After Serena casually explained my existence to Frederick and his son, they disappeared inside the cavern together with their attendants.
That was quite a while ago.

I've spent most of my time since waiting and occasionally looking at Serena and my own status.
There's nothing new or interesting, I'm just biding my time I suppose…
I'm really just waiting for a chance to sneak in some magic practice when Serena gets distracted.

Whilst I was absentmindedly thinking of something to do, I heard footsteps approaching from inside the cavern.
Frederick, his son and their attendants came out of the cavern. The son's face is covered in dirt.

Serena, who had started leaning on the cliff face next to the cavern entrance straightened up again.

*Sigh* (Sir Frederick)
"Looks like we made it out without any trouble." (Sir Frederick)

"Well done Sir." (Serena)
Serena with her hand on her heart greeted Frederick.

*Hmph!* (Young boy)
The young boy with his cheeks puffed up seemed displeased about something.

"Ha ha ha, don't mind him. He's just frustrated. The cursed stumps kept tripping him up every time we came close to a rat dragon." (Sir Frederick)

"In the end, the only thing we managed to see was the cursed stump's wood magic ability!" (Sir Frederick)
Frederick kept grinning, seemingly remembering something amusing.

"Those stupid stumps are gonna regret tripping me up when I get my fire magic!!" (Young boy)
The young boy stomped on the ground with an embarrassed expression.

"Now, now, calm down, ha ha ha!" (Sir Frederick)
Whilst Frederick casually told his son to calm down, he looked like he suddenly had an idea when he looked over to me.

"Here, why don't you clean yourself up and try out the wood magic ability we saw." (Sir Frederick)

"…But wood magic is useless. Nobody likes wood magic." (Young boy)
Seems like wood magic is the Brussels sprouts of magic.

"Mmm. Well, that may be true, but you can use it to quickly entangle yourself next time, ha ha ha." (Sir Frederick)
Oh, the parent didn't disagree with the negative assessment of wood magic but kept relentlessly laughing at his son anyway. (PR: Is... Is Frederick modelled after my dad?) 

Frederick's son puffed up his cheeks further and reluctantly cleaned himself up with a cup of my water and a towel from the baggage carrier that one of the other attendants went to fetch for him.

"See that small twig over there? Try imagining it wriggling around like the cursed stumps when you mould your mana." (Sir Frederick)

The young boy closed his eyes and held his hands out in the direction of a small twig lying on the ground.

(…)

It sounded like wood magic was a waste of time, but this is my first time seeing a magic other then water being cast in front of me, I'm getting pretty excited.

Just like when Julia casts her water magic, the young boy's veins also began glowing subtly and then suddenly-

(!)
The small twig startled wriggling around! Woah! Scary!

*Hmph* (Young boy)
I'm baffled by this strange display, but the boy seems like he couldn't care less.

Huh?

The gears in my head suddenly started turning.
I'm partly made out wood, aren't I?
Isn't this magic actually kind of amazing?

(I- I could probably use this to move around couldn't I?!)

◇◆◇

 

The Fredericks left at some point, but I couldn't care less at the moment.

I've been doing some brief soul searching, and I've decided.
I don't care if Serena notices me moulding my mana anymore. Learning wood magic will be worth the risk.
Reason being, I'm fairly certain I can get away with secretly training wood magic.
Training fire magic is difficult to disguise, but wood magic should be fine I think.

Yeah. I'm sure everything will be fine. 

I begin moulding my mana with the same small twig that the young boy used before as my target.
I use the mental image of how it wriggled around a while ago.

(…)

It moved!

I look at Serena who clearly dozed off at some point.
(Safe.)

This is also partly the reason why I suddenly decided to take the risk.

I focus on my mana.

It took half my mana to make a small twig wriggle.

But more importantly, when I began using the wood magic I could subtly sense my entire scarecrow body.
It almost felt like having a human body again. I could feel my broom handle arms and the long piece of wood that's stuffed into my torso-shaped hay bail. And although very faint, I could even feel every single strand of hay that makes up that torso.

It's as I suspected. Wood magic can actually grant me complete control over this body.
I'm getting really excited.
I can't wait.

I make the twig in front of me wriggle again.

◇◆◇

 

It's now morning.
Several hours have gone by.
Serena woke up a couple of times to greet the occasional delver entering or exiting the cavern, but she dozed off again right after they left every time. I'm thankful for this woman's lethargic personality.

In addition, this embarrassing faucet has truly turned into a blessing in disguise.
Every delver that comes by fills my mana supply back up unwittingly. All of these spoiled humans have hundreds of mana points, and they just keep accidentally filling me back up to the brim.

And thanks to them-

I wriggle the twig for the dozenth time.
I've been messing around with it all night and eventually managed to make it look like it's dancing.
It's now sticking out of the ground with 2 tiny protrusions pointing up and down in a sort of disco pose.

(Hue hue hue…)
My time has finally come.

Yes!! I've confirmed it! It's definitely there!

This is making me wonder all the more why fire magic has been such a pain to learn.

What's different about fire magic as opposed to water and wood magic?

(…)

I haven't seen anyone use fire magic? Could that be it?
It's easier to come to a conclusion now that I've got a sample size of 2 other abilities to reference.

I observed Julia using water magic and Frederick's son reluctantly using wood magic. But I've never actually seen anyone using fire magic…
All I did was mould my mana into the mental image of a lighter.

I'm a little reluctant to go with the first theory I came up with, but this honestly feels like a fairly good assumption to go on for now.

I could've probably learned the magic that Isaac used to kill those wolves a while ago if I hadn't been so scatterbrained.
Yeah. I made myself a mental note to pay closer attention to people using magic from now of on.

Whilst I'm still basking in my glorious achievement, I hear the sudden snort of someone that just woke up in a hurry.
Looks like Serena had a dream about falling. She's no longer leaning against the cliff face and standing up straight again now.

I hear footsteps approaching out of the cavern.

Ah, nevermind, seems like she just expertly woke herself up again.

One of the delvers that filled up my mana a while ago exits the cavern.

*Yawn* (James)
It's James. He's the apprentice delver that touched my faucet for the first time in Elena's store. 
He's covered in dirt and bruises. Looks like he had a rough time in there.

James approaches me and pours mana into my crystal.
He turns my faucet handle and pours some water in his cupped hand.
James splashes copious amounts of water in his face and shakes his head and hair in the wind like he's in a hair conditioner commercial.

He casually places his head under my faucet and begins drinking straight from the tap by letting my water flow into his mouth.

James what are you doing.
He's like a sportsman that came back from an exhausting workout.
He's just unapologetically going to town on my water like he's been parched for hours.

(Pervert…)

"Pervert…" (Serena)
A barely audible Serena echos my thoughts under her breath.

James turns my water off and looks at Serena.
"Did you say something Serena?"

Serena quietly shakes her head.