Chapter 3: A Tenth Birthday and a New Aspiration

When you counted it up, today was a day of great significance.

“Come on, Liya! Happy birthday!”

“Quick, blow out the candles, Liya! Then you’ll become more and more beautiful～”

“Any wish you want to make? Liya～?”

That was right—if you really calculated it, today was her tenth birthday in this second life. In every sense, it was an extremely important day, because in the thinking of the demon race, ten years old was a new starting point. Children of this age were no longer treated as little kids but as youths. In other words:

No more embarrassing lift-ups and hugs!

This was truly refreshing. As for birthday presents and such…

“No need, Sister nuns. I don’t want any gifts.”

Of course she couldn’t ask. After all, this church wasn’t exactly wealthy. Its income relied solely on donations from believers and the nuns voluntarily working part-time jobs, plus perhaps a little state subsidy. Regardless, the people here were far from rich, and Liya had no desire to cause trouble for others.

Besides, she really didn’t have any gift she wanted to buy. After turning ten, the nine refinements of her magic power were almost complete, and the magic seed inside her had basically matured. What remained was to cultivate slowly. At this rate, she should be able to recover to her former peak strength by the age of eighteen. Every time she thought of the peak realm she had touched in her past life, Liya couldn’t suppress the excitement in her heart, and a smile inevitably crept onto her lips.

That smile, in the eyes of the nuns, was naturally a child’s joy at her birthday, making them even more eager to give her something. After hesitating for a moment, Sister Ailiya, who had originally adopted Liya, stepped forward.

“Liya, dear～ Grandma doesn’t have anything else to give you, but I hope you’ll like this.”

With that, Ailiya took off the silver cross hanging around her neck and handed it to Liya.

“Grandma Ailiya?!”

Liya was shocked. She knew this silver cross pendant very well. She remembered that Grandma Ailiya had worn it around her neck ever since she was one year old. At least ten years had passed, so it should be a very precious item…

“Little Liya has always liked the church’s icons since she was small; she seems to really like them. I’ll give this to you. May the Lord bless you with a happy and fulfilling life…”

Ailiya clasped the silver cross in both hands and prayed softly, then looked up with a smile and hung the pendant around Liya’s neck. Throughout, Liya made no resistance.

Although Liya was not religious, that was no reason to resist. Neither the kindness of her upbringing nor her dignity as a martial artist would allow her to oppose this. So…

“Thank you. I really like this gift.”

Liya mustered her best smile and said to Ailiya.

She hadn’t smiled in so long; she didn’t know if it looked good… But regardless, seeing Liya smile, Ailiya also smiled sincerely. That was enough.

Suddenly, looking at Ailiya, an idea arose in Liya’s heart.

In her past life, such things existed within the human alliance. She wondered if the demon race had them…

“Grandma Ailiya, I have a wish now.”

“Oh? What is it, little Liya?”

“I want to go to school!” Liya spoke out the thought that had just occurred.

“School…?”

“Yes, the kind of school that requires an exam to enter, where you can train magic and martial arts…”

As she spoke, Liya kept her eyes fixed on Ailiya’s. When she mentioned school, she indeed saw surprise in Ailiya’s eyes. Yes! She hadn’t guessed wrong!

Schools specifically designed to provide a good training environment for children gifted in magic cultivation! Great! So such schools existed among the demon race too!

“Liya wants to go to an academy? Why…”

“I want to repay everyone at the church!” Liya said the reason she had prepared long ago.

The effect seemed somewhat unexpected…

“Mmm! We didn’t raise you for nothing, Liya!”

“Liya is such a good child! Big sister loves you the most!”

“When Liya grows up, she’ll definitely find a good family and become a noble of high society!”

“What a sweet and lovely child!”

For some reason, from the eyes of the younger nuns, Liya again saw desires for kisses, hugs, and lift-ups that terrified her. That look made her unconsciously step back, almost assuming a defensive opening stance. Women were truly frightening.

“Repaying kindness… hmm. But it’s different from school. The academy requires an exam; it might be very difficult…”

“No problem! I have full confidence!”

Liya said with certainty. Come on—although she was still far from her past peak, that was only in magic power. Her techniques themselves had not faded. Over these ten years, besides training magic, she had also constantly honed her body. If you really assessed her strength, she had probably reached about thirty percent of her former self.

If even that wasn’t enough to pass the academy’s exam… then it would really be interesting. While imagining the future, Liya smiled.

And that unconscious smile also fell into Ailiya’s eyes.

“Ah… well.” Ailiya sighed softly.

“Alright, I can take Liya to take the academy’s exam. But because it’s not formal enrollment, Liya will have to take a more difficult transfer exam. It will be tough though.”

“Really?! I can enter the academy now?”

“Of course, after all, Liya is already ten.” Ailiya smiled kindly, stroked Liya’s head, and her aged, wrinkled hand gently brushed Liya’s golden hair. It felt very nice.

This was the only intimate contact Liya had never resisted so far.

“I understand! Thank you, Grandma Ailiya! I’ll go prepare! When do we leave?”

“Hmm, let me think… How about three days from now?”

“Understood!”

Seeing Liya so spirited, Ailiya also smiled, then clapped her hands.

“In that case, let’s eat the cake～! Everyone, don’t hold back! This is our little princess, Liya’s birthday! Enjoy it!”

“Hooray!!!”

——————

I hate birthdays! An hour later, Liya thought from the bottom of her heart.

On her mouth—no, on her face, beside her eyes, beside her ears, beside her nose—everywhere was the fragrance of cream, impossible to ignore. When she stuck out her tongue and licked, she could taste the cream. The excited nun sisters were far too enthusiastic, each vying to smear cake on each other’s faces. And as the birthday girl, she was the repeated target.

This was simply terrible.

Even in her past life, when her only disciple celebrated her birthday, they never did this. Birthdays used to be very warm, full of nostalgic… fist practice.

Exactly! As a martial artist, birthdays should be spent practicing boxing! Hitting sandbags! That’s the martial artist’s birthday!

Being smeared all over with cream like this was sheer humiliation!

“Ah…”

She let out another deep sigh. Since her rebirth, she didn’t know how many times this had happened. Oh well, since it was such a memorable occasion as her tenth birthday, she wouldn’t hold it against the nuns. Hmm…

After hesitating for a moment, Liya scooped up a small piece of cake and smeared it onto the face of the nearest nun. Incidentally, to reach her face, Liya had to jump.

“Eeeeek～!”

“…Hmph.”

Serves you right for smearing cake on me earlier! This is karma!