(…If it’s like the first time, El will die in today’s calamity.)
Today is the turning point.
I will take back everything I lost in the future, and I will do it right here.
(This time, I’ll make sure everything goes well.)
I once again steel my resolve, but then I notice El looking up and staring at my face.
“Hn? What’s wrong?”
“Fueah!? Ah, no… Nothing! I-it just feels like you’re different than usual, so I was a bit surprised…”
“Eh? Is there something weird?”
“Everything feels kind of weird. I-I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s just that you look really mature all of a sudden…”
“R-really…”
Well, a hundred years did go by, and I don’t really remember how I was at this time.
“B-but…”
El peeks at me with her face still red.
“Your face always looks sullen, so when you smiled like that… It made me kind of happy.”
“I see. If it makes you happy, I’ll make sure to smile a lot from now on.”
“…Y-yes.”
El looks down in embarrassment.
“…Geez, you’re so weird.”
She mutters.
I guess she really sees me as a weird guy.
“But more importantly, thank you.”
I approach El and place my hand on her head.
“…!? …W-w-w-what?”
“You were worried about me.”
I have someone who worries about me. At this point in time, I didn’t know just how thankful I should’ve been for that.
(…I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for El.)
Zero magic aptitude.
Zero magic energy.
I was born with strangely shaped magic circuits, so was unable to use any spells.
And because of ‘a certain power’, my body has no ability to retain magic energy.
Spells that people use as naturally as they breathe were completely impossible for me.
Because of this, I was abandoned by the prestigious mage family Belmond.
After that, I was oppressed everywhere I went. Just because I couldn’t use magic, adults used me like a slave and kids continuously picked on me.
I didn’t have a place in this world. I was always in back alleys holding my knees and cursing the world around me.
And the person who found me and reached out to me… Was none other than El.
Thanks to her, I was allowed to live in the house of the family of the knight Moonhart as a ‘servant’.
(That day, El pulled me into the light…)
I want to rewrite the past, but I also want to save her.
“B-but… Why are you thanking me all of a sudden?”
“I want to make sure to say how thankful I am from now on.”
If I don’t say these things while I can, I’ll regret it when I can’t.
I learned that painful lesson the first time, so now I want to live without those regrets.
“I intend to thank you for everything from now on. I’ll be aiming for two hundred thank yous a day.”
“H-hum, my heart won’t be able to handle it, so don’t over-do it…”
“Why your heart?”
“H-hum… More importantly…”
El frantically changes the subject.
“Breakfast… Is ready…”
“What’s with the polite tone?”
“I-I’m mean, you kind of feel like an adult, so…”
El says while looking up and fidgeting.
I don’t really get it, but it’s fine.
Breakfast is ready, and I don’t want to keep people waiting.
“All right, I’ll go right away.”
I say while taking off my clothes.
“Fueh!?”
El turns around as her face turns bright red again.
“Eh, ah… Eh!? Why are you undressing!?”
“Eh? I’m just changing.”
“T-then say so like you always do! Then I can turn around!”
I’m a bit puzzled by this reaction.
How sheltered is she to be embarrassed by a guy changing clothes?
No, that’s right… I guess El is a normal young lady.
“Uu… And you’re usually the one who gets embarrassed too…”
“No, it’s not really anything to get embarrassed about. We even took baths together until recently.”
“T-that was really embarrassing… And it was years ago!”
“Really…?”
My sense of time is fuzzy.
It’s like everything from my ‘youth’ has been bundled together.
(…Still, I have more muscle than I was expecting.)
I look at my naked upper body in the window reflection. It’s slim, but there’s quite a bit of muscle.
I just remember being a failure at this time, so I thought for sure my body looked more feeble…
(That’s right, I trained every day as an apprentice knight, right?)
El’s father used to be a knight of the imperial court, and I remember training with the sword everyday as his pupil.
Since I couldn’t use magic, I figured I should strengthen my body. But since I pretty much couldn’t use physical strengthening magic, I was still the same old Chrom the failure…
“G-geez! How long are you going to stay there posing naked!? Get dressed already!”
“Well, if you don’t want to see, you just have to stop peeking over here…”
“I-I’m not!”
“You know I can see your reflection in the window, right?”
“…~~!”
I can tell her face is turning red even though I’m looking at her back.
But a reaction this big just makes me want to tease her a bit.
“All right, I’m done.”
“Y-yes… Hyah!? Why are you still not dressed!?”
“Because your reaction is cute, so…”
“C-cu…!?”
For some reason, this casual back and forth is immensely fun.
It really makes me feel like I’m back in the past.
And thus, after teasing El for a bit, my changing scene is over.
“Let’s go have breakfast.”
“Auu… You really are weird today…”
El is so red it’s almost like she just took a bath, but we head to the dining table together.
Super Cute!