The party thrown in celebration of young lady Victureo’s fifteenth birthday was a grand event that every single lower noble dreamed to be invited to.

But.

It was also an exclusive event that even some of the higher nobles couldn’t get a chance to witness.

Ehmi Gamemi Victureo was turning fifteen right before the beginning of a school year in the Aspakeony Academy which honestly saved her family a great deal of potential headaches.

After all, Ehmi was proud, but she was also cheerful and approachable person. In case she would indiscriminately make some friends of the lower status and wanted them to show up at her coming-of-age ceremony… well… things could turn unpleasant.

Especially if one of the potential friends was of the male species and Ehmi, being herself, would be delighted to finally put her dance lessons to good use and gave that male the honor of dancing with someone she knew before someone more important.

…yes… it seemed that her parents could breathe out in relief…

“Happy birthday, young lady Victureo. Please, accept this humble gift~”

The thirteen-year-old Kierul Berra Helterose greeted the crimson-haired girl while curtsying splendidly while her masked attendant moved forward with a simple white box that didn’t give much hope about the value of its content.

“Thank you very much, young lady Helterose, mister Aku. I’ve heard that you two have been quite busy recently.”

Ehmi bowed her head politely in response to the greeting while one of her servants took the box off of the masked attendant’s hands.

The crimson-haired girl could not see it, but her servant certainly didn’t have a nice expression which not only was unprofessional, but straight-up rude.

Whether it was because she didn’t think about the master and servant pair to be of much importance or simply loosened up because the masked boy could not properly see her was up to debate but her face showed how bothersome and annoying she believed the cheap-looking present to be.

It was easy to guess what she was thinking – this girl was the only one from the young generation of the Helterose family to get invited but couldn’t show up with a good gift?!

~…no wonder that her older brother bribed me to embarrass her…~

The last part wasn’t exactly guessable, but it was actually what the servant was thinking as she turned around and…

“…ah…!”

*thump*

Tripped, rather convincingly, letting out a small shocked gasp as the box fell out of her hands and spilled its content for everyone to see…

“Wha….?!”

“Wait, isn’t that…?!”

“It couldn’t be…? Could it…?!”

“…?”𝞸𝚟𝓵xt.𝐜𝗈𝓂

The servant allowed herself a mischievous smirk after the well-done job of exposing the cheap necklace that was supposedly in the simple white box – but when she heard the reaction of the people still waiting their turn to greet and give the birthday present to her master, a shadow of confusion took over her face.

“?!?!?”

The servant’s eyes widened in shock when she saw the walnut-sized semi-translucent crystal with something glowing within its core.

*thump*

“?!??!”

And then the servant almost had a heart attack when her master kneeled down without any hesitation, not caring that she was bowing down in front of the youngest child of the Helterose family, and scooped the crystal with both hands.

“Y-young lady Kierul…! are… are you sure you want to give it to me?!”

Ehmi gasped bushing heavily, clenching the crimson crystal to her chest and actually shaking from excitement, leaving her servant speechless.

“Young lady Victureo, please don’t even ask about it~! The moment that Aku dealt with the fire elemental and its heart shone through its sizzling remains I knew that you, the pride of all fire magicians, are its rightful owner.”

Kierul merely smiled softly and curtsied one more time while giving the explanation that stirred even more of a reaction than before.

Fire elemental’s heart!

A crafting material that was considered a holy grail for all fire magicians.

Elementals were one of the rarest monsters that basically never showed up in the Bellcephora kingdom territory – no matter what attributes those creatures were associated with, their hearts could be used to create conduits that improved the control of the mana of said attribute.

Normal magicians prayed and dreamed about owning a wand with an elemental heart, even though it wouldn’t make much of a difference to them.

People who did need them were the transcended magicians, the mages that had far too much mana to even know what to do with it which sometimes led to unexpected problems and overcharging of spells.

The ingredient that was not available for them, originally, in the previous timeline, could reach outrageous prices that only the rarest of mana crystals could have.

One of Ehmi’s greatest pet peeves was she didn’t have a personal wand despite being an incredibly strong magician born in one of the six great families.

“B-but, wouldn’t you want to keep it for yourself?”

The birthday girl was still in a state of disbelief.

An item that her family spent a small fortune on finding made its way into her hands as a gift FROM ANOTHER FIRE MAGICIAN.

The hearts of the elementals were the only part of the dead elemental that could be used for anything at all and it was impossible for one elemental to have more than one heart. Adding to that, all elementals were solitary creatures that were sustaining themselves by eating mana crystals and staying within their own territories. They did not procreate – a new elemental would be born out of the accumulation of mana the moment another one died keeping their numbers unchanging through the hundreds and thousands of years.

….which meant it was also impossible to encounter two of them at the same time…

Kierul Berra Helterose and her attendant Aku really came across such a rare creature, not only survived but managed to kill it, and now they were giving away its heart without a shred of hesitation…?!

“Young lady Kieeeruuul…!”

*pomf*

Ehmi teared up and stepped forward, hugging the younger girl in an affectionate, heartfelt hug.

“Thank you! Thank you so muuuuch~!”

The crimson-haired girl cheered out seemingly trying to crush the younger girl out of sheer gratefulness.