Chapter 3 – Camping
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Chapter 3
Once the sky turned red with the evening sun, Alex brought our wagon off into a small clearing to camp. I couldn't help but giggle at Willow complaining that we'd let her sleep too much, with the vague threat that she'd be keeping us up tonight. Not that I really minded her keeping me awake, I didn't feel tired at all, not physically at least. I was slightly worried that my lack of exhaustion was something special about the heaven-touched that I'd forgotten, but the worst-case scenario just meant I had all night to experiment with magic.
As long as I can sleep when I want to.
“Do you need any help?” I asked Alex as he began working on setting up our tent. With how crowded the wagon was with barrels, only one person could sleep inside it comfortably.
“If you could start a fire that'd be wonderful.”
“Sure thing,” I saluted Alex, which prompted him to give me a weird look. Turning to find Willow hovering behind me I gave the younger girl a pat on the head. “Want to help me find some firewood?”
Using my light spell to brighten the surrounding area, Willow and I picked up every dry branch we could carry and brought them back to our campsite. Then I dug a shallow pit with a shovel, something extremely easy given my body's amazing specs. With the hole dug, I made a little triangular mountain of sticks, then considered how I was going to light the thing. I didn't have any fire spells, almost all of my attack magic was ice-based to match my sword. This of course gave me a chance to test out what exactly I could do now that I'd come to this world.
“Flame arrow,” I whispered with my palm facing the fire. A giant ball of fire appeared in front of my hand, swirling into an arrow-like shape before incinerating all of the sticks Willow and I had painstakingly gathered.
“Wah,” Willow fell backward, gazing in horror at the fire pit. “What was that!”
“What happened?!” Alex ran to our side, gazing at the pit full of ashes.
“I tried fire magic... it didn't go as planned,” I replied sheepishly.
“Next time call me over Liz, I'll light it for you.”
“Understood.”
Willow and I regathered the wood we needed, and this time, Alex took custody of them, lighting the fire with his flint and steel. Gazing at the fire with a melancholic expression I wondered if magic was just not meant for small tasks like lighting fires. The game I played had campfires as a placable item you clicked in your inventory to put down, nobody needed a spell to light them.
At least I'd learned that just as I'd picked up Angelic Flight, I also now had access to all kinds of magic I'd never previously obtained. At this point I figured I could hardly call myself a paladin, I was more of a demigod given how boundless my abilities were. Hopefully, with a bit of trial and error, I could create versions of spells that would let me do simple household chores with my magic. After all, who hasn't dreamed of using magic to live a lavish lazy life before?
“Could you teach me magic too, Sis?” Willow asked as Alex began to prepare dinner over the fire.
“Hmm,” I grinned and tosseled Willow's hair. “Can I teach her magic Alex?” I didn't know if it was possible, but hey, nothing ventured nothing gained.
“Nothing dangerous.”
“Understood! Alright Willow, would you like to learn my light spell?”
“Yes!”
“Good girl, alright so hold your hand up like this. Now then I want you to focus all your energies on the space right above your palm. Just imagine a little ball of light appearing there. When you're ready, shout 'light!' with all the energy and passion you can muster.”
“Got it!” Willow closed her eyes and did as I instructed. After taking a few deep breaths her face scrunched up like she was about to soil herself, then her eyes snapped open. “Light!”
Nothing. Well not that I thought she'd get it on her first try even if it was possible. “Don't get discouraged. It took me months before I could cast that spell, keep trying.” Honestly only took a week, but paladins did have to hit level ten before they could use any magic. Before that, they were limited to their healing aura ability as the only magic in their arsenal.
“Light! Light! Light!”
“Willow.”
“Yes, Daddy?”
“Why don't you sit down and rest now.”
Willow was starting to look rather haggard. Her face had turned a healthy shade of red and there were sweat beads forming on her forehead. She's just standing there chanting “light” it couldn't be that hard on her, could it?
“Listen to Alex, you'll need to pace yourself if you're going to learn magic like me.”
“But you aren't much older than me, are you sis? How come you can do it so easily?”
“I'm a bit older than I look Willow,” I winked. “But don't tell anybody, okay?”
“We're going to tell everyone Liz is fifteen,” Alex cut in. “Just old enough that people won't question her age after they see her.”
“I kinda hate that it's a stretch for people to think I'm any older.”
“You were the one who said to treat you like a child. I'm willing to tell everyone your true age, even if they won't believe me.”
“Fifteen is fine. What's the age of adulthood in this kingdom anyway?”
“At fifteen you can marry if you so desire. A married woman is always seen as an adult, but single women aren't seen as adults until they've passed their seventeenth birthday.”
“At what age are single men considered adults?”
“Fifteen.”
“How rude! That's discrimination!”
“I didn't write the law,” Alex chuckled, ladling a thin-looking stew into a few bowls before passing two of them to Willow and me.
“At what age does one become an adult in your homeland, Liz?”
“It varies, in the country where I lived the agreed-upon age of adulthood was eighteen. Though you weren't allowed to drink alcohol until you turned twenty-one.”
“You're kidding? Why is alcohol restricted?”
“We've got lots of magic tools that make safe drinking water widely available. We also have a wide market of flavored carbonated waters available. It wasn't always like that though, in our history there was a time when even children consumed weak alcohols as they were safer than water.”
“Sounds like one hell of a place, I can't even imagine it.”
“Since I didn't come here willingly, there really is no point in even trying. I can't take you there.”
“You can never go home Sis?” Willow asked, looking at me with misty eyes.
“My home is here with you now,” I smiled and patted her head. “Also could you call me Onee-chan?”
“Onee-chan? Why?”
I grinned, if we weren't holding bowls of soup I would have probably pounced forward and hugged Willow already. “It means older sister in one of the languages in my world. I've always wanted to have a little sister call me that.”
“Really? I'll call you Onee-chan always then!”
Seriously this kid... I'm going to melt, so cute!
After being encouraged by Alex to eat before my stew got cold I took a bite only to find it rather unpalpable. The meat he'd used was rehydrated jerky, the broth was basically water with a dissolved cracker in it, and the potatoes he'd used hadn't been cooked long enough, so their texture was terrible.
“Is this... what you eat normally?” I asked Alex, trying hard not to say anything too offensive about just how terrible he was at cooking.
“We're about to reach Northpost, I normally plan our provisions so that we only have enough to make it from town to town. No need taking up precious space for extra supplies. Normally if we're running behind I'll have one of our guards do a little hunting, but... “
“If you'd have told me, I could've hunted for you. I have no idea how to prepare fresh game, but if you'll do the whole turning it into food thing, I'll do the hunting.”
“I'll remember to ask you next time.”
“So tell me about Northpost, is that the city we're headed for?”
“No, it's a small town we'll be passing through on our way. Started out as a trading post along the north road, which is how it got its name. If I'm lucky I'll be able to sell a barrel or two of ale while we're there, but I don't expect we'll be doing much business. Once we leave, it'll take us another three to five days depending on the weather to reach Olmvyre.”
“What's Olmvyre like?”
“Hmm... Normally I would say it is like any other city, but I have no idea how it compares to what you know. It is large, perhaps the third-largest city in the entire kingdom. Crime has been going up. Because of the war many of Olmvyre's able-bodied men, and at least half of their standing guard force are in the south fighting. Normally I'd tell you to be careful, but I doubt you'd ever meet a criminal you couldn't handle.”
“How long we staying there?”
“A few months hopefully. Our home is in Olmvyre, I'd like to stay and rest up before taking to the road again. As long as I can offload all those barrels at a good price, there shouldn't be any reason to rush out.”
“Is your wife?”
“I have no idea. She took off one day and I've heard nothing of her since. I do hire a young woman to tend our home while we're gone. She's the closest thing to a mother that Willow has ever known, even if she and I are far too different in age for any kind of courtship.”
“Age is just a number Alex. If she's ever shown interest in you, maybe you should try to court her. Some girls are into older men.”
Alex chuckled, “Speaking from experience, Liz?”
“I've... had a few crushes,” I admitted, my cheeks heating up as I remembered falling for the actor that played a rather famous gentleman spy. “But I've never dated anyone.”
“Well as long as you're happy, I'll support any relationship you find yourself in.”
5
Cute, trying to teach her new father about love! But I think she needs to work on her teaching method as far a magic goes. Or she needs some insight on how magic is supposed to work in this world. Maybe some self reflection is needed during her practice time.
She really is just taking the "I saw this work in a novel once" approach to teaching Willow magic, lol.
@TomatoRoux LOL. Yeah she really is so carefree! She needs to think about, because don't the novels usually talk about feeling your magic fist and usually there's talk about affinities. Not sure how it works in the game though so affinities might not be a thing.