PftA Book 5 - Chapter 21 - Not the MC

A/N: I swear, sometimes it feels like coming up with a chapter title is harder than writing the dang chapter. There's a reason the published version doesn't have chapter titles!

“I’m guessing Grandma told you,” Amie said with an exaggerated sigh at the look I gave her when I arrived. “I told her not to say anything yet. We only just started courting.”

After checking in to make sure I wouldn’t be interrupting anything, I’d teleported to Amie’s location using the bracelet I’d given her back when she was a toddler. It had automatically grown to fit her over time.

While there were other, better security bracelets available, the one I’d gotten for her with Rhona’s help so long ago held a special place in her heart. I thought it was sweet that she still wore it, even after all these years.

“I didn’t say anything,” I pointed out.

“Your face said it all,” Amie countered before pulling me into a hug. “She told you, didn’t she?”

“About your plan to get married?” I asked after she let me go. When she sighed again and nodded her head, I smiled and said, “Yes. Mom told me. She thinks Rhona’s influencing you.”

“Well, she’s not exactly wrong. But it isn’t intentional,” Amie replied. “Can we go to your place so we can take advantage of the time dilation? I’d love to extend my time off. With Lady Rhona’s wedding coming up, I’ve been a lot busier than normal.”

“You want me to whip you up a [Time Dilation] formation?” I offered. “I wanted to test some upgraded reagents, anyway.”

Amie looked torn as I transferred us into my demesne.

“I feel bad taking more from you,” Amie admitted as she gently sat on the dark navy couch. I’d recently changed the layout and furniture, so everything still had a new feeling.

I waved a hand dismissively.

“Don’t feel bad,” I said. “I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t fine giving it to you. Besides, like I said, I want to test a few things. Crafting something I’m very familiar with would be helpful.”

“Well, I won’t decline if you’re sure,” Amie said with a small smile. She leaned back in the chair and glanced around the open room. “You changed things since you last brought me here.”

“I did,” I said with a nod before adding playfully, “It’s not as big of a change as getting married, but it’s a change.”

Amie groaned. “I should never have said anything. Honestly, the only reason I even mentioned it was because she heard Simon’s voice in the background while I was talking to her and started asking questions. What’s funny is that he was only stopping by to drop off something for the wedding. But you know how Grandma is when she starts asking questions.”

I did know exactly how my mother could be. She wasn’t super pushy normally, but when it came to her children or her grandchildren’s relationships… she could be a terror.

I still remembered how she grilled Justin when he started seeing Melony back in high school. It was a mix of teasing and genuine information gathering that had left Justin flustered for hours.

She’d done the same thing when Justin and Bell got together.

I vaguely remembered getting similar treatment when I started seeing new boys in school. But that was so long ago – two lifetimes, really. My memories of back then weren’t nearly as crisp as what came after magic and the system changed everything.

“So? When’s the date?” I asked.

“We haven’t set a date,” Amie answered. “We haven’t even started discussing the marriage contract, yet.”

“But you’re heading in that direction?”

Amie’s face shifted into a grin. “I think so.”

“That’s crazy to think about,” I said. “In some ways, it feels like you should still be a kid. But in others… I’m almost surprised you’ve waited as long as you have.”

“Well, it’s not like I’ve been celibate this whole time! It just hasn’t ever been the right time to settle down,” my niece said, flushing slightly. “There’s always been too much going on. Managing Lady Rhona’s interests and keeping her organized takes a lot of time and effort. The wedding has only added to that.”

“And you think now is a good time to get married?” I questioned. “Aren’t you going to be even busier handling everything while Rhona is busy starting a family?”

Amie shook her head. “No. She’ll be taking a step back from all of the noble stuff for the next few decades, at least. That’s what takes most of my time. By comparison, the businesses she’s invested in hardly take any effort at all to manage. I’ve even started investing in a few of my own to build my portfolio.”

“That’s good,” I said. “Now, tell me about this guy you’re considering marrying.”

As Amie talked, I could tell there was some genuine interest in the man she was seeing. It was obvious by the way she smiled when she talked about him that this wasn’t just a match made out of convenience. In fact, she saw it as quite serendipitous.

He was a Tamer, which meant he was a Mind Mage by affinity, even if he didn’t use his magic like a normal mage might.

The fact that Rhona’s betrothed – a Crystal Mage – had a Mind Mage in his party was already crazy enough odds. Mind Mages were not common. Neither were Crystal Mages.

On paper, it was a good match since Amie’s strongest affinity was Mind. Pairing with another Mind Mage meant there was a very good chance their children would also have the affinity.

It obviously wasn’t guaranteed since there were plenty of people who didn’t share an affinity with their parents. But the likelihood was certainly higher.

None of that mattered on Earth in the beginning since nobody had affinities to pass down. However, it mattered now.

The mother’s affinity was the most important consideration since her affinities would basically wash the fetus in mana as it gestated, but the father’s contribution still helped.

Genetics was still important, even if the soul also had a significant part to play in how someone’s affinities developed.

“So, why don’t you just live on Sira? You could extend your vacation by five times. That would probably be enough for you to raise a couple of kids of your own,” Amie said. “I almost expected you to do something like that when you first left the dungeon. I was a little surprised when you said you didn’t have any plans to have children. You’ve always struck me as someone who’d make a great mother.”

“I think you’re biased,” I said with a laugh. “And it’s not that I don’t want to have children. I just don’t want to leave them behind. It’s bad enough leaving all of you guys. How much worse would it be to basically abandon my children?”

“But they’d be grown. It’s not abandonment if they don’t need you to take care of them.”

“Still. I think it would be so much harder to go back if I had a spouse and kids waiting for me outside. Added to that, I’m pretty sure the realm is going to force me to ascend shortly after I leave the dungeon, so it almost seems like a cruel thing to do to myself.

“Not only would I have to go back into the dungeon when they were pretty young, but then I’d turn around and leave them again to ascend. It just…” I shook my head. “It doesn’t seem worth the pain it would cause.”

“Family is always worth it,” Amie said solemnly.

“Maybe,” I conceded. “But it’s not my path. I’ll probably start a family in the next realm. I don’t think I’m going to push as hard to ascend again once I get there.”

“But you don’t know that,” Amie countered. “How much do you actually know about the next realm? Did the Oracle tell you anything?”

“She’s mentioned some things,” I said. “I don’t think there is a lot to share, though. From everything I’ve heard, not much is known about what we can expect.”

“That’s basically my point. You have very little idea what to expect when you eventually ascend. How can you know that you won’t be even more pressured to grow in strength? What if the realm is at war and you get conscripted? Do you really want to give up your chance at children for something so uncertain?”

“We’ll just have to agree to disagree,” I said, not wanting to continue the conversation any further. Amie could probably sense that, because she immediately shifted the conversation.

“So… did you hear about the undead outbreak on Osana?”

“What?” I gasped. “What undead outbreak?”

Amie’s expression darkened. “I’m not sure if you know this, but Osana is a vassal world for the Quartz Kingdom.”

I shook my head. “No. I don’t have the territories memorized since it’s easy enough to look that stuff up if I need to know it.”

“Yeah, well, since it belongs to Rhona’s family, they were obviously notified when the outbreak was discovered,” Amie informed me. “Apparently, they were spreading through the ocean from one of the underwater cities.

“They were all abandoned during the war for obvious reasons, and nobody knows if the undead were already there and just escaped, or if they were moved there later. There was some talk of an undead threat near the end of the war, but nothing much ever came of it, so I don’t know if they’re connected.”

She looked at me and tilted her head. “You were involved in some of those missions, right? Do you know anything about the Collective using undead?”

I pressed my lips together firmly, unsure of what I was able to discuss. I didn’t think any of the information was still protected since the war was over, but I felt like it was something I should probably discuss with Anya or Councilor Lance before sharing.

“I might know something, but I don’t know how it could be connected to a bunch of undead on a different world,” I said. “I can ask my contact at the Council and see if they mind me sharing what little I know?”

Amie shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter, I don’t think. If it’s connected, I’m sure the Council has informed the people who need to know. I was just curious.”

The fact that undead were found anywhere in the Alliance was concerning, especially since I was under the impression that the necromancer threat had been neutralized. Either they’d been able to distribute some of their creations, or another necromancer was still in play.

“How many undead are we talking about?” I asked.

“There were a lot,” Amie said. “According to the report I read, there were hundreds ranging from Tier One to Tier Six.”

“What is the kingdom doing about it?” I asked. “Have the local merfolk been allowed to return yet?”

“They’re the ones who discovered them,” Amie replied. “As far as the kingdom goes, they put together a team of Tier Eights and had them wipe all of them out. They didn’t bother with honoring level disparity since undead are a blight and need to be taken care of immediately. Especially the ones on Osana.”

From her tone, I already knew what she was going to say next.

“Those damned necromancers just had to add that horrible plague to their undead,” she fumed. “It wasn’t bad enough that they tainted the water and everything it touched. They had to go and make it worse by spreading a blighted plague. Thankfully, the kingdom was able to find a purification specialist, so they were able to keep the entire ocean from being poisoned.”

“A small blessing,” I muttered.

I wondered why Anya hadn’t reached out for assistance with the undead threat. I mean, it wasn’t like I was some fantasy protagonist who constantly found themselves right in the thick of things, but I had been the one to discover the potential threat in the first place. It only seemed right that I would have been kept in the loop.

Or maybe that was just me thinking I was more important than I actually was. Really, aside from my tertiary connection to Anya and my status as a Trinity Mage, there wasn’t any real reason for the Council to care about me at all.

In fact, the amount of involvement I’d already had in the war was a little strange. It was something to inquire about when I contacted Anya. It was about time to reach out to the Fate Mage, anyway.