Chapter 18: The Joy of Learning

"...Now for today's magic lesson!" Merlin directed their attention to the fountain behind him. "A couple of days ago, I taught you Fire Magic, so today, we'll be covering Water Magic." He spoke to Princess Sharon directly as there was no need to teach Earl magic he already knew.

"In many circumstances, you will find that Water Magic is more convenient to use than Fire Magic. Why? Because water is everywhere, unlike fire which you have to generate."

"Let's start with that nice fountain behind me. If you use your mana to urge it a little..." Merlin reached his wrinkly old hand forward and moments later, a small portion of the water disconnected from the fountain and came into Merlin's hand in the shape of a sphere.

Princess Sharon let out an excited wow seeing this.

"Pretty cool, right?" Merlin let out a warm smile. "Here, let me teach you." He stroked his chin and took a moment to think. "Imagine inhaling with your mana towards the water. That should make sense?"

"Okay!" Princess Sharon then went to the water excitedly. She then took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she reopened her eyes, they were filled with incredible focus. Her dainty little hands reached forward and she waited.

1 second...

5 seconds...

10 seconds...

"It's not coming..." She said in a disheartened voice and looked to Earl first, then Merlin.

"Don't be discouraged, Princess. Even I didn't succeed on my first try. It's just the nature of magic. You have to work hard and constantly try to achieve success." Merlin said with a laugh, causing the wrinkles on his face to deepen.

"Hmph! Useless!" Princess Sharon threw a tantrum and turned her head little head the other way.

Court Mage Merlin laughed harder at this. Seeing the child princess throw all etiquette out the window because she failed was simply too amusing.

Merlin's laugh caused Princess Sharon to be further irritated.

"Earl!" She called Earl for help.

With a helpless smile, Earl said. "Princess, how about you try this?"

He went forward and dipped his hand into the fountain. "You can start small and try to have the water stick to your hand when you dip it into the fountain first."

Earl then took his hand out of the fountain. A small sphere of water covered his hand for a few seconds before dropping back into the fountain. "And then after you get a feel for it, you can have it come to you directly."

As if time was rewinded, water came out of the fountain and formed a sphere around Earl's hand like before.

"Ooh!" Mage Merlin let out an impressed sound from the side.

Princess Sharon pouted and stared at the water silently. "...Fine! I'll give it another try..."

She returned to the fountain and dipped her hand into the water. A few seconds passed, and Princess Sharon took her hand out of the water. A small amount of water was stuck to her hand. It was not a perfect sphere like Earl's, but it was something.

"I did it!" She said excitedly and ran to hug Earl. "Thank you, Earl!"

Earl was unfazed by the hug. He kept a composed smile, "Of course, Your Highness."

"That was excellent, Princess. Why don't you try doing it without putting your hand into the water now?" Court Mage Merlin chimed in from the side, immediately causing Sharon's face to cramp.

She stuck her tongue out towards the old man and went back to the fountain. "Fine! I'll try again!"

As Sharon was facing the fountain, her back was facing Earl and Merlin. The two men gave each other knowing smiles. The princess may be throwing a tantrum but they both knew this was part of the joy of teaching and learning. Seeing her go through her struggles brought their fond memories of when they were first learning forward.

Sharon reached her hand forward, hovering them above the water.

"Remember! Inhale with your mana!" Merlin reminded her from the back while stroking his wrinkly chin.

Sharon took Merlin's words to heart. Inhale... She recalled the feeling of when she was able to get the water on her hand. And to her surprise, a portion of the fountain broke off and made contact with her hand!

"I did it!" She became excited again, jumping in the air.

"Superb. Superb." Merlin nodded repeatedly at her progress. Her taking so little attempts at basic Apprentice-level Magic was a sign of her talent.

After Sharon came off her learning high, she fidgeted over to Merlin. "M-my apologies for my words earlier." She apologized while averting her gaze.

"Hahaha!" Mage Merlin only laughed. "It's nothing at all!"

For the next hour, Sharon practiced her Water Magic while Merlin and Earl watched from the side with Merlin giving Earl advice on fine-tuning his mana control.

When they were done with their lesson, Merlin took his leave coolly by fluttering his black mage robe leaving Sharon and Earl on their own.

Now that it was just Earl and Sharon, it felt awfully quiet. Sharon looked around for her maid and said, "Do you want to come to my room?"

"Hm?" Earl was taken by surprise by Sharon's unexpected question. It was his first time being invited to her room.

"Y-you don't want to?" Sharon's face started to turn red from embarrassment.

"It would be my pleasure, Princess."

And so, they made their way over to the Princess's room. Apparently, Sharon's maid was waiting for her at her room so their walk was peaceful without anyone interrupting their conversation.

The Royal Palace's hallway was built out of a myriad of colourful tiles. Their footsteps left a rhythmic sound as they walked over the tiles. By their side would be occasional french windows, giving them a full view of the bustling city below. At their other side were rows of armoured golems. These were the Royal Palace's guards that could automatically detect intruders.

As they were about to turn the corner to the princess's room, they suddenly met an unexpected guest.

He was a boy with silver hair and pretty blue eyes like Sharon's. His face was sculpted and symmetrical. With just one look, one would be able to tell that he would grow up to be a good-looking man. Standing tall, he appeared to be at about 10 years of age. And like Earl, he wore a white dress shirt with a ribbon bow tie and a pair of shorts, the standard attire for nobles. He was Seth Ablax, the first prince of the Ablax Kingdom, as well as the older brother of Sharon Ablax.