Jemdins

  ——[ ?????? ?? ?????? ]——

  Shooting through boundary lines

  Passing a thousand stars

  Never ending fall

  Singing over and over in the nguage of sorrow.

  Looking back to our mothernd

  It's been a million, a billion light years

  Somehow I knew, I'm not coming back

  A little tastе of your unconditional love

  You held me close

  Wickedly whispered in my ears

  "You can become anything you want to be"

  How could you be so certain?

  Cozy breeze, turquoise skies

  Honey flower, never-setting sun

  My skin, my eyes, my ears

  The world you left me are the signs you loved me

  Mommy look, I'm flying high

  ——[ ?????? ?? ?????? ]——

  。。。sometime after Syuufarin began to learn magic.

  *Thump!* The heavy thump of a thick book being shut.

  "Phew… That was the st one…"

  I look around me. The vast height of the bookshelves towering above me. And the dark atmosphere that is softly illuminated by rays of light and candlelight… It all seemed so rge. An almost unfathomable amount of stories and knowledge that fitted this strangely vast room.

  'Now though… honestly this pce has fewer books than my old elementary school's library…'

  Maybe because of my drastic change of perspective things looked like they are more awesome and bigger than they actually are. The shelves are tall, yes, I could barely reach the fourth row from the bottom up. But if I were as tall as I was before I think I should be able to reach the top with only the help of a stool.

  The books in the library, not the one inside Curen's house, but one that was communally maintained for everyone to peruse, were ancient things that felt like they could fray and turn to dust at the mere touch. Many of the books here have copies made, so a good portion of them I had already found in Curen's house, with the exception of more special ones that I could only find in the main library.

  Thanks to magic, and many, many copies, no books were lost to the long passage of time. It was funny to think that elves are more likely to outlive any relics and tools they make than not. Eventually the weathering of normal materials catches up, so many people end up learning how to repair or craft one way or another due to needing to repce things.

  I sat down on the floor near the windowsills. Gazing at all the familiar titles and books with a strange sense of nostalgia and pride. 'I never thought there would be a day I would say that I read all the books in a library.'

  Left bereft of my old forms of entertainment. Reading was one of the few ways I used to pass the time. I had even read the most boring and dull books simply out of boredom.

  I tried to fill my time with other things, like helping around the house whenever I could, and also in the vilge. 'Pying with the other children… I admit it was fun, but everytime that happened I was left with a bitter aftertaste.' Like an adult pying childish games, something that is fundamentally strange in various ways, made me reluctant to interact with the other kids.

  Then, thanks to the willingness of the elves, I managed to convince some people to let me observe them working instead of mingling with other kids. As long as I did not interfere or became too bothersome to them, I was free to sit by and curiously watch them work.

  One thing led to another, and…

  。。。

  I observed the bcksmith working.

  Heating up the furnace, choosing the right materials, hammering down shapes and pouring liquid metal into molds, carefully tinkering and chiseling away the body of a red hot ingot…

  Everything honestly reminded me of the variety shows I once used to watch on TV. Showcasing the work of various craftsmen along with interesting facts and stories to captivate the viewers. If I wanted to I could watch the methodical and repetitive work all day long.

  The old man set a round metal pot aside as he finished hammering into shape.

  'Wasn't he one of the Elders?' I realize, suddenly remembering that serious and angry face I saw back then. 'Is it really alright for someone like him to be doing such menial work?...'

  At the start, I came to this pce curious about what people did in the thick and robust looking building, then was very surprised to see an elf of all things working with metal.

  Though, realistically speaking, it was obvious that for them to have reached the level of technology where they are now at least some sort of metallurgy must have happened, despite the abundance of wood present in everything.

  And then I asked if it was fine if I could watch them work.

  At first, they were reluctant to let a child stay near the dangerous forge, but after some convincing they allowed me.

  The image of a strong and burly man hammering swords was strong in my mind, but in reality the forge was rarely ever used, and when it was, it was because someone broke something that needed repairs or repcements. So, instead of racks of armor and weapons, the forge was actually filled with many tools and pieces of everyday life items, bolts, pots, kettles, hinges, rods, and miscelneous bits and pieces.

  Although one or two other people also used the forge, most of the time it was this old man who spent his time here.

  At first I didn't know very well who he was, aside from being some sort of master that everyone kind of obeyed. I had only seen him once before after all, and even then I hadn't paid much attention to the meeting that was going on.

  Much to my embarrassment, it was only weeks after I started visiting that I noticed.

  I was feeling very nervous all of a sudden. 'Did I do anything disrespectful?... No, if I did he would have already kicked me out or something, right? What was his name again? He never said anything so it should be fine if I continue here right?'

  Abruptly, the stern man talked to me. "Hand me the bending fork." He said without taking his eyes off his work.

  "E-Eh?! U-um…" I panickedly looked around me. "This one?" I picked up a pair of tongs that had a weird bent nose.

  "No," He briefly gnced in my direction. "That one by your tail, in the square box."

  I turned, now keenly aware of the position of my tail now that he mentioned. There, I saw a wooden box on top of a barrel with various metal blocks with forked tips of different sizes. Not sure of which one he wanted, I just picked up the entire thing and took out one that seemed like the right size as I walked over to him. "...Here?"

  He grunted something that sounded like thanks, extending his hand for me to give him.

  He also did a double take after seeing me carrying what was supposed to be a very heavy box full of metal implements like it was nothing. But didn't say anything about it.

  After a while, the frequency where he asked me to fetch one thing or another increased. And I became more familiar with the different names and purposes of the mysterious tools around the forge.

  It took some time, but one day he tentatively asked me this.

  "...do you wish to try it?"

  "Huh? Try what?"

  "Bcksmithing, I mean."

  "..." To say that I was surprised would be an understatement.

  "Is that really okay?"

  The man's constantly stern and angry face never even twitched out of pce, if not for his tone of voice I wouldn't know better. "Despite me never specifying, you always managed to grab the correct tool with the right size without needing to be told twice, and you possess a weirdly high strength for your size… After observing my work with so much focus, are you telling me you are not interested?"

  "N-no! I mean, I'm fine with just watching you… This is all unexpected. And don't I need permission from someone?"

  He scoffed, coming off as amused. "I am the master of this forge… my permission is all you need."

  'Ah, right.' For a moment I had completely forgotten the bcksmith was an Elder. He looked like the picture of a stern person, but I never saw him outside the picture of the forge, so the image of that imposing and important Elder sitting at a conference faded away from my mind.

  And, I was not sure if I wanted to try the real thing myself. When watching from outside, smithing seems like an interesting and fun activity. But it is also back-breaking work that can become incredibly dull if you are the one doing the smithing.

  "Um…. okay." In the end, I kind of wanted to try it out.

  "Is that a yes. Or a no?" He said imposingly.

  I replied a little scared of him. "Yes! I want to try!" I said with a straight back.

  "Good."

  It was only ter that I learned his name is Sadin. He one-sidedly demanded that I call him "Master" while he was teaching me, so I never got around to asking his name.

  I tried really hard not to ugh, because his name resembled something else from my old world.

  。。。

  So I took the opportunity to learn since I was already there.

  And the same thing happened at the kitchen, and with the carpenter, and everyone else I had pestered to watch.

  At the time, I thought to myself 'Hey, isn't this child bor!?' But almost everyone seemed kind and enthusiastic about teaching me. Plus, I was also having a bit of fun getting to know how they did things first-hand instead of just watching from the sidelines.

  It reached a point where I could even do some of their work by myself, if it was simple things that did not need supervision.

  I sigh. 'Working… Well, it's interesting to learn how to do new things, and there was a time I had an incessant compulsion to devote my whole body to tasks…' I reminisce with some bitterness. 'But then one day people began to stop me…'

  。。。

  "Can I help?"

  "No." Sadin replied curtly.

  "Um… okay?"

  People began to send me away.

  "I'll take care of this for you!"

  "Ah, it's fine! Really! There isn't much to do anyways. Why don't you go py with your friends?" The farmer I had helped previously waved their hands nervously.

  "But!... But!..."

  One after another, the pces where I spent my time doing menial bor or giving a helping hand began to run out.

  "What will we do today?"

  Crocus, the cook, scratched his beard. "Ah, honestly we feel a little bad relying on a kid all the time… you've been helping all this time for so long it feels like i'm losing my job haha! If we ever need your help we'll call you, thank you, really! But you should let people do their jobs."

  "Oh… I-I see, I understand."

  "Ah… no. Don't look so gloomy! You helped us so many times you could pass as an apprentice already! I wouldn't be surprised if you could do the job by yourself without guidance… You learned really fast!" He reassured me. "But quite honestly, there isn't anything for you to do here today…"

  …

  Though it was true that I single handedly created a job shortage in the vilge, it was only ter that I learned the truth of a big part of the reasons why people began to become reluctant to welcome me.

  It wasn't anything bad, quite the opposite.

  After all, if a little kid suddenly starts to show up at your pce almost everyday of the week looking for a job people are bound to grow some suspicions. Naturally, with time they spoke to each other and found out that the cute girl that is always helping around was actually working with and to everyone, all week, everywhere.

  …And also that she had no friends.

  And so, they began to worry.

  In the beginning I spent most of the day studying and learning magic, which took a long time and people didn't see me that often. It was after that when people began to take notice of my odd behavior.

  The turning point was when Sedia got involved, and started to physically drag me away.

  …

  "B-but!–"

  "No! I won't let you!" Sedia yelled at me while pulling my hand. "What type of weirdo even wakes up at this hour to wash dishes anyways?"

  "W-weirdo?!..." I stuttered, suddenly feeling very sad.

  Powers beyond my ability to resist were working against me. I really liked the food from the kitchens, but I felt a little guilty from always eating there for free. So from time to time I helped them out as a form of payment, despite everyone telling me it was fine.

  "Also! Grandma said you were being a bad girl! So she told me to stop you from being silly!"

  "B-bad girl?! Huh?! W-what?! Why?"

  "Hmph!" She huffed, Sedia was visibly angry at me for a reason I couldn't fathom. "Granny said you wouldn't listen if she told you, and she told me to tell you to stop being dumb!"

  "Dumb?..." I looked at Sedia in confusion. 'What could she have meant by that?'

  "Well, I didn't really understand what she meant, but she said 'That penital child is going to burn herself to the ground whilst never becoming satisfied. Tell her to stop worrying about something that doesn't exist or else I am going to hammer her head until she gets it.' Granny looked really annoyed too." Sedia had stopped dragging me by now.

  "I don't really get it, but even I can tell that you are doing unreasonable things for no reason! Weren't we going to become mages together? How can that happen if I never see you? You are always working this and doing that…"

  "Bu–"

  She interrupts me. "No buts! Today we are going to do fun things! No working! That's for boring people like Gaviel!"

  Sedia squishes my cheeks and harshly pulls them.

  "Mnnnyee!!! Ish urshs!"

  "You always say you haave to do this or that everyday but I don't see you smiling at all! Are you telling me you want to become a boring and sad person? Hah?! Do you?! " Sedia was amazingly fierce all of a sudden.

  "N-no…"

  "Then good!" She excimed triumphantly, though her voice cracked a little. "Nobody is forcing you to work right? I don't understand why you think fun is prohibited, you weirdo."

  "..."

  。。。

  "Haa…" I sighed, resting my head on top of my knees.

  I still did one or two odd jobs from time to time, as I genuinely am interested in some things. For example, woodworking and cooking can be very tiring, but the art of creating something is therapeutic in its own way, plus, I get to learn some nifty skills that are always good to have, especially in this fantasy world.

  But now that pretty much the whole vilge knows of my situation, I am in a sort of pseudo-bcklist that everyone created. If anyone, especially Granny, sees me doing manual bor, I get lectured and a restraining order is pced on me.

  That is, Sedia is dispatched to make sure I didn't go off to do those things. And to make me actually rex and do things a child ought to do instead.

  I pause.

  'Just when did I start thinking of myself as a "child"?...' Despite my true mental age, I figured that after being referred to and being treated like one for so long, I may have been affected somehow.

  I shake that train of thought out of my head. 'It feels weird to have people telling me to not work instead of the opposite… Capitalism is scary.' It would take a long time before I completely let go of all the habits that were built during my whole previous life.

  'I never thought that my diligence would backfire on me like this.' Even Gaviel, who everyone seems to see as a workaholic, and whom I was often compared to. Told me to be more id back.

  Everyone was protective in ways that surprised me, someone that was used to being indifferent to everyone except family. Being treated like a cherished person by people I saw as strangers was jarring.

  "…"

  For a while, I sat there just thinking about my life.

  These old books were precious companions during my time here. No responsibilities… no work… no expectations… I had all the time in the world and then some more.

  On another note, I also had all the boredom in the world.

  Just to sate my need to do something, anything at all, I ended up reading a lot of mundane, strange, and questionable books in the library.

  My skills as a mage are only so-so. I only have an upper-hand because I can brute force most things, but when it comes to technique and knowledge I am not very confident. After absorbing so many books, far ahead than what Curen and Granny had taught me, I gave myself an edge. A precocious and inexperienced edge, but an advantage nonetheless.

  Though without practice, all this reading can only get me so far. At least I have a good memory now, so I won't be coming back to the same books too much.

  But despite my efforts, beating Curen, and much less Granny in a contest is beyond my abilities.

  'Didn't Gaviel promise me that he would teach me after I'm done with magic?... Maybe I should take him up on that.' There's still a long way until I'm accepted as a full-fledged mage, but it wouldn't hurt to get started on other things to occupy my time.

  'I used to gloomily ze around all day, but after a while I saw how satisfying working can–'

  "..." I blink twice at the absurd thing I just uttered in my head.

  A thought occurs to me.

  "Do… Do I need a hobby?" I tilt my head, a strange feeling of dread suddenly enveloping me.

  ——— –– –– -- - -

  'What should I even do as a hobby though?...' I thought to myself while idly carving a wood block. It was one of the few things I picked up along the way, I am just whittling away a vague shape without knowing exactly what I wanted to make.

  I ugh at myself. 'In a way, I'm like this unshaped carving, I could be doing anything that comes to mind. There are many options to choose from, but I get lost in all the possibilities.'

  When it comes to fun or interesting things I used to do for entertainment, videos, games, and manga were the things I enjoyed the most.

  But such options are impossible to get here, even less in a fantasy world. I had managed with the small library inside Curen's house, but there isn't exactly an influx of new books or authors in the vilge. So once I ran out of things to read monotony sunk back in.

  'Drawing?... Music?...'

  For trying out other artistic choices, I am reluctant.

  Painting or drawing needs lots of supplies, though the vilge is hardly struggling in that aspect, the quality of paper and different writing utensils are a major turnoff. There aren't the easy to use graphite pencils and ballpoint pens I am used to, and wasting the hard earned ink for such frivolous things made me feel bad.

  As for music, I never had touched an instrument in my past life beyond the cheap flute they made kindergartners practice. Even though I was an avid listener to composers and singers in my past life, the fact that I have zero skill or practice in anything reted to actually pying an instrument made me lose confidence before even trying it out.

  I sigh. 'Well, my time is already plenty full with all the apprenticeships I accidentally fell into… But even with those things, when I have idle time like this I start to become anxious… It's not as if there isn't anything to do though.'.

  I sigh again.

  By now the wood piece had become a weird shape full of cuts, pretty much unusable to shape into something now. I was actually doing it more for the catharsis of repeatedly stabbing something and carving pieces out than making something out of the wood.

  Looking down at my p I see that I've made a mess of wood shavings. I put aside the defiled wood block and clean the mess I've made. '...This should at least make for some kindling I guess.' I go to the kitchen and open the tiny door under the wood stove and throw the shavings inside.

  I throw the misshapen wood inside too. The thing was also too damaged to do anything useful with it.

  "What are you doing there?"

  The sudden voice makes me jump, I accidentally step on top of my own tail and let out a noise of pain.

  "N-nothing!" I hurriedly turned around to see Samyra standing there with a somewhat dumbfounded face.

  "..."

  "..." 'Right, genius. Certainly not the most suspicious thing to say at all.' I scolded myself.

  ——— –– –– -- - -

  Syuufarin could've never guessed what was going through Samyra's mind in that moment.

  'They told me other races grow up much more quickly… Is Syuu already at that age?...' Samyra wondered. Half in horror and half in resignation.

  A part of her was genuinely worried sick, Syuu's never hidden anything from her so far… except for that one time when Syuu felt sorry for not telling about her own deceased family for some reason. Even so, Syuufarin is not very good at lying at all.

  Samyra stared at Syuufarin for a long time while pondering what to do.

  In the end, since Syuufarin hasn't ever gotten… in too much trouble…? In reality that is not quite true, but she was not the type to needlessly enter conflicts or cause an irredeemable mess. So Samyra let the suspicious behavior get away.

  There was only that one time where she made the other children cry, and that time she flooded the fields, or that other time Curen's b exploded, or that other time…

  In the end Samyra got even more worried now than where she started.

  "Anyways," Samyra shook her head. "I wanted to talk with you."

  ——— –– –– -- - -

  "You wanted to talk with me?" I blink twice in surprise. "Is something wrong?"

  "Yes… No." Samyra fidgets and tosses her hair over her shoulder to her back. "Actually, let's sit down first."

  I go along with her, and hesitate on the other chair. Samyra would usually wordlessly just pick me up and settle me onto her p with or without my protests. The fact that she didn't even move to do that habitual thing, despite my grievances about it, made me nervous.

  The abandoned carving is completely gone from my mind, the sudden shift in mood making me alert and worried. 'I've never seen her so… pensive?' Samyra's always been kind of a mother hen, but this is something else entirely.

  "So… What do you think of this vilge?" Samyra asked shyly.

  'Is this some sort of test?...' I look at her while suppressing the emotions on my face. "It's… a nice pce?"

  "Right?" She says enthusiastically. "Everything you'd ever need is here."

  "Um… Yeah?..." I ugh nervously.

  Samyra then asks fervently. "So you won't be joining the others in the rite of passage right?"

  "...The what?"

  "..."

  "..."

  "Hwwwwww!!!~" Samyra whines loudly while hiding her face in both hands.

  She thought that since Syuufarin was living in the vilge someone would've talked about it, but it seems like she underestimated just how little the little girl went outside.

  "W-what?!" I shout, startled.

  "I-I thought you already knew about it…" Samyra sobbed. "Why did I even bring it up…"

  "Um… If you want I can forget about it?..."

  Samyra lets out a long sigh. "...No, no. Sooner or ter I'm going to have to face it." She says, mostly to herself, and recomposes herself.

  She expins to me what the rite of passage means, though the true name of the tradition is something that I didn't really understand, that was essentially what I understood from it.

  I guessed it was reasonable, no way they were sending people outside without preparing them first, the forest is very dangerous after all, I know from experience. That I got to attend what I understood to be something of an elven exclusive ceremony was something that made me feel a little more grounded.

  Samyra also expined to me that before the tradition some level of education was expected. I had no idea what the elves did for education and just assumed everyone was either homeschooled or just learned things as they went on with their lives, but no, apparently there's another person that is responsible for that. An Elder. I am a special case because it has been decades since that person needed to take any teaching position. There are many children, but none of those children are exactly what one would call new, maternity rates aren't too high with elves after all and those kids have been living for a long time already after all.

  Because of my complicated position, Samyra was supposed to teach me the nguage so we could communicate at first, but one thing led to another and the full package ended up being dumped on me to learn. With exception to the more spiritual matters that the children are also taught.

  That was another surprise, although not a religion per se, the same Elder mentioned previously is also their spiritual leader. Samyra didn't go into details, but it sounded like something along the lines of literal spirits and elven traditions instead of a god. I can't say I wasn't completely uninterested, from a completely theological and cultural standpoint, but I wasn't about to enter some sort of cult and be submitted to preaching again.

  Either way I wasn't sure if they would even let me inside in the first pce, whatever stance that Elder had with me, an outsider, was still fuzzy to me.

  'On another note, why is Samyra telling me all this?' Well, because I asked, of course. But throughout the whole expnation she did not look me in the eye even one.

  That's… I honestly felt a little hurt.

  'But… it's not like that, right?' I can't say we were close, but I wouldn't say we were too far apart either. Samyra, to me, was a very nice person who took care of me. I am very grateful to her. And her presence became common in my daily life.

  To me she is a friend, and something two steps below an aunt. A sort of weird pce since I once bawled my eyes out and rambled nonsense on her p one day. But who is to say that such sentiments are shared? Samyra, she looked… she looked like… 'Why?... Why are you feeling guilty with me going? Yes I understand it can be sort of dangerous, and that I will need to train even more. But it's not like I'll disappear forever…?'

  Then it hit me.

  Samyra looked at me, waiting for an answer.

  'I… expected that one day or another I would go and venture into the unknown outside world. Danger is scary, people are scary, the forest is scary, monsters are terrifying, and I know deep in my heart that at least some lingering trauma remains. I may have grossly overlooked and downpyed my time in the forest a little, but… the darkness, the hunger, the biting cold, the never ending tension of possible dangers, jumping at every little sound. I'm…'

  I take a shuddering breath.

  'I'm… fine, now. Not… not completely, no, something like that isn't– doesn't go away.' Even now I can't sleep unless facing away from a wall. A habit ingrained from having to be aware of less directions while sleeping in case something appears. 'But I'm better, and stronger. Something, or someone, put me in this world. Maybe because of some grander purpose, or maybe just to let me be free and see what happens. Maybe it was all an incredible happenstance of impossible probabilities. Maybe I am just delusional and other worlds don't really exist.'

  My tail curled and uncurled.

  'Regardless… I want to see the skies, the ocean, the marvels of this mysterious and fantastical world. I've been training so that nothing bad ever happens to me, and… though I am infinitely grateful for these kind and gentle people of the vilge, I want to be selfish like this.'

  "Yes, I want to go."

  "...I see," Samyra said with a sad smile. She id back on the chair and hung her head backwards, looking up at the ceiling. "I suspected that would be your answer… but confirming it makes it feel different."

  "…" I hugged my own tail, pensively looking at Samyra.

  A long time passed where we just shared silence, quietly coming to terms to our diverging paths.

  "..." Samyra, although she doesn't do anything or shift her posture, suddenly appears much more disheveled. "Pheh… Dahlia was right after all…" She sighs, nguishing.

  She doesn't eborate.

  'I did it… I finally said it.' My wish to go outside was not a secret, or rather, I didn't do anything to actively hide it, but as I had never mentioned it to anyone before, there was no way for them to know. They never asked either.

  But this has been a long time coming, the nagging thought has been always present and it only grew more with time. A part of me screamed to remain here, in safety, in the home that repced your lost one. And another, bigger, part strongly yearned to see the world, despite the odds.

  Or maybe, one miniscule part, the one that whispered that I'd never truly belong here. Full of anxiety and traitorous thoughts, it never went away no matter how many times it was stomped out. It wasn't with resentment or malice, but rather for the sake of the elves, and perhaps for my own sake. I couldn't see myself living in the vilge indefinitely, it feels restrictive, limiting in a sort of way. The walls too thick and tall, the contents too shallow and dry. The people are good and kind, but the connection falters the moment they are out of sight.

  Perhaps it was precisely because I felt I was not truly caring for them as I should that I burrowed myself into their work, I'd mused sardonically. It was all too confusing and messy, the thoughts, the emotions. I tried giving myself reasons, tried justifying what I was doing, what I am. Only to end up feeling like splitting in two. My mental state certainly wasn't the best. Maybe it still isn't.

  'I feel like I have done something irreparable… What will happen now? I am going to learn things, hopefully be able to live on my own, but then what? At the cost of leaving all behind? It's not like I have much of anything… except… ruining the retionship that happened to grow with them. Will they resent me? Will they accept my choice?' I knew they wouldn't, I knew they would. And yet it still felt like a mistake was being made.

  I couldn't even fathom what Samyra's thoughts said about all this. I only hoped, blindly, that it would all end up ok.

  ——— –– –– -- - -

  The mood the next day was unusually somber, and yet touched by a gentle air of forlorn happiness.

  Syuufarin woke up te as always, and after a te breakfast that almost bordered lunchtime she left for the main library again. As she had read all of Curen's books… Well, with the exception of certain books that were purposefully hidden from her, she began to visit the other pce full of books instead.

  That girl has a hunger for reading that rivals even the most unhinged of mages.

  Samyra sighed, looking at the distant girl's back grow smaller as she walked away.

  "Is this the right thing to do?" She says.

  The rite of passage… while a tradition oriented to foster talents and increase survivability, it is also a disguised deterrent for the weak and unambitious. Nobody really wants to see their kids going away to unknown pces, but in an ironic sort of way the elves can't force them to stay either, either because they don't want to out of love, or because the younger elves enter their rebellious phase and decide to go regardless of other people's wishes.

  For all the defenses the elves have, if a particurly determined elf wants to leave the only thing that can stop them is another elf.

  Simply speaking, "I cannot let you pass unless you defeat me!" was the consensus that came to be. After deeming the exodus of their people, especially the young ones, inevitable. They opted to prolong it as much as they could rather than confining their own people.

  Nobody wants to part ways in anguish after all.

  "I hope so," said Curen.

  In his own opinion, they could stay in this dream-like existence for as long as they'd like. A harmonious family, spending days doing whatever they wished, repeating a peaceful cycle of idyllic days forever. He was very much more than content after becoming partners with Samyra, and Syuufarin was an unexpected, but joyful addition to their lives.

  It had been only a measly two years since they met her. A timespan of a blink to an elf in the grand scheme of things. But her presence has turned this short time very lively.

  But in the end, it was as the Elders said. While he would be content and happy to spend the next decades, even centuries, researching away and feeding his curiosity to his experiments. As did Samyra and her own work and hobbies. Syuufarin could not, both because of the intrinsic nature of her own biology, and because she is searching for something.

  He couldn't tell what, exactly. It was only a hunch of his at first, but nobody that seeks power and knowledge so fervently like that child does so for inane reasons.

  She confirmed it herself to them yesterday after all. Syuufarin had been preparing herself to leave one day.

  There was also the strangeness about her interaction with the gate that Curen had been looking into. The further an invader walks inside the reaches of the old spell, the more cerated they would theoretically become. That is, if they are not one of theirs with shared bloodline, or if someone else from inside invites them in.

  Gaviel certainly did invite her in, though Curen had some words to say about his actions that could make Syuufarin enter a dangerous spell just like that, when he heard that there had been no reaction at all from the gate towards her presence many eyes were turned.

  No warning signs, no barrier, not even a speck of fluttering mana or indication that the gate had registered the girl as a threat. Even with someone with a key to pass safely through it, if they were not a "resident" the gate would at minimum show signs of imminent activations, as if its hands were on a trigger.

  So it is very concerning that despite the girl being a complete foreign entity in the vilge, the spell thought of her as one of theirs.

  And he and many others trust the implied words of the magic more than whatever they could think up.

  Thankfully the girl is a sweetheart, but isn't that a frightening thought? That there is a way to somehow bypass the wall that they thought to be the height of their defenses.

  By that point, it was indisputable that the witch had some sort of connection with the girl. Even though the girl herself looks to have no retion whatsoever with that enemy, and has proven herself to be nothing but altruistic in nature. The mark of suspicion never truly fades.

  The Elders hadn't explicitly said anything about it, but then again, their attitude towards the girl was never welcoming to begin with.

  "If I am to be honest… I am scared, more of her than anything else."

  Samyra tilted her head at him.

  "We both know that she is a fast learner." Curen half turned to Samyra, still looking at Syuufarin who was walking away in the distance. "A very fast learner… She will soon rise from being only a novice level mage and pass the trials before we can blink. Syuufarin runs fast and jumps high, I hope she learns how to nd too before it is too te."

  Samyra exhaled, a long breath of concern and motherly pride as she looked ahead.

  "...Syuufarin has a good head on her shoulders. And…" Syuufarin had a demeanor of wise naivety that confounded everyone she met. That consistently threw people off whenever she would pronounce words that fit the age of an elder, and then be swayed by the mention of candy and treats right after.

  Not to mention that the girl lost her own family not long ago. They had been there for her, but aside from that one time Syuufarin avoided mentioning them again.

  "Yes… I can see what you mean. But… I'll decide to put my faith in her."

  ——— –– –– -- - -

  Jemdins