Kayla had changed.

It was true that she had been friends with Blake for far longer than she was friends with Rowan. But Rowan thought he knew her well enough. A brash, rough, but likeable friend he could trust.

All of that was now in question. Kayla showed up, saved the day, and promptly left. If that was all, he could still keep the illusion that she was the same person he once knew. But the fact that she outright confirmed that she had somehow hung around for days, just watching while the soldiers and mercenaries died, left a cold, bitter feeling in Rowan’s chest. Things would never be quite the same between the two of them again.

But then, had Rowan changed, too?

He was almost eager to dismiss the thought. A part of him wanted to cling to the person he’d been when he was summoned. It was a reassuring bit of familiarity and certainty in a world that had only grown progressively more unfamiliar.

It would also be a lie.

Rowan had changed too.

The Rowan from even a couple of weeks prior would not have charged a giant flying monster for a chance at victory. He would also not be brave enough to look at that same demon and ask others to charge with him.

Yet, he had. What did that say about him? Was this something that had always been inside of him or was the world molding him into becoming a fabled hero?

Rowan didn’t have an answer to that. What he did know was that if he hadn’t done anything, even more people would have died. He also knew that Kayla had been the one who saved him from succumbing to the darkness. Her spell had not only taken down the demon but also cleansed the artificial lake formed on top of the village.

“Rowan!”

The scream of his name made Rowan flinch. He spotted Olivia almost immediately and tilted his head in confusion. “Olivia?”

“Are you okay? I’ve been calling your name for forever!” Olivia hissed when she finally reached him, dragging him down and checking him for wounds.

“Yes? I’m alright?” Rowan mumbled, still confused.

“You don’t look like it. You look like someone stabbed you and then killed your puppy,” Olivia said as she rested her hand on his chest.

Rowan took a moment.

Is this shock? Am I in shock? His eyes scanned the scenery around him. He lingered on the soldiers and mercenaries, and even his own party members. No one looked like they’d just won. They looked, well, defeated. They were all looking at him, expecting something that only Rowan could give.

I’m supposed to be a hero. Rowan thought as he took a deep breath, shot a smile to Olivia, and stepped towards the troops that had followed him into what was near guaranteed death.

“We have won.” Rowan’s voice echoed out, spreading a bit oddly because of all the water. “The demons brought an army and unleashed the wrath of nature against us, but we won.”

He saw the realization ripple through soldiers, mercenaries, and villagers. They seemed to be in shock that they were still alive. Only Marcus and Milena broke into smiles.

“Yes, we’ve defeated the demon,” Olivia said, picking up where Rowan had left off. She had the hint of a smile on her face. “And our king has finally sent reinforcements. The full might of our kingdom is now turned on this breach. Baron Sutton, my father, will soon be free to return and assist everyone so we can recover from this trial fully. There will be no more threats to fight, and no more comrades lost.”

Cheers slowly went up. Every defender tried to add their own voice to it. Hidden underneath all the suffering and exhaustion, there was a bedrock of strength. They’d been tested, pushed to the brink, but they’d survived. And Rowan was proud of each and every one of them.

“We were challenged and we have proved our mettle, but now it’s time for us to recover and sort things out after our victory,” Rowan shouted, pitching his voice a bit higher to get over the din of conversation and celebration. “I need everyone who’s still hurt to step forward.” Rowan paused, taking a deep breath. “The water’s mostly clear now, so those that are healthy will become a search party. We need to find anyone who’s underneath.”

Rowan motioned at the expanse of water and the mood sobered up right quick. Although he was loathe to cut short the celebrations, he felt even worse about leaving the corpses of people who had fought and died for the village to rot under the waves.

Under Olivia’s leadership, everyone broke up into their designated parties and the slog of working through the immediate issues before getting to rest began.

Rowan helped too. Even after being put through the wringer, Rowan found the strength to push through and contribute to the cleanup effort. He searched the water, counted and recounted the survivors, and helped with the wounded.

As he dragged his tired body back to the rest of the party, he found them already in deep conversation.

“You were chucking fire bombs and electric burst potions left and right,” Marcus said. “Your class card allows you to copy them? Why didn’t you just summon copies of healing potions?”

“What’s my class called?” Olivia grumbled, almost going into her full angry-with-arms-crossed mode.

“[Combat Alchemist], right?” Rowan offered.

“Exactly. Combat. [Combat Alchemist]. Not [Healing Alchemist]. Or [Versatile Alchemist],” Olivia said with an edge in her voice. “Now, would you say a [Combat Alchemist] could replicate the effects of healing or support potions?”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to pry!” Marcus quickly begged off, and Rowan remembered that asking questions about someone’s class could be considered rude.

“No, it’s not that.” Olivia deflated like a popped balloon. “It’s just that now the problems start for me.”

That caught Rowan’s attention. “Problems?”

“It’s…” Olivia paused.

Marcus picked up on the cue. “We won’t tell anyone. It’s not like we know enough people to gossip with. But if you want some privacy…”

While Marcus acted friendly with everyone, he and his sister typically kept a distance from just about everyone around them. It wasn’t that they were purposefully difficult. There was something there holding them back, though, and somehow Rowan and Olivia had at least broken through that a little. But trust was a two-way street and Olivia knew that as well as anyone else.

“No, it’s alright,” Olivia said. “It’s just that I’ve wanted this for so long. And now that it’s come, I’m not sure what to think. My father wasn’t super thrilled when I told him my plans for my class. He doesn’t like how I could be called on as a member of nobility.”

“Called on?” Rowan asked.

“If there’s a war, or any sort of armed conflict, nobles are expected to respond to the summons from the crown as long as they have a combat class. My family isn’t exactly in good graces at the moment, so I might be shunted off to the most dangerous areas and battlefields,” Olivia sighed.

“Isn’t that, I don’t know, kind of a moot point at this time anyway?” Rowan asked, a little amused. It wasn’t like anyone could avoid combat at a time when there was a demon invasion happening. “We all need to fight demons.”

“Maybe.” Olivia glanced at the dead monsters around them. “If I were a normal alchemist, I’d be asked to stay home and produce certain potions once the conflict with the demons really kicks off. Even as a healing focused alchemist, I’d at most get stuck in the back lines, healing and taking care of the wounded.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“Wouldn’t they want as many healers on the front lines as they can manage?” Rowan asked. His confusion seemed to confuse the rest of his party in turn.

“Rowan, healers are rare and valuable,” Milena said. “The protection of healers of any kind is prioritized beyond any other class, to the point where common healers, if they’re actually competent, get preferential treatment.”

“But, then, what happens to the front lines?” Rowan asked. If everyone was left fighting mostly without healing support, they’d run out of steam much faster. Olivia was figuratively if not literally a godsend with all she’d done with her healing and mana potions.

“They just rely on potions. Of course, some healers want to fight on the frontlines. They either have their own parties or want the faster experience gain that kind of combat provides. That’s allowed, since no one’s going to chase off a healer,” Milena supplied.

“That’s why my father wanted me to be a regular alchemist or at least a healing focused one. And why I reacted so badly. Sorry, Marcus,” Olivia apologized.

“No worries, really.” Marcus waved her off.

They fell silent again and Rowan was too busy with his thoughts to try and remedy the lack of conversation.

It wasn’t only Rowan and Kayla who had changed. Olivia might have led a peaceful life, taking her place among the nobility when her time came. Instead, Rowan had jumped into her life and she now had a different future than the one that Kayden had planned.

“Rowan?” Marcus called.

Rowan looked up. He had been shuffling forward mindlessly for the past few minutes as he thought about the changes in his life since coming to the new world. In some ways, he had become a person unrecognizable to his past self.

“Yeah,” Rowan replied and saw why Marcus had called out to him. The shield bearer had found a mercenary partially buried under two monsters. Together, the two of them pulled the man out of the water.

“Drowned, poor soul.” Marcus mumbled a prayer for the body as Rowan brought it back to the center of the battlefield. Olivia and Milena split off to help the others find the bodies and count the survivors.

Rowan refused to think in terms of numbers. He really didn’t want to, but even a cursory inspection revealed that the number of dead approached almost half of what they’d gone into battle with.

So almost everyone was carrying a body of some kind as they returned back to the village. Although they had won, the army marching back to Felton’s Mill looked more like a ragtag group of survivors than one returning to triumph.

Only, it was even worse than that.

“Look sharp,” Olivia called out. “We have a welcoming committee.”

A sizable group of villagers had ventured out from where they’d hidden. Most of them had some sort of implement that could double up as a weapon. For a few drawn-out, awkward moments, the two sides eyed each other up.

There was no forgetting the way that most of the villagers had acted, refusing to cooperate leading up to the final battle against the demon and its army. Still, Rowan hoped that they weren’t about to try and run them out of the village.

“Is this how you welcome an army who fought and bled and died for you?” Rowan asked. No one answered his question. After a few moments, Rowan tried a harder tact. “We went against an entire demon army and lived to tell the tale. Are you sure that you want to offend us? Offend me? A hero?”

At that, the villagers finally put down their weapons. No one met his eyes or tried to strike up a conversation, but they helped properly seeing to the dead or assisting the more wounded soldiers to somewhere where they could rest.

Sometimes, you need fear just as much as kindness, Rowan thought. And with that, a long forgotten chime sounded within him.

Ding!

You’ve an insight about the world.

+1 Wisdom

Perhaps because of his new wisdom, Rowan noticed the expression on Olivia’s face and almost immediately understood what was causing it. He grabbed one of the nearby villagers.

“Where’s Bron? The officer. Is he alright?” Rowan asked.

The villager squirmed under the attention but still answered. “Hero… Hero Rowan. None of the monsters tried to get past you to strike at us. He’s fine.”

“Great,” Olivia said as she took Rowan’s hand. “Now stop torturing this poor guy and let’s go find Bron.”

Rowan smiled as they ran, hand in hand, through the village. For once, it felt like something had changed for the better.

—

Rowan found Bron in the room he’d left him in.

“Finally,” Bron grumbled the second they opened the door. His eyes trailed over the two of them, searching for any sign of injury. “Can’t you let an old man know you’re fine earlier so he can properly rest?”

Olivia laughed as she plopped down on the foot of the bed a bit more forcefully than necessarily required.

“How did it go?” Bron asked. “The villagers don’t seem to know much, understandably.”

Both Olivia and Rowan went silent, unsure of what exactly to say. That they had won even though the battle had almost become a slaughter that would have ended in a bunch of newly corrupted humans running around if they hadn’t been saved?

“Well, we’re alive. The demons aren’t,” Olivia said, earning a tired chuckle from the man. “Really, you look worse than we do.”

“Next time someone needs to drink a potion that invokes phoenix fire in an attempt to make the drinker go through a doomed attempted at rebirth and completely stonewalls all attempts to heal or regenerate, I’ll let you handle it,” Bron said back. He winced a moment later, realizing the effects his words had on Olivia.

“We just finished fighting a demon army. Don’t tell me we’re going to fight each other next,” Rowan said, drawing out a truce between the two of them. Sometimes, their friendly quips went a bit too far and Olivia could definitely not take as well as she could dish. “I’m glad to see you’re doing better though, Bron.”

“No thanks to these villagers,” Bron grumbled. “What’s the damage?”

“Half of the mercenaries, most of the soldiers. We almost lost,” Olivia said as she began ticking things off her list. “But the hero, Hero Kayla, appeared at the end of the fight and ended the demon. She left in father’s direction.”

Bron nodded. “That’s good. The job of defending the invasion doesn’t just fall to House Sutton. The kingdom will likely soon send an army to bolster the ranks of the frontier.”

“An army that we will need to feed and clothe and shelter,” Olivia said bitterly.

“The price of safety,” Bron joked. “I’m glad the two of you are okay. But you’re soaked and getting my bed wet. Get some rest. I’m sure it’s been a long day.”

It had been a long day. Olivia jumped off the bed and quickly excused herself with an apology thrown in for good measure. As they walked back, Rowan could tell she was still bothered, so he slipped his hand in hers voluntarily for the very first time.

The baron’s daughter gave him a wide-eyed look. When they finally walked up to the pair of doors that led to their respective rooms and he made to disengage, she didn’t let him.

Rowan didn’t fight it when she tugged him in the direction of her room.

It was a little funny, watching her blunder around her room trying to get the fire started with only one hand. She had the logs in quickly enough and did a neat trick where her mana shifted into small sparks. But even then, it took a bit of finagling to work everything out.

“You should really put that by the door, you know. Then you could have helped me,” Olivia groused.

Rowan’s death grip on his spear was more than a little awkward, especially since he could have at least contributed a little in the fire making. As it was, both of his hands were full.

“I know,” Rowan answered but stayed in his spot, eyes trained on the fire slowly gaining in intensity.

Olivia didn’t push him. She simply stood there, in front of the hearth, watching him. After a few moments, Rowan relaxed enough that he could walk over and lean his spear against the wall. But even then, his hand was still clenched over the spear. He was afraid of the emotions churning away inside of his chest that were more than he could deal with on his own.

It was only when Olivia laid her free hand over his white-knuckled hand that Rowan unclenched and stepped back.

The rush of emotions that Keen Spear had been holding back came to the front. It was like the world’s worst cocktail of feelings. There was grief at the lives he had seen disappear, fear in what could have happened had the demon won, and anger at Kayla for just waiting while she could have stopped everything. He shut down.

Olivia guided Rowan into a sitting position by the fire, the two of them side by side as they enjoyed the first hints of warmth that seeped into them.

After what felt like hours, Rowan whispered, “Thank you.”

“You’re here for me too, you know?” Olivia said, trying to sound teasing and coming off as miserable. Seeing Bron always left her in a foul mood afterwards.

“I am. I will be.” Rowan bumped her shoulder a little, or tried to, but with how close together they were, they just listed to the side for a moment.

“So we have no secrets between us?” Olivia said. Rowan noticed that her tone was slightly different than before and glanced at her with a confused look. She returned an unimpressed look. “You knew the other hero well, didn’t you?”

Olivia didn’t really need to clarify which hero she was referring to. But Rowan stayed his execution for a moment. “Is that typically how it goes when summoning heroes? They know each other?”

“Not really. They can be just two strangers, all caught up in the summoning together. Now, stop dodging the question.”

“Yes, I knew her. Know her.” Rowan paused. “She’s a good friend. I think, it’s complicated,” he tacked on lamely, entirely unsure if that was still the case or not.

“Just a friend?” Olivia challenged, arching her brow.

“Just a friend, maybe less,” Rowan assured her. “If anything, her and Blake were a thing, for a little while at least. Or maybe they still are? I don’t know, their relationship was sort of complicated.” Rowan was rambling and Olivia let him. “It’s kind of hard to explain. Do you have casual dating in this world? Even if you don’t, think of it like a flame that flickers in and out. It never extinguishes but also never burns too bright for too long.”

When Rowan finally stopped, Olivia was there with her next question. “And you never had an unsaid love for the beautiful, otherworldly heroine?”

“No, Kayla is…” Rowan stopped, taking a moment to think again and really process what he thought about her. Even when he would have sworn up and down that she was one of his very best friends, there was really only one way to describe her. “She’s complicated.”

Olivia giggled and placed her head on his shoulder. Rowan could feel her wet hair press against his skin.

“You seem to use that word a lot when describing her,” Olivia said. “Complicated.”

“Well, it’s true, and that was before we all got pulled into this world.” Rowan was grumbling and it only made her giggle more. He liked the sound. So of course, he had to say something dumb to ruin the moment. “You know, we find ourselves here an awful lot after every fight.”

“I guess we do. Are you complaining about it?” Olivia’s voice had a hint of challenge to it and Rowan pressed his lips tightly shut before he could say even dumber and actually ruin things.

“I wouldn’t trade this for anything,” Rowan said and felt his cheeks light on fire.

“Good.” Olivia snuggled into his side more.