Epic of Caterpillar

Elfina entered Sol’s room out of the sudden, surprising the young man. He quickly looked at her. The man had yet to rest in bed and had been looking over the window all this time, seeing the sun slowly setting from the horizon. When he saw Elfina, he felt surprised because he never expected her to come to his room out of nowhere. Elfina was very timid and he could already tell based in her voice and way of talking, although with those she trusted, she devolved into a spoiled girl.

“Erm… Sir Sol?” She asked.

“Elfina…?” Sol asked curiously.

“I… Erm… I came here to apologize.” She said, as Sol was left surprised.

He had surely thought she would come here to tell him to please help her in the war. But it was the complete opposite, Elfina had come to apologize because she felt rather bad after what she had said to him.

“I-I am sorry for trying to force you to join a war you don’t have anything to do with. I am… still unexperienced with dealing with Summons. I often forget they got their own lives and histories. Kireina is so quirky that I thought you would end up like her. Maybe she’s really the weird one here, and Summons might be just normal people like you sometimes. I… sorry. I was never a person that would force someone to do something they wouldn’t want to do. Even if you’re my summon… you’re free to not help, and to do anything you want.” Elfina said with a slightly saddened expression.

“Elfina..” Sol muttered, completely moved by her truest feelings. This girl was… she was a good person.

“Here, I bought something for you.” She said, bringing Sol two things. One was a flask filled with a red-colored wine-like liquid, and the other was a large bag of coins. “I think this could help you in your travels, this is an Elixir, a small sip will heal minor wounds, restore a bit of mana, and all of your Stamina. It is specially good for long travels. Ah! And this is a thousand gold coins. I think this should be enough for a few years.”

“W-Why?” Sol asked.

“You probably don’t want to do anything with this whole conflict, right? I don’t blame you… I really don’t want to participate in a war myself… But I am doing it to protect my family and all the people I love. As the Princess of the Elves, I feel it is my duty to protect my people… But not you. You’re free of this responsibility, and you’re a free man. With this you can travel anywhere you want and seek what you desire. I will not stop you.” Elfina said. “I hope you have good luck in your travel, Sir Sol.”

Elfina gently said words that soothed Sol’s heart. It was almost mystical. Although he had been in relationships before with other women, he never felt this strange feeling to anybody ever before. And he knew it wasn’t anything weird like some encroachment, as he had immense magic resistance since being summoned. This was… just genuine. He felt completely moved by her considerate nature.

Elfina slowly walked away, as she was about to leave the room because she didn’t wanted to disturb Sol anymore. She seemed to be afraid of being confronted or screamed by the hero. She felt guilty of having dragged a man that wasn’t willing to come to fight and to a war, a man that simply wanted to rest.

“…I am sorry for having summoned you, it wasn’t my intention. I hope… you can find a bit of happiness somewhere else.” She sighed.

“Wait!” Sol said, quickly stopping Elfina from walking away.

“Eh?” Elfina felt surprised. “S-Sir Sol?”

“Elfina… You really mean what you said?” Sol asked, as he suddenly grabbed Elfina’s arm.

“Y-Yeah…? Sir Sol… Y-You’re being too rough…” She muttered.

The moment she spoke, Elfina didn’t emitted any odd magic waves. Sol was already used to people lying and using special items to make themselves believable, or even disguising themselves as others. So he ended grabbing Elfina’s arm as a way to know if she was saying the truth because all these people that used such methods would emit certain magic waves that would easily give them away as liars. Sol was used to deal with them and was very wary, especially after having died to someone that brainwashed him using such powers.

Realizing she was more than genuine, Sol felt surprised and at the same time, smiled. He had already kind of decided to help her after thinking it for a while with Kireina’s words. But now he had truly decided to protect this girl and what she fought for… He had never truly felt the necessity to be a hero at all, he never truly felt the necessity to protect those damned nobles, or those corrupted people and that Kingdom. But for the first time in his existence, he felt like he wanted to be a Hero and protect someone… Someone that truly moved his heart.

“Please, let me help you.”

“Eh? EEEEH?!”

“I… I also wanted to apologize. I went to talk with Kireina and… She really enlightened me a bout a lot of things. She even talked about her life, we shard our life experiences while eating something, it was… a good experience, it soothed my heart. I calmed myself and thought things over. And now, seeing you so devoted to your people, and at the same time considerate enough to give me all of this and let me go… Elfina, I cannot simply abandon you now.”

Sol approached his face slowly towards Elfina, as the beautiful elf girl began to grow redder, steam coming out of her adorable and long ears that flapped all the time. Her shiny eyes were shining even brighter than before.

“Eehhh?! T-This is… You’re for real, Sir Sol?! B-But… Uwawawawaahhh!”

Suddenly, Elfina fell into the ground, unconscious out of shock of having someone so handsome so close to her face.

“Eh? Elfina! Hang in there!”