Morning Routine

Nina closed her eyes and pinched her noses. If the smell was already this bad, she couldn't imagine how bad it would taste. But regardless, she chugged it down as fast as she could. "Gugh... Yuck!" To her surprise, the thing tasted even worse than she thought. "What's in this?" It tasted like a blend of herbs. It was extremely bitter and didn't taste like any medicine that she knew of.

"It's an antidote for the poison in your body. I thought about giving it to you in short doses, but that's too much work and a waste of time, so I decided to give it to you all at once," Idril explained to her. The concoction was medicine to get rid of the poison that accumulated without her knowing.

Idril took her cup and walked over to a jug of water, pouring a cup of water for her. "Here," she handed it back to Nina. "Don't waste enough a drop. This stuff was a pain to make."

Nina took it and drank the water without question. After she was finished, she put it down and looked at her mentor. "You talk like you made it."

"I did," Idril said as a matter of fact.

"Wait, you did?"

"Why do you sound so surprised? As a Sylv, this much, or rather, this little is only normal."

"I know..."

"Do you think that anyone could become a Sylv just because they can fight well? If that was the case, then the Sylvs would have a bunch of meatheads who don't think. I don't know about you, but if that happens, then the Sylvs would be no different from a normal army," Idril explained. The Sylvs were a group of elite elven soldiers. Raw strength isn't everything. Knowledge and other essential skills are also required for one to qualify.

It was just that Nina didn't expect Idril to know something like medicine. The elf didn't strike her as the type of person to learn something like that. It just didn't suit her personality. But she wasn't about to say that aloud.

"Anyway, who was the other elf that you were with the other day? What's her name again?"

"Solona?"

"Solona... Right. I need to deliver her some of this stuff too." Idril took out a flask with the same liquid that she had just given Nina. "Do you know where she lives?"

"No." Nina had no clue where Solona lived. They will have to ask around the village for that.

"Well, then we know what we have to do next, don't we? Get dressed and let's start moving. You have three minutes."

"Three minutes!?" Nina asked. How was she going to get dressed that fast?

"Three minutes is already generous. We Sylvs don't have the luxury of taking it easy in the mornings, or in the nights too in that case. If something happens, we have to be the first to respond. We're working with seconds here. Hurry up." Idril left the room without waiting for a response from Nina.

Not wanting to leave her teacher waiting for too long, Nina quickly changed out of her pajamas and into her everyday clothes. Pressured by Idril to get ready in three minutes, Nina did everything in a rush. She put her shirt on backward the first time and had to take it off and put it back on the right way. She hopped around the room, trying to put on her pants. It took several tries, but she eventually got one leg in and then the other.

Uncertain how much time was left, Nina threw on her socks and shoes and barged out the door. "I'm ready!" She didn't have time to fix her hair so it was an absolute mess. She had parts sticking up. Her clothes were also a mess with sections sticking out all over the place. *Huff Huff*

Idril saw Nina's appearance and couldn't help but scoff at it. She put her hand over her mouth and chuckled. "Well, at least you finished dressing in under three minutes," the elf said on the bright side. Even if she looked like a wreck, she at least did what Idril told her to do. "But that's enough of that. Let's find that other elf."

Ideal beckoned for Nina to follow her and she did. The two of them strolled into the village and looked around for the elf called Solona. There were very few elves outside, making the search difficult. They asked around for Solona's whereabouts but none of them knew. Finally, after asking literally everyone else in the forest, they came upon someone who knew.

Idril and Nina approached a male elf who was watering some plants. "Excuse me," Idril called out to him.

The male elf got up and turned around, holding the watering can at an angle such that the water inside was spilling out and onto the plants. Nina glanced over at what the plants were and saw that they were a type of herb used for seasoning food.

"May the forest guide you," he greeted Idril and Nina. The two greeted the elf back. "So, what may I do for you two?" the elf asked, getting straight to the point as he was busy.

"Have you seen an elf that goes by the name, Solona, anywhere?"

"Solona, you say... She's my cousin. Why are you looking for her?"

"Your cousin? That means that you know where she is, right?" Idril replied with another question.

"...Yes." The elf looked skeptically at Idril, trying to figure out what she wanted with his cousin.

"Good." Idril reached into her pocket and took out the vial containing the antidote and gave it to the elf.

"..."

The elf looked at the vial, hesitant about talking about it. "What is this?" he asked. If he was going to take this thing, he at the very least needed to know what it was.

"It's medicine for your cousin. Has she been feeling unwell or sluggish lately?"

"Huh? ...Wait, now that you've mentioned it, she has been a little ill lately..." the elf answered.

"Well then, that simplifies things. Give this to her." Idril handed the elf the antidote, almost forcibly shoving it into his hands.

"Got it. I'll hand this to my cousin right now." The elf bowed his head. He plopped down the watering can and immediately headed off into the forest to where his cousin was.

"That takes care of that." Crossing that out of her mental to-do list, Idril moved on to the next thing that needed to be taken care of today, and that was to continue training a certain someone... Idril looked at Nina. "Now, you know what comes next, don't you?"

"You don't mean..." The color drained from her face when she realized what her teacher meant. "Isn't it a little early? Shouldn't we eat something first?" she pointed out.

"Hm? Food? Oh yeah... Break-fast..." Idril's pronunciation of the word was very unusual. It sounded as if this was her first time hearing the word, and it was foreign to her. "I forgot that it exists..." he murmured. "The same goes for lunch and dinner..." Although her pronunciation of the two words was also off like it was with breakfast, it didn't sound that far off like it did with breakfast.

"Um... Do you not eat breakfast... Or lunch and dinner," as well in that case. Nina was a little concerned about her mentor after hearing this.

"I can't say for the other Sylvs, but I don't really have the time to eat three times a day." As a Sylv, there are a lot of things to do and it is normal to miss meals. At some point, Idril gave up on trying to eat three meals a day and changed to eating as often as she could. And when that wasn't working out either, she gave up on that and just started eating when it was necessary. When Nina heard this, she was saddened by it and didn't know what to say.

"That's awful... Your body won't hold up if you keep doing that..." Nina told Idril, worried about her well-being.

Although Nina was worried about her body, Idril didn't look like she cared the slightest about not eating well. "I've been doing this for years now," she told her, assuring her that she was perfectly fine eating so little. If anything, trying to eat whenever she could, would probably be more problematic for her than not eating enough. "Time is precious, and so is food. It's best to not waste either if you can avoid it." She was no philosopher, but she followed this way of thinking for quite a long time now and wasn't going to revert back.

"Plus, we have serious matters to attend to," Idril also added, reminding Nina that while she was training her, they were also looking for the source of whoever or whatever poisoned the forest. They definitely have much more important things to do than eat-

*Grooghh*

"Er- What was that?" Idril drew her blade and spun around. She expected there to be a wild beast or something nearby but was confused when she saw that they were alone. "Huh?" She slowly put her blade away and looked at Nina. "Was that you?" she asked, seeing that if there was no one else here but them, the only person who could have made it was her.

Nina's cheeks turned red and she answered meekly, "Yes... I didn't eat dinner last night because I was trying to practice my magic..."

"I see. So that was your stomach growling?"

"Yes..."

"Ah... Why didn't you say so then? I guess we can get something to eat first." Idril wasn't all that hungry and could go another day or two without food, but since her student was hungry, she might as well eat something too.

"Thank you..."

"Well, you need energy to work. There's no point in training you if you can't even lift your arms."

Nina and Idril decided to postpone their training and mission for now and went to get something to eat.

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