Chapter 7:
No Longer Jobless

Sylph's father was a handsome man. Do all elves look like this or was this particular family just really pretty?

He was stationed at a watchtower at the edge of the settlement. He had a bow in one hand. "Father! I've brought your lunch!" Sylph called.

"Hey, Phi. Thanks as always. Were… you bullied again?" So he knew about it. "Yeah, but I'm okay now. She helped me out." Sylph motioned towards me.

"My name is Lumina Greyrat, It's nice to meet you." I bowed Japanese-style. "Greyrat, you say? As in Paul Greyrat?" I nodded. It seemed like he'd worked with my father before. "Yes, he is my father."
He chuckled, and said, "You're awfully polite to be Paul's kid. I'm Laws, and I hunt here in these forests. You have my apologies for what happened back there with you and Phi." I raised an eyebrow at that. Was he apologizing that I had to step in to save his child?

"I know how my kid must look, but it's just something from further back in our ancestry," Laws said. Hearing him say that kind of made me upset.

"So you've just accepted that your child is being bullied day after day for something they can't control? Really?" I said, with a hint of contempt in my voice. He widened his eyes. "Look, I… I hate it as much as you do, but with Phi's hair color being the way it is, there's just not much I can do. I'm sorry."

I see. I'd have to take this into my own hands. "Laws, I know what I'm about to ask may seem a little sudden, but please take me seriously." He put his bow down, and his ears twitched. "Go on."

"May I teach your child some basic offensive magic so that they can fight back against the bullies?" I stood firm, and awaited Law's answer. "How much would I have to pay you for this?" I shook my head. "It would be free, sir."

"Those are impressive words for a girl your age," Laws said. "I heard you were Roxas's student, so you probably mean it." I nod my head. "I see. Very well. I'll start paying you 2 large copper coins every month, does that sound good?"

I was going to be paid? For something I wanted to do? Awesome! "Thank you for entrusting your child's education unto me, it means a lot." I said, as I bowed again. Laws chuckled. I looked up, puzzled. "Hah, Paul was right. He said that talking with you makes one feel like a bad parent." I smiled at that.

I felt a tug on my dress's sleeve. I looked over, and Sylph was the one tugging it, with his face cast down. Seriously adorable. "Laws, today I'll start testing the waters. I'll let you know how it goes when I see you again tomorrow. Well then, we'll be off."

"Oh, yes, of course. Just don't get too close to the forest." Laws said. "We'll be playing at the large hill with a tree, which is near the field with the berries. I promise Sylph will head back home before it gets dark. Also, If I could ask another favor, it'd be to shine a light in the direction of the hill, to make sure I'm home. If it looks like I haven't, then there probably is something wrong. Please arrange a search if that ever ends up happening."

This really wasn't Japan. I'd get kidnapped or something if I were to let my guard down. I couldn't just phone home and tell them where I was. Laws looked slack-jawed, and stammered out, "Oh… o-okay." Sylph and I headed in the direction of the hill.

"Sylph, what if I told you that you could fight back against the bullies?" He looked at me timidly. "B-but they're too strong…" I brought out my wand, and cast a small fireball spell. "If you agree to be my student, in a few months you'll be strong enough to laugh at those boys." Sylph's eyes glimmered.

"Is it difficult?" he asked me, ears twitching. Seriously, he looked so cute I almost mistook him for a girl at times. Yuri wouldn't be so bad…

I snapped back to reality and nodded. "Yes, but trust me when I say it's so fun to improve." Lately, my mana reserves have been basically bottomless. I had no idea what I was gonna do with all of that. I'd been itching to improve my practical use, since I haven't really sparred with anyone. So what better way than to train up my sparring partner myself? "I-I'll be your student. I'll be in your care…"

"Alright, Sylph! From now on, call me Master!" He looked perplexed. "Er… I'm your tutor now. Anyways, let's get on it!"

When I got back home, my father was waiting for me. "I'm home, father!" He smiled at me. "Hey, sweetie. Come in." I walked inside of the house. It seemed Zenith was still at her clinic. My father guided me to a chair. I sat down, and said, "Did you want to talk to me?" He nodded.

"I heard from Mrs. Eto that you had burnt the hair of her son. Sweetie, you have to be more careful! You're just a girl, after all. Those kids could hurt you." Hurt me?

"Oh, but I didn't…" I trailed off. My father was seriously believing that I had actually hurt those kids. "I didn't actually hurt them, just scared them off." He shook his head. "You mustn't make excuses. You hurt those boys, so you have to apologize to them tomorrow, okay?" Eh? They should be apologizing to Sylph!

I waved my hands in front of me. "Wait, wait. But I didn't do anything? I even—" my father held up his pointer finger. "I'll let you off without punishment if you apologize to them with me tommorow ." This was getting more and more ridiculous. Did he seriously not trust my word? Was he going to be like this with my future siblings as well? I might as well set him straight.

"I—" The sound of the door opening cut me off. My mother walked in, seemingly a bit tired. "Oh hey, you two. What are you guys talking about?" I muttered, "He's asking me to apologize for something I didn't do and won't take no for an answer." Zenith looked puzzled. "Elaborate, will you sweetie?"

Paul began talking. "It all started when—" my mother bonked him on the head. "Not you, I meant Lumi." I smiled at her, and began recounting my story. It seemed like Paul wasn't letting up at the beginning, but as I got to the part with Sylph, he widened his eyes. He chuckled every time I called her Sylph, though. I don't know why. I wondered if they had a history or something.

"And so yeah, that's why father sat me down." Zenith bonked Paul on the head again. "You have to listen to her side of the story! And what was that about scolding her?" He sighed.

"I wasn't being harsh on her, since she's a girl." Zenith deadpanned. "What part of being a girl matters here?" Never change, parents

"Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you guys! I have a job!" They both froze, and then stared at me. "A job… you say?" Paul said. "Yeah, I'm tutoring that boy I saved! It's 2 large copper coins a month." Zenith looked at me incredulously. "I… Congratulations on your first job!" I nodded, with a smirk on my face.

I was no longer Jobless.

I was now six. It was spring, and the rain was coming down pretty occasionally. In the mornings, I practiced healing magic with my mother, and in the afternoon I would tutor Sylph in magic, while improving myself at the same time.

I had learned up to intermediate tier healing and detoxification magic, and my father had tried to persuade me into learning just a tiny bit of swordsmanship. It was probably him being starved of a sparring partner. I knew how that felt. But I still wasn't a fan of how the sword felt in my hands. So I passed on it.

Right now, I was heading up to the hill where I usually tutored Sylph. I say I'm just a tutor, but in reality we were good friends. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Sylph." She smiled, and nodded her head. "Not at all. Good evening, Lumi."

We started lessons like that most of the time. The good old 'Sorry to keep you waiting. No, I just got here!' date scenario had passed through my mind a few times and I was very fond of it. Sylph's hair was growing longer and I was wondering if he wanted to go full-in that androgynous look. Sometimes I even thought of him as a female in my head. Eh, that doesn't matter.

During the first few classes, those kids–no, rats came around several times. I always drove them off, and sometimes even burned a little of their hairs to teach them a lesson. I didn't hurt them per se, but they were trying to bully Sylph anyways, so I didn't care what happened to them.

Enough about them. Sylph had grown a lot during the last year. Like me, at the beginning he could only cast a few spells at a time before tiring out. But as time went on, his mana capacity was exponentially increased. Now, he could take classes for half a day.

Speaking of classes, I bought some fancy looking glasses with my salary and tied my hair back in a hair bun to fit the whole tutor look. Sylph laughed at me when he saw it, though. I liked it, so his opinion didn't matter.

Even though he was a decent student, he struggled with a few things in particular. Apparently, past experiences with certain elements could make you cast worse. Sylph in particular had burnt his hands long ago with a metal skewer.

Maybe he was still scared of it? Anyways, he had stayed beginner-tier for fire magic while he was intermediate in all the others. Anyways, I liked to teach my own forms of Melded magic. He picked up on the basics fast enough, but he couldn't do some of the more advanced stuff.

I lent him my wand I had gotten from Roxas, and Sylph was always using it. He was trying out a high water Intermediate-spell, and was concentrating heavily. His face was steeled, and he had his eyes shut. He looked so adorable! I wanted to take him home.

"Lumi. What does this word mean here?" I looked over, and he was pointing to a word in the Guidebook To Magic. "It says, 'Tornado'" Sylph's ears twitched. "What does that mean?"

I sat down next to him and said, "It's a huge collection of warm air rapidly spinning around in the sky. It's like a really fierce windstorm, and it could destroy tons of cities instantly."

"Woah, that sounds scary. Have you ever seen one?" Sylph asked. "Oh me? Yeah, it was really scary back then, I think I was ten or—" I cut myself off there. I occasionally slipped up like this. Someone who was seriously paying attention to what I said could probably figure something out. "You were what?" Sylph asked, with a puzzled expression. "Haha, moving on! Your task for today is to cast the Intermediate-tier spell Ice Pillar. Go on now."

I had been also teaching Sylph how to read and write. When Laws caught wind of that, he doubled my salary. I didn't even ask for it! He was such a nice person. "May these droplets of the sky cool and harden, so you may carve it into a column—Ice Pillar!"

"I did it! Look, Lumi!" He had managed to pick up the spell that fast? Maybe he was an actual prodigy. I was just cheating. "Hey, you're really improving, Sylph. I'm proud of you." I pat him on the head.

"Ah, but the cool things you do aren't in the book, right?" Hmm? Cool things? Did he mean my melded magic? "Ah, those are written here." I pointed to Hot Hands and Waterfall. "You just have to cast them at the same time and you could make hot water."

"At the same time? You can do that?" Oops. Another slip up. "Err… you can only do it if you learn how to cast without incantations." His eyes glimmered. "Please teach me, Master!"

I sighed. "It depends if you're able to or not. Here, hold your arm out."

He obeyed, so I began giving him some advice. "You know that feeling you get in your veins whenever you cast a magic spell? Remember that feeling as you try to replicate exactly how it felt. Now, try."

"Hnhh!" He grunted in concentration. This went on for about a minute until he dropped his hand. "I can't do it, Lumi." He pouted.

Hmm. I'd thought something like this would happen. Incantationless magic was all in your head, so it's natural that the process would be different for everyone. That's probably why so few people have the skill.

"I did it! Look, Lumi!" Ah, okay. Maybe not then. I clapped, and said, "That was great! I can teach you a lot more stuff now." He smiled.

His grin only grew as he started casting more and more magic spells without the incantations. Maybe since he had already been trained to use magic with incantations, it was easier to transition to not using them at all when the time came?

Or maybe Sylph really is just a natural born prodigy.

I felt a few raindrops fall on my head. "Hmm?" I looked up, and there seemed to be a storm off the left. It was moving in our direction.

"Whoa, those clouds are really dark!" I nodded in agreement. "We should probably head home, Sylph." I replied. "Okay, but don't forget your tutoring glasses again." Hah. I chuckled, and told him, "Thanks."

We made our way to my house, as it was closer to us than Sylph's place was.

By the time we got to my house, it was pouring.

"Greetings, young Mistress Lumina. I see you've brought your friend along, too. I've already prepared a bath for you two." I bowed, and said, "Thank you, Lilia." She was always so thoughtful.

She handed us a few towels, and we dried ourselves with them. "Where's my mother?" I asked Lilia. "She's just in the back, tending to the garden. She should be heading inside soon." She told me. She pointed upstairs, and said, "Go on then, I wouldn't want you two catching a cold." I nodded, and we made our way upstairs. Just outside the door of the bathroom, I froze.

Wait, what? We were going to take a shower together? I knew brothers and sisters did this, but Sylph and I were definitely not that close yet. Sylph asked me, "What are you waiting for, Lumi?" I stuttered out, "Y-you can go first." He tilted his head.

"What's wrong? We're both girls, so it'd be faster to take one together."

Ehh?

Author's Notes:

Thanks for reading! We're getting close to the big change.

Sorry this chapter took so long, I couldn't get the Paul part down how I wanted, so I had to rewrite it three times until i was satisfied.

I just wanted to say thanks for sticking with the fanfiction! I appreciate all of your thoughts below.