CHAPTER 42: HOME

"Uhhh... Miss Cecilia. If you are just a mortal like me who trained and studied a lot. Does it mean that I can become like you as well?"

"Of course! Anyone can."

((That said, people in this age don’t seem to level up at the same rate they did in the game. But I don’t need to tell her that now. I don’t want to discourage her.))

"Ooooh. Can you teach me while you’re here?"

"Hmm... I don’t know if I can teach much. Most I know has come from the priesthood. But I can try to pass some knowledge to you."

((It might be fun. I would have to actually teach her, not just pass her techniques through scrolls. It would be an interesting way to test how things work in relation to the time of the game.))

:::

Despite that, the day passed without any opportunity for a class. Marya had her hands full helping people throughout the village and with her tasks at the inn. Meanwhile, Cecilia deployed a teleportation rune in her room and went to the capital.

"MASTER! YOU’RE BACK!!!"

"Wait, wait, Mina. You don’t need to jump on me like that."

"You scared me so much!!! Why didn’t you come back yesterday??? I spent the whole night and the morning watching the teleporting rune, waiting for you."

"I was just too tired yesterday, so I just went straight to bed."

"Straight to bed? Did you at least take a proper bath before? Or did you just get into bed with the same clothes you wore during the day? Hmmm???"

((Ugh, when did she develop that personality? But I can’t even argue back. I know she’s right.))

"I’m sorry... Yesterday’s fight was just so draining..."

"Then I’ll give you a bath right now. And I won’t accept a ’no’ as an answer."

Mina took Cecilia’s hand and brought her to the bathroom. Cecilia complied obediently, following her maid and allowing herself to be babysat and pampered.

:::

After leaving the bath, she asked someone to get a message to Aelindra, telling her that Cecilia was well.

In her haste, Cecilia had forgotten to leave a scroll for Aelindra to learn to teleport to the runes. She created one and handed it to Mina.

"Give this to Aelindra. It’s for her to also be able to teleport, like you. I’ll go back to Aberswan now, but I’ll be back to sleep here tonight."

"But why are you going? Didn’t you already solve everything there?"

During the bath, Cecilia had told Mina about what happened in Aberswan.

((I wonder why... Oh, right.))

"Do you remember how I used to live, before? I never liked to be around too many people and with too much pomp. The team of maids running around all the time, the guards around the house, the status of ’mother of the queen...’ It’s all a bit too uncomfortable to me."

"Yes, Master. I remember. So, you plan to live here and there? Spend the day there and come here to sleep?"

"I don’t know... For now, I have rented a room in an inn, and I haven’t thought too far in the future. I’ll just hop here and there for a few days and see how things go."

"I understand, Master. I’ll pack my things, then."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because I’m going with you, of course!"

"No, no, no. That would defeat the idea of having a place where I can be laid-back and not have people serving me all the time. You stay here. That’s an order."

She suddenly remembered that being served meant she could give orders, so she used that power.

It was super effective.

"Ughhh... Okay, Master. I understand. But please, don’t stay away too long."

"Don’t worry. I don’t want you to put my pics on the walls here."

Cecilia stared at the catgirl with loving eyes and petted her behind the ears.

"Hihihi. It’s a promise, then. If you don’t come back tonight, tomorrow morning this room’s walls will be covered with your pics."

:::

Later that evening, Cecilia was having dinner at the inn.

"You know. You’re a strange one, Miss Cecilia. Most travelers stay a night or two, then leave. They see here as just a stop in their travels. But you... You look like someone who is trying to remember a home she has never had."

Cecilia raised her eyes from the soup and looked at Gertrude, startled.

((A home I’ve never had...))

She sighed, thinking for a moment, before answering.

"Maybe I am." She conceded with a cracked voice.

"Well, if that’s the case, you’ve got one here now."

:::

After dinner, she went back to her house in Drakenhof. She had tea with Mina and Aelindra, then went to her room. Her mind was filled with troubled thoughts, so she just stayed in the bed, looking at the bed’s canopy for some time.

"A home I’ve never had... Gertrude nailed it on the head, right? Though it isn’t fully true. I used to have a home before the accident. But ever since..."

The hospital was never her home. The game was the closest thing to it, but games aren’t homes. They are games. She didn’t inhabit it. But now she does inhabit here, yet she doesn’t have a home.

This house is hers, but the truth is that, for Cecilia, this is Aelindra’s home. The maids, the guards, and even the atmosphere itself are foreign to her.

Then the hidden base is the opposite. It was never intended as a proper home. It’s more like a deposit or a warehouse that happens to have some home-like facilities.

But Aberswan... she could live there. She would just need to have the people stop acting like she’s a saint or something. But, besides that, she felt at home with those people. The simplicity of the daily life, without ceremonies or titles, was exactly what she felt she needed.

"All right. It’s decided. Tomorrow I’ll talk to the mayor and ask if there is a house in Aberswan I can buy."