Sweat dripped from her brow as she braced herself after the scolding, body tensing as she attempted to force the energy to coalesce. Activating godcraft power didn’t require force, but I could understand the thought process behind her actions—surely, her powers would be easier to use if she exerted herself. But the more she developed her powers, the less she’d have to do that, so it was a bad habit to develop—and anyway, she had much more pressing issues than her output.
“Um... I don’t think this exercise is appropriate for a beginner of your level, Lady Rose,” I cautiously put forth.
“Huh? R-Really?” Rose asked, glancing at me.
“Didn’t I tell you not to disturb the lesson? Be quiet,” Graeger snapped, evidently displeased. The look on his face made it clear that he thought I was being a nuisance. Rose, on the other hand, was fairly pleading for help with her eyes.
Before the lesson had started, I’d figured this would be a simple job—all I had to do was watch and be done with it. But I just couldn’t keep my mouth shut after seeing the tutor’s terrible attempt at teaching.
“I won’t interfere,” I finally retorted. “I only thought to give Lady Rose some advice so she might learn to use her power faster.”
“And I’m telling you that is interfering. Are you taking issue with my approach?”
“I am.”
“What?!” A vein bulged on his temple at my immediate response to his bait.
He looked furious. Maybe he was the short-tempered type? At any rate, I could guess what had made him this annoyed, but I didn’t want him to snuff out Rose’s talent before it even began to blossom. Given that her powers had awakened at eight years of age, she could very well become an incredibly gifted healer one day... Though maybe that was jumping the gun a little bit.
“Hmph! If you’re so certain my approach is wrong, then very well. I will grant you leave to speak, even though whatever you say will be mere childish nonsense,” acquiesced Graeger, voice dripping with disdain.
I didn’t want to hear that from the likes of him...but since he was letting me talk, I decided to give Rose my full advice.
“All right. First of all, I’ll teach you how to visualize a concrete image of releasing your godcraft power. It’s really hard to successfully channel energy without an explanation of how to actually do it, so for starters, try to sense the godcraft energy circulating through your body. When you do, try to construct an image, little by little, of it flowing through your veins like blood. But first and foremost, you should focus on just sensing its presence.”
“So I have to be able to feel the magic before I can control it,” Rose hummed thoughtfully.
Figures. I doubted she’d actually been told how to channel energy in detail by that trashy tutor, and now it was painfully clear I was right. Her eyelashes fluttered as she blinked, but eventually she closed her eyes at my instruction and began to focus.
“You should’ve felt the godcraft energies in you when you first awakened to your powers. Keep that feeling in mind and try moving the energy around a little. Don’t worry about channeling it anywhere specific yet; learning to manipulate it is the first step,” I said, trying to guide her in the basics.
“Sense the godcraft in me...and manipulate it,” she repeated to herself as she concentrated.
These fundamentals went for any of the three powers—the first step was always to sense the magic, then to manipulate it. Only after learning to do that could a person begin to make use of their power. Trying to release energy before learning to manipulate it was awfully foolish.
According to Claus, this tutor had graduated from the academy in the royal capital, right? But this was the most basic of basics, practically Magic 101! It was possible that he was teaching her wrong deliberately, or maybe he hadn’t ever learned it the right way himself...or he could just be incredibly stupid. No matter what the reason, I found myself doubting that he really was a graduate of any upstanding institution whatsoever.
“You don’t have to rush yourself. Take your time. This isn’t something that can be done in a day.”
“All right,” she nodded demurely.
Graeger clicked his tongue again. “If you waste your time listening to him, your peers will leave you in the dust!”
“Excuse me?” I snapped, exasperated. “Lady Rose awakened to her powers at eight. She’s more likely to be the one leaving everyone else in the dust.”
It was common knowledge that magic only awoke in people when they were at least ten years of age. Despite that, Rose’s powers had come to her a full two years before the prescribed time, so she had at least two years’ worth of head start compared to others her age. What she really should be doing was taking the time to learn at her own pace, without rushing things.
“Shut up! I am a veteran healer and graduate of a prestigious school, far more learned in the ways of godcraft than a child like you!” Graeger snapped.
“Yeah? Well, that’s neat,” I replied dismissively. If his earlier demonstration turned out not to be representative of his actual ability, then I’d be more inclined to believe his grand claims. But if that truly had been all he was capable of, then he wasn’t anywhere near my skill level. Fouré must’ve also been thinking the same as me, as she couldn’t help but snarl at Graeger.
“What? Huey’s a million, billion times more awesome than this awful little stink bug! It’s like comparing a dragon to a turtle!” she angrily huffed from behind me. I was pretty sure that bit about dragons and turtles was an exaggeration, though.
“Then how about we have a contest?” I ventured, deciding I wanted to measure Graeger’s actual skill. “Let’s see who can generate more godcraft energy.”
He barked out a derisive laugh. “Hah! Ridiculous. Don’t get ahead of yourself, child. There’s no way you could beat me.”
“I wouldn’t have challenged you if I thought I didn’t have a chance.”
He sneered again. “Very well, I suppose I shall have to put you in your place. The world is bigger than you know, and there will always be someone better than you!” Graeger declared as he thrust out his right hand.
He channeled his energy, but despite his showboating, the light that wreathed his hand was no brighter than before. His control was so poor that it was hardly visible. Blind to his own dismal performance, he laughed. “See for yourself! This is what true godcraft is like!”
I shook my head. “No, it really isn’t. You’d have to be able to release this much energy before you can go around calling it ‘true’ godcraft.” I smiled as I raised my right hand, focusing energy into my fist. A blinding light far more intense than the one Graeger had conjured radiated from me and illuminated everything in the room.
“Whaaat?! H-How could a mere child like you...release so much power?!” Graeger shrieked.
“Because I focused on training the basics for a long time,” I replied. “This light is the result of all my practice. You see what happens when you skip the fundamentals now, right?”
“I knew you’d win, Lord Hisui. Your light is so radiant,” breathed Rose. Forgetting her practice entirely, Rose stared at me, completely enraptured. C’mon, Rose, you should get back to practicing, I thought.
“Th-This is ridiculous! A child a fraction of my age can’t possibly be better at using godcraft! You must be doing a trick of some sort... Yes! You must be using an artifact, aren’t you?! You horrible little fraud!” Graeger whipped his finger at me as he howled in outrage.
“Stop insulting Lord Hisui at once!” Rose’s patience had finally reached its breaking point. “Your behavior has been completely out of line. Lord Hisui may be the son of a baron, but he is still a guest of my house. Watch your words!”
“L-Lady Rose, I... I do apologize,” Graeger stuttered.
“There’s no point apologizing to me. You should be apologizing to Lord Hisui.”
Graeger ground his teeth audibly before hanging his head. “I...am sorry.” His apology sounded like it had been wrung out of him, causing him physical pain. But since he’d been served his humble pie, I had little more to say to him. I let the light of my godcraft fizzle out and likewise gave him a small nod.
“No, I wasn’t acting very mature either. I also caused trouble for Lady Rose.” I apologized as well, though I couldn’t keep my sarcasm contained. Graeger trembled as if he were about to lash out violently, but he stopped himself and raised his head. He couldn’t afford to worsen Rose’s opinion of him.
“My apologies, Lady Rose, but I just remembered I had something very important to attend to. Might I leave the remainder of today’s lesson to young Hisui?”
“Huh? What do you mean—” Rose began, but Graeger cut her off. He wasn’t accepting any objections.
“Now then, see you another day. Pardon me!” He dashed from the room like a frightened rabbit. His behavior was utterly inexcusable—how could he abandon a job so selfishly? I was almost impressed by the extent of his idiocy...but I was sure I could guess what excuse he’d come up with later.
The room was now entirely quiet, and Rose turned to me.
“He’s gone,” she said plainly.
“He sure is. What do you want to do now? I can teach you if you’d like to continue with your godcraft training,” I said in return.
“Are you sure?”
“I was the one who interrupted your lesson anyway. I’ll take responsibility for you and your lessons—and be your tutor if you’d like.”
“Y-You’ll take responsibility...for me?!” she squeaked, face turning bright red.
“Lady Rose? Are you okay?” I asked, concerned. I felt a little awkward, thinking I might’ve accidentally said something she’d misinterpreted, but I really couldn’t tell from what little she’d said.
She jumped in surprise at my question and took a huge step back. “I-It’s nothing! Anyway, right, training! Let’s get back to my training! I’ll fire that awful tutor!”
And so, Graeger was all set to be relieved from his position as Rose’s home tutor. Considering his lack of professionalism and abandonment of duties, his dismissal was basically inevitable.
“Well, all right... Anyway, let’s focus on manipulating godcraft energy like I taught you earlier.”
“O-Okay... Okay!” Face still glowing red, Rose went back to her godcraft practice. But something seemed to be on her mind the entire time, so she couldn’t focus very well. In the end, she decided to finish the day’s lesson early.