"Stranger danger."
Adrian did not get my joke!
Of course he wouldn’t. Living in a small village, you don’t learn to be wary of strangers. I had to explain the joke to him on the way back, and got a polite laugh in return. I didn't even know why he bothered— that never makes things better when you fail at delivering a joke.
But at least I proved that I did have a sense of humor; even if he did not find me funny at all. I might have been incapable of basic social interaction ever since I came to this world, but at least I was trying.
It took us an hour to get back to the village. I didn’t drop the basket off at home, just in case the man decided to follow us. Plus, we were late for Mr Walden’s lesson. When we got there, the middle aged man was in the middle of teaching us some basic maths.
It was definitely something most kids my age should have learned years ago. Simple addition and subtraction. Nothing too complex, yet most kids seemed to be struggling with it; I quickly appeased Mr Walden’s ire at my tardiness by solving the rest of the math problems he gave us and explaining how I came to my answers.
By the end of the lesson, he seemed to have forgotten about my slight against him by being late, as he didn’t glare at me when I approached him. I told him about the suspicious man, and with Adrian’s help, managed to convince him that the man was probably some sort of criminal that wanted to harm the village, and definitely not some Inquisitor from the Church.
After that, Adrian walked me all the way home for the first time; he usually only followed me as far as the village walls, but he was worried for my safety. He insisted on staying over for a few hours, so I decided to tutor him for a bit..
I taught Adrian simple multiplication and division, since he was much smarter than most other kids. While the other kids struggled in Mr Walden’s class, he was always able to grasp everything quite quickly.
When that was done, I took out some of my mom’s books, and helped him improve his reading and writing. He was once again better than other kids at it, though he still struggled with the more complex words; I taught him a couple of words— even helping him learn some of the Venerable Language— before the sun finally began setting. It was then, he finally had to go back home.
I then spent the next hour messing with the lighter, refining my control over the mana crystal. As the sun set, and the day came to a close, my mom finally arrived back home.
***
"Welcome home mom!"
Aria was greeted by a cheerful Melas, as soon as she walked in through the door. She bent down to kiss her daughter, hugging her as she did.
"How are you, dear?"
The young woman began preparing their dinner as Melas started telling her about her day. Aria was making some mushroom stew, something which she knew her daughter liked. As she did, Melas got to the part where she decided to go home, before pausing. Being her mother, this did not go unnoticed by Aria.
"Is something the matter, Melas?" Aria asked, placing a lid over the boiling pot.
"It’s— nothing. Nothing’s wrong."
Aria frowned. She knew her daughter well enough to know that something was in fact wrong, and it was not nothing. So she turned away from the boiling cauldron, and faced her daughter with concern.
"Melas, if something happened, you can tell me."
"N-no, nothing happened!" exclaimed the little girl, before hesitating. "At least, not yet, I think…"
"Not yet?"
Blinking, Aria took a step back away from the kitchen. Now she was confused. Aria assumed that her daughter was attacked by some Monster or wild animal while out gathering, and did not want to say it in fear of being barred from going out again— not that it was something Aria would have done.
Melas was with Adrian, so maybe…
"Did something happen with Adrian?"
"Adrian— huh?"
"It’s fine, dear. Adrian is a good boy. It’s natural for children your age to start feeling that way. Though you are still young, if you feel like you have thought it through, I will approve of any boy you bring home."
"What?! No! It’s not that at all!"
Melas sighed.
"There was a man."
This time, Aria did not approve. It may have been legal in some of the Free Cities and the Puer Kingdom, but an adult and a child should not be entering into that kind of a relationship. It was not right, and not in the 'it’s just wrong' kind of way to Aria. She could actually give a plethora of logical and moral reasonings as to why it should not be allowed. As Aria opened her mouth to speak, her daughter must have sensed what she was going to say and interrupted her.
"And I don’t mean it like that. I’m talking about a suspicious man. A complete stranger who showed up in the woods."
Aria immediately clamped her mouth shut. Melas eyed her mom carefully, as if she was making sure her mom wouldn’t speak over her, before continuing.
"I think he might be an Inquisitor."
Aria froze. Inquisitors? Here? If they found her here, they would kill her and her precious daughter. It did not matter that she was just living peacefully. To them, she was still a heretic, and they would not stop until she was dead.
They needed to leave. If the Inquisitors had indeed tracked her down to even the Rem Republic, then no place was safe. They needed to stay on the move, keep on traveling for
