The next morning I woke up at the same time as I usually would. I looked over at the sleeping girl, who had hardly moved from when I lay to sleep. It seemed like she still wasn't going to wake up, and I wasn't going to just yet, since it was still fairly early with the sky hardly shining.
I quietly moved over to the bathroom, and did the things that were expected of the people of this world—at least according to the little information I managed to find on the phone. Such things went from using the toilet to relieve oneself—a certain bowl I almost drank water out of—to using the artifact that I first mistook for a door to shower and clean oneself. I particularly liked using this last one, since the warm water felt pleasing to the skin, and the strange alchemical bottles that were inside this room would give me a nice scent.
Doing that would usually take me no more than a few minutes, since I didn't like wasting perfectly clear water just to throw it over me. I took care of that as fast as I could and moved over to the window of the room to dry and brush my long hair.
This long hair wasn't something I liked very much. It was a weak point when in combat, so I usually had it cut shorter, although not as short as Nicole carried it. The hair, as much as the rest of my appearance, was part of the image that the Hero had to show to the people, so I still had to have it somewhat long.
With the years, I learned that I could also infuse my hair with Holy Power, giving it a golden glow that would burn anyone who dared touch it, so it turned into a fine weapon. However, right now, I couldn't even dream of doing such a thing, and as such, the best thing I could do was just to take care of it.
"Nhhhhhm…" I heard Nicole wake up as I was brushing my hair. She slowly sat up on the mattress, slightly rubbing her eyes.
"Good morning," I said, turning my eyes on the city landscape that I still couldn't get used to.
"'Morning…" she sluggishly replied before suddenly jolting fully awake, catching me by surprise as I raised an eyebrow.
"What's wron—"
"What time is it!?" she exclaimed as she scrambled on the bed for her phone.
"It's just five a.m." I said as I watched the girl desperately looking for her phone before she settled down and sighed in relief.
"Phew, I thought I had overslept," she said while placing a hand on her chest. "Uhg," she exclaimed afterwards while grabbing her head, "I have a terrible headache. Might be what I drank yesterday…"
"Is it too bad?"
"Ugh, I can only hope that it goes away by seven, because I have a calculus class and I won't be able to understand anything if I have to worry about this," she said with her eyes tightly shut.
There was a way to fix her pain fairly easily. It was a spell that almost all Holy Knights know and won't require Holy Power to do, so I moved from the window and kneeled close to where she was. She looked back at me with a bit of surprise, but I ignored it and grabbed her by the sides of her face so I could do it easily.
"W-what are you doing Althea?" she said with surprise.
But I ignored it. "Close your eyes."
The girl suddenly blushed and blinked her eyes several times. "I-I-I'm not sure if I-I-I want this, Althea!"
"What are you talking about?" I asked with a frown, since I didn't understand why she would react that way. "Just close your eyes for a moment."
"O-O-Okay, but don't do anything weird, okay!?" she replied and finally shut her eyes.
I also closed my eyes and focused on circulating my mana to my hands, turning it afterwards into healing magic. Once I was sure that it was the right amount, I opened my eyes to see a pale green light glowing from the palm of my hands as I grabbed the girl.
She was with her eyes shut tight and her mouth just as tightly closed, so I wasn't sure if the magic was working at all. "How do you feel?"
"E-eh?!" she exclaimed. "I-I'm not sure."
"Do you still feel pain?" I asked, trying to be clearer about what I wanted to know.
"Hm?" she said and her face loosened up. "T-the headache is fading!"
"Good," I replied and sustained my magic for a couple of seconds before removing my hands. "How about now?"
"It's… it's gone!" She exclaimed, slowly opening her eyes and blinking a few times. "What did you do?"
"I simply healed your pain. Nothing too special," I replied before standing up and making my way to the fridge.
"You… You know healing magic too!?" she exclaimed once more, leaning slightly on the mattress as she looked at me with wide eyes.
"Yes, of course. It's a fundamental magic to know," I said matter-of-factly.
It wasn't something that was particularly hard to do, and it proved very useful when dealing with the burning pain that a Carolina Reaper caused—while eating it and… afterwards—so healing a headache wasn't a problem. Although one has to be careful not to overdo it when healing head injuries and pain around that area, since it could cause the person to go into a sensation of bliss, which could lead to addiction to the feeling.
I took out a few eggs and pieces of ham, placing them on the counter before reaching for the bagged milk. "I'm making you something to eat as well. I don't have chocolate, however…"
"Huh? Oh yeah, no, that's fine, coffee is okay—wait, that's not the point!" she suddenly exclaimed and I looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "How much magic do you actually know?"
I had to pause for a moment to think about it. On one side, I didn't actually understand what that meant for someone like her on this world, and on the other side, I had learned as much magic as one could learn from my world, since my master was the best magic user there had ever been known, making me a close second thanks to the blessings of the Holy Power.
"Hmm… I think I know all magic save for demonic and darkness, but even from that I know some," I replied, turning on the stove and cracking the eggs to cook.
"R-really?! That's amazing…" she replied.
After a moment of silence as the food cooked and I boiled some water, I turned to look at her, since I expected her to say more about it, only to find her looking down as her eyes shifted between me and somewhere else.
"Is something the matter?" I finally asked.
"Well… it's just that… y'see…" she vaguely trailed off, but I waited for her to speak. "The thing is that… I've only been able to use fire magic ever since I awakened my powers…"
"Only fire, huh?" I replied, moving the food on the pan so it wouldn't burn before turning off the fire on the water.
"Y-yeah… some of the teachers have simply said that it was a lack of talent and that I just had to train and study harder… but no matter what I do, I can only just do fire…" she said before quickly looking at me. "Do you… do you think that it's just that?"
I couldn't really know, but it sounded to me like she might be a Deviant.
They were rare mages in my world, and generally, they were considered to be mistakes, tainted by the Dark God to only have one of the Gods' blessings. The teachings of the Holy Gods said that when met with such a thing, it was our duty to cleanse them, which was, of course, to kill them, especially so when their powers were reduced to either fire or darkness. It was better to have no magic at all, since for them it was just believed that it was our duty to protect the weak.
However, I knew now that the teachings of the Holy Gods were mostly lies—if not complete lies—and doing something to this cheery girl because of that would be out of the question.
"No, I think you might be a Deviant," I replied after a moment.
"A Deviant…?" she asked, looking at me with a frown. "What does that mean? It's the first time I've heard of it."
"It's an extremely rare condition that some get. I, personally, never met one. But I knew of some that have," I replied, taking the food off the pan and into a couple of plates. "It is said that they were cursed, and that they should be killed because of that, but I think that that's just nonsense."
"E-eh… Eh?! Wait! Kill them?! Why would they think it's a curse?!" she exclaimed, nearly jumping out of the mattress. "You're not messing with me, are you?"
I shook my head and poured the hot water on a couple of cups that had grinded coffee, which immediately released a strong, yet, pleasant scent that filled the room. "It's said that they were just not loved by the Holy Gods; that they were tainted by the Darkness and Hellfire God, and because of that, they couldn't be allowed to exist."
"B-but, that's not true, r-right?" she asked with a frown and a forced smile.
"Not at all. I don't actually know why that happens. But what I do know from someone that met one, is that they're usually extremely powerful with their element," I said, pouring a bit of cold milk into my cup and stopping for a moment to look at Nicole. "Do you want milk with yours too?"
"Yes, please, and a couple of teaspoons of sugar too," she said, standing up from the mattress and making her way to the counter as I finished hers. "Then, why am I not as strong as other people are?"
"Hm…" I considered her for a moment, thinking about it as I picked up the food and took it to the table. "It might be because you're trying to train in other elements. Do you use your fire very often?"
Nicole picked up what was left on the counter, taking it to the table and turning to fetch the other chair that still had the computer on top of it. "No, I hardly ever use it, actually."
"Why not?" I asked, and I saw the girl close the computer like one would a book before picking it up and placing it on the table, at a corner where it wouldn't be on the way.
"At the Institute they insist that I focus on learning the use of basic magic, as it is supposed to be an 'integral learning process', so I try really hard to do that, but I can't even bring out pure mana. Just balls and balls of fire," she said, turning back to pick up the chair, bringing it next to the table and sitting down. "And at home… let's just say that I can't do magic at home."
"Hm…" I once more considered Nicole as she started eating the food. "I could try teaching you a few fire spells and see if anything changes."
"Really!? But…" she exclaimed before her expression changed to dejection. "Where will we do that? I don't know if the Institute would allow me to do fire magic just like that, since they say that at lower ranks we should focus first on control of mana before going into dangerous elements."
"We could do it here," I said and took a sip from the cup of coffee. "I'll make sure to set up protections so that nothing happens."
"You can do that?" she asked with widened eyes. "You've got a lot of talents, it seems…"
"Yes and…" I trailed off thinking about what to start with. "I can teach you one spell now if you want. We've still got time before we have to leave for the Academy."
"Okay! Then let's do it as soon as possible!" she replied and picked up the pace with her food, taking mouthful after mouthful and sipping from the coffee as fast as she could.
"No need to be in such a rush, you don't want to—"
Nicole loudly coughed.
"—choke on your food…"
She cleared her throat and slowed down. "You're right…"
* * *
A few minutes later, the sun was already shining through the window and the dishes we used for breakfast had already been cleared away. I had changed into the school uniform, while Nicole remained in the same clothes she used yesterday. I asked her if she wanted to shower here, but she said that she didn't have a change of clothes, and I didn't have anything for her to wear either, so she chose to leave that for later when she got home.
Right now, I was standing in the middle of this mostly empty room that I was living in. Nicole was sitting by the table carefully watching me. I was going to show her how to do a certain fire spell that I liked. I knew a lot of them, but as fire could be confused with the Hellfire from Salrak, I generally refused to use fire unless necessary.
I raised my left hand and focused on the mana I was drawing out of me. I was trying to do the process as slowly as possible so Nicole could see clearly what I was doing. Because of that, the motes of mana slowly floated in the air, coalescing in a single point a couple of steps away from me.
The blue mana slowly transformed and took shape into what I wanted it to be: fire. At first it was a ball no bigger than a fist, but the more I poured mana into it, the bigger it grew. A few seconds later, it was as large as a grown man's torso, which was when I started morphing it into what I wanted.
From the bottom part of the ball, a pair of strong legs appeared, with a set of three large claws at the end. From the middle part, a couple of mighty fiery wings sprouted, keeping the summon in the air as they flapped. From the back, a long flare of fire exploded before taking the shape of burning feathers. And from the top, a long neck that ended in a mighty beak took shape.
Once it was formed, the fiery bird gently lowered itself to the ground, and once it did, on the top of its head a crown of fire formed, going from the beak and passing all the way over its head to the back of its head, giving it the glorious form that such a regal bird should have.
The final thing to do now was just to give it will, and so the last remaining bits of mana were used to give the summoned fiery bird the mind that such a powerful bird should have.
"Oooohhh…" Nicole exclaimed with awe as she looked at the beautiful fiery bird. "That's a… strong-looking chicken!"
My eyebrow twitched and the fiery bird quickly turned its head to her when she said that. "It's not a chicken. It's clearly a phoenix, the empress of birds."
"O-oh…" she replied and looked closely at the summon. "Are you sure? 'Cause, it looks like a chicken to me…"
"Yes, I'm sure. It's got a powerful shape, after all," I affirmed and the phoenix puffed its chest out.
"But it's so… round…" she said, making a circle with her hands as if delineating the phoenix's shape.
"When one thinks of strength, then a large body must be used," I said with a nod, which the phoenix imitated.
"And it has a comb…" Nicole continued as she placed her open palm on her head in the same way that the phoenix's crown appeared.
"It is a crown, just as the empress of birds would have," I replied and the bird moved its head from one side to another.
"What about… what about the stocky legs…" she pointed out and the bird scratched the ground a couple of times.
"The powerful legs of a fighter," I affirmed before sighing. "Have you, perhaps, not thought about what a phoenix should be like?"
"W-well… I do have an idea of what a phoenix should look like, but…" she narrowed her eyes and looked at my summon from top to bottom. "It just looks like a chicken to me."
"Bwok!" the fiery bird replied while glaring at Nicole.
"It even sounds like one!" she exclaimed while pointing a finger at it.
I sighed once again. "Let's clear this once and for all by looking at what the Watch says about the spell."
"Yes! Lets!" Nicole agreed and rushed her way to me to look at my Watch.
I pulled out my stats and went to the bottom part of the skills. I quickly skipped my information and searched for the phoenix.
"No way…" Nicole dejectedly said, almost dropping her jaw to the ground. "This System must be broken!"
The name of the skill read as such:
[Imperial Fire Phoenix (B)]
'The Empress of all birds. The Imperial Phoenix carries itself with the might and power that a true leading figure should, with a powerful body capable of burning everything in its path, and a strong will that will trailblaze the way for all birds under its care.'
"Now, would you like to learn it?"