Chapter 36: A Lost Child and a Ray of Hope
The morning after his "consultation" with Rachel, Jin was already on his way to the temple. He’d been busy with other matters during the morning, so he set out after lunch in the afternoon.
Since it was midday, the streets were bustling. It was a familiar sight, yet still one that never grew old for Jin—the colorful scene of different races mingling and enjoying themselves together was endlessly fascinating.
But today, amid the usual scenery, Jin noticed something different: a small child crouched on the ground, staring intently.
Children playing wasn’t unusual, but this little one seemed too young to be out playing alone. Remembering his nieces and nephews when they were small, Jin couldn’t help but feel concerned. In the end, he decided to approach.
"Hello there."
Jin crouched down to bring his gaze to the child’s level and spoke gently. The child turned toward him—it was a human girl, about kindergarten age.
"Helwo."
"My name’s Jin. Are you waiting for someone?"
"No. I’m watchin’ the anths."
Her words were clumsy, innocent. She really did seem too young to be wandering alone.
"The ants are working hard, aren’t they?"
The girl gave a small nod and turned her eyes back to the trail of ants carrying food at her feet.
"Where are your mom and dad? They might be looking for you, you know."
Only then did the girl glance around. When she realized her parents weren’t anywhere nearby, worry flickered across her face.
"They’re… not here…"
She was on the verge of tears. Before that could happen, Jin quickly jumped in.
"It’s okay! I’ll help you find them."
He said it with firm confidence, then flashed the girl a big, reassuring smile.
"Hey, how about a piggyback ride on my shoulders? That way, your mom and dad will have a much easier time spotting you."
Before her unease could take over, Jin dangled the promise of something fun. The girl hesitantly nodded, and Jin helped her climb onto his shoulders.
"Alright, here we go—up we gooo!"
Using a cheerful voice and playful sound effects, Jin lifted her up theatrically. He paused halfway, crouching to let her get used to the height.
"Pretty tall, huh? Fun, isn’t it? Let’s go even higher! Ready? Up we gooo!"
Standing fully upright, Jin—185 centimeters tall—gave the girl a view of the world she’d never seen before.
"Waaah, so tall! I can see sooo far! Amazing!"
Many children were scared of shoulder rides, but this one seemed to be enjoying it just fine.
"Impressive, right? Oh, that reminds me—what’s your name? I’m Jin."
"I’m Airis! I’m four!"
She answered brightly to Jin’s question.
"Nice to meet you, Airis. Okay, let’s see if you can spot your mom and dad from up there. Let’s make it a race—who can find them first!"
He climbed up onto the raised edge of the fountain, making them stand out even more. Airis squealed with delight at the higher view. Seizing the moment, Jin called out in a loud voice:
"Is Airis’s mother or father here? Please come forward if you’re nearby!"
He repeated the call several times. Gradually, people around them realized a child was lost.
"Hey, brother, is she lost? We’re heading south—want us to ask around down that way?"
"We’re going west, we’ll let people know too."
"Then I’ll…"
One after another, people on their way back from lunch offered to spread the word.
"Thank you very much. I’ll stay here, so please help me out."
Jin gratefully accepted, then turned to Airis.
"See, Airis? Everyone’s helping. Isn’t that nice? Do you know what to say at times like this?"
"Thank you—verwy much!"
Mimicking Jin, Airis tried her best, even managing to tack on the "very much" at the end. Her cuteness made those around smile warmly. They each gave her a few encouraging words before heading off in different directions. Soon, the news that a little girl was lost began to spread far and wide.
"Airis, isn’t it great that everyone’s helping out?"
"Yeah… I’m happy~"
Jin kept speaking cheerfully to Airis so she wouldn’t get anxious, and before ten minutes had passed, her parents arrived safely.
"Airis!"
"Ah, Daddy! Mommy!"
Jin gently helped her down from his shoulders and handed her over to her rushing parents. Seeing the reunion, he felt a wave of relief.
"Everyone! She’s safe! Thank you so much!"
Jin called out to the surrounding people who had helped, announcing the safe reunion. Voices of relief rose around him, and soon everyone was applauding in celebration.
Contrasting with her parents’ slightly embarrassed bows, Airis beamed a full, radiant smile.
"Airis, I’m glad you found your mom and dad. But remember, getting lost like that made them really worried, okay? That’s a lesson for next time."
Jin crouched again to meet her gaze, putting on a slightly serious expression for a moment.
"So from now on, be careful, alright? Don’t make your mom and dad worry. Now, you should say something to them, right?"
He gently patted her head, smiling warmly. Airis nodded.
"Daddy… Mommy… I’m sorry."
"Yes, let’s be careful from now on, okay?"
Airis apologized properly, and her parents hugged her gently. Seeing them together safely, Jin felt relieved and prepared to leave.
"Well, I’ll be off now. Bye, Airis."
He said goodbye to both Airis and her parents. Though they hurried to thank him, Jin waved them off politely. Receiving formal thanks felt a little embarrassing, and simply seeing Airis and her parents happy was enough for him. The kindness of the people around also lifted his spirits.
Feeling lighter, Jin continued toward the temple as originally planned.
At the temple, Jin first offered his prayers. Since it had been a while since the beginner’s training, he carefully reported and expressed his gratitude. After praying, he asked a nearby priest to let him consult books on healing magic.
The room he was guided to had long tables and chairs, with a counter in the back where he could request books. Jin borrowed a book on healing magic and immediately took a seat to begin reading.
As Rachel had told him, the basics were similar to elemental magic. Jin began writing out the magical characters, organizing them, and carefully noting the meanings of each spell (keyword) and each character into his notepad.
Each magical character had its own meaning. Spells were composed of combinations of characters like "HP," "Recovery," "Injury," "Status," "Disease," "Repair," and "Purify." For example, the simplest healing spell, "Heal," used four characters: "HP," "Injury," "Repair," and "Recovery."
According to the book, these characters originated from contracts with the gods in ancient times, and the spells currently used are just a part of what earlier generations created by combining these characters. Some characters have been lost over time.
The book didn’t explain the meaning of each character individually—only the meaning of the full spell (keyword). Jin could understand individual characters thanks to his Language Setting: Japanese. Originally, he only read the spell as "Heal," but now he could visualize the meaning of each character. Because many spells share characters, Jin decided it was more efficient to learn them one by one rather than as whole spells.
It wasn’t that the book deliberately left out the meanings—people simply didn’t know them. Only a small number of characters have survived to the present day. What Jin was doing was almost like reviving knowledge from the age of the gods.
"Phew… that should do it."
After several hours, Jin finished organizing the magical characters for healing spells. His memory was surprisingly good—compared to two weeks ago, when he had been struggling with forgetfulness as an old man, he was very satisfied with how his mind worked now. Youth truly was wonderful, he thought once more.
"If you have time, the head priest would like to speak with you. Would that be convenient?"
Just as Jin was returning the book to leave, someone spoke up. They had waited until he finished to avoid interrupting him. Jin gladly accepted the invitation, and he was guided to the head priest’s office.
"I apologize for calling you here, Jin-san."
"No, no, if it’s an invitation from you, Clark-san, I’m happy to come."
Jin smiled and teased lightly at the embarrassed Clark.
"Ha ha, thank you. By the way, were you able to finish your research?"
"Yes. I wanted to study healing magic, so I spent some time learning."
"I see… I have some knowledge of that myself… oh, and there’s Rachel here, isn’t there?"
Clark had wanted to say he could teach anytime, but then remembered Rachel and corrected himself. Jin wondered for a moment how Clark knew her, then realized she also belonged to the temple and nodded in understanding.
"Yes, I plan to have her teach me again next time. She even helped me a little yesterday."
"I see… It’s good to hear she has been of some help."
Clark smiled at Jin’s words, then shifted his expression and bowed his head.
"Thank you very much, Jin-san."
Jin was a little taken aback by the sudden bow, but Clark quickly raised his head and continued.
"Actually, Rachel is my granddaughter. Since meeting you, Jin-san, she’s grown in ways I never imagined. Talking with you and observing your actions has been an incredible learning experience for her. This is all thanks to you. Truly, thank you."
Clark bowed deeply again.
Jin was surprised to learn Rachel was Clark’s granddaughter. Being thanked like this felt good, but also a little frustrating.
"Clark-san, please raise your head. I’ve only done what anyone would do. If Rachel has grown, it’s because she worked hard herself. And formal thanks like this feel unnecessary—this is mutual, isn’t it?"
Jin remembered how much Clark’s advice about skills had eased his own worries recently. They had helped each other, especially regarding Rachel, and if Clark was happy, Jin was happy too.
"Yes… Then, once again, Jin-san, thank you for the other day. I hope you’ll continue to look after my granddaughter."
"Yes. Rachel isn’t a formal party member yet, but she’s an important companion. I’m also in a position to look after her, of course."
They exchanged smiles. Clark wasn’t entirely satisfied with the "not formal" part, but he trusted Jin enough. The two then talked at length about Rachel, their shared topic of interest. Conversations ranged from her blessings to her parents, and eventually, Clark proudly bragged about his granddaughter. Jin unexpectedly enjoyed the time spent with him.
"I’m sorry for keeping you so long."
Clark looked apologetic, aware he had strayed from the main topic. But Jin didn’t mind; he found the glimpse of Clark’s doting grandfather side amusing.
"No, no, it was fun, and there’s no problem at all," Jin replied with a bright smile.
Clark’s expression still didn’t fully clear, so Jin asked one last question.
"By the way, Clark-san… I haven’t studied magical characters enough, so I can’t actually cast spells yet. Do you have any good practice methods?"
Clark’s face lit up with a nostalgic expression.
"Ah, I understand. I struggled with the same thing in my youth. Very well, I’ll teach you a special trick I came up with."
Jin had asked the question to distract him a little, but was pleasantly surprised to receive advice.
"Of course, understanding and memorizing the spell is essential. Once you’ve memorized it to a certain point, you practice chanting the spell while looking at the magical characters until you get used to it. You do need to see the target to activate it, so there is some cost, but writing the characters lightly on glass or similar methods helps. And once you successfully cast it even once, the spell becomes fixed—you won’t need to memorize it over and over. Rachel is talented, so she probably doesn’t know this, and I’ve never heard of anyone else using this method, so it’s our little secret."
Clark smiled warmly as he explained.
"Eh?! Once it’s successfully cast, I don’t need to visualize the characters in my mind anymore?"
The idea of chanting while reading the characters was itself novel, but the connection between activation and fixation was even more intriguing. Jin remembered that Aria had said it seemed like you had to visualize the characters in your mind every time.
"Ah, yes. Normally, you’re supposed to visualize the magical characters in your mind while chanting the spell. That does increase its power and effectiveness, no doubt. But it’s not strictly necessary."
Clark’s teaching was a revelation for Jin. It gave him a clear path forward for learning magic and its future applications. Jin even thought this might explain one of the requirements for learning the Chant shortening skill.
Drawing magical characters takes time. Even if you do pre-casting or mentally draw the characters each time, there’s a limit to how much the casting time can be shortened. Thinking this way, not drawing the magical characters could well be one of the conditions for Chant shortening. If that’s true, then since Jin already had Chant shortening as a skill, as long as he could successfully cast a spell once, he could thereafter cast using just the keywords—though with slightly reduced power. And as his skill level increased, even the full power could be restored.
Jin felt a surge of excitement at the possibilities.
"Thank you! I had resigned myself to mastering this spell only years from now, but perhaps I can learn it much sooner. And thank you so much for teaching me such a valuable method."
Both pieces of information were likely considered confidential or secret knowledge. Jin bowed deeply, sincerely grateful to Clark for sharing them without hesitation.
"Ha ha, that’s what I’d call being ‘modest,’ Jin-san."
Clark’s words made Jin suddenly lift his face, and he laughed at his own previous remark. He found it amusing that both he and Rachel had fallen into the same pattern with the grandfather and granddaughter. Looking at Clark, Jin shared a moment of laughter, and they both started laughing together. Jin felt truly happy.
Of course, he still had much to study about magical characters, but if he did it right, he could master the spell in the near future. After their laughter subsided, Jin turned to Clark and said one simple thing:
"Thank you very much."
He said it with a beaming smile.
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