Ch.24Training (2)

Honestly, I thought I could do it a little.

The legendary master’s unique yet intense, but practical training.

The harsh pressure applied to both body and mind.

The manifestation of a brilliant talent I never knew I had until now.

It was the cliché of all clichés, something you’d hear dozens of times in countless novels or personal accounts.

That’s why I thought I would succeed at least once after all this suffering.

I thought I could do it too.

However, throughout the entire day of being chased by her, I didn’t successfully cast a single spell.

I collapsed onto the ground, my body covered in bruises from being hit by ice shards.

Given the condition of my legs to begin with, I obviously wasn’t running that fast, but now I feel like I can’t take even one more step.

As I lay there trying to catch my breath, the woman who had covered my entire body in bruises slowly approached me and said:

“…Ash, didn’t you say you could use advanced magic?”

“…Uh-huh.”

I tried to answer “yes,” but my tongue wouldn’t cooperate, making my pronunciation terribly slurred.

Her incredulous expression was completely understandable.

In reality, I could use all basic spells, most intermediate spells, and even several advanced spells.

If we were just counting the variety of spells I could use, I could have qualified for at least an entry-level position at the Royal Magic Institute.

I took a deep breath and answered slowly, carefully focusing on my pronunciation.

“…I studied hard.”

“No matter how well you’ve mastered the theory, if you can’t cast spells while running, it’s useless.”

“…Why don’t you mention the part about magic flying at me that could break something if it hits?”

“Yes, and not being able to cast spells just because you’re flustered doesn’t make sense either. Maybe if you were working in a research institute, but not if you’re going to live in a forest that’s practically the middle of nowhere.”

“Sigh…”

“To be honest, among adventurers, there are many who can’t use as many spells as you, Ash. No, most of them can only use three or four spells at most. But those guys don’t fail to cast magic in critical moments.”

Of course, she was right a hundred, a thousand times over.

In a life-or-death situation, what use would it be to know the world’s most powerful spell if you’re too flustered to cast it?

A mage who can accurately launch a single fireball would be more useful than me, who merely knows how to use numerous spells.

“Hmm… this is a problem.”

She sat on the ground and gently lifted my head onto her lap.

I knew well enough that I had no talent.

But why did I learn magic in the first place?

Ah, it was to catch up to my sister, who had shown exceptional talent for magic since childhood.

Magic seemed so easy because my somewhat silly sister Maria could cast spells without any effort.

I realized my sister was a genius when I was 13, struggling with headache-inducing studies just to barely master intermediate magic.

Even that was learned a year or two earlier than average people, but my sister had already started learning advanced magic at the age of eight.

Lacking talent, I devoted myself to studying and managed to learn many spells, but because I had only learned magic while sitting in a chair for long periods, I found it difficult to cast spells in environments that weren’t quiet and conducive to concentration.

“It really is difficult… I guess I don’t have the talent.”

“…Talent?”

“But, Silvia… you said you had no talent for magic…”

Silvia clearly said she had no talent for magic, but considering the number of spells she had used throughout the day, that didn’t seem to be the case.

Mages had a limit to how many spells they could cast without rest.

This depended on how much magical power they could absorb from the air while breathing, and this absorption capacity didn’t require any special breathing technique, nor did it increase significantly with training for most people.

Just like you can’t forcibly increase the size of your lungs.

The average mage could cast about ten spells in succession at most, and even if they spent their entire life trying to increase their magical capacity, they could typically only add two or three more spells to that limit.

Yet she had shot ice shards at me more than 30 times today.

“I do have abundant magical power… but I had no talent for learning magic. Still, it was useful. Having a large amount of magical power makes it easier to resist spells like paralysis or poison.”

“I see.”

“What about your magical capacity, Ash?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never used it to its limit.”

“Oh, then you must have quite a lot, right?”

“No, I’ve never cast spells consecutively.”

Silvia looked down at me with an incredulous expression.

I smiled awkwardly and said:

“Besides studying, what reason would I have to use magic while living in a mansion?”

To begin with, I was taught that using magic indoors or in public places was considered bad manners.

Common sense dictated that you shouldn’t risk causing accidents by casting spells in crowded places. Nobody wanted to waste magical power unnecessarily due to capacity limitations anyway, so this was a widely accepted social norm and manner.

Of course, there are eccentrics everywhere, and my sister would use levitation magic to enter and exit through the upper floor windows of our mansion because she found walking tedious.

I heard that there were days when my sister used magic more than a hundred times at the academy.

Thinking about my sister suddenly made me feel like there was an impossibly high wall before me.

Forget about my sister—why had I spent so much time on magic when I couldn’t even reach the level of an ordinary person?

No, did I even try hard enough?

Had I been too fixated on cramming new spells into my head while neglecting to practice actually casting them?

Had I, lacking talent, even misdirected my efforts?

All my past years suddenly felt completely useless.

Feeling utterly pathetic, tears welled up in my eyes, and I raised my hand to cover them.

“Ash.”

Silvia gently took the hand covering my eyes and called my name.

I tried my best to hide my tears as I composed my voice to answer.

“…Yes?”

“Don’t worry. There’s still a way.”

Silvia slowly removed the bear skin that was loosely wrapped around my body.

As the weight of the thick hide brushed against my body, my bruises throbbed.

Silvia quietly placed her hand on my solar plexus.

As her hand emitted a green light, I could feel the pain from the bruises gradually fading away.

“That’s convenient.”

“It’s divine power bestowed by the goddess. You’ll be punished if you treat it like a convenient tool.”

“…Haha.”

I laughed bitterly.

Somehow, it seemed like Silvia could do anything, and I must have unconsciously become snippy.

However, Silvia didn’t mind and continued:

“It’s only the first day. Don’t be too disheartened.”

“…But,”

“I told you earlier. There’s still a way.”

“What way?”

“Along with the training we did today, we’ll also train you to become more comfortable with magic, and you’ll improve.”

“…I’m not sure.”

“Hey, don’t think negatively. You can definitely do it.”

“…”

I just moved my lips silently.

She tapped my lips and said:

“Ash, you can definitely do it.”

“…I don’t know.”

“This is it. To properly use what you’ve learned in the moment, you need guts and mental strength. That’s true for anything, not just magic.”

Indeed, the same would apply to a bow or sword—a split-second decision determines whether you hit or miss.

“…I suppose so.”

“I’ll build up your courage, and your mental strength is already sufficient.”

I smiled wryly.

It was a self-deprecating smile, feeling miserable at her clumsy attempt to comfort me.

“Me, who ran up a tree because I was scared of a bear?”

“First of all, the bear you encountered wasn’t an ordinary beast. It’s an opponent that even adventurers with five or six years of experience would barely survive against. You’re underestimating wild animals.”

“…”

“Second, you walked from the carriage accident site to my cabin with a body that should have died. Even I couldn’t do that. I would have died along the way.”

She said with a smile.

Indeed, even I don’t know how I managed to walk all the way here without dying that day.

But what I can say for certain is that I accomplished that incredible feat.

A leg broken so badly the bone was exposed, arms bent in all directions, internal organs displaced.

I walked that long distance with a body that shouldn’t have been able to even stand.

“…Ah.”

“Right?”

She gently removed the hand covering my eyes and looked into them.

Perhaps because it was already getting dark, I couldn’t see her shadowed face as she looked down at me, but even without seeing it, I could tell she was giving me a kind smile.

“Come with me when I hunt starting tomorrow.”

“Hunting?”

“It’s safe since your life won’t be threatened, but you’ll miss the prey if your timing is off, so some tension is necessary. Don’t you think that would help with your magic training? Of course, we’ll also continue today’s training every other day.”

“…”

“I was actually planning to have you do this after you became a bit more accustomed, but it seems what you lack isn’t skill but practical experience.”

It seemed Silvia had thought of various methods for my training.

Somehow, I felt a little happy that she had put so much thought into it for me.

Come to think of it, it was quite remarkable.

Although she wasn’t a mage, I was receiving one-on-one tutoring from a hero.

Where else could I find such a luxury?

Moreover, as she said, perhaps what I need right now isn’t a magic teacher.

What I need to learn now isn’t magical knowledge but how to fight.

“Silvia.”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you.”

“…Be even more grateful.”

“Haha.”

I slowly sat up.

The bruises that had covered my body were already gone.

My legs were still shaky, but I could walk well enough.

Silvia patted my shoulder and said:

“And even if all the training fails, it’s okay. I’ll keep you with me for the rest of my life.”

“…It’s not like either of us can leave this forest anyway.”

“Hehe, that’s true. In the worst case, I just need to keep you from entering the forest.”

“Just out of curiosity, how do you plan to do that?”

“…”

“Are you going to build a fence or something?”

“No, I have a more definitive method.”

“…What is it? You’re not planning to cut off my legs, are you? Haha.”

“…”

She didn’t answer.

She just quietly looked at me with a smile.

“…Haha…ha.”

“…”

“…Are you planning to cut off my legs…?”

“…Hehe.”

Wait, what kind of joke is this?

.