WIEDERGEBURT: Legend of the Reincarnated Warrior: Volume 5 Read online

  “I see I’m not wanted here,” Axel said to us with a huff. “I’ll be heading back to my office now. See you two whenever I see you next.”

  “Yeah. See you,” Kari and I said as the man walked out the door and slammed it shut. I had the feeling he was irritated with us, or maybe he was just upset with me, but that wasn’t my problem. I shook that thought off before turning to Erica again.

  “What did you need to see us for?” asked Kari. “I hear you’ve been pretty busy lately. Whatever reason you have for coming here must be important.”

  Erica’s expression shifted into something that was like a frown combined with a grimace. With just that look, I could tell that what she planned on talking about was not going to be pleasant.

  “The situation with the Cult of the Great Overlord has changed,” she said. “News hasn’t reached this far out yet, but the cult managed to open a portal in the temple ruins located in Vahn. We’re not sure how they managed to pull that off. However, the city has fallen.”

  Kari and I sucked in a breath after being hit with this news. Vahn was one of the larger cities in the Northern Plain. It had a population of about 5 or 6 million. What’s more, that was where the Paladin Sect’s main base of operations was located. The idea of it falling was ludicrous.

  “Were there any survivors?” asked Kari.

  “A few hundred thousand people managed to escape thanks in large part to the Paladin Sect,” Erica admitted, though she didn’t sound happy. “That’s how we learned about what happened. However, most of the Paladin Sect was away when the portals opened, so most of the residents didn’t make it. We’re planning to retake the city. However, just retaking the city won’t be enough. According to a report from our scouts, the enemy is continuing to increase in numbers.”

  “Meaning the portal is still open,” I said.

  “Right.” Erica nodded. “We are planning a joint operation with the Paladin Sect. However, no one in our sects knows how to close a portal after it’s been created. Kari, you managed to close the portal last time, which is how we survived. We would like you to do that again.”

  “So, you came here to hire us to go into the ruins and close the portal while the Battling Valkyries and the Paladin Sect retake the city?” I asked.

  “More or less,” Erica admitted with a gallic shrug. “There is more to this plan than just that, but you’ve got the gist of it. Will you two come with me? We really do need your help.”

  I looked over at Kari, who glanced back at me for a moment before looking back at Erica. She nodded once.

  “Lead on,” Kari said.

  With a relieved smile, Erica led us over to the Warp Gate, which we all stepped through one after the other.

  I stared at the vaguely familiar coffered ceiling above my head. There were square panels that looked like they’d been created separately instead of carved from the same stone. It was very decorative. There were tiny rune motifs carved into each panel. Truly, it was an intricate ceiling, but I couldn’t help but wonder why anyone would spend so much time and effort to create a ceiling like this for an unused guestroom.

  Of course, while I was staring at the ceiling like it was the most fascinating thing in the world, I was only doing that as a means of distracting myself.

  “Mmm… Darling… zzz…”

  Withholding the sigh that wanted to escape my mouth, I glanced down at the curtain of silky black hair. Then I looked further down at the six-meter-long tail that was wrapped around my torso and legs My arms were pinned to my sides and my legs were completely ensnared. What’s more, Lin’s soft body was pressing against me. Her modest breasts pushed into my arm. Her nipples were rubbing into my skin, sending electric jolts through my body.

  How did she get in here? Well, obviously she’d used the door. I guess my question should have been: what was she doing here? The last time I had seen Lin, she was dozing off on Kari’s bed after talking with the blonde girl for several hours. I had been told not to worry about her by Kari, who’d said she’d let Lin sleep with her that night, but now she was in my bed. When did this happen? How did this happen? Why was I even surprised?

  There was a window on my far left, wide enough that I had a great view of the rising sun as it painted the sky with color. It was morning.

  “Lin,” I said. “Lin, wake up.”

  “Just wait until I’m five degrees warmer, Darling,” Lin mumbled.

  I twitched at her typical response. “No five degrees. Get up now.”

  “Darling?” Lin lifted her torso and head just a bit to gaze at me. Her sleepy, half-lidded golden eyes contained a seductiveness to them that I found difficult to resist. However, resist I did, turning my head as she gave me a small smile. “Good morning, Darling.”

  “What are you doing in my bed?” I asked as she leaned back down, laid her head on my chest again, and closed her eyes. “Don’t go back to sleep!”

  “You’re so cruel.” With a sigh, Lin got back up. “When this princess woke up, she was in bed with Kari. You weren’t there, so she used the Ring of Marji to find you.”

  “The Ring of Marji… right. I forgot that had the ability to let us know the other’s location.”

  Thinking back on it, I could have used that power to find Lin when she was being chased by those Nevarian Spiritualists. That it didn’t occur to me back then was a great failing on my part.

  “Right. So this princess followed your trail to here. She wanted to wake you up, but you looked so peaceful while you were sleeping that she decided to just get in bed with you.”

  “That so? Somehow, I am not surprised.”

  “Anyway, Darling,” Lin continued, either ignorant of or just ignoring my sarcasm. “This princess likes that Kari girl. She can see why you are so enamored with her. That is why she will allow you to make that girl your concubine.”

  “My concubine, huh?” I muttered, thinking. Speaking of concubines, I remembered Kari talking about how I should court both Fay and Lin alongside her. That made me wonder if maybe I should treat Lin more like a lover now. Would that be appropriate? Moreover, was I even capable of treating her that way? I liked her, sure, but did I love her? I didn’t know.

  Before I could figure out what actions were and weren’t appropriate in this situation, someone knocked on the bedroom door.

  “Eryk?” Kari’s voice came from the other side. “Eryk? Are you awake?”

  “I’m awake,” I called back. “Is something wrong, Kari?”

  “I wanted to talk to you. It seems Lin is missing. She wasn’t in my bed when I woke up this morning, so I was wondering if you might know where she is?”

  A strange jolt traveled down my spine as I glanced at Lin, my danger senses going off. I already had experience with this scenario. I knew what would happen if I let this girl speak first, but sadly just because I knew what would happen, that didn’t mean I was fast enough to stop it.

  “This princess is not missing,” Lin said before I could open my mouth. “She merely came here and ended up falling asleep with Darling.”

  No noise came from the other side of the door for the longest time. A cold sweat broke out on my skin. The seconds ticked by, then a soft click echoed around the room as the door handle was turned. Soft creaking followed as someone pushed open the door. What was revealed on the other side was Kari, dressed in a light blue nightgown, her golden hair haloing her body. Because her chest was so large, the nightgown stretched taut across her bust, but the rest of it was loose and flowing.

  Kari took one look at me, wrapped up in Lin’s tail, then glanced at the Lamia girl.

  “What is going on here?” she asked in a soft voice. I felt a chill run down my spine for reasons I couldn’t understand.

  Lin tilted her head. “What do you mean? This princess woke up to find that Darling wasn’t with her, so she decided to find him. He was asleep when she arrived, so she just slipped into bed like she always does.”

  “Like you always do?” Kari raised an eyebrow at m
e.

  “It’s been like this ever since she regained her true appearance,” I admitted with a sigh. Then I added, “No matter how many times I tell her not to.”

  “Your body heat is better than any quilt,” Lin said with a shameless shrug.

  “I think I understand what is going on here,” Kari said at last.

  “You do?” I asked.

  “Yes.” Walking into the room, Kari stopped by the bed and placed a hand on Lin’s shoulder. She was smiling, but something seemed off about it, wrong in a way that I couldn’t describe. Did her smiles always look so dark? “Lin, I believe you and I should give Eryk some privacy right now. He needs to freshen up, and I have some things I would like to talk to you about in private.”

  Lin seemed oblivious to the strange aura surrounding Kari, which was something other than a Spiritual Aura. I couldn’t think of anything to describe it as except maybe… demonic? Yes. At that moment, Kari looked kind of like a Demon Beast dressed in human flesh.

  “Very well,” Lin said in an imperious voice. “This princess shall go with you while Darling freshens up.”

  Lin uncoiled her tail from around me, causing me to involuntarily sigh in relief. For as oddly comfortable as being wrapped in her tail was, it always felt better when she freed me from her grip, though I couldn’t figure out why.

  “Eryk,” Kari called out to me as she stopped by the door, “Why don’t you wash your face and get changed? Afterward, please meet us in the dining hall.”

  “Okay.” I had no idea what was going on, so all I could do was agree.

  Kari and Lin left my room, closing the door behind them. I remained on my bed for a few moments before swinging my legs over the edge. My feet touched carpet, which must have been even higher quality than what was inside of my house. It was so soft. It almost felt like silk. After taking a moment to stretch out, I wandered over to a table situated in a corner of the room, where my clothes from the tournament were neatly folded. Someone must have cleaned and delivered them here last night.

  After washing my face in a basin next to the table, I slipped my clothes on, though I left my boots off, and wandered out of the room. There was a butler waiting for me.

  “Good evening, young master.” He bowed low. “Shall I escort you to the dining hall now?”

  “Um, good morning,” I mumbled. I’d never had a butler before, so I wasn’t used to them. “And, uh, yes, please. Thank you.”

  “Of course. Right this way.”

  The butler stood up and led me down the hall, took a turn, and led me down another hall. I didn’t bother trying to memorize my way right now. Since I didn’t think I was going to be spending the night again, at least not for the moment, there was no point in trying to figure out where everything was.

  I was eventually led to the door I remembered from yesterday. The butler opened it and let me precede him into the dining hall. It was currently empty, so I merely chose a random seat on the middle left side of the table and waited.

  Left to my own thoughts, I wondered what I should do now, but I couldn’t think of anything. No, that wasn’t quite true. There was a lot that I needed to do, a lot that I wanted to do. The problem was I had so much on my plate that I couldn’t figure out what I should do first.

  I had just won the Spiritualist Grand Tournament. Kari would now be able to travel outside of Nevaria with me. However, there were still a lot of issues that I needed to deal with: getting stronger, strengthening Nevaria, and preparing for the Demon Beast Invasion were just a few of those things. That wasn’t even going into Fay, who was another problem entirely.

  “Fay…”

  What was I going to do about her? Kari suggested courting Fay alongside her, and I was willing to give that a try, but would she be okay with that? Fay was a strong-willed woman. What if, after coming to her and suggesting we enter a polyamorous relationship, she just slammed the door in my face? Well, I suppose if that was her choice, I could only accept it, but then where would that leave us?

  The door opened just then and Kari walked in with a shivering Lin. I glanced at the smiling blonde beauty, and then shifted my gaze to the gorgeous Lamia, who seemed oddly pale for someone with such dark skin. Not only was she shaking, but she kept tossing glances at Kari like the girl was going to bite her head off. I also noticed that she was actually wearing clothes. It was a simple blue dress that looked a tad big on her, but it did an adequate job of covering all her naughty bits.

  The moment she saw me, Lin slithered over to me in a panicked rush.

  “D-Darling!”

  Lin was barely a second from pouncing on me when Kari coughed into her hand, causing the Lamia to stop. Her body shivered again. Then, to my surprise, she slowly wandered to the seat on my left and sat down. A still smiling Kari sat down on my right.

  “Um, did you two have a good talk?” I asked, for lack of anything better to say.

  “I believe we did,” Kari said as Lin shuddered.

  “Do you mind if I ask what you talked about?” Something strange was going on. Lin looked like she’d seen death incarnate. I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of conversation they’d had.

  “You may ask, but I sadly will not be able to tell you.” Kari sent me a tender, gentle smile. “It was a conversation between us girls.”

  “I… see…”

  I didn’t see at all. I was just saying that.

  “Do not worry,” Kari said in response to my words. “All you need to know is that she and I had a conversation regarding propriety.”

  “Ah.”

  I could only assume that Kari had spoken to Lin about her habit of sneaking into my bed, and the conversation, or maybe Kari herself, had been frightening enough to scare the Lamia girl into submission. Part of me still wanted to know more. However, so long as Lin stopped sneaking into my bed, I felt like I had nothing to complain about.

  A maid came out of a doorway on the other side of the room. She was pushing a cart with food on it. As she came closer, I saw that two of the dishes contained bowls of porridge with dried fruit mixed in. The third meal was a large plate of smoked ham, which I assumed was for Lin. I was impressed. The chef had remembered that Lamia were meat eaters after only being told once.

  The maid stopped next to us and set the bowls of porridge in front of Kari and I and the plate in front of Lin, who was already drooling as she stared at her food. She looked ravenous. Of course, the maid also had to avoid the Lamia’s tail, which thumped against the ground. Kari almost giggled when the poor woman nearly tripped on it.

  “Let’s not stand on ceremony and eat,” Kari said as she smiled at us.

  While Lin had no trouble digging in, I couldn’t help but glance at her. “Are we not going to wait for your other family members to arrive?”

  Kari shook her head as she grabbed a spoon. “My mother has likely already eaten, and I’m sure my fathers except for Dante have done the same. All of them have duties to attend to early in the morning. What’s more, considering what happened to Lin last night, I have no doubt that my parents are spreading the word not to sound the Demon Beast Alarm if they see a girl with the lower body of a snake wandering the streets.”

  “That makes sense.” Seeing how Kari was beginning to eat, I also grabbed my spoon and scooped up some porridge. “The Empress of Nevaria and her husbands would be busy.”

  Kari stopped moving her spoon, but it was only for a second. “They are indeed busy people.”

  Breakfast was quiet for a time as everyone ate. The porridge was a lot better than what I’d been eating since coming back to the past. Then again, all I’d eaten for breakfast was honeyed bread, which wasn’t exactly the most flavorful dish ever conceived. It was sweet, but that was it.

  “This princess could get used to eating like this,” Lin said with a sigh. She had already polished off her plate, making me shake my head.

  “You are free to have more if you want,” Kari said.

  “Really?” asked Lin, who looked ecstatic a
t her words. Her long ears, covered in scales, wiggled with joy, and the tip of her tail thumped against the floor at a rapid pace.

  “Of course.” Kari smiled. “Our chef has been informed that Lamia are big eaters and she should prepare a lot more food for you.”

  “Thank you, Big Sister!”

  “Big Sister?” I mouthed the new title that Kari had been given, wondering what it was all about, but all Kari did was smile at me.

  “Do you have any plans today, Eryk?” asked Kari.

  “I… don’t know,” I admitted with a frown. “There are a lot of things I need to do, but I don’t know what I should do first.”

  “Then would you be willing to listen to my suggestion?” asked Kari.

  Glancing at the girl, I noticed the way she was biting her lip and made a guess. “Do you want to go and see Fay?”

  “Yes.” An expression of relief crossed Kari’s face when I caught onto what she wanted from me. “I don’t have classes today, and I’m sure Instructor Brynhild is busy dealing with the fallout of last night’s chase, so she’s unlikely to show up for training. Now would be the perfect time to see Fay and talk to her about the idea I proposed last night.”

  There were a lot of things I could have said in response to her words. I could have asked, again, if she was really sure about this solution she’d come up with. I could have questioned her. I could have said no.

  I did none of those things.

  “I understand,” I said with a slow nod. “After breakfast, let’s go to the Valstine Family’s residence and ask if we can speak with Fay.”

  The smile that blossomed on Kari’s face was worth more to me than all the valis in the world. “Thank you, Eryk.”

  “You’re welcome,” I said.

  “What should this princess do?” asked Lin.

  “You will be coming with us, of course,” Kari said. “After all, Eryk is going to be courting you as well, so you’ll need to be introduced to Fay at some point. We also need to start letting people get used to your presence. Might as well start now, right?”