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Chapter 8: Duke who?
🕑 Added 2025-04-26 06:48:41 +0000 UTC“Well then. I shall be on my way. Let us meet again. I hope we can borrow your powers for the greater good of this territory. Um... I’m sorry, but I have yet to receive your name. My name is Elidranthia Shadowstep, the first daughter of Count Shadowstep.” Eli curtsied before Alicia.
She might receive a reprimand from Laura for being meek toward a commoner, but she wanted to earn Alicia’s favor no matter what. The light that had shone from the glass ball was brighter than her own, meaning Alicia was a mage with a higher mana capacity.
The kingdom would definitely want her. However, if Elidranthia could gain Alicia’s favor, and Alicia chose to stay with her, the kingdom would not be able to do much.
Mage enslavement was a crime, after all. Mages were free to work wherever they wished.
"I am Alicia! Nice to meet you, Eli! Let’s study magic together!" Alicia waved at her.
"And so will I. Let us strive to improve this territory together. Priest, official, I apologize for intruding upon the ceremony unannounced. Will we have to pay for the damaged mana detection device? I can’t help but wonder if we used it incorrectly."
"Ah, no, you don’t have to," the priest replied.
"It’s in the guidebook. If the ball breaks without any impact, just from touching, that means her mage rank is at least level seven. I am glad that God has blessed us with such capable mages in our empire. There are only several dozen or so mages in the entire kingdom who are higher than rank six.
"Johaine, please note Alicia as a rank seven mage. By the way, what color did you see? I was a bit too blinded by the light. I’ve never seen a child higher than level five in my entire life," the priest said to the official behind him.
"Yes. The ball flashed white. That means she is adept at fire magic, wind magic, and water magic," the official said.
"Amazing! We shall return to the capital at once and arrange for a tutor to come here. Our mana measuring device is broken anyway—it needs to be replaced."
"Right away, sir."
Thankfully, Alicia was the last child to be examined in the town. If she hadn’t been, the other kids who hadn’t yet been tested might have had to wait for next year’s ceremony. The priest passed the broken device to the official and returned to the stage to give his final remarks.
“What a joyous day, to see two high-level mages born in this town! The mana measuring ceremony has now concluded. We thank you for your cooperation.”
When the priest and the officials returned to their carriage, the crowd began to disperse. Excitement returned as peddlers and food stall owners began hawking their wares.
Alicia still received lingering looks as she came down from the stage. She was about to head back to her shack and wait for a summons from the count, but her friends stopped her.
Anne was glaring at her from a corner, hatred in her eyes. She hadn’t expected to be a mage, but God had dealt her a cruel reality. Now, she was neither a mage nor a commoner.
“Wow, I guess the goddess didn’t lie to you after all. You really are a mage,” Nathan, who had attended the ceremony as a bystander, commented.
“I guess I should have prayed to Sistielle more often, huh?”
“Amazing! We’ve never had a rank six mage in our territory! When will you serve? Please fix our pumps!” a boy from an inn immediately cried out.
“Please charge our hearth! It’s cold, and we can’t afford an arcane stone!”
“Please charge our oven!”
“No, please charge our refrigerator! If the fruit spoils, our business will be ruined!”
“I want to send a message to my uncle in the capital!” The other children crowded around her, shouting their demands. Mages were extremely important to society.
Everyone had used their services at least once—from relaying messages between towns, fueling ovens, stoves, and refrigerators, to maintaining water reservoirs and construction projects.
"Leave it to me! After I learn how to use magic from Count Shadowstep and Elidranthia, I shall bring prosperity to you all. Praise me more!"
Alicia didn’t actually care about the people's conditions. She just wanted to stroke her ego. After all, she had never been appreciated in her previous life. No one had ever looked at her and said thank you to her face—except store clerks, but that didn’t count.
To be fair, she had never helped anyone in a way that was truly meaningful. At most, she would lend someone a pencil. This wasn't because she didn’t want to help; she simply couldn’t.
She couldn’t teach others since she was stupid... no. she was mediocre., she wasn’t rich (her parents were, but that was a different matter), and her communication skills were poor.
"Yay!" Alicia exclaimed in delight, cheered for the first time in her life.
The excitement was contagious—spreading from the children, to their parents, and even to the bystanders. Everyone cheered in the hope that the new mage would bring them prosperity.
"Alicia, let's go home," John called as he came over and lifted her onto his shoulders.
The crowd kept cheering as she rode on his back toward their shack.
"See? I’m a mage, Papa!" Alicia grinned.
"Amazing! I’m happy for you. With you, our financial problems might finally be resolved," John said, ruffling Alicia’s hair and giggling.
"Didn’t you have a job today?"
"My superior told me to keep an eye on you and gave me a paid leave. Tomorrow, we shall go to Shadowstep Manor for your employment," John said, hugging her as she laughed.
He then lay down on the ground and stared up at the exposed thatched roof, still hugging Alicia tightly and patting her head.
Alicia felt disgusted. She wasn’t used to skin-to-skin contact. Headpats were okay, but sleeping too? Nevertheless, she sensed no malicious or perverted intentions from him.
John simply slept on the ground, holding Alicia in his arms. His sleeping face was serene, as if he could finally rest for the first time. A great burden seemed to have been lifted from his shoulders.
Alicia sat down but didn’t leave. Curious, she touched John's face and patted his head back.
His countenance was dirty, his hair filled with grime and dust, and his body reeked of sweat. But she stayed beside him. She was compelled to. In her previous life, she had been an ungrateful child. Her parents had provided her with everything—except love.
She had wanted to repay them, but she couldn’t. She was just an ordinary boy who would never amount to much. At best, she might have ended up flipping burgers; at worst, she might have ended up jobless.
However, she was now the chosen one. She was a mage. Her future was guaranteed. Now, she would finally be able to repay her parents—or at least, the father figure she had now. She felt a warmth sprouting in her heart. The sort of pride she had always longed for.
John woke up when the sun set. Alicia, already bored out of her mind, had started playing with his sword.
Alicia was male inside, and she adored swords. The goddess had fulfilled her promise of granting her magic—but she hadn’t fulfilled the promise of granting her sword skills. She was supposed to be able to cut stone with a sword, unleash aura slashes, and so forth.
The goddess had promised her (or so Alicia believed—she hadn’t, really).
"Maybe there was a problem with skills, so she gave me magic... Ugh... how am I going to defend myself in close combat?"
The ungrateful Alicia grumbled toward the goddess.
"I knew I shouldn’t have asked for too much."
"Alicia, do you like playing with swords?" John asked.
"Not really. But you’re a knight, right? You defend this county from monsters, right? I’ll be helping you one day, so I’m just curious," Alicia answered.
"Well, mages are different from knights. They mostly stay in the rear. We have two level six mages here at the border, and... we've never even greeted each other."
"I see."
Mages were considered elites, and they were well protected—especially those ranked level six and above. Among all mages, only 20% were ranked six and above, while 80% were ranked between three and five.
The whole country would mobilize if a mage of such caliber ever felt threatened. You couldn’t just greet them casually on the street.
"Well, now we have four if we include you and Lady Elidranthia," John chuckled and patted her head.
"Well, I’m hungry. Let’s go to a bakery. I’ll buy some wastel bread and fruits for you today."
"No more hard bread! Yay!" Alicia cheered.
"Sorry about that," John said, patting her head again. Even when John was supposedly on vacation, he hadn’t forgotten to bring his sword. They skipped their way to the fancy bakery near the plaza and bought white bread and some fruit from a nearby shop.
Alicia bit into an apple, and for the first time in this world, a fresh, sweet scent caressed her tongue.
"Finally! Sweet food!" Alicia exclaimed as John gave her fruits and bread. When she bit into the wastel, it was soft and carried the scent of milk and eggs. Compared to modern standards, the bread was poor—but compared to the rye bread she ate every day, this taste was heavenly.
"Yo, John. I heard you finally lucked out with your kid being a mage! This girl is Alicia, right?"
A bearded man approached John as they dined in the restaurant.
Alicia scanned him from head to toe: his unkempt face, a shabby short sword at his waist, a somewhat rotund figure, and rough hands. He looked like a mercenary—or a bandit.
He couldn’t be a bandit, Alicia thought. There were no bandits inside the town. The knights would purge them immediately.
"Who are you?" Alicia asked, protectively shielding her half-eaten bread and fruit.
"Well, let’s just say I’m John’s acquaintance. Right, John?" the man smirked.
"I heard you’ll be working for Shadowstep. Well, working for a count is prestigious—but I have a better offer for you. How about working for a duke instead? Despite my looks, I have some influence, you see."
The man smirked again. Alarm bells rang inside Alicia’s head. His behavior was totally suspicious. Alicia weighed her options—but ultimately refused.
"Well. Too bad, but I have to refuse. If only you had come faster, I might have considered it—but I already promised to work with Eli, the count’s daughter," Alicia said.
It was a lie, though. The moment Alicia realized this world was from the novels, she had already chosen to side with Elidranthia.
Eli might only be a count's daughter now, but she was a mage—and she would eventually become Ludwin’s fiancée. Ludwin was the second prince. If Alicia stayed close to Eli, she would definitely rise to the top as the princess’s maid.
Besides, Eli was a reincarnator like her, and Alicia felt more at ease with her.
"Are you sure? The man I’m working for is the richest duke, you know. You’ll definitely get paid more than by staying here," the man said.
Alicia certainly liked money. But what she was truly after was pride. She wouldn’t trade her loyalty for money!
"Thank you. I’ll consider it after I work with Elidranthia," Alicia replied.
Well, her loyalty certainly didn’t last long.
Just in case Shadowstep turned out to be a terrible employer, she was trying to secure herself a second employment opportunity. It might be the norm for modern people, but it certainly proved her attitude.
"Are you mocking Duke Luka?" the bandit-like man snarled, trying to intimidate Alicia into submission.
"Joseph! Stop it or I will report this!" John slammed the table. "Alicia will work for whomever she pleases."
"Are you sure you want to cross Duke Luka—the richest man in the kingdom?"
"Count Shadowstep swore allegiance to Duke Bron. Stealing a high-ranking mage from Count Shadowstep means crossing him. Do you want war with the greatest general in the kingdom?" John snarled back.
Alicia changed her impression of this man.
He wasn’t a friend.
"...Very well. But we are not over yet. Remember, I own you," the man scowled, then turned and left.
"Dad? Is he a bad guy?" Alicia asked.
"You don’t need to think about him, Alicia. Just focus on your dinner," John said as he drank his ale. His eye looked over at the man.
"We will get rid of him soon."
Alicia tried to remember this Luka guy and wondered whether this event had been in the books. But she drew blank. So, she assumed this Luka guy was not important. The cheery mood had been spoiled. Nevertheless, the food was delicious—especially the sausages John had bought at the restaurant.
Alicia soon forgot about him.
Her memory was shorter than a goldfish's.
