Final push

“You two didn’t behave to each other… I don’t even know how to feel if angry, proud or kicking your father out… you never told me about anything about this Ryuzaki, Elizabeth, Norwin”

“Ouch!”

Rose was cleaning our wounds as she held a mixed expression on her face, we were all being scolded by her, and Norwin didn’t even know what to say but stayed silent the whole time.

“There’s no point in asking you after you went through this, sweetie, but, are you sure you want to go on an adventure?”

“I gave up on that when dad sounded really excited about it… I knew she wouldn’t let me but I didn’t want his dreams overflowing…”

“That’s nonsense, I would never dare to go again to explore if that mean leaving the two of you behind”

“But you did love to go on adventures didn’t you, darling?”

“That’s…”

“There is no point in hiding, Mr. Norwin… tell them the truth…”

Norwin sat down and he took out his sword.

“Look at this”

“Your sword?” —Rose was confused.

“When a sword is left without maintenance, it gets rusty, with cracks but…”

“You always keep your sword sharp…”

Norwin nodded and he saved his sword in the sheath.

“I always remember my days when I went outside to slay monsters, discover secrets and hunting treasures, but those times are over now, I do keep my sword ready because of nostalgia but I have another reason too, this sword now has another task besides being a memento, this sword is to protect all of you”

“Darling…”

“It pains me to let my daughter go out but… if she wants to do it for a long time, and if she tries her best to keep her feelings hidden… What am I supposed to do as a father?... letting you go or keeping you in here… I will not live forever, and you need to make your own life, sweetheart”

Norwin coughed a bit and passed saliva down his throat.

“Dad…”

“You surprise a lot today, you never gave up full to your dream, you train when we weren’t looking, you have a nice technique but not as good yet, neither does Ryuzaki, but… if he is with you, I can make sure he will keep you safe”

Elizabeth stood up and ran to her dad hugging him in tears.

“You are going to make me cry to… come on, Elizabeth…”

Norwin put her face on the shoulder of her daughter while Rose held her chest with some tears in her eyes, I could just smile while looking at the scene. After Elizabeth left her dad, Rose approached her husband and his full face turned red while Rose laughed with her hand in her mouth.

Elizabeth and I looked at each other and she just raised her arms while I put my hand in my face, with that, the night ended with a nice dinner and some pain. I was sleeping when I heard a knock on my door and opened, there was Elizabeth with a nightie and a coat covering her.

“What is it?... Are you having problems sleeping?”

She nodded and took my hand.

“Come with me outside…”

I was surprised and sleepy so I could just nod, when we went to the backdoor and sit in the grass observing the stars. I was trying to wake up while Elizabeth looked at the sky.

“Ryuzaki, you think we can make a good team?”

“Why do you ask all of a sudden?”

“My mind is tricking me… I finally have the opportunity to go and live adventures… and now… I am doubting if it is a good idea…”

I sigh and look at the sky, throwing my whole body to the grass.

“When I came here, I was really a nobody, and I am still a nobody, even in my place I was a nobody… I wanted to give up on everything after the king kicked me out, I thought I had a one in a million chance to make myself an easy life with royalties but… that was just a dream… but now I have the opportunity to be someone or at least try…”

“You are a nobody, Ryuzaki… you made our business run better, you made my father’s wish come true and you gave me the opportunity to go into new places… You are… special… for us… for me…”

“Yeah, I feel that I didn’t do anything, you were all like this, it is me that-“

“Stop, I don’t want to hear it, I hate when you act like that”

Elizabeth hold my cheeks and look at me directly in the eyes

“When are you going to realize how amazing you are? You may think that you just gave us a small push but without that push, we would stay the same, I am not going to tell you that without you our lives would be miserable but you did help us… a lot… so believe it, you can be proud of yourself, Ryu…”

I looked into Elizabeth’s eyes, I saw the shining of the stars reflected in the void of her pupils, my own image, I looked at the other side and smiled.

“Elizabeth, I swear I will protect you with my life in line… I will not let anybody harm you, and if someone does, they would regret it for the rest of the miserable lives”

“Ryu…”

Elizabeth smiled and nodded, she stopped holding me and looked at the stars again.

“Every time I feel uneasy, I step outside to feel the cold breeze and the look of the stars, it made me think a lot, that… in a bit of time, I will be again looking at me, as I will the best version of myself”

“You really are quite the romantic, aren’t you?”

“Don’t ruin the moment, Ryu”

I laughed and kept looking at the stars for a little bit. Elizabeth stood up and cleaned the grass out of her clothes, I did the same and we went inside to get more sleep.

“Goodnight, Ryu”

“Night, Elizabeth”

Elizabeth nodded and she opened the door of her room, when I was about to enter my room I heard footsteps approaching and I was put against the wall while I heard a warm feeling touch my chick, Elizabeth kissed me on the chick and she ran back to her room.

I couldn’t move and I could just say it was: “Eh?”

I went into my room and looked at the ceiling for almost an hour without being able to sleep and with my hand on my chick. Thanks to the tiredness I could fall asleep. When I woke up, we had a normal breakfast and before it was time to open the restaurant, we were getting ready to go out, I had my equipment and armor with me, along with a backpack with some food and tools.

Elizabeth was ready too, she was wearing a leather armor with a skirt and wearing armor under it, covering her whole legs, her lance was big, almost double her size, when we were about to leave, Elizabeth was talking with her mom.

“Are you sure you two can keep up?”

“Sweetie don’t worry, we got this, I know your father only works in hunting and all the hard work but he would need to know how to make at least one sandwich, right, darling?”

“Yeah, yeah…”

“He doesn’t seem too happy” —I said.

“I just…”

Norwin was holding her nose with her fingers and then approached us, he hugged me and patted my back.

“I know you have a father you love, but for me… you were like a son in this time too”

“I’m sorry I cannot think of you as my father, sir… but I do think of you as my friend… and if you see me as your son, I have no complaints about that either… thank you for everything”

Norwin smiled and he patted my head and stroked my hair, he then saw Elizabeth.

“You are my greatest treasure in the world, sweetheart, my only daughter, and my whole pride… be careful, okay? I will always miss you and always love you”

“I will miss you too dad, and mom… I love you, both of you… thank you…”

Elizabeth kissed her father and her mom in the chick while holding some tears and then she stepped outside with me.

“I’m leaving!”

“Take care!”

Norwin and Rose move her hands while shouting encoring words, I look at Elizabeth and she was cleaning her tears.

“Quite sentimental, huh?”

“Shut up, Ryu, you are a crybaby too, don’t you?”

“Yeah, hahaha”

We both laughed and walked towards the commercial district, the guild was a few miles away, and we stood outside of it.

“This is where our true journey begins”

“Ready?”

“I was born ready, let’s go”

We smile to each other and entered the guild, ready for our first mission