“Don't you think you talked too much?”
That's what was going through his mind as he listened attentively and responded to Lucie's words with a sincere smile. Of course, he couldn't say that because he wanted to develop good relations with Lucia Leafera and he didn't want to seem rude to Neko. So he continued to listen to Lucie as if he was interested.
“It's natural for someone to like me, though.”
He looked at Lucie. Although she had been shy at the beginning of the conversation, she had opened up and shed her shyness as they talked.
“Lucie is a good girl. Her sister is rich, she's beautiful, elves are far from mating, so she must be a virgin... Just like me.”
He imagined himself with Lucie. He envisioned a world in which they were married and had children in their arms.
“But it doesn't work. It's not that I didn't like the idea, maybe if I had followed a different script my feelings would have been different, but...” He fell into pessimism again. When he was around people, he would forget the negative thoughts to some extent, but tonight the thoughts came back to him. “I don't deserve this, I can't be happy. Sinners like me should not be happy. Happiness is a concept that only the good deserve.”
The only thing he had done by coming here was to separate a child from its mother. Yu Valarfin didn't deserve happiness.
“Mr. Valarfin, are you and Neko siblings?”
Lucie had been talking to herself for so long that Yu had lost touch with his surroundings and was lost in his own thoughts. Now she came back to the world with a question.
“I never said we were siblings. How did you come to that conclusion?”
As you can see, Neko had cat ears and a tail, and it was not possible for Yu's mother, father or any of his ancestors to have cat blood. Neither his ancestors nor Yu had any genetic heritage in common with Neko.
“I thought you were either real siblings or step siblings,” Lucie said.
“Maybe an older brother or father figure- AH!” He screamed, interrupted by Neko's forceful pinching of his waist.
“Y-Y-YOU! WHOSE FATHER ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO BE!” Neko's red eyes widened in anger and her cheeks flushed.
“I said that because you're a child.” Yu was trying to free himself from Neko's fingers.
“DON'T CROSS THE LINE!” Neko shouted, drawing the attention of all the people on the road.
“Okay, okay. I apologize.”
When people started to look at them, he bowed his head and apologized so as not to draw more attention to himself by arguing. His pride allowed him to do this only to Neko because she was a child.
“How did you two meet?”
Lucie's question startled both Yu and Neko.
“Sigma Tower, that's where we met.”
Even though their acquaintance predated Sigma Tower, Yu didn't want to go into details. Anyone else wouldn't have even mentioned Sigma Tower, but since Lucia knew, there was no need to hide it from her sister Lucie.
“A child shouldn’t be-” Lucie was interrupted.
“Let's not talk about unpleasant things.”
He didn't like being interrupted, but when Lucie insisted, he had to do something he didn't like. He quickly put a smile on his face to keep the atmosphere
Just thinking about Sigma Tower, let alone talking about it, depressed him. He didn't want Neko to hear any more about the place where his mother had died.
“By the way,” Lucia spoke for the first time, sensing the uneasy atmosphere. “There is a census and a registration process, all Rolderhelm citizens must have one by the beginning of the year. You said you were immigrants, if you get one now you will become a citizen here. And you will be comfortable.”
Lucia took a small, hard wooden plate out of her pocket and showed it to Yu. It had his name and personal information written on it in the letters of this world. Incidentally, Yu had learned Rolderhelm's alphabet in an hour, as he claimed. It was easy to learn because the country has a simple alphabet that reads as it is written.
“An identity card.”
On the card was Lucia's name, family name, type of magic she was predisposed to, date of birth, race, signature and an identification number.
“Yes, do you know that?” asked Lucia.
“I didn't know Rolderhelm had such a thing, but I'm close to the idea.” Like every person in the twenty-first century, Yu had an identity card issued by his country, but he could not show it to Lucia because he no longer carried it with him.
“It is said that as a result of the wars in the surrounding countries, up to a hundred thousand people have migrated to Rolderhelm. Rolderhelm has always received immigration, but this time the number is so large that it is like being invaded by an army of immigrants. These people do not know the culture and customs here. If they are tolerated, they can rise to the top of the local citizens and try to change the cultural fabric of the place. The state is working to prevent this invasion.”
“I know states that are not as hardworking as Rolderhelm...” In the First World, pointing out that immigrants were a problem would have resulted in being prosecuted by the 'Social Justice Warriors' and denounced as fascist and racist. Yu was impressed to see Lucie speaking out so bravely. “But I am one of those immigrants.”
Even though he was part of the invading army of immigrants Lucie described, he understood that measures were necessary for the peace and well-being of the local citizens.
Even Yu, when he learned a few things about the Second World, was thankful that he had come to Rolderhelm and not to another country.
Rolderhelm's standard of living was very high compared to other countries and there were ages between them. Considering the medieval life in the neighboring countries, it was inevitable that Rolderhelm would attract people's attention and capture their imagination.
Yu could not compare Rolderhelm to any country that existed before the twentieth century. Rolderhelm was a principality and far ahead of other countries in the area of law. It was a country with a strong legal system, which attracted investors.
When a foreigner invested in Rolderhelm, he knew his money would be safe. Rolderhelm investors also felt safe investing in other countries.
If a foreign country coveted the capital of a Rolderhelmian investor, the Rolderhelmian investor knew that the Princess of Rolderhelm would take action to defend the rights of investor with her navy.
“First of all, an ID card system has been introduced to identify who is currently in Rolderhelm and to count the population. After the beginning of the year, those who do not have this card will not be able to live in the country easily. There are regulations for traders, tourists and adventurers, but uncontrolled immigration will be prevented.” Lucia was talking as she took the ID card from Yu. “As I said, we got it a few days ago, you have time until New Year's, but I think it's better to get it now, if you leave it to the last days you might get crowded. It doesn't take long anyway.”
Yu, who doesn't like to disrupt things, nodded his head in agreement.
“Where should we take it off?”
“You can be get at the municipality. It's open all day long, you can go anytime you want.” Lucie answered Yu's question.
“Also a family name, a surname, is mandatory. You need to think of something for Neko,” Lucia said with a smile. Her green eyes sparkled.
Yu didn't need to think for a second, the name was clear in his mind.
“Valarfin it is then, original and cool. Don't you think?”
“No.” And Neko refused without a second thought.
“Why do I keep getting rejected so cruelly?” He picked up his pace and faced Neko. “Do you have a name in mind?”
Neko gritted her teeth, unable to answer because she had no idea.
“If Rolderhelm has something like child support, we can register ourselves as father and daughter and get money out of thin air. That's something to find out.”
It went without saying that Neko would insist, but Yu hoped she would understand when it came to money.
“Children are hard to deal with,” Yu said.
They arrived at the city center as Yu's efforts to name Neko after himself were rebuffed. When they arrived at the city center, they were greeted by the royal palace.
The top of the palace, surrounded by white walls, was blue. The tops of the towers were also painted blue, and this blue color came from the blue of the Rolderhelm flag.
The historical palaces Yu knew were dark, damp and uncomfortable places to live in, but from the outside, the palace in front of him looked like coming from fairy tale.
“When you have a lot of money, you can build places like this.” Yu took a good look at the royal palace, imagining he was living in it.
“Compared to the palaces of Aram and Elhaven, Rolderhelm's looks like a slum.” Lucie approached Yu.
“When you have a long life, you have time to see the world.”
Yu looked at Lucie with a sigh. Lucie's eyes lit up with joy when she saw Yu looking at her and she smiled.
As Lucia's sister, Lucie had to be over a hundred years old. One hundred was an age Yu could only dream of reaching, and even if he did, he would not have the strength to do anything.
“Contrary to the stories in all those fantasy novels, the union of a human and an elf is unhealthy. I, whose life expectancy is seventy years, cannot be with an elf who will live for hundreds of years. Anyway, when I become an old man and ugly, her love will fade; and if it doesn't fade, the elf will have to face the death of his beloved. The gods of this world did not create elves and men to be lovers.”
“What's with the sad expression?” Lucia took Yu's arm and dragged him and Neko, who was holding on to him, towards the carnival grounds. “You're in a place where you should be happy.”
Colorful lanterns illuminated the paths where the colorful tents were located, and the entertainers invited everyone who passed by to their tents.
Vendors trying to sell souvenirs at stands and on drapes spread on the ground, in some places taking up the entire road. The magicians, who were by far better than Yu, were shooting fireworks out of their hats.
“I can't even go near them.” His little tricks with playing cards would not have attracted the attention of these magicians.
But in music he thought he could shine among his potential competitors. All the songs he listened to were in the same style, and all were far from modern. He could become famous and rich by plagiarizing songs from the twentieth and twenty-first century.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
While Lucia was looking at the merchandise in a booth, Yu was watching his surroundings. When he saw people walking alone in the carnival grounds, he couldn't suppress the urge to pity them.
“At least I'm not alone anymore.”
When he was in his own world and people gathered around him, he preferred to be alone, he confronted all the negative thoughts that harmed him and lost.
But one thing he soon learned here was that when someone was with him, he did not fall prey to negative thoughts. When he was alone, he would scream out his self-hatred, but when he was with someone else, he became the Yu Valarfin he had idealized in his head.
He was not the real person he was, but he wanted people to see him not as he really was, but as he idealized himself, and this created two different Yu Valarfin.
Even though he knew he would blame himself for this when he lay his head on his pillow at night and was alone with his thoughts, he was still glad that he was not the only one. Neko had realized this.
“What's in this tent?” Lucie grabbed Yu by the arm and pulled him into a tent. When Neko let Yu go, Yu grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her after him.
“For all my opinions about her, it feels good to get attention.”
In the center of the tent they entered, a woman dressed entirely in blue danced in the air, holding on with one hand to a long stick she had stuck into the ground. She twirled, somersaulted and formed crystal flowers in her hands, which she threw at the audience. The crystals scattered in the air without falling to the ground, creating a magical ambiance.
“There must be a rope or something,” Neko grumbled.
“There's always a trick in these shows, you should enjoy the show instead of looking for the trick.”
Having been involved in magic himself for some time, he knew how frustrating it could be for the audience to try to figure out the trick.
“Not only that, now they'll charge us for coming here, for fuck's sake. I hope Lucie will pay, her sister has so much property.”
It was not as he had hoped, Lucie took Yu's arm and waited while the tent owner collected the money from the audience into a hat. When the hat stopped in front of Yu, he had to put his hand in his pocket.
“If we say one gold is two hundred dollars, if we say fifty silver is one gold, one silver is four dollars. Now let's not look like a miser to the woman... Damn my head that came in here...” At first, he put down the copper he had picked up, handed over a silver coin and decided not to enter the tents again.
“Stingy bastard.” Neko also noticed that Yu gave the money reluctantly.
“How much more do you want me to give? Besides, I have a child to take care of.”
“I wonder who was looking at who? If it wasn't for me, you would have died in the middle of the street because of the Blessings.”
“Don't say such things everywhere, idiot.” He was offended by the mention of the word Blessings. He put his hand to Neko's ear to punish her with a slight tug. “Or...”
Instead of pulling Neko's ear, he put his hand on her head and decided to be a good parent instead of punishing her.
“I thought of it,” Neko said as she pushed Yu's hand away.
“What did you think?” Lucia said in a friendly voice.
Lucia's conversation with Neko made Yu uneasy. What would Yu do if Lucia tried to steal Neko, a sword fairy? He didn't want to lose her, even though they hadn't gotten to know each other well enough yet. Not because he needed healing magic, but because he was afraid of being alone.
“Let's be adventurers.”
Yu rejected Neko immediately.
“We can't, it's too dangerous.”
“I can decide too. You say you need money, but you don't seem to have any, you haven't even looked at our real business. We'll be adventurers and earn money, then revenge-”
“Neko, we can't talk about these things everywhere.” He didn't let Neko get into the revenge thing. He never thought they were going to take revenge anyway. He thought their only goal was to turn back time.
Neko realized that she shouldn't talk about revenge in front of Lucia and Lucie, but she still stood her ground. “Unlike you, I am strong enough to fight and do difficult tasks, stupid human.”
“But what if you fail and one or two of us die? Who will save her then?”
Without Neko, Yu would have fell in the middle of the street, both from his own illness and the Blessings he received.
Neko, although strong, was still a child and did not yet have the wisdom, experience and maturity to achieve what she wanted to achieve. Even though he was in a different world, people were still people, and they could deceive Neko for their own benefit.
Neither could be separated from the other, otherwise both would meet a bad end.
“What kind of a joke is it that the world can make two strangers suddenly need each other?”
“Coward.” Neko clenched her fist, she couldn't take the rejection either.
Yu didn't answer her, but Lucia entered the argument that was about to end.
“Adventuring is a dangerous business, even for strong men. I don't know what you want to do, but I am sure Mr. Valarfin is trying to do what is best for you. Try to give him a little more time, if things don't go well you can be an adventurer, there are easy missions.”
“We'll do that,” Yu said. He thought he was going to drop the subject for good, but Lucia had given Neko the chance to reopen the subject of adventuring in the future.
They had only gone a few steps after the adventurous discussion had ended when Lucie grabbed her sister's shoulder and pointed to someone running ahead.
“Sister, isn't that he?” She tried and failed to remember the name of the man running towards them.
Before Lucie could remember his name, he came up to them and spoke without pausing for breath.
“The adventurers started a fight.”
***
Half an hour after Lucia ran to the adventurers' guild holding her skirts, Neko got bored and they left the carnival. Even as they were leaving, people were pouring into the carnival.
“Lucia is their mother? A few people got into a fight and they ran to her. Don't they have security guards in the guild?”
“Since she owns the guild, it is her duty to protect her place. We don't want the building to be damaged,” Lucie said.
The adventurers Yu had imagined were people with incredible sword and magic power, so damage to the building might have been inevitable. Now it made sense for Lucia to rush to the guild.
“Anyway, it's none of my business. I'm happy to leave that money trap place.”
At the carnival, Lucie had dragged him somewhere again, and because he didn't want to look like a miser, he had taken out silver from his pocket again.
“This is our house.” Lucie stopped in front of a three-story house with a garden. Behind a tall fence was a green garden and an ornamental pool.
“It's a nice house.”
Yu was jealous that Lucia could afford to live in such a house.
“Thank you.”
Yu waited, expecting her to enter her house, but when Lucie waited instead, there was an awkward silence.
“Tonight was beautiful,” Lucie said. She was holding one arm and looking at the floor.
“Yes, thank you for inviting us.” Yu realized that Lucie would continue to stand here if he did nothing, so he spoke again as soon as he finished his sentence. “Then we should go now, good evening.”
“Good evening.”
When Lucie entered her house, Yu and Neko walked back to the inn where they were alone.
“You were so happy tonight.” Neko stopped holding Yu. “Do you love that low life form?”
“No.” Yu didn't love her, even though he thought she was beautiful. “But I felt better when someone talked to me. Maybe you'll feel better if you talk to me too.”
Neko remained silent. Yu didn't like having the last word, he felt he was talking to himself."
“I apologize for calling you stupid.” He regretted insulting her, even though she always called him that. Neko didn't speak again. “Actually, the devil says walk to Lucie. They are already rich, solve the money problem once and for all - why did you hit me?”
Neko slapped Yu's thigh hard. Even Yu couldn't hit as hard as she did, he rubbed his burning thigh.
“Why not be adventurers? We can't achieve anything without taking risks.”
“Is that why you hit me?”
Neko wouldn't tell Yu why she hit him. It was frustrating that she was always silent and only talked about what she wanted, but Yu was patient.
“If I were strong I would consider joining the adventurer's guild, but I'm not, I could die, and if I die you'll be on your own.”
“I am strong,” said Neko. “I can tear people apart with my magic.”
“Was it you who defeated that four-armed monster?” Yu's impression was that the monster had forced Rie's hand. “If you're as strong as you say, why didn't you stop it right away?”
“He was an exception, a special monster sent to kill us!”
“It's still an example that there are limits to your power. It is indeed difficult to achieve something without taking risks, but we have to plan the risks we take wisely.” Before taking a risk, they had to calculate what could be lost as well as what could be gained. “If you go, I can't do anything, it's not easy to accept, but I need a little child.”
Neko continued to listen to Yu without speaking. Yu was relieved that Neko's silence this time at least had a good reason.
“But you have to accept that your loss would be as difficult for me as my loss would be for you. I don't think there are many people you can tell your story to, many people you can ask for help. In short, like crocodiles and the birds that eat the scraps from their teeth, we need each other and we should think twice before we get into situations that could endanger one or both of us.” Yu looked at Neko, hoping she would understand.
Neko opened her mouth to speak a couple of times at first, but then she stopped talking and closed it again. After walking for a while, she stepped forward and blocked Yu's path.
“You're the bird that eats the leftovers, then.”
Yu laughed. “Is that the only point you're interested in what I said?”
“No.” Neko was serious. “You're going to bring back my mother, who's gone because of you, and while you're doing that, I'm going to heal you. Can your little brain understand that?”
“My highly developed, perfect brain can understand that.” Although Neko's face was anything but serious, Yu continued to smile slightly.
“HELP! HELP!”
Their conversation was interrupted by a black woman who appeared out of nowhere. Neko sensed the woman coming up behind her and ran away, but Yu could not. The woman slammed into Yu, knocking him to the ground, and continued running without looking back.
“What the fuck are you doing?” The first thing he did as he looked after her was to check his money pouch. “Good, she didn't steal anything.”
“Maybe she needed help, the first thing you think is...” The white cat ears on the top of Neko's head flickered. She took a few steps forward and came to a position where she could see the street between the two buildings.
When Yu followed Neko, they saw the same thing: two burly men holding a thin man by the collar against a wall.
“We are not heroes, let's go.”
“My mother would have intervened.”
“I don't remember giving birth to you, and since I'm not your mother, I don't need to intervene.”
“You're just a coward!” While Neko and Yu were arguing, two people who had not noticed them were beating the man against the wall.
“If I don't want to be stabbed in the middle of the night by dangerous men in the alley, why does that make me a coward? I'm just doing what any normal person would do, I'm keeping quiet. And you, who used to look down on people, what has changed that you want to save someone now?”
“Because that's what my mother used to do.”
“You are not your mother, stop talking nonsense, let's get out of here. And maybe the person they beat up is actually a bad person, maybe they beat him up because he wanted to hurt the woman who just hit us, how do you know? The best thing is to ignore it and leave.”
“I'll find out after I ask him.”
“He's not going to admit he's guilty!”
Without another word, Neko rushed forward and entered the head of the alley. Unable to keep up with her, Yu stayed behind and ran after her into the street.
“Who the fuck are you?” said one of the punks who noticed Neko and pointed his finger forward.
Yu appeared behind Neko, grabbed her by the shoulders and tried to pull her back and out of the alley.
“Don't be stupid, let us go.”
“Let this nigger go.” Neko ignored Yu's warning.
“I said don’t be a stupid! What part don't you understand?!” He yelled. “We apologize, we're leaving now.”
Yu tried to drag Neko away before the punks could mess with them, but Neko easily shook Yu off and threw a wind spell she had created at the punk who was talking to her. The wind, like a fist, hit the punk and sent him flying all the way to the building at the end of the street.
As the man who ate the wind spell fell after hitting the wall of the building, his friend could do nothing but watch in amazement. He realized that there was nothing he could do when the other person was a wizard. Before Neko could cast another spell, he ran away, leaving his friend behind.
“I didn't expect it to be so easy, but I hope you didn't get us mixed up with dangerous people.” Yu felt his chest tighten with fear as Neko challenged the thugs.
“Thank you,” said the black man Neko saved.
“No need to thank me, just give me five silvers or something and everyone can go home.”
Yu was going to try to make up for the silver he had lost at the carnival, but Neko stopped him with another tap on the thigh.
“I don't have much money with me, but I can invite you to dinner at my house if you like.”
“Yes.” Neko accepted the offer.
***
“Let me introduce myself again. My name is Marino Swann, thank you for saving me,” said the man Neko had saved from punks.
They had gone to Marino's house after their report to the city guards that Marino's wife Rashel had brought. By the way, Marino's wife was the woman who ran into Yu and kept running without looking back. When she met Yu again, she apologized after apologizing.
It was small compared to the other houses in the neighborhood, but not modest. This was a mansion in the wealthy area from west of the city. From the house he lived in, it was easy to see that Marino had above-average wealth.
Marino had two little daughters, Odette and Charlotte. He was married, had children and a good job. Yu wondered how he could get himself into trouble when he had such a good life.
“Who were those men?” Yu asked the question he wanted to know the answer to. He wished he hadn't accidentally gotten involved with some very dangerous people.
“My creditors.” Marino answered, albeit reluctantly, having been rescued by Yu and Neko.
“I don't think any bank would beat a man in the street, did you borrow money from loan sharks?”
“When the bank stopped lending, I had to borrow money from a loan shark, and when I couldn't pay, it happened as you can see.”
Yu was a person who did not like borrowing money or being in debt. He always wondered why other people used credit cards, went into debt and bought expensive things even though they couldn't afford them.
“What is the story of these debts?” Since he had nothing else to talk about with Marino, he was going to make him tell his story so as not to fill the room with silence.
As Marino told his story of war, misfortune, crisis, rivalry and conspiracy, a plan was taking shape in Yu's head, full of letters, bets and gold.
He hadn't actually designed the plan from scratch, it was just a story he had heard in the First World, but he knew it worked. So it could work here too.
“Mr. Swann.” After Marino finished his story, Yu addressed him formally. “Where is your company?”
“Located in the Guild Quarter, Swann Postal Service.”
“Can we make an appointment for tomorrow, just after sunset? I want to make you a business proposal.”
“We usually close before sunset.”
“But we can't come then because we sleep during the day. You're welcome.” Yu and Neko still hadn't settled down to sleep.
Marino, feeling indebted to Neko for saving him and therefore unable to break Yu, gave him the date he wanted.