Lola had completely ruined my lazy daily schedule.

Because of her zealous attitude towards work, I'd been forced to wake up at dawn before the sun rose, and I'd be sleeping before the sun set. She forced me to partake in her morning routine, meaning, I had to do her warm-up exercises, then run a lap around the entire village.

The only reason it was one lap was because she'd taken pity on me. She was planning to have me run 5 when I got more used to it. It was exhausting work, but I felt like that was the highlight of my new routine.

Since she was now my master, she'd taken my academic training into her own hands. Rather than purely magic, she was teaching me everything she knew. From language to arithmetic to magic to history, geography, and even herbology, Lola was cramming information down my throat in a surprisingly competent and digestible manner. Unlike what her demeanour suggested, she was actually an extremely meticulous teacher.

Well, that was probably the only decent part of her.

Because of that, I had a fair bit of knowledge on my current situation. This little village was called a Victis village. They were a bunch of villages spread about around in the Neutral Ground or as Lola called it, the Lawless Region.

Lawless Region because this entire area was the only one on the continent without any official government systems or ruling powers in place. There was an unspoken rule between all the other territories to not try to conquer this land. It was essentially a region with no rules in which third parties were forbidden from interfering with.

This particular victis village was one of the more fortunate ones, being on the border of a kingdom. The Xander kingdom to be precise, meaning we get access to some benefits such as a market and roaming merchants. Due to our perfect placement, merchants travelling from the Ozman Empire in the south to the Xander Kingdom would pass by to trade, that way, this village still had access to modern products.

However, the caveat to that was that we lived right next to the Bewildering Forest. It was a forest about the size of a large city, roaming with mutant creatures of all types and possessing a maze-like structure that makes it easy for anyone to get lost in. Normally we'd all be safe if we simply chose to not enter the forest, but sometimes the mutants choose to come prey on us. There'd apparently been a few incidents, but I'd never heard of them. Probably because mother didn't want to give me a scare.

Fortunately, the nearby kingdom placed a bunch of patrol guards to constantly monitor the Bewildering Forests, and keep them in check, ensuring that no one dies.

Still, all this wasn't enough to scare Lola, who went into the Bewildering Forest every tendays.

Over the past couple of tendays, I'd come to learn a little bit about Lola too.

For starters, I was now aware that she was a total maniac. When it came to anything magical physiology-related, she was a complete nutjob that excelled in it and was pushing the boundaries. She was your generic mad scientist.

Whenever she took both Rosine and me on her morning rounds, I'd hear the villagers talk about her like she was some crazy woman. Clearly, they all respected her, but there was also a hint of fear and scepticism there.

She'd scare them off or sometimes directly confront those talking that way, depending on her mood. Rosine would usually try to hide her face when those sorts of confrontations happened, too embarrassed by her own mother's actions.

When it came to the magic research we were doing, she forced me to perform at least one spell a day. That was when we noticed something odd.

In the first tenday, all I could do was simply one spell a day. By the second, three spells a day were my limit. Somehow, my mana pool had increased naturally over time.

To me, it was a no-brainer that one's mana pool only increased the more they tested the limits, but to this world, that was a never-before-seen concept. Whatever mana pool you awakened with was whatever mana pool you'd live with to the end of your days unless you artificially dealt with it. For this reason, genetics was considered a major factor in one's talent for magic.

I was starting to consider the possibility that my being from another world played a massive factor in my magic developing differently when compared to this world's standard.

In order to awaken, mages were made to consume things called Mana Crystals. These mana crystals were shards of raw mana that, when consumed, would unclog your mana circuit and allow your mana core to start processing mana. The higher the quality of a mana crystal one absorbed, the higher the mana pool and quality of one's mana, apparently.

The same way the mana crystals were the only way to awaken, they were the only way to increase your mana pool. The theory of how they worked was a bit wonky, and Lola wasn't a hundred percent convinced by them, but that didn't stop her from wanting to have me consume one.

There were two problems hindering her in that aspect.

First, children under the age of 12 who consume these crystals die from a disease called Mana Overload.

Second, and most concerning for me, she simply didn't have any on her, and neither did she know a way to acquire one.

I was very certain that if she could acquire one, she'd have fed it to me without even letting me know of the consequences. After all, her desire for scientific development far outweighed the value of life in her eyes.

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On the herbs' aspect, she'd been forcing me to read several books and testing me almost every single day on them. It was easily the most boring of all the topics she was teaching, but I couldn't worm my way out of it.

Things seemed all good and manageable, but there was another major issue in the form of Rosine. The child had been giving me the stink eye.

In fact, she started skipping classes at one point and would rather spend the day playing with the other village kids. I'd come to the conclusion that she'd reached that age. After all, she was turning 10 in a couple of tendays.

Come to think of it, my birthday was about 2 months away as well. The 2nd day of Scorching Blaze, the start of summer.

'Huh. That's right. Roland should be coming back anytime soon.', I found my mind wandering during the magic research. 'Hm, knowing him, I'll have to find a way to keep my magical abilities a secret. There's no telling how he would react. One thing is certain, though: mom will be in a very uncomfortable position if he finds out. Still, rather than fearing him, maybe I could make him stop with magic? Yeah, give him a fright so bad he'll never beat her again. I'll call it [Operation: Kill the Asshole]! Hahaha, that w-'

"OOOHHH!!!", I was pried from my thoughts by a thunderous cry that sent my heart pounding.

"W-What!? What's happening!?", I looked around, directing my flaming palm in the direction of crying, ready to fire off my fireball. I was met by a slack-jawed Lola, pointing at me with her eyes wide open.

"Y-You!", she yelled, her voice breaking.

"M-Me?", I looked around, trying to make sure it was me she was referring to.

"You just created a fireball,", she stated. I looked at my palm and saw a fireball floating above it.

"Yes?", Now I was just confused. Was there something amazing about me making fireballs now?

"W-W-Without chanting! You cast a spell without incantations or magic circles! T-That's…", she explained, making my eyes widen.

"Eh? I did?", I asked, surprised. With my mind thinking about so many things, it would seem I'd forgotten to even chant the spell. If anything, I'd simply replicated the feeling I got every time I cast this fireball spell, and it simply worked.

"This is amazing. You've made eight fireballs today and even did the last one without a chant, yet you aren't feeling fatigued. That's a record. I'm adding it to the list. How revolutionary of you, haha!", Saying this, she looked through her desk of notes, searching for the book she'd been using to take tabs on my progress.

I looked at my palm in silence, a bit mesmerised by the thought of me being special.

Somewhere deep inside my heart, though, I felt a bit scared. I was taking a step forward but suddenly regressed. It was almost like I was doing something that I shouldn't be doing, but I ignored it. It was most likely just a fear of the possible future down this path. After all, I'd never known anxiety or fear before this life. For all I knew, listening to that feeling was the wrong decision.

"I-Is it really something that hasn't been done before?"

"Hm? I've only ever heard of two or three people doing such a thing, and even then, I didn't believe those stories until now.", She noted down what she wanted.

'Two or three? T-That's a seriously tiny number.'

"Hm? What's with that grin on your face?", Lola questioned, a teasing smirk on her face.

"What grin? I'm not grinning. You're the one grinning.", I wasn't going to fall for her taunting. I totally wasn't!

"Uh-huh.", Smugly, she just nodded. However, even a rabbit could smell the sarcasm in that.

"Shut up! I'm not happy because I'm special or anything. I'm definitely not!"

"Sure, you're not.", She responded absent-mindedly, still writing in her notebook.

I had to admit it. She was good. Way too good.

"I-I bet Rosine can also cast a spell without chanting.", The obvious solution was to bring attention to a different genius. How smart of me, right?

"She'd have to learn to cast magic for that to even be the case.", Lola commented.

"Eh? Can't Rosine do magic?", I asked. There was no way Rosine couldn't do magic, right? She'd been boasting to me about it whenever she saw me. In fact, it was the only thing she'd ever talk to me about these days.

"Hahaha! My Rosine? Magic? It'd be a miracle if she could even be an enhancer.", She burst into uncontrollable laughter.

I was left stunned.

Then again, it would explain why she never was in any of the magic classes, but was in the others. I'd assumed she was simply far too advanced to be in those classes, but it was because there was nothing she could learn in any of those classes.

"Wait, she can't even be an enhancer?"

"No. I already broke it down to her, but I guess she's still not accepting that reality. That's why you're my protégé and not that child.", She cruelly said.

"You do realise I'm a child too, right?", I pointed out.

"You're far too mature for me to even consider talking to you like a kid. It's honestly creepy, but a precocious child like you goes against this world's conventions, so I don't mind."

I was starting to get the sense that growing up as her kid wasn't particularly enjoyable.

Just then, a horrendous shriek cut through the air.

***

"Hahaha! My Rosine? Magic? It'd be a miracle if she could even be an enhancer.", Lola's voice boomed so loud, anyone walking by the cottage would have heard her through the creaking and cranking water wheel.

For Rosine who was just snuck out of the cottage and was standing right by the door, this sentence resounded powerfully her ears. She bit her lips and tightened her fists, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.

"I… I can do it too.", She muttered. Her body shook weakly as she reaffirmed this to herself. "I can do magic too. I'm a prodigy."

Before sneaking out of the cottage, Rosine had been rummaging through her mother's things. There was a chest filled with numerous crystals that her mother had absolutely forbidden her from touching.

She looked down into her fist and opened it, revealing a crystalline substance on her palm. Just one look at it, and one could tell that it was something worth a fortune. Holding it, however, one could instinctually feel that this was something incredibly powerful.

It felt alive and gushed with raw power that could turn anyone greedy.

This was a mana crystal. An especially high-grade one at that too.

The little girl put the crystal in her mouth, her face stern and angry.

There was no way a prodigy like herself couldn't use magic. lost to Belfry, who was younger than her by 6 years? That was simply impossible.

She broke the crystal, and a boiling, hot liquid flowed into her. The sound of harrowing winds echoed in her ears, and an electrifying, almost paralysing current jolted through her fingers. She shrieked, in pain from the scalding heat. Power swam through her body, bouncing about violently and causing her stomach to churn. Before she'd even realised it, she was vomiting on the ground.

Her skin turned red from the heat, and her eyes were bloodshot. She grabbed her chest, trying to reach for her heart. It was beating too fast, and she was starting to lose consciousness. Her body shook uncontrollably as she fell to the ground in her own vomit, curling up and writhing in agony, unable to make a single sound.

Her eyes rolled to the back as she lost consciousness, her mouth foaming white.

The door to the cottage opened wide, and both Lola and Belfry came out, only to meet her half-dead body.