Just like the young man who involved her in this in the first place, Ais was also thinking about everything that had happened today. She was sitting in her bed, leaning against the wall and hugging her knees. Just like she always did when she was thinking about important matters.
When the system had first made itself known to her, she was too stunned to react for quite some time. This got even worse when her close friend Lefiya didn’t seem to notice the message box hovering in front of her when trying to comfort her. What ultimately calmed her down was the answer the system provided to her mental question about what it was she was seeing.
Although she wasn’t entirely sure whether or not she was hallucinating even after knowing the answer, it made her chaotic thoughts turn rational again.
She had become the secondary host of the ‘Wish Fulfillment System’, an all-powerful wish-granting framework designed by the young man in front of her, Isaac. Of course, Ais couldn’t entirely comprehend how such a thing could even be possible, but she was sure that this system was what the young man had referred to as his special ability before. It was what enabled him to travel between worlds.
If it was all-powerful, was it more powerful than the gods? And how powerful did its creator, Isaac, have to be, to create such a thing? Why was it named ‘Wish Fulfillment System’? And why did Isaac create it in the first place?
These were just a few of the questions she couldn’t find an answer to, for now. So the first thing that came to mind was to ask this supposedly all-powerful system about it.
In response to her confusion, the system displayed yet another intangible message box in front of her, this time containing a list that seemingly went on endlessly.
Product
Cost
Isaac’s Past - Episode 1
1000 Achievement Points
Isaac’s Past - Episode 2
2000 Achievement Points
...
...
This didn’t help to lessen Ais’ confusion at all. What were Achievement Points? And would using them to buy these ‘episodes’ really let her know about Isaac’s past?
In response, the system explained to her that each of these episodes will enable her to observe a part of Isaac’s past. All of the feelings and thoughts were, of course, included. And to clear up Ais’ confusion about what Achievement Points were, the system displayed her own set of possible Achievements, and their rewards.
Compared to Isaac’s list, Ais’ was focussed entirely on the slaying of monsters. But as she was doing that every day anyway, it wouldn’t be an activity she had to go out of her way to do. Still, the required slain monsters for completing achievements did increase in increments of 1000. Thankfully, the ones requiring exclusively lower levelled monsters to be slain would be quite easy to complete. Amassing enough Achievement Points would only be a matter of time.
Thinking about how she would be able to learn a bit about Isaac’s past soon, a small smile appeared on Ais’ face momentarily. Despite how confused and overwhelmed she was because of this huge amount of information that she couldn’t entirely understand, that sole promising fact provided her solace.
The next system feature she stumbled across on their way back to the Twilight Manor was the map. It was incredibly detailed, almost to the degree of showing every single piece of dust. Being able to see the street she was walking upon in such a way was absolutely mind blowing to Ais and it took her quite a while to be able to distinguish between reality and the map again.
Once she did, she breathed a heavy sigh of relief, and decided to be more cautious when exploring this feature from now on. But all she was able to figure out was that both her and Isaac would be expanding the map over time, as the uncovered areas were shared. This way, they could cover more ground together than alone. It was also possible to locate herself and Isaac on the map at any time.
Thankfully, Ais wasn’t a deviant who would abuse such a feature to spy on others, it didn’t even cross her mind. She was only glad she would now be able to find Isaac at all times if she wanted to. Nothing more, nothing less.
What truly lit the fire of motivation within Ais was the fact that the system enabled her to view her own Status. It also showcased how much she had grown since the last update. With this, she could finally see her efforts pay off in real time. She didn’t have to wonder about whether or not her stats would grow and if she did well anymore. Instead, she could just view her Status with no-one the wiser. This would also enable her to avoid wasting Loki’s time by getting her Status updated whenever possible. There was no need to update it when she hadn’t grown noticeably, after all.
As for the last feature she had been able to discover, she was only able to test it once she was back in her room and ready to sleep. It was the inventory. The short explanation of it that the system provided had sounded just like storage magic to Ais, so she was a little bit sceptical about whether or not she would be able to use it. In this world, people could only use the different kinds of magic on their status, nothing else. There was no way to learn spells that one didn’t have written into their Status, except for in very rare circumstances.
Once she had cleared her head of all distracting thoughts, Ais thought about putting her trusty sword, Desperate, into the inventory. Just after she had finished this thought, before even a single moment had passed, the weight in her hands had disappeared completely. It was as if her weapon had never existed in the first place. It was just… gone.
Before panic could take root in Ais’ heart needlessly, the system displayed her inventory, which now contained Desperate in its own grid. As soon as she thought about wanting to hold it in her hands again, the sword reappeared instantly. Because of how fascinating it was, she continued to make her weapon appear and disappear again for a while, before she stopped to think about what this signified.
What she had just witnessed went way beyond simple storage magic. Magic usually needed a long chant, or at least a few words, to activate, and only then would any change happen. But this inventory could instantaneously store things, without a cooldown, without much time passing, without resource consumption. If Ais hadn’t known what magic was and how it worked, she would have described the inventory with only one word: magical.
Upon further explanations from the system, she realized that she had a storage limit of 500 different kinds of items for now. Items of the same type, however, could ‘stack’ in a single grid up to 100 times. If she wanted to increase her storage limit, she would have to spend the same currency she needed to earn to get to know more about Isaac’s past: the Achievement Points. Because she couldn’t even fathom herself needing any more inventory space than she already had right now, she mostly ignored that part though. Why would she ever want to carry such a ridiculous amount of things with her, anyway?
Now that she had at least a slight grasp on the system, whose workings and features were still completely foreign and magical to her, she realized that all of this definitely had to be kept a closely guarded secret. Even just the inventory alone would drive most people and gods mad with jealousy and interest.
A cold shiver ran down her spine while she was leaning against the wall. And no, it wasn’t because of the temperature of said wall. It was because she now knew. She now knew why Isaac had been so cryptic before, why he hadn’t told her and Lefiya much about this secret of his. Even Ais herself, now that she knew, would be in quite a bit of danger if anyone else ever found out about the system.
The greed of the gods knew no limit. Anything different, anything interesting and anything special - they wanted it all. Even her own familia’s goddess, Loki, would most likely have a hard time restraining herself if Ais told her about everything this system could do.
Before she could sink even deeper into this rabbit hole of worries, a knock on her door brought Ais back to reality.
-----
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
A few hours ago, the door to a private study had been slammed open abruptly. Loki, who had just barged into the room without knocking, sat down on an empty chair without waiting for an invitation.
In response to this rudeness, the beautiful woman with jade-coloured hair sitting opposite of her looked up from the book she had been reading just seconds prior. Her eyes, which were jade-coloured as well, were squinted, and annoyance could clearly be seen on her face. Long and elegant elf ears were sticking out of her hair, which was tied in a tail reaching all the way to her waist. She wore a green dress with yellow borders, which almost looked like a military uniform. A black belt, yellow sash and black stockings completed her outfit, giving her a secretary vibe. A white cloak was draped over the back of the chair she was sitting on, while long brown boots were orderly placed next to the entrance of the study. On the wall next to the door, a long, silvery-white staff was securely placed in a retainer, the nine gem-like stones embedded at the head glittering mysteriously.
This woman’s name was Riveria Ljos Alf and she was the Vice-Captain of the Loki Familia. She obviously was quite used to the rude behaviour of her goddess, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t reprimand her for it.
But when she noticed the rare air of seriousness Loki exuded right now, all of these thoughts disappeared instantly. Because Loki was a mischievous trickster, that made the times where she was serious even more important and extraordinary. If it wasn’t something that could endanger her familia, it was rare to see her like this.
Before Riveria could even ask about what was going on, Loki already got to the point.
“You see, I just accepted a new child into the familia. But there is a problem…”
During the few minutes it took for Loki to recount everything she had seen and felt during her encounter with Isaac, Riveria’s expression turned more and more grave. And there was only one reason for this to happen: Ais.
She had been taking care of Ais for many years now, being in a position similar to a mentor and family member. Therefore, Riveria cared for the young girl a lot, more than even she herself would easily admit. Now that a new variable had entered Ais’ life, a variable that could either destabilize her even more, or help her to somewhat get over her past, this was a pivotal development. It couldn’t just be taken lightly.
“I trust you know what to do. I leave this in your hands.”
With these words, Loki left behind a Riveria who was deep in thought, and fled the study as fast as possible. Her trademark mischievous smile had reappeared on her face. She had already unloaded her problem onto capable shoulders, so now it was time for her to relax again.
When she realized that Loki had already fled, Riveria heaved a deep sigh.
“As if I didn’t have enough on my mind already. There still are lots of things I need to prepare for the next expedition... “
In the late evening, Riveria found herself on the way to Ais’ room. She was sure that by now, the little battle maniac would be home again. And if she wasn’t… well, then she would just have to punish her a bit for staying out so late without permission.
Nonetheless, now it was finally time to have a talk with the girl. Sometime after this, possibly in the next few days, she would also have to find time to talk to the root of the current problem, the young man Isaac Blackshaw. But for now, she would just focus on Ais.
Shortly after Riveria had knocked, Ais opened the door to her room. The young golden-haired beauty was already diligently wearing her sleep-wear after having taken a bath, which caused Riveria to smile a little. It was great to see how reliable she had become over the years.
“Can I come in? I have something I want to talk about.”
With a small nod, Ais welcomed Riveria into her room. Shortly after, Riveria was seated on a chair, while Ais was sitting on her bed, waiting for the sophisticated elf to speak.
“Loki told me you have a special connection with our familia’s new child, Isaac Blackshaw. That you’re resonating because of the loneliness you both felt, and still feel. I came here because I’m worried about you. This kind of connection could impact you in a number of ways, both positive and negative. So that’s why I want to know your thoughts on this matter.”
Just like every other time she talked with Ais, Riveria was being as blunt and direct as possible. Over the years, she determined this to be the best way to get her thoughts across to her. While Ais didn’t have any problems with people being evasive and not getting to the point as she was very observant, for this very same reason, she appreciated short and precise explanations even more as they didn’t need her to spend any additional effort.
After just a short moment of thought, Ais responded.
“I feel like Isaac is the first person I met who is able to understand me completely. Because I feel like he went through something similar. When I’m with him, I don’t… feel alone anymore. It’s weird. Even though I only met him today, it feels as if I had known him for an extremely long time.”
These words didn’t surprise Riveria. It was indeed just as she had expected. Sometimes, people who went through similar experiences would have this kind of effect on each other. Whether that was a good or a bad thing had to be determined on a case by case basis.
Suddenly, Ais’ mostly expressionless face turned awkward for a second, before a slight blush crept up her cheeks when her explanation continued.
“You really don’t have to worry about it, Riveria. I like him.”
In stark contrast to before, these words surprised Riveria quite a lot. Never before had she heard Ais say that she liked a man. Combined with the blush on her face, it was obvious that it wasn’t as simple as just ‘liking’ Isaac either. Once Riveria realized this, she couldn’t help but turn more protective. She just had to know more about this.
“Are you sure? What do you like about him?”
Without hesitation, Ais nodded her head vigorously, before her eyes beamed with admiration.
“We went to the dungeon together earlier today, after we bought Isaac’s starting equipment. Even though his stats are the lowest they could possibly be, he easily defeated many monsters. That, in itself, would be impressive already. But he did so while studying them extensively and predicting every single possible move they could make effortlessly. I can’t do that. I can’t even approach it. It was… fascinating. I had never seen anything like it before. You’d have to see it to understand exactly what I mean.”
Towards the end, Ais had noticed how Riveria’s expression had turned slightly disbelieving, so she had tried to sound more convincing with her last sentence. Riveria’s doubt wasn’t surprising, however. Nobody would be able to believe such a story. The prediction of every possible move, especially in a live combat scenario, sounded just like something straight out of fiction. Nevertheless, Isaac had done so.
Although Riveria had a very hard time believing what she had just heard, she knew Ais would never lie to her. There was simply no reason to. Also, such a thing happening would explain Ais’ infatuation with this young man a lot. Even Riveria herself would be shocked and impressed if she ever witnessed someone perform such a miracle. But still, before she had confirmed it with her own eyes, she just wouldn’t be able to accept it, no matter how hard she tried. There was just one thing she could be certain of: Isaac was remarkably talented.
Ais’ next words, however, stopped the serious elf from mulling over fiction-esque feats and made her show a gentle smile.
“Since then, whenever I think about Isaac, there is this warm feeling in my chest. My heartbeat quickens and I can’t help but get excited and happy.”
Of course, the blush on Ais’ face got even deeper when she said this. It was quite embarrassing to admit these feelings and to talk about them. In front of Riveria, however, she wouldn’t hide them. Riveria had helped her a lot all this time. It was the least she could do to answer her questions sincerely.
To be honest, Riveria was now truly taken aback. Before today, she had never expected for the Sword Princess to fall for someone in the foreseeable future. But apparently, Ais just hadn’t met the right people to induce such a change in her before.
‘This changes a lot of things…’
Now that Ais had fallen in love, she would need all the support she could get, so nothing bad would happen. Riveria didn’t want to see her hurt, no matter what. But matters of the heart were always hard to understand or control. It didn’t help that she herself had no experience with them whatsoever. The only thing she could do was to shield Ais from any possible dangers she could face now that her mind had opened itself to these kinds of thoughts.
Such protective behaviour and the tough love she showed for the members of her familia made people give her nicknames like ‘Loki Familia’s Mother Hen’ behind her back. Of course, only Loki dared to directly address Riveria like that.
Slightly overwhelmed by how this young girl had turned from a revenge-driven killing machine toiling with death every single day to an almost normal girl in love over the years, Riveria reached out her hand and began to softly pat Ais’ head.
Although Ais was pouting during the entire process, she didn’t resist the head pats, and seemed to be enjoying them secretly. Of course, she didn’t do a good job of hiding that, as Riveria, who had been with her for many years, easily picked up on it.
This couldn’t help but make her chuckle. So after poking Ais’ cheek sneakily as ‘punishment’ for not being honest with herself, Riveria got up from the chair and walked to the door. Once she arrived, she turned back to remind Ais of a few things.
“I know you are aware of this already, but you haven’t known Isaac for long yet. So take things slowly and don’t make any rash decisions. You have all the time in the world. Get to know him better first, okay?”
Only after Ais had nodded and promised to keep her words in mind did Riveria feel relieved. Before she judged the young man extensively, she needed to have a talk with him. From what she had heard from Loki and Ais, he didn’t seem to be a bad influence, but it was better to be safe than sorry. At least Ais was one of the strongest people in Orario, and Isaac just a weak new adventurer, he couldn’t harm her physically even if he tried. From everything she had heard about him, he didn’t sound like a person who would ever do such a thing, though.
Having wished the lovestruck girl a good night, Riveria made her way back to her own room to get some sleep as well.
While deep in thought, a reminiscent sigh escaped her mouth.
‘They grow up so fast...’