“Hmm… Was there anything else we needed to buy, dears?”
“I’m pretty sure we have everything on the shopping list.”
“Miss Maha, I can still hold more.”
Three weeks had passed since Ruri’s training began. Her growth had been rapid; she could already beat the strongest of Maha’s golems fairly reliably. They had to take a break from training eventually, however, so today Ney, Maha, and Ruri were in town to do some shopping.
The town was left weary by the ongoing war against the demons, but the marketplace remained as lively as ever. It would be evening soon, so many people buying food for dinner could be seen, as well as hawkers aiming to flag those same people down.
Metako…
“I apologize. My control over my memories hasn’t been the best as of late.”
Get it together. Maha put her shopping list away with a frown as she complained. “Ah.”
The paper bag in her arms bumped her glasses, causing them to fall. She couldn’t bend over and pick them up as her arms were full.
“Oh no! Here, Miss Maha,” Ruri said.
“Thank you.” Maha took the glasses and put them back on.
“My, how devoted. What a good wife she makes.”
“She’s not my wife.”
“Oh, come on. You like her, don’t you.”
“She is a junior work colleague of mine. Nothing more, nothing less.”
I found her reply a bit interesting. “Oh? So you view her as a person?”
“Why not? Just because she’s a homunculus doesn’t mean she isn’t a person.”
Apparently Ruri was as good as human to Maha. I wondered just what her criteria for being human were.
“Miss Maha…”
“Yeah? …Wh-whoa. What’s wrong, Ruri?” Maha turned to look at Ruri, seeing her overwhelmed with emotion and with tears forming in her eyes.
“I’m happy. You don’t think of me as disposable tool.”
“Ah…”
She seemed to have overheard Maha’s side of our conversation. Maha felt deeply embarrassed but kept up her act of calm indifference. “I didn’t mean anything in particular by what I said.”
“Still. I’m happy. Can I call you Big Sister?”
“…That’s a bit much.”
“Aww.”
Despite shooting Ruri’s request down, Maha looked a bit happy she had made it.
“I’m sure it’ll only be a matter of time before we have a new couple.”
“Metako, be quiet.”
“What did Miss Metako say this time?”
“Nothing you need to know, Ruri.”
“She probably wants Maha to try a pickup line on Ruri or something,” Ney said with a hearty laugh. Maha sighed for the fourth time that day.
“Miss Maha. Your glasses look pretty old. Why not buy new ones?”
“…Nah.” Maha’s voice grew low. “I’m fine with these.”
“A-ah! D-d-did I say something I shouldn’t have again?!” Ruri said with worry.
“No, it’s fine,” Maha replied. But she sure didn’t sound fine.
“Why not just tell her, dear? ‘Tis no big deal,” Ney said.
“…It’s not a story worth telling.”
“Did something happen?” Ruri’s eyes shone with curiosity. Maha took one look at her and relented.
“You want to know that badly?”
“Yes. I want to know everything about you!”
“I-is that so…”
Unlike Maha, Ruri knew little about suppressing or disguising her emotions. Knowing Ruri’s fondness for her was just that genuine was a bit hard for Maha to get used to. No one had ever fawned over her like that before.
“Well, all right. It’s really nothing interesting, though.” Maha sighed and began telling the story behind her glasses. “It happened when I was still a young child, only just becoming aware of the world around me.”
“Oooh.”
“I didn’t wear glasses yet then. Didn’t even know what they were. But I found these in my mother’s workshop.”
“Your eyes weren’t bad yet?” Ruri asked.
“Maha’s eyes have always been just fine,” Ney said.
“Huh? Really?”
“They have, but that’s not important right now. Anyway, I asked my mother what the glasses were.” Maha continued her explanation, recalling the old memories. Despite mentioning Diriyah, her expression looked peaceful for once. “By that point, she was already treating me like a soldier and hardly ever talked to me like a mother. But she was in a good mood for once. Normally she would get angry at me just for entering her workshop without asking, but she didn’t say a thing about it that day. She even stopped working when I asked my question. She lifted me up onto her knees and said, ‘These here are magic glasses.’”
“Magic glasses…?” Ruri cocked her head, but Maha continued along.
“Do you know where your name comes from, Ruri?”
“Huh? No. I don’t. I didn’t even know it come from something.”
“That so? Well, when my mother was telling me about these glasses, she said, ‘These here are magic glasses. Really. They have a fairy in them that will show whoever puts them on something very nice.’ And that fairy’s name was Ruri.”
“Wow… I had no idea.” Ruri had likely never even thought to wonder where her name came from, but she seemed happy to learn its provenance anyway.
“Yes, well… I’m pretty sure my mother made it all up, anyway.”
“Huh? Really?”
“Yeah. These glasses don’t make you see anything special. The lenses aren’t even prescription.” Maha pointed at the lenses. “I told my mother these glasses must be broken, but she just smiled and said, ‘They’re not broken. You’ll understand one day.’ I still don’t get what she meant, though.”
Even so, her memory of that moment was important to Maha. It was one of her few happy memories with her mother. Diriyah might’ve said what she did on a whim, but Maha still kept the memory tucked dearly away in her heart.
“What a strange story.”
“I did tell you it wasn’t worth telling.”
“No. I found it very interesting. Magic glasses… A fairy…” Ruri murmured to herself, seeming to consider something indistinct.
“Can you believe Maha has such a cute side to her?” Ney teased. “She continues to wear those glasses all because of that one small event.”
“Not at all. I wear these as part of my calming ritual.”
“Calming ritual…?” Ruri parroted, confused by the unfamiliar term.
“Something an alchemist does to calm their mind.”
“…Could you elaborate?”
Since Maha’s explanations were too succinct, Ney took over. “Imagine you were surrounded by many, many powerful demons and all your allies were wiped out.”
“Oh no.”
“How would you feel in such a moment?”
“Um… I’ve never had that happen to me. But I imagine I would be very scared.”
“Naturally.” Ney nodded upon hearing Ruri’s honest thoughts. “Alchemists regularly practice performing certain actions to control their emotions, so they can fight without falling victim to panic.”
“But I haven’t practiced that.”
“You will soon. Diriyah said your mind needs to mature a bit more first.”
“Oh.”
Hearing that, Maha felt a sharp pain in her heart.
“Are you feeling bitter about how they had you practicing from the start?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You know you can’t hide anything from me.”
“If you already know then don’t ask.” Maha suppressed the grievances she held towards her mother and turned her attention back to what Ruri and Ney were discussing.
“But what do you do? Isn’t fear instinct?” Ruri asked.
“Indeed it is. But that doesn’t mean nothing can be done about it. Do you know what ‘discomposure’ and ‘composure’ mean?”
“Yes. The first is panicked reaction to something unexpected. The other is opposite. To be calm.”
“Good. Discomposure comes when one’s heart wavers, and one’s heart wavers when it is weak.”
“Hearts can be weak?” mused Ruri, like she had made a new discovery.
“Well, ‘tis just a metaphor. But we don’t want weak hearts, so we seek composure. We cool our hearts. We turn them from water to ice.”
“Oooh.”
“Ice doesn’t stir like water does, right? So we train ourselves to consciously freeze our hearts whenever we want.”
“That sounds hard…” Ruri said dispiritedly.
“Well, it isn’t easy. That’s why there’s a trick to it.”
“Teach me! Please!”
“Attach it to a ritual. Practice some specific action while you calm yourself, and eventually the composure will come naturally when you perform the ritual,” said Ney, finishing her explanation. “Maha’s is readjusting her glasses.”
“I see. So I need some physical ritual I can repeat. Is anything okay?”
“You should avoid anything too complicated since combat can be so unpredictable. In fact, Maha’s choice is pretty risky as glasses can easily fall off during a battle.”
“I keep them affixed with alchemy while fighting,” Maha said.
“What a waste of good alchemy!” Ney chided.
“Ha ha…”
The topic naturally met its end there, and the three started to make their way back to the Base. Abruptly, Ney’s face clouded. Maha’s own expression tensed a moment later.
“Put your things down, dears.”
“Ugh… What a pain.”
“Huh?”
Ney and Maha turned, prompting Ruri to hurriedly turn around as well, where she was met with the sight of at least thirty demons.
“Quite a few of them. We’ll be fighting without preparation; can you two manage?”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Me too!”
“Very well. Let’s go!”
Maha and Ruri followed with Ney leading the charge. The battle lasted for more than three hours, but the three of them cleaned up without issue. Afterwards, Ney praised Ruri for her growth, and the two girls together for their improved teamwork.