Chapter 41: Sensing Mana

Arielle and I just stare at each other for several seconds.

The maid remains quiet and starts to pick up the small pieces of wood from the floor with shaking hands.

I relax myself and start to interrogate Arielle.

"Okay. I’ll ask you questions and you must answer them honestly. I’ll give you a candy if you answer them all. Do you ag-" ℯℯ𝑙.

"I love sweets! Go on. Ask me, please," she says with a pleading look.

I hate it.

"Okay. You said that you made your father disappear. What happened before that?"

Arielle nods and looks at the ceiling.

"Yesterday, Father was shouting at someone," she says slowly.

"And?"

"I don’t like him shouting. And I didn’t know that I already used my magic. That’s all," she says and seems not serious at all.

I feel an ache forming in my head.

Alexa notices my agony and she continues talking. "Our Lord suddenly disappeared from his chair, and he appeared on the ceiling and fell down to the floorboards."

"That’s funny," Arielle says with a playful smile.

This kid is getting on my nerves.

"It’s not funny, Arielle. You could have hurt your father, you know," I say with a hint of anger in my voice.

Arielle just looks down and does not say anything.

I sigh and slowly speak. "Have you done anything like that again?"

"Yesterday, I..." Arielle whispers but does not continue.

I look at Alexa, and she already gets what I am thinking.

"She teleported the newly hired estate chef to the attic once," Alexa continues talking while still picking up the pieces of wood.

"Really? Why did you do that, Arielle?"

Arielle looks at me with teary eyes.

"Because he wouldn’t give me a piece of cake!" she cries out. Tears are falling on her pale cheeks.

I immediately pull out the pink candy from my pocket, which Victoria also gave me this morning.

"That seems fair. Here, take this. And please don’t cry, your face looks like a wild orc," I tease and wipe her tears using my small hands.

Though I would agree with why Arielle did it. I also love cake, especially the chocolate flavor.

Alexa just giggles in the corner, but I don’t care.

After a few minutes, Arielle stops crying and is happily licking the candy.

I slowly lean back.

I finally understand why nobody explained Arielle’s magic problem clearly.

The Voulstridge family probably doesn’t know what to do with her.

"Then Arielle’s mana control isn’t the real problem, huh?" I whisper while looking at Arielle.

"Anything else?" I ask Alexa, who just finished collecting the wood.

The maid looks toward Arielle, who is playing with ice she just materialized from the carpet.

Alexa lowers her voice. "Sometimes, strange things happen around her."

"Like what?" My eyes narrow.

She doesn’t answer immediately, and Arielle looks up.

"Don’t tell him yet. That’s what Father told you to do," Arielle says and smiles at her.

The maid freezes and just looks down at her black shoes.

I look between them. That instruction is clearly from Duke Voulstridge, and those words make me curious.

I lean forward. "Why, Arielle?"

"Because Father said not to tell strangers," she says, pointing her finger at me.

I don’t argue and just let her play with ice. She isn’t wrong. I may be her magic advisor, but I’m still new.

The maid remains silent, confirming that Duke Voulstridge had given strict instructions.

"Fine. I won’t ask anymore, and I’ll be patient."

That is a lie. I’m extremely curious, but forcing this kid to reveal a secret would be a bad idea.

Especially when an ice mage having a teleportation skill is unbelievably rare.

"Okay then. Can we go back now to our lesson?" Arielle asks and stops playing.

"Back to the lesson. Now, tell me what you feel when you use magic."

Arielle becomes quiet and seems to be reminiscing about what really happened.

"It’s warm and cold. Inside my chest."

"And then?"

"It’s my hands. Sometimes it’s my head."

"What do you mean?" I frown. Finding something valuable in her words seems difficult.

Arielle thinks about it and continues talking.

"It feels like..." She pauses and looks straight into my eyes. "Like something is moving."

I lean closer. "Where? Inside your head?"

"No... Above me."

Arielle slowly points upward, but I cannot see anything. I turn my gaze to Alexa, but she does not say anything. She just lowers her head, her face turning pale.

Arielle looks confused. "Did I say something wrong?"

I shake my head.

"No." I lie again. Something is wrong with her. Very wrong.

I stand up and reach for the small mana lamp on the nearby table.

"Can you feel the mana inside this?" I ask, pointing at the glowing lamp.

"Yes!" Arielle excitedly nods.

"How about mine?" I point at myself.

Arielle points at my chest. "You’re hiding it. But I can faintly feel it."

I’m impressed. I am purposely controlling my mana and compressing it so as not to gain any attention from anyone.

I spent years learning to hide my presence. Even experienced mages would struggle to notice my mana unless I open my mana core.

Yet this ice girl senses it immediately.

"How much can you feel it, Arielle?" I ask gently and come back to sit in front of her.

Arielle tilts her head. "Do you want me to tell you?"

"Yes." My eyes narrow. My voice becomes serious.

The ice girl points at me.

"You have a very faint mana in your chest and hands, too." Arielle’s expression changes. She looks confused.

"And..." I ask and wait.

She slowly points her small finger toward my magic pouch.

"Something strange is in there." She points at the bag on my waist.

I immediately cover the pouch and stand up. I can feel my heart pounding fast.

She looks up at me and blinks. "Did I say something wrong again?"

I force a smile and reply. "No."

The three Space Crystals inside my pouch are completely hidden. The pouch itself has a small mana concealment enchantment of a high-level mage.

She shouldn’t have sensed it, but she actually did.

I look again at Arielle.

Could this kid sense spatial energy? Is that the reason why her mana pathways are constantly changing?

Fuck. This job is so hard.

I inhale and slowly exhale.

"Get up, Arielle. Let’s try something simple."