The formal intermediate magic training began.
Whether due to mastering basic magic and contracting with a spirit or just her innate talent, Lena learned unnaturally quickly.
“Fire Wall.”
-Whoosh!!
Her ability for fire magic, which paired well with wind, was especially extraordinary.
She could cast spells after being taught the incantation and magic flow once.
At this rate, graduation didn’t seem far off.
“M-master! How was that?!”
“Excellent.”
“Ehehehehehe~.”
The Fire Wall Lena just cast wasn’t a simple intermediate magic Fire Wall.
By summoning Sylphid and combining it with her wind, it was wider and more powerful than a regular Fire Wall.
As her teacher, I felt proud seeing her naturally link with spirits as if it were second nature.
“Can I see the other elements too?”
“Y-yes!”
After high-fiving Sylphid happily, Lena nodded and raised her hand.
Next was Water Ball.
“Water Ball!”
Perfect non-verbal casting, excellent multiple magic. Five water spheres appeared in the air at once. When shot at a tree, the Water Ball not only completely shattered its target but had enough power left to destroy surrounding trees.
“Is stacking still difficult?”
“A l-little. I think I can manage two…”
Hey, even double-stacking is impressive.
I patted Lena’s head as she mumbled with a discouraged expression, then taught her other spells.
As we were finishing up our lesson,
“Found you!!”
Here they come! Experience points!
Shadows gathered from the forest. They were the Asura Church members who had been coming every few days since their first visit.
Since they were slightly stronger than the first group, they made good practice opponents for Lena as she learned intermediate magic.
“Go!!”
“Y-yes!”
Now, Lena stepped forward without fear.
Thus began the battle between Lena and the Asura Church members.
Hmm… Her multiple magic is good, but her accuracy needs work. We should focus on that in tomorrow’s lesson.
I watched Lena fight the Asura Church members, stepping in at the right time to help her defeat them all.
“Good work today.”
“Yes!”
Lena had grown accustomed even to killing. While she nodded, having completely incinerated an Asura Church member through coordination with Sylphid, I gathered and burned all the corpses before calling her.
“The enemies are getting stronger.”
“Y-yes…”
While it’s convenient that the Asura Church members come in manageable numbers, if we stay here, they might eventually come in numbers and strength that Lena can’t handle. Thinking about this, we probably need to make some changes.
“I think it’s time we leave the cabin…”
“Wh-what?”
“Running away may be shameful, but it can be helped. Their visits are getting more frequent. At this rate, you might not be able to train properly.”
Of course, fighting enemies is also training. But what’s important for Lena now is mastering more spells. She needs to learn a certain amount of intermediate magic before learning advanced magic.
“If we fight while moving, the Asura Church members won’t catch us easily. So…”
“Y-you mean we should… r-run away?”
“Yes.”
Lena’s gaze fell on the cabin. Looking at it gently, she slowly shook her head.
“B-before meeting you… I was always running away.”
“…..”
“After meeting you… I’m ch-changing. I gained power to protect myself, and power to… protect others.”
“And?”
“Ah. Um. I… don’t want to run away anymore.”
Though her voice trembled, it carried determination. Clenching her fists and looking straight at me, her sapphire blue eyes shone.
She’s changed so much. Gone was the Lena who avoided eye contact and feared everything when we first met.
She shone like a star, trying to walk her own path.
“It won’t be easy.”
The Asura Church is powerful enough to be involved in the true ending. If they seriously come after us, facing them will be incredibly difficult.
There’s an easy path, yet she chooses the path of hardship…
“If you’re sure you can handle it, from now on, the lessons will be much harder. Is that okay?”
“Y-yes!!”
Lena’s expression was serious. Then, I should respond in kind.
Watching her tensely holding her staff, I grabbed my sword.
“Eh?”
“From now on, you’ll fight me. Once a day.”
“Huh? Huhhh?!”
“Seriously.”
The moment I finished speaking, I took a fighting stance. As I began releasing killing intent, Lena trembled. But even so, she didn’t stop releasing her own killing intent.
“Here I come. Block it or you’ll die.”
I ran toward her quickly, swinging my sword. Her hand moved as she stood there pale-faced and flustered.
She created a wind barrier.
“Hah!!”
Breaking through the wind barrier with Moonlight Sword Second Style: Moonlight Flash, I arrived at close range and unleashed Moonlight Dance.
“Hieeeek!!”
Using Haste to retreat, Lena created a fire barrier with tears in her eyes. Though it was more than five layers thick, Moonlight Wave could easily break through.
“Haah!!”
After nullifying her powerful magic with a powerful attack, I raised my left hand.
“Wind Javelin!!”
The wind spear I shot was blocked by her barrier. But I expected this. I took advantage of the opening to move my sword.
Moonlight Slash.
The surroundings darkened, and a full moon appeared in the sky.
Perhaps noticing the sword energy created by moonlight heading toward her, Lena began blocking the sword energy with magic while crying.
“Haa… wahhh… sniffle…”
When Moonlight Slash’s duration ended, the sky returned to normal. Having barely blocked all attacks, Lena exhaled roughly and pointed her staff at me with flashing eyes.
“I-I can’t do this…”
But finally lowered her staff.
Such a kind-hearted one. Even in training, she can’t use magic against her master? Indeed, during the fight just now, Lena only passively used defensive magic.
Looking at Lena, crying with tears and snot flowing, I sheathed my sword and approached her.
“Hieek…”
Seems she thought I would scold her. Shrinking her shoulders fearfully, she looked nothing like the powerful mage who faced the Asura Church.
“Stop crying. Come on.”
I wiped her tears with a handkerchief. Staring at me blankly, Lena seemed relieved and started crying heavily while hugging me.
Though she stopped crying after a while, she held my hand tightly and wouldn’t let go.
“I-it was… really… scary…”
“Yes, yes. But this is also training.”
“I can handle everything else, but I was afraid you might h-hate me…”
“Me? I have no reason to hate you.”
I patted Lena’s head, and she leaned her head against my arm while sitting beside me.
The scent of her soft silver hair tickled my nose.
Leaning against me acting spoiled, she let out a heavy sigh.
“At this rate… I won’t be able to fight the A-Asura Church. Should we run away after all…?”
“You can’t expect to succeed on your first try.”
Though Lena had always succeeded on her first tries until now.
“Get used to killing intent. The Asura Church elites have at least this much killing intent as a baseline.”
“The killing intent is… okay, but because it’s yours…”
“I won’t ever hate you. No matter what happens.”
I held Lena’s hand firmly. Looking up at me with tear-soaked eyes, Lena hugged my arm again and rubbed her face against it.
Oh boy. How can she fight the Asura Church like this?
“I’ll make something delicious today, so let’s rest now.”
“Y-yes…”
“We’ll do it properly starting tomorrow. We need to learn intermediate magic faster too.”
“Yes!!”
“And we’ll do this again.”
“Ugh, okay…”
Though Lena was intimidated about having to fight again tomorrow, she seemed to gather her courage and nodded.
Such a brave one.
***
Sitting at the dining table watching Lee Hyun cook, Lena thought about what happened earlier.
It was scary.
That her respected and beloved master truly tried to kill her.
Though it was just training, what if it had been real?
‘Uuugh… N-no…’
She hated that most of all.
Everything else was fine, but being hated by her master was worse than death.
Lena clutched her head and slumped on the table.
She then recalled what Lee Hyun had told her earlier.
– I won’t ever hate you. No matter what happens.
‘Is… is that true? No matter what I do, Master won’t hate me… Eh?’
As she thought deeply, Lena tilted her head.
Doesn’t not hating mean liking?
Of course, that might not be true. Not hating doesn’t necessarily mean liking, and that liking might be different from her own feelings of liking.
But even so, Lena couldn’t help but smile at the warm feeling blooming in a corner of her heart.
‘He-hehe. I hope… that’s true.’