by Kiri Komori
“Yes!”
At age four, I, Tinaris, learned basic alchemy and the mana recovery technique! And now I was about to learn magic!
♣As It Turns Out, My Four-Year-Old Daughter is a Genius
THE thing I liked best about my country, De Marl, was its harmonious ideology. It decisively strove for friendly relations with its neighbors and repeatedly held Edesa Kura’s human supremacist ideals and violent aspirations in check. In many ways, it was the conscience of the human continent.
But I probably also wanted to take revenge on Edesa Kura. I hated that country from the bottom of my heart. And it wasn’t only because I’d seen my friends die fighting them… It went deeper than that. My parents had to live through their country being torn apart and their land being occupied by Edesa Kura. In the process, the militant country afflicted them with an illness that would torment them until the day they died.
Thankfully, my parents fled that land because of the disease and built our inn at the foot of Mount Rofola. They lived peacefully and brought my brother and me into this world.
Our lives were good for a while after that. But when Edesa Kura launched what it would later call the “Jiera Blitz”—though we called it the “Jiera Defensive Campaign”—I lost my arm in battle.
And on the way back from that campaign, I met the person I would devote the rest of my life to. A Mythical Beast led me to a container where I discovered a small foundling. A baby I would go on to call Tinaris and take back home with me.
I’d lost all my purpose in life, but holding that baby, that little bundle of potential and hope, made me feel as if I’d been granted a divine revelation. Put another way, touching that baby was like touching the endless possibilities of the future, and it left me breathless. Thinking back on it is nostalgic.
When I came home, Ma latched on to me, weeping. Apparently, they’d brought back my brother Romulus’ body. Ma cried as she told me that De Marl’s knights returned him to them. And then I came home with one arm missing. Seeing the children she brought into this world reduced to this state broke Ma’s poor heart.
But the only fight De Marl participated in at the time was the Jiera Defensive Campaign. My brother, being an adventurer, likely sided with the Jierans. I’d invited him to become a knight, but he always turned me down, saying with a smile that he wanted to be free to see the world… And he probably fought guided by his sense of justice. That was the kind of man Romulus was.
“Pops, you see, I… On the way back, I ran into a giant Mythical… It led me to a baby.”
“A baby…? That’s a peculiar story,” Pops said. “But I suppose people have all sorts of problems nowadays. The state this world is in…”
“Yes, it’s a pity,” Ma said. “We’re blessed to have Mount Rofola and the lake, so having another mouth or two to feed isn’t going to change much. The poor thing… The gods must have guided her to us…”
“Yes, you’re right… And you came back to us. Romulus probably kept you safe. That Mythical Beast must have been Romulus in disguise, guiding you.”
“…Could be.”
I can imagine he wanted to help me at the very end. He was always softhearted and broad-minded. He might have found this baby and simply couldn’t leave her to her fate. And with that thought in mind, I realized I’d have to keep this child I held in my one remaining arm safe. For as long as I lived.
I was probably like my older brother in that regard, eh…?
♣♣♣
FOUR years had passed since that day. Ma finally succumbed to her illness and joined the gods’ in heaven, and now Pops was losing strength. I came home to repay my parents for raising me, and now I wouldn’t have the chance to help either of them!
I took over running the inn from Pops, and it turned out to be much harder work than I thought. Our family home doubled as the inn’s reception area, and we had six cottages for the guests. Cleaning, washing the sheets, making sure each occupied cottage had hot water for bathing, and cooking what the guests asked for were just a few of my responsibilities.
Keeping the water hot meant I had to go chop wood in the forest for kindling. The meals meant I had to go hunting, fishing, and plow the fields. Managing the ledger, maintaining the stock for consumables: it all made my head spin! There was so much to do, I didn’t know where to start!
I was so busy, some part of me wondered if I’d have been better off staying as a knight, fighting or handling office work. The fact Pops and Ma handled all of this on their own made me truly appreciate how amazing my parents were… And it also made me think that if I had stayed behind to help them, instead of leaving to become a knight, I wouldn’t have had to condemn them to years of hard labor.
My life choices were one of many regrets. I’d lived the way I wanted, and now, it was all catching up to me.
I spurred my horse forward, heading for the port country of Fei Lu. A doctor who’d taken care of Pops in the past lived there. All the while, I was wondering if Tinaris would be all right… She was a smart, considerate child. A clever, good girl. Even when I had to ask her to help take care of the customers, she never uttered a word of complaint.
But was I right to leave her with those adventurers? There was that suspicious old guy there. But I thought she’d be fine. There were two women there, so I doubted anything bad would happen to her… If that group of adventures were bastards, they’d kill Pops and kidnap Tina. And that mage girl did mention something about payment…
My steed, Judie, was a bit of a pigheaded horse, as it were. She wouldn’t let anyone outside the family sit on her saddle. She only let that suspicious old man ride her, and Doctor Rob’s clinic was located in a hard to find corner of Fei Lu. A person visiting for the first time would struggle to find it, and that lost time could cost Pops’ life. Going to get Doctor Rob myself would be that much faster.
“Damn it…I have to get back home, fast!”
Tormented with concern for Pops and Tina, I hurried to the doctor’s clinic.
Fei Lu was called a port country owing to its status as a center of trade and commerce. Entering the country was relatively simple and streamlined since merchants were constantly traveling to and from there. But that same traffic meant a long line of people wanting to get in.
It was a great country, and its land was by no means smaller than De Marl’s territory. In other words, it was quite large! Fei Lu was expanding, and each time I visited, the urban area was growing closer to the city center. So to reach the doctor I knew, I had to leave the main street and look for shops and houses I recognized.
“…A green pub’s sign…a red triangular roof, the black cat’s pharmacy… There!”
Next to that establishment, I found a shanty with a wooden sign hanging on its door. That was the clinic. It wasn’t managed by the state, but rather by a small, private practice owned by a doctor named Rob. He was a bit unsociable, but his medical skill was guaranteed. My brother recommended him to us, and he’d taken care of the family since.
“Doctor Rob! Are you in?! Pops is feeling sick. I need you to come over, quick!”
“…My word, are you trying to give me a heart attack with all that shouting? This is a small clinic, so don’t throw open the door… I-It’ll break.”
“A-Ah, sorry. I’m in a hurry. Listen, Pops is…”
“I heard you. I can hear you just fine without any shouting, friend… I’ll get ready, so take a seat there. Aaah… You really are Romulus’ younger brother, aren’t you?”
I regarded his comment with silence. Doctor Rob was as short as a dwarf but had a large head and a slim body. His physique made me wonder if he was really human. But this doctor, dragging the hems of his oversized white coat as he walked, had looked after me, my parents, and Tina. He was, for all intents and purposes, our family doctor.
He had a wrinkled face, a pair of glasses that seemed all too small sitting atop his nose, and quite a peculiar, monotone manner of speaking. But he immediately understood the situation and beg
an preparing to leave.
He put up a sign on the door that said “Away on a house call” and looked at me as if to ask where the horse was. I realized I was overworking poor Judie, but we still had the trek back to consider.
“Knowing you, you probably exhausted your steed. We can’t have it collapse on the way back, can we? Have it drink this. It’s good for curing a horse’s fatigue.”
“A medium-grade tonic?” I said, looking at it.
Quite the unusual item to have lying around! The fluid had a red shade that was slightly thicker than a low-grade tonic’s. I went outside and added the tonic to the trough I borrowed. Judie, who was visibly tired, drank it without any complaint. Her eyes then shined as she looked at me and neighed vigorously, as if to say, “Come on, I can keep going.”
I was impressed with the tonic’s effectiveness and had to wonder if a horse could tell the difference in a medicine’s potency. This was wonderful, since we’d be able to make the return trip as quickly as we’d come!
“By the way, is Tinaris doing well? It’s almost time for her vaccinations.”
“Vaccinations? What kind of vaccinations?”
I brought Tinaris to Doctor Rob for a physical examination when she was still a baby, during which he gave her five or six shots. As I saw her hold back tears from the pain of those shots, I couldn’t stop thinking: “If I could take this pain in your place, I would!” This doctor was a devil for giving a little baby this many injections, but I knew all too well how dangerous diseases could be from my experience with Ma and Pops.
I didn’t know babies even needed that many shots, and the whole ordeal was quite pricy. But Tina’s health was worth more than anything. And despite the painful memories associated with those shots, Tina needed even more vaccines now? Does this world have no mercy?!
“The ones I gave her as a baby were different vaccines. A-type and B-type fevers, and also the Dedero Virus. I administered the vaccines for Red Throat Fever and Foam Flu when she was a baby, but those vaccines only become effective after a second shot, so I have to give her another one. The Dedero Virus is especially nasty. Can melt the bones entirely if it gets bad enough.”
“P-Please, go ahead!”
“Mm-hm. I’ll bring the vaccines and syringes with me.”
That disease sounds terrible! The world isn’t just full of dangerous foes but awful diseases too!
“How much will it cost, then?”
“Fifty thousand colts. Can you afford it?”
“I can.”
My retirement money easily allowed me this much. And if it’s for Tinaris’ health, no sum is too big!
“We’ve been interacting with the demi-humans more and more recently… So more unknown diseases have been spreading. You and Tinaris should be careful.”
“W-We will.”
Doctor Rob and I went back the way I came. The trip that would have taken seven days if I’d have let Judie rest would only take us five days.
Aaah, Tina, Pops! Stay safe! Don’t force yourselves to cook and end up getting bad burns, or trip over something and get hurt!
Tina was quite mature and could sleep alone, so I gave her a room on the second floor… But I was gone and Pops was in such a bad state. She must have been crying from the anxiety…
I was so terribly worried about her.
She isn’t crying, is she? She hasn’t wet the bed? Did the adventurers poke fun at her for wetting the bed and make her cry? They looked like they can cook, but they didn’t force her to eat things she hates, did they?! Though she’s not that much of a picky eater in the first place…
What if those adventurers tormented her somehow… Or if anything happened to Pops… Or if they took the money and bailed…
The anxiety was eating away at me!
♣♣♣
I hopped off Judie in front of the inn at Rofola, still overcome by my anxiety and concern. Doctor Rob wasn’t a child—despite being small enough to pass for one—and could certainly get off the horse on his own. What mattered to me was Tina and Pops.
Be safe, you two! Please!
I was used to opening doors with just one hand, but when the knobs were set on the right side, it was hard to turn them with my left hand. I wondered if I should have the doors here changed to sliding doors, like Tina suggested.
“I’m home!” I called as I hurried up the staircase to the second floor.
“Dad!” Tina greeted me.
“Oh, you’re back sooner than you said, Marcus.” I found Pops on his feet.
“…Y-Yeah.”
Or so I replied, even with my thoughts awhirl, but the truth was that I doubted the reality before my eyes. It was all too different from what I’d feared.
“Pops, should you be out of bed?” I asked him, my voice thick with concern.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Pops replied. “Tina learned how to make my medicine, so I’m all better now. She even healed my aching back and knees.”
“Sh-She did?”
Tina did what? Pops’ legs are weak because of his old age, and Tina…healed it? She made his medicine? How?!
“It’s been a long time, Maro,” Doctor Rob said, walking in behind me.
“Oh, Doctor Rob, you’re here!” Pops smiled. “I’m sorry you had to come all this way.”
“Don’t let it bother you.” Doctor Rob shook his head. “I see you’re doing well. Well, I’ll check up on you, so take a seat. That chair over there will do.”
“A-All right.”
Doctor Rob remained as composed and indifferent as ever. Sitting Pops down in one of the coffee corner’s seats, he began his examination. I, on the other hand, couldn’t understand the situation. What happened in the five days I was gone? Pops was fine, and Tinaris was apparently safe, but…
“Oh, sir, welcome back!” The adventurer Gina and her sister Mina walked into the inn and ascended the stairs toward me.
“O-Oh, there you are!” I said. “Thank you for watching the place for me… So, what’s going on here? What happened?”
“Aaah, yeah, makes sense you’d think that,” Mina said.
I left Tina in the care of these adventurers. They appeared to be coming back from the field, having picked poteitos and other vegetables. The other two adventurers were apparently out hunting a boar in the mountain. I wondered whether they could pull it off, given how large the boars could be. They were too dangerous for amateur hunters to handle…
Well, whatever, those guys can handle themselves. More importantly, what’s this about Tina making medicine?
“Your daughter’s a genius, sir! Our archaeologist thinks so too, so it’s guaranteed!” Mina drew on me excitedly.
“H-Huh?” I stuttered.
“She’s right! Tinaris learned alchemy to save Grandpa here!”
“A-Alchemy?!”
The more they told me, the less I understood. Tina learned to use alchemy? Why? How?! Beginner alchemists have to learn all the basics at a state-funded institute to even get started. It’s not something one can just use. I learned the basics myself during knight training, but using mana required so much subtle attention that I couldn’t really pull it off.
Magic had wider applications than alchemy, but it was too complicated for me, and I could only use the kind of magic applied to my sword. I didn’t feel motivated to learn anything more than that. And if one was serious about it, they needed to learn the mana recovery technique. I used magic to give elemental powers to my sword, but I couldn’t do it unless I was in a nice, quiet spot I could concentrate in. Doing it while using magic or alchemy felt like an impressive feat to me.
I’d given up on alchemy and magic, since I simply wasn’t suited for the delicate feat of handling mana, but…
“Erm, I read the alchemy books in your study,” Tina told me, handing me a small bottle full of pink fluid. “They had instructions for making this…”
“That’s a low-grade tonic… Mm? H-Huh?! All you did was read the books, and you made this?!”
I couldn’t believe it.
“Th-That’s… Tina, you’re a genius…” I stuttered.
“Isn’t she?!” Mina piped in.
“She is!” Gina nodded with a smile.
The sisters agreed with me, their eyes absolutely shining. Some people could manage this after spending years studying, but being able to use alchemy just from reading a book? What can you call that if not a genius?! It was definitely out of the ordinary.
“N-No, it’s just…a coincidence. I got lucky…”
“That can’t be true,” Gina said. “If it was just a coincidence, you wouldn’t have made Grandpa’s powder medicine three times.”
“Right!” Mina agreed. “You pulled off everything right, except for the first time you tried to dry those leaves. If you feel like making those in bulk, let me know, and I’ll sell them for you!”
“N-No… Er, if you want to talk about money, you should speak to Dad…” Tina said bashfully.
“Hmm? What’s this about money?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow.
Apparently, some talking down was in order. Not Tina, of course, but that mage girl.
“We’re back! Oh, owner, you’re back too!” The young male adventurer, Aaron, walked in through the front door.
“O-Oh, hello. Thank you for watching over the place while I was gone… Did you hunt a boar?”
“Naaah, it got away.”
“We did hunt down an Uri Boar, though.” The suspicious, older adventurer walked in behind him.
They too seemed to have seen Tina’s alchemy at work and agreed that she was, indeed, a genius.
Well, I always knew she was a smart cookie!
A four-year-old girl helping out around the inn without a word of complaint. What can you call that if not genius? And now she could use alchemy too. A child prodigy if ever there was one!
“Your daughter has amazing talent,” the older adventurer said. “Do consider sending her to study at Saikorea! I have acquaintances there who could arrange for an invitation. I do believe your daughter should capitalize on her talent!”