CHAPTER 5

It had been about ten minutes that I and Mrs. Dwile had been walking; she had told me she would take me to my "magic teacher," but I did not think I would have to go all the way into the forest to meet him.

I don't know who it is; I thought Arrick would take responsibility, but probably, given the misstep Mrs. Dwile made, she doesn't feel safe letting him become my master. No, that's not it; even though she made a misstep, she still didn't do anything that made her lose confidence that her son could keep the secret. But then, why not him anymore? This was the question I asked myself for the first few minutes of the journey. It didn't take me long to figure it out because the answer could only be one: Erika, the girl with silver hair.

She has an enormous amount of mana, and besides, she and Mrs. Dwile have known each other for a long time, so thinking that she is my teacher is obvious.

"So that girl named Erika will be my teacher, right?"

Mrs. Dwile turned, looking quite surprised.

"How is it that it will be her? Why are you so sure?"

"Dunno, I guess intuition or something like that."

Normal people can't perceive mana, so it's impossible for them to understand how much mana a person has. I can do it thanks to my power, which I've decided to nickname the goddess's eyes. The reason for this name comes from the fact that Rose is quite religious, and since she worships a goddess, and these are eyes that ordinary mortals do not normally have, I thought it must surely be something divine.

"Intuition...?"

"Does that sound so hard to believe?"

"If you say so."

Okay, maybe I'm showing too much, better stop it.

"Alright, we've arrived."

"But I don't see Erika."

"Usually she is never late, but maybe since she just arrived a few hours ago, she's tired. Maybe it's already a lot that she agreed to meet you today."

"If it was giving her trouble, she could have avoided it; I wouldn't be offended."

And so began a short wait of not even five minutes because Erika arrived immediately. This time, however, there was something strange: there was a weird thing around her, a red stripe was flying around her. A type of mosquito from this world? Something tied to magic? I couldn't figure out what it was; I just knew it was part of Erika's power because it emitted mana identical to hers. Another strange thing, though, that I didn't notice immediately was her left arm, bandaged up to the elbow. I didn't know why, but I didn't care much.

Once she arrived in front of us, Erika greeted us politely, looked at me closely, and sat down on a rock.

"Okay, let's see what you can do. Stand here in front, and let's see what you can do."

I stood in front of her, ready to show my skills, when that kind of mosquito started buzzing around me. Standing close, I noticed it had something strange: it seemed to be made of a red liquid, like blood. Since it annoyed me slightly and I wanted to know what it was, I decided to crush it: I waited until it was close to my face, and I trapped it in my hands. In the end, it turned out to be made of blood, as I suspected.

Erika didn't seem fazed by this thing, so I thought it had nothing to do with her and finally began demonstrating my magical abilities.

I used water magic to start because it was my strong point, creating a water bubble and spinning it around me. The original plan was to make it spin ten times, but on the seventh spin, the bubble burst. Oh well.

Then it was fire magic's turn, but this time I wouldn't take the initiative; Erika would give me a challenge to complete. The challenge was nothing complicated: I had to hit the center of a circle drawn on a tree.

"Does it have to be on a tree? If I made a mistake, I could risk burning it. I don't want to burn an innocent plant."

"If that's not good for you, we can end the test here. I'd only gain from it since I don't really feel like training you anyway."

"Okay, I apologize for bothering you after your long journey; now you can go rest."

After making a slight bow, I turned to head out of the forest.

"Hey, wait, where are you going?"

Mrs. Dwile tried to stop me to understand why I was leaving.

"I have values; I can't risk burning a tree just for fun. Even though they don't feel emotions, they are still beautiful to look at, and besides, they give us oxygen."

Still, it's a shame; I would have liked to train with her because she seems very strong. But destroying a tree for free doesn't appeal to me. Sure, it's true I discriminate against rabbits with red eyes just because they look like the ones from Re:Zero, but I don't think I've physically harmed them. I just avoided them. And it's also true I used water magic to hit creatures, but it wasn't strong enough to hurt them (at least I think), and besides, I have much more control over water magic than fire magic.

"Don't you think you're overestimating yourself a bit, kid?"

It wasn't Mrs. Dwile speaking but Erika.

"To destroy that tree, you'd need an enormous amount of mana as well as excellent control, and based on the earlier test, it doesn't seem like you have either."

"If I told you I have both, how would you react?"

When I said that, Erika burst out laughing. I was very surprised because until now, she had been expressionless and maintained the same bored facial expression.

"Come on, you've managed to amuse me."

After about thirty seconds, she stopped laughing, composed herself, and said:

"Alright, fine, use me as the target."

I don't think Erika risks anything by taking one of my hits. In theory, considering her amount of mana and the fact that even someone inexperienced like me can tell she's a professional in using magic, she should be able to sweep me away with one blow.

"Okay, but how should I do it? Should I hit a specific part of your body or...?"

"You don't seem to hesitate to hit me, a human."

"I'm four years old; I've never seen anyone use magic except my mother, so I can easily overestimate my abilities. But you, who seem so experienced and were chosen as my teacher, surely you're not the type of person who overestimates their abilities. If you offered, it's because you know you can handle my magic just fine."

"Good answer, really good answer."

Erika gave a small applause and then moved on to explain the test.

"Hit me with the strongest fire magic you have; then I'll decide whether to pass you or not."

Since she assured Mrs. Dwile that nothing would happen and, just in case, Mrs. Dwile had moved away, I hit Erika with the strongest magic I had. I was sure I could do it and pass the test, but, as life has taught me, I'm 90% wrong about my certainties, and today was one of the many confirmations, as I hugely failed the test.

I should have only hit Erika, but since I had to show off, I decided to use magic I didn't yet know how to control well without saying the formula. Result? Everything around me was on fire. Fortunately, Erika managed to extinguish the fire and avoid the worst, but I had still failed.

"Excuse me, may I ask you a question?" Erika asked.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Why don't you use the formulas?"

"Because they're too long."

"Then shorten them."

"Wait, they can be shortened?"

"Of course. If you can skip saying them entirely, why couldn't you shorten them?"

Where is that written? What are you saying? Rose never told me anything about this. Why didn't I ever think of it before?

While my head was filled with questions being churned out every second, Erika kept talking.

"A recently discovered thing is that you don't necessarily have to use the pre-set formula; you can also use random words like: rock, house, grass, tree, etc. Try it—think of a random word while casting the spell."

As the mature person I am, I naturally immediately thought of inappropriate things, but I pulled myself together and decided to use the word "shadow." Or at least I would have liked to, because Mrs. Dwile told us that time was up and we needed to return to their house.

"Well, in the end, it didn't go so badly," I thought to myself.

Leonard Noimar, what a peculiar child. Not only did he manage to identify my blood insect, but the power of that spell means he has an enormous amount of mana. I'm not sure someone average could ever use such a spell; they would probably run out of mana immediately and end up on the ground, drained. Besides that, he has extraordinary control, but how does he so easily use magic without formulas?

But what surprises me most is his maturity. He was born to simple commoners, so why is he so mature? I'm sure even nobles wouldn't be able to maintain that composure at his age, and that's normal because they are four years old.

I don't trust him; it would be better to keep an eye on him. How could I test his abilities...? Well, of course, there's that option, but I wouldn't want to go that far because he might end up traumatized. But maybe I could ask his parents, and if I cover it up well, he shouldn't get hurt. Ugh, enough thinking, I'm tired and hungry; let's eat first and then decide.

So I headed toward the villa, always keeping an eye on Leonard.