"Woah! What a gorgeous view!"
As the carriage rattled along the dirt road, the only boy in the group—me—couldn't contain his excitement and stood straight up on both feet at the driver's seat.
"Hey. Why are you suddenly doing something so dangerous?" Isolde immediately grabbed my waist and pulled me back down to sit.
"Because the scenery in front of me is just too beautiful!"
Running parallel to the road our carriage was traveling on was a massive river, so wide you had to squint to see the other bank. Yet, the water's surface was calm, dyed the color of fertile alluvium. The current flowed gently, carrying the sweet scent of middle autumn.
In many stretches, I could see children from nearby villages playing and running along the riverbank, innocently jumping in for a swim and fishing. At some sections, locals were busy transporting fabric sacks full of wheat to the ferry landings, loading them onto small boats to be shipped to major towns and cities. They carried goods, fresh fish, and even fascinating stories that I swear I'd willingly pay to hear.
Not to mention the climate here. Gentle breezes blew in from the northwest, bringing a slight chill from the lower ridges of the Red Dragon Mountain Range. Accompanying it were the calls of all sorts of birds, flying abundantly through the shafts of light that pierced through the mountain crevices in the early morning.
Stretching further along the path of the birds, along the river, were fields of golden, heavy-grained rice. Dotted across them were the black specks of farmers diligently harvesting. A true countryside scenery that I had always longed to see. It was as if I had just returned to the Japanese countryside.
Though in reality, many things were slightly different, like the architecture and clothing, let's just pretend. Even though it's been over a decade, I still have this obsession with retiring in a Japanese-style village.
"Honestly, jumping up and down over something like that. You're an adult now, Atur." Isolde glared at me. For some reason, every time she did that, I found it quite adorable. "It would be fine if it was just me, but if Norn and Aisha copy your behavior, Paul will get mad at us."
"I know, I know." I grinned widely and nudged Isolde's waist with my elbow. "You sound just like a young mother scolding the kids' dad."
"Hmm... The kids' mother, you say?" Isolde suddenly turned to look at me with a highly teasing smile. "So I at least look the part of a mother, huh? In that case, I hope you start looking the part of a father soon, Atur."
"..." I froze for a moment, completely taking a few seconds to process the implication behind that statement. "Wait… I'm... going to be a father?"
Smack!*
Isolde's entire hand landed right in the middle of my face. It wasn't a slap; her whole hand was simply planted squarely on my face in a rushed, yet slightly helpless manner.
"I meant." Isolde spoke again, her voice clearly trying to restrain herself from getting loud. But then she fell silent, not saying another word aside from a deeply exasperated sigh. "Ah never mind."
What's that supposed to mean?
Our conversation apparently reached the ears of the most energetic and sharp-witted little girl in this carriage.
"Whoa! Brother Atur is going to have a baby? Does that mean I'm going to be an auntie?" Aisha immediately popped her head out from the gap in the carriage cabin, sticking her face out with a wide grin. "I want to hold the baby!"
Isolde said absolutely nothing else. She just glared at me as if to say, 'You caused this mess, you fix it.'
Seeing that, I had no choice but to laugh it off. "Ah, it's just a misunderstanding, Aisha. That's a bit too early for me."
"Early?" Aisha widened her eyes and blinked twice. "But haven't you been an adult for a few months now?"
I swear the kid meant to reference the fact that I had celebrated my 15th birthday party. But for some reason, I felt guilty thinking about what had happened that night. Ah, no, knowing Aisha, I suspect she was actually implying the latter.
Truth be told, I didn't think I was ready to take care of a child yet. I mean... I still didn't even have a proper job. My net worth was quite high, sure, but money was only a small fraction of the preparations needed to raise a child. Plus, I had a whole pile of other things to do. Like taking Aisha and Norn to Rudeus's place, for instance. If Isolde were to suddenly get morning sickness now, traveling would become significantly harder. So, even though I had thought quite a few times about building a small family with Isolde and having at least two kids—one boy, one girl—I ultimately still lacked the confidence to be a father at this stage.
Besides, I'm a Blood Tribe member anyway; according to Lord Lan Xin, it's very difficult for me to have children. He said that on average, it takes about ten to twenty years to conceive a child even if you 'do the deed' every single day—a pretty crazy statistic. The only faster way to have a kid as he said is that we have to be 'fated' to be together or something like that which is kind of abstract to me.
So having a child right now was completely outside my calculations.
"So be a real adult and let me be an auntie, Brother Atur!" Aisha patted my shoulder heavily like some middle-aged aunt rushing her nephew to have kids.
"Spare me, Aisha..." I chuckled, responding to my cousin's adorableness.
"What do you think, Sister Norn?" Aisha hadn't given up yet; she turned to her older sister. "You want to be an auntie too, right?"
"Fueh?" Norn, who was reading a book, flinched. She truly hadn't paid any attention to what just happened and was entirely focused on her studies. What a hardworking kid. "Be an auntie?"
"That's right." Aisha nodded with her hands on her hips. "A tiny, adorable baby Atur—don't you think that would be absolutely hilarious?"
Who calls a baby 'hilarious'? Ah well, she's only 8 years old, after all. Sometimes Aisha's maturity makes me completely forget she's still just a kid.
"Brother Atur with a baby's body..." Norn glanced up at the carriage ceiling; she was clearly imagining my face on a baby's body. "Pfft..." And she actually laughed.
"Right? Right? It's hilarious. Hehe." Aisha instantly broke into a wide grin as well.
Seeing my two cousins able to joke around with each other like this made me feel somewhat relieved.
Ever since the day we left Wyrn, not only Norn but Aisha had also undergone a change.
I'm not sure what happened, but it seems that while I took my timid cousin into the forest, Aisha tagged along with Isolde to watch her duel the Death God. And right after that day, Aisha took the initiative to seek out Norn and me to apologize. Afterward, she promised she wouldn't act or think like she did that day anymore.
I asked what had happened. Isolde simply smiled at me and said:
"I just told the truth. The rest was all up to her."
So they talked about something, just like I had talked to Norn. If I said I wasn't curious, that would definitely be a lie. But since Isolde didn't want to spell it out, I didn't plan on pressing her.
Because of that, the plan I had wracked my brain to come up with to reconcile with Aisha wasn't even needed. It was a surprising outcome, but I didn't mind. It's a good thing, after all.
Norn now feels less insecure compared to Aisha. And Aisha no longer constantly thinks everyone is favoring Norn. Consequently, the two kids naturally grew closer to each other.
"Baby Atur!"
"Hehehe!"
And because of that, I ended up becoming the target of their teasing. Oh well, it was worth it.
…
We traveled for a few more hours until it was around lunchtime. The carriage finally came to a halt.
Usually, according to our schedule since the day we left Wyrn, mornings were for studying academics, math, and the like. Aisha goes without saying, but Norn had recently become more independent and was able to study and explore on her own. Even though she wasn't a genius or anything, she at least knew which learning method suited her best. All morning, Norn would read books by herself and solve the exercises Isolde assigned. When noon arrived, my girlfriend would grade her work.
Meanwhile, Aisha... well... did what she always does. She simply did whatever she felt needed to be done.
Sometimes, she'd calculate the group's expenses on her own to figure out the most efficient budget. Other times, she'd pull out a notebook, jot down notes about the places we'd been, and nod to herself about things I couldn't comprehend. Seeing that scene reminded me of strolling through Roa with my friends a few years back; Rudeus also used to hold a notebook and jot down prices like that.
As for today, Aisha was curious about magic, especially the massive project I had been working on all this time.
"Brother Atur, teach me about magic circles," Aisha had requested.
And I had no reason to refuse. Our entire past week was all about learning magic circles, along with practicing to become more proficient at silent incantations.
The result was that today, the kid had completed an assignment I gave her—a magic circle that generates an outward gust of wind. It was a magic circle about 20 centimeters in diameter, meticulously drawn on a special paper designed to deploy magic. Unlike typical single-use types, this one was reusable; since it was material I used, it obviously had to be top-tier. Because of that, the price was quite steep, so I could understand why Aisha was so careful when drawing on it. If I'm not mistaken, my cousin practiced drawing it on the carriage floor and in her imagination before finally pulling out the paper and ink, doing it perfectly on the first try and submitting her assignment.
Scary as hell.
Based on my experience, just a quick glance was enough to tell that Aisha had successfully fulfilled the assignment requirements. There was nothing too groundbreaking yet, but I shouldn't expect too much from a child who had just completed her very first project. If I compared it to my past self, it's honestly hard to say for sure who was better.
"Hehe. What do you think, Brother Atur?"
Aisha was quite proud of what she had created; just look at that smug face of hers. She was clearly waiting for my praise.
"Overall, it looks fine. But let me test it out to see how it works."
Theory is one thing, but practical application is a completely different beast. So to be safe, I placed my hand on the magic circle and channeled my mana into it.
The ink patterns drawn on the circle began to glow green. And without needing to receive mana for too long, gusts of wind began radiating from within the magic circle, creating a mini tornado that gradually increased in power, sweeping away leaves and small dry twigs. Several insects were consequently flung straight into the stew Ginger was preparing, accompanied by dirt, pebbles, and other debris.
As a result, both Aisha and I were heavily scolded by the knight lady for the crime of using magic recklessly.
"Lord Atur, please restrain your power. Master Roxy also once said that a mage must know when to use which magic and must be aware of their surroundings. You should know that too, Aisha."
"Yes… I'm sorry…" Both of us answered in unison.
Ultimately, the pot of stew had to be thrown out, and Aisha and I were tasked with remaking it.
While cooking with my red-haired cousin, I gave her my evaluation of the magic circle she made. Overall, everything was quite good, achieving results that exceeded expectations. The only problem was, as Ginger pointed out, that the circle wasn't good at restraining the amount of mana consumed.
I won't drag on about theory that nobody cares about. I think people just want to see badass magic shooting out of hands and blowing up mountains, not learn about a bunch of theories, so I'll explain it briefly.
Roughly speaking, a complete magic circle is like a closed-loop production line. Its input is mana, and the lines drawn on the magic circle act as machines that transform that mana stage by stage. Until finally, the result of the magic is pushed out from the center of the magic circle.
The problem with the magic circle Aisha made was that its 'entrance' was opened way too wide, to the point of having no limit. Because of that, the mana channeled into it went unrestricted, so even though it was an Elementary-tier magic circle, its power reached the Intermediate tier, causing the aforementioned incident.
That was a fundamental mistake. But Aisha made it. Why you asked?
"Aisha, I know you're smart, but don't just copy the magic circles I make without understanding their functions. You can't just take a component from something else and stick it in. Not restricting the input mana is extremely dangerous," I explained while peeling potatoes. "You know full well what happens when someone runs out of mana."
Aisha opened her mouth to say something but then stopped. Afterward, she grinned widely, revealing her snaggletooth.
"Got it! I will learn from this."
Seeing Aisha accept her mistake and assure me she would fix it like that, I couldn't help but smile. After all, even geniuses make mistakes. I felt quite proud that I would be the one to help her gradually become even more perfect. That was an honor.
"Master Atur! Master Atur! I have a question!" Aisha raised her hand again.
"Question huh!? That's the spirit of youth!" I dropped the last few potato chunks into the soup pot, turned to Aisha, and gave a thumbs up. "Alright, ask away my beloved disciple!"
"If having no limit is dangerous, then why does the magic circle you drew have one?"
Aisha was referring to the magic circle I had placed in the Ulom forest the other day, the one I seemed to pull out to study every single night.
"Because it's not a standard magic circle," I explained. "It was created to absorb as much mana from the environment as possible, so that's only natural."
"Absorb mana?" Aisha asked with wide, round eyes.
"Yeah." I nodded.
"So what kind of magic does it produce that requires limitless mana absorption?"
"Hehe, there's no magic. It absorbs it to crystallize it into magic crystals."
That was exactly my project to solve my own limited mana capacity issue.
It had been a few years since my battles at the Ant Nest Labyrinth and against Atofe back then. But compared to those fights, my recent encounter with Velma featured significantly less combat power.
The reason wasn't because my swordsmanship had rusted or anything. On the contrary, my swordsmanship had reached new heights, far stronger than before. But to achieve a level of power capable of bringing a Demon King to their knees, I needed to use magic therefore, I needed a lot more mana. The only way to solve that problem was through magic crystals, and those things were outrageously expensive. I didn't have an infinite wallet, so I couldn't just casually buy more or go exploiting labyrinths.
So I came up with an idea: "Why not just extract mana directly from the air? Just like how people extract Nitrogen to make fertilizer."
So, ever since my time at Fortress Necross, I started that project. It's been over two years now, and I finally got my first prototype. The time I placed that magic circle in the Ulom forest was also my first field test of its natural mana absorption capabilities. The results weren't exactly as expected; I only harvested a few tiny crystals, barely enough to cast one Elementary spell.
After some investigation and testing, it seemed the current conversion rate of mana from gas to crystal only reached a pathetic 3 to 5% range. The good news was that it worked; the bad news was that even if I channeled all of my own mana into it, the amount of crystallized mana produced would be practically nothing.
So you could say this power bank project still has a long road ahead of it.
"Crystallize into magic crystals?" Aisha pondered, her gaze shifting to Norn. "Like the one Sister Norn is wearing around her neck?"
"Yeah. Do you want one?"
"I do!"
So I gave Aisha a crystal too. Mainly because I had sold off most of the tiny ones I made at the adventurer's guild we visited yesterday. And since the one I created this morning was only the size of a pea, I just gave her a purple crystal the size of a knuckle.
"Whoa, it's so beautiful!" Aisha immediately marveled. She then turned to look at me with sparkling eyes. "This would probably sell for a lot of money, right?"
"Yeah... But don't go selling it. I'll be sad."
"Hehe, I'm just joking. If Brother Atur gave it to me, I'll keep it very safe!"
"Good girl. I know you would." I patted Aisha's head.
"Hehe." Aisha didn't seem bothered by it; she even actively nuzzled her head against my palm.
Seeing this, I truly felt grateful for being given a second chance at life.
"By the way, Brother Atur, how do you use a magic crystal?" Aisha asked another question. Well, she is the type of kid who's always curious about everything.
"Just like normal. You just place the magic crystal on the magic circle, right at the mana input position."
So I decided to demonstrate. I rummaged through my pocket to take out a tiny one to test, but because I pulled a bit too hard, another one fell out.
It was another purple crystal, the size of a billiard ball. And as if all the bad luck in the world decided to mock me, it fell directly onto the mana input position of the tornado-generating magic circle Aisha had just made.
"Eh?"
Before I could even react, a colossal tornado materialized, soared into the sky, and then crashed down into the nearby forest.
Me, Aisha, and everyone else completely froze at what just happened.
"Good thing no one got hurt, huh—?"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"
But the moment those words left my mouth, a blood-curdling scream echoed out, and a young man shot up from the forest into the sky, plummeting straight into the river.
And just like that, I knew I had stumbled into another massive, terrible mess.
….