Bored.
I'm terribly bored.
With my eyes close, I lay at the grass with the shade of the tree blocks the sun and the spring wind breeze on my body.
This village is boring, I've been living in here for 8 years now, the people here are nice but there's nothing new, the children at my age are pretty dumb and no fun at all, they want in their life is to be like their parents, a farmer.
Even though there is a vast world out there that we can explore but they are afraid to go out because of the danger lurking outside the village.
It's disgusting to play with the cowards like them.
The only one that keeps me from this boring village is my grampa Gil.
He is a former adventurer and the only hunter in this village, everyday before sunset he always get back from his hunt in the forest and carrying different kind of wild animals then he always tell how he caught the wild animals, from tracking it down to setting a trap and killing it, it was amazing and every night he told us stories about his adventure, he also told us different kind of monster that he had face. Someday when I get older I will be like him, I will leave the village and go on adventure, I will see the whole world with my own eyes.
"Lu-kun"
A girl voice called my pet-name as she approach me, my name is Luciel and those who are close to me call me Lu-chan or Lu-kun, needless to say how close I am to the girl that approach me, she is my younger twin sister, Euriel but I like to call her Eu-chan.
"Lu-kun, you ditch the dishes to me again, tonight you will wash the dishes or I will tell to grampa to don't tell you stories"
"Alright, alright I know sheesh... anyway let's go to the usual spot."
Me and Eu-chan walk to the cliff above the forest at the back of village. We can see the whole village just up here, the whole village is surrounded by forest and beyond the trees are plain that leads to Lauroso, a town much bigger than our village.
"Are you ready Eu-chan?"
"Yeah, but don't be to rough on me okay, I don't want to get too sweaty and sticky"
"Don't worry I will be gentle."
"You always says that but after it, we always go back home sweaty"
"If you are ready then I will start"
"Mn"
"『Fire Bolt』" I cast a firebolt and fire at her.
"『Ice Wall』"
A wall of ice blocks the firebolt and got vaporize, creating a mist.
"『Ice Bolt』"
Behind the mist, sharp 『Ice Bolt』 came to my way but I dodge it before casting a 『Fire Wall』 behind her to distract her.
She use the 『Ice Wall』 and both spell got extinguish.
This is what we had been doing all the time while grampa is away, we practice magic. One night while me and Eu-chan is about to sleep, grampa told us about magic, when he was on his prime, he was lucky to get a grimoire and learn 『Earthwall』, we ask if we he still has the book and can we learn it but he said that all the content's of the grimoire will automatically branded at the mind of one who use it and will erase, he told us how the runes appear on his mind and he was able to read it then can cast an 『Earthwall』.
The next day while grampa went out to hunt, while I was doing the dishes, I heard Eu-chan scream, and when I went out I saw a wall of ice in front of Eu-chan.
I ask her what happen and she brought up the grampa's story and it was on her mind since then, she can see rune in her mind and was able to read it and by the time she finish reading magic circle appear on the ground and a wall of ice shoot from the ground.
Amaze, I also tried it and that's how we are able to use magic. When grampa came back we told it to him and he told us if we saw some book encounter a book like he told us on his story but we didn't saw anything like that at all, other than the books that our neighbor often lend us there's none at all, then he told us to go at the cliff at the back of our village and practice magic.
grampa told us that it was better to practice magic at young age, It was already too late for him when he started practicing magic so he can only use it it 3 times before going mind down. If we practice now, when we get older we are capable to use the magic countless times.
From then on when grampa went out to hunt we always practice magic, but after practicing whole day, the mist created by the combination of my fire magic and Eu-chan's ice magic got us like we soak our body in the water.
We know that practicing our magic at each other is very dangerous, but we are not afraid as even if we accidentally hurt ourselves, our wounds would automatically heal by themselves. This is something that he had noticed a year ago.
When we are playing tag with other children, I accidentally got tripped on a rock while running and got myself a large wound on my knee, Eu-chan put a bandage to it, but the next day when I want to take a bath and unwrapped it I found that my wound is gone, like I didn't have any wound at all.
"Eu-chan, that was an amazing bandage, thank you! Look now the wounds are gone"
I thank Eu-chan for giving me an amazing bandage that can heal a wound but she look at my knee where the wounds supposed to be.
"So I'm not the only one... Lu-kun come with me I will show you something."
I was confused at that time then she dragged me in the kitchen and took a knife then she made a cut on her finger. She showed me her wound.
"Look"
There I saw that the wound slowly closing off.
"I found it just recently while helping grampa making food, I accidentally cut myself and grampa said to rinse the wound with water or it might get infected, so I went to the well and rinse my wound, while looking the blood coming out from the wound disperse on the water, I saw it slowly closing off. I ask grampa about it and he said that it must an ability, there are some adventurer that can heal their wounds and I have one of them, grampa told me to keep it secret as the other children might think that I'm a monster."
That night, we told it to grampa and he said that we have to keep it secret as it is a wonderful ability that will save our lives in the future.
====================================
"Hey Eu-chan, what do you want to do after we became adult?"
Me and Eu-chan took a break after an hour of practicing magic. We lean on a tree as I watch the cloud slowly passing by.
"Me? hmm I think I will leave the village and go on adventure and I want to visit the place that grampa told us in his story, why do you ask? oh, and what about you? what will you do when we became adult."
"I will do the same. I want to see it in my own eyes and not just hear it from grampa's story"
"Ehh, you probably don't have plan so you steal my idea, Idiot Lu-kun, thief Lu-kun"
"Hey I'm no thief and also I'm not idiot, the one who call idiot is an idiot"
Both of us laugh and rest for a bit more before continuing our practice until sunset.
====================================
When we got home we didn't found grampa like we used to, we thought that he just got late so we prepare the dinner.
"Hmm strange where did grampa go."
"Yeah, he supposed to be home right now, we should ask around if they saw grampa."
It's been an our after we cook the dinner and still grampa still haven't come home, so we went outside to ask our neighbor.
"Uncle Mark!"
"Oh Euriel, Luciel have you seen your grampa already? we had been looking for you this entire noon and you guys are nowhere to be found. Gil fell unconscious earlier must have been due to his age."
"What!? W-Where's grampa right now?" Eu-chan begun to panic and ask uncle Mark.
"So you haven't still seen him, go to Merl's house, your grampa is currently being treated there."
Eu-chan quickly thank uncle Mark before running of to uncle Merl's house.
When we arrive at uncle Jet's house we saw grampa lying on the bed and currently asleep while uncle Merl is concocting a medicine.
"Grampa!"
"Oh, Euriel-chan, Luciel-kun you have arrive, where the heck have you two gone to?, don't worry your grampa is just resting so tone down your voice."
"Uncle Merl, what happen to grampa?"
"Early this afternoon we saw him going home from his hunt which was unusual, he would usually go back before sunset right?, fearing that something must have happen in the forest during his hunt then we ask him what happen. He said that there's nothing wrong, he just felt not well at all, he was a bit pale when he said those word then just as he is about to go back home, he fell down in front of us."
"Is grampa going to be fine?"
"Yes, he should be wake up tomorrow, but his health is currently deteriorating due to his old age, he probably only have about five to ten years left of his time, It was all thanks to him that our village has not been destroyed by the monster, I think it is the time for him to retire, we can't push him too hard now that his aging, we can just hire an adventurer here in the Lauroso town. Anyway it is already late you two can go home first, I will sent him back once he gain his conscious tomorrow"
We look at grampa one more time before thanking uncle Merl and take our leave.
After we got home, we ate our dinner since grampa wont be back till tomorrow. During the entire dinner we didn't spoke even a single word as we worry about grampa's health.
Knowing that someone close to us will disappear made us sad.