Chapter 37 - Maya Rosenwald P9
Chapter 37 - Maya Rosenwald P9
~37.9~
*****
"Your heart is racing as much as mine just from reliving these memories, isn't it?"
I slowly nodded. "We fell in love with who we thought were mortals."
"We've learned a lot here. Mortals and Transcendents really aren't very different. Mortals are imagined from Transcendents, but the appearances and bodies aren't the only similarities. The only real difference is the sheer bulk of mana we have. We can affect causality with our power. Put that aside, and we're the same. We make friends, we have nations, we fall in love, we experience happiness and the pain of loss… we're the same."
"At some point, we stopped thinking 'I'm a Transcendent falling in love with a mortal,' and started thinking, 'I'm a girl falling in love with another girl.'"
"I wonder what would have happened if I had stayed oblivious," Luma said. She was looking down, frowning. "Would Elise Aindrea and Helena Rosenfeld have become lovers if Luma Valentine's identity stayed locked away in my mind?"
"That almost happened," I said. She didn't look up, but I could see a tear drop from her eyes to her lap. "We…" I stopped short. "Well… that memory will play out later when we get there."
I could hear the hesitation in her voice as she asked, "Would you warn me when we get there? I don't think I want to see it."
I stood up and walked over to her. She was sitting close, so it was only a few steps. I pulled her close, her face against my breasts. "Luma, my love, none of that matters now. We're together now. So what about what-ifs and almosts. So what about wish-I-dids. So what about past regrets."
Sanae walked over and joined us. She knelt down and held Luma's hand on her lap. "What if we had figured this out sooner? We figured it out. That's all the matters. We almost got together back then? We are together now. We wish we had a long time ago? We are now. We'll always carry regrets, but we have now what we regretted not having before. I, for one, am very happy."
She smiled and took one of each of our hands. "I'm sorry. I got a little too emotional. You're right. We're together now and that's what matters."
"No, don't apologize for getting emotional," I said. "Those feelings are valid."
"That's right," Alethea said as she knelt down on the other side of Luma from Sanae. "Your feelings are valid. Never apologize for having them. You are a wonderful girl, Luma."
She looked over at Alethea with a smile. "Thank you, Aya!"
A few minutes later, I was about to start up the memory magic again, but paused and looked at Sanae. "Just a heads-up. The next part…"
She shook her head. "It's fine. If you have to sit through it to show them, I can sit through it with you."
"What are you talking about?" Athy asked.
"I…" I sighed. "You'll see soon enough."
*****
After school the next day, Maya, Lena, Cel, Chris, and I were strolling through the market district looking for anything that might catch our eyes. There were all manner of dress shops, jewelry shops, and the like. None of that interested me, but the other girls got excited for different shops.
We stopped by a sword shop for Lena, a jewelry shop for Cel, a stationery shop for Chris, and a bakery for Maya. Lena picked up some supplies to maintain her swords and came close to buying a new one until I told her I'd help make her a sword.
"You can smith?"
"I'm not particularly skilled at making the sword, but the raw materials sure. If you find a shop willing to do a custom order, I don't mind helping you with the raw materials."
"What do you mean?"
"Enchanting the raw materials with your mana. A blade made with materials enchanted with your own mana will naturally conduct your mana better in combat. You'll use less mana for a bigger punch."
"I see. I didn't know you could do that."
I nodded. "Yep! We've made a handful of weapons like that in Aindrea. My aunt is a smith and forged her weapon every step of the way. If you hammer your mana into it during the forging it'll come out even better, but you'd have to learn how to smith yourself for results that good."
"Noted. I might consider it."
At the Jewelry shop, Cel bought each of us pendents with stones matching our eye colors. Blue for her and Chris, and silver for Maya, Lena, and me.
At the stationery shop, Chris placed a large order to be delivered to her dorm. She was an aspiring writer and artist. She had an idea to combine art and literature to make a story told by imagery and dialogue rather than descriptive words.
At the bakery, Maya got each of us a different flavor of bread. She enjoyed flavored bread as a snack every now and then, and I quite liked it, too. Mine had chocolate filling!
Once we were done, we strolled around the district just chatting and looking around when a young girl bumped into me.
"Hey! Stop that girl!"
Three men were chasing after her. The look in her eyes told me everything I needed to know. She was deathly afraid of them. I knelt down and helped the girl stand. "It's okay, sweetie. I won't let them hurt you."
She was on the verge of tears, her eyes affixed on the men stepping toward us.
"But you'll get hurt if you protect me!"
"It'll be okay. I'm pretty strong."
"Thanks for stopping her. We'll take it from here."
I stood up and gave them a look that shocked my friends. The anger in my eyes was unmistakable. I had no tolerance for anyone harming a child. "Why is this little girl so afraid of you?"
"What? Look, just hand her over. We had to chase her for-"
"Why is this little girl so afraid of you?" I repeated.
One of the thugs whispered into the front guy's ear, "Those girls are wearing academy uniforms. They could be nobles."
"Nobles walking around in broad daylight running their own errands? Hardly."
"No, your companion is correct. We are nobles. I'm heir to the Aindrea County to the southeast here in Gallia."
"Rosenwald Duchy of Weltwald."
"Dietlinde Marquessate of Weltwald."
"We're twins, so same thing," Chris added.
"Rosenfeld duchy of Weltwald."
"Four noble beastgirls from Weltwald and a count's daughter," the thug leader said. "Our employer is a marquess here in Gallia. You girls from Weltwald have no place interfering with a Gallian marquess in Gallia, and you, Lady Aindrea, are outranked by our employer. Hand over the child."
"No. I don't think I will." I eyed the swords at their belts as one of the thugs reached for his. "And I suggest you don't resort to those. Summon your employer."
The thus gripping his sword didn't listen. He drew his weapon and aimed it at me. "Hand over the child."
"Maya, take her please," I said.
She knelt down and held her arms out for the girl. "It's okay. We won't let them hurt you." The girl hesitantly stepped into Maya's arms.
I looked back at the guy holding the sword and walked up to him. Faster than he could react, I grabbed his sword, squeezed, and shards of metal fell to the ground. "Summon your employer."
The thug leader grunted, but turned to the third thug. "All this trouble for one slave girl. Jim go inform the Marquess." The third thug ran off. The first turned back to me and froze.
"What did you just say?" I asked.
*****
Revision: 2025-2-12