Sleep is for the Weak

(Don’t be so nervous, Will. You’ve got this.) Thumper, the Four-Eared Rabbit, said to his master as the home of their new employer came into view. The rabbit peeking out from a backpack on the young man’s back.

“I would be a lot less nervous if the Professor hadn’t said something so ominous.” William Baker replied to his Bond.

William had graduated from Heartthorn Academy at the age of eighteen before spending five years after his graduation working as an apprentice at the Mage’s Guild in the Dukedom of Dalhurst. And at the end of his apprenticeship, he received his first job, being the tutor for the daughter of a wealthy merchant.

So far, so ordinary.

The problem was that as he was getting ready to ride out of the city, his adviser pulled him aside to give him a final word of advice.

‘Make sure you read whatever contract they put in front of you well and don’t sign if there is anything remotely suspicious. Your life may very well depend on it.’

It had made Will realize he was dealing with THAT kind of a merchant. The kind who tricks people into signing contracts that they don’t understand in order to legally rob them of everything that they own, sending them crashing into debt. The reason why parents always advise their children to eat out of the trash and live on the streets before they ever even consider getting a loan.

It was enough to make him want to turn and run, but he was barely out of debt himself after his studies. If he let this job pass, he might end up in serious trouble anyways. He’d probably die of embarrassment if he had to return to working at the Duke’s castle as a servant, even if Richard said he’d always be welcomed back. His mother certainly wouldn’t ever let him live it down.

Will wasn’t a brave man. He didn’t even look like one. He looked more like your common scribe, with his matted brown hair, poor posture and his wireframe glasses. The cuffs on his shirt were stained black with ink from all his time spent with the feather quill. His rabbit Bond had more courage than he did.

He was lucky he had Thumper with him, or else he might have just ran.

As he approached the gate, he was greeted by a few guards, who confirmed his identity before letting him in. Just another thing to make him more uneasy.

(It’s too late to turn back now. So just suck it up.) Thumper said as the rabbit looked around them at their new surroundings. (Not exactly a pretty place. You’d think such a wealthy merchant could afford to hire a gardener.)

“Something makes me think they don’t normally get visitors.” Will mumbled as they came up to the house.

Standing in front was an intimidating looking man with a hawk on his shoulder, dressed in the showy style of a successful merchant.

“Mr. Baker, I presume.” The man said as Will dismounted a little ungracefully, as he wasn’t too familiar with a horse.

“Yes sir. I am William Baker, from the Mage’s Guild. It is a pleasure to meet you.” Will said, doing his best to make a good first impression with the older gentleman. 

“Jonathan Wright, and likewise.” The merchant replied before turning to his maid behind him. “Fetch Scarlet so that she can meet her new teacher.”

“Yes, Master Wright.” The woman said with a bow of her head before she retreated into the house.

Will and Jonathan exchanged pleasantries, talking about the weather and the condition of the roads, until the maid returned, alongside one of the most beautiful women that Will had ever seen.

She was tall, with long red hair and an amazing bright green dress that matched her eyes. The dress was stitched in order so that the arms were covered in leaf-like designs, which almost seemed to move like the leaves of real branches in the wind as the lady herself moved.

When she smiled at him, Will’s heart began to flutter. 

“Welcome to our home, Mr. Baker.” She said, her voice as vibrant as the rest of her.

“Ah, yes. It is a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Scarlet.” Will said, believing this young woman to be his student.

She was a little old, but it wasn’t uncommon for people to not be prepared for actual spellwork until they were in their late teens.

The woman blinked at him before chuckling. “Sorry. But I am Maria. This is Scarlet.” The woman said, pulling on her dress in such a way as to reveal a small child, perhaps a younger sister, who was clutching to her leg.

The child looked like a miniature version of the older woman, save for extremely dark shadows underneath her sunken eyes, as if she hadn’t slept in weeks.

“H...Hello Professor Baker. It is nice to meet you.” The child said from behind Maria.

‘A child?’ Was Will’s first dumbstruck thought, though it really shouldn’t have surprised him. This job was probably a bust.

It wasn’t that uncommon of a story, wealthy merchants attempting to force their children to become magically gifted by throwing money at it and hiring the most expensive teachers money can buy. 

The reason was simple, because if someone was able to gain enough magical abilities in order to receive a magic-based Class when they turned 10, they would be set for life.

The desire for powerful mages far outweighed the supply, as only those who had magic-based Classes would be likely to obtain high level magic skills and in the entire country, there were only around 300 people who had true Magic Classes, most of whom were born to parents who had a magic-based Class.

Even Will, who had managed to get his [Mana Sense] skill up with the help of Thumper’s perception based abilities, and received the pseudo-magic Class ‘Psychic’ at the 1st Tier, had a large advantage over most of his peers. 

Because of this, any commoner who managed to obtain even a Tier 1 Magic Class would end up becoming a noble, either by being titled by the King or Dukes if they are a man, or by marrying into a noble family, if they are a woman.

Magically talented women could marry into almost any noble family they wanted, since they would then pass their talent on to their children through Hereditary Bonuses.

Problem was, teacher magic wasn’t simple. Without [Mana Sense] it was impossible to start learning and it could take years to develop it to a level where it could be used to learn actual magic and there was very little instruction that can be given to help with that.

Trying to teach young children with short attention spans would be a waste of time and energy. Her best hope would be to somehow get lucky enough to land a Bond that assists with the mystic arts, the same way Will did. But she didn’t look any older than three, so that was still two whole years away.

He didn’t want to take the job and then just be sitting on his hands until the child was old enough to start learning. Parents tend to get angry at tutors who can’t produce results.

So Will looked up at Jonathan with his best apologetic face to try to break the news. “Sir, I understand that you would like to start training your daughter early, but historically speaking, attempts to train children to sense mana at this age always end in failure. Perhaps you would prefer to wait a few years.”

“That won’t be a problem.” Jonathan replied before turning his gaze to the girl. “Show him.”

“Y...Yes father.” The child squeaked before letting go of her elder sister’s dress and holding out her hands. 

Will was shocked as a small ball of mana started to form in front of the girl. Then his shock grew to panic as the orb itself grew to become the size of the child’s head. “Stop!”

The girl stumbled in surprise and grabbed back onto the woman’s leg as the mana faded into the air.

Seeing the girl’s worried face, Will realized he had frightened her.

“Sorry. I don’t mean to startle you. But using that much mana is dangerous for a child.” Will said, trying to adopt a calm tone of voice, even as his mind was racing.

Creating and holding mana in a spherical shape like that would require a [Mana Control] skill of at least level 20. How in the world could a child manage that? And an orb of pure mana that size must have taken at least 100 units of mana to create. Was such a thing even possible?

Will grunted as he felt a hard kick hit him through his backpack. (Idiot! Stop looking at her with your eyes and look at her properly!)

Will blinked before looking at the girl again with his [Mana Sense] and then his eyes widened in shock. 

The child must have had at least 400 units of mana inside of her body, and was drawing in more from the air around her. Her every article of clothing seemed to have an enchantment on it to absorb mana from its surroundings, similar to a mage’s wand. They weren’t the highest grade of enchantments that Will had ever seen, but to see so many of them on a child was startling.

Looking closer, the elder sister also seemed to have a red sash around her waist, which was also hiding an enchantment of the same variety.

‘400 units… No, she just used up 100 units, so her max capacity should be even higher than that!’ Will’s mind spun as he realized just how out of the ordinary this child was. 

Will himself only had a max mana capacity of 523, which was pretty decent for a man of his age and experience. Was it possible for this little girl to really have more mana than him?

“If there are no more problems, Judith will show you to your room and you can rest. We will discuss your contract after dinner and you can start tomorrow.” Jonathan said.

“Tomorrow? Not tonight?” Scarlet said, before shrinking under her father’s gaze. 

“Scarlet, don’t be selfish. Mr. Baker had to ride a long way to get here, and I’m sure he must be tired.” Maria said, causing the girl to slump a little.

“Can’t I at least have a book to read? Something to tie me over until tomorrow?” Scarlet asked, looking up at Will with pleading eyes made a little more unnerving by the kicked puppy quality that the shadows underneath gave them. 

“I… suppose I can give you the beginners guide now.” Will said casually, still in a bit of a daze from his shock of the girl’s abnormally high mana. “How old are you exactly?” Will asked as he dropped his backpack on the ground, allowing Thumper to hop out as he rummaged about for the book.

“I’ll be turning 3 in 2 months.” Scarlet replied.

“Is… that so.” Will said as he handed over the book. She certainly didn’t talk like any three year old he’d ever seen. “Some of the words in this book might be a bit large, but I am sure your older sister will be willing to read it to you.”

Scarlet didn’t even hear his words. The moment the book entered her fingers she flooded its every page with mana as he used [Magic Appraisal] to pull the entire book into her mind in order to read it without having to open the pages.

Will was stunned as he saw this display of yet another skill, this time at an even higher level of mastery, though less immediately obvious to the eyes of the other observers. 

But he was even more shocked when Maria giggled and said. “Sorry, but I’m Scarlet’s mother, not her sister. And Scarlet is planning on reading the book herself.”

...Mother!?

But… how… then… She was married to that guy!?

Will couldn’t stop himself from looking back and forth between Jonathan and Maria.

The merchant had to be at least 30 years older than her! He was old enough to be her father, maybe even grandfather!

The world was just so unfair.

---

It was the middle of the night and William had long since gone to bed. He was very tired from the day’s ride, the stress of the possibly dangerous worker’s contract, and the mindfucking he had received at the hands of an irresponsibly talented young girl.

He’d been surprised when he ate dinner with Jonathan and his son Jamie, with the girls not present for the meal, but it seemed that was just the way that they did things in this house, with the boys and girls eating separately.

Or perhaps it was because of Scarlet’s age. He knew that there were practices among the nobility to not reveal their children in public until the child turned 5. They wouldn’t even reveal the child’s existence before then.

This was so that if the child’s Bond was anything that was embarrassing to the family, the child could ‘disappear’ without anyone noticing.

Perhaps they were practicing something similar in this household, with the wealthy merchant trying to imitate the nobility.

The contract after dinner had been less terrifying than he had feared, with none of the entrapment that normally existed between the lines. He would teach the girl two days a week and stay in the house as a guest during those days. If he left without reason during that time, he wouldn’t be paid for that week. That was the extent of the agreement.

But even if it had turned out to be nothing, the worry leading up to the meeting had left him wiped out, so he slept deeply.

His sleep was so deep, that he didn’t hear when the lock of the door let out a small sound of metal being scraped before the bolt was shifted out of the doorframe. There was a moment of silence before the door opened as quietly as possible and a shadow moved into the room.

Scarlet had read through the book a half dozen times in the eight hours since William had given it to her, and had memorized all 200 different basic spell words that the guide had offered, as well as all the material on the theory. There hadn’t been a single spell in the entire beginners guide. Just a few exercises for trying to learn to control one’s mana.

After having to wait 4 whole months for the teacher to arrive, she could wait no longer. So she snuck over to William’s room, picked the lock on the door and went straight for his bookbag, hoping to snag a few spells she could practice that night.

She had checked to make sure that William was really asleep before moving into the room. However, she had forgotten about the rabbit.

Thumper’s four ears had heard the click of the lock and he had instantly become alert to the intruder. He had been about to sound the alarm when he saw that it was the tiny girl from before.

He was more amused than anything else as he watched her pulling out one of the books from his master’s bag and starting to scan through it with her [Magic Appraisal]. It would seem the child was too excited to wait for the next day and had come to read through the materials early.

Despite the room being almost pitch black, the rabbit had no problem seeing her by the light of her mana as she worked to read the books. So he just lunged there and watched her as she worked.

A little while passed as she went from book to book, seeming to just be scanning their contents for something in particular before she stopped on a book on basic transmutation spells and rituals. That book she opened, going to one page in particular and scanning in much more closely for several minutes before she seemed satisfied, putting everything back where she found it and quietly moving back towards the door.

Curious, Thumper got up and followed her, surprising the girl when she made to close the door behind her, only for the rabbit to slip out into the hallway with her.

The pair started at each other for a few moments before Thumper decided to break the silence. (If you don’t want me to tell on you, you are going to have to let me watch.) The rabbit said using his [Telepathy] skill.

The girl let out a squeak of surprise, before covering her mouth, not expecting to hear the rabbit’s voice in her mind.

Usually, Bond’s could only speak that way with their Masters, but Thumper had a skill to let him talk with anyone he so chose. If he wanted to.

After the moment of surprise, the girl nodded but held a finger up to her lips. Then she waved at the rabbit to follow her and the two made their way through the hall into a large living room full of tailoring equipment.

“You have telepathy?” Scarlet asked with a whisper.

(I would think that would be obvious by now.) Thumper said in a slightly smug tone of thought. (Would you mind telling me what you think you are doing?)

“...I want to try to practice a spell.” Scarlet admitted.

(I see.) Thumper said, watching her as she went over to a basket and retrieved some scissors and a piece of cloth. (Shouldn’t you be sleeping?)

“I’ll do it later. I want to do this now.” Despite her mastery of language, she still behaved like an impatient little child.

(Alright. But I’m going to watch you and make sure you don’t get hurt.) The rabbit said as he laid down to observe in comfort.

“Alright, but try to be quiet so I can concentrate.” Scarlet said as she made a cut in the cloth. Then, holding the piece of cut cloth in front of her, Scarlet started to attempt an invocation. 

The invocation dragged on for an entire minute of quiet chanting, with Scarlet focusing her mana the entire time. Then, as she finished the invocation for the spell… nothing happened.

Thumper was impressed. She had managed to remember the entire minute long invocation for a spell she had only just seen a little while ago. She had a good memory. But she wasn’t used to the words and it caused her to slow at times, causing the spell to fail.

Scarlet looked at the cloth with a frown, but wasn’t to be dissuaded as she started again from the top. And after that attempt failed, she tried again. Each time getting more used to the words and starting to feel the flow for how they were supposed to be spoken.

Then, after a dozen attempts, the cloth started to glow and the cut she made shanked a little bit.

It wasn’t a total success, as the ‘Mend’ spell was supposed to completely reverse the cut, but considering it was her first spell and that she had only been working at it for about fifteen minutes… Not bad.

After fifteen more goes, the cut was completely mended. After which, she cut the cloth again and mended it again.

Thumper watched the girl repeat the process five more times before interrupting her, until she could mend the entire thing is a single spell. (Is there a reason you picked this particular spell?)

“Ah… yes.” Scarlet said with a nod as she was putting multiple cuts into the cloth this time. “My mother is a Tier 4 Spirit Weaver. So I learn things faster if they involve cloth somehow.”

(I see.) Thumper said with a nod as the girl got back to work.

The mend spell cost about 50 mana with each use, and took a minute to cast and there would be a minute long pause between casts. With the rate at which the girl was regenerating her own mana supply, she would replace all of the mana she used before making her next attempt.

How long was she planning on just casting that same spell over and over again? It had already been almost three hours.

Thumper wondered this when he noticed the girl starting to tap her foot in time with her chanting. She did this for two more casts, before doing something that surprised the rabbit.

She increased the tempo of her tapping foot just a touch.

She had measured out the timing of the words and was now using the tapping of her foot to judge how to accelerate the entire thing, speeding up the cast by 10%.

The end result wasn’t perfect, and the cut didn’t mend by much, but that was fixed after twenty-six more tries. After which, she started to move a little bit faster still.

The girl was teaching herself the [High Speed Invocation] skill just a few hours after having learned her first spell.

Thumper didn’t know what to say as he watched the girl practice throughout the entire night, until the rabbit himself gave in to sleep. And even then, the girl was still practicing. It wasn't until the sounds of morning approaching reach them that the girl disappeared back to her room, leaving the sleeping rabbit behind.