And so the years passed by and I’m now five, soon to be six. As Father had said, he sent me to a small school for noble children when I turned 3.

The first few weeks were hectic, as they always are.

But the problem was not with the education system or the teachers; it was with the other students, my classmates.

The moment I got there, they kept on bothering me, constantly, it was annoying as hell. The guys kept on staring at me like I was an exhibit at a zoo. Whilst the girls just gave me looks of scorn and never approached. It’s like they hate me or something… Is what a dumb light novel protagonist would say. I know what they think. The little girls are intimidated and the males are just plain aroused.

Well, whatever. What can little kids do? Who cares what people say about me. Who cares about what these people and their petty little minds are thinking about. They just feel a need to satisfy their superiority complex or whatever the hell their fetishes are. Screw them. Screw people—

…I went off topic, my bad.

Anyways, aside from my classmates being like that, school was pretty boring. I already knew most of the topics of discussion from spending all of my time inside the library.

Ah, I forgot to mention this, but this world has magic. Yes, swords, bows, arrows, spears, maces and magic.

That’s right, magic.

Spells, rituals, runes, incantations and curses.

For a third time I repeat, magic.

It’s so important I had to say it three times.

Why? Because magic is romance, of course.

Anyway, in all the worlds I have been to, the worlds that have magic are always technologically behind the ones without, like the world before I came to this one. It is always in that kind of Middle Ages setting. Whereas the ones that are technologically advanced have lasers and spaceships or, like the world before this one, but would only have a few advanced pieces of machinery and some AI (Artificial Intelligence) as their best technological advancements, though albeit uncommon, and finally they did not have magic.

I guess in a world where magic is abundant, you wouldn’t need advanced technology. I mean, if we could just move objects from afar with magic, then why would we need cranes and forklifts? If magic could make us fly, then why would we need cars, or even horses for that matter? If magic could heal wounds and diseases in an instant, why would we gamble on risky surgery and dubious medicine of unknown origins? A world with magic is much better than a world filled of technology.

So, for the past few years, I have been researching magic.

In a book I found in the library, the system that the magic of this world uses is based on one’s imagination. If one imagines something and injects energy called “mana” into that image, it will create a phenomenon called magic. Also, the more complicated and complex the image is, the more mana one needs.

There’s also something called chants, these can be used whilst casting a spell but are generally only used when one cannot picture a clear image in their mind. This happens when people lack knowledge of how things happen. For example, the people of this world are severely lacking with their knowledge of science. Let’s use combustion as an example. The people of this world do not know the idea behind how a fire starts. So when the inhabitants try to recreate the hottest flame possible with magic, they will need to chant. Through the course of reading books, I theorized that a chant floats into one’s head automatically but one mustfirst decipher it during their first usage of the spell, so if they try to use a spell for the first time in the battlefield, they are likely to die there. If one memorizes the chant, there is no longer a need to decipher it.

And so, I have been trying to increase my mana capacity every night whilst everyoneis asleep. The first spell/magic I was able to use was instantaneous movement, in other words, teleportation. The theory behind it is that I temporarily decompose my body and reconstruct it a distance away. As one of the few who knows the human anatomy very well, I may be only one that can use this magic. The single con in this situation being that I can only teleport to places I have been to and places I can see. I also developed another type of warping, which I call ‘Gate’. With this magic, one has to imagine connecting the place they were currently at, and the place they want to go to with a ‘point’ instead of a ‘line’.

…It’s hard to understand so let’s put it like this. Draw two points on a piece of paper, and connect those two points with the shortest distance possible, which cannot be done by drawing a straight line. The shortest distance is when one bends the paper to connect two points directly. When imagining it as such, the ‘gate’ can be easily opened.

The only reason I’m doing this is simply because I want to protect myself from whatever atrocities that I may encounter later on. This is in order to defend myself. A means to defend one’s self.

The books I’ve read mostly say that one’s mana pool is determined by birth. But one book specifically said that one way to increase one’s mana capacity is to constantly deplete it through constant spell casting.

And so, by my fourth birthday, my mana pool had gotten so large that even casting spells that cost large amounts of mana throughout the night doesn’t even deplete my mana.

I believe that this should be enough.

Back to what I was saying before, I’m soon to be six and eligible to attend “Elementary school” where only the wealthy and children of noble birth are allowed to be enrolled. The required age for entry is to be six years old and it lasts for six years as well. After that there is “High school” which lasts another four years.

School is tiring.

And long… really long.

Father said that I should go, and since I still have yet to learn everything about this world, I’ll go. It’s not like I have something better to do anyway…

{           }

The first day of Elementary school is the same as before. They, when I say that I mean my classmates,look at me with the same eyes; envy, jealousy, and childish infatuation. Well, like I said earlier, who gives a rat’s ass about what little children think about me.

“Well, go ahead and introduce yourself to the class.” (Teacher)

“Okay.”

Let’s go with a simple introduction.

“Hello, good morning. My name is Katya, first born of the Vaanderwal House. Six years of age. I like reading and cats. That is all.” (Katya)

There. How’s that?

“…I see. Okay then, Katya. Please take a seat over there.” (Teacher)

“Yes. Thank you.”

I give a small bow.

The teacher was pointing to an empty seat next to a boy staring at me with his mouth open. If stares could melt people, I would have been goo on the floor long ago. His sky-blue eyes staring at me as if he was trying to memorize every detail of my body and gestures. As I move towards my seat, he follows me with his eyes, as if they’ve been programmed to. I bet he’s imagining some strange things in his head right now, as he began drooling ever since his brain registered that I am moving towards him. Die you perverted little boy. Die a thousand times.

I then take my seat.

“Alright, let’s begin the class.” (Teacher)

The teacher said, wanting to grab everybody’s attention.

But not the boy next to me, he continued to stare at me with his mouth agape.

…at least say something. Hey.

Let’s ignore him. Yeah. Ignore this immature, dumb child and listen to the teacher discuss ourfuture lessons… God, I’m dying from boredom.

“…are you just going to stare at me the whole day? If so, please do it outside, or anywhere I cannot see you and your drooling mouth.” (Katya)

A few seconds passed before his brain finally recognized that I was talking to him and snapped him out of his trance.

“Uh… E-erm… Ah…” (Boy)

“I’ll introduce myself first then. Once again, my name is Katya Vaanderwal. You are?” (Katya)

“…Um-“ (Boy)

“Is that your name? ‘Um’? Well then, nice to meet you, Mr. ‘Um’. This may be presumptuous of me, but please cease your irritating stares and go and die in a ditch somewhere.” (Katya)

I said this with a smile on my face.

The boy couldn’t say anything back to me. He just sat there in his chair with a dumbfounded look on his now turned blue face for the rest of the period. And so, for now I ignored him.

{ Charlie von Carthage III }

All his life, Charlie von Carthage III had an easy life. Being the first born son of a viscount, everything was given to him at a moment’s notice. Money, toys, luxury items, anything he could think of, was spoon fed to him and provided for him for as long as he could remember. All he had to do was ask, say a few words, and then servants at the mansion would rush to complete the task as if his word was God’s decree.

He had it easy. Even in primary school, the other students would flock around him, give their words of praises about how he did this, how he did that. Charlie von Carthage III felt like the world revolved around him. He felt that everything he did mattered. That is why Charlie studied diligently and became first of his class, above all others. As such, even more praise rained down on him. His Father acknowledged his achievements and gave him a few words. To Charlie, the words of his Father weighed heavily on him because they rarely ever interacted with each other, since his Father was busy with work and other important matters.

That drove Charlie to strive higher, for even greater achievements. He swore in his heart that he would one day make his Father proud of him and then succeed him as the family head.

…And then the time came when he turned six years old and was enrolled to Elementary School.

At first, he thought that this would be the place where he would shine even brighter. He planned it all out in his head, that he would make some of his classmates into his underlings and make them do his bidding. And sure enough, he already had five followers by the start of the second monthafter his enrollment. He felt that this was an okay number for now since he does not have any plans to use them yet.

Everything changed when a girl enrolled a month later.

This girl was a beauty beyond the realm of humans. He could not believe his eyes. Charlie’s first thought that a monster had come to the capital in the form of a beautiful girl.

Silently staring at the girl who was giving a short introduction, he was filled with awe. He was bewitched by the girl’s beauty; he could not snap out of his trance until a clear voice entered his ears.

“…are you just going to stare at me the whole day? If so, please do it outside, or anywhere I cannot see you and your drooling mouth.” (Katya)

It was a voice that sounded ice cold with a hostile tone, but was so angelic that it made him re-evaluate the standards of melodies.

“Uh… E-erm… Ah…” (Charlie)

He could not speak. His mind was already working overtime to figure out how he should respond to this angel that had descended in front of him. His mouth could not produce understandable words, he could only open and close his mouth and let out vibrations from his throat that sounded like gibberish.

“I’ll introduce myself first then. Once again, my name is Katya Vaanderwal. You are?” (Katya)

Once again, the angel standing in front of Charlie von Carthage III had opened her mouth and let out her angelic voice that sent Charlie into a trance once again. But this time, some reason was still intact within his mind. He thought that this time, he should respond to her. He felt that it should be now, or never…!

“…Um-“ (Boy)

“Is that your name? ‘Um’? Well then, nice to meet you, Mr. ‘Um’. This may be presumptuous of me, but please cease your irritating stares and go and die in a ditch somewhere.” (Katya)

However, his words got mumbled up and his mouth unconsciously moved on its own. And when he wanted to correct himself, the angelic beauty had already responded to his unconscious mutter. A deep feeling of regret welled up inside him. It filled him like a dam had been opened. It was the first time he had felt such a feeling.

And for the rest of the day, Charlie von Carthage III was crying silently on his desk, deeply lamenting his earlier actions in front of such a divine existence.

After school, Charlie was picked up by a carriage, a servant of his house was driving, and went home.

The moment he got home, he immediately went to his room. He didn’t mind the curious gazes the maids and servants gave him; he didn’t have the luxury to. He locked himself in. He then started to pace around in his spacious room. Every time he thought about that conversation from earlier, he wanted to kill himself. The more he thought about it, the more he recalled the image of that angel… that goddess of beauty. Her chestnut colored hair, her gold-red eyes, her snow white skin, her angelic voice, everything about her was perfect. It’s like she was the embodiment of beauty- Nay, she is the embodiment of beauty. No one can deny that fact.

“…”

I don’t know what to do anymore.

No, I know exactly what I need to do.

I’ll make her my wife! A woman like her, and a guy like me, we’re perfect for each other. And she’ll be happy to be married to a man like me. I mean look at me! I am the first born son of House Carthage! I am destined to do great things.

…and so Charlie vowed in his heart. That from this day forward, he will make that angel, Katya Vaanderwal, his wife!

{Chapter           End}

Author’s Stupid Note:

One day, I will show the world…

*****

So I tried making a chapter longer. I fused a part of Chapter four’s draft into this one. Also, Charlie came out of nowhere; I wasn’t even planning to make the guy into someone important. Well, whatever. Nothing ever goes as planned.

Editor [Artres]: revised version, 21/11/16