Leticia steeled herself and started thinking about what lay ahead, then put a hand to her head as if she'd just remembered something.
And then a pain far worse than the ache in her legs shot through her.
"Actually, ow! That hurts!"
She'd been so worked up over the return of her memories that she hadn't noticed at all, but the moment she registered the pain, it began to throb more intensely.
Combined with the irritation smouldering in her chest, her tone came out rather rough.
When she looked at the hand she'd pressed to her head, it was smeared with blood.
Leticia flinched for a second, but a glance at the table lying on its side nearby made everything clear.
"That's right, I tried to kill myself..."
In the end she hadn't died, but since it helped her regain her memories, it wasn't completely meaningless.
Even so, pain was pain.
"I'd better do something about this wound first..."
Along with the pain came annoyance.
"If that guy finds out I tried to kill myself, he'll definitely lose it and take his temper out on me again. Well, now that I've got my memories and my mana back, I'm not about to lose to a man whose only redeeming feature is brute strength, but..."
Leticia sensed the mana within her.
"Just like Supreme God-sama said, it feels like it's pushing back. So I'm still not ready. It's frustrating, but it looks like I can't make my move straight away."
It was humiliating, but Leticia decided that keeping a low profile was the right choice for now.
However, once she could properly control her mana...
"Just you wait."
Her eyes turned sharp, and Leticia clenched her fist tight.
"For now, I need to sort this place out before anyone notices. I'm not sure my magic will work properly, but with the grimoire I should be able to manage somehow..."
Along with her memories she'd recovered the mana the Supreme God had been holding for her, but she couldn't wield it freely yet.
Even so, she should be able to use at least a little with the grimoire the Supreme God had given her, the finest of the mediums indispensable to any magic user.
When she tried gathering mana in her hand, she found she could handle it as naturally as breathing.
It was a motion she had repeated countless times in her past life, one so familiar it was etched into her very soul.
In that instant, a thick book appeared in Leticia's hand with a soft pop.
A grimoire granted to her by the creator god, the Supreme God, along with his blessing.
It was both a medium for casting magic and a divine grimoire that the Supreme God had made for Leticia; one that only she could use, one that, without exaggeration, held every spell in this world.
When Leticia poured more mana into her grimoire, its pages fluttered.
Letters appeared on the blank paper.
They weren't the language of any country; the words were in a divine script used by the gods.
Only those who had received a god's blessing could understand it.
《Heal—》
The moment she spoke the divine words that appeared on the page, a warm, soft light gently enveloped her and began to heal her wounds.
The spell not only completely healed the wound on her head, but even the cuts on her ankles, left by her many escape attempts.
"It's still hard to use since my mana hasn't settled yet, but I can manage this much. Though, maybe I went overboard? I suppose it does look odd for the wounds to be gone."
She didn't want to be interrogated about why her wounds had disappeared.
If they realised she had magic strong enough to heal old injuries, it would restrict her future actions.
"They need to go on thinking I'm a frail, powerless human who can't do a thing..."
Leticia used her grimoire again.
《Illusion—》
When she chanted the different letters that surfaced this time, the scars reappeared on the very ankles they had just vanished from.
But they were merely an illusion; it would be nearly impossible for anyone to see through it unless they possessed more mana than Leticia.
Most beastmen had extraordinary physical ability, but in exchange few of them possessed mana.
And even if any did, there was no way one of them could surpass Leticia, who held the Supreme God's blessing.
"And 《Purify》 while I'm at it."
Leticia cleanly erased her own blood from the floor and the table alike.
To avoid detection by the beastmen's keen noses, she even purified the air.
If anything, the air, stale until now, felt clearer than before, though surely no beastman here would care that much.
After all, it was obvious from her present situation that Leticia wasn't treated all that well here.
Until that day, Leticia had lived an ordinary life.
There had been odd things about her, like being able to use a little magic, but she had undoubtedly led a peaceful life full of smiles.
That was destroyed when Leticia was eight years old.
Leticia was born and raised in a small village called Cocon village.
"Leti, please light the stove for me."
"Okaaay!"
At her mother's request, Leticia lit the stove with practised ease.
"Thank you, Leti."
Her mother said, gently ruffling her hair, and Leticia giggled shyly. "Ehehe."
"Next, go over to Auntie Riv's next door."
"Okaaay!"
Mornings were busier for Leticia than for anyone else in the village.
After all, getting a fire going for breakfast was actually quite a hassle.
But Leticia could do it in an instant.
She also went around to the homes of the elderly who had trouble fetching water and used magic to fill their water jugs to the brim.
What was more, the water Leticia conjured with magic was extremely tasty. It was good to drink, of course, but it also made food taste even better when used for cooking, so there was a scramble for it almost every day.
But there was only one Leticia.
So the adults had apparently settled the matter by giving priority to the elderly, who had a hard time fetching water, and putting everyone else on a rotating schedule.
"There, I've filled it right up."
"Thank you as always. Here, a little something for you."
What she was handed wasn't money, but a sweet made of honey.
Since there was no use for money in the village except when the pedlars came, the sweets were worth far more to Leticia.
"Yay, thank you!"
Leticia, delighted with a childlike innocence, moved on to the next house, where she was given more sweets as a tip.
That was why even though she lived in a remote rural area where pedlars hardly ever visited, Leticia never had to worry about sweets.
Plenty of children her age envied her for it, but since Leticia shared her sweets properly with everyone, not one of them ever complained.
If anything, since the food they ate every day tasted better thanks to Leticia, they showed such unity that they organised themselves to help her get to the houses as efficiently as possible.
"Leti, I've brought it!"
"Mine too, please."
Once Leticia had finished visiting all the houses that needed her, the children gathered around her carrying water jugs.
Some of the children, even smaller than Leticia, came over lugging little buckets, huffing and puffing.
"Pwease do mine today too."
They pleaded in their lisping voices, and knowing she had no choice but to give it her all, she rolled up her sleeves and braced herself.
"Leave it to me."
Leticia filled the water jugs the children had collected from their homes, one after another.
There were far too many to fill them all to the brim, which she felt bad about, but even so everyone thanked her and was pleased.
That made Leticia happy too.
To anyone watching, casting magic looked like nothing more than Leticia holding out her hand.
"It really is strange. Why is Leti the only one who can do this?"
The one watching Leticia's hands with such curiosity was a twelve-year-old girl, the eldest of the village children.
In this village, once you turned about fifteen you either left to find work elsewhere or stayed and worked in the fields.
The oldest of those currently under fifteen was this girl, Lily.
"Hmm, I wonder why?"
Even Leticia couldn't explain why.
She could do it, and that was that.
"Like, when I picture water, this wobbly thing inside me goes whoosh and then it goes splooosh, sort of?"
"That explains nothing at all."
Lily looked incredibly confused.
"But I just can't explain it."
"It's fine, it's fine. Who needs a reason? Thanks to her we get to eat good food."
The one laughing brightly with a flash of teeth was Rodney, Lily's younger brother and a boy the same age as Leticia.
"Well, that's true, but I can't help thinking that if I could do the same thing, I could be useful to the village like Leticia."
"Lily, you're already helping out a lot. When it comes to sewing you're the best among us."
At Leticia's words, the other girls nodded along.
"Yeah, nobody's worse at sewing than Leti. Even I could beat her."
Leticia glared at Rodney who had burst into cackling laughter.
"I'm not filling the water at your house today."
"What?! Hang on a minute! If you do that my mum'll tell me off!"
"I'll tell her it's Rodney's fault."
"I'm very sorry!"
Everyone laughed at Rodney as he bowed over and over in apology.
That peace was shattered in an instant.
As always, Leticia was helping to water the fields.
There was no school in the village, so there was no custom of attending one, but the children under twelve gathered at the village chief's house every few days to learn the basics of reading and writing.
The rest of the time they usually helped out with chores at home.
Even that work could be called an important lesson for the future.
In this remote village, where there was no opportunity for formal schooling, the ability to acquire a trade determined one's future, so the children were desperate to learn.
The tendency was strongest in those who dreamt of leaving the village for the cities.
Leticia, on the other hand, wanted to live in the village forever, so she wasn't so desperate that her eyes burned with determination.
Perhaps it was partly because she had magic.
Rodney was fired up about leaving this dreary village for good the moment he turned fifteen. The world probably isn't that kind, though, Leticia thought.
He had invited her to leave the village with him, but Leticia loved the slow, laid-back atmosphere of the village, so she always turned him down.
"Thank you, Leticia-chan. I'm glad you're here. Work always goes much faster."
Faced with such a soft, gentle smile from someone who looked as though they had never once in their life thought about quarrelling with others, Leticia's expression softened in the same way.
Every time she experienced the kindness of the villagers, she reaffirmed that she really didn't want to leave the village after all.
"That's enough here. Off you go and play."
"Okay!"
The villagers never pushed Leticia too hard.
They were certainly glad of the convenience of her magic, but they seemed to believe that they shouldn't rely on it too much.
Leticia herself still had energy to spare and wanted to be of more use to the village, but they were considerate, saying that since she was still a child, playing and studying were her job.
It was precisely because they were such kind people that Leticia wanted to be useful, but until she turned fifteen she was inevitably treated as a child.
There was no helping it, but Leticia wished she could hurry up and become an adult.