Aidan and the rest walked by a creek. Purple trees and red grass hemmed the meandering water. The water wasn't deep. Some fish were swimming through the rocks and pebbles. A few of them were the same fish that shot his face with water.
Feval stopped in his track and approached the water. The rest followed. He then told them to drink as much as they can and fill their sac with more water.
Sofiel happily helped the rest fill their sac by controlling the wind to lift the water.
She raised two fingers and pointed at the water. A small tornado started swirling. It spun, then got higher and higher before it shot towards the sacs, filling them one by one.
Aidan was amazed. Sofiel was just too awesome. She got great looks and a nice personality. And she can do magic!
She was like the dream girl for any man.
The people she helped said their thanks. Sofiel smiled and nodded to them. She had her hands on her back as she turned to Aidan with a smile.
She noticed him staring. "Aidan are you hungry?"
He wasn't hungry. But why did she always think he was hungry. Was it because he accepted all the food that Sofiel gave back before the stone wolf attacked?
That might be the reason, but Aidan didn't want her to think that he only looked at her for food.
"No, I'm not hungry."
"Are you sure?" Sofiel leaned and narrowed her eyes. "Lying is no good, you know."
"I'm sure," Aidan said. "How about we eat together when we're back at the school? My treat"
Oh! He really said it. Something that he wanted to say to a girl for more than a decade. He finally say it!
Wait! He had no money! How could he treat her without money?
Cold sweat fell from his forehead.
Sofiel blinked, smiled, then chuckled with her hand covering her lips. "You silly. You don't have to treat me."
Was that another rejection? Aidan thought. That made him sad a bit. Maybe he wasn't wanted.
"But we can eat together anytime," Sofiel continued. "I can make more buns for you too."
Aidan's eyes glittered like sparkling eels. "I would love to."
Sofiel nodded with a sweet smile on her face.
Aidan couldn't wait to get back to school. At first, he just want to get stronger while still being a virgin, but he might have hope now.
He wasn't interested in Sofiel at first. But, the more he looked at her, the weirder his feeling become. He couldn't really explain it. But it felt like He had a strong desire to be close with her. To make her smile. To know more about her.
He had felt something like this before. It was when he was still in junior high school. He liked this one girl, and he would imagine himself following her home. But he didn't because he didn't dare to do so. Not to mention it was weird stalking a girl like that.
Is that mean I have a crush on Sofiel? Aidan thought.
Aidan looked at Sofiel again. He felt warm. Just looking at her smile made him happy.
It was true then. This feeling of his. But what if Sofiel only looked at him just as a friend like many other girls?
What if she didn't like him? What if he smells right now? Aidan hadn't taken a bath for how many days now, he couldn't remember.
That made him step back from her. He didn't want her to catch his smell.
"Aidan?" She called.
"Yes?"
"Everyone has finished filling their sac. Let's go."
"Alr—alright. You can go first."
Sofiel looked at him. For a moment, Aidan noticed her confused expression before she turned around and walked.
Gomon elbowed his waist. "So you're not that clueless after all. She was totally into you."
"Don't talk nonsense, Gomon. She's nice to everybody. She's a good girl."
"I have much experience with girls," Gomon said. "I know she's into your right now just by looking at her."
He looked down and noticed his left arm wasn't there. Aidan still felt bad about it. He took it as his fault for the loss. But Gomon took it like a champ.
Many others would break down if they lose an arm. Even he might get depressed. Gomon was something else. For a short man with a weak physique, Gomon had the strongest mentality of anyone he'd ever known.
"How do I smell?" Aidan asked.
"You want me to smell you?" Gomon asked. "That's gay but if I can help you, then I'm okay with that.."
"You have gays in this world?"
"Of course. We also have transgender. Genderbender. People identifying themselves as basilisk, genie, and even eels."
Oh wow. Did the billionaire really put him in here?
This was too damn realistic to be made up.
Aidan and Gomon walked side by side as they went along with the group. They chatted along the journey as they pass by various types of birds and plants.
"So how does the government handle these genderbenders?"
"Handle?" Gomon raised one eyebrow. "Why would the government need to handle them?"
"Well, when writing an official document, people need to mention their gender and pronoun right?"
"So that's what you mean. Well, it's simple. They can write whatever pronoun or gender they want, but they had to mention their genitals and their race. So it doesn't matter if you identify yourself as a walrus."
That was actually very smart. So they can put genitals sign on the toilet instead of gender.
"What about forcing people to call them with their pronouns? They would be mad if you did not call them with that right?"
Gomon nodded. "Ah yes, we had some problems about that before. The government valued freedom of speech as long as people don't say anything bad about the government and it doesn't cause any chaos. So, forcing people to say something by law is not something that can be done."
That was the exact problem humanities had to this very day. In fact, the problem seemed to worsen as humans explored the stars. Aidan didn't care much about these problems, but he was a bit interested in how the government here dealt with them.
"So, they just let it be?" Aidan asked.
"No," Gomon said. "There's only a small amount of these self-making pronouns people, the reason is that they have to put visible organs that are related to their pronouns. So if you identified yourself as basilisk then you need to put basilisk scales on your skin. And the process was painful and awful. That's why only a few people were willing to change their pronouns."
That… That was something else. He didn't believe people back home would allow the government forcing the people to put demon horns on their heads.