My Servant Is An Elf-Knight From Another World

Chapter 43

<<Bills are covered for a year. Tell your Dad we are officially even now. No more favors.>>

It wasn't even a month ago when they were practically starving me out of house and home. Now they were filling me up with all the houses and homes I could ever want. Next thing you know, they'll end up getting me a replacement for my broken phone too.

<<P.S: There's a phone in the second-floor bedroom. Use it.>>

Oh.

I know it's getting really redundant at this point, but I seriously cannot emphasize enough just how surreal everything was at the moment. It wasn't good. It was making my head hurt bad. I needed a distraction.

"You want to go take the Elf and the Vampire out of the car, now?" Irene asked, her gleaming scarlet eyes poking through the doorway.

"Good distraction, let's go," I said.

"What?"

"Nothing, let's go."

A little while later and we had ourselves a full house. With Ash, I made sure to place her into the most comfortable room and bed I could find. Carrying her up the flight of stairs wasn't easy, but I wasn't going to complain, especially not with Ash.

In regards to Ria... needed her in close proximity to me always, so we've situated her onto the living room couch, where I could keep an eye on her easily.

By the time we had everything settled, we were greeted with the chilly breeze of dusk's ascent with the dark canvas in the night sky twinkling a few stars shining bright.

For a moment, just for the one minute moment, I had that sense of normalcy again. The belief that the only magical moment in my life was the time my dad dressed as Santa Claus and knocked at the front door.

Then I saw the glow of phoenix fire twirling around the garden with a whimsical tune playing in a hum, caught a strong whiff of enticement temporarily clouding my senses and I was instantly brought back down to my version of normalcy.

"You'll be fine?"

Irene spoke from the driver-side window of her car. She had to go, she claimed. Duty calls. She wanted to go and make sure all the victims were accounted for.

"I hope so," I said, bending down to level with her gaze. "More worried about you, actually. You're still very red and very, uhh... smelly."

"Glamour will come back eventually. Don't know how long... but it'll be back. I'll just be watching from afar, no one will see me... hopefully..."

"And the victims? Isn't there a chance they might remember something? Wouldn't be nice if they started spouting about vampires and phoenixes and stuff like that now, would it?"

Irene smiled at that. Hadn't seen her smile for so long now.

"You really think anybody would believe them?" She raised her eyebrows. "Would you have?"

"You really want me to answer that?"

A sigh, a tired one, left her lips with a shake of her head. "You're normal. That's good. Frankly, if I were the one in your shoes... getting dragged into all this... I don't think I would have come out of it the same."

It was my turn to sigh. "Who says I still am?"

Her stare was somber again, that smile... all but faded. "Back then... I knew you trusted me. I'm sorry I lied. I'm sorry about what I said. The Elf... everyone... you're right, they weren't just numbers in a statistic."

"Heat of the moment," I said. "I know you didn't mean it.'

"I did," she said, looking away. "Still do. This time was a fluke. Next time... if there is a next time... you might just not be able to save everyone. And then once you realize that... then numbers will be all you have to go off of..."