444 Comforting Erika's Heart
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“Are you alright?” Elizabeth wondered.
“I… No, I am not alright…” Erika sighed. “I don’t even know what to think anymore…”
“Is it about your family?” I wondered, as she nodded.
“I feel like… it feels so sad knowing my own aunt wanted to kill me…” Sighed Erika. “That curse I had back then when I had yet to have this body… Maybe it was also from the Cult?”
“Quite possibly.” I said. “Erika, you have to be strong now. I know it is harsh to know the truth, but you’ve always been a strong girl, since the first moment I met you.”
I looked at Erika’s eyes, as she opened them wide, raising her eyebrows.
“Be strong, you’re not alone.”
I said such simple words, but they seemed to do the trick, as she seemed to blush a bit, smiling innocently back at me.
“Okay, okay… Y-You’re a bit closer though…”
“Ah…”
“M-Maybe I can get better if you give me one of those you gave to Elizabeth, so we can be even…!”
“One of those?”
“K-Kiss…”
“Oh, that’s it…”
Suddenly, I felt the presence of Eleanora, who has been with us since the beginning. She’s awkward at talking too much with everyone, despite having grown attached to them and considering them her friends, so she often doesn’t engage in conversations between all of us.
In resume, she’s shy and socially awkward. I can’t blame her, I was also like that, it took me a while to improve.
But I could sense her deadly presence growing more menacing with each passing second.
“Fine…”
However, I had to ignore her jealously, as I kissed Erika’s cheek lightly, quickly making the pink-haired girl explode with steam coming out of her entire body.
“Pwaaahh!”
pA(nD)A no ve1 She suddenly was about to pass out, as I held her just in time before she fell into the floor.
“E-Erika?! Are you there? Erika!”
“She’s just happy, I guess…”
Elizabeth giggled a bit.
“Yeah…! I am okay! I am super charged now!” Erika quickly stood up, filled with energy as her soul emerged as a powerful aura. “Let’s go eat something yummy now! I want grilled steak, and Blake’s tasty stew he always makes, and skewered meat! And meatballs!”
“You really want a lot of meat…” I sighed. “None of the Undead were edible so we didn’t got any fresh meat, I hope we still have some saved up…”
As we walked back home, I calmed down Eleanora through talking with her telepathically. And as for Erika’s father, he was currently taking a long nap. I checked him and he was fine. I threw a dozen healing spells with Elizabeth anyways to revitalize his body as much as possible though, we can’t have him dying before Erika is reborn.
After that, we reached back home, as father greeted us. He was outside cutting firewood, as he noticed our entire group, he waved his hand at us, leaving the axe at the side.
“Hey! Blake! You’re finally back- Woah did you brought your whole army of kids?!” My father greeted me with eyes wide open. Despite the entire town grieving, he couldn’t go around with a long face when he had a whole family to take care of.
“We came to eat!” Erika said. “I’m hungry, uncle!”
Erika ran towards my father as he had a weakness for her cuteness.
“Erika you’re here?! Ah… well, fine…” He sighed. “I was just cutting firewood, how about we make some grilled meat? Blake, your mom’s making some stew, go help her out.”
“Sure. Here, I’ll bring some meat.” I said. Eleanora quickly appeared within my shadows, bringing a bag of various meats, mostly from monsters such as Gray Wolves, Giant Wild Boar, Shadow Crows, and Horned Rabbits.
“What?! Where did you had this massive haul?!” He asked. “Alright, let’s make a feast. We have to eat a lot to get over this sadness we all got… Nothing better than some grilled meat and booze.”
“Don’t drink too much though.” I said, reprimanding my father. He had the tendency of drinking a bit too much sometimes.
“O-Okay, I get it, I will be moderate!” He sighed. “Don’t stare at me like that…!”
And like that, a big feast was made. Father prepared grilled meat while I helped mom and grandma cook. The rest of my friends helped my father set the fire, prepare the table in the backyard, and put the meat in the grill, adding spices and other veggies over the grill too. Erika built several skewers with meat and vegetables to grill, her favorite combination.
“To think you’ll bring the whole gang here…” My mother sighed. “I suppose it must be hard for all of you, Ellergest was really something incredible… I still can’t believe he passed out. I remember he helped us a lot when I was pregnant, I always had this slight pain. You had this weird tendency of kicking my stomach a lot, Blake.” Mother said, while Allan and Anna were resting over their cribs.
“Eh? I-I had?” I asked, feeling perplexed. Now I felt slightly bad for what I did as a baby…
“Yeah! You were such a rude child with your mother, geez!” My mother reprimanded me for something I didn’t even remembered.
“Well… sorry.” I sighed.
I guess when I was inside of her I was perhaps constantly dreaming about my fight against Lucifer, or something like that…
“Don’t worry, I was just saying it as an anecdote… to lighten up the mood a bit.” She said. “Lord Ellergest was an important part of our lives in this village. His presence will be really missed.”
“Yes, although he was often times forced to ask for money, he still did a lot of things for free.” Said my grandmother.
“I’m glad papa was so loved by everyone…” Elizabeth smiled happily, as her two new spirits were chewing on meat at her side.
“Cheers for Lord Ellergest!” My father said, raising his cup of wine.
“Cheers!” We said in unison.
“May his soul find happiness in the afterlife.” My father sighed, looking at the starry sky.
“Yeah, I hope so too.” I said.
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