I wonder if Aria will be mad to hear I princess-carried her up to the room.

She's snoring lightly on the huge bed, in her shift now. I was briefly kicked out whilst all the girls changed to some nightwear. Kiku, Kali and Rishya are snoozing next to her. Kaede is sat on the balcony seat, knee up to her face, watching outside.

"Ugh... I realise that noise is not conductive to study, but do not be distracted." Seria complains. She is writing whilst I read the notes she prepared earlier.

The noise is the least of my concerns, Seria. What about six scantily clad girls lying around in a bridal suite!?

Though funnily enough, Seria is actually wearing more than usual, in a nightgown. Her hair is down from the twin-tails for once, and its length is quite extraordinary. Kaede's nearly goes to the small of her back when loose, but Seria's could be the longest hair I've seen on a girl, going past the knees.

I am batted on the head.

"Seriously, boy..." she looks frustrated. I look up at her.

"I'm sorry, Seria." I say.

She glares, and adds an extra page to my stack.

"You should be. Your progress is all wrong. You have skipped fundamental steps, which I must rectify!"

Woah... I'm being tortured.

All because I learnt Spark Cannon via the Multivultus Scientica. Hah...

I look back to the page on the top of the wad she has scribed. It's theory about magery.

To be honest, the content is actually quite interesting so far. She explains that spirits are bound to a soul by a unison. In normal circumstances this occurs via gradual exposure to its element and learning about its properties. Thunder spirits can freely change their magnetic polarity, and through this, generate electrical charge through their interactions with one another.

Magnesis is described by Seria as 'Arresting Force' and she notes it has good compatibility with some metal spirits.

The thunder spirits are described as fickle, quickly falling in and out of love with other, and capable of shouting with extraordinary noise when excited.

It's clear that her electricity knowledge is actually rather good, though the terms are different.

"Is there a means of measuring electricity here?" I query.

Seria looks up quizzically.

"There is... but it requires help from metal spirits for some reason."

"That is generally the case in my world as well. Electricity runs through metals like copper well, so we make long strings of that and use it to power machines."

Seria rubs her chin.

"Fascinating. My predecessor was very interested in the interaction between thunder and metal. She was the one who tamed the danger of the Thundergash."

"Ah, she made the lightning rods, then?"

Seria nods.

"She came to the conclusion you just stated. Copper, of all things, was the best tamer of thunder spirits. But Iron is most affected by the 'Arresting Force'."

I also nod.

"Yeah, we called it magnetism. Its closely related to light as well."

Seria grins maliciously.

"I knew it! My own study indicates Light Spirits are close cousins of Thunder Spirits despite their entirely different personalities... magg-nehh-tee-sum, eh?"

"There is some kind of natural magnetism in our world, actually. I don't know how it works, but somehow, you can measure that to find which direction is north." I state.

I don't remember how a compass works to be honest.

"Mmm... yes... the lodestone gauge. Also invented by Velour. Traps a dead thunder spirit inside the device. For some reason, the corpse twitches a certain way without fail."

Holy Christ. A twitching corpse? That's macabre.

"I- I... see. So, Velour, was your predecessor?" I change the subject.

Seria narrows her eyes, but looks wistful.

"Yes. My... master."

"She took you in as an apprentice? What about your family?" I ask.

"Boy... you do enjoy poking your nose into dangerous holes, don't you?" She sighs.

"Not just my nose, you'll find." I jest.

She rolls her eyes and flicks my forehead.

Then she grasps her iron collar chain, almost gently, reverently. She sighs.

"I carry on wearing this as a reminder, boy. My family died so I could escape. But it is so distant now. The early mornings. Hands dyed blue. The daily crack of the whip. The bowls of sludge..." she trails off.

Oh. Oh my gosh.

"Seria... you were originally a slave?"

She gives me a wry smile.

"Plantation slave, yes. The grand wealth of Syjil was borne on the back of thousands just like me."

I hug her without hesitation. Her chain clinks against my chest.

"This... this is not acceptable behaviour for an apprentice, boy."

But this time, she doesn't move from my grasp immediately.

But she sighs and pushes me back. I notice Kaede is staring now, with a quirky grin.

"There is no need to pity me, boy. I can take solace in the fact that my successors will be forced to feel and remember the same things I did." She grins wolfishly.

It's my turn to roll my eyes.

"In any case, a rough start eventually led me to a fortune of knowledge I could not have dreamed of. A waif that would have perished to whips long before knowing a man has instead turned into an old bag of two hundred years."

"And most importantly..."

There is a pause.

"Most importantly?" I ask.

She glares. I feel scared.

"Most. Importantly. You. Have. Stopped. Studying. Get on with it!!"

"Yes ma'am!" I yelp.

The torture continues.