I am now eight years old.

Michelle bonked me on the head.

Scratch that, we are now eight years old.

It’s been about two months since our last birthday, and this time, Father and Mother made sure that it was only held behind closed doors.

A.k.a… They held it in our mansion to avoid a repeat of our kidnapping incident.

The celebration wasn’t anything grand, despite our coffers silently gathering dust in the vault. It was just a normal celebration with our parents, siblings, and the staff.

And right now, I was silently sitting in my room, trying to get a grasp on how Qhohaed made this Mana Absorbing Sphere. The book itself was like an introductory to magic, and surprisingly detailed about how magic works.

The way magic is described here is just like how Mother described magic to us, her children and students. There are even some more advanced techniques written here, and my child brain is much too smol to comprehend the various techniques and diagrams labeled here.

The only thing that I could understand from this book is what materials made up the Mana Absorbing Sphere composition.

I fell on top of my fluffy bed, bouncing myself in the process due to how fluffy it was, and snuggling into my pillow that could be counted as a body pillow due to my small size.

I looked around my room. A stool and a desk for any writing activities, some wooden toys littered on the floor here and there, a wardrobe the size of a giant double-door, and a gasoline lamp sitting pretty on the drawer table right next to my bed.

The wooden floor was covered with a carpet that was smooth to the touch, and the walls were painted brownish-black, just as I asked Mother and Father.

Of course, while I was lying on my bed, Michelle was busy playing with her magic powers. Apparently, she inherited the talent for using magic from Mother, a boon that she was all too gleeful to have, but somewhat saddened because I had none of it.

And, of course, I bonked her on the head for thinking that. I told her I didn’t need magic to be successful. I also told her that I’d leave roasting our enemies in flames to be her job, while I kick their crotches with my leg.

… What? In a fight, anything goes, and that hanging ballsack was a definite weakness of all males, and if they focus too much on defending their hanging ballsacks, I can get an easy hit on their faces, or other unguarded spots.

Though, for children like us – Michelle mostly – to act like this was natural... It was unnatural for children who were NOT exposed to the darkness humanity could give so early in their lives.

"Hey… Mikee… Miiiikkeeee… Heeeeyyy…" Michelle got up and approached me lying in bed after dousing a wooden toy with cold water. "What are you thinking about…?"

"…" So absorbed in thought I was that I wasn’t able to reply to Michelle, who was slowly reaching the end of her patience… Until…

"GAH!? COLD!! COOOLD!!!"

Cold water splashed on my face.

"Mich! What the heck!?" I barely resisted the urge to say ‘What the hell’ and quickly censored it to the child-friendly version.

"Unnattentive Mike… You were in your thoughts again!" Michelle pouted at me, which prompted me to pat her head while she purred contently. "Hehehe… Miikee~"

She leaned in to my touch. If she had a tail, I was sure it would be swaying right and left.

"You already know how absorbed I get into my thoughts." I snorted while patting her silky hair. "That’s why I rely on you to help me get out before I go in too deep."

Michelle pouted, then bonked me on the head for that statement.

"No! You should learn how to get out of your own head!" Michelle remarked – cutely, might I add – as she kept on lightly bonking my head with her hands. "It’s your head, not mine."

Ahh… The minds of children, though, she does have a point. For a child, I may come off as unnatural if I keep on secluding myself from my thoughts.

Bah, who am I kidding? We are already unnatural because we survived a kidnapping attempt.

"… Will you please stop that!?" I had a tick mark on my forehead as I got Michelle to stop lightly bonking me on the head.

"Bleh!" Michelle responded with a normal child's response.

By sticking her tongue out.

I smiled slightly. Even when she experienced a harrowing situation, she never changed.

That’s what I love about her.

"Oh, come here you!" I got off my bed and proceeded to chase her around the room, our laughter echoing through the halls as we played around.

[][][][][][][][][][][][][]

"Alright… Time to continue my self-training…"

Here I was, alone in a forest clearing a few hundred meters away from the mansion. Michelle was with Older Sister in one of her… Tea parties… Yeah, tea parties… (I call bullshit). Don’t worry, this place is always checked regularly, so I can rest easy knowing that no kidnappers nor monsters will sneak up on me while I train.

My self-training course consisted of maneuvering around the obstacle course I had Mother create with her magic.

It saved me so much time, instead of creating every piece by hand.

Anyway, the obstacle course wasn’t that intense, comprising of some monkey bars, wall climbing, crawling, and a bunch of other stamina-draining obstacles.

Every week, I come here to test if I have improved after a week of training with Father. As of now, I can complete the course in about a minute and a half, when compared to before, it took me about three minutes and more.

That just shows that I am improving, no?

Anyway, while I was doing my weekly self-training test, I heard a twig snap from a distance. Quickly stopping my run, I got myself ready in case of an assailant.

What I saw, however, made my jaw drop.

"… Catgirl…?"