[V8C3] The Grass Is Greener

Glenn Dudley, the son of a butcher, came to Monica’s Sazandol residence carrying a large load of meat on his back. He was surprised to find the unusual sight of Monica and Isaac each holding a staff.

In Ridill, the length of a staff corresponded to the rank of the mage holding it.

Monica’s hands held a decorated staff which exceeded the length of her own height, a privilege granted only to the Seven Sages. Isaac, on the other hand, wielded a short staff about the length of his forearm, typical for an apprentice mage. Glenn had borrowed a similar staff during his time at Minerva.

“President, you’re starting practical magic already?”

Glenn voiced the question while placing his delivery on the table. In response, Isaac stroked the short staff with his fingertips and nodded with a smile.

“Yeah, I’m starting to learn from today.”

Although Isaac was the type of man to always wear a gentle smile, he was evidently in a good mood. In fact, it would not be an overstatement to say he looked overcome with emotion.

“President, you seem to be in a good mood.”

“You can tell? Well, I suppose that is only natural. The great Silent Witch will be teaching me practical magic. I must be the luckiest person in the entire world.”

“Can I watch a little? I’m kinda interested in how Monica teaches!”

“I don’t mind.”

After replying, Isaac glanced over to Monica, who gave a shy nod. Then, she held her head high, trying to put on the dignified expression of a cool master.

“Um, ahem… Ike, you already have a perfect understanding of the magical formulas, so today, I’d like you to practice mana manipulation.”

Saying that, Monica raised the staff in her right hand, which began to emit a faint glow. This soft white light was an indication of the mana flowing into her staff.

She was sending mana into her staff, one of the first exercises taught at Minerva. While mages could cast spells even without a staff, having one allowed for more stable mana manipulation. Some staffs even possessed the ability to amplify mana.

As a side note, Glenn hadn’t used staffs much since becoming Louis’s disciple.

According to Louis, “It would be troublesome if you developed a reliance on staffs.” That made sense, but then he followed it up with, “Learning how to use your fists will help you more in the long run.” That was where he lost Glenn, as fists had never proved very useful.

“First, a demonstration.”

Monica usually spoke in a soft voice, but today, she recited the incantation with unusual volume. This was done so Isaac would have no trouble understanding her.

Her mana was weaved into the magical formula to create a ball of water about the size of a clenched fist, which promptly fell into the bucket on the floor.

Glenn realized that this was the first time he had seen Monica chanting for a spell.

“Monica, you can use magic even with incantations?”

“I-I, um, tried my best.”

Monica let out a sigh and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Apparently, chanting a spell was a nerve-wracking experience for the Silent Witch, despite her ability to effortlessly perform the miracle that was chantless magic.

“So um, you start by sending mana into the staff, then deploy the magical formula, and finally weave mana into the formula… Give it a try and see how far you can go.”

“Understood, Master.”

Isaac gave a polite bow of the head before raising his short staff, which began to emit a faint glow. He recited the incantation in a calm tone, without any hesitation, and skillfully applied his mana.

A ball of water appeared at the tip of his staff, and when Isaac swung the staff, the ball gently fell into the bucket.

“Is this good?”

“Whoa, President, that’s incredible! You did it perfectly on your first try!”

“Good job, Ike! It’s hard to believe it’s your first… time…?”

Monica started by jumping in excitement, but her words trailed off into a mumble. She appeared to be concerned about something.

After a short period of silence, she asked Isaac about her doubts.

“Um, Ike. Have you, by any chance, used magic before?”

“I have a different elemental affinity than the real Prince Felix. It would be bad if anyone found out about that, so I generally can’t use magic. Oh, but just once…”

“You mean…”

The grimacing Monica was met with a calm response from Isaac.

“My contract with the greater spirit Wildianu.”

Monica had to hold onto her staff to avoid collapsing to her knees.

Glenn had seen the contract ritual with a greater spirit only once, shown by his master.

In his honest opinion, the spell was a riddle wrapped in an enigma, something a mage in training could not hope to comprehend. Even now that he obtained his novice mage qualifications, Glenn still felt the same way.

“Contracting a greater spirit with your first spell…? M-My disciple is way too extraordinary…”

Monica said this while holding back a headache, although perhaps it needed to be said that she was renowned as the witch who demonstrated chantless magic for her very first spell.

＊　＊　＊

Isaac had finished practicing most of the basic water manipulation spells, so they decided to take a short break.

After hearing about the reason why Isaac started practical magic training, Glenn widened his eyes while munching on a mouthful of the fluffy cake Isaac had baked.

“Eh? You’re going to hunt a water dragon? With the both of you?”

“Um, y-yes, four days from now. I wanted Ike to handle the reconnaissance.”

There existed certain mages who specialized in spotting, and a few were employed by the Magic Corps. Rather than blasting away with offensive magic, they utilized two spells: one for reconnaissance and one for sharing the results.

This was a specialized role that required calm decision making and situational awareness. Glenn’s master had called it “a role you will never play in your entire lifetime,” and Glenn agreed with that description.

“But that means you have to cast the reconnaissance spell and the sharing spell at the same time, right? Isn’t maintaining two spells simultaneously pretty hard?”

Your average mage can only use a single spell at a time, but skilled mages can maintain two at once.

This technique of double-casting was crucial to magical combat. The ability to employ two magics allowed the mage to bombard enemies while soaring through the air with flight magic, or to strike from the safety of a defensive barrier.

Thus, Louis had started teaching Glenn how to maintain two magics quite early in his education. Even so, it was only recently that he finally polished his double-casting to a practical level.

Previously, Glenn had to pause his flight magic in mid-air whenever he wanted to cast offensive magic. Now, however, he could perform decent attacks while flying about.

That being the case, how could Isaac expect to reach that level with such little practical experience? In response to the perplexed Glenn, Isaac explained while spreading a paper containing a magical formula on the table.

“I believe that the simultaneous use of the reconnaissance and sharing spells will not be that difficult. The structures of their formulas are relatively close, and they do not require complex mana manipulation. Moreover, the difficulty of the sharing spell increases when the attacking party is on the move, but in this case, Monica will be staying still on the ship.”

“Right. The sharing spell also becomes easier when the two parties are in physical contact, so I agree with Ike’s plan.”

Monica went on to point at a few places on the magical formula of the sharing spell, saying, “Omit here and here.”

Glenn stared intently at the magical formulas, but his lips had already curled into a confused frown. The complexity of the sharing spell formula had him completely lost, and the reconnaissance spell was even more impossible to understand.

“President, can you really cast this? Are you going to start memorizing it now?”

“Don’t worry; I’ve got it all in my head. After all, I’m the one who wrote this magical formula.”

He just said outrageous in the same casual tone as his ‘I made a cake’ from earlier.

After stuffing himself with Isaac’s homemade cake, Glenn made another attempt to read the formula for the reconnaissance spell, only to give up halfway through the first section.

“…Dang, I’ve seen my master using reconnaissance magic in magical battles while also attacking or defending… So that must be some kinda insane skill?”

“Well, Louis-san can generally do everything by himself… Oh, but there are some people who are even more incredible.”

Monica spoke with a tinge of excitement before pausing to take a sip of tea. After a slight bit of thought, Isaac interjected.

“Are perhaps you referring to the Starspear Witch?”

“That’s right! The Starspear Witch, Carla Maxwell-sama, can maintain seven magics at once! I’ve actually seen her do it in person… She cast reconnaissance magic, two defensive barriers, and three offensive spells simultaneously while using flight magic. No one is even close to matching her.”

Glenn had heard of the former Sage, Carla Maxwell the Starspear Witch, but only by name. She apparently studied under the same master as Louis, making her Louis’s senior disciple.

Thus, Glenn knew she was a skilled mage even though they had never met in person.

“Monica, you’ve met the Starspear Witch?”

“Yes, when I was at Minerva, Starspear Witch-sama often visited Professor Rutherford’s lab. She always brought me dried fruits and sweets as souvenirs.”

To tell the truth, Glenn had secretly thought of the Starspear Witch as ‘an extremely dangerous individual’, given her position as Louis’s senior disciple. However, this perception changed into a ‘kind and generous woman’ after hearing Monica talk about her with a smile.

(Still, controlling seven magics at the same time… Hmm, I can’t even imagine it.)

Glenn began to reach for the last piece of cake before noticing that Isaac’s eyes were downcast, as if he was lost in thought. His eyes seemed somewhat dark and shadowed, causing Glenn to speak up.

“President, you look kinda troubled. What’s wrong?”

“Hmm? Was I making some kind of face?”

“Uh, I guess? …Oh, could it be that you’re nervous about the water dragon extermination?”

“You might be right about that.”

Isaac let out a soft chuckle, which caused Monica to pause her sipping with a small gasp.

“Oh, y-you’re absolutely right. It’s not normal to go dragon hunting for your first practical experience…”

Huh? Now it was Glenn’s turn to be surprised. Immediately after he obtained his novice mage qualification, Louis had told him this with a refreshing smile: “Why not hunt a dragon or two?”

It’s worth noting that his master’s only words of advice were a simple “make sure to pick up the fangs and scales because they fetch a high price.” Louis did not offer the slightest hint of support or guidance on how to fight.

Meanwhile, Monica looked up at Isaac with eyes filled with resolve.

“Ike, I promise to protect you no matter what. I won’t let anyone or anything lay a single finger on my disciple. You can rest easy and focus on reconnaissance.”

“Monica…”

Isaac looked deeply moved. His usual sparkling aura grew even brighter as he put on an entranced smile.

“In that case, I promise to meet your expectations. After all, I cannot make a pitiful display in front of my Master.”

This was truly a beautiful display of master-disciple affection. Watching the two of them, Glenn couldn’t help but think…

(Maybe my master is a bit more freakish than I thought.)

Having swallowed the last bite of cake and downed the remaining tea, Glenn stood up.

“Well, I should get going now. Thanks for the cake, President!”

But before Glenn could leave, Isaac stopped him with a question.

“Dudley-kun, do you happen to be a fan of carrots?”

“Nope! I especially hate it when there’s hard chunks of carrot in my soup!”

“…I see. By the way, did you like the cake from earlier?”

“Yeah, it was super tasty!”

The fluffy texture of the cake had delightful accents of cinnamon and citrus peels. This was followed by the crunchiness of the walnuts inside, which only added onto the experience.

Seeing Glenn nod enthusiastically, Isaac put on another brilliant smile.

“We actually have a lot more where that came from. Take some home with you.”

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