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

“Eh? What do you mean by that?” Stunned and unable to comprehend.

I recall that Grey said she is a hero, assuming it is real, then am I the daughter of Grey and Alusu? It is no wonder that Duke gave me a 1st rate caster in this world, despite being useless. But, who killed Jeanne? 

I was shocked by those words that came out from the mouth of the self-proclaimed Spirit Queen, who is also my pet Secrea.

“You didn’t know yet?” The spirit Queen was shocked by hearing my rebuke. “ Your father, Alusu Reign, and your mother, Jeanne Hildegarde is a hero from another world. They were summoned on this world 25 years ago, and 5 years after, they successfully subjugated the demon king”

Eh? That was it? I wanted to punch myself for misunderstanding like that, it could have ended in the worst-case scenario if it was real. I have so many questions to fill up the missing gaps in my information. I calmed myself and carefully arranged my thoughts so that I won’t be mistaken, again.

“Why is the Reign head duke holding the title of a duke, even though he is a foreigner in this world? He is not even related to the Emperor.” This question bothers me too much. 

Knowing this, I am either safe from the hands of the emperor, or the duke is just guiding me on his palm of plans. 

“Woah, to think that you just accepted the fact that your father is another worldly being.” She nods in impressment. 

Well, in the first place, I am an other worldly mage too, but reincarnated to a freak brat. But I care less about that, since I am fortunate enough to slip through the world without making mages to know about my revival. Only if mages in this world are present or not.

She continued, “To answer your question, your Mother is a relative to Artermia, you know, the Emperor’s Wife”

Then that means, by the law, the Reign family is part of the Royal family. It’s coming together, the reason why father hasn't exiled or executed me yet, was because he is not a brother or the son of the emperor.

“There is also the bond and trust, your father is a close aide of the emperor. Not only that, Hernaez doesn't want to throw away such a talented individual and titled your Father a Duke,” The spirit Queen added, “Hernaez even requested that your Father will become the prime minister of the empire, but he refused and stayed within his territory.”

For the emperor to use such tactics just to make my father not attain freedom, I felt pity for him. The self-proclaimed Spirit’s formal speech is slowly deteriorating, it's not befitting for her image.

“So, who are the other previous heroes that were summoned by the Emperor.” I inquired.

The self-proclaimed Spirit Queen stops and thinks seriously for a moment before answering.

“I recall that Hernaez summoned Alusu Reign, Grey Reign, Yardros Reign, and Jeanne Hildegarde.” The self-proclaimed looks at me with a concerned expression.  “It was also that moment that Jeanne and Artermia reunited.”

So Grey was all the time our relative, but I wonder why she served the Duke instead of working for the empire. Moreover, I haven’t seen Yardros Reign in the house, even with the [mana zone] I can’t find such an individual, maybe he is not present here in the Reign house, and unlike Grey, he may have been working in the empire.

Who knows? I never saw him. Aside from that, it seems like all questions about the Reign family have been answered. Lesly’s stories, as well as small information from the mouthful Jallian, everything seems to connect now.

“On my next question, why did Artermia run away from the empire? Where is she at the present? What was her power like?” Throwing all those questions, the self-proclaimed spirit queen tensed and avoided my eye.

While gazing at the thick curtains, this time the spirit Queen answers uncertainty.

“That… I don’t know” She pauses and averted her gaze to me,  “I don’t know why she ran away from the empire, or even her location in this world. But I will find a way to fix the problem of your hair, after all, you can’t be a hero with that appearance of yours”

Did she just misunderstand me? I feel like she did, I only wanted to know her current location to act without restrictions. In that way, I may know if Artermia was forced to return as a mage. Wait a moment, society of mages, the place where mages lives. It’s another spatial world created artificially by mages. 

It would sure be weird that a natural being such as herself, knows the location of the society. Otherwise, the beasts would have to focus on our society. 

Wait, her way of putting words seems like I had agreed to be a hero of this world, I have to clear this misunderstanding before worst-case scenarios. Looking at the Self-proclaimed Spirit Queen, she was on the verge of tears. She’s rather too emotional about it.

“Don’t worry about it, since I won’t accept your blessings and the title of a hero” Saying bluntly, the spirit Queen was stunned, as if the time had stopped. 

 

Part 2.

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

 

“Eh?” The Self-proclaimed Spirit Queen lets out a weird voice, and starts to stutter.“W, what do you mean by that?”  

“As I have said, I won’t become the hero so choose either Linux or Merry instead of me, they’re the best candidate of becoming the hero if I say so myself” Saying straightforward, I didn’t include myself in the choices, or rather, accepted it, since considering my end goal. I don’t want to do so. “Duke and Grey are still alive, why won’t you ask and bless them again to fight the demon king?”

The self-proclaimed spirit Queen suddenly came close and pushed me roughly down the bed, seeing her teary eyes, she rather has that emotional personality than superior, only her atmosphere claimed that majestic appearance. I look at her with dead eyes.

“Why?” The self-proclaimed spirit Queen wonders, grinding its teeth. “You, who have the power to rival a middle tier of dragons, for sure in the future, you will grow extremely strong, enough to kill the demon king without breaking a sweat. Please consider saving this world.”

She shut her eyes tight, and pleaded desperately, despite that, I didn’t feel any pity. I have my goals, and I don’t want to be held by such responsibility. I want to be free as a bird, crossing the lands and seas, exploring the parts of the world as nobody had, and most importantly, to enjoy my reading time. 

Looking deep in her odd eyes, I spoke calmly.

“Certainly I have this power to obtain anything I want, that’s the default. However, I don’t want to follow what the others want and needs, I am no longer the servant nor the savior they need. If you are truly the Spirit Queen, stop and look carefully deep into my spirit, read my very soul” 

Peeking through the strands of my messy hair, the spirit Queen atop of me had its facial expression turned pale and tears started to roll off from her eyes. Her cry was silent, perhaps she wanted to hold it, but couldn’t. That part of a cry is the most painful of all.

“I… I…” The cry had given her the inability to say things properly and began to shed tears without holding back. “I’M…. SORRY!!!!! I am, so sorry” 

To think that she was able to look into my soul, not that I detest it, but surprised that she was a genuine natural being. Seeing one’s soul is extremely difficult to do, let alone manipulate it, even if I, there is a huge possibility I will fail and suffer from the consequences. Natural beings are said to have the highest chances of success.

“I never notice!” Her voice stutters while she cries loudly. “I never noticed that you were tired! Before this present time, you had been fighting for many years, you have been wishing for peace to come, your freedom to come. From the beginning of your never-ending life, you only desire for it, but there wasn’t a time you have ceased working and fighting. they were endless, their demands were endless, but in the end, failure only came”

Eventually, she will stop crying, but I won’t waste my time staring at her. Because of that reason, I move my hands around her shoulders and hug her gently. Placing her head on my thin shoulders, I caress her head gently.

“Secrea, you surely are a handful” Commenting so, it provokes her to cry some more. 

From the books I have read, this ability called the soul reading can be only used by mages who chose religion, but it does not limit to a single religion but everything. Mages that studied the entirety of Lovecraft, Angelology craft, Mythology Craft, Norse Craft, and Rule Craft, they could manifest [soul reading] magic spell art through the knowledge they had gained.

But since most mages are not natural beings, they are likely to fail, thus, the [soul reading] magic spell art, let alone [soul manipulation], they were not known by many, and the knowledge and facts about this magic spell art had halted from the beginning. 

Tower masters, bearers and holders, and sage in the title, even one of them, didn't investigate further into this magic spell art, so I have no choice but to research this on my own, however, it's not like I will use [soul reading] or [soul manipulation] anyway, I just need to know what it does. Gazing at the natural being in front of me, it made the task possible. And as such, I plotted something for the spirit Queen.

Being able to use it doesn’t mean the research on this magic spell art has completed, I still have to learn and observe the depths of this magic spell art. I have heard they are similar to mana, but in different behavior, it is somewhat alike as using mana but is supported in Mystic craft. (ref. ch2P1 & ch3P1) 

The reports that I had read about this magic spell art, the user using the [soul reading] can know if the other party is lying, the user can see the colors of the other party’s mana pool (ranks), and through that, the soul hidden within the mana of the individual can be seen.

The soul will have a different color from the mana, it will base on the other party’s mood, their deep emotions, and desires. The pureness of a human, it will tell how the individual feels, and how they live up until the current. Unfortunately, the report didn’t specify as to what colors may appear or not.

I don’t know what the spirit Queen has seen, but summing up the words she commented. From my training as a ‘mage’ to the task of exterminating a beast, a power that I have is not something that can be gained through reading and learning after many years. My battle experience didn’t accumulate from the books but the life and death situations against the beast. Even some unnecessary sacrifices were made, just for me to survive. 

The beast that threatens humanity, they were too strong despite mages having powerful spells, they had the ability to absorb anything, apply it on their bodies, and amplify it by drastic amounts, just imagine what could happen if a mage professor was absorbed by them. Fortunately, they cannot make magic formations and circles, but they used their mana to strengthen their body to resist physical and magical damage. 

And as someone powerful, I want to conceal myself and do not want to fight a war that doesn’t end. I don’t want to be the hero of humanity, nor be a slave of everyone, I learned that in a rough way.

There are certain things I don’t want to remember, and I want to avoid it at all costs. Not that it is a trauma for me, it is just not to snap my nonchalant facade. 

Part 3

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

“So, can you understand why I refuse the title of the hero and your blessings?” Saying towards the Spirit Queen who had calmed herself, but is still atop of me.

With her head on my shoulder, I didn’t feel any weight since I strengthened my body with mana, but at this current position, I could see her cat ears that I didn’t see earlier. Not only that, but there were also some strands of her hair dyed in golden yellow. Her behavior on laying atop of my limbs still hasn’t changed. She is still the Secrea I adored and raised. 

Secrea with her cute cat gestures, she nods with her eyes closed. Her behavior destroys the image of a Queen, her adult figure didn’t match with her childly gestures. To think that this is the being that the royalty feared.

‘That the royalty feared?’

As I was pondering, Secrea asked with her eyebrows raised. Not only that, but I also noticed that she was hugging me.

“I understand, but can you at least accept my blessings” her eyes strayed in the room, not looking at my eyes, “It will grant you haste growth in power, recover your mana faster, your body will be revitalized from any circumstances, and you will immune to harmful curses and toxins”

Isn’t that too much for a blessing? But I guess that’s the Spirit Queen for you. Her blessings do sound alluring, being immune to curse means being able to withstand side effects of some magic, and recovering mana faster means I could manifest more mana at the other dimension to extend my mana pool limit.

“There is also another,” blinking her eyes “I want you to accept the title [the friend of the Spirit Queen], it will make you be favored by the monsters and animals. This is the title that your mother accepted, although I plan to give Freya this title, it appears she inherited it from her mother.”

How generous of her. I think that title won’t give me any problems, being able to be friends with monsters means there is no need for conflict, and being that the case, I won’t get into problems when traveling. But if I am favored by monsters and animals, does that mean I am able to command them?  

My mind was filled with ifs and research, it urges me to accept Secrea’s title to learn the depths of it. While I was deep in my thoughts, Secrea insisted.

“That reminds me, your father also didn’t accept the hero title, since he didn’t want to help all people in need,” she looks me straight in the eyes, “but instead, he just accepted my blessings and his brother took the title in his place.”

I was dumbfounded by that, I don’t have information concerning Yardros, but it seems like his existence is somewhat important. So for now, I should just accept her offers and interrogate her more about my family, since it seems like it wasn’t enough.

“Fine, that blessing and title are truly alluring. However, this time I will take the title only, give me some time to reconsider getting your blessing” I spoke my honest thoughts.

Certainly, both of the gifts from Secrea has no disadvantages towards me. However, it doesn’t mean that people will know or notice that I have been blessed by the spirit Queen, if it's true, then it will be bothersome to raise through the ranks in the family and still be considered as someone fighting for the position of the head.

For the case of titles, I think it would be safe. Speaking from experience, titles that I was given, only felt like a special authority on its own. Meaning there is no harm's way by having it.

“urgh..” Secrea groaned “Fine! I’ll have it your way, but promise me, okay?”

In return, Secrea gave me the biggest smile she has to offer. She releases me from her warm embrace, and comes up close to my forehead and proceeds to kiss it, I was slightly flabbergasted to what had happened, but all of a sudden, a gust of wind with overflowing mana travels around the room.

Following a divine light that occupied every corner of the room, it was sparkling in my eyes. It reminded every of my promotion in the society of the mages, but this light-headed feeling on the moment you receive the blessing isn’t so bad either.

Removing her lips from my forehead, she declares with a ser “In the name of the Spirit Queen that Reigns all elements, and overseer of the spirits of the world Leiterra, I shall bestow Stephany Reign the title [The friend of Spirit Queen]”

“I accept!” I said, raising my voice.

Saying so, the sparkling light that surrounds us vanishes, and the room returns to normal as if nothing happened. Secrea’s body suddenly shines, repeating the same when she transforms into her spiritual body, but this time, she returns to a cat.

Secrea landed on my chest and approached my shoulder, then proceeded to lay down comfortably. Secrea is still Secrea, no matter what she changed. 

Whilst being carefree, all of a sudden, there was an individual outside the door window, or in order words, at the balcony. I noticed the individual through the [mana zone], and it's a good thing that Secrea reverted to its original state. But the part I didn’t notice about the individual is my foolish carelessness.

Focusing on the individual’s presence, she reminded me of Rachael, the maid who rudely acted against me earlier. What is her business here I wonder?