Early evening almost everyone fall asleep with a full stomach. The mother and daughter only woke up to eat and went back to sleep. Again I am left standing guard with Kira. She offers to continue her story. She explains how the three of them teamed up with two higher ranked hunters to take on a foraging task. Though Kira has some combat ability, it is the minimum of what is required to go into the wilderness forest. The other girls would not be able to take tasks in the forest without stronger party members to guard them.

The party of five ventured deep into the forest to forage valuable herbs, berries and fruits. All are hard to grow on a farm, so foraging is the most effective way to get them. While gathering they were surrounded by goblins. She seemed disappointed that she only managed to stab one before being taken down and captured. The two guys in the team were quickly surrounded stabbed to death by multiple spear, despite this they killed five goblins between them. Kira seems to respect them for that. I respect them more for not running away. The girls were clearly the targets.

The mother and daughter looks to already have been prisoners at this point. There is also one more goblin that lost its life on the raid. I counted 40 leaving the pass and only 33 returning. Following the ambush the raiding party marched for many days before getting to the pass. Looks like civilization is pretty far away. Even past the mountains it would be about two weeks march to the nearest town.

I explain that I took care of the goblin nest while the raiding party was away, and planned to ambush them on their way back while they were weakened. I still feel a bit guilty that I didn't take out the raiding party before they could do any damage beyond the mountains. Kira assures me that only an experienced party would take on this many goblins. For me to do it alone was quite an achievement. She seems to think that I will be a highly valued hunter at The Guild. "I would love to come to the Guild with you girls." The last comment gave me a smile in return. I guess Kira is warming to me.

"There is actually something I wanted to show you." The sudden comment by the otherwise factual Kira intrigues me. She holds her palm out and a small yellow flame appears about an inch above her skin. I can feel the heat from it. It is clearly not a trick. "Magic?" I ask, but I already know the answer. Kira seems happy to show what she can do. "I can do a bit of fire magic and healing magic." "Not much, just enough to start a fire and heal minor injuries."

Kira tries to explain how magic works, while practically illustrating the process. Mana, I already know it exist all around us in a sort of sub space. Magic is created by this, so the first thing I need to achieve is mana control. I must control the little mana that is already inside me, push it out to create magic phenomena and I draw in more mana from around me. I hear the ping notification from the menu. A new skill! Level 1 Mana Control. Well that was easy.

I try to follow Kira's explanation on how to create a flame, but it is kind of vague and hard to understand. I guess people don't have a full grasp of what fire is in this world. Applying basic knowledge from my old life I try to complete the triangle of fire. First move mana and give it a purpose. Collect flammable gasses at a point above my hand, lets keep it hydrogen only. Add oxygen, but keep amounts small with steady contribution, then add heat. A blue flame shoots up from my hand and almost singe my hair.

"How did you do that?" Kira seem surprised by my blue flame. "Only an experienced mage can create a blue flame." Ops, did I do something that I shouldn't. I change the gasses going into the little furnace above my hand. Strangely, my hand is not that warm. The blue flame changes to orange as the combustion becomes less pure. "Guess it was just beginners luck." The lie stings my conscience, but I would rather not stand out too much at this point.

Kira accepts the excuse for the blue flame, but she is clearly excited about the talent I seem to have. I suggest we try healing magic first chance we get. "By the way, how do you know magic Kira?" Kira explains that she actually grew up in a lesser noble family where she got some education, including basic magic training. Because she was a noble from a very small and weak family, she was arranged to become one of many mistresses to a more powerful noble, so she ran away from home and joined the guild.

Well I guess that is understandable, but she seems to think I will judge her for her action. I am not really able to offer any comment, as I don't know what is normal in this world. I just smile and continue as if nothing is off. Kira doesn't brings it up again.