《Another World Peace Creator Magician》 Chapter -1 Character Lis Chapter -1 Character Lis @@ Erwin - Our main protagonist in this novel, a cute little boy who got washed away in the past by his own mother due to someplicated circumstances, he''s an awesome kid who able to learn magic and love to learn it together with his sister, Ilya. Ilya - A beautiful brown-haired girl who live alone and running a bread store, she found a basket with a baby inside it in the past, she take a pity to the baby and devote herself to take care of the baby. Yuika - A cute little shy childhood friend, she gets jealous easily and loves to y with Erwin, she seems to have a secret feeling towards Erwin, can she catch Erwin''s heart? Uncle Alto - A trader who always goes around to the other kingdoms, the person who always help out Ilya''s store and a person who was close to Ilya''s parents in the past. Aura - A cute lovely ck-haired girl who had anxiety issue towards men, expect her to be in a great rivalry with Yuika Rosaku - A weird former royal magic researcher who ys a big role to Erwin''s sess of learning magic. @@ Chapter 1 Life after the death "I had taken the control room, I''ll open the way for the alpha team to infiltrate" Notorious, the code name for the most anonymous spy of the hidden organization that had a mission to make a change to the world, the world without war and cry, the world where justice exists, the world without corrupted people who make people suffer. [ Gate one open ] Notorious is starting to take over the control of the whole building which appears to be a nuclear weapons research facilitation. A sweat starts tearing from his body, a demand to not fail the mission without any mistake made him wanted to quickly finish the mission so they can prevent the civil war and the world scale nuclear war. - No more children will cry out tear and blood now The hidden organization who dere themselves as a world peacemaker warriors being recognized as a terrorist in several nations because of their activities that makes some countries they attack loss their army and economy power. "Screw your money, screw your nuclear, we OJC shall turn this world into a better ce" As he''s about to kill the nuclear''s function and destroy the switch, Notorious starts to smell a powder entering his nose. - What is it, it smells like gunpowders Notorious starts to cover up his nose and mouth and try to destroy the switch again. "How foolish of you for keeping me alive" A sounding from behind Notorious, a hard wounded man is trying to stay conscious and have a grin in his eyes. "A LOWLY COMMONERS LIKE YOU SHOULD HAVE JUST DIE" The man then smashes a little button switch and after that a huge explosioning from the control room. [Notorious... give us feedback, what is that explosion just now, give us feedback...] Amunication device just went flying from the control room because of the explosion impact andnded next to the captain of the alpha team. "This can''t be real is it?" The alpha division captain picks up themunication device that looks like a rectangle-shaped ring and then aware that the ring is Notorious''s. - Did I fail my task? - There are still many children who cry in tears and blood - God, when I reborn, please make this world in peace and no children should cry suffer because of the adults greed Notorious''s vision went white and immediately everything turned ck and all he can see is darkness. Notorious seems confused as he opens his eyes and looks around. - This isn''t hell nor heaven - Where am I "I will grant you a blessing before I reincarnate you toplete the task, carry mymandment!" A loud and majestic voice apparentlying out of nowhere. - Who''s that Notorious look around and wondering who''s that just talking out of nowhere, but all he can see just darkness. "I''m the God, you already dead in your previous life, and now I''ll give you second chance to live and proudly carry mymandment" Again, someone''s voice, a loud voice,ing out of nowhere and Notoriouspletely confused because of it. "What do you want from me" Notorious decided to y along with the voice and try to confirm what it''s objective. "Live, andplete your task, make the world where children don''t have to cry, lead them to brighter future" A smileing on his face, Notorious then burst intoughter. "Even after I die I still have to live again and do that thing once more time? hahaha" Notorious can''t stop hisughter because of what God just said. "Fine I will do your task, I''ll be part of your God y here" Notorious got a grin on his face and so pumped up. "I shall grant you your wish as a divine blessing before you go" A great offer to get a blessing from God, Notorious can''t get excited enough andugh. "Give me my memories and my ability" For a 26 years old grown man to make such wish make Godugh and dly grant him blessings of what he wanted. "What an interesting choice, then I shall grant your wish, but I won''t return all your memory" A finger snapped and Notorious''s vision went white again. "Oh, you awake little boy?" A warm smile and a pretty face with brown hair. The smell of snow and cold that bite the skin, a warm stove is the one that can warm the body, but the youngdy''s hug is the one that can warm up the little baby. Her body''s warmth calmed down the baby, the beautiful smile makes the baby smile and feels safe. "You''re not crying today, good boy, good boy" Once more the warmth of her smile and love make the baby fell asleep in peace. Chapter 2 The Young Lady The small round face, shiny silver hair, a little chubby Erwin''s trying his best to walk while holding onto the wall, a small step was made, little by a little, the small Erwin tried to walk towards his big sister who''s sitting not too far away from him. The youngdy cheers little Erwin, giving him energy and courage to try his best to walk on his 2nd. The smell ofvender spread all over the room, the smell of the burned wood from the stove that used to bake the bread tickling the nose, the warm atmosphere really makes the little Erwin''s life is nothing but joy and smile. "Woah... Erwin, you are able to walk towards big sis, good boy, good boy" The youngdy is giving little Erwin praises for his hard work for seeding to walk on his 2nd. The youngdy picked up little Erwin with a big smile on her face, carrying him to the meal table and there was a bowl of onion soup and stewed potato served on the table. The sweet smell from the stewed potato makes little Erwin excited and giving the youngdy a sign that he wanted that. "Ahh, you want to try this stewed potato?" The youngdy then peels the skin of the potato and try to soften the potato so little Erwin can eat it without chewing it hard. The feel of the warm potato that filled up little Erwin''s mouth, the soft textures makes little Erwin seems to enjoy himself while eating it. "You''ve grown a lot now Erwin?" With a big smile on her face, the youngdy feeds up more soften potato to little Erwin and while Erwin enjoys himself eating the sweet potato, the youngdy smiles to little Erwin''s joyful face. "Yosh let''s fill up our energy and open the store with a high spirit" The youngdy is so pumped up right now, by having the little Erwin on her side, every day, whatever she did, with little Erwin with her, she can feel cute energy pumping up her spirit. - I have to protect this little angel The youngdy seems to enjoy herself by watching little Erwin with his mouth full because of the food he chewed, she strokes her only little brother, the only reason she lived for is before her eyes and a lonely smileing from her, making little Erwin start to look worried about her. "Maa..." Little Erwin tries to reach out his hand and touch the youngdy''s cheek, the youngdy surprised with little Erwin''s sudden manner, and her eyes sparkling because what the little Erwin tries to do just melted her heart. "Why are you so cute..." The youngdy lift up little Erwin''s armpits and raise him high with a bigughing from her, it makes little Erwin got the big smile back on his face. "I''m not Ma... I''m Sis" For an eight years old girl to be a mom at her age is a bit too much for her. But for a youngdy of a bakery family who continues the family business on her own and keeping little Erwin will be a really good mother in the future. "Fire..." The young Erwin who is sitting in the chair and ying with the dough noticed the girl uses magic to fire up the stove and bake the bread. "Ahh, this?" The girl still has the little fire mming on her index finger turns back her head facing little Erwin. "This is magic Erwin, really convenient to use right?" The girl shows little Erwin the little meing from her finger and little Erwin got an amazed expression on his face. "Gic..." "Magic, when Erwin grew up big sis sure Erwin will be great magician" The girl pats little Erwin''s head and a big smileing from little Erwin''s face. "Let''s open the store soon Erwin, you go and help big sis today, okay?" The girl went back to the stove after seeing little Erwin''s excited face after she invites him to help out at the store, even he only sits in the chair and greets people whoe to the store, though people like toe to the store sometimes they just want to greet little Erwin. Chapter 3 Its Dangerous ! "Hey big sis, look, look" little Erwin just made a bunny face-shaped cookies and bake itter to put at their bread shop, an exciting looking from little Erwin''s face, at his 5th, he''s already helping out at the store, he starts to make his own cookies by helping in the kitchen, his sister was confused when little Erwin starts to make the cookies thing, he''s always ying with the dough and one day he asked his sister to bake the dough he made dry. Little Erwin is ying around with the rolled dough he and his sister made and making it as thin as cookies shaped, the happy and joyful face of little Erwin while he''s helping his big sister will make everyone who visits the store melted because of his cuteness. "Eek.." The girl notices Erwin is trying to y with a knife to make the cookies he wanted and she quickly run at little Erwin and about to take the knife from him, seeing this, little Erwin is aware of what his big sister wanted to do and quickly flip the knife''s handle way around so his big sister won''t hurt herself. "Erwin, don''t y with a knife like that, it''s dangerous" After taking the knife from little Erwin, the girl just look at little Erwin with a confused face and little Erwin is looking back at his big sister after she took the knife from him, little Erwin starts to feel his big sister is giving him a scary look and he starts to let out a tear. "S-sorry..." Little Erwin looked down and starts crying a bit, he''s too afraid to face his big sister, he feels like he just did something he shouldn''t and make his big sister mad at him. "A...Ahh.... don''t cry Erwin" The girl put down the knife and approach little Erwin, trying to calm him down, the girl gives little Erwin a warm hug to her chest to calm little Erwin down, patting his head and stroke it, the warmth makes little Erwin calmed down and stopped crying. "I''m sorry..." little Erwin tries to apologize to his big sister one more time then he wipes his tears and snot. No matter how people look at it, the crying little Erwin is so cute, he can make people just wanted to hug him and make calm him down then cuddle with him after, it makes the girl feel guilty for making little Erwin cries. "It''s okay Erwin, big sister wasn''t mad at you" The girl hugged little Erwin and strokes his head gently and try to calm him down so she won''t be feeling guilty anymore. "You can sell the cookies to our customers by yourself today, Erwin, how about that will you forgive big sis?" The girl''s trying to cheer her little brother, and little Erwin seems to know that his sister is trying to make up with him. [ Nod nod ] Little Erwin just nodded his head after he calmed down and then gives a big smile once again. "I''ll help you cutting dough for the cookies, just leave it to big sis" The girl rolled up her sleeves and start cutting down the dough her little brother made for his cookies. - I still remember the time where I got so surprised when Erwin first time came up with this cookies thing The girl also helps little Erwin to make heart-shaped cookies, they both seem to enjoy themselves making bread and cookies together. "Let''s open the store shall we?" After they finish baking the bread and cookies they will sell at the storeter, the girl takes the bread and cookies, put it on the tray and then she went to the store in the front. Not too long after the store open, an olddy from the neighborhood came to grab some bread and greets these two siblings. "It''s a nice day today isn''t it, Ilya-chan" ( Chan can be used to call a young girl ) Little Erwin is sitting next to the storefront, greeting the olddy and wave his hand. "Oh my, Erwin-kun is helping at the store? what a good boy" The olddy walks towards little Erwin and pat his head gently, little Erwin seems happy when someone is stroking his head, the olddy smiled when she look at little Erwin. "Ah Suri grandma, Erwin made these cookies thing today, have a taste of them if you interested" Ilya pulls out a tray with some cookies on it and offers it to the olddy. "Ahhh.. Erwin-kun made this, let me have a taste" The olddy takes the cookie and tried to eat it. "Ohh.. this is hard and sweet, can I buy this?" The olddy seems to take a liking to the cookies little Erwin made, after many attempts he tried, convinced his sister to make it and sess, makes little Erwin so happy when someone actually bought his cookies. "Cookies.." Little Erwin hand out the bag filled with cookies to the olddy with a big smile on his face. "Thank you" The olddy pat Erwin''s head before she leaves the store. Ilya''s looking at little Erwin when he''s still waving his hand to the olddy even she already leaves the store. - Howe he was able to flip the knife like that before, when did he learn it from? "Sis?" When Ilya lost in thought watching at her little brother, little Erwin pokes her and he looks confused. "Ah isn''t it good Erwin? someone bought your cookies" Trying to act normally, Ilya gives a smile at little Erwin. "Ou.." Erwin looks so excited and pumped up. - Ah let''s just forget about that now, he''s still 5 years old, no way he was able to do that, maybe it''s just a coincidence Ilya just keeps looking at little Erwin and smiles when he''s humming happily. Chapter 4 We Want to Learn Magic! The cookies Erwin made has be quite popr around the neighborhood, at first people still feel strange because it''s something they never see before, hard sweet baked cookies, little Erwin was the one who invented it and it''s so popr now that the cookies start bing more popr among travelers and traders, and those who happen to pass by this little town would go to their store. It''s been a year since Erwin''s cookies first came out at the store, Ilya gave Erwin a little knife and a roller for him to use to make the cookies and it''s his first present he got from his big sister, Erwin is so happy and made a lot of cookies after that. "Hey, big sis, how can I use magic?" It''s just a normal day at the store, Erwin''s helping his sister to make bread and cookies like always and whenever he saw his sister''s using magic, he starts to be more curious about it. "Are you interested with magic?" Ilya just light up the stove with her fire magic and turned around to Erwin and see Erwin''s curious face. Erwin just nods his head while still ying with the dough on his hands and now Ilya starts to figure out how to answer Erwin''s question, she doesn''t want to let down her little brother. "Well not many people can use magic though, there was a particle of magic called mana, you need to control it to cast the magic, and Erwin need a soul power to control the mana, you can either born with your body capable to interact with mana or Erwin can train to learn interacting with mana" Ilya starts giving Erwin a short exining how mana works for magic. Mana is a nature''s power and someone needs to have an ability to control it, and it depends on their soul power, to control the mana, someone needs an imagination of how they will manipte the mana depends on their element. "Ilya''s element is fire, mama''s magic is also fire" While exining to Erwin, Ilya shows him the fire magic they use every day. "How to control it?" Erwin doesn''t seem to be bothered by Ilya bringing up the word mama, Erwin understands they don''t have one since he was still little, he only knew that his big sister is the only one who always with him. "Want to practice it? big sis certainly sure that you might have talent Erwin" Ilya stroked Erwin''s head and smile, and after hearing those words Erwin starts to feel so happy, he''s so excited to try the magic. - I think it''s possible since Erwin is probably some noble''s child, they all can use magic though, well let''s just give it a go Ilya takes the bread she baked and put it on the storefront, it''s their daily routines and meanwhile, Erwin is still enjoying himself making his cookies and humming while at it, he can''t wait to learn how to use magic. - I think I can just open the store now Ilya flip the store sign to open hanging in the front door and the front window, she walks back to the storefront waiting for Erwin to finish making his cookies, she will help him to bake itter. [door bell ringing] The store''s door open "Welco.. ah, Yuika-chan wee... Erwin is the kitchen right now" A small child with yellow hairing into the store, she''s probably at the same age as Erwin and they always y together. Yuika seems to blush a little when Ilya mentioned Erwin, she then bows a little and asks if she can go to the kitchen to meet Erwin. "It''s okay, Erwin will be happy to have you visit him Yuika-chan" Ilya smiled, she tries to tease Yuika a bit, she knew that Yuika likes Erwin since they always ying together and Ilya was always with them. Yuika runs towards the kitchen then stopped her step for a second, and inhale deeply before she then walks towards Erwin. Ilya can''t help herself butugh by her own, watching those kids together is so fun, her little brother is a bit dense and didn''t notice Yuika''s feelings towards him. - Well, they are still a child though, let it be, let it be.. The store is not really crowded by customers in the morning, so Ilya and Erwin can rx a bit every morning and just y together at the store before customers start toe. "Hey big sis, Yuika also wants to learn about magic with us, can she join in too?" Erwin suddenly calls his sister from the kitchen, it seems that Erwin''s talking about that he will learn magic with his sister and it seems that Yuika was also interested to join in too. "Sure, why not, let''s learn it together in our day off" Ilya walks to the kitchen and starts helping Erwin with his cookies, she''s baking it and ce it in the storefront after it''s baked. Erwin and Yuika look happy because Ilya is willing to teach them about magic, they''re so excited as it is written on their face that they''re looking forward to it. Chapter 5 Day at The Store - Should we close the store early today? The store was pretty busy today, lots of traders and travelersing to the store today, they wanted to visit the rumored bread store in the countryside that sells the rumored cookies. Yuika is also helping in the store today, she was visiting the store to meet Erwin again and after that, the store starts to be quite busy, she helps Ilya and Erwin to pack up breads and cookies for customers. "Pretty busy today eh?" The door bell''s ringing and a middle-aged looking man showed up at the store, he brought a sack of flours and a wooden crate. "Yeah, I can''t believe it too, Alto-san, people are keeping, Yuika-chan and Erwin are helping out the store though" ( San is an honorific to address people who are older / to respect them) The man just walked to the kitchen and put down the flour he brought and the crate that maybe carries some stuff like sugars and eggs and or stuff to use to make bread. "Oh boy, you help out your big sister eh, as always you sure are a good kid aren''t you" Alto-san praises Erwin and pats his head, Erwin looks like he''s enjoying it. Alto-san is a trader and also a supplier for Ilya''s store, he has been helping the store for so long time now, even before, when Ilya''s mother is still around. "How old are you again Erwin?" Alto-san is so friendly with everyone in this little city, he always stopped by when he has to go to the other kingdom to do some business going. "Six" Erwin answers excitedly with a big smile on his face. "Ah Alto-san, Erwin says he wanted to learn magic some days ago, he really excited about it, so I think I will close the store early today since there were so many customers today and everything at the store is just sold out" Ilya took off her apron and pick up a broom to start to clean up the store a bit. "Ohh... Erwin, boy, you want to learn magic eh, show me what you got boy" Alto-san seems to be excited when he heard Erwin wanted to learn about magic, he knew not all people can use magic, they have to be epted by the mana itself, it requires someone to have enough soul power to be able to use magic. "I think I had some books Erwin can use to learn about it more, he already learns how to read right?" "I teach him before a bit, he keeps bugging me to teach him everything and he''s a fast learner" Ilya just sighs and smiles, she put the broom in the corner of the room and walks back to the storefront. The first time Ilya teach Erwin how to read was when he''s almost 4 years old, Ilya teaches Erwin how to read and she got surprised by his ability to learned it in no time. One day Erwin says that he wanted to try to learn how to write on his own, he showed it to Ilya and Ilya can''t do anything but amazed at first, she can''t believe 4 years old kid can really learn how to write on his first try. "He really surprised me though.. I can''t believe my eyes at first, I didn''t even blink because of it" Ilya and Alto-san justugh together inside the store because of Ilya''s story and they looked at Erwin after that. Erwin was drawing with Yuika all this time when both Ilya and Alto-san busy with Ilya''s story, Yuika seems to just keeping her eyes at Erwin, her face is a bit red, she seems to enjoy watching Erwin draw some stuff on that paper, she just smiles all time watching everything Erwin''sbor. "Well that kid is quite something though, I have an acquaintance who gave me some books, I think there should be a book or two about magic, I''ll look for it in my carriage" Alto-san went out of the store to find the book he mentioned, Ilya approach the kids to see what they''re doing and Erwin''s showing his drawing when he notices his sister''sing towards them. "Big sis, look...look.." Erwin''s so excited he shows his sister the drawing. "Woahh.. what is this? isn''t this too good? she''s so beautiful" The drawing Erwin shows to his sister was Yuika, he drew her. A beautiful face with yellow hair, she can feel the drawing is alive even though the drawing isn''t even colored. Yuika, in the back just blushed a little, it seems that she''s embarrassed because Ilya said that the drawing was beautiful. Erwin still able to make such happy faces, he didn''t even notice Yuika feels so embarrassed when he drew her. - Why is my little brother so dense Ilya feels so stupid thinking about her little brother. Chapter 6 Surprising Talen [ Door bell''s ringing ] Alto-san just came back to the store after looking for some stuff in his carriage and he brought back some books on his hands, he put it on the table near the storefront. "What are you kids are doing" He walks to the storefront and saw Ilya with an ''I can''t believe my eyes'' expression written all over her face and on the floor, Erwin is ying with Yuika and Alto justugh at them. Ilya finally notices Alto-san''s presence and she turns towards him, still with an ''I can''t believe my eyes'' all on her face, Ilya walk closer to Alto and shows him the drawing. "Look at this Alto-san" Ilya eagerly shows it to Alto-san, he can''t do anything but to giggle at Ilya''s behavior when she holds the drawing for Alto to see. "What''s wrong Alto-san?" Ilya tilts her head, doesn''t understand why Alto isughing at her. "Ah no, pardon me. Who drew this? you?" Alto took the drawing and watch it closer, he amazed by how good the drawing is, it''s not a level of 12 years old drawing, it looks like a national painting level. Ilya shook her head and then she pointed her finger at Erwin who''s scribbling on the paper with Yuika joining him there. "Uwaahh... You''re kidding right?" Alto watches the drawing closer, he can''t believe such 6 years old kid was able to draw like a professional, but then Ilya just shook her head again, faster this time. "He drew it, That was Yuika-chan in the drawing" Ilya''s pointing at the drawing and convince Alto-san that her little brother is the one who drew it. "Ah, you''re right, it''s Yuika" Alto looks closer and notices that the one in the drawing is Yuika, he still amazed by the drawing that it looked like a national painting level. "Ah right, I brought the book I mentioned before, take a look" Alto pointed his finger to the table near the storefront, there was like 5 books piled up on the table. Ilya takes a look at the book that written about mana control for the magician to learn, she takes a look at what''s inside and after she flips through several pages she closes the book and puts it back on the table. "Thanks for this Alto-san, Erwin will be so happy to read it" "Ah don''t worry about it, it''s not like I want to learn magic or something. My acquaintance is a magic researcher, he happens to have a lot of books and he gave me those books, he said to me if by any chance I wanted to learn magic juste to him, he just randomlyughed at me after saying that" "I think that person isn''t a bad person yeah?" Both Ilya and Alto''s having a good time chatting until Erwin stood up and walks to the table when he saw there were books there. He takes a look at the book Ilya just saw and read it, he starts to make a serious face reading the book and just sit on the floor. "Are you really that interested in this magic, boy? also Yuika, here" Alto handover the drawing to Yuika who is following Erwin from behind, she looks so happy when she''s looking at the drawing. Alto walks to the store door and pulls it open. "I''lle to visit again soon, maybe after Ie back from Deridia kingdom" Deridia kingdom is a neighbor of the Makishi kingdom, traders from Makishi kingdom travel there to do business trade or just to visit it. Deridia kingdom is one of the biggest kingdoms for traders to visit and they have the biggest market for traders. "Should we practice magic, Erwin? since the store was pretty busy today, I think it''s better for us to close the store early" Ilya strokes her little brother''s head and Erwin just looked at his big sister''s face with a big smile on his face. "Thank you, big sis, I love you.." Erwin looks excited, he put down the book and jump to his big sister to hug her, it makes Ilya''s face turns red, she pinched those cute cheeks of her little brother and cuddle him, but somehow it makes Yuika''s mood at a bad state, she pouted and her cheeks turn red. Ilya notices it and then she let go of Erwin, she knows that Yuika likes Erwin a lot, but Erwin is just too dense to notice it. "I''m sorry Yuika-chan, I promise I won''t do this again" Ilya tries to apologize to Yuika to make her mood better, while behind her Erwin''s still excitedly looking at the books on the table. "Well, I don''t really mind..." Yuika said it in a really soft voice, her cheeks turn red again and she turns her face away from Ilya. Chapter 7 Magic Training I "Listen, Erwin, if you want to learn magic, you must train hard for it" Ilya, Erwin, and Yuika went to the backyard to do some magic training, Ilya closed the store early today, the store was so crowded and everything is just sold out, a lot of customersing, traders, adventurers, travelers and people from the neighborhood are alsoing. - Rumors sure are spreading so fast huh Ilya opens the door and goes to the backyard, she turns her attention towards Erwin, the ''desired to knowledge'' expression written all over his face, he''s so excited right now to learn magic. They sit at the bench behind the house, Ilya''s trying to find what materials to use and what to teach first to the kids. Erwin and Yuika seem to be excited about it, they are waiting for Ilya who is still busy with the book, trying to find what to teach to these kids and of course, the most excited one is Erwin, Yuika is just sticking along with Erwin. "All right, Erwin we should teach you how to control mana power first" Ilya closes her book and stands up, Erwin''s so pumped up to learn magic now, Yuika''s still getting along with everything Erwin does. "Listen, Erwin, Magic is about controlling mana and be epted by mana itself. To control mana you have to use soul power, everyone has their limit of soul power, magic is dangerous Erwin, you sure still wanted to learn it?" Ilya kinda worried to teach Erwin how to use magic, she knew that magic is really dangerous, magicians use soul power to cast a magic and soul power has its own limit of how much mana it can control, how strong it can control and if anybody ever tried to surpass its limit to extend, they might die or lose their soul power because mana will eat them. Ilya first taught them the basics of magic how it works. "Don''t worry, magic isn''t that dangerous if you use it safely and as long as your soul power can handle it, but don''t be reckless and harm yourself" Erwin''s so excited and it seems that he is still on the high spirit, he really paid close attention to everything his big sister exin and remember it. "Now try to concentrate to feel your soul power, see if you have any talent to use magic or not, we can train your soul powerter to make it stronger, sit down here, and feel the mana around you, concentrate it to your soul core" Erwin sits on the grass bit far from his big sister and starts to meditate, he''s trying to calm his soul and body to feel the mana. "Yuika-chan, you don''t want to join?" Ilya whispers to Yuika when she notices that Yuika is sitting next to her instead of joining Erwin on training. Yuika just shook her head and whispered back to Ilya. "I just wanted to see Erwin doing his best to learn magic" They both just smiled at each other, Ilya turns the page of the book she held to find what should they do next in the training. Suddenly Ilya and Yuika feel a cold breeze touching their skins, Ilya got shocked and stood up, feel an overwhelming magic power flowing near Erwin. "Ilya-nee..." Yuika feels terrified, she doesn''t know what is going on, she held Ilya''s hand and hug her leg. - This is... I knew he has a talent, but this much is... Erwin opens his eyes and looks confused because Ilya and Yuika seem startled by something. "Big sis, Yuika, you guys all right?" Erwin waves his hand to make sure everyone is all right because he saw Yuika looks terrified. Erwin walks closer to the girls, he''s still confused about what is happening to Yuika, why she looks terrified? Erwin looks around in confusion, he thinks some bugs might have frightened her. "It''s all right Erwin, you are doing good, don''t worry, should we jump to magic chanting now?" Ilya tries to change the mood and open the book to find the material about magic chanting and teach it to Erwin and Erwin is so excited to wait for the next magic course he will get from his sister. "How about we find out your element first, let''s try this water ball magic first" Ilya walks towards the tree at their backyard, she''s looking for some nks to be used as a target for practicing. "You have to chant your magic, call the elements name and control the mana to draw a magic circle for you, how fast you can draw the magic circle depend on how strong is your soul power" Ilya read down everything from the book to make sure nothing she taught is wrong, she gives Erwin the steps to chant the magic. "Here I will show it first, watch" Ilya steps forward a bit and take a position and chant her magic. "Oh fire spirit who light this world, Gift me your blessing, burn down my enemy, [ Fire Magic, Fireball ] " Magic circles appear in front of Ilya''s palm and a fireballes out from it, she shoots it away, and it disappears after reaching such distance. "Maybe like that, just focus on the mana control" Erwin''s eyes are sparkling after seeing his big sister use the fireball magic, he''s so excited to try it himself. Chapter 8 Magic Training II "Okay, let''s try this water magic" Ilya hand the book to Erwin, there are many magic spells written in the book, from basic spell magic to intermediate spell magic. Ilya picked up another book while Erwin''s trying to remember the magic formation for the water magic he needs to learn, he''s so focused, and he''s also looking at other magic spells, he went through some pages of the book. "Big sis, can I try it now?" Erwin stands up and walks to face the nks his sister arranged, they about to use it as target practice for the magic control. "Sure go ahead" Ilya closes the book she held and pay attention to her little brother, Yuika is fine now, she''s not trembling and feel terrified anymore but she is still holding Ilya''s hand. Erwin makes some distance from the nks, he''s trying to focus, and he''s getting ready to cast the magic. [ Water Magic, Water Cannon ] Erwin takes a position and pointed his finger, he''s aiming at the nks with his forefinger and created the magic circle on top of his forefinger, then a water ball travels in such high-speeding out from the magic circle and hit the nks arranged side by side all at once. "You see that big sis? Did you see that?" Erwin looks so excited when he hit both of the nks, he turned around and face his sister and he''s hoping that she will praise him for sessing to use magic on the first try, Ilya who is standing behind him is now standing and stunned, Erwin was so confused, he tilts his head looking at his big sister who seems to be dumbfounded. "Ilya big sis, are you okay?" A soft voiceing from Yuika who''s holding Ilya''s hand all-time, Ilya was so dazed and look confused. "Ah, I''m okay, I''m just too amazed by how Erwin is able to cast magic with such speed, people usually take a while to cast their magic" Yuika was so dazed too after Ilya exins why she was amazed by Erwin that he was able to cast magic faster than people usually do. "Erwin, amazing?" Yuika tilts her head, she doesn''t really understand why Ilya was so amazed by what Erwin just did, but she still dazed by the fact that Ilya is also dumbfounded right after she saw Erwin cast the water cannon magic. "Yeah he''s pretty amazing" Ilya gently pats Yuika''s head, she looks excited that she knew Erwin just did something amazing. - Erwin really does have talent, I guess I just hit the jackpot for correctly guessing his element Ilya picks up the book she read before and went through some pages to find what spell Erwin can learn, she needs to find a new spell she can teach to Erwin, Ilya wanted Erwin to see her as a reliable big sister. "Hey Erwin, wanna try this one?" Ilya walks closer to Erwin and handover the book she held, "It''s an expansion of water magic, let''s see if you can do it" Erwin took the book and try to read everything and remembering it, he''s so focused on the book. Yuika has let go Ilya''s hand and sitting on the bench all-time after that, she kept her eyes on Erwin, she looks impressed by everything Erwin did, no matter what it is, she always thinks that Erwin is amazing. "He''s an amazing boy isn''t he Yuika-chan?" Yuika shocked when Ilya appears next to her out of nowhere, Ilya sure loves to tease Yuika, she thinks of how funny it is to tease a young maiden in love, but they didn''t notice it themselves. Ilya sits next to Yuika and open another book, Yuika seems to get interested in magic now after seeing the 2 siblings practicing it. "Umm... Ilya-nee, isn''t that magic you just taught Erwin is magic to attack someone?" Ilya was shocked by what Yuika just asked, she starts to ask such thing suddenly, Ilya''s trying to be calm, she closes the book she''s holding right now and gently stroke Yuika''s head. "There was one time an adventurere to our store, they stay quite long in the store, having fun with Erwin. They''re good people who love children. They told Erwin a lot of stories about how wonderful outside world is, they told Erwin about their dream of making orphanage and stuff for children, something like they don''t want to see children crying over cruelty of the world because of the adults, Erwin really takes alike for them and said he wanted as an adventurer like them" Ilya''s making a sad face when she''s telling Yuika a story from the past, she looks down and tears are aboute out from her eyes, Yuika tries to wipe the tear away, and she held Ilya''s hand to calm her down. "Ah it''s nothing, I just got dust in my eyes" Ilya gets her smile back on her face, it makes Yuika relieved when Ilya smiles back again. Chapter 9 We Were Able to Learn Magic! Erwin walks and picks up the nks he uses to practice and arrange it one more time, he turns back and saw Yuika got her mood back, she''s having chat with Ilya right now, Erwin looks around and stares at the apple tree behind their house. "I guess I can use the tree instead" Erwin picks up the nks and walks towards the tree, he stood up facing the tree and try to position the nk in the tree. - Like this maybe? [ Water Magic, Glue trap ] Erwin cast sticky magic to paste the nk on the tree, he just read some advanced water magic expansion and hees up with the idea to stick the nk to use it as target practice on the tree. "Yosh, this will do" Erwin walks away from the tree to make some distance, Ilya has been looking at him from the moment when he sticks the nk on the tree and curious what he gonna do. "What are you gonna do with that?" Ilya point at the nk on the tree, Yuika seems curious too and decided to tail Ilya from behind to see what they''re up to. "I want to try this water expansion magic you show me Ilya-nee, here" Erwin picks up the book and hands it over to Ilya, she looks at the open page and murmuring, Yuika is tugging Ilya''s sleeve, she''s curious with what Erwin has been talking about. "Here Yuika-chan, it''s an ice forming magic, but Erwin, you sure you can use it? it''s intermediate level magic you know?" Ilya lowers her body to show Yuika the book and the magic they''re talking about. "Hmmm I want to give it a try at least, Ilya-nee" Erwin just seems to enjoy himself he looks so excited to show it to Ilya, Ilya can''t do anything but just put a smile on her face because Erwin looks so happy that he was finally able to learn magic and use it correctly. "Well then go ahead" Ilya takes a step back to give Erwin some space, Yuika is also interested to watch at Erwin casting the magic. Erwin closes his eyes and concentrate, he takes a position to cast the magic, Erwin stares into his right hand and casts the magic. "Come and Freeze, [ Ice Magic, Ice de ]" A water spurt from his magic circle in his palm and freeze in no time forming a de people can hold in hand. "Ah look, Big sis" Erwin turns around and shows it to Ilya and Yuika, they both are looking at the de on Erwin''s hand, it looks like a hand knife but thicker and looks shiny because it''s a piece of formed ice. Erwin looks away at the nk and throws the knife, it hits the nks, Erwin formed another ice knife and throws it again at the other nk below it and he hit nicely. "Yosh" Erwin runs to see the hit marker on the nks, he erases the magic and makes the des disappear, at the same time, Ilya''s walking from behind with Yuika approaching the tree to see the results, Yuika is amazed looking at Erwin when he threw the de and hit the target, the quiet Yuika has turned into an enthusiastic kid for a moment that time. "Look...Look, big sis, I hit them both" Erwin showed the nks to Ilya excitedly, he seems to be so proud and wanted to be praised for that. "Ahahaha.. you sure have talents Erwin" Ilya pats Erwin''s head gently and stares at the nks. - He even knows how to throw a knife, who taught him though "Big sis, you okay?" Ilya put on a serious expression, she looks curious with something and spaced out for a moment. "You want to keep trying another magic, Erwin?" Ilya let go her hand from Erwin''s head and start pinching Yuika''s cheek gently andugh, she did that because Yuika looks so amazed too by Erwin after seeing him using awesome magic, she''s so impressed and can''t let go of her eyes off Erwin. "Yeah I will try some more spells from the book" Erwin sits under the tree and crosses his leg, he leans back to the tree and starts reading the book to find more interesting magic he can learn and show it off to his sisterter. "Okay then, it''s almost dinner time, don''t overdo it and go in after I finish making dinner for us" "Yes..." Ilya walks back to apany Yuika to go home first, her family must be worried now because it is almost time for dinner. Yuika looks so happy that she was able to see some amazing stuff today. "Aren''t you happy Yuika-chan? Erwin was so cool today" Ilya likes to tease Yuika, she just keep teasing Yuika all time, they seems to enjoy it and they justughing sometimes on their way to Yuika''s house. Chapter 10 The Winter Come It''s almost winter again, Ilya and Erwin are discussing what to sell in the store when the winteres soon, they want toe up with something new for winter. "Sir Erwin, have any new idea what should we sell in the store?" Ilya looks serious, Erwin is crossing his hand on his chest and giggling after that. "What is it, sir Erwin?" Ilya surprised when Erwin startsughing out of nowhere. Erwin gets down from his chair and starts walking towards the stove, it''s the stove light up using magic and one Ilya uses to cook every day. Erwin ces a soup pan and asks Ilya to light up the stove. "Big sis, I want to make something people can eat when the weather starts to feel cold" Ilya move from her chair and light up the stove for Erwin. "Big sis, can I have a radish, potato, some beef meat or maybe fish and eggs?" When Ilya starts looking for the stuff his little brother asks for, she steals a nce at Erwin and it looks like he''s making some kind of soup in the pan. "We don''t have meats but we still have some fish left, is it okay Erwin?" Ilya bringing over the stuff her little brother ask and ce it next to the stove. "It''s okay, big sis you can sit and rx, leave it to Erwin" Erwin looks so confidence to himself, he puffs out his chest and continues making the soup. Ilya just smiles and sits back again, she''s not worried because Erwin always helping in the kitchen when Ilya cook for their meal, she looks relieved her little brother is always full of energy. "Ah, I remember Alto-san want toe over today, it''s starting to cold recently isn''t it Erwin? maybe make some for Alto-san to try" "Uncle Alto wanted toe over? yeiy..." Erwin looks so happy after hearing that uncle Alto wille over today, he looks excited and continues to cook and humming in a good mood, Ilya really enjoyed it when Erwin acts so cute like a spoiled kid, she just keeps giggling while watching Erwin. After a while, the store door bell''s ringing and someonee inside using a jacket on. "Oii... Anybody here?" Ilya moves from her seat to wee the guest. "Ah... Alto-san Wee" Alto took off his jacket and ce it on the chair behind the storefront. "Where''s that boy" "Erwin is in the kitchen right now" Ilya leads the way to the kitchen and Alto follows her from behind. "Oi.. boy how are you doing?" "Uncle Alto, wee" Erwin''s still busy with his cooking, Alto doesn''t seem to be surprised such a little kid cooking on his own. "I brought some groceries, here" Alto handover two bags of groceries in it, he''s been helping Ilya and Erwin all this time after their mother passed away. "Ah it''s too much Alto-san, you''ve been helping us way too much, I can''t ept this much" Ilya tries to refuse the gift, she would feel bad to ept such kindness from Alto, she doesn''t want to be a burden for Alto. "It''s okay, here, I will just leave it on the table" Alto took the bag and ce it on the table, he insisted and keep pushing Ilya to ept the gift. Alto walks back to the store in the front and takes a seat behind the storefront to rx a bit. "Come here Ilya" Alto moves another chair and ces it near him for Ilya to sit, he looks like he wanted to have chat with Ilya, Ilya takes a seat and pays attention to Alto, he make a serious face right now gazing at Ilya, it makes Ilya a bit ufortable and confused. "Ahahaha.. don''t be so stiff, I''m sorry, I''m sorry, so how you are guys doing?" Altoughs after he saw Ilya looks troubled when he pretends to act serious, Ilya pouted and throw face away for a moment there and cross her hand. "Sigh.. we are doing good, I and Erwin are discussing what to sell in the store when winter aside from bread" "So this is Erwin''s idea again?" Alto doesn''t really surprised after hearing that, he knew that when ites to Erwin, he can''t just simply usemon sense to describe what he did, he''s simply amazed at first and always praises Erwin because he''s still a kid. "That kid sure is amazing huh, he surprised me when he told me he wanted to learn magic and in just a week after I gave you guys the book about magic, Erwin already got used to magic" Alto scratch his head, he realized it''s stupid to think about what Erwin does because it''s simply just amazing for a kid to be able to do it. "Ah about that, to be honest, I forgot to tell you, he mastered a beginner ss magic and some intermediate ss after you gave us the book, he studied it with me and Yuika though" "Well I''m not really surprised anymore" Alto just shook his head and smile. "You guys live without any problem right? after Elduke family lost their authority here and there" Alto concerned with the kids, they live without parents for almost 8 years, tax and stuff the noble demands from the people who lived under their territory sometimes makes people troubled. "Gaisras family taxing is quite high, It''s sad to lose a noble family like Elduke family honestly, they always kind to people here too" Ilya looked down, but they can''t really do anything because the Elduke family who used to have rights on thisnd in the south was destroyed by the kingdom itself, it''s an old story that whoever against the kingdom will be seen as an enemy by the kingdom. Chapter 11 This Will Turn Into a Long Winter "I think this will do" Erwin takes a sip of the soup he made, he uses water magic to extinguish the fire and wash thedle and prepare the table for the three of them. Erwin saw Alto and Ilya were chatting in the storefront, he''s walking to the doorway and about to call them. "Big si.." "Gaisras family sure are rude, aren''t they? I will do my best to help you kids, you can rely on me, your parents helped me a lot back then" "Ahh... don''t worry about it uncle, we received a lot of your kindness already, we can''t ept such kindness all the time" It seems that the two of them were talking about something interesting, Erwin walks closer to the doorway and trying to listen to what they''re all about. [ Senses sharpening ] Erwin uses magic to sharpen his hearing, he''s been learning it after he saw the book about non-elemental magic, he''s so interested at it and learns it all one by one and senses strengthening is one of the non-elemental magic he was able to use. Erwin leans back to the wall and listens to the conversation. "I heard that there will be a lot of magical beasting out in the wild this year, that''s what I heard from the adventurer guild, I remember the previous Gaisras family head uses this as their opportunity to train their knights and protect the viges in the same time, but he''s already gone and I heard that their first son is the family head now" Alto pulls out a small pocketbook from his jacket pocket, it seems that he gathered information from other countries as well, he uses it for trading business, but it seems that he also gathered some other information, not only business-rted note, uncle Alto is trying to find something from the note, he''s flipping through pages until he found what he wanted. "I heard that this Lux guy has a bad attitude though I''m not sure what kind of person he is" Alto put back the notebook and stretch his hand trying to lean back a bit and rx, after hearing that, Ilya doesn''t look happy, she''s looking down, perhaps thinking about a lot of things on her head and sometimes her sigh has a deep sad meaning. "I don''t know if this year Gaisras family will send their aid or not to protect this area since they''re really just bunch of arrogant people" Alto took a deep sigh and stand up and about to go to the kitchen. Erwin quickly cancels his magic and steps back from the doorway a bit and pretending as nothing happened and calls both Alto and Ilya that the food is ready. "Oh boy, what are you doing here" Alto notices Erwin standing near the doorway wiping his hand, he then looks at uncle Alto and says that the food was ready and he just about to call both uncle Alto and Ilya. "Oi Ilya, Erwin said that the food is ready, what are you guys making though" Alto walks towards the table and sees a bowl of soup and rice, he''s curious and asks Erwin what food he made. "Eat it while it''s still warm, honestly you can eat it without rice, but I just feel like eating it with rice, Big sis to have a seat" Ilya''s standing in the doorway looking at the table and Erwin, she takes a seat in front of uncle Alto and stares at the food for a moment. "Have a taste" Erwin sits next to Alto, he sits in the higher chair since he''s still small. "Honestly Erwin, what is this? It smells delicious, but it''s not themon type of soup I''d find every day" Alto still seems curious because what he sees in the soup is like Erwin just mixed everything he saw in but it smells nice and makes him want to eat it. "Well I''m just putting everything I can put in there, I hope it tastes good though" Erwin justughs without feeling guilty about it and take a sip of the soup, Alto just looks at Ilya and both of them smile looking at Erwin''s behavior and take a taste of the food too. "What is this? fried fish meatball?" Alto pulls out a meatball from his soup and takes a bite at it. "Woah it is" Alto''s eyes sparkling because he''s amazed that someone put fried fish meat in the soup and taste good, he takes another bite of it and some potato from the soup. Erwin seems to be proud of himself that he''s able to pull out a good food while he''s cooking by himself, and so, the three of them enjoy their meal peacefully. Chapter 12 Hes Only My Little Brother "I''ll stay over the inn tonight, thanks for the food Erwin" Alto put on his jacket, the air sure is cold outside because it''s almost winter. "Thanks for the groceries uncle, I can''t thank you enough for it honestly" Ilya bow to uncle Alto to show her gratitude, Alto helped them a lot, not only groceries but he always brought ingredients for them to make the bread the sell at the shop and he gave the kids a cheap price too. Uncle Alto opens the door and the bell''s ringing, a cold breeze enter the room and the chilly feel touch their skins, Erwin can really feel the cold and run towards the firece to warm up, Ilya tries to cover her hands and rub her hand to wash away the cold. "Warm yourself up kids, it''s surely really cold, then I''ll take my leave" Alto quickly closes the store door so the cold air won''t get inside the store. Ilya went to her drawer in her room and pull out a nket, she approaches Erwin who just sitting in front of the firece and cover them both with the nket. "Come on Erwin, let''s just sit on the chair" Ilya moves a chair to get near to the firece and sit there, she gives Erwin sign for him to sit on herp, the nket is big enough for Ilya and Erwin to cover them both while sitting together in front of the firece. Ilya decided to tell Erwin a before-bed story because the time is alreadyte at night, she tells Erwin various stories until he loses consciousness and fell asleep. "I guess I''ll sleep with him tonight" Ilya just giggling and her face got a bit red when she put down Erwin on her bed, Ilya stares at her little brother, his cute little round face and his silver hair and his expression when he''s asleep is so cute, it makes Ilya really wants to cuddle with him but she endures her urge to do it, Erwin was asleep already and she doesn''t want to wake him up. Ilya went to the kitchen and drink a ss of water to refresh her minds, she recalls back some old memories when she''s alone. - I will protect Erwin, I promise, mom Ilya put back the ss in its ce and went to her room and sleep next to Erwin, Ilya just stares at Erwin''s face before she sleeps and gives him a goodnight kiss on his forehead, whenever she did it Erwin somehow be cuter and he smiled a bit. "Big sis, it''s morning" Erwin tries to shake Ilya''s body to wake her up, Erwin woke up pretty early today, he went to cook breakfast for them and warm up near the firece a bit, he''s trying to help his big sister doing the house job. Erwin climbed onto the bed and tries to pinch Ilya''s cheeks because she keeps writhing every time Erwin shakes her body. "Ilya-nee, get up..." Erwin pinched Ilya''s cheeks harder to make her open her eyes and get off the bed. "Uhh... It''s hurt, Erwin" Ilya touches her cheeks and rubs it after Erwin pinched it, her bed hair sure is messy, but the soft hair of her is still beautiful. [ Cuu.. ] Erwin leaves the room with a big smile on his face, he went to the kitchen to eat breakfast. - What was that Ilya touch her forehead, a sensation after got kissed on her forehead by her little brother really makes her feel embarrassed a bit, her cheeks be a bit red and she just sighs deeply and smiles. "What a womanizer my little brother is" Ilya gets off the bed to fix her bed hair, and after that, she went to the kitchen to have breakfast with Erwin. "Big sis, I''m gonna practice a bit near the forest today, I want to search for some vegetables too" The breakfast today is a fried fish and a tofu soup. Ilya is concerned about her brother''s safety if he goes to the forest, because of what Alto said yesterday that magical beast wille out from the forest and maybe some of them will attack the viges. "Don''t worry Ilya big sis, I''m strong you know" Erwin seems to be proud of himself and puffs out his chest andughs after that. "All right then, just don''t do anything reckless, promise me you will only pick up some vegetables from the forest, nothing more than that" Ilya doesn''t want to mention anything about the magical beast, she doesn''t want to worried her little brother. "Okay.." Erwin and Ilya continue to eat their breakfast, their body and soul feel warm because of the warmth of the soup and the firece. Chapter 13 No More Peaceful Day The neighborhood looks so quiet, people don''t really go outside because the weather is really cold recently. - It isn''t even winter yet is it? Erwin wants to go to the forest today, he cast the cold protection over his body so he won''t feel any cold breeze, he learns it since he has a water attribute and he also can use ice magic, so he thinks it might be useful. Erwin walks in a slow pace with a basket on his hand to the forest, he tries to enjoy every step he takes, all the way he walks, not a single house''s door is open, they probably avoid the cold air to enter their houses. After Erwin walks a while, he finally made it into the southern forest. - Yosh, let''s get some vegetables and maybe meat if I can find any Erwin looks so pumped up and enthusiastically walk inside the forest, he wanted to enjoy himself and bring back some fresh vegetables for his sister, he''s wandering around to find mushrooms and some green veggies, he went deeper in the forest to where the wild nts grow. Erwin looks so happy when he found the ce and quickly runs towards it, he starts picking up some green veggies and search for some mushrooms. "What should we make tonight... I think I would need some gingers to make something warm since it''s so cold already" Erwin starts to look for the ginger nt, he went deeply to the forest. "Ah found it" After a short search, he finally finds the ginger nt in the middle of the forest. Erwin put down his basket he brought along and about to pick up the ginger. [ Rustle Rustle~ ] Erwin startled when a really loud noise is suddenlying from the bushes behind him, he''s afraid it''s maybe some magical beast creature uncle Alto talk about yesterday. [ Senses Sharpening ] Erwin sharpens his senses and stands on guard, he feels a bit strange about its movement and decided to approach it, Erwin walks closer to the bush with still on his guard, Erwin looks closer behind the bushes and found two rabbits behind it, the rabbit notices Erwin and about to run away. "Ah.." [ Ice Magic, Ice de ] Erwin quickly cast ice magic and form a de and throw it towards the rabbit direction. [ St.. ] Erwin hits one of the rabbits, its blood sttered all over the grass, Erwin approach it and cancels his ice magic to get rid of the de. "Well I guess I found meats for the meal, too bad I only got 1" Erwin picks up the rabbit and casts cooling magic into it, so it won''t rot when he brings it back home, Erwin continues to pick up some ginger and put it in the basket. - Ugh... Erwin suddenly feels a bad auraing towards his direction, this time it feels like a really bad presence, Erwin steps back a bit and activates his sense sharpening, he''s standing with a high guard. - 4 Legged? Erwin can hear it''s footsteps since he uses senses sharpening, all his senses are enchanted, he can hear better, feel something better and have better awareness, Erwin is standing still while looking around for a while, he can''t hide his dread and after that, a mysterious wolf appears before him, the fur is blue as a sea, as cold as snow, the wolf is bigger than Erwin, it has a horn and ws that can ripe apart Erwin anytime, and a ck eye that can make anyone feel ufortable, Erwin can really feel the cold from its gaze, the wolf ready to attack Erwin anytime, it makes Erwins body is shivering, he''s trying to encourage himself to face the magical wolf. "Such bad luck I have eh" Erwin grit his teeth to stop his feet to trembling and sweats started to drip on his cheek, Erwin forms a de on his hand and takes a position to get ready if the wolf attack anytime, and suddenly, the wolf charges towards Erwin''s direction, trying to attack Erwin with its w, Erwin jump to the side to dodge it. "Eat this" Erwin throws his ice de towards the wolf. [ ng ] The wolf bites it and destroys the de, he looks so pissed and charges at Erwin once more time. [ Ice Magic, Staff Form ] Erwin takes a position to block the wolf''s attack with the staff in his hand, the wolf jump towards Erwin direction, it''s left-hand fly high above Erwin''s body, ready to rip him apart with those terrifying ws, Erwin quickly takes a step back and thrust his staff to the wolf''s left hand to avoid it from attacking him. "Eat this" Erwin throws the Wolf by pushing it with the other side of his staff to its mouth. [ Ice Magic, Ice spear ] Erwin forms a spear and quickly throw the spear and hit the wolf''s right eye, it makes the wolf howls loudly as the spear hit her eye. [ Ice Magic, Ice sword ] Erwin forms a sword on his hand, he''s intending to kill the wolf while it''s injured and can''t get up, he quickly charges towards the wolf''s direction and about to sh its head, but the wolf is trying to fight back, she kicks with her hind feet with her ws pointing at Erwin, Erwin notices it but he can''t dodge it properly, the wolf able to injure Erwin''s left leg, it makes Erwin to quickly steps back to make some distance, he kneels because his left leg injured, the wolf trying to run away while Erwin is down on his knee. "As if I let you [ Ice magic, Flying de ]" Erwin forms a four edged knife and throws it towards the wolf''s direction. [ St ] The head got cut off from the flying de, the wolf''s body fell onto the ground and the blood got sshed all over the ground. Chapter 14 Fire Girl Who Saved Me Not able to breathe properly, his body is still shaking, Erwin can''t stand properly and just sit still in the same ce for like 5 minutes, Erwin is trying to stand on his feet, but the injuries on his leg won''t let him and his feet are still trembling because of the shock that he met a magical beast for the first time and he got injured really bad. Erwin keeps trying to stand, he formed an ice staff to help him stand but his feet keep trembling, he can only fell on his knees and wait for someone to help him or calm himself first and heal the injury. Erwin keeps his sense sharpening on, to stay alert of his surroundings. - Another one? Erwin can feel the presence of a living beinging towards him. -Wait, two? it''s human "I''m safe~" Erwin finally able to calm himself, he notices two people is walking towards his direction, his heart stop racing and calmed down after some time, Erwin is able to control his soul power back to normal, but Erwin decided to wait for the two people toe and find him, he lies down in the grass and still holding his injured leg. - Hm? Erwin suddenly feels a cold presence, something ising towards his direction, Erwin tries to get up and sit, then suddenly a magical beast, a wolf type, the same as thest one he defeats is running towards his direction, the body of the wolf beast he defeats before is stillying on the ground. "Another one? Howe I didn''t notice?" Erwin tries his best to stand and make a staff, the wolf just quickly jumps towards him, ready to bite him and rip him apart, Erwin quickly swings his staff and hit the wolf on its head, the wolf got shoved to the ground from the hit, it makes the wolf looks so pissed, it gets up one more time and wait for the right time to attack Erwin again while Erwin is still standing his ground, he can''t really move around because of the injuries. [ Ice Magic, Ice spear ] Erwin takes a position to get ready for the wolf''s second attack, Erwin still can feel the pain on his leg and try to withstand it, the wolf howls loudly and charges towards Erwin''s direction one more time. Sweatsing down from Erwin''s forehead, he can only wish someone would help him because he can''t defeat the wolf alone, nor he has a chance at all. [ Mana gather around me, fire burn my enemy, Fire magic. Fire vortex ] Erwin can feel mana flowing towards his direction, and suddenly fire magic hit the wolf in front of him and burn it to death, Erwin fell on the ground and can''t control his magic, his spear disappeared and Erwin fainted. "How''s his condition, Marina?" Erwin heard a girl''s voiceing from far away and her steps areing closer and closer to him. "I''m sorry mdy, it will take a while, his wound is pretty deep" Erwin finally able to open his eyes and two beautiful women appear before his eyes, the one standing above his head and another one are doing something to his leg. In front of his eyes, a beautiful leg appear with a sock of the height of her knee she''s standing next to Erwin now. "White" Erwin talk with a low voice, he''s still weak and just says anything of what he sees right now. "Hey kid, I can hear you, you know" The girl is trying to step aside and use her skirt to cover her bottom, Erwin looks in the other direction a maid is healing his injured leg and giggling. The girl looks embarrassed, her cheeks a bit red and then she just walks closer to the maid. "He''s okay now, young boy, you can try and get up now" The maid help Erwin to get up, he can feel his leg all better now, a tearing down from his eyes, Erwin tries to thank the maid, he faces her with his pretty face and the maid just hug him to her breast. "Hey... Marina what are you doing" The girl shocked that her maid suddenly hugs the boy they just save. "I''m trying to calm him down mdy, he''s in shock, I''m just giving him a reward to him for doing his best~" The maid''s tone is pretty naughty, she keeps stroking Erwin''s head and cuddles him. "That''s enough Marina.." The girl tries to separate the maid and Erwin, her face is pretty bright red. "Ara~" The maid just smiles and touches her right cheek with her hand. "Where''s your house kid? we will take you home" The girl hand over the basket Erwin brought and a dead rabbit he killed before, Erwin then just point his finger at the direction of the vige and try to stand on his legs. "All right we will apany you, let''s go Marina" The girl holds Erwin''s hand and pulls him to walk, the maid is following behind them. Chapter 15 He Brought Back Two Ladies!! "Big sis, I''m home" Erwin opens the store''s door and lets the girl and her maide inside. "Erwin, wee... HEEEHHHH..." Ilya suddenly screams when she saw Erwin bring back two women home. Ilya tries to hold onto the door frame and wipe her eyes to make sure she didn''t see things she shouldn''t. - They''re real.. "Pleasee inside and warm yourself" Erwin quickly dashes inside the house, he wanted to warm himself in the firece. "Please have a seat, make yourselffortable" Ilya weing thedies to get inside and warm themselves. "Big sis, the firece isn''t light up" Erwin wants to tell his sister that he wanted to warm himself in the firece, Erwin and the twodies take a seat in the long wooden chair in front of the firece. Ilya cast her fire magic to light up the firece, The girl is kinda shocked after she saw Ilya cast fire magic right in front of her. "I''ll prepare a tea, please make yourselffortable" Ilya quickly dashes to the kitchen to prepare tea for the guest. "I''m sorry we only had this, but please enjoy" Ilya ce two cups of tea and a te with cookies on it, Erwin always make some cookies when he''s bored, Ilya either sell it in the store or save some for a snack. "I''m sorry for the intrusion, I''m Elis from Gaisras family, I''m 14" The girl suddenly talks to Ilya, she then stands up and introduces herself. "Ah.. I''m Ilya, and this is Erwin, he''s turning 8 in the winter" Ilya still a bit shocked when she heard that the girl is from a family who had authority in the south now. Ilya''s trying to be as polite as possible, she''s sitting in the other chair with Erwin and still holding a tray. "It''s unbelievably good though, it''s their rumored cookies everyone always talking about mdy" The maid casually drinks the tea and eat the cookies, she''s even trying to feed it to Elis. Elis''s eyes sparkling when the maid mentions the cookies, she never saw one herself, she always wanted to eat one since all adventurer and traders always talking about the shop that sells unusual food called cookies. "It''s an honor for us, please enjoy yourself" Ilya is happy The maidpliment the cookies they made and seeing Elis''s reaction. "Ah right, how old you are?" Elis''s still munching a cookie inside her mouth and ask Ilya how old she is. "I''m 14 too" "Hee... I''m amazed when you are able to use magic though, where did you learn it?" Elis drink the tea when her throat starts to feel dry, she putting another cookie inside her mouth after she drinks the tea. "Well I learn it a long time ago because it can be convenient for us because we run this store" Elis''s munching another cookie, she''s quite happy she met someone from outside her family who has a fire attribute like her. The maid just smiles when she''s looking at Elis, she knew that Elis''s trying to hide her good feeling. "For a sibling, you two look different to each other huh?" Elis take a sip of her tea and back with her cookies again. "ahaha.. well many things happened" Ilya nervously giggling, she doesn''t want to mention that Erwin isn''t blood-rted siblings with her. "You are an interesting person, how about you work in my ce, be my private maid? Your brother can live there too" Elis suddenly offer Ilya to be a maid in her house, she even stands up and holds Ilya''s hand. "Ahh.. umm..." Ilya so surprised with the offer from Elis, she looked at Erwin and it looks like he doesn''t seem to care, he just staring at the firece. -Ah he''s mad, I''m sure of it Erwin might try to hide his dejection, but Ilya can see he pouted and his cheeks are a bit red, Ilya feel happy to look at Erwin''s cute side. "I''m afraid I must decline that, I have to take care of this store, this is a family business after all" "Ahh.. can''t huh" Ilya is trying to refuse but be as polite as possible. Elis looks disappointed and a bit sad. "It can''t be helped then, but let''s visit capital together sometimes" Elis still wanted to be Ilya''s friend, she wanted to repay the hospitality this little family gave her, and for the cookies. "I will ask Uncle Alto first if I wanted to go to capital" "I wille over again sometimes, just tell me when he gives you permission to go to the capital" After a short visit to the Ilya''s family house, Elis and her maid take her to leave to go back to her house. Chapter 16 Magic is Fun It''s been a week since thest time I went to the south forest, the memory of me losing against the magical beast really can''t be forgiven. How can I protect big sis and everyone if I''m weak like this I decided to practice all by myself when I had time, even in my room at night. The winter makes the store not too crowded, only peoples from the neighborhood who came over and bought a warm bread and soup, it''s a special food we serve in the store this winter. "Uncle said there was an acquaintance of him who wanted to meet me, I wonder what he looks like" I''m doing a light exercise in my room, I recall yesterday Uncle Alto came over our ce and brought us stuff, he even gave us new winter clothes. Today the store was closed early, Ilya big sis went to the inn to greet Uncle Alto, he said he will be going to the other town to do some business. Since nobody else home, I think it''s the best opportunities to train outside, big sis always told me not to go outside too long because she doesn''t want me to catch a cold. I always forgot to tell big sis that I able to use a cold resistance, I guess I will tell herter I put on my winter clothes, I went to the kitchen and drink a ss of water, I went to the backyard and can feel the cold air is touching my skins. [ Cold resistance ] The weather is surely bing colder than before, I guess the winter sure is starting already. Every year at this time, it will be snowing, and everyone has to close their store because of it. I take off my winter clothes so I would be able to move freely, I feel like I need to learn a martial art, so I would be able to defend myself at least, that''s what Uncle Alto told me. I''m trying my best so I will protect Ilya-nee, uncle always said that I have to be a man that my sister can rely on. I started by doing some weapon training since I was able to form one using magic, I can train it easily every time I wanted to. I feel like I can do anything with a hand weapon such as knives, sword, staff, and even a spear. I feel like my body moving on its own when I''m using a weapon. I made a training buddy that made of hay, I''m doing a basic martial art training and target practice because there''s gonna be a lot of magical beasts that might attack the vige because I recall a memory when Uncle said something about magical beast wille out from the forest in the winter. I saw a few adventurers who went to the south forest, some of them always back with a bad injury and they went to the inn in the vige. The injured adventurers who went to the inn make people around the neighborhood concerned about their safety since the adventurers who went to the forest is the one told the story themselves. Some people in the neighborhood even decided to move from this vige and went to the other vige, and some even went to the capital. Uncle also concerned with my and Ilya-nee''s safety, he told us to stay in the inn in the capital, but Ilya-nee refuses to do so, she said she won''t go anywhere, because this house is her and my only home. The vige feels so quiet, only the inn that the adventurers use to spend the night is the ce that people went in and out. I''m sitting in silent and starts thinking about Yuika, she''s not here and I always worried about her safety. I remember Yuika run to our store and crying, her family decides to go to their rtive''s ce in the winter, they went to the next door kingdom that Uncle usually went to do business there. I learn more about magic and keep training, both physical ability and my magic ability. I''ve been practicing new magic that is really interesting. It allows me to make a clone of magic I control, so basically, it doubles the magic itself. I''ve been practicing it and I was able to pull a two clone for my ice creating magic. I was able to double the flying de the moment I throw it, it''s really awesome, but the magic power will disappear after a short period of time, I''m still wasn''t able to prevent it from disappearing as I did with the original one I created. I will also be exhausted faster because I need to create the clone of the mana I control. "SOMEONE... PLEASE HELP..." I''m still in the middle of training, and someone was yelling in the middle of the meadow near our vige. I saw someone is giving a shoulder walk to another person, I can''t really tell who is it but they sure are in trouble. The one who is giving a shoulder walk seems to notices me, she waves to ask for help. [ Body enchantment ] I make myself lighter and I boost my stamina so I would be able to run and get to help those people fast. Chapter 17 I Need to Help Her! "Lay down here" I help out the person who was yelling and begging for help, she shoulder carried her friend who was badly injured and can''t even walk on her own. She got injured almost all over her legs, it''s an injury that seems to caused by a w of a wild animal, I recall memories where I went to the south forest and met the wolf that attacked me back then. I went to get a band-aid and stuff I can use to close her wounds for now. I went to the kitchen to make a porridge for the girls, so they will feel better. I went back to my room and serve the porridge to them, I tell them to wait for Ilya-nee toe back and help them since I can''t use any healing magic because I don''t think I need it, so I didn''t learn it at all. I went to get my books on the bookshelves and look for the healing magic I could probably use. I went to several books and can''t seem to find any way to use healing magic with my element. I went through some magic books and I can only find the healing magic can only be done with by those who have light elements and a elves race I went through all my books about magic and can''t seem to find any way to use healing magic, I put everything back to its ce and sit next to my bed and tell them. "I''m sorry, I can''t seem to find any way to use healing magic, I think I can''t do it with my element" The girl who sat on the other side of the bed looks down, she doesn''t seem to be a magician, she looks more like an ordinary adventurer who uses an arrow and bow. "take from my bag.." The girl who wasying down on my bed tries to talk in a low voice, maybe she still can''t handle the pain from her wounds. The other girl who was sitting in across me quickly take the bag and hand it over to me. I check what is inside and I found a book about magic inside it, I pick it and stare at it for a second and look at the girl who isying in bed. She nods at her, maybe to give me permission to look at what''s inside the book. I went take a look at what''s inside, I flip pages to pages and I looked it filled with some high spell magic level. There''s also some healing magic for water attribute, I''m so happy I found one and I flip to some more pages. I found two healing magic for both water attribute and ice attribute. I tried to learn the magic circle and memorize it, I took my time reading down the page and memorized how to do the healing magic for ice attribute. "Hey, can you carry her andy her down in front of the firece?" I stood up and told the girl who was having a pale sad look on her eyes, she''s been holding her friend''s hand and looks like she''s about to burst out to cry to carry her all to the middle room. I told her toy her friend down in front of the firece to make sure she won''t feel too coldter. The girl look confused when I tell her to steps back, she''s having a worried look on her face and I can only tell her to believe me, and pray. I step back a bit and start focusing, I tried to form the magic circle for the healing magic I just read. I can only wish for luck because I just learn the magic and use it right away on an injured person. I concentrate on my soul power and mana, I form the magic circle the same as I imagine and cast the magic after that. [ Ice Magic, Healing Cube ] I form the magic and ce the girl inside an ice cube, she''s stillying down and her friend seems to be so shocked. She''s so shocked that she thinks I did something terrible to her friend. I told her to stay back and believe me, I can feel my soul power exhausted and my feet numb, I can fall on my knees anytime if I didn''t focus. I release the magic the moment I saw the girl''s wound healed up, I yell at the other girl to bring a nket and cover her friend with it. She quickly went to get a nket and I tried to stay still with numb legs. Suddenly everything went ck and I fainted, I lose consciousness and fell on my knees, I can''t feel my body and justy down on the floor. Chapter 18 Encounter With The GOD? "Ugghh... my head" My whole body went numb, thest time I remember I fainted after I tried to use high-level healing magic but somehow I sessfully heal the girl and after that, I lose my consciousness. I tried to move my body, but I can''t and I tried to open my eyes and everything was ck, it''s all darkness. I feel like I knew this ce, but I can''t recall where it is, it''s just like I''ve been here before. I tried to look around, I just realized I''m floating right now, luckily I''m still able to move my head even it''s really hurt and feel so heavy. "How''ve you been?" A very loud voiceing out of nowhere, I tried to find where the voice source is, but it feels like it''sing from all directions. "Who are you" I encourage myself to answer, I need to confirm where am I right now, I''m still confused about what is happening right now. "Don''t worry, I call you here, you''re not dead yet" It''s so strange, the voice says something about me that still alive, of course, I''m still alive, I remember it correctly that I only fainted after I use too much power I can handle. "Where am i" I still need to confirm where am I right now, I look around, I found nothing but darkness all over me, it''s like a dimension with nothing but darkness. "Take on your duty well, I promise to put you in heaven when you''re done" Why is this voice talking nonsenses, what duty? what should I do? "You worship me as your God. Fight! Bring peace upon this world under my name" I tried to open my mouth, but it won''t open. My head feels hurt and everything went white suddenly. I open my eyes and I saw a familiar face, it''s my sister. "Ilya-nee..." My voice is so low, my body and my head still feel so heavy, I can''t even move an inch, here right now I can only sleep on my sister''sp. I notice there were another two girls sitting across me, I notice it''s the girl I save just now I didn''t really notice before, but the girls really are beautiful, the girl I remember who brought a bow has a beautiful long brown hair, it really looks like Ilya-nee''s. She ponytail it, so she looks so mature with it. And the other girl has beautiful white hair, the hair looks really straight and beautiful, her expression really cool too. "Thanks for saving me" The girl with white hair suddenly bow to me, I notice that she''s the one I help It''s amon manner to thank people who help you, but I''m not used to it, she even bow to me, I feel so embarrassed. "Ah, please raise your head nee-san" She looks older than me, maybe also older than my sister, they look like they still have a sad look on their eyes. Even the white-haired girl didn''t show it because of her cool expression, I can still feel it because her friend looks so sad. "You saved this girl, right Erwin?" I tried to look at my sister''s face, she looks relieved when she knew I was okay. "You even push yourself to help me, I can''t thank you enough" The girl is still thanking me for some reason, I can''t receive such gratitude. I tell my sister to serve them a tea and maybe some snacks to let them enjoy themselves. My sister went to get a pillow for me, she went to the kitchen after that and brought tea and cookies for the girls. I''m still worried about the white-haired girl''s wound, I tried to ask but I can''t even lift a finger yet. The girl may notice my worried expression, I also staring at her for a while now. "I''m sorry, I haven''t introduced myself to you. I''m Merlin Virfiel, I''m actually half-elf" "Merlin.." The brown-haired girl shocked when this Merlin girl saying about her is a half-elf, but Merlin just stops her with an It''s an alright expression. Merlin shows us her ear, we can''t actually see it since it covered by her hair, but when she opened up her hair a bit, we can see her ear that indeed look like an elf. "I''m Cellica, I''m in the same party as her" The brown-haired girl seems to be protective towards Merlin, I wonder why. "Can you tell me why you guyse here injured?" I''m not really curious about what makes them injured so bad, I can tell they were attacked in the south forest since I got attacked there before, I just wanted to know howe they injured so badly. Chapter 19 The Danger of The Winter "We went to the south forest because there was a rumor about an increase of a magical beast poption, so guild decided to post a quest for adventurers to bring back a magical beast''s item and they will pay for it. Everyone really excited about it, a lot of adventurers went there because they thought this mission isn''t gonna be so hard, yet now as you can see, not only I injured so bad, we even lose our party member" Cellica looks like she''s gonna burst to cry, but it seems she can hold it, even though there was a bit of tearing out from her eye, but she quickly wipes it. After hearing Merlin''s story, my sister''s face went pale, she might be worried about our safety if we keep staying in this vige after seeing the condition herself also the magical beast might attack anytime. I finally able to move my muscles a bit, I tried to reach Ilya-nee''s hand, a warm feeling of her hand flow through my whole body, every time I''m around her, I feel safe, yet I always feel like I have to keep Ilya-nee safe. "Did you guys only met a wolf magical beast?" My sudden question shocked Ilya-nee, hoe did I know about the magical beast, I even know what kind of magical beast it is, she held my hand tightly and just turn her look towards me. "A bear, a big bear and some packs of a wolf type" I''m surprised by how Merlin able to maintain her cool expression, my sister and her friend even make a frightened look on their face, Ilya-nee keeps on holding my hand tightly. I finally able to sit in after trying hard to get up, my head still feels a bit heavy, but I''m trying my best not to feel the pain and just sit still. "Wait, bear?" I just realize I heard something like a bear just now, I couldn''t think of anything about how it looks or whatsoever, I only met a wolf type of magical beast, they are pretty strong enough though. My sister looks worried and making a "are we gonna be okay" face which is normal I think, after you witnessed what the magical beast did to these people, you won''t really feel safe. I''m stronger than before, even though it''s only a week since thest incident of me got attacked in the forest, right now I feel like I can protect Ilya-nee, I can feel it. I look at Ilya-nee with a bit confused face, she''s the one who told Uncle that she would stay here, that''s why I need to train harder to protect Ilya-nee. "Yeah a bear, it''s so strong. We met it when it ate a dead wolf body. We should''ve just to run at that time, but the bear notices us and chase us down" It feels a bit strange that she said they got attacked by the bear, but somehow I feel like her injuries were caused by the wolf''s w, I''m sure of it. "After that, we decided to fight it, we got overwhelmed and Dio, he''s our party leader told us to run while he stays behind our back and distract the bear and run after that. But in time we ran away, we met a pack of wolves, while there was a bear type chasing us down behind our back. We can''t really go anywhere, so we decided to fight them and as you can see, we lose Dio and one of our other party member and I got injured, we were lucky enough to be able to get away from that situation" The words thate out from this woman''s mouth is so cold, but I can feel her sadness, but also relieved feeling, I can''t tell why I have such presumption, I just feel like she didn''t tell the truth, but I don''t want to bring it up and just went along with her story. I''m finally able to move my body after a while, I can feel my strength back to my body, at least my body didn''t feel numb anymore and I''m able to move every part of my body. We are having chat for a while now, and it''s about time for dinner, so my sister decided to offer them a dinner together in this house. But the Merlin girl refuses, she said she can''t thank enough for what I did earlier, she said I even went through some troubles just to save her life, well for me saving other people''s lives is important. "Here" Merlin hand out her book of magic I borrow before, I look at the Cellica and she looks shocked that her friend hand over such a book to me. "You need it more than I do, you deserve it, please ept it as my gratitude" Merlin even bow again to me just to hand over a book about magic to me, I decided to take it from her since I think it''s rude to refuse now. "Thank you for your help, we will go to the inn and rest there for tonight" I and my sister see them off from our front door, the girls walk their way to the inn, maybe they will feel bad if they stay longer, actually, I don''t really mind since my sister is also kind. Chapter 20 My Dream in The Future I woke up in the middle of the night, I heard it again, that voice haunted me, even in the middle of my sleep. Just who is it, the guy who imed himself as a God or whatever is that. I went to the kitchen to drink a ss of water to calm myself down, I still remember what happened to me after I fainted today when I tried to save the Merlin girl. I went back to my room and just sit on my bed, I feel like I can''t sleep at all, my head is just full of this guy who imed himself as a God, I can''t help but keep thinking about it, Why is his voice so familiar, like, I remember the first time I heard his voice, my heart suddenly beating faster, I feel terrified, like a feeling that tells me I must obey his order, I can''t think about anything but to wonder, who is that guy. I tried to clear my brain and just lean back to the wall, I let out a pretty long sigh just to calm myself down. I remember Merlin gave me a book about magic before. I went to my bookshelves and try to find it. A brown book with a little green gem on top of it, it looks so cool in my opinion, like a book that a noble might have. I sit on my desk and open the book, I see various of magic in this book, from a fire, water, ice, wind, and much more magic, but I realized that all of the magic that written here was high spell magic. I flip through pages and I realized how lucky I am, the ice magic in this book written more than others, I can''t help it but get excited. I went through pages to pages and read it all, it was exciting to be able to have such a book like this, I think I will go to the inn and thank Merlin for this book. I have an eager to learn every single one of magic that written here, but I remember that I couldn''t handle such magic for now, I even copse when I try to use a healing magic, it was hard to cast it, I was lucky enough to be able to pull such healing magic, I hope I will be able to use it normally in the future without getting copsed. I try to find my book about non elemental magic, which i don''t really read too much, because i was too busy learning about my water and ice magic, i only learn the [ Senses strengthening ] , [ Body enchantment ] , and [ Cloning magic ] which is written in the first three pages. I take a look at what''s inside the non-elemental magic book and take a look, there was a various kind of non-elemental magic like [ Body strengthening ] which allow me to have a tougher body, but I also need to train my body to be able to endure the damage. I went through the whole pages and this one magic is catching my interest, [ Soul Power up ] which the book says it allows me to strengthen my soul power temporary. I tried to flip the book over and didn''t see anything but the exnation of this spell only, there was no exnation of how to use it, or the side effects or the requirements to use it or whatsoever. I flip through some pages and see another interesting magic, it says [ Imbued Magic ] I try to read what magic it is and finds it interesting. It will allow me to imbued magic on my weapon and control when I want to activate or deactivate it. I''m kinda disappointed I can''t learn about the [ Soul Power up ] but at the same time I''m also happy I found another interesting note elemental magic, I close the book and lean back to my chair then stretch out my hand, I''m finally able to clear my head from the God guy who talks to me before. I put back the books on the shelves, i stare at the book Merlin gave me for a while, i promise to myself that one day i''ll be able to use a high spell magic without getting copsed and be a good magician, i always wanted to be an adventurer like the adventurers from back then who told me a lot of stories about the outside world and their dream of making a ce for orphans and taking care of them. Chapter 21 Magic Training is Hard! Ilya-nee went to the inn today. Yuika''s aunt asked her to help out there since there were a lot of adventurers who came back from the south forest with injuries and stuff, so Yuika''s aunt decided to add an extra service for the adventurer that got injured. "Erwin, you stay at home alright? don''t go anywhere" Ilya-nee wake up early today, she made the breakfast and wake me after, I ate my breakfast while I''m wondering if Merlin still in the inn because I remember some days ago Merlin and Ceci decided to rest in the inn, the one that Yuika''s aunt run. Since Ilya-nee isn''t home today, I decided to have some training in the backyard, I want to try out the non-elemental magic I read before. I went back to my room after eating my breakfast, taking my winter clothes and the books from shelves, I stare a bit at the shelves and think of should I try learning the magic from this book or not then I took the book Merlin gave me from the shelves and stare it for a moment. The green gem that reflects my image looks shiny, I decided to give it a try because, why not? I took the other book I want to use and run to the backyard. I ce my books on the bench near me and do a little stretching after that. "Alright let''s see" I sit on the bench and open the book about the non-elemental magic, the [ Imbued Magic ] really catch my attention when I saw it. Be able to imbue magic inside the magic or stuff and can be activated as I want, so basically, I can imbude another magic to my ice forming magic, and let''s try it a bit. [ Ice Magic, Ice spear ] I form an Ice spear and then focus on forming another magic on my other hand, I''m learning another non-elemental magic that I think would be useful. [ Iron strength ] I''m gonna try imbued one magic, for now, I want to try breaking the spear. I ce the spear and stick it to the ground. I make an Ice sword to try breaking the spear, I take a position and getting ready to swing my sword. [ ng ] The sword and the spear collide and the sword bounced off my hand, I try my hard to hold it so it won''t get off my hand, but it seems that I swing it too hard. I pick up the sword and the sharp side is cracking a bit, I walk back to see my spear and didn''t find any crack, not even scratches. I take a position to swing my sword again, this time I won''t let it off my hand and grip it with all my strength. I attack it again and after some several attacks, my sword split into half and broke into pieces. I''m panting and drop on my knee to the ground, I look at my spear and it''s still tough, not even a single scratch there. Just what kind of strengthening magic I just imbued on that spear. I rest a bit and sit on the bench to read the book Merlin gave me, I''m curious what kind of magic I could learn. I train myself after I fainted that day, it seems the cause is that my body still can''t take the impact after using a high-level of magic. "All right, I will use it first" [ Body Strengthening ] [ Stamina Boost ] I want at least reduce the impact of using high-level magic on my body, I don''t want to make Ilya-nee worried. "This is enough I think" I stood off the bench and walk a bit further to the open field and thinking that this far is enough for the training and I put down my books and stand still, trying to focus on mana and my soul power. A cold breeze is touching my skins, but I didn''t feel anything at all, I was immune to cold already. I take a position and focus on controlling mana, I want to reduce the impact as much as possible, and focus on casting the magic. [ Ice magic, Frozen Thorns of Death ] My soul power feels like it got sucked out, I focus on casting the magic circle and suddenly. A ton of big spikeing out from the ground, from the magic circle cast below my feet. I feel a bit dizzy, but I keep on pushing myself conscious, I''m panting so hard, but somehow I''m able to avoid myself to faint. I smile andugh so hard, just how amazing this magic is, but the feeling of my power got sucked out really torment me. I fell on the ground and just stare and the sky hindered by some ice spikes, the sky is clear but so cold because it''s winter in the first ce. Chapter 22 The Big Sisters Concern I went to the inn Yuika''s aunt run today, I suddenly feel worried something might happen to Erwin, I left him alone back home, but I can''t stop being worried. The inn isn''t that big, but people keeping to this cetely, because of the rumor about magical beast in the south forest or something, that Merlin girl also told me the same story, she even loses herrades, and her friend told me that Merlin got injured so bad and Erwin helped her. I wonder when did i teach him a healing magic technique, I don''t remember a water attribute can do such magic, not with a low or middle-ss magic at least, even there''s any, he wouldn''t be able to fully recover that girl''s condition, she doesn''t even look injured at all when I got back home, i wonder does he learn high-ss magic?, but where? I believe I also read the book uncle gave us, there was no healing magic at all written there, I''m pretty sure of it. I can''t help myself but think of it, I''m spacing out in the receptionist desk, there wasn''t a lot of customers right now, I''m just helping if there was an injured customer, but today, I''ve been seeing fewer peopleing to this cetely. Maybe the south forest is just too dangerous, I''m concerned about my and Erwin''s safety, maybe I should''ve gone to another ce with Erwin, but our only ce to we can call a home is that house, the bread store our family owns, I can''t just abandon it. The air suddenly feels so cold, my body suddenly feels shivered, I can feel the ground shaking a bit and the feel of mana flow suddenly make me feel uneasy, maybe I''m not an expert magician, but I have an ability to sense the mana flow in my surroundings, it feels like someone just uses an incredible amount of magic power. Yuika''s aunt suddenly appears in front of me, "Is that an earthquake just now?" "I feel the ground shaking a bit Aunt Wilda" She''s the owner of this inn, she moved here a long time ago, she sure looks so young, her beautiful yellow blond hair reminds me of Yuika-chan, she looks mature but looks young at the same time. Her beauty sure makes every other woman feels jealous, her mature aura can make every man in this world fascinated, but I never saw her go out with any single man, I wonder why. Aunt Wilda seems worried, maybe because of the small earthquake just now, she''s giving a treatment to injured people just now and then she feels the earthquake, of course, she would feel uneasy. Rather than that, this terrifying magic power I feel just now, who could it be? I can feel the overwhelming power with the mana flow, I wonder if there was any kingdom''s magician in the south forest now. I heard something like the kingdom been recruiting a high-level magician to be an honored royal magician, I wonder if this south forest issue even needs a royal magician to take care of it, or maybe because adventurers are noting back to south foresttely makes the kingdom have to take care of it themselves? I can''t think of anything that could pull out this amount of magic power, is there even any adventurer who able to cast such magic? they should''ve just be a royal magician instead. "Ilya-chan, you alright?" Aunt Wilda''s face suddenly appears right in front of me and it''s too close, too close. I didn''t notice that she''s still here at all, I thought she went somewhere after asking me about the earthquake, but it seems she just standing near the receptionist desk this all time. "You look worried about something, are you okay?" Aunt Wilda put her face closer to mine, I quickly backed away and unconsciously fell off my chair. "Ilya-chan. You okay?" Aunt Wilda quickly dashes towards me, she''s trying to help me get up, I feel my back a bit hurt, maybe I hit the back of the chair too hard or something. I''m trying to get up and fix the chair position, Aunt Wilda is still holding my body, she seems worried that something might happen to me or something because her face said so. "I''m alright Auntie, don''t worry" Well I said so but my back is a bit hurt right now, Aunt Wilda''s face seems relieved that I''m okay, I don''t want to cause her a problem anymore. Auntie went to her room after making sure I''m all alright, I continue sitting in the receptionist desk. I didn''t really notice it, but I''m not shivering anymore and the mana flow is normal again, maybe because I''m just spacing out right away. Chapter 23 I Will Become A Hero ? I rest in the open field, I erase the magic I cast before, high-level magic sure draining my energy, but I can''t stop here, I need to be stronger and keep training, the wind blew slowly and makes the grass look like it''s dancing, the wind really rxing, I tried to close my eyes and enjoy this feeling, this peaceful feeling until suddenly my head hurts, everything went ck and I''m floating in the same ce I heard that God''s voice before but this time I can freely move my body, but I''m still a bit exhausted so I''m just letting my body floating wherever it wants. "Yo.. how''s your day" That voice again, but this time I don''t know why it seems that this God is trying to be friendly with me or something, I''m not trembling this time, no intimidating feeling this time, so I decided to have a little chat with him. "We meet again, the third time now huh" I''m trying to fix my standing figure but I''m still floating, it''s notfortable at all. "I want to ask this first, can you make at least like a floor I can step on?" I''m not feelingfortable at all floating here in a dimension where there''s nothing but darkness, everything is just ck, but for some reason, I can still see my body clearly. I can feel something below my feet, and step on a bit and realize i actually able stand on, it looks like this God guy is actually the one who made this dimension, he seems to able to manipte anything in this ce, well if he''s a God, of course, he can. "It''s a third time for you huh, hahaha" This guy suddenlyughing out of nowhere, of course, it''s a third time I got sent here, I still remember the time he even haunted me in the middle of my sleep. "So what you want this time" I can''t think of his purpose of calling me here,st time he did he just sent me here because he got lonely, I was like "What kind of God are you" and he just burst toughter right after that and I woke up. "Well you don''t remember your first time here, I understand that because I''m the reason why you don''t remember though, hahaha" What is this guy talking about, the first time? isn''t it when I fainted after trying to save Merlin? I use high-level spell magic suddenly without preparations and got sent here. "I just want to give you a hint about your duty, just rx" Duty? that nonsense peace thing? I don''t even understand what''s he talking about when I first hear it, what peace he''s been spouting all this time. "What''s precious to you is gone for the exchange of the world''s peace. What''s close to you be your enemy. You will be an enemy yet a hero for your people" And that''s hisst words and I suddenly wake up from my sleep, I''m still in the middle of the meadow. I''m just resting and this God guy keeps annoying me by calling me to that weird ce, what is that ce actually. I stood up and walk back to my house, I want to sit somewhere near my house. The cold breeze suddenly turns into something terrifying, I can feel a dangerous auraing from somewhere from the forest. I can feel my body''s hair shivering a bit, this aura really makes me ufortable, I sharpen my senses and see a bunch of crows flying above the forest, just what id happening right now. I tried to calm myself down and ignore this ufortable feeling. I sit on the bench in the backyard and try to close my eyes. I try to clear my head and focus on controlling my soul power to calm myself down. I''m worried something bad is happening in the forest right now, the amount of magical beast that increase is already a thing, how if there''s a really dangerous beast there that might attack this vige soon? I can''t stop worrying, I went to the kitchen and drink a ss of water to clear my head, I clenched my fist and hit the table, I''m so ashamed of how weak I am right now. I have a book where I can learn a high spell level magic with me, but I can''t use the high-level magic continuously because I can''t endure the side effects yet, my soul power also still weak, I really really ashamed, I need to train harder. Chapter 24 Desire to Fight! I finally got my stamina back, I feel refreshed now and I decided to maybe train one or two more spells from the book since it''s still morning, I still have a plenty of time to use today so I decided to have some training and I went to the backyard again and just sit there before I start training, I''m trying to enjoy the view of a meadow and the clear sky, the terrifying aura I feel before is nowhere to feel again, I finally able to have a peaceful time. I take the book I put on the bench and read it, flipping through pages to find interesting magic to learn while I take my time and read almost everything in the book, I also find some interestingbined magic. I went to my room to find my other book to find the base of the magic I just read. Ah this one, after a short search finally finds it, the base of the high-level magic I saw just now. I decided to bring along some other books, I just feel like I should try to read it, all this time I barely use other than ice forming magic, so I think I need to try and use it more. I walk to the open field again, the same ce I use to train just a moment ago and take a look at the book until I find it, I think this one. [ Ice Magic, Ice shard ] I create the magic circle and m my right hand on the ground, the ice shard propagate in front of me in a line and there''s a big shard soaring up in the end. It''s soaring upright in the ce I look into. This ice shard magic seems to be controlled magic, I can control where I want the big shard to appear and pierce my enemy. "Let''s see, I need to imbue the cloning magic to this spell''s magic circle" Honestly, I don''t know what to do with this, how do Ibine magic circle to another magic circle. I take my time and sit, I cross my leg and try to figure out what does this book means bybining a magic circle. I learn imbued magic and use it before, it seems that actually imbued magic is supposed to be used tobine one magic circle with another, I didn''t realize it at all and as a result, I have to learn it again from the start. It took a while for me to actually understand what I actually need to do with this magicbination, I stood up and try to focus, I take a position and getting ready. I try to cast the [ Ice shard ] magic in my right hand and the cloning magic on the other hand, I try to focus and imagining the way to recreate the magic circle so I can create the magic I saw in the book in the result. It took a while for me to actually understand the process, I failed some times but I keep trying, re-creating the magic circle formation isn''t that easy, I need to actually understand the formation I need to use and to be able to seed is depends on my luck, and now... I pulled together the two magic circle and recreate the formation one more time, this time it''s glowing and didn''t break. I push both my hands to the ground and the ice shards surrounded me and it looks like a bowl now, but with a sharp edge. I feel like I lost a lot of energy, my breath feels hard and I just keep panting, but somehow I smile, to be able to pull such magic like that and not faint, I finally got used to it. I erase the magic and one more time, I lie down on the grass, with a burst ofughter this time, I''m so satisfied that I''m able to cast thisbination magic after a lot of failed attempts. I get up and try to enjoy the wind, I''m still curious by the terrifying aura I feel before, I really want to see what kind of creature that able to let out such aura. Is it like the strongest magical beast in the forest? I really want to see it, my heart is racing, my urge to go to the south forest and fight some magician beast is about to explode, but I''m still able to calm myself down, I can''t let Ilya-nee worries about me more than she does now. Chapter 25 This Has Turned Into A Difficult Situation I decided to take a walk for a while, at least to clear my head from any desires to go to the south forest. As always the neighborhood doesn''t look that busy, only a few people going out from their house and a few adventurers that don''t seem to be in good condition. I''m walking with my blue winter clothes and a scarf, I really like it because Ilya-nee gave it to me, uncle Alto said that Ilya-nee asks him to buy me this scarf from the capital with her money, I can''t thank enough but just feeling grateful. I don''t know why but I''m just following where my feet are taking me, I''d be lying if I''m not concerned with the condition of the adventurers I saw, some in pretty bad condition, some look like they got beat up pretty badly and many more of them, but somehow I don''t feel any sympathy feeling from deep my heart to those who look like a noble, I wonder why. I''m not really aware, but my feet are dragging me to this ce, the ce where all those adventurers got beaten up and some just lose their lives here. I''d be lying if I said I''m not afraid, but something from my heart said I have to go there, but I don''t know what to do. I just got sucked in there by my urge, I step inside this forest, the auraing from this forest isn''t really giving a good feeling, it feels like it''s dark even though it''s still noon. It''s been a while since I enter the forest, I''m just wandering around and found nothing, I went deeper to where I gather some vegetables before, the ce I got attacked before. I look around and I can hear a wolf howling sometimes, but I barely can hear it, It seems like it''s pretty far from my ce. I arrived at the ce I use to gather some ginger nt before, there''s a pretty big rock I can use to rest, so I decided to take a rest there and the feeling, this is pretty peaceful for me because since I enter the forest, I didn''t even meet a single magical beast, just some animal running around the forest so i decided, maybe I will use it for a while [ Senses Sharpening ] I just feel like I need to activate it for a moment there, and suddenly a cold sweat dripping from my forehead because a pack of magical beast wolves typeing from behind me, two from the way I''ming from, three on my left and they''re pretty close, maybe not even 50 meters, I can''t sense it because I didn''t cast even single non-elemental magic when I''m entering the forest so I think, isn''t it pretty bad? what should I do? Cold sweats can''t stoping down from my body, afraid? is there any 8 years old kid that won''t be feel terrified by this situation? but I''m just feeling that it''s a pretty bad situation for me to be here, I''m not that afraid, to be honest, I was able to pull such strong magic before, I''m pretty confident I''d be able to get out from this situation soon. I try to calm myself even though soon these sharp-fanged, sharp w fellows will surround me. I won''t make any suspicious moves that will lead them the instinct to attack me immediately, I choose to silently cast some spell to my body but suddenly i notice that one wolf is moving, it''sing from my left side and the other two also moving and following the first one. I quickly jump down from the rock and turn around. [ Ice shards ] I cast the Ice shards to the wolf pack that waiting behind me. "That will reduce their number" I quickly run to my left direction and cast an ice forming magic, I form a flying de and throw it towards the three wolves earlier. [ Cloning Magic ] I quickly cast cloning magic to my flying de, focusing the magic circle and make two cloning of it. The des are flying towards those wolves, I keep running to make a distance with a wolves pack behind me, I turn my head around to see if I able to take down something and I got two of them, yosh, I might only takes down two wolves, but it''s fine for me, I then cast another ice forming magic. [ Ice Magic, Ice spear ] It''s only a few meters between me and the wolf in front of me, it saw me and quickly jump towards me, the wolf look-alike with two I fought before. I dodge the wolf''s attack and lean to the right, I swing my spear and hit the wolf''s face, she''s rolling on the ground after that one attack. "As if I will let you" I throw the spear and hit the wolf''s head, it pierces her head and I can see she''s dead now and i look at the remaining, now the rest huh. Chapter 26 Their Name Isnt Only A Name "8..10...13.. 15, alright I will use it" I closed my eyes to focus on my hearing for a moment after I killed one of the wolves with the spear. Thest [ Ice shard ] I cast on them maybe just reduce their number a bit, there''s still 15 of them now. "COME.." I try to provoke the wolves to attack me, I''m ready on my guard to face the wolves, I wonder if I can defeat all of them. The wolves start to charging towards me, I want to use the Frozen Thorns spell to annihte them all and when this group of wolves starts to close our distance, when I''m getting ready to cast the spell, suddenly a spark of lightning is about to hit me, I''m able to dodge it in time, thanks to my sense strengthening I''m able to notice iting, even though I notice it when it almost hit me, I''m still thankful that it didn''t hit me, i look around to see who in the world cast it, I can sense no human around here, at least in the 50 meters, there''s no human being, I''m sure of it and then suddenly, the second lightning attacking towards me again, this time it''sing right from my behind, from the wolves pack, i''m so shocked, It can''t be, right? I never know that this magical beast wolf type is actually able to cast magic i smirk with a sweating down my forehead, I guess the name they given, the magical beast isn''t really just a name huh. I keep running after I dodge the first lightning strike, I want to keep a safe distance when I don''t know who cast the strike, but after I''m sure that the wolf is the one that cast it, I can try to figure out how to fight back. I throw a flying de towards the wolves to see how they react to it. [ Zap ] Another lightning strike is destroying my flying de, this time from above, it''s not only 1 spell huh, it''s gonna be a bit troublesome. I see a different wolf in the back of the pack, maybe it''s their leader, I can sense a mana flow on its horn, it also got a kinda different fur color than the others, a dark blue and the eyes of him is like so red, i wonder how to defeat this guy eh. I''m not really sure how to fight the one that can actually use magic, other than him, the rest of the pack is like a normal wolf for me. I don''t want to waste my stamina just for the underlings, I can''t use high spell magic just to kill them, their leader looks strong that I think I can''t defeat it with a low-level spell, or a middle-rank spell that easily. [ Ice Magic, Ice shards ] I m my right hand to the ground, I''m aiming for the leader, the one that can cast magic too, I want to count on my luck, but I think that wouldn''t happen. [ Multiply ] I raise my hand and cast a [ Cloning Magic ] and add it to my [ Ice Shards ] magic, then quickly two lines of Ice shardsing towards their direction. [ Bam.. ] That loud noiseing from the wolves direction, a lot of smoke and dust cover up the wolves and then disappeared. My first [ Ice Shards ] magic that I aim towards the leader''s direction got destroyed, leaving it to the pieces, but it seems that the other two hits and killed a lot of them, I can see the wolves stick on the sharp tip of my ice and the remaining is...4 left, I guess I''m gonna say it''s their luck that their leader saves them from death. "But the next one won''t miss, you hear me?" This wolves pack really is something troublesome, the leader is pretty strong I''m gonna say because it can fight me back and destroy the magic I cast to them. [ Stamina Boost ] [ Body Strengthening ] I cast some non-elemental magic for the second time, hoping it would work. I cast an ice forming magic and created a spear and cast an [ Iron Strength ] magic to it, I remember how strong the spear is when I add this [ Iron Strength ] magic. I dash to fight the rest of the wolves pack to let me rest and restore some stamina and soul power, I can''t yet use magics continuously, I''m nning on using high-level spell magic if necessary, considering that the leader sure is strong. Chapter 27 How Can I Win This? I dash towards thest wolves in front of me, the cold effect from my ice magic is still there, even my breath let out a smoke because of the cold. The wolf leader seems to be on guard, and the other 4 wolves are about to attack me, they split and surrounded me. "Come to me.." I try to provoke the wolves, I knew I could win, I don''t really have to worry, but there''s no sign the wolves are going to attack me, they seem to be on guard and could attack me anytime, but still no movements. I can feel the mana flow suddenly turns a bit strange, it''s like when someone is about to cast magic, I turn around and look at the wolf leader. [ Howl... ] The wolf leader just howls loudly, and I can feel a mana gathering above me, the air is getting cold, what is it? and suddenly, a lightning storm attack is hitting the ground I''m standing, No Way!! I try my best to dodge every lightning thating down and also trying to get out of the storm area, but when I thought it''s gonna be easy to just get out of this area, the situation turns worst than just a lightning storm because the other 4 wolves that surrounding me is taking a position to not let me leave this area, they could jump at my face anytime, the lightning storm keeps going, is it channeling magic or something? for now, I just need to get out of this area as soon as possible, so I try my best to dodge and run the other way and these wolves keep getting in my way, they really prevent to leave the area. I feel something is about to hit above my head, I look up and a yellow thunder is right before my eyes and I fell down trying parry it with my spear, Iugh inwardly, the fun isn''t over yet, is it? and as I thought, they won''t let me move freely, the lightning keeps attacking me in the same ce over and over after that first attack I parry. "Guhh.." I can feel my hand trembling, my spear now feels heavier, and after a lot of lightning attack I receive, my spear broke. "Ughh... Even after all of this" I strengthen my spear, but it still won''t be able to endure receiving that many attacks, I try to roll back to dodge everything but now,I have no other choice. I prepare myself to cast magic while still dodging these lightning attack, I try to focus on where I should release the magic circle. [ Ice Magic, Frozen Thorns of Death ] I m my hand to the ground and release the magic circle right below the wolf leader, I almost got hit by the lightning strike when I release the magic circle there. [ St.. ] The leader got pierced into my ice magic, the spikes there sure is huge, but I reduce the power a bit so it''s not as big as the one I cast when I train it. Thest 4 wolves, look a bit terrified that their leader is dead now, their tail seems down but still trying to act tough, maybe they want to run away, but it looks like they still want to face me. I''m exhausted, after releasing such magic like that I will able to pull out one ice forming magic at least, but my stamina is saying that I need to rest, I push myself to keep standing on my feet, maybe thest 4 wolves see this as an opportunity to attack me, maybe that''s why they didn''t run, but they don''t seem they will make any move anytime soon. I''m not letting my guard down, even though I think they won''t attack me, there are still some possibilities that they will just jump to me and beat me up considering that I''m so exhausted right now. As I thought, two of the wolves decided to attack me at the same time, I grit my teeth and form an Ice spear, I need to stay on a safe distance, for now, even my legs are trembling, I need to face these wolves to stay alive. Suddenly, a cold feeling is touching my skins, I can''t really tell what causes it because all my non-elemental magic I cast not active anymore because I don''t have enough stamina. I nce at the wolf leader I kill before, its eyes are still open a bit, even though I pierce its whole body, it still has some stamina left to open its eyes. I fight the two wolves that charging at me, I push myself to my limit, I wish I could kill these two wolves and when the other two saw it, they will run with their tail behind them, that''s what I''m thinking of right now. I somehow able to take down 1 wolf, I just keep piercing its neck and I''m able to kill it, but right after that the cold feeling bes more intense, I quickly jump towards the wolf in front of me and pierce its stomach. I raise my spear with the wolf sticking on it up with all my might, then a pretty strong lightning attacking from above, hitting right on the wolf that on my spear, it destroys my spear and the wolf that got hit by it doesn''t seem to be in a good shape. Chapter 28 I Cant Face Her I guess my luck win this time because the remaining 2 wolves that just watching is running away from me right now, they''re just watching theirrades died right in front of their eye, maybe their instinct saves me, if they didn''t run, I don''t know what will I be, I have no stamina left even my legs are numbs right now, luckily the wolves run before they see me fell on the ground. I turn my head and look at the wolf leader that got pierced with my ice magic, the blood is dripping on the ice to the ground, it seems that the wolf won''t open its eyes anymore, but still that was one close attack, I didn''t think he still able to pull out hisst magic even he''s on the edge of death, I let out a deep sigh, finally, I can rest but I remember that there were a lot of adventurers who got a lot of injuries aftering to this forest, I guess for now I hope I won''t encounter any more trouble because I can''t fight anymore, I can''t even lift a single finger right now so I have no other choice but to rest and recover my energy, my magic slowly disappear and I heard a body fell down on the ground it''s the wolf leader that stuck on the big ice thorns. I look at the clear sky and the wind blow and the cold is just bitting my skins. I can feel a presence of living beinging towards me, I don''t really know is it human or not, it''s just my feeling and I can only hope that they''re human because if it''s another magical beast, I could die here right now. I can hear footstepsing towards me faster and faster, and suddenly a red-haired girl appear before my eyes, she looks so shocked when she saw me and quickly lift up my head and put my head to herp. "Why are you here" Elis looks worried after she knew that the one who''s lying down on the grass was me, I didn''t lose my consciousness this time, but my head feels a bit dizzy but somehow I can still see her face clearly. "Ah Elis-nee" I can only let out a soft voice, I don''t have that much stamina even for talking is still hard and it seems that Elis notice it and just close my eyes with her hand, I feel her hand''s getting warm. "Just close your eyes and rest" "Ah..yes.." I can only obey her word, for now, her warm hand really calmed me down, and I fell asleep in no time, just having ap pillow from this girl and her warm hand really calmed me down. "Ah you wake up" The first sight of what in front of me after I open my eyes is Elis, she looks calm and her happy face is cute, but I can barely see her face for some reason. Ah right, I fell asleep after I fight the wolves, I wonder how long have been I asleep now. "How long have I fallen asleep?" "For like 20 minutes now, can you move your head now? my legs are a bit numb right now" This girl gave me ap pillow after she found me lying down on the ground, I don''t know did she look at the dead wolves around me or not. "Anyway, did you defeat all of these wolves?" There it is, is she able to read my mind or something? she looks surprised when she looks at the wolves dead body and more surprised when she saw the wolf leader''s corpse got a big hole in it. I can''t nod and I can''t say no, I remain silent for some reason and just staring at her taking a look at the corpses. she walks back at me and pulls my arm, keeping me close to her, she dragged me away from that ce, maybe back to the vige. "You can''t stay here forever, it''s too dangerous, you can''t go here all by yourself" I guess she''s right, Ilya-nee will get worried if I''m not home when she''s back, but I guess it''s fine now because Elis is here with me right now. We walk back to my house together, we don''t really have any conversation when we walked back, and when we almost arrived at my house, someone is running from our backyard and suddenly p my face. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN.. I TOLD YOU TO STAY IN HOUSE.." Her face looks so angry but I can see she''s crying because there was a tear in her eyes. "Hey.. Ilya-san, what are you doing" Elis tries to hold Ilya back, prevent her from hitting me again, I''m standing there just feeling the pain on my left cheek from my sister''s p. I run back from where Ie with a lot of tearsing down my eyes, I keep running and almost run into a horse carriage thating from outside the vige. Chapter 29 My Fear Turn Into Reality I have a bad feeling since the ground''s shaking a bit, I can''t hide my anxiousness, it''s all written on my face, the only thing in my head right now is hoping Erwin to be safe, I don''t want him to do anything reckless. I told Erwin to stay and watch the house, I told him to wait for me to get back home, I don''t want him to do anything that 8 years old kid should be doing, likest time he got injured when he''s in the south forest, Elis told me that and that one time I really really be thankful to Elis-sama, that girl saves Erwin, she also apanies Erwin back home, and the maid of her use healing magic for Erwin. I can''t keep myself calm, I keep tapping on the desk to calm myself, but it won''t do after all. There was some more guesting to the inn, I guess there are still some people who wanted to hunt a magical beast in the south forest huh, even after a lot of ident that even after they knew a lot of adventurers died and got a lot of injuries there recently A lof of adventurer got a traumatic experience and won''t even go there anymore, some people from the neighborhood also decided to moves from this vige. My feeling is starting to get really uneasy, I feel like something bad might happen soon, after thatst small earthquake I can feel some unusual mana flowing from the forest. I take a peek sometimes at the window towards the south forest, but it won''t do because I can''t see anything but buildings from here. I wander near the front door aimlessly and bite my nail sometimes, I really can''t get rid of these anxious feelings, I can feel the mana flowing like I feelst time, it''s like someone is using a high spell magic again, but this time it doesn''t feel like a human cast it, I just feel like something bad is going to happen soon. it seems that Wilda-san is noticing my weird behavior and decided what''s happening with me, she looks worried. "Ah.. I''m alright, I''m just worried about something" "And what it is?" "I left Erwin to look over the house, but I can''t feel calm at all, I''m afraid something bad might happen, but it''s just my feeling ma''am, don''t worry about it" I tried tough a little so Wilda-san won''t worried about my behavior. "You shall go home now Ilya-chan, I''m sorry for bothering you and make you left Erwin all by himself home" "It''s not a problem ma''am, he''s a good child, I told him to just stay home, it''s okay" Wilda-san looks like she''s feeling bad for calling me to help over the inn and keep forcing me to go back home. "I''m sorry for calling you over Ilya-chan... bring over Erwin-kun to y alright.." I finally gave up and decided to go back home now, Wilda-san keeps pushing me to do or else she would feel so sad for calling me over to help. Suddenly my body is shivering, something isn''t right, it''s like some mana is gathering up in one ce right now like something is about to explode. I walk faster, I can''t feel calm, I want to hug Erwin and let go of this uneasy feeling, something isn''t right, why am I feeling so worried right now, what am I worrying at? I myself don''t even know what am I worrying at, it''s just I feel like something is going to happen, something bad. I finally arrived at our house and try to open the door. "Hm? it isn''t locked" I push the door and inside the store feels so quiet, I walk inside the house and call Erwin for several times. "He didn''t answer, did he sleep right now?" I went to Erwin''s room and I see no one is inside, I''m starting to get panic and call Erwin over and over again. I went through every single room in this house and I can''t find Erwin anywhere, I went to the backyard and I can''t find Erwin either. "Erwin.." I fell on my knees, I''m so worried right now, where''s Erwin at? I told him to stay and watch over the house. I run back to the front yard with tears in my eyes, I look around and I see Erwin''s walking with someone. "Erwin..." I quickly run towards him, and unconsciously p him on the cheek, the girl who is with him is Elis, she held me back from hitting Erwin again after I yelled at him. I feel angry, but I''m so worried and sad on the inside, I can''t lose my only family, I don''t want to lose Erwin, he''s the only one I had now. Erwin runs away after I hit him and I fell on my knees, I''m a mean sister for him now, I cry out loud right after and a man suddenly appears in front of me and Elis. "What happened to you? I saw Erwin running on my way here" Alto-san is giving me a handkerchief and tell Elis to bring me back inside my house. Chapter 30 Forgive Me, Erwin "Ilya-san please calm yourself down" Elis is trying to calm me down, I yelled at Erwin and even pped him, to think he would hate me now make me cry so hard. "I''m sorry Erwin.. Please forgive your sister.." I''m still sobbing in Elis''s hug, sheforts me and tells me that Alto-san would look for Erwin and bring him home. I still can''t forgive myself for doing cruel things to Erwin without letting him say a single word, Elis was there with him that should make me less worried, but I can''t and my anger wins over myself. "Elis-san... *sob..*sob.." I hug Elis san and just let out every single tear I have, I cry as loud as I can, she pats my head and gently stroke it. "It''s okay, Erwin-kun is so lucky to have such sister like you Ilya-san" I feel warm in Elis''s hug, the warmth is flowing through my entire body and it''s so calming, but I can''t help about the tear thating down from my eyes. "I''m sorry Elis-san *sob.. I wet your *sob.. clothes" I want to let go of her but I can''t, she keeps pushing me to her, and I just keep crying in her arms. After some times I finally able to calm myself down and not crying anymore. "I''m sorry I make your clothes wet Elis-san" "It''s okay, I don''t really mind, I''m happy I canfort you" She said that with a big smile on her elegant face. I hand her a handkerchief to wipe my tears that makes her clothes wet, she receives it and starts wiping it around the ce that is wet. "I found himying down on the ground and I saw some dead wolves near him" Elis is calmly wiping her clothes with the handkerchief and then she hands it back to me. "He''s not injured, right? he''s fine right?" I kinda shake her on the shoulder, I quickly apologize because I''m doing that. "It''s fine Ilya-san I know you''re worried about your little brother, he''s lucky to have a good sister like you" "I''m not a good sister, I just did a cruel thing to him" I look down and without realizing my tearsing down again, Elis quickly take the handkerchief and wipe my tears out then she holds my hand, her warm hand really gives me a safe feeling. "It''s not like that Ilya-san, you''re a good sister because you really worried something bad might happen to your brother, that means you really love him and want to keep him, you don''t want him to get into a dangerous ident right?" I can''t feel any lies in her words, all those words areing from her honest feeling, I can feel the warmth from her words and she keeps apany me until my emotions all calmed down. "I will borrow your kitchen for a bit" Elis get up and walk to the kitchen to prepare some tea, I offer to help but she refuses and forces me to stay and wait, she keeps staying with me for the next 25 minutes and I''m starting to worrying about Erwin again now. "There''s a gentleman who told me that he would find Erwin, I think he''s not a bad guy, at least my feeling says so" We ended up just sitting to each other and talk about what actually happened in the south forest when Elis found Erwin while drinking a tea. I feel sofortable near Elis, I can let out every single hidden feeling I have. "Hey..." Someone is suddenly open the front door and yell, he may be looking for me because the voice sounded like Alto-san''s voice. I quickly run to the front door and see Alto-san is carrying Erwin on his back, he looks pale and his eyes are a bit swollen, I can understand he maybe cried a lot after running away. "Erwin..." I tried to approach Erwin after Alto-san put him down from his back, he looks worried because Erwin doesn''t seem to be in a good condition. Without me realizing I run and hug Erwin tightly, it feels like I shouldn''t be doing this after I did those cruel things to Erwin, but I can''t help myself and hug him. I let out tears and cried as hard as I can. "Forgive me Erwin... Please don''t go away from me..." I''m not in the position where I can say that line, but I don''t want to lose anything anymore, I don''t want Erwin to go from my life. "Forgive me Ilya-nee...." His soft voice really makes me feel a deep heartbreaking, I can''t lose Erwin, not the only family I had left. I hold him tighter and cry as loud as I can, I keep apologizing to him, I need him to forgive me because I don''t want him to hate me, I can''t let that happen. Erwin starts to cry and hold my body, looking at us, Elis hug both of us and pat our head gently. "You guys are beautiful siblings" She keeps doing it until we calmed down, she''s a wonderful woman, she helps me to make up with Erwin and her honest feelings really move me, I promise to myself I can''t let the bond between me and Erwin as siblings broke. Chapter 31 Something Inhuman "I will ask them again to reconsider living in the capital for a while" I pack my stuff and put it on the carriage, I don''t have anything to do anyway, not many traders want to take a risk on the winter like now, especially with a news about the increase of the magical beast number out there makes us traders choose to not doing any business trade this winter, I''m so worried about Erwin and Ilya, I can''t leave them alone in that vige, but they won''t go to the capital they said, but now, if they won''t go to the capital I will also stay there with them, I really want to try to convince those kids to leave that vige for a while, that vige''s location is near the south forest and I heard that Gaisras family won''t do any hunting of the magical beast. Honestly, I think that Erwin may be able to fight a magical beast, maybe one or two since he was able to use magic and even Rosaku-san takes interest to him so I thought, maybe I will take Erwin to Rosaku-san''s ce if they''re willing to live in the capital. I pack myst change of clothes and put it in my bag, I also bring along some snacks I can eat while I am on the wayter. My house is near the market and it''s really crowded on a normal day, but it''s so quiet this day, I understand people won''t being out from their house on this cold day, even my horse, I tried to warm them as much as I can. "I''m sorry boys, but I need you guys to take me to Ilya''s house, I need to ask them one more time to live here in the capital" I gently stroke both of my horses and start to go to the south, It will take almost 2 days to go from the capital to that vige, I stop by some viges to rest sometimes and rest in the night. I saw some adventurers on the way to the south, I wonder if they''re after the price of magical beast hunting, I heard it from someone from the guild that they will award and buy the drop from the magical beast. I''m kinda curious I saw few of theming back with injuries and depressed expression on their face, I wonder just what is actually happened to them After seeing things like that, I''m now more worried about those two Ilya and Erwin, they live on their own without parents, their safety is something I really need to worry about and I hope nothing bad happens to them and suddenly I''m feeling uneasy now, I almost arrive at the vige, and when I enter the vige, suddenly someone is running and almost hit the carriage, I look at him and recognize it''s Erwin, I look at their house''s direction and I see two girls, one girl is crying and the other one seems to calm her the other one down. I quickly take the horses and approach them to ask what happened and why does Erwin is running with a sad face a moment ago and I told the red-haired girl to bring Ilya inside the house, I need to find Erwin as quick as possible because he''s running towards the south forest direction before so I took my jacket and start running chasing Erwin to the south forest, Please God, save Erwin. I keep praying for Erwin''s safety because I can''t let anything bad happen to him and I guess I''m lucky this time, when I''m about to enter the south forest I can see Erwin''s footprints on the ground and right after I saw it, I quickly run inside the forest following the footprints without worrying about my own safety because right now I''m just thinking about Erwin''s safety, nothing else. The deeper I went inside the forest I smell a lot of blood smell and I look around, wolvesying around on the ground died and I see a giant bearying on the ground with a pretty big hole in its chest I can''t hide my terrified expression, something horrible is right in front of me, and the smell of the blood and flesh makes me want to throw up. "Who did this" I quickly run following the footprints and pinch my nose then suddenly giant ice spikes appear from the direction in front. "What was that.." I run to its direction immediately, hoping I can find somebody I can ask where Erwin is running to but then the rain starts pouring down. "What is that rain, only in one ce?" I look up and there''s a ck cloud up 20 meters in the sky, the cloud looks it only gather in one ce. "I can feel something is bad with that cloud" I decided to stop for a moment and suddenly the air feels colder, way colder than before that even my jacket can''t cover me from the cold. The Cloud ckened and suddenly, right in front of my eyes, it turns into a sword, a million of theming down from the sky. "What in the world..." I gasped, if I didn''t make a decision to stop I would''ve died there, what kind of monster that able to pull out this magic, I fell down on the ground still looking up and gasped, my legs are trembling because of the fear of me to what I just witness right before my eyes. I slowly get up after the rain of those swords over but my feet are still trembling, I slowly walk and just keep walking until I saw something that makes me freaked out. "Erwin!" He''s in the middle of the most terrifying scene that''s happening right in front of my eyes and I see the swords that seem to be made of ice all stick to the ground and Erwin is in the middle of the open field got surrounded by it. I look at the giant ice spikes and there''s seems to be blood over there at the tip, and I see a ck dust flying and disappear, right after that my feeling turns uneasy, I can feel that ck dust is something really dangerous. I run and approach Erwin who''s sitting on his knees, his face looks pale and he looks like he''s about to faint anytime. I grab him and hug him, I told them that his sister is worried about him and everything, then I pick him up and carry him on my back. Chapter 32 I Cant Remember Anthing "Hey Erwin, can you tell me what was the thing I saw in the forest where I found you?" I was able to make up with Ilya-nee because uncle Alto and Elis-san help me out, Uncle said he followed me to the forest and seeing a thing there that I honestly don''t remember at all. "I''m sorry... I couldn''t remember" That''s the only words thate out of my mind, no matter how hard o try to remember, I couldn''t pull out a single memory of what am I doing in the forest. I was so sad and depressed after seeing Ilya-neepletely mad at me, I did a thing that I shouldn''t be doing and makes Ilya-nee sad. "Did you see any person who''s fighting the magical beast in the forest when you''re there?" Uncle keeps asking me some strange questions, I do remember I''m running away after Ilya-nee mad at me and just keep running somewhere, but what happened after that, I couldn''t remember anything and I keep saying the same thing that I didn''t recall any memories I went to the forest. "Then what in the world was that I saw" Uncle Alto let out a deep sigh and look down, I can see some confused expression but I can also feel that he''s being afraid of something. "What are you guys are talking about?" A red-haired girling from the kitchen bringing a tray with some cup of tea. "Elis-san, please let me make the tea instead, I can''t bother you with such work" "It''s fine, it''s fine, I''m good with making tea anyways and you like it don''t you?" "I''m so honored that you made it for us, but for a noble like you to do such a job instead of me" "Please Ilya-san, just address me casually, I don''t really like it when people address me too formally" This red-haired girl is noble and I wasn''t really aware of it for the first time I met her back then when she saves me from that forest and now I see that Ilya-nee and Elis-san are surprisingly close now. I''m happy that Ilya-nee was able to make a friend with a person that also the same age as her, there wasn''t any person around the neighborhood that also has the same age as her. "Ah right I almost have forgotten about it, Ilya, Erwin, you guys want to reconsider moving to capital until the winter end?" Now that I remember it, uncle Alto always told me and Ilya-nee to live in the capital to ensure our safety or something and it seems that I understand it after seeing things in the south forest that can actually endanger people around the vige. Ilya-nee seems to be concerned about it and looks like she would ept that offer but with it looks hard for her to ept it. "How about my ce?" Elis-san suddenly talking and giving us an offering. "We can''t Elis-san, to be in a Gaisras''s family house just to shelter ourself isn''t right" "We are not going to live in my main family house, I live alone apart from my family outside the capital, I don''t really like living in a main house though" Elis-san takes a sip of her tea and smiled at us. "You guys can freelye over my ce if you want" "But that''s..." Ilya-nee seems that she wants to refuse, but she can''t because Elis-san herself offers us to live in her ce. "Can I at least take Erwin with me? one of my acquaintance always wanted to meet him and he''s a really good person, he helped me a lot" "Ehh..." Ilya-nee looks surprised when Uncle said that he at least take me with him because this acquaintance of him wanted to meet me and I can only think it''s the person who gives Uncle the magic book that Uncle ended up giving it to me, and if it is, I myself also wanted to meet this person and I''d be lucky if it''s really him because I want to show my gratitude to him. "Is it the person who gave you the magic book that I have now?" I want to make sure he''s going to take me to the person I meant to. "Yeah, he''s Rosaku-san, he''s a magic researcher, and he''s a nice person" "Then Ilya-nee, please don''t mind me and you can go to Elis-san''s ce, I want to meet this person Uncle''s been talking about" "If you say so...." It looks like Ilya-nee''s making up her mind and decided to move until the winter''s end. "Then I''ll ask Marina toe to pick us up Ilya-san" Elis-san then writes a note on a paper and then stand up and form a fire that looks like a bird. "They''ll arrive tomorrow at noon maybe, umm... Alto-san, right? You and Erwin can go ahead to the capital first, and if Erwin wants toe to my house you''re more than wee to stay" And that night Uncle and Elis-san spent the night at this house. Chapter 33 We Will Live Separately "Then we''ll be going ahead first" Me and Uncle Alto was ready and already packing up our stuff and put in on the carriage, I promise Ilya-nee that I would not do anything that can worry her and I also promise her that I would visit her in Elis-san''s ce, she said it''s not too far from our vige. Me and uncle Alto taking our departure after the sunrise, Elis-san said she and Ilya-nee would leave at noon so I guess Ilya-nee will send a farewell greetings to Aunt Wilda, is it gonna be alright? would they be alright here? someone needs to protect the people in this vige Elis-san seems to notice my concerns and pat my head. "Don''t worry, I''ll be going to this vige sometimes to see how''s everyone doing, and if anything bad happens here, I will evacuate everyone to my ce" She seems to look right through me, I just smile and thank her for that. "Now then have a safe trip.." Elis-san is waving her hand for me and uncle Alto, but my sister seems to look at me leaving with a sad face, so I decided to smile at her and wave. "I''ll be safe there Big sis, don''t worry" It seems that those words were able to make Ilya-nee smile at least looking at me leaving. "How long does it takes to get to the capital uncle?" it''s been around 10 minutes since we''re leaving, nothing is special and we just having chat along when sitting next to each other. "Well, it will take 1 and half-day if we hurry since it''s winter, I couldn''t let the horses got all cold with the weather, usually it only takes a day to go to your vige" "So it''s because of the weather?" "Yeah pretty much" I guess that makes sense, even horses won''t stand this kind of cold too long and need to rest and warm themselves sometimes. "I will try it then uncle" "What is it?" I cast a [ Cold Protection ] to uncle Alto and the horses and hoping it would work. "Woah what is this, I can still feel the wind but it''s not cold at all" I guess that''s a sess over there, uncle Alto looks amazed and enthusiastic, maybe he never feels one himself since magic is something that someone needs to learn. "Alright then we''re gonna arrive at the capital before sunset" Uncle Alto spurs his horses with an enthusiastically, they indeed move faster now. - Its almost noon, I think Ilya-nee and Elis-san will be departing soon "Are you done giving everyone a farewell greet?" "Yeah..." Wilda-san is sure giving me a very big farewell hug and these fruits and snacks. I''m a bit sad that I have to leave this house empty for a while, but I have to do it, Erwin''s safety is my first priority and I can''t let him wander in such a dangerous ce like south forest anymore, at least he''s gonna be living in the capital for a while that he wouldn''t get in any dangerous situation at least and he''s with uncle so I guess it''ll be fine. I''m not bringing that much stuff, only some clothes and some books that I think I''d like to read in my free time and of course these foods Wilda-san gave me. "Mdy.....you...." Suddenly a horse kart appears in front of my house and a maiding towards us and hit Elis-san on the head. "Why are you always leaving on your own.." The maid looks she''s very angry with Elis-san, I tried to stop her for hitting Elis-san again because she''s just hiding behind me from the maid like a little puppy. "Pardon me, but I have to hit that stupid young mdy behind you Ilya-sama" "Eh.. please don''t do that, and how did you know my name?" "That stupid person behind you wrote something about you that will be staying over our ce, I''m weing you Ilya-sama I''m Marina, ahead maid that takes care of young mdy" They do a formal introduction towards me but somehow her eyes are still terrifying for Elis-san because Marina-san keeps staring at her as she''s ready to hit her again anytime. "[ Sigh... ] We can''t stay here forever or the horses will feel really cols because of the weather" "That''s no problem" Elis-san quickly jumps out and cast some magic to all of us and the horses. "There, it will warm your body" "I will forgive you this one-time mdy, but there won''t be next time, if you cause another problem it won''t only end with a lump in your head" Marina-san sure looks terrifying with a face she''s making right now. I can onlyugh on my own watching over those two, we take on our luggage then we''re leaving the vige after that. Chapter 34 Troublesome People "Want to maybe take a drop by the next vige? I''m so hungry, they have a pretty good ce to eat" "Yeah uncle, I''d love to" The vige uncle mentioned was about 40 miles from my own vige, we spent a half-day in this horse carriage and we''re hungry now. We travel pretty safely, nothing bad happens and we''re d because of it we are able to rx and enjoy the trip. "What''s your friend looks like uncle?" I was curious and can''t wait to meet Rosaku-san, my expectation of him is, he must be a very talented person, at least that''s the only thing I can imagine about him, he''s a magic researcher and he must be very talented in magic, I really really want to meet him. "How if you ask, hmmm.... he''s a kinda strange person, he sometimes makes a lot of ruckus in his workce, one day I was about to go and greet him then after Ie in the front door, it exploded" Uncle Alto says it while he closes his face to mine, I just constantly back off a bit. "Ahahaha.. He''s very strange but he''s a good person, he helped me numberless of time, I remember he was working as a royal magic researcher in the past, but he got kicked because of his weird behavior when he did a researching or other stuff that rted to magic" It sounds that this person was just someone weird but actually a good person, I can''t imagine anything more of him. "Well, but I guess he''s a good person doesn''t he uncle?" "Yeah, you''re right" We both just keep having a little chat until we at the vige that uncle Alto mentioned before. "Alright, I''m gonna leave the carriage in that inn, I know the owner" Then we leave the carriage in the local inn after uncle Alto went and talk with the owner. "Let''s go Erwin, it''s my treat.." Uncle Alto seems excited and drag me along with him to the local bar. "Uncle I can''t drink you know it right?" "Don''t worry about that, I won''t ask you to drink, they have the best meat steak here, you just gonna eat that and some orange juice, hahahaha" I can''t resist but just keep being dragged along with uncle Alto to the shop. "Wee..." There aren''t many customers here, I look around and only 2 tables full, only 6 people right now in this store. "A meat steak and orange juice for this kid, and maybe some beer for me and a steak and tomato soup" "Alright, please wait" Me and uncle Alto sit in the corner table, we''re making distance with those groups of people who are here first. "I didn''t think you also wanted to meet Rosaku-san so badly Erwin" Uncle Alto tries to start a conversation while drinking a ss of water the store owner gave us. "The magic book you gave me in the past filled up with a lot of awesome magic spells, so I''m just thinking that he might be an awesome magician" "And why you have a conclusion like that?" Uncle Alto finishes his drink and puts down the ss on the table. "He''s a magic researcher, right? I''m just thinking that if he''s researching magic he should know how the magic works himself" Uncle Alto just listening to me and just nodding after hearing my exnation. "Well maybe it''s like that, I don''t really know myself but I guess it''s like what you just said" "Here you go" The store owner brought us our order and put it in on our table, then after that, he looks at me for a moment. "Hey Alto, is this the kid you''ve been talking about before?" I don''t know what uncle Alto said about me to this person, but he doesn''t look interested in me by the way he looks at me, more just "Ohh.." but without interest, at least that''s what it''s like in my eyes. "Well enjoy your meal" The store owner left and go back behind the storefront then he lights up a cigarette. "He''s always like that don''t mind it, he actually interested to meet you" is he able to read my mind or something? I didn''t even say a single thing to uncle Alto, I just start eating the food and just nod and didn''t ask anything, well if uncle said so then I guess he''s not a bad guy, then, while we peacefully eating our food and having a little chat, someone kicked the store''s door and starts yelling suddenly. "THIS IS STUPID.. OI... GIVE ME BEER!" A bunch group of people that looks like and adventurers barging in the store, they look so pissed, not sure why though, people in the store just looking at them then back to their meal again. "Do you have any money?" The store owner looks very calm even those guys just barging in and yell at him for food and drink. "JUST GIVE ME A DAMN FOOD! DON''T YOU KNOW WHO I AM" The guy that seems to be their leader keeps yelling at the store owner, those attitude of him is so annoying, he didn''t even try to speak normally to people. The guy then looks around and seems to see us, he then stands up and walks towards us. "Yo Old man, you look like someone with a lot of money with you" The guy ms on our table and just look at uncle Alto then stare at me. "Yo kiddo, that''s a fancy food you''re eating there, did this uncle bought it for you?" "Can you please leave? we''re just trying to have a peaceful our mealtime here" Chapter 35 Taste Your Own Medicine Uncle Alto looks annoyed by their behavior and tries to shut them down, but it seems that the person that looks like a leader didn''t like it and m our table again. "What? are you trying to mess with us old man?" This spikey haired leader guy is trying to threaten uncle Alto, uncle does seem a bit afraid looking by the way he looks at the person and then looks away, I can see his sweating a bit on his forehead and the spiky-haired guy just keep yelling at uncle Alto. "Umm.. can you please leave? you''re bothering uncle Alto" I decided to ask the leader guy to leave, I don''t want to see him bother uncle Alto more, he''s really annoying and it''s just him that acted like that, the other party members he had didn''t even say a single word since theye to the store. "You brat, you have quite guts there eh" He pulled my shirts and stare to me, I tried to pull off his arm from me but then he throws me away to the wall behind him. "Ugh.." "Erwin..." "Hey... careful, that kid is strong you know?" "This kid is strong? don''t screw with me old man" It sounds like the store owner actually thought that I''m a strong kid, he just keeps his calmness and continues to smoke his cigarettes. Damn...my back, it hurts, this person didn''t even hold back to a little kid like me, just what a bastard he is, I then get up and look sharply at the spiky-haired guy in the eye. "What is it, kid? you angry?" [ Ice Magic, Ice Staff ] I pulled magic in front of him and his party looks shocked when they saw me cast it. "What? you dare to challenge me?" The spiky-haired guy pulled out his sword from his back and point it out to me. "Let''s go out then, see how your guts will win against me" Then he and his party walked out of the store and I walk behind them, uncle Alto tries to stop me but the store owner stops him and tells him to just watch. "You all just watch" He orders his party member to back off and let him 1 on 1 against me, he just keepsughing at me, maybe he looks down on me or something because I''m just an 8 years old kid. "I will spare your life if you give us all your belongings, Hey old man, don''t you care about this child''s life?" I look behind me and I see the store owner and uncle Alto standing, uncle looks worried and can''t even hide his worried expression, on the other hand, the store owner just watching us and holds uncle Alto''s shoulder while still smoking. "So, if I can defeat you, you will leave?" "Hahaha.... So you think you can beat me, kid? fine, try then" He let his guard open, he''s too busy to look down on me and leave his defensepletely open, I turn around and quickly swing my staff to hit his right side to the waist, as I thought, he''s not ready for it, he didn''t even hold his sword correctly and just keep looking down on me until I hit him and send him to fly with it. "You little brat.." He lurches and hit some empty barrel, I''m pretty sure that hurts so much if I got hit by it myself. He stands up while wiping the blood thates out from his mouth and spit it out, quickly, he takes a position to attack me, he keeps his sharp eyes looking at me to try to attack me, I don''t know how he''s gonna attack me, I want to know his fighting style. [ Senses strengthening ] I can''t tell what''s his fighting style is, so I decided to strengthen my senses to have a better reflect on his attack. "Oraaa..." The spiky-haired guy swings his sword from above his head, he''s just trying to be offensive but I can clearly see his attack. I step back a bit and raise my staff, I block his attack with the tip side of the staff and then let him break the top of my staff. I quickly step aside a bit then raise the staff''s broken side to his neck, I''m trying to hold back and just touch the skin to make the bloodes out a bit. "It''s sharp you know it yourself, can you just leave now?" "DON''T SCREW WITH ME.." The spiky-haired guy raises his sword again and tries to fend, my staff, then he raises his sword towards me. [ Ice Magic, Ice Spear ] I parry his attack by the spearhead and send his sword flying, I swing the spear and hit the spikey-haired guy''s leg with the blunt side and pin him down. I keep his head down and stick my spear to the ground. "Please just leave, don''t bother people like that" "SHUT UP!!!" "Leader, let''s just leave" One guy from the party looks scared to talk to this spiky-haired guy, I let go of him and step back to uncle Alto. "YOU WON''T GET AWAY WITH THIS!!" The spiky-haired guy with 2 of his apanies leaves the vige after that. "And may I know your name?" I notice there was one person using a cloak and bringing a staff so I decided to approach him/her, I can''t look at who''s is inside because of the cloak cover this person''s face too. "Uh.. umm.." Chapter 36 The Trip, Continue "Hmm?" I tilt my head in confusion, this person didn''t even lift the hood that covers his/her face. "W-we''re sorry..." It just like that and then he/she run following the party again. Wee back inside the store and back to our meal. "Erwin, please don''t scare me like that" I can see clearly uncle Alto''s worrying, what would happen if that spikey haired guy actually defeats me, maybe he actually will rob our entire belongings for sure. "I''m sorry for that uncle, I don''t know an adventurer can be that rude, I met some in the past and they all nice people, not like that spikey haired guy" I continue eating my meat steak, but it''s already cold but I will try to eat it anyways. "[sigh..] Just don''t do that again" Uncle Alto also continues on eating his food again, then the store owneres to our table. "That was good one kid, so Alto didn''t just making up the story, here Alto, my treat" He brings two sses of beer to our table and gives one to uncle and cheers with him. "So where you two are going to?" "To capital, I just want Erwin to go through this winter safely" "Wait, your house in that vige near the south forest right?" "Uh-huh" I finished up my meal and join in the conversation. "I heard that there was an increasing number of the magical beast in the forest, but the south forest got the highest increase reported, I heard it from people thate back from there" "Yea, I saw it myself" That must be yesterday when uncle said he went to the forest to save me or something, I finished my drink too and went to wash my hand. "Errmm... I''m sorry, are you a magician?" A middle-aged looking man is approaching me while I''m washing my hand, he looks kinda sad and he also got an "I will wager on my luck to this kid" expression. I control the water and wash it away to dry my hand, he looked amazed when I did that. "I''m not an actual magician, I just learn some magic to help my big sister" "But can you help me? my vige is in trouble" "Sir, I guess you should''ve asked that to the adventurers, I heard that they''re willing to do any kind of jobs, like being a guardian or this kind of job as long as there are payments" When I look at his face, he looks not too happy with my answer, but I''m not an actual magician like I only practice all by myself at home. "I''ming from west and travel to look for someone who''s willing to help my vige from the magical beast attack, we lost some vigers already" I can see tearsing down from his eyes but then he quickly wipes it and leave. "I''m sorry for bothering you" He leaves me andes back to the table with some people and he talks to them, they look down and then they all left the store after leaving some money in the storefront. "Thank you foring.." The store owner just sits on our table and keeps drinking with uncle Alto, they both look like they''re tolerant of alcoholic drinks or something. "What are those guys are up to?" It looks like uncle Alto saw me with the guy earlier and have a talk. "No, just he said that they''reing from the west and looking for people to help them from the magical beast" I sit back to my seat and there was another orange juice in the table, I look at it and look at the store owner. "Don''t worry, it''s free" He looks like he knows I''m confused at first, I take it and drink it slowly to enjoy it. "So why are you sending this kid to Rosaku''s ce?" "Rosaku-san wanted to meet Erwin after I tell him a story that Erwin actually able to learn magic in a short time, his sister said it herself, and Erwin also wanted to meet Rosaku-san, don''t you Erwin?" "Yeah.. I wanted to thank him for the books he gave" "Hmm... but that Rosaku is honestly kinda weird guy, just don''t get involved with him too much" Uncle Alto and the store owner finished their drink and I also finished it. "Let''s go now shall we?" Uncle Alto leaves the payment to the store owner and we leave the store. "Just be careful and I hope you won''t encounter any robbers" The store owner waving at us while we''re leaving the store and I just smile and nod at him, then we back to get the horse carriage, I wait for uncle Alto to talk to the inn''s owner, he said he wants to say thanks and then we leave the vige. Chapter 37 The Walls, The Castle "And we''re here.. Wee to the capital" "Woah..." A big castle in the middle of the town can be seen from an entrance gate,mps in the stores and houses lighten up, it''s not even night yet, but this ce is so bright. "There are no many people around the town now because of the weather is so cold, let''s just head to my house" I nod excitedly and just keep looking around from the kart, I''m so excited when we''re passing the shopping area, I can see a store with a light that flickering, a dim light store in the alley, a very bright one that looks like the store that sells clothes stuff. We pass the area that seems to be a market because there were many stalls here and there, we turn to the next junction, the road isn''t big like the main road, but at least there''s still room for a horse kart and 2 people to walk. "Here is my house" We''re stopping to a house in the corner right before the turn, uncle Alto told me to go inside first while he''s going to stable to leave it there to one of his acquaintance''s care. I bring all my stuff down and uncle gave me the key. "Just wait inside, I''ll be back soon, the stable is around that corner" I nod and just go to the door of the house uncle told me. I put in the key and turn the key, the door opened and I can see nothing but dark. "Lamp switch..mp switch..." Uncle said there''s amp switch near the door and I tried to find it. "Ah there it is" After I found the switch I press it and themp turned on, I can see a minimalist room, the main room here with 2 sofas facing each other, the hallway to back that seems to be the kitchen and the bathroom near the stairs to the second floor. I take off my shoes and put it in the shoe rack next to the door, I walk inside and put down my bag near the sofa and I sit down, looking around the room in amazement, there was also a heating device here in the corner of the room near the sofa. "I''m back, oh how is it Erwin?" Uncle got back and he takes off his shoes and then his jacket and hang it in the stand hanger, there''s also some hats and a suit there. "Your house is nice uncle Alto, this is so cool" I can''t keep my eyes from looking around and amazed, the ceiling is pretty high and the heater is feeling nice too. "Feel free to look around, your room is on the second floor, and 1 more thing Erwin, can I leave a cooking duty to you please?" "Sure uncle" "Thank you Erwin, I''m so d I would be able to eat homemade food, hahaha" I can''t just stay in this house without doing anything, I want to help even a little, so when uncle Alto asks me to do a cooking duty, I dly ept it. "It''s already dark so let''s rest for tonight, we''ll go to Rosaku-san''s ce tomorrow, anyway can you cook for dinner?" "Alright, after I put this on my room" "Okay, your room is the one next from the corner one" "Okay" I went upstairs and go to the hall to find my room, this house is quite big for someone living here alone honestly. "One next to the corner room... ah here" I open the wooden door and enter the room, it''s quite clean and from the window, I can see what''s outside. I put down my bag and put out my stuff. I put my clothes in the closet, I didn''t bring many of them because I think I would better just keep washing it after I use it. I brought the magic book uncle Alto gave me before, I want to thank Rosaku-san for this because uncle said Rosaku-san gave it to him. "Let''s just leave it here" I put the book on the table in the corner, I change my winter clothes and go downstairs. "What you want to eat uncle?" "Oh, you''re done? let''s see, something warm would be nice though" "Alright" I went to the kitchen and try to find something I can cook. "So.. tofu, a cabbage, carrot.. well I think this many is enough" I prepare the knife and everything I need to use to cook the food. "But I think I will only be able to cook a simple tofu soup with this" I took my time cooking for dinner and after I''m done with the cooking I call uncle Alto to bring eat. "You sure are good with cooking like your sister, it reminds me how her father really loves her mother back then" "Her...?" "Ah I''m sorry, your parents are like two love birds, Ilya loves them so much, I''m sorry you weren''t able to see their face" Uncle Alto looks sorry and I don''t really know why uncle Alto said "Her mother" that kinda bothers me a little. "Now that you mention it I didn''t look like Ilya-nee at all, do I look like father?" "Ah..umm.. yeah you do, your father is really handsome too" Uncle Alto justughs nervously and continues to eat his food. I continue to eat my food and didn''t think about it, that night uncle Alto just went to his bed early because he said he''s too tired and I also went to my room and just stare outside the window. "I wonder what it looks like inside the castle there" The big building in the middle of the town here soar up the sky, I''m kinda interested to see what''s the castle look like up close. I take a seat on the chair and open up the magic book I brought along, I want to learn every single spell I can learn and be a great magician and went for the adventure, that''s my dream. "I wonder what''s this illusion mist here" I switched to the book Merlin gave me before and I see an illusion mist magic, which I''m still curious about what that is. "It can make people inside the mist confused and hallucinating things, but what''s that supposed to be?" I create a magic circle on my hand and create a small ice gem then wring it. Suddenly a strong wind impact opens up the window and a lot of white smokeing out from my room to outside. "Spread" I p once and the smoke spread and be invisible, then suddenly a thick mist appears in a prettyrge area. I look outside the window and the house in the neighborhood looks like it''s disappeared inside the mist. "Woah that''s too thick" I can only see a white mist from up here and I feel like my body is so light when I use it to move around. I snap my fingers and cancel the magic spell, I see the fog is disappearing slowly, I close my window and put back the book on the table. Iy down on the bed and went to sleep after that. Chapter 38 Man Laying in Starvation "Good morning uncle Alto" "Morning.." Uncle looks pale even after a long sleepst night, I wonder what''s happening to him. "Is something matter uncle?" "Ah no, justst night is suddenly feel so cold and I got a pretty bad dreamst night, I met a girl with a ck robe in my dream like she''s so terrifying" "What''s that" I have no idea what''s uncle been talking about, I try not to bother it and continue my cooking. "What''s the breakfast? I smell something nice here" " A soft fried fish meat" "Oh, sounds good, I''ll take a quick bath to wait" "Okay" Uncle Alto went to get his towel and go to the bathroom to take a quick bath because the air is so cold already. I finish up the cooking and serve it on the table, unclees out from the bathroom he looks shivering because of the cold it seems. "Do you anything warm to drink?" It''s funny to see uncle shivers because of the cold, I cast the [ Cold Protection ] to him. "It''s should be better now uncle" "Ohhh... thanks Erwin" He still looks amazed even though he saw me magic several times already, I don''t know if it is because magician is kinda rare or because an 8 years old kid cast it. "Well I''ll take a tea if you don''t mind, there''s some in the cupboard" "Alright" Uncle Alto went to dry his towel near the room heater and then he goes to the dining table and takes a seat. "Ah let''s go to Rosaku-san''s ce today, see if he''s there or not" "Woah.. let''s go uncle..." I''m so excited when uncle Alto invites me to visit Rosaku-san today, I''m so happy that I would able to meet a real royal magician, well ex-royal magician now because uncle Alto said he got kicked out from the magic researcher group in the kingdom. "I can''t wait to meet him, is he actually a weird person like you said before uncle?" I ce the food on the table and sit across uncle Alto, it''s a pretty chilly morning today. "Well I''m not gonna say he''s weird by his look, just sometimes his behaviors are kinda weird, like when he''s making something new, he just gonnaughing all by himself and then an explosioning afterward" "He sounds like an interesting person honestly" "What?.." Uncle Alto looks confused by what I just said. "Honestly I think someone like that actually loves his job and give him all he has for the research purpose" "Well I guess so" Uncle Alto seems to in agreement with me, we continue our breakfast until around 8. "Hey, Erwin.. You''re done yet?" "In a minute.." Uncle Alto yells from downstairs, me and Uncle Alto decide to go to Rosaku-san''s ce after we finish our breakfast. "I guess this all will do" I pack some cookies as a gift for Rosaku-san, and I bring some magic book with me and put it in my sling bag. I close the window and leave the room, I quickly run downstairs can''t wait to go to Rosaku-san''s ce. "Woah.. there.. be careful on the stairs" "I''m sorry uncle, I''m too excited hahaha" "[ Sigh.. ] Just don''t be too excited though" Uncle just smiled and look at me, maybe he''s looking at me like a little kid excited about getting a new toy. "Alright let''s leave now" We both left the house and decide to walk to Rosaku-san''s ce, the ce is on the opposite turn of uncle Alto''s house, I enjoy this walk so much and take it as a new experience in the capital. "It''s not so crowded again today, I guess it will keep like this until the winter end" We are going to a market district near uncle Alto''s house, he said that this ce is pretty crowded normally, but since the weather is pretty now, some people decided not to go out often, some merchant also decided to just open in a middle of the day at noon because the cold won''t be bite like it does now. "But your magic sure is convenient eh, you can even use it as a coat from a cold like this" I guess uncle is still amazed by how useful magic can be, learning it isn''t easy formoners, but maybe after a hard training they will be able to use magic. "But training magic is surely tough, I don''t have any talent for that though" "I was able to use magic because Ilya-nee taught me a lot about it though" I have to return a favor to Ilya-nee for teaching me magics and stuff by bing the best adventure and gain trust from the Kingdom and let Ilya-nee and Yuika and her family and uncle Alto to live in a big house in the future. "We have been walking far enough, we aren''t there yet?" "No, no, just next turn and we''re there" Not like thest market district, in the front there I can see people passing by. "Woahh...." I look around and I can see a lot of fancy stores, I can see through the store''s window a fancy looking clothes, mugs, painting, and other stuff. "Everyone looks amazing.." "It''s a big store district though, most of the people who went here are nobles" I keep looking around and amazed by how tall the buildings and stuff, I can see some big houses around, a good looking couple went to the clothes store and some kids that also wearing fancy-looking clothes. "Come on Erwin" "Ah yes.." I run towards uncle Alto and he holds me on my back, we are entering an alley near one of the clothes stores. "That''s his house" Uncle Alto point at a door with little stairs in the entrance, the door looks like it got burned before and the bell''s pper is nowhere on its ce. "Rosaku-san... It''s Alto..." Uncle Alto tries to knock the door and it happens that it''s not locked. "Pardon our intrusion.... Heeeehhh..." Uncle Alto suddenly barging in the house in a hurry, I don''t know what happened but I also follow him from behind. "Rosaku-san.. Wake up...." A man is lying on the floor and his face looks pale, uncle Alto tries to wake him to see if he''s dead or not. "A-a..-Alto?" Ah he''s opening his eyes. "Yes Rosaku-san it''s me Alto" I look around and see this ce so messy, a nket over the couch not folded and the table is full of papers and books. "I will go out and buy food, Erwin.. Look over Rosaku-san" "Ah yes.." I pick up a pillow from the couch and bring it for Rosaku-san. "Are you alright sir?" Chapter 39 I Met Him! "soo... cold..." Rosaku-san''s body is shivering and his tummy is growling like crazy, I feel pity and cast [ Cold Protection ] to him and give him a little nket from the couch, just when didst time you had your meal until you be like this. I pull out the cookies I pack in my bag and give some to Rosaku-san. "Here Rosaku-san tries to chew it, you still at least have the energy for it right?" I feed it to Rosaku-san and he tries his best to chew and gulp it, at least it would hold up his hunger. I give one more cookie to him and tie the package back. "Rosaku-san..I brought you a beef stew Hold up there Rosaku-san..." Uncle Alto Suddenly opens the front door and barging in, he''s bringing a bowl with a beef stew in it, he immediately feeds it to Rosaku-san. " *cough *cough Hold up there Alto *cough " Oh, Rosaku-san looks fine now. "I''m sorry Rosaku-san, I can''t let you die, here eat it" Uncle Alto, you''re the one that almost killed him you know. It seems that uncle Alto feed it forcefully and Rosaku-san can''t avoid it and keep getting feed without being able to hold uncle Alto back. "Uncle Alto, I think he''s fine now, would you let me feed him instead?" "Ah.. Please don''t let him die" Just what do you think I''m gonna do to him uncle... I just smile and walk closer to Rosaku-san, he doesn''t seem to be in a good shape after all those food got forced into his mouth. "I thought I would die there.. ughhh..." "I''m so sorry Rosaku-san" Uncle Alto probably aware of what he just did to Rosaku-san and he kneel down to apologize. "Yeah yeah don''t mind it now, I thank you too for the food" Rosaku-san gets up and went to his desk that full of books and papers, I wonder what''s he''s been doing until he even forgot to eat. "So who child is this? yours?" Eh child? "Huh? no Rosaku-san, he''s Erwin, I told you about him before" "Erwin? who''s that" Wait, you don''t know me? uncle, did you introduce me correctly? "The one who learns the magic after I gave him the magic book I got from you, he''s able to use ice magic don''t you remember?" "Ahh... you did say it before I guess, nice to meet you Erwin.. I''ve been wanting to meet you" "It''s my pleasure to meet you in person Rosaku-san, I brought you cookies we made in the store, please ept it" "Ohh... Thanks, I''ll dly ept it I''ve been wanting this because a lot of people keep talking about this cookies thing in the guild" Rosaku-san opens the package and starts to eat the cookies with a happy face, maybe he does like it. "Pleasee over to our store, we''ll be happy to see you around" "Well I hope I could to that, but I''m too busy myself though hahaha" "What are you up to until you forgot to eat Rosaku-san?" Ah, uncle Alto ask it first "Ah, I just learning about the stone the kingdom has been researching" "What stone?" I suddenly be interested in this topic. "Ah nothing, just a mana stone that will increase the wearer''s soul power, I just don''t know is it safe or not for someone to actually wear it" Rosaku-san pointed at a little green stone he kept in the box with a ss on the shelf, I''m curious and look it closer. "Well, the royal researchers also can''t figure out how this thing will affect the holder though, any way you two want some tea?" Rosaku-san went to another room to get a tea set for us, no matter what I can''t see where we can put those cups around here, this room is way too messy. "What are you two standing there for,e here" Rosaku-san peeks from the other room and tells us toe inside, I just look at uncle Alto and he did the same and we bothe inside the room. "Sit wherever you want" Oh, this ce is not too bad, at least not like the front room, me and uncle Alto take a sit on the dinner table and see some papers there too. "You can just toss it away" I pick up the papers from the table and put it on the floor while Rosaku-san pours us some tea on the table. "So do you need anything? you visit me so suddenly" Wait isn''t that still hot? Rosaku-san just drinks it without any hesitation, that ability Rosaku-san had there honestly really impressive, sometimes I need to cool down the heat of something of my drink before I take a sip of it. "Ah you said you wanted to meet Erwin before and here I brought Erwin here, he also wants to meet you though" Rosaku-san turns his head and looks at me. "I want to thank you for the help you''ve been providing uncle Alto all this time, he''s always saying of how awesome you are and I also want to thank you for this" I pull out the magic book uncle Alto gave me before and Rosaku-san seems to recognize it. "Ah that book, don''t worry it''s not a big deal, that book is just for a beginner use though and I don''t need it so I gave it to Alto" "But still, I thank you for this, because of this I was able to learn magic easily" For a second there when I said that I learn magic easily because of the book Rosaku-san looks amazed and then he covers his mouth and cough a bit. "Ahaha yeah, of course, it''s easy to learn it with the help from that book yes, hahaha" Why is he look so proud of it, but well he''s right Uncle Alto''s been listening to our conversation and keep drinking his tea and eating the cookies I brought for Rosaku-san on the table. Chapter 40 Behold! My Magic "Ah right, what are you two up to today?" Seems like Rosaku-san finished his tea and put it down, I''m still trying to enjoy the tea without lowering the temperature though. "Umm.. we don''t really have any n other than just visiting you and then maybe walking in the town and just go home after that" Oh, uncle Alto also finished his tea too, I guess I''m gonna try to lower the tea temperature a bit and gulp it down and put down the cup on the saucer. "Then, you don''t mind if I borrow that kid for today right?" That kid? Is he referring to me? Well it should be obvious. "Well if Erwin himself doesn''t mind about it then I guess you could Rosaku-san" "What are we gonna do?" I''m a bit curious because suddenly Rosaku-san said he wanted to borrow me? I don''t really mind it myself, well..me and uncle Alto don''t really have anything particr to do. "I just interested in your magic, Alto said you can use Ice magic at your young age, that''s pretty impressive if I say it myself because it''s like an expansion of water magic right?" Now that he mentioned it, I remember something like that in the book, Ilya-ner taught me about it and say that it was awesome when I was able to use it the first time. "So we''re going outside the wall now and see your magic in the open field" Rosaku-san got up from his chair and walk out from the room, I pick up my sling bag and we follow him from behind to the stable nearby. "Are we gonna use a horse? I thought we will walk there" "No, no, no, I don''t want to do that, I''ll get exhausted as hell if we walk when we get into the gate" It''s not too far, isn''t it? Just how old are you actually. "You will ride with me Erwin, okay?" "Alright" Looks like this stable owned by one of Rosaku-san''s acquaintance, I saw him talk with a middle-aged man and he justughing and tap Rosaku-san''s shoulder happily. I wish Rosaku-san''s shoulder will be fine soon because I saw him keep rubbing his shoulder all the way until we reach the gate. "Maybe here is good" We stopped in the open field, pretty far from the gate but it''s still near the wall of the town. "I''ll stay with the horses there" "Alright" Uncle Alto went with the horses to the big tree nearby and bind the rope of the horses to the tree and let them eat grass. "Alright kid, show me some water magic you can use" Rosaku-san stomps the ground and the ground moves up a bit creating a human-shaped looking golem. My eyes sparkling looking at it, it''s so cool to be able to make such golem like that. "Can it move? can it move?" I''m excitedly looking at Rosaku-san with sparkly eyes. "Ahaha I know you''re excited but I didn''t make it able to move, I don''t have enough soul power to do it right now" I''m a bit disappointed, but imagining the golem to be able to move must be very amazing. "Alright show me what you got" I take steps back and getting ready to cast magic. [ Water Magic, Water Cannon ] I hit the golem head and destroy it, Rosaku-san looks satisfied with it and recovers the golem''s head. "That''s pretty impressive, you able to use fast cast and able to use low-ss magic perfectly, now show me your ice magic kid" Rosaku-san steps back further from the golem and crosses his hand in front of his chest. I guess I''ll try to use this [ Ice magic, Extended Ice Shards ] I stomp the ground and I made cast an ice shard and clone it, Rosaku-san looks a bit amazed and wipe his eye. "How''s that Rosaku-san?" "Ah, hold on" Rosaku-san walks closer to me to see, I destroy the magic I just cast and I see the earth golem got destroyed to pieces. He looks at it and turns his look towards me. "You imbued clone magic to your Ice shard magic circle right?" I just nod at that. "How do I put it..." He ruffled his hair and look up to the sky. "People usually use imbued magic to create big scale magic, they use something like a sword or knife to help them create a big magic circle" "What do you mean?" I tilt my head not understanding what Rosaku-san told me. "Like this" He starts to draw on the ground, a magic circle and he ces some Peebles. "Let''s assume this is the magician" He draws a little circle near the magic circle. "And this is the mediator for the magician to cast his big scaled magic" He ces some Peebles in the magic circle. "This magician uses it by adding a magic power into it to create this big magic circle, but it''s pretty dangerous since it will need a lot of soul power to do it" Ahh.. I see I nod after I understand Rosaku-san''s exnations. "But actually what you did is pretty rare, no magicians actually recreate a magic circle and imbued another magic into it, that''s why I''m so surprised, I guess Alto is not only spitting random stuff about you huh" He justughs his soul off after that. Chapter 41 A Little Disappointmen "Still, that''s pretty impressive of you to be able to learn magic in such a young age" "It''s not something special though" I blushed a bit and scratch my head, but still, it''s thanks to Ilya-nee that I able to learn magic like this. "No, no, that''s pretty impressive honestly, considering you didn''t even get a proper education of magic from a magic school as most of the nobles did" "Magic school?" I tilt my head, I never heard that this kingdom has that kind of thing here. "Yeah, nobles are mostly able to use magic, well, not all of them but most of the nobles are a great magician" "Hee... I guess that''s right, my big sister has a noble friend too though" I pulled out the magic book I got from Merlin, I want to try to learn new magic while I''m here with one of the senior magicians. "Oh hey, where did you get that book from?" "A half el...ah I mean someone gave this to me when this person got injured and stay at my house to heal the injuries she got" That was close, I remember Merlin''s friend doesn''t want Merlin''s identity got leaked. Rosaku-san looks surprised when I pull out the magic book, it''s filled with a high-ss level magic spell though, I wonder if Rosaku-san aware of that. "I think I''ve seen this book before, may I borrow it for a minute?" "Sure" I hand over the book to Rosaku-san, he looks at the cover front and back, he stares at the little gem on top of the book and decides to open the book to see what''s inside. He flips through pages and twitching his lips. "Yea I think I''ve seen this book before, I just can''t recall when though" He gives back the book to me and I just look at him in confusion. I open the book and randomly flip the pages to see what can I learn today. "Can you use any of those spells already?" "umm.. yeah.. some of these" Rosaku-san suddenly looks very amazed and excited, he grabs my shoulders a suddenly talk to my face. "Please show it to me!!" I can totally feel his breath to my face, I push him back a bit to make some distance. "Fine.. oh my world. please don''t suddenlye closer like that Rosaku-san" "Ahaha I''m sorry, I''m sorry" He gets up and steps back a bit, I also get up and move to the middle of the field to try casting the magic for Rosaku-san to see. "I guess I''m gonna use this one" [ Stamina Boost ] [ Body Strengthening] I focus on creating the magic circle on my head and the wind suddenly blows a bit stronger. [ Ice Magic, Frozen Thorns of Death ] I push my hand to the ground and create the magic circle to cast the magic. The sweatsing down from and I feel my head lighter when I cast the magic, I have to keep my consciousness no matter what. The big ice thorns appear from the magic circle and soar up the sky, I trap myself inside it and lean to it to rest a bit. "Uwaahh..ahahahaha.." Someone is justughing as hard as he can outside there. Is that Rosaku-san? why is heughing so excitedly, My head feels better and I erase the magic I cast and I see Rosaku-san''s running towards me. "Hey..hey.. that was awesome..." He runs and just said that thing to my face, he looks very excited after seeing the magic I just cast because he keeps praising it. "Can you do it again? please?" "Ah, I''m sorry Rosaku-san, I can''t. My soul power isn''t strong enough" "Boo...." Rosaku-san is pouting, this is something I never expected to being from Rosaku-san, he looks down and then quickly raises his head again. "Then I''llplete the mana stone and give it to you, just you wait.." Rosaku-san suddenly looks so pumped up, he clenched his fist and raise it to the sky. "Ah Rosaku-san, I have something I wanted to ask" "What is it" I tell him to get back to the tree where uncle Alto''s been from the start with the horses. "What was that Erwin..." "That''s so cool, right Alto?" "Ah, yeah, maybe... I just feel like my body is shivering because of that" "I know, I know... man that was so awesome" I just ignore their conversation and smile, I look for the non-elemental magic book I brought along. "Rosaku-san.." I bring the book I open and show it to Rosaku-san. "This one here, what is it?" "Where is it? ahhh.. this one huh, I honestly don''t know myself" Ehhhhh...? That straight answer really surprised me that wasing from Rosaku-san himself. "Maybe it''s some kind of forbidden magic, I don''t really know myself, but there''s no exnation on how to use it though" That is exactly why I ask you because I thought you''ll be able to figure it out, I look at him with the poker face and after he gives back the book I just straight putting it back to my bag. Chapter 42 I Feel Like Ive Met Her "Want to get something before we go home?" "I don''t know, what about you Erwin?" "Well, anything is good for me" Is Rosaku-san in a good mood? I guess that show-off section we did outside the wall is the reason though, he gets so pumped up and lost himself, thanks to uncle Alto we able to pull it out somehow to convince Rosaku-san to end the training session, and now we are deciding whether to go back or getting off to get some food in our way back, since the it''s starting to getting dark soon. "Well, why don''t we go home for now? it''s getting so cold and getting dark" Uncle Alto rubs his hand and keeps breath out to warm his hand, I guess we should be going with uncle Alto''s suggestion since the town is so quiet already. "Ahhh... that''s unfortunate then, alright you two can go home first, and you can put the horse in the stable near your ce, I already told the owner" "We are sorry for refusing your invitation Rosaku-san, maybe tomorrow, or some other time" "Don''t mind it, we still can meet right? I will go ahead now then" It looks like uncle Alto and Rosaku-san finally decided to just go home after, we separate in the way, Rosaku-san said he needs to go somewhere first so he needs to hurry before the day be darker, and that''s how we spent this day, actually, I think I''m the star of the show today, Just Kidding... Uncle Alto and I went to the stable and put the horse there to warm herself and rest, we let that elegant horse enter her stall and I see that beautiful creature looking at us, I said "Thank you for apanying us" to the horse from my heart. "Let''s get something to eat first shall we?" "Alright uncle" After leaving the stable, we walk through this quiet alley, stepping on puddles in our way makes my shoes drenched with water, I wonder where this wateres from, it''s been here since morning even though there was no rain since yesterday and this evening sure is cold eh, uncle Alto keeps rubbing his hands and looks tormented with the cold, fortunately, I got my stamina back and feel refreshed, I think it''s time for me to get rid of the cold that bites uncle Alto all this time. [ Cold Protection ] "Ohh. Thanks, Erwin, I feel a lot better now" "I''m sorry I didn''t do it earlier uncle" "Don''t mind it, I know you got really tired after your session with Rosaku-san" We are just having a light conversation all the way until we arrive at some kind of inn. "Let''s eat here, they have pretty good food I guarantee that" I wonder what will they serve here, uncle Alto just went straight and open the door of the store and uncle Alto told me to secure a seat for us and he went to have a talk with someone in the receptionist desk. This ce is pretty crowded, but the customers are actually some adventurers, I guess this ce is the ce they use to stay for the night I heard before that adventurer always stays at the inn, but when they got famous and have plenty of money, they would buy a house instead of staying at the inn. Ah there''s two empty seat I quickly put down my bag there and sit, I look around and I see a girl with a ck robe sitting next to me, did I met her before? I do feel like I''ve met her before but I can''t remember when but, my instinct just said so. "Umm...Is there something I can help with?" She turns her eyes towards me, that eyes might be normal for other people but I feel like she turns a sharp disgusted eye towards me, she has a beautiful long ck hair and it looks sparklingbined with the small round face of her. "Ah I''m sorry.. have we met before?" Maybe she feel disturbed though I keep turning my view towards her for like past 5 minutes, I try not to do that, but I''m curious, I want to confirm it. She suddenly gasped and looks shocked, her face turns red and she quickly gulps down her drink and gets out from her seat, I try to stop her but she refuses because she looks like she about to run. "Hei there.. careful" Uncle Alto came with two sses of milk on both of his hands. She hides her face with her robe and runs out the store, I didn''t stop her for that because I think that will be rude if I did that. "Is that someone you know Erwin?" I shake my head as a no sign, uncle Alto just put down both ss of milk on the table and take a seat across me. "But I feel like I met her before, maybe it''s just me" "Hmmm...Alright then, but I guess I feel like I''ve seen her before" "I guess we have the same thoughts eh uncle" "Yeah but I can''t remember when I meet her though, it''s strange isn''t it?" "Yeah I guess" "Anyway, what do you want to eat?" "I guess a beef stew would be good, it''s cold outside though" "Ahahaha alright I''ll order it then" Uncle Alto then leaves the seat to order the food to the waitress girl who''s standing in front of the storefront. Chapter 43 Adventurer Not Always Nice "I heard that the vige in the west got destroyed" "I heard that too, what is the cause again?" "The Magical Beast obviously, I heard the adventurer receive a quest request to hunt the Magical Beast, but howe they''re still around in the wild? and even destroy a vige like that" "You are right, they just fooling around instead of taking the quest" Hey, I can totally hear your conversation you know? they are trying talk in a low voice and I tried to ignore it and not to be bothered by it and continue to drink my warm milk, but, it seems that they are still at it. "This ce is good isn''t it Erwin?" Uncle Alto suddenly popped out in front of me, I guess he already ordered the food and now we just need to wait for the food. I can see uncle Alto''s look bing more ease, not like before when he always looks bothered and concerned by something when he starts to talk about the magical beast in the wild and now, I see his concern loosen up already, and I believe he doesn''t need to be worried about anything anymore, both for me and Ilya-nee. "Hey uncle Alto, is there any other ce other than a southern forest that got an increase in the number of the magical beasts?" "*Cough..*Cough.." "Uncle.. Are you are alright?" "Wait...*cough.. I''m fine, I''m fine...*cough.." You don''t look you are fine though, You, uncle, suddenly choking on the drink like that, how is that fine duh? this is no good. "Why are you suddenly*cough.. asking that?" Please stop with your coughing already uncle Alto, please calm yourself down first. "Ah no, just, I''m curious like, it''s impossible right? for this magical beast issue to just affect southern forest" "[Sigh..] Well like you just said, I heard that this crisis isn''t only affecting the southern zone, but also west and north side of the kingdom got affected" "Are they gonna be fine?" "Well I''m not entirely sure about that, you see, nobles have their own territory, so I guess they will protect it, I think" "Thanks for waiting, here''s your food, please enjoy" "Ohh.. Thanks, Rina-chan.." "If you need anything, just call me okay? don''t try to tempt our chef again" She winked and then leave, tempting their chef? who did that? I''m about to eat my first bite on the beef stew and the rice then suddenly I realized. Wait a minute, didn''t uncle Alto just ordered this food by himself? My eyes narrowed and I let out a long deep sigh and stare at uncle Alto. "What is it?" "Nothing" Uncle Alto tilts his head in confusion and continues eating his food, we are just having a good dinner time and uncle Alto pays for the meal, I honestly don''t want to be a burden for him, but he keeps insisted so I have to dly ept his offer. Well, it''s not like I have that much money with me either, Ilya-nee brings some with me because she thought that I will stay in Elis-nee ces and not staying in the capital for a long time. It''s a 2 weeks worth of money I guess, but since uncle Alto always said that I don''t need to spend money on meal and can use it on whatever else I want, this money won''t be wasted in any use, but I think buying Ilya-nee a souvenirs won''t hurt anyone isn''t it? We finish our dinner when almost 7 pm and the store is still crowded, I guess this ce is sure well-known among people around here eh, our seat that we just left already got imed by two people who just came to the store. Maybe uncle will feel the cold again if I don''t cast a [ Cold Protection ] to him now, but when we leave the store, uncle Alto doesn''t look like he''s feeling cold on his body. "It''s not too cold isn''t it Erwin? this much warmerpared to when before we enter the store" Well, I actually bit of resistance to cold already honestly, so I can''t really tell the difference, but, if uncle Alto is the one who said it then, it might be true. With that, I guess I don''t need to give uncle Alto a [ Cold Protection ] then. Me and uncle Alto take our time to walk back home, we enjoy the walk more because the air isn''t too cold and it''s perfect because there were also more people going out their house and the store around looks more lively. "Hey Erwin, want to go to that tall building over there?" Uncle Alto points out at the building that looked like a tower, it''s not too tallpared to the tower I saw on that higher ce near the castle, but this one at least is higherpared to other buildings around here. "It''s not too far, the view is cool there" Uncle Alto pulls my hand and we walk towards the tower, uncle Alto said we are gonna take a shortcut so we might get there faster, so then I follow uncle Alto from behind and we go in the alleyway I have never been before. "We almost there" I look up and see that the tower looks closer, I guess in the next turn and we are there. "Come on just ignore that damn rule and go with us again, this time I brought more people to defeat the magical beasts, pay for your mistake!" "No, please leave me alone, I don''t want to see more people die.. noo.." "Just if you didn''t run that day we can take down that pack of wolves and only get home with the worst case to happen to us is just injuries, not lives of someone" "Noo....Let go of me..." Uncle Alto stop his steps and I do the same, uncle Alto might notice that voice because it''s the same voice as that Spiky-haired guy we met before. "Let''s go home for now Erwin, okay?" I look at uncle Alto in disbelief, he should''ve notice that there was a voice of a girl there, she might get in trouble right now and uncle? he just wanted to leave them be and not helping her? I grit my teeth and apologize to uncle Alto, I run to the direction of where the voicee from and found the spiky-haired guy I met before holding the girl''s hand but the girl seems to try to let go of her hand from the spiky-haired guy. Chapter 44 A Determination "Hey, what do you think you are doing" I run towards the spiky-haired guy who is still holding the girl''s hand in force, he turns his head and looks at me, I think he remembered me and his eyes are bulging, his face turns crimson and those res he pointed out a very sharp re towards me. "YOU.. BRAT.." The girl''s looks in pain when the spiky-haired guy yelled at me, The girl shoved into the wall and grimacing in pain, pure tearsing down her cheeks, sobbing with those pure face of her really sliced my heart to see it. You.. I won''t forgive you after hurting someone like that. [ Ice Magic, Ice Sword ] [ ng.... ] Our de shed and making a loud noise, this ice sword of mine is actually strong you know? its strength is the same as a real iron sword and it can be stronger. "Have a taste of this" "Same goes for you" The spiky-haired guy swings his sword wildly in this narrow alley, he could hit the walls and broke his sword like this so I guess this is my chance, I parry his attack with my ice sword before canceling the magic and rewarding him with a high kick to his jaw. [ Ice magic, iling Morning Star ] I make a il and make the morning star blunt, I don''t want to make a mess here for fighting this spiky-haired guy. "Oraaa...." He tried to attack me haphazardly and just swing his sword wildly, I try my best to dodge and parry it. Did you think that would able to hit me? I swing my il upwards and parry his sword, I then hook it with the chain and get rid of the sword. I twirl the morning star and hook the spiky-haired guy''s neck and pull him towards me, presenting him a low spinning heel kick and bring him down, I step at his back and pin him down to prevent him to be able to get up. "Guhh....." He''s struggling to breathe, my il''s chain is hooking him around his neck, I erase the magic and let go of his hands, he tried to send me flying kick before running away with his tail behind his back. I never thought that this weapon will actually be useful at a time like this, thankfully I make the holder not too long, or else I might end up hitting the wall and the morning star will bounce back to me instead. Uncle Alto who''s been looking from the start is running towards the girl who is been crying, looking at her suffering from the pain makes uncle Alto decided to help her after my fight with the spiky-haired guy over. "Are you okay? Is there anything hurt?" "*sobbing.. *sobbing...." I approach them and offer and helping hand, this girl looks almost the same age as me, I look at her to see what can I offer to help. Her hand is a bit swollen, it''s the hand that the spiky-haired guy held before, that damn bastard making someone cry like this, I won''t ever forgive him. "I will buy a first aid kid, Erwin, please apany her until Ie back" I nod and sit next to the girl, she is still crying so I decided to take her swollen hand and rub it, hoping the pain will go away. I remember whenever I feel in pain, Ilya-nee will constantly hug me and rub my head, and say to me, "It will be fine, big sis will wash away the pain", it always makes me better after that, at first I thought Ilya-nee actually cast healing magic to me. "Don''t worry, I will wash away the pain for you" "*sob.. Eh..?" I rub her head gently and lean her head to my shoulder, I need to calm her so she at least can handle the pain until uncle Alto back, at least this much I can do. I keep my hand to gently rub her head and hold her swollen hand for her and gently rub it, I believe she feels more pain than this, I mean she got shoved into the wall, I believe that must hurt her so much, but the only thing I can do for her is just calming her down. She still sobbing but now she at least calmed down a bit and lean her whole body to me, the air is cold because of the winter, but here, I can feel all warm spread to my body, I want to protect this girl from that spiky-haired guy, I can feel her miserable feeling when she''s around him, she looks young, yet the spiky haired-guy won''t even hold back when he pushed this girl to the wall. I look up into the sky and see the stars are shining from far away outside there, I clinched my palm and sworn to get stronger and stronger to protect Ilya-nee and those who weak like this girl. Chapter 45 She Hates me? "At least this will reduce the pain, and is your back fine? you got shoved into the wall though" "*nod *nod" "I see, don''t push yourself alright? Erwin, give her hand here" We''ve been waiting for uncle Alto for like 15 minutes sitting in this alleyway and what I''ve been doing for that 15 minutes is just apanying her and calming her down, I wish I could do more than that, I wish I had healing magic that would work in time like this. I only have healing cube magic to use and it only helps to heal external wounds and not something like this, I me myself for not being able to be useful at a time like this. I give the girl my hand and wrap it around my shoulder, she''s trying to move but with faltering steps, I tried to hold her tight but I can''t watch her trying hard just to walk in her condition. [ Body Strengthening ] "Please excuse me" I let go of the girl''s hand and princess carry her so it will be easier to move with her around. "Uncle Alto, let''s rest for a bit in that building" I refer to the tower we are nning to visit so uncle just nod and we quickly get in that building. We enter the building and all it''s all dark if we close the front door so I told uncle not to do that because it''s already dark inside, this tower actually looks like an abandoned building but somehow looks clean because I can''t sense dust or anything that can tickle my nose. "Wait, I believe that this building has electricity, let me find themp switch" "Alright" I saw something like a chair vaguely so I might better put this girl down to rest there, I look at her and notice that her breathing is kinda heavy, this might be the reason why I feel a warm air blowing into my arm when we are on the way here. As I put her down I can''t really see her face, I''m afraid that she still feels the pain in her body that causes her breath to be heavy, and right when I focus on trying to check her condition, the light got turned on. "Ah it turned on" I relieved that now I can check on this girl''s condition and easily and what I found is. Her face, it is as red as a tomato, she looks in pain with her heavy breath so I instantly push my hand to her forehead. "Oi, are you okay? did you catch a cold?" Her clothes are thin so I thought she got a fever because of the cold weather and need to be taken care of, or else it would be bad for her body. "Awawawa.... I''m fine, I''m fine..." She tried to avoid my hand from touching her, her face blushed and it makes me more worried because there''s no way she''s fine right? just what in the world happened to her here. I went along with what she wants and try not to get any closer to her, she is still as red as a tomato, I almost can see steaming out her head and she is trying to cover her face with her hands. "So girl, may you tell us your name?" Oh, uncle Alto is back, I wonder where did he find the switch at, he just suddenly appear from behind and put his hand to my shoulder. "A-aura..." "Pardon me?" "Aura..." "Oh, Aura-chan is it? I''m Alto" Uncle Alto p my back softly. "Ah I''m Erwin, please to meet you" "Ah... pwease..to..meet..." Wait, is it me or I just heard something funnying from her mouth, I heard uncle Alto let out a chuckle and he covers his mouth then turn his face away, the girl looks so embarrassed and her face boiled, I can see a more steamsing out from her face, I constantly wipe my eyes and thankfully I only imagining thing, if steams actuallying out from her face that would be something to be questioned. "Ah forgive me, I don''t mean anything rude *chuckles" Why are you stillughing uncle Alto? just what are youughing at? I look at the girl and wait for her to calm down, I tried to pull a little chat to wash away the awkwardness, but this girl is still covering her face for some reason. I look at uncle Alto in awkwardness and he just let out a sigh, he walks away to the stair and going up, why is he doing that in this situation? can he lend me a hand to get out of this situation? we need to help this girl uncle! I just looking at uncle Alto going upstairs with a ck stare, I look for another chair for me to sit at, my legs are starting to feel numb. Chapter 46 Leave it To Me "So actually what happened with you and that spiky-haired guy?" Now that finally she was able to calm herself down, I decided to just go straight to the topic but I guess it''s nothing easy to talk with her, so I guess I will move off to keep my distance from her. "I-I was at the same party with him.." "Pardon me? what is that again?" "I-I''m in the same party as him" Not trying to be rude but, keeping distance to her and trying to listen to what she''s talking in a low voice isn''t something easy to do, in the first ce, why is she talking in the really low voice? "I''m sorry to ask this but, can Ie closer? I can''t hear you well, not trying to be rude" "Ah..ummm.." It''s really inconvenient to talk with this condition so I guess I''m gonna move my chair a little closer to her, and so I move closer to her just to be able to talk with her clearly, but. "Please don''te near me" "Eh?" What is it again? why she doesn''t want me toe closer to her? I give her a carry before and she''s fine with that, but now she doesn''t even want me toe any closer to her. Is it because that spiky-haired guy did something terrible to her that lead her too afraid to people? I can''t think of anything but just ept what she wants and stay at distance, I guess activating a senses strengthening would be a good idea right now. "Hey you two, wannae up here? the room above is pretty spacious" Oh, just at right at the time uncle Alto, it''s better to have uncle Alto together with us to reduce the awkward atmosphere. "Woah this is so cool" "I told you right?" I see outside the window and the view is so awesome, I can see the shopping district is in the business right now, it''s something new for me because I haven''t gotten to see the shopping district to be this lively yesterday. I look pretty excited with myself being here and looking at this view that even uncle Alto has to calm me down and sit with me. "Sody, are you going to tell us what happened?" Ohh... as I expected from uncle Alto, straight to the case, . . . . . . . Eh....., why are you suddenly starting to act so reliable uncle? and why are you acting like you are so proud of it, I remember you told me to stay out of this problem before and even wanted to run away, I scrunch up my eyes and stare at uncle Alto and let out a deep sigh. "What is it?" Uncle Alto looking at me with ''are you trying to make fun of me'' expression which I can only shake my head and shrug. "Nothing" I guess I won''t say anything and just get along with this conversation, I''m also a little curious about this girl''s rtionship with that spiky-haired guy, considering of what he did before, I think their rtionship isn''t in a good term. I see the girl sitting pretty far from us, I guess she still doesn''t want toe any closer to us. "Before that, may I ask you something? Did I do something that makes you hate me? You are trying to avoiding toe any closer to us" "Ah, no, no, that''s not it... just...." The girl is trying to deny it, I wanted to apologize if I did do something that makes her hate me. "I-I have a little phobia...that''s why I can''t get closer to a men..." Ahhh... so that''s why... I guess that makes sense. "Hee... but you are in the same party as that rude guy from before" "R-Reim-san is my party leader... but, I-I''m no longer with his party...." "And why is it?" She begins to cry again right after that question and she looks like she about to vomit, just what is happening to her, and uncle, please don''t just look and help her!! Ah, I almost forgot, she''s not good with men, I really want to calm her down and embrace her like Ilya-nee usually did for me. "Have you calmed yourself down?" Hey uncle Alto, don''t be so cold like that, she''s crying you know? I''m struggling here, panicking in confusion not knowing what to do to help her and you can remain calm like that uncle Alto, I really don''t understand you. *nod *nod Oh she calmed down, her crying session really short eh, that''s relieving, I guess it''s fine for me to leave it to uncle Alto sometimes, I guess leaving it to adults is not a bad idea, isn''t it? And so I proudly smile for uncle Alto, but I keep the smile for myself, hahaha. Chapter 47 The Big Issue "I-I got offered money to help Reim-san''s party to hunt the magical beast" Looks like she finally able to talk to us properly, I leaned against the wall behind me to rx from fatigue today, I am so sleepy now. "Wait, before you go any further, may I ask you 1 question first? Are you an adventurer? I believe you have to be at least 13 to be an adventurer" "I-I have to get money..." I barely can catch what uncle Alto and that girl is talking about with this drowsiness, I try to keep my eyes open and keep in the conversation. "*sob..*sob I-I don''t have family...*sob" I try to keep my eyes open with my eyelids getting heavier, I shake my head to make sure my consciousness won''t fly away, keep it together Erwin! I don''t really understand why, but, I feel like I heard Aura is crying again, I can hear her sobbing again there. "I-I *sob.. I don''t have *sob.. anywhere to *sob.. go.." Please cheer on, don''t be sad like that..... [ Bruk... ] "Ugghh.. my head..." "Oh look, you woke up, how''s your feeling?" I try to open my eyes and look around, this is uncle Alto''s house eh, I tried to wake up, but I feel like my body is in sore, I can feel that I don''t want to move from this bed so I decided to keepying on the bed, I see uncle Alto is sitting next to the bed, he looks like he''s waiting for something. "E-excuse me..." "Oh, wake up Erwin, go eat that food Aura-chan made for you" Eh? Aura-chan? I wipe my eyes to make sure I''m not seeing things, the first sight after my room''s door open is this girl I save before, I look at uncle Alto and he just shrugs and shook his head while smiling. No, no, no, that''s not the case uncle, why is she here? didn''t we were at the tower building yesterday? why are you brought back a girl like this uncle? I stare at uncle Alto, trying to find the answer why he brought back a little girl home with him, is he actually that kind of person Ilya-nee told me? the person who loves little kid like this? "Oi Erwin, you think of something rude aren''t you?" I slide my eyeball and look the other way, I''m trying to blow a whistle and change the topic. "[ Sigh... ] I''m not someone who loves child and wants to kidnap them, I''m still normal you know? and also you can''t even blow a whistle and stop your disgust look saying I''m a low scum like that. Aura-chan, can you please this little brat that I did not kidnap you" "A-ah...yes, A-Alto-san said I should live here or Erwin-san might keep bugging Alto-san and forcing Alto-san to help me..." Why is that? Why I have to force uncle Alto to do that? you need to go home or else your family might worry right? "[ More deep sigh ] Well I know what you are thinking right now Erwin, sit down here Aura-chan" Uncle Alto tap my bed and tell her to sit there because there was no other chair in this room, so she just ce the tray near me for me to eat, Oh it''s a warm porridge. "So listen carefully here Erwin, Aura-chan, can you tell your story to Erwin?" Aura-chan looked at me and look down, she able to sit closer to me, I guess I don''t need to worry about her anxiety anymore. "I-I lost my childhood memories, and I live in the orphanage after the nun found me and take care of me, I''ve been living there for 4 years, but now..." I munch my spoon while listening, and she looks down when telling me the story, I can feel her sadness over her voices, she constantly wipes her eyes. "I''m sorry, I was living there, but, it got destroyed after got attacked by a lot of magical beasts, everyone helped me to escape, I was able to escape, but everyone else..*sob" Ah... magical beast again huh, I this is really a big issue in this kingdom I think, uncle Alto was right, I will just whine to uncle Alto and beg him to help Aura-chan. "I''m sorry to hear that.." Aura-chan shook her head. "No, I don''t want same fate happens to anyone else, so I encourage myself to hunt magical beasts, I can use some support magic to help adventurers, I need to work for money" "Now you don''t need to do that anymore, you can live here and leave that magical beast matter to the kingdom, just don''t worry about that okay? if anything happens, Erwin will save you for sure" I look at uncle Alto, I haven''t moved my lips but he seems to know already what am I thinking, I''m d uncle Alto is so kind, but uncle, please be at least a little cooler and say you will save her instead of putting me for this duty. I just hopelessly re at him and let out a deep sigh, this issue the kingdom has really needed to be solved soon so no one will suffer anymore. Chapter 48 Lets Go Shopping "Want to visit your sister Erwin?" "What?" "Your sister stays in that red-haired girl''s ce doesn''t she?" Oh, it''s been almost 2 weeks since I live in the capital with uncle Alto, it''s been a while eh, I really miss Ilya-nee, what is she doing right now? she must be close with Elis-nee now, I think I will buy her souvenirs from here. "Let''s visit big sis uncle, let''s do it" I''m so excited to see big sis, I sometimes worried about her, did she able to get along with Elis-nee or not, since they are in the same age they would likely getting along just fine, but as a brother, being concern about it sometimes is fine right? I finish washing the dishes, thanks to Aura-chan, she''s a big help for me, but it still feels awkward sometimes to be around her, her anxiety towards men it seems to still remain there, wait she says she got a little phobia didn''t she? well, let''s not think about that, at least I need to make her feelfortable around me and uncle Alto, so she won''t feel awkward around us. "Hey Aura-chan, you may bettere with us" "Ah..no.. I will watch the house..." "Ehh... don''t be like that Aura-chan, let''s visit my big sister together, she must very happy to see you, Ilya-nee is so kind after all" I make a big smile on my face, I try to convince Aura-chan toe with us, I want to introduce her to Ilya-nee, she would so happy to see me having a new friend. "Alright, tomorrow let''s visit your sister, Erwin" "Hooray...." I''m so excited and ended up hitting my pinky toe to the dinner table. "Urrghh...." I immediately feel something is stunk my pinky toe, I think I might break my pinky toe. "What are you so excited like that about? oh God, that must be hurt" "A-are you fine Erwin-san?" Aura-chan quickly run to help me, but it seems that she can''t approach me, so I tell her I''m fine and massage my pinky toe a little to wash away the pain, but she still concerned if it will turn bad, what a good girl she is, and uncle Alto!! can you please help me out here, it''s so hurt, at least be more concerned. "Are you sure you are fine Erwin-san?" "I''m fine Aura-chan, look" I try to stand and walk around so Aura-chan won''t stay concerned, well it''s still a bit hurt, but, I will endure it if it''s only a little, I experienced something worse than this before, so I can''t just whining with just this little pain. "Don''t push yourself, Erwin, here, apply this cream around your pinky toe" Uncle Alto hand me a weird liquid that has a green color, and it stinks, it stinks a lot, just what with this cream? why the smell is so weird like this, it way more stinks than a fish carcass. I look at Aura-chan and she already steps back a bit further from me and turn her face, I can see her nervous expression and her body even shivering right now. "You will get used to it, don''t worry" Well, uncle Alto wants to help me here, I guess I will just apply it to my pinky toe. "Ughh.. it feels gross" I close the lid and give it back to uncle Alto. "So, want to go shopping and give those girls some souvenirs?" I just nod my head as a yes, I think I''m gonna held back not to get too excited and kick the table with my pinky toe again, not gonna lie, the pain is really bad, I feel like I almost lost my soul. "Alright, go get ready you two, we are going to the shopping district" "Roger!" I salute to uncle Alto and run to my room to change, I want to give Ilya-nee the best present I can give. "Umm... am I joining this?" "Of course Aura-chan, we will buy you cute clothes and stuff, case closed, no refusal epted" "Uncle.... let''s get going" "Wait, how did you change so fast Erwin?e on, don''t be too excited like that" Of course, I would be excited, uncle Alto justughs looking at my manner, I guess I won''t change eh, still like a little kid who always got excited to do something if it''s rted to my sister, now I just need to put on my socks and I''m ready to leave. "Wait, Erwin, you will wipe the cream if you put on socks, wait for a second" Uncle Alto went to a look for something, I almost forgot about the cream though, I''m getting too excited I guess, hahaha. "Here, put on this, at least the cream will be patched here if you put it on" Uncle Alto give me something that looked like a band-aid, I quickly put it on my pinky toe and wear my socks and shoes, now let''s buy souvenirs for Ilya-nee. Chapter 49 What To Give To Sister "Want to go to that stall, Erwin?" I nod excitedly after walking for a while in the market, the weather is good and it''s warmer than it usually is, maybe the winter will end soon, just kidding. "Woah...." I look excitedly to the stall in front of me, it full of knickknacks and they all look so beautiful. "Oh, wee, wee, you guys look awesome today, what can I help you with" A bald uncle greets us with high spirits, he looks so happy, maybe because of this beautiful day, I look around and did see lots of people in the market, this ce is getting pretty lively. "I see this ce be lively again, it''s a great day isn''t it?" "Hahaha, yeah, the weather is good today, it''s warmer than usual, so people start doing their usual activities like before" "Woah... uncle look, look" I''m pointing at the red gem ne that looks so shiny among the other things here. "Oh.. you sure have a good eyes young boy, I''m sure it will go well with that beautiful girl over there" Girl? I look into the direction where the uncle pointed out to and it''s Aura-chan he mentioned, I turn my head to the merchant with a confused look. "Eh, did I wrong?" "Bwahahahaha...." Uncle Alto burst out augh right in the middle of the crowd here, why is heughing so hard like that, what''s funny here? Uncle Alto starts to pat my shoulder a couple of times while trying to hold hisughter, but it seems he can''t and just keeps giggling. "Ahhh.. this boy wants to give his big sister a souvenir, he actuallyes from the south *giggling" Uncle Alto, can you stop giggling please? what are youughing at seriously, I''m so confused about what is happening here right now. "Ahh... I''m sorry for my rudeness, but I''m sure your sister is someone awesome, she had a very handsome brother like you, you must really love your sister eh young boy" I nod and smile excitedly to the merchant, of course, I love my sister, she''s the best sister in the world and I really want to brag everything about her. I look at other stuff the merchant offer, I want to give it to Elis-san as a thank gift for taking care of Ilya-nee, but she''s noble, and I don''t have that much money to give her fancy stuff. "Just give that red-haired girl anything you think will look good on her, I think she''s not a bad person" Uncle Alto pat at my head and smile, he''s such a sweet person to not thinking too hard about what I have to give to Elis-san....Wait, this isn''t right, uncle Alto, did you actually able to read my mind or something? what kind of magic is that? is he actually a terrifying person? some high-ss magician? "It''s not magic or anything you think of, I can see it all written on your face, just don''t think of anything rude" Uncle Alto punch my head, I cover up my head and crouch to hold the pain, honestly he''s not hitting it too hard, but suddenly punch me from the back like that is still hurt, why did he do that to a little kid like me anyway, you will pay for it, just wait uncle Alto. *smack "A..." "You thinking of something disrespectful right? at least don''t look at me with thoughts like that in your mind [Sigh...]" Aww... he really won''t hold back to a kid like me, I can only rub at my lump head and try to endure the pain. "A-Are you fine Erwin-san?" "Ah, don''t worry Aura-chan, it''s nothing for me" Ahh... Aura-chan is so kind, I''m happy I able to be friends with her, I need to protect her, I will protect Ilya-nee and everyone, I clenched my fist and give a big smile to Aura-chan so she won''t be worried about this. "Ah, maybe you can give her this" Uncle Alto hand me a bracelet, I look at it and it''s really simple, the design isn''t really fancy, it got a string an pull them together to use the bracelet, but the crystal on top of it, it covers the bracelet, it''s the same shape as the bracelet, I hope Elis-san will ept it if I give it to her. Suddenly something dazzling my left eyes, I look at a silver earing that blend in with rings and bracelets, I pick it up and look at it closely, this one is really shiny and so pretty. I unconsciously start looking at Aura-chan who''s been standing behind us all this time. "I think it will look good on her, try it on" I think uncle Alto actually understand what is going in my mind, I approach Aura-chan and try to convince her to try it, this earing is so pretty, I bet they will look good when Aura-chan uses it. Chapter 50 Proof Of Our Friendship "Please close your eyes and endure it Aura-chan.." "Nnngghhhh...'''' "Here I go youngdy" [ Plop... ] "Ah.." I turn my head so I won''t face her, I don''t want to see what kind of face Aura-chan is making right now considering what we are doing right now, I can''t look into her blood dripping at that ce. "It''s not hurt right, youngdy?" "Y-Yes, it feels better now..." "And here." "*Ugyah..... " What was that sound Aura-chan is making? I really want to look at her, but I can''t look at her if it''s hurt for her, I don''t want to see her face in pain. "Guuuhh... this is really the real thing young boy, you have such cutie as your friend like her" I''m still closing my eyes because I don''t know what is happening right now, are they done yet? I feel all nervous just for holding Aura-chan''s hand with a handkerchief. "Look over here youngdy, you are so pretty right now, thisd sure have good taste, hahaha" "I think you can look now, Erwin" I slowly open my eyelids right after a hand pats me on the shoulder, uncle Alto was watching us all the time and he looks pity on me for some reason. "H-How is it..." What appears before me is a beauty who got blushed, I can see her cheeks turns red for a moment there, I''m frozen for a second there, she looks so dazzling right now. "You sure have a good eyesd, the earing goes well with her, it''s like a hidden gem of this beauty" I''m dazzled with how well actually the earing goes with her, the snow shaped earing hiding in her hair and when it tufted, the shining silver earing will be seen dazzling there, satisfying eyes that see it. "It''s so fit for you Aura-chan, why don''t you take it? Erwin will buy it for you" "*nod.. nod.. , Uncle Alto is right, it''s suit... EH?" "I mean you pick it right? you have to take responsibility after making her suffer from the pain while she''s trying to make a hole in her ear" Ughh.. uncle Alto, you make it sounds like I''m forcing her to do it, why am I the bad guy here. Well, at first I wanted to give Aura-chan something too since she is now will be living with us, I want to give her a weing gift and sign of our friendship. "I-It''s fine Erwin-san, you don''t need to give me such..." "No Aura-chan, I wanted to give you something as a sign of our friendship, we all gonna live together from now on right? let''s get along" I pull my hand to her, giving a sign to shake our hand together, it''s the start of this new family, and I will protect them all, I promise. "Butd, I can''t believe my customer right now is a young magician, the moment you pull out the ice with your magic is really impressive, it really helped me to do the piercing on that youngdy''s ear ,you could make money with that talent, like, maybe you can be a top rank adventurer? but if the kingdom ever takes an interest to you..." "Hm? what is it?" "Ah no, don''t worry, I''m just saying that you are a one awesomed I''ve met so far, hahaha" I don''t really catch what he''s saying at the end, I''m still looking for what present should I give to Elis-nee, I really wanted to give her something fits her, but I guess I will just go with uncle Alto''s suggestion, the bracelet he showed me before is really cool. "I will take these all three then, uncle." "Ohh... thanks a bunch, for you I think I shall give a discount, hahaha" "Really? Thanks, uncle" "Hahaha, good for you Erwin" I nod excitedly with a big smile on my face, the merchant is really a good person, this is the first time I get a discount while shopping, hahaha, I don''t usually do the shopping back in the home, Ilya-nee always did it but she sometimes invites me to do shopping. We leave that stall and I wave at the merchant and said thank you, this is really my lucky day if I would say and I even getting closer to Aura-chan, I think it''s double lucky because I think starts to feel morefortable around me and uncle Alto, well she got so terrified at time where I ask her to pierce her ear to be able to use the earing, I suddenly feel so bad for doing that. I look at Aura-chan who is walking behind us ying with the earing she just got, her cheeks look a bit red and she seems to be so happy with her new earing, I''m d I gave her that as a gift sign of our friendship. . . . . . . . . . *Gasp... "I FORGOT IT!!!" "Woahh.. calm there Erwin, what did you forget?" "Yuika-chan, I forgot to buy her a souvenir too" I''m looking helplessly at uncle Alto, he just faces palming himself and let out a deep sigh. Chapter 51 Half Presen "Next time don''t just shout like that again, you really scare me, even Aura-chan got scared too" I got lump on my head for the second time today, it''s really hurt now, thest punch I got in the back is way more painful than the first I got today, but I''m d I didn''t forget to buy Yuika-chan a souvenir too, she must be very happy to get one, I never gave her anything before, but I hope Yuika chan will like this ring I bought for her, I think this ring will go well with her since the color is kind of reflect her hair. "Do you want to buy your sister some more souvenirs?" "I guess" "Hee... I bet she will smack you in the butt for wasting money for souvenirs, she gave you allowance not for that right? I will enjoy the show you are going to give us, hahaha" *Gasp... Uncle Alto is totally right, Ilya-nee will mad at me if I waste money like this, but uncle Alto said I don''t need to worry about food expenses, so I got no chance to use the money I brought. "Well, I don''t think she will be mad at you if she saw her with us" Uncle Alto refers to Aura-chan, she still looks happy, it feels like her expression was more cheerful than before, but it seems that it''s still hard for her to get any closer to men, she forced herself when she tries the earing before. "Well, now... Aura-chan,e here" "Ah, yes?" Aura-chane closer to us, but it seems that there''s still a distance she can''t cross, but she already trying her best, I guess it''s fine, her anxiety will disappear as time goes by. "I will buy something for you know" Uncle Alto suddenly stops his step in front of a store, it says Celty''s, we can''t really see what store this is from the outside, it looks like a normal house for me. "What are you guys still standing there for?e inside" Uncle Alto is already opening the building''s door and told us not to just standing outside. "Wee... oh if it isn''t Alto, what can I do for you today?" A middle-aged woman appears from inside the store right after the door bell''s ringing, "Olive-san, I need some good outfit for thisdy right here" Aura-chan still trying to keep a bit of distance to us, maybe if it''s with woman, she will be fine, nice work uncle Alto, I understand now why you choose this store. "Now then, I will leave her to you Olive-san" "Yeah, leave it to this olddy" The storedy approach Aura-chan and pull her hand, she looks confused while she turns her face towards us, uncle Alto just waves at her and so I just wave to her too, then, the storedy and Aura-chan disappear inside the store, leaving only me and uncle Alto in the store. "Then let''s just leave it to Olive-san, let''s find something for Yuika-chan" "But we already got 1 for her" "Yea that one is from her beloved Erwin-Kun, I want to give her something too, I will give you something too" "Ah.. you want to give a present too, uncle Alto?" "Something like that, Olive-san... can I leave her to you here for a while? I will be back soon" "Have a nice trip...." The storedy peeks out from the clothes in the back and wave to us then slipping back in the clothes on the store. "Alright, let''s go now" Uncle Alto opens the store and about to leave, I look back for a second, It sounds like the storedy is having fun picking clothes for Aura-chan there, I leave the store with uncle Alto, walking around to find which store to choose. "What kind of present you want to give to Yuika-chan uncle Alto?" "Let''s see... well I don''t really have one in my mind right now, but I think I better give both of you same present" Ehh... that''sme, at least try to think of what to give, well it''s not like I don''t want to have the same present as Yuika-chan, but, for us to have the same stuff is a bit, I think we better have something different, so we can exchange it will look boring to have the same things with someone like that. "Let''s try to that stall over there shall we?" I look at the direction uncle Alto pointing at, wee closer to take a look, they sell some winter outfits, I can see mittens, scarfs, and any other stuff. "Maybe Yuika-chan will love it if you guys exchange one side of the mittens to each other" "Doesn''t it will look strange?" "Well, how about I give you guys different color with the same pattern, that way you won''tin right?" Well maybe having different colored mittens won''t hurt anyone, it got the same pattern anyways, let''s just wish Yuika-chan won''t angry when I ask her to swap each other''s half. Chapter 52 Indulgences "That looks good on you Aura-chan, don''t you think so Erwin?" "You are right uncle, that dress really suits you Aura-chan" The light blue one-piece dress she is using right now is so beautiful, the light blue dress makes her look more dazzling,bined with a ponytail style, it makes her look more awesome. "Alright, we take it Olive-san" "Nice choice" Aura-chan still looks embarrassed wearing the dress she just got, I don''t really understand, but, she''s been trying to pull down the dress with her face starting to be red, I try to get closer to Aura-chan, she seems bothered by her dress or something. "What''s wrong Aura-chan?" "U-um... t-this is a bit..." "Hmm?" "M-my leg... it''s too embarrassing" I look at her leg and see nothing is wrong with her leg, I look at her trying to cover her face, I can see how red her ears are, but, what is wrong with the dress? it''s so beautiful, fit her, nothing is bad about it. "What''s wrong you two?" Uncle Alto seems to finish the payment and I see the store ownerdy behind him, maybe she curious about what is happening here. "Ah no, Aura-chan said something is too embarrassing for her or something" "Fuee~" Uncle Alto seems to be confused by what is actually happening right now. "Is it too embarrassing to get the skirt above your knees?" The store ownerdy approach Aura-chan and pat her in the head, I think she wants to calm Aura-chan down, it seems like she understands the situation. "Skirt? ah, you are not used to it Aura-chan? don''t worry, you look awesome, be proud of yourself, right, Erwin?" "*nod *nod, I like it Aura-chan, you don''t need to worry about your legs, they are so beautiful too" "Oi.." Suddenly I got another lump on my head, I can feel the pain spread to my brain. "It''s hurt, uncle Alto!! why did you hit me like that" "The line you just said now is saying that you are a huge perverted, I need to get it out from your brain" Guuuhhh... this is so hurt, I try to rub the lump to wash away the pain while pouting, I look at Aura-chan to make sure she is fine now, but, Eh? Now I can almost see a lot of steaming out from Aura-chan''s head, she covers her face and I see the storedy is trying tofort her while giving me a ''Don''t get near her'' look. "Apologize" "Eh?" "You, apologize to Aura-chan, I will forgive you too if Aura-chan did" Ehh...? what did I do wrong? I feel like I''m the one on the fault here or something, all I do just praise her for her beautiful le. . . . . . . "I''M SORRY AURA-CHAN!!!!" How did I say such thing to Aura-chan, I realized it just now and now I feel like I''m a big scum for saying that, I instantly kneel before Aura-chan, I remember that people who praise someone else like that is just a big pervert, I remember that one time when Ilya-nee ps a customer before because he''s being disrespectful, and that one time even I got angry at that customer just because Ilya-nee ps him, and other customer kicked him out from the store, but now, I am doing what that customer did in the past and right now I feel so embarrassed by myself. I am ready to get the most painful p I will get in my life from Aura-chan. "I-it''s fine...." Eh? "Ehh...? you could p him Aura-chan, I can even give you permission if you want to do that" Uncle Alto, you know that you are being rude to me right? but I honestly prefer Aura-chan to ps me so I can receive my punishment properly, and for my indulgences. "I-I''m happy..." "Eh...?" "Why did you say that?" What are they muttering at? I can''t really hear them down here, when can I get up, I feel like I''m the lowest human scum right now, I really need Aura-chan to forgive me or else my hands will start to feel numb. Oh wait, I deserved this, why am I whining right now, I said something disrespectful before. "Hey, Erwin, how long are you gonna stay like that? get up, Aura-chan forgives you, though it feels so wrong for me" Uncle Alto holds my shoulder and giving me a hand to get up, I wipe the dust from my pants, I still can''t look at Aura-chan in the face, maybe I need to apologize one more time. "I-it''s fine Erwin-san... you don''t have to apologize, I-I''m happy in fact.." "Oh, I guess it''s fine then" "At least apologize properly you rascal" Ehh... but she forgives me, it''s fine right? she doesn''t look like she wants to make this problem big. "Alright then, we are going for lunch now, Erwin must treat Aura-chan for his apology" "That''s no..." "It''s fine Aura-chan, please ept it as my apology, at least this much is fine for me" Uncle Alto was right, I need to properly apologize, treating her a lunch won''t hurt anyone right? Chapter 53 Something is Bothering Me "Uuuuhhh... my money...." It''s just afternoon and I already spend 4 days worth of living expense today, luckily, I don''t have to spend money on daily need because uncle Alto said I don''t need to do that, he''s a perfect uncle if only he didn''t hit me on the head like he did all time today. "U-umm... Erwin-san, you shouldn''t be doing that for me... I-I will pay you back someday.." "Ah.. don''t worry about that Aura-chan, it''s not a big deal" It''s right, I can''t back off from what I said, it''s not manly to do that and I am a man who will protect everyone and I will make Ilya-nee proud to have a little brother like me. That''s right, no backing off from my own words. "Oh if it isn''t Alto.." Suddenly a man''s voice calling uncle Alto from nowhere, I look around and see an old man waving at our direction, he uses a walking frame to help him walk, he looks so calm and try to smile at us with a wrinkled around his eyelids and his mouth, his smile looks so sincere and can melt the heart of those who see it, he looks like a good person, I see uncle Alto approach him and shake that man''s hand. I and Aura-chan followed uncle Alto from behind and greet the man, he greets us back warmly. "What lovely kids they are, are these your nephew Alto?" "Yeah, they are such lovely kids aren''t they?" Saying that after hitting me in the head three times? just what a good uncle you are uncle Alto, but I can''tin about that, he always been there helping me and Ilya-nee when we need it, no doubt he''s a good uncle and we are so happy to have someone like him. "Hey Erwin, Aura-chan, you guys can go wherever you want around here by yourself, just don''t get into some kind of trouble, okay?" "O-okay..." "What are you going to do uncle Alto?" "Well, it''s rare for me and Gille-san to meet each other like this, he''s a former knight who always helped me in the past when I was a child" "Ahahaha.. that was in the past Alto, I''m just an old man now" "Come on Gille-san, you and Markus-san are my heroes, hahaha" "Ah, that old man, how is he doing now? I never heard anything anymore from him when he starts to be a nomad, I want to meet him now, hahaha" I see suddenly uncle Alto is looking and smile at Gille-san, that moment there I feel like the warm smile Gille-san made before is vanishing and left only wrinkle he shows on his old face. "Ah,e on you two can go and have fun, here take this, don''t get into trouble okay? you hear me, Erwin?" Uncle Alto hand me a little money with some money in it, he let us go around by ourselves, I look back and see uncle Alto and Gille-san entering the house where Gille-san standing before. Well, I guess it''s only me and Aura-chan, I think we might better have fun and enjoy ourselves, I look at Aura-chan who is standing a bit far behind me, I know she''s trying to keep a distance between us, but, somehow I feel like the distance is increasing a bit than before. "Ummm... Aura-chan, where we should go? do you have any suggestions? It''s my first time to go out in the town" "I think we can go to the za?.." Oh, she''s not stuttering anymore, I think it''s a good sign for me to get closer to her, I hope she won''t get mad at me for doing this. I''m slowing down my pace, trying to make it unnoticeable by Aura-chan so I can get closer to her, I look back at her sometimes, but every time I did that, she will turn her head away from me or look down, I don''t really understand it, but it''s bothering me for some reason, I don''t want to think about this because it''s impossible that it gonna happen, I mean, she has an anxiety towards a men right? I can''t help but think about it for a while, does she like... No way, no way, what am I thinking right now. I walk close enough to Aura-chan, I want to look at Aura-chan''s face to make sure something before she notices that I''m slowing down my walking pace, and what I just discovered is something that will bother me even more. This is no way right? I see her turning her face away, I can''t really see it before, but in this close distance, there''s no way I won''t notice how red her cheeks are right now, I don''t want to get over myself, but, this isn''t something I can just ignore and pretend that I didn''t see it. Chapter 54 My Apprehension "It''s pretty crowded here isn''t it, Aura-chan?" "Ummhhh..." No Erwin, no, this doesn''t feel right, I''ve been trying to close the distance between us and she doesn''t seem to try increasing our distance anymore, I''m happy with that just if I don''t have this stupid conclusion going in my brain right now. I understand why she''s stuttering whenever she talks with me and uncle Alto, I know it''s because of her anxious towards men, her blushes face when she shows her new dress to me and uncle Alto, it''s too embarrassing for her to show that much of her skins, but I''m not gonna lie now that I think she had some special feeling for me, I really don''t want to get over myself, but this keeps bugging me and I didn''t realize that we already arrived at the town za and a hand poking me from behind while I''m at my lost in my mind. "U-umm... Erwin-san?" "Ah... I''m sorry Aura-chan, where were we going again?" "Umm... we are already here" Aura-chan pointed at the water fountain in the middle of the street, there are some people sitting there, I saw some couples cuddling each other, eating street food, there are also kids ying together and just running around the fountain. How nice of them to get so clingy like that in the public, I hope I can be clingy like that with someone, ahh... just if I could confirm Aura-chan''s real feelings towards me, but how if she''s doesn''t have that sort of feeling towards me? I don''t want to die to an embarrassment for asking that and get a big no answer, gaaah..... what should I do.... But I can''t stay like this, right? I need to confirm it, right? but how to start this topic though, I don''t want to suddenly ask ''Do you like me?'' to her, she would instantly p my face in ce without hesitation, I''m sure of it. I think I will start a conversation and slowly turn the conversation into it and ask her directly. "Aura-chan..." *Growl....~ "Fuee...~" Oh, how cute... she tries to hide it, the moment where her tummy starting to moan asking for some snacks. Aura-chan tried to cover her tummy and her face start to let out a steam and turn into a ripe tomato, I instantlyugh at it and Aura-chan is more embarrassed now, I know I shouldn''t be doing that, but it''s so cute and funny to being out from Aura-chan, she is punching my left arm while still pouting, I feel like she can ignore her anxious towards men when she''s embarrassed like this. "Pfftt... hahaha.... I''m sorry Aura-chan, but let meugh a little more please" "No.. no.. no... p-please just forget what you heard..." *Growl....~ Okay, I think I should stop making fun of her tummy''s noise and look for a food stall where I can buy a portion of food for her. "You want a grilled skewers Aura-chan? it''s been a while since thest time I eat a meat" Aura-chan just nodded with her face still red, I think I will give her some of mer for an apology. I told Aura-chan to wait in the water fountain while I go and buy the food for us, I''m d we made a good friend rtionship, I guess I won''t ask her about her personal feeling, maybe it''s just me getting over myself, how foolish I am. "Excuse me, two please" "Alright, please wait.." The smell of sweet spices when the chef puts those meat skewers on the grill, the smoke thating from the grill floating in the air, tickling my nose with more of those sweet aromas that can make everyone who smells it can''t refuse the urge to eat it. "Here you go youngd, have a nice day" "Thank you, have a nice day uncle" I give the money and leave the stall, the uncle is waving at me with a big smile on his face, I guess all people around here are good people, or so I thought, before I see something troublesome is happening to Aura-chan right now, she got surrounded by 3 guys and I''m pretty sure they aren''t some nice guys asking for direction to her or something, they must be hitting on her because when Ie closer to them, I can see Aura-chan''s troubled face clearly. "Who are those guys" I hurry up my footsteps and suddenly some big man with a ck robe appears behind Aura-chan and touches her shoulders. "Oi, who are you hah? want to mess with us the best adventurer here?" That man is just standing still there, I''m slowing down my pace, I don''t know why I did that, but my instinct told me that I shouldn''te any closer to them, and right when I don''t continue to walk closer any further, a terrifying aura suddenlyes out from that person, sweatsing down my forehead and my legs trembling, what a terrifying aura he''s letting out, won''t he scared people around here with that? I can''t let go of my eyes from that person standing behind Aura-chan, I see the 3 guys trembling and fall on the ground, right after that the terrifying aura he let out is gone. Ah, Aura-chan, I should hurry and help her. I rush my steps and stand in front of Aura-chan, with a bit of my courageous I face this big person, I can''t see his face clearly, the only thing I can see before he disappears is a green gem around his neck that is so dazzling and reminds me of something. Chapter 55 I Want to Keep This Bound "Here, Aura-chan" "T-thank you .." I hand over her share and we sit near the water fountain, there was a bench ced near the water fountain for people to sit and enjoy the crowd and the atmosphere on the heart of the city, but this is too weird, how are they able to enjoy it after those terrifying aura got leaked around here? it''s strange when I look around I feel like people around aren''t affected by it, they only look at the downed adventurer with a confused eye, the moment when that big person letting out his terrifying aura that makes me shivers and even makes me want to fall down on my knees didn''t seems to affect Aura-chan, she still looks fine and she even look confused when those three adventurer suddenly fell on the ground. "Are you okay Aura-chan? you didn''t hurt anywhere right?" *nod *nod "Are you sure Aura-chan? didn''t you feel a terrifying powering from the person that saved you before?" Aura-chan who is sitting a bit far to me look confused and tilt her head, she looks so cute while she titl her head and lost in thought like that, her cute expression gives me back my smile and I''m a bit relieved that she''s okay and didn''t get injured or anything. Actually, who is that person? it feels like a mana controlling, but a very high level of mana controlling that can even make someone fainted, but somehow I didn''t fall on the ground and fainted, or else these food I bought will be on waste and I don''t want that, but, those three adventurer are pretty lucky that there was store owner who happened to pass by with some groceries with her helping them and move them inside her store, some people got curious and help her to carry those adventurer. I steal a ce at Aura-chan who sits on the other side of the bench, I guess she still can''t get close to me without me doing it first huh, well I think looking at her eating her grilled meat peacefully is something more interesting to do for now. We spend our time eating the grilled meat while having a little chat to wash away the awkwardness, but I guess I''m not that kind of person who can live up the atmosphere and not making it more awkward, because whenever I start to talk, my lips shiver and I feel nervous for some reason and sometimes result in stuttering when I try to make a conversation. "It''s gettingte soon, want to go home now Aura-chan?" The sun is about to set soon, I can''t believe how long we actually spend just sitting and eating a grill meat while having a little awkward talk, I guess it''s not true that Aura-chan has a feeling for me, I think that is just me getting over myself. As I''m about to get up from the bench, something suddenly hold my right hand and I can feel something warm and soft is touching my skin. "C-can we stay together for a second....?" What?.... I''m not just seeing things right now am I? it''s that Aura-chan who is holding my hand right now, right? I can see clearly how blushed she is right now, there''s no way she would do that if she doesn''t have any feeling towards me, right? right? I can''t handle myself and blushed too, I look away and rub my head, trying to act as calm as possible, is my spring finallye? but I''m only an eight years old kid, I need to talk with Ilya-nee about this, I can''t decide it myself, ahhh.... what should I do now. At least I can keep my cool face on and no blushing too much, I don''t want to make it obvious in front of her, she even muster up her courages to move closer and even hold my hand, this is something beyond my expectation honestly. I let out a sigh to calm my racing heart, trying to keep my mind out from thinking something indecent, that''s right, I need to hold myself and think about how awesome Ilya-nee is now, thinking about Ilya-nee will always saves me no matter what. "I-I''m sorry if it''s bothering you..." "Ah.. no no no, it''s fine Aura-chan.." Ahh.. I make her worried that I don''t like it when she''s being more selfish with herself, it''s alright to be more selfish Aura-chan, don''t worry about it, I can stay here all day if you want, don''t worry Aura-chan, I won''t get mad at you no matter how selfish you are. "Alright, I guess we can stay here a bit longer and watch the sunset" "Ah... F-forgive me... but I don''t think that''s a good idea.. Alto-san will get mad at us.." Ah, of course she would be worried of that, it isn''t right for kids to get homete, and we have a n tomorrow too to visit Ilya-nee and Elis-nee, but I think we need to spend this precious time while we''re at it, it''s a rare chance right? I can''t waste it just like that. "Let''s just stay for a while, I''m sure uncle Alto won''t get mad at us" "O-okay..." It''s fine right? I want to ask her... ahhhh... I''m so curious about it, but I can''t ask her... I don''t want to break our friendship. Chapter 56 Warmth of Love *Growl... Ah, I can hear my stomach started to growl and I guess it''s time for us to go back now, we''ve been here since afternoon and now the sun was set already and now I can see the sparkle of the lightbulbs lit up, all kids seem to have to return to their house and neighbourhood start to feel more quiet now. "Should we go home now and prepare the dinner Aura-chan? what do you want to eat?" "Anything is fine..." Aura-chan worked hard to withstand her anxiety towards men and finally able to held my hand and be selfish with herself once, I remember one time when I save her from that spiky-haired guy where her expression is so dread whenever she saw an adventurer, I think I need to make that spiky-haired guy apologize to Aura-chan and kneel before her. I look at Aura-chan who is holding my left hand right now and her cute smile showed no dread and so beautiful, no matter how I look, she''s in love right now and I just need to confirm it myself, I want to take risk and ask about her feeling myself. "I''m sorry to ask this Aura-chan, but, how old are you again Aura-chan?" "I-I''m eight..." Wait, she said eight right? I believe you should be around ten or thirteen to apply for adventurer contract, and she''s only eight? she''s on the same age as me, I did expect her to be young, but I thought she will be around ten or eleven, but she''s eight, then how did she get those adventurer contract? I peek a nce again at Aura-chan and I think she still feel embarrassed for being too close to me, I can see her face blushing clearly, just a minute ago she''s trying to be selfish with herself and being clingy to me, but now she''s all embarrassed again, but well, that''s the cute side of her, and I''m happy to be able to hold her hand right now, my heart feel all warm in this cold winter bite. People might see us as two lovely siblings but we are actually keep a deeper feeling towards each other, at least that''s what I believe, but I know we share the same feeling towards each other, and before that something start to bother me, Yuika.... No, it''s not like I have a certain feeling towards her, but, I''m starting to worry about her, is it because we haven''t meet in a while? she always y around with me since we were kid, I''m pretty sure Yuika now is having fun with her family and what should I be worrying for? my feelings are so assorted and I can''t understand what is happening with me right now, I should be focusing on confirming Aura-chan''s real feelings and tell it to Ilya-nee, she would be so happy to hear thating from me and Aura-chan. "E-Erwin-san..?" I lost in my thought again, a soft voice blowing to my ear, and waking me up from my loss, I never thought of this before, but right now, when I see her face my heart skip a beat and feeling of a warmth spread through my whole body turn me into a lovelorn, just what a terrifying charm she got, what a natural born beauty she is. That''s right, it''s only me and Aura-chan now, I can''t let this chance slip away, I will tell Ilya-nee about this good news tomorrow, I will surprise uncle Alto and Elis-nee too tomorrow. "So, can you exin to me where have you two been and what makes you toe home thiste" Ah, as I thought this would happen, the scene I see first when I get home is uncle Alto standing while crossing his hands, he looks angry but I can''t sense any wrath on his expression, his breath feels hard and he''s panting, I can see sweatsing down from his neck and he''s trying to hide that. "A-Alto-san..." "I ask her to stay and have a chat with me when we were in town za, it''s my fault, uncle Alto" Uncle Alto re and me and let out a deep sigh, but right after that moment, he back to his usual self, a rude but kind uncle. "I was looking for you two around for a while because the house''s key was in that pocket I gave you earlier Erwin." "Pocket? ah, this?" I give back the pocket filled with money back to uncle Alto, he reach out the key he''s talking about and open the door, he looks relieved and just throw his body to the sofa and just went straight sleeping. "I guess we should prepare the dinner for an apology, right? Aura-chan?" "I-I''m sorry.. Erwin-san.." "Don''t worry about it Ilya-chan, I know uncle Alto is a good person, and you can call me Erwin from now on Aura-chan, I can call you Aura too without any honorific" "B-but that''s too...." "Then I won''t answer" I look away and act all cold towards Ilya-chan, I want her not to call me with that honorific, it''s too stiff and I don''t want iting from Aura-chan. "E-Erwin..-sa" "Alright, hold on there, one more time" Alright Aura-chan, I won''t let those honorific slip out your mouth, you will call me Erwin from now on. "E-E-Erwin... *hauu...." "Aura" Aura-chan covers her face in embarrassment and trying to punch me on my shoulder, how weak her punch is, but she''s so cute doing that. Chapter 57 Guil "Hey Erwin, wake up" "Aw... aw aw aw..." My cheeks, it hurts, someone is pinching my cheeks, I instantly woke up after all those pains, the first sight of my morning is uncle Alto standing next to my bed and still pinching my cheeks. "I''m up uncle, I give up... I give up..." I grab uncle Alto''s hand and pull it off my cheeks, I can feel my cheeks are all chubby now because of it. "Uncle Alto.. why are you being so rude like that" I''m still rubbing my cheeks to wash away the pain from being pinched that hard. "How long are you going to sleep? have you forgotten that we will visit your sister today?" *Gasp... I FORGOT..... I quickly jump off the bed and run to the bathroom, how can I forgotten that we will visit Ilya-nee and Elis-nee today, I was so pumped up yesterday and I even can''t sleep at all just thinking about how pleasant her hug would be after not seeing each other for a while, I miss my big sister so much and already wanted to hug her and cuddle to our heart content. I think I was just too excited of wanted to meet Ilya-nee and introduce Aura to her, I just kept thinking about that all time and spend the night without even sleep a single wink, I even don''t remember when did I start to fall asleep and got oversleep and wake upte. I hang my towel to dry it near the window and then run back to my room, I see uncle Alto is sitting on the sofa, waiting for me to get ready, I see Aura is sitting on the other sofa, she is still keeping some distance with uncle Alto, she notices me and she starts fidgeting with her top button and I can see her cheeks a bit red, she''s trying to send a cute little warming smile, it piercing through my chest and I just blushed, my face starts to feel like boiling because of the embarrassment. I just quickly turn my head to hide my face, I don''t want to show her my expression, I went upstairs and quickly went inside my room. "Uwah.... what was that" I close the door and just standing there, stunned and can''t believe with what I just saw a second ago, Aura smiled at me for real, she actually did it, I cover my face in embarrassment and slouched, I scream in the deep of my heart, maybe I won''t wake up from this delusion and just drown deeper to it, but uncle Alto''s call is pulling me out from this euphoria, I quickly grab my bag and went downstairs, I think being so pumped and look forward to this trip can be worthwhile, I can prepare earlier yesterday because I was looking forward to this trip. "Alright uncle Alto, I''m ready" "Alright then, let''s leave now, we need to make sure to arrived around afternoon" "Wait for a second uncle Alto, before that, do you know where Elis-san''s house is?" "Who do you think I am? I travel around to a lot of ces, of course, I would know Gaisras''s family house, even their branch where your sister''s at right now" "Where is it?" "You remember that little vige where you got into trouble with that rude spiky-haired guy? it''s not too far from that vige" Suddenly Aura who''s standing behind uncle Alto turns her face away, I looks at her in confusion, I can''t really see her face because of her long ck hair is covering those cute face of her, the earing I bought her yesterdaye into a sight hanging, those silver snow earing dazzled my eyes, I can''t take off my eyes of it, but I quickly shook my head and pay my attention to uncle Alto again. I nodded to answer uncle Alto''s question, I remember that time those guys actually picking a fight with me, I still remember the pain I got after that spiky-haired guy threw me to the wall before. "Well then, Aura-chan too, let''s get going now" I and Aura wait in front of the house while uncle Alto went to get the horse cart we use for this trip. "Are you nervous Aura?" I look at Aura fidgeting her hand, she looks nervous, so I have to meltdown this situation to wash away the awkwardness, but then I remember what happened yesterday, and without me knowing it, my face starts to blush, whenever I see her face my heart will start to race and it''s so hard to calm it down. I try not to make it obvious that right now I''m so happy that I could stand to each other like this without her making distance to me. Ahh... I want to hold her hand right now, I want to touch those silky and beautiful skin, I try to move my hand a bit to reach her hand, I don''t want to make it obvious, but, I really want to touch her hand right now. *Gasp... Again, those guilty feelings suddenly appear inside my head, I clenched my fish and pull back my arm and put it inside my pocket. I let out a deep sigh to calm myself down, just what am I thinking right now trying to attack a girl like that, and I haven''t even introduced her to Ilya-nee and Yuika, and what am I thinking right now? I''m still a little kid, I can''t just break our friendship like this. Chapter 58 Trip to Meet Her "Why am I feel like I got left out here?" It''s been an hour since we left the capital, I choose to sit on the back with Aura and let uncle Alto focus on the horses so they won''t run away. "Since when did you two got so close like this? this uncle is sad you know? it feels like that Aura-chan is still keeping distance to me and not you Erwin, what have you done to tame her like this?" "What are you talking about uncle Alto?" "Like I said, what did you do to her?" "Maybe because I''m very kind and not rude like uncle Alto" "You brat..." I just burst out augh after teasing uncle Alto a bit, it''s a payback for your rudeness before, uncle Alto, Aura choose me above you, it''s my win, uncle. "But well, it''s a good thing that you can get along with someone Aura-chan, even it''s Erwin, honestly, I would prefer you to get along with some other kid rather than getting along with this brat" "E-Erwin-sa.. *mhh... Erwin is a good person, he''s not scary too" Aura, when she''s shaking her head, is just so cute, I just can''t get enough looking at that sparky hair of her and her silky skins makes you want to touch it every day, her her big round eyes that look nted from afar makes her looks more elegant, and the time where she put on that smile on her face, she would instantly make every man fall under her magnificence. "Did you brainwash her Erwin?" "What do you mean uncle Alto?" "How did she says that you aren''t scary? even I feel terrified of you" "Wait, what do you mean uncle Alto? how am I scary?" "Well you know, you are just a damn genius, I know you since you a little, so I know you better than any other person as your sister did" Uncle Alto got his point, he knows me since I''m still a baby, he also helps Ilya-nee to babysit me when he visited us, at least that''s what Ilya-nee said before, I didn''t doubt it, but, judging from uncle Alto''s behavior towards me recently, I doubt it that he''s such a caring person back then. "I wish you could get along with Yuika, Aura-chan, or else she would bite you for getting too close with Erwin" "Yuika-chan? why would she do that? she''s a good girl, she won''t bite anybody" "Well, you probably don''t understand what I''m talking about, but it seems that Aura-chan did understand it" I look at Aura who is sitting across me is now looking down while fidgeting with her finger, I can feel the ''I made up my mind'' vibeing out from her, I tilt my head in confusion and turn my head and look at uncle Alto now. "I think you have to understand it yourself, I won''t say anything, and also, can you cast that ''wash away cold'' magic to us? the weather is starting to get colder" "It''s a Cold Protection Magic" "Well yea, whatever is it, I''m just referring to its function, so I''m notpletely wrong, right?" "Well, I guess you have the point" I concentrate and cast the [ Cold Protection ] magic and cover up the whole cart from the cold air, I open my eyelids and see Aura is so astonished looking at me. "What is it Aura?" "A.. u-um I-it was so cool, that Erwin-sa... E-Erwin was able to cast magic in a short time" I puff out my chest after getting all those praises all for myself. "Don''t get over yourself Erwin, she''s able to use magic just like you, she''s awesome too" Oh uncle Alto, can you read the atmosphere, please? I''m happy here because I got praised by Aura, I cross my hands in front of my chest and throw away my face off uncle Alto, I don''t want to look at uncle Alto''s face now. "B-but... Erwin is so awesome, I still can''t use any elemental magic since my soul power is so weak..." Ahh... thank you Aura for being on my side, let''s just ignore this rude uncle and have chat with me. "But that is still amazing though, I don''t really understand this magic thing you kids were able to use, but your ability is something rare to find, not many people were able to use magic, and magicians usually have a brighter future" "So that''s the reason why that spiky-haired guy insisted you joining his party Aura?" "I-I joined Reim-san''s party because I need to make money, but I can''t sign the adventurer contract yet, so I joined Reim-san''s party in secret before, b-but I will always be so scared whenever I see a magical beast in front of me..." "That must be rough for you Aura-chan" Yeah, uncle Alto was right, Aura had bad memories and we shouldn''t be reminding her about it. "Why won''t you try to learn elemental magic, Aura?" "I-I would instantly fall on my knees because my energy will be drained..." I got instantly fainted when I use my power too much, I guess I should be careful and practice more, maybe I can practice together with Aura and maybe I can help her to power up her soul power, it would be like hitting two birds with one stone, yeah, this is a good n. I just keep smiling and humming without me knowing, uncle Alto then throws something at me to wake me up from my daydreaming. "You must be thinking something indecent, don''t get over yourself" "Yeah.. yeah..." I rub my left cheek after uncle Alto threw something and hit it right on my face, what is wrong? I was just thinking about how fun it would be to have someone to practice with, I can''t bother Ilya-nee every day to help me learn magic, at least I can help Aura too while I''m practicing. Chapter 59 Tone of Disbelief "I think this is the right direction" We just went pass through the vige we stopped by before when I and uncle Alto first leave my vige and went to the capital and I still remember that one time where I peacefully ate my meal with uncle Alto and right after that, I got shoved into the wall by some random rude adventurer, thankfully, I was able to bear the pain back then, I was lucky enough that I didn''t break a single bone and just get a little bruises on my back. "E-Erwin..." "Hmm?" Oh, it''s rare for Aura to starts a conversation with me, let''s listen to what she wanted to say. "S-sister... h-how is your sister like?" Oh, Aura takes an interest in this subject? I will dly tell her everything about Ilya-nee, from how beautiful she is, how kind she is, I will tell everything to Aura, all good things about Ilya-nee, because I had no bad things to disclose, nothing is bad about Ilya-nee, all she did to me is for my own good. "My big sister''s name is Ilya, I usually call her Ilya-nee, she''s the best big sister I had, I always hugged her and show her how big my love to her and she is the one who taught me magic, maybe Aura can learn magic with Ilya-nee too, I believe you will be able to learn it in no time with Ilya-nee" I keep spouting stuff and keep flexing on how awesome Ilya-nee is. "Well you can see her yourselfter, she''s a good person and a good big sister I would say, but Erwin is just flexing too much, he is just exaggerating it" I pouted again because uncle Alto keeps interrupting me and won''t let me flex about how great Ilya-nee is. "She must be a very great big sister doesn''t she?" Those words boost up my moon again and I smile brightly, nodding my head excitedly, and grab Aura''s hand, I almost saw red tulips blooming on her small face, she''s trying not to look away from me, she looks so nervous, at least that''s what her face said. "You agree with me, right, Aura? Ah... I know you would understand me" Ah... I know Aura is a good girl no matter how you see it, I''m d she was my friend, and I''m d we saved her, we have a lively time on our trip today, and this trip was the best trip for me. "Oi, we''ve arrived, wake up you sleepy head" "Aw... aw... aww... " I can feel a hand flying on my cheeks, it feels like I got stung by something and forced me to get up. When did I start to fell asleep? I remember I was having a chat with Aura in the backseat and arguing with uncle Alto, I can''t remember the moment I start to fall inside my dream world. "Come on, get down, I need to take these horses to the stable, the maid told me the ce" Maid? what maid? I turn my head toward the front seat and see a big gate opened, there was a water fountain like the one I saw on the town square together with Aura, there is a footpath stretch and leading to a building, a really big one I believe, I can''t really see it because my vision of it got blocked by the water fountain. I jump down from the carriage and walk closer to the big metal gate, uncle Alto is leaving to find the stable, he needs to put the horses there to warm themselves up and rest, thank you for your hard work dear horses, you have my deepest gratitude. I remember uncle Alto said we could just go inside, there were some people waiting for us in front of the big house I saw before, I want to see it more clearly because my sight of the house wasn''t too clear because of the water fountain. "Let''s go Aura, uncle Alto will catch upter" I walk in the front and look around in amazement, this whole area was just a big yard, there are small line hedgerows stretch along the footpath, this all looks so fancy, it''s like the house in the dreand, where princess live a luxury life. "Woah... goldfish... I never have seen one before" The moment when I stopped near the water fountain I got instantly astonished, I never have seen goldfish before nor someone who actually keeps a goldfish on their water fountain like this. Aura smiled while she''s looking at me, maybe she''sughing at my behavior? well, I can''t help it though, it''s my first time seeing the real thing here, the real goldfish, they are soo cool when they swim around with each other, I look closer and slouch, I want to see them closer. I put my forefinger in the water, I''m trying to touch one of the goldfish, but it seems that fish are so agile, they will just swim away from my finger, it makes meugh, snickered to my senseless deed. "E-Erwin..." When I''m enjoying myself ying with the fish, a voice filled with disbelief tone fly to my ear, this... no way this is like what I think it is, I quickly turn my head to the source of the voice. "Y-You...." Chapter 60 Unexpected Encounter The person who just called my name is walking towards me, faster and faster, she grabbed my cor and pull me up to stand. "Who is she? Who is she...?" This girl just continuously pulling me up closer and closer to her, she just keeps yelling at my face with a tear almost fall down from the edge of her eyelids, I didn''t do anything and just hold her hands, I face her, look at her eyes with a deep stares, I take a closer step to her and hug her, I can''t see her gloomy face and I don''t want her to drop any more drops of tears, I can''t let her beautiful eyes got all swollen because of me. "Yuika-chan... it''s been a long time..." I rub her at the back of her head, her beautiful yellow hair that looked like a goldfield smell so nice, the soft feeling of touching her hair is something I can''t forget. *sob *sob Yuika-chan let go of her hands and wipes out her tears, she looks cute no matter how many times I look at her, she is like a little sister you want to protect. *Snot... Alright, maybe she''s a bit too spoiled, I''m not sure about that, but I never seen Yuika-chan acting like this before, she''s a calm girl and so kind, she always talks with a soft voice and Ilya-nee always spoiled her. "Have you calmed yourself down?" *nod *nod Hah... what a troublesome situation, Yuika-chan suddenly lifted my cor and yelled at me, I don''t understand what is going on with her, and why is she here? she''s supposed to be with her family at her rtive''s ce, right? "I''m sorry Aura for this ruckus, can we hurry and go to that house? I believe Ilya-nee and Elis-nee are there" Aura is following behind me and Yuika-chan, she is still holding my hand while we are walking side by side and she''s trying to wipe her snots right now, I peek a nce at Aura, she''s looking at the ground and her cheeks puffed a bit, I can''t really see it since her hair is covering it, I just feel like she''s not having fun on this trip or something, she still looks happy when we were on the way to Elis-nee''s house, but now, we have arrived and Aura''s expression isn''t as bright as before. "Yuika-chan, where''s Ilya-nee? is she around?" We''ve been walking for a while towards the big house that''s standing at the end of this path walk, it was so big that even I, can''t describe how awesome this ce is, but, what can I say is, this ce is so huge... Elis-nee must have a big connection with the kingdom, just look at the house that is standing at the end of this footpath, I believe they must be a very rich family. "There" Yuika-chan is pointing her finger to our right, I turn my head to see and there''s a gazebo over there, it looks cool from far, but I can see some woodbine worm on top of it and below it, two girls are sitting and maybe having chat? I still can''t see them clearly because it''s still a bit far, it must be hard for someone to have their yard so wide like this, thankfully the view is so clean and when I look around, I can only found grass on my sight range, so I guess I won''t get lost or something here. "Oh, Yuika... Eh? Erwin?" A youngdy is standing leaving her seat and walk towards us, she looks so happy and I feel like she''s about to cry in disbelief, she runs towards me and jumps at me. "Erwin... you are fine, right? I feel like it''s been forever sincest time we''re together..." "Ilya-nee..." I hug her as she kneels on her knees just to take us on the same height, her warm hug is something I really missed, whenever I feel down, this hug will cheer me up and gives me a huge energy source, my big sister barely use a perfume while at home, but now, she smells so nice and different today, it''s something I never smelled before. "Did you use perfume, Ilya-nee?" "Hm? oh, you notice it? Elis-san asked me to try to use one of her perfume from her collection, it smells nice, isn''t it?" I nodded to her, not gonna lie, but, the perfume smells really nice, it has a calming aroma, but in the same time, it gives me a sentiment of a mature woman, it feels like right now I''m not standing in front of Ilya-nee I know, but some beautiful mature woman. "Alright now Erwin, would you kindly answer my questions?" Ilya-nee is smiling while closing her face to me, I can feel something bad is about to happen, and behind that smile of her, I feel like some pressure is pressing against me. Chapter 61 Cookies are The Solution "So, may I hear the reason why Yuika-chan is crying?" So scary... Ilya-nee''s eyes are so scary... I can almost see Ilya-nee is as big as a giant when she''s standing up and cross her hands in front of her chest. I can almost see fire ming on her back and it makes me almost wet my pants. "My, my, let''s calm down Ilya" "Elis-san..." Oh, thank you Elis-nee, you''re my savior, I won''t waste this opportunity and lead this conversation to another topic. "Mouu... I always told you to drop the honorific didn''t I? alright, let''s put that aside for now, Yuika-chan,e here" Elis-nee waves her hand to call Yuika-chan toe at her, she pats Yuika-chan''s head and gently stroke it. "Don''t worry Yuika-chan, big sis is here for you" I don''t know why, but I feel like I''m the biggest jerk here, I turn my head to look at Aura, she notices me and look away and try to whistle with her lips, you can''t let out a whistle sound Aura... please don''t look at me like I''m the worst or something. "[ Sigh... ] I''m sorry Yuika-chan if I did something terrible to you" "My, let''s all just sit and talk about this, the girl over there too, would you want to take a seat and have a tea with us?" Girl? ah, Elis-nee must refer to Aura, I look behind me and nod my head to Aura, she looks nervous and just fidgeting with her fingers, Elis-nee walk pass me and hold her hand. "It''s alright, don''t be shy, I will treat you better than that jer-.. *cough.. *cough.. boy over there did" Eh? did Elis-nee say something rude to me just now? no, no, no, it''s no way, she''s a good person, no way she would do that, well I''m d Aura didn''t feel anxious around the girls, I feel relieved now, I might better go and take a seat too. "Please enjoy yourself" Why do I feel like I was left alone here? why is this round table is so big? I look at the girls who gather up together across me and making some distance to me. "Who is your name girl?" "I-I''m Aura, p-pleased to meet you..." "Ohh, Aura-chan, how old are you?" "E-eight..." "The same as Erwin-kun and Yuika-chan eh, I''m Elis, you don''t need to be stiff, pleased to meet you" "I''m Ilya, I''m that kids big sister, and this is Yuika-chan" Ilya-nee pointed her finger to me, it''s a bit unpleasant to be called ''that kid'' honestly, please address me better Ilya-nee, please use my name at least, I''m so sad now. "Anyway, let''s move to the previous topic, Erwin-kun..." I almost spit my tea when Elis-nee hit the table a bit with her hand and look straight at my eyes with a sharp eyes, she looks serious about something and right now she''s throwing a topic I don''t want to get involved into, but well, it''s still part of my fault for making Yuika-chan cries, I guess I have to endure it and get along with this talk for now. "Can you exin why Yuika-chan cries? we may not see it, but it''s written all over her face and her eyes also a bit swollen, you can''t make ady looks bad like that, right, Erwin-kun?" Well, I don''t want to make Yuika-chan sad, but I don''t even know what makes her cry, she just pull my cor and yell to my face when I''m just about to stand and hug her to tell her how I miss her and I''m so happy to meet her, but will they be okay with that answer? it feels like Ilya-nee and Elis-nee won''t believe that and will say I''m only making an excuse, but let''s try anyway. "Well, I was looking at the goldfish in the water fountain and before I know Yuika-chan came at me and pulled my cor, she then just yelled at me, I don''t really remember what she said, but then I hugged her because you know, we haven''t met each other for a while" Ilya-nee is still patting Yuika-chan and it looks like Yuika-chan is not crying anymore, thanks to Elis-nee for that, she really looks like a reliable big sister, but Ilya-nee is still the best for me, she''s the best sister I had, and I''m really proud of her and wanted to brag about it. "What did he done to you Yuika-chan?" Eh? why is that question sounds like I did something terrible to Yuika-chan? I didn''t do anything bad to her, didn''t I? I look at the four of them with confusion, I''m trying to figure out what my fault is because I feel like Elis-nee and Ilya-nee are keep saying that I''m the culprit and I''m making Yuika-chan cries. "He brought a girl with her and address her with only her name..." "I-I''m sorry Yuika-san... E-Erwin-sa... I-I mean, Erwin said that I should drop the honorific..." I can''t really hear it, but it seems that Aura is talking about me, not sure what''s she''s talking about, I hope it''s something nice, I know Aura is a good girl and she won''t doubt me and talk something bad about me, I guess I can relief a bit and let Aura to exin to them that I didn''t make Yuika-chan cries to something since she''s been behind me all the time. I take a sip on my tea and steal a nce at them again, this time Ilya-nee and Elis-nee just looking at each other in a confusion, Elis-nee just shrugs andughs after that, Ilya-nee just smiled and shook her head. "I see, I see, It''s something like that, hahaha" "I think we just being too worried about nothing Elis-san" "Yeah, hey Erwin-kun, can I ask you to do something" "What it is Elis-nee?" "Tell your sister to drop the honorific when she called me, and also, from now on just call Yuika-chan, Yuika, can you?" "Umm... I don''t really mind if Yuika-chan fine with that" "You hear that, Yuika-chan? now, what''s your thought?" *nod *nod I didn''t see when did Yuika-chan is starting to eat the cookies on the te, I guess the cookies helped her to feel better, I take one and take a bite at it, it''s delicious, I think Ilya-nee made it herself because she''s the one who knows how to make it since we always make it together at home. Chapter 62 Another Encounter With God "Alright, we two have something to do now, you three stay here and enjoy your time, Ilya,e with me" "Ah..." Elis-nee just get up from her seat and drag along Ilya-nee and the maid who''s been standing next to Elis-nee all this time with her, Ilya-nee just followed Elis-nee from behind, before she left, she just gives us a waving hand with a nervous smile on her face, I look at her in deep confusion, I look at Yuika-chan and Aura, it seems that those two got themselves some distance to each other, I feel like some pressureing from them, I see Yuika-chan is trying to gulp down the rest of her tea and put it down on the saucer. "Alright, listen here Aura-chan, I couldn''t say it in front of Ilya-nee and Elis-san, but I will say it to you now, don''t you dare to get any closer with my Erwin any more than this, I don''t approve you to do that" "I-I can''t do that" Eh... what is this sudden change of mood? what is going on here? I look at both of them while I''m still eating the cookie in my hand, I feel like I want to curl up and erase my existence from here, the atmosphere is so tense, Yuika-chan and Aura are just staring at each other intensively, I''m afraid they actually hate each other now, but they just met today right? but why it feels like the bounds between those two is just so tense. "Grrhh... fine, I won''t let you get any closer to him any more than this" Yuika-chan moves her chair closer to me and pulls my right hand to her. "He''s mine, you can''t take him from me just like that" "Ah, Yui..." I tried to stop her, but I feel like Yuika-chan is just too strong and I got pulled towards her, I can feel something soft touching my right arm through her clothes, I feel like something bad will happen if this keeps going, my sweats starting to fall on my forehead. "B-but..." Aura''s moods starting to feel gloomy when I look at her, she looks down when Yuika-chan is starting to pull my hand, now Aura is putting down the cookie she held and get up from her chair, she walks towards me with a bit of gloomy expression on her face, she pulled my hand. "We live together, I can get close to him as much as I want" Eh? she''s not stuttering anymore? what is going on with Aura? I look at her trying to pull my hand as hard as she can while puffing her cheeks, what is going on with these two? why are they starting to act so bold, and anyway, hurts... hurts... my hands are hurts... what is this incredible strength they had? I can''t remember Yuika-chan as strong as this before, she grit her teeth and keep pulling me towards her direction, same goes with Aura, I have never seen her as bold as her now, am I actually dreaming right now? it must be a dream, right? I mean, these two used to be shy and the kind girl, but somehow they turned into aggressive girls right after Elis-nee and Ilya-nee left. "H-hey you two.... it hurts...." "Grrr.... why are you so persistent, I know him longer than you do, we have always been together since child" "E-Erwin saves me and princess carry me before, and he still addresses you with an honorific" Gahh... I can''t understand what are they talking about, can''t they just please let go of my hands already? it''s starting to get more and more hurt than before, I try to pull back my hands, but it''s no use, they are so persistent and keep pulling my hand. "LET... GO... OF... HIM.." "Uwah..." I feel like Yuika-chan just pulled my hand harder and before I know it, my head bes all fuzzy and my vision went ck. Where am I? I feel like my body is all light and my head is still all fuzzy, I try to open my eyes to see what is going on, but when I open it, I see nothing and it''s all just ck, I look around to find a light, but, it seems that this whole ce is just filled with darkness, and only one ce crossed my mind that simr to this one. "Hey, God, Are you there? why am I here again?" Nothing happened, I remember this ce has a simr vibe to that ce where I got called by the ''God'' thing before, so I try to ensure that I''m in the same ce. "Hey... I know you are there, tell me what is happening to me this time" "[ Sigh.... ] I really hope it wouldn''t turn out like this, are you really stupid?" Ah, I know it definitely the same ce like before, without me asking, he put me down and put me on something I can stand on, but what''s wrong with him? suddenly saying me stupid like that, what a rude God he is. "I was thinking of taking all your memories before, but that God of your previous world didn''t allow me to do that, but at the same time, I don''t want to give it back or it wouldn''t be interesting to see, but why it turned out like this [ Sigh.... ]" "What do you mean?" I don''t understand a single thing this ''God'' is talking about, memories? what memories? and there''s another God he mentioned just now? "You see, I think you need to make a move now, that kingdom is already nning on something, you must do something about it, or else my n would be on waste, well, with that being said, now you shall go" "Oi, wai..." My vision went white and when I open my eyes, I was in a position where I try to grab on something. Wait, I''m on the bed? when did I? "ERWIN...." Suddenly someone is jumping and hug me on the bed, I got hit on my head a bit and it feels hurt, it makes me grimace to the pain I feel suddenly. "Ah... ah... I''m sorry Erwin, please lie down and don''t move, I''m sorry..." Yuika-chan put a wet towel on top of my head, I touch it and feel something is ced on my head, it feels a bit coarse and disgusting when I touched it. "E-Erwin... please don''t touch it, or it wille off..." I heard Aura''s voice, so she''s here too eh, she''s just sitting still across Yuika-chan, I think Aura and Yuika-chan won''t argue over anything anymore for now, but I still don''t understand what are they arguing atst time? and they even pulled my hands here and there, I still can feel the tense I feel before in my body through, it makes my nape hair shivers a bit. Chapter 63 Lower Tension "Oh, you woke up Erwin-kun? good grief it''s not a severe injury, here, eat this before it gets cold" "Elis-nee... thank you, but, can I ask something?" "Hm? what is it?" Elis-nee walks closer to us and puts down the tray she brought on the table and stands next to Yuika-chan. "I''m sorry, but what happened to me? and my head feels a bit hurt for some reason" "Hm... how do I put it, so these two, Yuika-chan and Aura-chan, they said that they did something to you, I''m not sure what they did, but when I have a little chat with Ilya, Yuika-chan just run to us while crying and saying that you are in trouble, we were so shocked and quickly run to the gazebo following Yuika-chan from behind to see what''s actually happening, well, we must thank your uncle for helping us to carry you here, we were so lucky he was there" "Uncle Alto?" "Yeah, he was so confused when he saw us running in a hurry, but then when Ilya says Erwin he just followed us without saying anything after that" Ah, I see... I must thank uncle Altoter, he''s still a reliable and kind uncle as always, I think I have to thank him properly in person, I will do itter once my head feels better. I take the porridge Elis-nee brought before from the table, it feels warm and smell so nice, it almost makes me drool just from the smell, I start to take a scoop of it and blow to cool it down a bit before I put it inside my mouth, I look at Yuika-chan and Aura is still looking down with a gloomy expression, I don''t really remember what happened to me, but I think I should say something to them. *nom... "Hmm... this porridge is so good" "Really? I made it for you, I''m d it''s into your liking" I look again at those two, and they still look gloomy, I want to show them that I''m fine already and they can stop worrying about it, I mean, it''s just a mere headache I have for now, and I believe it''s been healed too. "[ Sigh.... ] Yuika-cha...Yuika, Aura, I don''t really know what happened, but please cheer up, look here, I''m fine, right? there''s nothing for you to be worried about" I puff my chest and pat it, I don''t know how this would work, but at least I can show them that I''m really fine now, there''s nothing to worry about, and if they are still gloomy like this, I wouldn''t be able to enjoy this delicious porridge. "I-I''m... sorry...." I''m just about to eat another spoon of the porridge and heard Yuika said something, it''s the first time I actually see her be so gloomy like this, he''s usually a shy girl but sometimes she turned into an enthusiastic girl sometimes, but then she turned back to being a shy girl, she''s one kind of interesting girl and I never tired of ying with her. "It''s fine Yuika, I''m not even mad, all I can remember was you two fighting over something and you two just pulled my hands, well, I don''t remember anything after that though" "Wait, what did they do to you again Erwin-kun?" Elis-nee is suddenly barging into the conversation, her face looks shocked when I said that Yuika and Aura are fighting over something and making me a tug of war and ended up making me fainted and doesn''t remember anything at all, is it what they called a memory lost? is it what that God guy mentioned before? "Well, Yuika and Aura started to arguing on something after Elis-nee and Ilya-nee left, I was eating the cookies if I remember correctly, before Yuika starting to walk to me and pulled my hand" I see Elis-nee turn a re towards Yuika, I don''t know what kind of expression she made, but Yuika looks down after that and her face turned so red, the same goes for Aura when Elis-nee slowly looks at Aura who''s remain silent all time. "You girls really need to be punished for this, you have to apologize properly" "Y-yes...." "Yes... Elis-nee..." Isn''t Elis-nee went too far? it''s not like I got any severe injuries or something, I still able to get up and eat my porridge perfectly, so it''s really not a big deal for me. "Elis-nee, I''m fine, you don''t need to go too far to them, it''s fine" "But...." "Well, they just need to properly apologize, right? then that''s enough for me" "Well... if you say so" Elis-nee look at Yuika and Aura, she just waits for them to speak and apologize to me properly, I know the situation is still awkward. "Yuika, Aura,e sit closer to me" "Y-yes...." Both of them just answer at the same time and move from their seats and sit next to me, they still look so gloomy and sad, so I decided to help them make up first. "Alright, give me your hand" They might look confused from my request but they just give me their hand, I reach out their hands and shake their hands together. "Now let''s lot fight with each other and befriend" Yuika and Aura just nod their head and wipe off their tear that seems to almoste down from their eyelids. "I''m sorry for yelling at you..." "M-me too... I-I''m sorry for saying rude things..." The tension between these two seems to be cooled down and they finally able to smile again, even only a bit. "Alright, it''s fine now, right, Elis-nee?" "Well, I guess so" "Yuika, Aura,e closer to me" Yuika and Aura looks confused and just move closer to me, they''re right beside me now, and after that, I hug them to celebrate their new bound, Aura got another friend that''s on the same age as her, and it goes the same to Yuika, they are my precious friends now, I feel like their face feel a bit warmer and getting warmer, wait, isn''t it a bad thing? "Elis-nee, they caught a cold, please help them" I was panic and quickly asked Elis-nee for help, it''s bad if they caught a cold because of me actually sick and transmit it to them, but the reaction Elis-nee gave me is just augh while she''s walking away and exit the room. Chapter 64 Cute Childhood Friend "It''s morning already, I have to wake up now" I get up from the bed and walk close to the window, the sun is about to rise and it''s the first thing I want to see first for today, I have a feeling something good might happen today, so I woke up early and wait for the sun to rise. "Is it fine to open the window?" I look behind me and still see Yuika-chan is sleeping, her face is so cute when she''s sleeping, but it''s kind of different when night, I''ve been sleeping with her for the past two days and this is something new for me to see her different side. Yuika-chan and I have known each other for like almost 8 years, but it''s the first time I saw her sleeping habit, she sometimes talks in her sleep and suddenly get up and sit on the bed for a few seconds before she fell to her sleeping position again at night and she''s doing that while she''s asleep, I wonder if Erwin ever know this habit of her, they''ve always together since childhood, I wonder if it''s always been Yuika-chan''s habit since then or it''s her new habit? I wonder if Erwin knows about this habit of her, if he is, I''m pretty sure he just will ask her straight away without any hesitation and tell it to me. "Well that''s Erwin for you" I decided not to open the window, considering its still winter and I don''t want the cold air to get into the room, if it''s only me, I can just use my magic to warm up my body, but Yuika-chan is here too, I can''t just let her caught a cold and sick because of it, I guess it''s fine to wait for the sun to rise behind the window, it''s big enough for me to even stand on, but I won''t do that, I don''t know if it''s Erwin, but I definitely won''t do that. I sit next to the bed where Yuika-chan is sleeping on right now, I''m looking at Yuika-chan''s face while waiting for the sun to rise, Yuika-chan is just so cute and makes me want to pinch her cheeks, but it will shock and wake her suddenly, I want to see more of her sleeping face but for now, I guess I have to endure it. I don''t know how long have I spent just sitting and looking at Yuika-chan''s sleeping face, but something bright ising from the direction of the window. "I guess it''s time to wake Yuika-chan now" "*stretch out...* Nggghh... Ilya-nee..? Good morning" Oh, she''s waking up. I think her sleepiness couldn''t resist the power of the sunlight and has decided to wake up, her morning yawn is so cute. Her sleepy face is something rare to see, I really want to cuddle her right now. "Good morning... oh you two have woken up already? ahh... I wanted to see Yuika-chan''s sleeping face, hahaha" "Elis-san, good morning" Elis-san was up early today too, she said she needs to go to southern forest today to hunt down some magical beasts and to protect our vige, since it''s on the border and close to southern forest, I haven''t seen any other noble family aside from Elis-san went to the southern forest to hunt magical beasts, it''s only Elis-san who helped us from the magical beast, I haven''t seen other Gaisras family went to southern forest aside from Elis-san. "Elis-san, are you going to the southern forest today too?" "Yeah, the number of magical beasts in the southern forest has reduced, at least that''s what I heard for now, but I need to check it myself, it''s my duty as Gaisras family to protect our territory, don''t worry about it, I''m pretty strong" It feels like I''m talking with Erwin right now, I don''t know why, but I feel like they have some inmon, the way she talked like a tomboy princess reminds me the moment where Erwin got all proud of himself, it''s pretty funny to see her like this. "Are you going with Marina-san today?" "No, but she will keep lecture me if I just use a [ Stamina Boost ] and [ Physical Boost ] to help me get there, so I think I will bring a horse for today" Aside from her appearance, this girl is pretty boyish, I don''t have that impression toward her like that at first, but when I start living together here with her, I saw a different side, it was surprised at first and almost can''t believe my eyes. "Alright, I will be off now, I think I will be back before noon, let''s have a tea party after Ie back" "Can''t Ie along with you? I want to help at least, and I need to be a strong sister who can protect Erwin" "Erwin-kun eh, I don''t know why, but, I think that brother of yours is pretty strong, I just feel like he has a potential to grow as a strong man, I''m pretty interested to him" "Eh?" "Ah, don''t mind that, I''m not that kind of person who will hit on little kid, don''t worry, hahaha" I don''t know why she starts tough nervously, is she take a liking towards my little brother? even it''s Elis-san, I won''t give him to you that easily, you know. "So, can Ie along?" "Well, I don''t think that''s a good idea since Yuika-chan was here, it''s better to have someone to y along with her" That reminds me, Yuika-chan was crying that day when we met her in front of the store, I was so shocked when I saw her and quickly bring her along with me. "But Yuika-chan is pretty cute isn''t she? she just keeps crying and asking ''where''s Erwin'', I can''t believe Erwin-kun had such cute childhood friend who will cry in front of his house because he wasn''t home" Wait, did Elis-san read my mind just now? We found Yuika-chan crying in front of the store two days ago when I went to see the condition of the vige, it''s all thanks to Elis-san that our vige was safe, I think I judge them wrong, I think there''s still nobles who really cares about usmoners. "Well then, I will go now, I''ve told Marina before to prepare a little tea party for the three of uster" "Eh, you will go now? but it''s still early in the morning" "well, faster is better, right? I can go back early if I went early too, then, I will leave now" "Please have a safe trip" Whenever I see Elis-san, my impression of her was, she''s beautiful and so elegant, even she has this boyish side of her, she still looks so graceful, I always hope I can be as beautiful as her. Chapter 65 Sisters Intuition "Ilya-nee, toile..." Oh, Yuika-chan has fully recovered her consciousness, she was just still half asleep a minute ago. "Alright, let''s go" I reach Yuika-chan''s hand and help her to get off the bed, I think she''s still hasn''t fully gathered all her consciousness, she still looks sleepy and tying to rubbed off her eye dropping, she looks so cute walking with her eyes still closed like this. "Ah, Ilya-sama, Good morning, you and Yuika-sama seems to wake up pretty early today" Someone suddenly called my name, I look up in front of me and see Marina-san is walking in the hallway, she looks so mature and elegant, her curly long white hair reminds me of Erwin, the way she ties it with a ponytail style makes it looks simple but still elegant. "Marina-san, Good morning, Yuika-chan said she wanted to go to the bathroom" "Then, may I apany her to the bathroom?" "Ah, it''s fine Marina-san, I will apany her, I also wanted to look around the house so it''s fine" "I see, then Ilya-sama, please take your time, I will be in the kitchen preparing for the breakfast, if you need anything, just call me anytime" "Ah, yes" "Then, I shall take my leave" Marina-san gives us a bow before she left, Yuika-chan is starting to tugging on my sleeve, I think she''s trying to tell me that she really wanted to go to the bathroom now. "I''m sorry Yuika-chan, let''s go" I apany her until we arrive in the bathroom, I wait outside and let Yuika-chan take her time in the bathroom, I lean onto the wall and watch around me, this house is so big no matter how I see it, the first time I came here I lost when I wanted to go to bathroom, that time I was lucky Marina-san found me and apany me to the bathroom, I guess nobles world are different than usmoners, but even though I''m not a noble, Marina-san keep calling me Ilya-sama, it''s a bit embarrassing to be called like that, I had told her before to just called me Ilya but she instantly said "It''s against the etiquette code of maid to call youngdy''s friend without any honorifics, please forgive me, but I have to kindly refuse it" to me. Yuika-chanes out from the bathroom and it looks like she''s fully woken up now. "Ilya-nee, can we have breakfast?" Yuika-chan''s belly already growling asking for a morning dis, she looks so cute when she''s trying to rub her belly and nervouslyughing. "Marina-san is still preparing for the breakfast now, should we go and help her?" "But I can''t cook..." Yuika-chan looks down and a bit sad, I know she''s not really good with cooking so I wanted to teach her a bit, but I think it''s not the right time to do that now. "How about we make cookies? Elis-san said we will have a little tea partyter so let''s make cookies for everyone, Ilya-nee will teach you how to make it and Yuika-chan can show it to Erwinter once we return home" Yuika-chan looks a bit happy and nod, her face is really a picture of young maiden in love, I can''t really remember when did exactly she fall for Erwin, they''ve been together since they''re still child and I always been there around them, but I still can''t remember when exactly Yuika-chan started to have special feelings towards Erwin, a maiden in love is like a gem in this world, they will constantly blush and red tulips start to blooming all around them, I gave Yuika-chan and Erwin my bless once they get older, they will be a love bird couple in the future, I''m sure of it. Or so I thought... Erwin is visiting today, it''s something unexpected, Elis-san said to uncle Alto and Erwin they should visit me and stay in her house after their finish with their errand, I believe it''s to meet someone named Rosaku-san? uncle Alto said he was the one who gave the books about magic that he ended up giving it to Erwin in the past, Erwin always saying that he wanted to meet Rosaku-san to thank him, Erwin seems to take a liking to this person, he keeps saying that Rosaku-san must be a very talented magician since he was a Royal magic researcher, thinking about that makes me wanted to grit my teeth and bite my nail, thinking about what the kingdom did to usmoners in the past sliced my heart into pieces, but I can''t do anything about it, a daughter of a bakery owner doesn''t have any power to go against the kingdom. Erwin is visiting us, and the first sight of himing is Yuika-chan who''s crying, I don''t know what happened, but I did something terrible to Yuika-chan by not caring about her at first and just hugged Erwin because I missed him so much, I can''t stop myself from hugging him, I let my selfishness won against me. Once I got back my sense, I let go my hug off Erwin and calmed Yuika-chan down, what surprised me is Erwin brought a really beautiful girl with a long ck hair with him, I was so dumbfounded once I realized there was a girl behind Erwin, but I keep myself down and not mention anything about her to our conversation. Erwin is actually bringing a beautiful girl with him when he visits us, and what bothers me the most is my sister intuition that Erwin and the ck-haired girl has some kind of special bounds. "Who is your name girl?" "I-I''m Aura, p-pleased to meet you..." So her name is Aura-chan, I feel like something bad is going to happen, I can understand with just her behavior that she likes Erwin too, it''s bad news for Yuika-chan that now she has a rival, I can''t help just between one of them as Erwin''s big sister, I have to act like a real big sister and treat them fair without giving support only to one of them, at least that''s what I thought. When I saw Aura-chan, I don''t know why, but, something in my heart is saying I can''t just give Erwin to them, I want to keep Erwin all to myself forever, he''s my only reason to live, I can''t give him to anyone just like that. Wait, what am I thinking about, we''re siblings, I can''t have any thoughts like that, I promised to mom already, I will protect those who weak and my heart re up when I first met Erwin, something is telling me that I have to take care of him and raise him. "What''s wrong Ilya?" "Ah, nothing, I just mused a bit" "What happened? did you still shocked that Erwin-kun brought a beautiful girl with him?" "Well, that''s one thing that was bothering me" "Hahaha, I think you must be happy that your brother actually popr" "Well, I think so" We left Erwin with Yuika-chan and Aura-chan in the front yard, I think Elis-san takes intuition and let them make up, at least that''s before Yuika-chan runs to us while crying and tell us something that makes me shocked. "Erwin-kun.... *sob.. fainted... *sob" I quickly get up from my seat and run to see what happen. "Ilya... Wait..." What happened to Erwin? is it something bad? I can''t calm myself down, the apprehensive I feel right now won against my sense. "Hey, why are you guys running like this" Ah, uncle Alto, I know Erwin must havee with uncle Alto. "Erwin..." Seeing my face full of solicitude, uncle Alto didn''t say anything and just followed us from behind. "I will carry him, hey red-haired girl, show me where to take him to, we have to treat his wound quickly" "How rude, call me by my name, it''s Elis" "Whatever, we need to help Erwin quickly" "Just follow me" I was so shocked that I can''t even let out a single word once I saw Erwinying down on the ground with a wound on his temple, I look at Aura-chan and Yuika-chan still crying and Aura-chan won''t even move an inch and looks so gloomy, a guilt was written all over their face so I decided to calm these girls down and let the treatment for Erwin''s injury to uncle Alto and Elis-san. "Erwin will be alright, don''t worry, he won''t get mad or anything, let''s apologize to himter" I need to remain calm and cool down the tension here, I hug both of them, I need to be a real big sister right now, I can''t just let them got eaten by the guilt, I can''t let their beautiful face got corrupted by their tear and guilt, I can ask themter to tell me what actually happened once they calmed down and apologize to Erwin. Chapter 66 A Rivalry "Thank you for worrying about me, Yuika, Aura, I''m fine now, nothing to be worried about anymore" The tension between Yuika and Aura was reduced and I can feel the atmosphere be lighter but I feel like the distance between them aren''t narrowed even an inch, I feel like they still can''t get any closer, I still can''t understand what happened to them actually, to suddenly argue over something I don''t understand at all and making me a tug of war, it''s not like I was angry or anything, but I feel like I need to understand what is going on between them and solve it together, I want them to be friend and be kind to each other. "I''m sorry, Erwin" "I said it''s fine right? you don''t have to worry about it Yuika, if you are still worried about it, I will start to call you Yuika-san" "W-wait Erwin... I-I understand.." "it''s fine, a mere injury like this isn''t something bad, Aura too, don''t be worried too much" "Y-yes...." Aura has been remained silent all time, she looks so sad, maybe she feels guilty about what happened to me even I don''t remember what happened myself, but, I can tell that she looks so gloomy again even after what I did to them, it''s so confusing right now, can''t these two just make up already? I don''t want us to get another problem. "Cih..." Hm? what was that just now? did I just hear Yuika click her tongue just now? when I look at Yuika, she smiles at me, nothing is wrong with her, then what was that tongue clicking just now? Well, let''s not think about that for now, I think it''s just me being tired and start hearing things. "Anyway, maybe we did it already but, let me introduce you to each other one more time" I move a bit and lean back to the headboard t and try to make myselffortable by moving aside the pillow from my back. "Alright, Yuika, I want you to meet Aura-chan, I met her in the capital and because of some condition, me and uncle Alto have decided to save her and let her live with us" "She wha...?" I feel like Yuika wants to say something, but I don''t want this introduction to turn into arguing session or anything, at least that''s what I feel from her tone and the vibe on the air. "So Aura, this is Yuika-chan, we''ve been a friend for a long time, we live in the same neighborhood, we used to y together all the time" "P-pleased to meet you..." It seems that Aura is still a shy girl whenever she met someone new, thankfully she''s already familiar with me and her phobia isn''t actually that bad, she was able to get close to me at least, and thankfully because of that, I''ve been having a weird conclusion all the time whenever she''s around me, she''s been acting weird all the time, it makes me feel suspicious about her true feelings. "Yeah.. nice to meet you too" Yuika reaches Aura''s hand who''s been waiting for Yuika to pick up her hand and give her a warm wee handshake. "Alright, is there anything you want to ask?" I feel like I can leave them be, for now, I feel like they will be a friend as time goes by. "Then, what do you mean by she lives together with you Erwin?" "What? well, as I said before, because of some condition, me and uncle Alto had decided to let her live with us, at least that''s the reason why, or are you asking the detail?" "Yes I want every single detail of it" Yuika looks serious and stares deep into my eyes, I turn my face and look at Aura, she looks a bit sweaty on her face, but when she notices me looking at her, she gave me a little nod before she covers her face with her hands. "Well, it''s gonna be a bit personal, and Aura, please forgive me" I bow a bit to apologize to Aura because I will bring up this topic in front of her to Yuika. "So she was attacked by a rude adventurer with a spiky-haired style, that time, I was having a little walk after having a dinner with uncle Alto and we coincidentally saw her got attacked by that spiky-haired guy, so we went and save her, we got into a little fight against that spiky-haired guy but somehow we manage to defeat him and make him surrender" Is it fine to make up the story a bit? I don''t want to mention that uncle Alto doesn''t want to get involved in that fight before and even asked me to just leave them because he thinks to get involved by that spiky-haired guy for the second time isn''t a good idea. "As I thought from Erwin-ku... Erwin sure is strong..." Yuika''s eyes are dazzling when she heard my story, she always got excited whenever I did something and says ''it''s awesome'' or something like that, she always like that since we were still little kid. "But I still can''t understand, why she lives together with you and uncle Alto-san?" "About that..." I look at Aura, she still remains silent and just looks down, I think she doesn''t want to say a single word about it. "[ Sigh... ] She''s an orphan, and her orphanage was destroyed by magical beasts attack and she said she''s the one who was able to escape, at least that''s what she remembers, she said her friends saved her and she was able to escape because of that" Yuika seems to understand but her face is saying that something is still bothering her, and when I look at Aura, she has just let out a deep sigh and then grab her chest, it feels like she''s hiding something, her sadness? if it is, then, I think I need to cheer her, I need to pull her out from her solitude and tell her that she''s not alone, I will always be with her and Yuika also will always be there and support me, I know she will support Aura too because now we''re friends, right? "Ah... I don''t really understand but, Aura-chan, I won''t let you do anything you want to Erwin, I won''t say I got handicapped or anything, but, don''t think you can win against me" Eh? why is Yuika starting to provoke Aura again? what is happening here? and why am I being dragged into this? "I-I...." "Alright, now we''re settled, youe with me and find Ilya-nee to apologize" Yuika walk closer and grab Aura''s hand and then drag her exiting the room, just what is happening right now? I got left out in this big room all alone now, and my head feels a bit fuzzy, I think I might better sleep a bit more for now. Chapter 67 Sleep Together "Oh, Erwin you woke up?" The first sight I saw after waking up is Ilya-nee who is reading a book near the bed, I feel like it''s so quiet around here, I look at the window and see the moon is shining up in the sky as if it''s trying to stare at me and call for me to fly up in the sky to grab it. I touch my head to check if the headache already is gone or it''s still there, I poke hard on my head where I feel the paine before and it feels like there was no pain left or anything, my head isn''t all fuzzy or anything, I think it''s safe to say that I''mpletely fine now. "Ilya-nee, what time is it?" "Hm? ah, around 10 maybe? everyone was already asleep now" "Then why Ilya-nee still here and not going to sleep?" "Is it wrong for a big sister to worried about her little brother?" Ah, that''s right, why am I asking something stupid like that? I should be happy that Ilya-nee is here for me, but I can''t let Ilya-nee for staying upte like this. *Growl...~ "Ah, as I thought you will get hungry after all those sleep" "I''m sorry Ilya-nee, I will try to sleep again, Ilya-nee can sleep too now" "Don''t be stupid, you can''t sleep with an empty stomach, let''s go to the dining room, I will cook you something to eat" "All right..." I decided to just follow Ilya-nee from behind, right after we leave the room, I faced a big hallway, I look around and it looks so quiet, I can even hear my footsteps echoing on the wall, are all nobles houses are like this? Even the end of the hall looks so far for me, I kind of feel bad for nobles now, they have to walk around in the big house like this every day, their day must be very tiring. "Oh, Ilya-sama and Erwin-sama, may I know why both of you walking around the house at thiste?" Suddenly a woman wearing a ck dress with a white apron appears when we''re about to go downstairs, she looks so mature and elegant, her white hair is wavy and looks so wonderful, I feel like I''ve met her before somewhere. "Marina-san, I''m sorry, but, can I use the kitchen? I want to cook something for Erwin since he was just woken up and have eaten nothing" "Oh, Erwin-sama, is your condition better now?" The maid notices me and walks closer to me, I remember now, she''s Marina-san, she''s the one who saved me back then when I got into trouble fighting a magical beast wolf type, if I remember correctly, she was the one who healed my wounds didn''t she? "Erwin, Marina-san is the one who healed your wounds on your head, you need to thank her properly," "Thank you for your help Marina-san, you saved me twice, I can''t thank you enough" "I''m just doing my job, Elis-sama asked me to do that, I think you must thank Elis-sama instead" With still lowering my head, I began to think, I saw fire magic before when I was fighting the magical beast, that fire magic saves me from the wolf that pounced at me, then, if Marina-san''s magic is a healing type, then Elis-nee was the one who has the fire magic. "Wait, what are you talking about Erwin?" Ilya-nee looks confused, I''m not aware at first, but it just slipped out my tongue, I shouldn''t be saying that or else Ilya-nee might get mad at me for that one time, a cold sweats began to fall from my forehead, I try to look away to avoid this topic if possible and I don''t want to make Ilya-nee suspicious about it. "Erwin-sama was lost back then in the forest and Elis-sama found him just standing and looking around in confusion, that''s why Erwin-sama brought us home with him before, we apany him to get home safely," Eh? what? that''s not how it was, right? I turn my face and look at Marina-san, she looks so calm while telling that story to Ilya-nee, is she nning to convince Ilya-nee with that story? "Ah... I see, so that''s why Erwin brought home Elis-san and Marina-san with him before" "Yes" Eh? Ilya-nee believes that? I turn my eyes and look at Marina-san once again, she still remains calm, but, when she notices that I keep staring at her, she gives me a wink, she was still able to maintain her calmness, what an act she''s putting on right now, but, I think I need to thank herter for helping me to get out from this situation. "Well then, Marina-san, can we use the kitchen?" "Ilya-sama, you can freely use it, but, can I also help you? I''m still worried about Erwin-sama, I''m the one who heals his injury, I need to make sure he''s all fine now" "But, will it bother you? Marina-san also need to sleep since it''s alreadyte" "Don''t worry about me Ilya-sama, I just need to properly nurse my patient" "But still, Marina-san is such a reliable person" "Thank you for your esteem Ilya-sama, I''m so honored, then let me show us the way" "Thank you Marina-san" "It''s nothing special Ilya-sama, it''s also my pleasure to be able to nurse Erwin-sama" Ilya-nee is holding my hand tightly, I walk down the stairs slowly, Ilya-nee seems to keep her pace the same with me and not to just drag me along with her. "May I know what to cook, Ilya-sama?" "Let''s see, Erwin is already hungry, maybe something simple and not taking much time to get prepared?" "We can make a sunny side up if Ilya-sama is willing something that can be prepared fast, we still have some rice left from the dinner, I''m sorry for that one" "Ah Marisa-san, you don''t need to lower your head like that, Erwin, you don''t mind about it, right?" "Eh? ah yeah, it''s fine, right? food is still food" I just sit and watch them from my seat, I''ve decided to just eat in the kitchen since there is a pretty big table here, and I can eat the food right after ites off the pan, nothing is more pleasurable than eating warm food right after it cooked. "Then, let me prepare a dessert for Erwin-sama" Marina-san bows her head before she leaves the kitchen and went off somewhere, she said she will prepare the dessert, but honestly, I don''t really mind even there are no desserts, it''s fine to just eat the main dish as long as it can fill my stomach. "Then, wait a minute Erwin, it won''t take long, okay?" I just nod to Ilya-nee, for me to be able to taste Ilya-nee''s cooking again already makes me happy, I don''t mind how long will it take for the food to be prepared, I will just sit and look around the room from my seat, this kitchen looks big, I think it''s bigger than our store, it looks awesome to see a kitchen as big as this. "Here, sorry for the wait" Ilya-nee doesn''t need to take more than 5 minutes just to prepare the food she serves in front of me right now, the sunny side up tempts me to quickly eat it and gulp it down my belly. I eat the food with a big smile on my face, it''s not like the food taste really good or anything, it just because I''m finally able to taste Ilya-nee''s cooking again and eat it together with her, although, it''s only me who eat the food right now, I''m still happy. "I''m sorry for the wait, I made this, can you please try it, Elis-sama, Erwin-sama?" "Eh, is this for the dessert?" "Yes, I tried to make it after Ilya-sama teach me, the reason why I haven''t sleep is that because I wanted to try and make it before I sleep" What I see in front of me is a round-shaped hard cookie Ilya-nee and I usually sell at the store, so Ilya-nee taught Marina-san of how to make it huh, well, I ate some this afternoon, it''s fine to eat it as ate-night snack, isn''t it? "Then, Ilya-sama, Erwin-sama, I shall leave now, I need to do something tomorrow morning" "Ah, we''re sorry to bother you Marina-san" "It''s fine, I''m d the cookies I made were into your liking, then, Goodnight" "Goodnight Marina-san" I look at Marina-san turning her back to us and left, she looks so mature and so reliable, I wonder if all maid were like that. "Then, Erwin, want to sleep with big sis tonight?" "Eh, I want it, I want it, let''s sleep together" It''s been a while since thest time I sleep together with Ilya-nee, of course, I''d dly take her offer to sleep together, I can stay at her side longer now. "Then, let''s get back once we finish it" I nodded excitedly with my mouth still full of cookies I chewed, I want to quickly eat and finish the cookies and went back to sleep with Ilya-nee. "Ah, eat it carefully, duh" Ilya-nee is looking at me with a smile on her face, she looks calm but I feel like she''s being happy inside her. 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