After chatting with Sylphy about random things for a while... Mostly our favorite foods, colors, and hobbies-

Ah. For the record, Sylphy's were honey, blue, and reading. She was fond of sweet things and she really liked blue because it reminded her of the sky. And she liked reading because she didn't have any friends and reading books let her pretend to be someone else.

If I didn't have a reason to be Sylphy's friend after that, I sure did now. It was just too sad for a cute young girl to be spending so much time on her lonesome. Especially since she seemed to be a natural extrovert and was super bubbly when chatting with me.

...What was I thinking about again?

Oh, right.

So after chatting with Sylphy for a while and ignoring my parents... which now included Miss Lilia, thankfully. It seemed like my dad managed to pull it off.

Though considering it was a clear pass to the goal, I would have throttled him if he messed it up.

Anyway, after chatting with Sylphy, Mister Laws came by and had a chat with my parents before escorting Sylphy back home. Although not before extorting a promise from me to pick her up every morning and play since I was now her one and only friend.

A promise that was triply enforced by my parents later that evening saying that I had to take responsibility for my promises. Especially to innocent and naive girls.

And both my mom and... Miss Lilia... No, I suppose it was Mama Lilia now. Mama Lily? Mama Lily.

Both Mom and Mama Lily gave my dad a pointed look as they were lecturing me about responsibility.

So it was decided that I would spend my mornings playing with Sylphy, my afternoons training with Dad, and then my evenings playing with Sylphy again before she got picked up by her dad when he was done with work.

I didn't mind. Sylphy was fun to spend time with. And she wasn't an annoying brat despite being a kid... unlike some of the other village children I'd bumped into in the past.

Maybe that was why Sylphy didn't have any other friends...? Food for thought.

Anyway, Sylphy was fun to hang around with. But as I spent more time with her and played some makeshift games with her by teaching her some magic, I realized something.

I seemed to have a natural talent at jinxing myself.

"This is incredible, Rudy!" Sylphy laughed and ran around, waving a makeshift wand I crafted for her from a fallen branch.

I didn't have any magic stones to use like Master Roxy did for mine, but the branch was from the special tree I made for Mom, so it conducted mana just fine.

...Not that Sylphy needed help for that.

I let out a wry smile and watched Sylphy twirl around giant streams of water before scattering them into rain.

Rain that stopped in mid-air before turning into snow.

"...Yeah. It definitely is incredible."

It had been a few weeks now since I'd started up my new routines. And as always, we were playing by Mom's tree. Mostly so that Mama Lily... Lily Mama? Needed to get used to that still...

Anyway, it was so that she could keep an eye on us while doing chores.

And as always, I decided to teach Sylphy a bit about what I knew of magic before we started playing some makeshift games using mana.

It was a good way for me to get in some magic training and solidify my foundations while Sylphy had fun and also got better with magic. A win-win.

Except for one problem.

Sylphy's way of using magic made no sense.

I stared at the mana that Sylphy was using to cast her spell.

It was blue, as expected. After all, it was water magic. But it wasn't threads.

Whenever Sylphy waved her wand to cast a spell, she sent out her own mana, just like I did. And it had a unique color too. A weird greenish blue hue.

But unlike my mana that came out in threads, hers was a blob. A diffuse and intangible blob that floated around like bubbles.

Bubbles that popped and then immediately did whatever she put her mind to.

Sylphy tucked her wand into her sweatshirt pocket and then twirled around, holding her hands out to catch the snow. "It's so pretty...!" She laughed and then ran over to grab my hand. "Come on, Rudy! Let's dance in the snow!"

I sighed on the inside, but outwardly I smiled and let her lead me around. "As you command, my princess."

Sylphy let me go and then giggled. "Since when did Rudy become a knight?"

"When my dear friend became a magical princess who could call in the snow." I paused and said, "Aren't you cold though?"

Sylphy blushed and said, "Not when I'm with Rudy."

I frowned. "That's no good." I waved my own wand and dismissed all of the snow, turning it back into ambient mana.

"Aw..."

I shook my head and said, "It'd be bad if you got sick."

Sylphy huffed and said, "It would be fine! My parents wouldn't mind."

"Yeah, but mine would. But anyway..." I rubbed the back of my neck and said, "You really have a knack for magic, don't you?"

Sylphy shook her head. "Only because Rudy is such a great teacher. And also because Rudy taught me how to see mana!" She looked around and said, "I never knew the world was so colorful!"

While Sylphy was happily twirling around and taking in the sights, I quietly muttered. "I didn't though."

She was a genius. Probably more than Master Roxy- Ah, no. It wasn't fair to compare them since Sylphy had a better head start with me here.

But anyway, Sylphy was definitely a genius. One of those crazy people who just had an intuition for mana and a natural creativity for magic.

For example. That 'seeing mana' thing she mentioned? I didn't teach it to her. I didn't give her that fancy magic circle I gave to Master Roxy to let her see mana.

Sylphy did that herself.

After I let it slip that I could easily move mana around and cast spells because I could actually see mana, Sylphy stared into space for a while lost in thought... and then she could suddenly see mana.

And it wasn't a fluke or imagination.

I tested it out very, very, *very* thoroughly. Asking her the color of fire mana, water mana, wind mana... even my recently acquired holy mana.

And she scored 100% on each color.

I guess some people were just built different...

I felt kind of bitter at that. Here I was thinking I was special for managing to figure out mana sight, but Sylphy just pulled it off like that after thinking about it.

No, no. I shouldn't be envious.

And I shouldn't treat Sylphy like she was special either. Having a big ego and thinking you were a genius were both dead-ends.

Instead... Let's encourage her.

Right.

If Sylphy managed to make things work just by thinking it was possible, I should see what else was possible.

Maybe I was approaching magic in the wrong direction. It could definitely be logically broken down and rationally analyzed, but it seemed like there was definitely a whimsical and imaginative aspect to it as well.

...Which would explain how I made Mom's tree and the magic circle for Master Roxy.

Wait.

Rational... Imaginary...

And if magic spells were like math formulas, then-

"Yo!" My dad's voice called out. "You kids done playing? It's time for Rudy's sword lessons!"

"Oh!" Sylphy stopped looking around and then turned towards my dad. "Mister Paul! Sorry for keeping Rudy!"

My dad walked out from the gate of our house and headed over. As he did, he waved his hand and said, "Nah, don't worry about it. Rudy needs some time to be a kid too or else he'll be too serious and grow up too early."

I frowned. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"See?" My dad pointed at me and said, "He's already talking like an adult."

My frown deepened.

Sylphy giggled and then said, "Well, that's what makes Rudy cool."

"Oho?" My dad turned towards me and raised an eyebrow. "A cute girl thinks you're cool, Son. What do you think about that?"

"I think that my dad's a busybody who should stop looking at the world in terms of beauties, boobs, and booze."

My dad blinked and then he laughed. "You got me there."

Sylphy tilted her head, thinking. "...Boobs?"

I froze.

My dad froze as well.

Sylphy turned towards me and said, "What do you mean by 'boobs', Rudy? I know beauties and I know booze, but I haven't heard about that... Is it something adults like?"

I glared at my dad and held out my left hand, conjuring a crimson clay sword. I whipped it towards him and pointed it at his head. "This is your fault!"

My dad grinned and pulled out the wooden sword at his right side. Resting it over his shoulder, he said, "*My* fault? Whose mouth did those words come out of, hm?"

"And who do you think I learned them from?!"

My dad paused and then started to sweat. "U-Um... Not me, right?"

"Who else would it be, Dad?! Argh!" I charged and swung my sword at his head.

He easily parried it and then laughed. Glancing at Sylphy, he said, "Zenith and Lilia finished lunch inside, Sylphy. You can go ahead and eat with them. Rudy and I... Well, it seems like my dear son has a lot on his mind right now."

"Shut up and let me hit you, dammit!" I growled and kicked forward, swinging my sword low to smack his shins.

"Hey! No using grown up words!" My dad pulled off some fancy footwork and spun around my sword before smacking my head and knocking me to the ground.

"Gah!"

I pushed off and tried to pounce back on my feet. But before I could, a boot pressed my head back to the ground.

"Mmmph! MMMMMPH!!!!"

Freaking-!

Dammit! I hate geniuses! It's not freaking fair!

Stupid Dad! Just wait! Another two years! Just you wait until I figure out how to do the same mana empowerment thing you're using, you cheater!

"Um..." Sylphy's voice echoed. "...Are you sure it's okay to do that to Rudy, Mister Paul?"

"Meh. He'll be fine. Rudy's a tough kid. He doesn't need me to take it easy on him anymore. Right, Rudy?"

"MMMMMMPH!"

I'll beat you up! I promise! I'm going to figure out how to smack that grin off your face if it's the last thing I do, Dad!

"See?"

"...Okay Mister Paul. Then I'm going inside. Um... Good luck Rudy."

"Nice. He'll need it."

Small footsteps echoed. And as they did, I felt Sylphy's presence fade away into the distance.

When it was gone, my dad stepped back, taking his boot off my head.

I blasted myself back to my feet with a gust of wind and spat out the dirt in my mouth, glaring at him. "I hate you."

"Lots of people do, Rudy." My dad laughed and then held out his sword. "Now-"

I kicked forward again, swinging my sword at a blinding speed. A basic attack from the Sword God style, similar to iaido.

My dad laughed and stepped to the side. "Pretty good, but- Hm?"

A last minute change. Before my sword struck, I stomped on the ground and forcefully adjusted my attack. Melding the speed of the Sword God style with the flowing taichi like style of Water God, my sword whipped out to stab his chest.

"Hoh~"

But it was easily blocked.

My dad stepped back and said, "That's a pretty nifty idea. Hm... So if you go sching and swish, but combine the two into a schwish..."

Wait.

Wait, wait, wait!

My eyes widened and I quickly stepped back, recovering my stance.

I forgot. I completely forgot that my dad was a genius. I forgot that he was a genius and pulled off a combination technique I was keeping as a trump card to catch him off guard.

And now he saw it. 

Which meant...

My dad grinned. "Let's try this out."

A sudden blur.

It was a straight line. My dad definitely charged at me in a straight line.

...So why the hell was that sword coming at me from behind?!

*SMACK*