City Life

 West Rosavelle City 

*Step step step*

... "Is this it?"

It took me quite a while to get here, as I got lost among the unfamiliar, maze-like streets on the way to this area. But in the end, I arrive at the location Miss Mia marked on the map.

In front of me, is a 2-story commercial building within the west city of the kingdom. There's a sign beside the door with a potion drawn onto it.

I walk up the front steps and knock on the door.

*Knock~ Knock~*

“…!”

*Rattle rattle*
“We’re closed!” a muffled voice of a woman can be heard among cluttering sounds behind the door.

“Hello? Is this where Miss Mocca lives?”

*rumble rumble* 
"Correct, but the shop’s closed!”

“Ah! I’m not here to buy anything, I came here because Miss Mia told me to.”

“…? Miss Mia?” 
*Step step step*

*Ker-Chack!* 
The door opens, a woman with long straight silver hair wearing round glasses appears behind the door.

“A child? What are you knocking my door for? And who is this… ‘Mia’ that you mentioned?”

I get a little nervous since it's my first time knocking on a stranger's door. As droplets of sweat flow down on the side of my face, I quickly scour inside my basket and bring out the second letter Miss Lady has given me.

“H─here! Miss Mia told me to give you this and send you her regards.”

“Hmm?” 

*Rustle rustle* The letter, unlike the invitation letter, has no stamp. She takes it from my hand and opens it.

"... This...!"

The more she reads into the letter, the more frustrated she becomes. The letter reads:

“Heyy, Mocca-chan~! Did you miss me~? It’s been so long since we had a chance to talk to each other, but now I have an opportunity to do so~. You see the boy bringing you this letter? He’s really cute isn’t he~! He’s only 11 years old as of writing this letter, he’s a bit clueless of the world since he’s been living with me in the mountains, so go easy on him, okay~? I’m sending him to you so he can enroll to the academy, I hope you don’t mind~. Oh~! Make sure to keep him away from dangerous people, I wouldn’t want him ending up in the wrong hands~. Anyway~, you’ve found a mate yet? Ever since we were in the academy, you've kept quite a pride. Being called the ‘cold princess’, even though I’m the ice maiden~. You've said that when you graduate, you’ll find a high-ranking noble to take care of you, how’s that working out~? Say hi to the lucky guy for me, okay~? … or not if there’s no one, Fufufu~, Take care of the boy for me, okay~? 

Best regards,
Your One and Only~

...

(She seems to be fuming the longer she reads the letter, I should say something.)

"Miss?"

Suddenly, she burst out in frustration.

“THE HECK YOU MEAN ‘TAKE CARE OF THE BOY’!”

"Awawa~" I stammer out as I get startled from her shouting at the letter.

“Coming here all of the sudden, bringing me a little boy? She’s not married, is she? Boy, are you her child?” She ask with a slight angry tone.

“Ah, n…no?”

“Then what the hell does she want from me?”

She looks into the letter some more and notices a line of text on the bottom.

 “P.S He’s a delicate phoenix, be careful with him okay~?”

“… Phoenix?” She turns toward me, her gaze moving slowly from head to toe.

“… Boy, did you get kidnapped?”

“─?! N─no! Miss Mia would never!”

“… Why the heck is a phoenix doing in the snowy mountains? They shouldn’t be able to survive in the cold.”

Now that I think about it, even though I’m a phoenix who’s supposed to only be resistant to fire, I somehow manage to survive years in the cold snowy mountains.

“… That’s just how it is, I guess?”

“… sure…" *sigh* "alright. Since you’re already here, I might as well. What’s your name, boy?”

“H─Haitora Kohaku.”

“Kohaku-kun, huh. Alright, you may come in.” she puts the letter inside her back pocket.

I go inside the building where lady Mocca resides. There are a plethora of magical items throughout the room.

"Wooah~!" My eyes sparkle seeing contraptions and trinkets I've never seen before.

My curiosity gets the better of me. I see a device with what looks to be a gem floating in the middle of it. I try to get a closer look with my finger─

"Don't touch that!"

“!!!” I got startled with a familiar sentence I’ve heard years ago.

Miss Mocca walks up to me and pinches my cheeks.

*Stretch~* "Awawawa~!"

“Don’t just come into someone’s house and start touching everything."

“Awa~! I’m sorry!”

She finally stops pinching my cheek, leaving it sore from the stretching.

...*Sigh~*

*Pat* 
She crouches down and places her hand on my head, then starts rustling my hair.

“Try not to do that without permission, okay? It’s a very rude thing to do.”

“Mh... okay… I’m sorry.” I look down in guilt.

*rustle rustle* 
She keep patting my head and crouch to look at my guilty face.

“… Hehe, you really are cute~” She tilts her head slightly and smiles.

She press her hands on my cheek that she pinched. Then, a strange green glow appears on her hand.

“─!? What is this?” 

My cheeks stop hurting completely.

“W─woah!! Is that healing magic?”

“Of course it is, but it’s merely a basic first aid anyone can learn at the academy.”
(Ohh~, the same one Miss Mia used back then.)

“Whoa… Miss, do you know many spells like Miss Mia does? I heard you were the top of the class like her!”

*Sigh*  "Please don’t compare me to that monster. But of course, I do know many magic from across the world. I wouldn’t be called ‘top of the class' for nothing.”

“T─then, can you teach me magic?!”

“Hmm...? But aren’t you here for the academy? Shouldn’t you already be well-verse in magic?”

“Ah, Miss Mia didn’t actually teach me anything, I simply learn from watching what she’s doing and try to come up with something.”

“Hm??, can you show me what you’ve learned?”

“Sure!” I grab one of the arrows that I carried in the basket, blow fire on the back and shape it to feathers.

“!! This is…”

“I can do this, and I also know how to dive fast when I’m in my bird form. I don’t really know any other magic spells.”

“… I see, yet you’ve learned how to solidify fire just from simple observation?” She ask as she inspect my arrow.

“Eh? What do you mean?”

“… Nothing, but going to the academy needs you to at least learn the few basic magic for the practical exam. Go on upstairs, I’ll teach you.” She return the arrow, and start walking towards the stairs.

“Really?! Thanks, Miss Mocca!”

*smiles* “you’re welcome”

I follow Miss Mocca to the upstairs of the building.

… *Creak* ... *Puff!* A familiar sight can be seen.

Plenty of crates scattered across the room, cobwebs hanging on the ceiling and dust flying all over the room. A sense of déjà vu falls upon me.

*cough cough* “Not again…”

“─? Ah, sorry for the mess. I don’t really have much time to clean. I have to tend the shop and do repair requests after all.”

(Are all unmarried adult woman like this? My mom would constantly ask me to clean my room and she cleans the rest of the house, but she has dad helping her. Maybe it’s my bias since I’ve only seen two single adult woman’s room but there has to be some standards around here!)

*Skrrt~* 
She pulls out two chairs over to the desk with a contraption on top, she then set it aside and places a book on the desk.

“alright, come sit next to me.”

“Ehh~…” you know, I cleaned Miss Lady’s kitchen because I’m quite uncomfortable seeing unclean room like this, but for her to teach me magic in it…

(I have to steel myself, I want to learn magic more than cleaning!)

*cough cough* 
I dust off the chair with my hand to clean it, then sit next to Miss Mocca.

“… Alright, first thing first…” She starts teaching me magic from the book.

I learn the basic of magic, how it came to be, and how you can use it in a day-to-day life from anywhere in the world.

I start by casting fire magic on my hand.

I’ve been using fire magic by blowing it out of my mouth, so this is new to me. She explains it well that I quickly learn simple magic circle formation, along with basic healing magic, and few other practical magic.

“Hmm, alright. That should be all I can teach. You really learn fast, don’t you? I can’t really teach you phoenix magic since I’m a human, but…”

She gets up from her seat and browse through her dusty bookshelf.

"Hmm... Ah, here it is."

She grabs a book and sets in on the desk.

"You should read and learn from this book, it's a spell book for phoenixes."

A book with a line drawing of a bird, with a title of:
'Blessings of the immortal god and holy sunbird: Icarus'.

"You should read it tomorrow. For now, set your luggage down and get some rest. I'll be downstairs if you need anything."

"... Okay."

I grab my belongings, and start looking around for a place I can settle in.

"Well, for now you can use the room in the door by the end of the hall to the left there."

I go to the room she told me about.

*Creak~*

... It's a basic single bedroom with books scattered across the floor.

(... I guess my life isn't so different here after all...)