Chapter 4: The Village Overrun by Magic Particles
Act 2: Enjoying the Slow Life in Gaea
Chapter 4: The Village Overrun by Magic Particles
TODAY’S plan is to travel to a big town and stock up on ingredients such as salt and sugar. The town is a good distance from Elle Village, but it’s just a hop and a skip away with my magic. I’ll be taking along Canna and Jasper, a former Gaean merchant who’s been there before.
Thinking we need something to fly on with this many people traveling through the skies, I scribble a magic circle on a fancy red carpet, turning it into a magic carpet.
A magic flying carpet sounds so romantic!
“You stand out in a crowd, Lady Elle. Please be sure to wear the hood on your cloak,” Canna advises, wrapping the cloak around my shoulders and pulling the hood over my hair to hide me in the folds of fabric.
Analians have flamboyant hair and eye colors. A girl with bright-red hair showing up in a quaint Gaean town will definitely stand out.
“Elle, where are you going?” Julius walks over just as we sit on the magic carpet, ready for takeoff.
“Heading to town to stock up on food and supplies. We still have plenty in reserve, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
“Very well. I’ll come, too,” he decides on the spot and steps onto the carpet.
“Don’t. Protect the village instead!”
“I’ve set up magic defenses around the village. Nothing will happen, and if it does, I’ll be immediately alerted.”
“Seriously? But you draw attention to yourself like a magic anomaly. I just know trouble will find us if you go into town,” I argue.
Julius cocks his head and looks me over from my red tresses down to my red slippers. “Trouble is more likely to be started by you, Elle.”
“I’m the poster child for common sense! I won’t cause any problems!”
That’s his counterargument? I’d never start trouble! The nerve of him!
“Now, now. Let’s all get along, children. Having you both along for shopping is reassuring. Besides, Lord Julius is not the kind of man who will passively listen just because you turned him down,” old man Jasper mediates.
Well, he isn’t wrong there.
I reluctantly nod and allow Julius on board. And just like that, Canna, Jasper, Julius, and I form the Shopping Excursion Troop.
Julius can be our pack mule, since he forced my hand.
◆◆◆
WE fly straight to Eugstein, the largest town in the region. My first trip into town has me all excited!
But it’s a bit of a letdown seeing how lifeless Eugstein is. This is supposed to be the biggest and best town in the region? Kinda lackluster.
I exchange jewels and precious gems into Gaea’s currency and head to the market to purchase what we need.
Speaking of markets, they’re normally the source of life and activity in human settlements and yet…this one is just as dead as the rest of the town… Dark clouds hang over the locals. There are so few people despite it being the biggest market for hundreds of miles.
In the spookily bleak and quiet market, I purchase seasonings such as sugar and salt, and various preserved foods. I pile each purchase on top of the others in an ever-growing mountain for my pack mule to carry.
Yet he carries the tower of wrapped goods with the artistic balance of an acrobat and an irritatingly unruffled expression. This can only mean one thing…
“Julius, you’re using magic!” I narrow my eyes at him.
“Yes, I am,” he openly admits. “I can carry much more than this for you. Buy as much as you want.”
“I was gonna buy more without your permission, thank you! Can you quit doing things to draw attention to us?! Like it or not, we are Analian fugitives. Do you want to deal with the chaos that will ensue if we’re discovered? Sorcerers are few and far between in Gaea as it is…”
Carrying a tower of goods that’s three times his height is liable to draw every eye in town. That said, it hasn’t drawn a single look yet.
“Lady Elle is right, Lord Julius. Please share some of the load with me,” Jasper suggests, holding out his arms.
“No, you needn’t trouble yourself.” Julius shakes his head. “This tower can’t be seen by others.”
“It can’t? Did you cast a spell on it…?”
I quickly open Analyze in my right eye and focus on the packages Julius has.
Sure enough, stability, antigravity, and light reflection spells are actively working together to hide and lighten the load.
I didn’t notice him casting… When did he do it? When did he have the time to write the magic circle? Or did he omit the circle altogether? What about the incantation? Did he activate the spells without it? He cast such intricate and complicated spells in an instant? And I never sensed him do it.
It makes the inescapable difference in our power all the more painfully apparent.
Honestly, I just wanted to make Julius carry so much stuff until he complained “It’s too heavy-wevy!” with a pathetic look on his face so I could make fun of him.
Gosh darn it! I’m so frustrated. I can’t shake the feeling that his face is saying, “My oh my, you aren’t even capable of this trivial act? Should’ve expected as much from the weakest Grand Magi.”
“I-I’m capable of doing that, too, if I try. I know! Why don’t we have all the packages float in the air around us while we’re at it?! It’ll be much more convenient that way! Watch this, Julius!” I proclaim and commence chanting a spell along the same lines as what I cast on the magic carpet.
“Elle, I wouldn’t. You still haven’t adapted to the magic particles in this town…”
I complete my spell while Julius is trying to convince me of something or other.
Uh, that’s not right. This doesn’t feel the same as usual. My magic won’t stop flowing forward. But it’s too late now.
The spell I meant to cast on just Julius’s packages spreads to the surrounding area. Apples, fish, vegetables, and other merchandise being sold in the market launch into the air like a jet blasting off.
Er, that’s new…
The quiet marketplace roars alive with confusion over the sudden supernatural occurrence.
Crap.
I frantically deactivate my spell. All the wares dancing in the air return to their former locations, but the market uproar isn’t quelled.
“Elle, you really need to listen to people more,” Julius groans, pressing his fingers to his forehead.
“I-I thought I could pull it off!”
I actually did pull it off, to be precise! It worked, but the area of effect was too wide or something like that!
“Either way, we should make haste from this place, Lady Elle. We bought most of what we need, so let’s just head home!”
At Canna’s urging, we run from the market.
By the time we arrive where I hid the magic carpet, I’m gasping for air because I’ve got zero stamina. Running hurts…! I don’t run often, so my lungs and legs feel like they are on fire...
I glance over at Julius. He’s standing upright with his usual too-cool-for-you look. He has a surprising amount of stamina.
Such worthless thoughts are running through my head as we pile on top of the magic carpet and fly off toward Elle Village.
Moving with the chilly breeze in my face for a while has helped cool off my head. How could I have caused such a scene during my first precious visit to a real town?
“Um, I’m sorry…about earlier,” I sincerely apologize to the others. I feel bad for rushing everyone home when they might’ve had other things to shop for. I really did think I could pull it off, though!
“It’s all right, Lady Elle. Going through an experience like that is a kind of fun in its own right.”
“It certainly is. You are terribly adorable when you’re panicking, Lady Elle.”
Hearing Canna and Jasper say that is a huge weight off my chest.
I nervously glance at Julius. In my opinion, exasperation is written all over his handsome face. I can just hear his internal thoughts cursing me as the “disgrace of the Grand Magi.”
“Wh-What’s with that look, huh?! I know you’re thinking I’m the disgrace of the Grand Magi! Hmph!” I stick my tongue out at him. “Just so you know, you’re way more of a disgrace than me!”
“I wasn’t thinking that, but…” Julius gives me a quizzical look.
“But what?”
“I was just thinking you’re genuinely cute and straightforward.”
……
HUH?!
“Wh-What’s gotten into you?! C-Can you please not tease me by saying those kinda things?! Stupid Julius! Disgrace of the Four Grand Magi!”
“I’m not teasing you.”
Just shut up! I put that feeling into the glare I direct at him. He shrugs and takes a sip of water from his flask.
Canna and Jasper are smiling at us like they want to say, “Oh my, you two get along like two peas in a pod!”
Getting all embarrassed, I turn my face away with a “Hmph.”
Stupid Julius, running your mouth about things you don’t really feel with a straight face! How could you call me cute of all things when you have zero interest in me?
Once Julius meets Saint Aela, he’s sure to fall head over heels in love with her. That’s his destiny. I wish he wouldn’t get my hopes up like this when he’s fated to fall for another woman someday. Julius is good-looking, so of course my heart races around him…just because he has handsome face! Only his looks are good!
Well, his personality isn’t too bad, either… No, no, no! Stop! Bad girl! Julius will someday treat me as the disgrace of the Grand Magi, and he already has a soul mate out there waiting for him! Enough pining after this guy!
“At any rate, I was surprised to see the state of Eugstein since my last visit. I didn’t expect to see the biggest trade town in the northeast to have fallen on such hard times,” Jasper mutters with a grim face while I’m in the middle of obsessing over Julius calling me cute.
That reminds me, Jasper used to be a Gaean merchant. He had mentioned coming to Eugstein many times for trade and even showed us around town.
“It wasn’t always like that?” I ask out of curiosity.
“It was prosperous several years ago,” Jasper explains in somber tones. “The war with Analia probably has a lot to do with it— Ah, my apologies! I swear I am not trying to bad-mouth Analia, Lady Elle…”
“It’s okay if you are. I’ve severed all connections with Analia now…,” I confess to calm him while I reflect on my past self.
I was a commander of the fourth rank within the Analian army that went to war with Gaea, and I knew absolutely nothing about our opponents. Correction: I never thought to learn about them. Granted, I did think they were fools for futilely resisting the joy of being ruled by the Demon Lord.
Naïve child that I was, I never once thought for myself. I was nothing more than a machine moving to make the Demon Lord’s—the magic circle’s—ideals come to fruition.
I steal a peek at Julius. Did he know the state of things in Gaea? Maybe it’s just me, but he looks more dejected than usual, like a shadow has been cast over him.
“I was really lucky to be picked up by you, Lady Elle. My life would have been over if not for you… To be honest, I didn’t have the will to continue living in Gaea.”
“You used to be a merchant, right?” I say, trying to recall the day I abducted him. “I remember finding you near a broken wagon.”
What events led to the moment I brought him home with me? I practically kidnapped anyone I found looking sad and miserable, so I know squat about their backgrounds.
“I was already at the bottom of the pit of despair that day. I was out peddling my wares after my wife had just died of illness, when bandits attacked me and I lost everything. I barely managed to survive and was hanging on to life by a thread when you descended from the skies and landed before me, Lady Elle. I haven’t forgotten a single detail about that moment till this day. You suddenly appeared and said, ‘You belong to me starting today! Meaning you belong to the Demon Lord! So put your heart at ease! I shall make you happy!’ And then you kidnapped me without letting me get a word in edgewise.”
Oops, I said something like that? And, Jasper, please don’t use a high-pitched voice to repeat the things I said. It’s creepy.
“Haha, that’s nostalgic. Lady Elle said the same thing to me.”
Oh, past me, did you have to repeat the same thing to Canna? Where’s your originality?!
“It seems like everyone Elle abducted were unfortunate souls Gaea had turned a blind eye on. Is that right?” Julius inquires of Canna.
“Yes, that’s right,” Canna says with a nod. “All of us had lost hope in Gaea. Lady Elle showed up at our darkest moment. She was so adorable and cute I thought I had already died and an angel had come for me.”
Canna is calling me an angel without even blushing!
“I’m a far cry…from an angel. My actions had little thought behind them… I simply took people I found looking hopeless… But I’m super lucky. I should be hated for whisking you all away without your consent, but you have accepted me with open arms.”
“We are the ones who are super lucky, Lady Elle,” Canna emphasizes, making me feel extra bashful.
“Luck isn’t the only factor,” Julius puts out there.
“It’s not? What do you mean?”
“You likely sensed the magic particles in them, Elle.”
“Magic particles? Aren’t those the base of all magic?”
We use magic when we cast spells. Magic particles make up the base of magic. They’re invisible to the naked eye, but I learned from a young age that the particles dissolve into food and the air, and that we can cast spells by redirecting the magic converted from the particles inside our bodies through magic circles and incantations.
Magic particles are an absolute necessity for us sorcerers.
“Correct. And magic particles come from negative human emotions, such as sadness, suffering, despair, and jealousy.”
What’s indispensable for sorcerers is born from negative human emotion…?
“I’ve never heard that before.”
I know I don’t act like it, but I am one of the Four Grand Magi of the sorcerers’ kingdom. I’ve studied enough about sorcery and magic to last three lifetimes. And someone of my caliber has never even heard rumors of what he said.
“Only a handful of people have noticed the source of magic particles. After all, it’s not included in Analia’s curriculum. We were gathered as toddlers in the facility and taught about sorcery, but our lessons didn’t cover everything, and it’d be wise to assume not everything we were taught was correct.”
Sincerity burns in Julius’s eyes. He isn’t lying.
I see. He has a point. We grew up under the magic circle’s control. It’s not strange for us to have reached this point in our lives unaware of hidden truths.
“I was full of fear and suffering before you showed up, Lady Elle,” Canna adds to the conversation. “Does that mean Lady Elle reacted to the magic particles born from my misery and that’s what led her to me?” she asks Julius.
“That is exactly what happened. Sorcerers are extra sensitive to magic and the particles it consists of. Train enough as a sorcerer and you can see the flow of magic. Only once in a blue moon is someone able to see magic particles. But we can sense them. It’s highly likely Elle’s subconscious reacted to the magic particle effusion.”
When he puts it like that, it makes sense why everyone I kidnapped turned out to have been forsaken by Gaea. So it was more than just luck, coincidence, and good intuition.
And if what Julius said is true, then…
“…Okay, so if magic particles are born of negative emotions, then the Demon Lord is purposely dragging out the war with Gaea to increase the particle production?”
The magic circle I found in the Demon Lord’s room was working toward a country where magic would eventually control the people it urged into furthering the development of magic. A huge source of magic—of magic particles—is necessary to make that happen.
“Elle…you are surprisingly smart.”
Julius’s comment is made even ruder by how surprised he looks.
“It shouldn’t be a surprise! I was a member of the Four Grand Magi, too, you know! It’s only natural that I’m smart! I obviously have the ability to make correct guesses!”
“Hehehe. Lady Elle often acts on her instincts, but she surprisingly uses her head a lot, too.”
Even Canna used the word surprisingly with me…
“As Elle said, the Demon Lord went to war with Gaea to increase the number of magic particles. The only reason why the war has dragged on between Gaea and the overwhelmingly more powerful Analia is because the Demon Lord always gives the order to delay the killing blow when it counts,” Julius explains.
I knew it. The whole war has seemed strange for a while now. Analia and Gaea are on completely different scales when it comes to military might, and yet the war never ends.
“Did my spell go out of control because there’s more magic particles in that town than elsewhere?”
“Most likely,” Julius confirms. “As it stands, your body naturally stores quadruple the amount of magic compared with other sorcerers. You absorbed even more by breathing the air in town, creating more magic within your body. Using magic without compensating for the difference when your body is overflowing with it will result in what you saw back there.”
Is that what happens? I did have a similar sensation to feeling full after eating a hearty meal since setting foot in Eugstein. Actually, I feel the same kinda fullness right now.
Hmm? Something below us is bothering me. Running with that feeling, I peer over the side of the flying carpet. There’s a small…village?
“Look over there. There’s a village…”
“Oh, you’re right, my lady. There is a small village. Ah, but from the look of it, the fields are barren and ravaged…”
“The magic particles…,” Julius mutters with a bitter look.
“Something about it is pulling on me. Hey, I want to stop here. I want to get off at that village,” I say, overcome with the impulse that I can’t just pass by.
“What do you plan to do there?” Julius asks, a stringent edge to his voice.
“I don’t know. But I’m bothered.”
“You’re bothered because magic particles are overflowing from the village. Particles gathering in those numbers can only mean they’re facing a dire crisis. What do you hope to achieve by going to such a place?”
“I don’t—”
“Let me remind you that we are Analian fugitives living in hiding. We should avoid all contact with nearby villages.”
“I know! I know…that. I-It’s not like I’m planning on doing anything rash. I just can’t shake this troubled feeling, so I wanna take a look. I’m just gonna take a little peek!” I promise and give the order for the carpet to descend from the sky.
“We can only hope it will end at that,” Julius says under his breath. I pretend I didn’t hear him.
◆◆◆
STUNNED is the first thing I feel after landing near the village.
The fields are desolate husks, and the villagers’ homes are falling apart. Can people really live in a place like this? I do sense some life. People are holding their breath inside those crumbling sheds. Though their numbers are small…
As I’m observing the desolated place, I sense someone move, and I turn my eyes toward them.
A skinny boy, about ten years old, is poking the ground with a thick tree branch.
Is he a villager? He’s the first person I’ve seen outside.
When we step closer, the boy turns around and eyes us suspiciously. His body is withering away, and the dark-brown hair that’s common among Gaeans falls in tatters past his shoulders. Soot covers his young face. His ravaged eyes look at us for all of a second before he turns away and starts poking at the ground again.
“What did you come for? Find another place to hit if you’re bandits. There’s nothing left to steal from this village,” he mutters in a dry and cracking voice while he continues playing in the dirt.
“We’re not bandits. We don’t want to steal from you… What are you doing anyway?” I ask.
“Tilling the field.”
“Tilling the field? You’re trying to turn over the dirt with just a branch?”
“I am” is all he says and then silently thrusts the stick into the ground and digs up the hard dirt.
“…You don’t have a hoe or any other farming tools?” I venture.
What the boy has is just a stick that’s far from suitable for plowing soil.
“The wooden farming tools left in this village quickly rotted and no longer work.”
The tools were made of wood that rapidly decomposes? I frown. They don’t have any made with iron or copper? Or decay-resistant lumber?
“Lady Elle,” Jasper calls my name when I fall silent. He’s looking at the boy thrusting his stick into the ground over and over again with a sorrowful expression. “Iron and copper are generally used for Gaea’s farming tools as well. However, I heard the king confiscated all the tools from outlying villages because he believes Gaea needs more weapons to fight Analia. The kingdom is melting down the metal to create weaponry.”
Gaea confiscated them all for extra metal to make weapons? And gave back rotting wooden tools in their place?
I take another look around the village. Barren fields, stifling, stale air. And most notable…
“Doesn’t there seem to be a serious lack of people? Not enough villagers compared to the number of houses,” I observe out loud.
“Bandits pillaged the village a while back,” the boy responds without looking at me.
“They did? Then were most of the villagers killed by bandits?”
“Some were killed. But most are gone for another reason. The majority of men left alive became bandits themselves. Bandits took everything from this already poor place. The men left to pillage another village in order to get back what was taken from them. And then they never came back.”
My mind ceases to function for a whole second because of what he said. But I carefully pick my words to make sense of it.
“…They left to attack an innocent village to get back what was taken?”
“They did. We were unjustly robbed. So it doesn’t matter if we rob others…is what my pa said,” the boy says, looking at me again.
Hatred burns in his sandy-brown eyes, stealing my breath away.
“…You didn’t go with them?” Julius asks.
The boy furrows his brow until deep creases form and the flames of hatred burn even brighter in his eyes.
“Like hell I’d go! Pa was hella wrong! Just because someone stole from you doesn’t give you the right to steal from someone else!” he declares with an edge of disgust as the setting sun frames him from behind.
He’s so bright I have to squint. But I can’t tear my eyes away from him. This boy with his unkempt, matted hair and filthy clothing is absolutely beautiful.
I want him. Whatever it takes, I want him. This is a familiar feeling. I felt the same way when I kidnapped Canna and Jasper and the rest.
“…Hey, boy, do the rest of the villagers feel the same as you?” I ask.
“Probably. Only women, children, and the elderly are left anyway… What about it?”
I face the suspicious boy with a welcoming smile. “I like you, boy! Say, would you like to come to another village?”
“Huh? Do you know what you’re asking? If I could’ve gone somewhere else, I would’ve long ago—what’s with you people anyway? What did you come here for if you’re not bandits?” The deeply distrustful boy turns a skeptical eye on me.
Hey, don’t jump to conclusions! I’m not scheming anything evil. Oh, but I guess I haven’t told him who we are yet. He’ll relax once I do.
I clear my throat and plant my hands on my hips.
“I haven’t introduced myself yet, have I? Listen and rejoice, boy! I’m the mayor of a village brimming with love, courage, hope, kindness…and whatever other super awesome feels there are! I love Elle Village most! And Elle Village loves me most! For I am the grand sorceress Elle Falmil Gracedane! So set your mind at ease, for I am here to make you happy!” I proclaim, head held high, chest puffed out.
The boy stares at me with eyes rounder than the full moon.
Behind me I hear Julius’s exasperated “I knew that was coming” and Canna’s excited exclamation of “That’s Lady Elle for you!”
Yet the boy responds to my epochal offer to make him happy with a petulant scowl.
“So you’re kidnappers!” the boy concludes, daringly brandishing his stick at me.
Uh-oh…did I make him totally see us as the enemy now? Was it a dumb idea to let my excitement get the better of me and blurt the first thing that came to mind? B-But that’s how bad I wanted to make him a resident of Elle Village!
“I-I’m no kidnapper! Okay, I am a kidnapper. But I won’t sell you off! I just want you to come to my village! There are only twenty of us so far, but it’s an amazingly awesome village!”
“Are you gonna work us like slaves there? Won’t do ya any good. Most of the folks here aren’t capable of working, you know. Even my kid sister is bedridden…,” he says, keeping a wary distance from me.
“Your sister is sick?”
“She is! Horribly sick! So you won’t gain anything by kidnapping the villagers!”
“I’m not trying to gain anything. I just took a liking to you… Oh, I know! I’ve got a high-end healing elixir on me. It’s a special batch whipped up by the DemiOracle. I’ll cure your sister with it! Then you’ll trust me, right? Show me the way, boy!” I tell him my brilliant idea and receive an even more barbed look in return.
Scary boy. He’s like a wild dog.
“Like hell I’d believe that load of crap. What are you gonna do to my sister when you find her?!” the boy cries, running at me with the raised branch.
I’m startled by the boy’s unexpected rebellion, but Julius seizes his hand before his attack can reach me. He snatches the branch from the boy’s grip and shoves him away.
“Nngh…,” he groans, falling back on the dirt.
Dumbfounded, I stare down at him. Julius stands beside me with a look that says, “Whoops, I dirtied my hands shoving away a boring creature.”
…Well, crap. This makes me into the bad guy. One of the Four Grand Magi of the Demon Lord’s Army. This is totally a scene of two Grand Magi bullying a helpless child.
The boy is glaring at me like I’m the bane of his existence. Like he’s trying to pierce through me with those strong, burning eyes. But his shoulders are trembling. He must be scared.
Yeah, he’s definitely scared. Bandits came out of nowhere and stole everything that mattered to him, and then his dad went out to commit the same crime. First he was betrayed by outsiders, then by his loved ones, and now we show up out of the blue asking him to trust us when he knows nothing about us. Of course he wouldn’t believe me.
What should I do? It’s not a good idea to kidnap him when he’s so against it. But…I’m fairly positive everyone in this village will die if I leave them here…
“Lady Elle, please follow your heart and do what you always have. You saved me that way. It will be all right. I promise we will step in and stop you when you go too far,” Canna says encouragingly when I hesitate.
That’s right. I’ll surely regret abandoning this boy here. Besides, I’m not trying to save him because I want to do something good or because I want him to like me. I don’t care what he thinks of me. This is simply me being selfish. I’m acting on my desire to have him. I just don’t want to regret this moment. I’ve made up my mind.
“You’ve left me no choice, since you refuse to let me meet your sister, boy!” I say, snatching the branch from Julius.
I swiftly draw a magic circle in the dirt with it. It’s for the Mist spell. Being surrounded by an abundance of magic particles has packed me full of magic, and this spell falls under wide-area magic, my specialty!
I pull a small bottle of green liquid from my pocket and open the lid.
This healing elixir I brought from Analia is a special potion I received from the DemiOracle to commemorate my ascension to office as one of the Four Grand Magi. It’s a miracle potion capable of curing most conditions, including cuts, stabs, burns, back pain, plagues, malnutrition, and so on.
I’ll never get my hands on another bottle now that I’ve cut ties with Analia, but I’ll use it anyway.
I dump the elixir on top of the circle and chant the incantation. “Ilik ilik ein ik… Water Gate. Answer my request with this blood offering. My wisdom is absolute law!”
Watery green mist springs forth from the magic circle.
“You intend to spread the DemiOracle’s elixir by diffusing it in the mist? That will only weaken its effects.”
I can hear Julius’s skeptical voice, but I pay it no attention as I slit my wrist with my nail and splash blood all over the magic circle.
“Don’t worry, Julius. I just have to increase the magic effect of the elixir. Doing so will give the healing effects to anyone who breathes in this pea-green mist!”
I’ve gotta make it spread even further and wider through the village. If I succeed, the healing mist will eventually reach the boy’s sister and cure her illness without me meeting her. It’s not enough yet. More. More.
“Increase its effects? That shouldn’t be…possible. How are you going—”
“I’m gonna increase its output with magic, obviously!” I supply for Julius’s benefit, concentrating on the magic within me. “Amplify, amplify, amplify! More! More!”
The watery pea-green healing mist generated by the magic circle spreads in tandem with my voice.
“Using magic to amplify the effects of magic? Improbable. That defies all logic…” Julius sounds stunned.
What’s so difficult for him to understand? All I’m doing is pouring a waterfall’s worth of my magic into the spell to increase the output. What’s strange about that?
Julius’s denial of what I’m doing is a tad concerning, but I’ve gotta concentrate on my spell right now.
The more I wish it and the more I send magic into the circle, the more the green fog spreads until it covers the entire village.