Chapter 7. Roxy appears

After Paul sent a request to the Magic and Adventurer guilds, we quickly found a magic tutor.

The village had no inn, so the job offer included accommodation too.

A day later, the teacher arrived at our house.

"I am Roxy. Please give me your guidance."

It was a young girl dressed in a brown magician's robe, her light blue hair in braids, and her body reminiscent of that of a 14 year old girl.

The white skin, devoid of any suntan, was accompanied with sleepy half-opened eyes. She had curt-looking lips, and though she's not bespectacled, she does give the image of a studious girl always working in the library.

She was holding a bag in one hand, the other hand holding a staff similar to one I have previously seen in the anime.

She met with the three of us in the house's entrance.

It was Roxy.

Thank god there was no sudden AU change!

In regards to Roxy that I knew from the anime and the novel…

In truth, in the beginning I wasn't much of a fan of Roxy.

Rudeus excessively glorified her in a cringey way, and certain fans seem to obsessively love her, but I personally didn't find her very attractive, and I even thought she's a bit stupid and autistic.

However, as I matured and came back to reread the work, I was able to appreciate her more.

After putting aside the Goddess nonsense Rudeus spouts and how the narrative forcefully portrays her as extremely intelligent, which she is not as intelligent as just books-smart and logical, I started seeing Roxy for who she is.

A clumsy and still childish books-smart lolita magician girl who tries hard to be acknowledged despite her shortcomings. A girl heavily self-conscious of her small body and heritage, with an idealistic and silly dream of romance like from a novel.

And as I saw her for who she is, I then began to like her as a character. A cute, smart, loyal and hard-working girl.

She's certainly a girl that might be worth it.

""…"" Meanwhile my parents were speechless as they looked at her.

"Ah-ah, you're, that, home tutor?" Zenith stuttered.

Paul: "Ah, that's, really—"

Roxy remained expressionless and said, "Yes, I'm the home tutor. Which is the student I'm supposed to teach?"

"Ah, you're supposed to teach our son Seraph," Zenith introduced me, placing her hand on my head as she stood behind me.

I sent Roxy a child's innocent cute smile.

And she immediately let out a sigh, "Aaah. I guess it happens from time to time, huh, idiot parents who think their child has talent after growing slightly…"

Although she only grumbled quietly, I think everyone heard it.

"What was it?" Paul asked.

"It's nothing. However, I think that your son won't be able to understand the principles of magical theory."

"Not at all! He can already cast Elementary and Intermediate spells! He doesn't even need to chant! He's a genius!" Zenith excitedly bragged.

From an outsider's perspective, all that she said probably sounded incredibly ridiculous.

It really was ridiculous.

But well, it was of course all true.

By now I have also already convinced Zenith to allow me to cast Intermediate magic legitimately and without having to hide it. She's way too soft.

At this time, Roxy looked at her apathetically with suspicion. She emotionlessly said, "Ah, right. He can cast Intermediate rank magic without a chant… Can I see it then?"

"No problem. Seraph, go show her!" Zenith pushed me forward with a bright smile.

Well, okay.

Like this, me and Roxy stepped out of the house.

Zenith and Paul were watching us from the porch.

Roxy was looking at me with a gaze as if she was not expecting anything. Some kind of bad joke maybe.

As for me.

What to cast?

Intermediate magic.

Let's just go with then.

I stretched out my hand toward the sky and activated the spell.

"Water Cannon," I muttered under my nose.

There was no need for me to say the spell's name. I only said it for people to know what I'm doing.

Water began to gather in front of my palm and within less than a single second, a huge sphere of water the size of a hopping ball was formed.

I stopped at this size, then set the speed, making it rather average.

Then I shot it up into the sky.

As the water sphere was shot out, it slightly changed its shape due to the air pressure, taking more the shape of a bullet, then continued flying for several seconds high toward the clouds, forming a small rainbow on its path.

Boom.

Then the water sphere exploded, causing gentle rain to fall somewhere out there.

"How was that?" Zenith asked with a grin.

Roxy frowned at her. "Is this some kind of joke? Where are the magic circles?"

"Magic circles?" Zenith tilted her head.

Roxy let out a breath and said, "You can't fool me like this. You should have installed magic circles somewhere around here."

She then started looking around.

Apparently, she didn't think a 3 year old kid could cast Intermediate magic chantlessly and she was probably being pranked.

I found it to be a little funny.

In truth, that water cannon was just a tiny fraction of my power!

"Ah, haha! There are no magic circles…" Paul spoke up with an awkward smile.

"How about Seraph casts another spell then?" Zenith spoke up. "Go Seraph, cast something else."

"Okay! Let's see… Explosion."

A rather small fist-sized ball of concentrated flame formed in my hand, which I then shot toward the sky.

Boom!

The flaming sphere exploded with a loud bang.

I looked up at Roxy innocently.

At that moment, Roxy looked shocked and confused. As everyone looked at her, waiting for her answer, she emotionlessly said, "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I'm not qualified to teach him."

"Hm?" I stared at Roxy with widened eyes.

"Excuse me?" Zenith asked.

Roxy narrowed her eyes and turned her head away. "This talent needs to be properly trained. I'm not sure if I could do it."

""..."" Zenith and Paul were silent, probably a bit dumbfounded.

Meanwhile I blinked my eyes.

If Roxy left here without teaching me anything, it would just be a joke!

My thoughts raced quickly, and I then ran up to Roxy and grabbed her hand.

She turned to look down at me.

And I used my classic move: large shining eyes and the cutest face I could make.

It never failed me before.

"No, please, Roxy sensei. Please, teach me!" I gently asked while grabbing her hand with both hands.

"Ugh…"

"I can do some magic, but I still have a lot to learn! I'm sure you have a lot of experience and a lot to teach me. Please!"

"Uhhh…"

Twinkle, twinkle. "Please…"

Roxy let out a long sigh. "Alright."

"Thank you!"

And with that, Roxy was hired as my magical instructor.

It was decided that in the morning, it'll be Roxy's lessons, and in the afternoon, it'll be swordsmanship practice under Paul.

…

For the first lesson, Roxy brought me to a spot in the garden right away.

I was sitting on a wooden chair brought out from the house.

Roxy walked in front of me while speaking, "Well, let's start from the magic textbook… No, before that, let me ask you - how did you learn to use voiceless incantations?"

She looked at me as if I was a little monster.

"Is incantation necessary?"

"Of course it is… Normally," Roxy said.

"I always thought that incantation is only there to teach you the spell. And then you can just replicate the feeling," I explained.

"Ah, replicate the feeling?..."

I nodded, swinging my feet while sitting on the oversized chair, I added, "Yes. When casting magic there's a way that the mana flows. Then you just have to replicate that feeling."

Roxy looked at us while being silent. She closed her eyelids for a while, then eventually let out a sigh as she opened them again. She asked, "Do you feel tired now?"

After casting all that magic before, she means, I guess.

"No, I'm fine," I said.

"I see… Anyway, let's go back to the lesson. Your mom said that you can cast Intermediate magic. How did you learn it? Did someone teach you?"

In truth, I already learned almost all of the Advanced spells from the guidebook as well.

It is just that Zenith doesn't know about it.

I'm sure Lilia knows though, but she didn't rat me out.

Lilia's the best!

I replied, "I learned it from a book…"

"From a book? You can read as well?" Roxy looked at me with eyes wide like saucers.

Apparently, the fact that I can read at 3 years old was just as shocking as my ability to cast magic without a chant.

I am not sure of the literacy rate in this world, but it seemed to be atrociously low even for teenagers and adults.

It was said in the novel that most swordsmen in the Holy Land of Swords never learned to read.

"Yes. My parents taught me since I was little," I muttered.

"I see. You really have good parents then," Roxy said, smiling. She then slowly approached her bag and started rummaging through it. Soon enough, she pulled out a book and opened it on the first page, showing it to us. "Is this the book that you read?"

"Yes, I think so," I said.

Although I sounded uncertain, I was 99% sure that it was the same book published by Ranoa University of Magic.

Roxy faintly smiled at this, then said, "I see. In that case you should be aware of the basics of magic?"

I said, "Yes. I read everything that's in the book. But it would be good if you went through it again."

"I see. Let's start from the basics then..."

Roxy coughed gently and then started her lecture.

"In broad terms, there are three types of magic: attack magic, healing magic and summoning magic."

"Each is divided into seven ranks: Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced, Saint, King, Emperor and God."

"You should already know that much. A magician's ranking title is determined by the most advanced spell he can cast. As for myself, I'm a Saint-ranked Water Magician."

She said the last line with a little pride, I could hear it.

"Woah, you're amazing!" I commented offhandedly.

And I could see Roxy puff out her cheeks in pride. She tried to hide it by looking to the side, but she seemed happy and satisfied.

She's so childish, really…

Roxy let out a small cough and replied, "As long as you keep practicing, I'm sure you'll be able to easily reach Saint-rank as well."

I said nothing.

As long as I poured enough magic power into an Advanced ranked spell at this very moment, it could probably reach the power of a Saint-ranked spell.

If Roxy showed me a Saint-ranked spell, I might be able to replicate it. Maybe?

After all, after what I have been doing over the last 3 years, learning a new Advanced rank spell is like picking my nose - there is no difficulty in it.

"Let's return to the lesson. Intermediate and Advanced magic is usually the highest ranked magic that's used in combat. Saint ranked spells often affect the weather and a large area. They would be only used during large battles or castle sieges."

Yeah…

Although Saint-ranked magic sounded cool, it didn't seem like it had much use during real battles against a few or one powerful opponent.

These were massive AOE spells that had little use during skirmishes.

Rain over a large area? What use does it have when there's a swordsman rushing straight at you to cut off your neck?

I remember that combat spells in the anime and novel was often limited to mostly Intermediate Magic for 1v1 and Advanced magic for AOE, even for Rudeus. That's because these cause more concentrated damage and are not as costly to cast.

Sadly, Saint-ranked magic and above didn't have much use.

Roxy continued, "Advanced rank magic affects a much larger area than Intermediate magic and is also significantly stronger. For example, Exodus Flame."

She then stretched out her hand and started chanting, "Raging spirit of flame, bastard of hell. Rise to the land of man and swing your fist. Strike down my sworn foe and consume them within darkness. Exodus Flame!"

An enormous ball of fire formed floating above our heads that then shot out at immense speed into the sky.

BOOOM!

The sphere of flames exploded in the air, creating huge fireworks.

Roxy then looked at me with some expectations.

However, I remained rather unimpressed.

I already knew the Exodus Flame spell. I cast it when Paul was at the watchtower and Zenith was helping in the village's clinic.

I gently smiled.

Did she just cast it to show off?

I guess she wanted to regain some face.

But I didn't call her out on this. I only felt it was a bit funny.

"Amazing!" I said.

Roxy smiled a little.