“No, you were the one sleeping on my bed. Can you let go of me?”
“Hyaah!?”
She finally realizes she’s holding me.
She lets go of me immediately and presses her red cheeks with her hands.
“I-it wasn’t a dream…!? W-what part of it was real…!?”
“…? Were you dreaming?”
“I-I wasn’t! I didn’t have a weird dream or anything!
She shakes her head as her face turns bright red.
That’s when the door opens.
“Chrom, is El by any chance…”
Miss Reina enters, and stops suddenly.
Her eyes go right to El and I, who are in bed together.
“…”
She slowly and quietly closes the door as she leaves.
“Mom wait!”
My second day in the past begins with this peaceful exchange.
◇
I get changed and head to the dining table just like yesterday.
“I will be in the capital for a while.”
Says Mister Sirius while we have breakfast.
“Oufuo?”
El expresses her confusion while biting on a piece of bread.
“I’m going to report what happened yesterday to the royal palace, and ask the capital to send a survey team as well.”
“Survey team? Weren’t the adventurers of this town going to investigate?”
Asks Miss Reina.
“Yes, but this town has always been at peace, so the adventurers and vigilance committee are weak and few in numbers. They have been told not to probe too deeply, or it might be dangerous.”
Says Mister Sirius, before his face turns a bit stern.
“…I feel this incident was man-made. I also feel like this isn’t over yet, and this town doesn’t have the power to deal with it. We can’t simply rely on that ‘mystery hero’ either.”
…He’s sharp. It’s the senses he cultivated as a knight.
If he survived the first time around… If he didn’t lose his life to that surprise attack, that future would’ve probably been a little less bad.
“I will be back as soon as I can.”
He says before turning to me.
“I leave this town to you while I’m away, Chrom.”
“…! Yes!”
I’m glad to hear him ask this.
Even though regular me of this time could do nothing but be protected himself.
◇
Mister Sirius left, wearing his traveling clothes, and I practiced my time magic by doing housework just like I did yesterday.
Now I’m in the backyard, swinging my sword.
“…Ahh. Ahh…!”
This is the daily training I’ve been doing for a hundred years.
I graduated as Mister Sirius’ pupil, but I still need to train this body, and build muscle to move like I did in the future.
Having that said, it’s going to take a long time to reach that level.
In the future, I accelerated my training, accelerated my rest… And just kept repeating.
“…Ahh.”
After swinging the sword for a while, I wipe sweat with the sleeve of my training shirt.
(…I’m still feeling the damage from yesterday.)
My body still hurts quite a bit, and I still can’t use magic properly.
I can fight if I have to, but I really don’t want to face a strong opponent in this state.
I want to enter the dungeon soon for the sake of stopping the birth of the second demon king, but…
(I should take it easy today.)
Rushing too much would be dangerous. I don’t want to provoke an enemy while being unable to fight with my all.
If it’s like the first time, the second demon king should be born in a week, so I don’t have to panic just yet.
Today, I’ll just patrol around the town like Mister Sirius asked.
(Also…)
I can see what’s behind me reflected in the sword I restored back to being brand new with time magic.
“…”
I can see pink twintails bobbing as their owner peeks at me.
It’s obviously you, Labrys.
(Am I… Being watched?)
I turn around quickly, just to check.
“…!?”
She’s startled and hides like a small animal.
(W-what is she doing…?)
Labrys is on my mind today too because of that nightmare, but…
(…I-I don’t get it. I have no idea what she’s thinking.)