Chapter 51 - Lovelace’s new life

Chapter 51: Chapter 51 - Lovelace’s new life "Thank you!! Whoa!!! I never knew that wind on my neck could feel so good!!" "It’s nothing. It just feels good to me to be able to flex those muscles after so long." "I bet it does... ngh!" Yaci jump-hugged me. "Aureaaaa!! This is so awesome! You’re finally free from that thing!" "I know, I know... don’t need to lift me off the ground, though." "Nonsense! I could hold you like this all day, you know." She says that but still puts me back on the ground. I give her a little pet on her head when she sits back down. "The aria you used... I’ve never seen anything like that!" "Probably because you haven’t had a thorough study in the arcane arts yet." "Huh?" "It uses some advanced syntax that drifts far away from the elemental magic that seems to have become the norm in the human world." "Would you teach me?" "I have nothing better to do, I guess." "What do you plan to do from now on, Lovelace? Will you really stay with us?" This was Yaci. We didn’t have the time to have this conversation between the three of us yet. "My goal is to confront that woman. To make her pay for everything she’s done. Aurea saved me, so I will join forces with her and also help her with her goals, eventually." "And I will help you retrieve your stolen memories." "Yeah, there’s that. Those are probably stored in places within the human kingdoms. And it will be harder for me to do it alone." "Yaci, as you heard earlier, Lovelace has the power to read memories under certain circumstances. She did read mine when she healed me down there." "Indeed, which means I know about what the Loa asked of you." "And what do you think about it? Don’t you think it’s too big a detour?" "There is more to it than meets the eye. I can’t make a deeper analysis without knowing the full picture. But I don’t think that it’s a bad thing, in general." Yaci quickly slumps when she hears that. "Yaci..." "It’s okay..." Lovelace just looks at us, puzzled by the exchange. "She’s worried because of having them stay there for two more years." "Ahhh. Humans and beastkin have short lifespans, so it makes sense." Don’t say that!! Help me ease her feelings. "I knew from the beginning that this choice would be hard, so it’s okay. We’ll go with the tribe, following the seasonal migrations, until we arrive at that oasis again." "Yes, and in the meantime we’ll train. Then, Lovelace, from what you said earlier, you’ll teach me. Is that right?" "Indeed." "And after that? What will we do after the rescue?" "We should go live with the humans." "What???" Yaci’s exclamation was almost a scream, so startled she got by Lovelace’s answer. It makes sense, though, as the next goal is to retrieve Lovelace’s memories. But we don’t even know where to start. "But where would we live there? And how?" "Your mother probably knows something. We shall follow her guidance there." "I think that it would be better to come back to the tribe first, along with everyone else, so we can have a better plan for infiltrating the human lands." "Are you two serious?" "Yaci... her memories are there. So I have to go. Maybe my mother will want to go as well. I don’t know much about her life from before becoming a slave, but she might want to go." "I..." "I think you’re right, Aurea. We shall come back to the tribe and then plan the following steps, along with your mother." "Do you think you can also break the anti-magic collars?" She reacts like I just asked a silly, stupid question. "Of course I can." "You two..." Yaci is sulking again, so I snuggle up to her to try to cheer her up. "There’s two years and some more before that happens. But I think that I’ll have to do it anyway." "Why can’t you just live here with the rest of the tribe, in peace?" "Because what’s being done is not fair. I need to fight back. I also promised to help her in her quest." Yaci just sighs. After some time of awkward silence, I ask something of Lovelace. "I have this title that lets me get more results when appraising objects related to the goddess. Why does something like that exist?" "When I noticed the betrayal, I used my last instant of access to the system to add that effect to a random royal bloodline, in the hopes that someone would end up learning about it." "Someone probably did learn about it, as the beastkin have old legends that tell that story." "It was one of my favorite stories growing up. I always wanted someone to free the girl in the story. That is, you. I never imagined that I would end up living that story." "And I’m really thankful to you for it." We kept chatting for some time, turning to less heavy matters, until we were called for lunch. Did we just simply chat for a whole morning? ::: The next few days passed slowly, as we helped Lovelace to get used to the tribal life. She didn’t have any chores assigned, outside of combat and magic, when living with the goddess. So she promptly offered to help with the night patrols. Which was especially useful because of her extreme light sensitivity. She was able to see at the darkest nights as well as during the day. Actually, better than during the day. But that doesn’t mean that she is free from helping with daily tasks as well. So it fell upon me and Yaci to help her with that. The weirdest thing was that a girl so dedicated to eating didn’t know the first thing about cooking. She sleeps only two to three hours per day, which I find extremely worrying, no matter how many times she says that she only needs that much sleep. I know I shouldn’t use human standards for legendary beings who have been alive since time immemorial, but still. Every day I teach her cooking during the morning, as we help with the preparation of lunch, and then we spend the afternoon with her teaching me magic.