16 Chapter 16: That Party Was Going So Well, Too ...

While Mom was helping Ms. Renne recover from her faint, we got our helpings for dinner and I explained how I met my first three fairies, Breezy, Shadina, and Mist from the beginning, how I trained with them and got to know them while they put in their own inputs and side stories. I came up with a story on how I met Cinder in the meantime. I ended up with how she was given to me by a dying old man experienced in Fire and Darkness Magic who was a former soldier of the Reskondant Kingdom's guard.

"How terrible. Watching a man dying from a monster's poison, digging a grave at his request, wrapping his body with the emergency tarp you carried in your Dark Space before putting him inside and bury him, all within the few hours of the early morning while in the middle of your training … you must've been so stressed after doing all of that. It's clear now why you looked so on edge when Agnes came and antagonized you," Mom cried along with some of the other ladies in the room. Even Wallace was getting choked up and having difficulty holding back his tears.

"You're a good man, Soar. Couldn't have done it any better than you did," Dad added while patting my back. The guys in his former hunter's party made their own silent prayers. "Plus, with Cinder and that Darkness Fairy adding her power to Shadina's through those rituals, those are blessings not many can come by easily. You must cherish it as you have with your Companions up to now."

"I will …"

The only ones who weren't affected by the story I pulled out of my ass was, of course, Fila, Onelri, and their families as they knew what really happened with that 'old man.' They only looked at me in shock, probably of how I managed to come up with all of that on the fly with a straight face.

It helped that Cinder, Shadina, and my other Companions agreed on parts of my story. Fairies, while they can be mischievous, they can also be as big liars as any normal person would. If they're really ethereal beings that could only tell the truth while incapable of lying, I'd be screwed a long time ago.

From how the majority of people in the lobby reacted to my story, I have confirmed that Fila's and Onelri's parents really didn't tell my own anything about what actually happened. It was honestly a surprise to me that they'd keep their word after everything within the last day and a half.

To top it off, I showed everybody the kingdom guard's standard-issue iron shortsword and dagger that he 'gave' me, saying they were old and he was satisfied resting with his own weapons. I cleaned them before getting back home, of course, and I was granted permission to keep them on hand as I hunt for monsters and animals from then on, but only if I don't show them off to others in public. Not that I would do that, anyway.

As for how my other Companions got to be so big, especially Breezy being the biggest of them all, I only told them how I trained with them a lot as we were hunting monsters, some of them dropping elemental stones (e-stones) that I gathered and gave to my Companions. E-stones are sort of like rare drops from some monsters that can give fairies a boost of power if one collects enough of them. They resemble the gems that are embedded in the fairies' chests while giving off a brilliant luster, compared to the regular dull gray-colored magic stones that monsters drop after getting killed. E-stones along with magic stones can also be used to synthesize weapons and give them a special power-up, especially when mana is applied in them.

While it was true that I had collected these e-stones over the years, I had not once used one for any of my Companions up to that point and thought it'd be best to gather enough before powering them up altogether. Even so, it was a higher likely story for how my Companions got bigger due to those power-ups than running into stray fairies who lost their Chaperones but still wish to live in this world in some way, leading them to combine their powers with my Companions' own.

I'll admit that a part of me felt a little guilty coming up with these lies but I didn't want to bring further suspicion of what I could really do with my 'prowess.' Besides, when I asked Mom and Dad in secret what they told the curious townsfolk, they also lied how it was Lilia who made that destruction during our magic demonstrations when she got spooked and messed up her spell casting—one of her Companions is a Wind Fairy like my Breezy, so it's somewhat legitimate. That meant the secret of my talents was also kept under wraps, save for the people that were there as well as Enya and Wallace who heard the whole story. Mom and Dad gave an extra generous tip to the restaurant owners for keeping quiet in exchange. With how much of a kind regular I was to them, I didn't have much to worry over them spilling the beans so willingly. That said, I didn't feel as bad about lying as I was previously and enjoyed myself as I could as the party went on.

The food that was catered by Wallace and Enya turned out delicious as always. In between helpings, I showed off some of the more advanced magic I had been holding back when it was asked of me.

Demonstrating my Advanced Water Magic—or Ice Magic to keep it simple—by creating small, detailed figurines made of ice. I also made shaved ice as an additional treat to go along with the other desserts, which the girls really enjoyed the most despite the lack of flavored syrups. It was also fun seeing them go through brain freezes.

With Advanced Darkness Magic, I altered the gravity that acted on one of the chairs to lift it with ease, balancing Fila and Onelri on both of my hands, and I did the same with Wallace and Sam despite their large bodies. I also had some fun by altering my own gravity to be able to walk on walls and the ceiling like a ninja. I wasn't told what the name of that art was but I like to call it Gravity Magic.

Wind Magic, its advanced form is to create electricity and cast what's called Lightning Magic. I had yet to find a good location to experiment and not attract attention or cause a disaster at the time, so I had to skip it and wait until I find a suitable place to do so.

Aside from that, everyone in the party had been ecstatic at how I was showing off my stuff up to that point. I was having more fun letting myself loose than I even realized.

But then came the last, but not the least. The latest addition to my magic arsenal, Fire Magic. Ms. Renne, having that type of magic as one of her specialties, gave me a quick tip to help me get started and I had no problems following it through. I started out small with a red flame that danced wildly above my palm, the people around me gave a round of applause at my succession. Then, I controlled the output of my mana like I was adjusting a bunsen burner back in my high school and college days, upping the amount of fuel flowing through like it was in a tube to produce greater heat, resulting in a yellow flame that shot up like a pillar. My 'audience' was shocked at how I managed to do it so easily. I imagined 'choking' the hypothetical tube like a valve to adjust the height of the yellow flame with no problems.

But then the surprise twist came in: like a bunsen burner, I tried to control the ventilation that came with producing the flame, allowing more oxygen to flow through with my mana that acts as the fuel. The result …

"A blue flame?!" [Wallace]

"How is that possible?! I've never seen such control of the flames before, either!" [Lilia]

"It's kind of pretty …" [Fila]

"Don't touch it! Even from here, I can feel the heat from this is far more intense than what the yellow flame can emit!" [Darida]

"… You know, after seeing everything Soar had done before this, I'm not even surprised he could pull this off." [Ms. Renne]

"Yeah, no doubt. Seeing as he knows what he's doing, I don't think I need to worry about the place burning down." [Mom]

"Just think of what he could do to monsters with that thing …" [Dad]

"Is it even okay for you three to be this calm?!" [Weiss]

"… Soar?" Cinder asked as she helped channel her Fire Magic alongside mine as a way to commemorate our first attempt at the art together, watching our product in awe.

"Yeah, Cinder?"

"I have a feeling … that you and I are going to get along awesomely. Let's work together and make some more sweet-ass Fire Magic tricks we can come up with."

"Definitely. I'll look forward to working with you."

Cinder expressed her delight and mutual feelings with a big kiss on my cheek.

Using my new Fire Magic (lowered down for safety, of course), I lit up the candles on the large two-tiered cake before everyone sang the usual birthday song. I blew out the candles and we went right to dessert.

As we were all enjoying the cake and other pastries Agnes bought for the party, there was one matter that I needed to be settled as it had been bugging me the moment I came down from my room.

"So … who are you again and why are you here?"

"He really doesn't remember me!"

Sitting with me alongside Fila and Onelri at my personal 'birthday boy table' was the new girl with the black bob cut. I was questioning who that older girl was and why she was there at the party to begin with. From my eyes enhanced with magic, I saw she had a D rank magic aptitude, one tier below Fila, making her 'average' among others. Following her 'mana string' directed me to a Wind Fairy with a ponytail that was currently having an ecstatic chat with Breezy at one of the small fairy tables as they ate their own pieces of cake and sweets.

"She said she was a classmate of yours from school," Fila explained.

"I would be careful with her, though. I think she has been stalking you since day one," Onelri added without even trying to keep it quiet.

"I wasn't stalking him! Soar, it's me, Claire Galloway? One of the older kids in class? I wasn't in Class 1 after the first year you came in but you sat with us in Class 2's lectures? I was sitting the closest to you while you were only in a chair?"

I shook my head when the memory didn't ring a bell. Honestly, I wasn't really paying attention to who I was sitting next to since those older kids ignored me anyway. The others around my age group weren't that much different towards me.

"We would read in the same table at the library sometimes after school? We even talked briefly?"

I tried to wrack my brain as I recalled my times in the library until familiar 'conversations' came up.

~~

"Excuse me, could I sit here?"

"… Yeah, sure, go ahead."

~~

"May I sit here?"

"… Mm."

~~

"Nice weather we're having."

"… Uh-huh."

~~

That was legit most of what I could recall from our 'brief' talks. I recognized the voice since I heard it every time I went to the library and wondered why she'd sit in the same table I was in when there were plenty of other vacant ones available. Not like I was trying to claim a sort of territory every time I visited. If it was crowded and limited seats were available, I wouldn't mind giving a seat under those circumstances, but when it's so quiet and empty, even if it was in another world, there had to be some unspoken rule about personal space in the public library, right? That should apply to both introverted and extroverted people. It'd just be weird having a stranger sitting next to another one when it wasn't the only option.

Moreover, I usually sat in one of the tables at a corner of the library where I'm out of everyone's sight. I can understand another going to the same area for a similar reason but there were other tables available to sit, and yet that girl always sat in the same one I was in.

My Companions didn't butt in during those times because libraries tend to get pretty boring for fairies who usually like to be outgoing. There was a sort of play area that one might see for toddlers back on Earth, but this one is more catered for fairies to while away their times while their Chaperones did their studying and reading. My Companions weren't much different, as they either hung out there or went outside, oblivious to what was going on inside unless I called them back through telepathy. Mist was one of the odd fairies that liked to see what I was reading and so she'd sit in front of me to read along at times, which was kind of nice and pleasant to have. Mist's company when that weird girl came along was helpful, but it wasn't like I could ask her to do something to make that girl go away.

So many times, I wanted to tell her 'there's an open seat over there,' but that could be the same as 'go away, don't bother me,' which can be really rude and uncalled for, and from what I had experienced in retail from my previous life, it doesn't take much to set some people off and escalate into a heated conflict. I didn't want to risk getting into something so bothersome and possibly get kicked out because of the disturbance we would cause. It wasn't like she did anything wrong to me that I felt slightly uneasy around her, either, it was just … weird, out of the ordinary, and so I tried to avoid eye-contact with that girl at all times while I just let her did as she wished. That went on for a couple of months before my birthday rolled around.

That one kid I mentioned a few times that 'didn't stand out to me' as much as my other classmates? This is that kid, outside of the library, that is. Through that weird girl's behavior, I came up with a bit of a fitting nickname that I would know of every time I heard her voice. As Claire spoke back then, my senses of discomfort were tickled in such a familiar way, it wasn't until she mentioned 'library' while I tried to remember that it came to me.

"… Anomaly." Claire's nickname slipped out of my mouth at that moment.

"Who are you calling an anomaly?!" Claire exclaimed.

"What's an 'anomaly?'" Fila asked.

"It means something that is strange and out of place and it seems Soar has realized how dangerous this girl really is. Should we call our parents and make her leave?" Onelri then asked.

"Really, like Soar's one to talk about what's 'strange and out of place,'" Claire argued. "Ever since he started school, when kids were playing and having fun among themselves, he would read books and do homework. The kids' idea of having fun, especially among boys, is playing tag, kick the can, and roughhousing in mud. Soar instead studied magic with Ms. Renne, practiced swordsmanship with his dad, and helped with chores that some adults in town needed to be done. Let's not forget how he always stayed behind after his class is done so he could sit in on another's specifically for the older kids."

"What's wrong with me doing all of those?"

"It's not normal! Kids around that age usually aren't so … serious about everything, and they don't worry about their studies until the last minute because they don't want to do it at all! Why aren't you like that?! That's what I've been trying to figure out every time I saw you! I've been trying to talk to you about it in the library for the last couple of months yet you always close yourself off as you had from your other classmates!"

"Only the last couple of months?" Onelri asked with a quirked brow.

"I honestly don't see why you're making a big deal out of it when you could've just asked me directly," I said. "Like when those kids asked me to play with them, I told them straight I didn't want to, they wouldn't listen and pester me, and so I close them off for that reason alone.

"To answer your question, I would rather read and study magic on my own, have Ms. Renne and Dad teach me magic and swordsmanship respectively because I like doing them, and they're wonderful people to do them with. I like to learn about things, and so I stay for the older kids' classes so I could learn more stuff I didn't know. I only help with chores when it's convenient enough or if Mom and Dad want me to help a neighbor out because they know I can do it, and it's something I'd rather do than playing tag and getting dirty in the mud.

"I only kept our 'talks' brief when you greeted me all of those times because one, it's a library, and unless we were studying together, it's a place that should be kept quiet as other people are reading, which is something I prefer to do, and two, I've never met and talked with you before so of course I'd be weirded out when you suddenly come up to me all of those times. I go to the library, alone, so I could read and study under peace and quiet, alone. Even though you were there sitting in the same table as me when there were other ones available, I would continue to do just that unless you ask me something worth answering, but you don't. You just make some vague, roundabout, subtle small talk that has little to nothing to do with me until it gets quiet and the air gets awkward after that. It was enough that I would have to move to another spot to do my things or just end my time there earlier than planned because I couldn't be left alone like I wanted to when I went in there, to begin with."

Claire sat there wide-eyed along with Onelri and Fila, staring at me as they took all of what I said in.

I sighed deeply and got up from my seat. "I know I'm not like the other kids, how 'strange and out of place' I am. I've known that for far longer than you even realize. It's because I know of how little I can understand you, how little I want to do things they like to do and vice-versa that I don't see a point in making friends with you all. Even if I can't understand you, I can at least understand what I want to do, what I like to do, and how I like to spend my time. Whether or not I have Companions at my side, I can at least be certain of what I want to do is right or wrong, like how I'm going outside to get some air and not say something I'll regret. You can see me as weird as you wish, but please … unless there's something you want of me, just leave me to my peaceful life like I had up to today."

"W-Wait, Soar …" Claire muttered as I walked past our table and went to the back. I was glad the others were enjoying their time enough to not notice me as I stepped outside to the backyard.