.>

<Well, figures that damn church is wrong.>

It seemed like Claret's anger towards my predecessor's death touched even something as far separated as the entire organization even after so many years.

<Umm, anyways, while I don't remember more than one life ago, I do remember that much, and the process I went through to reincarnate.>

<Then, what sort of life did you have before?>

<Ah, umm, it's kinda hard to explain, since it was a different world, but I lived my entire life in a huge, enormous city. I didn't really do anything special for work though. I just made food for others.>

Thinking back, I lead a pretty useless life. I've never had anything but an ordinary dead-end job, never dated anyone, I wasn't even that close to my parents by the time I died. In fact, the only remarkable thing I could put a claim on was that I had died from overwork while pursuing my dream. A dream that was clearly dead even before I was.

Frankly, it was a pretty depressing life when I thought about it. It wasn't like I was even satisfied with anything about it. That was probably what made me try developing my own game. Not like I really enjoyed it in the end though. And by the time I had realized that, I had gotten to the point that I had gambled too much to just throw it away.

<Is that why you're so good at cooking?>

<Ah, no. Where I worked, the recipes were really simple and anyone could learn it quickly. I learned how to cook at home since I didn't have much money. Oh, right, I was a human in my previous life, so I ate food like normal rather than blood.>

<You were human? Then, the food you made for me...>

<Yea, they were things I remembered from my previous life. Not all of them were things I had made back then, but I liked to read all sorts of things back then as well.>

It was nothing but a hobby of mine back then. Looking up random things that caught my eye. Learning about how things worked, how they were made. The internet was really a blessing and I felt like I really took advantage of it. To have thought that so much of that random knowledge would have come to use for me.

Well, it wasn't like a ton of that knowledge wasn't useless even in my new life though. Knowing four ways to make a primitive house and seven ways to start a fire was completely useless when I could do both in seconds with magic.

But if I had to pick, then it was better that I did spend that time doing it. The fact that it was enjoyable was a nice bonus. Rather, since it was enjoyable, I wouldn't have stopped doing so even if people told me that such knowledge wouldn't ever come in handy.

<I see. But you ate that sort of food all the time, didn't you? What an amazing world you must have come from.>

<Ah, well, I guess it was pretty advanced in a lot of ways.>

<I'd have liked to have seen it.>

<Hmm? Maybe you did in a previous life? It seems like all the worlds are connected in some way so you may have spent a lifetime in my previous world as well.>

<Maybe we might have met in a previous life then Scarlet?>

<Heh, maybe.>

<...If I died right after you did, would I have been able to live my next life by your side Master?>

As we were talking, Claret suddenly spouted out something way darker than I had expected. Her body trembled, and something wet seeped through my robes.

<Would I have been able to follow you to the next life if I more devoted when I found your remains Master? If, if only, I challenged the hero and died, or thought to follow after you immediately, you wouldn't have had to go on alone? I, I...>

Sitting up, I smacked the tearful spirit across the head, then firmly held her shoulders as I looked into her eyes.

<Most likely, I think the other Scarlet would've thought so too, but I would definitely hate it if I died and you decided to follow after me. Or even if you tried to get revenge against an opponent you stood no chance. I'd be the one full of regrets if people did things like after I died, alright?>

<Mas...>

I pulled Claret into my chest, muffling any words she tried to say.