As the coach was progressing slowly on the unpaved road, I was gently rocked inside it and was not far from falling asleep. Thiara, alias Tina was still lying on the bench with her head on my lap.

I felt some movement under my hand. However, as she did not say a word, I ignored it and let her stay. After a while, she made herself more comfortable.

I caressed her head and asked her:

“How are you feeling?”

For a moment, she froze. Then she asked:

“Where do you bring me?”

She slowly sat upright and watched me with a note of fear in her eyes. I shrugged:

“You are free to stay or go wherever you want.”

She looked outside, then back at me.

“This is not the way to my parent's estate, isn't it?”

“Right. We are heading towards Silver Town.”

She sighed. Then she suddenly jumped and embraced me. I tried to protest:

“Wow, wow, take it easy, lady!”

Her good mood returned instantly. She looked around, then at her clothes. She then turned her eyes at me, asking with an accusatory tone:

“This is not my robe? Where is my robe? Where are my shoes?”

She was dressed with the amazons' initiate standard equipment: simple beige trousers, blouse, and jacket, cotton underwear, and socks, simple cotton shoes enforced with leather strips and a leather sole.

“Ahem, there was only some soot left. Do you really want that?”

“Oh!... Yes... “ - her face went dark as she thought intensively remembering the last events - “I did conjure fire!!”

She said that with a broad, victorious grin. I had to chuckle. It was not exactly what I meant when I asked her to do it, but... I'll let it pass; she did it.

“Tell me, Tina, how old are you?”

I mean, she is an AI, but how old does the AI think she is? Her answer surprised me:

“I am fourteen!”

“Really? Honestly? I thought...”

She corrected herself fast, making it even worse:

“Thirteen and 8 months. I'll be fourteen soon!”

Oh my god. Another kid. An AI kid! And I thought she was eighteen or something. How could I be so wrong? She was well developed for a thirteen-year-old.

I sighed. The papa and mama AI would probably skin me alive if they ever get their hands on me. And yet I cannot send her back; that deranged emperor would get his dirty hands on her. I wonder what deranged emperor was he ripped off from our human history? They do that a lot in these games.

Anyhow, I've promised her she may choose to stay with us if she conjures her fire. She did it.

I sighed again.

I'll have to think this thing through. I'll have to ask Alice to train her. This girl has zero physical condition. She needs to build up some muscles, at least enough to enable her to effectively run from danger if need be. I watched her again. Her new hair colour and eye colour were fitting, making her look even better than before. This was not by happenstance. She is very aware of her looks and keen to improve them.

“Did you also ask him to transform your lips too?”

She watched me for a second, probably thinking if it was worth trying to lie to me. With a defeated look, she nodded:

“Yes”

I sighed. I thought they were sappier and redder than before. At least she did not exaggerate, making them too bulky.

She examined her clothes again:

“Ow. Don't you have a robe for me?”

“I do have a couple of ball gowns. Would you like to try one?”

She was ready to agree, but then she realized I was joking. She was fucking ready to wear a ball gown! With a red face, she pouted.

I tried to ignore her pouting and watched her in the eyes:

“Here is a pen, paper, and ink. You will write a letter to your parents and tell them you are alright. Maybe we'll find a post office or a caravan to send the letter.”

“Now? Really? Must I do it now?”

I snorted.

“Yes, now.”

“But...”

As she met my eyes, she sighed and prepared the paper on the small folding table.

I knocked, and the coach stopped. I needed some air. As I got out, I looked at the two riding on the coachman's bank. I was happy that they seemed to somehow get along. At least good enough to talk to each other and not kill each other.

Alice looked sad, sure that story with Noviel was still nagging at her. Maybe she talked with Spartacius about it, and that's why he had that guilty look? I looked at Alice:

“Shouldn't we be near the relay station?”

She nodded:

“Yes, there is one on the border in about ten, fifteen minutes. There was a teleport option from there; do we use it?”

Our travel was along the Kingdom's border, first the border with the republic, now with the Silver Town territories, both to the left. After the relay station, we will delve into Silver Town's territories.

Silver Town is a free city with some farming grounds around it. About a three-hour ride in all directions.

“Let's check there; if it's safe, why not? That would save us some three-four hours.”

“How is Tina doing?”

Spartacius looked at me inquiringly.

“She is ok. Writes now a letter to her parents. Care to change places? I'll go up with Alice, and you get in?”

After he climbed down, I went up near Alice. She shook the reins, and the horses started their smooth trot.

I looked at her, and again, it hit me. I know I care for her. However, I tend more than I thought for her. I like her smooth lines and her jolly profile. There deep inside me, lies more. Much more.

That fucking idiot Markus was admiring her. Admiring? No, more than that. Can I say that he was in love with a cartoon character? Because previously, she was a cartoon character. Fucking ten years since these two have been together. More than most marriages held nowadays!

Something from those sentiments lingers in Cala. No, I am not going to change my preferences. I like boys. That's me. What he left in this shell that Cala is only made me more attached to Alice than I thought I was. That added to the camaraderie that has grown between us during all those years together. She is more than a sister to me. I mean for Cala.

What was that about the wish to possess her and subdue her? Was Markus that kind of a crank, or was it coming from me?

No, in real life I have no such desire; why do I have it here? Maybe because here everything is possible? Or there is something else in play?

I shook my head to shake away those damn thoughts.

What about Cala? Does anything come from her? What is Cala? I just called her a shell, but is she really just a shell? When I am here, I think so strongly that I am Cala that I forget I am not really Cala.

“I wonder how they did it?”

She turned around and looked inquiringly at me, then shook her head with a chuckle realizing I was talking to myself.

I was asking myself, how was this world initiated? How were our characters implanted in this world? We are old characters. But the world also does reflect the story, all that happened until now. So why did they have to build such a complex world when there was just a story going forward?

OK, the world is much broader now. They made it bigger than the Earth is. More complex. Additional actors. They had to combine all these with the old storyline. Can it be that everything happened again? That our characters relived everything in this world? How did they make the transition?

“They simply replaced it. They simply replaced everything with the new, improved version? Or care we say evolved?" - I turned to Alice - "When did Manchua the priest start talking about demons?”

I was onto something, but I could not put my finger on it. The whole truth eluded me.

She was surprised by my sudden outburst. She raised her shoulders.

“I don't know. I did not have much time to talk with people in town” - she grinned - “and the priest was not really our subject.”

I watched her ginger hair waving gently with the breeze and felt that pang in my heart. Yeah, definitively. I sighed. Markus, you did this to me.

She raised a brow, looking worried at me:

“Is there something?”

Obviously, this feedback that Ivar the ghost was talking about was built in for some time. That's how I got these weird feelings.

I shook my head but did not answer. I only had some ideas and some questions but no answers yet.

I raised my head. Yeah, the relay station was there!