Reincarnated as a Phoenix

"Begin"

"Okay dokey"

Me and Petra are at a secluded spot just outside the capital to do some training, it's a nice little enclosed area surrounded by trees that is close by to where I occasionally fly tip dumping all my storage waste. Yeah, I know it's pretty bad but when I was drinking heavily, that many glass bottles is not something I can realistically dump in the capital, mostly because of embarrassment.

I did use to be a hoarder after all and stuff like glass bottles don't grow on trees, I have stopped my hoarding tendencies now, still make sure to keep some spare in case we ever come across another fountain potion dungeon but luckily the actual search has no finished, we'll probably come across another one someday though.

As for why we're training, we have some time to kill and this seemed like a good idea to do something like this again, it also delays any potential shopping trip for the upcoming party. I should just get it over and done with but I'm going to put it off as much as I possibly can, can always use the excuse for training since a fight against the royals is fast approaching.

Onto the training anyways, my vampiric dagger has just found its way colliding into Petra's sword, she blocked my downwards attack and I've now jumped backwards looking for another way to strike, her defence is impenetrable after all.

"Ikarus, try using asp-"

"NO! Stop trying to get me to seriously hurt you, this is more than enough!"

I already knew what she was going to suggest, she does help me train every now and then and recently she's been suggesting I use aspect of gigantomachy on her. I don't care if she'll survive because her health is high enough and resistances, that will still pack a huge punch and definitely cause pain even if her tolerance to pain is also high

Anyways, I shake off her suggestion on continue onwards, I charge at her again and this time swing lower aiming for one of her legs, she instantly senses this and swings her sword crashing into my dagger. Fortunately, I keep the weapon in my hands despite the rattling pain and try for something else next.

"Heh, good, won't be long before I'll start to fight back"

"Hopefully"

The praise must've been because I normally would've dropped my weapon there, that has happened a few times doing this before. Keep in mind, she still doesn't fight back while sparring as well, that's just how much of a gap there is between us so just her defending is more than enough. Someday, I will be able to properly train with her, I'm hoping I'll be able to at the very least.

Next attack, I lunge towards her using a stabbing motion and unlike with the last two, she dodges to the side giving me a slight chance to try something else out, I may be able to get close to a hit here, this will be the last attack for today since we've been doing this long enough now.

Just as I was about to go in for one last attack, I turn myself and my foot finds itself twisting something hard, a small rock but it stubbing my toes causes me to lose my balance falling over in a certain direction.

"Ouch!... Erm..."

Damn it, damn it, damn it! You know that stupid cliché where someone falls over and accidently ends up in a comprising position? Well... Petra was in my way stopping my fall and I may now be on top of her, that's not even the worst part! The position I'm in, my head is just above her stomach and arm landed on something very soft and squishy, I think she tried to help break my fall moving her sword out of the way but clearly it backfired causing her to fall as well. Why the hell did I tense up and grab it as well!?!

"... Sorry Petra"

"Heh... you can let go if you want unless this was something you planned all along? Very sly Ikarus, very sly indeed"

As soon as she says that, I instinctively let go, move my hand and get up off her. That was a pretty heavy fall thinking about it, I'd feel even more guilty for landing and grabbing her if it wasn't for my complete embarrassment right now. Oh, my toe hurts like hell as well. Despite this embarrassment and pain, I still make sure to give her a helping hand back up even if she doesn't exactly need it.

"Seriously, that fucking rock! My foot still hurts... sorry again"

"Heh, don't worry about it, something else of mine hurts right now but I'll leave that up to imagination. I'll just have to 'fall over' on you to make up for it next time"

Damn it, I knew she'd have this type of playful and teasing reaction! She's too harsh at times, there's no way that hurt her and she knows it. Hang on, how can she even react like that if her face has gone slightly red? Hang on, that's something...

"If you don't stop it, I'll-..."

No, I'm not saying that, don't be dumb Ikarus, it will only backfire

"You'll what Ikarus? Kiss me to make my face turn red or something like that?"

Well... this has kinda ruined this training session I had in mind in a weird way, how the hell did she know that was what I was going to say? I stopped because I knew Petra can't be teased, the only thing I can do to make her go flustered and red is kiss and that still is difficult despite doing it once before. Damn it Ikarus, why must you make things like this stupid?

"You're imagining things Petra"

"Of course I am, you really are too easy"

Sighhh, sometimes her teasing is just next level, my heart, mind and body can't take it especially when it comes up on the spot like that. If I was in a more serious mindset like during a battle, I would've probably ignored it, training with Petra is pretty relaxed considering I'm basically trying to stab her, it's a good thing she's impossible to beat.

"Anyways... wanna head back into town now?"

"Sure, let's do some handholding on the way back though"

Oh, I didn't have to do it or ask this time around, it's not like I'm gonna turn down that sort of request but it's surprising she initiated it this time, it is normally me who does it after all, at least most of the time.

"Let's go back then"

__________

"Ikarus... where are you from? I mean back on Earth, remember a little about geography but don't think you ever said specifically where"

"You interested in my old life? Any particular reason why?"

Normally, it's me who's always asking Petra questions, she's in quite an odd mood today, maybe she's just happy or something. I bet she's got the wrong impression from earlier, that seriously was one hundred percent an accident! We train so much there was going to be a clumsy mistake from me eventually, just that stupid cliché ended up happening. That feeling was pretty goo-, forget it, I've said this before that I'm not perving over Petra, I'm still not doing it!

We're currently walking through the crowded capital streets holding hands right now, it is surprisingly packed today and we keep having to walk around people to get by, maybe the upcoming princess's birthday has something to do with that? There does look to be visitors from all over the empire as well, it probably is that since there's supposed to be things going on for a week and then the final party right at the end. Poor Jekyll, he's definitely been working a lot throughout this, we won't have the chance to see him now at least until the party. Our intention is to leave straight after so we shouldn't have the chance to say goodbyes or anything like that as well.

"No reason, just curious on some things really"

"Well... I'm from a little island that at one point owned the biggest empire in the world... then lost it all"

I'm being purposely vague here seeing if her memory can pick up on where it might be, I'll tell her if she doesn't but it doesn't hurt to try and test her memory every now and then, mostly just to see what she even remembers from home. It also might allow me to learn more about her.

Also, the island I come from annoys me, we basically had it all and threw it all away even if that was a long time before I was born. Thinking about it, that was also an empire that did some questionable things, there is a bit of a difference between dragon enslaving and colonizing though. Hmm, there is a slight comparison to be made there though...

"Hmm... oh, that island? Heh, Zeki did say something about people from there having bad teeth and are all tea drinking snobs, something about fried food and fish as well?"

Oh, she actually remembered something like that? Fair enough, sometimes her memory is better than she makes out even if Zeki may have told her and is a complete arsehole, why the hell would everyone on that island have bad teeth?

"Don't believe everything you hear from him, how often have you seen me drinking tea and eating fish and chips? I mean, they're both nice and I would have them more if I could but still. Also, that teeth thing is so dumb, people can have bad teeth wherever you go... Anyways, what about you Petra? You remember where you come from?"

To be honest, I may be a mixed breed when it comes to my home island, tea is nice and all but not actually that much a fan of it, it's better if it's sweet though. Do I really seem like a snobby person? Zeki is just being bitter like usual.

She pauses and starts to think while we're still walking holding hands, clearly she can't remember this, maybe it's things about herself she has a tendency to forget.

"Honestly... don't remember, do remember travelling a lot back then but an actual country of origin, have no idea on. If you want to know about the others, Zeki was American and Ariza was Latino... or was it Hispanic? Not even sure what the words mean, it was one of them for her"

Oh, so she even was a traveller who went place to place back on Earth? That doesn't surprise me thinking about it. Zeki I obviously thought right, Ariza I had no idea on so I guess that's kinda an answer, even if that's two completely different groups of people, similar type of language but still not the same.

"Fair enough then, I'm surprised Zeki hasn't bought a musket from the dwarves if he's American"

It's a joke, alright? I'd have bought a gun if I could but wouldn't have been allowed.

"Heh, he has... four of them I believe under his bed. He did try his hand making a rifle and a shotgun years back but that blew up in his face, literally..."

Sometimes stereotypes piss me off, just cause Zeki's American doesn't mean he has to have guns... or does he? The thought of gunpowder exploding over Zeki is pretty funny though, that's given me a slight grin.

"... What about something else Ikarus? What hobbies and stuff did you do back then?"

Is she trying to get to know me better? That's really nearly not needed though, we both have pasts we'd rather not discuss, at least mine I don't like speaking about because of other reasons. The main reason is simply because it's boring unlike Petra's painful history, there really isn't much to go through. Other than a few failed relationships and a lot of procrastinating through life, there wasn't much interesting going on.

"In all honesty Petra, there isn't much to tell, that life was just a comple-..."

As we're walking through the capital, something in the marketplace catches both our attentions causing me to stop speaking. A small crowd has gathered around and in the middle of it is three men, one of them looks to be decked out in priest looking robes, the other two just look like commoners.

"Shame! Shame on you! Don't you know the church and the one holy God disapproves of such a vile act?"

"We weren't doing anything sinful! Honest!"

"What the hell is your problem priest?"

It looks like a priest is currently harassing two guys and a small crowd has formed around them, is this a same sex type of relationship thing that's apparently despised by the church then? It's taking this long for it to come up, don't tell me we're going to start hiding things otherwise an enemy is on the horizon?

"Two guys holding hands in public, despicable! Have you no shame? Do you not care about getting into the afterlife? You disgust his holiness"

"You're mistaken priest!"

"Yeah, I'm not even a guy, dickhead!"

Oh, both of them are short haired and I also assumed they were both guys at first glance, clearly one of them wasn't then, the voice isn't exactly feminine sounding as well so you can understand why someone might make that mistake, maybe we're both just idiots after all.

"Erm... Petra, should we stop this?"

I'm talking about our hand holding right now, we may have joined the crowd and are now whispering, I'd offer to help but it's no longer needed if she's a female, the harassment should stop if it isn't same sex I believe.

"No chance, they're not stopping us doing this. If you mean step into help though, the church doesn't actually have that much power here, you'll get the odd harassment but it doesn't turn violent... most of the time anyways"

The way she says that, we're definitely going to have problems at some point, we're getting out of these lands very soon so walking around without a care might prove problematic. If my plan for what happens after comes around, then there should be no need for that, there won't be any empire or church standing in our way but I'm not planning to wipe them out unless they decide to personally piss me off. They will eventually prove troublesome but for now, best to avoid destroying an entire monastery full of people, there is some EXP there if needed though...

Anyways, we start to walk off and hear the rest of the conversation behind us.

"Ah, my apologies then, you must be able to understand the Lord's will on the whole thing"

"Go back to your church priest"

"Yeah, leave this city if you're going to start harassing people"

"Like I said, apologies again and may the Lord bless you on any troubles you may have"

"Dickhead..."

At least people are willing to stand up for themselves here, it might be that the capital is so far away from the monastery that they have more of a backbone, I'm guessing the city close to it may have different views.

Forget it, that was a pretty pointless encounter anyways, where are we even walking too anyways? I've just been kinda following Petra along and unsure where we're even heading.

"Where are we even going Petra?"

"Heh, you've put it off long enough Ikarus. We'll pay a quick visit to the bathhouse, then we've got to go shopping"

'Damn it...'