A violent storm raged over Farcrest, rattling the windows and shaking the very foundations of the orphanage. The wind howled through the cracks and nooks of the building like the whimper of sorrowful spirits and the rain hammered against the wooden shingles in an all-out battle to penetrate the building. As far as the storm went, the orphanage was resisting.

The storm wasn’t the only thing that disturbed my sleep. There were around eighty days until the beginning of the winter and the new farm was still only half sown. On top of that, we were not yet free from further incursions from the city guards. There were still five days until the royal tax was collected.

Overthinking was a dangerous game, it wasted time and energy that could be spent actually solving the problem. I stood up, grabbed the water basin next to my bed with both hands, and poured my mana into it. Putting problems momentarily out of my mind, I heated the water with mana alone.

Like every morning, I shaved, scrubbed my body, and put on my usual clothes. Just in case, I fastened my scabbard and its sword at my side. My mana pool wasn’t completely recovered from the incident with the guardsmen but I was confident in my ability to scare them off again.

As every morning, I left my room in the wing for the older orphans and walked silently towards the kitchen to not wake anybody. This time, the rain covered my footsteps and I reached the kitchen without being noticed. To my surprise, Elincia was already up, watching a kettle on the stove.

It was early even for Elincia to be working. I stood at the doorway, watching her moving graciously across the kitchen as she poured water into a big pot to cook the usual gruel for breakfast. I was enthralled by her precise movements when a sudden system prompt rudely brought me back to reality.

For satisfying your aesthetic needs, you have obtained Vigor Lv.1. Temporary.

“Get lost and die in a ditch.” I muttered.

Despite Elincia’s evident beauty, we had only met a few days ago. The only thing I felt for her, if anything, was admiration. I had become a teacher to help others, and yet, I had lost my motivation and forgot the promise I made to myself.

“It's a bit early to be preparing breakfast, isn’t it?” I crossed the doorway and leaned against the counter next to her.

“Mornin’.” Elincia yawned. Her elvish face had traces of dark circles around her eyes. “Damn storm. All I hear is guardsmen tearing down the doors and the shutters.”

I felt a bit guilty for sleeping through most of the night without much trouble. If I had visited the Great Hall and convinced Captain Kiln to put a leash on her men, Elincia would’ve slept without worry.

“Want something tasty? Nokti didn’t touch her apple dumpling yesterday.” Elincia interrupted my rumination and revealed a steaming dumpling that was left over from yesterday. She gently opened it with a knife and poured a small spoonful of butter inside.

“How are the pastries in your homeland?” Elincia asked as the butter slowly melted.

“Not a fan of sweets in general but some pastries have so much sugar you can actually die if you eat too much.” I joked, however, Elincia was more surprised than amused.

“So, you are a rich kid after all. I realized right away because of your stiff manners.” Elincia taunted me.

“I was not rich, nor am I a kid. I’m a twenty-nine year old wage slave. The thing is that sugar and wheat are cheap and plentiful where I come from.” I replied.

Elincia was even more surprised than before.

“There is no way you are older than me. I’m a half-elf for the love of the gods! I’m supposed to look younger than humans!” Elincia complained, leaving the dumpling forgotten on the table and cornering me against the counter. She looked at me intensely, trying to find signs of magic or cosmetics.

“I am older than you. Twenty-nine is older than twenty-five, that should be obvious even for an Alchemist.” I tried to get hold of the conversation if only a little bit.

“How do you know my age? Have you been snooping around?” Elincia stepped back.

“You told me you were sixteen when you took charge of the orphanage and it has been nine years since then. Hence, the half-elf Elincia Rosebud is twenty-five years old.” I grinned at her as I counted with my fingers.

Elincia sat by my side on the counter and buried her spoon deeply into the dumpling.

“You didn’t leave a wife and a child behind in your homeland, did you?” Elincia asked with her mouth full of apple and crust.

“If I had kids do you think I would look this young?”

Elincia rolled her eyes while swallowing.

“What about a spouse? If you tell me you have a special someone I’m sending you back tomorrow morning.” The woman asked as she offered me the plate and the spoon without taking her inquisitive eyes off me. “Your turn.”

Before replying, I took a spoonful of the apple dumpling. The texture was soft and the melted butter gave it a particularly pleasant taste. It lacked sweetness but it was one of the tastier things I had since I arrived in Farcrest.

“Hang on, that’s a funny one. My girlfriend of eleven years dumped me a couple years ago.” I said, handing her the plate with the dumpling and the spoon. Suddenly, the atmosphere became weird.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that.” Elincia apologized, sliding the plate over the counter back at me.

“I’m already over it.” I shrugged, sliding the plate back to her.

Effects of Denial are subsiding. You have obtained Denial Lv.8. Temporary.

I dismissed the system prompt out of habit and focused my attention on Elincia.

“I'd love to hear the story if you want to tell it. I mean. Isn't it a bit weird that after eleven years you hadn’t married or had kids?” Elincia ate another spoonful of the dumpling.

Not being married with kids at twenty nine was considered weird even in my world not too long ago, so Elincia had a point.

“It’s a boring story.” I said, apologetically. “And we have a lot to do today.”

“Do I have to lock you up in my bedroom every time I want to ask you a question?” Elincia replied with a mischievous smile. “We have ten minutes before the kids even think about waking up. Or do people just not talk about themselves in the City of Light, Mister Mysterious?”

I couldn’t help but feel guilty for dodging Elincia’s questions for the last week. Surely it was okay to tell her something right?

“Come on, people love to talk about their sad stories of unrequited love, and bitching with friends is fun.” Elincia said.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Bitching with friends. I supposed I could do that.

“I met Laura in junior year, in the chemistry lab. We quickly became friends and started dating a year later. She was great. Had good grades, was everyone’s friend, and was great at sports. Her family wasn’t particularly wealthy so when we graduated from highschool she started working right away while I attended university until I got an official teaching license.” I explained.

“Junior year?” Elincia was beyond confused.

“The eleventh of twelve years of compulsory education. University is another four years to get a degree.” I explained.

Despite the apparent impossibility, Elincia became even more confused.

“Are you kidding me? Twelve years of compulsory education and then another four?! Holy System! What is wrong with your country?” Elincia passed me the spoon after gesturing energetically with it, enthralled by the story.

I just shrugged my shoulders and continued talking. If anything I was having fun seeing Elincia’s reactions.

“After I graduated, we rented a small apartment, you know, the beehive-like houses, and started living together. It went great for a while. We spoke about the usual things, marriage, kids, pets, buying a small house in the woods and moving out of the city.” I continued as my thoughts drifted back to a love long lost. It had been the closest thing to a fairy tale I had ever experienced but in the end took a dark turn.

“Laura didn’t want to move out yet. She wanted to become a Healer, so she stopped working and enrolled in college. It was a hard time for us, teaching doesn’t pay all that well but becoming a Healer was Laura’s dream so we tightened our belts and endured the first year.” I took half of the remaining dumpling and passed it to Elincia. “The thing is, the rhythm of college life is different from working life. In addition to going to classes you are expected to have a dynamic social life, she partied a lot with her new friends to the point we barely saw each other. Of course I couldn't blame her, I already had my fair share of partying when I was studying to become a teacher. Soon the second year passed and I thought the hardest part of the storm had passed. Laura was halfway through college and we started talking about getting married after graduation. Or I guess I was talking about it.”

“I don’t like where this is going.” Elincia said, taking half of what remained of the increasingly small dumpling and passing it back to me.

“I thought Laura was going to calm down a bit, people usually slow down after the initial thrill of campus life. However, she doubled down on partying. More and more often she didn’t come home to sleep at night… or by the morning even. Laura, of course, turned a deaf ear to my complaints. That continued until one time she didn’t show up for a whole week.” I said. “Then she did and told me I had been a great first love but she wanted to experience life before settling down. And that’s how it was.”

By the time I ended the story the storm had ceased, the clouds began to open, and there was still a small spoonful of dumpling left on the plate.

“Kinda fucked me up a bit.” I shrugged my shoulders. “But I don’t really blame her anymore. Our life paths were just different.”

Elincia closed her eyes and nodded.

“Still a bitch, though.” Elincia grinned. There was her proverbial straightforwardness. “Speaking of betrayals, I swore with four other orphans my age to take care of the orphanage and here I am on my own. For the record, I still blame them and I’m never forgiving them.”

“On your own? I guess I’m no one then.” I giggled at hearing Elincia’s vindictive side coming afloat.

There was no place in the world I would rather be than in the orphanage with Elincia and the kids.

“You can eat the last spoon, the baker has the preference.” I said.

Elincia grabbed the spoon and held it directly to my mouth.

“Eat, the baker has preference.” Elincia parroted.

As I bit down on the spoon, a voice came from the doorway.

“Gross, by the way.” Shu glared at us with disgust. “Waking time was an hour ago and I’m bored of waiting for breakfast.”

Soon enough, the kitchen was full with lively orphans eating watery gruel. By the workings of fate, Elincia and I ended up sitting on opposite sides of the table. I was eating in silence, listening to the animated conversation between the younger kids when the loud sound of a chair being dragged across the floor caught my attention.

Nokti and Virdian, the snakefolk twins, both were dragging their chairs from the other end of the kitchen to position themselves at my sides. They placed their chairs touching mine and jumped on, giving me little room to move.

I glanced at Elincia across the room but she just smiled, amused by the behavior of the twins.

“Zaon?” I asked the elven kid who was always conveniently within reach.

“Nokti and Virdian saw you fend off the guardsmen through a window, sir.” Zaon replied. As far as I heard, the opinion of the orphans about who scared the guards away was divided.

“You can understand them?” I asked as the twins spiritedly hissed to each other over my bowl of gruel.

Zaon just shrugged his shoulders and continued eating his breakfast. Despite the fact I couldn’t understand a word, Nokti and Virdian were very proficient in making themselves understood.

Nokti shared a spoon of her gruel with me, Virdian hissed at her angrily and poured a spoon from his own bowl onto mine. I had to raise my bowl over their heads to avoid more donations. Elincia, of course, covered her mouth as she laughed at me across the table.

Suddenly, Nokti jumped down from her seat and tugged my sleeve.

“She wants you to follow her, sir.” Zaon said.

“I figured out that much.” I replied.

The persistence of Nokti’s tugging forced me to stand up and follow her out of the kitchen. Whatever she wanted to show me, it was of utmost importance. The snakefolk girl brought me to the backyard and signaled for me to stay put, then she went into the old shed followed closely by Virdian.

After what seemed to be an eternity, the snakefolk twins emerged from the shed covered in dirt. Nokti planted herself in front of me and raised her hands, offering me a small sprouted potato.

“Potate.” The blue snakefolk child said with a creaky voice.

“Thank you. I have never seen such a nice potato.” I replied, confused.

Nokti hid her hands beneath her back and glanced at me from under her long eyelashes. A moment later she ran away to the shed and emerged a second later with a second sprouted potato that she promptly put in my hand. It seemed the twins had a secret stash that had escaped Elincia’s surveillance. Virdian hissed angrily at Nokti and went inside the shed just to return with two potatoes to match his sister’s tribute to me.

Then it hit me. Nokti had said her first word.

“Elincia? Care to come here a little?” I yelled into the manor and a second later the half-elf was standing by my side.

“Winter potatoes? We haven’t had them since last winter, where do you get these?” She pointed out, looking at the small reddish potatoes that rested in my hands.

“What is this?” I asked Nokti.

“Potate.” She croaked back.

“Of course it's a potato… They are talking!” Elincia grabbed my arm and squeezed it.

You have obtained Vigor Lv.2. Temporary.

I ignored the system prompt, something more important was happening in front of my eyes. Even if it was weird to celebrate the first word of a nine year old, I couldn't help but feel Elincia’s happiness slowly infecting me.

“Say it again!” Elincia said.

“Potate!” Nokti replied to the woman’s delight.

The first word of the potato-obsessed snakefolk twins couldn’t be other than that. Potato. What surprised me, was the fact they had managed to conceal the winter potatoes from Elincia for a whole year. It was a touching gesture that they would share their treasure with me.

As I wondered how many more potatoes they had hidden in their stash, an idea crashed into my mind.

“Do you have any more of these?” I asked the twins just to be glanced at with suspicion.

Two potatoes seemed to be the greatest amount of potatoes they were willing to part with.

“If we plant this potato now and we wait until winter then we are going to have dozens of potatoes to eat.” I explained.

The eyes of the twins shined as I introduced them to the basics of agricultural science.

“Real?” Virdian croaked.

“Yes, just like the rest of the vegetables in the farm these will grow and turn into a plant and then, when they are ready, we could harvest them and have a lot of potatoes.”

The twins exchanged a glance and ran across the backyard full speed into the shed.

“This is going to be good.” I said as Elincia looked horrified at the twins pulling armfuls of small sprouted potatoes from the shed. The sheer size of their smuggling operation was impressive considering Elincia didn’t even suspect there were missing potatoes from the stockpile.

“Call Zaon and tell him we are canceling the morning drill. They need to start sowing these bad boys now.” I said as Elincia’s livid eyes were glued to the small mountain of potatoes the twins had collected.

“They? Aren’t you going to help?” Elincia asked me, still perched on my arm.

“I have to meet someone today.” I replied.

“This has something to do with your visit to Ginz, right?” Elincia inquired with a worried expression.

“We have to keep the guards far from the kids, and I know the only person in Farcrest who might be willing to do that for us.” I replied.

Elincia growled.

“Alright, you can go. But this is the last time you are allowed to act like a maniac.”