Aetheria - Chapter 8

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Chapter 8
–A Walk Around Town– 

“It is good that you were able to make a good impression. I am happy for you. And, as usual, I’m amazed at the speed with which your mana-control is improving,” Reina said and looked down at me from under her parasol as we walked.

"Miss Reina, I noticed that Miss Dansby addressed you as ‘Lady Reina’. So, I was wondering what the proper way to address a noble lady like yourself is?" I asked. Reina didn’t seem to take offense at how I was addressing her, but it didn’t hurt to ask, and I was curious.

“Other than royalty, which are addressed with ‘Your Highness’ and such, it is normal to address nobles as ‘Lord’ or ‘Lady’ and their given name or, when engaged in official duties, the name of the holding they have been assigned. Sometimes, the house name is used if the person is the head of the house, married to the head of the house, or the given name is not known,” Miss…Lady Reina explained.

“Are there special cases or other situations that I should be aware of?” Surely, etiquette and addressing nobility was more complicated than just that.

“Well, I can think of some other usages just off the top of my head. For example, some school teachers at the Royal Academy address their students by their house name since it would be unusual to have more than one student from the same family in a particular year.

"On the other hand, noble children tend to be called by their given names by peers, and ‘young master’ by those of lower status. Though it is usually fine to address noble girls who are not the designated heir as ‘miss’ and their given name. That manner is also a polite way to address a woman of commoner status. Men of commoner status can be addressed with, ‘Mister’ but that would generally not be acceptable address toward a nobleman.

"If you are unsure of a person’s status then, in most cases, ‘sir’, ‘ma’am’, or ‘madam’ is fine. Note that ‘sir’ is the formal address for male knights and Baronets, not ‘Lord’. So, think you can remember all of that?” Reina asked me with a laugh.

“Yes, Lady Reina, I’ll do my best,” I replied with a nod.

“You know… if it is not too soon for you, it would be fine for you to refer to me and ‘mom’ and Kyle as ‘dad’,” Reina recommended.

“Ah…I’ll try to think about it, Lady Reina,” I said carefully.

“That’s not a very cute reply, you know,” Reina chided.

“I’m sorry. Um, so would Mr. Kyle be ‘Lord Kyle’?” I asked.

“I am sure Kyle would get a laugh out of it, but no, he is not a noble so that would be inappropriate. ‘Mr. Kyle’ would be fine, if you are not comfortable addressing him as ‘dad’ or ‘father’,” Reina said with amusement.

Soon after the Heartwood farm passed out of sight, the Dansby orchards came into view on the left. The orchards were a spectacular sight and my eyes were rewarded with an explosion of pink and white blossoms, as row upon row of fruit trees were blooming to welcome the spring.

Which made me wonder where the ripe apples came from…

“Say, Lady Reina, if the trees are just flowering now, where did those apples come from?”

“My, my. You really are sharp. I gave the Dansby family a magic bag enchanted with Space-Time magic a while back. It allows them to store the apples over the winter without spoiling. You see, my magic bags are a bit special. A normal magic bag just stores things in a temporary pocket dimension thereby allowing the bag to weightlessly carry more items than would normally fit inside. My bags not only do that, but they also stop the passage of time for items contained in the pocket dimension. Living things tend to disrupt the time-stop effect, but it works on plants most of the time for some reason,” Reina explained.

“Magic bags sound really useful. It would be convenient to keep foraged items and hunted beasts fresh, even if a buyer can’t be found right away, and I wouldn’t have to return after hunting only a single beast,” I analyzed while thinking about the possibilities.

“Hmm… I do have a defective space-time bag that I could give you. It is not really okay to sell because I used inferior materials, and I designed the enchantment poorly, so it draws mana from the wearer to maintain the pocket dimension. Unfortunately, that particular bag would suck the average person dry in less than a day. But for you, I think the amount of mana would be fine. You would just have to do a little extra meditating each day. That the size of the bag’s pocket dimension can be increased by adding mana might also be useful to you. What do you think?” Reina offered.

“I think it would be amazing! I’d love to be able to use it!” I answered excitedly. Having a magic bag like that would make it a lot easier to help Alisha earn the money for her job change.

“Okay. The bag is in the basement armory, so I will get it for you when we get back home this evening. You can use it to store your things until Kyle makes you a storage chest like the ones Jake and Alisha have,” Reina said and nodded to herself.

“Thanks, Lady Reina,” I said gratefully.

“You are welcome, of course.” Reina gazed over at the blossoming trees. “The Dansby orchard really is pretty this time of year…”

I agreed, “I’ve never seen anything like it, either.”

“By the way, speaking of the Dansbys, both of their daughters seemed to have taken a liking to you,” Reina said with a slight smile as she glanced my way to see my response.

“I did notice Emma’s reaction, and I won’t deny that I have some interest in making a good impression with an eye toward the future, but in Ria’s case, 11 years from now is awfully far away, you know,” I admitted. 

“Ah, but giving them each magic trees to plant is genius. As they watch the trees grow over the years, they will think of you. Already, poor Ria was watching your every move. Haha, I think Alisha may have it right: you are definitely going to be stabbed someday. And not just the girls. I am sure the boys will be driven to desperate measures if no matter what they do, all the girls only have eyes for you, Raithe,” Reina warned me cheerfully.

It was definitely true.

But that was not what I wanted to discuss with Reina. I was worried that Ria’s mana-affinity and natural talent might soon make her a risk to herself and to others.

“There was something else, Lady Reina. While initially I was just looking to practice my Nature-magic, I found another reason to want to infuse Ria’s apple with Nature-mana and to give her a magic sapling.”

“Oh?” Reina inquired with a raised eyebrow.

I quickly continued, “I’m guessing that the reason you agreed to take Ellise on as an apprentice so easily is because you noticed her magic potential and her dual-affinity for Light and Water. With that in mind, I’m certain that you also noticed Ria’s unfortunate mana-affinity and that her potential is on another level apart from Ellise’s entirely. I was hoping that by exposing her to Nature-mana, she might be able to use magic for things other than destruction in the future.”

Reina stopped and turned to address me, clearly surprised, “I’m honestly stunned that you have progressed this far with your mana-sensing in only two days. Your worries are not unfounded, but not everyone can learn magic as easily as you have. There should be some time yet before Ria is able to manifest her magic. In any case, I was planning to discuss some options with Lucy for addressing Ria's situation sometime soon.”

Reina started walking again, and I noticed that the Dansby orchard and its rows of pinks, whites, and other colors had receded behind the more usual greens and browns of the spring forest while we were talking.

“Lady Reina, you may not have as much time as expected when it comes to Ria. I don’t think she was looking at me, but rather my mana-barrier, and at the flows of mana that I was gathering and using. Part of what made me suspicious, was how she stared intently while I was meditating and infusing the apple with mana. Wouldn’t a normal five-year-old get bored and say something or complain? If she’s already unlocked the ability to sense mana, or if she can actually see mana, then…,” I let my voice trail off, having already finished the point I was intending to make.

“Well, there’s no need to worry about it too much, unlike you and Alisha, there’s no need to have Ria train under hot-blooded dwarves like those ridiculous Dragonhammer brothers, Gerrick and Thendar. Lady Odella or her daughter Lillith should be able to handle her initial training. Our resident Flame Knight, Varin Ashwood, is an option as well. Hmm, that reminds me. I promised to talk to you about what job you should change to. I have a book that will help us with that,” Reina said as she reached into her interior vest pocket as usual, but this time, instead of her notebook, she pulled out a large leather-bound book that was larger than her pocket and handled it to me.

Ah, her vest pocket has a magic bag…

I wondered how I didn't notice that the notebook from before didn't make an outline in the vest when she put it away. In any case, I opened the hefty tome and, after briefly browsing through the pages, I realized that it was a listing of jobs with details on their skills and prerequisites.

Oooh, this is useful.

Since it looked like I was being adopted into a noble family, I flipped to the section detailing the [Noble] job.

Let's see… the prerequisite was only to ‘obtain noble status.’ Gives a bonus to Charisma and Intelligence increases. The skills are [Sword], [Court Fashion], [Etiquette], [Social Skills], [Heraldry], [Intrigue], [Politics], [Presence], [Public Speaking], [Oratory], and [Pride].

Lots of skills, but that last one, seems more like a fault than a skill. Hmm…the description reads: ‘Pride - (Charisma) Pride in one's status, one's house, and one's accomplishments.’ Interesting. I guess it makes sense that it's Charisma-based, but I wonder what skilling it up does?

That aside, there are some really useful skills here. [Etiquette] and [Social Skills] look really important, also [Presence]—if I'm stuck as a child for a while, in order to be taken seriously I'm surely going to need ‘the ability to present oneself with poise and command the attention of others through shear sense of presence.’ 

Hmm… most of the [Noble] job skills are Charisma-based, with the exceptions being [Sword] (Agility), [Heraldry] (Intelligence), and [Intrigue] (Intelligence). Though I currently don't have any real weaknesses when it comes to my primary attributes, my only outstanding attribute is Intelligence, so I wonder what would be important to work on...

Suddenly, I stumbled and sprawled in the dirt spectacularly because I was focusing too much on reading and wasn't watching where I was going. The book skidded out of my hands, but luckily landed on the leather backing instead of on the pages. I was fine, since my mana-barrier kept me from taking damage to anything more than my pride.

"Raithe, try to use your mana-sensing to stay aware of your surroundings so we can continue walking while you look through the book. Hopefully, depending on how much you've improved, we might be able to change you to an advanced job which has better attribute increases and specialized skills,” Reina suggested.

“Ah, okay. I’ll try,” I replied, while getting back to my feet and dusting myself off. After retrieving the book, I jogged the short distance needed to catch up.

Reina continued her advice as she resumed walking leisurely, “For figuring out the job requirements, be aware that you gain a new job rank for every 50 levels you gain in that job's skills, and skill ranks are simply the skill level divided by 10. So, check your skills. An advanced job that I think would be of particular use to you in your training at this stage is [Martial Artist] and it just so happens that we have an S-rank master of martial-arts residing here in this village who can assist with your training.

“Also take a look at the titles and abilities from the different skill and job ranks. Gaining abilities and titles can be very useful. Unfortunately, that book is not complete yet. That particular book is the result of an ongoing collaborative project with the priests at the temple, and there are a lot of abilities and titles that are still unknown at the present time."

By the time Reina had finished her instructions, another farm was coming into view on the right, so I thought Reina would tell about the family living there, but even though the residents were busily working in the fields, Reina didn't seem particularly interested. Maybe she was thinking over something.

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I decided to try ‘seeing’ my surroundings with mana-sensing as Reina suggested. Closing my eyes, I cast out with my senses. Reina's position was easy enough to sense, but catching the nuance at the boundary where the ground and air met was tricky. Coordinating my feet with mana-sense instead of my visual sense was even trickier.

Argh. This is going to take a lot of concentration.

Once I was able to follow behind Reina without tripping too much, I tried opening my eyes while maintaining awareness of my surroundings. It was really hard, but I got the feeling that mastering this technique would have a strong impact on my combat abilities, and that motivated me to try harder.

"Lady Reina, what effect does a high or low primary attribute, for example Strength or Intelligence, have on skills that are associated with that attribute?" I asked.

"That is a very good question. Having a high attribute score will make you naturally talented in the associated skills and those skills will be easier to increase through training and experience. Simply put, the higher your attribute is, the faster the skill will level up. The difficulty factor for leveling skills increases with the level of the skill, so at higher levels of a skill, having high attributes and a leveling bonus from a corresponding job is very important," Reina explained.

Okay, that makes sense. Well guess I should pull up my skills first, since messing with the [Status Screen] will be more difficult once my hands are occupied holding the book open.

Skills
==Job skills==
Alchemy   Foraging            15 Assassin (Rank 1)   Ambush              11   Erase Presence      16   Critical Strike     12   Night Vision        21(1↑)   Blind Fighting      01(NEW) Bard   Acting              02(NEW)   Voice               02(NEW) Civil Officer   Planning            11 Commoner   Frugality           12   Prudence            14   Wickerwork          11 Dilettante   Flattery            02(NEW)   Flirting            03(NEW)   Romance             02(NEW) Diplomat   Empathy             12(1↑)   Composure           16(2↑)   Conversation        02(NEW)   Persuasion          02(NEW)   Listening           01(NEW) Faerie Mage (Rank 1)(1↑)   Faerie Language     13(3↑)   Faerie Magic        13(3↑)   Nature Magic        11(NEW)   Regeneration        22(1↑) Farmer   Butchering          13 Guide   Danger Sense        01(NEW)   Hiking              12   Weather             10 Guard   Patrol              12 Hunter (Rank 1)(Active)   Knife               15   Spear               12   Tracking            11   Trapping            11   Hunting             13   Detect Scent        10   Animal Calls        10   Wilderness Movement 14 Scout (Rank 1)   Alertness           11(1↑)   Hide                11   Sneak               12   Move Silently       13   Detect Noise        11 Mage (Rank 2)(1↑)   Arcane Knowledge    03(NEW)   Arcane Power        31(4↑)   Concentration       26(9↑)   Mana Control        22(20↑)   Mana Sense          33(10↑)   Meditation          22(12↑)   Fire Magic          01(NEW)   Earth Magic         02(NEW)   Wind Magic          02(NEW)	Magic Knight   Chantless Casting   03(NEW) Martial Artist   Mana Barrier        11(NEW) Merchant   Bartering           11 Noble   Court Fashion       01(NEW)   Etiquette           02(NEW) Physician   Animal Anatomy      11   Dispassion          12 Priest   Character           10   Willpower           11   Dedication          15(2↑) Scholar   General Knowledge   11(1↑)   Reading/Writing     14(3↑)   Mathematics         10 Seafarer   Swimming            11 Servant   Housekeeping        12(1↑)   Service             01(NEW)   Tolerance           02(NEW)   Patience            02(NEW) Spy   Infiltration        10   Observation         12 Student   Stress Management   02(NEW)   Memorization        01(NEW) Thief   Deceit              04(NEW) Tradesman   Work Ethic          02(NEW)   Materials Knowledge 11   Woodworking         13   Tailoring           11   Item Repair         10 Warrior   Body-Building       10   Courage             03(NEW)   Endurance           20(2↑)
==Racial skills==
Demon Shadow Affinity     25 Elf   Nature Affinity     21(1↑)   Earth Affinity      02(NEW)   Wind Affinity       01(NEW)	Elf (Continued)   Illusion Res.       10   Nature Mag. Res.    05(NEW)   Fairy Mag. Res.     05(NEW) Human   Common Language     72(2↑)
==General skills==
Athletics   Fitness             12   Running             11   Balance             10   Climbing            10   Jumping             10   Throwing            15	Combat   Attack              25   Defense             20   Counter             25   Blocking            15   Dodging             25   Ranged Accuracy     25

Wow. The [Skill Collector] blessing has really been going crazy. There's a ton of new skills. And some hefty increases to my magic-related skills as well. That twenty-point increase in [Mana Control] seems ridiculous…

Huh? I picked up a new Assassin skill, [Blind Fighting]: ‘(Agility) Skill at fighting when blinded or in the dark. Allows movement in the dark.’ Oh! I must've just gotten that when I was using my senses to follow Reina with my eyes closed. Neat.

Next is some [Bard] and [Dilettante] skills…ugh, those must be from the tea party disaster…and all the flirting I've been doing lately…sigh. The [Diplomat] skill increases are probably mostly from spending the day with Alisha and Reina. It's interesting that those skills got more modest increases than the magic skills received.

The magic skill increases really are incredible. I've ranked up to a Rank 1 [Faerie Mage] and a Rank 2 [Mage], and I'm only a few skill levels from [Mage] Rank 3! I wonder if I've gained new abilities or titles from my rank up?

Hmm… new titles…

Ah! I've gained a new blessing called [Friend of the Spirits]. It says: 'Spirits are more willing to respond to summons. Summoning mana cost lowered. Chance for a powerful spirit to come. Chance for more spirits to respond to summons.'

Whoa, Alisha thought that I might have received a blessing from that greater Earth spirit, but that's really incredible—though it might be troublesome if a greater spirit came when I was only trying to summon a lesser spirit.

Also, it looks like making those magic tree saplings raised my Nature-magic skill enough to gain the [Friend of the Forest] title. The title increases my [Nature Affinity], [Nature Magic Resistance], and grants me the ability to cast Basic Nature Magic spells.

Other skills of note… I gained a [Magic Knight] skill called [Chantless Casting], probably also from making the magic trees… hmm, and apparently my mana-barrier has a corresponding [Martial Artist] skill.

How about abilities?

Hmm… looks like I've gained several new passive abilities: [Basic Nature Magic], [Basic Mana Control], [Ranged Actualization] (Mana Control), [Improved Meditation I], [Body Awareness] (Concentration), [Pain Tolerance I] (Endurance), and [Improved Regeneration I].

The only new active-use abilities are the two meditation techniques, one for Wind-mana and one for Earth-mana, and [Transmute Mana], which says it was acquired upon reaching [Mage] rank 2. The [Transmute Mana] ability changes one type of mana into another, so it’s an ability that I’ve already gotten a lot of use out of.

I quickly checked my spell list and several new spells have been added:

Spells
Fairy Magic   Float   Breeze   Enchant   Animate   Summon Lesser Spirit   Dismiss Spirit Earth Magic   Empowerment of Earth	Fire Magic   Flame Arrow Nature Magic   Plant Growth   Bloom Wind Magic   Cutting Wind Advanced Magic   Explosion

Well that’s enough of looking at that stuff, I should get on with checking the [Martial Artist] job prerequisites in the Job book.

I flipped the book open again paged through the alphabetical entries.

Hmm… [Magic Artificer]—oh isn’t Reina an Artificer?—next, [Magic Blacksmith], [Magic Knight], and there it is: [Martial Artist].

Let’s see… for [Martial Artist] the requirements are: [Concentration] Rank 2, [Meditation] Rank 2, [Mana Control] Rank 2. Check, check, and check. Just barely, but it looks like I got each of those over level 20 just in time.

The job gives an attribute increase bonus to Strength, Agility, and Constitution, so that's not too shabby either. Oh! Would you look at that amazing skill list: [Air Jump], [Chi Blast], [Haste], [Mana Barrier], [Mana Edge], [Mana Strike], [Soul Forge], [Unarmed Combat]!

I already have [Mana Barrier] which is really useful, but the others are all incredible as well. [Air Jump] allows me to create footholds made of mana in mid-air and use them to jump off of. [Chi Blast] lets me shoot out highly destructive mana beams or something. [Mana Edge] lets me circulate my mana through a weapon and apply effects to the weapon’s attacks, and it works on throwing weapons as well.

[Mana Strike] sounds an awful lot like that "Earth Fist" thing that Alisha kept hitting me with. [Haste] allows me to use mana to overcome my physical and mental limits for brief periods of time, slowing my perception of reality and increasing my movement speed. I'm pretty sure Alisha used that one on me as well.

[Soul Forge] greatly increases my internal mana production rate. And finally, [Unarmed Combat], which says it increases my skill at attacking and defending with my hands and feet, includes techniques for redirecting energy flow and momentum, resulting in increases to [Attack], [Defense], [Counter Attack], [Block], and [Dodge].

Hmm… I'm noticing a pattern here with Alisha… didn't she say she went through some kind of hell training at the hands of a crazy Dragonhammer guy…? And Reina keeps mentioning this Dragonhammer guy… What'd she call him… Gerrick Dragonhammer the Mountain Crusher, was it?

Ugh, is it really okay for eight and nine-year-old kids to train martial arts with some guy who can crush mountains with his bare hands?! But those really are some awesome skills. Just imagining myself double jumping in mid-air, firing off chi beams and throwing mana-covered throwing-knives, I can't help but smile—It would be so cool! It might be worth going through hellish training to be able to do all that…

Well, I've got three years until I have to be ready for the Royal Academy, so maybe there's no rush, and it could be okay to spend some time working on increasing my physical, magical, and combat abilities. I would like to work on my [Noble] skills, but maybe it'll be enough for now if I just do a few sessions with Lady Plumbutton occasionally?

While I was lost in thought, the scenery around us changed dramatically as the forest gave way to the heart of the village.

I looked up and saw a gently rolling meadow spreading out before me, populated with colorful buildings made of stone and wood. I could tell immediately that this village was a much nicer place than dingy and drab Shadow Veil, where the buildings were mostly shacks and hovels.

Encouraged, I followed the road ahead with my eyes as it continued for a ways through a cluster of buildings and passed over a good-sized stream that meandered its way through the center of the village. Where the road crossed the stream, there was a large stone-paved bridge.

The bridge wasn’t the only large construction. A surprising number of large multi-story buildings could be found throughout the village. Several of the largest buildings in the village were near the bridge, standing as tall as three stories.
Three notably large buildings stood out even more than the ones near the bridge—a grand temple, a huge mansion, and a round building shaped like a witch’s hat—each sat atop large hills on the other side of the stream, looking down on the rest of the village.

Returning my gaze to the main road, I noticed that dirt paths branched off from the sides of the road here and there, leading between more modest buildings. Mixed in were a few odd buildings made almost entirely of glass panels and appeared to contain greenery inside.

Most of the buildings along these paths were not arranged to line up in row but were instead scattered about, as if each owner wanted to claim their own space and not crowd their neighbor.

A majority of the properties had fencing marking off the extent of the claimed land, with some even having decorative gardens and dirt training areas. Shade trees and small copses of forest remained speckled about here and there, and for the properties with sizable lawns, an occasional grazing goat could be seen.

Overall, the village laid out before me was quite the bucolic scene, but it was not without signs of industry, as there was smoke coming up from the chimneys of what looked like forges or kilns, and there were other buildings that looked like mills.

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While I was craning my neck and interestedly looking around, Reina continued to lead me along the main road as it sloped downward toward the village center. Soon, we were starting to pass by side paths, and up ahead I spotted a few stalls for selling things set up along either side of the road.

The scents of baked bread and well-seasoned cooked meats floated on the air as we drew near, and I somewhat expected that we would be accosted by greetings from the vendors, but they didn't seem all that interested in hawking their wares.

I guess when everyone knows each other and what was available for purchase, if someone wants something they just go to the vendor on their own.

Much of what was for sale was fresh produce probably from the nearby farms, but others were selling trinkets and handmade things, and prepared food such as grilled meat and vegetable kabobs, and freshly baked sweetbreads.

A few of the vendors looked curious to see a barefoot, hooded child following behind Reina while reading a leather-bound tome. I was sure that wasn't an everyday sight, but with the way no one was making a fuss, it was as if the vendors seemed content that they would find out about it soon enough. Reina nodded pleasantly to any greetings that did come our way, but quickly excused herself saying that we were in a hurry.

Since the time of day was now well into the afternoon, a fair number of people were milling about. Reading became much too difficult in this situation, so I closed the book and held it at my side as we walked. Seeing that, Reina asked me if I had found what I needed.

"I'm not sure. You asked about the [Martial Artist] job, and I do meet the requirements, and it does look really amazing. But since your family is a noble family, I was also looking at the [Noble] job, and there were also a lot of useful skills for that job as well. That was as far as I got before it became hard to concentrate on reading. And, I do want to look around some since this is my first time seeing the village…" I replied indecisively.

"I suppose that is to be expected. This village is going to be your new home after all. That said, it is great that you can do the [Martial Artist] job. Especially, since there are only a few jobs that have skills which increase your body's mana production. For example, you should already have the [Arcane Power] skill, which does increase your mana production, but also increases the rate at which you can use up your mana.

“Another is the [Priest] job's [Prayer] skill which allows you to generate mana through prayer in order to offer it up to the spirit or god that you are praying to. Many greater spirits replenish or grow their power by having followers pray at their shrines.

“The [Martial Artist] job has the [Soul Forge] skill which teaches you how to create a spiritual focal point within your body. The theory is complicated, but the effect is to unify the body and spirit into the task of continually creating mana for use by the body. Mastering it will greatly increase your internal mana production.

“Increasing your mana production means that you will have more mana available each day for learning and practicing magic. So, you can see how that would be helpful, right?" Reina explained.

Reina’s reasoning in favor of the [Martial Artist] job was persuasive. Especially since how fast I could replenish my mana would be a major bottleneck in my training right now. She clearly wanted to address that. I couldn't really say that I was all that interested in the [Priest] job, since I was leery of what the religious duties entailed, but I didn't want to rule it out if there were useful abilities to be obtained.

I nodded. "I see. That makes a lot of sense. Are there any other jobs I should consider?"
After considering for a moment, Reina replied, "For the more combat-oriented path, the [Warrior] job is the usual starting point, since that job would teach you basic battle awareness, increase your strength, and toughen up your body.

“Working on your physical abilities before your magic abilities become too strong can be helpful, because reliance on using mana to boost your capabilities can become an impediment to actually increasing your base physical abilities. Though in your case, the [Martial Artist] training will probably end up raising the [Warrior] job skills anyway and has slightly better physical attribute increase bonuses.

"For the magic-focused route, I would still recommend [Martial Artist] since you will increase your internal mana production like we discussed, and you will also increase your mana-control—not to mention, every mage should have some kind of non-magical way to protect him or herself when low on mana.

“For the stealthy route, I would recommend working on your [Scout] class skills early on, like Jake is doing now. Kyle could also help you out with your training in this case.

"If you want to apprentice to a tradesman such as a blacksmith for example, then the [Tradesman] job would make sense. For the merchant, civil officer, and civil engineering type paths, you probably want to start with [Scholar] to learn reading, writing, and math.

“For anything related to high-society or interacting with nobles and the like, the [Diplomat] and [Noble] jobs are a must. But even though I am adopting you into my family, formal approval of your noble status by the King's court might take some time. So, it may be a while before you become eligible for the [Noble] job. Does that help?”

I gave an affirmative reply and mulled over the choices. Honestly, it was kinda overwhelming to think about how wide-open my future path was.

While we were talking, we had walked most of the distance to the bridge. Just ahead, a packed dirt road headed off to the right and looking down it, I saw that the road went past a field with picnic tables on one side and larger field with bonfire pits and a stage on the other. A family with a toddler was having a meal at one of the several wood picnic tables.

Adjacent the field with the picnic tables, a well-worn dirt path led from the road to the double-doored entrance of the red two-storied Sir Drake’s General Store and Outfitters. The building had a large sign out front and large glass-paned windows that prominently displayed some of the store's featured items. The front of the store had a large balconied porch and a man could be seen chewing on a root of some kind and reading a book as he waited on one of the benches that sat to either side of the entrance.

Opposite the general store was an even larger building, a three-story building with stone cornerstones and foundation. The building had porch and balcony similar to the general goods store, with the main obvious differences being stone pillars instead of wood and an additional small, third-floor balcony. A wagon path that led around toward the back where an extensive training ground could be seen. The building’s broad double doors were held open with doorstops and the sign out front read, “Lostwood Adventurer’s Guild.”

Standing in front of the guild chatting amongst themselves was a group of teens, three boys and two girls, all dressed for combat. All five of them had a yellow bandana tied to their left arm with the end made to stick out like a small wing.

We were noticed by one of the girls who dressed in leather armor and was giving off a brash impression as she animatedly talked with her friends.

“Lady Reina! Thanks for your advice earlier—it really paid off!”

“Yeah, what Marren said! We went to the cliff area you recommended near the edge of Darkwood Forest and were able to successfully hunt the Wind Vultures using the method you taught us. And the guild is paying well for the parts too!” The leader-looking boy wearing leather armor augmented with metal plates in places excitedly explained.

“That’s great to hear. I am glad that I was able to be of help,” Reina responded sincerely.

The group had come up to us to express their thanks, and Reina had politely stopped to receive it. So, it was about then that they all noticed me.

“Hmm, who’s this cute barefoot kid with the pink hair peeking out?” The brash one, Marren, said as she bent over to see my face. She was wearing a headband with a metal forehead protector and had her brown hair tied out of the way in a high ponytail that hung over where the headband was tied in the back. Her face didn’t make much of an impression, but the spunky way she carried herself made her cute enough.

I looked over at Reina for confirmation on whether to introduce myself or not, and she nodded that it was okay, but motioned for me to keep my hood up.

“Hello, Miss Marren. My name is Raithe. I’m a hunter and will be joining the village. I hope you will help me out from time to time if you see me around,” I said politely and bowed slightly.

“Oh, this guy's a real smooth talker! Hi Raithe, I’m Marren, like you’ve already figured out, and this is my best friend, Skye,” Marren said, motioning to the other girl in the group who was also wearing leather armor but had a bow and dagger instead of daggers and a whip.

“Hi Raithe,” Skye said and waved from beside Marren. Unlike Marren who was only cute, Skye was pretty. She had clear blue eyes, slightly sun-kissed skin, and sandy-blonde hair worn with a forehead protector the same way as Marren’s. With the reliableness her expression gave off, my guess was that her role in the party was to serve as Marren’s limiter, putting the brakes on Marren’s obvious tendency toward excess.

Marren continued, “Even though we still kinda look like kids, we’re a real ‘D’-rank adventurer party called ‘Yellow Wing.’ We just moved here ourselves last month, so we’re pretty new to Lostwood as well, but it’s a really cool place with some amazing people living here. This village has even got a cave system just past the south guard post which takes you all the way into the monster-infested Darkwood forest!

“In any case, if you decide to become an adventurer and need help with your training or something, just let us know. I’m a rogue, and Skye here is a hunter just like you. [Rogue] is an advanced job that combines [Thief], [Scout], and [Spy] skills. So, I mostly sneak ahead and find monsters and traps before they get the jump on our party. I’m also good at opening locked chests and the like. But, that said, if you’ve got a legendary adventurer like Lady Reina over there training you, you’ll probably surpass us in no time. Hey! You guys, introduce yourselves too!”

The boys looked like they wanted to say something along the lines of, ‘if you’d shut up, we would!’ Hahaha.

“I’m Pace, the party leader. I’m a warrior currently, but I want to become a Knight, and then a Paladin, once I skill up. This guy here in the white robes, is my younger brother, Chester. He’s a Priest of Light and does the healing for our party,” said the guy wearing the piecemeal, metal-plated armor.

Pace had a sword long enough to use one-handed or two-handed and good-sized kite shield strapped to his back. He seemed like a friendly sort and talked to us respectfully with his helmet held under his arm. His short-cut, curly blonde hair was still wet with sweat and was sticking to his forehead.

“Hi Raithe, I’m Chester,” said the other curly blonde-haired boy with a nod. He really didn’t strike me as the type that would become an adventurer, rather he looked to be more of the harmless type that girls would tend to find adorably cute.

“Nice to meet you, Pace, Chester,” I replied with a nod and a cordial smile.

“Hi Raithe, I’m Zefris, a Wind-mage. Nice to meet you,” said the remaining party member. He was another short-haired boy—this time with a mousy bowl-cut brown hair—and looked to be the eldest of the five. Zefris was wearing robes similar to Chester but in gray with silver trim.

“Nice to meet you too, Zefris,” I replied.

“Well, if you will excuse us,” Reina ushered me along with her arm.

“See you round!” Marren called out as she waved.

I waved back, then hurried ahead in the direction I was being physically directed to.

Ahead on the bridge, there were three kids that looked around my age sitting on the bridge’s stone railing and fishing with a fishing rod. A wooden bucket sat beside them holding their catch. They had heard the conversation with the Yellow Wing adventurers and were now looking over their shoulders at us as we approached the bridge.

“Raithe, go ahead and introduce yourself to them. You can show your face but keep your hood most of the way up, if we draw too much attention, we will end up stuck here introducing you to half the village,” Reina said and gave me a little push on the back.

I walked ahead of Reina up the bridge’s gentle arch toward the three boys. It was more nerve-wracking than I thought it would be. Maybe because they were peers?

Ah, as I thought, I don’t really like dealing with people. I wonder why I was fine before, but I am uncomfortable now, I thought. Maybe because I was just going with the flow created by the adults before, and this time I’m approaching a group of peers on my own.

Seeing me coming to approach them, the dark-haired older boy handed the fishing rod over to the smallest of the boys and told him to take over for a while as he hopped down from the railing and faced me. The younger boy seemed delighted that he was getting a chance to use the fishing rod. The other boy hopped down as well, leaving the fishing entirely to the smallest kid.

All three kids were dressed in durable and inexpensive clothing similar to mine. Unlike me, they weren’t barefoot. They had on corded sandals that could be easily adjusted as their feet grew larger.
The two larger boys were well-muscled, likely from helping out with their parents’ work. Both had short hair, cut without much thought given to style. The smaller boy, who was still sitting on the railing and looking this way while holding the fishing rod, he gave off a different feel. His parents likely worked in a different, less physically demanding field of work. His sandy colored hair was styled, cut very short on the sides, but left with a moderate amount of length on top and had a small braided tail in the back.

“Sounded like you’re going to be a new kid staying in the village. We don’t get many new kids around here,” the older kid said as he looked me over.

There was no sense in not trying to make a good impression. I gathered up my courage, and after resettling my hood so that my face showed but my horns remained hidden, I introduced myself.

“Yes, that’s right. My name is Raithe. I’ll be staying at Alisha and Jake’s house.”

“Ooh, a pretty-boy. You look like a noble, but you sure don’t dress like one. Well, can’t really say that many of the noble families in this village do, with the exception of the Silverhawk and Plumbutton families. Just look at Darrius over there, his dad’s a noble,” the dark-haired boy said as he pointed back over his shoulder with his thumb. “Also, I’ve never seen a human kid with eyes and skin like yours, so I’m guessing you’re a demi-human.”

“I’m a faerie-kin. My mother was human villager from Shadow Veil village. I was told that I probably won’t be made a noble right away even if I’m adopted into a noble family, but I’d like to go to the Royal Academy in the capital, if I can,” I replied carefully. This much information should be okay, and even though the boy was a bit intimidating, I didn’t get the impression he was trying to bully me.

“You sure plan to do some difficult things. Those stuck-up aristocrats probably won't take kindly to a demi-human showing up at their school, but seems there’s a fair number of kids here who want to go as well. It might not be as terrible if you can take some friends with you. In any case, I’m Logan. My family runs the inn. Darrius, you’re planning to go to the Academy, right?” the dark-haired boy, Logan, said and turned to face the smaller boy who was still sitting on the stone railing.

“Yeah, probably. My dad said something about it being important to make connections with other noble families and something about arranging marriages. I guess he means that I need to go so that I can marry someone of higher status than me and raise the status of our family. Sounds like a pain though. I like it here, and most of the girls here are pretty enough, right?” Darrius said tentatively while working the fishing rod.

I nodded. “I think you’re right, Darrius. All of the girls that I’ve met so far seem nice, each in their own way.”

“Haha, well I guess you haven’t met Millicent yet then. Sure, she’s pretty enough, but her sneering personality is terrible. And then there’s poor Tulli. She’s a nice enough girl personality-wise, but her dad is Groder the butcher, and there’s no fixing that level of ugly. But, Darrius, since you’re eight, most of the noble girls here are older than you, and if you’re after status, aren’t you pretty much limited to Alisha and Fiona? Fiona is Millicent’s cousin. So, what if she turns out like that?” Logan said with a laugh.

“Well, I don’t dislike Alisha, and she gets along with my sister, but Alisha is definitely going to the Royal Academy. So, it’s not like I have a chance with her…,” Darrius trailed off disinterestedly.

“Seems you nobles have it tough in a different way. Anyway, Raithe, you’ve met Darrius. His family runs the apothecary. So, let me introduce my other friend. This here is Lucas. His family runs the saw mill,” Logan said and pointed to the brown-haired boy beside him.

“Yo, I’m Lucas. Nice to meet you,” he said and held out his hand for me to grasp. It was a greeting called a handshake, and this was the first time I’d been offered one since coming to Aetheria, but somehow, I knew what to do intuitively and firmly grasped his hand back.

“Nice to meet you, too,” I said and then released his hand. Logan didn’t seem to think the handshake was unusual, so I wondered if handshakes actually were a normal form of greeting in this world and whether no one had thought enough of the demon-kin Raithe to shake his hand before.

“You’ve got a surprisingly strong grip, Raithe. And your hand feels really hard too,” Lucas said approvingly.

“Ah, sorry about that, Lucas. Alisha’s mom was having me train my mana-control by protecting my feet while I walked, and I must’ve let my concentration slip,” I apologized slightly embarrassed.

“Wow, you can already do something like that? You should train to be a mage!” Suggested Logan who looked really surprised.

“Well there is that, but I’m a hunter right now, and I am thinking about training as a [Martial Artist]. The skills look really cool, but it seems kinda hard for kids our age. What do you guys think of the [Martial Artist] job?” I asked.

“I’ve never heard of it,” said Darrius.

“I heard the dwarves running the Blacksmith just past the bridge have rooms underground for training Dwarven martial arts!” Lucas whispered conspiratorially.

“That’s just children’s stories, Lucas!” Darrius exclaimed reprovingly.

We all looked over at the blacksmith's workshop up ahead on the right, where at this afternoon hour, we could see smoke billowing up from the chimneys of the forges and smelters. A faint clang, clang of hammering could be heard and a slightly acrid smell of burning coal and molten metal drifted our way as a spring breeze swirled about.

An underground training facility, huh. I wonder how that happened, I thought sarcastically as I peeked over at Reina, who was standing a ways away at the bridge’s opposite stone railing looking out over the meandering stream with the white parasol lazily resting against her shoulder. Alisha never said what was exchanged in order for the dwarves to agree to train her.

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“Hey guys, I’ve got the [Martial Artist] skills listed here if you wanna see?” I said and opened the book to show them.

Lucas and Logan crowded around. Darrius craned his neck hoping for a glimpse.

“So, you guys can read?” I asked.

“Yeah, most of us kids study at the temple in the morning. It’s free after all,” Logan said.

“Wow! These skills all sound so cool!” Lucas said excitedly.

“Right? That’s what I was thinking! What boy doesn’t want to be able to jump around in the air shooting mana beams from their hands!” I agreed.

“Woah, that would be cool! Kinda like Fiona’s mom Lady Sophia! She’s a knight in armor and everything, but she does these crazy moves during practice where she runs along walls and jumps off trees while doing these crazy-cool spinning attacks with a sword that’s as big as she is!” Logan was getting fired up too.

“Woah, Lady Sophia sounds so cool! I want to see that!” I said, my own excitement rising to the surface.

Darrius nodded emphatically, “Lady Sophia is so cool! My uncle, Sir Tobias Blackhand, is part of her adventurer party, Silverwing Rising. There’s Sir Varin Ashwood the Flame Knight and Sir Zell Blackmarsh the Shadow Knight as well. They are all elite members of the town guard and the Knight Order of Ellysia. Because they are so strong, they get sent on missions all over the kingdom!”

Wow, a Shadow Knight. I wonder if I can learn shadow magic from him?

“Hey, Raithe. If you learn this stuff, you gotta come and show us!” Said Logan seriously.

“Yeah! You’ve got to!” Agreed Lucas.

“Have you guys thought about becoming adventurers? What jobs would you normally train?” I asked.

“Yeah, I probably will. I’ve got my job set as [Servant] right now because I’m helping out around the inn, but I’ve been properly working on my physical strength by doing things like chopping wood. So, I’m thinking switching to [Warrior] and continuing to work on my physical attributes and skills like [Bodybuilding] and [Endurance] before deciding what I really want to do,” Logan replied thoughtfully.

“My parents made me set my job to [Tradesman], since they have me helping out with furniture making and things around the mill. [Scout], [Warrior], and [Hunter] are the usual jobs for newbie adventurers. [Mage] and [Priest] need special training. Currently, only a few of the older kids have been allowed to become adventurers. Really just the brewer’s oldest son, Heath, and his cousin Celeste are the only ones in the village right now. They’re 11. Heath is learning the [Warrior] job and Celeste is a [Mage]. As for Darrius, I’ll bet that he is already training to be an [Alchemist] like his dad,” Lucas explained.

“Yep. [Alchemist],” Darrius confirmed.

“Logan, you should consider the [Bard] job, since the two bards and their daughter Ilya are staying at your place,” said Lucas as he encouraged Logan.

“Haha, well Ilya certainly is pretty, but that singing and performing work isn’t for me, besides I’ve seen all the hard work that she and my sister Lyra have to put in everyday as part of their bard training,” Logan said with his hands up as if to ward off extra work, and Lucas laughed.

“Thanks guys, that helps me out. So how come you are fishing from the bridge?” I finally brought up the obvious question.

“Logan’s dad said he’d cook them for us if we brought him some fish!” Said Darrius excitedly.

“And this bridge is a great fishing spot, too. We’ve already caught four decent sized ones,” Logan explained.

“I still think the spot over by the mill is better,” Lucas complained.

“I think I got one!” Darrius yelled out as the rod gave a jerk. Logan and Lucas both rushed over to help him.

“Turn the reel! The reel!” Logan ordered, excitedly demonstrating the winding motion with his hand.

Darrius started frantically working the mechanical reel to wind in the fishing line.

“Wow, your rod has a mechanical winch?” I asked, surprised.

“Yeah! I bought it from the clockmaker’s shop down the road a ways. Isn’t it cool?!” Logan said, clearly proud of his fishing pole.

“Yeah. It really is amazing,” I agreed, impressed.

Shortly, the three added another hand-sized silver-scaled fish to the wood bucket filled with water and fish.

“Looks like the bucket is pretty full, so I think it’s time we get my dad to cook these! You wanna come too, Raithe?” Logan asked as he hefted the bucket.

“No, no. It’s fine, I didn’t help with the fish and Lady Reina is waiting for me,” I declined as they started off toward the large inn just passed the bridge on the left. I pulled my hood all the way back on and returned to Reina.

“So, did you have fun?” She asked.

“I was nervous at first, but they seem like good kids, and I was able to ask them about the jobs that the kids around here usually train. So, I think it was helpful,” I replied.

“I see. That is good then,” Reina said, and we resumed walking, following in the same direction that the three boys hurried off to. Up ahead, I could see them heading left along a side path as they walked around to the back of a huge building displaying a sign with a stylized black swan and the name, ‘The Black Swan’s Tale, Inn and Tavern.’

The inn was a huge building built similar to the Adventurer’s Guild with a stone foundation and stone corners adding sturdiness to the mostly wood construction. The porch and both second and third floor balconies wrapped all the way around the three-story building. A few couples were leisurely sipping drinks while sitting at the small tables placed around the porch.

A well-trampled path led from the road to the inn’s tavern entrance, and a second path, wide enough for a carriage, passed behind the inn to the stables behind. This carriage path continued on parallel to the stream providing access to a pair of houses before disappearing into the forest.

As we drew closer to the inn, the sound of clinking plates, music, and bar patrons could be heard through the open tavern door.

“What did you think of the Yellow Wing adventurers?” Reina asked.

“They seem like nice people. Maybe too nice to be adventurers. I thought their party was well-balanced with each member having a well-defined role, but they didn’t give the impression of seasoned adventurers at all,” I observed.

“Haha, I am sure they would be devastated to hear that coming from a child. They are young, but they do have some skill and are improving at a good pace. I think they could become an important asset to the village, and it would be good if they chose to make this village their home. You see, this village was only founded about 11 years ago, so most of the population is adults in their late twenties and thirties or children 10 years old and younger. Other than the orphans that Groder rescued, there are not many villagers in the in-between years approaching adulthood,” Reina explained.

As we were passing the inn and blacksmith, I noticed that the carriage-sized dirt path that ran past the inn was actually a proper road just like the one we were on, passing through from our right and left. In other words, there was a four-way intersection with roads leading away in each of the four cardinal directions.

On the left, the intersecting road—the carriage path—passed between the inn and a large, brick-and-stone-constructed, three-story building. The brick building had the same style windows as the other buildings, but above the front entrance was a large stained-glass window depicting a knight on horseback with a lance in one hand and a Silverhawk banner carried in the other.

Unlike the steepled roofs of most of the other buildings, this building had a roof that was flat topped with ramparts. There was a flag bearing a coat-of-arms of some kind flying from a pole mounted to the front of the building, and a sign out front designated the building to be the Governor’s Office. There was also what looked to be a community bulletin board with notices tacked up to it in front of the building.

Looking between the buildings, I could now see that the road branched off to its right after a ways and went up a tall hill to the iron fenced grounds of the huge mansion that I had spotted earlier. Most of the view of the mansion from where we were was blocked by Governor's Office, but it definitely looked to be the governing lord’s manor. I wondered if that was where the infamous Millicent lived.

Past the brick building was a slightly presumptuous-looking pale blue two story home with a white columned porch and balcony. The house had an extensive and immaculately maintained decorative garden, fenced in by brick pillars and an iron wrought fence that looked to be of similar design to the mansion on the hill but on a smaller scale.

The sign outside the house proclaimed the residence to be the location for Gisselle Plumbutton’s House of Fine Etiquette and Milton Plumbutton’s Town Newspaper. There was what could only be a newspaper selling-stand looking a bit lonely sitting outside the Plumbutton’s fence. Frankly, I was surprised that the house was painted pale blue and not plum color…

On the right-hand side, there was, of course, the Blacksmith's storefront and beyond it, the workshop with the smelters and forges. The intersecting road followed down near the stream passing a chimneyed building with pottery and bricks displayed outside and a mill that I spotted earlier. I thought I saw other storefronts down that way as well.

Opposite the mill another carriage-sized road split off and went behind a lightly forested hill with a fair amount of underbrush. The front-facing side of the hill was clear of trees and underbrush and atop it sat the crazy witch’s-hat-looking building.

The building was a purple-colored round building that looked to be two stories plus an attic with a black wood-shingle roof shaped like a floppy round pointy hat. The windows were round with wood frames and cross pieces, but unlike the glass panel windows on the other buildings, these windows were shutterless. The front door was shaped with a tall curved arch and painted bright blue. The wood trim on the building had been colored a lighter purple than the purple of the outer wall color. But if all of that wasn't enough to make the building stand out, the entire building appeared to have been twisted or warped by some kind of magic gone awry. There was a trail leading up to the building past a stylish wood sign on the hill. I squinted my eyes but couldn’t make out what was said on the sign from where we were.

In any case, that has to be a magic shop, right?

As we passed the intersecting road, the shop to our immediate right was a two-story building of similar construction to the general store. The wood had been dyed green and bundles of drying herbs were hung about drying racks on the porch. Potted plants and glass bottles lined ledges inside the windows. The neatly trimmed grassy area around of the shop was fenced off with a white picket fence and behind the store could be seen a wood-plank shack with a chimney that was probably used as a workshop. There was also an herb garden and a laundry line with laundry still drying on it. The sign out front said simply, ‘Apothecary’.

Ah, this is Darrius's house, I thought.

"Lady Reina, what stores are down that road that runs past the blacksmith?" I asked. The road wasn't in view anymore, but it couldn't hurt to ask.

"Past the blacksmith? There's a kiln, the grain mill, the butcher, the baker, the leatherworker, and some farms. When I send you out to pick up meat from the butcher, Groder, that's the way you'll go to get to him. Children tend to find him rather scary looking, so it might take some courage, but he was a friend during my adventuring days so try not to be too rude. Also, it would be good if you could become friends with his children."

"Okay, thanks, I'll remember," I said.

"By the way, what did you think of Odella's Shop of Grand Magicks sitting up on the hill back that way?" Reina asked me.

"Ah, so that was a magic shop. It was weird and maybe cool? I don't know, but it sure makes an impression and certainly looks like a magic shop, haha," I answered unguardedly.

"Haha, I see. When Odella asked me to make her shop go all warped and twisty, I thought it was silly, but I have to say that I rather enjoy the look now that some time has passed," Reina said with a laugh.

Ack. It was Reina's work… I should've known. That kind of shape could have only been done with magic, and who else around here is going to be that good at artificing.

The next shop, opposite the Plumbutton's house, also had a white picket fence squaring off the property—as did the other houses in the row. The shop’s large glass windows displayed a variety of attention-grabbing formal and casual clothing and the sign out front declared it to be Milene and Weslen, Tailors. Following the tailor shop was the clockwork shop that Logan had mentioned.

"Lady Reina, does Jake use a clockwork fishing pole with a reel like the one Logan had with him?" I asked.

"Hmm… I don't think so. But to be honest, I haven't really paid that much attention to it lately, since Kyle usually takes care of those kind of things. So, it's possible that he bought one recently, and I didn't notice. Here we are. The temple is up this path here," Reina said as she directed us away from the road and along the path to the temple.

The path was well-worn and led us up a different hill than the mansion was on. At the summit of this hill stood a grand stone and stained-glass building that could only be a temple.

Attached to the side of the temple was a large three-story annex with walls made of various sized stones mortared together and a wood shingle roof similar to those seen elsewhere in the village. The roof's peak ran along the length of the annex. Several chimneys could be seen poking out at somewhat fixed intervals and rows of rectangular glass-paned windows lined the walls. Young children could be seen playing in a yard nearby.

"Lady Reina, what's that building attached to the temple?" I asked.

"Hmm? That's the school and orphanage. The orphans originally living there have all grown up for the most part, so it is mainly used for schooling and to care for the children of families where both parents are working during the day.

“Taking care of the newborn children was a real problem when we first set up the village. Adrian got stuck with all the planning and clerk duties for the newly formed village, and he was pressuring everyone to hurry up and start families so that we could secure the village's future, but since most everyone had vital jobs to do, there was the question of who would take care of the children?
“And so, we expanded the orphanage to handle the schooling and childcare for the village's children," Reina explained

"Wow, that's pretty amazing. So, Alisha and Jake went there when they were little?” I asked.

“They have been educated at home for the most part. Kyle and I work out of our workshops at the house, and when needed I had a baby harness that I could use to bring them with me. Though I did let them attend when I was away on missions,” Reina clarified, and her expression softened as she reminisced about the past.

“I see—urg!” I cut off my reply mid-thought and a sound escaped my clenched teeth as a crushing pressure clamped down on my mana-barrier from all sides, and a searing pain burned throughout my body. I slumped down to my knees, doubling over from the suddenness of the pain.

“Raithe! Are you ok?!” Reina leaned over me concerned, her eyes wide with surprise.

I thought back to what just happened. There had been a bit of resistance as if I smacked up against something sort of like a wall, then it gave way like I’d slipped through a membrane of some kind. That was when the assault on my barrier and the pain began.

“Barrier. Is there a barrier here?” I managed through clenched teeth. I strengthened my own barrier and thickened it out past my body, which helped some, but I couldn’t completely block out all of the damage. As I began to use my senses to gauge how bad the situation was, I was amazed that I hadn’t noticed this huge concentration of Light-mana surrounding the temple.

“Yes. There’s an anti-demon barrier around the temple, but why would that—,” Reina started to ask, but I cut her off.

“It’s a problem. I never said my father was a Light faerie or anything like that. I got my Shadow-affinity from him,” I grunted out. Everything I said was completely true, but the impression given was deceiving for sure.

“Oh my. I figured since you had been to a temple before, that you would be fine. Should we leave the barrier…?” Reina was starting to look really concerned.

There were stone benches with shade trees placed at intervals along the path to assist the weak or infirm, if I could sit down for a few minutes I should be able to work something out. The last thing I wanted to hear was the dreaded, ‘maybe we should do this another day.’

“If we sit at the bench for a while, I think I’ll be okay,” I said and pointed at the bench.

Reina wasted no time in whisking me up and carrying me over to the bench. I forced myself into a meditation posture sitting on the bench with my legs crossed. Closing my eyes, I started weaving vines of Nature-mana throughout my body to help my natural regeneration to better keep pace with the damage I was receiving.

“How is it?” Reina asked as she took a seat next to me.

My health points had stopped decreasing but stamina and mana usage would become critical if we stayed too long, maybe a half-hour at most would be doable.

“Manageable, I think,” I replied.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, there’s a few more things I can try. Mana usage might be an issue though,” I said. I was getting used to the pain, or rather I was getting better at functioning even though everything hurt.

“…okay. Don’t try anything too reckless. I do have some mana and health potions on me if it comes to that,” she said and gave me a slight nod.

Hmm…what to do. The most obvious solution would be to use Shadow-mana to absorb the Light-mana, but that would probably be really mana-intensive, and I have no idea how to manifest Shadow-mana.

I could try using Raithe’s memories to build up my feelings of resentment and hopelessness, but I don’t even know if that’s how Shadow-magic works, and if I increase my Shadow-affinity won’t I take even more damage?

What about other elements? Water reflects light…maybe ice even more so, but there is the same problem: I don’t know how to generate Water-mana. Wind doesn’t seem like it would be useful. Earth-magic can harden my skin, but that doesn’t seem helpful either.

Hmm… what about Nature? …don’t plants use their leaves to absorb sunlight? Maybe I can use the properties of Nature to successfully harvest the Light-mana? Seems worth a try.

I envisioned the mana-vines throughout my body sprouting leaves and reaching toward the Light-mana to draw it in along the vines and into my core. The result was instantaneous and a complete disaster.

The Light-mana that was previously being restricted by my barrier suddenly came flooding in along the mana-pathways that I had created with the Nature-mana and the damage was immense.

“Aaaargh…Urgk,” I gasped as blood dribbled out of my mouth and down my chin only to evaporate into black mist once it left my barrier.

“The heck! Raithe! No matter what you say, you are definitely not okay! Here, drink this,” Reina said hurriedly while trying to hand me a potion vial. Her concern had turned to shock as my blood evaporated in the air.

Heh, black mist. It was such a nice touch. Haha. I couldn’t help but smile. Just how ridiculous was this barrier anyway?

When my hands didn’t want to hold the vial, Reina poured the contents directly into my mouth. The taste was minty, I guess, but mostly like dirt and roots. The magic of the potion spread through my body, quickly restoring the damage done due to my carelessness.

“I think I’ve figured it out…,” I said through labored breathing.

“No way. Not happening. We can come back another day,” Reina said with her mind made up.

Ah, there it came. The dreaded reply came out. It was bound to happen with the display I just put on. But my rescue came from an unexpected direction…

“Back away from that creature of darkness, Reina. I thought I sensed something slip through my barrier. To think you would not recognize its true nature and would even try to help it. You have become way too soft of late,” a self-assured voice came from a man in gold-trimmed white robes similar to what the adventurer-priest Chester was wearing. The man also had a gold-trimmed stole with a gold-embroidered starburst symbol draped over his shoulders, and a large staff adorned with a gem-encrusted gold starburst held at the ready.

Reina stood up and placed herself in front of me, clearly indicating that she intended to protect me.

“This creature of darkness is being adopted into my family. I brought him here to make use of the temple’s services. And so, Parson, I kindly ask you to stand down.” There was nothing kind in Reina’s tone. It was dripping with acid—no, I’d say her voice cut with an icy chill.

Clearly these two didn’t particularly get along. Parson’s face blanched a bit when he realized that Reina wasn’t simply coming to the aid of someone in distress but, rather, actively working with a creature of darkness.

“D-do you realize what you are saying?” Parson seemed genuinely stunned.

I took advantage of the distraction to give my idea a go. The problem from before lay in taking the Light-mana in directly. Even in nature, the plants use their leaves to convert light into something else that they can use for energy. I just needed to use the mana-leaves to convert the Light-mana to Nature-mana before I brought it through my barrier and into my body.

I attempted my idea with just my hand first. Making sure to only take in what had been successfully converted was tricky. I did mess up a few times, but the plan was a success, and I quickly implemented the completed technique over my whole body.
The new mana flowing in was now more than enough to maintain both my barrier and my regeneration. The Nature-mana leaves blocking and absorbing the Light-mana also had the benefit of reducing the amount of Light-mana getting through my barrier, so the damage and the pain were reduced to just a dull ache internally and, externally, to just a slight burning irritation on my skin. The experiment was a complete success.

“Of course, I do. I intend to adopt little Raithe here as my son. What part of that was unclear? Though, it appears that I will have to come back another day to get my way, because even if you are annoyingly obstinate and inflexible, you are way too accomplished at barrier-magic and it seems that poor Raithe has been overcome by it,” Reina said with annoyance.

“Well, of course my barriers are strong, did you forget who I am and why I’m stuck here in the first place?!” Parson was slightly taken aback by what he perceived as unexpected flattery, but quickly recovered to his overbearing self. Reina shot him a warning look as he said that last part, though.

“Lady Reina, I’m fine now. We can continue to the temple,” I said while tugging on Reina’s vest with my small hand.

I had gotten down from the bench while they were arguing and was standing there looking like I was feeling no discomfort at all. Of course, it was an act, but I was determined to show up this holier-than-thou priest moron.

“Are you sure?” Reina asked looking at me in disbelief.

“Yep! I solved the mana problem, too,” I smiled the smile of a child totally proud of himself.

“How…!? How are you totally unaffected now, when you were completely overcome before?” Parson asked in disbelief.

“Nyah!” I copied the tongue-out-and-eyelid-pulled-down gesture that Alisha directed at me earlier. Only to get lightly bonked on the head by Reina.

“Don’t be rude to your elders, Raithe,” Reina admonished me, but I was thinking that she secretly enjoyed seeing this Parson guy flustered.

“Yes, Lady Reina,” I said, while looking to be the perfect picture of politeness and obedience.

“Haah!? Can’t you see that this little goblin has you under his spell?!” Parson just couldn’t believe his eyes.

“One more disrespectful word out of you, Parson, and I will make sure to have a talk with Selene,” Reina said with a slight smile, but not only were her words frosty, but actual frost was beginning to form in the grass at Reina’s feet, and I could feel a cold breeze as the air around Reina began to freeze from her mana leaking out.

Parson turned pale. Whoever this Selene was, she was apparently important enough that even this Parson guy came to the realization that he’d gone too far.

"Ehem, right, well then, you said you came seeking the temple's services. Shall we continue inside? It's probably not good for village council leaders to be seen bickering out here in public," he cleared his throat and grudgingly motioned for us to follow him inside.

"I agree. It would be to my advantage to be discreet today, as well," Reina said amiably as she guided me along with her arm.

Some of the kids had been looking our way to see if someone new had come to play and were watching from the playground fence, but luckily, no one seemed to have come close enough to hear what Parson was saying. Or so I hoped.

Parson led the way as we followed a left fork in the path and continued on toward the stone steps of the temple entrance.

Reina, her hand having come into contact with my mana-leaves, leaned over a bit and whispered to me, "I see what you did there, Raithe. You really are a natural at magic, but don't push yourself too hard. If you need stamina medicine let me know right away, okay?"

I nodded and gave her a reassuring smile. She rubbed my back in encouragement and we started our way up the stairs leading into the temple.

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