Birthday Presents for Dear Siblings

That night, there were two big events waiting for the twins.


The first one was their initial magic test~! Mom brought the testing device home.


Since they were not yet six years old, we could only test their highest magic affinities.


The twins curiously observed the round orb or the spherical tool—the magic testing device.


"Touch your hand gently on the orb, okay? Who wants to go first?" Mom asked.


The twins reached out their small hands at the same time—uh-oh, nobody wanted to give in!


Eventually, the fastest (and perhaps the more competitive) one grabbed the opportunity first. Guess who?


It was Freyja.


Several colors started to swirl inside the orbs as the colors started to settle... and then the orb glowed, indicating that it was now time to show the results!


Let's see... Light green... and deep green.


The orb stopped glowing, indicating that Freyja's strongest compatibilities were with [Wind] and [Plant] magic.


"[Wind] and [Plant], huh? That's nice," Mom smiled. I kinda wondered what she was thinking about in her heart—as Alt-nii and I had amazing results.


But then again, perhaps it was because we inherited Mom's amazing magic talent and the elf blood from her side of the family... Ah wait, it was also revealed that we inherited dragon blood from Dad's maternal side of the family... While the twins didn't, so it might explain the differences in our magic affinities.


I sweated a bit as I realized I might have taken it for granted by now... I remembered being so excited at the idea of being able to use magic for the first time after I realized I was reincarnated in a magician's family.


...I guess I'm quite extraordinary, huh?


I felt a bit nervous knowing that, but since I was still overshadowed by Alt-nii, then I guess I was safe(?)


"Okay, then Freyr, it's your turn," Mom said as she gently pulled Freyja away from the orb.


"...Done?" Freyja asked as she looked at Mom.


"Right, it's done, Freyja. We already know your affinity now," Mom said.


"Uuu...," Freyja casted her eyes downward, perhaps she was expecting more from the magic test...


Freyr excitedly touched the orb immediately after Mom told him it was his turn.


Then, the orb glowed after a while. It glowed in... Brown. Deep green.


"[Earth] and [Plant], huh? You two share [Plant] affinity," Mom concluded.


"That's nice, they can easily grow plants, then?" Alt-nii chimed in.


"They'd need water too, right?" I quickly added to Alt-nii's idea.


"We can cover that for them! We can become a family of farmers easily!" Alt-nii said.


"Hee, are you two interested in growing some plants in the garden?" Dad seemed to like the idea and asked the twins.


The twins were silent for a while before nodding.


"But before it all, I'll have you learn magic," Mom added before we forgot the process the twins had to go through.


"Oh, that's right! Aren't you glad, Freyr, Freyja?" I asked them—and my question was immediately responded wih their enthusiastic nods.


"Let's start tomorrow then," Mom said happily.


"I-I will help!" I added as I worried for the twins if they were left with Mom's explanation...


"Let it be, Lyra! I didn't quite understand the explanation, but I managed to pull it through before," Alt-nii added.


I silently cursed him inside my mind, 'That's because you're a [protagonist], right? Yes, you fit the description of a series' protagonist, Alt-nii, that's why!'


"Okay then, now that the magic test is concluded... Shall we move to... unboxing the treasure box the twins managed to find?" Dad asked as he put the treasure box on the table.


"Open it!" Freyr excitedly said.


"Okay, no rush, let's open it together!" Dad said as he opened the box and took out the things inside.


The box contained several photo albums. And one memory album.


A memory album is a magical item that can be made to preserve memory so one can "watch" it again later. Different from normal videos, a memory album can display the memory in a hollograph. Items that can be used to store memories like this are quite expensive and hard to gain, but I think they are definitely worth it. The more it can store, the more expensive it becomes, though.


Speaking of which, Dad only has one small memory locket, containing a very short memory of him and his mother back then. I think it was all that Firis could get to preserve their memories together. I saw the memory stored inside. Small Dad and Firis were laughing so happily. The locket is Dad's most treasured item, needless to say.


"These are...?" Freyja asked.


"Open them, will you?" Dad didn't open the albums himself—he let the twins do it.


The twins opened the albums and noticed... there were pictures of their infant selves with their parents. There were also pictures of their growth. Then, the other albums contained photos of their parents back when they were younger. Then, the photos of their grandparents—in other words, the rumored Hartmann's daughter who eloped back in the olden days, when Dad's father was still young.


"Although there aren't a lot of pictures... Well, that's what I can find," Dad said.


"Mama..."


"Papa..."


The twins said as they recognized their biological parents there.


"This...?"


"This is your papa, but when he was younger," Dad explained.


Based on the albums, apparently the twins and their paternal grandmother had met one another before.


Then, when they opened the memory album... It contained several memories. Memories of their papa when he was young with his parents. Memories of their papa and mama together—memories of when their mama was pregnant with them, memories of when their mama was holding them... It ended with the perfect memory of their family, complete.


The twins kept folding the pages and rewatching the memories.


They hugged the albums tightly.


When we were watching them hugging each other with the albums too, we noticed that the twins seemed to be holding something... Huh, a ball? A jewel? An orb?


"Hmm, what are you holding there?" Dad seemed to have noticed it and asked.


The twins looked at Dad and obediently showed the thing they were holding—a small orb, a dusty white one... Ah wait, it's indeed covered in dust!


"Is this your old toy?" Alt-nii asked.


The twins nodded... only to shake their hands a moment later.


"It's an important orb!" Freyr said.


"Papa gave it to us," Freyja added.


"But we forgot what..."


Dad took the orb the twins handed over and examined it. Its size fit an adult's palm.


"Could it be...," Dad seemed to have an idea on what it was, before he flipped through the album's pages and stopped after finding a certain picture.


It was the picture of a woman that Dad introduced as his father's sister who ran away from the Hartmann house. She was holding the same orb.


"...It couldn't be, right?" Dad laughed after comparing the two orbs. Both seemed to have identical form and size, but the color...


"Let's clean that up, okay?" Mom said.


"Oh, right," Dad agreed and cast his [Water] magic to clean the orb and...


There it was—a beautiful pure white orb—white just like snow, with beautiful blue light flickering inside from time to time...


Dad gasped.


"This is really the Maozi jewel?!"


His voice was full of disbelief.


The twins nodded upon hearing Dad.


"Ah, right! That's what it's called!" Freyja suddenly said.


"Oh, right, right!" Freyr nodded in agreement.


I saw how Dad and Mom were surprised upon the twins' confirmation. Meanwhile, Alt-nii looked at Rurune and asked, "Rurune, do you know what is Maozi jewel?"


Rurune then answered, "Ruru, rururu!"


...Thanks for the answer, Rurune, like we could understand what you were saying...


I looked at the beautiful jewel that Dad was holding and breathed in...


...Maozi jewel, what the heck is that?!

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