Nateaser: Reborn As My Love Interest

Nati - Chapter Twelve

It was a new day, a new adventure.

The orc chieftain took me on another expedition in the afternoon. We set out in the opposite direction, heading for a lake. The stream from the village met with a few creeks, filling up a shallow valley.

"Magic is everywhere." She shared her vast knowledge with me while we approached a marsh by the lakeside closer to the tribe.

"It was called many things during the times. Magicules, Ether, Substance, Force, or Mana, but anywhere you find life, you'll find the magical elements too." She continued my education. "It's not spread evenly though, there is a lot of it where life's abundant, like dense cities and forests. It is much thinner in deserts and barren places."

"She was the personal assistant of a Mage," Hana whispered.

"Personal slave." Charlotte corrected them, pointing at all kinds of herbs that grew here. They stopped by each, but my brain erased all the additional information as I was only interested in magic. "Well, it was the same if you lasted long enough, and I served him for thirty years."

The only thing I noticed was the dark riverbed. Even though the water was crystal clear, the bottom was black. Some kids gathered reeds, others played in the lake with a few women escorting them.

"Can you use magic too?" I asked the chief curiously as we went.

"No, only our shaman can. But I know more about the theory than he can ever hope." She claimed with a straight face. "You need affinity, and only about one in a hundred people has it."

"Do you remember that cold you felt yesterday?" Hana asked. How could I forget? "It was because you have that affinity, I have felt it too."

"What? So I can use magic?"

"Not by a long shot." Charlotte was merciless. "Hana was a gladiator with a life's worth of experience, yet couldn't cast a single spell."

"The spirits never answered my calls." They complained, flexing those crazy muscles. "I'm more of a brute, learning magic was not an option."

"Spirits?" I repeated as the kids ran towards the village. They whistled when they saw me, but I tried not to miss anything my escorts said.

"Spirits are amalgamations in the mana. The two types of magic users are the ones who manipulate mana, and those who borrow this power from someone. Spirits, gods, or nature, the principle is the same." Charlotte lectured me. "Learning how to cast magic is extremely difficult."

"Only the brightest minds got accepted into Cranta's Magical Academy," Hana interjected. "One in twenty finished the decade-long training who became wizards, the rest maybe shamans or priests."

"So how do they use magic?" I asked curiously.

"Shamans ask spirits to cast," Hana explained. "But they despise humans, while gods only answer their priests, so it's a human thing."

"What about the Goddess of Luck?" I asked, surprised. So far, she was the only god I knew, but she certainly wasn't human.

"She is the only exception," Charlotte said. "And look where it led..."

"Calling her the Goddess of Luck is ironic, to say the least." Hana let out a heartbroken laugh, walking silently for a bit. A lot needed to sink in, but new questions filled my head. "But she has no priests."

"And so the old capital has no mana left whatsoever?" I asked, still shaking whenever I thought about it. "How did that happen?"

"It disappeared with everything else." Charlotte shrugged.