Chapter 21 - Farewell

On the first day of Alexandra's final week here, she started acting strangely. Or rather, different.

How should I put it?

She began acting bolder.

Though the amount of time we spent together didn't really change much, after all she was usually stuck to me at all times anyway, our physical contact became much more frequent and she started vocalising her thoughts.

Instead of just following me around and barely letting out a peep, now she would give suggestions on what we should do and even express displeasure when I wasn't paying as much attention to her.

She even seemed to get over her fear of the adults and asked Clarissa whether we could go out to the town and explore to which she gladly agreed to, though only under her supervision. Since Karl was as expected itching to spend more time with his long lost daughter, and because he had never visited Remea before, he also decided to tag along.

Speaking of which, I've been seeing a lot of Karl. At first I thought it was because of Alexandra, however at some point I noticed that his eyes weren't looking towards just her, but also at me.

Maybe I have the ability to attract felines, or maybe it's just a case of like father like daughter, but I can't help but feel uneasy whenever he is nearby. Because of that I've basically been unable to practice magic at all, though it does mean that I've been paying more attention to my sword practice.

One time, Karl asked me for a spar.

He limited his strength to my tier and even gave me the first move, but even so there was no contest. In terms of technique and experience, he was far above me.

I'd never actually used my techniques before in battle, only working solidly on the foundation of the moves. When it came to the real thing though, I had no knowledge of footwork, positioning or sense for what to do next.

While we were fighting, Karl made sure to point out any mistakes and help me rectify them, and after our spar he taught Alexandra and I some of the basics.

It seems like I have a new temporary teacher.

Like that, the final week passed, until the day before Alexandra's departure.

That day, we went out to Remea.

We started off by visiting the Magic Association where Karl got to meet Serena. He seemed surprised that there was such a powerful being living in the town and as soon as he heard she was a tier 7 mage, he immediately asked her to duel.

Is Alexandra's father one of those so-called muscleheads?

Obviously Serena declined. The shockwaves from two powerhouses fighting in a densely populated town like Remea would be disastrous after all.

While Serena was busy trying to swat him away like an annoying bug, Alexandra, Clarissa and I were led around by Jessica who showed us the different parts of the Magic Association building that I hadn't had the chance to see.

We headed past the reception desk and the mana capacity measuring room. The first floor held a vast library devoted to magic, filled with books of varying age and thickness. When I tried to pick one up, I was stopped by Jessica.

Apparently only members of the association were allowed to read books, and unfortunately I hadn't been signed up yet.

I wasn't sure whether Alexandra found any of it interesting, but seeing her eyes widen in amazement at the grandeur of the library, I could tell she at least wasn't getting bored.

Apparently there's also a Warrior's Association which I've heard acts more like an adventurer's guild than a place for warrior training and techniques, though I've never been there.

On the first floor were the profession rooms. There they had spaces with special tools designated for things like runestone crafting and array carving. Runestone crafting is much simpler than array carving, or rather array carving is a more complex version of runestone crafting.

All you need to do to make a runestone is to write or carve the word on a material, without the need for ensuring the uniformity of the letters. But there are steps you have to take to ensure the letters aren't legible by others to ensure that the knowledge of runes isn't leaked.

One of these is to cast a 'MIRAGE' spell on the stone, like the one used during my sixth birthday, making runestones appear as regular stones, and arrays appear a blank slate.

Another is to cast a 'MENTAL LINK' spell, so that when the creator wants to they can destroy them with just a thought. This also means that when the creator dies, the stone or array will disintegrate with them.

The workshops at the association provide crafting materials, carving tools, as well as 'MIRAGE' and 'MENTAL LINK' runestones for their members, though they have to pay to use them.

We finished our tour and headed outside through the reception. There, Karl was still pestering Serena, so we ended up having to drag him with us.

After waving goodbye to her and Jessica we continued our tour of the town, exploring the shops, enjoying the parks and experiencing the food. By the time we got back, it was dark.

When I was in bed about to go to sleep, I heard a knocking on the door.

It was Alexandra.

She snuck in in her nightdress and didn't say a word, her face red as a beet.

'Is this the legendary 'Night Crawling' situation?'

Even if I was in a six-year-old's body, I still had the mental age of forty plus year old man. While I was thinking of a way to reject her while trying not to hurt her feelings, she climbed into my bed and laid down next to me.

Thankfully it didn't look like I needed to worry. She just wanted to sleep in the same room as me.

After a long night, it was finally time to say goodbye.

Even though it was a sad moment, there were no tears. We all knew what was coming, and her father had even agreed to let her come visit in the future.

We escorted them to the gates where a wagon and horse, along with supplies for the road had been arranged.

We didn't return home until they were no longer in sight.