Lilly was up first. She stood at the plate, holding her wooden rapier with a game face. Darius, standing beside the pitcher's mound, held his prized wooden sphere out to Lucia.
"Lighten it up, Lu! As much as you can!" Darius urged. The kids had recently come up with a nickname for their youngest and it was cute, just like her.
Lucia nodded, her small face scrunched up in concentration. A focused, reddish glow poured from her hands, enveloping the ball. The wood felt airy, it was less than half its original weight.
"That's my limit, big brother," she puffed, pulling her hands back.
Darius tossed the feather-light sphere up, and Lilly swung her rapier with all the power she could muster.
CRACK! The ball shot past Alex, who was playing mid-field, soaring too high and fast for his jump. It sailed over the neat rows of tomatoes and landed deep in the far corner of the wheat field, disappearing completely.
"Yeah! Home run!" Lilly shrieked, dancing a victory jig.
"Past the tomatoes! That's thirty five meters!" Alex shouted, quickly updating his ledger. As the nearest one, Rowan went to get the ball and tossed it back.
Next up was Darius. He handed the retrieved ball to Lilly to pitch. Lilly wound up, and Darius took a strong stance. Lucia gave the ball her maximum lightening effect again.
Lilly tossed it hard. Darius connected with a clean thwack. The sphere arced perfectly, heading straight for the deep outfield where Rowan was waiting.
Rowan adjusted his position, took two quick steps, and then with a low huff of effort, he launched himself into the air. His massive hand snatched the ball just before it began curve down. He landed hard, the ground beneath his feet shaking slightly.
"Out! A spectacular hit, son, but you'll have to hit it harder than that to beat your old man!" Rowan yelled, a triumphant grin on his face.
It was Alex's turn to bat. He was less confident than his siblings. Lilly threw the ball, and Alex swung wildly, missing entirely. He grumbled, tightening his grip.
Second pitch: another miss, the air whistling past his rapier. On the third pitch, he finally connected, but it was a clumsy, weak hit. The ball soared high, but not far, heading for the farmhouse. CRASH! It hit the glass of the kitchen window, cracking it in a web pattern.
A sudden silence fell over the field.
Rowan looked from the broken glass to Alex's mortified face, and then he let out a huge, weary sigh. "Well, I know what I'm doing after dinner," he muttered.
The silence broke, and everyone burst into laughter, the plight of their father was better than the mistake of his son.
Alexia stepped up next, her usual composed expression slightly marred by the competitiveness of her siblings. Before taking her stance, she uncorked a small vial containing a thick, light green liquid.
It was a simple strength potion she had brewed just yesterday, using the discarded cuttings from the recently harvested ginseng. She drank it in one go.
She swung. The rapier connected with the ball, and this time, the sound was less a thwack and more of a BOOM. The ball flew with ridiculous force and speed, a white streak against the sky. It bypassed the entire yard, sailed over the fields, and landed with a distant thud deep within the massive, impenetrable wheat fields.
"Selene, can you find it," Rowan said, shaking his head. "It'll take us an hour just to find the general area."
Selene was the fastest among them so she should be able to scour the field in minutes. She did exactly that and sprinted towards the expansive fields. She only took 5 minutes to scour the whole thing and find the ball. She brought it back and they started again.
Finally, it was Lucia's turn. She stood at the plate, the wooden rapier taller than she was. She couldn't hold it steady.
"I can't do it, Daddy," she whispered, pouting.
"It's okay, Lu," Rowan encouraged her. "Just try your best."
Lucia didn't try her best. Instead, she put the rapier down, closed her eyes, and placed her tiny hands together. A swirling, dark-red magic circle immediately appeared at her feet, and with a soft poof, a small, purple, furry bat no bigger than her fist appeared hovering in front of her.
Lucia giggled, picking up the creature and whispering something into its fuzzy ear. The purple bat nodded, its tiny eyes curious, and then it started dissolving into a ribbon of red magic that reformed in her hand as a small, smooth purple stick.
She stepped up, holding the stick with a small grip. Darius tossed the ball. Lucia swung lightly.
KA-BOOM!
The ball flew so fast it was invisible, a tiny, explosive sound chasing its path into the clear, distant horizon. It didn't just go past the fields; it was gone.
Everyone, including Rowan and Selene, stood in stunned silence, staring at the spot where the ball had vanished. The sudden summon, the effortless transformation, and the incredible hit had been completely unexpected.
It all happened so fast that no one knew what to say. No one knew when she had learned to summon and how in the world did the ball go flying so hard. They couldn't help but feel a shiver up their spine. They imagined what would happen if that ball or bat hit them.
Though Rowan could have redacted in that moment, he and Selene chose not to since they instantly could tell the trajectory of the ball and that it wouldn't hurt the kids.
Darius, the creator of the ball, was the first to react. His eyes were fixed on the empty horizon and went wide with pure distress.
"My… my perfect sphere," he whimpered. "My first perfect carving…it's gone!"
Rowan sighed and looked towards Selene. "Want to ride out with the kids tomorrow after breakfast and go get the ball back?"
"A ride out with Shiori, Capper and the kids sounds perfect." She paused and then closed her eyes to concentrate on the trail that the ball left behind. Rowan did the same.
They stretched their mana enhanced senses miles out and realised that the ball had landed in the nearby forest that was teeming with monsters and creatures that usually kept to themselves. They couldn't stretch their senses to find the exact location as the dryad's magic interfered with that.
Rowan's face then turned hesitant as he didn't want to take his kids into a monster forest just yet.
"What's the worry?" Selene said with a teasing look. "Those creatures will turn their tails and run the second they sense your aura. Your aura towards the end of your career was enough to send some demon running for the hills.
Surely those monsters that are so much more sensitive would not dare approach us with you around. You add to that my own aura, it should be enough to protect the kids."
Rowan heard all of this and was still hesitant. He was thinking that he should just send his buddy Dante. The teleporter could just go in and out. It would be a simple task.
"You're thinking of sending in Dante, aren't you?" Selene caught on quickly. Rowan nodded.
"Just bring him along too. This will be a good chance to show the kids what dangers lurk in this world. I know they were young, but this is the age when you were taken into the forest by your parents too. It will be a good experience for them.
And I also get to show Lilly how I handle the rapier just in case we do get attacked."
Selene had nothing but valid points, but q father's heart is quite fragile. He is really hesitant but eventually decides to go.
"Only the edge of the forest. If the ball went too deep, I'm just gonna send you in alone to get it. It's your idea after all."
Sleene grinned hearing this. "Of course I'll take responsibility. After all, Lilly is my disciple so her siblings are under my care too."
"Adventure!" Lilly and Darius shouted in unison, their eyes shining with a mix of excitement and curiosity.
Lilly ran to Selene. "Aunty Selene, you'll show me how to fight a monster, right? Not just practice moves, but real ones!"
Darius, still mourning his wooden sphere, quickly adjusted his priorities. "And Father, you'll show us the big sword! Will there be any new kinds of wood to carve? Ones with special properties?"
Alexia was already thinking about supplies. She approached Rowan with a determined look. "Father, if we are entering the forest, I will need my full herbology kit. The dryad's magic should support rare, high-grade specimens. I might find something for my experiments."
Alex added his own request. "And Father, adventurers at Mother's town often spoke of unique monster parts that fetch high prices at the market. Could I bring a small collection sack? Just in case."
Lucia, meanwhile, was giggling. The small, purple, furry bat, her familiar, was perched on her shoulder, fluttering its tiny wings and whispering excitedly into her ear. "The bat says there are shiny things in the forest! Very, very shiny things, Daddy!"
Rowan chuckled, looking at the eager faces of his children and the subtle, amused smile on Selene's face. He knew his hesitation had been pointless; they were Blacksun children, and a monster-infested forest was just another playground to them.
"Alright, alright, settle down, little adventurers," Rowan said, holding up his hands. "We are going to the edge of the forest, just to find Darius's ball. And yes, you can all bring your kits and sacks. But you stick with us. No running off. This is not a treasure hunt, Alex and Alexia."
Selene had some things too share too. "Lilly, you will be observing my stance and movement. Your job is to remember everything, not to fight. Darius, focus on the wood types. Alexia, gather your herbs. Alex, if you see anything, you point it out. And you," she said, giving Lucia a gentle tap on the nose, "you tell us what the bat says the shiny things are."
After the quick talk, Rowan's eyes shifted towards the bat, he felt that there was something strange about it. No danger was felt, but it was for sure not exactly what it seemed like. He reminded himself to talk to Lucia about her summon later.
It was getting late everyone headed back in. It was time to start preparing dinner. Before that though, Rowan went inside to his small office and pulled out a magical compass,
It was one that usually only pointed North and had a small engraving of a sprinting deer. This was the tool that could track that strange postman friend of his.
He centered his mana and infused the compass. It whirred softly and then clicked, pointing a chaotic, swirling needle toward a point a few hundred miles east, most likely where Dante was having his next brief stopover.
Rowan focused, pushing a message into the compass. Dante. Blacksun Farm. Tomorrow, after sunrise. Forest excursion.
He received an immediate, highly dramatic mental groan in return.
"Rowan, you absolute menace. I am busy! Fine, fine. I'm not allowed to refuse your summons. But I need triple the usual cookies from aunty for my help, and I expect your famous sourdough bread for breakfast. I'll arrive just before sunrise. Don't expect me to talk to the kids again."
Rowan smiled. "He's coming," he announced to Selene, who was polishing her rapier on the porch. "And he wants sourdough bread."
"Of course he does," Selene scoffed, without looking up. "He always was a greedy pig. Make sure the children get a proper introduction this time, Rowan. The least you can do is let them talk to the man who saved your life more times than you care to admit."
"I'll try to keep him in one place long enough," Rowan promised with a chuckle.