"Ojou-sama! You can't go out alone like that!" One of the maids hurried after me out of the mansion. She was one of the ones that stayed in the Blianca estate, and wasn't used to how I acted after I regained my memories.

"I'm going undercover as a normal average girl today. This is fine." I held out the edge of my plain and slightly battered skirt. I already spent the last several days in the mansion, and needed to go out and stretch my legs a bit. Marina was in the library trying to read through the entire collection, and the kids from Windal were being trained by the maids.

"Why would you do such a thing?"

"I want to see what Blianca is like for the citizens. If I walk around announcing that I'm a noble, everyone's going to avoid me or try to show a false image, right?"

The maid frowned. "At least bring some escorts with you."

"Nah, I'll be fine."

"But what if someone tries to kidnap you-"

I swept her legs out from under her and spun around to pin her arm against her back. I summoned a knife and held it to her throat, the blade gleaming in the sun.

"I'm pretty sure I can take care of myself." I gave her a sweet smile as I gently helped her regain her footing.

Her mouth fluttered open and close like a fish out of water.

"Well then, I'm off~ tell the chef that he doesn't need to prepare lunch for me!" I jumped into the air and soared away with my wind magic. I flew at a low altitude, weaving my way through the top of the trees to avoid being seen. I didn't want to pull any 'it's a bird, it's a plane, it's a flying homicidal loli' kind of stunt. I landed close to the city center and blended in with the people.

Infiltration successful!

The houses in the residential area were a little worn down, but livable. The crafting district was full of clanging of tools and yells of people hard at work, and the commercial district was bustling with merchants and customers. Most of the main stone roads were decently maintained, but many of the side roads were bumpy and some were outright unstable.

A network of rivers flowed through the city, but it felt to me like there weren't enough bridges and some creaked as I walked over them.

I then came across a walled high end district mostly inhabited by nobles and super rich merchants. I was turned away by the guards, so I had to scout it out by flying up in some inconspicuous places and using light magic to get a telescopic view. The houses were gaudy, and even the streets looked pointlessly luxurious.

Well, some people are gonna get a tax increase.

The sun seemed to be right above me, so I went back to the commercial district to get lunch. The streets became crowded as everyone came out to buy food or went home to eat.

I found a small humble store selling noodles with duck meat and sat down with my bowl. The brown broth had a lot of impact with it sweet and savory tastes and the ducks were great.

"I don't think I've seen you before. Are you new to the area, ojou-chan?" asked the shopkeeper.

I gave him a smile. "My parents are travelling merchants. We just arrived in town yesterday. I was supposed to walk around with them, but we got separated in the crowd, so..." I stuck with my cover story, and intentionally made myself sound vulnerable. It would be a good way to gauge the character of the city and the safety of the people.

The shopkeeper frowned. "That's not good. It's dangerous for a little girl to be in a new city all by herself."

I looked up at him with puppy eyes. "Is Blianca not safe?"

"I wouldn't exactly say that, but any city has its undercurrents. It wouldn't be a good idea for you to walk alone anywhere else either."

"Oh." That's probably the common sense of this world, but I didn't want it to stay that way. Especially not in a place I had direct control over. But even if I had authority over policies and officials, changing the hearts and minds of people was hard. "What do you think of Blianca, mister?"

"Hmm, I don't know how to answer that. Been here all my life and all. I guess it's decent? But the nobles and richer merchants strut around like they own the place. Lately our taxes have been increasing too, and not a single coin seems to go towards fixing anything."

The corner of my mouth twitched, but I hid it behind my food. I finished my noodles and bid him farewell.

I strolled along the street and bought a few trinkets here and there, making sure to glean whatever information I could from talking with the storekeepers. My Infinite Arsenal had at some point evolved to allow me to store regular items in there too, so I wasn't encumbered by many bags as long as I quietly stored my stuff when no one was watching.

I noticed some stares, and over time a few unruly types started following me discreetly. I was about to lure them into a back alley to deal with them, when a group of kids around my age ran up to me.

"Hey there you are! What took you so long?" They surrounded me and made a ruckus.

"Eh?" My jaw twisted to the side. "Sorry, I think you have the wrong-"

A boy leaned forward and whispered to me while the others kicked up a fuss. "Some bad people are following you. They won't do anything if you're in a group, so come with us."

"Oh, uh, thanks." I ran with the group over to a field where more kids were playing.

"Are you stupid?" asked the boy. He seemed older than the others, and probably acted as a leader of sorts. "It's dangerous for a cute girl to walk around by herself."

I half covered my mouth with a hand. "Ara, are you saying that I'm cute?"

"Wha-?! I just meant in general, I'm not saying that you're cute or anything!"

I giggled as his face flushed. "I'm Tia. I just came to the city."

The still blushing boy looked to the side. "I'm Jonah. I-"

Before he could say more, a bunch of the smaller kids tugged on my arms. "Tia come play with us!"

"Okay okay," I said as I was dragged along. "What do you want to do?"

"Kick ball!" A little kid said as she held up a ball. I guess a variant of soccer existed here too.

I took the ball from her. "I haven't played in a long time, I don't know if I can play well."

"It's okay!"

I looked at where sticks were stuck into the ground to serve as goalposts. I bounced the ball on my knee a few times and kicked it. The ball arced into the air and fell far away from the goal, but the kids around me were still impressed.

"You kicked it so far!"

"Tia is so strong!"

I guess anything was impressive to tiny little kids. Well, I mean, I'm a tiny kid too, but I'm surrounded by tinier kids. Somehow everyone had already separated into impromptu teams and I just went with the flow.

Just as I was getting into the mood, Jonah stole the ball from me with a cheeky grin and immediately scored a goal against my team.

That little bitch.

As soon as the ball came into play again, I put in more spirit and charged it through the field and kicked it into his goal. Our eyes met and I sneered at him. We smiled at each other in the middle of the field, but the air around us was filled with a dark stormy mist. The rest of the kids gave us a wide berth as we both slowly started cackling and laughing loudly into the sky.

It was on.

He snatched the ball away and I dashed after him. Just before he could kick it towards the goal, I slid in from the side and pushed the ball out of the way. I clambered to my feet and went after the ball, dribbling it to the other side when Jonah blocked my way and did some trick maneuver to steal the ball back. I ran after him again, and we battled to the limits of our abilities when-

"JONAH! Your mom! She's getting worse!" A man yelled from the side.

Jonah froze. All color drained from his face. "No," he gasped. He left everyone behind and ran away.

I had a bad feeling and followed him towards the residential district. We went to a run down section that I hadn't seen before, where it was almost bad enough to be called a slum. Many houses had broken or missing walls, malnourished people lay around in pain, and filth was gathered in every nook and cranny.

Jonah weaved his way through the area to a shabby wooden house. He burst through the door and went to the side of a bed. A sickly woman, her skin marked by blisters and sores, was coughing up blood.

"Mom!" he yelled and knelt beside her.

"Blessed light, gather into my hands and follow my will," I chanted and channeled my magic into my hand.

Jonah whipped his head around. "Tia?! What are you-"

I shoved him out of the way with my free hand and pointed my other towards his mother. "Heal."

My hand emitted a brilliant golden light that bathed the woman completely. Her illness ran deep, and I had to keep pouring more and more of my magic into her. Slowly her sores receded one by one, and color returned to her face. Jonah looked on with his mouth gaping wide as his mother was healed back to health. When I sensed that she was okay, I closed my hand and the light disappeared.

"You should be out of danger for now," I told her. "But you're still weak, so get a lot of rest."

"Tia, what..." Jonah asked.

I looked at him and shrugged. "I happen to know a bit of magic, that's all." I held up a hand and summoned a spinning ball of water for show.

Jonah's mother sat up on the bed. She looked at her hands, then the rest of her body, as if she couldn't recognize herself. "Is this real?" She looked at me with tears in her eyes. "I don't know how I can thank you."

"Well." I dragged out one of their chairs and sat cross legged on it. "You can start by telling me everything about your illness and this place."