Rebirth in the Magic Continent

2. Five Years

In the year 566, Inari was ten years old, and it was also the winter of that year that her frail mother left this world for good.

On the day the tombstone was erected, there was no rain.

Against the brilliant warm winter sun, Inari placed a bouquet of white flowers in her hand on the tombstone, giving her mother a final send-off.

The name imprinted on the tombstone was Fushil*Luyi, a rank six magician of the Esther Empire.

-----

Five years ago, the report of Inari's 'unattached magic' rolled over into Fushil's hands, and the moment she saw the result, Fushil's face, which was already without much color, became even paler.

But Fushil quickly noticed Inari's expression of apprehension as she pinched the corner of her skirt, and quickly hid the little look of loss on her face.

As always, Vhiel stroked the top of Inari's hair and kissed Inari's soft cheek, “There will be another chance...” She whispered softly and gently, as if comforting Inari as well as herself.

On the carriage that returned the same way, Fursil held Inari in silence for as long as half an hour, then she met Inari's confused gaze and informed her of her decision to 'move tomorrow'.

Inari couldn't quite remember the scene of the move.

Inari sat on her bed and watched Fursil's busy back, and eventually fell into an uneasy sleep.

When she woke up, she had already boarded the magic carriage that left the town of Kandra, with only Fushil, who was hugging herself, beside her, and the old butler, who had accompanied her for five years, was nowhere to be seen...

----

The second five years of Inari's life were spent in the small town of Keslang, on the western border of the Esther Empire. This was the former hometown of Fushil.

The small town of Keslang was one of the many towns in the Esther Empire that had no name, and it belonged to the territorial boundaries of Count Luyi - Fushil's kin.

Civilians, knights, and magicians lived together here, and although there was an adventurer's guild that belonged to the small town itself, its achievements were mediocre and its reputation was unremarkable, and it was only considered to be a middle-of-the-road place in the Esther Empire.

However, even after five years of living in Fursil's hometown, Inari had never run into any of her mother's relatives.

The two were dependent on each other and lived in a three-story attic. The first floor was for daily living, the second floor was a bedroom, and the third floor was a small library.

During this time, Fhir changed her usual frail image of being bedridden and summoned up all the energy she needed to make ends meet. She would usually go to the Adventurer's Union during the day to take on quests to earn extra money, and at night, she would stay home to teach Inari how to read and study... However, occasionally Fushil would leave home for three or four days, and at this time, she would hire a temporary neighbor aunt to take care of Inari's food and shelter.

This five years, Inari's activity space was no longer confined to the empty castle. Just like all the other ordinary children in the small town, Inari was free to play in the streets of the small town.

Inari finally made friends with ordinary children of her own age, although she, like these commoners, did not have the opportunity to go to the academy, and could only be taught in small private classes run by some adventurers.

After moving to this small town, Fushil had expressed an attitude of letting Inari focus on physical fitness exercises as well as other knowledge. She politely refused Inari's request to be taught magic theory, but did not stop Inari from spending a lot of energy on learning magic knowledge in books on her own.

After teaching Inari the basic language, Fursil also added the ancient language, elvish language, and even dragon language to Inari's guidance, which also made Inari's daily learning content very full, so Inari's playful nature was also slowly restrained.

Thus, in terms of learning, in addition to the basic literacy homework assigned by Fursil, Inari, based on her own preferences, within the scope of Fursil's permission, looked up quite a lot of books in the small library on the upper floor of her attic, coupled with the adventurer's private lessons that she attended, accumulated a lot of miscellaneous knowledge and insights.

--

The Aesop Empire is the only human-sovereign nation on the continent today, an empire where class reigns supreme.

Those with noble status are able to enjoy superior educational resources as well as superior power, and commoners who serve the nobility are also eligible for academy education.

The commoners can only qualify for the academy by accumulating money and participating in the 10 gold coins appraisal test of the Adventurer's Guild, and only after identifying the potential of magic or martial arts, and issuing a certificate, can they qualify for the academy.

Generally speaking, commoners who can make it to the academy until graduation will have the chance to get a position under the nobility. Even the best graduates can receive a large or small title from the king and evolve into nobles.

--

There wasn't much time left for Fucile to teach Inari.

As an Imperial 6th level magician, she not only registered with the Adventurer's Association to take on quests, but she also had a titular job as a magic tutor at the Third Academy of Esther, which was as far as two cities away from the small town of Keslang.

In Inari's vague memories until she was five years old, Fushil was the sickly sleeping beauty, and then for the last five years of her memory, her mother turned into a busybody who didn't touch her bed.

Although Fuchsia had denied until the end of her life that she had been running around too much and causing her health to collapse at an accelerated rate, Inari still stubbornly recognized the sad fact that her mother had been dragged down by herself and was unable to enjoy the last moments of her life in peace.

That day was the first sunny day after three days of snow, and Fuchsia, who had been lying in bed unable to get up, suddenly felt much more energetic as if she had returned to her senses.

Inari remembers her mother saying a lot of things that day, but in the end, she did not tell her the reason why she had moved in such a hurry...

Memory was always no match for the erosion of time, Inari could barely recall her mother's expression when she left, only the warmth of the magic stone necklace she had collected when she left the palace five years ago when it was shoved into Fursil's hand was deeply imprinted in her heart.

The necklace was hot, mother's hand was cold.

The funeral was arranged by the church of Keslang, and it seemed that Fhir had arranged everything early on, with a simple ceremony.

--

Futhir had arranged for Inari to be left behind.

Books and valuable household items in the attic were packed into the storage space of the magic stone, and she left a notebook for Inari. It mentioned that a friend with a token would come to pick up Inari and become her new guardian a month after her departure, and this notebook once again emphasized the point of Inari's future change of last name to Louie.

The piece of necklace that had been tucked into her hand and that had once been brilliant in its luster had become dusty with a magical seal attached to it, and lay together in the enchanted stone.

Considering that Inari doesn't have the ability to export magic power, Fursil set a restriction on the magic stone that only Inari's blood and her own will can open it “The amount of blood determines the size of the storage space at your disposal”.

......

While waiting for the arrival of her mother's friend and living independently for a month, the neighbor's aunt took care of Inari's daily life as usual. This often gave Inari the illusion that 'Fuchsir had just taken on another long adventure mission and couldn't come home for a while'.

Her daily routine didn't seem to change much: she left the house early to dabble in classes with her friends; she came home in the evening, took away the dinner that Aunt Marlene had left in a basket on the doorstep, and went up to the third-floor attic, where she ate it while reading her newly found guidebook on the fundamentals of magic.

However, there are a few differences: her usual playmates are always observing her face and interjecting strange and hilarious quips; the dinner left in Aunt Marlene's basket includes a bottle of fresh buttermilk instead of the usual two slices of freshly baked bread; and there is an extra vase of the everlasting flower of the dead at the head of her bedroom bed ... ...

Except for that part of the night, Inari felt she had been able to face life naturally.

Each night seemed a little longer than the day, and Inari had been counting the stars with her eyes open for several nights before she finally managed to resist the pessimistic mood she had been drowning herself in.

In these moments of sanity and clarity, one should focus on thinking about things that made sense.

Inari took a needle and stuck it in her fingertip, squeezing out a drop of blood and smearing it on the grayish magic stone hidden within her clothes.

The storage space of the magic stone also contained many other precious collections of unread books that were originally stored in the attic.

After a few days of experimentation, Inari had already grasped the approximate laws of this blood seal, and one drop of fingertip blood would allow Inari to dictate the space where she could remove one of the books inside.

A drop of blood on the magic stone would instantly light up a small magic array, and Inari could take the opportunity to peek at the tip of the iceberg of the space in this magic stone.

----

On the first night after Fursil's burial, Inari used the blood from her fingertips to peer into the inner space of the magic stone: a pure white area with no visible edges, stacked full of strange and odd objects. There was a simple categorization inside, and items of the same kind were stacked together.

Inari managed to take out a “Theory of Magic Origins” after trying ...... That was Inari's first contact with magic after being judged to have nothing to do with it.

====

Magic, a special ability, can only be used by species that have a special, magical elemental physique that can store and transform magical elements. The magic elements are based on the five types of gold, wood, water, fire and earth, but there are also other rare and special elements.

The first basic thing to become a magician is to have a body that can store the ability to a certain element, which manifests as affinity when tested; the second is the comprehension to transform the stored element into magic and the mental power to support this operation, which manifests as potential and spirit value when tested.

Although there was no concrete basis for this, Inari was sure that the magic rimstone glowing was proof that she herself possessed the ability to store magic elements.

Inari had taken the basis she had found out to her mother's face, hoping that Fursil, who was an upper level magician, could see her own magical potential and guide her onto the path of a magician.

Unfortunately, every time, she was calmly rejected by Fushil.

Fushil would only patiently listen to Inari's long speech, and then rub her head and utter the vain vision of believing that Inari would become the pride of the family in the future ......

Now that there was no longer the hand that gently touched her head in her agony, Inari could only pat herself on the head and hope for a flash of insight.