章 2: Ballet
Morning came but instead of chirping birds, noise from the outside is heard it's louder than it should be from a small village. Sage stood up not even bothering to change his clothes hurried into the source of the commotion, he headed towards the front open door. Outside it was his parents talking to a handful of adults and kids, they were the parents of the kids that attacked him yesterday.
"That's him mom, that's the one that hurt me"
The leader of the kids shouted and pointed as he spots Sage coming out of the door, the other kids were with him insisted that Sage was the one who assaulted him. When Sanda heard what they had said she looked at sage and quickly gestured at him to go inside, but Sage didn't listen however he walked closer to the crowd as if he was looking for something. Not getting swayed by the adults talking smack about him, words got tossed around like bad seed, bad parenting, loner, and violent. Finally Sage spotted what he's looking for.
"Hey, you girl"
The blonde girl that he saw with the kids when the incident happened was seen in the crowd. Sage pointed his hand to her direction. The girl looks confused, some people noticed and asked her why is the bully pointing at her. The girl shrugged as if conveying ignorance. Sage walked closer and grabbed the girl by the hand, Sage pulled her towards the front of the commotion. As Sage were dragging her she immediately struggled to free herself from his grasp, she must've thought he's younger and has no power over her but his grip is unnaturally strong it doesn't budge.
"Stop pulling me what do you want with me?"
"Just follow me you'll know"
Sage spoke in a calm manner as he prompts her in front of the people. The arguing came to a halt, the adults had gotten curious so as Sage's parents when the girl got brought up in the center, one person from the crowd spoke out.
"What's wrong Garlove?"
"I don't know he suddenly dragged me here"
Garlove pointed at Sage while the village people shifted their gaze with a puzzled look.
'Does this kid knows I'm there when it happened?'
Garlove thought to herself as she's feeling nervous.
"I think this young lady has something to say to you all"
"What? I do? Uhm-"
"Tell them about you being present when it happened, you are a witness, airhead"
"Uhm yes I was there and Gengje was the one that started it Sage was only minding his own business, dancing"
"You could've told them sooner, and what did you mean by dancing?"
Sanda shot his eyes on Sage with a questioning look, Sage quickly responded.
"Can we focus on the fact that I was not the one that started it?"
"All right people I think I have a solution to this problem"
The village chief exclaimed breaking up the meaningless rambling, the village people, Sanda and the chief huddled in a circle and discussed the punishment for the kids. Gengje and the others got grounded while Sage and Garlove would be subjected to community service. They were given this punishment for the fact that Sage hurt the kid, while Garlove just stood there and did nothing despite her being older than them and should be more responsible. The chief directed Sage and Garlove to their punishment. They were given the task to fertilize the forest using a method that Sage only heard of just now.
"All right I know that you didn't mean to do anything by the other kids, but I have to reason with their parents so I'll give you an easy task for just three days. You must use these to create bubbles and spread around the forest. The barrel over there is a formula that was made by our local alchemist its a very effective fertilizer."
The village chief handed the two the instruments for making bubbles, a pretzel-shaped racket which made them look like they're about to dust some futons. Then the chief pointed at the wooden drum of brown liquid. The two kids walked to the drum of liquid exchanged gratitudes with the chief, then the chief went back to check on the other villagers.
"Is this the formula of the alchemist the chief is talking about?"
"Yes. We have to dip these in here and blow on it to make bubbles for spreading around the forest. the bubbles will distribute the fertilizer to make the forest grow."
'This world had some childish methods of doing things, it's so fascinating'
Sage thought to himself while dipping the futon beater looking thing into the vat and quickly blew on it to create bubble the large bubbles does not break even in the rain.
'This alchemist must know what he's doing I should visit this alchemist some other time to learn something'
They blew on the futon beater thirty minutes in, but Garlove was already out of breath and feeling light-headed for blowing too much.
"I need to catch my breath"
Sage assisted her to the house nearby with a bench in view of their station.
"You should rest I'll finish this alright?"
Garlove simply nodded while Sage continued their community service but instead of one racket he picked up another of her racket. He dipped it in the drum and instead of blowing on it he swung gently, deliberately and elegantly just like what he did in the hills but with more flow. As time goes by Sage was already surrounded by many floating bubbles in different sizes slowly moving around him.
"Sage! That's not. How. You... Do it."
With each word Garlove shouted, the bubbles gradually spun around Sage. It's spinning like planets orbiting around the sun with every revolution making it travel faster. While it's spinning the centrifugal force shot out bubbles of orbit and it spread through the forest. The bubbles travel around him while he creates more making their community service end on a faster note.
"That should take care of it right Garlove?"
"Sage that was amazing! How did you do that?"
"Its simple Newtonian mechanics"
"Nu-to-nyan?"
'Oh, I forgot these people doesn't know the terminologies of my worlds I should choose my words correctly to avoid looking like a lunatic. I have to divert this somehow'
"Nevermind that, by the way, I remember you were laughing with the other kids back in the ritual. you think I forgot?"
"Sorry It's just being one is like a curse, you'll be treated as useless unless, because you can't even use it in battle all you can do it be a servant or something or just blow your employers to cool them down"
Sage's face was stretched from grinning, his 28-year-old vulgar mind is internally laughing from Garlove's statement
"Or you can be a mage? its practically impossible to become one though, I heard from gramps that you have to be a noble to get into one of their schools"
They decided to pack up what their things and return it back to the chief. They gathered the fertilizer rackets, covered the drum of fertilizer liquid and cleaned up after themselves. Sage insisted Garlove to lead the way to the chief's house Garlove and the chief were somewhat close from what he saw in the assessment ritual. They circled a house that was literally right next to them, It was the chief's home it was just beside them the whole time. Garlove casually entered the house like she owns the place Sage was hesitant to follow.
"Hey stop, that's the chief's house what are you doing? shouldn't you knock first?"
"Oh don't worry I-"
"That was fast, looks like you're done"
An old man was seen coming out of a room with his cane in hand, Garlove bolted inside to fixed their stuff in another room.
"We're very sorry for our manners we should've knocked before entering"
"What are you talking about sonny? Haven't Garly told you she's my grandchild? She lives here with me and the instructor back in the ritual is her father"
'Well I should've expected this back from the ritual'
"I wanted to ask you something chief"
"Oh you can just call me Grandpa, you sonny are very polite not like the other young'uns outside they should learn a thing or two from you"
"Actually I wanted to ask are many things."
"Its fine sonny you finished earlier than expected, I can tell you anything you want to know"
Sage and the chief discussed a lot of things, apparently, this world is called Midel. There are other races inhabiting this world other than humans there are beasts, half beast, angels, demons, dragons, fairies, elves and other races the old man had a hard time recalling. This place they are in is the Savage Country one of the countries that are teeming with strong and wild beasts. This continent has more beast than people inhabiting it, but the people around adapted to these dangerous conditions using the fertilizing liquid as another agent to drive away the beast by a formula concocted by their local alchemist. Garlove listened to their conversation even though she couldn't keep up, she felt like a young kid sitting in the adult table.
The momentum of the conversation could continue for days but Sage ended it as he sensed someone outside the house. The chief walked Sage back through the dark path lit with a small amount of lantern to his home, but he still sensed that there is someone tailing them. Sage entered the house to wash up while the chief waited outside.
"Dad, Mom I'm home"
Sanda headed towards the door.
"The young sonny is very interesting. Its like I'm not talking to a kid but someone my age"
"My boy? I've always felt that for some reason I can't even treat him like a baby anymore"
"Sanda I have a proposal"
Sanda's face shifted into uneasiness.
"how about we send him to the academy?"
"I don't know..."
"What are you so worried about? Are you thinking about the problems he'll face because he is air-blessed? Or is it because that person is teaching there?"
Sanda stayed silent but the chief knew what she was thinking.
"There's still time, think it over, don't worry about it too much. You know my son is sending Garlove there I'm sure Sage can soon follow so they can look out for each other"
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