Chương 71: 69 - (not very) Nice

As the next three days passed, what started as a pleasant addition to the usually monotonous training sessions quickly became tiresome. It wasn't that Emily was particularly annoying. Jonny thought all kids were at least a little annoying, and frankly, Emily wasn't bad at all. The problem was that she was always there. She followed Jonny around like a lost puppy, always wanting to join in with whatever he was doing. No matter what he did, she was always somewhere nearby, all day every day, without fail.

The only time he ever got to himself was when he was in the bathroom, or in his bedroom late at night. Igrette tried to lighten his load a bit by taking Emily aside for one on one lessons, but the moment those ended, Emily was back glued to Jonny's side. She was too polite and well-behaved to tell-off, so Jonny just tolerated it, but he hadn't really gotten a proper conversation with Igrette since they got to the manor. They were always either in the presence of others, or exhausted from a long day.

Jonny wondered if he had perhaps done something to warrant this level of obsession. Back at the orphanage, Tommy had often followed him around, but Tommy at least wasn't this clingy. He still spent a lot of time playing with his other friends, giving Jonny plenty of time to himself. It was only on the fourth day that he finally got a hint at what might have been the reason.

That morning, rather than going straight outside to start training and playing, Igrette had volunteered him to help the Smiths clean up the inside of the house. Jonny didn't mind, since he did feel like a bit of a freeloader, and it definitely didn't hurt to make a good impression.

Emily helped too, alongside the twins, who were uncharacteristically eager, while Olivia spent a lot of time going over places that had already been cleaned and doing minor finishing touches, straightening decorations and getting small specks of dust that had been missed by the other kids. She spoke more words that morning than Jonny had heard in the past three days, constantly nitpicking and asking people to clean other things, going so far that even Haley had to tell her off.

No one bothered to tell Jonny why everyone was acting so strange. He only found out when Haley finally announced that they were done, and Jonny followed the twins upstairs.

"What's going on?" he asked as they both raced up, taking the stairs three at a time.

"Where are you going?" The twins stopped and shared a glance. They looked slightly embarrassed.

"Olivia is having a tea party," said Joshua, finally.

"We're changing." Before Jonny could reply, they were already moving again. He didn't need to ask any further, though. It was pretty obvious what was going on. Their older sister's friends were coming over, and they were doing their best to look the part of nice, charming younger brothers. Jonny hesitated then turned back around and went downstairs again. He had no reason to impress any teenage girls, and even if he wanted to, he didn't have any nicer clothes than what he was wearing.

Nice clothes were a luxury that he and Igrette hadn't been able to afford, even after selling a couple dozen pairs of glass deer antlers. He instead joined Igrette in the sitting room where she was enjoying a cup of tea, and did some stationary exercises to keep his mind and mana active. The steel elemental shift was slow-coming, but he was making small progress on the mana injection attack. Kind of.

He already pushed a little bit of his mana into his targets whenever he did his siphon, just to start the connection, so the general process wasn't unfamiliar. Doing it quickly enough and in large enough quantities to actually cause damage was a different story, but he at least had a starting point. As he sat on one end of the cushy couch, he alternated tapping his thighs with his fingers, each time injecting mana as quickly as he could.

Doing it to himself was kind of cheating, since there was no chance of the recipient rejecting the mana, but it definitely helped him get used to the process. Plus, it was something he could do while relaxing, and a relaxing day was good every now and then. While he worked, Haley joined the three of the in another chair, chatting with Igrette and asking how they were doing, and if they needed anything. Igrette turned the conversation back on her, and soon Haley was talking about cows.

Jonny zoned out almost immediately, continuing his tapping and beginning to daydream about mastering the steel shift and becoming bulletproof. A knock on the front door ended the daydream, as well as the conversation on the other side of the room.

"Oh, he's here!" said Haley, jumping to her feet. She powerwalked to the door and opened it to reveal an older gentleman waiting. He was about average height, thin, and had thin white hair and a scraggly gray beard. He looked somewhere between 60 and 80, but it was hard to tell precisely, because the man also looked exhausted. He had dark circles under bloodshot eyes, and his face looked thin to the point of being unhealthy.

"Max, how are you doing?" asked Haley.

"Come in, come in."

"Oh, I'm doing," said the man with a weak chuckle as he stepped inside.

"This way," said Haley, guiding him toward the sitting room. The man blinked in surprise, having finally noticed Jonny and Igrette, then smiled and stepped in after Haley.

"These are the ones I was telling you about. Ignacia and Jonny. They'll be staying with us for a while. Ignacia, Jonny, this is Max Turner, our local apothecary. If you're ever feeling sick, he'll be the one with the herbs to make it better." The apothecary… thought Jonny. I feel like I heard them mention him before…

"A pleasure," said Igrette, standing to greet him.

"Likewise," said Max, grasping her hand.

"Did I hear correctly that you were a healer."

"Not a very good one, but yes," said Igrette.

"I can heal bumps and bruises and the like, but nothing too dire."

"Well, it's good thing I don't plan on anything dire," he said.

"Well, it was nice to meet you, but I'm afraid I do have to get back to town fairly quickly. I got a bit of a late start, and I have a couple deliveries to make later today. I'm just here to pick up some milk and then I'll be off again. But if you ever need any herbs for medicine or tea, or if you just want to chat, you can stop by my shop any time."

"Thank you," said Igrette.

"You as well, young Jonny." The old man turned to Jonny with a smile, reaching into his pocket. He pulled it out and tossed to Jonny.

"There's more where that came from," he said with a wink.

"Now, Haley, I'm sorry to rush you, but–" If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"It's no trouble at all," she said, already heading for the kitchen.

"You can just wait outside. I'll bring it right out."

"Thank you, dear." Jonny watched him walk out, then looked down at the thing in his hand. It was a hard candy, wrapped in thin, waxy paper. Jonny hadn't had even a small piece of candy since before he died, so when he saw it, his mouth began to water. He quickly unwrapped it, revealing the translucent red ball inside just in time for Emily to come downstairs and see him.

"No!" she exclaimed.

"Where is he?"

"Mr. Turner?" asked Jonny.

"Yeah!"

"Oh, you just missed him."

"Nooo!"

"Emily, he's right outside," came Haley's voice from the kitchen.

"Come help me with the milk and you can say hi." Emily moved faster than Charles as she disappeared into the kitchen, and almost as soon as she left, the twins arrived wearing their sunday best, their hair slightly wet and slicked back. Compared to their usual disheveled, dirty appearance, they looked ridiculous. Jonny stifled laughter and had to force himself not to stare as they walked into the sitting room and sat down, perfectly upright like they were having a posture competition.

Olivia soon started flitting in and out of the room, bringing teacups and snacks and a few books and random other things that she apparently planned to use during the tea party. The twins started talking about their pit, and Alden soon arrived from wherever he had been and started talking with Igrette, once again about cows. Emily and Haley returned, and Haley joined in with the adult conversation while Emily tried to help Olivia, and the whole time, Jonny just sat there, taking it all in and tapping his thighs.

It was another quarter of an hour before Olivia's friends arrived, all in a bunch. As soon as they did, the adults all vacated their seats, and Jonny joined them. He snatched a couple cookies on the way, but he had no intention of being present for it. A tea party full of teenage girls frankly sounded like torture. There were a total of four newcomers for the tea party, and like Olivia and the twins, they were wearing what were probably their nicest outfits.

The entryway stayed very loud for a while as the girls chattered with Olivia, and giggled as the twins tried to flatter them using cheesy lines straight out of a romance novel. Emily was present too, trying to get involved and greet the older girls, but Jonny noticed, to his dismay, that they seemed to be ignoring her. He couldn't tell if it was intentional or not at first, and his concerns were almost assuaged when one of them finally ruffled the little girl's hair, but they never fully disappeared.

The girls made their way through the entryway toward the sitting room, stopping briefly to greet him and Igrette.

"Jonny, is it?" said one of them, a tall blonde in a pink dress.

"I'm Elise. Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too," said Jonny with a polite nod.

"And you must be Miss Ignacia," said Elise, turning to Igrette.

"That's me," said Igrette.

"So, what brings you all the way out here to the middle of nowhere? Olivia mentioned that you were friends of Oliver's, but…"

"Ah, it's for Jonny. Oliver is the foremost expert on his condition, so we came here looking for some help."

"Oh, so he's a Null, then." Her tone remained mostly polite, but Jonny, who was already somewhat wary of her after her treatment of Emily, noticed a shift in her demeanor. When she looked down at him, the warmth in her eyes was gone, replaced by a mixture of pity, and something less pleasant. Now that he thought about it, he wondered if there had been any warmth at all, or if he had just been fooled by her cheery act.

"Yes, he is," said Igrette.

"Well, good luck with that. Hope you figure something out!" She turned and rejoined the other girls, leaning over to whisper into one of their ears. As soon as she did, the other girl glanced over at Jonny, and stared at him for just a little too long. Meanwhile, all four of them continued to generally ignore Emily, only interacting with her enough to not appear rude. Jonny stood around and watched with the other adults as they chattered and settled into their places.

Emily sat on the edge of the group, looking both eager and anxious. Jonne half wanted to stick around just to see how they treated Emily, but at that point, Igrette, and the Smith parents turned and left, and Jonny decided to join them. He still didn't want to be around for the tea party, and now that all the commotion had passed, he could head outside and do some work out there.

A few minutes later, he and Igrette were back outside, heading for the mana well to have one on one training time for the first time in a while. It felt good to finally have some peace again, but Jonny couldn't help but think back to the tea party inside. The way that Elise, the blonde girl, had reacted when she confirmed he was a Null, and the way they treated Emily… were all the village kids like that? Does Emily not have any friends? Now that he thought about it, that would make a lot of sense.

He knew the twins had friends, since said friends had shown up looking for them just the day before, and got roped into helping with the pit project. Olivia clearly had friends, since she was hosting a tea party, and he was pretty sure he she had gone into town once or twice in past few days. But Emily had never done anything like that, and in all the conversations he and Igrette had with her, she never once mentioned any other kids. Damn, that's depressing as hell. And all because she's a Null? That's fucked up.

He suddenly felt guilty about being annoyed by her. Of course she would cling to him. He was the only person near her age who could at all relate to her, and who wouldn't turn her away for her condition. No wonder she was so obsessed with joining him in his training. About an hour into their training, they were interrupted when one of the twins jogged out to inform Igrette that someone had dropped a tea cup and cut their foot open on one of the porcelain shards.

Jonny was in the middle of some intense isometrics, so Igrette told him to just wait while she went in, saying she would be right back. Jonny had half-hoped she would tell him to come, just so he could check out the situation inside, but it turned out a few minutes later that he didn't need to go inside to see it. Shortly after Igrette left, he heard more footsteps approaching, and saw Emily stomping through the grass toward him, still in her dress. She was crying. Ah, shit. That's not good.

"Emily, what happened?" asked Jonny.

"Nothing," she huffed.

"Are you–?"

"Elise– Elise is a big jerk!" She started crying in earnest, at that point, and it took a lot of awkward comforting from Jonny before he got the story out of her. Apparently, the broken teacup had happened because when Elise was refilling the cups, she "accidentally" bumped Emily's, and Emily didn't have a good enough grip on her cup. One of the shards had cut her foot, and one of the other girls scolded Emily.

Emily had tried to explain what happened, but Elise was crying because of her foot, and no one believed her, so she stormed out, and now she was here.

"Well, that wasn't very nice of her," said Jonny lamely. He was hugging her now, and patting her back, but he had no idea what else to do or say in this situation. He was pretty pissed at Elise, but that wouldn't really help him to get Emily to stop crying. Fortunately, a savior soon arrived in the form of a cloud hawk named Chuck, who landed beside them and started nudging Emily with his head.

"Ch– Chuck," she said.

"Chuck, stop! Chuck!" She giggled as he pushed his head up under her arm and twisted.

"That tickles!" she said, pulling away, and trying to escape. Good work, Chuck, thought Jonny, giving the hawk a surreptitious thumbs-up. Chuck didn't notice, though, pushing Emily just a bit further away as she giggled before turning back to Jonny. Chuck screeched, making both Jonny and Emily cover her ears, then stepped over to the side.

"What is it?" asked Chuck. The hawked stepped further, then walked back and nipped at Jonny's arm.

"Hey!" Chuck nipped again, this time getting a beak full of shirt sleeve and tugging. Jonny almost pulled away, but instead let Chuck pull him a few steps away. Chuck then let go and spread his wings, looking back to make sure Jonny was still there.

"You want me to follow you?" Chuck screeched again. Jonny glanced back at Emily, who was rubbing her eyes and sniffling, but no longer actively crying. After a few seconds of thinking it over, he shrugged. A distraction is probably a good idea.

"Hey Emily. Wanna go on a quick adventure?" Emily lowered her hands and looked at him with wide, bloodshot eyes.

"Chuck's got something to show us. Let's go see what it is."