Training with the Kids

"Marcus… you mean Mr. Marcus Aldhelm?" Oria asked to the priestess.

"Yes. It is him."

"Huh…" Oria scratches her head, "I thought he's busy with his work…"

"Oh, you've met him, Oria?"

"Uh, yeah! I was from the blacksmith with Miss Katze, heehee. He's kinda scary, to be honest."

Rosine tilts her head a bit as she smiles, "Teehee. That's just how he is. Please forgive him, okay, Oria?"

"Sure!"

"That old menace never changes, y'know, Rosine?" Katze shakes her head. "He shut me down twice as I was trying to speak with him. Heh, guess that's the reason why he's forever single, huh?"

"Now, now, Miss Katze. You will never know when a true lover will come to his side, even though his personality may be lacking in terms of politeness."

Sighingly, Katze replies, "I'd bet a good gold coin to see who wants to marry that man, seriously."

"Haha. You never change yourself, Rosine. Well, then, Oria. Shall we begin our practice?"

Oria, who's been listening to their conversation gets startled by Rosine's sudden attention. "Eh? O-Oh! Sure! (Their conversation just now sounded kinda fun, though…)"

After that, Oria sits back on the front row seat, listening to the priestess's explanation about healing magic once more. She's like having a private tutor teaching her. Katze sits on the corner while patiently waiting for the young girl. Meanwhile, Bishop Arun has left the altar and heads to his office.

Just one recap, Oria feels like she understands them. After that, Rosine picks up a plant in a pot from the corner and puts it on the table in front of Oria.

"Allow me to demonstrate how it's done," Rosine said gracefully while proceeding to snap the thin stalk of the plant.

"(E-Eh… is it okay to just do that…?)"

Suddenly, Bishop Arun blows the door open. He looks extremely panicked.

"Di-Did I just hear a wood snapped in two?!"

It appears the small plant that Rosine broke was Bishop Arun's decorative plant. He moans in such sadness for the destruction of the plant that he raised like his own child. Meanwhile, Rosine shuts him down in a calm, composed manner.

"Now, now, Bishop Arun. I'm only borrowing your plant. I will return it to you as how it looked before by using healing, so no need for unnecessary whining. You have other works to do, right?"

The bishop resigned to her and trudges back to his office. His compliance with the priestess surprises not only to Oria, but also to Katze. Leaning back on the chair, the red-haired woman states quietly, "Since when a bishop bows down to a priest…?"

After that, Rosine demonstrates how to perform healing magic on the broken sprout. "I will show you how to chant the magic and then you will try." She then stretches her hands to the seedling and begins to chant. "The Goddess's power nourishes life, bestow upon one who lost their power, the power to rise again. Healing!"

Light emanates from her hand and flows to the plant. Organic tissues from the plant reconnects itself to the snapped part and finally returns shape like how it was before. In fact, there's a beautiful blue flower appearing on top.

"Whoa… there's a flower!" Oria pointed out in her amazement. "It's kind of different from the rozferul flowers…"

"Of course, it is different. This one is an iris flower. It's quite beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is!"

Then, Rosine snaps the plant again. "Okay, then. Your turn, Oria."

"O-Oh… r-right… (I thought I heard a door creaking open…)"

Katze gets a glimpse of the bishop crawling back to his office from the slit through the door. She remarks in her mind, "(Poor Bishop Arun…)"

Oria then tries to use healing on the plant. She attempts to chant exactly as how Rosine did.

"The Goddess's power nourishes life, bestow upon one who, err…" Rosine helps her remembering, "…lost their power, the power to rise again. Healing. It's like that. Shall we try it again?"

"Ehehe… r-right!"

For a few times, Oria struggles to memorize the chanting words. "(Geez… chanting a magic is tougher than I expected…)"

After several tries, the little girl manages to correctly chant the words without a stutter.

"The Goddess's power nourishes life, bestow upon one who lost their power, the power to rise again. Healing!"

Subsequently, Oria can feel a warm sensation flowing from her arms into the palm of her hands. They emanate light, flowing to the broken plant. That seedling recovers slowly, tying its innards back together and recovers its skin loss and finally returning to its original shape.

Rosine compliments her success, "Well done. You did it, Oria!" to which Oria nods cheerfully, "I did it! Yaaay!"

In the corner seat, Katze is surprised by how fast Oria manages to perform the healing magic, "(Oooh… That's fast… it took me at least two to three days to learn the simplest form. She's a genius, isn't she?)"

As she learned how to do it, Oria hears the voice of the system telling her achievement of the said magic.

<Recovery Magic: Healing Lv.1 achieved!>

"(Ah… it's been sometime since I heard that composed echoing voice…)" Oria thought to herself. She looks at the priestess who congratulated her for her success. Katze soon joins in complimenting the girl.

"That's a job well done, Oria. I'm proud of ya. I believe Dux will be happy, too."

"Hm! Thank you, Miss Katze."

Rosine compliments her further, "I'm amazed that you can do it in such short time. The kids did outstandingly well, but you are the fastest to learn it, Oria."

"R-Really?"

"Yes. But please don't feel so high, now. What you achieved is only a tiny fraction of something huge."

"That something huge is the Grand System, right?"

"Teehee. That's right. Very well, then. That will be it for now. You must memorize the chanting, Oria. Practice regularly and you will be able to use healing easily."

"Okay."

"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I will need to see how the kids are faring with Mr. Marcus. I hope he's not overdoing it to them…" Rosine walked out of the chapel in a hurried move. She's somewhat worried about something.

"Wanna see what's going on?" Katze grinningly invited Oria, gesturing outside, to which the child happily agrees. "Hm! Let's go!"

As they follow the priestess to the backyard of the blacksmith, they hear clunking wood noises and shouting from the children. When they arrive, they see the tallest boy, Alexander Basil, defending himself from the endless attacks Kon delivers. They are having a mock battle, with Alexander holding a wooden sword and Kon equipping a knife of the same material.

"Oh…" Oria got immersed by how the battle goes.

Alex calmly dodges most of Kon's strikes. Seeing the short and the tall boy in action, Oria thinks in her mind, "(Kon is fast. Alex is surprisingly calm at handling his attacks…)"

"HaaaAAA!" Kon swings his wooden knife in a diagonal slash, but the collected Alex finally makes his counter by parrying the boy's knife and flung it off his hands in one uppercut strike.

"Ooowaah!" Kon fell to the grass, and at that moment, the muscular blacksmith stops the battle. "That's enough! Alex wins this round."

Alex sheathes his sword in a knightly way, while prompting to help Kon. "Are you okay?"

"Haha. I'm fine, bro," Kon grabs his hand and gets up. "Maaan. How can you look so calm, Alex? I mean, my heart was throbbing like crazy when I'm thrusting and swinging my knife."

"You're not bad yourself, Kon. It's not true that I wasn't panicking. I just tried to keep myself coolheaded to find an opening."

"That's what makes you hard to beat, maaan!"

Tili and Ayako admires the two boys' action. Rosine's entrance to their training is welcomed warmly by them all afterwards.

"Sis! Oh! And Oria, too!" Tili runs to them. "Hi, Sis! Is Sunday school over?"

Rosine nods while sighing relief, "…Yes. It's over. It appears you're enjoying the training, eh, Tili?"

"Heehee, yes, I am!"

"Phew… I'm glad he doesn't force things too much into you…"

"Huh? What do you mean, Sis?"

Before the priestess can answer, the blacksmith approaches her, "Yo, Miss Rosine." His safety goggles are still on his head, however.

"Hello, Mr. Marcus. Thank you for training the children. You've been a great help to them."

The husky-voiced guy replies, "Haha, don't sweat it. They're quite promising kids, I tell you. Even Tili's magic is growing faster than I had expected. She'll be a great priestess like you in the future. That much I believe."

"I hope so, too. Just… please don't overwhelm the kids like last time."

"Guaahahaha! That's just my way to test how far their skills have been! Oh, is that Oria and Katze I spy over there?"

Oria comes to the imposing bearded man. Seeing her there, naturally, the blacksmith thinks that the girl wants to grab the knife she requested earlier. "Gah… I'm sorry, kiddo. I haven't finished workin' on your weapon," he said in remorseful voice while scratching his head.

Oria waves her tiny hands, "Oh, no, no. It's okay. Just take your time, Mr. Marcus!"

"Thank you for giving me time. I'll make it the finest knife ever, don'tcha worry."

The other kids who are talking to each other now turns their attention to Oria, who they just heard she's being forged a weapon by the blacksmith.

"Say whaaat? You're getting a weapon, Oria?" Kon asked firstly as he sprinted near her. Oria nods smilingly, "Yeah, that's right." Kon ties his arms behind his head while saying out loud, "Maaaan! You're one lucky girl, aren't ya?"

The quiet girl, Ayako looks a bit displeased, but she retains her calm nature. "I envy you, Oria. How unusual for Mr. Marcus to accept a request from a kid."

"You guys talking about weapons and all, meanwhile here I am using a staff that my sister gave me."

Kon sneers at her in a funny tone, "Heck, one who aspires to become a priestess won't understand how we felt!"

"What did you say!?"

Most of them aren't troubled by Oria gaining a new weapon. But one person stands out, visibly showing hatred towards her but remained silent. It is Alexander. He does not like the idea that Marcus is forging a weapon for her.

At last, the tall boy finally speaks.

"Huh… so what kind of trick did you use on Mr. Marcus, eh?" Alex crossed his arms.

Everyone turns silent, their attention aligned altogether to the boy. Oria can hear a discord in his voice. Not long after that, her perception skill detects somewhat a dangerous scent coming from him.

"(What is this feeling…?) Ehehe… I don't use any tricks, um… Alex."

The sword-wielding boy gets even more upset just by hearing Oria's reply. "Really, now? Mr. Marcus refuses to make us weapons because of a reason and two. He only gave us wooden weapons, but why you, an outsider, suddenly affects his mind and he agrees to make you one?"

"H-Hey, stop it, Alex!" Tili stood in front of Oria, defending her. "Everything has a reason, right? Right, Sis, Oria?" she looked back at them.

"Don't get in the way, Tili. This is a serious matter. If she makes Mr. Marcus playing favorites on us, then I will not stand idly letting it happen."

"Please calm down, Alex." Rosine tried to calm him down with her serene voice, but his rage is intensifying. He draws his wooden sword and points it at Oria's direction. His eyes glare full of hatred, declaring to the silver-haired girl, "Show to me what you're capable of!"

"Oi, oi, Alex! This isn't like you, man!" Kon tried to stop him, but Alex pushes him away. "Don't get in the way, Kon. One full year of our training trying to get the trust of Mr. Marcus is being blown to pieces by this outsider! You do realize it, don't you?"

"W-Well…"

"I agree with Alex," Ayako calmly stated. "I want to know what makes you special in the eyes of our instructor."

"Y-You guys…!" Katze covered the little girl. She, too, realizes the gravity of the situation.

Rosine's face turns serious and raises her voice, "Enough, everyone! Fighting isn't the right way to solv—" but Marcus holds her shoulder, saying, "This is a matter of pride, Rosine. I was at fault for bringing this up. Alex is the most hardworking kid among them, and obviously, seeing anyone of his age getting anything special from me will spit on his hard work."

"Mr. Marcus…" Rosine calmed down again, "then… what do you think we should do?"

Meanwhile, Oria steps out of Katze's coverage and confronts the angry boy.

"H-Hey, Oria!" Katze tried to stop her, but Oria softly reasoned with her. "It's okay, Miss Katze. If he's mad at me, I must make amends to stop him."