CH 14

Princess’ Day Off

“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 Aletheia 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.”

Princess’ Day Off

We arrived at the bathroom while having such a conversation. In this world, baths are rarely used, but my mother solved the problem by force. The first thing to do is to fill the bathtub with water, which isn’t that difficult in this country where the water comes from the river and isn’t drawn from wells. And once it’s filled, it’s as simple as heating it up with a fireball. Normally, you would need to use a magic tool, but since it’s expensive and we can do it ourselves, there was no need to buy it. I haven’t seen how people in other countries do it, but we do it like this. It’s similar to how a King of a country wouldn’t be fixing the doors and roof by himself.

“My hair is a nuisance… can I cut it?”

I think that long hair is nice, but it’s troublesome to maintain and it takes time to wash and dry it. And the biggest problem is that it gets in the way as my hair currently reaches up to my waist.

“Of course not. You are a girl too, Alice, so consider your appearances a little more. I always think that you should stop wearing those rough-looking clothes all the time and start wearing dresses.”

“Dresses are difficult to move in and tear easily so I don’t like them.”

I have dresses and accessories, but I only wear the bare necessities. I mean, those things get easily broken and are difficult to move in and I feel stressed out wearing them, so I always dress in shirts and skirts. Even Father wears the commoner clothes when he occasionally goes out to the town.

“… Just get used to it.”

“Not possible!”

That’s not possible. I don’t hate it but I don’t want to wear clothes that tire me out. I will reluctantly wear it when attending parties and other formal events, but I feel calmer when with the people of the town rather than the nobles in the castle.

“You have become another Draco, huh. That person has been saying that he hates wearing those kinds of clothes since forever, so you must take after him.”

She seems dejected about it. Well, my Father was originally a fourth son of a lower-ranking noble who could not inherit the household and became an adventurer who grew among the commoners, so it’s not surprising that I resemble him in this sense. My Elder brother looks good in formal wear and he seems used to wearing it, so he must take after Mother. Of course, when I said that she should know to give up since I resemble Father, Mother smacked my head.

“You are in a position in which you should get used to wearing dresses, right? You must not initiate him in strange places.”

“… I’m sorry.”

It would be dangerous to anger Mother any further, so I apologized obediently… though I didn’t feel like reflecting.

The bathing event was over, and today I was going to sleep with my mother in her room. I love Mother a lot, so I often sleep with her when there’s an opportunity. I also like my father, so there are times when I sleep with him, but I don’t sleep with my brother unless Mother or Father are with us. I feel like he’s getting more dangerous every year.

“As I thought, it might be better to let you go to the academy, after all.”

“?”

“You will gain a lot of experience at the academy, and since it’s you we are talking about, you will use your royal duties to become an adventurer, right? If so, you will be able to understand more about those things if you go to the academy since there’s a dungeon underneath the academy, too.”

Dungeons… they are a natural part of this world of swords and magic. Dungeons are also called labyrinths, but in reality, they are natural or man-made monsters. The principles behind them are a mystery, but it is said that ruins of past civilizations can become labyrinths, and caves can become labyrinths, too. Of course, there are labyrinths in our country as well, but they are B-grade labyrinths at the very least, and I wouldn’t be able to enter one even if I became an adventurer.

And the duty of the royal family my mother mentioned, is to become adventurers. If you don’t achieve B-rank or higher as an adventurer, you can’t become the next King, and everyone except the Crown Prince is obligated to become an adventurer. By the way, it’s okay to train with the knights, but it’s forbidden to join the Knights Order and have them train you, apparently to prevent corruption in the order. Therefore, I should have that duty too, but there’s no problem even if I don’t become an adventurer since I’m a girl. Of course, my mother had never been an adventurer before. But I want to be an adventurer, and in order to get closer to my goal, I need to gain experience as an adventurer.

“I got exposed… you are not against it?”

“I am, but it’s not up to me as even I cannot break the rules that the country set… I would be denying the past if I broke the rules. Besides, royalty is expected to be strong in our country, and I’m sure you have some ideas as to why, Alice.”

“With success comes ease. We won’t have to be afraid of enemies from outside, and we will be able to live a better life.”

The goal is mainly peace in the country! The reason why this country is so far behind in magic and other things is because of the Empire and the Holy Kingdom, so if we could silence these two countries, the potential of our own country will grow much higher.

“Reaching peace with the Empire constantly trying to invade us… it will be a difficult road, you know? Those two countries will never give up on this country.”

Well, if you looked at history, you will see that they have been at war with us for nearly 500 years. The history of this world is several times longer than that of my other world, but civilizations have been dying out quite frequently, so the growth of the civilization stopped a little before the Middle Ages. Rather, it’s amazing that this country hasn’t fallen after nearly 500 years of war, and it’s also amazing that those two countries haven’t given up after all that time.

“I have figured out the way to make them give up but I’m not able to do so just yet. I lack the knowledge and don’t have enough experience.”

“You ought to try many times. If it’s to make our country peaceful, then I’m willing to lend you my strength.”

Well, it was still in the planning stage, so my mother didn’t ask too many questions. She wasn’t probably expecting much of me either, as my goal was just too big.

“Anyhow, you will be attending the academy when you turn six.”

“I have to wait another year?”

“The national borders aren’t stable. Draco will kick their butts and make them obedient in that year, so you wait until then.”

I can go to the academy in a year, huh… I hope it’s full of interesting things.