Next day
It was early morning, and the sun was nowhere to be seen—it had not risen yet. The darkness still covered all areas, but there was a small early light in the darkness. In that bit of light, a young woman was walking, and a young girl was following her from behind at a very close distance. The young woman was Elise, and the girl following her was Winifred. They continued walking toward the south forest from their home.
"Make sure to follow me correctly. I'll lead the correct path, okay?" Elise said, walking in front of Winifred.
"Yeah…!" Winifred replied, a bit nervous, knowing that Elise was using magic to see in the dark and telling her to follow her from behind so she wouldn't fall or hit something.
The reason Winifred was going with Elise so early in the morning was to unlock Winifred's mana circuit. Last night, Elise had told Winifred that to learn magic, Winifred needed to unlock her mana circuit first. After that, Elise told Winifred that she would unlock her mana circuit the next morning in the nearby south forest.
While following Elise, Winifred was nervous. She knew the process of unlocking her mana circuit was going to be painful. While walking with Elise, Winifred briefly thought about using the second method of unlocking the mana circuit—the process that wasn't painful and cruel, the process that took four years.
'No, stop thinking about this. Remember your dreams, and also, you don't have that much time,' Winifred thought, afraid of the pain she was going to feel throughout the process of unlocking her mana circuit. She thought about telling Elise that she wasn't ready for this quick process but tightly grabbed her fingers, closing them tightly in frustration, feeling like she was giving up.
"There, see the tree on top? We need to go there," Elise suddenly said, stopping at the bottom of a slope and pointing toward the tree near the south forest on top of a small mountain.
Hearing Elise, Winifred quickly stopped. She looked toward the tree that Elise was pointing to. Winifred's eyes widened, and her expression changed as if she had seen something that shocked her but in a good way. She looked toward the tree atop the small mountain. She saw a massive tree on top of the small mountain, covered in dense white fog. The tree was so tall that its top was slightly emerging from the fog, with some areas hidden in fog and some visible.
Then her eyes moved to the mountain. The tree was on a small mountain also covered in dense white fog. The mountain was visible to Winifred's eyes, and in the darkness, the mountain shimmered as if dark and white light were mixed together. The white dense fog around the mountain and tree gave Winifred a beautiful, marvelous view—one that she had never seen in pictures from her old world.
'It looks like a small heaven built on a mountain,' Winifred thought, captivated by the beauty of the mountain.
"Let's go," Elise said, noticing Winifred was frozen in awe at the sight of the mountain.
Hearing Elise's voice, Winifred snapped back to reality. Looking at Elise, she replied, "Oh… yeah."
Winifred started following Elise again and suddenly realized that, for a moment, she had completely forgotten about the pain she had been thinking about.
"You can choose, you know…" Elise said while walking.
"What choose?" Winifred replied, confusion evident on her face.
"The second way—to unlock the mana circuit slowly, by doing the practice," Elise replied, reminding Winifred that she could still choose the longer way to unlock her mana circuit.
"Nah… that will take too much time. I'm lucky that you found me. I'll never miss this chance!" Winifred replied coldly, looking toward the ground. Her face showed a blank expression as she knew it was going to hurt, but still, she couldn't miss the chance.
Elise knew what Winifred was thinking and feeling. Anyone could tell that Winifred wasn't looking like herself. Accepting the pain she was going to endure had already changed Winifred completely. Knowing how Winifred was feeling, Elise said, "Don't worry too much, okay? Remember, I'm here."
"Mom," Winifred replied subconsciously, lifting her head toward Elise.
Hearing the word "Mom," Elise suddenly stopped. She turned her head slightly to look at Winifred.
"Oh… sorry. My mom used to say those same words—'Remember, I'm here.' Hearing you say them brought it out of me," Winifred explained, a small smile hiding her sadness.
"Oh… no need to apologize for that," Elise replied, understanding Winifred's hidden emotions.
Elise and Winifred continued walking toward the tree.
"Oh… did you hear that? Knowing how much it's going to hurt, the girl remembers her mom. I don't even know who my mom is," said a crow sitting on a tree branch. It was the same crow that had been hearing Elise and Winifred the night before, sitting on the tree near Elise and Winifred, with the mouse named prince.
"Don't talk to me—I'm sleeping, you idiot crow," a young man sleeping on a big tree branch above, where he had been lying, replied angrily.
"Sleeping, huh? Then go somewhere else! You think I don't understand? I know you came here to see that girl too," the crow replied teasingly.
"Boom… crack…!"
Suddenly, a big sound was heard by Elise and Winifred. Both turned toward the sound. It had come from the big tree they were heading toward. The noise startled the birds in the area, causing them to take flight.
"Idiots," Elise thought, looking at the tree.
"Don't worry, everything's fine," Elise said, reassuring Winifred.
"Oh… okay," Winifred replied, hearing Elise.
Elise and Winifred continued walking. 'What was that noise?' Winifred thought.
"Did you lose your mind?" the crow shouted, flying in front of the young man who had attacked the branch where the crow had been sitting.
"I told you not to talk to me—I'm sleeping!" the young man replied angrily, now standing on a half-broken branch.
"You idiot prince! Elise loves this tree. She'll kill us both, you fool!" the crow exclaimed, both angry and frightened.
"You broke it, not me," the prince replied, trying to shift the blame.
"What?! You attacked it, you idiot! You broke it!" the crow retorted, furious.
"Attach that broken branch again!" the crow demanded.
The prince glanced at Elise and Winifred, noticing how close they were. He quickly flew up into the air.
"Come back, you fool! I don't know about tree magic!" the crow shouted after him, exasperated.
....
After some time…
Elise and Winifred reached the tree.