"Is Mom leaving now? Nothing important left behind, right?"
Elara asked for the umpteenth time, staring at her mother who was busy putting on a wide beach hat, long black gloves that reached her arms, and a thick scarf wrapped perfectly around her neck. She completely concealed her entire upper body without any gaps.
With her thick, blue maxi dress that touched the floor, she looked incredibly warm as it hugged her slim figure perfectly.
The appearance of the middle-aged woman in front of Elara seemed like she was hiding herself from the sun's exposure.
"..." Elara tilted her head slightly to catch a glimpse of her mother's hidden face under the wide beach hat.
'Mom looks uncomfortable and overheated...'
There was another strange thing that made Elara wonder silently as she observed her mother's appearance.
Initially, Elara thought her mother didn't want people to see her face, which was covered in scars. Perhaps, she didn't want to make people feel disgusted or sympathetic toward her.
So Elara, who was only 2 years old at the time, was convinced that her mother didn't want to show her face to the people, and Elara tried hard to make sure the villagers wouldn't try to force her to meet her mother.
'But it's not like that....' Elara shook her head unconsciously.
When receiving guests at home or serving customers in the bakery, her mother never felt embarrassed or awkward about showing her scarred face.
So, why did her mother always wrap her entire body as if she didn't want to reveal herself, not even a sliver of her skin, to the outside world whenever she went out?
'Could it be that, perhaps, out there, someone could recognize my mother's face despite the scars?'
'But if that's true, wouldn't Mother appear even more suspicious and attract more attention from people because of her overly covered yet conspicuous dressing style...?' thought Elara as her earlier guess seemed highly implausible.
"No, there isn't. Alright then, Mom will leave now."
Her mother's calm voice, as usual, brought Elara back from her thoughts.
Elara watched her mother slightly tilting her head to see the sun rising slowly directly above their heads, indicating that midday was approaching.
Her mother's schedule today was to, um, scold... no, I mean, to meet with some nobles who had, as they pleased, asked her mother to craft something.
"Lara, don't forget to double-check when locking the doors and windows before leaving!" Her mother had said this repeatedly.
Elara could only nod her head and wave her hands as best as she could.
"Be careful when going downhill."
Instead of responding with a wave, her mother, as usual, gracefully bowed towards Elara.
"..."
Elara could only gaze at her mother perfectly bowing in front of her for a while, unable to say anything, and her mother, who had previously looked down, now lifted her head slightly.
She spoke with a worried tone, "But... do you want to go picking cherries again? Mom thought you might be scared because of what happened four years ago...."
Elara shook her head while laughing. "That was four years ago. Besides, I don't remember much about what happened back then," she said casually, trying to dispel her mother's worries.
Because Elara believed something had happened four years ago, and she chose to trust her intuition, she quickly decided to stay away from the suspicious forest.
However, contrary to her expectations, nothing significant had happened during the four years she had stopped going to the forest. Elara's life had been peaceful and uneventful.
After making sure Elara wasn't lying to her, her mother a heavy and burdened sigh. But she repeatedly clenched and unclenched her fists, now wearing white gloves as if relaxing her mind.
From her gestures, Elara could tell that her mother appeared to be contemplating something serious. But Elara could only stand there silently, staring at her without uttering a word.
After a few moments passed, her mother seemed to have concluded something. She lifted her face again and gazed towards Elara, who was also staring back at her with an innocent expression.
"Um...."
Initially, this middle-aged woman seemed eager to say something, but in the end, her mother just let out another long, heavy sigh, making Elara sure that something had indeed happened to her four years ago but she chose not to tell Elara for some reason.
'Well, that's just how Mom is.'
Elara understood her mother's mysterious and reserved personality on some peculiar levels; that's why she decided not to ask her anything, not wanting to burden or disturb her.
'Because I can find out on my own.'
"Mom, you should leave soon if you don't want to be late," said Elara, openly trying to shift her mother's focus. "Be careful when going downhill."
Her mother, still bowing, realized Elara's intention and could only shake her head while laughing softly.
"Alright, you be careful too, okay?"
"Yes," Elara nodded, and quickly turned around and entered her house.
If she didn't do this, her mother wouldn't move from her position and would continue to bow. That's what Elara had learned from her mother's strange behavior during her nine years of life.
When Elara closed the door, she quickly peeked through the window to make sure her mother had left.
"..."
The middle-aged woman in the blue maxi dress was no longer there.
"Mom must be using wind magic or something...." Elara mumbled enviously.
But the jealous thoughts were once again erased from Elara's mind because, from the beginning, she was merely curious about magic; she had no ambition to possess such magical abilities.
At least not until Elara reached a certain age and checked her elemental affinity before participating in the Spirits Contract Ceremony.
The Spirits Contract Ceremony was a once-in-a-lifetime ritual that could only be performed by children who had reached a certain level of maturity.
The specific age in this world was quite ambiguous. When a child reached 10 years old, they were considered mature enough to work like adults. However, for the nobility, the age of maturity they adhered to and believed in was 15 for boys and 16 for girls.
Of course, for the Great Queen Titaia, the age difference in beliefs between the two sides didn't hinder her from enforcing a rule that was unquestionable to conduct the Spirits Contract Ceremony within the Galatea territory.
Queen Titaia the Third, who was reigning at that time, finally announced to the entire continent that anyone could participate in the Spirits Contract Ceremony as long as they were above 10 years old. The Queen also prohibited anyone from entering once they were over 17 years old.
Since that announcement, many nobles from the three different Kingdoms decided to have their children participate in the ceremony when they were still 10-11 years old so that they would have plenty of time to practice and develop their newfound powers.
However, there are also some nobles from powerful families who already possess ancestral spirits that can be passed down to their descendants. Consequently, they don't need to rush and allow their children to train physically until they match the required spirit affinity, typically around the age of 15-16. At that point, they will receive blessings from spirits that align with their characteristics and affinities.
Instead of thinking about how the actual process of the Spirits Contract Ceremony worked, Elara began to think about something else.
'Because of this, I'm confused about what my mother meant when she said my strange illness would disappear when I grew up....'
Elara gazed at her hands, which had grown larger, but still resembled the delicate palms of a baby, weak and easily crushed by adults.
Although her body is 9 years old, with her original age being over 30, lately, she has been feeling her mental state declining, just like any ordinary child.
"... Will I recover next year, or when I turn 16?" Elara mumbled softly, almost whispering to the wind.
Feeling that thinking about it was pointless, Elara shifted her thoughts and her gaze to a particular place.
Elara touched the bright brownish-orange wooden door, a door that connected the living room to the bakery.
It looked ordinary from the outside and could easily be broken into, but strangely, when touched, its texture felt incredibly strong and sturdy.
She gently knocked on the wooden door with her small fingers.
Knock-knock.
"I knew this wood felt different...." Elara smiled proudly with her conclusion.
The bright brownish-orange wood used to make the door was her discovery when she followed her mother through the forests behind their house.
Elara, who was four years old at the time, had stopped following her mother when she saw the peculiar sight of a small, dense forest that towered like a fortress, seemingly hiding something within. Thanks to her small stature, Elara found a mysterious hole and managed to enter.
She was shocked to see what lay behind the thick, towering trees.
A medium-sized grove.
What initially caught Elara's attention was not the typical brownish color of wood but the mysterious orange hue of the wood.
After Elara told her mother about her discovery and took her to the hidden grove, her mother seemed half-shocked and stared at Elara in disbelief.
<"This is a rare tree that's difficult to grow, even in the Galatea territory itself. Its wood has a unique trait: it's resistant to any form of attack.">
After learning that, Elara worried that she had entered someone else's private grove, considering that the location of the grove seemed deliberately hidden from others.
Contrary to Elara's panicked thoughts, her mother laughed and gently stroked Elara's short shoulder-length hair with a warm face and smile.
<"It's alright, this wood is now yours,"> she said.
That's how the grove she had accidentally stumbled upon became hers easily.
Because the orange color reminded her of the orange fruit from her previous world, Elara decided to name the tree the Orange Tree.
Sometimes her mother asked for permission to cut down one Orange Tree per month to obtain its wood fibers and weave them into a beautiful accessory that didn't look like it was made of wood at all.
"Mom's abilities are truly beyond compare," Muttering to herself, Elara glanced at the necklace that beautifully encircled her slender neck.
Its string was made from smoothed roots, while the pendant was a lovely and neatly crafted wooden ornament woven from orange-hued wood, giving it a shiny, expensive-looking appearance.
"Mother said making this was as easy as breathing...." Elara frowned in annoyance, recalling her mother's face that seemed to create a masterpiece without much effort.
Elara remembered meeting an Artisan named Ben when she was 8 years old. The Artisan came from the capital of Rocco, the Kingdom of Ember Sirocco in the west.
It was famous for its scorching temperatures due to a volcano that erupted only once every hundred years, resulting in most of the inhabitants having an elemental affinity for fire.
Due to the fertile land created by the volcano, farming is a significant activity in the vicinity. Additionally, many residents have established blacksmith workshops around the foot of the volcano, capitalizing on the intense heat provided by the volcanic activity. This allows them to work with metals effectively and efficiently, contributing to the local economy and craftsmanship.
Elara also overheard from the Merchants' conversations that the Artisan had come from the west not to sell but to gather information about the truth of the rumors regarding the existence of dwarves living 'inside' the Galatea territory.
That day, Elara and her mother happened to descend the hill and were strolling on the main road, which was already bustling with various merchants showcasing and selling their goods.
Their main reason for descending the hill was that her mother, for the first time, would sell her woven creations in front of many merchants, thanks to Elara's conviction that her mother's handcrafted works would surely fetch a high price.
Elara was certain that her mother's creations, especially the accessories crafted from the fibers of the Orange Tree, were the finest accessories with sky-high value.
At that moment, Elara and her mother happened to stop in front of an Artisan named Ben, who was showcasing his perfectly crafted creations in one of WheelWorld's caravans.
John, the leader and owner of WheelWorld, immediately introduced Elara's mother as someone skilled in crafting using wood fiber.
In the end, the once quiet place became crowded with villagers and visitors from outside the area. Everyone started cheering for the impromptu direct duel to see who could craft a medium-sized Oak tree-shaped ornament, representing the Galatea territory, using their respective skills.
"I agree, but the loser has to keep and cannot sell the winner's work. If possible, it can be passed down as a family heirloom," Elara's mother said with confidence instead of feeling challenged.