Bob walked me through the busy street, and before long, we arrived at wooden palisades acting as a gate with wooden towers behind it. Bob asked for permission to climb one of the sentry gates. As I climbed it, I could see several hundred green-skinned monsters. Were they the typical orcs and goblins?
"There are a lot of them," I said, feeling worried. Then, our soldiers sortied. Most of them ran outside the wooden gate while the rest of them stood atop a platform. Looking at their equipment, the ones that sallied out were knights. They wore full-plated armor and shields. My brother was there too.
On the other hand, the fifty or so soldiers who sallied at the top of the platform were archers and mages. As soon as the enemy came forward, the archers rained arrows upon them. I was expecting a deluge of arrows like in movies, but I guess it was difficult with so few archers.
The mages started late, but they were devastating. Ice, fire, and lightning stormed out and thinned the herd. There were less than ten mages with their staff and robes there, but the enemy's numbers were already halved. After that, our knights came in contact with the greenskins. Their clubs were deflected by shields, and then a counterattack came. Brother Zach was directing the battle from behind, but soon, he charged in and killed the enemy.
Blood spilled out on the green grass, and I was excited to see so much blood splattered from both the goblins. Their blood was surprisingly red, like humans. I wanted to stab a knife into those orcs and goblins... it wasn't fair that only Brother Zach had the privilege to kill.
The battle soon came to an end. There were no casualties, but some knights were seen limping as they walked back behind the gate. Some smaller goblins must have sneak-attacked them in the legs. Those demons had no equipment, but they could still do that to our knights. I must salute them. Some of the plate armor our knights were using was dented by wooden clubs.
"Awesome, Brother! You killed that humongous monster by yourself!" I praised him incessantly, but his soldiers spoke differently.
"Hahaha, don't mimic your brother. No commander should stand in the front; he is brave but stupid!" and the soldiers laughed with him.
"Hey, what's wrong with you! I helped you guys, alright! I don't want to be a fatass commander like centrals!" His remark was soon followed by another laugh, and we all went home happy.
The day of the magic examination finally arrived. Inside a church, a priest placed a crystal ball on a table and asked every child of ten years of age to be examined. It was a prominent event, and almost all parents attended. When my name was called, a stir ran through the crowd due to my menacing look. However, it wasn't so bad anymore, as the bakery and clothing store owners gave me a smile from behind.
When I touched the crystal ball, it grew dark immediately. The priest then declared, "Elidranthia Shadowstep. Dark magic level 8, wind magic level 3, fire magic level 4, light magic none, earth magic level 2, water magic level 4. Mana level at 80% of the device. Elidranthia, we shall welcome a new excellent mage among our ranks. Let this be the day the world knows of your talents."
I tilted my head at his words. The other participants never received such celebratory words. Was it because of my position as the count's daughter? But I soon read the atmosphere and replied, "Thank you for your kind words."
I looked at the crowd after returning to my seat in the church and asked my father, "Father, how good is magic level 8?"
"Approximately the level of a royal mage. The captain of the royal mages was level 9, but it was a mere talent. You need to work hard if you want to become royal mages." my father smiled. "If it weren't for dark magic, you would have received much greater applause. But it's rare for magic talent to be above 5. I am proud of you."
"Eli just has luck," Daniel, my youngest brother, snorted.
"Yeah. Magic talent is just luck," Fiona chimed in. The atmosphere in our family is quite strained. My stepmother seemed to dislike me more and more with each passing day.
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I ignored the brat and my sister, who had an inferiority complex and chatted with my father about magic. He explained that anyone who graduated from the academy's magic division could call themselves a mage. However, they only accepted those with a talent level of four or above. It was extremely difficult for people to learn magic if their talent was below four, but not impossible.
"I see. What is mana level?"
"It's the capacity for magic. 80% is quite good, I believe," Father said. However, his words seemed unsure, which made me question him.
"Stop looking at me like that. Mana's level is not constant. It can grow either with training, age, or some other factors. When he said 80%, it was just meant for that particular device. I don't know how precise that mana measuring device is."
*Crack *shatter
The crystal ball cracked into two halves, each part glowing in red when a girl touched it. Everyone gasped at the spectacle, and even the priest was astonished by the new commoner girl.
"Oh! A mana level above 100%. Fire talent level 6. We thank the gods for giving us such a bountiful gift this year. May your life be prosperous for the kingdom!" The priest clapped and gave incessant praise to the girl. Ah, I knew her. I never saw her face, but the web novel described how the heroine's friend broke the mana-measuring device. She was Alicia, a commoner who was good at fire magic and played the role of a friend of the female protagonist from the web novel, Claire. So, she lived in our county, huh. This world sure seemed small. When the crowd clapped at her achievement, I felt inadequate somehow.
"Are you jealous, Eli?" My father asked me because I didn't clap with the rest of the crowd. I denied it, but my voice sounded small, and he must have thought otherwise.
"There are less than five thousand mages in the entire kingdom. We should celebrate that our county will soon have two promising mages. I hope all of you can be friends, okay?" He then patted my head. I felt a little of my darkness fade away and smiled at her. I remembered from the web novel that she was the daughter of a soldier. She became an orphan when she turned twelve because her dad died in a skirmish with bandits, and her mother had already died when she turned six.
Since I was trying to evade the villainess route, I should befriend her as soon as possible. Doing that would lead me away from being ostracized in school later. Alright, it is easy. She is the daughter of a soldier. That means Brother Zach could introduce me to her father, and then, as long as I lavish her with sweets and food from our house, it would be simple.
I wanted to enact my plan as soon as possible. However, a mage came to our doorstep first thing in the morning. He bore a message from the mage tower. Mage Tower or Mage Guild is a guild specialized for mages that worked for our empire. It was a highly prestigious place where its members were sometimes viewed as higher than nobles even though they had a commoner background.
"Greetings, Count and Countess Shadowstep, my name is Alex Desertwalker, Margrave Desertwalker's fourth son. I am here today as a special tutor for young Miss Eli and Alicia."
"Dad, why am I being tutored right now when we will learn about magic eventually in the academy?"
"If you have a magic talent above level 6, it is highly recommended that you take this tutor to prevent your magic from going out of control."
"Going out of control?" I looked at him, and he looked the other way, trying to avoid my gaze.
"Yes. I believe your menacing and intimidating look, for example, half of it should be from your dark magic," he said, then moved his eyes back to me.
"So, my scary look is actually because of my magic?"
"Possibly. If you try to suppress all of your mana, you can lessen the intimidating look you give out."
I did as he told me. It was easier said than done. I could cast beginner magic, but controlling mana directly without prompting from spells was new to me. When I closed my eyes and sensed my body, my mana was indeed leaked outside. I tried to suppress all of it inside.
"Good. You are a quick learner," Alex smiled. At the same time, Alicia, the other girl with fire talent level 6, came in. When I looked at her, she smiled back without pausing or getting startled. I felt giddy with excitement as I looked at my maid, my brother, and my father. My youngest brother confirmed it. My intimidating eye has lessened.
"Ah, she looks different than usual. She's less creepy now," Daniel said.
"I see, so it was because of her magic," Brother Zach and Father muttered. "Ah, I welcome you, Alicia, daughter of John."
"G-g-greetings, my lord," she bowed, but she was nervous. Am I not normal? I could bow to anyone without getting nervous. Is that the normal behavior for a ten-year-old?
"I apologize if my daughter has any misconduct. May I know why we were called?"
"Greetings, honorable soldier of the empire. The empire has decreed that anyone who has magic talent level 6 or greater shall be put into tutoring as soon as possible so they could contribute to the empire immediately."
"I see. Will our family be charged for the lesson fee?"
"Well… the fee is 2 gold each month, and we require you to pay upfront. His majesty already dispatched a tutor from the royal academies, after all. 2 gold is already cheap," the soldier looked like he had eaten a bitter bug when he heard the price.
Two gold coins equal half a month’s pay for a commoner. Since he is working as a soldier on the front lines, I expected him to be paid higher, but it was still a substantial amount. This is a chance. This is a chance for me to easily make friends!
"Dad, let's pay for her! I want us to study together!"