Chapter 13:
Family and the Graduation
One morning a few days after that whole fiasco, Mom and I went to the clinic as usual. I thought I was pretty decent at the job, all things considered. I was mostly just used as a second pair of hands—but it was usually reserved to healing magic and healing magic only. Sometimes, Zenith would employ more Earth-like traditional medicine. Though, I didn't know much about it.
So I decided to spring that on her on the way to the clinic.
"Hey, Mom, why do you sometimes give your customers a bag of plants instead of using magic on them?" I asked, putting on my best clueless look.
"That's a good question, sweetie," Zenith said, patting my head. "Sometimes, people can't afford my services, so I use cheaper treatments for them."
Cheaper? Zenith and I usually charged at most a silver coin, which wasn't exactly that expensive. But thinking about it further, we did have a decent stream of customers on the daily. There was still a sizable minority of patients who paid for the traditional medicine as opposed to Healing Magic. When you factored in the fact that we sold some perfumes, it made sense that someone wouldn't want to pay full price for an injury like a small burn—something irritating enough for one to want treatment, but not debilitating enough to warrant paying the silver coin.
"Let me look at what the plants do!" I requested, peering up at her with my golden green eyes. My dear mom couldn't bear to say no when I looked at her like this, and I wanted to see just how far I could go learning about the more down-to-earth stuff. Besides, maybe I could open up a clinic or something myself if I learned enough.
"Just be careful, Lumi!" she wagged her finger. "I'll let you see, but some of the plants can be dangerous if you grab them with your hands!"
I perked up. Dangerous?
"See, this little flower here," she held up a bottle that held a floating flower inside of some clear-ish liquid, "is called the Vatrius plant. If you touch it, the pollen inside of it is very irritating to your skin. Your Mom here got a rash right on her cheek for a week!"
I giggled when she poked my left cheek. I could hardly imagine her with a rash, especially not on her glowingly beautiful face.
"But it is very, very valuable. Remember the first time I took you here? That's this same flower—the one that makes couples very lovey-dovey," she nodded to herself.
So that's why it felt familiar! She said it was a 'low-level aphrodisiac' at the time, probably using that big word to throw me off, in hindsight. Especially considering I definitely wouldn't want to explain what an aphrodisiac's function is to an eight-year-old.
But… if it was an aphrodisiac… Maybe this could be a business venture in the future!
"Mama… can I have a few seeds? I want to try gardening in the future… so can you get me the seeds for that flower?" I pointed to the Vatrius plant.
She pursed her lips. Was that a little too much? I could tell she was debating in her head whether or not to give me them. I was a genius in her eyes, so it probably wasn't out of the realm of possibility that I actually managed to grow them to maturity, so I could understand her hesitation.
Zenith sighed and held my face. "On one condition."
"What's that, Mama?" I asked.
"You have to show me how your garden is going so I can help you out. Come, let's wrap up! I already have a plot right next to the potatoes that I've been saving for a rainy day," she said with a smile.
I raised my arms victoriously and gave a yippie! to myself. She handed me a few seeds for later and started cleaning up. I, for one, wrapped my future business in Lilia's handkerchief and decided to stash them away for a keepsake.
"Um… Mama? Can I have some more? I dropped the others…" Please…! Zenith let out a suppressed sigh and looked at me with a look that said, "It hasn't even been a minute."
"Don't lose them again, silly," she said, handing me more seeds. I gratefully accepted them, since I was actually going to plant these.
I giggled to myself. I was the happiest girl in the world.
I had an epiphany one day. If magic could cure rotting and the like, surely it could create it. I'd never heard of anything doing that here aside from natural causes, but maybe if I employed what I knew about biology? It might be too far-fetched, but I wanted to experiment.
I got some fruit, free of blemishes. I set them down on my table and tried to do something. I cast detoxification but with small alterations, and nothing happened.
I had come into this thinking that my knowledge of biology would help me, but magic was completely out of the realm of science. Maybe I could apply physics or something to offensive magic, but going that route here was pointless. I did use some basic knowledge, though. So maybe it wasn't useless.
"I'm probably not going at this right," I said as I laid my head on the tabletop. Hmm. I didn't know exactly how magic worked, so I couldn't just reverse engineer. Maybe I could try…
I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on the effect of the detoxification magic. If I could at least grasp that, maybe I could see if there was anything I could do. It felt like tiny threads snapping into place, soft tissue being crumpled… all sorts of strange sensations. I tried to alter the thread feeling first.
I began to shift my area of concentration. It was beginning to stop feeling the way it did, and more like the threads were poking into something. It was hard to describe. When I opened my eyes, the previously clean fruit was now littered with dots all over its surface.
This was the first change I was able to make. This was a good start. I amplified certain parts of my mana to try to replicate what I had done. I ended up with a fruit full of blemishes and what looked to be mold.
I wanted to experiment further, but not on myself. I had enough of that with the healing magic. Just as I thought about experimenting on animals, I thought to myself. Is this… really humane? I mean, sure. I would improve a little and grow more powerful in the long run. But this skill was shaping up to be something an assassin would use.
Maybe my morals were skewed after not interacting with the outside world for nearly two decades. Anyway, I decided to stop experimenting. It just didn't feel right to test this on anything living, and I would probably hesitate to use it in a real conflict too.
I might come back to it but for now… I got out my diary. It had been several months since I had written in it, so I decided to flip through the pages. It was fun to look back on stuff that had transpired, so I had a nice time reading it. Oh, right. This tradition of mine.
K416 - Spring. Age 8: Skill log.
Swordplay - No skill, along with no Touki
Offensive Magic - Fire: Advanced; Water: Advanced; Wind: Saint; Earth: Advanced (All Incantationless)
Recovery Magic - Healing: Advanced. Detoxification: Advanced. (All Incantationless)
The only thing I'd improved over the past year was my practical use. I had managed to have a spar with Paul that lasted twelve minutes, which was some great progress compared to the first one that lasted less than a minute. That's all well and good.
I stepped outside to catch a breather.
"Haah…" I exhaled and looked out towards the distance. The landscape was pretty as always. The skies are such a nice, deep shade of cerulean, and… Was that red dot always there?
I noticed a dot in the sky that I probably wouldn't have caught if I wasn't focusing on the sky. That was odd. I told my father to come outside and see it.
"Do you have any idea what that is?" I asked.
"Hm. That doesn't look like the floating fortress… Maybe they're up to something in Roa. Who knows, kiddo." Paul said. Ah. That made sense.
"Wait… floating fortress?" I said, incredulous.
"Huh? You weren't paying attention to the bedtime stories? Does Perugius ring any bells?" He said.
"What? Those were real?" I asked.
"Of course, kiddo. Who could come up with a story as elaborate as that!" Paul said.
Well… I probably could… I think. Well, I guess I had to rethink what I knew about this world's history. The gist of what I knew was something about two human-demon wars, with one of them creating the ocean between the Central and Demon Continent. Three legendary heroes banded together to save the world from the evil Demon God Laplace… something about the Superds… Argh, I was never any good at history.
Well, I suppose the past of this world doesn't matter. Not like I'm going to be taking any final exams anytime soon.
"Lumi, let me tell you something. One day in the future, when you're grown up and mature, you'll have a spouse and kids that you must be prepared to defend. As long as you're cooped up without having grown out of your comfort zone, you'll become full of yourself. Trust me when I say I know that too well.
"If you were a boy, I'd try to get you into some swordsmanship. After all, magic is bad in close combat and can't keep up with fast-paced battles. But, since you're too small for that, and you don't want to pick up a sword, I guess there's nothing else I can do but bring you to a place where you can see, first hand, how dangerous things out there really are."
"Bwuh?!" I exclaimed at my father, who had just burst into my room while I was writing up a lesson plan for Sylphie, and sat down on my bed which was much too small for even his rear.
"Come along. You have much to learn," he said, grinning like he knew everything.
"Huh? Now?" I blinked twice, still a little startled.
"When else, kiddo! I'll wait for you downstairs."
"Gah! Can I bring Sylphie?!" I belted after him, sloppily slipping on my shoes and stumbling out of my room with my hand still smudged with ink.
"'Course you can! Laws told me to take her out one day anyway," he responded when we both arrived at the kitchen.
He took out his sword and sat near the fireplace.
"Lumi," he called my name, beckoning me to sit next to him. I perked up and plopped right down next to him, my cheek pressed against his arm.
"Yes?"
"You know…" he held a whetstone in his hand and began to sharpen the edge of his sword. "I know I said that magic can't keep up in close combat, but you're a little special. Remember how last afternoon you managed to catch me by surprise and almost got a hit in? That's how I know you're strong."
"Hm?" I hummed curiously. Hmph. If I was strong, I could beat you in a fight!
"And you're going to stay strong. But still, there are things in this world that will always take the strong by surprise, and that's why I want to take you out today. Oh, and, don't feel pressured to learn the sword. You're still young, Lumi, and there's plenty of time to learn if you want to."
While I was initially vehemently against learning the sword, it didn't exactly sound so horrible now that I was older and was running out of little things to do to pass the time. But still, I wanted to wait until after Sylphie's birthday to pick anything up, just to make sure I could put my whole attention on her. She was a sweet girl, so she deserved nothing less.
But I'm surprised. Paul is this considerate now… maybe he really has grown up since I was born, hehe.
I smiled. "Let's go then, Dad."
…
My dad's idea of danger was the wilderness that wasn't too far away from the edge of Buena Village. Apparently, things were really starting to ramp up around those forests that lined the more pastoral areas of Buena. Hot season for the monsters, Paul had said. Came as a surprise to me, too, since I thought monsters had no real rhyme or reason to them.
All three of us were on a horse riding toward one of the forests in question. I was sitting in front of my dad, basking in the flowery scent of Sylphie's hair as she sat in front of me holding on for dear life. Just how does she get her hair to smell so nice…
"Wuh… when are we getting there, M-Mister Paul?" she said through shaky breaths, her eyes probably closed.
"Just a few minutes by now. See those riders up ahead?" he pointed to a group of other people on horses who had already stopped. "That's our destination."
She yelped. She probably opened her eyes.
"It's alright, Sylphie, we'll get there soon," I ruffled her short hair, the same that was already starting to grow wavy and thick.
"O-Okay, if you say so."
When we got there, a friendly-looking man with a spear strapped to his back greeted Paul and shook his hand. Sylphie reflexively gripped onto my dress.
"Paul! Stoked to see ya around this edge of Buena. Been a heck of a time since you abandoned us for that rascal Laws," the man flashed a cheeky smile. "Anyhow, that's your daughter, huh?"
He looked at me with surprised eyes. My dad slapped my back softly and chortled. "Sure she is! Decided to bring her out for the day. Law's kid too."
Sylphie decided to take the opportunity and grabbed my hand. I smiled at her, and she gave me an uneasy smile back.
"Model father, aren't you?" he sighed. "You're not scared she's gonna get hurt?"
Yeah, Dad, maybe you should answer that. I wasn't complaining since I got to spend time with my dad for once, but it seemed like an interesting decision to take your eight-year-old daughter out to kill monsters.
"Relax. I'm not gonna make her hold a sword. Unless she wants to, of course," he grinned at me.
"Not today, Dad," I poked him in the stomach since I couldn't reach his chest just yet.
"Hahaha, Paul, your daughters got some real courage! You couldn't pay me to find a kid her age to poke Paul Greyrat in the stomach."
Don't hype him up that much. It took his six-year-old daughter to convince him not to cheat on his loving lovely wife. Hehe. What a piece of work.
"Hardly," Paul said, brandishing his sword and posing, a glimmering smirk on his face. "You flatter me, Johannes."
Sylphie let go of my hand, trotted over to Paul, and stabbed him right in the gut with her finger. Paul's expression crumbled.
I had to suppress the urge to burst out laughing, doubling over in my efforts.
"Bahahahah! Looks like I'm not gonna have to do any looking!" Johannes said, cracking up.
"G-Guh…" Paul sputtered. He looked so devastated.
"C'mon. Get your gear on, Greyrat."
Sylphie looked back at me with a contented smile and clutched my hand again when she reached me. I rubbed on her head and giggled.
"You goof."
…
"Paul! On your left!" Johannes yelled, impaling a giant Assault Wolf through the throat with his spear. Paul wordlessly followed his directions, pivoting and lobbing one's head off. He stepped forward with that momentum and slashed through another, picking up his pace and timing his attacks with Johannes as they fought together.
They were being attacked by a pack of those things, and they seemed to be focused on the bigger prey at the moment. I looked over at Sylphie and expected to have to console her, but she seemed oddly captivated. I decided to leave her to it since it was a pretty awesome sight to behold. Save for all the blood and gore, of course, but I guess Sylphie was no stranger to it as the daughter of a hunter.
I found myself gripped, too. Paul sliced and diced the ones Johannes couldn't move fast enough to impale, and Johannes impaled the ones Paul was too busy fighting to take care of. It was a really nice effort between the two of them. But it also wasn't too fast that I was not going to be able to understand. Paul fought firmly, with confidence in his strikes, and experienced footwork that let him evade even the harshest of bites and lunges.
But it was obvious he didn't need to use all of his effort here. I took it as a good sign that Paul used faster lunges and quicker pursuits when he was fighting me than these dogs. He held back even then, of course, so it really made me wonder just what Paul was really capable of doing.
Johannes was good, too, but I had a feeling he wasn't holding back the way Paul was. The man was sweating, albeit not much, but noticeably had sloppier handiwork than him. He got the job done perfectly, though, and matched Paul's stride perfectly.
You two get a 100 out of 100 from me.
The sun climbed through the sky, and soon the day had exhausted itself more than the two tired men in front of us.
"You two alright?" he asked me, wiping his forehead off with his shirt. Sylphie shielded her eyes from the sight of Paul's glistening abs under the setting sun.
"Of course we are, Dad. I brought us lunch and everything, so we're full," I beamed.
"Got any left?" he grinned.
"Didn't you eat with Johannes?" I scolded. He laughed sheepishly and thanked me graciously when I begrudgingly gave him a cold sandwich that Lilia helped me prepare in the morning.
"What about you, Sylphie?" he asked, munching on the sandwich.
"Huh? Me?" she prompted, breaking her out of whatever reverie she was in.
"Course."
"It was… cool," Sylphie said, in a firm voice. Her fingers fiddled with her skirt, her tell of being excited. It was cute as always, of course.
"Cool, eh?" he beamed, turning to me. "Anyways, what'd you get out of your cool father out there?"
"Hmm…" I pretended that I was thinking about it just to punctuate my words.
"That my dad's a million times better at fighting than being loyal to Mom," I grinned, covering Sylphie's ears without a peep of protest from her.
"You were supposed to forget about that!" he cried.
I giggled, letting go of Sylphie who looked at me confusedly. "I'm joking. I thought you were cool out there, too."
"That's… better," he rubbed the nape of his name shamefully. "Let's get going, girls. Your mom loves seeing me right after a good workout."
Gasp! Zenith, you dirty lady!
"Oh, yuck!" I stuck my tongue out in mock protest.
He slapped my back gently again and faced the horse. "You'll understand when you get a husband, Lumi."
He glanced at Sylphie and snorted. "Or wife."
I slammed my fists against his back harmlessly. "I get it, Just get. on. the. horse already!"
A year and a half passed without anything too big happening. It was now the fall of my ninth year here in this world.
We were all preparing for this one event: Sylphie was turning ten tomorrow, which meant it was time for her graduation. I had finally finished with her studies, after nearly four years. I taught everything I knew about magic to her, and she was near scholar levels of reading and writing.
I heard from Laws that apparently she was sometimes going out with him and Paul and staying after she delivered his lunch. That was all I knew, though. Maybe she was learning the sword! I'd like to think she would branch out on her own, but it was beyond me.
Norn was easing up to strangers and made it a point to call me Big Sis all day, every day. I thought I'd get tired of it, but I realized I only liked the name even more with each repetition. Gosh, so this is what it's like to have a little sister? I wanted to buy her a dress with my money, but I was still saving up.
Sirius, on the other hand, was struggling to learn how to mold clay. After he'd been pestering me all day, I finally gave in and whipped up some clay from the local river and tried making my own, too, while I was at it. Ultimately, river clay was easier to work with than Lumi-brand clay, but he still struggled with it. Well, he was just over four years old, so I didn't expect him to be good immediately. But he sure was fun to watch. At least he didn't throw hissy fits like Norn did occasionally, though.
Life was going without a hitch in sight. Sylphie's celebration was going to be on the smaller end, but I did want to give her something nice. She was my closest friend, and probably the person who relied on me the most. I had an idea of what I wanted to get her, but it was going to be hard to get, that was for sure.
I wanted to get her a ring. Not an engagement ring, but just a shimmering gem for her to wear. Just imagining Sylphie walking around with a ring from yours truly made me hold my chest in my arms and thank the heavens for her. But how was I going to get one here?
One Sunday, I was walking through the newly opened shops and was weighing my options. Maybe I needed to set my sights lower.
My thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice.
"Hey, it's you!" said the voice, enthusiastically.
I turned around to see the exotically dressed traveling merchant. She was the one I had bought Sylphie's wand from a couple of years back.
"C'mon, sweetie. You remember me, right? It's me, Meadow." She said, tilting her head.
Meadow? Her parents must've loved her to give her that good of a name.
"Oh, it's a pleasure to see you again. How have the years been treating you, Meadow?" I asked.
"Well enough. You've certainly grown up. It's only been two years and you've changed this much? You sure still are polite, though!" She said, and I smiled.
"Thank you!" I nodded. "Ah, right. I wanted to know if you sold any rings?" I asked.
Meadow widened her eyes and covered her mouth. She said, "Sweetheart, aren't you a little young to marry?"
"It's not like that! It's for a friend. A friend" I insisted, waving my arms around.
"Ah. A friend." She said, grinning. "Very well. But I regret to inform you that the only places that sell rings are in Roa. I don't carry such expensive things all the way out here. I'd get robbed by some bandits and kidnapped." She said, adjusting her glasses.
Roa. It was a half day's ride from here, and it was where the region's lord, or my great uncle, lived. I'd been meaning to visit for a long time now, but I had never gotten the chance. My parents had offered to take me there a few times, but I always declined in favor of hanging out with Sylphie or watching over the babies. Buying a present would be a great excuse.
Having made up my mind, I bid my farewells to the traveling merchant. I walked straight home, as the sun was going down. I greeted Lilia, and I noticed Paul was sitting down at the dinner table. He looked troubled.
"What's wrong, Father?" I asked.
He looked up at me. "The monsters are getting really feisty these days. I ought to tell Philip about this…" He said, trailing off at the end.
Philip was my father's cousin, who lived in Roa alongside the liege lord.
"Isn't Philip in Roa?" I asked curiously.
"Yeah. He's one of the reasons why I got this job in the first place. Hey, actually…" He said, brightening up. He seemed to be considering something, and then he made up his mind.
"Your mother was wondering if you would want to visit Roa with everyone. It would be in a month or two, and I have some things to attend to there anyway. What do you think?"
Ah, it was too perfect.
"I'd love to go!" I exclaimed.
Sylphie was now officially 10. That meant I had to prepare. Today was her graduation exam, after all. I couldn't slack off here. I threw my clothes on and grabbed my wand.
Everybody excluding Lilia and the toddlers was going to be attending. I was supposed to be going ahead to prepare a safe place for the spectators and to be there as early as possible.
Sylphie's parents were coming, too. Laws was naturally going to be there, of course, but I hadn't spoken much to her mother. Her name was Sylvie, and was apparently where Sylphie had gotten her beast folk blood from. Aside from that, I just wanted to make a good impression.
It was daybreak, so I ate a quick breakfast and told my parents that I was off. Thankfully, I was going to be taking a borrowed horse. Before this, my parents taught me the basics of riding a horse. At first, it was like the horse hated me. It always threw me off of it, and never let me guide it anywhere.
My height got in the way as well. But eventually, the horse got used to me. I remember collapsing after a whole day of riding around the hillsides.
On foot, the whole journey to the graduation area would take me half a day. When I got there, it was nearly noon. I was on time.
I began casting seats and created a large earth fortress for protection's sake. The spell was going to be directed away from the audience, but it was better safe than sorry.
In the small handbook I had bought titled Reaching Saint-tier Heights, there were three saint-tier spells. Those were Tornado, Flash Over, and Cumulonimbus; all spells of their respective schools. Sylphie used to have a natural aversion to Fire spells, but after years of tutoring, she was fine. I wanted her to graduate by casting a Fire Saint-tier spell, so I had brought the handbook with me.
Soon after I was finished with my miniature auditorium, everyone else arrived. Sylphie was looking fidgety, and everyone else was chatting away. The audience consisted of Paul, Zenith, Laws, Sylphie's mother, and a few other people they were acquainted with.
I walked up to Sylphie. She looked away. I knew what this was. Good old stage fright, but on another level.
"Are you nervous, Phi?" I asked.
She timidly replied, "A little…" She hung her head down.
"I know you can do it. I'm here just in case, okay?" I tried to reassure her.
"O-okay… But if I can't do it just promise me that you won't laugh at me." She looked up at me, with her face filled with anxiety.
"I promise," I said, and pulled her into a hug. That was when I noticed that everyone was watching us. Paul had a grin on his face. Zenith and Sylphie's mother were smiling at each other. Laws was just chuckling.
I pulled away from the embrace and patted her head. "You can do this, alright?" She nodded.
"Well, everyone should be seated. Please remember to stay within the fortress, as you could be hurt pretty badly if you're careless. Anyways, thank you for attending my wonderful student's graduation. She was the best pupil I could have asked for, and an amazing companion. Today, she will be attempting to cast the Saint-tier fire spell, Flash Over." I walked over to Sylphie.
I whispered in her ear, "Good luck." and I stepped back.
She timidly began to chant. "I pray to the heavenly spear of flame. Turn the land from here to the horizon into ash and cinder. Oh great spirit of hell, I call upon you to strike the earth with your wickedness, so that none who witness the sight of your hellfire shall be able to forget–Flash Over!"
Sylphie chanted with determination in her voice. Suddenly, within the blink of an eye, a red flare shot from her wand, and then the land lit up. Everything from the bottom of the hill we were watching from, to the distant fields, were burning.
"Congratulations, Sylphie. You are now a Saint-tier fire mage." I said, pride in my voice and my eyes beginning to tear up. She had grown so much, and I could watch it all. Gosh, it was almost too much to bear. What a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Sylphie cried out and ran towards me.
She embraced me tightly, and said in-between sobs, "Thank…hic…you, Lumi! Thank you…So much! This means…hic…the world to me…Thank you…" She said, burying her head in my chest.
Ah, so that's what that feeling was. It was certainly, definitely, absolutely love. All sorts of different love. I wasn't sure if it was romantic love, but I knew that I loved her. And that was what mattered to me.
I silently cast a rainstorm to put out the fires, and Sylphie went to hug her parents.
Paul came over to me. "Well, kiddo. Looks like you did well." He said, pridefully. "Just what I'd expect from my daughter."
"No, it wasn't all me. Phi was an extraordinary student, through and through." I said, nodding.
"Ah, just like you to be humble. Well, whatever." He hugged me, and said, "You did good, kid. Be proud of yourself, alright?" I nodded in reply.
That night, we held Sylphie's graduation party. It was a great time, and she got many gifts. But my gift would have to wait.
Little did I know just how much her gift would change my life.
Author's Notes:
Stay tuned! Updated November 24th, 2024