I woke up early the next morning. I had already told the maids the day before that they no longer needed to come to my room, so I had managed to sleep in peace. I was in a good mood.

A thick morning mist hung in the air. It was slightly chilly, but I decided not to mind it. I jogged laps around the training grounds. After what felt like ten minutes or so, Julian arrived.

As an apprentice knight, Julian went back to his house once or twice a week and slept in one of the rooms in the castle during the rest of the week.

"Sir Florence. You're really early," Julian said.

I stopped jogging and walked to where Julian was standing.

"You can stop calling me 'Sir'. We're around the same age anyway. Just call me Florence." I told him.

"Is that really okay? Won't the Lord..." Julian seemed worried that the Earl might say something.

"I'm the one asking you. Even if the Earl says something, I'll tell him that it's my choice." I realized that I had just called the man who was supposed to be my father 'the Earl' after I finished speaking. It had only been a day since I was transmigrated, so I wasn't used to fully acting out my role as Florence.

"Okay. Then... Florence," Julian said hesitantly.

Julian joined me in jogging. After that, I told one of the maids to get some drinking water for the two of us, and we prepared to practice magic.

But obviously, I couldn't use magic.

Julian started channeling mana through his body. Mana existed in every object, even in the air. The concentration of mana an object could hold varied according to the type of substance it was made of. For instance, clear stone, also known as mana stone, could store the highest amount of mana and naturally draw in a lot of mana from the surroundings. However, it could take years for a clear stone devoid of mana to fill up once again unless it was placed in a place with high concentrations of mana in the air.

As for people who could use magic, they drew mana from the air into their bodies, passed it along their channels, and condensed the mana in the center of the body, where the core was.

After condensing in the core, the mana would no longer escape outside the body, and the person would be able to utilize it freely. Right now, I have mana in my core. The problem was that I had no idea exactly how to utilize it. I knew the theory behind mana control, but I didn't have any practical experience.

"Hey, Julian. Can you tell me how you learned to use magic by yourself? You never had someone to teach it to you, right?" I asked.

"Um... there was a retired mage in the village I lived in before. He was the one who taught me how to control mana and a few magic spells. Some of the other kids in the village also learned under him, so it wasn't just me."

Stolen novel; please report.

Of course, I already knew that. I was just pretending to know nothing about his past. I also knew that the retired mage was an old friend of Julian's father and had worked for the royal family at one point.

Both mages and knights could use magic. The difference was that knights used mana to enhance their bodies or their weapons, while mages attacked using complex magic spells. One did not need an extremely high mastery of magic to become a knight. The main ability needed for a knight was mana control. They combined physical prowess with magic to achieve feats impossible for regular soldiers. On the other hand, mages were people who knew how to use a variety of magic spells. Mages channeled mana into these spells and activated them to bring about various phenomena. Of course, it was also possible for one to have high physical prowess and know how to use magic spells. I wondered what such a person would be called.

"Oh. How did that mage teach you mana control? I observed your technique yesterday, and it seems very interesting." I continued asking.

"Um… I don't think it's anything special. He told us to collect mana in our fingers, hold it for some time, and then release it into the air. After that, we did the same with our arms."

"I see. Do you visualize some kind of image in your head while manipulating mana?"

"I don't visualize anything in particular. Oh actually… It's a little embarrassing, but when I first started practicing, I used to think of my finger as some kind of creature sucking mana from the air."

So start with the fingers, huh? I placed one hand behind me and tried to visualize my index finger sucking in mana, just like how an elephant would suck in water with its snout. It might have been my imagination, but I could feel a slight shift in the flow of mana around me.

----------------------------------------

Claire and Marie stared at the absurd scene unfolding at the training grounds.

They were the two youngest maids working at the castle. Since they were attractive, they were also the main victims of Florence. Or at least they had been until recently.

It had started the week before, when Marie went to wake up Florence. For once, he had behaved like a proper person and not like a pervert who would try to drag her into his bed. Later that day, Florence came to talk to the two of them, saying that he no longer needed them to wake him up in the morning.

The day after that, the same Florence who only knew how to chase girls and laze around previously woke up early in the morning to train.

Claire and Marie had thought that the guy was cooking up some sort of ploy, but they weren't sure anymore. It has been a week since then. Florence was still jogging and practicing his swordsmanship every morning, and whenever he met the two of them, he wouldn't even spare them a glance.

Claire, do you think he actually changed?" Marie asked.

"Maybe. Really, I don't know what possessed him."

"Agreed. I just hope whatever's possessing him doesn't go away."

After a moment of silence, Claire suddenly said, "Actually, if he stays this way, he's not that bad. He has a pretty face, and he's got a bright future ahead."

"No! Please! Stop it!" Marie protested. She got chills just thinking about Florence getting close to her. "If you want romance, at least look at Julian."

Julian was the apprentice knight who had started working at the castle only recently. For some reason, Julian and Florence would always train together in the morning. On one occasion, Knight Bertrand rudely asked Julian to do some chores for him. After hearing that, Florence told off the old knight in front of many people. Since then, no one has dared to treat Julian with disrespect.

Marie barely talked to Julian. But if her observations were correct, the boy was hardworking and kind.

"You girls are always slackin' off over here. I swear to god." The head maid had somehow walked up to the two girls while they were distracted.

"Eeek… Sorry!" The girls ran off to return to their work.

After the girls were gone, the head maid whispered to herself. "He's changed... It might be too late, though."