Our New Future Together

The following morning, my day kicked off with one hell of a game-changing question. I blinked at Sloane and Dahlian for a few seconds and rubbed my ears. “Sorry, I’m still sleepy,” I mumbled, slowly sitting up on the couch. “Did I hear that right? You guys want to… accompany me on my journey?”

“Yep, that’s exactly it,” said Dahlian, folding his arms. “Intentional or not, Wymond gave me a hint that I could find answers about myself out there. I could join you while we travel around the world!”

“And I… have yet to find a perfect home,” said Sloane. “I’ve been wandering aimlessly since the war, and I still do. Lately, I've also felt motivated to make amends for my past mistakes and aid more people along my journey. Since our goals align, I figured I could come along as well.”

He looked away and scratched his head. “If you’re fine with us, that is.”

“Y-yeah…” Dahlian poked his index fingers together. “You don’t mind… right?”

“You guys…” I stared at these two goofballs and beamed. “Of course, you two can join me! I was honestly thinking of inviting you guys anyway! I guess you two beat me to it first.”

Sloane returned the smile, and Dahlian pumped his fists. “Hell yeah! We’re a solid trio now, haha!”

“What about Ashrenne and Lora?” I asked. “I thought about asking them too, but I’m not sure if they’re willing to travel.”

“Oh, we already asked Ashrenne. She would’ve joined us in waking you up if she’d said yes.”

Sloane nodded. “She has no reason to join us, as you’ve guessed.”

“I see. And Lora isn’t awake yet, huh?” I asked.

“Not yet.”

“Alright then. We’ll wait a little longer for her, and in the meantime, we can get ready to leave.”

“Sounds good!” said Dahlian. “Good thing I planned ahead of time and already packed everything up!”

“You already packed up before asking to join me?!”

“Heh, I don’t need anything but my wits and fists!”

Sloane rolled his eyes and folded his arms. “I’ll only need a single shopping trip to be ready.”

“Gotcha. I’m also planning to stop by Pip’s shop to get supplies. Wanna come along?”

“Of course.”

“What about you, Dahlian?”

“Hmm, I don’t really need anything, but I’ll never say no to free stuff!” he answered.

It was my turn to roll my eyes at him.

Moving on, I pulled out Pip’s key and twisted it like I was opening an invisible door. The key made a little click before a portal carved open. We all eagerly stepped through, finding ourselves back in a familiar, cozy setting.

The fashionable guinea pig hopped onto the counter with an unnecessary frontflip and tipped his hat. “Oh, Haruma! Welcome back to my humble shop, my boy!” he greeted, bowing. “And I see you’ve brought your friends along as well! Welcome, welcome! How may I help you today, gentlemen?”

“We’re looking for some traveling supplies,” I said.

“Ah, planning to travel, are we? Perfect! I’ve got just the supplies you’ll need!”

He swiftly hopped off the counter and zoomed around the shop at lightning speed. One by one, he piled up some high-quality health and mana potions, some rare herbs, a map, a compass, some sleeping bags, a tent, basic tools, and pretty much everything we could possibly need for a comfortable journey.

Dahlian whistled. “Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said you sell lots of stuff for an alchemy shop.”

Pip chuckled. “Yes, I do indeed sell alchemic materials as the shop sign proclaims, but that hardly means I cannot offer other goods. This is but a temporary stop on my travels, nothing more. That is why I gave you that key, so that you can easily find me whenever I move to the next place!”

"Ooh, that makes sense."

I looked over the supplies he sorted out and said, “Seems good enough to me. What do you guys think?”

The elf rubbed his chin. “I don’t really need much besides plenty of mana potions, to be frank.”

Dahlian copied him. “Hmm, I think we’ll be needing more food rations too. Just a hunch.”

“Understood!” Pip bolted away and returned with a couple of more blue potions and additional packs of food.

Dahlian raised a thumbs-up while Sloane nodded. “Perfect,” they both said.

I glanced over the supplies again before something at the corner of my eye caught my attention: a bouquet.

Flowers, huh? That could be a nice gift for Lora.

“I’ll also take that,” I said, pointing at it.

“Oh? Sure thing!” said Pip, adding it to the pile.

“Alright, this is everything,” I said. “So what’s the price?”

Pip chuckled and rubbed his tiny paws. “As per our deal, the price will be a portion of your knowledge of equal value. In this case, these supplies are worth the locations of… let’s say five rift instances somewhere in the southern regions.”

“Five rift instances?!” asked Dahlian. “How the hell can anyone know that?!”

“Rift instances are incredibly difficult to find in the wild,” said Sloane. “To locate not only one but five at a specific location is too much to ask for…!”

“Oh, sure thing,” I casually said. “Do you have a map? I can mark them down for you.”

“Huuuuuh?!” The two gaped at me, utterly dumbfounded.

The guinea pig whipped out a map under the counter and a pen. “Here you go!”

I promptly circled five locations like he’d asked for. I also remembered that things could probably play out differently out there, so I marked two more spots. “I have no way of telling if all these locations will still be up, so just in case, I’ll mark two more.”

“Two more?! Goddamn!” said Dahlian.

“Do we even need a map…?” Sloane asked.

“Alright, done,” I said, returning his stuff.

Pip tipped his top hat. “You’re too generous to offer me two more than I asked for, but I’ll gratefully accept it! Trrrransaction complete! A true pleasure doing business with you, Haruma and friends! Until we meet again!”

With that, we exchanged our farewells with the merchant, returned to our base with our fresh supplies, and began to prepare for the long journey ahead of us.

⮽⮽⮽

That afternoon, I finally had time to stop by and check on Lora, so I visited the hospital branch of the church and received permission from the doctors to enter her room.

I habitually knocked on the wooden door, fully expecting her to still be asleep, so imagine how high my heart leapt when she actually responded with, “Come in.”

I pretty much slammed the door open, gawking at her. “Lora?! You’re awake?!”

Lora, who sat up in bed and stared out through the windows, jolted. “Oh, Haruma! You’ve surprised me! I thought you were a doctor checking up on me!” She sighed and patted her chest. “Yeah, I woke up earlier today, hehe. Good morning—er, afternoon.”

“How are you feeling? Are you hurt anywhere? No more funny voices bothering you?”

“Whoa, c-calm down! I’m perfectly okay now!”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, definitely sure! Though, if anything…” She looked away and massaged her shoulder. “All my magic is gone.”

I widened my eyes. “H-huh? What? Gone? Your healing magic and everything?”

She smiled with that reassuring look as always. “Yep, it’s all gone. When The Doll Maker severed my link with Florathea, it removed everything that connected me to her, which included the magic she blessed me with. So, I’m just a normal, free girl now, hehe.”

“I see… I guess that makes sense, considering it was those powers that got you possessed in the first place, right?”

“Yeah…” She pouted and folded her arms. “Hmph, I can’t believe that goddess would stoop so low for that! So unforgivable!”

I sighed and nodded. “She really is… I’m just glad you’re okay now.”

“Aw, you’re always too kind, Haruma…” She shyly looked down. “Huh? Those flowers…”

“Oh, uhh, these were meant as a gesture, like a wish for your speedy recovery. I guess it wasn’t needed after all…”

Her gaze didn’t leave the bouquet. “Haruma, in your visions, did you… give me flowers before?”

“Huh? No…?” Now that I remember it, there was never an option to give Lora flowers in the RPG’s rapport system… Yikes, maybe I should’ve gifted her something else! “S-sorry, do you not like flowers…?”

“Eh? N-no, that’s not it. It just… reminds me of certain memories…”

I tilted my head.

Lora shyly picked a pink rose from the bouquet and raised it to her nose, and with a warm smile, she said, “I thought… I’d never pick a flower ever again, so…. thank you so much for this gift, Haruma.”

I blinked at her, still unsure what she meant. But, as long as it made her happy, then that was more than enough for me. So, I returned the smile. “Yeah, welcome back, Lora.”