Chapter 330
Chapter 330
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 330
Chapter Title: Carrot and Stick #4
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“If you're really in such a hurry, there is a way to make you sense mana in a short time.”
At Elfriede's words, I stopped trying to meditate and opened my eyes.
“You're serious?”
“But it's not a normal method, and it's definitely not easy. Even the elves of Albheim take a year of meditation and exercises to sense mana. We're compressing that into one week.”
I'd heard that Albheim's elves were innate mages with exceptional mana affinity from birth. For even them to need a full year of meditation and exercises just to sense mana...
And she was saying she could cram that into less than a week for me.
I knew it was an incredible feat, but at the same time, I couldn't even imagine how grueling it would be.
“What do I have to do?”
At my question, Elfriede rummaged through her luggage and pulled out a long rod-like object. Rod wasn't quite right—it was more accurate to call it a staff.
She swung the thin, long staff around in her hand a few times, then looked down at me sitting on the floor and asked,
“Do you know what this is?”
“If you're planning to hit me with it, you'd better not. A little whip is one thing, but that's a real weapon. I'll fight back.”
“No, I'm not going to hit you. Do you know what it is or not?”
“A switch?”
“You're doing this on purpose. It's a staff. A mage's tool.”
“Yeah, a staff. You could call it a switch too. So what about it?”
“Have you ever heard of a lightning rod?”
We'd been talking about mana, then it shifted to staves, and now suddenly lightning rods. I had no idea how to follow Elfriede's bizarre train of thought, but I nodded anyway.
“You mean the rod that takes the lightning strike instead? A lightning rod.”
“Yeah, you know about it, huh.”
She looked genuinely surprised that I knew what a lightning rod was, her eyes widening.
Heh, elves think they're the only ones with any knowledge.
If I started reciting the Fibonacci sequence, she'd probably fall over in shock. Though if I tried explaining it, even I'd be surprised at myself.
I don't know what it is.
Srrk-.
“...”
Then I saw Elfriede's eyes narrow into thin slits, and I hurriedly stopped thinking about sequences or whatever.
If she caught me daydreaming, that staff would turn into a real switch. Getting hit with it would definitely leave bruises.
“Anyway, this staff acts like a lightning rod. It gathers the mana scattered in the atmosphere and channels it into my body. Think of it as aiding mana manipulation.”
“Ah-.”
Suddenly, I felt like I understood why mages carried staves instead of swords or spears.
It was like an assistive tool that made casting magic easier and more precise.
“So, if I get one of those staves, it'll be easier for me to sense mana?”
“Yeah, but you can't just make a staff or wand from any old wood. In our Albheim, when a child is born, we plant a tree. When they start mana training, we cut it down and make it into a staff for them.”
“I see.”
I had no clue what that meant, but I nodded like I got it. Elfriede continued her explanation.
“The tree that grew alongside the child from birth absorbs their karma deeply. That's why the staff feels like an extension of their body.”
“Ah-.”
I think I got it. They say tools you use for a long time become like part of your body. It was like turning a tree that grew up like a sibling from childhood into a tool.
Hippolyte had emphasized the same thing during my training: “You have to treat your sword and weapons like extensions of your body—”
Magic or swordsmanship—it seemed they converged at a similar level in the end.
I asked,
“So your staff was made from the tree planted when you were born?”
“No, I just bought this one at a shop. A mage of my level doesn't care if it's a staff, a wand, or a broken tree branch.”
“I see. Impressive.”
She seemed to be boasting about herself, so I gave her some appropriate praise. In response, one of her long ears twitching through her hair flicked once.
Anyone feels good when praised. But Elfriede furrowed her brow and turned her head.
“Anyway, that's not the point. You can sense atmospheric mana using a medium like this staff too.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, I can make one for you. But in exchange, there's a condition. What I'm about to teach you is the fruit of my hard work as a mage. I can't just hand it over lightly.”
Elfriede declared it like a threat, as if she couldn't share her knowledge easily.
From her perspective, it was like me asking to copy her neatly organized study notes or homework. I could understand not wanting to hand it over easily.
That must be why mages don't take disciples lightly.
Floer, who said she'd teach me all her infernal magic paths if I passed her test, was totally insane.
But a condition, huh.
I tensed up, not knowing what Elfriede would demand. In the end, was I handing the leash back to her?
Should I look for another teacher right now? But I doubted anyone else could teach me magic's secrets in just a week.
If I went to other mages and offered money, I'd probably just get cursed at and kicked out.
“What do I have to do?”
“Hmm, let's see. What would be good? I'm thinking—”
Her red eyes narrowed thinly.
She tapped the floor with the tip of her staff—thunk, thunk—as if deep in thought, then finally spoke.
“Are you free at dawn today?”
“Nothing particular. I told Luna I had to learn magic.”
Luna had been busy preparing for the backlog at the workshop. So I was free for about a week starting today.
“Then massage my back and shoulders all through dawn. No sleeping. I'll think about it.”
Hassan was no longer free.
*
*
*
The Elfriede I remembered always read books before bed.
She'd sprawl on the bed or lean her head and back against the wall in a hunched posture, reading.
That naturally tensed the muscles in her neck, back, and whole body, making restful sleep impossible in that state.
She could at least do some simple stretches before bed.
Today was no different.
Under the lantern light, Elfriede was sprawled out, flipping through some book or whatever.
After reading for a while, she'd toss out a comment on whether it was interesting or not—that was the end of her routine.
“Boring. 'Beasts of the Fallen World Appeared'—weird title, weird content. Who writes this stuff?”
She lost interest, closed the book, stretched with a big yawn, and flopped face-down on the bed. Then she said,
“Now massage my back until I fall asleep—no, until morning even after I do.”
Ugh, shit.
The moment I'd dreaded had arrived.
That was her condition for giving me special training in mana sensitivity.
One night of massage might not seem like much, but massages are fucking exhausting.
Asking me to do it for a whole night was more than just telling me not to sleep—it was torture.
“What are you doing.”
“Ah.”
At Elfriede's urging, I stopped thinking and slowly approached the bed. The fairy of abundance, Elfriede, lay face-down, exposing her back vulnerably as she prepared to sleep.
What woman in the world would entrust a massage to a young, vigorous man and then sleep soundly?
But that was Elfriede.
She'd been cursed with illiteracy back then and thought I couldn't harm her, so she slept without worry.
She let me touch her bare soles because she saw me as harmless.
But now, that curse was long gone. Sharing a bed with Elfriede under the lantern light had me all worked up.
Not in that sense, of course—the problem was massaging her until morning.
Anyway, I naturally tensed up.
Whether she sensed it or not, Elfriede looked perfectly relaxed sprawled on the bed.
Wearing a white silk negligee, not a muscle tense, ready to drift into comfortable sleep.
Looking at her like this, she hadn't changed at all from back when she treated me like a slave. She still saw me as completely harmless.
You could say she was looking down on me.
Being seen as harmless to women—fucking blow to my pride. But in reality, I couldn't harm her.
Elfriede held the magic manual, making her absolutely dominant over me right now.
I was the subordinate.
The protagonist of Camellia endured Jemsoon the tenant farmer's daughter's torment steadfastly because of their overwhelming status difference—just like me.
“Hurry up and massage. Riding in that carriage forever made me so stiff I'm dying.”
At Elfriede's renewed urging, I slowly moved my hands. My rough palms touched her negligee, feeling the thin shoulders beneath.
Elfriede shivered faintly.
“Your palms—they're hotter than I thought.”
“What can I do? Cool them down?”
“No, it's fine. Just do it. I'm tired. I'm going to sleep now, so don't talk to me.”
We'd spent the last few days together as equals, overcoming things, so some camaraderie wouldn't be odd—but she was curt as ever.
No aversion to playing the master either. Women who know they're pretty are probably like this. Elfriede was one of the bolder ones.
But her shoulders were knotted up hard, mismatched to her demeanor.
As she'd said, she'd been hunched in the carriage back from Sodoma, and she always slouched or lay curled up, so her muscles were tense.
Swk-.
I pressed the knotted spots lightly with my thumb and index finger, like kneading dough.
“Yaaahhh-.”
Elfriede let out a bizarre sound utterly unlike her usual stern, cynical demeanor—like an old man sinking into a hot bath.
It was typical of the noises she made when I massaged her, so nothing surprising.
“Gyaaa, gyaaaaah.”
Hearing it, it sounded like the groans from that dragon thing I'd ridden on its back, and I nearly burst out laughing.
But with my strength of 15 under precise control, pressing knots like that naturally elicited such sounds.
As I kneaded her shoulders, I extended my hands down her back. With my thumbs, I circled the erector spinae from her neck to her lower spine, from inside out, loosening them.
“Ahhh...”
Elfriede groaned slightly in pain, but conversely, the tension in her body melted away languidly under my palms.
More than that, why was her body so stiff? Rigid like an unoiled tin robot or a wooden doll.
“There, harder. Yeah, my muscles have been knotted up lately—it's hurt.”
She wanted it harder, so I hesitated. With strength 15, I might punch a hole through her. What to do?
Then I thought to distribute the force over an area instead of a point, so I swept my palms from her waist up her back.
Srrk-.
But even easing up, pushing from bottom to top had an issue—the hem of her negligee, short down to her thighs, slowly rode up.
At that moment, her hand shot down, grabbed the skirt, and pulled it back.
“...You saw?”
She asked if I'd seen her black lace underwear.
“What.”
Of course, I played dumb. Elfriede said nothing more and pulled the blanket up to her waist.
Srrk-.
But pulling the blanket to cover her butt caused another problem with the cheap inn blanket.
Covering her rear pulled the bottom up, exposing her soles at the blanket's edge—strikingly white.
“Hey, covering your butt is fine, but now your soles are fully visible.”
“Ha-? What are you saying? I'm not covering my butt. And showing my soles to a guy like you doesn't bother me at all?”
“What are you talking about? Soles are an important spot for women.”
“Not. At. All.”
Elfriede had strange points of pride.
Face-down, I couldn't see her expression, but her ears flushing red through her hair said enough—no need to check.
Elfriede spoke toward me.
“You're the one obsessed with soles? Just because you touched my feet, you think it means something special with me?”
I wanted to protest what nonsense that was. But that might set the inn on fire again. And that would ruin my temple life too.
People learn from experience. From that arson incident, I'd reflected deeply on my hot-blooded self and matured.
I was completely different from back then—180 degrees changed, then another 180, a double transformation. New Hassan.
So I could boldly declare,
“Then I can massage your feet all night?”
“Ha-? What-?”