"Watch out Shii! The ball's going your way!"
"Okay!"
The slime girl stretched out an arm in the most literal sense of the term in order to catch the rounded toy that the vampire tossed her way.
"Wow! That's so cool Shii! I can't believe you caught that!"
"Yup yup! Really good. At this!"
I smiled as I watched the girls frolic about within the castle's courtyard from atop a nearby wooden bench. The two of them had always been on good terms, but Shii's newfound ability to speak seemed to have brought them closer than ever. Friendship sure is beautiful.
Although the slime was still far from being the best speaker, she was slowly getting there. Illuna's lessons, which the vampire had carried out with gusto, had turned Shii's fragmented words into choppy but understandable sentences. Most importantly of all, speech now seemed to come to her much more naturally than it had at first.
And while I knew that making progress was good for her, I couldn't help but lament it. The way she so desperately tried to express herself with words she was incapable of pronouncing had been adorable. But alas, the phase had already both come and gone, as per the natural order of things. And despite my many grievances, I had already accepted it as one of the many sorrows that naturally accompanied the act of parenting.
One might ask: why, Yuki, are you sitting on a bench in what is effectively a park and staring at a pair of little girls? The answer to said question was, of course, not to observe the aforementioned underaged individuals. Heavens no. My presence was entirely coincidental. I simply happened to decide to sit down after finishing up a series of exhausting renovations, and they just happened to be nearby. There was nothing else to it.
Speaking of renovations, they were coming along quite well. I had finished about ten percent of the interior spaces I had created. I only tackled a few things each day, as I was taking a more relaxed approach to completing all the renovations. My castle's completion still lay far off in the future. The only place that was fully fleshed out so far was its palace-like centrepiece. Ugh… Which retard was the one who decided to make this thing so fucking big again? Oh right. It was me. God damn it Yuki, you're an idiot.
That said, the castle's incomplete state wasn't something I was really stressed over. I was in no rush to complete it. I pretty much had all the time in the world, after all. The gradual way I was going about doing it now was much more entertaining. It gave me the liberty to be creative and add buildings or fiddle with the terrain at my leisure. Most important of all, it staved off the threat of burnout.
The warmth of the sun wrapped me in its embrace as I bathed in the calming atmosphere. Before long, the combination of the fatigue I accumulated from doing all those renovations and the courtyard's relaxing mood led me to drift off into the land of dreams.
***
I felt something akin to the sensation of slowly rising to the surface of a calm lake as I regained my consciousness. It was a feeling I was well accustomed to, the feeling of awakening well rested from a comfortable slumber.
"Nrgh…" The first thing I did as I opened my eyes was groan as I was greeted by a sky steeped in the orange-red glow of twilight. "Whoops. I guess I must've passed out."
The grassland the castle was situated in had been set to be synchronized with the outside world, which meant that the afternoon had indeed come and gone. Aw crap. I think I might've slept a bit too long.
I tried to get up as the thought hit me, only to realize that my legs were being held down by a pair of weights. Turning my gaze downward, I realized that the two girls that had been playing around in the courtyard were now sound asleep with their heads on my lap. It seemed that they had tired themselves out by playing to their hearts' content.
Given their current situation, I decided to stop getting up. Instead, I leaned back on the bench and smiled. Carefully, so as not to wake them, I placed a hand on each of their heads and ran my fingers through their hair.
The sensations that the two girls gave off were almost polar opposites. Shii was soft and cool, whereas Illuna was warm and had hair that was smooth to the touch.
Only after coming to this world did I finally begin to feel like I was actually alive.
My last life was much different. There, it was almost like I'd spent my days living just for the sake of being alive. I hadn't had any particular interests or goals, and I'd never felt like there was anything I really wanted to accomplish. I'd always felt that I was going to live in obscurity and die in obscurity. I would leave no legacy. No one would ever remember me or the things I did.
And in the end, that was exactly how it happened. My final moments had been a bit more abrupt than what I had anticipated, but it had all played out exactly as I'd expected. Back there, I was nothing. All my experiences were measured only on a scale of worthlessness.
But now, things were different. Everything was tens, hundreds of times as vibrant and fulfilling. The number of significant events I'd experienced in my time here in this world had already eclipsed the number I'd experienced in my last.
Today too, I'd spent the entire day enjoying it however I wished. And although I had no solid proof that tomorrow would be the same, I expected exactly that.
Lefi had once told me that her world had changed. I had to agree. The very same had happened to mine. My world had once been a mix of greys. But now, it was practically bursting with colour. The colours only grew more and more vivid as time passed me by. I couldn't help but find them precious. And the two resting on my lap were a part of the many elements that comprised them.
I stroked their heads as gently I would delicate treasures before moving my hands to their shoulders and lightly shaking them awake.
"It's time to get up, sleepyheads. You won't be able to sleep well tonight if you catch too many z's now. And I'm sure you don't want to end up like our resident dragon, right?"
"Nnn…"
"Mmnn. Morning. Master."
Illuna didn't really seem to offer anything more than a groan, but apparently the shaking had been enough to rouse Shii, who blinked a few times before turning towards me with an adorable smile.
"Good morning, Shii. Good evening would probably be more appropriate given the time, though." I smiled. "And as for you, little miss Illuna, you'll probably want to get up if you don't want everyone else to eat up your share of tonight's dinner."
"Nnnmm…" Despite being warned of the fact that she may end up missing a meal, the vampire failed to open her eyes.
Well, can't be helped then. Given no other choice, I smiled wryly as I lifted her with one arm in order to carry her back into the castle.
"Alright Shii, let's go back inside."
"Okay!"
I extended my other hand towards the slime, who promptly grabbed ahold of it as we slowly moved back over to the door leading to the true throne room, leaving a pair of long evening shadows behind us as we went.