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I spread the mana sensory net and assessed the situation around me.

There was an S-rank magic reaction in the tree 100 merte behind me. I knew this mana wavelength belonged to Maya the familiar, though I wasn’t sure if she came here because Regina asked her to or she followed me on her own. I had a feeling it was the latter. Seven merte in front of me, there was a reaction of an F-ranked demon beast—which I assumed to come from a horned rabbit since it was all alone. Slightly further away, I sensed five E-ranked demon beasts. They were at first sneaking towards the horned rabbit, but suddenly changed course and came to me, encircling.

It was probably a small group of goblins. They probably changed plans right at that moment since they found an opponent who was more fleshy and easier to hunt than a horned rabbit.

Well, it wasn’t exactly impossible, since categorically I was currently a female, so while indeed other humans wouldn’t even dare to look at this ragweed of a face, the goblins were known to be in heat all year round. By that, I meant the possibility of a mutually unfortunate incident to happen, like say, them attacking me for the purpose of reproduction like crazy. I had my first menstruation the other day too, as if it had been waiting for my eleventh birthday.

If anything, I probably looked more like food.

As I bent down to pick up a few pebbles near my feet, two goblins came running out of the bushes in front of me, vocalizing strange noises. Almost at the same time, one goblin appeared on my flanks each. The last one must have intended to go around to the rear. It was still out of sight since it circled from a distance away, but I could tell by my mana detection that it had been slaughtered by Maya who reverse sneaked up on them, so that was one less goblin to worry about.

Which meant, there were only four left.

I threw the pebbles at the two in front of me. I would have liked to flick the pebbles like finger bullets, but with my current hand size and finger strength, I couldn’t expect the finger bullets to have enough firepower to be useful in a real battle, so I had no choice.

One was hit between its eyes and the other was hit a bit under the eye, the latter reflexively guarded its face and turned its head. I actually aimed for the eyes for both, but since my left hand didn’t have the dexterity of my dominant hand, my aim seemed to miss a bit.

Nevertheless, I had succeeded in temporarily crippling their fighting potential, so I immediately twisted my body and pointed the wand—simply put, a white wooden stick with a pea-sized magic stone embedded in it, “for children’s practice,” according to my mentor—towards the goblin on my right hand side.

「“Fangs of ice, be the blade that pierces.”」A moment later, three rows of sharp icicles the size of an adult’s index finger appeared, centered on the tip of the magic wand, and at the same time, they shot out at high speed, leaving no sound.

Incidentally, there were no particular rules about the chant itself. “Well, in magicking school they’d teach you to dramatize the chant ‘blah blah blah kowtow to my power, O eternal wisdom whatnot’ like you’re reading some classics. But such a rule is a load of bull. It’s best to chant the way you’re most comfortable with. In fact, most of the common magicians are self-taught, and a lot of magician back in the age of Finis Jihad were killing mountains of monsters without chanting.” Spoke Regina, citing some dubious legend while she oh so refreshingly and irresponsibly abandoned her duty to guide me with the words; “Think it up yourself.”

Hence why I was learning the basics and testing their applications through daily experiments and real-life battles.

“GuGYAa~~~!!” The goblin held its punctured stomach, letting out a death cry. Killing a humanoid opponent didn’t feel good, even if it was a demon beast, but I told myself to attack before my mind could think.

The third blade of ice should have pierced his abdomen, but it missed the vital spot, and thus wasn’t fatal. Was I lacking power, or were there other variables that I needed to consider…either way, I had to improve further.

Before I had time to be overcome with emotion, the goblin on my left arm side swung its club at me. I quickly intercepted it with my magic wand, and thus we entered in a locked stance. However, what I was facing was essentially a wild beast. I was almost pushed over by the difference in arm strength.

“Why, you!” As it pushed further, I attempted to parry it away along with my scream. But before I could strike it in the neck, the first two got back up, one coming at me with bare hands the other holding a sharp stone.

「”O flames, dance!”」

Seeing as this had become a three-on-one (which wasn’t true, in retrospect, since I had Maya the Caru escorting me, and she could have lent me a hand when push came to shove. I was in such a panic I had forgotten she was there), I quickly cast the most compatible and the first magic I had learned—【Flame】.

“Ack…uh oh!”

The moment I came to myself, a bursting pillar of fire turned the goblins into charcoal, and the spell instantly caught the forest in fire.

♢♦♢♦♢

“You—UTTER FOOL!! How many times do I have to tell you to hold yourself back?!!”

Regina was always grumpy all the time, but now, more than ever, she was so enraged she waved around her cane.

After having reenacted the exact same magic outburst that I did a month ago, I had no choice but to kowtow and endure her wide knowledge of profanity that she unleashed on me like a machine gun.

Incidentally, the fire was somehow extinguished before it became serious, thanks to the 【Water Ball】 spell that I desperately cast with all of my mana, Maya also put an effort to put out the fire using her tentacles and body, and above all else, the vegetation of the Tenebrae Nemus was extremely tough and fire-resistant, so the fire was extinguished pretty early.

However, since it happened pretty close to the hermitage, it naturally became known to Regina, who pretty much jumped up on me and immediately showered me with expletives.

Like a loan shark who had been overcharged for years, she kept on cursing at me until she wired her mouth shut, either she ran out of vocabulary or breath. When I took a breath of relief, thinking that she had finally had enough, Regina once again opened her mouth, making me straighten my back as I kowtow on the ground. Speaking of which, thanks to my daily practice and eating habits over the past month or so, I had lost a lot of flab around my stomach, so kowtowing had become a much easier task to do—not that I was happy by that fact, though.

“How long are you going to be on all four like a miserable toad?! Get your fat a̲s̲s̲ up!!”
“Yes, mentor.”

Almost as a conditioned reflex, I stood erect on the spot. For some reason, Regina’s eyes sharpened as she assessed me from the tip of my head to my toes, as if she was staring at me with a price tag.

“…Erm, mentor? Is there something on my face?”
“Hmph. The mud and soot on your ugly face makes it look even worse.”

Hurriedly, I created a small sized 【Water Ball】 on my palm and splashed it on my face. I untied the worn-out personal handkerchief that kept my hair tidy—with me no longer a member of high society, having a long hair was nothing but a nuisance, but there was the superstition that said that a woman’s spiritual power resided in her hair and womb, so I was stubbornly disallowed to cut my hair—and used it to wipe my face and put it into the pocket of my apron.

Regina, who was for some reason watching the scene with abhorrence, quickly turned on her heel and walked back the way she came.

“We’re going back. What are you dallying for?!”

I hurriedly ran after her. Huh? We’re going back home? But I haven’t collected medicinal herbs and wildflowers for today, you know…?

♢♦♢♦♢

After walking along an animal trail for over an hour from Regina’s hermitage, the view suddenly opened up, and a panorama of endless prairie unveiled before me.

“Whooaaaa!”

I let out an exclamation of admiration in front of a horizon I had only seen in pictures in my previous life, let alone in this life when I was nothing but a caged bird.

“Close your jaw, you look like a fool! Hurry it up and walk!”

Regina the self-conceited heartless machine straddled Maya and urged me onward, seeing me like I was baggage. I came back to myself and tilted my head to look in the direction Regina was pointing.

“Is that the town adventurers visit that you’ve told me about before?”

As if she had just smelled something foul, Regina frowned, her nose scrunched, and she spat out the words bitterly. “You mean Crepuscule Urbs? Don’t joke with me! Who’d want to go to that cesspool? Stay clear from that place if you hold your life dear.”