Walking along together shortly, the duo reached Ena's house. Ena unlocked the door and both of them entered inside.
"Kiel, you relax here. I'll join you shortly after talking a bath."
"OK Aunt Ena"
Awenasa was going towards the bathroom, but suddenly turned behind. She had a mischievous grin on her face.
"Well You can even peep at me. I wouldn't mind." saying so she reached out her hands slowly to open her sleeveless blouse slightly, focusing on her cleavage area.
*Gulp*
Seeing the hot scene, Kiel breaths started to become heavy. But when he saw the teasing smile on Ena's face, he became irritated.
"Mou… Aunt Ena you are bullying me again."
"Little Kiel, how do they look??"
"Aunt Ena!!!"
"Hehe" Awenasa went inside while grinning.
After sometime, Awenasa came out to only see the little kid fiddling with something at the corner.
"Kiel what are you doing??"
"Oh Aunt! What is this? It feels so cold.?"
Kiel asked her seeing a familiar object from his previous world.
Seeing the little kid's curiosity, she said smilingly, "This here is a Amet. It keeps everything cool inside it."
'Oh! So this world has fridges too. It seems like this world's development is not as backwards as I thought'
"A-met...Aunt… how does it work?? This was not here the last time I came. Did you buy it recently?" Kiel asked with shining eyes!
"Oh! Bought it yesterday. This thing is way too expensive. Be careful to not break it! It took me two years worth of savings just to buy the lowest class one.
This one works on ice crystals. There is a level 2 Siphon rune at the back, which draws the cold from the crystal and spreads it evenly all inside. There is also an array relay here which helps in switching the Amet on and off when needed. " Ena explained while pointing at the fridge.
"Ice crystal? What are they?"
"They are like fire stones and water stones. But they contain even more condensed mana. So they are more expensive."
"Aunt..."
Kiel wanted to ask about the runes.
"Alright no more questions. Ask more after we have our meal. I'm starving now."
Feeling hungry too, Kiel nodded.
"Ok"
Hearing this Awenasa turned back to serve their meal which she had prepared beforehand.
When she turned back, Kiel realised that she was still using her wind magic to dry her wet hair. Realising something, Kiel asked, "Aunt is this wind magic??"
"Hmm… ya this is a tier 0 spell 'Gentle Wind'. It is one of the basic spells used in everyday life."
"Wow Aunt your magic looks so beautiful! What momma and papa uses at home are a little dull. Momma just creates some water balls, while papa just ignites the wood at home for cooking."
"Hehe obviously!! I'm a level 1 Advanced mage. Your papa and momma are just Medius mages. Although they can channel their mana to use tier 0 spells, they can't use Tier 1 spells"
"Tier 1 spells??"
"Oh I forgot you are still a kid. I was not supposed to tell you about magic now."
Awenasa said while sticking out her tongue in a cute manner.
"You should just focus on building your foundation. Knowing about mana will only create mental burdens in you now. When you go to the Midnight Province for your 'First Mana' Ceremony, they will inform you everything. Runes, levels and spells too. So focus on growing up now."
"Alright Aunt."
Kiel wanted to ask more, but seeing Awenasa now, he knew asking her anything more would be futile now. So Kiel just focused on his meal.
After their meal, they spend some time playing. Recently the two had grown pretty close. After spending some time together, they heard Derek knocking at the door.
Opening the door, Kiel shouted
"Papa you are back!"
"Oh ya let's go back."
"Ok "
"Awenasa thank you for taking care of him. I hope he didn't disturb you much."
"No... no problem at all. He is such a good kid."
"Bye Aunt Ena"
"Bye kid. See you tomorrow"
Kiel held his father's hand and started walking through the illuminated night streets. There were no CFLs or LEDs lere. No solar powered street lights either. Only lamps with blue and orange hues illuminated the dark streets.
Although it was evening, the streets around the market were still full of people. The hustle-bustle of a market place still remained. Some popular food stalls were filled with customers eating snacks; while some toys and clothing stores were crowded by women and kids.
All in all, the atmosphere was peaceful, unlike those warmonger novels that Kiel often read, where just for a little argument, blood would flow. Yet he knew this was just one face of a coin. Where there is peace, conflict will exist. Kiel knew he too would have to face them sooner or later. But for those challenges, Kiel just looked forward.
As they were walking back, Kiel turned around to see his father worried about something.
"Papa what's wrong??"
"Hmm… nothing, just worried about my new order. It's a bit tricky."
Kiel didn't know how to encourage anyone. He had been all alone for the better half of his life. So he just acted like a kid. Now he could act like one easily.
"Papa! Do your best. When I will grow up, you don't need to worry about such issues anymore."
Feeling the worry in his son's eyes, Derek smiled lightly and caressed his hair a little.
"You don't have to think these things. Just make sure to learn our family's smithing properly. That is enough for me."
"OK"
***
The next day Kiel woke up early in the morning. Feeling refreshed, he sat upright.
'Today is a good day. Alright let's brush teeth and then go on training'
Walking straight into their empty backyard. He didn't like anyone watching him train, as it would make him embarrassed, so he preferred training alone.
He had a 12 inch long and 5 inch thick wooden sword with him. The sword was custom made for him, as per his order to a woodworker. Derek was surprised when Kiel wanted such a sword. But thinking that he was still a child, he didn't mind much.
Readying the sword in one hand, then drawing it as fast as possible with the other, Kiel drew his sword. Swinging up-down and left - right, parrying, slicing and piercing were the basic moves that he practiced. He diligently worked on his moves and tried to use his muscle strength as much as possible. Kiel felt his strength growing a little. As he practiced, beads of sweat dripped down from his cheeks, implying his hard work.
After half an hour of practice, feeling that his blood was now vigorous, he started training his chakra. Breathing in, holding the breath and then breathing out, totally energising himself. His chakra was vibrating at a steady rate, tempering his body slowly with a rosy glow.
'Looks like the first petal has bloomed out perfectly and the second petal is now starting to open up. It feels that within two years I can open the next petal. Hehe maybe it will help me climb on 90 degree surfaces. That would be so cool!' Kiel imagined walking on walls like superheros from his previous world. The thought excited him way too much.
Finishing his training, he went to take a nap and then have his breakfast.
"Kiel lets go. "
"Coming papa."
" BYe mama. Bye bye AMber-nee. Bye Fawn-nee"
"Bye Kiel. Have a safe trip. And return early. Don't linger in your Aunt Ena's house"
Kiel just ignored the last words of his mother which seemed to contain a hint of jealousy.
Reaching the smithy, Derek didn't leave him alone to hammer pracctice like always. Today he planned to show his son a bit of Dmitriev style blade forging.
"Kiel see it, we don't use water to cool high quality blades. High quality blades are cooled by mud. The mud helps in absorbing the surface impurities. Look closely"
Kiel saw his dad hammering a white glowing blade with full attention.
After he finished, he gave Kiel a new wok.
"Now you know how to hammer. You should not stop practicing it. But the next step is to mold an ingot. Remember you have to hammer an ingot properly! Shape the metal into a horse-shoe shape without breaking it. That's the next step to smithing. Then you can start with flames."
"Alright dad." Kiel nodded seriously.
"Now go on continue your hammering exercise. But now try to bend it as much as you can instead of hammering mindlessly. "
Seeing his son going out, Derek focused on his work.
"Now how do I do this??" Derk said while having a big headache.
***
"Aunt Ena, I have always seen you dry your hair with magic. Why don't you use a towel??" Kiel asked curiously.
"Using magic is convenient. It helps in drying every inch properly and I don't have to do it manually"
"So, basically you use it for being lazy?"
"How can you say that? It … it … fine I think you are right."
Awenasa replied grumpily.
Seeing her in wet hair with the green wind magic around her hairs, Kiel suddenly had an idea.
"Aunt Ena, you always use wind magic on your hair to dry it. But what do those, who don't have wind magic use? I mean I have always seen mom and my sisters use towel. And as you said it is not efficient"
"Ya you are right. But what can others do?? Not everyone has wind affinity"
"Aunt I have an idea!" Kiel excitedly said.
"Oh it seems the little kid is using his brain!"
"Aunt… "
"Fine… fine tell me what are you thinking"
Although Awenasa looked interested, she just wanted the kid to not be sad. She didn't expect anything from him. After all he is a kid.
"Aunt! Like from how your Amet (fridge) works, we can use fire and wind stones in a container with the same level 2 runes to draw the heat and wind from the stones. Then the hot wind can be passed through a pipe and into a comb with small holes in it. Then one can comb and dry one's hair simultaneously. And they can use array relays to switch it on and off too. So… how is my idea??"
Seeing his Aunt in her own world, Kiel repeated.
"Aunt?? "
Waking from her reverie, Ena had a somewhat dazed look!
"Kiel is this your idea?"
"Yah! I just thought about it after seeing your Amet. But now that I think about it, it must be very costly making those. After all your fridge was also expensive"
"No… no Kiel you don't understand! Your idea is simply amazing! Level 2 Siphon Runes are not expensive. Just 1 gold coin each. It is the workmanship on an Amet that makes it expensive. But by your idea, we can buy those magic runes and create our own dryer. Then we can sell them for high prices. The rich ladies will just love this item!!"
The more Awenasa spoke the more fervent her expression became. She was a business woman and this idea gave her such opportunities! Looking towards Kiel she had the thought that she just picked up a treasure!!
"Kiel I love you!! Wait here. I got to tell this to Derek. This may be a big business opportunity!"
Saying so she ran out of the house without waiting for him. Kiel just sat than stunned. He never expected such a tiny idea to have such a huge effect on Ena.