Death March — Fixed

“Tek here, rather than being a Hero, I want to be a Magic Swordsman; a sword using Mage--sometimes known as a battlemage. But chanting stands as a currently impenetrable wall before me. Though the fun of talk between Zena and her friends did help me to cheer up.”

“I’m sorry for all the fuss. They’re not bad girls, it’s just that uncommon for me to be talking to a man--” She looks at me with wide, upturned eyes again.

This time I don’t detect any mischief like before, this time she really looks timid.

“They see like fun people, I don’t mind.”

“It makes me glad to hear that!” Zena’s face fills with happiness, before she begins to stare at me with intensity, well curiousity, “That reminds me, you looked troubled as you stood in front of the Magic Shop earlier, is something wrong?”

“Yeah, I seem to have hit a roadblock while training chanting for Magic. I was wondering if they have books concerning chanting, but they are closed.”

“You’re not only an overly nimble traveler, but also a Mage in training? Speaking of that, you don’t seem to be wearing gaudy clothes today--I think these match you much better.”

This girl seems a little fixated on how nimble I am.

“I want to be able to use Life Magic, and other types later, so I decided to train with it; but I just can’t seem to get the chanting part right--”

“Well, let’s see, for Wind Magic, people usually start with ****, but if they say it slowly, it comes out like: ‘Lyu--lia la--lule li la--o’. If it is just remembering the chant, then most people can do it.” Zena is tilting her head cutely, as though she is wondering how to explain it to me.

Even when she slowly said the chant, she spoke in a singsong voice that sounded beautiful, and almost felt like it ticked my ears.

“Ahh, rhythm. Yes, please try to slowly recite the chant while remembering both the words and the rhythm. Then, while sticking to the rhythm, gradually increase the chanting speed so that it becomes something like: ****!”

I see.

However, even if what she told me isn’t some kind of secret, isn’t it still something that shouldn’t be taught too easily to other people?

“Rhythm, huh? I understand, thank you very much. I’ll practice hard with that.”

“Yes, I’m happy that I could help you!” Zena smiles.

***

I’ve decided to go with Zena around half way to the Parion temple in the Western District, she seemed to like my idea--she nodded with a very pleased expression on her face.

“Speaking of which, how long have you practiced with Wind Magic?”

“The real training was around three years, but in hindsight, I’ve done various things throughout my life in preparation to become a Mage.” Zena had a considering expression on her face, tilting her head to the side and cutely scrunching her nose and eyebrows--I had to force myself to look away from her.

I wonder what kind of things?

I hope it was nothing serious.

“In order to learn the history of Mages, I was made to read aloud picture books, sing, and practice reading lines from plays at high speed, and a special abdominal breathing technique since I was a child. I had toys which were designed to detect the flow of Magic--even the plays my parents made me participate in were all for the sake of training to become a Mage.” Zena looked a little gloomy for a second, “It’s not like I bear any ill will towards my parents for raising me like that, you know? Learning Magic is fun, and my goal in life is to someday use Magic to fly in the sky.”

Are there no other ways than to start from when young?

“Why do you want to learn Life Magic? Is it because it’s useful for business?”

“Nah, since there was no bath at the inn, I was thinking to use the Magic so I didn’t have to bathe outside.”

Oh, Zena looks astonished.

She looks me directly in the eyes, and bursts out laughing.

“Hahaha! Th-this is the first time I’ve ever heard of someone who has such a reason for wanting to become a Mage.” Zena barely manages to choke out the words around her laughter.

To be honest, it was only then that I considered that maybe my reason could be odd--especially if it took years, and training from childhood to learn Magic.

“Is it really that strange?”

“It’s strange!” She answered immediately and began to giggle again, “Because if you have the drive, and the funds, to learn Life Magic--isn’t it just faster to buy a house and build a bath in it? You can also just buy slaves for the job of boiling the bath.”

I sighed at her words--and she placed her hand on my shoulder; squeezing once, she released me--and tried to stifle her giggles.

***

“Mister, do you want to buy some flowers?” A little girl carrying a small knitted back filled with flowers stops us, just as we enter the West street.

She picks up a flower from her bag and holds it out to us.

When I went here, to visit the Alchemy shop yesterday, I had seen her a few times, but this is the first time she has called out to me.

It’s probably because men accompanied by women are usually easier to sell flowers to--which makes sense--since if you are on a date, wouldn’t you give her a flower if you could easily get one?

She plans well for a little girl.

“Okay, how much is it?” I ask her with a smile.

“A copper for a bundle.” She smiles widely when I give her a copper, this time in genuine happiness; she happily thanks me, before running off to another potential customer.

I present the flowers to Zena, causing her to look surprised.

“Umm, is it fine for me to accept it?” She asks quietly--I am not really sure if she is asking me, or herself, or both.

“Of course it is, I bought it for you.” I spoke with a grin as I gently placed it her hair, behind one of her ears.

She bites her lower lip gently and looks incredibly happy.

That was rather embarrassing to do, but it’s fine as long as she is pleased.

“That’s right, Tek, do you have any business after this?” As she spoke, Zena reached up and carefully played with the flower.

“Not really. After practicing chanting, I don’t have any plans.”

Well, there’s alchemy, but I can do that anytime.

“Th-then, why don’t we visit some of the street stalls on the way to the temple?”

“Yeah, I’m fine with that. If possible, do you think you can talk to me about the specialties of this town while we do that?”

Zena probably never had any experience inviting a male to join her--her face turned bright red part way through and she stutters a little. Since it’s just me here, you don’t have to be so tense.

“Specialties is it? Leave it to me!” Zena’s whole face fills with happiness and excitement as she answers me, now seeming to be full of confidence--a large distance from her previously embarrassment.

***

“This is made from steamed sweet potatoes, which are filtered and made into jam. They mix this jam in with the bread dough, helping to make this delicious bread!” Zena spoke excitedly, her eyes almost glittering as she bit into a small piece of a bread.

“These are deep fried bat wings covered in a deep gravy--I’m unsure of the name.” Zena holds up the food, which is impaled on a small wooden skewer.

I subtly my skewer back down, she doesn’t seem to notice.

The shopkeeper looks happily at Zena, before telling us that the name of the food is ‘Fried Dragon Wings’.

Hmm, I could make real fried Dragon wings--I have enough in my storage.

“These are things that Lilio taught me! Ah, Lilio is the smallest girl, the one with the green hair, from before.” Zena chatters excitedly as she takes a huge bite of the food.

I smile at her and look at the stall’s owner, who looks between the two of us and winks. I can’t help but chuckle slightly as the oblivious Zena gnaws on the food, and I pass two coppers to him, the cost of two servings of food--and I give the second to Zena--she accepts happily.

When I asked Zena about specialties, I didn’t expect her to take me from food stall to food stall and explain them; she only ate a little, but she seemed to love talking about them.

Well, as long as she had fun.