At night my training with Dixy continues as always. While I have been training magic with Dixy, I seem to have been able to weave the highest level hardening spell. It is insane. I literally could not hurt myself when I tried.

The magic consumption isn’t even that bad, compared to my overcharged bestowal. If I only use the harden spell, I basically have a whole hour of invulnerability, well, at least to attacks at the level of my own. I feel a tinge of regret towards the past. If I was this strong back then, how much suffering could I have avoided for myself and others? I shake the thoughts out of my head. I can’t turn back time… Unless…

I flip through the magic book, checking all the chapter names. There are a bunch of interesting ones, including “Levitation and Flight”, “Conversion”, “Movement” and a bunch of one’s that seem to include more sophisticated forms of spells I already know. Eventually, I think I find it at the very back, but I am quickly disappointed.

“Time” The chapter read. I skimmed through each function. There was magic for locally slowing down or speeding up time, skipping ahead in time and even seeing into the past. The very last spell was described as time stop, but the pattern to make it is ludicrously long. Several pages filled with nothing but a continuation of a single pattern. I don’t think I will ever learn that.

I feel a bit depressed. For a moment there, I held the belief there was a magic that could allow me to travel back in time, but it appears that such a function doesn’t exist. I sight audibly.

“What’s the matter?” Dixy asks. I am a bit surprised since she rarely starts the topic.

“Nothing, just… Wishing I could change the past.” Dixy stays quiet for a while.

“If you did change the past, wouldn’t it be easy for me not to exist? For our travels together to not have occurred?” She sounds like she is on the brink of crying. “Do I really mean that little to you?”

I am being guilt-tripped by a book. I feel horrible for not considering altering the fates of the ones in present. How many people wouldn’t even have been born?

“Don’t worry Dixy, I just didn’t think about it. I would never do that to you.” I assure the book.

Slowly, Patir’s recruitment plan came into fruition. First, 2 weeks after first announced, the brewer was hired. I have a sneaky suspicion Patir irrationally valued a brewer over the rest, I mean… He made it one of the essentials, but now we have one and the men rejoiced. It seems it will take some time before we get to taste his brews, as he has to investigate the dungeon for potential candidates to make drink out of. He does so with my escort, of course.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Around six weeks later, coinciding with the first successful alcoholic drinks from the local dungeon, two brothers were recruited, one very young, the other with a family. They did not call themselves blacksmiths or carpenter, but they apparently specialized in working with wood and metal, and people slowly came to enjoy the benefits of more varied tools, doors etc. The only issue was the import of metal, which was quite expensive and slowed down the influx of other luxuries like spices.

And then, the troublesome one came. Prior to this, everyone had quickly come to accept Kassa, when they came to understand my might and our relation, and while their special positions gave them a higher status than average in the village, they were quite content being beneath Patir and I in status. But a full two months after the practical brothers arrived, the priest came. A short man, probably in his fifties, sporting a greying beard and head of hair, dressed all in white stepped down from the trade cart that had sold off our goods in the city.

I greeted him in a friendly manner and he was much amicable in return, but upon discovering Kassa, he was furious.

“A subhuman living among humans is an affront to God!” He said. “God loves only the humans, we have inherited this world from the rest of the failed species!” He preached.

I got angry. I marched right up to him and lifted him off the ground by grabbing his robe with one arm. He screamed.

“That girl is under my protection” I explained. “Any qualm with her is a qualm with me! Are you ready to pick that fight?”

He looked incredibly scared and quickly shook his head. I thought it was a matter dealt with.

Our finances were now relatively stable, with about as much coming in as we spent. The import of metal and spices and upkeep of those who didn’t hunt relatively balanced out the income from our hunting. I wanted to increase our hunting, back to every day, but Patir advised against it. It would be hard to go back, once they’re used to this easy-going lifestyle, he explained. It will only cause resentment, he said.

And so, years went by without much changing. Kassa got into trouble and I punished her with Dixy to the point where she could read. I learned magic with Dixy, struggling with the relatively harder levitation and flight spells I started on. People often got drunk and filled their belly with meat, many growing increasingly fat. The houses slowly but surely were upgraded time and time again by the industrious brothers. I also found time to just relax, mostly with Patir who I gradually come to think of as a good friend of mine.

By far the most troubling change was the growth of Yasia. Her father never let up on the aggressive attitude, but I was already used to it. But her changes, both physical and mental, were harder to ignore. Her body grew the way the bodies of teenagers does, slowly gaining sex appeal, and her attitude slowly became more forward. She did things like plopping her head down into my lap after a meal, started giving massages, hugging me when I came by, establishing physical contact at most oppurtunities. Her father and even other villagers had started the talk of when marriage was going to be, since she became what this world considered to be an adult. Yasia had even ensured some that it would be soon, even if I had never given my approval. It was honestly frightening what the shy little girl had turned into.

But with such a minor issue, where the worst consequences were hurting the feelings of young girl, it feels like these peaceful days will continue forever.