“They’re technically edible, but they’ll need to be purged for a few days to get all the mud out,” I said. “They’re not gonna taste great at that size either. I think you should release them while they’re still alive.”
“Okay!” Luna chirped.
“That’s fair,” Amur said.
Neither of them argued with me, and they trotted off to let the fish go. They had probably only caught them for fun, anyway.
“We didn’t see any big ones, probably because of that fishing trip of yours a while back,” Gramps muttered.
I almost blamed it on the baby behemoth, but then I remembered that I had been the one who’d scooped up all the zapped fish that had floated to the surface. So yeah, it probably had been my fault.
“The big ones ended up in your belly, Gramps. Anyway, how did Luna and Amur’s training go?”
“I’m sure you can guess, considering they came back with fishing gear,” he said. “Amur’s not really cut out for magic to begin with. She tried a few times, but she realized it wasn’t working out, so she opted to fish instead. Luna probably could’ve pulled off the spell by the end of the day if she’d kept going, but she couldn’t stay focused.”
Luna had put in some effort at first, but once she saw Amur ditch practice and head to the river with a fishing pole, she decided to go fishing too.
“That’s not ideal, but to be fair, Amur and Luna were just tagalongs today. It’s not a big deal if they bailed halfway through, although I bet Queen Maria and Princess Isabella are gonna have headaches over it.”
Luna had insisted on coming, but before we left, her grandma and mom made it very clear that she would get in trouble if she was a burden and didn’t take practice seriously.
“Well, it’s not our job to discipline the child, Tenma. And even if we stay quiet, you know Tida’s just going to report everything, anyway. There’s no point in covering for her,” Gramps said.
If Luna had tried hard, I might’ve let her join Tida and Amy’s afternoon training, but judging by how things had gone so far, I doubted she’d take it seriously. Worst-case scenario, she might end up messing with Tida. It was probably better to just let her keep hanging out with Amur, like she had in the morning.
Luna and Amur had come back from releasing the fish while we were talking, and right after that, Jeanne and Aura let us know lunch was ready.
“Master, you said that if someone fails to cast Thermabreeze properly, it can come out as Flamethrower, right? But doesn’t that make it a pretty solid offensive spell?” Amy asked during lunch. Apparently, she was still thinking about Aura’s botched Thermabreeze-turned-Flamethrower spell.
“Sure, you can use it as an attack spell, but it’s not that practical. I’d recommend learning Firestorm instead if you want an offensive spell,” I said.
“I agree. Flamethrower can work in the right situation, but Firestorm’s easier to handle overall,” Gramps said.
Firestorm was considered a mid- to higher-tier spell, so it took a lot of mana and was tougher to learn. In comparison, Thermabreeze was a combo of beginner spells, so it was way easier to pick up. But because it used two different elements at once, the mana cost was on the high side for a basic spell.
“But once it turns into Flamethrower, it’s a whole different story. Flamethrower burns through mana like crazy. And if you’re not careful, you’ll bottom out fast with that thing.”
The reason Aura had collapsed afterward was simple: She’d used too much mana. That was the risk with any spell that had to be cast continuously, not just this kind of warm air magic. The longer you maintained it, the more it drained you. Meanwhile, spells like Firestorm might cost a lot to cast, but once they were they didn’t use any extra mana.
“Someone like me or Gramps can use Flamethrower because we’ve got a ton of mana. We could use it more than once. If you’re after efficiency, it’s better to stick with Fireball or Firestorm.”
Even if they couldn’t manage to cast Firestorm, they were better off with simpler attack spells like varieties of Bullet or Arrow. Amy and Tida seemed to understand that.
But...
“Flamethrower looks so much cooler, though! Like, blam, blam, blam! Right from your hand!”
Luna clearly thought Flamethrower was the better option. I understood where she was coming from, but I had a strong feeling she didn’t get what we had meant by efficiency.
If I left things there, she’d probably try to teach herself how to cast Flamethrower and start using it without thinking. I had to make sure she understood how dangerous it was.
Although...when I thought about it, she hated studying, so the chances weren’t great that she’d do it on her own. Still, Luna had a weird knack for pulling things off if she was genuinely interested, so I figured it was better to play it safe.
“Listen, Luna,” I began. “If you mess up and drain all your mana, you could literally pass out. And if you collapse after firing off Flamethrower and the fire spreads while you’re lying there unconscious, you could end up getting burned by your own spell.”
“That sounds scary. But if I’m careful, it should be fine, right?”
She was clearly assuming she’d be in control the whole time. She wasn’t really hearing what I was saying—she was only pretending to listen.
Before I could decide if I should give her a good scare or not, Gramps piped in. “Hmm... Yeah, sure. If you’re careful,” he said. “But you see, Luna, sometimes even master spellcasters mess up when it comes to controlling their spells.”
And with that, Gramps launched into some stories he knew, which were mostly about me. Sure, he slipped in one or two of his own screwups, but more than half of the tales he was regaling Luna with were of my failures.
“So yeah, a long time ago, Tenma used to try all sorts of things and would mess up. Then, he’d be lectured by Celia and Ricardo. Also, this is a bit of a tangent, but you know how he took down a dragon zombie with Tempest? Well, at that time, he exhausted all of his mana and blacked out.”
“Well, that is true,” I admitted.
He’d been going on and on about my failures for a while, and I was just about to complain, but then his tone suddenly shifted to a more serious one. It caught me off guard, so I missed my chance.
“Luckily, Rocket and Shiromaru grabbed him and got him out of there. But if those two hadn’t been around? Tenma would’ve ended up as monster chow.”
He wasn’t wrong. I really could’ve died that day. Luna must’ve realized I was agreeing with Gramps because she didn’t say anything back.
“Now, Flamethrower may sound flashy, but mess it up, and you’ll be out of mana after one shot. It’s way more fun to cast a bunch of smaller spells, even if they’re not as strong, than to empty your tank in one go, right?”
After thinking about it for a second, Luna’s face lit up and she nodded. “Yeah, that’s right!”
Tida looked exasperated, and Amur and Aura were nodding along like it all made perfect sense.
“All right, time to get back to practice.”
Lunch was over, so I called out to Amy, Tida, and Luna...just in case.
“Luna’s sleeping.”
Apparently, her morning hyperactivity had caught up to her. She was now curled up next to Amur, who was also fast asleep.
Tida looked embarrassed as he stared at Luna, and he apologized to Gramps and me right away. “Sorry about that,” he said.
“It’s not your fault. Jeanne, Aura, can you take those two to the carriage so they can nap?”
Gramps and I didn’t mind. Luna was just being Luna, but since the queen and Princess Isabella were involved, Tida probably felt like he had to be the responsible one.
“Let her sleep,” I said. “We’ll leave the rest to the queen and princess when we get back. All right. This afternoon, we’re actually going to try to cast Thermabreeze. Now stay sharp. One mistake and it’s Flamethrower time. I’m gonna be stricter than I was this morning too.”
Amy and Tida gave it their all right up until the last minute. They didn’t totally master the spell, but they did manage to produce a slight, lukewarm breeze, so they were almost there.
While we were doing that, Luna woke up from her nap and went straight back to fishing with Amur, completely forgetting about training. And when Queen Maria and Princess Isabella suddenly showed up to check on her, she was caught red-handed. They lectured her nonstop until it was time to go home for the day.
“She’s definitely getting another lecture when she gets home,” Amur said confidently as she watched Queen Maria and Princess Isabella take Luna home early.