Chapter 127
[Lotni's Grimoire: A grimoire that compiles all the magic of Lotni Komodo, a pioneer of energy magic who once shook the continent.]
[Mage's Elixir: The ultimate elixir that can turn even an ordinary person into a mage.]
I was agonizing over the two rewards while on horseback.
I had opened the thing called Lotni's Grimoire and read its contents dozens of times, but I couldn't understand what it was saying at all.
And this Mage's Elixir, with its flimsy, peddler-like description, was also a problem.
‘What should I do.’
I had trained solely as a knight for decades.
I had never even seen a mage type before Emilio.
In fact, I had never even thought about how magic worked or how necessary it was.
I didn't even know what mages in this place were capable of.
[Magic is mystery, mystery is energy. Energy exists in all things and can create all things. Therefore, to understand and handle energy is to understand the elements and, beyond that, to understand this world itself - Lotni Komodo-]
Reading the text in his book, it seemed to mean creating some kind of result using an energy source similar to the Qi I used.
"This won't do."
I realized that agonizing alone wouldn't yield an answer and abruptly stood up.
Then, I immediately moved towards the nuisance (?) that had attached itself to our group.
"Oh, Sir Karl, what is it?"
Emilio had seen me, on that day the demon descended, suddenly unleash a brilliant golden aura at the demon.
"Teach me magic," I said.
"Sir Karl is already an excellent knight, why do you suddenly want to learn magic?"
"I'm increasingly fighting those who have mastered magic."
"So I need it."
It was a short explanation, but it was sufficient.
"In that case, wouldn't it be enough just to know about it without learning it?"
"If possible, I'd like to learn it."
"To know what something is, knowing how to do it myself is the most accurate way."
"Magic is a mystery, it's not a field that can be learned with the head."
In all the media I had seen, magic was always a field where smart people excelled.
It seemed like a field where the laws and principles of mathematics or science applied.
But it seemed this world was not like that.
"Magic is a mystery."
"And it can be said to be the realm of faith and will."
"Sounds like aura," I commented.
"Hmm... aura might be similar, but magic is a bit closer to the spiritual realm."
"To put it one way, it's like the realm where human imagination is realized."
Making human imagination a reality.
For a moment, I thought I could somewhat understand why magic in this world was called a mystery.
"In that case, how can a master teach a disciple?"
"If it's such a realm, can it be theorized?"
"That's an accurate point, but we have developed methods to make this imagination a reality over generations."
"And this requires talent."
"If Sir Karl wishes, I can teach you as much as you want."
"But if you don't have talent, it's a field where you won't succeed even if you die a hundred times."
At Emilio's words, I bowed my head deeply.
"I would like to ask you to start from today."
"Teaching magic to a knight... it might be meaningful."
"However, you must never reveal what you hear from me to others."
"I swear on my honor."
I showed my determination, and the instructor named Emilio readily agreed to my request.
And so, the two of us continued our lessons whenever we took a break during our journey.
"No, that's not it!"
"You're supposed to infuse the energy flowing in the world into the image you've materialized in your head!"
"It's like thinking that paper actually moves by adding energy to it!"
"...."
Even with Emilio's lessons, I couldn't understand what he was saying at all.
And I couldn't feel the energy of the world either.
Ironically, because I was feeling the very clear energy called aura, the part about the world's energy didn't resonate with me at all.
"Let's stop here for today...."
"You do show willpower."
Emilio forced himself to praise me and turned away.
Feeling sheepish, I returned to my sleeping bag and took out that particular potion.
[Mage's Elixir: The ultimate elixir that can turn even an ordinary person into a mage.]
It was a very pride-wounding statement, but what could I say.
Perhaps it was the medicine I needed most right now.
Without hesitation, I opened the cap of the elixir and downed it.
‘Hmm.’
First, the medicine was incredibly delicious.
It was refreshing, and like drinking pine needle juice, the scent of the forest swirled throughout my body.
And in the next moment, I had to experience an excruciating pain different from when I had taken the elixir before.
If before it was a pain like my whole body was twisting and exploding, this time, a pain as if someone was digging into, flipping, and poking my brain continued endlessly.
What felt like dozens of hours of unending pain continued, and I writhed on the floor, unable to even pass out.
"No, Commander? What are you doing?"
"It looks like you're foaming at the mouth or something?"
"Are you not feeling well?"
"No, why is your body like this, it seems stiff too?"
Kelvin, who hadn't yet departed for the Order and was still accompanying us, saw me writhing in pain and nonchalantly continued his jokes.
"You seemed to be doing something last time too, but if you keep pushing yourself with training like this, something terrible will happen."
"Getting stronger is good, but sometimes you need to know when to turn back."
Already writhing in pain, I looked at Kelvin, who was chattering away to the point I wanted to kill him, with murderous intent in my eyes.
"Strange, why do I feel killing intent from the Commander?"
Leaving the muttering Kelvin behind, I was, at some point, liberated from the pain that felt like my brain was being ground up.
"Ah...!"
An exclamation of awe burst from my lips as I opened my eyes.
It was a pure exclamation from me, who had never let out a big sigh since coming to this world.
It felt like the energy flowing in the world was visible.
Although it wasn't actually visible, feeling the subtle flow of energy with my body was a strange kind of pleasure.
"No, why are you being so scary, Commander?"
"You haven't gone crazy or anything, have you?"
"...."
I abruptly got up and strode towards where Emilio was.
"Sir Karl?"
"I saw it."
"No, I felt it."
"The energy that constitutes the world, I mean."
"Ho...? In that case, try to visualize an image in your head and guide the energy you felt towards it!"
I slowly created an image of fire in my head and then tried to guide the surrounding energy towards it.
After about a minute of long silence, the energy finally flowed into the image I had formed.
Fwoosh.
Just as I opened my eyes, which I had closed to concentrate as much as possible.
"Hmm...?"
"...."
The two of us fell into an awkward silence as we looked at the flame that appeared before our eyes.
"Ahem... this... it is magic, indeed, but."
"...."
Emilio, who had coughed awkwardly, fidgeted with his hands, not knowing what to do.
The flame that floated between the two of us was barely the size of a pinky finger.
It was so small it was hard to see if you didn't look closely.
"Well... our school's magic efficiency and energy are usually expressed quite strongly compared to ordinary schools... Gosh, I just don't get it."
"I don't know why it's like this even though you felt the world's mystery and followed our school's energy induction method."
He gave an awkward smile and turned away.
I placed the small flame that floated before my eyes onto a nearby leaf.
Fwoosh.
It was definitely fire, as the leaf did burn.
But it seemed unlikely to be of any great help.
"Still, it's remarkable."
"People who can't feel this mystery can never induce energy even if they try their whole lives."
Emilio moved his lips diligently, trying to give hope somehow.
"Normally, how large is it formed?"
"Uh... according to our school's induction technique, the first flame was usually... about the size of a watermelon, I think...."
"...."
I dispersed the energy and extinguished the small fire.
"You're bound to improve as you practice."
"Well, there is the realm of talent, though."
Emilio continued to add explanations in a voice lacking confidence.
"It's alright."
I turned away with that short remark.
In the first place, just having a knight know how to use magic would be a great help.
And it seemed I might be able to feel the surrounding flow the moment an opponent manifested magic.
"Sir Karl, I will develop a new induction method for Sir Karl...!"
"...There's no need for that."
"No! I will definitely develop an induction method for Sir Karl, so don't be too disappointed!"
"I'm not disappointed!"
"Sir Karl is a Master-grade Knight, isn't he! There's no need to be disappointed by something like this! Just using magic can be seen as having taken a great step forward!"
"...I said I'm not disappointed."
The flame from a moment ago was too small to be called a great step forward.
"No, Sir Emilio, what was that tiny flame just now?"
"Surely you weren't showing that as magic, were you?"
"I don't know if our Commander, who has reached the Master level, would be interested in such a baby fingernail-sized flame."
"You should at least show a flame the size of a watermelon chunk... Commander? Why is your expression like that?"
Watching Kelvin approach me with an innocent expression, Emilio made an even more awkward face, and my expression hardened like never before.
Thus, without any particular incident, the Knight of the Lighthouse returned to the County of Collo.
***
Perhaps it was because a period of calm tends to follow a storm, but after two long expeditions, I was able to enjoy a comfortable time for a change.
The pointy-eared elf bastards seemed to have been shocked by the last fight and didn't show themselves.
And the spider-mask bastards also hadn't shown themselves since the Alcantara incident.
"Hoo...."
I was focusing on training, prioritizing raising my level during this long-awaited leisure.
In addition, I was spending quite a bit of time studying magic.
Of course, despite investing considerable time, I had only managed to grow the pinky-sized flame to about half a fist.
Since the initial flame was said to be the size of a watermelon, it meant I still had a long way to go.
"Still, there has been a lot of progress."
"It should be fine to move on to the next stage now."
"...Is this really a lot of progress?"
"It's progress because we've confirmed that the size is increasing."
"Now, this time, try to move the ball and hit that target set up over there."
"As I explained last time, you need to guide the path the fire you created can travel."
Hearing his words, I guided the fist-sized ball towards the target Emilio had designated.
Then, the ball of fire floating in front of me began to fly towards the target in an instant.
Kwaang!
"Oh...."
"...."
Both of us suddenly fell silent at the rather powerful-looking explosion.
"Is this, normally this fast?"
Watching the fireball accelerate and fly at tremendous speed, I asked the question, and Emilio stroked his chin.
"Truly peculiar."
"Truly peculiar...."
He lifted his eyes after being lost in thought for a while, stroking his chin.
"Sir Karl, I think you might need to walk a different path from our school."
Emilio's Jordi Enhancement Magic School focused on enhancing magic itself.
However, in my case, he thought I might need to pay a little more attention to magic application.
"But it's not like you can meet a mage just because you want to, so let's think about this one more time."
"Thank you."
I bowed my head in gratitude and then returned to my office.
Knock, knock.
"Do you have a moment?"
"Of course."
Count Vito, whom I hadn't seen in a while, requested a private audience with me after I returned to my office.
These days, Count Vito was so busy handling the affairs within the domain that it was difficult to meet him.
Fortunately, Selena was so competent that she was helping to distribute the workload; otherwise, he would have collapsed long ago.
"It feels like it's been a long time since we shared tea like this."
"Indeed, it has."
"A message has arrived from the capital."
"...?"
My eyes narrowed at the unexpected news.
I had a hunch that this respite was about to end.