Chapter 6: The Daily Life of a 5 Years Old - Magic
Even though we are noble, we are still baron, the lowest class of them and most of our meals were simple.
Even so, Reedwald is blessed with nature, and meat and wild vegetables are often gathered from the surrounding grasslands and the Leknod forest to the east.
Today’s main dish was a bold, beefy sauté.
Incidentally, the reason it’s “beefy” is that it’s the meat of the cow monster named Gausas.
So it also can be called beef.
The sauce was made by adding citrus juice from a village in the territory called Akulu. The juices were added to the cooking process, and despite its luxurious appearance and taste, it was surprisingly inexpensive.
I’m grateful for the abundance of nature, but it’s also true that many of the people in my territory are victims of monsters.
No matter how you look at it, it’s a difficult world for humans to live in.
At the dinner table, I said something that I had been thinking about.
My father listened in silence, but when I finished, he seemed a little troubled.
“You want to learn magic? How old were you when you learned it, Lakius?”
“Eight years old. There was a court magician in town who taught me how to do it.”
A court magician.
I knew there was such a thing.
A little moved, I asked my brother, “How was it?” I asked my brother.
As soon as I did, his face clouded over.
“It was no good. I only can use the life magic of wind and earth. I hope I can use water or fire one.”
“I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s okay. It’s nothing for Alter to apologize for.”
He then shook his head with a slightly sad smile.
I’ve been told that the life magic of wind and earth is off the charts.
The wind’s “Breeze” creates a light breeze, and the earth’s “Handy Soil” produces soil, but it is less useful than “Flint” or “Pure Water”.
My brother told me not to worry about it, but I felt deeply sorry for him.
I already knew from my “appraisal” that he couldn’t use those magic.
Even if he pretended not to know, he should have thought about the follow-up.
As I was wondering if I should say something, my father spoke to me.
“Magic is powerful, but it’s not everything. You have other talents as well. Don’t be upset if you don’t master it.
“Thank you, father.”
My father looked at my brother, who nodded and returned his gaze to me.
“You’re five years old. That’s still early for you. I don’t think there’s anyone in Reedwald who’s as good as a court magician. But, if you insist, I can look for you, but first, you must train with your sword. Conrad and Roland said that you have a talent for that.”
I thanked him for his praise, but he rejected my request.
Naturally, I was not convinced.
But if I was going to argue with my father, the patriarch, and lord of the house, I needed to have a good argument.
How should I persuade him?
I can’t just say, “I’m bored,” right?
“Isn’t that all right?”
Surprisingly, it was my mother who gave me a helping hand.
My father also seemed surprised and silently urged me to go on.
“I’m sure Alter is interested in magic as well. Why don’t you talk to the experts and find out just what qualities he has? If he needs a good instructor, you can find one. If we put it off until then, how many years will it be?”
My father pondered for a while and then nodded his head deeply.
“Yeah, you're right. Can he learn it? Graham.”
Graham, the retainer who had been waiting for us, stepped forward.
“Send a request to the Adventurer’s Guild. I’ll leave the selection to you.”
“Very well, sir.”
Graham condescendingly agreed.
◇◇◇◇
It had been three days since the request had gone through.
Today was the day that the magic instructor would arrive.
As I was waiting in my room after the morning class, Meredy came to announce their arrival a little afternoon.
I walked quickly to the reception room, where a man in a thick robe was waiting for me.
In the room where my father, Graham, and for some reason my brother, Lakius.
I was supposed to be training in the afternoon soon.
I wondered, but more importantly, he was a wizard.
“My name is Vergil and I’m a wizard from the D-ranked party, Skolot ( スコロット). I’ve been asked to investigate the qualities of magic and give a basic lecture.”
“I’m Alter Les Reedwald. I’ll be with you for a short time.”
I greeted him in a dignified manner, as I’m a noble.”
Vergil was around thirty years old, she had a stern look and his physique was solid.
He has the appearance of a warrior, and if it weren’t for the short staff on his hip, he wouldn’t look like a magician.
Regardless of his appearance, this was a wizard.
He has mastered wind and water magic, as well as a few others.
His skills are “Dagger” and “Taijutsu”. He’s a wizard, but he can also fight in melee.
I was glued to the results of my appraisal while trying to keep my composure for my first time as a wizard.
Also, the D rank that Vergil had mentioned was the rank of the adventurer’s guild.
According to Roland, the lowest is F and the highest is SS.
At first glance, D rank may seem low, but most of them are E or D ranks, and C ranks are sometimes stronger than ordinary knights. Roland is a good example.
The adventurers, most of whom were commoners, were only given a C rank unless they were very strong.
After greeting me, Vergil turned to father.
“I’ve heard that the request will start tomorrow, but it won’t take much time to find out the qualities of the four attributes. The more we know today, the easier it will be for us to set guidelines for tomorrow. What do you think?”
“I don’t mind if you do it, Alter.”
“I have no objection.”
“I’ll use the garden, then.”
We immediately went to the garden to examine my qualities, but for some reason, my brother was with me here as well.
He uncomfortably scratched his cheek as I tilted my head.
“Alter has inspired me. And I thought I’d give magic training another try. I’ve already got father’s permission.”
“So that’s it. Well then, let’s work hard together.”
I smiled at my embarrassed brother.
It sounds more fun than learning alone.
I’ve never done anything with my siblings before, partly because I’m like this and partly because we’re seven years apart.
Feeling a little uplifted, I walked out into the yard with my brother.
The training area was unoccupied, as it seemed that they had decided to take the afternoon off from training.
Sitting down at a table by the wall, Vergil took out a tool from his backpack and laid it out.
No matter how you looked at it, it was just a cup and a tinderbox.
The only thing that looked suspicious about the leather bag was the sand he had collected from the area.
What was he going to do with this?
“What we are going to do now is the simplest method of inspection. It’s not as accurate as a magic tool, but it should usually be enough.”
“Magical tools – is there such a thing?”
“Yes. We can examine the qualities of magic in detail, but since they are relics from the era of superpowers, there are only a few of them. The adventurer’s guild in the imperial capital and perhaps the palace have them. Other large cities may have them as well. However, when you activate it, it sucks out a lot of magic power, so if you are too young or have low magic power, you will fall into a coma, so be careful.”
I was satisfied with Vergil’s explanation.
My father thought it was too early to tell, but I guess the nature of the magic tool has spread as common knowledge.
"Take it easy, sir. This test drains very little magic power, so you don’t need to worry about falling into a coma.”
Vergil filled a wooden cup with pure fresh water and offered it to my brother and me.
“All things have magic in them. Magic is something that works against that reason. We will now examine the qualities of the four most common attributes. We will discuss the details of the attributes later, but let’s start with water. Please be aware of the magical power in the water and move the water inside the cup without touching it.
My brother held out his hand to the glass, and I imitated him by holding out my palm.
Magic resides in all things, huh?
I peered into the glass, but of course, I couldn’t see any magic power.
Let’s assume that there are impurities in the water.
I imagine invisible particles.
The color is watery, dark light blue.
I try to give it some regularity as it drifts erratically.
It doesn’t work.
Now I add iron sand-like properties to the fine particles.
The palm of my hand is a magnet.
I move it slowly.
For a moment, the surface of the water shuddered.
I looked up at the high wall surrounding the house and thought back to my brother.
My grandparents had passed away, so my family consisted of just my parents and my brother.
My father has two older sisters, but both passed away when they were married, and the family of the
Viscount Todis is all distant.
I was born into such a noble family, and I was the second son.
For a noble family, a younger brother is a substitute for an older son.
They keep him on hand just in case.
When I asked the servants about it, they said that most of them are appointed to some position or knighthood.
In a way, it’s a comfortable position, but I don’t think it’s absolute.
If they are judged to be useless or harmful, they will be thrown out of the house.
As we know from the history of previous generations, the sovereign is sometimes forced to make ruthless decisions.
Because he is a respectful father, he does not let his feelings get in the way of his decisions.
Suddenly, the shade of the tree shook, and I was interrupted in my thoughts.
The old man appeared, his face wrinkling deeply as he looked at me.
“Oh, Alter-boy. What brings you to this place?”
It was the gardener, Nord, who called out to me fluently.
I smiled at the familiar face.
“It’s just a walk.”
“Haha, okay.”
I had met Nord about a year ago when I had more free time on my hands than I do now.
I had too much free time on my hands, so I light-heartedly asked him a few questions about his garden, but he seemed to be very happy that I was interested, and was overjoyed to tell me all about it.
I regretted that it was going to be a long conversation with an old man, but when I finally got around to asking him, he told me many stories unique to other worlds, and I got quite excited.
I didn’t even notice the dumbfounded Meredy.
“It’s been a while since we’ve met. We go for a walk every day.”
“I come here once a week.”
“You do? I had no idea.”
The servants of the mansion work 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
I wondered if the gardener was paid well enough to live on once a week.
When I posed this question, Nord said, “No way! No way!”
“I’m sent by the gardener’s guild, and on other days I visit other houses and merchants.”
“So you’ve been to other towns?”
“Only in Riedewald. When I was younger, I moved from one town to another. I was born in Narsel.”
“You weren’t born here? That’s a new one for me.”
I had assumed that he was a servant, so when we met, all we talked about was the garden and the weather.
I never went into personal matters.
And Narsel is an earldom just to the north, with the same Marquis Blasrad its leader.”
Meredy is also from that area, so it seems that people come and go a lot.
What’s more, you’ve been going from town to town.
It’s a far cry from me being under house arrest, but I don’t think it was an elegant trip.
Death is a constant companion in this world.
“The journey must have been dangerous.”
I asked, and Nord tilted his head slightly.
“Depends on where you are, I guess. The center of the empire is said to be safe, but if the forests and grasslands that are large enough, monsters can appear. Once, I saw a gryphon flying in the air. I thought
I was going to die that time.”
“I’m glad to hear that ...... you’re okay.”
“Fortunately, I didn’t even look at it as it flew away. I hid in the carriage and looked up at it, but I didn’t feel like living. If I had been attacked, I wouldn’t be here. The adventurer guarding me was shaking their knees.”
Nord said as he traced back his happy memories.
While the grasslands were still grassy, most of the forest was monsters' territory.
In the suburbs of Reedwald, it was the forest of Leknod.
There are no dragons, as expected, but it would not be surprising to find a griffon-class demon living there.
When I asked him that question, Nord pondered whether he was in the wrong field.
“I’ve heard that the shallow parts of the forest are not much different from the grasslands. But even the shallow areas in the south are said to be dangerous. I heard that even adventurers don’t venture into these areas unless they are competent. By the way, why are you asking me this? Are you interested in going outside the city?”
“It’s not like that. ...... No, I’m interested.”
I looked up at Nord.
“I’m the second son. I’ll be going into combat in the future, in whatever capacity that may be. I want to know how dangerous it is out there while I can.”
At my answer, Nord smiled softly.
“That’s why you’ve been training so hard. My Lord has been blessed with a good son. But there is no need to hurry. You’re still young. You have other things to learn. I think you should experience them one by one.”
“Nord is right. Don’t be in a hurry.”
As I nodded my head, the bell rang, signaling three o’clock in the afternoon.
As if to follow the invisible sound, Nord and I turned our gaze to the sky.
“It’s already that time. I’m sorry for interrupting your work.”
“No, it’s fine. I was just leaving.”
“What?”
The unexpected reply made me raise my voice.
What do you mean ... I’m in the way of you coming home?
I hurriedly bowed to Nord.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know how I can apologize. No, I want you to go home right now. I’ll apologize to you later.”
“Haha, you’re still the same, kid. Don’t worry, I’m in no hurry.”
“I interrupted you on your way home, but you have a big heart. I understand. I’ll go home with you next time. Let me teach you all I know about how to get home.”
“I’m looking forward to it. Speaking of which, the Summer Solstice Festival is coming soon. If you ask your father, he might allow you to go inside the town.”
“Midsummer Solstice–the one where they gather in the square. Then I will ask my father. Thank you for your advice.”
As a way to at least apologize, I walked Nord to the main gate.
Then I watched his back as he walked away, filled with self-doubt.
How could I have prevented him from going home? ...... What a blunder.
I wonder how I should apologize to him.
How can I apologize to him?
It might be a good idea. He’s an elderly man, so it will help him maintain his strength.
I’ll also review his route home.
There’s definitely a waste of time... Oh, I couldn’t leave the house. Well, I need permission, after all.
When Nord disappeared into the crowd, I turned on my heel.
Then, on my way back to the house, I stopped.
I walked back to the garden from the approach to the front door and checked to make sure there was no one around.
Then I picked up a handful of soil from a gap in the lawn and invoked my life magic, “Handy Soil”.
With the soil as priming water, a handful of soil was produced.
A catalyst is not necessary for life magic, but if used, it can be activated with little magic power.
Putting more magic power into it, he invoked a beginner-level attack spell, “Earth Bolt”.
In an instant, the soil condensed and transformed into a sharp arrow, which I shot into the ground.
If you use natural soil as a catalyst or use life magic to create soil, it will continue to remain as a material after the activation.
The intermediate magic “Earth Wall” can be used to create a simple barrier.
I put my foot on the earthen arrow protruding from the ground and crushed it with my weight.
It was reasonably hard, but the weight of a five-year-old could destroy it.
This is the standard strength.
If I put more magic power into it, I could raise the hardness to the level of stone, and the power would increase proportionally.
Whether it was thanks to Vergil or not, I’ve mastered all the bolt systems.
If it’s a weak monster, I should be able to handle it.
But – Nord’s point is also correct.
I’m only five years old. I still have time.
Even though I knew that in my head, I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling of frustration.
Looking at the house, I moved my gaze from the wall to the sky.
An unknown world stretched out before him, separated only by an outer wall
“My world is small.”
There were so many things I didn’t know.
And I don’t know what I don’t know.
The house and the few relationships I had were all I had now.
