Author's Note: Sup! So soon, Hereby? Why yes! This one is also ~1,400 words long. Feed me comments to my starved soul! Also, tell me if you like these shorter chapters or the longer ones. Actually, let's try a poll! Shorter chapters will probably make weekly releases, longer might be bi-weekly, depending on my schedule. Please enjoy! All

criticism is read and greatly appreciated!

-Well then, that was an interesting outcome,- I thought to myself as I lay on my brand new fluffy bed. 

First, lets give a rundown of whats happening. As it turns out, the one of the wives of the current demon emperor is part of the Luciferus family. This means that they are the family with the most political power in the demon empire, after the demon emperor’s own family! And so, because I was deemed a demon of one of the most powerful demon families (I didn't deny it, of course! Teehee), and the Sylvan government does not want to strain relations with the demon empire, I was cleared of all charges (they said the guys I killed were douche bags anyway), given back all my items, moved to a fancy room designated for international delegates in this here capitol building (Yerna and Ulaya were given their own rooms), and asked for forgiveness (Whew! That was a long run-on! My teacher would kill me!).

 Of course, I asked to keep a couple of those nice enchanted rings, or enchanted iron bracelets, which were dubiously handed over to me and I stored in my item bag. They are really cool training items, after all! Fortunately, it’s not like the bracelets by themselves make everything weigh heavier. The enchantment only activates once someone puts them on, so they wont weigh me down when I’m not using them. 

Now, on to the interesting stuff about this here capital of Sylva, Pan. Sylva is ruled by a kind of republic system. In fact, the seven people who judged my trial were the current rulers of Sylva. They were chosen by the previous seven rulers, based on intelligence, magic proficiency, critical reasoning and compassion from the myriad of nobles and rich folk within Sylva. 

The leaders are chosen every twenty years, and they usually never choose direct descendants of the previous leaders, unless they truly qualify. Then, of the chosen seven, one is elected among them to hold more power, and would basically be the deciding factor when the leaders voted about things. Hence, the middle judge that seemed to have more influence over the others. 

Also, something interesting to note… The chosen rulers are almost always mainly female. As a result, the Sylvan continent has been able to stay independent from the other empires, even though their military power is so low (which makes sense to me; women in my world were usually really effective rulers and leaders, when they were able to be one). Turns out, women in this world are physiologically more adept at using magic, something about having a stronger energy center and more sensitive energy pathways? Anyway, it is more common to find strong female mages or magic practitioners, as they advance much quicker in power and can channel and manipulate mana and energy much easier than their male counterparts, due to their mana sensitivity being so high. It is also more common for women to be born with benign congenital magical mutations, meaning, it is more common for females to be born with unique magical powers that do not require concentration or conscious manipulation of mana. I think the ratio was 4:1? 

Pretty cool, anyway. And how do I know this? Well, turns out, Yerna is one of these unique power holders. Though she didn't really explain much about it since we didn't have a lot of time to speak after the trial, it seems she can mentally connect and slightly manipulate other people’s minds using the mana and energy in the atmosphere around us as a conduit. This was how she managed to calm me down, and convince me to stop… ‘That’. Actually, I’m not sure what to call ‘that’. A rampage? Going berserk? Balloon popping? Ah, let’s go with ‘taking out the trash’. Anyway, I got invited to dinner, organized by the leaders of Sylva, no doubt to strengthen relations with a member of extended royalty (derp!). Anyway, I’m lying in my new room. Its pretty spacious, too, about twice the size of the room at the Fluffy Bed. 

The bed was huge, and it took up most of the room directly opposite of the door! Emperor size, and even fluffier than the beds at the Fluffy Bed! It had a dark canopy with curtains… Or something like that. They could be lowered in order to give some privacy, or extra darkness. To the left of the bed was a large window that looked out into the town, though I had lowered the curtain of the window. To the right of the bed, a small bookshelf completely filled with books, with a desk pushed up against the wall and comfy chair. The head of the bed was pushed up against the wall opposite the door, and right next to the head of the bed was a large, heavy, wooden wardrobe. At the foot of the bed a large wooden chest sat, squat and heavy. 

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The room itself was almost completely made of stone, though the majority of the floor was covered by an intricate and expensive looking rug. The most interesting thing, though, was the lamp-like contraption situated on the other side of the head of the bed. It seemed to be lit by some kind of stone, giving off a gentle bluish glow. Well, actually, I set it to blue. Seems I can get white, orange, blue, or purple by turning a dial, but I like blue. 

There was also a kind of cool looking clock on the desk. What really interested me, though, were the numbers. I could understand them, and they went from 0 to 25 hours with a single clock hand, but the numbers used strange characters. The zero seemed to be a shell-like symbol, the one was a dot, the two was two dots next to each other, the three was three dots, so on until the five, which was a horizontal line. From there, the system repeated, the six being a dot above a horizontal line, and so on, until the ten, which was two horizontal lines above one another. The system repeated, and fifteen was three lines above each other. 

However, the twenty was the shell-like symbol below a dot, and twenty-one was two dots above one another, and twenty-two was two dots below one. Interesting number system. 

-Is it just Sylva that uses this system? I want to know!-

At the moment, the clock hand was pointing at the 17, so I had about an hour before I was fetched for dinner. So, I decided to meditate a bit. I had started meditating since I left the village, since it seemed like the best way to get a sense for the mana, or energy, or whatever, and so far I had been vaguely successful. It had been a requirement to meditate at least thirty minutes every day at the School, and we had been shown a variety of ways to meditate, but I liked to visualize and feel more. 

So, I began. I stood in the middle of the room, with my feet slightly apart, eyes closed, and began to regulate my breathing, using my arms and hands along with my breath, rising and falling. When I felt I had achieved the most control and calmest state, I sat down with my legs crossed and my hands in my lap, forming a loop by putting the tips of my thumbs together and my fingers above one another. 

From there, I entered a third person perspective in my head, visualizing my body, or, more like an outline of my body. I began to feel for the energy in the center of my abdomen, and I could feel a rushing warmth circulating counter-clockwise there. I concentrated on that for a bit, trying to purify the warmth of the things I felt as colder, or less usable.

Impurities. It was strange, though. The warmth I could visualize as a myriad of colors and feelings, and the impurities weren't really impure so much as… Unusable for now. It was like iron ore, with other elements within the ore and iron being what I needed right now. I could feel a warm energy as what I needed, so I tried to isolate that. And it was difficult, like trying to scoop cold water out of warm water. I became absorbed in the process of purification, 

concentrating on rotating the energy through a filter-like barrier, catching the ‘imperfections’ in it and diverting them out of the cycle. However, an hour passed by quickly, and soon I heard a knock at my door.