Lindy slowly formed a dome while concentrating on making it as hard as steel, and Bord attacked it again.
“When you attack, remember the Ice Lance’s size and speed.”
“Man, your requests keep getting more and more complicated.”
“But even from here, it’s easy to tell your power and speed are improving.”
“Oh yeah, Bord’s magic getting stronger means less work for the rest of us, so keep it up!”
“Yeah, it makes camping out easier too.”
“You guys were the ones who complained that it’s cold both inside and outside the shelter, so I had to make that troublesome thing!”
As Bord’s magic improved, his companions found more and more practical uses for it, which perhaps explained his growing complaints.
“Bord, if you keep improving, Gold rank won’t be merely a dream.”
“Lucky you.”
“Work hard and I might even buy you a mug of ale someday.”
Whether the others were encouraging him or envying him was difficult to tell from their deliberately flat voices.
The first strike made Lindy’s dome flex and shudder, nearly breaking it apart.
“Lindy, even if you imagine it as hard as steel, if it’s too thin it’ll break. It needs to be at least ten centimeters thick like usual.”
She nodded seriously, released the mana from the old dome, and created another.
Her practice with [Shelter!] had also strengthened her image of a dome, allowing her to form it much faster than before.
On Bord’s second attempt, his Ice Lance shattered against the dome with a sharp metallic crack.
“Bord, make it harder! Remember the hardness of an enchanted-steel spearhead.”
He took a deep breath while staring at the fragments, muttered under his breath, and then called, “Ice Lance! Ha!”
The lance struck Lindy’s dome at impressive speed and rebounded with a clear metallic clang.
“Bord, Lindy, there’s nothing more I can teach you. From now on, concentrate on reducing mana consumption. You already know that using less mana doesn’t necessarily weaken a spell.”
“I still need practice, but I can cast nearly twice as many spells as before.”
“Then you can create about forty shields?”
“Thirty-five or thirty-six. I rarely exhaust my mana completely, but that should be my limit.”
“I’ve improved too. It takes much longer for me to approach mana exhaustion now.”
“Lindy, I’ll teach you one final thing: Lightning Magic.”
“Eh…? Leon, you can use lightning magic?”
“Of course not. I’m only a wind mage. My maternal grandmother told me that once someone masters the fundamentals of magic, learning another granted element isn’t particularly difficult. She also warned that Lightning Magic can harm its caster if used carelessly.”
“You’re saying some pretty scary things again.”
I had everyone shelter inside one dome, then created another dome about twenty meters from the target and brought Lindy inside with me.
“Lightning Magic differs from most attack magic. You shouldn’t strike a nearby target. You can, but the lightning may injure you as well.”
“That doesn’t matter — I can’t use lightning magic anyway.”
“You can use Earth Magic and control your mana freely, so this should be possible. Picture lightning descending from above onto the target, then send your mana there.”
“Something that simple?”
“Simple — or at least, it should be. You’ve seen lightning before, right?”
“Of course I have!”
“Then imagine lightning falling straight down onto the target and release your mana.”
“What about a short incantation?”
“Just say ‘Lightning Strike!’ That should work.”
“You’re just making that up again.”
“Of course I’m improvising. You and Bord could already use Earth Magic and Ice Magic; I merely taught you to focus your image and control your mana. I don’t know any lightning mages. I’m only repeating what I was told: cast from a distance, and take shelter if you must use it nearby. Lindy, you learned magic properly from the beginning, so you understand its foundations better than I do.”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
She considered the idea for a moment, then called, “Lightning Strike! Ha!”
Nothing happened. The silence that followed was almost painful.
Her face reddened.
“Lightning Strike! Ha!”
“Lightning Strike! Ha!”
“Lightning Strike! Ha!”
“Let’s return to the fundamentals, Lindy. Magic requires deciding what happens, where it happens, and how it happens. Try adding a short invocation that helps you focus.”
“You’re right… give me a moment.”
She glared at the target, looked up at the sky, and murmured,
“O Creator Goddess Felicienne, permit me to call lightning down upon that target. Lightning Strike! Ha!”
A flash split the clear midday sky, followed by an enormous thunderclap. The ground between the target and the dome exploded.
I stared in astonishment. I had improvised the entire lesson, and she had actually succeeded.
“It worked… even with an incantation you invented on the spot!”
“Don’t stop now — try it again before you lose the feeling.”
“O Creator Goddess Felicienne, permit me to call lightning down upon that target. Lightning Strike! Ha!”
A brilliant bolt struck with a deafening crash.
“O Creator Goddess Felicienne, permit me to call lightning down upon that target. Lightning Strike! Ha!”
Another brilliant bolt struck.
After five consecutive strikes, I raised a hand to stop her.
Even in an uninhabited field, repeated lightning from a clear sky would attract far too much attention.
I had taught her how to call down lightning, but not how to reduce its size or fire it horizontally. Teaching those details would be tedious.
Since she understood spell construction through Earth Magic, she would eventually work them out herself.
“Hey, she’s really using lightning magic!”
“Didn’t Lindy say she couldn’t use that?”
“Her husband looks the most shocked!”
“Jake, get a grip! At this rate, she’s totally going to dominate you!”
“She already does, man. Once you’re married, women always win.”
“Wow… Leon said he’d teach her lightning magic, but I didn’t think she’d actually be able to use it right away.”
“Leon might know way more about magic than we thought.”
“I never expected him to share techniques that sound like closely guarded secrets so casually. Is that really safe?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Think about it. Being granted magic doesn’t mean someone can teach another person to use it this easily, especially not advanced spells. If the nobles discovered what he could do, they would never leave him alone.”
“Oh, that? Don’t worry — I think it’s fine.”
“What do you mean?”
“When he was teaching me, I asked whether it was really safe to share something so powerful. Do you know what he said? He refuses to teach people with bad personalities or loose tongues. He doesn’t mind if trustworthy students pass the knowledge on, but he won’t teach anyone likely to spread it indiscriminately.”
“He’s still only seventeen, right?”
“Yeah. He looks small and harmless, but he’s sharp. He isn’t someone you can deceive easily.”
“He would have to be, or he couldn’t survive as a solo adventurer.”
“Do you think he can Appraise people?”
“Probably not. He practices Appraisal on herbs, but says he can correctly identify only sixty or seventy percent of them.”
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
That night, two earth-magic domes stood beside my transparent dome. While preparing a Chikki-Chikki Bird for dinner, we discussed our plans.
Olga invited Jake’s party, Earth’s Shield, to accompany Strongarm into the forest sometime.
I told them that I had nothing more to teach and planned to leave Roxanne soon, since withdrawing so much money from the guild had probably drawn unwanted attention.
For their camps, I suggested replacing the thorn-branch huts with sturdier structures assembled from solid wooden panels.
Because both parties could use Detection and Presence Sense, they would have warning whenever beasts approached, and Bord could trap the attackers inside an ice dome.
The result would be a kind of modular cabin. Seven large men needed a sizable shelter, however, so it had to be collapsible; otherwise, even a Rank 5 Magic Bag wouldn’t have room for both the cabin and their prey.
When I mentioned that I intended to visit the royal capital, they made me promise to stop in Roxanne on my way back to Lynas.
I agreed. I had left home intending to travel for two years, and I wanted to take my time enjoying the journey.
Besides, I looked forward to seeing how much Lindy and Bord would improve.
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
At dawn, I parted from them and headed east along the Blange Highway.
The next destination was Korché, the capital of the marquis’s territory.
It was only half a day away by road, so I traveled leisurely and hunted along the way.
I had a little over one million dara in spending money, enough to buy respectable clothes. I continued hunting to save for a proper cabin.
I concentrated on birds and avoided unnecessary risks. The many adventurers my Detection picked up suggested that the region also held abundant prey.
By zigzagging along the boundary between forest and grassland, I collected a good number of birds.
At an unfamiliar guild, however, no one would believe that a newcomer had hunted so many without evidence of broader experience.
To secure access to the dismantling hall, I also killed a Large Horn Boar, a Medium Elk, and three Orcs that attacked me.
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
When Korché finally appeared in the distance, I noticed something strange.
Normally, the adventurers caught by my Detection at this hour would be moving back toward the city. One group, however, remained completely still.
I first suspected an ambush, but their tightly clustered positions made that unlikely. Curiosity overcame caution.
I approached carefully. None of them noticed me, which suggested they were complete novices.
Peering through the bushes, I saw that several members of the group were injured. Two dead Prairie Dogs lay nearby, so a pack had probably attacked them.
There were seven people in total. Most appeared close to my age, although one or two looked slightly older. They were trying to help one companion stand.
The sight reminded me of Ted being knocked into the grass by the Black Bear.
Two of them were binding an injured arm, while another had tied a medicinal-herb poultice around his leg. They would never reach the city before the gates closed.
I couldn’t just leave them there, and I also wanted to learn what was happening in the city.
I decided to call out to them.
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