Chapter 1
Waking up from that first deep sleep I had in recent memory was a difficult task. With my mind and body slowly waking up I stretched out my little baby hands and feet and yawn a little bit. This turned out to somehow be a mistake as I heard a squeal then I was picked up and my face stuffed into someone's chest, which turned out to be a very difficult position to breathe from.
After what seemed like hours I was finally released when the would be suffocator gasped and realised I couldn't breath when I conveniently struck back with my mini fists. The perpetrator turned out to be the same dark haired maiden who was present at his birth.
The time passed quickly from then, I learned the basic language,well the speech part, it seemed easier to learn than any other language i tried to learn before in my last life, probably because I was a baby, we are deceptively smart fuckers. Anyways my mother, whose name was Laura Fletcher, turns out to be an innkeeper, a very scary innkeeper. At one point I can remember a mercenary came in and became jokingly obsessed with my cuteness and threatened to steal me, of course I just giggled because I am a little bit of an attention whore. My mother however was not so entertained, that was the day I learned messing with my mother gets you ruthlessly beaten, it was both terrifying and oddly cool watching my mother toss around a seasoned fighter like a ragdoll. It was vaguely reminiscent of a movie scene where a green giant beat a certain god. Speaking of the guests that entered the inn they were all freaks, freaks as in superman freaks. They had huge strengths, enough to carry their bags which must have weighed a ton and the speed of cars when running, I know both of these things as when I was outside in the town at one point they flew past at insane speeds.
The dark haired maiden I later learned was named Marissa, she being the barmaid and my mothers best friend was the only person apart from mother who could pick me up and look after me, much to my annoyance however she was a bit of a clumsy idiot when it came to handling small infant bodies. I have been dropped so many times, she also doesn't have the best turning ability with me in her arms, i've lost count of how many times my head has hit a corner or the doorframe.
My father however was no longer one of the living, he was a mercenary by trade and had died weeks before my birth, perhaps this is what prompted my mother to be a little over the top when it came to me.
At the age of one and half , due to my annoyance of being carried by marissa I learned to walk walk, this surprisingly turned out to be both a good and bad decision. The good was I no longer getting constant brain damage from Marissa, the bad however made access to me and my cuteness available to all customers, once mother saw this she saw opportunities for profit. Not to be misunderstood she was still scary, disrespecting me was an instant death sentence, I made use of this many times to people I found annoying.
Again from there the time passed quickly. I gained more duty at the inn serving food and drinks. Many interesting things came into the inn over the years, most were humans but some where not, many a fun night was watched which was strangely reminiscent of sitcoms. The event that would shape where my life went came when I was 5 just before the food services were ending for the night, a robed figure came in and wished to stay the night and have a meal, Marissa handled making up the room while I served him food.
Walking over to the table I felt some sort of trepidation, as if the man before me was more of a force of nature than man. His hood was lowered, his face was aged about 35 years with short silver hair and slightly glowing green eyes.
After giving the man his food, I stood and stared at him it was an unconscious reaction. I had never felt this sort of aura from any other guest that came in, it was the aura of something powerful. But his body seemed weak and feeble in comparison to the hulking warrior brutes and the lithe but dangerous hunters.
“Who are you mister” I ask, he was just so foreign I had to.
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“Hmm, is it so interesting, a man in a robe” He responded while slurping mead from a crudely carved wooden mug, he had an expression of slight surprise.
“Because everyone else who comes in here looks like they can fight” I responded back with a little bit of snark in my voice.
He chuckled at that.
“Why do you ask who I am child?”
“Because your old and look weak but you feel strong” I went with the blunt approach.
He coughed a little when I said old and gave me a bit of a reproachful look while mutter how silver hair was in style.
“Young one I am a great magus” He said this like it was some grand position, I had no clue what that was.
“Wassat” I replied in my best clueless voice.
Of course however I did indeed have a clue about what a magus was after all before dying I was obsessed with fantasy. But I harboured my blooming excitement beneath a mask of cluelessness and let the man speak.
With a queer look at me he began to speak.
“A magus my dear boy is unlike any mercenary you have come across before, yes quite different from the meatheads” I mentally rose my eyebrow at the meathead comment “ We magus control magic, a great force that lies within everything, we bend the very world to our will”
So this was real, there are in addition to superhumans mages, real bonnifide fucking mages.
Opening my eyes wide I prepared my killer move, the little kid hopeful face.
“Can I be a magus” I asked in sickly sweet voice.
Judging from the man’s reaction,he was not used to his sort of behavior, the said expression was one of slight constipation. I understood of course, who could say no to an innocent child.
Clearing his voice with a slighty dry cough he answered.
“Of course little one, but there are requirements you must first fill” He paused and looked at me, seeing my expectant little eyes he continued “The first and most important requirement is the ability to sense mana, now I warn you child this is a rare gift”
“How do I sense mana” I asked directly after he finished speaking, I am not going to be patient when there is magic at stake.
“There is a test I could do, I will inject mana somewhere in your body, tell me where I do so and it will prove you can sense mana” After saying this he raised his index finger and pointed at me.
Closing my eyes I tried to focus, to sense the wonder of magic. However I kept feeling an itch in my arm, I tried to banish that by scratching at it. When I did that I heard him inhale in surprise.
“What” I asked “It's an itch, i'll definitely sense mana”
“Child you already have” he said with a slight chuckle “ that's what foreign mana feels like, congratulations you have some potential”
“What, mana feels itchy” I ask with a deadpan face, in all the stories it apparently feels...good.
“No no, that's what foreign mana feels like, personal mana feels much different.” He said reassuring me.
“Can you read” he asked after a moment of thought.
“No but my mother can” I responded, internally cursing my lack of education in this world.
“Good good, I can not teach you the basics as I cannot stay for long, I will leave a book for you with the basics and some basic spells, when you can read learn, Perhaps I will return someday and teach you some more” He finished his statement by pulling a small tan brown leather bound book with letters seared onto its front, probably the title.
I took it and looked upon it with a revenant look. Looking between him and the book I say thank you before running back to my room to store the book, not point looking through it when I can't read it. As I run up the stairs I feel his glowing green eyes watch me go.
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The next day when I woke up the man was already gone, I forgot to get his name. However wasting no time I marched to my mother and demanded to be taught how to read, she looked at me strangely.
“Why do you want to learn how to read” She asked curious with my sudden fervent determination
“So I can use magic” I reply like its the most normal thing.
“Oh honey having the talent to be a magus is rare, are you sure you want to learn how to read when you might not be able to use magic” She said back with sympathetic voice.
“But the magus who came last night said I have talent”
“What, that old man was a magus?” She choked a little as she asked “ damn I could have swindled him for more”
Ignoring the last part I stared at her with huge puppy eyes waiting for her to say yes to teaching me.
“Fine I will teach you letters, you can't shirk of serving duty though I lose money that way” She finally said yes in an albeit grudging voice, I was so distracted by my excitement I missed her admitting she uses more get more money.