We travelled in silence while I digested everything I had learned. It all felt so unbelievable. Me, having magic. I thought back to the death fog. The feeling of dying. The gentle embrace. Was that the moment my power awakened? Could I reach for it now? We were on a straight road currently. I did not need to pay much attention to my horse. So I closed my eyes and focused inward.

Surprisingly, I found something. It looked like a liquid sphere, shimmering blue, black and purple. It was beautiful. There was some mist rising from it. Was that the magic leaking? I mentally reached out to it. The power responded, coming eagerly. I felt it engulfing my hand…

I opened my eyes and saw my hand, glowing in a pale blue.

“Ahhhhh.” I screamed in shock.

Captain Sarah looked amused. “Looks like you found your magic.”

“I… I don’t know what to do!”

“Clearly.”

“Please, help!”

“Relax, your magic is not going to hurt you. Unless you transform it into an element you don’t have the affinity for. Right now, you called your mana into your hand. But you did not give it any further instructions, so it’s just sitting there. The glow is simply mana leaking into the air. It’s impressive that you have enough of it to be so easily visible. Just try calling it back to your core.”

I calmed down at her words and looked at my glowing hand. Now that I was not panicking it looked rather pretty. I felt a slight tingling, but it did not hurt. Fascinated, I closed my eyes once more. Visualising my inner self I could see the mana sitting in my hand. I tried coaxing it back into my core. It did not want to move at first. It looked fluid so I imagined it as water. How could I make it flow where I wanted?

Then I had an idea. Blood. A liquid that got pumped around in our body. Thankfully, my education covered quite a bit of biology. So I was aware of all the tiny pipes coming from the heart. I imagined my core to be in the same place. If I could squeeze my magic into the pipes it would flow back to my core.

I felt rather smug as the magic in my hand started flowing. Then came the horror as I realised my core was now filling my whole body with magic. Every little vessel that contained blood was now used to carry mana as well. I started sweating. No, calm down. Sarah said my magic would not hurt me. And it was no longer concentrated in my hand. There was now an even flow through my veins. The mist surrounding my core was gone. It looked like the magic that used to escape my body was now distributed and… absorbed by my flesh and bones? Merging my magic with my blood made it digestable for my body.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Nicely done.” Sarah praised me. “You managed to control your mana and it’s no longer leaking. It takes most people a few weeks to achieve this, even with instructions.”

So what I did was right? Being praised felt good. I smiled.

We travelled till late in the evening before we made camp. I learned that the three regular soldiers escorting me were called Tim, John and Edith. I did not realise one of them was a woman until she spoke. Her muscular body was not that different from the men and her bust was hidden by the armour. I was told to share a tent with her and she ordered me to set it up with a smirk. It was clear that everyone expected me to fail at this task.

Unfortunately for them, my training included serving outdoors during trips. While maids were not necessarily the ones setting up tents, Rossalyn Academy prided itself on providing exceptional servants. Imagine a noble having to do anything for themselves? Unthinkable! So yes, even maids were trained to set up a camp. So I smiled as they watched me work.

Surprisingly I felt really happy. I always loathed my training. But this? This was different. Yes, I had been asked, even ordered, to set up the tent. But not because I was a slave, because I was a recruit. I was ok with that.

Edith inspected the tent. “Wow. Not just properly set up but so… perfect. You found an even surface, cleared any rocks and twigs… Fuck me, you even aligned the stakes perfectly!”

She shook her head, then grinned. “You will drive your instructors insane. They will have a hard time finding anything to criticise.”

“Why would they look for something?” I asked.

“Eh, just part of the military. Everything has to be perfect. Your uniform, your bed, your gear,... Trust me they will always find something wrong. That’s just how instructors work.”

I studied the massive woman. She had taken her helmet off and I could see her short black hair and green eyes. There were several scars on her face.

“Have you studied at the Royal Military Academy?” I asked.

“The Wolf’s Den? Nah. That’s just for officers, like Captain Sarah. Us grunts don’t get fancy schools. Just a lot of shouting, marching and hitting each other with sticks. You know, most future officers would have complained that setting up a tent is beneath them. Or cried. We had a whole bet going… but nobody thought you would actually succeed.”

“Oh. Are officers really that bad?”

“Not all. Sarah is a good one. Most would have smacked me already. But the academy is filled with fancy and rich folk. They probably can’t even wipe their own arse without a servant. I thought you were one of them but you seem ok.”

I frowned. Did nobody tell them my story?

Captain Sarah sighed and walked over. “Careful Edith, one day you will say that in front of the wrong person. Luckily for you, Koyuki is indeed not part of the fancy folk.”

“Are there no normal people at the academy?” I asked.

“Most people there are either part of the nobility, or from rich merchant families. You can only go there with connections or a lot of money.” Sarah answered.

“I thought most nobles are attending the Arcane Institute or the Academy of Neth.”

“True. But anyone who wants to join the military as an officer has to graduate from the Wolf’s Den. It’s rather popular to send a child that won’t inherit to the army. They tend to be entitled brats that see this as a way to gain some power and prestige.”

“So… um… how did you end up at the academy?” I was afraid that my question would offend her but in the end my curiosity was just too big.

“Bastard child of a noble. He paid my mother to keep her mouth shut. I don’t even know who my father is. But mum kept the money and used it to pay for my education.”

From the tone of her voice this was not a topic she liked. So I decided to stop asking any more questions about her past.