Reincarnated as a mana core

Argul helped Mia to get into her little magician robe and took a step back. “Are you ready for your first school day after your holidays?”

Mia nodded. “Yes.”

Argul smiled at her. “Allright, I am going to explain what we will do today so listen carefully.”

She turned around and grabbed one of her bags. “We will search for some kind of library or bookstore today to get you some working material.”

Argul faced Mia again and offered her the bag. “All the things that are essential for the lessons I will carry and everything you want for yourself you will have to carry.”

Mia took the bag and looked happily at it. “So I won’t have to carry any books.”

Argul patted her on her head. “That’s not how it works. I will only carry a book for every school year you have left for you. Math books or similar things are an exception.”

She crouched down and looked into Mia’s eyes. “You would be around 4th class of elementary school in Germany and you are smart so you would likely do the full 12 years. How many free of carry books does that give you?”

Mia took only a second to answer. “8!”

Argul grinned and stood up. “8 what?” She was the teacher now and some things couldn’t be avoided.

Mia rolled her eyes. “8 books that you will carry for me aunt.”

Argul picked up a large backpack and did a small hop to make sure it was secured. She opened the door of their room and turned to Mia a bit more seriously. “Once we are outside of the inhabited parts of the city you will stay close to me, okay?”

Mia shouldered her own bag and answered in a slightly exasperated tone. “Okay aunt, I will stay close to you.”

She walked past Argul and out of the room. Argul looked one last time into the room. “Have a nice day Aina.”

She made sure to leave the door a tiny bit open so Aina wasn’t confined in their room. Argul had enough confidence in Luna to keep her own inn safe and Alyra could help should something happen.

She went downstairs and said goodbye to the others together with Mia. The two then left the inn and made their way over to the main street that led to the market. There they would then turn westwards and walk towards the ghost town.

On their way through the inhabited parts of the city Argul noticed a kind of intent she hadn’t seen before. If she had to describe it it gave off a holy feeling of superiority and dominance. While Argul could guess that the intent had to do something with praying she hadn’t seen anyone do that in the last few days so she couldn’t be 100% sure.

They rounded a corner and a barricade with a gate came into view. The barricade had been built in response to the appearance of the goblins and every entrance into the desolate city had been blocked with only a few gates existing. At this one two guards were stationed, making sure that nothing unwanted entered the city or left it, depending on how you looked at it.

The two guys watched them as they neared the gate and positioned themselves in front of it. They were only missing the spears and medieval armor to achieve the perfect guard vibe. With the police armor they felt more like bodyguards to Argul.

One of them held up his hand. “Reason for entry?” 

Argul looked at him with a neutral expression and pointed at Mia. “We want to look for a bit of reading and teaching material for my adopted niece here.”

The guy relaxed and opened his visor. “Allright, I am sure the silver witch can defend herself.”

He waved at his mate who opened the gate in response. Then he turned towards Argul with a serious expression. “Just make sure nothing happens to the little lass.”

Argul smiled coldly. “She is my top priority so you don’t have to worry.”

The guard gave her a nod and stepped aside. “Good luck out there.”

Argul started to walk through the gate with Mia and waved offhandedly towards the guard. “Thank you. Have a nice day.” A nice day of being bored, she thought.

The other guard closed the gate behind them and Argul could hear him whisper to the first one. “Are you stupid to talk like that with her? I have heard she fought off more than 40 bandits without killing any of them. She could have blasted your head away if she wanted.”

The first guard gulped audibly, but nonetheless argued back. “Still, she seems to be the kind who appreciates equal treatment.”

The other guard snortet. “Equal treatment for someone who could kill you without much effort my ass.”

Argul sighed. There had been 20 bandits and they all had failed elementary school in their childhood, at least going by their intelligence. 

She didn’t like there being rumors about her, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. Basically everyone in the city knew her by word of mouth or because they had met her in Tania’s stall.

Argul flicked her ears and shook off her annoyance. There were more important things she had to focus on right now.

Together with Mia she walked into the desolate part of the city. She knew the location of two small bookstores from Tania. There was also a library further to the west, but it was too far away to reach and get back in a single day.

Argul wasn’t too worried about being found by something so she began to give Mia math questions to solve. It kept the girl occupied and gave Argul the feeling of having actually taught something to Mia today.

They reached the first book shop after about an hour. The display windows were broken and the door locked, not that they needed it. Inside of the store paper and ripped book covers were scattered around. It looked like someone with a hatred for books had come for a visit.

Mia looked discouraged at the sight. “That doesn’t look too good for us.”

Argul shrugged and entered through one of the windows. “Let’s take a look first and if we are lucky people forgot about the storage of the store.” 

As the two of them rummaged through the store Argul noticed a few things. Firstly, most of the paper that had been ripped out of the books was missing and what was left behind were likely pages that fell to the ground. Secondly, for some mysterious reason she couldn’t find any books that taught survival skills or crafting skills.

After some time Mia handed Argul a slightly damaged book with a collection of cooking receipts. Argul took the book and looked at Mia. “Is that some kind of insult?”

Mia put her hands on her hips and pouted. “The book is for me and not you.”

Argul blushed in embarrassment and put the book away. “Sorry.” Why was she like that?

Mia hmpfed and continued searching for more. Argul sighed and walked over to the store front. There were few pencils and pens that still worked on one of the shelfs so she pocketed them.

To her surprise she found a few pads of paper on the shelf next to the one with the pens and even a few empty books. Argul took them all. People might not have noticed, but paper and books would become their own kind of gold in the future. Maybe not the books if someone managed to build a book press.

Argul walked past Mia to the back of the store and entered a hallway through a door that was only for staff. There were three small office rooms and a toilet. In one of the office rooms she discovered a fantasy book and took it for herself. She also took a lot of printing paper with her.

After Argul had checked all those rooms she went over to the last door with the storage behind. She opened the door and looked inside. The room didn’t have any windows so it was rather dark. 

Sadly that didn’t stop the horrible smell that smacked Argul’s nose and made her retch a few times. Inside of the room a rotting half eaten corpse laid in the right corner, a knife still embedded into the eye socket. 

Argul slammed the door shut and shuddered. That was freaking disgusting. She decided that it was time to leave this store and went back to Mia.

They left for the next store and Argul tried to hide what she had seen from Mia when the girl asked about the bang.