[Volume 2 | Chapter 67: The Babysitter (III)]

The walk from Windsor East Training Grounds to Acacia and Pandora's residence had been a special kind of torture.

Every time that he a took a step on the ground, it sent a tide of agony through muscles Acacia hadn't even known existed until they started screaming in unison. By the time they'd showered and changed—a process that had taken him three times longer than usual due to his inability to lift his arms above shoulder height—noon had finally arrived.

Training was over. He had survived. Barely.

Now they sat at Cloudcrest Café, one of Windsor's more upscale establishments perched on the edge of Windsor Bay. The outdoor seating, requested specifically by Noelle, offered a stunning panorama of shimmering water stretching toward the horizon. Boats also cut white trails across the blue expanse.

On any other day, Acacia might have appreciated the view. Today however, he was too busy contemplating whether his body would ever function normally again.

"The salmon here is soooooo good!" Noelle exclaimed, somehow already halfway through an enormous plate of food despite having only received it minutes ago. "And these roasted potatoes! The rosemary really brings it to a whole other level, don'tcha think?"

Acacia wearily stared at his untouched sandwich as if there were a snake hidden within the bread. His stomach felt as battered as the rest of him, twisting nauseatingly in hunger and revulsion at the thought of actual food.

"Aren't you going to eat? You need to replenish your glycogen stores after a workout like that!" Noelle asked between enthusiastic bites.

"I'm replenishing my will to live first," he muttered, taking another small sip of his cup of apple juice. "My stomach and I are currently not on speaking terms."

"Oh! That happens sometimes with intensive training. Your blood flow diverts to your muscles and away from your digestive system. Try taking small bites. Your appetite should return soon!"

Acacia watched in disbelief as she flagged down a waiter to order dessert... despite still having a third of her main course left to finish.

"Where the hell do you even put it all? Do you have a black hole instead of a stomach?"

Noelle laughed, not the least bit self-conscious about her appetite.

"Haha! It's actually my Birthright, ⸢Vitalis!⸥ My body is pretty well tuned and uses fuel super efficiently, so I don't gain weight easily. But it means I have to eat a lot to keep up with my metabolism!"

He squinted at her, trying to determine whether she was joking or not.

"Your Birthright gives you... a super-fast metabolism?"

"Yep, a Spontaneous one with a few other perks! It's pretty handy, I have to admit. Especially for an Inquisitor who needs to stay in peak physical condition. I didn't find out about it until I was seriously training Thaumaturgy, so like... when I was around 12?"

"12? That's rather young to start training, right?"

"Well, I knew I wanted to be an Inquisitor, and soon enough like High Inquisitor Kircheisen, so I had to start early!" Her eyes lit up at the mention of Pandora. "Did you know she was already conducting independent research on Elemental Thaumaturgy by the time she was 19? Her academic papers on Water Thaumaturgy are legendary in the field!"

"I didn't even know she wrote academic papers," Acacia admitted, feeling somewhat sheepish. It was hard to imagine Pandora doing something so... scholarly. After leaving the Imperial Legion as Mercutio and abandoning that title to rebuild her career as an Inquisitor, High Inquisitor Pandora Kircheisen and Mercutio seemed to be two people that were completely different to the public eye.

"Yeah, she's so amazing! After graduating with honors from Rosario University, she joined the Divine Court as an Inquisitor at 20 and became the youngest High Inquisitor in Imperial history at just 22 years old! Can you believe that?"

"Uh... sure," he said, unsure how to react to her fanatical enthusiasm. He took a tentative bite of his sandwich, relieved to find that his stomach accepted the offering rather than staging a violent rebellion.

"Her record is so impressive! In less than three years, she's resolved 183 cases, including 3 major incidents that had the Divine Court and IPA completely stumped. Not to mention her liberation of the telecommunications warehouse from the Bloodhounds! In my position, her ranking as the second best is completely deserved! Honestly, if the Divine Court weren't so biased, they'd put her above High Inquisitor Ainsworth, but politics...you know?"

"I... guess so..." Acacia wasn't sure what criteria Noelle was using to put Pandora above a guy who solved the Lampard Case, which was considered the most unsolvable case of the last century that even alluded those who could see the future.

William Ainsworth did it in a few days.

The waiter arrived with her dessert. It was some elaborate confection involving chocolate and berries—momentarily halting her Pandora worship session. Acacia took the opportunity to signal for the check.

"I'll get this," he said when the bill arrived, partly to preempt any awkward discussion about payment and partly because he felt guilty about wasting a once-bitten sandwich.

"Oh! Thank you! Look at you being all gentlemanly. And here I thought you were just a grumpy bookworm with no social grace~" Noelle beamed at him across the table.

"I contain multitudes," Acacia dryly replied. "Most of which are currently in excruciating pain."

That earned another laugh from her, drawing glances from nearby tables. Noelle Lima laughed like someone who had never been taught to make herself smaller, quieter, and less noticeable.

It was simultaneously irritating and oddly refreshing.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

After paying, they started a leisurely walk along the bay as the afternoon sun warmed the cobblestone path hugging the water's edge. Acacia moved carefully, like a marionette with tangled strings.

"So," he began after a comfortable silence had settled between them, "why do you admire her so much? Pandora, I mean."

Noelle's pace slowed.

For a moment, she watched a sailboat cutting through the bay's waters, its white sail billowing against the blue horizon. When she turned back to him, her smile had softened around the edges.

"Do you want the impressive answer or the real one?"

Acacia raised an eyebrow. "There's a difference?"

"Oh, definitely." She tucked a loose curl behind her ear. "The impressive answer is all about her academic achievements, case-solving record, and thaumaturgical innovations. Which are all true and amazing, don't get me wrong!"

They reached a small pier extending into the bay. Noelle hopped onto it without hesitation. She balanced effortlessly on the weathered boards. After a moment's consideration, Acacia followed, wincing as his battered muscles protested the movement.

"What's the real answer?" he prompted when she didn't immediately continue.

The caramel-haired Inquisitor merely leaned against a wooden post, tracking the flight of seagulls overhead.

"Three years ago, I was working at my parents' textile shop in the commercial district. It's been in our family for generations—nothing fancy, just honest work. My dad expected me to take over someday... but I wanted something different."

She paused, her gaze distant, lost in memory.

"Acacia, have you ever wanted something so badly you could feel it in your bones? Something everyone told you was impossible?" She looked at him expectantly.

His mind went back to the days of Litore. Of how he wanted to be strong. So badly that he'd train himself till his fingers bled. But his body wouldn't change no matter what he did; his thaumaturgical abilities, or lack thereof, would not grow no matter how much he wanted to be stronger. But the only thing he could do was study, learn, and become more intelligent.

It seemed, no matter how much he tried, his dreams were always unfulfillable. But at the very least, he could do something in the realm of possibility.

The question struck closer to home than she could know. Acacia found himself nodding before he could think better of it.

She smiled, recognizing a kindred spirit.

"Exactly. I wanted to be an Inquisitor, make a difference, and protect people who couldn't protect themselves. My parents thought I was crazy. 'Inquisitors come from noble families or prestigious academies,' they said. 'Not from shopkeepers' daughters who barely scraped through basic thaumaturgical education.'"

The breeze off the bay ruffled her curls as she turned to face the water again.

"They weren't being cruel. Just realistic. You know how much private tutoring costs for Inquisitor entrance exams? It's basically a lot more than my family made in three months."

"So... what did you do?" he asked, intrigued in spite of himself.

Noelle smiled mischievously.

"I got creative. I took three jobs! Morning shifts at a bakery before classes, evening shifts at the library, and weekend inventory at a Mystic Gear repair shop. I slept maybe four hours a night for eight months straight." She laughed, but Acacia could hear the exhaustive echo in it. "I saved every penny for tutoring sessions and used my library position to 'borrow' textbooks for extra study time. One night, I was in the reference section after hours... it was technically not allowed, but the night guard knew me and looked the other way. I was so exhausted I literally collapsed face-first into Thaumaturgical Ethics: The Legal Framework, Volume Three."

"Sounds uncomfortable." Acacia winced sympathetically.

"Extremely! Those books are NOT designed for faceplanting." Her laughter danced across the water as she kicked her feet. "Anyway, I woke up to someone gently shaking my shoulder. And there she was—High Inquisitor Pandora Kircheisen, looking absolutely confused!"

"P-Pandora was at the library?"

"She was doing research for a case. Took one look at me and instead of reporting me for unauthorized access, she sat down and asked what I was studying."

Noelle's face softened with the memory.

"I was so terrified I could barely speak, but I managed to tell her about wanting to become an Inquisitor. I expected her to laugh or dismiss me. Instead, she picked up my notes, read through them for about ten minutes, then looked at me and said, 'Your [Bounded Field] dimensional analysis is flawed, but your approach is innovative.'"

The wind caught her laughter, carrying it out over the water once more.

"Can you believe that? My first conversation with the legendary Pandora Kircheisen, and she starts by critiquing my homework! But then she did something I'll never forget." Noelle's voice quieted. "She spent the next three hours teaching me. Right there in that empty library, surrounded by my messy notes and half-eaten snacks."

It was then that Acacia realized a crucial fact about Noelle Lima. Her admiration of Pandora Kircheisen wasn't based on myths, legends, or stories about her heroism.

She had experienced her humanity firsthand.

It wasn't a one-sided relationship, not even close. It was mutual, and both parties cared about one another.

"After that night, she arranged for me to join a special preparatory program she was developing for promising candidates from non-traditional backgrounds... she didn't have to do that. I was nobody—just a shopkeeper's daughter with big dreams and no connections. But she saw something in me, believed in me... and changed my life forever."

Her gaze met his, and in her eyes, he saw a fierce resolve that rivaled the afternoon sun's brilliance.

"In my opinion, what makes High Inqui—no, Pandora special is not that she's a really powerful Thaumaturge, nor the best in combat, nor her strategic mind, nor her political skill, nor her ability to get the job done in record time. It's that she truly cares about people. She sees people, knows people, and does everything in her power to help them reach their fullest potential. She's able to see potential where others only see limitations."

She suddenly grabbed his hands, squeezing tightly. Acacia nearly fell off the pier in shock. But her grip was firm and steady, keeping him upright.

"I think she sees something special in you, too, Acacia."

"W-Wait, are you—she's different with me. I-I'm jus—"

"Part of her mission? A case file? A refugee she's protecting?" Noelle shook her head. "Maybe those things are true. But I've worked with High Inquisitor Kircheisen for over two years now, and I've never seen her bring someone into her home before. Whatever else you are to her, Acacia, you're not just an assignment."

Before he could formulate a response to that unsettling observation, Noelle's energy instantly rebounded back.

"Anyway! That's my embarrassing story of hero worship and drooling on legal textbooks. Oh, look at those sailboats! Have you ever been sailing? My uncle has this tiny little boat that's practically held together with hope and good intentions, but it's so much fun when the wind catches just right and—"

And just like that, she was off again. Bounding ahead along the pier, gesturing excitedly at the boats gliding across the bay. Acacia watched her, feeling slightly dizzied by the abrupt shift in tone.

He was beginning to realize that Noelle's exuberance was not an act or exaggeration. It was simply who she was—a bright, burning flame, flickering and dancing from one enthusiasm to the next.

Knowing that felt comforting, somehow.

As they continued their walk along the bay, Acacia found himself responding more than grunting, even occasionally asking questions that sent her spinning into new torrents of excited explanation. The sun's heat warmed his aching shoulders, and for a brief moment, he allowed himself to consider that perhaps, just perhaps, the next few days might not be the torture he had anticipated.

He was still sore and frustrated by Pandora's absence. He was also still wary of this bubbly, freckled hurricane of a woman who had invaded his hallowed routine.

And despite all of that... he couldn't deny that the afternoon had been pleasant.

Enjoyable, even.

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