My Lady Chef { La Vita Series } - Volume 1

Extra Chapter: The Duchess Learns How To Use Magick

A few weeks after the duke departed for war, much of the duties of the lady has increased.

And we, the mana sprites of water and fire have been with her after her "reawakening" have noticed how she tackles everything given to her with dedication.

Igneus, an ever temperamental sprite of fire has not picked a contractor since his last one died.

And the calm Undine who served a master in the Exotic Lands hundreds of years ago.

Both of them chose to form a contract with the young duchess, whose name was Alaina Aisenburg.

And she was an odd sort.

She is bookish and has read half of the duke's libraries by now and knows just what mana sprites are truly capable of.

As spirit that embodies the elements, with them at her command; She can summon rainfall or a great flood if she wants to.

She can even burn her enemies to a crisp or just send Ignis to start an eternal fire that can burn her enemies alive in their homes

And yet the young lady uses our mana....

to cook.

Cook.

It was something that Undine was confused with but Igneus was already happy to help whenever the Lady Alaina asks for their assistance to infuse mana into certain foods during her cooking experiments.

Which only increased after her husband's departure.

But the sprites soon relented and assisted in her aptitude of using her mana because she was not a greedy female.

Plus. It was fun seeing her turn ingredients into such delicious looking food.

Every chop of vegetables and aromatics, every time she tears up herbs as garnish or used it for soups, every time she turns everyday items into buttery soft bread rolls and desserts.

Both sprites soon loved it whenever she calls them to help her cook.

And she even feeds them mana-infused food which miraculously allows them to improve their own mana powers.

Usually, a contractor levels up their own power and as their mana sprite, they would also level up and improve their abilities, unlocking stronger forms as they grow together.

But for a lady who has no combat skills and just cooks everyday.....

The mana sprite found that eating mana infused food little by little greatly increases their power levels.

A discovery that made them very happy.

They decided to find a way to help their contractor in more ways than one.

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"Magick?" You mean...I can learn magick?"

*magick - an archaic spelling of the modern word "magic". I prefer it written this way so please do not correct me in the future, my dear readers.

The duchess looked at the sprites with a surprised expression upon her pretty face.

She had just finished prepping a few ingredients for tomorrow's new soup trials when her sprites proposed to teach her how to use "magick"

As a form of defense.

Yes. We will help you use basic magick. Even a small fireball throw can help save a life. Igneus nodded. Since we, your mana sprites are tied to your soul as you are our contractor. It should be easy to summon a small flame. Go on. Try it."

The duchess looked intrigued all of a sudden and lifted her outstretched hand.

A flame the size of an apple suddenly appeared on her palm but stayed there.

Good. Now try imagining it into a small ball of fire.  Undine said softly.

The young duchess seems deep in thought when her gaze sharpened and in just a few seconds the fire in her hand swirled into a ball of fire.

The sprites were impressed with her aptitude to learn. Magick is a difficult thing to master because it requires concentration and spatial intelligence to make sure you are able to direct your elements where to go or what to do in advance even before you do them.

"Amazing. Increasing the oxygen around it worked." she muttered excitedly. "since most living beings needs oxygen to survive and live. So does fire and it can be controlled if you...."

The mana sprites found her child like excitement and odd words to be the norm.

Since their contractor is someone whose soul is...not originally from this realm.

They continued to school her in the privacy of her study for days after all her duties are done ( this includes her cooking trials in the culinary house )

And the sprites have learned that the duches....

is frighteningly good at magick!

In just a few weeks, she mastered conjuring up fireballs and making them dance around like floating lights.

She also learned how to use flowing ribbons of water to fling at targets.

And what was even scarier.

She was adept at combining two opposing elements and turning them into unique spells.

like a Boiling Water Bubble Spell or an Ice Spike.

When the sprites asked how is she able to imagine this, she simply told them that she loved playing "video games" in her past life especially doing MMORPG in which her avatar is often a long range spell caster.

In short. A Mage.

These words were once again something the sprites cannot comprehend but they understood that doing these.."videogames" must have trained her to be a fast learner.

But the word "mage".

That was the only thing they understood.

So she was trained to have an affinity for magick it seems .

Those were Igneus and Undine's thoughts.

Souls from other worlds are....indeed formidable.

"I must admit. Learning magick is getting to be fun. Almost as fun as cooking." the duchess offered a mana-infused bowl of cookies as a reward for the lessons the mana sprites gave her.

As she watches the tiny elemental sprite devour the cookies with a fond look.

These magick lessons continued in secret.

Away from prying eyes.

All...except for one.

Her maid Linda, whose job it was to look over the duchess.

And step in if her lady was ever in danger.

The duchess agreed with the mana sprites that danger can lurk anywhere when you are an important figure in this world.

So it won't hurt to be prepared and have hidden trump cards at your disposal.

As she was not one to just be the damsel in distress.