Chapter 45: Chapter 45. 2 years’ progress
At one point I became seven years old.
The citadel of Roa.
In the early morning, I held magical lessons with Eris, Ghislaine and Sylphy as my students, as usual.
"Mmm…" Eris let out a focused humm while concentrating at the top of her palm.
A while later, a spark appeared on top of her hand which quickly transformed into a large swirling fireball.
Seeing this happen, she excitedly turned to me. "Seraphim, I did! I did silent Intermediate Magic!"
I slowly nodded. Eris cast silent Intermediate Magic when we tried it, I didn't find it surprising.
What she cast was the Flamethrower spell, an enhanced Intermediate rank version of Fireball.
Given that I had her practice her magic compression and focus by overloading silently cast Elementary rank Fireball and Stone Bullet, it wasn't strange at all that she could quickly grasp silent Intermediate Fire magic when she put some effort into it.
I smiled at her and said, "Good job! If other adventurers saw what you can do, they'd be amazed!"
"Hehe. It's still nothing compared to Sylphy and Seraphim!" Eris smiled sheepishly.
After giving out my share of praise, I continued, "Now you have to focus on improving your silent Healing Magic. As a swordsman, it will be way more useful if you can cast silent Intermediate Healing Magic on yourself!"
Hearing this, Eris's enthusiasm died down and could see a slightly grumbling expression on her face.
I guess she also logically knew that it would be the best thing for her, and she'll still practice, but the truth is that her progress in Healing Magic was slow and it was difficult to practice. Healing Magic wasn't her strength.
During these two years, Eris reached Elementary rank in all four basic magic systems, being able to cast at least one spell of each school silently.
She also learned silent Elementary Healing Magic and Detoxification Magic, while now she pulled off silent Intermediate Fire Magic after practicing it for a while.
Primarily, Eris is a swordsman genius and her talent for magic is average.
I was aware of this from the start, so when it came to her magic training, rather than raising her rank as a Magician or teaching her all kinds of spells, I focused on having her master a few silent spells that would be useful to amplify her strength as a swordsman.
What she first learned was how to silently cast Fireball to make a fire, and to silently cast a Waterball to be able to make drinking water. Because it was still among the basics, she also learned how to silently create rocks and a strong gust of wind.
After that, we focused on having her learn silent Healing and Detoxification Magic.
What she was doing the most over the last several months was trying to improve her Healing Magic and Detoxification Magic, to reach Intermediate rank first with an Incantation, but she wasn't there yet.
Practicing Healing Magic was normally harder than other kinds of magic, because you needed to actively heal wounds to improve. To help her with this, I had Philip arrange it so that she would help out in the church's clinic every once in a while.
Seeing Eris pout, I encouraged her, "Now you can even cast an Intermediate ranked spell silently, so it won't take you long to learn Intermediate rank Healing Magic! Just keep practicing Healing Magic, and keep practicing your magic compression."
"Yes!" Eris said with forced determination.
"You're doing great, keep it up!" I smiled and patted her head.
"Hm!" Eris snorted, pushed away my hand and pouted like an embarrassed cat.
After checking up on Eris's progress, I moved on to Sylphy who was silently practicing at the side, from time to time looking over as if with a bit of jealousy.
"How is your magic training? Do you need help with something?" I asked her.
For Sylphy, she would learn the basics of Magic directly from her private tutor.
Her tutor was a Halfling man that used to teach in the capital. He was a competent, intelligent and knowledgeable little man, so I had no complaints about him.
During our lessons I simply taught her what he could not, filling in the gaps.
"Umm… Well, I learned how to make fog with Melded Magic, but I don't really understand how it works... Can you explain it?" Sylphy asked me with a shy smile.
"Well… I already talked about it before, right? About the three states of matter. It's related to that. With enough heat, water dissolves into the air and turns into vapor. When you cool it down, it turns into ice. Basically, anything melts if you heat it up enough. And it turns back into solid when it gets colder."
"Anything can melt? Even rocks?" Eris joined in on the conversation and curiously asked.
I looked at her. "... Yeah. You only need high enough heat for that."
"Oh, Seraphim! Could you melt one?" Eris asked excitedly.
"Sure."
At this time, my Explosion spell itself had long stepped into a Blue-Violet stage. The heat from this was very intense. Melting some rocks and turning them into magma can be considered very easy.
"How cool! You have to show me later!!!" said Eris.
"No problem."
"I'll try to melt one too!"
"... Okay, just be careful."
After satisfying Eris's curiosity, I turned back to Sylphy and continued my explanation.
In essence, by using Waterball, Heat Island and Icicle Field in this order, you would create fog.
By using spells from different schools in succession, it is possible to create other phenomena like water vapor or fog. This is known as Melded Magic.
The basic magical guidebook had spells on how to create rain, but nothing about creating fog. Therefore, magicians had to use spells from multiple schools in sequence to reproduce various natural phenomena.
"If it's winter and it's very cold, you will not even need to use Icicle Field to create fog, just Waterfall and Heat Island will be enough, because the cold air will automatically cool down your water vapor to create fog… Do you understand now?"
"Mhm, yes. Somewhat." Sylphy slightly nodded.
Judging from her look, it seemed that my explanation was still too complicated.
Oh well, I was not a science teacher, so I did the best I could.
I once again tried to explain the cycle of evaporation, condensation and precipitation.
Sylphy was only 7 years old, but she was a smart kid, so I felt she'd understand the process after putting it into practice.
When it came to her magical ability, over these two years, she already learned to silently cast all Intermediate Rank spells that I knew, including Intermediate Healing Magic, Detoxification Magic and even Fire Magic.
For Healing Magic, she would practice in the village's clinic, helping Zenith.
She could already silently cast Advanced rank [Earth Fortress] and [Sonic Blast] as well.
She made very rapid progress, and I think it's thanks to my teaching methods.
Rather than doing traditional practice, Sylphy's main training method was through practicing magic compression while casting magic silently, mostly Earth magic.
Through magic compression, one can practice how to cast gradually more and more difficult spells, having a perfectly smooth progression. It seemed to be a way more effective way to improve as a Magician than practicing spells divided into Ranks.
With traditional practice, a lower rank spell might be too easy for the caster while a higher rank spell would be too difficult. It's easy to see how it's easier to improve when practicing silently.
Hardening rocks was also a kind of practice that can require huge amounts of focus and mana at a high level, but won't cause any destruction. That's why Sylphy primarily trained by strengthening Stone Bullets.
The side training that she did was sending out those Stone Bullets at a high speed, in preparation to teach her how to handle a stronger and stronger Stone Cannon wand in the future.
After checking up on Sylphy, I moved on to my last student who was silent so far and only looked on with a small smile - Ghislaine.
Over these two years, Ghislaine learned Elementary Rank Fire Magic and Water Magic.
Unfortunately, what she could do was limited to just the Fireball spell and Waterball spell, and she could only cast them with an Incantation.
She still practiced to attempt to pull off Silent Spellcasting, but I know that it was a pointless endeavor.
Ghislaine's talent for magic was simply too weak and she was too old to begin magic training.
However, one thing that I discovered is that Ghislaine's mana reserves are actually quite large. At least, she could cast tens of Fireball spells in a row and still not run out of mana.
As I questioned her about it, I learned that her Demon Eye was something that she was born with. Since birth, her Demon Eye was active and made her see sparkling blinding lights that irritated her and made her go crazy until she began to cover her eye.
So since her Demon Eye probably drained her mana since birth… I was not surprised that her mana reserves might actually be pretty high!
Summing it up, Ghislaine's talent for magic was not good, but she had high amounts of mana reserves. Because of this I thought of getting her some useful Magic Tools in the future; these would be perfect for her.
…
After doing morning magic practice, the four of us moved out to do sword training in the square under Ghislaine.
As usual, we started with a warm-up and with 200 swings in the air.
After that, we made pairs and began to cross blades, performing another 200 practice swings. For this, I paired up with Eris, and Sylphy paired up with Ghislaine.
Following that, we began to practice the technique of our sword strikes for over an hour, before we were made to spar.
Once again, my opponent was Eris. That's because our levels were the most similar.
During this one year, Eris' strength had skyrocketed once again. Her body's strength had pulled even further ahead of mine.
At this time, I held a legitimate Intermediate rank in Sword God Style, and an Elementary rank in Water God Style and North God Style.
Since I began seriously training it two years ago, my Space Bending has clearly improved. It gave me at least a 50% boost over my baseline strength and speed.
With my strengthened body, using Space Bending I could now go head to head with an average trained knight or maybe even defeat them in case they have no talent for Battle Aura.
On the other hand, Eris was only an Intermediate rank in Sword God Style, but she already had early signs of Battle Aura manifestation. It seemed that at this rate she would become an Advanced rank swordsman before 10 years old.
Being faced with each other, Eris adapted the high-guard of the Sword God Style while I adapted the middle-guard.
Among the three basic guards, the high-guard was the most offensive guard that violent people like Eris would tend to use. It fit her the most.
On the other hand, there was the low-guard that swordsmen who are good at predicting their opponent's movements and can move in to interrupt their flow would use. As a beastwoman with great senses and perception, this is the stance that Ghislaien excelled at.
As for the middle-guard, it was a balanced stance that I felt the most comfortable with as someone without any preferences, and without inclination toward either of the fighting styles.
Despite preferring the middle guard, when my sparring with Eris started, I did not hold back, activated Space Bending and aggressively attacked.
With clanging sounds, our blades clashed.
Because of the nature of Space Bending, my speed and striking power was enhanced by 50%, and my own eyes could not keep up with my speed at all.
Because of this, my only chance of beating Eris was by going on the offensive.
Even so, Eris still managed to parry and blocked all of my attacks.
Her basic strength and speed were at least as high as mine, but unlike me, her reaction speed and senses were enhanced as well.
I already knew it wouldn't be easy to beat her, so I pressed on with the offensive. Using speed that my brain could barely keep up with, I continued with a series of sword strikes from various angles.
We dashed through the courtyard while clashing swords.
Unlike the violent beast that she was before, Eris narrowly parried the attacks with grace and skill.
Even when going all out with Space Bending, my assault ended with my sword being knocked aside and my chest being slashed.
Panting after this exchange, my shoulders dropped down.
Eris became even stronger. Meanwhile I was only being left further behind.
"Hehe." Eris grinned in satisfaction. Perhaps to console me, she then thoughtfully said, "Seraphim's talent for the sword is not very good. But it's fine because you're a magician!"
Hearing this, I formed a wry smile. This is exactly what I was telling her many times during the magic lessons - that her talent for magic is not good, but it's fine because she's a swordsman.
I could feel that her intentions were good, but having the same words being thrown at me still felt strange.
After all my training, how could I not feel like crap?
Regardless, the fact remained that I could not keep up with Eris who was 2 years older and her talent for the sword was very good.
Even so, over this year while sparring with a difficult opponent like Eris, I improved my technique by a lot.
At this time, I continued sparring with Eris, and I could feel the growing gap between us. Once Eris reaches Advanced rank, we probably won't even be on the same level anymore.
…
After the sword practice, Eris began to walk away to eat a meal while happily grinning and muttering under her nose, "Hehe, I can now easily beat Seraphim! Hehe! And I can cast silent Intermediate Magic too! I have to tell Father and Grandfather!!!"
I sighed while overhearing her happy murmurs. At this time, Eris looked quite accomplished by being able to beat me. I guess it was a kind of achievement for her.
Putting my depressing thoughts aside, I also went out to eat a meal.
Because our official standing in the mansion was similar, Sylphy followed me and we ate together.
During the meal, Sylphy spoke up shyly at one point: "Eeh, Seraph…"
I looked at her. "Yes?"
"Do you like… Eris?"
As she forced herself to say those words, I could see the embarrassment on her face.
After thinking for a moment, I answered like an oblivious kid: "… Of course I like Eris. Why are you asking silly questions?"
Clearly, Sylphy was jealous and thought I would be taken away from her by Eris. So I thought why not answer like this: Hey, we're all friends! Of course I like her! Why are you asking obvious questions?
"Uh… No, nothing…" Sylphy muttered, then her face reddened further in shame and embarrassment.
This is not what she wanted to ask, but it would be too embarrassing to clarify it now that Seraph misunderstood... This is probably what she thought.
"I like you too," I added.
"Uh..." Hearing this, Sylphy's complexion took on a deeper shade of red as she looked at me.
I smiled and said, "I like you both. So I hope we can always be friends."
"Um… Okay..."
I ended things on this note. I'm such a bad scheming man.
…
[Philip's POV.] (based on canon side story- Reunion with an acquaintance)
Today, Eris rushed into my office and happily told me about how much stronger she became.
In particular, she was very happy that she could beat Seraphim in swordplay.
But even though her demeanor was quite selfish as usual, I saw that there was little arrogance in it. She simply viewed Seraphim as a formidable opponent and felt accomplished.
'It's interesting how people change over time,' I thought to myself.
My daughter, Eris, has grown so much in the past nine years.
I thought back to when she was only two years old, when my days were an endless cycle of hopeless boredom.
Due to political strife, I had been removed as head of the Boreas family almost a year before, and was reduced to serving as mayor of Roa. My life had become a monochrome blur of tedious mayoral tasks, attempts to pacify my neurotic wife, and enduring the daily orders and demands and verbal abuse of my father, Saurus.
As someone who had been yelled at since childhood, I was used to the latter of the three. I should have been complacent, but I found myself growing anxious about the lack of opportunities to demonstrate my strength.
Time seemed to crawl by without any significant improvement or variety.
One day, however, Paul Greyrat appeared at the door to the mayor's mansion.
I saw that he was familiar, but something about him had completely changed from when he had last seen him, nearly ten years before.
"I'm begging you. There's no one else I can ask." Much to my bewilderment, Paul took to his knee and bowed his head while asking for a job. This was the greeting used by villagers and craftsmen—not the greeting of Asuran nobility!
I regarded Paul in scornful horror. Kneeling before me was Paul Notos Greyrat, the oldest son of Notos Greyrat, the intended head of the family. As soon as he had fled, he had been disinherited and was no longer considered a member of the nobility.
To me, Paul was no better than trash.
At that time I thought back to the past.
The first day that I met Paul was when I happened to travel with my father to the Milbotts Region, which is the Notos's territory.
I still remember the thrill of seeing the grapevines and windmills in the Milbotts Region.
It's in the Notos estate that I met Paul for the first time and played together as kids.
Following their first encounter, Saurus traveled to the Milbotts Region many times, and each time, I tagged along to play with Paul.
When I turned seven, I began attending the school for nobility in the capital, and Paul was there too.
Paul and I got along surprisingly well, and we considered each other soul mates. Though Paul lacked book smarts, I lacked physical strength.
We worked on our opposing weaknesses together while causing all sorts of trouble. With Paul by my side, I was game for any mischief he might suggest, and we would execute devious plans without a care. We were best friends.
But at some point, I changed. As I grew up, I began to form relationships based solely on what I might gain from others.
I wasn't sure when or how the change occurred. Maybe it happened when I heard that Paul, who had graduated from school and returned home, got into a fight with his father and ran away.
It might have been when me and my older brother, James, found ourselves in competition for the position of head of the Boreas family.
Regardless, before I realized what was happening within me, I found that I tended to appraise and judge others based on their potential utility.
At that time when he came to me, Paul's name had long been removed from the ranks of the Asuran nobility.
I had thought I would never see Paul again, but there he was, his head lowered before me, pride swallowed for the sake of his unborn child.
I observed my old friend. To me, the man who knelt before him appeared to have changed little from when they first met.
I turned toward the butler. "Tomas, the resident knight of Buena Village recently died during an encounter with a monster, did he not? Paul is proficient with a sword. Let's leave it to him."
Paul's eyes snapped up in surprise. "Philip..."
"Your social status will be that of a low-grade noble. You'll be living in a remote village that doesn't even have a market of its own… but that will do, won't it?"
"Of course! I'm in your debt!" A smile full of joy spread across his face, and Paul bowed his head in gratitude.
Eight years from that day, I still didn't understand why I had made that choice. I was so accustomed to judging others for their usefulness to me that I wondered why my memories of the past caused me to take pity on such a useless man.
But as I watched how my little girl changed over the past two years, I thought to myself, Paul really did change.
Two years ago, my daughter was hardly able to write down her own name and there was no force in this world that could possibly make her want to study. She was an unruly, uncontrollable violent brat.
Despite that, ever since Seraphim appeared and motivated her to study, the tutors had continuously praised my little girl's efforts and how much she improved.
It was not only in academics, but I could also see her improve in her behavior as a lady.
Originally, even I thought thought that Eris was hopeless and had no future as a member of a noble family. That's why I hired Ghislaine to teach her swordplay so that she might at least become an adventurer.
Eris's upbringing was filled with violent outbursts and events that only strengthened me in this belief.
But on this day, seeing her happy expression as she talked to me with excitement and respect, I could see how much she had changed and had grown.
A worry filled my heart when I realized that Eris will mature into a lovely woman within the next few years.
That's when I thought of Paul's son, Seraphim.
It was Seraphim's influence that had brought about this change in my daughter.
Paul had changed because of Seraphim, too, I noted. The neighborhood bully had become a father.
I realized that, from the moment I gave Paul work, I had changed a little too.
Although it was indirect, Seraphim had something to do with my own evolution, as well.
Seraphim was a talented magician, a wonderful tutor and a politician with a promising future, and I couldn't help but find myself intrigued by his frequent use of trickery to achieve his goals.
An evil smile formed across my face. With Seraphim developing at this rate, and with him being able to manage his once-unruly daughter, he had great potential as a future political tool.
I stopped myself right there.
Taking up the role of one of Seraphim's tutors to personally teach him politics, history and etiquette with Alphonse, I aimed to groom him for use in his own quest for influence.
But I quickly realized how absurd my idea of controlling Seraphim was. This cunning child could clearly see through my tricks.
I lost myself in thought. What if Seraphim became the head of the Notos family instead, and I made Eris the head of the Boreas family, then I would once again be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with Paul.
We could conspire like we used to, and—as a bonus—we might even be able to drink and laugh in each other's company again.
I considered this possibility. 'This seems… way more interesting than becoming the head myself.'
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(AN: Next chapter Friday/Sunday. Probably Sunday. It's easy for me to pick up writing on the weekend.)
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