After returning from some business in the slums, I joined Ana and Bridgette for another magic lesson. Ana was also studying Japanese through this process. At first, I’d only given her books with a lot of pictures in them, but as she progressed, she started picking up romance novels—her favorite genre. As expected from someone who loved to read, she was acquiring the language at an incredible pace.
Most recently, though, Ana had been very fervently reading books related to magic instead of her beloved novels. Out of the blue, she’d begun to very aggressively study magic. Today, she said she wanted to show me her progress, so we were now outside the walls of the royal capital. Though there was some danger of monsters out here, we were still close to the city, so this area was heavily patrolled by knights to keep it clear. We walked away from the road to where we’d be hidden from others. It was the perfect place for a magic demonstration.
“Here I go,” Bridgette said, taking a stance. In the next moment, pitch-black koi appeared around her. They didn’t emit any light at all and were infused with darkness.
Bridgette was a natural-born martial artist. She’d been taken out of the orphanage she grew up in and adopted by House Aldran, who served the Sevensworths, as their daughter because of the natural chi circuits she possessed, which were perfect for their fighting style. These chi circuits had only been further strengthened with training.
However, she also naturally possessed mana circuits, meaning she could use magic too. I couldn’t blame Matthew for also taking her under his wing. She was a rare breed.
These pitch-black koi were produced with the magic she’d been able to use from birth, and they moved as fast as arrows through the air toward me. Previously, she hadn’t been able to handle multiple koi very well, but now she’d gotten very good at controlling their speed and precise movement. After observing them for a bit, I shot an explosive round about the size of a pebble into each of the koi, destroying them.
For this kind of magic, the remotely controlled objects had cores, and when the cores were destroyed, the objects were as well. It was easy for those with the ability to sense the flow of primordial mana to locate the cores. At this point, I had a pretty good understanding of where Bridgette placed hers in her magic, so it seemed like it’d be okay to step her training up a bit.
“You’ve gotten a lot better,” I said.
“I’m not done yet. There’s one more thing I’d like to show you.”
In the next minute, a black mist began to manifest around us. Just like with the koi, it was made of darkness rather than light, and it was unnatural how shrouded everything became. I’d been taking into account Bridgette’s unique chi and mana circuits to teach her magic that would suit her best, and she was already doing things she hadn’t been able to before.
Within that pitch-black mist, the koi silently swam, and Bridgette attacked with her martial arts. The mist was made with mana, making it hard to see but also to sense specific mana signatures with how it was filling up the area. But this was perfect for Bridgette. She was the only one who could sense people in the mist. Though I was the one to come up with the idea, it was impressive how she was already able to put it into practice. After observing a bit, I destroyed the core of the mist and then the koi.
“Wow, I’m surprised by how much you’ve improved.”
“Some things happened yesterday, and now it’s necessary that I get much stronger than I am.”
It sounds like there was some kind of trigger for this, but she doesn’t want to say what it is specifically. I won’t try to pry. Though she’d gotten a lot better, she was still only at the starting point in my mind. She didn’t hide the core of the mist barrier very well, and when she moved, the preciseness of the koi’s movements decreased. I gave her some advice on how to fix that and she listened very intently to me. It looks like she’s serious about getting stronger.
“I’m next!” Ana said enthusiastically.
Oh, she’s cute. She’s so cute! I can feel myself smiling. But in the next moment, my eyes opened wide with surprise. Ana lifted her right hand to the sky and tens of metres above her, a massive fireball ten metres in diameter appeared.
“Here I go!”
In the next moment, she launched the fireball, at a speed many times the speed of sound, into a faraway cliff. An earsplitting explosion rang from the collision, and the very air trembled. One needed to be able to complete chi and mana circuits in their body to be able to freely use magic, but Ana wasn’t done with that training yet. At her level, she shouldn’t have been able to use anything stronger than what elementary schoolers were capable of. In reality, what she’d used was a spell called ember.
The ember I was familiar with produced a flame about as strong as a candle, which flew about two to three metres into the air. The heat was about enough to maybe leave a burn mark on the wall before fizzling out. In contrast, Ana had been able to fire off an enormous ball of fire that was hot enough to melt stone. In fact, the cliff was dripping with molten rock from where her attack had hit.
What is that stupidly powerful strength?! It doesn’t even remotely resemble ember. Besides, Ana’s primary element isn’t even fire. Not only had she massively vamped up a very elementary spell, but it wasn’t even her primary element. She already had more strength than all the magic troops combined. I was curious to see how much further she’d progress in a few years. She really is a Magic Monarch fledgling.
“Sir Gino, did you see that? Did I pass?” Ana asked, trotting over to me with a wide smile.
“You can activate magic now?! This is my first time seeing you use magic, but it’s so powerful! You did so well, Ana! You’ve grown so much! Of course you pass!”
“Oh, is that so? I’m so happy!” Ana beamed. Oh, she’s cute. She’s so cute! “In that case, I’m ready to go to the battlefield, right?”
“Huh?”
“I’m thinking about heading out to assist with defeating monsters and defending our borders.”
Though Ana was all smiles, a wave of panic crashed over me.
“What? No! Please! Anything but that!”
If anyone died because of her, I could only imagine what kind of pain that would inflict on her. I’d learned a painful lesson with Hugo. Ana was kind to her core. If she took someone’s life, I couldn’t imagine anything worse for her. I was the only one who needed to shoulder that pain. I didn’t want Ana of all people to experience that at all. I wanted her to live in peace, always smiling.
Besides, I didn’t think I personally could endure the thought of her going to the battlefield. The mere thought of her in any danger was enough to make me lose my mind. I’d be in a state of immense panic the whole time.
“Oh, I see...”
Ana seemed very dejected. Seeing her like this made me want to give in to her every last whim... No! Stop! Don’t do it, Ginorious! You must stand your ground here! In contrast to Ana, Bridgette was smiling with relief. It was as if an intense burden had been lifted from her shoulders. Every now and then, Ana would try and do something unthinkable; for example, if she saw a river, she’d try to play in it like a kid. We really couldn’t take our eyes off of her. If only I could keep her in my arms forever. She was so cute, I couldn’t help but think such thoughts.