"Hey Silvie," I woke the next morning to find Rivi gently brushing the hair from my face.
"R-Rivi! Wh-what’s up?" I felt my face flush and I drew up my covers to try and hide my embarrassnt.
"You ready to go? Or did you want to stay in this village longer?"
"N-no, I’m..." I yawned, shaking the last vestiges of sleep from my brain. "I’m good...But don’t you have whatever that...exchange thingy was still to do?"
"Oh that?" Rivi sat back watching with an amused smile. "No that’s all taken care of already. The Grenir place great value in their hospitality and traditions, so I just exchanged so goods that aren’t especially convenient for them to acquire without our help. Velda’s people have already taken care of all that, you don’t have to worry."
"Oh...ok." With all the formality and mysteriousness of that greeting ceremony I really thought it was sothing more profound, but I guess when you can’t understand the language they’re speaking, it’s easy to get the wrong impression.
"Um, yeah I guess we can head out today," I rubbed my face, getting back to her original question. "Any ideas for where we should head next? Without anyone hunting us we don’t really have any specific direction, and you know this area a lot better than I do."
"Hoooo? What kind of place do you want to visit? A big city? The coastline? The mage’s academy? The Ghost Groves? Or do you want to leave the Ice Kingdom and see what the Kingdom of Undeath is like, where the dead far outnumber the living?"
"What are the Ghost Groves?" I asked curiously. Rivi had said sothing about The Ice Kingdom having lots of ghosts, but I’d yet to actually see any.
"It’s a kind of a ghost retreat. Think of it like a lot of affluent ghosts getting together to build the perfect place to spend a thousand years together. In the terms of your old world it might be...like a mix between a gated community and a retirent ho? Lots of gardens, very beautiful sculptures and houses. So rather interesting figures live there, but they’re a little stuffy, so it might be hard to really mix with that crowd especially since we’re not ghosts ourselves, probably the best we could do is just walk around."
I leaned back down on my bed, thinking about the choices she had put on offer. It felt suddenly like picking vacation spots or travel destinations. This really isn’t what I imagined life would be like when I first arrived in this world...I thought back to what happened when I first got summoned to this world. The confusion, the preparations to fight, the gearing myself up for glory and chaos, the sharpening of everyone’s focus and ambition.
And here I was living a new life after death, getting toured around the place with a hot undead goddess and an adorable divine beast pet. Truly living the protagonist’s life, though it wasn’t the kind of story I had expected to be living when I got here.
"What are you thinking about?" Rivi layed down next to , her face a few inches away from mine.
"I don’t know just..." I reached my hand up above my face and made a grasping motion with my fist. "Things really haven’t turned out like I expected them too. And I kinda have a feeling," I turned to face her, looking into her deep, black eyes, "That you’re the reason why." And without thinking I moved forwards and kissed her on the nose.
"S-Silvie," She sputtered and I saw red tinge her cheeks, as she shifted her eyes away. "Wh-what do you an by that?"
I sighed, "I really thought I’d be fighting to death ever since I got here. In fact I already did precisely that before you resurrected . But ever since I t you it feels like," And now it was my turn to brush hair from her face. "You’ve been protecting and looking out for . You’ve done so much already for ...Is there anything I can do for you?" I looked searchingly into her eyes, a part of wondering if I was just a burden or a charity case she had picked up.
"Silvie, I..." Rivi bit her lip, looking at . She wanted to say she needed nothing from , but she also realized saying that wouldn’t exactly help the situation. She had denied my request for her to be my master precisely because she wanted a more equivocal relationship with , and yet here I was asking for it, and she didn’t know what to do.
She furrowed her brows. "You thought you’d be fighting to the death because you ca to the Continent of the Gods and were subject to the whims of their gas, but the Lost Continent isn’t like that." She brushed a hand against my cheek. "I don’t need you to be strong and powerful, I just...want you to be yourself. And even with that it’s ok if it takes awhile. You’re undead now. We have all the ti in the world."
My breath caught in my throat as I felt her soft fingers against my cheek. We were so close to one another, and yet...all I wanted was to be closer. I wrapped my arms around her and drew our bodies together. "I asked you this once already, and you gave so hints, but what did you see in ?" I whispered into her ear, our faces already very close. "Was I really all that cute, even then?"
"Mmm," Rivi nuzzled her cheek against mine, reciprocating the hug. "How can I say it...Will you promise not to be mad at ?"
I sighed exasperatedly, but a smile reached my lips. "Alright."
"You were like..." She blinked sleepily. "a cute puppy covered in mud on the side of the road. You were just..." She started murmuring like she was about to fall asleep. "Too cute to pass up."
I blinked, sohow indescribably happy at what she said despite the embarrassing contents. "It’s morning ti, are you really going back to sleep?"
"Stay with ..." She murmured, pulling herself a little closer to .
I sighed happily, her drowsiness reigniting my own. "*yawn* Ok Rivi. I’ll stay with you," I murmured. "From here on, and forever more."
A few minutes later I sat up with a sudden realization and shouted, "Wait, so I AM just a charity case to you!!"
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