Kotori regretted ever thinking that she would be able to make good relationships with the new Baron.

The stories she heard about him led her to believe he wanted nothing to do with her or any of the villagers.

From the villager's accounts, he came in a lascivious carriage and he was accompanied by a small retinue of followers and guards. The moment he exited his carriage he started bellowing for alcohol.

This was a difficult request to fulfill for the villagers. There were few people who brewed alcohol in this village, and nobody sold it. Any alcohol was made from the autumn rice surplus and was only taken out during special occasions.

The new Baron apparently threw a fit after the villagers could not honor his request. Kotori was told he had a very disagreeable personality. He lashed out at any villager that made him the slightest bit inconvenienced. His retainers were not much better and protected by the Baron’s authority strutted around as if they owned the place.

Her family had decided to avoid the village for now.

** ** **

"Kotori your hand posture is slipping again"

"Yes, papa" She had started calling her father papa because he was giving her weird looks if she wasn’t. Kotori adjusted the grip on the flute and started again.

Since her mana reserves were not very big she just practicing normal songs for now and would only start to infuse them with mana towards the end of her practice session.

Her father listens to her play and smiled

"There you go, much better." He said with a satisfied expression on his face.

Kotori was filled with a sense of pride. Her father rarely complimented her and this one of the rare occasions where he acknowledged her work.

"Try a mana melody," he said.

Kotori nodded and then began to play one of the specific mana songs that her father taught her.

[But uhhh how did it go again?] She thought.

Kotori had forgotten the melody, which was no surprise, considering she only learned it yesterday. Halfway through she started to improvise a bit, and let her instinct do the work. Suddenly, she felt an abnormal outpouring of mana, a flow which caught her by surprise and she wasn't able to suppress in time.

Her vision started to go dark and then she heard a feminine voice.

"Potential Skill Acquired [Mana Musician]!"

She promptly lost consciousness right after.

** ** ***

"Kotori! Wake up!"

Kotori felt a small thing rubbing her face, when she opened her eyes she saw Shu nuzzling her cheek.

Kotori saw a very concerned father looking over her.

Rubbing her eyes, she began to stand up and then immediately staggered as a wave of dizziness and fatigue washed over her. Her father caught and supported her.

"Are you alright?" he asked

"I think? I just feel really tired," she replied

Her father sighed

"That's mana exhaustion, it happens when you use too much mana." He explains

"How is that possible?" Kotori asked. Her father had told her that this melody was so low cost even a child like her would be able to play it.

Her father smiled wearily

"Kotori, didn't I tell you to not get overeager with your mana usage" He must’ve thought she was trying to exert herself to impress him.

"But I wasn't overusing my mana!" Kotori protested. She was just playing the song as intended.

Sato Hikki looked at his cute daughter and simply chided her.

"Kotori, I understand you want to play like daddy, but you have to take it slow."

He saw the way his daughter looked up to him and knew she was overexerting herself to try and match him.

"Don't worry you'll be able to play like me one day if you work hard" He assured her

"I really wasn't overexerting myself! Why won't you believe me!" Kotori protested again.

He gave her a knowing smile and decided to drop the issue.

"It's fine Kotori-chan. It's Papa's fault for not watching you more carefully"

Kotori furrowed her brow.

[It seems he’s completely mistaken] She thought.

It was obvious her father didn't believe her, but she didn't know how to convince him that she wasn't trying to impress him. But it seemed he had dropped the issue and seeing as the conversation was going nowhere, she decided that she would drop the issue as well.

Her father then told her that they would be going home early today, which was rare. He also offered her a piggyback ride. Kotori then realized he was trying to take it easy with her after she had collapsed from mana exhaustion.

While riding her father's sturdy back. She quickly checked her status screen to see if anything had changed and noticed a new skill in her skills section

Sato Kotori
Race: [Human] Age: 5
HP: 11
Mana: 7 (+3)!
Agility: 6
Strength: 4
Defense: 2
Karma: -99,999,977 (+22)!
Skills: [Mana Musician] (potential)!
Traits: [Spirit Seer]

Apparently, she had gained new skills but she didn’t know why the skill had the word "potential" attached to it.

If she had to guess, it probably means something like having the "chance" to acquire the [Mana Musician] skill. Though, she wasn't exactly sure what that “chance” would entail.

That night when they got home her father made Kotori sit out of that night's music session. Her father didn't want to risk her using mana again.

His caution was still not enough, that night Kotori waited for the soft snores of her family before sneaking out to play her flute.

Despite her best efforts that night she was unable to remove the "potential" from the [Mana Musician] skill. Even when she played to the absolute limit of her mana pool. To the point where her vision would darken nothing changed in the status. She decided that she would continue to sneak out to investigate this matter further.