Previously:

"Forgive me, Alibaba," Sinbad said. "I did this for you and for the sake of this country. We'll be taking the third prince back to Sindria. Are there any arguments?" The guards and soldiers all exchanged uneasy glances. They had all heard the full conversation about how Alibaba might die if he stayed.

"None," Barkak said, speaking up for all of them. "Please take care of the prince!"

"Yes!" Sinbad agreed. Masrur picked Alibaba up. "What about you four?" Sinbad asked Aladdin, Hope, Faith, and Morgiana. "You can't stay here either, right?" he asked the twins. "Since you're wanted."

"Yeah, we weren't planning to stick around long enough to get caught," Faith said. "Hope?"

"We definitely can't stay here," Hope agreed. "Aladdin?"

"Yeah, I'll go with you and Alibaba," he told them.

"I will go as well!" Morgiana said.

"It's settled then," Sinbad said. "Ja'far, Masrur, make sure they get there safely."

"Yes," Ja'far answered dutifully, while Masrur nodded.

Chapter 62: Kingdom of Sindria and Magic

Hope and Faith were counting their money in the room they shared with Aladdin and the others from the latest round of sales they had made for their own line of beauty products. It was a business venture they had begun back home, and since it had worked so far, it seemed only natural to continue in their new environment. Since their only employees had been themselves, the products were mixed in small batches with all natural ingredients. People used to pay big money for them, especially after they somehow managed to convince certain celebrities to try a free sample, and they tweeted about how much they liked it. Before, it was easy to operate with just the two of them, because they could just sell everything online to anyone anywhere. Now, they were limited to a street stall that Ja'far had helped them acquire a permit for in the central market/bazaar. So the first few days they handed out small free samples, and after that the product practically sold itself.

"We still don't have enough for an actual store… or employees," Faith said with a sigh.

"We're getting there," Hope said. It would be time to make another deposit at the bank soon.

"Too bad we can't sell them at the old prices."

"It can't be helped. Pretty much everything is 'all natural' here, so people aren't willing to pay as much for that. It isn't 'special' anymore."

"Speaking of 'special' where are Aladdin and the others?" Faith asked.

"Morgiana's training with Masrur, and I think Aladdin and Alibaba are eating," Hope replied.

"Still?"

"Yeah."

"Excuse me, but..." a maid said, poking her head into the room. "The king has returned!"

"Ah, thanks for letting us know," Hope said, smiling at her.

"Let's go meet them," Faith said, hopping off the bed. Hope quickly but neatly put the money away and locked the box. Someone was ringing a big gong somewhere as the twins left their room and headed for the 'front door' of the palace. Aladdin, Alibaba, Morgiana, Hope, and Faith had lived in the palace of Sindria as guests.

It had been half a year since they left Balbadd, and they were in the island country of the Southern Seas, the Kingdom of Sindria. It was the country of King Sinbad. It's realms lay in the area named 'savage land' of the extreme, southern zones. These islands far off in the ocean were isolated from civilization until King Sinbad developed them. Many visitors frequented the place, which was built after the 'legends of the dungeon capturer' and is widely known around the world as the 'city of dreams'. Things never before seen in the northern continents, unusual topography, climates, and people cohabiting with the animals and plants… because of trade and tourism, the country is prosperous. And the citizens continue to work hard to build the country. Although the architecture and clothing was closer to what you might see in India, it reminded the twins of New Orleans, but less flat and with fewer potholes.

"His Majesty, Sinbad, has returned!!" a palace guard announced. They were all lined up, standing at attention on one side of the avenue leading from the palace gates to the door, while other government officials were lined up on the other side. Sinbad looked impressive as he stepped through the gate, accompanied by two of his Eight Generals.

"Our king has returned!" another guard announced again as he passed.

"Your Majesty," the officials said, bowing their heads.

"Welcome back," the rest of his Eight Generals greeted him at the door, also bowing.

"I am truly eased by your safe return, King Sinbad," Ja'far said with a smile.

"Thank you," Sinbad said. His generals accompanied him as he continued on. "I've left you to hold down the fort for a while, huh, Ja'far?"

"There have been no reports of incidents during your absence," Ja'far reported.

"I see," Sinbad said. He was a little surprised to see two beautiful ginger-haired girls dressed in strange outfits waiting for him.

"Welcome back!" they said together, one giving him a nice, beautiful smile, while the other grinned a little mischievously.

"Eh? Hope!? Faith!?" he said, surprised by the transformation. He recognized them thanks to their necklaces, which had unique designs. It was amazing how different a person could look just from changing their hair color and clothing.

"Yep, it's us! In all our ginger glory," Faith said proudly. They had dyed their hair back to its natural color and let it grow out a little bit. They had also started wearing the Lily Pulitzer outfits (which were getting a bit snug in some places, if they were honest) that they were wearing when they first arrived in this world again, thanks to their tote bag being returned to them. They figured they were safe enough inside Sindria's palace.

"It really suits you..." Sinbad told them, looking primarily at Hope. All of the Eight Generals, except Ja'far, exchanged knowing looks or rolled their eyes and left to return to their duties.

"Ahem," Ja'far said, looking to get the conversation back on track. "So… regarding Balbadd, how did the 'conference' with the Kou Empire go?"

"Well..." Sinbad said, glancing at the twins. The two girls' expression suddenly became serious. It was obvious they wanted in on this conversation. "… Although the Kou Empire will make Balbadd part of its administration, they've also agreed to acknowledge Balbadd as a 'republic' autonomy."

"Is that so..." Ja'far said. "Half a year ago, when the large force from the Kou Empire arrived right after the fight, I thought war was inevitable."

"Yeah..." Sinbad agreed, nodding. "That was nerve-wracking for me… But it seems like Kou did not even intend to destroy Balbadd in the first place. Their purpose was solely to make Balbadd come under their jurisdiction."

"I see… at first, they planned to use the marriage with the princess..." Faith said.

"But in case that failed, they would then induce the citizens to raise a rebellion..." Hope continued.

"And use that as a reason to interfere with their military and rule over Balbadd by subjugation," they concluded together.

"Yes, that was their scheme from the beginning," Sinbad said. "The evidence is that they had placed their fleets off the port in advance to standby. Thinking about it again, something like the 'National Slavery Act' may have just been a disguise to induce the citizens into raising a rebellion..."

"So this means that everything had… gone according to plan for the Kou Empire..." Ja'far said with a frown.

"However, I've already done what I can. As King of the Seven Seas," Sinbad said, also frowning.

After the issues in Balbadd… King Sinbad had left for the capital of the Kou Empire to conduct the conference with the emperor of the Kou Empire. There, he had intended to make the emperor agree not to torture the citizens of Balbadd like slaves and to acknowledge Balbadd as a republic autonomy… and furthermore, to let the royalties of Balbadd be exiled to another country (Sindria), instead of getting the death sentence. It was not a negotiation that could be done by any other, as he was the head of the powerful 'Seven Seas Alliance'. The emperor agreed readily.

"That is… great..." Ja'far said, smiling.

"Yeah," Sinbad agreed. He smiled. "I think that, after going through that experience, the hearts of Balbadd's citizens have become stronger. Even under the jurisdiction of Kou, they should be fine on their own."

"Sin, you must be tired from the long journey. Why don't you rest?" Ja'far suggested.

"We'll go tell Alibaba and Aladdin the good news," Hope said.

"No, I want to report to them first myself," Sinbad said. There were other things he wanted to discuss with them too.

"Welcome back..." Masrur said as he and Morgiana walked up to them. The six of them walked together to look for them.

"… So, how are the two of them?" Sinbad asked.

"Well… at first, they thought that they hadn't saved the country, and were dispirited after losing their important friends..." Ja'far explained. The twins looked down. They missed Ugo too, so they could imagine how much more painful it must be for Aladdin. "They shut themselves in their rooms all the time and hardly touched their food… I could hardly bear to watch."

"..." Sinbad frowned with concern.

"But they've become more cheerful nowadays, thanks to Hope and Faith," Ja'far said, smiling brightly.

"We were homesick as well, so we decided to throw a mini Mardi Gras for them," Hope said. "It's hard to be depressed when you're dancing in a second line." They didn't have actual jazz music to play yet, but the local music was lively enough to serve their purposes.

"We guilt-tripped them into trying the special dishes we made from home, and they liked them so much that they've been eating again ever since," Faith explained.

"I see. That's great," Sinbad said, smiling. "What's 'Mardi Gras'?"

"It's a carnival we have during the later half of winter/early spring, to feast and celebrate by dressing up in costumes and throwing parades, before a season of fasting and penance," Hope explained. Obviously they couldn't do the floats, but they made costumes for everyone and played music and made them eat and dance with them.

"Which ends with Easter, another fun holiday," Faith added. "And don't ask why we fast and all that, because it's for religious reasons and would take forever to explain."

"I see..." Sinbad said, apart from the fasting that sounded fun. "I'm glad you helped them. That time, because they had fought with all their might, they gave hope to the citizens of Balbadd… They've given people courage, even when they had lost their important friends and were hurt and burdened. I was overwhelmed. I'll never forget that scene in my life."

"Yes," Hope agreed, smiling softly at the memory.

"The ones who saved that country… were those two brave boys without a doubt," Sinbad said.

"Uh, we had something to do with it, too, you know," Faith reminded him with a straight face.

"Oh, of course," Sinbad said. "I was just..."

"Sinbad!!" Alibaba called out, drawing attention to his presence.

"!" Sinbad said, turning to face him.

"Welcome back!!" Alibaba said, running over.

"Ohh, Alibaba! Long time no see!" Sinbad greeted him.

"We haven't met since Sinbad left here four months ago!"

"Yeah!" Sinbad said, smiling, until he noticed something was very off. Alibaba's stomach was much larger and he was definitely squarely on the chubby side.

"For letting me stay in such a luxurious palace after then… I'm indebted to you…" Alibaba said with a smile.

"…. Well, that is fine, but, Alibaba..." Sinbad said, holding his chin.

"Yes!"

"You… grew fatter, didn't you?" Sinbad asked, though the answer was obvious just from looking at him. Alibaba had a double chin and his face was almost a perfect circle now.

"Eh?" Alibaba said. "Is that so?" He rubbed the back of his neck and placed a hand on his round belly. "Haha, now that you've mentioned it… well, every single dish here is really delicious," he said.

"Fufufu," Ja'far laugh good-naturedly, smiling at him. "Does it suit your tastes?"

"Yes! The barbecued papagoras bird yesterday was excellent!"

"It really was," Hope agreed.

"Tops," Faith said.

"…" Sinbad stared at them all with his smile frozen on his face.

"Although I didn't eat much when I first arrived here..." Alibaba said as they continued to walk. "But, for the sake of Cassim, I thought that I'd pull myself together, too!"

"I see!" Sinbad said, still smiling.

"Sinbad, if there's anything that I can do, please tell me," Alibaba said with determination. "In order to prevent another situation like that of Balbadd, I'm already prepared to fight against the 'abnormalities of the world'."

"…. That's great!" Sinbad said, still smiling. "…." He watched Alibaba talking to Ja'far and the twins with a big smile on his chubby face. 'I wonder why… even though he said some really courageous things… I don't feel moved at all...' he thought, deadpanning. 'No, no.' He clenched his fist and made himself smile again. 'Wait a second. This is a good thing. He's just a little fatter, that's all.' He followed everyone to the dining room, where Alibaba thanked the servants who had served him his meal. There were four empty plates at his place. 'The pain of losing his country and his important friend… if it could be cured by something like eating—! That's right, no matter what happens, without a doubt, they'll always be the heroes who saved a country!'

"Aladdin's still eating," Alibaba said, pointing over to a table stacked high with towers of empty dishes.

"Delicious… It's all so delicious!" Aladdin said, still gobbling down food. Three servants stood on standby with more food. "Ah!" He turned around to face them "Welcome back! Mr. Sinbad!" he greeted the king brightly, waving with a small hand attached to a fat arm that was attached to a massive body that had small feet sticking out from under it. Sinbad's smile froze again. Aladdin continued to eat his pineapple, oblivious the effect he was having on the king.

"Yeah," Sinbad said with a straight face, nodding his head. "I'm back."

—∞—

Sinbad was seated behind a table, staring at the two boys with serious eyes. He couldn't take it anymore. Especially Aladdin.

"Run," he ordered them grimly.

"Eh?" Aladdin and Alibaba said, sweat-dropping.

—∞—

Alibaba and Aladdin ran for their lives. In order to lose the body fat that they'd gained due to their laziness, their sweat flowed daily… The twins didn't think there was anything wrong with being fat, but as the children of a nurse, they were aware of the health problems that could result from it, and they felt Aladdin was too young to start sliding down that slippery slope. They didn't want him to have a heart attack when he was only thirty.

"Hmm, I feel kind of responsible..." Hope said, watching Sinbad yell at the boys to keep running around the courtyard, even though they looked like they were dying. "They're dying out there."

"Hey, the first week of overeating might be on us, but after that we tried to get them to cut back, remember? It's not our fault they have no self control," Faith said.

"They were eating their feelings. I just feel like maybe we should have done more… made them eat healthier."

"You did try that. It's like mom said, 'you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink'."

"Ahh," they said when Aladdin tripped and fell on his face. "Water break!" they called, signaling a time out. The boys were only too happy to drag themselves over to sit in the shade with them and drink some cool water. In fact, they were guzzling it down.

"It's good that you're exercising, but don't overdo it," Hope said. "It's better to have a combination of diet and exercise."

"You want to make us stop eating too!?" Aladdin asked, horrified.

"Relax, that's not what she meant. We think you should go on the South Beach Diet with us," Faith said.

"What's that?" Alibaba asked.

"Fufu, the secret to our hotness~" Faith said, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "You think bodies like these just happen?"

"Come to think of it, you are pretty careful of what you eat, most of the time..." Alibaba said.

"That's because our mom got us started on it when we were kids, so eating healthy was engrained in us from an early age. We have the same body type as her, so she warned us to fix our bad habits before they caught up to us," Hope said. After their mother had children, she had a harder time keeping the weight off and had to make some lifestyle changes.

"Yep. Some of our friends learned that the hard way," Faith said, nodding.

"Your mother put children on a diet?" Aladdin asked.

"Well, we say 'diet' but it's more like a lifestyle. It's less about portion control and more about being careful about what you put into your body in the first place. You get breakfast, a morning snack, lunch, dinner, and dessert every day. If you do stick to it, you can loose up to thirty pounds even without exercise on the first phase," Hope explained. "Don't worry, the South Beach recipes are good too. Just be sure to stop when you're full."

—∞—

Hence, after several weeks…

"Great, I got thinner!" Alibaba said, excited that he was back to how he used to be.

"You've finally gotten thinner, Alibaba!" Aladdin said, happy for him.

"Yeah, Aladdin! You got… thinner, too… There's no change at all—!!!" Alibaba said, yelling in his surprise. Aladdin was still just as rotund as always even with diet and exercise.

"That's not true," Faith said. "His 'man boobs' are smaller."

"Yeah, I've lost some weight, too," Aladdin said.

"He was so overweight to begin with that losing fifty pounds barely made an impact…" Hope said, sweat-dropping.

"Even when I'm on a diet, it's still very difficult to get back to normal," Aladdin said. "The reason must be because I haven't gotten to use my belly's powers recently.

"..." Morgiana and Ja'far stared at him with pity.

"Ch-Cheer up, Aladdin!" Morgiana said.

"Erm… that's right. Why don't you eat something delicious?!" Ja'far suggested.

"Hey!!" Sinbad shouted. So they were the culprits! "Don't spoil him!! I'll be very troubled if the two of you are always like this!!" he told the boys, clenching his fist. "You're 'guests' of my country. Of course, as the king of Sindria, I do hope that you can share your powers with us." Alibaba looked penitent. "You're not the only 'guests' here." Sinbad glanced over at the area where some of his Eight Generals were having a conversation with each other. "I hope you can lend me your strength, just like the others!"

"Lend you our strength…?" Alibaba asked.

"?" the twins said.

"..." Sinbad stared at them for a moment. "To fight against a certain opponent…" It was time to take the talk elsewhere.

—∞—

" 'A certain opponent'?" Alibaba asked after he, Aladdin, and the twins were all seated comfortably at a table in another part of the palace.

"Yes," Sinbad replied. "Even before Sindria was established, we've had a deep connection with a certain organization and had fought countless times. Didn't I mention about the 'abnormalities of the world' before? War, poverty, discrimination… these are spreading at an increasing rate around the world. And it is not happening by chance, but was planned by the organization… They slip into the centers of countries in various manners, sometimes as merchants, political advisors, or court ladies, and manipulate history from the shadows. 'Al-Thamen'. They never use the same name, but that's what we refer to their organization as…"

" 'Al-Thamen'," Aladdin said. His expression was serious.

"So, they're basically H.Y.D.R.A….?" Faith asked Hope.

"Sounds like it," she replied.

"H.Y.D.R.A.?" Sinbad asked.

"Fictional evil organization that does pretty much exactly what you just said," Faith explained.

"Oh. Well, since you're all involved, I'll say it straight," Sinbad said. "Previously, at Balbadd, you have caught their attention!"

"!" Alibaba and the girls said.

"… That means..." Alibaba said, sweating nervously.

"That's right. That man, who had claimed to be a 'Banker', pushed Balbadd's economy into a plight. In addition, the ones hiding behind the back of the Kou Empire, such as Judar and that black Djinn, are unmistakably 'Al-Thamen'!!" Sinbad explained. "Or they might have even, in a way I hadn't noticed, forced Balbadd into a state of civil strife. They're now doing the same things to the entire world." Alibaba stood up. His clenched fists were shaking a little.

"Alibaba..." Aladdin said.

"I'm fine," Alibaba said, even though he didn't look it. "Please continue." He sat back down.

"…. I can't forgive them either," Sinbad said sympathetically. "That's why, to fight against such a powerful opponent, I need more power."

"You told us to 'lend you our strength'… What can we do?" Alibaba asked.

"I won't say anymore than this. Well, it just means that you'll get completely involved in fighting against this organization…" Sinbad said. "Also, you're still too weak. If you fought against the organization now, it would only result in defeat. You'll have to get stronger first. Alibaba and Hope's Djinn Equips, and Aladdin and Faith's magic are still far from being mastered."

"Hmm. I guess that's fair," Faith said, though she didn't like it.

"You're right. I felt deeply that my powers weren't enough that time," Aladdin agreed. "I want to learn more about magic, but I don't know what I can do."

"Me, too," Faith said. "I also want to learn, but… We'd need a teacher or something."

"Magic, huh..." Sinbad said, smiling. He stood up. "Then, like Faith said, it'll be best if someone who uses magic can teach you. It just so happens that one of my country's 'guests' is a magician."

"Eh!?" Aladdin and Alibaba said. Hope and Faith craned their necks to try to see what the king was looking at without getting up.

"Hey, Yamraiha—" Sinbad called, leaning on the railing and waving down at her.

"Yes, King!" she called back. It was a woman wearing a stereotypical black witch's hat, and she had a staff.

"Magi and people from other worlds aren't the only ones who can use magic," Sinbad told them.

"We figured," Faith said, speaking for Hope too. Sinbad smiled at them. These twins were sharp.

"She is an outstanding sorceress of water. I'm sure she can help you."

—∞—

They were taken to a room filled with scrolls, a pet bird and other interesting items. Hope glanced around the room curiously, while Faith, Aladdin and Alibaba stared at the pretty woman with aqua hair and golden cone-shaped shells covering her ears standing in front of them. Aladdin and Faith were practically drooling over her seashell bra and the way her robes were worn open enough to expose it and her boobs.

"I'm Yamraiha, previously introduced by the king," she said with a gentle smile. "Although I don't know if someone like me can be of help to the great magi… please ask me any questions if you have doubts."

"She looks like a beautiful and gentle person, don't you agree, Aladdin?" Alibaba asked with a smile, blushing. "Hmm?" he suddenly realized Aladdin was gone.

"I think we're about to find out..." Hope answered him, sweat-dropping as she watched him waddle over to the nice-looking magician. He had that look on his face. She had a firm grip on Faith, but she hadn't been close enough to Aladdin to grab him too.

"?" Yamraiha said.

"Miss!" Aladdin cried and launched himself at her, placing his face firmly between her boobs.

"Kyaaa!!" she shrieked, turning bright red. Hope face-palmed with her free hand, feeling embarrassed for her.

"Aladdin!!" Hope said sternly, but he continued to rub his face against Yamraiha's chest.

"Ah… No… Stop it..." Yamraiha cried.

"Hold this," Hope said, handing Faith off to Alibaba, getting ready to march over and pull him off, when Yamraiha tightened her grip on her staff and Aladdin was suddenly off of her and covered in a cloud of steam.

"!!?" Alibaba and Hope gasped.

"Whoa! What just..." Faith said, furrowing her brow slightly as Aladdin rolled away from the magician, stopping in front of his friends.

"It's hot!!?" Alibaba said when he tried to touch him, pulling his hand back. "A-Are you alright, Aladdin—!!?"

"… Aren't you glad you behaved?" Hope asked Faith, sweat-dropping.

"Thank you for stopping me," Faith said, also sweat-dropping.

"You're exaggerating," Yamraiha said. "I've merely released the steam from water!"

"Eh!?" Alibaba and Hope said.

"Merely?" asked Faith.

"Ah," Aladdin said, realizing she was right and he was now wet.

"It's water!?" Alibaba said.

'Wasn't that dangerous!?' Hope thought. It seemed like the water she used was from Aladdin's own body. What if she damaged his cells of something…!? 'No, wait… she must have condensed and heated water from the air… Yeah, that makes more sense...'

"…!!?" Alibaba gasped when a mist seemed to form in the room, which condensed to form pools of water in the air. Yamraiha stood there with her arms crossed, still holding her staff. "The water… The water has gathered together! Is this magic too…!!?"

"She pulled the water molecules from the air. That other magi and the Kou princess did the same thing," Hope said more calmly, though she was no less amazed.

"Oh, they did..." Alibaba said. Now that she'd mentioned it. In Judar's case, the water had been ice, but he must have gathered it the same way.

"Let me tell you… try doing that again and I'll evaporate you from within your bodies," Yamraiha warned them with a vein throbbing on her cheek. Alibaba was scared. His image of her being kind and gentle was shattered.

"..." Aladdin and Faith said, calculating the risks.

"It'll also be 'no dessert for a week' if you survive," Hope added, causing them to look at her with shocked faces.

"!!?" they exclaimed, horrified. Alibaba sweat-dropped.

"Hope is too strict..." Aladdin said, pouting. "And Miss… looks gentle but isn't at all..."

"The two of them should get along well..." Faith said, not intending it as a compliment.

"That's unnecessary..." Yamraiha told them. She appreciated the back up. These kids seemed troublesome. She put her hat back on. "Seriously… I was nervous when I heard that you were the legendary, great magi… I'm at a loss as to why I even cared. You're just a perverted brat."

"Is meeting a magi something to be nervous about?" Aladdin asked.

"Well, they're on a higher level compared to us sorcerers."

"What is a sorcerer?" Aladdin asked.

"..." Yamraiha couldn't believe he didn't even know that.

"I want to know, Miss," Aladdin said sincerely. "Please tell me." Yamraiha looked slightly surprised.

"I'd like to know too," Faith said, though she could guess what the answer was.

"… Fine," Yamraiha said. "Then you better listen properly, okay? 'Magi' and 'sorcerers' are ranks of 'magicians'. 'Magic' is… the transformation of 'magoi' into other substances. It can be fire or water or thunder. But normal people, without special tools such as 'Metal Vessels', 'Household Vessels', or 'magical items' will not be able to do the transformation."

"I see..." Alibaba said.

"However, there are some who can transform their magoi without any tools… They can converse with rukh from birth, and can give special orders to the rukh, leading to the occurrence of many different kinds of natural phenomena… They're living communicators who are closest to the world's 'great flow'… And that's us, 'magicians'!" she said, placing a hand on Aladdin and Faith's shoulders. "In addition, there are different ranks among the magicians… according to the amount of magoi that their rukh produce, they can be classified into… Something like this."

She showed them a pyramid chart with 'magi' at the top, 'sorcerers' in the middle, and 'witch doctor, fortune tellers, etc.' at the bottom. Magi are able to gather magoi at will from other's rukh. Sorcerers have a large amount of magoi in their bodies. And the last category is made up of magicians who only have a small amount of magoi within their bodies.

"Do you understand?" Yamraiha asked them.

"Yes, I understand!" they said, getting excited.

"I guess Baba fell under the last category, huh?" Faith said affectionately, thinking of the old Kouga clan matriarch.

"This is my first time talking to others about magic-related topics. And also my first time making friends with a sorcerer. I'm very happy," Aladdin said, extending his hand to Yamraiha.

"Yeah! This is cool," Faith agreed, smiling at her.

"Thank you, Miss Yamraiha!" they said together. It was a mark of how much Faith wanted to learn that she was being so polite.

"…!" Yamraiha said, biting her lip. Maybe these kids weren't all bad after all.

"I want to improve my magic! Please teach me more!" Aladdin said.

"Sure!"

"How do I talk to the rukh?" Faith asked. "I think I'm gonna have trouble with that… I can barely see them, you see."

"Don't worry! There are exercises to help with that."

Alibaba and Hope smiled as they watched them get along.

Yamraiha led them outside.

"What kind of magic are you going to teach us first!?" Aladdin asked.

"Before that, I have something I want to see," Yamraiha said. "Your magic at full strength! I need to have a grasp of your current ability and habits before I start the training. Anything is fine, just fire!"

"Okay!" Aladdin and Faith said, stepping forward, while Alibaba and Hope waited next to Yamraiha.

"Can I go first?" Aladdin asked Faith.

"Sure," she replied easily.

'I'm excited… this is my first time seeing it… I wonder how the magic of the legendary magi looks!' Yamraiha thought. Aladdin took a breath, held his staff back over his head, and gathered his magoi. Then, he swung his staff forward.

"Har-Har Infigar!!!" Aladdin said, and a huge tower of flames shot up from his staff to the sky.

"What's that!!?" one of the nearby guards asked, startled.

"….!!" Yamraiha was speechless. 'A… Amazing!! What an output of power!! To be able to keep transforming such a large amount of magoi into magic!! Normal people would die in a moment if they'd done that!! The reason that it is possible for that boy is unbelievable… the rukh surrounding him are constantly supplying him with magoi!! Loved by the rukh. So this is the miracle of the magi!!?'

"How's that, Miss?" Aladdin asked, looking back at her. Yamraiha had fallen over in her astonishment. Alibaba grinned and Hope smiled.

"Too..." Yamraiha said. "Too amazing, Aladdin!!" She hugged him, which made Aladdin very happy because the side of his face was pressed up against her boob. "Please, tell me more about yourself!" She turned to start walking away with him.

"Ahem!!" Faith said loudly, coughing to get their attention. "Yeah, I'm still here."

"Oh, sorry!" Yamraiha apologized, blushing and rubbing the back of her neck. "Please, go on." Faith sighed.

"I should've gone first… How am I supposed to follow that?" she mumbled. "Can I get a target, something no one cares about?" They put a plain glass jar on a pedestal for her. Faith carefully aimed her wand at the jar.

"Takhtariq!" she said, and the jar disappeared. "Whoa… where'd it go?"

"I think you pulverized it..." Hope said, taking a few steps forward to look. She picked up a grainy substance that was on the pedestal. "Yep. It looks like you turned it into sand." she held her hand out to show them.

"That was very good, Faith," Yamraiha said. "That was strength magic, right? With that much power, I'm surprised you didn't put a hole in the wall… over there..." She trailed off when she realized there was in fact a hole in the wall six feet behind the pedestal.

"I'm really glad you weren't aimed in the direction of any people," Hope told her sister.

"Me, too," Faith said. "Huh. It didn't act like that when I punched a hole through that other magi's magic shield."

"You punched a whole through a magi's borg!?" Yamraiha asked, spinning around, abandoning her inspection of the wall.

"Yeah, if that's what it's called, but the hole was only this big," Faith said, making a circle the size of a golfball with her hand.

"!!?" Yamraiha was once again amazed. "On your first try, without prior instruction, you did that?"

"Yes," Faith answered, not seeing what the big deal was.

"Strength magic is particularly effective against borgs, but even so..." Yamraiha said, mumbling to herself. Could this girl be a genius!? All that raw power!

"Was it supposed to be hard or something?" Faith asked.

"Yes! Extremely hard!" Yamraiha said.

"Sweet," Faith said with a satisfied smile.

"Hm? You seem a little thinner than before," Alibaba observed, looking at Aladdin. Actually, he was a lot thiner. He had lost almost all his extra weight.

"Yeah, I'm hungry now," Aladdin said, holding up his loose pants so they wouldn't fall down.

"Oh, so am I," Faith said. Now that he mentioned it.