Chapter 11 – Prologue Arc
One year later, after the training started with dad and mother.
"The river is so pretty mother, I can't get enough of living near it."
"It sure is dear, you can go closer if you'd like, just don't go too deep to not wet your dress."
I extend my hand towards my mother while smiling who then grabs its joyfully.
"This way for sure I won't fall into an accident."
"My daughter is so smart."
"Just like my parents!"
"Sit here Iris close to the water I want to show you something you'll enjoy."
I take a seat next to mother while facing the river.
"Our elements are different yet they're the same."
"How so mom?"
"Your element is a variation of my element; it seems you took after me instead of dad who actually uses magic the most."
"You're saying that because when the ice melts it becomes water?"
"Yes, in other words, let's use what Luke taught you this past year in this river, I'll do it first."
Rosaline's hands aimed at the water and as she did a mana aura started pouring out of them towards the river water.
When it connected to the water, the mana and the water merged and it started flowing upwards.
Then while above the river water level, it started making circles in the air, squares, triangles, and then it splashed in all directions.
Both of them were splashed with a bit of it and started laughing.
"Alright my dear try it."
I focus on my mana extends its aura who reaches out for the rivel as it pours out from my body.
Once the water starts going up, due to my natural ice affinity it freezes the liquid making it shine beautifully.
I start to make an ice pillar which proves to be the easiest and then a square, a triangle on top of it like a small house, and then a circle next to it which ends up rather strange looking.
Notice: 60 mana has been deducted.
Lastly, I try splashing it but it does not work, so instead, I attempt shooting ice instead.
Upon getting up I aim at one of the trees on the other side of the river.
The mana that was already in ice form, forced an ice spike to pour out from it, sending a piece of ice that flies over the river for 2 centimeters falling back to the water shortly after.
Notice: 20 mana has been deducted.
With a disappointed tone, I voice out my displeasure.
"It didn't work... Why didn't it?" I look at my mother with a somewhat sad expression, and as I do, my eyes gaze upon a very happy expression from Rosaline.
"You might truly be a prodigy my dear Iris, but nonetheless you didn't expect to learn how to shoot with your element in one go did you?"
"I... kind of did..."
"Silly pumpkin these things take their time be it martial arts or magic, in the end, they’re both skills, and they take time to learn."
"I understand, I'll keep trying."
After practicing for a while shooting more 19 ice spikes each costing around? 20 mana.
"Come sit with me let's eat so you can rest dear."
'After training for a year I learned 2 active skills, and 4 passive skills, ones that represent my mastery about something.'
'I've been leveling them up and learned everything I could from my parents, and now we're celebrating with a picnic.'
'Even though dad is currently at work, he's busy as ever.'
"This strawberry jam we made from the field is so sweet," I smile while eating it with bread.
"Indeed daughter, we sure did an amazing job with the farming."
"There have even been some merchants trying to buy our products," I giggle joyfully after chewing another bite of it.
"It's not a bad thing if you do decide on selling some of the stuff you have, I barely spend money on vegetables and fruits nowadays."
"I might do that at some point."
"If you do talk with Rohan, he's a friend of ours as you know, he's a good merchant."
"Will do mother!"
"It's also a shame you stopped fishing, the fish you caught was very good and fresh."
"It literally came straight from the river mother," I smile stating the obvious making my mother chuckle charmingly.
'I ended up selling the rod and a few boxes of worms I produced through farming as I finished the fishing titles, they all disappeared when I did.'
'Same for farming titles, but I can't just sell the fields as my mother still takes care of them, and ends up saving us some money.'
'I've tried a lot of different things with my element but sadly haven't won any active skill.'
'Dad told me it was quite normal as he himself took a while learning his, it was in a desperate moment where a friend got hurt that he learned to heal.'
'In a different time, he learned to protect when he saw an arrow heading to a party member from his old group of adventurers.'
'He taught me what he knew about magic, how to control mana, how to control my ice element.'
'My training with both ended recently and now I'm just enjoying these moments while I try to discover my elemental skills.'
'I've been so busy this past year handling the farming and mother training exhausted my body every day.'
'Then mentally being lectured by dad and spending my mana in exercises he created.'
'In the end, I learned close combat and ranged combat from both, so I haven't decided where to place my skill points and what skills to learn.'
'I've had a look at the possibilities, both active skills that require mana to charge and use, and passive ones that increase the expertise in some way.'
'It was a long list of skills with just names, it didn't even say what they did, so I just had to guess.'
'Mother chose her class when she was 13, and I'm 8, so I still have time to decide.'
'I still haven't recovered my memories, and I'm still stuck at level 1.'
'I think I'll have the talk with mother today about joining the adventurer's guild, and taking their exam.'
'From our last spar, we managed to draw without her using any skill.'
'She calls me a prodigy because I'm strong for my age, but it was the collection of titles that allowed me to grow strong.'
'Also the training I did with both, without everything I wouldn't have been able to reach this far.'
'I've been trying a lot of things with my Ice element, mostly ice forms like mom taught me.'
'From time to time, when I'm bored, I try to make sculptures of ice, the best one was a little bunny that looked a bit identical.'
'On that day I ran as fast as I could to show mother, but by the time I got home it melted partially,' I let out a sigh.
'It was worse when I remembered afterward that I could've simply used my ice aura to keep it frozen.'
'At least I made parents laugh when I arrived at them with my watery hands.'
'Lately, I've been trying to find ways to use my ice magic in an offensive way, but I've been mostly successful in using it as a defense.'
'My favorite trick is to freeze the ground when my mother tries to come after me during our sparring sessions.'
'She ends up slipping and sometimes I get a hit on her.'
"Are you ready daughter?"
"Yes!"
"Let's go then, please do bring the bag."
"Sure mom!" I smile at her.
We leave the garden where we had our breakfast and head to the village.
Mother wants to go shopping with me today.
"A precious date to the village with my beautiful daughter," she lets out a big smile.
I look at my short legs,' I'd like to grow faster!'
Mother almost mind reading me speaks, "don't worry dear, you'll grow with time."
"I want it to be fast!" I shout happily.
"I like you as my baby doll so grow slowly," she smiles kindly.
"A doll... A miniature Rosaline," I smile, making my mother giggle happily at it.
As we walk our hands connect tightly, making it look like a very adorable scene.
A while after we arrive at the village, the guards at the south gate greet us.
"Good morning miss Rosaline."
"Good morning gentlemen how are you today?"
"Quite good, who's this little girl with pretty green eyes?"
The man approaches me suddenly attempting to catch my arm getting me surprised in a panic.
Without realizing it, like a marionette my body moves on my own stepping back while freezing 2 of his fingers.
Notice: 30 mana has been deducted.
'What the fuck my fingers hurts, this little bitch I'll kill you!' A pained expression was painted on his face.
He looked at the state of the fingers and then shouted to the other guard.
"Tyler you're a fire type, right? Melt this for me!"
"Hum? Yeah sure," he put his hand on top of Tyson's melting the ice.
"Are you okay Tyson?" Mother asked with a natural tone.
"Yeah, don't worry, didn't expect such a cute little girl to be a tiger on the inside," he laughed as the pain got alleviated.
"Sorry... You startled me," I replied shyly while looking to the floor.
"It happens don’t worry; it was my bad for scaring you."
'This girl should've been my daughter instead of that guy's.'
He closed and opened his hand multiple times," it's fixed, thank you, Tyler."
"Your welcome partner go put on a bandage for the burns from the ice."
"Alright, talk with you another time Rosaline have a nice day!"
The man walks away hiding his anger.
"Let us go do some shopping Iris, see you soon Tyler."
"Alright, mom..."
The leftover guard speaks to mother.
"Have a good day Rosaline," he stares at me with a serious expression and adds, "stay out of trouble young one."
"Yes..."
After we walk a bit mom speaks with a serious expression.
"Didn't know you were a scaredy-cat, Iris."
"I'm not sure myself, my body just moved on its own?"
"Sounds like I should've trained you less hard," my mother laughed happily.
"You're not mad?" I ask making a confused expression while looking at her in the eyes.
"Not at all, it's not like he asked for permission to touch my daughter."
I take a deep breath feeling relieved.
"He didn't have bad intentions or anything, but that person is a bit annoying always trying to flirt whenever I pass by."
"Flirt?"
"It is an act of seducing attempt plus if in the future be it a man, a woman or even a monster or anything tries to do anything bad to you."
"Yes?"
"Hurt them if you must so they stop, sadly I or your dad might not be there to protect you."
"I understand."
Rosaline pats my hair and then adds," but don't forget to be kind to those who treat you good," I look at my mother smiling beautifully full of kindness.
"He used to be an adventurer and me and Luke would party with him sometimes, they'd fight over me."
"But dad won!" I replied happily.
"Exactly!" She smiled upon hearing my words, making me giggle joyfully.
"Between them, dad is better!"
Mother laughs, "I agree with you dear," her expression became even brighter.
As we walk I look around noticing the fountain, surrounded by a garden and kids playing, eventually stopping while checking them out.
Due to these actions, my mother notices me and tells me to go play with them while she heads to do some shopping nearby.
"There's a lot of villagers around and also parents checking up on their kids, so just don't leave this little garden."
"Alright mom," I give the bag to mom.
"If anything happens, I'm in that house over there," she points towards one while my green eyes follow through.
I nodded then ran at the kids to play with them.
Rosaline heads to the general shop to buy some groceries.
'I don't see Elise among them, perhaps another time we'll meet.'
'They're playing a game called Stop, I put myself in a horizontal line with the rest of the kids.'
'I stare at them to see how it's played, after a few minutes I understand.'
'There's a person in front of all of us at the wall and he counts sometimes fast sometimes slow.'
'When he finishes counting, he shouts the word stop and then turns around, if he sees anyone moving, they go back to the starting line.'
'We also can't move while he's watching, we must remain still like statues.'
'Whoever hits the wall takes his place, everyone goes back in line and the game starts anew.'
I spend about two hours playing with the kids then my mother picks me up and we head back home.
"Did you have fun dear?"
"Yes mother, we were playing a game called Stop."
"Ah, I used to play that game when I was young, along with some others."
"Did you look like me when you were younger?"
"Yes, even though you're a lot prettier, especially with those green eyes of yours."
I blushed with the compliment, despite knowing that my eyes aren't green as I see them being clear blue when I see a mirror or any other reflection.
"Thank you, mother."
Noticing my cheeks becoming rosy she speaks in a teasing yet happy tone.
"Look at you blushing, my daughter is so adorable," mother hugs me increasing the effect, making me lower my expression causing a smile to appear.