Reed tried to come up with some explanation, but there was nothing he could think of to justify this contradiction.

Maybe Reed was a demonic beast? Wait, that makes no sense.

Is there any way at all to explain this?

Not being able to think, Reed decided to abandon the issue for now. He didn’t trust Anna enough yet to question her about this.

* I’m going to check the library.

* …Alright.

Reed went down one level to go into the library. He wanted to see if he could find out about his problem with the ether, but he also needed to verify if his father had left any records behind.

Checking out the book titles on each bookcase, he noticed most books were about the history of Muros and its continents: Murland, Korland and Helland

Not interested in history at the moment, Reed went around seeing if he could find any kind of book that could have been written by his father.

Coming across some books with no titles, Reed went ahead and picked them up to read.

Surprisingly enough, the first book he opened turned out to be written by his father. It contained his own personal history.

It started off with Serion and Seiria meeting, and picked up from there.

Describing the process of Seiria’s treatment, it mentioned how Serion eventually fell in love with Seiria after having her stay at his house.

On a certain day, Seiria gave birth to Reed.

That’s where the diary starts to get strange.

Often, Serion mentions how he wishes he could love his son, but didn’t have the heart to love the son Seiria had with another man. And, according to the what Seiria said, a man that probably raped her.

Feeling frustrated, Serion started to build up stress, until…

The day Seiria died.

Then Serion went mad. He first became depressed about her dying, but a plan had started to sprout on his head.

A plan to revive Seiria.

Reading up to this point, Reed started to feel nauseous, so he closed the diary and decided to read the rest of it tomorrow.

Reed started to go up, planning to train a bit outside, but ended up bumping into Anna on the stairs.

* …Where are you going?

* I am going to try a bit outside, what about you?

* …Going back to read in my room. But if you’re going to train, I want to watch you.

* …Why?

* …I’m curious how you got as strong as you are. Besides, the way you control mana is… weird.

* How so?

* …I can’t explain it. That’s why I want to see you train, to figure it out.

*

Thus, Reed and Anna both went outside. Reed started doing his basic exercises from the time he spent at the village, and the mana enhancing exercises he came up with on his own.

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While doing the mana enhancement, he noticed the wolves presence coming close to him, so he let them know they could come over. He wanted to let Anna know about the wolves, because he didn’t want to hide them for four years like he did before, only to have them die.

Upon seeing the wolves coming out, Anna started to get up and go ready to cast a spell, until she noticed the wolves weren’t doing anything to them. She calmed down, and stared as the wolves started to surround Reed as he exercised.

* …Are these wolves yours? There’s so many…

* I defeated their leader so now they are my followers.

* …Is that so? That’s interesting…

Anna looked deep in thought, while Reed continued to exercise.

Eventually, he started to try and manipulate the mana around his body.

Once he gotten into the rhythm of it, Reed decided he wanted to once more try and call forth that power which let him defeat a dragon and his father. He wanted to master that power.

Concentrating his mana, Reed sent everything to his brain in order to enhance it. He then entered a focused state, where everything around him came in slow motion.

Feeling the mana in his body, he eventually arrived at the river of mana, where countless rocks came towards him. Seeing the big rock he touched it, and feelings started to spread through his body.

Pain, power, pleasure and hate.

Letting these feelings take hold of him, Reed held back a scream that was about to come out of his mouth.

The pain started to spread through his body, covering the others emotions and making them become small compared to it.

However, Reed was used to pain, so he endured it. Nevertheless, the pain grew, and grew, and grew more and more until…

Every feeling in his body disappeared, and then rapidly returned, making him disoriented.

Once Reed calmed down, he breathed out a sigh and relaxed.

He had failed, for some reason. Even though he had been successful before.

He did some more enhancing exercises, and went towards Anna, the wolves loyally following him all the while.

* …For a second, I saw that weird way of controlling mana again, just like before, but it disappeared suddenly. Did you fail?

* It’s not as easy as I thought it’d be.

* …I see. Are you planning to train again tomorrow?

* Yes, I plan on doing it every morning, why do you ask?

* …Could I see it again? I want to try to figure out this way of controlling mana of yours. Unless you want to tell me?

* I couldn’t even if I wanted to. It’s more like a feeling, or an instinct.

* …If you say so. Uh, are these wolves going to come inside?

* No, they seem to dislike this tower for some reason.

* …Can I, you know… pet them?

* Excuse me?

* …I said, can I pet them? Or are they too aggressive?

* It’s not that you can’t, but… well, okay. I’ll let them know you aren’t hostile.

* …Thank you.

Reed looked back at the wolves, communicating mentally that they could let her close, and said:

* Alright, they seem to be fine with you.

* …Okay.

Anna got close to the wolves, and extending her hand, eventually pet one. At first he was confused, but soon started to enjoy himself.

Reed saw a slight smile come out of Anna’s deadpan expression.

* That’s rare.

* …What?

* You, smiling.

* …Look who’s talking.

* Do you like wolves?

* …I used to have a pet dog. I think these wolves are… cute?

* You are a strange person.

* …Huh.

The wolves started to crowd around Anna, all of them wanting to get pet.

Anna and the wolves started to play around, and as Reed looked at that scene, he mumbled to himself:

* I think they are cute too.

And started to play around with the wolves too

While they played, Anna eventually asked Reed:

* …Why are you still wearing that cape?

* Because I like it, obviously.

Night came around, and then, after talking for a bit, Reed and Anna went back to sleep.