Malwine had spent more than a few hours staring at the roof above her bed.
Her thoughts all lingered around how long recovering from the Debuff would take, nevermind that she had literally just ranked up and didn’t particularly need to do it again so soon. If she even could have, without the Debuff.
[Strained Core]
From forcefully advancing your core
Pushing through to higher core stages becomes harder as the lining of your core recovers from being subjected to excessive force.
[This Debuff is ephemeral and will expire should the conditions for it no longer be met.]
Would clarifying what those conditions are have been too much to ask?
Adelheid hovered at the edge of her bed. “Are you okay, sister?”
“I’m doing great, Adelheid. I just need a nap.” And something to beat up.
“You don’t look okay.”
Leave it to a child to be the bluntest thing in the world.
Malwine sighed loudly. “I got to the greener green stage.”
Her little sister’s eyes lit up. “Really? That’s awesome!”
“And now I have a Visible Status Effect, a Debuff. It says ranking up further will be harder.”
“Oh, no,” Adelheid looked on in horror. “Why?”
“Apparently, I ranked up too fast,” Malwine took a deep breath. “It was my bad, really. I knew it could happen, but I ranked up anyway.”
“Because of the prettier color?”
“Yes, Adelheid, it was because of the pretty color. I just couldn’t pass up on the chance to get a prettier color.”
The door to their room slammed open then.
“What’s this I heard about colors?” Anna Franziska walked in, an oversized bag slung over her shoulders. “How convenient! I have coloring pens right here.”
Adelheid gaped. “What?”
“Wave take me, Anna Franziska,” Malwine leapt off her bed just to put her hands on her hips and stare the maid down. “Have you ever heard of the concept of knocking?”
“No, who is that?”
Only then did Malwine notice there was someone else there—a small figure clung to Anna Franziska, partially hidden by the hem of her skirt.
Oh, no.
“My daughter,” Anna Franziska said, moving to close the door. “Go on, Franziska. Say hi to the girls.”
“Does your baby name book only have two names in it?” Malwine huffed. Perhaps she was being a bit more forceful than she should have been, but her mood had yet to improve. “Is it bring-your-kid-to-work day?”
Immediately after speaking, Malwine felt the urge to bite her lip. I’m being a dick to her for no reason. Me getting myself a well-deserved Debuff isn't her fault… Let alone the girl’s.
The maid handled it graceful. “It is. As will be all days for the foreseeable future. Malcolm’s taken a new job, and I’ve relocated to one of the satellite homes here with Franziska.”
The girl in question had yet to separate from her mother, presumably given the utterly warm welcome she had been receiving so far. Truly, she must have been loving the ambiance.
Adelheid tugged at Malwine’s sleeve. “Look, sister! A friend!”
“We don’t—”
That was how Malwine found herself being dragged forward by her little sister, in the direction of Franziska.
“Hi, Franziska! I’m Adelheid, and this is my sister, Malwine.”
Anna Franziska raised an eyebrow at that. “Sister?”
“Yep!”
Franziska’s head peeked from behind her mother’s skirt. “Hi.”
“Hi, Franziska,” Malwine forced a smile. “You have a beautiful name, never let anyone tell you otherwise.”
“Thanks?”
“That’s it for introductions, then!” Anna Franziska clapped her hands. “Come on over, now,” she pulled an honest-to-the-waves foldable table out of the bag and placed it in front of them. Chairs soon followed, all seemingly wooden, but very much following what Malwine would have expected of foldable furniture from the widow’s Earth in terms of visible parts. “We’re going to have so much fun!”
“What in any Devil’s name is this, Anna Franziska?” Malwine glared at the setup. “Why are you setting up a domino table in here?”
“Language, Malwine!” the maid chastised with a raised finger. “Who taught you that phrase? I will have to talk to them.”
“You said it in the kitchen and I heard you,” Malwine helpfully supplied. She wasn’t even sure if the maid had ever said that while in the kitchen, but Anna Franziska went red in the face.
“Anyway,” Anna Franziska continued. “Hop on. We’ll be doing some activities. And since I heard you talking about colors, we can start with those?”
“Start what with those, Anna Franziska?”
The maid simply gestured towards the table as if it were some grand price. Malwine was far from impressed, but she found herself once again forcefully relocated by her overeager little sister. Franziska got placed on a chair by her mother, with about the same elegance Malwine had once been carried up the stairs by the same maid.
“See these papers?” Anna Franziska started, summoning four sheets of paper from her inventory. She placed one in front of each chair before sitting down herself. “We’re going to practice writing with these. We’ll start with the names of colors, in the corresponding color.”
“I know how to write the names of colors,” Malwine pouted.
Adelheid’s tone was more cheerful than it had any right to be when she said, “I don’t!”
The maid’s own daughter did not comment. As far as Malwine could tell with a sweep-over with [Nosy Old Lady], the girl had no Affinities. She was as mortal as her mother.
“Well, everyone’s bound to be at a different learning stage when we do this kind of thing, but it serves us all as practice anyway,” the maid seemed unfazed. A pen with a green tip appeared in her hand. “These are normally used for art projects, not writing, but they’ll be our instruments today so we can practice colors.”
Summoning three more green pens, she handed one to each of the girls. Malwine eyed it with genuine curiosity. It was like a strange cross between a coloring pencil and an ink pen, but she saw neither buttons to press nor signs of previous sharpening.
“This is the first color—green,” Anna Franziska said, and started drawing out the syllables with the pen. “See this? This is how you write it. Now, your turn. Start with a line here…”
----------------------------------------
The impossible had occurred. Much to her chagrin, Malwine found herself enjoying the lesson. Anna Franziska wasn’t even a bad teacher—if nothing else, she was surprisingly patient, ignoring Malwine’s jabs until the newcomer to the Mortal Esse gave up on even trying to continue directing her anger at the maid.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Is she even still a maid? Is this like, an official role change, or is she just doing this because she feels like it?
“Do you still work in the kitchens?” Malwine asked her.
“No,” Anna Franziska shook her head, putting the purple pens back in her inventory. “I’ll still bring you meals here while the lockdown is in effect, but I’ll be taking over your education. I certainly hope you don’t mind.”
“Who put you up to this?” Malwine narrowed her eyes.
“No one!” the former maid assured her a bit too quickly. “I was going to start putting more efforts into Franziska’s lessons now that she’s with me full time, so I thought, why not include the two of you as well? You were certainly comfortable talking to me, so I volunteered for it.”
Damn census coming back to haunt me.
“I see,” Malwine nodded. She’d found herself mellowing out to the concept. She was, strictly speaking, a child in this world, and didn’t know much about how things worked here. “I’ve made arrangements for a particularly long nap on the first day of The Snow, so give us that day off, though.”
“Arrangements for a nap? What sort of arrangements?”
“That’s between me and this extremely comfy blanket I have.”
“…Okay?”
“Oh! Will there be history lessons?”
“History interests you?” Anna Franziska’s tone was a bit off on the question. “Which topics?”
“Just history in general, I guess,” Malwine shook her head. “The census got me curious, is all.”
Adelheid grinned. “The Rīsan estate census!”
“We’re repeating that next year, don’t worry.”
Their new teacher looked positively terrified.
----------------------------------------
“What do you think about her?”
Adelheid was in her bed, legs up against the bed frames like on those depictions of teenagers texting on their phones, back on the widow’s Earth. In this case, she was fiddling with one of the pens, a black one she had shamelessly stolen despite her alleged beliefs. “About who?”
“Anna Franziska, I mean.”
“She’s nice,” Adelheid continued her examination of the pen. “Besides, her daughter’s nice.”
“She barely even talked to us.”
“So? We’ll have to become her friends. That’s probably what unlocks her talking more.”
Malwine choked.
“I’m serious,” Adelheid looked her in the eye. “I know it when I see her. She would say things. She just doesn’t know us yet. I think she’d be a good friend.”
Malwine chose not to argue that point. “Because of {Implicit}?”
“Yep!”
“Right,” she shook her head. “Look, Adelheid. I wanted to talk to you about that. Do you remember what I said, about my other Skills that were rarely useful?”
Her little sister nodded.
“I have one that lets me copy an Affinity from someone else, someone related to me, but I have to know what it is,” Malwine said. “I was wondering if you would mind me copying {Impl—”
“Sure!” Adelheid beamed. “Then we can be even more alike! I can teach you all about it!”
“Oh.”
Malwine hadn’t been expecting that to go so smoothly. She’d expected follow-up questions, at least.
She reached for Adelheid with [Mana Reclaimer]. This time, there was no resistance at all.
Adelheid fon Hūdijanin's possession of {Implicit} is proven. (❗) Implicit X confirmed.
“Hey, Adelheid…” Malwine accepted the Affinity but continued to glare at the panel, holding it in place. “What did you do to your name?”
“Oh!” Adelheid nodded to herself. “I forgot to mention it. But I took the name back from great-grandma. Maybe someday when she’s calmed down and I see her again, this’ll make her forgive me. Plus it’s mine, anyway.”
“Remember we can’t see her anytime soon!”
“I know! I told you I have a good memory, you don’t need to keep reminding me of that!”
Malwine shook her head and checked her new Affinity out.
Implicit X
There is much that was left undone, there is much that may yet be done.
This Affinity may be increased to Implicit ∞ by reaching Acclimation and Control milestones to evolve its core effect.
If you turn this Affinity into a Root, you may use Implicit-aligned mana as Mana Source regardless of origin.
So this is it. {Legacy} is one step above this tier-wise.
“Hey, Adelheid. What were your Acclimation and Control for {Implicit} at again?”
“What?” the girl looked up from her new favorite object. “Oh, that. Hundred-sixteen, fifty-eight.”
Yeah, I’m not tiering that thing up to the infinity tier anytime soon.
Malwine stared at her panel for {Implicit}, creating it on a blank panel. She showed the copy to Adelheid. “Is this what yours looks like?”
Her little sister examined it. “Almost. Mine says said, instead of done. Funny. Great-grandma used to say I’d have to get {Missing} to that other level if I wanted to find your mother. But {Missing} is at nine, not ten. I thought it was dumb. It would be easier if they were the same.”
Malwine patted her back. “Don’t worry, you’ll get them all to infinity someday.”
“Infinity?”
“The symbol for the tier.”
“Oh. Great-grandma called it Timeless.”
“I see.”
Malwine refocused—she had {Implicit} now. She also had a new slot to plant a Root in. Choosing {Implicit} here, however, would mean giving up on {Ore}, presumably until she reached Core Integration.
Oh, who am I kidding? What would I do with {Ore} in
You have chosen to plant a Implicit X
Which Class category would you like to make {Implicit} the Root of?
Available Class categories:
If you use a Root as Mana Source for any abilities beyond the Class it was planted for, its effectiveness will be limited to 25% of what it would be within its Class.
(!) Skill effect present: [Enforced Longevity]
With that, all four of her categories had Roots now—she could hardly believe it. Malwine smiled. Another perk of ranking up was hidden within one of her oldest Skills, with its maximum range of protection now extended.
[Close to my Chest]
Another thing to rib Veit about. Nevermind that it probably doesn’t matter to him.
He did still have at least 175 levels on that value, despite how considerable an improvement from 140 to 160 looked to Malwine.
Malwine told herself she wouldn’t be using any of those extra Skill slots until
Getting
Social Skills were not her forte—Skills or just skills—but she wasn’t about to leave the category to lag behind forever let alone when there could be consequences to doing so. Besides, [Write Anywhere]’s looking pretty lonely there. If only I could get more panel Skills.
Malwine made a mental note to ask Veit about Forgers later, then turned that into a real note in a blank panel and her brain caught up to her, because taking real notes was something she could certainly do. And often did.
Man, I’m really out of it today.
“Hey, Adelheid,” she interrupted her little sister, who was currently in the process of manipulating the pen with a pair of shadows, trying to use them to write with it instead of her hands. “I think we should get some Skills for the other categories.”
“Cool,” Adelheid’s shadows drew another line on the paper she’d somehow stuck to the wall. “How do we get more, though? I don’t have any more harvestables.”
“Bernie has Skill books somewhere, but she doesn’t put them in the library,” Malwine said, proceeding to tell the girl what she remembered of the books from Matilda’s party. “They didn’t have lots of Skills, but maybe some could be useful. I didn’t actually have time to check all of them out.”
“Okay. So what should I do?”
“Can you go check on Bernie and Matilda? Maybe follow them around to see where Bernie keeps the books!”
“Okay!” Adelheid nodded. She glanced at the paper. “You, keep going!”
Malwine could only stare as her little sister disappeared, but the shadows over her bed continued writing out the symbols for the color ‘black’, indeed showing no signs of intent to stop anytime soon.