9 Chapter 9: My 11th Birthday Didn't Start Out Like My Other Ones

After we had our small feast and settled some other matters, I used Dark Gate to open a path near the entrance to the city of Brightlas for the two families to get inside. That city neighbored Lunargrove by a couple hours on a carriage. There was a toll, so it would be bad if word got around that a few families got unpermitted entry, but I had never been inside the city anyway. I had only got close to one of the gates during my explorations that Mom and Dad weren't aware of. I picked Brightlas over Lunargrove so the two families wouldn't try to find me. They promised they'd keep everything that happened that night a secret in with the majority of the bandits' loot in exchange, despite their own apprehensions on the deal, but I went to such lengths out of my own peace of mind. They did ask if I lived anywhere there, but I never answered their question as I left them off with a 'good-bye' and closed the Dark Gate between us. The girls tried to stop me but were too slow.

"Soar, are you sure you're all right with this? You looked like you were getting along with Fila and Onelri so well," Breezy asked.

"Well, it's better than previously leaving them in the cave. They might've got caught under some unfortunate events, but since they're free with some money to get by now, it's best that we go back to our normal lives."

"I understand that but weren't they your friends? Even if you had to part ways, you could've at least sent them off with a better good-bye."

"… It was done this way so that there wouldn't be as much tears. If they end up disliking me enough to not want anything to do with me after leaving them so coldly, then all the better for them to move on to their brighter futures. Besides, they're still kids and I'm a 50-year old man in a boy's body. It should've already been clear enough how different our mentalities were and they're already aware of me being alone from other kids due to my 'weird behavior.' They'd understand soon enough why it would be better to not get close to me."

"Soar …"

"Whoa whoa whoa, wait, what? What's this about Soar being an old guy in a boy's body?"

"Oh, yeah, you're new to the group, Cinder, so you're unaware of my circumstances."

"I'll explain it all to her later."

"I appreciate that, Shadina, thanks. Let's just get back home and call it a night," I said.

I know I ended the last chapter mentioning the beginning of a friendship between me and the girls, but I originally intended to keep our contact together short-lived. I got to keep one of the kingdom guard's issued short sword and dagger, all of the Null Cuffs, the Null Cage, and the keys for both of them from the bandits' loot for my own purposes while the two families got to keep the rest of their belongings as well as their own, so I figured that much was enough to settle things between us.

Anyway, after I cut myself off from them, I opened another Dark Gate leading me back to the bathroom of my home where I quickly did nature's course, changed into my pajamas, and walked back to my room. I then headed to bed, but not before I checked my Status Card. I thought I was getting too tired to see something ridiculous, so I decided to sleep it off before checking it again in the morning. I did overhear some whispers from my Companions who slept under my bed, but it was quiet enough that it didn't bother me as much.

{Ah, that reminds me. I need to make a bed for Cinder as soon as I can,} that thought crossed my mind before I fell asleep.

~~

"Mgh … I really went too far last night," I grumbled as I shakily open my eyes, finding I'm looking up at the ceiling of my room while in bed. I sat up and rubbed the sleepiness out of my eyes before I looked back at my pillow where I kept my Status Card underneath it. "Ah, right, let's check that card again and see if I wasn't just seeing things last night." I reached under the pillow, pulled out my card, and reread the contents I thought I misinterpreted last night.

[Name: Soar Osmis

LV: 85 >> 90

Fairies: Cinder LV 1 >> 31, Breezy LV 61 >> 100, Mist LV 59 >> 82, Shadina LV 52 >> 88

Affinities: FIRE*, WIND***, WATER**, DARKNESS**

STR: C- >> C+

INT: S >> EX

VIT: D-

END: C >> C+

DEX: C+

AGI: C

MAG: S >> EX

Gifts: Wizard > Sage > Great Sage, Magic Hands, EXP Acquisition Boost]

"… Ha ha ha. Noooope, I was not seeing things last night," I muttered in monotone.

First off, the two Fire Fairies settled on their own who would be my primary of the fire element, which ended up being Cinder. While the parents had to block the girls' eyes from the gruesome sight, Cinder gave up the majority of mana she collected herself and half from her former Chaperone's body—the other half taken by his Darkness Fairy—before spreading it around in an area outside of the cave, 'giving life' to nature, in a general sense. After that, like how it was with my first three Companions, Cinder formed a new contract with me by kissing me on the cheek—albeit a little embarrassingly on her part. At that point, I would be able to cast Fire Magic with her assistance.

As for the other bandits' fairies, they had to collect their former partners' mana as well before they committed to giving themselves and their power to my Companions, but they didn't have to spread it around. In fact, they needed it for bonding. This included the other Fire Fairy who chose to give her power to Cinder instead of taking the 'Primary Fire Fairy' position in my Fairy Harem. I didn't realize how much power their fairies would give my Companions after they accepted them into their gemstones, but according to the Great Sage Voice at the time, I wouldn't exactly receive all of their powers, like transferring all of their levels into my fairies. The mana they collected from their former Chaperones would actually serve as the bonding agent that would link the fairies together in order to make the merge successful. It's also because of the former Chaperones' mana that only a percentage of the fairies' full power—between 30 to 60 percent on average depending on the Chaperone's aptitude, from what the Great Sage Voice said—would be transferred to my Companions.

It's sort of like the resistors you'd see on circuit boards one may have played with inside a high school science lab, controlling the voltage that runs through the circuit in various ways to avoid blowing it up. Just replace the resistor with a former Chaperone's mana, the 'giving fairy' being electricity, and the 'receiving fairy' as the circuit board, and you pretty much get that as a result.

How a fairy who lost their Chaperone would give herself to another person's Companion, by the way, was due to a special dance they would perform as a way of communicating with the gods to help them become one. Like traditional ballroom dancing on Earth, while the pair has to be of the same magic element, the fairies are paired up as one who takes the lead, and the other who follows and gives up their powers to the partner. Since there were 2 Wind Fairies from the bandit group, Breezy ended up doing it twice to take in both of them.

Everyone who was in the cave got to witness a few of the bandits' former Companions dance with all 4 of my own—who had to turn off their hide-detection spell in order to perform the dance—at once as if we were watching a coordinated waltz in a ballroom. You could even imagine the orchestrated music being heard in the background as they moved to the rhythm. It was such a moving, beautiful, and bittersweet moment, especially when the pairings lit up as bright balls of light in colors representing their respective elements until they dimmed down with only my own Companions remaining lined up in a circle. Their partners were already dwelling in the gemstones on their chests by then.

I could still remember the sad smiles they all had as they said they heard those fairies thanking me for freeing them in their hearts. Cinder had a tough time berating the Fire Fairy inside her for asking me to 'take care of her abrasive but caring friend' with a straight face. It was hard for me to restrain myself from breaking a tear, but I managed. Fila and Onelri, on the other hand, weren't as reserved for expressing their emotions as they both bawled in their own ways.

Going back to the Status Card though, there was always one (*) that was next to each element of my affinities, but more appeared for all of them. Dad had let me see from his own Status Card once how two (*) were next to his Earth affinity while nothing was on his Wind one. I didn't question why that was at the time, but I learned later that those who had no (*) next to their affinity meant the magical power from that element was drawn from their very own mana. In the case they didn't have that affinity before a fairy made a contract with them, that meant that specified elemental power was mostly drawn from that respective fairy.

Basically, the more (*) is shown next to that affinity, the more power is boosted to that specified element. If two people of the same aptitude cast a spell, say Wind Needle for example, with the same amount of control and mana applied, it's likely the one who has more (*) has a bigger display of power than the other. You could even say each (*) represents the number fairies giving their magic to that element at its basest power.

As for how much, according to the Great Sage Voice, one (*) is 25%, two is 50%, and three, which is the maximum, is 100%, meaning their power would double my own. I had yet to see anyone with the power of more than two (*) in their affinities, but combined with their own powers, only one could imagine how potent their magic would be, and Breezy happened to be the first fairy I had seen in my life who had powered up to her full potential with the other Wind Fairies resting in her emerald gemstone heart.

Keeping that in mind along with how much more powerful I had gotten after I received the Great Sage gift, especially since there was apparently a step above 'S-Rank' in the stats of my card that was marked as 'EX-Rank,' I really had to keep the use of my mana to a minimum so I wouldn't go overboard with the magic.

""Good morning, Soar~!""

I was occupied with my thoughts as I was checking my Status Card when my Companions' usual greeting—plus one new voice—brought me to reality. I turned to them hovering next to me in bed before giving a gentle smile. "Morning … guys? Wait, I'm seeing something strange. You all look … bigger now."

"I know, right? How do I look? Don't I look fiiiine~?" Shadina asked first as she slowly ran her hands down her curves.

"But Breezy grew most last night. Looks so fuller, Mist jealous," Mist added.

"It was especially a surprise for me, I couldn't even fit in my own bed anymore, and even the dresses we had on last night ripped from our growth spurts. We had to work quickly and make new ones before you woke up," Breezy explained while smoothing out her new dress, looking the same as her last one, as did the others. I wondered where they even got the materials for them.

Like humans and other races, fairies came in different sizes and figures, but they usually average around 4.5 inches in height (~11.4 centimeters). My fairies here were about in that range last night with differences as small as the thickness of the coins in this country's currency called glits. That morning, Cinder, Shadina, and Mist looked to have grown to around 5.5 inches (~14 centimeters) while Breezy was a whopping 7.5 inches then (~17.8 centimeters).

"How'd you guys grow that much overnight? Is it normal?" I asked.

"Well, I might've been a rarity since I accepted 2 Wind Fairies in my heart, but fairies normally would grow to around their heights around LV 100," Breezy explained as she gestured to the other three. "They must've grown a little earlier thanks to the fairies they accepted into their own hearts."

"I might've been a special case since I'm technically older than all of you and I accepted a Fire Fairy after making a contract with Soar, despite me not being much closer to LV 100 than the rest of you are." Cinder pointed out while crossing her arms.

When I looked at Cinder then in a better light, I examined her features. She had tanned skin in a lighter tone than the dark elf family's, and unlike the other girls, her attire was actually a bright-red two-piece that showed a lot of skin, revealing her toned midriff. Her arms and legs were also sculpted, and the mini-skirt she was wearing was so dangerously short that it wouldn't take much to see her privates, even her toned butt would stick out for the normal viewer without much effort to look. Also, from how Cinder carried her chest on her arms, they weren't as big as Shadina's, but maybe bigger than Breezy's if the two of them were around the same height, so it was a pretty sizeable bust for her. There was even a generous amount of cleavage shown on her part, too. Finally, she wore her hair that stretched to her shoulders in a loose ponytail, bright red and glittery that matched her attire while showing off her nape.

"W-What? Do I have something on me anywhere?" Cinder asked, looking a little defensive as she noticed my staring.

"No, no, sorry if I was being rude, I was just thinking how different you dressed from the others here."

"Ah, I didn't always wear this. My old Chaperone wanted me to dress differently to … well, help with his 'stress relief' at one point, and I just wore my clothes like this out of habit from that point. It's not … gross to you, is it?"

Being polygamous as fairies were while looking attractive, I did hear how some Companions had helped their Chaperones with their 'stress relief' in various ways if they were lonely, be they boy or girl. I had yet to experience that with my own Companions at that time, despite how eager they were to 'help me' when my second puberty started. I couldn't stress to them enough to wait for me until my new physical body was older and more developed.

"I think it looks fine, very bold that's rather charming in a way, but if you aren't comfortable wearing that, you're welcome to change into something that does."

"Oh, well, if that's the case … and you think I look good in this?"

"Quite, but again, if it's to your discomfort—"

"I'll just keep it like this, then."

"… Oookay? Anyway, since you've all grown out of the beds I made, I'll have to come up with new ones for you to sleep in. I have to make something for Cinder anyway, so this should work fine."

"You know, you could ask us to change up our looks now and again, too, Soar. We won't mind. You think so, too, right, Mist?" Shadina asked.

"… Mist's body too bland and boring, but if Soar really want Mist to—"

"*Ahem.*" Breezy then cleared her throat, cutting into the topic. "Anyway, we know a lot of things happened last night, but now that things have finally calmed down and it's just us right now, we can finally do this. Ready, girls?" Breezy who took the lead asked the others, to which they nodded eagerly after suddenly remembering something.

She then counted silently to three with her fingers before they sang the birthday song on cue. It was a special song between Companion(s) and Chaperone sang in melodic acapella no matter if it's a solo, a quartet like my fairies were doing, or some other. Much more fun and filled with energy than the usual 'Happy Birthday to you~' shtick from Earth, but somehow that had also been the same on Manara between humans and other races, too.

""Happy 11th Birthday, Soar~!"" they exclaimed at the end before giving me a four-way kiss on my face. I couldn't help but chuckle from how that still tickled from time to time, but the addition of Cinder's lips was definitely new to me.

"Thanks, guys … wonder how long that unique birthday tune had been around?"

<"That would be approximately XX,000 years ago, around when music started to become one of the forms of entertainment that attracted fairies to become acquainted with the residents of Manara."> It was the Great Sage Voice from my new gift that answered for me.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot this will start answering things for us from now on," Shadina said with a slight grumble.

"I admit that I am not gonna get used to that so quickly." [Cinder]

"Mist don't like it. Makes Mist feel more useless as Companion." [Mist]

"Now that is so not true. You've all been a bigger help to me than you give yourselves credit for," I rebutted before checking my card again. "Hmm … you think this gift is also part of how you guys grew earlier than planned last night?"

"It might be possible," Breezy said while shrugging.

"Still, if it's like that when you guys approach LV 100, is there a limit to how strong we can be as Chaperone and Companions? A level cap, perhaps?" I asked.

<"The maximum level both Chaperone and Companion can achieve is 200, no matter what rank the former's aptitude is,"> the Great Sage Voice answered.

"What happens when all of us are at level 200?"

<"Cannot answer. The result is unknown.">

"What do you mean you don't know? Where do you even get all of this information from?"

<"Please refer to the administrator for further questions beyond what the Great Sage gift can answer.">

"The 'administrator?'" Cinder asked with a quirked brow.

"That usually means the owner of a computer or system on Earth. If we're talking about the 'owner' of the one providing the knowledge of most things on Manara given to me through the Great Sage gift, that would be …"

"The Great Mother?" Breezy answered for me.

"Sounds about right, she is all-knowing being the creator of Manara, after all," Shadina agreed.

"So, basically, talk to Elmyra for any deeper and harder to answer questions, huh? Well, we've pretty much reached a dead end unless you guys know how we can communicate with her," I asked the fairies, and they all shook their heads in a deflated manner.

It might as well be the same as an oblivious kid being told 'ask your mother/father/teacher' when they're not sure how to answer or too awkward to explain where babies come from.

"Well, we shouldn't bother ourselves with it too much if we can't get an answer right away. I don't know how long it will take, but let's just take our time in getting ourselves to the level cap and we'll see for ourselves, huh?" I asked them.

"And at the rate you're leveling up since we made a contract 6 years ago, we'll probably get there before we even know it!" Breezy exclaimed, trying to lighten the mood.

"I still can't believe you three made a contract with Soar when he was 5," Cinder commented. "Well, at least in that body, anyway. Still, the Great Mother pulled someone's soul from another world to be reincarnated here. Just as one might expect, her powers as a goddess is something that shouldn't be taken lightly, but is your soul seriously 50 years old now, Soar?"

"Yeah, but more importantly, it would be awkward to keep calling this new voice in our minds 'Great Sage Voice.' Clearly, she … he … uh, what gender do you classify as, GSV?"

<"I have no gender to classify myself with.">

"Well, you sound more on the feminine sassy side so I'll classify you as female to make this easier. Is that all right?"

<"Gender has now been confirmed.">

"Okay, then. Anyway, she clearly has some semblance of self, so I think it would be best to give her a name."

The other fairies nodded in agreement before I crossed my arms and tried to wrack my head in coming up with good names. How she had talked with me up to then reminded me of the virtual assistant software in smartphones and computers that answer questions or do tasks for you by voice command. While it may be totally awesome at first glance, it will quickly get frustrating trying to have it do what you want because you're not annunciating your commands clearly or it doesn't give you the kind of info you wanted to look up.

That said, the name I came up with was inspired by such programs.

"How about … Mona?"

<"Name has now been confirmed. The Great Sage gift may now respond to the female alias, Mona.">

"I'll take that as a yes, but seriously, you should really try to let up on the cold techno computer tone and relax a little."

<"As I said previously, I—">

"Yeah, yeah, I know, you're not a supercomputer, but you catch my drift, right? Anyway, you may not be able to tell me everything about this world but let's just try to work together the best we can from now on. Okay, Mona?"

<"… Yes, Soar.">

"Great, and with that said, today's my birthday. Since I did enough physical activity yesterday, I'm going to take it easy tomorrow after the birthday craze ends." I hopped out of my bed and did my usual morning stretches to limber myself up for the day.

"Your dad's old hunter party friends are going to test you on your usual stuff today, right?" Shadina asked.

"Right, so I might as well see how far I've gone since their last visit—"

"Soooar! Are you up?!"

"Yeah, Mom! Just waking up now!"

"Well, get dressed and get down here quickly! You have some visitors!"

""…""

"… Visitors?" I quickly changed into my day clothes and rushed downstairs. Before I could ask who it even was …

""Soooooar!""

Without my search magic active, I didn't see my assaulters ambush me from behind when I reached the bottom of the stairs. I was pinned to the floor by two weights on my back.

"Ha! We got you!"

"Caught you, Soar!"

"Onelri?! Fila?! What are you—"

"Sheesh, calm down, you two. He won't escape from his own home, which is surprisingly big, I might add."

"Good morning, Soar. Nice that we could meet again so soon."

"Indeed, rightfully so."

"Flomi?! Darida?! Zalfes?! How did you all find my home?!" I exclaimed.

"Huh, I don't remember seeing any of you around these parts. Are you visitors from someplace else? How do you know of Soar?"

"They said he helped them out of some kind of trouble in the past, dear," Mom answered Dad as he walked onto the scene.

"Yes, and he ran off before we had a chance to thank him properly; hence, why our girls took action of pinning Soar to the floor and not let him try to escape again," Darida said.

"As for how we found you was simple: we just asked around if they knew of a human boy with sky-blue hair named Soar and they directed us here. We didn't realize you were related to such a famous hunter, though. It's also how we found out that today happens to be your birthday," Flomi finished explaining as she bent over and gave a mischievous smile.

{Ugh, curse my damn stupidly-colored hair to make finding me so easy,} I berated to myself. {But, wait, I dropped them off at Brightlas though, and it should take a couple of hours for them to get here by a carriage. Did they get up so early just to get here?}

"Is what they're saying true, Soar? Did you help them out? When was it?" Mom asked.

"Uh …" I had difficulty coming up with a good lie for covering up what happened last night as I didn't anticipate seeing any of them again.

"Just yesterday, when he was hunting game for the celebration, I imagine," Zalfes answered.

"We got lost and had difficulty finding our way when he found and pointed us to the right direction," Flomi added.

"Yes, that's … right," I confirmed, trying to go with the flow. I did mention to them how I knew my way around the forest through my hunts, which included the game I scored earlier yesterday, so they couldn't have pulled up that story randomly out of their asses.

"*Yawn~.* What's with all of the noise—why hello~, stranger! What brings a beauty like you around these parts?" Weiss, as he was coming downstairs in response to the noise, suddenly laid his eyes on Flomi and got his spirits up before trying to put on the moves towards her. He paid no attention to her personal space as he gently held her hand like a delicate flower, much to her surprise.

"… Hello? Are you a friend of Soar's?"

"Why, yes! I am! More like a teacher, really, I taught him everything he knows about being a hunter to become the strapping young man he—OWW!"

"Don't lie about what you can't do just to hit up women, Weiss, especially this early in the morning. And besides, you only taught him how to run fast … as far away from danger as possible." Lilia interrupted Weiss' 'flow' with a hard bonk on the head with her Magician's Staff.

She wasn't wrong, though. Out of everything he could provide that the rest of Dad's former hunter party already gave, running [away] was probably the only good thing he taught me … and his form wasn't all that great, either. Put him on track against an Olympic runner and he'd be eating dust within seconds. In the end, he didn't contribute much aside from being an example of what I shouldn't follow to improve myself.

Soon enough, the other members of Dad's former hunting party came in to see the scene. Everyone was able to gather around in one space with more than enough elbow room because the 'house' was previously an inn before a bigger one was built in town. Dad was well off from his savings in his hunting career and bought it for us to live in after making some renovations.

"I thought I heard some concerning noise and came over to check if anything went wrong, but … the only thing that concerns me is if Soar's suffocating under the weight of two little girls on top of him," Seal said, being the second-to-last person who arrived on the scene as he looked in our direction. He came from the back compared to the rest who were upstairs earlier, so he was likely polishing his swordsmanship early in the morning.

"Ah, right. Onelri, Fila, it is about time you give poor Soar here some air," Zalfes said to the two of them.

"Yes, Mother." Onelri got up from me dutifully without question.

"…" Fila, on the other hand, didn't budge.

"Fila, you can get off of Soar, now. He won't run away," Flomi said.

"Can't I stay like this for a little longer?"

"I would like to get up sometime today, Fila. Could you move, please?" I asked.

"Aww … okay."

Dad then gave a hearty laugh as we got up. "Well! It looks like Soar had finally made some interesting friends!"

"I'm so happy. With how he's either by himself or with adults, I was worried if he'd ever make friends around his age," Mom cried while dabbing the tears off her face with a handkerchief.

"Mom!" Even though I made the choice to be on my own, it was still awkward when someone had to put it that way.

Mom still ignored me and slapped her cheeks together to pump herself up. "Okay! This calls for a celebratory breakfast for the birthday boy! Everyone here's joining in! No questions asked!"

"Oh, I want to get in on this! Let me help out!"

"I can help you with the cooking. I'm used to doing it for large groups."

"I will assist you as well," Lilia, Flomi, and Zalfes said, respectfully.

"Can I do something to help?" I asked while raising a hand. While it was partly out of habit, I was concerned of what Fila's and Onelri's parents would say to the other adults in the building, considering the events of last night.

"You already did enough hunting all of the game yesterday, Soar. Having you cook for your own celebration would defeat the purpose of having you to relax. Why don't you go out to the back and play with your new friends and we'll call you when the food's ready?" Mom asked.

"Yeah! Let's go play outside, Soar!"

"We will not hear any further arguments!" Fila and Onelri exclaimed before they took each hand of mine and pulled me outside.

"Uh …" I was so at a loss for words on what was going on that I couldn't refuse.

"Have fun while you can, Soar~! We're gonna go through the usual after breakfast, so prepare yourself!" Sam exclaimed from the distance.

"Yeah, but try not to have too much fun with your girlfriends!" Weiss added.

"G-Girlfriends?!"

"… The usual?" Onelri and Fila answered in their own respective ways. I saw the former's ears suddenly getting red despite her dark complexion.

And so, against my will, I 'played' with my new friends, but not in a way I was expecting from kids like those two. No, it was the complete opposite of what I was expecting.

My first 'playtime' with friends in the new world was worse than I could possibly imagine, which really put a damper on my birthday that morning.