Days later, the noon sun warmed the quiet, walled yard of Kerina and Elina's house. The three women sat around a stone table, a half-finished pitcher of iced tea between them.
"It's the only explanation that fits. Arthur's actions were a complete betrayal of his character. It was as if he were being controlled by the Ice King, a puppet on a string."
"Hey everyone."
The calm, casual voice made all three of them look up. Hayato was walking towards them from the house, holding a small, white cake box.
Riko's eyes narrowed, her analytical gaze immediately turning suspicious. "You… Why are you here?"
Before Hayato could answer, Kerina held up a hand. "He's here because I invited him, Riko."
Elina, sitting beside her sister, simply offered a bright, friendly smile. "Good afternoon!"
Hayato walked over to the table and placed the cake box in front of Elina with a slight nod. "Here i bring for you," he said.
He then looked at Riko, directly addressing her suspicious stare. "I'm here because Kerina told me to come. She said my task for the day was to look after Elina."
He then glanced between the two A-Rank adventurers. "Because the two of you are going somewhere important. Right?"
Riko looked from Hayato to Kerina, a silent question in her eyes. Kerina gave a single, almost imperceptible nod, confirming the arrangement.
Riko then turned her gaze back to Hayato and, after a long moment, she gave a slow, deliberate nod of her own.
"Alright, Riko, let's go. We're burning daylight."
Riko stood as well.
"Be careful, you two," Elina said, her voice laced with concern.
Kerina gave her sister a reassuring nod, then turned her sharp gaze to Hayato. "Your job is to stay here. Keep her company, make sure she's safe. Do not leave the house grounds unless it's a dire emergency. Understood?"
"Understood," Hayato replied.
With a final, shared glance, Kerina and Riko turned and walked out of the yard, their movements swift and purposeful, leaving an awkward silence in their wake.
Elina was the one to finally break the silence, her eyes landing on the white box on the table. "Well. I guess it's just us then. Should we try some of this cake?"
Hayato looked at the simple cake box, then back at Elina's bright, expectant face. He gave a slight, dismissive nod.
"You can have it, I don't really eat things with that much sugar."
Elina blinked, a little surprised by his refusal, but her smile didn't waver. "Oh, really? Not a fan of sweets?" she asked, her curiosity piqued as she pulled the box closer and untied the simple string around it. "More for me, then."
As she happily ate a slice of the cake, Hayato watched, his expression thoughtful. "So, the Royal Academy," he began, his tone casual. "What's a magic school like? I never had the chance to go to a place like that."
Elina looked up at him, her cheerful mood softening with an expression of sympathy.
He never went to school?He must have grown up poor, without the same opportunities I had. She thought, looking at his simple clothes.
"Oh, it's wonderful! make so many friends, the teachers are brilliant, and you learn all sorts of amazing things." A thought suddenly occurred to her, and her eyes lit up. "Would you want to go to school, too?"
Hayato gave a slight, humorless smile. "And do what? I can't use magic."
"Oh! Right… I'm sorry, I forgot." She thought for a moment, then a new idea struck her. "But you could be a warrior! Like my sister! There's the Royal Knight's Academy for adults. It's here in the capital." She leaned forward, her voice full of earnest excitement. "Maybe I can help you get in! My family could pay for it!"
Hayato listened to her generous offer. He understood her assumption perfectly—that he was some uneducated commoner she could help.
The irony was almost suffocating. He thought of his own education: a Bachelor's degree in Management from Tokyo University, a place that was likely centuries more advanced than any academy this world had to offer.
Hayato looked at Elina's earnest, hopeful face and felt a rare, unfamiliar pang of warmth. He reached out and gently patted her on the head, a gesture that was both kind and dismissive.
"There's no need."
He drew his hand back. "However, I would be interested in seeing what your school is like. Maybe sometime I could watch you at the Royal Academy while you're learning."
Elina's face lit up, her previous offer completely forgotten in a wave of new excitement. "Really? You'd come and watch? That's perfect timing! We have the annual inter-academy tournament in a few days!"
She leaned forward, her voice full of energy. "I'm one of the representatives for our school this year! I'll be fighting an opponent from the Northern Magic Institute to prove which academy's teachings are stronger. You can see me fight for real!"
Hayato gave a thoughtful nod, a genuine hint of interest in his eyes. "A tournament sounds like an excellent opportunity to observe. Yes. I'll make time to be there."
Elina's smile widened. "Great!"
"You're a representative for the entire academy, then?" Hayato asked, his tone shifting back to one of analysis. "How old are you, Elina?"
"I just turned fifteen!" she said proudly.
Hayato nodded, processing the new information. "Fifteen… And a tournament representative. What is your power, Elina?"
"It's an affinity that comes from my family's bloodline," she explained, a hint of pride in her voice. "It's similar to my sister's, but where Kerina's manifests more physically, mine is purely magical. They call it 'Firespring'."
"Firespring? So you're a fire mage?"
"A type of one, It's different than normal fire." She corrected.
"How so?" Hayato asked, his analytical curiosity now fully engaged.
"Well," Elina began, getting excited to explain her specialty. She held out her palm, and a small, gentle flame, the color of a warm sunrise, flickered to life above it. "Normal fire just burns and destroys. It consumes things."
She brought the flame closer to her other hand, the heat washing over her skin without singing a single hair. "But Firespring is a fire of warmth and life. It doesn't destroy. I can use it to encourage plants to grow, or to warm someone who is freezing to the bone. It's a gentle, creative fire."
Hayato watched the gentle, pulsing flame in her palm, his head tilted. "A fire that encourages growth and provides warmth," he mused, analyzing it from his own strange perspective. "It sounds less like a spell and more like motivation, but in a magical form."
Elina giggled at his odd choice of words, dispelling the flame with a flick of her wrist. She stroked the back of her short, black hair, considering his statement. "Motivation... I suppose you could put it that way," she said.
Her expression then grew a little more serious. "It's a power that comes from positive emotions. But it can be very powerful in a different way... if I were to fuel that same energy with anger… But that's its weakness for me. I don't get mad very often."
Hayato filed that piece of information away, his analytical mind already categorizing her abilities. "You said it becomes more powerful with anger. What does that look like? How is it different?"
Elina thought for a second, her cheerful expression fading as she considered a memory that was clearly less pleasant. "I'm not sure what it would look like for me, I've never been that angry. But... it would probably look like my father's."
She looked down at her hands. "I've only seen him truly enraged a few times, a long time ago. The fire wasn't gentle anymore. His entire body would be covered in roaring flames, and he would become... much stronger. Faster. It was scary."
Elina shook her head as if to clear the somber memory of her father. Her bright, curious smile returned as she turned the conversation back to him.
"How about your power? Is it really just making duplicates?"
Hayato looked at her genuine, open face. He had trusted Kerina with the truth; it only made sense to trust her sister as well. He leaned forward, gesturing for her to come closer.
"I lied," he said, his voice a low whisper. He leaned in closer, his lips near her ear, and spoke two quiet words.
Elina's eyes went wide, her whole body going still with shock as she processed what he'd just told her. The shock then melted away, replaced by a look of pure, unadulterated excitement.
She pulled back, a massive, beaming smile on her face. "WOW!" she exclaimed, her voice a happy shout. "That's so cool!"
To Be Continued.