26- heros first impressions

Ayi couldn’t help but to chuckle and loose some of her reservations about the young lady in front of her after such a weird introduction. The handshake gesture was nice and all. Very solid in fact if not a little stiff. But the most important thing to her was how both Feugan and Zoey seemed to be at ease with her. That was the best introductory she could ask for.

“It’s ok don’t worry about that, you have a good handshake. It’s just a normal brief greet. But don’t you slack off, people can judge you by it!”

“T-they can?!”

“{I distinctly remember telling you that…}”

“Here” Still holding Mimiru’s hand, Ayi started moving her hand up and down with an accelerated rhythm that annoyed her internally, but she was trying to make a point.

“If you were to describe the handshake as a conversation, what would you say this feels like?”

Taken aback a little by the unexpected turn of events, but focusing on the question at hand (almost too literaly at hand), made her evaluation right on spot “I-I think its kind of forceful, patronizing. As if I have no say on how the conversation goes”.

Ayi smiled at the young girl. “Exactly, I take it that you don’t do handshakes here, but you did well. I learned it just as some sort of good manners” With a smile still on her face, Ayi gently let go of the young girls hand and smiled at her. Now that the silly icebreaker moment was past them. Ayi paid more attention to the girl in front of her.

She looks very… athletic?

Mimiru looked like a blonde girl from south California, perhaps in her early twenties, if this wasn’t a whole different world, she would have easily said she was a surfer girl. Maybe. It had always been hard enough for Ayi to try and guess people’s age. But on top of that, Mimiru looked to be very solidly built. For starters, the young girl was very tall, 5’7” by her own sense of height. Which she recognized it could be wrong, but at the same time she felt like she was right about it. She also looked like she the total envy of an Instagram “fitness model”. Appart from a solid body with a nice face, the young girl in front of her looked as if she could be a very promising Olympic athlete. On all the competitions.

Does everyone in this world look so darn well-built?!

Ayi found herself wondering again just who this girl was. She knew her name, alright, she also mentioned that she had been under Feugan’s care. Which was a very disconcerting phrase if she thought about it.

She was under the care of a rideable Dragon Lord? How? Why?

“{Mimiru was kind enough to assist me. She also seemed to have the right amount of… good heart, in her.}”

Uh?!!!

“F-Feugan!! W-what are you spouting off so suddenly! Lady Ayi will misunderstand you!”

I think I am misunderstanding a lot of things already!!

***

As Ayi entered the building, following Mimiru, as she had insisted on taking them to a nice spot inside the building, Ayi was again paying more attention to the little details once inside.

All the sights made her remember the few renaissance fairs she had gone to. Or the attempts of one, there was no lack (or want) for medieval fanatics, constantly clamoring how even the most diminute details were wrong.

She had no fine eye for such critical comparison of something that happened hundreds of years before she was alive. So she shrugged those thoughts and decided to mentally her new experiences in a “New folder”. That made some modicum of sense to her, and that was good enough for her right now.

She was immediately taken back from her inner thoughts as upon going thru the sizeable gate threshold she was assaulted by a cacophony of laughter, chatter and the bustling sounds of what she thought would most likely be a bar from any given movie. As she looked around at the tables she saw what she could only describe as adventurers. VERY gaudy adventurers. Leaving aside the disturbingly high amount of leather-bound yet somehow shirtless men, along with all the suspicious looking people with big robes, cloaks and other manner of loose tunics covering their heads, here was a very distinctive clash of colors going on with the attires. Bright yellow capes, fierce red leather vests and breastplates, a shield with a bright yellow clashing with a sickish green on a checkered pattern that forced her to look at it and wonder if daltonic clowns were dressing this people. Which made her think that perhaps that was the intent of the colors, at least on the shield, to grab someone’s attention, most certainly not to ponder on genetically disadvantaged jesters. For the life of her she couldn’t figure out why anyone would willingly dress in pants that were somehow both green and red topped with a yellow gambeson.

Deciding to put aside the headache-inducing attires, she tried to focus on something else, she was quickly brought to attention by the sounds of wooden mugs against each other as well as on the tables just like the clattering of the wooden tableware which made Ayi wonder just exactly to which level of technological development were they at.

A sudden crackle of fire made her realize there seemed to be a firepit on the far end of the dinning area, she could see the flames dancing and licking on what she could only guess, from the distance she found herself from it, were huge skewers with meat onto them.

The moment she put her attention to the food she started perceiving the smells of the meat roasting by the fire, most likely covered in spices she couldn’t recognize but she was already getting faint traces of. She also picked up other unsavory smells that made her scrunch her nose as she focused fiercely to disregard the smells of maybe a dozen leatherbound shirtless men and women.

I am being so very easily distracted by my senses today.

“Here we are! We will take this table while we wait!. Oooii! Yes! Thank you!” Now Ayi’s whimsical attention was brought to Mimiru which had brought them to a table by one end of the dinning area of the building. The young lady was signaling to another young woman. Which Ayi could only guess was some sort fo maid, barmaid or wench, depending on who you ask and other people’s sensibilities, she definitely would have to ask about that.

“Good! Today there are lots of meat and food ready!!”

Mimiru set herself at a table, plopping herself onto a chair, Feugan followed suit in his own manner, he sat on his hindlegs while facing the table. Ayi grabben one of the chairs, a bulky wooden piece of furniture, crudely made yet it looked VERY sturdy, perhaps by design. It then came to her attention that Zoey was not with them.

“ZOEY?!!” Ayi looked frantically around, drawing stares from nearby people due to her outburst.

“E-everything is in order! Sorry! Zoey went to the kitchen to go help with the food and refreshments, she works as a maid here at the guild...”

This comment did help with soothing Ayi’s sense of urgency, but it was soon replaced by a different feeling. She glared intently at Mimiru, her intense gaze startling the young girl.

“And why is my precious daughter working in a bar serving drinks to- ” She stopped there, her fist was on the table, at some point she had slammed it, her knuckles white due to the pressure she was excerting. But, she wasn’t here trying to pick a fight or start putting names and labels on the professions of others. “Why is my daughter working, she should be enjoying herself, playing with other kids” Ayi somehow exerted much more control than she even thought it was possible, even more so now that her rightful daughter was involved. If she ever had a doubt about such a thing, it was long gone. the feeling of indignancy and raw irritation was making her feel almost sick, there was no doubt about the sincerity of her feelings.

“I-It was the only option p-possible!!” Mimiru was very startled by the sudden change of attitude on her guest. Although it seemed like she was ready to explain, she couldn’t help but to inch back on her own seat as if dealing within a dangerous subject.

“Explain…” Ayi let the words come out slowly and as controlled as she could, biting off some of the bile that had somehow built in her mouth, ready to be spewed off.

“We talked about this when Feugan found Zoey… She… She is too young to be without a guardian. Registering her to a guardian would allow her to go to any of the temples to receive some sort of education, but binding her to a guardian put her completely under their care ‘by law’.” Mimiru stopped here seemingly to to let her words sink in.

“If… If we registered her to anyone, you would be unable to make a claim unless you were subjected to some heavy magical analisys to prove your claim as a blood related guardian. Feugan insisted we should wait for you to-"

“That does not explain how come she is a minor working at a bar with such a… 'rowdy looking clientele'” Ayi was almost biting her own lips trying to contain herself by now.

“B-by the same laws, a minor without a guardian cannot be hosted anywhere. This is to prevent random people claiming rights over orphans. And since we didn’t want to put her into an orphanage, the best available option was to hire her as a young barmaid in training under the protection of the guild, the regulations are very lax when it comes to such a trade”

At this point, Mimiru stood up and locking her eyes with Ayi’s with a fierce look on them she proclaimed.

“While her situation might be that, she is not being mistreated! The guild’s staff, the other barmaids, the old man and me! We are all looking up for her wellbeing!”

Eh?… I thought she seemed too {timid and indescicive} to make such an statement of her own.

Uh?!!

While being assaulted by a thought that didn’t feel quite her own, her attention was caught by the comment of her trusted companion.

“{She speaks true, master. This was the best arrangement we had available. Now that you are present, Zoey can undertake proper education in any temple or organization if you so desire so.}”

With Feugan's statement, she calmed down visibly enough to let Mimiru relax too. As she was rumiaging the possibilities and implications of everthing that was taking place, she was surprised when a diminutive bairmaid brought her a cup of a steaming beverage.

the cutest barmaid!

“Here, Misstress. this infusion is great for relaxing and destressing” Zoey said while carefully putting the tea and plate on the table in front of her. Ayi’s mood was also vastly calmed by the warm and soft visage in front of her.

“Oh! Why, thank you, sweetie!” Ayi said while pulling her cute little wofkin in for a big hug, which made the little wolfkin flail for half a second before joining in on the warm moment.

Ayi stroke the cute wolfkins head softly and looked at her “Have they been treating you well sweetie? You can stop serving tables any time, now that I am here”.

“Thank you Mistress!, I really appreciate it but… They have been really good to me and Feugan! I want to return some of their generosity by working hard.”

“Oh sweetie im sure there are other ways-”

“And Kara and the other maids are teaching me manners and proper etiquette to be a pro-maid!”

“Eh?! P-pro-maid?! Why would you nee-”

“I need to be ready since I am to be the head maid of ‘The great tomb of Naa’!!”

“Eeeeh?! The… wait!! Not because our house is lacking furniture, makes it a tomb!!!”

While his master and his little sister were having a familial moment, full of warmth and laughs, Feugan couldn’t help but to chuckle softly, feeling that things were going to be alright now that his master was finally with them.

25- hand to hand ettiquete

With her trip to the local healer behind them, and after downing a small flask of what the healer described as a “solid minor healing potion” (a concoction that had a somewhat sour 'lemon with honey' and mint taste) explaining to some detail how it would be enough to help deter any possible bruising and help with “muscular stress on the affected area”.

Ayi found herself anew in a complete daze. With the realization that all the surreal events that had transpired during the morning, had been in fact, very real.

While her mind was going in circles about her own actions that she now knew were not only rather violent and perhaps unfair to others. While she was pretty sure that any sort of pacifist solution would have been very unlikely. She was certain that she could have ended the scuffle with only bruised thugs and way less exposed fractures.

With Zoey dragging her by her hand, she took the empty flask and pondered on that that little boney detail.

Well perhaps with magic and potions existing, he will be alright. Or so she briefly thought about. In all honestly, she didn’t care much about the fate of a thieving scoundrel. Or a whole band of them. In her mind he had it coming. Her only real concern was how it could have affected Zoey to see such a gruesome scene.

She then came to the realization that they have yet again reached a different part of the kingdom. One that she was no familiar with which she found disconcerting. Now that she was paying more attention to the structures around, it came to her that the architecture was actually quite different to what she remembered from her gaming days. It was still a mostly medieval European look on the buildings. Mortared stone on the walls, wooden supports here and there assisting with the ceilings and windows, she even saw a few houses with eroded walls, showing worn adobe bricks. “Easy to work and easy to damage” she thought.

Her inner thoughts filled her with doubts and a lot of questions about her current situation. Ironically the massive amount of thoughts on every single detail that affronted her on her new situation, made her unable to properly focus.

Luckily for her, her guides knew where to take her, taking along through less crowded streets until she found herself in front of a tall and imponent building. 

Tall mortared rock walls with simple wooden framed windows at the first 2 levels, leading her to guess those were either living quarters and/or offices of some sort. As archer slits on the third level and a crenellated parapet at the top of the building would immediately make it seem like this building was supposed to work as defensable position within the inner walls of the kingdom.

But why are there windows on the first floor then? Wooden-framed windows are not adequate for defensible structures.

“Ta-Da!! Here we are Mo- er! Mistress!” Zoey merrily extended her arms as she showcased the entrance, she had done with a cutesy hop that had made her frilly dress bob along with her white short hair and fluffy tail which didn’t stop it's merrily wag.

“Uh? W-where are we? What is this small fortress?”

“{This is the adventurer’s guild, they are expecting us inside, Master}”

“Oh? 'Adventurer's guild' uh?! Who is this ‘they’ you-”

“kyah!” A sharp surprised squeal from Zoey, immediately distracted Ayi, her body had already taken onto a defensive stance as she was now expecting another attack.

“Zoey!! What took you guys so long?!”

Well... it seems we are certainly under "attack"…

In front of the outstanding fortification, Ayi was observing how her cute adoptive daughter was now under a fierce siege… of cuddles.

A young human girl was on her knees, hugging the cute wolfkin girl, without any inhibition or apparent concern about where they stood. Ayi found herself without words at the sigh taking place. Zoey herself seemed to be unable to free herself from the youngster embracing her, facing a barrage of head pats and seemingly endless snuggles.

“mmh! AH! Mi-Mimiru stop! My mom-! I-I mean my mistress is here!” Zoey exclaimed after she was somehow able to free her head from the barrage of affections aimed at her.

“EH?! WHAT?! Where is she?” The blonde girl quickly stood and started looking around, a quick glance at Ayi and then her eyes darted around looking for someone else.

“She here, just besides Feugan, we brought here to meet with the guildmaster”

“Oh?! Her?!!”

Ayi couldn’t find it in herself to interrup the cute comedy exchange taking place in front of her, when the spotlight was finally brought to her, she did the only possible thing that came to mind to her.

“er… Hi?” giving her best timid/confused/apologetic smile, Ayi waved back shyly.

The human girl immediately darted forward with long stiff strides until she was in front of Ayi. She stood tall in front making Ayi making her look slightly up to meet her eyes, guessing the girl was somewhere around 5’11” of height.

And with a continuous showcase of a stiff nervousness, the blonde girl extended her right arm in one single swift overly mechanical motion.

“My name is Mimiru! I have been under Feugan’s care for the last couple months. Nice to meet you”

With the overly serious tone, the stiff and nervous body language. Ayi had to stifle a chuckle. Surely there would be time to asks the girl all the questions that came up in her mind, all in due time. With a wry smile she reached forth and welcomed the attempt at a handshake. At this very moment it would be rude to not respond to such an enthusiastic greeting.

“I am Ayi’Naa, just ‘Ayi’ please. Nice to meet you, Mimiru”

They remained shaking hards firmly in one of the most textbook handshakes the realm had ever seen (not that the realm was a place for many of those). For an uncomfortable amount of seconds. Until Mimiru broke the eye to eye contact to look at Feugan with consternation in her face.

“W-when do we stop, Feugan?! Was this enough time or is still too little?!”

24- Parchment things up

The confusing information in the magical warnings in front of Mimiru had startled her at first, the last one had even scared her to some degree. It seemed aimed at her too intentionally. Before, all the magic information announcements had been rather reactive, announcing something after she had accomplished a task, almost like a reward for her effort. But this one in particular was different,  almost as if it was poking straight into a sore spot in her mind and soul, playing with some of her deepest inner insecurities and fears.

Yet. After the initial scare, she felt quite calm and relaxed, the whole experience now somehow soothing, she felt relieved with a huge weight off her mind, as if she had been freed of her inner doubts. She felt so elated and cheerful that she immediately made a blunder without thinking about it.

Coming back to herself, she looked at the cup of juice the kobolds had brought her, she tried it and found it to her liking, it was slightly fermented, a very nice fruity taste to it with some slight bitterness that somehow helped to enhance the flavor of berries you could find in the forest. She took it without reserves, emptying the contents of the clay cup in one single go.

“Gahaha!! This is a great party!!” She exclaimed with a thunderous voice that startled everyone and made them look at her almost alarmed due to her sudden change of attitude as well as the magnitude of the volume of her voice.

“Oi Mimiru, what is that? Are you the old man now?!”

“Everyone! Revel tonight!! Celebrate to your heart’s content and may the realm bless your celebration!!” She continued without paying attention to her companion, raising her cup with a huge grin on her face and one hand on her hip, all gestures and mannerisms she had unwillingly absorbed from their mentor.

The celebration seemed much brighter to her now, actually the whole cave seemed a rather brither now that she was paying more atention, maybe it felt that way now that everyone seemed to be looking in her direction. Or so she thought.

Your prayer has been heard

"Blessed feast" miracle granted.

“Bwah?!!!”

Completely surprised and then somehow spurred by her words, the kobolds doubled their efforts at making this as remarkable of a celebration as possible, singing and dancing with more renewed energy. They also started bringing even more food and drinks, in unlikely quantities and in an outrageous pace, bringing to question how they had managed to prepare so much food beforehand. Specially if they had been leading a nomad lifestyle until this point.

All and several other questions where a thing of little concern for Mimiru as she suddenly felt completely drained of energy. She still felt in high spirits, but all her energy seemed to have left her in an instant. She looked at herself, trying to move her arms and legs, the act of lifting her arm felt like it was a taxing endeavor. Suddenly her whole body ached making a clear reminder that she had spent the entirety of the day either exploring the forest while fighting the critters within it, or being anxious and in high alert about the prescence of the kobolds, jumping about every single sudden move they made.

But all that seemed behind them at this particular moment. Mimiru looked around, and upon finding her target, she started walking towards it. She stumbled on her very first step, which lead her to believe that she was, without a doubt, on the right course of actions. Which ultimately led her to fumbling her way on top of Feugan’s back and immediately falling asleep.

“Mimiru! Are you ok?!!”

“{I think she fell asleep? Must be really tired?}”

“Feugan! Is she Okay?!!”

“{Oh… right you cannot understand me…}”

“I cannot understand you, Feugan!!”

“I know… Can someone please tell him that she is okay?”

***

“So. While its possible to infuse a weapon with both divinity and mana, the balance is very hard to keep. Making it a very dangerous tool of destruction in a plethora of ways, most of them the most undesirable, there have been records of swords exploding, longbows catching fire and even maces turning into turkey legs, therefore making it highly unadvised to perform unless adequate amounts of training
It is also important to notice that not all materials conduct mana or divinity the same way, it has been noticed that ‘pure metals’ such as silver or gold can be charged with divinity much more easily, yet branches from trees from sacred grounds have shown an even more splendid flow of divinity.
Mana on the other hand, shows a more marked flow on minerals as well as crafted pieces of equipment. With the few exceptions of very specifical plants, mana flow seems to be a matter of control and design”

The big rugged Guildmaster continued explaining, only the sounds of chalk against a chalkboard interrupting him as he would stop every now and then just to making a drawing pertaining his explanations or a side note to make emphasis on the last point he explained.

“Now! The body can absorb the energies of the land, such as when breathing, or eating. It can also gain energy from defeated enemies, some claim part of their life force is absorbed into our bodies. And as outlandish of an explanation as it sounds, this is yet the most widely accepted theory about this. Due to how adventurers show a remarkable progression in terms of body, soul and mana strength.
While all the enlightened races benefit greatly from the 3 forces, the benefits exhibit in different ways as each race as an apparent aptitude for them, with its exceptions. The beastkin usually boast greater physical traits and show a greater aptitude to convert their life energy into physical manifestations within the body, also known as skills. Allowing them to use far more skills, than your average human, in a single day without feeling tired or risking their lives due to overuse. Of course there are certain races that have shown a greater prowess to mana manipulation such as the Phauxnixes and the Lamia.”

At this point the guildmaster moved to a different part of the chalkboard, one part filled with what seemed like odd figures with lines, circles, letters, shapes and triangles converging into a single weird artsy overdramatic painting.

“But what is mana? Mana is widely accepted as one of the fundamental elements that constitute the world. While there are varied discussions on how everything might be made from elements, such as water, earth, wind and fire. All scholars agree that regardless of this, everything is formed or contains some degree of mana in it. With ambient mana coming in troves from the wind and rivers it was hardly anything disputable really. Heck, a really skillfull mage with big enough familiarity with earth magic, could draw mana not only from the soil but even from rocks.

From that point on, a mage has to manipulate the mana in a minutely manner to use it in a spell”

“Master! Why are we studying this?! I already know all of this!”

“Oh? You know all of this, you say? And yet you had to be carried to the guild this morning, because you overused your newfound access to divinity! Completely drained from energy and requiring assistance to be brought back while in the middle of a job, within the forest dungeon!! Needing a healer just to make sure you were fine without lasting aftereffects!”

“I-it wasn’t on purpose…” came a soft mumbled response.

“So you DO know why it happened then?!”

“I-I think I do have an idea of why…”.

“If you are not sure completely why, then, Ill make it clear to you! Without proper knowledge or practice of your newfound access to divinity, you went ahead and blessed a celebration, in the name of your Patron deity!!” The weary looking guildmaster answered in an agriavated tone. His voice raising with each word further explaining the situation.

“But I didn’t bless on any god’s name!”

The old man stared at her, obviously angry at his disciple for trying to make an excuse when the results were, after all, quite obvious to him. Yet he regained his composure and continued with his explanations.

“Miracles can only be granted by one of the thirteen patron deities or one of their vassals gods. Failure to do so will yield no results, no miracles and in some cases, you will befall upon a lesser curse by misuse of a prayer and divinity”

“C-curse?! Misuse of a prayer?!”

“Of course, kiddo! You thought you could just make a prayer to the air and expect the thirteen to just pick up your slack and figure out who is supposed to answer a random plight?! There are rules to follow, the same applies for us enlightened beings, if a person starts yelling asking for help in the middle of a street, he or she is more likely to attract the city guards than to receive help, best case they will be guided to adventurers or mercenaries, worst case he will pass the night at a jailhouse for disturbing the peace”

“T-that makes sense…”

“Mmmph! You say that as if you were surprised I would give you less than useful information”

“Well I mean, sometimes…”

“Pick. Your. Words. Carefully. I’m still very angry at you for such a folly, kiddo” The Weathered Guildmaster stood in front of her, his already imposing figure seemed to loom even taller than usual, he had placed his finger on the table in front of Mimiru, a gesture to make a point as he was speaking. His anger more evident than ever, not only from the weight his words carried. The way the thick index finger left an indentation on the sturdy wooden table, was proof that he was barely restraining his own frustration over the incidents that had taken place during the last job Mimiru undertook.

He stared at her intently until he finally stood back, taking a deep breath to calm himself he turned around and walked to the other side of the “lessons room”. A room that could hold at least a dozen individuals sitting on the small tables and chairs along the room, an arrangement that reminded Mimiru of the classrooms she had seen inside some of the temples that often took in disciples for training or willingly accepted people for some sort of education.

A special room in the guild, known for being the place where the Guildmaster gave his more -educative- lessons to the less willing to learn members of the adventurer’s guild.

The adventuring trade was well known for valuing strength. Which leads to an easy misconception, “as long as you have enough strength you can do whatever you want” as an adventurer. This sort of misunderstandings leads to the need for a leading figure within the guild. The guildmaster. One of the foremost roles of an adventurer’s guildmaster is to nurture and groom candidates into proper members of the guild. Sometimes nurturing them with lessons and guidance in both manners and rules to follow. And other times grooming them the same way a drill sergeant would to the new members of an army.

As such, the existence of the “lessons room” was well known among the members, either from stories passed along or from making mistakes which lead them to dreadful valuable lessons as adventurers.

As one that had heard the tales, Mimiru wasn’t thrilled of being inside the room while reviewing her performance on the last job she had taken.

“P-Permission to speak, Sir!” She stood straight on her seat, raising her hand. Although she stammered a little, it couldn’t be helped, showing no hint of nervousness nor guilt would just show she believe she had done nothing wrong.

“mmph. Go ahead”

“Even if… er… No, let me rephrase that. I performed a high level of miracle, right?”

“Yes, you did. Divine blessed feast, an advanced miracle that normally only high priests of a church would be able to perform. Rather than asking for the food to be blessed, which results in food consecrated and enhanced by the gods, the whole feast was accepted as a religious celebration which resulted in big amounts of blessed food and wine, until everyone is sated and some even healed of their ailments.”

“B-but why was I able to perform an advanced miracle if I had just obtained divinity?”

“First. You didn’t ‘just obtain’ it. No living being is born without a connection to the gods, even the smallest of insects that live in this world have such a connection. Simply put, the enlightened races are much more likely to receive blessings and miracles due to our capability to perform prayers and offerings.”

“Mimiru!”

“Y-Yes?!”

The guildmaster seemed to have thought of something and with his back to the blackboard in the room, a blackboard that was full of notes regarding a variety of subjects they had reviewed regarding mana, divinity and even skills. The notes to her last assignment were present as well,just like some numbers and random notes, he pointed to it with no apparent intention than to indicate it was ‘teaching time’.

“Question! How does one ‘accrue’ Divinity?!”

“Gah! You- I mean! One- er… A person- A person has to make an offering to the gods, if the offering is to their liking he will be blessed, regardless of the form of the blessing, the blessings leave a small amount of divinity as a remnant on the person in the form of divinity” she was a little bit startled and then after swiftly pulling her notes from her bag, she recited the results of her own investigation on the subject.

“Good! Right on the mark, the more honest and well taken your prayers and offerings become, the more Divinity one will acquire. Second Question!”

“Yes!”

“Where is this divinity stored?”

“I-in the soul?” She answered after quickly peering into her notes.

“Correct! And how do we know this?”

“Because spirits don’t have a body yet they can perform certain miracles as well as magic, which leads to believe they possess both divinity and mana while being only a spiritual being”

“Good! Now, the reason why you were granted such a high level of miracle, simply put, you had enough divinity stored and you performed a prayer that reached the gods. As to why that made you exhausted, just like with muscles, you used too much energy too fast without being used to it.”

“That sounds too simple of an answer”

“Oh! It is!! That is the overly simplistic answer that borders on the ‘Just enough’ so we can understand a little bit of how our world works regarding the subject!”

“…what?”

“You will need to experiment and research a lot more, on your own, so you understand kiddo.”

“Oh… figures…”

“Ok. As I have told you before the best way to come to a better understanding of something is by teaching to others. So today you shall review all the lesson along with Feugan here.”

It was then that the guildmaster brought to attention the fact that the Dragon had been the entire time sitting on a corner in the room. Listening to the lengthy lecture without uttering a word in order to not interrupt the lesson, not that the guildmaster would have been able to understand any of his questions. Nor had he any way to read the expressions of a dragon to make sure if an explanation was fully understood.

“Imma leave all the notes I made on the board, so feel free to use ‘em as a guide on what we saw today and what I’ll test you guys tomorrow, to make sure you learned something useful!”

The hidden threat in the old man’s words didn’t escape Mimiru “Either both of show you learned today’s lesson properly or I’ll find other ways to educate you”.

“That’s going to be an issue, Master!”

“It’s not supposed to be easy, kiddo. But that’s why all the lesson is here in the board-”

“I don’t know how to read, Master”

“har har! Don’t even try and make such weak excuse. My penning aint hard to read at all! And! I know you constantly go around taking notes. You didn’t even bother to hide your bundle of notes from the table!”

The master answered her with his tone of voice a little higher than he intended to, he stared straight at his protegee seizing her answer. He was fully expecting her to crack a smile anytime and say “Syke!” or something like that. Surely, Bannon taught her that weird prank style which the young man had acquired from his father. The old guildmaster just never fully understood how that was supposed to be funny, but Bannon’s father had always been a weird one. Mimiru had been on a long job with Bannon, for a couple of days, which made the rugged old man think that perhaps she had learned it during the whole trip.

He stared intently at her. Fully expectant on the development of the weird foreign joke. Upon realizing she didn’t seem to be doing it anytime sooner and annoyed at the prospect of having to deal with yet another person with an odd sense of humor. He steadied himself to correct the undesired bad behavior out of his most exemplary protegee, leaning foward forward and putting his finger on the table, pointing to her parchment sheets, ready to read her the riot act.

It was then that he got distracted, his eyes stopped on Mimiru’s “notes”

“…!! What in…”

The Guildmaster went ahead, grabbing the notes in front of Mimiru, swiftly checking them with less than a quick glance at each one of them.

“There is not even a single word here!”

“Well, no... I don’t know how to write after all”

“But- But… you are always taking notes!!” He reiterated while pointing at the cheap magical ink utensils she had been using less than a few moments ago.

Disbelief and astonishment clearly painted on his face. He looked at her a with confusion in his eyes, a look soon replaced by understanding.

Until not too long ago Mimiru was training to be a Beast tamer, nothing more than a high-class stable worker in the opinion of the upper economical echelons, and some time before that she had been just a little village girl tending the fields everyday along with her family. Learning to read and write was almost essential for anyone in charge of even the most basic bureaucratic office. It is easy to forget that not everyone has to suffer reading endless piles of paperwork on a daily basis.

The parchment sheets were full of notes, indeed. Notes in the manner of squiggles, doodles, shapes, dots and slashes. Draws of plants and leaves filled a few pages too, followed by circles with the simple common counting system, most likely “notes” of her finances and gathering results. The kid had never learned to write, It was somewhat doubtful she knew how to make simple calculations either, but she knew the value of keeping track of relevant information. The old master would know, he had personally beaten such sense into her with dozens of “research investigations”, all part of his various lessons and exercises on how to be a proper member of the adventurer’s guild. Dozens of lessons and even more researches he had demanded of her. Countless interviews, trips to the apothecary, merchants and a plethora of places, all in which she had somehow managed to bring acceptable information back, with nothing but doodles and good memory.

Goodness sake, how come I never noticed before?

“Do…” The guildmaster stammered, looking as much pensive as troubled. His rugged fingers ran through his grey hair. Worrying Mimiru to certain degree, he seemed so ever sure and full of confidence in everything he did. This man who represented a branch of the adventurer’s guild, his presence an actual boon of security to the city, a man who seemed as large as the world to some. To see him uncertain, was something she had never seen before.

“Do you want to learn how to?...”

“Eh?!! W-Whats this about master?! There is no way I can now! I’m even busier nowdays than when I first joined the guild! Not only with the missions to help Feugan, but I think I’m making real progress with all this Beastmaster deal you know? I don’t think we have the time for that. It takes lil kids about a year to learn it and even longer for adults right? I would also have to pay a premium for private lessons since the priests of knowledge only do it for -free- to kids right?”

He remained quiet, looking at her, she seemed to be content with just continuing with how things were, it was not a -life or dead- situation. After all, it was more common in the city to have a bigger part of the population knowing how to write and read, a bigger part only when compared to small villages and fringe cities, that is. Most people could continue with their lives without even knowing how to speak properly. This bit of knowledge never failed to infuriate the otherwise aloof guildmaster which also happened to be a ranked priest of the goddess of knowledge church.

He was already grumbling internally, a quick thought annoying thought came to his mind, about all the other priests of the church of knowledge and all their sanctimonious excuses about good education requiring adequate tithes. The dogma of the church could be misconstrued in such ways after all. It was almost a forceful show of charity to provide “free” lessons to children, all the while offering a much more advanced degree of education to those offering heavy pouches of golden coins. While still ruminating such ideas, he was brought back to reality by one single detail. Those were not generally known pieces of knowledge. One would have to ask the right questions, to the right people, about the very particular subject of private lessons to adults. All of that questioning around and prodding the right people, about a subject they were rather close lipped about. All that in order to even begin discerning the level of understanding Mimiru had on the subject.

Heh. She must have done a very thorough investigation on the subject.

“Oi! I didn’t ask you if you had the time or money! I asked you, if you wanted to learn!” Much to Mimiru’s surprise and annoyance, the old man was back to his own boisterous level of loudness.

“I-I am too old to take on the cla-”

“Yes or no!, I didn’t ask for ‘maybe’s! Or which excuses you put in for this. Is it this a particular knowledge you have searched for?!”

The Guildmaster’s voice had not only elevated, somehow his voice was louder yet lacking any sign of anger, as he asked the question his words seemed to reverberate within the room. Somehow his muscular frame seemed bigger than normal. Mimiru was fully focused on him, but it was hard to even pretend the room wasn’t turning brighter somehow.

As he stood somehow taller than he had ever before, his eyes felt like they were looking deep into her, just as how he seemed to be the only figure whose undivided attention should be paid to.

“Y-yes! I would like to learn!”

“Good, your answer is honest, firm and without fault.”

It was at this moment that Mimiru noticed the increase in the light of the room didn’t come from the windows, upon closer inspection which had to be done with sqinting eyes, she realized the source of the light was her master, whose figure seemed to be enveloped by light. It was then that she realized he was praying. Or at least it seemed like that, eyes closed, hands up front of himself.

He then moved one hand, putting his index finger on his temple, lips moving into another silent prayer before moving the same finger aside. Mimiru could see a trickly of silver flowing from the master’s temple towards his finger, entranced by the sight she didn’t realize the same finger was drawing closer to her.

With the his index finger now on her forehead, his eyes closed, he kept moving his mouth as if chanting something, with a bright flash of light, the room turned back to his natural colors, making Mimiru realize she was now enveloped in a soft golden light too.

A miracle has been bestowed upon you!

Miracle of Knowledge, “Shared knowledge: Letters”

Do you accept the miracle?

Yes / No

This surprised and dazzled her, in that moment she was not propeprly able to even question what was happening. Yet she was not confused enough to know it wouldn’t be prudent to reject a miracle. She moved her hand and poked the word “yes” on the magical visage, just as she also sharply voiced her answer.

“Yes!”

“Good. Now you just sit there, Ill ask Kara to bring you something sweet for ya along with some aspir from the apothecary. Ill test you guys tomorrow after lunch instead of daybreak”

The guildmaster was now telling this and looking at Feugan, knowing fully well Mimiru had her head busy at the moment. Once the dragon nodded in knowledgement, the weary old man nodded back and without another word walked to the door and left the room.

All the while, Mimiru remained still on her seat. Countless memories of writing lessons unfolding in front of her eyes. Writing practices and exercises in penmanship being recalled as if her own. Lessons on writing the names for animals, plants and a myriad of objects, and repetitions, endless repetitions that made Mimiru wonder if the wristache was the memory’s or her own. Her right hand twitching everynow and then, slight movements of her hand and wrist as more memories unfolded.

Feugan, looked at the now closed door, then he took a look a the now entranced Mimiru, then heaving a sigh, curled his tail around himself and began shuffling trying to find a comfortable position to wait for the snacks to arrive.