Chapter 4
Luna successfully entered the city as planned, having eliminated all the mercenaries during her first field exercise and escaped the forest. The guards at the city gates, familiar with her face from her frequent visits to sell herbs in nearby villages, let her in without a second glance. I had been quietly worried inside—after all, it was no easy feat for an orphaned girl fresh from the countryside to make a living alone with no background or skills to her name. Fortunately, the world still had its warm corners. The kind-hearted innkeeper took in the homeless Luna without hesitation, providing her with wages, meals, and lodging, solving her biggest worry—survival—in one fell swoop.
And so began Luna's double life. By day, she was the diligent worker at the inn, bustling about as the owner's right hand. By night, in the cramped staff quarters tucked away in a corner of the inn, she studied magic with me.
[Did you properly remember what we learned last time?]
As moonlight spilled through the window onto the worn desk in the quarters, I asked in a stern tone. Luna snapped to attention and replied briskly, as if she'd been waiting for it.
"Yes, Master! Last time, we covered the five components of magic!"
Magic circle, sacrifice, incantation, mudra, and timing. Only when these five gears meshed together without the slightest error did magic produce proper results in the world. Of course, in desperate situations like our encounter with those mercenaries, you could ignore efficiency and brute-force it with raw mana, or stretch out the incantation to force activation. But those were mere stopgaps. If the enemies had been even a little stronger, such sloppy magic wouldn't have bought her any time at all—her head would've rolled.
Tsking inwardly, I reined in Luna, who was chattering excitedly with sparkling eyes, using a deliberately stern voice.
[Ahem. Good. Looks like you've mastered the theory. Then, as promised, let's dive into real practice today. Did you bring the materials?]
"Of course! I'm fully prepared!"
Luna declared confidently, pointing to a heavy leather sack as big as she was. She puffed out her chest and cleared her throat with an "Ahem."
Magic fell into two main branches: Ritual Magic, which borrowed power from demons, spirits, or gods to produce immediate effects, and Enchanted Magic, which pre-loaded magical effects into objects for use when on-site rituals weren't feasible. What Luna would attempt today was Enchanted Magic—less about complex calculations, more about meticulously following set procedures with care.
The enchanted tool she would craft was called the Lantern. Like a modern smoke bomb, it blinded enemies and pinned them down in emergencies.
Luna's slender arms busied themselves, pulling items from the sack one by one and lining them up on the desk. From my perspective as her magic teacher, I inspected the materials closely: a dead fish with scales still moist, a soot-stained candleholder, a bowl of water murky with sediment, and ash from burned fireflies.
[Good. The quality's not bad. From now on, process the materials exactly as I instruct—down to the tiniest detail. Any deviation, and the enchantment fails. Focus.]
"Yes, Master!"
Luna's face turned serious in an instant. She drew a crude but sharp dagger from her bosom. The cold blade pierced the fish's eye socket. With a squelch, the eyeball popped out, and without hesitation, she slit the scalp, scraping out the fishy brain and guts cleanly. The hollowed skull was now ready to serve as a sacred vessel for the ritual.
Next came filling it. Luna packed the hollow head tight with the prepared insect ash, pressing it down firmly. The grudging remnants of bugs that had chased light only to perish in flames would, paradoxically, become the core material for a tool that pierced the dark.
After stuffing in every last bit of ash, she threaded a needle and stitched the scalp shut, stitch by careful stitch. She placed the prepped fish in the center of the desk, a lit candleholder to its right, and the cold water bowl to its left. Preparations for the enchantment were complete. All that remained was the incantation.
Luna stood, pointing at me with a tense expression. She took a short breath, then chanted steadily.
"That which was born in water, return to water."
"That which burned to death in fire, return to fire."
⟨ Lantern ⟩
As Luna's brief incantation, infused with her mana, concluded, the air grew heavy and mana surged. Then, an unbelievable sight unfolded. The dead fish carcass began thrashing wildly.
"...!"
It was a bizarre vitality, leagues beyond rigor mortis. The ash-filled head twisted toward the candle's wick like iron to a magnet, while the tailed lower body writhed toward the water bowl. The forces pulling toward opposite extremes clashed violently within one body. The fish's spine, stretched to its limit, screamed in protest.
Snap, crack!
The fragile fish body couldn't withstand the internal pressure and split in two. The carcass slumped limply onto the desk.
"Did... did it fail?"
Luna gazed at the bisected fish with a crestfallen expression. The intense energy from moments ago had vanished, leaving only reeking chunks of fish, and her disappointment was plain.
[No, it's a success. Keep watching.]
No sooner had I spoken than the slumped corpse began curling into a ball on its own. Not just bending—it spiraled inward like being sucked into a vortex, emitting eerie sounds as its volume shrank rapidly. Flesh, bones, and scales compressed into one. The blackened remains finally stopped, reduced to the size of the eyeball we'd extracted earlier.
Luna picked up the lone, black, hard bead left on the desk, eyeing it dubiously. Rolling in her palm, the enchanted tool felt cold yet carried an unsettling warmth.
"Is this... it? Really?"
[What, disappointed by the low-key presentation?]
"Yeah. Honestly, I expected flashes of light or a burst of black mist like the magic you showed last time, Master."
Luna waved her hands dramatically to mimic flashy effects. It was pretty cute, so I cleared my throat awkwardly.
[Heh, truly dangerous things never look flashy on the outside. Try it yourself, and you'll feel in your bones how efficient this enchanted tool is.]
"How do I use it?"
[Simple. In a pinch, throw one at the enemy's feet and the other as far as possible in your escape direction. It'll activate on its own.]
"And the effect?"
[Complicated to explain, but at minimum, it'll buy you total visual confusion—enough to vanish from sight. In life-or-death moments, that split second decides everything.]
Luna still looked half-skeptical but nodded, tucking away the carefully crafted enchanted tool in her bosom.
"I hope... I never have to use it."
I chuckled softly at her words.
[A mage's true skill is creating situations where you don't need to use it, Luna.]
Instead of replying, Luna carefully rolled the pair of "eyeballs" into her pocket.
[Anyway, Luna—any troubles at the inn?]
The intense ritual was over, and as the thrill of her first magic faded, I watched her quietly clean up. Feeling a bit awkward, I changed the subject.
[Luna, anything tough about the work?]
She couldn't carry me in the pocketless server apron she wore on the job. As she scrubbed the desk with a rag, Luna paused thoughtfully before answering.
"Aside from the guests constantly confessing to me? They're all pretty considerate, so the work itself isn't hard."
With a mercenary office nearby and Luna's looks, confessions weren't surprising. Still, having them as a daily occurrence... I couldn't relate, never having gotten one in my past or present life.
"Oh, right!"
Finishing the cleaning, Luna clapped as if remembering something, then looked at me on the shelf.
"The innkeeper lady told me to take tomorrow off. So, if it's okay with you, how about we visit the library tomorrow?"
The library! Perfect timing—we both lacked basic common knowledge after holing up in those backwoods for so long. Plus, I was curious to see how this world's magic differed from mine firsthand.
[Sounds good. Let's head to the library tomorrow, then.]
"Yes, Master!"
Luna beamed energetically. It had been ages since we'd gone out. Nothing particular to do, but I found myself looking forward to tomorrow too.