Chapter 78: Are You Siblings or What?

Regina lowered her gaze in response to my question.

“I found a mana pool and, just like I was taught, I kneaded it and stretched it, and I was able to pull it all the way to my arm. But no matter what I do, the mana won’t come out of my arm. Ian said that since you can use wind magic that well, he had high hopes for my water magic—but then he told me I was more useless than Bart and stormed off.”

If she could manipulate mana all the way to her wrist, then she should be able to use magic once she learned how to push it out.

“I’ll teach you how to push mana out later. More importantly, didn’t the Warrens Trading Company say anything to you?”

“They asked me once if I’d seen Leon-san, but after I told them I hadn’t seen him since he went chasing after someone, they stopped asking. More than that, the Warrens Trading Company’s signboard has changed.”

“About ten months ago, there was a huge uproar when Duke Berlant’s knights raised the royal banner and marched toward the lord’s mansion. Ever since then, things have been quiet.”

“They say Marquis Fleming passed away, and with the territory reassigned, he disappeared. Now the deputy governs the town.”

That was about what I expected, but I kept it to myself and decided to finish my business after teaching her how to expel mana.

“Regina, please bring the mana up to your wrist.”

She stared intently at her arm, then nodded. “I’ve done it.”

I pressed the area between her wrist and elbow, checking whether she could separate the mana there.

“Do you… cut the mana?”

“If you stay connected all the way to your mana pool, you’ll collapse from mana exhaustion after casting just one spell. The reason mana won’t come out is because you don’t realize you need to push everything out from the mana pool. Normally, you separate the necessary amount of mana at the moment the spell is activated. Since this is your first time, I thought it would be faster to prepare only the required amount.”

“Extend your arm, turn your palm forward, and push out the separated mana.”

She froze with her arm outstretched and palm forward, then asked anxiously.

“Um… what about chanting?”

“You’re just releasing mana, so there’s no need for a chant. Most people do shout something when pushing it out, just as a trigger, though.”

She looked surprised—probably because no one had even taught her the basics of magic.

She grew serious and muttered, ‘Mana, go out… hyah!’
‘Hyah!’
‘Hyah!’

“Push it out the same way you kneaded and stretched the separated mana.”

“Yes…” ‘Mana, go out… hyah!’

Regina stiffened up, but goosebumps rose on her skin—it seemed she’d succeeded.

“How does it feel?”

“The mana I stored in my arm sort of… slid out.”

Wait—slid out? That’s way too leisurely for magic… but it should still manifest.

“Regina, you said your mana value is 64, right?”

“Yes.”

“You may have heard this before, but the method you just used is the same way mana is released when you run out of mana. Some say repeatedly exhausting your mana can increase its capacity, but another benefit is that it speeds up mana recovery. However, mana exhaustion means losing consciousness, so if you’re not in a completely safe place, you could die.”

She nodded seriously, so I took her outside for the next step.

I brought out a wooden tub for the first time in a while. Everyone looked puzzled, but when I told her, “Try pushing out mana while thinking, ‘Let this tub fill with water,’” she realized this was magic practice and grew serious.

She aimed her palm at the tub.

‘Let this tub fill with water… hyah!’

Water overflowed from the wooden tub, and Zeus and the others watching let out cries of amazement.

“She’s really using magic!”

“Oh! Regina can use magic too!”

“Can this be used for attacks?”

“Well… it’s water magic, so…”

Regina looked conflicted when she heard that—they must have forgotten what I showed them before.

First, I taught her how to reduce mana consumption, then demonstrated some applications of Water magic.

I had her bring mana up to her wrist again, then cut it a bit shorter—about two finger-widths less than before—and cast water into the tub again.

The same amount of water overflowed, showing that she could find the minimum mana length needed for the spell to manifest by gradually reducing it.

I explained that if she continued releasing mana slightly above that threshold, the feeling of sluggishness would signal the onset of mana exhaustion, and that she should always leave 20–30% of her mana unused as a safety margin. I hammered this point in relentlessly.

Finally, I created a fist-sized water sphere with Water magic and had Regina make one with triple the diameter.

She followed my instructions faithfully, without questioning that water could form a sphere.

Then I had Zeus shoot an arrow at a standing tree, made Regina observe the speed, and taught her how to fire the water sphere as a projectile—a bullet.

“Do you remember how many times you’ve used magic?”

“I think… seven times.”

“Eight, including the mana release. Releasing mana and creating and firing a water bullet both count as one use. Judging by your expression, you’d run out of mana in a few more casts. You remember what I told you, right?”

She nodded seriously, so I finished by showing her the sticky water ball I’d demonstrated before and teaching her [Mana Release].

“Magic isn’t limited to the methods I taught you. You’re meant to devise your own ways to use it—so don’t forget to train and experiment.”

“Thank you very much. If there’s anything I can do, please tell me anytime.”

“Thank you for teaching my little sister so much.”

Sister?

I stared hard at Rand’s face—no way, they don’t look alike at all!

I’d thought it was odd for a lone woman to be part of an adventuring group, so I assumed she had family somewhere—but not this different.

Zeus gave a wry smile when he saw my expression, so he must’ve realized I hadn’t noticed they were siblings.

It’s not like I have romantic feelings for her, but I do pity any guy who falls for Regina.

It got a bit late, so I parted ways with Zeus and the others and headed for the city of Korche.

* * * * * * *

The rough-looking man I’d seen before made a complicated face when he spotted me, but when I asked for one each of the high-, mid-, and low-grade potions, he hurried into the back.

The elven man who’d previously taught me about spirits appeared—but as usual, that lingering presence clung to him.

“So, you’re looking to buy one each of the upper-grade potions—low, mid, and high?”

“Yes. Just in case something happens.”

“That outfit of yours… is it enchanted with magic?”

“More or less.”

“Sounds like you’re making your living fighting some pretty dangerous beasts.”

Saying that, he took out upper-grade potions from a locked cabinet and lined them up.

“An upper-grade potion (low) is 500,000 Dara per bottle. The mid-grade is 1,200,000 Dara, and the high-grade is 2,000,000 Dara. That comes to a total of 3,700,000 Dara.”

I placed thirty-seven gold coins on the counter, accepted the potions—packed into a case as a courtesy—and tossed them into my magic pouch.

“I asked you about spirits before, and my interest has grown. I’d like to meet the elder of the elven village. Could you tell me where it is?”

“From Rosenne, it’ll take about fourteen or fifteen days heading north. If you go with the people I saw you with before, it would be impossible.”

“I’ll go alone. I’ve been to the Armored Buffalo breeding grounds before, and I can use barriers, so I can completely block attacks from wild beasts.”

He stared at me intently, but it seemed he believed I wasn’t lying.

“I’ll tell you the location, but could I ask you to deliver a letter?”

Since it was the price for the information, I nodded. He quickly wrote a short message on a sheet of paper, twisted it into a sealed letter, added a small note of some kind, and handed it to me.

“The village is called Faranka. It’s ten to twelve days north of Rosenne—given your pace, you’ll probably need another two or three days. Once you pass through the forest, you’ll come out onto a vast grassland, and you should see a massive rocky mountain. From that mountain, head northeast for about three days and you’ll reach the village. Tell them the letter is from Claudins of Korche and give it to the elder, Vilasenka. I think he’ll also tell you about the spirits you want to know about.”

“Thank you very much. I’ll be sure to deliver the letter.”

“Yeah. I pray you make it there safely.”

Fourteen or fifteen days from Rosenne… and if it means passing through the forest, it’s not somewhere you can easily come and go from.

If the letter has a date written on it, that could be troublesome, so I’m torn between walking the whole way or killing time somewhere before heading out.

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Since Rosenne has Orga’s Mighty Strength group and Jake’s Earth Shield group, I decided to make a small detour and kill some time before flying.

With that in mind, I showed up at the Rosenne guild morning and evening, but even after four days I couldn’t find them. If I carelessly asked the dismantling staff, they’d just tell me to bring in some birds, so I gave up, left the city, and headed for the northern forest.

Just like lost items are often found when you’ve given up looking, people seem to be the same. Since I couldn’t exactly fly through the sky in broad daylight, I was walking toward the forest when I spotted a party coming out of it.

They were too far away to make out clearly, even with magical power around them, but judging by the way the man in front walked, he looked like Bulls, the scout.

As I got closer, it seemed they noticed me too. To my eyes, Bulls was already clearly visible, and behind him I could see Lindy walking along.

When I saw Bulls realize it was me and signal to those behind him, Lindy started waving.

I sighed, but since I still needed to kill another ten days or so, I decided to join up with them, go hunting together once, and then head for the village of Faranka.

That is, if they invited me—but it didn’t seem like they would refuse.

“Leon, it’s been a while. Heading out to hunt?”

“How’ve things been?”

“Ever since then, we can camp safely, and if something happens we can attack from inside the shelter, so everyone’s really happy.”

“We can’t thank you enough.”

“Man, making money the easy way really is nice.”

“Since you disappeared, birds haven’t been coming in, so the old man at the dismantling yard’s been complaining.”

“If you’re not in a hurry, let me treat you to a drink at the guild.”