From Makoto's perspective:
"Shiro, don't run onto the road!" I said to her, and she turned to face me and started walking backwards. "Don't walk backwards or you'll bump into something. Take an example from Kuro," I scolded the child who stubbornly kept creating dangerous situations.
If Father were here, he would've done it differently. He would've warned Shiro once and then given her freedom of action, knowing that when she collided with someone or hit something, she'd understand her mistake and wouldn't do it again. You can tell a person hundreds or thousands of times what it's better not to do, but until they make the same mistake themselves, they'll remain skeptical of the warning or may even ignore it entirely. As soon as Shiro gets a bump on her head, she'll start watching where she's going. It's a good approach to teach someone something, to let them learn from their own mistakes. Maybe then they'll start listening. A smart person learns from their own mistakes, while a wise person learns from the mistakes of others.
"It'll be fine, big brother!" she said.
"And what if you don't pay attention?" Rey asked, already accepting the fact that he wouldn't be able to prove anything to her.
"Well, I look back sometimes and..." Shiro was actively gesturing with her hands while walking backwards and, not noticing the pole in the middle of the road, hit the back of her head against it. After the painful hit, she crouched down and started whining.
"Shiro, you're always like this..." Kuro said with a sigh.
"Told you," I said, dropping to one knee and pulling Shiro close to me, while Rey only let out a heavy sigh.
Taking a green herbal ointment from Mother out of my pocket, I applied it with my fingers to the bruise on the back of Shiro's head, smoothing her hair and calming her down.
The ointment works quickly thanks to the effective grinding of herbs in a specific order. I only know this superficially, since I didn't visit Mother's pharmacy very often, mostly only when she forgot something at home.
Not even ten seconds passed before I asked, "Doesn't it hurt anymore?" The little rascal shook her head to indicate no.
"That's good." I caught Rey's satisfied glance directed at me. Nodding questioningly in his direction, he simply shook his head.
After walking for some time and chatting about nothing in particular, I didn't notice how we had already reached the shop. Through the glass display window, it was clear that there weren't many visitors inside. The shop itself was quite small, decorated in an aristocratic style uncommon for our village.
"Good afternoon," we greeted.
"Welcome to our humble Williams Sweet Shop! What would you like to order?" asked a middle aged woman warmly. She had long brown hair and eyes of the same color. Wrinkles were visible on her face along with a slightly tired look.
"We'd like one portion of chocolate ice cream, one cherry cupcake, one caramel apple, and one portion of strawberry ice cream, please," I said, taking a silver coin from my pocket.
"It'll be ready soon!" she said gently.
There were only a couple of wooden tables inside the confectionery, and after sitting down at the nearest one, we began waiting for the order while the children debated what tasted better.
"Apples aren't tastier than ice cream at all!" Shiro said.
"I'm telling you, you'll freeze your brain again with that ice cream! You should try apples instead," Kuro shot back.
"Don't argue, it's obvious that pastries taste better," Rey added, to my surprise.
"Maybe I should send all of you to cooking classes?" I inserted sarcastically, lightening the mood.
Before anyone could say anything else, our order was brought to us. "Enjoy your meal!" the confectioner said, ending our debate on a pleasant note.
"Brother, is it true that you and Rey will soon become adventurers?" Kuro asked with excitement in his voice.
"Yeah," I confirmed.
"Can I go with you?" Kuro asked, biting into his apple.
"Didn't you want to become a knight?" I asked, confused.
"I want to gain experience, just like you," he explained.
"We should ask Father. I don't think he'll allow Kuro to go with us until he at least masters all the basics of swordsmanship," Rey shared his opinion, and I generally agreed with him.
"I'd like to become a magician!" Shiro immediately added, even though no one had asked her.
"First get into the academy," I said.
"You sure about that?" Rey asked, and I shrugged.
I honestly doubt they'll become who they want to be right now. People are changeable creatures, prone to transformation. Their opinions change faster than you can imagine. A single word or phrase can completely kill someone's desire to do something, not to mention long years of life during which a person rebuilds and changes their personality. So how can you claim that people who change after receiving a drop of information will want the same things years later? It's rather foolish.
Eating in silence, I reflected. There were many thoughts I'd been putting off for a long time. It was noticeable that something had been happening lately. Father clearly knows something but doesn't show it. He's been disappearing at work for an unusually long time these past weeks and is hardly ever home. Mother has become somewhat exhausted as well, and Rey's awakening day didn't go unnoticed either. The story the priestess told me makes me wonder how I was even able to awaken my node on my own if all the books and scrolls say that vis can only be awakened through a ritual. How did the three strongest of their time disappear in an instant without a trace? Is it somehow connected to what's happening now? How does she know this, and why did she tell me? Everything is so confusing that one can only speculate. My intuition is screaming that something is coming, and it isn't good.
I think it's too early to judge anything without having information in hand. I can probably relax for now, since I'm no worse than a gold ranked adventurer. At such a young age, I've already achieved decent results in all the basic aspects of vis, and on top of that I already have a body developed beyond my years and refined swordsmanship. All that's left is to wait until I turn twelve, then I'll finally be able to become a real adventurer. If I'm lucky, I might even skip the bronze and silver ranks and become gold, or even platinum. The question of what to do about Rey remains open. He'll be eleven when I turn twelve. Will our parents allow him to go with me? I thought about this while my portion of ice cream was quickly coming to an end.
"Where should we go?" I asked Rey thoughtfully, finishing my meal.
"I'd like to go either to Roosevelt's blacksmith shop or to Serenade's magic shop," Rey suggested, taking his last bite.
Overall, the idea was good. In our land, far from the capital, there are no shops of famous houses like Saber or Reinhart. Still, the Kingdom of Krush is divided into five main territories: the central region, where the capital is located directly on the World Tree Ignite, the northern lands, situated near the Great Wall, the eastern region, where we live, close to the World Tree Graios, the western forests, bordering Alfheim, and the southern lands, which neighbor the gnomes territories and the great ocean. Each land has its own ruler, and although the king is the highest authority, every region has its own laws, different churches, and its own customs. By the standards of the capital's aristocrats, our local lords and dukes are nothing more than small fry, which is rather subjective considering they have far more freedom in their actions. Each region has its own advantages and disadvantages, but most people consider the central region the best and most prosperous. The main problem there, however, is that commoners are oppressed, effectively being kept separate from the aristocrats. Yet among all those hypocrites who think they're better than others because of their family status, there are truly noble lords and aristocrats as well. You don't have to look far for an example. The lord of our lands, Sir Isaac Roswald, provides fair wages with quite reasonable prices. If you compare the cost of houses here and, say, in the central region, a small house here can be bought for 250 gold, while in the center it would cost no less than 600 gold. We also have fairly developed infrastructure, with wireless electricity available everywhere and much more. Meanwhile, in the southern lands, Lord Grimstroke mostly develops only his own estates at the expense of his residents' taxes, and there aren't even good roads everywhere, unlike here. I won't even get into the corruption aspect because I don't know much, but judging by rumors, in the northern and southern regions you can rape womans and even kill children and for a good sum of money you'll be released, which really makes you wonder what the fuck is going on there and where the fuckin' hell capital is even looking... I'm afraid to imagine what'll start happening when such people begin migrating to other regions. I can only hope it's just my imagination and nothing like that actually exists.
"Good idea," I nodded to Rey. "Shiro, tell me, what weapons do mages use?" I decided to test the child's knowledge, and judging by her face, I'd caught her off guard.
"Grimoires, staffs, wands, vis crystals..." she answered uncertainly, looking down at the floor.
"And why do mages use different catalysts?" I continued, watching her turn her head from side to side searching for an answer.
A little time passed in thought before Shiro said, "It's easier and faster to control vis that way?" and looked at me with puppy eyes waiting for praise.
Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised she remembered the things Mother had told her. "Good job. Want to take a closer look at magical equipment?" I asked.
"Why not cool swords?" Kuro said, offended.
"If you want, we can stop by the forge later too, just not for long," I offered a compromise.
"Okay," he perked up.
"Let's go, or we'll be late for lunch," Rey said, getting up from the table.
"Thank you, it was delicious!" I thanked the confectioner as we left the shop.
"Come again!" she said.
The door closed behind me with the jingle of a bell. The scenery before me hadn't changed. The noisy streets were the same as ever. It even made me wonder, has it always been this crowded here?
With a wave of my hand, I motioned for Rey to go ahead. I don't know why, but my head started spinning and the channels inside me began to vibrate unpleasantly, causing an itch throughout my body. Deep breath in... Exhale... It seemed to pass. I'll need to check again at home.
Quickening my pace, I caught up with the others. First turn, second, and there it was, the magic workshop. A spacious building with large windows, decorated in white and blue tones. Right above the entrance was an interesting symbol, a white crescent on a dark blue square framed in gold.
The magic workshop was mostly a laboratory, museum, and forge all in one. The main hall was a room filled with artifacts and magical items that you could examine or even test while the masters explained them, along with a section where they were studied and created.
Shiro hurried inside first. From the inside, the workshop was much larger than it looked from the outside. At the entrance, behind a wooden desk, we were greeted by a middle aged man, about twenty five or thirty years old in appearance, with a light beard and chestnut hair of medium length tied into a short ponytail, with two strands framing his face. He was dressed in a regular ruffled shirt, dark trousers, and shoes.
"Welcome to Serenade's Magic Workshop!" the man greeted us cheerfully.
"Hello," I replied. "Excuse me, could you give us a tour of the magical equipment?"
"Oh, of course! Young visitors, how may I address you?" he asked, stepping out from behind the desk and coming closer.
"My name is Makoto, this is Rey, Kuro, and Shiro," I said, pointing to each of them in turn.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Shon. Please, follow me," he said, walking toward a door at the end of the corridor.
"May I ask why you came here and what interests you?" Shon continued as he entered a spacious bright room with panoramic windows.
Following him into the display room and looking around at the pedestals divided into categories, with items floating above them under dome like barriers, I replied, "We're interested in combat magical equipment. We'd like to learn more about the different types of wands."
"I see. Well then, this way," he said, walking toward the panoramic window opposite the entrance. "As you can see, there's standard equipment here: grimoires, magic wands, staffs, as well as various crystals. There are also unusual ones, like this ice glyph or this wooden gauntlet. What makes them different from the ordinary ones, you might ask? I'll explain."
He paused briefly, removing the barrier from a magic wand and taking it in his hand.
Before he could say or do anything else, another man burst into the room, younger than Shon and looking out of breath.
"Alarm! There's..."