章節 15: A short moment of peace
Besides the cake, we also had a lot of food, and my grandparents took turns getting out all of them, serving on the table.
I thought I'd help, but they all rejected and let me sit on the end of the table.
Mom also told me to cherish this moment, because it seems my grandmother isn't usually like this. She told me a lot more scarier stories about grandmother while whispering, at the same time being wary and on the lookout. Whenever grandmother is present, she would behave like a timid chick.
The food was all served ready, and the little feast-like banquet of a birthday started. It seemed like they forgot about all that happened here at Illa, and everyone had their share of stories to tell.
I could even see Mom and grandmother stare eye to eye while eating, it seems that they don't get along that well. Whenever I remember about what Mom told me earlier, I start to feel that about a few of it were exaggerations...
Dad and grandfather were talking like they were old friends, and I couldn't bear to not listen, as each of grandfather's stories were quite interesting, some of it even about things regarding trade and gardening. Then he saw me listening and told a few stories of when he was still a young man.
He actually here came from Allpeak Capital, and only by foot!
I wanted to ask a lot of things regarding his travels but he stood and left instead without a word. Looks like he took something from his room. When he came back, there was a thick and old green book with a golden outline on his arms, and he nestled it like it was a pet.
"You know how to read right? Check this out."
He dropped the book on one of the empty seats within the room, and a faint cloud of dust blew out as it landed.
The title was "Book of Fierce Beasts" and on the cover was a cute caterpillar mount drawn in good detail. This book must be expensive.
The first few pages introduced the author and his travels over the whole region surrounding Allpeak Mountain. Its said that these beasts are all at least at the Vates mage-level, and there was even a stamp that indicated that it was signed by the god Hamion. This must be quite the lucrative item to spend on, seeing as there are only a few books that existed here.
Seeing my expression, all the adults in the room seem to expect me to read for them. Wow it's like I'm the adult and they're the children.
I flipped the page, and the first beast that I saw was a Halvar. It was a beast that usually travelled bringing the winds with it, and it can send strong gales that are enough to lift an elephant. Its disadvantage was that it could only do so on one spot at a time, with a radius of a meter, making it strong against stationary targets instead. There was also a note that a Halvar will turn from green into golden yellow when threatened, and will try to flee instead.
I started to read what the book contained for them, and it was more of a performance than a storytelling. It seemed that they were more interested in listening to me speak, and the fact that I'm currently reading from the book. I paid no mind to that a bit later when I found that the beasts that were described here were all ferocious ones.
Almost all of them were sized larger than a car in my previous life. The most dangerous ones were the little ones though, because they can move fast and are hard to detect especially when in groups.
There was also an in-depth guide in camping over the Allpeak Mountains once you get near it. They were mostly only limited to places where there are no fogs that could make you lost.
The book was overall descriptive, and I was really interested in seeing a lot more but Dad took the book and I noticed that it was already afternoon. Grandmother was dozing off on a rocking chair on the window outside, and grandfather was nowhere to be seen.
Come to think of it, I don't even know their names yet, so I asked my Dad. He only told me to pay respects first before formally introducing me to them. That's strange, we celebrated my birthday yet I don't even know their names, and I have to pay respects, too. This world probably has those customs but oh well.
I went back to my room in the meantime, and tried to focus myself into charging Origin into my body.
That's right, I'm now able to feel Origin and even charge it into my body. Every time I charge Origin, I feel my body becoming lighter and possible stronger.
Now that I'm five years old, there's still a lot of time for me to improve compared to other children that source spirits.
Also, I somehow discovered the fact that I shouldn't really overdraft the usage of Origin, as it will make my body enter a suspended state where I won't be able to wake up for a certain period of time.
I actually fell asleep for two days from when I first used the Acute Cannon and the Fly Swatter; just temporary skills and names. The Origin that I used was from my inner white space, and not from my actual body.
There was a lot I learned just from my observations and how I 'circulate' which, is rather really 'absorb' in correct terms.
If I circulate the Origin in my body, it flows and I don't feel it. But concentrate enough on one spot, just like how I felt it on the first time on my hand, it got absorbed by my body, becoming fully controllable... also storing it inside.
My conclusion and simpler explanation with this is, I have an internal Origin, and an external Origin. Internal is the vortex on the white space, which I couldn't really fully control. External Origin is the one that I'm currently absorbing in my body, which is fully mine.
After charging a certain amount of Origin, that's where I sense a few improvements in my body. One visible improvement was that I grew about two inches after I slept. Another is that, I accidentally cut myself with a knife while helping with washing the dishes, only to find out that it didn't really cut me through, but I only had a slight cut not enough to bleed.
I was stupefied by the fact so I tried to slowly press on the blade of the knife only to be seen by Aunt and got scolded. I got enclosed by her embrace once again after finding it reasonable when I apologized.
I won't try that again at the house for now, but knowing that my body partially became a bit durable, I can't say it's not from Origin...
After I focused inside my room, I came out at dinner and officially introduced to my grandparents. My grandfather's name is Floro, and my grandmother is Raisa. I paid respects to them according to this world's customs and then grandfather handed me over his book. He gave it to me because he said I could read, but I think it's only because he just really wants to give it to me regardless, since I showed a highly interested expression for it.
My aunt also introduced herself, her name is Arc, which sounds like a guy's name though. She really is my aunt then? She looks rather young, and looks rather similar to one of the newly employed graduates that got accepted aside from me back at my work. It isn't a coincidence, right?
The night passed ordinarily and instead of just sleeping, I planned to charge Origin into my body every night before I fall sleep.
***
The next days were rather mundane, and both my parents and Grandpa fixed everything on the house within a week, and I can see the newly tilled soil all over the farm. I also got to help them but only what they told me to so that I won't be in the way of their work.
The greenhouse was a bit more difficult to fix and they had to buy new glass walls. They removed the old ones, replaced, and repaired with the new ones. They had been very careful in handling the materials.
I secretly tried to carry one of the big pieces of glass and found out that it felt a weight that betrayed its heavy looks. Or was that my external Origin at work?
After a few more days when the farm didn't look like the destroyed version of it, my Dad volunteered to help all around Illa too, and he was really popular... even with the ladies. Since Mom was beside him, not a single woman dared to go a few meters of radius around him though.
These days whenever Dad is free, I ask him to teach me a few skills about swords. He was first reluctant to teach me since Mom insisted that we go hunting on the woods instead, so I just said, why not hunt using a sword? Then they both agreed and every few days when we feel like eating meat, Mom and I would go hunting wild animals in the forest and bring back alot, one part for us and the rest were sold at the wet market.
It took about seven months before the whole city of Illa was fixed, and there were also a few beasts that came but were repelled with ease as there had been newly appointed Vates and Civil Corps around the city. I also noticed that the Merchant Union was the first one to recover from the three factions, and even helped and donated around to rebuild the city. Soon enough, the city was back in its previous condition, albeit with a lot more newly looking built houses and buildings now.
There are times that we participated in the beast extermination, and my parents usually took missions where there aren't many people. I'm included in their party of course, and I kept check and control of Origin whenever we do so. They saw that and expressed pride in me.
One day aunt was also included in the party, and she was shocked to see me just blasting off a Marble Sphere skill---- I named it such as it looks like a big marble sphere when it launches off from my palm.
There was a time that Dad said the place really didn't seem to match the one from his memories before, but it was good that there was peace once again. He felt a bit gloomy about it though, and told me that it might have been better if the people just relocated to a different place instead, but that would be really impossible as the place was somewhat of a junction between the capital and the other few provinces that were routely connected.
A few more months passed, I grew a lot more, my body slowly became durable until I wasn't hurt by a knife anymore, and I turned six years old. Never did my family ask me about my powers or what happened to my body; But I'm sure they have a few ideas about it, as I really couldn't keep secrets that much, especially when they're my blood relatives.
Then we celebrated my birthday again, everything was still normal---until one day Dad received a letter. I heard all of the adults in the house discussing about it, so I tried to sneak and listen.
"Just as I thought, a formal war is going to occur again."
"But now is different. I'm going with you."
"No, you have to be here, with Kaff."
"Ugh, it's like Kaff doesn't even need protecting anymore..."
"They specially called for me, even though I already left back then. This only means that I'll be on a different map again."
"They always do that! One-man armies! I hate when they do that! It's a war and not a... do they even know that you got ambushed by the Void Demon before we left Phione?"
"It can't be helped. I had a contract back then, and my case was special since I am a Master level sword user after all."
"I'd say something but even as a kid that time you just went off on your own," that was grandfather speaking. His voice held a bit of sadness with it, yet I feel like he's smiling instead, then he continued.
"You did what you did for us, that's why we didn't hold you back. I knew you weren't one to stay at the fields anyway."
I took a peek and somehow Dad noticed me and told me to come out of my hiding spot.
"Tehe."
Aunt wasn't with her usual smile, and she frowned when I showed up. "You were here all the time?"
"Yes, sorry for eavesdropping. Dad won't you take me instead?"
Everyone looked at me with surprised eyes, except for my parents. It seems they knew about me asking exactly this.
I gave a faint sigh. The others haven't seen me do it before except for Aunt anyway.
I raised my right hand and gathered light streams of Origin on my palm, then made a barrier that encased us all on the living room.
"This is why I want to go with Dad, I wanna help him."
Grandmother stood in front of me, stared at my eyes with her death glare which Mom is really scared of.
"When they said that there's no age limit, it doesn't mean that a child like you can."
Even with the Grandmaster's pressure back at Borollo, I didn't even flinch but my this one really scares me enough for my knees to shake. Even the Origin in my hand and the barrier that I erected slightly shook and only after that did she stop glaring at me.
My mom had her jaw dropped as she looked at what just happened.
I felt a massive relief when grandmother went back to her seat, and I could feel myself sweating buckets, literally. Just how scary can she be to even scare my life out of me?!
It's like there was a large jaw that opened in front of me, but it looked like an abyss.
I now wonder how grandfather courted this lady back then, and I also wondered whether father left because of her!
After calming myself down, I cancelled the barrier, and returned the excess Origin inside me so it won't be wasted.
Dad and Grandmother looked at each other, then Dad looked at me.
"Fine. I'll take you with me."
As if broken by Dad's voice, Mom regained her senses and immediately closed her mouth shut.
The mood was bad and everyone became quiet for a while until Aunt sighed and broke the silence.
"Pisa sis, just let the boy go. I've seen his weird power. It's not Vates nor Chi nor anything I've ever seen. Maybe even the Merchants wouldn't even be able to identify what's going on with him. This might actually be a chance for him to discover what it is since there are a lot of people that's gonna be hired by them."
"The Merchants Union is the one that's going to war?"
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