Friends

*Al's Pov

What a fine Saturday afternoon this is. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and here I am lying on Abigail’s bed dying of boredom as I wait for her to come back from lunch.

I gotta say, being a sword really fucking sucks.

The metal body and not feeling pain thing is kinda cool and all, but the whole 'nobody can hear you' part isn't.

Dammit, if I was to be reborn, why can’t I at least be able to move or something? Just give me the ability to roll around or something.

I mentally sighed and looked up at the sky. At times like these, all I could do was recall the past. 

And so, I stared at the clear blue sky looking back on the day I died.

DONG DONG DONG

Three slams on the drum, the attack was coming.

I took my position and joined the shield wall stationed behind the iron spikes we set up. How many times have I done this by now? I've already lost track.

The bright sun shone down upon us. Thankfully it was spring, so we weren’t burning up in our armor or anything.

From the distance I could see goblins and orcs just outside the range of our archers.

They’re clearly waiting for something, but what?

A massive orc blew a horn and they began charging.

The archers got ready as well but before the commander could give the order to let loose, someone suddenly shouted.

“Behind us!”

I looked back and my heart sank in fear. About two to three hundred meters behind us, hundreds of harpies carrying goblins in their talons had begun flying towards us.

Before we could even wonder how or when they got there, the commander yelled for archers to shoot them down.

While the archers did take down what’s probably a hundred of them, within minutes they were flying above us back and forth, with the goblins in their talons raining blasting stones, magic and arrows down on us.

The mages reacted quickly to set up stone barriers to fend them off, but they weren't perfect. Some of the projectiles still found their marks on the soldiers.

I tore my eyes away from the skies and looked forward to the battlefield. I just had to trust the wizards and archers to deal with the harpies.

The monsters that had begun charging were already halfway through taking down the spikes we had laid.

“Light the fuses!”

The commander shouted.

The fuses in question were connected to crates of gunpowder and blasting stones we had buried beneath the spikes ahead of time.

But right when I reached for my lighter, a wave of agony washed over my shoulder.

“Argh!”

I dropped my shield to grab my shoulder, only to find my arm gone, a burning stump in its place.

One of the goblins up above must've shot my arm off with a fireball.

I fell to the floor and rolled around to put out the fire. It crawled along the clothes I had beneath my armor, searing my skin. This wasn’t working.

Ah, fuck it.

I grabbed the fuse and shoved it on my burning shoulder as it caught on fire.

Looking back on it now, I probably could have screamed for a mage or medic to help me but at the time, lighting the fuse with a burnt shoulder felt like a really cool thing to do, like something I'd read in a book. 

I really should have called for one though, because it took way too long for me to put out the fire.

By the time I was done, my shoulder was bleeding heavily from where my arm used to be. My entire upper-body was now covered in burns. I could barely move.

I turned my head to the side to find everything in chaos.

A lot of soldiers had decided to raise their shields at the sky to protect from the incoming attacks, forgetting about the enemy archers that were charging with the main force that, resulting in more than just a few bodies with arrows sticking out of their fronts.

However, those who stuck in formation like me suffered a similar fate. Thankfully, the mages were able to still defend most of us, meaning the position was intact, but we were getting picked off before their main force was even here.

One of the goblins above tossed a blasting stone at the spikes in front of me. 

Oh fuck.

I desperately tried to get up but I was too late. 

BOOM!

The force of the blast blew me a good ten meters away, choking out whatever air I had left in me.

I began wheezing as my vision began to blur.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Those explosions came from the battlefield, meaning that the gunpowder were blowing up one by one.

The last thing I saw was the sky beginning to fill with smoke, from both the gunpowder we blew up and the fireballs the goblins were sending, as well as an arrow flying straight at my head, piercing my skull.

Ah, what a memory that was.

I’ve read a few stories from war where everyone would gather around some dying soldier and start calling their name and tell them to stay with them and shit like that.

Well, I live in reality so of course I don’t get such an ending. It would’ve been nice if there was someone who called my name or something though. Someone who was like “oh no, Albert!” maybe. Then again, I doubt anyone there knew my name. 

You live alone, you die alone I guess. At the very least, I have a friend in my new life now.

“I’m sick of this.”

Speak of the devil.

Abigail came back and slumped down onto the bed.

“That was my inner monologue you interrupted, you know.”

“Your what?”

“Don’t worry about it. So what’s this that you’re sick of?”

“The food.... it's just so… so…. bland, if not just straight up garbage.”

“Then just cook your own. dumdum.”

“Sure, I’ll just produce some ingredients out of thin air. The tuition fee left me basically penniless. What money I do have I'm saving for things I actually need.”

Wait, this is my chance.

“You could try getting someone else to pay for it.”

“What do you mean?”

“It was a thing people did when I was here, where someone would pay for the ingredients and the other would cook and they’d split it fifty/fifty. Why not try asking Heather?"

“Huh….”

Today's the day. I swear to god today is the day I kick this turtle out of its shell.

I mean, come on, she's practically a loner. Aside from the occasional greetings with Heather, she hasn’t talked to anyone besides me for the past two weeks for fuck’s sake.

It’s not like she’s shy or anything, and yet she has such a strange tendency to stick to being alone, not willing to talk to others unless it’s to respond to someone.

Maybe this is just me trying to correct my mistakes from my time here. Maybe she's fine with being alone. Even so, I still think she should get a friend, one that isn't a sword at least. 

Abigail laid there for a few minutes, thinking, before finally getting up and heading out the door.

"Good luck!"

About thirty minutes passed before she came back and collapsed on the bed again, somewhat exhausted.

"What happened?"

"I got the money... kind of. She wants to come along shopping for ingredients though."

I was only hoping that she'd spend some time eating with Heather but hey, that's even better. 

"So why are you lying on the bed?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Okay then......

"So you'll be heading off?"

"Yup."

She got up and grabbed a bag and map.

"Be sure to tell me the details when you get back!"

"Sure. See you later."

She waved and headed out the door.

Well, it's gonna be another long boring wait. At least Abigail’s hanging out with a human for once.

Good for her.

*back to Abigail’s Pov

I knocked on Heather’s door again.

“Give me a minute!”

After what felt like five, she came out dressed in a white sundress.

Should I have gotten changed too? I looked down at my white shirt and black shorts.

Then again, it's not like I had an outfit that would be much different.

“Let’s go!”

“Okay.”

After we made it out the front gates, I asked her:

“Sorry, this is my first time walking around the city, so do you know where the market is?”

“No clue… I remember seeing one but I forgot where.”

“Well, good thing I brought a map then.”

After checking said map, I pointed to the left.

“This way.”

We walked together checking what the marketplace had to offer.

“Sooooooo… whatcha gonna make?”

“You mentioned your favourite food was strawberry shortcake right? So I was thinking of making that for today.”

“You know how to make them!?”

Her eyes began to glow.

“I worked at a bakery, so I remember the recipe.”

“That’s amazing!”

“Hey, don't get your hopes up, it’s been a while since I made one.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine! I believe in you!”

Well, I warned her. Doesn’t mean I’m planning on failing though.

“Still, you didn’t have to just come to my room and start asking for money, you know. You could have asked me out for shopping and told me then or something.”

Heather said as we headed back through the gates.

“Please don’t remind me of it..."

I spent all that time preparing myself and that was the best way I could think of. And then when I said it out loud, I realized how awkward it was for her to suddenly have her neighbour go up and ask "Can you give me some money?".

For a full five minutes I felt like the biggest fool in the building. It took a lot of explanation to clear things up and get my message across. 

“And what if you said no? I didn't have the money to buy anything during the trip.”

“Like I was ever going to turn down my favourite food!”

“You could just buy shortcakes at a local store.”

“I could, but I want to try yours.”

She sure is eager.

“Then I better not let you down.”

She patted my back.

“Don’t worry about it! Even if it ends up as a big waste of money, at least I got to know more about you.”

“I suppose so, but I have my pride as a part-time worker at a bakery.”

"Well, just don't be too hard on yourself."

We headed to the dorm kitchen and laid out the supplies. Luckily they already had all the tools I needed so I didn’t have to buy any. They even had aprons, though they were ragged from age.

“Need any help?”

“Don’t think so. You can just watch if you want.”

I rolled up my sleeves and began working as Heather watched.

Even though the tools are different, I still remember the steps fairly well.

As I was making the cream, a hand started waving in front of my face.

“Huh?”

It was Heather’s.

“Haha, sorry. You were so focused you weren’t responding.”

“You were saying something?”

“Don’t worry about it. I just wanted to ask how do you know how much to put in?”

“I just try to do a rough estimate and hope for the best.”

“You sure about this?”

She looked skeptical.

“Probably? It’s my first time doing it like this but I’ve used this recipe hundreds of times at this point, so I should have a rough idea of how it works.”

“Oh yeah, I wanted to ask, when did you start working?”

“Around four years ago maybe? I never bothered to keep track.”

“Wait, four years? They hired you when you were eleven!?”

“It was a small town so they had to make do with whatever help they could get.”

Well, the owner taking pity probably had a big role to play as well.

“I see….”

She continued watching as I put the cakes into the oven that I kept warm with heat stones.

“Should take about thirty minutes.”

I checked the time: 2:13.

After that we sat by waiting on opposite ends of a table over some tea we bought along the way.

“So what was it like having to work when you were so little?”

“I mean, it’s work, so of course it wasn’t easy. The owner had me taking customers for the first year before finally teaching me the recipes and stuff. And she didn’t go easy on me just because I was a kid. But it's thanks to that that I managed to save up enough money to come here.”

“Wow…. and here I am getting here thanks to my parents.”

She looked down at her tea.

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s just say I lived through some “special” circumstances and move on.”

I can’t say I wasn’t somewhat mad that people had it easier but it’s not like I can do anything about it. There's always someone better after all.

“Anyways, you said you already learned about magic, were you taking classes before you came?”

“Yes, something like that. The school I went to specialized in studying magic so I already know all the basics and a lot of the advanced skills as well. Most of the stuff here’s just review for me. See?”

She snapped her hand and the same fireball that Mr. Kingsley made during class the first day appeared in the middle of the table.

Given how I can barely make a spark even after conjuring for a minute, this was something else to me.

With another snap, she doubled the size of it. 

I was about to clap when I noticed smoke coming from the fire.

“Um, I think it’s burning the table cloth.”

“Uwaaaaah!”

The fireball instantly disappeared, but the flames on the table cloth were still there. In her panic, Heather made ball of water almost the size of the table and dropped it on the fire, splashing the both of us.

“I’m so sorry!”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s not that much water. It’ll probably dry by the time we finish eating the cake. More importantly, what do we do about the table cloth?”

The burn left a small hole blackened at the borders on the middle of the cloth.

Neither of us knew how to repair this hole so instead we just covered it with a vase that was in the kitchen.

I have to wonder though, if she was so good at magic, couldn’t she have stuck to the trail for a high school that also specialized in magic? Why here?

“Ah, the hourglass!”

I looked over to find the hourglass was just about to drain its last bit of sand.

I took the shortcakes out of the furnace just in time for the all of it to be gone.

“I think they turned out alright. Let’s give them some time to cool.”

“Got it!”

After they were done cooling, I applied the cream and strawberries and served them.

“Have a taste.”

I set the plates down and gave my share a taste.

The cakes were definitely different given how the proportions for the ingredient were off, but I don’t think they came out that bad.

I watched nervously as Heather gave hers a try.

“Mmmmmmmmmmmmph!!”

She stretched her hand over and started patting me on the shoulder.

“Are you okay?”

“Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmph!!!!!”

"Is that a yes or a no?"

She calmed down and swallowed what was in her mouth.

“What the hell, this is so good!!”

She took another bite.

I got up and took a slight bow like I would a customer.

“Thank you for your praise.”

“You deserve it!”

We finished eating and cleaned the tools and plates.

There were a few storage cabinets and even a coldbox that still works here, so I put my name on the leftover ingredients and stored them there. There was barely anyone else using the kitchen, given how few things are stored in the cabinets.

“Well then, want to meet here again tomorrow? There’s still plenty of ingredients left to make another batch. We’ve only used a quarter of the flour and half the cream after all.”

“Wait, this wasn’t just a one-time thing?”

“Why would it be? We still have the supplies to make more.”

“But is it really okay? This kinda feels like I’m exploiting you here.”

“Well you paid me didn’t you? And besides, food always tastes better with a friend.”

Do we count as friends? Aside from today and the first day, we didn’t really get to talk much besides the usual greetings.

“Okay then!”

Well, she didn’t object to the phrasing so I guess we’re friends?

As we walked back, she asked me.

“What brought this up anyways?”

“Brought what up?”

“Suddenly wanting to make food.”

“Ah, I was just getting sick of campus food. I almost couldn’t bring myself to take another bite today.”

“It’s not that bad is it? Then again, with how good your food is I can see why you’re complaining.”

“I’m not that good. All I did was follow a recipe though, nothing that special. Really.”

“Sure sure~ ah, we’re here.”

We said our goodbyes and I headed back to my room.

“Gaaaaaaaaaaaah! Abigail, get this beast off of me!”

I came in to find Al screaming.

I looked at the sword to find a ladybug perched on him. It seems I forgot to close the window so a bug flew in.

I scooped it into my hand.

“Is this the “beast” you’re talking about?”

“Yes that, now get it away!”

I brought my hand next to the window and let it fly away.

“You’re a knight, but you’re scared of a ladybug?”

“Hey, have you seen the underside of that thing!? It’s disgusting! And it looks so much bigger now that I'm smaller!"

“How are you able to see anyways? You don't even have eyes.”

“No idea. All I know is I can see from any part of the sword. In a way, it's an invisible eye that I can move to anywhere on the sword..”

“So if I were to put my hand on the other side of you, you’d be able to see how many fingers I have held up?”

“Of course.”

“I see.”

“Now then, how was your trip? Anything you want to give me?”

"We were out buying ingredients for food, what was I to give you? It's not like you have an invisible mouth that came with the eye."

"It's the thought that counts. Think of it as an offering to a shrine."

"Last time I checked you were a human, not a deity."

"I'm an imaginary one."

"Then I'll offer you an imaginary apple."

I mimed tossing an apple at him.

"So when am I getting a real one?"

"When you become a real deity, of course."

"Dammit!"

Author’s notes: this one took a bit longer because I started working and the chapter was a bit longer as well. Anyways, as always, thank you for reading. I thank like, all ten of you or something lol.