Here’s a solid piece of advice: never, ever approach a madwoman, especially if she's holding a sword, and even more especially when not enhanced on aina.

The sharp pain I felt in my stomach was the pommel of her sword slamming against me.

If she had just stopped there, I would have let it go with a simple ‘okay, my bad’.

After all, I was partially to blame for it. For when I called out to her when she walked past me, I instinctively raised my hand in a manner in which it could’ve easily been misinterpreted as an attempt to grab her.

Although it wouldn’t excuse being so unexpectedly attacked, as a merciful fella, I would’ve been willing to let it go, as I said.

But Non–non–non, Mademoiselle, had deemed me deserving of a second blow.

The first somewhat lifted into the air, a not-so-girly punch landed squarely on my left cheek, like some punching bag. My body was launched two meters from where I stood.

It didn’t pass me out, but the punch had the effect of causing buzzing sounds in my ears and a salty taste in my mouth.

Despite the struggle I had to do so, I stood up. And as I spat on my side, spewing a flask full of saliva, blood, and the remains of two of my molars.

Looking at my aggressor, I saw surprise on her face, as if she hadn't been the one who started it all.

If you need to apologize, sweet sister, it's now or never because I'm not currently debating whether to punch you or not, but rather whether to punch you once or twice.

It was at that moment, as I was about to take steps toward her, that I heard a series of hurried footsteps approaching.

"Ronandt!" A voice exclaimed.

The voice belonged to Mael.

I was about to turn my head when I saw him appear on my left.

What happened to me seemed to have left a very visible mark on my face, because Mael's face shifted immediately upon seeing my face up close, even before he noticed the gory flask on the ground.

"Are you all right?!" he asked, worried, his hand onto my shoulder.

"Yesh,..." I mumbled, the strange sensation of missing teeth in my mouth.

"What have you done?!" Mael asked in a tone I'd never heard him use before.

"Nothing, I just punched him by accident," she justified adamantly.

Wow, why not just say I ran right into your punch while we're at it?

"Then, … apologize!"

"Eh... why would I? It wasn't my fault; why should I apologize for something I had no intention of doing?" Ramia stated as she held her arm outstretched, as if stating the unmistakable truth.

"Still... apologize!"

"No"

"Don't make me force you to apologize!" Mael said as he stepped forward.

At that moment, although there was no visible change in his body, I, somewhat similar to Maa and Syrius when using their aina, noticed an imperceptible but noticeable change occurring in Mael.

It was aina, but it was, I could tell, having seen Maa and Syrius using it on several occasions, different from how it occurred to them.

"I'm not going to." Ramia yipped as she stepped forward, stood her ground.

She too, like Mael, has begun to exhibit an imperceptible but slightly palpable change.

A little less than a meter separated the two of them when a hand reached out for both of their shoulders.

"Calm down, you too," Grandfather Emilien said calmly but authoritatively. "No fighting, at least not today... Understood?"

"Yes, grandpa," Mael said, finally regaining his composure.

"Ramia?"

"Yes, grandfather," she said before turning her heels, about to take her leave when she suddenly bumped into someone standing behind her.

I didn’t know when exactly that person crept behind her, but when I looked toward Ramia, my grandfather, he was already there.

The man snatched Ramia’s head from the top and yanked her to turn back in our direction.

They then both apologetically bowed their heads toward me, which was more of a forced bow in Ramia’s case.

"I sincerely apologize for my daughter's actions," the man said, his voice deep but apologetic, before slowly raising his head but only keeping Ramia’s bent.

The man speaking had short, golden hair with bangs that swept over his crimson eyes, which Ramia and I both happened to have.

I immediately recognized his face because he looked the same as he was that day.

Just like with Lord Emilien, though my memories of that day were hazy, I immediately recognized his face. Though this time his face exuded a more refined maturity compared to back then, I could affirm that not much had changed.

That man was Luke Aubrecht, son of the Beaumont Ducal and ruling family and father to Ramia and I.

"It was nothing," I said.

After all, it was only two molars, right?

Luke then leaned in to look at Ramia, whose head he was still grasping onto, and shouted.

"Leonore!"

"Yes, My Lord," said a voice from behind us.

The woman Syrius was worried about passed through us and knelt in front of Luke, head bowed.

"Take Ramia to a room. Later, I will personally deliver her back to the castle. "

"But Pa…," Ramia started, willing to put up some resistance, only to be instantly silenced by a glare from Luke.

"Yes, My Lord," said the woman named Leonore, who then turned to face me and bowed slightly, saying, "We're sorry for what happened."

With these words, Leonore escorted the crazed dog named Ramia away.

"Luke, what a pleasant surprise! What could be bringing you to your old uncle's castle?" Grandfather called Luke's attention once that they had vanished from our sight.

"I was in the castle when I heard that Ramia had made her way here. I took-" Luke explained before being interrupted by Mael.

"I apologize, my Uncle, but we have more pressing matters here," Mael boldly intervened, adding "Grandpa," before casting a glance in my direction.

When he said "pressing matters," I had no idea what he meant, but I knew from those glances that it had something to do with me. Grandfather, on the other hand, seems to fully comprehend the significance of his wordless motions, as he immediately said, somewhat apologetic, "Aaah, sorry, I almost forgot about it."

He glanced at my two lost molars, then walked up to me and asked, "Could you show me your injury, boy?"

I complied by widening my mouth.

"Ouch, she didn't go easy on you, didn’t she," he said while peering inside my mouth before adding, "Do you remember that I promised to show you a very unique magic once we arrived at my castle?"

With my mouth still wide open, I nodded in response.

"I never got the chance to show it to you, and–well, I certainly didn't expect to have to use it on you either."

He placed his hand on my head, and the moment he did, I immediately noticed something twinkling atop my head. Which strangely made me feel somewhat dizzy and somewhat warm.

A short while after that, Grandfather took his hand from my head, revealing his palm to be embedded in a dazzling light.

"How is it?"

I didn't know what he was talking about, but then as I wandered my tongue through my mouth, I felt it.

My two lost molars were back.

When I looked over to where the ones I'd lost were, I saw them still scattered on the floor.

"This is the specialty of our Edouard family; every direct descendant of our family possesses the extraordinary ability to perform a rare type of healing magic. Our family's unique talent for healing magic has inspired us to broaden our medical knowledge generation after generation. " Grandfather declared proudly."

"This is very impressive," I said, massaging my cheek incredulously, already slightly and confusingly bothered by the pain's sudden disappearance.

"For sure it is," Grandfather said, before turning to Luke and announcing, "We were having a birthday banquet for this boy, and since you're here, why don't you join us?"

"I… I don't think..." He mumbled, seeming hesitant, before looking at me as if waiting for confirmation from me, to which I responded with a nod. "Yes, my uncle," he said, finally conceding to Grandfather Emilien's proposition.

With these words, we went back to the banquet room and picked up where we had left off.

Sure, the entire room’s atmosphere slightly shifted because of the earlier incident and the fact that we were joined by an unexpected guest, but it still went on.

With Mael and the servants and attendants present, I couldn't have an honest conversation with "father".

So we had to act as if we were complete strangers to each other, which, despite being father and son, was easy to do because, in this case, it was not a charade but the truth.

If I had to sum up our entire interaction, it would be a few random questions here and there, and a few discreet glances at each other there.

This isn't how I envisioned our reunion. Instead of a touching but awkward father-son reunion as I envisioned it to be, it was more like if I got to celebrate my birthday with my bully's father.

Oh, fate.

What have I done to you?

Despite the fact that things were not exactly as I had imagined, I knew that today would be the day we had to face each other.

Mael has tried several times to explain why Ramia was so upset, even going so far as to apologize on her behalf. In the end, I even had to go as far as to ask him to refrain from mentioning her for at least the entirety of the banquet, which he, not without reluctance, finally agreed on.

I had a question for him that had been bothering me for a moment since he had earlier stood out for me, but I decided against asking him as it concerned someone we had just agreed to not mention the name of.

After we finished our lunch, he demonstrated how to use the book he had given me earlier, "The Reality Figer."

"The reality figer" was a multiple-use magical item that could only be used by one person; that's what the blood-dripping process was for, to make me its owner.

Its use was, as Mael had explained, rather simple and clear. All I had to do was think, and the book would interpret by itself what I expected him to do.

Well, I said interpret, but it could only do three things: take its book form, take its orb form, capture whatever is in sight in its sheet, and fly midair.

Personally, I found the flying feature intriguing as it completely bypassed the concept of gravity with a simple thought from me.

When I asked Grandfather Emilien and Luke if they had any idea how these books came to be made or what they were made of, their answer was that they didn't.

In fact, no one knew these book creators were unknown, but it was common knowledge, at least for Mael and nobles who hadn't spent the majority of their lives completely cut off from civilization, that the majority of these book exemplars were owned by church officials or individuals associated with the church. Mael had received three of these books from his parents, making him, the cleric in charge of the local church, me, and a certain someone the sole owners of these books in the entire Duchy.

That was the worth and the scarceness of these books. When I asked if it was okay for him to give me something so valuable, he said it was fine.

But still, I felt a little guilty about receiving something so valuable because I knew I'd never be able to repay him with anything comparable.

I wasn't referring to the monetary value of the books, but rather to what these books emotionally represented to him; these books were gifts from parents he only sees once a year, and he was willing to give them to me in this situation.

This "reality figer" he gave me, as well as the fact that he stood up for me even against someone he was very close to, were proof of how much he valued our friendship. It may not be much in comparison to what he has given me in these last two weeks, but today, I made the decision to do everything in my power to be worthy of his kindness and his friend.