***** Sylphiette's POV *****
Just like every night, I followed the training routine I developed after Rudy had left for Roa. I didn't want him to be disappointed in my progress when he returned.
Despite my constant training over the last five years, I feel like I've become stuck in a rut. While I have mastered all of the spells Rudy taught me, I didn't know how to go about learning new spells on my own.
*What Sylphiette didn't realize was that her constant practice had greatly enhanced her already large mana pool.*
After I finished my training for the day, I made my way home. I had to make sure I returned before nightfall.
"Oh, Sylphy, you're home just in time. I just finished cooking dinner. Go get changed into clean clothes and come eat."
"Yes, Mom!"
I walked to my room and slipped into some clean clothes. Then I sat down at the dinner table with Mom and Dad.
"Did you have fun with Zenith today?"
"Yeah, I helped her weed the garden and then we had rabbit stew for lunch. After lunch I played by the river and found some blue flowers!"
"Blue flowers? I haven't seen them growing around her before. That was quite a find!"
"I think they must be really rare!"
"We had to fight off a small pack of assault dogs in the forest today", Dad joined in.
"Monsters again? That's the third day in a row", Mom answered worriedly.
"It's been crazy lately. Monsters have been attacking way more than usual lately. We requested more soldiers, but I guess all of the nearby towns have been having trouble with them this year."
"Well, I'm just glad you made it back safe."
"You can thank Paul for that. He really saved our ass out there today. I heard he even killed a Terminate Boar that had attacked a passing carriage."
After we finished eating, Mom tucked me into bed and told me a short story until I fell asleep.
The next thing I knew, I was woken up by a scream.
"What's going on!? Zenith, are you ok!?", Paul yelled as he got up from where he was sleeping on the floor.
*Hope had awoken to find herself sleeping in a strange room she had never seen before and had screamed in panic.*
Startled, I looked around the room to see Zenith and Lilia waking up confused while Paul was checking on Norn and Aisha who were both crying at this point.
Dad had gotten up from bed and was hugging Mom, trying to calm her down.
After everyone calmed down, Paul left the room to figure out where we were and came back after a short time to tell us we were in a city called Sharia. I've never heard of this place, but evidently it is very far away from home.
Later we found out that some relatives of Paul and Rudy were in the room next door to ours. They tried to make Paul escort them back home, but he refused.
It seemed like someone brought all of us here in the night and left us with some money, but we are so far away from home, that should be impossible.
Paul used the money we found and bought a small house for all of us to live in. The house had a kitchen, bathroom, and two bedrooms with one bed each.
Zenith, Lilia, Paul, Norn and Aisha all slept in one of the bedrooms while Mom, Dad, and I all slept in the other. The house felt a little cramped with all of us there, but I was happy we at least had a warm place to stay and were all together.
After a week, Paul brought home a farmer from our village who explained that he too was transported across the world. He said he saw a brilliant blue light and the next thing he knew he woke up in a pile of snow in a place he'd never seen before.
Once we realized that this seemed to have happened to everyone in our region, Dad went along with Paul and that farmer to go search for Rudy. We were all worried about him, but somehow I knew he would be ok.
Mom got a job working as a seamstress and Zenith made some money working as a healer. I helped Lilia work around the house and watch Norn and Aisha. When Mom was done with her work for the day, we would go out and explore the city or go shopping.
The city was a very big place, much bigger than Buena Village. There were also so many different kinds of people here. In addition to humans, there were beastfolk, dwarves, elves, and even demons living in Sharia.
Once everything calmed down a little, life here in Sharia was actually pretty fun! There was so much to do and learn here. They also had so many different foods to try. I especially liked picking out ingredients to try out when Mom would take me shopping.
I also made sure to keep up with my magic practice, but it was a lot harder to do so, because I didn't have all the wide open space to practice like I did in Buena village. I only had a small patch of grass in front of our house where I could practice since Mom won't let me practice indoors. She also won't let me explore the city on my own like she did in Buena village. I guess maybe she thinks I'll get lost.
It was a little embarrassing practicing magic in front of our house. People began to stop and stare as I trained; it made me feel uncomfortable and I would go inside and wait until they left. Eventually I realized that the best time to train was first thing in the morning or late at night, when there weren't as many people on the street.
One day while I was practicing fire magic, while melting the snow in front of our house, an old man walked up to me and asked me my name' he was tall and thin with gray hair and expensive looking clothes.
"S-Sylphiette...", I answered nervously.
"Sylphiette, is it? What a beautiful name. You seem to be quite talented in magic."
"Umm.. Thank you."
"I didn't notice you use an incantation. Can you use fire magic without incantations?"
"Y-yes."
The old man seemed quite surprised.
"That's very impressive. I've only ever met one other person who could cast magic without incantations."
"You know Rudy!?", I shouted without thinking.
"Rudy? No, I was referring to a professor at our school. He can cast wind magic without any incantations. Who is this Rudy? Can he also use fire magic without any incantations?"
"Yeah. Rudy is the one who taught me how to do it."
"That's amazing. To think I would find not one but two silent casters in one day. Where can I find this Rudy?"
"We don't know. My dad and his dad went out to look for him."
"I see. That's unfortunate. Is your mother home? Would you mind if I spoke to your parents?"
"Ehh!? Why do you need to speak to my parents? Did I do something wrong??"
"Of course not! Rather, I am very impressed with your talents and wanted to invite you to attend our academy."
"Your academy? Do you work for the magic school?"
I had heard about that. This is the city that had that magic school that Rudy wanted to go to. The man seemed happy that I asked that question as he stood up straight and put his fist to his chest before answering.
"Not only do I work for the school, I am in fact Vice President Jenius Halfas. On behalf of the Ranoa Magic University, I would like to formally invite you to attend!"