Stahlia Six Years Old, First Month, 943
“Stawhli! Up!” I smiled and swung Rosial up and onto my shoulders. “Yay!” My little sister is absolutely adorable. I lightly enhanced my legs and ran a circle around the room too much aplomb. She would be turning two in a few months and was quite capable of teetering about on her own, but for whatever reason, she had decided that she much preferred it if I carry her.
After leveling up a few times with Jacqueline last year, I was more than capable of lifting her without using my enhancements, but she really liked the feeling of air ruffling her hair, so I would usually make use of them whenever I played with her. My mother was watching us with a warm smile from her chair. She had been fretful the first few times we did this little routine but had since decided that it made a good opportunity for her to rest. Apparently raising a normal child was quite the task.
“Fahsta! Fahsta!” She was waving her arms over her head like she was on a personal roller coaster and giggling happily.
I squeezed her little legs. “Hold on tight Rosial!” I felt her legs tighten around my neck and increased the mana I was sending to my legs. Speeding up to a healthy ten kilometers an hour I made another three laps of the family room before disengaging my sister and putting her down.
“No don stahp!” she’s so cute when she’s pouting! I squealed internally over my little sister. Externally I put on a big show of being winded.
“Rosial you’re getting so big… I do not know if I will be able to keep running with you like that for much longer…” She stopped pouting and looked at me mortified.
“No sister! Cahrry me more!” I couldn’t help giggling.
“Stil, play with Rosial.” Stil stood up from his corner and stretched languidly before leisurely making his way over to Rosial. At this point, my family had more or less accepted that, due to my training, Stil was no longer a normal Stawri. My mother didn’t raise any objections as Rosial clambered up onto his back and he started making laps around the room in my stead.
“Yay! Fahsta Sti’! Fahsta!” Stil slightly picked up his pace. So cute. I watched them for a moment longer before turning my attention to my mother.
“Mother, I do not see why I cannot learn from you and father.” She sighed, this was the third time this week I had raised my objections.
“Stahlia, we have already told you. It is important to interact with people your own age besides Sana. You cannot spend all your time with Jacqueline and Sven.”
“But mother, I spend time with Rosial as well.” I crossed my arms and put on a serious face.
“Stahlia, Rosial is not a child your age, and that is the crux of the issue; you need to form relationships with your peers.” She sounded tired, but I didn’t care and pressed the issue; this was not something I wanted to compromise on.
“Sana is one of my peers, I have a relationship with her.” My mother let out a long sigh. Ooh! I think that was a new record, three seconds! Congratulations mother!
“Sana is a peer. This is not up for debate Stahlia, you need more friends, so your father and I have decided you will receive your primary education at the temples Purpose School.” She got up and collected Rosial from Stil, as my sister had started looking sleepy, and carried her off to her nap.
I was in a dilemma. Apparently, this world did have schools for children, and my parents intended to send me to one. Starting at six years old, children born with a class would be enrolled in the temple’s “Purpose School”. They would learn fundamentals like math, history, reading, and writing, as well as a healthy dose of religious indoctri- religious studies.
I had tried arguing my case from many angles; pointing out that through my work with Sven I could already do math with ease. Actually, from being a second-year university student… my parents don’t need to know that though. I had argued that my parents could teach me to read and write, but they had said it would be better for me to learn properly with other kids my own age. Really that was all it came down to; my parents had determined that I didn’t have enough friends and decided the best way for me to make more would be to go to the temple’s school.
There was just one problem with their plan. Namely, according to matters of the official record, I didn’t have a class. My grade in the Purpose School would be made up of the five children from my dedication who had a one. This number, of course, included Giogi, who was seemingly hellbent on tormenting me. There’s no telling how bad it will get if I wind up stuck in a classroom with him...
Unfortunately for me, all of my worries fell on deaf ears and before I knew it, I was sitting in a side room at the temple next to Sana. The room was fairly small; it was apparently a dedicated classroom and had been built under the assumption that in any given year there would only ever be no more than ten new students to use it. An attendant priest was standing at the front of the room next to a large black glossy surface. This was apparently a sheet of mana-iron; by using a special pen on it you could “draw” by exciting the mana infused into the metal.
I was sitting in the front of the room with Sana, the Singer. I had originally intended to sit in the back but opted against that for two reasons. Firstly, Sana had informed me in no uncertain terms that it was only proper to sit as close to the front as possible, something to do with respecting the gods. Secondly, Giogi had promptly taken a seat near the back, and I had zero interest in putting myself anywhere near him if I could help it.
Giogi was sitting in the very back of the room alongside his gang member Sark. According to my memory, Giogi was a Knife Fighter and Sark was a Scholar. Is it really ok for a “Scholar” to be in the back of the room? Jav the Blessed Farmer was sitting on Sana’s other side opposite me, an arrangement that caused her to blush whenever she so much as glanced to her left. Bohg the Whittler was the odd one out, he had slipped into the middle area and was currently shaving away at a block of wood while ignoring everyone else.
I realize that the classes are expected to be small, but this is desolate. Why wouldn’t they screen the other children based on their intelligence attribute value and admit enough of them to fill the other seats? I was pulled out of my thoughts when the Attendant priest cleared his throat. Walking around the room, he passed out several thin planks of wood.
“Welcome children who are chosen by the twelve. My name is Phineas, it is my purpose to provide you with knowledge so that you can better serve your purpose. Inscribed into the wooden sheets you have been given you will find several series of runes; those are what we will be covering today. The top row is made up of letters, each spells your name. The second row comprises the numbers one through ten. To start with today, please memorize the shapes that form your name, and practice writing them. Once you can write your name, you may likewise practice the numbers.” So this is how I write my name. I already knew my numbers in this world; Sven had taught me so that I could read quantities while mixing potions.
As such, the numbers held little interest for me, but I had so far been denied any instruction in literacy. I probably could have taught myself if I had really tried, but I had been promised instruction “at some point” so had not put in the effort. Sven’s alchemy ingredients were all sorted based on a numerical system, and I had memorized the names of the ingredients according to their appearances. I traced the runes that formed my name with a finger, engraving them into my memory.
After a few minutes, I picked up a charcoal stick and copied my name onto the back of the board a half dozen times. Sana was watching me wide-eyed.
“Stahlia, you really are smart huh?” For her part, Sana had already written her name and was studying the numbers. I guess if you learn to speak by being read books, you probably pick up letters easily.
“Indeed, I learned my numbers from Mister Sven, but I have as of yet not been taught my letters.” The instructor noticed us talking and came over to check our wood sheets. Upon seeing that we had both written our names, he handed us both a blank sheet and asked us to do it again while hiding the original ones. We, of course, both wrote our names with little trouble. Satisfied, he told us to start with the numbers. Glancing around, I caught sight of Giogi glaring at me. This is why I didn’t want to be here!
Since I already knew my numbers, I wound up helping Sana with hers and after an hour passed, we were released. I waited in the classroom for several minutes after everyone else had left; my hope was that Giogi would be long gone by the time I got out. While I was waiting, the instructor came up to me, apparently, he had determined I was waiting to talk to him.
“Miss Stahlia, you learned today’s material remarkably fast; it is not lost on me that you even had the time to spare in helping Miss Sana.” I couldn’t read his face, but he didn’t sound angry.
“Y-yes, is that bad of me? I already know my numbers, so I only had to learn the letters today.” He smiled reassuringly.
“On the contrary, the head priest informed me that you would be an exceptional student, if you already know your numbers, then would I be correct to assume you can also utilize mathematics?” I nodded my head to answer, and he seemed pleased.
“Here, this sheet contains the entire alphabet, we will be learning it in class over the course of the next month. If you can learn it early, then I would like to enlist your assistance in helping the other students when they struggle.” I could feel a cold sweat on my back. Help the struggling students...? No way! No thank you! Don’t you realize that If I do something like that, I’ll just wind up drawing more unwelcome attention from Giogi?!
“I-it w-would be an honor, sir.” I couldn’t think of a way to diplomatically refuse so, with shaking hands, I accepted the sheet and bolted from the room.
Making my way outside the temple I was watching carefully, but I did not spot Giogi waiting around any of the corners. Thinking myself in the clear, I breathed a sigh of relief as I exited the doors. “Did the teacher finish telling you how special you are?” …and ran right into the brat of the hour.
“No, he did nothing of the sort. In fact, he simply wanted to tell me how lucky I was for my father to arrange my attendance.” Giogi snorted at my self-derisiveness.
Giogi shrugged exaggeratedly, “Glad to hear he knows.” With his parting remarks, he turned and left me. This is going to be a thing, isn’t it…
As the days of class dragged on, we soon moved on from learning the alphabet and numbers to reading passages from the scripture and basic addition. Much to my chagrin, every time a student stumbled or could not quite grasp something the teacher would call on me to tutor them or read the passage they messed up. Giogi was an ever-present thorn in my side, and he made sure to tell me exactly what he thought every day after class. Thankfully, we had the sixth and seventh day off every week, much like school back on earth, so I was able to avoid him on those days. My only saving grace was my adorable sister, who would always greet me when I got home from my personal hell. Her bubbly excitable personality healed my wounded soul.
About three months after school started, we had moved on to basic subtraction as well as finally started another subject; the history surrounding Ris Village’s formation. I was sitting in class listening to the teacher read aloud from a book of records on the matter.
“…and so, after banishing the Hell King in the fourteenth year, the Paladin Ris was given audience before the King. The King bade Ris ask for any boon to reward his service of the realm. Ris had been a mere commoner before discovering his purpose at the age of three and becoming a knight. He, therefore, longed for a simple life now that his purpose was fulfilled. ‘My King, if it pleases you, grant me a place to build a village for my kin. That is my wish.’ The King was pleased with Ris’ humble request and granted him not only land but peerage as well for his humbleness.
Ris departed the Capital and traveled to the foot of the mountains. At the time they were called the Ribcage. He founded a small homestead and called for his family to come and start a new life. For a span of seven years, the land was peaceful and the fields bountiful. In the eighth-year tragedy struck…”
I sat up with a jolt. I had been up late the night before, practicing my footwork with Jacqueline. As such, I had been dozing off to the even tempo of the teacher’s reading voice when something struck the back of my head. Peering behind me, I saw Giogi eating nuts out of a small bag. He grinned at me. This little shit! Until now, Giogi had never done anything physical beyond occasionally bodily blocking my path.
Over the past months, I had adopted a policy of not reacting at all to him, at first that policy had worked, and he had retreated somewhat. Apparently, he had decided he was now going to start assaulting me though. Well, this gives me an excuse. Now I just need to provoke him. A plan was forming in my head.
“Stahlia…” I glanced sidelong at Sana.
“What is it, Sana?”
“You’re making a scary face right now…” I smiled and shook my head.
“You are imagining it.” She did not look convinced.
After class that day I waited until everyone had left before standing and stretching my arms and back. Exiting the temple, I saw Giogi standing waiting for me with Sark and one of their other friends who were not in the class with us. I gave them a wide smile.
“Giogi, what can I do for you today?” my happy demeanor seemed to make the third wheel nervous and he backed up slightly; likely remembering when I had called Stil a few years ago. For his part, Giogi either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
“Where do you get off sleeping in class like that, Mrs. Fancy?” I see, we’re going back to that name huh? Well, if that’s how you want to play this…
I put a hand on my cheek and adopted an over placating tone. “Whatever do you mean? I am certain I outperform everyone else. If anyone is not taking the class seriously it would be you.” I felt satisfaction seeing his brow twitch.
“Why you! Listen he-” I cut him off and started walking past the three of them.
“Do excuse me, I have matters to attend to, and cannot play with you children today.”
That touched a nerve as I had expected. “Where do you get off acting so high and mighty!” as I walked past him, he reached out and grabbed my shoulder. Perfect, now it’s a matter of legitimate self-defense!
I reached up and grabbed his hand on my shoulder, without bothering to enhance myself I leaned forward while pulling on his arm. Utilizing my weight, momentum, and upper body strength, I tossed Giogi over my shoulders and onto his back winding him. Sark stared at Giogi on the floor before turning red with rage. Balling his hands into fists, he lunged at me.
So slow… compared to my bi-weekly night sparing sessions with Jacqueline, these boys simply couldn’t compare. I dodged the wildly swinging fists and made a show of yawning. Catching one of the fists, I executed a quick spin and used Sark’s momentum to send him past me where he ran face-first into a wall. The third boy seemed to have composed himself and came running at me then. Not even sparing a glance, I stuck out a leg from under my skirt and sent him sprawling to the floor.
Giogi had stood up and was shaking with rage. I bet if I provoke him further, steam might come out of his ears. Wouldn’t that be a sight? “Finished yet? I really have places to be.”
“Damnit!” It would seem that my performance had thoroughly pissed him off. Oh? Is that a knife? Giogi was apparently so angered, that he had lost all his senses and drawn a pocketknife. Somewhat sobered, I realized I may have pushed him too far.
Getting struck by a certain sense of foreboding I called out. “Don’t do anything! I’ll deal with my own mess!”
Giogi adopted a basic stance, his class wasn’t knife fighter for nothing; he most likely had the [Knife Fighting I] Talent. He lunged at me with the knife. Not wanting to let things escalate further, I poured some mana into my arms and legs, enhancing my speed. I better make a show of it, so they don’t piss off the wrong maid.
As Giogi lunged at me I ducked under the knife and came up in front of him. Catching his wrist, I twisted it around while grabbing the blade with my other hand. A quick tug at the right angle and his knife hand loosened, allowing me to disarm him. I put Giogi back on the ground and flipped the knife through the air by its blade.
“Giogi, I am stronger than you. Do not do anything stupid.” Tossing the knife so it stuck in the dirt point first near his arm, I left the scene. Once I was alone, Jacqueline materialized beside me. Ever since I had learned her secret, she had been doing assassin ninja stuff like this frequently in my presence, “Jacqueline, they are just stupid boys, thank you for not killing him after he drew the knife out.”
Letting out a small laugh she responded, “Lady Stahlia if you couldn’t handle something of that level at this point, I would be most concerned.”
Arriving home, Rosial came running out the front door at full speed, with a great leap she sent herself flying at me. Actually, it was more of a swift walk and small hop, but my glasses were rose-tinted. In any case, catching my sister, I rolled with her momentum into a spin before setting her down and patting her adorably fluffy head. “Sister! Welcome, Home!” she was taking great pains to enunciate each word, which led to a very cute pause between each one.
“Yes, I am home. How is mother doing Rosial?” I was a bit concerned about my mother, as she had been abnormally tired recently.
“Mama, is, sleeping!” She looked very pleased with herself for not stumbling over two whole sentences in a row.
“Is that so? Well then it seems I have a bit of time before etiquette, what do you want to play Rosial?” Asking with a smile, I watched my little sister grow suddenly very serious, in a way only a two-year-old could manage.
After some thought, she beamed a smile at me. “Hidey-Seek!” I nodded and covered my eyes right there in the doorway. With a high-pitched shriek, my sister raced back into the house to hide. It’s always funny how hard she thinks about it before always choosing hide and seek.
Indeed, Hide and Seek was Rosial’s favorite game, and she was good at it. It’s a bit embarrassing to admit, seeing as I am the older sibling, but I had never once been able to find her. I considered the possibility that she had a class with some sort of concealment talent or skill and found it highly likely. Though I had not appraised her to confirm that, since I would just find out at her dedication, and I was a bit concerned about her asking strange questions if she felt my mana entering her body.
I searched for her until it was time for dinner, at which point I gave up and announced my defeat in a loud voice so that she would know it was safe to come out of wherever she had sequestered herself.
Dinner was a somewhat normal affair, I had been worried that my parents would learn about my earlier “fight” and bring down their wrath upon me, but it seemed that they had not heard a thing so far. Thankfully, today was the fifth day of the week, so I wouldn’t have to see Giogi for a little while. After finishing dinner, I played a simple game similar to patty cake with Rosial for a short while and retired to bed.
The next morning, I was in the garden with my sister, who was watching me train Stil. He had mastered virtually all the tricks I could think of at this point, so it was more like a rehearsal than a lesson. I was in the process of having him walk a small circle on his front legs when there came a knock on our gate. I wonder who that could be?
I approached the gate and opened it to see who was calling; I was met by a surreal scene of Giogi, Sark, and the third boy from earlier bowing their heads. “Huwah?!”
Giogi lifted his head at the sound of my surprised exclamation. Looking up at me, he spoke, “Stahlia, Please forgive!”
I looked around bewildered, this was completely outside of any semblance of my normality. Catching sight of Jacqueline in the doorway watching us, I shot her a suspicious look. She smiled faintly and shook her head no. So if she didn’t do anything traumatizing to them, what the hell is this?
“A-ah, u-u-um. Well. A-apology accepted? Yea. Yea let’s go with that.” Frankly, I was at a complete loss. Giogi and the other two looked at each other relievedly and bowed to me.
“Lady Stahlia, please teach me!” Wait what!? I blinked and simply stared at Giogi with my mouth hanging open.
Rosial, having decided I was taking too long had come up behind me and now peeked out to see who I was talking to. “Sister, who, is, this?”
“R-right. Rosial, this is Giogi, Sark, and…” I realized I didn’t even know the third boy’s name. Giogi stepped forward introduced the three of them to my sister.
“I am Giogi Sutvenson. These are my friends, Sark Ohbeson, and Diil Grawlson. Sark and I attend lessons at the temple with your sister.” Rosial was looking between the three boys and myself with wide eyes.
“Rosial, go inside please, I need to have words alone with them for a moment.” Perhaps sensing a bit of edge in my voice, Rosial gave a clumsy curtsy and darted into the house. Turning to Giogi I spoke from between clenched teeth.
“Giogi, what are you after?” He nodded and straightened his back.
“After what happened yesterday… Well, I guess I just realized how much you’ve been holding back. I was being a real ass to you all this time, and you put up with it for so long…” True to his words, he seemed completely serious in both tone and posture.
I was debating just decking him then and there when I caught sight of Rosial pulling my mother outside by her hand and pointing excitedly at me. Well shit. “Alright already! Just… stop talking like that! It’s creepy.” Giogi nodded.
“If that’s how you want it, I’ll talk normal then. Being all proper like that is a lot harder than it looks.” I groaned to myself. This is going to be a pain in its own way, isn’t it?
True to his word, from that day onwards, Giogi never once spoke ill to me again. From that day onward, he would maintain a respectful attitude. Whenever he wasn’t able to grasp something in class, he would come up to me and politely ask for me to explain it. The first time Sana saw this unfold, she went completely bug-eyed, and hissed under her breath at me, “Stahlia, what did you do to him?!” I could only smile awkwardly.
Once a week, I would join Giogi, albeit reluctantly, in a deserted back alley somewhere in the village. I would then instruct him in knife play. I was doing it like this because I knew my mother would fly into a fit of hysterics if she ever caught sight of one of these sessions. Giogi understood my concerns and swore he would never speak of these lessons to anyone.
Despite having sworn himself to secrecy, over the next few months, the knife fighting lessons seemed to grow in attendance; first Sark showed up “just to watch”, then Diil. One by one, eventually Giogi’s entire posse were learning how to knife fight and spar from me. Eventually, this bled over into other things; before I knew it, in addition to Jacqueline and Stil, I almost always had one or two boys following me around the village.
I would later come to find out they had named themselves “Stahlia’s Knights” and had restructured their little group into a play-knight order. Giogi was hailed as the “Knight-Commander” while Sark took up the post of “Order Scribe” and even went as far as keeping a member roster, complete with a schedule of who would attend me on what day.
One good thing to come out of these sessions was that they allowed me to learn the limits of my appraisal. I used it on the boys and discovered that, although I could see their stats and ability values, as well as their skills, name, age, and race, I was unable to see their class or their talents. Over time, the details did get more accurate, but it remained much more limited than my own self-appraisal that came from my [Divine Authority].
Sana didn’t get left out either. Behind closed doors, my “knights” would call her my “Lady in Waiting” and were just as polite to her as they were to me. For her part, Sana was flustered at first but soon came to accept and even enjoy the situation. As far as she was concerned, I had done “something” that nobody would talk about, and it had resulted in all of our mutual tormentors turning over a new leaf. It was a great improvement over her past of being either ignored or scorned as an orphan.
Eventually, I gave up on my protestations and settled into my new routine. I had managed to get them all to refrain from speaking super formally, but they refused to call me anything other than “Lady Stahlia”, a moniker that always managed to embarrass me when someone other than Jacqueline used it. In this way, my days proceeded relatively peacefully.
★★★★★★
Stahlia Eight Years Old, 0945
School continued apace, we moved on from basic addition and subtraction to multiplication and division. As far as reading was concerned, the teacher had eventually stopped reading aloud and now had us students take it in turn to read the religious story or historical text of the day. Sven would come by one day a week and teach the basics of medicine; apparently, everyone was expected to know a little bit.
More often than not though, Sven would just announce the topic of the day, call me to the front and then take a seat. I considered this quite irresponsible of him, but he laughed it off and told me that “He was proud of how far I had come.” I was just glad I had tamed Giogi before we got to this part of the lesson plan; I didn’t want to imagine how much strife it would have caused me if he was still antagonistic when I wound up actually teaching the class.
Sometime in the middle of the eighth month of the 944th year, when I was seven going on eight, my mother once again announced that she was pregnant. Rosial, who was nearly three, was excited that she would get to be the older sibling now. The sight of her determined yet still childish face never failed to cause my heart to swoon. I was excited again, but not as much as when Rosial was to be born.
For his part, my father remained composed, but I knew that he was likely to privately be hoping for a son this time; my mother was growing older and likely would not be able to have children for much longer. I wonder if something like curses exist in this world? It seems odd to me that my mother seems to be getting pregnant in intervals of three or so years.
Seeing as the new sibling was projected to be born in the third or fourth month of the 945th year, my mother would not be able to attend Rosial’s dedication. To this end, as the year came to a close, my father approached me and asked if I would be willing to sit in her stead; purportedly, it was considered a great social blunder not to have both a male and female caretaker present for a child’s dedication if they were available. Due to my position as her older sister, I apparently qualified as a female caretaker in the eyes of society.
Of course, I agreed wholeheartedly, I would do anything for my darling sister. My father spent the remaining days of the year leading up to the dedication ceremony going over what was considered the proper way for a guardian to attend. I would be escorted by my father into the church where we would then take a seat in a pew near the back; due to our relative high status as the mayoral family, we were supposed to do the dignified thing and sit away from the front to allow the less fortunate families a better view of their children.
This flew in stark contrast to my own image of a status-based society, but when questioned, my father explained from his point of view as a formal noble, “It is not as cut and dry as that Stahlia, your opinion is generally correct, the higher status of one’s family, the better arrangements they usually expect for themselves. There is a myriad of little things like this though, that helps maintain the illusion of a dignified and caring nobility in the eyes of the people.”
Apparently sitting in bad seats was a way for nobles to go “look at me! I’m so down to earth, don’t you peasants just love that?”
The day eventually came, and I found myself standing outside of the temple with my little sister and father. I was wearing a cream-colored dress purchased for the occasion. My sister was wearing a white dress that was adapted from the one I had worn five years ago; rather than buying a new dress, it was custom to hand down the one worn by the eldest sibling, with modifications built into it. This would build a sort of family story around the children’s Dedication Ceremony. For his part, my father was wearing the same suit he had worn to my dedication.
My sister was clutching the hem of my dress nervously. In a way, it reminded me of myself. Unlike me, however, I knew my sister had nothing to worry about. I patted her head affectionately.
“Rosial, do not worry, you have nothing to worry about.” She looked at me suspiciously.
“Sister, you told me what happened when you had your own dedication. I don’t think I have ‘Nothing to worry about!’” I chuckled at that.
“Rosial, there is absolutely no way your dedication will be anything remotely like mine, my own circumstances were a special case. Did father not tell you how rare a blessing miracle is?” Of course, what I meant by the special case was entirely different from what she thought I meant; I was the only person who knew the full details regarding my class.
She was about to say something else when the doors to the temple swung open. Remembering my mother and my own trepidation as I did so, I gave her a loving gentle push towards the door. Letting go of my dress, she made a big show of resolving herself and, with clenched fists, boldly marched up the steps and through the door. After all the children had entered, I took my father’s arm awkwardly, due to our height difference, and walked with him into the temple and to our seats.
The recounting of the creation of the world was much the same as what I had heard five years prior, so I largely tuned it out and observed the back of my sister’s head. She was standing ramrod straight with her head craned up taking in every word attentively. Unlike myself, she had a small group of three girls with her, though she was the only one paying the story serious attention without fidgeting. The story concluded simply enough, and the Priest began calling the children up to the altar one by one. My sister had been born in the fifth month, so her name was around the middle of the list.
She approached the altar and resolutely laid her hands on the appraisal stone. Despite myself, I was feeling anxious; this moment was a life-altering event in this world. After what felt like ages but was likely only a few moments the priest wrote some things down on a piece of paper and handed it to Rosial.
“Rosial, your purpose is yet unknown, may the blessings of all the gods go with you as you seek to find it.” I felt my heart jump into my throat. I had been certain that my sister had a class; from the very moment she learned to crawl she had always been escaping from under our noses. It only got worse once she was able to walk, and despite my position as the older sister, I was never able to beat her in her favorite game of hide and seek. She had likewise developed markedly faster than other children her age; I had been oblivious to the fact due to my own extremely advanced rate of growth but watching my sister it had occurred to me that there were seemingly two varieties of children in this world; a minority of children would develop noticeably quicker than the rest. I suspected that this accelerated development was a result of ability values altered by class and skills.
My sister’s own advanced speech compared to most other kids her age had led me to believe she had at least a plus one or two to intelligence. I observed her turn around and descend the steps, looking closely it seemed like she was about to cry, but she had a strong heart for her age and managed to hold it in.
As soon as the ceremony was over, I excused myself from my father and moved to find Rosial, meeting her halfway. She fell into my offered embrace and hid her face in the skirt of my dress as barely held back tears began to free fall. I rubbed her head affectionately.
“There, there, do not cry Rosial.” She sniffed into my skirt and exclaimed in a muffled choked voice.
“Stawlia, bhut I don’t haff a phurpose! I won’t efer be af sthrong like youu!” this is worse than I thought…
“Rosial, come now, you know I do not know mine either. Do you understand what that means?” She sniffed but the tears slowed a little and peered up at me with red eyes.
“W-what it means?” Well, it hurts me to lie to you about not knowing my class… Sorry!
“Yes, Rosial, it means we get to work together as sisters and discover our purposes as a team!” I got a half-smile for that, “Should we go home and get you cleaned up? I am sure mother will want to hear all about how exciting the whole ceremony was.”
The half-smile turned into a full one as Rosial nodded vigorously. That’s right, I’ll help you find your class, in order to protect your smile. We made our way out of the temple and headed down the street towards our house. Briefly, I considered conducting my own appraisal. I wouldn’t be able to see the class section, but it would show me any skills she had, as well as confirm whether or not she had any stat bonuses. No, why would the priest lie about her not having a class? She must just be naturally bright, without help from any stats.
Stahlia Six Years Old, First Month, 943
“Stawhli! Up!” I smiled and swung Rosial up and onto my shoulders. “Yay!” My little sister is absolutely adorable. I lightly enhanced my legs and ran a circle around the room too much aplomb. She would be turning two in a few months and was quite capable of teetering about on her own, but for whatever reason, she had decided that she much preferred it if I carry her.
After leveling up a few times with Jacqueline last year, I was more than capable of lifting her without using my enhancements, but she really liked the feeling of air ruffling her hair, so I would usually make use of them whenever I played with her. My mother was watching us with a warm smile from her chair. She had been fretful the first few times we did this little routine but had since decided that it made a good opportunity for her to rest. Apparently raising a normal child was quite the task.
“Fahsta! Fahsta!” She was waving her arms over her head like she was on a personal roller coaster and giggling happily.
I squeezed her little legs. “Hold on tight Rosial!” I felt her legs tighten around my neck and increased the mana I was sending to my legs. Speeding up to a healthy ten kilometers an hour I made another three laps of the family room before disengaging my sister and putting her down.
“No don stahp!” she’s so cute when she’s pouting! I squealed internally over my little sister. Externally I put on a big show of being winded.
“Rosial you’re getting so big… I do not know if I will be able to keep running with you like that for much longer…” She stopped pouting and looked at me mortified.
“No sister! Cahrry me more!” I couldn’t help giggling.
“Stil, play with Rosial.” Stil stood up from his corner and stretched languidly before leisurely making his way over to Rosial. At this point, my family had more or less accepted that, due to my training, Stil was no longer a normal Stawri. My mother didn’t raise any objections as Rosial clambered up onto his back and he started making laps around the room in my stead.
“Yay! Fahsta Sti’! Fahsta!” Stil slightly picked up his pace. So cute. I watched them for a moment longer before turning my attention to my mother.
“Mother, I do not see why I cannot learn from you and father.” She sighed, this was the third time this week I had raised my objections.
“Stahlia, we have already told you. It is important to interact with people your own age besides Sana. You cannot spend all your time with Jacqueline and Sven.”
“But mother, I spend time with Rosial as well.” I crossed my arms and put on a serious face.
“Stahlia, Rosial is not a child your age, and that is the crux of the issue; you need to form relationships with your peers.” She sounded tired, but I didn’t care and pressed the issue; this was not something I wanted to compromise on.
“Sana is one of my peers, I have a relationship with her.” My mother let out a long sigh. Ooh! I think that was a new record, three seconds! Congratulations mother!
“Sana is a peer. This is not up for debate Stahlia, you need more friends, so your father and I have decided you will receive your primary education at the temples Purpose School.” She got up and collected Rosial from Stil, as my sister had started looking sleepy, and carried her off to her nap.
I was in a dilemma. Apparently, this world did have schools for children, and my parents intended to send me to one. Starting at six years old, children born with a class would be enrolled in the temple’s “Purpose School”. They would learn fundamentals like math, history, reading, and writing, as well as a healthy dose of religious indoctri- religious studies.
I had tried arguing my case from many angles; pointing out that through my work with Sven I could already do math with ease. Actually, from being a second-year university student… my parents don’t need to know that though. I had argued that my parents could teach me to read and write, but they had said it would be better for me to learn properly with other kids my own age. Really that was all it came down to; my parents had determined that I didn’t have enough friends and decided the best way for me to make more would be to go to the temple’s school.
There was just one problem with their plan. Namely, according to matters of the official record, I didn’t have a class. My grade in the Purpose School would be made up of the five children from my dedication who had a one. This number, of course, included Giogi, who was seemingly hellbent on tormenting me. There’s no telling how bad it will get if I wind up stuck in a classroom with him...
Unfortunately for me, all of my worries fell on deaf ears and before I knew it, I was sitting in a side room at the temple next to Sana. The room was fairly small; it was apparently a dedicated classroom and had been built under the assumption that in any given year there would only ever be no more than ten new students to use it. An attendant priest was standing at the front of the room next to a large black glossy surface. This was apparently a sheet of mana-iron; by using a special pen on it you could “draw” by exciting the mana infused into the metal.
I was sitting in the front of the room with Sana, the Singer. I had originally intended to sit in the back but opted against that for two reasons. Firstly, Sana had informed me in no uncertain terms that it was only proper to sit as close to the front as possible, something to do with respecting the gods. Secondly, Giogi had promptly taken a seat near the back, and I had zero interest in putting myself anywhere near him if I could help it.
Giogi was sitting in the very back of the room alongside his gang member Sark. According to my memory, Giogi was a Knife Fighter and Sark was a Scholar. Is it really ok for a “Scholar” to be in the back of the room? Jav the Blessed Farmer was sitting on Sana’s other side opposite me, an arrangement that caused her to blush whenever she so much as glanced to her left. Bohg the Whittler was the odd one out, he had slipped into the middle area and was currently shaving away at a block of wood while ignoring everyone else.
I realize that the classes are expected to be small, but this is desolate. Why wouldn’t they screen the other children based on their intelligence attribute value and admit enough of them to fill the other seats? I was pulled out of my thoughts when the Attendant priest cleared his throat. Walking around the room, he passed out several thin planks of wood.
“Welcome children who are chosen by the twelve. My name is Phineas, it is my purpose to provide you with knowledge so that you can better serve your purpose. Inscribed into the wooden sheets you have been given you will find several series of runes; those are what we will be covering today. The top row is made up of letters, each spells your name. The second row comprises the numbers one through ten. To start with today, please memorize the shapes that form your name, and practice writing them. Once you can write your name, you may likewise practice the numbers.” So this is how I write my name. I already knew my numbers in this world; Sven had taught me so that I could read quantities while mixing potions.
As such, the numbers held little interest for me, but I had so far been denied any instruction in literacy. I probably could have taught myself if I had really tried, but I had been promised instruction “at some point” so had not put in the effort. Sven’s alchemy ingredients were all sorted based on a numerical system, and I had memorized the names of the ingredients according to their appearances. I traced the runes that formed my name with a finger, engraving them into my memory.
After a few minutes, I picked up a charcoal stick and copied my name onto the back of the board a half dozen times. Sana was watching me wide-eyed.
“Stahlia, you really are smart huh?” For her part, Sana had already written her name and was studying the numbers. I guess if you learn to speak by being read books, you probably pick up letters easily.
“Indeed, I learned my numbers from Mister Sven, but I have as of yet not been taught my letters.” The instructor noticed us talking and came over to check our wood sheets. Upon seeing that we had both written our names, he handed us both a blank sheet and asked us to do it again while hiding the original ones. We, of course, both wrote our names with little trouble. Satisfied, he told us to start with the numbers. Glancing around, I caught sight of Giogi glaring at me. This is why I didn’t want to be here!
Since I already knew my numbers, I wound up helping Sana with hers and after an hour passed, we were released. I waited in the classroom for several minutes after everyone else had left; my hope was that Giogi would be long gone by the time I got out. While I was waiting, the instructor came up to me, apparently, he had determined I was waiting to talk to him.
“Miss Stahlia, you learned today’s material remarkably fast; it is not lost on me that you even had the time to spare in helping Miss Sana.” I couldn’t read his face, but he didn’t sound angry.
“Y-yes, is that bad of me? I already know my numbers, so I only had to learn the letters today.” He smiled reassuringly.
“On the contrary, the head priest informed me that you would be an exceptional student, if you already know your numbers, then would I be correct to assume you can also utilize mathematics?” I nodded my head to answer, and he seemed pleased.
“Here, this sheet contains the entire alphabet, we will be learning it in class over the course of the next month. If you can learn it early, then I would like to enlist your assistance in helping the other students when they struggle.” I could feel a cold sweat on my back. Help the struggling students...? No way! No thank you! Don’t you realize that If I do something like that, I’ll just wind up drawing more unwelcome attention from Giogi?!
“I-it w-would be an honor, sir.” I couldn’t think of a way to diplomatically refuse so, with shaking hands, I accepted the sheet and bolted from the room.
Making my way outside the temple I was watching carefully, but I did not spot Giogi waiting around any of the corners. Thinking myself in the clear, I breathed a sigh of relief as I exited the doors. “Did the teacher finish telling you how special you are?” …and ran right into the brat of the hour.
“No, he did nothing of the sort. In fact, he simply wanted to tell me how lucky I was for my father to arrange my attendance.” Giogi snorted at my self-derisiveness.
Giogi shrugged exaggeratedly, “Glad to hear he knows.” With his parting remarks, he turned and left me. This is going to be a thing, isn’t it…
As the days of class dragged on, we soon moved on from learning the alphabet and numbers to reading passages from the scripture and basic addition. Much to my chagrin, every time a student stumbled or could not quite grasp something the teacher would call on me to tutor them or read the passage they messed up. Giogi was an ever-present thorn in my side, and he made sure to tell me exactly what he thought every day after class. Thankfully, we had the sixth and seventh day off every week, much like school back on earth, so I was able to avoid him on those days. My only saving grace was my adorable sister, who would always greet me when I got home from my personal hell. Her bubbly excitable personality healed my wounded soul.
About three months after school started, we had moved on to basic subtraction as well as finally started another subject; the history surrounding Ris Village’s formation. I was sitting in class listening to the teacher read aloud from a book of records on the matter.
“…and so, after banishing the Hell King in the fourteenth year, the Paladin Ris was given audience before the King. The King bade Ris ask for any boon to reward his service of the realm. Ris had been a mere commoner before discovering his purpose at the age of three and becoming a knight. He, therefore, longed for a simple life now that his purpose was fulfilled. ‘My King, if it pleases you, grant me a place to build a village for my kin. That is my wish.’ The King was pleased with Ris’ humble request and granted him not only land but peerage as well for his humbleness.
Ris departed the Capital and traveled to the foot of the mountains. At the time they were called the Ribcage. He founded a small homestead and called for his family to come and start a new life. For a span of seven years, the land was peaceful and the fields bountiful. In the eighth-year tragedy struck…”
I sat up with a jolt. I had been up late the night before, practicing my footwork with Jacqueline. As such, I had been dozing off to the even tempo of the teacher’s reading voice when something struck the back of my head. Peering behind me, I saw Giogi eating nuts out of a small bag. He grinned at me. This little shit! Until now, Giogi had never done anything physical beyond occasionally bodily blocking my path.
Over the past months, I had adopted a policy of not reacting at all to him, at first that policy had worked, and he had retreated somewhat. Apparently, he had decided he was now going to start assaulting me though. Well, this gives me an excuse. Now I just need to provoke him. A plan was forming in my head.
“Stahlia…” I glanced sidelong at Sana.
“What is it, Sana?”
“You’re making a scary face right now…” I smiled and shook my head.
“You are imagining it.” She did not look convinced.
After class that day I waited until everyone had left before standing and stretching my arms and back. Exiting the temple, I saw Giogi standing waiting for me with Sark and one of their other friends who were not in the class with us. I gave them a wide smile.
“Giogi, what can I do for you today?” my happy demeanor seemed to make the third wheel nervous and he backed up slightly; likely remembering when I had called Stil a few years ago. For his part, Giogi either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
“Where do you get off sleeping in class like that, Mrs. Fancy?” I see, we’re going back to that name huh? Well, if that’s how you want to play this…
I put a hand on my cheek and adopted an over placating tone. “Whatever do you mean? I am certain I outperform everyone else. If anyone is not taking the class seriously it would be you.” I felt satisfaction seeing his brow twitch.
“Why you! Listen he-” I cut him off and started walking past the three of them.
“Do excuse me, I have matters to attend to, and cannot play with you children today.”
That touched a nerve as I had expected. “Where do you get off acting so high and mighty!” as I walked past him, he reached out and grabbed my shoulder. Perfect, now it’s a matter of legitimate self-defense!
I reached up and grabbed his hand on my shoulder, without bothering to enhance myself I leaned forward while pulling on his arm. Utilizing my weight, momentum, and upper body strength, I tossed Giogi over my shoulders and onto his back winding him. Sark stared at Giogi on the floor before turning red with rage. Balling his hands into fists, he lunged at me.
So slow… compared to my bi-weekly night sparing sessions with Jacqueline, these boys simply couldn’t compare. I dodged the wildly swinging fists and made a show of yawning. Catching one of the fists, I executed a quick spin and used Sark’s momentum to send him past me where he ran face-first into a wall. The third boy seemed to have composed himself and came running at me then. Not even sparing a glance, I stuck out a leg from under my skirt and sent him sprawling to the floor.
Giogi had stood up and was shaking with rage. I bet if I provoke him further, steam might come out of his ears. Wouldn’t that be a sight? “Finished yet? I really have places to be.”
“Damnit!” It would seem that my performance had thoroughly pissed him off. Oh? Is that a knife? Giogi was apparently so angered, that he had lost all his senses and drawn a pocketknife. Somewhat sobered, I realized I may have pushed him too far.
Getting struck by a certain sense of foreboding I called out. “Don’t do anything! I’ll deal with my own mess!”
Giogi adopted a basic stance, his class wasn’t knife fighter for nothing; he most likely had the [Knife Fighting I] Talent. He lunged at me with the knife. Not wanting to let things escalate further, I poured some mana into my arms and legs, enhancing my speed. I better make a show of it, so they don’t piss off the wrong maid.
As Giogi lunged at me I ducked under the knife and came up in front of him. Catching his wrist, I twisted it around while grabbing the blade with my other hand. A quick tug at the right angle and his knife hand loosened, allowing me to disarm him. I put Giogi back on the ground and flipped the knife through the air by its blade.
“Giogi, I am stronger than you. Do not do anything stupid.” Tossing the knife so it stuck in the dirt point first near his arm, I left the scene. Once I was alone, Jacqueline materialized beside me. Ever since I had learned her secret, she had been doing assassin ninja stuff like this frequently in my presence, “Jacqueline, they are just stupid boys, thank you for not killing him after he drew the knife out.”
Letting out a small laugh she responded, “Lady Stahlia if you couldn’t handle something of that level at this point, I would be most concerned.”
Arriving home, Rosial came running out the front door at full speed, with a great leap she sent herself flying at me. Actually, it was more of a swift walk and small hop, but my glasses were rose-tinted. In any case, catching my sister, I rolled with her momentum into a spin before setting her down and patting her adorably fluffy head. “Sister! Welcome, Home!” she was taking great pains to enunciate each word, which led to a very cute pause between each one.
“Yes, I am home. How is mother doing Rosial?” I was a bit concerned about my mother, as she had been abnormally tired recently.
“Mama, is, sleeping!” She looked very pleased with herself for not stumbling over two whole sentences in a row.
“Is that so? Well then it seems I have a bit of time before etiquette, what do you want to play Rosial?” Asking with a smile, I watched my little sister grow suddenly very serious, in a way only a two-year-old could manage.
After some thought, she beamed a smile at me. “Hidey-Seek!” I nodded and covered my eyes right there in the doorway. With a high-pitched shriek, my sister raced back into the house to hide. It’s always funny how hard she thinks about it before always choosing hide and seek.
Indeed, Hide and Seek was Rosial’s favorite game, and she was good at it. It’s a bit embarrassing to admit, seeing as I am the older sibling, but I had never once been able to find her. I considered the possibility that she had a class with some sort of concealment talent or skill and found it highly likely. Though I had not appraised her to confirm that, since I would just find out at her dedication, and I was a bit concerned about her asking strange questions if she felt my mana entering her body.
I searched for her until it was time for dinner, at which point I gave up and announced my defeat in a loud voice so that she would know it was safe to come out of wherever she had sequestered herself.
Dinner was a somewhat normal affair, I had been worried that my parents would learn about my earlier “fight” and bring down their wrath upon me, but it seemed that they had not heard a thing so far. Thankfully, today was the fifth day of the week, so I wouldn’t have to see Giogi for a little while. After finishing dinner, I played a simple game similar to patty cake with Rosial for a short while and retired to bed.
The next morning, I was in the garden with my sister, who was watching me train Stil. He had mastered virtually all the tricks I could think of at this point, so it was more like a rehearsal than a lesson. I was in the process of having him walk a small circle on his front legs when there came a knock on our gate. I wonder who that could be?
I approached the gate and opened it to see who was calling; I was met by a surreal scene of Giogi, Sark, and the third boy from earlier bowing their heads. “Huwah?!”
Giogi lifted his head at the sound of my surprised exclamation. Looking up at me, he spoke, “Stahlia, Please forgive!”
I looked around bewildered, this was completely outside of any semblance of my normality. Catching sight of Jacqueline in the doorway watching us, I shot her a suspicious look. She smiled faintly and shook her head no. So if she didn’t do anything traumatizing to them, what the hell is this?
“A-ah, u-u-um. Well. A-apology accepted? Yea. Yea let’s go with that.” Frankly, I was at a complete loss. Giogi and the other two looked at each other relievedly and bowed to me.
“Lady Stahlia, please teach me!” Wait what!? I blinked and simply stared at Giogi with my mouth hanging open.
Rosial, having decided I was taking too long had come up behind me and now peeked out to see who I was talking to. “Sister, who, is, this?”
“R-right. Rosial, this is Giogi, Sark, and…” I realized I didn’t even know the third boy’s name. Giogi stepped forward introduced the three of them to my sister.
“I am Giogi Sutvenson. These are my friends, Sark Ohbeson, and Diil Grawlson. Sark and I attend lessons at the temple with your sister.” Rosial was looking between the three boys and myself with wide eyes.
“Rosial, go inside please, I need to have words alone with them for a moment.” Perhaps sensing a bit of edge in my voice, Rosial gave a clumsy curtsy and darted into the house. Turning to Giogi I spoke from between clenched teeth.
“Giogi, what are you after?” He nodded and straightened his back.
“After what happened yesterday… Well, I guess I just realized how much you’ve been holding back. I was being a real ass to you all this time, and you put up with it for so long…” True to his words, he seemed completely serious in both tone and posture.
I was debating just decking him then and there when I caught sight of Rosial pulling my mother outside by her hand and pointing excitedly at me. Well shit. “Alright already! Just… stop talking like that! It’s creepy.” Giogi nodded.
“If that’s how you want it, I’ll talk normal then. Being all proper like that is a lot harder than it looks.” I groaned to myself. This is going to be a pain in its own way, isn’t it?
True to his word, from that day onwards, Giogi never once spoke ill to me again. From that day onward, he would maintain a respectful attitude. Whenever he wasn’t able to grasp something in class, he would come up to me and politely ask for me to explain it. The first time Sana saw this unfold, she went completely bug-eyed, and hissed under her breath at me, “Stahlia, what did you do to him?!” I could only smile awkwardly.
Once a week, I would join Giogi, albeit reluctantly, in a deserted back alley somewhere in the village. I would then instruct him in knife play. I was doing it like this because I knew my mother would fly into a fit of hysterics if she ever caught sight of one of these sessions. Giogi understood my concerns and swore he would never speak of these lessons to anyone.
Despite having sworn himself to secrecy, over the next few months, the knife fighting lessons seemed to grow in attendance; first Sark showed up “just to watch”, then Diil. One by one, eventually Giogi’s entire posse were learning how to knife fight and spar from me. Eventually, this bled over into other things; before I knew it, in addition to Jacqueline and Stil, I almost always had one or two boys following me around the village.
I would later come to find out they had named themselves “Stahlia’s Knights” and had restructured their little group into a play-knight order. Giogi was hailed as the “Knight-Commander” while Sark took up the post of “Order Scribe” and even went as far as keeping a member roster, complete with a schedule of who would attend me on what day.
One good thing to come out of these sessions was that they allowed me to learn the limits of my appraisal. I used it on the boys and discovered that, although I could see their stats and ability values, as well as their skills, name, age, and race, I was unable to see their class or their talents. Over time, the details did get more accurate, but it remained much more limited than my own self-appraisal that came from my [Divine Authority].
Sana didn’t get left out either. Behind closed doors, my “knights” would call her my “Lady in Waiting” and were just as polite to her as they were to me. For her part, Sana was flustered at first but soon came to accept and even enjoy the situation. As far as she was concerned, I had done “something” that nobody would talk about, and it had resulted in all of our mutual tormentors turning over a new leaf. It was a great improvement over her past of being either ignored or scorned as an orphan.
Eventually, I gave up on my protestations and settled into my new routine. I had managed to get them all to refrain from speaking super formally, but they refused to call me anything other than “Lady Stahlia”, a moniker that always managed to embarrass me when someone other than Jacqueline used it. In this way, my days proceeded relatively peacefully.
★★★★★★
Stahlia Eight Years Old, 0945
School continued apace, we moved on from basic addition and subtraction to multiplication and division. As far as reading was concerned, the teacher had eventually stopped reading aloud and now had us students take it in turn to read the religious story or historical text of the day. Sven would come by one day a week and teach the basics of medicine; apparently, everyone was expected to know a little bit.
More often than not though, Sven would just announce the topic of the day, call me to the front and then take a seat. I considered this quite irresponsible of him, but he laughed it off and told me that “He was proud of how far I had come.” I was just glad I had tamed Giogi before we got to this part of the lesson plan; I didn’t want to imagine how much strife it would have caused me if he was still antagonistic when I wound up actually teaching the class.
Sometime in the middle of the eighth month of the 944th year, when I was seven going on eight, my mother once again announced that she was pregnant. Rosial, who was nearly three, was excited that she would get to be the older sibling now. The sight of her determined yet still childish face never failed to cause my heart to swoon. I was excited again, but not as much as when Rosial was to be born.
For his part, my father remained composed, but I knew that he was likely to privately be hoping for a son this time; my mother was growing older and likely would not be able to have children for much longer. I wonder if something like curses exist in this world? It seems odd to me that my mother seems to be getting pregnant in intervals of three or so years.
Seeing as the new sibling was projected to be born in the third or fourth month of the 945th year, my mother would not be able to attend Rosial’s dedication. To this end, as the year came to a close, my father approached me and asked if I would be willing to sit in her stead; purportedly, it was considered a great social blunder not to have both a male and female caretaker present for a child’s dedication if they were available. Due to my position as her older sister, I apparently qualified as a female caretaker in the eyes of society.
Of course, I agreed wholeheartedly, I would do anything for my darling sister. My father spent the remaining days of the year leading up to the dedication ceremony going over what was considered the proper way for a guardian to attend. I would be escorted by my father into the church where we would then take a seat in a pew near the back; due to our relative high status as the mayoral family, we were supposed to do the dignified thing and sit away from the front to allow the less fortunate families a better view of their children.
This flew in stark contrast to my own image of a status-based society, but when questioned, my father explained from his point of view as a formal noble, “It is not as cut and dry as that Stahlia, your opinion is generally correct, the higher status of one’s family, the better arrangements they usually expect for themselves. There is a myriad of little things like this though, that helps maintain the illusion of a dignified and caring nobility in the eyes of the people.”
Apparently sitting in bad seats was a way for nobles to go “look at me! I’m so down to earth, don’t you peasants just love that?”
The day eventually came, and I found myself standing outside of the temple with my little sister and father. I was wearing a cream-colored dress purchased for the occasion. My sister was wearing a white dress that was adapted from the one I had worn five years ago; rather than buying a new dress, it was custom to hand down the one worn by the eldest sibling, with modifications built into it. This would build a sort of family story around the children’s Dedication Ceremony. For his part, my father was wearing the same suit he had worn to my dedication.
My sister was clutching the hem of my dress nervously. In a way, it reminded me of myself. Unlike me, however, I knew my sister had nothing to worry about. I patted her head affectionately.
“Rosial, do not worry, you have nothing to worry about.” She looked at me suspiciously.
“Sister, you told me what happened when you had your own dedication. I don’t think I have ‘Nothing to worry about!’” I chuckled at that.
“Rosial, there is absolutely no way your dedication will be anything remotely like mine, my own circumstances were a special case. Did father not tell you how rare a blessing miracle is?” Of course, what I meant by the special case was entirely different from what she thought I meant; I was the only person who knew the full details regarding my class.
She was about to say something else when the doors to the temple swung open. Remembering my mother and my own trepidation as I did so, I gave her a loving gentle push towards the door. Letting go of my dress, she made a big show of resolving herself and, with clenched fists, boldly marched up the steps and through the door. After all the children had entered, I took my father’s arm awkwardly, due to our height difference, and walked with him into the temple and to our seats.
The recounting of the creation of the world was much the same as what I had heard five years prior, so I largely tuned it out and observed the back of my sister’s head. She was standing ramrod straight with her head craned up taking in every word attentively. Unlike myself, she had a small group of three girls with her, though she was the only one paying the story serious attention without fidgeting. The story concluded simply enough, and the Priest began calling the children up to the altar one by one. My sister had been born in the fifth month, so her name was around the middle of the list.
She approached the altar and resolutely laid her hands on the appraisal stone. Despite myself, I was feeling anxious; this moment was a life-altering event in this world. After what felt like ages but was likely only a few moments the priest wrote some things down on a piece of paper and handed it to Rosial.
“Rosial, your purpose is yet unknown, may the blessings of all the gods go with you as you seek to find it.” I felt my heart jump into my throat. I had been certain that my sister had a class; from the very moment she learned to crawl she had always been escaping from under our noses. It only got worse once she was able to walk, and despite my position as the older sister, I was never able to beat her in her favorite game of hide and seek. She had likewise developed markedly faster than other children her age; I had been oblivious to the fact due to my own extremely advanced rate of growth but watching my sister it had occurred to me that there were seemingly two varieties of children in this world; a minority of children would develop noticeably quicker than the rest. I suspected that this accelerated development was a result of ability values altered by class and skills.
My sister’s own advanced speech compared to most other kids her age had led me to believe she had at least a plus one or two to intelligence. I observed her turn around and descend the steps, looking closely it seemed like she was about to cry, but she had a strong heart for her age and managed to hold it in.
As soon as the ceremony was over, I excused myself from my father and moved to find Rosial, meeting her halfway. She fell into my offered embrace and hid her face in the skirt of my dress as barely held back tears began to free fall. I rubbed her head affectionately.
“There, there, do not cry Rosial.” She sniffed into my skirt and exclaimed in a muffled choked voice.
“Stawlia, bhut I don’t haff a phurpose! I won’t efer be af sthrong like youu!” this is worse than I thought…
“Rosial, come now, you know I do not know mine either. Do you understand what that means?” She sniffed but the tears slowed a little and peered up at me with red eyes.
“W-what it means?” Well, it hurts me to lie to you about not knowing my class… Sorry!
“Yes, Rosial, it means we get to work together as sisters and discover our purposes as a team!” I got a half-smile for that, “Should we go home and get you cleaned up? I am sure mother will want to hear all about how exciting the whole ceremony was.”
The half-smile turned into a full one as Rosial nodded vigorously. That’s right, I’ll help you find your class, in order to protect your smile. We made our way out of the temple and headed down the street towards our house. Briefly, I considered conducting my own appraisal. I wouldn’t be able to see the class section, but it would show me any skills she had, as well as confirm whether or not she had any stat bonuses. No, why would the priest lie about her not having a class? She must just be naturally bright, without help from any stats.
