Estella's Magical Mastery
Lahan settled back into his seat.
He crossed his arms and asked Estella directly, “Speaking of which, what’s your name?”
“Me? Estella! And you?”
“Lahan.”
After they exchanged names, Lahan continued, “So? Where exactly are we headed?”
The first destination.
Estella sat across from him again, her face bright with excitement.
“The City in the Sky, have you heard of it? A city floating in the sky! I absolutely have to visit there first!”
“….”
Lahan looked genuinely surprised. “The City in the Sky? Does something like that actually exist in this world?”
Even in a fantasy setting, a city floating in the sky? That was absurd.
Estella laughed sheepishly. “Honestly, I don’t know the exact location either. I only learned about it from books. Probably the people who saw it were hundreds of years ago.”
“….”
Lahan pressed his hand to his forehead.
It was worse than he thought.
“…Then it’s just a legendary tale? Where is it?”
“…Yeah, that’s right. But the book said it exists! We found it in an ancient book kept in the Witch’s Forest, so it must be real!”
“….”
Lahan was once again speechless.
Even if it were true, he still didn’t know where to go.
“Anyway.” He sighed. “Hey, Estella.”
“Hm?”
“I know you want to adventure all over the place, even if some of those places sound like they only exist in fairy tales.”
Lahan spoke calmly. “But at least there should be some idea of where to look, right?”
Estella lowered her head, deflated by his realistic words.
She kept her eyes downcast and shot him a nervous glance from across the table.
“…I guess so. Then instead of the City in the Sky, how about somewhere else…….”
As she spoke, she suddenly summoned a palm-sized Subdimensional Pocket on the empty space beside her seat.
“…!”
Lahan’s eyes widened.
Estella ignored the look on his face and rummaged through her own pocket with one arm.
“Ah! Here it is!”
She pulled out a large scroll that looked like rolled-up parchment.
She glanced at the quest request on the table and tossed it across to Lahan.
“Here! I’m giving this to you, just as promised!”
“…Yeah. Thanks.”
The moment Lahan took it, Estella spread the scroll on the table.
It was clearly a map.
“What’s this?”
“A world map!”
She pointed one finger at a specific spot.
“This is the continent we’re on!”
“And this is the city we’re currently in!”
“Why are you showing me this suddenly?”
Lahan’s question was clear: why pull out the world map just to show him one spot?
Estella answered with rising excitement. “When you see this map, you’ll understand! There are blank spaces here and here! These are the uncharted lands perfect for exploration!”
She opened both palms wide in front of him. “Here’s the important part! There are more than ten legendary locations among those unexplored lands, just like the City in the Sky! Aren’t you already getting excited!?”
She added that the City in the Sky’s location might even be among them.
Lahan stroked his chin, lost in thought.
Estella continued listing places she knew. “Besides the City in the Sky, there’s the Tower of Mystery, Dragon Valley, the fantasy realm full of dreams and hope, the Mirror World, the Labyrinth, the ancient lands once inhabited by giants, the Elf Forest where the elves live, and even the Ice Castle of the Northern Frozen Lands in the frozen lands!”
“Rumors say that even an elf was spotted having a conversation with a fairy near the southern edge a few decades ago!”
“There are also ruins from the Mythical Era, like the Country of the Fog called the City of the Dead and the relic with a door that leads to the Gods’ Realm!”
“….”
Lahan thought every single one of them sounded like pure fiction.
Yet this world was already strange enough that he had to admit the possibility was not zero.
‘There are already mysterious magic systems and a witch right in front of me. Can I really say these places don’t exist?’
He felt his curiosity stirring despite himself.
At least now he understood why Estella had launched into such a long speech from the very beginning.
Lahan finally nodded reluctantly. “Fine. Even though it sounded like nonsense, there’s a chance it’s real. I’ll go along with it.”
“Yay! I finally got a true partner!”
Estella jumped up from her seat, cheering toward the sky with tears of joy in her eyes.
Lahan remembered something important and spoke up. “Still, we haven’t decided on the very first destination yet.”
“Ahahaha, you’re right.”
The conversation looped back to the start.
Since they still didn’t know the exact locations, they decided to gather travel funds first and then choose one uncharted land to explore.
*
After a few hours, when the sun would soon set, they entered a quiet forest as part of the current quest to exterminate the Rabbit Horns, a low-rank monster that only appeared during the day.
“Watch closely! Lahan! As your senior adventurer, I’ll show you exactly how to hunt Rabbit Horns!”
Pumped with confidence, Estella strode forward.
In the center of the empty clearing, she extended one palm skyward.
A magic scroll suddenly appeared in the air with a sharp crack.
The scroll unfolded by itself and began glowing brightly.
Estella closed her eyes and chanted in a serious tone, “Winds, find my enemies. Wind Exploration.”
The wind swirled around her, then shot forward and searched the nearby area.
Once she had pinpointed every Rabbit Horn’s location, Estella opened her eyes.
She continued without pause. “Winds, slice my enemies. Wind Cutter.”
The searching wind transformed into blades and sliced through all the Rabbit Horns’ necks at once.
She didn’t stop there. “Winds, move my enemies. Wind Move.”
The Wind Cutter that had just killed the monsters turned into a gentle breeze, wrapped around the bodies, and transported them straight to the clearing where Lahan and Estella stood.
Using only one of the four elements, she had handled exploration, killing, and retrieval in a single, flawless sequence.
Lahan watched in silence from behind and let out a small sigh of admiration. “Oh ho.”
‘Her skill is impressive. Is this magic? It’s an incredibly convenient power.’
He was genuinely surprised by Estella’s magical talent.
Moreover, he realized this wasn’t something anyone could fake with decent skill.
‘Efficient processing. That thought process. There was zero waste in the magic she used.’
She had seemed to cast three spells, yet in reality she had only applied one magic system. The results proved it was highly efficient and energy-saving.
Watching her proudly flex her chest and plant her hands on her hips, Lahan gave her a serious nod. “Not bad at all.”
“Well done.”
Lahan openly admitted it.
Estella grinned at him, one finger raised. “Now it’s your turn.”
Lahan nodded once and stepped forward.