Travel

I woke up with an uncomfortable feeling; there was something on top of me that prevented me from moving and was pressing down on me with some force. I slowly opened my eyes and saw that both twins were hugging me, and Kharel had a leg draped over my body. Additionally, Nozomi was against my chest, drooling on my shirt. Honestly, I didn't mind this feeling; it felt like I had two little siblings and a very gluttonous cat.

I looked out the window; it seemed like dawn had just broken, so I could guess that I hadn't slept much. I tried to get up, but the weight of both twins had me basically anchored to the bed, and they were both sleeping peacefully. Karen was sleeping very calmly, pressed against my body; I could feel her modest chest on my arm through her bluish nightgown. As for Kharel, he was sleeping with his mouth wide open; he wasn't snoring, but he was breathing heavily. I felt bad, but I should wake them up.

"Guys, it's time to get up," I tried to speak softly, though I sounded like a father waking his children.

The first to react was Karen; she slowly opened her eyes, abruptly released my arm, and turned over. It seemed like her face turned completely red for a moment. Then Kharel woke up, separated from me, and stretched his arms while yawning. Finally, Nozomi simply turned over and gave me her back; it seemed she wanted to keep sleeping.

"Good morning!" Kharel said energetically after finishing his stretch. "What's wrong, sister? Do you want to keep sleeping?"

Karen straightened up but continued to face away from me.

"Good morning..." Yes, from her tone of voice, I would say she was very embarrassed.

"Good morning," I said. I wouldn't bring it up, at least not in front of her brother.

I started poking Nozomi with my finger, which made her stir.

"Five more minutes..." she said in a very sleepy voice.

Finally, Karen turned around, but she did so to pick up Nozomi in her arms. However, halfway through, she stopped while shyly looking at my face, then swallowed hard and quickly grabbed Nozomi. I think it will be difficult to talk to her face to face from now on.

As she was picked up, Nozomi finally opened her eyes and let out a big yawn.

"Good morning," I still don't know how she managed to say those words while yawning, but well, I don't even know if she has vocal cords; maybe she just speaks by magic.

"Let's go!" Kharel said excitedly when he saw that we were all awake. "We have to save the villagers!"

Karen immediately moved to his side and hit him on the head with her staff.

"First, we need to have breakfast, idiot," Karen opened the door to the room and indicated for us to leave. "I need to get dressed; can you wait in the other room?"

She blushed again. I said nothing, grabbed the dagger I had left on the nightstand and the bottomless bag, and left the room. Kharel grabbed his jacket, sword, and shoes and hurried to follow me. When we reached my room, I put on my leather armor while the redhead put on his shoes.

"I plan to stop by the market first," I began to speak. "I would like to buy some breakfast and ingredients to prepare something to eat. Then I'll tell your sister too."

Kharel simply nodded. It's strange; he doesn't seem as euphoric as before. Could it be because of the hit or something on his mind?

After a little while, someone knocked on the door.

"Are you ready yet?" It was Karen.

"Yes, we're ready," I said as I headed toward the door.

The redhead opened the door; she had put on her beige robe and was ready with Nozomi in her arms. Nozomi smiled when she saw me; it seemed she had finally woken up completely.

"Karen," I began to speak, "I was thinking of stopping by the market to buy breakfast, as well as some ingredients for lunch. We don't know how long we'll be on the mission, so I think it would be a good idea."

Karen looked surprised. Did she think I was like her brother?

"I was thinking the same," she said with a smile. "Better safe than sorry, so we should also stop by a store that sells potions. We don't have anyone who can heal, so it could be useful."

I nodded; I should have thought of that. Maybe it's because I have Nozomi, but I'm not too worried about wild wolves.

"Well, let's go," Kharel said, this time in a calmer tone.

I indicated for Nozomi to transform into a normal slime, and when she did, the four of us closed the rooms and went down the stairs. Sol greeted us with a smile, and we returned the gesture. We exited the inn and headed towards the market street, where we stocked up on various pieces of fruit, primarily apples, but we also bought bananas and what appeared to be oranges. Additionally, we purchased four loaves of bread, a couple of potatoes, carrots, and two pork steaks, along with a metal container, a pot to cook everything, four clay bowls, and three wooden spoons. Karen paid for everything; I offered to pay half, but she firmly refused.

"It’s for last night," she said with a smile.

After that, we entered a nearby alchemy shop, where we bought four minor healing potions, costing 50 grim each. A bit pricey, but again, Karen refused when I tried to pay for them. What’s next, am I going to pay for my seat on the carriage?

I said it jokingly, but when we reached the carriage area, we quickly found one that would take us to the village of Reille for only 20 grim per person, and once again, Karen paid for all three of us. I felt like a leech.

The carriage was made of a nice brown wood and was pulled by two brown horses. The man driving it looked to be around 40 years old and was dressed in simple brown clothing with a beret that seemed to hide his baldness. We climbed into the carriage, and the wooden seats were more comfortable than they looked. Karen and Kharel sat together on the right side while I sat alone on the left. We took out the fruits and began to have breakfast.

As we ate, an idea struck me.

"Hey, what if we share what skills we have? As long as it’s not a bother to say, of course. I want to know what you can do so we can decide on a basic formation or what roles we should take on."

"Great idea," Karen said after finishing a piece of apple.

"I'll go first!" Kharel shouted. "As a swordsman, I have a skill called Lunge! I dash at high speed towards an opponent and pierce them with force!" The redhead made exaggerated arm movements as if he were performing the attack.

Karen sighed at her brother's antics and cleared her throat.

"I have a passive skill called Rynne's Blessing, which allows me to use any type of magic with all the power it should have," Karen paused for a moment, thinking. "Since a person normally only has one magical attribute, if they try to use magic that isn't of that attribute, its effectiveness would be lower. This skill ignores that condition."

"Oh," I said, surprised. "Is that why you can use two elements?"

"Yes," Karen raised her hand and let out a small flame. "Fire is my primary element." The redhead extinguished the flame and created a crystal of ice. "And even though ice is its opposite, I can use it too without any loss of power. But of course, I had to learn the basic fundamentals of each element to be able to use them. If in the future I learn from a book or someone teaches me other elements, I could use them without any problem."

That skill seems very overpowered; I guess she will be a very powerful elemental mage in the future. Karen puffed out her chest with pride, probably because my astonished expression showed what I was thinking.

"Also," she continued, "each element follows its pattern of spells, although I think some elements have their exceptions. For now, my fire magic allows me to launch a fireball and create a wall of flames around me to incinerate anyone who gets too close, and with ice magic, I can launch icicles and a strong icy wind in a specific direction. I will learn more as my skills level up."

I think I saw her use almost everything against the rats.

"And do you think I could learn magic?" I asked, hoping for a positive response from her.

Karen thought for a moment.

"Well," she finally said, "normally you can't have more than one job, but you could learn magic. It wouldn't be as effective as a mage's, you just have to discover which element you have an affinity for and have someone teach you the basic fundamentals of that element." Karen fell silent for a moment, and her cheeks turned a bit red. "I could teach you if you have an affinity for fire or ice..."

"And can I find out my affinity?" I decided to ignore Karen's reaction for now; I didn't want to make her more nervous.

"At the adventurer's guild!" Kharel interjected before his sister could answer. "I have an affinity for wind and fire."

"You can also find out at any magic shop," Karen added, "or at a school that teaches magic. The largest magic academy in Londark is on the other continent; it's called Veralia."

That sounds cool, another location to add to the list. But wait, she had said earlier that you could only have one job per person, but I have two. Well, not at the same time, but it seems I can change jobs whenever I want. Is that something that only applies to the reincarnated? For now, I won’t say anything about it.

"Thanks for the information," I said, extending my arms to pick up Nozomi from Karen's lap, and the slime jumped into my hands. "I guess it’s your turn now, Nozomi."

Nozomi nodded.

"I am a blood slime," she began to explain. "As such, I have the typical slime ability of physical resistance and a skill that increases my life regeneration. Additionally, I can use blood magic." Nozomi looked intently at Karen, and her gaze seemed to sadden. Karen simply patted her head. "I can launch a blood sphere, turn my blood into sharp spikes, and finally transform into something or someone from whom I have absorbed some type of fluid, acquiring their biological abilities."

Karen looked amazed; I guess blood mages aren’t very common. Perhaps they are even considered monster jobs.

"As for me," I said, "I have a passive skill called Language Comprehension, which allows me to understand and speak any language, including those of monsters." Karen was left speechless; I know, I think it’s too good too. "And my other native ability is Dark Pact. As I mentioned last night, I can form a pact with another creature, living or dead, and as long as they accept, they will become my companion. It seems I can also form pacts against the will of creatures, but that might fail, and I haven’t tried it yet. For now, my only companion is Nozomi."

I patted the gelatinous head of the slime, and she smiled happily.

"How cool!" Kharel exclaimed. "And if you can form a pact with any creature, you can create an army of slimes, rats, and goblins!"

Karen hit him with her staff again, causing Kharel to let out a small yelp of pain.

"I’ve thought about it once," I said. It would be cool to have something like that, but it probably would only help me at the beginning. "But for now, I can only have four pacts, although I can release my companions from the pact whenever I want. It doesn’t feel right; I prefer to choose companions I want to spend the rest of my life with."

"I like that way of thinking," Karen said as she picked up Nozomi in her arms. "It’s like forming a party of adventurers; you wouldn’t form a party with just anyone. There has to be mutual trust, like us."

Even if our situation was a bit rushed, I decided to keep that thought to myself, so I just smiled before continuing with the explanation.

"Also, this ability grants me half of my companions' stats, and I give them half of mine, and we all receive full experience when defeating enemies, so it’s the upgraded version of tamers."

"Now I understand why you seem so strong," Karen said, stroking Nozomi's head and smiling at me.

"Speaking of tamers," I continued, "the tamer job gives me the ability to increase Nozomi's stats, or well, any monster I control. For now, I only have offensive and defensive boosts."

"The powerful Nozomi can be even stronger!" Kharel leaned closer to Nozomi and pinched what were supposed to be her cheeks, causing her to blush.

"But Nozomi's strength comes from herself," I said. "I don’t contribute much."

Nozomi made a face.

"That’s not true, Master. You give very precise orders and are intelligent."

I was somewhat surprised by Nozomi's comment; I didn’t think it was true, but well.

The four of us continued chatting during the three-hour journey, discussing our likes, our goals, and the twins also talked about their family and life in their hometown. Kharel loves swords and has been practicing with them since he was just four years old. He really enjoys meat and wants to protect his sister from all danger. Karen, on the other hand, loves reading and magic; since her dream was to be an adventurer, she read all kinds of books available in her home library. That’s where she found a grimoire that explained the fundamentals of fire and ice elements and quickly learned them. As for me, I told them I liked traveling and that my dream was to travel around the world. Obviously, I didn’t mention that my hobby is video games and that I would like to create one; such things probably don’t exist in this world. Nozomi said she liked eating and made a list of her favorite foods, which were basically just the ones from the inn and the fruits we had just eaten, and that her dream was peace between humans and monsters, but that she wanted to protect me above all else.

The three hours flew by with our friendly chatter. The coachman signaled us as we approached the village, and we gathered our things, ready to begin our first mission as a team.