Seren woke up again and she was more tired than usual. although her little body was going undergrowth and she need much sleep, this kind of tiredness was simply too unusual. Nadia simply hugged Seren when she saw that she was awake and after playing with her for some time, she started feeding her. Seren was enjoying her breakfast when Marie came in without knocking and it looked like she was scared and stressed.
"my majesty, you must see this. one of our soldiers is dying. his friend said that he was practicing magic but suddenly he fainted."
Seren's eyes went wide and he looked back at her mom to see her reaction and Nadia's reaction wasn't a good one.
"Why are you wasting time? bring him in my room as fast as possible." Nadia wanted to go and see the soldier but she remembered how far their camp was but with Marie here she had no worries. after Marie heard her command, she disappeared. Nadia stood up and corrected her dress and readied herself. after some minutes, Marie appeared in the same spot where she disappeared but right now she wasn't alone. two maids were standing beside a bed in which a topless soldier was sleeping. Marie looked different too because right now she was holding a staff with a blue magical stone on top of it.
Nadia didn't say anything and went beside the soldier and put her delicate right hand on the soldier's heart and raised her left hand to the sky. she chanted a spell and her right hand turned golden while her left hand got engulfed by shadows. seconds passed and Nadia never stopped chanting, she repeated the same sentence again and again with her eyes closed.
Seren wanted to see more and ask many questions but she was too small to even make any sound. "WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM? oh my god, don't tell me that practicing magic has consequences." Seren's thoughts were on chaos. she needed answers and she needed them right now. it looked like gods had heard her again and granted her wish.
slowly Nadia stopped chanting the spell and took away her hands. slowly the soldier opened his eyes and saw the queen in front of him. he was surprised and wanted to stand up out of respect but the queen stopped her "there is no need for that. go, sleep and rest for a month and don't practice magic in those times or you will die."
"But...but my majesty, how did this happen? I was so close to a breakthrough." the soldier asked.
"you see my child when your technique is not strong enough to replenish your magic reserve, you get mana sickness and die. change your technique before a breakthrough." The Queen explained patiently. she ran some tests and when she was sure that the soldier looked healthy, she teleported them back.
"my queen, It might be rude to ask but can you tell me why did you heal that soldier yourself? the doctors were ready." when they left the room and everything was normal, Marie asked.
"you see Marie, the thing I did to that soldier was so complex that it drained me more than I expected. the doctors can't do that and even mana sickness is rare these days. was that soldier poor?" Nadia asked.
"Yes, my majesty. he had told his generals that the technique he had was a gift from a friend because he couldn't afford any. although with that damaged technique, he is at the fourth stage now." Marie explained what she had learned from the generals.
Nadia listened and after some thinking, she said "My husband didn't sacrifice his life so that his soldiers practiced crappy technique. give him 10 golds and a good mana gathering technique. it should do him good for the next five years."
Seren was screaming in her little cute head right now. by practicing without knowing she was getting closer and closer to that loop of death that she feared the most. "How too foolish could I be to not think about this part. I mean, how could I use magic when I don't have any mana."
"it looks all has been set and Seren is ready to sleep again. let's get back to work Marie." Nadia cleaned her dress and her hands with magic and disappeared with Marie, leaving Seren alone on her own.
--
'I need a mana gathering technique. think...think...where can I find one of those? oh, damn it, even if I find one I can't read." Seren was disappointed but didn't give up because she didn't have anything to do either.
'hmm...there were many novels and Sci-Fi books that talked about magic on earth. who knows maybe that description would help me. the worst thing would be that I had just wasted my time.' Sere thought.
she started thinking about those books but they were all some hazy memories. it looked like the reincarnation had its cost too because she couldn't remember more than strong feelings and memories that had a strong impact on her past life. she didn't give up out of boredom and finally found something, it was a common thing in all those stories. they all explained that there was a space in the abdomen that was responsible to store mana. it also explained that there were channels through the whole body that would absorb Mana from outside and after they purified it, they would store it in that place in the abdomen.
Seren didn't think about the consequences of her action and closed her tiny eyelids. she imagined her body like an empty sphere. then she imagined it getting filled with energy. slowly in her imagination, the sphere got filled with bright blue energy. Seren got super happy and opened her eyes. without waiting for any response from her body, she pointed her index finger up and tried to imagine a little flame on top of it. seconds turned to minute but nothing happened.
she got so angry that she started crying while in her head she shouted "why? why didn't it work?"
suddenly, Marie appeared beside her out of nowhere but Seren got scared again and cried louder. Seren thought 'Why is this aunty so obsessed with me, I just want to be alone. leave me alone' and she cried louder and louder.
Marie laughed when she saw Seren's terrified expression when she teleported beside her but she stopped and sat beside Seren to comfort her. 'I don't want you, you ugly aunty. I want my mom. I used too much energy that I am hungry now. tell her that her daughter needs her.' Seren tried to tell Marie why she was crying but she only cried louder and louder.
suddenly Marie took a pink nipple out of thin air which amazed Seren for a moment and before she knew it, Marie pushed that pink nipple inside her mouth. 'you evil Maid, you wanted to kill me all this time...I will avenge myself in my next life...oh wow it tastes good...better not be poisoned or I will kill you...oh, I'm tired again from all that crying.' although Seren was talking in her mind, Marie only heard a crying that faded slowly when she pushed that pink nipple inside Seren's mouth. "sleep, my beautiful princess. you don't have to be scared because I'm here to stop anything from harming you." Marie whispered in Seren's ear.
'you violated my personal space but I forgive you this time because mother likes you...I should try that magic thing again after I wake up' as he was making some cute sound while sucking on that pink nipple, Seren fell asleep.