Page 40

Weeks had passed since the revelation about Lilly’s past and life had continued on mostly fine. People were busy preparing for the end-of-the-year Alberest festival while also doing their required amount of work to keep the village alive.

On an individual level, Lilly had been hard at work trying to separate her tangled unknown exotic attribute and Manipulation. Syrus and Luna had tried to help by giving their own thoughts on the situation but the only one who could do the real work to fix it was Lilly.

On a fundamental level when Lilly used her Manipulation attribute, her mana was actually becoming a mix of both her attributes. Even when she just tried to use her mana without an attribute the negative influence remained, due to the nature of her attribute it was always passively involved with her mana. This was a common occurrence with any attribute but the effect was heightened due to Manipulation being in a way a natural enhancement of normal mana control.

To solve the issue she had to stop the dissonance between the two attributes which caused the pain and struggle she had to deal with when using her mana. To that she needed to properly awaken her exotic attribute, but to do that she needed to separate it from the fused mess that it was.

This did cause her pain… which held her back multiple times, but with Syrus and Luna’s encouragement, she continued trying. Lilly wanted to at least take one step forward in this new life.

She still had some hesitation about using Manipulation as one of Anna’s main two attributes, but at least now she was more willing to accept the idea.

“Argh my back…” George caressed his back as his butt was firmly planted on the dirt in front of his house.

Jen kneeled on the ground next to him and placed a cup of water in his hand, “Please take care of yourself better George.”

George smashed down the whole drink before gasping for air with a laugh, “Ha, I could say that to you.”

Jen lightly poked George’s back, which still got a “Yelp!” out of him.

She smugly said, “Say that to me when you're not in physical pain please.”

“Sure, you know what I will do one better and wait for you to be in equal pain. Then we will see who is laughing, and I bet it won’t be me.”

“Perfect.” Jen smiled. Then the two of them laughed.

[Sigh…] Luna shook her head, as Anna stood in the front entrance watching her parents.

[Everything okay?] (Eva)

[Yes.] (Luna)

[Nah it ain’t, I’m betting Luna wants to use her healing ability while they are sleeping.] (Syrus)

[How did you–Never mind. Anyway, I’m just frustrated that Jen and George are still being their goofy selves.] (Luna)

[How is that a problem?] (Syrus)

[...It’s not…] (Luna)

[I understand… you just want them to get some help.] (Eva)

[...] Luna turned her head and focused on her two parents. They had given her what she had missed in her first life, so all she wished for now was for them to take better care of themselves. [...If only I could do more…]

[...Just let it rest Luna, they are already doing the best they can.] It was hard for Syrus to put Luna’s desire down because Luna could do more, but Syrus knew best that Luna wasn’t feeling up to it. The intense feelings of worry and fear about using Moonlight and being caught with it flowed out of her in these quiet moments.

Syrus was right though, Jen and George did the best they could to take care of their health. Mostly thanks to Jen who did an unnecessary amount of research into the topic. They stretched, ate well, relaxed, and tried to pace themselves–the plan did have limits due to their financial situation but they did their best. However, simply because a plan was good didn’t mean it would have a perfect outcome.

They were both busy, worked long hours, and always helped others when asked. Anna did her best to help the burden but it wasn’t enough. Jen and George were the type of people who wouldn’t stop until a job was done, even when that job was too big for the two of them.

Eva hummed, [Hmm…] She had decided to stay out of the topic because she didn’t believe it was her place to tell Luna what she could and couldn’t do, but she wasn’t against giving suggestions about other things they could do, [If we can’t help them… then shouldn’t we at least do something nice for them?]

[Like what?] Syrus asked while staring at the parents who were finally getting off the ground.

George said to himself, “Come on stand up, you old goat.”

Jen reprimanded him, “Quiet you, if you're old, then that makes me old.”

[I’m not sure… but it would be nice if we could get something for their special day.] (Eva)

[What special day? Their birthdays have already passed?] (Syrus)

[Their anniversary…] (Eva)

[Ohhhhh!] (Syrus)

[That’s!] (Luna)

Jen and George's anniversary was something told to Anna offhandedly over two years ago and Eva remembered it all this time, and this year would be an extra special anniversary as it would be their twentieth.

Anna walked to George and helped him stand up, “Come on, let’s take you inside.”

George tried to wave her away, “I’m fine Anna, I still got some more work to do.”

“Dad you have two options, go inside and rest, or I will knock you out and force you to sleep.”

George quietly sighed, “I blame your mother.”

Syrus replied, “I say it’s your fault.” They were able to convince their father to be taken inside to rest for the rest of the afternoon.

Jen and George were thirty-four and thirty-five respectively. It had been nearly twenty years since Jen and George married. They got together in their late teens and had Anna in their mid to late twenties.

[So what should we get them?] Syrus asked.

[...] (Luna)

[...] (Eva)

[...] (Syrus)

An issue emerged. The three of them had no idea what to get them for such an occasion.

[...I’m sure we can think of something soon. There are plenty of books around if we need ideas.] (Syrus)

[Yeah… I think you’re right.] Luna's heart glowed with excitement, it didn’t matter if they didn’t have the perfect idea right now. They would surely think of something before the due date.

[Totally…] Conversely, Eva didn’t think they would have much success. She wanted to believe, but she had little hope.

All they could do was their best.