Volume 2 - CH 25

“Hngh! Is this enough?”

A tanned young carpenter loaded the last of the scrap wood onto the cart.

“Yes, thank you very much.”

“No problem. It was going to be thrown away anyway.”

This nice man was Anna’s son, Tosh. 

When I told her that I was looking for scrap wood for a raft when I returned to the boarding house on my day off, she introduced me to her son, a strong man who looked like her. 

He was now working at a building firm and through him, I was able to get scrap wood from recently demolished houses, and he also lent me a cart. 

“Come again if you need more.”

“I will, thank you very much. Let’s go, Cliff!”

Cliff was also with me in front of the building firm.

He pulled on the handle of the cart while I pushed it from behind. I asked him to come with me since it would be tiring to pull a cart to school by myself. 

“Why do I have to work like a horse?!”

Cliff was angry as he pulled the cart desperately. 

“It’s good for you to know how it feels to be put to work sometimes.”

“I’ll remember the way you treated me today.”

“This is all for Alec.”

“I wouldn’t have helped you if it wasn’t. Why didn’t you ask Matthias or Marylee?”

“I can’t bring someone who isn’t as strong as me. Oh my, you’re so reliable, Cliff.”

“Shut up!”

We arrived at the school after I managed to calm down an irate Cliff and were joined by Alec and Rock. 

I could have asked Rock to help but it was a big problem for Alec to leave the school gates, so I asked them to wait. 

“I’m tired…”

The muscles in my arms and legs ached from pushing a heavy cart through the long road leading from downtown to the school. But I will probably have to do this again.

So, I took a little break between the cart and the handle. 

“Where do you want this?”

Alec asked, as he pushed me along, next to the spot where I was sitting. He didn’t mention how heavy it was. He pulled the cart in front of the two angry guys.

“Probably behind the dorms. I don’t think the Sensei’s will find it there.”

The sensei’s, who work at the royal palace, don’t come to school on their days off. The school is completely under the rule of the schools, though there were a few servants around. 

“The girl’s dormitory is less crowded and easier to sneak around but you guys might feel uncomfortable there, so let’s go to the boy’s dormitory.”

“I guess. I would prefer it if we did.”

The girls’ will get anxious if they see boys around the girls’ dormitory. 

The dorm parent and the boys can be silenced if Alec orders them. Let’s take full advantage of his authority. 

It wasn’t only the raft that needed to be assembled.

The safety of air travel was largely determined by the spells cast.

“Hmm, umm, I think the difficult part of this plan is the up and down movements and the right and left movements.”

Matty told us what he had come up with while we were waiting for practical class. 

“If the raft gets stuck in a strange position when the wind pushes it up from below, then the raft will fall when you try to move it right or left.”

“True.”

The activation position of a spell was basically determined based on the caster’s position, but this time, that would be difficult. 

“For example, the raft may become unbalanced if the caster’s standing position on the raft shifts, and the place where the wind hits the raft shifts because of that.”

“Then, shouldn’t the caster be placed where they can’t move, or should the place where the spell hits be adjusted?”

“Both are good ideas, but I’ve already thought up a few spells for this problem.”

Matty rushed to get his notes out of his bag and scattered them on the floor. Calm down. 

“Let’s make models and experiment with them and improve as we go.”

He read the notes which were jammed packed with ideas, and I thought about what we should try first. 

“The mages seem to have a big problem though.”

Rock interrupted ,sounding somewhat astounded. His gaze fell on Mary who was creating a tornado. 

I believe she was aiming for one of the wooden targets that were lined on the floor, but they all wound up on the ceiling. 

Some of them veered off their trajectory and flew around at a high speed. Some even flew towards us who were watching from far away. 

Rock struck them down with his scabbard. This was what had been going on for the past few minutes. 

“~~Marylee! How many times do I have to tell you?!”

“Stop yelling at me all the time!”

Cliff, who had been teaching Mary, was blown away in the aftermath and was quite angry. Well, he’s been blown away five times already. 

Mary, on the other hand, was so angry that she was almost crying but Cliff remained relentless. 

“Don’t put too much power into your spells because you stop being able to aim!”

“You think you’re helping?!”

“Calm down you two.”

I intervened when I saw that they were about to blow. 

We’ve been taking turns teaching Mary since she lacked control, but it hasn’t been going well because of our difference in aptitude and feeling. 

“We’re not getting anywhere with this.”

Cliff cursed at her while fixing his messy hair and clothes and Mary retaliated, “Then don’t teach me anymore!”

But we couldn’t do this without her. 

“Mary, do you feel the flow of magic through your body?”

I asked her after we had fixed all the targets and when she had calmed down, and she looked at me with an unclear expression.

“… Subtly…”

“What? You can’t?”

“It was a bit uncomfortable at first but now I can barely feel it. It’s as if the magic just flows right out of me as I exhale.”

“Wow, I’m jealous of you.”

So, you can use magic as naturally as breathing. That’s so nice. 

“Does it feel like that for you too, Alec?”

He was second only to Mary in terms of output, but I was surprised when he shook his head. 

“I’m not that familiar with my magic. Mary probably has amazing talent.”

“I don’t believe I do.”

“Y-you do!”

Matty interrupted loudly at his cousin’s humble words. 

“That sounds just like what Ellis Rain felt!”

Then, he excitedly approached Mary just like when he talks about magic. 

“He said that you can’t be a true mage if you feel that magic is a foreign force. Mary, you have a great gift!”

It was extremely rare for Matty to declare something so confidently. 

Mary, who was compared to the most powerful mage in history, gradually turned red from her ears. Matty looked up at his cousin, who was slightly taller than him, and desperately appealed without knowing how she felt. 

“Please, don’t give up and do your best. I’ll also do my best to come up with a spell that you can use.”

Mary had no choice but to comply since her usually timid cousin was being this forceful. 

I’ll ask Matty to calm her down and persuade her if she gets upset in the future. 

“Say, if you don’t understand how the magic flows in your body, then why don’t you try to feel it like how you breathe?”

“What?”

I pondered over this while they were talking. 

“It comes out at the same time as when you exhale, right? So, why don’t you try to breathe slowly while whispering the spell instead of shouting it?”

Breathing is an important aspect of martial arts as well. 

Alec added, “I feel like I can control my magic better when I try to calm down.”

“Calm down… Ok. I’ll try.”

Mary’s motivation returned after everyone said some encouraging words to her. 

Then, I looked at the boy next to me. 

“Now that that’s established, you can’t yell all the time, Cliff. Having a short temper isn’t good.”

“… I’ll keep that in mind.”

He seemed to have regretted his actions now that he has calmed down. 

After that, he refrained from yelling at Mary to keep her calm even though he frowned. 

“Who cares about that? Don’t forget we’re in the middle of class.”

“We’re practicing.”

I responded appropriately to Harold-sensei’s advice since he had no intention of nagging us about it.