16. New departure & new horizons? - Book 2 - Utopic romantic comedy

All I wanted was a normal and simple life.

But now that the entire world knew who I was, there was no more peace!

It was the best way I could think of to save the world, but still.

Now every day there was a queue of people wanting to meet me everywhere I went.

As much as I loved everyone, living in a castle or new temple like a celebrity wasn’t for me.

But everyone knew my names and face now!

I was happy to help people and countries, and I’d even publish books for that. I spent my year following the saving of the world doing that mostly.

It was a weird time.

But fame and expectations... No way! It was worse than from my previous life!

So I wanted to escape. Which Gwynifar and Quinn wouldn’t so easily let me do.

Maybe I could go to another continent, but I would probably be known out there anyway.

There was nowhere on Earth to go where I wouldn’t be recognised.

Unless...

S - Hey nanites, could you help me put on a spell that would change my appearance?

N - Of course! Like your previous Yuu self? Or something else?

S - Well... At least I would be taller, but... Hmmm...

It was not easy to choose? I needed more than a mirror.

N - On it!

The nanites rebuilt a Robot-Silvia in front of me before I could say anything.

They didn’t ask for a confirmation from me this time.

It was a little spooky to look around oneself like a doppelganger. They did help me well with that before.

Although I could tell the nanites are maybe a little too eager to play with that form.

The replicant inspected her appearance, that copied even my clothes and hairstyle to perfection, for now.

RS0001 - So you want to change your appearance in a way that you won’t be recognised. But unsure how?

S - Yes. Could you show me my Yuu form if you still have data of it?

The Robot-Silvia transformed, growing taller, hair falling in a cleaner shape, turning clean black. Her clothes adjusted themselves along, and her voice too.

RS0001 - Is it good?

S - Hmmm... It’s taller, and nostalgic in many ways, but, it’s not really blend-in around here. Maybe I’ll keep it in mind if were to return to Japan someday.

I never tried, because I wouldn’t know anyone anymore.

Like the comfy pyjama you don’t dare showing to anyone. It was a little weird talking about my past life appearance like that. But I had the power to bring it back now.

I no longer had my override key, but I still had a high level of authority.

And if I showed it to my friends, they might get it’s the past me. So I kept it in mind.

But for returning on adventures as an anonymous wandering knight, I needed something more normal... More... Average.

Damn you machine-god! You tricked me!

I spend the night trying different appearances with the Robot-Silvia, and then two of them to compare different sizes, shapes, facial features and so on.

It was like playing doll but in virtual reality... In real virtual reality, really. Well.

One of the Robot-Silvias from the nanites suggested a more androgynous body type, like Aster (sorry Aster), saying it would blend better in the crowds of both men and women.

I guessed that was true, but... I had a chance to feel better about, you know... Looking more womanly.

Another Robot-Silvia suggested even a male body, imagining what I would look like as a boy.

Oh my. Okay it made my heart pound in a weird way to see that beautiful boy with short unruly light pink hair smiling at me, but no! It was wrong! It was very wrong! Change it back!

S - I’m beginning to think you’re having a little too much fun with this, nanites...

N - OF COURSE!

At least they were happy...

I left the multiple Robot-Silvias experiments to sleep like dolls in a corner of the room for the night.

I was still undecided.

I went to sleep, still hearing a little the distant crowd surrounding my place.

I didn’t want to be an idol you know...

I’ll pick a random new appearance in the morning, and escape, it was decided!

Then I could restart as an adventurer, and this time go further around the world. And I could be good on my own, settling anywhere nice and living easily, quietly. I would miss my friends, but we had mostly been separated since the end.

Then all I would need is to adopt a few nekomimi and I might live on in bliss.

I could later invite my dear friends of Trinity and Radiant Firebond to visit. If they can escape their own celebrity as well...

Well, the bright side was, there were options!

And I was going to find my way.

Since that trickster God got me well... It was up to me.

S - I’ll be counting on you, nanites!

N - Delighted to oblige!

~

I had already given enough instructions to the nanites and the dragons to better cooperate with each other, along with the other open-minded species. So the fate of the countries hadn’t changed really, however there was a new sense of unity still lingering.

And if a new invasion were to start in the future, it will be detected by the nanites, transmitted to the dragons and civilisation.

So at the first sign of distortion, they would be ready to pour enough fire to melt everything there, making the tunnel land over a pit of fire. Anything crossing over will now fall straight to hell.

This was unlikely, but still a precaution.

Because I was still a bit puzzled about that end.

I had deactivated the system from the future, which had ended about everything but...

I still had a cautious perspective, wondering if that had really been the end.

So with my help, the long lasting forces now in place knew what to do, and the words of the machine god were turning more clear to the dragons to help secure that peace. I had increased the authorisation of Eczar and Basileus to that end. Yes, I was cheating a little, but the nanites were happy about it truly.

They had more people to chat with now.

And the world was safe from any extra-dimensional invasion now. Period.

You’re welcome.

Sometimes I looked at the sky, wondering about Mars. Because that sight on the other side had made me feel something about it.

But now I just wanted to live my happy and anonymous life...

Unfortunately if gods were unhelpful, humans didn’t make it easy either.

~

In the morning, I checked my messages.

A while back, I experimented with the portal technology the nanites actually had the power to create. I tried to use it to move not through time, but through space.

It was energy intensive, but it worked.

And I teleported before my friend as a test one day. Orea, Felicia and Dominika spat their tea in terror when they saw me pop out of nowhere.

This power was broken and it terrified them, but Felicia wasn’t scolding me too bad.

F - Geez, miss Siline, it seems I’ll have to look after you for the rest of my life...

S - Eh?

I was blushing, Orea and Dominika holding their breath along. Felicia suddenly realised how she just sounded and became red.

F - N... Not like that! I’ll have to watch over so you don’t keep making such terrible mistakes again! Wherever you settle, I’ll come to watch for that! Just that!

S - Ah... Ah ah.

That sounded worse, but I was still happy to have her.

So after discussing how the shared portals technology could be used in a reasonable manner, I decided to open a kind of shared item box, just to share mails or little things between us.

Nanites were ready to open an internet telecommunication system for us, including voicemail and ringtones, and even holo projection for us, but I had to reign them down.

Ever since the invasion was stopped, some of the nanites felt they had accomplished their duty and were even more hungry for excitement than they had been before. That was saying something.

Good thing I was not the manager, otherwise they would have been tempting me even more than the humans for using my powers I think. God why? WHY.

The local groups of nanites were just getting rowdy, and I had to refuse their wild ideas of amusement. They enjoyed the end of the threat in a form of wider awakening that was a bit heavier on me lately.

Anyway, I was feeling tired when I was the one who had to slow the nanites from being reckless, so I kind of understood how my Trinity might feel about me...

I’ve been a joyful bother to them, hm?

So anyway, we now had a small shared teleportation space that was only meant for sharing urgent mails between the seven of us. We all checked it regularly.

I opened it to the Radiant Firebond as well, since at this point nothing I could do would shock them anymore, and it was useful. Since we couldn’t stay in the same place for too long anymore, or it would cause a panic, the four members of the Radiant Firebond shared that as well as we split up.

All seven of us were split apart across a few countries, but we were still connected through this astounding technology...

C - It’s like we’re the seven sages of the new era now.

That was Cécile’s first mail addressed to everyone in there.

I guessed she had a point.

Why did I seem to hear the nanites chuckling and squirming however?

~

That was a while ago, and we’ve exchanged many insignificant or funny mails all over since then.

A waste of an astounding power again said Felicia. She was too serious.

But that morning, before I could choose the appearance I would take for my new hidden life, I found a worrying mail from Aster.

A - I couldn’t do it. I’ve escaped from home. I’ll be living in hiding in the forest on the Alps frontier.

She did it before me! Asteeer! Why! She couldn’t take being famous any more than I!

J - I think there’s more than that, but, I’m coming to see you, wait for us Aster.

Cécile and I agreed. Our friend had something troubling her. The Radiant Firebond would meet her there as soon as possible.

Alps were a rather distant place in an inhospitable part of the old European Union. The Empire had been abolished in the wake of the disastrous invasion, but the Union remained.

So in our time, remote areas like the heights of the chain of Alps remained mostly uninhabited. In places where one could near the borders of a few countries too tired to check and on friendly terms, one could probably hide rather easily.

We had discussed bits about it in the past, so we had some idea of areas where at least three countries meet, where to seek.

A little pissed off that she beaten me to that wish to start anew, I went ahead in a rush. No time to choose a new average skin. (As a hero, my look was now legendary rank gacha.)

S - Robot-Silvia, take my place here until I return! But no big show and no wild outing!

RS0001 - Yes Ma’am! Happy to serve!

The copy of me as was am now saluted me with a bright smile, and just went to lie down and sleep on the bed like a lazy cat. Is that how I look... Insulting. But now was not the time. Let’s meet and help Aster!

I jumped out in the night, and flew with my various spells toward the Alps mountain range. A wide area so wild, basically so deserted that no one knew exactly where the boundaries were set.

And no one cared.

It was a strange region, because roads had been abandoned a long time ago, there were no path, no villages, only wild mountains.

Why would Aster head there, so far from her family or her own domain?

Except if... Yeah, she just was overwhelmed by her celebrity.

She shone on the battlefield on that day. Like all of us, she shed her anonymity and used the most of her power facing the monsters and sharing our knowledge.

She had not been an official knight at the time, but had obviously been rewarded as such in the outcome, by her country and others. And by me.

Showing her prowess and spirit to the world, that was the start to a level of celebrity our shy and kind Aster couldn’t cope with for so long.

Poor Aster. She became not a knight, but far beyond in one go. I felt for her, and I knew what it’s like to go too far, and suffer the consequences.

(F - That’s because you never learn!

S - Shut up Felicia!)

So I flew over the countries to reach that remote place in the shortest time.

Too little time...

I think I arrived days before Aster would ever reach this place.

Duh!

If I went over the old roads she might have taken, we might miss each other. So I guessed I’d wait for her around there in the wilderness.

Well... At least, in these mountains, no one would bother me either for a while...

Nice!

~