A/N: Warning, this chapter has Jin simping, so read at your own risk because this chapter is super cheesy, lol.
Check out my Patreon!
For 3USD, you will get access to 7 advanced chapters, along with access to exclusive side stories and my shelved stories!
Ps. Currently, there are 9 advanced chapters there as a freebie to y'all who will join.
p@treon.com/LazyWriter
Anyways, enjoy! Leave some power stones and reviews as it would greatly motivate me to update more chapters!
__________________________________
-An Hour later-
"WAAAH~ Thank you! Big Bro Jin!" Lucas beamed as he received the wooden sword with glee before he ran towards his big brother, the very same man who stopped me before at the village entrance.
An hour has passed since I started to carve, and most of the villagers have already gone back to do what they were doing before, only leaving a few, which were the two elders and the kid's parents/guardian.
The 7 kids are currently carrying their respective sculptures, Dine Carried the sculpture of him and Kain, while the latter carried a pair of swords that I modeled after two Seiken's, Suiseiken Nagare and Raimeiken Ikazuchi.
Now, why did I carve two? Well, the Kain requested a sword for both him and his brother.
So I obliged, as that is his wish, and as for the three girls, Meina asked me to sculpt her, and her parents, Petra asked for something cute, so I sculpted her a Pikachu sculpture.
Meilei asked for a similar one, but quadrupedal, so I sculpted her an Eevee.
Last but not least, Lucas also asked for a sword similar to Kain and Dine's so I sculpted him Kaenken Rekka.
The kids absolutely loved their sculptures; even Meili liked it, which reminded me that she's just a kid after all, even if she had possibly murdered quite a lot of people through her beasts.
But I paid her no mind, as she wouldn't be able to do anything to anyone from the village anyway.
She will hurt Rem, Ram, and Subaru in the anime, but I will prevent that since I am here.
At the very least, I will protect Rem, Ram, and the children.
The children went back to their homes along with their parents to put their sculptures in their houses; the two elderly had also walked away, leaving me alone at the table.
I went back to the table, planning on making one more sculpture, before I went to sleep, after all, I never really slept; in fact, I entered this world at 3 am after I finished some preparations.
"Now, what to carve…"I pondered for a while, eyes closed as I searched my head for some ideas, but as I opened them.
I noticed a shadow looming on me, and when I looked up to see who was causing it.
My heart skipped a beat, while my eyes widened.
'Rem'
It's her. Right in front of me, wearing her signature maid uniform, carrying a paper bag filled with food,d, most likely.
Rem looked at me curiously. Seeing her like this, I took a deep breath to get back my bearings and smiled.
"It's nice to meet you, do you want me to sculpt something for you?"
She seemed to be taken aback before she looked around and saw the wooden shavings and the blocks of wood left on the right side of the table before opening her mouth.
"I don't have any money. I was only curious about what the villagers were fussing about." She voiced, her voice serene, which made me feel relaxed, as I closed my eyes.
Even my tiredness seems to be blown away.
"Thank you…" I expressed my gratitude.
The recipient? Who knows~
I opened my eyes once more, only to meet her blue eyes, reminiscing of the ocean, making my heart skip a beat once more but I suppressed that for now.
I instead shook my head before smiling, looking down, and voicing.
"No need to worry, miss! I don't need any money. Just seeing anyone who requested for me to sculpt something being happy, and smiling because of my work is enough payment for it."
I looked back at her and smiled widely.
"So miss, will you give this traveler a chance to make you happy?"
Suddenly, I realized what I just said, making my smile cramped as a bead of sweat fell from my head.
'That totally sounds like a proposal'
'Still, that isn't wrong, as I plan to make her happy… it's better, to be honest with my feelings, or I will lose here, just like…' I shook my head before looking back at Rem who was most definitely surprised by my words.
Still, I didn't take back my words.
"So miss? What should I sculpt for you?"
My voice seemed to reach her ears as her eyes focused back at me, her face turned back to what it was before, a poker face, only this time, her mouth seemed to raise, somewhat.
"...Okay, You can sculpt anything for me. We will see if your actions can back up your words"
"Is that a challenge? If it is, then I accept! I'll make you a sculpture that will make you happy! If I don't, then I'll try again and again till I do! I swear on the Dragon, Volcanica"
My words seem to once again surprise Rem who most definitely didn't think I would even swear to the Divine Dragon.
Nobody would think about doing that for just a simple thing, much less for a stranger.
….
-Time passed-
Turns out it's quite hard to make Rem happy, honestly, it's my fault.
Despite being in love with her, I don't know much about her. Well, I can think of several things that I can sculpt to make her happy but it would be suspicious.
So I ended up just carving a bouquet of roses.
And the results speak for themselves.
Instead of being happy, Rem seems to be troubled.
"I'm sorry… despite my words, I couldn't make a sculpture that made you happy… "
My sadness isn't fake; in fact, it's very real because of different reasons.
Of course, the very first reason is because of my inability to make her happy, and the second one is because of my inadequate skills that caused that.
Nonetheless, my sadness was merely there for a moment before I looked at her with conviction and smiled.
"Once again, I apologize… But! Don't get me wrong, my promise still stands! I'm sure—no I will make you happy"
Meanwhile, Rem, Upon hearing my words, suddenly smiled gently and replied.
"I guess I'll wait for that time"
She then started to walk away, most likely going back to the manor, but I stopped her.
"Wait! Before you go, may I know your name?" I asked so I could finally have a reason to call her name.
Rem paused her steps. Before looking back, smiling.
"My name's Rem"
Rem closed her eyes before she continued.
"It's nice meeting you"
Suddenly, a gentle breeze that blew Rem's hair passed by. Allowing me to view both of her clear eyes perfectly as she opened them.
My heart skipped a beat once again, that's three times already. One thing is for sure though… I love her.
I couldn't help but hide my burning face with my palm. But I took a deep breath to once again get my bearings back.
I put my right arm in my chest, feeling my racing heart, and smiled back at her.
"My name's Jin, Jin Azuma. It's a pleasure meeting you, Rem"
Rem nodded before she continued her steps. "See you some other time, Jin"
I looked at her, smiling.
"See you… Rem"
"AH! Jin Big-Bro likes that Onee-san?"
A familiar voice that came out of nowhere appeared.
And when I looked back, the orange-haired girl, a smiling Petra, was there looking at me.
"Hello there, Petra-chan; where are your other friends?" I greeted her before I turned back and walked towards the table, ready to clean up my mess.
"So? What brings you back here Petra-chan?"
Petra walked towards the table as well, before she started to wipe the table of the wood shavings in them.
"My house is actually that one, so I can see what's happening here easily from the window." She pointed at a rather humble home beside the house belonging to the elderly lady.
"I see… You don't need to do any of that, Petra-chan; let big brother clean that." I looked at her as I put my carving tools back in my bag.
But she didn't stop, Instead, she continued even faster
"It's fine Big Bro Jin! It's the least I can do for the amazing sculptures that you made for us… thank you once again"
"You're a good girl, Petra-chan" I complimented her kindness, as not all kids can be as sensible as her; some are even more cruel than adults.
"This is nothing! I always help out in the house so it's no big deal!" She retorted, before smiling once more.
"Still, enough about that. You seem to have taken a liking to that big sister before?"
"So you saw that?... Well, you're right there, Petra-chan! As a reward, I'll give you something once we're done clearing up the table!"
"Still, Jokes aside, you're right; it's love at first sight, although I have no idea why I'm talking about it with a runt like you, keke," I replied, as I ruffled her hair.
"Mou! That's not nice, Big brother Jin!" Petra pouted, as she fixed her hair.
I took this chance to finish cleaning the table and Voiced, "My bad, anyhow, we're done!"
"Time to give you the reward for being a nice lady Petra-chan~"
I reached for my bag and opened up the bigger zipper before retrieving a pair of Bacon and Cheese sandwiches and two bottles of strawberry yogurt that I bought using the money I had earned from the Gate with Jinwoo and Jinhoo.
I had packed some food just in case, Crackers, Chips, and drinks, and some survival kits like matches, lighters, and such before coming into this world.
I knew I could just enter my mini sanctuary and all that, but I didn't want to enter inside unless it was necessary.
Besides, I wanted to taste some authentic Korean snacks, although the Bacon and Cheese sandwich isn't really Korean.
"Take these; this one is a Sandwich while the other is a drink from one of the places I visited." I handed her one of each of the foods I retrieved before sitting on the table.
I then proceeded to remove the plastic covering the sandwich before taking a first bite.
"Woah! I had no idea it was this good," I exclaimed in surprise before I looked back at Petra beside me. Which led me to find her struggling to open the plastic.
I reached my hand out, offering to open it myself."Give it to me, I'll open it for you"
"Here…"
She handed me the sandwich, and I proceeded to open it without much trouble before handing it back to her.
As for the plastic, I put it back in my bag and planned to burn it at a later time, after all, despite this world having a really ugly side.
Overall, it's a really beautiful and clean world; I don't want to be the reason for it to get polluted and all that.
And as for air pollution? Heh, burning small plastic wouldn't hurt.
After all, lots of things have already gotten burned in this world, but it's still fine. (A/N:If you know, you know *wink*)
"WAAAH! This is amazing!! It's so tasty!" Petra voiced happily as she took a second bite of her sandwich.
"Hahaha! Of course!" I replied before warning her to eat slower
"slow down Petra, you might cho- nvm…*sigh*"
*Cough*
I was too late as Petra choked on the sandwich, making me speechless.
I took her bottle of strawberry yogurt, opened it, and presented it to her.
"Here, drink"
Petra hurriedly drank the Yogurt, saving herself from choking to death, gasping in relief after the whole ordeal.
"I told ya, eat slower. I won't take the sandwich away, matter of fact, I have other snacks in my bag that we can share with your friends"
"Thank you, Big Brother Jin. Sorry-"
"No need to worry; I'm not mad or anything; I was just worried for your safety; look what happened…"
I patted her head afterward before urging her to go back to eating before I ate my sandwich as well.
…
It didn't take long for the two of us to finish eating. The other children also came back in time to see Petra taking the last bite of her sandwich and drinking the last drop of her yogurt.
So I ended up giving them some of my other snacks, as well as cola as well.
I had packed two 1.5 liters of cola in my bag, the rest were snacks of any kind.
As for water, I can fetch some from the sanctuary.
It's a bit hypocritical from what I said before, but the water in the mini sanctuary was just better than the water from Korea or from anywhere around the world.
After the kids finished eating, they invited me to play with them, which I unfortunately had to refuse as I was sleepy already.
The kids, and especially Petra, had accepted my reason, Lucas even offered for me to sleep in their home.
I accepted as I had nowhere else to sleep, and now, I was lying down on a wooden bench, inside a sleeping bag, in a drowsy state.
"It was pretty fun! I get to befriend the kids, and meet Rem…I'm glad I didn't arrive somewhere else like…zzzz" I was unable to finish my words as the land of dreams took my consciousness away.
...
....
-The day after-
*Yaaawn~*
I woke up, fully refreshed and full of energy.
I got myself out of the sleeping bag and stretched my body.
I looked around, finding out that the house windows and doors were shut, but I shrugged and went out of the house, not forgetting to close it back.
"The sun has not risen yet…wait or is it still night or something? Lemme check"
I once again opened up my system, then went to the Visited World section, and pressed Re:Zero, which revealed the current info of the world; one of them is time.
"3:45 am. Enough time to try to find that ledge; hopefully, my guess is right, and the view of the sunrise is amazing in that place," I muttered before I secured my backpack and walked towards the way to the Mathers Mansion.
It's a rather dumb Idea; Rem and Ram might think of me as a spy or something, just like Subaru before, who died.
But, I'm sure I can convince them that I mean no harm because I don't really; I'm just gonna watch the sunrise.
However, if Rem did come, then even better, I could watch the sunrise with her.
It took a bit of time to finally find the ledge where Subaru perished a couple of times.
A quick check on the time revealed that It was 4:15, almost the time for the sun to rise, well…in Japan at least, and since the author is Japanese, I'm pretty sure the time for sunrise will be the same in Japan.
Is it right to treat this world as a mere fictional reality when I'm, in fact, here right now, living this moment?
I shook my head at that hypothetical question, deciding to forget about all of that and just enjoy the sunrise that will hopefully happen soon.
I sat down on a picnic cloth on the rocky ledge, not too far but not too near the edge. My bag is on my right side.
My Amazons Driver is once more on my waist, just in case.
"I guess I'll wait… hopefully nothing goes wrong" I muttered, then closed my eyes for a moment.
I opened it not long after because I remembered leaving behind my Desert Tiger Staff back in the cabin in my sanctuary.
I groaned and promised myself to fetch it afterward.
*Cling* *Cling*
Suddenly, the sound of chains echoed from within the trees behind me, making me tense, so I looked back and found the woman I love carrying her Morningstar.
Looking as if I was an enemy.
…I'm dead, aren't I?
No…I'm sure I can persuade her; after all, I don't have the Witch's scent like Subaru.
Right?...
__________________________________
A/N: Zzzzzzz.... (=w=
Smol goal: 70 power stones in two days.
Reward: Extra chapter. + Poll opened to decide the first World for the group quest.