Princess’ Day Off
Impressions of going out in the town for the first time in a while… Turns out that when I go out, I get into trouble & poke my nose into another’s trouble…
“Funifuni~fufu… it’s best to be with my daughter after having a vacation in a long time.”
“Uniyu, I can’t read the book…”
What am I doing now? Reading, on my mother’s lap. Apparently, she took a day off from work to be with me.
She’s not feeling well since the last incident, in fact, her condition is not the best. According to the doctor, it’s just a mild cold and stress… well, she’s been through a lot lately.
“I told you that you can’t read today, right? Besides, I always tell you that you can’t just take my grimoires without permission… it’s my day off today, so I’m confiscating it.”
“Pro…! Uhiyaa… not… the armpits! I got it. I won’t read books.”
When I tried to guard the book with my stable Protect spell, I was tickled on the sides. I can’t win against my mother as usual… My father didn’t want me to dislike him, so he didn’t confiscate my wand, but if with my mother watching, I will fail one out of two times, and even if I’m about to succeed, she’ll block me like this. My father told me that Mother was like that, with a faraway look in her eyes, I wonder what he meant? Mother said that once I will get to understand once I figure out the secret of activating magic, but I’m not sure I understand.
“Magic might seem to be all-powerful at a glance, and you can do most things naturally so it’s hard for you to notice, but it’s really not that all-powerful, there are clearly defined things that you can’t do with magic but only those who understand the activation know about it. Some people who are more perceptive than I am can tell you the type of magic and even the name of it before it’s fired.”
“I would like to hear more about that.”
“No way~ you will have less fun later if you get to know everything all at once.”
Guh… Mother doesn’t teach me magic very much. That’s why I am stealing Mother’s grimoires, but I can’t use the skills described in the books very much, and advanced-level magic grimoires are strictly kept away, so I can’t read those… Well, I can occasionally manage to create spells when I synthesize magic, but there were pioneers of it before me so it’s not like I’m making the spells from scratch. Grimoires only contain completed spells. Thus, there seem to be more than a few people who are capable of synthesis, but synthesis simply seems to be one of the incantations for simple elementary-level magic.
“I can’t move without my books…”
“It’s good that you are a voracious reader, but grimoires can be dangerous, so don’t read them without permission. You are skipping the basics too much, Alice.”
“I want you to teach me the basics.”
“It’s still too early for you, but… why can you skip the basics and use magic anyway~?”
This time she squished my cheeks. I think it can’t be helped, that’s because I can use the spells mostly after reading and the spirits will assist me with the activation.
“I can reduce the error of chantless magic by training my magical power control, but it’s difficult to control since I have so much of it. When I try to create a little flame on top of my finger, I create a pillar of fire instead. It’s too dangerous like that.”
“You can’t not just… use it, right?”
Magic is convenient, so I will keep using it. I can read at night thanks to it.
“I don’t know why I shouldn’t use that which brings convenience. Even if it’s dangerous, it can save lives when used right, so why won’t you teach me?”
“I think you have a gift, Alice, but it’s too early to tell. The power you have is beyond your imagination and it will surely be of help, but above all, it will tie you down. You are too young to know when bad people are going to try to use your power against you. Can you protect yourself? If you are afraid of hurting people, you shouldn’t have that power, because that power can hurt you and cause others to come after you.”
“Can’t I just capture the bad guys?”
I don’t think I have to kill them or anything, a punishment will be waiting for the bad guys, so if I catch them, they won’t be let off.
“Capture, huh… no one is going to complain when an evil person gets killed. I just want you to know that. Moreover, the value of a person’s life in our world is lower than you think. What are you going to do after capturing them? They are going to be forced into slavery if their crime was light, and bandits are going to get hung-up or beheaded without question. We are in the position of protecting the country, so we are not allowed to sympathize with these criminals. Killing them warns others not to do the same thing.”
So it’s different here… I can’t imagine killing people, but it seems to be a common thing in this world. The common sense I have is from ‘that’ world, so I guess that’s where the discrepancy lies.
“It’s difficult.”
“That’s right, but if you don’t have that resolve that I am unable to teach you. Magic can hurt people, and you will have to overcome a lot of obstacles with how special you are to survive in this world… even if you’re royalty.”
Resolve, huh… I only saw magic as a convenience. I thought I understood that I was different from other people, but I guess I wasn’t thinking clearly enough.
“……”
“Well, it’s okay to wait a while before you are ready. You are still a child, after all. I just wanted to make you aware of the dangers of magic and that yes, it is indeed very convenient, just as you said.”
It was a tough talk, but it seems that what I need now is to have more resolve, rather than strength.
After that, we talked about various things, not just about magic. We talked about the unusual things we saw in town, what the people were talking about, and we even read a book together.
“Let’s take a bath together today.”
After we had finished eating, mother suddenly asked me to take a bath with her. It’s not often that I get to do this because my mother is very busy, so it’s Alicia who usually bathes me, and I don’t get to go in with my father very often. Even if I am only a five-year-old, I’m still a girl.
“I don’t mind bathing together, but no tickling.”
Sometimes when I go in with her, she tickles me a lot. I guess my love of pranks is genetic.
“You are so squishy and tiny that I can’t help but tickle you~ In other words, it’s your fault, Alice. It’s inevitable.”
“I am not at fault. Besides, I should be growing bigger in just a bit longer… I hope.”