Talentless Transmigration

"It's been a while, Sodror!" Rar smiled brightly, hugging his brother. Sodror smiled softly, hugging his brother back.

"It really has been a while."

"..."

"...It's good to see you too, Aerith."

Aerith smiled, joining in on the hug. She was waiting for Sodror to acknowledge she was there.

"Did you guys send one to Saldair and Lyrei? Lyrei lives around here, so I'm sure she would get it, but I'm not so sure about Saldair."

"Have you guys ever heard about Saldair?" Aerith asked. Nobody answered.

"Yo!" a voice called out.

It was Lyrei. She waved at the group, smiling brightly.

"Lyrei!" Aerith ran at Lyrei, hugging tightly her. Lyrei hugged her back.

"It's been a while, huh?" Rar noted.

"It has, hasn't it?"

"It's only been 8 months, though? That isn't… too long."

Everyone looked back at Sodror. He shut his mouth.

"If we had Saldair, we would be able to properly enjoy the new year."

"A whole year. Can you believe it?"

The elephant in the room was approaching.

"Let's go somewhere. Come on, guys. I have access to some special places."

…

..

.

"So, Sodror, how's this knight stuff going?" Aerith asked. Besides her, Rar chewed aggressively.

"It's going fine. We don't really do anything serious, besides monster subjugation."

"Really?"

"Yeah. What about that… adventurer thing? What's it even for?"

You have to pass the exam to become one. Then, you can enter dungeons and sell stuff for money, legally."

Lyrei chimed in. "That seems like a fun job."

"It is! Fighting monsters is fun." Rar responded. Lyrei laughed, though nothing was really funny.

All of a sudden, a question popped up in Aerith's head.

"It's going well. I've even been turned into a general, of a sort."

"A general?" her eyebrow raised.

"Yeah."

"Wow. That's… I've never heard of something like that."

"Yeah. It sounds strange, but it's reality."

A silence filled the table. Only the chatter around them could be heard.

"So-"

"You guys… still remember what happened, right?" Aerith interjected.

"About… Julian." Sodror finished her sentence, for her. Again, it went silent. Even Rar stopped chewing.

"He could… still be alive, right? I mean, we never actually saw his body."

There was a bit of unease in Rar's voice. Like, he was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince the others.

"It's a sad thing to think about, but surely, he's looking down at us, understanding why we had to do that," Lyrei said.

"Right!" Aerith responded.

"You make a good point," Rar added.

"I still feel bad, though," Sodror spoke softly.

"I feel bad as well, Sodror. Every day, I think about him and realize it was me who killed him. I'm the one who robbed him of his future," she placed her hand on her chest, closing her eyes.

"It's not your fault, Lyrei."

"It is!" She yelled, tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Don't say that, Lyrei. It was a decision that we all agreed on. Including Julian."

Rar placed his hand on Lyrei's shoulder. He wiped the tears away.

"Exactly. Julian wouldn't want us to cry. He wanted us to live, and be happy."

Aerith walked up to Lyrei, giving her a hug, along with Sodror.

"Thank you… guys."

…

..

.

"Hey, sensei?"

"What is it?"

"How did you meet Isalda?" Oscar asked. He sat under the freezing waterfall, his legs crisscrossed. The water pounded against him.

"How did I meet Isalda…? That's a good question."

Jisvo rubbed his chin. He sat in his folded chair, lying all the way back.

"You two seem like good friends. Maybe even more than that."

"She used to be my bully. She still is, though."

"Really?"

"Yup."

"Wow."

"Are you surprised?"

"I always saw Miss Isalda as a calm and collected one."

"She grew into that. But she used to be really aggressive. I don't blame her."

"You don't… blame her? What does that mean?"

"She'll never be the monarch."

"Jeez. Have some faith in her."

"No, she can't! Isalda is from the Mahaut family. She's a woman."

"Women are strong individuals. Are you saying they can't be rulers?"

"This kingdom could be considered a matriarch. There have been female leaders, but none from the Mahaut family. For some odd reason, people do not exactly… like the women of the Mahaut family. Especially Isalda."

"What's that odd reason?"

"They're simply too strong."