Chương 13: Chapter 13. Roxy’s chapter, a Beginner’s Wand (side story)
[Roxy's POV.]
"...Quagmire!"
Ahead of the wand where Roxy Migurdia had pointed, mud covered the ground instantly.
Seeing it becoming a bottomless pond of mud, Roxy turned back and told in a flat tone, "Pull it up, now."
To that word, the men of the village gently slapped the farm horse's rear, then also started pulling the rope themselves.
The rope went straight instantly and made a whizzing sound to the tension.
"Hoi, hoi," went the men of the village pulling the rope.
It was a big tree stump.
When observed carefully, a big rock had been tangled up to it too.
However, a horse and a herd of men pulled it up. The stump of wood got instantly pulled above alongside the piece of rock and rolled on the ground.
"Is it over?" Roxy asked.
"Yeah, good work. Thanks for helping us out all the time. Here, take your pay."
"Oh, thank you for your humbleness. Very well, excuse me."
"Sure! See you again!"
Roxy is working as a tutor of Seraphim Greyrat in the Buena Village.
But her job as a tutor does not go on every day. She has some holidays and free time.
However, even if it is a day off, she doesn't just waste her time. She either practices her shortened casting that she grasped thanks to the help of her young genius student, or she helps out the villagers and makes some money.
"~Hm, hm, hm..."
Each reward for helping the villagers was not much.
However, as not a lot of people come to the village, mages were in high demand. The villagers must have been pretty wealthy, giving her off quite some cents.
Having her heavier wallet in her chest pocket, she went on to return home with a pleasing look.
"Hey, isn't it Roxy-chan?" Suddenly, someone called out to her.
"Yes?"
When Roxy turned back, there were two horses.
One of them was a fine horse. With its nice fur and trained muscles, you can easily notice that it is a well-cared horse. It was Caravaggio of the Greyrat family.
The other one was an unknown horse.
However, horses don't speak.
Who spoke were the two people riding the horses.
"Hello, Roxy-chan."
"So you're helping the villagers again. Good work."
It was her employer as well as the house owner of the Greyray family, Paul, and his wife Zenith.
"Well, you always seem to help out the villagers with their farmwork on every holiday... is it maybe that we don't pay you enough?"
"No, I receive a sufficient amount. There's nothing bad about having more money. Leaving that aside, where are you two going?"
When Roxy asked that, Paul hit the sword on his waist, with a face as if he was trying to say he was glad she asked.
"It's Seraph's fifth birthday soon, right? I asked a blacksmith from the town for his birthday gift. We're going to go and receive that."
Roxy said, "I see. A blacksmith, is it? Are you going to give him a sword? Isn't it too soon?"
"When a disciple of the Sword-God Style has a child, they make them have a real sword at the age of five. I referred to that. Although it might be still too early for him, the trustiness and the fear of having a blade both need to be taught from a young age."
"Hmm, I see."
"Speaking of which, mages also have a similar custom, don't they?"
"Hm?"
"If I'm not mistaken when an apprentice learns to use Elementary-rank magic, the master gifts them a wand, isn't it?"
"Ah... "
Roxy suddenly remembered after hearing these words.
There actually was a custom like that. The master crafts a hand-made wand when their apprentice learns to be able to use Elementary-rank magic.
Roxy thought that it was an important custom.
After all, she herself got happy when she got her first wand from her master, as she thought she finally was a part of the mages.
Roxy: "A-ah... um yes! Well, yes, there are customs like that, maybe, in some places, um, I think ... in my style of magic, um, we give it at the Intermediate-rank... oh no, it's also too late... um..."
Roxy became flustered. She completely forgot about it.
She can make an excuse that Seraphim used Intermediate-rank magic from the beginning, but it was true that she completely forgot about the important custom itself.
"Hey, Roxy-chan ..."
"Y-yes?"
Roxy suddenly shuddered. She was a failure as a teacher.
She might be scolded, because she was cutting corners, or that she didn't like their child, or something.
It was a danger of losing her job.
But, Zenith deeply understood what kind of a person Roxy was. "Let's go buy the materials together, okay?"
"O-okay..."
To her kind words, Roxy couldn't help but nod weakly.
***
"Mmm ... Ah!"
In Roxy's hands, a wand cracked with a snap.
"Huh... Failure again..."
Roxy was sitting at the work desk at the corner of the tool shop, beginning making a beginner's wand.
On the table were magic stones, wood pieces, and some metalware.
All of them were quite good materials which she collected by going around the town.
A wand of a mage gets stronger as the rank of the woods and magic stones get better.
Additionally, when some magic circles are drawn into the metalware connecting the magic stone and the wood piece, it gets even stronger, but that is unnecessary for a beginner's wand.
Far from it, the magic stone could be of the least ranked, and the wood piece could be anything.
It is basically gifted for them to use and throw away, as it is a beginner's wand.
However, as for Roxy, if she had an apprentice, she had already decided the lowest rank of materials she wanted to use, in her heart.
Seraphim was her first apprentice, and Roxy's wand she got from her master had some quite good materials used.
As good as the master is, the better the wand they gift, she learned in the magic university.
Hence, Roxy decided that the magic stone would be of a rank above the least, and the wood piece would be from a young sapling of the Lesser Treant.
The merchant said, "Hey girl, I know how you feel, but a newbie crafting with a young sapling of Lesser Treant is too difficult. Use this red oak instead."
"No! That can't happen. I want to use this."
Out of the cheaply available wood pieces, the young sapling of a Lesser Treant is one of the best.
When compared to using magic with bare hands, by using this material the difference can be clearly felt.
Out of the mages, some just focus on the magic stones, but for Roxy, they are amateurs.
The quality of a wand relies upon the grade of the wood.
Of course, the amount of Mana used is less when sending the Mana to the magic stone, but also how efficiently the Mana flows, and how much Mana is sent to the magic stone, is decided by the wood.
And, out of the lower graded wood, the only one for that to be felt is a young sapling of Lesser Treant.
As magic can be used with bare hands, any sort of magic stone can help the one using magic. Therefore, the good or bad of the wand depends on the wood piece.
That was the reason she stuck to this... but there was one thing Roxy did not know.
That was, that the young sapling of the Lesser Treant can easily crack, and is quite difficult to craft with.
Roxy: "I'll buy another one!"
"I'm sorry, but we're sold out."
"What!"
"Recently, the population is increasing so more and more houses are being built, and that's why we're overall short of wood."
"O, okay."
"It's not that it's that rare, so we'll have more incoming soon, though."
As the name suggests, a young sapling of the Lesser Treant can be obtained by cutting off a young tree of Lesser Treant. As a Lesser Treant dries up and withers when they die, it cannot be obtained if not cut off from one alive.
But, it's just Lesser Treant after all, so it's not a very difficult task. Actually, it's quite a common case of cutting them off while fighting by coincidence.
Waiting for the arrival of the shop, or requesting to the adventurer's guild, it wouldn't take that long, and be in hand quite soon.
"Hmm..."
However, there wasn't much time left until Seraphim's birthday. She might not make it in time if she waited for the ingredients to arrive.
It's fine using other wood pieces, but she did not want to use anything cheaper than a young sapling of Lesser Treant, and on the other hand, if she went for something better, only the expensive ones would be left.
Rather than using these as a beginner's wand, she would use it for something like a wand above the Intermediate-rank. It's wasteful.
It's finally her first apprentice and her first beginner's wand.
It would be a memorial for Roxy, so she did not want to compromise for this.
"Oh, you were here. Finally found you."
"Come on, we have been looking for you."
There, a voice was heard from the entrance of the store.
The voices of a young man and a young woman.
From the second time of the same interaction today, she looked back with a bitter smile.
"I'm sorry. I've been having a rough time."
It was obviously Paul and Zenith.
It seemed that they finished purchasing the things they were looking for, as they were holding their package in their arms.
Paul said, "If it is negotiating for the price, I can help! Despite how I look, I learned it from a thief who used to be in my party before."
"No, actually, the thing I'm looking for seems to be out of stock."
"Can't it be something else?"
"Of course not! A wand is very important for a mage! Isn't it, Roxy-chan?" It was Zenith who answered Paul's naive question.
From her vigorous look to defend Roxy at all costs, she answered with a strained
smile.
"No, it's not that that won't work... but a beginner's wand is a special thing to indicate a mage's very first step, so I don't really want to compromise. Also, I heard that the fifth birthday is an important day for humans."
For Roxy, it was something half wanting to celebrate, but half feeling uncomfortable.
That's because she had forgotten to gift it herself.
It also served as an atonement of her past. Making a random one with a cheap material could not be forgiven.
"Roxy-chan..." To that word, Zenith put her hands over her mouth with an expression of deep emotion.
They welcomed the young-looking girl mage just like a family, and she also is trying to respond to that. She was very happy about that.
Paul asked, "So, what's the problem?"
"I wanted to use a young sapling of Lesser Treant as a material, but it is sold out."
"Okay, I see!"
Hearing that, Paul hit his hand.
"Okay, if that's what you need, let's strike while the iron is hot! Let's get going!"
"Go where?"
To Roxy who was puzzled, Paul answered, "Of course, we're gonna go get them!"
To Paul, who hit the sword on his waist with a sound, Zenith and Roxy could not help looking at each other's faces.
***
"We can't find it..."
"Yeah. We've been into the forest for a while, but I thought the Treants would come attack us right away."
"Yes, speaking of forests, it's Treants. Normally, we would have already encountered some of them…"
Roxy and the two came to a forest near the town.
Their goal is the Lesser Treant.
All three of them were originally adventurers with a high rank, so rather than waiting for the arrival, it is quicker to go get it themselves.
That was the idea Paul had come up with.
However, it had been an hour since entering the forest. Although they irregularly encountered some other monsters, they could not find a Lesser Treant.
"So, you two seem to have quite some skills," said Roxy.
"Isn't it? Despite how I look, I used to be an S-rank adventurer!" Zenith bragged.
"Well, Zenith's ability is no more than A-rank or high B-rank though."
"Hey, it was your idea to level up at a fast pace to get me into the party! Whatever my skills are, I am S-ranked!"
Roxy said, "Please, stop quarreling. I think Zenith is also moving pretty well. Healing mages often aren't able to move confidently, but that isn't the case for Zenith. Even to the enemies that came towards her, she is trying to back them off until Paul is able to take care of them. It's helpful for us attacking mages to move too."
Roxy did praise her like that, but inwardly she was thinking Zenith was able to move well because she was with Paul.
For healing mages who are not capable of doing much in the attack, they usually tend to not want to even handle a single monster. Their excuse is that when they are defeated, the possibility of the whole party being wiped out increases exponentially.
Practically, their excuse is right. Protecting themselves is the highest priority to healing mages, so if they can't afford to do that, they should not come face to face with an opponent one on one.
However, that doesn't make it a reason for forcing the monster that attacked them to someone else, for example, an attacking mage who is not being targeted by a monster at that time.
Although attacking mages have powerful means of attack, they are able to show their true abilities when they are free of target and are able to shoot magic without any worries.
It is better for the healing mages to manage and hold on, and wait for a swordsman or a warrior to come help, or a mage to burn out the enemies.
However, that is not necessarily always right, so they have to adapt to the situation.
Zenith had these basics done right.
Hence, maybe having party members who have the ability as S-rank, she can work more than enough for the party without bothering any of the other party members.
Yet, Roxy still thought this would only work when she worked together with Paul.
It's the difference in the amount of trust.
When she was to handle one of the enemies, before when she would be not able to handle it anymore, Paul always comes and helps. Because she believes this, she is able to deal with them without panicking.
"..."
When she thought about that, Roxy became jealous.
When Zenith is in trouble, a person who she loves always comes and saves her. Not only that, but that man even loves her back. How great.
'If only I could ever find someone like that…'
Roxy couldn't help thinking like that.
"Hey!"
That was when Roxy came back to reality with Paul's voice.
She quickly rested her back to a tree nearby and checked toward Paul's direction.
Paul also hid behind a tree just like Roxy and was looking in a certain direction.
It was almost a move in reflex, but it seems like it was the right decision.
In the dim forest, a big object was moving with a slithering sound.
Roxy peeked out from the tree and looked carefully at the object.
"That is..."
There was one Lesser Treant there.
Even though it is named 'Lesser', it has a fine body of around 2 meters.
However, something clearly looked wrong with this individual.
Although Treants are not supposed to move until the target comes nearby, this one was slowly and unsteadily moving around the forest by itself.
On top of that, the upper skin looked dried out and cracked, and the overgrowing leaves had completely dried down and turned brown.
It is almost dead...
"A Vampire Treant, is it?"
The reason was behind the vines that twined around it.
This vine twined around the Lesser Treant and was sucking up the sap and the mana.
From this, people called the vines a 'Vampire Treant'.
"It was a good thing we came here. If that thing was here, we might have had no supply soon."
In a forest where a Vampire Treant had spawned, the number of Treants decreased rapidly. The reason for young saplings of Lesser Treants being low on supply was also probably because of this.
"I guess."
Saying so, Roxy took out her staff.
***
"After all, this is all we've got, huh..."
A Lesser Treant could not be found.
Nevertheless, there was a plump piece of a young tree in Roxy's hands.
It indeed was a sapling of a Vampire Treant.
Roxy did not know how suitable this sapling of a Vampire Treant could be.
Yet, as the feeling of touching it with her own hands, it did not look like a bad one at all.
A bit lighter and harder than a Lesser Treant sapling, but the flow of mana is somewhat poor. So basically, it is not too good.
Even though a Vampire Treant is a rare monster, its materials are not necessarily high-quality ones.
"I wonder... how Kant-sensei made my wand," Roxy murmured.
She met her master in the hometown she grew up in, learned magic from her, and got a wand.
But thinking back, there were no Lesser Treants in the area she grew up in.
Then, Roxy's master must have made the wand with materials available in the Demon Continent.
She did not choose the highest quality of materials but used the best ones out of what she could find.
The magic stone was a commonly found one, and the latch was made out of metal and not stone.
Most probably, all of them were common raw materials she had with her at the time or ones she could obtain nearby. Still, for what it was, it was made pretty firmly and saved Roxy's life multiple times.
Although how suitable a Vampire Treant's sapling is for a beginner's wand...
"Let's try with this."
Roxy took out a knife and started carving the sapling.
For a while, there was silence but the sound of carving wood.
While listening to the sound, Roxy was thinking back about the things since she came to the Buena village.
First, she thought it was no more than a common village. Small, carefree, but having pride, and strict with strangers. Especially, against the Demon Race, never opening their hearts.
In reality, some villagers often looked at Roxy and did give her some rude glances.
Although not as much as in the Millis continent, the teachings of the Millis religion were pervasive in the Asura Kingdom.
Some hate the Demon Race just because they are one, but even if not, there is no doubt that there was an inclination to somewhat avoid them.
When she realized that Zenith, the wife in the house she was hired, was a follower of the Millis religion, Roxy thought that she would not be able to have a pleasing living.
However, maybe it was the national background. Or, it could have been their personalities. Or perhaps, maybe the experience in their lives.
Both Paul and Zenith treated Roxy well.
They didn't mention anything about the Demon Race and treated her as a part of the family or as a good friend.
Maybe because those two were like that, after living there for a while, there happened to be a change in the villagers as well.
Looking at Roxy, they started to show their smiles to her.
"Roxy, are you going out today?"
"Roxy, we harvested some fruits, would you like one?"
"Roxy, thanks for helping us the other day. It looks like we will be having another successful harvest this year."
She thought it was a good place here.
At the same time, she thought her master might have felt the same way.
Once, she was born in a closed and boring village, but because her master came, she could know about the big world and set off.
When her master just came to the village, Roxy did not remember how she was treated in detail, because she was still a child.
However, when she was ready to leave the village, she was certainly accepted by the people there.
"Perhaps, I could be like Kant-sensei... have I..."
She did not intend to do so. But, if she could have done something similar, she would be glad.
One day, that master left the village.
Roxy at that time had a bitter feeling toward it.
She still had a lot to learn. She wanted to be with her more. And if she could, she wanted to travel with her...
But, that was probably because her master thought that she taught everything she could to Roxy.
Thinking she was no longer needed and that Roxy can walk on her own feet, she stood back and returned to the things she wanted to learn and the things she wanted to do.
And, the same was for Roxy.
She was almost about to finish teaching everything to Seraphim.
At the same time, she felt that she still had a lot to learn. Thanks to his help she set her foot on learned how to do shortened casting, something she previously didn't know was possible for her to achieve.
This boy who was significantly younger and more talented than herself, yet wasn't arrogant about it, greatly humbled her and made her reflect on her own past and her shortcomings.
"Perhaps, it is also time for me to be leaving soon, I guess…" said Roxy.
It was a good village. The people were great. She still wanted to stay here longer.
But, it probably is the right time.
"I guess I will leave, after teaching the last one."
Roxy still had a spell of magic she had not taught to Seraphim remaining.
A magic that even she had a hard time getting it right.
A magic she didn't even think she would teach the slightest bit when she came to the village...
Saint rank water attacking magic 'Cumulonimbus'.
"Fufu, but Seraph will probably be able to learn it quickly."
To the sapling she finished carving, she attached the metal latch. To finish it off, she attached a magic stone right in the place.
The sapling of the Vampire Treant, perhaps due to its nature, was quite flexible and fit well in hand.
With the wand in her hand, Roxy opened the windows, and pointed her wand outside, to an open place.
"I call a refreshing, burbling stream here and now. 'Water Ball'. "
As a result of her shortened Incantation, a ball of water flew off, then made a small splashing sound as it landed on the ground.
There's no problem with the flow of mana as well.
It's done.
"Farewell, it is…"
'When Seraph masters the last magic... I will also leave.'
Thought so was Roxy, looking at the just-finished wand in her hand.
***
***
***
(Adapted from: Roxy Manga Anthology Short Story "The Beginner's Wand" | Translated by Nishiki | Raws by Molokolulush)
(This chapter is mostly copied from the mentioned side story, though most people probably didn't read it. It's canon. I only corrected some spelling and edited it slightly. While some people might have read it before and complain, I think it is not bad to include one chapter like this in a fanfic to add some depth to characters like Roxy, Paul and Zenith, chronologically before the 5th birthday.)
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