Chapter 6:
The Clinic and A Friend

 

I was inside the yard, fooling around with my new wand. I’d been itching to try it out for a bit, so I went outside with both of my parents to try to show off.

“Father, let me show you some magic,” I said, tugging at my father’s cuff. 

“Go right ahead, sweetie,” he said, setting down his sword on the yard’s perimeter fence. 

I held up my index finger and pointed at several sizable rocks that were placed in the yard, seemingly for decoration. I decided to use a spell I hadn’t practiced in a while–Stone Cannon. It didn’t take long for it to charge up, so I released the spell nearly instantly. The stone cannon, which looked more like a bullet than any cannon I’d seen, shot right through the rocks. But in doing so, some of the rock was repelled and hit me square in the head. 

 “Jeez… That hurt.” I rubbed my temple and winced when I checked my hand to see blood smeared on it. It didn’t hurt too badly, but I was pretty fragile as is. So, it’d be a good idea to do something about it before any serious injury arises. 

Upon seeing the blood, my father yelled, “Zenith! Come quickly! Lumi hurt herself!” 

Well, I can heal myself, you know. 

I hadn’t gotten the opportunity to use Healing Magic to do much other than cure headaches, but I was confident that I could heal a simple scrape. I pressed my palm to the wound and concentrated. A moment later, the injury healed. I crouched down and used the blades of grass to wipe the small amount of blood left on my hand.

“...” My parents were speechless. 

Eh? What’s up with you guys? Haven’t I told you all about… Oh, wait.

“Lumi... Since when could you do that?” My mother asked timidly. 

That’s a good question. It’d been the day I learned how to cast magic, which meant I was at least three years old at the time. I vaguely remember it being frosty out during that time, so I made an educated guess to answer her.

“I think it was around winter... Two years ago,” I answered her confidently. 

My mother’s eyes widened in tandem with my words. She rushed over to me and picked me off the ground, embracing me tightly. 

She exclaimed, “Lumi, you’re amazing! A genius! A prodigy! I’m going to teach you all I know about Healing Magic!” 

My father just smiled with a sigh. I think he’s just used to this sorta thing by now.

---

Time was flying by. Lilia and Zenith agreed to a schedule change to keep things organized. As a result of that, I was taught healing magic in the mornings, and etiquette in the afternoon. Sometimes, Lilia taught me to cook a few basic meals as well. I hadn’t cooked in a decade by now, so I needed the refresher. Sadly, this village didn’t have access to basic spices aside from some rudimentary salt.

That aside, this schedule helped me get to know Zenith and Lilia much better than otherwise. For one, I had no idea Zenith’s favorite color was green, which was part of the reason she complimented my viridian eyes constantly. Before this, I had no idea how close Lilia and my mother were, but it was clear to me that they got along much better than a simple mistress-maid relationship.

Anyway, one morning, my mother and I were outside walking around in the yard where the little trees that she cultivated grew. 

“Lumi, I want you to cut down a tree with your offensive magic, and then make it good as new with your healing magic,” Zenith said. I walked in front of her and pointed a rock bullet at the tree. 

Fwoosh! The small tree made a small crackling noise as it fell over. I strode over to it and stood before the trunk. I peered back at my mother, who gave me a prideful nod as if to say “You can do it!” I sloppily dragged the top half over to the stump and cast healing. 

Really? I could’ve practiced like this. I thought back to the broken fingernail and winced. 

“Good, so you know at least beginner-tier healing! Let’s move on to something else,” my mother spoke, clapping her hands.

Intermediate healing, maybe? That seemed to be the next logical step, or at least it was to me.  

She brought over rotten fruit. Just what are we supposed to do with that thing? 

“Mama, what’s this for?” I was a bit lost, so I hoped that she’d clue me in.

Zenith beamed, and confidently said, “Your mother is going to teach you some Detoxification Magic!” 

Detoxification? Isn’t that the thing that your liver does? Like, to make sure alcohol and the like don’t just obliterate your immune system?

“Okay, Lumi. Hold out your hand,” She said. I did so, so she placed the fruit on my open palm–to my open discomfort.

“Now reeat after me. May the cleansing light of the skies wash over this body, so that the darkness from within may be expelled–Detoxification.” 

I nodded and recalled the incantation. I was great at memorizing them by now, so it wasn’t much trouble. I repeated her words, to which a white light shone from my palm.

The mold of the fruit began to disappear, and the fruit went from mushy to firm. It was like turning back the dial on the fruity’s condition, bringing it back to tip-top shape relatively quickly. 

“Woah, does it fix rotting?” I asked, astonished. Zenith nodded her head and continued her explanation.

“That’s right, sweetie. But not only does the spell get rid of rot, it can also cure stomachaches and small illnesses,” she said, speaking in the manner a professor would. 

Detoxification Magic seemed like a seriously useful skill. You could keep tons of food and never worry about it spoiling or getting contaminated with some plague. I wanted to learn how to do it without incantations, but I couldn’t grasp the feeling well enough. Maybe I’d improve enough to do it someday, though. 

For the rest of the morning, I practiced my beginner-tier magic and detoxification.

---

“Lilia, I’m going to the clinic!” 

My mother ran a village clinic, where she nursed injured villagers back to health. I’d mentioned it once before, but now I wanted to look into it a bit more. I had gotten invested in my healing magic training, so I wanted to try going with her today. I’d never gotten the opportunity to go before, thanks to my fear of the outside. But now, what was stopping me?

“Mama, can I go with you? I want to help you and maybe learn a few new spells,” I said, trying not to let my excitement leak out too much. I had to admit, my lessons with my mother were the things I looked forward to the most each day. 

“Hmm…” she turned to face me and hummed in consideration. I’d understand if she didn’t want me to go, considering what a clinic entails. 

“Alright, if you want to, you can come along with me. Just behave yourself, okay?” she spoke, nodding her head to emphasize her words. Huh. That was a lot simpler than I thought. Maybe I shouldn’t have put this off for so long.

“Mhm!” I agreed, trying to look the part of an obedient child. I’ll be at your beck and call, mother! Just say the word!

And so we departed! It was a comfortable ride since I was sitting right in front of my mother for the ride. Let’s just say my head had some pretty nice cushioning. Speaking of, I hoped that those genes would be passed onto me as I grew up. I mean, I had to get some sort of blessing, right?

On our way there, Zenith was greeted by a variety of different people. It seemed, in one way or another, they all owed her for something. A few kids even called out to me, to which I responded to their greetings in turn. The people around here were all close, like one large family. Kids were out helping their parents with chores, merchants were chatting with each other and laughing, and people were drinking together merrily. And I noticed one little thing–everyone had a smile on their face, or a look of concentration in their work. 

Once we got there, we were greeted by a pretty small-looking building. It was one story tall and was relatively smaller than our family home. Despite that, it stood out among the other buildings nearby.

“Wait here while I set up, Lumi,” my mother said, plopping me down on a chair near the entrance. She seemed to be wiping the tables and chairs with a cloth, preparing what looked to be bottles, and setting them on the counter near me. 

“Don’t touch those, sweetie,” she said, peering back at me to make sure I saw what she was talking about. 

I looked at them closer. They had some sort of leaf inside of them, which was turning the liquid inside a pale blue color. What was this supposed to do? Was it like the alternative medicine in my past life? I suddenly really wanted to give it a swig.

Sigh. Chances were that if I did drink it, I wouldn’t be able to go back to the clinic for my blatant disobedience. That’s for another day, I suppose.

My mother went outside holding a large sign that said “Open”, and returned inside without it.

“Lumi, you can sit with me while we wait for any patients,” she said, patting the seat next to her. I strode over and ignored her gesture, opting to sit on her lap instead. She giggled, and I snuggled against her chest while we waited.

We didn’t have to wait very long until a young man came stumbling in. I got off Zenith’s lap so she could you know, do her job.

“Miss Zenith, could ya help me out?” She looked him over, and said, “Again? You have to learn your lesson,” shaking her head playfully. 

He had a cut on his arm that seemed to be from a farming tool. From the way my mother reacted, it sounded like this guy in particular had a habit of doing this. 

“I was wondering if you wanted to be a guinea pig this time.” My mother said with a grin. 

He shrugged, and said, “As long as it stops bleeding.” My mother ushered me towards him. Was I going to heal an open wound? This parenting was questionable at best but it’d probably be beneficial later on so I wasn’t complaining. 

I hovered my hand right over his injury and cast the beginner-tier healing spell. Would this be good enough? I silently cast it, trying my best not to screw it up. In the end, it worked fine and the injury was cured. 

“Woah, is this ya daughter? She’s talented, ya know,” the man said, seemingly impressed at my ability. 

Zenith beamed, and said, “That she is! I think I'm gonna bring her along to the clinic now and then to help her improve with her healing magic.” 

“Well, she’s adorable. I bet you’ll get more sales because people will want to see her,” the man said. 

Am I really that cute? Hardly. He was probably just being nice.

“Well, thank you again, Zenith.” The man rummaged in his pocket and took out a few small bronze-colored coins.

That was the currency around here. It was more or less like this: 

Small Copper Coin: ~100 yen.

Large Copper Coin: ~1000 yen.

Silver Coin: ~10,000 yen.

Gold Coin: ~100,000 yen. 

I hadn’t so much as thought about the currency until my father told me that he’d be out for a week to visit the city of Roa, the city where Paul had to supply the village’s taxes. I asked my parents later about the value of the coins. 

Small things like that further emphasized that this was a whole living, breathing world with its own sets of customs and rules completely alien to me. That made me ask myself the question of whether I wanted to stay in the village for a long time. Of course, I still hadn’t answered that one. That was one particularly difficult question, to say the least.

“Come again!” Zenith said as the young man walked away. She sat down next to me. I decided to inquire about the glass containers. 

“Mama, what’s the liquid in those containers for?” She looked at the containers I was pointing at and then averted her eyes. 

“Um… That’s a low-level aphrodisiac. You don’t know what that is, do you?” Well, I did. But I wasn’t going to tell my mother about it. 

“No, Mama.” She breathed a sigh of relief. “It makes people feel a lot more lovey-dovey, so people who love each other buy it occasionally.” 

I suppressed the urge to chuckle at her words. She was a great parent, seriously.

And so, we spent the rest of the afternoon there. I helped out with preparing things and practiced my magic on the villagers with no issues. 

---

A few days later, I decided I wanted to explore. I had lots of places I wanted to see in more detail, and hopefully familiarize myself with. 

“Mama,” I said, with the book I had gotten for my 5th birthday in hand. 

“Can I go outside to play?” She raised her eyebrows, and said, “Not just in the yard? Outside?” 

I nodded my head fervently. “Oh, well then sure. Are you going to be okay?” I smiled, and said, “I can handle myself, don’t worry.” She chuckled, and said, “Sure.”

“My, I can’t believe you’re going outside all by yourself! I was really worried about you when you were young, you know?” She said, smiling. 

“Good thing I grew up, then,” I said, smirking back at her.

“Hehe. Look at you, Lumi. I’m glad Roxas was such a good influence on you, really,” she said, patting my head softly.

“Okay, Mama. I’ll be off now,” I said after being head pat for a few moments. 

Zenith called after me, “Be careful! And be nice to others!”

“You got it!” I said in reply, walking out of the yard and into the village. And so, I left home.

---

Several days went by. I was getting used to leaving after my afternoon classes were finished and just exploring. My days were a lot more lively after I first went out. I got to know a few kids who held me in high regard. 

“Why?” you might ask. Roxas and Paul were both pretty popular, so the fact that I was related to them in some way automatically got me some points. I was particularly popular with a group of girls who always wanted to hang out. I helped them out with chores occasionally, but I never got too close with them. 

Anyway, that wasn’t the point of me going outside. Exploring the area thoroughly meant that if I ever got a bit too haughty with my words and got kicked out for a night, I’d know where to go and what to do. I also wanted to find out more about the flora around these parts. I brought the botanical encyclopedia for that purpose. 

However, around here there weren’t any plants that stood out too much. It was fine though, since there wasn’t a lot I could do with pretty flowers other than give them to others anyway. I plucked a few to give to my mother once I got home and continued to wander about, marveling at the fall-tipped trees dripping with morning dew. 

This forest in particular was by far my favorite locale in the village. The shimmering lakes reflected everything above them, serving as a rudimentary mirror. The orange and crimson leaves stripped from the slowly aging trees fell all around me, like an earthy rain of the forest.

As I walked out of the sparse forest, voices broke me out of my trance-like state of being in awe of my surroundings. 

“You’re sick! Go away, Demon!”

Insults were being strewn and yelled at someone, that much was clear. That tone of voice unearthed unpleasant memories I had been trying to push down deep inside of my mind. An emotion rang out through my head, one so strong I couldn’t help identifying. Disgust. 

“Get the hell out of here!” This voice came from someone else. It was more than evident that these were the voices of someone who used the numbers on their side to torment somebody who they thought to be below them. 

I hadn’t gone through that sort of bullying before, but what they were doing was bullying whether or not I emphasized with the victim. There was no way I’d let a kid go through anything remotely close to what I went through. That just wasn’t fair in the slightest. 

I found the source of the noise. There lying before me was a kid, huddling away in fear, and three others throwing mud at him.
“Take this!” One said. “Ha, nice! Direct hit, man!” Another. “Ten points if you can nail him in the head!” Once again. 

I was fuming. This was one hundred percent one-sided bullying. I decided to do something about it.

I cast a wind spell, creating a shockwave that caused the bullies to lose their balance and be knocked off their feet. While they recovered from the blast, I shielded the boy behind me. 

“What the hell was that? Who’re you?” I glared at them.

“Leave this kid alone, won’t you? Or else I’ll burn your sorry behinds to a crisp,” I said, trying to seem as intimidating as possible. I recalled the attitude I once had, the haughty and snobby one I used to talk down to people, and imitated it as well as I could recall.

“Hey, you’re that knight’s daughter, aren’t you? Do you think we’re gonna be scared of a girl like you?” He spat, seemingly unfazed by my attempt to scare him away.

“Yeah right. This has nothing to do with you, kiss-ass,” another said, crouching down and grasping a rock in their hand. A rock? You’re going to go that far, eh?

I decided it wasn’t worth talking to these types of people, so I held my hand out and pointed at them. I conjured a large, scaldingly hot fireball, and just let it sit there. 

“You want to call me that again?” I asked, waiting for an answer. I wasn’t scared of them. With the power I held right now, childhood bullies were like rats, scurrying away to whatever hole they lived in. 

They trembled, and the ringleader hesitantly said, “A-alright, kid. Next time, you won’t be so lucky.”

I scoffed. They ran away like the rats they were, cowards at heart and weak-willed in their pursuits. 

I felt a sense of triumph upon seeing them retreat, so I chuckled at their expense. I probably shouldn’t have gotten too heated, in hindsight. They were just kids and for the most part, they usually aren’t inherently evil. It had to either be a bad influence via their parents or companions, or their parents being incompetent at raising them. 

I exhaled and turned back to check on the boy. He stood up, trembling in fear. 

“Y-you… aren’t going to hurt me, are you?” He asked fearfully. 

I shook my head and asked him, “Are your things okay? I noticed you were carrying something.” 

He shakily presented a basket-looking container covered in a floral pattern handkerchief. 

Whoa. That’s one pretty boy. This little guy is going to be a serious lady-killer when he grows up, calling it now.

“Y-yeah, I’m okay. Thank you for saving me,” he said, averting his eyes from my gaze. I smiled at him. He seemed to be fine, but he was covered in mud everywhere. Damn, brats. 

“Here, kneel for a second, won’t you?” I asked, trying to not use any hostile body language so he wouldn’t be afraid of me. 

“Eh? Oh, sure,” he stammered out. This guy seemed to be the submissive kind of boy. Hehe. 

I walked over to him and hovered my hand over the top of his head. 

“Close your eyes for a bit. This might startle you, so be careful,” I said.

I wanted to clean off his hair, so I held him still and cast a warm Waterfall spell from my hands to wash it. 

“Bwuh? Ahhh!” I washed the majority of the mud from his head, but I couldn’t do all that much about his clothes. I used Lilia’s handy handkerchief to wipe off the remaining dirt from his face. 

“That should do it.” I stepped back and smiled. In doing so, I finally saw his shining green hair. The memory of Roxas’s departure flitted to the front of my mind.

“If you ever meet a kid around your age here with green hair, don’t be afraid of them. They’re harmless, so don’t do anything to them” 

Hm. That sure went against his preaching of being wary of people with this sort of hair, but I did remember that the Superd supposedly had red gems in their foreheads. This kid didn’t have anything of the sort, plus he was much too timid to be a mass murderer. 

“Ah… Are you that girl?” He asked, breaking me out of my thoughts. 

“That girl? What do you mean?” I questioned. I had several ideas as to why Roxas had told me about this boy, but I had zero evidence for any of them. 

“A w-week ago, a nice man with blue hair saved me from a few bullies… then, he brought me to my parents. W-when we got there, he told me all about a girl he was teaching and asked if I could be your friend…” He said timidly.

Roxas saved him? Not to be rude or anything, but he didn’t seem to be the type of guy to go out of his way to do something like that. Maybe I’d misjudged him even after all this time.

“Oh, b-but it’s okay if you don’t want anything to do with me, of course…” He said, looking downcast.

He said it in such a cute voice that I wanted to protect him forever. No way was I going to turn him down—I’d be ashamed of myself if I didn’t.

“Hey, kid. Let’s be friends.” I offered. 

He looked hesitant. “You aren’t bothered by the color of my hair?”

I shook my head. “Nope! My tutor was a demon, and he was a great person. What race do you belong to?”

“I-I uh, don’t know.” Really? Jesus, parent your children! “Well then, what about your parents?” He replied, “My dad’s half-elf, half-human, and my mom said she was mostly human with a bit of beast race.”

Beast race? First I’ve heard of it. I seriously need to get a book about races around the world one of these days. And elves! I knew there were elves in this world! So awesome!

“And… They tell me I’m not a demon but… m-my hair isn’t the same color as e-either of my parents…” He began to sob quietly. Jeez, quit with the assault on my heart!

I gave him a reassuring head pat. But really, all this talk about people segregating over hair color was absurd. I’d had enough back in my old world with something similar, so I was hoping that there wasn’t something like that in this world, but it seemed I was mistaken. 

Changing the topic, I asked about what he had in the basket. 

“T-That’s my father’s lunch, I was on my way to deliver it when…” he trailed off. I decided to see what his parents thought about this situation. I might even give them a piece of my mind. 

“Let’s go, then. Shall we?” He nodded and began walking silently. 

He spoke up soon after. “So, um...why...why are you...protecting me?” I smiled. 

“My father told me to use my abilities to protect the weak. And, you’re pretty cute,” I responded honestly. Plus, I wasn’t just going to ignore Roxas’s request, after all. 

He blushed, and said, “R-really? Thank you…” he expressed his gratitude. “But what if the boys stop being friends with you?” 

I scoffed. “Like I’d want to be friends with that sort of group. If that does happen, I’ll just play with you anyway. As of today, we’re friends,” I said, smirking at him.

“Huh?!” He exclaimed, with his ears twitching. Oh… so adorable! 

“Ah, are you too busy around the house to play with me?” I asked. “N-no.. not really…” The boy shook his head. 

Maybe we could grow up getting ever closer, until…? Just thinking about it made me grin. This boy was cute beyond belief. 

“Oh, that’s right. I haven’t gotten your name yet, kid. I’m Lumina Greyrat.”

“M-my name is… Sylph–” His voice was so small I could barely hear it. 

“Sylph, huh? That’s an awesome name. Like one of those fairies!” I exclaimed. 

 He turned red, and asked, “Fairies…?” I shrugged. I gave him another head pat, and we continued on the way to his house.