X

Unfamiliar Zero

Chapter 9

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Exhaustion crept into Louise's very bones. She fought to keep herself upright, her muscles threatening to mutiny. Between her new duties as a maid the past few days and the whole ordeal of exploring the underground city, all she wanted to do was take a long, warm bath and fall asleep in the comforts of her own bed.

Unfortunately, she could do neither at the moment. The reason being she was currently stuck in the throne room having an audience with the Demon Lord Arkajian alongside Lady Elena.

Once the Louise and Lady Elena had ascended from the dwarven city and entered the keep proper, they had been met at the grand spiral staircase by Lady Jade, who informed Elena of her summons to the throne room.

Louise thought she could slip away then, since the summons was specifically for Lady Elena, but the vampire queen had asked her to come along without explaining why. Anyway, even if Elena had explained, there was no way Louise could possibly refuse, so here she was suffering through the audience quietly and trying her best to stay conscious.

The throne room was much the same as when she had first seen it. An expansive chamber of stone with two rows of round columns flanking a wide red and gold carpet that ran from the heavy double doors to the massive dark throne upon which the Demon Lord sat in all his glory.

Dozens of torches and several chandeliers lit the space in a greenish-blue light—the strange color of their flames the product of some kind of magic. Closer inspection of the now well-lit space led her to realize that there were elaborate tapestries hung on the walls, something she had not noticed before. Many of them depicted what appeared to be various battles, all of which with what looked like the Demon Lord prominently displayed in triumphant form. She idly wondered if all the battles depicted actually happened, or if they were the product of the artisan's imagination.

Even though Louise was not looking in her direction, she could feel Lady Jade's intense gaze settle on her. Louise immediately returned to staring at the carpet in front of her. Perhaps it was best not to make it appear as if her attention was wandering.

At least it's warm, Louise thought. The warm air made her feel even drowsier, but she preferred it over being cold. The more time passed, the harder it was for her to stay awake, but she did her best to fight against the growing allure of sleep.

Now was certainly not the time to fall over and pass out—Lady Jade already had a low estimation of her based on their first encounter, and she did not want to make the warrior think any worse of her. Let alone what the Demon Lord himself would think. She shuddered to consider what he might do to punish her. There were fates worse than death after all.

Demon Lord Arkajian sat with one leg crossed over his knee and was leaning to one side of his throne, one arm bent over an armrest and his cheek resting against the knuckles of one hand. On first glance, he might appear to be bored, but he eyed Lady Elena with serious intensity as she delivered her report.

Standing next to the throne, a few feet to the Demon Lord's right, was Lady Jade in her exquisite green armor. One hand rested behind her back while the other held her magical spear to her side. Her raven black hair was as usual tied into a neat ponytail behind her head. Thankfully, she had stopped staring at Louise.

Meanwhile, Lady Elena, her blonde hair falling in waves down over her shoulders and across her back, stood next to Louise. Though unlike the kneeling human girl, the vampire queen stood tall and held the steady gaze of her master. She had bowed her head and knelt earlier, but quickly returned to her feet once she began her report, detailing everything that had transpired in the underground city.

Well, almost everything. True to what she had said about not speaking of the incident to anyone, the vampire queen had omitted the part where she had bitten Louise and sucked on her blood.

Louise felt her cheeks warm as she recalled what happened. She absently raised a hand to rub at her neck where she had been bitten. The movement caught Lady Jade's eye as she glanced sharply towards her once more with the barest hint of a disapproving frown.

Noticing the warrior's scrutiny in her peripheral vision this time, Louise cringed and immediately dropped her hand away. She definitely did not want to draw any more animosity from the warrior if she could help it. The increased attention at least woke her up some more, driving sleepiness away for the moment as her heart quickened out of nervousness. She really needed to learn to keep still and not attract unnecessary attention. Especially in here of all places.

"You're certain there was only the one survivor?" asked the Demon Lord.

"Yes, Lord Kaji. My shadowfiends only found one dwarf remaining in the whole city, and no one else," Elena said.

"They might have missed something," said the Demon Lord dismissively. "Even your shadowfiends are not perfect, useful as they may be. Have the whole city searched again. Turn over every rock and look into every dark corner. At the very least, I want to know everything that the dwarves were doing down there while I was… indisposed." He shifted to lean on the other side of his throne. "I imagine those dwarves had to have made some maps, but I want you to have new ones made so that we can compare them with any old maps we find for potential discrepancies."

Lady Elena raised her brows ever so slightly. "You think they are hiding something, Lord?"

"Perhaps. We will find out soon enough."

"As you command, my Lord," Lady Elena said as she dipped her head in acknowledgement of his orders.

"Now, tell me about this… Kane." Lord Kaji flicked his hand lazily as he mentioned the name.

"There's… not much to tell, my Lord. Kane despises me with every fiber of his worthless being and has sought to overthrow my rule in Nifleheim for the last hundred years." Her voice took on a bit of an edge as she spoke. "Obviously, he has yet to succeed."

"Yet he remains at large," stated the demon lord and the vampire queen let out a tsk sound at that but could not argue against the statement of fact from her master. "Is he a threat?" Lord Kaji arched one of his thick eyebrows at the vampire queen.

"Not a serious one, my Lord," Lady Elena answered with a shake of her head. "At least, not one you should concern yourself with. Kane is an ancient elder vampire, older than me… perhaps older even than you, Lord Kaji. At least, as far as I'm aware. Like most high elders, he is both ruthless and ambitious. Based on his age alone, I believe his power may even rival my own, but he has kept to the shadows and refuses to face me directly, so I cannot say for certain. It has been a long time since I've seen him with my own eyes."

"I will decide whether or not he is someone to concern myself with," Lord Kaji said with a short gesture of his hand. "Why do you think he has been hiding in the shadows, if his power can potentially equal yours?"

"Because he knows he'll lose," said the vampire queen with supreme confidence that bordered on arrogance.

The Demon Lord chuckled. "Of course." He flashed Elena a fond smile. "I expect nothing less of you."

The vampire queen inclined her head to graciously accept the compliment. A small smile forming on her own plush red lips.

"If there's nothing else—"

"Actually, Lord, there is something else I'd like to discuss," Elena interrupted her master, earning a reproachful glare from Lady Jade. "A request, really. And a small one at that." She ignored Jade's brief flare of anger and glanced momentarily at the pink-haired girl kneeling close by before returning her attention to the demon lord.

Lord Kaji sat straighter and looked intrigued, seemingly unbothered by being interrupted in such a manner. "Oh? A small request, you say?"

"If you would allow it, I would like to start teaching little Louise here on how to properly wield magic," she explained with a disdainful sniff, "Not whatever drivel her purported magical school from another world has taught her thus far. I have seen a sample of her magic, and it is certainly… lacking."

Louise was so taken aback that she snapped her head up to look wide-eyed at the vampire queen, who pointedly ignored her. Elena had already told her while they were down in the dwarven city that she would teach her magic, proper magic, but she did not think the vampire queen would actually bring it up with the Demon Lord himself! What was she thinking?

Worry suddenly gnawed at her. What if he said no? What would happen then? Please don't say no. Please don't say no. She glanced at the demon lord and was shocked to find him staring at her with an interested expression, and what looked to be slight amusement in his eyes.

Lady Jade's spear suddenly rapped loudly against the stones, drawing Louise's attention. When she noticed the furious glare the lady warrior was giving her, she immediately dropped her gaze to the floor. No doubt the woman had caught her staring directly at the demon lord. She tried to look as meek and apologetic as she could as she strained to listen to the rest of the conversation unfolding before her with downcast eyes.

"Jade had mentioned you had taken a liking to the girl," said the demon lord after a moment of silent contemplation. "I did not realize just how much."

"How could I not take interest in a peculiar human girl who has attracted the attention of my master?" Elena smiled. "Besides, she may be weak now, but she shows some potential with magic. The girl might prove useful to you yet, my Lord. If you'd only allow me to teach her. Mold her into something better. Something more."

"You cannot be serious, Elena!" Lady Jade exclaimed. "My Lord, this is a waste of—"

"Be quiet, Jade," Lord Kaji commanded calmly.

The warrior quickly fell silent, though her face was still filled with anger. Her emerald eyes glared daggers at Louise and Elena both, and the blade of her spear began to glow as the air around it shimmered with heat.

Louise could practically feel the woman's contempt rolling off of her. Did she really dislike Louise that much? There had to be a way to get the lady warrior to like her. Or at the very least, not to hate her so much. It was likely in her best interests to do so in the long run. But how?

"Very well," the demon lord said at last. "Henceforth, you will be in charge of her training and her well-being. My previous order still stands. She must be kept alive and whole, at least until I have finished with my own purposes for her. In the meantime, I am interested to see how you will shape her into someone… useful, as you say." He sounded amused.

Relief flooded through Louise, and no small amount of exhilaration too. She was finally going to be taught proper magic! Magic the likes that she had seen so casually displayed here. Magic that went beyond even the greatest feats she had seen back in her old world. She was willing to do anything to gain even a fraction of the mastery of magic that Lady Elena had. And with the approval of the demon lord, there was now truly nothing to stop her from being trained.

"I serve and obey, Lord Kaji," the vampire queen said with a respectful bow, a pleased smile on her lips.

"You may leave."

Louise got to her feet quickly, wincing at the pins and needles that assaulted her legs, the muscles having fallen asleep bent as they were while having stayed on her knees for some time. She bowed deeply, careful not to raise her eyes to look upon the demon lord, and then turned to follow Elena, who was already halfway towards the doors to the throne room.

"Oh, and Elena," Lord Kaji called out, causing the vampiress to pause and turn back to her master. "She must remain as she is. Human. Understood?"

"Yes, my Lord. I understand." Elena bowed again, blood red eyes flicking towards a confused Louise before she swept towards the doors once more.

What in the world was that supposed to mean? Louise wondered with a tinge of worry as she hurried after the blonde.

=x=x=x=x=

Demon Lord Kaji quietly observed as the two women exited his throne room. One, his sworn follower and loyal subordinate, an incredibly powerful vampire who was a queen of her own little nation of vampires. The other, a mysterious and seemingly helpless human girl from another world. A complete unknown. Why she was here and how she had gotten here were questions he had no answers for at the moment.

It was the latter who had woken him from his deep slumber. Somehow. It should have been impossible for someone as weak as her, for someone so ill-trained, and yet she had done it. Inexplicable, but therein lay the mystery of her. And the grander mystery, of course, was why he had been in such a slumber in the first place.

All signs pointed to a self-imposed exile that he had yet to understand the meaning for. Any memory of what had made him do such a thing to himself was lost to him. At least for now. He would not give up on finding the truth, but he had spent long enough in idle contemplation.

With his powers returning to more acceptable levels, though he had yet to fully recover, he was strong enough now to feel comfortable finally making moves into the greater world. To what ultimate end, he had yet to decide, but that was something to think about after he had rebuilt at least some portion of his armies and regained more of his followers.

How many of his inner circle remained after nearly three centuries? How many were still loyal? He would have to put out a call, one that they could not ignore. At least, not without serious repercussions.

He turned his head towards Jade, standing stiff at attention as she continued to glare openly at the doors to the throne room. Her emerald eyes were still brimming with anger, and the blade of her spear was glowing like it was ready to burst into flame.

"You should settle down, Jade. All this anger towards that girl is unbecoming of you. I almost think you might be jealous," he commented wryly, making the warrior woman blink and scowl.

"Me? Jealous?! Of her?" she spat, looking offended. Then, as if remembering where she was and who she was talking to, she froze and then shut her eyes, taking several deep, shuddering breaths to calm herself.

Kaji watched with some amusement as the fury drained from her face and her breathing steadied. When she opened her eyes again, they were cool and sharp as they normally were, without a trace of anger. Even her spear had stopped glowing, reflecting her change of mood.

Jade faced him fully then and dropped down to one knee, spear still held upright at her side. "Forgive me, Lord. I forgot myself. It won't happen again. I swear it. But if you wish to punish me, then I will accept your judgement without question."

Kaji inclined his head, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. "The girl really has affected you so."

"Forgive me, Lord. I could not help it. She has… defiled your throne room. In more ways than one," Jade said, the anger creeping back into her voice a little. "And she is too weak, too… unworthy… to be in your presence. She does not belong here, Lord."

"Perhaps," he allowed. "But I will ultimately decide her worth, not you. For now, I have allowed her continued presence here. You would do well to remember that."

Jade bowed her head. "Yes, Lord Kaji. I understand."

"Besides, I have something more important for you to do than to be angry over some little girl."

Jade glanced up at him curiously. Eagerly.

"I'm sending you north, to the Kodarei Mountains," Kaji began to explain. And as he continued to inform her of the details of her mission, he noticed approvingly that her eyes shone with fervent determination. He had no doubts that she would do whatever it took to complete the tasks he set for her.

These would be his first steps into shaping this world into what he wanted once more.

=x=x=x=x=

Louise trailed after the vampire queen as she gracefully stalked through the empty halls of the keep in silence. Despite the many questions bubbling inside her, she dared not speak. She would wait patiently for Lady Elena to speak first. The woman was now officially her… what? Master? Another question she added to the list of things she wanted to know.

When they reached the grand staircase for what seemed like the umpteenth time that day, Lady Elena finally came to a halt. It was so sudden that Louise almost ran into her, managing to step to the side at the last second.

"This is how things are going to work. Listen, and listen well, little Louise. For I will not repeat myself," the vampire queen began, her voice, while still somewhat sultry, was far more serious and commanding than Louise was used to hearing from her.

"In the mornings, starting at sunrise, you will still work under Bartho and perform your chores as a maid. But only in the mornings. In the afternoon, and in the evening, your time will be spent learning and studying what I teach you. And you will work hard at it. Any less than your all, and you can forget about me teaching you further. You will listen, you will learn, and you will do everything I say when I say it and how I say it. Is that clear?"

Swallowing and licking her lips, Louise nodded her head vigorously. "Yes, Lady Elena." She tried to convey her conviction through her voice in those few words, but she wasn't sure if she succeeded.

The vampire queen's blood red eyes held her own surprisingly steady gaze for what seemed like an eternity before the older woman finally gave her a curt nod of approval, and Louise let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.

"Good," Lady Elena said. "I have little patience for fools, let alone one among those I am teaching. Rare enough that I put forth the effort to teach in the first place... now, off with you. You're practically falling over as you stand. Get some rest, girl. You'll need it for the days to come."

With that said, Lady Elena swept quietly up the steps and out of sight, leaving Louise alone for a moment staring after her. Then, despite the excitement coursing through her, another wave of exhaustion rolled over her as she swayed on her feet, feeling the heaviness of her eyelids. It really was time for her to get some sleep.

But first, a warm bath.

=x=x=x=x=

Dawn came quicker than Louise would have wanted, and with it a loud knocking on her door that roused her from her sleep. Of course, her room in the bowels of the fortress keep had no windows, so there was no way for her to see that the first slivers of sun had begun to touch the morning sky to the east. But she knew even in the heavy darkness of her room that she would only have been woken up for that reason.

Groggily, Louise got up and shuffled to the door. Despite only being in her underwear, she did not hesitate as she reached for the doorhandle. She was both too sleepy to care and too used to having been woken up in such a manner over the past couple of weeks. Although never quite this early.

Besides, Bartho had seen her plenty of times in various stages of undress since she had been here, and he never once made it seem like he ever cared or even noticed. In fact, she was almost certain that he didn't have a single lewd thought in his mind.

Sure enough, the severe-looking butler kept his crimson-eyed gaze steady on her own sleepy pink eyes when she opened the door a crack, despite Louise being almost naked.

"My queen has informed me of your new… schedule," he said in that cold, calm voice of his. "The sun rises, which means your day has begun. From now on, you will be responsible for waking yourself and reporting to me on time, shortly after sunrise every day. If you are late for your duties, you will be punished. No exceptions."

Louise groaned inwardly, though nodded to signal that she understood. She was already dreading the punishments to come, knowing that it would likely take her some time before she was able to make it a habit to wake herself at this ungodly hour. As if her life wasn't already difficult enough. So unfair!

"I will give you fifteen minutes to ready yourself, so be quick about it. There is still much to do, and I will have you finish as much of it as you can before you present yourself to the queen," said the butler, then he was gone in the blink of an eye, as if he had never been standing outside her door in the first place.

With a sigh, Louise almost wished she had simply imagined the butler there. But she had been in this place long enough to know that wasn't the case. More sighs escaped her lips as she set about getting ready. Before long, she reported to the vampire butler in her maid uniform, and he quickly put her to work like he said he would.

There were more places to sweep and clean. More chores to do. And Louise lost herself for a while in the busyness of it all. But as the morning wore on, and the fog of sleep was fully cleared from her mind, she couldn't help but grow increasingly excited.

Unsurprisingly, she found herself looking forward to the start of her new magical journey. A fresh start to learning magic, one that she had a feeling was going to succeed this time around. It just had to. She was known as a zero, a failure of a mage, but if anyone could teach her to properly wield magic, it was Lady Elena. She just knew it.

Louise worked right up until a loud bell began to toll slowly throughout the keep, signaling midday. Then Bartho appeared moments later. After inspecting what work she had finished and providing some comments on where she could improve or where she did something satisfactory—more the former than the latter, much to her chagrin—he ordered her to follow him.

He was taking her to see the queen, and it was with increasing and barely contained excitement that Louise obeyed as they quietly navigated the halls of the keep.

Queen Elena—it still baffled Louise as to why the vampire queen preferred to be called Lady Elena instead—was waiting for them in a large, mostly empty hall several floors below the one that Louise was currently residing in. It was essentially part of the dungeons.

However, unlike a typical dungeon that was dark and gloomy, the many lit torches and several burning braziers served to drive away much of the darkness and bring a little warmth to the otherwise cold, damp air.

The vampire queen was sitting with her long legs crossed on the only chair in the room, pale skin exposed from where her silver and black dress ended around her thighs to the tops of her matching heeled boots. A small dark wooden table sat to her side, where two fine golden cups and several similarly designed jugs lay.

With a deep bow, Bartho presented Louise to the queen, and Louise bowed and curtsied as well. As a noble, she was trained in proper etiquette after all.

"Thank you, Bartho. You may leave us," said the queen.

With another deep bow, one arm folded behind and another across his belly, the butler obeyed, quickly leaving the two of them alone.

Lady Elena stared at Louise. Those unwavering red eyes peered down at her from a regal pale face as beautiful as she had ever seen.

"Sit," commanded Lady Elena as she reached for the nearest cup and took a careful sip.

Louise glanced around with some confusion, finding no other chair. She hesitantly looked a question to the vampire queen, who was taking another sip from her cup and ignoring her. Finding no other solution, Louise carefully sat down on the floor in front of Lady Elena, mindful to fold her dress under her so that her bare skin was not directly against the cold stones.

"Your first lesson," Lady Elena began, "Is to forget everything you've been taught about magic. And I do mean everything. We will start from scratch, as if you had never even heard of magic before. Do you understand, Louise?"

Louise frowned slightly but nodded. "I understand, Lady Elena." She wasn't sure how she could simply just forget everything she had learned about magic since she was a child, but she would try.

"Very well." Lady Elena took a sip from her cup before continuing. "Magic, in its most basic form, is the manipulation of mana to perform feats as simple as lighting a torch or levitating an object." A torch on the wall behind her flared suddenly and the cup in her hands began to float in front of her for a moment before slowly descending back into her hands. "Or feats as complex as summoning creatures from another dimension or even raising the dead," she added.

The latter examples appeared to not have any direct demonstration, of which Louise was grateful as the small hairs on her body stood on end at the thought of the dead coming back to life. She had heard of the undead before but had never actually thought she would ever have the chance to see them in person.

"Mana is what we call the magical energy that permeates the universe. It is everywhere. It is all around you and even within you. And the more you use it the more you become attuned to it. The more sensitive you are to it, the more you will feel it wherever you go, particularly when there are dense concentrations of it, whether in a place, in an object, or in a being." Lady Elena took another sip of whatever drink was in her cup.

Louise nodded to indicate that she was following along well enough.

"Now anyone who can manipulate mana—wizards, witches, mages, magicians… whatever you want to call them—can use either the mana in the environment around them or the mana within them. Generally, the mana within a magic user is more abundant and much easier to use than the mana in the surrounding environment. You can also use both inner and external mana if you want, but that's usually more complicated to achieve."

Once again, Lady Elena paused and took a sip of her drink. Louise was starting to think she was doing that not merely because she was thirsty, but because she was giving her time to process what was being taught.

"Everything has a… limit to the amount of mana within them. A certain storage capacity, if you will, for mana. Everything, living beings in particular, have a specific rate of regenerating that mana once it's used up too. The amount of mana someone can hold and how quickly they can generate it is different for everyone, and when you become more sensitive and more experienced with magic, you'll usually be able to sense how much mana those around you have through what is called a magical aura."

Louise nodded again. So far, everything has made sense. Some of it was even similar to what she was taught back in Tristain.

Lady Elena continued. "Generally, the stronger a person is, the more powerful and more obvious their magical aura. At a certain level, it's even possible to exert pressure on others or the environment around you with only your aura. Does that make sense?"

"I think so," Louise said with a slow nodding of her head. "But I do have a question, Lady Elena."

With another sip of her drink, the vampire queen gestured for her to ask her question.

"Is it possible to… increase your capacity for mana? Or is it something that is determined at birth and doesn't change?"

Lady Elena smiled, perfect white teeth showing between her ruby red lips. "An excellent question, my dear. Yes, it is possible to change your mana capacity. Think of the mana reserve within you as a muscle. You are born with a certain amount of it, to be sure, but the more you use it, the more you train it and strain it, the bigger and stronger it becomes. This is why, as a general rule, the older a magic user is, the more powerful they tend to be. But do note that the stronger you become and the larger your mana reservoir is, the more difficult it is to improve it by a noticeable degree."

Louise brought her hands together and stared at them, wondering how much mana she could hold now. Because of how often her magic went awry, she did not use it as often as the others did back in Tristain, so she figured it was probably pretty low. She really was so weak.

"However, you must also understand that while the amount of mana you have is important, it isn't everything," Lady Elena continued her lecture once she noticed that Louise had no more questions. "You could possess the most mana in the world, and thus have a rather intimidating aura, but if you cannot properly control and use mana, then all you have is a lot of energy at hand that you can't skillfully deploy. You could do more harm than good, no matter your intentions."

Elena waved a finger and suddenly the liquid—a crimson color that looked almost like blood—in the cup swirled upward from the middle of the cup like an upside-down tornado, tapering off to a point at its peak a few inches above the cup.

The swirling column of liquid suddenly detached itself from the cup and formed into a thin line that snaked through the air above the cup, tumbling and twisting as if it were a living thing.

Suddenly, the liquid straightened and stiffened into the shape of a bolt and sped off with frightening speed, smacking into the far wall with enough force that it broke through and formed a neat circular hole where the liquid disappeared into.

Louise was both awed and terrified about what she had witnessed. Such a small amount of magic, at least in her eyes, could turn something so harmless into a lethal weapon in the blink of an eye.

"That was using only a mere drop of an ocean of mana," Lady Elena told her. "If it came to a fight between someone with a lot of mana but poor skill and someone with less mana and masterful skill, it is highly likely that the latter would win. It would be similar to a fight between two warriors where one warrior had lots of stamina but little skill while another had little stamina but plentiful skill. The one with more skill will most likely win, even if they may tire out quicker."

That perked Louise's interest considerably. She was undoubtedly much younger than Lady Elena. If what she heard was to be believed, the vampire queen was well over two hundred years old despite looking like she was in her mid-twenties, which meant her mana capacity was assuredly several orders of magnitude greater than Louise's currently.

Louise was likely never going to be able to catch up to the queen in terms of mana capacity, but perhaps she could at least catch up in terms of magical skill. That gave her something realistic to strive for.

"Now, I'll teach you how to feel your magical core, where your inner mana is produced." Lady Elena flicked her hand, and one of the jugs levitated and refilled her empty cup, which now hovered in front of her. "Are you ready?"

Louise nodded, a look of pure determination in her eyes. "I'm ready."

=x=x=x=x=

For the next two weeks, Louise continued with her maid duties under continued supervision from Bartho while taking occasional lessons from Lady Elena. Most of the time, as much as she could, she was training on her own.

Training involved using what she learned from Lady Elena to strengthen her core, improve her mana capacity, and stabilize her magic.

To strengthen her core, Louise had to first meditate and feel the mana around her and within her. Feeling the mana within her was easy enough, but it had taken her several days to get a decent feel for the mana beyond her body.

Then, she drew in the mana from her surroundings, absorbing it into her body. This took a few more days for her to get it right, and even then the absorption rate was practically only a trickle. Accomplishing even that small feat had her smiling for days.

Once she began absorbing external mana, she directed the mana straight into her core while simultaneously applying added mental pressure to it, stimulating the core externally and internally. Over time, it would grow and harden, and eventually even evolve according to Lady Elena.

As the vampire queen had said during that first lesson, the more her magical core was used and the more pressure it was under, the stronger it got. And the stronger her magical core was, the more powerful the magic she would be able to bring forth. The theory all made sense to her, and now that she was actually applying all that theory, she was elated to be making even a little progress.

Louise was under no illusions that she would gain power and competency overnight. Strengthening her core alone was a slow and tedious process, often leaving her even more exhausted than the physical chores she did as a maid, but she kept at it. She wanted so badly to be strong and to be capable that she was willing to go through any challenges, no matter how long it might take or how painful it might be, to accomplish that goal.

Beyond strengthening her core, she also had to continuously drain her mana reserve. In so doing, she would tax her mana reserve and cause it to grow as it came under constant use and thus constant pressure. Rather than casting spells, which she apparently was not yet ready for according to Lady Elena, she used external items to drain that mana for her.

Specifically, Lady Elena gave her a beautiful silver bracelet fitted with nine rubies. Apparently gems were excellent for mana storage and magical use, and each ruby could absorb and store a certain amount of mana. The bracelet itself had been enchanted to help her more easily transfer mana between herself and the rubies, among other things.

The act of that mana transference served to widen and stabilize her magical pathways—these were like magical veins or pathways that connected her core and her mana to the outside world, where magic spells that used mana took form.

According to Lady Elena, there were problems with her body's magical pathways. Something about them being structured oddly, with many of the normal pathways underdeveloped or even broken outright.

Lady Elena actually took some time to mend them personally but noted that the few pathways that were well developed and intact in Louise's body were associated with destruction magic. She had even mentioned something about void magic, which was apparently a branch of magic that would be explained to her when she was 'ready for it.'

All that is to say, it now made sense why every time she cast a spell it blew up in her face and caused an explosion. Though how or why her magical pathways were damaged and underdeveloped was apparently a mystery.

Regardless, the day when Louise would become a proper mage was fast approaching. And for the first time in a long while, she felt like things were finally going her way.

Again, magical training really was very similar to physical training. In the same way that her muscles got stronger and bigger as she worked out—and her chores had her doing far more physical labor than she ever thought she would do—so too did her magical core and mana reserve get stronger and bigger as she trained them.

After two weeks of training, she had yet to fill one ruby to full capacity. Using her newfound ability to sense mana in her surroundings, she could sense that there was a large amount of mana now in that one ruby, but it was still far from full. While the rate of transfer was slowly increasing over time, and the amount of her own mana was also increasing, she estimated it would still take her another three to four weeks to completely fill one ruby.

The amount of mana the bracelet as a whole could store was therefore staggering. The Louise that existed before coming to this world wouldn't have believed that such a powerful magic item would be handed to her as if it were nothing. After all the things she had seen though, she was not surprised in the slightest.

Everyone she had met thus far, including Bartho, who was a mere butler in this world, seemed at least ten times more powerful than the headmaster of Tristain Academy. Old Osmond, as he was called, was a square-level mage with high levels of knowledge and experience, and was considered to be one of the strongest on the continent. Yet Louise figured it wouldn't take much effort at all from any of the denizens of this fortress to defeat him.

"You're distracted."

"Eep!" Louise was startled out of her thoughts at the sudden appearance of Bartho.

The butler stood with his hands tucked behind his back, staring at her with unblinking eyes and that now familiar severe expression on his face. He had appeared by the doorway of the room she was busy scrubbing down, and she assumed he was there for a spot inspection of her work. He did that from time to time.

Louise lowered her head respectfully and got to her feet. "Good morning, sir," she said.

He took a cursory glance around and gave her a nod. "Not bad."

Louise smiled. That was the best she had ever gotten out of him so far. It may not have been much, but it was a far cry from where she had started. Strangely enough, making progress with the quality of her work as a maid was similarly pleasing as making progress with her magic. Not quite the same, of course, but surprisingly close.

"I'm not here for an inspection though," he said.

Louise was taken aback but said what was expected of her. "How may I serve?"

"Her majesty has asked for you," he informed her. "Come along."

Louise knew she didn't have anything scheduled with Lady Elena, but she had no place to argue so she simply nodded her head and followed the butler's lead.

When she was sat down before the queen, Louise noticed she seemed tense and preoccupied. That got her worried. Hopefully, nothing bad was about to happen to her. Things had been going so well the past two weeks.

"I'm in a bit of a hurry, so I'll keep this brief, little Louise." The vampire queen gave Louise a quick smile that served to somewhat relieve her of worry. She wouldn't be smiling if it was anything bad. "Our sessions will have to be put on hold for a time. I'll be away from the fortress on an important mission. But don't worry. I was able to get approval from my master to provide you access to The Grand Library. You will find more knowledge in there than you can ever hope to learn."

Louise felt simultaneously elated and sad. On the one hand, she was getting access to what seemed to be an impressive library, which was fantastic. On the other, Lady Elena was going away. She had gotten used to the vampire queen's presence and attention. Not to mention all the help she gave with learning proper magic as well as training.

Lady Elena was essentially Louise's benefactor, and to not have her around made her feel suddenly vulnerable.

"Will you be gone long?" Louise asked.

"I'm not sure when I'll return," the vampire queen said honestly.

"Oh."

Lady Elena laughed. "Look at you! Feeling all down and dejected already, and I haven't even left yet. You're really going to miss me, aren't you, my little Louise?"

Louise tried to hide her face as she felt herself turning red with embarrassment. "I-I'm just sad we won't be continuing our lessons!" she exclaimed.

"Of course. The lessons," the vampire queen said knowingly. "Anyway, I must be off. The sooner the better. Bartho will take you to The Grand Library after this meeting," she told Louise. "Any other questions?"

Louise did have one question now that she knew what was going to happen with her next. "Well, uh… since I'll be going to a library… Would you recommend any specific books for me to study first?"

Lady Elena laughed again, then gave her a wink. "That, my dear, is a question you can ask The Librarian."

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