Chapter 25: Farewell
Lindy slowly formed a dome, concentrating on making it as hard as steel, and once again, Bord attacked it.
“Please make sure you remember the size and speed of the Ice Lance when you attack, okay?”
“Man, your requests keep getting more and more complicated.”
“But even from here, it’s easy to tell your power and speed are improving.”
“Oh yeah, Bord’s magic getting stronger means less work for the rest of us, so keep it up!”
“Yeah, it makes camping out easier too.”
“You guys were the ones who complained that it’s cold both inside and outside the shelter, so I had to make that troublesome thing!”
As his magic improved, Bord’s grumbling grew — perhaps because his skills were being put to increasingly practical use.
“Bord, if you keep this up, a Gold rank won’t be just a dream.”
“Lucky you, huh?”
“Work hard and I might even buy you a pint of ale sometime!”
Whether they were cheering or jealous was hard to say — their tone was utterly flat.
The first hit made the shelter shudder violently, nearly breaking apart.
“Lindy, even if you imagine it as hard as steel, if it’s too thin it’ll break. It needs to be at least ten centimeters thick like usual.”
She nodded seriously, dispelled the magic of the old dome, and created a new one.
She had been practicing with shelters for a while now, so her image of the dome seemed solid — it appeared much faster than before.
On Bord’s second attack, his Ice Lance shattered with a sharp, metallic sound.
“Bord, harder! Don’t forget the hardness of a magically forged steel spearhead!”
He took a deep breath as he stared at the shards, muttered something under his breath, and then—
“Ice Lance! …Ha!”
The lance struck Lindy’s dome with impressive speed, producing a kiiiiinnn metallic ring as it bounced off.
“Bord, Lindy — there’s nothing more I can teach you. What remains is how much you can reduce your mana consumption. You already know power doesn’t necessarily drop when you do.”
“Yeah, still need practice, but I can nearly double my cast count since before.”
“So around forty times with Shield, then?”
“Thirty-five, maybe thirty-six. It’s rare to run my mana completely dry, but if I push to the limit, that’s about it.”
“I think I’ve also improved a little. It takes longer before I reach the verge of mana exhaustion.”
“Lindy, I’ll teach you one last thing — lightning magic.”
“Eh…? Leon, you can use lightning magic?”
“No way, I’m just a wind mage. But I heard from my mom’s mom — my grandmother — that once you master the basics of magic, learning other elements isn’t that hard. She also said lightning magic can backfire if you’re not careful.”
“You’re saying some pretty scary things again.”
I had everyone take shelter inside the dome, then created another dome about twenty meters from the target and invited Lindy inside.
“Lightning magic is different from other attack spells — you can’t target things nearby. Or rather, you can, but you’ll hurt yourself too.”
“That doesn’t matter — I can’t use lightning magic anyway.”
“If you can use earth magic and control mana freely, this should be easy. Just imagine lightning striking the target from above and send out your magic.”
“Something that simple?”
“Simple — or at least, it should be. You’ve seen lightning before, right?”
“Of course I have!”
“Then just think of lightning falling straight down onto the target and release your mana.”
“What about a short incantation?”
“Uh, just saying ‘Lightning Strike!’ should work.”
“You’re just making that up again.”
“Of course. You both could already use ice and earth magic; I only taught you how to focus and control power. I don’t actually know any lightning mages. I’m just passing along what I was told — mainly: cast far away, and if you must cast close, hide somewhere safe. Anyway, Lindy, you’ve learned magic properly from the ground up, so you should understand it better than I do.”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
She looked thoughtful for a moment — then,
“Lightning Strike! …Ha!”
…Nothing. It was so silent I thought he could hear the quiet.
Her face reddened.
“Lightning Strike! …Ha!”
“Lightning Strike! …Ha!”
“Lightning Strike! …Ha!”
“Okay, Lindy, let’s go back to basics. Magic is what, where, and how, remember? Try adding a short invocation that helps you focus.”
“You’re right… give me a moment.”
She glared at the target, looked up at the sky, muttering under her breath—
“O Divine Creator Felicienne, please permit me to cast a lightning spell upon that target. Lightning Strike! …Ha!”
A midday flash — BA-BA-BA-BOOOOM! — an enormous thunderclap roared as the ground between the target and the dome exploded.
I was stunned. I’d bluffed his way through, and she’d actually done it.
“No way… it worked, with such a random chant!”
“Don’t stop now — try it again before you lose the feeling.”
“O Divine Creator Felicienne, please permit me to cast a lightning spell upon that target. Lightning Strike! …Ha!”
BA-BA-BA-BOOOOM!
“O Divine Creator Felicienne, please permit me to cast a lightning spell upon that target. Lightning Strike! …Ha!”
BA-BA-BA-BOOOOM!
After five consecutive bolts, I raised a hand to stop her.
Even if this was an uninhabited field, that much lightning on a clear day was way too suspicious.
I’d taught her how to cast lightning magic — but not how to make smaller bolts or fire them straight ahead. That would be tedious.
Still, since she’d learned spell mechanics through earth magic, she’d eventually figure it out herself.
“Hey, she’s really using lightning magic!”
“Didn’t Lindy say she couldn’t use that?”
“Her husband looks the most shocked!”
“Jake, get a grip! At this rate, she’s totally going to dominate you!”
“She already does, man. Once you’re married, women always win.”
“Wow… Leon said he’d teach her lightning magic, but I didn’t think she’d actually be able to use it right away.”
“Leon might know way more about magic than we thought.”
“I didn’t expect him to share what sounds like secret-level techniques so casually… are we sure that’s okay?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Think about it — just because someone has been granted magic doesn’t mean they can teach others to use it so easily. And not just basic spells, either — advanced ones. If the nobles ever found out about that, they’d never leave him alone.”
“Oh, that? Don’t worry — I think it’s fine.”
“What do you mean?”
“When I was learning magic from him, I asked if it was really okay to teach something so powerful so easily. You know what he said? He said he doesn’t teach people with bad personalities or loose tongues. He doesn’t mind if those he’s taught pass it on, but he won’t teach anyone who’d just blab about it carelessly.”
“That kid’s still seventeen, right?”
“Yeah. He looks small and cute, but he’s sharp — not someone you can fool easily.”
“He’d have to be. You can’t survive as a solo adventurer otherwise.”
“You think he can appraise people, maybe?”
“Nah, probably not. He’s been practicing appraisal with herbs, but he said he can only identify about sixty or seventy percent correctly so far.”
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That night, we camped under two earth-magic domes and my own transparent dome. While preparing the Chikki-Chikki Bird for dinner, we discussed what to do next.
Olga invited Jake’s group, Earth Shield, to join him, suggesting they go into the forest together once.
I told them there was nothing more for me to teach — and that, since I’d withdrawn a large sum of money from the guild and might have drawn attention, I planned to leave town soon.
As for shelters, I told them to switch from the thornwood huts we’d been using to sturdier ones made by fitting together solid wooden planks.
Since they could both use detection and presence-sensing magic, if any beasts approached, Bord could simply trap them in an ice dome.
It’d basically be a modular cabin — but with seven big guys sleeping inside, they’d need it to be collapsible; otherwise, a Rank 5 magic bag wouldn’t have enough room for both the hut and their prey.
When I said I planned to visit the royal capital, he made me promise to stop by Rosenne on my way to Lynas.
I agreed — after all, I’d left town planning to travel for two years, and I wanted to take my time and enjoy the journey.
Besides, I was looking forward to seeing how much the two of them had improved their magic by then.
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
At dawn, I parted ways with them and began heading east along the Blange Highway.
The next town was the marquis’ capital, Korché.
Following the road, it was only half a day’s distance, so I took my time, hunting as I went.
I had a bit over one million Dara in my pocket — enough not to worry about appearances — and I planned to keep hunting to save up for building a proper cabin.
I focused mainly on hunting birds, avoiding unnecessary risks. Still, I could clearly sense the presence of many adventurers nearby — and that meant plenty of prey.
Weaving between forest and grassland in a zigzag path, I managed to gather a good number of birds.
But I knew that, as a newcomer to the local guild, nobody would believe me if I said I’d hunted that many birds.
So, as proof for the disassembly permit, I also took down a Big Horn Boar, a mid-sized elk, and three orcs that had attacked me.
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
When the city of Korché finally came into view in the distance, I noticed something strange.
Normally, I’d sense adventurers returning from their hunts — their presence moving toward the city. But this group wasn’t moving at all.
At first, I thought it might be an ambush, but since they were all clustered together, that didn’t seem likely. My curiosity got the better of me.
Cautiously, I approached. They didn’t notice me at all — total amateurs, it seemed.
Peering through the bushes, I saw that someone in the group was injured. A pair of prairie dogs lay dead nearby, so it looked like they’d been attacked by a pack of them.
There were seven people total — some around my age, maybe one or two older. They were trying to help one of their group to his feet.
The scene reminded me of when Ted had been knocked into the grass by a black bear’s attack.
Two of them were binding an arm wound, and another was wrapping his leg with a herb pouch — they definitely wouldn’t make it back to the city before the gates closed.
I couldn’t just leave them there, and I also wanted to learn what was happening in the city.
So I decided to call out to them.