When we made it back to White Light I made sure my room was clean and said my goodbyes. Aurelia was busy, so I didn’t get to thank her for everything she did, but I gave my regards to everyone else.
No matter who I ran into, they all seemed to say the same thing, telling me I didn’t have to leave, and that I could join their guild if I wanted to. That I could have a home… I just dismissed it all without thinking, but after stepping foot outside, AFTER refusing the offer. I couldn’t help but think of how good it sounded.
I would have had friends, girls my own age to talk to. A calming home filled with laughter, and warm delicious meals every day. But… I didn’t want a peaceful life, that was never my goal.
‘What I want… What I want is to get stronger, and make so much money I could buy a whole dungeon if I wanted to… I want a Mythril Coin. 1,000,000,000 Tallons.’
Since I was leaving the care of the guild, I was on my own, so no more fancy carriage rides or escorts. From what they had said, all the bandits were captured, so there was no reason for me to worry. ‘They were the ones that hired the spectral assassin, so in theory, she should be off my back as well right? No wait, she was lent to them by a different group. Still… ’
I raised my palm and looked down at the strange golden magic circle inscribed on it. ‘Aurelia engraved a divine blessing into my hand that would summon her if another person threatened my life, so it should be fine right? Weird magic, shame it doesn’t save me from monsters...’
Before I knew it we were back at the town. I couldn’t help but stop and take in the view. ‘Rothet… The city where all my dreams will come true.’
The towering guild halls and wizard towers stretched up, cutting into the sky, and the several layers of thick stone walls each brought with them a sense of indestructibility. Each shop had its own distinct design and coloring, that made it stand out, turning the whole city into a work of art. At least that’s what others said.
“Chika?”
I turned back to Mochi. I had almost forgotten about her entirely, so used to being alone that it was strange to have a companion, especially after saying goodbye to one.
“So what are we going to do now? Sorry… I guess I’m on my own now arn’t I…”
Looking back to the city I thought about it for a moment. ‘They took everything she had… And probably attached a fine… Even if I lead her to the Beehive it’s not that simple… And if she’s over 16 the orphanage is out…’
“Hey, how old are you anyway?”
Her eyes nervously looked practically everywhere but at me well she hesitantly tried to figure out how to answer. “Around 22… Uhm… That is I think so at least… Or… Maybe 16? 8? 34?”
‘Figurs… She did say she never even saw the sky, time would be tricky. Still, if she’s not a kid that changes how I need to approach this… It needs to be more… Adult like.’ “I’ll make a deal with you. If you can teach me tier-three earth magic, I’ll take care of you until you’re back on you’re feet.”
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Her whole body shuddered. “Teach? I… I don’t know if…”
Her squeaky but calm voice came to a screeching halt as I patted her head and she suddenly stopped shaking. ‘I did it without thinking… But it did make her feel at ease… It might be harder to treat her like an adult than I thought…’
“I’ll do my best…” She said calmly. Seeing her smile made one cross my face as well.
“Right. Sense was coming in through the front gate, and not the teleporters, this is the perfect time to show you around and get everything set up. Let's see, have you eaten?”
She placed a hand over her stomach and slowly shook her head. “I tried to… But…”
“Does it still hurt…”
“No I’m fine…”
‘There are very few things that can make a halfling lose their appetite… And if it really isn’t physical… “Hey Mochi. Look up. What do you think of the sky?”
“It’s honestly not as great as I thought it would be. I’m not as connected with it, as I am with the earth, even though I know wind magic.”
‘She’s smiling, so she can’t be in that much emotional pain… Well…’ “Here, lay on your back and look at it.”
She suddenly flinched.
‘That’s what I thought…’ To doubly confirm I lightly pushed against her back and it was like watching a cold bucket of water fall on a sleepy old cat.
“Even after the healing magic huh…” ‘Fixing the problem only does so much when the memory sticks with you… Especially because nerves tend to keep signaling pain long after the problem is addressed.’
She nodded timidly.
“Ok… Then we’ll take care of that first.” ‘It’s been so long since I've come through the front gate, everything is so different from the way I remember it. These shops are new, and I think they must have widened the gate again to allow more people to pass through at once.’
“So many people…” She mumbled from behind me.
Her voice sounded fine, but I could tell from her eyes how nervous she must have been. I understood that of course, but since none of them were staring at me it didn’t actually bother me much… Not compared to the nerves I felt pretending to be a bandit… “Just stay close to me alright. Figuring out the places where you’re supposed to walk, and those where carriages and horses ride can be a bit tricky sometimes.”
She groaned, looking even more nervous than before. “OK…” I felt a prick in my hand, and when I looked down I saw a little blue thread of magic trailing off towards her finger. She looked embarrassed, jumping slightly. “Sorry, I just don’t want to get lost, when you’re small like this sometimes people run you over because they don’t see you… Then they laugh, it’s not fun.”
‘Geez…I don’t even have the heart to tell her…’ I reached back and grabbed her hand tugging her closer. ‘This is something we should talk about while training… It can wait for now… Maybe I just shouldn’t tell her that those people definitely saw her…’
Her hand was even smaller than mine, and unlike mine, it was soft like a baby's hand. I could feel how smooth it was even through my tough callouses. ‘I’d love to show her the city, but if she’s in pain I’d better just cut through the alleys to get home faster.’
I ducked into a narrow path, following the old roads that I knew like the back of my hand until we made it back to my house.
When we arrived, I quickly filled up the bathtub and heated the water with my magic. From what I knew about her so far, she was as shy as I was, it just didn’t seem to affect her actions somehow. So I went ahead and let her get cleaned up on her own, while I started preparing some meat and tea leaves for when it was time to start cooking. ‘This takes me back to the orphanage. I used to have to help take care of some of the younger kids… It feels weird knowing she’s older than me though…’
When she was finally done she didn’t say so much as a word, just slowly slid the door open and poked her head out, soaking wet and dripping water all over the floor.
‘Yup… Just like a little kid… I know I showed her where I put the clothes.’ I quickly washed my hands off with some magic and walked over to her. “Come here, you gotta dry your hair off, or you’ll get water everywhere and it can damage the floor. And if you’re head is a different temperature than the rest of your body it makes your nervous system wig out and you could get sick too.”
Walking in the room I quickly dried her off with a towel and helped her at least put some clothes on. She wouldn’t say, but I could tell she was having trouble with the idea of pulling something over her head… No doubt still just nervous about feeling pain in her back.
After that I grabbed a chair and moved it to the middle of the room, pushing her into it and mixing wind and fire to properly dry it for her. ‘I don’t know why… But I’m spending way more time on this than I do on my own…’ I was being as gentle as I could, but probably because of that it wasn’t actually drying very quickly. “Mochi how does this feel?”
I turned my focus away from her hair when she didn’t respond, and only then I noticed she was dozing off. I couldn’t help but smile, getting the answer all on my own. “I wonder if this is how my mom felt?”