Ignoring the thoroughly excited Two Hundred, Alex went out to the back yard, drew the sword from its sheath, and took it in both hands.
"It feels a little strange, holding it after so long."
His body had been holding a sword as recently as yesterday, but his soul had not held one in twelve years, so a sense of dissonance arose.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Alex swung it lightly a few times, trying to recover the feel of it.
[Something... doesn't feel overpowered, does it?]
At the sight of Alex swinging the sword clumsily, Two Hundred tilted his head.
[Are you... actually weak?]
He had no idea why he sounded let down, but at Two Hundred sounding truly let down, Alex opened his mouth.
"Of course I am. I've never learned it properly."
[For someone who hasn't, you seem to have a bit of skill?]
"My sister and my brother-in-law taught me."
[Hm.]
At the mention of his missing sister and brother-in-law, Two Hundred fell quiet.
In the meantime.
Alex, having loosened up and swung a few times to get his hands used to it, set his stance again.
Not the light manner of a moment ago, but the manner of someone concentrating with everything he had.
He had never learned properly, but that was all right.
Because he had watched the most perfect, most amazing, most splendid, most magnificent, most adorable teacher for twelve whole years.
Alex recalled the 'Hero Leo.'
The nephew who had risen above the grief of losing his uncle and begun training alone with the basic sword manual in the study.
Unlike Alex, who had been taught by his brother-in-law and sister and still found it rather difficult, Leo had mastered it perfectly on his own.
'And later, the teacher he met praised him for his tremendous talent.'
Alex had spent twelve years at that Leo's side.
He knew well what stance, what state of mind, and what manner one had to swing a sword with.
Alex calmed his heart and gripped the sword's hilt. Then he brought it down with all his strength.
Whish—!
The sharp blade cut the air with a sound completely different from a moment ago.
Whiiish!
Without stopping, Alex swung the sword left and right in correct form. Not taking his eyes off the blade, with just the right amount of force.
Tak! Tak!
He also moved his feet with care as they struck the ground.
'Strong where it should be strong, light where it should be light.'
Exactly as the 'future Leo' had done.
[...Oh.]
Two Hundred's low sound of admiration did not reach him.
He was concentrating on the sword alone.
How long had it been?
Alex, who had been swinging the sword with enough concentration to break a sweat, let out the breath that had built up and came to a stop.
Then, with a small smile, he looked at the sword his sister had given him.
"Not ba—"
[Oh nooo!!]
The "—d," he had been about to say was buried under Two Hundred's scream.
[My back! My shoulder! My arm!]
[Why does it hurt so much?!]
"...There's nothing to be done. It's because I lack flexibility. And the muscles used are different."
Trying to perform proper sword forms with the body of a farmer who had trained clumsily on his own, it was only natural that it strained him.
[Doesn't it hurt you?]
[The reason I hurt is that you hurt!]
At that, Alex felt at the joints that ached here and there. They did hurt, but not enough to mind.
"It does seem like I'll be sore."
[Oh nooo!!]
Two Hundred, feeling pain for the first time in decades, let out a groan.
[Sharing senses isn't unconditionally a good thing.... And I can't block this the way I block a nostril, either.]
[Alex, take care of your body from now on.]
[I don't want to hurt.]
Hm.
Alex, who did not think he could promise that, ignored the groaning Two Hundred and carried his thoughts on.
Thanks to having met countless swordsmen in the 'future,' Alex, whose eye for the sword was certain, could tell.
'Just like my brother-in-law said, I have a fair amount of talent.'
If from now on he trained step by step on the basis of the sword forms he knew, following the 'Hero Leo's' example, it seemed he could become a skilled swordsman.
"Good."
Alex's hand closed tightly around the sword.
***
The magic lesson followed immediately after.
[All right. Shall we try forming a circle?]
[This takes quite a bit of time too, but I don't know how it'll go with you.]
"Wouldn't it be easy if I borrow your senses?"
With the abilities of a lich like Two Hundred, he might become a great mage in a matter of days.
[That's not how it works.]
[Just because I borrow your sight and your sense of smell doesn't mean I can control them, right?]
[The way I can't plug your nostrils.]
Two Hundred snickered.
[All I do is let you feel mana. The rest depends on your own capacity.]
At Two Hundred's words Alex felt let down, but he let out a light sigh and steadied himself.
Right.
Life would not be that easy.
"What do I do?"
Two Hundred, who had come to teach the first magic swordsman, explained excitedly.
[Yesterday I said mana is like rock, right?]
[Among rocks there are ones as small as grains of sand, so try thinking of it as drawing mana in through deep breathing.]
[The image is what matters.]
As Two Hundred said, Alex breathed in order to absorb the small grains of mana in the air.
Breathing in, breathing out.
Then, from among the mana filling Alex's surroundings, the small pieces began to flow into Alex's body as smoothly as water.
[...Already?]
[I thought it'd take several tries to succeed!]
[Alex, your talent is enormous!]
Even as he listened to Two Hundred, Alex concentrated and worked to draw the mana in.
[Now try thinking of sending a small stream of water into your body.]
[Your body's mana circuit — the path the mana flows along — is far too narrow.]
Two Hundred explained step by step.
[Mana circuits are widest at birth and narrow gradually as you grow, you see. That's why mages train from childhood.]
[By around your age the mana circuit is almost closed off, so no matter how much talent you have, becoming a mage is difficult.]
Alex knew this too.
That was why mages would not take a disciple who was not young, no matter how much talent they had.
How many talents must have been lost that way.
If only they had been there, perhaps the Age of Ruin would never have come.
'And to think I'm one of them.'
Alex, who had not known his own talent because he was wandering with his sister when he was little and farming once he was older, ended up smiling bitterly inside.
Even now, having returned to the past, it would still have been a useless talent.
[But look, I'm here!]
If not for a teacher who happened to be a lich.
[A mana circuit like this is nothing!]
[Let's slowly open a path all the way to the heart.]
Two Hundred taught him a path that circled once through the body and reached the heart.
[No, slightly lower. Good. Now try moving it just 2 mm from there.]
Since he was sharing a single body with Alex, teaching was far easier.
[So he can do this.]
When told to move it 2 mm, Alex actually moved the mana and shifted it 2 mm, and Two Hundred marveled at his talent without meaning to.
[If you'd really learned from childhood, you'd have become a great mage.]
To move mana so precisely, when it had a nature that wanted to move as it pleased. And by a human who had felt mana for the first time today, at that.
Even Two Hundred, who had seen countless geniuses, could not help but marvel.
'Whew.'
Alex concentrated on Two Hundred's words and moved the mana.
Two Hundred said he was doing it easily, but Alex was concentrating as hard as he could, hard enough to sweat.
If not for the mental fortitude gained in the 'future' spent with the Hero's party (though the Hero's party had not known it), he would have quickly exhausted himself and collapsed.
In the mana flowing along the mana circuit, it seemed he could feel even minute sensations he did not usually notice.
[Think of shaping the mana inside your heart into a ring. Press it firmly, like kneading dough, so the mana doesn't scatter.]
The comparison was a bit much, but Alex moved the mana gathered in his heart as Two Hundred said. And he tried to form a round ring.
But the small pieces of mana would not gather and kept scattering, like drops of water slipping between his fingers.
Alex concentrated hard enough to frown slightly as he shaped the mana into the form of a ring.
And at last.
The ring of mana was completed.
[To think you'd make it right away like that!]
[And it's thick, too. Normally the first one you make is much thinner than this.]
[At this rate the 2nd circle won't take long either?]
Two Hundred praised him sincerely.
If he had hands, he would have been clapping them.
[This is the 1st circle ring. The mana inside it will listen only to you from now on, Alex.]
[Unlike the disobedient mana outside.]
Whew.
Letting out a deep sigh and opening his eyes, Alex moved his hand with a dazed face and felt around the area of his heart.
He could feel his heart beating and the 1st circle ring turning slowly inside it.
To think he had really become a mage.
He could hardly believe it, and his chest swelled.
'Now....'
Making Leo happy had become that much easier.
That alone satisfied Alex, and he felt grateful toward Two Hundred.
[Since we've come this far, let's try using magic too!]
[Elemental magic would be best, right?]
[I don't know how it is here, but on our side black magic was completely taboo.]
Said Two Hundred, who had gone and become a lich even in such a world.
"It's the same here. If you're found out, the Holy Kingdom comes for you at once."
[Then I'll just teach you elemental magic and non-attribute magic.]
At Two Hundred's words Alex sank into thought for a moment, then opened his mouth.
"No. Once I'm skilled enough to hide black magic properly, teach me black magic too."
[Black magic?]
At Two Hundred's startled-sounding voice, Alex spoke in a serious voice, as though he had made up his mind.
"There's no telling what the future will be."
If the worst moment ever came again, Alex intended to save Leo even at the cost of his soul.
[Hm. All right.]
[Understood.]
[Then let's start by learning fire attribute magic.]
Two Hundred taught in a way that was easy to understand even for Alex, who was encountering magic for the first time today.
[Magic is will.]
"Will?"
[That's right. You draw a complete image in your head and desire it from deep in your heart. Very powerfully, very earnestly, very truly.]
[That you absolutely want to use this spell.]
[Then the mana makes that will real.]
Listening closely to Two Hundred's explanation, Alex asked,
"Aren't formulas necessary?"
[They're necessary when making magic circles or items. And for magic above your own level.]
[But fundamentally, all you need is mana you can handle and a perfect will.]
Two Hundred's magic was different from that of Solenium's mages, who fundamentally used magical formulas.
[Understood?]
"Yes."
[Then let's try using it.]
Alex and Two Hundred got ready to use magic.
[The activation word is 「Fire」.]
[Since it's your first time, let's raise a hand to designate the position. Later on it'll be convenient if you train until you can do it by thought alone.]
"Understood."
Alex stretched out his hand.
[Think of creating fire in front of your hand.]
[How big it'll be, how hot, what color, how brightly it'll shine.]
[The more concrete it is, the higher the chance of success.]
As Two Hundred said, Alex called a single fire to mind.
About the size of a fist, about as hot as what he had felt while cooking, red in color, and shining about as much as a campfire.
[And then rotate the 1st circle ring. Send the mana coming out of the ring through the mana circuit and out to your hand.]
[Make the amount of mana about this much.]
When he did as Two Hundred said, mana gathered in front of his hand before he knew it.
His own mana and a perfect will.
And the activation word.
"「Fire」."
At that very moment, fire came into being in front of Alex's hand.
A fire the size of a head.
Blazing away, very hot.
[Oh! Success on the first try!]
[I knew you had talent!]
[But why is it so big?]