chapter 27
27 – Class (1)
I stood a little awkwardly in the room with Leticia. But how do you even do magic class?
I’m so familiar with magic through games, novels, and comics that I couldn’t even imagine not knowing it, but I didn’t know how to learn it.
There are media where they develop the main content by using imagination, but for the most part, they were close to cases derived from typical school lessons. Instead of learning math, you learn circuit notation…something like that.
So what about this game? Dungeon In Evil is a simple RPG game and doesn’t have any descriptions that teach anything in the story. There’s no need to include anything that teaches while you’re killing the demon king and clearing the dungeon. You just choose your skill tree and that’s it.
So I’m curious. How will Leticia teach magic? I asked Leticia, who was walking naturally around the room.
“How do you teach magic classes?”
“Hmm? Ah…you mean the teaching method?”
“Yeah.”
“Usually, if you start from a young age, you naturally start with studying books. You know, in order to be able to apply things practically, you need to have the theory first, right?”
“Uh…”
So, am I going to spend the whole day just staring at books?
“But then it won’t be fun, and two months… now it will be only a month and a half left. We won’t be able to reach a level where we can assist within that period, right?”
“So, what should we do?”
Leticia smirked and lightly tapped her own head, revealing her pointed cat ears as she spoke.
“Well, what can we do? Just jump straight into practice.”
“Is that alright?”
“I don’t need to stick to the teaching methods of other magicians. Above all, it’s faster that way.”
Leticia looked at me and gave a faint smile.
“If you have talent, that’s all that matters to Alan.”
“…Do I have talent?”
“You won’t know unless you try. Are you already making weak excuses?”
Leticia chuckled, gesturing for me to come closer. Then she sat down on the soft couch and told me to sit in front of her.
“It’s dark magic. You seem to like quite a sinister thing, Alan.”
“Sinister…?”
“Not that Alan is like that, but the element itself gives off that feeling. For example….”
-Spirit Master Leticia activates [Veil of Night].
With the message, magic power moved from Leticia’s fingertips. And the magic that was manifested in an instant covered the surroundings in darkness. Even Leticia herself, who was right in front of me, was not visible.
Letícia could see her surroundings again after collecting magic power.
“This feels like it, right?”
“…You’re fast.”
“It’s a simple spell. It just blocks light by dispersing magic power. Even blocking this amount of light can make nothing visible to human eyes.”
“Then can cats see?”
“They can see. Cats can see objects with much less light than us…”
As Letícia was telling the story, she closed her mouth for a moment and blushed slightly before saying,
“…Did I say that just now?”
“…No?”
How did she know?
Leticia opened her eyes slightly and looked at me. As she quietly avoided my gaze, she let out a small sigh and said.
“I can see it, but I can’t shine bright like real cats.”
“Ah.”
“So, that’s what I was talking about, right?”
“….. Anyway, then is this what is called the property of disruption magic?”
“There are aggressive magic spells too, but generally this disruptive aspect is a characteristic of the dark property.”
It seems a little different from the emptiness attribute magic I know.
“Dark property magic seems to be like this, so for now, let’s start with the basic magic that is non-attribute.”
“Got it.”
“Remember, you practiced what I showed you last time?”
“Hmm?”
Are you saying to gather mana?
“Just try it now.”
“Um…”
I followed Letitia’s words and tried to summon mana. I still needed to concentrate like before, but this time I managed to extract the mana more smoothly.
“You did well.”
“What should I do now?”
“Now, I’ll show you, so follow exactly. Don’t make a single mistake.”
“Not even one?”
“Not even one. If you make a mistake, the spell won’t be complete.”
After saying that, Letitia summoned her own mana.
However, at that moment, something strange happened.
[Magic Concentration] characteristic is activated.
“…?”
“Why? Suddenly spaced out…!?”
Suddenly, Letizia’s magic began to fluctuate. The surrounding furniture began to shake heavily and seeing her uneasy demeanor, I spoke to her.
“Le, Letizia? Why is that happening?”
“Just a minute, something strange… Ah, Allen? What did you do?”
“…… Huh?”
What did I do? Nothing in particular…
‘Ah.’
Just as the notification for the activation of a special ability appeared, I wondered if it was because of that.
In that moment of doubt, something astonishing happened. Letitia’s magical power went out of control and scattered completely, only to be absorbed into the place where I had gathered my own magical power.
“Huh…?”
“Ah, Allen… What on earth did you do?”
However, I still couldn’t control Letitia’s magical power. That meant it wasn’t my magical power.
So, it wasn’t me who took away her magical power. I had to see it as Letitia’s magical power merging together with mine.
‘A concentration of magical power…’
It was just as she said. To gather magical powers in one place.
This… Was this the characteristic?
“…Allen?”
“…Huh?”
“What on earth is this? Why can’t I control my magic… and why is it combined with Allen’s magic?”
Seeing Letitia’s lack of understanding, it seemed to be a common occurrence… No, it wasn’t a characteristic. I slightly tilted my head and said,
“I don’t know either…”
Forcing someone else’s magic to gather like this, is it possible? Or is there a separate condition for it to happen? Like being this close…
“More importantly, are you okay? Your magic suddenly disappeared…”
“You? Ah… It’s okay. It’s not like I lost my magic. It’s all here, perfectly fine, right?” As always, Letitia’s magic was unmistakable. The only question was… if she hadn’t lost control, the magic should have moved according to Letitia’s will, but it didn’t.”
“…a power that comes together with a force stronger than the owner of the magic?”
Letitia looked quietly at the magic gathered on my hand and said, “…strange.”
Letitia lightly poked the gathered magic in a circle. Still, Letitia’s magic did not return to its owner, and it was still entangled with mine.
“Do not think to let it fall.”
“…Do you want me to take the magic back?”
“Do you want to try?”
I followed through with those words. Surprisingly, only my magic moved while Leticia’s magic, excluding her own control, moved along with her.
“Seems like it really worked.”
“…What is it?”
“Hmm…”
Leticia confirmed that she could move the magic skillfully and withdrew her magic.
“I won’t teach you magic, but we’ll have to find another way.”
“Huh?”
“That’s right. If I bring out my magic again to teach you…”
…This means she won’t give me a lesson now, right?
It couldn’t happen. Absolutely not. If I don’t show results within a month and a half, I’ll be stuck with that Messaki warrior for the rest of my life, unable to become stronger!
I clasped my hands tightly in front of Letitia and prayed.
“Um, then can I at least learn through theory if I don’t have to practice? Can you let me see and learn with my own eyes?”
“Learning only by seeing will be difficult. Just listen to me, there’s another way…”
“You know it’s urgent…!”
“…Allen, it seems like you’re misunderstanding something. I’m not saying I’ll stop helping you.”
“Huh…?”
Letitia looked at me as if asking why I was confused. Then she explained a little more about the ‘other way’ she mentioned.
“When I walked the path of a wizard in the past, I had a mentor who taught me.”
“A mentor…”
“Yes, they’re still active as a magician. When we return to the Empire, I’ll arrange a meeting for you to seek their accurate advice on the recent phenomenon and properly learn magic.”
“Then can’t I learn anything now?”
“I don’t think you’ll be able to learn in a real-life situation. But…”
Leticia chuckled and said, “Since Alan seems eager to learn, watch and learn as I show you. You can try it yourself later.”
“Alright, show me!”
“Okay, I’ll show you slowly then…”
Leticia met my eyes. She smiled and generated magic.
Since I didn’t bring out any magic earlier, a situation like that didn’t happen, and Leticia effortlessly maneuvered the magic, completing the spell in an instant.
“Do you see? These little dots are the elements that make up the spell, it’s a Circle.”
“Huh…a Circle? Isn’t that a term that represents the level of magic?”
“Do you know it well? Yes, that’s right. The magic I’ve created now is the most basic of the basics, called Basic Force, which you learn only in the first educational process. You can think of Force as a collection of these small circles….”
Letitia said.
“By compressing how many of these Forces you can perform magic with, the rank of a magician is determined. If you can perform magic with one, you become a 1st Circle magician. If you can perform it with two, you become a 2nd Circle magician… something like that.”
“Then Letitia, what about you?”
As a spirit mage, I was aware of Letitia’s exceptionalism, but I became curious about her achievements as a sorceress. Then Letitia tilted her head and spoke.
“Why are you asking that to a spirit mage?”
“Um… just curious?”
“When I was studying magic, I reached up to the 4th Circle, but after that, I didn’t study further and changed my career path to become a spirit mage, so it’s meaningless.”
“Well, you can still create up to a certain number, right?”
“Well, it’s not significant to me anymore…”
Instantly, Letitia’s magical power surged. And a tremendous amount of power, rivaling that of a hero, manifested as force.
“Is this enough?”
…How many are there exactly? It seems endless.
“But it’s meaningless.”
“With this much power, can’t you become a wizard?”
“No, simply producing a lot isn’t enough to become a Grand Circle wizard. You have to be able to merge all this force into a single spell to become a Grand Circle wizard. Since I completed my studies up to the 4th Circle, I can still only merge up to four.”
Letitia said,
“If I could fully utilize this, I would have been both a wizard and a sorceress.”
“That’s true…”
“This is just having a lot of magical power and an understanding of force. Anyone can create it as long as their magical power doesn’t run out.”
“…How do you create it?”
“I will show you again slowly.”
Letitia kindly and patiently showed me everything I was curious about, explaining each one. Even though most of the things she talked about were unfamiliar words and content I had never heard before… I found myself getting caught up in her lesson without realizing it.
So, without realizing how much time had passed, I learned magic.
#
Before we knew it, quite a bit of time had passed. Letitia said with a slight yawn, “Hmm, it seems the time is getting late. Shall we stop here?”
“Oh, yeah. Let’s do that.”
When I looked into Letitia’s eyes, they were filled with sleep. The darkness seemed to deepen, and the moonlight became even more vivid, as if we had crossed midnight.
Thanks to that, I could learn a lot and see a lot. I’m not sure if I understood it well since I couldn’t try it myself…
“Practice alone and show me next time.”
“Huh?”
“Then you’ll know if Allen understood or not.”
“Oh, I see.”
Letitia stretched lazily and got up. I looked at her and said,
“Thank you, Letitia. I bothered you, but you gave me your time without any complaints.”
“Oh, don’t mention it. I said I would help.”
Letizia headed towards the door as if she was going back to her room. I also got up from my seat to see her off and followed her.
“Ah.”
However, Letizia suddenly stopped walking and turned to look at me.
“That person from earlier might come again.”
“Huh?… Ah.”
I had completely forgotten about it while focusing on magic class. That guy, Kael, was in my room earlier…?
“Yeah, that’s right. What did you come here for?”
“…Kael, that person. He doesn’t have a very good reputation.”
A reputation? I heard that and remembered something belatedly.
“I think I know what it is.”
Those were the things Frey had told him. That the Orlandu party members were never normal, and among them, Kael…
“But would they touch me on purpose? After all, I am still Erin’s party member…”
“It’s useless if no one knows.”
“Well, that’s true.”
Come to think of it, Kael had never left any evidence and had never been proven guilty of a crime. All that remains is speculation, so there’s no way to blame him as a member of the Hero’s party.
“This won’t work.”
“Hmm?”
Letitia was looking towards the door, so I could only see her back, but I could sense that something was changing emotionally.
The cat’s ears perked up, and its real ears were dyed bright red all the way to the tips.
“I’ll sleep here only for tonight….”
“……?”
“What?”