What have I done to entertain myself these past 7 years?

I read books, and more recently, visited the prison. If you asked me why I didn't do anything else in the city, I'd tell you I have nothing to do. No one would employ a 7-year-old child, the ones who employed 7-year-olds would rather get them from slums than a noble's house. I can't make anything from my past life because I was a consumer, not a producer. I used to laugh at those web novel protagonists, but now I wish how to make miso soup. I thought about making board games, but that brings up another problem, gathering materials. Without magic or ki, a 7-year-old like myself can't cut and carve wood. The only people around me I can ask for help are the servants, but they don't listen to me unless it's about food. Most importantly, I didn't want to attract any more attention to myself, if a 7-year-old waste created a popular board game out of thin air, anyone would find it suspicious.

At the same time, I can't abuse my noble status by visiting any shops because everyone knows the brown hair brown-eyed child from the Pendell family won't ever get support from the family. There are no public libraries in this city, although I was told that the mage and martial arts associations lend books to people who join their associations as a mage or warrior respectively. It seems that something similar to the printing press hasn't been created in this world yet. If only I knew how a printing press worked. The only thing walking around the city gets is stares of contempt and pity. Unfortunately, I'm not a masochist, so I tend to avoid doing anything in the city.

I could go to the church, but I hold the gods in contempt. If they brought me into this world, I loathe them for not giving me some kind of cheat, and if they didn't I loathe them for letting someone transmigrate.

In recent years, I've enjoyed my prison visits more than reading books. While books let me understand this world, the stories of the prisoners were realistic and provided more entertainment than the idealistic stories I found in the Pendell library. Above all, talking to the prisoners was a form of social interaction I craved. After all, I'm a normal human unlike those mage and martial art freaks who lock themselves studying for years at a time.

The room I live in is situated in an isolated corner in the mansion, I barely see servants let alone visitors. At the same time, talking to Kasa is like talking to a magic encyclopedia. If you ask a question on magic you will get an answer, otherwise tough luck. Our conversations usually went like this:

"Hey Kasa, how was your day today."

"..."

"What book are you reading?"

"..."

"What are your affinities, you haven't told me yet."

"If you're going to talk instead of practice then leave."

At this point I'm reconsidering whether buttering up Kasa is even worth it, she was supposed to be an insurance card and it's not like I'm learning much anyways. After the first few days, she told me to circulate mana till I formed my phylactery, the mana organ. The phylactery is supposed to form as a result of your body adapting to large mana intake, but with my talent, it's virtually impossible.

On the other hand, I am making progress on Tracking, I can't fully sense my soul, I can sense a vague shape. I wanted to spend the whole day meditating, but the manual said to only spend a few hours a day on meditating, any longer and you would be getting diminishing returns, if not outright wasting your time.

Not going to prison was essentially a test of my willpower, it asked the question of how long I could spend my life without my premier source of entertainment. The answer was 2 weeks.

When I arrived at the prison with fruits, the prisoners were quite surprised, this was the first time I took such a long break between visits.

"Little prisoner, what took you so long this time, did you have fun learning Torus's spell?"

"I bet he's going to be the next archmage now."

"Stop messing with him right now, and think about what we can say to get those fruits."

I decided to make up a random excuse on the spot and just said "I was mad because Torus's spell was fake."

"Seems like the last thing Torus did before his death was trick you. He passed the night after eating your food."

"Ah don't worry about what she said little prisoner, he died peacefully, not because of the fruits you gave him."

I was shocked when I heard about Torus's death, but not sad about it. Torus probably wanted to eat fruits as his last wish and I fulfilled it. I am a saint after all. The prisoners took my reaction differently.

"Wow he isn't sad at all, looks like that guy did scam him."

"Yeah, for a second there I thought he gave the little prisoner a soul technique."

"He probably doesn't even know what that is, don't get his hopes up."

"Ah you two make a good point, I'll explain it to him, soul techniques are something like spells anyone can use, but they've been illegal for centuries now so they're hard to find."

"" You dumbass, why would you tell him that. ""

"So he could give me some fruits of course. It's not like what I'm saying isn't well-known anyways."

I chuckled and gave him some fruits, then announced that I'm trading fruits again. Unlike last time, I didn't get a soul technique. I ended up trading fruits for some rumors about the underground auction, some general knowledge of martial artists, and some general advice on how to improve my physique. The info about physique was the most helpful, I could implement it into my morning routine. Still, as I walked back from the prison I couldn't help but be disappointed, it took me years to make actual progress and now that progress is starting to stall already.

As I started meditating in the mansion, I tried to console myself.

'It's okay, making progress in two years was already incredible, I still have time. As they say, Rome wasn't built in a day.'

Monthly Offspring Report

For the eyes of Duke Pendle only.

Thion 

...

Fyn

...

Kasa

... Spending more time with Rorik, does not affect target's attachment to magic ....

...

Rorik

... stopped visiting prison after getting spell from prisoner. Hypothesized that spell was soul technique, due target's rejection of all spells except this spell, due to target's increasing time spent in room, and due to target not visiting visiting prisoners. Disproven after target revealed lack of prison visits stemmed from anger caused by being tricked...

End of Report