The Liberomancer [Isekai Progression LitRPG]

Anyway, whatever it was that Drake was getting at, it was likely nothing compared to the problem currently at our doorstep.

Yes, it had been a big security breach that those two demonic Liberomancers had managed to worm their way into the city, but they were small fry compared to the dryads.

Once my watch was over, while going back onto the street, I ran into someone familiar.

"...Rose?" I called out to get no response from the pink-scaled lizardman. Wait, no, that wasn't her actual name - just what I called her in my head. I did remember what her real name was, and though it was hard for me to pronounce, I still tried it anyway. "R'arc-stomp-hiss." Even after all this time, I couldn't make many of the sounds required to pronounce lizardmen names, and I still could not distinguish between the subtleties of how they used their tails to create three different kinds of syllables.

She was going down a set of stairs while I had happened to be walking by while going in a different direction - the two of us had reached the bottom at the same time. She was looking at something that was either a grimoire or just normal writing in her hands - it was a bit hard to tell given it was turned away from me.

I wasn't even sure it was her - but not many lizardmen had pink scales.

She did respond to me calling out her actual name or as close as I could get to saying it, though, and looked up. A glance at her features confirmed it. Yes, this was definitely her.

"Ah - eh!"

She was so startled to see me I felt that she might've fallen off the stairs if she had still been going down them.

The two of us stood there, at the bottom of the stairs, looking at each other awkwardly.

It reminded me of that time she had blabbed too much on why some lizardmen didn't like humans that much back when I had first started working for Lauren.

This was awkward for a different reason, however.

I could probably guess what was going on through her mind - I had been forced out of the shop, and now I had the title of Master Liberomancer. Was she wondering whether or not I resented her for it? She hadn't been involved in the decision to kick me out whatsoever, but hadn't stood up for me either. Whether it was guilt or fear, it was likely eating away at her from the inside.

The answer on my end was 'no' - in truth, I had actually nearly completely forgotten all about my old coworkers. I couldn't remember most of their actual names, I only remembered Rose's because I had been a bit closer to her than the others.

It was much the same back on Earth.

I had been very close with a group of friends back in high school - there was Jason who loved motorcycles (my mother had said she would kill me if I ever got on one), Tyler who was amazing at basketball, and Miles who had wanted to become an Influencer. There were many more people that I began to remember now that I strained my mind back to those days - but the point was that on graduation, we had told each other a rather comforting lie that we would still stay in touch. It wasn't just those three, but with some others as well.

After we all went our separate ways, cold reality hit - that we had been friends because we had happened to be in the same class together. Other than a handful of emails, I had not had any contact with people from back in high school. Perhaps there were friend groups that still stuck together for years, but those were the exception as far as I could tell, not the rule.

"So, how are things back in the shop?" I asked, wanting to break the silence.

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"Oh, it's been closed because of the siege," she said once she found her voice. Right, I already knew that - why did I bother asking her? I looked rather dumb now. "All of us have been assigned somewhere else to fight or to help with the fighting."

What else did people like talking about again? Right, their pets. "How is your axolotl doing?" I didn't remember its name, but that seemed like a safe question. At least, in my case, if you asked me about Cheddar I would've normally been pretty happy to talk about him. On Earth, that was. Now though it only reminded me of how frustrated I was to be here in this world whenever someone mentioned pets.

"Doing good, all things considered," she replied. "Though if the siege goes on a bit longer… it'll be hard to get food…"

"Mm…" I said.

I wouldn't call anyone from back in Lauren's shop who I worked with 'friends', they were acquaintances at best.

They probably did not approve of me being forced out, though none of them made a big fuss about it either.

They hadn't reached out to me after I had left - though you could say that went both ways as I hadn't reached out to any of them either.

Still, I did not have any malignant feelings towards any of them.

And unlike with Lauren, I didn't want Rose to be stewing in uncertainty about whether I hated her or not.

My mind went back to the conversation I'd had with Drake earlier. I didn't want to isolate myself, and yes, I would leave these people behind one day - but the memories would still remain. I had not been in touch with my high school friends in a while, and we may have drifted apart, but did that mean if I could go back in time I would not do any of the fun things we had just because we would drift apart one day? No! And so long as we were all around, there was always the hope that one day, we would in fact meet again. And even if that never happened, I wouldn't regret creating those happy memories with them, now then would I?

I couldn't help but feel the same way here. Was I making a mistake? Wasn't it worth it to reach out to them at least once before I left the city? Even if I left this world, my memories of it would remain - why couldn't I make some happy memories here? And the answer came to me immediately - I already had many happy memories from this world, there was no reason to shun adding in more. To meet someone meant that you would separate one day certainly, and I didn't want to waste more time than necessary socializing, but I didn't have to become the city's biggest recluse either.

There was still time for me to reach out to my old coworkers. But how would I do that?

A way to show her and the rest of them that it was all good between us…

"Ah, I was meaning to get to this at some point," I said. "I wanted to thank you all for that dinner you took me out to that day. I wanted to celebrate my becoming a Master Liberomancer, but you know, things always get in the way and I couldn't get around to it before this whole dryad business started. Why not, once this siege is over, I'll treat all of you at the same restaurant to celebrate?" People had been offering me parties almost nonstop 'when this is all over' and I felt like I might as well return the favor to someone.

"Oh… uh…."

"Can you do me a favor, and once this is all done, let everyone working in the shop know so we can figure out a date and time?"

"Oh, sure…"

I moved to clear the path for her, though she shook her head and insisted I go first. Out of respect for my title? Or just out of seeing an old friend after a long time?

I didn't have the heart in me to argue any further, so I went down and took the carriage not back to the palace this time, but to Granny Qi's place. I just wanted to see how she was doing, and while it wasn't feasible to visit her after every shift, I could check on her once in a while.

"How are things?" I asked her. Her house was crowded just like it had been when I left and was a bit cluttered and dirty as a result, though everyone looked to be in good health.

"I can't complain here," she said. She looked a bit weary, but otherwise okay. "So long as we're all still alive, what's there to complain about? I was meaning to ask how you were doing - did you get hurt?"

"No, and casualties have been mostly low up till now thankfully," I told her. "Some of the dryads have primitive weapons like spears and bows, so occasionally some people have been hit by them, though most of their projectiles have missed, you know, advantage of being atop a wall. And after the first day they didn't send any large parties after us."

"Good, good, now come in."

"I can't stay for long, but…" I said as she practically dragged me inside.

"I've been meaning to make this," she said, pointing to some fish she was cooking on the stove. "But I couldn't get it to taste like you had." I took a small bite to sample it.

My [Poissonnier] skill activated instinctively. "I think this needs to be cooked for just a touch longer, and if you have something like onions, diced ones will bring out the flavor."

"Right," she said and then gave me a brief smile. "I'm glad to see that you're safe."