Who is Minichi?

“And who are you?” Minichi asks.

“Oh? I haven’t introduced myself yet, have I? I must have startled you.” the old man scratches his beard, and pauses. He is not so tall, bald and his blue robe shapes his white beard like an upside-down mountain peak. He stood there smiling with eyes shut.

“And?”

“Huh? Was I supposed to say anything else? I’m sorry. This body has started to show its age” the old man smiles. “Do you remember what we were talking about?”

Minichi takes a deep breath and bows, “I am Minichi. It’s nice to make yo..”

“Yes yes, I know that already. I came to see you. Heard you had a rough time coming here.” the old man interrupts her.

“So, may I know who you are?” Minichi leaned in.

“Oh? I did it again. I’m so sorry. I just keep forgetting things. It’s so terrible sometimes.” he scratches his beard again.

“Oh there you are, Miss Minichi” Lilith peeks from the window upstairs. “I made your bed.. oh you’ve already met Master Bergman.”

The old man turns around to Lilith, “Ahh if that isn’t Lilith. Look at you. How much have you grown since last time!”

“Whoahh. Wait wait wait… you two know each other?” Minichi walks around the old man.

“Ofcourse we do. Master Bergman was my teacher at Zenith University” Lilith replied.

“He taught Lilith? He is a mage? A teacher at the uni?” Minichi was hopeful. She meekly asked the old man, “Mr. Old Man, do you still teach?”

“Mr. Old Man? Now that’s rude, Miss Minichi. Master Bergman is the Royal Mage of Zenith. One of the strongest mages you’ll ever come across.” Lilith proudly smiled.

Minichi couldn’t believe those words. This person with severe dementia is the most powerful mage of the nation? Her knees dropped to the ground with respect. “I’m sorry Master Bergman. Please forgive me!” she begged.

“It’s alright. It’s alright. Why are you saying sorry? I was just messing with you. Hohohoho…” he burst out laughing.

“Eh?”

“Anyway young lady, I hope you didn’t mind my little joke.” A bright shimmer behind him revealed a chair that he sat down on without looking. Another chair appeared for Minichi. “As I was saying, I can see mana emanating from you.” He looked at Lilith and said, “Could you give us a minute, honey? We’re having an interesting conversation here.”

“Mmm mm, sure.”

Minichi sat down. “But Mobi told me I didn’t have any mana?” She was curious now, and a little hopeful. Lilith’s story sparked a fire in her.

The old man looked at the stars above, “Well you see, no one is totally mana less. All living beings have mana.”

“All?”

“Yes. Trees, birds, bats, cats, dogs, any living being you see has mana, even in the smallest amounts. Sometimes the mana content is so little that it is safe to consider them manaless. But some people have the ability to increase their mana levels. So, it could be that. Or..” he now looked at Minichi.

His pause was too heavy. Minichi couldn’t help but ask, “Or?”

“Or, it could be mana poisoning. People with little mana often get poisoned in high mana atmospheres.” the old man smiled.

“Mana poisoning? Miss Minichi do you feel dizzy? We should get you checked as soon as possible.” Lilith got worried. She stood up and almost immediately teleported beside Minichi.

“Master, is this too serious?” she asked.

Minichi felt the terrace sliding underneath her feet. She tried to convince herself and said, “I don’t feel dizzy or anything so don't worry about me. I am sure my mana levels are going up. I don’t need a checkup right now” she stood up.

“But what if it wa..” Lilith sounded like a mother, but was interrupted.

“Don’t worry too much, Lilith dear. I’m sure Miss Minichi can handle it.” Bergman is ever cheerful.

“Still, I think you should rest now, Miss Minichi.”

“Yes, that you should do. You people had a rough day.” Bergman stood up and collected his chairs.

At night, when everyone was asleep, Minichi suddenly started coughing. Occasionally at first but the frequency increased. She ignored it until she started coughing blood into her hands.

“It was poisoning after all. I knew I should have gotten her checked.” Lilith facepalmed herself, her eyes were sunken. She and Mobi were sitting beside Minichi’s bed. The doctor has given her medicines to control the symptoms.

“It’s alright, Lilith. I thought I could handle it but it seems like I couldn’t.” Minichi smiled meekily as she lay in her bed. Mobi looked at her as if he wanted to say something serious. But he sighed instead. “Dr. Garreth will visit her in the morning again. You all should try to get some sleep.” He smiled at Minichi, ”Don’t you worry even a bit, okay? Just call us in case you need any help.”

“Thank you, Mobi,” Minichi nodded. “Lilith, you should also sleep, you look terrible, honestly.”

“Well, it seems like it was a mild mana poisoning. The excessive exposure to mana from the last few days had gotten to her. She’s completely fine now.” Dr. Garreth visited Minichi in the morning. “Eat well, you should be back to normal by tomorrow morning.” he smiled at her.

She indeed was completely fine by the next morning. She went out to explore the palace. “Oi Minichi!” she turned around to find Emperor Gabe calling at her. “How are you doing now? I couldn’t come to see you because of some work, I’m sorry.”

“No no, it’s completely fine. Don’t worry about it.”

She visited Master Bergman next. “Master Bergman, may I come in?” she knocked on his open door. He was making a potion. “Minichi! How have you been? Are you fine now?” he turned to her. “Yes, Dr. Garreth was awesome.” she replied, cheerfully. “No. No you’re not. I can still see mana in you.”

“What do you mean? I really have mana?” she asked.

“Yes you do. But it’s not exactly our type.”

The word spread like a wildfire in the castle, “Is she a spy?” “A mana style different from ours?” “Can we really trust her?” “Is she really the prophesied one?” All sorts of rumours started to spread.

“So, Master Bergman, what you’re saying is that even though her mana type is different from ours, they are not conflicting?” Gabe asked Master Bergman in the courtroom where everyone had gathered to discuss the matter. “Yes” Bergman nodded. “Welp, then there’s no reason to panic folks. Also, this confirms that Miss Minichi is indeed the prophesied one! Everyone is invited to the great hall tonight to celebrate this wonderful revelation and Miss Minichi’s recovery. The court is now dismissed!”

It was a sigh of relief for Minichi and the pack. But a new curiosity sparked in them, “What is this new mana type?”

Later that day, Minichi came across the workshop where someone was welding something. He was a young man, probably unmarried. “Hello, may I come in?” Minichi asked.

“Who is it? Oh, it’s Miss Minichi. Such a pleasure to meet you. I have been meaning to go see you but you know, work. I’m sorry you had to go through such a terrible experience…” he started blabbering.

“No no, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it” Minichi tried to calm him down.

“So how have you been lately? And what brings you to this rusty place?”

“I’m doing fine. I was just looking around the castle and happened to stumble upon this place. It looks amazing. Who are you by the way?”

“I’m Shannon. I work here to improve the weapons and stuff.”

Minichi’s eyes sparkled. “So you’re Shannon the Inventor who made all these beautiful fountains in the courtyard?”

“Yes, I did. I like them…”

“I knew it. I knew it.” Minichi started to clap her hands. “In my world, I was a mechanical engineering student..” she continued.

“Mechanical Engineer?” Shannon was lost. “Yes, yes. Mechanical Engineers build subercool stuff from pulleys to complex machines and what not. I was so excited to meet you since the time Mobi told me about you. Can I come inside?” Minichi stepped in. She began looking at the drawers while jumping from here to there, much like Maomao when she finds poison.

She quickly gathered some materials. “Can I use some of this?” She held up a roll of copper wire. She also gathered some gears, axles and magnets. Shannon turned into a spectator in his own workshop. “What sorcery is she doing?”

After some time and tinkering, Minichi made something that looked like a generator. Copper wire wound up on an axle with magnets around them. She brought some cotton and placed an aluminium strip on it, which was connected to the generator. She started spinning it but nothing seemed to happen. She looked around a bit and then went, “Aha, the magnets!” She changed their orientation and tried again. This time something happened. Some small sparks and then whoosh, the cotton was lit on fire.