Grace looked down at her hands in shock. They were glowing, just like the rest of her body. “Th-This is...”
“Can you feel one of your abilities being boosted?” I asked.
“Y-Yeah... I can. Very clearly too.”
Alucard looked at Grace curiously. “Is it that obvious?”
“It should feel something like this.”
To answer Alucard’s question, I took out some molding clay from my item box—the type that’s baked to make pottery. This had been sitting in my item box since the early days of my magic-learning journey, back when I did all sorts of stuff with Gnomes and Salamanders.
I held up the ball of clay for Alucard to see. It wasn’t a perfect sphere—there were some bumps and dents here and there. I pointed at one protruding spot.
“Think of this part as a talent. It sticks out from the rest, but not too obviously.”
I pinched the protruding spot and rolled it between my fingers. Now, there was a noticeable spot on the warped ball of clay where a pointy tip was surrounded by a slightly sunken surface.
“And this is what the spell does. So, yeah. It should be pretty obvious.”
Alucard nodded. “I see now... That’s quite the effect.”
I turned back to Grace. “Now then, you should have a pretty good idea of your talent now, right?”
“Y-Yeah. I think it’s...magic.”
“Nice.” I smiled. It sounded like I could offer her lots of help, then.
“Oh... The light’s fading...”
“This spell forcefully drags out your latent ability. Keep it up for too long, and it’ll essentially poison your body.”
“Oh...”
“Let’s see...” I took a ring out of my item box and handed it to Grace. “Here you go.”
She accepted it by cupping her hands together, then looked at it in confusion. “What’s this?”
“It’s called an Ancient Memoria. Try using it to learn a spell. We can decide the next step from there.”
“All right... Thank you.” Grace bowed, then left.
We went from Grace saying she wanted to repay me for my help, to finding and fostering her talent, and now finally handing her my Ancient Memoria to learn some magic.
“Now, what else is there to do...? Should I turn Strong Point into a magic tool too? Nah, that sounds pointless... Each person only needs to use it once.”
“I concur,” said Alucard. “Unlike this apparatus, with which we regularly check our progress, a spell for determining one’s talent only needs to be used once. It should suffice for just a few of us to learn this spell—I believe the three executives would be good candidates. They can simply use it when a promising talent appears.”
Since this was my area of expertise, I immediately understood Alucard’s explanation. “You’re right. Sounds good.”
“Will this solution suffice?”
“It’s not like this spell uses the caster’s mana to boost the target’s talent. It just allows the target to tap into a bit of their latent power. Even someone with weak mana like Amelia could use this spell to determine that my talent is magic...though she’s a bit of an extreme example,” I added. Who knew if Amelia could even cast the spell... Well, it was just an example, so there was no need to complicate it.
“Hmm... What would happen if you cast it on yourself?” Lardon suddenly asked.
“Me?” But what was the point? My talent was already clear as day.
“Are you not simply assuming? Who’s to say that magic is not merely your second-best talent?”
“Oh...”
“What is Lord Lardon saying?” Alucard asked. Our sudden conversation hadn’t startled him, but it seemed to pique his curiosity.
“She’s wondering what’ll happen if I cast this spell on myself,” I replied. “Apparently, it’s possible that magic has been my second-best talent all along, leaving my actual best talent undiscovered.”
“Aha. A blind spot, I see.”
I smiled awkwardly. “I guess I can’t deny the possibility.”
I’d been so fixated on magic because it had been my dream since before becoming Liam, so now that I had the chance, I wanted to learn as much of it as I could. I certainly had the talent for it—but that didn’t discount the possibility that I had even better talent elsewhere. Who knew? There might be something else that I was actually more talented in.
“Might as well give it a try,” I decided.
Alucard quietly took a few steps back to give me some space.
I held out my hand, cast Strong Point on myself, and then—
“Urgh! O-Oh no...!”
“Master?!”
“Get back, Alucard!”
Mana swelled exponentially within me the moment I’d cast the spell. I whipped around and unleashed it all on the bronze statue. Any later, and this torrent of power would’ve shredded me from the inside.
“Ah...”
“G-Goodness me...”
Expelled from my body, this massive power instead blasted my bronze statue—a statue made of the indestructible material born from Lardon and Dyphon’s clash—into nothingness.
✦ ✦ ✦
The next afternoon, I found myself in the palace’s front yard evolving a new batch of five banshee refugees into dark elves. They were stunned by their transformation but calmed down when other dark elves nearby approached them for a talk.
Among them, Grace—our very first dark elf—walked over to me. “I... I don’t know how to thank you again...”
“Don’t worry about it. This is just the same as always. More importantly, how’s life in the city coming along?”
Grace blinked widely. “Huh?”
“It’s been a few days since you moved in—just about enough time for you to notice any issues with life here for you,” I explained. “Most of our residents spend their first day or two still feeling like guests. But by the third or fourth, they usually notice a few things that they were too restless to think of before. Well, many of our residents are humanoid like you, so there shouldn’t be much issue... Still, let me know if anything comes to mind.”
Grace slowly nodded. “O-Okay.”
Besides helping the dark elves settle in, I was also thinking of designating a leader for them soon—until Lardon stopped me, saying it was best to wait until the influx of dark elves settled down first. Since she insisted, I knew that it was in my best interest to heed her advice.
Basically, at this point, I had nothing to ask of Grace.
“Oh, right,” Grace suddenly said. “I learned a spell.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Look.” Grace swept her gaze around, looking for a place to fire her spell.
Ah, right. I handed her an Ancient Memoria for Magic Missile. “Fire it at me.”
“What? But—”
“Magic Missile, right? Don’t worry. I’m the safest target you could possibly shoot.”
“O-Oh... All right.” After a brief moment of hesitation, Grace did as she was told. She took a few steps away before spinning back around to face me.
The nearby dark elves must have heard us. They dropped their conversation and eagerly watched us both, bringing an instant of silent tension to the yard.
Grace slowly pointed at me with her left hand. “Magic Missile!”
An arrow of light shot from her hand and flew toward me, drawing a loose curve in the air. Before it could hit its mark, I drew in a breath then exhaled sharply—unleashing a burst of mana that dispersed the magical arrow.
The dark elves’ murmurs of awe and some scattered applause reached my ears. For some reason, Grace looked just as stunned as the elves sounded.
“Incredible, Grace,” I told her.
“Huh? M-Me?”
“I can totally feel your talent. Your chant was clear, and your mana was pieced together perfectly. Not many can cast magic the way you do.”
“R-Really...?” Grace looked a little bashful. Her flush was evident even against her dark skin.
“Yeah, really. How do I explain this... Ah, I’ve got just the thing!” I snapped my fingers. “It’s like cooking without wasting any ingredients. When children cook for the first time, they’re often very clumsy and wasteful, right? But they get better and more efficient as they practice.”
“Oh... S-Sorry, I’ve never cooked before...”
“Ah... I guess not. Hmm, what’s another good analogy...?”
“It’s fine, no need! I get that you’re complimenting me... Thank you.”
“You sure?”
“Y-Yeah.” Grace nodded, still a little flushed.
She didn’t actually get my analogy, though... Ah, but come to think of it, I didn’t always understand people’s explanations and analogies either. As long as she understood that she was good at magic, I guess.
“By the way, how’re the rest of the dark elves? Are they also talented at magic?”
“Huh? Oh... I’m not too sure about the new ones today, but we’ve already checked everyone else—and yes, they’re also good at magic. A few have already learned Magic Missile.”
“Really? Wow... Talent really helps you learn faster, huh?”
Though they hadn’t checked the newest batch yet, my intuition told me that it was safe to assume that they all had the same specialty. In which case...
We should foster that talent as best as we can!
I dug through my earliest magic-learning memories for any tips and tricks that might be helpful for them.
“Why not incorporate this into your other plan?” Lardon suggested.
I cocked my head. “What other plan?”
“Oh? Have you forgotten already? Weren’t you supposed to make a million arrows?”
“Oh, that? I haven’t forgotten. What’s that got to do with this, though?”
Lardon chuckled. “So, the idea hasn’t come to you... You must have been planning to do everything yourself. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“Er...”
“I am suggesting you have the dark elves produce the arrows for you.”