Julius and Almeria's Childhood
[Almeria's POV]
Almeria von Zanger, daughter of a viscount, was born as the eldest daughter of Father Gulliver and Mother Calmia.
Father Gulliver was also a corps commander in the Margrave army, and the current Margrave's close friend.
When Almeria was little, her body was weak, and she could not go outside.
She would always gaze out the window, longing for the outside world, when one day a carriage entered the mansion grounds.
"I wonder who's come? A guest, maybe?"
A little while later, she heard a knock at the door.
"Yes. Who is it?" she answered, and then...
*Clack.* The door opened, and standing there with her personal maid was a black-eyed, black-haired boy.
"Hello. Nice to meet you. I'm Julius."
The boy spoke to her with a gentle smile.
"I'm Almeria."
I was embarrassed to talk to someone I didn't know, so my voice barely came out...
My maid cheered me on with, "Young lady, do your best!!"
Then the boy chuckled.
"Hehe. You're close with your maid, huh? Let's be friends too."
He held out his hand, so I grabbed it.
"Yes! Please take care of me."
And just like that, I made my very first friend.
My maid was crying her eyes out, saying, "Young lady, that's wonderful."
After that, whenever Julius came to the house, we'd look at the garden together, talk, take naps together, and spend our time like that. Then one day, Julius said...
"Almeria, don't you want to try using magic?"
He suddenly asked me that, but magic was tied to the class decided when you turned ten. If you had no aptitude, you couldn't use it...
That was common sense in this world.
"I'd like to try it, but I have to wait until I'm ten... Still, I really long for it. If I could use magic, would I be able to go outside? I could, right!?"
Julius seemed a little surprised by my enthusiasm, but he laughed.
"It'll be fine. I'll take you outside, Almeria. If you'll keep it a secret from everyone, want to try some magic?"
"Eh? Magic... you can do that?"
"Yeah, I can. Look."
Water came out from Julius's finger, then fire...
"Ehhhhh! Amazing! I wonder if I can do it too? Julius, teach me..."
I pleaded with Julius.
"Sure. First..."
I held hands with Julius. It was a little embarrassing... but maybe it made me happy too.
Something warm entered my body.
It gradually grew hotter and ran all throughout me.
But I didn't hate it...
Julius was with me, so I wasn't scared.
Then Julius let go of my hand (a little disappointing), and I trained to control the power flowing through my whole body. Even though I was clumsy at it, Julius never made a single annoyed face and stayed with me the whole time.
After about an hour, I could move it the way I wanted. I got excited, overdid it, felt sick, and passed out...
Mana exhaustion, apparently.
If I kept doing it, my mana capacity would gradually increase, he said. Julius apparently did it every day too, so I decided I'd work hard as well.
Several months passed, and lately there were days when I felt incredibly well. I became able to take walks around the garden, and I was so happy to see the flowers up close.
Julius had said something like, "Strengthen your stamina with mana..." but I didn't really understand it...
Still, hiding in the shadows, my maid would cry her eyes out as she watched me getting healthier.
It was because Julius taught me mana, right? I wonder when Julius will come again.
After that, we tried various things, and it seemed I was especially good at healing magic and light magic.
During healing magic training, I kept trying to cast spells to improve my own condition, but it was failure after failure, and I caused so much trouble. Sorry.
But every time, Julius encouraged me...
"Do your best, Almeria. It's important to imagine your body getting healthier inside. You're getting better little by little, so don't give up."
He always encouraged me, and whenever I collapsed from mana exhaustion, he would stay beside me and wait until I woke up. That's why I always told Julius, "Thank you."
Several more years passed, and I became able to properly use both healing magic and light magic, and my body became strong too.
My family and the maids close to me were happy as well, but the magic was a promise between Julius and me, so nobody knew about it. (It's our secret.)
Still, one thing changed, my little sister, two years younger than me, started joining us in magic training.
Nemesia von Zanger.
My younger sister, who was attached to Julius too. She would always follow behind us...
She had the same pink hair as me, styled in twin tails.
According to Julius, she had the greatest magic aptitude out of all of us, and might become a Sage someday...
I puffed out my cheeks in frustration, and then…
"Healing magic and light magic will become more amazing for you, Almeria. Your future is to become a Saintess."
He placed his hand on my head and patted me.
I loved that, so I was always asking for it...
Then Nemesia got angry this time.
"Hmph. Big Brother is always nicer to Big Sister after all. Have you forgotten about Sia?"
Nemesia called Julius "Big Brother," and referred to herself as Sia.
"That's not true. Come here too, Sia..."
She ran to Julius like a puppy and narrowed her eyes in delight as he patted her head.
Ughhh, Nemesia is so cute.
That's how we spent our childhood, but within the South Margrave House, they had narrowed down Julius's marriage candidates to several girls...
Among them were Almeria, who had become popular with the borderfolk through her healing and light magic, and Nemesia, who had an aptitude for many kinds of magic...
What do you think about this chapter?
