15 Chapter 15

"Ah, I'm sorry, Rena. There's a little misunderstanding here, I didn't mean it that way."

Frei chuckled a little, seeing her reaction. Right now, they were sitting in the room forming a triangle, trying to discuss the matter. Rena was sitting on the bed while the two guys occupying the seats. Frei sat with his chair turned around, resting his arms on the back of the chair. And Jean casually leaned back on his chair, with legs crossed and arms crossed.

"I was asking Jean if he is interested in teaching you magic since you seem to have an affinity with it."

"Oh..."

"But this guy was really hard to convince, you know... even if he was interested, he still refused."

"...That's because your requests always have a lot of problems to deal with." Jean said.

"But in the end, you agree, right?" He teased Jean.

"So, how is it, Rena? Do you want to learn magic from Jean?" Frei asked her.

"Uhm, yeah, sure I do. But that crystal..." She was still confused.

"Ah, the crystal ball is just a tool to check your latent power."

"I still broke it though..." She lowered her head.

"Please don't worry about it, I can get you another one if you want."

Jean furrowed his eyebrows. Rena didn't know, but the material for making a crystal ball is rare. The crystal must not contain any impurity and able to contain a lot of magical power. Magical institutions or guilds usually have them, but not many could own it personally. Naturally, the price to buy one was high. And it was unheard of for someone to be able to break it, just by touching it.

"Can I still have it please?" She said.

"Why?" He asked.

"As I thought, I still felt bad breaking it, but I don't want to throw it away."

Since it was the first gift she received in this world, it carried a meaning for her.

"Hee... You still want to treasure a broken item?"

"W-what? Is that weird?"

"No, I don't know that you are a hoarder."

"I'm not!" She stood up abruptly. "What made you think that way?!"

Frei buried his face in his arms, trying to hold a laugh, but his shoulder was shaking. When he lifted his face, he spoke with expression still carrying a trace of a laugh.

"And also..." Frei spoke again.

"About this matter, please keep it as a secret."

"Eh, why?" She looked at him with a puzzled look.

"Because you aren't registered." Jean was the one who answered her question.

"Registered?" She turned her head to him.

Jean stood and turned around, he lifted the back of his hair, showing his nape. A tattoo could be seen on his skin. It was a shield decorated with sun and bird, wrapped with a laurel wreath.

"This is The Valia Kingdom's Crest." He said.

"This means I'm acknowledged as a magician from Valia Kingdom. Generally, Magicians received privileges everywhere, but when they were outside their country, they must be careful using their magic. Even one small mistake could lead to a diplomatic problem between two countries or in the worst possible case, a war."

(That's scary...)

Jean continued speaking, "In each kingdom, there is a law where citizens must report to the office when they have a magician in their family. Those who born with the potential to be a magician aren't many. Out of one hundred births, probably there is only one. Because they are possessing a power greater than a normal human, they are recognized as an asset to the kingdom. Even when they come from a commoner background, as soon as they are identified as a magician, they will be taken under the protection of the kingdom. The unreported cases are almost non-existent since having a magician in the family is seen as a prestige and the family concerned is also being rewarded. Usually, magicians are identified during childhood when the magic power starts to manifest."

"So, your situation right now, where you have passed the coming of age and still unregistered is unusual. If it were found out, there are two possibilities for you. One, you will be forcefully taken and investigated by the kingdom. Two, you will be suspected as a spy and be killed."

(That's really scary!)

"I promise I'll keep my mouth shut!" Rena shouted.

Jean sighed inwardly. If it's just his decision, he could make Rena be registered as a Valia Kingdom's magician without a problem, but he knew Frei wouldn't let him do that. He didn't know what he was planning to do with her, but for now, hiding her would not be a bad idea.

If it were to find out that another purple eyes wizard had appeared, all the kingdoms would try to get her. Teaching Rena's secretly put Jean under a risk, still, he couldn't help it, he wanted to observe him. When one great magician appeared, they always brought change in the history of humankind, be good or bad. Jean too, had made some breakthrough with his researches and inventions.

"Hmm..." She thought for a while, her eyes staring above her head.

"If it's like that, why do you want me to learn magic?" She tilted her head.

"I'll be fine if I don't learn it, right?"

There was a silence before Jean started to speak again.

"Sure, if you only have a minimum amount of magic power. Since you can break the crystal ball, it shows that you have a huge amount of magic power inside you. If you don't learn how to control it, someday it'll become a catastrophe."

"I, I see... So that's why the crystal ball was broken..."

She hung her head down. She didn't want to be a catastrophe, but she didn't want to be killed either. Frei who had stood from the chair approached Rena and rubbed her hair.

"Don't think too much. You should be excited you can learn magic now."

"....Thank you." Rena said it softly.

"Work hard for me, okay?" He whispered in her ear.

"Un, I will." She nodded, completely ignoring the way he said it, with a low seductive tone.

He grinned a little, watching her flat reaction to his words.

"Ok, the problem is settled now. So, Rena, I have another news for you, it's great that you are fully recovered now, with this we can depart on schedule. Tomorrow, we'll leave Haffa Kingdom."

"Eh?" Rena looked up at Frei's face.

"I told you I'm from Ardia Kingdom before."

"We're going back. Jean and another person will be coming with us tomorrow."

"Ah, but first, we need to stop at Valia Kingdom. Jean came here suddenly, they must be panicking right now." Frei took a glance at Jean, with a naughty grin on his face.

"Is Valia close from here?" Rena asked.

"A week by a ship under ideal conditions." He answered.

She thought something was odd. "Jean isn't supposed to be here, is it?"

Frei nodded, "I asked him to come to save you."

"Then, how come he could arrive that fast?"

"Teleport." Jean said.

Rena turned her head at Jean's direction. "Teleport? Then couldn't you just teleport back there?"

(Teleport sounds convenient.)

"It's a magic that consumed a lot of magical power, the greater the distance the more energy required to cast it, you could die if your magical power depleted during the trip. Second, a precise coordinate location is needed, you must have a good geographical knowledge, worst case, you'll be stuck in inter-dimension space forever. Third, there's a possibility you could split your body when performing the magic, if you split your body, you are dead. If it's not for an urgent matter, it would be advisable to use the conventional way of traveling."

(That sounds inconvenient...)

After hearing his explanation, she thought magic was complicated. It made her worry if she could master any spell at all.

"Don't worry that much, I'm sure you can do it someday." Frei cheered her up.

"You just need to learn step by step first. Be more confident in yourself. Remember, you have great potential."

"Yes!" She said enthusiastically, appreciating the words of support coming from him.

Since the world she came from didn't use magic, being given an opportunity to learn magic in this world, she was excited. Rena had already imagined doing a lot of stuff that she only read or watched.

"Then, when will we start?"

"We can start now if you want."

"Wait." Frei interjected. "I promised Saola to take Rena to her shop today."

"Ehh?" Rena looked at Frei.

She remembered earlier she was going to ask a favor from Frei, to take her visiting Saola at her shop. She was surprised that Saola also wanted her to go there.

"Well, she wanted you to do her a favor." Frei smiled.

*Ba-dump*

Rena felt a terrible premonition.

(Th-that smile! Something is going to happen!!)

She couldn't refuse here, she wanted to meet Saola as well. But she couldn't just ignore this uncomfortable feeling.

"Uuh... uuh." Rena looked at Jean with pleading expression.

"Tomorrow, we're going to depart from Tawarr, we won't have much time to study. I'll teach you some basics while we're on the ship, then you can start practicing after we arrived at Valia."

"Enjoy your time for now." Jean turned around and waved a goodbye, walking away.

"Oh, you're not coming?" Frei asked.

"Not interested." Jean said.

Rena watched Jean's figure disappear behind the door. Of course, relying on Jean to help was a mistake. In the end, she decided it was better to go along with Frei. Frei's mischievous act was nothing, compared to the ordeal of facing Jean.

Now, there's only Frei and Rena in the room. They looked at each other. One with a happy smile on his face, one with a nervous smile on her face.

"What are you planning?" Her big purple eyes trying to find any hint on his face.

"Hmm? Why are you suspecting me? I don't plan anything." He said, putting an innocent look on his face. Then he wrapped his hand around her waist, she wriggled, trying to get free, but he firmly held her, making her walked following his footsteps.

"C'mon, let's go. Saola's waiting for us."

"Let go! I could walk by myself!"

He ignored her words. "Ah... Almost forget, I have a little surprise waiting for you."

She gave him a suspicious look, with her hands holding his hand wrapped around her waist, trying to push him away.

"I swear it's something good." He smiled.

Frei led her outside, when he opened the door, Rena saw Sebastian standing next to the carriage. There was another person with him, a young girl with brown hair. When she heard the footsteps from inside the house, she turned around.

"Ooh... That's..."

"Do you remember her?" Frei said.

Yes, Rena remembered that girl.

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