Runa was enjoying her stay at Rachel's house, it was the very first time for her to stay at someone else's house. She was grateful that she experienced something like that in her life.
They were sleeping in the same room with separate beddings. During her stay she was treated like a body pillow, her body was slender but soft it was perfect for cuddling.
Patricia was enjoying it the most. She had fun playing with Runa, braiding her hair, and hugging her whenever she felt like it. She would also tickle Runa's sides as it was the most ticklish part of Runa's body. They were having a fun girl's night.
On the other hand, Tepht was busy writing report letters, he had a lot of them piling up, and he planned to stay up all night because of them. Rachel would visit his room from time to time to offer him a cup of coffee.
"You sure do love Wilhelm don't you? I'm a bit jealous, as your wife. I won't be surprised if you married him instead if he was a woman." Rachel told him with a teasing face.
"Oh come on, don't be like that---"
"Aren't you helping him with that pretty lady?"
Tepht chuckled knowing what his wife was implying.
"It can't be helped, I'm just repaying the favor. You do know he's the one who helped us to spend more time together in this town. If not for him I would've visited at least once or twice a month. Currently speaking, I think that guy is enjoying himself right now and I think that's what matters."
"Seriously now, being the cupid doesn't match your appearance but I think he'll appreciate it"
"I'm not trying to be a cupid, I'm just helping my friend."
"Believe it or not it's the same thing on this matter. I know that you've been good friends with him ever since childhood so you'd probably pull some strings just like how you asked me to get a hold of Runa"
"I just thought that she'd get in the way. This is their chance to get some progress but if Runa followed them back there I wouldn't guarantee that he'd show his honest side to Celestine, knowing him he'd surely act differently when other people are around"
"You're right, I also noticed that Wilhelm acts differently when he is with you, he acts like a child when you're around but when you're not here he gives off a calm and unapproachable persona"
"He is calm, quiet, and definitely unapproachable to some."
Back when they were kids Wilhelm would just read books under a tree near their house. He just happened to see him coincidentally because Tepht was playing with other children. He would just read his book and wasn't interested in joining them and even if invited him then he would just give a blank stare and read again.
He was a weird fellow until one of the children started buzzing around him. They were trying to make him join them by trying different things but he wasn't interested. Because of his snobbish attitude back then, they got tired and decided to stop inviting him to play.
Tepht was surprised when they started talking bad about him leading them to start harassing him by throwing mud or pebbles at him. Tepht was highly against the idea but children were being children and just called it a game.
Surprisingly when Wilhelm got hit he showed no reaction at all. Wouldn't it be weird to see a kid getting hit by a rock and not react? They were surprised that the pebbles they threw stopped were floating.
A kid who knows magic due to that the other kids got scared of him. Even though he didn't retaliate the sight of seeing someone use magic made them think that he'd use it to harm them.
Tepht on the other hand didn't run and was amazed instead. He found it cool to see Wilhelm use magic. That's when he started approaching him, asking him about magic.
"And that's when he started opening up with me. He was pretty much excited whenever we talked about magic and that's when I started to know him as a guy who loves magic."
"There you go again casually telling me about you and Wilhelm."
"Do you hate it?"
"Nope not at all, hearing that story I could say that it's cute."
"Really? I don't think so,"
"Yes dear, you both are similar in a lot of ways. I would sometimes see how you act like him in certain situations."
"HAHAHA! Embarrassing it may be but I really look up at that guy!"
Rachel just smiled at her husband.
"How is Runa doing?" Tepht asked.
"She's doing great-- well greater than expected. Patricia has been a great help with handling her. She's unexpectedly curious-minded about stories, whenever Patricia tells her something about stories she suddenly keeps all ears open."
"That's good to know... Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, I'll be busy for a while probably a month or so, I most likely won't have the chance to visit you here."
"It's alright, I'll just visit you instead. I'll ask your Wilhelm about the transportation... It's funny how we, the people who are close to him get free transportation"
"HAHAHA! Don't treat him like a transport device. I'll end up paying for the extra transportation fee"
"Oh? So you're paying him? It wasn't for free?"
"No dear, it's not for free but I have a ninety percent discount since I've been his best friend since childhood HAHAHA!"
...
It was early in the morning, Tepht had finished packing his things and was about to leave. There were three crystals inside his bag. He pulled out a blue-colored spherical crystal.
Rachel gave him a goodbye kiss on the cheek.
"Are you sure you're going to be alright? You haven't slept the whole night..."
"I'll be fine dear... I could stay awake for three consecutive days back when I was training so this much is a piece of cake."
"If you say so... Take care dear..."
"See you later."
He smashed the crystal to the ground, it cracked open. The magic imbued inside it started forming a magic circle on the ground and a second later Tepht was teleported.
Rachel checked the girls if they were awake, the girls were still sleeping. The way she acts is like a caring older sister around the two.
Runa woke up and was feeling a little bit sleepy because of how Patricia kept her awake until it was past midnight last night. Patricia tells her stories as she impersonates the characters making it more interesting to listen to it.
Although it was fun and she enjoyed her stay, she missed being at Wilhelm's house. It was a weird feeling she had, she had the urge to return but wanted to spend more time with Rachel and Patricia. She looked for Rachel but she wasn't with them when she woke up. She went downstairs and heard the sizzling sound of cooking.
"G-good morning..." Runa greeted her while her eyes were half open and had messy hair. Rachel smiled at her.
Runa was looking for something to do, but no matter where she looked around, the place didn't need to be arranged or cleaned. Rachel already finished preparing everything.
"You can still have some rest if you want, there's still about an hour before the sun rises," Rachel told her. Runa was a bit surprised about the sudden oral interaction, it was their first time exchanging words.
"I-I'm fine... Uhm, can I help you with anything?"
"I've already finished preparing everything. You can just wait until then."
"O-okay" Since she had nothing to do, she decided to find a place where she could practice her magic. Though she's not sure where to train. "M-miss Rachel--"
"You can just call me Rachel, no need to be formal"
"O-okay, do you know where I can train magic?"
"At the back of the house, there's an open area, you can practice there... I'm surprised that you can use magic. Having the Blue Magician as your mentor really is something isn't it?"
It was the first time Runa heard about it,
"The Blue Magician?"
"He didn't tell you? Your master Wilhelm is a famous magician... The Blue Magician is a title given to him by the Mage Association. Titles are given to people with great achievements and some people that you know have them."
"B-but I only know a few people does that mean--"
"Yes, my husband and Wilhelm are both title holders."
"Sir Tepht too?"
"Believe it or not but he is known as the Mage Killer. He got that title right after he defeated a lot of evil mage that caused trouble in Reolona."
"T-then how did Master Wilhelm get his title?"
"Well, as far as I've heard, he got that title when he defeated the guardian spirit of Rowas, Lagus the Sea Serpent."
"It was not a simple task... To be honest, It sounds impossible to many people and I too find it impossible. But because my husband said that Wilhelm could achieve such a feat, I had to acknowledge that it could be true."
Rachel never got to see Wilhelm use his magic for fighting. She could never imagine that a man is capable of defeating a guardian. It's basically a feat that humans could not easily achieve.
"Defeating a Guardian is not a simple thing to do, it has the strength to cause severe damage to a kingdom. They said that only heroes could face guardians but your master single-handedly defeated such a strong monster."
Runa was intrigued by what she heard, she believed the story without a doubt. She saw a glimpse of his fight against Celestine, and she knew that Wilhelm was powerful and capable of such feat.
Runa went outside to have her morning practice in the back area of the house. The place was a bit spacious it was a good spot to conduct morning practices.
It was quite a challenge for her since there were no sources of water. Therefore, she began by creating water. The process consumes more mana than just manipulating water. It took her half the usual time to maintain the ball of water, without the presence of the ocean waves she couldn't visualize well.
The problem made her surpass her current limit. She was trying hard to maintain good shape, and she did. It was commendable, the way she worked hard for the sake of practice. With that being said, Runa wanted to try manipulating the water into different shapes.
Of course, she had trouble with it, she wasn't used to trying different shapes other than a sphere. The way she trains right now is to increase her imagination, visualization, and control of her magic. Before achieving those, Runa started with simple two-dimensional shapes and would extend them to form solid shapes.
With her continuous practice, she could finally create four other solid shapes one after the other, such as a cube, a cylinder, a pyramid, and a rectangular prism. But most of them are smaller compared to the sphere which she's more familiar with.
She developed her creativity by trial and error through practice. She enjoys trying all sorts of new stuff. Magic is fun and exciting but using it too much makes the users feel nauseous indicating that her mana is near depletion.
But it couldn't compare to the joy and excitement of using it. After she finished her practice, she didn't notice that the sun was up. She hurriedly went back inside the house and was glad of her improvement.
Rachel was preparing their breakfast on the table. She saw Runa by the door and smiled at her.
"Can you wake Patricia for me?" She requested. Runa nodded and went upstairs to wake her up.
She was a bit of a heavy sleeper, it took a lot of shaking before she could open half her eyes but even after that, she went back to sleep again. Runa had it rough dealing with her but after a while, she did wake up on her own accord.