"Wait, how old is he? Laurence, I mean," Seth asked.

"Mm, fourteen."

"Oh, I see." For a second, he was surprised that the noble brat was two years older than him. "Mind showing me your left hand?"

"Um, w-why?" she asked, taken aback by the sudden change of topic as she hid her left hand at her back.

"I just want to see how the rune looks like now that you've reached the first stage."

"It's nothing special. A single dot just appeared at the lower left."

"I still want to see it."

"...Fine." She held out her left hand to him.

Seth grabbed her wrist, staring at the back of her hand attentively. Touching her hand would be insensitive of him. The rune on the back of her hand didn't change as much from the previous appearance. It was still the same rune that looked like a spiral of wind, except, like what she said, there was now a dot located at the lower left.

"Okay, that's enough." She chuckled as she pulls her hand. "Your eyes looked like they're about to drop."

"S-Sorry. It was captivating." He gave her an awkward smile.

"Yours is more attractive though~."

"Well, y-yeah," He stared at his rune.

"By the way, Seth. When I went to your house earlier, Uncle Ephrael told me that you easily created a fire. How was it? How did it look like?"

It seems that Lynstella had managed to talk to Seth's father before he left for his work.

"Nothing special. I just managed to turn my finger into a candle," Seth replied to her.

"Let me see it!" she chirped, her eyes practically sparkling.

"You haven't seen a candle yet?"

"Let. Me. See. It."

Suddenly, Lynstella's supposedly sparkling eyes turned baleful, startling the hell out of Seth.

"H-here." He conjured a small flame at the tip of his finger. "I can only hold it for a short time, so make the most of it."

Leaning her face close to his finger, her eyes began to sparkle once again.

"Hehe! Happy birthday to me!" She blew the flame on his finger.

"Wait, what?" That is what Seth wanted to say, but decided not to. He knew that a disaster might start if he said that. And then, he finally remembered, cursing himself afterward for forgetting it.

Today, the 26th of May, was Lynstella's 12th birthday.