Chapter 3:

My Master

I turned three years old. I'd said it before, but I wasn't an ugly baby.

"Honey, doesn't Lumi look just like you?" My father said while stroking my head. My mother smiled, and said, "But she has your eyes. They're so pretty." She kissed me on the forehead, and moved on to a different topic.

"Lumi really loves that book, doesn't she? I bet she's going to grow up to be a real scholar." My father laughed right at that one. "With my blood, I'd be surprised if she ever goes to school." Mother poked him in the gut, and said, "It's too early to be talking about school anyways."

The book they were talking about was A Textbook of Magic. I carried that thing everywhere. I had thought about revealing my magic potential to my parents, but I decided to wait until I was at least Intermediate-tier so that the surprise was as big as I could manage. Although, I could tell that Lilia knew something at least. She'd constantly move me to my bed whenever I passed out from practice and bring towels to clean up any mess I made with earth and water magic. I really got to give it to her, she's really amazing.

I'd kind of plateaued with my healing magic, since I only knew one spell, and the book didn't contain any intermediate healing incantations. My mother regularly goes out, as her job is to heal people who get wounded around these parts. I would really like to tag along, and maybe learn a spell or two, but the thought of going outside unsettles me beyond belief. Just something for another day, I suppose.

However, the day I would pull off an intermediate spell came much faster than anticipated. One day, I was in the room upstairs like always. I had noticed my mana reserves were off the chart. I could barely even empty the tank these days. I glanced at the book, which happened to be open to a page with the incantation of the Wind Intermediate-tier spell, "Sonic Boom."

Hehe… why not? I had previously thought that I would do this in front of my parents, but why couldn't I do it now? Hopefully I had the mana capacity to be able to do this.

I took a deep breath. "May a shred of the power that rules the skies come unto me. Let a mere mimicry of the heavenly breath befall all those who wish to cause harm–Sonic Boom!"

The mana gathered in my arm. The constant use of smaller tier spells had made me numb to the sensation, but I could feel the spell in my veins. It gathered up into the tip of my finger, and I released it. The wind expelled from my hand made a sharp cracking sound as it hit the wall, which created a sizable hole. Once it was finished, the wall was nearly falling apart from all the cracks I had left all over it.

I stood there, flabbergasted. I didn't know what to do. Who knew how much money it would take to repair this level of damage? And it wasn't like it was an accident either. It looked like a hole made from magic. And the only one here was me. I… didn't know what to do.

Tears started welling up in my eyes. Paul rushed into the room. I stared at him in horror, hoping he would take it easy on me. What if my family wasn't actually that rich? What had I just done? My mind started racing about all the "What ifs."

But, despite all of my worries, all he did was pick me up and pull me closer to him. "Lumi, are you alright? Hurt anywhere?" He patted my head. I felt like crying. This was the first time someone had ever treated me like this in nearly fifteen years. I buried my head into his chest.

He muttered, "Was there a monster? Nah, couldn't be. Not around here." I heard footsteps coming from outside the room. I heard my mother's voice. "Oh, my." She seemed calm, as she always was. I popped my head out of my father's embrace. She looked at the hole in the wall, then at me, and then at the book.

She then put on a warm smile, one so big it almost creeped me out. Was my mother going to take this badly? I began to worry as my mind began to race once again. I looked her in the eyes. "Lumi, you wouldn't have happened to say these words here out loud, would you?" she said, in an increasingly excited tone.

"I'm sorry." I said, in the loudest voice I could muster. Which happened to be barely audible. My father looked bewildered. "You're sorry? That was an Intermediate tier sp–"

"Oh sweetie! You heard her, didnt you? Our baby's a magical genius!" She clapped and started to jump up and down in joy. Zenith was certainly taking this well. Paul on the other hand, still had something to say.

Paul looked at me. "Wait, hold on for a second. You're telling me that you, a three year old child who doesn't even know how to read yet or–"

"We're going right to Ranoa next week and posting a request for a magical tutor! She's going to be a world renowned mage when she grows up!" Zenith was over the moon. If I were in her shoes, I'd be more like Paul. Surely she should have interrogated me a little more before celebrating. Or maybe it was just her intuition. I had been showing signs of trying to learn the language right in front of them from a young age, after all.

Then I could see why she thought I was a genius. I'd been surrounded by so-called geniuses all my life. My brother and sister all grew up faster than I did, picked up things I could barely do and mastered them instantly. My parents were the type who said, "Oh, maybe he's a genius." even if it really wasn't that impressive. Yet I was never on the receiving end of those remarks.

Finally, after so long, maybe I could really be a genius. "Honey, we have to get him a tutor, surely there's someone capable in Ranoa!" Paul looked thoroughly confused. "So we're going to ignore the fact that a three year old child cast an Intermediate-tier spell? That's absurd!" My mother shot back, "Well, that's all the more reason to get a tutor for her!"

Paul began to stare at me, as if saying that he knew there was more to it than me just being a genius. He sighed. "Okay, but once we have a boy, we've got to train him up as a swordsman."

Zenith smirked. "I guess we should really get on it, then." They wrapped themselves in a hug, and then separated to go to their bedroom. Never change, parents. Never change.

My father was a knight. That was our family's main source of income. So, that made him a pretty low ranking noble around these parts. But even still, I doubted the quality of any tutor that could respond to the request. Who'd want to accept a job out in the sticks, with less than average quality of life, and to tutor some knight's kid?

"I'm Roxas. Saint-Tier wind mage, at your service. It's a pleasure to meet you all."

My expectations were blown to bits. Here I was, envisioning an old man with a long beard, with years and years of experience. Yet before me, right outside the door to my home, stood a pretty boy who looked to be in his first year of high school. He was wearing brown and white robes, and black shorts. His long blue hair which extended down to his neck was let loose, without so much as a hair tie to keep them in check. His posture suggested a mannerism you'd find only in the gentlest of gentlemen. I decided right there that this man would be my husband some day in the far, far off future. He was perfect.

As I stared in shock, my parents seemed stunned.

"..." The silence couldn't be any louder. My father finally spoke up. "Hey… uh, are you the home tutor?" My mother decided to follow it up with "Aren't you a little…"

I couldn't keep myself from blurting out, "Pretty!" He looked taken aback at that. "T-thank you. So… where's this student of mine?" He offered, seemingly a little lost. My mother responded. "That would be our Lumi right here!"

I gave Roxas the biggest smile I could. He sighed. He muttered something under his breath which I couldn't quite hear. "Say something?" My father asked. "Oh, nothing much, I was just wondering how much your daughter would be able to understand about the principles of magic."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Paul said. "You'll be just as bewildered as I was." Roxas sighed, and said, "I'll see what I can do."

And so, that was the first day training under Roxas.

Roxas

"Hah." My first reaction to the job post was a chuckle. It interested me a little, though. It was to tutor the 'Magical prodigy' daughter of a knight named Paul Greyrat. The so-called prodigy herself was named Lumina Greyrat. On the job listing, it said "Accepting all mages Advanced-tier or above in any school of magic." So, me as a Wind mage would be eligible. The knight lived smack dab in the middle of nowhere, in a settlement called "Buena Village." Normally, I would have never accepted it. But when I saw the monthly wages, I changed my mind. Ten Asuran Large Copper coins. That was twice the amount I was getting nowadays doing random jobs. I took the job listing, and accepted it at the front desk of the Guild.

I departed soon after. But when I found out how old the daughter really was, I was taken aback. She even complimented me out of nowhere. She was pretty cute, if anything. Definitely not "Magical Genius" levels.

Is what I thought. Right up until she cut off her incantation in the middle of casting an Elementary-tier wind spell. Not even my master, who taught me my very first wind spell, could do such a thing. I was shocked. "You cut off your incantation?" I asked her. She looked a little timid while looking back at me. "Yeah." I had to inquire further. "Do you do that often? Or was that just a fluke?" she hesitated, and responded, "I usually don't use them at all."

"Not at all?!" I exclaimed. I really couldn't believe it! If this was true, then I could see why her parents made her out to be such a prodigy in the job listing. However, I was the tutor here. I couldn't afford to look blown away and lose face in front of such a dazzling student.

"Ah, yes. I get it now. That makes a lot of sense. Are you feeling tired right now?" She responded with a smile. "Not at all, Teacher!" Sigh. I muttered under my breath. "Maybe it's really worth teaching this girlie after all."

Well, if she could do that much, I wanted to see just how much potential she had. Hmm… maybe I could make her show me her waterball? I better find a better way to word it out loud though…

"Aaaaaahh!" An ear piercing cry rang through my head. What happened? Was someone hurt? I turned around to see the mother of Lumi, pointing at something behind me. It was the tree I had used to demonstrate my spell to Lumi, now snapped in half.

Lumi walked over to me, and whispered, "That was my mother's favorite tree, and she spends all day watering it and taking care of it."

Oh boy.

Somehow, I wasn't let go right there and then. My student started to question me, as if she were starved for knowledge. For the next few weeks, I began to train her and answer all of her questions when I could. I came to grow fond of Lumi. She questioned me about where we lived, which I found odd. Had her parents never taught her any geography? I told her that we were in the grassy fields of the Fittoa Region, and that the town was named Buena Village. I also mentioned the Asura Kingdom, but I didn't go into too much depth.

She was a hard working child, and she knew a lot more than I could ever think of knowing at her age. At her age… that just brought back bad memories.

Anyways, one night I was walking around in the house at night. I was particularly thirsty that night, so I wanted to get a wooden cup and make some water. However, before I could get to the utensils, I heard the sounds of a bed frame creaking and moans coming from somewhere. I decided to investigate. What I found was the door of the parents of Lumi's bedroom slightly ajar. I peeked inside.

They were making love. Pretty passionately too. I never realized how much of a beauty the mother was until now. Her blonde hair being ruffled as she was sliding against the bed was a sight to behold. I wouldn't call myself a pervert, but I couldn't help but be switched on.

I'd been pretty pent up since there wasn't a lot of privacy in this home, even my guest room walls were paper thin. So I decided to release some stress right then and there. I finished with my business soon enough, and got out of there before I could be noticed by anyone.

"Mister Roxas, what exactly are demons?" I had been in the midst of a lecture slash conversation with Lumi, and the topic of my race came up. I don't think she knew I was a demon, however.

I told her all about the Demon-human war, and then I said, "I'm a demon myself, you know?" She widened her eyes at that. It's cute to see such a genius be astonished at something. "You must have noticed your parents' surprise when they first saw me, right, Lumi?" She responded with, "I figured that was just because you were little!" She's still on that? "I am not little." I said gruffly. I told her about the hair color of humanoid demons, and how the closer it looked to that of the Superd's, the worse their reputation was.

"I think your hair is very pretty, Teacher." She's really always complimenting me. It's nice, since she's so cute. I just wish she knew I was so much older than her. Wouldn't want her to suddenly say "I love you, Teacher!" to me someday.

"Oh, thank you very much. But that's the sort of thing you should say to a boy you like after you've grown up a little." she frowned, and said, "But I like you, Mister!" Sigh. I knew it was coming. I'm flattered, but I'm not so inclined to go after a three year old.

"Well, if you still feel the same way in fifteen years, feel free to repeat that to me." I ended that conversation there and began telling her about the dangers of the Superd. I told her about their key characteristics, and to run away if she ever saw one. And so ended that session of late night classes.

Roughly a year went by. Lumi turned 4 years old. She'd grown quite a bit in her magical studies, and could cast Advanced-tier magic in all four schools. Incantationless, of course. She was the very definition of a star student. Since I wanted to buy her a wand soon, I began to save up by doing odd jobs around the village. Stuff like watering crops, making it rain, getting rid of stray debris. It was fun to see all the villagers light up at my skills. At this rate, I'd end up getting a big head.

One day, out of nowhere, she asked me, "Teacher, couldn't I call you Master instead?" Hah. I'm hardly a master if I'm barely keeping up with my own pupil. "No, you'll probably surpass me soon anyways. It would be a little weird, don't you think?" She shook her head. Well, she wasn't understanding. My master was fairly arrogant at times, so having someone call me that kind of put me off.

But I couldn't really tell her that. I made some excuse hoping that she would accept it and leave it at that. Yet, she didn't take the hint. "If I became upset at my own students' talent, I couldn't even call myself a good teacher at that point. You see where I'm getting at?" She pouted.

"Well, I guess you make a decent point. I wouldn't want you to feel like that, Mister Roxas." I was glad she understood, but I felt like I might've been a little harsh on her.

Oh well. As long as she does understand, I'm happy to continue teaching her until… until what? Until she surpasses me? That day wouldn't be too far off. I'd say probably around her next birthday would be when it happened. Wait, I have a good idea. Let's hold a graduation ceremony that day, to commemorate how much she'd grown! Then I could be satisfied departing afterwards. That sounds great to me.

And so, I decided to teach her as much as I could before her next birthday.

Author's Note:

Thanks again for reading the chapter! Next chapter might be a little short, but ill try to write some completely new scenarios.