After Julius stepped in, the conflict was quickly resolved.
The three boys glared at Mordred as their mothers took them away.
Mordred and Julius were left alone with the blue-haired girl, save for a woman who seemed to be her caretaker yet did not quite care about her.
"Hi. My name is Mordred. What is yours?" Mordred asked the girl.
The 4-year-old girl looked up at him with a dazed and shy look and then stuttered a quiet response, "B… Benedi… ct."
'As I thought.'
Mordred only felt confused at who would name a girl 'Benedict', it was clearly a male's name; so perhaps the spelling was different.
Mordred said, "I see. Are you also a child of the king?"
The girl spoke quietly: "Y-yes… But… My mother is a slave… So I'm not very liked."
"..."
"And my hair is like this… Sob… It's because my mom is a demon… Everyone avoids me because I look like a demon. ~Uwaaaa!…" Benedicte spoke amidst sobs and at the end of her sentence began to cry as her emotions poured out.
Mordred watched silently and let the girl cry out her worries. She was merely a 4-year-old girl. What young girl could take well being treated as a plague from the time she was born?
He reached into his pouch and rummaged through it, taking out a white handkerchief among other items. Because she was preoccupied crying, Benedicte didn't notice how Mordred's bag opened wide and he reached into it elbow-deep.
Mordred then wiped off Benedicte's tears and gave her the handkerchief to blow her nose.
After Benedicte cried for a while and eventually slightly quietened down, she handed the handkerchief back to Mordred. "Th… Thank you."
Mordred looked at the white handkerchief which was now wet and covered in snoot. He told her, "You can return it to me after washing it. That's noble etiquette."
"Aah?…" When Benedicte was told this, she felt at a loss. That's what's expected of her to do, but how was she supposed to wash it? She had no idea how to go about it. She won't be able to do it!
Mordred noticed Benedicte's troubled expression and explained, "Just leave it for the servants to wash it. You're still a Princess."
"Ah…" The girl seemed enlightened.
Mordred said, "Anyway, if you knew Magic, those guys wouldn't dare to mess with you. Do you want me to teach you?"
Their meeting was Fate.
He had to grasp it.
He'd attempt to teach Benedicte just one spell to set her on the right path of not wasting her childhood. If she could begin learning Magic at a young age and have some accomplishments in it, then it would be something good for her future.
But hearing Mordred's words, Benedicte looked troubled again. Learn to do Magic? She didn't know if she could do something so amazing…
"I… I don't know…"
Benedicte stuttered, but Mordred took it as a confirmation, saying, "Okay, then I'll teach you! Let's go!"
Mordred grabbed Benedicte's hand and brought her to another corner of the garden.
The garden was huge. The spot they were originally at had bad aura remaining and unpleasant memories attached to it, so he brought her to another place.
It was a grassy glade amidst small decorated trees which had red leaves and brown-reddish bark.
In the meantime, Julius observed the scene from a distance with a soft smile. 'His Highness finally made a friend his age! It's a good thing!'
In the glade, Mordred said first, "Having talent for it is essential when learning Magic. So even if I'm going to teach you, there's a good chance you might just not be able to do it."
Magicians in this world are rare.
It's estimated that only about 5% of the population has the capabilities to take up combat; that's 5 people in 100. This meant becoming an Elementary ranked Magician or a legitimate Intermediate rank warrior.
But among those 5%, only 1 out of 20 people would have enough talent for handling Magic Power to cast at least Elementary ranked spells. That was 5% out of 5%...
It meant that only about 2-3 people out of 1000 could be Magicians, or 1 in 400.
As for those who attend a Magic school and graduate having mastered at least one Advanced rank spell, that's 1 out of 100 students. This roughly meant that an Advanced rank Magician was a 1 in 40.000 existence!
Julius himself had only reached Advanced rank in a single school of attack Magic by the time he was 20, but that was still an amazing accomplishment, especially considering his additional attainments with the sword.
Statistically speaking, the chance that Benedicte had any talent for Magic was very low, but Mordred knew that the king himself had a small amount of talent for Magic, like many nobles, and Benedicte's mother was also of an unknown Demon race, so she might still be able to learn some Magic. She was not as hopeless.
However, the chance that she would become a powerful Magic user was small.
Mordred could only give it a try and see what happens. Even if Benedicte had poor talent, it would give him a chance to see how good someone with mediocre talent who had practiced from a very young age could become.
After hearing Mordred's warning, Benedicte lowered her head in defeat, losing all confidence.
Mordred said, "At any rate, I'll still try to teach you. To cast a spell the first thing you need to do is learn the Incantation."
"In~can~ta~tion?" Benedicte repeated slowly as if it was the first time hearing this complicated word.
"Yes. It's a string of words that makes the spell take effect. For example…" Mordred stretched out his hand. "Let the great protection of water be on the place thou seekest. I call a refreshing burbling stream here and now. Water Ball."
As expected, a blob of water appeared in front of Mordred's hand out of nowhere.
"Woah. It's just like before…" Benedicte was amazed.
Mordred sent the blob of water flying at a low speed and splash somewhere at the side. Following that he began to teach Benedicte the Incantation for Waterball, making her memorize the entire chant bit by bit.
Benedicte was only about 4 years old, so repeating a two-verse Incantation with no mistakes and no stuttering was a bit difficult for her, but she wasn't stupid and was diligent, so she eventually managed to say the entire thing after Mordred guided her through the Incantation enough times.
"... Water Ball."
As Benedicte finished the chant, a little bit of gushing water gathered in front of her palm. In the next moment, it dispersed and fell down.
Benedicte looked shocked by what she did.
Meanwhile Mordred stared at her.
What 'only 0.25% of the population can learn Magic'?! Benedicte managed it on her first try! It's as if every other named character could do it!
Mordred observed Benedicte and asked, "Are you tired?"
"Nnn." Benedicte shook her head.
"Okay, then do it again, but this time concentrate better."
Benedicte attempted to cast Water Ball several more times and eventually managed to conjure a small roughly shaped sphere of water, but when she did so, she seemed exhausted. Mordred knew that it was Mana Exhaustion, something that he experienced many times as a baby.
The Princess didn't manage to cast a true Water Ball like he did, but she only had a 4-year-old's mind, so it was only natural that she would struggle with concentrating. Then there was still the aspect of her Mana Pool and talent…
Eventually, Mordred smiled at her and said, "I think you have a good talent for Magic. You should definitely get a tutor to learn it… Julius, what do you think?"
Julius, who previously watched the scene with amazement and a content smile, was a little startled, then replied, "Ah… Yes, certainly. Princess Benedicte had shown talent for Magic at just 4 years of age. She should naturally receive a tutor to nurture her talents."
Benedicte was at a loss for words for a while, then she shyly told Mordred before they parted, "Th-thank you. For everything."
…
The next morning, Mordred came again to the knight's training square at the assigned hour. This time Davi was not alone but was also a white-haired man around 60 years old with him.
The older man had an average height and his wizened face had many wrinkles on it, but his body looked robust and he wore steel armor with golden decorations of a golden embroidered dragon, giving off the feeling of a veteran royal knight.
To Mordred he sort-of resembled Ser Barristan from Game of Thrones.
Mordred noticed that upon seeing this man Julius looked surprised as if this veteran knight of extraordinary fame.
"Your Highness." Davi made a courteous bow when Mordred appeared at the square.
The old man made the same gesture, but didn't say anything. He then sized up Mordred with interest and said instead, "Are you the boy that beat Davi?"
"... Yes."
"My name is Hector Grant. At one point, I trained under the previous generation Water God and attained the level of a Water Emperor. Although with my current body, I could probably at best compete with a Sword King," the man spoke with no arrogance or pride as if just stating facts.
'Oh, a Water Emperor?' Mordred raised his eyebrows. He would be satisfied with an experienced King-ranked teacher and even with a Saint-ranked one, but a former Emperor was unexpected; this was a level even above Ghislaine!
There were very few Emperor-ranked swordsmen in the entire Kingdragon Kingdom; there were no God ranks. Even if the old man's strength dropped, the experience would still be there.
Hector continued with a solemn face, "It seems that you were born with a special physique, like the Prince from the Shirone Kingdom. I want to test your level. If you satisfy me, I'll teach you the way of the sword. First, you and Davi will run laps around this training square. I want to see how you compare."
"... I understand." Mordred felt excited. He would be learning from a Sword Emperor!
However, Hector thought that Mordred had a special physique, that his strength was always there, which was false. If he showcased his complete strength in this situation, he would probably be made to always train at this level, but to train his actual physical body and attempt to attain true Battle Aura, he might have to train without Mana Reinforcement as well.
With this in mind, Mordred decided that he should tell the truth. Given that he was known as a Miko with amazing talent for Magic it was perfectly reasonable to say that he could strengthen his body using Magic.
Mordred said, "Actually, my body is not special. I'm using Magic to strengthen myself."
"Hm?" Hearing this, Hector looked surprised.
"My high speed and strength is something that I can turn on and off."
"You're using Magic Power to strengthen your body? So without it your body's strength is just ordinary?" The old knight asked.
"Yes."
"I see…" Hector showed a contemplative look as he touched his chin.
After pondering for a long while, he said, "I remember the old Water God once saying that the Demon God Laplace had a powerful body and could also use Magic Power to strengthen himself. He compared Battle Aura to being a type of Magic Power. If you're a Miko with exceptional talent for handling Magic Power, then you might indeed be able to use Magic to strengthen yourself. However, despite all of his Magical Power, Laplace could still not defeat Battle Aura users like the First Sword God or the Fighting God in a straight fight, so there must be limits to this ability."
Hector gave his analysis.
Mordred heard it but only half-listened. His abilities and physique might not entirely compare to Laplace, so he had to find his own way.
Hector continued, "This means that although you are strong now thanks to your Magic Power, you might not have a talent for Battle Aura... Even so, training with the sword to protect yourself is still useful. If as a swordsman you could reach the level of a King or Emperor, I would still be satisfied teaching such a student. So nothing's changed. I want to test your limits!"