It had been a week now since she first arrived at Evelyn’s mansion.
Her room was massive and the food she ate was way better than the bread others gave her.
‘Mana..’ Astraea looked at her hands, ever since attaining those memories, she learned to wield it, albeit slightly.
She also understood that what happened to her seemed to be a bit abnormal.
Normally, one goes through a long process of obtaining enough mana, then they finally form their mana core.
However, in her case, she completely skipped that and now had a Tier 1 mana core, which from what she could tell from her memories, had never happened before, she was the only one who this happened to.
That, added to the fact that the memories contained how she used to fight, it was a battle style utilizing threads, something that she was able to conjure up now.
The memories also began assimilating inside of her mind, most of them were normal, providing clarity and how her older self lived.
She still couldn’t believe that she was Astraea, the one whose story she had heard so many times.
And finally, she could confirm, it was false, the person behind the performance did not know what they were talking about.
‘She… I was not evil’ Astraea pouted and finally arrived in front of a door.
Apparently, her training was supposed to start today and Evelyn would be there to oversee it.
She was quite confident in herself and her ability to use the mana, while she wasn’t exactly the best, she was definitely not the worst.
Opening the door, a man wearing fully black tight clothing greeted her eyes and on the very side, Evelyn, who was sitting down on a comfortable chair, sipping some kind of drink.
The training grounds were fairly spacious, the sun was visible high above, it seemed to be the outdoor type of field.
“It took you a long time to get here, Astraea, were you in the kitchen again?” Evelyn asked as her gaze was directed towards the crumbs on Astraea’s mouth.
“No…” She wiped her mouth, she might have taken a cookie or two on her way to training.
Evelyn just simply stared at her, sipping the drink before gesturing something to the man dressed in black.
And the moment she did so, the man disappeared from Astraea’s vision, her unheightened senses slightly tingling.
But she couldn’t react, she knew how to in theory, but her body was just not fully adjusted yet.
‘Wher-‘ Her thoughts were interrupted as her body was slammed into a wall, her consciousness slightly fading.
“Jared, I told you to go easy on her” Evelyn said in a threatening tone before throwing her drink right at the back of Jared’s head.
“Sorry mistress…” He replied and wiped away the shattered glass before heading over to Astraea and lifting her up.
However, upon seeing her eyes, both he and Evelyn were left surprised.
They held deep malice, such malice that would not come from a mere child.
‘I’ll kill you…’ Astraea’s eyes began glowing a radiant silver before threads started appearing all around her, the pure black color was dominating the surroundings.
The threads did not seem sharp and were quite visible, however, Jared’s senses were screaming at him to not go near her for now.
‘I’ll kill y-…’ Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted as she saw the sun high above.
It seemed to remind her of something, a memory dwelling in her heart.
‘Michael..’
However, as Astraea was lost in her thoughts, a kick landed on her abdomen, this time it was much weaker, to the point where it seemed like a joke.
Evelyn noticed this and said with a scoff “Jared, that is too weak, can’t you find something in the very middle?”
“Yes mistress” He exclaimed and sent out another attack, it was much weaker than his first, but at the same time, much stronger than the last.
However, Astraea was able to react this time, dodging with small steps to the side.
But just as she let her arrogance get to her, another strike came down, landing on her shoulder and knocking her down.
“Ow..” Astraea grasped her shoulder with a few tears in her eyes, even if she had the memories of her older self, it would take a while for them to fully assimilate.
For now, she was just a young girl with an adult’s memories, that’s it.
“Mistress, are you sure about this?” Jared turned to Evelyn with a hesitant look, while his profession dealt with combat, hurting children did not exactly put a smile on his face.
“She will be one of you in the future, if you don’t want a burden, train her well.”
‘What are they talking about?’ Astraea was a bit confused at the interaction, at first she did think that her job would be around the house.
However, she was not as naive as she was a week ago, she could realize Evelyn’s hidden intentions.
Her mind just couldn’t quite figure out what, the man was a combatant, was she going to be some sort of a mercenary?
While she was lost in her thoughts, the two of them finally finished discussing their matters.
“Astraea” Evelyn called out to her to get her attention.
“Don’t stop training with this man until he acknowledges you, alright?” She said in a kind voice, a stark contrast to her earlier tone.
“Okay?” Astraea simply nodded, she did want to grow stronger, if by fighting him she could, then that would be ideal.
“Good, I wish you luck.”
—–
Astraea was now 15, her so called training was finally finished as she managed to kill Jared.
According to him, that was the only way to make him acknowledge her.
‘What an idiot’ She thought with a frown, her older self’s memories finally assimilated within her, it happened a few years ago.
And when it did, her strength had begun growing rapidly, even coming close to beating Jared once or twice.
However, her previous thoughts of this little side job being a mercenary job were now long gone.
They were training her to be an assassin.
But she was no idiot, nor was she naive, if she didn’t want to do something, she wouldn’t.
Astraea turned to the side, glaring at a certain pillar in the distance “You can come out now.”
“How did you know?” Jared came out with a small chuckle, his head that she lopped clean off was now intact.
And the body on the ground was still there, it seemed like he used some kind of cloning ability.
“Your mana reeks, it’s not very hard to notice you” Astraea said in a neutral tone. Although this man was a good assassin, her senses were better.
“Ouch” He sarcastically held his heart as if what she just said hurt him.
Astraea rolled her eyes and was about to speak up, but in the next moment, the doors of the training ground opened.
And a person who she hadn’t seen in a long time finally arrived, it was Evelyn.
Due to her having some duties to attend to, she was not always present at the mansion.
The last time they met was 2 years ago.
She glanced at Astraea then turned her gaze to Jared “I assume she is ready now?”
“Yes, mistress.”
Evelyn’s smile beamed up as she began walking over to Astraea “Long time no see, are you up for a mission?”
‘A mission? I will have to go kill somebody?’ Her eyebrows twitched as she did not exactly want to do anything that went against her moral code.
“Don’t worry about the small details, all you have to know is that the person who you are tasked with eliminating is a scumbag who exploits other’s weaknesses” Evelyn said in a serious tone and took out a small document, handing it over to Astraea.
She read it over and nodded, her face filled with disgust ‘This definitely fits the type of person I don’t mind killing..’
“When can I set out?”
Evelyn looked over to Jared and nodded, before turning her gaze back onto her.
“Now.”
