Eisenstern 1.3

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At the very least, I’ve managed not to freeze or anything terrible like that. It isn’t exactly the best out here on my own, but I’m starting to get used to it, and even kind of find it interesting.

Practising magic seemed like a good idea, given my skill with spellcasting is rather abysmal. There’s a reason I’m not a sage, I guess, but unlike Morgyn I never saw a reason to train my magic that much. Morgyn just wanted to be better at everything than everyone else is, I guess.

Turns out there are a lot of fishing spots scattered around. There aren’t any where I live, but travelling to Willow Creek isn’t too bad. I suppose there are places that are closer, like Granite Falls, but I like the atmosphere of Willow Creek I guess.

I’m getting better at fishing. Nowadays, I’m catching better things than guppies, things that taste a bit better. I’m still not sure what to do for income, but I did hear having a university degree might be useful. I don’t want to be stuck like this for too much longer.

And what if Morgyn comes to visit while I’m eking it out living off the land? Ugh, I’d never hear the end of it.

I managed to borrow a laptop while I was out last and had a look at the available job opportunities. I might’ve also spent some time playing a dumb video game, but I was bored.

I liked painting well enough, so I thought it might work out decently if I became a painter. At least, I hoped. It’d be difficult getting buyers, but then I thought there is that thing online now, what’s it called, Plopsy?

So I decided to try painting and see if I can get a buyer pool going on Plopsy. Who knows, maybe I’ll become an overnight sensation. (Yeah right.)

San Myshuno’s arts quarter is well-known for having painting easels just sitting around waiting for someone to use them. Until I can afford an easel of my own, it seemed like maybe not a bad idea to go ahead and borrow the ones in the arts quarter.

So far, so good. My art’s not perfect, but some people don’t want perfect.

Fortunately, I found a fishing spot in Mount Komorebi. While I was there, some others that lived in the area came by to fish as well. Both of them were Nishidakes, the girl was the older man’s granddaughter. I didn’t ask after her parents, but the way they avoided mentioning her parents made me think they’re likely gone.

Mostly, we quietly fished together. Sometimes, the older man, Shigeru-san, would wordlessly give me fishing pointers. I did my best to copy his movements. He’d been a fisherman for a long time, I could tell that. I could learn a thing or two from him, I could tell that too.

Dad came by. I earned just enough from selling the random junk I fished up from the river in Senbamachi and a few of my paintings to build a small outhouse. I have a shower of my own now!

Dad spent some time here as a kid, but mostly grew up in San Myshuno, not here. But he did say that the people of Mt. Komorebi were tough-skinned and generally hospitable. I’ve not found either of those statements to be a lie.

Strangely, I think I’m starting to fit in.

Siobhan came by the next day. It was nice to see her. Every time someone calls a club gathering, Siobhan’s weirdly absent. I wonder if she’s avoiding talking to or being around Sergio, but I didn’t ask either one of them. That seems like meddling and I try not to be a meddling jerk.

She’s still working at the gym as the gym trainer. (Sounds like a Voidcritter role. She’d run a fire type gym. Oh, or maybe earth. She is kind of stubborn sometimes.) I hear her little sister is in the Renegades. That smells a lot like sibling rivalry that’s made itself everyone else’s problem.

I didn’t say that.

It’s really nice to have water behind the house that I can laze around in. I like floating in it and just watching the stars. Even though I’m not exactly living the dream or anything, I find I’m not really unhappy with how things have turned out, either.

I’ve gotten a little more money and earned enough to get my own painting easel. Unfortunately you need to have at least a little put away to be able to buy the paints and canvases you need to make artwork, but my paintings are selling by some miracle.

In the meantime, I don’t mind sleeping in a tent under the stars. It took some time to get used to the noises (in magic realm, there’s just the sound of water and that weird distant roaring sound no one else seems to be able to hear), but now I fall asleep at night pretty quickly.

Dad came by again while I was working on another painting. (I got lamps and makeshift posts to be able to see at night.) He doesn’t seem super thrilled about me roughing it out (imagine if mom saw), but he didn’t argue with me either.

“Are you sure you don’t need anything?” he asked, for the fifteenth time that night.

I smiled. “I’m sure, dad. I’m doing much better at this than I thought I would! That’s got to count for something.”

“Of course it does,” he said. “I don’t think I could do what you’re doing. But what are your plans?”

“I’m trying to get into Foxbury Institute,” I said.

“Foxbury?” he asked. “What for?”

“Computer science,” I said. “I want to become an engineer.”

“That’s an impressive goal,” he said. “But you’ll get there. You may not’ve gotten your mother’s ambition, but you did get her stubbornness.”

Personally, I think the stubbornness came from him, but I thought better of telling him that.

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