Respite (1)

Ataru followed Rosalind down the stairs after making sure the entrance was closed behind them. The azure flame in his companion’s hand flickered as it lit the way. The air was stale, and as he ran his fingers along the stone walls he felt a layer of dust. At the very least it didn’t seem like they’d be running into monsters down here.

“So uh, where did you learn to do that?” Ataru asked as plainly as he could muster. This was magic after all, it was taking everything he had not to act as excited as a kid on Christmas.

“Learn what? This spell?” Rosalind spoke, keeping her eyes forward. “It’s an elementary spell, one of the first things taught in magic academies.” The fire spun in her hand like a top before changing shape into a horse made of flame. “I had to teach myself, however.”

“Could I learn how to do it?” He asked without missing a beat.

“I don’t see why not, even children could learn this– oh.” She stopped as they reached a metal door. Unlike the dome outside, the door's condition still looked smooth. It reminded him of the doors he’d seen in cargo ships.

With a turn of a metal latch the door swung open, revealing a room carved out of stone. Rosalind raised the flame in her hand and Ataru watched as it split into multiple sparks that flew into lanterns hanging from the walls. With the room properly lit he looked around. It wasn’t as spacious as he’d hoped, but it was large enough for him to believe it had once served as an outpost. Wooden crates and empty weapon racks lined the walls, along with three doors builts into each wall.

“We should search for some food, my magic can provide us with water.” Rosalind let out a tired yawn as she went through the eastern door. Ataru split off to search the other rooms.

After some time they discovered a barracks with beds still intact, a kitchen with a store of flour, and an office that had been picked clean. The barracks had a simple bath, which the two of them took turns using, him going second. Rosalind used another “elementary” spell that created a fountain of water on the wall that acted as a showerhead. The water was warm, and vanished into steam after hitting the ground. Ataru let the water wash over him for a while, and it was in this moment alone with his thoughts that the full weight of his situation crashed over him. He’d put on a brave face in front of Rosalind, but the truth of the matter was that he had no idea how to move forward. Bring baseball to the masses? Could he really do that?

The water suddenly stopped.

“Oh, she said it would last for thirty minutes. Have I been in here that long?” He mumbled to himself as grabbed a towel. His clothing was bundled up in a corner. Too damaged to bother selling, too conspicuous and restraining to keep wearing. Today really was the last time he’d wear it. He’d found some plain clothes in a crate, a plain white linen shirt with a brown leather vest, a pair of black cotton pants, and a set of rugged black boots. Dull, but he didn’t exactly have much choice. As he left the barracks he noticed Rosalind in the kitchen with a quizzical expression on her face. Her tattered dress had been replaced with a dark blue robe.

“Problem?” She jumped as he spoke, entering the room. There was a fire burning on the stove, it looked like she’d used magic to imitate a gas burner. Just how convenient was magic in this world anyway? He thought.

“Well.” Rosalind looked at the ingredients on the counter in front of her, there wasn’t much to work with. Flour, water, and salt. “I’ve certainly read a book or two on the process of baking, but… Shouldn’t there be yeast? And butter was often a component as well.”

“You’re overthinking it.” Ataru stepped forward and grabbed the sack of flour. “Let me give you a hand, I’ve been cooking for myself for a while after all.” He said. Rosalind pursed her lips.

“Of all the things to get hung up on...” She let out a sigh of resignation as Ataru guided her through making simple flat bread.

“So, about learning magic.” He said as he put a pinch of salt into the dough she was kneading.

“Ah, right. Do you have interest in becoming a mage?” She looked him in the eyes with a smile.

“If I can. I don’t really know anything about it.” He’d barely gotten the words out before she began speaking.

“So, magic comes in three forms. The first is sorcery. Sorcery is used by channeling the mana– uhm, mana is...” She tapped her finger to her cheek as she looked up in thought, leaving a spot of flour on her face. “The true nature of mana isn’t really known, you can think of it as a natural phenomenon that allows us to manifest magic that can alter reality in various ways.” Ataru pointed to the now slouching dough, she cleared her throat and went back to working it, a slight blush forming on her face. 

“A-anyway, in order to cast magic using sorcery you need two things. First you must have an understanding of how exactly your spell will manifest and possibly alter reality. For example, when I cast that fire spell I first need to calculate the luminance it will create, the heat it generates, and so on. I then need to provide just enough mana that can be transmuted into a form that manifests the magic. Secondly, you need to be able to provide enough mana to cast a spell in the first place.”

She stopped kneading the dough, clearly getting tired. “Need me to take over?” Ataru offered. Rosalind shook her head.

“No need.” She pointed at the dough and raised her finger. The tip of her finger lit up with a pale blue light as the dough raised into the air. The dough was then squashed and stretched in the air. “Now then, the more a spell pushes against the natural state of reality, the more mana is required to cast it. Because of this some things are simply impossible no matter how much they may work in theory.” With a wave of her hands she divided the dough into several pieces and flattened them into disks. “This should be good enough, right? What, is something funny?” Atatru stifled a laugh before speaking.

“Sorry, I was just thinking that you must not work out much with magic that convenient.” He said as Rosalind dropped the dough disks onto the large oven top. She let out a scoff.

“Not everyone can be as uhm, well trained as you are.” She said, looking him up and down with a glance.

“Oh, so you noticed!” Ataru said with a grin. “Get a good feel of them while I was carrying you?” He flexed his arms, striking several poses. Rosalind averted her eyes and looked back to the cooking bread.

“Yes yes, very impressive. So, did you understand my explanation? ” She said, her face turned from him to hide her reddening face. Ataru stopped voguing and cupped his chin.

“Basically you have to be really smart, right? And you said you’re self taught? Sounds like you’re the impressive one.”

Rosalind stared at the cooking bread in silence for a moment. She flipped the flatbread and whispered a quiet “Thank you…”

They moved to a dining area and sat with their meal. Each a glass of water and a stack of flatbread. They each picked up a disk and took a bite.

“Hmm.” Ataru chewed.

“Hrmm.” Rosalind nibbled.

“Bland.” They both said in unison, before letting out a sigh.

“Oh well, I’m sure this world has better food. And for your first time cooking like this it’s pretty good.” Ataru said while taking a drink of water.

“I can assure you it does. I’ve read about many famous cuisines around the world. I’d love to try them sometime.”

“Yeah…” There was a lot Ataru wanted to ask, but he’d only just met her. What would be appropriate to ask? “So uh, why was that dog thing chasing you anyway?”

Rosalind let out a breath before looking Ataru dead in the eyes. “Took you long enough to ask. You’re quite considerate, aren’t you?”

“Honestly I was hoping you’d bring it up, you mentioned that something was after you?” He said. Rosalind looked towards the entrance to the outpost before looking back to Ataru.

“I suppose you could say all of humanity is after me? In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they decided to burn this entire forest to the ground to kill me. After all, I am the daughter of the Demon King.”