Theo opened his eyes, blinded by the light yet again. He felt himself being lifted from the back, and he regained his vision soon after. The astonished voices of people could be heard. Although it wasn’t quite English or German, he could understand it. That meant this world used a different language, but he somehow instinctively understood it.
As he opened his eyes, he saw a woman with azure hair holding him, she was quite beautiful, enough to be a model by Earth standards. The smile and confused expression on her face conflicted each other. Then Theo remembered he always had a deadpan expression, and that might have carried on to this life as well.
That was problematic. He tried to fake a cry, but it came out as a shout. The surprised face disappeared, being replaced by a genuine smile. Looking to the side, he saw several people, dressed in maid outfits with long skirts. This truly was a medieval era.
Of course, after a few seconds he was taken away by a maid. It was a younger one, maybe a teenager. Staring at her face would have freaked out any girl, but he was a child so she’d have to bear with it. Living as a baby for a while would be fine, he thought to himself.
Having so many servants surely meant this place was a noble household. And that would mean everything. He dozed off due to the movement. The one thing he hated about being a child.
***
Three years later,
A child with azure hair opened his emerald eyes, lying on a master sized bed. Living life as a noble was truly good. Theo had learned his new name was Edward, the only son of the lord’s third wife.
Of course he would be treated miserably by his older siblings and father, IF he hadn’t learned to speak when he was only one and a half year old. That skyrocketed his place in the family and he was now deemed the genius of the family. Truly, trying to move the tongue and making sounds was harder than comprehending the language with his young mouth.
“Selena.” He called out, rising from his bed. She didn’t seem to be here. With a sigh, he decided to lie down for a while. Thinking back, he had lost all connection with Morrigan since reincarnating. Not even a sound from her. The position of the sun seen through the small gap in curtains revealed it was early in the morning.
She was a human, after all, and needed to sleep. He decided it would be better to read, so he pulled out a book from one of the shelves prepared specially for him, and brought it to the bed after opening the curtains. He placed the book on the bed, the blanket on himself and started reading.
The book was titled ‘Basic Understanding of Mana’ and he was about to finish it after a full year. It was practically used to do magic, and one had to be able to see it first. That needed rigorous meditation. However, as a child, his only concerns were eating and sleeping, thus, it didn’t take him even quarter a year to do so, then moving it half.
Trying to accomplish the skills before continuing it seemed to work well. He usually just skimmed through the instructions and would figure it out later, but a mistake would mean he would most likely die from an explosion. He didn’t want that.
As such, he finally finished the final step, in a rather sluggish pace. That was transforming it into another form. He couldn’t just forget his limit and use magic that would exhaust him. Then he’d die from magic exhaustion.
The book said something about imagination making the user stronger. Merely imagining it as a pool wouldn’t give him any advantages, but a way unique only to him would make him incomparable to half assed mages.
So he took it in the form of a gun. Filling the bullets and firing it with another bit of mana. It was something unique, only he would think of such impossibility. Most would imagine it as an element, he just knew it. Even those of his world.
His mana existed inside his mindscape as a formless gas. He would shape it into a bullet and fire it from the gun and out. Edward pointed his index finger to the wall, making a gun shape with his hand. It would help him imagine it somewhat.
He had used a revolver before, belonging to his father for hunting. It was an exact replica of the gun, as far as he understood it. There was nearly no way to forget it after the overly detailed explanation by his father.
“Create bullet.” Edward said as he condensed the gas into a small ball, and reverted some part inside of it back into gas. He concentrated on the pistol, perfecting it even further.
“Load bullet.” He said as he willed for it to enter one of the six holes of the cylinder.
“All set. Fire!” He said as he pulled the trigger, imagining the hammer moving backwards, the spring coiling, the pawl attached to the trigger pushing on the ratchet to start rotating the cylinder. Another pawl stops it. As the trigger hits its limit, the hammer is released and driven forward by the uncoiled spring. The firing pin is then hammered forward and hits the primer, igniting the propellants made of the mana in solid form, as small as dust. They burn and instantly evaporate, turning into a great amount of gas mana. It pushes forward, sending the bullet forward.
A loud boom resonates through the mansion. Edward hit his head with his hand, the recoil too great for his miniature body, falling on his butt on the soft bed. Holding his aching head, he stares at the cracked wall before him. The destruction wasn’t too great, but it wasn’t too bad either. However, if a human were to receive that attack, considering it wasn’t someone strong enough to smash buildings to smithereens which seem to be like weeds growing outside an old house in this world, then that would mean they’d be greatly injured if not straight up dead.
A smile appeared on his face. Edward instantly felt out his face. It was really a smile. It was the first time in ages since he actually changed his expression. He couldn’t help but laugh maniacally as a result.
He would make it stronger. Although he couldn’t see exactly what happened due to its speed. Then his thought process stopped. It was too hard to see. If it was silent, then he could probably kill someone strong with it with a well-placed shot. The day was getting better by the second.
Of course that only lasted until the worried servants rushed into the room, most likely fearing for the safety of their young lord. The lord would have their heads for breakfast if he knew the genius of the family was dead.
And of course, Edward’s personal maid Serena was the first to come. She was more of an older sister after two years, when his mother was always by the lord’s side, Serena was the only one keeping an eye on him.
“Are you alright, my lord?” Serena asked. She was an attractive girl with shoulder-height orange hair tied into a bun at most times, and would have stolen Theo’s heart as she was 18, his old age. But he was Edward now, and she would become an adult even before he hit puberty. Truly a sad encounter.
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Her eyes widened as she saw the smiling boy. Edward never did that, and she would be overjoyed about it if not for this catastrophic event.
“I’m fine. Just a little happy is all.” Theo explained. He had used roughly a third of his mana to achieve this result, and if he used half, then it would be surely stronger. However, which one strengthened it? It definitely wasn’t the size, maybe the speed, which would make him use more propellant. But he doubted it that the method would work.
She wore the maid outfit with long skirts and an apron on top. It was perfect for cleaning and such, but not for stealing the hearts of men unlike the modern version.
“Understood.” Serena bowed her head. The other servants rushed to see the well being of Edward, and everyone went to their respective jobs after seeing he was all right. Fortunately, Serena had changed his clothes from pajama to outdoor clothes, not revealing his sleeping state to the others.
“Serena. Go ask my father for a private conversation. Somewhere without prying ears. Relay my exact wordings. Edward said, sitting on his bed cross legged and closing his eyes. Meditating was the fastest way to regenerate his lost mana. Simply passively absorbing the ambient mana wouldn’t do so well in the beginning stages, as per the book.
“As you wish.” She bowed her head and exited the room swiftly. Serena wouldn’t drop her maid persona without his order, but that is a lot of trouble as she always insists not to.
Then he closed his eyes, entering into his mindscape while sitting in a fetal position. Absorbing mana also needed a good image. He used a vacuum cleaner as the image. He would absorb the surrounding mana by moving his mindscape through the air, leaving not a trace of it there.
That also meant his room would be devoid of mana for some time, until the mana particles invaded the room through the astral dimension. Although not hard by any means, it surely wasted a lot of time. After he had managed to fill his mana pool to 90 percent, a knock on the door shook him off from his meditation.
He took note of the self-repairing concrete that was possible through alchemic means, had already fixed the crack. Truly a miracle.
“The lord has approved of your request.” Serena said.
“Take care of the cleaning.” Edward said as he walked past her. She seemed to enjoy being ordered around for unknown reasons.
Walking through the long corridor, he failed to meet a single soul. The servants were preparing lunch in the kitchen, his four brothers training outside, two older sisters studying in the lecture hall and one younger sister being taken care of by her personal butler. The attendant tended to be of the opposite gender, Edward had noticed.
So he walked unnoticed by anyone, his small steps changing a mere five minutes of walk to fifteen. Walking to his father’s office was annoying. He’d rather have Serena carry him than walk, but the room wouldn’t clean itself and only the personal attendants had a small amount of spare time.
He knocked on an unassuming door, leading to the lord of the mansion’s office. It wasn’t as extravagant as the other rooms indicating the library, kitchen, dining and lecture hall, just a simple brown wooden door.
“Enter.” Sounded out a voice of a man.
“I would like to, but I’m a little too short to do so.” Edward explained as a laugh came from inside.
“Hahahaha, that’s my son alright.” Said the man, opening the door from inside. It was an older man with a goatee, and black hair unlike Edward. “Do come in. It tends to get boring when the only other civil person around is my three year old son.”
This man was Albert Kyle, the lord of the mansion and also the town of Riverfront. A baron granted the title by the king himself, and holds the name with pride.
“Truly is. My brothers are all muscle heads and sisters are merely made of glass.” Edward said. This man was a mage, and most likely could tutor him.
“Sometimes I wonder if you are a sage from a distant land. You most likely are, sometimes feels as if you are even smarter than me. That coupled with your calm demeanor proves you are indeed a person worthy of my respect. And not entirely my child, are you?” Albert said shaking his head.
“I would like to thank father for his flattering words. If I could remember any more than my common sense, then it would surely be a great asset in my future. But everything feels too hazy to me, as if I was in a drunken state my entire other life.” Edward said. This was the excuse that managed to win over his father’s support and get the rare book about mana and magic. Talking smart also proved to be a great asset.
“I see. The fact you cannot write is most likely due to your haziness in writing them.” Albert joked as he took a sip from a glass of wine, placing it in place. “As much as I’d like to share it with you, I don’t think your body can handle it, do you?”
“Surely not. I am a tea drinker either way, it doesn’t matter much.” Edward said with a shrug.
“Then from what I’ve heard, the maid seemed to be using smart words.” Albert snapped his fingers, a transparent blue barrier appearing around the two. “I reckon you have something important to tell me.”
“Indeed those words were dictated by me. In my humble opinion, it is best ask my father before revealing it to the servants, no? Magic that is.” Edward said, the faint trace of the smile still on his face.
“I suppose you are aware that those words can’t be simply thrown around, my friend.” Albert said with a raised eyebrow.
“I have seemed to have completed the manual and used magic. You have surely felt the tremor earlier this morning.” Edward said, closing his eyes and entering his mindscape.
Surely Albert knew what his son wanted to do, and kept quiet. Even apprentice mages had to close their eyes to cast magic, along with a long chant or a long casting time.
Edwardcharged a bullet up, using the proportions he used earlier, but a weakened one. It merely took an eight of his mana to cast, creating a miniature version of the bullet, the gun shrinking to fit the size.
He made the gun sign with his right hand, this time holding it with his other hand. The recoil wasn’t as great, but was enough to steal away Edward’s balance, nearly falling over. There wasn’t as big a crack, but this one had definitely penetrated deeper. A smaller tip meant more penetrating. He would try some more later.
Albert stared at the target site, tapping his chin.
“Was that perhaps air you have controlled? Then it would truly be a miracle.” Albert looked at his son, with a questioning look. A far more serious one this time.
“I feel as if it was raw mana, but it moved too fast for our eyes to see.” Edward explained, sitting in a fetal position to regain his mana. It helped him concentrate. This time it wasn’t to regenerate his mana, but to trace the bullet. Indeed there was a small trail of mana. He exited his mindscape and turned to look at his father. “There’s a small trail of it, unlike elemental magic I’ve read about.”
“That’s true. It seems your image is peculiar. I shan’t ask as it is the greatest secret of a mage, and a taboo if forced. What I would like to ask is, would you like to help in my research. Your theoretical knowledge may even surpass mine after the dozens of books I have bought for you to read during the last year. I did not have such a luxury as you, you see? Time was lacking for me.” Albert asked.
“It would be my honor to work along with a named mage.” Edward answered as he nodded.
“First of all, it bothers me to see such a talented mage like yourself concentrating so hard on using raw mana. What about naming the spell, and forcing your mana to go through the process automatically after chanting its name? It will truly win some time for you.” Albert suggested, pointing his hand to the wall. “[Mana Bolt]”
A bright blue light shone from his fingertip, hitting the wall and dispersing without doing much damage.
“Sadly, these are nothing compared to yours.” Albert commented. “I’m not truly talented, you see?”
“I will name it [Zauberei Pfeil].” Edward said.
“Whatever might that mean.” Albert raised his eyebrow.
“It means Magic Arrow, in my old language.” Edward lied, but it wasn’t wrong either. Somewhere in the middle. It was true, and no one was here to mock him on his bad naming, after all, it sounded cool to him.
However, it was interesting. English came out as the original language of this world, but German didn’t, not even resembling another language in this world. Maybe it was one Albert was unaware of.
“That proves my theory... You are a reincarnated being, aren’t you?” Albert nodded his head. “But it is truly rare to see your kind. I’ve only known two, and they’re both rulers of two major empires: Rose Empire and Crimson Dawn Dynasty.”
“Rose? So the empress is the same as me? I’m not the only one?” Edward asked himself, a blatant lie. He knew there’d be thousands of others like him, and didn’t want to bother hiding his identity. It would merely waste his time and all the benefits he could harvest from the few years children spend doing nothing. Edward didn’t want his love to live in the afterlife for too long, there might be some side effects. He’d make haste.