Elincia held one of the orphange’s magical light orbs in her hand as she guided me towards my new room.
Sleeping on the lobby’s couch had been quite the experience. Only a special few could brag about sleeping on a piece of furniture harder and more uncomfortable than the forest bed. The couch was so unpleasant to my back that I was about to flee to the floor and sleep inside a cocoon made with the dozen blankets Elincia had given me. I quickly discarded that idea just because I didn’t want to be an extra source of concern.
Luckily, my time served on the couch was over when Elincia showed me my room. It was at the end of the hallway, past the communal room of the younger kids and the individual rooms of the older orphans. The side opposite Elincia’s study.
The room was spacious, with a tall wooden wardrobe, a dresser, and a nightstand. The bed was an old hulk of wood with white sheets and a heavy wool blanket. On the opposite wall, there was a window with actual glass panels, a relic of the manor’s better days.
“It’s not much but you will have some privacy.” Elincia said. She was in a good mood after brewing High Grade potions all afternoon and, allegedly, leveling up several times. “There are two, three, four rooms between this and Zaon’s. His snoring isn’t going to disturb you.”
I felt a bit guilty about having Elincia prepare a bedroom just for me on top of all the daily chores, but I kept it to myself.
“It’s bigger than my room back in my apartment.” I replied as I wondered what was going to happen with my old things back on Earth. I had a few distant aunts and uncles but I doubted any of them would drive across half the state to retrieve my stuff. I missed my CD collection.
“Apartment?” Elincia asked.
Lately, the elven woman had been attentive at any mention of my previous life.
“A tall building with several homes inside.” I explained in simple terms. “Like a beehive but square I guess?”
Elincia’s cute confused expression was worth every explanation. It almost made me forget how sassy and mischievous she actually was.
“The City of Light is a weird place. Scholars with stupidly advanced titles, beehives for people. What’s next? Carts without horses?” Elincia jokingly said.
As much as I suspected Elincia would love them, I wasn’t ready to tell her about motorized vehicles. I could totally picture her speeding on a motorcycle and doing wheelies on the highway. Or being chased by the police.
“Anyway, there’s water on the nightstand if you are thirsty. But don’t drink too much or you will have to water the plants in the middle of the night.” Elincia lectured me.
“You should go to sleep already, or tomorrow you won't be able to get up.” I lectured her back.
Elincia gave me the light orb and waved goodbye, but she stopped at the doorway.
“You did a good job today, you know, with the kids and with the farm.” Elincia said, not quite hiding the shyness of her voice.
“You would have managed without me.” I replied.
“Maybe.”
Elincia waved from the door and left me alone.
I explored the room. At the foot of the bed there was a brazier with a few red embers and over the nightstand a water jug and a wooden cup. Elincia was truly mindful. Most of the drawers were empty, save for a few old pieces of men’s clothing. After rummaging through the wardrobe I found a very medieval looking nightgown so I changed my clothes.
After a long day trying to keep the orphanage afloat, there was only one thing I wanted to do. Experiment with my mana and find the limits of my [Mana Manipulation]. I jumped on my bed, it was way softer than the couch, and summoned my mana. A blue, cold flame appeared on my hand.
No matter how many times I performed the trick, part of my brain refused to believe I could do magic. But there it was, on the palm of my hand. The thing I have always dreamed of doing since I grabbed my first fantasy book years decades ago.
“Focus, Robert. We are two shells away from losing most of my firepower. We have to figure out what else we can do.” I silently scolded myself.
Identifying things was nice, but I wasn’t going to be able to defeat a city guard by staring them down. For close quarter combat I had my mana blade, what I needed was something to improve my ranged capabilities.
I summoned a small mana blade between my fingers, just like I have done in the forest, and aimed at the wardrobe. Before the mana knives could reach it, they vanished. No matter how many times I tried, the knives wouldn't reach more than half a meter before disappearing into thin air.
The knives seemed solid as long as they were in contact with me.
“What about a flamethrower?”
So far, I knew mana particles could produce friction, and even sparks.
I extended my hand and pushed mana out of my body. A blue flare filled the room but nothing caught fire. Just like the smaller blue flame, the flare was pure light and no heat.
When I wanted to use the mana blade I just had to envision the solid blade in my hand but merely thinking of making fire wasn’t going to cut it. Was that because of the class restriction on elemental spells?
I thought about how I had made the sparks that lit the stove before. I stopped thinking about creating a flame and started thinking about creating friction. Running channels of mana perpendicular to itself, I managed some sparks again. It certainly looked flashy, but sparks weren't exactly enough to scare off guards.
How could I make that into a flamethrower? Or better yet, a fireball?
Fire needed oxygen, temperature, and fuel. I already had a spark, and there was plenty of oxygen in the air. I only needed to figure out how to use mana as fuel.
The System was going to regret giving me such a big mana pool.
“You better start preparing that Flame Alchemist title.” I grinned.
But the mischievous smile on my face quickly faded away. After several attempts I realized I was just uselessly pushing mana along.
"Oh come on." I muttered as I realized that I must’ve overlooked something. Between the stacks of Denial and the ban on elemental magic, the System clearly had it out for me.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Maybe I needed more sparks and more air.
Thinking about how a fan pushed wind, I shaped my mana into one and spun it. While I could feel the results they weren't exactly impressive. I tried other methods like more fan blades, making a bag for the mana and compressing it, and even a crude attempt at mana bellows. Even with my mana pool however, it felt like a lot of work for a little bit of air.
After around an hour of failed attempts I was starting to feel increasingly tired, and at best I had become a human sparkler. A neat party trick but a flame thrower this was not.
How else could I move air? With my breath?
I tried blowing the sparks but, as expected, it didn’t work. I sighed after seeing the results. All my effort to blow mana with increasingly absurd mana contraptions was barely any better than just breathing on it.
Maybe I could enhance my breath? I thought about the fight I had watched between the two nobles. They certainly had moved faster than normal people could. Body enhancing magic was a logical answer.
Before I tried anything however, [Awareness] lit up with the possible risks of harming myself with improvised attempts to enhance my physical functions. I could collapse a lung or worse.
[Awareness]: Ideal Magical Law, don’t do anything the System doesn’t allow you to do.
I sat on the bed, frustrated. My dreams of having a flamethrower spell were pretty thoroughly shot.
I was supposed to have otherworldly knowledge that let me cheat my way through life here, but instead all I had gained was the ability to light candles. The light orb that Elincia had left me taunted me with the realization that even that was barely useful. Even a poor orphanage like this one had magic lighting, so my cheat ability was little more than a crappy party trick.
If there were magic sparklers in this world I was going home.
Looking at the light, my eyes moved to the water jug that Elincia had left on the nightstand. What if I could heat water? Maybe even boil it. If nothing else, it could be useful in the Farlands later. I poured a little water into the wooden cup. I didn’t want sparks this time, so I had to think about how to best heat it.
I focused my mana inside of the cup. Shifting the mana against itself in a different direction, I worked the water. I wasn’t sure if it did anything at first, but I continued at it. After a while I stuck my finger in it.
It felt lukewarm. Then it occurred to me that I hadn’t checked the temperature of the water before I had started. Sticking a finger into the pitcher of water I realized it was the exact same temperature. What was I doing wrong?
This wasn’t an elemental spell, just movement. The System wasn’t going to stop me from having warm water with its stupid rules. I thought about how a microwave heated water.
Was mana able to be used in a wave?
I started pushing my mana into the water, oscillating it as tightly as I could. I had a feeling I was onto something. There was no way normal spells worked this way. Part of the problem was that mana usage aside, blasting mana in a wave was stupidly repetitive. It was mentally taxing.
Maybe there was a trick to this.
I thought about vibrations and oscillations for over an hour until I could reliably heat the water. It wasn’t fast enough to be used in a fight, but it was faster than the stove in the orphanage at least. I might have spent more time on it, but my mana pool was showing signs of depletion.
I already had spent a sizable amount helping Elincia to brew potions.
Despite my best efforts, [Mana Manipulation] refused to be further weaponized.
The light orb Elincia had given me was almost out when I decided to call it a night. The orb didn’t have a switch so I covered it with a handkerchief from the dresser. I closed my eyes but no matter how tired I was, I couldn’t fall asleep. A strange sense of urgency, like a loud alarm in the back of my brain, kept me awake.
Suddenly, the sound of clanking armor broke the silent night.
[Awareness]: Armored individuals nearby.
I jumped to my feet and, without revealing the light orb, I pressed my face against the window. The sidewalk was barely visible from my position but I managed to catch a glimpse of a silhouette jumping the waist-high wall into the front yard. Moonlight wasn’t enough to discern who the intruder was.
A hundred different alarms started going off inside my brain. A rush of adrenaline pumped into my veins, erasing any trace of mana fatigue. I jumped off the bed and loaded my shotgun, hoping the self defense laws of Farcrest wouldn’t punish me for blasting intruders into the river Styx. Because I was going to feed lead to anyone who dared harm the kids.
Silently, I walked down the corridor and knocked on Elincia’s door. As I didn’t get any answer, I opened it.
I was greeted by the elven woman’s shining eyes floating near the window. I could barely see the contours of her white nightgown against the darkness. She put her fingers on her lips and scurried towards me, then, she grabbed my wrist and guided me through the dark corridors.
“What’s happening?” I muttered but Elincia put her hand over my mouth and shook her head.
Elincia guided me to a window facing the front yard where we had a better observation point. The intruders were still examining the mansion facade. There were two of them and even with the dim light of the moon, I recognized the guardsmen uniforms. They crossed the front yard to the main entrance, but the angle prevented me from distinguishing their movements. I squeezed the shotgun and waited for the door to be knocked off.
After a minute that felt like an hour, the guards mantled over the low wall and left the orphanage. Elincia and I stayed frozen in silence for another five minutes before either of us dared to move. When we realized the guards weren’t coming back, Elincia sighed and her hunting knife fell from her hand.
“What was that?” I tried to not sound panicked.
“I don’t know. They were guardsmen, and they were totally surveying the manor.” Elincia replied with a concerned tone.
“Do you think they will try to take the kids by force?” I asked again, remembering the tax season was soon. The Marquis was going to need fresh recruits if he wanted to continue his tax evasion scheme.
Elincia smoothed out the wrinkles of her nightgown before answering.
“At this point I don’t know… after what Holst did, I don't know what the Marquis is capable of.” She sounded defeated.
There was no way any of us could sleep tonight so we went to the kitchen. Elincia rekindled the stove and put water in the kettle. We drank our tea in silence, listening to the sounds of the night, but nothing came near the orphanage. The aromatic herbs had a soothing effect on us.
“Firana hasn’t come back yet.” I broke the silence.
Guilt was getting the best of me. What if she was gone because of our duel?
“She is like that sometimes, she always comes back so don’t worry too much.” Elincia replied with a tired grimace.
“I had a duel against Firana.”
“I saw. You did well. Firana has yet to learn how to lose.” Elincia said reassuringly.
The woman’s calmness wasn’t helping to calm my nerves. In hindsight, dueling one of my students on their first day was irresponsible to say the least. I should’ve used words to make Firana come to her senses.
“I used [Identify] on her.” I tried once again to turn the guilt towards me.
“Firana asked you to not hold back.” Elincia was getting annoyed.
I realized that I did not gain anything by blaming myself, what I needed was to know my students better. That was the only way I could possibly help Firana. If she ever came back.
“Is Firana noble born? One of her titles was ‘Aias Heir’.” I asked.
Elincia’s worried face suddenly changed into a grimace of sorrow.
“So, that’s how it is.” She muttered, bringing her fingers to her lips in a meditative gesture. “Firana belongs to a famous mercenary family, the Aias family. When the war erupted most of her relatives traveled to the front leaving the old and young behind. If she has the ‘Aias Heir’ title, that means she is the last one.”
Elincia let out a long tiresome sigh.
“Or that she is the second to last.” I added in a vain attempt to improve Elincia’s mood.
My words seemed to have the opposite effect because Elincia buried her face in her hands and cursed in a low voice.
“I should have noticed something was wrong with Firana. She was always hard to deal with but lately she has been even worse. At first I thought it was Holst’s fault, you know, pushing the kids too much during training, so I let it be. At least she was receiving the best education available in Farcrest.”
Silence settled again in the kitchen. All the adrenaline of the night was suddenly gone, replaced by a feeling of uneasiness, as if Firana was pulling out of my reach by the second. During my career as a teacher I had lost students before. Some of them had made it in life but the vast majority had no happy endings.
“She will come back. Let me grab an orb so we don’t wait in darkness.” Elincia put a hand on my shoulder and gave it a little squeeze.
I hoped Elincia was right, but Firana didn’t appear during the night nor the next morning.