I took a glance at my hands; she wasn't lying; I really am glowing.
As I burst out of excitement, I said. "I can't believe it! Wh-what happened!?"
She said as she pointed. "Your Bond! It must be your Bond!" and contemplated, "It's just like the deer antler and with Ube. Try letting go of the Bond, here put it on top of the table."
"Oh-oh a-alright." I stuttered while putting the Bond on the table.
I brought my hands near to my face to examine if the glow would start to disappear. To no surprise, the glow really did begin to fade upon letting go of the Bond. We looked at each other, and I questioned myself, what could this mean? Putting the pieces together, The antler needed the pedicle, Ube needed the missing piece, and I needed the Bond?
We both exclaimed. "AN ORIGIN!"
"If you really think about it, it was so simple. How could we have missed something as simple as this." I said as I joyfully laughed.
Zia commented. "No, Zeal doesn't think like that without you thinking of this, we couldn't have done this."
"And you don't talk like that." I stood, and I announced. "It wasn't only me, it was thanks to you too. Without your leads, I'll still probably be stuck on reading magic theory books haha."
"Thank you Zeal." She says as she puts her arms around me awkwardly; she was going for a hug, I guess? So I responded and hugged her as well. I nearly forgot, but she just smells like her. That girl who talked to me despite me being all alone and lonely. After a while, she said to me.
"Alright. Uhh, s-should we continue our discussion?
I answered. "Y-yeah we should."
She avoided making eye contact with me while going to her seat. I just stood there, not knowing what to do till she called out. "What are you doing standing? Seat." while still refusing to look at my eyes. I sat down.
I began talking. "S-so, we know that to release our mana we need our bonds or our origins." "By the way, I expect that you know your bond is being kept seeing that you aren't worried."
She immediately replied. "Yeah, you don't need to worry about that." She asks. "So how do we use mana? or can we even use mana?"
"I.. don't know." I replied with doubt.
This is a big problem. Although we have access to our mana, we're back at the start, not knowing how to use it. I must think of something; I'm sure that I missed something. Ube? No, his seller is unknown and him being able to move is a mystery. Humanoid mushrooms are primarily with their origins from birth. I heard from Lupel that their mother puts their supposedly "Bonds" below their hat. But the case with the deer doesn't match with these, perhaps.
"Zia, what do you say about hunting deers?" I suggested.
"Eh? why?" she asks.
"It's not relevant to how we use our mana. But something just doesn't add up so I need to confirm it." I claimed.
"Alright, I'll ask permission from dad when I get home. We should go in the weather seems pretty bad today." She suggested with a worried face.
I looked up; she was right. It's very cloudy. It might just rain.
"Alright let's go," I answered.
We both went in together. Some time passed, and it did rain; we both went to my room to discuss things. While we were discussing things, a thought crossed my mind.
I asked curiously. "Why does the cooking pot emit mana? where is its origin?"
"Oh, I can answer that. My father is a craftsman and so I sometimes see him work and I've asked him a bunch about things." She replied proudly.
"O-oh that's why the antlers were well made."
"Yep, so at products like the cooking pot if I remember correctly they smelt the base of the ores together with the ores. So I'm guessing that the origin is mixed up on your cooking pot." She states with a proud face on her.
"O-oh that's amazing, well now that makes sense to me now. Thanks." I replied.
"No problem." she still has that proud face on her.
( Well, now that's cleared up. )
"I need to go talk to father about the deer hunting." I said while walking out of the room, maybe she didn't hear me with all the heavy rain, but she was just staring at the window, watching the wind blow while it was raining. It was quite a sight to see. I walked out of the room looking out for Lupel, but he wasn't here, although Lilia was there seated at her favorite seat, sipping tea, eyes shut with a smile. I didn't notice it till now, but Lilia is really gorgeous; it might be that she is my mother that I don't feel anything for her besides love as a family.
I called out to her. "Mother." She replied with a look on me, like telling me to "Come here and tell mom." so I did. "Is father not around?"
"Ah~ your father is upstairs in our room, came to fetch lights in case the lightning messes up the spell formula for the lights." She replied and added. "You can wait for him here, come to mom." as she raised her arms like a mother wanting to carry his baby. So I walked towards her; she lifted me and seated me on her lap.
"So.. what do you need from your father? I'm guessing you came to find him first it must not be because you're afraid of lightning." She said quietly.
Although she said that quietly, I heard her perfectly, so I replied. "Yes, it isn't because of that mother. I was gonna ask him about something else."
"Hmm I see, then you wait for him here." She said, so I waited for him on my Lilia's lap.
Thunder strikes, I feel the hand around me shivering.
( Is she, afraid..? )
Thunder strikes again, and I feel her hand tightening. I shook my head in disbelief; I didn't know Lilia was afraid of the lightning. I hugged her.
"Z-Z-Zeal????" She was surprised; I mean, I haven't hugged her since birth. It's no surprise that she is. I hugged her more tightly, and she held her arm around me.
"Hon I brought the lighting spares don't worry, I'm here no-" "Oh come on, why didn't you guys call me if we were having a family hug," says the sweat-covered Lupel running towards us. We let him join. I saw the door to my room slightly open, and I saw Zia peeking. She noticed me looking at her in an attempt to hide. I called her to join us. She opened the door, stood there, and Lilia opened her arms for her. She eventually joined us, and it was one of the memory I wouldn't ever forget.
Evening came, and the rain stopped. Lilia immediately went to prepare for dinner while I went out with Zia to follow her home. Lupel was behind us and called me.
"Zeal! Hold on! your mother said you have something to tell me."
"Yeah, but I don't think this is a good ti- actually. We would like to hunt deers with you. I was wondering if you could bring us." I told him with eager eyes, Lupel loves swords and seeing his son being interested in using one and on an actual hunt. He'll agree for sure.
"HAHA! that's my boy! yeah yeah you can come with me," he answered, then came close to me and whispered. "But why Zia too? this isn't a date you know."
I whispered back. "Yeah, but she insists and I know you can protect us."
He pulled back up, turned around, and said. "Yeah, sure you guys can come. I'll protect you guys at any cost!"
I signaled to Zia with a thumbs up, and she giggled, I smiled back, and when turned Lupel turned around, we pretended to be happy. Well, we already were, haha.