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Why What Magic
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I didn’t know my parents in my previous life.
At around the time I reached the age of discretion, I was in an institution. Even that institution was destroyed by crime-terror.
I alone had survived. I drifted around, and am picked up by a certain woman.
As an eccentric who lived deep in the mountains—in what could also be called one of the most secluded regions that people don’t travel to—she was an abnormally strong person.
That I was able to have survived for even sixty years, is probably thanks to being trained by this woman, my shishou.
In other words, until shishou passed away, it could also be called a continued experience of living hell.
Until this very day, I haven’t even seen the faces of my parents. They are my parents, but whether it’s about my past parents or present parents, I’m not that discouraged by it.
All in all, my mind is of an over sixty year old ossan, and there’s also Erina-san, Noel and Dee here, so i’m not particularly lonely.
At any rate, at the present time, with the necessities of life all at my disposal, the only thing to do is to train the body as early as possible.
Half a year has past.
As usual and hopefully as always, by eluding maid-san, I perform the exercises that are part of my daily routine.
The designer was shishou.
“I wish I picked you up before you reached the age of discretion… If I had done that then you probably would had become a warrior that surpassed me…”
“That’s, you know, ‘exploit them until they die’. Hey, I’ll think up of some proper adjustments for them.”
The instant Noel witnessed that, her ears and tail stood up, and she did a full powered dash to Erina-san. When I demonstrate it again in front of all of them, they are delighted and looked like they were going to jump up and down in joy. Usually Erina-san doesn’t drink alcohol, but she is in high spirits during dinner and appears to have gotten drunk. It seems that her doting parent level also continues to rise day after day.
One year since I was born.
My body is growing favourably. Even the daily exercises are now being changed to muscle training with push-ups, sit-ups, etc. It’ll soon be at the point where I want to train my stamina by jogging. My walking debut is also not far off.
“Over here, Sirius-sama. Please have a look at it today too, okay~”
Still, Noel’s frivolous manner is the same.
Is it redundant to add that afterwards she was eventually discovered by Erina-san and was scolded?
The next day, after getting out of bed, I finish my strength training and tried to make an attempt at magic. If only there was also a textbook…but to begin with, I really can’t find any ‘books’ around. Setting aside whether paper is valuable or not for later, other than the fireball that Noel showed me, I had no information about magic. In the meantime, I tried out following the same steps as Noel, but……nothing happens. Is it my power of concentration that is insufficient, or some other factor?
Within the postprandial mellow atmosphere, Erina-san and Noel are knitting. Dee was preparing the tea. Sitting on top of the rug, and looking at the three of them, I executed that strategy.
“Erina-san, Sirius-sama is looking over here?”
“Eri—”
“Erina—”
It’d be amusing to play the fool and say ‘Dee’, but it seems like she’d seriously become depressed if I did, so let’s call out her name shall we?
“Noel—”
Turning around, Dee had also come closer, and is pointing at himself as if to say ‘what about me?’.
“Dee—”
“He’s walking! Sirius-sama is walking!”
Walking briskly all of a sudden would be eerie, so I advance while occasionally pretending to stumble. It’s was just a distance of five steps, but when I finally safely reached the end of Erina-san’s arms, which were spread out in wait, I was interposed between two people.
“You did it splendidly Sirius-sama. Erina is proud!”
The problem is magic. As it’s something that didn’t exist in any form in my previous life, I have absolutely no idea how I should make a start on it. Although it’s only a few words, I’ve removed the embargo on language, so I’ll try and somehow get information out from Noel.
“Today I’ll show you different magic. Uum, if i’m not mistaken……it’s not dangerous if it’s this one, right?”
Noel had came today as well, but she was grasping a book in that hand of hers. Nice going Noel. I’ve been waiting for that. Although you probably planned to hide that you’re reading from a book, what you’re doing is obvious, so hurry up and show me that book.
While I was being a little bit impressed by her growth, Noel had gotten permission and returned.
It might sound weird coming from someone like me who can’t even understand the letters, but you’re the one using that magic, so put some effort into understanding it, will you. Although she didn’t understand it, Noel continued to read the rest of it aloud. The author’s grammar is extremely tortuous, and I also couldn’t read the letters, so even though I could understand it, I had a hard time.
Maryouku is something that isn’t visible to the eye, but exists everywhere; even us humans are living with magic inside of us. Consuming that maryouku within the body, and invoking a fireball like Noel did, is what common magic is.
It seems that drawing ‘magic squares’ and pouring one own’s maryouku into it to invoke magic is also possible. This is used in things called ‘magical tools’ such as those which light up the night, or start the fire for cooking. The drawing itself is an exceedingly delicate process, and perhaps because you have to invoke the magic via the magic squares, the resulting force is weak. Once you’ve drawn it you can utilise it repeatedly, as long as it hasn’t worn down, so it’s fixed into everyday items.
There are other magics. For example, there are also those who borrow the power of spirits to evoke [Spirit Magic].
[Be aware of the general concept of ‘fire’, desire it such that you yourself can think up and bring fire into existence]……is what it says, but if you have the keywords that have been handed down, it will be invoked. For example there are researchers who work day and night for the sake of shortening the aria as much as possible. [Flame] is an elementary fire-attribute magic, and the exact same aria that Noel recited also appears in this book.
As you use magic, your maryouku decreases, and you feel a corresponding amount of fatigue. It starts with a lethargy that attacks your whole body, eventually you faint, and if you’re not careful, it seems that you can even lose your life.
Maryouku is in the atmosphere, so if one were to use that, they should be able to become strong with ease, to use a massive amount of it. As I am thinking that, in the guidebook it’s written that such a thing is ‘meaningless’.
For example, if what humans were using was black coloured maryouku, then the maryouku throughout the atmosphere is white coloured maryouku. The forced conversion from white to black uses maryouku, so even if you gathered a massive amount of it, you’d have to subtract that conversion amount, and thus the magic would end up not having that much force. Ah, so that’s why ‘meaningless’ was written.
In the same way that one’s personal maryouku is important, so is the [Attribute].
The fire attribute excels in fire magic, the water attribute excels in water magic, and if the attribute is known, then the direction of the magic is also naturally decided.
Perhaps it was because I was totally engrossed in listening, quite a bit of time has passed.
“Fu—, let’s stop around here for today shall we. I’m also tired from reading aloud.”
“Wah! Erina-san, when did you…”
Looking back, Erina-san, who had given a soft smile, had brewed some black tea.
“Just now. That aside, you’re thirsty right? I’ll take charge of Sirius-sama.”
The lap of a young Noel also feels good, but as expected, Erina-san is special. There’s an amazing sense of security. Erina-san picked up the book while affectionately patting my head.
“You were very studious weren’t you? It seems like if it’s Sirius-sama, he’ll unintentionally use magic before long.”
“That’s true. However, I can’t help but think ‘if it’s Sirius-sama…’.”
I see, if it’s me……eh? If they have great expectations of me, then I ought to live up to those expectations. First I have to start with becoming able to read the alphabet.
“Attribute huh. By the way, what might Sirius-sama’s attribute be?”
I also wondered about that.
“It’s that isn’t it? Just a minute, I’ll go fetch it. ”
The attribute judgement tool that Noel brought is, a spherical crystal placed into the center of a small wrapping cloth, it’s appearance was of a simple construction. However, there is a complex pattern drawn on the wrapping cloth, so I guess this is the magic square written about in the book.
“Well Sirius-sama. Please put your hand over here.”
The change is in an instant, the crystal casts a glaring light and I instantly closed my eyes. It was something that I was watching intently at point blank range, so it would’ve been dangerous if I was late in closing my eyes. Because I reflexively removed my hand from it, by the time I had opened my eyes, the light had vanished. It had disappeared before I could see what colour it was.
“Erina-sama, that was…”
This time, while protecting my eyes with the opposite hand, I check the crystal’s colour.
“No way……”
Are? Why are you two making such sad-looking expressions?
I thought it was a pretty intense light, but is this the ‘it’s hopeless pattern’? Something like, ‘you seriously have no talent’, is it that kind of punchline?
“Me too—.”
Why are you turning your compassionate eyes towards me? For heaven’s sake, please explain it to me. There’s no way that my wish would reach them, and the two of them showed more concern for me than usual.
But [Colourless]……is it?
I have a bad feeling about it.