3 Mana

"What are we doing here, Your Highness?" Anna asked once Roland led her outside to the remote place where no one was around, well, except for Carter who couldn't leave Roland alone with the witch.

"I want to perform a few experiments to help you understand your powers more. We already know that your flames are hotter than human-made flames. Carter, this is also your chance to broaden your mind, we, regular humans without "power of the devil" can also control fire to some extent. After all, we are using it to cook food, we are using it to light the way for us. Anna isn't that much different, she has powers to control flames however what she is controlling is still part of nature and this world."

"...But Your Highness..." Carter muttered while keeping his distance from Anna but it was visible that he was already much calmer than before at the prison.

Roland shook his head while looking at Carter before turning to Anna just to discover her slightly frightened expression.

'Maybe the word "experiment" wasn't the right choice'

"Don't worry Anna, I won't do anything against your will but I would appreciate your cooperation since it will still require your full focus." Roland smiled, holding his hands behind his back, trying his best to look like "royalty".

Anna quickly calmed down and eagerly nodded her head.

"Alright, first, I want to know what you are using to summon those flames." 'Is it mana or...?'

"What I am using...?" Anna muttered with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Of course, only the god of fairytales is capable of creating life out of nothing. There is an unspoken rule in this world, to get something, you must give something in return. Take for example trading, you will never receive anything for free and even if you do, emotions like pity or kindness will be involved. To get meat, you must kill an animal. To cast your flames, you must sacrifice something residing inside your body that doesn't reside in regular people." Roland said while pointing his index finger at Anna's heart.

"Your Highness, I understand the concept but...how do I discover where it is stored or what is it?" Anna asked.

'Well, to be completely honest, I am curious if witches don't have an additional organ for that or something like that, however, I shouldn't say something like that.'

"That part will come later. For now...you need to run!" Roland said with a sly smile while extending his hand.

"Eh?" Anna tilted her head to the side, looking like a confused puppy who was given a command it doesn't recognize.

"I need you to deplete your stamina, I need you to become physically tired for the next test to take place. Come, I will run together with you!" Roland said and before Anna could respond, he took her hand and started running which completely shocked Carter.

"Y-Your Highness?!! Wait for me!" Carter immediately darted after them despite wearing heavy armor.

Anna whose legs were moving subconsciously looked at Roland who was slowly letting go of her hand. When she saw his encouraging smile, she smiled warmly back at him, running right behind him.

...

*Cough* *gasp* 'This body's stamina is shitty, if it wasn't for almost losing to a little girl, I would have stopped running much earlier. As if I would let a little girl win, Carter on the other hand looks completely fine despite wearing that armor. If it was my old body, I would be capable of doing that too. Still, it looks like I was able to perform 1 experiment of my own before performing Anna's experiment'

[For overcoming your limits in natural training you gain (+1 STA)]

'My stamina is at 5 points, and I already feel slightly better. I will also have to check out that shop feature later. Looks like I will also need to do a bit of yoga for my agility.'

"*huff* What was the point of this exercise, Your Highness? And more importantly, why would you take part in it?" Carter asked as Anna was still recovering her breath.

"You will know shortly enough." Roland replied mysteriously but in truth, he just didn't want to explain everything.

"*huff* Anna, can you please start using your powers? Try to maintain it for at least 1 minute." Roland said as he observed Anna's condition and he estimated that in case her magic would use her stamina, she wouldn't be able to maintain it for longer than 30 seconds.

"Y-Yes!" Anna immedietly responded and summoned her flames that also started burning her current clothes, when this happened, Roland looked to the side and struck his index and middle finger at Carter who was standing behind him.

"Ah! W-Why did you do that, Your Highness?! I could have lost my eyes." Carter squealed in pain before asking Roland.

"Because if you weren't looking at Anna then I would have completely missed your eyes. Don't dare peek on a little girl." Roland said while giving Carter a suspicious look.

"It's not like that, Your Highness! You never know when those flames might be directed at you, it is my duty to protect you." Carter quickly shouted in his defense.

"Hmph..." Anna who has heard their conversation was now pouting, most likely due to Roland's last comment about a little girl.

"Seriously...both of you are such kids" Roland muttered while rolling his eyes but a faint smile was present on his face.

"Your Highness, I am finished. It has been 1 minute." Anna said while covering her body with her hands and bits of clothes that remained on her. Roland immediately took new clothes from a nearby barrel he prepared and gave them to her. He kept glaring at Carter while Anna was busy changing to make sure he doesn't peek.

'Well, it looks like her stamina is irrelevant when using magic. Of course, this should have been quite obvious for someone like me but one never knows...'

"The next thing on your to-do list is to measure for how long you can maintain your flames. I will arrange a special room for that since you will most likely burn all your clothes before depleting your- um, let's just call it 'mana' for now."

"Mana..." Anna muttered, probably to see how that name feels to her, and based on her smile, Roland could tell that she liked it.

.

.

.

Anna and Roland ran a few more tests and by the end of the day, Roland had rough results. He couldn't tell how long it takes for Anna to replenish her mana since even Anna herself couldn't really tell when it is.

'Without knowing what exactly mana is or what it should look like, Anna won't be able to even tell when it is fully replenished. She only knows when the depleted state is and also that when she wakes up after a night's worth of sleep, her mana is fully replenished. There is so much to do...I can try to teach her things that I know from games and novels I used to read before every "night". However...what century would this be considered as in my old world? There are simply too many unconventional things, and I am not even talking about a normal relaxing bath. Tomorrow, I will start "inventing" the most basic things that are missing in everyone's everyday lives. I also need to do my governing duties, ugh...This is getting worse and worse. Seems like I will be getting less sleep every night. At least I will be free to sleep at night, unlike my previous life.' Roland and Anna were currently eating dinner provided by his maids but Roland's mind was completely elsewhere and it was plain to see even to Anna.

"Your Highness? Are you feeling alright?" Anna asked with a concerned look and it was only thanks to her voice that Roland finally looked at her with a confused face.

"Yes...I just have a lot to think of-" Roland said, immediately grabbing the glass of wine in front of him but when his lips touched the glass...

"?!" He immediately placed it back with widened eyes, slightly worrying Anna.

'What am I doing? What if this food or wine was poisoned? I do make for a great target and I have absolutely no idea why I suddenly occupied the body of this prince! What if he was murdered before I arrived?! How else would I be able to take possession of his body?' Roland thought and felt as if a bucket of cold water was poured on his head. He started thinking very hard about the original prince's memories and what he was doing before that ruling when he possessed this body.

Although thoughts like these were already crazy enough, Roland just witnessed real magic today so he tried to think logically even if thoughts like possessing a body with an alive soul sounded absurd. He couldn't feel any conflicts within his body when he arrived so the only logical explanation was that Roland Wimbledon, Fourth Prince was already dead when he arrived at this place!

'Looks like plot thickens even before I can settle in. Fine...' Roland recovered and put his elbows on the table, covering his lower face with his folded hands.

'Come at me if you feel like it, I will give you only one chance. But I hope you will make haste our little assassin because I am pretty good at investigating and intuition when it comes to the assassination. I already have memories of the prince before his death, it's only a matter of time and what do they say? The darkest place is under the candlestick?' Roland kept staring into empty space in front of him but Anna could swear that she saw cold light flash in his gray eyes.

'His Highness must be thinking about something important...I shouldn't interrupt him.' Anna thought while enjoying her bountiful dinner.

As of now, Roland Wimbledon's assassin still had no idea that they were already dancing on the palm of a new Roland.