[V16C14] A Convenient Mage For Any Home

The disciple of the Barrier Mage, Glenn Dudley, leaned against a tree and let out a huge yawn.

Of course, he couldn’t possibly fall asleep in the middle of a magical battle, but he also didn’t have the energy to move around a lot.

Thanks to his careless comment the day before, his master Louis chased him around the entire night. He was very sleep-deprived right now.

(I wonder why Master Louis got so mad anyway…)

After getting caught by Louis, Glenn confessed that he passed the Novice Mage Exam thanks to Isaac helping him study.

Upon hearing that, Louis collapsed to his knees and covered his face in despair. But then, he growled, “You stupid disciple,” in a roar that seemed to shake the earth itself.

Louis went on to grind his knuckles into the sides of Glenn’s head. It hurt so much that Glenn thought his skull had caved in.

Glenn almost let out another yawn before he realized that the match was being projected, and Louis was among the spectators. His master was sure to be furious if he saw Glenn slacking off.

Glenn let out a groan.

(…For now, I’ll just walk around and fight anyone I see. That should be good enough.)

He did not consider using flight magic. Not because he was lazy, but because Isaac had a gun.

Glenn hadn’t seen it himself, but he’d heard the story of how the Second Prince sniped the Curse Dragon of Reinberg right between the eyes.

(Everyone says the President is insanely good with guns… Yeah, I should definitely avoid flying.)

When a mage points their staff at you, you can expect something to happen. Perhaps they will shoot a spell or create a defensive barrier.

But guns are different. All a gun can do is shoot. Thus, pointing a gun at someone has a powerful psychological effect. It tells you that you’re about to get shot.

This effect became even stronger if it occurred right before the start of a battle. Such a shock was sure to stay fresh in your mind.

Of course, Glenn had no clue that this went all according to Isaac’s plan. By pointing the gun at Glenn, he had forced Glenn to be wary of getting shot.

Glenn started walking through the forest. His direction may have been random, but he was far from careless.

Over the past few days, Louis had drilled Glenn with information on his opponents. Since Louis searched the country for candidates to join the Seven Sages, he was well-informed on most mages with talent.

According to his informed analysis, the most skilled mage among them was the Astronomy Mage, Clarence Hall, famed for his ability to manipulate sand.

He was a bit below the level of a Sage, but if had learned flight magic, the Magic Corps was sure to want his talent.

Next was Hugo Galletti, an intermediate mage with a large mana pool and a wide repertoire of spells. He was good at protecting himself, and his mana capacity made him dangerous in prolonged battles.

And finally, Isaac. Louis did not know much about his skills, but he gave Glenn two pieces of advice: “Avoid close-quarters combat. Stay away from bodies of water.”

Glenn also understood Isaac’s exceptional physical abilities, so he was not about to let his guard down. He continued forward while sharpening his ears for sounds like footsteps or chanting.

…But despite all of his care, Glenn stumbled over something.

“W-Whoa…!?”

It felt like something had snagged his ankle. Perhaps a vine.

Glenn looked down and saw it. A transparent thread made of water magic.

(This must be a trap by the President!)

Hugo could also use water magic, but Glenn instinctively knew that this was Isaac’s doing.

Trusting his instincts, Glenn kicked off the ground with his other foot, rolling forward to avoid a possible attack.

And right as he did so, a gunshot rang out.

He dodged it, or so he thought, until a pain shot through his left leg.

“Gah!?”

Their bodies were protected by the magical battle barrier, but they would still feel pain proportional to the damage. Though it was not as bad as a real bullet wound, it still hurt like hell.

Glenn winced from the pain as he scrambled behind a tree and began chanting. This was his usual fireball spell.

It was not possible to perform remote magic with guns, so identifying the direction of the bullet would lead you to the location of your enemy.

“Take this!”

Glenn hurled a large fireball in the direction of the gunshot.

But then, his fireball suddenly detonated right after leaving his hand.

“Gah!”

Glenn was caught in the blast of his own spell and sent tumbling across the ground.

It only appeared for an instant, but Glenn saw a small reflection of light on the location where the fireball exploded. There were several threads of water stretched between the trees there.

(…My fireball must have hit those threads before it reached the President!)

If Glenn compressed his fireball into the form of arrows, then they might have slipped through the threads and reached Isaac.

Unfortunately, his fireballs were as wide as a man’s torso. There was no way for it to pass through the web of threads without touching one.

Moreover, Glenn could only cast fireballs that exploded on contact. This trap was extremely effective against him.

In this situation, Isaac had effectively sealed Glenn’s offensive magic. All of his fireballs would get blown up by the threads before reaching their target.

Glenn tried to stand back up as another gunshot rang out. This time, the pain shot through his left arm. Rather than a sharp pain on a single point, it hurt over his entire arm.

(There’s something weird with these bullets…!)

Glenn dragged his aching body behind a tree and ran as far as he could.

While running, he squinted to see the extremely thin threads at multiple locations. All of them were made of water rather than spider silk.

Glenn did his best to avoid the water threads, and eventually, he spotted a familiar pillar in the distance. It was the magic tool made by Monica.

Glenn quickly turned pale.

There was a tall young man with a scar above his right eye, standing right in front of the pillar with a hunting rifle in hand. Isaac Walker was there, waiting for him.

＊　＊　＊

A mage can only maintain two spells at a time. As such, dividing a spell into two formulas is considered bad practice, because casting both of them prevents you from using other spells. This was the common belief.

But Isaac had a different idea.

It took time to weave a network of water threads, so he wanted to keep them up for the entire battle. Thus, he minimized the mana within the threads to make them easier to maintain.

Then, he could combine them with other spells as needed.

When combined with the underwater reconnaissance magic, he could track the location and movements of his foes.

When combined with a spell to reinforce the threads, he could turn them into makeshift shields or footholds.

That was how he blocked Glenn’s fireball. By reinforcing the threads in front of Glenn, he forced the fireballs to detonate early.

After that, Glenn was sure to retreat to an area with fewer threads. Isaac took advantage of this to circle around ahead of him.

With sweat beading on his face, Glenn stared at the hunting rifle in Isaac’s hands.

“President… Did you do something weird with your bullets?”

Since they were talking next to Monica’s pillar, the spectators could hear their conversation too.

Isaac responded to Glenn’s question in a gentle voice.

“Yeah, pretty cool, right? The nobles who enjoy hunting recently came up with something called a shotgun. I used that as inspiration.”

Mana-infused bullets were essentially the same as a magical tool. As long as you charged them before the battle, they did not require the use of a spell, unlike the magic sword technique.

Since Isaac wanted to reserve his spells for maintaining and controlling the water threads, the rifle was his ideal weapon.

That said, guns came with a major drawback. Bullets were small, making them ineffective for dealing damage in a magical battle.

To solve this, Isaac turned to the idea of a shotgun.

Actual shotguns were not yet a fully developed technology, but he found that it was possible to replicate the effect with water magic.

“Right before impact, the water magic imbued in the bullet splashes out into multiple pellets. That way, I can increase the surface area of the hit.”

Shotguns came with shorter range and lower penetration, so they were useless against dragons. But in magical battles, the surface area of the hit was the key to inflicting damage.

Underwater reconnaissance magic to assess the battlefield, using water threads as shields or footholds when necessary, and shooting down foes with a water shotgun.

This was how Isaac Walker intended to fight as a mage.

“Sorry, Dudley-kun. This might sting a little.”

Isaac raised the rifle with a slightly apologetic smile.

But because of his naturally sharp eyes, it looked more like a condescending sneer directed at his target.

＊　＊　＊

The scene of Isaac blasting a water shotgun as Glenn ran for his life was projected onto the white screen.

Silas covered his mouth to prevent his voice from reaching them, as he turned to address Monica seated beside him.

“Looks like Ike came up with some pretty cool techniques… I wonder where he learned about the shotgun though.”

Monica could imagine the handsome Second Prince smiling as he said, “Well, I am a prince”. The knowledge on new technologies was most likely provided by the information network of a royal, which could be counted as one of Isaac’s greatest strengths.

From behind the sofa where Monica and Silas were sitting, Raul leaned forward and whispered to them.

“Wow, Isaac is awesome. At this rate, he’ll rise to the level of advanced mage in no time.”

“Yes!” Monica nodded while puffing her nose with pride. “My disciple is amazing!”

“Nee-san, you should come up with an alias for him,” Silas suggested. “He’ll be thrilled to get one from his master.”

“Ooh, I like that!” Raul followed. “Let’s come up with a cool title for him!”

Titles such as ‘Silent Witch’ and ‘Dragon Slayer Mage’ were granted to advanced mages as proof of their accomplishments.

There were also inherited titles, like ‘Thorn Witch’ and ‘Abyss Shaman’, but most titles were decided by the Mage Association.

In some cases, the mage themselves or their master may request a certain title. For example, Silas had apparently requested the title of ‘Dragon Slayer Mage’.

“Ike’s alias…”

Aliases were usually derived from a mage’s specialty magic or unique traits.

“Water… water…” Monica mumbled, pressing her hand against her chin in thought. “Hmm… there are already a lot of mages with water in their alias…”

“Is Isaac good at any magic besides water magic?” Raul asked.

Monica suddenly had a flash of realization.

There was one. A special kind of magic that only he could use.

Isaac was capable of pulling weapons out of nowhere, as well as making them disappear. After materializing a delicious snack, he often winked and said…

—— “It’s chantless storage magic.”

Looking just as serious as when she invented a new magical formula, Monica murmured her idea.

“Ike can use chantless storage magic… In other words, he should be… the Storage Mage…!”

“That suddenly got really domestic…” Silas mumbled.

“Well, he is really good at cleaning…” Raul said, nodding in agreement.

＊　＊　＊

Around the same time as his beloved master suggested a very domestic-sounding alias…

Isaac drove Glenn into a corner with a mercilessness that was far from domestic.

By casting the reinforcement spell, he could harden the threads of water in an instant. A thread that looked as fragile as a spider web suddenly became durable enough to trip you.

Glenn was constantly thrown off by the unpredictability, and every time he came to a pause, Isaac blasted him with the shotgun.

At first glance, Isaac seemed to have the upper hand. However, a calm assessment of the situation revealed the truth. At this rate, Isaac would be the loser.

(Like I thought, I can’t deplete his mana on my own.)

Glenn’s mana capacity was simply that overwhelming.

Isaac had charged the bullets ahead of time to conserve his mana during the fight. Not even this was enough to make up for the difference in mana.

While reloading, Isaac suddenly started a conversation.

“You know, when people compare guns and magic, the noise of gunfire is a common talking point.”

“…?”

Glenn had no clue what Isaac was talking about, so he just kept running.

Meanwhile, Isaac tripped Glenn by reinforcing a thread at his feet as he continued speaking.

“Firing a gun gives away your position, which some say is a disadvantage. However…”

If you listened carefully, you could hear the sound of approaching footsteps. Two sets of them.

“That can be useful when you want to give away your location, right?”

Hugo suddenly jumped out of the brush behind Glenn. He wore a look of desperation, so perhaps he was running from someone too. He must have followed the sound of the gunfire.

Moments later, a rain of sand arrows poured down on Hugo and Glenn.

“Finally found you, Glenn-kun, Walker-kun!” Hugo shouted, protecting himself with a barrier. “I have a chance if I can turn it into a four-way battle! This might actually work! I can do this, probably! Go me!”

“I suppose I can’t hold back anymore,” Clarence said, stepping out as he opened a leather pouch.

The sand from his pouch spilled out and transformed into the shape of a giant serpent. Its head was pointed straight at Glenn.

Both Hugo and Clarence were more wary of Glenn than Isaac. And naturally so, as Glenn possessed the most mana out of them all.

“President… No way, you planned this…?”

Glenn looked at Isaac in fright, and Isaac returned a faint smile.

“Well, I am pretty good at having other people work for me.”

This was the confident smile of a composed adult, but to everyone else, it looked more like the sadistic smirk of a hunter trapping his prey.

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