The day after Lime became human-shaped. Magic class was held in the field. This place, itâs used quite a lot huh. As for the training grounds, itâs because not everyone can fit in there.
âAlright then, weâll start the lesson. From today, Iâll be usinâ real magic. All, have ye learned how tah control yer mana?â
Nobody denied it, so Gauche-sensei continues.
âWell then, Iâll try tah explain about magic. Magic is, tellinâ the spirits want ye want them tah do, and havinâ âem incite various phenomenons.â
Spirits? Heâs saying more things I have no clue aboutâŠ
âSpirits, what kinds of things are those?â
A serious looking boy asks a question.
âSpirits eh, theyâre the essence of the world. Mountains, rivers, forests, and the ilk, they dwell in everythinâ. Since elves can converse with spirits, they can just tell the spirits what they want âem tah do.â
Guess thatâs the so-called âspirit magicâ, huh.
âThat true?â
âNn, I can hear it. I can even talk to them.â
Guess you could say itâs as expected of Lucas the elf.
âHow ye can use it too, it comes down tah images and words. Spirits know what a body is thinkinâ, so because of that ye tell them whatâye want âem tah do.â
âImage is importantâ eh. Well then, what about the words?
âHowever, âtis hard to tell them with only images. Therefore, ye use words to compensate fer ye images.â
Conversely, you could say that if your image is strong then you donât need words. If itâs delusions then itâs my specialty, could it be my time has come!?
âNow then, Iâll show ye an example. Oâ Spirits, Strike my enemy with wind, Wind Bullet.â
A small ball of wind appears. Ooh, so thatâs magicâŠExactly as I imagined.
âThis be the basic wind magic, Wind Bullet. By adjusting yer mana, from something this small.â
This time a considerably large Wind Bullet appears. When Gauche-sensei shoots it at a tree, it flies at high speed, and makes a large âBang!âexplosive sound upon impact.
âTah something this large, can be made possible. Well, I donât have the Wind Magic skill, so the power doesnât increase that much.â
Even without the skill, to be able to fire magic of that degreeâŠWell, my mana capacity is small,so I have to start with increasing it.
âNow, first yer all goinâ tah practice this magic. Line yerselves up over here.â
Everyone is lined up in a row. Yeah, itâd be dangerous if you hit someone, so of course youâd be made to shoot in a fixed direction.
âIâm sure there are those who donât have the skill, but fer the time beinâ try usinâ it. The incantation is, if ye start with âOâ Spiritsâ and end withâWind Bulletâ, the words in the middle can be anything ye want. Elves, ye can probably just use âWind Bulletâ.â
Think for ourselves, huhâŠThatâs a little, no quite embarrassing huhâŠFor now, I guess Iâll try copying the teacher.
âMkay, try it.â
When Gauche-sensei says that, all students begin to chant in unison. Alright then, shall I try it too.
First, decide on the size. Generally speaking, a tennis ball-size should do. And, I imagine that wind is becoming that shape, and expand it.
âOâ Spirits, Strike my enemy with wind, Wind Bullet.â
In my hand, a golf ball-sized ball of wind appears. Ugh, itâs smaller than thought. The mana used wasâŠabout 2%? Seriously, it sucks to have little manaâŠ
âWind Bullet!âŠYup, well thatâs about right.â
âOâ Spirits, Strike my enemy with wind, Wind Bullet! ⊠Uuuu, it doesnât come outtt-dearimasuâŠâ
Lucas summons a wind bullet the size of a handball, while Trissâ doesnât seem to have cast. As for me, I wonder if it was good just to have cast it.
âYours is huge LucasâŠas expected of an elf huh.â
âTsuchio-kun too, you cast it properly even without a skill, thatâs pretty amazing!â
Oh really? Well, I guess I had a strong image in mind.â
âImage is it-dearimasukaâŠ.Itâs hard-dearimasu~.â
As though it ran out of mana, the wind bullet disperses. Pheww, itâs pretty difficult to sustain it.
âRegardless of whether or not ye were able tah do it, yâall seem tah have tried magic.Those unable teh do et, raise yer hands.â
More than half of the students raise their hands. Since skill holders would be able to do it, these are the non-skill holders huh.
âHmmmâŠ. With magic of this level even without a skill ye should be able to cast et, so et must be yer image and chant. You there, whatâd ye chant?â
Gauche-sensei pointed at an energetic-looking boy who had his hand raised.
âEh!? Um, I chanted the same thing as sensei.â
âYe ken do that. Ye got tah properly think ah ye own, best fitting chant, or ye kennae use magic well. Fer now, those who didnât cast et work on yer chant tah be able to cast et. Those able tah cast et, work on makin yer cast shorter, and thatâs et fer today.â
I wanted him to teach support magic thoughâŠoh well. For the time being, letâs do our best to reduce the mana consumed.
âTsuchio-dono, how do you do it-dearimasuka?â
âErr, didnât he tell you to think about it yourself.â
âBut itâs hard to think from scratch-dearimasuyo. How about Lucas-dono?â
âMmmm, I never did it so I donât know~. Yâknow, Iâm an elf, so we donât really chant right.â
âIs that so-dearimasukaâŠ. Mmmm, what should I do-dearimasuâŠâ
Anyway, I also want to be able to cast with one phrase. As long as I have a clear image, I donât even think I need words thoughâŠLetâs try it.
Imagine the Wind Bullet cast a moment ago clearly in your mind. And just like that,
âWind Bulletâ
I utter a phrase. Then, a bullet slightly larger then before appeared. So the fact that it became larger, means mana is planted in your words huh?
âTsuchio-dono you just cast with only one phrase-dearimasuyo!?â
âTsuchio-kun, are you really sure you donât have the skill?â
âI donât have it alreadyâŠ.Also, I canât do this without concentrating really hard. Lucas can do this without trying right?â
âThatâs right butâŠ.Still, itâs really cool to do it in one phrase without a skill. You must have a really clear image.â
Well, for an otaku, delusions are what we do to kill time after all. Our imaginations are naturally trained.
âUuu, I donât get it-dearimasuyo.â
Itâd be sad if we donât have Triss fire one off soon. I guess Iâll try thinking aloud a bit.
âLessee-âŠOâ Spirits, conjure a bullet of wind to strike my enemies, Wind Bullet, or something?â
âOâ spirits, conjure a bullet of wind to strike my enemies, Wind Bullet!â
âDonât repeat it verbatim.â
A small ball appears in Trissâ hand. Eh, she did it with just that? I just fiddled with it a bitâŠ
âI did it, Tsuchio-dono-dearimasuyo! I did it-dearimasu!â
âGood job, Triss.Alright, now do your best to make it shorter.â
âYup-dearimasu!â
Since the noon bell rang, the dayâs magic lesson was completed. Though Tris had been working hard the whole time, she wasnât able to shorten her chant any further.
âThis sucks-dearimasuyoâŠâ
âWell Triss, youâre taking magic class in order to practice magic control, arenât you? Work hard on that part.â
âYeah! You should just concentrate on training body strengthening and stuff!â
âThatâs true-dearimasuâŠbut even if just a little, I want to be able to use magic-dearimasu. â
âWell, I want to be able to use magic somewhat too though, so I get the feelingâŠ. Lunch is getting cold, so letâs eat.â
Guess Iâll go to the library later, and look up support magic or something. The one I looked at last time only had basics after all. Think Iâll go after I feed Ruu.
After feeding Lime swords, grass, and water I head to the library. Its appetite strong today, so it eats a bunch of swords. Maybe it likes it? It drinks a bunch of solution too, so its body has gotten bigger.
âHello, what kind of book are you looking for today?â
The librarian, upon seeing me, comes to talk to me. I like it, this kinda service.
âIâm looking for a book about support magic. I had magic class today, so Iâm a bit interested.â
âIs that so. Please wait a moment.â
The male librarian goes to retrieve a book. (Note: Donât know why the author decided to specify here). If he had just gone to where it is, I couldâve gotten it myself thoughâŠ
âI recommend this one; itâs got a variety of things written in it.â
Saying so he brings out a book as thick as a dictionaryâŠ.Geez itâs thick.
âThereâs that much support magic?â
âSupport magic isnât quite separated into categories, you see. When you collect it into a book, it becomes as large as such. As a result, difficult magics are lumped together and placed in this book as well.â
ââŠWhat kind of things are classified as âsupport magicâ?â
Itâs support, so isnât it something like raising your allies abilities, or assisting their actions? Like buffs.
âErr, things such as raising abilities or assisting actions. Then thereâs interfering with your enemiesâ action or blocking their attacks, and even curses and things difficult to categorize are lumped into âsupport magicâ.â
âCurses!? Wait, those are completely different arenât theyâŠâ
Even if obstructing your opponents are considered safe, are curses different? Well, if I had to say I guess I could think of it as something like a debuff though.
âThe subject of magic is divided into Attack, Recovery, and Support. Although âAttackâ and âRecoveryâ have made great strides in research, the subject of âSupportâ is not studied very much, you see.â
âWhy though. If you can raise your alliesâ abilities, doesnât it make it easier to fight?â
âWell, there are the various reasonsâŠ.The reason for the Attack Magicâs preferential treatment is clear.â
âWhat is it?â
âItâs flashy isnât it, Attack Magic. Compared to that, Support Magic is plain after all.â
âŠYeah, he has a point. When you hear the word âmagicâ, you think of âAttack Magicâ. If youâre gonna do it anyways, youâd want to make it flashy and cool, huhâŠ
âRecovery magic absolutely essential, and so it is researched. However, support is to its end support. It will never be considered essential.â
âTrue, I see your point.But, just because itâs plain doesnât mean itâs good to take it lightly rightâŠâ
âWell, there is another reason. The crux of Support Magic is, there are few spells for use in group settings.In particular, spells for increasing abilities. There are also area-of-effect type magic within Attack Magic, so effort is being put exclusively into researching it.â
âCanât efforts from researching area-of-effect attacks be diverted into researching support magic?â
âIt is, however it appears it will take time before results are produced. And the Kingdom wants results as quickly as possible.â
âWhatâs with the hurry?â
âIsnât it obvious, if it canât be used for war then it has no use.â
Ahh, I see. I got it. Certainly if you were at war, rather than strengthen your troops, itâd be faster to kill your enemies. No matter what world youâre in, when war breaks out technology progresses eh.
âIn that case, do adventurers use support magic?â
âIâve heard they use it quite often. Against several or strong opponents, you live through by strengthening yourself after all. Since even the largest party is at most a dozen or so people, to, it isnât that hard to cast it on everyone. Amongst them, I believe there are those who create their own magic as well.â
âIs that so, makes me want to ask them a few things. Thank you for this book. Iâll try reading it for now.â
âNo, not at all, this is my work after all. Good luck with your studies.â
I place the book on the desk and look at its table of contents. Relatively speaking, it seems to have been roughly divided by type of effect. Letâs skim through it, and look for more detail on only things that catch our eye.
There was a lot to read, so even just by skimming through and reading only points of interest, I took quite a bit of time. When I closed the book, the sun had already begun to slant and tinge slightly orange. Itâs about time for Ruu to come back, so letâs move to the bestiary.
I take a notes on a few magics and return the book before I leave the library.
Just as I reached the front of the bestiary, Ruu came flying down from the sky. Looks like she went to sea today too; sheâs brought two big fish.
âThanks for the hard work today too. You went out to sea today too huh.â
âGuruâ
âYour scales are sticky with salt yâknow. Iâll wash you later mkay-.â
âGuru~u!â
I bring out Lime, and feed it the fish. As I thought, itâs getting stronger, so its dissolving speed is getting faster. I want you to get even stronger at this pace. I want to make Ruu stronger too, but sheâs already strong from the beginning and I canât really leave the academy. For now, I have no choice but to have her keep hunting.
âRoux, next time could you bring human-like monsters? I want to try feeding them to Lime.â
âGuru? Gururu~uâŠâ
âHuman-like monsters donât have that much meat, so theyâre not very good preyâ, huh. Meh, Iâm not really asking for it for foodstuffs, so thereâs no need to worry about that.
âSo, next time bring back human-like ones please. Only if you see them okay? No need to go out of your way to find them.â
âGuruâ
âLime too, make sure you properly thank Ruu now.â
ââŠâ Purupuru nod nod
Lime nods. Now by all means I want them to get closer to their human forms.
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