"Yes, you've survived and I always keep my promise. If I'm going to tell you a story then we need to find a proper place to sit..." Charlie looked around and noticed a set of benches in front of an ice cream stall. "Let's sit there. You can have ice cream when I'm telling you the story. What's your favorite flavor?" He asked her.

Isabella looked up at him and nodded when he said they should find a place to sit and get some ice cream. When he asked her her favorite flavor of ice cream she answered with a smile on her face. “Cookies and cream.” She went to find a table near the ice cream stand that was in the shade.

“Such flavor exists?!” Charlie believed that if Isabella said that flavor of ice cream is available then it had to be on the menu. He left her for few minutes and returned with a scope of cookies and cream ice cream in a small paper cup. He gave it to the girl and sat beside her. “This should be it, right? Now, say cheese…” He took a selfie and sent it to Al right away. Al had so many blood related descendants and he was always jealous of that.

Al was having dinner with Bella in a restaurant. Since no one was home to cook they had to eat out. The restaurant was a casual hangout for students and university employees because of it fair prices. He hadn't talked much with Bella and she seemed to be keeping to herself. Something was off and he thought everything will be clear as soon as Charlie show up. Once a while his phone, that was resting on the table, would light up and show a message. Suddenly, Charlie's name came up among messages. Al picked the phone and checked it out. Charlie had sent him a selfie of himself and Isabella. Al stared at the picture with disbelief for a few seconds then typed a message to tell him to not share his blood. But deleted it immediately. He couldn't explain to Charlie why he wasn't allowed to share his blood so he'd just suspect him. “How is Daisy?” He sent another message.

Isabella smiled when he brought the ice cream to her and then smiled more when AI took the picture. And then she took a bite of her ice cream with the spoon that came with the ice cream. She hasn’t had ice cream in forever it was a rare occasion when she did, and cookies and cream had always been her favorite when they brought the ice cream. “What story are you going to tell first grandpa?” She looked quite excited to hear everything and she wanted to know everything so if she ever got a chance to meet the rest of the family she would know what they looked like and what they liked and all the things.

It melted Charlie's heart when Isabella called him grandpa. “Hm…Daisy will tell you about her maternal family so all I can tell you about are my children. Let's begin with Derek. He is 32 years older than Daisy but looks about 40, thanks to me. Unlike Daisy, he is a wild child. He is a good asset to hunters since he hunts vampires for fun. His mother was a war refugee I sheltered around six decades ago. I don't know if he has made a family or not…the last time I met him, he was working as a mercenary marksman.” He told her a brief story of Daisy's youngest brother. “It's really reasonable if Daisy doesn't want you to meet him. He is trouble no matter how you approached him.” He added.

Isabella nodded and listened closely to the details about Derek. “So he’s not someone I would want to meet?” She tilted her head to the side trying to understand what he meant. “And if Daisy found out I met him, she would freak out?” She knew daisy would probably not be happy knowing that Charles was telling her about the family, she knew daisy had gotten pretty angry.

“I don't know what she'll do. Derek live in another country and only comes around when he needs me. I've given him a schedule so that his turn and other children's turn don't overlap. Still, he comes asking fir blood whenever he wants. That's so rude…I just runaway when I hear he is coming.” Charlie explained. He had forgotten that Isabella was an innocent human child and the talk of sharing blood could be a frightening topic for her. Then, his phone buzzed and he saw the message from Al.

-How is Daisy doing?

-She is doing well. Did you see my grandchild? She is so lovely~

-Yes, she is cute. How did you end up with her?

-Long story… I ran and I passed out beside the road. She found me. Lucky~ She even let me in her apartment because of that.

-So you can't give her what she wants because you're too weak due to sunburn?

-Unfortunately…

-Stick to your schedule

-Why?!

-I'll explain later. Just don't do it until the righ time comes

-okay okay

Charlie huffed and put his phone back to his pocket. “I shouldn't have sent that pic…” 

Al didn't touch his dinner untill his text chat with Charlie was over. He let out his breath and put his phone back on the table. “Charles is fine. He is going to be safe at least for a few days.” He told Bella. He thought that she would feel better if she knew Charles is okay. He picked his spoon and went back to his dinner with ease of mind.

Isabella looked a little frightened, but quickly recovered. “It’s alright grandpa, by the sounds of it I think I’m the first grandchild you’ve met? You probably don’t have that much experience.” She had a sympathetic look in her eyes, but she looked happy again, she was just happy to be spending time with her grandpa at all, she was glad daisy allowed her to.

Bella already knew Charles was ok, karlo had told her that daisy wanted to see Charles anyway so she knew everything, but she knew AI probably didn’t know she did so she pretended like she didn’t. “Thank goodness he is ok.” She gave a pretend sigh of relief covering what she knew pretty well. “What happens now?” She tilted her head to the side. “Where is he?” She continued to pretend not to know about Charles and what karlo had said.

“Yes…maybe…as far as I know.” Charlie answered with uncertainty. “I usually leave my children to decide whether they need me or not. So they might've adopted children without letting me know. But Daisy if different. I want to stay close to her even if she doesn't want to see me often. So…you are the first grandchild that I've met.” He looked down at her kindly and resisted the urge to hug her.

Isabella smiled she saw the look of him wanting to hug her and she knew daisy wouldn’t know so she quickly hugged him, her eyes brightening more. She couldn’t go without hugs from her new grandpa and only grandpa, what would be the point of him being her grandfather if she couldn’t hug him or do anything with him? “Thank you for being my new grandpa.” She said with happiness.

“Probably, with his daughter; the one who has adopted your friend. He sent me a photo of him and Isabella.” Al answered and showed the picture on his phone to Bella. “They both look happy which means Daisy doesn't know anything yet. That's a relief.” He explained. He was going to train her as his special pupil so he would tell her small portions of his trade slowly. She wasn't the brightest student he could find so he had to give he time to stomach the new knowledge of the world of mages.

“Oh dear…” Charlie became so sentimental that tears welled up in his eyes. “Thank you for accepting me as your grandpa…I hope I deserve your trust...” He sniffed. “Sorry…it's not the place to cry. Let's go an play more. What's the next ride?” He tried to distract himself to control his emitions.

Isabella smiled and pointed at the Farris wheel. “That ride looks cool, look how high up it goes!” Her eyes brightened more and before Charles knew it and without warning she had grabbed his hand and was running towards the Farris wheel. She got in line with Charles and was looking up at the carts on the Farris wheel. Isabella wasn’t really afraid of anything, so the height didn’t scare her with how high up she was looking she was just imagining how it would look like from inside the cart and was gettin impatient for her turn.

Bella nodded slowly. She saw the picture and smiled, she was happy to see Isabella so happy, and was glad that Isabella had changed her mind about becoming a vampire, she had known how long Isabella longed for a family that was why she wanted to be a vampire so it would feel like she had a lot of family since a lot of vampires were working together, but she knew Isabella would of ended up killed. “Your right, they do look happy.” And she understood AI’s meanings with her trying to get used to things, she wondered how long it would take and how long it would take her to get to the most important things. “When will we get to the more powerful things? When my power is awakened?” She had to get as much information for karlo as she could, for the next time she saw karlo of course, which she didn’t know when she would see him.

“I'm glad to see you motivated. That's the key to cultivate your innate abilities.” Al answered. “I don't know when your powers will reveal themselves but if you are bored, we can try pushing you a little. If you are ready, I can simulate a fight. Let's see how you defend yourself if you're forced to use magic. Would you like to try it tonight?”

Bella nodded a small smile spread across her face. “I would love to, I like a little challenge.” She had finished her meal and was wiping around her mouth with a napkin and then she got up and cleared her tray. “Are we ready to go?” She looked him in the eyes, she was a little afraid of AI because of what karlo had told her, but she didn’t show it. She tried to keep her composer as best she could.

Charlie was more than happy to oblige. He let the girl drag him to the line for ferris wheel. As they waited for their turn, he looked up at the highest point of the wheel. “The scenery up there must be nice…”

She nodded and saw the line moving forward, she got even more excited and couldn’t help but let out a small giggle as they got into the cart, she sat down, she did feel a little nervous, but it thrilled her and couldn’t wait to be high in the air, just like the roller coaster. “It’s going to be fun grandpa! Just wait you will see.” She smiled more as soon as he got in and sat down and the door shut.

“Sure.” Al left the table.

In the villa, after changing out of his formal outfit, Al guided Bella to a room which had an old brass mirror hanging on its wall. “Since a fight causes a ruckus, we have to train inside the domain behind this mirror. It gives us a large space. Also, you can use the flow of magic inside…which means you'll feel stronger and will be able to manifest your mind. Let's go inside.” He stepped into the mirror. It was passing through the surface of water. The domain inside was a wast white space.

Bella nodded slowly and seemed a bit hesitant when she saw AI go through the mirror and then she followed him inside and looked around her eyes widening a little with shock on how big it is and how white it was also. “It’s so white and big in here.” Her voice sounded a little afraid, it was only them inside and she didn’t know why it scared her, I guess she just wasn’t used to the fact of magic.

“It must be spacious for us to spar easily. But it's white because it's like a blank sheet. You can change it by your imagination if your will is string enough. There's enough energy stored in the domain so even a novice can perform complicated technics.” Al explained. “Now, what you should focus on is fighting not decorating. To defend yourself you need a suitable weapon. Try to imagine what suits you best and how you are going to use it.” He guessed that it'd be hard for her to believe in her imagination for the first time, so he showed that it was possible first. “See how I materialize my weapon…” He held his hand up and a sword made if green glass and light appeared in his hand. “I'm a swift fighter so a short blade works better for me.”

Bella nodded and closed her eyes trying to think and then she imagined daggers and the appeared around her and imagined a protection bubble around herself like a shield and then she looked at him and smiled “that wasn’t so hard.” She guessed that her flashes were enough to know that this stuff could work. She looked proud of herself for doing something like this.

Al observed the shield and daggers. “This is optimal and practical.” He approved. He reached out his hand to touch the magical bubble. “Let's see how strong it is. Are you ready?” He asked.

Al got into fighting stance and tackled the bubble with his blade.

((Can i join?))

((May i join?))

Bella imagined a blade and she hit his blade with hers trying to keep him from breaking the protection bubble. AI was pretty strong and it was a little hard to push his blade off hers, but she continued trying. She was determined to do her best and not fail. Even though this was her first time doing this she didn’t want to fail it, she wanted to beat AI on the first try.

“You prefer to not let your shield to get the hit? Nice try, but what'll you do with this?” Al summoned his low level glass shards. They were only three and started circling around the bubble until they move to hit it at the same time. “Let's see if your shield can handle minor attacks from different directions at the same time.”

Bella eyed the glass shards and held up her blade ready to hit them she didn’t know how long her protection sheild bubble would last, and she wanted to keep it as long as she could. She took a deep breath and kept her concentration and made sure she didn’t get distracted with anything. “We’ll see.” She narrowed her eyes with concentration and when the shards came towards her sheild she spun in a circle gracefully the blade hitting the shards.

Al smiled as saw Bella's creativity and determination. “A smart reaction. You're doing better than I expected. Let's try a little more pressure.” He said and then increased the number of shards to twelve. “I'm just increasing the number this time. The strength of each shard is as much as before.” He explained the change in the test to her.

Bella nodded and thought of another blade both blades were able to be lifted and easy to handle, she prepared herself for when the shards would hit this time opening up the blades hitting the shards away from her. She smiled softly, she was proud of herself for doing this well. “I really am doing well?” This was her first time doing this kind of thing so she was a bit surprised with actually doing well. 

“Sure. You're doing very well. I couldn't have imagined that fighting is your specialty.” Al answered. He seemed to be satisfied with her result. “Now, to take this test to the next level, the shards won't tackle at the same time. They're going to come at you randomly.” He told her about the new conditions and then performed it. The glass shards came from every direction at random timing and speed.

Bella kept her eyes open and she watched the shards and hit them when they came at her, the shards were pretty quick and sometimes she would dodge them and when they came at her again she would hit them. She was doing her best to be prepared. She was getting out of breath, using magic was quite exhausting, but she didn’t dare give up. She took a deep breath and concentrated more until all the shards had been hit.

“I'm impressed.” Al commented. “Hm…let's see what comes next…I can increased the speed or power or both…” He thought then shook his head. “No, that'd be more like a competition. What you need is bringing out your own power. So, this domain is too easy for you. Let's try another one which gives less magical boost.” Al told her then pointed at the gateway they had entered the domain from. “We should leave this one first.”

(I couldn’t find the exact picture for Bella sadly, so this is all I could find that was close enough.)

Bella nodded “alright.” She headed toward the exit of the domain they were in. She walked out and looked around. She still wasn’t used to magic so when she stepped out she felt exhausted. She leaned forward trying to catch her breath and to stop her dizziness. She was ready for the next challenge even though she was exhausted. She didn’t want to stop.

Al closed the magical gate then looked down at Bella. “You look spent. Let's call it a day and continue tomorrow.” He advised. Then, he heard the door bell. “Who might this be?” He asked himself then picked his phone from the table and checked the camera at the entrance. “It's the observer. I shouldn't keep him waiting…” He send a command via his phone to the automatic door to open it.

(that picture is cute too but I found the previous one here:

https://e0.pxfuel.com/wallpapers/287/418/desktop-wallpaper-cute-anime-girl-cartoon-anime-long-hair-kneeling-brown-hair-hime-cut-sitting-illustration-black-hair.jpg

)

Bella nodded slowly and also heard the doorbell and when he said it was karlo she looked nervous she knew AI didn’t know that she had told Karlo that she was a mage. She hoped that karlo wouldn’t say anything to AI about her being a mage, if AI knew then maybe she would be In trouble because she was told not to and she ended up going against what he said. She took a deep breath still looking tired and she was trying her best not to seem suspicious to AI about things.

(How did you find it??????)

(I asked google for anime girl with brown hair.)

Karlo was familiar with the villa so found his way to the main hall quickly. Al had left the room with the brass mirror and was waiting for him there. “Greetings. How can I be of you assistant, Mr. Observer?” Al cut to the chase and asked the main question right away. “Good night. I've heard from a coworker that miss Bella intends to put her house for rent. I want to rent in for the guild.” Karlo answered. He preferred to skip pleasantries as well. “That's good to hear. But you could discuss it with her through a phone call.” Al mentioned. “I'm sure the guild is her best tenant so I've brought the written lease.” Karlo answered.

(I searched that too, I wonder why it didn’t show up for me 🫤)


Bella was in the kitchen listening she was still afraid to go anywhere near karlo and AI afraid that something might slip and she would get into trouble, she heard karlo say he wanted to rent her house and she wondered why he wanted to use it for the guild. Everything she was hearing was a little confusing to her and she did her best to understand it, she was also tired which made it hard for her to understand things in that on particular moment.

Ace Vintura here!,pet detectivaaaa!!

(Google has a learning AI; it gives different results to different users.)

“She must be testing. It's a little late for legal deeds, don't you think so?” Al told Karlo because Bella hadn't shown herself yet. “I know, but I'm busy during the day so I have to fill all the forms now and have a colleague do the rest tomorrow.” Karlo answered. The truth was that he wanted to see how Bella was doing after their conversation. “Very well…I'll call her…” Al stood and left the hall. He found Bella in the other room. She looked really tired so he doubted if she could even read the forms. “Karlo is here to meet you. Won't you see him?” He asked her. There was no pressure in his tone; it was her property and her choice.

Bella didn’t know if she could stay awake, but she was curious to know what he wanted “I-I will meet him.” She rubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes and walked out of the kitchen towards where Karlo was. “W-what do you want?” She seemed a little grumpy, and she was still a little mad at Karlo, but her curiosity was getting he best of her.

(Ah, I see.)

Al didn't follow Bella to let her feel more free in her conversation with Karlo. He went to his study instead. But his villa was an intelligent house which recorded everything happening in common places like halls, kitchen, and basement. 

“Hello.” Karlo replied her displeasure casually. He was an amiable boy when he wasn't investigating a case for the guild. “Mr. Daudet has told one of the guild members about your situation. He wants you to have an extra income from your heritage. But that place is near the forest and is considered a danger zone so it'll be hard to find tenants who are willing to pay for it. On the other hand, it's a good spot for hunters guild to make a watch base. We can station hunters there to observe border of the forest 24/7. So, if you're willing to have a contract with the guild, I have the required forms with me.” He explained like a professional lawyer.

Bella rubbed her eyes trying to get the sleep out of them and nodded “sure, of it means safety everywhere, I’m sure AI won’t mind, I hope.” She was scared he would think she was betraying him if she signed the papers, but karlo had told her some things about AI and she didn’t know if she trusted him. “I will sign the papers. Do you have them on you right now?” She tilted her head to the side a little.

“Why do you care if he minds? Isn't he only your employer?” Karlo asked. He was the only person from university who knew Bella lives in Alphonse's house. If other students learned about it they would suspect that the relationship between them was more than a working contract. “Here they are.” He put the papers on the table. “Please read them carefully and sign every page.”

Bella nods and took the papers “I just don’t want AI to suspect anything. If you know what I mean, your the only one who knows about me.” She had told him while he gave her a ride home and when she was talking to him before coming here. She read the information on each paper carefully and then signed them, she handed them back “there.”

“Thank you. I'll let you know when the official procedure is done and then we'll have the keys.” Karlo said and out the papers in his bag. He reached out his hand to shake with Bella as gesture of fair deal. “Working with you is a pleasure.” He said formally.