UnfortunateHobbyist

Today's chapter was sponsored by COVID-19. Really made writing INTERESTING. Enjoying that brain haze!

Today’s been a lot more intense than I thought it would be.

It started normally enough, but then went all kinds of weird from there. Not only did the guards show their true colors, but so did this entire village. And I became acutely aware of the situation in this kingdom.

Avilia and I are finally out from the adventuring guild and are standing outside together. The guards seem to have been taken away, and the streets are as quiet as they were before their arrival.

A sigh of relief.

Avilia grabs my hand, and we start to slowly walk towards the inn.

There are so many things I want to talk about with her. But I think I should keep those things to myself until we’re alone in our room.

“That sure was something,” she says, looking at me with that adorable smile of hers.

While I wholeheartedly disagree with Karine’s way of doing things, she really knows what to say to make me consider what she has to say. I mean, fully magical replacement arms and legs? I hadn’t even really thought about that as an option yet. I had only barely started to worry about the chance of losing the ones I have now!

I do wonder if she even fully grasps the danger she’s exposing us to? Now, okay. Just being seen as non-human is bad in this country and it’s not like I could stay entirely removed from all this thanks to that fact alone. But how long will it take until we’ll have to contend with serious threats to our lives? Assassins and the like?

“It sure was,” I reply. “I can’t believe I’m now being sold as a ‘summoned hero’ to the rebellion. She did it with no warning.”

“It was rather surprising to say the least, given what I remember hearing about your conversations with Karine from you,” Avilia says, ”Why did you not object to it more strongly?”

“I mean, I intended to. I fully intended to burn that bridge. She went too far.” I sigh. “But I realized I wasn’t thinking about it too rationally, either. We’re already marked because we’re ‘elves.’ And regardless what I could’ve said to her, I’d still be marked as a ‘summoned hero,’ too. It’s better to have all the help she promised for doing this rather than not, I think.”

“But this war still has very little to do with us,” she objects, ”Could we have not just tried to stay out of it?”

“I don’t see how. The guards went for you the moment they saw you. They obviously really don’t like people they deem non-human.”

I look at the sky. It’s starting to get darker. “And honestly, I felt like the moment she told them that I’m a ‘hero,’ no amount of objections would’ve changed a thing. It would’ve just made the others think I’m a coward or something.”

I turn back to her for a moment. “Not that I care about being thought of being a coward, mind you. But I doubt I’d be left alone either way if everyone else thinks I’m a summoned hero.”

I do wonder if there’s some method of finding out if someone’s truly a summoned hero or not. There has to be one, right? Otherwise, couldn’t any old kook claim to be one? But, if there was one, then surely the reincarnations would also be found…

I look at Avilia again.

Oh. Right. She knew from the beginning I was here. Maybe that has been the method? Ask the elves?

“You wouldn’t happen to know how they make sure summoned heroes are the real deal, would you?”

She looks at me with confusion in her eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what if their hero didn’t appear where they were supposed to? How’d they know whoever’s claiming to be the hero is the hero?”

“Well,” she starts, looking ahead, “First they go for a visual confirmation. Clothes, behavior, how they speak, things like that. Usually that is enough to determine if a person is indeed a summoned hero or not.”

“What about situations where that’s not enough?“

“Why, they would put them through all kinds of inane trials. And sometimes they would try to seek us out. Of course, all we would tell them if that person is an outworlder or not. Not what kind of an outworlder they are.”

That’s strange.

“Shouldn’t that then mean that you would’ve been able to tell them about the reincarnations?”

She nods. “Yes, of course. We could have.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“They never asked,” she says rather matter-of-factly, “At least in the parts of the world I knew of.”

She looks at me. “You have to understand, those were rules imposed upon us by our own leaders. We were not allowed to divulge anything more than we were asked to retain positive relations with the natives. It was not our place to make them aware of a few people they are actively ignoring to this day.”

“Alright. Let’s just leave it at that.”

So that means, if asked, Avilia’s people would’ve just confirmed their suspicions. Nothing more, nothing less. Figures. Of course, according to her, she’s the only one of her kind left in these parts. I doubt they could’ve found any if she didn’t accompany me. But knowing even that…

I doubt I could shake the notion from people’s heads once it’s gotten there. Thanks, Karine. You really didn’t leave me much option but to go with your plans, huh. At least she seems to remain aware enough of my weaknesses so she won’t be trying to send me on any suicide missions.

Just someone to rally behind, huh?

Well, at least my energy issues are looking way less dire! During the day, I made some adjustments to the method I converted magic to power, and it’s ever so slightly more efficient. And it goes without saying that the cloak’s solar energy array is proving to be very useful. I was surprised how easy it was to convert the power used by the cloak to something usable by my augmentations. It still won’t cover everything, but it’s something.

“I might actually live through my power problems.”

“Hmm?” Avilia turns to me, looking worried. “What do you mean?”

…? “What?”

“You said something about power problems?”

“… I said that out loud?”

She nods. “Yes, you definitely did. Please, tell me what is wrong.”

I feel my stomach sink. I had been trying to keep it a secret so I wouldn’t worry her, and now I accidentally told her anyway.

Well, better now that two weeks ago, I guess. But this isn’t how I wanted to do this.

Not that I can think of a way I would’ve preferred telling her. There just never seemed to be a good time.

“You know how I have augmentations, right?”

“Yes, of course. They are integral to your functioning as a person.”

“Well, there’s one thing I never told you about.” I don’t want to say this. But I have to. I can’t keep her in the dark forever. “I’ve been running on limited battery power all this time. And no matter how much I try to preserve it, I’m slowly but surely running out of power.”

She looks shocked, but seems to be taking this okay.

“… How long do you have?”

“At current rate of consumption,” I say as I look at the estimate, “around two and a half months, give or take a week. The estimate got a bit fuzzier with Karine’s upgrades to my arms.”

She looks a little bit relieved. Still worried, but not as much.

“At least you still have time! Why did you not tell me?”

“I wanted to…”

“… deal with it yourself, am I right?”

I nod. She sure knows me!

“You do realize we both utilize technology that uses electricity, right? This is a thing I definitely can help with.”

I nod again. Of course, she’s absolutely right. “Yes, I know. In fact, I found a way to use the cloak’s power for my augmentations. I haven’t had the chance to give it a good try yet, though. I figured it’d be better to leave that for emergencies.”

“Not a bad idea,” Avilia says with an approving tone. “But that does not remove your need to recharge your batteries. It seems so far you have only found ways to slow down their use, not fully stop it, let alone recharge them.”

“Right. Considering just one emergency took half of my charge already…”

“What?”

… I didn’t tell her yet, did I.

I’m going to have to. No point hiding any of it at this point.

“Remember when I told you about having to run out from the forest? How I used my augmentations for it?”

“Yes, I remember.”

“Well, that run? It took out three months out of the original six month estimate of how long I had until I’m out of charge.”

Well, now she looks even more worried!

“You really should have told me sooner.”

“I know, I just didn’t want to worry you with my own troubles.”

She sighs. “It is appreciated. But this is something I could have helped with from the very beginning. And would have, gladly.”

I know. But she knows how I am, too…

She stops in front of me, snapping me out of it. I realize we’re close to the inn.

She smiles. Her face is so close to mine. “We can talk about everything when we get inside.”

But before we do that…

I raise my right hand to her cheek and lean in.

We hadn’t kissed yet, had we?