Bonus Short Stories

Short Story: Quun’s Arrival

“Is this... the forest near Brunhild’s border?”

Quun felt a strange sense of nostalgia wash over her as she stood in the forest. She was a fairy, and thus had a bit of a connection to the forests, though not quite as much as the elves. She was able to immediately guess her location, even though she’d just materialized.

The girl walked through the forest until she found a trail, then followed it until she spotted Brunhild’s castle town in the distance. She remembered speaking to Granny Tokie and having it explained to her that the current year was still a good while before she’d been born.

“Is this really the past? It looks the same as ever.”

At the very least, she hadn’t been thrown back more than a hundred years. That was a relief. She wanted to head straight for the town, but she suddenly realized that she might stand out on account of being a fairy and also being so young-looking.

“[Mirage].”

She used her Null magic to adorn herself in an illusion that changed her outward appearance to that of an ordinary-looking woman dressed in typical adventurer attire. To enter the town itself, you needed proof of identity or money, but fortunately, she had her guild card with her. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t technically registered in the current era because it wasn’t like the guard on duty could check.

She couldn’t help but let out an amazed sigh as she stepped through the gates.

“I see... This really is the past.”

Reality hit her hard as she looked over the unfamiliar streets. Over buildings that were not there in her time, and plots of bare land that weren’t empty in her time.

“I should probably head straight for the castle...”

Quun decided against that course of action, however. She thought it might be more fun to surprise her parents.

“I’ll hide out in the town until I can think of something.”

Quun’s lips curled up into a little grin. This mischievous side of her certainly resembled Leen. Besides, it wasn’t every day she got a chance to look around a town from the past, so she didn’t plan on wasting the opportunity.

She decided to head to her favorite restaurant, the Silver Moon Inn, and was most pleased to see it looked roughly the same. The differences were fascinating, but a little familiarity certainly didn’t hurt.

“Alright, I’m putting this up outside!”

“Ah!”

Quun stopped in her tracks as a woman walked out the front door with a rolled-up poster in hand. The fairy immediately recognized the woman as Micah, the manager, but she was stunned by how much younger she looked.

“You’re so young!”

“Huh?”

“Oh, er... Nothing.”

She stopped herself from blurting out anything else and simply watched Micah put the poster up. Quun looked it over and found herself raising a brow. The poster was a job recruitment notice.

“Are you looking for employees?”

“Are you interested? It’s just temporary. Basic waitressing stuff. Though we’ll put you up in one of our rooms, which is a nice perk.”

That certainly sounded promising. She knew that her father, Touya, frequented the cafeteria here. Plus, securing a place to stay was just good sense.

“Sure. Could you tell me a little more?”

“Not a problem, come on in!”

Thus, Quun secured herself a waitressing job. It would only take three days for her to encounter her dad.

Allis’s Arrival

“Hm?”

Allis found herself in a strange town. Granny Tokie had appeared and tried to explain some stuff to her, but she didn’t really get it. What she had gathered from the conversation was that she was now in the past, and her friends would probably arrive at some point as well. However, the sights around her were pretty unfamiliar, so she had no way of telling what year it was.

“Okay, I’m gonna take a look around!”

Allis didn’t care enough to sweat the small stuff. Her childhood friend (and crush), the prince of Brunhild, was always telling her to think more before acting, but she never could. She was curious about the new place, and couldn’t help but want to look around. That was probably her dad’s influence on her. Ende’s species didn’t enjoy staying in one place, and they instinctively traveled around. They took pleasure in meeting new people and experiencing new cultures. It was this instinct that drove Allis to merrily trot through the unfamiliar town.

All of a sudden, she noticed a young man clutching a bag and an older man charging after him.

“Hey, get that guy! He snatched a purse!”

“Get out of the way, man!”

“Hmph!”

Her eyebrow twitched as the purse-snatcher yelled at her. Though she looked boyish, she was still a girl at heart, so she didn’t exactly like being mistaken for a man. Most people assumed she was a guy on account of her clothing, but she just wore that stuff because it was easier to move around in. Plus, she didn’t care for cutesy outfits.

The charging man attempted to push her out of the way, prompting Allis to stick out her leg and trip him.

“Why you little...!”

The man got up and tried to grab Allis, but she kicked him hard in the shins.

“Aaagh! My legs!”

Ignoring the man’s screams, she picked up the snatched purse just in time for a pudgy, wheezing fellow to catch up to them.

“Oh, that’s...”

“Yours, Mister? Here.”

“Thanks! You saved my bacon!”

The man reclaimed the purse and held it tight in his arms. Apparently, it had contained his life savings, which he’d withdrawn in order to start his own business. He was just dropping it off at the commercial center before it was stolen.

The purse-snatcher was taken in by the guards, and Allis was given a little money as a reward. She was grateful for that, since her wallet had stayed behind in the future.

“I’ll call Dad and my moms tonight... For now, I’m gonna get some chow!”

Allis’s stomach growled. She jingled her little money bag as she greedily looked at the array of restaurants before her.

It was a very good day.

Moving Time

I’m moving out. Or rather, I’m already renting a place, so I’m paying for both right now.

A little while ago, I wrote that I was looking for a place to move to, and I finally found the perfect location. It was kind of a spur of the moment decision, but there was no real reason not to.

Normally, I’d be excited to check out life in a new place, but it isn’t actually too far away. There’s almost no change in the local environment... but I do have more room!

The moving preparation has been a bit exhausting, though. I had to buy an air conditioner, since the place didn’t have one. It’s like a death sentence not to have one in your bedroom during summer. Then I bought a washing machine and some ceiling lights... Oh, and I ordered some custom curtains too, which took a while to get finalized.

After that, I started packing, little by little. While I was doing that, I made sure my electricity, water, gas, phone, and internet providers knew I’d be leaving.

I’m getting kinda tired of throwing out trash and figuring out where to put my furniture... I don’t even live there yet! I wish I could use [Storage] or teleportation magic like in my books...

I had a moving company come... but there were too many boxes and no place to park the truck, so we had to make two back and forth trips over the course of a day.

It wasn’t too bad, though, since the new place was pretty close. But when I checked the weather forecast the night before, they said to expect a storm that day. I was super nervous...

Luckily, it wasn’t too bad, but there was a lot of rain toward the start of the moving process. Still, it cleared up fast enough and was completely gone by the time we loaded up the first trip.

By the time we unloaded the truck I was super exhausted, but the delivery guys were fine! They sure were burly.

We started at 8:30 in the morning, and it took over 5 hours to finish the first trip. Then we took a lunch break and started the second trip at around 2:30 in the afternoon.

My feet were aching, since they weren’t used to supporting me for so long. Just standing around ended up making me feel tired... I wasn’t even carrying anything!

By the time we actually finished, it was seven at night, and that was with the house being extremely close by to my old one! If it was further away, it might’ve taken an extra day or something.

I was so sweaty by the end that I needed to take a bath, and after that, I just got in bed and started writing this, so yeah. It just happened. My feet hurt real bad. How many days is it gonna take for me to recover from this?

I have to get changed... I have to go get some food... Wait, I haven’t unpacked my clothes yet...

Yeah, I think I’m just gonna stay in bed for now.