Chương 309: Old

My prediction came true. By the time we turned fifty, I was starting to feel the frustration of being an old lady. My joints started to hurt, my muscles started to deteriorate, and my absurd senses started to drift back towards 'normalcy.' My Market stats were doing a lot to supplement my physique and health… but I could feel that they were starting to fail. If my stats were like weightlifters, then as my body aged, the 'load' they needed to bear was growing.

My healing abilities took the edge off of my growing weakness, but couldn't fix the root problem. I was also realizing that people here had shorter lifespans. I felt more like a 70 or 80 year old woman, despite being just over fifty. Getting out of bed in the morning was a struggle. This was similar to the weakness I felt when we were newborns. Despite our stats, the underdevelopment of our bodies still weakened us. It wasn't quite as noticeable - but it was still very unpleasant.

Over the bracelets, Felix complained about his own joint problems. Anise and I were right next to each other, so I healed her joint pains all the time. On the other hand, Felix was stuck in the capital. I couldn't heal him very frequently. Felix felt more and more frustrated by all of his little aches, pains, and weaknesses each year. He said that his mind didn't work as well as it used to. He started to find politics a strain to keep up with. The year he turned fifty, the old King died.

Felix had disagreements with the new king. Finally, he retired at age fifty two, and returned to our town. From that point onwards, it was a lot easier to hang out with Felix and get a drink if we wanted to. The three of us often reminisced about how much the world had changed since we were children. Telegrams had started popping up over the past decade, and by now they were commonplace. The world was recovering. Former colonies had started to catch up to the former industrial levels of the Zelyrian continent.

Paper was cheaper than ever. Books and works of fiction became even more common and widespread. Telegrams conveyed information from one continent to another in record time. Newspapers were almost always up to date on the latest news. Steel ships completely replaced wooden ones, at least for military and economic use. But all of that meant little to us now. Felix sighed, as he looked at the house Anise and I had set up for him.

"Seeing something like this… brings me back," said Felix, thoughtfully.

"It has been too long since I last lived in a smaller town like this, away from the bustle of the capital. Having so few neighbors around… it's nice." He cracked a grin at me, stretching the lines on his old, wrinkled face.

"You should have joined us earlier," Anise said.

"It would have been a lot of fun to practice spells with you! My research is slowing down these days, but I've learned lots. Next life, I'll make my spell maps faster than before. I'll also be able to cast spells much faster!" She smiled, and then tried to wobble over to Felix for a hug. Instead, she grimaced.

"Miria, could you heal my knees? Something about them feels wrong!" Felix chuckled.

"Anise, somehow you don't feel much older than before. Even though your body looks like an old lady, you still feel like the six year old who wanted to be a super witch." Anise flushed.

"Hey! I… I object to that! With all of the wisdom that comes from being elderly! I've grown way older and more mature! I mean, I've lived for almost eighty years now in total! That's almost half a lifetime! I'm an adult by last world's standards! By this world's standards, I am ancient!" Felix chuckled. The wrinkles on his face stretched into laugh lines as he smiled. Then, he stepped forward, and gave Anise a hug.

"I like it. Stay the same forever, Anise. One thing I've learned during my time in politics is that someone working hard for their dreams is a treasure. You bring out the best in the rest of us. Truly." Anise flushed as Felix laughed. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Oh dear, Felix is learning from politics. Should we run in fear?" I asked, grinning.

"Next thing you know, you'll be as corrupt as the former prime minister."

"I learned some things from politics, but I definitely didn't learn how to embezzle money," said Felix, as he rolled his eyes.

"Especially not 5% of the national budget. It's a wonder he didn't get caught earlier." Felix's expression darkened.

"I doubt it was by accident that he didn't get caught. The new king… is not quite as clean or well-meaning as the old one." Felix shook his head in disappointment.

"Oh well. It doesn't have anything to do with me anymore."

"How much Achievement did you end up with?" asked Anise, as if she were trying to take Felix's mind off of the new king.

"I mean, I guess you aren't dead yet, but…" Felix relaxed.

"I doubt I'll be earning much more this lifetime. It's pretty hard to earn Achievement once our bodies get to this state. Even purely mental work starts to deteriorate. Very annoying." Felix snorted, and shook his head.

"I ended up with about 75, 000. An excellent haul." Felix grinned.

"How about you two?"

"I still haven't earned any last bits of Achievement from healing people. I also haven't gotten a reward for strengthening the town in a while," I said.

"I'm at around 20, 000 right now. Not great, but not terrible?" Anise shrugged.

"I'm at about 15, 000. Since I don't have healing, I had a harder time contributing to things like wars. But I got a few rewards for strengthening the village. I also tried experimenting with earning a lot of money for 'wealth' Achievement. It didn't work out as well as I was hoping, but it's something to try again in the future. The weirdest part of my earnings was the rewards for strengthening this town. I can't figure out the 'timing' rules for rewards for making a town or village more prosperous. It's baffling.

I got rewards for two years in a row, followed by nothing for a decade and a half, then another Achievement reward last year..." Anise shrugged.

"I don't get it at all. Either way, next life I'd like to get access to a few healing spells too. That way I can help out towns more." Anise grimaced.

"Although, more than that, I hope next world doesn't have such a restrictive ability potion system. It makes it much harder for me to do things openly. Being a witch that can't use her spells is very annoying!" Felix laughed.

"You used to get so embarrassed when we mentioned super witches. I remember when you were an adult last time, you asked us not to talk about it, and we used to tease you about it all the time. Has that changed?" Anise sighed, as she looked at the ceiling of the house.

"Something I've learned as well… it's not a bad thing to have a dream you want to chase. I know that my parents just wanted to give me something to look up to... but it came to mean a lot more than that. At least, for me it did. So I'm just going to pursue being the best super-witch in the multiverse." She smiled, and I hobbled over to her, before I enveloped her in a hug. Felix laughed.

"Well, I'm glad. I look forward to seeing you work towards being a real super witch someday." Then, he paused, and glanced at the sky.

"You know... something I've been thinking about recently. Sallia is still stuck in the void until we all die," said Felix.

"I doubt the three of us have any real opportunities to do much in this world. Not to mention, everyone we care about is starting to die. I've been wondering… once both of you hit the last few capstones for your Achievement progress, how about we return to the Market a little early? We've done almost everything we can here, and I feel bad for Sallia. There's not much keeping me tied to this world anymore, either." I hesitated. I thought about Iselde, Vance, and Maela. Just like us, they were getting old.

Trish and Markus were over sixty now. Their grandchildren were getting jobs now. I doubted they would live much longer, even with my healing. I didn't want to leave all of the friends I had met in this world behind… but Felix's point about Sallia was also valid. Sallia had been waiting for almost five decades. During that time, she had been able to do nothing but talk with us and watch movies and tv shows.

I had always felt bad that I didn't have some way to let her do more, but we had needed to make as much out of this life as we could. Otherwise, we might permanently die. But now… there wasn't much left to do here. My friends were getting older, I was getting older… things felt like they were coming to an end soon.

"I'll wait until the other three kids we grew up with die, and Trish and Markus too. I want to see everyone off," I said, finally.

"After that, I wouldn't mind an early return to the Market." Felix and Anise nodded. We spent the rest of the night looking up at the sky, all lost in our own thoughts. However, in my heart, a long forgotten bubble of excitement started to appear. It might be another few years, or even a decade… but soon, we would return to the Market. While I was still afraid of my friends dying permanently, I was also a little excited to do something again. A new world, with Sallia alongside us and young, strong bodies.

Having only gotten old once, I could now confirm that getting old sucked. I was ready for a new adventure.