Chapter 22

The first arrow hits the closest hound right in the side of the head, instantly dropping it to the ground, alerting the others. There ears perks up and their eyes become sharp. But they haven't noticed me yet.

Taking this opportunity, I fire the second arrow, then the third, prioritizing the hounds closest to me first.

And now, they notice me. There's no way they wouldn't after that, but there are 9 of them left, and I only have 7 arrows. There's nothing I can do but keep on shooting as they start to charge towards me.

Thanks to my Archer skill, every arrow is hitting its mark, but what do I do about the 2 other arrows.

I release the last arrow, hitting the tenth hound in the neck, before jumping out of the bush and rushing straight towards the two remaining hounds, which are also still rushing me despite the fact that I already dropped 10 of them.

When I get close enough, the hound in front leaps at me, aiming directly for my neck and I slide under it. My intention was never to face it head on, I was aiming for the the arrows stuck to the fallen hounds.

"Auhh!!"

Hmm? What was that?

Piccy?

I can feel her presence on the ground, the hound must have bumped into her when it jumped at me.

Oh no, it's sniffing for her now. How did it lose interest in me that quickly?

I rip an arrow free from one of the dropped hounds and hit the one sniffing for Piccy in the torso, knocking it down.

The other one slides to a stop, turns and just lunges at me.

I pull another arrow out and try to notch it, but it was too late. It was already in the air with its jaws open, aiming for my neck. Automatically, my Spear skills kicked in.

I pull my right foot back and using the arrow like a spear, thrust it up into the hounds throat. The weight of the hound snaps the arrow in half as it drops to the ground.

(Piccy, are you ok?)

(Yes, I'm fine. Just a bit… dizzy…) as she starts flying back to me.

(Sorry that happened. I didn't realize you followed me out of the bush.)

(Oooo ohh...) I can sense the little magic ball wobbling. A lot. Almost exaggerated.

Then Silvia steps out of the bush. "Well done. I got really worried for a moment there, I was ready to use my magic when you ran out of the bushes and started charging them like a mad man. But what you did was amazing. You're very nimble on the battlefield."

"He he." I scratch the back of my head, accepting the complement.

"Well, since you saved that little fairy there, I'm assuming it's a friend of yours? I've noticed it following you around for a while now."

"He he... yeah.. ... ... Wait a minute, you knew?!"

"Well yes, it's giving off quite the amount of magical energy. Any good mage would be able to notice."

"Ehh he he... well... guess there's no use hiding now."

Piccy slowly turns visible again as she flies behind me and peeks over my shoulder, "Hello..."

"So why were you hiding?" she folds her arms expecting an answer.

"Ummm... I thought it might have been dangerous for her to go in to human settlements, so I told her to try and conceal herself."

"Ahhh... that. Well, I do understand your concerns, but I don't think she'll be in any danger in Grant.

Our country is very accepting of any race and we are highly against slavery. Capturing and enslaving is punishable by death, so I don't think anyone would try anything.

Further more, most people adept with magic will already know she's there by the magic she emits when she's invisible.

It's very rare to encounter a fairy around here though, so she might catch some eyes, but it's better than causing a misunderstanding. So I would suggest you refrain from making yourself invisible."

"Right...Invisibility isn't really that useful if you have to announce your presence magically every time you go invisible." I take a peek at Piccy.

"Eh hehe...I'm not very good with illusion magic yet."

"Hehe. Though most fairies can use illusion magic, that doesn't mean that all of them are all good at it. They need to train in it just like with any other skills in order to improve."

"...Hmmmm. Magic huh. I'd really like to learn some magic myself." I have magic from the game, but from what I saw, this worlds magic is completely different from that of the game. I mean for one, I've never even heard of illusion magic in the game.

Silvia clasp her hands together and leans in close, "You want to learn magic?" her eyes twinkling.

"Ummm.. yeah. I wanted to talk to you about it since yesterday but we didn't really get the chance. And I didn't want to take up your time."

"Well we have the chance now." She chuckles a little.

She's really enthusiastic about magic isn't she. I can see the passion in those eyes.

Piccy, "I know wind magic. Maybe I can teach you too."

"Thanks you, both of you. But it's getting dark, maybe we should get back first. And isn't it about time for your shift now Silvia."

"Well, I'm suppose to be here with you for your test until tomorrow, so there should already be someone covering for my shift."

"Oh, right. Sorry again for the trouble."

"No need. It's my job after all."

We started dismantling the hounds. Gravel and Alice showed me how to do it once before, but I'm not that good at it yet, so Silvia needed to guide my hand a little bit.

Hope this doesn't get points deducted from my test. Being a teacher, I'm usually the one grading, so taking a test for the first time in a long time is giving me nostalgia. Hehe, it's a good feeling.

Though, the actual act of dismantling isn't very pleasant. One of us already looks like she's feeling sick. I guess being a fairy, she doesn't eat meat and so never needed to dismantle an animal.

After the dismantling, we started heading back to town, and along the way we talked about magic.

We did a lot of talking…

Mostly Silvia was the one doing the talking…

...

"Yes, but although you can use any magic you like, it is still more efficient to use magic that you have an affinity with." Right now she's in the middle of explaining magic affinity.

"An affinity with magic?"

"Yes, magic is broken up into two different types, mundane and elemental. If you have an affinity with an element, using magic of that element will give you better results and even consume less mana."

"Yeah, my affinity is wind magic." The little fairy raises her hand.

"And mine is wind and fire."

"Hooo... is there anyway to find out what my affinity is?"

Silvia, "Mmm.. no, not really. People just naturally find out what their affinities are by themselves through the process of using magic. For most people, their affinity is just simply an element that they like. If you find yourself thinking about a particular element more than the rest, then that's probably your affinity."

Piccy, "Ohhh! It's true! I really do like the wind."

"Seems like I'll have to try magic out for myself then. You also mentioned mundane magic, what is that?"

Silvia, "To speak of magic as if you could master it so easily. You must be really confident."

"Eh? No, not really. I just thought I'd be good to learn a bit of magic if I'm going to travel the world."

"Well, it is true that magic can make your life more convenient. Especially mundane magic. To put it simply, it's magic that doesn't have a particular element associated with it. Such as Piccys' illusion magic. Mundane magic also includes spacial magic and summoning magic, your enhancement magic may count as mundane magic as well."

"Hmm.." I nod in understanding. "Hmm? Hay wait. How do you know what magic I can use? I've never used my magic in front of you before have I?"

"Oh, Alice and Gravel told me all about it. And judging from their enthusiasm I can tell that your magic must be something amazing. Truth be told, I also wanted to ask you about your magic. I've never heard or read of anything like it before. It might even be a new type of magic all together." She looks really happy about this. But I on the other hand, don't think I like where it's going...

"Ummm... well, there's not really that much to talk about. To put it simply, by playing my instrument, I can temporarily increase my party members agility and power by a small amount." I'm purposely leaving out some details, but that is essentially what I did for Alice and Gravel.

Right as the first words leave my mouth, she immediately pulls out some parchment, a quill and an ink bottle from who knows where and starts writhing furiously. Jotting down every word I say.

"Uh huh, uh huh. And how did you first come across this magic, did you find instructions on how to use it from somewhere, perhaps some old scrolls or books, or can you just use this magic, or maybe, did you create the magic yourself? Do you need a chant for your spells? Oh! Is it a silent chant? Or better yet, do you chant with your instrument? Ohhh.. I never even thought that incantations like that could be a possibly, to chant magic not with words but with the notes of a song. I must do further research into this myself when I have the time." And she just continues scribbling away.

"Wow wow wow, calm down please." Yikes, I don't even know the answer to those questions.

Well I mean, I do, but I can't really tell her that all I need to do to use the skill is click a button that I can see in my head. "Umm usually I just need to think about the spell I want to use and start playing."

"Ohhh, I see. That's interesting, so the spell doesn't require a chant. I see." She writes some more. "And how did you come across this magic?"

"I kinda.. just.. found out I could do it.. one day.."

"I see, so it's your personal magic." Scribbling some more. "Do you plan on taking on any apprentices?"... And she just kept asking and asking and asking and scribbling and scribbling until we got back to town.

I didn't even get the chance to ask her any questions about this worlds magic.

Sigh…