CH 5

I’m a three-year-old who can now use magic even indoors. 

Suddenly, I woke up to find myself surrounded by doctors. 

That’s right, I fainted. The doctor told me to rest for a while since it wasn’t life-threatening. 

By the way, the maid who was guarding me at night was pale. That’s your fault. 

The mana in my body hasn’t completely returned but it has returned to some extent. Perhaps people in this world have an organ that generates magic. 

Even so… I can’t believe that I would feel that weak when magic leaves my body… I’m not missing something important like my soul, right? I’m getting anxious. 

I’ve become able to use magic indoors, but I faint after using it once, so it’s not very useful. 

Is there not a way for me to increase the mana in my body…?

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I did it.

… It was really a coincidence. 

A few days passed since then and for the first time in a long time, I was allowed to go out in the garden where I secretly practiced my magic as usual. 

I was making a ball of light about the size of a candy and adjusting its brightness in various ways, hoping to learn magic that I can use in the dark (or more accurately, lamp magic that wouldn’t wake the dozing watch guard). Suddenly, a maid came running up to me. 

I was about to deactivate the spell in a panic, but for some reason, I immediately thought, ‘What a waste’. Maybe because I had used a lot of mana to reduce the brightness of the ball of light. 

‘Adjustments’ consume an equal amount of mana, whether it’s making it brighter, darker, or changing the size. 

Anyway, I thought it was a ‘waste’, and when I deactivated the ball of light, I imagined mana being in particle form instead of a liquid form. 

Then, a little bit of magic element that was released from my palm entered my body. 

I was able to take the mana in the air into my body. 

I believe I have a talent for magic since I was able to sense it at once and with a small amount.

However, when I absorbed the mana into my body, I couldn’t take in a large amount at first. I felt full or as if I was suffocating. Perhaps, the amount of mana in my body had reached a saturated amount. 

I think I absorbed enough to last two or three times indoors. 

It was at this point that I remembered that the mana in my body was denser. 

As I slowly blended the mana, I had absorbed with the mana that was already in my body, I gradually lost the feeling of being full. 

From that point on, it was a repetition of absorbing mana and blending it in with the mana that was already in my body.

Thanks to this, I was able to absorb quite a lot of mana. Somehow, I felt that my body was in good shape. 

The problem was that I needed to concentrate a lot when blending the mana in the air with the mana in my body. It also took a lot of time to do this. 

But it wasn’t as bad as it sounds compared to the benefits of being able to use magic indoors. 

… Just because I’ve never seen it before doesn’t mean that everyone doesn’t know this method to absorb mana. So, it might not be an advantage or anything. 

But I guess that’s okay. I’m not going to get a good education as long as I’m going to be a good puppet. I’m glad I’m not the only one left behind. 

The reason the maid came running up to me…? She told me ‘not to pick up things’. They thought I had picked up a rock or something. 

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I’ve suspected this for a while, but the maids see me as a child and not as a puppet. 

I feel complicated since I’m mentally an adult, but I’m grateful. 

… It’s a pity that the Chancellor’s faction is only obedient when the Chancellor comes, and the Regent’s faction is only obedient when the Chief of the Ministry of Ceremonies or the Regent comes. It’s tough being a court official. 

Well, I can usually answer when asked a question. 

Well, it’s normal to be able to have a simple conversation at this age. This is my own selfish impression of children, but they always ask ‘what’s this’ or ‘what’s that’ when they’re curious about something… Probably. 

It’s convenient for me that people from two different factions come to take care of me on different days. There’s probably no exchange of information between the factions since they’re hostile towards each other. 

I already have knowledge since I reincarnated. There are many things about me that would normally be unnatural.

For example, how to use the toilet. I was able to use it without a second thought from the first time I used it. At that time, I was told, “It’s quite impressive that you’ve already learnt how to use the toilet”. 

To sum up, the maid thought that the maid from the other faction, who had come the day before, had already taught me how to use the toilet. 

I was able to listen to all sorts of information without fear thanks to this. However, I couldn’t ask much political information. I mostly asked about things around me. 

For example, lighting. The one in my room is attached to the ceiling, just like in my previous life. Apparently, it is a magic tool. However, only a small number of people in this nation are able to use it. 

I was able to learn a bit about this empire as well. There was once an empire called the Lothar Empire, and it was destroyed. The area was in chaos as many nations were divided. 

So to speak, it was ‘a time of great disturbances’. 

In the midst of all that, the Emperor Cardinal, who was a distant relative of the ruined Lothar Empire’s royal family, founded this empire, the Bungdalto Empire. I’m the eighth emperor of this empire. 

Next, let’s talk about the building I live in. This is a one-story building… which means there is no second floor. It is bigger than a mansion; it is a giga-mansion. Apparently, this building is just one of the buildings in the Imperial Palace. I was told that this was a temporary residence until I reach a certain age. 

I am told that the Imperial Palace is a collection of several palaces. 

Each time an emperor is enthroned, a new palace is built or renovated. It is so massive that people need to move around in horses or carriages. 

… As expected of a nation called ‘Empire’. 

This building is part of the palace built by the sixth emperor and was originally the residence of the crown prince of that time. Oh, the crown prince is the late emperor… that is, my grandfather. 

I don’t know what he looks like, but I don’t think it’s a bad idea to live in a place where my grandfather spent his childhood. 

In my previous life, by the time I became aware of things around me, I didn’t have a grandfather…. Well, I guess it’s true in this life too. 

Incidentally, I heard that the unused palaces are used as temporary residences for high-ranking aristocrats such as the Chancellor and the Chief of the Ministry of Ceremonies when they stay in the capital. 

Also, even though I didn’t hear this directly, it seems that palaces with one-story buildings like this one are called ‘Prince’s Palace’. These palaces don’t have second floors because it is impolite to have someone on the second floor (above the emperor) while the prince (in my case, the emperor) lives on the first floor. Well, I can understand their way of thinking. There were people who thought the same in my previous life. 

Then, why does the prince’s room have to be on the first floor? 

This probably has something to do with restrictions on the water supply and the fact that he is a child. 

This building has a toilet and a bath. Both have running water and a good drainage system. However, the water pressure is quite weak. There are no showers, and although the toilets are flushable, they have a constant stream of water running down the hole. 

Perhaps pumps haven’t been invented in this world yet, and it would be inefficient to have water facilities on the second floor or higher. 

And the prince who uses the facilities is a child. So, if the prince’s room is on the second floor, then he would have to go down the stairs every time he wanted to use these facilities. They must have thought that would be dangerous. 

Actually, I’ve been walking around as I please ever since I’ve been able to move. The maids don’t try to stop me. Though, they do stop me from entering the kitchen and other dangerous places. 

After all this speculation, all I could think was, ‘I wish I knew how a pump worked’. Some people may think it’s easy, but it’s easy to forget or not know things that you don’t use in your daily life. 

I was a Liberal Arts major. Now I realise how fortunate I was in my previous life to be able to easily look things up on the internet. 

Leaving that aside… 

Ah yes, I also heard another interesting story. 

Normally, emperors go through the ‘enthronement ceremony’ after they have been crowned as the crown prince to become the emperor. However, I didn’t go through these two stages since I was born as an emperor. It seems the biggest dispute between the Chancellor faction and the Regent faction is ‘when’ to hold the enthronement ceremony and ‘who’ will place the imperial crown on the emperor’s head. 

The person who puts the crown on the emperor’s head will probably have the second highest authority after the emperor. 

Well in any case, if I’m going to run away, it should be before the coronation.