I stared at an unwatered plant. We lived in the outskirts of the kingdom, my mom is a farmer, formerly an adventurer though. She boasted about how she can kill a pack of goblins all by herself in her prime.
The cold breeze of the wind passed by me while I kept on staring at the plant. Without much thinking, I raised my palms and conjured magic on it, water spitted out from the light that was emitted from my arms, it watered the dry soil of the plant. I simply stared at it.
Until suddenly an old woman came in and stared at me. She grinned. "Oh? Thanks for watering that, I forgot about it a few days ago! I'm getting old now!" She said before pulling out something. "Aren't you Yukihara's son?" A box wrapped in some cloth that's tied up to a ribbon. "Take this." She smiled before patting my head.
She… She seemed so kind. It was my first time experiencing such a glowing type of kindness. A kindness that I thought I could never feel again. I only stared at the old woman before standing up and grabbing the box with both of my hands.
"Oh what you did back there was magic isn't it?" The old woman said, her smile disappearing.
"Yes… Umm, is there something wrong?" I asked, quite nervous of what she's going to say next. She started to laugh.
"Hehe! You don't see kids like you often. To youngsters, magic is like a massive question that they can't solve. So magic at your age would either mean you're a genius!" She laughed. A genius, huh? That sounds nice.
But I don't have the right to be called like that. I stared at my hands, I could still feel the mana coursing through my arms before I stared at the old woman again.
"Hmm… I have to go back now. Oh, be careful there kid, it's a rocky road watch where you step!" The old woman said before going back to her house, I stared at her for a few moments before continuing my walk.
Just like she said it was a rocky road, but I've been through this place before. I simply ignored the rocky road and thought of it as just a simple walk. But then something caught my eye, kids playing in the distance. I only looked at them before deciding to go back home.
That was until I heard laughing getting closer, I saw a little girl running towards my direction at high speeds, until her foot was caught up in a rock. She felt the ground underneath her feet disappear while she was falling head first into a spiky rock.
I acted quickly and used gravity magic. With a weird sound coming out of my palm, her whole body was then covered with a purple glow while she felt her fall go slower. I approached her and grabbed her body, slowly getting her up to her feet before dispersing the magic.
She widened her eyes while looking at me. "A mage!?" You should worry about your life more. I said inside my head. "A mage! A total mage! That's amazing!" She said while jumping, I only stared at her with dead eyes though. The girl had light blue hair and was dressed like a noble.
Now that I think about it, nobles were visiting this farmland weren't they? I only kept on looking at her though, she suddenly grabbed both of my hands. "Can you show me magic again?" She requested with a gigantic smile on her face, an innocent smile worth protecting, to keep.
I simply accepted her request and opened my palm. A green light appeared on my palms while the winds started to swirl around the green light creating a small tornado in my palms, a small yet raging tornado, weak enough to not affect humans.
"COOL!" She said once more in a cheerful tone. "One day I'd like to learn magic too!" She said while smiling.
I didn't reply, I only let her talk about the knowledge she has about magic. In the end I only sat near her and let her talk about things that she discussed, all the while I only listened, not even speaking a single word.
Still, she seemed happy about it…
…
I got home with my mom having a frown on her face. "What did I say about going outside without my permission?" My mom had a dark aura surrounding her body while a tick mark could be seen just right on the side of her forehead.
"I'm sorry…" I could only mutter, looking away from my mom before she sighed.
"I swear… Next time ask for permission okay? I was worried sick!" She smiled before holding me in her arms, I only let my body bathe in her warm embrace. But I didn't do the same, as much as this feels nice, it still doesn't feel right.
Still doesn't feel right that I, a sinner, deserves such a right to have this blessing.
"Mom…" I called out to my mother who was still embracing me, she let go of me holding my shoulders while I looked at the ground. "People were kind to me outside…" I didn't say with relief nor happiness in my tone, rather disappointment or something.
My mom noticed my tone about the statement and raised her eyebrow, nonetheless still smiled. "I see… That's good! Did you finally get your first friend?" I nodded at her question and she smiled once more. "That's great. Now friends are important in your life so have as many friends as you want."
"But mom, if I did something wrong. If I made a grave mistake, would they still be kind to me?" I didn't know what I was asking right now, maybe just before her presence, my true pathetic self was showing up. I wanted something to assure me that if I even did wrong, someone would be by my side.
Yukihara didn't know how to answer this question. Especially when a child is asking it. I could see it in her expression. She only embraced me, and only whispered a few things. "You ask the weirdest questions." She rubbed her cheeks on my hair while I only stared at the ground.
Even though I asked that question, I already knew the answer… Kindness can turn into hatred in the blink of an eye.