Chapter 68: Magic

“If you say anything rude to the teacher, you are going to get punished.

“Yes, Lady Cecile.”

Allen is now upstairs in the hall talking to Cecile.

It’s early November now, and Cecile called me as usual at the end of October.

I thought it was the usual sweets, but it wasn’t. At that time, Cecile said to me, “You’ve done well as my manservant for a year. Is there anything you want?” Cecile was going to give me a reward for my first anniversary of being her manservant.

As the unintelligible words of the first anniversary of being her manservant filled my head, I thought of a reward. I thought about asking Cecile for some of the sweets she usually eats, but then I thought about it and asked her for a favor.

Cecile learns various things. Teachers come to her several times a week. There are many, including history, mathematics, and languages, but one of them is a magic teacher, probably because Cecile is a Mage.

As a reward for my first anniversary as her manservant, I wanted to study with the magic teacher. If possible, I would like to have a class, rather than just observing.

Cecile accepted Allen’s wish.

Today is the day that Allen would receive his reward. Just after noon, an old man wearing a robe and carrying a wand arrived. He is Cecile’s magic teacher.

“You are Allen, correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

The bag that the magic teacher holds in the opposite hand from his wand was larger than usual. Cecile asked the magic teacher to teach Allen the very same day Allen wished for a class, but the teacher told him that he had some preparations to make, so it was not on that day, but today. He seemed to have taken the trouble to prepare for Allen.

Allen and Cecile sat in the center of the hall. The magic teacher sat in front of them.

“So you’re Allen, huh?”

The magic teacher takes off his hood and calls out to me. He was a deeply wrinkled man of nearly seventy with gray hair, beard, and mustache.

“Yes, sir, thank you for your time today.”

“Hmm, do you have any questions for me? I know it’s only one day, so you must have some.”

Then he took out a thick book and some crystals from his bag. From the contents of the bag, it looked quite heavy, but the teacher seemed to be strong despite his appearance.

(Oh! He’s a good teacher. If it’s anything, let’s ask him what I want to ask him.)

I’m going to hit the magic teacher with a question that I’ve been meaning to ask after today’s lesson.

“Sir, what are the conditions for using magic?”

Allen asked the question he wanted to ask the most.

“There’s only one condition for using magic. You either have the Talent or you don’t.” replied the old man while rubbing his beard.

“Like a Magician or a Mage?”

“That’s right. You can also be a Great Mage, Sage, or Great Saint to be able to use magic.”

“So, what about Priests and Saints?”

“Well. You know your stuff, don’t you, Allen? Strictly speaking, the magic used by Priests and Saints is Recovery magic whereas magic used by Mages is Offensive magic.”

“Huh? Isn’t there some kind of Support magic?”

“Nu? You really know your stuff, Allen. Support magic is used by Sages and Great Sages. Well, to put it more precisely, it’s not that other professions don’t have it, but it’s their specialty.”

Because Allen knows so much, the magic teacher stares into Allen’s face.

(Oops, I think I went too far with my question. I guess I shouldn’t show my knowledge too much.)

Cecile was surprised to see Allen asking the magic teacher so many questions. It seems that he knows more than Cecile thought he did.

Allen made notes in his Grimoire as he listened.

“I understand. Thank you very much. Can I ask you another question?”

“Of course.”

“How do you use magic?”

“Huh,” he said, picking up one of the thicker books the magic teacher had brought today.

“You have to learn what’s in these books.”

“This is a beginner’s book that Miss Cecile has been studying”, he said, handing it to me. It was a rather battered book. I looked at the contents.

“I can’t read it.”

(Ignoring that it’s not Japanese, there were symbols I’ve never seen before.)

As I flipped through the book, I saw that it was filled with such symbols. They were not Japanese, nor were they symbols of something I had seen in my previous life. Each of the symbols had no sense of unity.

“You must remember this. The combination of these symbols is magic.”

It seems I need to memorize this in order to use magic.

“Do I just have to remember?”

(It’s tough being a Mage, memorizing this stuff.)

“Yes, memorize it so you can draw it in your head.”

You memorize enough of these complex and numerous symbols in your head to be able to picture them. The story goes that while envisioning the symbols, you consume mana and release the magic.

“Once I learn it, can I use any magic?”

“Of course, that’s not all you need to know.”

To memorize magic, there is an order. First, memorize the symbols in the book. Then, you have to use a lot of mana. In addition, you have to go through the ‘Trials of the Gods’ many times.

(Hoo… Do I have to level up to use magic too?)

Allen tried to make sense of it in his own way.

“By the way, do you know if I can do magic or anything?”

“What? You don’t have any Talent, Allen! What were you listening to just now? You can’t use magic without Talent!”

Cecile reacted to Allen’s words thinking, “Why are you asking me that? You don’t have any talent.”

“Well, I heard you wanted to take a class, so I brought you a crystal to see if you can use magic. This will tell you if you can use magic or not.”

The question “Can I use magic?” seems to be a common one for students. He explains that this is a simpler version of the crystal used in the Appraisal Ceremony. It can be used to determine if a person is a Magician or not.

“Oh!”

(A magic tool!  Now I can see that I, a Summoner, can use magic.”

The crystal was much smaller than the one used in the Appraisal Ceremony. The teacher placed a small crystal about ten centimeters in front of Allen. The crystal supposedly reacted to magic-using Talent.

“Hold your hand over the crystal.”

“Yes!”

Allen held up his hands cheerfully.

However, nothing happened. He held my hands for a while, but the transparent crystal did not respond at all.

“Hmm, you can’t use magic.”

“Eh?”

(Seriously? At this rate…)

A nightmare that Allen had been thinking about, but had tried not to think about, flashed through his mind.

“Give it up. You can’t use magic without Talent.”

Allen was in too much shock, so Cecile told him off.

“This is what happens when Lady Cecile holds her hand over the crystal?”

“What? Are you doubting my teacher?”

Cecile got angry and choked Allen. The magic teacher intervened when things started to get messy.

“Well. Since you’re here anyway, why don’t you hold your hand over it? I’m sure that will convince Allen.”

(I’m convinced. Show me how it reacts when a Mage holds it. It’s painful.)

While being choked, Allen appealed with his eyes to Cecile and held her hand over the crystal. “I can’t help it,” she said, shaking her hand off Cecile holding it over the crystal.

Then the crystal began to glow yellow as if reacting to Cecile’s hands. The light was warm, like the sun.

“Hmm, yellow is a mage.”

(Oh, it’s glowing.)

Allen was so shocked that he looked at the situation in a daze. He had many days before the magic teacher would come to the mansion, so he was thinking about what other questions he could ask him. He would have liked to see some magic if he could have, but that was no longer an issue.

(This is not good.)

As a Summoner, Allen’s status abilities looked like this:

[Strength] A

[Mana] S

[Attack Power] C

[Endurance] C

[Agility] A

[Intelligence] S

[Luck] A

The statuses are in the order of SABCDE, with a higher increase when the level is increased. Allen’s Intelligence is S.

(I can’t use magic, but I have S in Intelligence. That’s why I only have C in Attack Power and Endurance.)

Allen believed that because of his high intellect, his other stats were low. His high Intelligence does not allow him to use powerful magic. It doesn’t mean that the status of his summoned beasts will increase along with his Intelligence.

This means that no matter how high your intelligence is, you’ll only be able to remember things, and you’ll have no use for them. I can’t believe that my other skills are so low because of my useless status.

For Allen, the only way to attack with this status is to hold a sword, which is as inefficient as having a Mage carry a two-handed sword.

(My summons give me blessings, so is it a measure to keep my status in check?)

A few reasons pop into my head.

–I incurred the wrath of God due to my complaints and he changed my status.

–I can learn magic when level and skill level increase and the crystal is useless.

(Could it be that I’m in this situation because I filed the same complaint about the Appraisal Ceremony for six months straight? Dear Elmea, please forgive me.)

Allen looked into the distance and was stunned. The lesson given by the magic teacher as a reward for the first anniversary of him being Cecile’s manservant ended quietly.