Actually, I knew why they treated me so badly. In their eyes, I was just a weakling that didn't deserve their effort, an useless infant who didn't have an ounce of mana. For wizards, it was common to have mana in their bodies when they were born, therefore, with a touch of "Examination" spell on the forehand, one could tell whether that baby was a wizard or not. 

Knowing that fact well, I had already block my own mana from the moment Jill checked my body. As a result, she couldn't feel anything. They thought that was because I was born from alchemist so they decided to wait a little longer for the mana to show. In fact, even though my soul wasn't damaged, my mana still needed some time to restore.

Eventually, they ran out of patience after a couple of months later. 

They fed and took care of me at first, but not anymore. The worst part was that they often avoid changing my diapers. Therefore, I had no choice but created a small illusion to make them believe that the opposite person had done that job. Then, I quickly used my magic to change my own diapers. 

 Luckily, they were too dense to realize that.

Besides, the place I was living wasn't really good. It was an old, spacious house but the light hardly got inside since all the window were covered by thick curtains. Britt and Jill are types of day-sleeping and tended to work at night. I believed it was a typical characteristic of Black wizards. Even in their sleep, they were very noisy because of the snores, especially Britt. I always had to mute their sounds if I wanted a good sleep.

And when they were awake, it was much worse. Jill shouted angrily whenever something went wrong, for example, when she discovered I still had no mana. Britt, on the other hand, was a little better because he liked acting more speaking. He practiced witchcraft most of the time, but sadly, he had no talent. Everyday, I had to suffer from the explosion from his failed experiments, deadly and annoyingly. It was lucky that the house wasn't blown off. 

In my mind, they definitely had to put on some kind of soundproof magic devices around the house or else anyone could notice them from far away. The house itself was a total mess with tons of things like bottles, dirty dishes on the sink, the stains covered all the floor or magic tools lying everywhere,... But not a single book! I tried to look for one, but there was none.

'So boring.'

I was expected to know more about this world, how its function through books as Britt and Jill didn't provide me much knowledge I wanted to know so I had to learn by myself. One more thing was that they were the only one I see until now. A few years had passed, still I didn't meet anyone new, even the guild members didn't show up at all. I only saw them communicated through the "Marking", mostly about my progress and every time Jill answered back with a bitterly voice that there was nothing new.

I was quite curious about this guild, which called A'meay. In my world, there was nearly no guild who worshiped Black Magic like this one, and if there was one, they had been perished before I was born. The reason was simple, no one liked to practice Black Magic because of its danger.

Well, except for me. I enjoyed studying it, but that was a secret. Therefore, when I saw Britt and Jill practiced Black Magic differently from what I had known, I decided to stay at this house to observe them better. But the enthusiasm didn't last so long, they were quite ... weak. 

They spent too much time to chant a common spell and the result was not so impressive. Apart from using the Magic spells in a new way, everything was a disaster. Seeing that, I hoped they were the only awful wizards but not others.

Despite being weak, they continued to torture me since they had to stay by my side 24/24. Thus, I got the chance to observe the two people who had been with me all this time. Their appearance had changed a bit. 

Jill, who was 36 years old, got a slim body but quite short. Her hair also got shorter due to a small accident from Britt's experiment. Her round, black eyes were the her most proud-features, she once said they look like black diamonds. However, Britt replied that they were more like black beans in his soup.    

Britt, who I thought was 40 at least, was actually only 35. He looked much older compare to his age, maybe due to the stress. He was a muscular man, with tan skin and a big beard on his round face. That beard was his pride, but to Jill, it made him look like a pervert. 

And one thing for sure, their personalities were still the same, mean and loud. I took a look around the house, which could be collapsed at any moment due to its old age and dirty as ever. I thought I should move out soon since my mana had been recovered.

One day, Jill, as always, scrolled me for being useless without giving a care that I was merely a 5-year-old kid. I was sitting on the cleanest part of the house while looking up to her shouting and cursing.

'This worthless rat! What else can you do beside eating and sleeping?'

I can clean myself and learn how to walk without your help.

'You can't even talk, a dumb kid can grow up better than you do.'

That's because I don't want to waste time talking to you.

'We treated you nicely for so long and this is how you repay us?'

... All right, I cannot endure this nonsense anymore.

I raised my skinny hand to the roof, released a bit of my mana into the air and casted "Explosion" spell inside my head

BANG!!!

A giant hole appeared on the roof, and thanked to that I enjoyed the sunlight for the first time. I looked at Britt and Jill with their jaws nearly dropped on the floor and announced playfully:

'This is how I repay your kindness' 

After that, everything changed in a blink of eye. Witnessing my power, they hurriedly bring me back to the guild through the teleportation portal behind the house. We were transferred to a big, gloomy room which was decorated with numerous weapons on the wall. The room was quite clean, actually, the floor was covered with red carpet and the furniture looked fancy. There was a woman sitting on the chair in the corner of the room. She wore the same clothes as Britt and Jill but in a better version. There were gold patterns on her sleeves, the cloth looked high-quality but there was no "Marking" sign on it. She even got a small crown on her wavy white hair.

'Her mana was something.'

Negative, vicious and strong.

She might be old, 70 or 80 perhaps, but she looked wise. She gave out a vibe of a leader, someone who would do everything get what they want. 

'We greet you, the Leader of A'meay.'

Britt and Jill bowed to her respectfully while holding me. To make Jill, a lousy person, talk like that, she must be the strongest in this place. Finally, I was able to meet a real Black wizard after all this time. Meanwhile, the Leader only focused on me and told me to come closer. Her voice was softer than I expected. I was dropped down from Britt's carrying and took small steps to her spot. I did my best in this child body.

I stopped when I was a few steps away from her. She remained on her seat while and looking at me without any feelings. I also observed her, an old granny but definitely not weak, her eyes were blue and her face feature weren't so bad. I guessed she used to be a beauty when she was younger. Then she asked me:

'What's your name, child?'

'It's ... Charlotte.' It had been a while , my old name.

Britt and Jill must have been surprised since they hadn't given a name to me before, instead they liked to call me 'Rat', 'Useless pig', ... 

'Who are you, Miss?'

At that moment, she smiled for the first time, a gentle and warm smile which didn't suit her gloomy room.

'I'm Melisende Ridgy, dear. Welcome to your new home.'