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They say that because time passes slowly for children, every child wishes to grow up quickly.
Perhaps because I was an old man on the inside despite my appearance, four months flew by in no time.
After Roxy arrived, my daily routine changed drastically.
It felt like only yesterday that I would wake up and lie uselessly at Mother’s side, listening to fairy tales. Now, as soon as I got up in the morning, I went straight to Roxy with Rudy for our magic lessons.
Compared to being unable to move and doing nothing but stare at the trees like a terminally ill patient, things had turned out quite well.
Mother was no longer tied down by me, either, and could attend to her own work.
Seeing the bright smile on her face as she returned to tending the garden trees and planting medicinal herbs after so long made me happy as well.
I studied magic from Roxy in the mornings and swordsmanship from Father in the afternoons.
Like a sprout shooting up, Rudy absorbed his teacher’s magic at a tremendous pace.
Meanwhile, since I could not use magic through incantations, whenever Rudy tested a spell he had newly learned, I spent my time creating a new magic circle.
The magic circles for activating beginner-level spells used simple phrases and diagrams, and could function well enough even if they were drawn somewhat roughly.
But from intermediate level onward, even the slightest error caused the form to collapse or resulted in magic weaker than a beginner-level spell.
So although magic circles were not Roxy’s specialty, she sat beside me, wracking her brain with me and putting great effort into drawing intermediate-level magic circles.
"This is quite a headache."
"Is it? I thought that since you are so knowledgeable about magic, you would also be well versed in magic circles."
"Most magicians use magic through incantations, so they do not use magic circles that are this complicated and consume so much mana. The only magic that makes use of magic circles is secret magic that nations keep tightly concealed, magic used to establish barriers, and magic used in crafting magic items."
"I see."
"In the distant past, magicians often used magic circles. But as time passed, magic cast through incantations became established as the more efficient method. For those who dream of becoming adventurers, magic using magic circles became an inefficient relic of a bygone age."
"Why is that? Unlike magic through incantations, a magic circle can be activated simply by channeling mana into it. I would think it has many advantages."
Unlike incantation magic, which required several processes in one’s mind through the spell, a magic circle already possessed its form. All one had to do was regulate its power and speed with mana.
Surely magic that anyone with mana could use would be more useful in an emergency when one could not speak, or in wartime.
In response to my question, Roxy shook her head and continued her explanation.
"What Lumi says does make sense. But it is only a dream."
"A dream?"
"Yes. To use a magic circle, you first need to know what magic that circle is meant to activate. You must memorize every symbol and phrase within it. You might think that is not much different from an incantation, but with an incantation, you memorize words in your mind. And since there are not many kinds, they are easy to remember. With magic circles, however, you must memorize every combination of dozens or hundreds of symbols and phrases needed to activate a single spell. That is why no intermediate-level combat magic circles exist."
That was what Roxy said.
Even a beginner-level spell required a combination of at least ten diagrams, symbols, and short words to construct its magic circle.
Even if beginner-level magic had relatively few types, one still had to use more than ten different formulas.
Memorizing every one of them, then instantly drawing and using them, was far too inefficient.
I suggested drawing magic circles in advance, but Roxy said that was impossible as well.
Magic circles required high-quality parchment and expensive mana-infused dyes.
Such materials were financially difficult for ordinary adventurers or magicians to obtain.
There was also a way to inscribe them onto objects, but that method was practically single-use.
Unlike paper, objects possessed their own inherent forms. To use magic through them, one first had to understand the object’s intrinsic nature and devise a formula that would avoid destroying or altering its shape.
Even objects of the same kind had minute differences from one another, and this required at least hundreds of combinations. In terms of both power and completeness, it was inferior even to beginner-level incantation magic.
"That is why even secret magic using magic circles is limited to Saint level. From intermediate level onward, you have to construct magic circles with dozens of combinations; from advanced level, more than a hundred. And Saint level requires at least several hundred combinations. Can you imagine how many combinations would be needed to create a magic circle with King-level power?"
"I understand what you mean. It seems magic circles are not particularly efficient compared to incantation magic."
"Still, I find Lumi’s magic circles extremely interesting."
"The magic circles I use?"
Despite having said that magic circles were inefficient, Roxy said the ones I used were quite fascinating.
When I asked her why...
"I told you before, did I not? Lumi, you do not draw magic circles in ink. You form lines of mana on the back of your hand and combine them into a formula."
"Yes. Is that something remarkable?"
"It is extremely remarkable. Ordinarily, a magic circle must be drawn in mana-infused dye in order to give its form shape. Otherwise, even the caster who created the formula has difficulty confirming it, and since the form has not been properly established in the first place, the magic fails to activate. Yet Lumi accomplishes it as though it were nothing. And you use your own body as the medium."
"That is difficult to understand."
"To explain simply, let us say that an object inscribed with a magic circle is firewood placed in a brazier. The magician’s mana is flint used to ignite that wood, and activating magic is the act of striking the flint. What must you do to set the firewood in the brazier alight?"
"You would have to catch the spark from the flint on the firewood."
"Correct. To use magic through a magic circle, you need a medium to burn the ignited spark, like the firewood in the brazier. That role is played by the paper or object the magic circle is drawn on. But in Lumi’s case, you are using yourself as the medium. If you inscribe a magic circle onto your own body, it goes beyond merely causing the spell to fail; abnormalities occur in the magician’s body."
"Why is that?"
"Because the flow manifested by a magic circle differs from the circulation of mana within a human body. The flow of mana within the body is already stable. If you inscribe a magic circle and force that flow to run in reverse, do you think the magic will activate?"
"...Ah."
"There was once an attempt to use one’s own body as the medium for a magic circle. It was primarily for research into healing magic. But the result was that the mana flow ran counter to the magic circle’s flow, and they lost the ability to use magic. I once read in a book that in worse cases, their bodies exploded."
Only then did I understand why Roxy found my way of using magic so interesting.
The way I used magic through magic circles was not normal.
It was practically a gamble in which I risked my life every single time.
Yet I had never failed even once.
If anything, this had felt natural from the very beginning.
Like a newborn baby babbling from the moment it was born.
"Then will I someday suffer side effects like those magicians did?"
"No. It was beginner-level magic, but you succeeded from the very start. And after observing you for these past four months, I have confirmed that your magic is stable. So there is no problem. If there were going to be side effects, they would have appeared long ago, when you first used magic."
Fortunately, it seemed unlikely that I would suffer such side effects.
When I breathed a sigh of relief, Roxy gave a wry smile and stroked my head.
Looking at me as though I were an obedient puppy, she said quietly,
"Rudy is extraordinary, but Lumi may be an incredible talent in a different sense, too. Teaching the two of you somehow makes me seem terribly ordinary."
Her voice lacked confidence.
Was she feeling inferior in her own way?
She looked dejected.
She is feeling down again. Is this really the only way at times like this?
I reached out, guided Roxy’s hand to pinch my cheek, and spoke in my clumsy pronunciation.
"But you are a wonderful person who teaches us, Teacher. We are growing because of your instruction. So please do not be so discouraged."
"Mmmmmm~ Lumi, this is so soft. If I keep touching it... such fluffy... cheeks... ahhh~."
No matter how unusual Rudy and I might be, we were children in the end.
Even a genius could not grow alone without instruction.
And even if they did grow, they would eventually run into a limit.
That was why teachers were necessary.
Above all, no disciple surpasses their teacher.
It is because of a teacher’s guidance that an excellent disciple can exist.
"Cheer up, Teasher."
"This soft, squishy feeling... I love it so much."
It seemed Roxy had cheered up a little.
I only hoped this would help her regain her spirits.
◆◇◆
When the morning magic lessons ended, Father’s swordsmanship lessons began in the afternoon.
We did learn the basics by swinging the wooden swords Father had made for us himself, but that part was brief.
Most of our time was focused on building bodies capable of swinging a sword.
Running, push-ups, sit-ups, balancing on one foot, holding our posture with a wooden sword while eggs were tucked beneath our armpits, and so on.
It was a thoroughly solid course of foundational training.
Father told us that even on days when he could not instruct us because of work, we were never to skip these basic exercises.
Looking at this, it seemed that the fundamentals were the same no matter what world’s swordsmanship one studied.
Well, I already knew all this, so I trained without complaint, but...
"Ugh... This is boring."
Rudy seemed to dislike training that repeatedly put his body through the same motions.
Unlike magic, where one could produce immediate changes, swordsmanship only showed results through gradual and steady work. It was only natural.
With magic, as long as you drew out mana from the beginning, you could immediately produce results by making a water ball or sending out a gust of wind.
With swordsmanship, however, one needed a trained body and had to swing a sword thousands of times just to master a single technique.
For Rudy, the inability to get quick results was probably unsatisfying.
On the other hand, I had no complaints about the process.
Whenever I swung a sword, stray thoughts vanished, and I could devote my entire mind to the blade alone.
To swing a sword is to discipline one’s body and mind, and strengthen one’s spirit.
It keeps a person from going astray.
In short, a healthy mind dwells in a healthy body.
"Haaah. My body is tingling. It is hard to breathe~. Lumi, how can you endure this when you are so weak?"
"...Because I have always wanted to do this."
"Huh? You really are a strange one. You are amazing in a different way. I admire your patience, Lumi. I want to have patience as strong as yours."
"Then how about finishing a thousand downward swings? You have 762 left, Rudy."
"Aaaah~! My shoulders feel like they are going to fall off!"
Rudy never held back his praise as he watched me train my body.
◆◇◆
With a child’s stamina, we could not train all afternoon, so swordsmanship practice ended around midday.
For the remaining time, Rudy and I used up all the mana in our bodies to the limit.
The amount of mana magic consumed changed according to [Change in Size].
This was something I had realized while using magic with Rudy.
If casting through an incantation or channeling mana into a magic circle was rated as one, the mana consumed rose sharply as the spell was made larger.
It was like the [Law of Conservation of Mass] I had once heard about from a professor when I worked as an accountant at a women’s university.
But for some reason, mana consumption also increased when one reduced the size.
I could not understand that part.
Creating a single drop of water consumed far more mana than creating a water ball the size of a fist.
It was something I had wondered about for some time, so I asked Roxy. Her answer was simply, "That is just how it is."
It seemed no answer had yet been found.
My curiosity had been awakened, but I could not uncover the answer right away.
Well, that was another matter. When it came to training, it was helpful.
Recently, my total mana had increased enough that I could not use it all unless I created a water ball as large as a basin.
If all I wanted was to expend mana, I could simply continue using it at maximum output until my strength ran out.
So I reduced the water balls to the size of dewdrops, then repeatedly created several dozen of them at once and floated them in the air.
I also sculpted ice into figurines, lit flames on my fingertips to write on planks, and took soil from the garden and broke it down into tiny pieces.
As a result, the smaller the target I manipulated, and the more delicately, intricately, precisely, and swiftly I tried to move it, the more mana it consumed.
In other words, it was like how threading a needle requires more concentration and effort than putting a ball into a large goal.
Rudy trained by applying two different kinds of magic at once.
Since I still could not draw a magic circle combining two spells, I simply repeated the process of making things small, manipulating them, or breaking them down.
After training like that every day, I reached the point where I could sustain magic for more than half a day without tiring.
Training to increase my mana capacity had always made me so sleepy that I had no choice but to sleep, but recently I felt proud that even after using all my mana, I no longer collapsed.
And I began using that time to immerse myself in learning something else.
That was—
"Lumi, at this point, add hard vegetables such as carrots, then simmer them until tender. You memorized everything I taught you last time about vegetables and seasonings, did you not?"
"...Some of it was difficult, but I have learned most of it. What you are holding now is sage, right?"
"Correct~. If you add a little of this to meat, it gets rid of the gamey smell."
"I will keep that in mind."
I was learning to cook from Mother.
In this world, it was the natural custom for men to work outside and women to do the housework.
This rule did not apply as strictly to commoners, but our family belonged to the nobility, even if only as lesser nobles. As such, it was quite unusual for a man to cook.
When I first asked Mother to teach me cooking, she looked plainly flustered and tried to refuse. "I do not think Lumi needs to learn to cook in the kitchen. We have your mother and Lilia in this house, do we not?"
So I pointed out that palace chefs and the cooks in famous restaurants had traditionally been men.
I also said that if someday my parents were no longer around, or if I had to live on my own, I needed to be able to at least take care of a meal. That convinced Mother to agree.
But now, she seemed to have found teaching me to cook enjoyable. Whenever evening came, Mother began seeking me out first.
"Mother, thank you for teaching me again today."
"Not at all. I am having even more fun~. You see, if I had a daughter, I always wanted to cook together like this~."
"If you have the time, I would like you to teach me even more."
"Unlike Rudy, Lumi, you are so dependable~. I worried because you used to stay so still when you were little, but it seems I was worrying for nothing."
Seeing Mother beam with such happiness made me happy too.
In my previous life, I had defied my parents’ wishes, left home to walk the path of a warrior, and never saw them again.
And now, here I was, someone who had been no better than an unfilial son, spending time with his parents like this.
It stirred rather strange feelings within me.
But...
This is not so bad... in its own way.
Perhaps it was because I had spent my previous life enduring one harsh storm after another.
I did not think this tranquility was a bad thing.
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