Several months had passed since my first magic lesson, and I had learned a lot since then. I could now control fire to some degree—it was the element I could use. I had also started to move at incredible speeds and with impressive strength, though neither was particularly amazing in this world. Personally, I liked speed more than strength. Speed made someone look cool and dazzling, and I could confidently say that my speed was over 100 km/h.
My destructive power was also pretty impressive, though I had initially thought that moving so fast would make me dizzy and hard to control. Surprisingly, it was easier than running. I had also learned to fly, the only technique magic I had mastered so far. As for healing magic, I had only learned how to reduce pain, which felt a bit pathetic. But my life was still long, and I believed I could keep improving.
My mana, however, was still quite weak. My mother had told me that, for my age, I was considered a genius in magic, but my brother had more mana. I wasn't sure if she was just trying to make me feel better. She said that mana develops until adolescence, and it seemed my brother was also a magic prodigy. He always finished the tasks our mother gave him before I could. I never thought I'd feel jealous of him.
I woke up today at sunrise, got out of bed, and went to the bathroom. After taking care of my needs, I saw Louis—yes, my father. He was talking to my mother, both of them smiling as he got ready to leave for work. Not wanting to interrupt their moment, I went back to my room to get more sleep. I was still sleepy anyway. As I was heading to my room, my father noticed me and called out in his gentle, calm voice:
"Come here, Emilia. I want to say goodbye."
I nodded and walked over to them. As I got closer, my mother let out a soft laugh and looked into my eyes as if she could see straight into my soul, teasing me. It seemed she had noticed me heading to my room after seeing them. She knew I wasn't normal. It was impossible for me to be just three years old. I didn't think she cared, though. I had assumed she would hate me if she noticed something strange about me, but I was wrong. I must have thought she wouldn't welcome me if she knew I was from another world. The reason for that was probably because, at the time, I was still in shock from what had happened before I died. It was natural—my mind was too scared to realize that even in my previous world, there were people who didn't like the bullying I had gone through but didn't have the power to stop it. If I were in their shoes, I would have done the same: prayed for the torment to end. Still, I had no desire to tell anyone about my reincarnation. That would only add unnecessary drama. But I wouldn't go out of my way to act like a child either. My mental age was around 19 or 20, and that was enough to consider myself an adult.
I hugged my father and said goodbye. After he left through the door, my mother asked me with a wide smile:
"Why did you ignore us when you saw us?"
"I didn't notice you," I said after a long pause and obvious hesitation.
"What an obvious lie. Even I could come up with a better one," she said with fake displeasure, then continued, "But it doesn't matter now. Do whatever you want. Breakfast will be ready soon," she added with her usual cheerfulness.
"Okay," I replied, then headed out to the garden to see a breathtaking view that words couldn't describe. The night sky, lit up by stars and the moon, blended with the first rays of sunlight in a single canvas. I couldn't do anything but stare at the sky in awe. I stayed like that until my mother called me for breakfast, and I went to wake Edward.
After breakfast, I went to my usual magic training. Lately, my mother hadn't been teaching me anything new. She was only focusing on helping me control my mana.
She had promised Edward and me that if we could cover a certain distance within a set time, she would start teaching us sword fighting, as we both wanted to use swords in combat. Sword fighting was the most common combat method here. The distance we had to cover was easy with reinforcement magic, but the challenge was maintaining precise speed. If I went too fast, I would lose, and if I was too slow, I would also lose.
Recently, I had realized that there was no need to strengthen my physical body, as reinforcement magic didn't multiply my physical strength but added extra power to it. So, there was no benefit in building my physical strength. After all, I looked like a princess from some fairy tale—beautiful, with long blonde hair and yellow eyes. This made me a bit vain, though having yellow eyes still felt strange to me. However, my entire family had yellow eyes, so it wasn't unusual here. I knew nothing about my origins, but it seemed that hair and eye colors were quite random in this world.
After returning home from training, my mother called Edward and me to the kitchen before lunch. When we got there, she said:
"Tonight, we're going camping in the nearby forest. This is a reward for your hard work in learning magic. We'll leave about two hours before sunset, so get ready," she said excitedly.
I started to feel a bit excited too, until I remembered that there was a high chance demons would be chasing me. However, I didn't think my mother would be so careless. It seemed there would be some kind of protection against demons for some reason. My mother reassured me:
"If you're worried about demons, don't be. There's a barrier that prevents them from entering the forest and its surroundings."
This reassured me. It seemed there were two barriers: an outer one to keep out demons and an inner one to keep out monsters. What a well-thought-out plan, allowing hunting while protecting people at the same time. When the time came, we all set off after my father returned from work.
We reached the forest after about half an hour of walking and began exploring. The trees were tall, sturdy, and wide, with plenty of space between them. The scenery was cinematic, with the trees blocking most of the sunlight, and the rays that did filter through looked stunning. Everyone spoke softly and gently, adding to the serene atmosphere. This world was truly beautiful. I thought this might have been the fate of my old world if technology hadn't developed—beautiful and wondrous.
As we searched for a suitable camping spot, Edward spoke to me in a soft voice:
"What a beautiful view, isn't it?"
"It really is. Scenes like this steal your heart."
"Indeed. Can I ask you something? It's a simple question."
I nodded, and he continued:
"If you had to choose between two options, both worse than the other, which would you choose?"
"Personally, I'd choose the option with the least damage. I don't think I'd ever choose the other option under any circumstances."
"I agree. If you think logically, that's the right choice. But I don't think it's an easy choice if you're forced to make it."
"True."
After this conversation, an odd silence fell between us. Edward seemed unusually serious about this strange discussion, which was unlike him. It felt strange.
A few minutes later, I found a good spot to set up the tent. I informed the rest of the family, and we decided to settle there. My father set up the tent, which looked quite modern—not too primitive—and could fit about ten people.
We decided to have dinner as the sun was about to set. I started a fire for cooking, and my mother began preparing a dish called "Northern Mushroom Soup," a soup made with a type of mushroom called Northern Mushroom and the meat of a flying duck, what a weird name. I didn't know much about this "flying duck" or the Northern Mushroom, but I had tasted this soup before and loved it. It seemed that in this world, there is both delicious and terrible food, just like in my previous world.
I had also learned to cook and could identify most ingredients just by looking at them. This was quite useful, as I could enjoy delicious food wherever I go. In fact, it wasn't just useful—it was a great advantage.
Time passed, and we had dinner. It was incredibly delicious as expected. Afterward, my parents excused themselves and told Edward and me that they needed to go into the forest and would return to the tent later. I didn't want to think about why they were going into the forest alone at night, and I succeeded in not dwelling on it. Instead, I focused on the fire in front of me. It was beautiful, illuminating everything around it while the rest was shrouded in darkness. Edward sat on the opposite side of the fire, and we exchanged words for a while, talking about random topics.
About half an hour into our conversation, I started hearing strange noises. Edward seemed to hear them too. They sounded like heavy footsteps, but they weren't very loud. It was clear what was making the noise—some kind of monster trying to sneak up on us to kill us. And it didn't seem to be just one monster. There were many footsteps. It seemed the only solution was to fight. I was about to experience my first real battle in the worst possible way, as visibility was severely limited by the darkness. I glanced at Edward, and it seemed he had reached the same conclusion. I began reinforcing my physical strength using mana and focused on my surroundings. As the monsters got closer, I could barely make out their forms. There were three of them, each about five meters tall—five or six times my height. When they got closer, I could see their shapes more clearly. They looked like wolves, but larger and looked more dangerous. The moment the wolves revealed themselves, Edward dashed toward one of them at an incredible speed, and I did the same. I rushed toward one of the monster's legs at full speed, aiming to knock it down, as that would make things much easier. But before I could reach its leg, it slashed at me with its claws at an astonishing speed. I barely managed to dodge its attack. I created some fire in my left hand and threw it at its leg again. It dodged once more, but that was part of my plan. I rushed to where it would retreat and punched its stomach with all my strength. That was enough to send it flying a few meters and leave it unable to move for a few seconds. I didn't waste the opportunity and began punching it repeatedly with everything I had. After a barrage of blows, the monster collapsed, unconscious. If only I had a sword, I could have killed it, but this was enough for now. Fighting it was exhausting, but not as much as I had expected. I glanced at Edward, and it seemed he had killed one of the monsters too. I didn't like admitting it, but he was a complete genius in combat. But where was the third monster? Just as I remembered it, I felt a surge of heat and noticed a bright light behind me. It was the third monster, about to unleash a fiery attack from its mouth. The attack was aimed at me, and if it hit, I would undoubtedly be roasted alive. I dashed away at full speed to avoid the attack, managing to get far enough to escape the direct hit. But when the attack landed, I felt an intense pain that made me scream at the top of my lungs. I looked down at the source of the pain—my left leg. It didn't seem severely damaged, but it was enough to prevent me from standing without advanced healing magic. I used some magic to alleviate the pain, but I still couldn't stand on it. As I was writhing in pain, I felt something approaching me. The monster was trying to finish me off. With a leg like this, I couldn't escape its attack. What terrible luck. Even with a better start in life, I still couldn't move forward. I closed my eyes, waiting for my death, but all I felt was some blood on my body. There was no pain, just a strange sound—a sound of agony. I opened my eyes to see a horrifying sight. It was Edward, covered in blood. He had a large wound on his back and was losing a lot of blood. He had sacrificed himself for me. Did I really deserve such a sacrifice? Why did he do this? Tears welled up in my eyes. It seemed I had truly come to love this family. I didn't want to lose anyone. My vision began to blur, and I was on the verge of losing consciousness. But I started hearing someone, as if they were saying, "Are you okay?" It sounded like my father. I hoped they could save Edward. And then, I lost consciousness.