The Adventures of Rose Hood

Chapter 77- Coming of Age

My party members all passed with flying colors. No one could come near any of us, even while apart.

That includes Galas, god of water, who attempted to defeat Amy and endured an embarrassing loss.

Kala was so happy to see Amy as powerful as she was.

We had drinks to celebrate, but Amy refrained.

"I'm too young to drink."

"How young are you?"

"I'm only barely 18."

Upon hearing how young Amy was, the gods looked even more depressed that a child was able to surpass them.

Ausar seemed to focus on a specific word.

"What do you mean barely?"

"My birthday was actually yesterday."

We froze.

"What?"

"Why didn't you tell us, the coming-of-age party is a big thing."

"I guess better late than never."

"What?!"

Dallel explained.

"Not sure how it works in your world, but when someone turns 18 here, all of their family and friends have a party. At said party, they hire advanced chefs and make exotic foods. Usually they also choose their career, but I guess that you are already an adventurer, so we can skip that part."

"Oh, on Earth we just get gifts from family and maybe mention it to our friends. If we are in school, they'll sing an annoyingly embarrassing song."

Everyone looked at her.

"For such an important event in someone's life that's an annoyingly little response. Do you even throw parties?"

"For birthdays closer to 10 to 13. While some people still throw parties, the guests greatly decrease each year."

"That world must suck."

"Eh, some cultures have something similar to what you described but for 15."

"Weird."

Amy was red at this point, but Ausar and I already started planning it.

Kala began chipping in Amy's likes.

'It's amazing, even after a million years, you still know exactly what she likes.'

'Of course, the reason I didn't make a move to destroy it earlier was because of her and Amanda. You can never forget a true friend.'

'That's touching.'

"Cats, we need cats."

Ausar raised an eyebrow.

"Like the animal cat."

"How do you know that's what she'd like?"

"Because whenever she sees a catkin, she goes googoo eyes."

"I see."

We began listing things we thought she liked, and Ausar seemed to be quite observant now, as he managed to nail quite a few subtle things.

_

The preparation of the party happened in one night. We decided to take a break to prepare, and a few of the gods who had grown closer to Amy helped.

Nala was still very advanced in terms of botany, so she was in charge of growing flowers for the event.

Amy gave us a list of allergies, which confused everyone until she explained that in her world there were people who could get killed by things like peanuts because of allergies.

"So, people in your world can die to... peanuts?"

"Depends on the person, but yeah."

"Allergies sound like weakness."

"I guess, but that's pretty judgey, and you haven't even heard of the allergies to grass yet."

"People die to grass in your world?!"

"Not usually, normally allergies are limited to merely making your nose stuffy or causing mucus to build up in your throat."

"Okay, so what is the worst allergy you have."

"Nuts in general would make me need an epi-pen, but I guess healing magic would work as a replacement."

"So, you, who is at the A level in terms of combat strength... can die to a walnut."

"Only if I eat it."

"Okay."

_

They managed to prepare the food nut-free.

Amy tried to help as she could, but since we were preparing her birthday, we wouldn't let her.

Dallel was a masterful cook, so he made the cake, which then he was surprised that Amy knew of.

"You know of cake?"

"Of course, that's standard for birthdays in my world."

"Wow, really only royalty get a cake, even on the coming-of-age party."

"People don't eat cake here?"

"Not usually."

"That is sad."

"I guess, but yeah I've only ever had cake on my and Doleaira's coming-of-age parties."

"Woah."

And so, with that surprise out of the way, the food was prepared.

Alright, the decorations are up.

Jalad came into the guild hall with a confused look.

"What is happening?"

Dallel answered.

"It was Amy's coming-of-age yesterday, and she didn't tell us, so we are celebrating today and tomorrow to make up for it."

"That sounds fun, how can I help?"

And just like that, Jalad was in on it.

_

The next day was the celebration.

Thalia, who had grown close to Amy attended. She was shocked by the taste of the cake.

"Do dragons have coming of age parties?"

Thalia nodded.

"We usually get them when we mature, but since I matured in the middle of a war, I kinda forgot, but as that was half a year ago it's kinda useless to throw the party."

"I guess."

Everyone ate and were merry.

Tunel, god of music, gave the entertainment with her wonderful music skills. As the only noncombatant god, she was still one of the strongest. She was the other god in Silith's party.

Amy was smiling, but she still seemed sad for some reason.

I understood and sat next to her.

"You miss the Amanda from your world, right?"

"Yeah, I guess. I always thought that we'd always stick together, but now I'm in another world, far away from her. She probably thinks I died."

Despite her smile, she was close to crying. None of the gods took offence. They understood that she had gone through something no one could understand.

Kala smiled in my mind and used magic despite the bracelet. To activate a single memory.

On Amy's 17th birthday, when they sung happy birthday.

Then Amy smiled again, her sadness fading.

"Thank you all for this. I don't know if I'll ever be able to go back, but I'll be happy even if I can't."

Everyone smiled at the words.

Then Ausar spoke.

"Thank you for being our friend."