The Laughing Swordsman

Maya looked closely at the diagram. She noticed that multiple spherical sections looked the same within the diagram.

They were connected to the rest of the diagram in different ways, but otherwise the same.

Maya decided to memorize this spherical section. If her guess was correct, she would learn a new spell. Even if she guessed wrong, there was no loss. She couldn't memorize the whole diagram anyway.

Maya strained her eyes, slowly memorizing the spherical section. When she lost vision of it, she simply looked towards another identical section.

The pain in her mind was slowly growing, but she also slowly imprinted the image in her mind.

Soon it felt as though someone was pushing a needle through Maya's head. Along with that, the pulling force was almost unbearably strong.

But, she memorized the section.

Maya's ethereal body composed of white specks of dust dissipated.

she sucked in a deep breath and shivered.

Maya opened her eyes to find herself back in the cold and snowy real world.

She was still holding onto the gemstone and the red vortex remained inside it.

Her mind slowly reconstructed the diagram and she tried to activate it, but nothing happened.

There was no mana.

Maya felt a headache coming on. In the end, her lack of magic talent crippled her.

Her grip around the gemstone tightened. The gemstone's vortex began rotating rapidly and Maya felt a gentle stream go from her hands to the rest of her body.

It was refreshing. As if she just cleaned herself after a good bath.

For just a moment, Maya's mouth was agape.

Was this mana?

She hurriedly tested out her hypothesis, recalling the diagram once again. The mana did not resist when Maya guided the mana outside the tip of her finger.

However, once it left her finger, the mana dissipated and all her control over the mana was lost.

The corner of her lip twitched.

She suddenly recalled something her mother said.

"Those without talent must become what we call a 'Constitution Mage'. They can only cast by forming the spells inside of their body, but that is terribly dangerous so don't ever become one."

Maya furrowed her brows. After a few moments of hesitation, she bowed at the empty sky.

"Sorry mother, but I am unable to follow your advice."

Maya slowly formed the spell inside her body. She had little difficulty forming the diagram.

Once she finished, a small ball of fire appeared above her hand. Since her hand was quite close to her, she hurriedly stuck it out to avoid being burnt.

Once the feeling of danger was gone, she stared at the ball of fire in front of herself.

She was mesmerized by the soft orange glow.

In reality, she did not hold much hope that she would be able to do anything. She was only trying for the sake of saying she tried.

And so, once things worked out, she was in disbelief.

After a few more moments, she shook her head. She almost forgot there was a pressing matter at hand.

The biggest thing Maya needed to cook the rice was heat and now she had it.

She filled the sack of rice with snow, then hovered the small ball of fire above it.

She kept it like that until the rice was wet and cooked.

She rushed over to Apollo, then froze again.

There was no spoon.

Maya furrowed her brows.

After a moment of contemplation, she put one end of the rice bag to Apollo's lip then raised the other end.

Maya did not take the fact people had to breathe or chew into consideration. This was clear as she was essentially forcing down egregious amounts of rice down Apollo's throat.

Once Apollo began gagging, Maya tilted her head to the side.

Was he choking?

Maya shrugged her shoulders and then continued pouring rice down Apollo's throat.

Once the sack was empty, she tossed it aside and looked at Apollo. He was completely out of it.

In reality, Apollo was on the verge of waking up before Maya brought the bag of rice to his mouth.

By the time he was conscious, rice was being forcefully shoved down his throat.

He could not breathe.

His eyes rolled back and he ended up choking until he fell unconscious once again.

Nonetheless, the food worked its magic.

If one paid close attention, they would see Apollo's wounds closing up. It was nothing like the three-horned demon's regeneration speed but was still startlingly fast.

However, Apollo's broken ribcage did not reposition itself. Leaving his chest caved in.

Maya noticed that he had healed decently and poked Apollo in the face.

"...Can you wake up?"

Although Apollo was tightly holding onto his bokken, he was unconscious. He showed no signs of waking up.

Maya felt perturbed by his lack of a response.

Should she wait for him to wake up?

Maya shook her head. She felt that Apollo might freeze to death at this temperature since he was essentially wearing torn bandages as clothes.

Maya tried to lift Apollo by his shoulders but recoiled right after. Apollo's body was emitting so much heat that Maya would be scalded if she touched him for too long.

After a few moments of hesitation, Maya sat down next to Apollo. It was close enough to feel warm from the heat, but far enough so that she wouldn't be burned.

Maya felt her stomach rumble.

She smiled bitterly.

"I should've saved some for myself."

She snuck a peek at Apollo.

"Oh, well."

Her eyelids grew heavy and she drifted off into sleep.

...

Maya woke up feeling cold.

Apollo's body was no longer emitting an unbearable heat, but Apollo was still out like a light.

Maya sighed.

"Why won't you wake up?"

Maya put away the gemstone under her shoulder.

She then lifted Apollo by the shoulders and placed him on her back.

She held Apollo's arm like it was the strap of a backpack and walked through the snowy forest.

Apollo was lighter than expected, but Maya was still a kid. It was not easy for her.

As Maya trudged through the snow, she rubbed her belly.

She was getting really hungry.