Magic, Explosions, and Ice Cream!
The birds chirping and bright sunshine coming from the window tells that it's morning, Accelerator had woken up quite early since he had plans on visiting the guild early in the morning. He was never really a morning person but today's an exception, he took his usual white shirt and black jeans that had dried overnight and changed from his current pajamas. Afterwards, he washed his face and head downstairs to get something to eat.
Elze and Linze were already awake and eating breakfast. Accelerator took a seat and Micah brought out some food for him as well, Micah was the name of the land lady that he eventually learned yesterday. The morning's menu was bread with ham and eggs, vegetable soup, and a salad. Accelerator was never really a picky eater, he doesn't have any particular food that he likes either, except for black coffee.
The three of them headed out to the guild as soon as they had finished eating. It was pretty crowded since it was right near the middle of town.
The first floor of the guild's building was laid out like a restaurant. A bar where ruffians would hang about comes to mind when talking about guild places in Accelerator's head, but seems like he was wrong, it was a lot more cheerful than expected. The female receptionist met the three of them with a lovely smile as they approached the counter.
"Uhm, we'd like to register with the guild, please." Elze started the conversation.
"All right, then. That's no problem at all. Would that be three for registration, then?"
"Yes. All three of us," Linze replied.
"Will this be your first time registering with the guild? If so, I can provide a basic explanation of what it means to register with us."
"Please do." Accelerator needed the knowledge so he was quick to say that he wanted an explanation.
The gist of it was that the guild would take the requests of individuals or groups, publicize them, then take a small fee upon completion. That was how the guild worked.
The requests were split into ranks based on how difficult they were expected to be, so someone with a low personal rank couldn't accept requests aimed at those of a higher rank.
However, so long as half of one's party were of a high enough rank, they would be able to accept such requests even if the others in the party didn't meet the rank requirements.
Upon completion of a quest, one would receive payment. If one failed a quest, however, they would be charged with breach of contract.
In addition, if one continued to fail multiple quests, then they would be deemed a low-quality individual, and their guild registration would be revoked as a penalty. Were that to happen, one would never be able to re-register with any guild branch in any town.
Other stipulations included: if one did not accept any requests at all for five years, then their guild registration would expire; one could not accept multiple requests at the same time; concerning subjugation requests, one must hunt the monsters in the designated area, else their work would be deemed invalid; as a general rule, the guild would not directly involve itself in personal dissent between adventurers, unless such dissent was judged to be harmful to the guild itself. All and all, it was a pretty thorough explanation of the rules.
"And that about sums up the explanation. If you have any further questions, please direct them to the appropriate individuals."
"Alright, got it," Accelerator replied shortly.
"Very well. Please fill in and return these forms with all of the required details."
The receptionist handed out three blank forms, but Accelerator couldn't read a single word on them. When he informed Linze that he couldn't read nor write, she agreed to help him fill out his form even though she was confused as to why he couldn't."
The receptionist then took the registration forms and held a pitch black card over each of them in turn, seemingly casting some sort of spell. Afterward, she took out a small pin and told each of them to spill a little bit of our blood onto the cards.
Everyone did as they were instructed, by taking the small pin in hand and pricked each of their own fingers with it, then rubbed a small amount of blood onto the surface of the card. Some white letters floated up onto it, but Accelerator still couldn't make heads or tails of what it said.
"Each of your personal Guild Cards has a little spell on it that will make it turn gray if handled by someone other than its real owner for longer than a few seconds. It's a simple anti-forgery mechanism. Also, should you happen to lose your card, please report to the guild as swiftly as possible. For a small fee, we will be able to issue you a new card."
The receptionist took hold of Elze's card and stood there for a few seconds. Just as she'd said, it eventually turned from pitch black to a dull gray. The very moment she placed the card back in Elze's hands, it snapped right back to black.
"With this, your guild registration is complete. All available work requests are posted on the board over there. If you see one you would like to accept, please confirm all details and apply for it through our quest clerk."
The three of them stood in front of the board where the quests were posted. Their Guild Cards were all black, signifying that they were at the beginners level. The cards would apparently change in color as the ranks rose, but right now they could only accept quests aimed at beginners. Elze and Linze busily pored through each quest notice one by one, but Accelerator on the other hand, couldn't read anything at all.
'Dammit all... I seriously need to learn how to read and write, fast...' If He couldn't understand the details of a job, He won't be getting anywhere in this world.
"Hey, hey, Linze, check this one out. The reward's pretty decent, and it seems like a good place to start. How about it?"
"...Yeah. This one doesn't seem so bad. What do you think, Accel San?"
"I can't make any sense of it..." Elze had been merrily pointing out the request in question, but her finger dropped slightly when he said that.
"...Umm, let's see. It's a request to go out and defeat some beast monsters in the forest to the east. They want us to hunt five Lone-Horned Wolves. They're not very strong, so I think we can manage. Oh right, the reward is eighteen copper." Linze was polite enough to read out the details of the quest to Accelerator
'Eighteen copper, huh... Split evenly between us, that would make for six copper each. That could pay for three nights of lodging. Not bad at all.' Elze thought reasonably while nodding her head.
"Fine, let's go with that" Accelerator decided.
"Okie dokie! I'll take this to the clerk." Elze tore down the request notice and headed on over to the quest clerk.
Lone-Horned Wolves... Apparently they were wolves with a single horn on their head, sort of obvious given their name." And with that, the three of them set off to do the quest.
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"…Uh A-Kun, are you sure this is safe?" Elze said while trembling.
"Oh quit whining, you never been on higher grounds before?" Accelerator replied
The three of them were currently hundreds of meters above the ground. Below them are grass fields as far as the eye can see. The sky was bright blue and decorated with clouds, birds were flying pass them. The eastern forest was about a two hour walk away from Reflet. without having any ride to hitch on, it would take too long for them to reach there and Accelerator certainly doesn't want that. He then decides to carry both of the girls and fly them there by negating gravity vectors, Inertia, and using wind vectors as self-propulsion.
"Wow, I've never seen anything like this before. The view from the sky is very beautiful" Linze was the only one who doesn't seem to worry about being high up the ground. Instead, she was mesmerized by the sight from above. Seeing her sister like this puts Elze a little bit at ease and decided to look a bit on the bright side and agreed with her.
"Hmm… when you put it that way, I guess it is refreshing. Getting to fly high in the air and seeing this view kinda makes you jealous of the birds above who gets to see this everyday"
"well… to them, this might just be a boring sight since they happen to see it every day, but yeah"
Both of them chatted about how nice it is to be able to fly, although it didn't last very long as accelerator decides to cut their chat short.
"Hey if you two are done talking, our destination is just up ahead" the previous grass field is beginning to be covered by trees as they grew closer to the eastern forest. Accelerator decided to land in the middle of the forest.
They then continued their way into the dense woodland on foot, being sure to take note on their every surroundings. Knowing that there are troublesome deadly wolves living in this forest, Accelerator thought the place would give out some negative energy but it was actually a lot normal than he thought. Sounds of bird chirping and tree branches rustling from the wind could be heard, though the atmosphere might look friendly, they still kept their guards up just in case.
"This is nice" Linze seems to be enjoying the view of the forest, her eyes are completely mesmerized by the beautiful view of the forest. The breeze from the wind gives off a calming atmosphere as well.
"Yeah, the fact that we're walking towards some deadly wolfs pack's territory sure sounds nice…" Accelerator decided to butt in on Linze's thoughts with his usual rude and harsh, yet true words causing her to flinch a bit and followed with a worried expression on her face.
"Geez, can't you say any nice things once in a while? We know that already, we're just trying to relieve the stress by enjoying the view"
Accelerator immediately got scolded by Elze for scarring her little sister, it's only been a day since they knew each other but Accelerator's rude attitude is something the sisters has to get use too.
"I bet this would make for a good picnic spot" says Elze, trying trying to reassure her twin sister while giving her a pat on the back. Accelerator could only scratch the back of his head, knowing that the girls won't listen to what he says.
'Being too careless is going to get you killed one day, not that I care though…' is what he thought inside of his head.
The two sisters kept on talking about how beautiful the forest is while Accelerator decides to just follow them from behind while also muting his surroundings so he could at least also feel a bit of peace just like the sisters says. The breeze and the calm atmosphere is indeed enjoyable, but sadly the peace isn't going to last for long.
A sound of rustling from the bushes could be heard behind them. Elze and Linze quickly noticed and switched onto defense mode while being on high alert, Accelerator on the other hand, didn't noticed as he muted his surroundings and walked pass the twins in such a carefree way. Seems like he's still absorbed by the peaceful atmosphere. The girls tried to warn him but it was too late, a dark shadow came leaping towards him and the girls couldn't do anything. Accelerator on the other hand, didn't move an inch as the dark shadowy figure that came attacking him suddenly got thrown back and crashed onto a nearby tree.
"Huh?" Finally noticing what just happened, Accelerator decides to unmute his surroundings as he finally noticed that he just got attacked. He didn't really care since almost nothing could bypass his reflection barrier, but that actually caught the sisters attentions instead. They wanted to ask what he just did but the figure wasn't down for the count just yet. Now that they've got a clear view of it, it was actually what they were looking for, Lone-Horned Wolves. Upon closer inspection, the wolf was roughly the size of a large dog with gray fur and a single black horn on its head.
As Accelerator faced towards it, another shadowy figure leapt at him but was once again sent flying after hitting Accelerator's reflection field. This time, it went flying towards Elze. She then swung her fist straight into the creature's muzzle. Taking a smashing blow from her gauntlet-clad fist, the Lone-Horned Wolf was thrown to the ground with all the life knocked out of it. Killed in a single motion.
He was quite amazed from the fact that she just knocked out a wolf with her bare fists, and just one blow at that. But the fact that the wolves kept on trying to attack him first annoyed him, it made him feel that the wolves are underestimating him. Thinking Accelerator's distracted as he looked at Elze's fight, the wolf in front of him bared its fangs and leaped to attack again.
"Don't look down on me, you mutt!"
Accelerator lightly tapped the wolf's muzzle. A sound of bone cracking could be heard as the wolf was once again sent flying backwards by him. The wolf moved a bit but ended up stopped moving completely, it was dead by a light tap from Accelerator.
Thinking it was best to just leave the rest to the others since it was obviously too easy for him, he decided to sit back and watch. But unfortunately the wolves were interested in him more than the girls. Could be because he's the weakest looking one and it's their animal instincts acting up, or that they are furious from seeing their friend getting beaten up by him just as ease. Without wasting any time, two wolves came dashing towards Accelerator.
"Come forth, Fire! Hail of Red Stones: [Ignis Fire]!"
before the wolves could reach Accelerator, one of them were suddenly set on fire. Seeing this confused him for a bit but seeing that there was only one wolf left that's still came dashing towards him, he decided to kick a pebble which got launched as fast as a bullet, piercing the body of the wolf and crushing its vital organs. Seeing that it was down for the count and that he did not miscalculate his aim, he faced towards Linze who's holding on to a short wand and as if by magic, she ignited more of the wolves.
"So that's this world's magic…"
Accelerator was interested, he obviously didn't expect that one of his party members would be able to use magic. Although hers wasn't as impressive as the magic users he faced back in Academy City. Just then, Accelerator noticed something. Something bad is going to happen if Linze kept on using her fire magic on the wolves.
"Oi! Stop using fire to burn the wolves!"
"Eh?" Linze was confused at the sudden command and why he's telling her to stop
"What're you talking about, burning them would obviously be faster" Elze was also confused, knowing that burning them would greatly decrease their numbers.
"Idiots! If you were smarter, you would know that dogs are sensitive towards stench. Burning them would obviously caught more attention if we're near their nest. Not to mention that these guys gets more furious the more their member gets taken down"
Accelerator kept on explaining but it seems that it was already too late. The moment he said that, the number of the pack had already began increasing as more and more wolves came from the bushes. One or two was easily taken down but each kept getting replaced by more and more until they eventually got surrounded and outnumbered by the furious wolf pack.
"Wh..What now?"
"…Beats me" Accelerator was deep in thought.
'Tch, there's too many of them for the older sister to handle. She might be able to take on three but five at once is just too much, She might have insane strength but her endurance is more or less that of a normal girl, she'd be eaten alive at this rate. The little sister on the other hand, might have enough power to take on more than five at once but magic seems to be draining her quite a lot. This battle isn't going to end soon and she'd probably wear out sooner before we could even see the numbers of them decreasing. I could just wipe them all out in an instant but these two could get dragged into the crossfire, so what should we do now?'
"Onee-chan…" Linze gripped hard onto her older sister's sleeve, she pat her on the back to calm her down a bit.
"Can't believe that our first quest is turning out to be our last. Though it may be short but it's been a blast hanging out with you two"
"That's it!" Elze's last words just turned on the switch on Accelerator's head, an idea had just got to him. The twins just stood there confused
"You there, you can use fire magic right? can you use it to cast an explosion? A really big one!"
"Eh? Yes, but what would that accomplish?" Linze was surprised as she was suddenly called out but she immediately calmed herself, but she couldn't keep her confusion in check.
"Don't ask, just do what I tell you to do. I want you to cast a really huge explosion from where we're standing" The idea just made Linze a lot more confused than before now, she's obviously hesitating.
"Are you crazy? That's suicide!" Elze was also confused at Accelerator's ridiculous idea. Getting eaten by wolves is one thing, but a suicide bomb is just too much.
"Just shut up and do it if you want to live this through dammit! Get closer to me and I can guarantee you won't get so much as even a dust on your clothes, now start casting and wait for my cue" Elze and Linze wondered for a bit but seeing that the wolves are beginning to advanced towards them slowly, it looks like they have no other choice.
"Wait for it.." The wolves walked slowly as if to intimidate their pray.
"Wait for it…" Accelerator crouched down as he touched the ground. Elze couldn't do anything but clench her fists inside her enormous gauntlets.
"Now!" As the Wolves began pouncing towards them all at once, Accelerator shouted the signal. Linze gritted her teeth before casting, she was obviously afraid.
"Burst forth, Fire! Crimson Eruption: [Explosion]!"
Just then, a massive explosion had occurred from the spot where the party is currently standing. The explosion was quite amazing as it burned and destroyed some of the trees and sent lots of the wolves around them backwards with plenty of body parts and organs misplaced from the force of the explosion. The massive blast of explosion is now replaced with a huge amount of dust and smoke. Within the fog, three figures were standing without even a single scratch nor dust on their clothes, Accelerator's plan worked.
The explosion did a number on quite a lot of the wolves. While it didn't finished off all of them, it was enough to make them retreat, it was also loud enough to scare away any other possible hostile creatures around the area. Not only did it save their lives, but the plan had also made it a bit easier for them to proceed without further obstacles.
"We ...we're alive!" Elze jumped cheerfully and hugged Linze knowing that they had just survived a near death experience, there was obvious tears of joy on her eyes as she was hugging her little twin sister. Linze was still confused as to what just happened but decides to just shrug it off and hugged her big sister back, but her eyes were fixated on Accelerator. Whatever he did had just saved their lives, she's very grateful to her only male teammate.
"Oi! if you're just going to snuggle up like that, I'm taking the money for this quest. We've got horns to peel so hurry up and gather them!" Hearing this, the girls started fidgeting before approaching the wolf corpses to gather the horns needed for the quest.
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It was a long way from the forest back to town. Luckily this time, they managed to catch a carriage that was on its way into town, so they were able to hitch a ride.
The group made it back to town in only a fraction of time thanks to that. After arriving in town, they had to continue on by foot to the guild, where they then reported in about completing the request to hunt five Lone-Horned Wolves.
The guild lady was quite surprised when she saw Accelerator bringing in a huge bag full of horns, although they only needed five to complete the quest. This of course, also drew quite the attention of some other guild members, they all had the looks of "What's up with those guys" on their faces.
"Okay, all of the horns appear to be here. Now, please present your Guild Cards." When the group presented all three of their cards to the receptionist, she pressed something like a stamp on each of them. As she did, a magical circle appeared briefly on the cards before fading out.
The sight of that kind of drawn out Accelerator's curiosity. When he asked about it later, he found out that the stamp differed based on the difficulty of the request completed. The cards saved the information about what they had done, so as the team accumulated stamps, eventually their rank would increase and the color of the cards would change. Accelerator and his group were only at Black, the Beginner rank. Apparently, the ascending order was Black, Purple, Green, Blue, Red, Silver, and finally Gold.
"Here's your reward of eighteen copper coins. Well then, the request has been fulfilled. Good work out there!" The receptionist handed them the reward, which accelerator promptly split into six coins each to both Elze and Linze. With that, they have earned three days of food and accommodation.
"Hey, hey, wanna go grab a bite to eat to celebrate clearing our first quest?" Elze proposed that course of action as they left the guild.
"We still have these leftover horns to think of and you're already talking about food?" Accelerator sighed at the sight of how carefree his teammates are, if only the guild would give out the same number of rewards for quests taken by individuals unlike how they would give to a party then he would've long left them. Plus, he needed a guide if he wants to know more about this world so he just has to go along with it, even if he doesn't want to.
It was a little early for dinner was what Accelerator thought, not to mention that they still have that bag of horns to sell. But it occurred to him that they did missed lunch, so he thought that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea. Plus, he had a favor to ask to the girls so it seemed like a good opportunity.
In the end, they decided to sell the rest of the horns to a craftsman shop some other time, just as the guild lady suggested.
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They decided to go to a little tea house in town, just around the corner away from the guild. And of course, once again the bag full of horns drew quite a lot of attention from the people but the team was more focused on getting what to eat. Of course not all of them think that way.
Accelerator didn't bother what to eat so he just ordered the cheapest meal in the store, which concedes a simple sandwich and a cup of coffee. Elze ordered what appeared to be a meat pie and orange juice, while Linze ordered a pancake and black tea. After their orders were brought out, Accelerator began to speak.
"Listen, there's a favor I wanted to ask"
"A favor? Didn't expect you to be asking stuff like that but sure! What is it?" Elze replied in a way that obviously kind of ticked off accelerator, but he decided to shrug it off and focus on the main problem.
"You know how I can't read nor write, I just needed you to show me every letters and numbers, along how to read them. I have a good memory so you don't have to work yourself too much. Once I'm able read and write then I wouldn't be bothering you too much, isn't that right?"
Accelerator explains thoroughly, he was confident enough with his memory. The calculations required for him to be able to use his ability isn't something a regular person can do after all.
"Hmm... that's a good point! If you can't read quest information, then I guess..." Elze and Linze nodded in unison. It was at times like that where you could really tell they were twins.
"In that case, get Linze to teach you. She's smart, so I'm sure she'll be a good teacher."
"Th-That's not... I mean... If you're okay with me..." Linze was flustered with her face being bright red, Accelerator could only scratch the back of his head.
"Like I said, you need to get yourself worked out too much. Just inform me with the basic details and I should be fine."
As much as it pains him to ask to be told about how to read and write, it's a lot more bothersome to not be able to at all. He was also quite grateful that it was the little sister he's being thought with, since she could use magic. Which means he could ask her to teach her that a bit, considering God says he can use magic here.
"That reminds me. Linze was it?, you can use magic so you should be able to teach me some right?"
"Whaaat?!" Both Elze and Linze yelled in a unison, as expected of twins. Accelerator was left dumbfounded.
'Was what I asked really that weird?'
Back at the Inn…
The group of three sat down on an empty table in the dining room. The inn was deserted as ever, it was also a busy hour for most people in the city so the usual customers who just comes to eat were absent. Thus making Accelerators party able to sit wherever they please. Once they found a proper spot, they can finally continue the conversation where they left off.
"Teach you some magic...? Well... Accel-San, what's your aptitude?" Linze asked first beginning the conversation.
"Aptitude?"
"Magic is highly influenced by the... aptitude that you're born with! People without the gift for it... won't be able to use magic at all..." Linze continued to explain further.
'Well, I knew it wouldn't be that easy.'
"So a gift for being able to use magic is required huh? Is there perhaps a way to test this so called 'aptitude for magic' then?"
Accelerator tried asking a different question this time. If a magic user were to have an aptitude for he or she to be able to use them. Then it should only be normal for there to be some way to test out how if one were to have an aptitude for magic.
At that question, Linze pulled out some translucent stones from the pouch around her waist. Red, blue, yellow, and perfectly clear. They shone almost like they were made of glass. Each one was about one centimeter around. Looking at them, Accelerator remembered that there was a similar one on Linze's silver wand, but the one on her wand was bigger than the pebbles she placed on the table.
"What are these?" asked the certainly confused Accelerator.
"They're uhm… spell stones. They can be used to amplify, store, and release magical energy. We can use these to test whether or not you have aptitude for magic. But it can only provide a rough estimate, either way..."
Linze whispered something like 'I wonder if water would be the easiest to demonstrate...'
before picking up the blue stone. She held it over the cup that she'd finished drinking her
tea out of.
"Come forth, Water!"
At Linze's command, a small amount of water flowed from the spellstone and into the teacup.
"This is how you cast a spell. Just now, the spell stone responded to my magical energy and created water."
"By the way..." Elze cut in, then took the spell stone from her sister. After that, she tried to cast the same spell.
"Come forth, Water!"
The spellstone refused to activate. Not even a droplet of water poured out.
"This is what happens when you have no aptitude for an element. See, this means I can't use Water magic."
"So you can't use it even though your twin sister can…" Accelerator cuts in as rude as always
"Man, you really don't think before you speak, huh? I mean, no offense taken, but still..." Elze had a rather troubled expression which somewhat amuses Accelerator a little bit. Feeling bad for her big sister, Linze decided to continue her explanation
"In exchange for not being able to use Water magic, Onee-Chan can use 'Null magic'. A type of magic that has different effects depending on the user, in her case it's Fortification magic that boosts her physical abilities. I can't use that type, personally... You need the proper aptitude to use Null magic, too."
"Simply put, I just need to chant the same thing you did to this stone over here to find out my aptitude right?"
"Yes. Just take the stone in your hand and focus on it, then chant Come forth, Water! Then, if you have the aptitude... water should come out." Elze handed him the blue spellstone as she said that.
Accelerator put a plate under his hand to keep the water from wetting the table in case this works just the way Linze did it. He then held the stone above the plate and began concentrating.
"Come forth water!"
... No reaction.
'Hmm?'
He tried doing it again, still no reaction. Linze handed Accelerator the other spell stones, knowing that he has no aptitude in water. Accelerator took the stones one at a time and began chanting to them to find out what aptitude does he have.
"Come forth fire! Come forth wind! Come forth earth! Come forth light! Come forth dark!"
Despite all the effort and concentrate he's put into it, nothing came out of the spell stones the way Linze did it
"What the hell…"
Accelerator was pissed, anyone can tell just by looking at his face. Seeing this, Elze decided to cool down Accelerator's temper, being the one who's also not able to use magic.
"Hey now, no need to be so worked up about it. Not everyone has the aptitude for it right? We weren't expecting much and besides, you can already do lots of things even without magic" Elze gave a sheepish smile hoping that she didn't say the wrong word. Accelerator just sighed and that was a sign of relief for her.
"I'm gonna go cool my head for a minute in my room" said accelerator as he stands up from his chair. The atmosphere around them felt kind of gloomy.
"Um… When you're feeling better… please come down here again."
"Huh?" Accelerator glared back which made Linze flinch and hesitated to continue.
"You wanted to learn how to read and write right?" This time, it was Elze who decided to lighten up the mood.
"Fine…" Accelerator didn't look back and continued to walk upstairs, but the twins both were satisfied enough with that short answer.
After entering his room, Accelerator immediately dropped dead onto his bed. Lots of things keeps going on day after day. He died yesterday and was suddenly reincarnated into a whole different world, fight his way towards a city, formed a party with two girls, and getting into quite the trouble on their first quest. Then there was the fact that he couldn't use magic even after God himself told him that he can, that part really pissed him off. Still thinking about what had happened during the past few days when suddenly.
"Good afternoon Accelerator-kun, I see that you are doing well" a familiar voice called out to him from inside of his head.
"You again…" It was obviously the voice of God himself, or Old man god as how Accelerator refers to him as.
"That rude attitude of yours never seemed to change hmm? I would be happy if you were at least happy to speak with me again"
"Cut the crap already old man… I gotta say though, you've come at a pretty good time. I've got some questions that I want answered."
"Oh do ask! I will gladly answer what I can as long as it is not something you should not know of"
"Something I should not kn… Nevermind" Accelerator was curious of what that old man meant but he put it aside since there are more important things to know about at the moment.
"You said that I'm able to use magic in this new world, but why the hell did I not have any aptitude for it when I tested it out just a few moments ago?"
"Ah… that, there are actually a lot of gray areas when it comes to being able to use magic. Like how if one wishes to become a king and…"
"Just get to the point already, I know you don't have much time" Old man god paused for a little before letting out a chuckle.
"Impatient as always I see… but still, very sharp. You're right, I don't have much time. Forgive me for getting carried away"
"Then? Explain already" Not wanting to waste time, Accelerator urged the old god to continue his explanation.
"You see, when I resurrected you after your death, I needed to give you a physical body. And of course, one that functions the same as the previous one." God paused for a bit and Accelerator could've sworn that he heard him taking a sip of tea, wait what? Then the old god continues his explanation.
"Fixing the brain damage is easy and all but there are still some complications that I went through for a bit. Although I tried to give you some magical aptitudes in order for you to be able to use magic properly, your Esper physiology just wouldn't accept that. If it were just a regular Human then there would not have been a problem at all in the first place."
Accelerator recalled something he heard before that if Espers were to try and use magic, their body would rupture. His attention was then focused back to god as he finished another sip of his tea.
"But although I cannot change most parts that were determined to begin with, I was able to enhance the stats that you previously possess. Which is your physical stats and of course, your Esper powers" This time, god took a pretty long sip at his tea. Then, a sound of glass being placed could be heard. Guess he finished his tea time.
"I further enhanced your calculation abilities and your understandings in laws that you do not understand. The basic of your ability mostly relies on you knowing the law and formula of things. With that said, I just made you able to understand the vectors within magic and the laws of how it works so that you can calculate and manipulate them."
"Wait, you enhanced my knowledge of Vectors and further enhanced my calculation abilities but what does that have to do with understanding magic? If I recalled, I don't know a thing about the words here"
"Ah but you understand the language don't you? Well then, how about thinking about it this way. Try to remember when you were at the forest and surrounded by wolves, how were you able to redirect the explosion created by that girl even though it was manifested through magic?" At this comment, Accelerator went silent. The previous memories about the explosion his party caused at the forest came back at him and he went deep in thought. Realizing this, old man god decides to bid farewell.
"That is all I can say for now, the rest is up to you to figure out… It was fun chatting with you, Accelerator-Kun" After that, the room fell into silent as it previously were. Only sounds of the chirping birds and people from outside the inn could be heard faintly through the opened window. Then, as if finally finding the last piece of the puzzle. Accelerator stood up from his bed
"So it's like that…" After saying that word to himself, he opened the door and went back downstairs. Only this time, there was only the little sister who's sitting all by herself while reading todays newspaper.
"Where'd your older sister went off too?"
"Ah, Onee-Chan went out to do some solo quests. She said she was bored so…"
"Well whatever then, Come with me for a sec" Not wanting to waste time, Accelerator ordered the little sister to follow him. Linze was of course, confused by his sudden demand.
"Eh? W..where too?" asked Linze in confusion, Accelerator then turned and looked at her with his sharp glare that made Linze flinched.
"You're the one who said that you'll help me out didn't you?"
"Y..yes"
"Then just shut up and follow me already"
Not wanting to argue any longer, Linze decided to come with him. They went outside of the inn, and just a few steps from the front yard, Accelerator lifted Linze bridal style.
"Whaa?!" This of course, was a first for the young lady. She was in a mixture of emotions between fear, confusion, and embarrassment.
While still carrying Linze, Accelerator crouched a bit before leaping high into the air and ascending far away from town, back into the grassy fields outside of Reflet. Once again, the beautiful view of the blue sky and clouds could be seen. The sight of groups of birds flying towards a certain destination, and the view from above actually put Linze quite at ease. After a few moments of being high in the air, they finally began to descend as gravity takes them back to the ground. They then landed in the middle of the grassfields not too far away from town since the giant wall was still visible, although pretty far away that it would at least take 15 minutes to walk back there. Letting go of Linze who staggered a bit but managed to regain her balance once she stepped on the grass. Accelerator walked away from her a few steps before turning back to look at her. Still curious as to what her male teammate is up to, she decides to ask him.
"Umm… Why did you bring me here?"
"You're going to help me learn magic" The sentence really confused her, not long ago they were just testing his capability of using magic, but resulted in having no aptitude at all. Now the same person had just came back after a few minutes, took her into a grass field outside of the city and asked for the same thing again.
"What do you mean? You don't have the aptitude for it so how am I supposed to teach you magic if you can't cast one?"
"I want you to cast a fireball at me"
"Eh? I can't possibly…" Accelerators demands was confusing enough, but now he wants her to cast a fireball at her own teammate. She obviously couldn't accept that, but Accelerator interrupted her mid sentence before she could even finish her sentence.
"Just shut your trap and do it already! Also, since this is an open field and not in a forest, you can go all out at me without worrying over someone getting caught in the crossfire. And it also lessens the possibility of setting a forest on fire. Now if you get what I'm saying then do as I say so!"
Knowing she wouldn't win the argument and convince him to change his mind no matter what, Linze reluctantly obeyed his order. Linze took the wand that she always brings along with her and began chanting
"Come forth, Fire! Hail of Red Stones: [Great Fireball]!"
Soon after the casting, flames started coming out of the crystal gem within the wand. The flames then took shape and gathered at one point and into a fireball. The fireball soon increased its size as it gets launched towards Accelerator. Linze gritted her teeth and clenched hard on her wand as she closed her eyes, not wanting to see her teammate gets burned alive. A faint "I'm sorry" could be heard coming out of her mouth as she kept on mumbling the word.
Accelerator on the other hand, was as calm as always. He simply stretched his hand while focusing his calculations. As the fire made contact with his hand, the fire suddenly stopped while still maintaining its fireball structure. Accelerator was clearly surprised as the magic did not turn into sparkles, or other random effects like the last time he once tried to reflect magic attacks back in his world. And he felt that handling the magic within his hand is as if it was a regular basis, like moving his own limbs.
He then lifted his arm upwards along with the fireball, closing his eyes as if deep in thought. Carefully and Precisely, Accelerator began to study the magical fireball within his hands, trying his best to understand the law behind it. The law is hard to explain, it's difficult to put into words but he could understand it. It's like a kid that suddenly understands his language once they were old enough.
"I see… so this is what he meant by that." Accelerator began studying the magic even further. This time, he tried experimenting the fireball. The fireball started changing its shape into an oval like shape and starts moving randomly, then the fireball shattered and chains of fire started circling around Accelerator. It then circulated back into one spot before finally disappearing. As he finally opens his eyes, Accelerator has reached into a conclusion.
"The fire is formed by the mana of its user, it takes form of the aptitude the person has in which we can call this an element. The element seems to differ depending on the kinds of vectors I see. An unknown vector that sort of filters out the aptitude of its user as if it's some sort of miracle, I guess that's what I'm calling it for now. Then the miracle changes the mana into a form of different elements possibly even null aptitudes, meaning that if I were to just redirect my mana flow to mimic that of a spell casting, mess with the miracle Vectors of my null aptitude and…"
A small fire suddenly ignited from the palms of Accelerator. As Linze opened her eyes, she was shocked at the sight of how Accelerator not only manipulated the fireball she casted at him. He also dispelled it and casted it again without even chanting, nor having the aptitude for it.
"You cast magic even without an aptitude for it, but how? Ah!" Suddenly, Accelerator almost collapsed to the ground had it not for Linze supporting him on her shoulders.
"Accel-San! Are you okay?" asked Linze, she's worried from the fact that Accelerator suddenly fell.
'Tch! Seems like my Esper physiology still wouldn't tolerate me using magic. But that Old god seemed to have heightened my tolerance towards it. Normally, I would've had ruptured organs and blood splurting here and there, but now it's just a huge pain in the head. Can't believe casting such a simple spell would take this much toll on my body… But I can't stop now'
"Let's continue with a different aptitude"
"Eh? But…" Linze hesitated but Accelerator glared at her once again, causing her to flinch.
"If you have time to worry then act already!" Accelerator yelled as put his hand onto his forehead, trying to ease off the headache.
'Although I'm able to cast fire magic with that simple calculation, I still am not quite familiar with different elements. I need to know more about different elemental Vectors before I'm able to work out different elements. Since Linze can use water, fire, and light, I can learn from it and possibly use it too'
"Well then… Bring it on!"
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"Ah, You're awake!" A familiar shy voice could be heard
"Well look who's back" Another familiar was heard, but everything is pitch black.
Upon opening his eyelids, two familiar faces could be seen. Accelerator finally realized his current position, he's laying on grass while the sisters were watching over him.
"What the hell are you two looking at? Move it!" Grumbled Accelerator as he decides to stand up on his own.
"Geez is that how you treat someone who carried you all the way back here while you were unconscious? I think the word you're looking for is Thank You!?" Still trying to remember what happened, Accelerator ignored the complaining big sister. Her little sister on the other hand, went to defend Accelerator.
"Onee-Chan! You see, Accel-San was…" After explaining everything to her big sister, Elze finally get what happened. Accelerator finally remembered what had happened after that as well, after hearing Linze's story.
"Tch, dammit..."
After being able to cast fire without chanting, nor having the aptitude. Accelerator decided to test it out upon different elements. The results are a 100% successful, but resulted in Accelerator reaching his limits and blacking out completely afterwards. Not long after, Elze just happened to be on her way back with the things she brought to complete her quests when she found her sister trying to carry the now passed out Accelerator but couldn't do it on her own since she was too embarrassed and scared that she might harm him. Elze then decided to help nurse Accelerator along with her little sister until he finally wakes up about a few hours later. Once he woke up, the sun was already about to set.
Water, Fire, and Light. Accelerator was able to cast all three of these before finally reaching his limit and collapsing. He decided set up a rule to limit himself and only use 3 spells per day so that he wouldn't be worn out, because that would be dangerous since it might leave him vulnerable. Although his reflection still works while he sleeps, he's not certain If it works after tiring his body out from using spells and would definitely not want to take any risks in doing so. He then felt uncomfortable gazes from behind him, he looked back to find both of the twins staring at him in different ways. Linze has this sparkling eyes of amazement while Elze had a confused look on her face.
"I've never seen someone who can use magic despite not having the aptitude for it. Accel-San, you're really amazing!" Linze said cheerfully while slightly blushing, this was certainly the first that Accelerator saw her be this confident.
"Really now, first is that weird null magic of yours. Now you can even use magic without the aptitude? What exactly are you" Elze on the other hand, kept on asking him bothersome questions so he decides to ignore her and change the topic
"We should really sell those useless horns soon…"
Accelerator, Elze, and Linze then walked back towards the city. It didn't take too long since they weren't very far away from it. The twins decided to take their time on the way back so that they can see a clear setting sun from a clear grass field, Accelerator didn't really bother so he just went along with it. Thinking about it, he used to drink his coffee while on top of a really tall tower as the sun sets back in his own world. The sight of it really brings back memories, Accelerators expressions became that of a sorrow but he quickly tries to shrug it off.
Once they've returned to the inn, Micah was there with an unfamiliar woman who seemed to be about the same age as her. She had wavy black hair, and judging from the white apron she was wearing, she most likely worked with food. The two of them sat with various dishes laid out in front of them. They sampled the foods with a knife and fork, making difficult expressions all the while. Micah raised her head, then noticed Elze and her friends, she then called them out.
"Oh, hey, perfect timing."
"What's up?" Elze replied, as Micah brought the other lady up to her.
"This girl's name is Aer, she runs a little cafe in town, Parent."
"Ah, we were just there yesterday. It was a really nice place." This time, it was Linze who replied.
"We're trying to come up with new items for her menu, so we figured we'd ask your opinions on the matter. Thought that someone from another country might know of some dishes we don't have around these parts, see?" Micah says trying to explain the current situation and the favor she'd like to ask.
"I'd be very grateful if you could think of anything." Aer bowed her head as she spoke.
The twins looked at each other for a second before both nodding in an agreement.
"I don't mind." Elze said energetically.
"...I'll help however I can. To be honest, I'm not sure if we'd be able to help at all, though." Linze followed afterwards.
"What kind of food were you thinking of putting on the menu?" Elze decided to question back, it would be easier if they knew what kind of food they wanted to make first.
"Let's see... Right, preferably something simple, I guess. A dessert dish of some kind, something that would be a hit with young women..."
"Hmm... something young women would like, huh... I can't really think of anything. What do you think Onee-Chan?"
"Even if you ask me… I don't really have a sweet tooth. Hey A-kun, do you have any ideas?"
"Don't just butt me in at your random conversation!" Yelled Accelerator refusing to help the twins. He's already sitting in one of the empty tables and already drinking a cup of coffee, where did the coffee came from is another story.
"More importantly, you two are girls so you should know the answer"
"Geez at least help out your teammates a little. As a guy, you should at least know what a girl wants." Complained Elze as she put her right hand on her waist and looking disappointed.
"Like hell I give a damn! Besides, I don't even like sweets to begin with" Accelerator didn't seem to care. He's still seated while drinking coffee, not wanting to be any part of the desert making group.
"Accel-San, is there really nothing that comes to mind or any food you know from where you come from?"
At Linze's comment, Accelerator once again recalled a memory of his world. The thoughts of Last Order and the sweets that she liked so much, he remembered giving her his ATM Card so that she would go outside and not bother him when he wanted a bit of peace. She always returns with creams on her face and had Yoshikawa wipe it off for her.
'Tch, how bothersome…'
"Why don't you just put in stuff like Crepes or Ice Cream or something" Accelerator thought that a simple suggestion would be enough to stop the twins from bothering him but the room suddenly fell silent.
"I... scream?" Aer responded, seemingly confused.
"Huh? Ice Cream you hear? Ice Cream!" Accelerator repeated the sentence.
"What kind of food Is that?" Elze decides to let out her confusion.
"I've never heard of anything like that before." And same goes for Linze.
Seeing that no one knows a thing about Ice Cream kind of confuses Accelerator, but thinking back at it, there was never a thing like a refrigerator that existed in this world. There's only a thing like a simple Ice Box and since most people just use magic for Ice, it wasn't such a big deal so he decides to shrug it off.
"Whatever then…"
"Umm, can you perhaps… show us what this Ice Cream is like?" Aer asked politely to the white haired boy but was answered by him turning his back at everyone else and wanting to head upstairs.
"Hey, A-kun! Where are you going" Elze rushed and tugged on his shirt, trying to stop Accelerator from going away.
"Get your hands off of my shirt or I'll break em…" Accelerator glared and threatens her. Thinking that she went too far, Elze let go of her hand immediately.
"Accel-San, you don't need to do too much. You can just tell us how it's made and we'll work it out ourselves." Linze still wasn't giving up on trying to convince Accelerator to help.
"Yes please! If this becomes a huge hit, then I promise we will reward you for helping" This time, it was Aer who tries to convince him. She even promised to pay him for the recipe.
"Accelerator. If you would help out in making this Ice Cream, I'll give you free dinner for tonight" And at Micah's demand, Accelerator sighed.
"Make it 2 cups of coffee for tonight and the morning…"
"Deal!" And so, the two had an agreement and Accelerator was forced to help out in making Ice Cream.
'What have I gotten myself into…'
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Once preparations are set, the whole group have gathered in the Inn's kitchen. It was big enough for ten people so the five had quite a lot of room to work with. Elze and Linze came back with bags full of ingredients and other things used for making food that they brought from Aer's store. Everyone was given an apron to not get their clothes dirty when making the food. And of course, Accelerator was also wearing an apron.
"Wow you look like a cute housewife" Said Elze.
"It really suits you Accel-San" Said Linze.
"Don't mock me you brats!"
After a little while of taking out and placing the things and ingredients from the bag, the four girls went to their positions, each of them took four bowls and placed in front of them. Accelerator then walked to the center of the room, facing the girls.
"Okay, I'm only going to say this once so you better write down everything I'm about to tell you!"
"No problem." Elze was obviously excited about this.
"Three eggs, two hundred milliliters of fresh cream, sixty to eighty grams of sugar... Does any of this sound unfamiliar to you?" Accelerator posed that question to the girls as they listed off the ingredients.
"Sorry... what are milliliters and grams?" Linze asked hesitantly while holding up her hand like a student asking her teacher.
'...Of course this would happen.'
"Milliliters are a thing we use when we're measuring the amount of something. Grams are a unit of weight." Accelerator tries to explain as short as possible.
"Oh, and one more thing. You can use Ice spells can you?"
"Yes, I can. Ice spells are considered Water magic, you see."
"Then we have no problems."
After listing off the ingredients, Accelerator transcribed the instructions on how to make vanilla ice cream. Following the instructions, Aer began making the ice cream. Everyone also does the same, following Aer's steps. Accelerator only helped in mixing as it actually takes a lot more effort than expected without the proper tools.
For the last step, the mixture was placed in a container and sealed with a lid. Linze then casted her magic on it and froze the container in a block of ice. It was then left for a while until it seemed about ready. Once ready, the block of ice was then cracked open to retrieve the container. It appeared to have come together properly.
Micah then put some on a plate and offered it to Aer. After a single spoonful, her eyes shot wide open. Suddenly, her face broke out into a beaming smile.
"This is delicious...!" The lady seemed pleased with her offering.
"What is this thing?! It's cold, but... it's amazing?!"
"This is really good..." Elze and Linze seemed to have taken a liking to it as well. One other problem that Accelerator thought is that it would be a problem if they didn't have someone who can use Ice magic, but it's their problem and not his so he didn't really care much about it.
"I'm sure this one'll be popular with young women, and hopefully it meets the standards for your shop's menu." Micah said in a happy tone as she talked with Aer
"Of course! Thank you very much! I'll add vanilla ice cream to the menu right away!"
Aer gave a quick goodbye, then rushed back to her shop. It seemed like she wanted to try making it herself. Once Aer was out of the Inn, Micah turned to the three and gave a thumbs up as in "Thanks for helping out"
The twins looked at each other and smiled while Accelerator just sighed. When Accelerator was about to return to his room, but he was stopped by two hands tugging on his shirt. The twins then thanked him for helping out even though he really didn't want to. Of course, Accelerator said nothing back and just went back to his room. Opening his door, using the wind Vectors to close the door for him, and immediately collapsing on the bed.
Thoughts of today began circulating within his mind, how he had to joined a party of three with two troublesome members, how his first quest almost got his teammates killed just because of a small mistake, how he was able to figure out how this worlds magic works, and even made Ice Cream. Things just keeps getting complicated by the end of the day, then another troublesome thought occurred to him.
'We haven't sell those horns yet…'
Hi guys! I am soooooo sorry for the late update! Really, this chapter was hard to write but I think I'm satisfied with the way it turned out. I had to spend quite a lot of time researching about Accelerator using magic and having a debate over myself about Accelerator being able to use magic or not, and how it would turn out for his body if he does use it. Anyways, thanks for the support everyone. 100 followers is surely more than enough to keep me going, I'm not planning to stop this fanfic very soon but I might not be updating very often since I'm a third year and about to enter college. You get the struggle… Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! And feel free to give your thoughts about future plans for this fanfic, what you want to see, or what bothers you in this fanfic. As you can see I made the part where Accelerator actually does miss his home stand out quite a lot, and probably other stuff too in the future. Your ideas are all interesting and I would love to make it happen for this story, Oh and thank you so much for DMing me to continue this fic, it really touched me T3T. Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere so please just bare with the long wait. I promise it would be worth it! Have a good day everyone! See you in the next chapter :3