Chapter 14 - Bold and Calm

Once I was dried off, there was a pair of oversized brown trousers with a drawstring on the bed, so I put them on. There were already three plates of food, and I had smelled it since coming in, but I had been frustrated.

This was my fault for not knowing these things. To think such a simple thing could be mistaken, but I guess there were humans that acted like that.

Now I had sorted my thoughts out, and I was starting to feel much better, and the fantastic-smelling food was helping. I was just about to sit down when the door banged open, and both women walked in, but Annie looked very red.

"Are you okay, Annie?! Were you in the hot water for too long? You are much smaller, so your body would probably get hotter faster! Ahh, silly me, I should have reminded you not to spend too much time in the water! All these things!" I said, shaking my head, but Annie just stormed off to the second room where the beds were.

"She is fine; just give her a bit. Sure was a bit unaware about how things go, umm, between a man and a woman. I explained it to her, but now I think we both might have traumatized her," Tracy chuckled and then headed to Annie.

I wasn't sure what I had done to traumatize Annie, but that could be amended in the future. Probably best just to keep bathing separate for now.

I finally sat down and was about to dig into the meat and potatoes with thick fresh bread but stopped. I was looking at the other two plates.

I usually wouldn't do this type of thing, so it hardly made sense for me to start without the other two. I had spent my whole last life doing things alone, but now I was starting to see some of the advantages but many of the disadvantages were.

I guess that was really what life was, to some degree. Living while taking the good with the bad.

"What are you waiting for? The food is going to get cold if you don't eat!" Annie called from the bedroom.

"No colder than yours will, so hurry up," I called, staring at the food.

Soon the other girls came out, and we all ate. I really enjoyed the meal and told Annie to thank her mother.

"Thank her yourself. I didn't think you were going to be in here," Annie said, and I nodded.

"I forgot about the food, but we can get going if you want. Tracy, would you like to come with us?" I asked, but Tracy shook her head with a smile.

"No, I am still tired, so I think I will rest for a while. You two go out and enjoy yourselves."

"If you insist, you should have gotten enough rest, but the bath must have made you more tired. Well, Annie, are you ready to go then?" I asked, offering her a hand up.

Annie looked at it for a moment and then stood up on her own and walked out of the room.

"Don't worry, she is just a tough one. She will warm up to you; just be yourself," Tracy said to me, and the word hit me like a hammer.

Right before I came to the world, Jessel told me to try to be anyone but myself.

"Are you really sure about that?!" I demanded, and Tracy got a puzzled look on her face.

"Huh?"

"In my past life, I didn't care about anyone because I had a mission, and I fulfilled it, but I still failed!" I said, staring at my hands.

I was now starting to feel things differently, and I could see where I had gone wrong. Was it really okay to keep being me, that had already failed once?

"I don't think that you failed. You did what your mission was, but now your mission is different, and you are helping people this time. Not only that, but you are trying hard to make friends. I think you are a good person, and you should keep on being that person," Tracy explained as I watched tears fall into my hands.

"Thank you. I will try to give this mission my all, just like my last one!" I said, clenching my fists.

That was when I really decided that I was going to give it everything I had. Nothing short of maximum effort, just like in my old life.

I took no shortcuts, and I learned everything that the swords and spell books could offer. Even the things that I couldn't learn, I did because I needed to know how to defend against them.

The Demon army was much less than I had expected, and most of the time was spent learning how to become the ultimate weapon. In the end, it had all been for nothing, or so I had thought, but now I was in another world with all my knowledge.

"I am sure that you will guide us well, Nameless God. Now, don't keep that girl waiting!" Tracy told me, and I nodded, coming out of my thoughts.

I left the room and headed down to the main level.

On my way, I started thinking about how to make this my mission like last time. This was about making other people shine, but they couldn't go non-stop, and there were other things.

Annie was down there waiting, but a burly bald guy was standing with Dorthy. I assumed that this must be the husband/father.

"Hello! My name is Talon, and you are? The chef?" I asked, looking at the small apron he was wearing that really didn't look like it was helping.

"My name is Tom, and I own the place! I heard you were bathing with my little girl!"

"Yes! Well, not on purpose. I was bathing alone, you see, then Tracy entered, and I washed her back. Then Annie entered, and I offered her the same, but she declined, saying it was inappropriate. I left the room after that and enjoyed the meal that you made! It was really quite splendid!" I said, figuring a quick layout of everything would clear everything up.

"Wha?! How can you be so bold and calm!" Tom roared, shaking a fist at me with Dorthy holding on to him.