"So that's what you look like." Henry says.

My palm hits my forehead, "Yeah." I say. "A little hostile there aren't you? Might've killed me."

"Glad to see that you're a lot more relaxed now. Didn't seem like you weren't before though. Had fun dodging?"

"What are you talking about?" I honestly don't know.

"Nothing." he says. "Why don't you go home then. Anne and I can take care of the rest here."

"Thanks." I walk over to Axel and put him on my back. "Can you dispel the paralyze?" I ask.

"I got it." Anne runs over avoiding the bodies on the ground. "How long has he been under the spell?" she puts her hand on his back.

"Maybe a minute."

"I don't think he'll wake up after this but at least he'll be more relaxed." As soon as her hand glows, Axel's body becomes a lot softer and his arms go limp.

"Thanks Anne."

"Yeah. Sorry for attacking you."

"Not your fault, no need to apologize. I should've said something."

"It's better that you chose not to. I believe that you picked the best choice, actually, running would have been better." Henry says.

"I think so too. There's too many unknowns here." Anne looks behind her. "We still don't know which group that was in the warehouse nor do we know their motives."

Should I tell them about the Fifth? I should, they already know who I am so it wouldn't be a big deal. "Guys." I say. "I think that the person that the dog man was talking to was another member of the Twelve. I know him." they both give me a incredulous look.

"What are you talking about?" Henry crosses his arms.

"They're not a member of the Twelve from here but from another city." I say. "I met him before."

Anne holds her chin, "So it was true..." she mutters quietly. "What's your relationship with him?"

"Enemy. He tried to kill me." I say.

"Seeing as how neither of you are dead, I'd say that he's not weak at least." Henry says. "We'll tell Carlyle about it. Which city was he from?"

"The Green City." I say.

"Right, thanks. Take your friend there home, we can handle the rest here."

-----------

"... the times in which we're strongest, are when we choose to get back up." his words struck me like a lightning bolt. More like the quote he used did but still, I was shocked.  It was a line I'd forgotten, it was the line that gave me the courage to be able to come here without hiding away.

Why does he feel that way? He's already strong. He could've taken down those two during the tag battle by himself. Unlike me he can accomplish so much, his magic might not be very strong but he's already far above my level. He always seems so resolute, so confident in himself.

I wanna be like that.

"Is that the book?" Miss Ein asks.

"Y-yeah." I say holding it out. "I read it a lot when I was younger. It, it was my favorite book. B-but I haven't read it in a while."

"I'd love to read it." she takes it. "I'll tell Mr. Reader that I have it. But before that," she sets it down. "why don't we have a sparring match before you leave."

"Mm." we've done lots of these before. I've been able to use a lot more of my magic than I usually do. I can't say I'm too glad to know what I can do, but I'm happy that I know Miss Ein can stop me if anything bad ever happens. That being said, I'm worried about how this sparring match will go. She doesn't hold back at all, at least when it comes to punishing mistakes.

----------

"Good work today Ellar." she says as she walks back towards the academy.

"Miss Ein's pretty good." someone says from behind me. I can already guess who it is. The way it was said had a far more admiring tone than Iris's, "Oh that's interesting." one. It's Elis, she's standing there, eyes mesmerized and mouth in an o shape.

 "D-did you watch the whole thing?" I hope that they didn't see the first part. I made a lot of mistakes and Miss Ein corrected me with, "What did I tell you about breaking barriers?" and, "A magician should always stick to using their affinity the most. Don't try to make up for your weaker affinities by putting more mana into them if it's not an attack meant to deal damage."

Hehe. She's not wrong. If I made sure that all my spells were on par with my water magic spells, then even I would run out of mana eventually. It's just that I'm worried about situations where just water magic won't work. I want to be more versatile like him.

"Yeah!" Elis says. "It was great!"

"Good fight El." Iris jumps in.

Uwaaah. They did see it. "Eheh, thanks."

"So how'd it go with Rainen" Iris asks.

"Yeah yeah! Tell us!" Elis says very excited. It didn't go the way you probably thought it did Elis. Sorry to pop your bubble there. I couldn't even talk to him properly.

"O-okay." I say with my arms in a v shape, my hands held together.

Iris sighs while Elis nods, "Always one word answers huh El?"

"S-sorry."

"Again." Iris says.

"B-but you did it too!" I call her out.

"I was simply pointing it out El. Well, at least you answer my questions instead of avoiding them like a certain someone."

Elis nods again, "Mhm." she opens one eye when we don't say anything more. "W-why's everyone staring at me? Oh, do I have something on my face." she feels around her mouth. "El, I don't think that I can get it. Will you splash some water on my face?"

"A-ah, o-okay." should I really do it? No no no, what are you thinking Ellar? "Elis, we were talking about you." I say, but she's too busy bracing for the water. She's closing her eyes tightly, same goes for her lips. It reminds me of the first time that I was able to meet my little sister and she ate something sour.

I turn to Iris for help, "U-uhhh."

She shrugs, "Splash her, she'll feel better after that."

Sorry Elis, Iris has decreed your punishment for not listening. I hope you took a good long breath, and I also hope that this water isn't as cold as the air.

*Sploosh*

"BWAH!" Elis uses her sleeves to start wiping her face.

"Ah! Wait Elis, I can do it." I take out the handkerchief that I got the other day and use it to wipe off the water. I made sure to clean it of course, I wouldn't wipe my friend's face with a snot filled piece of cloth. I don't think it's a good idea to tell her, just in case.

"Hey El." Iris says.

"Hmm?" I'm still wiping the water off of Elis's face. Her cheeks are really soft.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"Where did you get that handkerchief?" is she interested in getting one?

"Someone gave it to me after I sneezed." I stop for a moment. "Why? Did you want one?"

"Ah, no. Thanks for asking though. It just looked familiar."

I nod and get back to clearing Elis's face of the water.

------------

The next day at school, it was a Saturday, I notice the book on Miss Ein's podium is the same one I handed over to Ellar yesterday. Why would she give it to Miss Ein? I thought that she wanted to read it. I went to go and tell Mr. Reader that I gave it over to Ellar, but in this case I told him that Miss Ein had the book. It seemed like she already told him though, that's good.

I'm just going around town by myself now. Axel wasn't feeling to great and didn't want to do anything today. I offered to get him anything he wanted but he said that he didn't want me to catch his cold, although, I doubt that it's just a cold. I'm pretty sure that the paralyze spell has something to do with it. He should be fine though. That didn't stop me from leaving a few supplies by his door. Hopefully some of those nice peppers should help him feel better. My master always gave some to me when I didn't feel great.

Seeing this city with so much life I sometimes wonder why my master traveled so much with me. The places that he took me to were great for training but I feel that I would've had a better time in a city. I never argued though, I told him I wanted to be strong and he told me it'd be tough, I still chose to do it.

The vibrant yellow sun feels so good when it's mixed with the chill of the fall season. I mean, I feel a bit like a piece of meat that's waiting to be flipped around so that both sides can be cooked but still, a great feeling. Winter's gonna be here soon huh? What's it been since then? Two years? I haven't killed anyon- ah, that's right, I killed Nack. I don't feel like I've moved on yet. I should give back the sword if I won't use it. Just where is my master though?

"Ooof!"

A young woman fell, her groceries are scattered on the floor. She hurries to pick them up.

"Let me help with that." I say, bending down and lifting up the bags.

"Thank you." she says, struggling to get back up. She's pregnant.

"I'll take those Ma'am." I grab one of the bags from her hand. "If you don't mind, I can help you take these to your house."

"That'll be lovely." she says with a smile.

I get that groceries are important but shouldn't the husband or someone else be sent to shop? It's not too bad, judging from the size of her belly, not that I should be staring, she's been pregnant for a little while now. Maybe two to three months? Of course, I can't say for sure, I'm no doctor, just seen a few pregnant ladies in my time. And no, none of them were because of me. I only did it once. My master maybe, but not me.

Looking at her, I get the sense that she's very familiar. There's something about that short nose, the round eyes, and the way her head is shaped. Her disheveled shoulder length brown hair also seems familiar.

"Is it safe for you to leave the house by yourself?" I ask.

She covers her mouth with one hand as she laughs. "Haha. Of course it is, especially during the day with young men like you to help and old woman like me." she doesn't look very old.

"Either you look really young for your age or that's unfair to older women." I say thoughtlessly. I think I'm saying a little too much, we've only just met.

"Fufu. I suppose so." she lifts her bag higher. "We're here." she says after a few more minutes of walking.

She lives on a different side of town than where I do. Instead of the north and close to the academy, she lives in the south west, closer to the walls than anything memorable like Treant Park which is on the far east side. Her house is a largish wooden building, two storeys high with a blue tiled top. From here I count three windows, one right on the second floor and the others on the first floor. Too me, it's like a three eyed being.

It matches all of the other houses in this area though.

"Come inside." she says opening the door.

"What if I turn out to be a burglar?" I say as fair warning.

Her whole body instantly stiffens and she looks fearfully over to me.

"I-I'm joking." I try to calm her down.

"A-ah, yes. Sorry about that. I just recalled a bad memory." she says.

"Where's your husband?" I ask her.

"He's working, that's why I had to go get the groceries." her tone's lighter now, that's good.

"But shouldn't you be sticking to things that are closer to the house?" I ask.

"I don't want to be a wife that simply stays at home. He doesn't let me go outside whenever he's around, "What would happen if you or the baby gets hurt?" he'd say to me. I swear, he and my brother are far too worried about me. I can take care of myself."

That's nice that she has people that care so much for her.

"Alright, I'll take my leave now Ma'am." I put the groceries down and head for the door.

"H-hey! Wait! It's rude to leave during a rant!" she calls, holding her arm out. So it was a rant. Everyone needs to vent their stress sometimes. "C-could you at least wait here until my brother comes?"

"Ehehe. Why's that?"

"Because I don't have anyone to talk to." she says in a lowered voice.

I look over to a shelf full of books, "What about those?"

"I can't read." she mutters even quieter.

Oh, I see. Even for someone who lives in the city, getting an education isn't cheap nor is it easy. I should be thankful that my self proclaimed scholar of a master taught me. I can see him smirking now.

I don't have much else to do, it's fine I guess. I can stay here a few more minutes or so. I go over to the table where I wait for her to make tea.

*BANG BANG BANG*

"Mia!" the man behind the door yells. "Are you okay?"

She shakes her head and smiles wryly at me, "Sorry." she mouths as she goes to the door. "You're worrying too much about me." she says.

"I heard that you let someone else in. What if he turned out to be like... you know."

"Well he's not. You should go apologize for being rude and calling him that. He's sitting in the kitchen."

She comes back and heads to make another tea.

"Ah!" I say.

"Ah!" he says. "Thir-R-Rainen."

"Ehehe. How's it going Henry. What a coincidence meeting you here." I say as I scratch behind my ear.