Time went by, and without them realizing it, they finished their dinner. Not a single grain of rice was left on Lyrica's plate. She sure filled her stomach full.
"How was it?" Nela asked Lyrica who's on cloud nine.
"I don't think words are enough to describe how good it is." She looks at Rona and begins to gently caress her hair. "Rona is right, Lola's cooking is the best."
"I told you so!" Rona proudly replied.
"I'm glad you liked it." The old lady followed as she told Nela to pick up her siblings' bowls and plates.
Lyrica takes her own used dishes and follows Nela towards the sink.
"I'll do the dishes." Lyrica offered.
"All right, I'll go clean the table and sweep the floor, then."
Lyrica and Nela begin doing their chores while Robert, Nilo, and Rona play around like the children they are.
Fast forward in time, Lyrica finished cleaning and drying all the dishes. Nela who finished cleaning the table and sweeping the floor earlier is now busy playing Sungka with her younger siblings.
"Yes, I have 63 shells!" Robert shouted triumphantly.
"I lost." Nela's head leans down in defeat.
"Kuya Robert against ate Nela!"
"All right, now it's my turn!" Nilo uttered. "I'm the one fighting against Kuya Robert at the end!"
"It's not over for me yet!" Nela declared with confidence. "Let's go!"
'They sure make playing Sungka look intense.' Said Lyrica in her thoughts.
Lyrica continues to watch them wordlessly. She can feel the warmth and love they share towards each other—so much that the image of her spending time with her parents back then is being reflected through them.
"They look so wonderful and innocent, aren't they?" Said the old lady who came out of nowhere.
"Ah..." Lyrica's pressed lips with a slight frown parted in surprise. "I was wondering... How are they beaming a smile like that after knowing that they've lost their father not long ago?"
Lyrica thought they didn't care much about their father because he was an alcoholic, and is one that's probably much more worthless than a worm.
"...They did not hate their father." Said the old lady calmly. "They loved their father, even after he lost his way."
Lyrica assumes it's because of his wife. But there's no point asking the old lady about it.
"Perhaps they are strong enough to accept the reality." The old lady added. "Or maybe it's because they have no choice but to accept it whether they like it or not?"
"Huh?"
Lyrica gazed at the old lady in confusion as the tone in the old lady's voice changed abruptly.
"Here."
Right then, the old lady shows a pair of clothes to Lyrica.
'Is that a baro and a tapis?'
"I hope you don't mind wearing an old lady's damit." Said the old lady to Lyrica.
"No, thank you very much."
"If you don't like a long tapis, I can make it so that it'll be as long as what you're wearing."
"Really? Then please do."
With that out of the way, the old lady guides Lyrica to the bathroom.
The door creaked open, revealing a bathroom surrounded by a floor, walls, and ceiling made out of thick concrete.
"So this is the banyo, huh?"
"So the people in your world also call it banyo, eh? That's incredible."
'Yeah, but where is the water?'
The bathroom has what seems to be a shower space, but there's no shower whatsoever. A bathtub that has no draining system and holes where water is supposed to come out and fill the basin. And, it also has a toilet with no flush and only a water bucket that's empty.
The banyo has all the things necessary in a bathroom except for water which is the most important of all.
"I assume banyos in your world work different from ours."
"That seems to be the case."
Lyrica replied as she observes the old lady who took one of the objects from the shelf.
"Is that a scroll?"
"A water scroll."
The old lady proceeds to stick the open water scroll on the side of the bathtub. And before long, a stream of water comes out of the scroll and fills the bathtub full.
"Amazing." She remarked. "The banyera's now full of water."
"There are all kinds of spell scrolls in our world and each has their own use, like filling this banyera to take a bath for example."
'I remember Mousai saying magic is the general term for magic abilities and spells a person possesses or created.' Lyrica mumbled in her thoughts.
Indeed magic doesn't just manifest, it can also be created.
'I guess this is one way they are made.'
The old lady mentioned that back in her youthful days, spell scrolls such as the water spell scroll are almost considered a luxury. Not only they can be carried and used at any time and anywhere, but they also allow people, such as adventurers, who cannot use magic abilities to do tasks that can only be accomplished by those capable of using magic.
But in time, as the number of people with magic abilities increases, more particularly those with elemental manipulation magic, the use of water scrolls and the like has greatly decreased. As such, their prices have also plummeted to the point where a normal family could easily afford them.
"Since then, we've been using spell scrolls in our daily lives." Said the old lady. "No more going to the river carrying buckets of water, no more inconveniences."
"I can see that." Said Lyrica in reply.
Moving forward, the old lady directed Lyrica to the shower area.
"This one doesn't require the use of spell scroll, but mana instead."
"Mana?"
Similar to the kalan, and the light in the living room, the shower area itself is a magic tool.
"The floor is made out of concrete together with flare stone golems harvested from Cartha kingdom to create a sizable rain cloud."
The old lady invites Lyrica to step into the shower area. Without retort, she followed the old lady's instructions and entered the shower area.
Right then, the floor begins to reflect red lines at the same time her remaining 34 MP gets drained by 6 points, lowering it down to 28 MP. However, at that moment, a small cloud formed on top of her head, and it begins to rain.
Startled, Lyrica darted out of the shower area quickly.
"A cloud?" She looks at it in wonder.
"Using your mana or a mana crystal inserted in that hole..." The old lady points Lyrica towards the hole located where the shower is supposed to be installed. "The flare stone golems heat up, creating water vapor which floats in the air, but in this case underneath the ceiling."
From there, the water vapor cools down and condenses, creating a cloud which then turns into liquid water. Once it does, precipitation happens, or mostly known as:
"Rain."