Those watching could feel the fire’s scorching heat, even from a distance, but because of Filiel and Cecil’s defense spell, they were unharmed. The grandmaster was saved because he was able to cast a defense spell right before sustaining a direct hit and because of the specially made defensive equipment he was wearing. However, he wore a stern look, and his frown made deep wrinkles on his forehead.
“Hey, are you trying to kill me?!” the grandmaster shouted.
“This, coming from the one who almost killed me earlier? I don’t want to hear that from you,” Yui said. “Besides, didn’t you say I could use all my power? And y’know, I was holding back a bit just now.”
The grandmaster grimaced. “So that was holding back... No, that’s not the point! That just now was a composite spell, with fire and wind, right?!”
“Yes, that’s right.” Composite spells combined two or more elements at once, like the fire and wind spell Yui had just cast. They were more difficult to use than area-of-effect spells, but that wasn’t the reason the grandmaster was so surprised.
“You’re supposed to be a Liefe! What are you doing using elemental spells?!”
“There’s no need to look so scary. Do you think I’ll reveal my secrets that easily?” An average person might’ve instantly confessed everything they knew under the force of the grandmaster’s glare, but unfortunately for him, Yui had seen it countless times and had built up an immunity. She also knew that he wasn’t the type of person to use his strength to force others to do things, so she wasn’t scared of him.
“Do. You. Know. What. You’ve. Done?! You’ve completely overturned all established concepts in magic history. I hope you know how massive what you just did was!”
“Of course I do,” Yui said. It was indeed established knowledge—known by even children, both within Garlant and without—that Liefes could not cast spells unless they were nonelemental. This had been repeated from time immemorial, and as a matter of fact, no Liefe had ever been able to cast an elemental spell. This was an unchanging, unwritten rule—well, it had been. Yui had just relegated all of that to the past.
If this got out, it would cause much more of a commotion than the grandmaster, the general, and the cardinal visiting Yui together to recruit her. First of all, someone from each and every research institution was sure to come find her. Even the grandmaster felt afraid just thinking about where Yui would be in the future, but Yui herself seemed to lack an appropriate amount of panic about that. It seemed like she didn’t understand the situation at all.
“No, you don’t! Do you know how big this’ll be if I tell anyone? Didn’t you hate being bothered? Didn’t you just want to quietly bake bread? Missy, I’m trying to recruit you to the guild. What are you doing raising your value to me even more?!”
“You’ll tell people?” Yui asked calmly.
The grandmaster flinched. “W-Well, I wouldn’t do that...”
“I didn’t think so. I know you aren’t the kind of person to reveal something that you know is so serious,” Yui said. Those in the room were her brothers and her friends. The adults present all had high positions and lots of authority—they could use their power to get things done forcefully if they felt like it, but they took Yui’s will into consideration, and they had the discretion to hide information when necessary. She trusted them and was confident they wouldn’t leak anything if told not to. And Berg wasn’t reckless enough to tell anyone something that even the king wouldn’t mention.
“The constant invitations are irritating, but I trust you,” she added. The look in her eyes told the grandmaster that this wasn’t flattery—she genuinely meant it. He felt a bit awkward. However, Yui’s next words ruined that moment. “Well, I don’t have many opportunities to practice, and you’re resilient, which made you the perfect test subject. I just wanted to try it out.”
“Hey!” the grandmaster said forcefully.
Yui hardly had any opportunity to test magic with large areas of effect because she couldn’t let herself be seen by anyone. So, taking into account the possibility that she might make a mistake in the amount of force she used, she had just wanted to try out the spell on a suitably sturdy test subject—one that wouldn’t die easily.
“So, how’d you do it?” the grandmaster asked.
“I just said I wouldn’t reveal my secrets that easily.”
“But you’ll need to pay us something to keep our mouths shut... Right, Your Eminence?” The grandmaster smirked as he brought the cardinal into the conversation.
“I think that’s fair. If you simply told me to stay quiet, I might just accidentally let it slip,” the cardinal said. His pure smile befitted him as a clergyman, but his words were an undeniable threat.
I knew I messed up... Yui thought, but it was already too late. “Very well,” she said. “In exchange, please don’t tell anyone, no matter what. I like researching magic, but I don’t like it when people make a fuss about me... And, my apologies for wrapping you up in this, but would Your Majesty and Your Highness also be willing to swear not to say anything of what happened here?”
Bernard and Alexis nodded meekly—they were afraid of Layce, and they already had absolutely no intention of telling anyone. Next, Yui got General Kieran and Berg to agree to stay quiet as well. She took out her lighter again. Since she had already been planning to explain the magic to them in exchange for their silence, she had no issues with telling them about it.
✦ ✦ ✦
It was years ago when Yui had first suspected that she might be able to use elemental magic—even as a Liefe. Everything she had read said it was common knowledge that Liefes could only use nonelemental magic. However, as a young girl watching her brothers cast elemental spells, she refused to accept this, and she devoted herself to studying elemental magic anyway.
Still, no matter what she read, she got the resounding message that learning elemental magic would be impossible. She studied the magic formulas written in books and tried to charge them with her magic energy, but no matter how much she did this, the elemental spells wouldn’t activate. She was unable to cast a single spell, even after reading every single book on magic in the mansion. Depressed, she read one of the books on nonelemental magic that she had been purposely avoiding up until then and tried casting one of the spells. When she did, the spell activated. It was so abrupt that she almost believed everything prior to be some sort of mistake, which only made her feel even worse. This isn’t the magic I want to use, she thought, but she still reluctantly continued reading books on nonelemental magic.
As she went on learning more spells, she had a sudden idea: amplification magic. Amplification spells interacted with other types of magic, increasing power or efficiency. Importantly, this type of magic was nonelemental, but it could affect the other elements. The existence of amplification magic was like a single bright ray of hope for her. If it really was true that Liefes couldn’t wield elemental magic at all, then amplification spells—which interacted with and boosted other types of magic—wouldn’t do anything. But amplification magic had an effect on every element. She had the idea that perhaps Liefes could use elemental magic, but they were simply unable to gather the base elements that existed in nature and make them take form as a spell. In that case, if she used amplification magic to affect an elemental spell and place it under her control, then even she, a Liefe, would be able to make use of elemental magic.
As a test, Yui asked her brothers to use a spell, and she then tried casting an amplification spell on it. She didn’t, however, try to amplify it; she instead interfered with her brother’s spell, overwriting his magic energy with her own. After pouring her own magic energy into the spell, the control over the spell passed to her, and her brother lost all input.
However, multiple problems remained. First of all, she had to have someone else cast the spell before she could do anything. Also, while she was able to overwrite the magic energy, it was difficult to overwrite the formula itself, and it was impossible to change an already completed spell into a different one. She might’ve found a solution with further research, but at such an early stage, it was impossible then. Still, even if she couldn’t cast the spells she wanted on her own, her technique could perhaps defend against an attack. Ultimately, though, she couldn’t say that she had actually been able to cast elemental magic.
Yui continued pondering the issue, but she couldn’t come up with any good solutions. She was beginning to think that that was her limit, and resignation began to creep in. But one day, as she was casually watching rain fall from the sky, she had a flash of inspiration.