Michelle

Despite all the previous day’s excitement for creating a whip sword and other fantasy stuff, Michelle instead wanted to spend today working on a problem she had been thinking about for a long time. She was sitting in her bedroom looking at her motorcycle, trying to find a solution.

Yeah, I’m not going to figure anything out by myself.

She stuck her head through the doorway. “Roumazi, could you help me with something?” she called.

“Sure,” the foxkin goddess replied, deactivating the music crystal she’d been listening to, which was just music someone had recorded onto a gem.

They had actually bought a few to listen to something as they traveled across the continent, but there were only so many times you could listen to the same music on repeat before you just preferred silence.

“What’s up?” Roumazi asked, glancing at the bike.

Michelle answered, “So I know it’s impossible for someone to control another person’s spell, but I’m wondering if the same applies to Gifts.”

“It still applies, yes. No one else will be able to drive your bike.”

“That’s what I thought. But we’ve been talking about enchantments so much lately that I’ve been wondering if it’s possible to somehow integrate them into the bike.”

“Hmm… I have seen many similar cases to what you’re hoping for, but in those instances, the effect was much, much smaller than operating an entire vehicle.

“Besides the complexity, there are two other major problems I can think of right now. One, if it does work, then that still only means someone else can drive the bike, not fuel it. That much you will always have to do yourself, no matter what. And two, the enchantment would need to rest securely inside the bike without being disturbed. That means you would have to form the bike around it the exact same way every single time.”

Michelle gave a wide smile. “So you’re saying it’s not impossible.”

She chuckled. “No, though I don’t know how it would be done. It sounds like a fun project, however.”

“I’m thinking that the enchantment could rest inside a frame to make it easier to form the bike around, and because I don’t want to carry around a huge, bulky frame whenever I want to let someone else use the bike, it should also be collapsible and relatively lightweight.”

“This will probably take quite a lot of time to develop, I hope you’re aware.”

“Mhmm,” Michelle nodded. “There’s no time limit, this is just something I want to do.”

“Does this mean you want to get into enchanting as well?”

“I mean, I’ll definitely help out with it, but I think I’d prefer to focus on creating the frame and all the pieces needed to make sure the enchantment stays intact while driving and while folded up somewhere.”

Roumazi smiled. “This sounds fun. Let’s start with getting measurements and creating a list of everything you both need and want from it.”

“Yes! Thank you! I’ve mentioned the idea to the others before, but that was a long time ago. Couldn’t really focus on it back then.”

 

———

 

Amber

Today was her turn to pick up the girls from school. She hadn’t been waiting for very long when they came running up to her, with two other girls in tow.

“Hi, Mom!” Luna exclaimed.

“Hey, Mom,” Diamond said, more subdued.

Going to be a while before I'm used to being called that... I wonder if this is how Michelle felt?

“Hey, girls. Who are your friends?” Amber asked, looking at the demon and dragon girls standing beside them. The demon’s colors were black with silver streaks, indicating [Shadow] magic with the [Cutting] modifier, and the dragon’s scales were brown with gold ones interspersed, indicating that she has [Earth] magic with the [Compaction] modifier.

Luna gestured to the demon, “This is Nipha!”

Diamond used one of her astral hands to make the same gesture, but toward the dragon instead. “This is Izara.”

“It’s nice to meet you both,” Amber said. She had heard of both of them before, but this was her first time seeing either of them.

Luna handed Amber a piece of paper and summarized it. “The school has this camping practice thing coming up next month, and we’re going to be in a group together.”

Nipha explained, “Many parents volunteer as chaperones, but it’s not required.”

Diamond asked, “Mom, can they come over?”

Amber replied, “If their parents tell me it’s okay, then yeah. It wouldn’t be overnight, though.”

Nipha and Izara both walked off to find their parents. Nipha came back less than a minute later with a fairy woman following close behind. Though their species wasn’t the same, the family resemblance was still there.

“Hello, I am Senava, Nipha’s mother. Would it be alright if we stayed over for a few hours?”

“Yeah, of course,” Amber nodded. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

After chatting idly for a few minutes, Izara showed up with a larger dragon and a deer Awakened.

The deer spoke, “Greetings. I am Maren, and this is Phealtis, my husband. You are Amber, correct?”

Amber nodded, “Yes, that’s me.”

“I would like to go with you to see where you live, but will leave after that. One of us will come to pick up Izara before dinnertime. How does that sound?”

“Sounds good.”

The impromptu group of eight headed back to their apartment. Amber had been a little worried that they would be judged for living in a relatively poorer place, but it was fine. It’s not as if it was falling apart or full of mold or anything. Just in case, she explained that they hadn’t lived here for very long yet, and were each taking apprenticeships.

Now that Izara’s parents knew where they lived, they greeted the others who were all home as well, then left, saying they would pick their daughter up later.

The girls went to their bedroom with their friends, leaving the five adults behind.

I’m glad their room is actually furnished now and has things to do in it.

“So what brought you to Efrinteu?” Senava asked, having already been introduced to everyone.

Michelle answered, “We were looking into various locations to settle down, and this seemed like a good place. The priority was on the girls’ education, but plenty of other things are good here, as well.”

Senava smiled. “Yes, I agree that it's quite nice here. Have you had time to really explore the city yet?”

Roumazi answered, “We’ve been exploring here and there, but we’d be happy if you had any recommendations for interesting things to see or do.”

“Sure thing! I’ve got plenty of places that me and my wives like to sneak off to, either for a date or to do something fun with Nipha.”

They spent the next several hours chatting, and Senava asked if she and Nipha could stay for dinner, which was agreed to. Izara asked the same of her mom when she showed up, but she said no, and she reluctantly went home.

Because they didn’t have enough seats at the table for all eight people in the apartment, dinner was made for the girls first, then the adults. As Senava and Nipha got ready to leave, they were invited to come again sometime.

After their first ever guests left, Luna was looking happy.

Sarah asked her, “What’s got you in such a good mood?”

“Nipha said she’s envious of me because I have four moms and she only has three. She’s better than me at magic, but I’m better than her at moms!”

Luna’s absurd statement got everyone laughing, and the night ended on a good note.

 

———

 

Sarah

“Alright, students, raise your hand if you’ve camped before,” a teacher called to her particular group of kids.

Sarah watched as Luna, Diamond, and several others each raised a hand. Over half the group had spent some time outside the walls, it seemed.

Wait, I suppose I don’t need to think of them as Luna and Diamond, but my daughters, right? Really, how in the world did I end up being such good friends with someone that I’m now another parent. Well, I wouldn’t be here if I was against that, though.

“Are you ready for a thrilling night?” Senava jokingly asked beside her.

“It should be fun for them. No stress in simulated camping, except for the training exercise part of things.”

“True. We’ve taken Nipha out a couple times already, so she already has an idea of how to go about doing this. It’s so annoying whenever something attacks in the middle of the night.”

Sarah grimaced. “Yeah.”

Wasn’t just monsters that attacked us…

“Bad experience?”

“…Bandits.”

Senava nodded. “I’ve had that happen a couple times myself. You all seem okay, though?”

“There were no serious injuries, but it was rough mentally.”

Sarah looked at her girls and thought about what they had both experienced. They seemed okay now, but she couldn’t help but worry about the long term.

Senava gave her a considering look. She changed the subject, “Izara looks a little lost, being the only one of them who hasn’t gone out.”

The teacher had let the students separate into their individual groups now, and was busy helping the less-experienced ones. The chaperones weren’t needed yet.

“She has three friends she can ask questions to, so I’m sure she’ll learn a lot. Actually…”

Sarah walked over. “Hey, girls.”

She got two “Hi, Mom!”s in response, and two polite greetings.

“I know you two are experienced in this, and I hear Nipha has some experience as well, but it’s important for Izara to learn about this, too. Remember how we had you help us out when we camped?”

“Ooh, okay!” Luna replied.

“Sorry, Iz,” Diamond said.

“Sorry,” Nipha also apologized.

The group quickly switched to explaining things to Izara and doing things as a group.

Sarah and the others had each learned from the game the basics of how camping while preparing for monsters works here, and then plenty more on top of that during their long journey southeast.

It’s good that we were doing things correctly. Would’ve been a bit embarrassing to have spent all that time doing things the wrong way and have it come to light here.

She and Senava then separated and went around assisting groups that needed help, now that they had had some time to do things on their own. Their job was to chaperone all the kids in this area, not just the ones they knew.

Part of this camping exercise was to simulate attacks. Given her girls’ past experience of having people attack them, Sarah made sure that she would be the one to act as the monster for their group.

The kids were all going to be sleeping normally without taking guard duties, as they were still quite young, so the simulated attack would be relatively early in the night, and would be done in unison with all the others.

Now that night had fallen and all the kids who couldn’t help but keep chatting had finally gone to sleep, or at least quieted down, it was time.

After the signal, Sarah growled—a noise which came naturally to her as a tigerkin—and used her wind magic to carry the sound into the girls’ tent.

She ran toward them, not at full speed, and sent gusts of wind their way. She could hear the sounds of others making similar ruckuses around her.

Of the four, Nipha was the only one who managed to immediately respond, and darkened the area with her shadow magic while also sending blades of shadow her way. Izara was too surprised to act and didn't know what to do, and Luna and Diamond were both frozen.

As Sarah approached while dodging or deflecting shadow blades—she has good dark vision and can sense the mana in the attacks—she was relieved when her two girls managed to break out of their stupor and throw ice her way.

In Luna’s case, she also made a lion with her Gift and sent it to attack her. Diamond did increase her size somewhat, but still maintained her distance. It was only when Sarah was practically right on them that Izara finally realized what she should be doing and threw an earth spell her way.

Sarah stopped. This wasn’t meant to be a combat training session in any way, only a demonstration of how dangerous camping could be in this world.

Though they do get some training from the school later on, as well…

She grabbed the ice lion’s forepaws as it attacked her and used her magically-enhanced body to fling it behind her.

She stopped moving and held up her hands to show that the simulated attack was over. “Okay, girls. It’s done. You did well.”

“I-It’s done?” Luna timidly questioned.

“Yes. I’m sorry about the surprise, but this is for all the students to learn about the dangers of the outside world.”

Please don’t hate me.

Luna shuffled forward and wrapped her arms around Sarah’s torso.

Oh, thank goddess.

Sarah knelt down to hug both Luna and Diamond at the same time.

After helping return the camp to normal and promising that there were no more surprises, she left for the area where all the chaperones reported to the teacher. Fortunately, this kind of thing wasn’t graded.

“How’d they do?” Senava asked once they could finally catch up again.

Sarah repeated everything she had just told the teacher to Senava, including how well Nipha did.

She smiled. “That’s my girl.”

With everything finally concluded, it was at last time for the adults to go to bed as well. Sarah lay in her bed thinking about her other family members and feeling somewhat lonely. Amber and Michelle had been planning to go for it tonight.

I wonder how Roumazi responded?