It was our last day at the capital and our preparations were pretty much done. Both of the maids, Gina and Carli, had packed everything that they needed along with commander Thomas and Harvey.
The rest of the Knight's 4th Order would travel to End Town as they normally would. I told the king and the commander that Vespera and I could probably teleport everyone, but the commander wanted to send his knights on the road in case they needed to clear any monster obstructing it. I supposed he didn't want another event like what happened with the troll, so it was understandable.
Everyone was so busy on that last day, that only my familiars, Jackson, and I decided to hang out and walk around the city. It was probably going to be a while since we visited again, so we thought we might as well give it one last tour.
During our walk, we passed by a bookstore that called my attention. It wasn't huge, but it had two floors and it was filled to the brim with books. Yoru and Vespera stayed outside eating meat skewers from one of the stalls while Jackson and I browsed the store.
On the second floor of the bookstore, I felt a strange energy coming from one of the tomes in the highest shelf. I took it out and blew away the layer of dust that was covering it.
It had a blue and silver cover with nothing on it other than a generic design. The title was written on the first page: "My Studies on Night and Day Magic."
The author was a woman named Kyoko who had the title of "sage" a long time ago. In it, she described her experimentation with a type of magic that she had created herself and ended up calling "Night Magic" and "Day Magic", respectively.
I was only getting started when Jackson popped up from behind, startling me. "What you got there?" he said as he pointed at the tome in my hands.
"Seems like it's a sage's book. I think I might buy it…" I responded as I flipped through some of the pages.
"Hmmm, so… You can actually read that?" asked Jackson as he stared at the open book.
"Huh? Why wouldn't I be able to read this?" I thought before noticing one big detail about the book I was holding. "It-... It's all in English!"
"I see, so that must be the tongue from your past world… right?" asked Jackson looking genuinely curious.
"Well… Yeah… One of them at least. My old world used to have quite a lot of different languages. You know? I was actually able to speak five of them…"
"Five languages?" Jackson laughed. "How do you even fit all that information in your brain?"
"My wife and I traveled so much and stayed in so many different countries that eventually we just learned them. We did take classes for some of them though…" Before I knew it, I was reminiscing of my past life.
"Sounds like it was a fun time…" said Jackson, placing a hand on my shoulder, wanting to console me.
"Hey Jackson… There has been something in my mind the past few days and I feel like I need to tell someone about it…" I muttered, now more serious than before.
"What is it?"
"Do you think it's possible for others like me to exist in this world?"
"Do you mean demi-gods?"
"Not demi-gods exactly… Just people that remember their past life like me…"
"Hmm, I can't say for sure. You are definitely the first one I've met… Although, I wouldn't say it's impossible. Why do you ask this now?"
"You see, somehow I hadn't heard the name of the princess until I got here… And, well… Melina was the name of my wife…" I said as I gripped the book tighter in my hands.
Jackson stayed silent for a moment with a blank expression, then sighed. "I'll say this because I consider you my friend Ichiro… But that sounds like a very cruel coincidence…"
"Right? I thought so too… It's like this world is trying to mess with me…Either way, I'm glad you said that. I really needed to hear it…"
"No worries buddy…" Jackson stopped again for a moment as he hugged my shoulder. "But… You know? This book in your hands kinda answers your question, no?"
Jackson had a point. I was so immersed in my own thoughts and memories that I had completely forgotten how the conversation even started in the first place. The book that had been written by the person named Kyoko had to be someone with memories of their past life like me. It was the only explanation as to why it was all written in English, although her name sounded Japanese.
The only problem was that the book had to be at least 220 years old, from what the old lady behind the counter told us. Meaning that even if she was a reincarnated person like me, she was most likely dead already.
I ended up buying the book since I was not only curious about its content but its author too.
When we returned to the castle, Gina greeted us and told me that the princess and the queen wanted to talk to me in the garden. They were drinking tea and eating snacks while talking under a gazebo in the center of the flower garden.
Vespera and I took a seat with them while Yoru laid down on the side.
"Is everything alright?" I asked as one of the maids poured tea into our cups.
The queen gave me a warm smile and nodded. "Everything is great, Ichiro. I just wanted to ask you something important…" She stopped until the maids were done serving both me and Vespera. "You see, the letter that Lady Triana sent us had another bit of information… It seems like she had some trouble reading you with her eyes, just like it happened with Melina."
"Lady Triana? I do remember her saying something along those lines. She said she had only seen one other person like me…"
"That's right, Ichiro. That other person was my daughter, Melina."
I stayed silent for a moment.
"When that first happened, I had my own theories as to why Melina was unreadable by Triana… Ichiro, if you could let us inspect you, we could find out what it is that makes you both so different in her eyes."
"I see… So me and the princess must have something in common that makes us both hard to read for Lady Triana… But showing all of my information, I don't know about that…" I pondered with a dubious expression.
"Ichiro… Let me show you something first. Inspect Melina…" said the queen.
"Y-you want me to inspect her information?" I asked a bit nervously.
The queen nodded with her smile still intact. When I turned to look at the princess, she was sipping on her tea with a nonchalant smile on her face.
"Inspect…" I casted, making all of the princess' information appear before me on a glowing tablet.
Age: 14 Skills: Magic Assimilation MP: 16,000 Titles: Princess, Phelena's Blessed.> My eyes widened in surprise as I read all of her information. ("A title called Phelena's Blessed?") When I focused on the individual title, I got another window with a description of it: ("Huh!? That's the same effect that my title 'Child of Phelena' gives me!") I thought before focusing on her skill. ("Learn and copy any type of magic? Hey, hey… That's really powerful! But it said it was obtained by rigorous imagination? What the hell does that mean?") Her MP was incredible too, she had just a bit more than me, and her title of "Princess" was obtained after she was recognized by thousands of citizens as such. "T-That's incredible…" I muttered as I stared at the tablet with her information. "See, Ichiro. I believe it's that blessing that makes Melina unreadable to the True Color Eye of Lady Triana… So, when she said she experienced something similar with you, my guess was that you are also blessed, correct?" deduced the queen. There was no use hiding it anymore. They had shown me their secret and it somehow felt similar to mine. "Well… It's not exactly a blessing… You can inspect me…" I conceded, and both the queen and princess casted "Inspect" on me. Age: 14 Skills: Kobudo, Martial Arts MP: 14,000 Titles: Child of Phelena, Master Alchemist, Master Craftsman.> "Th-that's my real information…" I said a bit shy since it had been quite some time since someone actually got a look at all my information with nothing censored. The queen and the princess smiled brightly at the same time as they read through the tablet. "I see… so it's not a blessing, but it still has the same effect!" said the queen before giggling to herself. "I didn't know that was possible!" said Melina with her eyes sparkling. "Ichiro, do you believe in fate?" asked the queen. "I-... Uhhh… I don't know?" The queen giggled again before giving me another nod of approval. "Mhm! Now I feel pretty good about letting Melina go with you!" I could have sworn their smiles were contagious since I was feeling quite shy and embarrassed at first, but then I suddenly felt at peace, like I had just released a weight off my shoulders. ("I'll have to do a good job, for both of their sakes…")