Chapter 4

First fight.

It has already been a year since Zenith joined our little group, and I'm turning two this year. This world only celebrates birthdays on five, ten, and fifteen. We have all been going on an adventure around the Central continent. We even journey past a strife Zone, a place where countries fight for no reason.

Zenith is doing well. She is good with magic. With just one year, she was able to master both fire and water magic in the elementary rank. And the good news just keeps coming! Because she started to teach me magic.

She will teach me whenever she has spare time, like when we are in the carriage with me. The past few months have been going smoothly with my magic learning.

I was able to use every magic she taught me. Especially water magic and healing magic.

Maybe it is because I understand how it works in my old world. And apply the same logic to this world. And for some reason, when I imagine a water ball. It appears in my hand. Although it is only just a water ball. It did not launch forward like the spell version.

When I showed it to Zenith, she looked surprised and went to our party going around saying I was a genius or something. I mean, she already did that when I first used magic.

Today we are on a carriage going to Sanakia kingdom. Zenith sits beside me like usual, and Paul and Gesse hold the reign on the horse. Ghislaine is sleeping because she stayed on guard last night, and Elinalise and talhand are discussing something.

As I learned magic from Zenith, I discovered something about magic. The more you use it, the more magic power you have. It seems Zenith has no idea about this too, because when I discovered this, I could only use two water ball spells before I felt like I would faint.

After that, I tried to use it again it turned out I could use one more than the first time.

Well, today we are going to Shirone Kingdom. It will take around a week or two from the carriage to Shirone because we are in the Sanakia kingdom right now. We going to need to pass Kikka kingdom to go to Shirone. By the way, the local specialty of the Sanakia kingdom is Rice! When I tried it. It brings back my memories. Though I wouldn't say that it is a good one.

Anyway! depressing memories aside. Now we going to learn more about the intermediate spell of healing magic! The normal way to use magic in this world is to Chant or use a magic circle. But for me! Who was hailed as a genius![self-priase] As long as I understand the properties of the spell. Like the beginner healing spell. It is just a normal function of the human body. It accelerates the rate at which your body repairs itself to the extreme.

And what X-healing does is heal the major wound. How do I explain? Like…you ever used a knife, and it cut deep to the bone? That injury can be healed with a flash with a beginner healing spell. But X-heal boost that to around three to four time. But you can't regrow a lost limp tho. You need at least a saint rank and have your bone. But you can attach a lost limp if you advance rank in healing magic.

Woosh!

Eh? Something just flies past me fast. and why do I feel really tired…? Zenith seems shocked for some reason and quickly runs toward me.

"Oh merciful mother of gods, please heal this one's wounds and let him recover with a healthy body!" A bright light shines from my neck, and I feel fine again.

"Everyone, it flying rat!" Paul said out loud as the sound of objects flying faster than bullets continued.

Shit! I almost died just now! It's a good thing that Zenith is near me. Otherwise, I'm sure going to bleed to death. That damn flying rat! "Ha…haa…Thank you, Zenith." I said as I slowly breathed to calm myself down.

The blood was still warm on my body. But damn it, I never thought I gonna run into this shit!

Paul has already finished hunting it down as Ghislaine approaches me with the rat in hand. " Are you ok, Lucy?" she sounds calm. Well, this is almost a daily occurrence at this point. The monster usually goes after me, the weakest of the group.

I learned a bit of swordsmanship this year, and both Ghislaine and Paul said I was talented, but it was not going anywhere because of my body. No matter how I act, it's still just the body of a two-year-old girl.

Haa… I need some way to defend myself, or I will surely die.

As I lament about my weakness, suddenly, a sound of people running comes from in front of us.

"A pack of Assault dogs is coming toward us!" Gesse yelled as he ran toward us."And what's more, there is a red-leaf tiger too! It seems that the tiger is hunting the wolf for food!"

"Everyone, get ready! Ghislaine you are with me on the front! Talhand stay and protect both Zenith and Lucy! And Elinalise you take the middle and find the weak spot to exploit!" Paul quickly takes on the normal formation for this party.

"Now then, let's quickly finish this!" Paul said as we finished the formation. Then a pack of Dogs appears. It was an assault dog that looked like Dobermanns but had more muscle and was not cute. It does not help that this thing is all over the central continent. A single one is not a threat to a trained swordsman or magician. But with a pack like this, it quickly changes the story.

Paul and Ghislaine took a step forward, and in a flash, they took care of five Assault dogs. The last three run past them and toward elinalise. "Ha!" With a roar and a swing from her, Estoc, one of the assault dogs, is taken care of. The last two ran toward us, aiming straight at me, but Zenith, who finished chanting, fired a fireball toward one of the wolves, and Talhand slashed at the other with his axe.

The one that was hit by Zenith's spell is not dead yet, so Talhand finished it.

Even though we already finished with the dogs, everyone still not letting their guard down. Because of what Gesse said there is still one enemy left.

Everyone is being cautioned. but no matter how long we wait there nothing appears. "Gesse you sure about the Red leaf tiger right?" Paul asks cautiously as he looks around the area.

"Yea! I'm sure of it." Gesse said. why do I have a bad feeling about this?

fwish

"ABOVE!" I yell out at the top of my lungs at the sound of something moving from above me. All of us looked above then it was there. The fur has red streak-like blood on its body. Moving around the tree as it stares at us. And without warning, it jumped down toward elinalise. She raised her shield to protect herself, but the claw of that thing pierced through it like butter.

The impact of the exchange just now knocked her back but she used that momentum to jump away from it. " Damn! That hit hard! If I was empty hand, I would surely lose my arm." Elinalise said her arm got blood on her arm.

"Healing!" Zenith quickly heals Elinalise. The tiger was still cautious about us, but it quickly jumped away. The next moment Ghislaine appears on the spot but her slash misses.

"It dodges on instinct or predicts my move?" Ghislaine who just missed her attack instantly put more of her guard up. What is this? dodging a king-rank of a sword god school like that!

It was quick and had a good instinct to back it up.

"Earth Lance!" Talhand roared out as a lance made out of dirt shot up from the ground under the tiger. It dodged to the left, but the side of it got stabbed by one of the lances. it lost control of its body for a moment, and Paul, who waiting for this moment quickly shot toward it with his sword and slashed down.

The slash hit as blood came out from the place where it got cut. The Tiger roared out its roar was so loud that it felt like it shook the forest itself. As everyone was stunned by its roar, it jumped toward Zenith and me. With its claws out ready to slash toward us. Zenith starts to chant a barrier spell, but it is too late. The slash going to reach us first. Talhand is not fast enough to stop it. Ghislaine had already jumped toward us, but it was just one step away from reaching the tiger.

…Is this where I die? After surviving for more than two years, I will die like this? NO! If I was going to die anyway let me put up a fight!

I clenched my hand into a fist and raised it toward the claw coming after me.

Ah…maybe I'm crazy after all…What can a two-year-old do against that? and with bear hand to boot…Well, who will stay sane if you have to see a blood bath every day!

"Ha!" I feel my hand warm up as something rises inside me. I punch forward with everything I got. My punch collides with its claws. And a sudden boom blows away both the tiger and me.

"Gah! Kh…" Cough… Shit, blood coming out of my mouth? What the hell was that?

I slowly got up, but my leg gave out before I even stood. My vision is red, and I start to hyperventilate. Zenith ran toward me and started chanting the X-healing spell.

Ghislaine got blown away by my clash against the tiger too. But she quickly finished it off and then ran toward me too. She opened her eyepatch up and got a shocked look upon herself.

"No magic…" she muttered something, but I couldn't hear it clearly. Ah…going to black out again…

…..….

"Anashia…It's time to wake up, dear." A gentle voice that I never heard of spoke to me. I never heard of this voice before, but somehow it felt nostalgic.

"Just… two more minutes…" I speak out.

"No dear, it is time for you to wake up" A warm hand slowly caressed my face as my eyes slowly opened…

…

"Hah! ha…haa… What…?" I feel like I just woke up from a dream. I don't remember what it was about. "Urg…My head!" It hurt like it was splitting!

"Heal!" A soft voice rang next to me…The pain starts to ease up as I look at the woman next to me." Zenith…?" My eyes are unfocused. It's like I saw a slitting image of Zenith.

"Are you ok, dear? Don't get up so fast. You still hurt." Zenith said as she slowly put me on her lap again. "You're sweating a lot. Did you have a nightmare? Zenith asked as she slowly caressed my hair.

"N-no. I…don't know," I answered, but it still felt like something stuck in my mind.

"Anyway, I bet you're thirsty, right? Here have a cup of water," said Zenith as she handed me a cup. I grab it with my hand.

creak…

Hm? I look at where the sound came from. In my hand is a broken cup. and blood slowly leaks from it. "...Eh?"