Chapter 19: A New Family

It has been a week since then.

I spent my time as usual practicing swordsmanship and magic.

The only difference was…

“Nii-chan! Do magic!”

“Alright! Good.”

The girl sitting on the porch watching me practice my magic, Hina whom I saved from “generation”, has become my little sister.

No, technically she’s not a sister.

I’m protecting her in the Kisaragi family home to see if the generation is really healing.

Since children drain more magic power, it is said that monsters hunt and feed on magic power by killing their parents in front of them and showing them how it is done.

It is not unusual for an exorcist to intervene at that time to protect a child who has lost its parents.

However, that is not the only reason we are protecting Hina.

When Hina regained consciousness, she had lost all her memories, including the incident.

According to what my father told me, she was so shocked that she sealed her memories.

Of course, her parents were killed in front of her eyes.

It is not surprising that she would have lost her memory.

Hina, who has such amnesia, somehow thinks that my parents are her parents and that I am her brother.

That also seems to be a recognition to match the consistency of the memory.

I can’t just leave her like that, and as a result, I have to protect her at home.

My father says that she may regain her memory someday, but he does not know when. So, until then, we have to protect her at home.

And Hina often comes to watch me practice magic.

She can’t use magic, but she seems to enjoy watching me practice.

In the yard where I am standing, there is a row of wooden imitation dolls like the ones in the Kamiarizuki family.

They were laid out by my father for me to practice my magic.

“Here I go, Hina.”

“Nn!”

I choose a flashy magic to make Hina happy, and form the guide thread silvate like a wire and make it sharp like a spear.

Then I set it ablaze with “Attribute Change: Fire”!

“Whoa! Ah! Nii-chan, hot!”

“Not quite!”

So far, it’s just a burning spear.

It might be able to defeat a weak monster, but it would only be able to lightly scorch the surface of the imitation doll.

So I extend the second guide thread Silvate and “attribute change: wind”.

With that, I created a mass of compressed air and pushed the spear out.

Dooooooooooo!

With tremendous acceleration, the spear pierces the air!

Then, it struck the imitation doll while maintaining its power. Explosion!

Dooonnnnggg!

The air is torn apart, shattering the doll into tiny pieces of wood.

As I pondered what to call this new magic, which was not only visually appealing but also powerful, I received a clap.

“Nii-chan! That’s amazing!!”

“You’ll be able to do it with practice.”

“Really?”

“Yes, it’s true!”

Of course, magic is a power that all human beings have.

Hina also has it. That’s why the monster targeted her.

Well, it is an average amount of magic power.

If Hina stays with the Kisaragi family for a long time to come, she may practice magic.

“Itsuki. You’ve already mastered two attribute changes, haven’t you?”

“Mom!”

Hearing the sound of the magic explosion earlier, my mother came to the porch.

I’m five years old now, so I call my mother Mom not Mama.

I call my father papa because he gets blatantly depressed if I don’t call him that.

“Mom! Nii-chan is amazing!”

“Yes, Itsuki is really amazing….”

I feel good about being praised by my sister and mother.

I’ve been working hard for myself and it feels good to be recognized for it.

“Nii-chan, I want to see another kind of magic!”

“Okay! What do you want to see?”

“The one that sparkles!”

In response to Hina’s request, I began to formulate the magic.

I was an only child in both my previous and present lives.

I didn’t have any siblings, but sisters are nice!

It’s kind of embarrassing to be depended on, but I feel like I want to show her my good side. It makes me itchy, but it’s not a bad thing.

“sparkling …… stuff.”

I think about how to combine the attribute change.

The change in guiding Silvate is limited to one per attribute.

When you want to use magic that combines two attribute changes like before, you need two guiding thread silvate.

And an ordinary exorcist can use three or four threads of silvate at a time.

When I tried to use the maximum number of threads before, I made a mistake in counting after 60 threads, so I quit counting because it became troublesome.

In the first place, it is not important how many threads I can produce.

My father’s magic power is of the fifth rank, but he can produce only two guide thread silvate,  it seems.

However, he said that by putting a lot of magic power into those two threads, the power of the magic is boosted.

Yes, the important thing is to become stronger.

Kill the monster before it kills you.

It is not good to let the means become the end for that.

“Hina, watch me.”

“Yes!”

I combined “attribute change: water” and “wind” and sprayed water all over the sky like a mist. Then the sun’s rays reflected it…….

“Rainbow! Nii-chan! There’s a rainbow!”

“See how it sparkles?”

“Yes! It’s beautiful!”

I don’t think this kind of non-offensive magic practice will make me stronger, but seeing Hina so excited to see the rainbow I made, I think it’s not a bad idea to practice this kind of thing once in a while.

Besides, it’s good practice for dual attribute manipulation.

While I was looking at the rainbow I had made, Hina, who was sitting on the porch, got up and came running toward me.

“What’s wrong?”

“I want to see more!”

You want to see more ……?

You mean you want to see it up close……?

I tilted my head, not understanding the three-year-old’s words sometimes.

“Hina, be careful.”

My mother warned her as she ran with a flutter that made me cringe.

But she didn’t get there in time, and she fell down with a thud.

See, you were told.

I approached her to help her up, but she got up before I could.

“It’s all right!”

“Your leg is scraped.”

She said she was fine, but her leg was slightly chafed and bleeding.

My mother, who had been watching her, came down into the yard.

“Mom! Look, my leg! It’s bleeding!

“Does it hurt?”

“Yes! It hurts!”

“Let me see the wound.”

“Yes!”

My mother gently touches Hina’s leg.

Her hand is wrapped in a guide thread silvate.

“……?”

As I was conscious of my mother’s magic, which I was seeing for the first time…..

“Look, it’s healed!”

“It’s true! Mom, that’s amazing!”

Hina’s leg injury had healed.

“……?”

It’s healing magic!

“Mom!”

“What’s wrong? Itsuki.”

“How did you do that?”

No doubt about it. It’s healing magic!

Unintentionally, I felt my whole body tense up.

I didn’t know there was magic that could heal injuries, but if I could use it, I might be able to heal a mortal injury in no time. If I could do that, I might not die even if I fight a strong monster!

I asked with a twinkle in my eye, and my mother put her hand on her cheek and thought, “Well…..”

“Do you want to know?”

“I want to know!”

“Then you should practice your magic a little more.”

“I’m practicing!”

“Itsuki, you’re practicing ‘attribute change,’ right? But this is a trait transformation.”

“Trait transformation.”

I repeated the words I had heard, and my mother gently patted my head.

“Don’t be in such a hurry, I’ll teach you soon. Itsuki.”

No, don’t say that. ……!

I clenched my fists as my mother squeezed me along with Hina.

Right now, it’s time to practice trait transformation!

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