Philian Apolesai

A Day Out

Vesi sat alone on the edge of her bed. She'd woken up far earlier than she needed to, the nervousness twisting through her didn't allow for relaxation. So, she was up. Not reading as she likely should have been, but instead exploring her inventory. Hand outstretched into a small void, her arm idly moving around its area. Trying to focus on anything else to make her swirling mind calm down, if only slightly.

Finding a new outfit that was better suited for walking seemed like a good idea, but all she'd stuffed in here over the years had blurred together in her mind. The only relevant thought she could have was 'something fabric-like'. Her fingers danced across chiffons and old pieces of unfinished lace. Vesi made a mental note to get back to her crafts, but she was still more focused on finding something she could wear. That was until she brushed across something rough—a slab of hardened leather.

Instantly she recognized it, pulling item from her inventory to cradle it in her lap. There it was, her old journal. An unkempt, overstuffed, mess of paper. Its face was cracked and dry from lack of care. One could see when she added paper over the years just by looking at its signature, the old pages at the beginning had almost fully yellowed, leading into a smooth gradient of newish paper that still had its white. She'd had so much to say. Nearly every pain and her very few pleasures experienced within this World had been documented within these pages.

For a moment she only stared at it, brushing dust from its spine. She had completely forgotten it existed. When had she last opened it? Thirty? Forty years ago? Maybe even longer.

She turned the book over in her hands, remembering the woman she had been when she'd last written inside: tired, empty, half-feral and ready to die. This book was her only strand of sanity for so long, one of the only 'friends' something like her could have. Comparatively speaking, it hadn't even been that long ago yet everything had changed.

Vesi quickly glanced about her room, just to remind herself how lucky she truly was to have been found. Fiore looked up from her seat by the wall and smiled. She'd come in the moment Vesi sat up, as though she'd been listening from the door to know the second she awoke. A level of care that couldn't have even been imagined a few months ago.

When her attention returned to the worn book with a new thought in mind: It deserved a happy ending. One day soon she would have to tell it all about her unbelievable turn in fortune. But then she glanced to the clock on the wall.

8:47

There was time, but not that much time. It would be alright though. Just seeing this old book was enough to lift her spirits. She had been worried about going out into the world with Momonga after so long of being along, that she'd somehow mess up, but somehow that raggedy journal set her mind at ease.

Instead, Vesi got up and placed it on her vanity. She would get to it, just like everything else.

"Are you ready to get ready for the day, my lady?"

Fiore had stood up behind her, hands clasped politely in front of her.

[Philian Apolesai]

He still wasn't ready. He couldn't be.

Ainz slowly twirled the staff floating in front of him, it quickly spun in reaction to his touch then slowed to a gradual purl before he turned it again—giving his thoughts a rhythm to flow with.

He still wasn't quite over the miracle that was her return, but now there were a few complications that he hadn't accounted for during all his time hoping one of his friends would come back. The Sorcerer Kingdom had been his project for a few years now and it was certainly coming along well for how new of a country it was. The guardians always praised his work of course, Ainz had been happy with its progress as well. Hardly any crime, a high standard of living, the economy was healthy—by all standards it should be a wonderful place to live... but what if she hated it? Would hate him for his methods? Could she have heard about something he'd done and be upset about it? Surely she would have said something by now, but maybe she was just waiting for her moment to ridicule him.