Strongest Noble's Daughter Uses Water Magic

Fated Meeting

“Tweet tweet! Tweet tweet! Tweet tweet!”

I woke up to the sound of birds chirping right out my window, the shades down to prevent sunlight from entering. Rubbing sleep out of my eyes, I got up and pulled the curtains up, getting my face blasted by the sunlight.

Once my eyes got adjusted to the sunlight, I opened the windows and stared at the peaceful scenery of nature outside. 

“Happy Seventh Birthday...” I muttered to myself, not feeling as happy as I should today. For obvious reasons.

Two years had passed since I was disowned by my family. In those two years, I was sent to the very house my dad spoke of. Location-wise, to say that it was on the other side of town would be understating it, for it was more of on the far side of the city. Neighborhood-wise, there are no neighbors to speak of here, as there were no other form of houses where I live now; just the lake, shrubs, grass, and lots of trees. In all honesty, it felt more like a haunted house at first, most likely due to the isolation.

In terms of size, to many nobles, it would be considered as a small house, but speaking from the experience of a... well, a commoner, it was still a relatively nice, modern-sized house. Thankfully, because of my past life where I was already living alone for a while, I can handle being in the house alone. Although, compared to living in an apartment building, with some contact from friends or family every once in a while, I felt more alone here.

As my dad- if I can still call him that- had promised, each month Celis would come over to see how I was doing, as well as drop off a bit of cash for me to use for necessities. And each month, I would make requests for books I had not read in the family library, books about magic, and hopefully ones about water magic, or any mention of them, as well as other essentials I could not get where I live now. Sadly… of the many books I had read, there was nothing about water magic.

Of course, I could not just rely on books if they had nothing I was searching for. I tried practicing on my own in the backyard, getting a good feel of my magic and letting it loose. Unfortunately, without proper training, the best I could do was have water form on my hands. No... It was not just the lack of proper training that was the problem.

At first when I made water appear in front of me, I was elated. But, as I made the droplet grow bigger, my awe turned to fear, as I had unconsciously thought back to my death in my previous life. Let's just say that as a result, I made no progress in my affinity regardless.

After I got myself dressed, washed up, and ate breakfast, I decided today was a good day to go to the market. It was not like anyone was going to come by today; Celis already made her monthly visit few days before, and none of my family members will come by anyway. Ever since I became isolated from them, no one had came to visit me themselves. 

I still remember the last time I saw them. It was the day of my 'transfer', the day after my birthday. My brothers refused to look me in the eye, my father made sure the things I had packed up for the move, which was not much at all, were in the carriage, and my mother looked at me at eye-level, telling me to stay safe, eat well, and that she will always love me. If I was a child mentally, I would probably believe those words or plead my family to let me stay. But I knew better than to believe them. After what happened the night before, there was no way she still even saw me as her daughter any longer. Just the fact that they did not visit, send a letter, or even leave a message from Celis confirmed it.

Lightly slapping my face to forget my blood family in this world, I grabbed some money and a cloak and made my way to the market, which was about an hour walk from my new home. Since my appearance is strikingly similar to that of my mother's, my parents 'gave' me this cloak to hide my looks from others, should I choose to leave my house for any reason. They claimed it was the last birthday gift they will ever give me, but I knew this cloak was anything but a gift. Nonetheless, it still had its use.

******

I ventured around the market, looking for whatever ingredients were available to use for lunch and dinner for the day. Thankfully, the food in this world was pretty much the same as my previous world's, so I did not have any trouble as to how they taste. ... For the most part, at least. 

“Oh! Good morning, Levi!” a gruff shopkeep of a grocery store called out to me. “A nice day to be out, wouldn't you say?”

“Mr. Pocoro! Yes, today is a nice day!” I answered. 

Normally, I would be wary of strangers, especially since I was a child, but ever since I got disowned by my family, Pocoro helped me out a lot. He did not know my whole situation exactly, but he was still a good man who lent an aide to a kid. 

“You here to buy some goods today? Got a good sale for the blueberries,” Pocoro told me.

“Really?! That sounds great!” I exclaimed, looking at the fruits and veggies he had for sale. “Then I'll take three bags of blueberries, an onion, a bell pepper, and a pack of tomatoes!”

“Coming right up!” Pocoro nodded, as he placed my order in a bag. Only...

“Um... You're giving me extras of what I asked,” I said.

“The extras are on the house for you. Besides, today is your birthday, isn't it? Consider this a gift!” Pocoro said.

A smile was brought to my face upon hearing that the shopkeep, who was pretty much a second dad to me, remembered my birthday. “Thank you!” I thanked.

As I took out some money to pay for my initial order, Pocoro stopped me. “Whoa, there! I thought I told you. This is a gift from me to you.”

I was baffled when he insisted that the whole order was a present for me. “Huh?! Are you sure?”

“Of course! Today is a special day, after all!”

A bigger smile formed on my face at those words. “Thank you so much!” I gratefully took the bag and made my way to the next store.

My next stop was at the butchers, where I also received some generous gift from the owner there. As I was picking out some cheap, long-lasting meat, the owner there, a middle-aged, muscular man, gave me some high-quality versions of my order, at the price of the low-quality version. I was going to ask him if he made a mistake, when he placed a finger on his smiling lips, signaling that this was a gift just like Pocoro's.

It was the same when I went to the bakery for some bread. In addition to the loaf bread I bought there, the two co-owners there gave me a bag of bread with filling in them. They claimed it was a new product they tried making and asked me, as a regular customer, to try some and give some feedback the next time I come, with a wink at that. 

And so... I stood in the middle of the streets, hands filled with bags of food, and quite heavy for my size.

'If I knew I was going to receive this much from everyone, I would have brought a basket,' I thought, struggling with the weight. 

Truly, I did not expect them to give me so much stuff. I was a regular at their stores, sure, but even so, I never imagined I would get this sort of special treatment from them. 

... It was because I was a kid doing all the shopping, was it? That had to be the reason for these gifts.

As I walked, or tried to walk, down the busy street, something bumped into me, causing me to tumble and fall.

“Oof!” I grunted.

A whimper was heard, and I looked past my stuff to see a kid my age on the ground. Rather than proper, commoner clothing of any kind, though, she was wearing tattered rags, and her arms and legs were completely covered in bandages. Her brown with white highlighted hair was also quite dirty, and she had a ribbon wrapped around her head.

“There she is!” came a shout.

The girl and I turned to the source and saw a pair of guys making their way through the crowd toward us. The girl panicked at the sight of them and hastily got up and ran away. That was when I noticed iron cuffs and chains on her wrists and ankles and realized what the situation was.

Reaching my hand in one of my grocery bags, I took out some tomatoes and tossed them along the ground. The pair of pursuers stepped on the tomatoes and slipped, sprawling on the ground. As they slowly recovered from their fall, I got back on my feet and chased after the girl.

It did not take me long to catch up to her. Not only were the chains' weight slowing her down, she was also unusually thin. As soon as I caught up, I grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her to an alley. “This way!”

It must be because I was a stranger, or because of how she was treated by those guys, but while I was trying to take her to safety, the girl struggled to get out of my grip. Not that I could blame her for being so frightened. I could only assume s*****y was the same in any world. However, this does peg one question; in Flammel Kingdom, s*****y should not be allowed here, and crossbreeds- that is, humans with animal parts- have the same rights as humans, so why is this girl getting this sort of treatment? She did not seem to be similar to those men chasing her, and even if she was, to be bound in chains by them is more than disgusting.

Upon feeling no change in her struggle, I stopped in my tracks and turned to her, shouting, “Do you want to get caught by those guys?!”

This made the girl pause as she looked up at me, frightened. Getting a better look at her, I saw tears forming in her eyes, and some light signs of bruises on her face. Glancing lower, I saw the bandages were loose, either from her running for who-knows-how-long or those men did not care enough to give her proper medical treatment. As for the ones around her legs, specifically her feet, they were completely concealed, which made me wonder just what the hell those people did to her.

“I saw them head this way!” a shout came once more, causing the girl to flinch and inch closer to me in fright.

I took it as a sign that she trusts me at least a bit and resumed our run, away from those guys. Once we exited out of the alley, however, we nearly bumped into someone I never thought I would ever see. Someone who did not want to see me.

“Why are you here?” Edward asked.

“B-” I instantly raised my hand and covered my mouth, knowing so well that he would not want to be called that. Not by me. Not in public.

“There's that monster!” we then heard.

The girl and I looked back in the alley and saw the two guys rushing towards us. Frightened, the girl hid behind me. Just as I was about to take off with her, Edward stepped between us and the slave traders.

“What is going on here?” he demanded, as the pair of adults came to a stop.

“What's going on is that you have our monster merchandise behind you, punk!” the pudgy of the two slave traders exclaimed.

“'Monster'? Are you referring to the two kids behind me?” Edward questioned.

“One of them may look like a kid, but she is a definite monster! Now if you would so kindly give us back our product, good knight, we will be on our way!” the skinny slave trader with rotted teeth said, making his way past my brother to get to the girl.

Or at least, he attempted to, when Edward grabbed him by the wrist. “I don't know what your deal is, but it seems neither of you know the rule of this kingdom, outsiders,” he coldly said, tightening his grip.

“Ow, ow, ow! What the hell?! Let me go!” the rotten teeth slave trader cried out.

“Why you punk! Let him go!” the pudgy trader exclaimed, as he tried to throw a punch at Edward.

My eldest brother simply placed the other trader in front of him, using the guy as a human shield for the punch. He then kicked the dazed man to his companion, causing the latter to stumble down.

The pudgy guy glared at Edward. “You damn brat! Who the hell do you think you are?! You are nothing but a mere pawn in this kingdom! Once I find out whose family you belong to, I will-”

“You will what?” Edward interrupted, conjuring a large, dangerous fireball in his hand. The sight of my brother's magic left the guy stuttering in fear, whilst I watched in awe. “What were you saying you will be doing to the Anberibca Family?”

The pudgy guy let out a shrieked gasp at the question. “Y-Y-... You're... an Anberibca...?”

“So you know my family. And yet you have the gals to threaten us? You even called me a 'mere pawn' earlier.”

“N-N-Nothing of the sort! I-I was just saying-”

“Do not bother talking your way out of this. Flare Binds.” The fireball Edward conjured made its way to the two guys and tied them up like ropes. “Struggle, and the flames will slowly burn you alive.”

“Wait! You have it all wrong! That thing behind you may look like a girl, but she is a bonafide monster!” the pudgy guy said.

The girl cowered behind me at those words, as my brother questioned, “And where and how is this child a monster? All I see is a frightened little girl cowering in fear of slave traders. If you two truly are monster traders, we would be having a different conversation. However, you have a frightened child here, hiding in fear from the two of you.”

“No, I swear she is! Just take that ribbon off her head-”

“No need to,” Edward interrupted. “Even if she has animal parts, it changes nothing. Do you even know of the population in this kingdom? Who resides in this very city? It matters not if they are man or crossbreed; in this kingdom, both sides are equal! For an outsider like you to come here and dare break this promise, I will make sure you will be ruined, both in body and in spirit.”

The pudgy guy could only sweat a fall at my brother's threat, unable to say another word.

Once he saw that the guy would never dare even speak, Edward turned to me and the girl. “As for you two... Let's see... From the looks of it, the slave has no home or parents to speak of. I will have my hands full on these two idiots behind me, and it will not do my family any good if word gets out we have a slave in the household. Considering how you got yourself in her situation, girl, I trust you will take her in.”

Despite how he said it, despite what he said earlier about equality, I could not look at him in the eyes, not when he was being hypocritical. He claimed man and crossbreeds were equal in this kingdom, and yet, he did not even call me by my name; just treated me like a stranger I never was. Well... Then again, I might as well be.

“... Yes, sir...” I uttered out, as I took the frightened girl by the arm and helped her stand up.

“Wait,” Edward spoke, kneeling down to us, specifically the girl. “Raise your arms.”

The girl shyly did as ordered and raised her bandaged and chained arms. I looked to my brother and saw his hand on his sheathed sword. Before I could even get a word out, he unsheathed his blade and cut the chains and cuffs off her.

“Wouldn't want you to be the only resident here as a slave,” he stated, putting his weapon back in its sheath.

The girl looked at her now free wrists, cradling them as tears formed in her eyes. “Th-... Thank... you...” she said with a hoarse voice.

I knew she deserved to be free, and that Edward did the right thing to free her from her bounds. But... seeing how my own brother helped someone he barely knew, even if that someone was a frightened child... it hurts.

******

After retrieving the groceries I had dropped, I led the girl to my home. As it was quite a long walk from the market, by the time we arrived, the girl was out of breath. 

“This is where I live. Sorry for the long walk,” I told my new apparent roommate, who only looked up at me with a slight nod.

Once we entered my home, I placed all the groceries in the fridge or cabinets, while my new guest sat in the living room, taking in her new home. As I put the groceries away, I glanced at the former slave, wondering what to do with her. Edward practically forced her on me, and I was the only child in my previous life. I may be a child now, but I am a child with memories of my previous life, so technically speaking, I am an adult. In short, I know nothing about taking care of kids.

”Hey...” I called out, getting the girl's attention. I went silent after that, as I did not know where to go from there. Although... appearance should be a good start. “Do you want to take a bath?”

It took the girl a few seconds to nod in response to my offer. Just that act alone made me wonder just what did those horrible people put her through.

I led the girl to the bathroom and got the tub ready to be used. As water fills the tub, I checked the bathing essentials.

'She seems really dirtied up... And her hair is quite oily and frizzled up. I don't think natural oil is going to be enough to fix that,' I thought to myself. 

Unfortunately, in this fantasy world, of the many things that still exist here or have an equivalent, shampoos and conditioners were not two of them. Instead, just simple natural oil was used in their steed. As high a quality as the one Celis had brought me, I highly doubt that it would be enough for my guest's hair.

The sound of slurping entered my ears, and I turned to see the girl drinking water straight out of the tub. “Whoa, wait! What are you doing?!” I questioned in shock.

The girl jumped at my voice and choked. I led her to the toilet and patted her back a bit roughly, making her cough out as much water as possible. Watching this, I realized that the girl was dehydrated, no doubt from the walk and the chase, and mentally slapped myself for not realizing it earlier.  

“How about I get you some nice drinking water?” I offered. The girl nodded in response, taking in some breaths.

Once I got the response, I left the bathroom to get a cup of water. As I made my way down, I thought about how to care for the girl. In terms of money, the amount Celis sent was more than enough for me alone; feeding an extra mouth would be no big deal. As for clothes, I have plenty, and we seem to be the same size, so I could share them. Aside from those, there should be nothing else. ... I hope.

As soon as I retrieved the cup, I went back to the bathroom.

“Hey, I'm back with the water,” I called, knocking on the door. Once I opened the door, though, I was met with quite the shocking sight.

The girl was in the tub, her ragged cloth, bandages, and ribbon on the floor. The shocking part of her, though, was what was concealed under them the whole time. On her head were beige feathery, wing-like ears- at least, I think they were- her arms had brown feathers on them, and her legs? They were far from that of a human's, as they were more like bird legs.

It was then I realized that the slave trader from earlier was speaking the truth. Even for crossbreeds, at most, they would only have ears or tail to show their race. But this girl... half her body was that of a bird. More so, I had read much about her kind in books.

This child... was a harpy.