CH 88

“A-are you all right?”

Mia sounds surprised, but I can’t even respond. I used too much MP, and I’m assaulted by the languid feeling that comes with it. It’s hard to even sit up, so I lie down.

Or at least that’s what I’m about to do, before Mia suddenly grabs me and puts my head on her lap? What is she doing?

“Aunt Loux told me this is the best for tired boys, so…”

I really am exhausted, but what has she been teaching them?

I look at Mia’s face, and see it’s a little red. You don’t have to force yourself when you’re so clearly embarrassed, you know?

“M-more importantly! What was going on when I came in!?”

She’s shouting, probably to hide her embarrassment. Her voice is cracking a little, and I wish she didn’t shout so close to my ears.

“That was alchemy.”

Trying to hide it might just invite more questions, so I decide to just come out and say it.

“So that was alchemy? I remember hearing that you could make potions with alchemy too.”

Did I say that? I don’t remember it, so she probably heard it from someone else.

“It was my first time seeing alchemy. It’s weird.”

“I learned it on my own, so it’s probably different from the normal method.”

“Is it?”

“Yes, kind of like your holy magic. I just discovered that I was able to do it, so I can’t explain why, or how I do it.”

“I see. That does sound hard to explain.”

Using her as an example helps her accept it.

“But why were you here in the first place?”

“Hum, I was thinking about practicing with my magic energy. But if you can’t, we won’t do it today.”

“…It’s all right, I’m feeling better. And I won’t be the one using magic energy, so it’s fine.”

I get up from her lap. I’m embarrassed, and when I look at Mia, I see she’s embarrassed too, before she turns away from me. Again, if you’re embarrassed, you don’t have to force yourself to do it. Not that I can actually say that to her.

And in the middle of this awkward mood, I take her hands so she can start practicing making magic energy flow.

Mia is focusing with her eyes closed. We’re not going to have a lot more time to practice like this, so I hope we see some results while I’m still here. If we don’t, I don’t know what we’re going to do.

She can feel magic energy if I make it flow to her. Basically, she’s capable of input, but not output. But she releases magic energy unconsciously when she casts Heal, so it’s not like she can’t do it at all.

“Mia, what are you thinking about when you try to make magic energy flow? Or do you just think about nothing?”

“I think about looking for magic energy in my body and making it flow, I guess.”

“Can you feel magic energy?”

“…Kind of.”

She doesn’t sound too sure.

This was probably a mistake on my part. She felt magic energy, so I figured she completely understood it, but I guess I was wrong.

“Let’s stop.”

“Stop?”

“Yes, let’s take a short break and gather our thoughts.”

I let go of her hands, and we sit side by side.

The problem is that she doesn’t really grasp… Doesn’t really feel the magic energy, I think. I’m pretty sure.

“What’s wrong? Is there something wrong with the way I do it?”

“I might have been going about this the wrong way. Can you feel magic energy on your own?”

Mia closes her eyes and focuses, and I use Magic Energy Detection to see her magic energy.

I can see it on her belly, near her belly button. What some people call a focus point.

“Do you know where you can feel magic energy the most?”

Mia hesitates for a moment, but points at her heart, and then traces down to her belly. I can see she isn’t very sure.

“Can I touch where I felt magic energy right now?”

I ask first. If I touch her all of a sudden she might scream, and that would be a disaster.

“Yes, go ahead.”

“All right then.”

I touch her just below the belly button and she flinches, but doesn’t say anything. I get it, this is a pretty risqué spot.

“I think it’s where I’m touching now. Can you tell?”

“…Yes, if I focus, I think I feel something.”

“Then try focusing here.”

“Ah, stay there.”

I’m about to pull away, but she stops me. If someone saw this, they’d report me for sure. I really wish no one comes here, in more ways than one.

It’s silent. All I hear is Mia’s breathing.

I need to look calm, because I don’t want her to get flustered. Although when I get nervous and press her a little hard, she lets out a kind of lewd sigh. It feels soft. Ah, but I’m not calling her belly flabby or anything.

What are you thinking, me? Just focus on seeing her magic energy.

It doesn’t move at first, but eventually I feel her magic energy moving a little. It goes up to her belly button, and then goes down again.

That’s enough for Mia to seem tired, with sweat welling up on her forehead.

“It’s hard, but I feel like I can feel magic energy better than before.”

But I can see she’s not satisfied.

“Can we do it again?”

Mia timidly asks after a small break.

She’s full of motivation, so sure.

And we don’t end with just one more try, we do it a few more times. We keep going because she’s gradually moving her magic energy more and more.

But as a result, Mia is now lying on my bed, and I can hear her sleeping.

I don’t feel like waking her up, so I guess I’ll have to sleep on the floor.

Geez, it’s hard to sleep with this hard feeling on my back. Using Earth Magic while camping outside would probably make something more comfortable than this. But eventually, I do fall sleep.