“Have I … have I done anything wrong?” Albert asked with the three of us sitting in the carriage. I ignored him for the most part though because I was really angry he didn’t follow my orders and stayed in the mansion.
And as such, I demonstratively stared out of the window and rather looked at the dirty streets than him.
“…. Lucy?” What have I done wrong in his education so far? Was I too soft since I had turned him into a vampire? Or was he just as idiotic as the other reincarnators were? Turning my head and staring in his eyes, I could find no answer to these questions. I may have been too soft on him, but the way he saw me required a delicate balance of being nice and admonishing.
I didn’t want to push him away from me, not when he was the only one who could recreate the inventions of another world so far.
And so, I quickly closed my eyes and calmed myself down somewhat.
“Albert, I have given you an order, haven’t I?” I asked nicely, but still in a rather monotone voice.
“… yes? A general one, I guess. But I haven’t left the mansion in weeks and I’m getting tired of it.” Albert stated, somewhat sorry for his actions even though he didn’t know what he did wrong. Bumping across the road, I thought for a little while wether I should vent my anger or use the calm and collected route. Both had their advantages, the former allowing me to vent my anger because he actually dared to ignore my orders while the latter wouldn’t push him away from me. But like most of the time when there was something to benefit, I put my own emotions at the back of the line.
“We haven’t allowed you to leave because there are good reasons. It’s dangerous for example. Anyone of these men could have ended your life if he found out what race you are. And you aren’t capable of hiding in plain sight yet.” I explained calmly which seemed to calm him down somewhat. Smiling brightly like a good dog, he even drew one on my face.
“Why? I made sure to hide my teeth and eyes.” He asked was too quickly in the mood to chatter casually with me.
“How often do I need to tell you that you have to breathe?” I asked a bit annoyed even though I didn’t show it.
“Oh … I …” He mumbled ashamed of himself. I wasn’t that surprised he couldn’t keep it up constantly. Once turned into a ghoul, everyone loses the habit to breathe and doesn’t regain it automatically later on.
Aska had to teach me, Tom figured it out on his own while Albert was taught by either me or Tom whenever we felt like it. He hadn’t figured breathing as a habit yet, which was problematic whenever he needed to deal with humans. Most of them wouldn’t figure out what was wrong, but sometimes they did pick it up subconsciously.
“Albert, I’m honestly disappointed. I told you to stay put …” I said, looking out of the window in disappointment.
“I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.” Did I successfully guilt trip him into doing as I desired? I couldn’t tell for sure, even though I knew he was honest with his apology.
“Good … you are aware you won’t be coming with me to fight the demons?” I asked, presenting him with the fact that he would be useless in battle for the first time.
“What? I thought we would stay together?” Well, he thought that. I had already prepared a lot of blood for him which Hannah had sealed up in bottles.
“Not quite. It’s far to dangerous for you anyways and I do need you to do something for me together with Tom.” The truth was that I only needed Tom to travel to the elven kingdom for me but I didn’t think I could leave Albert alone. But he apparently had other plans altogether and directly voiced his opinion.
“I can help! Someone needs to repair the ho-“
“Enough.” I growled angrily, finally letting my side full of anger shine through for a little bit. “I have been nice to you the whole time, I haven’t asked you to do anything, I have given you my blood time and time again and this is how you return the favour?”
“… I just want to be with you.” He stated which made me avert my gaze because of all the disgust filling my heart.
“But that’s sadly not possible.” Sadly? Honestly, I was rather lucky I could distance myself from him. This way, he maybe could learn to be a little bit more independent.
“But then …” Yeah … we were already rather close to the date we would start our journey of everything went smoothly.
“This is the last night we see each other for who knows how long. Maybe I fall into coma, maybe I’m back after a month … I can’t tell.” It all dependent on wether I’d be successful in rooting out the cause for my problems quickly. Otherwise … I didn’t know what would happen. “But that’s a problem for the future. Today, we live in the present.” I stated, getting rid of my bad mood immediately as the carriage came to a halt.
Gripping the wooden door handle tightly, I opened the door swiftly and jumped out right away. We were in front of a rather unsuspicious tavern, if not for the empty space in front of it. Grabbing the hand of the hesitating Albert, I quickly pulled him out of the carriage as well while laughing happily.
“Stop brooding!” I said and dragged him towards the silent tavern right away. As the door wasn’t even closed properly, I simply kicked against it and revealed the brighter insides. Grinning wildly, I pulled him towards the only table in the middle, currently only in use by Tom and the whore. “We are going to have a party!”
Tom lifted up his mug as soon as we three entered the room and greeted us with a warm smile on his lips.
“Do you know the news? Every dungeon portal leading into purgatory has closed.”
“I. Do. Not. Care. Sebastian three more beer please!” I shouted out to the person standing at the bar, just waiting for our orders.
“Ehm … why aren’t we doing this at the mansion?” Albert asked, very confused as I had just admonished him for going out. The key difference was that there was someone with him this time.
“A good party isn’t held at home!” I exclaimed and threw my arms into the air as the butler bought three mugs filled with exotic beer over.
“Okay … and who is the last person?” Albert asked while Hannah stared deeply into her mug.
“Wait for it … wait for it … and there she is!” I exclaimed and presented them with … empty air. They all looked at me a bit dumbly while I pointed towards the new arrival more and more aggressively.
“They can’t see me …” The goddess glowing in a green light admitted. Well, that made me look kind of crazy … even though the other voices in my head had gone a lot quieter.
“Oh gosh, do I have to do everything? Alloweth these people to seeth h'r truest f'rm. Maketh h'r soul visible to thm in the dunnest of lights. Alloweth reality bendeth 'round me to appeareth in front of thm. Manifest Soul.” I chanted a bit bored, already preparing for the backlash I would receive for attempting to make the goddess of life visible with my magic which was fuelled by the forces of death. Not a great combination, but it did work out in the end and I could even shove most of the burden of the magic over to her once it was completely.
Pinching my bleeding nose a little, I soon noticed the deathly silence around me and looked in everyone’s stunned gaze … except Hannah she still looked in her mug.
“It is an honour to meet you.” Even Tom couldn’t help himself but to woo her right away, which made me quite angry because they never showed that reaction when they saw me.
“You don’t have to be so formal. I’m here as a friend, not as a goddess.” Irminsul said in a gentle voice and smiled brightly.
“Don’t even try to seduce my subordinates.”
“You are … a real goddess. Why … why have I never seen my patron god?” Albert asked while gripping the table tightly. His question was warranted though. I honestly thought there would be some recuperations for turning him into a vampire, but so far, nobody came for my head.
“He … he probably doesn’t care about you or is busy … like so many other gods.” Irminsul admitted shyly, scratching her red cheek absentmindedly.
“And the moral is that the gods don’t care. End of story. Can we start playing now?” I asked, watching in wonder how Hannah picked up her mug and emptied everything in one go. I never took her for that kind of an alcoholic … but oh well.
“It’s board game Saturday!” Irminsul exclaimed happily while the butler put a whole multitude of games onto the table, one of which directly caught my eye.
“Hey Albert … you mentioned that there was some kind of game you played on the spaceship? Some where you roleplayed in a fantasy world?” I asked enthusiastic and pulled out the game ‘Skyscrapers and villas’ our right away.
“Uhm … yeah. Dungeons and dragons.” He admitted, looking at the boardgame crafted by one of his old friends closely.
“Right! I want to play that!” I admitted right away. Imagining to be someone else … that could be fun.
“But … you live in a fantasy world?” He asked which meant that a lot of us were looking at him with question marks all over our faces. We just couldn’t comprehend how Solaris was supposed to be a fantasy world … it was pretty normal after all.
“No we don’t? We’ll just let it take place in your world. I’m a mad atomic scientist!” I exclaimed happily and looked over to Irminsul on my right.
“Doctor.” She said straight away while I unpacked all the stuff in the box.
“Can I have this weapon that spews out metal?” Tom asked right away. As usual, I directly had my suspicious he would hold our whole group hostage by using his weapon, but I already had something planned for that. It would be my secret weapon … the atomic bomb.
“And I’m … I’m …” Hannah muttered, waving towards the butler to get a refill.
“… drunk already?” I asked, completely surprised by the development. We never drunk together before, but I did catch her in a wasted state sometimes before. I always thought this was because she couldn’t stop herself … but it was probably because she got drunk fairly easily which was indeed surprising.
“No … I’m a dragon.” Hannah stated and slammed the mug on onto the table.
“Okay! What about you?” I asked happily and pointed towards the whore which was deep in thought.
“I’m a plane.” She stated with a huge grin on her face.
“What?” Albert asked stunned while I grabbed my chin in thought.
“I’m one of these birds that can fly really fast.” The whore explained, pretty sure about her victory already. She would have an insanely high movement speed by picking that race which could counter my atomic bomb and Tom’s pew pew weapon.
“But that’s not … okay. We have an atomic scientist, a doctor, a dragon, a soldier and a plane …” Albert groaned loudly and grabbed his head in dispair.
“You can make a story with that, can you?” I asked hopeful while ignoring Irminsuls laughter to my side.
“I … I‘ll try.” He said timidly and looked into his mug still filled to the brim.
“Is this your first time drinking alcohol?” I asked as he gripped the handle tightly. As usual, he wasn’t very keen on doing anything remotely immoral which became painfully obvious as he handed the mug back to the butler.
“I don’t think I’m ready for that yet.” Well, I didn’t mind his decision much … but I wouldn’t allow him to be a fun break.
“Have I … have I done anything wrong?” Albert asked with the three of us sitting in the carriage. I ignored him for the most part though because I was really angry he didn’t follow my orders and stayed in the mansion.
And as such, I demonstratively stared out of the window and rather looked at the dirty streets than him.
“…. Lucy?” What have I done wrong in his education so far? Was I too soft since I had turned him into a vampire? Or was he just as idiotic as the other reincarnators were? Turning my head and staring in his eyes, I could find no answer to these questions. I may have been too soft on him, but the way he saw me required a delicate balance of being nice and admonishing.
I didn’t want to push him away from me, not when he was the only one who could recreate the inventions of another world so far.
And so, I quickly closed my eyes and calmed myself down somewhat.
“Albert, I have given you an order, haven’t I?” I asked nicely, but still in a rather monotone voice.
“… yes? A general one, I guess. But I haven’t left the mansion in weeks and I’m getting tired of it.” Albert stated, somewhat sorry for his actions even though he didn’t know what he did wrong. Bumping across the road, I thought for a little while wether I should vent my anger or use the calm and collected route. Both had their advantages, the former allowing me to vent my anger because he actually dared to ignore my orders while the latter wouldn’t push him away from me. But like most of the time when there was something to benefit, I put my own emotions at the back of the line.
“We haven’t allowed you to leave because there are good reasons. It’s dangerous for example. Anyone of these men could have ended your life if he found out what race you are. And you aren’t capable of hiding in plain sight yet.” I explained calmly which seemed to calm him down somewhat. Smiling brightly like a good dog, he even drew one on my face.
“Why? I made sure to hide my teeth and eyes.” He asked was too quickly in the mood to chatter casually with me.
“How often do I need to tell you that you have to breathe?” I asked a bit annoyed even though I didn’t show it.
“Oh … I …” He mumbled ashamed of himself. I wasn’t that surprised he couldn’t keep it up constantly. Once turned into a ghoul, everyone loses the habit to breathe and doesn’t regain it automatically later on.
Aska had to teach me, Tom figured it out on his own while Albert was taught by either me or Tom whenever we felt like it. He hadn’t figured breathing as a habit yet, which was problematic whenever he needed to deal with humans. Most of them wouldn’t figure out what was wrong, but sometimes they did pick it up subconsciously.
“Albert, I’m honestly disappointed. I told you to stay put …” I said, looking out of the window in disappointment.
“I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.” Did I successfully guilt trip him into doing as I desired? I couldn’t tell for sure, even though I knew he was honest with his apology.
“Good … you are aware you won’t be coming with me to fight the demons?” I asked, presenting him with the fact that he would be useless in battle for the first time.
“What? I thought we would stay together?” Well, he thought that. I had already prepared a lot of blood for him which Hannah had sealed up in bottles.
“Not quite. It’s far to dangerous for you anyways and I do need you to do something for me together with Tom.” The truth was that I only needed Tom to travel to the elven kingdom for me but I didn’t think I could leave Albert alone. But he apparently had other plans altogether and directly voiced his opinion.
“I can help! Someone needs to repair the ho-“
“Enough.” I growled angrily, finally letting my side full of anger shine through for a little bit. “I have been nice to you the whole time, I haven’t asked you to do anything, I have given you my blood time and time again and this is how you return the favour?”
“… I just want to be with you.” He stated which made me avert my gaze because of all the disgust filling my heart.
“But that’s sadly not possible.” Sadly? Honestly, I was rather lucky I could distance myself from him. This way, he maybe could learn to be a little bit more independent.
“But then …” Yeah … we were already rather close to the date we would start our journey of everything went smoothly.
“This is the last night we see each other for who knows how long. Maybe I fall into coma, maybe I’m back after a month … I can’t tell.” It all dependent on wether I’d be successful in rooting out the cause for my problems quickly. Otherwise … I didn’t know what would happen. “But that’s a problem for the future. Today, we live in the present.” I stated, getting rid of my bad mood immediately as the carriage came to a halt.
Gripping the wooden door handle tightly, I opened the door swiftly and jumped out right away. We were in front of a rather unsuspicious tavern, if not for the empty space in front of it. Grabbing the hand of the hesitating Albert, I quickly pulled him out of the carriage as well while laughing happily.
“Stop brooding!” I said and dragged him towards the silent tavern right away. As the door wasn’t even closed properly, I simply kicked against it and revealed the brighter insides. Grinning wildly, I pulled him towards the only table in the middle, currently only in use by Tom and the whore. “We are going to have a party!”
Tom lifted up his mug as soon as we three entered the room and greeted us with a warm smile on his lips.
“Do you know the news? Every dungeon portal leading into purgatory has closed.”
“I. Do. Not. Care. Sebastian three more beer please!” I shouted out to the person standing at the bar, just waiting for our orders.
“Ehm … why aren’t we doing this at the mansion?” Albert asked, very confused as I had just admonished him for going out. The key difference was that there was someone with him this time.
“A good party isn’t held at home!” I exclaimed and threw my arms into the air as the butler bought three mugs filled with exotic beer over.
“Okay … and who is the last person?” Albert asked while Hannah stared deeply into her mug.
“Wait for it … wait for it … and there she is!” I exclaimed and presented them with … empty air. They all looked at me a bit dumbly while I pointed towards the new arrival more and more aggressively.
“They can’t see me …” The goddess glowing in a green light admitted. Well, that made me look kind of crazy … even though the other voices in my head had gone a lot quieter.
“Oh gosh, do I have to do everything? Alloweth these people to seeth h'r truest f'rm. Maketh h'r soul visible to thm in the dunnest of lights. Alloweth reality bendeth 'round me to appeareth in front of thm. Manifest Soul.” I chanted a bit bored, already preparing for the backlash I would receive for attempting to make the goddess of life visible with my magic which was fuelled by the forces of death. Not a great combination, but it did work out in the end and I could even shove most of the burden of the magic over to her once it was completely.
Pinching my bleeding nose a little, I soon noticed the deathly silence around me and looked in everyone’s stunned gaze … except Hannah she still looked in her mug.
“It is an honour to meet you.” Even Tom couldn’t help himself but to woo her right away, which made me quite angry because they never showed that reaction when they saw me.
“You don’t have to be so formal. I’m here as a friend, not as a goddess.” Irminsul said in a gentle voice and smiled brightly.
“Don’t even try to seduce my subordinates.”
“You are … a real goddess. Why … why have I never seen my patron god?” Albert asked while gripping the table tightly. His question was warranted though. I honestly thought there would be some recuperations for turning him into a vampire, but so far, nobody came for my head.
“He … he probably doesn’t care about you or is busy … like so many other gods.” Irminsul admitted shyly, scratching her red cheek absentmindedly.
“And the moral is that the gods don’t care. End of story. Can we start playing now?” I asked, watching in wonder how Hannah picked up her mug and emptied everything in one go. I never took her for that kind of an alcoholic … but oh well.
“It’s board game Saturday!” Irminsul exclaimed happily while the butler put a whole multitude of games onto the table, one of which directly caught my eye.
“Hey Albert … you mentioned that there was some kind of game you played on the spaceship? Some where you roleplayed in a fantasy world?” I asked enthusiastic and pulled out the game ‘Skyscrapers and villas’ our right away.
“Uhm … yeah. Dungeons and dragons.” He admitted, looking at the boardgame crafted by one of his old friends closely.
“Right! I want to play that!” I admitted right away. Imagining to be someone else … that could be fun.
“But … you live in a fantasy world?” He asked which meant that a lot of us were looking at him with question marks all over our faces. We just couldn’t comprehend how Solaris was supposed to be a fantasy world … it was pretty normal after all.
“No we don’t? We’ll just let it take place in your world. I’m a mad atomic scientist!” I exclaimed happily and looked over to Irminsul on my right.
“Doctor.” She said straight away while I unpacked all the stuff in the box.
“Can I have this weapon that spews out metal?” Tom asked right away. As usual, I directly had my suspicious he would hold our whole group hostage by using his weapon, but I already had something planned for that. It would be my secret weapon … the atomic bomb.
“And I’m … I’m …” Hannah muttered, waving towards the butler to get a refill.
“… drunk already?” I asked, completely surprised by the development. We never drunk together before, but I did catch her in a wasted state sometimes before. I always thought this was because she couldn’t stop herself … but it was probably because she got drunk fairly easily which was indeed surprising.
“No … I’m a dragon.” Hannah stated and slammed the mug on onto the table.
“Okay! What about you?” I asked happily and pointed towards the whore which was deep in thought.
“I’m a plane.” She stated with a huge grin on her face.
“What?” Albert asked stunned while I grabbed my chin in thought.
“I’m one of these birds that can fly really fast.” The whore explained, pretty sure about her victory already. She would have an insanely high movement speed by picking that race which could counter my atomic bomb and Tom’s pew pew weapon.
“But that’s not … okay. We have an atomic scientist, a doctor, a dragon, a soldier and a plane …” Albert groaned loudly and grabbed his head in dispair.
“You can make a story with that, can you?” I asked hopeful while ignoring Irminsuls laughter to my side.
“I … I‘ll try.” He said timidly and looked into his mug still filled to the brim.
“Is this your first time drinking alcohol?” I asked as he gripped the handle tightly. As usual, he wasn’t very keen on doing anything remotely immoral which became painfully obvious as he handed the mug back to the butler.
“I don’t think I’m ready for that yet.” Well, I didn’t mind his decision much … but I wouldn’t allow him to be a fun break.
