My Servant Is An Elf Knight From Another World

Well, I never would have expected this. There was probably a higher chance of me predicting the day's lotto number before my crystal ball would ever swirl something like this up.

To think… Amanda gifted me these tickets long ago for Ash's sake. And now here Ash was proposing to keep it safe for Amanda's, believing it just had to be hers.

Altruism was one giant loop, and the both of them were forever stuck running laps on it around themselves, generating enough kindness in the atmosphere to equal out all the cruelty in the world potentially. Maybe.

But before I go ahead and clear up any well-meaning misunderstandings, there's one thing I still need clearing up myself.

"Before anything else, Ash," I said, making sure to lay the doubt on thick. "There a good reason how these tickets wound up in your room, or am I gonna have to start locking my door just in case?"

All the clues so far weren't exactly painting her in the best of light here, and I'm sure even she knew that. Sure enough, Ash didn't waste a second coming forward with her defense.

"There's no need for such cautionary measures, Master. Rest assured, I would never dare put your faith in me into question," she said earnestly, then with a pause, that earnestness in her gaze turned to slight exasperation. "Unfortunately, I am unable to attest the same in the matter of Sera's integrity."

"Sera?" I said. "You're saying it's all her doing?"

Ash stepped back and slowly set herself down on the side of her bed. The universal sign and gesture that only meant I was in for a long one alright. Luckily, I had a lot of time to spare, so I went ahead and got all cozy right beside her.

"Asteria's sequel. Cyberware has recently published a teaser of the next installment. Have you already seen it, Master?"

I glanced at her. "Sounds like you definitely had."

"Indeed," Ash nodded. "To say I was intrigued would be an understatement. I confess that, at times, rare times, I do find it quite difficult to reconcile with the life I once lived and the life I'm living now. I have all these memories, experiences, years, decades; they belong to me, and yet not really. Sometimes I have to ask if I had truly lived a life of my own choices, my own consequences, loss… or if I was just simply following the course of someone else's script. And if so, can I really say I lived at all?"

Her question was a heavy one, alright. And I'm not sure if I even know where to start with that one.

"You need not provide an answer, Master," she said to me, tugging me right out of deep pensive thoughts. "Nor am I in need of one. I reaffirm that it is simply something that I would briefly dwell on from time to time. Truly, I am not bothered. But admittedly, it is quite a perplexing notion. So, regarding the trailer… watching it, I had hoped perhaps it might aid me in clarifying my stance on the matter."

"Did it?" I asked.

"Not really," she admitted, smiling wryly. "But, if nothing else, it was a riveting watch. Asteria is as beautiful as I remember."

To think Ash had these kinds of thoughts festering in her head. All the while I was stuck dealing with typical, trivial dilemmas of life, existential mosquitoes were pestering her from time to time, and I never noticed… never considered.

Damn.

"Anyway, it would have been during one of my more contemplative moods that Sera must have seen it. I do not recall ever relinquishing my phone over to her, and yet there it was in her hand, as she confronted me with a barrage of inquiries. I confided to her what I've told you, and I suppose she must have cared for my plight more than I ever did."

From where we were sitting, the guest room down the hall was only barely off to the side, the door hanging open just a peek to a narrow slit of darkness within. I'm almost expecting her to peer back at us at any second; just two round rims of bright gold staring from the depths of the abyss like some Eldritch stalker.

"One day, I had her accompany me to get groceries. Naturally, I had taken your wallet along. At some point, I had my hands full sorting through what I'd procured, and briefly, I handed Sera your wallet while I reassessed and made doubly sure I had not forgotten anything vital."

"And while you were busy with that, Sera being Sera, she went ahead and poked her nose in things that didn't belong to her and found the tickets, right?" I guessed at once. The gap in the guestroom was still barren, but that didn't stop me from glaring at it all the same.

"She's always been a curious individual," Ash said, confirming that I pretty much hit the mark. "Even more so, stubborn—as I would come to realize soon enough."

"What happened?"

"I already was aware of the existence of those tickets. So when she pulled them out and showed them to me, it came as no surprise."

"Oh."

Yeah, that was smart of me, wasn't it? Hide a surprise and then just go ahead and give free rein of the hiding spot to the recipient for day-to-day use. Surely, she'll never find it there.

I'm shocked I even have the mental capacity to know how to breathe with the kind of smarts I'm working with.

"I had to explain to her what they were, and what they would be used for," Ash went on. "And when she learned that there would be another convention commemorating Asteria, she immediately insisted I had to be present for the event. And when I told her it wouldn't be possible… that the tickets were only meant for you and lady Amanda… well, I suppose she might have viewed that as a cruel injustice."

"Cruel, huh?" I repeated, clamming my lips trying not to let slip anything too suspicious. "Yeah, I guess it kinda is looking at it from that perspective."

"It is not a sentiment I hold, I assure you, Master," she quickly said. "And I'm sure you know that every word I speak is one of absolute sincerity."

That I did. World peace was an easier undertaking than trying to imagine an insincere Ash. And if someone does somehow manage to… the hell's wrong with you?

"So what did Sera do next?" I asked. "Y'know, if she was that upset by it… I would've thought I'd get a piece of her mind at some point."

"Had I not intervened and demanded she not confront you for it, then, perhaps," she said.

Well, that explains that.

"Alas, not a day has gone by where she would not spur me to talk to you about it, that, perchance… I could come along with you both," Ash quietly sighed, trashing her hands limply atop her lap. "And it's just only recently she's resorted to circumventing her restrictions with underhanded tactics, like—"

"Planting the tickets in your bedroom and waiting 'till I noticed it's gone missing from my wallet?" I suggested.

Ash slumped her head in return. "And it seems she's succeeded finally. Stubborn, indeed."

Now, despite the situation, or rather, because of it, I couldn't help but laugh a little.

Who knew two pieces of paper could spiral out to all sorts of confusion and misunderstandings? And there at the center of it all, the core and source of the whole mess was Ash.

"Maybe it's a good thing that she did," I said. "Can't have you go on spouting false information, y'know?"

"So I truly was mistaken, then," she said. "Lady Amanda would not be accompanying you to the convention."

"Nope."

"I see…" Ash mumbled under her breath. I didn't say anything else, I didn't need to, I just waited. If not Amanda then who? The mystery was hers to unravel. And she knew the answer. Subconsciously, she knew. Innately, selfishly, she already knew. A twitch in her ears, on her lips, and in the silence, she breathed out again. "Oh…"

"Merry Christmas, Ash," I said, unable to contain my smirk. "Surprise."

Ash's ears fluttered again, from happiness, nervousness, I couldn't really tell. The empty look on her face wasn't helping matters either.

"The place you wanted to take me to, Master…" she slowly spoke, as if struggling to speak through her disbelief. "You mean… this is what you meant?"

"Expected something else?"

"Certainly not this…" she whispered again. "I… I simply never would have thought… I could never have fathomed you'd…"

"You don't want to?" I asked, raising a precarious brow at her reaction.

"What? N-No… no! I did not mean it like that! I wasn't—I'm grateful, Master! Truly! I am! I'm just unable… to even express myself… why, words simply fail to…" Ash began to sway around a little, her sense of gravity upended just as well as her composure. With a giant breath, she steadied herself once more, her bright emerald eyes mulling over the tiny slips of gold I had in my hand. "May I ask why, Master? Why—What made you decide to bring me here?"

"Do I need a reason other than the fact that I thought you might enjoy it?" I asked her.

"No. As it stands, that is reason enough. And you would certainly not be wrong about it. But that is not what I meant by my question. I ask, why decide to bring me? Wouldn't lady Amanda—?"

"I want you with me, Ash," I interjected. I knew where this was going, and I heard it all before. Too many times already. "And that's all the reason you're getting out of me. Nothing else."

"I… I see…"

"I'd also like to add that it was Amanda who gave me those tickets," I said. "Apparently, she wanted the same thing too."

Now that tidbit definitely caught her by surprise. Even more so than the actual surprise itself.

"But why would she…?"

"Because I told her what I wanted for you," I said. "It's like you said, you had a life before this, a home before this—people you loved, people you grieved—and I know you miss them. You do. And as much as you are happy here, and as much as you love me, I can never replace those things."

Ash turned her gaze toward mine, the green in her eyes slightly rippling, quivering. Her lips were narrowed, her ears sinking in a downward slant.

"You didn't have to…"

"No, but I wanted to," I said, placing my hand on top of hers. "You came here, waltzed into my life, and changed every aspect about it for the better, while you were forced to leave everything about yours behind. Every goal, every desire."

As I gently stroked the back of her hand, I thought of the long night we shared in this very room. I thought of all the things she went through, the people she had met, the sufferings she had endured. Most prominently, I thought of her sister.

The way those hollow, lifeless eyes stared back into hers. I remembered the tears she shed. And I remembered the promise she made.

"And you would never ask me, you would never dare to," I said quietly. "But the least I could do is offer you some kind of resolution."

When I took my hand away, it took her a moment or two to notice I had also left a little something else behind… the flutter of the wind from the open window stirring them feebly atop her palm, with the early evening rays drenching them in a starker glimmer of both orange and gold.

"Keep them," I told her, flashing her a smile before quickly pecking her on the forehead. "Y'know, for safekeeping."

Even quicker, I got back up to my feet, having half a mind to briefly drop by the guest room and its sole occupant and say hi before finally leaving for the night. But right before I could do anything else, there was a hitch in the silence, a tremble of a breath.

"How…?" She asked. And even in the light, in the brilliant luster of cascading twilight, her smile, her eyes, the love and warmth in her expression shone brighter than gold. "How do I thank you? What… what do I say?"

"Ah, now you know what it feels like to be in my shoes," I said, chuckling. "How does it feel?"

"Terrible, Master…" She blinked, giggling back, a single tear rolling past her smile. "...and just wonderful. Terribly, terribly wonderful."

"Then we're finally even," I said. "That's all the thanks I'll ever need."