Chapter 7 – Five years old

“Waaaaaaah”

I wake up to the cry of my younger sister Crilena or Cril as we call her. That's right. Younger sister. She is in the parents room but our house is small so i can clearly hear her. She is ten months old so it makes her more than four years younger than me. Now I know the cause of my initial blindness. It turns out that demons are blind right after they are born. Pure blood one’s are blind for about three month, halves for two and quarters like me and Cril for one. Seriously, what kind of environmental adaptation led to that? She is also the reason why we still live in this small house. I know that we have a big mansion, bigger than most of the nobles, closer to the castle because I was there a few times with grandparents. Apparently they live there. Why we live in this small house instead of there I have no idea. I don’t really believe in that excuse about hiding me and sister but I won’t question father decisions. If he’s capable of leading a firm that spans the whole kingdom and beyond then he shouldn’t be stupid nor ignorant.

I get up from the bed and search for something to wear. It’s still early morning, it’s almost dark outside. Next month I'll turn five so I’m excited to the point that I can’t sleep. It has been more than three years since the first time i went to that bookstore. I have been spending most of my time reading books there. I guess my parents had more time to work on expanding our family because of that.

I get up from the bed and search for something to wear. Now fully clothed I go to the bathroom. I bump into mother in the hallway. She has bloodshot eyes and tired look on her face. I was too quiet of a child so I guess mother wasn't prepared for a normal child like Cril.

"Good morning mom"

"Good morning Kris"

She stare at me for a second and mutter quietly.

"Why can't she be more like Kris when he was small…"

I guess I really was abnormal child after all.

After washing my face and taking care of my business I go to the kitchen to eat breakfast. I was almost finished when mother came down from the stairs with Cril. I greet sister and tell mother that I'm going to the bookstore.

Brrrrr. It’s cold. Fall is almost over so it’s really cold these days. It's still early so the streets are almost empty. In the inner city most of the residents are nobles and they don't have a habit of getting up early. I make my way through the streets and greet the gate guards. I notice that they are the same ones as yesterday.

"Hi Peet, hi Ganr, I see you lost again"

"Hi Kris. Yeah we lost. But I swear, I was sure they won’t roll more than ten but somehow they did. I tell you this Kris, never play dice with Chen and Eren, they are cheating for sure!"

“Yeah I won’t Peet, see ya.”

I've became acquainted with the gate guards in these few years since I pass them every morning and usually chat with them a bit. At some point I noticed that city guards watch over me more than over others citizens. I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that father had a hand in this.

In the outer city there's a lot more people so I have to slow down a bit.

When I'm about twenty meters from the bookstore I notice that Ane is already there. Lately my ability to see aura became so strong that if someone have strong aura like Ane then I can see them from as far as a hundred meters. Also instead of colorful clouds now I can see different shapes of aura. I remember how startled I was when one day, when I was about to enter the bookstore I saw a pillar of orange flames behind the doors. Later I asked Ane what is her affinity and she said it’s fire and earth. It was the day I was finally completely convinced that thanks to this ability on mine I can see someone’s affinities and their strength. Also I may say I ‘see’ auras but in fact I’m quite sure that the medium which transmit the image of aura to my brain is in fact my mana, not light. I think so because even if I close my eyes, I can still see them as clearly as with open eyes.

I enter the bookstore and greet Ane.

“Hi Ane”

“Oh, hi Kris, you are early today.”

“Nope. It’s usual time for me. It’s you that is early.”

“R- Really? I don’t think I’m early.”

“If coming to work two hours early is NOT what you consider early then I have no idea what early means to you.”

“Y- You exaggerate Kris, besides it’s not like you have to pay me overtime.”

“True, but it’s still suspicious. Nobody can be so eager to work. … Suspicious.”

I stare at her and she’s looks away.

“….”

“… Suspicious ...”

“….”

I look around the room but at this time there’s barely anyone here. Ohhh. There’s black haired demon on the first floor sweeping the floor. I didn’t notice him because his aura is so weak. If I’m not wrong his name should be Faro, I see him sometimes talking with Ane. I’ve been coming here for three years already so I know most of the employees names. I notice that he’s only pretending to work and stare here. Hohoo, so it’s like that.

“Heeeeeee. I see, I see. So it’s like this.”

She’s all nervous now or should I say embarrassed?

“W- w- w- w- what are you talking about?”

“Hmm? Nothing. Just talking to myself.”

“I- Is that so? I have to sweep the floor on the first floor so I’ll be going now.”

“Yeah, good luck with it”

“… thanks?”

I watch her as she goes to the first floor and ponder on what to read today. I’ve already read most of the books related to magic that I could find here. Most of the knowledge although is useless to me until I’m able to control my mana. The moment mana is unlocked is supposed to be quite fast and usually take place from two months before fifth birthday to two months after. Also the feeling of mana is different for everybody. One can feel like he grew another hand and other can feel as if a bottomless well of power opened inside him. After one’s mana is unlocked he will be tested for magic abilities.

OK. Let’s read about magic ability test. I go to the second floor and to search for the right books. As I pass by the first floor I see Ane and Faro talking. Seriously, are they blind or something? Even from here I can see the way they look at each other when they are talking. I’m almost at the top of the stairs when I stumble and fall to the floor. Argh cramp. Jesus, am I low on potassium or something? I massage the cramped muscle and advance again. Oh. Here it is. Let’s see.

‘Magic ability test consist of measuring one’s affinities and the mana amount. Each of them are divided into 10 ranks. Mana amount is not as important as the affinities because it can be increased by training but affinities will increase very slowly. The test won’t measure unique affinities but only the basic ones. As every unique affinity is composed from the basic ones the value of individual affinities will be measured. The affinities that can be measured are: Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Life, Death, Light, Darkness.’

Hmmm. Nothing new so far. I only wonder how they measure all of it.

‘Depending on the result one’s can be admitted to Reiran Academy or the Warriors School. Although the Warriors School is not mandatory.’

In this world there are also those who train as a warriors. A warrior is considered to be inferior to the mage because mages can create spells powerful enough to kill ten warriors in a single strike. But it’s not like a warrior can’t defeat a mage. When a mage cast a spell he use his personal mana to change nature mana into desired elemental mana and then assemble that mana to create a spell. After that he sucks back his personal mana into his body but some of it is always lost in the process. Efficiency of mana conversion is defined by a mage control over his mana and affinity with desired element. The worse his control and affinity is, the longer he takes to cast a spell and more mana he waste. Warriors on the other hand don’t have such problems. A warrior use all of his personal mana to strengthen himself by circulating his mana inside of his body. Almost no mana is wasted this way and it doesn’t require fine control nor any affinities. The only requirement to be a warrior is to have a large quantity of personal mana. Overall becoming a warrior is easier than becoming a mage but I don’t plan on training my body like some kind of bodybuilder in this life.

I read some more until it’s time for dinner. As I head down the stairs I see father on the first floor so I walk up to him.

“Hi dad.”

“Hi Kris, are you going home now?”

“Yeah, you too dad?”

“Yes. Let’s go.”

Like this we go home together. When we are outside we notice that it’s going to rain soon so we speed up. It started to rain almost the same time we go inside our house. Inside, mother is preparing dinner and Cril is playing in the corner of the kitchen just like I was pretending to when I was her age. We eat the dinner and chat afterwards. I fell tired for some reason today so I go to my room to sleep. I’ve been not sleeping much lately so fatigue is catching up to me probably. I go to my room and lie down on the bed. I fall asleep listening to the sound of the rain hitting the window.

A sharp pain wakes me up. Agrrrr. What the fuck!! What’s going on!? I feel as if someone is trying to drive a nail into my spine. I start to scream before I notice it. Mother enter my room and ask me what happened. I patiently explain my situation to her.

“Like hell I KNOW what’s happening! I think I broke my ass”

She put her hand on her cheek and make a worried face although she’s quite calm. Somehow it piss me off.

“Does it hurt?”

“NO! It fucking TICKLE! I just happen to LIKE the feeling of having a SWORD SHOVED UP MY ASS!!!”

“Kris! Don’t talk like that!”

“Arghhh! I have a feeling that you don’t get the gravity of situation here mom!”

“Oh don’t exaggerate. You’re just growing a tail.”

“I am doing WHAT!?”

“You’re growing a tail. It’s rare but quarter demons sometimes grow tails or horns.”

Fuck. I was too excited about the fact that I will be able to use mana soon that I forgot about all this demon stuff. Oh god, if this fucking tail hurts so much then please, spare me the horns. Normally I would be happy because the fact that I’m growing a tail means that my soul finally settled in my body so I should be able to use mana but I can’t confirm it because of this fucking pain. How long you grow a tail? Damn it, I have no idea. I should have read some books about demons biology. Maybe mother will know.

“Mom, how long I takes to grow a tail?”

“Depends on the parson. From one week to a month.”

WHAT!? At least one week of this torture!? I can barely think clearly and I can forget about walking too. Oh god, why couldn’t I be reborn as a normal human?

For the next three weeks I was bedridden. I was eager to test my magic powers but the pain wouldn’t allow me. The only thing related to magic I noticed was when Ane visited me. I couldn’t see her aura at first but when I focused on her it became even more clear than usual. By the end of the second week the pain subdued a little. It was still horrible but bearable. Until then I couldn’t lie on my back because of that tail. Unfortunately the pain continued until my tail fully grew by the end of the third week.

Hahaha. HAHAHAAH. I can’t help but laugh. Finally! My days of hell ended! I just woke up but have no idea when a fell asleep. In those three weeks I could barely sleep. I calm down and check out my new tail.

The first thing I notice is that this tail is friggin long, longer than my legs. I’m something like one meter high and this tail is not too much shorter. I looks more like a crocodile tail than the devil tail I imagined. It’s quite slim, as thick as my forearm and covered in brown scales. The color is similar to my hair and eyes color. You wonder how I know my eyes color when there’s no mirror in our house? In one of the magic books I read there was a spell called ‘water mirror’. I asked Ane to cast it and found out how I look like. I’ve the same brown hair and eyes color as mother. Anyway, this tail seems more useful than I thought it will be. It have a wide range of movement and I can move it as if I always had it. Even if it looks like a lizard tail it’s it moves more like a snake body.

Forget the tail for now, there’s something more important to check. Magic. I close my eyes and try to sense my mana. I feel something flowing through my veins. I try to bring it outside my body to check if I can control it. I open my eyes and see ripples in the air, something like hot air distort my view. I try to control it and it moves according to my will. It’s a strange feeling. I focus a ball of my mana in front of me and try to convert nature mana into fire mana. After two minutes I have a ball of red mana the size of an apple, I will it to become fire and it ignite. It’s quite tiring. And slow. I probably don’t have fire affinity. I wonder why I can’t see my elemental affinity, could it be that I have an unique affinity?

Either way thing will get interesting from now on.