Chapter 16:
Presents and Promises

I had almost forgotten. I mean, I didn't blame myself or anything. I did almost get killed after all. I had forgotten that the whole reason I wanted to visit Roa was to buy Sylphie a ring for her birthday. I had promised that I'd never leave her side, so I could make this a token of how much I meant it.

And so, I set out with Ghislaine. Ghislaine looked a little off today, but I didn't pay it any mind. She was probably just on the lookout for any other kidnappers.

"Ghislaine, do you know anywhere that sells jewelry?" I asked, looking up at her.

"Ah, yeah. I know some places in the mercantile district. I'll lead you to it."

Ghislaine and I walked out of the upper-class residential area, and made it to the plaza. From there, we waded through the crowd of people, and got to our destination. The mercantile district was a bunch of winding streets, with shops and stalls lining the sides. All the wares here were very high-class.

"Ah, it's Ghislaine. Nice to see you around here." An old man called out to Ghislaine. He was running a shop which was selling items that looked like antiques.

I took a look at what he was selling. It was a bunch of random stuff, from tableware, to utensils, to rustic looking candle holders. I probably couldn't find much use with anything here, so I just smiled at the man. "Have a nice day," I said, moving on.

"Lumina. Over here." Ghislaine said, motioning to a shop. She went inside, so I followed her in.

"Ghislaine! Here to pick up some items for the young lord?" A young man dressed in a black suit greeted Ghislaine.

"Nah, not today. I'm actually escorting my old friend's daughter here. Mind if she takes a look around?" Ghislaine said, pointing at me.

"Of course not." He said, and walked over to me. "What are you looking for today, miss?" He smiled.

"I was wondering if you had any rings for sale? I only have one gold coin to spend, though." I said, looking at the jewelry. He walked over to a table, and pointed at it. "Here's some rings and necklaces around that price range. Take your time looking around so you can find the right one."

I began browsing through the rings. I saw a few I thought were nice, like a ring with 7 red gemstones, but I sighed when I saw the price tag. I was beginning to wonder if one gold coin was even enough to pay for a good one.

That was when I found it. It was a silver ring, holding a brilliant white seven-sided gem on top of it. Best of all, it cost exactly one gold coin. I could afford it, and still have a few silver coins left.

"I'll take this one." I announced. The man walked over, and placed the ring into a box.

"I hope you and this person find happiness together." He said, smiling warmly. My face flushed, and I handed over the money.


We made our way back to the manor. The sun was going down.

"Hey, it's around time for dinner, isn't it?" I asked Ghislaine.

"Ah… yes." She glanced at the sky, and then exhaled. She'd been really fidgety the whole way back. I thought it was just Ghislaine being Ghislaine, but I guess not. What was up with her today, anyways?

"W-well, let's go inside." She guided me to the dining hall. This was a little strange, since usually we had to wait until a maid told us when dinner was ready. I shrugged it off.

I entered the dining hall to a burst of applause.

"Huh?" I said, confused. There were so many people I didn't know here, but they all seemed to be congratulating me on something. The dining room was decorated, with an assortment of all sorts of foods I had never seen before.

I turned around to see Ghislaine clapping, a smile on her face.

"What's…this all about?" I asked. Was there something special going on today? I racked my brain for an answer, but I came up dry.
Sylphie came running up to me, with a bouquet of what looked to be tulips.

"Happy birthday, Lumi!" She exclaimed, and handed me the bouquet.

"That was today?" I asked, taking the bouquet in my hands. I looked around the room. So many people had gathered here, and I could see my family off to the side, with smiles on their faces.

"I…Thank you all so much!" I exclaimed, tearing up.

Philip stepped forward, and raised his wine glass. "The gift!" He declared. Two butlers brought him a large staff, which was wrapped in black and red cloth.

"This is your birthday present. I owed your father a favor, so I figured this would be the least I could do. Happy birthday, Lumina." Philip said.

The butler bowed in front of me, and said, "For Mistress Lumina's sake, we gathered the finest materials from across the world, and managed to get this staff fashioned for you by the Asura Kingdom's most prominent staff-maker."

The staff was made out of dark wood, and was tough as nails. At the tip of the staff was a large, almost radiant light green mana crystal. Even the smallest crystals I had seen were a silver coin at least. This one was as big as my fist.

I didn't know much about staffs. But, I knew that the larger and more high quality its crystal was, the more effective any spells cast from it were. There were many grades of magic crystal, the way a gem would be evaluated by karats in my old world. But, one thing stayed true. A crystal's cost shot up dramatically the more transparent and effective it was.

That meant that this staff was easily worth more than fifty, no, a hundred gold pieces. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. It screamed refined in so many ways.

"Amazing…" I said, examining it.

"I see you've taken a liking to it. Alphonse, if you would inquire about its origins." Philip said, looking pleased.

"Yes, Young Master. The wood which was used to craft the staff was harvested from a living Elder Treant in the Great Forest of the Millis continent. An Elder Treant is a higher subspecies of the lesser Treant, born from the nourishment of the fairy spring. An A-rank species which controls Water and Wind magic. It should suit you in that regard, as you are a Saint-tier Wind mage."

"The ultramarine crystal comes from the northern part of the Begaritt Continent, collected from the remains of a High Griffin. An A-class item. The crafter and refiner of it is the Magical Implement Director of the Asura Royal Palace's Mage Guild, Chein Procyon."
Incredible. Had Paul told them about my Saint-tier status? Did I really deserve such an insanely expensive gift?

"Please accept this gift." The butler handed it off to Philip, and he offered it to me.

Oh, whatever. Why would I need to worry about deserving the gift if they had already gone through the effort of creating it for me? I was thankful for it, so I took it in my hands.

"Its name is Tailwind Zephyr–Wyvern's Exhale."

Whoa, even the name sounded cool. The RPG loving parts of my brain were tingling in excitement.

"Thank you! For the party, and the gift!" I said. He smiled.

I looked into his eyes, and saw there was something else going on. An ulterior motive. You're being paranoid, again. Just live in the moment, Lumi!

"Very well. Let us start the party!" He said, and took a sip from his wine glass. Music started playing, and the celebration began.


My parents rushed over to me.

"Congratulations, Lumi. You're ten now!" My mother exclaimed, hugging me. "I hope you take good care of that staff, alright Lumi?" She looked at me, smiling.

"Of course, mama." I said, grinning.

Paul patted me on the head. "Congrats, kiddo." He smiled, looking prideful. "Thank you so much for the party, father!" He chuckled and shook his head. "Nah, it was all Philip. I couldn't have prepared something like this no matter how hard I tried. Good thing I still had one card left to put down, otherwise this all couldn't have happened."

Philip must've owed Paul a hell of a favor, then. Paul nudged me towards the rest of the dining hall. "Well, enjoy the party! It's for you, after all! Go and talk to some girls your age. But do watch out for boys, some of the brats here are real nasty. Also, don't talk to anyone who has Boreas in their name. Aside from Philip and his family here, of course."

I raised my eyebrow at that last part. He did have a point, though. If the rest of the Boreas were like Paul had described before, I definitely didn't want to get myself involved.

So, I decided to go on a pastry eating spree.

The food was amazing. I'd never tasted anything like it, seriously. I picked up a slice of cake, and took a bite of it. It had such a nice tart texture and was as sweet as honey. It was bliss.

So bliss, in fact, that I hadn't even noticed that there was someone in front of me.

"May I have this dance?" He asked, bowing.

There was a red haired boy, in a white suit wearing a red vest. He looked to be older than me by two or three years. My first impression of him was "intense." But there was something familiar about him.

"Hey…aren't you…" I began to ask.

"I don't believe we've met before, young miss. May I ask for your name?" He offered, gazing at me with his crimson red eyes. I felt like my heart skipped a beat, but I could've been mistaken.
"M-my name's Lumina Greyrat." I stammered out.

"A wonderful name. Fitting for a beauty like you." He said, smiling. He was definitely hitting on me.

"My name is Ares. Nice to meet you, Lumina." He held out his hand, and motioned towards the middle of the dining room.

"I…" I struggled to say something. I've never danced in public before…

Lilia had taught me how to dance before, but I wasn't confident I could dance in front of so many people. I shook my head. Live in the moment!

"Alright. Thank you." I grabbed hold of his hand.

A song with a fast paced rhythm began to play. Ares got into a flow, and I followed his example. He was quite skilled, and was dancing gracefully. People began to gather to watch us.

I was struggling to follow along to his beat. I managed to mask my clumsy moves by following them up with a motion that took attention off of them. That was until I stepped on his foot.

"Oh," He said, surprised. We continued to dance. My cheeks flushed in embarrassment. "I'm sorry," I whispered. He shook his head. "I did that all the time when I was starting out. Nothing to worry about." He reassured me, and we ended the dance there. People began clapping, and then they went back to business as usual.

We went off to the side. "Well, you aren't like most girls I've seen having celebrations like this. You're a Greyrat, you say?" He looked at me.

"Yes, I am. What about it?" I asked, puzzled.

"Ah, it's nothing." He looked away. "I hear there are some nice inns around the noble's district. Would you like it if we headed to one of those for the night?" He asked, grinning.

Ah. He's one of those. "I'm sorry. I'm not really that interested." I said.

He sighed. He whispered under his breath, "Would've liked to enjoy myself here before I departed." He bowed, and said, "It was nice to meet you, Lumina." He then wandered off.

I should be careful of people like him. Who knows if I'll… wait, wasn't there something I had to ask him about that day, before I got kidnapped!

"Wait!" I said, and began to look around the room for him, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Seriously, what was up with him…" I muttered.


The party had long since winded down, and I was tired. I was finished with my pastry spree, and was full. I exited the dining hall, and made my way to my guest room.

There, I found Sylphie laying on my bed.

"Hey, Phi. Are you awake?" I asked. Her eyes fluttered open. She sat up, and patted the space beside her.

I walked over, and took off my dress. I was wearing simple clothes underneath, so I could probably sleep in them comfortably. I checked my pockets, and then I found the box. The one with Sylphie's ring.

"Phi. I want to give you something, since I couldn't get it to you during your birthday celebration." Her ears perked up.

"What could it be?" She asked, curiously.

I held out the box, and opened it in front of her.

"Y-you want me to be your…bride?!" Sylphie exclaimed. "It's a bit too early for that, Lumi!" Her face was beet red, and her ears were turning red too.

"I-I know that! It's not an engagement ring, silly. This is just to show that I'll always be there for you, Phi." I handed the ring to her.

"It's such a pretty color…" She admired the ring, and put it on her ring finger. She looked up at me. "Thanks, Lumi. I'll keep it with me for the rest of my life, so please stay with me." She gazed at me, longingly.

"Of course I'll stay with you, Sylphie. I love you."

That night, I had a dreamless sleep.

Author's Note:
Thank you for reading. Cannot wait to write the next chapter! hope youre as excited as I am for Turning Point 1