Tiara was seated on the ground, legs crossed. Chin resting on her palm, she pondered, 'How do I use the spell?'
She slowly examined her other hand from all sides; it was covered in dirt. The hand then touched the barren ground, concentrating with her eyes closed; trying to feel the Mana inside her.
"From solid ground to soft embrace, let mud and water interlace. By the whispers of earth and rain, muddy depths now form and gain."
LUTUM CREO!!!
She screamed the name. Beneath her hand a glowing circle formed containing words incomprehensible to her.
It glowed for a moment before shattering into light shards— she yelled her lungs out pulling her hair, "Ahhhh! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
"Be quiet, Tiara!" She heard from a distance. Abruptly jerking her head towards the origin, she scowled at the man she usually cared for, but right now that stern mug of his ticked her the wrong way. Her nose crunched, frowning brows twitching epileptically.
How dare that irritable man complain to her! Look at him! Sitting comfortably reading his magic tome, on the bench under the shade— a dead tree with enough branches to provide a person with enough protection from sun; while she sat in dirt, drenched in sweat, under the full assault of the scorching noon sun. For hours, trying to make this damned spell work and he dare complain to her after giving her such a hard spell to learn.
Unforgivable.
She stood up suddenly, beginning to stomp towards him.
Darius heard a thudding sound approaching him. He raised his head away from book, seeing a raging Tiara stomping towards him like Godzilla. She stopped in front of him, glaring daggers at him.
"What's wrong?" He asked, calmly.
Her hand jerked forward grabbing the collar of dark blue shirt. She twisted the collar, raising him off the bench and into the air, his feet centimetres apart from ground.
"Why did you give me such a difficult spell to learn‽" She shook him like a ragdoll as if he weighed nothing, "I hate you. I hate you. I hate you!"
He tried to say something but all he could do was, "ÁàÁàÁàà..."
"Tiara. Put him down now." A voice loudly said.
Tiara's arms stopped, her scowl abruptly shifted to her mother.
"Put him down." Sternly, she repeated, "Now."
Tiara did not listen, keeping him in air. Her glare still on her mother.
It seemed, she was in mood for rebellion. Fiona, as a mother, needed to gently remind her the manners.
As Fiona's hand reached down without her eyes leaving her daughter's and her feet rising slowly with her slippers, Tiara gently placed Darius down to the ground. She straightened his shirt collar, while he coughed lightly.
"I'm sorry." She said, looking into his eyes which conveyed something else, 'You are saved... For now.'
Walking back to her place and sitting down, she once again began practicing the spell. Fiona sighed. That daughter of hers needed to learn to stay calm.
She approached Darius, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." He smiled at her, unbothered, "I'll live."
"That girl behaves too impulsively." She looked her daughter, who began her attempts at successfully cast the spell.
"Indeed." He agreed.
"I'll teach her not to do that later." She cracked her fists.
Darius gulped. Fiona was scary to say the least. However, he did not want Tiara to get beaten because of him, "It's alright. She will learn on her own. She is not as dumb as she seems."
"I know. But I don't want her to learn it too late. This world is dangerous and unapologetic. It will consume her at her slightest mistake. Then... There will be no more chances."
He saw her tone getting somber. She was right, he could not deny that. Even though, he had only encountered some weak monsters who did not even injure him thanks to Fiona— imagining a worse situation was not difficult.
Moreover, he knew from his memories that people of this world would not be so kind also. Especially to a beautiful girl like Tiara. She would be an easy target for those unsavoury people. He considered himself lucky to have met Fiona and Tiara, right after his awakening.
A choking silence stagnated for a while.
"She is really struggling with the spell." His attempt at changing the topic was appreciated by her.
"It is difficult." She complained also, "Why did you give us such hard spells?"
"These are easiest spells in the entire book." He waved the magic tome, "But I can understand. To learn a spell, you need sufficient knowledge and also good intellect. Nevertheless, you have never been exposed to magic before especially, Tiara."
"Are calling us stupid?" She said, seriously.
He began sweating under her gaze, quickly denying the claim, "No no. That's not what I meant. You just have worst talent for magic."
From frying pan into the fire. He felt really unlucky.
Her hardening gaze made him sweat even more. He looked away but he could feel the daggers stabbing his back. A few seconds later, Fiona began to giggle.
Perplexed, he looked at her questioningly.
"You look cute when flustered, dear." A moment later, Fiona suddenly blushed at her own words. Wasn't this flirting? She just flirted with a man young enough to be her son. Oh shit. Shit!
"I'll go cook lunch. Bye." She speedily left a tomato-red Darius.
"S-She called me c-c-cute..." He was in high heavens. He saw her voluptuous figure entering the house.
"Hehehehe..." He giggled like a little girl in love.
A calming silence later. He observed his assailant. Tiara was still unable to cast the spell properly.
The spells Lutum Creo and Aura Levitas were the easiest to learn in the book.
Fiona had successfully performed the spell once, although barely. However, Tiara did not make any progress in the past few hours— her frustration was justified.
He could not bear to see her struggle anymore, "Let me help you."
He crouched beside her. She had dirt all over her clothes, face and hands. The sweat dripped from her chin to the ground.
Her face raised, still her scowl had not left. It got more profound at his presence, "What do you want?"
"As I said, I'm here to help." Calmly, he explained.
Silence.
"Can I help you?" His tone remained kind and calm.
"...ok..." She said so meekly that he almost did not hear her. She scrunched, knees pressing her large bosom, hands resting on them, intently gazing at him awaiting his directions.
He smiled, 'How cute.'
"Well, Tiara use the spell again. I'll see where you're making the mistake."
She nodded. Her palm on the ground she chanted before saying, "Lutum Creo!"
Under her palm, a magic circle expanded momentarily before disappearing into light shards. She clicked her tounge in hope being able to cast it again this time.
"I see." He nodded slowly, "Did you think about where you might be making mistakes?"
"Of course." Loudly, she responded, "That's all I have done this morning but I still can't figure out why I can't use this damned spell."
The frustration that brewed within her tried to escape through her eyes in form of tears, "Why am I so dumb?"
Her breath hitched, throat heavy, tears now free from containment of her brown eyes. She cried for the first time in a long time. For him, he never imagined that she would ever cry; she was the type who would make a person cry, not cry herself.
Each sob of hers caused his heart to clench. He did know why she was crying, yet knew how to make her smile again.
"Tiara, what does Fiona say when she sees a Goblin?"
Quizzically, she looked at him sniffing, "...what?"
"Dinner ahead!"
A snort escaped from her lungs, lips stretching against her will, she began to giggle a moment later. Sorrow being taken over by amusement and laughter, eyes squinting and teeth visible.
Her joyful laughter eased him marginally. He hoped that she would smile like this forever.
He awaited for to become steady again. Soon, the laughter died slowly leaving behind a smile. She said, "You're funny."
"I aim to please, dear." Darius replied, "Since you're not sad anymore. Shall I teach you how to cast the spell?"
"Hm hm." Quickly, she nodded.
"Very well. From what I observed, the magic circle is unstable, which usually happens because either you have not used enough Mana or the flow of Mana is choppy. Do you follow?"
"Yes."
"Good. Now I'll show you how to perfectly perform the spell Lutum Creo." He put his hand on the ground, "Watch closely."
He channelled his Mana; immediately a magic circle appeared under his palm.
Lutum Creo.
The magic circle glowed for a moment before disappearing.
In the 15 centimetre radius, the dusty ground turned into soft slippery mud.
Tiara transfixed seeing the performance. He made it look so easy. He did not even chant the spell chant.
"H-How?" She asked, eyes wide with shock.
"That's what I'll teach you now. So, get ready because this is gonna take some time."
"Ok." She nodded, excitedly. Unaware of the lecture that was about to ensue.