Mother Helen wouldn’t leave until Thera lay down and pretended to sleep.

While Thera was excited about trying out her idea, she didn’t want her mom to be there observing her. She wanted to practice in secret.Why did she want to practice in secret? There were actually several reasons why Thera had chosen to hide in in her previous world, which she felt also carried over into this world.

Before anything else, she was used to practicing on her own, as well as hiding her true skill level. She had been on her own for a long time already, so the only person she could practice with was herself.

Next, since many of her skills were highly lethal, she couldn't use them in the peaceful law-abiding neighborhood where she lived.

Moreover, if people knew that she was strong, then they'd try to use her. There had been several cases in the past, where people used her name to get what they wanted. There had even been a few idiots that had called themselves her disciples in order to coerce the local shops to give them protection money- a group which had quickly been dealt with personally.

In addition to that, power attracts politics, and politics attracts trouble. To mention the many governments and factions that had tried to recruit-or destroy-her due to her high level of skill would be to name nine tenths of the world powers.

It was only when the Japanese government had threatened to reveal her location to a very annoying pursuer that she had agreed to her final mission. In the end, you are just used if you're useful, then dumped aside or killed when you're not. In other words: the government doesn't care if you're happy as long as it gets what it wants.

Thera admitted to herself that she might have been a bit biased due to her death. But she still wasn't going to forgive the blackmailing snakes in Tokyo!

This time would be different! In this life, if no one provoked her, then no one would get hurt. She had adamantly decided to play the pig in order to eat the tiger. While the idea seemed a bit sinister, it was a basic tactic in creating an advantage over future opponents. No one would use their full force in striking at someone they considered weak, right? This would create an opportunity to counter-attack or flee depending on the situation.

Moreover, she wasn't sure what her family would think if they knew about her. Would they shun her like her previous family? Would they send her away, fearing she was a monster? Would they try to kill her? That thought really scared her. She didn't want to end up alone just like last time, with everyone wanting her skills, but no one wanting just her.

And what if they accepted her? Would they be able to keep their mouths shut if they knew about her? Especially that loose-mouthed papa of mine. Thera thought of her papa running around the capital telling everyone of what a genius she was.

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"Achoo!" *sniff* "Am I getting a cold?" Sir Maverick wondered as he despondently signed his name on yet another paper, completing one of many stacks of papers on his desk.

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Too embarassing! This can definitely not be found out by him! REJECTED! And so, Thera sealed away the revelation of her cheat for a later time.

Since your fighting class was basically equivalent to your status, the higher the class, the less people or monsters there would be who could ruin her nice family life. It was like a pyramid. The top would be the one with the most freedom-well, at least- among the martial practitioners.

Kings and governments were the enemy of freedom-loving people. Thera wanted nothing to do with governments, for the time being.

Even though she had taken up a lot of time ruminating on these things, Thera was rather bored at the time, having nothing really to do. Jean, Rebecca, Martha and Nessa did all the chores, including getting her dressed in frilly laced dresses. They even took up the entire morning, one day, just dressing her up in different outfits: something that Thera considered a complete waste of time. But despite her frustrations, Thera still appreciated the love and affection given her by her family.

Upon occasion, Thera indulged in daydreaming about her family’s reaction when she finally revealed the results of her training.

Papa’s eyes would get as big as saucers, and his mouth would drop open. Mama would have the most wonderful smile on her face. And then Margie would grab Mama and Papa’s hands and we’d dance around in a circle and sing and laugh and celebrate for a week.

You may think this a strange thing for a former adult to think, but having never advanced past trying to get ‘mother’s smile’ Thera was still a clueless idiot in terms of family.

Then she shook her head. No good! She needed to focus if she wanted to do this correctly. It would not do to get distracted in the middle.

She closed her eyes and focused inwards upon herself, imagining the energy that she would put into exhausting herself crawling and climbing stairs. She found it easier to imagine it as a kind of sparkly, colored liquid.

Then she imagined she could see that energy. It was there, within her. Most of it was focused around the muscles and the organs. She willed that energy to cover and condense itself within her bones.

It moved sluggishly, surrounding the bones and melting into them, like fat melting in a frying pan. Thera felt a tingling feeling throughout her body, as she continued to move that energy into her bones. As soon as most of the energy had done so, Thera, exhausted, decided to take the nap that she was supposed to be taking.

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Thera slowly awoke to the voices of her parents near her crib.

“Ku-ku-ku~ Look, Honey! She’s sleeping like a baby~!” (Papa)

“You silly-she is a baby.” (Mama)

“And there’s nothing wrong with that~.”(Papa)

“Muu...I’m a bit concerned, though. She’s been asleep all day. Won’t that mean that she won’t be able to sleep tonight?” (Mama)

“I wouldn’t let it bother you. Children her age are supposed to sleep a lot. It’s part of their growing cycle.” (Papa)

Thera frowned. Can’t you go into a different room and discuss this? Let the sleeping babe sleep, after all! And Papa, since when are you an expert on children’s growth cycles? But they continued to talk, despite her mental Tsukkomis.

“Haaa….and I was hoping to see Little Thera’s smiling face before I left.” Papa said in a somewhat dejected tone. The conversation had become serious.

“How long will you be gone?” Mama asked.

“It could be anywhere from three months to six years. Depending on what we find in that mountain range.” He said in a grim tone. The rustle of paper clued Thera in to the letter in his hands.

“The farmers have said that the local wildlife had started fleeing into populated areas. It would be good if this could be resolved as soon as possible. But….Dragon’s Breath! Why did this have to happen now!?”

Mother’s calm voice of reason replied. “It’s better that it did not happen five months ago. Besides, if there is something dangerous in the mountain range who better to deal with it among the exploration team than you?”

“That’s the entire problem. There’s no one aside from me. At this time, most of the experts are busy with other important duties. I heard even Master Thales is away on diplomatic business for the king. I’m worried.”

“Then go as quickly as possible, and resolve the matter swiftly. Even if you take six years, you can return in time to help Thera cultivate.”

He became silent, struggling with something he was thinking about. Then he whispered. “But six years is so long…will she still remember me?”

If Thera’s eyes weren’t closed, she would have rolled her eyes. Who could forget such a suffocating and talkative person? But, well…since he is going to be gone for a while, I should give him some encouragement.

Thera opened her eyes, and started sitting up.

“Oh? Thera, are you awake now?” Sir Maverick asked.

Thera looked at them both, and then stretched out her hands towards her father. “Pa..pa.” They both paused for a second.

“Did you hear what I heard?” Father asked Mother.

“Mm… I think so.”

“She said ‘Papa’, right?”

“That is what I heard.” Came the reply.

Then he grabbed Thera and lifted her out of the crib, twirling her around. “You said papa, didn’t you! That’s right! That’s right! I’m your Papa!” He hugged her to himself, emotionally.

Thera bore his outpouring of emotion, face expressionless as he rubbed cheeks with her, then whirled her around. By the time he stopped whirling her around, he had started to cry. “I don’t want to leave now!”

Mother grabbed a rather dizzy Thera out of his arms. “You can’t disobey the king! Rather, do this for Thera’s sake. Whatever’s enough to scare the wildlife is enough to be a major threat to her safety… Thera will be here when you get back. But only you can make sure that the area is safe.”

He lingered, looking at Thera. Thera took a moment, trying to ignore the whirling ceiling, and looked at him. Then she raised a closed fist in his direction. “DAH!”

This finally seemed to strengthen his resolve. He sniffed, wiping the tears from his eyes. “Okay, Thera! Your super *sniff* amazing dad is going to go save the kingdom and become even more impressive!” He blew his nose on a handkerchief, and straightened up, a more determined look in his eyes.

Once he had his act together, he really did look more impressive. Perhaps this was what everyone else saw when he was made a lesser noble. Thera had only mostly seen his ‘spoil-the-youngest’ mode.

He kissed Mother on the cheek and left the room to make preparations to leave.

Mother sighed and sat down on the bed, Thera in her arms. “I said all that… but after all…it’s going to be a lot quieter from now on…” She said, looking forlorn.

Thera gazed up at her face. She didn’t like to see her so sad. “Ma-manma?” She said, unsure how to help. Helen smiled cheerfully, but there was still a tinge of worry in her face.

“It’s all right, Thera. Let’s hope he returns soon, okay?”

Thera inwardly agreed, if only for mother’s smile.

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But the weeks went by, and Sir Maverick did not return home.

Every day at nap time, Thera focused inwards, melting the energy into her bones.

After about three months, Thera noticed that it was getting easier to condense the energy into her bones, which made everything much quicker. Soon, she was doing it twice a day: at nap time, and at bed time- after the light was blown out.

Shortly before her first birthday, though, Thera discovered something that she had never encountered before.

One day, Margie was watching Thera while Mother went to the marketplace. This was the first time she was doing this, since all the house servants had gone out to help Mother bring the goods back home.

Margie watched as Mother and the servants left the house. Once she was sure that they were truly gone, she picked Thera up and brought her to Margie’s bedroom, looking like she was trying to be sneaky about something.

What is she trying to do? Thera watched her, puzzled.

Margie shut the door, tight, then set Thera down on the bed, and sat down next to her, smiling down at her.

“Shh! Don’t tell Mommy, okay, Thera?” She said, putting her forefinger to her lips. “Of course, you can't really speak well just yet, but I know that you can understand me. This is going to be our little secret~!You’re the first one I’m going to show this to, until I can get better at using it.”

Margie had a gleam in her eye. It was the same gleam that Thera had seen in the eyes of many an otaku. It was the same look they'd get before launching into lengthy details about their favorite Marin-ch*n or P*kemon character. Thera mentally prepared herself for a long talk.

But, oddly, Margie said nothing. She sat there on the bed in a meditation pose with her eyes closed. Then, she opened her eyes, muttered a few words, and held her hand out. A ball of flame danced upon it, cheerily.

“This is about as much as I can control without it going wild, but I can see that that’s still quite impressive enough for you, isn’t it?” She chuckled as Thera’s eyes grew wide, staring at the ball of flames.

“But…still, it’s nothing compared to mother’s healing magic.” She sighed, dreamily.

“It was two years before you were born; there was an outbreak of Thratpox in the kingdom. Mother had everyone who had it, or who had had any contact with them, brought to a huge square, then she stood on top of a house and created a healing area a mile wide! It gave me happy shudders just watching it!

“After that, I begged Mama to teach me how to do magic, and she gave me this book.” Margie tapped a large, thick tome that was as big as Thera was if she could stand up. “I can do a few other spells, like [WindWhirl] and [LightBall], but I can’t control them half as well as this one, here.”

Margie babbled on and on about Magic, pointing out phrases in the tome that she had placed open her bed, until even Thera had a pretty good idea of how it worked.

While Thera was listened, she was thinking. Is everyone in this family so ridiculously talkative and willing to give out all of their secrets to a mere toddler? I fear for the future of this family. Oh, wait…I am the future of this family… Thera wasn’t quite sure how to accept that.

It seemed that, just as following the path of martial spirit leads to a better understanding of the physical world, following the path of magic lead to a better understanding of the spiritual world.

Just as the martial artists had ten classes, each with ten ranks within them, so too, Magicians had a ranking system of a similar structure.

Their ranking system had different titles, though: Student, Novice, Apprentice, Craftsman, Journeyman, Master, Mage, Arch Mage, Mage Elder, and Magi.

Since Margie had broken through to the level where she could actually practice spells, she was now a first-rank novice. Thera surmised that Maggie must have studied furiously to get to this point. If she were not fueled by her circumstance-induced zeal for magic, she would not have advanced to the second class so quickly.

Each new rank required further study and practice. Furthermore, only from the Master’s class was one considered a true practitioner of magic. Being deeply interested in the subject, Thera listened to Margie as she explained everything that she knew.

While listening, Thera remembered something one of her esteemed masters in her previous life had said.

“Matter or the spirit: which is more important?”

She had answered “Spirit.”

But he had shaken his head.

“Nay, for a spirit without a body to follow it can do nothing. It is naught but a wandering ghost.”

“Then, matter.”

Still he shook his head. “Still, I say, no. The body can do naught without a spirit to guide it. It is nothing but a rotting corpse without the soul.”

At this, Briar was very confused.

“Then, what was the purpose of your question? You negate the very answers you provided.”

He grinned, wryly.

“Mankind was not made for one to act without the other, but for both to be used in unity. Like a kingdom, the spirit must rule over the body, and the body must support it from beneath as a solid foundation supports the roof of the house. Only then can the true potential of mankind be reached.”

Thera then thought If martial practitioners enhance and perfect the physical, and magic enhances and perfects the spiritual, then I wonder what would happen if someone used both together…Interesting.

From then on, Thera resolved to also study magic.

When Mother arrived home, Thera had already had the basics of magic poured into her head by Margie’s zealous preaching. She takes after her father, that one. Thera observed as Margie once more receded into her usual, less talkative attitude.

But, every now and then, when their eyes would meet, Margie would wink at Thera, a sly smile on her face. Thera played dumb and pretended not to see it, reminded of a certain absent individual.

Her first birthday came and went, with a small sponge cake topped with strawberries and cream for celebration. A gift arrived a week afterwards, sent from Father. It was a large, colorful, beautifully-painted picture book. It had detailed illustrations with the words for them underneath their images.

Thera didn’t really need it, since she knew the language and the alphabet was the same as that of her previous world. But, she used it to show her Mother that she was starting to learn how to read. She didn’t really have to hide the fact that she already knew the language, but she didn’t want to worry Mother any more, now that Father was away fighting whatever monsters had gathered together in the kingdom.

Soon, Thera’s legs had become developed enough that she could trundle about the house on two legs, instead of all fours. Now she could more freely go about the house. She hadn’t been outside, yet, though. She wasn’t allowed. Even so, she did her exercises, and her bone-energy condensation every day.

And then Mother discovered Margie’s magic talent when she caught her practicing her fireballs late at night. Margie was soon sent off to a magic school. Margie could have been taught at home, but Mother was worried that the magic practice would end up destroying the house. It hadn’t been built for magic practice.

Furthermore, there was still Thera to watch out for. Now that she could walk, what would happen if she trundled into the middle of magic practice? What if she got hurt? It was better for Margie to learn in a magic school. Magic schools had charms and barriers to prevent such things from happening.

Margie was reluctant to leave home, but the idea of learning more magic to be like Mother also made her excited as she headed off towards the school, accidentally leaving behind her large tome for Thera to peruse at her leisure, in her haste to leave…or maybe it was on purpose…Thera really couldn’t tell with Margie.

…Come to think of it, before she turned to leave, Margie had given Thera an awfully suspicious-looking wink. Perhaps it was on purpose after all?

But now that Margie was gone, the house seemed far too large for just Thera, her mom, and the servants. And Mother was always busy in the study, taking over the house business while Father was away. Cook and the servants were polite, but they didn’t want Thera to be under their feet in the work area.

So, Thera trained herself, to pass the time. Thera added leg exercises like squats and stairclimbing to her routine. She also used one of the large, empty storerooms as a kind of gymnasium and began jogging to build her stamina.

In the morning, she did physical exercises, and, after her nap. In the afternoon she read from Margie’s tome, learning about magic. She also began sneaking books from the study to read about other things. This continued until she was four years old.

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