I closed my eyes to concentrate and held out my right hand. The mana was flowing towards my hand. I felt my right hand rising with power.

“ FIREBALL!”

Nothing happened. I kept trying to use magic for 30 minutes, even though I felt a power flowing through me, no magic ever came out of me. I must have looked like an idiot once again. Welp time to go back to the manor to see if there is some sort of magic book. When I stepped out of the forest, Azure was waiting there with an empty carriage. Crap, did Azure saw me embarrassed myself with learning how to do magic? Well, it’s a dream so it shouldn’t matter. Yet I still feel embarrassed. 

“ Azure you waited for me?”

“ Of course, I am your maid.” 

“ It’s alright, I wouldn’t have minded if you wanted to head back to the manor without me though.”

“ Tell me that first before you run off Lord Crow.” 

“ Sorry that was my bad. Azure please take the carriage back to the manor. I will be running back myself.”

 “ As you wish.”

She hid her irritation. This past ‘Crow’ person was for sure a scumbag. I will just have to ignore their glares for the rest of the dream while exploring my own solo adventure. I rummaged the only bookshelf I have here. There were no books on magic. None at all. I swallowed my pride  for the 3rd time and went to look for Azure.

“ Lord Crow!” shouted Sena.

“ Yes, Sena?”

Sena pondered, “ Are you actually a good person?”

Huh? Sena is less afraid of me than before. I can just tell her to go away and continue my quest to learn magic from Azure if it existed. Wait, would Sena know about magic? It might be better to ask her about it instead. The question Sena asked bothers me greatly.

“ I apologize for my rudeness Lord Crow,” said Sena.

Oops, I was silent for too long trying to think. 

“ There is no need to apologize, I was just thinking how to respond to that kind of question”

Sena asked, “ Oh… then can you tell me?”

“ I want to say yes but there are many things that must be done for me to redeem myself.”

“ Hmm.. you’re nothing like the rumors I heard about you. But you must be a good person if you give your food to the hungry serfs,” smiled Sena.

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“ Thank you Sena, now do you know of any magic?”

“ Um… what is magic?”

Oh my god, she doesn’t know what magic is. Does it even exist in this world? Did I become an idiot for the 4th or 5th time today? I’m losing track of my idiocy.

“ Like is it possible to shoot a fireball out of your hands?”

“ I never saw anyone do that before but I don’t know much about the world so maybe?” said Sena.

For the first time, someone is talking to me sincerely since coming to this dream. It made me happy. So I put on a warm smile.

“ That is okay if you don’t know, let’s look for Azure and ask her instead.”

Sena bubbled, “Hehehe okay.”

Wow, Sena is being very cute. No dream, I do not like little girls in that sort of way. I see her as my little sister that must be protected. Yes, her smile must be protected.

“ Lord Crow there is no such thing as the magic you’re talking about,” said Azure.

“ Ahh sorry, I must be um… sleepy?”

“ Perhaps you should sleep with your new wives,” replied Azure.

“ Once again Azure, they are not my wives. They are little sisters that must be protected!” 

She seemed quite surprised at me saying that.

“ If I did like a woman in that kind of way. I liked you the most Azure!”

I instantly blushed when I said that to her. I quickly ran away to my bedroom and locked the door. 

In my life, there was a girl that I liked. We met because the internet group members wanted to do a real-life meetup. I thought doing something like that was kinda dumb but went with it anyways. We all flew to the city with the person who was closest to all of us. It was a 1 week of friendship activities. Of course, we will talk about our passion for fantasy too. The group consists of about 18 members, and there was this 1 girl who was very beautiful to me.

My parents lately have been pressuring me into finding a wife, and possibly have children so they will have grandchildren. They didn’t want me to remain single forever, and I was only 24 years old. It’s annoying to be pressured by them like that. Good thing I moved out so I can live the life I wanted.

I wanted to ask her to go out with me. I thought our chemistry was going strong during the days we spent together. I kept delaying asking her out until the last and final 7th day. However, she and another guy announced that they were going out with each other. My heart shattered, I couldn’t even congratulate them. I quickly took the expensive plane trip home saying I had something to do.

I wondered what will Azure think of me now. I shudder at the thought that she sees me as a cockroach that must be killed. 

Sena probed, “ Lord Crow are you alright?”

It seems like Sena was at my door for a while, while I was moping about my situation. This is really a nightmare. 

“ Yeah I’m fine Sena.”

“ Can I come in?”

I hesitated for a while but opened the door. Sena instantly went to warmly embrace me. I thought I was done crying but I cried again.

“ Feeling better lord Crow?”

“ Sorry, you had to see that side to me.”

“ It’s okay Lord Crow… do you want to know my reason for staying here?” wondered Sena.

“ Huh oh uh sure?”

“ The reason is that my family is going to kick me out of the household,” said Sena.

“ Why would any parents do that to their own child? Much less a 10-year-old girl.”

Is this world really that rotten?

“ Because there isn’t enough food for my family or me, and because of the war efforts,” answered Sena.

It looks like she also has a tough life. Maybe that is why she sees me as a good person for handing out food earlier? War is always a prevalent thing in fantasy but in this dream too?