Not tonight

I had hoped to visit Ophelia in my dreams again and train some more against Url, but tonight it seems like I just wasn’t able to make contact with her. Instead, I woke up the next morning alone in bed. It seems like Kiara had already woken up and left. I get dressed and go eat breakfast in the build main hall. I am quite nervous for the duel later today. All possible opponents are quite capable now. They have already proven themselves in all the previous duels. Then again, so have I. So, I try to calm myself by convincing myself they are worried about facing me as well.

About 20 minutes before we are supposed to head out to the arena, Kiara comes to me and tells me to follow her. She tells me she has a surprise. I wonder what it could be. Does it have anything to do with the tournament?

The takes me to the guild’s entrance hall and then puts a blindfold on me. Then she walks me outside. Is it something big? Something that can’t fit inside the building?

Once we are well enough outside, Kiara removes the blindfold and I see the surprise Kiara has for me. It’s Mia. What?! Mia? She is wearing her chainmail armor and her sword. The same as she wore yesterday during her tournament fight, so she is ready to head to the arena. She also has her arms crossed in front of her chest and is looking at me rather serious. I turn to Kiara and look at her all surprised. Like usual, it is hard to notice Kiara’s expression, but I sense that she is concerned.

“Yesterday, after I received your message that you wouldn’t be coming back to watch the rest of the tournament fights, I decided to head over to where the gryphon knights were. I found Mia there and let her know that you are still having issues with the breakup.”

“Yes.” Mia says as she takes over the conversation. “When I told you, shortly after you started training at the castle, I thought that was it. But I guess you were to upset to really listen. Or maybe I was just coming up with excuses to not have to see myself as the bad guy.”

“It’s how you lied for three months.” I tell Mia with a stern voice. “For three whole months, you wrote me letters that we were still together while we weren’t. You gave me false hope.”

Mia looks away from me and replies, “Yeah, there is actually a reason for that.”

She then reaches into her pocket and pulls out a crumpled-up letter.

“See, when it first happened, I was planning to tell you the truth. I felt you deserved to know.” She says as she starts fiddling with the letter. “But someone I know then read it by accident, and she was really upset at me. So, then I feared that maybe you could be equally upset. And then I wondered if you reading this letter could make you stop being motivated to continue training. Like, what if this letter of mine caused you to get a C rank at your awakening instead of a B. You would end up being punished for something that I did and that would just not have been right. Or imagine you completely giving up on becoming an adventurer and then you just never get your awakening. If that happened, I would have never forgiven myself.”

As Mia is explaining herself, I remain silent. I observe her and notice she is being very submissive and apologetic. I can see that she is offering me an honest apology. I can even see where her fears are coming from. If only she knew back then that I would end up getting such a weird adventurer card full of question marks. That none of that rank stuff actually mattered.

Mia finally looks up at me and says, “But look at you now. You’ve successfully become an adventurer. A templar no less. B rank too. And you even made it to the semifinals of the tournament. So, I guess I can stop being afraid of you being demotivated.”

Mia then reaches out with her hand and offers me the letter.

“You should have this. It’s up to you whether to read it now, or after the tournament, or maybe just throw it away.”

I take the letter from her, but I don’t open it. I’ll read it after she has left.

“Right then. So …” Mia continues hesitantly as her gaze moves away from me again. “While I was hoping that eventually we could continue as friends and maybe go on an adventure together, I can now see that’s probably not going to happen. I can come up with whatever excuses I want, in the end, it won’t make you stop feeling hurt. So, if my actions made it so we can never be friends again, I will accept it. That is just going to be my punishment now.”

Mia then wipes some tears out of her eyes. She must have been really looking forward to us reestablishing our friendship.

“Just don’t start losing in this tournament on my account. I want you to win in your division so hard that you show me how much of a fool I was for trading you in for some other guy, you hear.”

That last sentence she said with a bit of anger. Though I’m sure she’s being angry at herself. I can’t help but smile and reply with, “Fine. I’ll show you.”

“Right then.” Mia finishes. “I’ll be heading to the arena now. I guess I’ll see you at your next duel.”

After that, Mia turns around and walks towards the guild’s exit. I call out to Mia one last time. When she turns around, I tell her, “You make sure to win in your division as well. Our home village would get quite popular when it has a champion in multiple divisions.”

Mia replies with a warm smile and says, “I will. Thanks.” Then she continues walking away.

After Mia has left, I finally fold open the letter she as given me and I start reading. Kiara, curious as always, stands next to me and reads the letter along with me.

Hey Darx,

You should sit down before you read the rest of this letter. I’ve got something to tell you and well … you’re not going to like what I have to say.

See, my party and I recently went on a quest. We were told the roads were being attacked by monsters but in truth, it was bandits. They ambushed us and a few of my friends got wounded before we could even draw our weapons. Luckily, we managed to turn the tide, but there was this one moment where one of them had tripped me. I was lying on the ground. I had lost my sword. I was completely defenseless and one of the bandits was about to kill me. I thought I was going to die.

Fortunately, one of my party members, a knight named Roland jumped in front of my would-be murderer and saved my life. So you don’t have to worry about my health. I am safe and fine. But for you the bad stuff is going to start now.

See, immediately after the battle, I noticed my hands were shaking. At first, I thought it was because I was feeling cold, but now I know it was because the near-**** experience gave me a subconscious fear.

Over the next couple of days, it kept getting worse. First, I dreamt the battle all over again. Then I started dreaming about me being dead and you paying your respects to my grave. I was at a very weak moment in my life and I needed support. I had need of you. Except, you weren’t there.

Now I want you to know that I am not blaming you. You’re still in training so you hold none of the blame. But me … This long-distance relationship has been a lot harder on me than I thought it would be. I didn’t think I would miss you this much. I never thought I could feel so incredibly lonely. But the stress of being away from you, and then the stress of almost getting killed, and then also all the nightmares … I broke down.

Remember back when Emma and Oliver eloped to Riledo. I broke down then too and you were there to support me. It was similar here. Except this time, I was supported by Roland. You know. The guy who saved my life. And I want you to know, I didn’t plan for it. All of it just happened. So even I was surprised when I discovered that well … I had developed feelings for Roland.

So yeah, not the kind of news you want to hear. But it’s the truth and you deserve to know it.

I am so sorry for how things turned out. I really meant it all the times I told you that you were the love of my life. But I guess I am simply not the kind of person that can do long-distance relationships. And that is on me, not you. So please, don’t blame yourself over this. None of this is your fault.

Despite all of this, I do still care about you. You are like my best friend. So please continue your training, get as high a rank as you possibly can and if you can still bear to deal with me, please come join my guild. There are a good couple of single girls here that I can introduce you to. I even have a friend in another guild, the Kedamono’s brigade, who is a really sweet healer with beautiful green hair. She would be a much better girlfriend to you than I could ever be. And let’s be honest. Helping you get together with a different girl is the least I can do after hurting you like this.

Sorry for everything, Mia.

So, Mia actually came face to face with ****. If Roland had been just a few seconds later, that truly might have been it for her. That does make me feel sorry for her. It does comfort me that she admits to being weak and that she is taking all the blame here.

“Kiara, what do you think?” I ask my girlfriend.

“A near **** experience is not an easy thing to go through.” Kiara replies. “I guess it can be said Mia went through a traumatic experience there. She also admitted that her willpower had already been eroded through the hardship of a long-term relationship. Too many bad things all crashing on her at the same time and she cracked under all the weight.”

I guess. It still doesn’t mean she is excused from cheating. But it does help to know that she wasn’t casual about it. I wonder how things would have turned out if their quest took them to Merlon instead. To our home town so Mia and I could see each other again. Could that have strengthened our relationship? What if Mia decided to stay with me for those last three months and then join me to the capital?

“I do like the part at the end where she suggests atoning by finding you a new girlfriend. Not many girls help their ex find a new partner.” Kiara points out.

“Whatever.” I say. “At least now I know she sent those fake letters because she was worried I would give up on my training.”

“Would you?” Kiara asks.

“No, I wouldn’t.” I quickly reply. “I mean … I’m sure I would have felt pretty bummed, and I would have probably skipped on my training a couple of days. But I still would have continued and gotten my awakening. Anyways, we should head off to the arena. It’s getting time.”

I first head back to my room to collect a mana potion in case I need it during the duel and I also store Mia’s letter while I’m at it. Then I put any thoughts of Mia out of my head and join my guild towards the arena for the continuation of the tournament.