Act 2: Special Training

Act 2:
Special Training

 

SEVERAL DAYS AFTER THE AUDIENCE, I received a message from an official and had a meeting about my reward. At last, I obtained permission to enter the Forbidden Depository. Now I could read pretty much any of the books in there. There were only a select few I wasn’t allowed to touch—only the king and prime minister were permitted to put their hands on those. I didn’t really mind, though, since the books I wanted were related to herbs, and those were all fair game.

As for my other reward, it turned out they wanted to offer me classes on subjects other than magic as well. The official said I could study whatever I wanted, I just had to say the word. I kind of wound up taking advantage of that.

I kept coming up with idea after idea about what I’d like to study, and in the end, the official smartly handed me a document: a list of brief descriptions of a number of courses. There was actually quite a large number of options, and it looked like it would take some time to read the whole thing.

In the end, I said it was too hard to decide right away, so I asked if I could take the document back with me, select the courses I wanted, and contact the official again when I was ready to submit.

Once I got back to the institute and finished my work for the day, I read through the document. It covered a wealth of topics: the history of the Kingdom of Salutania, the current state of affairs in surrounding areas, economics, and even things like etiquette.

If I had my eye on the future, I wanted to know all sorts of things, especially if I ever wanted to leave the palace. As I sat in a corner of the institute, I wrote down what courses I thought I’d like to take on a notepad with a pen. Eventually, Johan came over to me.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Selecting courses.”

“Excuse me?”

“For my reward. They said I could study all sorts of things.”

“I see.” Johan picked up one of the papers included in the document. “These sound like the courses at the academy.”

“They do?”

It turned out every one of the listed classes was indeed available at the Royal Academy. There were also some electives, and the official had said I could take as many of those as I liked.

More importantly, I tentatively asked which subjects were required for academy students. It turned out they were pretty much all of the ones I was already thinking of. I nodded, double-checking my notepad, which Johan grabbed out of my hand without warning.

“These are the ones you’re interested in, eh?” he asked.

“Y-yes.”

“Hmm. You’ve picked out quite a few.”

I was taken aback. I had only been writing down what interested me, but I realized now that if I actually did take all of them… Just how many hours were there in a day again? Even if I had different classes every day, based on my school experiences in Japan, I had a feeling this syllabus would end up comprising my entire work week.

“I guess there’s no way I could take all of these, huh?” I asked.

“Why not?”

“I don’t have the time, not with my job.”

For me to take all these classes and do my daily work, I would need thirty-six hours every day. Unfortunately, this world only had the classic twenty-four.

Dejected, I tried to decide which courses to drop when Johan surprised me. “By job, you mean your work at the research institute?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Work when you have the time, then.”

“Huh?” I stared at him in confusion.

He smiled and reminded me that everyone working at the institute had originally graduated from the Royal Academy, so they already had their education in the bag. However, while I had an exceptional education in the natural sciences, I wasn’t from this world, and I didn’t know all that much about the things characteristic to it. I was employed as a special case, but if I planned to continue working at the institute, it would probably be best if I increased my world knowledge and at the very least picked up the same knowledge base my colleagues had acquired as teens.

“Besides, you’ve been stuck on your research recently, haven’t you?”

“That’s true…”

Johan was right—I hadn’t made any headway in my extra-potent potion research.

I had found myself pursuing the topic because of my potions, which were fifty percent more effective than everyone else’s. Potions classified as better than “high-grade” hadn’t been developed in a long time. This was likely because there actually wasn’t much demand for even regular high-grade potions, and they cost a great deal to make, so there was little need or opportunity to develop stronger ones.

Then me and my extra-strength potions came along. Even though I used the exact same ingredients and used the exact same procedures, they were invariably exceptional. Also, with all the monster-slaying expeditions these days, the demand for more potent potions had risen.

At first, my colleagues were frantic to unravel the mystery of my potions, but we’d come to so many dead-ends that the research was at a standstill. Most of others had gone back to their old projects. However, a few were set on developing new brews and were still experimenting with changing ingredients, procedure, and the like. I was one of them.

And now, thanks to that Appraisal at the Royal Magi Assembly, I had a clue: my magic powers were different from everyone else’s. That had to be the reason my potions came out strange. I was relieved to finally have a lead, but at the same time I was disappointed, since that brought me back to square one with my actual goals.

This also meant that since my magical powers were the likely cause, no one could reasonably be expected to replicate my work. I concluded that if I really wanted to develop a new potion, I needed to devise new methodology, or even compose an entirely new recipe.

Before this news about my magic, I had been experimenting with alternative ingredients, such as herbs that only grew in certain regions. I’d gathered information about medicines unique to those regions and checked old literature as well. I had gone again and again to the library in the royal palace and had read an astounding number of herbology books. When you tallied that together with the other researchers’ reading lists, we had probably read every single book on the topic in the kingdom. However, we still had no idea how to go about inventing a whole new potion.

Or, rather, we did make some things that didn’t blow up in our faces, but most of them had no measurable effect.

Johan was right; I was stuck. Although, I did hope I might find something in the Forbidden Depository now that I could finally get in there.

“Broadening your horizons might lead to new insights. I think this will be a good opportunity for you,” Johan said.

He had a point. After all, in the end, it had turned out the answer to my question was one we’d dismissed ages ago: my magic.

My magic powers had come into question right in the beginning of our most fervent investigation. However, it was generally understood that an individual’s elemental affinity had little to no impact on the outcome of the potions they brewed. If it expressed itself at all, it did so in such a small way that it was difficult to detect versus when someone cast an elemental spell—only someone trained in Appraisal could tell the elemental affinity of a potion’s brewer.

As such, my colleagues had only ensured that I was indeed applying magic to create the potions, and that I did it at the same time and in the same amount that they did. Once they were satisfied that I was, they dropped the lead entirely. After all, they were far more interested in herbs and formulas, and therefore inclined to believe the answers lay in these components.

I had even less knowledge of magic than they did, so I just took what they said for granted without bothering to investigate any further. If I had known better, I probably would’ve looked into it more and figured this weirdness out much sooner.

Johan wasn’t just right—he was super right. Knowledge was important.

My research might have needed a rehaul, but by learning more about the world, I might discover something else I had previously overlooked. Given that, I could basically see these classes as just another part of my work.

“See? Now take as many classes as you’d like. It’s your reward, after all,” Johan said with a grin.

I nodded back with a smile.

 

***

 

A few days after I submitted my list of classes to the official from the palace, I attended my first day. He told me it would take some time to ready everything, so I started with less than a full course load.

My very first class would be on magic. I would go to a room in the palace and be instructed by several teachers on different topics. When we discussed the process, I worried having to travel to the palace every morning would be a pain, but they prepared a carriage for me, which I gratefully accepted. On my arrival, a maid led me to the classroom, and I mentally prepared myself while I waited for my teachers. A few moments later, there was a knock at the door.

I blinked in surprise at the person who entered.

“Good morning.” It was the grand magus himself. He swept in with a cheerful smile.

“Good morning. Uh…” I had heard my magic teacher would be from the Royal Magi Assembly, but no one said anything about the grand magus.

“I shall be your instructor in magic. My name is Yuri Drewes.”

“Um, but you’re the grand magus, right?” I asked without even thinking.

“That is correct.”

Okay, so I hadn’t made some huge mistake about who exactly he was. “And you’re going to be my teacher today? Don’t you have work?”

“No worries.” Yuri kept smiling…but was it really okay for him to be here?

I had seen the office of the knight commander of the Third Order and he always seemed to have a ton of paperwork. He had even said that being buried under it all made it hard to keep up with his training and that he envied the regular knights.

I highly doubted the Royal Magi Assembly had less paperwork than that.

“Would you prefer another teacher?” Yuri interrupted my thoughts with a sorrowful look.

Of course not! I just felt bad for taking up his time. I mean, I was a complete beginner, less skilled than the first years at the academy. I doubted this Magic 101 was the sort of thing someone with the title of “grand magus” should teach—it would be like having a university professor trying to wrangle a junior high schooler.

When I asked whether he shouldn’t have someone less important deal with me, he smiled with relief. “If that’s your concern, then please don’t worry yourself. And you know, there are reasons why others cannot be tasked with teaching you.”

“There are?”

“Indeed. Speaking of, there is something I would like to ask of you.”

“What would that be?”

“I would ask that you let me study your magic.”

First, he wanted to conduct an investigation at the Royal Magi Assembly as to how and why my magical powers differed from those of the people of this world. In addition to helping slay monsters, the Assembly also studied magic, which Yuri vigorously participated in. Therefore, my magic was as compelling to him as potions were to me.

He had also heard of my peculiarly potent potions and likewise suspected my magic was the culprit and wanted to confirm the difference. Furthermore, he wanted to determine in what other ways my magic produced varied effects. I also wanted to know these things, so I welcomed the assistance of this expert.

However, Yuri’s curiosity only partly explained why he didn’t want to entrust my lessons to others. We owed the rest of it to the fact that all matters concerning the abilities of the (potential) Saint were state secrets. Also, the palace didn’t have many records about the previous Saints’ abilities to begin with. Yuri didn’t know why so few records existed, but he suspected it meant even past generations had strictly guarded information about the Saint.

As with my magical powers, the government had decided the fewer people who knew about this investigation, the better. Therefore, Yuri himself would oversee my tutelage. Not to mention, Yuri was the foremost expert on magic in the kingdom, so he was the perfect person to study me and teach me. The investigation itself wouldn’t require anything in particular; he would merely observe my use of magic during class. I really couldn’t see a problem.

That settled, I agreed. He thanked me with a brilliant smile.

Finally, we began our class. For the first few days, he taught me the basics—the nature of magical power, how we used our innate magical power to cast, and so on. I found Yuri’s lessons incredibly easy to understand. His reputation for expertise was certainly warranted. I suspected he was more than just knowledgeable—he was, in fact, very smart. And he made an excellent teacher.

“Is there anything you didn’t understand?” he asked once after he described a particular theorem.

“Nope, no questions.”

“Then I’m sure you’re tired of listening to me lecture. I think it’s time for some practice.”

“Ooh.”

“Since you can already cast magic, I assume you know how to detect your magical power. However, understanding your power is the foundation of magic, so let’s start from there.”

Yuri then began describing a starter exercise, but I soon realized it was the same thing Jude had done when he taught me how to make potions.

“Um, actually…”

“Yes?”

“Is this that thing where you make your magic flow into someone else? That academy drill.”

“Oh, so you know it already? Indeed.” Yuri nodded as I told him what Jude had taught me. “So, someone has made their magic flow into you before. But have you ever made your own magic flow into someone else?”

“No, we only did it to help me feel my magical power.”

“I see. Then why don’t we try that today?”

Now it was my turn to give the whole magic-flow thing a go. Of course, I would be making my magic flow into Yuri, as we were the only two people in the room. We faced each other and placed our palms on top of one another’s at around chest height.

Wait, is it just me, or is he a bit close right now?

Maybe we’d each thought we had to cross the distance, and we had both misjudged? I was right about the closeness-factor. When I looked up from our palms, I found his strikingly pretty face far nearer than I thought, um, prudent.

Sensing my gaze, he looked up as well.

Oh, no.

Pretty faces had outrageous offensive capabilities—especially ones as attractive as Yuri’s. For some reason, I started feeling nervous, and my chest got tight.

“Is something the matter?” he asked with a smile.

“No…” I shook my head. Calm down. Just focus on sending your magical power into him.

I returned my gaze to our palms and pretended to straighten my posture to put a little more distance between us. I took a deep breath and focused my magical power into my right hand. Then, I released it from my palm the same way I did when imbuing potions with magic.

“Did I do it?” I asked.

“Yes. Faintly, but I can feel it. Can you try sending a bit more?”

“Okay.”

The amount I used for potions was pretty small, so I imagined myself gathering up my power and releasing it like the tide.

“Haaah,” Yuri murmured.

When I looked up, I found him wearing not his usual serene smile but one of absolute delight.

“Uh, Grand Magus?”

“Oh, my apologies. That was just rather interesting.”

“It was?”

“Indeed. Your magical power truly is different from ours.”

At the sound of my voice, his expression instantly returned to normal. Having seen him smile like that, though, it made me wonder if his usual expression was like some kind of mask. Maybe the smile I glimpsed was a part of his true self?

I peered at him quizzically, but he launched into an explanation about magical power rather than addressing my unspoken question.

He had told me before that everyone’s magical powers differed, and not just in terms of elemental affinity. It was hard to describe, he said, but some people could just feel the variation. However, versus elemental differences, this sort of variation was terribly slight and only about half of the members in the Royal Magi Assembly could even sense it. Of course, Yuri was one of them.

However, my magical power was clearly strange—not because of my holy affinity but because of something else. I couldn’t say I was surprised.

“Maybe it’s something particular to those who come from another world,” Yuri mused.

“But can we definitely say my magical power is what makes my potions and cooking more effective?”

“Hmm, I’d have to test some other hypotheses.”

“Ah. Okay.”

This was what I wanted to know more than anything, but he was right. We couldn’t just assume. Too bad.

After that, Yuri had me practice controlling the amount of magical power I moved and asked me questions about how it felt as I did. All in all, it was a pretty tame first day of hands-on learning. That also meant it was the first day of Yuri’s research into my magic, so I couldn’t expect to have all the answers right away. But this felt like a promising path, so I told myself it was okay to take our time ensuring we found the right answers.

 

***

 

After that, we added time for practical skills to my lessons. Schedule-wise, that meant my classes were split fifty-fifty between lectures and actual casting. Of course, Yuri was my instructor for both.

The more hands-on learning took place on the practice grounds at the Royal Magi Assembly. It was kind of far from the lecture hall, but it didn’t feel like a slog as I got to talk to Yuri while we walked there. If I had been alone, I probably would have been pretty put out, and not just because of the distance.

At first, I thought it was kind of a luxury having the grand magus himself as my personal tutor, but those feelings dissipated within a few days. Despite Yuri’s breezy demeanor, he was actually a strict and relentless teacher.

“Let us begin. We’ll proceed like we did last time.”

“Okay.”

We began the lesson almost as soon as we arrived. This time, it was on channeling my magical powers as he had described during the day’s lecture. Supposedly, if I mastered this, I could cast spells more rapidly.

To use magic, I had to concentrate my powers into a spot, such as the palm of my hand. Proper channeling decreased the amount of time required to focus and build power.

However, if I were just working on channeling my Holy Magic, we wouldn’t have needed to go all the way out to the practice grounds.

For one, channeling practice only really required concentrating my magic in different parts of my body, such as my arms or legs. However, Yuri thought this a rather pointless exercise on its own, so I was to practice casting while channeling.

For another, we weren’t just using Holy Magic. Sure, that was the only kind I could use, but a certain someone else possessed multiple elemental affinities, which were best wielded in an open space. Who was that person, you ask? Why, Grand Magus Yuri, of course.

Yuri was profoundly skilled, even for someone from the Royal Magi Assembly. He could cast three different kinds of elemental spell one after the other, smoothly channeling his magical power the whole time. For reference, he could cast two spells in the time it took me to cast one.

Yuri said my goal was to cast as fast as he did, but I felt like that was pushing it, to say the least. I had only just started studying magic, after all. When I focused on speed, I fumbled with my channeling, and sometimes I didn’t cast the spell at all.

And then there was his running commentary.

“Can’t you do it a little bit quicker?” he asked with a smile.

“I’m going as fast as I can. Slow down, would you?”

He chuckled. “Ah, but I already have.”

Are you kidding? I barely kept up. I understood I could match his speed in theory, but it was easier said than done.

It frustrated me, to tell the truth. Making potions required subtle manipulation of magic, so I thought I’d be pretty good at it, seeing as I was such a master of that art. To my disappointment, that was not the case. Proper channeling required far more complex command of my power. I still had a long way to go before I reach the pace Yuri wanted from me.

However, I soon gathered from the other mages that Yuri likely noticed my frustration and that he was actually going easy on me. Those mages told me that when he was their teacher, he was far more draconian.

“Never again…” one of them said with this glazed look in his eye. “Never again…”

He was referring to an incident that had occurred just after the whole Royal Magi Assembly had finished a mountain of paperwork.

“I’ve been thinking it’s about time I pass on some of my skills to my subordinates,” Yuri had declared with an unusually cheerful smile.

A small army of proud and ambitious mages—the conspicuously powerful and other elites—had gathered at the practice grounds, lured by the promise of training from the head of the Royal Magi Assembly. Later, an equal number of twitching bodies littered the field.

Yuri’s training was so grueling that these elites begged for mercy in the span of a single day. Some dared to complain that his training was overly brutal and that he should ease the learning curve, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. You see, this training had been a bit lighter than Yuri’s usual gauntlet—the one he ran when he wanted to hone his already extreme talents.

While the other mages dropped like flies, Yuri practiced the same drills with an unruffled air while throwing out specific words of guidance to every mage who remained. He kept it up for about a week.

It seemed all of the paperwork had left Yuri without time for his research, which had in turn left him with some, hm, pent-up anger. I worried that maybe he had just taken his anger out on his colleagues, but they assured me his advice always hit the mark, and those who survived his special training came away impressed by their own progress. No one could really complain after.

However, after that incident, the amount of paperwork that reached the grand magus’ desk drastically decreased.

Nevertheless, I felt quite sorry for the mage as he recalled these events with a harrowed look.

Given this report of Yuri’s training from hell, it seemed he really was going easy on me to match my skill level. He believed I could do what he demanded. So, you know, it frustrated me when I failed to meet his expectations.

In that case, I have to focus on these drills.

For a whole week of classes, I did nothing but practice channeling and cast magic. However, I just couldn’t go as fast as Yuri.

It’s probably going to take a lot of time to get this if I limit myself to practicing during class. I should probably do drills in my free time, too. Hm, but won’t that get a bit repetitive?

It felt like a waste to keep casting Heal on myself all alone on the practice grounds.

Should I cast it on someone else like I did at the hospital? I’d get the practice, and they’d get healed. Two birds with one stone, right?

It was a pretty good idea, if I do say so myself, so the next morning, I went straight to Johan to ask for permission. It was pretty early, but I found him in his office already busy with work. I told him how my classes were going and asked for permission to visit the hospital or somewhere like it for more training.

Johan rubbed his chin in consideration before offering me an answer. “I’m having a bit of trouble. The practice is fine, but the place…”

“The hospital’s no good, then?”

“You healed practically everyone last time you visited, didn’t you? I don’t think they have enough patients to warrant another visit.”

Darn, that was right. And here I’d thought I was being so clever. Then another idea hit me. “How about the knights?”

The knights of the Orders practiced at their barracks when not out on expeditions. I had seen them at it once, when I went to deliver potions. With all their close-quarters combat practice, they were always covered in bruises. Perhaps they could serve as my practice partners, too.

When I proposed this to Johan, he said, “Yes, that’s perfect. I’ll go ahead and let Al know, so feel free to head over to the Third Order’s barracks after classes today.”

“Thank you!”

 

***

 

After magic class ended that day, I headed to the barracks. As I made my way to Knight Commander Albert’s office, it seemed like every knight I bumped into bemoaned how long it had been since my last visit—admittedly, I had been busy, and it had been a while.

I knocked on the door to Albert’s office, gave my name, and he told me to come in. When I stepped inside, Albert smiled. “Long time no see.”

“I’m sorry—so much has been going on lately.”

Before I started my classes, Albert and I had run into each other all the time, like when I delivered potions from the institute or was on my way back there from the library. However, we rarely saw each other now, since these days I only ever really went to class or the institute.

As I walked in, Albert stood from his chair to greet me.

“Is it just me, or have you lost some weight?” he asked as he tenderly touched my cheek.

It caught me off guard, so I was taken aback for a moment as blood rushed to my face.

“Huh? No? At least, I don’t think so.” I somehow managed to answer despite my mind going blank. I just started babbling every word that popped into my head. I really wish you would stop with these surprise attacks! It’s going to give me a heart attack one of these days.

“I heard Yuri Drewes has been instructing you. That can’t be easy.”

“Th-that’s for sure. But his lectures are great.”

“I see. Well, as long as he’s not making you push yourself too far.”

“No, it’s fine.”

I had assumed Albert would remove his fingers from my face, but instead he stroked my cheek while we talked.

My face is so hot. If you keep this up, my heart is absolutely going to stop.

I had glanced away awkwardly before, but as he continued not removing his fingers, I looked back at him. His smile deepened. It was almost as if he were holding back the urge to burst out laughing. Worse, he took my look as the signal to tentatively brush his hand past my ear and away. It tickled, sending a shiver down my spine. I wanted brownie points for not yelping. I was internally on the verge of tears as I scowled at Albert.

He laughed again. The nerve! “Anyway,” he said, “Johan said you wanted to practice your magic with us, right?”

“Y-yes.” I was relieved to get to the point. “If I may, I’d like to join you all on your practice grounds.”

“That sounds great. Were you hoping to start today?”

“If that’s all right.”

He said of course it was and that he would walk me there.

As we went down a hallway to the barracks, I itched to ask him what that touchy-feely hello was all about. Johan already teased me more than enough, but now Albert was in on it as well? Come on!

I pouted at Albert, still steaming about it. He noticed my gaze and smiled—a most charming smile, at that. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” I answered a bit curtly, but Albert didn’t push it. Probably because I was blushing.

To distract myself, I started describing my recent practice. He told me a bit about how the knights’ own practice sessions went so I could figure out when would be best to offer my magical services.

When we arrived at the practice grounds, the knights were already in the middle of a mock battle. Though we first spotted them from a distance, as we got closer, the whole mood got way more intense. I was seriously impressed, though the second they noticed Albert and I had arrived, they stopped fighting to give us their attention.

I knew all of them, but it was still a bit nerve-racking to have everybody look at me like that. I took a step back to hide behind Albert. He spoke in a loud, commanding voice to explain that starting that day, I would be doing my own exercises while they practiced. At intervals during their drills, they would come to me and I would heal them.

This was all Albert’s idea. At first, I had thought I’d just treat the injuries of whoever came over to me, but Albert argued that would be ineffective. The knights were used to letting their light bruises heal on their own and wouldn’t bother coming over to me if that was all they earned at practice. If I wanted to cast as many spells as possible, we needed to take a different approach.

Hence the intervals. I would determine when I thought everybody could use a magical pick-me-up, and I could model it after the healing intervals mages regularly followed on actual expeditions.

Once Albert explained, the knights resumed training. I observed the mock battle for a time, trying to figure out when I should call everyone over. It would have been a lot easier if this were a game where everyone had an HP bar showing their max and current health, but unfortunately, I didn’t have such a cheat. I had to just cast Heal on whoever got obviously hurt or anyone who seemed like they were flagging.

As I did, I kept thinking about the proper channeling of my magical power, trying to pick up the speed with which I cast my spells. I worried that since I spent less time casting than I had in the hospital, where I focused on gathering a ton of magic, I wasn’t healing them all that much. But if I could just get better at this, I would be able to replicate the kind of feat I performed at the hospital, but faster and with greater efficiency.

Time passed in the blink of an eye. Before I knew it, the knights wrapped up their training for the day.

Albert had gone back to his office for a time, but he returned to tell me I could come back to practice whenever I liked.

And then a week had gone by.

Thanks to my extra training, I felt like I was getting just a little bit faster. Intriguingly, my spells were a touch stronger, too. Even the knights could tell I was casting with greater speed.

To my gratification, Yuri noticed as well. “You’ve improved quite a bit.”

“Thank you!”

“And even faster than I anticipated. Have you been putting in extra hours?” The way he smiled told me he already knew exactly what I’d been up to.

I chuckled guiltily. “Just a little.”

“It seems to me you’ve been working yourself to the bone. Did you have a particular goal in mind?”

“Uh, not really,” I said vaguely.

In truth, part of it was because my competitive streak was triggered by having Yuri casually cast all those spells in rapid succession like it was nothing. However, the other part…

“It’s just you never know when they’ll ask me to join them on one of the monster-slaying expeditions.”

When I added this, Yuri blinked in surprise.

Johan and I had talked about it before, and I thought it more than likely they would ask me soon, considering the results of the last two expeditions. Improving my ability to channel my magic would yield the most critical results on the battlefield. After all, there wasn’t much need for me to be fast in a hospital setting.

“You plan to join the expeditions, then?” Yuri asked.

“Yeah, when the time comes.”

“When the time comes? You’re not aiming for some other outcome, then?”

“Hmm, not that I can think of?”

“Then what’s the point of all the blood, sweat, and tears?”

The point? I frowned, puzzled. What was I doing this for? Was I hoping for a special reward since it was above and beyond my usual work?

Putting that aside, Yuri still looked rather taken aback by my answer. Was he not training me to be shipped off to battle?

All this practice had been his idea in the first place, with him saying I needed to be able to do more than just properly channel my magic. I had been so sure he wanted to prepare me to join the expeditions, given that my abilities would be so useful during them. Was I wrong?

“This isn’t all about monster slaying, then?”

It was his turn to frown at me. “No, of course not.”

“Then why train me?”

“Firstly, everyone ought to develop better control over their magic. Secondly…I simply wished to observe your development.”

“Really?”

“Yes.” He answered in such a matter-of-fact way, but I was surprised anyway.

Yuri really did just want to observe me. He had said as much when we started, but I hadn’t really thought it was his true purpose. I couldn’t help but feel drained.

“Though I suppose you’re right that the knights may request your assistance at some point,” Yuri said, after thinking it over for a moment.

I somehow felt like I had dug my own grave. “You think so?”

“A few of the assembly mages can use Holy Magic, but their levels aren’t particularly impressive.”

“Can you use Holy Magic?”

“Of course. However, I’m primarily an offensive asset during expeditions.”

That made sense. I probably had a higher level in Holy Magic than anyone in the kingdom.

Also, I got the feeling Mr. Grand Magus here was the sort to charge in without thinking. I mean, he was the top mage in the Royal Magi Assembly. If he considered himself an “offensive asset,” he probably didn’t sit around giving commands.

“If your aid is requested, you’ll likely be asked to go to the western forest,” Yuri said.

“Oh?”

“Considering your level, it shouldn’t be a problem for you.”

“But that’s where…” I frowned.

The western forest was where the salamander had appeared, the fearsome monster that had left dozens of knights grievously injured in its wake.

“The miasma is dense in the western forest, too. I’m curious to see what effect your magic will have on it. Also…” Seemingly oblivious to my concern, Yuri mused on the research he had already done in the western forest.

From my perspective, the number of casualties yielded from the last two expeditions to the western forest were deeply troubling, and I was rightly scared. However, Yuri acted like the western forest wasn’t anything to write home about. Now that I thought about it, the knights said it was unusual for so many people to be injured in the western forest, so maybe it wasn’t actually that dangerous of a place?

But you know what they say, bad things come in threes…

I was still frowning while Yuri muttered on to himself, but then our eyes met. “Is there something the matter?” he asked.

“No, uh,” I hesitated. Would he even hear my concerns?

I think Yuri guessed what I was thinking without my having to say it. He smiled gently. “Of course, as I’ve said before, I believe any expedition blessed with your assistance would, considering your level, sail through any trouble.”

“You really think so?”

“I do. I’ve been to the western forest numerous times myself, though lately I’ve not been able to join any groups.”

“Oh.”

“I heard there were a great number of monsters last time around, and I believe I would have greatly enjoyed being a part of it, but unfortunately, I was asleep, as you know.”

I fell silent.

“Considering what happened last time, I’m sure it won’t be long before the knights head there again. The monsters may be back en force—or, I suppose, there may be fewer than usual. Either way, it would be an excellent opportunity for your first battle.” Yuri smiled reassuringly.

To me, the fact that he thought he’d have fun during any expedition spoke to his strength. Though, having seen the state of the knights on their return, I lacked complete confidence in his attitude.

But I could agree with his prediction for the next expedition. There were likely more monsters there now, especially as the knights had waited so long to return. Based on that, their next trip to the western forest would be soon.

I kept silent as I considered this. Yuri took it for brooding, because he added, “Don’t worry. I’ll be on the next expedition as well.”

“You will?”

“But of course. I won’t allow you to get a single scratch—I will protect you.”

I smiled awkwardly. If he were anyone else, I would have been pleased by the prospect of protection. But I wasn’t happy. Not at all. To me, his words sounded more like: “I would never allow any damage to befall my research subject.”