Chapter 15
After running for several minutes, I finally arrived at the guardhouse at the southern gate . Seeing as there were a number of guards hurriedly running in and out, it seemed that Daniela too had arrived safely . And just as I was thinking about going inside, Daniela came out of the door with a guard in tow . A moment later, Russell followed .
“Asagi!”
“Daniela, I see you made it here safely . ”
“Aye, I explained the situation to Captain Russell . ”
Russell nodded and said that he was now leaving to arrest the adventurers .
“To be honest, I was getting quite angry with this trend of making you out to be a fool . I don’t appreciate them speaking ill of a man I rescued . But just leave it to me, I’ll have them thrown into prison, even for the smallest of crimes if I have to!”
“Russell, I’m grateful for the thought . But you shouldn’t abuse your power . ”
“Hahaha!”
“Hey, Russell . ”
He looked away from me and began to walk on . No, I really was happy for the thought, but .
“Asagi . The captain did listen to what I said with a serious ear . I think it should be fine . ”
“Well, I do trust him…”
I mumbled as we watched the group of guards running, their armor clanking as they set off . There was something suffocating about being in the center of such an uproar, when I had rarely been anywhere but the sidelines all of my life .
As I and Daniela stood there watching, a young guard came and guided us into the building .
The inside of the house was overflowing with stuff . From doc.u.ments to mysterious boxes… Contraband, they later told me . It was a bit unsettling . I tried to avoid touching anything as we went further in towards the back and into a small room . There were two chairs, a desk, and a bed . And while there was a window in the room, it was set with iron bars . Wasn’t this a room to put villains in?
“I’m terribly sorry, but you must rest here today . ”
“It makes me feel as if I were guilty of something…”
“Hahaha . Rooms that are difficult to escape from are also the safest . ”
It’s not what you say, but how you say it, right? It was what it was . I didn’t care to get involved with anyone else out there now . But there was still one problem .
“There’s only a single bed here . ”
“I’m very sorry, but that’s all we have at this time . Please share it . ”
The h.e.l.l was he talking about? …Is he stupid? I looked at him with as much exasperation as I could muster, before slumping down into the chair .
“If it’s all you have, then I’ll just rest here . Daniela, you can use the bed . ”
“Are you sure? You won’t get much rest sitting on that chair . ”
“No, I’m actually used to it . ”
“Are you…”
Yes . What can I say? I’m used to sleeping over a desk . I would sometimes get so tired during my night shift at work, that I once fell asleep in the office . The manager was nice enough to let me sleep then . And ever since that time, I would sleep there right after work . And that was how I became accustomed to sleeping on desks .
“Well, that solves the problem . I shall return to my guarding duties!”
He gave a sharp salute and left the room . No, it’s not solved! I just compromised! I shouted inwardly, but only allowed a sigh to escape me . I should just rest for now . It’s been a while since I’ve run this much . I had been so tired when leaving the park, but I wasn’t sleepy at all anymore . I was bored .
“By the way, Daniela . You’re pretty fast, huh . I went after you only seconds later, but you were nowhere in sight . I was quite surprised . ”
I had nothing better to do, so I tried talking to her . Also, I was curious . Maybe she was a fellow AGI h.o.a.rder .
Daniela sat down on the bed and looked at me as she began to speak .
“Ahh . Then, of course, you would not have seen me . I was running on the rooftops . ”
“You what?”
Rooftops? Was there a ladder there that I didn’t see?”
“With wind magic . I can make my body lighter and add a boost when I jump . That height is really not that difficult at all . ”
“Wind magic…”
I was reminded of how close the presence of magic actually was . Who would have thought she was a magician? She looked so much like a knight-type .
“Are you good at it?”
“I suppose so . I’m adept at a combined martial art that uses magic and swords . Oh, please keep my magical abilities a secret, will you? I’ll be hounded by adventurers if word gets out . ”
“Hmm…I didn’t know such a thing existed . I envy you, I can’t even use magic . ”
“You don’t have the apt.i.tude?”
“No, I, I don’t know . I don’t even know how to find out . ”
Daniela then stood up and sat on the chair opposite me .
“The apt.i.tude test is easy . You just need to look at the color of the magical energy inside your body . Wait a moment . ”
She took out her mask from a pocket and put it on . Then she stared through the mask and into my face . I was becoming nervous… This apt.i.tude test could have a ma.s.sive impact on the way I would plan my life .
“Good, now just concentrate . Imagine that there is something flowing inside of you, circulating . Then the magic should move within you . ”
“Mm…”
I closed my eyes and tried to imagine it . Just then, ‘Jack of all trades’ triggered, and I could visualize the magic circulating through me . It was as if the use of magic, or hearing about the actual existence of magic had solidified the image in my mind .
And so I concentrated all my power into it . I could then feel something moving, starting from my core and flowing out towards the rest of my body . It reached every corner before returning to the center, circulating .
Then the magical source began to flow, little by little . It ran, flowing like small rivulets that connected into larger rivers as they coursed through my veins .
But then I felt something within that river . It was around my stomach . I considered it, then understood . It was the place where the thief had stabbed me . And the moment I understood it, the heat revived within me . It was hot, so very hot . But that too only lasted a moment . The unbearable heat turned cool, then cold and eventually froze over . The flow of the river began to stagnate . I became desperate for the flow of magic to continue; increasing the volume .
And then the ice was slowly pushed away . It was a glacier now . The magical glacier continued to run through me . Eventually, the ice began to melt . But every time it pa.s.sed near the wound, a large block of ice would form .
“Good . We’re done now . ”
I opened my eyes then . The sharpness in my senses dissipated, and I remembered where we were .
“Hahh…that was tiring . So how was it?”
Daniela removed her mask and folded her arms .
“It was a strange color . At first, the flow was colorless . That is a magic that most people have . But then it turned red for an instant . Then it turned blue . This was the color that coursed through your body the most, but that too turned purple and then back to blue… It was very unstable . But in a way, that state could be considered a kind of stability . It was very strange . ”
It was as if the heat and the coldness I had felt were manifested as colors . It was proof that what I had imagined had been conveyed directly to Daniela .
“I see… So, is there any magic that I can use?”
“A lack of color means a lack of the attributes . This is a kind of magical energy that everyone has . Red is for fire . It would allow you to burn things or cause explosions . I only saw that color in you for a brief instant, so I doubt you would be good at it . ”
Uh huh . So I wouldn’t be able to cause epic explosions like a cheater .
“And deep blue is for ice . After many changes, you mostly stayed on that color . It means that you must be adept with ice magic . And last is purple, which is for water . Perhaps not as strong as ice, but ice will turn to water when heat is added . Water will turn to ice when robbed of heat . This cycle is complete within your body . Considering all of this, the fire magic must exist inside of you as a cushion for the ice magic and the water magic . And so it is ice and water . Those are the attributes you should be skilled with . ”
It was surprising, the ever-changing colors were flowing for such a reason . A smile slowly crept on my face .
Hehehe…Hahahah…Ahahahahaha!!!
So I wasn’t just an agile ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’!
I was an agile ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’ who could use some magic!!
I was so happy that I had tears in my eyes .
After running for several minutes, I finally arrived at the guardhouse at the southern gate . Seeing as there were a number of guards hurriedly running in and out, it seemed that Daniela too had arrived safely . And just as I was thinking about going inside, Daniela came out of the door with a guard in tow . A moment later, Russell followed . .
“Asagi!”.
“Daniela, I see you made it here safely . ”.
“Aye, I explained the situation to Captain Russell . ”.
Russell nodded and said that he was now leaving to arrest the adventurers
“To be honest, I was getting quite angry with this trend of making you out to be a fool . I don’t appreciate them speaking ill of a man I rescued . But just leave it to me, I’ll have them thrown into prison, even for the smallest of crimes if I have to!”.
“Russell, I’m grateful for the thought . But you shouldn’t abuse your power . ”.
“Hahaha!”.
“Hey, Russell . ”.
He looked away from me and began to walk on . No, I really was happy for the thought, but
“Asagi . The captain did listen to what I said with a serious ear . I think it should be fine . ”.
“Well, I do trust him…”.
I mumbled as we watched the group of guards running, their armor clanking as they set off . There was something suffocating about being in the center of such an uproar, when I had rarely been anywhere but the sidelines all of my life
As I and Daniela stood there watching, a young guard came and guided us into the building . .
The inside of the house was overflowing with stuff . From doc.u.ments to mysterious boxes… Contraband, they later told me . It was a bit unsettling . I tried to avoid touching anything as we went further in towards the back and into a small room . There were two chairs, a desk, and a bed . And while there was a window in the room, it was set with iron bars . Wasn’t this a room to put villains in?.
“I’m terribly sorry, but you must rest here today . ”.
“It makes me feel as if I were guilty of something…”.
“Hahaha . Rooms that are difficult to escape from are also the safest . ”.
It’s not what you say, but how you say it, right? It was what it was . I didn’t care to get involved with anyone else out there now . But there was still one problem
“There’s only a single bed here . ”.
“I’m very sorry, but that’s all we have at this time . Please share it . ”.
The h.e.l.l was he talking about? …Is he stupid? I looked at him with as much exasperation as I could muster, before slumping down into the chair
“If it’s all you have, then I’ll just rest here . Daniela, you can use the bed . ”.
“Are you sure? You won’t get much rest sitting on that chair . ”.
“No, I’m actually used to it . ”.
“Are you…”.
Yes . What can I say? I’m used to sleeping over a desk . I would sometimes get so tired during my night shift at work, that I once fell asleep in the office . The manager was nice enough to let me sleep then . And ever since that time, I would sleep there right after work . And that was how I became accustomed to sleeping on desks . .
“Well, that solves the problem . I shall return to my guarding duties!”.
He gave a sharp salute and left the room . No, it’s not solved! I just compromised! I shouted inwardly, but only allowed a sigh to escape me . I should just rest for now . It’s been a while since I’ve run this much . I had been so tired when leaving the park, but I wasn’t sleepy at all anymore . I was bored
“By the way, Daniela . You’re pretty fast, huh . I went after you only seconds later, but you were nowhere in sight . I was quite surprised . ”.
I had nothing better to do, so I tried talking to her . Also, I was curious . Maybe she was a fellow AGI h.o.a.rder
Daniela sat down on the bed and looked at me as she began to speak
“Ahh . Then, of course, you would not have seen me . I was running on the rooftops . ”.
“You what?”.
Rooftops? Was there a ladder there that I didn’t see?”.
“With wind magic . I can make my body lighter and add a boost when I jump . That height is really not that difficult at all . ”.
“Wind magic…”.
I was reminded of how close the presence of magic actually was . Who would have thought she was a magician? She looked so much like a knight-type
“Are you good at it?”.
“I suppose so . I’m adept at a combined martial art that uses magic and swords . Oh, please keep my magical abilities a secret, will you? I’ll be hounded by adventurers if word gets out . ”.
“Hmm…I didn’t know such a thing existed . I envy you, I can’t even use magic . ”.
“You don’t have the apt.i.tude?”.
“No, I, I don’t know . I don’t even know how to find out . ”.
Daniela then stood up and sat on the chair opposite me
“The apt.i.tude test is easy . You just need to look at the color of the magical energy inside your body . Wait a moment . ”.
She took out her mask from a pocket and put it on . Then she stared through the mask and into my face . I was becoming nervous… This apt.i.tude test could have a ma.s.sive impact on the way I would plan my life
“Good, now just concentrate . Imagine that there is something flowing inside of you, circulating . Then the magic should move within you . ”.
“Mm…”.
I closed my eyes and tried to imagine it . Just then, ‘Jack of all trades’ triggered, and I could visualize the magic circulating through me . It was as if the use of magic, or hearing about the actual existence of magic had solidified the image in my mind
And so I concentrated all my power into it . I could then feel something moving, starting from my core and flowing out towards the rest of my body . It reached every corner before returning to the center, circulating
Then the magical source began to flow, little by little . It ran, flowing like small rivulets that connected into larger rivers as they coursed through my veins
But then I felt something within that river . It was around my stomach . I considered it, then understood . It was the place where the thief had stabbed me . And the moment I understood it, the heat revived within me . It was hot, so very hot . But that too only lasted a moment . The unbearable heat turned cool, then cold and eventually froze over . The flow of the river began to stagnate . I became desperate for the flow of magic to continue; increasing the volume
And then the ice was slowly pushed away . It was a glacier now . The magical glacier continued to run through me . Eventually, the ice began to melt . But every time it pa.s.sed near the wound, a large block of ice would form
“Good . We’re done now . ”.
I opened my eyes then . The sharpness in my senses dissipated, and I remembered where we were
“Hahh…that was tiring . So how was it?”.
Daniela removed her mask and folded her arms
“It was a strange color . At first, the flow was colorless . That is a magic that most people have . But then it turned red for an instant . Then it turned blue . This was the color that coursed through your body the most, but that too turned purple and then back to blue… It was very unstable . But in a way, that state could be considered a kind of stability . It was very strange . ”.
It was as if the heat and the coldness I had felt were manifested as colors . It was proof that what I had imagined had been conveyed directly to Daniela
“I see… So, is there any magic that I can use?”.
“A lack of color means a lack of the attributes . This is a kind of magical energy that everyone has . Red is for fire . It would allow you to burn things or cause explosions . I only saw that color in you for a brief instant, so I doubt you would be good at it . ”.
Uh huh . So I wouldn’t be able to cause epic explosions like a cheater
“And deep blue is for ice . After many changes, you mostly stayed on that color . It means that you must be adept with ice magic . And last is purple, which is for water . Perhaps not as strong as ice, but ice will turn to water when heat is added . Water will turn to ice when robbed of heat . This cycle is complete within your body . Considering all of this, the fire magic must exist inside of you as a cushion for the ice magic and the water magic . And so it is ice and water . Those are the attributes you should be skilled with . ”.
It was surprising, the ever-changing colors were flowing for such a reason . A smile slowly crept on my face
Hehehe…Hahahah…Ahahahahaha!!!.
So I wasn’t just an agile ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’!.
I was an agile ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’ who could use some magic!!.
I was so happy that I had tears in my eyes