The night after their debut party, the twins tried so hard just to fall asleep. After what seemed to be quite a long time to sleep, they finally went to Dreamland. Perhaps due to that, they were a bit hard to wake up the next day.
“Freyr? Freyja? Wake up, you’re coming with us to Capicastle today,” Cassie gently shook the twins alternately.
Unfortunately, the twins pulled their blankets to continue to sleep instead.
“We’re running late. Don’t you want to know what presents we have for you?” Cassie patiently waited for the twins to wake up.
“Nnn…,” Freyr sleepily rubbed his eyes–still tightly shut.
Cassie sighed.
At that time, Lyra’s small voice could be heard from beyond the door, “Mom? Are they awake yet?”
“No… Not yet.”
“Oh… I see.”
Then, silent fell to the room.
Just when the twins were about to drift to the Dreamland again…
*SLAM!*
“RISE AND SHINE, FREYR, FREYJA!!”
The blue-haired girl with her usual twintails and school uniform appeared loudly. Loudly as in her voice and how she slammed the door.
Cassie didn’t get mad. Instead, she giggled upon seeing how Freyr quickly sat up from his sleeping posture, his eyes opened widely at Lyra’s direction. Meanwhile, Freyja almost jumped from her position–she then sat up and rubbed her eyes sleepily as she observed what was happening.
“Lyra-neechan! That’s not nice!” Freyr quickly protested.
“Uuu… Why so noisy early in the morning?” Freyja asked while yawning.
Lyra smiled in response to the twins’ inquiry, but a hint of hidden anger was there. Her face went like (⌒∇⌒╬).
“Freyja, remember who was all noisy early in the morning… Just yesterday?”
“Hwe? Ah, but yesterday is special! It’s different~,” Freyja said as she rubbed the last trace of her sleepiness away.
“Ah, then today is special, too! Isn’t it, Mom?” Lyra shifted the focus of the conversation back to Cassie.
“Yes, Lyra’s right. Today is still a special day, following yesterday. Ah but…,” Cassie paused for a bit. A teasing smile appeared on her face before she continued, “if you two prefer sleep, then we can just forget about it today and postpone it… To who knows when.”
Although Cassie just casually said that in a normal volume, Freyr immediately put his blanked aside and Freyja immediately put her feet on the ground. Freyr was more awake now than Freyja, so he started walking down the stairs of their two-storied bed. Their usual sleeping arrangement was like that–the calmer one on the upper bed. Sometimes they switched their sleeping position for variation, though.
Looking at the twins who were approaching her with their pajamas, Cassie laughed.
“Okay, let’s get ready.”
***
“I’m off!” Altaire shouted.
“I can’t wait to go home today to know the results!” Lyra excitedly said.
“Lyra? We’re just about to depart to school, remember?” Clavis worriedly said.
“Haha, I know, I know.”
The twins only tilted their heads as they didn’t know what their big sister meant when she said [the results].
Today, they were going with their mother and father to Capicastle–to claim their presents at the same time. After they were fully awake, curiosity got over them once more.
They rode on the same carriage as their parents to the Capicastle. During the journey, Freyja would make comments or talk randomly here and there. Meanwhile, Freyr would gaze at the scenery he could see beyond the carriage’s window as usual. Luckily, the scenery he saw each time he rode on the carriage was different, so he never really grew bored of looking through the window.
When they arrived at the Capicastle, the twins already expected their parents to send them to play with Leticia. Therefore…
“Alright, come with me now,” Cassie said as she grabbed the twins’ hands. Freyr on her left side and Freyja on her right side.
“!” Freyja was surprised to see where she was headed.
“?” Freyr tilted his head as he tried to think.
The more they walked, the less patience Freyja had.
“Mom, where are we going?” Freyja looked up at Cassie.
“Hmm? Try to guess?” Cassie glanced at Freyr who was silently thinking.
“…hint?” Feeling Cassie’s gaze on him, Freyr asked.
“Hmmm… Let’s see… It’s a bit obvious when you think of what just happened yesterday. Another hint is… My occupation.”
“…! Are we going to your work place?” Freyr quickly asked.
“100 for you. But what for?” Cassie added more question.
“You saved our presents there?” Freyja innocently asked with her sparkling eyes.
“Well, that’s not totally wrong, but… What’s the main event?” Cassie still asked.
“…magic test?” Freyr hesitantly asked.
“Clever! That’s the main event today! Aren’t you excited?” Cassie happily praised Freyr.
“…we already know our affinity, right?” Freyr furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head.
“But not the full details, right?” Cassie asked back.
“So we’re going to learn more magic after this?” Freyja swung Cassie’s hand a bit.
“Yes, Freyja,” Cassie nodded.
“Yayyyy! I wanna learn more magic!” Freyja happily exclaimed.
“More magic…,” Freyr finally understood the significance of this time’s test and it was apparent that he was also excited. Freyr’s excitement was less apparent than Freyja, but Cassie could tell.
***
“So… How’s it?” Freyr tried to be patient as he waited for Cassie to tell them the result. He looked expectantly at Cassie who was holding two papers.
“Is it good?” Freyja confidently asked. She was quite confident as she remembered they were doing well in the training. Besides, training was fun!
Cassie shifted her gaze at the twins who were looking at her expectantly. She swallowed her saliva a bit when she looked at Freyja’s confident self. She didn’t have the heart to tell them that Altaire and Lyra’s results were still the most amazing ones she ever saw so far.
But when she remembered that it was because Altaire and Lyra were her biological children while Freyr and Freyja weren’t, she felt like their results were still amazing. As expected of the Hartmann bloodline, the family that produced outstanding magicians.
‘All right… Lyra and Altaire are anomalies. They have both elf and dragon blood inside them, though not so significant, it still has quite an effect on them… It seems,’ Cassie concluded in her mind.
“Okay, want to take a look at them?” Cassie lowered the two papers.
“…un!” Freyr earnestly nodded.
“Eeh, wait, Mom! Let me prepare my heart first… Can you tell us if the results are good, so-so, or… Bad?” Freyja tried to avert her eyes, trying to prevent herself from accidentally seeing her results first.
Cassie chuckled at their responses–especially Freyja’s.
“They’re good. Totally good. Here is Freyr’s,” Cassie handed over a paper to Freyr as she waited for Freyja to finally look her way.
“And this is yours, Freyja,” Cassie said.
“Wow…!” Freyja gasped in surprise.
“…,” Cassie wasn’t even sure Freyja really understood the test’s results. After all, she had never seen other test results, so how could she compare? Freyja’s reaction might derive from Cassie’s reassurance that the results were good.
“Lemme see yours, Freyr!” Freyja quickly pulled Freyr who was still reading his result over and over again.
“Let’s compare them side by side?” Freyr prevented Freyja from snatching his paper. Instead, he guided Freyja to put their papers side by side as they looked at their results.
“Whoa, look, Freyr! We have the same amount of mana!”
“And we have some differences here…,” Freyr pointed at another spot in the paper.
“Oh, right… Aww, you’re better at this one!”
“But you’re better in the other one.”
Cassie chuckled as she saw the twins who were too immersed in their papers. She glanced at the clock before opening her mouth to call out to the twins.
“Fufu… Aren’t you too excited about the results that you two forget about… Presents?”
“Ah… Presents! I want!” Freyja quickly answered.
“…I thought our presents were these papers…,” Freyr covered his face with his paper out of the embarrassment.
“Haha, of course not, Freyr. I have something else for you two. Here,” Cassie took out two small boxes and handed one each to Freyr and Freyja. At first glance, the two boxes looked the same, but they were actually different.
“Can we open it?” Freyja excitedly asked.
Cassie just had an idea about what seemingly an innocent question.
“No, you can’t,” Cassie kept her expression serious.
“Eeeh, why?” Freyja was evidently surprised and she asked while looking a bit sullen.
“…do we need to do something to get this opened?” Freyr deducted.
“Actually… Okay, you can open them,” Cassie couldn’t think of what to say in response so she gave up teasing the twins. She got why Altaire felt like teasing or playing pranks on people.
…wait, could Altaire get that trait from her? No, no, it can’t be.
Cassie lightly shook her head.
“Yay!” Freyja quickly opened her box and…
“Wow, beautiful!” She gasped at the item inside. She gently took them out as if they were the most precious thing in the world. It was a pair of earrings–pretty silver earrings with small crystals embedded on them. The color of the crystals were different and the color matched her eye colors exactly. The left earring’s crystal was a green crystal, while the right earring’s crystal color was red.
At the same time, Freyr actually hadn’t opened his box. He was observing his twin sister who eagerly opened the mystery present box.
“Freyr, look! I got earrings matching my eye color!” Freyja excitedly said. She then saw how Freyr still had yet to open his present.
“If we get the same presents, then yours will have the red crystal on the left and the green one on the right!” She excitedly guessed.
Freyr furrowed his brows. Dissatisfaction was obvious in his face.
“No, Freyja. Mom couldn’t have given me earrings. Boys don’t wear them,” Freyr said.
“But some boys wear them and they look good!” Freyja argued.
“…true, but… It won’t suit me…,” Freyr still furrowed his brows.
“But we can be the same~,” Freyja insisted.
Cassie was speechless upon hearing their conversation.
Not wanting to drag the debate any longer and wanting to make sure of what was inside the box, Freyr finally opened his box.
“This is…!”
Unlike his sister, he didn’t take out the item inside it right away. Instead, Freyr was observing the item in awe.
It was a classic, beautiful watch. Its base color was black with silver frame. Instead of numbers as the indicator of time, there were white crystals of various sizes.
After observing the beautiful watch for a while, Freyr finally took it out of its box and rotated it here and there.
“Cool watch, Freyr!” Freyja said as she looked at what Freyr got. However, she seemed to be more interested in her own present that she didn’t stare at it for too long and looked at her present once more.
“Do you like them?” Cassie asked–although the answer was quite obvious.
“Yes!” Freyr immediately looked at Cassie and answered in quite a loud voice for his standard.
“Very!” Freyja also looked at Cassie and answered loudly.
Then, the two looked like they just remembered something and opened their mouths again–this time in unison.
“Thank you so much, Mom!”
Cassie chuckled as she saw the twins coming closer to her. She reflexively opened her embrace and the twins also naturally fell into her embrace.
“Glad you like them! Let me help you wear them.”
Then, as Cassie helped the twins wear their new presents, she narrated the significance of the presents.
“Did you recognize the crystals embedded in your presents? Freyr’s present has selenite in it, while Freyja’s crystals are red jasper and green jade. They have protective magic in them. I hope you two will like them enough to wear them often.”
“Yes, I will always wear them!” Freyja happily answered. After all, there wasn’t any need to take off her earrings that often.
“I will wear them often,” Freyr obediently nodded. Unlike Freyr’s earrings, there would be time when he needed to take off the watch. Still, the determination in his eyes indicated that he’d wear them most of the time. After all, he admired a certain detective character in an anime that wore watch most of the time.
***
Later that day, it was finally time for the Hartmann family to return home. Freyr and Freyja had played together with and showed off their results and present to Leticia who became more eager to welcome her sixth birthday and debut party.
The twins found themselves surprised once more during yet another journey in carriage. They thought that the carriage was headed home. Turned out it didn’t!
They began guessing where they would be visiting, but each guess was rejected whenever they saw the route changing or the venue being passed by only. In the end, they remained clueless.
Cyan laughed and he finally decided to let the twins know where they would be headed to.
“I still haven’t got you two presents, right? Time to get those presents, then.”
…nice one, Cyan. That totally didn’t manage to spell away the cloud of confusion in the twins’ mind. Rather, they were more confused and tried to guess what presents their adoptive father had in mind.
“I know, a pet?” Freyja finally said her guess after pondering.
“Oh, it seems possible! And we’re heading to the store so we can choose!” Freyr added.
“Do we get one each or one together?”
“I’m not sure…”
“Dad, Dad, can we get one each?”
The twins didn’t even clarify and they were already too excited upon the idea…
Cyan scratched his head, unsure of how he could break the twins’ short-lived dream…
Anyway, they already had Rurune and Phyllo. Add Cassie’s Fenix if you would.
In fact, the idea of getting a regular pet never crossed Cyan or Cassie’s heads…
“No, well… Sorry to break your dreams, kids,” Cyan decided to end the twins’ imagination before hope grew inside their hearts.
“You’re going to choose your presents. One each, but… It’s not a pet,” Cyan heaved a sigh after finishing his clarification.
The twins stared at Cyan silently, Freyr with his straight face (・▂・) and Freyja with her mouth a bit opened (・0・)
After a short silent that felt like a long time to Cyan, the twins finally slumped to their seats and their expressions returned to normal.
“Oh…,” They only muttered a word.
Cyan’s heart tightened a bit at the sight of the heartbroken twins, but it couldn’t be helped. He wasn’t sure of how to manage having pets, especially when he thought about how the twins and Lyra might end up finding Familiars eventually. Otherwise, he’d let them keep some pets–especially after the twins grew up a bit more.
‘Maybe I should bring them to the zoo or some ranches later on,’ Cyan quickly noted this in his mind.
Soon after that conversation, they finally arrived in their destination store… A weapon shop!
“Weapon…,” Freyja muttered.
“…shop,” Freyr completed Freyja’s words.
“Yes, that’s right. After turning six, you can choose a weapon that you like,” Cassie said.
“You’ve seen me, Altaire, and Lyra practice our melee combative abilities often, right? You can also try out various weapons here and decide after that,” Cyan added.
The twins looked here and there at the various weapons in the store. The store clerks immediately went to help the twins look at various weapons and explained the weapons to them in an easy way.
After circling over the store and seeing the variety of the available weapons, the twins didn’t seem to have any favorite in particular.
“Got any weapon you fancy the most?” Cyan asked after looking at the twins thinking without any word.
Freyr and Freyja were still holding hands, with their free hands over their mouth–looking like they were supporting their chins while thinking and walking.
Hearing Cyan’s questions, the twins shifted their gazes to another section they didn’t visit.
Cyan quickly followed their line of sights and saw that they were looking at magical weapons.
“Hmm? The weapons over there are magical weapons that can’t be used for melee combative battle. There are also magical melee weapons that you can choose from if you’re interested in magical ones. It’s quite handy,” Cyan offered.
“…,” The twins turned to face each other. They silently looked at each other–as if they could communicate through gazes alone.
Then, after a while, they suddenly nodded at the same time and shifted their line of sight to Cyan.
Cassie was observing their behavior and was really curious about how the twins could pull that. Could they really communicate through telepathy with each other? Are rumors about twins true?
“Can we just choose from the magical weapons?” Freyja asked.
“You can, but those weapons can’t function as melee weapons at the same time. Well, let’s not mention throwing or hitting something with a magical staff… But do you get my point?” Cyan asked to make sure the twins didn’t regret their choices that they made out of their lack of knowledge.
The twins nodded in response.
“We know. Dad… Uhm, we love magic so much,” Freyr timidly tried to explain.
“Can we just learn magic and not do… Melee?” Freyja finally got to the point and asked right away.
Cyan and Cassie were a bit taken aback, but Cassie also felt happy to hear that the twins really loved magic.
After coming back to his sense, Cyan remembered how the twins didn’t seem that interested when they were observing Altaire, Lyra, or himself practicing their melee combative abilities. And seeing how no melee weapons intrigued their interests even after the shop clerks demonstrated how to use the weapons, Cyan came to a conclusion.
Maybe… The twins were more suited to inherit the Hartmann house. The Hartmann was famous as a family of magicians, after all.
Cyan, Altaire, and Lyra all took interests in learning melee weapons as well. Especially Lyra with a keen interest in swordsmanship. If this tradition continued on, the Hartmann family might be similar to the Fumitsuna family in how they were the family that combined magic and swordsmanship as a style.
This sudden turn of events was surely unexpected, but perhaps it was the best for all of them.
In that instant, Cyan comprehended the will of the Maozi jewel.
Perhaps, this was exactly why the Maozi jewel reacted to the twins upon the question of heir at that time.
“Dad?”
The twins’ voices pulled Cyan back to his senses. He quickly smiled and pat the twins’ heads.
“Of course, you can. If that’s the case–“
“Then let me be the one providing advices,” Cassie quickly interrupted Cyan’s words–or more precisely, completing them.
Now then, what kind of magical item/weapon attracted the twins’ fancy the most?
Both Cassie and Cyan’s anticipation was building up inside.
Author’s Comment:
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