It’s been a whole month after the incident regarding the abandoned mansion. Thankfully, at the time, General Julian was in the vicinity when the tree grew. So, he was able to help Elena and me from getting away from that tree. It’s suspicious how conveniently placed he is and how the timing is so perfect that both I and Elena didn’t suffer any injuries, but since he helped us this time, I’ll let it slide. I just need to be warier of him, because my isekai-trope-sense is picking up bad vibes from him.

Luckily, I did not pass out and was able to convey what happened to Empress Josephine right away. Then the very next day, a search party was formed to find that abandoned mansion inside the forest. But after searching for two weeks, it was all in vain; not a single sign of there being a mansion inside that forest could be found. Which put some pressure on me who reported it in the first place, but due to the empress' trust in me, and her slave magic which made me unable to tell a lie to her, she told everyone to cut me some slack and was able to put out the heat on me.

“There are two types of magic: free-form magic and memorized magic.”

“We’ve been through these hundreds of times already.”

“Well, I’m teaching you this over and over again since you’re a special case. Most people have the ability to sense mana ever since they were born, but for some reason, you don’t.”

Right now, I’m having my daily lesson during my off time with Elena about the basics of magic inside my room. She did say she would teach me a thing or two about magic, but I didn’t know she was so knowledgeable about the magic system of this world. Especially since in most isekai novels, the know-how of magic is usually restricted and can only be accessed by nobles.

“Free-form magic can both be considered as a beginner and as advanced magic. Beginners usually use free-form magic to feel the mana around them and try to practice the basic mana manipulation by forming balls of light on their hands. While the advanced free-form magic manipulates mana to do many things; the advanced free-form magic will then evolve into memorized magic if it's popular enough.”

“Yes, yes, and after weeks of me trying to feel the mana, all I could feel is your stinking breath every time you get close and the stinging on my cheek every time I mention your-” A right hook strikes me down before I even finish my sentence, as per usual.

“Honestly, though it pains me to say this, you should accept the fact that you’re the first person to be magicless.”

“No, you see, that is impossible.”

“Because you’re the protagonist?”

“Because I’m the protagonist.”

Elena might say I’m in denial and is delusional for saying that I’m the protagonist of this world. But I know for a fact that me being sent to another world by a goddess after dying from a freak accident means I’m the de facto protagonist of this world. So, me being unable to use magic would be preposterous and I don’t think the goddess would do me dirty like that.

“Well, the fact of the matter is that you’re still not able to feel any mana, and to be frank I don’t think you ever will.” Said Elena as she sighs at my stubborn resolve.

“Doesn’t matter, I’ll probably find another way to control mana.”

“Because you’re the protagonist?”

“Because I’m the-” A knock on the door can be heard, cutting me off.

I opened the door to see an old lady, a bit hunched over, and looking at me with a warm smile; she was the head maid, Elena’s superior. Unlike the head butler, who’s annoying and is not fun to be around, the head maid is beloved by all of the castle’s staff. She’s like the beautiful flower to the thorn in the ass head butler.

“Hello, child.” She greeted and looked at Elena before continuing. “Dear me, a girl and a boy in the same room, I could already smell the romance in the air.”

“What?! No way! At least not with him!”

“What do you mean, at least not with me? I’ll have you know that looking at my face is a million times better than being around your stinking breath-” another right hook touched my zygomatic bone and sent me flying onto the bed.

“Hohoho, to be young and in love. In any case, I’m here bearing good news for the both of you.”

“What is it, head maid?” Asked Elena as she pummels me down with her fist.

“You two are going to have a field trip to the capital, the town of Drangholt.”

+++++

Elena and I are riding in a carriage; it’s a simple carriage that bears no royal symbol as to not cause any disturbance when we reached the capital town of Drangholt. Apparently, the order to take us on a vacation to the capital was ordered by the empress herself. She probably felt bad after making me deal with the water pillar and the whole abandoned mansion incident.

“Have you two ever visited the capital?” Asked the female knight sitting in front of me, who will be escorting and guiding Elena and me through the capital.

“I’ve been there, but never actually stayed for too long.” Said Elena sitting beside me, seemingly excited about being able to exit the stuffy castle.

“Well, you’re in for a treat. Look you can already see it over there.”

The sight of the capital can be seen from above the hill where we were. The people were bustling all around the city, running here and there for an errand. The houses were placed neatly, forming a circle surrounding the heart of the city. At the center, where the central plaza is, there are merchants selling their wares and produces to all kinds of people; there are also food vendors who sell snacks to the kids who're playing at the central plaza, waiting for their parents to finish their shopping.  But one thing stands out more than the others.

“Ms. Knight, what’s that big statue in the middle of the city?”

“Do you not know who she is, Lloyd? She’s the goddess who rules this world, the goddess whom we based our religion on, Goddess Erris.”

The statue depicts a beautiful woman who’s wearing a robe, covering her body except for her hands and her head. A pair of wings on her back almost as big as her body shows her majesty and divinity. She’s opening her arms as if welcoming anyone who’s already a part of, and those who are still unlucky enough to not be a part of her religion.

Goddess Erris… So she’s the old lady who brought me into this world. And she’s also the old lady who has scammed this whole world into thinking that she looked like that statue. If the people knew her true form, her religion would probably be in shambles so I better keep my mouth shut.

“We’re finally here, the capital town of Crenada, Drangholt!” Said the knight while opening the carriage window to let in the city’s air inside.

After going around the outside of the town to the front gate so as to not cause a commotion from using the back gate where only the royalty is allowed to use, we’ve finally arrived. The air that goes inside the carriage is a mix of smells from bars, food vendors, and blacksmiths that are working hard during the day. I was expecting the smell to be putrid being medieval world and all, but it seems there’s an influence from an ‘isekaier’ before me who have developed a sewage system and educated the people about cleanliness.

“Don’t cause too much trouble, alright? You especially need to take special care towards Lloyd, goddess only knows what he’ll do if there’s no eye watching over him at all times.” Said the coachman towards the knight before leaving the central plaza where he dropped us off.

“You heard him, Elena?”

“Loud and clear Ms. knight!”

“Good, you two should go ahead and explore the central plaza while I search for an inn. Elena, you should keep an eye on Lloyd, or else he might spread some kind of disease that could be the downfall of our empire.”

“That’s rude, if I have that much power why would I bring down the empire? I could use it to blackmail the empress and live a carefree life.”

“Okay, okay, shoo now. You two kids have fun.”

 Elena and I began exploring the central plaza. Our first stop would be the food vendors and the assortments of snacks that they sell. There were meat skewers, candies that were molded by hand to form animals, pancake-like sweets, and all sorts of typical isekai food. The food is better than I expected it to be; I was thinking that being an empire with western-styled buildings would also mean western-styled food with only salt and pepper as its seasoning. But, to my surprise, the people here use all kinds of spices that’d create a more complex and delicious flavor.

As I was enjoying my cow-shaped candy, and Elena was enjoying the three meat skewers she bought — which is very typical of the strong and glutinous type of character that she is — we came across a certain group of people. They were the rough and tumble kind of people, ones who can either be an adventurer that would give you advice, or thieves who’d take your belongings. It’s very common for an isekai to have these kinds of people, but there’s one thing different about these people.

“Hey little boy, why don’t you come with me and have some fun?” Said the biggest of the four-person group.

“You’re sick, he’s just a kid.”

“So? It’s not like you need to be a certain age to feel the blissful touch of a woman.”

They were all women. The rough and tumble people who're supposed to be gross old muscly men who catcall the protagonist girls are now replaced by women. This is so bizarre that I couldn’t help but laugh at the situation at hand. Especially since the woman who catcalled me looked like a stereotypical bandit with a scar on her face.

“Hoo~ Laughing are you?” She said as she grabbed my arm. “Let’s go to a better place where you can laugh about something else.”

“Get your hands off of him!” Elena kicked the woman on her sheen and ran away after grabbing hold of my arm. “Let’s go, Lloyd! It’s better if we don’t get too close to those kinds of people.”

“Kekeke, is this how it is in this world? The heroine saves her prince from danger.”

“You’re more like a beggar than a prince. And pick up the pace, will you! The other two are chasing us!”

“You know for a fact that this is the fastest I can run!”

“Fine, you’re asking for it,” she picked me up in a princess carry, or in this case, a prince carry, before continuing to run. “... You’re awfully quiet. Usually, you’d be making a fuss if I carry you like this.”

“Kekeke, I don’t know. I kind of like this whole situation. Maybe after this, I should marry you, my dear heroine~”

“You’re nuts. We’re in serious danger and you like it? I need to beat some sense into you later.”

Despite Elena bitching about our immediate danger, she’s running pretty fast and the two who are chasing us are steadily getting further away. To finally shake off our pursuer, Elena turned to a small alley. However, when we were about to take a breather, the other girl who we thought didn’t chase us was standing in front of us.

“Sorry to ruin you two lovebirds' mood, but you shouldn’t have kicked my boss’ sheen like that. So, I’ll be taking him.”

“Oh yeah? Well Ms. Bandit, you need to go through Elena before you can get me. Elena, I choose you! Elena, use mana punch!”

Elena closed in on the bandit and swung a punch like the good pokemon that she is. But the bandit dodged the punch with a speed that was faster than my eyes could track and kicked Elena’s stomach. Elena fell with a grunt and received a blow to the side of her head from the bandit’s fist. I don’t think Elena is too badly hurt, but that blow was probably enough to render her unconscious.

Shit… I was too relaxed because I’ve seen Elena fight the skeleton and how strong she is. I didn’t take into consideration that she’s a literal child and fighting against an adult that looked like they have a lot of battle experience would be too much for her. 

“Wait!” I exclaimed as the bandit was about to punch Elena again. “Please don’t hurt her anymore. I’ll comply and go with you.”

“Oh will you now?” said the bandit as she reels in closer to me. “Now that I see you, it seems the boss got an eye for cute little things. Maybe I’ll have a taste before I hand you over to the boss.”

She caressed my cheeks as the faint smell of alcohol from her mouth permeated my nose.

This is disgusting. I thought this place would be tamer considering it's a matriarchal society and usually women are depicted to be less inclined to do stuff like this, but I guess bad people are always present regardless of what gender they are. Though I don’t want to do it, I’ll have to kill her by using the small mana geode that’s in the box inside my pocket.

“Now miss, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” The sound of an old man can be heard from behind the bandit.

“What?! Who are you old-” the old man’s hand grabbed hold of her mouth before she finished her sentence. Then he threw her out of the valley as easily as throwing a banana peel into a trash can.

“You okay, Lloyd?” Asked the familiar old man.

“Arthur! You’re finally back?!”