"Welcome back, Ezra Assford!" Amelia greeted me with a wide grin as I stepped through the gates.
I rolled my eyes.
As if I'm gonna let a little brat who's barely 7 get underneath my skin.
That's right, I'm mentally 26 after all.
But she seemed pretty lively today in comparison to earlier, where she only spoke cryptic words.
Probably because of all that sleep.
"Hello there, Princess Atatatatataraxia," I purposely stuttered and smirked.
Nah, bring it on.
26 or not, I'm petty like that.
"It's Am-e-lia A-ta-rax-ia! Say it properly!" she pouted.
"Hey, that's not how you greeted me before, you know?"
"I know, but Father corrected me last night."
"Well, you can't complain when you purposely make fun of my name as well."
"Fine… Ash… Ashford!"
"Good, thank you, Atatatataraxia."
"Hey!"
Before she could retort, a new voice cut in.
"I see you've already started antagonizing my daughter again, Assford boy."
There was King Arthur, arms crossed and a smile on his face as he approached us.
"The great and mighty King Arthur! Forgive me, I was simply engaging in some light-hearted banter with the princess," I said dramatically.
Amelia stuck her tongue out at me.
"You truly are a strange one," he said.
"I must admit, I was quite surprised when Lady Camilla agreed to let you stay here for the next five years.
Most noble parents would be loath to have their child away for so long."
"What can I say? My parents know I'm a good kid." I shrugged nonchalantly.
Okay, maybe that was a bit of a stretch.
If my parents knew even half of the crap I got up to, they'd probably have grounded me for life.
But King Arthur didn't need to know that.
You might be wondering why I dropped the polite noble act in front of the two… or maybe not.
"..."
After that dumb conversation, I smirked and went inside the mansion with my two briefcases.
"Ezra, over here!" A familiar voice called out.
I turned to see Vera motioning me over.
Time to get down to business, I suppose.
"Your living quarters have been prepared. Please follow me, and I shall escort you."
I gave a nod and followed her, but not before leaning over to whisper in Amelia's ear.
"I'll play with you later, Princess Atatatataraxia."
"Hmph!" She stomped off, no doubt to go pout in the corner or something.
…
The guest room I was being housed in was pretty fancy, though less fancy than the one I rested in after ingesting the mana amplifier.
The room had a certain vibe to it.
It's like, yeah yeah, we get it already.
The room is fancy.
Yeah, whatever.
I was currently alone, and judging from where the moon was situated, it was probably 11:00 PM… I think?
No idea.
I just pulled that outta my ass, to be honest.
Having nothing to do, I lay in bed and muttered to myself.
'System.'
====
[STATUS]
Name: Ezra Ashford
Level: 1 (0/100)
Race: Human
HP: 100/100
MP 450/500
Class: None
Strength: F
Intelligence: F
Dexterity: F
Charisma: F
[SKILLS]
None
====
I nodded.
I think I might just be a narcissist since whenever I had free time, I would often open the system interface.
Or maybe I was just flabbergasted by it?
After all, I came from a world without any of this magic-y system stuff, you know?
After closing the system, I closed my eyes.
"..."
Then I opened them again.
Wait.
How much did I deviate from the plotline?
Okay, no, I didn't really care.
I'll meet the main character soon when I enroll at Astrea Academy.
Now, Astrea Academy in the Royal Capital of the human domain is known as the crème de la crème of schools.
Where promising young talents gather, not only from the human domain, but all over the world.
You know?
That kind of cliché Academy in those novels.
There'd probably be lots of noble kids there, from deadbeat ones to the typical arrogant ones.
The kind who would look down on the other kids, spewing cliché lines like:
"How dare you, you commoner!"
"Do you not know who my father is?"
Yeah, you get it.
After that, I slept, for real this time.
…
A few days into my "vacation" at the Ataraxia Estate, I wandered around the royal garden on the premise of taking in the sight of the beautiful flowers.
I say premise because there was something I needed here: "Glaze Lily."
Glaze Lily was a flower only found in the Elven Domain.
If one were to ingest it, their mana would increase by 10.
No, not 10 times, but 10.
This was pretty meh, but my other fellow 6-year-olds couldn't progress their system as of yet.
Which is why, if I were to ingest it, I'd be even more on a head start.
Honestly, the elves didn't really need this stuff since elves were more on the magic-y side of the power system I developed, and humans were more on the fancy shmancy sword stuff.
They had magic too, of course.
Which brings us to here.
Glancing around to ensure the coast was clear, I quickly plucked one of the lilies, cradling it gently in my hands as I hurried back to my quarters.
Once I was safely behind closed doors, I ate it.
Compared to what I did, elves would use this flower to make tea and all that fancy stuff.
Yes, I, Ezra Ashford, mentally a 26-year-old, had just eaten a flower I plucked from the ground.
"BLEGHHH!"
It was honestly disgusting, and if I didn't stop myself, I would've thrown up the Glaze Lily on the spot.
I can't fathom doing this another time, let alone an nth number of times.
After that, I checked my system and found my mana capped at 500/510.
Haa… this is gonna take a while.
My goal for today would be to reach 600.
What I'm doing is, yet again, probably illegal.
Eh, no biggie.
They'll thank me soon once I save them.
From what I remember, 8 years in the future, the elves would face a massive tragedy, shaking the entire elf domain.
That's how I wrote Amelia's backstory, at least, but I shouldn't trust that knowledge, of course.
Which is why I'll deviate from the plotline and save the elf domain.
I've made a connection with elves, after all.
It'd leave a bitter taste in my mouth if I let them die, knowing that I knew the future.