Problems and Solutions

Waking up in the morning, I realized I wasn't able to do anything last night. Mom and I fell asleep pretty quickly. Well, considering that I had to skim through books the entire afternoon, my eyes really were quite heavy by then.

Mom was already out of bed, as she was getting ready for her trip to the capital. When I finally went downstairs, I saw Mom in what seems to be her formal attire. She has a white coat hanging on her shoulders, a dark-blue military blazer jacket with a mini pencil skirt, and thigh-high boots. Her outfit combined with her long platinum blonde hair and amethyst eyes, gave off the impression of a much colder, stoic impression, compared to the Mom I know and usually see.

It was quite the different look from her usual comfortable sundresses. She always had this motherly, homely vibes coming from her, but to think that a change in outfit could do so much to change the impression she gives.

"Oh, Morning Riel. Didn't know you're up already." Mom said

"Wow Mom, you look different." I honestly said

"Fufu~ You never saw Mom in this outfit before, right? This is what I wore when I was working" She lightly smiled

"Really? What was your job?" I asked curiously

"Secret~ I'll tell you next time~" She giggled as she told me

I thought that Mom would take her bow with her but instead, she took out a dusty box before opening it. She then pulled out a one-handed sword, with beautiful ornaments before hanging it on her waist. Why do I feel that Celine wasn't the only one involved in the military in our family?

"I won't take long okay? I'll come back in 4 days, or a week at worst. Stay safe, you and your sister." Mom said as she kissed me on the lips

"Un." I nodded before giving her a goodbye hug

"There, there, you're making me not want to leave, when you act like that." Mom said as she rustled my hair

"Oh? No way~ Mom, where did you get that?" I heard Celine's voice in shock, as she seemed to have woken up as well

"I'll tell you next time okay~ Come give Mom a hug" Mom said, once again enjoying our reactions

Celine usually didn't like to get all touchy, but seeing that Mom was leaving she went and joined our little family hug, until Mom finally went out.

"Goodbye, Mom!" I said while waving

"Stay Safe Mom." Sis said lightly

When Mom was no longer visible,

"Wait, who'll cook for us now?" Sis asked worriedly as she also looked at me

"Uhhhh… We can try, I guess?" I said as I also didn't have a clue on how to cook

I can't believe such a stupid thing passed over our entire family's head. Mom left forgetting that none of us could cook a dish, now what are we gonna do?

"Should we just eat fruits? I think I can survive on apples for atleast a week" Sis said

"Let's try that if we really can't cook anything" I said

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"This ain't working" Sis said as we looked at our creation

It was now noon and in this world there are no such thing as Googling the recipe, we don't even have a cookbook. We just cook based on what we remember Mom doing, which we don't remember a lot of. We tried what 'seemed' to be the easiest, which is vegetable pilaf.

I knew how to cook rice, a little bit. So once that was done, we started. Even us knows that you add the onions first, but after that it's all up to fate. Mom would probably scold us for 'wasting' food, but we tried since we don't wanna live off fruits for an entire week.

"But we added oil, why is it sticking to the pan so much?"

"Maybe bean soup is easier?" Sis said, as we stared at the burnt rice on the pan.

"Hmm, should I ask Teacher to help? She can cook really well" I suggested, though I kind of know that Celine is not that fond of Aerin

"Uhhh… No, I'll learn something by dinner… We need to learn how to be independent…" Sis suddenly went on about independence

"Anyway, let's just eat bread for now. I'll ask my friends a little bit on how to cook" she added, before leaving with the leftover bread from yesterday on her mouth

Wait, Sis doesn't have any friends. She probably is talking about the guards, do those guys know how to cook at all? Maybe some of them are married and she'll ask their wives instead. Tomorrow, I'll just tell Aerin that I won't be going to her place for a week, since I will be staying at home.

"Haaa… Now what should I do?" I sighed, as I thought of what I would be doing

I'm starting to grow up and I can't keep pretending to be an innocent kid anymore. Though Sis is still very clueless about adult matters, she'll probably learn more about it once she enters Military School. So I thought how do kids learn about sex anyway. In this age most people probably learn it through hearing adults talk about it or having their parents give them 'the talk'. But Mom and everyone in the village never does it, which is why Sis is so clueless about it in the first place. It doesn't help that she doesn't talk to other people that much as well.

I thought back to how I actually learned about it, and remembered porn. Though there isn't any porn videos here yet, maybe stuff like erotic literature already exists. I don't think they would be so easily available though, that a kid would just be able to find one in the library. Maybe I'll just write my own erotica instead, and have it so that me and Sis could 'study' and learn it together. After all, it's better for horny teenagers to learn about sex with other horny teenagers. And though Sis is in her twenties, we're elves anyway so we're still considered youngsters.

Of course this is only for Aerin and Sis. The whole reason why the thing with Mom was working, is because I'm still her innocent son in her eyes. So I can't have her find out about that. For Mom, I need her to be the one to teach me personally.

"How do I write one though?" I said to myself, thinking back to the erotica

Not only do I have to make sure it's not obvious that it is me who wrote it. I have to make it seem like a 'real' book, with a book cover and all. I went up to our bedroom, and looked at my journal where the notes regarding plant and nature magic are written. I also took note of how much ink and vellum I still have.

"I'd need to go get some more" I concluded, as I thought of how I should write my novel.

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-Celine POV-

"Hey Uncle Vielle" I asked the guard in the village

"Hm? Well if it isn't you brat again" the middle-aged elf guard answered with a smile

He has a pretty rough vocabulary, but he's someone with a good heart. He's the one who introduced me to the inspector after all. I remember his wife scolding him when she found out he used to curse in front of me years ago. I still remember their face when I copied Uncle Vielle's words. They're a nice couple, good thing I didn't slip in front of Mom because of them.

"Can you please ask Auntie if she can teach me how to cook? Mom left for a while, but I can't feed my brother" I explained the situation

"Lucielle left? To think that she'd forget that her own children can't even cook" Vielle murmured

"We can just cook for you, you know? You can just pick it up every morning" Vielle suggested

"Uhm thanks… But I'd also love to learn myself" I said

I should've known this earlier. Cooking skills is essential especially if I ever decide to go out for extended periods. Not to mention, I always won't have someone cooking for me. I need to be pretty self-sufficient, if I ever plan on taking care of myself and my family.

"I should've expected that reply from you, Okay I'll ask. My shift is over in a couple of minutes anyway" Vielle said

"Not in the mood for a spar?" I asked

"Nahhh, I think I'm good. I'll just drag my name down if I were to be beaten by you again." he declined

"Oh, okay then" I sighed

Practice here was getting pretty redundant too. I can't beat Mom yet, and Riel is a pretty weird opponent with his weird magic and all. I can't wrap my head around his magic. Though I'm still beating him, It's really difficult. Plus I'm not too sure how strong his weird magic would be in an all-out scenario. And that is how strong he is, even when he spends half of his day learning music.

Does he use the water in the plants to control and manipulate them? Maybe I should just stop trying to replicate what he does… I can use my eyes to cast magic, that is something not even Mom can do. I should try to focus on that instead.

I then turned my head towards a nearby practice dummy. As I felt my mana gather in my eyes, I could feel slight pain in the area around my eyes. The dummy suddenly burst into flames, without me moving my limbs or saying anything. It was set on fire with just my gaze. From what Riel said, my eyes would glow everytime I cast magic with just my eyes. So that's something I have to take note of...

'What do I do with this… Shit, it's itchy again.' I thought to myself, while rubbing my now itchy eyes.