The ground below me got closer as my arms flailed.

Maybe I can conjure a spell?

I brought my box out but fumbled with it, leaving out of reach and flying off somewhere.

“Freeze!”

I tucked my body into a ball and braced for impact. Closing my eyes, I could only imagine what death would be like. Is this how I go out? Death by jumping off a hill? Wouldn’t that be grand. Stupid kingdom. Stupid magic. What great is having magic if I cannot even control it.

“Um… hello?”

Is that the Grim Reaper? Here to collect my soul? The voice is pretty though. I wonder if it’s a cu—

“Miss!”

Oh, she’s getting angry. If I open my eyes, I might have to confront this thing. It’s best if they just take me away right now…. I’ll avenge my family in my next life. I’ll wreck havoc on the descendants of the bastards who killed my family.

“Release!”

Release?

I fell to the ground, my ass hitting the ground with a thud. I peeked my eyes open, seeing a girl with long amber hair and a short purple dress leaning down to look at me with her cheek puffed out. I felt around my body, besides from feeling sore, I am definitely alive.

“Just what in the world were you thinking?” she said in a caring manner, outstretching a hand to me.

“I was meaning to come and assist you with your cargo.” I said, turning around to look at the hill. “Ha. That’s pretty steep right? Who would’ve known.” grabbing onto her hand and pulling myself back up.

“Sigh, since your intentions were good, I can’t really fault you. And since you were coming to help me, the feelings were conveyed. You are lucky that I had enough mana to hold you in the air before you hit the ground. Otherwise you would not have gotten to see the light of day.”

I nodded my head and thanked her, looking around for my wand.

“Marie!” a boy who came running from behind the wagon yelled out.

“Erik, didn’t I tell you to stay inside.” Marie scolded, grabbing onto the shoulder of the little boy and turning him back around towards the wagon.

I looked at the box in the kid’s hand.

“My wand!” I exclaimed.

“Is this yours?” Marie asked, grabbing the box and handing it to me. “If you knew magic, why didn’t you just float down here?” Her tone is very adorable.

“Ahhh, good question.” I said, grabbing the box and tucking in the back of my pants. “Are you on your way to the capital?” Ignoring that completely.

“Yep, except we are having some difficulties with the cart. The bloody cargo keeps falling and I am all but spent. The spell I casted on you was the last of what I had left. Do you mind creating some rope to keep the boxes steady?” she asked, walking over to pick up a fallen box and placing it back on top of the rather tall pile of other cargo.

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I sighed, “Truthfully, I have only recently started to study magic. My mana control is a bit… subpar.”

“It can’t be that bad, here, try this.”

She brought out a wand and clutched it into my hand.

“Wait n-”

It was too late. The spells started shooting off one after another. Instead of just fireballs, there were some water spells in there as well. Sakune let go of my hand and I dropped the wand, but the damage was already done. The cart with the supplies was completely destroyed.

“O-oh no!” she yelled, running towards the flames.

I pulled her back along with the kid,

“Wait, it’s dangerous!”

“Those are our month’s worth of supplies! I-I must get at least some.” she yelled, breaking away to try and grab some of the boxes.

The little kid grabbed onto her shirt, sobbing loudly. She turned around and stared at the crying child. Sighing loudly, she gave up her attempts to salvage what was left.

I shuffled forward. What did I do…

What should I do? There’s no way I could fix this mess…

“Hey… I’m truly sorry.” I apologized, holding my hands down.

Marie wiped the tears from the kid and turned to me.

“No, no it’s not your fault. You tried to tell me but I persisted… the blame is my own.”

Oh what is this luck. I finally meet someone with a decent attitude and I burn their livelihood.

I clenched my fists and walked over to my wand. Crouching down, I hovered my hand over it.

Waterfall… waterfall… rain. Think water.

I grabbed a hold of it and aimed at the wagon. Water sprayed from out the end. Unlike the strong torrent from before, this was more controlled. Was just enough to put out the remaining flames.

I could hear the sniffles from Erik and Marie as the flames fizzled out. I dropped the wand and stomped over the charred pieces of wood. Rummaging through the wagon, I went to grab an intact box. The heat from the fire is still there, stinging my skin.

It’s my fault… The pain can wait, I must help these two.

I grabbed onto one box and lifted it up to place behind me.

I heard shuffling coming from behind. Marie walked up beside me and stared at me with gentle hazel eyes. She let out a smile and I responded the same.

If only Vintra was here, I bet she could fix this mess...

***

After hours of walking, we finally made it inside the kingdom walls. Marie and I both carried two boxes each as Erik carried one that covered his face. The air was pleasant and the ambience of this world’s wildlife could be hear flying above us.

“So where are you two coming from?” I asked Marie.

We were let in by the gate guardians without even needing to say who I was. It seemed like they already knew that I was coming. And they greeted Marie with a ‘thank you for the herbs’

“Ashville. My brother and I had to make a journey there… After the demons attacked, many were left wounded. And being a poor village, the kingdom decided not to send high rank healers… so we volunteered.”

“That’s horrible! How could the capital abandon their people?”

We turned a corner onto a familiar street. I could see the sacks laying against the wall

“Sigh. I do not blame them. There have been many village attacks in the past months. The decision must have been hard on them.”

I swayed my head. 

Would it be too much to send supplies and a mage to that village? Certainly so right? I’ll ask the king when I get the chance.

“Well, here I am. What happened to the building?!" Marie said, stopping in front of the scorched white building.

“Oh! I’m here as well. To be honest, those new marks are my doing haha.” I laughed, watching her cute giggle made my heart bounce.