“Hey, isn’t that a refrigerator?”
I asked a question to everyone while pointing at the refrigerator. I wanted to ask Skyla since she lives here but in the end I asked everyone for their confirmation.
Everyone look at what I am pointing and everyone is surprise by it except Skyla.
“Yes it is. Dad invented it.”
Skyla answer my question and Gino’s eyes sparkles.
“Since there is a refrigerator here it means that there is an outlet somewhere.”
Gino said while smiling. I smile too since when there is an outlet then it means there is electricity here which will enable the charging of Gino’s laptop which means we can watch movies, listen to songs and play games but Skyla pour cold water to our excitement.
“I don’t know what outlet is but that refrigerator is a magic tool. It uses ice stone as the mana source that lowers the temperature inside. It’s convenient on preserving foods and for making cold drinks.”
Hearing those, I feel down since the entertainment I am looking forward will not happen but Gino is still smiling. I don’t know why but I feel that he’s going to do something crazy.
“Hey Skyla. You said that your father made this right?” (Gino)
“Yes. He made it.” (Skyla)
Hearing Skyla’s reply, his smile become wider and starts to pat his bag or more precisely, his patting his laptop. I don’t know what will he do but I hope that he won’t break his soul(laptop) in the process.
Leaving Gino aside, Mom—err Mara finished preparing the snacks and served it to us. The snacks are simple sandwiches and orange juice. I am not fond of sweet things but having a cold drink is good. Gino eat the sandwiches slowly which is rare for him. Whenever we eat, he’s the first one to finish since he gobbles it up as if there’s no tomorrow but right now, he’s slowly eating it. His eyes wonder all over the room but it always stops at someone and that someone is Jeziel. Jeziel’s eating her sandwiches with small bite and the same goes for Kaezar but Skyla takes big bites as she holds sandwiches on both hands. As for me, I eat slowly. It would be rude to the cook when you just thoughtlessly eat it without properly tasting it.
“It’s delicious.”
I praise Mo—Mara and it is not a lip service. It really is delicious. The bread are soft not the typical hard ones and it’s fluffy. The filling is just mayonnaise with tidbits of meat and cabbage.
“Ufufufu… You really are his son. The way you eat are the same.”
Mo—Mara said while giggling. She’s covering her mouth with her.
Do I really look like my father? I don’t know since the last time I meet him (in Earth) is when I am 3 years old and no matter how much I think of it, my memory is about him is so little. Scratching the back of my head, I replied.
“I-is that so?”
“The way you scratch the back of your head when you’re embarrassed is also the same with him.” (Mara)
I never knew it. There are too many things that I don’t know about my father. The snack time peacefully past by as Mo—Mara says that my gestures are the same with my father.
After eating snacks, the other member of the family got home. All of them look tired. Dad sits down on the chair facing Gino. Gino and I stand up letting grandpa and Lily sit. Granpa sits at Gino’s former chair, the one who’s facing dad, while Lily sits to where I was before. Mara served another set of sandwiches with fruit juice. Dad, grandpa and Lily took one sandwich each while Mara pours them the fruit juice.
“Ahh.. I’m beat!” (Dad)
“It really is tiring… I run from Pinar to here then ride salamander’s back going back to Pinar, fighting orcs and riding again going back here and lastly, giving report to the Knight’s Garrison… Ah… I am really tired!” (Grandpa)
“I don’t care if its tiring or not as long as the cute Skyla is okay then it’s worth it!” (Lily)
Grandpa and Dad said their complains while Lily hugs Skyla while rubbing her(Lily) cheeks to her(Skyla) cheeks. Skyla is troubled on how she should take care of her big sister while the other girls look at them with a smile.
I don’t know what to say or feel when I learn my half-sister is a siscon but I agree at what she said about Skyla. Skyla is cute and when she grow up, she will surely break too many hearts.
I smile wryly as I think about Skyla’s future. Seeing me smiling, dad coughed and said.
“Say Jasper… Is your mom… okay?”
That question caught me off guard. I never thought that Dad will worry about mom after he made a family here. But seeing Mom—err Mara, his wife here, he might really love mom from the bottom of his heart. He married someone who resembles mom a lot.
I smile and said that mom’s okay. After that, dad asked more questions about mom and his friends and I gladly answer them all. I take a peek at Mara who’s sitting in front of me but she’s smiling while drinking juice. I thought that she will get jealous since her husband was asking about his ex-wife but seeing her smile means that she know and understand it. Dad is a transported person while Mara is an original resident of this world. There’s a possibility that Dad can go back to his original world, a possibility that Dad have a lover waiting for him to return, a possibility that Dad have a family back there but… Despite all that… She married Dad and created something that he can call home here. She really loves my dad from the bottom of her heart. She accepted all the disadvantage of loving someone who’s not from her world.
Smile appeared on my face unconsciously as I continue to look at Mara. Dad, who noticed the smile, look at the direction I am looking. He learns that I am looking at his wife smiling. But instead of getting jealous about it, he also smiled and said…
“She’s like your mom right? Not only on the outside, even in the inside.”
I nod at what he said. She really looks like mom. I don’t know if I will be glad because I knew that dad loves mom this much or should I pity Mara since she became a replacement of mom.
I shake my head to erase that thought. I don’t have the rights to blame dad about what he did since I almost did the same with Kaezar.
“Ah right! Sir Percival! Would you please kindly teach me how you made that refrigerator?”
Gino ask Dad to teach him about the refrigerator. Maybe he’s planning on using what he learns to create a battery or charger for his laptop. Hearing Gino’s request, Dad didn’t know what to say at first but he scratches the back of his head while he agreed to teach Gino.
They left the living room and walk towards the basement. At first I don’t know where they are going so I asked Mara and she said they have a basement and it is typically used as a workshop. Mara tidy up the dishes while Skyla and Lily help her. Kaezar and Jeziel was guided by Grandpa to their rooms since they look tired. As for me, I want to familiarize myself with the capital so I decided to go out. I followed the big roads where carriage typical thread on. With this, I don’t think I’ll get lost.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
After walking for a while, I am back at the front of the Magician’s guild and saw the neon lights again. Yup, no matter what I can only see it as a bar.
Besides it, the adventurer’s guild is busier compared to the one back at Pinar. This should be obvious since the population here is bigger than Pinar and the royal capital also has a bigger market than Pinar.
I walk past both building and walk towards the plaza where there are too many idiot couples walking around flirting with each other. Just to be clear okay? I don’t have anything against couples but they must be considerate to others. PDA are fine but don’t take it to the extreme where all the single people in the world will get jealous. I just walk around aimlessly at the plaza browsing some items that are being sold. There are also some people who are selling flowers there. Well, since this plaza became the den of idiot couple. I will be surprised if there is no one who’s capitalizing on this. There are also some that operates a food stall selling unknown (at least for me) meat. Besides meat, they also sell grilled frog leg, fried larva and other exotic foods.
- - -
The almighty third person P.O.V
While Jasper is browsing different goods at the store, there is someone watching her curiously from above. It is woman who looks at her mid-20s with blond hair and crimson red eyes. She’s watching Jasper ever since she saw her in front of Magician’s Guild. At first, she’s watching Marc and Rhea and when they decided to went inside the Magician’s Guild, the woman waited at them at the entrance and there she saw Jasper.
The woman crosses her hands in front of her causing her huge breast making it look bigger.
‘I might be wrong but… His aura and face is the same with Ayskrimm-sama’
The woman said to herself as he watches every move that Jasper made. On the side of her view, she catches a glimpse of Marc and Rhea talking to a girl who sells flowers. The girl mistook the two as a couple which draw a small smile at woman’s face.
‘She inherited her ancestor’s preference for boys.’
The girl muttered and she noticed that a magician who looks like a girl but he’s definitely a guy, walking towards a store that deals with staves and wands.
‘That guy too. His aura and face is the same with Prinny-sama’
Another guy has been added on her watch list. The girl knew that they are different person than the one she knows since it has been a millennium.
The girl went out of the royal capital by jumping over the wall. The wall isn’t low and it’s definitely not a height where a normal human can jump. It stood proudly with the height of 10 meters and 5 meters wide. Its purpose is to defend the royal capital against monsters and invaders but for her, it’s like a 3 feet tall fence. As the girl flew through the skies, her fox tails and ears came out. She has 9 tails which serve as a mark of her strength. Fox people are believed as extinct of the people in this world but there are some who secretly live among the humans. They live secretly not because the beastkin and humans doesn’t go well but the fox people were hunted down by both humans and beastkin since they are afraid of their powers. The beastkin claims that someone from the fox people killed their king so they are hunting them all while the humans hunt them since they said that fox people eats people. Both are just lies since the beastkin king was assassinated by his own son while the humans only heard it as rumors which the beastkin spreads.
She’s uses her magic to transform as a normal fox and thread the forest as if it was her garden. Even though she looks like a normal fox, her speed was so fast that it leaves shockwave. Finally she reaches the Fire God’s Mountain where she resides alone. In this mountain, there were no monsters since she hunted all of them. The humans thought that it was a work of God so they build a shrine there and named it as the Fire God’s mountain.
The Fire God’s mountain is located at the north-west of Wingstone City where Rhea’s family govern. She went inside a cave at the top of the mountain and what await here inside isn’t the stalagmite and stalactites you will usually saw inside a cave but a room made of marbles. They are framed pictures hanging on its wall. The pictures were taken back 1000 years ago but it still colorful which would be mistaken as something that was printed just a while ago. This picture is made of now considered as ancient magic [photograph] which are invented by Juan and Prinny, her past master’s companions. Back then, there’s no discrimination about fox people and everyone accepted them but time changes and it’s not like this.
She stared at a particular picture where her master, Ayskrimm, was smiling broadly with his friends. The said friends are Juan, the vassal of shield, Bebz, the vassal of dagger, Prinny, the vassal of magic, Rhea, the founder of Wingstone City, Felina, the founder of magician’s guild, and lastly her.
At the picture, she only has 8 tails and she looks like on her early-20s. Her breast isn’t as big as of now but it’s definitely isn’t small. Compared to the woman who’s in their early-20s, hers are bigger than the average.
At the bottom part of the pictures, there are texts written on there. The first one was Aykrimm with a signature atop of it, next is Juan, Bebz, Prinny, Rhea, Felina, and lastly her name, Rena, a companion of hero of the past Ayskrimm.
- - -
Jasper’s P.O.V
I walked out of the shop and decided to go back. When I am browsing the goods at the shop, I overheard a conversation about the promotion exam and suddenly, I remembered that I and Gino are eligible to take it. If I remember it correctly, we would take 5 tests and passed 3 of them. It really feels like L*L. I expect it to be hard since there are too many old bronze adventurers. I wonder if we can pass it.
I am walking near the fountain that is surrounded by idiot couples when I notice something that doesn’t exist in this world. And that is, plastic. A man wearing glasses with plastic frame is linking his arms? Or should I say that his arms got locked by a girl wearing a robe. The girl isn’t that high, maybe 4’11” – 5’2”. Her hair is color pink which I only see at animes while the man looks like 5’4” and wearing leather armor. His hair is black the same with me. Two daggers can be seen sheathed and dangling on his waist but what catches my attention is the frame of his glasses. I know I am repeating myself here but it was made of plastic.
I stretched out my hands and pull the man’s shoulder. The man faced me with an annoyed expression and it suddenly changed into surprised. The man in front of me has brown eyes. His hair cut is neat something that you will see as the elementary student’s hair. If I were rate his face, out of 5 stars I will give 3. Not good but then again not bad.
“JASPER!!”
The guy suddenly shouts and hugs me. The girl, who’s locking his arms with her, looks dumbfounded by his sudden action. Even I probably have the same expression.
The guy who suddenly hugs me is someone I know pretty well. He is my friend namely Marc Hernandez. The girl, the one who locks her arms with Marc, looks familiar but I don’t know where I saw her. Maybe she’s someone from our university but I don’t know.
“Jasper! Jasper! Jasper!”
Marc rubs his head on my chest while saying my name over and over again…
Isn’t this supposed to be done by a girl who loves her boyfriend too much?
I hold back my complain and let him do whatever he wants.
The girl looks at me and Marc alternately and on her eyes, you can see that tears are accumulating. She take a deep breath and asked with a shaky voice.
“M-marc… W-who’s that?”
The girl said while pointing her trembling fingers towards me. Marc looks at her and grins.
“He’s Jasper Perez! The love of my life!”
I got surprised by what he said while the girl’s tear started to fall down. I merciless smacked his head.
“DON’T DECLARE SOMETHING LIKE THAT EVEN IF IT IS INTENDED TO BE A JOKE!! YOU’RE MAKING ME LOOK LIKE A GAY!!”
Honestly, blurting something like this out of nowhere is really Marc’s trademark.
As I smacked his head, he let go of me and holds his head and crouch down. He looks straight to my eyes from below and said something outrageous again.
“It’s my declaration of love and yet you treat it as a joke! What kind of boyfriend are you! Didn’t we have too much fun back then! You even treated my roughly on bed!”
Hearing those lies, the girl lost the strength of her legs and falls down on the ground. Her tears that slowly falling down before start to fall down faster. Ah!! She’s crying! She’s crying yet not a single sound could be heard from her. Seeing him not learning his lesson and also making a girl cry, vein started popping on my head and I smiled. I smiled as I slowly, SLOWLY, draw my sword from its scabbard.
“Any last words?”
I said with a cold tone and look at him as if I am looking at a trash.
“I-I’m joking?”
Marc stuttered and sweats can be seen on his forehead. Of course I will not take his life but I think I should carve something on his body. I don’t know what will I carve though.
As I am looking at Marc, I heard some muttering behind him.
“Marc isn’t gay… Marc isn’t gay…. He likes girls… He likes girls… He loves boobs and XXX… Of course since he’s not a gay…”
I slowly look at the girl behind him. She’s still sitting and tears continue to fall down from her eyes but there’s no warmth or light that can be seen on it (her eyes). Very slowly, her hand looks up and her lightless eyes look directly to mine. I feel every single hair on my body started to stand up.
“Marc is mine and mine alone! Marc is mine and mine alone! Marc is mine and mine alone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone! MarcIsMineAndMineAlone!”
She slowly stands up every time she said those words and when she stands up her words become faster and faster. She grabbed something on her back and said…
“Anyone who interferes with my love should…”
She slowly draws a knife that is well hidden inside her robe. Raised it on the level of her eyes and said…
“DIE!!”
She charges at me with a speed that you don’t expect to see from a magician! She’s even faster than Lupos! I hurriedly block the knife aiming to my throat using my sword but she forced my hand to get back up in the air! I don’t know what to say! Am I that weak!? Magician’s strength is almost none existent but she managed to overpower me! Am I really that weak!?
While my hand that is holding the sword is in the air, she quickly stabbed her knife towards my throat.
Shit! Am I going to die on the hands of a magician in a close quarter combat!?
As those thoughts run towards my mind, I heard metal crashing at each other. I see Marc deflecting the knife using his dagger and quickly hold the hand of the girl that’s holding the knife sealing its movement. Then he proceeds to take something from his pocket and shove it to the girl’s mouth. After a few seconds, the girl lost consciousness and fall down to Marc’s arms.
Marc slowly lie the girl down on the road and looks at me with an apologetic face.
“Well, Jasper you see… I didn’t expect her to be like this… I am sorry…”
I just nodded at what he said. The thing that happened right now feels like a dream or rather a nightmare. Is this how someone feels when they are facing an insane killer? Is this how the anime characters feels when they saw a yandere holding a knife? It feels like my soul was going to leave my body any moment back then and no matter how hard I tried to move, I can’t. It feels like there’s too many arms holding down my body.
As the tension left my body, so do my strength. I fall down to the ground but someone catches me from behind. I look at my back and see a man that looks like a girl. He’s wearing a robe and he is smiling on me. Tears started to gather on my eyes as I saw the man. The man who’s not as weird as Gino and Marc. The man who’s actually close to being normal than Gino and Marc.
The man named Iggy Bautista.