Chereads / Gods and Glory / Chapter 3 - Chapter 03 : The Beginning, Once More

Chapter 3 - Chapter 03 : The Beginning, Once More

{Gabrielle Xylmuitte - 2 years of age}

In Mr. George's study, a pile of books were stacked over one another cleanly. In the middle of it all was a one year old child who was seemingly eager to understand the content of the book she had opened. It was Gabrielle, ever since she had learnt to stand she had started reading complicated books about magic. Her parents of course had no clue to what she was up to, leaving her to the maids telling them to allow her access to wherever but going outside and into the basement was forbid. Gab's maid, Alisa, was a young woman who cared deeply for her.

She saw Gabrielle as her younger sibling, and she hardly left her side. Gab was trying to learn basic magic by herself, though the struggle was real. Her tiny body was one thing, she had to be carried by her maid everywhere, though all she had to do was point. Her mana was also a big obstacle, she could hardly practice her [Conjure] due to lack of magical power. It was Sunset and Alisa had baby Gab between her crossed legs, though she had fallen asleep.

'I need to do something about this small mana pool of mine, so hard to even maintain a simple [Water Conjure]. Even just having it move for a meter consumes more than half of my mana. Father must have some written [Conjure Technique] that could help in increasing my mana pool. Better ask Alisa for the upper books tomorrow. It's already curfew *sigh*, just you wait till I grow a little more. Now then, we better go back before we get scolded again.

She thought and started shaking the sleeping Alisa.

*Alisa awakes*

"uuuuhh...*yawns* What is the matter young miss?"

She says to Gab who then points to the window showing the setting sun.

"Oh my! The curfew, we must head back now. Come young miss *lifts Gab*. Ouch *almost trips*, oh no, my poor legs. I should really stop sleeping like that now."

Night came.

At the family dining table, there the Xylmuitte family ate dinner. As royals would do, the head of the house would dine in the edge of the table overlooking the members of his house.

"Alisa, do tell me where Gabrielle went about today, would you please?"

Requested Mr. Xylmuitte who just came from his office in the kingdom's castle. He was a noble assigned by the king to help maintain the financial state of the kingdom's treasury on balance. Though this form of work required redundant duties of rechecking the expenses and future budget of the kingdom on different areas, George was a man of great patience and he was also deemed to have a stern sense of duty to the country.

"Oh yes, of course sir. Today the young miss wanted to visit your study, she seemed quite interested and consumed by your books specifically. The miss and I spent the whole day inside your study with her asking for my assistance on reaching for books in places too far for her as of yet. That is all."

She reported. She was used to this task, for every night on dinner Mr. Xylmuitte asked of it.

"My, aren't you the little genius, hm? Oh you cute little thing, if only this mother of yours could spend more time with her child. Who's mommy's little angel, hmm, hmmm, you are? *giggles while tickling Gab*"

Teases Eleanor. She notices George looking stressed out and starts to worry.

"Is something the matter, dear? You look rather tired today particularly."

"*long sigh* It's about the budget for the army's weaponry. There were missing funds, and now we will have to retrace our steps until we can find the source of loss. Now it's taking forever just skimming through old documents. And if I'm unable to find the roots of this problem, my position demands me to provide and cover for it instead.*long sigh*"

He says.

"My word, that is quite troubling. How much was lost anyways?"

She continues while slowly grasping the situation.

"We're missing two carriages, fifteen horses, forty-three armor sets, twenty short-swords, and fourteen lances. A carriage costs 200 copper volis, a horse takes 32 copper volis, a whole armour set is 38 copper volis, short-swords for 9 copper volis, while lances for 12 copper volis. Summing up, well its about... 3 silver volis. That is about five percent of my monthly income, takes a chunk of my hard work and time spent in the office in vain. Dear, what should I do?"

He said while taking hold of his wife's hand. He always runs to her when things get rough, with the fact that she was one of the brightest students of their time.

"I would be more than happy to help you out but let us do so after dinner, shall we?"

"I would be delighted. And maybe you could delight me on my other needs as well. *winks*"

"Oh stop it, you. There are children, can't you see? *blushing*"

Gab cringed to her father's remark.

"How about you Diana? What did you do today?"

"Yes Father, today was the same with my previous schedules. This morning, I attended to my lessons in the violin. Later on, I took up arithmetic with my tutor. Then forward to my painting lessons where the maestro taught me landscape portraits. Afterwards was nothing but my free time so I decided to head to the town library. That is all."

"Wonderful as always, my girl. I'm so proud of you."

"Oh, no mother. I merely perform what was to be expected from me. Thank you~"

"Well done, Diana. I can see a shining future ahead of you. Continue what it is that you do."

"Yes, of course. Thank you, Father."

After finishing dinner, the couple had proceeded to do their "business" in in their room. While Gab was carried by Alisa and Diana accompanied by her own personal maid, Felicita, an elderly woman who also took care of Diana since her birth. She was a really kind woman, showing respect to every person she encounters.

Alisa then takes Gab to her room. It was laced in pink while swirling around with sky blue. A miniature chandelier hung from above, over her white crib. There were also two lamps for the lighting and around the room were cabinets filled with Gab's clothes. A tiny drawer with a closet hanger was by the side, Alisa uses this. She then prepares Gab's bath and milk. While doing so she leaves Gab in her crib.

"Just a minute, miss. We will proceed to your bath once I return, all right?"

She asks. Gab nods in response. Alisa giggles and pats her on the head.

As she prepared hot water, Gab had her chance. She was waiting for this moment when Alisa would be distracted. She conjures a spell on her body, [Skill Boost : Strength]. This allowed a person to temporarily increase his strength in folds depending on his mana pool, for Gab this just allowed her to somersault her way out of the crib, grab a book from under the bed, throw it into her crib, jump back up inside, then hide the book beneath her bed's foam. This ate up half of her mana, though when compared to other infants, her mana was that of an irregular, a monster. She achieved such a feat by continuously cultivating and practicing her [Conjure]s.

'Nice and quick, yes!'

She said to herself after hiding the book and standing proud for achieving such a feat.

"Miss? The bath is ready now!"

Called Alisa. Gab was startled, thinking that she was caught red-handed. She falls flat on her head.

"Miss, what are you doing?"

She asks as she sees Gab with her head on the bed down flat and her but raised. In an effort to make an excuse, Gab does push-ups.

"Wha- Miss?!"

"Umu umu!" she mutters but thought 'What the hell am I doing?!'

Alisa is stunned. Then, Gab does sit ups.

"Eeeeh~??!!"

"Umu umu!" but was thinking 'Huh?! What the heck? I'm making it worse!'

As of now Alisa was confused about what Gab was doing. And finally, she does head-stand. But she was clearly struggling.

"Woahh- wait, no. What are you even doing?!"

"Umu umu!" thinking 'Aahaha, just stop, stop it. Don't look at me~!'

Then the conjure finally runs out of time and she fell flat on her face on the bed.

'Ah, it finally ran out huh?'

"M-miss? Are you alright?"

She asked and took Gab into her arms.

"U-umu...*blush*"

Alisa then carried Gab to bathe. After that, she combed her hair to dry.

'If I remember correctly, before getting the blessing from the Gods, my aptitude was a triple talent. [Wind], [Lightning] and [Water]. [Wind] magic allows me to create more offensively based abilities and also that it can be used as a substitute for other forms of transportation. While its the same for [Lightning] magic, it's attack power is on a much larger scale and can hit multiple targets while using minimum of my mana. [Water] magic focuses on purifications and healing abilities it has a quite a let-down on the offensive capabilities.'

She thought while Alisa brushed her hair. After she finished, Gab laid down looking asleep. Alisa kissed her forehead and said.

"Rest well miss, Good night."

She left the room, blew out the chandelier and the lamps. After a while, Gab sits straight up.

'I'm sorry, Alisa. But I won't be able to rest well for the following years. Rather, I mustn't. I have a war to prepare for.'

She thought and lights up the lamp. She retrieved the book she hid from below her mattress and up front her pillow while carrying her bottle of milk.

'And I will get to the bottom of this farce. The war between the Gods and the Devil. I have a long way to go, don't I?'