Three days later...
After the landslide, the journey progressed without incident. Because I was
constantly with someone these past few days, my speech had gradually grown
more fluent. They told me I was still a little stiff with my words, but there was
no problem understanding what I meant, and we were finally arriving at our
destination of Gimul Town.
"We're here. This is the town of Gimul."
"So this is Gimul..."
It was a peaceful town surrounded by tall outer walls and lots of greenery.
That was the first impression I received. It was a little smaller than the town of
Keleban we visited before, but that just made it seem calmer.
I was told that the mines were nearby and the steel industry was the main
source of livelihood, so I had imagined more bustle... But this was good in its
own way.
However, according to what Reinhart said on the way, the production of iron
had dwindled in recent years, making one of the objectives of this trip to
inspect and determine whether the mines should be closed from lack of profit...
Although, the way Reinhart had stated 'There's more than one mine, so there
shouldn't be a large impact on the town for at least another ten years,' made it
sound like the mine's closure was practically finalized already.
Maybe he didn't think it was a topic to be sharing with a child... Well, the
mining output had been practically zero for three years now. It seemed like the
only condition for avoiding closure was to find a new vein of ore. All the miners
of that particular mine had already stopped working there since last year. It
made sense that they'd prefer to work somewhere with results. Especially if it
involved their income.
"All right, let's leave our things at the inn, then head to the Tamers' Guild for
registration."
The Tamers' Guild was an establishment where tamers and summoners — the
two types of spellcasters that could control monsters — were able to register in
order to receive jobs and information services. It also assisted in finding
accommodation for tamers who lived with their familiars and purchasing cheap
familiar food for affiliated members. There were similar places; like the
Adventurers' Guild, Magic Guild, and Merchants' Guild; but the Tamers' Guild
had far fewer members in comparison due to public fear of tamer familiars.
Thus, the scale of the guild was inevitably smaller and had fewer branches,
although there was one in this town to fill the demand for transporting goods
from the mines.
...Well, according to Elise, anyway.
She was in a very good mood today, humming a song as she held both my and
Eliaria's hand as we walked, having just dropped our belongings of at the inn.
But there was something bothering me.
"How much information should I give the guild?"
"The submission of information is up to the person who first made the
discovery, so as much as you're comfortable with is fine."
Well, in that case...
"Just the evolution conditions of a slime and the way to contract a big slime,
then. I'll also register the two new species of slime."
"You'll keep the use of sticky slime solution a secret?"
"Yes, if it's going to be used to sell waterproof cloth, then we don't want
imitations circulating."
"That's true."
Our plan was to head to the Tamers' Guild as soon as we were done talking,
but Reinbach stepped in before that.
"You haven't been to the church yet, have you, Ryoma? In that case,
shouldn't you go get your status numbers disclosed by the church first?"
At those words, both Reinhart and Elise were reminded of what to do first.
Apparently, the church distributed 'status boards' — tools that could be used to
view one's own stats and make registering for guilds go more smoothly. For
example, the condition to register for the Tamers' Guild was the ability to use
taming or summoning magic, so having the status board display that would
allow for instant approval. Without a status board, you would be made to wait
until an official was available to witness you make a contract with a previously
prepared slime before you could register.
And so, with that change of plans, we first headed for the Church of
Creationism in Gimul instead. For the record, the slimes were waiting back at
the inn. It would be one thing if we were just going to the Tamers' Guild, but
alas...
At the church, we were greeted by an elderly woman with a gentle smile,
dressed in a nun's habit.
"Welcome to the church. Are you here to pray today?"
"We'd like to get a status board issued for this child. Some peculiar
circumstances have prevented him from obtaining one before now."
"I will be in your care."
"In that case, please come this way. I shall lead you to the baptism room."
It was forbidden for anyone else to enter the baptism room, so I said my
temporary farewells with everyone before following the sister through the
church.
"This way."
"Excuse me."
In the room I was led to, there was a pedestal with a round crystal like I had
seen at the office in Keleban Town.
It looked exactly the same at a glance, apart from the pedestal being palmsized with a vertically long rectangular recess.
"This will be your status board. Once slotted into the pedestal, the baptism
will be completed with a touch of the crystal. There will be a bright light when
you touch the crystal, but you can rest assured that it will not harm you."
"I understand."
The woman showed me a transparent board before slotting it into the
pedestal and walking to the opposite side.
"Go ahead and touch the crystal."
"Okay."
Slightly nervous, I slowly touched the crystal.
The next moment, a strong light filled the room like when I first came to this
world, making me squeeze my eyes shut against the brightness.
The light passed through my eyelids, making it red until it gradually faded.
"Uh... Huh?!"
Once the light faded, I opened my eyes to see a room that wasn't before me a
moment ago.
...There was no mistaking it. I would never forget. This was the room where
the gods...
"Oi! Ryoma!"
"Over here!"
"Behind you!"
The voices that reached me through my daze made me turn around to see the
three gods that had sent me to this world.
They were standing as though they had been waiting for me.
The fact that they were here meant that this had to be that place.
"Gain, Kufo, Lulutia... Have I died again?"
"No, no, you're fine. We've just pulled your spirit here for a bit. You'll regain
consciousness before long. Time will remain the same too."
"I didn't think we'd be able to meet you again either, but after you prayed to
our stone statues in your forest home every day..."
"You shut yourself away in the forest for three years, doing nothing but
training and research, no? It's because you were self-sufficient with your meals
and ate simply, resulting in a lifestyle that was similar to priesthood training."
Really?
"You've actually met us before, so you believed in our existence from the
bottom of your heart. And you prayed to us every day for three years. That was
more than enough to fulfill the conditions to bestow the oracle skill on you
during baptism."
"We'll be able to talk to you — just a little, though — from now on, too."
"I see. At any rate, I'm glad to see you all again."
That was the one thing I wanted to say. I had been thinking a lot about what I
would say once I could talk to them again, but nothing came to mind at the
moment.
"The same goes for us. You came to the church like you promised."
"You look like you're having fun in your new life. We watched you the whole
time, but there was never a dull moment."
"We never imagined you'd stay in the forest for three years, though. It feels
short to us, but that isn't the case for humans, no? Above all, while that forest is
comparatively safer, it still has its dangers. We assumed you would only stay for
a year at most..."
At that, the three of them wore strained smiles.
"You used all the skill and magic at your hands to create an environment that
you could live in modestly for three years — or more, if you so desired."
"That house looked simple, but it was actually amazingly well-made. It was
extremely safe, spacious, and clean. You had assembled impressive facilities
too. Especially your bathtub, which are only for the wealthy class in this world.
And your toilet, which may possibly be the cleanest you can find in this world."
"Even we hadn't imagined your slime research to result in such a way. There
were barely any who researched slimes of their own initiative, after all. Those
two species in particular were a surprise, the cleaner and scavenger ones. Those
were new species, you know?"
"...O-Oh. So they really were... The tamer family I met by coincidence said
they didn't know of them, so that's what I presumed."
"Indeed. Slimes were originally created by me, but all I did was give them
adaptability to their surroundings and the ability to multiply. The potential for
evolution was infinite after that. However, they were just so weak the other
animals kept exterminating them until they just stopped developing after a few
new species appeared. Now, it's like the land environment decides which slime
appears. Even I had forgotten that new species of slimes could be born. This is
truly marvelous!"
Was slime research really that lacking?
"Even I, the creator of slimes, had forgotten... I would wager to say that
you're even more knowledgeable than me about slimes now."
"Even if it was only limited to slimes, having more knowledge than a god
sounds..."
"But you... you still have many thoughts about slimes, no? I took a peek at
your research, but you've thought of things I never even considered. In the first
place, gods aren't almighty beings. We each have our strengths and
weaknesses. And sometimes that may lead to us being surprised by those who
live in the worlds we watch over."
"For example, as gods, we cannot be harmed by humans. But if you were to
punch us here, we'd be beaten up easily. We don't have combat skills, after all.
We can use our divine powers to protect ourselves by causing all your blows to
miss, but we cannot best you in a technical fight. A god that specialized in war
wouldn't lose, though."
"Huh... Really now."
That was news to me.
"Well, humans do hold this certain image about gods. ...But more than
anything, I'm glad you're having fun. Who would have imagined you'd end up
associated with that family..."
Did they know the people of the House of Jamil? Well, they were gods so that
shouldn't be a surprise.
"Based on your words just now, is there something special about those
people? From the view of a god, and not social rank."
Lulutia answered my question.
"Their ancestors are otherworlders we sent from Earth."
"Is that true?!"
"Yup. She was a good girl. She wanted to become an animal trainer and didn't
seem to understand the situation very well, so we ended up granting her wish
of controlling animals before sending her here."
"Was that taming magic, by any chance?"
"That's half-correct. There was a similar skill already at the time. She studied
that skill and combined it with the power we gave her to create taming magic.
After perfecting taming magic, her achievements earned a noble rank from the
king. She was fairly popular for her beauty, and she went on to fall in love with
another noble and marry him. Ever since, her bloodline has had generations of
honorable tamers."
"Not to mention in the Jamil family, Reinbach has my protection, Reinhart has
Kufo's, and Elise has Lulutia's bestowed. And the young Eliaria inherited
otherworlder traits that skipped generations in her ancestry. Of course we
would know of them."
"We check on them second to only you."
"Huh. So the young miss has talent for taming magic?"
"She has the talent, but that girl has inherited much more than just taming
magic. Her tamer potential comes from her father's bloodline. The reason why
her blood is so strong is because of a different otherworlder on her mother's
side of the family. This one was your classic otaku. He originally hated exercise,
so he completely gave up on martial arts and put everything he had into magic.
And unlike Ryoma, he also wished to be powerful at it, so his magical force and
firing speed was tremendous. Because of that, he took a while to learn all of the
magics."
"Self-restraint wasn't a term in his dictionary, that's for sure."
"His one saving grace was that he never committed any evil, since he was
such a coward. I shouldn't be saying this as the one who gave him the power,
but we were pretty nervous right up until he died."
Just how amazing was this otherworlder...? Well, whatever.
"From what I've heard, there are quite a few otherworlders. Will I ever meet
any?"
"We only ever bring one person over at a time when we take Earth's magic
energy. The shortest gap between which is 200 years, so there shouldn't be
multiple otherworlders in a single time period."
"Although we have brought people over during emergencies, like when magic
depletion intensifies during times of war. But normally, it wouldn't happen.
There are no large wars ongoing right now, so we probably won't need to
within your lifetime."
"If you want to know more about otherworlders, search for their books. The
majority of them had high level or unique skills because of our divine powers, so
many of them ended up in fairy tales and legends as heroes. For example, the
war happened in the same period as the mighty magician on Eliaria's mother's
side, so we brought another one over and they were both known as heroes.
Other than that... there's a folktale of one arrogant fellow who was treated as a
demon king and defeated. You've heard of the Alchemy King on your journey,
right?"
"Yeah, when we were talking about alchemy. The Alchemy King was an
otherworlder too?"
"That's right. An extremely infuriating one at that!"
"He wanted alchemy as his bonus for being transferred, but when we said it
didn't exist in the other world, he demanded we create it! The title of the
Alchemy King was something he insisted his subordinates call him, too; he was
just that full of himself."
"It was hopeless trying to deal with him, so I just made something up."
"Made something up... So the reason why alchemy is strangely easy to use
is..."
"Indeed, it was because I threw it together."
"I knew it! I thought it was too simple, just drawing a magic circle and placing
the materials on it before passing magic energy through the circle while
thinking of the separated components! All the other magics needed energy
control and adjustments, so it was odd."
"I didn't want to waste time listening to his selfish demands. No matter how
free we may be, being idle is much more preferable to insufferable company."
"While I agree with that part, still..."
"It's actually fairly difficult for the people of this world, you know? This world
has none of the knowledge Earth has of the chemical elements. The Alchemy
King was a student on Earth so he had no trouble reaping the rewards, but that
was the golden age of alchemy, barely anyone has been able to reproduce it
afterward. The Alchemy King was especially obsessed with gold and profit, so
he never taught anyone else the knowledge and skills up until his death.
Modern alchemists are just the sad remains of the Alchemy King's actions."
"So that's why..."
That otherworlder sure was a free spirit...
"But you're on the more docile side of otherworlders we've brought here. It
may feel like you're being swept along by events, but that's not the case. You're
still making decisions about yourself by yourself, following your own rules, and
trying new things of your own will. You're a very desirable type of otherworlder
to not only us, but this world of Seilfall too."
"Why is that?"
"Heheh! We're still gods, after all. We have to sound divine sometimes."
"Oh, is that a fact..."
"There's no need to think too deeply. Even if you lived your previous life being
swept along by others, that doesn't mean it's still happening here. And going
with the flow isn't always a bad thing anyway."
"As long as life is fun, that should be enough, don't you think?"
"That's true. Yeah. Thanks."
"Don't worry about it. We're gods, giving advice is a simple task."
"You're our source of fun too, so it's a token of our gratitude."
"...It seems like you've reached your limit over here, too. That was just a little
advice from us before you leave."
"Thank you. Unfortunately I wasn't very eloquent in my previous life, so this is
all I can say, really."
"Your feelings have been conveyed."
"We're all watching over you."
"The other gods have been sneaking some looks too, lately."
"Huh? Other gods?"
The astounding words made my eyes widen greatly.
"There was the god of war and god of magic, which was rare for those
otherworlder haters."
"We're the only ones who watch you frequently, but all kinds of gods have
taken a look at you when the mood strikes."
"No one warned me of that..."
"There's nothing you have to do, so it's fine. Ah, but the god of skill and craft
has bestowed their protection on you. It's nothing bad, so you can relax."
"It appears he's taken a liking to your drinking habits from your previous life.
He's also the god of wine, after all. You didn't seem to have much fun drinking,
but he praised you for the amount you downed. He also said the drunken fist
you were practicing was a rather amusing form of martial arts."
"Drunken fist? I sometimes imitated what I saw in movies back in the forest.
He was watching? I didn't think anyone would like that..."
"You never know what will happen in life. Well, the background we prepared
for you did have you raised by your grandfather, who was a dwarf. Tekun, the
god of wine, is mostly worshiped by the dwarves, so that part fits perfectly."
"True, I guess it wouldn't be suspicious that way?"
"It'll be fine. Now, it looks like this will be all for now. Time is really up."
Huh?! Ah, right... We had been chatting easily when time had run out before I
knew it. The light started glowing around me once more.
"Even though we finally met again..."
"Don't look so disappointed, we can talk again for short periods of time
whenever you come to the church, and we should be able to meet like this
again too. Although this result was a little unexpected."
"...I see. See you later, then."
"Yup, later."
"You truly are interesting. We'll be watching over you until the next time we
meet again."
Gain said as a soft light filled my vision, and when I opened my eyes again I
was back in the baptism room of the church with the sister.
"That was quite some light. They say the brighter the light, the more loved by
the gods you are, so you may have been blessed with the protection of one of
the gods. Please check your status board for it later."
Like Gain had said, it appeared that time had been frozen here. But wasn't
she going to ask about the protections?
"Thank you very much. Aren't you going to ask about the protections?"
"The protection is something bestowed by the gods, so the only ones who
have a right to know are you and the god who bestowed it. If you have any
questions, I will answer to the best of my ability, but I will not ask anything
myself. Also, it's normal to hide everything on your status board other than
your name, age, and race. It's personal information, after all. To hide any
displayed information, all you have to do is think it in your head. Please give it a
go."
I looked at the information displayed on the status board.
Name: Ryoma Takebayashi
Gender: Male
Age: 11
Race: Human
Physical Energy: 11,052
Magical Energy: 198,000
Everyday Skills
Housekeeping 10, Etiquette 7, Performance 3, Singing 3, Calculation 5
Combat Skills
Unarmed Combat 7, Sword Mastery 7, Dagger Mastery 6, Hidden Weapon
Mastery 7, Spear Mastery 4, Bow Mastery 6, Staff Mastery 6, Chain Weapon
Mastery 4, Throwing Weapon Mastery 7, Stealth 7, Trapping 6, Body Control 6,
Energy Meditation 5
Magic Skills
Taming Magic 2, Barrier Magic 2, Healing Magic 1, Alchemy 2, Fire Magic 3,
Water Magic 3, Wind Magic 2, Earth Magic 4, Neutral Magic 3, Lightning Magic
1, Ice Magic 2, Poison Magic 2, Wood Magic 3, Light Magic 2, Dark Magic 1,
Space Magic 3, Magic Detection 3, Magic Control 4, Magic Recovery Speed 2
Crafting Skills
Medicine 6, Blacksmithing 1, Architecture 3, Woodworking 3, Modeling 4,
Painting 4
Resistance Skills
Physical Pain Resistance 8, Mental Pain Resistance 9, Health 7, Stench
Resistance 3
Special Skills
Oracle 3, Survival Arts 5, Life Enhancement 3, Super Recovery 3, Stamina
Enhancement 6
Titles
Rise from Below
Overcame an Unhappy Life
Beloved Child of the Gods
Apprentice of the Sage
Apprentice of the God of Military Arts
Protections
Protection of Gain the Creator
Protection of Kufo, God of Life
Protection of Lulutia, Goddess of Love
Protection of Tekun, God of Wine
I had learned that magic energy would go up with regular use before
transferring here, but it looked like several skills had leveled up too.
And now that I looked at it again, there really was a lot of magic skills... hmm?
The apprentice titles were a balance of the skill levels that had been written in
the letter when I first came to this world. I had protections from the three gods
and the wine god Tekun.
For now, I should hide everything except my name, age, and race... There.
"I'm done."
"Then I shall lead you to the room where your companions are waiting. We
can discuss the details where they can listen, too."
At the woman's prompting, we left the room.
That was when I heard voices from outside.
"Wait! Wait up!"
"Ahahaha! I'm over here!"
When I looked in the direction of the voices, I saw some children in worn-out
clothing playing outside the window.
"Those are the children being taken care of by the church. They're always full
of energy and play outside like that once their chores are done."
I didn't know if they were orphans or there because of family circumstances,
but whatever.
"Now, let's go."
Thus, I was led to a room where the ducal house and Sebas were all waiting
expectantly.
"Sorry for the wait, the baptism has been completed without issue."
"Thank you for waiting, everyone."
"If that is all, then I will be leaving here. Feel free to use this room until you
wish to leave."
"Thank you very much."
"You're welcome. Now, if you would excuse me."
Immediately after we met up, the woman departed. I watched her leave the
room and close the door behind her.
"Mister Reinhart, why did she look like she was in such a hurry to leave...?"
"The status board has personal information, after all. She was being
considerate."
"This is a room prepared for people to discuss the contents of their status
board with their family in secret."
"Really?"
"Yes. One should not reveal it carelessly. It used to be illegal to hide your
information, but as more people used the contents for malicious purposes it
became commonplace to keep it confidential."
"You can get the general gist of someone's past from their skills, and for a
fighter it would be disadvantageous to reveal your fighting style. Even your
magic and physical strength is directly related to your power, so nowadays you
would only show the people you trust. The same goes for protections, for
similar reasons. All you reveal is your name, age, and race, and some choose to
display their titles too."
"I see."
"That's why you have to make sure you keep yours a secret, okay? You can
ask us if there's anything you don't understand, but you don't have to tell us
anything you don't want to, all right?"
These people were truly kind-hearted... I'll decide what to tell them later.
"I understand."
Once I gave that answer, Reinbach nodded in satisfaction and continued
speaking with a serious look.
"Now, Ryoma. Now that you've received your status board, there's one thing
I'd like to say."
"What is that?"
"It's about your abilities. Based on what we've seen until now, your abilities
are extremely refined compared to other children your age. Because of that,
you will be approached by many bad people. If you want to avoid that, you
must either hide your powers or quickly earn status to protect yourself.
However, in your case, your abilities are so strong they will be difficult to hide.
That's why you should register with a guild quickly, in order to obtain status. I'm
talking about the ranks within guilds, to be precise. If something happens, we
will lend you our strength, but you yourself need to be aware."
"In your case, your abilities are so disproportionate with your age, it's obvious
that you have a god's protection. Depending on which one, you may seriously
be targeted."
...I hadn't really been keeping an eye on it myself, but was it really that
strange? I hadn't even gone all out in front of them yet...
"I'll be careful. ...Hm?"
That was when Eliaria started glancing at me again, like before. I wasn't doing
anything in particular right now, maybe she wanted to ask something?
"Is something the matter?"
"Huh?!"
"No, you just looked like you had something to say."
"Well..."
After I said that, Eliaria hesitated for a moment before answering honestly.
"Actually, I was curious about Ryoma's magic energy."
"My magic energy?"
"Yes. The other day, I watched you use so much magic, yet you said you were
nowhere near running out. When I asked Father, he said a normal person would
have collapsed already, so I was wondering how much magic energy you had."
If it was to these people, then it should be fine to disclose my magic energy.
Considering how they had already seen me use enough magic to knock a
normal person out, there was no point in hiding it. I used it in a similar way
when I was in the forest, but... Oh, that must be why they told me to hide it.
That reaffirmed my understanding.
"Ah... When I checked just now, it said 198,000."
At my answer, the members of the duke's family widened their eyes a little,
and Eliaria looked a little conflicted. But, that was all.
Huh? This was a weaker reaction than I expected...
"198,000. So Ryoma can use that many magics with that much magic energy."
"That's because the more energy you have, the more magic you can use."
"Huh? No, that's not what I mean, I'm talking about the fact you can use
magic properly."
"Properly?"
"Err... Am I mistaken?"
Our conversation seemed rather disjointed, and Eliaria turned to Sebas with a
troubled look for help.
"Is it possible that Master Ryoma is unaware of the side effects of large magic
energy?"
"Side effects? Such a thing exists?"
At my answer, Eliaria was taken aback while Sebas and the other adults
looked like they had expected as much. When I asked them to clarify, first they
explained that having more magic energy was a huge advantage to using magic.
That was for sure. However, when there was too much magic energy within the
body, it made it harder to control and learn to use magic. Apparently, even
trying to use just a little magic could cause the magic energy to come rushing
out like a broken tap. Even a normal magician needed training to hold back
their magic energy, so more training was needed for greater amounts.
...Now that they mentioned it, something did come to mind.
When I first used Break Rock after coming to this world, it was all I could do to
make a hole the size of my finger. I hadn't noticed at first because I was happy
to see results at all, but without proper control over the magic energy leaving
the body, it would scatter everywhere. When that happened, the effect of the
magic weakened. In other words, the magic energy back then was being
discharged with only a small amount going into the magic effect.
I figured that out as I continued to use magic, and with more use I learned to
control it. Once I became able to maintain my magic energy, the effects of the
spells grew dramatically with the same energy cost. After improving that for
three years, I was able to use magic like back at the landslide. The same earth
magic as back then could now be used with more power and freedom. For me,
it was only natural 'to be unable to use magic,' so there was no particular sense
of difficulty — only growth. In reality, all I had done was grow, but for the
people of this world, a child using a tremendous amount of magic without
problem meant they had either trained a lot or were extremely talented.
...It was a bit strange to think of myself that way, though. Well, I get it now at
least.
"I didn't have anyone to compare myself with until now, so I didn't realize."
"The fact that Ryoma can use magic so easily is an amazing thing, you know?
Even though I'm the same age, I can't use magic very well."
"You too?"
"...I actually have 200,000 magic energy."
"200?!"
That was more than me! Well, no wonder the adults didn't react much! Come
to think of it, Gain and the others had mentioned how strongly she had
inherited the blood of her otherworlder ancestor, a mighty magician. It all made
sense. So that's why she kept glancing at me. She had been interested in how I
could use magic so easily, while having nearly as much magic energy as her.
"Everything makes sense now."
"I'm glad to hear that. I've never met anyone with as much magic energy as
me before. To be honest, I was curious as to how much magic you could use, as
well as how you learned them so well, but it was hard to ask..."
"How about I show you all the magic-related entries on my status board? I
want to know how much myself."
I manipulated the newly created status board to only display my magic skills
for everyone.
"Hmm... You have an impressive range of magics, and they're all high-level for
your age. I heard you had all the elements, but seeing it in reality is..."
"All the lower are over level two, and there are a few middle elements at level
two and three. That's plenty."
"Your earth and space magic is especially high-level. I've heard that space
magic is hard to level, you did well getting it that high."
"You may even surpass me in the future. You even have the skills for magic
detection, control, and recovery speed."
"I used magic to survive in the forest, so I was using it pretty much every
day... Fire and water for cooking and bathing, earth and space for hunting."
"Hmm, did you ever use attack spells?"
"No, I normally used my bow and traps to hunt. I can use Fireball, but it burns
meat and makes it inedible. I used Earth Needle to set spikes at the bottom of
pitfall traps."
"I see, so you've only used magic for living to level your skills until now. In that
case, it would be good to learn some attack spells, too. There's no demerits to
knowing them, and there are the rare monsters that can only be affected by
magic."
So such monsters existed. Wait, that was typical of a monster from light
novels about other worlds. I had been living as a recluse for so long, I
completely forgot. Better start learning attack spells from now on.
"You're right, I'd like to try that."
"The lower elemental magics are comparatively easier to learn, so you should
be able to use intermediate difficulty spells with your current level. You seem to
have plenty of magic energy, so you may be able to use advanced ones with
earth magic."
"Ryoma has lots of magic energy too, so if he holds back his consumption with
his magic control, he'll be able to increase his recovery speed even more. Which
means even more practice can be done in a day."
"It's extremely beneficial for a magician, so don't let that talent go to waste."
"Yes, I'll work hard."
Once I finally understood how much of an exception I was outside of the
forest, the voice of Eliaria still looking at my status board silently reached my
ears.
"Ryoma trained his magic by continuously using his magic in his daily life. If I
did that, my magic would also..."
"Even if you don't use it in your daily life, if you play around with it in your
free time, you'll get it."
"Play around...?"
She seemed motivated so I told her what I did in the forest, but that was
received with a weird look.
"Don't you generally try all kinds of things out with basic magic?"
"I do not. Practice always involves releasing the decided magic accurately."
"Magic skill is directly linked to the security of one's income and lifestyle, so
you don't hear about people playing around with it."
"For example, fire magic is used in blacksmiths and steel mills, places with
strong heat. Ice and space magic is used at restaurants to preserve and
transport food. Earth and wood magic is used in architecture and farming, and
other industries like that. So if you're good at one of them, your chance of
employment and promotion over others increases."
I see. I knew it wasn't forbidden for any religious reasons, but magic was
generally treated like food. That's why playing around with magic seemed to
feel like a waste of magic energy, I guess. Which meant... it was bad? Just as the
thought popped into my head, the three adults backed me up.
"Play with magic. It's not something you hear often, but you should try it if
you're interested, Elia."
"That's right. Even if you use a little to play around, since it's Elia there'll still
be plenty of magic energy left for normal lessons too."
"Wouldn't it be good as a break from training too?"
I wondered if it was okay to treat it so lightly, but Eliaria did have a lot of
magic energy. A little shouldn't hurt. Most importantly, it was a suggestion I
made just after showing my magic skills, so they would probably place their
bets on it. All I was told was that they needed to check if it was safe, which was
a given. In which case, I could teach the young lady how to play with magic
myself. But we were in the church right now, so it wasn't the right time or place
for that.
"If there's a chance in the future, I'll teach you a little."
"Really?! I would love that!"
Eliaria grabbed my hand happily.
It really was nothing more than the basic magic any magician could use, but
seeing her this happy made me feel good too.
"Now, shall we get going? We've discussed all there is to discuss here, and
there's still more to do."
Like Reinhart said, we still had to go register at the guild. Having been
reminded of that, we all put the church behind us and headed for the Tamers'
Guild.