It was now completely frozen. There was no way it would have survived.
The wind died down, giving way to silence. The members of Nachtlibelle, me, and even Heidemarie, the woman who had cast that spell, were flabbergasted.
Camilla had been the first to clap. Others followed her, mixing in cheers.
“That was excellent!” she exclaimed. “That obviously goes for you too, Heidemarie, but I was amazed by your ideas and refinement, boy!”
“Oh, um…” I had a hard time coming up with words after hearing such honest praise.
“Since your buffs surpassed what the caster could handle, you made up for that shortcoming yourself and only cast your spell once Heidemarie had already finished exerting herself. And all the while keeping an eye on how the force of the spell would later be dampened. Could you actually put that theory to use? No, I suppose you just proved you could. That must explain why your buffs were so effective. Considering you were able to vastly extend the range of her attack, there’s no better word to describe you than useful!”
Camilla saw right through me. I might have expected this from someone who knew me as well as Heidemarie, but she had been able to discern all that at a glance. She really was one of the strongest warriors in all of Filburn.
But…really, I was happy. She must have just been trying to be polite, but she understood me. Her praise was focused on the concrete details. Of course I was happy.
“Um…” I couldn’t get my words straight. I didn’t know what I wanted to say.
“What is it?”
“It’s just… Thank you for the kind words.”
Camilla’s expression grew blank. “Aha ha ha! Hold your chin up, boy!” she said with a laugh, slapping me on the back.
A shiver ran through my slouched back, and I purposefully relaxed my shoulders. It was only then that I realized how nervous I was. I began to focus more on my surroundings and realized that everyone was staring at me.
They were smiling, as if applauding me with grins on their faces.
“How’s your MP? If possible—and you’re free to refuse if you’re not up for it—I’d like to see as much of your buffs as I can.”
For some reason, I started to feel like my skin was crawling. I nodded with zero hesitations.
‹This is Simon. I’ve directly detected a wyvern thirty paces ahead. It’s noticed us as well, and it seems to be hostile. It’s only threatening us for now, but in another twenty—no, twenty-two paces—it will attack.›
‹This is Camilla. Roger that. Let’s set formation in another three paces, just as we planned.› Camilla’s voice was transmitted to everyone.
I was asked to meet with the shield unit so Nachtlibelle could test out my buffs. The squad consisted entirely of tanks, a subdivision of the warrior class. Camilla had likely put me here to keep me safe. Even if my buffs failed, these tanks were strong enough to take on the wyvern themselves if it came down to it. Considering us support casters had terribly weak stats, it allowed them to protect me from any stray attacks as well.
I can relax. These guys are from Nachtlibelle. I just need to do my best.
“I-I look forward to working with you all.”
“I as well. I introduced myself before, but the name’s Abel!”
Mr. Abel—or really, just Abel—was a virile young man roughly my age. He had the air of a ruffian, but his speech was polite and sophisticated. He didn’t seem critical or cold. In fact, I thought he seemed like a good guy.
“Um…”
Yup…
I couldn’t handle this. I just couldn’t start a conversation with someone I had just met.
“Um… Well, uh…”
“Are you all right? Why don’t you try taking some deep breaths?”
“No! I-I’m fine!”
He seemed completely serious. This sucks. I just want to die.
“There’s no need to be so nervous,” said Abel with a reassuring grin.
Ugh, he’s so kind. I was glad to have him around.
“We’ll be fighting a wyvern, so the key to this battle lies in our shield unit being capable of defending against its breath. Would you cast your buffs on us?”
“Yes, of course.” I definitely had an easier time when someone else started the conversation. He really made for a good division captain. “But what sort of buffs should I cast? You see, um… Drachenflügel was a smaller party, so I’ve never had to consider what buffs would be best to cast on a shield unit before.”
“The commander said she wanted to see some defensive buffs. Our main priority is defending against its breath, so I would assume spells that increase heat resistance or something that spread out that heat would be best. But my apologies, I’m not so familiar with granting magic, so I’ll have to leave the decisions up to you.”
I was expecting as much. Abenteurers chose their occupations once they had awakened to magic, but once you made your decision, you couldn’t go back. Considering you had to live your entire life with the constitution your occupation gave you, there really wasn’t any merit in choosing to be a support caster, the class that focused on strengthening your comrades. This meant there were few support casters, and it was rare to find anyone familiar with granting magic at all.
“Then, um…” I took a good look at the shield unit. There were five of them, all with similar builds. It’d be easy to calculate them all together. “I’ll be granting some defensive buffs. Could I have your permission?”
Casting granting magic required consent. Different people defined granting magic differently, but in general, its function was to transform or accentuate matter. In that sense, it really was all-powerful. However, consciousness and awareness were the keys to casting this type of magic—only through that could you see the big picture.
Granting magic could probably be most easily explained as magic that transforms via consciousness. In other words, you could strengthen the inherent abilities of others, but you couldn’t cast buffs on inanimate objects. If there was a boulder blocking your path, softening it so you could break it would be a tall order.
If we refined this principle, you could cast buffs on tools someone was very familiar with—for example, a swordsman’s trusty blade—because those transformations took place via consciousness. Just as you could feel the ground below your feet, items that could be considered an extension of your own senses could be considered part of the human body.
It may sound like a matter of perspective, but surprisingly, that’s what defined plenty of magic.
However, this also meant that support casters were at the mercy of those who would receive their buffs. Unless someone was fully intent on receiving a buff, it was hard to cast one on them. Thus, verbally giving approval was necessary. The actual dialogue didn’t matter much, but people believed that the receiver of a buff giving their consent would increase the buff’s effectivity.
“Wait a moment, Wim.”
A middle-aged man cut me off. If I remembered correctly, his name was Mark. “Could ya explain things again? I’ve labyrinth-dived with a granting caster before, but I’m no fan of buffs. Not that I don’t trust your skills, but buffs change how it all feels. Ya gotta at least tell us what you’re strengthening, since you support casters love randomly and recklessly putting elemental effects on us.”
“Huh?”
Mark was right. The biggest reason people tended to hold disdain for support casters was because buffs messed with their senses. That was probably the biggest worry of anyone who would be granting their permission to receive them.
But given my time in Drachenflügel, another thought occurred to me.
He’s actually interested to know more?
“Um, I can only use basic granting magic, so rather than elemental effects, I cast multiple, rather intwined and complicated buffs instead. I’m quite particular about adjusting my spells to make sure I don’t mess with anyone’s senses, so I should be able to adapt accordingly if you tell me what you’re worried about.”
“Ya think I’m some newbie, huh? I know my stuff. Could you give us some more details?”
“Y-you want more details? I don’t think you need to worry about your senses. They’ll remain as they are now—you’ll just have better reaction time and be able to do a little more than you usually could.”
“Huh? Whaddya mean, my senses will stay the same? I’ve never heard of any buffs like that.”
“I guess that’s for my skills as a support caster to prove. You really don’t mind hearing how it works?”
“N-no?”