It took awhile for everything to wrap up but I am now in a carriage with Eliza on our way to her home.

“We are going to have to switch carriages at the next town and there won’t be one until tomorrow so we are going to have to stay in an inn for the night at that town, so let’s use this time to catch you up a bit on what has happened in the world.

About 60 years ago the current queen had her Talent as being Young revealed. Back then people were still convinced that people with the Young Talent are destined to die young but the queen proved that to be wrong. When she was about 40 she didn’t have any of the difficulties people with the Young skill usually had and her parents ordered an investigation into it. They observed her as well as a few others who had the Young skill as well and they concluded that the only difference they found was that the queen wasn’t exposed to the inhumane amount of labour the others were and from that they found out that people with the Young Talent age about the same as everyone else and only their appearance won’t change. Because of this new information her parents decreed that Talents have to be studied more and openly, they built research centres where anyone with a Talent that wasn’t well known or understood could voluntarily undergo some testing and they would be paid according to it. At the same time all research centres that weren’t under the royal order had the option to adapt their practices and follow the orders or stop what they were doing. The queen is still the ruling monarch of our country to this day but from what I heard she is planning to step down soon in order to retire. The centre you were at until not long ago is speculated to be the last one still doing illegal practices.” She looks at me with a serious expression. “And this brings me to my next point. Are you aware that your name, V, isn’t actually a name?”

“It isn’t?” I look at her confused. Isn’t my name a normal name?

Eliza thinks for a bit before answering with a slightly pained expression. “V isn’t a name. It’s a way to write numbers, in your case V meaning 5. I assume they numbered everyone arriving there with more or less the same system but we aren’t sure yet. I don’t want you to be constantly reminded of that place when you hear your name so I figured since you are getting the chance for a new beginning we can start with a new name. It also makes it easier for other people to not ask too many questions about where you came from.”

“I don’t mind.”

She starts beaming again. “Then how about Lucina?”

That was fast, did she already have something in mind? “I don’t mind”

“Good! Then from this day forward your name is Lucina Stallard.”

“Stallard?”

“Ah right, yes. Stallard is my last name. Eliza Stallard, A-rank adventurer.”

“Adventurer?”

“Adventurers are people who fulfil requests from the adventurers guild. Requests are jobs like collecting plants or information, slaying monsters, guarding merchants on their travels or even rescuing people from evil organisations.” Eliza gives me a wink while she says that. “Someone who is registered can accept those requests and get paid for it but depending on the difficulty of the request your rank has to be higher. Ranks are divided from F to A, with F being the lowest and the special S-rank. There are a few ways to increase rank but the most common one is to complete a certain amount of requests according to your own rank but some also get a higher rank by slaying a monster of a higher rank than they are, but that method isn’t recommended since it can be very dangerous. S-rank is the exception to this and you can only achieve it by doing something exceptional. Being registered also makes it easier to travel around not just different towns but also countries. Usually you would need to show quite a few documents to enter other countries but since the adventurers guild is a neutral party the guild card works just fine.”

“Can I join as well?”

“Of course you can! There is an initial test to determine the rank you start at. For the first part you have to hit a target with a weapon of choice and the second part is more or less the same but this time you use magic. That reminds me, do you know any spells?”

I shake my head.

“Then how about I teach you a few before registering? They have private training rooms for rent at the guild.”

I get to learn magic?! It’s hard to hold back my excitement. “If it isn’t too much trouble… ”

“Of course!” She seems to be almost beaming while looking at me. “We probably also shouldn’t tell people your actual age as well, so since you look like you’re about 12 let’s go with that”

“Okay.”

The carriage comes to a stop, Eliza grabs her sword and small backpack and then smiles at me. “Okay, let’s go”.

We step out of the carriage and she pays the driver.

“The adventurers guild isn’t far from here so let’s go there first.”

I grab her hand as she starts walking which seems to have her a bit flustered.

This town looks a lot bigger than the village I used to live in.

We are walking along a wide street with a lot of different shops, some sold weapons, some sold clothes, others I didn’t recognize. I point at one of the stores that has staves, books and other things that look like trinkets and ask, “What kind of store is that?”

We stop walking and Eliza looks at the store I am pointing at, “This is a magic store, it’s a store that sells things for people who focus on magic as well as magical tools for adventurers.”

“What are magical tools?”

Eliza shows me her backpack and takes out a lantern. “This backpack and this lantern are both magical tools. The backpack has magic on it to make it bigger on the inside so more things fit in it than what you’d assume. This makes it a lot easier to carry things when you’re out and might not be able to stay at an inn since you can carry a lot more with you compared to with a regular backpack. And this lantern uses magic to light up instead of fire which makes it more convenient because you don’t have to be wary of fuel or accidentally burn something down if it falls over.”

“So it’s to make things easier”

“Exactly but they are usually pretty expensive.”

I point at another store, “And what kind of store is that?”

“That is an inn, you can go there to eat or rent a room for the night, we are going to one of those a bit later.”

I nod.

After a bit more walking we arrive at a big building with a sign that reads Adventurers Guild. We enter and walk up to a counter.

“Hey Ad, can I use one of the training rooms?”

“Oh hey El, finally back? Training room 3 should be free so feel free to use that one. And who is the little one? How come you never told me you have a child?” The receptionist looks at me and then at Eliza, giving her a smirk.

She did tell me she’s going to take care of me, so does that make me her child?

Before I could finish that thought Eliza started walking towards a staircase. “We can talk about that later.” Eliza's face is as red as a tomato.

We walk down the staircase along a corridor until we are at a door labelled 3.

“These rooms are reinforced with magic so I don’t think it will be an issue even if you don’t hold back.”

We enter the room and right at the entrance there are a few weapon racks with all kinds of different weapons on them.

“These weapons are to test out which type of weapon someone prefers and are from the guild, we are free to use any we want but if we break one we will have to pay for the replacement. They also aren’t sharp in order to avoid accidents. But before that let me show you some magic.”

I’m looking at the different weapons and when she mentions magic my eyes light up and I focus on her. I can’t wait to finally learn about magic.

“Not to disappoint you but I’m not very good with magic, I mainly have a few basic spells for convenience.” She blushes a bit. “Let’s start with the basics, magic is done by imagining what you want to happen, the better your image of that the more successful the magic you’re going to cast but more complex magic also uses more mana and while it is possible to increase the amount of mana you have it takes a lot of time so only people who focus on magic for either fighting or their everyday life will actually do so.” She stretches one of her arms forwards, away from me and a small water ball appears a short distance away from her hand. “This is basic water magic, it’s drinkable water and a must have for adventurers because it removes the need to find drinkable water in nature, it takes a small amount of mana so most people are able to use this kind of magic. Now how about you try?”

I stretch out my arm like Eliza did and close my eyes, concentrating on imagining water.

“Oh no! Lucina, stop!”

Eliza sounds very panicked so I open my eyes and see a gigantic ball of water in front of me.

Oh no, what am I supposed to do now?

“Don’t worry, imagine the ball of water being pushed away from you.”

I’m panicking but try to focus on what Eliza told me to do. The ball of water moves slowly away from me but then suddenly bursts and water splashes everywhere. Oh no, she is going to be angry with me. I close my eyes waiting for what’s about to come next but nothing is happening. I carefully open my eyes and I see Eliza looking at me concerned. My whole body is trembling, “I-I’m sorry.”

Eliza now has a pained expression. “Don’t worry, you did nothing wrong, it was your first time and you have a lot of mana.”

“S-so you’re not mad at me?” She gets a bit closer and I flinch a bit, closing my eyes again but instead of pain all I feel is her embrace.

“Don’t worry, nothing bad is ever going to happen to you again.”

I’m initially confused as that isn’t the reaction I was expecting but soon after I can feel tears welling up and I start crying which makes Eliza hug me even tighter.

After about 5 minutes I calm down again and she lets go. Only now I notice that we are both soaked in water. As if knowing what I’m thinking Eliza smiles at me.

“Don’t worry, I got a spell for this as well.” She closes her eyes and both her and I start glowing a bit and only a moment later we are both completely dry. “I think it’s best if we stop with magic here for now, but if you really want to learn I can hire a magic tutor for you.”

“You would do that for me?”

“Of course, like I said, I’m going to take care of you. My expertise is the Sword so I’m better suited to teach you that if you’re interested.”

I look at the weapon racks and then at her. “Yes please.”

“So what weapon do you want to test out?”

I search through the weapons until I find a sword that looks similar to the one Eliza has and take it.

Eliza gives me a conflicted look, “Are you sure you want to use that one? I think it’s a bit big for you.”

“Yes!”

“Okay, but please be careful. Give it a swing.”

I swing the sword and the next thing I know is that I’m lying on the floor. Eliza is rushing over to me with a concerned look.

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“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? I’m so sorry, I knew I should have stopped you.”

I don’t feel any pain or that something is wrong with me. “I’m fine but what happened?”

“The force of your swing was too strong for you and it knocked you over. I think it’s better to choose another weapon, we can still come back to this one once you’re a bit older, okay?”

I’m a bit dejected but it’s probably for the best. “Okay.” I go over to the weapon rack again and take a smaller, one handed sword. “Is this one okay?”

“Give it a few swings and we will know, but please be careful.”

I swing the sword a few times and I’m not losing my balance this time.

“Yes, this one is a bit more appropriate for your size.” Eliza gives out a small sigh while saying so. “We can do proper training once we are home, this much should be enough for the assessment test from the guild, so let’s get that over with and then go shopping.”

We leave the room and go back up the stairs back to the same receptionist we were at before.

“Already back, El? Are you going to explain the little one to me now?”

We walk up to the counter and I say, “I’m Lucina and mom said I should get registered for a guild card.”

The receptionist stares at Eliza whose face is even redder than before.

“She is one of the kids we rescued during the request and I decided to take care of her, but this isn’t the right place to go into detail.”

She stares at Eliza for a bit longer before letting out a sigh. “Okay then, I’m sure we will be able to talk about that during the assessment.” She turns towards me and gives me a wink, “Hi there, I’m Adriana but you can call me Ad. I’m sure your mom already explained to you how the process works, right? Are you ready?”

I nod in excitement.

“Okay then let’s go to the training room you were in before to do the assessment!”

We walk back to the training room and for some reason Eliza seems very nervous. We are about to enter the training room when Ad stops in the doorframe and then turns around, looking at Eliza with an angry expression. “You better explain the state of this room as well.”

What does she mean?

We enter the room and I look around, only now noticing that a large part of the room is still full of water and there is a deep cut in the floor from my test swing with the first sword.

Eliza closes the door behind her and gives a brief summary of what has happened since I met her to Ad.

Ad sighs and then shakes her head, “I see, but you will still have to pay for the damages of the room. I also don’t think it’s necessary to see her strength with how the room looks and what you described but I recommend adding her as an E-rank to avoid trouble.”

“That’s fine, I don’t think she should be doing requests anyways and once she’s ready I will be accompanying her.”

They both look at me with a soft smile. So I don’t have to do the test?

“Then let’s go and finish the registration process.”

We go back to the reception desk where I fill out a form with my name and age and then give it to Ad. Ad takes out a clear orb, “Now for the last step please put your hand on this for a moment.”

I look at Eliza and she gives me a nod so I put my hand on the orb and it starts glowing. After a few seconds it stops glowing and Ad hands me a card,

“Okay all done, welcome to the adventurers guild!”

I take the card and look at it, on it is my name and rank, how will this help identify me?

Eliza must have noticed my confusion.

“The orb you just touched is also a magic tool. It imprints your mana on the card so if anyone else was trying to use your card it would be noticed immediately.”

Ad hands me a pendant, “You can put it on here for the time being.” She then turns towards Eliza, “And how about we go over what you owe.”

While Eliza is paying with a dejected look on her face I’m putting the card on the pendant and put it on. This feels weird.

Eliza finished paying and now looks at me, “What do you want to do first, find an inn or go shopping?”

I think for a bit but before I can answer my stomach growls.

I blush and Eliza smiles at me, “Lunch it is. Bye Ad. Thanks for the help.” “Bye El, Bye Lucina.” “Bye bye”

We walked for a bit before entering a store with a cat on a sign outside. The moment Eliza opens the door I can smell a lot of different things and my stomach growls again. We sit down on a table a bit to the side.

“So, what do you feel like eating?”

I look at Eliza with wide eyes, “I can choose?”

Eliza’s expression looks pained at first but quickly changes back to a smile. “Of course!” She then hands me the menu,

I have no idea what any of these things are. “Can you choose something for me?” I look at her expectantly.

“Sure, let’s order my favourite then.” She orders for both of us and then asks, “If you don’t mind me asking, why did you call me mom?”

I look at her confused, “I-I’m sorry, was I not supposed to?.”

“No, no, that’s not it. It just surprised me and I don’t want you to feel forced to do so, so I was wondering why.”

“You said you are going to take care of me and that you’re going to protect me and even comforted me, you even gave me your last name. That’s more than what my actual parents ever did for me.” I avert my gaze feeling a bit dejected.

“I-it’s fine, I’m more than happy to be your mom.”

I look back at Eliza and her face is red again and she is a bit teary eyed.

“So it’s okay if I call you Mom?”

“Of course it is!” She gets up from her seat and comes over next to me and hugs me.

The server comes over again to bring us our food. I hesitate for a moment, remembering the pain I’ve gotten used to from eating. I look at mom for a moment and see her eating the meal without hesitation or issue, so I gather my courage and take a bite. I am preparing for the pain but it never comes. The food tastes very delicious and even when I eat more there is no pain. I can feel tears welling up in my eyes.

“Is everything okay?” Mom looks at me concerned.

“Yes, I’m just not used to food not causing pain.”

For a moment her expression is filled with anger but quickly turns into a soft smile again. “Don’t worry, eating will never be painful for you again.”

We finish eating and head out of the restaurant. “Now let’s go find an inn so we have a place to stay tonight and I can change out of this armour and then go buy you some things.”

We are walking for awhile, does she have an inn in mind already? After a bit more walking we enter an Inn with a sign of an animal I don’t recognize. The animal seems to be a mix of something I don’t recognize, a goat as a second head and a snake as a tail.

“Hey Cerys, do you still have a room available?”

The woman behind a reception desk looks up and smiles at mom. “Of course,but tell me, who is the little miss with you?”

“I’m Lucina and this is my mom.”, I say with an innocent smile. The woman stares at mom, why does everyone keep doing that?

“D-don’t worry about it, I will explain later.”

Mom gets the key to our room and we head there. The room looks big, it has 2 beds, a desk and chair and a separate washroom. Mom rummages through her backpack and takes out two sets of clothes, “I’m going to change real quick, until we get you something new why don’t you wear this.” As she says that she gives me a shirt, pants and shoes that are all way too big for me, I take them and then look at her confused. “Those clothes are technically also magic tools, they change their size to fit whoever is wearing them.”

Having said that she moves to the washroom so I put on the clothes she gave me and like she said as soon as I’m wearing them they shrink down to my size and fit me like they have been made for me. It doesn’t take mom long to be out of the washroom, now dressed in casual clothes. She puts her armour and sword in her backpack and then walks over to me.

“You ready to go?”

“Yes!”

We are back on the street with all the stores, “Let’s start with clothes and then look around for a bit.”

We enter a store with different clothes on display, from dresses to suits of armour. “All of these clothes are the same as what you’re wearing right now, so just pick whatever you like.”

“But isn’t that going to be expensive?”

Mom gives me a smile, “Don’t worry, I can afford it.”

I look around the store and see a few sets that I like but I feel bad choosing too many or the ones that look too fancy because I don’t want mom to spend too much money for me. I settle for a more plain looking set of a white shirt, black pants and normal looking brown shoes. I pick it up and see that mom who is at what looks like the area where you pay. I hand her the set of clothes I chose and she gives it to the store employee.

“And these as well.”

Only now I notice there are a few sets of clothes already on the counter and on further inspection all of them are ones I looked at before but thought would be too expensive.

“I saw you looking at these like you wanted them and I think they would look cute on you and I thought you didn’t pick them because you’re worried about the price even though I said it’s fine.”

She pays for everything and then puts the clothes into her backpack.

That backpack can really hold a lot of things.

She looks at me, “How about we check out the magic tool store next? And tell me if there is something you want.”

Her expression looks a bit stern for that last part. I’m looking around the store and there are many interesting things but I don’t think anything is really much use to me, still it is very interesting seeing all the different things you can create with magic. I walk over to mom, “I don’t think I need anything from here but thank you for showing me around.”

“Okay, it’s getting late anyways so let’s return to the inn.”

We return to the inn and have our dinner there. I'm still a bit unsure about eating but it’s already better than the first time. After we ate we went back to the room and I went to bed. Mom is still up, writing something on the desk by the time I fall asleep.

By the time I wake up mom is already up and dressed in her armour again.

“Good morning. Did you sleep well?”

I rub my eyes and nod. It feels a bit weird not being woken up by a bright light.

“Once you get dressed we can get breakfast and soon after we will have to go catch the carriage to get to my, I mean, our home.”

I wonder what her house looks like.

I hurriedly get dressed so we can eat breakfast but before I reach the door mom stops me.

“I have one more thing for you.” She hands me a backpack. “It’s a backpack similar to mine, the capacity is a bit smaller but that should be fine.”

I hug her, “Thank you.”

We go and eat breakfast and then go to where the carriage is already waiting for us. The carriage ride was uneventful and we soon arrived in front of a small 2 story house. “Looks like we are here.”

We get out of the carriage and we enter my now new home.