Chapter 61: Breaking the difficult news
"Do you know what a school is, little one?" Looking at Alex, who had her mouth full with freshly baked cookies, I asked her a simple question.
"Hmm?"
Today, the two of us were the only ones in the same little garden where we always play.
A few days ago, we had that little incident, but she was alright. She didn’t remember what exactly happened to her, but she was not hurt.
She did, however, realise the presence of the spirit she was originally contracted with.
There was a new voice that was talking to her from time to time with her, and she was slowly getting to know that voice, which was a good thing.
"Gai knaw wht chool is." She was obviously speaking without finishing the food in her mouth. It was childish and adorable.
She knew her manners and if the mothers were here, any of them would scold her. But they weren’t around today, and the two of us just finished a tough training secession which had famished her dearly.
"Here." I handed her some flavored milk she liked, a stolen invention of mine from the near future, as well as a secret recipe of my own.
She loved the sweet flavour, and she enjoyed her little snack so, when she was done, she finally looked at me with curiosity in her pretty eyes.
"But why are you asking me about the school, big brother?"
For most of us who might spend most of our younger days within the family, the schools or academies out there in the world were too foreign things.
We knew about them but for us, everything we were going to learn was here.
At least for her, everything she might learn going forward would be from here.
"I am going to go to the best school in this world, Alex." It was finally time to break the tough news to this little one.
"Wow! Big brother Sam! Are you really going to go to school?" She was instantly excited about it.
However, she didn’t quite understand what that meant.
"Yes, little one. I might leave shortly after your naming night."
"Oh! I see~! You’ll leave... leave? You’ll... leave?"
The transition from excitement to realization and then sadness was adorable in its own way. However, the young rage and tears that followed after that weren’t so pretty.
"Big brotherrrrrr! You’re leavinggggg! Whayyyyy?! Whaaaaaaaaaa!"
I have thought about how I’d deal with her sadness and her tears when I finally tell her about my departure. I thought a lot about it but there was just no simple way to do this.
"There there, little one." I simply hugged her and caressed her head, telling her comforting things until she had calmed down.
It did not happen instantly. She took her sweet time crying at least a bucket full of tears.
Her precious tears, gone because of me, were not a small thing. She was the precious youngest lady of the Sungrade.
If the mothers or my father were here, they would scold me without asking for any reasoning or explanation.
"Have you calmed down now? Young lady?" Thankfully, she was not as troublesome as a few ladies I’ve known in the past.
She was still upset, but she had stopped her river of tears.
"Yes..." She wasn’t looking at me anymore, as it was her will.
I could talk to her, I could explain my reasoning, I could even tell her that it is necessary. But, none of that talk will prove to be too effective.
So, I should not go with words alone.
"Do you want to see the school I’m going to go to, Alex?" With her still in my arms, she looked up at me right as I asked her that question.
I was smiling, as I mostly am when I’m around her. I’d really hate it if I leave her and she’s all sad. It would be heartbreaking for her, and I don’t want that.
"What... do you mean? Do... do you have a picture?" She was interested.
"I have something even better."
This would be the first time she experiences something like this, so I put extra effort into it.
"Felix?"
"Meow~!" Resting right beside us, Felix happily meowed.
Then, her eyes turned blue as her body vanished and a gray fog covered the area.
"Huh?"
Alex was a little afraid, but the fear only lasted for a minute.
-Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish.
When the fog cleared up, we were flying in the clouds.
"Huh?!" When she realised she was so high up, afraid she’d fall down, she hugged me tightly.
It was cute for a moment, at least until she saw how Felix was standing on top of nothing.
"This isn’t real, little one." I chuckled at the fears of my little sister. The way her face got red with embarrassment was a cherry on the cake.
"Big brother!" She shouted at me and jumped off, landing on nothing that still felt like solid ground.
-Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiish.
Still, the winds flying here seemed real to her.
The freshness, the clouds, the faraway horizon, and lastly, the mountain carved out of which was a... well, calling it anything at all would be an understatement to its scale.
"That is Stanox, little Alex."
One of the highest peaks of this world turned into the greatest academic institution of the world: The Heartbeat of academics, the motherland of tamers, the only place in this world that shared a portion of authority with all existing powers and continents.
"That’s where I want to go."
It was a mountain and an entire world existed inside this mountain.
Not only was it the best place to learn anything in this world, it was also the best place where one could grow.
Also, not only the younger tamers or low level tamers, this institution had tamers of (Level-6) and above wanting to learn something new as well.
There were assimilators like my fathering searching for what existed beyond the realm of becoming one with their partners; core of all the schools of taming was based here, and each person that ever got the chance to enter this institution had come out with a purpose for their life, be it as a tamer or as a simple backer in the countryside...