Chapter 41
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: The First
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Behind the base, in a small space enclosed by a fence.
In the center of the small training ground set up for the members to do simple drills or practice stood Mika.
Including Ian, all the members of the Ian Mercenary Corps had gathered to watch her.
"Hoo..."
Mika gripped her staff tightly, took a deep breath, and focused her mind.
With her eyes closed, she carefully inhaled, feeling the mana swirling inside her...
"When are you gonna cast it?"
"...I'm concentrating. Don't interrupt."
Mika grumbled without opening her eyes at Rin's voice breaking her focus.
But they'd come to watch Mika's magic, and they'd already been staring at her concentrating for quite a while.
Rin wasn't backing down and added another comment.
"You've just been focusing forever."
"Magic isn't something you can just cast that easily."
"You gonna do that in real combat too? You have to cast it right away!"
"...This is my first time trying it."
...She wasn't wrong, though.
If she did this in actual battle, it'd be a total disaster.
In the end, overcoming Rin's interruptions, Mika finished her long concentration and let out her final breath.
She drew out her mana and wove it precisely into the form she'd practiced...
Creating the structure of the most basic spell.
The staff in Mika's hand resonated, emitting a soft white light.
"...!"
This was a success.
It was her first time attempting a completed spell, but Mika felt the mana flowing exactly as intended and was certain of her success.
The mana extending from the tip of Mika's staff formed a translucent barrier.
"It worked!"
Surrounded by the hazy wall, Mika shouted with a bright smile.
It was the barrier spell she'd learned from studying the magic book Ian had saved for her not long ago.
Rin, Tanya, and Ian—who'd been waiting for Mika's success—leaped to their feet.
Mika reached out a trembling hand and touched the tip of her finger to the magical barrier she'd created.
The mana structure woven into the air produced a tangible repulsive force, pushing her hand away.
The most basic stage of barrier magic: [Physical Resistance].
A perfect success.
Mika stared blankly at the spell she'd created.
"For real..."
She'd accidentally discovered she had a talent for magic.
But for an ordinary villager from a rural area with not a penny to her name to become a mage?
It was a pipe dream, like a mirage.
Even the simplest spell required an amount of money that Mika couldn't earn in a lifetime of work back in her village.
...She hadn't been dissatisfied with her life up until then, or the one before that.
If she hadn't known, she would've just kept living as an ordinary person, content as ever.
But then one day, that single word: she had talent. The whisper that she could become a mage.
It descended upon her life like a curse.
Was this really a dream she could achieve?
Every night, she'd fallen asleep with those thoughts.
But now those days were over.
She'd become a real mage—one no one could deny.
"Mika!"
Rin and Tanya jumped up and ran toward her.
Though they'd said that, the two knew how much Mika wanted to learn magic.
They rushed out to celebrate their friend's first spell success.
Mika, beaming with a smile, ran out too.
"Kyaa!"
The two who'd charged in to hug Mika were bounced back by the translucent barrier surrounding her and tumbled to the ground.
Mika passed right by them and ran toward Ian, who was at the back.
The barrier around her faded and shattered hazily, and she leaped into Ian's arms from within it.
"Captain! I did it!"
"Yeah, good job, Mika."
"Thank you. It's all thanks to you, Captain..."
She hugged Ian tightly.
As she murmured, the boiling emotions gradually settled.
Her reason returned, no longer numb from the joy of success.
Her head cooled, but in its place, her face grew hotter and redder.
"......"
"......"
Mika felt the gazes of Rin and Tanya staring at her from behind with strange expressions.
She quietly withdrew her arms from around Ian and turned around.
She probably wanted to look expressionless, but her face was already beet red.
"Wait... don't misunderstand. I just... got carried away because I was happy..."
The more Mika tried to explain, the weirder the atmosphere got instead of clearing up.
"......"
In the end, with her face flaming red, Mika shut herself in the corner of the garden for a good while.
After Mika's first magic demonstration succeeded.
As originally planned, Mika began full-fledged magic practice.
It was time to figure out how she could use this spell in actual combat.
A bit faster than the long time it had taken before, Mika created another barrier and shouted confidently at Rin.
"Come on, attack me now!"
"How much can this block?"
"Hmph, your attacks won't get through at all."
The magic book said that, in theory, as long as she had enough mana, it could block most physical attacks.
Of course, that was when she'd fully mastered the spell.
Mika answered so confidently that Rin got curious about just how much it could withstand.
"For real? Then..."
Rin drew a throwing dagger from her waist.
Mika, who'd answered so boldly, stared at the gleaming blade in Rin's hand and said,
"Something a little weaker, please."
There it was.
Rin sheathed the dagger and eventually picked up a small stone from the ground.
"Ready?"
"Throw it?"
It was just a test, so too weak wouldn't do either.
After pondering how hard to throw, Rin hurled the stone a bit forcefully.
The stone flying toward Mika collided with the barrier in the air.
Ripples like waves spread across the barrier, and the stone Rin threw bounced off powerlessly.
"Oh, it really blocked it."
"I told you it would."
Mika nodded in satisfaction with a triumphant expression.
"Alright, try harder!"
"Got it, here goes!"
Rin picked up another stone from the ground and this time threw it at full combat strength, no holding back.
The stone flew at a speed incomparable to before, slamming into the magic barrier with enough force to make it wobble—and shattered the spell.
"Eek!"
The stone broke through the barrier, grazing past Mika's head.
Mika screamed and plopped down on the spot.
"What if you throw it that hard?!"
"You said to throw it harder..."
Rin, who hadn't expected a protective spell to break so easily, apologized with an awkward face.
"Sorry. But it's weaker than I thought."
For real combat, shouldn't it at least block arrows?
At least, Rin didn't want to rely on a barrier that shattered from a hard-thrown stone.
Seeing that look, Mika muttered resentfully, already guessing her thoughts.
"It's because I haven't learned it perfectly yet..."
What Mika had learned was the most basic physical damage resistance spell.
At the level of someone who'd just learned it, there was no way she could block an attack from Rin, who had a higher level and throwing trait bonuses.
It wouldn't be enough for real combat yet.
She hadn't thought it'd be easy, but thinking of everything she still had to learn, Mika let out a small sigh.
"Ugh, dizzy... I must've used too much mana."
"Wanna take a break then?"
Mika rubbed her forehead, feeling a slight dizziness.
She'd maintained the barrier for so long during practice that her MP had been considerably depleted.
Especially since it was her first time using magic, she'd never seen her MP drop this much before—it was a new sensation.
Mika plopped down on a chair in one corner of the garden.
"Here, you two drink this."
While the two sat in the corner of the garden taking a short break, Tanya came back from the kitchen with drinks.
Tanya handed glasses to the two as if it were perfect timing.
"Captain too."
"Ah. Thanks."
Ian took the glass from Tanya, and as they all sipped tea in the garden during the brief rest,
Shouts from workers moving goods on the main street beyond the fence drifted in.
It was the procession of carts they'd been seeing a lot lately.
"Hasn't the outside been cleaned up yet? The construction seems to be ramping up lately."
"What are they doing now?"
"...Monsters coming again?"
Peeking out, they saw carts loaded with what looked like construction lumber for building something.
...They'd seen a lot of these carts going around before monster invasions.
The whole city in an uproar felt just like back then.
"Captain, do you know what it is by any chance?"
"That? Probably stuff for the festival."
"Festival?"
When the monster invasion ends, a festival follows.
To Ian, the two were always linked like a set, so he'd taken it for granted, but the members seemed to be hearing about the festival for the first time.
"Oh. You didn't know? They hold a festival after the monster invasion ends."
The nominal reason was to celebrate successfully repelling the monsters, but...
Ian, who'd been here a while, could roughly guess the real purpose.
After the monster invasion ends, a massive amount of gold pours out to the mercenaries as compensation.
This period, when all the participating mercenaries get their payouts at once, was when mercenaries were the richest of the year.
The month when mercenaries have the most gold.
The festival was to take it all from them.
The gold lavishly scattered to mercenaries would flow back to Labyrinth's taxes via the merchants.
"...Couldn't you just say 'it's a festival' and leave it at that? You ruined the mood."
The members' faces, which had lit up at the word festival, fell a bit flat.
"Sir!"
At that moment, a knocking sound came from the door.
Someone was pounding on the guild house door.
"Guild mail!"
"Ah. I'll go."
"Nah. It's probably for me. I'll get it."
Ian went and opened the door, revealing a small kid wearing a guild armband outside.
The kid, who had been staring up at the large guild house in awe, belatedly snapped to and looked at Ian.
"Mercenary Guild! Are you the leader of the Ian Mercenary Corps?"
"Yeah."
"Can I see your mercenary tag?"
Ian showed his tag and received the letter the kid was holding.
"Here. Good work."
"Thank you!"
Ian handed a few coins to the messenger, and the kid bowed happily, practically bouncing away.
Ian came back inside with the guild letter, unfolded it, and checked the contents.
"What does the guild want?"
"Says to come get the bonus reward."
"Huh? Didn't we already get the settlement last time?"
"That was the settlement pay. This is the bonus."
It was the city council's bonus reward distributed to mercenary corps with distinguished contributions.