V1C2 Part1

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I liked my appearance, and I was smart. I had the courage to try anything without fear of failure, and I even had the heart to show appreciation for our small number of servants. Every year on their birthdays, I would give them a handwritten card and magical potpourri.

However, an existence that shook my self-esteem appeared…

“It’s strange, it’s very strange. I’ve been told since I was a baby that I was a once in a hundred years outstanding talent of the O’Drielle family, and I’ve been working so hard, yet I’m being surpassed by Thor in just half a year…”

I muttered as I stood on a stool and precisely threw in the ingredients for the potion.

Yes. Thor, the slave I bought.

His magical talent far exceeded my expectations.

He started studying magic in earnest, and in just half a year, he became equal, no, depending on the magic, he became stronger than me, and he was making that talent bloom.

Even yesterday, when I caused an explosion because I made a mistake in the mixing of “Ribito Salve” and ended up having Thor help put out the fire, that rascal laughed at me and said,

“Young Mistress Makia is surprisingly normal.”

“Aaaaah, how cheeky, how cheeky! To think my talent is actually normal…”

Now he was completely my rival and has ignited my competitive spirit.

Thor was more or less a pupil of the O’Drielle family and a servant.

At any rate, he was smart, and if you asked him to do something, he did it skillfully. He had an air of maturity you wouldn’t expect from a twelve-year-old, probably because of his hardships. All those things made him fascinating and attractive to those around him. With a strange alluring charm that was uncharacteristic of a young boy, he was popular with the female servants.

My parents were magicians through and through, so they prized talent above all without caring about lineage or birth. They wanted to nurture what grew if you nurtured it.

In regards to magic, Father taught me and Thor together, and Thor also had a talent for the sword, not just magic, so our old knight, Godwin, was training him. Etiquette was taught by Mother, and Thor, who was a quick learner, could do everything.

My parents gave Thor a thorough education that he could boast about no matter where he went.

It was almost like my position was in jeopardy with the adoption of a son, but I was very happy that Thor, who was a slave, was able to develop his talents and get acknowledged.

But I couldn’t lose, either.

And so I shut myself inside the atelier since last night. One might find it shocking that a child was cooking things in a pot as they pleased, but it was a common sight in the O’Drielle house.

“Ah…”

While extracting the essence from the herbs through boiling them, when I looked outside the atelier window, Thor was working hard at sword practice right then. Since morning, he was being taught the basics from our old knight Godwin. He fell down over and over, but always got up.

“Fufu, do your best, do your best!”

When I saw Thor working hard, I also got motivated.

His feelings of not wanting to lose were precious. Thanks to them, I was surely getting closer to the strongest and worst witch.

I got on top of the stool again and peered into the pot with a prim face.

“Gyaaah! I boiled it too much!?”