Resolved for Now

In the town hall, which was mostly closed by this point since it was late in the evening, Victoria and Sarah were waiting for Lena, Yuna, and Maxim to meet up with them. The two of them had heard about Lena’s near-death experience after having received a telephone call at town hall from a local doctor that the trio had stopped at to get checked out, and they were both worried. Victoria in particular was restless, pacing back and forth as she talked to herself. “How did she… She almost got herself killed?! How?! How does someone like her almost lose a battle?! I can’t believe it!”

Then, the front door to the town hall opened up. As soon as Lena stepped in, Victoria bear-hugged her, grateful to hear that she had survived. She told her most loyal comrade and best friend, “Victoria…”

“Thank God you’re safe, Lena! I was so worried after the doctor called me!” She then separated from her and asked her, “How are you feeling?”

“I’m still shaken up by it,” Lena admitted. “But… I’ll be okay. I’m still here, and that’s the most important thing. Besides…” She then showed off a bag of pelt parts she had collected. “We managed to kill a good chunk of them, including that one giant monster wolf that nearly killed me.”

“That’s what I like to hear.” Victoria then looked at Maxim and said in a more humorous and cheerful tone, “So I heard you used your powers for the first time.”

“I did,” he replied. “I’m just as shocked as you probably are. Lena’s even more shocked given how powerful they apparently are. I have no idea how I did it. All I know is that it happened.”

“Like I told Sarah,” Victoria explained. “It just happens. The first few times, you won’t know how to do it, but over time, you’ll figure out how to do it on command.”

“Wait,” Yuna then said, interrupting Victoria. “What about Sarah?!”

“That’s right,” Sarah replied as she got up from the bench she had been sitting on. “I unlocked powers tonight, too. I talked it over with Victoria before you guys got here, and I’m gonna start being a monster hunter.”

“That’s so cool!” Yuna and Sarah then celebrated by hugging each other, both of them excited by what had happened. “I bet you looked amazing out there fighting those monster wolves, Sarah!”

“I was pretty fucking awesome, I’d say,” she boasted.

“Now, now,” Lena corrected her with a warm smile. “I wouldn’t go boasting just yet. You did only just start doing this today, so you still have a lot to learn, Sarah.”

As the girls kept talking among themselves about what had happened while celebrating Sarah’s start as a monster hunter, Maxim smiled. So far, it seemed, everything had begun to work out. Compared to the rather depressing ending of the episode and chapter that Lena’s death had originally occurred in, the quote-unquote ‘ending’ of this storyline had been far more hopeful.

…

On the train ride back home, Lena and Maxim sat next to each other, with Victoria sitting across from them and Yuna and Sarah sitting next to each other ahead of them. Everyone else was asleep besides them, and as they watched the night sky through the windows of their train, Lena asked him, “So… About, um…”

“Do you want to talk about it more?”

“Well… Now that it’s just the two of us… I… I want to thank you for saving me from that monster, Maxim. If you hadn’t jumped out when you did… I…” Lena took a deep breath to calm herself down. “I wouldn’t be here with you all right now.”

Maxim smiled, telling her, “And I’m glad you made it through. Who knows what would have happened to us if you actually were killed?”

“Yeah, that’s the other thing. If I hadn’t been saved, you and Yuna would have most certainly died, too. Maxim, don’t let anyone tell you you’re not brave, because what you did tonight is all the proof I need to know you are, and Yuna would certainly agree.”

“Why thank you,” he replied, happy to hear such compliments from her.

“And another thing, by the way…” After a pause to figure out what to say and how to say it, Lena sighed and said to him, “I was thinking we could hang out together, you know? What do you think?”

Maxim could not believe what she was saying. Lena had effectively asked him out on a date without directly saying she was. “You… You want to hang out?”

“Yeah. I mean… I’d say after this experience, we’re pretty close friends, right?”

“Sure… Yeah…”

“How about we meet up after school on the twenty-second? Do you have anything going on that day?”

“No, no, I’m free. What do you want to do?”

“Wanna go into the village and see what we can find? Heck, we could even go hiking in the woods if you want. That’s what I like to do sometimes, whether it’s me and Victoria or I’m by myself. Sometimes, all you really need to clear your mind is a nice long walk by yourself in nature.”

“You’re not wrong,” Maxim agreed. “Sure, why not? I wouldn’t mind a walk in the woods, Lena.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Lena then yawned, stretching her arms and telling Maxim, “Well, we might as well get some sleep like the others are already doing. We’re gonna have an early morning tomorrow at school. Goodnight, Maxim.”

“Goodnight, Lena,” he replied, both of them closing their eyes and slowly drifting off to sleep on the train. In his head, he began to think about what could happen now. With Lena still around and Kana presumably managing to rescue Serena, the story would significantly change, although what would change remained to be seen. No matter what it was, though, he knew that he had a fighting chance to not only survive, but potentially save others from their tragic fates in the original story.

However, he then began to think about another dilemma: What if Lena was beginning to develop feelings for him? How would he deal with it if she did? Would he turn her down? Would he accept? What if…

What if he also began to have feelings for her?

As with before when he woke up in the world of Rimnan Castle School, he thought about the implications of someone like him falling in love with Lena, or the other way around. After all, in his old world, he had been a college sophomore, and yet now, here, he was a second-year high school student. Disregarding this obvious issue, there was also the problem of his own feelings regarding who Lena should be with. He still wanted the Lena and Victoria ship to happen, but he felt uncomfortable with the idea of breaking Lena’s heart to make it happen since it would have involved hurting her emotionally. He could not dare bring himself to do that to Lena, especially since now she was real rather than a fictional character.

All that could wait for another day, however. Right now, all he wanted to do was get back to Rimnan, go to school, and rest after the rather long weekend he had.

…

In Chanan, Kana walked out of a hospital room after being discharged following an evaluation. She had no major injuries, only some minor cuts and bruises. Now that she had rested for a few hours, she was able to get back on the move. It was now late at night, and she had to get back to Rimnan for school tomorrow. Before leaving, however, she decided to visit Serena in her own room. Unlike her, Serena would have to stay longer due to her more severe injuries from her captivity.

As she walked into the room, Serena asked her, “Are you here to ask me more questions about what happened? I already told my story no less than three times to doctors and the military police.”

“No, no, you’re fine,” Kana assured her. “I just wanted to say goodbye to you before I headed back to Rimnan.”

“It’s gonna be super late when you get back,” she pointed out with a chuckle. “When do you have to wake up for school?”

“Six-thirty in the morning every school day,” Kana replied. “I don’t mind missing out on some sleep.”

“How far is the ride back to Rimnan?”

“From the hospital to Chanan Central to Rimnan? I’d say about an hour and a half.”

Serena checked a clock on the wall and chuckled, telling Kana, “You better hurry. It’s already ten in the evening.” She then sighed, smiling and getting serious for a second. “But in all seriousness, though… Thank you, Kana.”

“Of course,” she replied with a smile in kind. “I wouldn’t let someone like you be killed by the cult. While I may not have been able to kill my father, I was able to get closer than ever to him, and I’ve also been able to identify where I need to improve so that the best time we meet, I’ll be able to defeat him.“

“I wish you the best of luck.”

“So, what are your injuries?”

“I’ll be in an arm cast and a leg cast at least two months,” Serena explained. “Apparently, I didn’t notice it due to the adrenaline running through my body, but those bastards broke my left arm and my right leg from all the beatings I took. I also broke a few ribs. I’ll tell you, I was really feeling it when I came to the hospital, but once they gave me some painkillers, I began to feel a lot better.”

“Just wait until they wear off,” Kana laughed. “You’re gonna be in a shit ton of pain.”

“Oh I know, Kana. Just let me enjoy the reduced pain for now, okay?”

“Alright, alright.” Kana then turned to leave the room. “I gotta get going. Have a good night, Serena. I’ll write to you soon.”

“You know the address of the hospital, right?”

“I sure do,” she replied as she left the room. “Goodbye, Serena.” As she walked down the hallway, she wondered about what had happened with Yuna and the others in Reilly, unaware of what had transpired with Lena and Maxim.

…

“I see,” Michael said as he talked on the phone with Rudolph Reiss. “Well, on behalf of the entire Vale family, I’m glad the Duchess was able to help you out. I’m very proud of the way she carries herself. She’s grown so much since that tragic day six years ago when she lost her parents.”

“I know,” Rudolph replied. “She really is such a beautiful girl, and she’s a real fighter, too. Any young man would be lucky to have her as a wife.”

“Exactly. That’s why I’m trying to get her to agree to a marriage with Prince Gannon Ren. I feel like she would be a good fit for him.”

“Well, she does need to be on board with the idea, Michael.”

“I know, I know. She’ll understand soon enough. Trust me.” He then looked up at the wall-mounted clock in his personal study room. “Well, I better get to bed, Rudolph. It was nice talking to you.”

“Same to you, my friend. Have a good night.”

“Have a good night as well.” Michael then hung up the telephone and sighed. “Well… That was interesting…”

His wife, who was in the study room with him, asked him, “So Lena’s alright?”

“She’s fine. A bit shaken, but not physically harmed.” He then closed up his desk and put away two books he had pulled out for him and his wife to read. “You know, in the business of being a noble and participating in the government, you gotta make tough choices. Sometimes, you have to make unpopular choices. Hell, sometimes, you have to make choices that others may see as morally questionable, because otherwise, worse things will happen.”

“I know that all too well,” his wife replied. “My own family has made some tough choices, and I know you certainly have.”

“That’s saying the least of it,” he chuckled before turning to look at the various family portraits he had hung up on the wall, one of which was of his brother, Lena’s father and the former Duke of Vale. “I did what I had to do, even when it hurt. I knew that Lena would be opposed to my vote against expanding the voting franchise of Tamara, but I know that doing so would be bad for us. I knew that offering to take the title of Duke from her so she could marry Prince Gannon without our own noble title being subsumed by the Imperial Family would also descend into an argument, but alas, I had to throw it out there. I’m hoping she’ll come around to me soon about that. We both want the lineage to continue on its own, so in a way, we both want the same thing.”

“And of course, you made one of the hardest choices of all when she was young.”

“Yeah,” Michael nodded, looking directly at the eyes of his brother, knowing in his heart what he had done. “I did what I had to do, but… It broke my heart to have to send those mercenaries after my brother.”

...

END OF VOLUME 1