All of them went silent as they stared at me. "Kichi," Han let me go and looked at me. His eyes were sad. "Of course what we feel is real."
"I know that now," I bowed my head. "And I'm sorry. I pushed you all away, tried to keep you at a distance, and I regret that. I know it hurt y'all."
"Of course it did," Rubellia's voice was soft and quiet. "But we also knew you were scared. You're good at hiding your emotions physically, but the aura you give off says otherwise."
"We knew you-hick-were scared, most likely that we would hu-hick-rt or leave you, so we didn't try and push it too hard. Instead, we-hick-waited for you to come to us." Man, Sora was really drunk. But as I looked up and saw her staring at her jug, my chest tightened.
"Thank you," I smiled, tears running down my face. "You're all...such good friends."
Nothing much happened after that. They were all too drunk to say anything about my tears, and most likely won't remember them either. Hopefully.
Me and Patora helped them all out the bar and to an Inn, where we were permitted to stay for free. We helped them into the beds and I let out a sigh as I sat down on a chair.
Patora told me she had to return to her house and I waved her off as I returned to my room and collapsed on the bed.
I slept peacefully that night.
When we went to inform the mayor that we were about head off, I was given some...new information.
"Wait, what?!" My voice rung out in the room.
"My daughter, Patora, has chosen you to be her husband." Luisham repeated calmly. I could feel Sora and Rubella's rage from behind me.
Why were they mad at me?! I didn't chose this!
"I-I'm honored. But I'm not ready for marriage, I've never even had a girlfriend."
"No need to worry, I'm simply saying my daughter has chosen you to be her future husband. So whenever you are ready, let her know and we will have you wed immediately."
"What if I'm never ready though?" I argued, but the blush on my face gave away my true feelings towards the matter.
"Well, you already have feelings for her, so, they are only bound to grow. Especially since she shall be joining your party starting today." He smirked.
"Wait, what!?" My voice rung out once again. "When did that happen?" I looked at the trio and they shrugged, though the look in their eyes showed their guilt. They had gone behind my back and accepted her into the party without my consent. But when? It must have been when I was taking a shower this morning. Heh, but it seems their plan backfired, as they hadn't expected this marriage thing.
They wanna go behind my back? It's time for some karma. "Well, I guess that's cool." Eat that!
"Wonderful, I pray you take care of her," he looked me in my eyes. "for she has chosen a mortal life to be with you."
"Mortal li-what do you mean?"
"If an Elf falls in love with a human or any other race, they lose their life span as Elves and their life span becomes that of the race they love. You are a human, and humans live to be around 120. That is her new life span."
"Wait, no. I can't make her do that!" I wasn't the same as these humans, my life span was more like 80. I can't have her dying young if she could live for generations.
"You aren't making her do anything, she chose this." His voice had grown serious. I fell silent and nodded. "Good, now here she comes."
Patora ran up to me, a smile on her face. "Hi," she waved as she approached us all. We all waved back. "I'm sorry it took me long to get ready, but I had to make sure I had everything. And thank you for accepting me into the party," she spoke to us all as she bowed her head. "And thank you," her gaze turned towards me.
"...I didn't do anything." I scratched the back of my head.
We all left the village a few hours later and we were walking in the Grassy Plains. I looked at my adventurers ID and sighed. My stats had definitely gone up a bit from leveling, plus 150 with all the stuff that happened with Patora; She fell in love with me, kissed me, and decided to marry me. It had been plus 50 for each of those. But even so, they didn't match my level.
"So, are we doing more quests?" Sora asked.
"Hmm, no," I said after some thought. "I think we should take a few days off. We completed a dungeon, did some quests, and got a new party member. I think we should all relax for a few days, and in fact, I think we should buy a house." It had been on my mind, buying a house. We had a good sum of money, and I was getting tired of staying at an Inn.
"Like, for all of us to sleep in?" Rubellia asked hesitantly.
"Yeah, why not? We're a party. And having a house means we could relax more and not be surrounded by loud drunks."
"I think that's a good idea," Han agreed. "But where should we buy one?" It was a good question.
There were houses for sale all over the place. Some in the capital, some in the forests, and if you want we could get our own house built, but I don't want that. It's a waste of time. Plus, We'd be staying in an Inn until it was done.
"Hm, well, that's where I was going to ask for your opinions," I turned and looked at them. I had changed, that's for sure. I was now able to look them in the eyes when I spoke to them, and I spoke to them. (LOL). I use to barely talk to them, but here I am now, about to ask for their opinions. "Where would y'all like the house to be?"
They all went silent, but the looks on their faces gave away the fact that they were thinking. "I think a house off away from other people would be nice," Rubellia was the first to speak. "Especially if we're looking for a place to relax and get away from people."
"What about one near the country side?" Han suggested.
"Mmm, no," Rubellia shot it down. "It may be in the country side, but people will stop by the house every so often and ask for things."
"Like sugar?" I asked jokingly, but again, it came off as serious.
"No, more like a place to rest. Of course, we can turn them down, but they'll still ask anyway. Meaning we won't be able to relax."
"Ah," Han nodded. "That's true." He put a hand to his chin and went back to thinking.
"Well, how about a house by a lake or something," Patora suggested. "The nearest lake is pretty far off from the capital, and out of the way of adventurers."
"That's a good idea, but what about when we need quests? We'll have to travel far just to get some." Sora shot that idea down too.
"Yeah," she sighed.
"well, if we can't pick one, why don't we all go look around at houses?" I suggested.
"Really?" Excitement filled Sora's voice.
"It sounds fun," Han agreed.
"House hunting," Rubellia clapped her hands together.
"This'll be fun," Patora basically wrapped herself around me.
"Hey, what are you-"
"Don't act so shy, you're my fiancé, after all."
I blinked slowly. "...That may be true, but that's not how I see it. You proposed, I never gave an answer. I said to wait until I was ready."
"Yeah, but I still see you as mine," She pulled me closer. I rewarded her with a sigh and a flick on the forehead.
"Stop that," I muttered. She pouted put listened. "Why don't we split up? It'll be faster. If we find any houses that we think we would all like, take note of it and report it. When we're done, lets meet back up here."
"Smart idea, that way it won't take all day." As Han spoke he started heading off towards the capital. "I'll check houses in the capital. You never know, we may find something we're looking for there."