Unedited*
Matthew shook his head to shake off his embarrassnt.
"Actually, I said that because I know who you are," Matthew said.
"You know who I am?" she asked, surprised.
"The Essence told about you."
The woman’s body trembled. "R-really?" She was thrilled.
"Yes." Matthew was honest. "Right after I finished seeing you for the seventh ti, the Essence appeared to . It seems we have a destiny together."
The woman grew even more excited upon hearing this.
It really was him!
"However, it didn’t tell your na. What’s your na?" Matthew asked, curious.
"Oh. It’s okay, I’m sure it just slipped its mind." She replied quickly, as she grabbed the flowers and the thousands of letters. There were more than before. "I’m Sylph Oakfire, a Spiritual Alchemist who loves flowers, letters, the songs of bards, and the scenery of the River of Destiny!"
"I also love going on adventures, but I feel like there aren’t any good ones around here!" As she said this, she handed him the flowers and the letters. "These are for you—I’ve been writing these letters since I was five!"
Her way of speaking—eloquent and loud, yet at the sa ti soft and refined—was hard not to rember. Her voice was gentle, not shrill. She spoke delicately, but quickly.
Matthew was left pensive after that introduction. He could only think that this woman was very cheerful, yet reserved at the sa ti. She was strange.
He smiled. "Nice to et you, Sylph. I’m Matthew; you can call Matt. You like adventures, but you think there aren’t any good ones here? What do you an?" he said, as he took the flowers and letters.
’I hope she doesn’t make read them all...’
"There are hardly any threats in this world. I once heard that it was possible to go to another world by connecting with humans, but humans have never co to . So..." She hung her head in helplessness.
’Well, you’d have to go through a series of spiritual rituals to be able to connect with one of them,’ Matthew thought, though he didn’t say it.
"Have you ever been on a long adventure?" he asked, curious.
He didn’t know he’d uncovered a story that would last... an hour!
"Yes!" she exclaid happily. "Once I ran away and went to the Abyss! It was fun—the only adventure I rember. It took a year to get there and back. I fought several spirits and even won an Alchemy contest. It was really fun! That ti..."
She proceeded to explain everything to him, in great detail. anwhile, she urged him to do sothing he didn’t want to do: read so cards.
In this case, fortunately, Sylph simply told him to read a few specific ones, in which she—in a loving, tender, and overly sentintal way—described the affair in over 100 letters.
Whatever was missing from those letters, she explained with surgical precision.
Matthew felt helpless in the face of this exhaustive explanation, which made him lose over an hour.
However, he realized that this woman was overly attentive to detail, and her way of loving reminded him a lot of his own and Charlotte’s, back when they were still ordinary humans on Earth.
At least to a certain extent. The two of them weren’t that extre in that regard. They wouldn’t write thousands of letters to their partner. Ti is limited, you know?
Although for a spirit, such a concept of ti wasn’t quite so true.
"Uh... that was quite an adventure." Matthew smiled. He ant it genuinely.
"Right?!" she replied, extrely excited.
Although Matthew wasn’t saying that because of how incredible it was (because it wasn’t that incredible), but because of how long her explanation was. It wasn’t necessary to tell her that, anyway.
"Unlike you, I have had many adventures. But I can’t rember all of them in such great detail. So I envy you a little," Matthew admitted.
Sylph smiled, a little embarrassed. "Well... I’m always cooped up, and a spirit’s life is pretty monotonous. We rember the things we like very clearly. That’s what my mother told ."
Matthew nodded. He couldn’t agree with her more.
As they talked and got to know each other, they began to feel more at ease speaking with one another. Sylph’s excitent didn’t wane one bit. If this was the man sent by the Essence, he had to be good.
What’s more, Matthew had a very peculiar energy about him. It was too enigmatic and pure. It gave her a sense of antiquity, but also of power and control. He seed to have everything around him under his control.
It was such a mystical feeling that it drew her to him instinctively.
The two of them talked for over two hours.
"What are you going to do for the rest of the month? Are you going on any adventures?" Sylph asked toward the end of their conversation.
Matthew shook his head. "Not really. I was planning to watch the Spiritual Alchemy Tournant, since I was wondering if I could sign up."
"Sign up? Are you an Alchemist too?" She was imdiately interested and moved a little closer to him.
"Uh... well, I’m a beginner. But I’ve got nothing to lose by trying, right? Maybe I’ll get lucky and make it to the Supre City." He replied with a smile.
"Yes, that’s exactly what I think! If you’re ant to go, even if you’re weak, you’ll make it! And if not, I can take you!"
"Really? Actually, I found out this morning that I can’t enroll unless I’m part of a large family—now that I think about it." Matthew pretended to rember sothing, and Sylph nodded innocently over and over.
"My family has plenty of spots. I’ll give you one—I’ll talk to my father right away!"
"Huh? Now? But..."
"There are only three days left until it starts. It’s better if we sort this out now. Co with ," she said, cutting him off.
"To go to the Supre City, you have to prepare in advance, so we can’t waste any ti, right?" She winked at him as she said these words and started pulling him along.
Matthew had to put the letters and flowers in his storage ring so they wouldn’t fall out, since she was pulling him along without caring about anything else.
Suddenly, he found himself walking through the city, following a young girl. In the distance, several bodyguards watched them closely. They had been waiting for a while for Matthew to make a misstep so they could behead him...
And before Matthew could react to what was happening, he was face to face with a spirit of almost gigantic stature.
He stood 2.5 ters tall and his musculature was astonishing. However, the energy of spiritual fire surrounding him marked him as an Alchemist, contrary to his Martial Artist bearing.
"So you are Matthew, the one sent by the Essence for my daughter?" the man asked.
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