Today is my birthday, I Elizabeth Verlie of house Silvier will be 12 years old. Unlike my 15^th birthday when I will be considered an adult, my 12^th birthday has no major significance, that is to others. As I am now 12 Teacher Adam has promised to get me an Aura instructor, which means that I no longer need to spy on the knights training to maybe get a nugget of information on how to improve my control over aura. Well, it wasn’t all bad after all thanks to my spying I made my first friend, his name is Tristan, and he is the squire of my soon to be Aura teacher Sir Mayron. Tristan can be said to be the cause of all the trouble I had in these past few years, from sneaking out of the castle to see the town proper only to get attacked by assassins to the destruction of my family’s ancestral sword, he can be said to be nothing more than trouble, but it is always fun to be around him. Tristan is not the only friend I made these past few years, Paul and Nara are also two of my dearest companions. Paul is the third son of the Count of Meath in other words he is the son of Lord Adam and the one who usually cleans after Tristan and me, he is the oldest of us all at the age of 16 and it shows with how much more mature he is. In a way he resembles his father both physically and in character, at least he isn’t as much of a pain in the behind as that dammed teacher of mine.

            When I was seven, we came to know each other, as mentioned before I became quite famous for my Alchemy and at that time Paul fell ill and the doctors in charge of him were unable to heal him, the pour guy even had to suffer his blood being sucked by leaches, I mean what’s the problem with these people and their obsession of making others bleed. During that time teacher Adam was quite worried, even though he tried to hide it I could tell, after all at that point in time I had already spent years studying under him. The always stern and strict teacher transformed into some damsel in distress, unable to continue seeing him rot away, I offered to visit the Count’s territory, this way he could at least check on his son. At this point in time, I had yet to be known for my healing, but this visit would serve to establish me as a great healer. In alchemy the study of herbs is necessary as it is amongst the basics of the art, by doing so and by testing myself made concoctions on my almost immortal body I was able to reproduce some of the traditional medicines my grandmother used to make for me. They might not be as effective as let’s say antibiotics but at least their effects are guaranteed. When visiting I gave the Count what my grandmother called a cure all and told him that he should feed it to his son. Of course, I am not so tasteless as to simply copy my grandmother’s recipe without making some improvements. Soon after saving Paul, I came to be known as a healer of great skill, to be honest making medicine is only a deviation of what I hope to achieve, but after living in this world for years I managed to grow out of my childish wish to rain supreme following a worldwide battle royal, when I first reincarnated this world used to look like a playground where I could test out my new powers and live even more luxuriously than when I was a billionaire. I can now see these people for what they are, people with lives of their own, with hopes and aspirations, and with families who would miss them if they were to die. I still consider myself selfish, but I resolved myself not to bring needless harm and suffering to my people, after all I will one day rule over them. In this one aspect I can say that my father is a good man who truly cared about his people, honestly it is just about the only respectable thing about him because the announcement he will make latter sure isn’t. Back to Paul, when he started recovering, I was invited into his room where the boy layed in his bed, he had black hair and the same golden eyes as his father. The boy saw me come in and staggered to his feat then fell to one knee where he made an oath of servitude to me, in other words, for my saving his life he swore to become my subordinate and serve me for as long as he lives.

            Nara is my first female friend, my mother was worried about me spending too much time with boys as such she contacted her family and asked if one of her cousins could bring their daughter to become my playmate, and that was Nara. At first, I disliked her, there was no deep reason for my dislike, but I was unable to deal with having to play with a girl even younger than me. But she grew on me and became like a troublesome little sister who loves being spoiled. It was decided that she would become my first lady in waiting when I reach adulthood. The four of us are close friends and spend just about every moment we can together, sadly this isn’t too often as each one of us has their own duty, well Nara is the one exception as she is a traditional noble lady who spends her day doing next to nothing, but she did start accompanying me to my lessons and serves the role of assistant. Tristan has his knights training where he is considered a prodigy and Paul only occasionally visits as he usually remains in his father’s domain where he studies economics and governing to, in his words “I wish to one day be of help to my saviour”. The three of them know about my plan to become duchess and retake the territory lost in past generations, as a matter a fact Count Adam insisted on being my teacher for this exact purpose, he later admitted that he feels heartbroken every time he lays eyes on the friend he considered a brother and how he lost everything. He believed that I, an intelligent and powerful mage could be the key to matching the new combined land of Aren. In a way he isn’t wrong, if I truly wanted to, I could turn this whole world on its head; not just Aren. The three of them know of my short-term ambition and swore that they would help me achieve my goals, Tristan and Nara even swore the same oath as Paul, it’s nice being a charismatic leader. However, my father had to throw a wrench in my plans.

            During the celebration my father decided to make an announcement that brought smiles to just about everyone, everyone except me.

            “My lords and ladies, I wish to make an announcement, two weeks ago the doctor gave me great news, this lady here “Ariel” Is now pregnant with my second child.”

            Cheers where heard every ware, even my mother was smiling and clapping, I don’t know if she means it or not, but I certainly am not. What should I do? Make a scene? Kill Ariel or just the baby inside her? It would be easy for me to do so. Am I really so egoistic as to kill two innocent people for the sake of some dream? The truth is that I am, but that doesn’t mean that I will do so at the first chance of solving this issue, the easy way is not always the right way. Murder is my very last option. Then again, we don’t know if it’s a boy or girl so it might not even be a problem, yes if only a girl is born, she would be no threat to me. Then again what if it’s a boy? Would they replace me as successor for such a small thing as our sex, is what’s between our legs so important as to decide the fate of an entire duchy? What was I thinking about, I lost track, I think I am in shock? Is there a way to solidify my position before the child is even born? There are many ways to do so but they all require the death of ether the baby, my father or half the lords present. No, there is a way but it’s a gamble and if it backfires, I might even be thrown out of my own home. I have no choice, I have to take action, now!

            I rose from my seat, the seat of honour, raised my hand to quiet the room and made a gamble of this life.  

            “My lords and ladies I wish that everyone would give one more round of applause to my soon to be younger sibling.” “I know how important family is after all everyone here is family to me, you Sir Albert I still remember when you use to take me to the castle walls, using that as an excuse to skip your training, don’t think I didn’t know…” the room filled with laughter “but you were also kind enough to do what most would refuse out of concern for me. Lord Thies, your daughter was the one who thought me etiquette whilst your son sneaked in sweets for us to eat.” I when on listing memorable events of the past few years and then started making my point “You all truly are a part of my family that is why I cannot wait until the day I will serve as your Lord, after all it would be such a shame if something were to disrupt this family relationship we have here.” all at once the room went silent, I knew that with the possibility of a male being born everyone would turn their back on me, even more so if I were to be a threat to him, but instead of hiding my intentions and winning the lords one by one I came out and stated my desire, likely making almost everyone in the room my enemy. In translation I told them that ‘I will not allow anyone other than myself to become the lord, no matter the gender of the baby, if you do not agree then you are no longer needed, and I will dispose of you.’ In very polite terms of course.

            “Elizabeth, sit down.” I think this is the first time my father called me by my full name in years. Well, I understand his position I did overstep but it’s necessary for me to take action as soon as possible and create a faction around me and I know just who to lead it, Paul, he is the son of the Count of Meath and a much-desired marriage prospect. He also has quite the network as he is the only adult in my group, even more important than that people will assume that his father is on my side which he likely will be, I may not like the man, but I can’t deny that he is brilliant and as such knows that in the worst-case scenario, I could start a coup and take over everything by force. Not even he, a master magician could stop me as I have long ago surpassed him. At age eight I knew that he was no longer a threat to me, so I told him about my power to create; I kept the others a secret just in case. He was so shocked that he took the rest of the day off only to come barging into my room in the middle of the night with a flurry of questions; and he did so many times after that. Yeh, I now hate him even more than before, he and I are just incompatible.

            I ignored my father and focussed my attention on the lords and knights in the hall. I observed every one of their reactions, from the slight twitching of their eyebrows to be occasional smiles.

            “Elizabeth, Sit!” To think that my father would raise his voice against me, well it’s understandable I am humiliating him, not only him but Ariel also. I will apologize to her later, but this has to be done, here and now, with all the lords here present. I need to know who is on my side and who will stand against me.

            “Guards escort the girl to her room.” Ha not even Elizabeth but girl?

            Well, it doesn’t matter, it’s not like they will be able to do a thing. I used my power to manipulate all things in the world and reversed gravity on each of the locations where guards were posted, I then increased gravity as to pin them on the ceiling. The room was shocked by my actions, but they have yet to see anything. I glared at them before turning to my father where I challenge him.

            “Is this any way to treat your daughter on her birthday no less.” I considered using the one thing that would cow them all, that is me projecting my aura, from what teacher told me that thing I did with my brush is called “presence” and it usually serves as an attack when fighting armies or when interrogating someone, by using it one could dampen the spirit of others and sometimes even turn them insane. Mine is abnormally strong which is a sign of me being someone that would always stand above others. The problem is that I can’t control it and as such I could do irreparable damage on not only my father and the lords in the room but anyone in my range which when I was 4 was already the size of the castle; I can only imagine what the result of me using it now that I am older would be.

            Instead, I chose to go at it the traditional way, also known as public pressure, but almost everyone is against me, they aren’t showing it now since the child has yet to be born but the moment, they learn that he is a boy they will all turn against me for good. That is why I intend to turn on them first, create an obligation towards me or at least determine who I will have to take down. Nonetheless, creating an obligation without any benefits is useless that is why…

            “I have lived my whole life knowing that one day I will shoulder the burden of leading the duchy, I have studied, made connections, and even created plans to reform our entire system but none of that will serve to convince you that I am the one and only option when it comes to succession. That is why I hereby swear to you all that I will reconquer our lost territories and more. By the age of 20 I will have annihilated the duchy of Aren along with all the lords who betrayed my family. You can either be with me or against me.” I then made a show of taking out a pouch from my sleeve when in fact I created it along with the massive sum inside it. The gasps that reverberated throughout the room were enough to tell me that my plan worked. Even my father couldn’t help but gasp. What I had in that pouch wasn’t only gold but platinum also.

            In this world money is only used by nobles and wealthy merchants, the rest of the population uses a barter system where people trade goods between one another. When it comes the monetary system, it starts at copper and silver which are used on the rare cases that nobles or merchants deals with the citizenry. A single copper coin minted by the duke is worth a loaf of bread and a silver is enough to buy a chicken that can lay eggs. Gold on the other hand will never be used by anyone outside of the richest of merchants and mid to high-ranking nobles. However, Platinum is another matter entirely as it is only used between countries, this is how high its value is. Two platinum coins is an adequate price to buy a village along with all the people and livestock in it.

            The staggering amount of money I carelessly dropped in front of me is enough to buy the territory of about half the people in the hall. It’s no wonder they are drooling all over the sack in front of me.

            “You are an alchemist; it is easy for you to fool us with a fake pouch of platinum and gold.”

            The man who raised an objection is the second mage belonging to this duchy, Viscount Aurailie. He of course would know that it is possible for me to do so.

            “My lord Viscount are you implying that I am trying to fool you all with money that I do not possess.”

            “You are a young child so it can be forgiven if it was but a prank but not when we are having such a serious discussion, even less so when you forced us all into this uncomfortable situation.”

            “As you and I both know Alchemy is the art of creating and manipulating what already exists. Doing so comes at a cost, whatever is created will at one point revert to magic. This is irrelevant when creating medicine as once the medicine takes its effect even if the remains turn back to being less effective than they were with the help of Alchemy the desired outcome has already been achieved. Conversely, this is not the case when creating out of nothing as no matter what was created it will revert to magic since the creation itself is magical. Am I right my lord?”

            “Haha, you truly are as smart as they say, I affirm that what you said is perfectly correct.”

            “Now, lord Aurailie do you know how to differentiate between a magic creation and a physical creation?”

            “Of course, any novice mage could do that.”

            “Then please check this bag and tell me, No, tell us all if that is a forgery made by my alchemy.”

            I could see the lord Viscount trembling as I approached. Yes, you were led by the nose to give me the recognition I need. Nobles rise and fall as often as the waves of the sea. If he or any other noble truly wishes to dispute my qualification after this, then I will make sure to take care of them, for good. Like all good dogs they will need to learn who is their master.

            “They are real”

            “I am sorry we can’t hear you would you mind speaking louder.”

            “They… They are real.”

            “Thank you, I will take that back now. I believe that everyone understands what kind of person I am. I do not care about what you think of me, what I do care about is your future loyalty, whether the child is a boy or a girl I do not care as long as you keep your future allegiance firmly focussed on me and no one else. As for you father I hope that this little demonstration of my abilities will be enough for you to banish such concepts as gender inequality, I am the wealthiest person in this duchy, I am also the most powerful mage in our territory and once I reach adulthood, I will show you that I am also the greatest leader in our family’s history.” With that I left the room.