Magic (4)
When Meina had first arrived in this village ten years ago, the people had welcomed her with open arms.
The village had had no mage at the time.
Everyone had helped her settle in with heartfelt devotion, and in return, Meina had willingly lent her magic to whatever needed it.
Life in the village was satisfying. Unlike the bustling heart of the forest, this village was quiet — quiet enough to devote herself entirely to research and training.
The problem was that Meina couldn't manage a household to save her life.
Cleaning was one thing, but she couldn't even cook. She had scraped by on nuts and berries gathered from the forest, and once she buried herself in research, she skipped even those more often than not.
Day by day, Meina grew thinner, until the villagers, unable to watch any longer, began bringing her food.
Everything they brought was delicious, but Meina's favorite was the sandwiches made by Luciel's mother, Arnia.
Soft wheat bread layered with golden-brown sautéed mushrooms, a thick fried egg, fresh vegetables, and fruit jam. No matter how many she ate, she never tired of them. It was, quite simply, a taste of paradise.
There was just one catch: Arnia only made the sandwiches once a week. There was no particular reason for it — she simply spread her cooking around evenly.
Meina was heartbroken about it. She wanted to eat them every day, but as someone on the receiving end, she could hardly ask. That would have been shameless.
And then today, Luciel had walked in carrying those very sandwiches.
Meina, who had been frantically tidying her house since the day before and hadn't eaten a thing, nearly lost her mind at the sight of the sandwich Luciel held out.
Every fiber of her being wanted to cram it into her mouth that instant, but she couldn't very well stand her pupil at the door and gorge herself on food. She barely suppressed her appetite, ushered Luciel inside, told her to read a book, then plopped down on the sofa and began devouring the sandwich with unseemly haste.
Ah, this is so good…!
She honestly envied Luciel for having a mother who could make a sandwich this delicious.
It didn't take Meina long to finish. She inhaled the thing, plain and simple.
Feeling a pleasant fullness, she lifted her head.
Luciel was sitting at the desk, reading. Sunlight slanting through the window settled gently on her silver hair.
Luciel didn't move, absorbed in the book, though her two dangling legs swung idly beneath the chair now and then.
Meina found herself smiling without meaning to. Watching Luciel concentrate like that made a warm corner of her heart melt.
Is this how my own teacher felt, watching me?
Just then, Luciel raised her hand in a smooth arc. Magic power gathered above her palm, and a spell formula began to take shape.
…?
No way.
Meina held her breath.
Fwoosh!
Light bloomed above Luciel's hand. A spell had manifested.
N-no, that's impossible….
She couldn't believe it. Luciel had only just opened the Beginner's Grimoire.
Ten minutes, at most.
Meina — once a promising young mage in the Forest Center — had needed three days to understand her first formula. And that was after staying up all night struggling to tease out its rules.
For most, it took at least a week, sometimes more than a month.
Even Cadrien, the Archmage hailed as the genius of his era, was said to have spent a full day grasping his first formula.
And Luciel?
…She understood it the moment she laid eyes on it.
A chill crept over Meina. At this point, she couldn't even begin to fathom the depths of Luciel's talent.
The only thing certain was that Luciel would become an Archmage whose name would go down in history…!
"Master?"
Luciel turned to look at her.
Meina, who had been staring up in wide-eyed shock, hastily composed her face. She couldn't let her pupil see her looking like a fool.
"It worked."
The light still hovered above Luciel's hand.
When a mage manifested a spell for the first time, it was supposed to waver and flicker — but Luciel's magic held its form flawlessly.
Meina walked over to her.
"W-well done…."
She reached out and stroked Luciel's head. That was the extent of her praise.
What she really wanted to do was sweep Luciel into her arms and shout, You're a genius! — but remembering her promise with Luciel's father, Gallad, she steadied herself.
"Want to try moving the spell?"
"How do I do that?"
"Magic is the manifestation of will. Once a spell manifests, it's an extension of your own will. So…."
Before she could even finish the sentence, the light above Luciel's hand drifted gently upward.
Luciel had understood without being told the rest — and moved the magic on her own.
"R-right, yes, exactly like that… well done."
Magic is the manifestation of will. To move a manifested spell, will is all you need.
Even so… it's supposed to be anything but easy….
Moving magic was not simple. Most mages failed their first several attempts — the slightest lapse in concentration and the spell simply vanished.
Meina herself had failed spectacularly many, many times.
Luciel, meanwhile, was already handling magic as if she'd been born to it. Her orb of light spun in circles through the air, traced figure-eights, and generally ran riot.
Yet there wasn't a trace of strain on Luciel's face. She was simply smiling, as though the whole thing were a delightful novelty.
Worse still —
"May I try making a few more?"
"…!"
When I came back to myself, it was dark outside. Learning magic had been so much fun that I'd lost all track of time.
Thanks to that, I'd managed to understand every formula in the Beginner's Grimoire in a single day — not just the light-making spells, but the various elemental ones and telekinesis as well.
And though it wasn't in the book, I'd also practiced casting multiple spells at once.
Five orbs of light, all at the same time.
I felt like I could manage more with focus, but there was no particular need. Five was plenty.
For the record, everything I'd learned today was 1-Star magic.
Magic is ranked from 1-Star to 5-Star, with difficulty climbing at each tier.
There is, technically, 6-Star magic too — but that is said to be a realm permitted only to dragons.
"Any race other than dragons who can cast 5-Star magic is called an Archmage. Right now there are only two beings on the entire continent capable of it — one among the elves, one among the humans. The Elf Archmage Cadrien, and the human Archmage Lord Randolph."
"If there are only two on the whole continent, I'd guess 5-Star magic must be extraordinarily difficult."
"Well… yes, that's true, but…."
"Can those two see mana with their eyes, by any chance?"
"See mana? No, that's not possible. Mana is like the air — invisible to the eye. You can feel it, but you can't see it."
So mana really was visible only to me. I had no idea what advantage that might give me, but still.
More to the point, the sun was setting, and I ought to head home. If I was late, my parents would worry.
"I'll head out for today."
I bowed my head to Meina.
"Thank you for teaching me, Master."
"Ah — I'll walk you home. It's late."
"That's all right. I can go by myself."
"Still, the path will be dark."
"I'll just use a light spell. I learned it today, after all."
I talked her out of escorting me and hurried out the door. I didn't want to put her to any more trouble than necessary.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Master."
"Be careful on the way. Don't trip and fall."
"I won't."
Outside, the cold night air greeted me.
I walked along the path, manipulating my magic power. A formula traced itself before me, and the light spell manifested.
Fwoosh!
A round sphere of light drove back the darkness and lit my way. I set the spell to follow along above my head.
Moving magic was simpler than I'd expected. Perhaps because it had manifested from my own will, it felt as natural as moving my own body.
Nice.
Who knew banishing darkness could be this easy? I doubted I'd ever need a lantern again.
And since I could conjure fire and water too, my quality of life was about to skyrocket. Learning magic had absolutely been the right call.
I wonder what I'll learn tomorrow….
Once again I rose early, did my stretches, and ran three laps around the village.
Then I ate breakfast, washed up, and made my way to Meina's house.
"There you are, my pupil!"
Meina greeted me with great enthusiasm.
"Good morning, Master. Mother made you more sandwiches. She said she was sure you hadn't been eating properly."
I held out the basket of sandwiches.
"And she asked me to apologize for her — she didn't have time to make anything else."
"A-an apology? For this? It's more than enough that she made them at all! And I love Arnia's sandwiches. They're delicious."
They were delicious. Though I suspected they'd be even better with bacon inside.
"Come on in."
I stepped into Meina's house. On the desk today sat a different book.
The Intermediate Grimoire
We'd gone from beginner to intermediate in a single day. It felt like the pace might be a bit fast, but then again, I had covered the entire Beginner's Grimoire yesterday.
"Um, would you read ahead again today? I'm going to eat this for a bit…."
"Of course. Take your time."
"Thank you."
Meina carried the basket off to the sofa, and I sat down at the desk and opened the book.
According to what I'd confirmed yesterday, pushing more magic power into a 1-Star formula did nothing to raise the spell's potency.
No matter how much power I'd fed into the 1-Star light spell, the orb neither grew larger nor brighter.
To increase a spell's power, you had to refine the formula itself, or learn magic of a higher tier.
And the Intermediate Grimoire contained the formulas for 2-Star magic.
They were more intricate than the 1-Star formulas and demanded far more magic power — but I didn't foresee any problems.
I understood them the moment I saw them, and I had plenty of power to spare.
I immediately began manipulating my magic power, sketching out the formula for a 2-Star fire spell. The moment the power finished arraying itself, two stars rose at the formula's center.
FWOOSH!
A fireball the size of a basketball bloomed in midair. It was the very same spell Meina had demonstrated for me not long ago.
Feeling a quiet swell of pride, I turned to Meina.
"It worked."
"S-so it did… well done…."
Meina smiled awkwardly. And it wasn't just the smile that was strained — her eyes were trembling too.
Is something wrong with my fireball…?
I looked at it again, but nothing seemed off. The power was arrayed without a hair's breadth of error, and the spell's shape was perfect.
"May I make a few more?"
"Y-yes, of course…!"
FWOOSH!
Five 2-Star fireballs floated up into the air. They were 2-Star magic, all right — they carried a distinctly threatening presence.
I spun the five fireballs around like a circus act, then scattered them.
Time to learn something new. I turned my eyes back to the book and murmured to myself.
"Maybe today I'll work through every spell in the Intermediate Grimoire…."
Behind me, Meina began coughing violently — loud enough to make sure I heard every bit of it.