Suspected Necromancer

Chapter 4 – Daily Life

And so, finally, my training as a mage’s disciple began in the now tidy mansion.
Of course, I never neglected my household chores. I was a capable child, after all.
It all started with learning ancient characters to be able to read spellbooks, then progressing to actually reading the spellbooks, and finally understanding their contents before I could even attempt casting spells. It took a tremendous amount of time.
It must have taken about three years until I could cast my first spell.
Though I could read and write, I was completely unfamiliar with ancient scripts.
Spellbooks were challenging, and mastering magic didn’t come easily.
But even so, I managed to do it in just three years. Aren’t I amazing?
My master even praised me, saying my progress was “impressive”.
He was a taciturn and unresponsive person, so getting a compliment from him was a big deal. Even when I cooked the most delicious meals, he would say nothing.
It’s truly an accomplishment to be proud of.

However, the spells I could cast after all that effort weren’t anything extraordinary.
They were small things like being able to ignite a fire with a spark or conjure a cup of water. That’s all.
To be able to use more powerful magic, it would take at least a decade or two.
My master mentioned that he started learning magic around my age, and it took him 30 years to reach such an advanced level.
It’s a mind-boggling concept, isn’t it?
Being a mage is like chasing an unattainable dream throughout your entire life.
Well, whether I like it or not, that’s the path I now walk.
My master paid so much money to buy me, so I had to do it.

Why was my master willing to pay so much for me?
Mages take on apprentices to pass down their knowledge. Even if a mage spends their entire life studying magic, there will still be things left unknown and undone. That’s why they take disciples. Their disciples can finish what they couldn’t.
Didn’t you know? That’s the way of the magician, I suppose.
Well, many mages pass on their knowledge to their own children. But reclusive, anti-social people like my master, who might never get married, might adopt a child with magical potential and pass down their knowledge to them.
My master must have thought that I, with Asura blood, was a perfect candidate.
Even though I might not look it, I have a lot of magic power!
But having lots of magic power is pointless if you don’t know how to use it.
It took me decades of training to properly control my magic power.
Strange, isn’t it?

After that, my life settled into a routine.
Ah, I started going shopping in town by myself.
Initially, my master accompanied me, but he ended up being more of a hindrance. I guess, as a mage, he looked suspicious, so the shopkeepers were nervous around him.
So once my master realized that I wouldn’t run away, he let me go by myself.
I mean, where else would I go? There’s no place for me to escape to.
The first time I went out on my own, I was given the amulet I wore around my neck earlier.
As you probably already know, that amulet is designed to make me inconspicuous.
It can be dangerous for a girl to walk alone, you know?
After all, I was kidnapped by slave traders when I was very young. I wonder if that amulet is like a bit of parental care I didn’t have to stop something like that from ever happening again.
But because of it, people had a hard time recognizing me and I couldn’t make friends with anybody. I was very lonely.

Most of my outings were for buying food, like bread, vegetables, and meat.
I also often went to deliver potions to the apothecary. That’s my master’s primary source of income.
I’m sure he had other sources of income, because just selling potions wouldn’t have been enough to buy me. However, it was enough to cover our daily expenses.
In the beginning, my master made the potions. But I spent many years learning the process, so now I’m usually the one doing it. Impressive, right?
The trick is to teach the skeletons to do the heavy lifting.
I carefully instructed them to do stuff like grind herbs. That alone made things much easier.
I’m quite good at teaching others… well, it’s not like I was teaching humans, but rather undead.
Maybe it’s because I watched Molly teach the children for so long.
You show them how it’s done, tell them what to do, make them do it, praise them, and eventually, they’ll learn it well.
The praising part is my original addition. Molly was only ever angry and never gave us compliments for our efforts. But without praise, people won’t have the motivation to do better.

Does praise work on the undead?

Of course it does. Even plants grow better when you praise them. Trust me.
Compliments are the most basic form of magic, you know?
I’m not joking, it’s the fundamental principle of magic – the ability to influence the world and people through words.
…Well, forget about it.
My ability to brew potions allowed my master to focus more on his research.

“You’re amazing, Luna.”

After so long, he finally gave me a proper compliment.
It’s only natural. After all, I’m a high-quality product. Took him long enough to recognize that.
I can even gather the herbs all by myself now!

Huh? Isn’t it dangerous to gather herbs alone?

Yes, certainly. It might be dangerous for a cute girl like me to go into the forest alone.
But I’m not truly alone. I always brought a skeleton as an escort, so there were no problems.
I made sure to put a loose hood and robe on the skeleton so that it wouldn’t stand out in public.
I also gave the skeleton a charm, like my amulet. That way, it should be pretty inconspicuous, right?
As if to prove that, there were once several men who came to abduct me when I went into the forest. They didn’t realize I had a skeleton with me.

What happened to those men?

Sir Knight, you said you had tight lips, right? Are you sure? Okay.
Well, that day, some bad people disappeared from the world. In return, I got valuable materials for necromancy.
I had the skeleton covertly haul those materials back under the cover of night. My master was delighted when he saw them.
Even though I say he was ‘delighted’, he didn’t show it on his face. But I could sense that he was happy, somehow.
I think even the materials themselves were happy to contribute to the development of magic too. Probably.
I mean, they probably wouldn’t have had a good life anyways, right?

You think my sense of morality is a little strange?

How so?
Does Sir Knight think those bad men deserved to live? Those kidnappers, thieves, murderers, and traitors? Do knights forgive such wicked people?
It’s up to the law?
But I’m not talking about the law. I’m asking if Sir Knight personally thinks those people deserve to live.
…Right? See, my sense of morality isn’t so strange.
Besides, if the law were perfect, I wouldn’t have been bought and sold as a slave.
Compared to the past, things have improved considerably, but still.

What were we talking about again?
Oh right, I mentioned that my life became quite ordinary.

Ordinary?

Yes, ordinary. Or rather, maybe ‘unchanging’ is a better way to describe it.
I do household chores, gather herbs, make potions, learn magic from my master, sleep, and repeat.
Everyone’s life is different, but we all have a routine we repeat every day. That’s what an ordinary daily life is like.
But then, one day, that ordinary life did start to change a little.
Because someone who could see through my amulet appeared.
Oh, it wasn’t a bad thing. In fact, it’s the story of how I finally made a friend.