As Luck Would Have It

AWAKEN

Just a few more minutes… I finally have a day off.

AWAKEN

Human? Oh. Another dream. Maybe I should wake up. That last one was a bit much.

WOULD ABANDON MY DAUGHTER?

Your daughter? Why is that my responsibility? You're her mother, aren't you?

THAT IS YOUR ROLE

Ha! You're funny. How could I have a daughter? I've never even dated, let alone slept with anyone. Stop trying to push your responsibilities on me.

SPEAK HER NAME

I told you, I don't know! You're as annoying as Yahime!

"Yahime?"

AWAKEN

"Wait, wasn't that all… Then Yahime is… Where is she?! Is she safe? Who are you? Where did you take me?!"

A sea of clouds pulsing with the orange glow of the setting sun surrounded me. The afterlife? That's right. I jumped… no. I was turned into a kebab by Ajax!

"Take me back! I don't care who you are or what you want, take me back!"

YOU WILL TAKE RESPONSIBILITY?

"Yes! I don't care what it is, just send me back! Yahime is in danger!"

PROTECT THE CHILD

MY BLOOD, YOUR HEART

MY BLESSING

A vaguely familiar ceiling greeted me when my eyes snapped open.

Yahime!

Kicking and flailing the blanket covering me off, I rolled and fell out of the bed. Every part of me ached, fluctuating between numbness and agony with every move I made. It didn't matter. I had to get back. I had to

ALERT

PACT WITH FAMILIAR YAHIME HAS BEEN REFORGED

ALERT

NEW SKILLS UNLOCKED:

[APOSTLE] [WILL OF THE EMPRESS] [PERFECT SIGHT] [VIDE'S GRACE] [KISS OF THE VOID]

ALERT

[EARTH MAGIC (NOVICE)] HAS EVOLVED TO [EARTH MAGIC (EXPERT)]

NEW MAGIC UNLOCKED:

[YOZORA MAGIC]

"I don't care!" I screamed. "I need to save Yahime!"

"kyomi?"

My heart froze and thawed in a breath. Had she been standing in front of me the whole time? It didn't matter. Neither did the pulsing pain in my gut. She was alive. I was alive. I threw my arms around Yahime and squeezed her to be sure. Her body stiffened in response, only relaxing when I rested my head against her chest.

"What happened? The last thing I remember was Ajax…"

I clenched my jaw when I remembered what had transpired. No matter how I looked at it, I should have been dead. My flashing red health bar was evidence of that. But why was it fluctuating between one and two HP?

"Lady Yahime saved you," Lucinda's voice chimed from the doorway. The old rabbit's face looked tired and she leaned against the door frame for support. "We thought you'd passed on, but she never gave up."

"Ajax?"

She ran her finger across her throat.

"You killed him?" I asked Yahime. "I thought you… I'm sorry… You killed him because of me."

A mixture of emotions that weren't my own coursed through me. Yahime's emotions. Joy. Regret. Pride. Anger. It was a bubbling cauldron of uncertainty, the turmoil of someone who didn't know how they should or actually felt.

"protect family… protect kyomi."

I nodded, considering the proper response. Praise? Another apology?

"Thank you."

I hugged Yahime tighter, only letting her go when I remembered Lucinda.

"And thank you, too. I assume you were the one who bandaged me?"

"Of course," the old woman chuckled. "I could hardly abandon the savior of Stonewood."

Savior of Stonewood. That title belongs to Yahime, not me. I didn't do anything.

"I'm glad the village is safe. Richard didn't attack with the gate destroyed?"

"Oh he wanted to. He was livid when he saw that brute's headless body. Had a whole entourage with him, mostly bandits who abandoned him when they saw their chief dead."

"Serves them both right. I just wish I could have seen the bastard's face. He hates to lose."

Lucinda nodded. "Don't we all. But why don't you rest some more. You must be starved. You haven't eaten in days."

I sat down on the bed and leaned against the wall. Days just to wake up. How many more before I could move around without being in agony again? Could I speed up the process with [HEALING TOUCH]?

ALERT

[HEALING TOUCH] CANNOT BE USED ON TARGETS AFFLICTED WITH [MORTAL WOUND].

"One more thing to worry about. Fantastic."

I opened my status window to take inventory of my status changes. All of my stats were cut in half and several debuffs were listed. [MORTAL WOUND] was particularly nasty, negating most healing spells and skills and draining my HP. The only reason I wasn't dead was because of my new skill [VIDE'S GRACE].

[VIDE'S GRACE]

CANNOT BE KILLED BY ORDINARY MEANS.

Vague as usual. At least it's a passive skill rather than a buff like [SECOND CHANCE] was. I wish I knew what constituted "ordinary means", though. Hopefully I won't be in a situation where I have to find out. Where did I get these new skills from anyways?

"Lucinda said you saved me. How?"

Yahime's eyes flickered and a surge of unease poured into me.

"share... power…"

"What?" I rested my hand on my abdomen. Just touching it should have had me doubled over in pain, yet it was completely numb. "What does that mean?"

"I think it means exactly what she said," Taro answered from the doorway. He brought a wooden bowl of soup and set it on the nightstand. "Mother is resting in my room and asked me to bring this."

"Thanks. But I still don't understand."

"Take your bandages off."

I hesitated for a moment before unwrapping the cloth. With each layer I unwound, the more nervous I became until I finally saw what he meant. The area of my stomach that should have been a hole was completely black and numb to the touch. The area on my back was the same.

"After Lady Yahime killed the bandit chief she rushed to you, telling everyone you were still alive. We didn't believe her at first, but mother decided we should at least try. The issue was pulling the spike out of you was going to spill your insides out."

I'd heard something similar in the past. A coworker had bled out from pulling a knife out of her stomach after a stalker attacked her.

"Then how?"

Taro nodded towards Yahime.

"She held her hand on the wound while we removed the spike. Something black filled the hole and after that we brought you back here and cared for you."

"Yahime?"

"share… power…"

She said that already. That explains my new skills. She really did save me in the end.

"Thank you," I said to Yahime again. I had a feeling I'd be saying it to Yahime a lot going forward. "Anything else happen while I was out?"

The rabbitman shook his head.

"Nothing of note. The bespectacled human hasn't shown up since the attack and we've already started repairs on the gate. The biggest challenge has been keeping the villagers away from you."

"Does that have something to do with being the "Savior of Stonewood"?"

He grinned. "Sure does. The children have been the hardest to keep away. They practically worship the two of you."

I wasn't sure how to feel about that. I couldn't remember the last time anyone had appreciated something I'd done. There was Bixey. Other than her, I hadn't received sincere thanks since university.

"I'll visit them soon. For now I'll take your mother's advice and get some rest."

"Just let me know if you need anything."

He left with a casual wave, leaving me alone with Yahime again. I wanted to talk with her, ask her everything on my mind, about the fight, about the emotions pouring out of her. But exhaustion was winning out.

I managed to eat a few bites of the soup Taro had left before falling back onto the bed. Richard was still out there, coming up with new schemes to get the Essence Stones hidden somewhere in the mountains. But he could wait.

"Hey, Yahime," I said. My speech was slurred with fatigue and I pulled the blanket partly over me, leaving the part closest to the edge pulled back. "Come lay down with me."

"don't sleep..."

"That's alright. You'll just be standing there anyways, won't you? I'll… I'll just feel safer if you're closer."