While their mothers were discussing the details of the lessons, Maximilian de Vallmont and Alice de Ravendall were seated on their chairs around a table in his room. They were drinking the tea that Maximilian’s maid prepared. The tea set was made of silver, as was customary to prove it was not poisoned.
The atmosphere was tense, as they didn't know what to say. Maximilian had some experience with tea parties with his friends but only felt confident in topics shared among boys.
Meanwhile, Alice was utterly powerless in this situation. Although she knew for a fact that she used to be able to make small talk with strangers pretty easily in her previous life, the young girl had never felt as different from her former self as she did now.
A part of her was actually relieved because, not too long ago, she had been afraid that these memories from another world would consume her mind.
Fortunately, at this very moment, she felt like she was not the same person. In this life, she was a timid, introverted, reserved, reclusive, socially inept girl… Well, at least, she had her own personality and individuality, which was probably a good thing.
Anyway, she was currently incapable of initiating a conversation with her new study partner. She remembered her former self starting some conversations with basic subjects like the weather of the day, but she was scared he would find this topic lame. Therefore, she pretended to be a tea connoisseur, savoring this wonderful tea to buy time until Maximilian spoke first.
She waited for what felt like several minutes of awkward silence to her but it eventually worked out, as Maximilian raised his head. He was probably about to start talking.
"So, you are pretty small, are you not?"
(Why would you start with this?! I should have brought up a lame subject such as the weather instead!! Moreover, you totally heard your mother roast me about that already, so why?!)
This truly was a touchy subject for Alice, as she was really insecure about her size.
"I-indeed, I guess I am. I remember we were about even the last time we met, though."
"Nope. I was already one head taller, I am pretty sure."
(Why would you argue with me on this? Don’t you see I’m really uncomfortable already? How do you even remember that when it happened years ago? Frankly, I don’t even remember you!)
"A-ah yes indeed, I mixed you up with someone else, I am sorry..."
"You do not really remember me, do you? After all, you always ignored me back then."
(How rude to say this to me! Now I’m pretty sure you’re worse than me at small talk! Look at this atmosphere!)
Alice felt like Maximilian was taking the lead of this conversation only so he could demean her, so she decided to go on the offensive too.
"Maybe you should have tried imposing yourself? Then I would have remembered you."
"But I did… You clearly saw me try talking to you back then, but you just ignored me and kept talking to my sister."
"I… I must have been too busy speaking with Ashley."
"... What did you just call my sister?"
(W-w-what was her name again?? It's over...)
"Ah… T-that is just the nickname I gave her…”
“Alright, what is her real first name?”
“S-Sharon?"
"You are just saying random names now, are you not? Wait, why are you crying?!"
Alice couldn’t do it anymore. The embarrassment was too much for her to bear and she kept weeping for several minutes. Maximilian was trying his best to console her and determine why she was reacting like this. By making her say a few words at a time, he understood the gist of the situation.
"You are bad with people, huh? Stop crying already..."
"I-I am… so sorry..."
"You really look like a young child. Yet you are technically a bit older than me..."
"Oh… Am I?"
"Yeah, so stop crying and act your age, if you would. Anyway, I don’t really care that I was ignored in the past. I feel bad for my sister, though. She was so excited at the idea of seeing her friend regularly in the manor, and yet you do not seem to even remember her name..."
"It is Rachel, right? I… I just forgot it in the heat of the moment."
"Well… I apologize for putting you in this situation. You do not need to make small talk. I do not care."
"R-really?!"
"Yeah… Just assist me in my lessons. Having the help of someone who has already awakened could be helpful."
"M-my magic is pretty unusual though, so I am not sure it will be useful to you…"
"I heard it was strengthening magic. It sounds strong to me, don’t you think?"
"Well, it is not exactly strengthening. My muscles and bones do not become stronger or more resistant. So, if I were to punch a solid object, the bones in my arm would probably shatter before anything happens…"
"That sounds unpractical. But hey, you seem pretty talkative when it comes to magic."
"O-oh… thank you?"
"This was not really a compliment…"
Alice and Maximilian thus decided to just talk about magic and about what he didn’t really understand, and the timid girl was indeed able to express herself way better than during small talk. If it seemed it was magic that made her more chatty, it was actually scientific topics. However, since the two finally connected somewhat, she did not correct him.
***
About half an hour since Alice had stopped crying, she and Maximilian decided to return to the room where their mothers were supposedly discussing the details of the lessons. Most likely, though, they were just chatting.
That was when a tall girl saw them both in the corridor.
"Alice! It's been so long!"
"Oh, Rachel. How do you do?"
Alice saw Maximilian make a furtive thumbs-up behind his back, addressed to her. Despite his emotionless face, Alice was sure he was thinking something along the lines of "Great job remembering her name!".
(Of course I remember it. She's my friend. I can't guarantee that I'll remember yours, though.)
"I'm fine, but why are you here today? You were supposed to come next week."
"Good grief. Big sister, I am sure to have told you yesterday for the third time that she was coming today."
"I'm not stupid, Max. I wouldn't have forgotten this so quickly."
"... Let us say that I forgot to warn you, then."
"Don't worry, I'll let you get away with it since you're so cute!"
"Haa?! Please do not say that now!"
The girl patted her brother's head and openly said something outrageously embarrassing for a boy. Alice could understand where she was coming from, though. She may not speak so openly with her own brother, Alistair, but that didn't mean she thought any less of him than Rachel did of Maximilian.
Alice smiled as she watched the two siblings. Rachel, almost 14 years old, was a full head taller than Maximilian. She had the same pink hair as her mother, styled in a ponytail. Despite their differences in appearance, personality and the way they were speaking, at that moment, Alice couldn't help but see them as a typical big sister and little brother. Rachel and Maximilian may have looked and acted differently, with their contrasting eyes and hair, but their bond was undeniable.
***
There was high demand for theoretical magic instructors, as every person in the world had mana and could awaken to magical powers. This included commoners, who had their own coming-of-age ceremony. As a result, almost everyone needed as much knowledge as possible before they awakened. Alice wondered why there was no magic academy to parallelize the task of instruction, but then realized that instructors had to be extremely attentive to their students because of the unique magic system of this world. Custom lessons were necessary, which explained why there was no academy.
Therefore, there was a limited supply of these tutors, which made the prices for lessons exorbitantly high. Only nobles and some wealthy merchants could afford them.
For poorer commoners, they had to rely on the knowledge of their parents and grandparents to try to understand magic as much as possible. Many just hoped to learn useful magic for their daily lives, such as fire magic for cooking or water magic to purify polluted water or seawater for drinking.
Even for the House of Ravendall, a former baron family, lessons were not cheap. That was why they were thrilled to hear from Marquis Vallmont that he would pay for even the supplementary lessons for Alice to catch up with Maximilian's lessons.
The Vallmont family was so much wealthier than the Ravendalls that they were paying individually for Rachel and Maximilian's lessons, rather than grouping them together.
After a few days of intensive lessons, Alice managed to catch up with Maximilian and started attending his lessons as well.
This effectively satiated Alice’s urge to learn new things, but she now wanted to practice her own magic. For that, however, she would need an official practical instructor.
