Chapter 107: Free time

"Finally!"

For some reason, Fen saw Arla only a few steps away from the doors of their house. Given how she was clearly going back from the academy due to how she was dressed and how she was carrying a set of notes in her hand, it was pretty unlucky for the two of them to notice each other only so close to their home.

"Finally what? You managed to achieve something?"

Smiling lightly at his girl, Fen took over the duty of opening the doors before letting Arla go in first with a wide smile still present on his lips.

"Finally some free time! Didn't you tell me that you will have three days off from the lessons starting tomorrow? I was told at the end of today's exercises that this is the case for me as well!"

To say that Arla was brimming with happiness would be a huge understatement. Her eyes were shining with joy and her head was most likely filled with all sorts of ideas how she could spend this time. 

After all, contrary to the first two days that they were given to acclimate themselves in this new place, her mentality changed by a huge lot. From someone who lacked any self-confidence and was unable to see the value in herself outside of the aspects of serving Fen with her body, just those few lessons were enough to awaken the minimal amounts of self-worth in her by showing that her talents weren't as awful as she always considered it to be.

"You do realise that we can't really afford to do much? I was actually considering going out to look for some kind of part-time job that my abilities would allow me to do so that we could spend the rest of our free time a little bit more… creatively."

This was only partially a truth. Just like Arla's character changed over the course of the last few days, the same could be said about Fen. While he still loved the idea of living together and supporting each other, there was an obvious need to maybe not limit the time they spent together, but to introduce the idea that going home right after the classes was not necessarily the best thing the two of them could do!

It was something that Fen understood after the lessons where Nadia taught him how to practice his intent. By itself, the training regime was actually way easier than trying to develop his flames. Rather than pushing his entire body to its absolute limits by creating more and more flames while trying to condense them within his body at the same time, training the intent went the opposite way.

Instead of pushing himself to the limits, all Fen had to do was to produce the smallest flame that he could before pushing his mind to the limits, focusing himself only at wishing the flame to take this and that shape. 

And it appeared that just a few hours of training that he had with Nadia was already enough to let him ease the burden of shaping it by a huge bit! 

"A job… Wait, isn't our allowance enough for the two of us to live comfortably? And even if it isn't, then should I be the one looking for some kind of job? After all, our allowance… Is actually just your allowance…"

Bringing this topic up suddenly turned the atmosphere tense, as if Arla started to doubt her worth again. Not willing to let the mood move in this direction, Fen quickly grabbed her hand and pulled the girl into his embrace.

"It's not like that. For now, you should focus on practising the basics. I already went through the initial stages of training, even if they weren't exactly what I was supposed to receive, so everything is a lot easier for me. To be perfectly honest, outside of the obvious monetary incentive, I want to find a job so that I could freely practice my abilities in their practical sense, instead of just trying to polish them in the training hall."

Only after patting Alra's head for a while did the girl's body relax, indicating that she was back in a good mood. But even before their deep embrace could end, Fen's thoughts already moved back to the events that occurred during the last part of his training.

"Once you are capable of freely shaping the flames with just a single thought, then we will be able to move to the three far more interesting topics. I can bet you heard a 'construct' word a lot, both in Kinar and back in the empire, right? Then once you master the basic intent control, I will be able to teach you what those constructs are actually about."

This was only one of the potential future topics that Naida hinted at. Outside of the obvious incentive of learning how to manage the constructs and opening a way to take Latiel's advice of taking a job related to it, there was still the topic of complicated forms of intent along with the first steps at creating his own arcanist catalyst!

While this topic was only skimmed through, Fen could still tell from the few words that Nadia used to hint at it, that it was the absolute basic thing that any phoenixian had to do. After all, it was her catalyst that allowed her to overwhelm him during their spar so quickly and so decisively!

"Okay, okay, I understand. But the rest of today… you should be free, right?"

After finally distancing herself from the young man, Arla looked up at his face. With her lips tightly shut and eyes intensely looking for Fen's reaction, she had the perfect view to see how Fen's face moved to the side with an uneasy expression.

"Actually… You see, I wanted to go to the academy library today. I hate the fact that I know so little about the past of our kind and how we turned from the rulers of the old kingdom to a persecuted bunch in the empire. While it's not something of huge importance right now, I just can't help but be curious how could our situation change so much."

Shaking his head with a strange expression of nostalgia and loneliness on his face, Fen took a few breaths to calm his wild thoughts down before raising his head again and looking Arla in her eyes.

"I would love if you would like to accompany me there, but given how I will be just looking for and reading historical records, it might not be any bit interesting if you are not interested in it yourself."

Fen didn't dare to expect his girl to be interested in the same things that he was. Given how her talent most likely didn't awake due to her own executions, just practising her abilities might be enough for her.

But that wasn't the case for the young man. Given his interactions with Draconis, taking into account everything that he saw in his visions or how he came back from the dead after his entire body burned down to nothing but a bunch of ash… 

How could he be uninterested in the past of his kind? After all, said past might hide some hints to the true nature of his situation, allowing him to correct various mistakes that he would otherwise only start committing!

"Ahh… I understand…"

Nodding her head with a serious expression on her face, Arla stepped a few paces back, nearly going all the way to the kitchen through the short corridor of their rented house.

"Actually, no. I lied. I don't understand what might be so interesting in the old books at all, but I understand that you might have some different hobbies than I have."

Suddenly bursting our with a cute giggle, Arla bent nearly in half, grabbing her own tummy with her hands as if she was worried that the energetic convulsions of her body caused by her laugher might result in her stomach falling out!

"Either way, feel free to go to the library… but not before I make a meal for the two of us. It would be a waste to use those great ingredients only to have you come back late enough for the meal to spoil."

Nodding his head as the sign of partial defeat, Fen could actually see where the girl was coming from. Compared to the empire, the normal temperature of the Kinar republic was way higher, making it hard to keep any food fresh and eatable after it was already prepared. This small element was perfectly visible with how different the dishes were on the various food-stalls that they would often pass by on their way to the academy. 

"That's something that I can easily agree for. After all, it would be a pity to lose a chance to eat your cooking."

Even with the little amount of money that the two of them had for sustenance, it would be wrong to say that they had to save drastically just to survive. In just the first two days that they took to stock up the basement of the house with the basic materials the two of them learned that those few silver coins that were left after all the cost of the house were paid for, were actually more than enough to live comfortably!

The only reason why one might want to look for the job, outside of the case of practising his skills, would be to live his life on a higher level!

Or, for example, buy some old artefacts or books, that would allow him or her to learn more about the past!