Claire 'The Continental Burn'

The situation at hand is quite problematic.

First of all, there are two girls in my room, one of them naked at that. Of course, I'd love that to be a common scene around here, but that's not the case at all, and seeing how the naked girl just made a grandiose speech and instantly entered a battle stance, one could easily misunderstand what is truly happening here.

First of all, I should clarify that I had no intention to use violence against this girl, however, self-defense is another matter entirely.

The girl dashes towards me, it's not something I can't dodge, but if I did so, she could end up hurting herself, so I accept her tackle and we both fall to the floor.

Claire: "You're done for. Let me go if you want to keep your life."

Yeah right. It seems like she thinks she has me beat but...

Licia: "You shall let him go."

Licia points her sword towards the girl with red twin tails.

For some reason, this is the first time the girl stops. When she tackled me, I could feel like her strength was lacking. If my theory is correct, this would be the same as what happened to Licia, that is, her level is now 1. With that being said, there's no way that I would lose to her right now unless her Gift was enough to compensate for our level difference or she had a bunch of strong skills. But the fact that she chose to tackle me is very telling. There are two possibilities for that, first would be that she thought she wouldn't be able to handle someone with a weapon, and chose to take a hostage, a bargaining chip for her freedom. The second option, she somehow recognized Licia as the stronger fighter between us and then decided to deal with me first in an attempt to even the odds.

Of course, I have no desire to be dealt with, at least not in this way.

Claire: "And if I don't?"

Licia: "There are no what-ifs here, I believe I made myself clear."

Miwen: "Let go, none of us mean you any harm."

Claire: "And why would I believe you?"

Upon hearing her question, I grab both of her arms. she uses all her strength to try and free herself but to no avail. No matter how much she struggles now, she's completely defenseless. With both of her arms in my grasp, I clearly demonstrate the difference in strength between us.

Miwen: "Because if I wanted to, I could've harmed you whenever."

I guide her arms to her sides and then slowly let them go. I believe I made my intent clear with this, when she stopped struggling I stopped applying force, so, that should represent my intentions, as long as doesn't try and harm us, no harm will befall her either.

Miwen: "I'm sorry about this, you are here thanks to my Gift. It's a bit hard to understand, but if you just listen to me I'll guarantee your safety, how does that sound?"

Claire: "Go on then, explain what you did to me, how can someone so weak overpower me with such ease? Why can't I muster any strength? And most important of all, why Am I still alive?"

Miwen: "Well that's a lot..."

Each of her questions has a complex explanation, and so I must choose my words carefully, to make her understand what's happening without alarming and shocking her too much. I also feel bad about her last question, frankly, I have no idea how to answer that. The fact that she thinks she should be dead right now indicates that my power is really bringing people back from the dead, either that, or this is a massive coincidence somehow, but it would be naive to think that at this point in time. Seeing as she agreed to my deal for now, I should focus on explaining what I'm capable of with what I know for certain.

Miwen: "As for your first and second questions, you are now level 1, I was able to overpower you thanks to my higher level, I believe this should answer them both?."

Claire: "So it's the worst case scenario... the power to erase someone's level, how truly terrifying."

Miwen: "You don't need to worry about that, I did say I wasn't gonna harm you."

Claire: "... And for my third question?"

Miwen: "Well... this one is a bit harder to answer. You could say that you are alive thanks to my Gift, it was what brought you back to life. I should also tell you that even though I don't understand my own Gift completely as of right now, I know it doesn't have such a convenient power like the ability to erase someone's level, if I had to guess, that probably happened because..."

Claire: "Because I died?"

Miwen: "That... yes, I believe so."

I finally admit it, even though I really didn't want to think of this power as such. The power to toy with someone's life and death, to walk over their story and their ending, I don't have such a God Complex as to believe that it's rightful for me to trample over these. Alas, the power to bring someone back to life... it's something that people pay a lot for, and in this world, those who have this power always have conditions for its activation, and sometimes their ability either doesn't work properly or is unable to bring back someone due to the circumstances of their death. Even then, my power, through randomness, is capable of the same, that is a fact I must accept now. And so, thinking on the brighter side, at least I'm capable of giving people a second chance, that should be something good, even if I question the morality of the power itself, the fact that it does a good thing should be undeniable. Well, that is as long as I don't abuse it, which is the hard part. With such power, maintaining your morality is a challenge in itself, and so, when I face this girl right now, you could say I'm facing my fiercest challenge yet.

For me to win this challenge, I must maintain the morality of a modern person, I must allow her freedom of choice, be kind and extend her a hand, not abuse whatever authority I may have over her, and above all, take responsibility for the situation I put her in. And so, to start my path towards a righteous power I must prove that I can make my power a blessing for her instead of a curse.

Miwen: "My Gift allows me to do a bunch of different things, among them, I can provide you with clothing, but there's a condition. You need to register as a [Citizen] for it to activate."

Claire: "What effects will I suffer from that?"

Miwen: "From what I know, you can access my kingdom and I can share my skills with you, you can also share your skills with me. The consent of both parties is needed for that though. For entering or leaving my kingdom you will also need my permission."

Claire: "Is that true? Are you sure you're not hiding anything from me?"

Miwen: "Not that I know of."

Claire: "You do know how strange it is for someone to not completely understand their Gift, right?"

I do understand, most Gifts tend to be simple, boosts to someone's natural capabilities, powers that allow previously unthinkable actions that most would consider the work of fiction or fantasy like flight or telekinesis. There are not many Gifts like mine that seem to do a bunch of things all at once, there are definitely a few, and there are even Gifts that grow with the user, or even as time passes, so to say it's strange for someone to not understand their own Gift is pretty reasonable, but it's also not unheard of.

Miwen: "Well, my Gift has a lot of functions, and since I only got it a few days ago it's not a-"

Claire: "Can you stop lying to me? What do you even want?"

That caught me by surprise, it's obvious that she got extremely angry at what I just said, but my honesty was at its max, and so I fail to understand what made her so mad. Thankfully Licia is here with me now, and she's able to understand this girl a little bit better.

Licia: "He's being truthful, both about being his [Citizen] and about his Gift, I know it's hard to believe, but that is how it works in this world."

Claire: "So this is a different world huh? I thought the furniture was strange but... how twisted is this world for things to be so messed up?"

Licia: "I don't think it's twisted at all, if you give it a bit of time you'll see that these things, although very strange are also very interesting. Above all, they are part of the way of life of the inhabitants of this world, they are not meant to do any harm, so calling them messed up is very rude."

Claire: "... I don't care about that."

Licia: "What do you care about them?"

Claire: "I don't know. My life should be over already, I had met my end and I was satisfied with it. I know I could have done more, and I made many mistakes, but I lived how I wanted, and so I don't regret anything."

Licia: "I see, I wish I could say the same. My life was always filled with struggles I didn't choose for myself. So when I was in your place, somehow deep in my heart I saw it as an opportunity. To live the kind of life I wanted to, to be free to choose for myself and also... to find peace for myself."

Seeing these two talk about their deaths, and knowing I am the one responsible for bringing them back makes me feel so guilty. I said I wanted to protect Licia, and I am trying to give her the best of times, while also allowing her to choose for herself to the best of my ability. But is she truly happy with this? Is living once again a blessing or a torture in her eyes? I try not to question myself about this, so as to steel myself and have no doubts about the path I'm walking, but at the end of the day, is it truly fair for me to rob these people of their death, only for what? Becoming stronger? Exploring my power? I think with this girl I'll obtain the answer to my questions.

Licia: "Give him a chance, if only for some time, you'll see that it's worth it to keep on living in this world."

Claire: "Then, are you happy living in this world? Even after your death?"

Licia: "I'm happier than what I was in the world of my previous life, that is for sure. I don't know how it'll go for you, who has no regrets about your past life but just try and experience this new life, I can guarantee that he'll not bind you, as he has not bound me."

Claire: "I see... I guess I don't lose anything by just giving it a chance huh?"

Licia: "That's what I believed, and I couldn't have gotten more of this small leap of faith."

Claire: "... Go on then, I'll allow you to register me as your citizen or whatever."

Miwen: " I'll need your full name for that, I believe I hear you call yourself Claire, but I didn't quite catch your surname."

Claire: "It's Claire Ashbrodd, daughter of duke Marten Ashbrodd. Guess this really is another world if you've never heard of me."

I don't know how famous she's supposed to be, but Licia's epithet of the 'Frost Sword' made a lot of sense when I think about how she fights and uses her Gift. So for this girl to be called the 'Continental Burn'... yeah I think I might have bitten more than I can chew on this one.

Well, one way or another, I should keep myself true to my words, and so I register her as a [Citizen]. After making Claire a citizen, at the [Kingdom] menu I notice something new, there's a new button visible called [Events]. For now, I don't focus on it since I need to redeem my points for a change of clothes for Claire. And so, without checking this new menu I summon a change of clothes for my new citizen.

Claire: "So it was true... I apologize for doubting your words."

Miwen: "It's no problem really, given your situation it's totally comprehensible..."

I mean, there's no way I would put her at fault. From what little information I could gather from watching her when she was first summoned, she had just been killed, and to go from that to a room with two people you don't know would be a shock for anyone.

Miwen: "I must ask though, what do you wanna do from now? We only had an agreement up to this point, and I plan on respecting whatever you decide to do. I must warn you though that this world is probably much different from any other world you may know of, so if you decide to leave, things might be a little difficult for you. Of course, even then I would extend a hand to you and you'd be able to come back here whenever you feel like it. Otherwise, you can also stay, I'd be more than willing to provide you with anything you wish, as long as it's something I'm capable of."

Claire: "For now it seems beneficial for me to go along with you... of course, if you so much as bother me, I'll leave instantly, are you willing to accept that?"

Miwen: "Of course."

Claire: "Haah? You really accepted that? This has gotta be the strangest kidnapping I was ever a part of."

Miwen: "I'm no kidnapper though ?"

Claire: "Well, from my perspective I was about to meet my end in the battlefield, only for someone to use their ability to forcefully change my location. I cannot see how that does not fit the description of a kidnapping."

Miwen: "W-well..."

Claire: "I'm only joking of course, now if you excuse me, I need to change myself."

Contrary to Licia, Claire seemed completely unfazed that I was seeing her naked body, so I thought she didn't care about it at all. But what boggles me the most is that now that she is going to cover herself up is when she decides to feel embarrassed. Like, where was your sense of shame when I was seeing and talking to you while you were completely naked?

Anyway, Licia stays with Claire in my room while she changes, and after she finishes, suddenly it dawns on me.

Licia is going to sleep on my bed, and I am going to sleep on the sofa, so where is Claire going to sleep?