She pulled Yuto even closer, his face mere inches away from her own, her hand still gently caressing the side of his face.

"You keep doing this, getting so close to me, looking at my lips with so much desire... why haven't you kissed me yet?"

Yuto felt a slight blush building, "l-i have never kissed a girl"

It's true, although when signing the contract with Mizuki, he considered what they did a peck rather than a kiss

She blinked surprised before she chuckled warmly at his words and obvious blushing.

"Oh really? A handsome young man like you and no girl has ever tried to kiss you? Come on now, you must be lying, there must have been at least one girl who tried to steal a kiss from you"

"My childhood friend Alice, when we were 14, she tried to kiss me when we were under a tree but I ended up dodging at the last second"

She smirked at his statement, amused by the thought of him dodging a kiss from a girl.

"Oh? That's quite harsh, turning down a kiss from a childhood friend, you must have broken the poor girl's heart. Did she ever try again? Or did she give up after getting rejected like that?"

"We're still friends but I guess she took that as a no"

She chuckled warmly at that, "Hehe, I can imagine how much that probably hurt her, she must have been so disappointed when you dodged her kiss like that. I bet she probably cried for days"

"So why aren't you k-kissing?" Yuto tries to change the conversation

She pulled him even closer, his face mere centimeters away from hers, he could feel her soft breath against his skin.

"Simple, it's MUCH more fun to tease you like this, seeing you so nervous and flustered, it's adorable to watch, and I just love to see how much redder your beautiful face gets whenever I get so close to you"

"Big talk, I can feel your heart beating faster"

She paused for a moment, surprised that he noticed, she quickly regained her smirk, however, still holding him close.

"Hmph, and why wouldn't my heart be beating faster, we are very... very close right now. You're so close to my face that I can practically feel your skin against mine, how could my heart NOT beat faster in this situation?"

He doesn't let her finish as he dives into the kiss.

She was cut off by his sudden advance, shocked as she felt his lips against her own, after the surprise wore off however she leaned into the kiss, matching his pace and wrapping her arms around him, pulling him even closer to her.

"I never thought that my first kiss would be an ego sword"

She chuckled warmly pulling away slightly to catch her breath.

"Well, you can now say that you have. How did it feel to kiss someone like me, someone who is not human?"

"I-it feels right"

She smiled warmly, a look of affection and fondness on her face as she looked at him, her crimson eyes practically glowing.

"It... feels right, huh? How very sweet of you. You are a charmer, you know that? You're going to make me blush with such romantic words"

Yuto pins her down, she playfully raises an eyebrow, impressed as he suddenly forces her down onto her back.

"Oh my, being very daring today, aren't you? You suddenly take the lead like that. You can't imagine how attractive this side of you is, it makes me shiver with excitement"

He smiled as he stared at her, "one last kiss for the night?"

She chuckled at his request, her expression warm and filled with affection.

"Of course dear, one more kiss for tonight, and then you'd better rest for the night, I don't want you trying to wander around with all the Injuries you have. You've certainly been getting braver these past days haven't you, asking for kisses and being bold enough to pin me down to the floor like this, you're being surprisingly forward tonight"

"I guess this is like an apology", he said with the blush being more clear in her eyes.

She smirked, amused at his statement.

"Oh is it now, and what exactly are you apologizing for here? For not taking care of yourself? Do you need to work harder and overdo it for far too long? Getting to hurt and refusing to rest like a stubborn idiot? Which one?"

"I guess I'm apologizing for everything," he pulled her in.

She smiled warmly, her expression gentle and affectionate as he pulled her closer, the feeling of his skin against herself, causing her to shiver slightly.

"Hmmm, I suppose that is a valid reason, I can forgive you then for all of your wrongdoings, all of your mistakes, on one simple condition though..."

He pulled back breathlessly, "Yes?"

A smirk slowly crept onto her face and she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his face close to hers.

"Simple, I want you to promise me that no more stupid decisions, no more working yourself to death, no more overworking yourself, and you finally get a good night's rest. Can you promise me that, my dear?"

He pulls her hand up and kisses it, "Yes Mizuki"

A warm smile spread across her face as she watched him hold her hand and kiss it, such a gentle and sweet action caused her heart to flutter.

"Good. I'll hold you to your word. And remember, no more stupid decisions and no working yourself to death, I'm not going to stand by while you get yourself injured again. And also-"

She pulled him closer, her face mere millimeters from his

"I want you to sleep properly in a bed, NO more falling asleep in chairs"

"I promise when we get to my aunt's house, I'll sleep on the bed"

She smiled and nodded in acceptance, her smirk slowly returning.

"Good, that's all that I ask. And I'll be watching you, so no falling asleep in any chairs, if I catch you sitting down to rest and you drift off into sleep I won't hesitate to pull you onto the bed and lock you there for the night"

Yuto gets up and prepares to sleep for the night, laying his blanket on one of the seats.

He chuckled softly and closed his eyes, Mizuki silently waited for him to fall asleep.

After some time passed and he seemed to have dozed off, she opened her eyes, silently watching over him, making sure he stayed asleep, and that no nightmares or enemies bothered him that night.

-Morning-

His sleep was thankfully undisturbed, which meant that Yuto was finally able to get proper and much-needed rest.

When he finally awoke the next morning, he caught sight of Mizuki, who was sitting next to him, silently watching him and waiting for him to wake up.

A warm smile spread across her face when she saw that he had awoken.

"There you are, it took you long enough to wake up, sleepyhead."

"How long was I out for?"

She chuckled at his question and smirked

"Quite a while, it's already noon. You've been asleep for 10 hours. Seems like you needed that sleep, huh?"

"Yeah", he gets up and puts on a shirt, "I'm guessing my family slept outside and rode the carriage with Dad, while I slept inside"

She nodded in agreement as she watched him get up and put on his attire.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Yes, that's correct. Your family took care of everything last night while you slept, you slept through all of the commotion last night. And it seems like your dad is in a much better mood today, he was whistling cheerfully earlier"

"Well Mom, Cynthia did forgive him, although I'm sure some part of Cynthia is still mad"

She paused, her expression softening a bit as she thought about what he just said, and chuckled slightly.

"He must have been pleased to hear that, it's good you all were able to forgive him. You certainly made this journey easier for all of you. We should probably get going however, we still have a long way to go before we get to your aunt's house"

"He also agreed to teach me his techniques so that's a plus"

A smirk spread across her face as she chuckled, a teasing tone in her voice

"Oh really? Did he know? Did your old man promise to teach you his fighting style? It seems like you're going to become quite the capable fighter once he's done teaching you"

"How about you, are you mad at him"

She thought over his question for a moment, her expression becoming unreadable, before it softened and she sighed "No, I'm not mad at him, I never was, not really. Your father is just a simple man with a lot of struggles to deal with, so I can't blame him completely for his past mistakes."

Yuto plants a small kiss on her cheek, "That's a relief to hear"

She chuckled softly and smiled warmly as she felt his lips against her cheek. Such a simple and affectionate action caused her cheeks to redden slightly and her heart to flutter.

"Hmph, such affection so early in the morning, are you always so sweet first thing in the morning?"

"Making up for lost time I guess"

She raised an eyebrow before chuckling warmly, her fond smile returning to her face.

"Hehe, make up for lost time are you, and how exactly do you plan to do that then? Do you want to spend the entire day being all sweet and affectionate? If so you should have started a bit sooner, you're a little late in making up for lost time"

He plants another kiss on the other side.

She chuckled warmly once again as she felt him plant another kiss on the other side of her face, the feeling of his lips against her skin causing her to blush slightly, her expression becoming softer and more affectionate.

"Heh, you're being very forward today. You want to keep being affectionate don't you, you're certainly enjoying yourself a lot"

He smiles as he turns his head back to the door, "Alright time to start my day"

She chuckled and nodded, matching his smile with one of her own

"Yes the day awaits us, we still have a lot of travel time to go and a lot of distance to cover. We've made good progress so far though, so I'm sure we'll reach your aunt in no time at this rate"

Mizuki turned back into a ring, she sighed quietly as she felt herself transform into a ring, she had been enjoying being in her human form and the extra freedom that came with it for a short while

"Hmph, being stuck inside this ring again is going to be rather annoying."

"Well, when we get to my aunt's house, you can take your sword form again, you can also take on the spiritual form so you can fly around"

She chuckled a bit, her warm smirk returning, "Oh really, I'll have to wait until we reach your aunt's house before I can change back. You're going to make me suffer in this ring all day until we finally reach our destination?"

"We can joke inside the mind space, so don't worry about entertainment"

She chuckled warmly at the thought of having their own private space to chat and speak to each other, free from the ears of others.

"Oh that's true, I suppose I can talk with you mentally while I'm in this ring. At least I won't get bored while I wait."

Yuto thinks of a pig riding on top of another pig.

She chuckled warmly when he suddenly began imagining this mental image in his head, her voice then echoed through his subconscious.

"What on earth is this image you're thinking of? Why are you suddenly picturing pigs riding each other?"

The pig does multiple backflips.

She burst into hysterical laughter when Yuto suddenly added this absurd backflip move to the pig's imaginary actions, the goofy imagination causing her to laugh mentally.

"OH GOD- why are you giving the imaginary pig riding another pig such a ridiculously athletic skill like that?!"

Now they start to box with small gloves.

Her laughter returned even louder when his imagination became even more ridiculous. Boxing?! PIG BOXING??

"Now you're turning the imaginary pig ride into a BOXING MATCH of all things?!, Who would even teach pigs how to BOX??"

Yuto chuckled as he opened the door of the carriage, "See how you will get bored when I can come up with the most ridiculous stuff?"

She chuckled warmly, her laughter beginning to die down as she listened to his statement and thought over the images he was thinking of

"Hehe, I suppose you have a point there. With your level of crazy imagination, I doubt I'll get bored any time soon. Just how long can you keep coming up with these ridiculous scenarios?"

This time, it's a horse doing a backflip.

She burst into laughter again as a very mental image of a horse doing a backflip entered her mind.

"God- why are you giving these animals so many acrobatic

capabilities?! Now a horse just did a backflip, what's next? An elephant doing a front flip?"

Exactly that, as an elephant walks into the room doing an impossibly absurd gymnastic front flip, her laughter returns even louder, the concept of such a large animal doing something so insane and impossible somehow being hilarious to her.

"Hehe, oh my GOD, you're insane. Why are you giving these animals such insane skills and abilities?"

"Because it's funny, and I want to hear you laugh"

She chuckled warmly, her warm smirk returning as her laughter slowly subsided.

"Hehe, I guess you're right. These mental images ARE quite humorous, watching these animals do insane things. And it certainly makes the journey entertaining when you can keep coming up with these crazy scenarios."

"So will you be board now", he made the pig ask.

She laughed warmly as she heard the pig suddenly talking to her in the mental world.

"Haha, no I don't think I'll be bored now, not with you imagining all of these crazy scenarios. I never thought I'd be mentally chatting with a pig doing back flips and speaking to me in a little suit"

The pig oinks before waddling back

She chuckled warmly as the pig oinked at her and then waddled away, the whole scenario suddenly feeling even more entertaining now that the pig was waddling out.

"Hehe, farewell, small oinking pig doing backflips. I'll be sure to have more absurd conversations like this with you again sometime"

Yuto heads outside where he spots his mother making lunch, this time it looks to be fish that his father caught and some meat from the rabbit Cynthia found

~It seems everyone is enjoying this trip, your mother seems to be in a very good mood you know~

Mizuki walked beside him in her spiritual form, Yuto stopped, thought about something, and then looked at Mizuki.

"My mom's class is an exorcist, right?"

Mizuki stops and looks at him, "Yeah, why?"

"Does that mean she can see you when you go into that form, I mean a spirit is also a ghost right?"

Mizuki shakes her head, "Beats me, she probably would have already said or done something before we left, I mean I was flying over their heads"

A shiver went through Mizuki's spine as she turned her head towards Yuto's mother, it looked as if she was staring directly at her.

"Go hang out with your sister, I'll call you when lunch is ready", his mom said with her usual tone, her smile was warm to Yuto but to Mizuki, it just felt a bit creepy.

Yuto nodded as he spotted Cynthia practicing her magic near the river, Mizuki on the other hand couldn't shake off the weird feeling and went back inside the ring.

~Are you okay Mizuki? You suddenly went back into the ring

~We'll talk later for right now just learn from your sister

Yuto nodded as he ran up to his younger sister, she was with her staff standing in the middle, "Hey Cynthia"

She stopped practicing her magic and glanced over at Yuto, her expression changed immediately and she began to smile, jogging over to him.

"Hi, brother! What are you up to?"

"Well, since my wounds healed, I was hoping you could teach me some magic?" He asked while fidgeting his fingers, not only does he not have a staff but he also doesn't have any experience at all with magic

["I mean I have Mana so I should be able to use some basic magic right?"]

Her smile widened as she nodded her head vigorously, clearly excited that her brother wanted to learn some magic, she had pestered him for years but since he never awakened he just never felt worthy to

"Of course, I can teach you! Anything specific you wanted to learn?"

"Well, not really, as it's only been about 5 days since I've awakened, and my class isn't a mage class"

She hummed and thought for a while, trying to think of what she could realistically teach him, that he would find easy enough to learn, her hands on her hips.

"Hmm... since you just awakened recently I'm not going to teach you anything too intense, don't want to overwork that small little brain of yours"

She joked and poked his forehead before a smirk appeared on her face.

"So what can you teach me?" He flicked her forehead in return

She flinched when he flicked her forehead, and her smirk grew wider, she puffed out her cheeks slightly, "Hey! I'm the one that's supposed to be annoying you, not the other way around."

She jokingly scolded him and then her smirk quickly faded to a smile, "And I'll teach you some of the very basic magic, we can slowly work our way up to more advanced stuff later on, so you don't push yourself too hard yet."

"What do you consider basic magic?" He asked while rubbing her head, she pouted before moving his hand away

"Basic magic would be being able to make things float, changing the color of things, starting a fire, or even something like making something cold."

She glanced around before grabbing a large stone and holding it out to him, "I want you to try and make this float, a couple of inches off the ground"

"How the hell is that basic?" He grabbed the rock and threw it across the river

She chuckled a bit at his response, "Yeah, it may seem complicated, but trust me it's easy. Just focus and picture the stone levitating in your mind, imagine it floating in the air and you lifting it off the ground"

Mizuki laughed as she poked his cheek, ~Basic indeed, it sounds like she's willing to teach you if you at least tried.

"Really?" Yuto asked sarcastically

"Yeah really, just have some more faith in yourself, focus and you'll get it."

Yuto lifted out his right hand, "Oh stone I command you, float!"

She stared at the stone as Yuto began to lift the stone by merely commanding it, she was quite amazed that he did it correctly on the first try, the stone lifted off the ground a couple of inches and hovered in the air.

"Wow, didn't think you got it on the first try, good job!"

"Cynthia, I can see your hand moving"

She quickly hid the hand that she was moving behind her back, "What! I have no idea what you're talking about"

She tried to play it off and make it sound like she wasn't helping, although secretly she was quite impressed that he was able to notice she was moving the stone with her hand.

"Look show me some actual magic", She pouted seeing Yuto catch her little act of trying to help him but shrugged and sighed lightly.

"Okay, watch closely", She raised her hand, and a fireball the size of her head formed in the palm of her hand, she seemed to have done it effortlessly without any trouble at all.

<- Quick Quest ->

[ Make your fireball ]

[ Reward: Beginners Magic ]

["Mizuki, are you seeing this?"]

Mizuki asked him what he was looking at, 'Can't come out of the ring right now, what happened?'

["A quest appeared, it seems I did something to the system to unlock the quest part of it"]

Mizuki stays silent, before poking his cheek again, 'Follow whatever the system says, you'll get rewards either way'

Yuto nods as he holds out his right hand and begins to concentrate.

["Heat Maintains Compress Circle Accelerate and finally"]

"Fire Ball"

Tier 1

A fireball the size of his head formed at the palm of his hand

Cynthia watched as Yuto held up his hand trying to make a fireball, she was very impressed when he got the spell right, and she smiled as she watched the fireball form in his hand, she was a bit speechless over the fact that he managed to do it perfectly on his first try.

"W-woah, you... did it..."

"What the fuck?" He shook his arm violently before accidentally launching it into the river

She let out a light laugh as she watched him shaking his arm and accidentally shooting it into the river.

"It's normal for your arm to feel a bit warm or like it's burning when you first cast a fire spell, it's just a new sensation that you're unfamiliar with, after a while your arm won't feel that uncomfortable when you use fire magic"

"I also use a staff to release my magic and since I'm more well-versed in it I can also use my hands, it's no surprise you didn't know what to do with it", she said with a light chuckle.

Yuto finally put out the small flame that remained and looked at her, "Any other magic you can teach me?"

She hummed as she began to tap her chin with her index finger, "Hmm... Well, you just did fire magic, and I showed you a fire spell which is quite easy for most people to pick up first... I could show you some water magic…"

She slowly held out her palm towards a nearby puddle of water, she began to mutter an incantation under her breath and a small floating sphere of water appeared in the palm of her hand.

<- Quick Quest ->

[ Create your very own water spell ]

[ Reward: Non-verbal spell magic ]

Yuto raised his left hand this time and concentrated once more, Water Swift Fast Blade Cut, A Water Blade shot out of his hand.

She was genuinely impressed that Yuto was picking up magic so quickly and accurately, as no one usually learned magic this fast.

She watched again as he lifted his left hand and the water started to form into a blade and shot straight ahead, she was at a loss for words as she just stared at the waterblade that he made.

"... Woah, did you just-"

<- System Rewards ->

[ The host has created a fireball and water spell

[ Non-verbal spells now available / Beginners Magic now available ]

Yuto smirked as he lifted both his hands and without an incantation made both a fireball and a water blade he could hold

She continued to watch closely as he did the water and fireball spell again but without an incantation, her eyes widened in shock as she realized that he had succeeded in doing the spell nonverbal.

Something that took her 4 years to master, it felt like a gut punch as she knew her brother's talent was far beyond her own

"How did you even-? You just-"

She was genuinely baffled, her surprise evident on her face as she struggled to speak.

Yuto smirked and flicked her forehead, "Guess I'm the master now haha", she could swear she saw his nose grow pointy.

She flinched from the flick, pouting at him as Yuto suddenly called himself a 'Master'

She crossed her arms with a pout on her face, "Hmph! You're not a master yet, you have a long way to go before you can call yourself a 'Master"

They both walk towards their Mother who's finishing lunch, but when walking Cynthia speeds up "Aw come on, Cynthia, I was playing around, you know you're better at magic than me"

She looked back at him, over her shoulder as she continued to pout, "I know you were playing around! Still doesn't change the fact that you're not a master yet!

["Hey Mizuki, did I say something wrong?"]

'Well since you're not a mage and a beginner who just used a nonverbal spell, I'm guessing you hurt her pride a bit'

Yuto sighed, "So what do I have to do exactly?

'Apologize you, idiot, it's not that hard now come on before she gets to your mother'

'Skill: Quick Step'

He quickly catches up to her and pulls her hand, "I'm sorry, I said something insensitive to you, you spent more time at magic than me, and you deserve the title of a master"

Cynthia stops in her tracks and stares at him, "Are you sorry?"

Yuto nods, "I am, I'm truly sorry, you were teaching me and I was being a jerk"

Cynthia gave him a quick hug before running off to get her lunch.

'See all you had to do was apologize, now you must be hungry Yuto'

Yuto nodded as he ran up to the camp, when he got there his mother handed him his plate and Yuto sat on the log while the rest of the family told stories or sang songs, either way, they all had a good time.

When they finished, everyone started to pack up for the night, Yuto's mother stopped him and sat him down.

"Yuto, I have a question to ask you son", Mizuki felt Yuto's chest tighten, and her chest also felt a bit suffocated, she knew what his mother was going to ask.

"Y-yeah Mom, what's up?"

His mother lifted her hand and pointed straight at Mizuki who was sitting beside him, her eyes were glowing blue, and a sword that looked like a staff appeared in her left hand.

"Who is that sitting next to you?"