Chapter 57: CH 57

57 - The Old Man From The Countryside Learns About Magic

Lucy and I walk through the streets of Baltrain, when the sun is about to set.

It’s still an unbalanced combination. I’m not used to walking side-by-side with celebrities like Alexia and Selena.

“You were with a cheerful kid,” Lucy said. “Was that a young knight?”

“Oh, you mean Kuruni,” I said.

For sure, you could describe Kuruni as a symbol of the spirit of the Knight Order of Revelio. She was bright from the foundations since she was a student at my dojo, but her personality has not dampened any of her brilliance.

“She’s a good kid,” I said. “She’s still young but she’s got good muscles.”

“She has that more than anything else,” Lucy says, chuckling.

I don’t know what the relationship was between the Knight Order of Revelio and the Magic Division. I even saw Thyssel coming to the former to wholesale potions.

Well, so far as Lucy’s reaction is concerned, they don’t seem to be stepping on each other’s toes. As long as I know both of them, it’s best to get along with both.

I belong to the Knights on paper, so I’m afraid I’m going to get involved in a terrible situation. This old man wants to live in peace.

“… By the way, where are we going?” I asked.

I had been following Lucy for the moment but now I realized I hadn’t yet asked about where we were going. She only invited me to talk for a little bit, and she didn’t say anything about where or what she wanted to talk about.

“Hmm?” Lucy said. “It’s my house. It’s near the North district, so we’ll be walking a bit.”

“Huh, well, that’s fine,” I said.

Lucy’s house? I can see her with something like a huge mansion. No, that’s just totally my imagination.

It’s a rare situation for a single man to be called to a woman’s house, but alas, Lucy is not the kind of person who’d be attracted to me.

By the way, Miu was currently being taken care of by Lucy’s household. I’m also curious about how she’s doing, so this may be a good opportunity to do that.

“Is it something we can’t discuss in public?” I asked.

If it was just talking, we should have been able to discuss it standing up or sitting down at a store somewhere. Since we’re going all the way to her house, it may be important and confidential.

“Well, a bit,” Lucy said, smiling a little mischievously.

Yeah, given her personality, it looks like a rather unusual reaction. For someone like her who’s always so blunt, it’s easy to think that this evading the question had some complicated circumstances behind it.

I hope it’s not something really troublesome.

“By the way, Beryl, you’ve got an interesting piece of equipment,” Lucy said, glancing at my waist.

“Hmm? Oh, this sword?” I asked.

Well, if she says it’s interesting, it’s probably interesting. I don’t think I’ve often seen scabbards made of red leather.

However, since Lucy was a mage, I wondered if she knew anything about melee weapons.

“A quick question before that,” I said. “Do you know anything about swords, Lucy?”

“No, not really,” Lucy replied.

No, she did not know.

“However, I feel a faint trace of magical power,” Lucy said. “It’s close to the aura of magical equipment.”

“Huh…?” I asked.

I could get that.

I didn’t know what magical power feels like and I don’t have an aptitude for it, so it’s refreshing to me, but if I become a mage like her, will I be able to feel these sorts of things?

“Maybe I can shoot magic, too,” I said.

“I don’t know about that,” Lucy said. “It’s extremely faint, so I think it’s impossible.”

“I see…” I said.

Well, this wasn’t unexpected. I figured as much but I’m a little disappointed.

“But, you can tell if something has magical power, can’t you?” I said.

“There are individual differences,” Lucy said. “But I think those that know, will know.”

Is it something like that? It’s an area I don’t understand at all, so I don’t get it. Let’s ask Thyssel next time.

By the way, Alexia, Selena, and Kuruni haven’t said nor have I heard anything about magic from them. The number of people with such aptitude is limited, after all.

“Being a mage is great, huh?” I asked.

“What are you saying?” Lucy asked. “You swordsmen can sense killing intent, can’t you? It’s the same thing. In fact, if you ask me, that’s even more impressive.”

“… I see,” I said.

Ah, yeah. Now that it’s in terms I can understand, I can get it a bit.

It’s true it’s a bit of an impossibility for normal people to feel killing intent. It’s not easy to explain how exactly it feels. I guess could say that being able to sense magical power was the mage’s equivalent of sensing that.

“Oh, by the way,” I said. “I’ve got a question that’s been niggling at me.”

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“Hmm? What is it?” Lucy asked.

Now that we’re on the subject of magic, may as well.

“Don’t you guys use magic?” I asked. “Why do call yourself ‘mages’ instead of ‘wizards’?” 1

Yeah.

The word “magic” is all over this world. And, though it’s rare for people to be able to use that magic, they are recognized by the world.

If you thought about it in normal terms, you could call them “wizards”, but for some reason, they’re just called “mages”.

There may have been a bit of a difference so I was worried about that. So, as soon as I got the chance, I asked.

“Since you ask that, Mr. Beryl, do you really not know anything about magic?” Lucy said, sighing.

“It’s pretty bad, totally ignorant,” I said.

It can’t be helped, because the world of Magic has nothing to do with me.

“Well then, I’m going to teach you while we walk,” Lucy said. “Be grateful, my lectures are supposed to be charged.”

“Hahaha, thank you for humoring me,” I said.

Lucy’s house is in the North District so we’ll be walking a while. It’s too long a way to go in silence. It’s not bad to accumulate some knowledge as an extension of chatting.

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“To begin with,” Lucy said, “the word ‘magic’ is vast. By definition, it refers to all phenomena that occur through magical power. So, in that sense, we’re all wizards.”

“Hmm,” I hummed.

Oops, it seems Professor Lucy’s University Lecture starts immediately. I’m grateful to be able to hear it.

But, all the events that involve magical power? That specific range is ridiculously large. I don’t know what magic can actually do but even then, so long as there was magical equipment that could act as a substitute, the range must be extremely wide.

“The concept of magic itself has existed in antiquity,” Lucy continued, “but it seems that it was relatively recent that human hands could manipulate it. Among them, ‘phenomena reproducible by humans’, is called ‘spell casting.’ It seems it was first used to distinguish it from the more general definition.”

“… I see,” I said.

“My point is, think of spell casting as within the broader pool of magic. The essence is the same for both.”

Lucy’s use of qualifiers like “seems” and “likely” is probably because these origins are long before the era we were alive.

Swords were weapons humans have dealt with since ancient times, but magic has the same or even greater historical weight. I’m certain that the swordsmanship I use was built from techniques handed down from generation to generation. It’s not something that just came out from nowhere.

“That is why I’m certain there’s not a single mage today who can call themselves a ‘wizard’,” Lucy said. “If they did, they would be able to use all manner of magic beyond spell casting.”

Even a magician of Lucy’s caliber can’t stand in the abyss of magic, let alone gaze into it. It’s a totally daunting field of scholarship.

“Is it hard being a magician?” I asked.

“Hmm-hmm-hmm, that’s right,” Lucy said. “Every day it’s research and study.”

There’s a similarity to studying and practicing sword arts daily but maybe the density and specificity can’t be compared to swords. No, I didn’t learn sword fighting for fun, either. When I hear something like this, I can’t help but compare them.

“As of present, spell casting seems to be about 10% of all the magic that can exist in the world,” Lucy said. “Goodness, it’s something of a long story.”

And as if she was just throwing it out there, Prof. Lucy’s generous lecture ends.

“I now know it’s an area that’s completely out of my depth,” I said. “Thank you.”

“Hahaha, that’s alright,” Lucy said.

Perhaps for mages, the previous lecture was the earth beneath the foundations of their study or just a matter of course.

I feel a little disappointed that I’m so old and I didn’t know even that, but the information you can get in a rural place like Bidden Village is limited.

No, I didn’t need magical knowledge to live there. Besides, it’s not a bad thing that I’ve still got much to learn even at my age. Let’s take things positively.

“… Oh, we’re here,” Lucy said.

We’ve arrived after chatting about various things for some time.

It’s just about evening before the world is swallowed in darkness. After some time, the sun will set and the stars will illuminate this world.

Depending on what we’re going to talk about and how long it’s going to take, it seems I’ll be back once it’s well and truly night.

“… Huge, isn’t it?”

I look at our destination and see a massive mansion with a magnificent gate before me. She lives in a fancy place after all. I’m a bit jealous. Even if I could live in such a huge house with my status, I couldn’t afford it.

“Well, don’t hesitate to come in,” Lucy said. “I’ve got a guest over today.”

It was shortly after I paused to look.

Lucy opened the gates by some means and went into the front garden.

“… A guest?” I asked.

Apparently, I’m not the only one Lucy invited.

I wonder who’s waiting for me. I’m interested but I’ll keep my expectations low.

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