54 Happy Childhood

"Now, now, stop crying and shouting like that, you won't be able to do anything in such a state. Take some deep breaths, like that, Hmmmmmmf, Pfffffffffffff, Hmmmmmmmf. Yes, exactly, again, do it until you think that you are calm enough. And that should serve as a lesson for anyone else that thought that magic was easy." The teacher Oscar Moo was currently standing near a kid that had half of his face slightly burned by his spell. Normally, since it was just the most basic introduction to spells, the worst should have been his hand hurting him. But in a moment of panic, the kid fell and he ended up burning himself.

The little boy was still crying, but under the stare of the old man, he kept standing still and breathing. The result of that small demonstration still managed to produce its effect, because a lot of kids were beginning to realize that magic was not a simple toy. If an event like that could reduce the carelessness of his students, Oscar would gladly burn more of them. Well, letting them burn themselves, not him doing it. Even some older magicians, for the sake of creating something new, died horribly because of their experiences. But it was impossible to grow without risking something.

"While your little friend is feeling better, can someone tell me what were his mistakes and what he should have done after doing those errors?" Instantly, Owen raised his hand, but the teacher kept looking around him like he didn't see him. Just in that week, Moo realized that it was worthless to let any of the three small magus say or do anything because it would be more or less perfect. Making all his preparations after they should have failed totally useless. At the same time, he wanted to make the rest of the students participate more, something impossible if three people monopolized everything.

"Nobody, well, let's pick someone totally randomly of course. Let's just say, Ronald!" The boy in question rolled his eyes after hearing the shameless sentences pronounced by the old man. Sometimes, some interested kids, whether they were commoners, nobles or sons of magicians would answer. But if no one was making any effort, the red-haired kid would always be the target because it would catch the attention of the princess near him. Otherwise, the empty-headed girl would just snooze in the middle of the course.

"Ehh, he, ehhh, didn't maintain his concentration?" The pathetic argument was immediately sneered by Leodagan. Even Jorien was shaking her head, thinking that a baby could come up with that. Because of his relationship with the princess, the boy was ostracized by both the group of three and the rest of the class, so no one came to his help. As for his only friend, she was still sleeping for the moment and he didn't want to wake her up for something like that.

"Yes, you are right. The moment he created the flame, it was fine, but for some unknown reasons, the spell began to act erratically and finally, he fell on it. One could say that it was his main mistake since he was burned because of this. But do you remember my question?"

The old man was smiling at him, but not a single trace of sympathy was seen in his eyes. Some fortunate orphans and poor kids were trying their best to understand magic because of that chance that was presented to them. They were working hard to learn to read and had no one besides themselves. On the other hand, the effort that Ronald was providing was too little, especially since he had the help of Istuienn for a lot of things. Oscar Moo was very disappointed with that type of behavior.

"Yes, you say to point out his mistake, right?"

"Mistakes, not a mistake. And there was something else after that, but we should still do something at your level. And until someone else resolves this, you should think about your answer."

The rest of the students were not idle either, except the few that already knew what really happened. Small groups of friends were discussing how many mistakes did the boy made and what could have prevented more to happen. It was not to help Ronald but for themselves since it was the last day when their afternoon was entirely free.

Letting the red-haired kid breathe a bit, the old man roamed in the class and listen to the numerous hypothesis proposed. Some were totally crazy while others were very close to the truth. Each time he approached a group of kids, they began to work harder, making him smile. It was the most basic behavior of a student, to suddenly do everything when the teacher was getting closer. He finally arrived at the end of the classroom and saw the habitual position of Leilade.

After some many days, if he hadn't understood that something weird was happening, he would have frozen himself eternally in shame. He still was unclear about the exact details, but he now knew that Alexander and Leilade made a deal or had an agreement about something. After thinking about that even at night, he realized that only one thing was possible since she was definitely not the child of someone very important. It was the possibility of her being so talented that she could obscure even Istuienn.

Following this, for a very brief second, he was ashamed to be part of something like that, something that could destroy the childhood of the little girl. Past that brief second, he remembered that she would have destroyed it anyway, for her behavior was totally incompatible with the word happiness. From the moment he saw her, the number of times she smiled or even reacted strongly at a situation, dangerous or strange, was a grand total of zero time. But because he still didn't want her to be always alone, he often talked with her.

"So, what do you th…"

"It was not the first time he casted a [Flame] and since it is one of the most basic spells, it can't be that he doesn't understand how to do it. If it was a normal occasion, he would have been fine and I already saw him nearly form a small [Fireball]. Based on that, he could be a 2nd Circle magician in a few months. We can rule out his ineptitude or his inexperience. He broke his concentration, that's a fact, as for why, well, he is the oldest child here. He will be 11 in a few weeks, and his hormones are reacting. The moment he casted the spell it was fine, but right after, a small ray of the sun pierced the clouds and fell directly on Istuienn. The most plausible thing would be him looking at the sleeping beauty, forgetting himself, provoking that situation. After realizing what he had done, he was ashamed and scared to be found out, so he became confused and finally fell on his hand. The solution, don't be attracted to little girl."

The cold voice of Leilade retraced the exact event of what she was supposed to see. In fact, she was sleeping well when the Viscount jokingly told her about that. The moment she raised her head, she saw the pupils of the boy expanding and his disastrous misadventure. After that, because nothing else was interesting, she resumed her well-deserved rest. As for the old man, she wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible, so she resolved his small problem.

Oscar still had his mouth wide open after hearing everything. He was still unsure of what broke the concentration of the kid, but he did remember that the class was lightened right before the accident. He didn't think about it that way, mainly because they were still children, not teenagers ready to be married. But it was also true that this type of accident happened quite a lot at the end of the year, he just didn't expect it to be so soon. Without bothering any further the strange girl, he returned near the boy, to check the theory of Leilade.

He didn't even have to do it, the sneaky stares that the boy regularly did was the only proof he needed. Now he had another problem, how to not let anyone realized what was the truth. While thinking about that, his stare passed on Owen and he quickly approached him to ask what was his answer. After conversing a bit, the old man breathed in relief, since it was absolutely not from the same point of view. Leilade described the event via the disturbance that happened while Owen academically talked about that in relation to the minor errors in the casting of the spell.

After letting the brother of Jorien avoid the awkward reason for the failure, Oscar Moo let a small girl that still had a hard time with the basic spells go on stage. Once again, he reiterated his numerous instructions.

"Take a deep breath before doing anything. Exactly like that, forget about the class for the moment. Later, you will be under dangerous situations, with a certain risk of death if you can't cast a spell in time. But even those hardened veterans still started at the bottom, and some were making even more mistakes than you. Always remember that magic is not just saying some words in the air. It is you that make it happen, not the words. This time, you will cast [Water]. Now, go."

The slightly scared girl executed the standard actions that Moo had given them at the start of the course. She breathed a bit, put her feet at a certain distance of each other, to have a better stance. Stability of mind was as important as the stability of the body, that was the catchphrase pronounced. After that, she closed her eyes, to not be disturbed, and tried to feel the mana inside her. Because she was not the most talented, she took a bit more than 30 seconds before feeling it.

No one spoke or made noises during this. Even Leodagan or Ronald wouldn't perturb the rest of the class. Even without anyone accented the importance of silence, they were not stupid. Intentionally making things hard for someone else would provoke a reaction that some could call disproportionate. In the end, they were all from the Massalia Kingdom and even if they hated each other, they will maybe work together in a few years.

Still, with her eyes closed, the girl broke in a smile and began to chant [Water]. The moment she finished to pronounce the words, a small stream of water began to leak from her hand. She had curbed her fingers to not let anything drop and a few moments later, the improvised bucket was filled to the brim. Even as she smiled, she was still extremely concentrated, because it was the easy part.

Everyone had a favorite hand, either being right-handed or left-handed. While manipulating mana, the same concept was also applied. It was easier for some to feel the mana flow in a certain part of their body and to use it efficiently. For the girl, she often failed to produce water in her right hand while it was a breeze to do it in her left one. And the principle of this exercise was to receive the pointers teacher Oscar while casting a spell.

Because she already had a good grasp on the mana inside her, she effortlessly began to make it move toward her right arm. When she was ready, she said again [Water] and as expected, water was beginning to form. But the smile left her face and she began to furrow and wince. Her entire right arm was shaking and she couldn't help but let out a small shout of pain. Because of this, she lost her concentration and the spell was interrupted. Feeling dejected, she saw the old man smiling at her as nothing happened.

As usual, the class cooperated and gave their feelings about what happened. Two more kids passed before it was the end, but the noises provoked by the numerous discussions never faded. But unlike every day, there was another thing that everyone was discussing. What will they do in the afternoon, instead of having free time to study and train?