Alviona was staring at the sight in front of her. It was a man who was wailing with a horrid expression, panicked, scared, unable to comprehend what had just happened to him, and begging for his life to end. He had become blind just a moment ago, by none other than his own hands. His limbs trembling, still feeling the dagger that he held in his palm. A sticky liquid was gushing down his cheeks. Why was he in this situation? He had committed many murders before, and they were always executed professionally, yet, he had lost to a child. Was she a pupil pursuing Psychic schools of magic, like himself?! Had she developed further than him? Just what was going on? Why was he, despite being blind, still seeing clear images of his most horrid nightmares within his head?
Mr. Solomon, I met this weird person that was playing with a woman, telling her to cut her body parts and such. He asked me if I wanted to play and then tried to dominate me… Now that I have entertained him, he looks scared. Did I do something wrong? I just told him to play with himself just like he did with the woman, for he seemed to enjoy it. Now, he is crying, his cheeks are dark red. What do I do?! Asked the girl mentally to her companion, who, upon hearing this, stopped in his tracks, understanding what the situation was like.
“Shit! If that man has touched, or worse, hurt you, my mistress, he will be chiming in on a different melody as I break every single bone of his, only to cast [Anchor] after I am satisfied with his singing!” exclaimed Solomon loudly, raged by what was going on. His [Cursed Body] allowed him to move at a higher speed than usual, despite not being affected by any blessings or reinforcements from any schools of magic, because he needed to fulfill the order issued by Alviona. Feelings were also stirring inside of his body, the sort that screamed at him to protect this child as if she were his own daughter.
Still running towards her, Solomon came to a halt, as he noticed a few guards patrolling the streets.
“Hey, you there! I require your aid. My companion just injured a man who assaulted her as a result of witnessing your citizen being hurt. If you come with me, you can catch him. She has a decent knowledge of Psychic schools of magic. I ran here to get you noble guards,” said Solomon, making up a story to protect his goddess and to get the guards to help. Like it or not, they were newcomers to this city and trying to get on good terms with patrols was not a bad idea.
The men looked at each other, thinking about the affinity they would gain for catching a criminal, probably raising their ranks slightly and/or increasing their pay grade. They nodded in affirmative, following Solomon towards Alviona’s location, and upon their arrival, their faces twisted by the gore presented to them. The most horrible part of the scenery was the pair of eyeballs on the ground, covered in dirt and blood. One guard was, who had only recently joined the city patrol ranks, was vomiting at sight, while the other looked at the girl that stood in the epicenter of this event, unshaken.
“Do not move, any of you. We need to ask some questions,” said the guard, moving towards the woman, cutting the ropes that restrained her, and removing the cloth from her mouth, followed by casting [Identity]. As her name appeared on the information panel, the man’s eyes widened, gasping for air and being taken aback by the sudden developments.
The person in front of him was Lady Anell Balamej, the daughter of Sir Marcos Balamej; one of the wealthy that owned sugar plantations and silver mines abroad, not to mention high status and connections with other merchants, nobilities, and even lords. Such girl stood in front of the guard, raising his alertness to maximum and being careful of how he approached the situation. Forget the promotion, if I screw up here, I will be demoted, thrown into jail, and, most likely executed, - he thought. Without further delay, he retrieved a magical whistle and blew it, piercing sound resonating in the area, attracting nearby guards to rush over to the location, some of them wearing a white badge around their arms.
“That man is bleeding. It is surprising that he is not dead from shock, but regardless, stop his condition and move him to the custody. We will be questioning him. Take lady Balamej to our headquarters for we require her testimony. Also, immediately send out a rider to Lord Fornion’s mansion and ask for his lordship. We require him in this matter,” giving the instructions, the man turned to face Alviona and Solomon. “I apologize, but the two of you need to come with us as well. I appreciate your help in the matter; however, I can not let you go without the permission of my captain. You are not in custody, but we require you as witnesses.”
Solomon understood and nodded. “Mistress Alviona, we need to go with the guards for a while. Is this all right with you?”
Yes, but I want to find grandma and Janine. I lost them when I was in a market, said Alviona, her voice filled with frustration and confusion, for a lot of unknown had occurred and she was not comfortable with the developments so far. Why had the man earlier shouted at her? Why was this man crying even though she appeased his request? She wanted to ask these questions to Solomon, but seeing that his face expressed worry for her safety and seriousness of the situation, she decided to wait for Mira instead.
“Very well then. We will follow you, but would you be kind enough to send someone to the marketplace asking for an elf named Mira and a girl named Janine?” asked Solomon to the guard, slightly bowing his head in a show of respect, to which he received a nod.
----------------------------
Mira still stood in the marketplace, waiting for Solomon’s return. She had explained to Janine how she lost Alviona, despite tightly holding her hand. The passerby pedestrians happened to bump into her couple of times, and when looking around, the girl was already gone. She desperately tried finding her by backtracking but was prevented from doing so due to the high flow of citizens.
“I suppose it can happen. After all, the district is unusually busy. It is all right madame Mira, after all, did Solomon not say that he would bring her back? We know that he has an unusual tie to the girl, so it should be fine,” said Janine, in an attempt to cheer Mira up, but instead ended up making the situation worse.
“H-how can I be so negligent? Of course, your point is valid and can be justified, but it does not change the fact that I lost her! She is my responsibility! If her mother was here, how angry would she be?! God damn it!” exclaimed Mira in anger and frustration over the current developments. She was going to say more but was distracted by the fact that somebody was calling out her and Janine’s names. Seeing that it was a mounted city patrol, she was confused, but raised her hand, letting the rider to approach her.
“Are you the elf named Mira?”
Mira nodded.
“Excellent. A man named Solomon asked for you and Janine. Please, follow me.”
----------------------
It took an hour to get to the guard's headquarters, for it was located in the southeast part of the city. Alviona, who was physically exhausted, was being carried by Solomon on his back. To ensure that she did not fall off, he had told her to hold onto his bevor. The woman that she had rescued was also fatigued by everything that happened to her, so she ended up needing to rest. Due to her status, she was laying inside a carriage that was protected by several mounted guards.
Approaching the tall castle-like walls, the leading rider raised his hand, producing the magical crest that reacted to the gates, opening and inviting visitors in. The sight that came into view was breath-taking for Alviona. The courtyard had a vast area, decorated with trees, and a fountain in the middle of the square. A 4-story building stood tall and proud, showing its age, yet still managing to retain its beauty. Lightly armored footsoldiers, as well as men and women in different uniforms, walked in and out of the building; some carrying documents while others, - wielded weapons, going towards training grounds for practice.
“Well, we are here,” said one of the guards, knocking on the carriage door, assisting Lady Balamej in getting out, and inviting everyone into the building.
As they walked in, a man who was about 1.62 meters tall approached them, forcing the guards to straighten up and salute him. He wore a distinct-looking doublet that was a mixture of red and golden patterns, cream-colored pants made of high-quality cotton, and black leather boots. The belt at his waist was home to a sword with a jeweled pommel, sheathed in its respectively decorated sheath. From the looks of it, Solomon guessed that this was a high-ranking commander.
“Good afternoon,” greeted the man with a firm, welcoming voice, turning gaze towards Anell and then at Alviona and Solomon. “My name is captain Marcil of Javlots house. I expect that all of you have a lot to say, so please follow me. Guards, you are dismissed, except for you Jacob.”
The party moved through the wide hallway, which narrowed a little as they turned to the left, leading towards a staircase to the second floor. People that would see this man immediately halted any actions and instead saluted him on the spot, but he gestured to them to carry on. Finally arriving by the one, single room with sturdy double doors, he invited the company in, calling over one of the people carrying documents to bring him pen and paper.
Entering the room, Marcil elegantly moved a chair, gesturing to Lady Anell to take a seat, followed by the other two; however, Solomon surprised the captain, for he displayed an unprecedented level of etiquette towards Alviona, allowing the girl to take a proper seating, not letting even slightest dis-comfort touch her. What was going on? The child’s garments were dirty, covered in blood splatters, her mouth and hands filthy, covered with a blue, sticky liquid. How was this person of any status or importance, to be treated like that? Or was it perhaps that he took into consideration that she might be scared? In that case…
“A fine man,” thought the captain, looking at the sight that unfolded in front of him, thinking if the relationship between them was of a Master and Servant; however, based off the girl’s appearance, it was unlikely. What surprised Marcil the most, was that Solomon only ever moved his left hand, making him question what had happened to his right limb. Perhaps he lost it in the war?
*Cough, Cough*
“All right then. Lady Anell, I hope that I do not need to explain why we are gathered here. Can you please describe to me what happened?” asked Marcil, with a courteous voice.
“I… I remember walking from my residence to the market. I wanted to check the prices of jewelry that were shipped yesterday, after which I headed towards the auction. The guard inspected but did not let me in. I shouted at him, telling him who I was, and at that moment another man, dressed in leather armor approached me. He had a somewhat charming appearance, was well-mannered and offered me a way to get into the auction. I just arrived in the city a few days ago after months of not being here.
He said that the rules have changed a little and that I required an invitation letter, which he had. As I followed him, he started to flirt with me, which I found quite silly, but decided to play along. He then used psychic magic on me. That was the last thing I remember.
After I came back to my sense, I witnessed that my wrist was cut, my mouth was gagged, and my hands and feet were tightly tied. All the while this child standing in front of the man, making him scream and telling him to gauge his eyes out with a knife,” said Anell, who began to feel dizzy after concluding the story, gesturing for an urn, which Marcil handed over, followed by her vomiting. The captain extended a handkerchief to her, which she accepted and wiped her face with.
“Very well. Thank you very much, Lady Anell. Jacob! Did you write everything down?” asked Marcil to the guard who has just seized writing on a paper.
“Yes, sir! The testimony is complete.” (Jacob)
It was at that moment when the doors swung open, and two knights in full magical gear walked in, standing tall by the door, holding their spears aligned with their feet. An old man, who was dressed in exotic and expensive attire, made his way in, accompanied by a young-looking, dark-skinned woman, who wore a light plated armor with a blue cloak, two sabers sheathed on the left side of patterned cloth belt while having a dark dagger, embedded with visible runes, on her right. Marcil, seeing the man’s visage, jolted from his seat and immediately bowed his upper half of the body.
“Lady Balamej, you can not imagine how worried I was when I heard that you were endangered,” said the man with a sigh, his face expressing relief as he approached the girl and slightly bowed, taking her hands and landing a soft kiss. “I rushed here as soon as the messenger arrived. I am relieved to see you in good health.”
“You have my deepest gratitude Lord Fornion,” replied Anell, with a pleased look on her face.
“Captain Marcil, I…” the messenger that entered the room, noticed the current situation and immediately kneeled down, hand touching his heart. After all, he was in the presence of Lord Fornion himself, the man that owned the city port of Alpall, or, in other words, the man who paid him for his job. Nobody would ever dare to not bow in front of this man, for he was also one of the top ten nobles to be closest to the king and had a significant say in most decisions related to Kingdom affairs.
“Oh, please carry on. If your business here is related to lady Balamej’s case, then I would like to hear you speak immediately, if it is another matter and not as urgent, then I will ask you to leave us alone for a while,” said Fornion with a warm smile, carrying no intentions of malice whatsoever.
The messenger did not dare to speak up and reply. Instead, he nodded and took out a scroll that was meant for his captain, extending it with both of his hands as if it were an offering.
“Spitfire, please take that parchment and hand it over to the captain.” (Fornion)
The woman that accompanied the noble did as she was told.
Marcil opened the scroll and began inspecting it. After a minute, he folded it and asked for permission to speak, to which the noble waved his hand, gesturing for him to proceed.
“It appears that the man in question has willingly admitted all of his crimes. Our investigators went over to his residence and discovered a cellar, leading to a gruesome scene. All the corpses of missing men and women that occurred within the city in past two months have been found. The man toyed with the victims as they were alive, forced them to inflict self-harm and finally, moved them to his cellar and drenched their head in water, drowning them. As a side note your lordship, the corpses were all defiled, regardless of gender,” concluded Marcil, as he finished reading the contents, his face pale after understanding the full horror behind the written parchment.
Anell was shocked. Her face twisting a few times, losing color and paling, grabbing urn to vomit again, her eyes widening, gasping for air.
“Oh, my. SICK BASTARD!” exclaimed Fornion in anger, his shout resonating throughout the entire building, his already wrinkled face accumulating more age, small strands of grey hair falling from his head. “Give me the testimony. I want to read it for myself!” he ordered, Marcil, obeying without delay.
As he read through the text, he shifted his gaze towards Solomon and Alviona, who he had neglected up to this point.
“So then, this child has saved your life?” asked Fornion, amused from what he read. Seeing that Lady Balamej nodded, he smiled and stroked his long beard. Despite the child’s clothing not being of her fit and was dirty with blood stains, he genuinely appreciated her deed and burst into little laughter.
Stolen story; please report.
“Ho, ho. Very well then. Child, tell me, what would you like as a reward?” he asked Alviona, who stood up from her seat and turned around to look at him with a confused face.
Seeing that she did not answer, he laughed yet again, for he appreciated the humility. She was not a citizen of his city, this much was evident. If it were for any other low level noble, they would just thank her, probably give a small payment and pretend like nothing had happened.
However, Fornion was no such nobility. There was a reason why every man and woman in his city respected him, why many merchants adored him, and why his majesty listened to him. It was no other than the fact that the man never stayed in debt. Ever. Thanks to him, the Kingdom of Xanais could be considered as the most prosperous, his city having highest employment rate and no beggars. Of course, there were those that were of lower classes, that was unavoidable, but no one could say that the jobs here were lacking. The pay was decent, the prices were fair, the port was booming, and the crime rates were low.
As such, he was infuriated by the fact that one man managed to take away so many lives. It was a scandal! And it would have been worse if Alviona had not stumbled upon Lady Annel, be it by chance, by destiny or fate. Whatever it was, the death of that girl would mean a lousy word of mouth spreading. Her father knew many merchants and was perhaps the reason behind city being this popular. Sir Marcos Balamej was not the person who one would want to make an enemy out of.
Furrowing his brows and looking at Alviona again, he could not help but chuckle, as he noticed her mouth was covered in blueberry juice. “Tell me, child, what happened? Did you perhaps steal something from the market?” he asked while leveling himself at her eye level.
“It was a misunderstanding,” answered Solomon in her stead, as Alviona mentally told him what had happened in the market. “She got lost when looking at the basket filled with blueberries, separating from her caretaker. The child had never seen such fruit before so naturally, she decided to eat it, only to be yelled by the merchant demanding a payment, scaring her in the process. We would gladly pay, but the caretaker is in possession of the funds.”
“Ah. I see, so then it was indeed just a misunderstanding. And meeting lady Anell was also a coincidence. Well, this is all irrelevant as the fact stays as such: You have saved me from a potential disaster. On top of that, you have helped out my citizens in an indirect way. They can rest easy knowing that their loved ones were found and can bury them in peace. This incident is alarming, and the residents will likely get mad at our city guard’s inability of stopping such thing from happening. However, now that we have experienced this sort of situation, we can learn from it and increase the guard's alertness. Captain Marcil, I expect that you will be re-training every single guard member to handle such situations from now on?” asked Fornion with a serious and a strict tone.
“Yes, your lordship. We will double the number of guard patrols during the day-time and update their patrol routes,” replied Marcil with a dignified bow.
“Excellent. Now to another matter. This report states that there was a city guard that did not allow our person of importance into the auction house, despite having an [Identity] ability?” (Fornion)
The captain’s face froze. Gulping his saliva, he nodded.
“Good. Good. Spitfire, figure out who that guard was, track him down and bring him to my mansion. I have a few questions for him. If it was negligence, then I will ensure that the captain here is reprimanded and stripped down in status, as a leader must ensure his subordinates know of our V.I.P list. If, on the other hand, the guard is a sort of a rogue, we will talk a little bit differently. He will sing me a song until he goes on to his “happily ever after” life into an afterlife. Captain, I assume that you will execute the man that harmed Lady Anell as early as tomorrow morning?” asked the lord, brushing his chin.
Marcil replied in affirmative. Stating that he would execute the man in the most gruesome way possible for the public to be appeased. It worked, for the noble in front of him grinned with satisfaction.
“Now then, there is one last thing that needs to be addressed. Spitfire, send the word to the treasury that I demand two big bags, with a sum of eighty and five thousand silver pieces in each,” said Fornion, grinning and looking at Alviona. He had not been this excited in years, mostly because problems rarely arose and life was getting a little dull. Today was different. He had received a big headache that needed to be addressed, and the peaceful life seemed to be at its concluding stages. The least he could do was to thank this little child, who by chance happened to save his empire’s infrastructure. As long as the merchants were doing business, he would make this sum back within a year at most.
Solomon, who had been listening to the man’s words, could not believe what he was hearing. Just how much wealth did this Lord have? Why was he willing to give out so much of his treasury? Thinking about this, he realized just how little his former Kingdom of Damas was compared to the mainland. They undoubtedly possessed more resources to spend. No wonder that the citizens were living such a busy and care-free life. This wealth of the country, provided them with enough resources to hire mercenaries, adventurers, and other guilds to fight naturally spawning monsters.
“Child I will gift you that much silver, as a repayment for saving my world. If you ever need a job or want to register as a citizen in the future, please seek me out first. I can tell when strong individuals stand in front of me. You look so innocent, yet my gut feeling has never been wrong in my entire life. Ever. I am not the sort of a man that believes in fate or destiny. However, I am a man that knows when to and not to invest. Right now, you are a significant investment; I can feel it. Mark my words kiddo, there will be something terrible happening soon. It could be as early as tomorrow, perhaps in a month, maybe in ten years or even after I perish. But, know that history loves to repeat itself. I hope to see how it will turn out this time around, *Fu fu fu fu fu fu*” laughed the noble in hysteria.
--------------------------------
After finally being free, Alviona and Solomon were led outside of the room, allowing Fornion to continue his dialogue with Lady Anell, inquiring about her father’s well-being and other business.
Going down to the first floor, Mira and Janine, who had been waiting here for about three hours now, were finally relieved to see Alviona and Solomon return. The elf instinctively rushed over and tightly embraced the child, tears starting to well up her eyes.
“I am so sorry, darling. I did not know where you ran off to. I tried, I truly tried to backtrack and find you, but I could not. Please forgive me,” begged Mira, brushing the child’s rosy cheeks, that also had tears streaming down them, somehow making the already beautiful face that was reminiscent of a goddess, purer.
“It is all right, grandma. Just please, next time, don’t lose me. I was so scared, *sniff*… I… *sniff*… uwaaaaaah …*sniff*,” sobbed Alviona, tightly hugging Mira’s head and landing multiple warm, and soft kisses on her cheeks.
After everyone calmed down, the reunited company went back to the market to repay for Alviona’s mischief, which Solomon had told about. Approaching the stand, the man recognized her and began yelling “THIEF! THE THIEF IS BACK! GUARDS!”, but was stopped by Mira who tilted her body a little, meeting the man’s eyes, asking Alviona to close her ears so that she would not hear anything, to which the child complied.
“LISTEN HERE YOU PIECE OF GARBAGE! YOU TRIED EXTORTING MY GRANDCHILD FOR BLUEBERRIES THAT ARE WORTH 10 COPPER COINS, TRYING TO SELL THEM FOR 20 AND THEN 50 COPPER?! THEN YOU HAVE THE GULL TO YELL AT HER AND CALL HER A THIEF? Furthermore, I PASSED BY YOU, HOLDING MY GRANDDAUGHTER’S HAND, YOU COULD HAVE CALLED ME BACK AND TOLD ME IF SHE WAS STANDING IN FRONT OF YOU NO?! JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! DO YOU WANT TO DIE?!” shouted Mira, with such force, that it felt like the world was being struck by an earthquake, heavens shaking and ready to collapse at any given notice. The man behind the stand was so scared that he was willing to cry like a newborn infant. The fact that the passing pedestrians stopped and paid attention to the ruckus created by him did not help, for when they caught up with what happened and looked at the adorable child, their eyes were ablaze from anger as if saying: “If you do something to this goddess, we will murder you.”
Solomon, who watched this situation unfold from a little distance, could not help but sympathize with newly acquired family members. YES! Now you understand how I feel! All serve Alviona! All hail the goddess! He mused in his thoughts.
Alviona, who had received a silver coin from Mira, walked up to the man and bowed, apologizing for what had happened earlier and paid him the full coin. The poor seller behind the stand was shocked by the actions of the person in front of him, so much that he slapped his cheeks multiple times and prostrated, begging for forgiveness. In the end, the man became gentler and actually sold five baskets worth of blueberries just to one customer – Alviona.
The company walked towards an inn. It was late evening now, and most stores were closing up. Thus Mira did not end up purchasing her granddaughter the garments and armor that she wanted to. Thankfully, there was always a tomorrow. They had decided to stay in this city for at least one more day and then move out to the academy. Despite all the adventures that Alviona managed to pull off, she still thought that it was a fantastic day for everyone.
Walking into the inn, Mira ordered three different bedrooms for two nights, which also included its meal courses. Dinner was coming up soon, and Alviona was famished. However, Mira was utterly unwilling to allow her to eat in her current state. The child’s clothing was a complete wreck, her face was still dirty.
A bath was mandatory. Fortunately, a bathing house was right across the street from the inn. Borrowing some fresh clothing from Janine, the three of them walked over and paid a sum of five silver, for Alviona requested to unfold her wings; therefore, they ended up booking the entire bathing area for one full hour. Of course, Solomon followed them, absolutely refusing to leave Alviona’s side.
“Eeeh?! But we are girls, and you are a guy! How on earth can we bathe together!” exclaimed Janine in anger, unable to understand why this suggestion was even proposed.
“I do not care. I need to be by the side of my mistress. If you wish to go bathe, you may do so. I will just stand outside and guard the entrance,” replied Solomon nonchalantly, after contemplating over what happened today, not willing to let go of Alviona from his sight again. The child seemed to be of the same opinion. She was unwilling to take a bath without Solomon, not leaving much room for arguments.
“I do not understand why you allowed that to happen, Madame Mira,” said Janine in confusion, after it was decided that all of them would go together.
Mira was torn between two philosophies, not even related to gender.
“On one hand, you have an understanding of the world like you, and I do, - that it is unacceptable by our world standards for a man and a woman to go together into the same bath unless deeply attracted to each other.
On the other hand, you have a man that has in all levels of reality, died. The Solomon that you come to dread and think of, and the one in front of you right now. We should not treat them as the one and the same entity, but instead, fragments of one.
You also have the fact, that Solomon currently has almost a father-like relationship with Alviona. The way he behaves, from what I have observed, closely resembles it. Earlier today, you saw it, didn’t you?
I lost a child, and before I could even utter a sentence, the man was already in his full throttle to bring her back.
I do not know what else to state… There are too many unknowns, a lot we can not comprehend. And then there is that time… Only time will tell,” replied Mira after contemplating over every development that had occurred, trying to analyze the information she possessed about Alviona.
Alviona quickly undressed, tossing her clothing on the side and unfolding her wings. She had never been inside the bathhouse before, so this experience was new to her. The ceiling was raised high, naturally making her curious and flying up to it, sitting on a ledge.
“Mistress, I do not think that the idea behind a bathhouse is to fly up as high as you can, but instead to sit inside that water and relax a little,” said Solomon, amused at the actions of the girl in front of him.
“But this is fun!” came an echo towards him, making the man chuckle a little.
“Please, mistress. Come down. We need to properly wash you, and then we need to go eat dinner. Aren’t you hungry?” taunted Solomon, with a grin on his face.
Meanie! Meanie! Super big Meanie! Came a telepathic reply into his head, causing him to burst into loud laughter.
Alviona did a touch-down landing straight into the bath, her face becoming submerged, making bubbles.
“Puaaah! That was too much fun. Ah, Mr. Solomon, are you not going to join?”
“I don’t think that I can. After all, you are a girl, and I am a boy.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that I can not come into the water.”
“But you said that you did not want to leave without me,” said Alviona, confused by his statement.
“T-that… was and is true. I do not intend to leave you alone, out of my eyesight under any circumstances.”
“Then are you not going to come into the water? Pleaseeeee? Pretty pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaase?”
“Argh! Fine!” exclaimed Solomon, unable to resist Alviona’s adorable face. Instead of undressing, however, he went in with his full clothes on.
“There. Are you satisfied?”
“Yes!” replied Alviona, with a giggle, waving her hands and allowing water to flow as she pleased, eventually forming it into a small, palm-sized water golem that walked towards Solomon and began punching him.
*Splash, Splash, Splash, Splash, Splash*
Solomon was amused by this occurrence. He decided to try and catch the golem, chasing it throughout the entire bath, but unfortunately, he failed.
“Hey, wait a second. I have a question, mistress.”
“Yes?!”
“That golem right now… it was the Summoning school of magic, was it not?” asked Solomon, curiously awaiting Alviona’s reply.
“I don’t think so. I do not know anything about using magic yet.”
“How… then what was that?”
“It was nothing but me manipulating water.”
“Then… is that Elemental school of magic, with that element?”
“No. Like I said, I don’t know how to use any magic yet” replied Alviona with a smile and a giggle.
Solomon was utterly confused. If those were not any schools of magic, then what was it that he had just seen?
“But then… if you can not use magic, how did you just move the water?”
“Hmm… I think it could be the +10 affinity to the element that I received,” replied Alviona with a giggle and a smile, plunging into the water and flapping her wings, sprinkling it everywhere.
Listening to their dialogue and watching Alviona’s actions, Janine could not help but gasp. She has not seen anyone manipulate an element like that. What on earth was that if not the Summoning school of magic?!
“What if she just understands the magic at its core? She does not know how to use spells, also known as magic, but can comprehend and break it down to its purest form?!” asked Mira, brushing her chin and analyzing the possibility.
“That is possible,” replied Solomon, for he had thought of the same thing. After all, the skills that he had in his arsenal were not ordinary, and he had never heard of anyone having such abilities as himself. However, thinking further into it, he told himself that it could be due to him becoming a different race.
Janine, who could not follow the train of thought, decided to just accept it the way the information was presented. After all, she had seen many supernatural phenomena while being beside Alviona, despite it only being two days. Trying to ease up the tension, she began splashing water towards Mira, and Solomon, Alviona chiming in afterward.
After washing Alviona, Mira decided to brush Alviona’s wings, but the child immediately made them disappear.
“Do you not want me to wash them?” asked Mira confused, but Alviona just blushed and shook her head.
“All right. Let me wash your back with soap then,” said Mira, gently scrubbing Alviona’s back, trying to tickle her in between, causing the child to burst into laughter and submerge underwater, making bubbles.
“By the way, Mira, I forgot to mention to you that the noble whom we met, offered us a considerable sum of wealth in payment of one hundred and seventy thousand silver,” said Solomon to the elf, making her gasp in shock. Janine’s mouth was also dropped.
“Y-you must be mishearing something… T-that?! T-that much?!” asked Mira and Janine simultaneously, confused and not willing to believe what they heard.
“No, he indeed did say that. Eighty-five thousand silver coins in each bag” restated Solomon.
“That is absurd! Who on earth would give out that much wealth?” demanded Mira, utterly confused and frustrated by the inability to comprehend the situation. However, after Solomon told her what Fornion stated, she ended up believing it a little.
What was with his crazy premonitions though? They could be disregarded, and yet, the foreshadowing of his was rather convenient. Mira was not a superstitious person, but she somehow had an odd feeling that something was really going on. Perhaps if she found out more, there would be a connection between events, but as was right now, it was best to leave the matters be and instead focus on Alviona and her growth.
After the hour elapsed and the bath was over, the party moved back to the inn. Alviona seemed to be exhausted and despite being famished, lost her appetite for food and instead asked to take rest. Solomon carried her upstairs and gently placed the child on the bed. He stayed in her room until Mira and Janine finished their meal, and after they returned, Solomon went downstairs for his dinner. Solomon listened to bartender talk here and there, watched some men fight and others trying to flirt with women. Not feeling quite sleepy, he decided to go outside and breath in some fresh air.
Interesting. I was a Kingdom’s best sorcerer sent into the battlefield just a few days ago. And now, I am tangled into the curiosities of a little girl, that grew too fast, is overly adventurous and has the power that transformed me into a being which has never been recorded in history. I do not know why things are happening the way they are. The noble Fornion said that Alviona is strong and he would trust his gut feeling, investing in her. Well, I will say this: I do not care that you are noble and have wealth. Be you whatever, if anyone dares to misuse my goddess and do her harm, or, take her away from me, I will annihilate, every single one of you.
And with these words, Solomon’s pledge was complete.