Today I will have my first lesson in magic.

You'd think it would wait until my wardrobe had changed, but for now I'm wearing some of Eric's old clothes. All my pink dresses have just been removed from my closet, and I cannot meet up at the lesson wearing a night gown, so father left a single set of Eric's clothing for me.

Had I been the usual Lily this would have been an excessively harsh punishment, but...

To be back in pants is a relief. I've never been one to go for a standard kimono after all, as it tends to get in the way on the battlefield. Besides, as a combat priestess it was either robes or hakama. I'll go with hakama any day.

I've put my hair up in a maiden's fox tail, and I must say so I look handsome in my brother's clothes, if I was to be confused with a boy.

I have no female body shape at all either, so at this point I look like a girlish boy with long hair at worst. It actually suits me. I end up smirking awkwardly for a moment at the thought of charming one of the young noble girls while dressed like this. I wonder how many I could charm? Playing with other's romantic feelings is not good though.

I clear my throat and nod satisfied at the mirror before heading off for my first lesson. Lumere makes itself invisible as well. As it is, faeries don't really show up in front of people, and I'd hope to blend in even if just a little.

...To my surprise, father stands in front of the door as I open it with this stern expression.

I manage a smile in return and give a bow elegant enough to rival my brother's.

"Is there something I can do for you, Father?"

I straighten up and look directly to his eyes just to grasp a hint of his reaction at my lack unwillingness to wear Eric's clothes, if that is what he came for.

"I will talk briefly with your tutor. Follow along."

He is a very honorable man, but I had expected he would at least tell me to still act like a lady despite the clothes.

I am conflicted whether to be happy or disappointed he did not react to it, but if this meant I could pretend to be a boy for a while... well it would be a pleasant change.

---*---

After getting to the study room, father explained my clothing situation to the newly hired teacher and had me introduce Lumere that made himself visible. You should have seen her face as she saw Lumere. She struggled so hard not to show disappointment. Apparently, since Lumere was in the shape of a fish she believed he was a fairy of the lowest grade.

Ah, fairies come in three general grades of strength and is determined by the form they take. The lowest is animal, then a hand sized humanoid form and finally the grand level fairies take the proper form of a human. If they are really strong they even take the form of a fully adult human.

Lumere wasn't a fairy though, but Father had described Lumere as a fairy so I wouldn't speak against him. The less things stuck out as odd, the better. If I ended up being incredibly powerful or showed them unique magic, then it might end up enforcing the engagement with the crown prince instead of making it easier to get away.

"Lady Lily!" My teacher's voice draws me out of my day dreaming. She had been explaining the specifics of casting water magic, but at one point she got so deep into details of 'what water is', and then gave the wrong definition. After that I ended up ignoring her.

As with our magic they depend on someone else to cast it and give something in return, but there are some complications. If they try to use spells that affect a living body such as enhancements or flying they risk dying. Though, risk is to say it mildly. Apparently people have exploded from trying. Seeing as they force the gods to do their bidding this doesn't surprise me.

Another thing that made me blank out was the whole way that they cast magic. She said something about it showing like translucent arrows and shapes in the environment and then something with a lot of numbers for distance, size, shape, mana cost... and then that wrong definition of water that made everything she said a mess.

"Do you have a fairy, Sensei? I forcefully changed the subject to her.

"Of course, it is a middle rank fairy," she replied with a certain amount of pride... it certainly is good, for a minor noble as she is. Apparently she's a viscount.

I stare at her quietly for a while as I word the question I am going to ask carefully.

"Why do faeries hide themselves? The magic you talk about, is something cast with the help of faeries... but you talk of magic as if we have to protect ourselves, even though we have the 'protection' of the faeries."

Now, I am familiar with needing to protect myself, as it works the same way with gods, but I want to know the reasons faeries do not interact further with people. I only saw brother's fairy because I used 'sense'. That one time aside I've never seen a fairy before, even though every member of our family is blessed with one. Faeries aren't exactly shy either from what I heard at the pond.

My teacher sighs as though she's hit with a moment of frustration at my lack of knowledge.

"As you know faeries are mostly immortal, and they aren't born the same way we are..." She hesitates a moment after saying that. What? Was I supposed to ask 'what way'?

"Well, very few faeries are born every year. So, during the Grelin Wars the faeries ended up being on the front lines without any humans, after all, the faeries get incredibly attached to the human they choose and do not want to see them die. The losses on all sides were massive, and the area where they have fought has became a wasteland. This wasteland is now a part of the kingdom Semor to the north. Once the war was over, the fairy king made the 'Fairy Contract Laws', which restrict the interactions between humans and faeries immensely. This is split into three rules:"

"First, fairies may not use magic themselves to protect their charge."

"Secondly, they may not take physical action to change the fate of a human."

"Thirdly, they may not become involved in politics."

"Of course the strength of the fairy you gain protection from has political influence, but they may not get directly involved. If one of these three laws are broken the fairy is put under a curse by the fairy king and lose all their magical powers as well as their power to fly."

This is an acceptable reasoning. This also explains why the heroine's fairy didn't make a move to hinder the heroine's bullying. If she did, the heroine would cease having the protection of a light fairy. Enduring was better.

For gods like Lumere it was a bit different. Elemental gods don't have ambition in the first place. They always go with the flow and let fate determine what happens without struggling. That's why their requests are often odd and pointless. In the case a god actually came to care for a human they had no idea what to do. They were creatures of habit after all, and their usual habit was to observe, or in Lumere's case, sleep. Lumere would likely accept my requests easier than most gods I've dealt with before, but he's still just an observing god.

"Well, not that you will need to worry about your fairy's political influence, Lady Lily."

She casually drops this insult on Lumere. A god! She doesn't know her place! My stomach tenses as blood rushes to my head.

Endure.

"A fool is she who only looks but do not see," I retort promptly and give her a thin smile.

"...A fool is she who does not listen," she tosses back at me, hinting at my lack of focus from earlier. I can swallow the insult to myself, but daring to insult Lumere is unacceptable.

"Your basics of mana control and spell activation are unneeded, if you desire attention so badly, then move the subject onto combat strategies or fairy lore." I slowly cross my arms and stare her down while squeezing my arm. Had this been home then speaking badly of my family would've at the very least gotten her injured in a duel, but talking badly of the gods themselves... I grit my teeth as she puffs up at my words, not much unlike an overweight puffer fish.

"Then why don't you show your magic right here and now?" She tries taunting me instead since I retorted to her arguments. I, of course, lift an eyebrow at her demand. I'll bite on that suggestion.

"You will need to put up one of those barriers you've been howling about, you know." I decided to warn her ahead of time. I have no intention of going easy on someone who was daring to insult the gods, even if she believed him to be a fairy. They gain their magic from those faeries, to show no respect for that...

"Don't come to me crying when you only get out enough water to fill a vase!" She snaps at my less than courteous behavior.

The rude one here was her. She insulted a god and should be punished accordingly. I'll admit I was not being agreeable on purpose, but her behavior is unacceptable. I stand up and gently push back the chair. In an instant the air begins to tremble, and Lumere's presence seems to grow. I breathe in and look to Lumere. Lumere doesn't seem to disagree with my actions. I'd expected it to hesitate at least a little, but if anything it seemed more than happy to oblige.

I put one hand to my chest and stretch the other towards the ground.

"The might of water is powerful."

"It's surge can lift to the skies above, and as it does even the earth will tremble."

The air quiver uncomfortably around me. This was a rather powerful spell so the attention and care I put into the prayer would have to be equally more impressive compared to when I communed with Lumere yesterday.

I proceed to lift my hand from the floor at an inching pace, and from my feet water begins to swirl impatiently.

"At the sight of its figure legs tremble and hopes falter,"

"The willful earth crumbles,"

"The agile fire cannot dodge it,"

"The quick acting wind cannot flee in time."

"You cannot outrun it,"

"You cannot withstand it."

I reach for the sky as the very last thing and flick my wrist.

"It is divine punishment."

With the flick of my wrist my view turns blue. A violent roar goes through the mansion as water burst through the room violently as a raging floor. The door flies off its hinges and splinters as water spews out like a broken dam. Tables, chairs, curtains and the blackboard is torn to splinters under the force of the water.

...Let's avoid mentioning the windows, or the view people got from the outside.

---*---

So... I admit, things had gone a little overboard...

Apparently my teacher's fairy had been a water fairy... and said water fairy had been making fun of Lumere without my knowledge, which I found out later.

As such, when I went 'let's punish them' Lumere went all in...

I knocked out my teacher instantly. Her barrier didn't hold against the massive pressure generated by the sheer force and amount of water. According to Lumere I knocked out her fairy as well...

I managed to remove all the wood splinters from her before the maids managed to get here and did some... 'first aid'. There were no human casualties, but...

The room was ruined, and the mansion was flooded with water and wooden splinters...

I am repenting, and I am reflecting.

I went overboard, I am aware.

I'll go easy from now on, I promise. I'll take notice when people go pallid while I cast my spells.

Also, no using tsunamis indoors.

Good news, I don't need a magic teacher anymore.

Bad news, I'm under house arrest, again.

[AN: For those interested in this world's magic more specifically, go to the Private Memory Box on my profile. One of the chapters there describes magic in more detail. In other words, there's a lot of info dump that isn't necessary to enjoy the story. A basic political map is also found there.]