Sorry, guys. Yes, I took a very a long time to update. So, sorry again D: Ooh, and beware; there's nothing very interesting in this chapter, just a little surprise at the end of the chapter. So, without further ado, I present you chapter 2! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Mana Khemia series © Gust.


What a very humiliating thing that had befallen on him today. Seriously, what could've gone worse?

Rozeluxe Meitzen, a true gentleman in his 16 years of life in the mortal world, had just been lifted bridal style by another—no, it's not woman—man.

Okay, what was he? One of a terrifying crack pair like Pepperoni and Gōto? Hell no. He meant, it's still plausible (at least, in his now-frantic mind) if he was lifted like that by a girl who had the strength of the former of the crack pair (like Etward, thought Roze with a scoff, remembering a certain pink-haired hyper-active idiot of his former workshopmate), but, oh dear, what kind of wrongs had he done in the past so he deserved such humiliation towards him? He sure was relieved though that no one had seen him, thanks that he was in an isolated country-side.

Well, of course. What would his grandpa say if he saw his grandson in such an embarassing state? (And why did he have this sick thought of his grandpa going into a fit of laughter when he saw him like that?) And worse, Lily? (Confirmed, she'd order Whim immediately to blast him into tiny fragments of ice)

Actually, the stranger (which recently had introduced himself as Vayne. Roze didn't get his family name, though) had beforehand lifted him in a pickaback. Too bad; the wound at his left foot screamed for being left dangling, thus making Roze quickly demand to be put back onto the ground (and with a quick check-up on the spot, the stranger—Vayne, said that there's some foreign object stuck in his foot). So, with no other left option, they settled to lift him in that position, with the grey-haired's hands positioning itselves under Roze's nape and calves.

So, yeah. That's how the bridal style lifting started.

Ugh, he wanted to slap his face so bad…

Anyway, talking about the grey-haired man… Where was he? He shouldn't have taken so much time just to bring him water…

Roze glanced around on the room. The grey-haired man had taken him into his house, moreso, his room, and put him on a single-bed while he went out to the kitchen ("You must be thirsty, please wait here."—of course he would wait here; he couldn't walk for goodness' sake!). It was a very simple room (and maybe this could also apply to his house, as he had taken a peek on some places during his embark on the grey-haired man's…embrace. Ugh, he wanted to vomit now…), only consisting of every primary furniture a room should have: a bed (which he was currently resting on), a drawer, a chair beside the bed, and another chair paired with a table on the other side, all made of wood.

Just when he had finished scrutinize the room, the wooden door creaked open, revealing his savior with what seemed to be a mug in hand. The man named Vayne sat on the chair beside the bed. He helped Roze to sit on the bed and, with a reassuring smile, gave him the mug.

"Drink this; it will help you feel better,"

Roze looked down at the inside of the mug. It was a glass of milk.

"You giving me this?" asked Roze incredulously.

The grey-haired man shot what seemed to be a surprised look, but quickly recovered from it. Scratching his head, he said sheepishly, "Are you allergic to milk? Sorry, I suppose I should've chosen tea instead."

There was an awkward silent in the room, with Roze still holding the mug and Vayne sitting beside him, fidgeting uncomfortably on his seat. Roze once again glanced on the white substance. It's not like that he was allergic to milk. In fact, he used to drink this everynight when he was still a child. But, c'mon! He was sixteen, a teenager, an adolescent boy, post-child, pre-adult, whatever, who did not drink milk.

But, Roze thought again, to refuse what this hospitality this man had given to him… It sure was not polite, was it? So, he quickly shook his head, saying, "No, no. I'm not allergic to this. And…thank you." before drinking the entire mug in one gulp. He let the warm feeling of the substance seep through him, and it seemed he really did feel better; the pain had lessened and—wait, what was with this smell? Roze sniffed the air again in an unnoticed motion. It's like…a very thin scent of mint…he smelt in the air. It's blurry, but it's there.

"Hey," said Roze, looking back to the blue-eyed man beside him. "Did you mix something to this?"

That again—what is this, really?—the ring at his finger clicked once more when Roze saw the sheepish expression the older man gave. A-and, why did his hand feel like it's burning?

But before he could think further on why his ring was burning, Vayne had replied, "Aah, s-sorry, I've tried to make the herb's flavour unrecogniseable. It helps soothe the pain, although many patient refuses to eat it considering how bitter it was." Roze raised an eyebrow at his explanation; mixing herb with milk to lessen the bitterness? That's not what common people used to do (they simmered it)—not to say that it was hard to really hide the green hue of the mint (the milk was clearly white). But, Vayne had beaten him first to ask, "Are you an alchemist?"

This somewhat shocked the blue-haired boy; if someone asked whether you're an alchemist or not, eight out of ten times they're also an alchemist. But…, seriously? This man who seemed to be another common fragile shy guy?—he glanced towards the older's man face, once again looking at that warm smile—An alchemist? He always thought that alchemists were potty old folks who were pretty conceited with their skills and all, considering now today it's indeed really hard to have a skilled alchemist around (the first reason why the academy opened an ordinary class, or so Lily said. Her father volunteered to invest some money to the dying academy, after all). But, then again, he himself was an alchemist, and an alchemist like Zeppel-sensei really existed…

So, "Umm, y-yeah. Just graduated, though." Replied Roze, then he asked. "You're also an alchemist?"

The grey-haired man nodded as he gave another meek smile. "It's been so long to see another alchemist. How's the school?"

He once again raised an eyebrow at his question. Although it's indeed true that the vast majority of alchemists had been dead, there were many to be found (albeit unskilled or amateur or, heck, fake ones) in the city. In fact, why would an alchemist live in the middle of nowhere like this? Maybe Roze had heard about a kind of traveling-alchemist (or one who lived in a middle of nowhere like this), but it's when he was a child—more or less 10 years ago, when the cost of living expenses were not as high as today and traveling alchemist was still regarded as competent and really could make the living out of their freelance work. These days? There were hardly any skilled alchemists left in town and one of who really was a good one was either teaching at the school or sucking big fat money from the government and rich people.

…now that raised a question. Why did he become an alchemist again…? His master's freaking demand. Yeah, right.

"It was…okay, I guess." Said Roze after his contemplating. 'Okay', huh? That was an understatement.

"As okay as what?"

"I'm sorry?"

The older man hesitated a bit, but finally said nonetheless, with a worry-induced tone "Was everything…alright?"

Huh? There's it again… The ring clicked once more. He really needed to check it later. But without much musing over his ring again, he replied, "The school was…alright. The teachers? Not a bit of any alright."

Roze saw how the older man gave a relieved sigh before propping his body onto the back of the seat, wiping some strands of his grey-hair from his face. Vayne then noticed that Roze was giving him a strange-look, and reassured him once again with his smile.

"I'm glad that everything's alright," said Vayne reassuringly.

Once again, an awkward silence had taken over the room, leaving Roze who now was the one who was not comfortable. He'd tried to scratch the finger which the strangely burning ring was firmly placed at, but the hot feeling just didn't go off… It kept burning him and clicking madly in an unknown yet incessant rhythm—much to Roze's annoyance and pain (yes, it was burning his hand mentally). Of course, Vayne quickly noticed this gesture, and when he'd stood on his feet to ask what had gone wrong with him, a voice rang from the outside of the room. "Doctor! Doctor—hey, doctor, are you here? I need help here!"

"O-oh," Vayne looked over to the wooden door, before looking at Roze again. He shot Roze a guilty look, and said, "I'm sorry. It must be one of my patients—I'll get back here as soon as I can," before rushing into the outside of the room.

And when the door was closed, the burning feeling of the ring also stopped.

Roze looked at his ring again with an annoyed face. 'Seriously, what is wrong with this ring? It still can't come off after that battle with that blonde jerk of a mana… And it started to click and burn everytime… Grrh, stupid magic ring, stupid homicidal maniac Reicher, stupid old hag Mana of Darkness, stupid blonde jerk Mana of Light…' and so on the long list of stupid in Roze's mind like it was a chant to hold his lifeline.

And when he was still listing of every stupid persons that had made him suffer ('Stupid dog who ate my lunch, stupid bird who piss me, stupid snake—,' and so on), a voice from the outside rang again. So Roze put his 'every-stupid-things-in-the-world listing' into cease and started to peek some bits of the conversation (it couldn't be helped that the man/woman/whatever things who was speaking was so loud that it's annoying. Beside, he didn't have much things to do, did he?)

"Ooh, Vayne-san! Hear me, Chloe's sick again. She's been acting strange and saying things like 'I'll curse youuu'~ and those things all the morning!"

Roze scoffed at the speech. Chloe…? Curse? Ooh, was that a curse that every girl who had been given the name of Chloe would be cursed to have a curselust?

"Uuh…, isn't that ordinary for her to like to…curse?"

"Eerr, yes, it is. But the problem is, she usually only has the tendecy to curse me! Now she is looking to other villagers with this scaaaary eyes while her glasses glisten dangerously! I know that because when she was little and was at her ill state, she always did those things! Right, Uryuu?"

"Uh, uh! She am right!"

Glistening glasses, Uryuu, baby speak and incomprehensible grammar…, of course, these must be only were a sliver bit of coincidence in life… Or, he was hearing things…

"O-okay… I'll check her. Uum, s-so, where's Chloe then?"

"Thank you, doctor! Oh, she's outside there. Can you fetch her for me? I'll prepare the bed for her right away!"

"B-but, Ulrika, I didn't say that she—! Wait, there's a patient th—,"

Oh, God, no. Not her not her not her not her not her not her

'Blaaam!'

The door was opened.

And a certain blonde was standing there with incredulous face, looking at him.

"You—jerktown?"

See…? What could've gone worse than this?

~to be continued


I hereby welcome you to the 'grand' entrance of Ulrika to the story. See, I couldn't get the story anywhere without Roze's loyal sidekick –punched- Ulrika. Don't worry, our ditzy Ulrika here will help Roze and Vayne throughout the story with their feeling. (This is a RozeVayne story, after all. May I make you remember that Ulrika's theme song is 'Love is not Happening'? :P Not gonna happen in my story, Ulrika). Anyway, about the ring, the game never told us what happened to the ring. Okay, maybe in some sequences of the final chapter, Roze said that he'd make the Mana of Light to make it come off. But, it never gets explained (does it? As far as my memory can remember, it doesn't), so yeah, I assumed the ring is still glued at Roze's finger like some kind of tsundere love-stalker.

Let's pray that I can continue this little story, guys. With review, of course :P