Ch.26Training (4)

*

In the silent forest, only the distant fluttering of birds taking flight echoed through the air.

White smoke rose from the scorched black ground.

Watching the scene, I silently brushed the dirt off my backside and slowly stood up.

“Ash. Are you alright?”

“…Ah, yes. But…”

I stared blankly at the rabbit burrow I had just blown apart.

To begin with, I’d say my first hunt was half successful, half failure.

Did I succeed in killing the rabbit?

Yes. My magic—whether it was a fireball or not—that burrowed into the rabbit’s den had cleanly cut off the rabbit’s breath.

Could I eat the hunted rabbit?

No. The rabbit had vanished without a trace, leaving only ashes behind.

As I poked through the charred burrow with a branch, I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh at the absurdity.

Sylvia seemed equally dumbfounded.

“Well… um, the power is quite usable.”

“… Heh, y-yes… I suppose so.”

After a long silence, Sylvia managed to find something to praise with great difficulty.

Appreciating her effort, I awkwardly agreed.

Well, she wasn’t wrong.

The magic I had just used showed significantly different power compared to an ordinary fireball.

To cause an explosion of this magnitude, one would typically need to create a flame so large it would be difficult to control with one hand from the start, or use an entirely different explosion spell instead of a fireball.

That burning four-legged beast form.

Was it simply a failed spell? Or had I accidentally created a new type of magic?

One thing was certain—what I had used was definitely not a fireball.

I asked Sylvia if we could investigate this magic further.

“Sylvia, I’d like to check something…”

“Feel free to try whatever you want.”

She nodded before I could even finish my sentence.

“Anyway, that explosion just scared off all the animals in the area.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. We already caught a deer. Speaking of which, I’ll go retrieve the deer while you try casting a few more spells.”

“Oh, you’re going to leave me alone…?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be right back,”

She patted my head a couple of times and then dashed away, disappearing between the trees.

As everything suddenly went quiet around me, I started feeling uneasy again, though I’d been fine just moments ago.

Making loud noises would probably scare away any wild animals.

With that reasoning, I attempted to recreate the magic I had just used.

*

Sylvia quickly reached the spot where the deer she had shot lay fallen.

She spotted the deer, dead from an arrow that had precisely pierced its heart, blood pooling beneath it.

“Here it is.”

Sylvia debated whether to skin it now or after taking it back to the cabin.

To preserve the hide, she should skin it now, but if they weren’t returning immediately, it would be better not to.

Preserve the meat, or preserve the hide?

Sylvia considered briefly.

If they had other game, it wouldn’t matter, but she instinctively knew their hunting for the day was already over.

She had planned to have Ash practice hunting with magic, but the explosion earlier had scared away all the animals in the vicinity.

Unless they wanted to track game all day, this deer would be today’s only result.

“Ah, teaching is difficult…”

Whether it was yesterday’s training or today’s hunt, she had vaguely thought things would work out when planning, but once they started, nothing went as expected.

Honestly, though she spoke confidently about various things, Sylvia was quite flustered.

Yesterday, she had thought there was no way Ash would fail every attempt, but he truly hadn’t succeeded even once.

Today, she had thought hunting would be possible with her guidance, but the situation had become completely unsuitable for hunting.

The water flask at her waist swayed emptily.

Sylvia sighed and muttered to herself.

“…Hmm, there’s nothing urgent to make anyway.”

As for hides, they still had half of the bear skin left.

Though it wasn’t particularly useful since it had been cut vertically, it would suffice if they just needed some leather.

It would be cumbersome to field dress the deer here, and she was also concerned about leaving Ash alone for too long.

Sylvia decided to quickly return to Ash, slinging the deer over her shoulder.

Today, they would observe Ash’s magic a bit more, gather some wild herbs, and that would be the end of another day.

Sylvia slowly began walking.

“…That magic,”

As she walked back toward Ash, Sylvia fell into thought.

Ash had declared himself talentless.

Judging from yesterday’s training that had continued into the night, his harsh self-assessment was sadly accurate.

Though she couldn’t bring herself to tell him directly, it was clear to her that Ash indeed lacked talent.

It wasn’t simply that he lacked talent for magic.

It was something more fundamental.

He was overwhelmingly deficient in the talent needed to fight and survive in this harsh world.

His mind was rigid, trapped in theory, and he lacked quick judgment and reflexes, unable to regain composure rapidly in moments of panic.

As an adventurer, where life and death could be determined in an instant, he would score zero points.

That’s how he appeared to her, someone at the pinnacle of adventuring.

‘But… perhaps.’

But that unidentified magic that had completely incinerated the rabbit burrow just now,

And even before that, the pillar of fire he had shot up at the lake when he failed his spell.

In both cases, they were failed incantations that hadn’t produced the results Ash wanted.

Yet they shared the common trait of having terrifying power.

Even Sylvia, confident in her magical power, couldn’t produce such force with a single spell.

Though he might lack sense and skill, he might have an enormous amount of magical power hidden within him.

‘He might even have more than me.’

That’s what Sylvia thought.

Of course, she wasn’t certain.

It could simply be that his magic had failed and exploded.

In fact, that possibility was more likely.

Sylvia shook her head, dismissing the complicated thoughts.

“Well, it’s fine if Ash isn’t good at such things.”

What did it matter if he couldn’t use magic well or handle rough tasks?

I’ll stay with him until he gets used to it.

That’s what Sylvia thought.

Besides, she knew many of Ash’s strengths.

He had a kind and gentle personality, knew how to consider others, and even when faced with hardship, though he might feel sad, he never let sorrow consume him.

He was quick to understand, attentive to others’ emotions, and for a nobleman, surprisingly good with his hands.

Looking at it this way, Ash seemed more suited to be a homemaker than someone who ventured outside.

He belonged more in a cabin than in the forest, more in a kitchen than at a campsite.

Sylvia didn’t notice that thinking about Ash had unconsciously brought a smile to her face.

“He really shows signs of having been raised with love.”

A child raised with love.

That’s how she often felt about Ash.

Not spoiled, but properly raised in a harmonious, loving family.

Watching Ash often reminded her of Maria, a companion who had journeyed with her to defeat the Demon King.

The greatest archmage in the academy’s history, Sylvia’s friend, and her magic mentor.

She, too, like Ash, showed many signs of having been raised with love.

Of course, unlike Ash, she had a strong mischievous streak and tended to do as she pleased,

But she never lost her sense of humor even in the most difficult situations and was a wonderful companion who knew how to approach and comfort struggling teammates.

Sometimes when drinking, she would long for the family she hadn’t seen in a long time.

Of course, missing family wasn’t just her story.

Adventurers were fundamentally wanderers who yearned for freedom and walked into this dangerous world of their own accord, but deep down, they were always foreigners longing for home.

They missed their families, wanted to return home, and desired to settle down and build families.

Many male adventurers would gather for drinking parties after earning a large sum, and when thoroughly drunk, they would put their arms around each other’s shoulders and always proclaim the same dream.

A foxy wife, children like rabbits.

A happy home where everyone lived together in harmony.

Though he lacked the qualities of an adventurer, Ash had probably grown up in just such a household that almost all adventurers dreamed of.

“Family…”

Thinking about it suddenly made her feel a bit envious of Ash.

Sylvia had never had such a family.

She had no loving parents or siblings to quarrel with.

Her life had been one of constant training since being sold cheaply as a soldier to a noble household when she was young.

She had never thought of herself as unfortunate because she had many comrades with whom she shared strong bonds,

But she had never once experienced a warm family, so whenever she heard drunken adventurers rambling about wanting to build families, she couldn’t even imagine what it would feel like.

Parents… family…

“Enough of this, what’s the point of such thoughts.”

Sylvia shook her head and quickened her pace.

At this point, thinking about family was just an unattainable dream for her.

What family could she have when she couldn’t even leave this forest?

The one fortunate thing was that she didn’t really know what having a family was like.

Not knowing, she didn’t desperately yearn for it either.

Though she desperately missed human interaction to the point of tears, that was merely because the isolation from human relationships brought unbearable loneliness.

Even that thirst had already been quenched thanks to Ash.

“I’m back. Nothing happened, I see.”

Ash had come into Sylvia’s view.

Upon spotting Sylvia, he smiled brightly and waved his hand.

At that moment, a thought flashed through Sylvia’s mind.

‘…Is Ash my family?’

*

Sylvia returned carrying the deer.

Since her shoulder was completely soaked with blood from the deer, we slowly made our way back to the cabin, gathering wild herbs, various herbs, and mushrooms.

Along the way, I told her what I had discovered while she was retrieving the deer.

What I had learned was that the beast-like form—whether fox or wolf—didn’t appear when using magic other than fire.

Though I had already confirmed this at the lake, testing with various elements yielded more detailed results.

Elemental magics other than fire necessarily required magic formulas that defined their shape, so those experiments weren’t particularly meaningful.

The one exception was wind.

The wind that swirled and rose from my palm did seem to flicker in a vaguely beast-like form, but it was transparent and difficult to make out, and it dispersed so quickly that it was honestly hard to call it a beast form.

If I tried to gather it to prevent dispersal, the beast form would blur, making it ambiguous again.

Fire, and if what I briefly saw in the wind magic was indeed a beast form, then wind as well.

These two magics, unlike water or ice and other elements, didn’t require predefined shapes.

If so, perhaps as my sister thought, this beast form might be the basic form of my magical power.

The very concept of magic having a form was an unfamiliar theory, but I had never once considered that my magic might take the form of a beast, which honestly made me a bit uncomfortable.

Why a beast of all things?

It would have been nicer if it were some cool magic circle or something like that.

The second thing I discovered was that fire magic in the shape of a beast was an entirely different magic from conventional spells, and I could cast this particular magic quickly.

Of course, that wasn’t a reason to avoid practicing other magic, but at least with this spell, I might somehow manage the “running while dodging ice with magic” training she had me do last night.

As I eagerly chattered about my findings, Sylvia gave a brief, faint smile and praised me, saying, “You worked hard in such a short time.”

Somehow, I felt she had been treating me more like a child since we slept together.

Perhaps showing such a panicked reaction was the cause.

But I didn’t protest about being treated like a child.

I knew that would only make me seem more childish.

The basket, which we had only brought one of, quickly filled up.

We had left the cabin early in the morning and were able to return by lunchtime.

As soon as we got back, she butchered the deer, and I prepared lunch.

Today’s lunch was freshly butchered venison.

Neither Sylvia nor I usually ate lunch, or we kept it simple, but she said she got quite hungry after going out and requested lunch.

I nodded confidently in response to her request.

Most of what we gathered on the way were mushrooms, but we also had some herbs, so today was a chance to properly showcase my skills.

I was starting to get annoyed at being treated like a child, and the cause was probably my repeated clumsy actions.

Over the past few days, I had been chased by a bear, greatly flustered by her teasing when she exposed her skin, and repeatedly failed at both magic and hunting, so it might be natural for her to see me as childlike.

But cooking was different.

Cooking was one of the few skills where I excelled over her.

Since she said she was hungry, I needed to provide a hearty meal.

I made cuts in the appetizing deer leg, inserted herbs between the cuts, and roasted it whole.

Roasting mushrooms as a side dish would make it perfect.

It had a somewhat wild atmosphere, but that was part of the charm.

I confidently presented the dish to Sylvia.

And of course, she ate it with great enjoyment.

With a triumphant expression, I asked:

“Is it delicious?”

“Yes, that goes without saying. Ash, you’re a cooking genius.”

She acknowledged it readily.

It made me feel a bit embarrassed for trying so hard to appear mature.

I replied awkwardly:

“Haha, I wish I were as good at magic as I am at cooking.”

“It’s okay. You’ll get better soon.”

Sylvia quickly devoured the deer leg.

Seeing her satisfied smile as she wiped the grease from the corners of her mouth made me happy too.

I had found a clue to magic that could help against dangerous forest animals, and we had eaten a proper, delicious meat dish instead of smelly bear meat.

It felt like today was going exceptionally well.

One of those days with a good feeling.

“Ash.”

“Yes?”

Sylvia smiled and said:

“Now that we’ve eaten. Come to the river in an hour,”

“Huh? Oh… for washing dishes?”

“No.”

She smiled and created ice in her palm.

Angular ice cubes rolled around in her palm.

“You said you could do it, right?”

“…Ah,”

“I’ve hung the bear hide on a tree going down to the river. Just bring yourself.”

“Ugh…”

“Today, let’s keep going until you succeed. I have a good feeling about it.”

Unlike her, I suddenly had a bad feeling.

A feeling like I was going to be treated like a child again.

It felt like the bruises that had already disappeared were starting to throb again.