Chapter 31

“Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?” Myura repeated numbly before collapsing into a coughing fit.

“Myura?” I was confused. I know it was probably a bit ill advised to so effortlessly kill the monsters, but her despairing face seemed out of place. I bent down to check on her. I was even more confused when she shook off my hand when I tried to help her.

“Don’t touch me!” Myura spat out. “You’re just like all those other nobles! Was it an amusing game, to just string me along for your amusement and then watch me fail? Why was I so stupid to hope for something better? Of course I’m not going to get it. I don’t deserve it anymore.”

I was really, really confused now. I didn’t think I had strung her along at all, other than hiding not being a noble, but that didn’t seem to be the main reason Myura was upset. I could only assume that her experiences were coloring her comprehension. She saw me kill the monsters, thus she thinks that I only brought her out here to watch her fail at what she thinks was me testing her. Well, I was testing her but I wasn’t doing it to see her fail. I don’t know if I can get through to this currently angry Myura, but I have to try.

“Myura. Please listen to me. I understand that you think I’ve misled you and that I was just toying with you, but that’s not true.” I pleaded.

“I don’t care about your excuses! Leave me alone! What else do you want to do to me or take from me? You already destroyed my last hope!” Myura replied angrily.

I think, I might have underestimated just how bad her experiences with nobles have been. “Myura, please, I’m begging you to just listen to me. I was going to tell you this today anyway. I’m not a noble or anything special. I’m just a common person.”

Myura finally opened her eyes to look at me. “But, but, you, but, I don’t understand!” She managed to get out.

“Yes, I know. It might be a bit hard for you to comprehend right now, since you’re upset. I promise you that I’m not a noble and that I wasn’t trying to string you along or make fun of you or anything like that. All this was just for me to see how strong you were, because I didn’t want to put you in danger by taking you with me.” I explained.

“But, but, you were so perfect and graceful and kind and elegant and thoughtful-”

I interrupted her. “Yes, that was just an act. I’m sorry. I never intended to cause this big of a misunderstanding and all this distress for you.”

“Why though?” Myura asked desperately.

“For stupid reasons, like most things.” I shrugged. “I didn’t like the way that old woman in the inn was treating us when we arrived, so I decided to make her think she had possibly offended someone that could cause her and the inn serious problems, thus a noble act was born. I never expected that my act would create so much loyalty in one of the servants that they would want to serve me. It was entirely unintentional and again you have my deepest apologies.”

Myura closed her eyes again and let out a deep sigh. “I understand, but that just means that I was still wrong to get my hopes up. I thought I had finally found someone worthy to serve, but in the end I was just taken in by an act. Plus the person I had wanted to serve doesn’t even need me anyway. She’s entirely self-sufficient and is even stronger than me so she doesn’t even need my fighting ability!” She opened her eyes again and glared at me. “Honestly! How are you even that strong at that age!? I’ve never heard of anyone one shotting monsters that high in level before! Maybe if you had a really strong weapon or used some crazy magic, but my spear isn’t anything special beyond the fact that it can be used as a magic focus and I know from the conversation yesterday that you don’t even have magic yet!”

“I’m probably older than you think based on my looks for one thing. I’m actually 63 years old. Oh, actually I think I turn 64 soon? I don’t really keep track of it.” I stated. I have no idea when my birthday would come by this world’s reckoning.

“Huh? You’re almost twice my age but you look younger? I mean I knew you had elf in you but demons age quicker than elves, even if we do stay in our physical prime longer, so I assumed you had to be about my age.” Myura replied, puzzled.

I can’t really answer the other questions so let’s move on. “Anyway Myura, I’ll be honest with you. I never wanted a servant. I still don’t want one either. I don’t mind having a companion though, if you want that position. Of course, I understand if you don’t want that since you said you wanted to serve a noble in remembrance of your mother and your childhood.” I said.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can do or accept that. I don’t really care that you’re not a noble anymore. At this point maybe I should just accept that I’ll never find another noble as good as the one my mother served. Actually, in retrospect, working in that inn was likely a mistake if I was looking for a good noble.” Myura said with the best imitation of a shrug she could do lying down.

“I see. Then if that’s what you want then I’m not going to force you to come with me.” I answered.

“Didn’t I just say I don’t care that you’re not a noble?” Myura laughed. “What I meant is that I can’t accept being your companion if I’m just going to hold you back. It’s very clear that I would just be a burden if I went with you!”

“I wouldn’t think of y-” I tried to placate her.

“I would think of myself that way and that’s what matters. I don’t want to be a weight around your neck. So that’s why effective immediately I quit as your servant!” Myura stated.

“Do you need to go that far? I’ll still be in town until tomorrow. We can still spend that time together.” I replied.

“Nope, that would just be a waste of time for both of us. You never actually needed me and the inn will just have someone else bring your meals. The only reason I was even assigned as your personal servant was because I begged for it myself.” Myura said.

“Then what are you going to do? Based on what you said earlier, it doesn’t sound like you intend to look for a noble at the inn anymore.” I asked.

“I’m going to become an adventurer again so I can get stronger. I’ll get stronger and stronger so I won’t be a burden to be by your side. At that time, I’ll ask you to accept me as your companion! This is my solemn oath to you.”

I guess I don’t have to make the suggestion to her myself, and judging by the look in her eyes and her thoughts, she’s decided on this and there’s no way I’ll talk her out of it. There’s only one thing I can say in response to her. “Then I’ll accept that oath. Please get stronger and become my companion. I’ll be waiting for you. Ahh, but don’t risk yourself unnecessarily trying to get stronger alright? You can’t become my companion if you get yourself killed after all.”

“Don’t worry. Plus I’m already on the path to getting stronger now. Your acceptance of my oath just unlocked the Knight Class for me.” Myura explained. “To be honest, I had completely forgotten I would qualify for that once I gave an oath of loyalty to someone or something I recognize as greater than myself, since I already had the necessary Warrior levels.”

“Does an oath to become a companion really count as an oath of loyalty? I mean you aren’t going to be my servant or follower.” I asked.

“Apparently it was good enough for the Divine Ones, so I guess so! So I’ll start leveling Knight while also working on my Sorcerer levels. I’ll probably want to get an actual shield too. I don’t think my gauntlet will be enough anymore. I also think I might have broken my arm taking that male’s attacks. Good thing I’ve saved most of my wages I’ve made working at the inn for the last six years!” Myura exclaimed.

“Try Huvreck’s shop. He seems to make good quality stuff. I got my bow from him and he’s making my staff. He could probably improve your spear as well.” I said. “Also, how long are you going to need to recover for? You haven’t really moved much since you collapsed.”

“I’m actually suffering the backlash of using body enhancement magic.” Myura explained with a rueful smile.

“Body enhancement magic? Based on the name I assume it increases your physical capabilities? Is that how you were moving so well and defending against that monster’s vicious attacks?” I asked.

“Yeah, that was why. The flaw with the magic is that it really causes an unreasonably severe strain on the body. There was someone once that overused it and their body basically withered away and they died due to it drawing all the extra strength out of their body. First it drains your mana then it starts draining your health and sapping your stamina. I wouldn’t be like this if I hadn’t used that ice explosion on top of the effect. I should have been more careful anyway, but I never expected there would be two males!” Myura replied.

“That doesn’t answer the most important question though. How long will you need to recover?” I asked again, this time with a glare to go with it.

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“Maybe a while? Sorry, I said earlier I was out of practice. I haven’t used the magic in a while so I might have overdone it just a tad.” Myura replied.

“I see. Excuse me a moment.” I took off my glove and then turned off my shield with a casual motion. I placed my now bare hand on the bare skin at her neck. Hopefully I could just pass this off as checking her heart beat. With this close contact I sent my psi through her body. With Empath still set, I could get a very precise image of her body’s physical condition. If I want to, I can also increase her healing rate if I notice any serious problems.

Let’s see, so what do we have in here. Yep, her left arm is broken in a few spots. Near the elbow and also at her wrist and middle of her forearm. That monster really did a number on her. I’ll nudge them to heal a little bit faster. If I increase the healing rate too much, it will be noticeable though. Now is there anything else wrong? Hmm, she seems to have small tears all over her body in her muscles. Was that caused by the body enhancement magic? She only used it for maybe 30 minutes at most! It already caused this much damage to her body in that little time? What a horrible magic! The broken bones are bad enough but she’ll be weeks recovering from just this muscle damage. I can probably fix this at least and it won’t be apparent. I focused my psi even more and sent a larger surge through her body. I had to be careful about this because if I let my control slip for even a moment, Myura might become aware of this foreign power sweeping through her body even with her complete lack of resistance to psi. I’ll just mend most of these tears so they’ll heal in a day or two rather than weeks.

I finally finished. Myura was giving me an odd glance but I guess it does seem weird when I realize I had my hand on her neck for a few minutes. That’s way longer than someone would need to just check her pulse. Time for obfuscation! “Your heartbeat seems fine! Anyway, shall I carry you back to town. Or possibly, should we make lunch or something? And another thing, do we need to remove anything from these monsters to prove we completed the request?” I gestured at the monster carcasses around us.

“I’d rather not be carried back to town if we can help it. I can’t make lunch in my condition though. As for the monsters, Spike Apes have a larger spike in the mane under their head that serves as proof of a kill.” Myura said.

“I can handle the cooking but you’ll have to pull out the ingredients. You might have to explain what some of the ingredients are too though. Also excuse me a moment.” I didn’t want to move her unduly, but I couldn’t just leave her lying here and I know her condition wasn’t bad enough to stop me from picking her up and putting her in a sitting position. She was pretty embarrassed being scooped up in my arms, but it didn’t last that long and I got her sitting up against a tree. Maybe I should have pulled out a blanket to have her sit on rather than the ground? “Alright, can you move ok or do you need me to help you?”

“I’m not a total invalid! I can at least do this much!” Myura complained. She used her good right arm and started pulling items out of her pouch. I left her to it and drew my knife and walked over to the closest ape. I’m looking for a large spike under their head. I felt around the circle of spikes and eventually found one that clearly stood out compared to the others. Maybe a bit under twice as big, it was kind of hidden in the fur. It wasn’t that hard to remove it and it only took me maybe ten minutes to collect all five from the five apes. Afterwards, I tossed all the carcasses off to the side and away from us.

Myura’s voice called out to me, “Seri, I finished getting everything ready.” I looked at her in surprise. Now that I think about it, she had stopped calling me ‘my lady’ as soon as I told her I wasn’t a noble and she’s been acting really casual this whole time. Myura seemed to have gotten embarrassed again due to my staring and she started fidgeting. “Well, I’m not your servant anymore, you know, and we’re friends right, so Seri, it’s fine to call you that right?”

I came out of my shock. “Yeah, that’s fine. We’re definitely friends so please call me Seri. I’m already calling you Myura so I’ll just stick to that.”

Myura smiled. “I’m glad!” I must have given her another odd look because she started laughing joyfully. “It’s been a long time since I had someone to call a friend! I don’t know why but I feel so happy right now! I haven’t felt like this in years.”

“Alright then Miss Happy. I’m going to make lunch for us so you just continue being a happy person and sit there quietly.” I ordered.

“Yes ma'am!” Myura saluted me playfully with a wide grin.

Myura had spread the ingredients and cooking goods out on a cloth. It’s a good thing I usually had to cook for myself as Aaron and occasionally as Seri or I might be facing a grueling challenge right now. Examining these ingredients though, what is this weird fish that has tentacles instead of fins? Or this, wait, is this an insect? It looks like a large beetle that is the size of a mouse. Aaron and Seri both agree that insects are gross and definitely not fit for eating. Wait, if Myura bought this as a cooking ingredient, does this mean I’ve already eaten these before?

I feel like I’m going to be sick just thinking that. Relax Seri, don’t throw up. Stay calm. I absolutely do not see that. What insect? There was no insect there. I turned my focus to the next ingredient. It’s a glowing potato. A glowing potato. A potato and it’s glowing.

Okay, slight correction. This was definitely going to be a formidable challenge!

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It was a difficult trial but I succeeded in making something edible. In the end, I had to rely on Myura’s expert advice to manage these bizarre ingredients. As for the ingredient that doesn’t exist. Myura ate it. Apparently, it’s something she likes to eat herself. I made sure I didn’t watch as she consumed it. It was bad enough just having to cook it under her instruction. At least I’ve been reassured that it’s not something that was in any of the food I’ve eaten from the inn. Myura still tried to make me try a bite though. She said it has a very sweet and nutty taste. Thankfully I managed to ward her off. I kept my lunch to the normal looking foods that I could recognize or looked similar to things I’ve eaten before. I fed the weird things to Coa who gladly ate them just like anything else she’s given. At least I don’t have to worry about her being a picky eater like me.

Much to Myura’s continuing embarrassment, she had to rely on me to get us back to town. Her muscles were way too stiff to make walking easy so she had to lean on me the whole way back. She vehemently refused my offer to just carry her. Eventually we made it back to the guild. The guild master was at the counter and gave me a dirty look when she saw me walk in, which changed to surprise as she saw Myura leaning on my shoulder next to me.

We got to the counter and Myura took out the five spikes and the request paper. “We completed the Spike Apes commission.”

The guild master took them. “Five of them? That’s more than the norm. If that’s all, then good work. Here’s the payment for the request.” She passed some silver coins across the table. Looks like the apes were worth six silver. So a bit more than the stone from the dungeon boss would be worth?

Myura took the coins and then held her hand out to me. I stopped her and pushed her hand back. “Myura, you keep it. You’re going to need the money more than me, I think.”

“But I wouldn’t have completed the request without you! You should have it.” Myura replied thrusting her hand back toward me.

“No, I want you to keep it. I insist.” I answered back, again pushing her hand away.

Before Myura could speak up, the guild master interrupted. “If you’re going to do this back and forth, do it elsewhere.”

Oh right. We’re still in the guild. I apologized to the adventurer that had been waiting behind us with a nod and we made our way out of the guild. “Myura, should we go back to the inn? You probably need to get your stuff and tell them you’re quitting right?” I asked.

“That’s true. When we get there, we’ll go in through the back and sneak into the servant quarters. No one should be in there at this time anyway, so no one will notice.” Myura answered.

Which is exactly what we did. Honestly, the servant quarters were surprisingly nice and comfortable, if somewhat barebones. I’d probably put them on the level of a good priced normal hotel room. Much better than I expected them to be anyway.

“We should probably separate here.” Myura said sadly once we were back outside. “I’ll come back later and give the boss the news. I’ll do it before dinner time though, so someone will know to bring you a meal.”

That’s good, I wouldn’t want to sit around waiting in my room for dinner to arrive. I definitely want to avoid having to use the dining room again too. “Are you sure you’ll be fine going to rent a room at an inn by yourself?”

“Yeah, I don’t feel quite as stiff as I did earlier. My arm still feels terrible but I can go get that looked at at the church now.” As if to show she was fine she stretched her body grandly, though I caught the grimace as she did so.

Oh right, healing magic exists. I had forgotten about that. I guess Myura won’t be out of commission as long as I was thinking. “Then I guess this is goodbye huh?” I feel a lot more sentimental than I did for Seran’s goodbye.

“It’s not a goodbye right? It’s a ‘I’ll see you later’ Seri!” Myura replied with a smile.

“You’re right. What was I thinking? See you later Myura. Stay well!” Before she could stop me. I stepped in and hugged her. She awkwardly returned the hug with her good arm. We separated and I watched as she stumbled her way down the street. She turned back to look at me and then gave me a wave.

Coa stretched up and chirped at me. “Don’t worry Coa. We’ll see her again.” I said.

Ahhhhhh. I forgot to ask her where she’ll be going to get stronger. This is really awkward. Do I chase after her after that sentimental goodbye? How could I do that!? I feel mortified just thinking about it. I guess I’ll leave a letter at the adventurer’s guild for her? I’ll probably visit that one dungeon in the capital so I’ll be checking the guild there too. I can mention in the letter to send the response there. That should work out. Wait, I can’t read or write the language can I? So instead of a letter, I’ll just let the guild pass a message on to her!

I was satisfied with my hastily thought up plan so I went inside the inn and went to go to my room but the old hag at the desk called out to me. “My lady, a note was delivered for you while you were out. It was delivered by the one of the lord’s messengers.” She held out a small sealed envelope. I thanked her, took it and then went up to my room.

A letter from the lord? That could be a problem. I opened the envelope and slipped out the note. I wish Myura was here right now to read this. “Lynn, can you understand this?” I whispered.

“Sorry, Mistress. It seems to be using overly complicated words. What I’m getting from it, is something about eating and the next day. There seems to be a lot of flowery, flattery to go with it but I believe it’s an invitation to dine with him tomorrow.” Lynn answered.

“I see.” I replied before flopping on the couch. I tossed the letter off to the side.

“Mistress, what are you going to do about it?” Lynn inquired.

“Nothing. I’ll be leaving town as early as I can tomorrow. With the speed I intend to travel at, there’s no way any pursuers or anyone will be able to keep up with me. Plus, the lord will probably assume I’m going to travel by ship anyway so he’ll be watching there, not the town gates. Hopefully, he won’t realize I left town entirely until I don’t appear for the dinner. Of course, this means he’ll likely send a letter about me to people in the capital, if he hasn’t already. My destination being there was probably already learned from Seran so there’s nothing I can do about that and it’s pointless to worry about it.”

“I think Mistress is being too lax about this issue!” Lynn scolded.

“Do you have a better idea then?” I asked.

“No...” Lynn answered reluctantly.

“Then I’ll be going with my plan.” I stated bluntly.