Chapter 4

From the very next day onward I was forced to wear the ring 24/7, while it meant that my reserves of Magic were growing stronger and stronger, I could not practice my Magic. Though I am looked upon as a genius since I kind of picked on language fast, I was still a baby. It meant that both of them, my Uncle and his teacher Maria, refused to teach me anything related to magic. Mostly the loli granny would be teaching me about what she knew about the world while Uncle Flammel would work on the management of the fief. From what I had heard from Maria, despite graduating from an aristocratic academy, uncle could be considered ‘muscle-brain’ kind. It seems the fief was barely functioning last year due to the previous policies that my deceased father made. Uncle was just managing with the help of the head butler.

Fortunately, it seems Maria was also well-versed in managing fief which made me consider if she was someone of noble descent. She only gave suggestions to him which uncle implemented. Though I could see the tell-tale sign of her whacking him in the head from the way the blood flowed from uncle’s head. Right now, I was learning from Granny Marie. We were out in the open, under the shade of a tree. The field or the estate owned by my family was massive. I was currently sitting and beside me was the loli form of Granny wearing a frilly hat and a book on her hand. Granny was talking about Magic user in general.

“Listen Adelaide, Magister are the term used for those who practiced the arcane. It is of 2 category: those that practice the elements and elemancy known as Elemental Magister and those that practice their unique skill known as Gnostic Magister. Magister rank is divided, from the lowest, 3^rd Class, 2^nd Class, 1^st Class and Special Class Magister. The Magic Association regulates the flow of Magister and tests to determine what rank you are. It is one of the two most influential organization in this continent. Other being the Adventurers Guild. Those on the other hand, have different classification of their rank starting from the strongest as S-Class Adventurers then A, B and all the way to F-Class Adventurer.”

That was the first time time I heard about it. Marie continued on.

“A Magister guides the circulation of Mana from within their body to outside. The mana flows through these path within a body. Use too little mana and the spell is weak, use too much then these ‘delicate’ path might rupture, releasing the mana within the unprotected inside of your body and going out of control. To know instinctively, how much mana to use is the mark of a good Magister. Remember, the world is not only filled with humans but also monsters. To combat these monsters is the role of a Magister as well as those cretins of Adventurers Guild. I will tell you one thing: Do not misuse your power. That is all.”

And thus started my routine. It seems that until I was 4 years old, they wouldn’t teach me about Magic. And just like that 3 more years went by.

3 years later

I was age 4 and still small. I mean we are small as a baby and I don’t think I will grow more until I hit my teenage years. Also I am not looking forward to it. After my life gained some kind of normalcy, the weight of being a woman finally hit me. It meant that, in this aristocratic society, a female was for giving birth to heir. From what I had learned from novels and manga, I will be learning how to prepare tea and to dance and what not. I was screwed physically and mentally. Though fortunately, the pressure lessened due to the interference of my Uncle.

There is still that Butler who looks at me with complicated eyes. He hasn’t been much of a presence because I still don’t know his name despite living here for 3 years already. We usually avoid each other. I have been walking on my legs more recently and have begun exploring the mansion. Most of the time I get lost and with the maids telling me direction when I get lost. The maids didn’t seem to be uncomfortable around me. That was a start. Also pooping and pissing in what appears to be my underwear feels really uncomfortable. As a baby with a ‘mature’ mind, it feels extremely shameful.

Also I have stopped drinking the milk or whatever that was. I still wear the rings though. Even though it drains me constantly, I am getting used to it. There was a reason for such an overkill item. Until 3 years ago, I had been practicing using my [Puppeteer] skill again and again. But I had been using my ‘guts’ to do it. It was bad news. I’ve been brute-forcing the circulation of the magic in my body that it had almost damaged it. Also the surplus of Magic I gained from the milk did not help my case. It just added oil to the fire and almost caused the circulation to explode on themselves. A violent death was right around the corner and that was the main reason why Granny Maria stayed around.

She also chastised my uncle for 2 days straight for not taking good care of me. For two years now, I have been carefully circulating what remains of my magic that hadn’t been sucked dry by the rings. It was tedious but granny told me to do it till it was like second nature to me. It was the first step to becoming a good Magister. Also circulating the Mana around my body meant that my body was also growing stronger as a result. It was a passive effect of circulating mana. The mana strengthens my ‘path’ which in turn strengthens the body. I wondered if these ‘path’ were blood vessels? I mean circulating feels eerily like…. I don’t know but it certainly feels like blood vessel.

Now onto the condition of the world around me, from what I had learnt it seems that there were 7 kingdoms, well to be exact 6 kingdoms and 1 loose kingdom. This 1 kingdom was just an amalgamation of various Nobles of the previous kingdom it once was part of. Maria seemed to detest that kingdom though so I think there must be some sort of relationship of her with them, not a good one though. I learned from uncle that a civil war broke out when their ‘Guardian’ disappeared or something. It seems that every kingdom had a ‘Guardian’. Uncle says not to worry about them as that part of the topic was still far away. Also our kingdom of Arcadia was one of the few youngest and smallest kingdom with only a few hundred years of history.

Since all the Kingdoms lies within one massive continent, Kingdom of Arcadia lies at the eastern part of the continent. Arcadia was separated into 4 regions: the Sea zone where there was connection to the sea. All the coastal region was in that group. It accounted for 17% of the Kingdom and located in the Eastern side where the border touches the ocean. Then there is the Flat lands where there was the fertile soils. It was the granary of the Kingdom and accounted for astonishing 63% of the Kingdom. Which meant that food was never a problem, well for the rich anyway. It is situated in the central region and is the most prosperous region. Then there is the Mountain range which occupies 10% of the Kingdom in the northern part. It acts as a barrier between our kingdom and the kingdom to the north. Luckily, the mountains is not high when it starts from our kingdom but as it heads deeper there are some insane heights. It is also called ‘No Man’s Land’ as it is populated with monsters that survive in such harsh condition.

And the rest 10% is the Desert Biome. It is the border between our kingdom and the southern kingdom. It is mostly desert but fortunately it is only in the border. Our fief is 60% Flat land and the rest is Mountain range, therefore we can mine for jewel in the mountain. The monsters found in this reason are not that strong that our fief soldiers can’t handle. I read that in a book which detailed the geography of our Kingdom. It was after I found a small library, I had to immerse myself in such actions.

Why? Like I told before: Magic is justice!

Also to shake my mind off of dark places. My nightmare. My dread of seeing my father’s face replaying again and again in his moment of death. Also sleeping alone makes it worse but I don’t want to trouble my uncle cause he is already busy managing the fief.

It seems that I am quite unstable as a person so I immerse myself in books to forget my trauma. It is unhealthy but I don’t know what else to do. I was just an average guy with nothing redeeming about myself. Law abiding at that because I wouldn’t even use car if I didn’t even own a license. Now on coming here I had already murdered someone, my father at that. I already trashed my name which was….which was…. It seems that I forgot something this time.

It seems that I was slowly forgetting the details about my previous life. Slowly but surely my identity is being…. forgotten. I should be scared but I don’t seem to care. Now I believe I am rambling again inside my mind. Am I going mad? Just what is happening to me I don’t know anymore but one thing that motivates me is that what brought me here? There is no God or anything currently in this world. And the God that was here was killed by his own 10 apprentices he created and that was 5000 years ago. I stood up and closed the book I was currently reading. It was about the war that happened over five thousand years ago. About the same God that was killed.

[The Ten Saints]

A story about how the God went insane and tried to devour the world. But he was defeated by the 10 saints he had given life to. The 10 saints who were created to control the world instead brought his doom. Then from there everything related to God was a forbidden. It was clearly stated in the book that everything related to God was a taboo and one should only rely on themselves. Could be propaganda? After all it is the winner that writes their own history. But the only thing that influences the whole world is the Magic Association as well as the Adventurers Guild. Every kingdom is affiliated with it and the only time it intervened is when the civil war occurred in the Southern Kingdom that saw the fall of that Kingdom’s Monarchy. After that the Southern Kingdom is now a lawless place. But since it is mostly desert with scarce resources, the Magic Association and Adventurers Guild deem it as a lost cause with nothing profitable. They left the land completely.

Just the final clue is that in another mysterious place in the Northern Mountains. It is said to be the abode of the [Sword Saint]. An expert from the era of the [10 Saints]. It is said that in order to gain the title of [Saint], you needed to survive an encounter with the Saint and come out alive. So those who gained the title of [Saint] were complete monsters. But without having witnessed such prowess except the fireworks that Granny Maria made, I am pretty much in the dark. That is why I am now going outside to the field as today is the promised day that my Uncle and Granny Maria said they would teach magic to me. I walked out of the library into the hallway. The bright light from the sun poured through the window. I am currently 4 years old and wearing a boy clothing. Long sleeved white shirt and black pant like thing. I suck at describing clothes as I wasn’t much of a fashionista. The maids who were cleaning immediately stood and bowed respectfully by the side as I walked.

Then I walked outside to the field. I saw Uncle Flammel and Granny Maria waiting for me. Well Granny was sitting on a chair while Uncle was standing looking at me. Granny was still in her Loli form while Uncle was wearing dark blue woolen coat while inside there was a black collared white shirt. He never looked older than 20, which was attributed his status as a top Gnostic Magister. I recalled that he was a step above First-class Magister, which made me wonder at what level was Granny? From her interaction she was more senior than Uncle so I wondered what kind of power they wielded? Uncle gave a big smile as he asked me.

“Well Adelaide, today is the day where we teach you Magic.”

I nod expectantly. He laughs a bit at my impatience.

“Well first of all, you can take off your rings.”

I do that and suddenly rush sensation fills up my body. Like an almost empty balloon with multiple holes are covered with tape and suddenly the air poured in fills up the balloon. After all I almost never take them off. And after a bit of time, I could feel my Mana reserve be slowly filled after 3 years. It was gradual but slowly but surely. Then came the strain in my ‘path’, but I’d been honing my flow so now I could keep it from exploding on me and becoming a gory mess. Also I have been exercising to increase my body strength like push up and running around the house. Uncle was a spartan and he told me that my body would be the defining factor in controlling my Mana as strong body can store more Mana. Back to the present, it took quite a while but the training showed result as the rampaging Mana slowly but surely was under my control. I slowly looked up to see happy face from my Uncle as well as slightly impressed face from Maria.

“Just few seconds! Impressive! It is like trying to stop a flood with a thin wall but somehow you did. You really are my niece!”

My Uncle laughed for the first time I had seen him. He would smile but not laugh as much he had been doing now. It was extremely charming….. bad thoughts! Bonk! Then to ruin his parade seemed to be Maria’s job now.

Thwak!

As expected, she did the same thing like back then. She glared at him and replied.

“And who do you think was responsible for adding fuel to the fire? Hmm?”

And all the bravado gone from his face, my uncle looked like a kicked puppy. He mumbled slowly, which I couldn’t hear but Maria laughed at that. She looked at me before she told me.

“Stay in the middle of the circle.”

I didn’t know at first but then I saw the circle. It was about 2 meters in diameter with very geometric shapes and other random nonsense but I did as I was told. Then Maria stretched her hand forward and swiped it across the space in front of her. Then suddenly the black lines on the ground brightened up and suddenly a transparent rainbow pillar shot few meters up, covering me up completely. Then it changed to night starry sky with lots of stars. Suddenly from my chest two white fire, the size of my fist, emerged. It then glowed suddenly and before I could blink one of it turned into fire and the other became white lightning. As I stared at them in awe Maria hummed and suddenly everything vanished as if nothing had happened. She looked at me and said.

“You have same high affinity for Fire and lightning….”

Uncle smiled at that.

“Same like me!”

Granny Maria immediately shot him down.

“No she also has affinity for Lightning but you don’t.”

Oof! Uncle looked like he was about to cry. But regained his spirit as he replied.

“Well if she has fire affinity and is interested in Sword wielding like me then she can learn from me!”

“No she is an [Engraver]. She is also a [Puppeteer]. So, she will be nowhere on the front-line. She will learn from me. There’s nothing a brute like you can teach her.”

“Umm….”

There was this tense situation between my guardian and I could do nothing. But Uncle didn’t seem to back down. He quirked his eye dangerously.

“Oh? You old hag who already past the age of her prime will teach me?”

Granny just scoffed as her eyes flashed dangerously. Huh? It seemed to escalate instantly when Uncle called out her age.

“….You seem to be forgetting that I can still beat you silly fifty ways.”

Uncle huffed as a big cool-looking Claymore came out of nowhere as he pointed it towards her with one hand.

“How about a match? Let’s see who will Adelaide take after? This will be a demonstration to Adelaide how Magister fights?”

Maria grinned as a witch hat came out of nowhere and her whole getup changed. She was still the same loli form but her aura changed dangerously. A staff came out of nowhere.

“Your schemes won’t work on me. You only want her to see how Magister fights, don’t you? You are still too green to lead me around.”

He just wanted to look cool? Instantly Uncle deflated as a small ‘yes’ came out his mouth. But Maria’s aura was still climbing up. Her eyes seemed to glint as rocks from the ground floated up. Uncle gulped comically. He really stepped on a tiger’s tail. After all, I knew that mentioning a lady’s age was a big no. He looked at me with a serious face, as if he accepted being sent to gallows, and said.

“See well Adelaide. You can reach our heights with hard work!”

Ganbare! Oji-san!!

Recovering from Covid. Took a month out of me!