Chapter 2
Hello again. I’m 10 years old this year. If you’re wondering why I’m suddenly 10, well, not much happened in the past 8 years. Well, I spent most of my time reading, so much till the point where my parents were worried whether I’m sick.
Whoopsie daisy.
After that my parents limited my time in the study to 4 hours, which is still pretty long in my opinion, but the problem isn’t that.
The problem was, they tried to get me a playmate after that. Like, a kid who was 4 years of age, about the same as I was at that point in time. Of course I refused them, I had a mental age of 20 years, and still had to deal with a kid who couldn’t keep up with my conversations.
I was literally on my knees, begging my parents to not find a playmate. In the end they settled by letting me choose a playmate, much to my reluctance.
After much screening, mostly just me asking the kids about the history of Sengaia, I found a boy who seemed much more mature than his age, which made it less painful to have a kid playmate.
His name is Rufus, and he came from the Cabal household, which my father has close ties with.
He’s around 6 years of age, well, now he’s 14 years old. He’s quite into books, same as me, and when I asked him about the history of Sengaia he could recite it down to the letter, which was pretty impressive for a 6 year old boy.
Well, despite getting a new playmate, my lifestyle didn’t really change much. Since both Rufus and I liked reading so much, we both cooped up in the study and read books together, much to the dismay of my parents.
Well enough of that. I got out of my bed and peeked my head out into the corridor. Seeing that it was empty, I put on a one-piece dress, got out and started roaming around. I walked till the living room, where I noticed my mother quietly sitting at a table drinking tea. Wanting to surprise her, I sneaked behind her before covering her eyes with my hands.
“Guess who!”
“Oh dear, good morning, Alice.”
“You could have at least acted a bit surprised, you know?”
“Haha. Would you like a cup of tea, dear?”
“Yes please.”
I took my hands off her eyes, before sitting on the chair at the opposite end of the tea table.
My mother took the teapot and filled a cup with tea before passing it to me. I accepted it and took a sip.
Hah… This world’s tea is pretty good, at least the tea I’ve been drinking so far. It’s sort of a mix between Earl Grey tea and Green tea, I’m not really sure to say the least. Hmm. My mother is acting suspiciously normal despite knowing today’s my birthday. Maybe she already told me what we’re doing today? I can’t really remember, but I remember her saying something about going to a church…
“Alice, do you know what we’re going to do today?”
“Uh… Something about going to a church?”
“Close. We’re going to get your status checked at the church today.”
“Really?! I can’t wait!”
Shit. I really hoped that this cliche event wouldn’t happen. I just hope it doesn’t display any skills.
“After you’re done with your tea we’ll go, the carriage is already waiting outside.”
“*Gulp* I’m done! Let’s go!”
My mother then led me out of through the front door, where there was a wooden carriage waiting. The driver opened the door for us to get on, before closing it and moving the carriage off.
***
Well, the ride was bumpy, to say the least. Our house was located quite far from the main city, about a 20 minute ride on a carriage. From a distance you could already see the massive city walls, that encircled the city. As we got closer, I could see the guards patrolling the top of the walls. How did they even get there in the first place? I guess some things are meant to never be found out.
The carriage suddenly came to a stop. As I peeked my head out, I noticed that we had already arrived at the entrance to the city. There were two guards donned in full plated armor, both wielded massive pikes as they stopped the carriage for an inspection. How do they even move that quickly? You gotta admire the strength of these guards!
After a quick check and greeting by my mother, the guards let us into the city. The streets were quite lively, merchants set up stalls at the sides of the road with some that were particularly popular with the people. As we travelled further down the road, the merchant stalls were replaced by actual shops. Oh, those clothes look so cute! As I asked my mother why there were so many shops, she simply laughed it off and told me that there were more shops in the shopping district of the city. How do these people even make a living with all the competition?
After a few more minutes, not that I really know how long, the carriage finally stopped at a very fancy building. The doorway was arched, and two wooden doors with window panes made up the only the entrance into the church. There was tower-like structure emerging from the back of the church, yet there were no windows whatsoever, it seemed fairly creepy. The roof of the church was pointed, just like any normal house, however, the walls had many huge colorful windows.
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Both me and my mother alighted the carriage, before entering the church through the wooden doors. What greeted me as I walked in were rows and rows of benches, arranged such that they were facing the altar and statue at the innermost of the church. Behind the altar was a stone statue of a woman dressed in something like a greek dress. Looking closely, I could only assume that this was the Goddess Aleissa, since her beauty looked inhuman. What happened to creating a race in your image? Maybe she just forgot the rule? Or does it not apply here? Whatever.
“Good afternoon, Miss Angelica. To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence to?”
Eh?! What the heck! Where did this baldie even came from? I couldn’t even hear his footsteps!
“Good day, Archbishop Kaloth. I came here today to register the status of my daughter, Alice.”
Clearly my mother isn’t surprised. Hmm. This old man looks pretty crafty, maybe it’s just me? His white robe basically screams ‘Holiness’. His cuffs were lined with golden threads, similar there was a golden thread of sorts going down both sides of his robes, and there was a weird symbol at the center of his collar.
“I see. Well then, follow me this way.”
The old man led us down some corridor I didn’t manage to notice at first, into a waiting room of sorts. There were two couches, and on the table there was something like a keyboard and a crystal ball. So this is how magic replaces technology, interesting.
He then motioned for me and my mother to sit on one of the couches, before sitting on the couch with the keyboard thingy facing him.
“Now then, I shall use the skill [Appraisal] to see Alice’s status, before recording it down onto a status card.”
Oh no. Not good, please please don’t show my skills. A wave of ‘something’ went through me. So this is what being appraised feels like? So uncomfortable. Eh? I saw the baldie’s brow twitch for a second. Mother doesn’t seem to have noticed. I’m probably just seeing things.
The old man then started typing away on the keyboard thingy, before putting his hand on the crystal ball. It started glowing, before something rectangular came out. So that’s the status card?
“It is done, Miss Angelica.”
The old man then passed the card to my mother. Her eyes widened in shock. Eh? Is my status really that bad? I strained my neck just to take a peek at my status.
===
Name: Alice Leno Race: Human
HP: 1000 MP: 1000
STR: 50 AGI: 37 DEX: 40 DEF: 46
WIS: 60 INT: 78 RES: 58
Skills:
-NIL-
===
Wait. What? Aren’t these stats a bit overboard? I don’t remember doing anything to increase them or anything. Well, WIS and INT makes sense, since I’m always reading. The rest however, seem utterly ridiculous. What kind of cheat character am I?
“My, my daughter is truly a prodigy! Thank you very much, Archbishop Kaloth. We shall take our leave now.”
My mother finally snapped out of it. We bade farewell to the baldie, before returning to the carriage home. Whew! At least my skills weren’t visible to him, otherwise it’d be quite problematic. Well then! When I get back I’m gonna drown myself in books!
***
Good. They finally left. Just what were those skills? I’m fairly sure the [Otherworlder] skill is meant for the summoned heroes. Does that mean someone summoned this girl? No, impossible. The summoning ritual is a royal secret, and replicating it would also take several skilled magicians.
And that [Embodiment of time] skill. Never have I seen such a skill before, and it was even restricted. Judging from the skill, it seems to be a unique skill. I think she’d be a good addition to the hero’s party, except I don’t think her mother would allow it. Furthermore, it’s still restricted, and the only way to unlock it would be to cause extreme stress. Hmm, her father is also a threat to the throne, I have the perfect plan to get this girl.
I typed out the status of the girl again, printing another status card.
“One!”
As I called out, a man dressed in black seemingly came out of nowhere.
“Take a look at this.”
As I showed the card to the man, he eyes widened in shock, before turning to one of curiousity.
“My lord, what is this [Embodiment of time] skill?”
“That is what I want to know. It is the perfect time to get rid of General Desmond, and to also add another member to the hero’s party. Stage an ‘accident’, fire preferably, and kidnap the girl. You have 1 month.”
“Yes, my lord.”
The man then once again vanished, most likely off to inform the others of the plan.
“Maybe with this, we can finally conquer the demons. Haha, hahahaha!”