Consulting About My Daughter
~Alke the Bear Beastkin’s Point of View~
The theory regarding Vio’s parents was more or less settled after consulting with the two of them. There’s always a chance it could be wrong, but assuming it’s true makes preparing countermeasures much easier.
I’d been thinking that once Vio builds enough basic strength and reaches Bronze Rank, I should take her out of the village and let her train in dungeons while accepting requests. But they got angry, saying there’s no need for that. I’m grateful for that.
"As for her ma, or rather, both her folks, that's all there is to it. It's just a theory for now, but I reckon it's best to act like it's true and get ourselves good and prepared."
“Indeed. If we don’t constantly assume assassins might show up again, we’ll be caught off guard. Let’s operate under that assumption.”
“Yeah, Vio seems motivated too, so we gotta train her properly.”
It’s incredibly reassuring to have these two on my side.
"Next up, well… there's a few things to chat about. That plant gatherin' is goin' just fine, ain't it? Did I mention that the whole shebang started from a little chat Vio had with the young'uns at the learnin' hall?"
“Yeah, I heard from Taki. Since kids can’t register before their baptism, they can’t accept requests. Even if they could, they’ve got younger siblings to look after, so they said they couldn’t go gathering. And Vio suggested they could learn the different herbs while playing—that’s pretty clever.”
Ohh, as expected of the Guildmaster, he already heard about it through Taki. The Vice-guildmaster was going on about, “As expected of Miss Vio, her way of seeing things is different.”
"Yep, that's right. So, buildin' on that, she's been thinkin' 'bout how to give a helpin' hand to the young'uns who're strugglin' with their numbers and readin'. She's got it in her mind to make two kinds of games to teach 'em—one with playin' cards, the other with karuta.
Playin' cards were all the rage with the high-and-mighty nobles in the royal capital, and even adventurers know 'bout 'em these days, right? We don't have 'em here in the village, but once she heard they existed, she wanted to make some to help teach numbers.
Now, karuta, that's a game to help learn words. I can't rightly recall it myself, but do you reckon it was one of them fancy noble toys? If so, it might be best to keep it hush-hush to avoid steppin' on any privileged toes. Oh, and there's one more thing—"
“Whoa, whoa, hold up a sec.”
What’s this? The Guildmaster held his forehead with his right hand and threw his left hand up to stop me.
“Miss Vio knows about playing cards? If she can make them, that means she’s played with them before, right? Must be her mother’s—or rather, her father’s—influence? I’ve never heard of karuta, but I’ll look into it.”
With the calm Vice-guilmaster saying that, I started wondering when exactly Vio played with cards. If they were in the magic bag, she probably would’ve pulled them out, so she likely doesn’t have them. No point in overthinking it, I guess.
When I asked the Guildmaster if I could continue, he gave me a weary-looking nod, so I went on.
"Now, 'bout them kids I was talkin' 'bout earlier… they've got their baptism ceremony at seven, ain't that right? Vio's already signed up as an adventurer, so her residency is all in order. That means, technically, she don't need to show up. It's all voluntary, right?
But someone brought up a concern that it might be downright dangerous for Vio if she does decide to attend."
““…!!””
Looks like they just realized the same thing I did.
“It’s… supposed to be voluntary, but we should double-check. You’re right, those crystals glow based on mana strength. I don’t know how much mana Miss Vio has now, but if she keeps training for two more years, she’ll have way more than a normal seven-year-old.”
"Yep, that's right. And even now, she's got a fair amount of magic under her belt. Yesterday in class, she went and used hearing and vision enhancement magic on herself.
And after finishin' up her gatherin' request, she boosted her legs to walk all the way home. That's why she needed some healin' this mornin'—all that muscle pain set in somethin' fierce."
“… Huh? …Wait, what? Body enhancement is… that’s pretty hard, isn’t it? You need good mana control… oh, right, she’s been practicing that since she was three. But still—
She didn’t learn the incantations for enhancement magic yet, did she? The learning hall hasn’t taught that, right?”
That’s exactly why I was so surprised too. Sure, I can use a few wood magic spells without chanting, but that took years of practice.
"According to Vio, she gathers up that fluffy stuff from her core and moves it to the part she wants to boost, then just thinks real hard 'bout how she wants it to work."
“Pfft… kuh… hahaha… Amazing, as expected of Miss Vio! She’s already mastered full chantless casting. No wonder she asked that question after I used healing magic yesterday.
I bet… I bet she could pull off chantless or trigger-only healing magic too. Haha… I’d love to see that. I suppose it’s because she’s still a child that she can purely imagine the effects she wants to create.
That’s it! I should show her all the magic I can use. If she sees the phenomenon first, she might be able to replicate it herself.”
The Vice-guildmaster looked thrilled, while the Guildmaster looked like he had a headache. These two really are complete opposites. But just being able to share these worries that I couldn’t carry alone was enough to make me feel lighter.
Showing her magic, huh… that actually sounds like a great idea.
It was decided that as long as we didn’t sell the cards, making them wouldn’t be a problem. As for karuta, the Vice-guildaster would check with the Merchants’ Guild to see if it was registered.
Regarding the baptism ceremony, the village chief organizes that, and I’ll be meeting him soon about the gathering scissors, so I’ll have him look into it then.
Phew… I think that covers everything I needed to talk about for now.
What do you think about this chapter?
