“That’s right! These devices are groundbreaking inventions, and they employ all sorts of innovations to ensure even ordinary people with weak magic ability will be able to use them. One such particularly amazing innovation is this spell circle—as the instantaneous firepower of fire magic is too high, it equalizes the firepower over a designated span of time, allowing the user to further fine-tune the intensity—”
Having said this much, Leonie seemed to realize she was talking too much.
“…Sorry. I got a little carried away there.”
“Nothing to apologize about. You sure like convenience magic, don’t you?”
“Yes. When things are rough at school, researching convenience magic is a nice diversion. Though, just because I like it doesn’t mean I’m any good at it.”
I had been under the impression that Leonie was totally focused on her swordsmanship, so I found this a little unexpected. But when she talked about convenience magic, Leonie seemed to light up, a far cry from her usual calm and collected self.
“…You’re not going to laugh at me?” Leonie asked.
“Laugh? Why would I?”
“Well, because…it’s all meaningless.”
I didn’t understand why Leonie was being so self-deprecating.
“Is it even possible for something to be totally meaningless? I think it’s always better to know about something than to be ignorant of it.”
“That’s true, but my Gear told me that my talent lies in swordsmanship. Even if I learn convenience magic, I won’t excel in it.”
Leonie smiled sadly to herself, repeating that it was meaningless. Again with the Gear thing, I thought. Apparently, Gear could even tell the wearer what areas they excelled in. I had my doubts about Gear—with the exception of Proto, obviously—but Leonie had complete faith in the devices. Maybe there was nothing I could do about that. They were basically her mother’s legacy, after all.
But still…
—Yes, I agree.
Having received something like a nod of agreement from Proto, I decided to go ahead and lay out what was really on my mind to Leonie.
“‘Meaningless,’ my butt.”
“Huh?”
“There’s no way having more cards in your hand to play could be meaningless.”
Leonie looked blankly at me.
“For example, even if your Gear was correct about swordsmanship being your strongest talent—”
“My Gear is correct.”
“Ugh, whatever, sure it is! Even then, it’s still important to gain skills and knowledge outside swordsmanship, right? With more skills and knowledge, you can do more things. And that means you have more cards in your hand to play.”
“Oh…”
That seemed to get through to her. Even if swordsmanship was her best skill, there was no reason why she had to focus on it exclusively. In fact, gaining skills in other areas should help her use her swordplay even more effectively. There was no way having a wide range of interests was meaningless.
“But it’s just convenience magic. I could understand if we were talking about offensive magic or support magic, but to a hero, convenience magic isn’t—”
“I agree that the most important thing to a hero is the ability to fight. But do you think it’s always gonna be that way from now on?”
“‘From now on’?”
“Yeah, like in the future.”
I picked up the magical device for boiling water, and using convenience magic to fill it with water, I started to prepare some hot water. I thought maybe I’d make some medicinal tea for Leonie so she could sleep better.
“The conflict between humans and demons is over, right? Although humans are still continuing to fight among themselves, I think what’s expected from heroes might change little by little over time.”
I knew demons and humans both would never be able to live free of strife, but I figured large-scale, decisive conflicts like the Great Human-Demon War would become less and less common.
“…You may be right about that trend. But Gear doesn’t stop at indicating battle-related skills to its wearer. Actually, thanks to Gear, the Hero Institute has kept churning out talented people in a wide variety of fields. The issue is that I myself don’t have such talent, and—”
“Hey, Leonie? Forget about talent and Gear and about being the daughter of a hero for a sec and answer me this: What is it that you most want to do?”
“—!”
Leonie looked surprised, like she had never even considered my question before. I continued:
“Of course, I wouldn’t try to stop you if you really just want to keep improving your swordplay. But based on what I’m seeing here, you really love convenience magic, don’t you?”
“…Yes.”
She finally acknowledged it. And with that, as if some spirit possessing her had suddenly departed, she began to speak freely on it.
“Actually…I do want to research convenience magic more than I want to train my swordsmanship. While swordsmanship is a skill for fighting, convenience magic is a skill that helps people’s daily lives become more abundant. And what I really want to do is be of use to the people.”
After commenting that it may be improper for the daughter of the Almighty Hero to think so, she went on:
“My Gear has shown me the picture of what I should be. It has shown me where my talents lie. And I believe it is correct, even now. But sometimes, I think, is it really so bad to pursue something even if you have no talent in it?”
She finally expressed it. After being bound by the curse of the “hero” and its embodiment, Gear, for so many years, she was able to voice her doubts at last.
“Surely, it makes me a failure as the daughter of a hero…for me to think something like this. Yet I can’t help but think I would be overjoyed if only I could devote my life to making people’s lives easier. But I would never be allowed to do such a thing.”
How strange of me, isn’t it? she added, again with a note of self-deprecation.
—While we knew it was bad, I believe this runs deeper than we thought.
Yeah, seriously.
After giving Proto a half-exasperated answer, I then responded to Leonie.
“It’s not strange.”
“…Huh?”
“It’s not strange at all. If anything, I think you’re right, Leonie.”
“Ruchika…?”
Handing her the medicinal tea I had brewed, I smiled at her.
I was happy. So happy that Leonie had really thought about this on her own. For a while there, I had been convinced she was just blindly following her Gear or some imagined ideal of what it was to be a hero.
But I was wrong. She had thought about it. She hadn’t just accepted the “correct answer” that had been presented to her without questioning it—she had kept questioning it, suffering all the while. Knowing this, I respected her and loved her even more. And I grew more convinced than ever she was the right person to become my mate.
“I want to help you!”
“Huh?”
“Let me help you with your convenience magic research.”
“But there’s nothing in it for you.”
“That’s not true.”
She still wasn’t getting it. Teasingly, I poked her in the forehead with my finger as I spelled it out to her.
“I want to do what you want to do, Leonie.”
“…?!”
Suddenly, her face turned bright red. Since she was so pale in the first place, it was really easy to tell she was blushing.
—How forward of you.
Humans are way too shy—that’s all.
As far as I was concerned, there was no such thing as overdoing it when it came to expressing love or affection.
“I—I think you should do as you please, then.”
“Yup, I will! For the person I like.”
“A-again with that nonsense…”
“It’s not nonsense. Leonie, it’s about time you stop acting so stubborn and become my mate already.”