Alliance - Part 1

----[Year 956 of the Ifgraine Empire]

----[Academy of High Society, Alfheim]

She stood up. And asked the teacher to speak.

-Do you have something to say, Minerva? -. The teacher asked the blue-haired girl.

To which she only said:

-You have mistakes in your magic formula. That spell can be optimised by reducing the sentence to three simple words that focus the power of the incantation.

The other twenty-four students were dumbfounded by their classmate's correction. For she has earned a reputation as an eccentric magic user who does not deserve to be in this academy.

On multiple occasions, this girl, named Minerva Valerie Ifgraine, current crown princess to the throne of the [Ifgraine Empire] and nicknamed as the [Princess Flawed Genius].

There is a multitude of social prejudice directed towards her person because of the difficulty she presents in using magic. It has been said that out of 100 of the times she has used magic, 96 times it has come out a complete disaster.

It has been discovered that this happens because of a flaw in her [Magic Flow], which makes it difficult for her to execute any spell she casts.

But even though she has this difficulty, she still has a purpose to go on.

-Princess Minerva, what are these three words, if you can pronounce them?

The professor tests the veracity of Minerva's words.

Minerva, without a second's hesitation, says:

-The words are from my sophisticated word for the use of magic! [Croce di Pietro]! -. When the princess pronounced those words, the hall was filled with smoke.

Her magic activated instantly, and consumed everything around her in black smoke. That this had happened was more recklessness than anything else.

-Damn it, he's done it again!

-Professor, you shouldn't have asked her to do it! You know what always happens when she conjures!

-Open the windows, the smoke won't come out easily!

Faced with the desperation of his students, the teacher had no choice but to use a [Wind Spell] to clear all the smoke out of the room in one go.

-Although it didn't turn out as you expected, good job simplifying a spell, Minerva. That's right, the reduction of elements makes it easier for spellcasters to do many things, and it is because of things like that that our nation has a military boom nowadays. Influential people in this world use magic in this way, so I congratulate you, Minerva. You have taken another step in your learning.

Minerva had soot all over her face and clothes, she was the main sufferer of her flawed spell.

Despite her dishevelled appearance, the professor does not look down on her like her classmates, who find themselves seeing her as a freak once again.

Minerva's methodology for using magic is one she invented to make things easier for herself, since if she were to develop a spell with a long incantation, it would be more likely to fail.

After all, Minerva Valerie Ifgraine is not only the princess. But also a [Reincarnated].

Like a certain vampire girl who is currently somewhere, she has memories of a past life. Her former name was Kuzunoha Satome.

She was probably not a good person in her previous life, but that changed after she died and reflected on the things she had done.

She had overheard a certain classmate talking about such matters when they were both in their moments alone with no one to disturb them, so she understood more or less how things worked in a fantasy world full of magic.

And therefore, she knew that she was not the only one to have been reincarnated. But no matter how hard she tried, there was no way she could ever find the person whose feelings she had never been able to get over.

It was frustrating, coupled with the fact that she was almost completely unfit for magic compared to her older siblings. But for some reason, her father had determined that a failed princess like her was suited for the position of ruler.

She tried to refuse, but her father was straightforward in what he had decided for his daughter. So it was that now, Minerva had to be in an academy for children of the nobility, who constantly looked at her in this way.

She believes that being in this position is retribution for the way she lived the last years of her life. And not being able to find that one person special to her was just the icing on the cake.

Minerva returns to her seat, and places a hand on her cheek. She is a little annoyed at how things turned out for her again, at the strangeness of one of her spells succeeding.

But despite the problems she has with magic, she still has an alternative card to excel in this world, which is nothing more than all the knowledge she had accumulated in her past life.

It may not have seemed like it, but Kuzunoha Satome was someone who could have easily made it into the Top 10 of her high school if she hadn't focused on the wrong things. She had good self-study habits that helped her through middle school, but she decided to leave them behind to make her debut as a JK.

Reapplying those techniques in her current life, she was able to learn in two months the language of this world and consequently, the myriad of new things in her new environment. This is how she has lived for the last 17 years.

-I wonder why the king decided to make her an heir?

-I've been thinking the same thing since her appointment as such. It's a foolish thing to do considering what she's like.

-I heard that the [Ministry of Magic] is thinking of removing her as heir, and that the appointment for that is scheduled for tomorrow.

-I'm sure it's too much for someone like her. Poor Prince Sieg and Princess Claudia to be related to a simpleton like her.

-Let's hope it's Prince Sieg who wins the title of heir this time. That way we'll know that the kingdom will be in very good hands and we won't have to worry about Minerva destroying the whole country through carelessness.

Comments like that are part of Minerva's daily life... and she certainly prefers to pretend she doesn't hear anything so that they don't know that what they say is affecting her psychologically.

She learned that from her former classmate, Nishimiya Saeko many years ago. And she didn't think that now she would be at the centre of all this teasing and humiliation.

----[Minerva Ifgraine's Perspective].

By then, it had been 17 years since I awoke in this world taking the name of the princess, Minerva Valerie Ifgraine. Compared to my previous life, it is a gigantic change.

I didn't expect that something like what Saeko sometimes told me when we were alone and naked on a bed would come true.

She's probably somewhere else, doing crazy things. She was like that even if she didn't look like it at all. I just wonder if she's still smiling even in this world?

Maybe she is... Saeko is much better at adapting to change.

Why do I talk about her as if it's the most normal thing? When I was constantly and indiscriminately abusing her without giving her any chance to defend herself...

OK, I like her, OK?

I've never met a girl as pretty as her before. It's a fact I can't deny at all... initially I was teasing her to get her attention, but things got out of hand and I had to pretend I was abusing her... but even that got out of control and I ended up stabbing her.

She had already found out that I like her... but she didn't ask me to be her partner just because of that. Saeko assumed that people would start stalking me if I suddenly changed the flow she'd been on for three years.

That's why she asked me to keep harassing her, and only at times when we were both alone would she open up to my feelings without questioning me.

That is one of the reasons why my feelings for her kept growing. She accepted me, and although I don't know exactly how she felt about me, what I do know is that she considered me enough to satisfy my every whim.

If I asked her to change her hairstyle, if I asked her to wear her skirt shorter, if I asked her to paint her nails the colour I wanted, if I asked her to kiss me or hug me, whatever.

She listened to me without any kind of problem.

But it was the nature of our relationship that prevented us from being a couple. I couldn't change anything, and that was frustrating.

Still, Saeko took me in without hesitation. She smiled that way. I liked her smiling. I would do anything to see her smile one more time. I think I'd have enough of my life after that.

Instead...

I have to be the princess of a country I don't care about, and if the fact that I'm the heir to the throne wasn't enough, I'm also magically useless. For Ifgraine, which is a weapons nation, to have a ruler who can't use magic properly spells impending disaster.

I have tried many things over the years to use magic, after all it is something unfamiliar that I find quite appealing.

However, to compensate for the problem with magic, I have done the odd thing or two to gain popularity. Apart from weapons makers, Ifgraine is used to always having the world's first technologies first. The vast majority of inventions are patented here, and if they are profitable, then they are suitable for production.

Thanks to the things I learned in my past life, combined with all the things I have learned in this new life, I have managed to create somewhat improved versions of inventions that exist in my original world.

I designed an efficient irrigation and fertilisation system that runs on a system of [Electric Monster Cores], all automated and self-charging using another artifact I built called [Mana Replicator].

That thing works by mimicking what we humans have for magic use in this world, nothing more than lines stretched across the body called [Magic Threads]. These "threads" work by flowing [Magical Energy] from a [Thaumaturgic Vertex] located in the chest area throughout the body.

I certainly studied this mostly out of curiosity as to why I can't use magic properly, not for anything more than that. The fact that I invented the replicator was already by inertia.

My inventions are for the benefit of society anyway... and not of my own free will, but because I am obliged to do so as a princess.

I really didn't want my things to be used in that way, but I have a couple of older brothers who kept insisting that I use them for that purpose. Otherwise, I would have kept everything to myself.

The only good thing is that I earned a very good sum of money for selling some of those ideas that have now been implemented in the military.

That's why I earned the stupid title of [Flawed Genius Princess]... I must reaffirm that the "flawed" is a bit too much.

-Okay... so with these baseline values, I can consider it more or less a success. I don't have room for testing at the moment....

I'm in my workshop right now. Completely alone, while I finish making adjustments to my newest creation, which I decided to name [Magic Axis of Reverse Conversion]. And it's basically... an artifact that will be able to "filter" my spells so that they are executed in the right way.

It will lose power in the result, though not much, but it's enough that it can do magic.

I have made so many attempts... and this was the last in my desperation. I didn't think I would go to such extremes.

And I think I understand Saeko a little better now, being in her position... everyone looks down on me, everyone criticises me at the slightest mistake and I'm always compared to my older siblings.

What's the point of me being the heir to the throne?

Well... it doesn't matter anymore. I am prepared for all the consequences of this decision.

I raise the knife in my right hand, and stab my chest without a single hesitation. It is at this moment that I must act fast, as I don't have much time.

I calculated everything so as not to pierce my heart or any major arteries, but the bleeding will still cause me a lot of trouble.

Even though it hurts like hell, I get ready to go through with the procedure. And I grab the device, small as the palm of my hand. But which I can easily insert into the place where I stabbed myself.

This way, the artifact will be charged directly with my [Thaumaturgic Vertex], and will maintain a constant function forever.

The [Magic Axis of Reverse Conversion] works by spinning a [Monster Core], more specifically from a [Void Spirit], which I acquired months ago thanks to my father, who supports all my experiments.

A monster with the [Void Attribute] has an equal affinity for all existing magics, and are among the rarest in existence. With only [Spirits] being the most powerful in this category.

I theorized that if I use his magic stone as a backup to my [Thaumaturgic Vertex], then, with the 2400rpm of the artifact I could cleanse my [Magical Energy] to the point of perfection and thereby purify it so that the result of the entire execution would be a stable spell.

Once inserted... I will have to wait a few minutes for it to charge. It could take hours if it weren't for the fact that I have the blood of royalty in my body. The magic inside me is very good, the problem is that somewhere in my body, there is an anomaly that makes it impossible for me to use magic properly.

It's already redundant to say it at this point...

It won't be long now... my consciousness slowly fading away...

This reminds me of my first death...

And while I was fainting, something terrible was happening. A change in the history of this world.

---- [Ifgraine Empire Throne Room].

The clanking of armour remains constant. All those gathered at this time are holding large weapons, pointed at two people only.

-What is the meaning of this, Claudia, I demand an answer!

The man, dressed in elegant clothes and wearing a crown on his head asks his daughter. He is the [Emperor of Ifgraine], Quentin Augustus Ifgraine. Beside him is his wife, the [Empress], Altair Valerie Ifgraine.

Both are being cornered by the princess, Claudia Vanadis Ifgraine, who is pointing a sword at them.

Vanadis, with the calmest expression she can muster, replies:

-This is just what it looks like. We have determined that you are no longer fit for the title of [Emperor], so you can call it "Revolution" of some sort.

-Where are Sieg and Minerva?!

-My brother is looking for that good-for-nothing to assassinate her. We can't accept her continuing to exist after your death, as she would be a threat to the empire.

-Sieg is on your side... dammit... Minerva won't be able to do anything against him...

-That's right. Goodbye, father.

Mercilessly, Claudia doesn't hesitate for a second to swing her sword and slice her father's head off horizontally. The split brain was exposed without further ado, and the corpse simply fell to the floor, spilling blood all over the place.

The empress was shocked by this. Words could not come out of her throat, not even her screams of horror. She is cornered.

To leave the emperors defenseless, Claudia had set up an anti-magic barrier, by doing so, there was going to be no problem assassinating her parents.

Without magic, they are nothing.

Claudia looks contemptuously at Altair. As if he were just another piece of trash.

-Sirs. Do what you will with her.

When she gave that order, the knights behind Claudia moved forward to catch up with the empress, who despite her age, was still very attractive.

-No! Claudia, Claudia... Don't let them do this to me! Claudia...!

Vanadis turned a deaf ear to her mother's pleading cries, which were only silenced when a man's penis was thrust into her mouth, and she was subsequently defiled in an unspeakable way.

Le coup d'état has just taken place.

And this is just the beginning of this short story.