—–
After a struggle that lasted half an hour, I was freed from Erika’s grasp. Everyone in the room ended waking up from the commotion, and Eric was reprimanding Erika for being so noisy and clingy with me. I calmed him down telling him she was just a child, and he sighed and seemed to forget about it quickly after. While we were talking about whatever Chris and Erika came out with in the morning, Eric’s aunt and uncle entered the room bringing breakfast to Eric’s bed.
“Time for some breakfast dearies~” Said his aunt with a happy and gentle smile. “I hope you guys like fruit jam and herbal tea, this is what we mostly have for breakfast~”
“Oooh! Is it sweet, missy?” Asked Erika. If she was a puppy she would surely have her tail wagging happily.
“Yes dear, it is sweet. I am sure you’ll like it.” Said Eric’s aunt.
“There is also some goat milk and cheese, and a few more toast if you are still with hunger after that.” Said his Uncle, putting a bottle with goat milk and cheese. This goat milk and cheese had a faint magical aura around it.
“Oh, this goat milk and cheese is made by my grandmother.” I said. “I can recognize it anywhere.”
“Ooh! Blake, is your grandmother the lady that sells homemade goat cheese and the milk?! Amazing! She makes it out of her Goat Spirit, right?” Asked Eric’s Aunt.
“Yes, the Goat Spirit eats a lot of grass though, after eating grass for like half a day it can finally give some milk. My grandmother became a master of making cheese out of it… It is part of our income too. Thank you for buying her products.” I said to Eric’s Aunt and Uncle. The two smiled happily and suddenly petted my head.
“Don’t worry about it, dear!”
“Yeah! Yeah! We love her cheese, you’re a good kid! Such a hardworking kid!”
The two seemed proud of me for some reason. Over this time I had grown rather close to me, more than I thought. They were overly affectionate and seemed to just love me. I suppose Eric’s aunt and uncle are like this. I bet that in time they’ll act like this with Chris and Erika as well.
About Erika’s incident… various years ago I remember that Eric had stopped meeting with Erika alongside Chris. This was mostly due to the rumors of Erika being a puppet. It was well know rumor around all the neighborhoods. People didn’t wanted their children to be involved with a weird child like her. However, after they saw what I did for everybody alongside Erika in that time I healed the Hunters that came with my father from a failed hunt that people slowly changed how they saw Erika. After all she had used her dolls to help the people alongside me, she was of great help and even stitched some wounds herself. Seeing her acting so nice even towards people that treated her badly moved some of these people’s hearts.
In that moment I suddenly realized that humans were not so irredeemable, that they could change their perspective and how they thought of others through actions. Many of them simply went silent about Erika and decided to not badmouth her nor her family again, but others were more open about their change of mind, Eric and Chris came back to us and asked for forgiveness back then, but the only one they should had asked for forgiveness was Erika. Surprisingly so, she forgave them very easily. Erika is simply… a pure-hearted girl, perhaps way too pure-hearted. She is someone that somehow makes me want to protect her. Well, luckily, she’s very strong, so I don’t really have to protect her.
This sentiment was obviously shared with Eric’s aunt and uncle, and Chris parents. Eric’s aunt and uncle quickly realized she was a good-hearted girl, and since yesterday that they had been treating her like a daughter now. They were as of now petting her head.
“You’re such a cute little princess, Erika…” Sighed Eric’s aunt. “Again, I am sorry for everything…”
“Yeah… We were awful.” Sighed Eric’s uncle.
“D-Don’t worry about it! That’s on the past, we are all friends here!” Said Erika, childishly grabbing the hands of Eric and Chris. “Right?”
“Y-Yeah, but you don’t have to get so corny over it!” Said Chris rather embarrassedly.
“Haha… That’s how Erika is.” Said Eric with a smile.
After Eric’s aunt and uncle left us, we continued having breakfast as I quickly decided to talk to my friends about my next course of action in their training. At this point I was like their teacher in terms of growing stronger. I had been teaching them for years now how to use Ki and Magic Circles, and today I had decided to bring them to the wilderness to hunt monsters.
“Today is the day, we can’t keep delaying this any longer.” I said.
“Delaying it?” Wondered Eric.
“What is it, Blake?” Wondered Erika.
“We are going to hunt monsters… or demons. Well, whatever we find.” I said.
“Eeeh?!” Asked Chris. “R-Really? But my parents haven’t allowed me yet…”
“M-My aunt and uncle are going to go crazy if they know about this!” Said Eric.
“T-That’s… sure! I can just keep it a secret from papa.” Said Erika.
“Erika! How reckless can you be?!” Asked Eric fearfully.
“T-That’s right! This is beyond what we can possible do! We can’t just charge straight to that dangerous forest and then get mauled by monsters…” Sighed Chris.
“What are you talking about? I’ve trained you all this time for a reason. I have been preparing you so you can easily deal with low-rank demons and monsters! You’re now going to prove to me that your training hasn’t been for naught! If you don’t receive a blessing today… I will not bring you with me when I grow up and become an Adventurer.”
I had to be harsh to give them motivation. And it worked. The moment I said those words, all three of them suddenly began to emanate strong mixed Auras of Ki and Mana…
“O-Okay! I get it…” Sighed Eric. “I’ll do it.”
“That’s a bit… Ugh, fine!” Said Chris.
“Alrighty! Bring it on! Fighto fighto!” Said Erika, she was the most pumped up of the three.
—–