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Translator: Lizz
Sylvia defeated her first magical creature when she was three years old. The opponent was a weed.
Next was a mosquito.
By defeating numerous magical creatures like flying insects, wild plants, and berries, Sylvia increased her magic power.
However, this was only important to Sylvia, and didn’t matter to anyone else.
*
Sylvia was the eldest daughter of the Hughes ducal family, a family of Magic Knights who led the effort to subjugate magical beasts. When she turned seven, she was taken to church by her father, whom she had rarely seen.
By the age of seven, one’s innate skill and, if they had magical power, magic attribute would be determined. Therefore, it was customary in this country for everyone to go to the church at the age of seven, where the High Priest used holy magic to identify their skills and magic attributes.
And what was revealed was –
“The skill is, ‘Accumulate Power After Defeating Magical Creatures’. As for the magic attribute – it’s ‘Livelihood’. It’s an unknown type of magic.”
Her father stiffened upon hearing the High Priest’s words, and then he began to shout.
“What kind of skill is that!? The basic principle is to defeat strong magical beasts with magic, gaining magical power after defeating them is useless! And what is ‘Livelihood’ magic!? I’ve never heard of such an embarrassing type of magic!”
Her father shouted a lot more in anger. He probably wanted to add physical violence too, but as the Leader of the Magic Knights, such actions against his young daughter would certainly become a rumor and could even lead to some form of punishment. Before that could happen, the High Priest and other priests surrounded and calmed him down.
They were accustomed to parents who expected skills and magic from their children and, when those expectations were not met, would verbally abuse and sometimes physically harm them, just like Sylvia’s father.
After being threatened and coaxed into calming down, her father left on his own. Sylvia, used to such treatment, also went home without concern.
A few days later, Sylvia was summoned by her mother, the Lord.
Sylvia ignored it, but the servants half-forced her to go and meet her.
Her mother spoke dispassionately without even glancing at Sylvia.
“There is a fortress to the southwest from here. It used to be an important place long ago, but due to changes in the borders, it is now completely useless. You are to go there. – You are not fit to be a Lord, a knight, or a political pawn. Rot away there along with that worthless ruin.”
Sylvia thought for a moment and then asked a question.
“Can I have the fortress?”
For the first time, her mother looked at Sylvia.
She started to say something, then changed her mind and gave her a thin smile.
“I’ll give it to you as a parting gift.”
“Please make a contract.”
Sylvia spoke without hesitation. Her mother slightly furrowed her brows at those words, but then smiled thinly again.
“If you can reach it safely, it’s yours. However, asking for help is useless, and you are not allowed to return here. You must manage on your own.”
“Please make a contract.”
Sylvia repeated her request, making her mother openly grimace. But she still made and handed over the contract.
“Here, take it. As an extra favor, I’ll give you a bit of money too.”
“Thank you very much.”
Sylvia took the contract, read it, then signed and infused it with magic.
” <Let this contract be valid for all eternity – [Contract]>.”
“What!?”
Both her mother and the butler standing nearby were astonished.
“I have made a magical contract. It is now valid.”
Both her mother and the butler were taken aback.
“…Y-you… That magic…”
“It’s Livelihood magic. Contracts are essential for living.”
“What!?”
Sylvia bowed at her astonished mother.
“Thank you for giving me the fortress.”
As she watched Sylvia leave, her mother began to think that banishing her might have been a rash decision.
Sylvia was raised more normally until she was about three years old.
Her parents had a political marriage. It was the marriage between a noble famous for leading the subjugation of magical beasts, the Leader of the Magic Knights, and a member of the royal family, a capable Lord of a ducal house. Their marriage was solely for mutual benefit, so there was no love between them.
Both parents prioritized their work – her father as a Magic Knight and her mother as a Lord – over everything else.
They viewed their children as tools to be used based on their skills and magic, showing no affection towards them.
Sylvia, being the firstborn, was taken care of by the servants until her brother was born. After her mother became pregnant with the second child, the servants were fully occupied with helping her mother and taking care of the newborn, leaving Sylvia neglected.
Sylvia was not even informed of the birth of her brother; she only understood that there was no one left to take care of her. From the beginning, she had had no expectations from her parents or the servants. She had always thought, ‘That’s just how it is’, and tried to learn how to survive on her own. She was granted her current magic to adapt to her environment, something those around her did not understand. Only Sylvia herself vaguely realized this, because she thought she wouldn’t have been able to survive without it.
– What good would it do to learn magic that only throws fireballs at enemies? For me to survive, I need something more than that.
Sylvia thought this every time she saw her father proudly demonstrating his magic.
The next day, Sylvia set off alone with a tap-covered wagon pulled by a horse, accompanied by chickens, cows, horses, pigs, goats, and sheep. No one in the mansion even knew that Sylvia had left.
…From an outsider’s perspective, it might seem like a miserable situation, but Sylvia herself was quite carefree and even elated.
She had managed to claim the fortress as her own without any obligations or expectations in return. And at that moment, she learned new incantations.
[Contract] and [Dominant].
[Contract] seemed to bind a contract with magic. The extent of its effectiveness was unknown, but it appeared to be difficult to break.
[Dominant], though sounded harsh, was a magic that made others recognize the caster as the leader of the group. Currently, Sylvia had used it on her magical creature companions, the chickens, to make them recognize her as their leader.
– Yes, the magic Sylvia used was meant to achieve, or assist necessary tasks in daily life.
Moreover, magical creatures were not limited to the magical beasts that were the targets for subjugation in this country. Every living thing in this world was a magical creature. By eliminating weeds, she gained magic power; by eating berries, she gained magic power; by picking flowers, she gained magic power.
However, Sylvia had no intention of telling anyone about it. Her parents might have misunderstood the category of magical creatures, but for Sylvia, all that misunderstanding meant to her was ‘So what? And then?’ She had little emotion towards those with whom she had a distant relationship.
She had never sought affection.
Surrounded by people who only cared about themselves and showed no affection towards others, Sylvia also grew up only interested in herself.
However…
Her brother couldn’t be so detached, and was terrified by the way their parents and servants treated his sister.
Since she left without ever meeting him, they would probably never see each other.
He had learned that he had an older sister when he overheard the servants who took care of him nonchalantly mocking her in front of him, saying things like, ‘Oh, that girl who used to daydream outside a lot’, and ‘She was creepy. How did she survive when no one took care of her after Madam got pregnant with her second child?’
And then, a few days later, when he finally found out that his sister had disappeared, he heard his father sneer, ‘That fool seems to have headed for the ruin. She’ll probably die along the way. We managed to dispose of the trash nicely.’ His mother, who rarely came to his room, appeared and said coldly while looking down at him, ‘…Currently, this is the only child we have, so we’ll tolerate some trash skills and trash magic, but if it gets worse, we’ll replace him with someone decent from the branch family and send this one to the fortress.’ Hearing this, he made a resolute vow in his young heart.
He would become stronger than these parents, no matter what. And then, he would drive them all out.
Unaware of her brother’s thoughts or even his existence, Sylvia leisurely headed towards the fortress.
It wasn’t a hurried journey, and she had always managed everything on her own. Leaving home was no different.
When she got tired of walking, she would ride on the cart, and after a while, she would get off and walk with everyone.
When everyone got tired or hungry, they would take a break.
As they were leisurely taking a break on the way, a man wandered over.
Silavin: Hey guys, as the second top novel voted for, and Lizzz’s compassion, I would like to present Sylvia of the Fortress!
You guys did not see the polling behind the scenes, but this novel actually overtook Truth Weavers for like a week.
Anyway, thanks to her grace, here you go!
BTW, this novel will be uploaded every Tuesday at 2AM @+8GMT
Also, images will only be on Patreon, like with Broke Mercenary.
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