A whole new world

Magic Instructor? Wait a minute, Magic! Isn’t that the stuff mentioned in the fairytales mom used to read to me. No way, magic is real! Of course it is, so that’s how Ms. Eileen saved us. She’s someone who can use magic!

“I call shenanigans! She’s got to be a witch, trust m- OW!”

“Marcus! That’s no way to speak of the woman who saved your life, you should be ashamed of yourself!”

Can’t that idiot stop for just one minute, if it weren’t for his mom I’d probably smacked him by now too. Still though, why is everyone giving her a suspicious look? Alfred was the first to speak up.

“So the request you got from the village chief was to become an instructor here. Now I’m curious, Chief Jeb, why did you go through the trouble of hiring this adventurer?”

All the adults and people passing by began looking at the village chief, the chief started to look towards the ground due to the weight of those gazes. I guess seeing the chief in this situation stirred something in him, because Ein started to speak up.

“Wait! This isn’t grandpa’s fault, he did this because of a request I had!”

Immediately everyone froze, each for different reasons. Everyone was probably shocked by the fact that the chief went out of his way like this for a child’s wish. I’m honestly more shocked by how Ein spoke strongly just now, and then there the fact that Ms. Eileen is here because of him. Why would Ein want to learn how to use magic? How does someone use magic in the first place? Then there was the opposition, and they weren’t too pleased about the news.

“What! That hellion wants to study the dark arts!”

“Damnation! This old coot wants to have us all killed!”

“Madness, this is Madness!”

I started getting annoyed listening to all those people badgering Ein and the chief. I didn’t have to worry about seeing their faces for long, because the chief had us take the meeting to his place.

****

It’s been a while since I entered the village chief’s house, last time I came here was with my mom to prepare funeral arrangements for my dad. Chief Jeb decided to invite the parties involved with the forest incident to discuss Eileen’s addition to the village. Alfred had to leave to monitor the perimeter though. This meant the meeting would be with: Me, my mom, Marcus, and his parents. Marcus’ mother Margaret was starting to look tense about the situation which is understandable all things considered. Marcus’ father Ronald also joined the discussion after he finished prepping his crops. The chief asked the both of our families to act as mediators between Ms. Eileen and the villagers. Sounds fine to me, it’s the least we can do after she saved us. As always Marcus was against it, his parents tried to push back against his claims. However…

“Come on mom, weren’t you the one who told me to be wary of witches? Well look right there a witch!”

“Marcus, please you’re making things worse.”

“Allow me.”

Ms. Eileen stood up and immediately took off her necklace. She then walked over to Marcus and leaned down towards him.

“Would you like to hold this?”

“H-huh!?! Uh, I guess.”

“Good, this is an adventurer's tag. It’s an identification item that allows adventurers like me to do their job.”

“Adventurer?”

Marcus seemed puzzled about that term, but I was too. What’s an adventurer? Why is Ms. Eileen one of them? Noticing my face, Ms. Eileen continued to explain.

“An adventurer is someone who handles tasks to make money, almost like how the knights work for the country. The key difference is that Adventurers work to serve the people, and there's more freedom involved too. Please remember that I’m not a witch, I’m an adventurer.”

“O-Oh, sorry!”

Marcus looked embarrassed after hearing Ms. Eileen’s explanation, I found myself intrigued. We barely know anything since we stay in this village, but now here I am finding out about adventurers. There’s more to the world than I thought isn’t there!

“Then there’s the stigma you’ve mentioned before, please don’t confuse magic with the dark arts.”

“Eh?”

“Magic is based on the teachings of magecraft, and it’s commonly used by people for the betterment of society. When you mention dark arts you’re thinking of sorcery, that’s the dark magic used by witches. Both are slightly similar, but please don’t confuse the two.”

Marcus hearing all that looked dejected, he was bad mouthing this woman all this time only for her to end up being a good person. His parents looked rather pleased after hearing the explanation, my mother seemed intrigued too. Soon Ein stood up and joined the conversation.

“I asked grandpa to see if he could hire an instructor because I read about magic in a book and its benefits. If that’s the case, I want to learn magic in order to help people!”

Ein once again spoke strongly to everyone in the room, it was a far cry from how he usually behaved so everyone seemed shocked. This got him a smirk and response from Ms. Eileen.

“I appreciate your fire young man, but please remember only those with a special potential can use magic.”

“O-Oh, sorry I got ahead of myself.”

Ein started blushing after he was corrected, this resulted in the room filling with light laughter. Although after hearing all the stuff Ms. Eileen said, I couldn’t help myself.

“Ms. Eileen, could you show us some of your magic?”

“Hm?”

“Nina, what do you think you’re asking?”

Oh! What was I thinking, Ms. Eileen just got here and now I want to see her skills. On top of that I already saw what she was capable of before, how could I be so-

“Alright, watch closely.”

Eh? Suddenly the floor beneath us began to shake, causing half the people in the room to yelp. The dirt between the floor boards began to rise out from the cracks, and gather into small dirt dolls. They were small and cute like little snowmen, then out of thin air appeared a small ball of water. The two dirt men began playing with the water ball like a game of catch, this is amazing you can use magic for stuff like this!

“I know that look in your eyes little girl, and yes you can use magic for simple parlor tricks like this. Not only this, magic can be used for almost anything. All you have to do is use your imagination.”

“Wow!”

I found myself mesmerized by Ms. Eileen’s words, and everything else that I found out today. Magic, adventurers, and the wide world that’s out there. I want to see it, I want to go on an adventure too! I want to be able to use magic and go out into the open world someday!

“Thank you Madame Eileen for your demonstration. Along with saving the kids, I hope this is enough proof to you all why Ms. Eileen is a welcome addition to our humble village.”

The adults in the room started clapping, Ms. Eileen gave a short bow and responded to the applause.

“As I mentioned before, talent in magic is a hard thing to come by nowadays. However, if there are any youth here that can use the gift, I am here to help cultivate that talent.”

So this is the person who’ll be teaching magic to the people of this village, teaching us how to use it. If that’s the case-

“Hey Ms. Eileen, is it possible for you to teach me how to use magic?”