“Well, household magic is magic used for everyday life. Many people can use household magic, but Julianne was exceptional at it.”
Patience’s memories were more helpful than my father’s vague response. Household magic seemed quite useful and encompassed spells for things such as lighting fires and lamps, producing water, cleaning, and practicing good hygiene.
It’s magic time! Reincarnating into a world of swords and magic sounds like an exciting adventure...but that was undercut by the fact that I was poor, despite being a noble. On top of that, it seemed many commoners were able to use household magic. It feels like something that would be more useful for a maid than a dashing adventurer.
“We’ll have the church evaluate you tomorrow. Let Mary know.” It seemed my father would be telling the butler.
Why does he want me to tell Mary? I searched through my memories and got multiple answers. First, clothes for going out had to be prepared. Also, Mary had to come with us as my attendant, so she had to prepare not just me but also herself. Finally, Mary was the only maid we had, so she had to take care of some tasks ahead of time if she wasn’t going to be home.
“Mary,” I called out to the maid, “father and I will be visiting the church tomorrow. It seems they’re going to evaluate my magic proficiency.”
Mary, who had been cleaning, began to bustle about.
“Your coat, my lady, it’s... Well, let’s try it on.” I tried on the coat that had been hanging in my wardrobe. It was quite tight, but it somehow managed to fit. “I’ll have to make you a new coat before school starts,” Mary said with a deep sigh. I don’t think we have the money for that. What’s she going to do?
Mary then brought out an outfit for going out. The fabric was much thicker than the dress I was currently wearing, and it looked warm.
“Please try this on,” she asked. “It may be a little big, but I think it will be fine if we use the sash to tighten it...” These clothes appeared to be hand-me-downs from a relative, but they were warmer than anything I’d worn thus far, so I had no complaints about that. “We should take in the shoulders slightly,” Mary said, placing several pins before carefully undressing me. She was probably going to adjust it by tomorrow.
Though it seemed a bit late to do so, I decided not to rely solely on Patience’s knowledge and instead research household magic myself. I also wanted to find out about the church, which there wasn’t much information on within Patience’s memories. All I found was the sad memory of holding her mother Julianne’s funeral there.
The Granger family didn’t seem very religious, but I wasn’t sure how we compared to the citizens of Lawrence as a whole. I couldn’t handle strict rules and being deeply religious, so I was glad for our family’s attitude. But, even though we weren’t very religious, we would still be going to the church for my proficiency evaluation.
In light novels, ability checks were usually followed by a huge commotion because the reincarnated character would be broken—overpowered—in some way, like being able to use all types of magic. Stuff in those stories, like being forced to marry a prince because of my abilities, sounded like a pain that I wanted to avoid...but if I did have some kind of broken ability, at least I could maybe improve this family’s financial situation. Otherwise, we were going to starve to death. Well, that might be an exaggeration...
Either way, I wanted my brothers to eat proper meals. Of course, my skinny father and I both needed to eat better as well. Such thoughts ran through my mind as I arrived at our library, which was especially impressive considering our poverty.
“Maybe if we sold these books...” I mumbled to myself, only to be met with a sharp pain in my head as Patience yelled: No! I reassured her—or her memories—that I was just kidding. This is such a pain, I thought to myself. Is she going to stop me every time I do something unladylike for the sake of the Granger family? I guess I’ll just convince her by saying it’s for those little angels.
Patience seemed to be a bit obsessed with her brothers—a brocon, basically. Well, I shouldn’t say that was “obsessed,” but rather that she had been lovingly looking after her brothers since her mother’s passing. Gosh, and she’s only ten years old herself. I had some complaints about our father and his lack of life skills, but Patience had made a promise to her mother before she’d passed.
“I’ll take care of Nassius and Henry.”
My chest tightened as I recalled the painful memory. Even without that promise, I was determined to look after my adorable brothers.
“Household magic... The church...” I mumbled. Aside from the wall with a window, the room was filled with books from floor to ceiling. I glanced over the spines of the books and pulled out those that looked like they would have information about household magic or the church.
I returned to my room and shivered from the cold as I read two relatively thin books from our library: Beginner Spells in Household Magic and On the Church of Estena. There seemed to be books that were more technical on the upper shelves, but I’d been born in Japan and had no experience with magic, so I wanted to start with something simpler. And as for religion...I guess I’d attended Christmas parties, listened to the ringing of a Buddhist bell on New Year’s Eve, and visited a Shinto shrine at the start of a new year. That was it. All I really knew about religion was the tidbits I’d heard during an ethics course. All this to say, the library’s more technical books seemed like they would be difficult to understand, so I’d avoided them.
“It’s so cold that I can’t even turn the pages of these books,” I muttered. I would’ve been slightly warmer if I’d gotten in bed and read under the covers, but that didn’t meet Patience’s standards for ladylike behavior, so I’d given up.