Chapter 24: "Finding Confidence"

"Kyaaa… Finally home! This thing is just too heavy to pull and push around all day!" Alaylle pushes the cart off to the side as she opens the front door to her house. She then pulls the cart into her house and parks it off to the side in an alcove reserved for Corin's cart. "I'm home!"

The entrance to Alaylle's house is a small room about 2 meters long and 4 meters wide made with the purpose of welcoming people into the house. Off to the right side is a long white and blue cushioned chair, in which several pairs of shoes are resting underneath. Above the chair is a small wooden sign shaped like a foot hanging from the ceiling with 'Please remove footwear!' written in large, bold, block letters. Off to the right side of the room is a little alcove made with walls for storing Corin's cart. In the middle of the room is a blue carpet embroidered with daisies. Straight ahead from the front door is a doorway that leads to the living room.

Alaylle sits down on the chair and slips off her shoes. Fast footsteps are heard, and Alaylle looks up to see her father running towards her. "Uhhm… Daddy? Where's the fire?" Alaylle blinks her eyes and then gasps. "Oh no, did Mommy start cooking already?"

Corin shakes his head. "No no no! Thank heavens no!" He grins and rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, "I was just wondering if you've seen my cart?"

"Oh! Sorry! I was borrowing it! I hope I didn't cause any trouble…"

"Eh? No… it's not any trouble. I just finished installing this new furnace in my workshop and was thinking about grabbing my cart and getting some iron."

Corin walks over to the alcove storing his cart and then looks at the cart. "Hmm… say… Alaylle… what were you doing with this thing? It looks a bit… worn?"

Alaylle looks away a bit awkwardly. "Uhmm… I was… sort of using it as a weapon…"

"A weapon!" Corin kneels down and inspects his cart from top to bottom. "A cart… a weapon?"

Alaylle winces. "I'm sorry Daddy!"

"Sorry? No need to be sorry Alaylle! It's an awesome idea! I'm surprised no one thought of it before!" Corin closely inspects his cart. "Whoa! You redesigned the back wheels so that they can rotate directions! Wait till the guys at the Merchant Guild see this! They'll go nuts!" Corin grins widely and pulls out his cart from the alcove. "Eh?" Corin blinks his eyes and pushes the cart back and forth a bit. "Alaylle, did you put something in here? It's a lot heavier than when I last used it."

Alaylle is still blushing from her father's compliments. "Uhh… I don't think so…"

Corin pulls his cart out of the alcove and looks inside. "Whoaaaaaa! There's a ton of iron ore in here!"

Alaylle puts her pointer finger near her mouth as she thinks… "Th-there is? The Ambernites must've left it in there…"

"This is GREAT! Three awesome things happening in one day!" Corin pauses and his shoulders slump. Under his breath he mutters, "Aww great… now I'm worried about how tomorrow is gonna be after this…" He then quickly shrugs, and pulls his cart towards the living room. "Ahh, who cares? To the workshop!"

Alaylle looks angrily at her father. "Nuh uh uh! Daddy! No cart on my carpet!"

Corin pauses for a minute, then quickly picks up his cart with his hands and holds it above his head. "Weeeeeeee!"

Alaylle just quietly watches her father in shock… "He… he never did that before…" She slowly shakes her head. "Daddy… you're such a goofball…"

---
After dinner, Neyrilla quietly waters the plants in her greenhouse with a watering can shaped like a Marin.

Neyrilla's greenhouse is a long room filled with about a dozen rows of potted plants from all around Midgard. Lamps hung above the plants powered by Great Natures shine plenty of nutrient rich mana down onto the plants. There is a door in the northeast corner of the room that leads out to the hallway, and a door in the southeast that leads outside. In the east side of the room there is a nook where Neyrilla keeps a clean desk and chair set facing the entrance of the nook, serving as a small office. On the north and south sides of the nook, there are bookcases filled with books.

Neyrilla finishes watering her plants and heads to her desk. She places the Marin watering can so that the face of the Marin faces the entrance to the nook. She looks down at her latest book, 'Plants of Morroc' and quietly starts reading. Two soft clicks come from the direction of the backdoor. Neyrilla quietly puts a bookmark into her book, closes it, and looks up to see a shadowy figure wearing a Sakkat and holding the rim by pinching it.

Neyrilla shakes her head. "What's with the Sakkat?"

The shadowy figure sweatdrops. "It improves my image… don't you think so?"

"The only thing it improves is your chance of it brushing up against something, making noise, and getting caught."

The shadowy figure whines, "But… but… I like it! It makes me look awesome!"

Neyrilla shakes her head with a soft smile. "Anyway… your report, please."

The shadowy figure nods. "I followed Alaylle, as per your instructions. She trained and fought with the Ambernites against the Horns, and led them quite effectively. She is still very unaccustomed to combat, and appears have great difficulty handling getting hit. She also seems to have… created a cart that the Ambernites used as a weapon."

Neyrilla nods slowly. "Yes… Corin was ranting and raving about that… the last I checked, he was playing with it in his workshop."

The shadowy figure tries his best to stifle a snicker, and then continues. "The cause of the sudden migration appears to have been a mutated Horn… Alaylle and the Ambernites successfully repelled it, and the Horn migration appears to have stopped."

Neyrilla quietly nods. "About that Horn…"

"Yes… it flew quite the distance after the Ambernite Cart hit it… but my troops managed to capture it and transport it to Juno."

The shadowy figure places a thick book made up of paper sheets bound by three metal rings. "Here is the 33 page report of the analysis of the mutant Horn."

Neyrilla makes a frowning ahem and looks back up at the figure after glancing at the thick report.

The shadowy figure grins slightly and then places a stapled 2-page report on top of the thick book. "As customary, here is my summary of the results."

Neyrilla picks up the summary and quickly leafs through it, glancing back up at the figure after she finishes.

"The mutant Horn seems to have been exposed to an extremely high amount of growth hormones, and especially large doses of adrenaline. From its current state of deterioration, it will die of stress from adrenaline in approximately 164 hours. From its given lifespan, it is my opinion that this Horn was manufactured as a weapon, with a limit on its lifespan imposed for testing purposes. The bio-alchemists of Juno are keeping it alive as long as possible for further observation."

Neyrilla quietly nods. "Thank you for your report… keep me updated… dismissed."

The shadowy figure nods and quietly exits.

Neyrilla looks up at the ceiling and quietly whispers, "Is it happening again? After all these years… After all I've done to try to prevent it from occurring again… I wanted Alaylle to grow up without this happening, but now… Now is the time to prepare."

Neyrilla glances down at the thick report on her desk, moves the botany book onto the side and starts reading the report.

---
After an uneventful morning, (the explosions coming from Corin's workshop count as "normal") Alaylle happily walks to the Prontera Church to do her usual pastime: getting jumped by Father Renauld, and giving the church a nice cleaning. Upon entering the church, Alaylle flinches and waits for Father Renauld to jump out of nowhere and scare her silly. Alaylle blinks her eyes, as the jump doesn't come. She quickly starts searching around her, looking for Father Renauld. "Father Renauld? Where are you hiding this time?"

Alaylle shrugs and heads towards the main altar of Prontera Church. Standing in front of the altar is an unhappy looking Father Renauld talking to Father Maruesis.

Father Renauld slowly turns from Father Maruesis and over to Alaylle. "Alaylle… darn it… why did you have to come today…" He looks away from Alaylle.

Father Maruesis turns towards Alaylle and inclines his head. "Alaylle is it? Could you please demonstrate your Heal spell?"

"I…" Alaylle sighs. "I'll try…" Alaylle closes her eyes and tries to will a healing spell into happening… but nothing happens. Alaylle opens her eyes and shakes her head. "I can't do it…"

Father Maruesis sighs and shakes his head. "I'm sorry Alaylle, but the higher Priests have told us that any Acolytes that lack magic are to be removed from membership…"

"I… I see…" Alaylle glances down at the ground and slowly walks out of the church.

Father Renauld turns to Father Maruesis once Alaylle has left. "This isn't right! Just because it's expected that the demand for priests will increase by 4 times thanks to the King recruiting adventurers… Is no reason to remove people that can't use magic! This… this is just to line the High Priest's coffers with gold!"

Father Maruesis nods. "I'll do what I can… but… please comfort that girl… she looked… devastated."

---
Alaylle quietly walks into her house staring down at the floor the whole time. She walks past her mother and father sitting down on a couch and talking in the living room and towards the stairs leading upstairs.

Neyrilla notices Alaylle's bad mood and nudges Corin. She walks to catch up with Alaylle. "Alaylle? What's wrong?"

Alaylle stops walking and turns towards her mother. "I'm not an Acolyte anymore…" She quickly turns away and slowly goes up the stairs. "Please… could I be alone for a while?"

Neyrilla and Corin both quietly watch Alaylle head up the stairs.

Corin moves as if to chase after Alaylle, but Neyrilla quickly stops him. "Corin… leave her alone… the way Alaylle is… when she wants to talk, she'll come to us."

Corin winces, "But… but…" He sighs, and then nods. "You're right… but… I can't stand her looking like that and feeling like that…"

Neyrilla nods slowly. "It's hurting me too… but… life is so full of things in which people have no choice… Many "choices" aren't them at all, but illusions, in which people delude themselves into thinking them as that. This is one choice that is for real… she has to decide whether or not to continue with what she is doing…" She softly hugs Corin. "This is what I believe being a parent is about… giving your child all the choices that you can possibly give them so that they can grow."

Corin sighs softly, "It still feels horrible…"

Neyrilla nods, "I know… but… have a little trust in your daughter… and… perhaps you could show your support in another way?"

Corin glances at Neyrilla, and then smiles broadly. "I… yes! Eh heh heh… I know what to do!" He nods and rushes off to his workshop.

Neyrilla glances upstairs. "If you can get past this… maybe I can help a little with your confidence, Alaylle…"

---
Alaylle quietly stares at her pillow while lying down on her stomach on her bed. She stares intently at the pillow, in deep thought… yet… thinking about nothing. After a while, she looks around her room, with her gaze focusing on a few things. An Ambernite shell, a Rocker's violin… a slight smile cracks from her lips. She then notices a picture hung on the wall near her bed. A picture of her, Karian and Kaori doing a victory pose. Karian is on her right side, Kaori is on her left side, with both of them are in front of her. All three of them are smiling and putting moose antlers on their heads using open palms and the thumbs to connect the "antlers" to their heads. Alaylle giggles softly and takes a small nap on her bed.

Corin clears a long underused portion of his workshop next to the new furnace he recently installed. "Haven't used these things since… I made that…" He brings his cart full of newly refined steel over to the furnace. Corin bends over and picks up an old hammer left near the furnace. "It's been a while, hasn't it? Eh heh heh…" He dusts off a glistening, golden-colored anvil near the furnace as well. "How have the years been to you? Good I hope! Hope you got a good rest, 'cause it's time to work overtime again!"

Neyrilla looks up and smiles at the sound of pounding coming from Corin's workshop. "Ah… that's a sound I haven't heard in a long time… it certainly beats the explosions that occur there." She looks back down at her desk and continues to write a letter on a piece of paper. 'Just a bit more…'

---
Corin and Neyrilla both bump into each other in the hallway as Corin exits his workshop and Neyrilla exits her greenhouse. They both say at the same time, "Do you smell that?"

Neyrilla rolls her eyes happily while Corin laughs.

Neyrilla pokes her husband in the side to get him to stop laughing. "I smell… something very spicy… it is around that time where Alaylle prepares dinner, isn't it?"

Corin manages to stifle his laughter and nods. "It smells like Morrocan Chili…"

Both quickly make their way to the kitchen where they see Alaylle happily cooking something in several pots on the stove. Alaylle turns to both of them with a happy smile. "Uhm… it'll be done in about half an hour… don't worry! I made mine separate!"

Neyrilla nods happily and drags Corin out of the kitchen. "See? Trust in your daughter, Corin. She wouldn't be making her favorite food if she was in a bad mood."

Corin sighs in relief. "I'm glad… that smile she had… eh heh heh… it's just as you said."

"Yes… but now… let's give her a bit of encouragement, in our own little ways."

"Yeah!"

Neyrilla walks back into the kitchen as Corin runs back to his workshop. "Alaylle? In a week, we'll be heading to our annual visit to Payon as usual, but… this time… how about you come along?"

Alaylle blinks her eyes and then smiles happily. "Wow! I get to go with you and Daddy this time? Okay! I can't wait!" She takes a taste of the chili she's making straight from the pot. "Hmm… not bad! But… maybe a bit more hot…"

Neyrilla smiles softly. "That isn't ours, right?"

Alaylle nods happily. "Don't worry! I'm only making mine really really spicy!"

End of Chapter 24
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Chapter 25 Preview!

Alaylle: "Just because I can't use magic doesn't mean I'm worthless!"

: "Ha! I'll show you how much worth you have!"

In the Next Chapter: "Fighting for Acceptance"

Alaylle: "Nuh uh! I'll be the one showing you!"
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