For over two months, I learned the basics of magic. Of course, I didn’t neglect my studies on psychokinesis either.
During that time, Speria surprisingly stayed quietly in the cabin. She diligently took the water herbs and sometimes even did household chores.
As trust built up, Master Avana allowed her to learn fire magic. Saying that it’s good for a mage to have various mentors.
Because of this, I learned fire magic and water magic. And occasionally, death magic, hiding from Speria’s eyes. I learned theory after theory and memorized spells, ready to cast them at any moment.
If only the magic book was completed.
“When will it be finished?”
My voice must have sounded quite dejected.
Seeing how both Speria and Psyche were looking at me.
“It’ll be done soon.”
Psyche said briefly before returning to her meal.
Speria patted my back and said,
“It’s partly because your innate magic is exceptional. And also because you met a good artificer.”
“A good artificer? It’s taking so long? They said it would take a few days, but it’s been two months already!”
Speria shrugged her shoulders once.
“Honestly, who would spend two months making someone else’s magic book? That really requires passion, you know? What should I say? Like an obsession with perfection?”
“…”
“I heard that among the artificers contracted with our school, the most extreme one takes two weeks. But two months? That’s truly a blessing for you.”
“Is it?”
Although I heard something similar to comfort, honestly, it’s a bit annoying.
I learned various magics, but I can’t use them.
Feeling disappointed, I turned my head to look at Dorma through the window.
“Take it easy, will you?”
At that moment, she collapsed sideways.
I jumped up from my seat.
“Huh?”
Psyche and Speria looked up at me.
“What’s wrong?”
“What’s the matter, Ran?”
I hope nothing’s wrong.
I rushed out of my seat and approached Dorma. Soon, Psyche and Speria followed.
Dorma was barely breathing.
She was holding a transparent book with both hands.
“Are, are you okay?”
Dorma struggled to speak one word at a time.
“In, in the middle. Su, suddenly. It, it ended. Sur, surprised. Phew. But. It. Turned out. Well. Hehe, here.”
She handed me the transparent magic book with trembling hands.
I took it.
Is this supposed to be a book?
I first laid it aside and made Dorma lie down comfortably.
“Can you step back for a moment?”
When I turned around, Psyche was holding her staff. Seeing that she had even taken out her magic book, it seems she’s planning to perform healing magic.
As I stepped back, Psyche closed her eyes and started reading a spell. Then, a bright green light gathered at the tip of her staff and scattered over Dorma’s body.
Dorma’s tired expression improved considerably.
“Thank you, Psyche. It feels like just yesterday that I made your magic book… You’ve already become a proper mage.”
She mumbled that as she drifted off to sleep.
Then Speria came close to me.
Golden eyes.
White skin.
Red hair.
“Look. What is it? What does it look like?”
I turned my head and held out the transparent magic book again.
“It’s this. Can you see it?”
Psyche and Speria looked at each other.
“No.”
“Not at all.”
Well, I can’t see it with my eyes either.
But I can see it. Through something other than eyes.
It’s strange, so strange.
“Anyway, it’s good that it’s well-made.”
Speria nodded at those words.
“Let’s check your innate magic first!”
Why is she getting so excited?
Speria kept gesturing for me to open it quickly.
Sigh, let’s see.
How do I open this?
I looked down at my magic book, then raised my hand to touch the very top.
It feels like touching glass.
I carefully opened it.
Surprisingly, golden letters appeared inside.
When I opened the transparent book cover, golden letters were written on the transparent pages inside.
No, how were the golden letters hidden in the first place when the book cover is transparent?
At that moment, feeling the pressure from the sides, I turned my head to both sides.
On the right was Psyche, and on the left was Speria, both sticking close to my shoulders, intensely reading the golden letters written in my magic book.
A sweet and refreshing mint-like scent from Psyche, and a musky scent with strong incense from Speria mixed in front of me, tickling my nose.
I can’t concentrate.
“Turn to the next page.”
“I’ve finished reading too. Go to the next page.”
I need to read it too.
But since I can read it anytime, I complied with their requests for now.
I raised my hand and turned the transparent first page, and again, new golden letters appeared.
“It’s really amazing.”
No sooner had my exclamation ended than they stretched out their fingers to read the golden letters in my magic book.
“Next! Next!”
“Hurry!”
I haven’t even finished eating.
Should I just turn the pages and go eat?
No.
It’s my magic book after all.
“Okay, just a moment.”
So I kept turning the pages for them.
One page.
Two pages.
Ten pages.
Twenty pages.
When will this end?
They read the golden letters that appeared in my magic book, and finally, it ended at around a hundred pages.
The two of them took their eyes off my magic book and looked at each other, saying,
“Language magic?”
“Language?”
They both tilted their heads at the same time.
Language?
“What’s that?”
When I asked, they both shook their heads.
“Who knows.”
“I don’t know.”
“Would Master Avana know?”
“Probably? She must have lived at least ten times longer than us fourteen-year-olds.”
What?
Us fourteen-year-olds?
I slowly turned my head towards Speria.
Speira made a peculiar expression as she slowly looked between Psyche and me.
“Why? You said before that you were only fourteen. Psyche, you also said you were fourteen, right?”
“No way, you’re fourteen?”
I couldn’t help but let my gaze drop.
Speria looks like she’s in her late teens no matter how I look at her.
At that moment, she stepped back with a reddened face, covering her chest with both hands.
“Wh-what are you both looking at?”
When I turned to Psyche, her expression was even more shocked.
Then Speria suddenly brought her face close to mine and said,
“Anyway. Now try putting in the fire magic I taught you. Now that you have a magic book, you should be able to store it.”
Magic book.
Its purpose is to write down many magic spells and use them whenever needed.
Even the simplest magic spell is so complex that it consumes your entire mind, so to use many magics, you had to store them in a magic book.
“Ah, that’s right. Okay. Once I put it in, I can forget about it, right?”
“Yeah. Yeah.”
Suddenly, Psyche grabbed my arm and pulled.
“Wait! No!”
“What? Why?”
“It’s your first magic. Do mine instead of fire magic.”
The healing magic she showed earlier?
Speria chuckled at those words.
“Ran already has an innate first magic. It doesn’t matter anyway.”
“But it’s still the first magic Ran is learning. I don’t like it.”
I asked the curiosity that naturally arose.
“Why is the first magic important?”
“Ah, it becomes the mage’s specialized magic. It influences all the magic you’ll learn for the rest of your life. Of course, it doesn’t matter for Ran since he already has one.”
Speria looked at me with a deep gaze, smiling broadly.
This happens every time I let my guard down.
“Hmm, is that so? So the first magic has meaning? Then I’ll go with Master’s. Sorry.”
At those words, Speria’s expression turned bitter, and Psyche’s expression showed disappointment.
I went to the lake through the cabin.
By the lakeside was Master Avana, half-immersed in the water with her eyes closed, meditating.
As I approached, she spoke first.
“Is Dorma alright? It seems Psyche unexpectedly used healing magic.”
Well, Psyche tends to suppress her magic as much as possible. She does everything manually with her body even for things that could be easily done with psychokinesis.
In contrast, Speria uses psychokinesis as she pleases. Sometimes when she’s just woken up, she’s too lazy to walk and floats her body around.
They’re so different.
“Yes. Senior Dorma seems to have fallen asleep.”
“Hmm. I see. So? What magic are you thinking of storing first?”
As expected, since it happened in Master’s castle, she seems to know everything.
“What magic would be good, Master?”
Master Avana took a deep breath and exhaled before speaking.
“Your first magic is your innate magic anyway.”
“Ah, I heard that my specialized magic has already been decided. But doesn’t the first magic I ‘store’ still have meaning?”
When I glanced at Master Avana, she was looking at me with half-closed eyes.
“As always, you choose. Whose magic you want to store first.”
Come to think of it, Master Avana has always respected my choices like this.
Even when Speria said she would teach me fire magic, she readily agreed.
The reason was that the stronger I become, the better I can protect Psyche, but there’s an even more profound meaning.
Magic is ultimately projecting one’s will onto the world. Therefore, if it’s forced or induced by someone else, it becomes that much inferior in quality.
“What do you think, Master?”
Master Avana smiled charmingly and continued.
“Hmm. When you see a pristine snow field, everyone wants to be the first to step on it. The more beautiful the snow field, the more so.”
Yet she still respects my thoughts first?
I’ve decided.
I slowly entered the lake. The cold water soaked my clothes, but I didn’t mind.
As I stood in front of Master Avana, she looked at me with slightly surprised eyes.
“I didn’t realize, but you’ve grown.”
“I’m in my growth phase after all.”
“Yes. That’s right.”
I looked straight at Master Avana and said,
“I’ll store death magic. Master.”
“Why?”
“We promised, didn’t we? Instead of refusing a familiar, I would definitely learn death magic. I’ll make death magic the first magic I store.”
“Hmm. When I said I’d give you the materials to complete the magic book before, you refused, but now?”
“I never promised that.”
Master Avana glanced at the path leading to the cabin.
“Psyche will secretly dislike it, you know?”
“Let her dislike it. After all, my master is you, Master Avana. Not Psyche.”
“Oh? Bold, aren’t we?”
“The condition of becoming her betrothed was forced from the beginning anyway.”
Master Avana’s expression stiffened slightly.
“That attitude is not good, Ran. Since you both agreed to become each other’s betrothed, you should treat each other better. Is it right to use that as an excuse to treat her carelessly?”
“Becoming betrothed is to protect her. I never promised anything more than that.”
“…”
“And that’s why I want to learn death magic first. You said it’s powerful, right? So please help me store it. Honestly, I don’t fully understand it yet.”
Master Avana looked me up and down. The tips of her two ears gradually lowered.
Master’s two eyes were the same eyes that evaluated me on the day we first met.
“Death magic must never be discovered by anyone. It’s always a dangerous magic. Remember this well.”
“Yes, Master.”
Master Avana held out both hands and took out her magic book.
“Just like I’m doing now. Try to recall the spell in your mind while holding your magic book in your hands. And slowly read it out loud. I’ll keep correcting any mistakes.”
I closed my eyes while holding the magic book in both hands.
And I recalled death magic.
Since I learned it while being careful of Speria, I couldn’t learn much. The content itself was more difficult to understand compared to fire magic or water magic, so my level of understanding was even lower.
I took a deep breath.
And I recalled death magic in my mind.
Suddenly, the magic book opened wide, and the part where language magic was written fluttered past, revealing a blank space.
I slowly started reading the spell, and accordingly, golden letters began to be written on that blank space.
Death magic is quite long, so I maintained maximum concentration while reading the magic.
“Whether the birth of life is coincidence or inevitability, no one can be certain. But death is inevitable. It’s a shame. Why did this reversal of disorder, which broke through all those possibilities, end at just living not even 100 years? If it’s a miracle, it should be a bit more generous…”
The spell of death magic was like a story, yet like a philosophy book, or poetic yet like a code. It’s a mishmash of genres.
Master corrected my words here and there, and I immediately made corrections while completing the storage of the magic.
“Phew.”
As I took a deep breath and looked at Master, she looked at me with eyes that seemed to say I did well.
Did it go well?
I asked Master.
“Is this all? I feel a slight sense of wrongness, like something’s a bit off.”
Master’s expression stiffened slightly, but then she spoke in a gentle voice.
“Don’t worry, it went well. You really are amazing. Even though I helped you, to succeed in storing on the first try. And not just any magic, but this incomprehensibly difficult death magic.”
I’ve heard such words quite often, but I don’t really feel it since there’s no point of comparison.
“How many times did you try, Master?”
Master Avana gave a bitter smile.
“Hmm. I couldn’t count the number of times. It took me 2 years in terms of duration.”
My goodness.
2 years?
“Don’t be so surprised. It’s embarrassing. By the way, since you learn magic so quickly, there might be no need for me to intervene.”
Come to think of it, why was Master meditating? It seems like it’s been at least five days.
I asked Master.
“What do you mean? To intervene in what?”
Master answered while shaking off her wet body.
“Because your magic book was taking too long to make. I was planning to go out myself.”
“Ah, for Count Furst’s matter? We still have a month left, don’t we?”
“I hear that the Franche soldiers will arrive earlier. They say they’ll be here in ten days. I’m not sure why it’s 20 days earlier than expected.”
“…”
Did they find a way to cross the sea faster?
No, more than that.
Master is going out herself?
Then Master looked at me intently.
“Why?”
I carefully spoke up.
“The reason you’re entrusting this task to me is to give me experience, right?”
“That’s right.”
“But isn’t there another reason besides that?”
Master nodded lightly.
“There is.”
Speria.
Even though she doesn’t have a staff, it’s too dangerous for Master Avana to leave her seat.
That’s why Master hasn’t stepped a foot outside the castle until now.
I carefully asked.
“If you step out, what about Speria? Are you going to confine her somewhere? Or maybe knock her out for the duration of the task.”
The corners of Master’s mouth lifted slightly.
“The world is wide and treasures are many, Ran.”
“…”
“Such uncertain methods always lead to bad results.”
“Th-then Master…”
Master Avana cut off my words and put her hand on my shoulder.
“If you can master water magic sufficiently enough to go out within ten days… then nothing will happen, Ran.”
Master Avana’s mouth was smiling, but her eyes were not.
Leave a Reply