After finishing my enjoyable training with Jisrare-san, I returned home.
「I am backー……huh?」
When I went back to the living room, Father, who should have been drinking there, was gone. Instead, Mother was there.
「Welcome home, Alec」
「I am back, Mother」
Mother greeted me while holding a guitar, lightly strumming it as she played.
「Tomorrow――」
「Hm?」
「Tomorrow, let us have a recital」
「A recital?」
Um, is that the one? The thing where we said we would have a guitar recital in Dungeon 1-1?
Wait, tomorrow? That is pretty sudden…….
「Will it be okay……」
「It will be fine. You and Na-chan have both improved a lot」
「I see……yeah. Okay, Mother」
It probably is about the right time. After all, I have been practicing the guitar for quite a while now.
Not as much as the sword, but I have still put in a fair amount of effort――
「Oh, right. Mother, where is Father?」
Father should have been here, raising a toast to celebrate me getting the 『Sword』 skill. Where did he go?
「He is sleeping in his room」
「Oh, really?」
「For some reason, he passed out drunk here, so I put him on the bed」
「Ah……」
So, he got drunk and fell asleep…….
I was kind of hoping to see him a little cheerful when I got back, though…….
「Um, actually, Mother, I managed to get the 『Sword』 skill」
「The 『Sword』 skill?」
「Yeah. When I got appraised today, the 『Sword』 skill was listed」
「I see. So that is how it is」
Mother put the guitar she was holding down, stood up, came over to me, and gently patted my head.
「You did well, Alec. Congratulations」
「Thank you, Mother」
Even so, it is a bit embarrassing.
I am already fifteen, so I am not really at the age to be happy about Mother patting my head anymore.
Or so I think, yet being praised and patted still makes me a little happy.
「And then, when I told Father about it, he decided to drink」
「I do not really understand that」
「Ah, yeah. He said he was happy and that it was a celebration」
「Oh, so that is why. Then maybe I will drink too」
「Eh? Ah, yeah. I do not really mind……」
So Mother is going to drink too.
What? In this house, do people drink alcohol whenever something good happens? Is that some kind of custom?
……Well, I guess it is a pretty common custom.
「Alec, you are not allowed, okay? You are still fifteen」
「Yeah. I was not planning to drink anyway……」
「Then I will drink together with Na-chan――」
「No, Nana-san is not drinking either」
Because Nana-san is three years old…….
「Is that so? Ah, now that you mention it, I have never seen Na-chan drinking」
「That is true」
Well, she is not like a normal three-year-old, and she would probably be fine even if she drank.
Still, rules are rules. Alcohol is after turning twenty.
「More importantly, Mother. I have something I want to ask you」
「What is it? Dinner tonight is boar」
「……I am not asking about dinner」
Even though she is my own mother, she really is hard to pin down. She never lets me control the pace of the conversation…….
「It is not about dinner――oh, right. I caught some fish in the dungeon」
「Then we will grill those too」
「Yay. ……No, yeah. The fish are nice, but that is not it, Mother」
I got excited without thinking, but that is not the point. That is not it.
「What is it, then?」
「Magic. I want to learn magic」
「Magic?」
Magic. I want to learn a new magic skill.
This is something I was thinking about after the appraisal.
By getting the 『Sword』 skill this time, I managed to keep up appearances as the 『son of the Sword Saint』.
Next is the 『son of the Sage』. I want to keep up appearances there too.
That is why I want to learn a new magic skill.
「You said it before, right? That for elves, it is better to learn other elemental magic rather than focusing on 『Fire Magic』」
「That is right」
「So I want you to teach me another elemental magic」
Of course, since I already have it, I plan to keep practicing 『Fire Magic』 as well.
Whenever I visit the dungeon, I will keep lighting fires with the mini stove.
Aside from that, I want to add one more magic skill.
If I am the son of a Sage, I should at least have two types of magic.
「Of course, that is fine. Which elemental magic do you want to learn, Alec?」
「Which one? Umm……that is part of what I want to discuss」
「Then shall we go with all four major elements for now?」
「Ehh……」
No, being told to do all of them just as a starting point is a bit much……
Just one for now. One is enough.
That means either earth, wind, or water. If I have to choose――
「I guess water」
「Water?」
「I think the 『Water Magic』 skill would be good. I often see you and Nana-san using it, and it looks really convenient」
The 『Water Magic』 skill is owned by Mother, Nana-san, and Diana-chan.
I have always thought it looked very useful, since it can be used both in daily life and in combat.
「It feels a little awkward to overlap with everyone else though……」
That said, 『Earth Magic』 is used by Ralina-chan, and 『Wind Magic』 is owned by Jered-kun and Diana-chan.
Jered-kun hardly ever uses magic, but Diana-chan has both 『Water Magic』 and 『Wind Magic』 and uses them often.
In the end, no matter which element I choose, it will overlap with someone.
「But that actually works in your favor when learning magic, Alec」
「Huh? How so?」
「Because it means you are constantly seeing 『Water Magic』 up close and learning from it」
「I see」
So just watching it counts as learning too.
「So, how should I train specifically?」
Surely just watching other people use magic cannot be all there is to it.
What kind of training do I need to do to learn 『Water Magic』?
「Let me think……wait a moment」
After saying that, Mother stood up, went to the kitchen, and came back holding a glass filled with water.
「Alright, Alec. Put your finger into this glass」
「Huh?」
「Your finger」
「Like this?」
I followed her instructions and put my finger into the glass on the table.
「That alone already counts as 『Water Magic』 training」
「Eh, just this?」
Just touching water with my finger counts as training. That sounds incredibly easy……
「That said, if you tried to obtain 『Water Magic』 with only that, it would take hundreds of years」
Keeping my finger in a glass of water for hundreds of years……
I thought it was easy training, but that sounds like an unbelievable ordeal……
「Other magic works the same way. For example, if you play with soil outside, that alone becomes training for 『Earth Magic』」
「I see」
「Though it would still take hundreds of years to actually acquire the skill」
If you keep making mud balls for hundreds of years, you can learn 『Earth Magic』 just from that……
Though before that, you would probably learn the mud ball skill……
「We obviously cannot wait for hundreds of years」
「Yeah, obviously」
「So we will do some more effective training. You will pour magic power into the water in the glass」
「Magic power into water?」
「When you use 『Fire Magic』, you imagine fire and pour magic power into it, right? It is the same thing. You pour magic power into real water」
Pouring magic power into an imagined flame――that was the very first way of using magic that Mother taught me.
It seems that, for training before acquiring the skill, you use real water instead of imagination.
「You are good at controlling magic power, Alec, so I think you will get it quickly」
「You think so? I hope so. Then, I will try it, okay?」
Magic power control is something I have done since I was little. It has become a habit, and even now, when I have nothing to do, I keep circulating magic power inside my body……
I see. So, this is finally the moment when all that experience shows its true value――
◇
「I cannot do it……?」
I have been trying for about thirty minutes, but it does not seem possible…… My finger has gone all soft……
I can pour magic power into the part of the water that my finger is touching. But the entire glass of water is far beyond that……
「That is normal at the beginning. From what I can see, it is not bad」
While lightly plucking her guitar, Mother encouraged me.
I see, so that is how it is. No matter how good I am at magic power control, I cannot do it right away……
「If you keep practicing, you will be able to do it eventually」
「It feels like it will take a long time……」
「It will be fine. Let me see, five years……no, I will make sure Alec learns 『Water Magic』 in four years」
「Four years……?」
That is quite a bold claim…… Four years, when it normally takes twenty years……
Honestly, I do not have much confidence that I can live up to Mother’s expectations……but I will do what I can.
If I really manage to acquire it in four years, that would be amazing. Mother would surely be happy. Maybe she would be as happy as Father was.
Well, I cannot really imagine Mother crying……but for now, I will do my best.
next chapter: Dungeon Meeting 3
Leave a Reply