......

"Hmm~hhhm~hmmm~hhmmm~hhm~" (Kiralne)

*chew* *munch* *slurp* *drink* *gulp*

"Hhmm~hm~hhhhm~hmmmm~hhmm~hmmhhmhhhhm~hhhmm~hm~" (Kiralne)

*bite* *munch* *slurp* *swallow* *drink* *gulp*...*sigh*

........

This is quite troublesome. When the first time Kiralne introduced herself, I knew that this will be troublesome. I quickly came up with a number of excuses in my head and picked the most suitable one to use in this situation.

Which resulted in her watching me eat my dinner while humming a tune with a a

smile on her face. This... is very weird for me.

While eating, I began reasoning out why would an SS-rank adventurer come to me personally and with such a friendly attitude and how was I found specifically at this inn. I know that this is technically her turf and all but this street is huge! With many alleys and buildings in its vicinity so how did she...?

No... wait that's not important. What I need to do now is to hypothesize reasons why she came up to me specifically. What are my special characteristics right now?

Hmm... let's see: I am a kid with bright blue eyes with multi-colored ripples in the pupils somewhere, a potential bishounen face that is currently cute but will develop someday, and a five-year old male physique. First assumption is that she is fond of kids and merely wants to talk to me as a change of pace. That is a good reason. I mean I have a lovable appearance right now.

Second assumption, she wants something from me... which is highly unlikely. I just arrived in this city a few hours ago and surely I came to this world three days ago so there's nothing with me that could possibly garner her interest... apart from the ring, glaive, egg and necklace I have. Of course she knows nothing about this.

Third assumption. My face or figure reminds her of something or someone and hopes to remember it... which is cliche and I really want to discard this notion but there's a chance of it happening if she has a dark past or memory loss.

Last and least favored assumption of mine... she is a 'shotacon'. This is what I completely fear right now. This what happens if you have been exposed to the weirdness that is the internet. Ignorance is bliss. I look like a genuine shota right now (If you don't know what it is just google it). Please, please, please! I hope she is not like that. I don't really like that kind of people. They are hard to predict. And are usually crazy. I like to go on my own pace but with people like that, it is gonna be very hard to move.

As I was continue to anticipate many more reasons, some rational and most stupid, she noticed that I've finished eating my dinner. By the way dinner was amazing! Chicken soup, beef steak with mushroom sauce, a bread...ball I guess. It was hard to chew but goes along with the soup and steak as well as fruit juice. Seriously, if I can, I'm gonna rate this as the perfect fantasy inn. I'm wondering why this place despite being so cheap, gives of great customer service. With the food that is.

"Hey~. You're done eating right? Come on tell me your name. Don't be shy~. You know what I'll introduce myself again~. I am Kiralne, an el-" (Kiralne)

"Yes, I heard it the first time, miss." (Krey)

I break off character thanks to this well-endowed elf. It's really hard to converse with a possible pervert, so my face is probably stiff right now. *sigh* Shit. I was supposed to use the cuteness given to me by Frelinia to exploit any weaknesses from people but... I can't use it here. Not with a possible pervert. That's just digging my own grave.

No doubt, my face that looks stiff is perceived as nervousness by the surrounding people. A lot of humans, beastmen, dwarves, elves and... a demon? as well as other races that are humanoid-looking are sneaking glances at me. The bunny onee-san from earlier looks very worried for me. Hehe. I guess my cuteness did work out on people here~. Many people must have seen and heard of Miss Kiralne. And with those that don't know her face, those that do tell them of it. Then they will stare in shock at her then me.

Let me see what the expression of the people in the dining hall are: one faction, the average sized one has people with worrying expressions for me, especially the bunny employees I've met before, as well as a few considerate people; the largest faction consist of people who are curious of me because of Kiralne the SS-rank adventurer talking to me; the smallest faction... are probably morons. I guess they must be a Kiralne 'fan club' with them drooling while looking at her hourglass figure while staring daggers at me. *sigh* Can't you see that I'm just a kid? What are you glaring at me for?!

"Don't pay attention to them~. They are just curious is all. Now, can you tell me your name, little boy~" (Kiralne)

"... My name is Krey, miss Kiralne." (Krey) I say while adjusting my position beforehand to defend for any perverted actions.

"Heeeh~... Krey is it? Why are you alone? Where are your guardians?" (Kiralne)

"I travel alone. I have no companions." (Krey)

"Is that so~. Then... one last question for now and I'll go immediately okay?" (Kiralne)

"Um... yes. Its fine" (Krey)

.... What's wrong with this elf? Does she have a habit of talking to every new people she meet? And even a kid at that. I'm wondering if she's an aunt, a mother or a big sister. I mean its unnatural that she's treating me familiarly for some reason, with her easy-going tone... or is it a trait of hers. My carefree persona is constantly being dismembered due to her presence.

She walked closer, leaned her body so that her head will level with mine (She's 175 cm tall by the way), positioned her head to my side as if to whisper something to me, then touched my chest, no not my chest, she's... the necklace?! Why does she-

"What does a child like you doing with an artifact of the Goddess Frelinia hmm~?"

I frozed when I heard that. I immediately backed away, thankfully I have adjusted my position to easily move for anti-pervert measures earlier and then took out my glaive. I instantly cast [Body Burst], [Wind Run], [Assassination Spike] x6, [Ice Shield]x3, one of my defense spells which effects are summoning floating shields of cold, hard ice as interceptors against attacks and a another newdefense spell, this time using only Mana Force Manipulation {Mana Shield}. It works like this. I controlled the raw mana in my surroundings to form a dome around my body. My mana will run out each time I took a hit, so its quite the mana spender if I continuously take hits, but casting it is does not have any mana cost. If you are confused, MCA and MFM compliments each other when creating spells. MCA is the editor and saving mechanism while MFM is control. So they are all needed for new creations of spells.

I shot out two [Assassination Spikes] towards Kiralne, but unlike the bandits, she takes it head on, breaking it to pieces, causing them to scatter at the floor. Not feeling discouraged by that, I charged at her, speeding up with the help of [Wind Run], [Body Burst] and {Telekinesis}, I jumped and swung the glaive, aiming at her head, but she dodges it by crouching. Of course that's not my aim, it was just a feint. While charging at her earlier, I already casted [Compressed Fireball], [Impact Bullet], and another attack spell, [Ice Cone]. Its effects are the same as [Compressed Fireball] but this time with freezing effects. I threw the [Compressed Fireball] and [Ice Cone] at her. Then when I'm sure that those two spell will absolutely hit her, I also shot the [Impact Bullet] and remaining [Assassination Spikes] and prepared to cast [Ice Field] and a utility type spell of the darkness element [Conceal]. Its effects are pretty much shown in the name. It hides me in the cover of the dark so that I may sneak up or out.

You probably guessed my plan already. I wasn't trying to defeat Kiralne. She's an SS-rank adventure y'know?! That basically has the words "OP Boss character has appeared. It is dangerous" written all over it!! There are too many unknown valuables in this situation and it all happened so fast. I also did not want to take the risk of determining if she is an enemy or not. If she was a friendly then it was her fault that she acted so suspiciously. If not, then bad luck for her and good luck for me. But I doubt my spells, albeit powerful will be able to defeat an SS-rank adventurer. Based on my guesses of strength here with Sally and her group as the sample, I could probably easily win against a C-rank adventurer with some effort. Narrowly win against a B-rank adventurer. Survive against an A-rank adventurer and the difficulty just goes up. Although I probably can't last long, with the element of surprise I can at least escape.

Furthermore, I have little battle experience, making it very disadvantageous to fight against a veteran of combat in a straight fight so the only option is to escape.

The plan was, distract Kiralne with the [Assassination Spike] and charge while throwing the [Compressed Fireball] and [Ice Cone] to explode and possibly blind her, as well as create steam that can greatly increase the effects of [Conceal} and further reduce her vision, unless she has a spell or skill that can offset that. Then distract her once more with the [Impact Bullet] and [Assassination Spike] while casting [Ice Field] to slow her down slightly. That is my impromptu plan. Not particularly bad ain't it. This is thanks to constantly watching anime fight scenes and always pointing out mistakes of the MC and other characters.

I'm sorry that the spells I'm casting going ballistic inside the inn will damaged it... maybe even destroy it entirely but this is a matter of my well-being so please understand. I'll probably come back here and pay for the damages once I have enough money.

As I was expecting an explosion of epic proportions like those in Michael Bay movies, Kiralne made an unexpected move. She took on a strange stance, I can't describe it very well ( and I never will) but I can faintly sense a combination of wind and nature elemental mana converging into both her arms and legs. Although my knowledge in magic is unequaled except for the god of magic himself and a few other exceptional individuals, there is still a difference in ranks so that is why I can't sense very well the movement of mana of higher leveled individuals.

The one thing I can understand though is that, she is combining wind and elemental mana to achieve something. Of course I don't know what it is as many people follow different paths and truths of elements so its troublesome to think about it.

Afterwards she... cut the [Compressed Fireball], [Ice Cone], [Impact Bullet] [Assassination Spike] with her mana-coated arms dispersing them back to harmless mana and lightly stomps on the floor, cancelling the [Ice Field] that I have prepared....Oi oi oi... this is pretty unfair isn't it!?

A boss character right off the bat and I have no experience or recollection of fighting?! Is the world broken... it probably is with seven gods missing, one in deep slumber and the rest panicking up in there godly realm, forgetting their job of properly managing Salratia. As if it is?! I retorted in my mind as to calm myself.

Okay... that shit happened so let's escape immediately. I wanted to cast {Telekinesis} [Conceal] [Wind Run] [Body Burst] and another buff skill [Fiery Surge] of the fire element which was my first attempt in creating a buff and its effects are pretty much an attack spell in itself but out of stubbornness I insisted that its still a buff skill, but something unexpected happened again!

I was prepared for the feeling of being strengthened by [Wind Run] and [Body Burst] and rushing towards the opposite direction of where Kiralne was because of [Fiery Surge] I heard *shattering* sounds and I realized that... Kiralne is not infront of me and that all my [Ice Shields] were obliterated to fragments of snow.

Then I felt my mana rapidly depleting because of the {Mana Shield} taking powerful and fast hits. I tried to move away but two seconds later my mana pool was emptied and I felt something hit my head and chest. Then I lost consciousness.

__________________________________________________________________________

(Kiralne P.O.V.)

Good grief! This child is unexpectedly hard to handle. I think I sensed five different affinities being used back then. And it matches with the spells he used earlier. This kid is full of surprises. A boy five years of age and already a middle stage magus! With five different affinities at that! What's more he's fast reflexes and resolute actions... he will be a terrifying mage.

But most importantly... why does he have the holy artifact "Frelinia's Band" I wonder. It usually appears on someone the goddess favors and we elves, though we do not pray to the goddess Frelinia, we respect her greatly for she is the Goddess of Life. We elves are connected to nature and life, therefore she is also one of our most important lifelines. Furthermore... my clan had a special obligation to the goddess and whoever gains her favor... although our clan is no more. I still follow the traditions. But why did it appear now? And on a human instead of an elf?

While silently thinking that, I carried the unconscious Krey and apologized to the innkeeper girls as well as the tenants for the trouble. Luckily I was able to neutralize the effects of Krey's spells before it caused damage to the inn surroundings so there's no particularly big trouble. If anything, I think they are quite happy with what they saw. As expected, a child magus fighting an SS-rank adventurer caused blood to pump wildly in their bodies (meaning they're excited). I could hear people saying something along the lines of-

"Whoa! That kid is a mage?!"

"Such skill... I've never seen anybody handle spells so quickly!"

"Multiple affinities?! This child is amazing!"

"But isn't Lady Kiralne more amazing? To be able to stop all those spells easily!"

"As expected of an SS-rank adventurer."

and many more murmurs and gossips about me and Krey's short exchange. I turned to Filly, the waitress and my constant conversation partner here in Bunny Point Inn and told her-

"Hey~Filly. I'll be going back to my room in the fourth floor okay~" (Kiralne)

"Oh... um sure Kira, but... please take care of Krey... though I didn't know he was an amazing mage he is still a kid so I hope you won't hurt him." (Filly)

"Of course~. I'm gonna do the opposite actually~." (Kiralne)

Lightly saying such words, I walked to the stairway and went up the fourth floor and walked to my room. I wonder why she cares so much about Krey? Do they know each other? I looked at Krey's small face and I can see striking and handsome features in his childish visage. Oh my... if he was older I would have went for him right now... wait he's still a child so there's a possibility of training him and... ufufufufu... *sighs happily* What bliss. After fantasizing a bit about Krey and my plans I finally reached the door, opened it and went inside my room, while still carrying Krey. I enjoy staying here in the Bunny Point Inn. The employees are all good, quiet and trusted people, so I can stay here without anyone bothering me. Being an SS-rank adventurer, its hard to be in public. I made Krey lie down in my lap while I sat inn the luxurious sofa and waited for him to wake up. The fourth floor has marvelous and comfortable rooms but I'm so used to it that I don't bother looking at everything in the room anymore. After 30 minutes, Krey opened his eyes and when he saw my face, he was instantly alarmed but I calmed him by saying-

"I'm not your enemy. Don't panic," (Kiralne)

Hearing my words, the wariness lessened in his bright blue eyes which has a multi-hued ripple in the center, quite mesmerizing actually, and opened his mouth to say something but I stopped him-

"Before you say something, hear out my request." (Kiralne)

Saying that, I looked at him deeply and he absentmindedly nodded and I said-

"Krey, will you become my disciple?" (Kiralne)

I say to him seriously.

__________________________________________________________________________

Authors Note: So hey. I finally chose a plot for the story to follow so hurray for me! I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please comment on the fight scene.