Chapter 99: The City
I wake up in an unfamiliar place, a city with pristine and well-decorated stonework. Rows of houses line roads arranged in a grid, with sewers running beneath. There are tens of thousands of magical items: furniture and jewels, tools and books, clothes and artwork. Paintings, vases, pots and pans, everything that has survived the weathering and destruction has an age-based magical tier that helps them resist time. Why did the cursed being use its magic to restore the city rather than to bring further destruction? I don’t know, perhaps the Guardian might, but it doesn’t really matter.
Ting! Sense Magic has obtained level 567!
Relief fills me as I see the city bustling with new life. Everyone is healed, and my efforts have finally paid off! I can’t stop the tears from squeezing out of my closed eyes as emotion overwhelms me.
I was never so taken by my emotions in my past life, but I know puberty is partly to blame. I sniff, trying unsuccessfully to calm myself for several minutes before [Clear Mind] finally flushes out the intense feelings from my mind. It’s weird, as I can still feel the emotion as intensely as before, but it now feels... muted... disjointed? It’s like a barrier between my body and my mind. I am still crying, but my mind is clear.
Ting! Clear Mind has met the requirements for a breakthrough and will continue leveling past level 100!
10th Breakthrough: You’ve maintained a clear mind even through overwhelming emotions; this will help you think clearly through emotional situations.
Ting! Clear Mind has obtained levels 76-77!
Mom walks in, noticing that I have awoken. Dad is off exploring the city with the twins, they’re looking at forges right now.
“Aly...” Mom says, sitting down on the bed and gently hugging me, purring. I tightly hug Mom back, purring in response.
I don’t say anything; I can’t bring myself to, I just want to feel Mom’s warmth.
“Do you want to explore the city?” Mom asks, after a long time.
I don’t need to. With my perception, I can already see the entirety of it. I know every street, every house and every shop and, with my improved memory, I can map this place out to even the tiniest detail.
“Mhm.” Despite my vision, I agree to walk with Mom; she likely hasn’t seen it all, and right now, I just want to spend time with my family.
The city is full of people, only able to house slightly more than the current total population of the Runalymo, so it appears to be a fully bustling city even though most people are just exploring, talking with their fellow villagers, or grieving for loved ones who died during the cursed being’s attack.
I don’t know how the elders have things set up, but to my perception it seems that each village has its own small section of the city for now. It’s not a claim of territory but more of a way to maintain normalcy. Each village has its own style of rules and customs, so districts are set up to prevent unnecessary conflicts. There are currently no borders between the districts and people seem to still be adjusting to it, so it's probably rather easy to wander into another village's district without knowing it.
One good thing about everybody living in the city temporarily is that it’s easy to visit others now. I quietly follow Mom as we look at a place that was obviously a market once. Shopfronts are abundant here, and most still have a few surviving wares inside, although I doubt it will stay that way. I expected everything to be looted by now, so the fact that it's mostly not probably means that the elders told everyone to not go crazy and take everything before others had a chance or something.
Considering that there are a few people trying to be sneaky and remove things from some of the buildings, it is likely that the elders have claimed all of the magical items for the village as a whole. Knowing Tusile, she’d claim everything and sell it to the villagers to raise funds for the village; considering that we’ll need to rebuild, this is likely the case for our village at least.
Many people come up to me and thank me for healing them as we walk through the city, so we often have to stop and wait for the crowds to disperse. The Guardian had told everybody that I healed them, even though I’d rather they not know; I hate dealing with things like this. Eventually, the last crowd moves on, and we are finally left alone.
“It seems that they like fountains, doesn’t it Aly?” Mom says, examining the seventh fountain we have passed. I simply nod, staying close to her as she traces the fountain’s decorations with a finger. The fountains all have featureless statues with Myrou projected onto them, just like the ones we have in our baths.
Speaking of baths, this city has many bathhouses... bath temples? It’s more like a mix of the two, likely influenced by Myrou’s beauty domain. I wonder if they bathed three times a day back then too?
We continue to walk throughout the city, admiring the works of the past, until we meet up with Dad and the twins, who, upon seeing me, rush over and give me a hug.
“You’re finally awake, sleepy head!” “You sleep too much!” the twins say with a purr.
I smile and pat them on the head, purring alongside them.
Now all together, we head to one of the temple baths. Pyramid in design they are like miniature versions of the Temple on Temple Island. Walking in, there are a lot of open baths, although judging by the amount of fire mana in them, they aren’t quite up to the heat we Runalymo like.
Dad simply uses her bond to heat up one of the baths to the right temperature before we strip and get in. The twins jump in and splash around, causing enough of a ruckus that Mom chastises them.
“You’re growing up nicely,” Mom says after a few minutes of soaking, motioning to my chest. “In a year or two, I’ll have to teach you how to take care of yourself.”
I feel my face redden and allow myself to slip further into the waters. Mom giggles and pats my head with an affectionate smile.
“It’s always a little awkward at first, but you get used to it.”
After the bath, I spend the rest of the day with my family.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“I’m worried,” Feyan says, cuddling with Kanato in bed. “It’s been a week, and Aly has barely spoken at all.”
“She just needs time,” Kanato replies. “She spent two years with no one to talk to, and besides, you know how shy she is.”
“I know, it’s just... I don’t know; she seems so distant, even more now than before.” Feyan says.
“I don’t know what exactly she went through, but it must have been tough; just give her time.” Kanato falls silent for a long time, long enough that Feyan is convinced she has fallen asleep until she suddenly speaks again.” Perhaps we should help her go back to how she was before, help her return to normalcy.”
It is a good idea, except that Aly had a habit of ignoring some of the important things in life. Now Aly is spending more time with her family, but Feyan is unsure if the apparent cost is worth it, or whether she just wants her oldest child to return to being the person she knows. Aly healed everyone, yet there was nothing anyone could do for her. Why is the world so cruel sometimes? With this thought lingering in her mind, Feyan falls asleep.
In the morning, the elders have called a meeting.
“We’ll be taking a trip to the island to clean up and get it prepared for the rebuilding to start tomorrow. For today, we need volunteers to help dig up everything we lost at the original evacuation site. There are still plenty of materials that we can use there, but it’s currently buried under the landslide,” Tusile says.
Many people volunteer, Kanato included, but Feyan refrains; her main priority now is Alysara.
“Aly, why don’t we find an instrument for you to play? You can train [Musician] while at it, or perhaps you want to learn how to cook?” Feyan suggests.
Alysara smiles and, after a few seconds, forms a beautifully decorated flute out of mana. The flute makes Feyan’s [Perfectionist’s Eye] proud, the way the different types of beauty mana make up the decorations in such fine detail showing her daughter’s mastery of shaping mana.
Feyan can’t help but feel her chest swell with pride that her child can already make such crafts at her age. Alysara blows into the flute, playing a soothing tune that reminds her of the bamboo leaves rustling in the wind. She smiles and pats Aly on the head, wishing silently that things had gone differently. Aly has grown a lot in two years; she missed so much time with her child.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Kanato pulls another piece of rubble out of the dirt. Everything they have built here is destroyed and buried; fortunately, some of the less fragile things survived. They have dug out the airship already, but it’s in a bad shape; it’s bent and dented in several places, the floors are mostly broken and the sails are ripped to shreds. Tusile, wisely, anticipated the sails being destroyed and brought a mana weaver to fix them.
“How’s Alysara doing?” Esofy asks, jumping into the hole to help Kanato pull out a particularly large piece of wall that has a few salvageable pieces.
“It’s hard to say. The Guardian said that she went through a tough time, but didn’t elaborate. She was obviously lonely during the last two years, but there’s definitely more to it than just that.” Kanato shakes her head.
They share a quiet moment while the earth mages and Bond users will the earth away, revealing an undamaged crate of supplies.
“It’s just so... frustrating!” Kanto says, kicking a rock. “How can I help her if she doesn’t talk with us? How can I help her if I don’t know what’s troubling her?!”
“Alysara puts way too much responsibility onto herself...” Esofy says sadly. “She tries to take everything onto her own shoulders and doesn’t want anyone else to bear the burdens. She may have taken too much this time, and just can’t handle it anymore.”
Esofy puts a hand on Kanato’s shoulder. “Pry some of that burden off of her, even if she resists it.” Esofy gives Kanato a smile before hoisting the crate out of the pit.
Kanato grabs another crate with only minor damage and follows Esofy.
Just how great of a burden has Alysara been carrying? Or is it a lot of little things, and this was just the final rock?
Setting down the crate in the airship, Esofy turns toward her.
“Alysara healed all of us, and now it’s our turn to heal her; everybody in our village.”
“That is a great idea,” Tusile says, walking up to them. “You know Alysara best, Kanato. How do you think we can help her?”
Kanato sets down the crate and sits on it with a sigh.
“I don’t know... I don’t even know how she is hurt...” Kanato buries her face in her hands. “I... I feel like a failure of a parent.”
Tusile sits down next to Kanato. “Alysara keeps her troubles to herself while trying to take the weight of everything. If you don’t know what’s troubling her, then try to get her to speak, make her open up.”
“How?” Kanato sighs again.
“Just do what feels natural to you.” Tusile says, “Everyone is different, and Alysara is even more unique than most. If anyone can get her to open up, it’s her family.”