Chapter 33
Chapter 33
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: 8. McDullin Abbey (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
No standout figures caught my eye.
That barrier under Memory Correction.
With that size and density, it should've been impossible not to notice...
Maybe they're deliberately holding back their power.
Or perhaps they unleashed more strength than usual in a crisis.
The latter's possible too.
It's only the first day, so no need to stress. I'll look into it slowly.
Above all, I need to keep some attention for Vivian.
While I hunt for the priest, I'll have her learn some other spells.
"Oh, it's so cute and cozy?"
I returned to the riverside tent with Marie.
I'd brought her along since she was curious.
"It's nice enough that we could all bunk together. But... Ian, are you gonna squeeze in and sleep with the others too?"
"...What kinda thoughts are going through your head?"
"Won't you tell me what you're thinking?"
"My bad. I won't be sleeping together."
Marie burst into giggles.
This woman... how do I even describe her?
She knows exactly how to get under my skin.
If this is good chemistry, then sure, it's great chemistry.
Vivian was the one startled by my response.
"Where will you sleep then, Ian?"
Marie and Mercy reacted in unison to her question.
"Oh..."
Vivian averted her gaze, embarrassed, but still waited for an answer.
She seemed sorry at the thought of being the only one comfortable.
"I can sleep on the floor just fine. Or flop over on this table here."
Marie and Mercy's eyes swung back to Vivian.
They looked thrilled to see what she'd say.
"R-Really...?"
Marie and Mercy slumped in disappointment.
What were they even hoping for?
I couldn't bring myself to tease Marie, so I pinched Mercy's cheek instead.
"You gonna keep messing around?"
"You'reh gonna ruhin yourh good looksh!"
"You know that's why I wanna do it."
"Mmph! Mmph!"
Marie laughed again as Mercy flailed her arms wildly.
That woman's a total menace.
Way more than me or Mercy.
"When did you prepare all this?"
"Just in case, I packed it before coming."
"As expected of a 1st Hero Party Manager... Can I hang out here today too?"
"Eh, I don't mind."
All eyes turned to Vivian.
"Uh, m-me? Well, if Ian's okay with it..."
"Forget my opinion. What's yours?"
"Exactly. Speak up while you can."
"Um... Yeah, I'm fine with it. I like having lots of people around."
Vivian grinned shyly.
It was the eager reaction of someone who loved company, like a puppy.
Marie watched her blankly, then muttered,
"I really wanna steal her away. What if I kidnapped her while she's sleeping?"
"No."
"I know. She's Ian's."
"..."
Don't react.
Reacting means I lose.
It was evening, with the sun dipping low, so we got dinner ready.
Marie tried to help, but I made her sit since Mercy was handling it.
Marie gaped as the ingredients piled up one by one.
"What is... Why so much? No, where's all this even coming from right now?"
"Artifact pouch."
"...Wow. Yeah, I can't take Vivian with me."
"Figured it out now, huh?"
"Oh, getting possessive, are we?"
"Ah."
I said not to react...
Vivian, embarrassed at overhearing, turned her back to stare at the night sky.
Her ears were still bright red.
"Hey, you any good at cooking?"
I laid out the ingredients and asked Mercy.
"Good...? Not sure. I've only ever done what you told me to."
"We had a head chef back then."
"Well, if I suck, just give up on me!"
"Why say it yourself?"
Mercy, who'd planned to half-ass it optimistically, surprisingly pitched in well.
But she'd never handled a knife before, so her cutting was clumsy.
I ended up doing that part.
Vivian, who'd had her back turned, wandered over to watch.
Showing her cooking up close like this was a first.
"Man... I wonder if I even qualify as a manager."
I ignored Marie's muttering and finished filling the table with dishes.
"Thanks for the food."
"Thank you, Ian."
Vivian and Marie said grace, and we dug in.
Marie took one bite, then shot me a wide-eyed look.
"You know I'm giving up on Vivian now, right?"
"What a relief."
"But let me join your party instead. If I can eat like this, I'm in. Knight spot open?"
"You're not superhuman."
"Aw, busted. I almost had you."
*
After dinner, Kati caught fish by the riverbank.
For tomorrow's ingredients.
Marie watched her.
"Whoa! Look at that—grabbing one every time she stretches out? Impressive!"
Kati remained indifferent despite Marie's praise.
"Her consistent rudeness is kinda charming."
Mercy insisted on cleaning up alone.
With time to kill, I took Vivian to an open spot without obstacles.
"Vivian."
"Y-Yes?"
...Why's she so flustered?
"You stressing over what Marie said?"
"N-Nooo?"
"That's basically admitting it."
"Urgh..."
Over there, Marie clapping like a seal while watching Kati was kinda annoying.
"Just ignore her silly joke."
"R-Right. Of course."
"Anyway, last time—you said you had one more spell you could use, right?"
Back in Arke Village, when I first asked her to show me her magic.
She'd said she had two.
Later, she mentioned not using the last one for fear of starting a fire.
Probably a fire spell.
"Yeah. That's right."
"I'd like to check that one out too."
"Got it."
"Just to warn you, nothing to burn here, but keep the power low. I just wanna see what spell it is."
"I'll try..."
Vivian still couldn't handle mana with finesse.
She'd improved a lot, but it wasn't enough.
Vivian stared straight ahead, eyes wide open.
She'd completely broken the habit of closing them to cast.
Soon, a red magic circle formed above her head.
A pitch-black fireball emerged at its center.
...That's kinda big?
"Uh, uwaaa...!"
She panicked and launched it straight into the river.
The massive fireball streaked with a short tail and slammed into the riverbed.
-Boom!
Water and shattered rock sprayed everywhere.
I yanked Vivian down and covered her just in time.
A huge boulder whistled past right after.
Far off at camp, Marie and Mercy were flat on the ground.
Not close enough for debris to hit, but they'd dived in shock anyway.
-Rustle...
We waited out the gravel and sand settling.
"You okay?"
"Y-Yeah, I'm f-fine, but... um..."
Vivian trailed off and looked up at me quietly.
Her eyes trembled in my shadow.
Uh...
Aren't we a bit... close right now...?
"Ahem... Sorry."
"N-No, it's... my fault, uh..."
This is all Marie's doing.
It's not even that awkward, is it?
Protecting a nearby comrade isn't wrong...
We had a similar moment when we first met, but it wasn't like this then.
[Master.]
"Gah!"
"Eek?! W-What's wrong?"
"N-Nothing."
Gotta snatch that ring soon.
My heart nearly stopped.
'Why, why.'
[...Be careful.]
'Of what? You?'
[......]
'Bring me the ring.'
[...No.]
'Look at her.'
I glared at Kati in the distance.
She had her chin propped on her front paw, eyes closed.
Marie and Mercy, who'd gotten up stealthily, smirked our way.
Ah...
"A-Anyway. Power control... you can practice that gradually."
"Y-Yeah. Got it..."
"Next time, aim farther out. Anyway, that was a Fireball, right?"
The most basic fire spell, Fireball.
It shot a round lump of flame, just like the name.
"Yes, exactly."
But Vivian's Fireball was off.
"Did you know there was a black orb in the center of your Fireball?"
"Um... Yeah..."
A Fireball is pure flame.
It can't have a black center.
"I, uh, actually learned it by peeking over someone's shoulder... I didn't see the full diagram. So I kinda mash Fireball and Rock Shoot together."
Rock Shoot was basic earth magic that hurled stones.
...So, she half-ass learned two spells and fused them out of ignorance?
Magic fusion?
Does she even realize what she's saying?
"Whoa..."
A spell's incantation served two functions.
Take Ice Spear: "Ice" was the attribute, "Spear" the form.
Magic was like math formulas.
Compatible attributes and forms were fixed.
Magic just manifested preset answers via diagrams.
Deviating from that was "magic fusion."
Mixing attributes or forms from different spells.
Like mixing water and oil.
No Casting talent plus Sylvia-level comprehension...
The Archmage would offer herself up as tribute if she knew.
"Um, d-did I say something...?"
Vivian wouldn't get it even if I explained now.
And honestly, I'm no magic scholar, so I doubt I could make her understand.
"It just... surprised me."
But I couldn't let her keep using that Fireball as-is.
Not unless she mastered mana control.
Fusing spells was dangerous for her current level.
"Can you draw the diagram you remember?"
At the table, Vivian flawlessly sketched a complex diagram on parchment.
"It's probably wrong, but this is it."
"Hm."
Definitely not the standard Fireball diagram I knew.
This was her makeshift fusion...
"Ah..."
"Huh? Oh."
Up close, our shoulders brushed.
"Sorry."
"I-It's fine."
It was fine for me too... Or wait, shouldn't it not be?
No...?
Marie’s got me thinking weird stuff.
I sat across from Vivian and drew proper Fireball and Rock Shoot diagrams.
"Whoa... You remember stuff like that?"
"...? You just drew what you remembered."
"Oh, true. Hehe."
...Do I come off as illiterate?
I don't exactly look scholarly.
"This is Fireball. This is Rock Shoot. Master them separately first. You'll need to be able to cast them apart."
"Got it."
No Casting didn't mean instant mastery of every spell on sight.
You had to understand the diagram and visualize recreating it mentally.
No Casting just let you skip chanting and cast at thought speed once understood.
That alone was insane.
She'd need practice to refine it through repetition.
"Oh, right, Ian. About that 1 gold I got."
"Yeah."
"How do we split it?"
Oh, right.
Heroes and managers usually split earnings.
Not super valuable to me, but...
"I'll take it all."
"Okay. Here..."
"Wait, no. You didn't even hesitate?"
"Huh? Considering what you've spent on me, it feels like more than 1 gold..."
"Still, handing it over so quick..."
Vivian tilted her head innocently.
...I was joking, but now I feel guilty as hell.
"No way I'd take it all. I was kidding."
"Then?"
"You keep it all."
"...Huh?"
Vivian blinked, mouth agape, then grinned.
"You're joking again, right?"
"Nope."
"...Huuuh?"
"Gonna catch flies like that."
"Ah."
Vivian shut her mouth, paused, then shot up.
"Wait! You mean I keep the whole 1 gold?"
"Don't want it?"
"N-No, it's not that, but..."
I still had my emergency fund for the 1st Party crew intact.
No money worries for a while.
"Think of it as a first payout bonus—and compensation for two years of hard work."
"Two years... Th-Thank you... Sniff, sob..."
Wait, why's she crying...?
"Whoa. Ian made Vivian cry."
"What a bad guy."
Marie and Mercy had snuck up and were snickering.
"I didn't do anything."
"Then why's she crying alone?"
"Exactly. Anyone can see you messed up."
"Ah."
"Nooo... it's not..."
Vivian sniffled and shook her head, defending me.
Marie crossed her arms, nodding confidently.
"Gotta give away 1 gold to snag a cutie like Vivian."
"...Huh?"
"I'm too materialistic for that. Shame."
Vivian’s doomed to endless teasing from Marie.
"By the way, didn't you two do a contract? Usually sets the split ratio."
"Oh, yeah. But I don't have the form on me."
How long since I last did a hero contract...?
"I got a few. Want some?"
"You carry those around?"
"You never know when you'll snag a hero or aspirant."
I took a standard contract from Marie and sat with Vivian.
"Ah..."
She panicked visibly when I handed it over.
Her eyes darted anxiously.
"What's wrong?"
"Uh, um... C-Could we do it later? Next time?"
"Not like it has to be now..."
"Then later...! I gotta study magic too..."
Dunno the reason, but whatever.
"Sure."
While Vivian studied, I chatted with Marie.
"Got a list of novice nuns or something at the abbey?"
"Yeah. They post monthly mid-term rankings. Wanna check tomorrow?"
"Let's do it."
I'll look at that list tomorrow.
Info's too scarce.
*
Seeing the list didn't change much.
Names from 1st to 30th, but no useful details.
"Not very helpful."
"Nope."
But the abbey admin should have detailed records.
Way to meet them...? There is one.
"Hm..."
As 1st Hero Party Manager, the title alone was power. Not now.
Gotta use every card I have.
"Gonna step out for a bit."
"Sure."
I left Marie and went with Mercy.
Vivian was training, Kati by her side.
Couldn't snag the ring.
"Where to?"
"Meeting the top person here."
I asked a passing nun for directions to the abbess's office.
I knocked lightly at the door.
Feels a bit like pulling rank, but no choice.
-Come in.
Permission granted from inside.
I gripped the apostle's gold coin and opened the door.