14 One More Goodbye

The next time Liliana went into town, she was somehow able to convince Mei to take Kalin as her student in the way of the sword. She agreed that Kalin would live with her for one week a month from that point forward. She would teach him in the mornings, and in the evenings, he would either help in the eatery or go out with Mei. This allowed Kalin to get more familiar with society and gain some common sense.

The rest of the month, Kalin would be back at home, learning from Lili. Around the time he started learning from Mei, Lili also started teaching him how to use magic. Though she didn't know any light magic, she was able to teach him about how to manipulate mana, and dark magic. It probably comes as no surprise that out of all magic spells, succubi are most adept with charm and illusion magics. While illusion magics can be in many different 'schools' of magic. However, the strongest ones generally fall in the light or dark categories.

To use magic, there are no set 'spells' per-se. While there are definitely popular and widely recognizable manifestations of magics, there are no concrete rules about chanting and spell names. To use magic, one must use their body to channel mana (generally from their surroundings), give it a purpose, and then manifest the intent. For example, to make a fireball, one must absorb enough mana and use their body to modify that mana into fire mana. Next, they would more or less command or push the mana into a ball, before shooting, throwing, or dropping that mana at the intended target. If one wanted the fireball to explode, they would have to command it to do so when they are converting and forming the spell.

Because of the way magic works, there are three important skills to casting. First is mana gathering. Without the ability to gather mana quickly, a mage is a relatively weak and cast time is unreliable for any fight. The second skill is mana control. Gathering mana quickly doesn't mean anything if one isn't able to control mana adequately. Trying to control quantities of mana beyond one's capabilities causes extreme exhaustion, often called mana exhaustion, or in extreme cases causes the spell to misfire or collapse. The third major skill is channeling. This is important for every mage that doesn't want to implode.

There are also other skills such as visualization and aiming, but these are able to be supplemented with magic items, or words. Any capable mage is able to cast spells without giving away their attack or using 'crutches' to help cast. That isn't that they don't use them, they just don't need them.

Amazingly, as the months went by, nobody had found out that Kalin was a male, not even Mei's father. Kalin was eventually brought on his first animal hunt, and soon after, his first monster hunt. It didn't take long for him to quickly become a proficient fighter with both magic and the sword. At the restaurant, he learned how to cook, and became very popular as a 'waitress'. There were occasional incidents involving individuals with less than clean resumes, but they all ended well… at least for Kalin.

His days continued like this as the months continued forward.

******

"Don't leave me!" cried a small girl outside a small wood cabin, as she squeezed onto her big brother. Well, small and big according to age. Though only 9 years old, Rosalie, the younger sister of Liliana and Kalin, was almost the same height as her older siblings. She had long, deep red hair like her mother and deep blue eyes. She was in the middle of her growth spirt, so her pajamas looked a little on the tight side. She had had a somewhat messy appearance, signifying her recent awakening. Her horns coiled outward like her mother's and had the signature spade-shaped tail common to succubi. Overall, she looked like a small version of Scarlett.

Kalin had also grown quite a bit. While he was still over a head shorter than his mother, he had finally reached the same height as Lili. Beside her long ears and stubby horns that barely peaked from her hair, the two looked like twin sisters. His appearance didn't change much throughout the past 4 years. Though, his face had become slightly more mature. His androgynous appearance didn't change much, except for a slight protrusion of his Adam's apple, which he now covered with a fur scarf. Though currently detracted, he also sported two pairs of wings, a pair of golden bird wings near his shoulder blades, and another bat-like pair near his waist. His horns, now 20 or so cm long, grew upward and curled like a kudu or impala.

Currently, he had a pair of legs locked around his waist and arms around his neck. Kalin stroked the back of his distraught sister's head as he said, "It's alright. Don't cry. It's not like we'll be gone forever, we'll still come visit."

Rosalie immediately denied his petition, "No! You're going to leave and be kidnapped by bad guys, and then I'll never see you again!" Though it wasn't uncommon for her to get sad and clingy when Kalin was going to leave, this time was a little different, "Do you really have to leave to be an adventurer? Can't you just stay here with me and mommy?" Then turning to Liliana, "But you can leave, you go get eaten by a dragon or something."

Lili couldn't help but feel her eye twitch at the difference in treatment between herself and Kalin. For some reason, Rosalie decided that she and her were enemies, so she had to deal with the one-sided rivalry of her sister that was many decades her junior. She quickly approached her younger siblings and peeled them apart by grabbing her sister by the face.

"Ow ow ow ow! Stop! It Hurts!" Rosalie yelled, no longer crying. After the grip on her head was lessened, she taunted, "The reason you don't have any boobs is because all your energy goes into being angry! You stupid troll woman! Go back to your kind! Ouch!" As she continued talking, the tighter the grip became.

After having been released from his sister, Kalin turned to Scarlett, and gave her a big hug, "I love you! I'm going to miss you."

As she squeezed him face-first into her cleavage, Scarlett filled every inch of Kalin's face with kisses. After leaving a slightly moist layer on his face, she gave him a long kiss on his lips, "I'm going to miss you so much. I can't believe that my baby is almost an adult now. Don't forget about mommy, okay?" She had her regular lazy aura about her, but she also shewed a fair amount of concern on her face.

After Kalin agreed, and several long moments of hugging, she finally released her son, and proceeded to squeeze and kiss Liliana in a similar manner, causing her to release her grip on her sister's head. "Make sure that you keep the two of you safe. Protect Kalin from bad girls too."

Lili just sighed, "We'll be fine. If any stupid bitches try to touch him, they better watch their ass, and if any bastards try to touch him, they better get used to being a girl." She motioned over at her little sister, "Make sure that somebody continues practicing when I'm gone. She gets really lazy."

Rosalie could only grumble at this comment while Scarlett just laughed in confirmation. The small family continued their antics until Kalin's scarf seemed to come alive. Seemingly from nowhere, a head popped out from the coils of fur covering his neck. It looked like a fox and started cooing at its master to hurry up.

Kalin looked at his pet and friend that had hatched the prior year. Patting its head, he said, "Okay, I hear you." Then turning to his family, "Alene is worried that she'll miss her lunch if we don't leave soon."

Though it was currently taking the form of a dark fox, Alene was a member of the fae known as a pooka. Known for their shapeshifting properties, they are extremely rare, not because of their low numbers, but due to the indistinguishability between it and a regular animal.

The family, now used to its antics, just laughed at the creature that spent most of its time as a scarf. Letting out a noise of discontent, because of their laughter, Alene went back to disguising itself as a scarf.

After another round of saying goodbyes, hugs, and an excess of kisses, Kalin and Liliana equipped themselves; Kalin strapped his estoc on his hip, while Liliana equipped her black ironwood stave in her hand. Because it was taller than she was, it was awkward to wear around her waist or on her back. After confirming that they were ready, they shared one last goodbye before leaving the valley. Just months before turning 13 and becoming an adult, Kalin finally left his mother's home to become an adventurer.