Support the translator on lazytranslations.com
“You are very good at
adjusting your magic, so I think you can do magic right out of the box. But
let’s start with something simple. Let’s start with an explanation about spells…”
(Liddy)
Spells are words that
efficiently tell the spirits of each attribute what the magician wants them to
do.
The spell consists of chanting
the name of the god of that attribute to identify the attribute you want to
use. Next, tell the spirits what form you want their power to take, and tell
them that you will give them magical power. Once the spirit’s power is in the
desired form, the activation keywords are to be chanted when you wish to cast
the magic.
This is the composition of the
spell, but mere chanting is not enough to make it magical; it is important to
imagine it strongly.
(So, the spell is a complement
to the image? I don’t understand what she means by “spirits”. Are they something
we can’t see?) (Zack)
I can’t imagine the invisible
spirits.
“Are the spirits invisible? I
know about the gods because I met them.” (Zack)
She let out a huge sigh and
muttered, “You really are an outlier, aren’t you?”
“There are many people
who can see spirits. But I’ve rarely heard of anyone claiming to have seen the
gods.” (Liddy)
“Well, I don’t know if they
are really gods, but I think based on the many stories that I read, those
entities that I met are gods.” (Zack)
“I only know that the Founder
of God of Church can say that. Even that person, has only met the God of Light
Lucidus. However, from the God of Creation to the three Major Gods, and all of
the Gods controlling the attributes… I have no words anymore.” (Liddy)
I was wary of any mention of
religion.
“Could it be something
pretty bad?” I asked.
“Yes, it is. If you tell
that to the priests of the Church of Light, they will say, ‘Heretic!’ ‘That’s
blasphemy!’ Well, I think the only reaction of a normal person would be, ‘What
are you talking about?’” (Liddy)
When I asked her more about the
Church of Light, I was told that it is a radical group that believes in the God
of Light, Lucidus, as the sole and absolute God. In order to gain a place of
faith, they rose up in the western part of the Caelum Empire and even
established a country called the Holy Kingdom of Lux.
(A combination of state and
religion, huh? That’s the worst. We must definitely avoid being noticed by a
religious state… Oops, I’m getting off track here.) (Zack)
Since the conversation has been
derailed, I will have to move it back to the original topic, magic.
“We’ve gone on a tangent.
Is there any simple magic I could do?” (Zack)
Liddy put her finger on her chin,
and tilted her head slightly, as she ponders.
The truth is that the way she moves
is strangely suitable for her.
(Such childish gestures are
also cute after a few drinks might be good, especially with her other gestures which
are also good…) (Zack)
As I look at her while
thinking about this, she claps her hands, as if something came to her mind.
“There was an easy one.
The magic of conjuring water. The Water Creation magic. This one consumes very
little magic power, and even you should be able to handle it.” (Liddy)
With that, she quickly taught
me the spell.
Then, holding the mug from
which she had just been drinking in her hand, she said,
“Remember the spell I am
about to say. ‘O Fons, God of Water, Guardian of the bubbling spring. May the
blood of thy spirits be upon me. I offer the power of mine life as payment. Bubble
forth, Water Creation.’” (Liddy)
As she finishes her
incantation, liquid gushes out into the mug.
I was startled by the sight
but tried desperately to remember the spell.
I repeated the spell several
times in my mouth, and when I thought I could do it, I nodded to her.
“I’ll give it a try now.
If you see anything strange as you watch, please let me know.” (Zack)
As she watched, I took a deep
breath and slowly began to chant the incantation.
“O Fons, God of Water,
Guardian of the bubbling spring. May the blood of thy spirits be upon me. I
offer the power of mine life as payment. Bubble forth, Water Creation.”
(Zack)
I finish chanting the spell,
but nothing happens.
I look at Liddy’s face, my
shoulders slumped.
“What went wrong? I
thought the spell was perfect.” (Zack)
She looks at me with a small
smile, as if she finds my downcast appearance funny.
“I told you before. I said
you need to visualize the spell as you cast it.” (Liddy)
I was so focused on casting
the spell that I forgot to visualize it.
(How do you visualize making
water? I’m too frustrated to ask Liddy, so I’ll just have to figure it out
myself?) (Zack)
I came up with the standard
“condensation” image of making water.
But then I wondered if
condensation would be enough to get the amount of water she had made.
Condensation is certainly the easiest way to understand it, but the amount of
water in the air should be about 20 to 30 grams per cubic meter, even at 100
percent humidity. If it was the amount she had produced, I would have to
collect water from a very wide area.
(Condensation would be
impossible. If I can use an image, I can think of it as moving the water from
where it is through invisible pipes. Okay, let’s say there is an underground
source of water. You pump it up with a magic pump. I connect the invisible
piping to the bottom of the jug and… Okay, I can do that!) (Zack)
I decide on a plan, take
another breath, and slowly chant the spell.
“O Fons, God of Water,
Guardian of the bubbling spring. May the blood of thy spirits be upon me. I
offer the power of mine life as payment. Bubble forth, Water Creation.”
(Zack)
I feel the magic power stored
in my right-hand drain away.
As the magic power drains out,
the water slowly fills up the mug. I was excited at my first successful magic.
However, the excitement soon
cools down. The water that had gushed out kept accumulating and overflowing
from the mug.
I rushed to stop it, but my
impatience prevented me from doing so.
“Stop releasing magical
power. Return the magical power you have stored in your hand to your
body!” (Liddy)
Her voice stopped the release
of magic power, and the water finally stopped.
“I was stunned. If you
succeed so easily, there is no point for me to come here. Oh, I think I should
go home now.” (Liddy)
She didn’t seem to like the
fact that I had succeeded so easily in just two attempts, and she made a sultry
expression with her mouth pouting as she made an “X” with her fingers.
(It may be true about what Grandfather
said about her mental age is the same as Mel’s. Or is he just acting spoiled because
of me? Or does she want to be spoiled by me? Me, who looks like a four-year-old?)
(Zack)
“Don’t say such a lonely
thing. Liddy was the reason I was able to use it. You should be proud of that,
you know. I wish you could teach me more things, Teacher Liddy.” (Zack)
I praise Liddy, who sulks
cutely as I wipe the floor, which is now wet.
She says, “It can’t be
helped. I’ll keep teaching you,” she said and hugged me.
From the outside, it was just
a beautiful older sister hugging her little brother, but inside my heart, I was
filled with all sorts of emotions.
Yes, I was beginning to be
attracted to her. I was first attracted to her appearance, but the childish
gestures she sometimes showed, especially the sweet expression on her face when
she asked me to stay with her, made me feel a protective desire to care for
her.
(How could I want to protect
her with the body of a four-year-old? I really resent this little body. If only
I had met her when I was older…) (Zack)
The excessive skinship was
distracting me.
I am powerless to pull away
from her, and I am helpless to let her do it to me.
I don’t hate this situation by
any means. In fact, I even like it, but it’s a cruel situation that reminds me
of my helplessness.
I force myself to sound
cheerful and lightly pat her on the shoulder.
“Yes, yes, I’ll be
counting on you. But you’d better wipe off the water quickly, or it will soak
into the floor.”
At my words, she hurriedly
begins to wipe the floor.
(I wonder what she thinks of
me… I don’t even need to think about it. Just a kid she knows. Just her student…)
(Zack)
I left her room with a single
word, “Exhausted”, without any excitement or joy that the magic had
succeeded.
T/N: Support me by donating on Paypal and Ko-fi or become a Ko-fi Supporter. You can also rate and review the series on Novel Updates. Don’t forget to add it to your reading list! Thank you.