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Retired life is the best. The world can keep ticking without my help. Well... with minimal amounts of my help. If some big problem shows up, I'd feel bad if I just left it alone. I worked hard to be able to take it easy, you know? It would suck if all of that fell apart again.
Alfrea's doing her part as well. She's the only one who knows anything about the world before the Witches tore it apart, and she's gradually been remembering things. Apparently games, music, performances, taverns, and other things existed back then. So she's started to teach people about them. I gave her some praise for that. Positive reinforcement is important.
The downside is that like me, Alfrea is kinda stupid, so neither of us are able to bring any big advancements. We can basically just lay the groundwork, and let smarter people figure out the rest. There are a lot of hard-working people out there who have just been waiting for the chance to get creative. In just a few years a few things have started circulating. It seems like it started with children playing ball games. Which makes sense.
And while the music people have been coming up with isn't particularly interesting, it's still better than anything I can do.
I am not a hard-working person at heart. I'm a lazy bum. I only put in effort because I didn't have a choice. And maybe sometimes because I got bored. Plus if people are happy, and safe, I can leave more things to them. It's win-win!
It's not like I've been completely idle. In lieu of any other entertainment or hobbies, working more on magic stuff is usually interesting. I've pretty much always brute-forced it because I can afford to, but I guess I also had a decent knack for controlling it. I can pretty much always do what I want by imagining it, and then sort of reverse-engineer the steps included. Or something like that. It's a lot of intuition.
One of the big achievements was restarting my ageing process. With the dark magic gone, and getting a new lifespan, it was really just a matter of tweaking healing magic. While being an ageless bishoujo isn't necessarily a bad thing, I do prefer slightly older girls. Preferably with big boobs. So being stuck at 14 physically started to bug me. Plus I already had a decent pair for my apparent age, so I was curious how I would grow.
I decided against accelerating my growth though. I figured it might get disorienting, so I simply returned it to a normal pace. Of course figuring out how to turn it on, means I'm able to turn it back off too. So I can become a more mature ageless bishoujo.
It's been a few years, so at the ripe, old (LOL) age of (almost) 22 I finally look like I'm maybe 17 or 18. And looking at myself objectively I'd say I've grown pretty well. I haven't gotten as big as Fara-sensei (seriously how do you get those? is it only with good genes?), and I think I'm slightly short of Eterna too, but I can present a solid effort. If I'm lucky, anything I eat will go to my boobs, but... I mean, it's not like my own turn me on, so it's not a big deal if they stay like this. I just like looking good. I'll give myself a couple more years to grow to see, but I've probably reached the end of my development. I've heard girls stop growing earlier than boys.
Then again... when you see a woman who's in her early 20s, she usually looks more grown than one who's still 18, right? So there's still hope, right? The 20-25 age range for women is their peak if you ask me. I wonder if the fact that my combined age is like 50 has something to do with that? And I would have liked them younger if I was younger? ... I haven't given it enough thought, and it might be for the best to keep it that way.
Not like it really matters anyway. I like what I like.
But almost 22, huh? I'm gonna get bullied into taking part in the Great Saint Birthday Festival again. The parade isn't so bad, since it's nice to get a bunch of admiration for no effort, but there's probably more constructive things to spend that amount of money on. Besides, why are you still doing it when I'm retired? Celebrate your actual Saint a bit! Well, I guess I'm used to it. And you could maybe say it's raising morale? Last year some kids had made drawings for me. I wouldn't say they were good, but they're important. I hanged them on my wall.
It's the afterparty with all the bigwigs that really gets my goat, but if I tried to skip it, or skip the entire festival, Leila would never let me get away with it. Not a snowball's chance in hell. She's the biggest bully.
Speaking of Leila, she's still staying with me, even though I've become fairly useless. I do still insist on sharing chores, but she has become quite good at domestic work, and she'll steal my jobs too if I'm not careful. I'm torn between whether I'm happy or not that she's encouraging my NEET life.
See, she's cooking dinner right now. It smells good too.
"You know, you'd make a good wife, Leila."
"Eh?!" She literally jumped, wow. "W-w-wife? Eh? ... E-Elrise-sama's wife..."
She mumbled something at the end there that I didn't catch, but I have a feeling she's thinking about something weird again.
"B-b-but surely you could have someone better, Elrise-sama. You could have anyone you want!"
What is she on about now? How did this turn around to me? I'm confused. And curious. Let's see where this is going. "Like who?"
"L-like Vernell-san, or a prince, o-or even a king!"
"Huh? No, I have no interest in men. Romantically, or sexually." I may have started to feel more like I actually fit in this body, but my tastes have not changed. Sorry, Vernell-kun. And even if they had, why would I want to be a princess, or queen? Too much responsibility!
Leila falls silent, stares at me for a bit, and then looks away. Something's going on in that pretty blockhead of hers, but I couldn't begin to guess what. "Then... then you do have an interest in women?"
"Yeah. I just haven't had any chances." For several reasons. I haven't even tried touching... um... this body. It always felt like there was something blocking me, and then I just kinda... stopped thinking about it. Maybe it would be fine now, but I'm not really sure how to start.
"W-well, I'm sure there are many women who would be willing, not just me! You could have anyone you want!" Yes yes, you already said that. Why is she so worked up? ... hang on. 'not just me'?
"Did you just admit that you're willing, Leila?"
Wow, that's an impressive shade of red. "Um... well... it was Elrise-sama who... you..." If this was a manga or anime I might have seen steam rising from her ears.
Oooohhhh, I get it now. Yeah, I said... yeah, I guess it could be interpreted that way. I just didn't think. Which is sadly not an uncommon thing for me. If I had been better at thinking things through, maybe everything would have worked out more like I wanted it to.
But huh. Well well. I knew Leila was dedicated, I just didn't know it went that far. Well, why not? She clearly doesn't intend to move out, she's already pretty much a housewife, and she's hot. Nice rack, well-trained body. Why not make it official? It would be my first genuine relationship in either life, but it could be fun to figure it out.
I get up, step closer, and lean forwards a bit. This is what a tempting pose is like, right? She's not looking directly at me, but I can see her glancing in my direction.
"So... you're willing to become my wife, Leila?"
Did she just shiver? This is fun.
"B-but Elrise-sama..." She visibly swallows. "You could... do better..."
"Hm... I'm not so sure about that. You like me, and you like taking care of me. Isn't that the best kind of wife?" God, her reactions are giving me a new kind of high. "Or perhaps you liked me better when I looked younger?"
"N-no, current Elrise-sama looks really good! I would love you no matter what!"
I giggle. "I'm happy to hear that. Then will you marry me, Leila?"
"Elrise-sama... I... but... do you... like me?" What a thing to ask. Is her brain fried now?
"Of course! I wouldn't have asked otherwise." Even I'm not that low. Just perhaps a little superficial, but I do appreciate how much she's stuck with me. I straighten back up, and take a step back. "You don't have to answer right away." Maybe I got carried away, and I'm going too fast. It's my first time, after all. "But I hope you will think it over."
"No."
"No?" That was quick, and brutal.
"I-I mean yes, I mean... no, I don't need to think it over. Yes, I will marry you, Elrise-sama."
"Oh!" What is this sense of relief? "I'm so happy to hear that, Leila. Oh, I have a thought. We should announce it at my next birthday. Maybe we could even have the wedding at the same time." I can't wait to see people's reactions.
"W-w-wait, that's way too soon, Elrise-sama!"
"Hm... maybe a wedding needs more planning?" I have no experience. "But I insist on announcing it, at least." I can't wait to see the shock on their faces. "And..." Do I need to get a ring? I have no idea what wedding traditions are like in this world, but... now that it's decided, I should probably put in a little bit of effort, and at least read about it. "And you'll have to stop calling me sama."
"That... would be hard..."
"Well... eventually, at least. After we're married you can work on it." I guess it doesn't matter if it takes a little while. "And you'll have to kiss me," I add with a grin.
"Oh. That's easy." She suddenly pulls me closer, and... kisses... me. Oh... this is... nice...