Seven years later and we still don’t know who the cloaked man was or why I was kidnapped. I’m old enough now to defend myself against most people, so I could probably fight off another kidnapper. I can even hold my own against my family for a short time, though I tend to break any weapons that I use due to my white mana being too potent for them. They’ve ordered a weapon of the same caliber as their own, but it takes a while to forge such weapons.

And apparently, I’m not the only person with white mana, but it’s extraordinarily rare. This world seems to work on a system of affinities. Everyone has an affinity for something. Some people have an affinity for multiple things. There are six elemental affinities and three alignment affinities. The elementals are fire, water, lightning, earth, wind, and ice, and the alignments are light, darkness, and neutral. None of those are white and it’s so rare that it can’t really be studied. There’s only one other person, at least that I’ve been told about, that has it and that person is the same age as me. I haven’t met them yet and I don’t know their name or anything other than that they were adopted by the Atlantis Royal Family of Terra. I was born into the Akari Royal Family of Nippon Sekai, which creatively enough is basically “Planet Japan”. I’m still only seven, so I haven’t been taught much of history yet. My near mute, but lovely aunt here seems pretty dead set on training me. Between training and my status as a royal I haven’t had a lot of extracurricular activity time either. What bit of such extra time I have had has been spent learning how this world works.

Anyway, given that my white mana breaks things, I am primarily training how to use alignment mana. Most people only have an affinity for one alignment and one or two elements, but royals tend to have affinities for all three alignments and four or more elements. I have an affinity for everything, and coincidentally enough the other person with white mana does, too. There is such a thing as a “divine affinity”, but that is also rare. That’s a simple way to say the person can use aether. The goddess called it “aether” and that’s what it was called in my past lives where it existed so I refuse to call it “divine mana”. I will single handedly correct this world’s mistake! The goddess didn’t say anything about what to call the affinity for aether, so I’m not gonna bother correcting that to anything. My training addicted aunt here has an affinity for everything, so she’s taken it upon herself to train me in... everything.

Kye was sparring with Allison in the castle courtyard. The two moved at high speeds, almost too fast for their onlookers to follow.

“Go, Kye!” a younger white-haired girl cheered.

“You can do it!” another white-haired girl closer to Kye’s age cheered. A quiet black-haired girl next to the second white haired girl was focusing intently on the sparring match.

“No way. Aunt Allison is way too strong!” a black-haired boy said.

“Shut up, Zen, you should be cheering for our sister!”

“No, you shush, Yami!”

“No, you!”

The older white-haired girl appeared in front of the arguing siblings and lightly smacked them both. “No arguing! If Prince Zen doesn’t want to cheer on Princess Kye, that’s fine. If Princess Yami does, that’s fine. Now focus or you won’t even be able to see them!” Hearing that, Kye and Allison started moving even faster than before. The only thing the onlookers could see at that speed was an occasional flash of blue light and sparks from the clash of their blades. Both wielded basic looking longswords clearly intended for training.

“You can do better,” Allison said after the two paused for a moment.

Kye sighed mentally, but only said, “Yes. I will do better.” She vanished a moment later.

As Allison defended against the seven-year-old’s attacks, she thought to herself, it’s unreal how skilled she is. Never mind her mana abilities, her combat skill is also abnormal. Since the first day she gripped a sword and began her training, she has fought as though she has a lifetime of experience! If she were my age I’d question what she’s lived through, but it’s impossible for a seven-year-old to have such experience. She’s a prodigy.

Kye pressured her aunt more and more, until Allison began countering. The two exchanged blow after blow, but Kye’s smaller body couldn’t keep up and eventually was knocked to the ground.

The onlookers clapped and cheered, but not for Allison. Even Zen was calling out Kye’s name.

Allison bent over and held a hand to her niece to help her up. “Well done, Kye. I must admit you have improved substantially these past few sessions.”

“Thank you. I strive to better myself so that I may bring honor to our family once I enter the academy.”

“Well said. Now for further improvement...” Allison closed her eyes for a moment, analyzing Kye’s skills in her mind. “Magic. Focus on an elemental mana. You have affinities for everything, so you may choose whichever you like.”

“I understand.”

“Our sessions will be sparse for a few months, so you will have to train on your own more. The King of Alcanus has thrust upon me a responsibility I cannot decline, and as such I will have significantly less time to visit.”

“I understand.”

“What will you be doing, Aunt Allison?” Yami asked as she and the other onlookers got closer.

“I have been assigned the position of Principal at the Alcanus Royal Academy. The previous Principal retired at the end of last term, so I’m filling the vacancy.”

“Oh...” Yami was only three years old and couldn’t hide her disappointment.

“Don’t worry, Yami,” James said as he seemingly appeared out of nowhere. “If you try hard, you’ll be able to enroll and pester your aunt all you want when you’re old enough!” Allison sent him an annoyed glance while Yami giggled.

“I’ll do my best, Uncle Jamie!”

Kye smiled. Yami sure does like him.

“And you, Young Lady,” James said, looking at Kye and earning her undivided attention. “...stuff? I dunno, Allison already praised you. But I can’t deny you deserve more. How are you so strong? You’re just a seven-year-old kid. Normally, you wouldn’t even start training until you turn ten or twelve, but you started a few years ago! And your early start has sparked the rest of your group to an early start! And that mysterious white mana... that’s really something else.”

“Word salad,” Allison said with an exasperated expression.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m getting to the important part. So, Kye. Listen here. You are going to stand out everywhere you go. Your white mana is obviously going to draw attention, but that’s a given. Your mana capacity is enormous, your skill with the blade is frankly frightening, and you are already a beautiful girl. On top of that, all of those things will be more significant in eight years when you begin the academy! Wrap all of that up into one package and it’s a recipe for a really annoying school life. Yeah, that’s where I’m going with this. If being the center of attention is what you decide you want, then you’re already on track for it. But I know you better than that. You want to honor the family while you’re there, but you won’t want to be swarmed all the time, right?”

Kye nodded. “Yes, James. I would like to at least start without such attention.”

“Yeah, it’s inevitable that you’ll become famous there. Your grades will be high, and your magical and combat aptitudes will likely set records. You won’t be able to avoid it forever, but between your mother, aunt, and I, we can at least set you up to start anonymously. There will be royals from Drachenheim starting in your year, so we can probably push off the usual opening speech to one of them without much trouble. There’s also that adopted kid in Atlantis that’ll be in your year as well, but that one will probably want to start quietly as well... white mana and all...” He paused for a moment and looked around. The younger kids looked confused while the two that were Kye’s age were giving Kye sympathetic looks. Kye was unfazed. “Anyway, whether you change your mind and want to go in guns blazin’ or want to try going in quietly at first, just let us know when the time comes.”

“Thank you,” she replied with a curtsy.

After Allison and James left, the kids remained unsupervised. The older white-haired girl had taken the sword that Allison left behind and was facing Kye.

“Shall we begin, Lily?”

The older white-haired girl was Kye’s cousin. They shared a great grandparent. The first ruler of Nippon Sekai, Hatsumi Akari, had two sons. Her older son was the father of Kye’s father while her younger son was the father of Liliana’s mother.

“I am ready, Princess.”

“Ally, would you mind serving as referee?”

The black-haired girl and Liliana’s slightly younger fraternal twin sister, Aliana, nodded. The girl was very shy, but she was more open around those whom she was comfortable with. That included almost exclusively present company.

“Yes, Princess.” Aliana stepped forward until she stood between Kye and Liliana. “Your introductions if you please. You may use short introductions.”

“I am Kye Akari of Nippon Sekai.”

“I am Liliana Venturi of Nippon Sekai.”

Together, they said, “I vow to fight such that I bring honor to my people.” The two stared each down with smiles on their faces and tight grips on their blades. They nodded to each other and sheathed their blade, holding them up between them sheath and all. “Convert: Iaitō.” As they spoke the words, their weapons glowed until they appeared to be nothing but mana. After a moment, the glow faded and revealed that the basic longswords had transformed into simple katanas, more specifically iaitōs. Both girls secured their weapons at their belts and stood ready to draw their blades.

“You better show us a good fight!” said Zen.

“Go, Kye! Go, Lily!” Yami cheered.

“You can’t cheer for them both!”

“Why not?”

“Be-because! It makes no sense!”

“Well, I don’t have to make sense! I love both Kye and Lily, so I’m cheering for them both!”

The older trio shared a pained smile and quickly returned to the topic at hand. The two fighters looked to their referee and waited.

“I am Aliana Venturi of Nippon Sekai. I shall judge this match.”

“Begin!”