Chapter 1: Rebirth

It might not have been up to me to decide, but I felt like my life had been an unusually tough one.

Between torture played off as “training,” and my definition of “going for a stroll” being a walk through a warzone, I think it was a fair assessment.

In the midst of said troubled life, I became the 37th special operator for an underground organization; a secret agent, if you will.

I met my partner there—whose resolve I fell in love with—and the two of us fought side-by-side from then on.

In my 50s, after surviving years of dangerous work, I retired from field work and became an instructor instead.

Despite being difficult, it was a fulfilling job. I had to work hand in hand with my students. But, during this time, a secret organization was working to take over the world. They set an evil plan into motion.

Our agency picked up on the group’s movements, but determined that taking their leader out would prove difficult. As such, they sent their best man to do the job: me.

I bet they felt safe knowing that if an old man like me were to die in action, it wouldn’t be much of a loss anyway. There may have been some people who, jealous of my skill , wanted me gone too.

My partner knew I was being used and was against it from the start. Nonetheless, I accepted the mission. I had the higher-ups promise that my partner would get a promotion if I succeeded, and that was enough for me.

And, after pulling off the plan perfectly… I died.

That story went on longer than expected. The gist of it is that my life was far from a normal one.

By the time I died, I was around 60; few things could take me by surprise. I had seen a lot, but I was still unable to hide my confusion at the situation I found myself in.

“Waaa!”

Of course, anyone would be shocked if they were turned into a baby. I tried to shout, but it just turned into crying, as you’d expect.

I couldn’t move my tiny hands and feet the way I wanted, either—just like a real baby. I had always been good at dealing with shocking situations, but this was too much even for me. I tried hard to calm down and assess the situation. As I was attempting to do so, something peeked down at me from above.

“…? …?”

Someone seemed to be looking down at me and talking, but my underdeveloped ears and eyes couldn’t make sense of it at all. The main takeaway is that they didn’t seem to be there to harm me, though.

I decided to try scanning my memories for clues.

I suffered life threatening wounds in the process of taking my target out. I knew I couldn’t make it out of there alive, so I decided to blow the whole place up, myself with it.

The last thing I remembered was rubble and concrete crashing onto me from above. I passed out and suddenly woke up as a baby. Okay. That still made no sense at all.

I had definitely died, so why had I suddenly turned into a baby?

Some people believe in being reincarnated and all that, but why would I have retained my memories?

Wouldn’t your soul and your mind be wiped clean when you got reincarnated?

The weirdest thing was that I was still able to remember all the details of my life, but I couldn’t recall the faces of my students and my partner. It was like there were holes within my memories.

I had no real theories at all as to what could have happened, and there was no one to ask for answers.

Out of the blue, the person above me lifted me up and interrupted my train of thought. They started singing in a calm voice as they cradled me.

Because of my poor eyesight, I couldn’t see them too clearly. I could tell they were human, at the very least.

From what I could make out, she seemed like an older woman—and quite the beauty, at that. She had long, blue hair. Had I met her in my old life, I would have likely asked her out for a drink.

For some reason, she was wearing a maid uniform. It looked too well put together to be cosplay. Maybe she was a real maid? That meant it was very possible I was in a foreign country.

While I analyzed the situation, the woman kept rocking me back and forth gently, humming some kind of children’s song.

I still couldn’t make sense of the words, but the warm and loving way she handled me started to make me slowly drift off.

I still had so much to think about, but the pleasant warmth of her embrace was too hard to resist, and I fell asleep.

※※※

A month had passed since I woke up in this strange situation, but I had not yet seen anything beyond the room I was kept in.

It was a fairly small room, and rather barren besides the bed I slept in and a lone closet. The old-fashioned sheets were quite uncomfortable to the touch. Considering my only purpose so far had been eating and sleeping, I already showed considerable growth.

I could see better now, and speech no longer sounded like muffled noise from broken speakers. I even managed to improve my mobility, although it took a lot of effort. If I exerted myself too much, I’d quickly get hungry.

I was always given food when I got hungry, which made me think that someone always kept an eye on me. But on this day they were a lot slower, for some reason. I hadn’t cried since waking up in this body; not even once. Since I was hungry, I decided to try it out. As I was about to try, the door finally opened. Like usual, the blue-haired maid walked in.

“...”

Right. I could hear, but I still couldn’t make any sense of what she was saying.

Thanks to my work, I’d learned several languages from around the world.

Unfortunately, I didn’t recognize this one at all. I was still stuck in a baby’s body, so I couldn’t ask her anything anyway. I figured just listening to her over time would eventually teach me enough to understand. For now, food was more important.

Just then, I noticed another girl wearing a similar maid uniform walk out from behind the blue-haired woman.

I grew guarded, but the woman thought nothing of it. She brought the spoon to my mouth and fed me in the same loving manner as usual.

A thought struck me—shouldn’t babies normally be fed milk from a bottle? Well, whatever.

I simply opened my mouth and ate, not giving it too much thought.

“... ... ...”

---

---

Maybe she was showing the other girl how to do it?

After feeding me a couple of spoonfuls, she handed the food over to the girl and left the room. The girl smiled from ear to ear, which made me notice something strange.

Why did she have cat ears?

She was a cute girl, with her red hair tied up in a ponytail. But I just couldn’t stop thinking about the cat ears on her head.

There were a lot of younger kids in my day who liked cosplaying as various characters, but these were different. The ears moved just like the real thing.

As I lay there, confused, the girl brought the spoon to my mouth.

I had a lot of questions about the whole situation, but hunger still came first, so I complied and opened my mouth wide.

“...!”

For some reason, the girl practically trembled with joy each time I ate. Once I had finished,she just stood there gazing at me. Maybe she was one of those girls who just couldn’t look away when faced with something cute. Then again, I hadn’t seen myself in the mirror or anything, so I couldn’t attest to whether I was cute or not.

Were those ears actually real? To find out, I tried reaching out to touch them, but the girl smiled brightly and caught my hands in hers. This went on for a while until she finally seemed to get what I was trying to grab and leaned down. Just as I thought. After touching her fluffy ears for a bit, I could tell that they were definitely real. Not only that—when I looked down, I also spotted a tail. Was she really human?

“...! ... ...”

As I was reeling over the fact that I’d just seen a girl with real animal features, her expression changed. She looked like she’d just had a great idea. She closed her eyes, raised her index finger, and muttered something to herself.

“...!”

She put emphasis on the final part of whatever she was saying. Suddenly, a small fireball appeared above her finger. Whoa, wait a second. A fireball? It looked too real to be a party trick. How did she manage to get the fire to float in such a perfect sphere?

“... ...!”

Upon realizing my surprise, the girl smiled and started to make the fireball fly around the room. Clearly, this wasn’t merely an illusion.

Was she using real magic?

“...?”

The blue-haired woman returned, spotted the fireball, and placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder. The woman had a smile on her face, but the girl started sweating bullets and apologized over and over again. Within a moment, the fireball vanished.

She had real cat ears, a tail, and could make fire out of thin air—all traits thought to be scientifically impossible. Obviously, there was only one explanation for this: I was not in my own world.

※※※

Three months had passed since I realized I was in another world. I had finally grown more stable, so I was able to crawl around on my own. I now spent my days sneaking away from the maids, and crawled around the house in an attempt to gather information. What I learned only helped confirm my suspicions: that this was indeed not my world. Since there was magic and whatnot, it seemed logical to conclude I wasn’t merely in a different country or continent; rather, I was in a completely different reality.

Throughout my life, I had assumed that if I were to go somewhere after death, it would have been hell. Being reborn into another world never crossed my mind. I’ve experienced a lot already, but life sure is full of mysteries.

Overall, this world seemed similar to medieval Europe in many ways. There was no electricity, so you’d need candles for light. Since people could use magic to produce fire at will, this didn’t seem to be too big of a problem.

I had just snuck out of my room to investigate further, but I realized it was almost time for dinner. I quickly headed back to bed.

“Time to eat, so open wiiide! I have lots of food for you! Say ‘aaah!’”

I had started understanding more and more of what the maids were saying. They say babies learn fast, but my cat-eared friend here was likely the biggest reason. She was very talkative—almost to an annoying degree. Soon I learned quite a lot, including my own name: Sirius. That’s what they called me. While it felt strange, that’s how I got my new name. I had forgotten my own name from my previous life, so I decided to embrace my new identity.

“Would Sirius happen to be finished yet?”

The blue-haired maid, Erina, came in to check on us. I didn’t know exactly how old she was, but she was definitely an older woman. As you’d expect, her mannerisms were about everything you’d look for in a maid.

“Yes, we just finished. I must say, Sirius has such great manners when eating. I thought feeding a baby would be much harder than this.”

“Sirius is a special child. I am certain he will grow to be no less than a great man.”

Erina was quite the doting parent. At first, I thought she was my mom. Based on the way the two maids talked, though, it seems I was wrong.

So a doting “parent” might not be correct, but the loving way she looked at me was definitely motherly.

“Yeah, it’s almost like he understands us. And he’s so cute too!”

The cat-eared maid, Noel, hardly ever took her eyes off me. She appeared to be younger—around 30—and still learning the ropes of the job from Erina. Despite her age, there was still a sense of childishness to her.

“Do you think he’ll call me big sister? Oh, I’d love that so much.”

She was a bit of an idiot, to be honest.

“You can fantasize about that later. There is cleaning to be done.”

“On it!” Noel answered energetically as she burst off.

Erina gently picked me up and left the room. She continued down the hallway, taking me outside for the first time since I was reborn. I didn’t know how the seasons here worked yet, but it was nice and warm. Perfect weather for a pleasant afternoon nap.

“It’s warm today, isn’t it? Let’s go for a little walk.”

Erina slowly walked around the house. This was my first time seeing the place from the outside. It was a beautiful wooden house with three stories.

From the looks of things, I’d say it had at least six rooms. That made it a bit bigger than your standard house. The garden was also quite large, with various patches to grow vegetables and other botanicals. The house was surrounded by woods, and I couldn’t see any neighbors nearby. There seemed to be nothing but empty fields and trees beyond the house's front gate.

As I watched my surroundings, lost in thought, I spotted a red rabbit jump out from a nearby thicket.

“Sirius, look. That’s a Holabi. It’s quite a timid creature, but it’s still a monster. You should stay away from them.”

So there were monsters in this world. I figured as much after I'd learned that magic exists. In other words, it seemed like you could end up running into something like a dragon if you were unlucky.

I decided I’d start training to defend myself as soon as I was able to. Obviously, there wasn’t much I could do in terms of training as a baby. I also needed to be careful about how much growth I displayed. For example, I would start with crawling. After a while, I'd move to walking and, eventually, running.

“Erina.”

“Oh my, did you just finish pruning?”

“Yes.”

Erina turned as someone called out to her from behind. A man holding a pair of gardening shears walked forward. He had short, brown hair, and an intense stare. Between that and his tall stature, he didn’t seem like the most sociable person. He was the type of person you’d hesitate to call out to when first meeting him.

“These aps seem ripe, so I picked them. I’ll use them for dinner.”

“I see. Noel loves those, so I’m sure she’ll be delighted.”

“Right.”

He didn’t speak much, as if any form of speech was uncomfortable. His expression didn’t change at all during the conversation either. He definitely seemed socially anxious. Erina must have noticed me watching him, because she held me out toward him and introduced us.

“Sirius, this is Dimas, our chef.”

“Erina, it’s a baby. I doubt he understands.”

“That might be, but it’s important for him to start recognizing the masters’ helpers. Go ahead and introduce yourself.”

“Okay. You can call me Dii, Sirius.”

“Bii!”

He clearly did not expect me to reply and stared at me in shock. For some reason, I felt like I’d just won something.

“It will be fun watching him grow.”

“Yes, indeed.”

They both looked down at me. Internally, I promised myself that I’d train hard. I also thought about the two mysterious figures who were supposed to be vital to my future—my parents. I hadn’t seen their faces since I was born; not even in a picture. I’d pretended that I hadn’t noticed until now, but I was getting curious. Where and who were they?

I didn’t know my parents in my past life. I couldn’t even remember their faces. I grew up in an orphanage, although it was soon taken away from me when it blew up in a terrorist attack. I was rescued, but my savior had no love for children. He only knew how to train someone, not raise a child. I wanted to grow stronger, though, so I called him my master. He trained me well, although without a shred of love or mercy. I had my master to thank for surviving the harsh world of an agent for as long as I did.

At any rate, I was familiar with the feeling of not knowing my parents. This was nothing new to me. Besides, my mind was that of a 60year-old man, so I didn’t need parents to raise me. Plus, I was never lonely thanks to Erina and Noel.

※※※

Half a year had passed since I was reborn.

Like usual, I continued to sneak away from the maids in order to train. Well, calling it “training” might have been an exaggeration. I was only performing simple stretches that were safe for my young body. I was proceeding as planned. At the pace I was going, I would surely develop unrivaled mental and physical strength. I knew that it was a ridiculous plan, but I hadn’t been the one to come up with it—actually, it came from my old master.

“If only I had found you when you when you were younger. I’d be able to make you into a perfect soldier. Even stronger than me.”

“I doubt I would have survived your training back then.”

“Well, that would have been a good learning experience, no?”

“But I’d be dead...”

He called it the “training program from hell.” I never would have thought I’d actually end up doing it one day. The training program was very harsh, but that was perfect for my goal, so I went with it. Since babies grow so fast, I had fun seeing how much I grew day by day.

I decided to show off my crawling for the first time. Noel’s tail went stiff, and she jumped around in joy as she watched me. She raced off in an ecstatic frenzy, saying she wanted to show everyone. It was quite amusing. Even Erina joined in the celebration. She normally didn’t drink much, but that day she had a glass of wine with her dinner, smiling from ear to ear. She began to dote on me even more from then on.

※※※

One year had passed since I was reborn.

My training was going well. I had started training my body through sit-ups and push-ups, and figured it was about time to start working on stamina. Soon, I could show them that I could walk.

“Sirius, look! Look over here!”

Noel was as energetic as always. Erina had told her time and time again that using magic around me was too dangerous, but Noel just loved to show her magic off. I wanted to learn how to use magic myself one day, so I always entertained her with grand reactions to keep her doing it.

“Oh god of flame, heed my call. Allow me to become thy emissary, and bring forth thy power: ‘Flame!’”

I’d seen her chant the same fireball spell time and time again, but it always amazed me.

“Hehehe, looks like big sis impressed you again, huh! That’s the only spell I’m good at, though.”

Excuse me, big sis, but I can hear you.

I was still a grown man mentally, so I found her desperate attempts to entertain me cute. Erina ended up finding out again, and gave Noel yet another scolding.

The next day, I decided to try using magic after my regular workout. I mimicked exactly what Noel had done, including using the same words and everything, but nothing happened. Did I just need to concentrate more? Or did I need to do something else I wasn’t aware of? I continued at it, but failed every time.

I decided to leave it for the time being and ask Noel once I could talk. Hopefully she wouldn’t tell me that I wasn't cut out for it. After lunch, I started to set my plan into motion as I watched Noel and Erina knit beside me.

“Erina, Sirius is watching us.”

“He is indeed. Could he perchance be growing an interest in knitting?”

“Eriii.”

“?!”

The knitting needles fell from Erina’s grip as she froze up.

“Sirius, say it one more time. One more time, please.”

“Erinaaa.”

“Ahh… ahh...”

She started to cry. Meanwhile, Noel jumped up and down, pointing at herself.

“Sirius, me! Dome! Noel! N-o-e-l!”

Just how desperate was she? It would have been fun calling Dii instead, but she looked so excited that I’d feel bad if I ignored her.

“Noel!”

“Eeek! Sirius, call me 'big sister’ next! Please!”

She blurted out more nonsense in her excitement. I felt that she was more than hyper enough already, so I ignored her.

“Dii.”

“Yes?”

His expression was as emotionless as ever, but I could see the corner of his mouth curve slightly into a smile. I wasn’t done yet, though. I got up on my legs, and started wobbling towards the crying Erina.

“S-Sirius?!”

“He’s walking! Sirius is walking!”

I was able to walk around just fine, of course, but showing that off right away would be too much. I made sure to act like I was unsteady. I took five steps forward before “falling” into Erina’s arms, who hugged me so tightly I thought I would break in half.

“Amazing, Sirius! I’m sooo proud!”

“He’s a genius for sure! There’s no doubt, he’s a genius!”

I was hugged over and over by the maids. It hurt.

Dii looked like he wanted to calm them down, but he seemed just as excited in his own way. He muttered to himself that he’d make a big feast for dinner. Maybe I progressed a little too far too fast, but I needed to get started if I wanted my strategy to work. I stood still, letting the girls hug me until they got it out of their systems.

Erina had quite a lot of wine that night, so it was hard to calm her down in that state.

The next day, I walked and was once again showered in hugs and praise.

It gave me a feeling that maybe these people wouldn’t find it so strange if I did grow up faster than normal. The only thing that held me back was the fact that magic didn’t exist in my old world, so I had no idea how to practice. Since I could talk a little now, I decided to try getting an answer from Noel.

“I’ll show you a different spell today! Umm… this one shouldn’t be too dangerous.”

Noel showed up, brimming with confidence, though it seemed to quickly fade as she desperately flipped through a book called A Beginner’s Guide to Magic. Good job, Noel! That’s what I needed!

I looked up and pointed at the book to grab Noel’s attention.

“Huh? You want this? Umm… okay, wait one second.”

She rushed out of the room. She probably went to ask Erina for permission.

When I first met her, she never asked for permission for anything, but I guess she had grown a bit. She came back shortly after with a big smile, seemingly having gotten the green light. She sat me down on her lap, then opened the book in front of us so I could see.

I was filled with excitement, though that soon disappeared when I looked at the pages and remembered I couldn’t read the text at all.

Noel started to read it out loud, which did help, though I decided my next priority would be learning to read.

“Let’s see, ‘Magic is the beginning of everything. While there is still much we don’t know about it, magic is a gift granted to us all. Its potential is endless, and…’ uh, I don’t get this at all.”

She smiled playfully. I couldn’t read, so I wasn’t much better, but that definitely wasn’t something to be proud of. She could use magic, so she should have made an effort to understand it.

Noel continued the book for me. Unfortunately, between the fairly vague way the text was written and my inability to read, I struggled to keep up. Nonetheless, I did my best to understand as much as I could.

I found out that magic was created by an invisible force called mana. While you couldn’t see mana physically, everything was made up of it, including humans.

It was through the use of that internal mana that Noel was able to create her fireballs. Apparently, it was also possible to draw special magic circles, which only needed some mana funneled into them to fire off a spell.

These spells would be weaker than the ones fired off manually. Instead, they were perfect for smaller tasks, like lighting rooms up. Through sketching a magic circle on a piece of paper, you could lay the paper around the house as makeshift lights, or use small flames for cooking.

The tools used to create these magic circles were called mana tools. There were other types of magic too, such as special spirit magic, which had the caster borrow power from a contracted spirit. This type of magic was much more powerful, but interacting with or even just seeing a spirit was seemingly incredibly rare. It was said that if a spirit took a liking to you, they’d appear. With that said, no one really knew how to interact with a spirit, much less how to win their favor. Very few could use this type of magic.

Finally, there were the chants required for spells. The chant itself poured mana into the spell, and the spell’s name would be the trigger to fire it off. The spell Noel had used before, “Flame,” was obviously a fire-type spell, and the chant was written down in the book she showed me.

Using your mana to cast a spell would deplete your internal mana storage, and using too much would cause great exhaustion, or even death in extreme cases. The amount of mana someone could store internally varied greatly from person to person, and even years of practice would do little in terms of increasing the capacity. The only way would be to cast spells until you expend all your mana, and repeat the process over and over, much like how weight training breaks down and builds new muscle.

According to the book, half a year of hard work would probably just result in being able to cast one extra spell, so I needed to get started on training my mana capacity as soon as possible. A thought occurred to me: if your own mana capacity was low, could you not just use mana from external sources? The book said mana existed all around us, after all. Luckily, I found the answer later in the book—the mana found around the world didn’t have the same purity as the source inside us; therefore, it was unusable without purification. Doing so required a lot of mana by itself, so you ended up without much surplus at the end. In addition, your internal mana storage had one final limitation:“mana affinity.”

This, too, was determined at birth, and could not be changed by any means.

Noel’s ability to use “Flame” so easily came from her affinity toward fire. With the fire affinity, one would excel at using fire magic, while using water would be very difficult. In other words, knowing how to use your mana affinity to your advantage would be the best approach to magic. Your affinity did not limit you from using other types of magic, but their power would be weakened drastically.

After finishing that section, Noel closed the book.

I had been focusing intently and didn't notice how long we'd been reading.

“Phew! Let's stop here for today. I’m beat!”

“Good work, Noel. I’ve made some tea, so how about you take a break and relax?”

“Erina?!”

Erina’s voice came from behind us. She wore a gentle smile and carried a tea set in her hands. I had been really caught up in the book, but I felt ashamed for not noticing someone sneaking up on me.

“I’ll look after Sirius, so you can go rest.”

“Thank you very much. Come here, Sirius. Time to move!”

Noel handed me over to Erina, who sat me down on her lap. She gently patted my head as she accepted the book from Noel.

“You were such a good student! I’m sure you’ll be able to use magic in no time.”

“Haha, no waaay! Even I struggle with the elementary stuff, and he can't even read!”

“True, but he’s impressed us before.”

“Right, he has. But I still think it’ll take a few years.”

Well, now I had to prove them wrong! My first priority was to learn how to read.

“Oh hey, Erina, what do you think Sirius’s affinity is?”

“We could check at this very moment. Could you bring the mana tool for it?”

“Got it! I’ll bring it right away!”

Noel ran off and returned shortly after holding what appeared to be a mat of sorts. It had an intricate crest on it, with a crystal in the centre. The crest was most likely the magic circles the book had mentioned

“Let’s see, pour in some mana, and it’ll work... there! It’s ready!”

“Sirius, please place your hand here.”

Based on what they were talking about, and what I had learned from the book, this mana tool would be able to find out my mana affinity. All I had to do was place my hand on the crystal at the center. I felt a little nervous, but did as I was told. The moment I did, a white light erupted from the crystal.

“Erina, what’s happening?!”

“What? That can’t be...”

Noel stared at the crystal in confusion, then tried placing her own hand on it instead. As she did, the crystal lit up bright red; she let out a sigh of relief.

“It’s not broken... phew. So, Sirius’s affinity is... colorless.”

The way she said that made me feel worried. Was it a big deal? Was it bad? Tears began to form in the corners of Erina’s eyes, and she hugged me tightly.

“I’ll... I’ll always be by your side, Sirius!”

“Me too!”

What the hell did it mean for it to be colorless?! I cursed my own inability to ask what was happening as my two maids showered me in even more hugs than usual.

※※※

A few months had passed since I had been deemed “colorless.” Erina and Noel doted on me even more than before. Other than that, nothing had really changed. After having Noel and Erina read for me, I finally got to a point where I could read by myself. It was definitely weird for a one year old to be reading, but Erina didn’t seem surprised; she just praised me as her little genius. She even went as far as to bring me various books to read.

Thankfully, her persistent pampering only made things easier for me, and I continued reading book after book undisturbed. As expected, civilization here was similar to my old world, but with some magical elements mixed in. Science as I knew it was not really a thing, though alchemy was a widespread equivalent here. This world really seemed like something out of a fantasy novel, with magic, swords and all that. The seasons were the same as back home, and one year had 360 days.

People were divided by social status, such as nobles and commoners. There were various demi-human races mixed in with humans, like Noel. Lastly, it was a very dangerous world that had wild monsters roaming about.

In order to make it through such a harsh world, I had to start training my magic capabilities as soon as possible. Unfortunately, I soon ran into a problem.

I skimmed through the part about mana affinity in the book Noel lent me.

Each affinity was represented by a color—fire was red, water was blue, wind was green, and earth was yellow. Finally, there was colorless, like me. What that meant was that I had no mana affinity. It did not mean that I had the ability to use all magic well, or something like that; far from it. It meant that all the negatives of affinities applied to me, with no positives. Mana tools could be activated regardless of one’s affinity, so I could do that, at least, but... it wasn’t good.

“I see, that’s a bummer.”

I was skimming through a book called Albert’s Journey, which was about an adventurer who traveled the world, noting down information about various customs about the places he visited. It had info on areas ravaged by tornadoes year-round, secret rituals performed by the silver wolf clan, rare races with multiple tails, and so on. The point was, it had a lot of information about things that should most definitely have been impossible to record.

Among it was a chapter titled “Colorless,” which piqued my interest.

This happened a few years after I became an adventurer. Up until then, I had made several interesting discoveries—sometimes daily—as a result of meeting all sorts of races. It wasn’t all fun and games, however. In one of the towns I visited, I met a person without any mana affinity. They were deemed useless, and were treated horribly by their fellow townsfolk. There are many people in this world who have no magical capabilities whatsoever, so why was this person ostracized simply for the lack of an affinity?

The point was, a colorless affinity didn’t mean I couldn’t use magic. The light from the mana tool had been quite weak when I touched it, which probably meant my mana capacity was below average too. Since someone with a colorless affinity had the drawbacks of every color, it meant using even the most simple of magic would be a struggle. In other words, I had my work cut out for me.

But that didn’t seem like too bad of a hurdle. After all, I had knowledge and experience from a world totally different from this one, and that gave me a big advantage.

Also, if my opponents knew about my lack of an affinity, they might underestimate me. I felt confident that I could take down any foe as long as I knew their weakness and had a knife in hand. I wanted to try out using magic for myself, though, so I decided to start with something simple as an introduction. A colored spell like “Flame” would probably be too difficult, though.

There were a few colorless spells, though they were apparently almost never used. The introductory spell in the colorless section was “Light.” As you’d expect from the name, it was a simple spell that created a tiny bead of light that could illuminate a small area. The book had various long and tedious spells too, but I decided to settle for “Light” to begin with.

“Hi, Sirius! It’s me, your beloved big sister Noel! What seems to be the problem? Do you want to call me big sis, by any chance?”

As I prepared to attempt the spell, the idiot appeared. She really, really wanted me to call her “big sis.” Since the day I started to talk, she kept checking in on me to see if I could say it yet. I'd refused, since it would have felt like admitting defeat if I did. At any rate, I had an audience with Noel's appearance—why not put on a show?

“Noel! Magiiic.”

“M-Magic? W-Well...”

After she learned that I was colorless, Noel had stopped showing off her magic around me. I knew she did it to spare my feelings. Regardless, I was determined, and pointed to the open page in the book with the “Light” spell.

“Magic~”

“Hm, that one is colorless, so... okay! I’ll show you!”

There you go, Noel! There's the big dummy I love!

“I haven’t really used colorless spells before. If I need light I can just make a fire...”

I didn’t know how bright “Light” would be, but based on what Noel was saying, I realized not to get my hopes up. Noel glanced at the page, closed her eyes, and started to cast the spell.

“Oh great devil, send thy powers forth. Place thy hand in mine and bring forth the light to banish the darkness! ‘Light!’”

The chant felt longer than what I’d heard previously, perhaps because colorless spells weren't as heavily researched as colored ones. Regardless, Noel finished the chant, and a ball of light appeared above her index finger. It was about the size of a baseball, and light flowed from it like liquid. It was quite a beautiful sight.

When I reached out to touch it, I was surprised—not only was there no heat, as you’d expect from a light source, but it felt incredibly strange. It was indescribable, really. Was that how pure mana felt like?

After a bit, Noel started to sweat, making it clear that she was getting tired. I let go, signaling that she could stop. The light vanished, and Noel was left looking quite exhausted.

“Phew! Using colorless magic sure wears you out, huh? I never get this tired from using fire.”

From what I could tell, she seemed pretty tired whenever she used fire spells, too. Perhaps colorless spells just used more mana? When I’d touched the ball of light, it felt like something was seeping out of it—like water from a tap. That must have been mana. I had a feeling each mana affinity had some special attributes when it came to casting spells with them. That was something I was aiming to look into later on.

“Noel, amazing!”

“Keep the praise coming! I’m the best big sis around!”

I started to clap, which made Noel just about explode with joy. The idiot was getting carried away again. Classic Noel-ism.

She eventually calmed down and left, saying she had more work to do. I was alone again, so I started trying to use magic myself. Noel showed me how it was done, so I felt confident I could do it too.

“Oh great devil, send thy powers forth. Place thy hand in mine and bring forth the light to banish the darkness...”

I pictured a similar sphere like the one Noel made as I started chanting. Heat started spreading through my body, pooling at the tip of my fingers, and I uttered the spell’s name.

“Light!”

A sphere of light appeared above my hand out of thin air. A second later, the heat left my body, probably signifying the expenditure of my mana. I was pretty stunned—I was genuinely using magic. Magic was still a mystery to me, but now that the orb was floating above my head, I could no longer deny its existence.

I wanted to try out what Noel did with her “Flame” spell, and thought about the sphere flying around the room. Sure enough, it moved just the way I wanted. I thought it would be hard, but moving it actually proved quite easy. I was about to make it fly up higher when it suddenly vanished.

“Huh? I didn’t mean to do that...”

I tiled my head in confusion, and my vision started to get blurry. I quickly realized that I was about to collapse. I tried to brace myself for the fall, but my body refused to listen. I was overwhelmed with a strong sense of exhaustion, and I crumpled on my bed.

“I see. I... ran out of mana...”

I had read about it in the book—it was called mana exhaustion. It stated that if you weren’t careful, mana exhaustion could be fatal. I felt like if I really wanted to, I could have forced myself to move again, but there was no reason to do that. Thankfully, I was on my bed already. Since there was nothing strange about a baby sleeping, I didn’t need to worry about Noel and Erina’s concern.

Thinking about it, Noel always stopped her spells when she got visibly tired.

Considering I was a mere baby, it was no surprise that moving the spell that much made me collapse. I had been able to maintain the spell for about 10 seconds. The light wasn’t much to brag about, either—it was about the same amount of light as a candle. At the very least, I wanted to make it shine as brightly as a lightbulb.

As I thought about all the different aspects of using magic, I passed out.

The next day, I woke up feeling well rested and refreshed—if anything, I felt better than the day before. I felt like I had new mana stored up, so I chose to go back to experimenting right away. I had passed out rather suddenly last night, so I wanted to test my boundaries today. Knowing your limits was essential to combat, after all. For example, you wouldn't be of much use if you passed out in front of your enemy.

That's why I made this my top priority.

As I cast the “Light” spell again, I simply remained focused on maintaining the spell for as long as I could. While I was concentrating, I constantly felt like something was being sucked out of my body. It was as if a bloodsucking leech was drinking my blood. The exhaustion intensified by the second, and I eventually decided to end the spell. With a mere thought, the spell vanished.

I felt incredibly exhausted, but was able to stay upright just fine.

I made sure to remember the feeling, concluding that it must have been the moment right before mana exhaustion. The next step would be to wait until I recovered, and repeat the process without mana exhaustion happening. And with that, training my mana capacity became a part of my training regiment.

※※※

My training continued; before long, I was four. Naturally, walking and running came easily to me now.. I was running back and forth in the garden, and had just finished my quota for the day.

“Phew, that’s enough for today.”

I was doing interval training, going from a gentle run to a full dash in seconds, then repeating the process. It was a great way to see results fast, but it was also incredibly tiring, so I made sure not to push myself too far. After I finished, I started to do some gentle exercises to cool down.

“Haah... haah... S-Sirius... why don’t you... look tired?”

“Well, you lack stamina. Also, I told you to take it at your own pace.”

Noel came over and insisted on running with me today, but she ended up quitting halfway through, exhausted. She was on the ground next to me, gasping for air.

“B-But I’m... your big sis, I can’t... show weakness... Ugh?!”

She could only take half of one workout. Was my regiment really that harsh? I shook my head at Noel as she writhed around on the ground. Erina walked over with towels and cups of water.

“Good work, Sirius.”

“Thank you, Erina.”

Meanwhile, Dii walked over to care for Noel. The two of them were complete opposites personality wise, but actually got along very well. They were about the same age too.

“Don’t push yourself.”

“Thanks Dii.”

I glanced over at the two with a smile, and Erina did the same. I decided to leave the two of them alone for a bit and went to get washed up. When I reached the well, I briefly looked at my reflection in the water. My black hair and gentle features made me look more cute than anything else. I didn’t look half bad. But I also felt like I was lacking in my current state. People judge others based on appearance, so it was important to me to bulk up a little to not look like a push-over. After quickly washing up, I started my magic training for the day.

Physical training was important, but I couldn’t neglect my magic either. I began to show off my magic capabilities when I was three, which made Dii and the maids freeze in shock.

“Sirius? We’re heading back to the kitchen to prepare dinner, so please take care of Noel for us.”

“Got it. I’ll head back inside once I’m done training too.”

“Hey, why am I the one being cared for, huh?! Sirius, don’t nod! Hey, Erina?!”

Erina grabbed Dii and ushered him inside, leaving me with Noel. She was poking the ground and sulking to herself.

“Why am I left with a bodyguard who’s a tenth of my age…?”

“Come on, Noel—don’t look so grim. Come help me with magic. You’re the only one I can rely on for this, you know?”

“Huh?! The only one?! H-Haha! That’s right! Well, I have no choice then!”

A bit of praise quickly improved her mood. I wasn’t lying, though. She was the best at using magic between the three of them. Using magic like this right after finishing a workout was pretty tough, even for me, but it was a great way to improve. I could tell my mana capacity had grown already.

At first, I could only maintain “Light” for about 10 seconds, but now I was able to keep it up for a whole minute. Noel praised me a lot, and said this level of growth was really rare. I’m sure the fact that I got started at such an early age had something to do with it, but the most important factor was that I kept at it every day, no matter what. My mana seemed to regenerate a little faster than most people, which let me recover from mana exhaustion more quickly, and in turn grow faster too.

I had learned two more spells, so I still didn’t know much. The reason was simply because that the book Noel had gotten me just didn’t have more than three colorless spells in it. The ones I had learned were “Impact” and “String”. I had already mastered them, thanks to Noel. The first spell, “Impact,” was fairly simple: you hardened your mana and hurled it at an opponent, striking them with it. Sadly, the spell wasn’t very strong, and wouldn’t do all that much. The reason was quite simple—since mana didn’t have any mass, it was difficult to harden it to a point where it would inflict any real damage. The result was about the same as being hit with a rubber ball. To make matters worse, it was slow and lacked range; it simply dispersed after traveling for a few seconds. Simply throwing a rock would be more effective, so it was a fairly useless spell.

Then there was “string,”—a spell that let you create magic strings. In theory, you could wrap it around things to pull them closer or bind things together. However, maintaining the spell proved to be quite difficult, and the strings would often snap from just a little tension. I could barely pull anything towards me without the strings breaking.

“Light” was usable as a light source, as one would expect, but it used up quite a lot of mana. Plus, it was a fairly weird spell to use. A spell like “Flame” would be much better at lighting up an area. In other words, colorless spells were quite awkward, but that really just came down to how you used them, in my opinion. For me, it would be difficult to use spells with other affinities, so I had to master every colorless spell I was able to.

Experimenting with unique usages for the spells would come later. For now, I simply focused on improving my mana capacity and my physical strength.

All right, it was time to exhaust my mana before dinner!

I headed over to a nearby tree and prepared to hurl “Impact” at it.

“Oh great creator, devil that grants me life! I ask thee for power... ‘Impact!’”

A sphere the size of a baseball appeared in my hand, and as I fired it off, it shook lightly in the air before striking its target. It was possible to manipulate the size of the sphere too, but doing so made the spell very difficult to control. Colorless spells in general were already hard to use, so making it any bigger would make the spell nearly unusable.

Instead, I continued firing off several of that size until I felt tired. Last time I managed to fire off nine, but this time I did 10, so I was happy to see improvement. But the exhaustion that followed was as overwhelming as ever. As I tried to catch my breath and collect myself, Noel called out to me.

“What is it, Noel?”

“Oh, I was just impressed that you can use ‘mpact’ so well already.”

“Really? It’s a fairly weak spell though, so I don’t know.”

“It might be, but it’s still impressive, especially considering your age. Are you really four? Are you sure you haven’t used some dark magic to hide the fact that you’re actually 10?”

She wasn’t wrong—I was technically hiding my real age, but she had been with me since birth. At what point would I have cast the spell to trick her?

“It’s all thanks to you, Noel. You’re the one who taught me how to do it, after all.”

“Thanks to me?! Yes, I did it! Angering Erina all those times paid off after all!”

One complement and the Noel-ism kicked in. Classic. I really was thankful for her help, though. It was definitely thanks to her that I had gotten this far. I was exhausted, but found the strength to grab Noel and drag her with me back into the house.

My fourth year after being reborn. I spent my time playing with Noel, being watched over by Erina, and enjoying Dii’s cooking. We were separated from the rest of the world, but I loved it at that house. It was my own patch of paradise.

But... no paradise lasts forever. The sound of oncoming destruction loomed over us.

A few days later.

I got up at the usual time, got dressed, and headed to the kitchen to have breakfast.

“Good morning!”

“Good morning!”

As I greeted the others, I noticed that something was off. Noel and Dii weren’t wearing their usual uniforms—they were dressed in normal clothing.

“Are you going shopping?”

“Yes. All our mana ovens broke this morning. It’s quite sudden, but I’m having the two of them head out to buy new ones.”

We were pretty much able to sustain ourselves, though there were some things we were unable to create on our own. Usually, we would have someone head into town once every month or so. I hadn’t gone yet, but I knew it took about half a day to get there; so spending the night in town and coming back would amount to a two day journey.

It made me wonder why we were situated out here in the middle of nowhere. It wasn’t like it was an inconvenience for me or anything, so I had never asked. The mana ovens were magic tools created much like the ovens in the old world, albeit powered by mana. It was a very nifty addition to the kitchen, so I understood why they wanted to get new ones. What I didn't understand, however, was their sense of urgency.

“We have Noel to help with fire, so is it really that important to go get new ones?”

“There’s another errand that I forgot about, so I’m having them do that too while they’re out.”

Erina forgot something? That was new. Still, I decided not to ask any more questions. They had taken care of me since birth, after all, so I didn’t want to cause any unnecessary trouble. I was a bit worried about what we’d use for fire without Noel around, but we had some fire stones lying around that we could use.

A fire stone was a special stone that would instantly catch on fire when broken with a hammer. The only problem with them was that they had to be just the right size, or else the flames wouldn’t be hot enough to really do much, but we had enough to get by.

“Got it. Be careful, you two.”

“We will. Don’t cry just because I’m gone for a bit, okay?”

“We’ll be careful.”

Dii used to be an adventurer, so he was an experienced traveller. They had gone shopping many times without any issues already, so I didn’t see a reason to worry.

After eating breakfast, the two of them got ready and set off. I got right to training after they left, but finished a little earlier than usual. Not sure what to do with my time, I decided to sit down in the garden and read. That’s when Erina came over.

“Sirius, the weather is so nice today. Why don’t we eat out here today?”

Erina had prepared sandwiches for lunch. Dii’s sandwiches were tasty for sure, but Erina’s were something else. I especially liked the way she mixed meat and vegetables just perfectly. I used to love cooking in my old world, so I wanted to ask her to teach me some day.

“Here’s some tea.”

As I was finishing my lunch, Erina mixed some berries into a tea cup and handed it to me. Initially, I enjoyed the sweet taste, but I soon noticed something was off.

“Hey, Erina? Could you get me some aps? I’d like some dessert.”

An ap was a small fruit that looked like an apple, though tasted more like a strawberry. Noel loved them.

“Very well. I’ll go fetch some at once.”

Erina smiled and headed back into the house. Making sure she was totally out of sight, I instantly spat out the tea. The moment I had started drinking it, I had noticed a strange taste mixed in. Maybe I was overly paranoid, but it tasted like sleeping pills. But that made no sense... Why would she try to drug me?

Erina quickly returned, so I stopped thinking about it and tried to act natural. I waited for a bit before I started to stretch and yawn, feigning sleepiness.

“Sirius, are you tired?”

After I “fell asleep,” Erina started shaking me. Since I suspected she had tried to drug me, I knew I shouldn’t wake up that easy. She lifted me up and started to move.

“Hehe, you’re so heavy. You sure have grown up fast.”

She whispered motherly words in my ear as she carried me into my room. After gently laying me down in bed, she stroked my hair a few times.

“I’m so sorry for doing this to you, darling. Once you wake up, everything will be over, so please forgive me. I promise to protect you..”

So it was Erina, after all. What was happening? Why did she sound so serious? First there was the sudden “shopping trip,” and now this? Something was up. At the very least, I could clearly tell that she wasn’t doing this to harm me in any way. Back in my old life, I had encountered way too many people who hid their animosity behind fake smiles. But I could tell her love was genuine and sincere. I wasn’t related to her by blood, but she truly felt like a mother to me.

She rubbed my cheek one last time, then reluctantly left the room. I waited a few seconds, then opened my eyes..

“Everything will be over when I wake up, huh?”

Something was definitely going to happen, and it would be dangerous. Depending on the severity of the situation, I might have jumped in to help. I tried to listen for any sounds outside my room, but heard noises coming from outside my window instead.

First, there was the sound of a carriage and horses. Then, there was the sound of a strange man’s voice. We hadn’t had a single visitor since I was born. Was this the reason Erina had everyone leave the house?

I glanced out the window and spotted a carriage drawn by several horses. The carriage door opened and an old man stepped out. He was wearing fancy-looking clothing and had a beard you’d expect to see on stuck-up nobles. He was a little overweight and had an air to him that instantly made me feel like he couldn’t be trusted.

The man walked toward the entrance to the house. I leaned up against the wall and heard two sets of footsteps make their way through the house. It was a little hard to hear from here, so I quietly snuck out of my room and headed toward Erina’s to hear them more clearly. The doors in this house were quite thin, so I was able to hear them quite clearly by leaning against it..

“Thank you so much for coming.”

“Hmph. This place will never cease to be a headache to find.”

The first thing I noticed was the change in Erina’s tone. Unlike her usual tone, it had no emotion at all; she sounded like a robot. The man sounded just like I expected—stuck up and full of himself, like the type of asshole leader who truly looked down on those below him. I tried to stop thinking and simply focused on their conversation.

| Erina |

Alas, the day came yet again… I would have been delighted if we never saw this man again. Unfortunately, we needed him.

“Thank you so much for coming.”

“Hmph. This place will never cease to be a headache to find.”

Rich words from the man who forced us to move here to begin with.

“Hey, where’s the awkward kid and the demi-human? How dare they not even come out to greet me?”

“They’re in town today. They should return tomorrow.”

“Oh, okay. Whatever. Just seeing that demi-human bitch makes my skin crawl anyways.”

Yet he wanted her to come greet him? He could never make up his mind, and the way he discriminated against Noel never failed to anger me.

He was just the same as he’d always been—driven by his own selfish urges, he flitted from woman to woman, never settling down. According to the information Dii had collected in town recently, he had stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and found himself in quite a scandalous predicament.

“Where’s the runt? His dad shows up and he doesn’t even come out to greet me?”

“Sirius came down with a fever this morning, so he’s resting in his room.”

“Sick? I don’t need weaklings. What good will a weak pawn do me?”

Pawn?! Sirius is not your pawn, you swine! This man had forced himself on just about every affluent girl he could find. When Sirius was born as a result, he dared to delegate his soon to the status of a mere tool? My desire to strike him was practically overwhelming, yet the harsh truth remained the same—he still was Sirius’s legal father, and he was the one who provided the money we needed to get by. I had to endure it, for Sirius’s sake.

“Well, whatever. I don’t need him.”

“What do you mean?”

“My wife had another son, so things should be financially easier from now on.”

“C-Congratulations...”

Sirius might have been illegitimate, but he still was the man’s second son. He had been sending money for us to raise him, just in case something should happen to his first born. Did Sirius mean nothing anymore now that his “legitimate” second son had been born? Did he really look at Sirius as a mere pawn he no longer had use for? I’d never want Sirius to come into this man’s talons, of course, but his money was what allowed us to raise the boy safely. Giving Sirius a safe and happy life was the only thing I cared about.

He was still only four years old. I had to protect him.

“I’ve really had bad luck with kids after all. Got nothing but girls. They’re not totally useless, but I want a son for my heir, you know? Hey, get this:my kid’s only five and he’s able to write already! It’ll be fun watching him grow up, hahaha!”

That’s impressive in its own right, but Sirius could write when he was only two. I knew Sirius’s growth had been unnaturally fast, which might have brought scorn from outsiders, but all that mattered to me was keeping my beloved boy safe.

Seeing him grow brought me nothing but joy. I wanted to watch over him for as long as I lived. Because of his potential, I was sure that Sirius would be able to make it on his own in the world eventually. Perhaps when he turned 10... no, 20 would be safer. Until then, I had to do whatever I could to keep him safe.

“Wow, that is very impressive. I’ve taken care of many children in my day, and your son certainly sounds gifted.”

“Yeah, now I don’t have to worry about finding an heir anymore.”

“But what of their health? I heard Dii say there’s a virus spreading quickly throughout the town at the moment.”

“Hm? Right. My oldest is fine, and my second was just born, so...”

“Sirius hasn’t caught anything, by the way. His fever came from pushing himself a little too much during his studies, that’s all. And you know how dangerous those viruses can be for newborns, so...”

“Right. You’re saying you want me to keep paying for the brat in case something happens to my new kid?”

“That is correct.”

There’s always the chance that his newborn could catch something. I knew I had to use that against him to ensure Sirius remained taken care of. My only wish was to keep Sirius safe, no matter the cost.

“While he’s not as gifted as your firstborn, Sirius also shows great potential.I promise. If something were to happen, he would make for a great heir.”

“That slut’s kid? She was pretty, but that’s about the only thing she had going for her.”

What the hell did this boorish swine know?! In an attempt to keep my anger at bay, I clenched my fists under the table; they tightened so much that it started to hurt.

“I will do my best to raise him to be a perfect heir for you, so please continue supporting us until he has turned 20.”

“Hmph, as if! Let’s see... sure, I’ll help the brat until my newborn has safely turned six. After that, I’ll have no use for this thing, so I’ll be kicking him out. You got that?”

To hear him speak so poorly of Sirius caused my temper to flare. I found myself reflexively jolting up and glaring at him.

“He’d still be just a child at that point! At least wait until he’s 20...”

“Out of my way!”

The man didn’t take kindly to my rebuttal, and shoved me into a desk in the corner of the room. Various tools and bottles were knocked off the table and clattered to the floor. I noticed that several vials of medicine I’d spent a long time preparing had spilled to the ground, but that meant nothing to me right now.

“Please, I beg you! He’s your son!”

“I don’t consider the result of the time I spent with that whore to be my son! Be grateful I’m giving him six years here! Or would you prefer me to kick him out right now?!”

“Very well.”

Just how useless was I? Oh mistress, please forgive me.

“Here’s the money for the brat. And don’t you dare cry about it, you’re not getting a penny more.”

The man threw a coin purse on the ground in front of me. Feeling defeated, I opened it and checked the contents. It was significantly less than last time. Things would be very difficult for us moving forward.

“Hmph. Checking the money right away, huh? What a greedy bitch.”

He could call me whatever foul name he pleased. I couldn’t care less about myself. All that mattered was Sirius’s safety.

“I think I’ll leave now. I hope you’ve learned from this.”

“... Very well.”

I silently watched him leave. I didn't utter a noise until I was certain the carriage had left, then I let out a sigh. It felt as though my soul left through my lips. At least I had managed to keep Sirius from seeing that horrible man. If he knew his father was such a horrible, selfish wretch, who knows how badly it would have affected him?. I needed to get up and prepare some fresh tea for Sirius. He would be waking shortly.

I felt terrible, but I knew that once I saw his face again, it would all be blown away. I wasn’t able to make him agree to my terms, but there was nothing that could be done about it. Once Sirius woke up, he wouldn’t know anything about what happened here. He’dl smile and laugh just like normal, and that innocence would surely make me feel better. We only had six years left of this paradise.

He was still too young to talk about such matters. On top of that, I wasn’t sure how much longer my body would last. Oh mistress, what should I have done?

| Sirius |

When they had finished speaking, I snuck back into my room to make sure I wouldn’t be noticed. I could barely wrap my head around it, but... that piece of filth was my father.

I could see why Erina wanted to keep me away from him. Based on their chat, I knew I meant literally nothing to him. I didn’t want to see him, either, so I chose to just forget about it. What mattered to me was what I learned about Erina—she truly was my savior. The only problem now was where I stood. I had a horrible father, and based on what I’d heard, I definitely wouldn’t be getting any noble status from him. Not to mention that this wonderful paradise would be ending in just six years.

Six years was a long time to train and get stronger, but I’d still be too young to get by on my own out in the world. And what if the others were kicked out too? There was no point thinking about that now. I had two important things to do:first, I needed to train even harder.I needed to get stronger to take care of myself in the future. My goal was to get as strong as I had been in my previous life. That would likely be enough to survive in this world, as well.

Second, I needed to tell the others the truth.

I knew for sure that Erina was on my side, and I’d grown up with Noel and Dii, so they were definitely on my side as well. I wanted to start telling them my secret over time; perhaps in six months or so. For starters, I had to come up with a good excuse for why I had so much knowledge from my previous life. Starting right off the bat with “I’m from another world!” would be too much. I went to bed that night trying to come up with a good excuse.

“Hmm... this works.”

It took some time, but I managed to come up with a plan. As I sat up in my bed to stretch, I noticed that Erina still hadn’t come to my room yet. Maybe she was kicking herself over not being able to convince the man to her terms. I decided to go check on her. I didn’t know how powerful the drug she gave me was supposed to be, but I figured it would be about time for me to wake up.

I headed over to her room and opened the door. As I did, I found Erina collapsed on the floor.

“Erina!” I shouted as I rushed over to her.

She was hot to the touch. Too hot. She was unconscious, breathing heavily, and covered in sweat. I didn’t know what was wrong, so I didn’t want to move her too much. Still, I couldn’t leave her on the ground by herself.

It took some time, but I managed to drag her over to her bed.

I had taken some medical classes in my day, but this was a totally different world, so my knowledge was most likely useless. I didn’t want to make things worse, so I just stuck to the basics. She seemed to have collapsed on her way to make tea, as the kitchen was a mess. For starters, I knew I had to get her some water to keep her from getting dehydrated.

I grabbed an ap from the counter, peeled it, then squeezed it into a cup. The juice from an ap had lots of good vitamins in it which would hopefully help her recover faster. Next, I grabbed a rag and dipped it in cold water. When I returned to the room, Erina was awake, looking as pale as a ghost.

“Sirius... I’m sorry...”

“Shh, don’t worry about it. Here, drink this.”

I had her drink the contents of the cup slowly but surely. She finished about half, then put the cup away. I grabbed the cloth and started slowly wiping off her sweat before placing it on her forehead.

“Thank you, I feel much better.”

“Don’t mention it. What happened?”

I read about that in Albert’s Journey. He said he had found a lot of villages plagued by the illness, and the mortality rate was incredibly high. I knew it was a serious disease, but I didn’t know any details.

“Do you have any medicine for it?”

“There usually is medicine for it in the house, but I had a small accident earlier and it spilled.”

Erina looked over at her desk, where broken vials lay shattered below. I’d heard some loud noises in the middle of their talk earlier. Had that filth pushed her into the desk, destroying the medicine in the process?

“But don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I just have to hold on until Dii and Noel come back.”

Erina firmly gripped my hand.

“I heard a rumor this illness is spreading quickly nowadays, so I told them to pick up some extra medicine too. I’ll be fine if I just hold out until tomorrow.”

“I see. That’s good.”

“This disease normally only affects people with water affinity, but I don’t know about someone who’s colorless. You could catch it too, so stay away from me until the others get back.”

“That’s not happening. I won’t leave you alone like this. I’ll do what I can to help until they get here.”

“Very... well. Thank... you.”

Erina barely managed to finish the sentence before she passed out again. Would she really be able to make it another day in this state? At least I knew the name of the disease now, so I could start reading about it to find some info. Erina was well-versed in medicine, so it only took a few minutes of skimming through her bookshelves to find a book that could help. Unfortunately, in this world, magic was the primary form of treatment for injuries and illness, so the book was surprisingly thin. They just didn’t need as much medical research as in my old world.

Luckily, the book still had some info about the disease.

Mana pollution: An illness where a person’s mana starts leaking out.

Symptoms include high fever and temporary paralysis.

It is highly infectious towards people with water affinity.

It is curable with medicine made from ground up mana leaves.

If left untreated, the patient will die after half a day as a result of complete mana depletion.

It is a terrifying disease, and the recovery rate is minimal.

She clearly told me not to worry to put me at ease. This disease was incredibly serious. I wanted to throw the book at the wall and scream, but I had to set my anger aside and focus on helping her.

She didn’t have any visible symptoms until that morning, which meant her mana would run out by nighttime. In other words, I didn’t have time to wait for Dii and Noel to return the next day. I had to do something myself before it was too late.

I read through the book again. I needed a herb called mana leaf in order to make her medicine.

I grabbed another book on medicinal plants and flipped through the pages until I found what I was looking for.

---

---

Mana leaf. Its name comes from its mana-absorbing properties. It has a very distinct shape and is easily recognizable. It’s a very potent ingredient for healing elixirs and medicine.

They are a common aquatic plant, and can easily be found in most lakes and similar bodies of water.

On the next page, there was a hand-drawn picture of the herb, which I made sure to remember.

I started to prepare to go look for some. First, I needed a weapon to defend myself.

The only one who carried a weapon in this house was Dii, and he wasn’t home.

Improvising, I grabbed a knife from the kitchen. It wasn’t ideal, but it was better than nothing. I didn’t need any special tools, or anything; simply picking the herb by hand was more than enough. I grabbed a small bag for the herbs, left some extra water next to Erina, and headed out. It was already dark out by the time I left.

Luckily, it was a full moon, so I was able to make out my immediate surroundings in the moonlight.

I headed for the forest next to our house. I could remember Dii telling me of a nearby river. The herb could grow in any small body of water, so that was likely a good place to start. Walking through a forest that was potentially filled with various monsters was scary, but thinking about saving Erina was enough to make me move forward.

The forest was very dense, and I quickly started to feel tired from trekking through it. I was very used to trekking through forests in my old life, but I was still stuck in a four-year-old body, so I was fairly limited by that.

I found the river, but I couldn’t find any herbs there. It seemed like finding a lake was my best bet, like the book said. I made sure to mark the ground where I came from with a stick as I followed the river downstream. After about twenty minutes of walking, the river sped up and led down into a big lake.

The lake seemed to split up into several smaller rivers, one of which I had followed. As I started walking toward the lake, I felt a strange presence nearby. I looked over to a nearby thicket, where a single green head was poking out and staring at me. I squinted to take a better look at what appeared to be a goblin.

It was about one meter tall and had nothing but some simple linen cloth tied around its waist. According to the books I’d read since I got here, goblins were both dumber and weaker than humans; but they also reproduced very quickly, so they rarely traveled alone. They lived off of meat and even ate humans when they could. If they came across human women, they would assault and impregnate them, which was why they were nicknamed “woman hunters.”

Defeating a goblin by yourself would easily grant you the title of a beginner adventurer, though taking one down as a four-year-old seemed impossible. And, as if that wasn’t enough, I spotted two more near the first one. They didn’t look very bulky and slow, so they’d be on me in no time if I didn’t hurry. I was limited to the capabilities of a young body, even though it was a well-trained one. Catching them by surprise was my only chance of winning. I gripped the knife and got ready.

First, I picked up a small rock and tossed it behind the goblins. They quickly turned to the sound, and I used the chance to sneak up to them. I was good at stealth, and the wind would help cover my scent. Still, I wasn't completely safe— they could turn back for whatever reason, so I had to hurry. Just as the closest goblin turned toward me, I lunged at his chest.

He spotted me, but it was too late. My knife was already buried deep in his throat at that point. My body was coated in sprays of goblin blood, but I didn’t slow down. As the other two started to turn toward me, I had already moved my blade to the next throat. The old kitchen knife broke upon hitting a second time, though I instantly used my other hand to push the broken edge deeper into the goblin’s flesh.

After slaying two of the three goblins, I moved towards the final one. It still hadn’t understood the situation. It just stared at its fallen comrades for a second before letting out a roar as it finally grasped what was happening. I stood face-to-face with the furious survivor. My knife was broken and my hand hurt. It reached down for something on the ground, probably a sword or another weapon. I rushed forward, hoping to intercept the goblin before it could pick up its weapon, and started to chant the words needed to cast “Impact.”

I didn’t intend to harm the goblin with the spell—frankly, that wasn’t possible. Instead, I aimed it at its eyes, hoping to blind it just long enough to take its sword. I continued the long chant while dodging reckless punches from the crazed goblin.

If only magic could be fired as easily as bullets from a gun...

And the name “Impact” made me think of some grand explosion from something like a grenade launcher, not a small puff of air.

A warm, familiar sensation began spreading through my body as I finished my chant. The feeling of the mana flowing through my body, ready to be fired off, filled me with adrenaline. I threw my fist out toward the goblin.

“Take this!”

A sphere of light shot out from my hand., Instead of blinding the goblin, though, it blew his head right off. “Impact” had only been capable of making a tree sway ever so slightly before, but the spell I just used looked just like the impact from a grenade launcher.

“Let’s think about this later. I need to find the herbs, fast.”

I was quite used to battles in my old life, but my scuffle had taken more out of me than I’d expected; I found myself panting heavily as I started searching for the herbs. I quickly found what I was looking for by glancing into the lake. Luckily, they were growing around the shallow waters close to shore, so I was able to simply reach in and grab them while I kept an eye on my surroundings.

I also washed the blood off before running back home. Sprinting as fast as I could, I suddenly found myself back at the house. I rushed inside and quickly checked Erina’s vitals. Although she was breathing pretty heavily and didn't seem fully conscious, she was alive—that’s what mattered. The book said I’d need boiling water for the medicine, so I needed to start heating some up first.

As I rushed into the kitchen, I remembered that our stoves were broken. I quickly looked around for our fire stones, but found all of them broken on the ground. Erina was about to make tea when she collapsed, so she might have knocked them all over in the fall. Without them, my only option was to make fire manually. I grabbed a knife, cut some wood, and started rotating the tip of the knife quickly above it. I was hoping that this would make enough sparks to start a fire.

This method was no easy feat, but it was far from my first time doing it. I managed to get one going after a bit. I ground up and mixed in the herbs with the boiling water while also maintaining the flame below. The herbs started glowing faintly like the book said they should, so I thought it was working. I waited for the medicine to cool down enough for someone to drink without getting burnt, then hurried over to Erina with it.

“Erina, here. Medicine.”

She didn’t even seem to recognize me as she muttered some nonsense. I pushed the cup to her mouth, but she just kept muttering that she was sorry; she didn’t even try to drink.

“I’m terribly... terribly... sorry. I’m...”

I didn’t know what she was apologizing for, but she had absolutely nothing to apologize to me for. I hadn’t been able to repay her for raising me yet! I...

“Just drink! I won’t ever forgive you if you don’t drink, do you hear me?!”

The sound of my stern voice made Erina tremble for a second. She opened her eyes in confusion and finally seemed to notice my presence. She finally brought her lips to the cup and started drinking.

“Once you’ve finished it all, go to sleep.”

Tears began to stream down her face, but she complied. I double checked that the cup was empty and that she had fallen asleep. Only then did I finally realize that I had made it.

Now I just had to wait and see how it went. I sat down next to her bed, planning on watching her until she woke up, but my four-year-old body was at its limit. Suddenly, the world went black around me, and I passed out from exhaustion.

The sensation of something soft against my body woke me up. There was only one person who would stroke my head in such a way—Erina.

Erina?!

I jumped up in my bed and looked around in a panic.

“Yes, I’m right here.”

Erina was standing above me with her loving smile, gently patting my head. Her hair was a mess and her clothes were disheveled, but she didn’t look pale anymore. Based on how bright it was out, I’d say it was around noon—she’d made it.

I took another look at her face and was finally able to calm down. She had beaten the disease. Now, all she needed to do was rest and regain her mana. She’d be fine. I tried to get up to make some food for her, but, for some reason, my foot wouldn’t budge. I must’ve slept on it or something.

I felt ashamed that I wasn’t already up and taking care of her. Before I could move, though, Erina had me locked in a bear hug.

“My memory is somewhat hazy, but I remember your voice, Sirius. I heard it all. You saved me. I don’t even know how to express my gratitude.”

I loved being hugged by her, but I felt bad. I hadn’t even changed since I’d returned from the lake, so I was covered in dirt and... goblin juice.

“Erina, let go. You’ll get dirty.”

“Don’t be silly. How could my beloved savior dirty me?!”

“No. I mean, I don’t want to get any blood on yo—wait, whoops.”

“Blood?! Are you hurt?! Where?!”

Erina released me in a panic and looked down at my blood-stained shirt. Once she realized how much blood there was, she started screaming.

“Relax, it’s not my blood.”

“Th-Then what on earth happened…?”

“Well...”

Sigh. Let’s just come clean. No more secrets.

“It’s from a goblin. They got in the way when I was getting your medicine, so I dealt with them.”

“You... dealt... with them?”

“Yes. I used a kitchen knife.”

Erina stared at me in disbelief. I stared back, dead serious. It took her a second, but she seemed to calm down.

“Honestly, Sirius, I don’t know what to make of you.”

“I think we both have some things we need to talk to each other about.”

“That is true.”

“But let’s relax for now. There’s no rush. Let’s talk after we’ve washed up.”

“Very... well. I feel a little embarrassed now.”

I washed up and decided to make some food; I was getting quite hungry. I grabbed some bread, eggs, milk, and sugar, and whipped up some French toast that I named "toast from another world.” The bread was fairly stale—nothing like the normal bread you’d use for toast—but, hey, it was something. The taste would likely be decent enough. I also brewed a little tea after finishing the toast, then brought it all to Erina’s room. She was already in bed, waiting.

I wanted to just get everything off my chest at once, but I knew we had to eat first.

“I made some food. How’s your appetite?”

“It’s fine, but when on earth did you learn to cook?”

“I’ll tell you everything after we eat, I promise. This is called French toast. It’s soft and easy to chew.”

“French... toast? I’ve never heard of that before.”

I had planned on making some rice porridge instead, but we didn’t have any rice in the house. This was plan b. Erina’s face lit up the moment she bit into the toast.

“It’s delicious. I can taste your love in it, Sirius.”

“Is that so? Well, eat up. You need to regain your strength.”

“I will, thank you. Having you care for me like this makes me so happy.”

Erina smiled from ear to ear as she ate. Seeing her radiant smile reminded me just how happy I was that I was able to save her. After finishing breakfast up and having some tea, I figured it was time to talk.

“Okay. Are you ready to talk, then?”

“Certainly. If you are too, I shall start by telling you about your mother.”

I knew my dad was a complete asshole, butI knew nothing about my mom. I didn’t have an urgent need to tell her about myself first, so I let her start.

“I’m sorry, could you go get me something from that drawer?”

Erina pointed over at the desk in the corner of her room. When I opened up the desk drawer, I found a painting of a woman.

“That was Milalia Eldland, Sirius. Your mother.”

She had long, black hair and gentle, beautiful eyes. Looking at her filled me with a strange sense of tranquility. I could just tell right away that she was my mother.

“She tragically passed away during childbirth.”

“Oh.”

“I’m... really sorry.”

Erina lowered her head, and tears streamed down her face. I wasn’t sure why, but I didn’t feel much after hearing the news. I had a feeling she was dead, so I guess I was prepared. Also, my previous life had been a living hell. It was hard to show sadness when you had been through so much pain, death, and killing.

“Lift up your head, Erina. You’ve done nothing wrong.”

“But I’ve kept something so important from you all this time!”

“You kept it from me to avoid hurting me, right? I wouldn’t be mad at you for simply caring for me.”

“But... I...”

I felt a little bad asking this right away, but there was something I needed to know.

“Where is she buried?”

“She... doesn’t have a grave. The mistress requested her remains be destroyed...”

They spread her ashes across a hill with a beautiful view, apparently. She had probably done it to avoid leaving any proof of her death to me, so as to spare my feelings. I wonder what kind of person she had been.

“I see. Could you tell me about her?”

“About the mistress?”

“Yeah. What kind of person was she? What did she like? Anything. I’d love to learn about her.”

“Of course. I’ll tell you what I know. Milalia, or Arya, was incredibly kind, yet she remained naive.”

A smile crept across her face as Erina thought about Mom. She looked so beautiful and refined in the picture—naive was not what I’d expected to hear.

“Miss Arya was the only child of the wealthy Eldland family. She was so kind... She was the one who saved me. Sadly, her family lost a feud to an opposing house, and they were all stripped of their nobility.”

I see. Struggles for power are found in all worlds, huh. I continued to nod along with Erina’s story.

“As the Eldlands were at the brink of homelessness, a certain fool of a noble showed up at Miss Arya’s door with a proposal. He said that if she agreed to marry him, he would make sure her parents were taken care of. As they were moments away from living on the streets, you can imagine how little say she had in the matter.”

She was told to sell herself to save her family, huh?

What came after was truly horrible. The man did take care of her parents, as promised, but he instantly sent them far away. To make matters worse, he grew tired of Miss Arya after just one night with her. He didn’t give her a title, or anything of the sort, and simply trapped her in here. Noel, Dii, and I were to be thrown out, since we were commoners, but Miss Arya was able to convince him to keep us here with her.”

Erina balled her fist with rage in a way I’d never seen before; she looked quite scary.

“Once Miss Arya realized she was pregnant, that fool of a man started to send her a little money and told her to take care of his potential heir.”

She must have really hated him, as she didn’t even try to hide her contempt despite him being my father. All her hatred that had been brewing within since I was born was bubbling to the surface.

“He saw her as a mere tool. While he did ‘save’ her parents, they were gone, and we never saw them again. Oh, how I hate that man.”

Had I known all this and come face to face with this man, I didnt’ know what I would have done to him. Probably noticing my anger, Erina quickly replaced her frown with a smile.

“But Miss Arya was different—he just kept patting her belly with a blissful smile. I cursed that man for the pain he had brought her, but she would just reply with a smile. ‘So what if he is the father,’ she’d say. ‘That’s not the child's fault. We will raise him with all the love and care in the world. I’m sure mother and father are out there somewhere safe, even if I can’t go see them anymore. And I have you guys with me here. This child will have wonderful people around him as he grows up. That’s all that matters.’ I had no response to that. All that mattered to the mistress was our safety. She also said that you were our son, not just hers. She was such a wonderful person.”

It sure sounded that way. I wish I could have met her.

“But as she entered her final month of pregnancy, she started to feel ill. She had been prone to fevers before. Sadly, her body didn’t hold up against the strain of giving birth, and...”

She passed away after giving birth...

“‘Your name is Sirius... my beloved Sirius. Please live happily, and don’t let anything hold you back. That’s your mother’s wish. Erina, the rest is up to you. Promise me you’ll love him enough for the both of us.’ Those were Miss Arya’s final words. And as I lifted you up for the first time, I remembered what she had told me earlier—even if your father is filth, you did nothing wrong, and deserve all the love in the world. And so I swore that I would make raising and protecting you my life’s purpose. But now...”

“We only have six years left here.”

“To be honest, I snuck out of my room yesterday and listened in on your conversation.”

“B-But...”

Erina looked stunned. It wasn’t a surprise, considering how badly she wanted to hide the truth from me. I reached out and held her hands in mine, smiling gently.

“Don’t worry. Learning that he was my father made me angry, sure, but hearing just how hard you worked to protect me made me so happy. Thank you, Erina. It’s all thanks to you that I’ve made it this far.”

“Such praise is wasted on a woman like me. I... drugged you.”

“Oh, that. I actually didn’t drink any of it. I spat it out when you weren’t looking. So could you make me a new batch when you’re feeling better? No drugs this time, preferably.”

“S-Sirius... Sniff. ”

Erina burst into tears as she gently fell into my embrace. I held her tightly until she finally stopped crying, and we exchanged awkward laughter.

“Thank you. I’m fine now.”

“So have I managed to pay you back?”

“There’s nothing to pay back. I’m going to protect you as long as I live. That’s my life’s purpose.”

“I don’t think you have to go that far. You’ve already done more than enough.”

“It is a servant’s job to work for their master until the end. So, as your servant, I will stay by your side until the day I die.”

She looked adamant—she had clearly made up her mind already. The loving way she had raised me was certainly motherly; however, in the end, she was still my servant. I wouldn’t have held it against her if she had wanted to spend some time taking care of herself for once, but I wanted to respect her wishes. I said nothing.

“All right. Thank you for sticking with me.”

“I’ll be by your side until the end of days.”

I felt a bit awkward when she said it like that, but I decided to put those feelings aside. Now that her story was out of the way, it was my turn. I had thought about what to say already, but I still wasn’t sure if she would believe me. Erina seemed to pick up on my nervousness, because she tightened her grip on my hands and smiled.

“I know not what bothers you, but I will listen no matter what it is. I’ll always be by your side, Sirius.”

That was the push I needed, and I started talking.

“Hm. Dreams, you say?”

If I told her I was a 60year-old man from another world, she would surely think I was crazy. That’s why I figured it was best to start small.. If I made it all sound like “dreams,” it would definitely be easier to believe.

“In those dreams I’ve been another person entirely—living his life, learning from it. It’s literally been like I have a completely different life within my dreams.”

“A different man’s life?”

“That’s not all. I don’t just remember every detail of these dreams, but it’s like I grow with the person in them. That’s how I learned to read and write so quickly. It’s how I had the knowledge to make the medicine you needed last night—hopefully you remember that I made the medicine all on my own.Not only that, but I used the man’s combat experience to defeat three goblins on my own. I don’t know why I keep seeing his life in my dreams, but there’s no doubt that I’m learning and growing a lot from them. It was thanks to those dreams I was able to save you.”

Well, how would she react to that? Would she call me a monster or a freak? Would she say I was crazy? I had various worst case scenarios prepared in my head. But, surprisingly, she just smiled and lowered her head. I had heard before that this was a pose used to show loyalty.

“You did not cry even once as a baby. You could read in a year and use magic shortly after. I knew you were special, but now I know the reason. So that’s why you’ve grown so quickly.”

“You really believe that without any proof?”

“I cannot think of any other way to explain your incredible growth. Besides, I’m your servant. I believe anything you tell me.”

She really did trust me, huh? She truly seemed to have meant it when she said she’d always be by my side, probably even if I became a criminal.

“Thank you for believing in me, Erina.”

“And thank you for telling me, Sirius.”

I no longer needed to worry about my implausible growth during training.

“Would you mind if I asked about what we’re going to do from now on?”

“Wait a little while until Dii and Noel return, please. Let’s all talk together.”

“That’s true. I wouldn’t want to leave them out.”

“Exactly. They were saved by the mistress just as I was, and they loved her a great deal. I’m sure they will believe you too, Sirius.”

“Okay, let’s wait for them then. Heh, I wonder how Noel will react when she hears about this...”

“Oh, she’ll be shocked, I’m sure. But I’m more interested in seeing Dii’s face. I wonder if he’ll show some emotion for once.”

We both laughed and waited for our friends to return.

Everything was fine. We could even laugh about it. It was clear that she believed and trusted me.. I just had to focus on getting stronger to protect this happy life we had together. I continued to nurse Erina and did some housework while we waited. Seeing her master doing chores that she was meant to do made Erina practically vibrate with frustration, but she was a good patient and stayed in bed like I told her.

After I cleaned up the mess left over from the previous day’s scuffle, I prepared some tea. Just then, the front door flew open, and a happy voice called out to us.

“We’re baaack! Um, hello? Anyone here?”

“Did that man do something?!”

“What?! Sirius?! Erina?! Are you here?!”

Seconds later, loud footsteps thundered through the hallways as Noel frantically burst through the door to Erina’s room.

“Erina, what’s going on?!”

“Noel, relax. Start by telling Sirius you’re back.”

“R-Right! Sirius, we’re home! Now, tell me what happened! Did that man do something?!”

“Phew. You really have much to learn about being a maid, Noel...”

Erina let out a sigh as Noel ignored half of what she’d said in a panic. When she’d finally calmed down, we all sat down with a cup of tea. I explained what had happened, starting with Erina’s illness, then moving on to my dreams. Noel looked really sad when I talked about Erina’s illness, then lit up with joy as I told her I’d defeated goblins on my own. When I got to the part about my dreams, and how I’m already basically an adult, her eyes widened as big as bowling balls, and she stared at me in awe. Her reactions were as amusing as always. Noel looked pretty shocked by the end, though she seemed to have calmed down a bit after taking another sip of tea.

“There was some stuff in there I find hard to believe, but I believe most of it. For instance, I never taught you how to make tea, yet this is better than what I make! Why, I’m kind of mad now!”

Her mood swings were always fun to watch. She was actually a pretty smart girl, but didn’t really realize it herself. She was right—I had never learned to make tea from any of them. My old master loved tea, and practically forced me to make him some every day. I wonder how he’d react if he tasted some of the tea in this world. Anyway, the point was that my sudden tea-making skills were what seemed to convince Noel.

“I didn’t teach you either.”

“Well, making tea is our job, after all. No servant would ask their master to make tea for them.”

“Riiight? Hm. It tastes good, but that kind of pisses me off... Don’t you agree, Dii?”

“It’s tasty. I don’t mind. Sirius, can you teach me some day?”

“As your big sister, I refuse to learn anything from... from... ahhh! Teach me too please!”

My “big sister” sure stuck to her ideals.. Now that all of them knew about my secret, I was ready to talk about what came next. Before I could speak, however, Noel’s stomach let out a monstrous roar that bellowed throughout the room. Her cheeks flushed as red as a tomato. We decided to have dinner before talking any further. Erina was still recovering, so putting the talk off until the morning was probably for the best

Looks like making food takes priority over installing the new mana ovens.”

“Leave the firemaking to me, baby!”

“Ah, one second. I think there’s still coal left over from the fire I made earlier.”

“Wow, you found the fire stones, huh? Well, look at you!”

No. The fire stones broke, so I made fire myself.”

“Huh?!”

Was it really that shocking that I made a fire?

“Dii, did you install the new mana ovens, like, through telepathy or something?”

“Sirius, could you tell me how you made fire on your own?”

“I mean, the standard way I guess? I used friction to—”

“Friction?!”

The servants—Noel in particular—did not seem convinced, so I decided to show them how to make a fire manually. When I did, theystared at me in shock.

“You can make fire that easily?!”

“We don’t even need the mana ovens now!”

“That’s amazing!”

Really, was that so amazing? I didn’t really get this world’s common sense. Wait, hold on a second...

“You guys really didn’t know about that?”

“Indeed. I’ve never even heard of someone making fire that way.”

“Same here.”

“I know right?! That’s definitely not normal!”

Did that mean no one had accidentally discovered fire in this world?

“So, what kind of methods do you guys use to make fire?”

“Well, we mostly use mana ovens and magic.”

“Fire stones.”

“Then there’s monsters that breathe fire, and lava I guess? That’s about it.”

Looks like I was wrong when I had compared our worlds. The common sense here and the common sense in my old world were definitely not the same. I had made the mistake of thinking it was because of how similar things looked, but now I realized how wrong I was. Because they had magic here to make fire, there simply was no reason for people to look into other methods. That was most likely the reason why no one had discovered how to make it manually without magic.

This made me think about the “Impact” spell I’d used the day before. “Impact" was only supposed to have the power to gently shake an object, and nothing more. But I was able to blow a goblin’s head clean off with it. I’d been focusing intently on the image of a grenade launcher when I’d cast the spell.. That had made the mana within me react, and the image I had in my mind came to reality through the spell. In other words, it seemed like what really mattered when casting spells was the image in your mind, not the chant. All the magic I knew, I had learned from Noel. Since I was told “Impact” acts a certain way, I simply thought that was it. My mind wasn’t freed up to add my own spin to the spell.

Now that I had discovered this, I would change my approach to using magic. If my theory was correct, I’d be able to imagine all kinds of firearms in order to combine them with my magic. But it was already late, so I decided to put my experimentation off until the next day.

“Oh, I just remembered! Sirius, I got you a present!”

Noel grabbed something and held it out in front of me. I smiled in response. The next day, I headed out to the garden after breakfast to train. Erina was still resting in bed, and Noel and Dii were swamped with housework. That worked out perfectly for me—I had a perfect chance to try out my new experiments without harming anyone. Before I started, I opened the present that Noel had given me: a book titled “Intermediate Level Magic.”

In the first book, there had been little info about chants beyond the fact that they were used for spell casting. In this one, there was another section about “free casting.” Free casting meant that you used only the spell’s name and no chant to activate the spell. This was not easy and required a lot of practice. And yet, I had managed to fire off “Impact” the other day without the full chant.

I supposed that the hurdle of being able to cast spells without chants was purely mental. I got started, eager to try my theory out. I recalled the feeling I’d had just as I’d fired off the “Impact” spell on the goblin. I created an image in my head of holding a gun and really tried to bring it to life.

“There!”

As the same warmth as the other day started to spread through my body, I fired off a spell. It wasn’t “Impact,” it was one I’d created and named.

“Launcher!”

Just as I muttered the name of the spell, a sphere of light shot out from my hand and blasted my target into a million pieces. In fact, it dug out a big crater in the ground, knocking back a few trees in the blast radius. It really looked just like a real bomb crater. That had worked even better than expected. It looked like my theories were right.

Of course, the magic was still different than the real weapons I’d envisioned. Mainly, a grenade launcher’s pellet was meant to explode on impact, causing an eruption of fire along with the shock wave. But, since my affinity was colorless, I didn’t make any fire at all; it was as if the shock wave alone had fired from the projectile.

In the midst of the falling rubble and dust kicked up by the explosion, Erina’s worried voice called out to me...

“Sirius?! Someone, please hurry! Come to the garden!”

Erina practically fell out of her bedroom window as she sprinted toward me as fast as she could. As I watched the usually composed Erina run frantically towards me, I was hit by a wave of guilt.

“Are you hurt?! What on earth just happened?!”

“Oh, uh, that was me. My magic. I tried out a new spell. Everything is fine.”

“What?! That was magic?!”

Dii and Noel rushed into the garden soon after her, so I sat everyone down and explained what I did.

“You did this?!”

“Wow. That’s intermediate level for sure, if not higher. What spell did you use?”

“Well, I used the image of ‘Impact’ and made my own spell. I’m still working on it, but it went better than expected!”

“You made a beginner level spell into an intermediate one?! How?!”

I left the petrified Noel by herself and asked Dii to carry Erina back to her bed. I was happy she cared that much for me, but I couldn’t have her rushing out like that all the time, especially not while barefoot.

“Erina, I’m fine, I promise. Please go back and rest.”

“Very well. I’ll be watching from the window, so just don’t push yourself too hard.”

Dii helped Erina up on his back and carried her back inside. Meanwhile, Noel finally snapped out of her petrification.

“Hey, uh, did you really make your own spell? You didn’t just use an intermediate fire spell like ‘Flame Lance,’ right?”

“Of course not. You know I can’t even use beginner level fire spells. I’d love to show you, but that took a lot of my mana., And I don’t want to worry Erina too much, so...”

“Launcher” was even more powerful than expected, but it sucked out a lot of my mana in one go. Firing two off in a day would probably be my limit.

“Um... do you mind if I watch you train?”

“I don’t mind. But it’s not safe being that close, so make sure you get a few meters behind me.”

Noel sat down behind me as I prepared my second experiment. This time I pictured a pistol. Instead of a big, powerful weapon, I went with the more stable and easy to use pistol for this one. My sidearm was like an extension of my arm, and I remembered every little detail of it clearly. The most important parts it needed to work were the rifling in the barrel that made the bullet spin, and the bullet itself. I aimed for a nearby tree, formed my hand like a gun, and pointed my index finger at it.

I focused on the mana flowing through my body and pictured a bullet spinning through the barrel.

“Magnum!”

A high-pitched sound filled the vicinity, and in the next moment a hole the size of my thumb was left in the tree. I tried moving my hand around a bit, firing at different trees, and it turned out to be even easier to control than a normal gun. There was basically no recoil, and the noise wasn’t as bad. My mana had all but drained by that point, so I plopped down on the ground next to Noel. When I did, though, she stood up in shock.

“Sirius, was that really an original spell?!”

“Yeah. I used the images from my dreams to combine a weapon from that world with magic.”

“There’s a real weapon like that?! I don’t even know how to react!”

“That’s what surprised you? All right, then you should take a look at this.”

I pointed to a certain page in the book she had gotten me. The headline read “Meditation,” and it had detailed information about the mana flow within people. Mana was restored by slowly absorbing and purifying it through the surrounding air. It said that by practicing a lot, someone could learn to do this on command. The only thing I didn’t get was what “absorbing surrounding mana” really entailed.

“It says to ‘catch’ the mana around you, but... how?”

“Hmm... this stuff is really hard to explain, since it’s basically all done by feeling. I can’t do it either...”

“You can’t, huh? I guess it’s intermediate for a reason.”

“My magic teacher told us to feel out our own mana from within, then try to reach out with invisible hands for similar mana surrounding us.”

I could feel a warm tingling whenever I used magic, which was probably my mana flow. So I should look for something similar in the air around me? I tried to close my eyes, calm my breathing, and feel the air around me. I was quite dry on mana from using so much magic, so there was plenty of room to fill up. As I continued to focus on my surroundings, I started to feel a strange, invisible force.

It felt as though a mist of mana was floating around me. It felt like I was both touching it and moving through it at the same time. This brought up another question, though—did the mana I was sensing match my own? It was crucial to find the right mana in order to actually absorb it. Instead of approaching this as an absorption of what was around me, maybe I should try to tune in to the right mana by focusing on my own mana flow first? I tried to picture my own flow reaching out from within me. Right as I felt like I was getting somewhere, something grabbed my shoulder and shook me.

“Sirius? You sleeping? Are you okay? Hello?”

“I was so close. Damnit, Noel.”

“Uh, whoops...”

Seeing the irritation on my face made Noel tremble in fear. I wasn’t actually mad at her, though I did feel a little annoyed. I just wanted to spook her a bit more for fun. I put on the creepiest smile I could, and slowly walked towards her. Just then, I noticed something strange—I didn’t feel tired at all. The dullness that came with mana exhaustion was just... gone.

“I-I’m really sorry! Please don’t tell Erina on me!”

Erina had been watching us the whole time, so that wasn’t an option. I ignored Noel, who continued to apologize desperately, and aimed my finger toward a few other trees. I fired off a volley of “magnum” shots, noticing that I suddenly had enough mana to fire off several more. As it turns out, I had basically restored all my mana during my brief meditation.

“S-Sirius, please don’t hurt me! Don’t be mad!”

“I’m not mad, don’t worry. Hey, Noel, is mana medidation meant to restore your mana right away?”

“No, it just speeds up the process. You still need to purify the mana you absorb, so it still takes at least half a day to fully recover, even with meditation. But wait, you just used a bunch of mana like it was nothing...”

“Yeah. I feel like I totally recovered all my mana. I don’t know why, but I think I’m able to restore mine instantly using meditation.”

I guess it meant my mana was already pretty much the same as the one found in the air. People were supposed to need time to purify the mana they absorbed, but I just tuned in to the stuff around me in order to absorb and use it instantly. This meant that, as long as I had the time to meditate for a bit, I could use as much of it as I wanted without worrying about mana exhaustion. Noel looked over at me with a serious expression.

“Sirius, that’s truly an incredible gift. You might have just blown the stigma around colorless mana affinity out the window. You can’t tell anyone about that power, do you understand?”

“I do. If someone found out about this, who knows what they’d do to me. I’ll make sure no one outside my family finds out.”

“Good. You’re such a smart kid. By the way—when you say family, does that include me?”

“Of course. You’re my family, and so are Dii and Erina. Don’t you feel the same way?”

“ Sniff. I’m so happy! Please, call me big sis from now on! Please!”

“I think I’ll pass on that one.”

“Whyyy?!”

I tested my theory out once again, expending and regenerating my mana at will. Sure enough, it worked. That gave me all the mana I needed to test out spells with all my favorite weapons, but only about half of those ended up working. The weapons I couldn’t quite picture clearly enough did not work, proving that a very clear image in your head was essential for developing magic. After I exhausted and replenished my mana over and over, I finally lay panting on the grass to rest. Noel came over with a drink and a towel and handed them over to me.

“Are you okay? I think you should call it a day soon, Sirius.”

I wiped my sweat off with the towel and looked over to the house, where Erina was still watching me like a hawk from her window. She would probably get really worried if I kept going, so I decided to stop there.

“You’re right. It’s time to eat soon, so I’ll finish up here today. Thanks for hanging out with me, Noel.”

“Don’t mention it! Watching you taught me that I’m still lacking. I need to work hard and get better too! Maybe I should go back to school and study.”

“Study? You can study magic at school?”

“Of course. But getting in costs a lot of money. I’m from a poor village, so I knew going to one was impossible. Still, we had a retired teacher living in our village who taught me the basics!”

Noel gazed into the distance, probably thinking about her past.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”

“Don’t worry, I just got a little nostalgic. I’m super happy living here. I’m so glad I got to meet you guys.”

For once, Noel smiled in the way a woman her age should; that took me by surprise. Noel had been caring for me since I was born, so naturally I wanted the best for her. Hearing that she was happy filled me with joy too.

“Besides, you’re a hundred years too early to be worrying about your big sis! You might have some weird knowledge from your dreams, but you’re still a kid!”

She was right, but I didn’t like having the clumsy girl lecturing me. If anything, I saw Noel more as a little sister than a big sister. As we started walking back to the house, Noel reached out and grabbed my hand. I didn’t resist and squeezed her hand in return. Maybe she had a few features fit for a big sister, after all.

“Hehe. By the way, what do you want to do when you grow up, Sirius?”

“When I grow up?”

“I’m really proud of you. You’re doing all these amazing things. So I started thinking about what you’d do when you grow up, you know?”

“Hmm… Well, what about you? Is there something you want?”

“Me? I guess... becoming a bride. Hey, don’t dodge the question! We’re talking about you here!”

Noel blushed, and I started thinking about how easily her wish could be fulfilled if she just confessed that to Dii. I knew they were crazy about each other, but both were too shy to admit to it.

“Sorry! Hmm, let’s see.”

“Hahaha, I guess it’s too early to be thinking about that. Forget I asked.”

What did I want to do when I grew up? I had been thinking a lot over the past four years about what I wanted to do in this new world. My previous life was a bloodied one, but I felt like I was able to redeem myself by going out on my own terms.

I still wasn’t sure what to do now, but Noel’s mention of school reminded me of something—my old students.

Sadly, I could no longer remember their names, but I remembered training those kids. With no family and no romantic partners to speak of, my students had been like my family. I had taken them under my wing and, in all honesty, I’d felt like a parent to them. Not having been able to watch them grow any further was the only regret left from my old life. And, just like that, I realized what I wanted. And so, after we’d finished dinner, I suddenly blurted out,“I want to go to school.”

Everyone turned to me with surprised stares, especially Noel.

“Is this because of me?! Because I asked about your future?!”

“It’s not your fault. This is something I decided on my own.”

“Calm down, Noel. Tell us, Sirius—why school?”

“Well, for starters, school is a great place to learn and grow. But, most importantly, I want to be a teacher.”

In this world, death was always following closely behind people’s heels. Because of the large amount of races and beliefs, there was conflict everywhere. Considering that, along with the monsters that freely roamed around, it was a dangerous world. Of course, this was just information I’d learned from books. That’s why I wanted to travel the world—to see and learn things for myself, then teach students what I’d learned.

“The man in my dreams was an instructor. It seemed like a hard but rewarding job. I’d love to do the same one day. That’s why I want to start by going to school.”

“I see. Schools do prepare dorms for their students, so I’d feel better knowing you have a place to stay. But with your colorless affinity, I...”

That was the only problem. People with colorless affinities were called weak, useless. While I pictured myself being bullied and outcast, Noel looked over at me with a serious expression.

“... I think you’ll be fine.”

“What do you mean? You are well aware of how painful it is to be discriminated against.”

Discriminated? Did she mean because Noel was a demi-human? She was all smiles and laughter now, but I was told she had a tough time growing up.

“I watched Sirius when he was experimenting with his magic earlier. He’s truly amazing! Much better than me. I’d never be able to do that!”

That part was true. No one would be able to do what I was doing, as no one had any knowledge of firearms in this world.

“He’s already able to handle intermediate magic at this age! Picture where he’ll be in six more years! He’ll be able to give any bully a taste of their own medicine for sure! I’m sure he’ll become a great man in the future. I’m not worried for him in the slightest.”

Erina nodded and rubbed Noel’s shoulder in approval.

“That’s true. And, as his servants, it’s our job to do what he says. Besides, this is the first time I’ve heard Sirius say he wants something, so I want to do whatever is in my power to fulfill his wish.”

“Exactly! Let’s all work hard and help him!”

“Yeah!”

The three of them cheered, swearing to help me reach my goal.

“Thanks guys. But we still have six years, so there’s no rush.”

“That’s true. The first problem will be saving up for the school’s entrance fee. I’ll create my best magic medicine so we can sell it..”

“I’ll handle going to the market.”

“I’ll look for good schools! I can’t let Sirius’ genius be wasted rotting away here anyways!”

Noel raised her arms in excitement, though a part of me felt bad. It was like she was trying hard to look excited to bury her own emotions. She was probably feeling a bit sad, not having been able to go to school herself.

“Looks like we’ll be busy from now on. Oh, Dii, give the thing we discussed to Sirius.”

“Okay.”

Dii left the room and returned shortly after with a sword. He handed it to me and looked like he wanted me to draw the blade out, so I did.

“What’s this?”

“The first sword I used when I was an adventurer. It can kill goblins easily.”

The blade was just about half a meter in length, and quite thin. The steel had no engravings or marks on it; it was a standard, simple design. It was a little too big for my young body to handle, but I was happy to have it. The blade looked sharp, but it was really light to wield. The quality of it was clearly very good.

“Are you sure I can have something this fancy?”

“It’s my spare. I found it in a chest one time. It’s too hard for me to use ’cause it's too light. Figured it’d be perfect for you.

I had never heard Dii talk that much before in my life. It did seem perfect for self-defense, so I happily accepted it despite not knowing what it was made out of.

“Here’s a belt to hang it. It’s been fit for your size.”

“Thank you. I’ll treasure these.”

When I thanked him, I noticed Dii’s mouth curve up slightly in a smile. After I put on the belt and attached the sword to it, Erina grabbed my hand and looked into my eyes with a serious expression.

“Sirius. Just because you have a weapon, doesn’t mean you should put yourself in danger. Do you understand?”

“I know. I learned my lesson yesterday. But one day I’ll definitely fight some more goblins.”

“I’d prefer if you avoided as much fighting as possible, but... I suppose it’s needed for you to learn. But please, at least make sure you bring Dii with you.”

Erina looked like she wanted to tell me no, but kept herself in check as my loyal servant. I could easily blow a goblin to bits with my magic now, but I’d like to work on my physical fighting capabilities too. In my old world, defeating a goblin like that would have been as easy as swatting a fly. I was happy with my magic training going so well, but I didn’t want to rely too heavily on it. I wouldn’t like to attract any unwanted attention by showing my magic off, so it’d be best to avoid using it when possible. Thankfully, I didn’t have to pretend to fit my own age anymore, so I could train freely around my beloved servants.

I had to work hard to regain the strength and stamina I had in my previous life. Between that and my rigorous magic studies, my real training had just begun.