#065 Magic
#065 Magic
Beelzebub.
He is one of the seven Demon Kings who rule the Demon Realm, along with me, Belphegor.
Appetite, gluttony, consumption.
A Demon King tied entirely to the act of eating, the bastard is a monster of indulgence who swallows everything into his own stomach.
Is he strong?
If you ask me, among the Demon Kings he could be called the weakest.
Demonfolk love to stir up fights over the hierarchy among the Demon Kings every day, but as someone with direct experience clashing against Heroes, I could size up the Demon Kings well enough without having fought them.
At the very top are the three members of the deep and dark council: myself, Satan, and Lucifer.
Below them are Leviathan and Mammon.
Below them are Asmodeus and Beelzebub.
As beings deeply tied to lust and appetite, the so-called primal human desires, Asmodeus and Beelzebub could not help but be weak in the Demon Realm.
Then what about on the surface?
When they come up to the Middle Realm?
'It depends on how much mana they have left.'
If time were infinite and one could seize every resource for oneself without restraint, I believe Beelzebub would be the strongest as an army.
There is no other being capable of forming and controlling a group as vast as Beelzebub's.
Because the bastard is fundamentally a bug, and there is no creature with greater reproductive power than a bug.
As an individual, he was weak—though 'weak' still meant seventh strongest in the Demon Realm—but with enough resources to produce a massive legion, he could stand at the very top as a swarm or collective.
That is Beelzebub.
His method of increasing soldiers was so efficient and effective that even I borrowed a bit of Beelzebub's approach when expanding the Demon King Army's forces.
'Seeing livestock that died horribly brought back unpleasant memories.'
While I had Lucius and Rosemas secure lodging, I slipped away separately and examined the traces of the dead goat.
"Found the thing a little while ago. Bugs were seething inside it, so I burned it with fire, dug a pit, and then burned it for three days straight."
"You did well. The ones inside would all have died in the fire too."
It was now completely charred and burnt to a crisp, but parasites that had used the goat's body as a host had probably been writhing inside, eating the internal organs and growing.
I hadn't confirmed it yet, but it probably wasn't flies.
Just something that looked like flies.
"All done checking?"
"Yes, thank you, elder."
"Don't mention it. So what did you find out...?"
"This, if we're not careful, might be a matter for the Holy Knight Order?"
The old man's expression hardened in an instant.
"I still need to confirm it, but could this be traces of Acedia?"
"Wh-what...? Why would those lunatics...?!"
"How would I know? This isn't a simple matter."
Belphegor and Beelzebub had no particular connection, but since we were both Demon Kings anyway, using Acedia to scare him was certainly effective.
"Th-then what should we do?! Huh?!"
"Has any livestock gone missing recently?"
"W-well, there is one...."
"After we check that, we'll contact Odron, right? Better to be certain than to make a fuss over nothing."
"L-listen, Witch. Is it really Acedia?"
"That's why I'm saying we should confirm it, since we don't know."
"Master!"
Lucius and Rosemas approached me.
They must have finished the lodging procedures.
"Then, elder, I'll go see a mage who can contact Odron. If the missing livestock turns up later, please let me know right away."
"Ah, understood."
I covered the goat's corpse with straw again, then excused myself to the old man and moved on to the next place.
"It just looks like an ordinary house...?"
"A mage's workshop doesn't have to look unusual from the outside. Excuse me. We're adventurers who came on the elder's introduction."
Knock, knock.
I knocked and grabbed the door handle.
The moment I grabbed the handle, a light current sparked, but I immediately infused mana to twist the barrier and opened the door.
Bang!
"Eek!!"
The moment I opened the door, the female mage inside screamed and dove under the desk.
A witch's hat and a robe covering her whole body.
Her long brown hair, reaching to her waist, was disheveled from shock, and two beauty marks sat beneath her startled, tearful eyes.
"Hello. I'm called Witch Bel. You're the resident mage of Lastima, correct?"
"Y-yes, that's right.... Why did you break the barrier...."
"You put up the barrier first. Because we were trying to come this way."
"......Are you a Grand Mage?"
The mage kept watching me nervously.
At the sudden situation, Lucius and Rosemas behind me looked confused, and I pointed at the mage as she timidly crawled out from under the desk.
"She'd been watching us with clairvoyance the whole time."
"......Master."
"Don't worry. She means no harm. She was probably just worried about the village."
Nod, nod.
The mage quickly nodded her head.
"Um, Witch...?"
"You have a crystal orb that can contact Odron, right?"
"Yes, yes. I do manage one, but...."
"But?"
"...I was strictly told not to contact them unless something special happened...."
"Whether something special has happened or not, we can confirm that later."
I conjured a formula in the air toward the mage.
"First, shall we do a light skill test?"
Whether she'd be useful as combat strength.
If she was useful—
"Uh, um, an incantation for transformation magic...? N-no, that's not...? It seems like a somewhat old-fashioned method...?"
"Oh-ho."
If she was.
"Wait, shall we have a little 'chat'?"
It seemed I'd finally found someone to talk about magic with.
* * *
After exchanging conversation with the mage about modern magic.
I returned to the lodging and organized the magical content I'd discussed with the mage onto parchment.
"Master, here's some tea at least...."
"Thanks."
I set the tea Lucius brought on the desk, then grabbed the quill again and focused on magic.
After a heated debate on the explosiveness and cohesion of fire magic, the approach of detonating as much firepower as possible at once and the spells that followed from it.
New magic that extended illusion magic's influence not only to oneself but also to the clothes one wore.
In my case, flying through the air meant using levitation magic to ride an object suspended in the air, but modern mages used flying magic to spread wings on their backs like angels and soar through the sky like birds.
The modern magic passed on by the mage had a great deal worth learning.
Know the enemy and know yourself, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles.
Only by learning and preparing for the magic that had changed over five hundred years could I prevent a major disaster later.
So....
"Um, Master."
"What?"
"Today's physical training is...."
"......Ah, has it already gotten that late?"
I lightly wrapped up what I'd been organizing, put the quill back in the inkwell, and stacked the parchments into a neat pile.
"We'll start with light stretching from the neck. You've both changed clothes, so let's begin right away."
Rosemas also joined the physical training.
After sitting for so long, I stretched lightly by tilting my neck upward, and both of them followed my lead and began warming up.
"Master. Is magic that fun for you?"
"Magic?"
"Yes. I don't think I've ever seen you focus like this before."
"Magic is fun."
With the power of mana, you defy the laws of nature and exert your own influence on the world.
And not in just one way, but in truly countless ways.
There is nothing as enjoyable as magic.
"With magic, you can do anything. For example, there's brainwashing magic, right? If the conditions are right, you can turn your opponent into a puppet that only obeys commands, or there's magic that leaves the ego intact but steals only control of the body."
"...Is there such magic?"
"Yes. It's mainly used by Black Mages, but you or Rosemas with your strong mental barriers won't be affected."
Lucius's Holy Sword would protect his mind on its own, while Rosemas naturally had high mental resilience as an elf.
The reason I deliberately used brainwashing magic as an example was to instill wariness of it in them.
'Because it's dangerous.'
Beelzebub doesn't use brainwashing magic, but there's no harm in being careful.
"Magic is truly profound. Change just a little of the incantation and its influence changes."
"What about you, Master?"
"Me, well.... It's a fight."
I pointed at the Demon Core embedded in my heart.
"Whoever's will gives way loses. But if you never lose your will and your mind never collapses, you can maintain your sense of self. With even a little mana, problems like brainwashing can be resolved easily enough."
"You're amazing, Witch."
"Right? But physical force might actually be hard to resist. Without reinforcing this body with mana, it's just a frail girl's body."
So I had to train my body as I was doing now.
Even if it wouldn't become a muscular body, so that I could use physical strength in situations where mana couldn't be used.
"Um, Master."
"What?"
"Could I... perhaps learn magic?"
"......."
Something.
It felt like being smacked hard on the back of the head.
I froze for a moment in my horse-riding stance with knees lowered.
"What?"
"Magic, could I learn it?"
"You want to learn magic?"
"Yes. Even starting from the very basics...."
I grabbed Lucius's wrist in one motion and sat him down in a chair.
Then I perched on the armrest of the chair to make teaching easier.
"M-Master?!"
"If you wanted to learn magic, you should have said so earlier. Heh-heh, asking the world's greatest mage for lessons. This is something you couldn't learn even if you offered a fortune anywhere else."
I took Lucius's hand and moved it directly to teach him how to hold the quill.
"We'll start with basic runes. Magic uses mana, but since you can use the Holy Sword's power instead of mana, we'll start right away with the letters. Understood?"
"Ah, understood. But...."
"I-I want to learn too!"
"Oh? Come here."
I pointed to the other side of Lucius, and Rosemas immediately perched her bottom on the armrest and took her spot.
"It'll be a little different from the nature magic elves use. Since we're starting from the basics meant to teach Lucius, just filter it as you see fit. Got it?"
"Yes!!"
Could anyone be this bright?
At Rosemas's bright voice, I placed my hand next to the quill Lucius was holding.
"Lucius."
"Y-yes...!!"
"This is the magic you asked to learn."
I turned my head to the side and gave Lucius a warning.
"I'll cram what magic is into you from start to finish. Heh-heh-heh."
Come.
Into the profound world of magic.