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THE following day, they made Lille stay in bed, just to be safe, so the next time she was well enough to attend magic lessons was two days later.
“Hello, Master Charlie. Hello, Leo,” she said, greeting them both with a nod. “I’m looking forward to learning something new today.”
Leo scrunched up his nose and gave her a disdainful look. “Don’t hold me back too much, okay?”
“…I’ll do my best,” she promised him.
“Don’t worry about that, you two. I’ve planned a different activity for each of you,” Charles assured them. “Leo, you’ll be practicing how to cast the magic circle I taught you last time.”
“Yes, Master Charlie.”
Leo distanced himself from the rest of the group and consulted a grimoire while beginning to chant some sort of incantation. Eventually, a dim circle of light emerged on the ground at his feet. Lille had seen a magic circle once before: she and Ark flew through one to teleport to Charles’s house. That one had been floating in the sky, but the circle Leo cast shone against the earth. She wondered what it did.
“You’ll be putting some simple magic into practice today as well, Lille,” Charles said. “It’s probably best if we start with something you have a natural talent for. Tell me—has anything strange ever happened to you when you concentrated really hard?”
“Oh…yes,” she replied, thinking back to how she used to listen to the townspeople’s conversations when she was trapped in the tower. She always thought it odd that she could hear things from so far away, and even back then, she wondered if her magic was responsible. She told Charles all she could remember.
“I see,” he hummed. “That must’ve been why you didn’t lose your capacity to feel emotions. Your magic seeped through the cracks of the barrier. It saved you, Lille.”
Really? She was surprised to learn that her beloved hobby was what had kept her from completely wasting away.
“Also…” she continued, “ever since I came here, I’ve been able to sense people’s emotions. Through their aura, their temperature… Is that normal for a sorcerer?”
“Without concentrating?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Yes.”
Charles fell silent for a moment, his eyes serious.
“I’ve never heard of such magic before. There are ways to read emotions by touching someone, but not in the way you described…” he said, gazing at her. “This could be a huge discovery,” he murmured.
“Really?” She blinked.
“Indeed.” He nodded. “A sorcerer’s natural talent is usually what best represents their personality. For example—someone with aggressive tendencies might have strong offensive magic, or someone who wishes to protect others might have strong defensive magic. Most likely, you developed that ability because of how much you wanted to get to know people and share their experiences. It suits you well.”
“It suits me, huh…?” she said, thinking once again about those ten years she spent all alone in the tower.
She had always looked forward to listening to the townspeople; they seemed happy, and she delighted in that human connection, even if she couldn’t be directly involved. She longed to know more, hear more, experience more of their lives and relationships. If a sorcerer’s personality manifested in their magic, it was no wonder that Lille’s yearning had connected her with the nearest settlement, despite the distance.
Even when Lille hadn’t known the first thing about magic, it had always been with her, protecting her. It responded to the calls of her heart and made her desires reality.
“I really wish I could thank my own mana.” She smiled bashfully.
“I bet you do,” Charles replied. “But I think it already knows how grateful you are.”
She gently placed a hand on her chest. She didn’t know where in her body her mana resided, but, as Charles said, she felt as though she truly could convey her thanks.
“Now that we have an idea of where your talents lie, let’s work on strengthening them,” he suggested. “With practice, you might soon be able to read people’s thoughts, or sense lingering memories from places and objects.”
“But…,” she trailed off. If that happened, Lille would discover what Charles was hiding from her—regardless of whether he wanted to tell her or not. She wasn’t sure being able to read people’s minds would be a good thing.
Recently, her own emotions were becoming harder and harder to identify, like when Charles had saved her from falling. However, she did know that she didn’t want anyone else to know about how she had felt in that moment. It was a precious, private memory she wanted to lock up inside her heart forever. If she had those sorts of thoughts, surely other people did, too, and she wished to respect that.
“I have to admit, I’m a little scared of knowing everything other people are thinking. What if they don’t want me to know? I’d feel extremely guilty,” she confessed sadly.
“Ah… You’re right. Sorry—that was a thoughtless thing to suggest. In that case, perhaps we should let your talent develop naturally. That way, it’ll adapt to your wishes rather than follow any specific training. It won’t grow any stronger than you’d like it to, so don’t worry about being unable to control it,” he added.
“Okay,” she said, nodding. Judging by Charles’s reaction, her magic was extremely rare. Doubtless, it would be far more useful to him if she trained it properly, but he had chosen to honor her feelings nonetheless.
“Now, let’s start with the basics of sorcery,” Charles said, his tone turning academic once more. “That includes magic you can use in daily life, such as creating fire or moving things without touching them.”
“That does sound useful for cooking and cleaning,” Lille remarked.
“Right?” Charles grinned. “This is the sort of elementary stuff people learn when they start magic school. Oh—I’ll go fetch you a textbook that might help.”
“I’ll come with you.”
They told Leo where they were going, then made their way to the study.
It was a small room crammed full of bookcases with barely enough space for two people to stand. Some weeks previously, Charles had said she could use it whenever she liked, so she had started to borrow books regularly. She read textbooks to help improve her reading and writing, or flipped through cookbooks for new recipes.
“Now, where was it? Hmm… I could’ve sworn it was this shelf…” Charles mumbled to himself.
“Master Charlie,” Lille called up to him as he searched the shelves. She leaned her weight against the study door to prevent it from closing.
“Hm?” he replied distractedly.
“What magical talents do you and Leo have?” she asked.
“Oh, right—I didn’t tell you. Mine is…being able to control the natural world, I suppose. Remember how you saw me manipulate the wind earlier? I can make it rain, too. Otherwise, I can control water, fire, and plants. That’s why I like working in the garden so much,” he explained. “…A-ha, here it is!”
Given how at peace he seemed living in the forest compared to his awkwardness when visiting the city, Lille thought his power suited him perfectly.
“What about Leo?” she prompted.
Charles froze, his outstretched arm reaching for a high shelf.
“Leo’s… He’s a healer,” he answered after a moment.
“A healer? So he can treat people and animals if they get injured or sick?”
“That’s right.”
“That sounds like a really useful ability. He could help so many people,” she said, her eyes filled with admiration.
“…Yeah,” Charles replied. Strangely, he didn’t say anything else. He simply grabbed a few books and walked back over to where Lille held the door open.
“Master Charlie…?” She glanced at him, concerned.
“I found the textbooks you’ll need,” he announced, changing the subject. “I picked out several that go over the basics, so just put the ones we won’t use today in your room.”
“Yes, Master Charlie.”
He deposited the thick books into her arms one by one.
“All right. I’m going to go check on how Leo’s doing, so I’ll meet you back outside.”
He was gone before Lille could say a word.
She trundled to her bedroom and dropped the heavy books onto her writing desk. She selected one to bring to class, then sandwiched some parchment and a quill between its pages. While she prepared her things, she contemplated how Charles had acted before he left. Although his expression had been otherwise impassive, his eyes had been slightly stern. When he averted his gaze, it had felt as though he were begging her not to question him further.
“Healing magic…” she repeated under her breath. She thought it was a magnificent ability. Was there a reason why Charles couldn’t say the same?
There was doubt deep within Charles’s heart. It had been such a minute shift in his aura that Lille wouldn’t have been able to tell without the help of her magic. She regretted being able to tell at all, and the fact that she had triggered that reaction made her feel even worse.
Magic or no, sensing others’ emotions wasn’t always an enjoyable experience. Still, she longed for the power to watch over both her own heart and the hearts of those she loved. Was that so selfish?
“The human heart is complicated…” she sighed, beginning for the first time to understand the truth of such a statement.
That same day, a frog appeared in the middle of Leo’s magic circle, ribbiting happily.