The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'
Chapter 58 - Trying To Trick Others... And Instead Convincing Yourself

Chapter 58: Chapter 58 - Trying To Trick Others... And Instead Convincing Yourself

Elua kept still and watched the orphan pair for a bit. The girl with the braided hair hovered close to the taller boy, looking for all the world as if something was going to swoop in and drag him away. Considering her recent overreaction with Qat... she couldn’t laugh.

"Nohre, Fusand~"

The heiress called to the orphan pair who turned their heads. They approached relatively eagerly, having had a short interaction with the brunette the day before. The orphanage leadership also made sure to tell them who she was - a regular investor like her mother. So, they didn’t want to offend her.

But... the black haired teenager still stood in front of her scrawny ’friend’ with sandy hair. The mint eyed girl met the more yellow-green of the other’s eyes and smiled ’warmly’.

"How are the two of you today?"

Nohre shifted slightly at being the one she chose to talk to first. The slightly younger girl didn’t even glance up and past her like usually happened. Her response was appropriately respectful, recognizing the attempt for what it was.

"We’re well, Miss Goltbred. Thank you for asking."

Fusand peered over Nohre, his curiosity evident in his eyes. He didn’t think it was much of a coincidence to run into someone new on the next day.

"It’s kind of you to talk to us again so soon."

Elua’s lips curved into a ’gentle’ smile as she glanced at him and shook her head. She could obviously sense everything in their spirits, even if it was a little noisier than Qat’s. The tension in Nohre’s was a blend of wariness and hope. The girl was protective of her young partner and it reminded her of herself, in a way.

"I’m glad to hear that. I was hoping we could chat a bit more about your cultivation progress soon. I remember you mentioned some challenges yesterday?"

A throat was cleared behind the reborn cultivator, who was trying to further lead the conversation towards making them want to help her in exchange for mentor benefits. She hadn’t forgotten he was there, but-

"Are you going to introduce me?"

"Oh, I forgot... that you were here."

The daughter widened her eyes then looked vaguely ’ashamed’.

"This is my father, Ondua er Goltbred. I think most people around here know of him? At least he tells me that a lot."

The two children tensed with something like surprise and a sense of being overwhelmed. The young miss and the Dame of their estate both had their own rumors and fame - or infamy - but this was the ’local hero’ from the last Descent! Every orphan had their story, but many of them started with ’my parents died to a Voidling assault’.

Some resented the other cultivators that fought and didn’t become sacrifices, but the pair were not like that. Instead, they looked up to those who survived and continued to protect others. The braided-haired girl’s stance in particular softened further with her eyes widening.

"Sir, it’s... it’s an honor."

Her voice barely managed above a nervous whisper. It was like her confidence had been shoved down into a tight ball. Fusand, usually more reserved, let his bloom instead and stepped around his friend with the same sort of clear respect in his eyes.

"Mr. Goltbred, sir, I’ve read about the strategies in the last Descent. The tactic you employed of rushing to take out the invader leadership saved countless lives!"

The brunette man chuckled warmly, his eyes crinkling at the corners. He was used to meeting younger fans at the Guild, but this was the first time he ever got to show it off to his daughter. He wouldn’t lie to himself - it was one of the main reasons he always wanted to go shopping with her! Running into admirers was almost a guarantee, eventually.

"It’s always nice to meet some young fans - but please, there’s no need for such formality today. I’m just here to support my daughter’s interests. We were going shopping."

Elua’s lips grew a small ’smirk’, that she hid with her hand.

’Yes, *support*. Or perhaps to make sure I’m not getting into trouble? To chase after me when I left the house suddenly again...’

"I thought you didn’t know where we were going?"

Her father’s expression turned sheepish at having his bragging parent moment questioned.

"You did invite me along... you weren’t joking about the shopping, were you?"

The young heiress ’rolled her eyes’ and shook her head before turning back to the orphans who were seeing the man acting so normal - and almost *helpless* - toward the young girl. It was the hero of the last war, right!? It wasn’t something they ever expected to see... and as children without defined parental figures they didn’t know what to think.

Though, they could tell there was a lot of warmth and care involved in whatever was happening.

"As I was saying before my dad stole your attention, I’d love to hear more about your cultivation. Perhaps we could find a quiet spot to talk? Maybe even eat a little. I was busy all morning and haven’t touched a bite, so I’m famished."

Nohre hesitated while glancing between the two brunettes. The presence of the man added a new layer of complexity to refusing the situation. Specifically, that she didn’t want to any longer! How could she just say no?

"I... we wouldn’t want to take up too much of your time."

She said cautiously, and the reborn cultivator was impressed at her solid outward humbleness despite her inward glee.

’Maybe I can learn from her a little too...’

They both smiled reassuringly at the pair at the same time, but Ondua was the one who actually spoke.

"Nonsense. Food is better with more people. And who knows? Maybe you two will be famous someday and I’ll get to talk about the time we met."

Fusand lit up at the idea and Nohre’s expression became more thoughtful after noticing it. The black-haired girl’s protective instincts warred with the potential opportunity before them. Especially if the other girl could convince the boy to train more... in safe ways, of course...

Nohre had felt guilty for so long over being stronger than him. Especially when she felt the reason for it was that he shared too much of their already limited resources with her as they grew up. Her reasoning wasn’t entirely wrong, but it was also that he found reading and meditating on his thoughts to be much more interesting than the other two energies.

Elua sensed her internal conflict and decided to help push things along. She gingerly reached forward after a slow step and grabbed the girl’s thumb in a ’friendly and innocent’ gesture. She was her father’s daughter - one with a reputation at the Youth Guild for being extremely easy to talk to and get along with - how could she not choose to use both of those things if it meant she would get what she wanted?

"How about this? We just go eat. I won’t press you with questions. If we start to talk anyway... well, then it happens. I also wanted to talk to someone about what I’m shopping for. What were the two of you out looking at, by the way?"

Slight alarms were ringing over the younger girl being in her space, but-

"A-ah, just studying... the market. He... uh..."

"I was interested in seeing if the coming competition was affecting any of the local prices yet. A book I was reading on the history of the Descents said that some cycles affected local economies as the preparations started ramping up."

Fusand took the lead once again, as he often did when the girl was ’failing’ a little to remain confident. Neither of them had ever taken note of this dynamic... but Elua certainly did. She was impressed once again. The girl she expected to be like herself was a little more systematic in her approach, but the boy was also pretty good himself.

’He sits back happy enough to let her worry like she is built to do, but doesn’t let her suffer. She didn’t pick too badly~’

"The headmaster of your orphanage said that you have an interesting Astralism. Would you mind showing me?"

The sandy-haired boy looked startled for a moment, then nodded hesitantly at the same time his orphan friend *lightly* tore her hand out of the soft grip. She felt like she had just been had! Nohre wanted to be ready to interfere with the two’s talk and not be under physical control. The young miss was not her friend... yet...

’But she’s not... so bad.’

The boy closed his eyes in concentration. A small, unstable and flat image appeared above his palm of the top half of a certain face. Judging by the color of the irises... it was clear who his example had been. Seeing him pick *this* over the other things she knew he could form made the girl blush and tap warningly at his shoulder.

"That’s impressive."

Ondua murmured and leaned in for a closer look. Meanwhile, Elua was critiquing every part of it - from his choice to work in two dimensions, to the faults within the image, not to mention the instability... she didn’t expect a lot from a young spiritualist when it came to control.

But she just couldn’t help but see Projection - a ’lesser’ but more ’specialized’ version of her Astralism - being employed with *such* lack of skill without wanting to start lecturing! The only thing that stopped her from doing it right on the street was that there wasn’t a soul other than Qatrand er Yecine that actually knew about her Illusion Aspect. Not even her mother, who knew more than most.

’I should have known this was going to happen. I wanted to help them with income and get two helpful workers for my side-jobs. Now it looks like...’

Her mint eyes ticked toward the flustered young girl. The headmaster had mentioned her abilities as well. A Water Element... and an apparently weak form of ’Regeneration’ Physique. Having lived her former life with Acid as her primary known way of attack, she had encountered a lot of Physiques that were meant to be capable of resisting her use of essence.

That’s why she knew well what the spirit of someone with Regeneration looked like - and her’s was similar, but *not* it.

So there was a spiritualist boy who was a good egg and she could teach how to conceptualize his imagination better to enhance his control of the energy. There was also an adorably possessive child attached to his hip that she could give just as many tips to with her own mimicry of Water and knowledge of essence. That alone would be enough to want to teach.

Combined with their orphanhood... she was cursing herself inside that her greed was already assigning them discipleship.