Three weeks has passed since we visited Arlet's home. Recently, I've taken a quest to take care of children in an orphanage, I was accompanied by Durian and Aria who were too good to even exist. Apparently, one of the caretakers in the orphanage fell ill while the other caretakers were already busy enough as is so they requested a temporary replacement from the guild.
It was just one person who fell ill, but these two joined me after taking interest in the quest when they were curious what type I took.
That leads us to where we are right now. The church where they worship the deity, Kalnos of Reincarnation. Said to be this world's deity responsible for recycling the souls of the dead to be reborn once again.
The church had tremendous influence in this world, going over 20% of it's population with the rest being other religions of different deities in other countries. Only a very small population of 1% remained as atheists which I found somewhat funny.
"Aria Onee-chan, play with me!"
"Sure."
Me and Aria were left to take care of the children for a while because Durian went away to buy sweets. We were asked to stay in the orchard because it seemed to be the most spacious place for them to play.
She was brought away by most of the kids while I stayed in my spot. Honestly, I haven't even done anything except sit around ever since I came. I noticed that only two kids were left here.
One boy is sleeping below the shades of a tree and theres another one sitting and reading books near a flowerbed. He was holding some sort of stick.
"Transfigure."
He chanted while pointing the stick at a rock. But nothing happened. Is he trying to use magic?
Out of curiosity, I approached him. When he saw me, it looked like he had seen a bug.
"Are you trying to use magic? I can teach you."
I said to him softly. I have to atleast make one kid feel safe with me, or else I wouldn't even deserve payment for going here. The church agreed having three people instead of one but I can't just leech.
"Really? Can you use magic?"
His expression of repulsion was changed to that of doubt.
He asked me and I somehow had a smug look on my face before flicking my finger and conjuring one magic sword.
"Woahhh!"
Admiring the sword hovering beside me, he looked really interested. I made sure to summon it facing down or else it might unintentionally cut him.
"Is this Light Magic?"
"No, I call it Unattributed Magic."
"Unattributed? The book I read said there were only 6 elements. Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Light and Dark."
The little boy tried touching the magic sword to inspect it closely. The light thankfully isn't blinding him since it's adjusted to glow no more brighter than my computer's screen brightness. What worries me more is that he might try touching the edge which is sharp enough to cut a troll in half with a swing.
"That's why I said it's unattributed. It's none of those."
"What?! How is that even possible?!"
"It's easy, do you know how spells are formed?"
"No?"
"Magic Casters use the mana from their magic core by leaking them out of the body. When they're successfully leaked, they're configured to a spell programmed by a magic formula and that's how I made mine. I used a formula that doesn't convert the mana to anything by removing a key component."
I'm starting to feel like a teacher. But nevertheless, I'm happy he's talking to me like a good kid. Unlike grown men who are usually full of lust, children are still pure. I believe that their future is always dependent on how they were raised or how their environment was. I mustn't let this child stray to the wrong path!
"Please teach me magic, sensei!"
"E-Eh?"
I felt embarrassed because for the first time in my life, I got called a teacher by someone. Even if it's a kid. Plus, the only magic spell I know is body enhancement and the magic swords.
"I don't know any other spell besides Magic Sword and Body Enhancement, so I don't think I can teach you anything you want."
"It's okay! I'll learn about the other things by myself! Please teach me how to use mana instead! Please!"
But that didn't stop this kid from being persistent. His purple eyes behind those square glasses shined in excitement of his youth and he bowed his head so low that his body is on the verge of losing balance. I just noticed, but this kid has black hair and dark purple irises. It's almost like we're siblings.
Owh well, I guess I'll do this.
I started off by teaching him the 1st Stage Of Mana Usage. Feeling the flow of mana in the body. It's the most important requirement for entering the 3rd stage where you need to know how much mana you have to release in order to avoid mana exploding or just leaking out a miniscule amount that wouldn't be sufficient for spell casting. Basically, the 1st Stage is like knowing how much mana you have.
An hour and a half later. It was lunch time, Aria and the kids with her finally returned, along with Durian who had an empty basked that was used to carry sweet bread he bought earlier.
"Welcome back, Aria!"
I greeted her who looked sweaty and exhausted. The girls and boys with her looked no different, even Durian was all wet. But the most horrendous part is his shiny head that was reflecting sunlight.
"Thanks, Seven. And what are you doi-?"
Aria tried to ask but the children with her rushed to the kitchen like a stampede, their energy didn't seem sapped from all the fun they had at all.
"Kids sure have alot of energy."
I said while my eyes followed the last girl to disappear into the kitchen house.
"By the way, aren't you going to eat... um... what's your name again?"
I totally forgot to ask what his name was. How embarrassing to even call myself a teacher.
"Jesse. My name is Jesse Gliese, sensei."
"Ah, I see. Jesse, do you want to eat?"
This Jesse name sort of sounds girly. That aside, I can tell from his gaze that he's really passionate about learning magic.
"I will eat here, sensei."
"Can I eat here too?" Asked Aria.
"Sure. But let's get our food first."
We ate lunch after that, and because the children slept in the afternoon, Durian and Aria were spared from the trouble of taking care of them again. The only orphan who didn't sleep was Jesse who we accompanied and taught how to sense his own mana. He said he couldn't feel it yet so perhaps he will in another day if he concentrates enough.
At 6pm, it was finally time for us to go home. We went with Durian to see his house because we were going to pass by it one way or another anyway, now that I'm living with Aria for now.
"Welcome back, honey- wait, who are they?!"
A rather slim and pretty woman in an apron appeared from the door quickly after Durian rang the doorbell.
"Honey! These are my party members. Seven Clavery and Aria Vleutonelle."
His wife glared at us which made me and Aria feel somewhat uneasy. So I'll have to clear this up. She must be thinking our innocent and angelic Durian is cheating on her, and the fact I don't like men and she's thinking of that disturbs me even more.
"Please don't misunderstand, miss. We already have partners."
She didn't look convinced even when I informed her. I guess there's no helping it. I resorted to Aria.
"Aria."
"Yes?-"
I kissed Aria's lips for Durian's wife to see. She looked taken aback while Durian looked so frightened. A few passersby tried not to look.
"...Do you believe us now?"
"Y-Yes, definitely! Come on now, honey. Dinner's ready."
After they went inside their house, an overly embarrassed Aria started punching me no matter how many times I apologized for kissing her in public. The only moment she calmed down was when she accidentally touched my chest. Although her punches didn't hurt since she's a mage and I'm a swordsman, it still was ticklish.
...
We finally reached her house. It's what I call a two story building. When we reached the door, it swung open and a little girl appeared that jumped right at me.
"Miya, stop that!"
"Welcome back, Seven onee-chan!"
This is Aria's little sister, Miya. Just like me in my previous life, Miya and Aria both lost their parents. So Aria became a guardian for her sister. And because I've been living here for two weeks now, we've become quite familiar with each other. She sees me as her other elder sister and on top of that, she bears a striking resemblance to Aria so I adore her very much. As a little sister ofcourse.
"Chu."
As expected, Miya kissed my cheek just now. Angered by this, Aria swiftly picked her up with a demonic looking expression on her face.
"I told you don't do that stuff to Seven."
"Why not? You two kiss all the time."
"Th-That's because we're dating!"
I didn't mention this because I didn't get the chance but, before we left Arlet's mansion, we agreed to date. Me, Arlet and Aria are officially dating. I'm top.
Naturally!
"Date? What's that?"
"It's nothing, you shouldn't know yet."
"Tell meeeee~!"
The night passed by, we ate supper and I slept in Aria's room since her bed was big enough for the two of us. I know I'm living in someone else's house, but it's her request because she said it was lonely with only her sister around who had her own room. So I accepted it and we had a comfortable sleep together. Nothing malicious happened ofcourse.
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We're back again to the orphanage. 2 more days before the contract ends. We received the payment from yesterday which was 1 large gold coin. It's not as much as what we make everyday, but this is mostly because of charity work.
The children played hide and seek while Jesse stayed with me reading books. He was still trying to feel the flow of mana in his body.
"Aren't you going to play with the other kids?"
I asked while eating some salty chips that I bought from town earlier. I was sharing some with him too but he only takes a few every minute or so.
"I can't, I don't like playing. I feel like studying is much better than wasting time."
Wow, that's a pretty mature way of thinking. I won't change that mindset since I think playing is meaningless too anyway. The only important part about it is that he needs some exercise.
"Sure, but in exchange we'll have to do some training on your body."
"It's not related to magic, is it?"
"No. Magic may be important to you but you shouldn't neglect your body's health. Doing nothing all day is bad for your health."
He stared at me for a while while trying to decide what to do, ofcourse if he doesn't listen, I'll make him listen!
"If sensei says so, I guess it's for my own good."
Such a good child! I want him as my kid!
"I've decided I'll adopt you when I get enough assets, Jesse!"
I shouted buoyantly while sandwiching him between my chest. This kid is so good to be true! Totally the type of child I want!
"Let go of me, pervert! I can't breathe!"
I instantly let go of him right away. Strangely, he looks rather pissed than blushing. He's really different from all those boys.
"Jesse, are you gay?"
"Ofcourse not!"
I laughed in a titter, I didn't know this kid could be so good. If only he was a girl I would have threw him to a bed but he's a boy so that's turning me off.
"I just don't like pointless squabbles. The only reason relationships are important is to make children, and I'm not ready for that yet. I'm not an idiot, you know?"
This kid... Is he some kind of reincarnated person like me? I would be so surprised if he was simply born this mature or grew up in a harsh environment for him to learn so quickly.
"Hmm, enough with that. Stand up and copy what I'll do."
I showed him how to do simple exercises, we started off with radio calisthenics for a warm up then later advanced to things as difficult as planking.
While holding himself as still as he can while doing planking, I was trying to perform 1 hand push ups with my feet facing upwards. I fell with a dull sound and hurt myself.
"Sensei... What the hell are you doing?"
Said Jesse with a concerned look on his face. Really, messing up like that in front of my disciple is so embarrassing.