CH 89

I’m awakened by a rustling sound.

Mia’s face is right in front of mine, looking directly at me. Our eyes meet, and she gets surprised and flustered too.

As I see her panic, I try to calm myself. I remember, I was helping her control her magic energy until she fell asleep last night.

“I’m sorry. Hum, I ended up taking your bed…”

“Don’t worry about it. I should have ended it sooner yesterday, but I ended up pushing you too much.”

“No, that’s not true. Thanks to you, I feel like I can do it today if I really try.”

She has a bright smile on her face. I’m guessing yesterday’s training felt more productive than usual. I hope that confidence brings results too.

I can’t take my eyes off that smile, probably because of the gap between this and what she’s usually like…

We eat breakfast, I train by doing some mock battles, and then it’s time to help her practice controlling her magic energy again. Hikari, Sera, and Yuri are joining us this time, in the guest room where Hikari and the others always train and study.

“How much have you all improved?”

We’ve never really just sat down and talked calmly. But we have talked about things related to our daily lives, and we’ve talked a lot about places with tasty food.

“Master, I’ve improved a lot.”

She takes out the magic stone used for training, and starts to infuse it with magic energy.

Before, the most she could do was a trickle of magic energy, but now it flows steadily, even if still slowly. It’s still not really usable in any practical way, but her progress has been remarkable.

Next is Yuri. She had a lot of magic energy to begin with, and now she infuses the magic stone faster than before. I start to wonder how she’s going to use this in the future, but she’s having fun with it now, so it’s not important. Dan might vomit blood and collapse if she starts using magic, but I don’t really mind.

“Master, what do you do with this?”

Asks Sera. All of this probably seems strange from an outsider’s perspective. I’m sure she won’t understand even if I say it’s about controlling magic energy, but I get the feeling that she’s actually been doing that unconsciously.

I tried activating Magic Energy Detection during one of our mock battles, and saw her fighting with magic energy circulating through her body. But I’m not sure if it’s connected to how she fights.

“Can you use magic, Sera?

“Master, we beast people don’t generally use magic. Of course, some do, but that’s rare.”

“So you can’t use it?”

Sera nods.

“Does that mean you can’t feel magic energy either?”

“I can’t.”

So does it just come naturally? Or is it something she evolved unconsciously to survive in battle? In the end, I can only speculate.

How many monsters would a girl about my age have to fight, and how much experience would she need to get to go from level one to level sixty five? I can’t even imagine.

“But I feel like you’ve been using it unconsciously.”

“…I don’t know.”

“I see. But for example, do you feel like when you fight, your body becomes lighter, or easier to move, or anything like that?”

“I’ve never thought about it.”

“Then try focusing on that next time we have a mock battle. Ah… But in an actual battle, focusing on it too much might actually worsen your movements and put you in danger.

If she can get a feel for the magic energy in her, it might be good to learn how to use it.

“Master, how do you help Mia practice?”

“Give me your hands.”

Hikari puts out her hands, and I grab them.

“I hold her hands like this, and make magic energy flow.”

“Hn… It feels weird and chilly.”

“I’m making magic energy flow from my right hand, through your body, and back to me through my left hand. Can you feel that flow?”

“Yes, I can.”

“I started by having her feel magic energy like this, but I didn’t explain it in a good way, so it didn’t really go well.”

“Yes, it was no good. But yesterday he showed me a different way to practice, and I feel like I understand it better than before!”

She’s really excited.

“That’s nice. How did you do it?”

She asked that… That’s not a good question, even if you do that cute head tilt while you ask it… Mia’s face is bright red out of embarrassment from being asked that point blank.

Ah, Sera is squinting at me. Is it because she’s a cat? Her gaze feels harsh.

But trying to gloss over this is just going to seem more suspicious. I’ll just have to emphasize that we’re talking about training.

“Hikari, when you infuse the magic stone with magic energy, can you feel where most of the magic energy is in your body?”

“Yes, hum, here.”

Around the heart… From what I can see with Magic Energy Detection, she isn’t wrong. Hum, do I have to touch there? That’s her chest, so to speak. Maybe I’m safe because she’s a growing girl, but Mia’s eyes are really hurting me. I guess she was embarrassed when I did it to her, but she bears with it, but doing it to others is bad?

I-I’ll just explain it to her verbally.

“Hikari, keep touching there, and increase the output of magic energy like when you infuse the magic stone with it.”

“Yes, got it.”

Ahh… I guess that works?

Ah, I think Mia accepts that. But Hikari is so serious about this, and I can’t let anything get in her way at this point.

“So? Can you feel the strength changing through the palm of your hand? If you can, focus on that magic energy and try moving it.”

From what I can tell with Magic Energy Detection, her magic energy has expanded. It’s all right, Hikari can do it.

“Ooh… It feels weird. But it’s hard to tell if it’s moving.”

“It looks like you can do it. You’ll be able to feel it if you keep practicing, and you’ll get a passing grade when you do.”

I pat Hikari’s head and look at Mia, as if to ask her what she wants to do.

I guess she’s too embarrassed to practice like we did yesterday in front of other people, so she’s going to try feeling her magic energy with her own hands. That’s good, I guess?