Descargar la aplicación
24.61% My 13th Reincarnation: The Gods Won't Let Me Die / Chapter 16: A New Home

Capítulo 16: A New Home

"What were you thinking?"

I never imagined that I'd wake up to a scolding after being struck by lightning.

"Are you listening to me? You could have died."

"I am listening."

Elizabeth is rather angry with me, but truth be told, I'm just happy to see her up and about again.

Once she's calmed down, I ask her what happened to the others. Apparently, we were all burnt quite badly, with the exception of the mage who wasn't in the water. The others woke up some time ago, but my condition was so bad, the healers weren't sure if I would make it.

It seems like Elizabeth was quite worried about me. I guess that's why she's so upset. It feels weird to have somebody care that much. Not bad, though.

She told me I was out for about a day, and it took one more before the healers would allow me to leave. When I finally did, I found Elizabeth waiting for me outside.

It seems like word has gotten around about the death of the greater monster. I doubt anybody knows I was involved yet. Since I would prefer to keep it that way, I ask Jonas and his group to be the face of the fight, and claim credit for the kill.

"What?! But we didn't-"

"I know you didn't, but you look the part."

It resulted in a rather drawn out argument, of which I'll spare you the repetitiveness. To make a long story short, I made it sound like Elizabeth would get dragged into this more than she already has, which was enough to convince Jonas. He's got a real weak spot for her.

I guess I do, too.

It has been about a week now, and Elsvaert has started receiving "tourists." Which is to say, people who want to see the corpse of the greater beast, as well as the heroes who killed it. Jonas and his little crew has fallen into the role well. They seem to enjoy the spotlight.

Elizabeth and I are have been taking on regular assignments to get back into the groove of things. We were out on patrol, her sword back on her hip, where it belongs, when I finally managed to apologize to Elizabeth.

"Hm? What are you sorry for?" she asked, blank as ever.

"You were right. The odd monster spawns around here. They're my fault."

"...Oh."

"I consulted with an elven magic researcher during your time unconscious. According to him, my mana store is heavily damaged, and leaking large amounts of mana."

"My condolences."

"Don't say it like that. I'm not dying."

"I was making a joke."

I facepalm, then find myself chuckling slightly. I missed her.

"What are you going to do?" she asks.

"The magic researcher I talked to is working on a solution, but he doesn't know how long it'll be, or if it's even possible."

When we arrive back in town, we find it swarmed with people.

Elsvaert is getting a bit too crowded for my taste. Too many attention-grabbing things have been happening, and Cerla has probably already told the king about me by now. It might be time to look for a new place to stay.

But where would I go?

Something close by, like a neighboring town, maybe? It'd be a much longer walk to Sheere, though, and I need a way to get to Rosewood to communicate with Vol.

...

Oh!

---

It wasn't easy to gain access to Rosewood. The place is supposed to be a purely elven city, so they aren't too keen on humans. They're perfectly fine with visitors, but getting permission to live there was another matter entirely.

It took some serious pulling of strings. I got Jonas and his group to testify before the elven council that it was, in fact, me, who killed the greater monster. I can only hope that nobody on the council has a loose mouth, since I'm hoping to avoid that getting out. Even with that, though, they weren't all happy to let me stay.

It wasn't until I had them bring in Vol from the magic academy to testify that I was absolutely critical and indispensable to his research, that they finally wavered. I had gotten the sense that he was an influential figure before, but not nearly to such an extent.

Well, I spent the next year working with Vol at the elven magic academy. Our eventual goal was the artificial mana store, but we worked on many other magical tools together. Swords, knives, maces, and some devices of my own invention - or so I claimed, since they were actually just ones I remembered from my past lives. I was rather surprised to realize just how easy it was, and how quickly it went. I've been working by myself for centuries.

Who knew other people could be so helpful.

Once or twice a month, Vol will bust down the door to my home to present his newest idea or prototype. His excitement tends to be infectious, and it can be difficult for us to stop working. More than once, Elizabeth has had to drag us away from work and force us to eat dinner.

Oh, right, did I forget to mention? Elizabeth and I are living together now.

We're not married or anything, but when I told her that I was planning on leaving Elsvaert, she insisted on coming with me.

We've grown a lot closer over the past year and I sometimes find myself reminded of my time with Princess Sofia. I don't mean to say that I have romantic feelings for Elizabeth; merely that her and Vol evoke certain emotions in me.

I guess you could say that I'm... happy.


next chapter

Capítulo 17: Getting Stronger

Vol and I have been hard at work these past few days. I think we're getting close. We've been sleeping in the magic academy, only leaving it when Elizabeth told us we were starting to look pale, and asked us to go get some sunlight.

We were outside for about an hour before we promptly shut ourselves back in the testing chamber at the academy.

The testing chamber is relatively small, and covered in extremely hard, white tiles. As I throw away a small jewel-like stone into a corner, there's a knock on the door.

"Hello, is master Vol here?" a young elf outside the door asks me.

"Vol," I turn back and wave him over. I notice that he's starting to look kind of tired.

"Yes, can I help you?" he asks.

"I'm here to f-fulfill your request for a thousand mana stones."

"Ah, yes, thank you."

"Please sign here, m-master Vol!"

I look around the little room. Mounds of precious stones litter it, many cracked or in pieces. When we started, we'd go through about 150 in a month, but the number has been steadily increasing, along with the pace of our research.

Vol finishes signing the paper and I see the young elf hesitate for a second before speaking up.

"Uhm, master Vol, I'm sorry to ask, but do you think you cou-could sign my arm?! I'm, ehm, a big fan."

"Sure, no problem at all."

Right, Vol is apparently kind of a big deal here. A celebrity, in a way.

"Thank you so much, master Vol! I'll leave the mana stones here for you."

We continue our work for several more ours, but nothing seems to be working. The sun has gone down and I'm getting a bit tired. Realizing that we're doubtful to get anywhere, I decide to head back home. I could use a rest in my own bed for once.

"Oh, of course. Say hi to Elizabeth for me. I'm sure she will be happy to have you back home for a bit."

"Will do. Maybe you should take a nap, too."

"Ha-ha-ha, yeah, maybe I'll do that. Goodnight, Sebastian."

"Goodnight, Vol."

As I wait on the lift down from the floating academy, it occurs to me that, at some point, Vol stopped calling me "kid" or "my boy." Thinking about it, Vol knows more about me than anybody else in this world. He knows both about my identity as Stencil, as well as my broken mana store. More than that, he's the only person who has seen the varying forms of mana within me.

In the back of my mind, I dread what might happen if he were to turn on me one day. For now, though, at least, he is my friend.

I open the door to the small rosewood cottage Elizabeth and I live in.

Elizabeth isn't up. To avoid waking her, I tiptoe up the stairs to my bed.

This turns out to have been pointless as, 5 hours later, quite a while past midnight, our front door slams open. Tripping out of my room, I spot Elizabeth entering the hallway from her own room. She looks just as confuddled as I am.

Half sprinting, half crawling, Vol accidentally bumps against the walls on his way up the stairs.

"I did it!! It's done - it's here! Look! LOOK!!!!"

In his hand, held aloft in triumph, is a medium-sized mana stone. There's a slight glow in the center and, as he fumbles his way up beside me, the light gets stronger.

"Here - here! Hold it! Come on - here - hold it!!"

Confused and tired, I let him place the mana stone in my hand and get an *immediate* wake-up call.

The purplish stone suddenly spikes in brightness. It feels like somebody turned on a flashlight and is shining it directly into my eyes.

"Argh," I shout, covering my eyes, and dropping the stone.

"Look-look-look! Look!!! See!! I told you!!!"

I look out through my fingers to see Vol pointing furiously down at the bright stone, excitement and pure joy written across his face. I peek down at it.

The mana stone is still unbelievably bright.

Wait. I dropped it. Which means I'm not holding it.

Which means...

I look down upon the jewel-like stone. My eyes are starting to adjust to the bright light, but it's still irritating to look directly at it.

But the stone is still just as bright as before, despite me not holding it. It isn't leaking out the mana like Elizabeth's sword did. The stone is retaining it perfectly! It's-

"We did it, Sebastian!! An artificial mana store!!! WE'VE DONE IT!!"

I can barely believe my eyes; probably because they're still hurting from the bright light. No wonder he was in such a hurry to get here.

The mana stone was a big step in the right direction, and Vol and I rushed back to the magic academy to replicate it. By sunrise, we had made two more. We had also broken nearly 100 mana stones, beating our previous daily record.

The mana stores all reached their storage limit within a few seconds of their creation, since I was in the room, but still. Three successful artificial mana stores that could pick up mana and contain it, theoretically, forever.

We began brainstorming ideas. Now that we had finally made the stones, it became clear to us how much they could be used for.

I threw out a few ideas from my previous lives, but one thought in particular stuck with both of us.

What if there was a way for Elizabeth to use her sword, but using the power of my mana, instead of her own?

In other words, a rechargeable battery.


Load failed, please RETRY

Regalos

Regalo -- Regalo recibido

    Estado de energía semanal

    Desbloqueo caps por lotes

    Tabla de contenidos

    Opciones de visualización

    Fondo

    Fuente

    Tamaño

    Gestión de comentarios de capítulos

    Escribe una reseña Estado de lectura: C16
    No se puede publicar. Por favor, inténtelo de nuevo
    • Calidad de escritura
    • Estabilidad de las actualizaciones
    • Desarrollo de la Historia
    • Diseño de Personajes
    • Antecedentes del mundo

    La puntuación total 0.0

    ¡Reseña publicada con éxito! Leer más reseñas
    Votar con Piedra de Poder
    Rank 200+ Clasificación PS
    Stone 0 Piedra de Poder
    Denunciar contenido inapropiado
    sugerencia de error

    Reportar abuso

    Comentarios de párrafo

    Iniciar sesión

    tip Comentario de párrafo

    ¡La función de comentarios de párrafo ya está en la Web! Mueva el mouse sobre cualquier párrafo y haga clic en el icono para agregar su comentario.

    Además, siempre puedes desactivarlo en Ajustes.

    ENTIENDO