The day began with quiet murmurs in the barn. Paley had just returned after training his magic for the morning. Everyone - apart from Adimia - sat in a circle, whispering behind a stack of hay.
"What're you guys doing?" Paley startled them.
"Shh, you're gonna wake mother up!" Amasha shushed him and made him sit between him and Rauba.
"They're too far away to hear us," Paley used sound magic to hear Madella and Adimia snoring in the cottage.
"You don't know Adimia. He can wake up at the slightest noise." Reben explained. It was *true* that even the softest whispers could wake him up, but the noise Paley made when he trained didn't seem to disturb him at all, even when he used fire magic explosions.
"Alright. What're you whispering for anyway?" Paley asked.
"It's mother's birthday next week, and we want to do something special for her this year. We've never been able to do anything 'cause we don't have much money to spend. But ever since you've been helping out, we have a total of fifty silver coins saved up!" Jurie exclaimed.
"I'm glad I got to be of help," Paley said humbly, "So what's a birthday?" He asked.
"Ah, right, I forgot you forgot everything," Jurie said, "Pretty much, your birthday is the day you were born, and you celebrate it every year."
"Why do you celebrate it?"
"...Because that's the day you were born," Jurie answered emptily.
"Anyway, the plan is to bake a cake for mom and buy her a bunch of new dresses," Teerom said.
"She's always worn the same clothes since she took me in," Reben added.
"So we're brainstorming ideas for what kind of dress to buy," Jurie finished.
"Okay, is there any way I could help?" Paley asked.
"Take us girls to the city. Teerom, Reben, and Amasha are gonna work on decorating a clearing in the forest."
"Got it,"
Paley set out on the road with the girls, leaving the other boys behind.
"Are they gonna be okay?" Reben asked.
"Of course they are," Teerom tapped the back of his head and started walking towards the river.
"He slew a Fulguron after all," Amasha chimed in as they entered the forest.
After walking for a few minutes, they found the clearing in which Paley trained. There were dirt statues of each of the orphans circling around Madella. But there was no statue for him.
"I hope that they aren't targets." Teerom touched his statue. It was a perfect replica. Maybe even better-looking than him.
"Looks like he's a gentleman," Reben pointed to Jurie's statue's chest which was completely flat.
"Doesn't do her justice..." Teerom mumbled and continued. "Come on, let's keep going. Maybe we can set up the party in the Mana Zone." They continued until the forest grew bigger and bigger as they entered the Mana Forest, in which Paley fought the Fulguron.
"So this is where he fought it," Reben looked around in awe at the giant ecosystem.
"I'll never forget that day," Amasha smiled and rushed ahead, "Let's set up at the Fulguron's nest."
Paley and the girls crossed the first town and now walked on the path to the city.
"I hope that no one recognizes me," He thought aloud.
"I don't think they'd be that mad over a few stolen books," Rauba reassured. She was wrong. When they arrived at the city, there were posters of Paley and Teerom's faces everywhere. 'Wanted' posters.
Bacha chuckled. "Good thing I bought this," She took out a small pouch filled with white powder and rubbed it on Paley's cheeks. Almost instantaneously, it took effect, and his lower eyelids drooped down.
"Wow, you look... kinder?" Jurie said, staring at him. Everyone was used to Paley's expression being slightly cold all the time, even when he smiled.
"That was my Laze Powder. You're welcome." Bacha said. She was a magic herb enthusiast, mixing different herbs together in her small-scale experiments by the river.
"Laze powder?" Paley asked, feeling around his numb cheeks.
"It makes the area applied numb and relax," Bacha explained. The powder was actually a mixture of a low-tier paralyzing shroom and sleep herb, crushed together. It worked by slowing down nerve activity in the affected area to make muscles droop down into one another.
"You gotta teach me how to make stuff like that," Paley said, and they continued walking into the city. They arrived at the bazaar, where there was a sale going on for the winter. The women's clothing stall was a small stage, squashed by the stalls next to it. It had a wide array of clothes on floating hangers.
They looked through all the dresses that they found cute, but they were all far too expensive. The cheapest one cost a gold coin and two silver coins.
Currency worked in tiers, like magic. Bronze coins had the lowest value. Then were silver and gold, and lastly, there were diamond coins. Owned mostly by nobles. Each coin was worth one hundred of the coin before it ( e.g. a gold coin is worth 100 silver coins ).
"I should've expected this," Jurie sighed, disappointed.
"Jurie! Can I have this one?" Bacha approached them with a red dress that looked a lot like a traditional Chinese Hanfu.
"Can I have this one too?" Rauba joined her with a blue wedding gown in her hands.
"I'm sorry, we don't have enough-" Jurie began, but Paley shushed her.
"Go find ones of your sizes, and look for one for mom with Jurie, okay?" He began walking towards the exit of the bazaar.
"Where are you going?" Jurie asked.
"To earn some money," He rubbed his index and thumb together and disappeared behind a turn. Jurie knew he wasn't going to 'earn' money, but she didn't stop him.
"Come back quickly!" She shouted.
The boys had arrived at Fulguron's nest fifteen minutes ago and used the wood surrounding the nest to build tables and chairs. Reben was the only one carving chairs since only Teerom was strong enough to move the wood around, and Amasha's chairs just looked horrible.
"We should do stuff like this more often, just us boys," Teerom said as he finished carving one of the legs of the last table.
"Agreed!" Amasha replied. He'd been having a blast doodling faces on the tables.
"We could go out together one day, invite Paley too." Teerom lifted the table and placed it on the outside of a circle of tables. There was a big round table in the middle, on which the cake would be, and smaller tables surrounding it for the desserts and meals.
"Wanna camp overnight here?" Reben suggested.
"Yes! That sounds awesome," Amasha exclaimed as he and Teerom walked over to Reben and sat down next to him.
"He's an amazing kid, isn't he?" Teerom said. Amasha and Reben smiled and nodded in mutual silence. After taking a break, they decided to head back to the orphanage before Madella woke up.
The girls had spent about fifteen minutes picking out a dress for Madella. It had purple flowers on the torso and swirls on the skirt part. "This would look great on her," Jurie held it up.
"Why don't you get one?" Bacha asked.
"I don't need a dress," Jurie lied. She'd been wanting a blue ball gown that cost thirty gold coins, but of course, that was way beyond anything that Paley could steal.
"I bet Teerom would like to see you in this dress," Rauba picked up the dress she'd been eyeing.
"W-Why Teerom!?" Jurie panicked.
"Come on, it's so obvious. You two are always together. And the way you look at him... with those dreamy eyes," Bacha teased.
"Stop it. We're just friends."
"Mhm," Rauba and Bacha crossed their arms and nodded sarcastically.
"Well, I bet he likes you too-" Bacha trailed off when a tall, handsome man approached them. He had your average fairy tale, prince charming face.
"Be my wife," He asked boldly and pinned Jurie to the wall romantically.
"W-What!?" She looked down nervously, "I can't... I'm a mere commoner," She recited one of the lines from a love story she read.
"I don't care about that. You're still a woman. A good-looking one at that." He was a noble, dressed in a white suit and trousers. To Jurie, his words seemed kind and showed that he thought of women as equal. But when she looked up, she saw a hideous expression on his face.
"I will treat you well, I promise. Every weekend you can please my friends too. It's a perfect life." his two friends were standing eagerly behind him. One was a lard of fat that could barely walk, and the other was an incredibly ugly man.
Jurie squirmed when she felt the noble's boner brushing against her leg. "I... I don't want to..." She mumbled.
"Do you think you're in any position to refuse? You're going to be a part of my harem, whether you like it or not." He strangled her and rubbed up against her.
"Hey! Leave her alone!" Bacha lurched forwards with her fists clenched. Her attack was cut short when the lard of fat used air magic to blast her away.
Rauba could've cast a spell, but she was too frightened to do anything. Nobles had access to many more resources than commoners, so they were always better at magic. She wouldn't stand a chance against three of them. Though, there was someone who could.
Paley caught Bacha before she crashed into one of the stalls.
"Paley!" She recognized his pale white hands and looked up with a grin. Her smile didn't last long when she saw his glowing red eyes, filled with hatred.
"Bacha, Rauba, step aside." He ordered and approached the noble harassing Jurie.
"Come on, do you really want me to use force?" The noble was too blinded by his lust to feel the predatory animosity on his right. The lard of fat grabbed Paley's shoulder, but his hand erupted into flames instantly. He screamed out in pain and extinguished the fire with air magic.
"Sorry," Paley gripped the noble's wrist tightly, "But she's taken,"
"Oi, get this shit off me," The noble ordered his friends, but they didn't move an inch, "I said to get this shit off me-" He froze when he saw the thin rod of ice coming out of the ground and piercing fifteen inches into their asses.
"We can't, Dersohn." The fat one whimpered in agony. If they moved even a centimeter, they'd rupture their colon and bleed to death. It was a miracle they were even alive. However, that miracle wasn't going to last long as Paley held out his hand and began to cast Firebolt.
"Paley!" Jurie screamed, "Don't do this... please. They're nobles." She knew what would happen to Paley if he injured a noble, let alone kill them. The noble took the opportunity to step away before Paley cast his spell.
"So what? They deserve it." He replied coldly.
"Just let them take me." She accepted her fate. "Blizzard!" Dersohn yelled and pressed his hands together. A wave of cold air flushed the area, making the temperatures drop below zero and slightly freeze everything.
Jurie didn't feel it at all, though. She looked at Paley, who held his blood-covered hand towards her. He was bleeding heavily because, in that instant, most of his skin had been thawed off. He'd used fire magic to protect her, Bacha, and Rauba from the cold instead of himself.
She covered her mouth in shock, tearing up.
"I don't care..." Paley began and used healing magic on himself, "I'd rather die than let these pigs take you away," His skin regrew quickly.
"So you can use three magic types too? And you don't do or say any incantation. I'm gonna love putting you down." Dersohn sneered, jealous that Paley could use Healing Magic, a magic that he couldn't learn despite his struggles to do so. But Paley didn't use Healing Magic. Quickly, Dersohn pressed his fingers together again for another Blizzard.
Although everyone had one main type of magic, they often mastered another magic type to complement their main one. This noble's main magic type was air magic, but he cultivated ice magic ( a combination of water and fire magic ) to go with his air magic.
"Icicle..." he generated five spikes of ice around him, "Bullets!" using air magic, he blasted them forwards, but they were blocked by a wall of earth. As soon as Paley used earth magic, the noble's heart dropped, and he felt terror for the first time in his life.
Using two magic types was common. Using three was extremely rare. But anything more than three meant that you're an extremely powerful mage or something much worse...
"You made one mistake." Paley dissolved the wall of earth and slowly walked towards him.
"Y-You..." The nobles stuttered.
"You drove away the witnesses." Paley could use all his magic freely now that the area was clear of people.
"You're a-" The noble backed away in fear.
"Yes. I'm a Quimnia," Paley said.
"Wait! Stop! Don't do this!" The noble tried to run away, but even at full speed, the exit kept getting further and further away while Paley drew nearer.
"Paley..." Jurie mumbled helplessly.
"Don't worry, I won't kill him. I'll just make sure he can't tell anyone of what happened here." Paley caught up to the noble, who was now crawling desperately on the ground. He crouched down and wrapped his hand around the screaming noble's head.
He created millimeter-thick spikes of earth and made them pierce into the noble's brain, making him jerk around and froth at the mouth. Jurie covered Rauba and Bacha's eyes and ears to save their innocence.
The third healing book in the series that Paley stole was an anatomy book. It listed every part of the body and its function. He remembered the pages on the brain and how the cerebellum controlled basic things like speaking and moving.
He rendered the noble unable to speak or move properly. He could no longer tell anyone what Paley did to him. He couldn't write it down or signal it. He couldn't hurt anyone else.
The other two nobles thought that Paley had forgotten about them, but their moment of respite was short-lived as he turned and approached them.
"Listen, kid. You don't have to do this." The lard of fat said.
"*You* didn't have to harass my sister. I wonder how many women you've forced yourselves on. It makes me sick just thinking about it." He inserted microspikes of earth into their brains and healed their lower bodies before heading back to the girls.
"I guess now we can pay for the dresses," He held up the noble's pouch of gold coins. Jurie suddenly hugged him tightly and sobbed silently. He hugged her back, his eyes drooping back down due to the laze powder still being in effect.
"It's okay,"