It was during the time when Zenith gave birth. I realized that I had a hard time using healing magic. I can replicate it through mana but not use it. It’s probably due to the lack of fundamental understanding, leading to a lack of visualization. Worse, I don’t work well with pressure. Especially not with someone’s life on the line. Luckily Rudeus was there with me, so Norn was born safely from harm, and so too was Aisha.
I hit my limits. Again. This time I was sure of it. Compared to Rudeus, I was lacking. While I was without a question improving, I’m still stuck at Saint rank water magic. Rather, I have no opportunity to push forward. Since I never really saw or experienced spells above the ranks, I’m like a blind bat aimlessly searching for a result.
The only thing that keeps me sane is the improvement of the caterpillar. Five of them, actually, with each totaling more than double of my current mana. At this rate, I’m going to need more caterpillars. My questionable familiars were growing fatter every day, sucking out more than half of my own mana.
You might be wondering why I didn’t simply make one big fat caterpillar, but I learned from experiences that you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket, as money shouldn’t be left in one safe.
Fun fact, they could be used as purifiers as well. All the excess mana scattered throughout the area by Rudeus and Sylphie was swallowed by the caterpillars for digestion, albeit slower than when I pour out mana. And because of that, I don’t have to feed them on my own either. That said, I still am not improving.
I did plan on going to attend the Ranoa University of Magic; however, after seeing Paul’s clear no to Rudeus with actual reasons, I could tell we were broke. And I don’t really need a bachelor's degree. here either. Whatever the case, going to Ranoa could wait. I could just sit here and grow for now. I don’t need to rush anyway.
…
One month after Rudeus declared that he wanted to go with Sylphie. Today was not my day. I woke up on the wrong side of my bed, barely crawling out of it. I was groggily walking to the training grounds when I heard a conversation between Paul and Rudeus.
“Tell me something. What would you do if I said you had to stop seeing Sylphie for a while?”
“What? Uh, I’d object, obviously…”
“Right, right. Figures.”
“What’s this about?”
“Ah, forget it. No point talking this over. You’d just twist it all around on me, I’m sure.”
What? This is in the middle of the day, what are you guys on abou-
Killing intent. At least I believed so. My body tensed up and reacted on its own as I jumped back, and eight water balls formed into drills appeared. But the sudden killing intent wasn’t directed at me, so it was kind of meaningless. Rather, I realize that this was the part where Paul knocked out Rudeus.
Rudeus, on the other hand, was handling it better than in the novel, only falling down after a dozen clashes. It couldn’t be helped. Rudeus lacked aggression. Well, honestly I’m not too sure about that anymore. After all, you can’t really expect him to use Thunderbolt on Paul. Even if Paul somehow turned into a living piece of shit, that’s way too overboard.
…
I stared at Paul, then stared back at Ghislaine. A long tail, cat ears, dark brown skin, and a slender build with thick firm muscles. THICK abs. With an eyepatch on her face, she looked like an Amazonian bandit. If they look like her.
“What?”
“Nothing. I’d just realized I needed to bulk up. Fast.”
“Hm?”
“... I admire your muscles. I wonder if I could at least be as muscular as my old man.”
I said, staring at her abs. It wasn’t out of lust or any of the sort. It was simply pure admiration. In my previous life, I was born with an endomorph type of body. I was born to be fat. That and the fact I sat at a desk all day and had no reason to gain muscles. But in this life I had Paul’s genes. Good athletic genes. I already promised to live differently. And I was going to travel, so yeah, I really need to bulk up.
One thing that did happen differently from expectations, though, was that I gave Sylphy a Lulu. She looked quite depressed when we were leaving, so I made a Lulu based on the golem style. Basically, I use alchemy to make the cat. A slender one, this time.
I make a cat with water magic, then layer it with ice magic to keep its structure, making it a laminated ice cat. Then within the cat I built a roadmap of simple strings that can move the body parts up, down, and left, right. Then I built a core to connect all those strings together and shoved a fat caterpillar inside as the puppeteer for the Lulu golem… It sounds crazy, I know; I had a hard time understanding this as well. Just imagine a puppet with a water balloon on the outside like skin. Yeah. Something like that.
To begin with, I don’t know why the caterpillar knows how to use strings and pour magical energy into the magic circles in the first place. If I had to make an educated guess, then probably because the caterpillar originated from me. Because we are connected, I am capable of wielding the caterpillar to do my biddings.
That said, I can’t see what Lulu would see, and I have to directly choose what to say. But expecting a caterpillar to autopilot a cat golem is absurd enough, let alone intellectually converse with someone.
Whatever the case, it can do simple movements with mana strings, it can use a wind magic circle to talk, water magic circle to fix itself and a Saint class water magic circle for attack in case of self-defense. And to ensure that this went as planned, Lulu told Sylphie that she needed to pour mana in it from time to time, and that if Lulu’s main body is far away, Lulu might not be able to contact her, so she doesn’t have to worry if Lulu isn’t responding.
Anyway, in short, I, under the pretense of Lulu, gave Sylphie a Lulu golem. With that, no matter what happens, Sylphie wouldn’t be alone and in worry. I could also say weird things without worrying about my identity as a reincarnator being exposed. Truly a genius plan.
That said, it’s a bit sad how most of our conversations are about Rudeus. I mean I know that Rudeus meant a lot to her but still, aren’t you worried about your only other friend whatsoever?
I sighed. How did I, Lulu the Great, end up as a magpie bridge?