chapter 10 :comforted

Hey Blair-chan." Takeshi greeted his cat. "Just as usual, your Magician is struggling with the wonders of magic. But he'll succeed in it someday..." Takeshi softly told Blair while letting a comforted smile appear on his face while his cat simply nuzzled into him.

After a few moments of petting and silence, he decided to stand up and pat the imaginary dust off of his pants.

"Welp, time to see what the library has to offer." Takeshi said to himself, before he walked towards a door in the ride of the room. As he approached the door, he channeled some magic into it. The door soon glowed, and a circle with multiple movable parts appeared before him. It's something his late father managed to set up for a certain specific room.

Seeing that the circle is a password to the room, he simply arranged the circle to the correct codes. The magic circle soon glowed, and faded away. A door click was soon made, and Takeshi followed through the door.

When he entered inside the room, he was greeted with a vast library, large enough to put public libraries to shame. The walls were high, and had shelves of books everywhere. Around the room were stalls of books as well. This library room was personally made by his father with his practice with dimensional pocket magic, a very advanced magic to practice at a scale like this. It also helped that his late father was a rather avid collector and researcher of magic, so he got many books.

Takeshi hummed to himself as he walked into the room, with Blair following after him. Scrolling through the sections, Takeshi could go through each book he could find.

"Let's see...Let's see...Let's see..." Takeshi muttered to himself. "No...I can't really master you. No, too complicated and advanced even for me to practice. Tried you, but it's an epic fail." Takeshi commented, before he reached for a ladder nearby.

"All right, let's see what's on the upper shelves..." Takeshi made his way up the latter to find a grimoire he could work on. After going up a few steps, Takeshi soon caught a particular book in his eye.

"Nature magic? Well, I haven't tried that before..." Takeshi said, reaching for the book. He made his way down the latter, and cleared the dust off of the grimoire. As soon as he held it, he closed his eyes.

"All right weird abilities, do your thing..." Takeshi muttered to himself, before he concentrated on the closed book before him. As he did, he felt a certain feeling in his head, before he felt his mind become rushed with information, and he felt himself reading through the entire book in under a few seconds, word by word, picture by picture. The process soon ended after that, and Takeshi opened his eyes to look at the grimoire before him.

"And that's another book memorized..." Takeshi quietly said to himself.

There is something strange he found about himself. Whenever he comes into contact with a book, no matter what kind of book, he always manages to memorize all of the contents and information within it. And the memory sticks well within his brain, like looking it up in a computer. His mind had that sort of power. Strange thing is, it's not even some sort of magic he applies. It's more of a ability that is a part of him.

He and his late father tried to figure it out, but they came up with dead ends. Whatever it is, Takeshi intends to find out, along with developing his magic skills.

"Well, nature magic needs nature, kinda obvious enough..." Takeshi said as he shrugged to himself, before he decided to leave the library.

"Later Blair-chan! I'm going out for a nature walk!" Takeshi called out to his cat. "Oh, I better take the staff out for a spin to!"

(Forest)

Takeshi decided to go out to the forest near Kuoh and practice his magic there. He was currently in a secluded part of the forest, and Takeshi had a concentrated look on his face as he focused on his magic. He was currently trying to focus on the basic step of nature magic: growing a lead on a tree. However, Takeshi found himself in quite a predicament when nothing is resulting, no matter how much time and magic is spent on it.

After a considerable amount of time, Takeshi gave an exhausted breath as he took a few steps away from the tree.

"Welp, that's a bust..." Takeshi muttered to himself, seeing the fruits of his labor before him. "I can't even grow a single leaf. Guess that means nature magic is out of my reach..." Takeshi said to himself as he scratched the back of his head, and then looked towards the staff in his hand. It is a a brown finely wooden shaped staff with a grip near the top-end of the staff. Attached at the top of the staff is a C like wooden shape with a slanted block on top off it.

His late father called it the Prudent Owl Cane, a special Magician staff that is blessed by some divine owl that me met during his travels. According to his late father, this staff greatly increases both magic power and casting time.

"Even with the staff, it still does nothing..." Takeshi silently muttered to himself with his expression slightly a bit down.

"*Whistle*...your magic skills are sure taking a hard time, huh?" a voice spoke with an intrigued tone.

Takeshi's eyes widened, and he immediately turned to the source of the noise while raising his staff.

"Electrical Fuzz!" Takeshi casted the spell upon reaction, sending out a ball of electricity towards whoever talked to him. As it flew through the air, he heard a bit of a zapping noise and flash.

"...Ow?" a figure said, a bit unsure if the spell caused damage or pain. The figure walked out of the trees, and Takeshi had a good view on who the figure is. It is a man who appears to be in his twenties while wearing some form of yukata. He has black hair, golden bangs and black goatee.

The man before Takeshi simply scratched the back of his head while looking down at his chest, where there is a bit of burnt cloth at his chest level.

"I don't know if that was supposed to damage me, but I will say this." the man said as he pointed to the electrical orb that is floating around him while trying to damage him. "Gonna take more than that if you want to even scratch me." the man said with an amused smile.

At the same time, Takeshi grew more alarmed upon seeing the man. He knew that he sucked at most magic, but his Enchanter spells should've caused some damage. The man before him took his attack like some 10 year old kid threw his baseball at him. So Takeshi took a few steps back while raising his staff, readying himself for a possible battle between him and the unknown figure.

"Woah woah, easy there kid. I don't mean any harm..." the man said while putting up his hands to show that he means no harm. "I just want to talk. Is that a bit too much to ask?" the man asked with a relaxed expression.

Takeshi stayed a bit silent, before he slightly lowered his staff.

"All right...what do you want to talk about? I highly doubt that you're a human, considering that you shrugged off my spell like its nothing." Takeshi told him.

"You have sharp eyes. Seems like you do fit the description." the man said with a nod. Takeshi frowned a bit, before he decided to ask the question that has been bugging him.

"I don't mean to be rude, but who exactly are you?" Takeshi asked with a raised eyebrow. His was answered with the sight of twelve black wings popping out of the man's back.

"Well, we can start it off by saying that I am Azazel, Governer of the Grigori. Nice to meet ya." the man, now known as Azazel, introduced himself with a nonchalant wave. Takeshi silently stood there for a few moments, blinking a few times upon seeing the man. It was then he recognized who the man is before him.

"Oh...Oh...Oooooooohhhh..." Takeshi managed to utter out, before his body slightly slumped in recognition. "...Huh. No wonder I didn't really damage you." Takeshi commented. Azazel simply chuckled.

"It'll take more than that if you want to at least leave a scratch on me." Azazel told him while simply dusting off the area he was hit.

"Well, I guess I'm sorry for...attempting to hurt you?" Takeshi tried to phrase it correctly.