Raising a Mage
I turned on the stream.
—Where did Siren go?
—Excuse me, oppa. Don’t you think we see each other too often?
—Who’s that?
—Welcome, newbie. Complaints poured in from the very start. They came to see Siren, only to find some shady guy sitting there, so I get it. Still, this is only the second time I’ve properly appeared on cam, and hearing “we see you too often” stings a little—while I swallowed those words, Siren appeared.
“It’s Siren! Today I’m going to play a game!”
Ding—!
“A genre that could be called the very embodiment of divinity, honesty, and promises…!”
—So what game is it?
—She’s setting up the bait lol
—What does that have to do with the cameraman showing up on stream?
“It’s an idle game!”
—Lmao
—Divinity (frequent probability manipulation), honesty (habitual submarine patches), promises (if you spend a lot of money)
Ding—!
Siren spoke with a resolute expression.
“It’s a romantic gamble where one throws their entire life toward a tiny crack of hope.”
—She’s not wrong. Throwing away money you worked your bones off for into gacha really is throwing your life away lol
—Isn’t it more like throwing your life away?
“Hey! No slandering!”
Ding—!
“A bluebird that visits a pilgrim walking the path of solitude, or an oasis in the desert.”
Siren put on a serious face again as donations kept coming.
—Ah lol
—Slight fabrication: the magical girl is a gacha addict.
“Stop! The idle game I’m going to play is special!”
—So what’s the game called?
—Is it related to the cameraman being on stream?
The second question. Siren stretched both arms toward me and declared,
“It’s Raising a Mage!”
—??
—Looks like all that’s left is aging.
Siren dramatically staggered and sat down before continuing.
“Recently, the magical girls faced a great trial. Yes. Honestly, it was quite burdensome.”
—????
—A trial? From who?
—Who else but the Lizardman who got flamethrowered to death and the Necromancer who didn’t even leave ashes lol
—The next Archmage is a pretty tough opponent;;
Siren ignored them and went on.
“So I contacted the Earth Defense Headquarters, and they sent me an agent!”
—You mean the cameraman?
—Is he your real brother (no)?
—The concept is intense.
However, the relentless trolling continued. Siren stared at the chat window, then placed her hand on the mouse.
“Hmm, I see a few spies from the demon realm.”
…
After the swift and decisive purge, Siren spoke.
“He’s an agent.”
—Y-Yes, he’s an agent.
—R-Right, definitely…
—Lmao they set it so you get banned the moment you say the forbidden word.
—What’s the forbidden word?
—Cameraman.
—Ah f*ck.
—Bye.
Siren smiled at the now-clean chat window.
“Now it feels like only our Magical Girl Space Defense Corps is left!”
—Y-Yeah, that’s true.
—Was “witch” short for magical girl?
Siren lightly ignored the chats calling her a tyrant or witch and held up a document she had prepared in front of the cam.
“Let me show you the official notice~”
Personnel Dispatch for Special Operations Support
The headquarters has reviewed and deeply empathized with the document you submitted, “Request for Auxiliary Personnel Due to Excessive Magical Girl Workload.”
However, the Earth Defense Headquarters currently lacks available veteran-level personnel and cannot provide immediate reinforcement.
We offer our deepest apologies for our insufficient personnel management capabilities and hereby dispatch one elite agent from the Special Response Team as your personal aide.
—Oh. They put quite a bit of effort into this.
—I get the concept now.
—So the dispatched personnel in that notice is the cameraman?
—Ah, wait a second.
—They’re going to raise the dispatched agent like an idle game character.
The viewers were slowly catching on. However, the most important question remained unanswered.
The concept was understandable, but unlike game characters that grow when you log in after a few hours, actual humans couldn’t achieve that much in a short period. That’s why hunters bet their lives on equipment and elixirs.
“I am going to do that, though?”
—?
—??
What followed was even more shocking.
“I’m going to teach him magic! Depending on your opinions, our agent will grow! You could say it has even higher freedom than any idle game!”
Countless hooks appeared in the chat.
“No?”
“Magic is just something you learn!”
“Yes!”
“No? Of course I have to show it! I’ll show you, and by the next broadcast our agent will have mastered that magic! It’s a true idle game where growth is completed between broadcasts!”
“Yes!”
The moment Siren answered brightly, the chat window froze. Thinking it was lag, I checked—obviously not. Soon the donations exploded again.
“For what?”
“Lecture? I’m just going to do it live like this! You can just come in. Of course, a small token of sincerity will be needed to suggest growth directions! Oh?”
The chat and donations stopped again. Checking, this time it had really stopped. Soon the stream ended with a message.
2
While the stream was being fixed, the community went into an uproar. Posts were being updated like crazy on YeoCam Gallery, Siren Fan Gallery, and Magic Gallery.
Perhaps thanks to the interest gathering like a Spirit Bomb, Siren received additional server allocation from the platform and turned the stream back on.
—It opened!
—Finally!
“Huh?”
The stream crashed again.
3
Siren’s declaration(?) to open the Age of Grand Magic brought about the miracle of rival streaming platforms uniting as one. Of course, beneath that “miracle” lay fierce battles over profit-sharing ratios and behind-the-scenes deals between platforms…… The interference from the Mage Tower and large guilds who joined late made everyone equally annoyed, but since political fights aren’t fun, we’ll skip that. As a result, Siren’s “Raising a Mage” content was able to proceed safely.
[Stream Title: “Raising a Mage” Preview~]
[Viewers: 219,895]
There were more people than expected. Siren spoke.
“Today I’m going to teach Shunbo. It’s a basic magic perfect for a tutorial. Starting from the next broadcast, I’ll decide the agent’s growth direction based on your opinions, okay?”
Shunbo. An elemental wind magic and an introductory spell. Even as an introductory magic, those without magical talent could never use it no matter how hard they tried. Could a regular person really be turned into a mage? Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Siren showed a piece of paper with a geometric pattern on cam.
“It’s a magic circle. It acts as a stepping stone that allows even regular people to feel mana. I’ve uploaded the file to the post, so please print it~”
Though spoken casually, the meaning behind those words was anything but light.
—?
—??
These were comments from viewers whose chat was partially allowed. The reactions of others were probably not much different.
“With this magic circle, you can feel mana. And if you can feel mana, you can learn magic, right? Magic isn’t really that big of a deal once you know it!”
The chat window was gradually turning into chaos. Siren handed me the magic circle paper. Just by holding it—
“Agent, can you feel the mana?”
“Yes……”
I could feel it. Mana. Just by holding a printed magic circle, someone like me—a former porter—could feel mana. Judging from the exploding chat window that was supposed to be restricted, I wasn’t the only one. While I couldn’t even begin to imagine how much attention would pour in after this stream, Siren continued.
“Shunbo is such an intuitive and simple magic that you can use it without a circle!”
Thus began the Shunbo lesson.
“It’s not about jumping, but expanding the mana in your soles—”
“Wrap mana around your joints and core…”
Under Siren’s guidance, I slowly moved the mana. Before long—
Shwoosh—!
I succeeded at Shunbo.
“Congratulations!”
“Does this make any sense?”
It was absurd. Me, using magic. The shock was so great that all strength left my body. And there were people even more shocked than I was.
Donations poured in.