Mash sat on the sands of a beach, the cool air by the oceans of his world was cold and nice. His eyes drifted over the seemingly endless sands beside him, the setting sun in the distance colored the water in beautiful orange light. He doubted many things could rival such a sight.
He had seen a few beaches now, and this was by far the largest and nicest in this world. The sand here was white and remained cool like the air. Within his domain, he could see the dozens of small creatures on the beach and the hundreds in the water. Beside him, Lisa rested on a towel, her knees pulled up to her chest as she rested her chin on them. She wore a simple tan sundress, although like with all the clothes she made, her mark was completely visible through a missing sleeve. She stared out, watching the sunset, and wiping her eyes as they teared up.
They had been traveling together for the past three days, and Lisa had cried openly a few times now. He hadn’t felt like he could press her about it before, especially since his siblings had been there for the first two days, but now it was just the two of them. Luna had said that none of the others had wanted to join and were still busy moving beastmen and meeting the intelligent races of the world. Red and Lisa were both very helpful in both things so they couldn’t join, and Luke still wouldn’t leave Valeria’s side.
That left him and Lisa to explore as they wanted. He looked at her. They had grown somewhat closer over the past few days. It mostly involved Lisa asking him about one thing or another related to his past, but she had shared things about her own past too.
“Are you doing, okay?”
It was just the two of them, and Mash decided to press her a little bit. He spoke softly, trying to be as gentle as he could. Lisa’s eyes slowly turned to him, and she smiled.
“Mash, do you know how amazing these past few days have been?”
Her question wasn’t what he was expecting, but he tried to come up with a good response.
“Well, if you like traveling so much, I’m sure we can do this again. I mean, you can do it whenever you want, and I can help you.”
He wasn’t sure what exactly to say and rambled a little as he thought of what he could do for her. Lisa shook her head a little.
“I don’t just mean this. I mean everything since you saved me. Mash, the time I’ve spent with you, and the others, is better than anything I dreamed of before. I was nothing more than a slave, in mind, body, and class. And you freed me, gave me this.”
She turned her gaze from him to the beach and the sunset, which was now little more than a gentle light. Mash looked out too, watching as the last dregs of the sun disappeared under the darkness of the ocean. However, the blazing sun was quickly replaced by a glowing moon. The light made the ocean sparkle as it bounced off the white sand.
“Thank you.”
The words came from Mash’s mouth. It surprised him and Lisa both as she turned back to him, resting his cheeks against her knee.
“I think I’m the one who is supposed to say that here.”
This time it was Mash’s turn to explain. Although, he wasn’t sure how to do it and just went for it.
“No, what I mean is, thank you for telling me. People keep telling me how much damage I’ve done like everything was a mistake. And I know. I know that I killed people, but it wasn’t the only thing I did. I think you’re the only one who ever tells me about the good I’ve done. So, thank you, for telling me.”
Lisa reached out and rested a hand on his shoulder.
“Mash, never think you did something wrong. You did everything you could to help people. You freed them, but more than that, you changed things for the better. You are not the problem; the rest of the world is.”
Her eyes were alight with certainty, and Mash found that he couldn’t match her fervor.
“Then should I just leave?”
That was the question he struggled with the most. His home, that world didn’t fit him anymore. He had seen firsthand just how twisted it was, and he couldn’t leave it like that. He spoke with the resolve that had come from the question.
“No, never mind, I can’t do that. Not without trying to change it.”
Lisa smiled.
“I don’t know what the right answer is, but I know that you are a good person, Mash. Even if the rest of the world can’t see that, I can, and so can your friends and family.”
Mash nodded, feeling bolstered by the kind words. After a second, he turned away from Lisa, a little embarrassed by the discussion.
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“Sorry, I was supposed to be helping you, not the other way around.”
Her laughter filled the air a moment later, and her body seemed to fuzz as she did so. She noticed restrained the effect.
“I am still adjusting to my new body. How did you do it so quickly?”
As with most things related to his abilities, this one had a simple answer.
“Priscilla.”
Lisa didn’t seem satisfied with just that for an answer, so Mash tried to explain what happened in more detail. The discussion veered off course as he described more and more what his connection with Priscilla could do, and the rest of the evening went by quickly.
*** A Few Days Later ***
Mash carefully jammed the fork into the meat in front of him. It was some crazy expensive fish thing, that was apparently a famous delicacy. The piece of meat was about as big as his hand, and it was proving extremely annoying to eat. The white meat was so delicate that he had ruined a piece by applying too much force already. He couldn’t remember the last time he ate something with a fork and knife and realized that he kept using too much force. He sighed and looked around the expensive establishment.
The building was made of some smooth obsidian which gave the interior a dark atmosphere. There were maybe a dozen tables in the room, and each table had a crystalline blue light at the center. Several other people were eating meals at the other tables, and Mash noticed more than a few people glance his way. He ignored them, happy to be seen as nothing more than a freak. Lisa with her slightly blue skin and stunning beauty received far more looks than he did, and she did a far better job at ignoring them.
They were in some famous restaurant at the edge of the kingdom. After spending nearly, a week in his world, they had decided to hop over and explore some places in his home. Although at the suggestion of the others, they went somewhere far away from the king and the capital. They were currently in a city called Scaleport, it was the largest coastal city in the kingdom. The perfect place to hide in plain sight as Luna had put it. His siblings had happily supplied him with a list of places that he could visit without the king’s notice. Apparently, this city was practically independent of the kingdom proper, and likely would’ve ignored any news related to him in the process.
He tried again to get a piece of fish, using the fork more like a spoon helped him get a chunk of meat. He would’ve just used a spoon had they given him one. He seriously considered just making one of magic or just floating the food to his mouth. However, he wouldn’t do that with Lisa here. She was having no trouble with the food or utensils, and Mash noticed the poorly concealed smile on her face. She caught his look and offered to help.
“I can feed you if you want.”
Despite being the one to offer it, Lisa’s cheeks turned a little red. Mash was extremely glad about his inhuman status as it stopped him from having an even more extreme reaction. That remark set him off though, and he decided to just use magic. The piece of fish floated into the air, and he bit down on it stuffing the entire thing in his mouth in one smooth motion.
He smiled despite the somewhat aghast expressions from people at the other tables. The fish was good, and it had some kind of sweet glaze on it that he loved. It apparently used the sap of some trees and local fruit.
“That’s really good.”
Lisa nodded and took another bite of her own meal. Mash wondered if he should order more. For all that it tasted good, it did little to satisfy his ever-growing hunger. However, he was pretty sure he could eat the building itself and still feel hungry. It was strange, but he rarely had the time to dwell on his hunger with everything else going on. Not to mention that he had been eating a steady stream of monsters over the past few weeks. Now that he wasn’t looking to eat every monster around, he quickly began to realize just how bad the hunger had gotten. It was a constant ache, a steady twisting of his stomach that only grew. He managed to hold it off a little, eating some of the things in his storage, but that was endless.
“You can buy more. It is not like you, or I will care for money once we leave this world.”
Lisa covered her mouth with a napkin before speaking. He couldn’t help but notice that she was getting really good at reading his thoughts. Also, she had decided that his offer to join him on this trip extended beyond just these few weeks. Not that he was complaining, he was glad to have someone to travel with.
“Yeah, but maybe later. I still want to try some other stuff. Are you excited about going east?”
Mash spoke slowly, not really wanting to stop her from enjoying her own meal. Lisa nodded.
“I am, but I do still believe it would be polite to warn the empress before taking her up on her invitation.”
Lisa’s words were reasonable, but he didn’t agree.
“If I did that, then that would defeat the purpose of being quiet.”
He spoke while looking around for a server. With his domain, he could see everyone in the building, but he wanted to find someone who was free. He noticed a few people heading towards him, and a quick evaluation of their strength told him that they weren’t weak. It was a group of three, none of whom Mash recognized, however, one of them greatly interested Mash.
A man who didn’t look all that much older than Mash, didn’t seem to have a standard class. Mash could tell the man was strong, probably around his own level, and didn’t have the same presence as people with classes did. No, if anything this person had power that was closer to Mash’s clothing than anything else. Instantly, Mash perked up and shifted from his slouched position to sit up. Lisa noticed and turned her head to see what he was looking at.
The man in question was a couple of inches shorter than Mash and was unexpectedly skinny. With how levels and stats tended to work, people at high levels tended to look physically fit and strong. Not to mention, most people also typically raised their charisma. Although, Mash guessed that someone without a class wouldn’t be bound by those same expectations. The unnamed man also had an oddly long sword in his hand, although it was sheathed. It was so long that the blade would’ve dragged against the ground had he tried to put it on his back or waist. In fact, the sword was almost as long as he was tall.
Despite all of that, it was his clothes that were truly odd. He had long baggy pants that swayed around his ankles as he moved, and rather than a shirt, he just had some cloth tied around his torso in the vague shape of a shirt. It was nice blue cloth with fine embroidery depicting a swimming fish. The man marched right up to their table, standing behind one of the empty seats, for a moment before speaking.
“Can I sit here?”