by Cloe D Frost
Well, Kiel had never been in an inn before, but still, this was not what he expected the room to look like.
The room was… special, too personal. It looked like a room of a teenage girl.
“What is going on? Who is that woman to you? Is this your room?” Kiel’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Elaru.
She gave him a bitter smile. “This room is not for rent. It used to belong to Mira’s daughter. But now, this is the place I stay at when I am in Ashar.”
Kiel raised his eyebrow, urging her to elaborate. Her face showed a tinge of sadness.
“A few years back, a sudden battle broke out between mages that took the lives of a few innocent bystanders. Mira’s daughter had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Oh.” He didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t good at comforting people. “Did you know her?”
Elaru shook her head. “Not really. She worked as a waitress in Hot Pot, so I did exchange a few words with her, but I didn’t really know her. After the accident, in the resulting chaos, the perpetrators slipped away and covered their tracks. The peacekeepers couldn’t find them, and since those that lost their lives had no social status, the peacekeepers in charge of the investigation weren’t granted enough funds to hire a tracker. Mira and her husband couldn’t rest until those responsible for it were punished, so they put up a quest asking for someone to find the culprits.”
Kiel’s eyes brightened in realization. Of course! Elaru was a tracker. It was right up her alley.
“However, they couldn’t pay a fee high enough to hire a tracker skilled enough to complete it.” She paused. “I was staying at Hot Pot at the time, so I found out about the situation.”
Elaru paused, and picked up a red glittering stone from the night table. She brought it up to her eye level and watched the light flicker on it with a sad look. “I like it here, Mira and her husband are good people.”
She sighed and put the stone back down. “I offered to help out, but since they couldn’t pay a high enough fee, we settled on an alternative payment. The deal was that I get to enjoy the services of Hot Pot for free in the future, and they would let me permanently “rent out” this room.”
Kiel glanced around at the frilly curtains and small ceramic animals placed on shelves. “Why do I get the feeling you ripped them off?”
Elaru smirked. “Because you have no idea how high of a fee trackers of my caliber usually charge.”
He shrugged. True. But he could guess that her value as a tracker was on the top of the ladder. And the number of people qualified to sit on the top were too little to satisfy the high demand for their services.
Kiel picked up a ceramic doll wearing a lacy dress and looked it over. “So all this stuff isn’t yours.” He smirked. “That makes sense. This room doesn’t suit you.”
Elaru chuckled and jumped on the bed. “And what kind of room would suit me?” She stuck out her tongue at Kiel cutely. “Chains and skeletons everywhere?”
He smirked. She was clearly teasing him about how he made her out to be evil. He was about to respond when his expression froze. It was only when Elaru sprawled on the bed that he noticed a serious problem.
“What do you mean it’s big enough?! No matter how you look at it, it is a one-person bed!”
Elaru rolled her eyes. “Well, in comparison to the king size bed you have in your room, yeah, it must look quite small.”
Kiel gritted his teeth. “It doesn’t look small, it is small! It is a standard single person bed!”
She shrugged nonchalantly. “We are both slim, we’ll fit.”
He glared at her. “What is wrong with you? It is inappropriate to share a room with a male who isn’t your lover, let alone a single bed. Did you stop to consider how this would look to other people?! This is socially unacceptable!”
“Well what do you suggest we do? There are no other available rooms.”
“Let’s go find another inn.”
“Do you think it is a coincidence that there are no available rooms?” Elaru looked at Kiel like he was an idiot, before elaborating. “Muni exams start in three days, and thousands upon thousands of people are congregating here for the exams. This weekend and next week are the liveliest times of the year. That’s why all of the good inns are full. We could spend the whole night searching for a single room, let alone two.”
Kiel pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He hated to admit it, but she was right.
He had to endure and hope no one finds out about this in the future.
He glanced at the bed again. Who’ll take the bed? He didn’t want to sleep on the floor, but forcing a female to sleep on the ground would be considered rude.
Wait, why was he worrying about etiquette in a scenario where no one would find out what he did? He had already shed all pretense of nicety with her. There was no reason for him to sleep on the floor. It was her fault that this happened anyway, she should take responsibility.
“Get off. The bed is mine.” Kiel declared, his tone of voice leaving no room for arguments.
Elaru chuckled with amusement. “You can have the left side, I’ll sleep on the right.”
Kiel’s face darkened. “You still intend for us to share?!”
She looked at him with confusion “Of course, there is just one bed in here. What can we do but share?”
“Floor is an option.” He snarled.
Elaru pouted. “No way. A bed, no matter how small, is still better than the hard ground. Why are you making such a big deal out of this?” She continued in a teasing tone. “Are you afraid of getting cooties?”
Kiel’s hands twitched, he had a sudden urge to strangle her. After a few seconds, he restrained himself and let out a long sigh.
What was it about her that caused him to lose his cool so easily?
Kiel reverted back to his standard response pattern – when teased, tease back.
“It depends, do you share your bed with men often?” He gave her a lopsided smile.
Elaru didn’t seem to pick up on his teasing tone. “Not really. I don’t remember the last time I slept next to a male.” She stopped to think about it.
“Hmm, I think the last time was 3 years ago when I was out with papa and Wade.”
Papa? So she was a daddy’s girl, was she? Only little kids called their fathers “papa”.
“So with which one did you share your bed with?” He couldn’t help but wonder.
“Neither.” She laughed. “Papa tosses around like crazy and Wade latches onto my boobs while asleep like a leech.”
Kiel steeled his expression, suppressing a gape that threatened to emerge. Wait, what?! Is Wade a little kid with a mother complex?
“Watch your language.” He squeezed out, but she completely ignored him.
“I slept on the floor and I had them share the bed. But papa kicked Wade out of the bed in the middle of the night, and he joined me on the floor. And then I had to leave the room and sleep on the roof because Wade kept accidentally touching my boobs all night.” She laughed merrily. “He is such a twit. That’s the last time I let him sleep anywhere near me.”
What kind of a childhood did she have to talk about such things so casually? And what kind of a father let his own daughter sleep on the floor?
And who the heck is Wade?!
He didn’t even notice he voiced that last part out loud until Elaru responded. “Wade is a distant cousin of mine, but we grew up together so he is like a brother to me.”
“Ah, I assume it is normal for brothers to grope their sisters’ in your family?” Kiel’s eyebrow twitched.
Elaru opened her mouth to say ‘no’, but in the middle of voicing it out, she actually reconsidered her answer. After thinking about it for a few seconds, she smiled sheepishly and shrugged.
What is that supposed to mean? Kiel smacked his hand over his face in frustration. Should I blame her father for her poor upbringing?
He sighed and removed his hand. I’ll just have to teach her som
e mann… “what the heck are you doing?!” His thoughts were interrupted by the sight in front of him.
Elaru was stripping her clothes off. She stretched like a feline, as if flaunting her perfect body.
“What does it look like I am doing?” She rolled her eyes.
“I am standing right here!” Kiel motioned towards himself.
“Exactly. Why aren’t you taking off your baggage?”
That’s when he noticed that she was just taking off her accessories – her scarf, goggles, gloves, bags and a few weapons.
He sighed in relief. So she wasn’t that stupid. But just to avoid any future trouble, he responded with: “Warn me before doing something like that in the future.”
Elaru smirked. “I thought you were aware. Didn’t you cover your eyes a second ago?”
Kiel was dumbfounded. What was he supposed to reply to that? Tell her that it wasn’t out of consideration for her privacy but him face-palming himself because of her stupidity?
Arrgh! This woman will be the end of me!
He face-palmed himself again.
“Next time, don’t peek.” She added teasingly.
Kiel got the urge to facepalm himself again, but unfortunately, he couldn’t, because he was already doing it.
After a while, he sighed in resignation and followed her suit. If you can’t beat them, join them. He took off his sword and bags. He started taking off his arm protectors when Elaru stopped him.
* * *
Author’s Note:
I looked around at other web novels, translated web novels, and other serialized fiction, and I’ve noticed that their chapters are a lot shorter than mine. So instead of releasing one large chapter a week, I’ve decided to start releasing several shorter chapters. That way, the chapters will be shorter but you won’t lose out on the number of words released.
Coming up in the next episode:
Kiel grabbed Elaru’s arm and looked at it closely.
She gasped softly and pulled her wrist out of his grasp.
Elaru was a rare specimen. Seeing her blush was even rarer. It was rare squared!
Her face and ears turned especially red when Kiel smiled at her.
“Elaru, what high school did you go to?” Kiel started out his excavation of Elaru’s personal information with a simple question.
Episode 14 – Homeschooled
Episode 14 – Homeschooled
Previously:
Elaru reveals her connection to Hot Pot. Kiel doesn’t want to share a room with her, let alone the small bed in the room. Elaru teases him about it and reveals the existence of two important (and eccentric) people in her life - her father and cousin who she grew up with.
* * *
Kiel took off his sword and bags. He started taking off his arm protectors when Elaru stopped him.
“Don’t take it off. Your brand will be visible.”
She was talking about the mark of the Aetherneal Bond.
Kiel almost forgot about the mark. Well, he would have remembered as soon as he saw it. But remembering only after seeing the brand would be unacceptable in the future. Who is to say someone else wouldn’t be in the room with him?
I should learn some light magic in the future to camouflage the brand. Light magic is a branch of transmutation magic that specializes in the manipulation of light, which can be used in a wide variety of ways, such as changing the color of things, making them emit light or making them invisible.
“How about I teach you how to hide the brand?” Elaru offered him her left hand without waiting for his response. “Pay attention.”
Elaru slowed down her spell casting intentionally so Kiel could catch every movement of her mana.
When she wasn’t concealing her presence, she was like a bright sun – countless tendrils of light formed by her mana surrounded her and danced a slow, chaotic dance.
When she started casting the spell, the mana around her arm stopped moving aimlessly and instead, it started congregating into a single spot. It was like the mana drops were snowflakes blown by the wind, they layered on top of each other, forming a curvy pattern.
The attraction force mashing them together didn’t lessen at all, like gravity, it pulled at them harder and harder until individual drops of mana could no longer be seen. They turned from countless gaseous particles into a liquid ribbon of bright light. If mana drops were little stars, then that ribbon was the moon. When it appeared, everything else dimmed.
The formed, bright pattern of light was “the spell”. The Association of Magic defined “a spell” to be a reality altering phenomena. And just like its definition foretold, a soft pulse of magic power spread out from it, creating a distortion in reality.
After the initial pulse, the spell started revolving around Elaru’s arm on its own in a periodic dance. This special movement of the spell continued to distort the reality around her arm.
Kiel saw that spell in a book covering the basic types of magic. It was a basic color manipulation light magic spell.
As Elaru exerted control over the spell, it started moving around like a hyperactive child, causing the black markings on her arm to fade out until they completely disappeared.
Technically, a spell was still made out of Elaru’s mana, and she could exercise her mana control to deform the spell. However, if drops of mana were like drops of water, then a spell would be a block of ice. If she tried shifting the mana forming it, it would break and fall apart.
Once the phenomena forms, the pattern and the form become fixed. The spell becomes linked to the mage as if it was an extra limb and the caster can innately control it as a whole. This control over the spell is exactly what was known as “spell control”. It is an entirely different concept from mana control.
The spell Elaru cast wasn’t a solid-state spell, which meant that the distortion of reality would be detected as an anomaly and reality itself would reject it, continuously attempting to revert back to its previous state.
To keep the new color of her markings from reverting back to black, the spell would need to keep distorting the reality. And that continuous distortion would use up mana. The moment that the spell ran out of mana, it would attempt to feed on the mana it is made out of, which would cause it to deteriorate until it fell apart and dissolved into nothingness.
Since this was a mage-sustained spell (as opposed to self-sustained spells), that meant Elaru had to constantly feed it mana to prevent it from breaking. This process was like breathing, she could consciously control it, but it usually came effortlessly and didn’t require her to dedicate her attention to it.
Kiel grabbed Elaru’s arm and looked at it closely. The place where the mark used to be, turned into flawless skin. Her spell control was so fine that she managed to make her markings the exact color shade of her skin.
In his amazement, he involuntarily touched the place where the markings were supposed to be. The skin was smooth to the touch and revealed no sign that it was black a second ago.
Well, the skin didn’t reveal any sign, Elaru however, did. She gasped softly and pulled her wrist out of his grasp.
Kiel looked up at her face, surprised by her sudden motion. A beautiful reddish tint covered her cheeks.
He stared at her in wonder. It was the first time he saw her flustered about something. That reckless, headstrong Elaru that was unperturbed by the world, was blushing like a little girl. He couldn’t believe his own thoughts, but this flushing Elaru had an irresistible charm to her.
At that moment, she looked pure, even vulnerable. That color suited her, made her look compellingly adorable.
Seeing her like this brought incredible satisfaction to Kiel.
Elaru was a rare specimen. Seeing her blush was even rarer. It was rare squared!
“What’s wrong?” He asked her. He had to know what could make her blush. He felt like he was close to discovering a weapon of mass destruction. It was imperative that he learned about it!
“Don’t touch my markings.” S
he responded in a soft tone. Her voice sounded so pleasant to the ear. Kiel was sure that if he were an elibu, his ears would have perked up.
“Why?” Was it an elibu thing? Were they sensitive about their markings?
“It feels weird when you touch it.” She responded.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kiel frowned. “Who is afraid of cooties here?” He smirked. This was good, he finally had something on her. Something he could use in the future. This was an excellent day!
“I’ll need to engrave the details of that pattern into my memory before I am able to cast it.”
Elaru nodded. “You can work on that after dinner.” The color of her face returned to normal quickly.
Before going down to dinner, she moved towards the desk where they left their equipment. She reached into one of the pouches on the desk and took out something wrapped in thin metallic paper.
It was a fist-sized metal object with numerous engravings on it, shaped in a form of an egg. The egg was sliced into multiple rotatable rings. This egg was a puzzle that had many possible configurations. It was near impossible to find the right position of all rings.
Elaru twisted them one by one in various directions. When she twisted the last one, the egg clicked softly. The engravings started glowing and a spell spread in two-meter radius around the table.
As she placed it on the table, even though it was round, it stood stably on it without any signs of being unstable.
Is this what I think it is?
Kiel’s eyes glittered. He had always had a high interest in magical arrays because the process of making them didn’t require him to use his own mana. With enough money, even a non-mage could become an arrayist.
He considered becoming an arrayist, but he would need to invest a lot of time to it for it to become useful. And since what attracted him to that profession wasn’t the profession itself but the product, he felt reluctant about pursuing that path.