I turned thirteen that day, so I was able to register in the alchemist guild.
I had been waiting for this day for so long, so I jumped out of my room with more excitement than usual.
First, I headed to the dining room on the first floor. Loyd was there reading books all the time.
I went down the spiral staircase, and saw Ashley and Jonathan having breakfast, but no Loyd.
There was a good chance he was in the chapel. The director was typically there at this hour.
By director, I mean the director of the Jeru Orphanage where Loyd and I lived.
I don’t have parents. They died when I was six, and our village was attacked by a big group of monsters.
Loyd is pretty much in the same boat as me, but neither of us wanted to remember those painful memories, so we typically didn’t talk about that.
All of this was why the director pretty much became our mother after we got here
By the way, the director was also my magic master. I learned Conception Magic from her, and that was when I learned I had talent for alchemy. It was because of her that I decided to become an alchemist.
When I went to the chapel, I saw Loyd talking with her.
Her silver hair contrasted with Loyd’s black hair, and she was about as tall as me.
She was beautiful, and appearance wise, looked young enough that she could be younger than fifteen. She could even be mistaken for an orphan if she was with us, because of her face.
But her exact age was a mystery. According to people who grew out of the orphanage, her appearance didn’t change at all in ten years, leading to rumors that she might be some kind of demon.
So the director had these mysteries surrounding her, but she treated us like we were her actual children. Loyd was very attached to her, but I also really liked her too. In fact, everyone in the orphanage did.
“Come on director, teach me the strongest magic that has no gaps in the start, middle and finish.”
Loyd was troubling her with strange unreasonable requests, as always.
She was Loyd’s magic master too, but he was always asking her weird questions. And she always responded harshly.
“If there was something that convenient, everyone would be using it. Stop talking nonsense and fire five thousand Waterballs.”
“More Waterballs of gratitude? I’m sick of that. You know what people in the neighborhood call me? Waterball boy.”
Loyd wasn’t very thoughtful with how he spoke at the time, and would talk back to the director a lot. Thankfully, she didn’t really mind.
“That’s nice, you have a cute nickname.”
“That’s not nice, it’s just insulting. Come on director, teach me mid level magic like everyone else.”
“You keep pestering me, but I don’t remember teaching anyone mid level magic.”
“Ah?”
“The mid level magic they all use is spells they themselves found in magic books. I had nothing to do with it.”
Loyd was taken aback.
Apparently he wasn’t aware of how the director did things.
She typically only taught one spell. Everything else, we had to learn from magic books.
If one of us was really stuck and asked her for help, she would give it like a true master, but typically, we had to do things ourselves.
Incidentally, this ‘five thousand (…) magic of gratitude’ thing was a tradition of this orphanage.
In my case, it was Conception Magic five thousand times, but since that would take a whole lot of time, we would normally just do a tenth of that.
Everyone except Loyd, who really did do five thousand.
“Are you serious… Then why have I been doing five thousand Waterballs like an idiot?”
“It’s preparation to get over the wall of the master rank. Don’t you feel strength welling up inside you when you thank magic?”
“I just feel like shooting magic at you.”
“It’s so nice how you’re full of energy, then from now on, you’re doing ten thousand instead.”
“No way I’m doing that!”
Yelled Loyd, ending his conversation with the director.
He headed out of the chapel, and I went after him and called out to him.
“Good morning Loyd.”
“Ah, Ruby. Good morning. Geez, that woman… She keeps spouting nonsense. I just learned something huge right at the start of the day. I want my precious time back.”
“Hahaha, that thing about magic? Everyone was making fun because you never realized it.”
“Dammit, so you’re just as bad as her. Couldn’t you have told me?”
“Sorry sorry. But you really didn’t notice that five thousand in one day was strange?”
“I just thought you people finished really fast, I didn’t know that was why.”
“That’s a good lesson for you. Pay attention to people around you.”
“Kuh, I can’t argue with that…”
Loyd clenched his teeth with frustration.
“More importantly, do you know what day it is today?”
“Today? I dunno. Is there an event or something?”
“I turn thirteen today!”
“Eh, really? Congratulations, Ruby. That means you can accept requests as an alchemist, right?”
“Exactly! I can officially work as an alchemist. I can’t wait.”
“Hmph, that’s nice. But don’t you need an exclusive mage?”
“Why are you being all dense, Loyd? He’s right in front of me.”
I said while pointing to him.
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