After helping her out, Elsa was a lot more talkative. And nicer to me. She kept trying to start conversations with me. Frankly, it was getting annoying.

She suddenly wanted to know more about me, how I was so good at shearing, what it’s like being the chief’s assistant’s son, to live with maids, to get in trouble so much, yadda yadda. I gave her the silent treatment most of the time and other times, ordering her to get back to work as her superior.

Of course I was suspicious. Even for a bipolar girl off her meds, this was too much.

She’d accused me of rape and now she was trying to pal around like we were friends?

Is she just after my spellcard?

While I crafted theories about this latest mystery, I heard footsteps approaching, crunching the soft grass with fine leather boots. Such fine shoes were probably not something just anyone could afford to wear.

I turned to see the chief walking towards Ernie’s. He seemed out of breath, like he’d been running around the whole place, with an anxious look plastered on his face.

When he caught sight of me, he sighed in relief and ran up to me.

“There you are, Alster.”

The chief….

His sudden appearance was just what I needed to get Elsa off my mind. I’d been waiting for this moment.

“Well, well. If it isn’t the chief. I hope you’re not too angry about having to go to see the lord ‘cause of me. Like I told your wife, I was just going through a rough patch. I hope you liked the cleaning I did. I can stop by again if you need me.”

He got quiet, putting a finger to his chin like he was deep in thought. ‘She did tell me about that. Say, Alster. You didn’t see anything unusual, did you?”

“Nope. Sorry, sir. Besides a lot of dust.”

His face was stone cold. He put a hand on my shoulder. “Do you mind taking a walk with me?”

“I don’t mind. Just gotta let Ernie know. He’s my boss.”

“Right.”

The chief and I walked and found a path along one of the popular roads, with plenty of cabins and crude homes on both sides. The village was in full bloom, working. Many of the farms were already or in the process of being shaped and tilled for planting new crops. The administration, including Trent, handled oversight of the whole operation and handled the incoming merchants who sold fertilizers and other necessary stuff. I imagined the chief would be pretty busy, but the look on his face said he only had one thing on his mind.

And I knew what it was.

Not surprisingly, the chief and I kept walking until we found a deserted corner away from the village center, around a thicket of trees.

“So what did you want to talk about, chief?”

“I think we should stop beating around the bush.”

“Oh? Did I do something wrong?”

I had one hand in the air, ready to grab my water card if the chief tried anything funny.

He turned to look at me with a harsh look, his brows furrowed, and a squint like I was in big trouble. “You have the cards, don’t you?”

I couldn’t help but grin a little. “Cards? You mean like the one Trent told you to throw away?”

The next moment, the chief grabbed my throat and started choking me. “Don’t play dumb. Give those back to me right now.”

The chief’s grip was way stronger than I thought. I couldn’t breathe and felt myself panicking to break free. From the angle I was facing and my distance to him, I couldn’t summon a water ball that’d knock him out. Instead, I imagined a small diamond shaped projectile and shot it in his eye.

It hit its mark. I repeated it until he let go.

“H-how did you get them to work?” he shouted, exasperated as he rubbed his eye.

I jumped back and got a lot more distance. I panted to catch my breath. His grip might leave a purple bruise on my neck, but I just wanted air. Soon, while the chief was still tending to his eye I summoned a water ball. He looked up just in time to see me throwing it like a missile just past his face. It grazed his cheek.

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“Not another step, chief. This water moves fast enough to knock out a man cold. I’ve already tried it on someone. And I won’t hesitate to use it again.”

“Alster, please. I need those cards. They’re mine!”

After resorting to violence, he was trying to get pity out of me?

That won’t work.

“While you’re there. Why don’t you tell me something? If you really want these cards back.”

“What?”

“Who are you? And how do you know my real name is Joey?”

He started fidgeting, stuttering some gibberish like he was buying time for an excuse. “W-www. Y-you… Www.”

“I’m waiting.”

“You think you can threaten me?” he shouted, his pride making his speech fluent again. “Trent is my assistant. I can make life hell for you if you don’t give me those cards.”

“Go ahead and try it. I’ll tell him I found these in your room and all about what you said to me today. It’s clear you wanna use these. Oh and by the way, he already suspects something because of how strange you’ve been acting. You take one move against me and it’s your coffin. He’ll probably oust you as chief and send you packing from the village. Your wife will leave you. You’ll lose everything. So don’t fuck with me!”

His face twisted into a knot from how angry he was. Each of us was breathing hard, unable to take our eyes off the other. He wanted to strangle me, and I wanted to smash his face.

“Moan all you want. Tell me why you know me right now.”

He spat at the ground. “Fine. It’s me, Joey. Elfindor.”

When he said that name, it felt like I’d just been punched in the stomach. I wanted to lay down, but I had to remain standing on guard. This guy was strong enough to strangle me by the neck midair with one hand if he wanted.

“Elfindor…?”

“Yeah.”

“How…?”

He paused a moment. “A Goddess visited my room when you, Trey and Allen were in the living room playing Zombies. She said I could come to this world. But I needed another person, so—”

My eyes shot up. My veins were about to burst. “—So you picked me?!”

I was furious. I created a water ball. He waved his hands in panic. “Wait! Stop! It was an accident! I tried taking my mom, but the transfer was rejected. I only picked you because it had to be someone nearby.”

“There was Allen! Or even Trey! Why me, you stupid bastard?! I thought you were supposed to be smart! You took my perfect life away!”

“I’m sorry, alright? There. I told you what you wanted to know. Now, can I please have my cards back—”

I narrowed my eyes. “Forget it. You did this to me. Now I’m not going to hand over my only advantage. You probably picked that body because it was handsome and strong, right? Yeah, I bet you did. Well, look at me. I’m a nobody. While you get to smash your perfect-looking wife, the best I get is head from a whale!”

“—That’s not my fault! I didn’t pick that body for you! You just got unlucky, that’s all!”

My irritation reached reached a tipping point. I simultaneously created two water balls. Elfindor was a dead man. I could almost feel a devil on my shoulders edging me to do it.

It would feel so good to get him back for all this.

But I didn’t. The dopy face of Elfindor I remembered from Earth flashed in my mind. That harmless twerp was the one inside this Arnold Schwarzenegger mold. I knew I needed to stay calm. I took a deep breath and exhaled.

Anger won’t get me anywhere. Focus on what you want most, Joey!

The water balls dropped and splashed on the ground next to me.

“Look. I don’t care,” I sighed. “There’s nothing we can do to change it now. So I got a deal for you.”

“A deal?”

“Yeah. Aren’t you sick of this village? I mean, all we do is farm and make sure we got enough for next season’s harvest. We eat one dingy meal a day and no one seems to know how to cook. The girls—well, other than your wife, are plain. I want more out of life. If I’m stuck in this world, then I at least want to have the same standard of living as before. And the only way to do that is with these cards.”

He scratched his head. “So what’s the deal?”

“You help me get more cards. You have authority around here. You and I can take trips to other towns and look for ‘em. We split each one we get evenly. I keep these two and next one we get is yours. Then the one after that is mine, and so on. And don’t whine, ‘cause you owe me for what you did.”

“Fine…. I’m alright with that.”

We shook hands on it.

Elfindor and I started sharing stuff only each of us knew. I told him about the knights who used a card to confine someone, like magic handcuffs. The nerd’s eyes twinkled, despite describing the danger I was in. He told me one of his other assistants had told him about the last time someone got a card in the village. That person stole a bunch of stuff and no one could do anything about it. The lord got involved and brought some of his private soldiers with swords and armor, but neither the lord nor his men were authorized to wield cards, so his men were defeated by that single villager.

Must’ve been a pretty powerful card.

The margrave caught wind of it. He was angry that the lord had gone behind his back, especially over something as important as a rogue card wielder. So he ousted him and Fuoril took over. A whole squadron of his Holy Knights with those handcuff cards was sent and executed the man on the spot, taking his card back to the margrave.

“The villager’s card was an Epic tier. It was like a national treasure grade. But just using any card without authorization is grounds for death apparently,” Elfindor added.

“Hmm. So if the margrave finds out what we’re doing, we’ll be killed.”

“To be honest,” Elfindor said, nervously rubbing his hands. “I was planning on leaving and starting a new life once I figured out how to use the cards. Like you said, my wife is perfect. But I honestly don’t know the first thing about running the village. Trent’s been picking up a lot of the slack. I need to get it together soon, or it’s only a matter of time ‘till I get busted.”

I put a hand to my chin as my thoughts raced to find a solution. I didn't have to think long.

A great idea fell into my lap.

“Alright, I’ll help you. Make me your new assistant. First, we need to come clean to Trent about your memory loss. I’ll tell him I hit you with something hard and you developed amnesia. Then Trent will give us a crash course on what we have to do.”

“Okay. But… you’ll take the fall for me?”

“Just this once. We want to make this believable. I’ll work things out with Trent after.”

“Okay. If you’re sure.”

“I am. Let’s go.”

“Wait. Don’t you have work to do for Ernie?”

“I’m about to be promoted. That bony twig can kiss my ass.”