After Raid entered the room in a daze, Eluria ordered her attendants to wait outside. Once the two of them were alone, she sat down on the couch and nodded.
“Long time no see, Raid,” she said once more, her azure eyes meeting his. The seat cushion had sloped under her weight, telling Raid that she wasn’t just a figment of his imagination.
His silent staring prompted Eluria to tilt her head in concern. “Raid?”
“Oh, my bad—I mean, my apologies.”
The silver-haired girl frowned. “Why are you speaking so formally?”
“I believe this is the proper etiquette to uphold when in the presence of a distinguished member of House Caldwin.”
His answer only deepened her concern, her brows knitting closer together. “Don’t tell me...you don’t remember?”
“Pardon me. Have we met, perchance?”
Eluria’s shoulders visibly sagged in disappointment. She painted such a pitiful picture that even Raid felt bad just watching her.
He scratched his head with a sigh. “Have you come in search of the man once known as the Hero?”
She snapped her head up in an instant—but immediately wilted once more. “The Raid I knew didn’t talk like you, though...”
“Hang on a second. We’ll end up going in circles at this rate.”
“That sounded a lot more like him.”
“Because I am...” Raid sighed. “As the Hero of Altane, I had to meet the nation’s bigwigs sometimes. I at least spoke politely when the situation called for it, you know?”
With that, the spark returned to Eluria’s eyes. “Then you are Raid!”
“Sure am. Might as well ask too—you’re the Eluria I remember, yeah?”
“Eluria Caldwin. Born and raised in Vegalta. Approximately two hundred years old. My hobby is reading, and my favorite drink is warm milk tea. When I’m tired, I like to nap under the sun.”
“Only the first two bits are things I would know...”
Her head drooped again. “Sorry...”
There was certainly precious little he knew about her. They only ever met on the battlefield, and while they did exchange a few words here and there, he knew next to nothing about her personal hobbies or preferences. On the contrary, however, there was one thing he could use to confirm her identity.
“How many times did we fight?”
“Six thousand three hundred and twenty-nine times.”
“Cool. Not like I remember.”
“Yep. I always had to remind you.” At that point, all the tension finally fell from her face. “Thank goodness... It really is you.” With tears welling up in her eyes, Eluria placed a hand over her chest and nodded to herself in relief.
Meanwhile, Raid breathed out a sigh and plopped down on the couch. “I never thought we’d meet again, let alone like this.” Who could’ve imagined they’d reunite with their dead rival a thousand years in the future? “Come to think of it, how were you able to find me?”
“Since I’d been reincarnated, I figured you’d be around too.”
“You just went looking with zero evidence? Wow...”
“My intuition is evidence enough,” she said with a smug quirk of her lips.
But more importantly, a certain word had caught Raid’s attention. “You said you ‘reincarnated’? What does that mean?”
“Simply put, it’s when a person lives their next life while having inherited all their memories and abilities from their previous one. More precisely, it’s the effect of reincarnation magic.”
“Wait, magic? So you cast it?”
“No, it wasn’t me.” Eluria shook her head. “To be clear, ‘reincarnation magic’ is just a provisional label on my part. It exists in theory, but I have no way of executing it.”
Raid hummed. “I see what you’re getting at.”
Although she wasn’t exactly the most articulate person out there, he could piece together a rudimentary understanding. Basically, Eluria had determined what the effects of reincarnation magic were, but the methods of casting said magic were beyond her.
“So, even the founder of magic herself doesn’t know? Must be some pretty crazy stuff.”
Eluria indignantly puffed up her cheeks. “Not even the Sage knows everything,” she grumbled.
In any case, their reincarnation wasn’t Eluria’s doing. Of course, Raid had no recollection of doing anything of the sort himself. The Hero and the Sage had reincarnated together a thousand years into the future... It would be too much of a stretch to wrap it all up as a pretty little coincidence.
“Well...” Raid shrugged. “There’s no use in me racking my head over something even you don’t understand.”
“Mhm. You don’t know what you don’t know,” Eluria concluded very philosophically. “There are just way too many question marks in our case. I tried digging around a bit, and apparently, reincarnation magic should perfectly replicate the target from their past life. But I’m completely different.”
“You are?”
Eluria’s eyes instantly sharpened into a glare. “You didn’t notice?”
At that moment, Raid’s gut told him that he’d be in a world of trouble if he couldn’t give an answer, so he took another good look at the girl before him.
Her silver locks were as beautiful and immaculate as ever.
Her eyes were the same deep ocean blue shade he remembered.
Age aside, she still looked to be around fifteen to sixteen years old.
As for her figure... He’d never looked too closely in his past life, but he recalled that her height was around average, and that the curves of her figure and the slightness of her limbs were feminine enough at a glance, all the same as they were now.
In conclusion, nothing had changed.
Unable to stand his silence any longer, Eluria began restlessly fiddling with her hair. It was only then that Raid finally found what he was looking for: the characteristic pointed tips of her ears had turned very familiarly rounded.
“Wait... You reincarnated as a human?”
“Yep.” Eluria lifted her hair to fully show him. “So now, I have matching ears with you.”