Flowing with time

Time flies when your life's falling apart.

Indeed, Dea felt time blow like a gust of wind when she realized half a year had passed in her new life.

And what has she been doing all this time?

She's living every working adult's dream: early retirement-like life...with pay.

Such life is super awesome.

Now, she is crouching in the garden while fondling the petals of the herbs. They are the second batch she planted and have now grown to the height of her knees.

It's the most famous herb in Andean, called the nehesh plant.

It resembles a spider lily with a golden hue on its white petals. It's the most popular herb because every part of the plant can be used to treat wounds and replenish a little bit of strength.

Every time Dea looks at it, she is reminded that she now dwells in a magical world. Nothing else because under the sunlight, it seems to glow with a faint golden luster. When she saw it for the first time, she thought she was hallucinating. She stared at it, motionless, for almost an hour.

Now, one of her pitiful pastime hobbies included watching the flower of the nehesh plant.

"Sisterrrr!" A sweet voice yelled from afar.

Dea glanced at the lively figure that was rushing in her direction.

"Sister! I'm back!!" The girl's figure came before her in no time.

"Well, welcome back. How was your trip?" Dea asked Ayanna.

After a few months of knowing each other, Dea finally memorized the schoolgirl's name.

Her name is Ayanna Feld.

She is a very spirited girl.

Gone are the days when she wept her eyes every day. Now, she has fully transformed into a heroic girl with a strong sense of responsibility.

Dea could only murmur in her heart that the sir high priest and his people were really excellent in their brainwashing skills. In any case, it's good for the school girl. At the very least, her mentality and emotions are okay. It's just that her hobby of barging into the garden has not diminished. Whenever she has the opportunity, she will come to her and tell her about what she has been doing. She also tells her what she has seen outside during her training and what magical things she has encountered.

Dea is used to it now.

Anyways, it will only take a moment of her time, and she has nothing else to do.

"Sister, this time we went to the Western city, and it was amazing! The food was also great! Here! I brought you some!" Ayanna happily pushed a small bag into her arms.

"What is this?" She asked.

"It's cookies. They are delicious!"

"Well, thank you." Dea calmly accepted the food given to her. She's also used to it. Every time the schoolgirl returns from her trip, she never fails to send her some food.

"Did you see the so-called demons this time?" Dea asked.

Yes, this fantasy world has demons.

Though she has never seen one, she has read some of their information from a book she bought. She remembers sir high priest mentioned they needed the priestess' help to defeat them or something.

"No, I didn't see them. Sir Orivus only took me to the outskirts of the western city to help heal the wounded. I also thought I could see some demons. I asked Sir Orivus if we would go to where the demons at next time, but he said no. He said it's too dangerous, and I'm still too weak." Ayanna sighed, a little sorry she didn't witness what they had been calling a demon but also glad she didn't. Will they resemble demons in the games she has played before? She is curious yet scared of what she might see.

"Well, you should listen to him," Dea remembered the well-built man with blue hair that fetched Ayanna six months ago.

That's right, blue hair.

It was her first time seeing natural blue hair. The folks in the hall of saintess she had seen either have brown or black hair. That's why she was impolite and stared at his head the moment she saw him. Fortunately, he didn't mind and merely nodded at her. Hence, Dea has a good impression of him.

That sir knight is Ayanna's bodyguard named Orivus. According to the old uncle, he is the deputy captain of the holy knights. His strength is second only to the captain.

Anyway, her memory stopped there. She can't recall what the old uncle said further when he mentioned the captain.

"Yes, sister." Ayanna solemnly nodded until she was distracted by Dea's hair.

"Ahhh, sister, your hair has grown again." She tried touching Dea's head but remembered something and simply pointed at the top of her head.

"Well." Dea didn't know how to respond to that sentence.

"Sister, you should let your hair grow longer. It must be beautiful when it's long!" Ayanna liked Dea's hair. She recalled how flabbergasted she was when she first saw her silver-colored roots. Sister said that she's an albino, thus, has white hair. She felt excited by the thought of it. She hasn't seen naturally silver hair, only in animes. That's why she's been urging the older sister to keep it and let it grow. It's a pity that she wanted to cut it all the time.

"Ughh. It's troublesome." Dea scooped a lock of her hair that had passed her shoulder.

She wanted to find a barbershop when she first went out, but a pity they don't have one. They use their magic to dye, cut or maintain their hair in this place. She finds it troublesome to look for a magician to mend her hair, and until now, she hasn't fixed it.

Fortunately, this is a magical world where various hair colors seem to exist.

Now, she could simply stop dealing with her hair. No one would be pointing at her on the streets anymore, anyway.

In short, it's quite nice when people stop acting like cunts.

It's just that her bangs have also grown longer, reaching her chin. It's too tedious cutting it with a knife. Maybe she should go out again and look for a scissor. Remembering her remaining stock of amrita, she decided to purchase another barrel.

Glancing at the sky, she approximates that she has plenty of time left. However, glancing at the person before her, she surmised she couldn't go yet.

"When will you go on a trip again?" Dea asked.

"Hmm, I'm not sure. Sir Orivus said there is no task now, and I should focus on training." Ayanna pondered for a moment and resumed,

"But, the high priest said before that I will go with the captain's team when they've returned. I don't know when, though."

"Then you should rest first so you can continue training tomorrow." Dea spouted the eviction order euphemistically.

"Yes, sister." The other was clueless and only thought she was being thoughtful.

Dea ushered the schoolgirl to the garden's entrance.

She walked side by side with her while carrying the bag in her arms. It inadvertently exposed the abrasions on her fingertips.

Ayanna caught sight of it and yelled.

"Sister, you're injured!" She hurriedly lowered her face towards Dea's hand.

"It's nothing, really. Don't waste your power. I know you're tired." Dea thinks it was nothing serious. She got several cuts from pulling weeds, but they were small, not a big deal.

"No way, sister. A girl's hands should be treated with care. They said hands are our second face, so we should treasure it." The young girl admonished, making Dea speechless.

[Well, I don't even care about my first face, what more of the second.] She murmured in her heart.

In any case, she'll accept the schoolgirl's kindness.

Then she watched white lights glow from Ayanna's fingertips as she treated her wounds.

Dea remembered the first time she witnessed such a miraculous scene.

The schoolgirl barged into her room one night yelling, "I finally did it, sister!". Then, she waved her fingers toward her face.

Tipsy, Dea almost freaked out. She thought the girl had mutated, and her fingers turned into flashlights.

Since then, she always makes sure to lock her door before drinking.

"It's done, sister!" Ayanna smiled happily after healing her.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome! Then I'll be going. Bye, sister!" The schoolgirl cheerfully ran as she waved her hand.

Dea stood by the flowers and slowly raised her hand to wave back. Then as if realizing something, she paused and looked at her raised hand.

[Well, it's not a bad feeling.]

A small smile formed on her lips.