Chapter 10: The Race

"Trent, do not push it! My sister is not to be in any part of any bet." My brother yelled. While my brother was against it, I had a different idea. "We can bet, but I want a second condition for when I win. Since you brought up the idea for the bet, I am sure you will not mind if I add a second winning condition on our part."

Trent's rage induced eyes landed on me. He smirked and said: "Fine! Name your condition. I will agree to it, but the person racing will be you."

"No, I will…." I cut my brother off. I knew he wanted to take my place, but I figured with my current agility, there was no way any of them would catch me, especially if I applied a wind spell to my body to make me faster. "That's fine, I accept. My condition is if I win, you will stand there and receive a beating from me."

"You!" Trent's eyes widened. It seemed he never thought I would make such a condition. But this worked out perfectly for me. Because if I beat him up due to our bet, then he couldn't run home and tell his grandfather I beat him up out of nowhere even though I have every right to.

"Faith…" Even my brother seemed to be a little taken aback by my condition. I only looked up at him and stuck my tongue out. Seeing me joke around seemed to have caused him to relax as he chuckled and placed his palm on my head. "How sure are you that you can win?"

"One hundred percent." I answered without hesitation. I mean, my agility was at thirty. I can guarantee that I was the strongest person here. I just hid it well. When I looked over at Trent, I could see the slight worry in his eyes. I chuckled inwardly. To me, it seemed he was not completely sure he would not suffer a defeat and have to be beaten up by the very person he kept calling a monster. As for losing, well, it never crossed my mind.

"Since you are one hundred percent sure, then I will not stop you. But Faith, no matter what, you must win. If he were to bring up this bet to his grandfather, we may be in for some trouble." My brother seemed to be worried about the outcome if I lost. But I was not worried in the slightest. The only way they could beat me is if they were faster than me. And by looking at the kids in front of me, not a single one would be able to beat me. I mean…. I would be using magic to make myself faster anyways.

With the okay from my brother, I pointed my finger at Trent with a smug smile on my face. "Since things are settled, let's do this."

"Fi-Fine! Everyone, line up!" Trent yelled at the brats behind him. I snickered because I knew he would not play fair. He challenged me but wanted even his friends to take part in the race. Sadly I never said that Trent could be the only one to race. Not that it mattered.

Seven of us all lined up on the road. This road led through the outskirts of the town all the way to the forest edge. From there, we would then turn around and race all the way back. I looked over at Eric, who was standing off to the side with a worried expression, and smiled at him. "Brother, you call the start of the race."

Eric nodded and walked to the edge of the road, and raised his hand. "On your marks…. Get set….. Go!" He lowered his hand to signal the start of the race, and I, of course, went to take off only to feel my foot being entangled with someone else's, causing me to fall face first onto the ground.

"Ouch! Cheaters!" I cried out as I looked over at the young boy next to me, who was one of Trent's minions, with a cold glare. He quickly looked away, not daring to meet my eyes. My nose, hands, and knees were now scratched up. Luckily I did not get a nose bleed.

Ignoring the stinging pain, I quickly got up and chased after the other boys. I only got a few feet away when I heard someone crying behind me. I didn't even need to turn around to know my brother did something to the kid who tripped me. But this was perfect since no one was paying attention to me. I closed my eyes and opened them again. Green magic circles began to form in my eyes. "Wind Rush!"

I had learned through practice while trying to keep my special magic circle training a secret how to form the magic circles on my eyes instead of needing to generate them in the air in front of me. This helped a lot in hiding my special training. It was also a good way to not let your enemy know you were casting magic.

As soon as I said the activation word, my speed increased by tenfold. Wind Rush was a spell that removed the wind resistance on the body allowing a person to be much faster than normal. In no time at all, I sped past the boys who thought they were winning. I ran so fast that everything seemed like a blur around me except what I was seeing straight ahead. It was a form of tunnel vision.

In no time at all, I arrived at the forest edge. I turned to look to see if anyone was behind me, but I couldn't even see a shadow of the other boys. "Humph! Can't even keep up yet want to make bets against me! I hope you all go bald!"

After letting off some steam, I began running back. I didn't even get a chance to take in the sights around me since I was only concentrating on winning the race. By the time I reached my brother, no more than ten minutes had passed. "Hah! I won!"

"And they ran away…." My brother said as he walked over to me. He shook his head and sighed: "As soon as their plan to make you trip and fall failed and you passed them, they all ran into the village instead of continuing the race."

"Humph! He can hide for now, but the next time I see him, I will make him live up to his bet!" I shook my fist in the air, causing my brother to laugh.

"I took care of the one who tripped you. How are your wounds?" Eric looked at my red knees, which still had traces of blood on them.

My health only dropped by a point, so it was nothing serious. "Nothing to worry about, they only sting. Let's finish what we came here to do!"

I had originally come here to look out over the cliff. I did not wish to leave until I did. So now that the brats were gone, I could finally enjoy my reason for coming here. I took my brother's hand and led him towards the cliff edge.

I can say now that all the hassle was worth it. The view from the cliff is absolutely breathtaking. The low lying clouds that hung just past the cliff's edge over the vast valley below made the scenery very beautiful.

I sat on the edge with my brother beside me and pulled out the cookies I got from Auntie Finna, and snacked on them while wagging my tail and kicking my legs back and forth. I thought I would be afraid of heights, but for some reason, I did not fear sitting on the edge like this. I did not get any vertigo or anything like that, which I found weird as I was once scared of heights in my past life. I wondered if that fear was washed away when I was reborn because of my race or for some other reason.

At any rate, even though things were hectic today, I could still call today a good day. I was able to stick it to the bullies and make those brats run away. I wonder if they would find trouble for me any time soon. But today did make me realize that I needed to practice magic more. Which meant I would need to find a secret spot to practice.

As I was someone who could not really die from being attacked by anything….. As much as I could figure anyway, as long as I used my mana shield and my mana never went down, then I could easily go deep into the forest and train there. Maybe I could also finally level up some… But the question was how was I going to do it without needing an escort.

To be honest, I wanted to tell my family about my system thing and how I had infinite mana, but I did not know if they would believe me as there did not seem to be any record of such a thing. At least not from the books I have read anyway. Well…. Maybe they would believe me, but if word got out somehow that I was a freak of nature and someone tried to use that against my family or myself, I would not only put them in danger but myself. This was why I decided to keep this a secret for the time being. But that still leaves me with trying to figure out how to get into the forest for training without needing to drag my brother along.

"Faith?" My brother called out to me. I turned to look at him with a puzzled expression. "How did you run so fast? I wasn't going to ask, but it still puzzles me how you were so quick. The forest is at least an hour away on foot. But not only did you run there, but you ran back and in such a short time frame."

Ah… It seems I went a bit too far without realizing it…. Now, this is troublesome. I wonder how I should explain this….