Chapter 5: Chapter 5. Home, sweet home

- Arno...

- Arno...

- Hey, Arno, are you listening to me?

- Answer me, please. What's going on?

Arthur grabbed his head. Something clicked painfully on his forehead. It brought him back from half-forgetfulness. He was so happy about his success that he didn't react to anything around him for a while.

Arthur looked toward his abuser with indignation. How many times had he been beaten today? He had already lost count.

- Why did you hit me?

- I called your name so many times and you never answered. And don't make that upset face. You look like an abandoned kitten.

After rubbing his bruised face, Arthur took the time to get a good look at the woman in front of him.

He lifted his head and froze in place. The two azure-blue eyes were so deep and beautiful that Arthur feared he would lose his mind if he didn't look away. But he was powerless, no matter how much willpower the young lad had, he was mercilessly consumed by these two jewels.

Her long golden-colored hair was neatly tied in a ponytail. The girl was dressed in gray short shorts and a blacktop. Such simple clothes not only did not conceal the trim and slender body, but on the contrary, they emphasized the seductive figure, which would make any man dizzy.

Arthur did not need to explain who was standing in front of him. He immediately recognized Elia Mann, Arno's younger sister. She matched the book description very closely. Except that no matter how talented the author was, no matter how beautifully he played with words, reality surpassed his expectations.

Arthur coughed to come to his senses. Even if he had the perfect girl in front of him, his pride wouldn't allow him to act like a stupid, lustful fool.

- Elia. - He called out to check.

- Yeah?

He was not mistaken. It was her. One of the key characters in the novella "Rise of Darkness." The bloodline's powers given to her by the author were incredibly important to the plot from the middle of the novel onward. A few times her powers have been used to rewind time and save some plot characters.

Even the protagonist Eric was brought back from the afterlife when his plot armor ran out. In this arc, Elia, along with Eric, are trapped in one of the dungeons. They arrived here completely unaware of who the place belonged to. Their enemy turned out to be an Ancient Arborean God, vastly superior to them in combat power. Elia was forced to rewind time over and over again when she saw them losing. Thus finding herself in a kind of time loop.

Luckily for her, there was a rare fountain of mana in the dungeon that allowed Elia to avoid the limitations of her bloodline's abilities.

However, her powers were not absolute. She could not control time as she wished. The distance to rewind time depended primarily on the amount of mana in the girl's body. The higher her mana core level became, the further back in time she could leap. Moreover, after each jump, she became exhausted and could not use the ability for some time.

And at the current moment, according to the book, her rank was only F.

Another unique trait of Sister Arno was that she was already living her second life. In the middle of the novel, she admits to Eric that she is a reincarnator. The last time she was much stronger and using powerful artifacts, she was able to go back into the body of a 16-year-old girl. The asshole author, constantly dragging out the moment and creating intrigue, never wrote the most interesting part in the end - why she did that. Well, or Arthur just didn't finish reading...

Her "reincarnation" title also meant that Arthur was an even bigger loser than he might be at first glance show. What would be the first thing you would do if you got into a novel? The obvious answer would be to run to collect the easily accessible artifacts you read about. But what if they've already been collected? And if they're still there, who's to say that your much-loved sister wouldn't come to get them first? All in all, a lot of headaches and zero benefits.

"Where are my cheats? Just one, please. Am I asking for much?" - Inwardly Arthur cried with injustice.

- Arno, you idiot, are you standing there, asleep or what? Wake up.

Elia actively waved her hands right in front of the nose of Arthur, who had passed out again.

- I'm not dreaming. Are you thinking of chilling me like that? Stop acting like a fan, please.

- Then I'll repeat the question for the hundredth time. What happened to you? And what was that paper you so rudely ripped from your sister? Is it something I'm not supposed to see? Do you have secrets? - Elia asked in a teasing tone, but her eyes said the question was serious.

"Damn, I haven't even had a chance to think about it. How am I supposed to get out of this now?"

- Don't worry, it wasn't a big deal here, just...

Seeing the girl's frowning eyebrows and incredulous look, Arthur quickly realized that all the nonsense he was going to say obviously wasn't going to work.

Arthur faked dizziness, swayed, and fell backward theatrically, hitting the wall. His body slowly began to slide down. His eyes were bulging, and he held one hand to his chest, feigning pain with all his might.

If someone had caught him on camera and then shown him playing, he would have burned with embarrassment. So ridiculous was his performance.

But to everyone's surprise, the game turned out to be an incredible success.

Elia instinctively tried to catch the falling Arthur, but she wasn't fast enough. Her hands slid only slightly over his chest, where the gray armor was. But that was already enough to "win".

All questions went out of the blonde girl's head at once as soon as she looked at her hands. They were covered in blood.

Though Mia had healed Arthur's wounds, he hadn't had time to clean his armor either. And after all the happenings, there was plenty of "proof" on it that Arthur wasn't fooling around and was indeed wounded. 

- My love. What... why...

A shocked cry hit the ears of everyone present. Immediately following it was the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. But the speed of the sound seemed to not keep up with the speed of running.

Within seconds Arthur felt something soft on his cheeks. Two hands gently and gently lifted his head. Two small hands gave him their warmth, but their intense trembling also conveyed undisguised anxiety.

- Honey, are you hurt? Are you in pain? Who did this... Elia, what happened here? Why is Arno lying on the floor... Oh, my God, oh, my God... Is that blood? Blood? 

Arthur could feel all the excitement of the unfamiliar voice on his skin. The girl gibbered rapidly, her speech becoming less and less articulate with each word. In the end, it turned completely into a bitter sob. 

"What the hell? Who the hell is that anyway?" - The sound of crying completely discouraged the guy. Seriously, not even Elia was in such a flustered state.

"Really, who is that? The maid? That's right when I ran in here the maid opened the door for me. But why did she call me her lover? Maybe it's ... No, that's silly," Arthur shook his head at the absurdity of the idea that came into his head.

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- How could I know? He has only just arrived. You opened the door yourself. - Elia answered when she finally came to her senses.

- I... I... Arno, my love, where did the blood come from? Who did this? No, wait, dummy me ... What am I thinking...  - The girl slapped her cheeks as if in punishment for her stupidity.

- The first thing to do is to heal the wound. Elia, please bring a healing potion. Arno, I'll help you up. Hold on to me.

- All right, Sofia. We should take his armor off.

- Yeah, yeah, I know. Don't just stand there. Go - The girl screamed in such a panic that Arthur himself was frightened that he might actually have some kind of health problem.

"Elia said...What? Is that Sophia? Did she say that name? I didn't mishear it, did I?"

Arthur was shocked, to say the least. He wasn't an idiot and guessed who the name Sophia belonged to. But it was incredibly hard to accept this fact as he looked at the crying girl in front of him.

The Sophia described in the book and the real girl were two absolute opposites.

"Maybe it's another Sophia...Who am I kidding, she lives in my house with my sister and calls me affectionate names. There's no other explanation except that it's really her. My wife."

The fact is that Sophia, or Sophia Mann, was not her only name. The second, which her husband Arnaud was not supposed to know, was a more famous one -- Azrea.

It was the name that everyone in the world of Eridanus knew without exception. The name that millions have been praying to. The name in the glory of which wars were being fought. The name of the goddess of light.

Azrea was not only considered the most powerful goddess but moreover the most influential of them. After defeating demons and closing spatial rifts, she became a cult figure to the people. Her snow-white wings and noble figure became a symbol of the new world. Her fame spread like wildfire throughout the world, urging millions of ordinary people to accept her as their savior.

The Eridan soldiers, to whom Azrea gave her power, became her first angels, messengers of God's will. These first followers in her glory created the church, today simply called the Temple. No one needed to explain whose temple it was.

Moreover, in the book, Azrea, joining Eric on his travels, showed a very different image. She retained the majestic, divine grace of a true goddess. Erik, desiring a rapprochement with her, tried his best to melt her seemingly cold and closed heart. Only the many events they had experienced together along the way had gradually reduced the distance between them.

But what did Arthur see now?

A slender or even skinny girl with a lush chest, on which wavy pink hair fell like a waterfall. Her eyes, large and the same pink as her hair, shone with kindness and tenderness. Her round cheeks were adorned with a slight blush, giving her a sweet and innocent look. It wasn't a seductive beauty like Elia's that made the pulse race. Rather, her beauty made people want to hold her and never let her go again.

But the most amazing thing was her outfit. She was dressed in a maid's uniform with a white bow on her head and a short skirt revealing her long and slender legs.

"Why is the goddess dressed as a maid?" - Arthur thought to himself, and then he couldn't help but blurt out aloud:

- Why are you dressed like a maid?

The girl was caught off guard by this question. Her emotions were all unstable, she was still worried about the man she loved.

But when the meaning of the question reached her consciousness, she opened her eyes wide, shyly fixed her hair, and said quietly:

- M...well, remember I promised you I'd get you a present this week... here it is.

"So it's a fickle phenomenon in this house. Hmmm...am I glad or upset that I won't have a permanent goddess maid?"

  Sophia was about to say something else, but the sound of coughing interrupted her.

Arthur's face suddenly turned pale. He found it hard to breathe as if something was stuck in his throat. He began to cough furiously, a nasty black substance coming out of him each time.

"What's the matter with me? I was just playing it off that I wasn't feeling well. How the hell did it become true?"

- Elia, stop. You don't need a healing potion. Hurry up and get the Black Tear. He's having a seizure... Hurry.

Elia appeared almost instantly. She put a small vial in Arthur's hand with a murky dark green liquid inside.

  There was a look of grave concern on both girls' faces. Arthur didn't understand what was happening. His coughing did not stop, the black substance had already gathered in a small puddle on the floor.

Without thinking long, Arthur opened the vial and, writhing, took a couple of sips. After a couple of seconds, the coughing stopped and his face cleared up a little.

"What the hell is going on here? " the guy was already just mentally yelling with indignation. It seemed that the more time he spent in this world, the more questions like "What the hell..." came up for him.

- Arno, when was the last time you took your medicine? Why didn't you take it on time? - Elia asked in an angry tone as if she were telling off a naughty child. 

Then Elia gave him a napkin and Arthur wiped his mouth. He had no idea what the black liquid was.

"Maybe this body has cancer, too? Maybe that's why this body is so weak...Yeah, that explains those prohibitively low stats."

Arthur didn't know if there were any earth-like diseases in this world. Actually, he knew it was not cancer and certainly not a deadly disease. In the novel, though seemingly forgotten by everyone, Arno is peacefully kept alive. But it was still necessary to find out what the sickness was as quickly as possible.

- I don't remember...

- Don't bother him, Elia. Let him rest. - Sophia stopped her.

Sophia gently helped Arthur up. Although there was a sad light in her eyes, she found the strength to smile softly.

- Darling, you must be hungry. Shall we eat? I've made your favorite meal.

Arthur sighed wearily and nodded in agreement. Even though they had "met" only recently, he was very touched by the girl's caring attitude.

"Arno it seems I finally understand you. Did you trade all your good fortune and health in exchange for your wife? I'm right, aren't I, you little bastard?"

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