[Intermission] A Day in My World (2)

Teleporting to the edge of the forest, we returned to the kingdom. Passing the slums and ignoring the children that looked at us in awe as Noel 'tried' to carry the wolf back.

Before, I had suggested we buy a magic bag that could carry objects conveniently. However, the magic bag could not store objects larger than a certain threshold. We returned to the guild after passing the guards at the gate.

There I had surrounded ourselves with a barrier of concealment to prevent theft or any troublesome encounters.

"4 silver and 2 copper, here you go," the receptionist Avice placed the coins on the counter. "I've been wondering, shouldn't you get some armor? You could get injured without them."

"No, it's alright.. " Noel replied.

Avice nodded and turned to me. She looked a little reluctant to say something-- but she spoke on a spur.

"And miss adventurer there, you came together with the boy the other day, you're not two timing are you?"

"Could the same be said for a beautiful woman attending to so many male adventurers like yourself?" I retorted

Noel's expression cramped a bit, it was cute, I suppressed a laugh.

"Good one," Avice smirked.

"Anyways, thanks for today," Noel took the coins and quickly left the guild. He even took the effort to tug on my wrist. I was surprised how much he wanted to end our little banter.

The street was less crowded today with snow settling on the side of the street. The meandering stream built across the city had a thin layer of ice formed above. It would be possible to play atop the ice soon wouldn't it?

"Prune asked us to get some ingredients for lunch, any ideas what we should get?"

"Did she not specify anything?"

"She just said meat and fruits."

"How about fish? Perhaps some Brapples to add to that."

"Brapple?"

"Yes, you'll understand once we buy one, I remember seeing it at the market the other day," this time, as I held his wrist, I guided him towards the marketplace.

Though I may not be familiar with the demographics of the kingdoms, I still knew about the common ingredients and food items that Noel didn't know.

The market was a short walk away, it was composed of various low hanging stores built simply on a cloth that stretched across the head to form a roof. Each store was separated by sticks of wood. The dribbles of white and blue snow caused the cloth to cave inwards. With a pole, a merchant could be seen hitting the snow off.

The white cold fluff fell on some people, it irked them-- magic should've been used instead I thought.

It was here Noel bought the iron sword he used this morning. It was a cheap one costing no more than 1 gold.

"This is Brapple?"

"Yes, excuse me Miss, how much is this?" thought the price was properly stated on the basket, I asked anyways.

"That would be 3 large pieces of copper per piece, how many would you like?" The lady merchant who was cradling her baby with a cloth strapped around her turned to me and replied.

"Then could I have 10 of these with these.." pointing at the other fruit items, I said.

"What's this?"

"It's Wellech, a fruit local to this area, and it's quite a popular during winter," the lady said

The fruit Noel asked regarding was a reddish fruit that I would liken to a sweet tomato, it made the stomach hot as one would if they drank alcohol.

Moving around the market and picking up various food items. We returned to the florist and had lunch. Prune was skillful in her preparations, cooking up steamed fish in vinegar, coupled with the other side dishes-- it proved to be another wonderful meal. Someday I would present dishes like thess to Noel.

I have much to learn from Prune. It was interesting how she added Wellech fruit to the dish to what she referred to as: replacing white wine.

Jennifer, who came back from the education guild, was delighted to have fish. Margrett was troubled over how meals these days were made by Prune. I could only think of it as a mutual benefit. She did allow us to stay without any need to pay to begin with. This much is acceptable-- Prune had no qualms in regards either.

At that, Nine and Prune spent the morning digging the field at the backyard to find a creature in the dirt. That was what Margrett told me on a whim. I believe they were trying to complete the quest to find a snow worm.

After washing up, the afternoon was spent attending to the customers in the florist together.

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"Jennifeeer-chan!" the boy I saw this morning-- I believe his name was Fancis-- approached the interior of the store as I watched the process of Margrett teaching Noel the know-how of creating a bouquet.

"Fancis-kun?! Why are you here?"

"I came to ask you to teach me magic!"

"Um, Fancis-chan, please lower your voice," Margrett asked of him.

"Okay.."

Fancis and Jennifer went to the backyard area to practice magic. It wasn't really a good place to do so as the space was small and filled with many precious flowers. If it were me, I could blow the space with but a single spell.

Though.. that may have been presumptuous of me as they were merely practicing intermediate magic. Jennifer herself seemed to be able to combine magic to create her own, unlike Francis who stuck to magic taught in theory.

"Liliath-sam-san, can you show us your magic? You're really good at it right?"

Oh, I was caught peeking. In that case I suppose I will accept her request?

"Why did you use -sama? Does Liliath-san have a grand title that I dunno about?" Francis asks.

"No, that isn't the case."

"Then what is it?"

"Liliath! Use magic to create that dancing goddess spell last time, please, please," Jennifer begged.

Though I was unsure how she would convince him in this manner, with a snap of my finger, I brought upon an ice statue of Bleu. I made it dance while swaying its body waving its hands in the air. The motions were smooth— otherwise impossible for statues made from normal ice— repetitive and could be played on loop. This was a spell I developed at Bleu's place by her request.

"Wow!! You're an archmage?!"

"Perhaps?" I replied with a wryly smile. In truth, I had never met an arch mage in my life, though I have been tutored by a grand sage in the past.

I disintegrate the spell.

"Then should I call you Liliath-sama from now on?" He asked, watching as the figure of Bleu melted away like a wax candle. Quite an eerie sight.

"It depends on which you're comfortable with.."

"Then Liliath-sama, teach me how to use that magic just now!"

After a short explanation.. It seems their graduation exams are to arrive in a little over a month's time just before spring arrives. One of the requirements was to develop an original magic which.. Francis had been unable to do so.

Since the dancing Bleu spell was one that could be said as exceedingly complex, It wasn't something he could learn..

"Ah! It's you!"

"Heh," in almost a sneer, Nine came to the backyard to see what we were doing.

"Nine-san, you can't use magic yet can you?" Jennifer asked.

"No, I still haven't mastered a simple water sphere yet.."

"Huh? What? You can't even use elementary magic?" Francis was bewildered.

"Yup, I can't even use basic magic— but I can do this.."

Nine demonstrated a trick where he folded his thumbs hidden behind his index and middle finger. It made it seem as if he broke his finger apart before reattaching it. Assuming this magic was not a mere trick but something applicable-- to move limbs remotely, it required one of the more advanced necromancy spells, spirit manipulation or string play. As for the part where the fingers are to reattach themselves.. that would be difficult, though possible. Probably by the use of holy magic?

"What original magic is that?! If you could break apart your body and put them back together.. that would revolutionize the world!"

I held back the urge to hold my head seeing through that simple trick at a glance. I wasn't sure if Francis was acting or he was truly desperate to learn something useful.

Jennifer glanced at me once, with a totally befuddled expression.

"No way.. use your mind a little, it's easy stuff," Nine said as if shooing him away.

"Teach me! You said it's simple magic right?!" Francis clung to Nine.

"Hey!? Hey, get off, get off?!"

Sending an SOS my way, I said my word of advice:

"You reap what you sow~"

When Nine relentent and had no choice but to share the secret to Francis, the expression he made was.. one that was quite difficult to explain.

Today was another great day.