The Winds of the Past [Rune Factory 4]

Chapter 3

Over the next few days, I saw Avani quite often. She made a point of coming and talking to me, asking me about my prior life and my interests and bringing me home-cooked meals that offered a pleasant change from dining out. She introduced me to the townsfolk and helped me to get settled into my new home and new life. I was able to find work with Arthur as a translator, since languages long dead in this time had still been in use in mine. It was... a desolate feeling—this discovery that what had been my present was now the ancient past, half-forgotten even by the scholars in this age.

However, Avani helped dispel some of that sense of isolation with her frequent visits. I found that behind her pretty face was a bright intellect and a lively sense of humor, and we quickly began to enjoy a comfortable, teasing sort of friendship. I loved trying to get a rise from her by saying outrageous things to her, and sometimes she was even able to pay me back—with interest. However, though she did enjoy teasing her friends, she was also incredibly compassionate and kind-hearted. I had thought at first that her attentions to me were unique, but I soon learned that she treated me just as she had the other Guardians—indeed, as she treated everyone. She was constantly helping others, showing kindness in a thousand little ways. In most people, the same activities would have labeled them a busybody or a goody two-shoes, but Avani had such a gracious, generous nature that it only endeared her all the more to those around her.

A few days after my rescue, she approached me, all suited up in her newly-repaired armor, and asked how I was feeling that morning. I teased her, naturally, saying, "Why don't you come closer and feel for yourself?"

She blushed as usual, but maintained her serious demeanor as she suggested that perhaps I felt recovered enough for some physical exercise. Things were getting serious with the kingdom's aggressive neighbor to the north, she said, and she wanted to ensure that I'd be fit and ready to help if a crisis came.

I raised an eyebrow, and said, amused, "And you think you're the one to train me? Well, I suppose I am a bit bored today, so if you want me to tag along and protect you, I suppose I could accommodate your request."

She just snorted and tossed some gear to me. "Here, put this on. You'll need more than just your bare chest and clever tongue out there on the plains." I suited up, and we headed out the city gates.

Avani had provided me with chainmail, a small shield, and a simple but sturdy spear. I still recalled some of the spells I'd learned back in my days as Dragon Priest, and I seemed to have acquired some new ones—perhaps another artifact of my time spent as a Guardian. But physically, I knew I was not in peak condition after my long slumber. I determined to do my best to meet my would-be mentor's expectations. And it would feel good to get back in shape again, though I was skeptical that this delicate bloom of womanhood was the one to help me achieve that goal.

Oh, how wrong I was!

She pushed and pushed me that day, standing back and letting me do the fighting. She apparently was quite a warrior after all, and could use some magic spells, too. I discovered the latter several hours later, when, during one battle against a horde of goblins, giant tortas, and weagles, I was sent flying by a blast of strong wind from the large birds' powerful wings, lying helpless with the wind knocked out of me as several goblins leaped to attack me.

Suddenly from behind me came a loud battle cry, and a blur of green and silver shot past me, sending the advancing monsters flying through the air. More than half of them were vanquished before they even hit the ground, their bodies vanishing in a flash of light as they were returned to the Forest of Beginnings. Then she called out an incantation, and I felt a powerful burst of energy surging through my body as my wounds closed and healed before my eyes. I dispatched the remainder of the enemy, and turned to her with a new respect. "Not bad, not bad at all," I said, a little too weakly for my liking. She gave me a half smile, then gripping my arm, she called out another incantation that transported us back to town.