“You don’t have mana depletion?” I asked carefully. “But in the library you asked me about it. You wanted to know how my world treated mana depletion, right?”

Alea’s eyes darted back and forth. Clearly trying to think of a suitable response. Perhaps a suitable lie. Maybe we hadn’t developed as much of a friendship as I had thought. Or maybe the subject was more personal than I realized.

“I didn’t mean to be rude,” I said bowing my head slightly in the manner Sir Aborisey had instructed for a formal apology. “Clearly I misunderstood.”

“No…no you didn’t misunderstand,” Alea relented. “I did want to know about mana depletion, but…it was just more of a question. I …I was just curious how other worlds treated mana and its depletion. Just curiosity that’s all.”

It was clearly a lie. I had definitely touched on a subject I shouldn’t have.

“But,” she continued. “I mean I am still curious. Have you given the topic any more thought? Perhaps a solution Perceval might not even think of.”

No. I hadn’t thought of anything in particular. I was actually looking for more information myself. I explained that I was offering my perspective, but that I didn’t have any specific ideas.

To which she looked incredibly downtrodden. As if I had raised her spirits and then dashed them. I felt a bit bad.

“I would like to help with your research though,” I offered. “Perhaps two heads will be better than one.”

“While I appreciate the offer…No thank you. Like I said it wasn’t that important just something I was curious about,” she said in a truly unconvincing manner.

I began racking my brain for a different conversation. Anything to distract from the awkward silence which had developed.

“Um…speaking of mana,” I said grasping. “I have a question about the earth magic affinity.”

It was likely she knew exactly what I was trying to do, but she went with it anyway. “What about it?” she asked uninterestedly.

“Well it’s just that I come from Earth and I’m surprised that a magic from this world would be named earth.”

“Why would that be surprising?” She questioned.

“That they have the same name,” I stated.

Her response was a tilted head and uncertain look. “But they are different words.”

Earth and earth? How were those different…unless there was something happening with my [Interpretation] ability.

“Could you say each word for me please?”

Again she looked confused, but agreed to my request. “Earth…,” she said bluntly. “and earth” “and gartheran”

As her voice split I had my answer. But why? Perhaps it had to do with the meanings of the words. Two words which have the same sound to me but different meanings. ‘Of course,’ I thought. ‘Earth is basically named after earth, but the planet is not the same as the soil.’

That must be it.

Alea looked utterly confused by the situation. It reminded me of my experimentations with Fiena and my [Interpretation] ability. But should I explain…?

“You see I have an ability called [Interpretation]” I whispered. “It allows me to understand your language, but it also seems to have unique side applications. Such as allowing me to hear your language directly or having it translated by meanings. What does Praecantio actually mean in your language?”

“Praecantio?” she said confused. “It’s the name of the substance of the world.”

Yes but what does that mean?

“Could you say the word Praecantio, while thinking about its meaning please.”

Indulging me Alea’s head shook as she spoke. “Praecantio” “Magic”

Magic? Then just like Earth was named for soil and substance so was this world…interesting.

I explained my findings as we finished our meal. Hoping I had sufficiently led the conversation away from whatever made Alea so uncomfortable.

The city bells rang.

“I think we should be heading back to the palace,” Alea said.

It was getting late. Still we should have a few hours before I had to meet Perceval. There should be plenty of time.

There was, however, something about her tone which told me she was done for the day. Perhaps my skillful topic avoidance tactic hadn’t worked after all.

Leaving me with the curious state of wondering what was going on inside her head. What subject had changed the mood so drastically?

“Alright,” I said, lifting a bundle of souvenirs. “Let’s head back.”

I kept my hand at the ready to drop the items and grab my sword. Half expecting bandits to jump us.

Alea must have picked up on my nervous nature. “Are you worried about something in particular,” she finally asked me. “We should be plenty safe in this region.”

We passed guards and various individuals. I knew it was unlikely we would run into trouble. Perhaps it was all of the stories I had read which began with bandits attacking the …right I wasn’t the hero.

Still the prince had given me a sword and an implicit direction to keep his sister safe. So I stayed on my guard.

Arriving at the palace guardhouse without incident it seemed my worries were indeed unfounded. Luckily.

Alea and I walked to the palace where she requested a servant take the items of hers I held to her room.

I didn’t mind walking with her…perhaps she didn’t want me in her room. That I could understand.

“Thank you again,” I said bowing to the princess. “I really have appreciated your company and guidance today.”

I felt her frustration as she responded. “I thought we agreed you weren’t going to do that?”

I smiled, she sighed and we went our separate ways.

Since I had a bit of extra time before my meeting with Perceval I decided to head to my room and do some affinity training. Figuring the sword the prince lent me would be an excellent tool. It should allow me to cycle mana while providing a small amount of resistance. Something I figured might help me build my affinity even if Perceval never mentioned it.

Perhaps that was a result of my <Insight> trait.

I spent the next few hours moving through sword positions and circulating mana through my muscles and the blade of the prince’s sword. It was actually very tiring. The first time I had really gotten tired training a tool affinity.

That must be what Perceval meant about non-magical tools being inefficient.

Still it felt like I was making progress. Like a few hours at the gym.

The bell rang and I knew I was nearly out of time. So I made my way to the library. There I found an irritated Perceval waiting for me. Why did he look so bothered? I still had plenty of time before our lessons.