*Tock, Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock*

*Yawn* *Cough, Cough, Cough*

Hm? I am thirsty… I need a lot of water today, thought Alviona as she stirred awake, not as cheerful as her usual self. Her mouth felt overly dry, experiencing dizziness and exhaustion despite not lacking rest. Looking around, she took note of Mira’s absence. The room was dark, dimmed sunlight penetrated through the curtains. Not quite willing to get out of the warm bed, she thought of ways to deal with her condition. Mr. Solomon, are you awake?

*Knock, Knock*

“Mistress, may I enter?”

*Cough, Cough*

Yes, please.

“Good morning. How may I be of service?”

Sir, where is grandma Mira?

“She has gone out to settle some minor businesses and purchase more vials for the journey. Something to do with potion brewing,” said Solomon carefully looking at the goddess in front of him, his link telling him that something was wrong.

She seemed overly gloomy. Her eyes seemed to lack the curiosity usually dwelling within her, and she was coughing a lot. Solomon got nervous and closely inspected Alviona’s hands, noticing various cracks on her pale skin.

“M-mistress, what is going on? Are you ill? Let me get Mira!” However, the child told him not to do so and instead, asked him to bring her a lot of water.

Rushing downstairs, he asked the innkeeper to provide him with the biggest barrel he had in possession, which was four liters. Filling it up with water, he rushed upstairs, not forgetting to take a clean cup. Alviona gracefully accepted it and drank the liquid in intervals of two cups, pausing for a minute until resuming. In nine minutes she had emptied the full barrel, asking Solomon to get more thus repeating the process, making the man go up and down the stairs fourteen more times, and a total of sixty liters of water were consumed.

“Puah. Thank you very much for saving me from my condition,” said Alviona cheerfully, drinking her last cup. Her sweet voice filled Solomon’s ears, and the coughing seized. The event took three hours to complete, and as a result, the girl was rejuvenated.

Witnessing her heal, Solomon eased up.

*Tock, Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock*

After another twenty minutes passed, Janine came back to the inn, walking upstairs towards Alviona’s room to inform lady mischief of their departure and guide her to Mira. Helping the child get dressed, Janine picked out a dark green blouse, black leather pants, and light brown leather boots as her apparel.

Once everyone got together, they prepared for their journey.

“Well then, ready?!” (Mira)

“Yes.” (Solomon)

“Yes.” (Janine)

Alviona nodded, her orange eyes filled with excitement, and so the party headed out, their destination being the Kingdom of Dalei; - Magical Institute located in the Capital city of Nan Leiuro.

“So then, here is what our route and plans look like,” said Mira, pointing towards the map. “We are traveling mostly west, passing small villages and resupplying. In five days time, we should be able to reach a dungeon and ruins where monsters spawn. We will see if we want to join the exploration for a bit or not when we get there. Regardless, we should not stay there for any longer than three days.

After we will move to the city of Allaqar, and from there we utilize the gate for crossing the border. Overall, we should be able to make it within two week’s period at most; only a week after the semester starts thus still being able to enroll Alviona. The tricky thing is, she has to learn Magic within this allotted time, or in other words, from zero to basics within two weeks.”

The Kingdom of Dalei was located right after one crossed the borders from Xanais and was not a big territory wholly. It was comprised of two cities, a capital, and a lot of ruins in the vicinity. Many argued that this Kingdom was the most neutral country on the mainland, as such, many nobles and wealthy merchant’s children, scholars, as well as adventurers who had scrapped a lot of fortune were studying there.

The first village was located just four hours from Alpall, where they stopped for an hour but did not enter. Having light lunch, allowing the oxen to rest and letting Alviona walk a little was all that they required before setting off.

While in the carriage, Mira took time to teach Alviona of fundamental theories related to magic.

“Alviona, I want you to focus for one moment. Close your eyes and breath in. Tell me, do you feel mana flowing through your body?” asked the teacher to her student who immediately nodded without bothering to complete any of the stated steps. Mira was a slightly disappointed and pouted. “You didn’t do anything…”

“I don’t need to feel it. I know it is there,” came a nonchalant reply from the child, smiling and trying to get Mira to pet her head.

“But then how will you measure your limit?”

“Limit?”

“Yes. How do you determine how many abilities you can cast? It is all proportional and relevant to how much mana can your body withdraw to create spells,” stated Mira, gently stroking Alviona’s soft and curly hair.

“I do not know until I try it,” replied Alviona with a smile, thoroughly enjoying the attention that she was getting.

“Hm, well then, let us experiment with your capacity for magic on our next stop.”

After hours of travel, it was getting dark. Not having approached the nearest village, Mira cast [Illumination], a spell that magically lit up the small area around them and did not allow Janine to steer the carriage off the road. Few more hours later, it was decided to stop and set up a camp for the night.

Janine strayed off the main path and into the small forestry, releasing oxen and tying them to the nearby trees with magically enchanted ropes. Solomon and Mira opened the carriage side and transformed it into a tent, laying down stacks of hay, blankets, and cushions. A small lantern was placed on one of the water barrels to illuminate the insides.

Solomon was setting up a fire pit to cook some food and warm the others, for it was getting cold. Mira, in the meantime, talked to Alviona about fire element.

“The fire requires three elements to form. Air, heat, and fuel. The first one is naturally provided. The other two you can get by utilizing your imagination and mana. Now then. Think of warmth in your hands and allow mana to flow out of your body and into your palms. Crate flame,” instructed Mira while forming her flame. “Like this.”

Alviona tried imitating her, and the results were instant. A flame of the same color formed in her hands.

“Grandma, I do not understand. It is warm, yet I do not feel any pain. My skin is also unaffected. How so?” asked Alviona, curiosity filling her body.

“That is because of you. Since you are the creator of this flame, it reacts to your mana and does not harm you. If formed into a fireball and thrown, the fire will cause damage,” replied Mira, smiling over her granddaughter’s first achievement. “Now, how about you try to make a [Fireball]?”

“What is a fireball? Will it damage everything?”

“It is a name that we gave to a specific shape of a flame, that is launched as a projectile. Yes, it does damage everything,” replied Mira, somewhat understanding why such question was asked.

Alviona fell into thought and after some time, pouted.

“So, if I cast a fireball and you happen to be in the way, I will damage you?!”

“Correct.”

“I don’t like it. I don’t want to use such abilities until I learn more,” replied Alviona coldly with a severe expression.

“What do you mean?”

“If I hurt enemies but also harm my allies, what is the point of utilizing such a useless spell? Don’t get me wrong. I want to learn how to cast that ability, but I have no intentions of doing so until I acquire knowledge on how to avoid or mitigate the damage to friends that are caught up along the way,” said Alviona with a saddened voice. After finishing up the dinner, the child quickly fell asleep.

“Janine, you should go rest. I will stand guard,” said Solomon, who did not require much sleep due to him being the Cursed Man.

The next morning the party continued traveling towards the city of Allaqar, passing by villages, purchasing provisions from locals, and taking short rest intervals. Their second day went smooth and without any odd occurrences. Mira taught Alviona of some earth, wind, and water elements. Since the child asked, the elf also talked about druidic powers and how healing in general worked. Unfortunately, no subjects were available to demonstrate the ability.

On their third day, a village that was being overrun by the wolves came into sight. The farmers were wrestling with the animals, but it was no use. They were poorly armed and scared, whereas the wolves ran in formations and hunted as a pack. With their combined numbers it was easy to overwhelm their prey.

Alviona, who peeked out from the carriage had her eyes brighten up in delight. She had never seen any wolves aside Piu before, therefore making this her first-time experience witnessing such sight. The screams and panicked faces of villagers did not disturb her. The child did not understand what to feel, while Janine’s and Mira’s faces were frozen.

“We need to help them,” whispered Janine.

“Yeah…” replied Mira. Since those wolves were interfering with their travel and water needed to be resupplied from the well, they were forced to fight. Not willing to allow Alviona to participate, the elf decided to instruct her to stay in the carriage.

“Alviona, stay inside the…”

“Mira… she…” pointed Janine towards the village, or instead Alviona who was desperately attempting to catch a wolf and ride its back.

Hey, you! Stop! Let me bite your tail. Please? Can I ride you? You are too quick, thought the child, casting water spells and splashing the chased wolves. Upon the ability’s impact, their hunting target shifted from villagers to Alviona. Now the wolf pack was chasing after her.

One wolf pounced, its claws coming into contact with Alviona’s abdomen that was stopped by her leather armor. Dissatisfied with their behavior, the girl recalled her sword and a shield from the .

“Well then, that was rude!” Holding the shield to cover her weak spot, Alviona slashed the wolf’s neck, its blood pouring out from the cut. Whimpering, it dropped dead.

“Mistress, please stop trying to tame the wolf!” begged Solomon who felt like a heart attack was unavoidable. He chanted [Bath of Flames], creating a zone that engulfed the wolves and burnt them alive. The roaring flames did not subside under any circumstances until nothing but ash remained.

Alviona was dealing with her batch of wolves. Slicing, slashing and thrusting her sword, multiple animals dropped dead. Some wolves, noticing how well Alviona was handling herself, utilized [Dexterity] to boost the velocity at which they moved and pounced. The girl picked up their actions and moved her shield towards her chest, understanding that they were going to jump.

Currently, Alviona did not know of any abilities that could make her swing in the 180-degree arc and cleave every assailant; therefore, she came up with a different idea. Recalling Mira’s lesson about earth magic, she manipulated the area in front of her before the wolves could jump. The result was phenomenal. A boulder of her height erupted from the earth, causing the wolves to smash into it and fall. Alviona moved around the rock, casting [Fireball] and slaying the assailants.

Some wolves that emitted a golden aura tried to heal their comrades but were stopped from doing so by Janine, casting [Control Mind] and commanding nearby defendants to assault the healers.

Seeing the wolves gather, Mira cast her [Whirlpool of Fire], and in ten seconds the wolves were roasted.

Most remaining wolves fell into despair and started to howl, cowering and retreating into the wilderness. Alviona was awed by sight in front of her. Turning around, she heard several whimpering sounds. Upon inspection, she found several wolves that were grievously injured.

Solomon ran over to his mistress and checked up on her, ensuring that nothing was wrong. Satisfied, he shifted his gaze to the injured wolves and prepared to cast his [Bath of Flames].

No! Don’t touch them! Ordered Alviona, causing Solomon to stop his action for it was a direct command.

“But mistress… they tried to harm you.”

Yes, but now they are defeated. Those wolves are hurt and require help. How can I turn them down?! I want to pet them. She told Solomon firmly, walking towards the injured party.

The wolves that witnessed the child’s approach could not do much except to growl and warn her not to do so. They were scared and injured, life slowly draining from them. However, the girl did not stop and instead moved her equipment (except for the leather armor) back into the .

“I understand you are hurt. Please allow me to help you,” told the girl to animals, who were cautious of her but did not have much choice. Alviona slowly approached them and kneeled down, attempting to heal them just like Mira had taught her. Three seconds later orange-colored aura emitted from her, mending the bones and treating the injured wolves. Satisfied, she stepped back and bowed.

Solomon was wary that they might attack again, therefore had prepared fifteen stacks of [Seal of Lightning] in case of an emergency. However, nothing like a sudden attack occurred. On the contrary, the wolves approached the girl and allowed her to pet them before bowing their heads and running back into the wilderness.

“Farewell friends!” waved Alviona, rejoicing that her wish came true. Turning around, she walked back to Solomon and together, they went to rejoin their party members.