Same Old Life

~3 Days Later~

*Sweep sweep*
... *Sigh*

(I thought going to the city would change my life. But in the end, I'm still cleaning the house of a middle-aged woman.)

*Creak* 
Miss Mocca comes out of her room, still in her unkept pajamas, which is falling off from her shoulders with a messy bed hair late in the morning.

*Stretch~* 
“Hnngghh~! Ahh~" She exhales heavily without a care in the world.

"…Ah!!!” She quickly goes back inside and fixes her hair and clothing after seeing me down the hall.
(Seems like she's still not used to having a stay-in guest.)

She comes back out after a while.

“Ahem, thank you for your work.” 

Miss Mocca then grabs her purse, pulling out a few coins.

“Here, go buy yourself some breakfast. This should be enough for one growing boy, I think.” 
She gives me the coins, it's around 500 jekylls.

“Woah~ money! Thank you so much!”

I run up towards miss Mocca after I set down the broom.
“Oof!” miss Mocca stumbles as I hug her with quite a force to thank her for the allowance.

...

I quickly grab my jacket as I prepare to leave.

“I’ll be going out now!”

“Don’t buy any junk food or candy, okay!” she warns as she sips a steaming cup of coffee.

“Okay~!”

*Step step step step*

I walk towards the main street, all sections of the kingdom are connected by this huge road, many carriages pass through and pedestrians walk on the side of the street.

The road contains stalls all over the side, especially near the gates as to attract the most customers. It’s also where I've met the meat skewer guy that I sometimes go to for a snack. This time, with proper money with me.

*Clink~ clink~*

"Five skewers please!"

“comin’ right up!” The vendor quickly grills 5 meat sticks.

Last time, the owner gave me half-off, but I didn’t have any money, so I did a trade. And I didn’t quite have any friends to talk about the stall other than miss Mocca, who’s reluctant on eating such fatty meat brushed with sugary sauce.

To make up for it, I became a repeat customer.

“here ya’ go!”

“thanks mister!”

I walk away from the stall, eating as I go and back to the shop.

*Ring-a-ling!*

"I'm back~"

Miss Mocca sits on the other side of the room while tampering with one of the trinkets.

"Welcome back, are you going to study up on the phoenix spells today?"

"Sure~!"

I quickly devour all the meat skewers, and choke a little. So I rush towards the water dispenser, and drink a glass of water.

(Miss Mocca warned me to not drink water casted by magic, including from a magic crystal.)

While it is technically water, it's similar to a demineralized water mixed with concentrated mana.
Especially for a growing boy like me, it's highly discouraged to drink magic water since it can lead to mana sickness.

I walk upstairs to the study room, and start reading the phoenix spell book she gave me.

The book explains the lore of the holy bird Icarus and the abilities he used during the war of the god's era.

When Icarus exchanged his immortality and godly hood, he made sure that all phoenixes can use his abilities, but the phoenixes are never to use it for anything but good. 
This is part of the reason why phoenixes tend to be kind, understanding and forgiving. 
Because of that, many religions respect the holy bird. They also vow to treat any and all phoenixes with the same respect as the god Icarus himself.

“… So that’s why they suddenly stopped mocking me.”

Apparently, the kingdom’s church is one of many religions that abides with this vow, and sentence anyone that attacks a phoenix as if they did a treason.

(Anyway, I need to learn phoenix magic.)

The most basic of attack a phoenix has is spewing flames out from its mouth, this attacks is built within the phoenix’s spit without the need of mana usage.

(The same one I've used to make my fire fletching.)

The first spell I learned is called  “phoenix spirits”. 

Phoenixes can exchange some of its burning life to call upon “phoenix spirit” that can slowly fly towards an injured ally and heal them with phoenix warm healing flames.

The second phoenix spell is called “fire spirits”. 

Not to be confused with “phoenix spirits”, this spell cost regular mana to summon a fire spirit that can be targeted towards an enemy or prey, and explodes to a fiery mist that burns anyone within the impact and stiffen their movements by fire particles holding them back.

The third spell is called “Icarus’s dive”. I’ve already known this. It’s simply a spell where I gather flames with my mana towards my feathers and boost my flight with incredible speed.

Next is “Solar Ray”. 

Burning the feathers just like one would during “Icarus’s dive”, but instead of flying, stay in place, firing a beam of fire in front of the bird, nurturing their allies while scorching their enemies, costing a phoenix's burning life as the flames bursts continuously.

Lastly for the day, “Nova”. 

The resurrection spell used when a phoenix reincarnates, recovering all burning life they’ve lost and mana they used. They would form a ball shaped like an egg and radiates blazing heat around it, costing the core mana inside their heart.

Usually, a phoenix flies away to an empty field before casting it, as to not hurt or destroy anything. But on some cases, it may be used to ward off predators that tries to attack them.

Beware that the egg is quite vulnerable, and if the shell is cracked and destroyed while nova is still in effect, the phoenix implodes unto itself and perishes.

“…Huh, so a phoenix can die early just like that.”

*Stretch~* "Hnnghh~, I think that's enough for today."
(I didn't fully understand half of what the book is saying. Anyway, I wonder how is miss Mocca holding up.)

*Thud thud thud~!* 
I walk downstairs to see miss Mocca, only to find her in distress.

"Guh... Damn it..." Miss Mocca stands in front of a contraption, tapping her foot while biting on her nail, frustrated about something.

"Miss Mocca? What's wrong?"

"Hm, Kohaku-kun? Are you done with your studies? I'm fine, it's just..."

"Is that thing not working like it should?"

"What thing? You mean this magic stove? Of course not. I'd tarnish my name if I can't fix something as simple as this."

"Then... Why do you look so displeased?"

"Ah... To be honest, I have so much orders lined up that I don't have time to deliver these items. I don't know if I should just tell my customers that their package are gonna be a little late..."

Hearing that feels like music flowing through my ears, an opportunity to do work beside cleaning has put me in high spirit.

" T─then! Can I help?!" I ask with glowing stars on my eyes.

“hmm~… well, I don’t see why not. I’ll pay you once you’re done. Wait for me to pack these up."

I eagerly wait for her to give me an assignment.

(At last, I can help with the shop that's not sweeping!)