Nateaser: Reborn As My Love Interest

Nati - Ch. 74

I sneezed.

"Bless you!" Mabel yelled, snuggling up to me in the private bath. Saying bless you was common in this world too, but privacy should have been a thing as well. "Maybe someone's talking about you, Nati."

"Or maybe I just caught a cold." I shrugged, soaking myself in the hot water. The air started to get chilly in the last two days, but that wasn't why everyone felt under the weather. While the village was still busy as always, the mood has changed since Hana died.

I was doing my utmost to find better defensive measures and wanted to practice magic as much as possible, but I couldn't do it in front of the orc girl. I wasn't heartless enough to kick her out though. She cried a lot because of the former gladiator, even if they didn't always see eye to eye. She was even more affectionate than usual.

"Do you think the church woman will return?" She asked, and I was sure she would but didn't tell her that.

"She will think twice before she does," I claimed, flexing my arm a bit. "Now that she knows how strong my crossbows are."

"And you were doing magic all on your own!" Mabel yelled, her cheerful voice echoing in the chamber, but it was somehow hollow. Didn't sound happy to me. And she was wrong, it wasn't on my own, and not enough either, but it was a start. "Most wizards need to learn it for years, and you did it only after a month you got here. Could it be a thing that people from another world can pull off? Or is it only you?"

"I have no idea if others on this continent are from another world like me." I shrugged. I sure wanted to know about it too. "But I'm going to practice until I can protect everyone here, so you won't have to worry about a thing."

"I'd rather you save yourself first instead." She shook her head, snuggling up even tighter. I was struggling to breathe. "I saw you facing the Elder, and it looked like nothing stopped her from killing you."

To be fair, she was right. I didn't know, how I survived that either. Thanks to Lambert, who protected me, instead of running for his life, and Charlotte, who took that opportunity, and used the crossbow.

But even after that, I was completely at her mercy, and they both paid a hefty price for helping. Plus all our efforts couldn't save Hana. I started to shake even in the hot water as I replayed that moment inside my head, that feeling of inevitability and inability. I never wanted to live through that again, nor has anyone gone through it because of me. It reminded me of my family from the other world, especially my sister.

I often thought about them, no matter how busy my days were. And to them, I was just as dead, as Hana was for us. This loss put everything into a new perspective. I couldn't have it bring me down though, Hana wouldn't have wanted that either. I needed it to motivate me.

To become better for myself, and everyone.

"Let's go, Mabel. We have a ton of stuff to do." I claimed, leaving the pool. I wanted to ensure, our hair completely dried before we went out into the cold, but it took so long to dry it with the towel. I pondered if there was a better way, and then my eyes got stuck on the blue crystal in my locker. It called for me.

How about magic? As long as I can control my mana, with which the stone could help, I can make anything happen if I imagine it. I could fire infrared lasers from my eyes without anyone's help, so heating the air must have been trivial, right?

"Hey, Mabel. I want you to close your eyes and keep them closed until I tell you, okay?" I proposed. While she witnessed me casting magic on the courtyard before, she didn't see my cheat item. Nobody did. Probably nobody even knew it existed, other than Fenna. And the fox girl certainly didn't know, that it could be used this way. For whatever reason, I wanted to keep it this way, as long as possible. "I will try to cast magic, okay?"