The slight discomfort from the white light that came through the window in the morning made me wake from my dream.
I didn't have such a good night's sleep even in my previous life, when the bed was much more comfortable than the inn's. And the reason for this was that she was still sleeping, using one of my arms as a pillow.
I was thinking of letting her sleep peacefully a bit longer, because we were supposed to have a lot of things to discuss from the day before, but Sarah woke up a bit after me.
"Good morning, Sarah." I said, smiling at the girl alongside me.
"Morning, Aaaaah." She greeted me with a big yawn followed by it. She was still kinda sleepy, rubbing her eyes, but she still felt the urge to give me a sweet peck on my lips.
"So let's get going, we have a busy day waiting for us. The early bird catches the worm, right?" I said to her, trying to get up from bed, but Sarah held my arm, putting it between her breasts.
"No, I don't want to get out of bed…" she said with a tired voice.
"Hoy, you were so full of energy yesterday morning." I tried to remind her of the previous day to motivate her to wake up.
"Yesterday was yesterday. We had a clear mission back then, but I'm still tired from yesterday." she said with a sleepy voice.
'Figures. She acted like that back in the webnovel, always being a piece of work to wake up. The only exception was adventures,' I remembered the info that I had about her.
"But we have something to do. You want to get your new powers, right?" I asked her.
"Hmm…" she muttered, hesitating to start the morning. "I got it! I got it! I'll get out of bed."
"Good girl." I patted her head.
"I'm not a child." she complained in a childish manner.
I stopped patting her head in response to her words, but when my hand was still above her, she grabbed it and put it back where it was before.
"I didn't say to stop." she said in a childish manner.
I lovingly patted my girl's head. "I guess I have a spoiled wife."
…
I was waiting for Sarah to finish putting on her clothes. She was pulling her underwear up under her tights when she started talking.
"So you're going to check our new powers alone?" she asked me.
"Well, that's the plan?" I told her, kind of confused about why she was asking that question.
She finished getting dressed. She was wearing her combat outfit, but the look on her face didn't show her usual courage to fight.
"So what are we telling Leo? What should we tell Leo?" the girl asked me hesitantly. I understood why she was like that.
The three of us were supposed to be friends since childhood and became adventurers together. Everything they did was as a team. Even in SCRL, after Leo gained his new powers, they stayed together. For Rick, it was until death, and in Sarah's case, until the end.
Putting it in that perspective, my relationship with her, as a lover and as a Valkyrie Tamer, would disrupt the harmony of how things had been until then.
"Leo, huh?" I said in a pensive tone.
"He's our comrade. I know you don't feel comfortable telling him about your power, so I don't intend to tell him by myself alone. That's why I'm asking you what we're going to do." she said in a bewildered tone.
Her message was clear. Sarah was feeling guilty, as if she were betraying a friend. However, there was no denying that she wanted to stay with me. Sarah was trusting my judgment and would follow my decision. 'It will be harsh what I'm going to say, but it's never easy to tell the truth.'
"Well, it's not like Leo and I are on good terms right now." I finally spoke.
"Did you guys fight?" she asked in a surprised tone.
"Something like that."
"But why?"
"That guy, he's an idiot who doesn't know how to stop. He tried to put himself in danger, and I felt I should say something. And I acted like a jerk talking about his sister." I confessed to her.
Sarah's uneasy expression said it all. I had stepped on a delicate topic. I knew that, but I still thought back then that someone should say this to him. That his suicidal attempts to compensate for her death would only harm him.
"Well, this is one thing. I should apologize for that. But we still need to tell him about us."
"Hm…"
"I'll just go straight to the point. I'll quit Leo's party." I said bluntly.
Sarah avoided my eyes. She knew that I would say something like that. I didn't have to explain to her why.
The Valkyrie System helped me create a harem with girls loyal to me and only me. No offense, but I didn't have any interest in guys, and I wouldn't like to have another man being close while we were making love. And I believe that Leo wouldn't submit to something like that either.
Our situation had changed, and we became incompatible. It was just better for everyone if we went our separate ways.
'Well, it was my plan from the start. We fought through death together and I feel grateful for his help, but this and that are two different things,' I thought inwardly.
"That is my answer." I said firmly. "How about you, Sarah?"
"Me…" She put her hand on her chest, as if her heart were being squeezed.
"Are you gonna follow me? Or stay with Leo?" I asked her.
Sarah seemed nervous about my words. This might be a dick move on my part, but it was a decision that she had to make. Her lover or her friend. If there was a moment to have this kind of doubt, it was then.
After some time reflecting, she looked at me with resolution. "I'll follow you, Rick."
I smiled at her expression. That determined face of hers was better than the gloomy one.
"You can blame me if you want." I said to her provocatively.
"I would never do something like that." she replied loudly, annoyed by what I said.
"Why not? I'm basically stealing you from him." I said playfully. "I'm the one to blame, you'll follow me, right? So you can put the guilt on me too."
"I can't accept that. I'm deciding to follow you, so I'm just as guilty as you." she said, with no intention of backing down.
"Are you sure about that?" I asked one last time. "Don't regret it later."
"I decided that I would be your wife, didn't I? So I have to stay by your side no matter what comes." she replied with a gentle smile.
"Then it's decided. Let's go talk to Leo together." I said, and she nodded.
…
We were going down the stairs to meet Leo in town when a familiar face approached us.
"Ara. Sarah, Rick, good morning." A gorgeous lady in her thirties, with brown hair tied in a bun, greeted us. It was the inn owner.
"Good morning, Miss Grace." I responded to her kindness.
"Oh. It's that!" She snapped as if she had remembered something. "That handsome blond boy came here last night."
"Blond… Are you talking about Leo?" I said, ignoring her comment about his looks.
"Yes, he is so gentle when he talks to me…" she said with a dreamy expression. "I thought that he wanted to talk to me, but he didn't." She said that last part with disappointment in her voice.
She was in her thirties, but she still had a great part of her beauty, a kind personality, and a big pair of knockers bigger than Sarah's.
She's a widow, so her beauty caught the attention of most men in town, but she just has the hots for young men. Not surprisingly, Leo is on her list.
'Poor sexless woman. Probably Leo didn't even notice that she was drooling over him. That guy had luck on his side and didn't take advantage. What a waste,' I thought while looking at Miss Grace's curves.
"Ahem!" Sarah must've noticed where my eyes were looking, and she started to cough hard to make me go back to earth.
Miss Grace didn't seem bothered by our scene, so she continued talking.
"I thought his visit was strange that late at night, but he came to send you this."
In her hands was a rectangular piece of paper. "A letter?"
'That's strange. Why would Leo send us a letter? We live in the same small town,' I thought inwardly.
Sarah took the letter from the woman's hand, opened the envelope, and read it. Her expression quickly changed to a mix of confusion and shock.
"Rick…" she said to me, still incredulous. "Leo left the city. He also says that he decided to leave the party."