I think this word means earth, and that word means root... If I read it this way once more, the sentence becomes: to learn the emperor's magic, you must become the earth and let the roots of the magic grow inside you.
I didn't quite understand what it meant, but I think this must be the right way. Let me ask the witch if I'm right.
"Master, as I understand it, what it says here is that to learn the emperor's magic, you must become the earth and let the roots of the magic grow inside you."
"Oh, so that word means earth. Good for you. As expected of my student."
"Now that I've translated this page too, will you teach me how to use magic?"
"First, translate the whole book, and then I'll teach you whatever magic you want."
"Old witch, you said the same thing when I translated the previous book, didn't you? I've been your apprentice for five months already, and you haven't taught me anything."
"If you want to learn magic, be good and finish the translation of this book first. However, I must admit that you're even more skilled in ancient languages than I expected. Maybe you'll become a magic king in the future."
"Magic king? What's that?"
"A level of sorcery that only a two-digit number of magicians can reach in the current time period."
"Why don't they teach other people these math formulas and make more king-level magicians? Isn't sorcery about math?"
"Oh, that? That's just a rumor."
"But..."
"As I said, it's not real knowledge. It's just a lie that the nobles passed down to the people generations ago so that the peasants would give up on the dream of sorcery."
Fake information, huh? I think I can understand. In a medieval world like this, power is everything. For the nobles to maintain their position, they have to make sure they're more powerful than the common people.
"Then could you tell me how my ability to translate is related to sorcery?"
"The biggest benefit of being able to translate is that you'll be able to read any ancient magic books you find or buy. In the country we're in right now, there's no one besides you and me who knows the ancient elven language."
"E... E... Elf!?!"
"Have you ever heard the word elf before?"
Ahhh, fuck, I got too excited. Remember, Yuto, you're just a peasant boy. There's no way you've heard of things like elves.
"No, I've never heard it. It sounds like the name of a cool magic, though."
"Hahaha. It's perfectly normal that you haven't heard of it. After all, the elves became extinct 500 years ago."
-heart attack-
What? The elves are extinct? But what about my side quest? The reward of living for hundreds of years. And also, aren't you an elf? Or are you some kind of fake elf?
"That's not what we're talking about right now, of course. As for how I know you're a good magician, look at the flower on the table where you're studying the ancient book."
Of course the subject is elves. Could there be anything more important than virgin forest protectors with huge boobs, each one more beautiful than the last? And what does the flower on the table have to do with it?
When I turned my head and looked at the flower on the wooden table where I always sit and translate, I saw that the rose-like flower with red and blue leaves looked more vibrant than usual today.
"It really is a beautiful flower, but I don't understand how this is some kind of test of ability."
"You realized it was a test of ability, and that's something in itself. That flower didn't look this beautiful when you first came here. First of all, what you need to know is that mana is the most important part of nature. The higher a person's intimacy with mana, the greater nature's love for them."
"Get to the point."
"If your intimacy with mana is very high, a withered flower can regain its former vigor after spending a lot of time next to you. There's even a legend about Alphenzo, the Magic Emperor. The legend says that if they put a dead tree branch next to the room where he practiced magic, within five days that branch would become a magnificent world tree."
Bullshit!
"That's cool. I can't say I'm a big fan of flowers, but I'd like to have a talent like that."
"Anyway, you're done with your work for today. Go home so your mom doesn't worry."
What about the elves? We were going to talk about them...
As Yuto put on his thick coat made of sheepskin to protect himself from the winter cold, Slphia quietly muttered a spell and waved her hand slightly. The moment the spell was complete, the thousands of different colored flowers around the apothecary's hut, which had burst through the snowdrifts, withered and turned to ash.
"This child's affinity with mana is growing day by day. I thought a person's mana affinity was finalized at birth... Maybe..."
"Did you say something, master?"
"Ahah, I just asked what you'd like to eat tomorrow."
"Anything made with wheat is fine, master. See you on Monday, master."
"See you, Yuto."
------- ( ten days later )
"Master! I've finished the translation. Now teach me how to use magic."
"Hoo, you're done? Let me take a look."
Slphia looked at her little student in amazement as she read the magic book written in the language of the ancient elves. It was extraordinary for a child his age to understand the ancient elven language at this level. On top of that, Yuto's peers were still trying to develop their speaking skills.
"I have something important to tell you."
"Tell me, master."
"Even if I teach you how to do magic, you first need to turn five and receive a blessing at the church before you can do magic. The mana veins in the body of a person who hasn't received a blessing are extremely tangled. For your mana veins to be properly organized, you must first receive a blessing and then wait for a while. After you receive the blessing, as your body continues to develop, your mana veins will fall into order too. Usually, people become able to use magic when they're about 12 or 13 years old."
"What?"
Wait, wait, wait, the system can't have given me an impossible mission, right? Wait a minute, let me check the mission one more time.
After Yuto checked his mission from top to bottom a few times, he easily understood what the problem was. Even though Yuto didn't realize it, the more he did the repeating mission that increased his magical ability, the faster his mind worked, and because of that, learning the ancient language had been less difficult than it should have been.
What Yuto realized was that the mission the system had given him had told him to learn magic. Understanding that he could do the mission without using magic, Yuto told his master again that he wanted to learn magic.
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