Ch 11: Alone Practice Time - Part 2

'Hmm, so that's how you get your energy to work. It sure is interesting. I think I finally have enough control to cast my first spell.'

Layla looked at her stats, which finally showed a stable number of 10%. It had taken a whole week of silent practice to get here, but Layla finally achieved her goal.

She had forced herself to not perform a single spell until now, mainly because she did not want to mess anything up.

Her patience finally paid off, and Layla had enough control over her mana to form her first spell.

She had chosen a simple spell that would help her make some light.

'Fell the flow of mana! Let it flow through your circuit, and slowly let it reach your hand. Yes, I can feel the power running through my veins. -'

Layla's eyes snapped open as she felt the heat against her palm. 

She opened her eyes, only to see a ball of light shining in it.

[Congrulations. You have achieved your first spell. 

Mana core progress (Beginner level): 15%]

Casting her first spell gave Layla a significant boost in confidence and improved her progress.

On the other hand, this simple action left Layla winded, and she threw her body on the bed to fight off the sleep.

'Just one more! I need to cast just one more spell before I feel relieved-'

Unfortunately, Layla's body was exhausted, and she closed her eyes. She was asleep within seconds, and only Mary's morning greeting woke her up in time.

"Rise and shine, Miss Layla! Today marks a special day for you. You managed to survive your first week in this house. That means you will get your first outing.

Duke Lockhart provides a small allowance for all students he undertakes. And he also allows them to go out and spend whatever they want to buy once a month. Let's hurry, or all the good stuff would be removed."

Mary's enthusiasm was…something. 

The older maid had never made any comments about Layla's aloof nature. Nor had she forced the younger to make friends.

If anything, Mary seemed to encourage the secluded lifestyle that Layla was living.

"Mark, I know it is off, but don't you want to ask me why I prefer spending time alone rather than making friends? Don't you feel curious about me?"

Layla asked the older maid, but Mary only smoked her mischievous smile back at her.

"Hmm, should I ask you that? And even if I did, would you answer me? Ah, but what should I do? What if I ask you about this and don't like the answer? Won't it just be better not to ask?"

This was Mary's way of indirectly telling Layla not to ask questions she did not want to be answered.

It was enough for the younger to take the clue and no longer ask anything to the other female.

Layla stopped paying attention to Mary and immediately turned to the others around her.

Most of the kids from this facility had gathered for the outing, and Layla could feel eyes piercing her from all directions.

"Is that her?"

"Yeah! So, she did come!"

"Does she think she is better than us? She did not show her face even once while she was here. Henry even went to call her once or twice, but her maid always sent Henry back."

"She is playing a dangerous game. One of these days, Henry is going to snap and end up killing her. I would like to see that happen sooner rather than later."

Layla could hear what the other kids around her were saying, but it did not seem like they cared. They continued to chatter among themselves and ignored her.

They all finally went entirely when Henry came forward and walked toward the center of the small group. Henry's butler followed more calmly, but the glare began when his eyes fell on Mary.

"I am the one responsible for looking after you all today. You all better behave if you don't want your rights for the next trip taken away. Now, let's head out."

The older teen looked over them all, and Layla looked back at him when the older teen continued to look at her for a little too long.

It did not take a minute for that gaze to look past Layla; they were all off to the outside world.

"Young Miss, this is your first outing. Are you feeling excited? Do you want to do anything when you go out first, specifically? Any store you want to visit?"

Mary asked in an excited voice.

She spoke loud enough to interest other kids in where Layla wanted to go.

It was almost as if she was asking for others to attack Layla so that she could see Layla's capabilities.

'What a frightening Maid I have. What use is having enemies if I have people like her around me?'

Unfortunately, Mary was Layla's current guardian, and her enthusiastic smile said that she wouldn't back down until she got an answer from Layla.

"I don't have a specific destination yet. I was thinking of going to the bookstore, but I doubt it will have as big of a variety of books as the Duke's mansion."

Layla mentioned, and many kids had a look that said they expected this from Layla.

She had a reputation for staying in the library for as long as possible. Even all the harassment she received regularly could not keep her away from the library.

"If you want to go to the public library or bookstore, we can go there. Who knows, you might find 'other' books unavailable in the Duke's library. I know since I always get my secret stash from there."

Had Mary said these words to anyone else, the tone of her voice and the way she spoke would have been enough to make people question just what she was talking about. 

But since that was not the case for Layla.

The 'so-called' secret stash Mary often referred to the romantic novels she liked to read.

Layla did not know if this was a front or if the female liked to read such stuff, but Mary somehow found more and more of those kinds of novels.

"I see. If you say so, I will look at the bookstores."

Layla agreed without much thought.

If Mary wanted to get Layla into trouble, she did not need to go to such great lengths. Since she was still doing this, it was clear it was for her amusement and nothing else.

Soon, they reached their destination, and Layla was one of the last kids to get off the carriage. 

Most of the other kids and their guardians had already disappeared.

[System, show me the directions to the nearest bookstore]

This was another feature Layla had discovered about her system, which was the most useful so far.

This allowed her never to lose her way and to find things she had lost, but this feature was not omnipotent.

For Layla to find something, she needed to know a great deal about it. The information must also be hyper-specific, or the system would treat it as a 'non-existing.' 

For example, it was easy for Layla to find her magic books if she lost them. However, finding an apple was much more difficult for the system since it was not specific, and Layla had no idea what apple she wanted.

But at least the Library was specific enough for her system to recognize and show her the way.