On the morning of my thirteenth birthday, I woke up and went to breakfast as usual. Ever since I came into the city, I never put much emphasis on my birthdays, so I simply took it as any other day.

But when I sat to eat at the table, I couldn't help but notice the pleading looks Helga was throwing at Lily, who tried her best to ignore them. 'What is this about?' I silently wondered as I was spreading some butter on a piece of bread.

After a while, however, Lily apparently couldn't bear it anymore, and with a heavy sigh, she turned toward me and said. "...Today, we are going to learn a new spell."

I paused with a spoon halfway toward my mouth and looked at her in confusion, pondering if I heard it right. 'A new spell?'

It wasn't even a whole week since she taught me the fireball spell, so I was certain it would take at least another week or so, but she just went and said something exciting like this out of the blue.

'Who are you, and what did you do with Lily?' I thought while staring at her slender figure. Lily, however, didn't elaborate further and simply stood up, signaling for me to follow her.

For now, I decided to stop thinking about it and go with the flow. Although this all seemed somewhat suspicious, I was not one who would discard such a wondrous opportunity in front of me to learn a new spell.

Still, as we were leaving for the garden, I couldn't help but notice Helga's pleased smile, and I was left wondering what is all this about.

After we arrived at our usual spot, Lily turned toward me and said, "...I will now teach you the simplest but one of the most used defensive spells - An Earth Wall."

I listened with interest as Lily began her lesson. She explained the principle behind the spell and then demonstrated it to me.

I tried my best to memorize the incantation as it was soon time to perform it myself. I focused intently, concentrating on the movement of my essence, visualizing the movement of the earth beneath my feet while I spoke the incantation aloud.

I soon discovered that this spell was a lot more complicated than the fireball. Still, despite my difficulties, I managed to cast it on my first try.

A slight tremor ran through the ground as I finished, but nothing else seemed to be happening. I threw an inquisitive look at Lily, who was observing me, but her expression didn't change. In the next moment, to my surprise, a wall of earth rose up in front of me, towering over my head.

I blinked a few times as it came out of nowhere, not at all like my own earth manipulations usually went. Still, I had to admit it was quite a formidable defense, and I could see why it was so commonly used.

I wanted to move past the wall to ask Lily if I did a good job, but before I could make a first step, I felt a surge of essence from the other side of the wall, and in the next moment, my wall shattered into countless pieces, crumbling to the ground and I was quickly enveloped by a searing heatwave that passed by me.

I froze, unsure of what had happened, but the next moment, I finally realized Lily had just now sent a fireball at me. Her usually deadpan face sported an ominous-looking grin as she uttered. "...We will now play a game."

I watched in shock as a new fireball began manifesting before her. "W-wait...!" I blurted out.

My wicked master, however, didn't stop her casting at all as she simply said: "...Defend."

I gulped and hurriedly began summoning another Earth Wall. The earth started rising, but Lily's fireball was already hurling in my direction before my spell even had time to properly manifest itself.

Realizing with horror that I would not make it, I abandoned all caution and simply jumped to the side with all my might.

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I was still mid-jump when the half-finished wall instantly shattered, and the fireball continued almost unimpeded on its way, narrowly missing me.

'What the hell...' Was the only thing I could think at that moment, but then I saw Lily begin summoning yet another fireball. "...Again." She said, with the same menacing smile, and what followed was a frenzied shootout.

Each impact of her fireballs sent shockwaves across the garden, scattering dirt mixed with snow all over the place.

I gritted my teeth, determined not to let Lily win. I focused all my energy on my defenses, creating walls of earth faster and more efficiently than before. I could feel the heat of her flames on my skin, but I refused to let it distract me as I cast one spell after another.

'How come she has so much essence?' I frantically pondered as I was dodging her fireballs left and right.

By all accounts, my own pool of essence should be second to none in Ereneth as I had spent many years painstakingly enlarging it as much as I could, yet Lily still could cast spells one after another without breaking a sweat.

'I guess in the end, it all comes down to one's control over essence and your magic mastery...' I realized that I had much more to learn in this regard.

Our little game lasted for many hours, ending in a draw, after which I was left utterly exhausted. Yet, I could see the frustration in Lily's eyes as she failed to land a single hit on me.

"...That is all for today," She said while approaching me with something that looked like a victorious smirk on her delicate face.

'Again, what was all this about? She was totally outside her character today...' I shook my head and headed toward the bathing chamber to wash myself as I was sweating buckets.

However, I couldn't deny that this was quite an effective exercise. Now, I could cast Earth Walls at a moment's notice, which made my chest swell in pride.

When I came out of the bath, it was already late afternoon. I then decided to retreat to my room to rest as it was still a few hours until dinner.

But when I walked into the main hallway, I couldn't help but notice that something was off. Beside the doors, I found an agitated-looking Helga, her eyes avoiding mine as she fidgeted with her dress. I frowned, wondering what was going on with her.

"Come with me, Darian! I want to show you something," she said with hardly-contained excitement.

"Where to?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You'll see!" She exclaimed before grabbing my hand and pulling me with her.

Helga dragged me across the empty hallways all the way toward the parlor. Seeing my sister agitated like that, I couldn't help but chuckle a little. But then I remembered how she was plotting something with Myra the other day. 'Is this some sort of surprise for my birthday?' I wondered.

I initially thought she would make me something special for dinner, but now it all started to make sense. I didn't want to spoil her expectations, so I pretended to be oblivious to her objective as we approached the large door leading into the Main Hall.

'Huh? They set it up here?' I had trouble hiding my surprise, which by now was becoming genuine. I left the Main Hall originally sealed up as it was too oversized for our needs, and I didn't plan to hold any balls or receptions anytime soon.

Before I could even ask, Helga pushed the door open and dragged me inside. Immediately, I was enveloped in a gust of warm air carrying an enticing aroma of roasted meat.

I blinked a few times as we stepped inside. On the walls were drawn exquisite magical circles that hummed with magic. The whole place was heated up and illuminated by mysterious orbs bathing the entire place in incandescent light.

In the center was a large table bending under many heavy platters overflowing with delicious-looking foods.

At the head of the table, I instantly recognized Myra, who was smiling warmly at me. There was also Theo and Lily alongside all our servants, who were standing at attention in a long line along the wall.

Even the orphans Hans and Greta were among the servants, grinning at me from a corner.

"Happy birthday, Darian!" Helga exclaimed, grasping my hand tightly.

"Thank you, Helga," I said, still recovering from the sudden development. I wanted to ask her how she managed to pull something like this off and, most importantly, how she managed to convince Lily, of all people, to help her with it.

But I didn't get a chance as Helga quickly passed her spot to others who were beginning to line up to congratulate me.

Myra brought me plenty of expensive-looking sweet pastries, which I happily accepted alongside all my other gifts. I was happy that everyone was so thoughtful of me despite me not being a very social person.

We celebrated long into the evening, as I was not a guy who would pass up an opportunity to stuff myself full of delicious treats.

Thus, my thirteenth birthday turned out to be a celebration I won't forget anytime soon. 'Still, the best gift for me today was that Earth Wall spell I got to learn despite it being just a ruse to get me out of the house for the day...' I thought happily as I was drifting to sleep later that night.