Chapter 26:
A Steady Start

We were browsing the bulletin board for quests.

Well, at least Alek was. In the meantime, Ares and I were just engaging in some friendly banter together.

"I am not your slave!" Ares shouted, now fuming.

"It's written down on paper, see?" I said, reaching into my shirt's pocket. I got out a small piece of parchment that read something in Demon God. I thrust it in his face.

"Well, I can't read that, so it doesn't count!"

"Hm… Well, slaves can't read either. Isn't that neat?" I said mockingly. He glared at me.

Of course, it wasn't an actual slave confirmation document; I was just making it up. If I had wanted to brand him as mine, the thing for that in this world was to place a magic seal on him so that he could never escape. I didn't do anything of the sort, of course.

I had planned to just let the topic of him technically being mine go, but it was just amusing to tease him like this.

"You should be happy I even got you out of that mess, Ares," I said playfully.

"It wasn't my fault that I was a slave! I just woke up–"

"Ares, Lumina. What do you two feel about going on a quest tomorrow?" Alek butted in, cutting off Ares's words.

"Hmph." Ares turned away. Hah.

"...Ah, Alek, I think we should take some time off for a day or two before going on a quest again. That took a lot out of me, so I'd prefer to just rest for now," I said.

The quest did take a toll on me, but not physically. My mana reserves were bottomless, so I could probably pull off that finishing move a hundred times without getting tired.

In reality, I just wanted some downtime.

"I see. Then, in three days from now should work with this quest," He said, grabbing it off of the wall.

"What's it about, anyway?" Ares asked, now interested.

"It says, 'Locate and Defeat Unknown Monster. A large, slithering creature was spotted deep inside the Petrified Forest. Please identify it, and destroy it if it's dangerous.'" Alek read out.

That was a vague description. Maybe it was just one of those thing where you'd know what it was when you saw it, but that wasn't very helpful. I think we should choose a different one, to be honest.

"The reward is five scrap iron coins if you manage to locate it, and two iron coins if defeated," Alek said.

Now we're talking. Two iron coins were tempting. With that money, we'd reach the 500-stone coin milestone. Then, we could get on our way.

"Alright. For now, let's just get new clothes."

We had more than enough money to spend. Our total was up to 389 stone coins, so we could afford a lot more things. I didn't only want to buy clothes, but it was the first plan of action.

We navigated back to the same street vendor that we had bought clothes for Ares from.

Ares looked thoughtful while browsing. He pawed at a few pairs of pants, but always furrowed his eyebrows and put them back down.

"You don't have to be picky or anything. Here, no one cares what you're wearing," I said, since he had been searching for a while.

"I'm not being picky, I'm just looking for something that I can run in, but that isn't flimsy either," He said without taking his eyes off of the selection.

Wow. He sure adapted to this place fast.

He grabbed a pair of slim, black pants. "I'll probably go with these." He then grabbed a white T-shirt with a brown pattern down the middle of it, somewhat like a school uniform.

I nodded. I turned to leave the stall, but Ares called out for me. "Lumina!"

I whipped around. "What's up–" I began, but then I deadpanned when I saw that he was holding up a pink, frilly one-piece dress.

"You know, I wouldn't mind if you were to try this one on…" He said, smirking.

I wasn't even paying attention to what he was saying. I devised an excessively evil plan in my head. He's mine right? So I can make him wear whatever I want, right?

"What's with that look on your face? Why are you…What are you doing?! Get that off of…me!"

In the end, I didn't manage to get the dress on Ares fully. He probably won't try something like that again. I giggled, looking over at Ares. He wasn't even glancing in my direction anymore, muttering something under his breath.

That aside, we proceeded to an armor shop. I hadn't thought about armor, but it would probably come in handy during any quests. Ares still wasn't used to battle, and if that last fight showed me anything, he probably needed some sort of protection. Of course, I healed him then, but who knew if there was going to be a time when I couldn't heal him?

That particular train of thought gave me nostalgia, for some reason or other.

Putting that aside, the armor shop was an impressive establishment. Of course, it couldn't compare to what I'd seen in Roa. The items inside were a lot more expensive than what you could ever find in the street vendors, but some of them were quite attractive. Like an expensive shimmering breastplate that was on sale for… seventeen iron coins. Certainly not in our budget.

Right now, we were picking out a chest plate for Ares. There was a large variety in sizes and shapes here, which was helpful, given that the two of us were just children.

"We ought to find you something that would protect your heart and back well…" I said, looking over several black-colored chest plates.

"I think this one works… Does it?" He said, pressing a beast-hide model to his chest. It fit him perfectly.

Alek glanced over at him. "It fits well… but that's probably not in our best interests. You should pick one that is a size larger," he said.

"I see. But how come?"

"You are a growing child, so you're going to grow out of that chest plate in several months," Alek explained.

"You're right!" He grabbed one that was a bit larger and pulled it on his chest. Alek nodded. "That should work, yes."

Ares picked out a few other things that could help protect against any potential injuries. I helped him try on a few things that would protect his joints and vital organs since those were the most prevalent issues. I thought back to when I had to heal his bleeding head, so I wanted to get him something for that as well.

A helmet wouldn't work, especially not for a North swordsman, from the looks of his and Alek's fighting style, at least. Even though it would slow him down, it would be stupid to leave his head unprotected.

"Hm… what about this one?" I asked, holding up a fanciful knight's helmet.

"No way." He shot my idea down mercilessly.

I pouted. "But it looks badass. You have to understand," I said. I'd wear this if there was one in my size.

"No thanks."

I sighed. We tried out a variety of different helmets, but Ares always said that he preferred not to use one. In the end, we just settled with a headband that had an iron plate sewn onto it. It was better than nothing, I supposed.

"That's all of it, then," He said, nodding with his eyes shut. "What do you think?" he asked me.

Now equipped with Rowin's sword strapped to his belt, he showed off his new set of light armor. It kind of looked like he was dressing up, seeing as how the breastplate didn't quite fit, but he didn't stand out much.

"...You look like an adventurer, if that's what you're asking," I said, bluntly.

He scratched at the back of his neck. "That wasn't really what I meant, but thanks." Then what was he asking?

"I suppose you're next, Lumina," Alek said, paying for Ares's armor at the front desk.

"Me? Do I need anything in particular?" I asked.

"Of course you do! You need a robe to go along with that staff of yours!" exclaimed Ares. He had a point. There was no good magician who didn't wear robes. What better place to get one than here?

"Hey Alek, could you ask the owner if they have any robes?" I asked. Alek nodded and translated my words to the shop owner. He replied quickly, and walked over, opening one of his wardrobes silently.

Inside of the wardrobe were several colorful robes, with similar but distinct designs. There were only five hues: red, yellow, green, blue, and gray.

"There's no black?" I asked.

"Black-colored robes aren't very popular around these parts. It's hard to see your party members in the dark if they have one on, so they're not in demand," Alek explained. What a bummer. But I guess it makes sense.

"Do the colors make any difference, or are they just an aesthetic choice?" I asked. Alek seemingly repeated my question to the owner, and then he replied to me.

"The colored ones have monster hair sewn into the fabric. It provides a bit of protection against the associated element," he said.

"So… red would be fire, blue would be water… so on. What about the grey ones here?

"Just plain fabric."

I see. We could probably afford any of them, but I don't think I would be against anything that could use magic against me in the lower-rank quests, so I'd just prefer something more practical.

"Maybe you should get a green one, then?" Ares asked.

"Hmm… I'm not sure."

The shop owner asked Alek something, so Alek placed his hand on my shoulder to get my attention.

"He wants to know what disciplines of magic you are proficient in," He asked.

"Disciplines? Oh, then all the ones in attack magic, healing, and detoxification," I replied.

Ares's eyes glimmered, and the shop owner widened his eyes in surprise.

"I've never met a mage that can use so many different types of magic before…" Ares said, now looking at me with curiosity.

The owner nodded and went into the back room. After several moments, he came back holding a radiant white robe, decorated with flicks of yellow woven into the fabric. It had a black band wrapping around the middle, reminding me of traditional yukata. Additionally, it had a hood that had wavy light blue streaks outlining it. It was a beautiful, sturdy-looking robe.

"He says this is perfectly tailored for a healer who can also fight like you. Not many people like that come around here, so he had it stocked for a while."

"Try it on!" Ares ushered, grabbing the robe from the owner and thrusting it in front of me.

I slipped it on cautiously, just to see how it felt on me.

"It's a bit big on me. I don't suppose they have a smaller one on hand?" I asked Alek. He shook his head. Well, I'm growing too. It'll probably fit me perfectly in due time.

The robe looked and felt great. It was made out of some rough material on the outside, but the inside felt like leather. It would take a lot more than a scrape to rip this one. I flipped on the hood, and I could feel a strange sensation on the back of my head. It almost felt like… mana flow.

"Is this robe imbued with anything special?" I asked Alek.

"Yes. He says the band wrapping the middle of the robe and the hood are strengthened by mana-infused monster hide harvested from the depths of labyrinths." Alek said, nodding. "It slightly helps with casting recovery-type spells."

"...That's amazing, isn't it?" I said. Recovery-type spells were quite a broad choice of words. Not only did it cover Healing and Detoxification, it also covered barrier magic. I didn't know how to cast barrier magic myself. Mostly because it required knowledge of magic circles, but I knew that it was many different spells. Physical barriers, Magical barriers, barriers that confined people inside of them, it went on and on.

It was safe to say that it was the perfect robe for me. And it looked great, as well.

"I'll go with this one, then. How much is it?" I asked Alek.

"Wait just a second," he said, turning towards the owner. They then started conversing, Alek seemingly trying to speak over him. The shop owner widened his eyes at his words. Alek had told him his name, which seemingly made the shop owner shut up.

"I haggled him down to two iron coins. Seriously, good equipment these days is too expensive," he said, nodding at his words.

"Thank you. I'll take it, then," I said, peering over at the dejected shop owner.

Shortly after that, I picked up two other headbands that looked similar to Ares's but in different colored metal for me and Alek.

We were a party after all. We had to match, naturally.

The next day, we were killing time at a bustling soup kitchen. The smell of meat being cooked and dried wafted to my nose.

I thought my robe stood out a little, but nobody ever gave me any looks. Ares was gulping the soup down, licking his lips after each spoonful.

"Do you genuinely like this food?" I asked Ares. I couldn't imagine how he could enjoy it.

"Hah? Of courth," he said while chomping down on what looked to be a potato.

"Ith… gulp… a lot better than what I had when I was a slave."

Ah, well I guess he has a point there. I couldn't imagine what they fed him back then.

Regardless, the food in this world, even back in Buena Village, was always bland. Salt probably wasn't a widespread thing yet, and there wasn't anything like soy sauce to add flavor.

The only time I thought the food was delicious was during my birthday party. The pies and other pastries were amazing, but that might've just been because of how well-off the lord's manor was.

Ares broke me out of my thoughts with a question.

"Are you used to good food?" he asked.

"Not particularly, but I'm just not used to food like this. Compared to what I used to eat, it's unappetizing."

"Well, that's to be expected of a noble, after all," he said, waving his hand flippantly.

"I'm not a noble," I corrected.

Ares momentarily stopped eating to show me a confused look on his face.

"Isn't your last name Greyrat? What was that whole celebration for if you weren't a noble?

"My father was a Notos Greyrat, but he ran away from nobility," I explained. Ares paused for a moment, his eyes cloudy.

"...Then, how did your family manage to host the celebration? I'm pretty sure a peasant—ahem, a lower-class person couldn't afford a party like that," Ares said. Who are you calling a peasant?

"Well, my father knew the liege lord of Roa pretty well. That's how they managed to afford it, I guess," I said.

"That explains your staff, then. So you lived in Roa?" He asked.

"I was just visiting, no. I lived in Buena Village before all of this happened," I explained.

"I see…" Ares said, beginning to eat again.

Something was nagging at me. Like something I had forgotten to say, even though it felt important. Hmm…

"Ah, that's right!"

"What's right?" He asked.

"That was you who warned me, wasn't it? That someone was tailing me back in Roa," I said.

"Oh, that. Well…" he scratched the back of his head. "I just wanted to make sure you knew someone was watching you."

"Couldn't you at least have looked back at me? I got kidnapped like a minute after you left, you know?" I asked. I'm not sure if he knew that, but I was sure he heard me calling out to him.

"My master was waiting for me inside of a building then, I'm sorry," he said, looking a little less than apologetic.

Couldn't you at least look at me in the face? He was acting like it was no big deal, but I think he underestimates what goes on during a kidnapping. He probably wasn't ever exposed to something like it either, with him having his master around all of the time.

Ares seemed to respect said master a lot, despite the fact he complained about him from time to time. I couldn't paint a picture of him in my head, but Ares said he had a ridiculous haircut that would engrave his image into my head forever. That got me curious.

Of course, if he was as talented as Ares said he said he was, it wouldn't be a good idea to laugh in his face or make fun of it.

After we finished up our mildly disappointing lunch, we left the soup kitchen. Ares took a piece of bread to eat on the way, saying that he was 'still hungry'.

"You know, Lumina." Ares began.

"Yeah?"

"You're well composed for someone who isn't a noble. Most lower-class people usually can't do things that you can," he said, curiously.

He was adamant about not elaborating on his past, but by the way, he talked, it was becoming increasingly more clear to me that he was a noble. He seemed to have been quite privileged, not knowing basic things that the common folk would.

"Who were your parents?" He asked me. He probably was expecting brilliant mages, considering how surprised he was at my ability to use magic.

Even though Roxas was the person who taught me the most about magic, I guess I did owe it to my parents for being nice enough to hire him to tutor me in the first place.

"...My parents were Zenith and Paul Greyrat. Two former adventurers," I said.

"Former adventurers?" He said, giving me a strange look.

"They were originally part of an S-rank party called the Fangs of the Black Wolf. I'm not sure if you've heard of them before, but they were famous in their heyday." I explained.

Ghislaine had told me various stories about them back in Roa. They had gone strong for a long time, about five years. However, they did not have an amicable departure. After Paul got Zenith pregnant, he decided to take responsibility and settle down. However, Paul and Zenith were integral to the party, as all of the members were. So most of the members were left grasping at straws and holding a grudge against Paul for splitting up the party. It was a dick move.

Ares stopped and gave it a thought for a moment. "...No, I haven't heard of them before. But if they were members of an S-rank party, they had to have been pretty talented."

"Were they both mages?" He asked.

"My mother was the party's healer, and my father was the swordsman. He's advanced-tier in all of the sword styles," I explained.

"In all of them?! How old is your father?" He said, shocked. I knew it would be admirable to a budding swordsman like Ares, given just how much effort it took to get on Paul's level.

"He'd be… 29 this year," I answered. Paul was still in his prime even at his age. He'd probably have a long while until he declined if my spars with him showed me anything.

"If we ever get the chance, I'd like to meet your parents someday."

"...You what?" I looked at him, shocked. How could he say something like that so casually? Was it part of being a noble?

"I said I'd like to meet them. They sound like pretty decent people if they could raise a mage as strong as you," He said. "Anything wrong with that?"

"Ah… no," I said sheepishly.

I think he just doesn't know what he's implying. Ares had a habit of saying out-of-pocket things, as if he never actually knew what they meant, like asking to meet my parents.

Just before we got to the inn, a sharp pain plagued my gut. It was like my abdomen was turning against me.

"Ah… didn't think I'd get a cramp like this just yet…" I said, clutching my stomach. It had been quite some time since I'd gotten one of these. Maybe I got food poisoning or something…

"Lumina, are you okay?" Alek asked me.

"Yeah, I think I just ate something bad," I said, silently casting a detoxification spell.

Now that the worst of it was over, I decided to start working on a figure.

"What are you up to, Lumina?" Alek asked me.

"I'm just making a figure right now. I'm not the best at it, though," I said. I was trying to make a figure modeled after my mother, and it was coming along smoothly.

"I've never seen someone use earth magic like that. Fascinating," Alek said. "Do you happen to have any finished ones?"

"Just one. I had a lot more back in my hometown, though," I said, rummaging through a bag that I had left here.

"Here," I said. It was a figure of a character from my past life. A boy who did something quite questionable in their comatose roommate's hospital room.

Alek took it in his hands, examining it. "This is quite well made. I applaud you for it."

"Thank you," I said, smiling. I hadn't shown anyone my figures before, so it felt nice getting a perspective that wasn't mine.

"...Lumina, would you mind if I sold this to a merchant? I think we could get a good price for it," he asked.

"S-Sell it?" I repeated incredulously. I had nothing against possibly getting a new source of income, but it was sudden. I had little to no confidence in the figures themselves. It took around a week to make one at my current skill level, so it wasn't like I could continuously pump one out.

"Of course. They're high-quality statues, and I haven't such many sculptures that are this small in size. I imagine that it would fetch a high price," He explained, shattering my expectations.

"Really? Then, I wouldn't mind that much…"

"Thank you. I'll be off, then," Alek said, taking the figure with him and leaving with Ares.

Now that I was alone, I continued working on my figure of Zenith in silence.

"Gotta piss…" I muttered. I placed my figure down on the nightstand and headed downstairs to use the restroom. And then, I made a horrifying realization.

I was bleeding.

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading! This chapter is mostly to break up the momentum with some character interaction. Additionally, I am posting a rewrite of the Volume 2 Extra Chapter to be from 1400 words to 3100 words. Do check it out, as it's very important for the story going forward

Expect Chapter 27 within a week again, thank you for being patient.

I'd also appreciate it if you checked out the Ao3 version, as when the chapters eventually have more mature content, I will only be able to post the full uncensored chapters there. Additionally, they have better grammar and retouched events. Thank you again!