Nicole's eyes sparked as she looked me straight in the eyes. "So that's why you carry that big sword and that armor!"
I was done explaining to her where and how I got the check, and the more I went with retelling what happened, the more the girl got excited. I had tried to get it over with as soon as possible, since I was still in need of the coins that this check was supposed to give me, as well as knowing how to use the phone, but she kept pressing more and more out of me, so I kept talking.
She had taken me to a restaurant with shining clean floors, white walls all around that only had a few paintings hanging from the walls that explained in a very messy, yet colorful way, things that people should be doing for the academy, like signing up for the 'soccer' team, or going to events that were going to happen in a few days. People from the Academy came and went with their own things in hand while creating an atmosphere of chatter and laughter. The scent of fresh bread filled the restaurant, and the drinks that Nicole bought for the two of us released a sweet aroma that mixed perfectly with the fresh bread that she got with them.
I tasted the combination of what she got me and was amazed yet again by the quality of the food in this world. At first I thought that I had just been lucky with what I got with the ice-cream, the potato chips, and the golden bread from that displaced royal cook, but what I got here was exactly the same, if not better.
The desire to taste the cup of hot chocolate that Nicole got for herself was hard to fight, but the warm cup of what they called coffee had me wanting to have even more of this instead. I wanted to drink it all in one go, but I held myself back and took sips of the bitter drink before chomping on the soft piece of bread that was filled with chewy cheese.
"Man, I wish I could do the same things that you've done," Nicole sighed while looking at her Watch. "But they won't take anyone under D rank to one of those Magic Red Zones—at least, not without paying—and so far, my rank hadn't allowed me to take the courses that would have an expedition."
"Is it that important for you to go into one of those Tainted Lands?" I asked, carefully sipping on the coffee.
"Of course! The point of having magic is to use it for magical things!" she exclaimed, sitting up straight while looking up to nothing in particular. "If I had the kind of power that you have, I would be doing all sorts of magical things all day. Like fighting crime organizations, or defeating evil beasts all over the world!"
"Is that so…" I trailed off, tasting another sip of the coffee before taking a bite from the piece of bread. "I used to think the same thing."
"Used to?"
I nodded with my eyes closed. "I thought the power given to me was to be used for the sake of the Holy Gods, and to give peace to the good people of the world. But the Gods care not for me or the people."
"'The Holy Gods'?" she asked while tilting her head to the side. "Are you part of the people that believe in those?"
I looked back at her with a questioning look. "I don't believe in their words, if that's what you're asking."
"No," she said while shaking her head. "Do you think that they're real too?"
This time, I was the one that tilted my head to the side. "Yes, of course they're real."
"Huh…" she replied while giving me a thoughtful look. "There's a lot of people from the other world who also believe that those Gods exist. Like the ones from the Holy Leyfall Empire, who claim that this world is doomed to Darkness and Hellfire unless the Holy Gods come and save them."
I nearly spat out the coffee that I was enjoying. "Leyfall Empire…?"
"Mhm. There were a bunch of issues with them until recently because they didn't have a country of their own after showing up in our world, but they were allowed their own territory within a few old castles that countries weren't using in exchange for teaching the world how to use their magic," Nicole explained while shaking her chocolate drink. "Luckily, they really liked those old things, so they seem to be pretty content with it."
The Holy Leyfall Empire… that was the place that I was born, and the one that I eventually fought for and led to the Final War against Salrak. I thought that they had been nearly completely destroyed in the final days, but it seems like they survived and have managed to make a place for themselves here.
"How is the Empire?" I asked, hiding my curiosity by taking a bite from the bread.
"Well…" Nicole trailed off and pulled her phone out. "They're a bit weird. And they seem to really only care about their country and the Holy Gods that should supposedly come to save them but…" she flicked her finger on the phone a few times and then showed it to me. "Their Emperor is really hot."
"Huh?" I exclaimed when I looked at the painting. "That isn't the Emperor."
"What do you mean? He's been the emperor for almost four years already," she replied, looking at the painting once more before showing it to me again. "Yep, this is the right guy."
I looked yet again at the painting, but it couldn't have been, since the emperor is supposed to be an old man with a large build, and a bushy white mustache, while the one in this painting was a young man with flowing blonde hair, a pair of taunting blue eyes, a slim build that wasn't fit for combat, and skin that seemed to be made out of porcelain.
"Who is he?" I asked, since I didn't remember such a man being the emperor.
"The emperor of the Holy Leyfall Empire, I told you already," she replied with a questioning smile. "You should know this better than me."
"No, I meant to know his name."
"Oh!" she exclaimed and looked at the painting once more. "Lodrick Ba'as Leyfall"
I widened my eyes and reached for the phone to have a closer look at the painting. I couldn't believe that this was that child. The first time I met him, when I was starting my training as a Holy Knight and Hero, he was nothing more than an annoying child who would go around claiming and proclaiming that he was going to marry me. I paid it no mind back then, but when I saw the teenager that he turned into, who wanted nothing more than to party and chase skirts, while still claiming that he was going to make me his wife; I ignored him and decided that his existence was not worth it for the good of the world, since his older brothers and father were far greater figures than him.
But to think… that he would be the one that would take the reins of the Empire in the end…
"What? Do you like him too?" Nicole asked me with a teasing smile while covering her mouth. "If you get really famous, maybe you could go date him, even if he's already got a girlfriend, since he changes them almost every month."
I scoffed and returned the phone back to Nicole. "I have no intention in marrying that child."
"Child? But isn't he older than you?"
"He will be a child forever," I replied and finished drinking my coffee.
"Well… I guess…" she said while looking at the painting. "Still hot though."
I ignored her last remark as I went for the bread and finished the last pieces of it. Once I was done, I pulled out the phone I found in the room and softly placed it on the table. "Now, can you explain to me how to use this phone?"
"Right!"
* * *
"And that's that," Nicole cheerfully said while I looked at the 'screen' of the phone.
She had taken a bit of time to clearly explain to me how to use it, from pressing the side button to turn it on, to how to get the phone to do the things that I want, and even going as far as showing me a few games that this artifact could play. I ignored those and focused my attention on two things that this thing could do.
One was that it could look for almost any information in the world and in any language, and the other one was that it had an 'app' that was related to a particular bank where I could turn the check into coins.
I turned to look at the young girl, who happily moved her thumbs on top of her phone. A few short seconds later, my phone vibrated and a message from her showed up on my screen.
'Hey! How's it going?' it said, with a strange hieroglyph depicting a smiling face she called emote.
I took hold of the phone with my left hand and started carefully pressing on the letters with my index finger. I couldn't write quite as fast as Nicole could—or the other people I've seen in this restaurant do—which only told me that they have years of training in using this artifact, so it took me a while to even say 'good'.
Nicole smiled and giggled when she received the message and she repeated the same action, quickly moving her fingers on the screen before another message appeared. 'What are you doing next?' it read. As I was writing a response, the phone suddenly vibrated, and the screen went black with a name I hadn't seen before, which then turned the screen back to the black mirror. I pressed the side button a few times, but the screen wouldn't turn back on again.
"What happened? Why won't it turn on? Is it broken?" I asked as I turned it from one side to the other, eventually passing it over to Nicole.
"Oh, I think it's out of battery. You just have to charge it," she replied, taking out a small box with a string attached to it before looking around the restaurant. "We can do it there if you want."
I looked at the place she was pointing at, but there was nothing in particular there, just a wall with a bench next to it. I couldn't even feel any strong traces of magic power to call it a 'place of power' of some sorts, but I didn't question her and followed her along. Once we were on the bench, she took the box and shoved it on a random set of holes in the wall.
She extended her hand to me. "Give it here."
I passed her the phone while keeping a questioning expression on my face, and she simply took it, shoved the other end of the string to the phone and placed it on the side of the bench. I waited to see what would happen, and after a couple of seconds, the screen on the phone turned back on with a green square that was only slightly filled.
"We should wait for a moment while it charges," Nicole said with a smile. "So what's up?"
"Hm?" I replied, sitting next to her and looking at the ceiling. "I see nothing in particular."
"Huh?" she questioned before bursting into laughter. I turned to look at her with one eyebrow raised, but she settled after a moment. "No! Silly, I meant to ask you what you're going to be doing next."
"Ah, well, I plan on learning more in this academy, and from there… I'll see…"
There was still a lingering feeling within me to make things right from after dooming my world, but I didn't know what I could do, since my world was already gone. Perhaps make amends with the people of my world by helping them grow in this one and try to find peace here, or just become a defender instead of the attacker that I used to be, however, I still wasn't sure, since all my life I had just been a Knight.
There was still the possibility that the Holy Gods would come back, in which case I should be prepared for them, since I wasn't going to allow them to do the same thing that they did to me and my world in this world. Hopefully, the beings from my world will once again fight alongside me.
The idea that I might even join hands with my enemies felt somewhat strange, but after meeting Bo'guth, it wasn't as repulsive as before… However, his wife didn't seem too keen on me and my existence…
As I was pondering these things, the restaurant suddenly quieted down and I turned to see what had happened. From the entrance of the restaurant, a small group of people walked in. They weren't dressed like every other person in here as they all carried white clothes and golden jewelry around their necks. They were two young men and a young woman. The one in the middle was taller, with bright blonde hair, and carried himself with the arrogance of a noble, while the other two seemed more like the kind of people that were there simply as followers.
"Oh… speaking of people that believe in those Holy Gods…" Nicole whispered while trying to avoid looking at them.
"Who are they?" I asked, keeping my eyes on the group of young people.
"Don't you know them? They're a group of people that sprang up a while ago called 'Followers of Leyfall'. Supposedly, they're firm believers in the Holy Gods, and are trying to bring them back by fighting with the people who used to belong to the Salrak Alliance back in Arretia, your world," Nicole quietly explained before pulling out her phone, but not really doing anything in it as she simply passed her finger from one side to another. "They go around killing demons, ogres, walking skeletons, zombies, goblins, and sometimes even elves and beastkin."
"All in the name of the Holy Gods? So they descend into this world?" I asked, despite knowing full well that that was likely why they were doing it, since I was doing it myself just until a few days ago—or years, if I'd been dead for so long.
"Yes, to live in a peaceful world, free of darkness, just as the Holy Gods desire," she confirmed but suddenly looked closer to her phone.
The young man leading the group took notice of us. Me in particular. He smiled brightly and started making his way to us, his two followers coming along just as expected. A groan came out of Nicole, and I knew that they were likely coming over for other reasons.