The next morning, grandmother sent a message at five in the morning.

I sluggishly changed out of my pajamas and headed to the Duchess’s residence where grandmother would be.

And there, a bewildered Leonhart and I were facing a new phase in our lives.

Though he must have been flustered being suddenly called for education, Leonhart was my excellent foot soldier and friend.

It meant it was good to keep him by my side and improve our skills together.

I giggled while hiding my ulterior motives.

Leonhart nodded but didn’t seem to question it.

The Duchess, looking at the two of us standing side by side, spoke sternly.

“I don’t teach children who are below standard.”

Grandmother’s cold test had begun.

Before giving us lessons, grandmother decided to briefly check what abilities I and Leonhart had.

Unlike the test with the Academy Director, I didn’t need to downplay my abilities in front of grandmother.

For me, a reincarnator, grandmother’s test was too easy.

Common sense test, perfect score.

Judgment test, perfect score.

And… lastly, there was the most important magic power test.

“Close your eyes and feel the mana inside your body. Then I’ll check the amount of mana accumulated in your bodies.”

Leonhart and I nodded simultaneously.

First, grandmother approached Leonhart. I observed them with narrowed eyes.

“Your vessel is different from your parents.”

‘Your parents? Vessel? Is this about Leonhart’s adoptive parents?’

Actually, the story in the novel doesn’t go into detail about Leonhart’s parents.

I was curious about what that meant, but strangely, Leonhart didn’t answer.

“As I thought before, if taught well, you could become quite an excellent talent.”

I smiled proudly at grandmother’s words.

I felt my chest would burst with the fact that I had persuaded such a remarkable talent.

‘Leonhart is indeed capable!’

That’s when it happened. Grandmother looked at Leonhart with an unsatisfied expression and asked.

“But you, aren’t you staying at Axel’s mansion?”

“…Ah.”

“You could learn from that child, why are you maintaining a close relationship with Sien?”

As she said, Leonhart was staying at Axel’s mansion because of his adoptive parents.

But he was also someone who could switch to our side depending on the situation. Originally, in the world of villains, backstabbing and being backstabbed were common occurrences…

‘There can’t be two villains under one sky, I remember he later became at odds with Axel.’

From grandmother’s perspective, who seemed to be wary of Axel, teaching Leonhart might feel reluctant, but it’s okay because as she gets to know him, she’ll realize Axel is a good kid.

But how Leonhart would navigate this situation now was a different matter. If he shows even a slightly rebellious attitude…!

“Axel or whatever, I’m going to be friends with the bean sprout.”

“…Eek.”

It was an excessively rebellious attitude.

I blinked, watching their reactions like a shrimp caught between whales. Grandmother scrutinized Leonhart’s expression with an expressionless face for a while, then twisted up the corners of her mouth.

“Well, if that’s the case.”

Strangely enough, Leonhart’s answer seemed to have pleased grandmother.

As I was observing them with narrowed eyes, feeling pleased that the situation had been resolved.

“Let’s see.”

Duchess Lucella reached out her hand to lift the boy’s chin.

“Come forw-”

Right then, Leonhart roughly pushed her hand away.

I looked at him with puzzled eyes. The atmosphere became as sharp as walking on a blade’s edge.

“Don’t touch me.”

“…”

“The mask.”

Why?

It was clearly a disrespectful thing to say to a superior.

Why did he look like a kitten hissing after its territory was invaded?

He looked lonely, as if he had created an unwanted protective barrier.

I lightly tugged on Leonhart’s collar, who was standing next to me.

He bit his lip tightly and said nothing.

Grandmother glared at him but didn’t ask further and turned to look at me.

“Now honey, it’s your turn.”

‘Honey pot, honey bread, bread, honey…? I’ve been curious since before, is that referring to me?’

I clearly have a name, Sien!

But I can’t talk back to grandmother.

I answered bravely.

“Yes! I’ll close my eyes tight!”

I closed my eyes tightly and waited for grandmother.

However, several seconds, several minutes passed, and grandmother said nothing.

‘What’s going on?’

Wondering if there was a problem, I opened my eyes slightly.

“I can’t understand why.”

“…Pardon?”

“There’s no magic power.”

No magic power at all?

“I expected the magic power to be weak, but I didn’t expect it to be completely clean with nothing at all.”

I sighed in disappointment.

Actually, I had guessed it because I had been weak since childhood, but to have none at all.

‘No way, was my body that weak? Can’t even produce magic power?’

“But…”

A voice full of puzzlement reached me as I was completely dejected.

“I feel something colliding inside your body. How can this be?”

“Um…”

Thump thump, every time grandmother touched me, I did feel something rattling and colliding inside my body. Though the force was very weak.

I spoke carefully.

“I do feel like a ball is bouncing inside my body.”

“Strange.”

I flinched at grandmother’s words.

‘Could this be related to the ‘reincarnator penalty’ I have?’

But I shook my head inwardly.

The ‘reincarnator penalty’ that God had informed me about had nothing to do with magic power. It only created restrictions when I tried to actively use the knowledge of this world.

“This is the first time I’ve seen a case like this.”

Leonhart, who had been quiet beside me, added.

“Try taking off the fairy necklace, genius. It could be because of that.”

However, grandmother cut him off immediately.

“No. It’s not because of that fairy necklace.”

“Ah…”

I was about to say something but stopped.

‘So my body is strange for unknown reasons. Plus, my magic power capacity is at the lowest.’

There’s nothing to say but that it’s one problem after another. There’s only one month left until that guy who will kill me and dad comes!

At this rate, it would be a problem even if I stole the artifacts from the protagonists.

Because magic power might be needed to utilize artifacts above intermediate level.

I stared blankly at the Duchess and was about to nod in agreement with her words. But my heart felt so sad that I’m not sure if I nodded properly.

Seeing my suddenly gloomy expression, the Duchess’s expression also sank.

“Are you disappointed?”

“No…”

Oh no, it was an answer that showed disappointment to anyone who saw it.

Grandmother looked at me and pondered briefly.

“Hmm…”

“Isn’t there… another way for me to become as strong as grandmother?”

“Yes. Well, not being able to handle magic power means that, ahem, you’re a special child. Don’t be discouraged. I too, once like you…”

I too, once like you, I became curious about what sentence would follow.

I looked at grandmother waiting for the next words. However, the expected answer didn’t come, and instead, Leonhart standing next to me continued.

“A special child… Indeed…”

Ignoring Leonhart who kept looking at me with a wistful gaze, I looked at grandmother again with sparkling eyes.

However, grandmother didn’t seem to have any intention of continuing what she had said earlier.

“Yes, anyway Sien. I’ll have to teach you in a different way.”

“…You mean in a special way?”

Grandmother nodded at Leonhart’s question.

“I’ll have to think about how to polish you well after waiting a bit more. Since you’re smart, becoming an administrator would be good too.”

I shook my head inwardly.

Administrators are weak.

I might end up being killed by Axel in one stroke while just sitting and using my head.

‘I shouldn’t become an administrator, and I don’t have time to wait until I gain strength!’

I clenched my fists and looked at grandmother.

Grandmother flinched slightly and asked.

“Why are you looking at me like that, child?”

I loosened my clenched fists and tugged firmly on grandmother’s collar.

‘If I can’t become strong myself, I should surround myself with strong people.’

In this world, ‘special people’ weren’t just magicians. And I roughly knew the strong ones in this world.

“Grandmother!”

“…What is it?”

“There’s a place I want you to take me!”

I put strong force again in my hand holding grandmother’s collar.

‘If I don’t have magic power, I just need to use the knowledge I have as a reincarnator!’

My request was to go to the ‘Senoa Temple’, a subsidiary temple of the Papal State. The pretext was that I wanted to go pray to God for abilities.

At my sudden request, grandmother rubbed her dry eyes a few times and then nodded. I also heard her muttering between her teeth, “Poor thing, asking to go to the temple as a request.”

“Grandmother?”

“…There’s a gift I’ve sent for you. Have you received it?”

“A gift?”

As I tilted my head, grandmother murmured.

“Not yet, I see. It’s nothing much, but it will be useful.”

I’m not sure if what the villain grandmother considers “nothing much” would be “nothing much” to me as well. Anyway, what mattered was that grandmother immediately granted my request.

‘It felt like grandmother was pitying me, but that’s okay. What matters is that I got into the temple.’

Thanks to the grandmother chance, I was able to enter the temple right away. Although grandmother was a shunned figure in the villain duke’s family, it seemed important that she was once a force to be reckoned with.

‘I’ll become a granddaughter who surpasses grandmother. Surpassing the master!’

Whether “surpassing the master” was the right idiom to use here or not wasn’t important. I took a deep breath while looking at the Papal State’s subsidiary temple in front of me.

“Hoo, ha. Hoo, ha!”

There might be a group of fools looking at me strangely as I breathed deeply, but that wasn’t important at all. I made my eyes sparkle with the mission of shaking off the tension digging into my chest.

‘Calm down, Sien. Don’t be too nervous.’

I clenched my soft hands until they became hard and blinked my eyes as I entered the temple energetically.

I walked like a soldier, swinging my small hands vigorously.

Yes, I surely followed the maids’ strides and took each step diligently, but something was a bit strange. Although I walked briskly for quite a while, the temple door didn’t appear.

“Hiyu.”

“Shall I carry you, young miss?”

“Ung!”

As I was hoisted onto the maids’ backs like a luggage, I thought. It was good that I brought our muscular maid sisters because it could be dangerous!

Although this is a small temple in the suburbs, a temple is a temple, and it wasn’t very friendly with the villain family.

That means there could be people who dislike me.

Grandmother provided minimal safety measures for me heading to the temple alone, and Leonhart held my hand tightly for about three seconds before letting go.

The time left until Axel Mirmode returns is just about a month.

There weren’t many things I could do.

Gather helpers, interfere with Axel Mirmode’s ‘war’ to delay his return as much as possible, and in the meantime, cultivate strength to confront him!

‘Let’s go in first!’

There was no time to waste.

I kept swinging my short, chubby legs as I snuggled into the maids’ arms and entered the temple.

After entering the temple like that.

After scanning the interior once, I recalled the contents of once again.

Melodia, the Saint of God.

She colors those who don’t believe in God with love. She also comforts those who commit evil deeds with a kind heart.

She was not only excellent in holy power, but she also confronted villains including the Mirmode family based on the holy relics bestowed by God and dignified holy knights.

This temple, the Senoa Temple filled with irises, was where she first began to make a name for herself as a saint.

Although my situation was urgent, I couldn’t take all the holy relics and holy knights that Melodia had found.

I was only planning to covet just one.

‘I’m going to bring the most powerful holy knight that Melodia has.’