Re:START/If {Book 1.0}
Chapter 32: Ivory (Part 03)

Inside the room that Odo and Fiola rented, the atmosphere became a little awkward as they returned to the room. The black hairdresser sat on the edge of the bed, facing Fiola who was standing looking at him with a slightly irritated expression at what the boy had done earlier in the lobby.

“What is it necessary, Mr Odo? Why did you provoke them before the conversation?” ask Fiola annoyed. He took off his transformation magic, then returned in the form of an adult woman with beautiful curves. At first glance Odo turned his gaze away, not because of the question the woman asked but because of what was within sight.

“Gaze me, Mr Odo!”

“Ya ..”.

The boy stared, not at the face but at the feet of Fiola who was wearing Geta sandals. Because of the previous conversation, slowly Odo's perception of Huli Jing changed and he could not behave as usual. Staring at the woman's eyes straight away was even quite difficult for the child right now.

“Tuan ..!”

Fiola folded his hands to the front of the chest, making the two female treasures depressed and adding to the erotic taste. Odo increasingly reluctant to stare, plus throw a gaze quickly and began to sweat even though the air in the room was cold.

Looking for another way to avoid eye contact with such a thing, Odo lowered his head and as if there was nothing strange he asked, “Yes? What's up, Miss Fiola?”

Fiola asked, “Why look down? Is there something wrong with my foot?” He looked at the coconut palms of the black-haired boy, briefly wanting to catch him but the desire only came out into a breath and a light smile.

“Tno ...,” said the boy. Still did not lift his face at all, continued to look down and did not dare to look at Fiola.

“Terus why? You're weird, loh .... Nduk-nunduk keep kayaking like that.”

Odo was speechless, his flat expression quickly erasing the awkward face of the child. What happened to the black hair child was a natural thing that can be seen after getting expressions of love from women. Although Odo tends to be indifferent to such things, but still it disturbs the child's feelings and way of thinking.

Taking a deep breath, Odo cleared his mind and immediately understood that if it continued like that there would be something more troublesome coming from the woman before him. Closing his eyes for a moment, the boy accessed the internal magic, then continued to go deeper again to the point where he could access the inner feeling element. Slowly open your eyes and raise reasonably, the boy said —

“Delete ...”

“Hmm? You said something?” Fiola did not clearly hear it, it was too sudden and slightly surprised him.

“Tak what ...” The boy lightly looked at Fiola, smiled kindly and asked, “Tadi Mbak Fiola asked me why I provoked them first, ‘kan?”

“Ya ..” At a glance both of Fiola's brows moved, his forehead slightly furrowing at the child's extremely quick change in attitude but the contents of his mind were nothing awkward or any signs of active Perception Speculation magic.

“That's required,” says Odo. Pointing the chest-high right forefinger forward, the boy cheerfully explained, “If I don't do that, then, the two men were definitely in the middle of the conversation going to act very haughty and that would definitely make Mbak Fiola angry .... Maybe, until Fiola Ma'am uses the authority of Shieal that Mbak Fiola has.”

Fiola sighed lightly, smiled faintly and sat down next to Odo on the bed. Looking at the child from the side, a sad look seemed on the woman's face as she looked at Odo. Holding the child's shoulder, he asked, “What ... is the result of that simulation magic again? How times? How many times this time?”

Looking at the woman, Odo replied, “Only one hundred twice, not too much.”

That number left Fiola stunned. One hundred twice is not a small amount. During the lobby talks were supposed to take about 15 minutes, meaning that it was the same Odo had spent the entire day in the lobby just for the sake of the conversation that others felt was very short. The sad expression of Huli Jing was increasingly visible, as if she was not willing to do so and was like torturing herself.

“Tuan ...”

“What's up? Why put on a face like that?”

“Please do not force yourself like that .... The magic was indeed amazing, the results obtained were indeed amazing. But ... Your body can-can be damaged .... You must also have used that magic against the Black Dragon and during the Expedition, ‘kan? Your body can-can ...”

“Quiet only ...” Odo smiled, putting on a face without any burden at all. The child is getting too used to it, things that are heavy for most people already do not feel like a burden to the child.

“How can I calm down! If you are okay, Mrs ...” Fiola raised his hand from Odo's shoulder, what came out of his mouth was just an excuse. He knew that, that was all he could use to worry about Odo.

Seeing such a reaction, the child analyzed it heartlessly. Purely looking for something that could be done to make Fiola stop putting on such a sad face. Smiling lightly, the boy casually said, “I ... actually already in the category of Immortal, loh.”

Fiola was startled, staring with both eyes slowly wide open and his mouth slightly gaping. Before Huli Jing could question the words, Odo again said, “Ah, only Fiola Ma'am I told you this, so don't tell anyone, yes.”

“Immortal? You ... immortal?” Fiola got up from the seat, standing before the child with mixed taste. His anxiety about the child's condition diminished, but other anxieties began to grow and he could not believe the words.

“Yes, that's it. As long as the Mana in my body is still there, I will continue to regenerate. Since the amount of Mana in my body is equivalent to or even more than that of the Black Dragon, it is almost impossible for me to die. Well, unless I'm burned to the ground hundreds of times .... Eng, that too I think is impossible, I have resistance to fire, hell.”

Seeing the smile that was on the boy when he said that, fear came to Fiola's mind. He just understood why Mavis as the child's mother had a dilemma and felt reluctant to her own child. The boy named Odo Luke is indeed unnatural, the perception is starting to be embedded in Fiola's mind. However, even so, his feelings for the child remained completely unchanged.

“Do not lie .... Just till bleeding like that!” fiola said to make sure. It is glorious to tremble, in mixed feelings.

“Ah, earlier? The regenerative magic is active, you know. Naturally it was my head—more precisely my brain was already exhausted due to the active Perception Speculation magic. Thanks to the existing regeneration magic, it can be prevented and only nosebleeds occur,” explained the child.

“You are ...” Fiola stared in annoyance, mixed with a strange sense of anxiety. His forehead shriveled, staring intently and saying, “Please .. promise me no more use that kind of magic..”

“If I don't use it, I'm just like a kid who only has powerful magic.” The boy looked back with flat eyes, not caring about the anxiety of the woman before him and just saying what was right.

Standing right in front of the child sitting on the bed, Fiola held both sides of the child's cheeks with his hands and began caressing him. Slightly bowing and looking into the boy's eyes, he said, “Just don't wear it anymore ... If you wear it again, I'll tell Madam about all your secrets.”

Rather than threats, Odo felt it was a form of female worry, the face on her explained. Smiling lightly, Odo calmly asked, “Why did you suddenly change your mind? Didn't he promise he wouldn't say?”

“I added terms, that's the terms ..” Fiola stared straight, then lowered his hand from the child's cheek onto his shoulder and held the child tightly.

“....”

“Master Odo ..” The woman's face grew increasingly anxious, Odo did not answer at all and just stared silently. Raising a hand from her shoulder, Fiola stepped back and his face grew anxious.

“Alright .., I won't use it again,” said the boy after seeing Fiola's expression.

“Yakin?”

“Read my mind. If I'm planning anything else, Fiola knows, right?”

What Odo said was that honestly, the boy did not lie or plan anything else at all. Fiola knew this clearly after looking at what the boy was thinking. “Hmm, it seems like you are not lying,” he said with a faint smile. Despite saying so, he could not believe fully considering Odo's personality which was basically strange and incomprehensible to him.

“But, Madam Fiola, may I request a condition as well? Consider it a request ...”

“Request? What is it?” Fiola's face turned again alarmed again hearing that, his lips slightly curved like an upside-down crescent moon and his eyes stared flat.

“May I copy the magic structure of Fiola's Mbak Transformation?” odo Pinta.

“Menya ... lin? Copying magic structure?”

“Hmm ..”

“What is it .. possible to do?”

Fiola stared puzzledly, as far as magic structures are not something that can be copied easily. The structure of magic basically must be studied and understood in a short period of time, each magic has a different complexity and the Transformation magic belongs to Fiola is basically including very complicated magic, which is very complicated, changes in physical shape and body construction.

“Yes, not too difficult, really. I just need to copy it,” the boy said as he extended his hand forward. Pointing towards Fiola with his right hand, Odo said, “Please use that several times in front of me, let me analyze and copy it.”

“Only with it?”

“Hmm ...”

After that, Fiola had to perform transformation magic several times before Odo until the boy finished copying the magic and understood its structure. When asked what it was for to copy the magic, the boy simply replied to a plan. Despite reading Odo's mind, Fiola had no idea what the plan was.

The activity at that night ended with that and they just slept at midnight. But when the room lights were turned off and the two men were already lying on the bed, suddenly Odo woke up and came down from the bed.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor, the boy meditated and spoke to himself. Although there was no one other than him and Fiola in the room, the child was talking to himself like there were other people.

“You heard, didn't you? So please eliminate that effect .... Lower the synchronicity so I don't have to have that effect .... Come on, persuade him. After all, originally it was because you instigated him to the point that this happened to me, wasn't it?”

Fiola peeked at the boy from under the blanket, heard what he was muttering and kept pretending to be asleep. Seeing the boy speak for himself like that, the Huli Jing could not read his mind. Not because the contents of the child's head were like a storm and complicated to the point of being unreadable, but because they were hindered by something unclear.

“So, yes .... You are this indeed,” mind Fiola. He covered his face with a blanket, turned around and understood that Odo did not believe him at all. She felt a little sad about it, but she couldn't stop smiling because she felt the change from within so clearly.

He was relieved, understanding that he could still change from within and no longer feel like he was abandoned. Understanding that he was self-centered and trying to downplay it for the sake of others was new to Fiola, it was really the first time he felt like changing for the sake of others, Unlike the time with Mavis he only adjusts and tends to be forced to fix his attitude, this time he did with his own intentions and for Odo.

««»»

The day has changed. Although the morning had come, the light from the rising sun was still unable to touch the land completely because it was blocked by the gray clouds that still adorned the sky. Inside the lodging room they had rented, Fiola walked towards the window, then opened it and let the cooler air from outside enter inside.

Odo shivered, the child lying on the floor immediately opened his eyes and woke up. Sitting confused for a moment, he immediately understood who made the temperature of the room suddenly drop dramatically. Staring narrowly with slightly black eye bags, the boy asked, “Still down .. snow?” Fiola turned his head to hear that, the woman with the form of the little girl smiled lightly as if enjoying Odo's annoyed face.

“Hah, even that's what you asked, huh?” said Fiola. The woman standing by the window looked out, drew cold fresh air and said, “Yes, still down. Everything still looks very white. If the sun is not visible, so it is difficult to know what time it is, yes ..”

“Now it is still seven,” said the boy. He stood up, then slightly stretched his body and made small leaps in a place that had become a habit for him. While stretching both hands and feet, the boy said, “We don't need breakfast here today, yes. Just go out, we eat later outside only.”

“Hmm?” Fiola turned his head, looked at Odo and said, “Let the head chef fuss again, you know. Looks like he was like that ..., earlier before Mr. Odo woke up he also came to this room and said that we have to have breakfast to try the new menu.”

Odo stopped stretching after hearing that. Standing straight and staring flat, the boy said, “Mbak Fiola, I give valuable advice for this kind of case .... Never want to be a taster when a foot tries a new menu, never.”

“Hmm? Why?”

“That must be the edges are not tasty. It's the same as experimental material, you know. If you want to cook, it is better not to try. Use the knowledge you have. If Mbak Fiola hopes to taste delicious food when the test chef eats, it means Fiola must eat delicious food dozens to dozens of times first.”

“Sort of it, yes ...” Fiola didn't really care what Odo said, he only cared about the boy who was saying that.

The woman was a little flinched. Raising her index finger at chest level, she asked, “Gak bath—I mean cleaning the body with a warm washcloth first at least, does it not smell or stickiness ...Your body?”

“Ah, that's toh.” Odo turned around, smiled lightly and replied, “Just relax, my sweat is not scented. More precisely, my body tends not to have the scent of such odors.”

“Eh?” Fiola was shocked to hear that fact.

“If there is a smell, it may be from the clothes I wear. My own body does not emit aroma,” continued Odo.

Tilting his head slightly, the Huli Jing asked, “Why .. so?”

“Yeah, it's kind of a perfect body consumption. Basically, the body cannot absorb all the food that enters the body, because of which there are body secretions. However, my body was perfectly arranged to process all the food. Therefore, sweat or the result of the secretion that comes out is actually not a secretion. It was just body adjustment ...”

Fiola was silent for a moment. Although he nodded, his face did not show that he understood Odo's words. Swallowing spit heavily, he said, “Sorry ..., I don't understand what you're saying ...”

“Well, the point is I sweat not because of excess water, but because to reduce body temperature, the case is the same as yesterday. Even if I pee or defecate, it's only done to get rid of the poison and that means I really need to do it. Well, I can do that as I please, but what comes out is not the result of secretions. Well, even my urine can be drunk directly maybe ..”

“Eeeeh? What the fuck?” A slightly disgusted expression appeared on the look on Fiola's face, feeling reluctant there was no want to imagine anyone willing to do things like what the child said.

“The effect of the Black Dragon Magic Core, Sister Fiola knows that there is something inside me, right?”

The look on Fiola's face changed quickly when he heard that, he understood that Odo said that not because he wanted to joke or something. “Such effect too?” ask Fiola astonished.

“Hmm. Basically I've become a powerful, but imperfect existence. As long as the Mana in the body exists, I can live. Absorbing Ether is already a consumption for me, in other words I actually do not need to eat to live,” explained the child.

“You ... already out of the human race like it .... Humans can't do that kind of thing, you know. Even me ...”

“I'm still human, you know. Rasku has not changed .... Never mind, let's get down.”

“Ya, alright.”

They walked out of the room, locked it and went downstairs. When they reached the first floor, they immediately approached the reception desk, then left the room keys and left the inn before the owner of the place chased them. The waiter who worked in the section asked why they were in such a hurry, but Odo just gave an excuse there was something to do immediately.

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After walking quite far from the inn where they were staying and they almost reached the town hall, only then did Fiola ask, “Today where are you going again? The plan with Miss Mayor was ..., isn't it still a few days away? Master's order sword also just finished tomorrow ...”

Odo glanced lightly at the woman walking beside him. A little put on a knot smile, he replied, “Eng, we want to go to some offices around the city hall, then the afternoon to the orphanage.”

“To that place again?” Fiola's eyebrows twitched, a little surprised and asked again, “Aren't you reluctant to sleep there?”

“Yes, our money runs out for just two days overnight, anyway. Want how else ..., search for free.”

Fiola fell silent, he could not deny that because now they did not carry a single piece of cash.  Sighing lightly, the Huli Jing said, “You go home first to take the money?”

“Oi, Ms. Fiola .... If so, you can-can use the funds to pay the debt for me.”

“Ah, true also.” The fox woman let out a sigh of uneasiness, what Odo said about Mavis was undeniable. Glancing at the boy, he said, “If Madam seems like it would be like that .... He tends to want to spoil you, anyway.”

“Eng, therefore I rarely ask him for such a matter. Well, even during the expedition I was very grateful that mom did not do excessive things ...”

Not long after walking, they finally reached the central hall of Mylta City. There has begun to be crowded with people who do their activities, whether traders, workers, security officers, or puritans. Observing all that, there were some things concluded in Odo's head.

“We sit there first,” said the boy as he walked towards one of the benches near the pond in the middle of the city hall.

“Eh? Not going to the government agency office around here?”

“Wait until they operate.”

“They're open, really. View ...” Fiola pointed towards one of the offices.

Stopping the footsteps and turning to the direction the woman pointed, Odo slightly sighed and said, “Hell is only open, not yet operational and open public services. Just wait a minute, try to comply with the existing procedures ..., Ms. Fiola.”

“Hmm, whereas you could have used the existing status for it ...”

“Yes, I will also use it later. But for like this, it is better to just follow the flow.”

In the end, they sat on the bench and waited for more than an hour until the offices of government agencies opened community services. During the wait, Odo just sat down without speaking and just observed around. He inwardly counts the passers-by, then ranks them in several categories. From that, the child came to another conclusion and made her smile slightly thinly.

After the offices opened the service with marked bells on one of the towers around the hall, the boy immediately woke up and he walked toward one office agency with Fiola. In the city hall as a whole has more than a dozen agency offices that can be said to cover all arrangements and coordinators of city elements. Of all the existing offices, the first time Odo came was the office of a legal institution.

In there Odo and Fiola follow the procedure, then find out about a list of cases and events over the past decade. By borrowing Fiola's authority and Shieal's special letter, the boy accessed some of the secret information contained within the agency. There was no information of interest to Odo, and the boy did not spend long in the office.

After finishing in the office of a legal institution, the child went to the office of a financial institution and spent longer there. Not much different when in a legal institution, the boy checked the city's financial data in the past decade and analyzed it.

Finished from that place, the child also went to the offices of other agencies such as the marine and engagement offices, security, and lastly was the layout of the city. In all offices of the agency visited Odo, he spent the longest time in the city spatial agency. There the boy spent hours, rummaging through the archives of the place to get the desired info. The officials there could only resignedly see the child ransacking their workplace, the authority of Shieal and the official letter the fox girl had brought in really made them unable to prevent the child.

Odo is not a self-informed person, after finishing getting the necessary information he tidied up all the files and thanked the people in the place. The workers in the office of the spatial agency can only be confused to get guests who come like a storm and go like the warm wind, even the head of the office could only scratch the back of the head because it did not understand what had just happened.

Out of the building, it does not feel the day has begun to afternoon and a little dark with gray clouds still adorning the sky. Descending a short rung of stairs after exiting the office building, Odo and Fiola cross paths with a group of people they did not expect.

The place in the town hall, Siska and the orphanage children passed by and their eyes crossed each other. The nun was wearing her work clothes, a blue-gray dress and was seen eating a white hood. In his right hand he carried a book, and his left hand held one of the twins, Mila.

“Ah, Mr Odo ..., Miss Fiola ..?”

Siska smiled kindly seeing the two people just out of the spatial agency building. Together with the orphanage children, he then approached Odo and Fiola who had just descended the stairs in front of the agency building.

The orphanage children ran ahead of Siska cheerfully and happily. The twins, Mila and Erial immediately ran towards Odo, then hugged him tightly.

“Because of you Mr Witch~!”

“Tertang .. kap~ Eih~!

Odo was surprised to get it, looked a little surprised but did not feel surprised at all when he saw them. Rubbing the heads of the two girls who were hugging him, he slightly smiled a knot that felt empty.

“Yo, Mr. Witch. Have you improved your condition?” daniel said familiarly. He folded his hands to the front of his chest, then stared with a cheerful and excited face.

“Dani ..., don't be such a familiar snitch to Mr. Odo,” Firkaf scolds. He closed the book, then stared intently at Daniel.

“Lah, don't bring tense, just relax. After all, Master Witch doesn't mind either .... Yes, ‘kan?” said Daniel. The child who looks the most active and fairly always relaxed put on a big smile, staring at the dreamy Odo.

“See, Mr. Odo is silent so, you bother him, Dani!” said Nesta. Holding the back collar of Mila and Erial's clothes hugging Odo, the most mature girl among all the orphanage's children said, “You guys too, don't tack like that to Mr. Odo ..!!”

“Gak! I'll look after the Witch Master! He will be attacked by Brother Daniel again!” said Mila.

“Hmm, Brother Dani is naughty!” connect Erial.

“Eeeh? How am I wrong?”

Amidst the lively atmosphere that felt soft and warm, Odo simply fell silent and stared at the one point where the white-haired girl outside the circle of warmth was standing. Among all that was and the warmth that was given to him, Odo's eyes were glued only to the girl standing with that sad face.

As if they were attracted to each other, they stared at each other regardless of all the sounds. As if calling each other, the two children walked over to each other and made Siska, Fiola, and the other children of the orphanage look confused.

Face to face. Odo watched the girl in the ivory-white dress, he just fell silent without a single word. Similarly Nanra, the white-haired girl wearing a double warm jacket was completely unbiased and just stared straight at the black-haired figure before her.

A cold wind blew, hitting their bodies and making their hair choppy. As the wind stopped blowing, one of them spoke.

“Odo ..., correct ... what is it like?” ask Nanra.

“Entahlah .... Nothing in this world is entirely true, depending on how we look. People can only justify bullying, not that what they do is real. All that exists in this world is reality ...”

“What ... is like that .... If so, what does .... exist for? What does tragedy and happiness exist for?”

Odo was silent to the question, he understood a little that the girl in front of him had been thinking about many things since that day. Smiling lightly, he said, “I was a little impressed ..., you didn't dodge and really thought about it.”

“Hmm.” Nanra nodded lightly, looked straight and said, “Your words bother me a lot and until now I couldn't come to a conclusion .... You ..., really good at influencing others, yes ...”

“I do not influence, only realize that there are other points of view that are more appropriate and worth trying.”

“It ... his name affects ...”

Hearing what the two people said, they all looked confused. Whether it was Siska or the orphanage children, they did not understand what Odo and Nanra were talking about. Slightly different from them, Fiola caught on to the conversation and understood it a little.

Squinting as he looked towards the two children, the Huli Jing muttered, “You are always alone. Really ... all this it feels ..”

Too sad, it was not spoken at the end of the woman's sentence. Although only a glance, he knew what the boy felt for the girl named Nanra. Fiola only knew, but he did not understand why Odo felt that way to the girl. But even if it is only that limited, he can understand that it is very impossible to see the two children together later.

Slightly turning away, Fiola again muttered, “What you also want to make me lie as your mother min—” His words came to a halt, clearly Odo had turned his head towards him and stared intently. In the motion of his lips, the boy conveyed something.

Fioal knew that clearly and he was surprised. It was different from back then, this time not a lie but a shocking honesty. Smiling lightly as if accepting what Odo said, Fiola said, “It's up to you ... Huh, base.”