Chapter 772: Last day at home
[Eon's POV: ]
"She knows you are leaving tomorrow."
"And yet, look at her."
We were with mom and others in the front yard where Anna was happily playing with the Povpoi and other creatures.
"Eon, have you heard anything from the headmaster after that day?"
"Nope."
Carla, Alf, Cary, Rein, and I would be returning back to the academy tomorrow. Miss Moon would be with us as well, and, since Anna had taken a unique liking to her, it was not going to be easy for her to say goodbye to all of us.
"Headmaster, vice headmaster, even most of the teachers are working hard to stabilise the sky island right now.
After what happened in Lakmer, the entire island had been in shambles.
Adventurers are going around cursing at one another, trade unions are losing business, the small shops had to be shut down because there were riots from the people related to Lakmer and there were even cases where the authorities had to use force to calm the situation down.
It was a complete mess for a few days."
"Dad was saying something similar a while ago as well. He even said the creatures in the outskirts were being hunted unlawfully after the things got worse back at the island."
"Though, El was saying things have calmed down now on call yesterday, so you all should be alright."
"Right."
My aunts and grandparents were with us as well, and though we were drinking hot chocolate instead of the usual tea today, there was a good atmosphere around us.
It was winter and it was snowing outside.
'The garden was covered in snow today as well, so it was all white around us.'
The flower areas were obviously an exception but there was enough snow here for Anna to have fun with the others.
"Oh, I just remembered. Did you all check up on your friends? Are they alright?"
The others left for their houses or to the academy just the day before yesterday so grandma was asking if they were alright even though she knew their status well.
"They are fine, mostly no problems. Though I do think those who returned back to academy would be worried when they don't find 'us' over there."
"Huhu, right. Or course they would~."
There was a smile on their faces, but they still couldn't hide the pain and worry in their eyes.
"Miss moon."
"Yes."
I pointed towards Mom's cup with my eyes and Miss Moon filled with with more of the warm chocolate drink.
It was something different from the common hot chocolate, something I made personally, so it was also something they enjoyed in this perfect weather.
"Anyway baby, are you all going to be alright? What is academy going to do… like, yes we know they are untouchable and all, but there should be something that they would come up with after all this happened, right?"
"As I just said, mom… I have no idea what they are going to do."
And I'm not even lying this time.
The headmasters almost vanished and weren't even responding to any messages we tried to send.
The last thing I heard about them was from president and vice president on Anna's tea party.
There was no news since then, and even president and vice president were responding to anything anymore.
'Somethig was going on that was keeping them too busy, and we don't know what it is.'
Though, we will soon find out about it after we get back to academy tomorrow.
"Hmmm… Welp, nothing conclusive then."
They weren't going to talk about grand conference when the others were here as well so that topic was on one side completely.
'There was going to be conference of world level powers and they were going to hold it completely secretly that no one will know about.'
Only certain parties would be invited to that conference, and besides the two of us, mom and grandpa should be there as respective individual authorities.
I would be presenting and that was confirmed alredy so that was on one side, but, it will happen during out school times, so I don't know what we are going to do about that.
'Well… it's not like school is more important than the world peace. Those cult bastards are a bigger threat than what I had thought about.'
And then there's the vision I had as well… I have to discuss about it with headmaster first since no one in my family knows anything about that device and Wali refused to tell us anything about it since 'we did not have authority' to know information just yet.
'The 'authority' is very complicated thing now that I know more about it.'
There were so many things in this world that we knew nothing about, just like these cult bastards and their strange powers.
The masterminds behind all of them were in no way simple bastards and since they were so different from the already existing threats of Rakshasas, dealing with them isn't going to be anything simple either.
-Bam.
"Yeiiiiiii! Big brother got hit!"
She was throwing snowballs at the ones playing with her, but from the looks of it, her battlefield was expending now.
"Anna! You aren't supposed to throw snowballs there! It's not-"
"Kehehe. Zoe got hit as well!"
"Miss Taika! You shouldn't-"
"Shut up, Moonmoon."
-Bam!
Taika, Miss Moon, and Zoe were her partners, along with Zuroro, the Povpoi who were using their powers, Mave, and even dad was with them.
He was playing with them, or was cleaning after them would be the better way to say what he was doing buried under that pile of snow.
"Oy! We are talking!"
"Of course you are Talking!"
-Bam.
Anna's shot missed and it was a complete coincidence, but in the heat of the fun moment, Taika ended up throwing a snowball right in our direction… and sadly, it ended up on mom's face.
"Opps."
She had done it.
"Taika dear~."
She first cleared the snow from her face and then, slowly and calmly, she first finished her hot chocolate.
"Mom no-"
"It's alright, baby. I know, it's no biggie."
A war was going to start on this garden, all of us can foresee that much.
"N-Nol… you know I didn't…"
"Ah of course dear~. I know just how fun it must be playing with these little balls of ice."
She walked towards them while cracking her fingers, and right then a smile alredy present on her face.
"Can I play with you, Anna~?"
"Ohhh! Mom wants to play as well~? Yeiiiiiiii~!"
Taika had realised her mistake so all her excitement was replaced by a little hint of fear, dad had also just managed to get out of the pile of snow they had buried him under.
"Alright then~! You just throw balls of snow at one another, right~?"
"Yes! Here, you can have this one~."
Anna was giving a weapon to her opponent herself… how sweet of her…
'I wish mom was as sweet to them as her…'
There was a sweet smile on her face and though Anna could tell there was something wrong with this entire thing, she didn't worry since it was mom.
She knew if it was mom, she would do something cool and the fun would increase, and yes she was certainly right.
"Oh? Thanks sweetie~."
Her target was alredy decided, so she didn't even wait.
"Wait, Nol… no. No! No no no no. Please!"
Taika started running backwards, which was a mistake. She should have ran towards us.
"Hehe. You started this~."
Mom didn't have physical powers, but she had appropriate skills to compensate for her weakness.
And {Jupiter's gravity} a very rare skill that perhaps only a handful of people possesses in this entire world, was something that converted her power of authority and mental stats into something that affected someone physically.
-Swish—swiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish!
She made the snowball her skill target with that power, made it lighter and threw it normally towards a completely random point first, and then…
-Bam!
While controlling the speed of that snowball, she accelerated the entire thing until it reached a point where Taika had ended up in while trying to get out of her range.
-Booooooooom!
When the little fragile snowball hit her, it created a little explosion that blew off all the snow in that point and created something similar to a crater.
"Wohhhhhh! What was that, mom~?!"
And it somehow impressed my little Anna.
"We should finish the chocolate."
Aunt Aug, grandmother, grandpa, even Aunt Haze knew what was going to follow that one explosion.
"This will be first time, right? I wasn't expecting she would see us do this so soon."
There's a game called (Extreme snowball battle) in the north. A game that involves simple snowballs, magic, aura, powers, and everything one can think of to use those simple snowballs with.
"Taika started it, as mom said. What can we do?"
It was winter and we would be leaving the first thing in the morning.
Anna would be alone once again, and there's no helping it.
'The last few days were fun. For her and for us as well.'
But after we go back, she wouldn't hear from me directly as it has been until now, and this time, it will be for longer.
'We will only return after our midterms now.'
It will be a long break so we would go to the North, to our land, to mom's motherland, to the place this family has originated from.
It was already set and we were looking forward to it, but… there were many things that were going to happen in between that and this event.
'But not all of the people here will know of them.'
It would be fun and all, perhaps, but there are many serious problems waiting ahead of us.
"Nol! Now you started this one, alright!"
-Bam!
Problems much bigger than this little snowball fight.
-Bam. Bam.
"You two! Calm down please! Someone might get-"
-Bam!
{ "Hahaha! Does this mean we can use magic now as well~! This will be so much more fun~!" }
{ "Yes! Yes! Now Glem and Dome can go all out! Hahaha!" }
{ "Children! Control your powers! If anyone gets hurt-" }
-Bam.
{ "Hehe, mama got hit as well~. It means she's out now, right~?" }
Anna was doing better even though there was that awakening attempt.
And it was for the best.
'She might not endure as she is right now.'
She was leaning, getting better, and she is a genius even better than Rein, Carla, Alf, or me perhaps.
She had gotten much better in this short time, and after we come back, she might have progressed beyond my expectations. It's certainly possible.
However, it was important that she understands the true meaning of Power.
"Looks like it's time for us to step in."
"Magic's allowed, right?"
"Nothing above (tier-2)." Grandpa's warning was calculated.
"Noted."
"And no complex spells. Especially for you two."
But grandmother's warning was aimed at the two of us specifically.
She had already seen past our intentions long ago.
"Teams?"
"No teaming. It will be a point game."
"Then you looks like everyone is everyone's opponent."
All of us were smirking since we knew this was going to fun. But Alf alone was worried about all this.
He knew what was going to happen to this garden and to all of us real soon, but… just like how we were going to do what we can to show Anna how power was used, he knew very well just what kind of snowball battle was awaiting us.
'He was nice, and that's why he was worried.'
Which was a mistake that he will soon know about and work on if he really wanted to be with Bell.
'And, the same was something Anna would have to learn the hard way because of her very nature.'
Though, I'm prepared to teach it to her myself.