Thea opened her eyes slowly. She was still in the same place she fainted. In front of her sat Rennet on a tree stump.

"You're finally awake."

"Ugh...where's Janna?"

Standing up, Thea asked about Janna first.

"She woke up a while ago."

Rennet stood up and pointed to Janna.

"She can't talk, can't move. Do nothing at all."

Thea walked up to Janna and crouched down. She poked her cheeks. The awake Janna could only blink her eyes in response.

"That is to be expected. And deserved."

Thea pinched Janna's cheeks and pulled.

"If I ask, will you give an answer?"

Thea looked at Rennet. She stared for a few seconds and spoke up.

"What do you want to know?"

Rennet scratched his head.

"How did you know I wasn't gonna kill you?"

What Rennet was asking was that at the end of the fight, Thea did something and locked away the uncontrollable power that was transforming Janna. But she herself also used up her power and went unconscious. Leaving both of their lives undefended in front of an enemy.

"I knew from the moment you appeared before us."

"How could you have possibly known that?"

"I have my own secrets. I'm not telling you what it is though."

"Ok, fine. But what happened to your friend?"

"The curse of the Everlotte family. Have you heard of it?"

"I've heard of the Everlottes, but never anything about a curse."

"That's because it's only passed down between the family. It has never been leaked to the outside world. And Janna here is the sole daughter of the Everlottes."

"So this curse is passed down through blood?"

"Exactly."

"But if it's a curse like that, why doesn't anyone outside the world know about it?"

Rennet saw Janna grow blue scales and transform her limbs lizard like claws. It would be easily noticeable if such a transformation happened in the outside world.

"Well, normally. The young ones learn to control it somewhat. Janna was a special case."

"I remember! The Everlottes are often called dragonkin because of the way they look."

"They show those characteristic of a dragon because of the curse."

"So this little one wasn't able to control that power?"

"More like she won't ever be able to control it."

"But you can control it?"

Remember that Thea was the one who stopped Janna's transformation earlier.

"It's more like I can suppress it."

"Well, you better suppress it. I felt like I was going to lose fight that thing."

"You would have lost."

"Really?"

"The more time passes, the stronger she would have grown."

"Hmm? Could you have stopped her then?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe? What do you mean maybe?"

"Let's get out of here."

"Hey, how can you leave it at a 'maybe'?"

Thea picked up Thea in her arms.

"You got heavier, princess."

Since Janna couldn't move and talk back, Thea took it as a chance to joke. Janna was furiously batting her eyelids.

"Are you going to leave me here?"

Rennet was standing there like a tree.

"Don't you have anywhere else to go?"

"I really don't."

"..."

"Can't you welcome me as a guest?"

"After you tried to kill us?"

"I wasn't going to do that."

"Follow us."

After a few moments of silent staring from Thea, she allowed Rennet to follow them. They went to the guild.

"Hi! Hi!"

It was Sophily at the desk.

"Hi, Sophy. We have a report to make."

"You can make the report but...is Miss Janna okay?"

Thea was still holding her in her arms. It was quite awkward.

"She'll be fine. Just take the report now."

"Ok, if you say it's fine. What do you want to report?"

"Janna's mission was completed. The ogre was slain and this here is the proof of it. You can also check the forest area where the monster was fought. There should be a burnt corpse."

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"What?! You guys defeated that thing?"

"That's what I said."

"But the ones who returned said that it underwent an evolution...?"

"It did and we killed it. That's all I have to report. We'll be leaving now. Bye, Sophy."

"Okay...bye."

Sophily was a bit shocked and amazed. They killed something that even other similar level adventurers would struggle to kill in a group, which was shocking. But it also showed their strength, which awed people.

Thea and the other two arrived at the orphanage after visiting the guild. The kids were playing in the garden with Leaf studying magic.

"Hewwo."

Nem came up to Rennet and greeted him.

"Wow, such a cute kid. Hello to you too."

"I'm Nem!"

Nem put his left hand index finger towards his face and spoke in a cute voice. It was a voice that could charm anyone. Combined with his tiny figure, it was incredibly cute.

"Well, Nem is a powerful name where I come from. So it's nice to make your acquaintance."

Rennet extended his hand and Nem shook it. He then ran away to play with Gwyn.

"Haha. What a cute kid."

"That's crazy. Nem usually hates people but he seems to like you a lot."

"I just have one of those faces, you know?"

Rennet smugly said as he made a big smile.

"Whatever. I'm gonna go put down Janna."

After putting Janna in the chair in garden that Thea herself usually sits in, Thea went to Leaf.

"What are you doing?"

"Ah!"

Leaf was reading a book and quickly smashed it shut when she heard Thea's voice. She had been so focused that she didn't even see Thea come back. Something that never happens.

"...are you hiding something from me?"

"What?! No, I'm not..."

Leaf had an awkward face and a nervous laugh.

"You're terrible at hiding your misdeed, Leaf."

"What misdeed?"

Temtem came out from Leaf's cotton jumper. It had a pocket at the side, just big enough to fit the little fairy.

"I have to ask, Temtem. Did you form a contract?"

"A what?"

Temtem looked at Thea with mindless expression. The word contract wasn't in her vocabulary.

"I guess that means you didn't? Leaf, did I teach you about contracts?"

"Uuh...was it when a powerful spirit forms a relationship with a human?"

"Close. It's when a mythical creature, usually born from the natural flow of mana, comes into a deal where it shares it's power with a chosen entity. The entity doesn't have to be human. Actually, it's almost always not a human."

"Is it that good of a thing?"

Leaf asked in curiosity.

"I wouldn't know the actual effect of it. But the records speak for themselves. It is an effective procedure. The first kings of the current kingdoms' all had these contracts. Every hero in history has had a powerful contractor. It's like a cheat to becoming stronger."

"Wow. Does Unnie have one?"

"...no. But I don't need one to be your Unnie."

"Hehe."

"So, Temtem."

"Yes?"

Temtem was chewing on a leaf she had picked up from the ground. As a fairy of the forest, she liked the taste of the leaves in the orphanage's garden.

"Are you willing to form a contract with Leaf?"

"Yeah, sure."

Temtem didn't even think for a moment.

"You should think it thro-....no nevermind."

Thea was gonna help Temtem understand that it was a very important thing to fairies like herself. But then Thea abandoned this thought because it would be equally beneficial to the two. Even if they would have to stay together for maybe their whole lives.

"Okay. Let's do it now!"

Thea clapped her hands together.

"First thing first. Gifts!"

"Do we have to give gifts to each other?"

"Usually only the weaker party has to give a gift that will satisfy the condition. But I guess you can exchange gifts if that's what you guys want to do."

"Temtem already gave me a gift. So only I have to give it now."

"Hehe. I expect a tremendously fabulous gift."

"Where did she even learn those words?"

Thea was taken back by Temtem's words.

"I don't have anything like that, Unnie."

"It's fine. I have many objects that could be sufficient."

Thea held up her magic bag and started to pour out the contents inside. Hundreds of gems, scrolls, dozens of books and other objects came out.

"Wow!"

Both Leaf and Temtem were awed by the sight.

"How much stuff do you have in that bag, Unnie?"

"I don't know. I just throw stuff in it."

"It's not going to explode, right?"

"Probably not?"

"What do you mean 'probably not'?"

"Don't be so worried about the bag. Is there anything you like, Temtem?"

"What's this?"

Temtem pointed at a small cube like thing.

"Oh, this?"

Thea picked up the cube and looked it over.

"It's supposed to be a camera. But it's broken."

It was one of the things that the various guilds monopolized. Since it uses a very rare material as its core. The flying whales called crown whales. The material shed from their crowns is used as the object which allows a picture to be stored inside of it.

Since the number is so limited, so only the guilds and the royalties are able to use them. Even having the camera cube without the crown material is illegal.

"I want that!"

"You want this camera cube?"

"No! Why would I want that? I want a picture!"

Temtem's demands were very high.

"I don't know if that's possible..."

Even Thea, who had travelled the continent for a year before forming the orphanage, hadn't seen a crown whale. Even asking Silas to get a piece could take years. That's only if that was even possible as it's illegal to be in the possession of one.

There were literally no options.

"Isn't there anything that you can do, Unnie?"

Leaf looked at Thea with a hopeful expression.

"So what?!"

Thea said out loud.

"So what...?"

Leaf was taken aback.

"So what if I don't have a crown whale's crown? I can just use another material. And if that doesn't work, I'll just invent a new type of camera!"

The fire had been lit. Thea was not going to stop until she completed this task. Thea stood up and went inside the orphanage and to her workshop room.

"What did I do?"

Leaf still didn't understand what had happened. For Thea, if the kids wanted something, then it had to be done. Within moral reasoning of course. But it was one of the things that Thea wouldn't look over.

Since Temtem wanted a picture, then she will get one. Since Leaf wanted a camera, she will get one. Thea already thought of Temtem as a child she had to take care of.

For the next seven days, explosions could be heard from Thea's workshop room. The whole wall exploded one time, but was quickly repaired by calling for Silas and his workers.

Janna could move the day after they came back and was now training with Rennet. They were practicing sword fighting using wooden swords.

The kids were watching from the sidelines. It was a very amazing show of skills and they found it very intriguing.

"Do you not know any swordsmanship?"

Rennet asked after landing on his feet.

"I do but I'm not allowed to use it."

"Not allowed?"

Rennet was puzzled.

"It would destroy the garden, you see."

Janna explained why she couldn't use it.

"I see. But that's only for the moves that use energy, right?"

Rennet was a swordsman himself. From his understanding there were a few types of swordsmanship. Or more accurately, swordsmanship had many factors. This included things like cutting, slashing, piercing, body manipulation and other things. There was also the things every swordsman strived for, aura and sword energy.

"Well, all my swordsmanship uses energy."

"What? Such a thing exists?"

"It's my family's blue dragon swordsmanship. My father and brothers can control it but I can't control the strength. And it's really ineffective in actual battles because I need to stay still to gather energy."

"Hmm. There is nothing that can't be done. You just have to find a way to go past these problems yourself. My master used to tell me 'There is no problem that cannot be solved with effort.'"

"I don't know...no one in my family has every done that. And believe me, they've tried."

Janna's family is old and has a history of hundreds of years. It was founded about six hundred years ago. And in all that time, the swordsmanship has stayed the same. Janna doesn't believe that she could be the one to change and improve it.

"All types of improvements begin with believing in oneself."

"I don't know."

Janna looked a bit down. It's not that she didn't want to push her family's swordsmanship forward, but she wasn't confident that she could do it.

"I noticed this during our fight. You are so scared."

"What?"

Rennet's sudden words shocked Janna.

"No, let me rephrase. You are a coward."

"Why are you calling me a coward? I'm not!"

"Really? Are you really not?"

Rennet stabbed his sword at Janna. Janna was forced to block it with her own sword.

"When we fought, you were afraid to kill."

"No I wasn't."

Rennet swung his sword again.

"You've never killed anyone in your life, have you?"

"..."

Rennet was striking harder.

"You're afraid to use your power."

"Afraid that you'll lose control."

Each strike was also a mental strike on Janna.

"You won't even try to discover a new technique. That's how scared you are."

"No..."

Janna didn't really have anything to say back. What Rennet was saying was true. Janna was actually afraid to do a lot of things. She was afraid that she would mess up somewhere.

Rennet broke Janna's wooden sword with a final strike.

"Why are you trying to wield a sword?"

"...because..."

"Why?"

"...I want to be a knight."

"That's a goal, not a reason."

"..."

"Why did you pick up the sword when you were young?"

Janna was silent for a few moments. She spoke up in a melancholic tone.

"...I was six I think. I saw a child being beaten up"