The Adult-Game Mage Tells an Old Tale

Phila was born the daughter of House Emoson.

The marquis's third child. She had two older brothers, and both inherited the family sword.

With two sons to fulfill the family's duties, her father felt reassured and gave his third-born daughter leisure rather than attention.

To Phila, that leisure was books.

Phila loved the smell of paper and the faint scent of mold in the library,

and while the girls her age hugged dolls and chased after jewels and flowers, Phila embraced thick books.

She would open a book on her lap and gaze at the tiny letters and illustrations.

The illustrations of magic circles were beautiful. Their geometric forms must have appealed to her in much the same way flowers appealed to other children her age.

She first encountered a book at four.

At five, she learned to read...