Chapter 3 Lets Learn Some Magic

Malty glanced from side to side as she strolled down the streets of Castle Town, dressed in a hooded cloak and armed with a small sword she could properly use, it had been two months since she and Eclair had that talk with their parents about them learning how to sword fight and since then the Queen and the Duke had shown their fully support, not only had they adjusted Malty and Eclair's schedules for sword practice they had also ordered the vice captain of the knights to assist with their training and while the man looked rough and was a tough teacher, he seemed to have a soft spot, after the first day of training he would smile at them when they arrived to practice and he really helped them refine their swordsman skills correcting any problem in their stance or style.

As Malty had expected Trash didn't take the news of her learning swordsmanship very well, the man was very protective of his daughter and didn't want her to learn how to sword fight until she was eighteen at the least, he had tried to persuade Malty to wait a few years before learning how to use a sword, to wait until she was at least eighteen, but Malty stood her ground and stayed adamant about learning how to use a sword and soon Mirellia joined the argument, which spelled Trashes defeat, especially after she said that they should support their daughter's hobbies not dissuade her on them.

And so every Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Friday after her tutoring sessions she and Eclair would go to the knights training area to receive sword lessons and that was the routine for a month, they would have Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday off from training to relax their muscles, Malty spent a lot of time with Eclair and they had become very close friends, they didn't spend every day together their were a few days they'd have to themselves, Malty mostly spent those days drawing and doing origami trying to regain the skills she had in her last life.

But a week ago an incident had occurred in the Seaetto region which required the Dukes attention and of course he had to take Eclair with him, so after goodbyes and promising they would write to one another Eclair and her father had gone back to their territory, it hadn't been a tearful goodbye because the two knew they would eventually see each other again, after all they were a princess and a dukes daughter it was inevitable that they'd meet again.

While Malty was sad to see her friend go it did mean she had more free time to herself, which she could spend learning magic, hence why she had snuck out of the castle, she was going to find the magic shop Naofumi had frequented in the story, once their she would ask the shop keeper to measure her affinities, because she genuinely didn't know what her affinities were, she defiantly knew she had a fire affinity, but she wasn't so sure what her second affinity was and wanted to make sure.

It honestly hadn't been too difficult to sneak out of the castle, during her time training with Eclair before their parents found out Malty had learned how to sneak around exceptionally well, but it would only be a matter of time until someone noticed she was missing so she needed to do this as quickly as possible.

Eventually after asking around she was able to find the store Malty gave it a brief look over and saw that while it did have a brighter coat of paint it did essentially looked exactly like it did in the anime, pulling her hood off she quickly entered the store and quickly headed to the counter where a younger shop owner was sat, she was slightly slumped looking rather board, but she immediately straightened up as she saw Malty approaching.

''Oh, hello dear how can I help you today?'' asked the shop owner.

''Oh, I'm just here to get my magical affinity measured'' stated Malty pulling out a fat purse full of silver coins, after regaining her memories and realising the situation she was in she had started to save up her allowance which actually saw an increase after a month because Queen Mirellia was pleased that she had improved in her studies ''how much?''

''Just two silver coins dear'' said the shop keeper, to which Malty quickly plucked two silver coins from her pouch and placed them on the counter, the shop keeper took the coins and dropped them into a box before turning to her crystal ball ''alright, lets see here, hmmm, you have quite the high affinity for fire magic as well as a strong affinity for wind magic''

''I see, what about strengthening spells?'' Malty asked recalling that in the story the Malty character had used one.

''What about strengthening spells dear?'' the shopkeeper asked.

''W-well I wanted to know if I could learn it for something, but I guess I can't because its not one of my affinities'' said Malty quickly ''well, anyways I need to go thank you for your service''

With that Malty quickly rushed out of the store, pulling her hood over her head as she did and started to quickly make her way back to the palace, she had been gone for a while now and her absence would undoubtably be felt by those in the castle, a fact that was proven once she got close to the castle, she had to duck into an alleyway as a group of knights ran through the city talking to themselves about the princess going missing and having to find her, after dodging that Malty had to pick up the pace.

Once she reached the palace she proceeded to sneak in the same way she snuck out, through a hole at the bottom of one of the store room walls, that was just big for her to crawl through, once she was back inside she quickly made her way to her room to remove her cloak and get back into appropriate clothing, once she was done with that she made her way to the libary.

She had been in the library numerous times over the past few months and as such where all the sections were and what book was on what shelf, she quickly found some books on magic and went to a table to start her studies on magic, she probably should have done that before going to town but it was done now and their was nothing she could do to change that, no real damage was done just a little panic it would be over when someone found her here, so for now she just focused on the books.

'Bet Trash won't like that I'm learning magic at this age either' Malty thought to herself as she read 'then again in the story Melty could use magic when she was around my age, so maybe she learned it when she was younger, but seriously why can't I learn sword fighting and possibly magic at this age, I mean if he wanted me to wait till I became thirteen maybe I could understand, but eighteen really does he want me to end up like-' Malty's eyes widened as she started to remember something 'oh god I forgot about Fohl and Atla!'

In the Rising of the Shield Hero story Fohl and Alta were Malty's cousins, they were half Hakuko, a race of Demi-Humans with white tiger features, they were the children of Trash's sister and when she died her children were eventually sold into slavery, with Fohl becoming a fighter at a colosseum to earn money to buy medicine for his little sister.

'How could I forget something so important, then I never got to the arc they were introduced in, the only reason I know about them is because a friend of mine spoiled me' Malty thought to herself 'never mind I have to figure out how to help them! Wait can I do anything to help them?'

As Malty thought about it she really couldn't see any way she could help Fohl and Atla, she had no idea where they were given the fact she hadn't read up to that part of the story and even if she did know where they were she was only ten, so she didn't really have any resources to search for them, true she could give orders to soldiers with her status as Princess, but she couldn't order something like a massive search without her mothers approval and how would she get her mothers approval for this, Malty couldn't see any way to explain that she knew Trash's sister was alive without revealing the fact she was a reincarnation.

'I'm sorry Fohl, I'm sorry Atla, I can't help you yet' Malty thought sadly.

''Ehem''

A sudden throat clearing broke Malty out of her sad thoughts and caught her attention, looking up from where she was sat Malty saw her mother stood in front of her, her mother was a few months pregnant now and was starting to show.

''O-oh, hello mother, how are you today?'' Malty asked a bit shaky.

''I've been just fine today, how about you Malty?'' Mirellia question.

''Yeah its been a good day'' Malty agreed.

''So what have you been doing today Malty?'' Mirellia asked.

''Nothing much mother, mostly just here reading'' stated Malty.

''Reading?'' Mirellia questioned.

''Yes'' said Malty.

Mirellia didn't respond she just snapped her fingers confusing Malty for a moment before a woman with a silver mask and a dark cloak appeared next to Mirellia causing Malty's eyes to widen 'oh crap I forgot about the Shadows' Malty thought to herself 'wait how did I forget about the Shadows? I mean they're a really big thing in the story, does reincarnation cause a sort of memory problem or… you know what, never mind I'm just making excuses, lets just say I'm an idiot and leave it at that'

The Shadow whispered something into Mirellia's ear and after being thanked disappeared, Mirellia then turned back to Malty ''so you've been at the castle all day, you didn't go into town at all?''

Seeing that their was no way out of this Malty decided to come clean rather than lie ''no mother I did'' she sighed.

''Alright, now that I know that why did you go to a magic shop?'' Mirellia questioned.

''I wanted to see what my magical affinity was so I could start practicing magic, I'm sorry mother'' said Malty.

''That's all?'' Mirellia asked ''if that's all you wanted then I could have easily called one of our court wizards and had them measure your magical affinities''

''W-wait, your not mad?'' Malty asked surprised.

''Not as mad as you think, but yes I am mad, I'm mad that after giving my blessing for you to learn swords fighting and

that you didn't trust me enough to ask me about magic'' Mirellia stated.

''I'm sorry mother, I didn't want to trouble you'' said Malty.

''It's no trouble Malty, besides I learned magic when I was around your age, I was going to hold off your magic training another year, but if you want to start now, we can start now, I don't think I need to ask but do you want to start now?'' Mirellia asked.

''Yes mother, I want to start as soon as I can'' stated Malty.

''Very well then, we will start training on Saturday and I will be your instructor'' stated Mirellia.

''Y-you will mother?'' Malty asked genuinely shocked.

''Yes, my mother taught me and she was taught by her mother, who was taught by her mother, so I will teach you'' stated Mirellia.

''B-but mother, your pregnant is it really alright for you to spell cast?'' Malty asked concerned.

Mirellia gave a small smile and patted Malty on the head ''I don't need to spell cast to teach you magic Malty, it'll all be alright, now then you should get ready lunch, I expect your father will want to hold off your magic training for another year''

''What!'' Trash cried, he was stood up at the dining table in alarm after Mirellia told him that Malty would start magic training soon ''M-Malty, don't you think you already have too much to do with your tutoring and sword lessons, are you sure you wish to start magic training early''

''Father in the next decade the Waves will come, I know that's a long way off, but when they do come I want to be strong enough to protect Melty and our people, so I'm more than sure father'' Malty stated strongly.

''Who's Melty?'' Mirellia questioned.

''M-Melty'' Malty spluttered, she wanted to end the argument before it started so badly she didn't even think of what she was saying, but thinking on her feet Malty quickly found a way out of this ''Melty's just the placeholder name I came up with for my new little sibling, Melty for a girl''

''Melty, Melty'' said the Queen testing it a couple of times ''I rather like Melty, I think I'd like to go with your placeholder name Malty, if you have a little sister her name will be Melty''

''Oh wonderful, I'm glad I could help there mother'' said Malty feigning happiness.

Mirellia just smiled at Malty before turning back to her husband ''you heard her, she wants to protect her sister and her people when the Waves come I think that's the best reason she can have for wanting to become stronger and you remember the conversation we had don't you, we should encourage her on matters such as this not dissuade her'' she said.

The King sighed knowing he was beat ''very well, but please do not overwork yourself Malty'' he sighed.

''I won't father, don't worry, I know what I'm doing and I'll take plenty of rest if I need to'' said Malty as their lunch was brought out.

As promised Malty's training started on Saturday, their training started out slowly with their first two weeks of lessons being focused on Malty studying fire and wind spells, this was for the next two weeks of training where Mirellia and Malty meditated, this would help her learn to channel her magic through her body as well as help her visualise the spells in her head which was necessary to cast them, she spent the next week practicing hand movements and stances she would need to spell cast.

And finally it was time for Malty to start practicing spells, her first attempt wasn't so successful she only created a little ember, but her mother assured her that was the first time result for everyone and to keep practising, after a week she could create a small fireball and soon enough Malty could perfectly cast low level spells.

''As source of thy power I order thee, decipher the laws of nature and create a ball of fire'' Malty chanted ''Eineite Fire!''

Malty pushed her hands forwards and a small fireball shot out of her hands at a practice dummy, the fireball directly hit the dummy in the chest and knocked it over, the fireball wasn't strong enough to set the dummy on fire, Malty turned to the applause of the Queen ''very good Malty you've progressed wonderfully'' Mirellia stated.

''Thank you mother'' Malty bowed.

''Now if you continue to practice like this you'll build up your power enough to use the next level and after that the next level and so on and an added bonus to this process is it will become more and more natural to your body to the point you'll be able to use magic without chants'' explained Mirellia.

''Mother, if you don't mind I have a question'' said Malty, the Queen nodded telling her to go ahead ''if certain people don't need to chant to cast spells then when do they chant?''

''Well while it is more convenient the lack of a chant removes half the power a spell could have'' explained Mirellia, before looking at a clock on the left hand corner of her view ''I think that's enough training today Malty, why not take a break for now, we'll have half and hour of tea and sweets and resume training afterwards''

''A-are you sure mother?'' Malty asked a little tempted ''I can keep going if you want''

''I'm sure Malty, I don't want you to overwork yourself, now come on lets take a break'' said Mirellia offering her hand.

''Yes mother'' smiled Malty taking her mothers hand.

Ok, that's the chapter I hope you liked it, so you all gave me your opinions and its been decided that no Malty won't be having one of those inner councils, sorry to anyone who wanted it, I'm also sorry if you wanted Malty to find Fohl and Atla before their mother died unfortunately I don't really see a way Malty could do that I just don't, I'm sorry and I hope you don't mind the explanation I made, next chapter something and some of you will probably argue that it should have happened later, but I've decided to do it so I will apologise in advance in case you don't like it.