A Drop of Moonlight

Chapter 12: Magic

Camping for the night was a thrilling experience than anticipated. Denise had her fair share of camping experiences and she did not think it would be this hard with extra people with her. To be honest back then with her brother, things were easier and there was no need for her to be constantly worried about something other than survival.

The young change she got for herself was more responsibility than she had anticipated. Since he had woken up, all he did was to make her lose a few strands of hair quite literally. Like he was competing with her in terms of being feral.

When he awakened, the first thing he did was to give Rufus a sounding kick on the areas he can reach. It was just unfortunate for the kid that Rufus does not feel any pain from his attack. The guy even indifferently told her that the child was awake and was more lively than expected.

With expectant eyes, Denise happily approached the child who did not give a moment of hesitation to bite her finger point blank. Thankfully she was more or less have a very thick skin on her hands due to labor and sword training, it did not give her much pain or damage. At most she felt a tingle and nothing else.

And when she met the glaring fierce eyes of the others, she just knew that this child is almost the same as her.

A feral child.

Denise is proud of being a feral child. This is the proof that she is her mother’s child. That there is no need for her to be someone else as her family accepted her for who and what she was.

But this child, he was not the type to be feral as she was. He looked clean and too well-behaved to be one. His clothing which looked like rags now is quite of quality. This indicates that he is of quite some wealth and typically those in this kind of family are quite strict in upbringing to raise a feral child among them.

The child’s eyes were too similar to a certain acquaintance of hers from a long time ago. Speaking of which, she doesn't remember if that guy’s sibling was a male or female. But one thing is for sure, this little fellow is related to that person one way or another. With how he reacted to possible danger, he overlaps and there was no mistake in her assumption.

She reckons it was because of the incident that the child is more wary and is trying to protect themselves from any possible danger. The world was never peaceful at all. Growing in a barren land lets her know that doing whatever it takes is the skill needed to live long. Resorting to using primitive means of fighting might make you look like a savage, but you can die an honorable death this way if you did forfeit your life that way.

Knowing that she cannot do anything to the child now, Denise could only instruct Rufus to not make the child more around much. Talking is impossible right now and he has to calm down before a conversation is even possible. Her mother told her that reasoning to a person who does not like to listen to you is a useless endeavor, but you can let them simmer and vent for a moment for the haze in their mind to clear off and they will be more or less willing to hear you out when they are exhausted.

Trusting her mother’s words, Denise made herself busy preparing their accomodations for the night. With the presence of an extra in their little party, Denise is not comfortable using magic at all. After all, people who use magic are quite precious and rare. She does not want any risk with people knowing she was using them.

Unlike other races who live in this world, humans are not the most favored one with magic for some reason. There is like only one magic user in every ten thousand people. And most of them are really honored people whom nobles have been investing and collecting them crazily for various ulterior motives.

Denise and her family can use magic as long as she can remember. In all the families have known in the barren land she lived on, there is no such situation at all. Even famous families whom she hears from the mouth of travelers rarely have more than one magic user in their family for at least every generation. And that is the case of those with established foundations as a family of magic users.

Her mother seems aware of their family’s uniqueness and has told them as soon as they can understand things that they cannot carelessly use magic. They already stand out for their family situation. Adding all members able to use magic will make them a sore thumb for all to see.

Back then when she was living with Fedikano and Rufus, she had no qualms in using magic once in a while. They are elves and magic is within their daily lives. Not using them in their presence when you can will make you an oddball and a strange case of a nutcase.

So as to not be too much of a strange housemate, Denise was able to hone a few life-skill magic to perfection. She is confident that if she does not want to look too odd in a chaotic situation she can keep a neat and tidy appearance without any problem. Fedikano was obviously pleased with her diligence, but Rufus makes a fuss once in a while that her skill is not enough.

“I’ll take care of the accommodation.” Rufus said after seeing that she is taking the manual way of making a simple tent. “You gather something to eat. Worry not of this child, I can handle him just fine while making sure we have a place to stay for the night.”

Denise wanted to protest. But with a wave of his hand, Rufus was able to create a dwelling in the blink of an eye. Casually, he placed the stunned child on the side then roughly had vines tied around them.

“I think you should hurry up, it would not be too safe if you get any later.” Rufus said indifferently.