Chapter 5 | A Gift From Papa |
"Mama, is this good?"
It's been another year and I'm adjusting to life here just fine, I've even been acting like a kid for the sake of not blowing my cover, not because I'm naturally acting like a kid or anything... I've also been studying this words language as well, all of the pronunciation is the same as on Earth but the characters are all different. It's not the main language according to mama, but it is the one that is used in this country.
"Oh? T-Tomoe, this is amazing! How are you so good at this at such a young age?"
Mama leaned forward and pat me on my head, what I had just shown her was a magic circle I had been working on for the entirety of the afternoon. She had only just shown me a basic magic circle and how to make them in the morning and I had already moved on to making an intermediate one.
"Are you proud of me Mama?"
"Of course I am darling! How could I not be? You've just completed something that most kids can't even complete by their teens."
Mama seemed extremely overjoyed to the point where she lifted me up and gave me a big hug.
"I'm so proud of you my darling~, if you keep this up you'll surely be able to live a great life~"
Mama snuggled me some more, it wasn't uncomfortable for me and filled my heart with joy. In my previous life it was just me and Akira who were there for each other, until dad finally took over the city and we met Erin. Even so, we had our moments of happiness and love, like that one time when we were eating on the roof, we-
"Tomoe~ Come to papa for a second, he's got something he wants to give you~"
Papa wants to give me something? Maybe it's a katana?! I haven't used one in ages, I want to start getting used to wielding one again.
"What is it papa?"
Mama gently set me down on the ground and I strolled over to papa, he had a big smile on his face with his hands behind his back, probably hiding something.
"Now Tomoe, what I'm about to give you is something that I've kept as a treasure for my entire life."
Papa is giving me something that he has treasured for his whole life? Why would he give me something like that?
"What is it Papa?"
He moved his hands out in front of him and presented the gift to me. It was, what looked to be, a highly valuable necklace. Don't get me wrong, it looked really pretty and all with its diamond embedded chain and large ruby jewel. It's just I'm not much of a necklace person... they get in my way when I'm fighting and just overall trouble me, they go all over the place when you're working out and just won't stay put. But I do have to accept this gift with gratitude, it's fathers treasure after all...
"Th-Thanks Papa..."
The second he placed the necklace in my hands gravity took over, I felt as if I was carry a bag of cement. What's with this necklace?! Why is it so damn heavy!?! What's it made of, concrete?!
"Oh, sorry. Papa should've let you touch it first, it takes around 10 seconds for it to adjust to the wearers preference."
Wha-What's this? The necklace suddenly got lighter, and whats more, it's split in two?! Oh no, papa's gonna kill me!
"Oho, what's this we have here? Two bracelets?"
Instead of a lengthy necklace, I was now holding two separate bracelets that looked like they would just fit around my wrists. They were speckled with diamonds and had a semi-large ruby in the middle, much like what the necklace version had.
"W-Why did the necklace suddenly change papa?"
"Hmm, remember how I said the necklace changes its weight to match the wearers preferences?"
"Mhm"
"Well, it also changes form to match the wearers abilities. It was a necklace for me because I cast a lot of magic and used to like wearing necklaces back in my Maou days, I guess I still must have some lingering feelings about necklaces since it didn't change..."
"So why did it change into to bracelets for me?"
I don't particularly like jewelry and if I were to wear anything, a bracelet probably wouldn't be my first choice, maybe some brass knuckles or something I could use to deal damage with.
"Probably because you're more set to fighting in close quarter combat, that jewel is supposed to protect you from magical attacks so wearing them on your forearms would be good for protecting against physical as well. Blocking and protecting yourself from being hit, as well as being able to completely reflect most magic up to the advanced level would give you a complete advantage in combat."
Hmm, so this piece of jewelry is supposed to be able to protect me from most magics and have a good resistance to physical attacks. I'm not to sure about that, I'd need to test them out first to be able to actually rely on them in combat.
"Hey papa, can you punch me?"
"H-Hah?!"
"I want to see if what you're saying is true, I can't use it if it doesn't work now can I?"
"Y-You've got a point there darling."
Papa seemed surprised, when I turned around to get mama's approval she was shocked.
"W-Why must you do something so dangerous Tomoe dear~? Can't you just take Papa's word for it?"
"There was something I read in a book and it said "Don't believe everything you hear, and only half of what you see."
"Papa was right Darling, you do have a point..."
"Well, let's go and test it out!"
I'm actually pretty excited for this experiment, I haven't had the chance to fight with someone for ages! And if it's with Papa, I'm sure he'll provide me with an entertaining fight. Although I'm not to sure how much power this body of mine is actually capable of producing...
"Shall we test it here darling?"
"Mhm, here's fine."
We walked into the entrance of our 'Home', our home was basically a small mansion with the entrance being the size of a garage. Papa chose this spot since I'm not allowed outside for whatever reason, bu for now it's not that much of a big deal since I still haven't fully explored this house yet.
"Well, I'll punch you once and only once, okay?"
"Are you sure papa? You can punch more time if you want."
"W-We Are only testing it remember? So we only need to punch it once to prove that it does in fact work."
"Haa... I guess you're right papa..."
"Shall we begin?"
"Okay~"
I'm ready for anything Papa throws at me, if he comes at me with a right hook I'll duck under and kick his legs out, if that doesn't work I'll try and put some distance between us to think of something else.
"Are you ready?"
"Yep! Come at me Papa~"
I readied myself and got into a fighting stance, my left foot slid slightly back and my right leg stepped forward, fists raised and ready to be on the offensive or defensive.
"Okay, I'm coming now darling."
"You don't need to tell me-?!"
What!? He disappeared?! Where did he go!? He was there a second ago, so where is he no-!?"
My confusion was quickly cut short as papa reappeared right up in my face, I had a split second to react and crossed my arms across my face, trying to shield myself from his punch.
"WHAAT?!"
What is this?! His punch feels like I'm trying to stop an artillery shell!! This is stupidly ridiculous!! The punch drove straight into the center of the X made with my arms, sending me sliding back about 10 feet.
"Well, how is it Tomoe? Do the Bracelets work?"
"You... You... I won't lose to you!!"
That punch just now was totally absurd!! If I lose to papa I feel like I'd be looked down on by him, I've got to defeat him and become the strongest in the family!
"T-Tomoe?"
"URRAAAA!!"
I ran with all my might at Papa, before I was about to throw my punch he stepped back and to the side, but unluckily for him I was already anticipating for him to do this. I took and extra step forward and drove a weak punch into his stomach.
"Wha-What?!"
"Tomoe dear~ I thought we were supposed to be testing out the bracelets not having a full spar~"
The look in Papa was giving me kind of scared me, he had a sweet smile on but his aura said otherwise. I backed down in fear and tried thinking of some lame excuse to give for my mistaken rage.
"I-It was an accident Papa I swear!"
"No excuses, no more fighting until you're 8 years old."
Papa folded his arms and began to walk off, I don't know what I did to make him this mad about me fighting, especially to the point of him banning me until I turned eight years old
"N-No!! You can't do that!" Waaaa!"
I collapsed onto my knees and began balling my eyes out, I don't ever remember being this much of a crybaby, in this life and previous.