A Glimmer of Hope
The longer I hesitated, the darker the baron's daughter's expression grew. She was a clever child — she must have already figured out why I was stalling.
"Ahaha… W-well, no matter how hard you study, you can't use magic without mana."
In the end, I decided to tell her the truth. Giving her false hope would only cause problems later.
"Mana, is it…"
"That's right."
"Then… does that mean you have mana, Miss?"
"I have Holy Power, actually…"
The baron's daughter looked as though she couldn't make sense of what I'd said.
"Y-you'll learn about this later, but Holy Power and mana aren't fundamentally all that different."
"Is that so?"
She still didn't seem to understand a word of it. Clever as she was, she was still just a child.
"Then… does that mean I can't use magic at all?"
Ah, what a painfully awkward question… To use magic, you either had to awaken mana or obtain Holy Power. Holy Power required the gods' favor, and mana required talent. I had no idea how much talent the baron's daughter possessed, so I couldn't give her a proper answer.
"W-well… if you manage to obtain mana, then yes, it would be possible."
That was all I could offer her.
"I see…"
The moment I saw the clear disappointment on her face, my heart sank. If I handled this poorly, was I going to get scolded? No — getting scolded would be the best-case scenario. What if the baron himself decided to punish me?
"Holy Power is… the power the clergy use, isn't it?"
"Th-that's right."
Of course, even people who weren't clergy could obtain it if they had faith in the gods. It was a rare case — and I happened to be one of them.
"I can't become a priestess, so Holy Power is out of the question."
Ugh… what was I supposed to do now? I racked my brains, searching for some way to comfort the baron's daughter.
If only The Master were here! Aah! Master, when are you coming back?!
Watching her face grow more and more dejected, I felt as though this was entirely my fault. Making such a lovely child look ready to cry — I was a terrible person!
"Ahem! W-well, it's not as though there's no way at all."
After fretting over it again and again, I finally spoke up. I carefully leaned in close to the baron's daughter and lowered my voice.
"Y-you know… I've heard that noble families have secret methods for obtaining mana."
According to The Master, such methods definitely existed. Otherwise, how else could you explain the disproportionately high rate of mana among noble children? Whether this particular baronial house had such a secret, though, was another matter entirely. I might have been giving her false hope. Still… this wouldn't cause problems, would it?
I was a little worried, but offering her this much hope seemed harmless enough.
The moment I finished speaking, light sparked in the baron's daughter's eyes.
"A secret method…?!"
"Yes. Y-your father has mana, doesn't he?"
"Of course! Father is a truly outstanding knight!"
As expected… if he was a knight, then he definitely possessed mana. That made things simpler.
"You have an older brother as well, don't you?"
"My proud big brother!"
The baron's daughter perked up noticeably. Ah — so she was a bit of a brother-con.
"Your brother is a knight too, right?"
I wasn't entirely certain, but rumor had it he was of Knight Class.
She nodded.
"Seeing as both of them have mana, it seems quite likely your family does have such a method."
Of course, it was possible the baron and his son had simply awakened mana through raw talent — but the odds of a secret method existing looked higher. And if they didn't have one… well, they'd just have to figure something out themselves! My apologies, Baron!
"I'll have to ask Father about it."
She looked ready to burst through the door that very second.
"You do realize the lesson isn't over yet, right?"
She flinched, then slumped her shoulders.
"That's right…"
"Until The Master returns, let's just take it easy."
The baron's daughter was full of curiosity and demanded I show her some magic, so I demonstrated a few simple spells for her.
I was still doing my best to keep her entertained when the door to the room suddenly flew open.
"Emi!"
The man who strode in had dazzling golden hair and blue eyes… and a face that bore a striking resemblance to the young lady sitting before me.
"Big Brother?!"
Only after hearing the baron's daughter call out did I realize who he was. The baron's son and heir… and the very person whose treasure hunt I'd thoroughly ruined by ransacking that ruin first…
The moment I laid eyes on the young master, a guilty prickle ran through me. What if he somehow figured out I was the one who'd cleaned out the ruin?
"Oh, was this the lady's teatime? My apologies."
The young master offered a faint smile as he approached me.
"And where might the lady be from?"
The instant his sister's back was turned, his expression shifted. He made no effort whatsoever to hide his hostility, and I flinched despite myself.
Even as someone who'd once been a man, I could tell he was handsome — so why did everything he did have to be so regrettable? No, this was hardly the time to be thinking about that.
"I-I'm the disciple of the mage who came to teach your sister magic."
"Big Brother! That's what this is!"
"I see."
Once my identity was clear, the young master's expression softened.
"My apologies for that."
"Ah, no, it's fine…"
I was a commoner, and he was a noble. After he'd already gone so far as to apologize, pressing the matter any further would put my life in danger.
"So, where is the mage?"
"Th-The Master stepped out for a short walk."
"Ah, so that was him."
Apparently he'd already run into The Master on his way here. Without warning, the young master leaned his face right up to mine and smiled gently. His expression was soft enough, but the look in his eyes was downright murderous, and it terrified me. Had I done something wrong?
"Well then, enjoy the rest of your time."
Fortunately, it seemed there was no real problem, and the young master withdrew just like that. Whew… that was terrible for my heart. Having a man that handsome — even from a guy's perspective — shove his face that close had set my heart pounding so hard it startled me.
"Really… I'm so sorry about my brother."
"I-it's fine."
I didn't have the courage to tell a noble that no, it was not fine.
Before long, The Master returned and resumed teaching magic. Midway through the lesson, the baron's daughter asked about the secret method for obtaining mana, and The Master visibly flinched.
He glanced over at me, and I pressed my hands together in a silent apology.
"It is true that such secret methods exist. Whether this baronial house possesses one, however…"
"Then I'll simply have to ask Father."
The Master had been about to continue the lesson, but he closed his book and instead began teaching her about methods for obtaining mana. Of course, he was only explaining that such training methods existed — not that they would actually grant her mana.
The method itself wasn't anything particularly special. Someone who could already handle mana would provide a mild stimulus, allowing the other person to sense mana for themselves.
"That sounds simple enough."
"But mana is essentially like a bodily organ. An ordinary person can't even perceive it."
A new bodily organ, huh… That did sound about right. Once you'd obtained the power, handling it wasn't all that difficult — the hard part was getting it in the first place.
The Master's explanation continued. He said that gaining mana was like growing a brand-new hand or foot.
"Among mages, there is one method passed down for awakening a disciple's mana."
This was the first I'd heard of it as well… but The Master's explanation certainly sounded plausible.
Accepting another person's mana into your body to awaken your own sense of it.
"However, this method is extremely dangerous. If the person injecting the mana makes even a slight mistake in their control, they can kill the recipient."
Things had suddenly gotten serious… Mana alone was capable of exerting physical force, so if someone wanted to do something terrible with the mana they'd introduced into another person's body, they certainly could. And there was another problem, he said. When foreign mana entered the body and began to interfere, a rejection reaction would occur — putting both parties in danger.
So that was how they forced someone to sense mana — through such a perilous act… And even then, if the person had no talent, they still wouldn't obtain mana. Hardly a reason to attempt it.
"Fewer than one in ten people who try this method actually succeed in obtaining mana."
A method that required entrusting your life to someone else, with a vanishingly slim success rate…
"Unless the person is truly exceptional, even attempting it is a dangerous act."
"I see…"
The baron's daughter listened with grave attention.
"Even for the baron, it would not be an easy undertaking."
The Master assigned the baron's daughter a simple homework assignment and brought the lesson to a close.
"I'll leave this basic magic primer here for you. Please give it a read."
Once the lesson was finished and we stepped out of the room, the butler began escorting us out of the manor.
"Thank you for your hard work."
"Haha. The baron's daughter certainly has the will to learn."
"Is that so?"
"Of course, will alone isn't enough when it comes to magic."
We boarded the same carriage that had brought us to the manor and headed back to the used bookstore. No matter how expensive the carriage, there was no helping the ache in my backside.
"Well then, until next time."
If the baron's daughter was satisfied, did that mean we'd keep getting summoned…? No, wait. The Master could just go alone, right? Next time, I'd use studying as an excuse to skip out.
Once we were back at the bookstore, The Master said he was exhausted and went to rest first.
"What about you?"
"I'll read for a bit and then rest."
The sun was still up, but honestly, I was worn out… Riding in a carriage had been more tiring than expected, and dealing with nobles had left me mentally drained.
"Hah… nobles, huh…"
Their lives really were on a completely different level from anything I knew of this world… Clean houses, fine facilities — ah, I was so jealous.
It wasn't that I particularly disliked my current life, but what if I'd been born a noble? I never would have become a woman, and I might have used the knowledge from my previous life to accomplish something meaningful.
Of course, even now I'd obtained Holy Power, was learning magic, and had discovered alchemy…
"But a regret is still a regret…"
The baron's daughter must have taken a liking to The Master's lessons, because she kept summoning us. Once a week was still a nuisance.
I tried telling The Master that I needed to train and that he should go alone…
"Apparently the baron's daughter specifically asked for you as well."
"What?!"
They'd named me directly… And on top of that, the baron himself hoped I would accompany them for his daughter's sake… The Master wasn't the type to push, but a father's feelings were a father's feelings. And once a noble made a request like that, refusing was nearly impossible.
"Well, I suppose there's no helping it."
I'd been planning to just read books and train at my leisure… But after a few more visits to the baron's manor, I ended up growing close to the baron's daughter.
It wasn't all bad — once she took a liking to me, gifts started coming along with it. She'd give me her own accessories, saying it was pitiful that I never dressed up despite being a girl, or she'd insist we enjoy teatime together…
There were no other girls her age around, so she seemed to have decided to make a friend of me, the closest person in age she had.
The problem was that my study time had shrunk. I'd reached a point where I could handle magic well enough to begin learning Holy Magic in earnest, and having to spend time on other things was frustrating. Of course, my sister told me there was no need to rush and that I should take my time learning.
"Sis, are you doing okay for money?"
She was living at an inn rather than at The Master's place, so I was worried.
"Yeah."
"You're fine?"
"Started adventuring."
Ah… so my sister had become an adventurer. As a Knight Class who could already handle mana, she'd thrive as an adventurer in a way I never could. And once my studies were finished, going on adventures together didn't sound half bad.
"Really? Do your best."
My sister nodded.