The third daughter of the Reign Family, Stephany Reign.
Month 5, day 11, A.T 882. Before noon.
Stephany Reign’s room.

 

The moment I appeared in the sumptuous room, I was engulfed by fleeting pure darkness, the musty smell of old books which was scattered all around had invaded my nostrils,  spreading the feeling of pleasure deep into my body. The dead silence of this room is not like any other, as if it was destined for me.

Despite all the environments I have visited today, this room outclassed them. Though the library had the same kind of environment, the room had a special meaning. Perhaps you can call it privacy? I haven’t seen any maids set foot in this uncharted room, and resulting as a messy room. Not that I care about fashion anyway.

As I was about to walk towards my bed, the floor was filled with books. I couldn’t make a single step forward because of that. Making small waving gestures of my hand, the books started levitating and moved to the very corner, the clothes were folded neatly in the air and brought back to the cabinet, and the dust sitting on the bed was removed. 

I used the same mana as earlier when I laid down on top of the bookshelves, and I controlled the books like I had done previously on that Halsey maid. Whilst the room was being cleaned, I took a step forward and then noticed a material floating towards its designated place.

It was a limb part of a doll that I was making, remember back in the spring when I thought about using a clone or a doll. Yes, I have been building it for months and had success in some weird ways. I think I will run away from the house once I get the stuff I had requested from the Prince, and had known if society of mages is present or not. After all, I have finished reading all the books in the library, so I won’t have any regrets running away.

Well, there is Freya, but I don’t think it’ll harm in any way. The fact that I don’t exist in this house made it easier for me to not get tied down by any responsibilities, making me able to attain my freedom. And even if I do, I would have killed the doll that has a similar appearance as me and runs away. In that way, my death can be seen as someone who got murdered. Noted.

But what do I do next I wonder? The plan would likely be to settle in a place in the neighboring country and buy books to read. Probably dine in some famous restaurants to satisfy the hunger for food. The heck, just thinking about it, isn’t it a simple lifestyle?  Well, the future is the future, I’ll do what I can for now to attain that.

Lesly mentioned earlier that she will be marrying our father, so it wouldn’t be too weird why she is here. Huh, I wonder why I accepted it without question about the fact that they would be marrying each other. If it is the same as the reason why the royalties are here, then there is a likely chance that the emperor is here right?

That thought only in my mind, it made me shiver. Letting out a long sigh, I walk my way towards the bed and lay down flat. There are so many things that happened today which made me more exhausted than before.

Some so many people were mentioned, one of them was mainly about Artermia, or so the Empress of the Demiurge Empire, she’s my mother’s sister that was summoned 300 years ago until 10 years ago, she ran away, and there is also Hernaez Demiurge, the immortal summoner, and the emperor.

Oh, and let’s not forget about the spirit Queen, I don’t have any information regarding her. Even in a single book in the library, there wasn’t a sentence that the Spirit Queen was mentioned. Raising my head to look around the room, it seemed that the cleaning operation was finished, and the books were piled up in a corner. I grabbed my key that was hanging from my neck and chanted.

“Sinite Nos ipsos hoc mundo intrant. Quia ego possessor.” 

As usual, a vortex for the World of Archive was summoned, hence, it allowed me to return the books to its rightful place. Making another small gesture of my fingers, the books went inside the archive. And while we're at it, I took another book from the archive by my hands. There is no other way than to do it manually, the archive cannot be summoned without the key, without me, nor the proper execution.

I found it quite a tiring thing to do it, but there isn’t much of a choice. By the time I took a book from the archive, the books completed its return, and being that case, I immediately closed the archive.  Since even a single book can make a person be occupied by the entire day, but it may not be the case for me. Thinking it deeply, I might have regretted closing the archive too soon.

Dropping my body to the bed, I hang the book up top to see its title. “How to Build a Piano!”, great. The title says it all, I do know how pianos are made and known how they are played. Recalling the past I had yet to hear a song nor instrumental music ever since I was born. I wonder if the world Liettera doesn’t have such a wonderful custom. 

That was then I got a sudden urge to play music. But I shrugged it off and threw the book on the floor, my mood to read had been sullied, so I couldn’t muster up the courage to summon another archive.

All of a sudden I realize, rather than reading, shouldn’t I go to town? It’s noon already, so there is no reason that the library in the town has yet to open. Actually, before that, I should gather some information via magic.

Remember that one time I mentioned about the territory of mana? It’s called [mana zone], a spell that allows that mage user to manipulate the mana in the zone perfectly. Making it more efficient in creating magic or magic spells, not only that, the mage user can control everything inside the zone, whether it comes to terrain, other party’s ability, and others.

However, you are not able to manipulate the other party’s senses, whether mind control or brainwashing. Not only that, but it also consumes the mage user mana pretty quickly despite being 5 meters at the radius. Though, I don’t have any problems with it since I can restore more mana than I could consume. That is only when I don’t manifest other magic.

And since I am maintaining a [spatial] magic, to top it off every individual spell you can find in witchcraft, I could only last by tomorrow morning. In between times, I should temporarily stop casting Witchcraft spells and magic, so that I could restore my mana even if it's partial.

To what size I could manifest you ask? I should be able to engulf the entire plateau. But don't think that showing off my power to my family would not make me miserable, or in fact, even become the head of the Reign if I want to. But, thinking about how I want peace and freedom, and looking at how people see me. 

Upon seeing my magic, they will likely think I am a daughter of a demon or might be even a witch, perhaps a spawn of the demon king itself. All those reasons to be considered, I didn’t show it.

Raising from my bed, I thought of a suitable vessel for the [mana zone]. The [mana zone] manifests around its user, but it doesn’t mean it won’t move. It follows the mage user as its central point, and now that I think about it I haven’t discussed how mana behaves from different individuals.

Mana has different ranks, each rank has different usage, components, and capabilities. In total, there are 11 including the natural mana, starting from the weakest, there is natural mana, blue, orange, red, brown, yellow, black, purple, white, and colorless. 

To attain other mana ranks, the mage user must have enough knowledge to be bestowed. If not, the mage’s body cannot ascertain or is unfamiliar about the foreign energy that is entering the body, hence, their current mana would fight it rather than adapt to it. The lower-ranked mana would always lose to higher ranks, making the individual's body to be overwhelmed by foreign mana.

In which, the mage user’s mana would always be depleted due to fighting the foreign mana, and the individual would take the event to rest to recover mana lost, for eternity, in other words, an eternal sleep. 

There are a lot of depths around mana, so I will just discuss the mana of individuals to cut things short. Also, talking about this topic does not include blue mana. Anyways, every individual has different mana, despite being in the same rank. Saying so, it doesn’t mean that every mana will have its unique capabilities, it’s just the same as everyone. 

Taking an example, if Father has blood, Freya has oil, and I, having water, they can be labeled as a liquid. However, if father has blood, he cannot control Freya or me because it is not blood, neither can we since we are different. 

Every individual has different mana, and one cannot take control of the other, which includes magic, and other spells. Also, I would like to note that stealing is different from taking control, meaning there are methods of taking other mage’s magic or spells. One of the popular methods is copying the behavior of ranking up but denied.

If the other party’s mage mana is lower than yours, you can simply overwhelm their mana to cut their supply line to their magic circle. Using that moment, you can supply the magic circle to make it yours. 

That is basically it for the individual’s mana.

And there is also that, if two or more [mana zone] meets, the one that would lose is the mage user who had stepped into another mana zone. Despite even that mage user has its own [mana zone].

Meaning, the winning mage user will be someone or something that has a larger size. The losing mage user’s [mana zone] will be destroyed like glass, and they can never open [mana zone] again unless if the losing mage user exits the winning mage user’s [mana zone], they can manifest again. 

But I don’t think this world has any [mana zone], thinking about how the people could only attain one or two magic for the rest of their lives, it concluded. I could create [mana zone] without getting caught. Well, you can always know whether if you have entered someone’s [mana zone] or not, the natural mana that always surrounds you will disappear, and the atmosphere drastically changes.

The knowledge of natural mana is unknown for them anyways, creating the [mana zone] here won’t make any difference for them. Looking around the room whilst thinking of a suitable vessel for the [mana zone], I came to a bold decision, and that is creating another door.

Inside this room, there are only 3 doors, the entrance,  the comfort room, and to the balcony. The door will be created from alchemy craft with the support of magus craft, and putting a multiple-layer casting to add [spatial] magic, in which it would lead to another dimension, though I don’t know what I will put the contents, I think it's mainly for storage.

If not, it could be a vessel to teleport here whenever I want.  Moreover, I can access the door whenever I am, thus, if I run away from this household, I can still infiltrate the territory through this door and get some books, if I so desire. Teleportation magic to transport myself here is enough, but this door is a fail-safe just in case I couldn’t enter.

Looking at the vacant area next to the comfort room, and with the flick of my fingers, multiple magic circles appeared at the wall, some were dyed orange. some were gold, and some were white. Their colors were just to indicate what mana rank was needed, there were also numerous lines and symbols. I wanted to explain each and one of them, but they have too many depths and cannot be explained in a single day.

But I probably have to explain the formations and its means. The magic circle has special formations and is required to be at the exact spots if not, the manifested result would be dull. The magic formation is a combination of the elements and the attributes to make magic, I had explained how they work from the previous. 

The magic circle that appeared in front of me had many different elements to get the result of acacia wood. In total, there are about a hundred and twenty magic circles inside of another magic circle. The other magic circles are just too reform the acacia wood to become a door, meaning a magic circle came from [magus craft]. See, what did I tell you? It’s quite complicated without knowing the basics. And fun fact, the magic circle of magus craft has thousands of symbols and letters, while its magic circle numbered at three hundred.

Despite their numbers, their size didn’t seem to be too big, or in fact, it was narrowed down because of the required mana rank. If I didn’t have reached a certain mana rank, I would have toned down the magic circle, but in exchange for numerous magic circles, just to create the door.

Normally, it would take days for a novice mage to create a door, they might even make a blunder in the process. Well, magic circles are not simply created through thin air, they are formed with mana from the user, and of course, some may forget some lines or symbols along the way, hence they must repeat their process, that is, if the novice mages try to write in thin air.

They could try to draw the magic circles on pieces of paper, and assemble them later when they are finished. And lastly, they would have to trace the drawn paper with mana, making the magic circle appear in thin air. 

That is also the reason why mages have their spellbooks, or to be precise “Grimoire”. So that in the latter, they could just look into their grimoire and trace the magic circle, and as you have known, spells are a combination of magic, magic arts, and other sorcery systems, but it does not include crafts because they are in a different category. 

Though I have one stored in my archive, it doesn’t matter to me anyway. That concludes my explanation for now, and looking back at the door, it seems it was constructed well on the wall. It didn’t stand out from any other doors just like I desire since they have the same design as the comfort room’s door.

And since the vessel was created, I made another magic circle, however, this time it had the same color of night. With numerous circles atop of each other, as well as rotating at the beat of a heart, it was sinister-looking, one can immediately assume that the magic circle is a curse. Not only the magic circle that stood out, but the unreadable symbols also luster black and formed a shadowy aura.

Filling it up with mana, the magic circle moves towards the door and fades away as if nothing had happened. Although the vessel is a door, its functions as a [mana zone] is still accessible to me whenever I go, since it is constantly being supplied with my mana. But it is just that, I can’t move it.

The [mana zone] has been cast, yet the atmosphere of the house didn’t change since I desire it to be. 

All of a sudden, I felt dizziness from the first time, and my head was somewhat lightheaded. This feeling was similar to being paranoid about your surroundings, however, in this case, my consciousness was all over the area. The things I can hear in the corridor, I can hear it inside my mind. The steps of ants on the attic, I know where they are. The hopeless screams of princess jallain in the spring, I can hear it. The scent cooking in the kitchen, I can smell it. 

Not only that, but they're also numerous people that I don’t recognize, they might be the visitors. Most of them have the clothes of a priest, and royal guards. However, the one that stands out from them, is an individual approaching this room.

If only I did this earlier, I wouldn’t have met the royalties. It was my mistake and I admit it, but realizing at this point won’t make any changes.

 

 

Part 2

The third daughter of the Reign Family, Stephany Reign.
Month 5, day 11, A.T 882. Before noon.
Stephany Reign’s room.

With the [mana zone] active, I have no reason to not have any information regarding the estate’s area. If you ask for paper works, books, and other written papers, that information will not be detected by the [mana zone], but it would be known by its object.

Regardless, it is useful as it is. Knowing that the royalties are being escorted by carriage, it would take at least 20 minutes if they use the shortest yet steep route. It seems that Lesly is preparing a horse to intercept them. In one of the rooms, it appears that Grey is sleeping. As well as Freya in her room.

I have no other information regarding my siblings, and it seems Father is greeting some people in white cloth. They appear to be part of religion since it's too obvious from their similar uniforms and style. Looking at it, everyone is busy, it's my lucky day to venture out on the town. I mean ‘our’ town since Father is the one personally taking care of it. 

It was always a question of why this estate is detached from the town itself. We’re quite far from town, but it won’t matter anyway if I just use [blink] or any other means of transportation. 

All of a sudden, there was a sharp knock on the window door, but there were no signs on the [mana zone] itself. Even reading closely, there were no natural causes to make that happen, I became cautious about it. To be able to slip through the [mana zone] is not an easy feat, only those that are naturally spawned beings and a mage relatively closer to others. 

Well, this mana zone has a weak mana, orange mana, just second to none. I didn’t make it powerful to capture even the letters in the books, since mages might grab their attention on this place with a powerful surge of mana, so orange mana rank is enough to make myself know the live movements on this place without getting caught by mages.

However, simple skills like concealment or camouflage could still slip through the orange mana, assuming it's a human. 

On the other side of the window door, I felt no hostility. However, the sound of knocking continues, it doesn’t look like it will stop anytime soon, and I would be bothered by it if it persists. I stood up from my bed to respond to its call. Opening the door slightly while holding off the thick curtain, I looked up front first before opening it widely, but to my surprise, it was Secrea all along. 

This cat…. How can she not be detected by my [mana zone]? Is she a mage in disguise? No, that shouldn’t be the case, because this cat is extremely lazy, and she doesn’t bother to read books. However, I still put my guard up and stayed cautious. Crouching down to her level, I lock my gaze at her mundane hair.

I grabbed her under her arms and felt her smooth hair, which reminds me of those wild lions. Furthermore, her odd eyes made her look mysterious. Laying back to the bed with her in my arms, I  took a rest with Secrea. Now that I think of it, she’s the only friend I considered. Despite lazing off wherever I go, her presence was just there. She’s not bothered by the things I do, and I’m not in wrath by her desires to be spoiled. 

Caressing her hair gently, I wanted to bring her if I ran away from the house. I mean, who would want to feed a cat with mana? Thinking that made me a little happy. 

Pondering deeply, Secrea’s palm reaches for my hand as if asking to not stop caressing her. I, of course, petted her. However, Secrea did not stop poking me, what is she asking I wonder.

Oh, perhaps is she hungry?

Gathering my mana onto my palm, I caress Secrea with it. At the same time, it looks like she’s receiving it properly. Maybe, I should let Secrea come with me since if I leave her alone, there are no people who would nurse her. Furthermore, she is quite the lazy one, she wouldn’t even bother finding food on her own.

All of a sudden and without even knowing it, Secrea, instead of receiving my mana, she forcefully drew my mana, which led me to panic. I never saw her behave like this before, and I threw her with all my might on the wall.

A sharp bang noise occupied the room for a moment, and returned to its silence, at the end of that, I just threw something precious to me, yet I didn’t feel anything. The supply of mana has been disrupted and before I knew it I rose from my bed and checked her.

However, before I could step out from my bed, the room was suddenly engulfed by a flashing light which could disturb an individual’s eyes for a moment, or it was for me. I shut my eyes tight and covered it with my hands. There was no telling what is currently happening, so I focus on gathering information and movements on the [mana zone].

Upon then, a grand presence appeared inside the room.

Part 3

The third daughter of the Reign Family, Stephany Reign.
Month 5, day 11, A.T 882. Before noon.
Stephany Reign’s room.

“T’is good for a spiritual body” 

I was confused by how this individual appeared in this room without noticing such an initiation, it could only mean she is capable of using [blink] skill. Although I sense that the individual has no malicious intentions towards me, what’s more, a voice coming from a woman, I have no intention of letting my guard down.

Opening my eyes to seek her appearance, I was welcomed by a grand appearance. Her long hair colored in white, it gleamed divinely and fluttered, her heterochromatic eyes that looked at me so gently, she is, without doubt, the beautiful person I have seen. Moreover, because of her eyes, she is somewhat similar to Secrea.

Despite all those reasons, I activated my [evil eyes] with the support of only [fear], yet it wasn’t enough to make her quiver and instead, she responded with a gentle smile. As I was to change the support to something more threatening than [fear], the lady in front of me opened her mouth for the second time.

“O’ child, shant cite the anger for I bear no malice to you.” She declared in a whisper just enough to reach my ears. “T’is I shall protect you from evildoers such as your family”

Despite the room having no light, she became the source of light inside the room. If I continue to act like this, the conversation won’t continue. However, regardless, I didn’t close my [evil eyes] and started to interrogate her. 

“Who are you?” I asked, “I am sure you are not Secrea, so what did you do to her?”

This unsettling feeling, I don’t like it. Perhaps because of the fright that Secrea gave me earlier, even throwing her on the wall instinctively. When this lady appeared, Secrea’s presence vanished, which made me feel this disgusting guilt feeling.

 

“I am Secrea, the pet whom you found laying down on that silver spring, and was taken care of gently. However,” She stops for a moment and continues after floating near me “T’is I, the almighty Spirit Queen at the same time..” 

The what? Did I hear it right? There’s no way that Secrea is someone important, but it also makes sense since she just appeared out-no-where, what’s more, Secrea has gone missing.

“T’is I, the almighty Spirit Queen” She repeated.”And also I am Secrea”

Spirit Queen, though I only heard about her, just the name itself, she must be one of the natural beings in Leiterra. Earlier, I talked about how mages are born to protect humanity from the so-called beast in the shadows, those beasts are also natural beings, as they could spawn wherever they like, be in space or on the very deep ocean.

There wasn’t a way to prevent them from spawning, regardless if there is a [mana zone] or [enchanted barrier] in the place. Although the magic spell art [sanctuary] and [the protection of you is love] can somehow lessen the spawn of the beast and protect everyone on the inside, paying the price is not cheap, and the range is so small. So it is not a spell to abuse and only used during emergencies.

Isn’t this development too fast? I just heard about her from the mouths of some people, and she appeared before me. Don’t you think it's too good to assume this is a coincidence that Secrea was all along with the Spirit Queen? Though I don’t have any information about her, she must be a somewhat important being in this world, considering how the Royalties got even scared.

“So, miss the self-proclaimed Spirit Queen, how did you get inside my room? Or perhaps, you want to be called ‘not-so-Secrea?’' Saying sarcastically, I still have my senses in the [mana zone] just in case if someone comes near my room.

“Tell me what you desire,” She said, not taking any damage from my harsh words and continued “I have been in a deep slumber due to the aftereffects on blessing the previous hero, but thanks to you who had been giving me mana, I had recovered quickly, that it seems that the demon king has yet to spawn.” 

Her unwavering and clear voice makes it sounds like it's true, but I have no other information to reason out that she is lying. I should probably gather more information even if she is lying, And of course, the part of the hero and the demon king is true.

“Why is that? I don’t understand it” Saying bluntly, it was only to bait answers.

The self-proclaimed Spirit Queen was taken aback and sat at the rim of the bed. I don’t know what she is thinking, but I bet it's rude. Something like, does this girl has common sense? Or general knowledge. She looked at me with pitiful eyes and answered.

“Whenever a Demon king spawns, a hero from another world will be summoned by Hernaez, and thus, I shall be awakened to bless the hero with rapid growth and firm determination. Upon then, I will take a deep slumber for another endless cycle.” The con artist, self-proclaimed Spirit Queen agonized.

I knew about the heroes being summoned from another world, but I have no ways to confirm whether the information is genuine or not. (*ref ch.2). However, for the Spirit Queen’s part, I don’t know about it. And even if the demon king spawns later when I escape the house, I still have no problems with it.

“And now, due to your help with my recovery, your outstanding mana and talent for magic, and being the daughter of the previous hero from another world, I shall give you my blessings and title, the 2nd hero in Leiterra”