Chapter 7 – Departure

(Huh?!) – Lucca suddenly awoke when he was dreaming – (That woman, I know her…) – Clenching his hands he noticed he was still holding the emblem and bought it near his eyes – (More like, isn’t that woman the same as the symbol carved here?)

Lucca once more analyzed the golden emblem of the armor clad winged woman, who wielded a lance and a shield, this woman was clearly not something that he ever saw or heard, she was more like an avatar of a legend taken form, still he couldn’t deny the sensation of familiarity he had when first touched the emblem nor the fact he had just dreamed about a woman who had uncanny resemblance with this emblem.

Lucca stood up and checked the window, the sky was still dark, it seems he awoke too soon, there were barely any people aside in guard duty. He opened the window and with a quick move jumped through it, while concentrating mana on his legs and landed safely despite his room being on the third floor.

He moved to his usual spot near the sides of the orphanage, then took a short sword and a dagger from his backpack and started his (almost) daily practice. He remembered the whole chain of battles he had to go through in the last day and used this image to fight the demons inside his mind, he would go this process over and over again until he deemed that he could beat the demons the best way in the shortest time.

Although one couldn’t predict how the battles would turn if some of the variables were to change, Lucca constant mental training to find the most efficient to end his enemies were one of the reasons he could be considered strong within adventurers. He piled experience and trained thoroughly, thanks to that he could act in battle almost always in an optimal way as long as he had faced one of the monsters before was one of his strengths.

Sometime has passed and it the sky was already clear, Lucca was still training without minding his surroundings, when he was assaulted by the warm sensation of the embrace.

“Lucca, why do you train so hard?” – Said Ann while clinging to his back and resting her chin his shoulder – “You train so hard every day and the moment I have to go to work you vanish and only come back tattered in the evening…”

Lucca was enjoying the warm sensation, but then he remembered he was drenched in sweat thanks to his training and rapidly moved away from her embrace, while saying – “Why? Isn’t obvious that it’s to help our family?”

Ann while sighing chopped Lucca forehead – “Ahh… you never learns, I thought I could leave you alone to learn on your own, but the last day was just too dangerous and I know you wouldn’t listen to anyone since you’re still a brat” – Ann sighed once more and continued – “Lucca, try to remember, have you ever saw someone else who was near your age while you’re adventuring?”

Lucca squinted his eyes, he couldn’t refute her brat and reckless remarks, so he kept listening while massaging his swollen forehead. Then he heard the rest of the talk and despite he having a great memory he couldn’t remember meeting anyone near his age. Lastly he remembered the little mage, but he knew that from the talk he had with that party they were already traveling together for years, so it was likely she was already in her twenties.

“Now that you mention, although I remember some young kids having jobs in the cities, I don’t remember seeing anyone near my age in hunting quests…”

“There’s a reason for that” – Ann then took one of the books she usually read for the young children and gave to Lucca – “Do you remember this story?”

Taking the book and seeing the cover, showed a puzzled expression – “It’s the book of mana, it’s about how we awoke the ability called mana and then had enough strength to oppose the monsters, how could I not known?”

“That’s right, it’s about mana. Since you won’t listen unless I teach you, I guess it’s time, otherwise you gonna continue your reckless hunting, despite knowing nothing”

“The reason why you couldn’t remember seeing anyone near your age is pretty simple actually, up until sixteen years our race is still on its infancy period, therefore the body hasn’t fully developed and went through the process to being able to wield large amounts of mana”

Ann pointed to the orphanage and continued – “Look at your brothers and sisters, can any of them use enough mana to embody in some part of the world to create a phenomenon or strengthen their body to fight like you?”

“They can’t”

“That’s right, until being 16 y/o and going through the mana blessing ritual one body couldn’t held the mana necessary to use and [skill], therefore you won’t see children adventuring, since they can’t use mana, that would be the same as sending them to their deaths” – Ann paused and stared at Lucca – “That’s the reason that why when you were eleven and I discovered you were going on those hunting I beaten you so bad, because that would be the same as seeking its own death!”

Lucca remembered the incident and couldn’t help but show a wry smile.

“Ahh… Of course for every rule there’s a exception” – Said Ann while letting go of Lucca and concentrating mana on her eyes, she could clearly see that Lucca’s body housed large quantity of mana that was simple impossible to see in anyone who didn’t went thought the ritual of mana blessing – “I don’t know the reason why you have so much mana, but thanks to that you could live to this day despite being such a reckless brat.”

“You don’t have to repeat that…”

“If you know I’m repeating myself, why don’t you listen to my words?” – Ann could hear a faint ‘sorry’ leaking from Lucca’s lips and continued – “Therefore kids shouldn’t go through this dangers without mana or a job…”

“Job?”

“That’s right, job. That’s the second part of the explanation. Kohon…” – Ann adjusted her throat and continued – “Are you aware that by using mana we can interfere with the laws of the word and use things like magic or strength or bodies to exceed the human capacity, right?”

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“Yes, I don’t know about magic, but I daily use mana to strength my body so I could fight.”

“The common name for using strengthening one’s own body or weapon is called skill, when creating an independent phenomenon like this” – Ann moved away from Lucca and moved her right hand in praying form and shouted – “[Restore] … is called magic”

Lucca once again saw Ann ability, her magic permeated his body and he felt his fatigue going away. He had some knowledge about her work as healer, since she had to help the people who fought in the desert almost daily, but he never went to saw the process since he was busy doing his own things and felt a little jealously when he saw Ann working hard to help other people.

“In this case I can use skills too!” – Lucca showed a confident smile while using the mana in his own body to strength his legs and jumped a height that a normal human couldn’t dream.

“You’re wrong, that’s not a skill”

“How come? Didn’t I used my mana to strength my body and did something one usually couldn’t?”

“Ahh… Lucca” – Ann sighed once more – “Indeed you used your mana to strength and could display such a feat, but this isn’t a skill” – Ann moved near Lucca once more and hugged him – “I’m glad you at least obeyed me about this.”

“What do you mean?” – Answered bashfully.

“I’m saying that, I’m glad you didn’t disobeyed me and went to the desert or any place far away of the capital” – Ann moved away from the embraced and placed her head a few centimeters away from Lucca’s – “otherwise you would die for sure.”

Lucca saw Ann serious eyes, those were the first time she showed him those. He felt a chill in his spine and rapidly moved away his own eyes, dodging her stare.

“Lucca, are you aware where we live?” – Without giving time for him to answer, she continued – “We live in the desert city of Marlok, the very first line of defense against countless monsters for this kingdom” – She moved away her gaze and stared at the orphanage – “The majority of the children living here are probably orphans of people dying in the desert. Despite this city having such a poor security and having bandits and assassins does as they please, the kingdom still let them live here, do you know why?”

“I don’t” – Lucca always had thought about this, why the kingdom let such hoodlums do as they please in a city that was supposed to protect them.

“Because they have power. They may be trash, but as long as this trash kills enough monsters they let them go. That’s the state of our kingdom.”

Ann took a letter from her bag together with a sack of gold he previously gave to her – “Lucca, despite the appearances, since I’ve come to this desert city, I used all of my power and make the orphanage and kept him going for quite some time, right? Although I won’t deny that I couldn’t give everything that the little guys deserved, I did my utmost for you guys.”

“No, you always gave us everything! I only do these things for my own self-satisfaction, Ann” – Lucca didn’t know why, but he could feel his chest hurting.

“I’m glad to hear” – Ann beamed a smile that always had helped them once more to Lucca and continued – “Therefore take these and go to the capital.”

“What do you mean?”

“Lucca you can’t keep living like that, one day you will die, for that reason I prepared this letter and this is the money you gave me that almost cost your own life” – She pressed those on Lucca’s chest until he took them – “You will go to the cathedral in capital and deliver this letter to one of the priests there, then they will teach you about skills and magic, then you can get a job and finally become a full-fledged adventurer.”

“Are you telling me to go?” – Answered Lucca while shedding some tears and grasping both items.

“No Lucca. I wanted to live with you at least until you got sixteen” – She once more hugged him and continued while talking near his ear – “Lucca, not always having strength is a good thing, all this time you lived dangerously and almost died countless times, I can’t count how many times I saw you all beaten over and just last night if wasn’t by the man you mentioned you would have died.

I tried to stop you countless times, yet you never listen to me, you have this self-satisfaction thing you always mention and you jump in the claws of danger despite barely knowing anything. I can’t go on working while worrying when you gonna disappear. Therefore please go to the capital and learn real strength so you can back those actions.”

Lucca couldn’t answer her. He always was selfish and put worry on her head, so he kept quite while hugging Ann.

“It’s not like it’s the last time we will see each other, though it usually take some time until you can learn all the basic skills to have a job, you can always come back with the teleport, right?”

Ann let go of Lucca and moved to the orphanage – “Lucca, become strong and then come back” – When she was near the door, she turned one last time to see him and shower her usual smile that Lucca always loved to see, while having tears falling from her eyes – “See you soon”

Lucca stood there without knowing how to react. He thought that was just a normal day and went training as usual, but now he had a letter and a sack of gold coins while being totally overpowered by his lovely sister. It was already near noon and he kept there just thinking about all the experiences and everything she told him.

He began to move towards the center of the city so he could teleport to the capital, where he would start learning a job and become de facto a real adventurer.