24 – Continued: Let’s learn about magic!
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“I have nothing to teach you.”
That was first thing the teacher, Giuseppe, said after entering the cla.s.s meant for teaching exorcism.
And the only person in the room was Tatsumi. It was a luxury in it’s own way, having a man to man lesson on exorcism with the Supreme pontiff Giuseppe himself.
Well, they weren’t actually having the lesson yet, but were about to. Because the cla.s.s was about to start from now.
Despite that,
The thing Giuseppe said at the very start was “I have nothing to teach you.”
And Tatsumi, who had been preparing himself mentally with this and that, totally went blank. Well, anyone would have shown the same reaction.
“Rather, it’s better to say ‘There is nothing I can teach you concerning magic.’ To tell you the truth, your magic is a bit out of the normal.”
As the second person in history to be able to use the system magic, he could even use the mana present in the atmosphere- the outer origin mana, rather than the mana within himself, the inner origin. This alone made it something out of the ordinary.
“Hmm, now that I think about it, rather than calling you a [Magician], you should be called a [Mana User].”
“M-Mana User……?”
“Correct. From what I have heard from Calsey, what you’d used was not magic, but a phenomenon similar to it.”
Tatsumi completely didn’t understand the difference between a magician and a mana-user. But since Giuseppe said something was different, then there must be something different.
“I have already explained this before. That magic could only be invoked by combining a spell and an aria, these two things. Do you remember?”
“Right. When I first came here I think… that’s when you and Chiiko explained it all to me.”
There’s no way he could forget. The first day he was summoned over to this world he heard a bit about magic from Giuseppe and Calcedonia. And after he heard that his body had no mana at all he was feeling really down.
“But….From what I’ve heard from Calsey you didn’t use a spell or aria at all….or rather, you don’t even know them right?”
“Now that you mention it….”
Tatsumi didn’t use the all important Spells when he was using magic. Rather, even in the books in this world he hasn’t even seen a spell. It’s been just a while since he started to study the language of this world, and the alphabets so even if he did see one there is no way he would remember it.
So even if Tatsumi wanted to chant a spell, he didn’t even know what it was.
“But in the end you could still use magic. No, you directly used mana to call upon a phenomenon which was similar to magic. So for you who can use Mana directly, I think it’s better to call you a [Mana user] rather than a [Magician].”
Suppose, the mana was the fuel and the spell was the engine. In order to start a car you first have to use fuel with the engine to start a spark which will make a car run. Similarly, by using mana with the spell, the car called [Magic] would be invoked.
In other words, what Tatsumi did was similar to running a car which doesn’t have an engine with fuel alone. Normally, the car should not be able to start.
But in the end he drove the car splendidly. He should understand that this by itself was an abnormality.
“In the past there were quite a few Mana users like you. Hmm, well even now, though very few, some do exist. But, well, certainly they are rare, but that only for humans like me and demi humans. Other than that, there are a surprisingly high number of them in other species.”
Giuseppe said while smiling.
Early morning, after seeing Tatsumi off who was going to the temple for lessons, she started to tidy up their new house.
She herself didn’t have any duties at the temple today, so she decided to take the day to clean up everything.
They moved in to their new home yesterday. After the moving was completed, together with their close friends like Verse and Bogart, they had a modest home made dinner by Calcedonia to celebrate.
After the celebration Bogart and Verse both went back home or to their lodging at the temple. Well, before Verse went back he gave Tatsumi a thumbs up, smiling with a deep meaning. But surprisingly, because of the fatigue from the moving and the wine from the celebration, Tatsumi fell asleep fast.
Seems like Tatsumi wasn’t used to drinking. And on top of that he just recovered from injury too.
Because he fell asleep faster than expected, Calcedonia was feeling a little lonely, but she didn’t forcefully wake up Tatsumi who was tired.
She was grinning while staring at his sleeping face for a while, but than she too fell asleep.
The next morning, Calcedonia was completely fired up! Actually, ever since she started dreaming she had one big ambition!
“Yesterday master fell asleep rather quickly…But today…Today’s the day I will finally, with master…..!”
Calcedonia’s cheeks blushed red as she continued to think about her long cherished dream.
While happily humming, Calcedonia left the house to clean up the courtyard after she was done tidying up the inside.
“Oh my…?”
What she saw beyond the gate was a few women, presumably the housewives around this neighborhood, glancing at their home and whispering to each other.
Probably, after they heard the rumored <> had moved in here, they gathered together and were getting lively gossiping about what could be happening.
Among them, one housewife noticed Calcedonia and exclaimed out loudly, and with that the other housewives also noticed her presence.
—Come to think of it, I still haven’t greeted the neighbors yet.
While thinking that, Calcedonia smiled and walked towards them.
“Good morning everyone. I have moved into this house recently. My name is Calcedonia Chrys…. No, Calcedonia Yamagata. From this occasion, please do take care me and my husband.”
And she bowed lightly.
Just then, a tremendously huge information just got published….but probably none of them even noticed.
“For example, Demonic beasts. Among them, there are a lot who can unleash phenomena similar to magic. Some can breath fire, and some can cause snow storms and the likes. But of course, they can’t recite the chants. So how exactly do they use magic? Or rather, the phenomenon similar to magic? Son-in-laws powers should be similar to that.”
—I see.
Tatsumi nodded.
Tatsumi has yet to see a demonic beast. But he didn’t believe that they could speak human languages. Even if, by chance, some could speak, they had to be some unique existences of sort.
“So, what I have to do now is to learn the spells properly right?”
First, he had to learn the alphabet, and then remember the spells. But how much he could accomplish wasn’t certain at all, so he was feeling a bit uncertain.
But, he has to do it. Because he decided it. He would become stronger to protect his family, no matter how much effort it takes.
Tatsumi was resolving himself once again, but after hearing Giuseppe’s next sentence his newly found resolve vanished.
“No…well, that…you have the system but… in the past there was one who could use that magic, you heard about that right? But that was in the times of antiquity. It has been pa.s.sed down that the system magic itself exists but well, the very essential spells themselves haven’t been pa.s.sed down.”
If they searched the old scriptures and texts in bulk then they just might find some, but it would take a huge amount of time and effort for it. Even when Calcedonia found the summoning ritual, it took a tremendous amount of time.
“Eh…? W-Wait, then you mean….”
“Yes. I guess there’s no other way than to find a method yourself. I said it before right? [I have nothing to teach you].”
“But, for Her holiness herself to move here, it really is very much rea.s.suring.”
“I agree. Please do take care of us in case of sudden accidents.”
“Of course, I’ll help as much as I can. But if I do as I please too much then the temples’ earnings would go down… So do put request there sometimes too, okay?”
Calcedonia happily spoke to them with a smile, and the housewives also laughed.
“Still, when I first heard of her holiness, the <>, I totally a.s.sumed you were a stiff person hard to talk with….but now that we’re chatting, you are just like a normal maiden.”
“Umm…I’ve always been living in the temple so this is my first time speaking with neighbours like this. Truth is, I’m a bit surprised too. But I myself want to get along with everyone also, if I don’t I’ll probably make my husband feel awkward.”
While saying that, Calcedonia put her cheeks on her hand, and smiled somewhat happily.
Actually, Calcedonia had poor social skills..
Ever since she was in her home town, she was looked down upon with cold eyes by the villagers and her family. Even after coming to the temple, other than Giuseppe who had adopted her as his daughter, the number of people she could talk with in a friendly manner was very small.
But, now that she would be living here, she had to skillfully get along with her neighbours. Even if, for some reason she isolated herself from the other housewives, Tatsumi might start to feel awkward.
Because Tatsumi promised to work hard for her sake, she also resolved to try harder for his sake.
“Hmm. Well, it’s not like I wouldn’t be able to help you at all.”
After seeing Tatsumi becoming visibly more depressed, Giuseppe smiled like a kid whose prank was a success.
“First practice so that you can skillfully manipulate the outer origin mana. Right now, you cannot even gather outer origin mana consciously can you?”
“Right…it’s as you say.”
Till now, Tatsumi used magic only once. And even then he was mostly unconscious. He did use mana a few times, but there weren’t any occasions he could operate it by his own will.
To be able to consciously operate mana, that was Tatsumi’s first and foremost goal.
“Though Son-in-law is different than us, I think we could still be of reference to you. First I’ll explain the ins and outs of when we use magic. First–”
There is no reason to rush. It’s alright if he could properly grasp the things he needed first, firmly.
After telling himself that, Tatsumi concentrated on Giuseppe’s lecture.
“I’m home—”
At the seventh bell — long pa.s.sed 6PM — when the surrounding were completely dark, Tatsumi finally returned home.
“Welcome back, master!”
After opening the door with a key — Magic key, made by Calcedonia which only opened after using the correct pa.s.s-phrase — Tatsumi tiredly entered, after which he greeted Calcedonia who greeted him.
“Good work. So how was it? Today’s lessons.”
“Well…how do I say it…. I don’t think I should look forward to it too much…ahahaha”
Even if he was suddenly told to feel the mana which was around him, since he has never felt it before since the moment he was born, it was easier said than done. He spent today all day trying to do that under Giuseppe’s leadership.
But in the end he couldn’t feel anything.
“n.o.body can suddenly feel magic you know? Even I had to work hard for a while till I was able to do it.”
“Is that so…yeah. There’s no way it would go smooth so suddenly.”
Before, Giuseppe said Calcedonia was a genius. But even she had to work hard.
And he might not even have talent for it. While he was feeling down, Calcedonia comforted him.
And as the legend said, when someone was comforted by a beautiful woman he would instantly feel better.
“I already prepared dinner. Master, please go ahead and take a bath, the water is ready.”
Whether it was preparing the hot water for the bath or other things, Calcedonia could easily do them with her magic.
“Thanks. I’m really lucky that I have Chiiko.”
“N-No..I’m happy…just being of use to you…..”
“But I can’t let Chiiko handle everything at home. I can help out too. Like wood-chopping and stuff.”
Tatsumi said while showing off his biceps, but then Calcedonia started to fidget while her cheeks turned red.
“T-Then Master…I have a r-request but…”
“A request? Well as long as I can do it.”
“T-Then…….C-Can I sleep with you tonight?”
……Click!
Tatsumi’s body froze with a sound.