“Damn, girl. You already popped a little one out of there?”
“Out of where?! And no! That’s not my kid!”
A blushing Shion was shouting at the top of her lungs. Renya glanced at her, wondering what she was getting so worked up about. Granted, the way Frau was half-dangling from his waist did make them look like father and daughter.
The three of them were in Caryl’s store. They had come here at the urging of Shion, who proposed that Renya should learn some more magecraft. Caryl herself sat across the table, leaning back in the same casual manner as last time.
Ever since being told his mana pool was hopelessly small, Renya had been training whenever he could to improve his mana capacity. Recently, he had even started sharing his mana with Frau. As a fairy, Frau’s main source of sustenance was the mana that passively exuded from people. When he had asked her what would happen if he tried actively feeding her mana, she responded with, “Frau is happy to have more for her tummy.” Ever since, he had been letting her have as much as she wanted, figuring it was a better use for his mana than simply burning it off.
Once he incorporated this into his training regimen, however, he discovered that it had an unintended side effect. Normally, mana crafts that used manastones for fuel could not use mana from people in the same way. Frau, being intimately linked to the house and its various fixtures, presented an exception. She could convert the mana provided by Renya into her own, and then use it to power the mana crafts in the house.
In fact, when he had first bought the place, Renya had asked a specialist about it. That is, he brought Azu over to examine the house, and the mage concluded that the house was simply riddled with appliances that used manastones. Examples could be found throughout his home from the kitchen to the toilet, including things like the fireplace, lights, ceiling fans, and water pipes. Presumably, business had been booming for the merchant who owned the place before. Or he had other methods of accruing wealth. Either way, it meant that Renya would be bleeding money if he had to keep everything running.
In came Frau to save the day. Renya could feed his mana to her until he passed out, and he was fine with that. It wasn’t like he could use the mana for much else anyway. Strangely, the fairy seemed to have no concept of being full, as she never once refused a supply of mana. No matter how much she ate up, she could always eat more. A curious Rona had once asked Frau about it.
“When mana comes into Frau, it gets squished so she can use it later. Frau thinks it’s something like compression.”
“There’s a limit to how much you can hold, I assume?”
“Of course, but even when Master turns blue from spewing out mana, Frau is only maybe one-fifth full. The house sucks up mana too, so Frau can always put more in her tummy.”
The conversation had ended with Rona scampering away with the distinct sensation that the fairy was looking at her with the eyes of a predator who had found its mark.
Later on, Renya gradually began to realize that even if he gave Frau almost all his mana, his Super Regen would quickly heal him back up. As a result, he adjusted the rate of transfer to match the rate of recovery so that he was perpetually feeding her mana. Frau also mentioned that the transfer of mana was more efficient when in close contact, so from then on, she began clinging to Renya whenever she had the chance. On a side note, her preferred position happened to be riding on his shoulders, which resulted in an influx of reports to the town guards about a strange man who walked around with a tiny maid sitting on his head. That, however, was a story for another time.
“So… is it just me or are there two monsters in my store?”
Paying no attention to the red-faced Shion glaring at her, Caryl looked at Renya and sighed.
“Are you seriously the same person I saw last time? Because you sure don’t look it.”
“I’m… pretty sure I am. What do you mean?” said Renya with a puzzled tilt of his head. The fairy hanging onto his waist tilted her head as well.
First of all, he had no idea who Caryl was referring to as “two monsters.” Considering there were only four people present — him, Frau, Shion, and Caryl — and Shion probably wasn’t it, by the process of elimination, it had to be him and Frau.
“I mean your mana is literally orders of magnitude stronger than when I last saw you. Then there’s also that… fairy, I assume? The little fairy girl that you’ve got wrapped around yourself. It’d be almost comical to compare my mana to hers.”
“Frau’s a fairy so Frau doesn’t mind, but calling Master a monster is a no-no.”
Still clinging to Renya’s waist, Frau grunted disapprovingly at Caryl.
“Okay, okay. My bad,” said Caryl with a resigned smile. “I was just exaggerating a little. I apologize if I caused any offense, so spare me the death glare.”
“I don’t particularly mind, but… hm. I guess I’d also appreciate it if you didn’t call me that,” said Renya. Feeling that the fairy tightened her grip on his clothes, he gave her head a few reassuring pats.
Caryl apologized a few more times as she righted herself in her seat and placed her arms on the table.
“All right. So, what can I do for you today?”
“I think I’ve got a bit more mana than before, so I figured I’d ask you to teach me some more spells.”
“Is this supposed to be some sort of cruel joke? Sorry, but you can put a hundred of me together and we’d still be a drop in the ocean. And that’s compared to your little fairy girl there, never mind you.”
“So you say. I don’t feel anything, though.”
The growth of his mana pool did not bring about any obvious changes. He didn’t feel any inexplicable surges of strength, and he certainly wasn’t walking around with a halo of power glowing behind him. Firebolt and Illuminate were still the only spells he could cast, and the benefits of all the extra mana were limited to the paltry convenience of being able to throw a bunch of them out.
“I managed to get rid of the usage restriction for non-elemental magecraft, but I’d prefer to have some wind spells too. It’s my aptitude, after all.”
“You make it sound so easy, but just so you know, if everyone started removing their restrictions, people like me might as well close up shop. How did you even do that?”
“Don’t ask me. I just did somehow,” said Renya as if it were the simplest thing in the world. “I don’t know the other incantations, though, so I can’t cast anything except Illuminate.”
A session of indignant grumbling ensued, during which Caryl rattled off such terms as “freaking Wanderers,” “stupidly overpowered,” and “makes no damn sense.” Finally, the mage pulled two books and a piece of paper out from a shelf.