Malwine was going to have to take her complaints back—5804 was off to a terrible start. Is every year just going to be worse than the last?

For all she had been curious as to what happened, she hadn't expected her little sister to be the reason for her finally finding out a bit more about Bernie's family.

The way Adelheid told it was disorienting. She'd known the girl was prone to misinterpreting things—she hadn't even noticed her great-grandmother was a zombie—but this was something else. Even with the implications her having reached the Mortal Esse carried, she still verbalized it as some man having 'taken away' her family on Bernie's side. Adelheid was massively underreacting, especially considering—

Malwine's train of thought ground to a halt. Fuck.

Somehow, she didn't doubt in the slightest that Adelheid could and would surpass OHeidi.

It wasn't enough to know I'll have to deal with Elflorescence sooner or later, no.

I'm going to have to kill a fucking Saint.

The worst part was that Malwine still hadn't figured out what the Saint equivalent of deicide was—if she was going to plan that out, she needed to know the proper term! Otherwise, the question would remain as an inescapable intrusive thought every time she thought of this.

"Is something wrong?" Adelheid asked.

Malwine shook her head. "No, I'm just… I'm thinking about something."

Not for the first time, she thought of [Purpose], the one Aspect that implied she could use her abilities on others when none of her Skills really said that outright. It was something she'd yet to really put to the test.

The kill notification for OHeidi hovered before her. The Immortal-turned-sibyl might have had a Proclivity, but that still left three Affinities right there, two of which Adelheid didn't have. And she might have had more. Only those tied to a Class showed up on death notifications, from what she'd seen so far, but she couldn't exactly rule it out.

And Adelheid herself had mentioned wanting to be a superior version of OHeidi, so why not help her along?

If she even could. Malwine resolved to try anyway. The outcome was so beyond her control that she found herself surprisingly calm about it—either it worked or it didn't, simple as that.

It was an odd sensation—not quite like when she'd shown panels to others, but similar enough. It felt like giving [Mana Reclaimer] a light shove that sent it careening in her little sister's direction, a chilled breeze making her sway as backlash.

Something shifted in the air, and those senses that told her Adelheid had two Affinities now told her she had three. The lack of a notification on her end was slightly bothersome, but she already knew {Missing} and {Implicit}. Even without prior exposure to it, Malwine could identify the new energy by virtue of it being different from the other two. Something warm and distant, idealized history that never truly took shape.

Adelheid hadn't hesitated to accept it, only meeting her gaze to ask after the fact, frowning. "{Yore}?"

"Thanks to my abilities I managed to figure some of your great-grandmother's Affinities out," Malwine stretched the truth so far it would have probably looked see-through to anyone who wasn't a five-year-old. "Remember what I said, about getting Affinities from ancestors?"

She'd mentioned the broad strokes of it, for all she'd avoided details. The girl nodded, so Malwine continued. "I decided to try and give you OHe— your great-grandmother's other two Affinities. In case the Tacit Saint ever becomes a problem, so that he can't… take you or anyone else away."

…Or at least have a harder time doing it. I can't even begin to think of how much more I'd need to do to really stand up against someone who can kill an Immortal.

"Oh!" Adelheid beamed, the expression only slightly concerning in this context. "Father will teach me to fight when I'm older."

Malwine perked up for a split second, before remembering just who her grandfather was. The man was a loose cannon. Malwine wouldn't like to have him as a teacher… Oh, no, he's going to be Adelheid's teacher someday.

She looped from liking the idea of getting some training at all, to hating the fact that it'd all be taught by Kristian, and right back into wanting to join in just to ensure she could supervise the madman's interaction with Adelheid.

"Think I could join in?"

"Probably," Adelheid shrugged. "I asked Brother Alaric and he says Father knows his stuff. The father of that guy he's hiding in his room is a worse teacher."

"…I'm just not going to address that," Malwine desperately sought a way to change the topic. Immediately. "Right, there was another one."

Shoving an unseen prompt for {Restitution} at Adelheid appeared to be all it took to keep Alaric's personal life from resurfacing in the conversation.

Again, Malwine felt for Adelheid's unmasked Affinities and tried to make sense of the new outlier. It wasn't quite the coiled snake of retribution, waiting to snap back the moment something stepped on it, but something… slicker. Something that slid in and filled the cracks of what was done wrong, even if it could never truly mend.

It struck her then that she'd barely gotten any opportunities to use [Nosy Old Lady] in earnest. For a Skill that relied on her capability to tell Affinities apart in order to actually do anything, Malwine had been doing a terrible job at training with it.

Then again, it wasn't as though she had that many opportunities to do so. She was surrounded by mortals.

Now what?

Adelheid had wasted no time starting to play around with her new Affinities as if it were the most normal thing in the world and Malwine wasn't about to interrupt her, opting instead to stew in this nascent frustration. It was like 'maybe actually kill the Tacit Saint' had simply bumped itself up on the list of things she might plausibly need to do down the line, and now that she actually had to consider it, she found herself stumped.

OHeidi had been one thing, but the idea of seriously pulling something like this off… She simply had no idea how to start plotting such a thing.

She could always fall back on hoping it'd never come to that, but Malwine wasn't about to bet Adelheid's life—or her own, actually—on that.

Right. Fuck. This directly affects me too.

That was it, the existence of the Tacit Saint was a threat that would need to be dealt with someday.

Malwine narrowed her eyes—[Unpacifiable] seemingly had no desire to show itself right now. For once, was she truly being more paranoid than that Skill? Or was the threat here so far-off that it barely registered.

Oh, well. Your silence isn't going to keep me from freaking the fuck out over here.

Unfortunately for her, it seemed someone had a different idea. As the door creaked open, she rushed to hide under the blankets. It was past the time when she usually awoke from her midday nap, but interacting with anyone right now sounded like a terrible way to pass time.

"Adelheid, dear," a voice boomed before anyone even entered the room. It was familiar enough for Malwine to do a double-take—she recognized it, but this felt like the wrong context to be hearing it on. "And Malwine, was it? I am pleased to meet you—my name is Hildegard."

While testing the limits of just how much further she could narrow her eyes without impacting her field of view too badly, Malwine exited the safety of her blanket and watched the old butler walk closer. She couldn't quite make out any difference between her current appearance and what she'd seen in the trial, but reaching forward to sense Affinities gave her no results.

Either Hildegard was a hollow core mortal, or she was better at hiding her power than Malwine would have expected.

"Oh, sister," Adelheid wrapped an arm around Malwine's shoulders in what had to be the most suspicious move the girl had ever done around her. "This is the teacher I told you about. We're going to have so much fun!"

The what? Her gaze alternated between the butler and her little sister, a picture slowly building in her mind. Wait… Adelheid, are you pulling a me?

Malwine wasn't sure how she felt about that, but it wasn't exactly negative. She might have even been a little bit proud.

"Now all that is left would be fetching the other girl, assuming the maid hasn't delivered her yet. We shall see." Hildegard rubbed her chin. "Do you have any supplies here?"

"No," Malwine answered without either having checked or having any intention to do so. She didn't even think they had anything hidden in their room, but on principle, she refused to encourage the butler to look around, even if it was on some quest for school supplies.

"Shame. I will have to consult the maid on this."

Is it so hard to say 'Anna Franziska'?

Adelheid seemed to be of the same mind. "Her name's Anna Franziska and she's an ex-maid."

Hildegard laughed, shaking her head. "True, true. In any case, follow me. Walking with your own two feet, behind me. Yes, Adelheid, I'm talking to you."

The girl in question glared at the butler, with Hildegard outright grinning now. She appeared to be enjoying this to a concerning degree.

Malwine and Adelheid did as she asked, with the former sending her double back to their room the moment they sat down. This had all been so sudden that she got the unshakable urge to check if she'd forgotten anything up there, despite the unlikelihood of it.

At least in this life I could actually just check if I'm ever worried about whether I accidentally left the stove on. Especially since I'm pretty sure stoves do exist here.

Nothing seemed out of place, so she just reopened her eyes. It seemed Franziska had indeed gotten there sooner than them, with Anna Franziska kissing her daughter's forehead before stepping aside. She waved at the other two, briefly, before shutting the door behind her.

"I admit I had not used these assigned quarters before, never had need for the space, but we have worked to make them acceptable for this," Hildegard noted. A taller chair for herself stood in front of a low table, separating her from their three seats. "I intend to have a better layout sorted, perhaps from Mark's notes… but this will do for now."

Malwine was busy wondering why this seat felt so much like a bean bag when it couldn't possibly be so. I mean, it does seem like otherworlders introduced all kinds of things to this world…

"You should know, first of all, that I will be dedicating as many resources as I can to your education—yes, for all of you—until you are either of age or find yourself a master to train under, on whatever your chosen field ends up being."

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No one needs to know about Veit. I can get all the resources!

"Second, there will be some activities only Adelheid here will be able to take full advantage on, but I'm putting in the work to ensure everything is as well-rounded as it can be. There is no one around to stop me from teaching the two of you more about certain topics, nor her about the mundane aspects of life."

The butler said that last part with such blatant bitterness that Malwine found herself wondering just what her employment had been like, before Bernie's family got wiped out. The other two appeared none the wiser to the venom in her voice, still listening intently with excited smiles.

"Until Malwine and Franziska here start actively interacting with the system, we'll be starting the day with some light exercise—"

Okay, I'm not sure how I feel about that one. We are five, you know?

"—and a review of the previous day's material. After breakfast, we'll have math lessons, followed by reading and writing. We'll see the extent of those once I have a better idea of your current progress. Then we'll have an hour for meditation, followed by naptime. No, you cannot nap throughout both while pretending to meditate. This is something you need to get used to while young. We mortals have to deal with [Toll] and [Integrity] just as much as mages do."

Malwine might have been angry at meditation somehow chasing her into what she would henceforth call 'Hildegard's impromptu preschool', had she not immediately recalled this would likely be a great opportunity for her to review another technique. After the resounding failure that had been her own research on the matter, she'd take anything she could get. Knowing my luck, [Meditation] will still refuse to evolve, but a girl can dream.

"But why?" Adelheid appeared horrified, probably at the idea of having to meditate. Franziska just looked curious.

Hildegard took this as an excuse to just start explaining the concept of meditation in its entirety—the basics, anyway.

Malwine tuned her out, having bigger concerns. Wait, who's Mark again? She blinked. Oh, right, OHeidi's father.

The name felt about as out of place as Zayden's did, not that it mattered much. Then there was also the matter of how Hildegard assumed only Adelheid knew how to interact with the system. That brought forth an interesting question—at what point was she supposed to pretend to have unlocked it? Considering how Adelheid herself seemed to have been accessing her power from an early age, she might have no choice but to tag along to whatever Franziska said when the time came.

Speaking of that…

She'd truly meant to wait until she could ask Veit about what sort of build she should be going for, as far as attributes went, but their last conversation had left no room for it.

…And things were unlikely to be that much better the next time around, even if they did end up talking once his research on Forgers for her panned out. If it did.

Malwine reached for her attributes, eyeing the panel as if they were some strange specimen. Drawing a vertical line over the minus sign preceding the Curse's penalty did not appear to be a valid application of either [Write Anywhere] or the concept of forgery. Excuse you, if I can hold entire conversations over panels, how is it fair that I can't just get creative?

It had been a while since she'd dedicated time to mental complaints, but she certainly felt justified in doing so again, even if they fell on the system's selectively deaf ears, as always.

The truth was, four of her attributes were lagging behind the rest—and she wasn't about to start relying on <Word> attributes for anything right now. Suppressing the urge to sigh when there was an adult watching them—even if the butler was busy trying to explain breathing techniques to two toddlers—Malwine split her unused points between Speed and Dexterity, bringing both to a nice four-thousand.

[Integrity] 1055 / 1067 [Toll] 3 / 14701 Strength 5001 (-99%) Speed 4038 (-99%) Endurance 5567 (-99%) Dexterity 4016 (-99%) Stamina 5473 (-99%) Resilience 4314 (-99%) Perception 4628 (-99%) Charisma 2708 (-99%) Adaptability 4632 (-99%) Luck 2669 (-99%) Circulation 14646 (-99%) Presence 6574 (-99%) </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table>

...

[Integrity] 1055 / 1067 [Toll] 3 / 201 Strength 50 Speed 40 Endurance 55 Dexterity 40 Stamina 54 Resilience 43 Perception 46 Charisma 27 Adaptability 46 Luck 26 Circulation 146 Presence 65 </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table>

Elflorescence, someday, I'm going to do everything to find out how to give someone negative attributes just so I can do it to you.

Despite the drop the Curse's effects caused, she was pretty sure her attributes would not pass for toddler-appropriate at all by now. If she had to discuss them, she'd just pretend they were… a quarter of what they were.

Ridiculous Presence aside, while Adelheid did have attributes over 20, Malwine didn't want to out herself as having anything higher than her. Again, if Franziska ever revealed hers, they would likely serve as a nice baseline for her to make numbers up with.

Oh, Adelheid, you were right. It was definitely a good idea to bring Franziska along everywhere.

Accidentally slipping into actual meditation once she started following along what the others were doing, Malwine found herself satisfied with her decision on how to spend her points.

I have a feeling that 'light exercise' is going to be fun.

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